There are clouds in the ancient poem, "the north wind sweeps the white grass and folds, and the snow flies in August", which is the climate of the great northwest region.

In the late October and early November of the third year of Chongzhen, although there was no snow yet, it entered the cold weather of early winter early.

With the large-scale westward migration of Longxi Mu Suman, as well as the westward expansion of the thieves in northern Shaanxi, today's Longxi, Gansu and other regions, although the undercurrent is surging, the situation is still not optimistic, but on the surface, it is a three-legged stand, mutual restraint, and a peaceful appearance.

At the same time when Li Banghua, Yuan Chonghuan and other high-ranking officials of the imperial court sitting in the northwest gathered their official and military forces and adjusted their personnel and troop deployment to prepare for another battle, Ma Jinzhong, Ma Guangyu, Ma Shouying, Tuluntai and others who fled to the Hexi region were also busy communicating with the local snake Mi Layin, who had been entrenched here for a year, and the local snake Ha Tianxi, who had been entrenched in this place for a year.

The Hexi Corridor was extremely important for all the great unified dynasties of China since the Han and Tang dynasties.

The reason why it is important is not because of the abundance of products and the like, but because of the geographical location of this place.

To the north are rolling hills on the edge of the Mongolian Plateau, such as Heli Mountain, Longshou Mountain, and Yibula Mountain.

To the south of it are the tall and majestic mountains on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, such as the Qilian Mountains, the Wusheling Mountains and so on.

Between the mountains on the north and south sides, there is the Hexi Corridor area formed since Zhang Qian hollowed out the Western Regions.

The Han Dynasty had set up four counties in the Hexi Corridor, that is, the famous Han Dynasty Hexi Four Counties, after crossing the Yellow River from Lanzhou, from east to west, Wuwei County, Zhangye County, Jiuquan County, Dunhuang County.

When the Ming Dynasty was established, all the areas along the Hexi Corridor were included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and the power reached the Hami area west of Dunhuang, and a series of guards such as Hami Wei were also set up.

Since the Han Dynasty, the four counties of Hexi have also become the Shazhou Wei (Dunhuang), Suzhou Wei (Jiuquan), Ganzhou Wei (Zhangye), and Liangzhou Wei (Wuwei) of the Ming Dynasty.

During this period, it was abandoned several times, and by the end of the Ming Dynasty, half of the Hexi Corridor was no longer owned by the imperial court.

At this time, there were still three of the four counties of Hexi formed from the Han Dynasty, namely Wuwei, Zhangye, and Jiuquan, but only about half of the land in the entire Hexi Corridor remained.

Because the larger areas to the west of Jiayuguan, such as Hami, Chijin, Guazhou, and Dunhuang, have fallen into the hands of local aliens.

Now in the third year of Chongzhen in this life, the guards on the Hexi Corridor, except for some of the guards and forts along the border near Ningxia Town, are still in the hands of the imperial court officials, and other important cities have fallen into the hands of the rebellious Mu Suman.

From the west to the east, the Suzhou Wei area of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the Jiuquan County area of the Han Dynasty, including the Jiayu Pass, Zhenyi, Gaotai and other guards of thousands of households, all fell into the hands of the Ha family where the local white-hat Musu barbarian Tuguan Ha Tianxi and Ha Tiangui brothers belonged.

The period between the Ganzhou Wei and the Liangzhou Wei of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the area of Zhangye County in the Han Dynasty, as well as part of Wuwei County, almost all fell into the hands of Mi Layin and his family, the hereditary commander of Ganzhou Wei of Musu Man.

This also means that when Ma Jinzhong, the puppet commander of Hezhou, took Ma Guangyu, the puppet commander of Lintao, who defected to him, and Ma Shouying, who returned to him, and the Tuluntai Department who fled west with his troops after escaping from Pingliang, escaped the Yellow River all the way and entered the Hexi Corridor area, there was no place in this place that could accommodate so many of his men.

Thanks to the suggestion of the old imam of Hezhou, Saiyide and others, by the time Ma Jinzhong led a large number of men and horses across the river to the west, the Ma family in Hezhou had already withdrawn into the Hexi area in advance and found a place to settle in the southern area of Yongchangwei west of Liangzhou Wei.

However, this place is a little too small for the current Ma Jinzhong, and it is too close to the officials and soldiers of the imperial court and the thieves who follow behind him.

Mi Layin, who was in the city of Ganzhou (later Zhangye), had the intention of letting Ma Jinzhong and others stay in the area of Yongchangwei and Liangzhouwei, which could be used as a barrier for himself to deal with the official army.

But since Ma Jinzhong and others have left Hezhou and other places and decided to move west, they naturally don't stop at Liangzhou.

In this way, Ma Jinzhong and others originally wanted to continue to go west through the territory of Mi Layin, Ha Tianxi and others, but Mi Layin in Ganzhou and Ha Tianxi and others in Suzhou were not at ease with such a huge force as Ma Jinzhong, fearing that he would come to a false attack and turn around and destroy himself and rob his own territory.

So one side was in a hurry to move westward, while the other side insisted on refusing.

