Li Zicheng, who was self-confident, didn't know that his six-way horse step army had been wiped out by three routes, and the remaining three-way army was already in danger.

Especially Li Yan's journey.

However, Li Yan was ignorant of this.

At this time, Li Yan was leading 30,000 cavalry along the canal to the north.

Li Mu pointed to the railway not far from the left bank of the canal and asked Li Yan, "Big brother, what is this thing for?" Why did Ming Ting use so much iron to make such a thing? ”

"It looks like a road." Li Yan frowned and said.

"But it's not quite like it, I've never seen a road like this."

"It's a pity that we didn't bring mules and horses with us this time, and we didn't have a carriage."

Li Mu said with some regret: "Otherwise, if you dismantle all these iron materials, isn't there a shortage of iron in the artillery of the War Bureau?" These can be dismantled with a few pieces of iron and go back to make a cannon. ”

While the brothers were talking, suddenly the sound of horses' hooves sounded in the north.

When he looked up in a hurry, he saw more than a dozen scout cavalry galloping back from the wilderness, and the leader was Li Nian.

"Big brother, it's not good!" Li Nian urged the horse to come to Li Yan and gasped, "Monster, junior brother has seen a monster, and a monster is coming this way along the canal!" ”

"Monsters?" Li Yan's brows furrowed.

Li Mu also smiled: "Third child, where are the monsters in this world?" ”

"There are monsters." Li Nian looked at the top of his head with a panicked expression, "There can still be smoke above your head." ”

"Smoke overhead?" Li Mu teased, "Third child, I'm afraid what you see is an iron-making blast furnace." ”

"It's not a blast furnace, that monster can move!" Li Nian shook his head again and again, "And the speed is not slow, by the way, there are Ming cavalry on both sides of that monster, at least tens of thousands of horsemen!" ”

"Ming cavalry, tens of thousands of horsemen?" Li Yan's face immediately froze.

At this moment, a long and loud chant suddenly came from the northern wilderness: "Ang ......"

"The monster is coming, big brother, look at it!" Li Nian pointed to the wilderness in the north, and his face once again showed fear, as if he had seen the most terrifying creature.

Li Yan and Li Mu looked up anxiously, and they really saw a monster.

"God, what the hell is this?" Li Mu screamed directly.

Li Yan's face also became unprecedentedly solemn, because he had never seen such a thing.

Not only Li Yan, but also the 30,000 Dashun cavalry who traveled north along the canal were also terrified, and the unknown was the most frightening, because you didn't know what this thing would bring you.

Fortunately, Li Yan's reaction was very fast, and through the binoculars, he soon discovered that the monster that was spewing black smoke was actually traveling along the unknown "road", and even ordered his cavalry to stay away from the railway.

……

Looking at the Dashun cavalry that had retreated far away, Zhu Cijiong sighed lightly.

"It's worthy of Li Yan, much more cautious than Gao Yigong, a fool." Xu Wuniu said sincerely.

"Wu Niu, you are wrong, Gao Yigong is not a fool." Xia Wanchun corrected, "He just hasn't seen the train, and he didn't know that we could put the cannon on the train, so he was caught off guard by our killing." ”

"But Li Yan is much more difficult to deal with than Gao Yigong." Xu Wuniu said, "This battle will not be easy. ”

"That's how fun it is." Xia Wanchun smiled and said, "If they are all opponents like Gao Yigong, it is too boring, and the tricks between masters are more fun." ”

"You're wrong, maybe you don't need to fight this battle."

Speaking of this, Zhu Cijiong said to Xia Wanchun again: "Brother Duan, you stay here to press the formation, and you will meet Li Yan alone." ”

"Huh?" Xia Wanchun was taken aback when he heard this, and hurriedly dissuaded, "Your Highness, you must not, the son of a daughter can't sit down, and you can't be in danger." ”

"It's okay, Li Yan is a real gentleman." Zhu Cijiong smiled.

