Since Luo Rucai fled from Anding City to Lintao, he repeatedly persuaded Zhang Xianzhong to quickly lead his troops to evacuate and continue to the west.

But correspondingly, the generalissimo of Fengtian Changyi broke into Wang Gao Yingxiang, and he also repeatedly sent people to send orders, ordering Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai's right army to hold the city and never retreat without a fight.

At the same time, Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong were very angry about Luo Rucai's loss of Anding City (later Dingxi, Gansu).

Gao Yingxiang even sent a special person from Lanzhou in the name of Generalissimo Fengtian Changyi to reprimand Luo Rucai, and ordered him to lead his troops to recapture Anding City, the gateway for the westward advance of the official army, as soon as possible.

However, in response to Luo Rucai's repeated requests for food support to the Generalissimo of Lanzhou's mansion, King Gao Yingxiang did not move for a long time.

In such a situation, let alone let Luo Rucai go to recapture Anding City, even if he continued to stick to Lintao City with Zhang Xianzhong, he couldn't do it.

Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong have not fought with the Guards at the moment, and they don't know how powerful the Fourth Town of the Guards under Wang Tingchen is.

But Luo Rucai was clear, because Anding City was lost in the hands of the Fourth Town of the Guards under Wang Tingchen.

The Fourth Town of the Guards was originally mainly cavalry, but after being reorganized into the Guards, it had to be equipped and trained in accordance with the "Regulations on the Establishment of the Imperial Guards", in addition to the original large number of cavalry battalions that changed bows and arrows into muskets, several infantry musket battalions, artillery battalions and grenadier battalions were also added.

The Chongzhen flintlock musket, which was very precious in the ranks of other officers and soldiers, had more than 8,500 of the 12,000 troops in the Fourth Town of the New Guards.

And the Chongzhen type of rear-loading smoothbore gun improved by the Franc machine is as many as 250 pieces.

In addition, not to mention the two grenadier battalions that were now under the personal command of Wu Sangui, the general of the Chinese army who was a courtier of King Wu Anbo, who were equipped with countless fire bombs and thunderbolts.

Facts have proved that the main force of the 3,000 battalions of cavalry under Wang Tingchen's headquarters withdrew from Shuiluo City and was reorganized and trained in accordance with the regulations on the establishment of the Guards, although it weakened the mobile strength of the officers and troops and had a great impact on the battle on the front line of the Gan army.

Moreover, the firearms they are equipped with are all new firearms produced by the Jingshi Military Garrison.

The army of pure firearms may still have a lot of discomfort in the hot and humid areas of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangzhou, where it is difficult to carry and transport gunpowder, but it is very suitable in the northern region, which has always been arid and rainless, and the terrain is open, especially in the northwest.

In this way, in the face of the powerful firepower of the Fourth Town of the Guards, Luo Rucai's Cao Cao battalion headquarters guarding Anding City, despite the large number of people and the protection of the ancient walls of Anding City, still did not hold out for even a morning.

Moreover, after this battle, the men and horses who had worked hard to gather in Cao Cao's camp under his command were also scattered with more than 30,000 casualties when they first arrived in Anding City.

At first, he followed Luo Rucai and luckily escaped into the people and horses in Lintao City, and after some counting, there were only more than 4,000 people left.

A large number of the thieves were killed by the shells that entered the city from outside the city before they even saw the faces of the officers and soldiers.

By the time the official army blasted through the already dilapidated city wall, the crowded thief army in the city was even more defeated by the cavalry musketeers, infantry musketeers, and grenadiers who rushed into the city.

These poorly equipped Cao Cao's battalion thieves were either killed by muskets in patches and trampled to death by war horses, or they threw away their rudimentary knives and sticks in pieces, knelt on the ground and surrendered to the officers of the Fourth Town of the Guards who entered the city.

As the commander of the "Cao Ying" who has experienced a hundred battles, Luo Rucai's sense of smell is of course very sensitive, as early as when the city was broken, he saw that the momentum was not right, so he led the henchmen around him in advance and fled to the west gate of Anding City, which can be regarded as once again retaining his life and the basic descendants under his command.

However, there were still too few people left, so after escaping to Lintao City, Luo Rucai immediately lost his previous equal status in front of Zhang Xianzhong.

Although Zhang Xianzhong did not explicitly incorporate Luo Rucai's Cao Ying, he no longer became as polite as before in dealing with Luo Rucai.

Although Luo Rucai, the leader, was given a certain ration of food, he was also given the most dangerous task to Luo Rucai.

That is, let him personally lead the Cao Ying men and horses of his subordinates to guard the official road of the east gate of Lintao City facing the direction of stability.

