At the end of December, although it is about to enter the first year of Yongchang, followed by the Spring Festival, there is no joyful atmosphere in Beijing. After the Battle of Shanhaiguan was over and the Dashun army returned to Beijing, Li Zicheng ordered the closure of the Nine Gates.

Although the Battle of Shanhaiguan failed, the main force of the Dashun army entering the Beijing division was still there, coupled with the reinforcements of Liu Fangliang's troops and the counterattack organized by Li Yan to collect the rest of He Renlong's troops, the Qing army's offensive speed was forced to slow down for a while.

The two sides started a tug-of-war on the front line of Juyong Pass and Zijing Pass, and the strange thing is that in these days, the Qing army's attack posture has also decreased compared with the Shanhaiguan Pass, which makes Li Yan and Liu Fangliang very surprised, but the specific reason is not clear, but it is obvious that the Qing army is a little absent-minded.

However, from December 25, the frequency and intensity of the Qing army's attacks increased significantly, and the Hongyi artillery of the Wuzhen Chaoha headquarters began to exert its power. The Qing army concentrated its firepower and attacked the Bauhinia Pass, and within two days, a gap was opened and swarmed in.

Bauhinia Pass was lost, the general of the Shun army, Zhou Lieng was killed, and the defense line of the Dashun army was immediately defeated. Originally, Zijing Pass and Juyong Pass both kept a large number of firearms and artillery of the Ming army, but the Dashun army failed to make full use of these weapons to stop the Qing army's attack, so that when facing Wuzhen Chaoha, it was completely pressed and beaten, and there was no power to fight back.

Juyong Pass and Bauhinia Pass fell one after another, making the Jingshi also become noisy. The wind in the city rumored that Pingxi Bo Wu Sangui led the eastern soldiers to avenge the Chongzhen Emperor, defeated the thieves in a row, and was about to approach the Beijing Division, and the center of the city immediately began a series of actions to the widows and young of the Ming Dynasty, assassinating the generals of the Shun Army everywhere, which also made the ruling layer of the Great Shun Army furious, so as to begin a large-scale search in the city, and a new round of chaos in the Beijing Division was generated again.

In this case, there was news that Li Zicheng was going to abandon the capital and retreat to Shanxi.

On December 29, Li Yan led Shen Ce, Yang Fu and other personal guards to hurriedly enter the Beijing Division, and the purpose of his visit was to persuade Li Zicheng to abandon his plan to withdraw from the Beijing Division.

After entering the Beijing Division, Li Yan's frowning brows have not been stretched, looking along the street, the once prosperous Beijing Division is now devastated everywhere, the Dashun soldiers are busy snatching and concentrating all kinds of materials, everyone is carrying large bags and small bags, Shaanxi and Shaanxi accents come and go, and the corpses of the people lying on the street corners come into view from time to time. Seeing the slight knowledge, Li Yan at this time had already understood that the military spirit of the Dashun Army had begun to be chaotic.

At this time, even if Li Yan had the heart to take care of it, he was also powerless.

When he arrived at the palace gate, without waiting for the report of Yulin's pro-army, Hu Quan had already greeted him, and it could be seen that he was also very anxious, as soon as he saw Li Yan's figure, he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, trotted all the way over, and flatteringly grabbed the reins of Li Yan's mount, "General, you can be regarded as coming!" ”

"Where is Your Majesty?"

"His Majesty and the Empress Mother are now waiting in the Imperial Palace!"

Li Yan didn't care about talking nonsense with him, let Hu Quan lead the way in front, and hurriedly went straight to the Imperial Palace.

The palace was deserted, and although there was no chaos and noise outside, it was filled with an oppressive silence.

The Taihe Hall was also a lot more deserted, Li Zicheng's tall body was already a little rickety, and a bright yellow dragon robe was worn on his body, which was intertwined with the gloom on his face, but it made Li Yan, who had just entered the hall, a little delusional, how could this atmosphere and feeling be so similar to the original Emperor Chongzhen. Although Li Yan had never seen Emperor Chongzhen's appearance, when he thought about it, the depression and despair of the dying generation of emperors who were coming to an end were nothing more than that!

