Leaving from the capital and heading to Hejian Mansion, the situation he saw along the way made Yang Sichang's hopes become more and more slim.

Along the way, you will see either corpses or walking dead.

The distance from the capital to Hejian Fucheng is neither long nor short, and Yang Sichang has not encountered anything worth being happy about.

There is not a single living person in the whole village and town, and the bandits who were rumored to be arrogant in the past have not been encountered, even if they come out to rob a few people, the wind can blow them down, and the personal soldiers around Yang Sichang can solve it by dividing them by two.

This is by no means a good thing, what makes Yang Sichang even more chilling is that when he saw the gasping people along the road, his eyes were numb and hateful when he looked at them, what this meant, he knew very well.

On the fifteenth day of the first month, Yang Sichang rushed to Hejian Fucheng.

The Lantern Festival is a traditional festival, the whole family gathers together to eat the Lantern Festival, symbolizing reunion, but entering the city, Yang Sichang does not feel the atmosphere of the festival at all, and the whole city is lifeless, as if it has lost its vitality.

Yang Sichang's mood dropped to the freezing point, and the hope in his heart was gradually lost.

When he saw the army, Yang Sichang gasped.

The sergeant's face was similarly numb, and he could even see the dishes.

After careful questioning, Yang Sichang learned that the army's grain and grass were obviously insufficient.

Yang Sichang, who was furious, began to ask officers at all levels, although it was said that there was a matter of reselling grain in the capital, but the army's grain was completely guaranteed, and after the grain arrived at the wharf, the grain needed by the army was quickly transported away, and Yang Sichang arranged for the officials of the military department to go to the wharf in person.

The answer he got made Yang Sichang miserable, and his assurance proved that the army's food was not all in place, and the military food that could be transported to various places was deducted layer by layer, and after it really arrived at the destination, it was far from the original amount. In the past, officers in the army used to deduct military rations and salaries, but this time there was really no deduction, because there was no food to deduct, and if they continued to deduct, I am afraid that people in the army would starve to death.

Yang Sichang felt a mountain tilt in his heart, which was probably the manifestation of the end times. He worked hard to rush from his hometown to the capital, in order to save the Ming Dynasty, and now it seems that all his efforts are in vain.

At this time, Yang Sichang could not hold those who resold grain responsible, he had to lead a large army to aid Baoding Fucheng, there was a possibility that he did not dare to imagine, that is, Baoding's grain was also detained. There are also deficiencies.

Yang Sichang ordered his own soldiers to rush to the capital quickly, and quickly mobilized 10,000 stone of grain for the army that was about to go out of Hejian Mansion, this batch of grain must arrive in Baoding Mansion within ten days and be sent to the army.

On the seventeenth day of the first month, Yang Sichang led the army from Hejian Mansion to Baoding Prefecture.

Hejian Fucheng is only two hundred miles away from Baoding Fucheng. If the army picks up the march, it will take four to five days at most. Such a marching speed does not consume the sergeant's physical strength too much.

After the army set off, Yang Sichang did not have any smile on his face, and he did not ask the army to speed up the march.

The scouts have been dispatched to reconnoiter intelligence along the way, and some of the scouts have been sent to the periphery of Baoding Mansion to reconnoitre, trying to spy on the situation in Baoding Mansion as much as possible. Although Yang Sichang thinks that it is unlikely that he will find intelligence, he must know that there are a large number of rogues besieging Baoding Fucheng, and they will be prepared for everything.

Li Zicheng's decision to attack Beizhili again made many people wonder that the rebels had suffered heavy losses in the battle to attack the city of Baoding a few months earlier. It is said that Li Zicheng, who took the initiative to retreat, should have died down and recuperated, and Li Zicheng sent Li Guo to Nanzhili to buy hundreds of thousands of stone of grain, which also allowed the righteous army to overcome the difficulties of food shortage.

Li Zicheng made up his mind to attack Beizhili again, on the one hand, because of the information he received from the capital, and on the other hand, because of Gu Junen's advice.

The information obtained by the capital is very clear, that is, the Ming court has fallen into a food shortage, not only the people are seriously short of food, but even the army stationed in various places is seriously short of food, and the diseases that are raging in various parts of the North Zhili have taken the lives of many people, and it has also seriously affected the imperial army.

This was not the main reason why Li Zicheng decided to attack Beizhili again.

The real reason is Li Guo's description of the situation in Nanzhili.

After Li Guo returned to Shanxi, he described in detail all the situations he saw after entering Nanzhili, and his face and mouth revealed a look of envy, as if Nanzhili was heaven, the speaker had no intention, and the listener had a heart.

The situation described by Li Guo was listened to by Gu Junen, and Li Zicheng also listened.

Zheng Jiajun will be the most powerful opponent of the righteous army, think about Zheng Jiajun living in the rich Nanzhili, and then look at the righteous army, living in the barren north, such a situation can not be improved, and the final outcome is needless to say.

