In Henan, the bleak wind blows, and the land is desolate.

Years of famine and constant wars have left Henan, the core birthplace of Chinese civilization, thousands of miles away, and many places have not been populated for dozens of miles.

At the beginning of August, the 100,000-strong army gathered by Sun Chuanting, the military governor of Henan, Sichuan, Shanxi, Huguang, Guizhou, Jiangnan, and Jiangbei provinces, was repeatedly urged by Emperor Chongzhen to march out of Tongguan. As Li Zicheng, who reacted, led the army to meet the attack, the battle of Henan at the end of Chongzhen's sixteenth year began.

Sun Chuanting's army had high morale and played triumphant songs all the way in Henan, while Li Zicheng, who was outnumbered, was beaten and "retreated".

This time, the troops went out of Tongguan, and Sun Chuanting commanded the general soldiers Bai Guangen, Gao Jie, Niu Chenghu and other troops with a total of 100,000 people, and the Shaanxi official army was "like a bamboo" all the way. In early August, Luoyang was occupied, and on September 8, Ruzhou was attacked, and Li Zicheng's army commander Li Yangchun, the fourth heavenly king, surrendered. Because of Li Yangchun's informant, Sun Chuanting decisively attacked Baofeng first with lightning speed, and then waved his army to Tang County to kill the families of the people's army placed there by Li Li Zicheng.

On 14 September, the main forces of the official army and the peasant army fought a fierce battle in Jiaxian, the peasant army was defeated and fled, the official army pursued closely, and the general Xie Junyou of Guoyi was captured and killed. The peasant army fled into Xiangcheng, and Sun Chuanting's army followed.

Sun Chuanting is indeed still very capable, but sometimes having ability does not mean everything. At this time, the sky did not fulfill people's wishes, and an unexpected continuous heavy rain came unexpectedly, which was a full seven days.

Due to the muddy roads and logistical supply difficulties, the officers and soldiers decisively broke through Jiaxian, but Jiaxian had already been empty because of the war, and the Ming army did not receive much provisions. At this critical moment, under the instruction of Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin led 10,000 cavalry from the small road to the rear of Sun Chuanting's army, which was regarded as cutting off the grain route of the official army.

In desperation, Sun Chuanting had no choice but to decide to return to the division to welcome grain, and he ordered Chen Yongfu, the general soldier of Henan, to stay in the barracks, and he was ready to lead the Shaanxi officials and troops to return to the division to open up the grain road. However, Chen Yongfu's subordinate soldiers believed that they were left behind to starve and act as substitutes for the dead. Under the indignation of the people, they did not listen to the order, and actually followed the Shaanxi official army and began to retreat. Due to hunger and distrust, Chen Yongfu was unable to control the situation, and his entire team was in such a state of chaos that it was completely out of control.

Li Zicheng's army, which had been preparing for a long time, saw the opportunity to attack decisively, and the officers and troops attacked from behind collapsed on all fronts. When the Ming army fled to Nanyang, Fang turned around to meet the battle. Under the coordination of Sun Chuanting, the two sides started a big battle. Sun Chuanting's general soldier Bai Guangen's troops were almost all chariot soldiers, and this army was the first to be unable to parry and was the first to rout. This defeat became even more and more uncontrollable, and it caused Sun Chuanting's entire army to collapse again.

In this way, the only "pair of belongings" in the Ming Dynasty was lost, and more than 40,000 people were killed by Li Zicheng, and Li Zicheng took advantage of the situation to enter Guanzhong. At the beginning of October, Tongguan fell, and Sun Chuanting's life and death were unknown. Soon, Li Zicheng's army successfully besieged Xi'an. On the 11th, Wang Genzi, the defender of Xi'an, opened the city gate and surrendered, Zhu Cunshu, the king of Qin, was captured alive, and Feng Shikong, the governor of Shaanxi, and others committed suicide.

The whole of Shaanxi was lost in this way.

The loss of Shaanxi also means that the traditional military bases of the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years have become the rear of the peasant army, and Li Zicheng's great revolutionary cause is in a very good form.

――――――――――

As Zhou Huchen expected, the wheels of history are spinning wildly.

Zhou Huchen, who got the battle report, finally began to act, and under the joint advice of him and Jian Chen, Zhou Yuji began to prepare to transfer troops south.