Seeing Li Yan enter the hall, Queen Gao beside Li Zicheng coughed lightly, and the few civil and military forces in the hall also turned their heads. Song Xiance, Niu Jinxing, Li Guo, Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, and Yuan Zongdi are among them.

"Lin Quan!" Li Zicheng suddenly raised his head, and the first thing he said when he saw Li Yan was to ask, "How is the war going now?" ”

"Juyong Pass and Bauhinia Pass have fallen, and the Dongyu army has approached the Beijing Division!"

"Ahh Li Zicheng was startled, and a piece of jade in his hand fell to the ground and shattered.

Liu Zongmin, who was arrogant and domineering in the past, also lost his voice, standing in the corner with his hands on his hips, not knowing what he was thinking. Niu Jinxing hurriedly advised Li Zicheng, now the Dashun royal family and military ministers are all in the Beijing division, the Qing army is pursuing, once the siege is closed, it will not become a turtle in the urn, please Li Zicheng immediately make a decision, immediately withdraw from the Beijing division, and retreat to the Shanxi area. There are still more than 200,000 Shun troops there, which is enough to deal with the Qing army.

Li Yan immediately objected. He was built to defend the Beijing Division, because in the battles of Juyong Pass and Zijing Pass, the 7th Battalion had already discovered that something seemed to have happened in the Qing army, otherwise it would not have hesitated in front of the pass for several days. After that, the main force of the Qing army showed signs of decreasing, and in the battles of Juyong Pass and Bauhinia Pass, the Qing army succeeded completely by relying on fierce artillery fire, and the Dashun army had to swallow the evil consequences precisely because of its contempt for artillery and firearms.

At present, there are more than 60,000 elite people of the Dashun army in the Beijing division, and with the large number of Francophone artillery and various firearms accumulated in the arsenal of the Jiancheng and the Daming Beijing camp and the military department, as well as the mountains of gold, silver, grain and grass collected by the Shun army, it can completely defend the Beijing division.

Niu Jinxing sneered, "General Zhi is so big. But you may not know that our army has occupied the Beijing division for a short time, the people's hearts have not yet settled, our army encountered a setback in the battle of Shanhaiguan, and the wealthy families, former Ming Xungui, Wenchen, etc. in the Beijing division are all ready to move. Besides, now that the armies of Zhu Ping'an and Sun Chuanting of Shandong and Jiangzuo are around, fighting fiercely with our army in Henan and Huguang, and Zuo Liangyu's 200,000 troops are in Wuchang, which may go north at any time, and the Beijing division is in the place of four wars, can you ensure that my Dashun reinforcements will be able to reinforce in time? ”

Niu Jinxing's words Li Zicheng nodded again and again, thinking deeply. In the first battle of Shanhaiguan, in the face of the unstoppable Eight Banners elite cavalry and overwhelming artillery fire, the Dashun army has developed a deep awe of the Qing army's combat power. There are not many elites of the Dashun army, and the elites of the Ming army are often used as cannon fodder, not to mention the tactics that have been fixed and formed by the Ming army, so most of the Ming army's troops are not working. Most of the elites of the Dashun army itself are farmers and homeless people who have become monks halfway, and they have become soldiers in a hundred battles in battles again and again, but in the face of such a strong opponent as the Eight Banners, they have made a judgment.

At this time, Li Zicheng deeply felt that when he entered Beijing City, the so-called hegemony of the world was just a beginning, and he was so invincible, and now he found that the strong enemy was around, and the so-called Dashun Xiongshi was so vulnerable.

"Your Majesty is not possible!" Li Yan knelt down at the bottom of the steps, and couldn't help but burst into tears, "The minister is only afraid that His Majesty will withdraw today, so there will be no day to kill again!" ”

"Li Linquan, you are untrustworthy!" Niu Venus shouted angrily.