Moreover, in the face of Gao Yigong, the envoy sent by Gao Yingxiang, the "Generalissimo of Fengtian Changyi", to reprimand Luo Rucai, Zhang Xianzhong, the eighth king, did not say the first half of the sentence to exonerate Luo Rucai.

All of this made Luo Rucai disappointed in his future in the thief pile.

If it weren't for the fear that after he surrendered to the imperial court, he might get the fate of the old brothers in northern Shaanxi before, Luo Rucai would have chosen to surrender a long time ago.

If it weren't for that, at least when he was in the city of Stability, when he saw that the current official army had wiped out his outnumbered Cao Ying, he would have surrendered.

Because at that time, he had already realized that in the face of powerful firepower, if Anding City, which lacked food and clothing, could not be defended, then Lintao City, which also lacked food and clothing, was also destined to be unable to defend.

It's just that he used the boss of someone before, "Zijin Liang", for his own use, but after surrendering, he was shot dead by the untrustworthy officials and soldiers!

As soon as he thought of this, when he thought of Wang Ziyong's tragic end, and the old brothers who surrendered to Shaanxi Governor Hong Chengchou in northern Jin with Wang Ziyong, Luo Rucai was terrified.

On the way from Anding City to Lintao City, Luo Rucai wanted to stop running several times, but after thinking of the ending of Wang Ziyong several times, he ran forward desperately again, and did not dare to turn back and surrender to the official army.

However, after arriving in Lintao City, not only did he not get a due response to persuade Zhang Xianzhong to lead his army to retreat west as soon as possible, but he also faced the possible punishment of Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang.

At the same time, the only remaining thousands of men and horses under his command of Luo Rucai had to take on the task of guarding the east gate of Lintao, and they had to bear the brunt of the battle with the imperial guards who would arrive sooner or later.

All these sinister circumstances made the original thought of surrendering the officers and soldiers as impossible to suppress it any longer, like the fire of hunger rising in the chest and abdomen every day.

Early in the morning of the first day of the first month of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Luo Rucai first led several key generals under his command Wang Yuncheng, Li Xing and Wu Ruyi to the right marshal's mansion (false title) of the Eighth King Zhang Xianzhong, and was once again ridiculed and teased by Zhang Xianzhong and his subordinate generals Zhang Kewang, Zhang Wenxiu, Zhang Xianbi and others.

On the morning of the same day, Luo Rucai humiliated Zhang Xianzhong after paying a New Year's Greeting, and returned to his camp in the east gate of Lintao City with his generals in a burst of ridicule.

The first thing Luo Rucai did when he returned to the camp was to take advantage of the opportunity when his subordinate general Li Xing came to his tent to pay New Year's greetings, and unexpectedly ordered Wang Yuncheng and Wu Ruyi, the two right-hand men, to take down Li Xing, and then quickly behead him in his own tent in the camp.

This Li Xing was the general of the Shaanxi army who took the lead in surrendering Wang Ziyong and Luo Rucai after falling into a heavy siege.

After Li Xing surrendered to the thief army and personally killed the general soldier of the Shaanxi army who led the army to suppress the bandits, he knew that he had no way to retreat, so he followed Wang Ziyong and Luo Rucai wholeheartedly to fight in the team of thieves.

Because he was a guerrilla in the Shaanxi Army and knew the internal situation of many officials and soldiers, after surrendering to Luo Rucai, he was quite valued by Luo Rucai, and Luo Rucai also accepted his suggestions at critical moments several times, all the way to today.

It's just that now that the situation is pressing, Luo Ru made up his mind to surrender to the imperial guards, and this Li Xing has become the only meeting gift he can still get.

In addition, he Luo Rucai really wants nothing, and there is nothing that can prove his sincerity.

He could have directly promised the guards of the imperial court to contact the east gate of Lintao City on his own initiative, but what if the officials and soldiers didn't believe it?

This greeting gift to gain basic trust is crucial.

And Li Xing has long been an important person who has been wanted by the imperial court.

Since the secret of the defeat of the Shaanxi army was brought out by Zhang Liwei and Wang Guozhong, Li Xing has become a thorn in the side of the Shaanxi official army, and he is also a traitor who has offered a reward for the arrest of the trilateral governor's palace and the Jinyi Weixi Zhenfu Division.

At this time, he did not die at the hands of the officials and soldiers, but he still died at the hands of thieves after all.

His head was held by Luo Rucai, and he quietly left the city on the night of the first day of the Lunar New Year and rushed in the direction of Anding.

And his body was rewarded to Luo Rucai's hungry Cao Ying thief army, and became fresh meat for some people to talk about that night.