Li Zicheng's caution is not unreasonable.

Dispatching a large number of people to such a ghost place requires no simple manpower and material resources.

There are at least three of these requirements.

First: the national strength is not small, if there is not enough national strength, it cannot afford such consumption.

Second: ambition, of course, you can also think of this ambition as ambitious. This is a two-sided problem, after all, it is not possible to have national strength without air, and the national strength of the Northern Song Dynasty is actually not weak, but the courage to recover Yanyun may not be there. But the Han and the Tang Dynasty went to Dawan and Persia.

Third: it is to advocate force. Otherwise, you can't get a group of elites to come here and fight in the ice and snow except to throw the assassins and exiles to defend in this kind of place.

Zhang Xianzhong said: "Let's take a dozen first." ”

Li Zicheng nodded, agreeing with Zhang Xianzhong's approach.

When encountering such an unknown enemy, it is useless to talk about it, although you have a preliminary estimate of them, but the opponent's combat methods and strength, if you don't give it a try, you will never be able to adjust your own combat methods in a targeted manner.

There is only one dozen first.

So Li Zicheng said: "I will personally supervise the battle with you, and take a look first." ”

On the same day, the exile army arrived and took the lead in attacking the city.

However, this kind of siege warfare is actually quite dull.

The gunpowder of the wandering army is actually insufficient, after all, the supply is already too difficult, and it is a lone army, and there are a number of gunpowder that can be carried.

Fortunately, everyone can use local materials, make stone throwing trucks, and send people to roam around the periphery, organize a strong group of men and horses, and directly attack.

The Tsar's horses in the supply depot also seemed to realize that the comer was not the remnants of the khanate, and after a sudden attack, there was a loud bang.

Whether it was the Tsar's men on the high walls, or the people under the city, they all used firearms.

It's just that the effect is not good, because it is cold and snowy, especially for the Russians, the gunpowder is easy to get wet, and in the end, most of the attacks are still accompanied by bows and arrows.

But Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's men and horses are actually not much better.

In this era, firearms are actually technical arms, and the demand for baggage and supplies is extremely high, which makes it impossible to use firearms on a large scale without a stable logistics.

And the rogues weren't used to using firearms.

Even the Donglin Army was able to use the powerful firearms through repeated drills, countless indoctrination of the principles of firearms, and large-scale training of technical backbones in the army.

So, this fierce battle on the snowfield, in the end, is a duel of cold weapons.

Each other took out the catapults, while the defending side was armed with a large number of bows and arrows.

Occasionally, cavalry would take advantage of Li Zicheng's men and horses to rest and recuperate.

And Li Zicheng's old battalion team is by no means weak, they have a large number of war horses, and at the same time, the weapons are also extremely sophisticated, and they will mount their horses to meet the enemy with swords made of stainless steel.

In each fierce battle, after discarding some of the corpses, they seemed to sense each other's stubble, and immediately shrank back.

For Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, they did not feel nervous, although casualties occurred from time to time, and the other party was like a hedgehog shrinking up, which just catered to Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's thoughts.

You know, these two are both experienced veterans!

These enemies in front of them are only three or five hundred people, and for their expeditionary men, they are actually not fatal, even if they have occasional losses, they can afford it.

However, the greatest gain is to constantly observe the opponent's firepower, weapons, military training, and cavalry skills, and even the tactics adopted by the opponent after different situations occur.

It can even be said that a mere supply depot is nothing at all.

But these people in the supply station have actually become Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's experience package.

After a few days, it was about ......... The details of the other party were finally figured out by them.

Their cavalry was well-struck, and like omensmens, few of them were willing to retreat in battle, and generally did not retreat easily without receiving orders.

However, unlike the Mongols, they were better at flying horses, and their horses were explosive and hardy.

However, their infantry was obviously far from the cavalry, and more like farmers with temporary signs.

These 'peasants' seem to be quite adept at using firearms, but in this climate they are of little use, and their combat effectiveness is very questionable, so that most of the time their infantry is more like cavalry auxiliaries.

These people are very brave, and even in the face of many sieges, they have the determination to hold on.

Their military attachés seem to be of a good level, and they can still seize various fighters and choose tactics reasonably in the face of disadvantage.

It can be seen that the other party has a set of more effective training methods.

A few days later, Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng had a showdown.

