At the same time, thousands of miles away from Beijing, at Shanhaiguan, Wu Sangui, Li Zicheng, and the Manchu forces were engaged in a political and military contest.

The night was deep, and the moonlight on April 19 was still very round, hanging in the cloudless sky, and at the same time, the moonlight not only shone on a ruined village outside Jianghuai City, but also on Liaodong, thousands of miles away.

Yanshan mountain range rises and falls under the moonlight, in this night, there are bursts of beast screams from time to time, the east of Yanshan is not far away, is a vast field, if you go further north here, it is Shanhaiguan.

In the wilderness, patches of military camp tents, lit up, because it is April weather, the monsoon wind blowing from the Bohai Sea in the east makes the flag hunting sound, and almost all the flags have one word written on them: Shun.

A huge cowfelt tent was even grander than the others, and dozens of guards outside the tent stood solemnly with knives and guns, even if the fierce sea breeze blew on their faces, they did not move the slightest, and it was obvious that there were very heavy figures in the tent.

Inside the big tent, the ground is covered with blankets, and the flames on dozens of candles and mutton fat oil lamps are blazing, making the tent illuminated and abnormal, hundreds of soldiers are divided into two rows, standing solemnly, and a big man is sitting facing south in the middle of the place that is slightly higher in front of the two rows.

Dozens of soldiers close to the big man in the middle sat on chairs, while the soldiers in the back stood one by one, obviously not enough chairs. All of them looked solemn, and their eyes were looking at the big man in the middle of the square.

The man sitting in the middle looked to be nearly fifty years old, with high cheekbones, a touch of anger on his face, obviously reckless background, which made people shudder, wearing a yellow brocade robe, the king's domineering spirit was fully displayed.

On either side of the big man was a scribe and a general, the scribe had a white face, a clear description, a few clear beards, about forty, but the soldier was wearing chain mail, wearing a crimson cloak, and his cheekbones gave people a sense of majesty and fortitude.

After a while, the big man in the brocade robe who was sitting facing south cleared the noise, swept over the generals with sharp eyes, and said in a heavy tone: "Generals, no matter where you come from, you have followed the lonely bloody war for many years and contributed to the establishment of the Great Shun Dynasty. ”

The big man paused, obviously speaking, and continued: "There is already a saying in the world that 'eighteen sons, the main artifact', the will of heaven belongs to my Dashun, the luck belongs to my Dashun, Zhu Ming's qi is exhausted, and the will of heaven is dead, and it is not human power to save it." Therefore, in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, after our army broke through Xiangyang, it was built as Dashun. In October last year, Xi'an was broken, Xi'an was changed to Chang'an, and the old system of the Tang Dynasty was restored. In the first month of this year, Lone Relatives led a large army, crossed the river into Jin, and went north to Youyan, all the way to break through Beijing, and destroyed the Ming Dynasty on the 19th of last month. I Dashun Manchu civil and military, all thought that there would be no big war, all over the south of the Yangtze River spread the word, the lone king is ready to ascend in Beijing, and then return to Chang'an, and share the wealth with you, never expected that Wu Sangui, the general of the dead country, did not know the will of the people, disobeyed the order, and had to personally go east. ”

All the soldiers said in unison: "Your Majesty is wise and martial, Wu Sangui will definitely be defeated." ”

This brocade-robed man is Li Zicheng, the scribe next to him is Song Xiance, and the general is Liu Zongmin.

Since Li Zicheng broke through Beijing on 19 March, he sent a letter of persuasion to Wu Sangui, the chief soldier guarding the Shanhai Pass, who knew that his family and his concubine Chen Yuanyuan were all under Li Zicheng's control, and that outside the customs was the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which was completely different from his own cultural customs, Wu Sangui had the heart to surrender.

Unexpectedly, soon a bad news came, his beloved woman Chen Yuanyuan was occupied by Li Zicheng, his home in Beijing was ransacked by Li Zicheng, and now his family has completely become a hostage in Li Zicheng's hands to blackmail him into surrendering.

