April 21.

In the wee hours of the morning, a waning moon hung in the western sky, and the sea shone with hazy scales. On the city of the East Mountain Pass of the Bohai Sea, there is still a constant sound of cannons. Last night, from the third watch to the fifth watch, the Dashun army and the Guan Ning soldiers called each other across the Shihe beach.

At dawn, the cannonade finally stopped.

In Shanhaiguan, the people who had been panicking all night suddenly found that the barricades had been built with bricks at various intersections of Wuping Xibo Xingyuan, and the two rows of guards were standing solemnly with long knives in their hands.

There is a yellow paper notice posted next to the barricade: Qin Feng Daqing regent Prince Rui's order: I am near the king of Pingxi, in order to command the military area, Manchu, Mongolian and Han officers and soldiers pass by, it is strictly forbidden to disturb the noise, and the violators will be severely punished!

The Qing Dynasty sealed the Pingxi Palace

Many people who were illiterate asked people who knew what was going on.

Some elderly people because they lived in the city, Hu Han had a deep sense of friend and foe, and when they heard that Wu Sangui was going to surrender to the Manchu Dynasty, they scolded him. In the past few days, the news of Cheng Sangui's surrender to the Manchu Qing Dynasty has spread all over the city, and now they have to believe it.

It was already dawn, and the cannon fire, which had been paused for a moment, rang out again, mixed with shouts of killing.

Wu Sangui deployed more than 20,000 people on the east bank of the Shihe River, with all the infantry and cavalry, leaving more than 10,000 people in Xiluo City and only a few thousand people in the Shanhai Acropolis to be prepared.

Since the Manchus were now allies, Wu Sangui used all the forces in the city to the east of the pass to defend the west.

There were originally two red-clothed cannons on the head of Shanhaiguan City, and Wu Sangui brought back one when he withdrew his troops from Ningyuan.

Amid the tense drumming, Wu Sangui summoned about 100 important generals headed by Yang Shen to the front, made speeches, mobilized before the battle, and vigorously exposed Li Zicheng's crimes.

Suddenly, on the west bank of the Shihe River, in several places, at the same time, the war drums were like thunder, and the infantry cavalry of the Dashun army was neat, divided into several places, and rushed out of the sparse forest with a shout, went down the river bank, and killed to the east.

When the war drums of the Dashun army sounded, the elite soldiers of Guan Ning, who were standing in the trees outside Xiluo City, also suddenly shook the sky, and they were dispatched from several places, with a neat lineup, shouting "Kill!" Kill! "Rush to the Shihe Beach to meet the Dashun army.

……

Another main battlefield of the war between the Dashun army and the Guan Ning soldiers in the western suburbs of Shanhaiwei was a stone under the high mountain where Li Zicheng's imperial camp was stationed.

As the saying goes, "capture the thief and capture the king first", Wu Sangui opened up the battlefield from this to obviously want to destroy Li Zicheng's imperial camp in one fell swoop, of course, if it is possible, to save his father.

Here, Wu Sangui dispatched 12,000 cavalry and three general officers, under the unified command of Yang Shen, who had just been promoted to chief soldier.

Although Beijing has repeatedly reported how quickly Li Zicheng's army became corrupt and vulnerable after entering Beijing, Wu Sangui did not take it lightly, he knew that in this corrupt army, there was still a force such as Li Guo who maintained the original discipline.

At this time, Yang Shen happened to run into Li Guo's nail, not only could he not board the west bank of the Shihe River to attack Li Zicheng's imperial camp, but some of his elite soldiers were also divided into good shares and surrounded separately.

At noon, the originally sunny weather suddenly swelled, the earth was dark, and the smell of the sea damp swept across the battlefield.

Yang Shen was dressed in chain mail, carrying a long knife, and led the Guan Ning soldiers to rush towards Li Zicheng's imperial camp, completely ignoring the rain of arrows flying beside him, and the cloak on his body was hunting because of the speed of the horse. He hoped that it would be best to kill Li Zicheng in one fell swoop and then rescue Wu Sangui's father, Wu Xiang.

Originally, the weather had changed, the wind gusted, the ground flew sand and rocks, and the flying dust raised by the horses' hooves gave a chaotic sense of slaughter.

Li Zijian was on a high slope in front of the imperial camp, his eyes were fixed on the situation at the red tile shop, and he suddenly turned back to Song Xiance and said, "Military advisor, do you want to send troops to support?" ”

Song Xiance replied with a deep groan: "Yichen waits a little longer, maybe there will be good news there immediately." ”

Li Zicheng said: "Why don't you send Shuangxi to find out the situation?" ”

Song Xiance hurriedly said: "Guan Ningbing will escape from the red tile shop soon, and the melee will return to the Shihe Beach, don't send someone to go first." ”

Li Zicheng stopped talking.

