The sudden fiasco made Li Zicheng unbearable, and the retreating army pushed fifty miles wildly, and after the officers and soldiers stopped chasing and killing, most of the righteous sergeants were terrified, and some even screamed at night.

The final results were counted, and the rebels lost nearly 70,000 people.

Li Zicheng led an army of 300,000, and the loss in this battle was close to 30%, and no one could accept such a fiasco.

The fiasco is one thing, and more importantly, Li Zicheng has serious doubts about his own judgment, originally he thought that with the 300,000 army led by him and the 100,000 army led by Liu Zongmin, he would be able to sweep through Beizhili until he took the capital, but now it seems that this idea is too confident, and no one can imagine that the imperial army is so fierce.

Gu Junen wanted to talk about it several times, but Li Zicheng refused, he was waiting for Liu Zongmin's arrival.

It was impossible for the rebels to stay in Baoding Mansion for a long time, a large amount of grain and grass were lost, so that the grain of the rebels was insufficient, and after Liu Zongmin came to Baoding Mansion to make peace, Li Zicheng decided to lead the army to withdraw to Shanxi.

Li Zicheng thought about it alone for a whole day, he didn't understand why when the rebel army just entered Beizhili, it was smooth sailing, occupying Zhending Mansion and Daimyo's Mansion, as well as part of Hejian Mansion, but the first real battle ended in a fiasco, could it be that the Ming Dynasty really had God's blessing.

A day later, Liu Zongmin led 10,000 troops to Baoding Mansion and made peace with Li Zicheng.

The question of whether the rebels would stay or not was officially raised.

Li Zicheng's point of view is very clear, that is, the righteous army must withdraw to Shanxi, this fiasco, the righteous army is already demoralized, and the army must always monitor the official army to see if the official army will launch a sudden attack.

After Liu Zongmin understood the battle situation. There is no statement.

Gu Junen had a different opinion, he believed that the rebel army had already occupied the Zhending Mansion and the Daimyo Mansion, and could not completely evacuate because of a defeat, and the rebel army could completely occupy these places, gradually develop, and continue to pose a threat to the capital. Only in this way can the officers and soldiers not be able to rest and recuperate with peace of mind.

This time, Li Zicheng did not agree with Gu Junen's suggestion and insisted that the army should all withdraw to Shanxi and Henan.

At the critical moment, Liu Zongmin spoke, he thought that Gu Junen's suggestion still had some truth, it was not the first time that the rebel army had experienced defeat, and after every defeat before, it was able to regroup. Now the strength of the rebel army is completely different, the military strength is strong, although this defeat is a little too big, it does not mean that the rebel army will not be able to defeat the official army.

After Liu Zongmin expressed his opinion, Li Zicheng lost his temper, he thought that Gu Junen and Liu Zongmin's ideas were too optimistic, after all, Beizhili was the most important place in the Ming Dynasty, and the beast was still fighting. In the battle two days ago, the officers and troops broke out with strong combat effectiveness. It shows that the Ming court swore to defend the capital to the death.

Li Zicheng also believed that there was Zheng Jiajun in the south and Houjin Tatars in the north, and if the righteous army fought desperately with the official army, even if it could achieve the final victory, it would be a heavy loss. At that time, whether it was the Houjin Tartars or the Zheng Jiajun, after coming to the north, the righteous army could only obediently give up all the places they occupied, and they were powerless to resist at all.

After Li Zicheng threw out this point. Gu Junen and Liu Zongmin were silent.

The imperial court once asked the righteous army to capture Shaanxi, in fact, it was thinking that the righteous army and the Zheng family army were fighting, that is, thinking about making the strength of the righteous army greatly damaged, and now the righteous army attacked Beizhili, and the official army was fighting, and the loss of strength was greater.

In this controversy, Li Zicheng's decision was finally implemented.

The rebel army began to fully evacuate Beizhili, the army led by Li Zicheng withdrew from the direction of Zhendingfu to Shanxi, and the army led by Liu Zongmin withdrew from the direction of Daimyofu to Henan.

In the process of retreating, Li Zicheng ordered the soldiers of the righteous army to plunder the city they occupied, no matter what it was, as long as it was needed, they were all taken away, after this order was issued, the process of implementation quickly changed taste, women and money and food were plundered at the same time, some unarmed old and weak were killed, young men were forcibly recruited into the rebel army, houses were burned, and all parts of Zhending Mansion and Daimyo's Mansion fell into mourning.

Yang Sichang also faced a choice, whether to take advantage of the victory to pursue or stop fighting and keep Beizhili.

Yang Sichang's own opinion was to keep Beizhili and not to pursue the Liukou, and he even thought that the person who asked the army to pursue at this moment was a person with ill intentions, and in the twists and turns for the emperor and the court, Yang Sichang also suggested not to pursue the Liukou for the time being.

However, Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong and other generals had different opinions, they thought that it was the best time to pursue the Liukou at this time, the loss of the Liukou's grain and grass was too great to maintain it for a long time, and if they could launch a rapid pursuit at this moment, it would definitely cause a more significant blow to the Liukou.

