The wind was blowing so hard that the snow flakes flew through the air like torn cotton wool, falling in all directions aimlessly. The left and right sides of the path were covered with swept snow, as if two wide sides had been laid on the muddy path in the middle.

There are only a few pedestrians passing by in a hurry, and occasionally there is a small sedan chair with two people. In the face of the cold wind and snow, they showed a look of cringe. The snowflakes fell more and more, white and white all over the sky, falling in all directions, on umbrellas, on the roof of the sedan chair, on the sedan chair driver's hat, on the faces of pedestrians.

Li Zicheng and Li Yan strolled through the streets of Shuanghong Town, each wearing a thick cloak and a wide hat on their heads, followed by more than a dozen personal soldiers.

Looking at the snowflakes sprinkled all over the sky, Li Zicheng's mood at this time was as bad as this hazy weather, since November, Liu Zongmin, who was fighting in Jiangxi, has been constantly coming bad news, Liu Zongmin's offensive in Jiangnan was met with stubborn resistance from the Jiangnan gentry class, 70,000 troops suffered heavy losses, and finally had to lead less than 30,000 remnants of the army to withdraw from Jiangxi and return to Hunan to add wounds.

Liu Zongmin, who suffered the defeat, continued to scrape the ground in Hunan, and at the same time sent people to ask Li Zicheng for help, and after receiving Liu Zongmin's letter for help, Li Zicheng was also embarrassed.

After walking for a while, Li Zicheng stopped, turned to Li Yan and said: "Li Gongzi, Jiexuan's current words are very sad, now he has suffered heavy losses in soldiers and horses, with his less than 30,000 soldiers and horses, I think it is difficult to hold Hunan." ”

Li Yan shook his head with a heavy face, "King Chuang, the student also knows what you are worried about, but Shaanxi and Hunan are thousands of miles apart, and there is a Sichuan pestle in the middle, we are not capable of providing assistance to General Liu through the mountains." ”

Li Zicheng sighed lightly and was speechless for a while, when they came to Shaanxi, they arrived directly from the Hubei Plain to Shaanxi, but now Hubei is Pang Gang's territory, they can only pass through Sichuan if they want to help Liu Zongmin, who is far away in Hunan, not to mention that Sichuan is now Zhang Xianzhong's territory, even if Zhang Xianzhong does not stop them, they also arrived in Hunan through the mountains and rivers of Sichuan, which will soon make Li Zicheng die in a hurry.

Li Yan pondered for a long time, and then said slowly: "King Chuang, how about we let General Liu withdraw to Shaanxi, after all, Hunan is already being attacked on both sides at this time, if that Pang Gang launches an offensive against General Liu from Hubei, I'm afraid"

Li Zicheng's face suddenly became ugly, Liu Zongmin's situation was already very bad, at this time he had just been beaten by the gentry of the four provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, if he was beaten by Pang Gang from Hubei again, I am afraid it would be a big deal.

Li Zicheng patted his thigh fiercely and sighed: "Why, every time we lay the territory, we have to give it to others, and we always let that guy take advantage!" ”

Li Yan is also very speechless, in recent years, the army seems to be unfavorable for the years, every time under Pang Gang's hands, the army has worked hard to lay a territory, just after snatching it, Pang Gang's army will hang behind him like a hungry wolf, as long as they show a little flaw, they will not hesitate to pounce, Li Yan can be sure, if Liu Zongmin retreats from Hunan, he just walks on the front foot, Pang Gang's soldiers and horses will immediately enter Hunan on the back foot, is there anything more depressing in the world than this.

Thinking of this, Li Yan and Li Zicheng glanced at each other depressedly, the two shook their heads helplessly, Li Zicheng said angrily: "This matter still has to be discussed with everyone again, after all, Hubei has been lost, if Hunan is lost again, I am afraid that the army's heart will be shaken." ”

Although Li Zicheng said so, Li Yan also knew that this was just that Li Zicheng couldn't pull down for a while, and Liu Zongmin's soldiers and horses would have to withdraw to Shaanxi sooner or later to join the main force, otherwise what was waiting for him would only be eaten by the Ming army and Pang Gang's soldiers and horses.

When the two of them were relatively speechless, creaking footsteps sounded behind them, and Li Yan looked back and saw that it was Niu Jinxing walking briskly from behind.

"King Chuang, King Chuang, great joy, great joy!" Niu Jinxing trotted all the way to Li Zicheng, although the weather was cold, Niu Jinxing was still running out of breath and sweating profusely, which showed his anxious mood at this time.

Although he was in a bad mood, seeing Niu Jinxing's panting appearance, Li Zicheng couldn't help but joke: "Oh, what kind of happy event made Niu Junshi run so urgently?" Could it be that the Niu Bolt brothers have a crush on which girl again? ”

"Where, where, King Chuang smiled." Hearing Li Zicheng's joking words, Niu Jinxing's old face turned red, his precious son didn't forget to bring more than a dozen wives and concubines last time he even ran for his life, so that a batch of grain, grass, gold, silver and jewelry and even people and goods were sent to Pang Gang's Qingzhou army in vain, this matter has still become a laughing stock in the army, although Li Zicheng does not pursue Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and Li Yan's face, but there are still people who make fun of this matter from time to time.