Suddenly, dozens of puffs of green smoke rose from the mountains to the northeast, and because the smoke was thick and very high, it could be seen very clearly in this gloomy weather.

Song Xiance suddenly said to Li Shuangxi beside him: "Look what is that?" ”

Li Shuangxi was prestigious, and Li Zicheng also heard the words.

Song Xiance said in shock: "Is it smoke? ”

Li Shuangxi looked at it and said, "Is it the smoke used by the people to cook?" ”

Li Zicheng said: "It seems that this smoke is near Huanxiling outside the Great Wall. ”

Song Xiance said: "Your Majesty sees it very accurately, it is indeed near Huanxi, it is by no means the smoke of the people's cooking, Huanxi Ridge is close to the Great Wall in the west and the sea in the east, it is an outlet, there is no village." Moreover, there are only sporadic inhabitants, and the smoke is so small that it is impossible to see. ”

Li Zicheng suddenly lied and said: "You mean that the Manchu Qing Dynasty has arrived and is encamping in Huanxiling. ”

Song Xiance said: "It's hard to say now, now there is such a big gray smoke, you can know that there must be something abnormal in the area of Weiyuan Fort and Huanxi Ridge!" ”

Li Zicheng said: "Then tomorrow, will the Manchu Qing Dynasty join forces with Wu Sangui to attack me?" ”

Song Xiance couldn't hold back anymore at this time, and said: "Your Majesty, the original minister repeatedly dissuaded Your Majesty from hanging troops to the East, why don't Your Majesty lead your troops to withdraw to Beijing first, gather all the troops that can do war, and defend Beijing to the death." ”

Li Zicheng said: "In this way, if I don't withdraw, it will be strange if the army is not chaotic, at least until tomorrow depends on the situation." ”

Song Xiance stopped talking and sighed.

Li Guo saw an army galloping towards Li Zicheng's imperial camp, mounted his horse, raised a machete, and prepared to kill Yang Shen.

At this moment, two white flags and three white flags appeared on the north wing of the city less than two miles away from Shanhaiguan, and they were waving vigorously.

Li Qiang reported loudly to the royal driver: "There are troops in the northern wing of the city who mutinied and raised a white flag against me!" ”

Li Zicheng immediately instructed Li Guo: "Send troops to respond immediately!" ”

Li Guo replied: "Obey!" The minister immediately sent 3,000 men to meet him! It's just Your Majesty's safety......"

Li Zicheng said: "You don't have to worry about this. ”

Song Xiance said: "Don't send infantry, just send a cavalry, gallop forward, as long as we can get the northern wing city and contain Wu Sangui, we can go all out to break through Xiluo City and threaten Shanhai City!" ”

Li Guo ordered three thousand elite horsemen and galloped towards the north wing at a speed like a gallop.

In a few moments, you will be under the north wing of the city. Li Guo pointed at the people in the city with a horsewhip and said loudly: "Your Excellency, below is General Li Guo under the Dashun Emperor, who has come to receive Your Excellency." ”

The people in the city sneered and said, "Good coming! ”

Li Guo seemed to feel something, and suddenly said, "It's not good, withdraw quickly!" ”

Suddenly, several shells flew straight towards Li Guo's army, and with a loud bang, hundreds of cavalry on the ground exploded into the sky.

The people of the city laughed wildly, "I'll give you a taste of the power of the red-coated cannon!" Hit me hard! Fry Li Guo into minced meat for me! ”

In a moment, dozens of shells rushed towards Li Guo's side.

Li Guo ran while fighting, and when he rushed out of the range of the shelling, there were only a few dozen people left under his command, and all the rest were killed.

Li Zicheng offered advice to the south: "I don't know how Guo'er responded to the surrender. ”

Song Xiance was about to answer, only to see Li Guo covered in blood, rushing towards the mountain camp where Li Zicheng was, Li Zicheng was shocked, at this time Li Guo had approached, and said: "Father, the child was fooled, and only more than ten cavalry people came back alive, and the rest were killed." ”

Song Xiance let out a long sigh.

Liu Zongmin led his subordinates to surround Yang Shen, Wu Sangui sent several generals to rush into the encirclement and rescue Yang Shen.

The battle lasted until dark, and both sides of the Stone River were full of corpses, and the shouts of killing and artillery were still endless.