It was early December.

Li Zicheng's army had been staying in Luochuan County for ten full days.

Ten days have passed, Li Zicheng still has not finally made up his mind, and he is still hesitating between going north and going south, this is really a difficult choice.

But today, Li Zicheng finally made a decision to go south!

The reason that prompted Li Zicheng to make up his mind was very simple, the news of the defeat of Kip Shiguan had reached Luochuan.

Knowing that Yuan Zongdi and Chen Yongfu's army were defeated at Kip Shi Pass, Yuan Zongdi fought to death, Li Zicheng no longer dared to be lucky, if he insisted on going north at this time, the Dashun Dynasty would die if he didn't do well.

So Li Zizhi started the breakpoint with an army of more than 200,000 and returned south.

In addition, Li Zicheng also ordered Liu Fangliang to take 20,000 elite soldiers to fortify Tongguan.

Li Zicheng is not the previous grass coarse, and he knows that Tongguan is very important to Dashun.

After Liu Fangliang, the general of the left battalion, received the order, he immediately led 20,000 elite soldiers of his headquarters to rush to the aid of Tongguan day and night.

The straight-line distance from Luochuan to Tongguan is only 300 miles, but the actual mileage is nearly 500 miles, Liu Fangliang's troops marched for four days and nights, only slept less than three hours a day, and finally arrived at Tongguan on the fifth day.

Almost as soon as Liu Fangliang's army arrived at Tongguan on the front foot, Jiannu also arrived on the back foot.

……

Looking at the dense Dashun army at the head of Tongguan City, Duoduo knew that there was no chance.

It seems that the Dashun army has received the report of defeat and has transferred reinforcements from Xi'an.

In this case, it is no longer possible to sneak attack, so you can only attack head-on, but if you want to attack, you must rely on the power of the red-coated cannon.

Times are no longer the same.

So the siege tactics are also very different.

In ancient times, siege was to build all kinds of siege equipment, and ants were attached to the siege.

But now, this tactic has become outdated, and the current siege tactic is to bombard the city with red-coated cannons, first use red-coated cannons to blast out a gap in the city wall, and then attack directly from the gap.

Compared with the ant-attached siege, the red-coated cannon siege not only has less losses, but also can seriously weaken the morale and will to fight of the enemy, and the subsequent battles will be easier.

Duoduo immediately ordered: "Pass the order, and the army will retreat ten miles back and set up camp!" ”

"Huh!" A group of cavalry immediately dispersed, and soon, the Jiannu army lined up in front of Tongguan slowly retreated.

……

At this time, in a canyon in Hongnong County.

Yidin was hunting the two Jiannu messengers.

The Yiding who participated in the hunt had seven or eight horses, and his riding skills were obviously better than those of the Jiannu messengers, and more importantly, the war horses of Yiding were also more miraculous and faster than the war horses of the Jiannu messengers.

Soon, Yidin was within thirty paces.

Immediately, the two Yiding set off the three-eyed guns in the rush.

"Boom!" There was a loud bang, and the smoke of gunpowder filled in an instant.

Thirty paces ahead, one of the Jiannu messengers' horses fell in response.

The Jiannu messenger on horseback also fell down, but this Jiannu was also very skilled, and after landing, a group of bodies rolled over, and then unloaded the huge inertia, and jumped up and galloped forward.

However, after running not far, Yiding caught up from behind, and one of them turned his eyes upside down, and according to Jiannu's vest, Jiannu immediately opened his mouth and spewed out a large mouthful of old blood, and fell to the ground.

In addition, several horsemen stepped over Jiannu's body, and one of the iron hooves stepped on Jiannu's head, and when he heard a pop, Jiannu's head shattered like a watermelon.

"Chase, don't let the rest run away!" Yiding chased after him.

Continue to encircle and intercept the remaining messengers.

The rest of the horseman Jiannu panicked, and whipped the war horse under the crotch with a whip.

Jiannu's war horse neighed in sorrow and began the final sprint with all his might.

But unfortunately, Yiding, who was chasing behind him, also decisively began to sprint, so the distance between the two sides was not widened, but was still slowly approaching.

……

Geng Jimao was completely anxious.

Yes, the remaining messenger is Geng Jimao.

Ten days ago, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming sent messengers for the first time, and together with Geng Jimao, they sent more than 100 good soldiers, but as soon as they left the camp, they were hunted by the Ming army.

In the end, less than half of the messengers were left to break through the interception of the Ming army.

However, the Ming cavalry did not rest and continued to pursue endlessly.

In order to avoid pursuit, Geng Jimao and the remaining Jiannu messengers used all kinds of means, such as detours, hiding, night walks, and even Qiao Xiang refugees, but they were still hunted by the Ming army one by one.

Geng Jimao, the turtle grandson, was still a little clever, with another Jiannu messenger, after breaking out, he did not go directly to the direction of Tongguan, but first walked back for hundreds of miles, and then turned around and walked more than a hundred miles to the south.

Geng Jimao did not choose the official road, but chose a small road.

After walking in the mountains for ten days, walking nearly hundreds of miles, and estimating that he had reached the boundary of Hongnong County, Geng Jimao finally returned to the official road with another Jiannu, thinking that it was only more than 100 miles from Hongnong to Tongguan, and no matter how crazy the Ming cavalry was, they would definitely not chase here, so Hongnong should be safe.