Gu Junen first put forward a suggestion, the righteous army must put aside everything, decisively launch an attack on Beizhili, and be able to occupy Beizhili and even the capital of the Ming Dynasty, then the territory controlled by the righteous army has greatly increased, and the territory has increased, so that it is possible to expand its strength, and after occupying the rich capital, the supply of the righteous army has been guaranteed, and there is also the possibility of resisting the Zheng army.

Li Zicheng has experienced many years of conquest and understands the truth here, so he hesitates to attack Beizhili, which may encounter stubborn resistance and cause heavy losses to the righteous army, in that case, even if the righteous army occupies Beizhili or even the capital, it will not be able to resist the attack of the Zheng army.

Gu Junen's words made Li Zicheng make up his mind, that is, there is no way out by waiting.

This sentence woke up Li Zicheng, the chaos in the north lasted for so long, why did the Zheng family army not launch a large-scale attack, people are waiting, waiting for the best opportunity, if Zheng Xunrui is not extremely smart and extremely wise, it is impossible to create a strong Zheng family army single-handedly, on the other hand, according to the previous analysis, the righteous army can also wait, waiting for the best time, but unfortunately, the land in the north is barren, and the righteous army has fallen into a situation of lack of food, if it is not for the purchase of 300,000 stone grain from the south, It simply can't be sustained.

From this level, the Zheng family's army can wait for the collapse of the righteous army or even the imperial army, and the righteous army will stick to waiting, and the strength will become weaker and weaker, once the south no longer trades grain, the righteous army is likely to collapse in a short time.

The rebels can't afford to wait, and only by taking the initiative can they survive.

Li Zicheng is not an indecisive person, he has rebelled for so many years, I don't know how many blows he has suffered, there are only a dozen people around him at the worst time, and it has not developed to such a scale, Li Zicheng is not afraid of losses, as long as the losses are worth it.

After several discussions with Gu Junen, Li Zicheng made up his mind and did his best to attack Beizhili, and the rebels had no way to retreat.

Under such circumstances, the rebel army under Li Zicheng suddenly launched an attack on Beizhili.

When the offensive just started, Li Zicheng was also very worried, after all, no one wanted to suffer too many defeats.

However, the smooth battle made Li Zicheng not expect that the rebel army, which was divided into two routes, took Zhending Mansion and Daimyo's Mansion with lightning speed, giving large-scale casualties to the officials and soldiers, and the unprepared officers and troops gave up Zhending Mansion and Daimyo's Mansion and evacuated in the direction of Baoding Mansion.

This time Li Zicheng no longer cares about Hejian Mansion, and does not think about the matter of Cao Liang, it is now winter, Cao Yun has long stopped, and it is undoubtedly a stupid move to divide troops to attack Hejian Mansion, he gave Liu Zongmin an order, and the army is all attacking in the direction of Baoding Mansion.

Soon, the rebels besieged the city of Baoding.

The situation that Li Zicheng feared did not appear, and all the officers and soldiers retreated into the city, without any resistance from the periphery.

Along the way, Li Zicheng also saw the ruins of Beizhili.

There were almost no living people along the road, and there were no living people in the whole village, not even the bandits.

The food shortage in Beizhili has reached a certain level.

This greatly increased Li Zicheng's confidence, and after the army led by Liu Zongmin arrived at Baoding Fucheng, Li Zicheng decided to immediately launch an attack on Baoding Fucheng, and this suggestion was once again stopped by Gu Junen.

Gu Junen's opinion is very clear, there is a food shortage in the Ming Dynasty, so Baoding Mansion must also be short of food, as long as it is besieged, the city will run out of food in a short time, and at that time, it will be very simple to take Baoding Mansion City.

Gu Junen also reminded Li Zicheng that the righteous army surrounded the city of Baoding, and the Ming court would definitely send reinforcements to come, and the important thing that the righteous army needed to focus on at the moment was to defeat the officers and troops who came to help.

Li Zicheng once again adopted Gu Junen's suggestion.

The city of Baoding was firmly besieged.

Li Zicheng did not rush to attack, this time he carried enough food, and the army was enough to maintain, while the officers and troops in Baoding Mansion might not be able to maintain it.

Speaking of the battle ahead, Li Zicheng found that many officers and soldiers had vegetables on their faces, obviously due to lack of food.

After besieging Baoding Mansion City for only a few days, Li Zicheng received a report from the scouts, and the officials and troops of Hejian Mansion City came to the aid of Baoding Mansion City, and the number of officers and soldiers was quite large.

Everything was said by Gu Junen, and Li Zicheng was also fully prepared, he ordered Liu Zongmin to lead 200,000 righteous soldiers to continue to surround Baoding Fucheng, and he himself led 200,000 righteous troops to advance in the direction of Gaoyang City, and he wanted to defeat the official army that came to reinforce in Gaoyang.

In a few months, the situation was completely reversed, Li Zicheng occupied a huge advantage, and the imperial army was at an absolute disadvantage, no one could have imagined that the emperor in the capital was still looking forward to the news of Yang Sichang's victory again, but unfortunately this time the Ming court was destined to be difficult to get good news. (To be continued.) )