Now that the details have been figured out, there is nothing to fight.

Because Zhang Xianzhong had already noticed that the other party was starting to kill horses.

This is clearly a situation of food shortage.

Immediately, Zhang Xianzhong immediately took a part of the men and horses, continued to move forward, searched and marched, and sure enough, dozens of miles away, found a grain team.

After the decisive attack, the grain team soon fell into the hands of Zhang Xianzhong.

And next, it's time to watch the excitement.

The people outside the supply station arrogantly set up a big iron pot and began to kill sheep.

The people in the supply station, choking back tears, killed the horses.

Everyone has meat to eat, but each other's moods are obviously different.

The men and horses of Tsarist Russia ate their own military horses, while Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng and others also ate their sheep.

After a month-long siege, the depot ran out of food.

Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng did not attack either, and the Russians obviously had no ability to break through.

It's like cutting flesh with a blunt knife, and I don't feel much pain at first, so I feel that I still have a chance, and by the time the other party tightens the rope and wants to struggle, it will be too late.

Of course, verbal fights are inevitable.

What Li Zicheng did every day was to repair the book to persuade him to surrender, and then the letter of persuasion would be translated into Mongolian by the accompanying Siberian Khanate captives and sent in.

He knew that these Tsarist Russians knew Mongolian.

Immediately afterwards, the other party also replied to the book, scolding Li Zicheng for a while, probably greeting the men and women of all Li Zicheng's families.

Li Zicheng was very patient and scolded back.

However, as time slowly passed, the momentum of the other party's scolding began to slowly become unconfident.

At the beginning, he still scolded Li Zicheng as a barbarian in the East.

Later, he became Your Excellency.

And then there was a noble Excellency.

Li Zicheng is not in a hurry, he is still trying, trying to find a way to understand and contact each other through these.

Only by knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent can one win a hundred battles.

And just like that, another half a month passed.

The Tsarists in the supply depot made a breakthrough, but it was a pity...... They don't have a chance anymore.

The outlying exile army surrounded it and finally completely captured the supply depot despite heavy losses, and at the same time captured more than 200 people.

Li Zicheng did not embarrass these captives, disarmed their weapons and horses, plundered their provisions, and even let them be released with a few days' dry food.

But within a few days, nearly half of the captives came back obediently.

In this kind of ghost place, staying in the wild is equivalent to sending you to death.

And they clearly felt that these Orientals were not killing on a large scale.

Therefore, the captives immediately judged that it was probably safest to stay with these Orientals.

Li Zicheng was undecided at this time.

Both he and Zhang Xianzhong seem to have encountered a problem.

"Release them...... There are two advantages, one is to break these people's will to fight, let them know that even if they lose, it is not a big deal, as long as they are willing to surrender, they can naturally be let go back. ”

Li Zicheng groaned and said: "And in this ghost place, manpower is the most useless, but the supply is the most important, release more people and let them return to the supply station in the rear, which is to consume their cattle, horses and food, the more they consume, the better it will be for us." And if these people stay with us, they will consume our provisions. Brother Zhang, what do you think? ”

Of course, Zhang Xianzhong knew Li Zicheng's intentions.

To tell the truth, the two of them have rich experience in fighting the enemy in the long-term process of wandering in the pass, Zhang Xianzhong thought about it, but proposed: "People naturally can't stay, otherwise, we will continue to attack with prisoners, and then find the opponent's stronghold and supply depot, and then release the people?" ”

Li Zicheng glanced at him, nodded, and finally sighed and said, "That's it." Let the brethren pay attention, and tell them that everyone is suffering, and that these high-nosed fellows are not unable to live, nor will they be sent here to defend them, but that they can give them a bite to eat, as long as they don't make trouble. ”

So, the mighty team continued to set off.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are now under tremendous pressure because ...... The Jiannu had already driven in from the other way, and they had to advance quickly, otherwise, the brothers had suffered so much that they had come here without delay, but they were lonely.

Sure enough, seven or eight days later, a new stronghold was discovered.

According to the original plan, more than 200 captives were immediately released on the spot.

A Russian officer led by the Tsarist was speechless, sent people to the supply point, ate and drank well all the way, and finally sent people back in person...... It's incredible.

So, he expressed his gratitude stupidly, and then led people into this new city of Tsarist Russia.