"Your Majesty, what Prime Minister Niu just said, is a matter, and the minister is powerless to refute it, but there is one thing that the minister must explain that in the past, His Majesty fought the world and also encountered setbacks, many of which were a hundred times more dangerous than today's situation. Now, my Dashun has entered the center of the world, and it seems that it will sweep the world, and your majesty must not give up lightly for a small setback. I Dashun occupies Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Huguang and other places, although there are millions of troops, but there are many of them before the Ming Dynasty will surrender to the pawn, once I Dashun withdraws from the Beijing Division, it will make these former Ming generals, now the Dashun Governor has lost confidence in the imperial court, more importantly, now the former Ming Prince Zhu Cihong has ascended the throne in Nanjing, then, in case these surrendered governors have different intentions, then in the blink of an eye, my Dashun will fall apart! ”

"Therefore, our army must fight to the death in the Beijing division and the eastern captives, and now there are also changes in the eastern captives, coupled with the distance from Liaodong, the supply is difficult, and our army has a good chance of winning. If this battle can be won, on the one hand, it can make the Dongyu forced to retreat to the outside of the pass, and on the other hand, it can stabilize the court of our Dashun, make the governors and generals of various places return to their hearts, and deter the small court of the puppet Ming Dynasty in Nanjing. The minister can use the head of the item to guarantee, as long as His Majesty will hand over the military power of the Beijing division and the right to arbitrariness to the minister, the minister is willing to be my great Shun Yu Qian Yu Shaobao, and he will definitely return His Majesty with a big victory! ”

"This!" Li Zicheng suddenly felt a little flustered.

"Li Linquan!" Liu Zongmin finally couldn't help but jump out. Because of chasing stolen goods, killing Wu Xiang, and forcing Wu Sangui to rebel, Liu Zongming was already blamed by Li Zicheng. In the battle of Shanhaiguan, the commander of the old sixth battalion was defeated and lost, and Liu Zongmin couldn't raise his head. But now, Li Yan wants to ask Li Zicheng for military power and the command of the entire Beijing Division, which Liu Zongmin can no longer bear. If Li Yan really gets the military power, I'm afraid that he, Liu Zongmin, will be the first to be unlucky!

"Li Linquan, your fox tail is finally revealed!" Liu Zongmin pointed at Li Yan and scolded: "Are you trying to force the palace?" ”

"When the battle of Shanhaiguan was in full swing, you didn't report to Your Majesty, so you led the army to kill the Gonghe Renlong of Lu Guo, and also took the soldiers and horses under his command as your own, and now the men and horses in your rear camp have swelled to 30,000 people, and they are all the elite of the Qin army of the former Ming Dynasty, and now you want to ask Your Majesty for the military power of the main force of the Jingshi and my Shun army, I want to ask you, are you going to fight for Dashun and the Eastern Soldiers? Or do you want to take the opportunity to hold the Son of Heaven hostage in order to order the princes? ”

Liu Zongmin's endless tirade made everyone in the hall a little surprised for a while, and Niu Jinxing was full of red light, because Liu Zongmin finally said his heart, and couldn't help but applaud secretly.

Niu Jinxing smiled gloomily, looked at Li Yan and Song Xiance, who were full of horror, and finally released the biggest killing weapon in his hand.

"Song Junshi, general, judging from your true appearance, you do have bad intentions! A few days ago, there were rumors in the Beijing division that the 'Eighteen Children's Main Artifact' was someone else, and it seems that the initiator behind this may be ......! No wonder, today's ** two people sing and harmonize, it turns out to be ......, haha! ”

"Thieves talk nonsense!" Li Yan was furious, holding the hilt of his sword, and was about to scold Niu Jinxing, but a huge pain hit him in his heart, his body spasmed, and he spit out a mouthful of blood when he opened his mouth. R1152