Zhou Yuji's first target was in Shanxi, an important defense system - the Inner Great Wall.

In order to resist the Mongol attack, the inner Great Wall was constantly set up in the north to set up dangerous passes and build a defensive line, forming the outer and inner borders. The inner side refers to the inner line of the Great Wall in Yanqing County, Hebei Province, which winds for more than 2,000 miles through Shenchi, Ningwu, Dai County, Shuo County, Hebei Wei County and other places. On this line of defense, a fort was set up at Chuangguan and the army was stationed. In the territory of Hebei, there are three passes along the line: Bauhinia, Fallen Horse, and Juyong, which are called the inner three passes. In the territory of Shanxi, set up three passes, Ningwu and Yanmen, which are called the outer three passes. Among the three outer passes, the head is the extreme edge, the Yanmen is the rush, and among the two passes of Ning Wujie, the control of the inner side is the head, and the situation is particularly important.

Ningwuguan has always been stationed here with heavy troops, the east can guard Yanmen, the west can aid the pass, the north can respond to Yunshuo, and the title of covering the land is advantageous.

Ningwu Pass is the most frequent pass of the wars in the past dynasties in the three passes, and when the northern ethnic groups go south, they must pass through the three passes. Due to the Yellow River as a natural risk, only the cavalry of the Huns can step on the ice in winter, while Yanmen takes the mountain as a natural risk, and the cavalry is difficult to break through. The Hui River that Ningwu Pass relies on is a seasonal river, in the season when the Hui River is broken, the Hun cavalry will wave along the river valley to the south, and reach the pass, the Hui River valley can accommodate "ten horsemen marching together", so most of the time, Ningwu Pass has become the main battlefield of the war between the nomads and the farming peoples. Historically, due to the feudal lords of the Xianbei, Turkic, Khitan, Mongolian and other nomadic peoples, they often chose Ningwuguan as the breakthrough point, so in many historical periods, the wars here almost continued year after year.

In the war records of Ningwuguan for thousands of years, a big battle in Zuihou should be now, which is a line of defense in Zuihou, Shanxi.

Shanxi is the barrier on the west side of Beijing, and if Li Zicheng wants to seize the world, Shanxi is almost a must-win place. Of course, Li Zicheng can also choose to bypass and give up Shanxi for the time being. However, since Li Zicheng has the ambition to seize the world, how can he let Shanxi threaten him on the side. Therefore, the first war in Shanxi is inevitable.

Datong Mansion is now a military group that is gradually gaining strength, and under the intention of Zhou Huchen, it has begun to operate vigorously for the war. At the end of October, when the first ice Ling appeared, Zhou Yuji's military order to recruit his master was issued to the entire Datong Mansion.

The order to recruit the master was given, and Zhou Yuji was shocked to find that this shijie was crazy. Recruiting a master who speaks foul words can also cause a flock to it, and the treatment of recruiting a master is very average in Zhou Yuji's opinion, only five cents of silver a month, and then it is full. In the face of the surging crowd, Zhou Yuji, who could barely leave the barracks, faintly felt what kind of suffering the famine and the plague had brought to the people in recent times, and a full meal made people so crazy.

On the 6th day of the 11th month of Chongzhen's 16th month, Zhou Yuji and Jian Chen led 30,000 horsemen and 20,000 masters to set off first, and their first goal was to enter the Sanguan defense line of the Inner Great Wall.

And Zhou Huchen, who had been working hard for weapons and equipment, was not in a hurry to go south, and he continued to implement his own Great Wall of Steel Jihua in the workshop.

In the workshop outside the city of Datong Mansion, now, the craftsmen are fighting for fate almost day and night. Long and short firearms, grenades, small artillery, armor, sabers, war knives, spearheads, shields, grain and grass and other weapons and equipment, as well as various material resources are constantly being transported along the Ningwu line.

On 27 November, Cai Maode, the governor of Shanxi, who had already received the battle report, gave Zhou Yuji an order to go south to Taiyuan. At the same time, Cai Maode began to arrange each line of defense separately, and sent an urgent request for help for 800 miles to the Beijing Division.

An inevitable battle is just around the corner.

PS: The end of the second volume. All the foreshadowing is complete, and a bloody battle is about to begin.

[Thanks in addition; Little Artillery 085, Sanniu AA, and Sword Qi Lingtian's reward! 】

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