"Okay, there must be something important for Master Niu to come here in such a hurry, let's sit down in this place and talk about it." Seeing Niu Jinxing so ashamed that his nose turned red, Li Yan, who was afraid that his friend would be embarrassed, changed the topic in a timely manner.

After hearing Li Yan's words, Niu Jinxing glanced at Li Yan gratefully and said: "King Chuang, good news, I just received the news that the armor equipment sent by the Jurchens has arrived in the town, and now Mr. Song is taking someone to inspect the goods." ”

"What? Where did the equipment arrive? Li Zicheng and Li Yan glanced at each other in surprise, and the two didn't care about talking, and hurriedly ran towards the center of the town.

When Li Zicheng and Li Yan hurriedly ran to the center of the town, they saw a large convoy parked in the town, this train was very long, there were more than 200 carts, and Song Xiance was leading hundreds of soldiers to unload the goods.

Seeing King Chuang and others coming, Song Xiance walked over on crutches and said with a smile: "King Chuang, Li Gongzi, it seems that those Jurchens are still quite trustworthy, saying that they delivered the goods before the Chinese New Year, and they really sent them." ”

"Hmm" Li Zicheng nodded, "But I still have to bother Mr. Song to inspect the goods, don't let those Jurchens prevaricate us with some broken copper and iron." ”

"King Chuang, don't worry, the Tartar wants to play this trick with us, it's a little more tender." When Song Xiance heard Li Zicheng say this, he couldn't help laughing, raised his left hand and stroked the long beard under his chin, and said conceitedly: "These weapons and armor have all been tested, and they are all good goods, but these birds are not very familiar." However, Poor Dao heard that Li Gongzi has a lot of research on firearms, so why don't you let Li Gongzi come to test it? ”

Saying that, Song Xiance squinted at Li Yan, and there was an unfathomable smile in his eyes.

Li Yan didn't shirk either, and walked up with a smile and said, "This is what students should do, but I don't know where those fire guns are now?" ”

Song Xiance glanced at the soldier beside him, who walked to a cart and pried open a box with an iron rod, revealing a box full of firearms. Li Yan's eyes lit up, and he walked forward quickly, picked up a firecracker, and looked at it carefully.

This is a brand-new fire gun, about four and a half feet long, weighing about twelve catties, its trigger, dragon head, cover, fire door cover are all made of copper materials, Li Yan carefully watched before he was satisfied with Li Zicheng said: "King Chuang, this is the standard bird's beak gun, and it looks very exquisitely made, I can't imagine that the Manchu people can make such a standard fire gun now." ”

Li Zicheng said happily: "This is very good, so that our army also has firearms, so that we can not be afraid of that Pang Gang." ”

After Pang Gang occupied Hubei, although he only left 20,000 soldiers and horses in Hubei, most of the 20,000 soldiers and horses lived in the Shizhouwei area on the border with Sichuan, and most of the 20,000 soldiers and horses were hoarded in the Hanzhong Mansion area on the border between Hubei and Shaanxi. It almost turned into a nervous breakdown.

And one of the most headaches for Li Zicheng is that Pang Gang's men and horses are completely different from the Ming army he has dealt with before, once the two sides come into contact, they will never fight with you one by one, but will shoot at you from a distance, you want to fight with others can't reach, so that the army is now worried when they see those musketeers.

"Come on, let's see how powerful this gun is." Li Yan was not as happy as Li Zicheng, but took out gunpowder, lead bullets and fire ropes from the cart and began to prepare for launch.

I have to say that Li Yan still knows a lot about firearms, he was ready in three or two clicks, and put a two-finger-thick wooden board in front of fifty steps, when the snorting fire rope burned out, the bird slammed into a loud noise, after the gunsmoke, everyone stepped forward to watch, only to see that the wooden board had been deeply embedded in the lead bullet, and the original round lead bullet still became a strange shape.

"Yes, yes!" Seeing this situation, Li Zicheng rubbed his hands excitedly and walked in front of the target, "With this batch of birds, we don't have to be afraid of that Pang Gang anymore, we also have a firearm that can compete with him." ”

Different from Li Zicheng's excited expression, Li Yan and Niu Jinxing Song and Offering Advice looked a little dignified, Li Yan sighed and said: "King Chuang, these bird guns are good, but if they are compared with the Qingzhou army, they are still a little worse." ”

Seeing Li Zicheng's puzzled gaze, Li Yan explained: "Don't forget, that Pang Gang's bird gun can shoot three hundred steps away, and the range is several times that of ours!" ”

"Uh, yes!" Only then did Li Zicheng remember that although the quality of these bird guns was good, they were still a lot worse than the bird guns of Pang Gang's corporaries.

(To be continued)