Hearing such news from Beijing, Wu Sangui began to waver in the idea of surrendering Li Zicheng, but at this time he had completely become a force without support to occupy a city. Wu Sangui decided to secretly collude with the Manchus outside the Guan, and used the power of the Manchus to drive Li Zicheng out of Beijing and welcome the prince of the Ming dynasty to the throne.

Wu Sangui's ambiguous attitude made Li Zicheng determined to go east.

On April 13, Li Zicheng led an army of 60,000 people, known as 200,000 to the outside world, and set out from Beijing to the north to attack Wu Sangui.

Tonight is already 19 April, the army has marched to Shanhaiguan, which is only three miles away from Hongwadian, and the surrounding people have already fled when they heard that Li Zicheng's army is coming. When Li Zicheng arrived here, he did not see a single common man, and there was no way to get the news about Wu Sangui and the Manchu Qing from the mouths of the people.

This place is backed by a mountain range, and you can climb on the mountain to watch from a distance during the battle, so it is also called Dianjiangtai.

Before, Li Zicheng had already climbed to the platform to look at Shanhaiguan from afar, only to see the lanterns at the head of Shanhaiguan City, and from time to time there was the sound of Xiao Xiao's horse, Li Zicheng knew that Wu Sangui was making fierce pre-war preparations.

A hint of foreboding came to Li Zicheng's heart, at this time he felt so frightened for the first time since the eighteen years of the war, when he fought from Guanzhong to Beijing, he was invincible all the way, and when he entered Beijing, the people welcomed him, and in just over a month, the scene at that time had long since disappeared, and the villagers in the villages here had long since fled.

Li Zicheng began to wake up to his one-month looting in Beijing, at this time the ministers of the Eastern Expedition had tried their best to oppose it, a few days ago, when the army arrived in Tongzhou, Song Xiance suggested that the division be withdrawn back to Beijing, but he refused. At this time, Li Zicheng obviously felt that this battle was very likely to be completely lost.

But as the commander of the three armies, he must not say anything that affects morale, at this time, although Li Zicheng has not been crowned, he has become like an emperor, he knows that any of his actions will affect the morale and morale of the army.

"Wu Sangui, this dog thing, only relying on the lonely city of mountains and seas, dares to resist Dashun, if it is not severely punished, it will definitely cause imitation everywhere. He must have colluded with the Eastern Prisoners, otherwise he would not dare to eat the bear's heart and leopard's guts, according to Lone's guess, the Manchurian soldiers must have invaded Youzhou on the way to the south, taking advantage of the fact that we were waiting for a firm foothold in Youzhou Mansion, and our army had never fought with the Manchus, so we must not underestimate the enemy. The day after tomorrow, our army must fight to the death, defeat the Guanning soldiers, it is best to occupy Shanhai, force him to surrender, even if he can't take Shanhai City, he must be killed to the point of great vitality, unable to fight again, we can free up our hands to meet the Dongyu and ensure Youzhou. Lone's dictation, this is the end, the battle of the day after tomorrow, the whole army is commanded by the general Ruhou Liu Ye, the head of the battalion, and now I ask Liu Jun to give you a few words. ”

Li Zicheng's wording in the first half was elegant, maintaining the majesty of the emperor, and the back was emotional, showing his recklessness.

Liu Zongmin originally gave people a sense of majesty and fierceness, and the expression on his face was even more terrifying at this time, he got up from the chair, glanced at the soldiers, and said: "Everyone, I will just say a word, when I fight Wu Gou the day after tomorrow, I will break through Shanhaiguan in one fell swoop, and capture the surname Wu, if anyone dares to retreat on the battlefield, I will chop off his dog's head." ”

After the generals withdrew from the big tent, the military adviser Song Xiance, Liu Zongmin, and Li Guo stayed for the time being, and continued to discuss secretly for a while.

Since the Eastern Crusade, Li Zicheng has not slept a night. Today, camping in the western suburbs of Shanhaiwei and the west bank of the Shihe River, Li Zicheng thought of the recent war, and his mood was even more difficult to calm down.

The full moon hung high in the sky like an ice tray, and the flags outside the tent were hunting, and the howls of wild beasts were heard from time to time.