And Ma Jinzhong, who was unwilling to make extraneous branches and cheapen the thieves behind him, had no choice but to patiently send people to carry gifts to repeatedly communicate and discuss with Mi Layin, Ha Tianxi and other head snakes.

Unlike Ma Jinzhong, Ma Guangyu, Ma Shouying and others who crossed the river to the west, Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang, who was now jointly elected as the generalissimo of Fengtian Changyi by all the departments under his command, is also busy dividing the territory of the various departments under his command.

Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang, led the thieves to ambush the official army in Qingshuiyi in the north of Anding City, and after winning a big victory, he took the opportunity of Ma Jinzhong and others to lead his troops across the river to the west, and entered Hezhou, and was supported by his subordinates here as the generalissimo of Fengtian Changyi.

In this Hezhou city, Gao Yingxiang, the freshly baked generalissimo of Fengtian Changyi, divided the battalions of thieves from northern Shaanxi who came west into three roads: left, middle and right.

Gao Yingxiang, the generalissimo of Fengtian Changyi, led the Middle Route Army by himself, and incorporated Liu Zhe's department, Li Zicheng's department, Hao Yongzhong's department, and Liu Tichun's department, which originally broke into the camp, into the "righteous army" of the middle route.

At the same time, after the victory of Qingshuiyi, Liu Xiyao, who proclaimed himself the king of the world, and Lin Yangsheng, who proclaimed himself the king of the world, were classified as the left army together, and Liu Xiyao, the king of the reincarnation, was named the deputy marshal of the left road.

The troops of the Eight Kings Zhang Xianzhong and Cao Cao and Luo Rucai were divided into the Right Route Army together, and the Eight Kings Zhang Xianzhong was appointed as the Deputy Marshal of the Right Road.

After entering Hezhou, Gao Yingxiang reorganized the thieves in the city with various battalions of thieves, and wanted to take all the people and horses to take a quick rest, and then deal with the upcoming pursuit of the officers and soldiers.

But seeing that Ma Jinzhong led his troops to bypass the outside of Lanzhou City and successfully crossed the river to the west, the officers and troops in Lanzhou City did not dare to go out of the city to intercept them.

Gao Yingxiang knew that Lanzhou City was weak in air defense, so he immediately decided to go north to attack Lanzhou.

As they expected, Lanzhou City finally fell into the hands of Gao Yingxiang under the repeated attacks of the thieves.

After taking Lanzhou, Gao Yingxiang quickly fulfilled the promise he made when he was sworn in.

In order to move Luo Rucai, Zhang Xianzhong and others to follow him to fight Lanzhou City, Gao Yingxiang promised to give up his previous occupation of the magpie's nest from Ma Guangyu to Lintao and other places before taking the oath to the eight kings Zhang Xianzhong and Cao Cao Luo Rucai's men and horses to station.

After giving up Pingliang City, Gao Yingxiang took his descendants and Liu Xiyao and Lin Chengcheng and other people to the west in a hurry.

After Zhuang Lang met the remnants of Li Zicheng's department, who was in a panic, he hurried west and led his army all the way to Lintao Mansion.

Ma Guangyu, the pseudo-commander of the Musuman leader who occupied the city of Lintaofu, saw that Gao Yingxiang was powerful, and soon attached himself to Gao Yingxiang.

What happened next was almost the same as when Gao Yingxiang's department first entered Pingliang City.

The newly formed team of Han thieves under Gao Yingxiang's battalions was full of hostility to the Mu Suban army under Ma Guangyu, who had slaughtered Han people in Lintao Mansion.

Because whether it is Liu Xiyao's camp or Lin Yangcheng's camp, including some of the displaced people that Li Zicheng incorporated when he entered the Zhuanglang area from Jingning, many of them are surviving Han people who escaped from the knife of the local Mu Suman.

Now after going up the mountain and falling into the grass, he followed King Chuang back to Lintao Mansion, how could he coexist peacefully with Mu Suman, who had ruined his family before? !

At the beginning, Ma Guangyu and his subordinates did not know the entanglement between the battalions of the invasion army and the Musu barbarian army in Pingliang City before Pingliang abandoned the city.

But as time passed, the various tributary bandits that followed King Chuang all coveted the wealth that Ma Guangyu and his generals had amassed in the Lintao Mansion.

The leaders of these camps from the thieves of northern Shaanxi fled all the way from east to west with their teams, and by the time they arrived at the border of Lintao, they had already become poor and starving ghosts.

There are no other people in the city of Lintaofu, the rest are Mu Su Man, these newcomer thieves, no food or drink, who else can they rob if they don't rob Mu Su Man's things?!

So, today extort a little, tomorrow take a little, and in the end, Ma Guangyu's subordinates couldn't bear it anymore, and began to keep people fleeing west with their families.

At the end of August, what happened in Gongchang Mansion City finally broke through the bottom line that Ma Guangyu could endure.

Ma Guangyu and his subordinate generals Mu Suman, fearing the same fate, finally made the choice that Tolontai wanted to do but did not dare to do.

That was the army that rebelled away from Gao Yingxiang with his men, and thus triggered a chain reaction that affected the entire three northwestern regions.