Then, the two were chased and killed by Yiding.

At this moment, Geng Jimao really wanted to cry, it was too bullying.

Chongzhen, you are a dog emperor, you really don't leave people a way to live.

This has already reached the Hongnong land boundary, and there will still be Yiding haunting?

However, it was useless to cry or curse, Yidin was behind him.

"Boom!" Suddenly there was a loud noise, and then Geng Jimao heard a wail from the war horse under his crotch, and then the whole person flew out, and the war horse was shot!

Fortunately, Geng Jimao is also skilled in bow horses.

As soon as the man reached the air, he curled up in a ball.

Therefore, after hitting the ground, it rolls forward like a ball.

Roll out more than a foot to unload the huge inertia.

Then he got up and ran forward in a daze.

But after running a few steps, Geng Jimao stopped alive.

Because there is a cliff further on, and I almost fell down just now.

The several horsemen chasing behind him also found that there was a cliff in front of them, so they slowed down one after another, then stopped ten steps away, and then raised the three-eyed gun in his hand to aim directly at Geng Jimao.

Geng Jimao gritted his teeth and jumped off the cliff.

Staying on the cliff anyway is certain to die.

If you jump off a cliff, there may be a chance to live.

Only then did he urge his horses to come to the cliff.

One of them said, "Do you want to find a way down and have a look?" ”

Another Yiding said: "Forget it, such a high cliff, if you fall down, you will die." ”

At that moment, a few Yiding stopped staying, and Gu Zi left on horseback, and the entire cliff quickly returned to its original silence.

After a long time, a cluster of bushes about ten meters away from the top of the cliff began to shake, and then the gray-faced Geng Jimao crawled out from under the bushes.

Although he is not dead, Geng Jimao has fallen into a desperate situation.

Because one of Geng Jimao's arms and legs has been broken, this cliff more than ten meters high has become an insurmountable natural hazard, how to climb it?

……

Geng Jimao was in a desperate situation, and Geng Zhongming, Kong Youde, and more than 10,000 Eight Banners Han troops were also in big trouble.

At this time, the Eight Banners Han Army had been trapped by the Ming Army in a canyon in Xin'an County, which was only more than 100 miles away from Luoyang, which means that these days, the Eight Banners Han Army only walked more than 100 miles.

Well, it's not quite appropriate to say that the Eight Banners Han Army was trapped.

Because Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming took the initiative to decide to stay in this canyon.

The reason why I stayed in this canyon is because of the terrain.

The canyon here is like a small city, the slopes on both sides are city walls, and the entrances and exits at both ends are like two city gates, which can be used by the Eight Banners Han Army to enter and exit at any time.

Staying in this canyon can avoid being disturbed by the Ming army's Xiangyang artillery attack.

In the previous ten days, the Eight Banners Han Army could really be said to have suffered enough from the Xiangyang artillery of the Ming Army.

Because the Ming army would use the Xiangyang cannon to attack almost every night, and the Ming army could always find the right terrain, so that the Xiangyang cannon could hit the camp of the Eight Banners Han army, but it could avoid the red-coated cannons.

Ten consecutive days of raids and harassment caused the Eight Banners Han Army to lose a lot of baggage.

In fact, the loss of grain and grass is still there, but the loss of gunpowder is the most troublesome.

Although the Eight Banners Han Army had taken a lot of protective measures, such as carrying gunpowder in a scattered manner, and even hiding gunpowder under food, armor, arrows and other baggage, the effect was not good.

Ten consecutive days of harassment still caused the Eight Banners Han Army to lose a small half of gunpowder.

If this continues, when they reach Tongguan, there will be little gunpowder left, and they will still fight a bird?

Therefore, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming decisively stopped and quietly waited for Duoduo to send cavalry to help.

……

"This terrain is really troublesome."

On the high mountain in the distance, Chongzhen was using a telescope to observe the canyon guarded by the Eight Banners Han Army.

This canyon is actually not steep, and it is not very high, but because of this, it is more troublesome, because the Eight Banners Han Army can easily seize the high ground on both sides by virtue of its strength advantage, and then suppress the Ming army with the firepower of the bird.

Zhu Cijiong scolded: "Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, the two old dogs, are really difficult to deal with. ”

Hu Guozhu took the initiative to ask Ying again: "Holy Lord, why don't you let the minister lead the troops to rush once?" The minister is desperate for this life, but also to take the high ground on the south side of the canyon, and then Lord Jin can frame the catapult to the top of the hillside and bombard the Jiannu hiding in the canyon below, in this way, the canyon has become the burial place of Jiannu! ”

"Nope." Chongzhen categorically refused, a strong attack cannot be forced, and it must not be attacked.

Kim Hyun's 3,000 cavalry is precious, and they must not be used to fight for their lives until the most critical moment.

And now is obviously not a critical moment, because this place already belongs to western Henan, not far from Xi'an.

If his memory is not wrong, Luoyang to Xi'an is only 700 miles, from this nameless canyon to Tongguan is estimated to be more than 300 miles, and the rapid march is only three days.