Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai's troops marched thousands of miles in Sichuan, conquering more than a dozen prefectures and counties, and the ranks grew day by day. Yang Sichang tried his best to dispatch troops, encircled and intercepted, Zuihou lost his troops and lost his generals, and there was no result.

In addition to many objective factors and the so-called general trend, there are also personal subjective reasons for Yang Sichang. Wang Aoyong, the king of Yunyang Fuzhi, once commented on Yang Sichang and said: "Sichang has been using soldiers for many years, and he can't wipe out the thieves, not because he doesn't think about it for a long time, but because he is too bitter to worry about." In the world, it is easy to always follow the outline, but it is difficult to do everything carefully. What's more, the thief's situation is changing rapidly, and now thousands of miles of expedition opportunities are appropriate, everything is out of the hands of Sichang alone, and the documents go back and forth, and the orders are violated at every turn, so it is no wonder that the report of defeat has been heard repeatedly. …… The minister thought that the generals of the heir Chang did not need to be given the opportunity by everyone, but only needed to check whether the opportunity was appropriate, adhere to its essentials, remove its cumbersomeness, and make decisions to win. Why postpone the years, the teacher is paid? ”

Wang Aoyong's comments on Yang Sichang are still fair and insightful. In terms of self-righteousness and dedication, Yang Sichang does have many similarities with Emperor Chongzhen. He was indeed particularly smart and capable among the ministers in the late Ming Dynasty, but this kind of cleverness and ability was also an important reason for the thousands of miles of battle, the failure of scheduling, the discord between the generals and the commanders, and the discouragement of the army.

And Emperor Chongzhen always likes those courtiers who have internal consistency with him in some aspects, and it is rare to trust this Yang Sichang to the truth, of course, he can't listen to Wang Aoyong's words, so he issued a decree to plead on him, and still encouraged Yang Sichang to continue to do his own thing. Yang Sichang also couldn't listen to other people's opinions, and still managed everything to the end. By the spring of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, the war situation finally reached the point of no control.

Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai's entry into Sichuan completely disrupted the deployment of the Ming army to encircle and suppress the peasant army. At this time, because a large number of Ming troops were transferred to Liaodong to fight, the officers and troops in the Central Plains were already stretched. As soon as the combined forces of Zhang and Luo were so stirred up, the situation of the Central Plains encirclement and suppression of the peasant army was completely reversed. Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai's joint operation achieved extremely brilliant results, and also gave strong support to the peasant armies on other fronts.

At this time, taking advantage of the shrinking front of the Runing Army, the 5th Battalion of the Left Revolution also moved and hid in the Dabie Mountain area. And seeing that there is no Ming army around them that can threaten them, they will also be about to move.

And just when Yang Sichang was following Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai in a thousand-mile march in Sichuan, another peasant army suddenly appeared in Henan after being silent for more than two years. That was Li Zicheng's troops.

Li Zicheng's troops have been lurking in the mountainous areas on the border of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Hubei since the beginning of the 11th year of Chongzhen. There has been no movement, and the Ming court generally believed that this group of peasants had been completely annihilated, and the news of Li Zicheng's death was also circulating in the court and the opposition. But in the winter of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng's department miraculously reappeared, galloping through Xichuan and Neixiang in the southwest of Henan.

And the appearance of Li Zicheng. Immediately reflected his huge appeal, and the bandits everywhere finally had a backbone. Together with a large number of displaced people, they threw themselves into Li Zicheng's peasant army.

Originally to Henan. Li Zicheng's team is only more than 1,000 people, and in less than half a month, it has exceeded 10,000 people. In early January, it reached tens of thousands. In December of that year, Li Zicheng conquered Lushan, Jiaxian, Yiyang (now Ruyang), Yiyang, Yongning (now Luoning) and other counties, turning the entire eastern Henan region upside down.

And the Ming court was completely caught off guard by Li Zicheng's appearance. The eastern Henan region was also the most defense-empty place for the Ming army. Even Ru Ningjun was completely caught off guard by Li Zicheng's appearance.

At this time, the Runing Army, in accordance with Wu Shigong's predetermined Jihua, prepared to take advantage of the distance between Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai to return to Huguang, taking advantage of their distance with the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo. Engage in a large-scale rout, pursuit, and gain a large amount of land and population.

Therefore, the Runing Army has also concentrated its forces in Junzhou, Nanyang, and the southern area of Runing, and is ready to find the right time to send troops. Unexpectedly, the main force of the Runing Army was in the south, but Li Zicheng suddenly appeared in the north, which made the Runing Army unable to mobilize the army at all, and could only transfer part of the main force to the northern line of Runing, Nanyang and Guide, preventing Li Zicheng's peasant army from spreading to the area under its control.

As a result, the Runing army was unable to attack on the northern front in a short period of time, and Yan Jing, the governor of Ruzhou, did not hesitate to abandon the city and fled to Runing with his family after hearing that the Runing army had retreated the Tuntian Zhuangzi personnel in Ruzhou.

But at this time, no one cared about Yan Jing's sin of abandoning the city. On the nineteenth day of the first lunar month, Li Zicheng's tens of thousands of troops began to besiege Luoyang, an important town in eastern Henan. Luoyang is not only the ancient capital of all dynasties, gathering the essence of the Central Plains, but also the military key point that controls Guanzhong, Xiang and Yun, and has an extremely important position in politics, military and economy.

More importantly, Luoyang is also the residence of Zhu Changxun, the blessed king of the Ming Dynasty. And this Zhu Changxun is the son of Emperor Wanli and Concubine Zheng Guifei, Emperor Wanli once wanted to change him as the crown prince and the courtiers had a lot of trouble, and later changed the heir of Jihua Although it failed, Emperor Wanli gave this baby son in Luoyang a huge property, of which the land alone amounted to 20,000 hectares, in addition to a large amount of salt tax, commercial tax perennial income.

This blessed king is known as the rich world, and he is the closest to today's branches. He is the uncle of Emperor Chongzhen, and he is the eldest of his uncles, so he has the most noble status among dozens of princes of the clan. With such a prince living in the city, Luoyang's political significance is even more extraordinary.

But the defense of Luoyang City is almost a joke. Wang Shaoyu, the chief soldier of Luoyang, is quite famous among the generals who lead the troops in Henan, but this fame is not the ability to march and deploy positions, but the ability to deduct military salaries. Others are deducting sixty percent, his side is deducting eighty percent, and then one percent is sent to the pro-soldiers. The remaining one was given to the soldiers of Luoyang City, so this Wang Shaoyu had a nickname "Wang Bacheng", which was gradually omitted, and the word "Cheng" was removed, and it became "Wang Ba".

Because his subordinates lacked food and salary, the morale of the army was weak, and Wang Shaoyu had no ability except for greed, so no matter how many governors transferred Henan soldiers and horses, they couldn't draw his head, so this bad reputation has become a protective umbrella. Unexpectedly, now Li Zicheng has attacked Luoyang City.

And the soldiers in Luoyang City because of the general soldier Wang Shaoyu's deduction of military salaries, several times made a noise and mutiny, but it became a big disaster in Luoyang City. Therefore, in this critical season, the prefect of Luoyang and other officials in the city are really sad about the matter of paying. (To be continued......)