Yang Sichang was noncommittal, he thought that the Liukou did not suffer a fatal blow, its main force was still there, and the pursuit of the Liukou at this time was very likely to stimulate the fighting spirit of the Liukou and fight desperately with the imperial army, after all, in terms of military strength, the imperial army was at an absolute disadvantage.

It was impossible for Yang Sichang to ignore the advice of Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong, he knew very well that the sharpness of the two on the battlefield was stronger than that of him, a handsome.

Yang Sichang insisted on his own understanding in his heart, and ordered the army not to pursue for the time being on the pretext of waiting for the emperor's decree or the imperial court's edict.

It was also at this time that the news of the complete evacuation of the Liukou from Beizhili came.

Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong were in a hurry, and repeatedly came to Yang Sichang to ask for battle, and the two implored to lead some of the sergeants to go to chase and kill the rogue, and the retreating rogues had no combat effectiveness.

Yang Sichang finally relented and agreed that the two of them would each lead 10,000 soldiers to pursue the Liukou from the two directions of Zhending Mansion and Daimyo's Mansion.

The order was given too late.

Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong each led a large army to pursue, after the Liukou learned that the official army came to pursue, he didn't care about the looting in the place, and accelerated the speed of evacuation.

In this process, Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong both had opinions on Yang Sichang.

It should be said that the battle commanded by Yang Sichang was indeed a rare victory, but after the victory, Yang Sichang was not able to decisively give an order to ask the imperial army to pursue the victory, and as a result, he lost the excellent opportunity to completely defeat the Liukou.

The purpose of fighting is not to capture a city, but to destroy the opponent's power.

Yang Sichang's mistake is too great, and I am afraid that it will cause incalculable losses to future expeditions.

After Zuo Liangyu arrived at Zhending Mansion City, he stopped the pursuit of the Liukou, and he did not have the courage to enter Shanxi to fight, after all, the number of soldiers under his command was too small to face hundreds of thousands of Liukou.

After He Renlong arrived at the Daimyo's Mansion, he also stationed in the Daimyo's Mansion City and stopped the pursuit of the Liukou, his thoughts were similar to Zuo Liangyu's.

Both of them are the general soldiers who have been fighting for many years, and they can still grasp the situation of the battle.

What's even more coincidental is that the two of them wrote a letter to Yang Sichang at the same time, imploring to be temporarily stationed in Zhending Mansion City and Daimyofu City.

The emperor's decree and the imperial edict arrived at the same time.

The edict required the imperial army to pursue the victory, and the edict was the same.

At this time, Yang Sichang realized that he had indeed made a mistake, and did not ask the imperial army to pursue the victory, which allowed the Liukou to breathe, in fact, the Liukou was not as powerful as he estimated, once he suffered a fiasco and his morale was low, he would plummet for thousands of miles, and at this time he was able to achieve an unexpected victory by pursuing the Liukou.

Fortunately, Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong led 20,000 soldiers to pursue.

When Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong's letter was delivered to Baoding Mansion City, Yang Sichang's face was very ugly, what did these two people mean when they were stationed in Zhending Mansion City and Daimyofu City, could it be that fortifications were built in these two places to prevent the Liukou from invading again.

At this time, Yang Sichang's mind had changed, and he decided to lead a large army into Shanxi to exterminate the Liukou.

The victory of this battle, as well as the emperor's decree and the imperial court's edict, gave Yang Sichang a lot of confidence, he no longer thought about stationing in Beizhili, but to take the initiative to attack, this battle captured a large amount of grain and grass, these grain and grass can be maintained for at least two months or so, plus some of the original storage of grain and grass, the army is enough to take the initiative.

Yang Sichang immediately replied to Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong, asking Zuo Liangyu to wait in Zhending Mansion City, and asking He Renlong to quickly lead the sergeants to Zhending Mansion City As for what to do next, Yang Sichang did not say it in the letter.

The official of the Ministry of Rites who came to announce the decree privately told Yang Sichang that the emperor attached great importance to this great victory, and thought that the imperial army would be able to completely exterminate the Liukou, and he also had enough confidence in Lord Yang.

The words of the Ministry of Rites officials made Yang Sichang feel like a pins and needles, he was bitter for his mistakes, if time could be reversed, he would not hesitate to order the army to pursue one after another, and even not to clean up and clean the battlefield for the time being.

However, it is still too late to act, the Liukou suffered a defeat, morale is low, at this time the imperial army suddenly entered Shanxi to fight, the Liukou must be caught off guard, if the opportunity is right, the imperial army can even completely exterminate the Liukou.

In just ten days, Yang Sichang's thinking has changed fundamentally, which is a little incomprehensible.

Yang Sichang would not know that his ideas would encounter strong opposition, because this was all wishful thinking on his part, unrealistic, the battle situation was changing rapidly, and once some opportunities were lost, they could never be recovered. (To be continued.) )