"Back in Tongzhou, he refused to use our three brothers to blackmail his father, and today he is alone to meet him as an old man, and he will not fight each other."

"Black Cow, let's go."

After speaking, Zhu Cijiong took Xu Wuniu and a dozen others to ride out of the crowd.

Xia Wanchun had no choice but to send someone to inform Weng Zhili to stop the train, and then let the Wu put more than 20,000 cavalry away, once they found that the situation was wrong, they could come to the rescue at any time.

】

But this is simply superfluous.

Because Li Yan is really a gentleman.

……

"You're the king?"

Seeing Zhu Cijiong, Li Yan was a little unsure.

"It's Xiao Wang." Zhu Cijiong arched his hand and said, "I've seen Mr." ”

"Don't dare." Li Yan hurriedly returned the salute on horseback, and said with emotion, "I haven't seen you for five years, and King Ding is so tall and burly, you almost can't recognize it." ”

Li Yan really didn't recognize Zhu Cijiong.

But it's no wonder that the pink little Zhengtai has grown into a stupid big black thick, and his face is bearded, as if Grandpa Cheng came out of the portrait.

"But the gentleman is much older." Zhu Cijiong said, "Could it be that these years have been very hard? ”

Li Yan has lived a hard life in the past few years, but it is very hard, in addition to facing the Mongols and Jiannu swordsmen, he also has to beware of hidden arrows from behind at any time, which really makes him feel haggard.

Thanks to Song Xiance's help, otherwise it would have been a long time since the head fell to the ground.

However, Li Yan didn't show it on his face, and said with a smile: "Being in the desert, sleeping in the open every day, how can you not be old?" It's not as good as His Royal Highness Dingwang, hehe. ”

"Xiao Wang is also a hard worker." Zhu Cijiong said self-deprecatingly, "On such a hot day, I have to lead the troops to the battle." ”

"Big brother?" Seeing that Li Yan and Zhu Cijiong were chatting more and more speculatively, just like old friends, Li Mu next to him couldn't help but feel a little anxious, and immediately reminded Li Yan in a whisper and asked him to detain Zhu Cijiong.

This is the third prince of the Ming Dynasty, and if he is taken hostage, he can make the Ming army throw himself into a trap.

Li Yan turned around and threw a sharp glance at Li Mu, implying a warning.

Speaking of which, Li Yan is not such a pedantic person, he only knows how to blindly abide by the small righteousness.

But Li Yan did have a good impression of Zhu Cijiong, who took the initiative to come over to visit, in fact, even Li Yan himself didn't know, he was completely out of recognition of Chongzhen's governance.

Although Li Yan is far away in the Hetao most of the time, the Hetao is not an isolated island.

There are still many Guanzhong traders who travel thousands of miles to Hetao to buy furs.

From the mouths of these traders, Li Yan also has a slight understanding of the great changes that are taking place in the eight prefectures and one state in the south of the Yangtze River.

Not long ago, in Jining Prefecture, I witnessed the students of Beijing Guozijian led by Wang Jiayan and Jin Xuan, and today I witnessed a terrible monster with my own eyes.

All this, Li Yan's perception of Daming or Chongzhen has been completely reversed.

Li Yan no longer thinks that the Ming Dynasty is a corrupt and brutal dynasty, whether he accepts it emotionally or not, it has become a fact that the Ming Dynasty has been reborn.

In view of this, he did not want to go to war with such a court that respected the Confucian temple and guarded the Han family's clothes.

Li Yan even wanted to know more about Da Ming from Zhu Cijiong, so he stretched out his hand and pointed to the train and asked, "Wang Ding, what is that black smoke monster?" ”

Li Mu, Li Nian, and other Dashun soldiers pricked up their ears one after another.

"Sir, it's not a monster, it's a train." Zhu Cijiong smiled, "Actually, it's a carriage, a kind of enlarged and lengthened carriage, but it is not pulled by horses, but by a steam engine." ”

"Steam engine?" Li Yan thought thoughtfully, "It's the kind of machine that can run by burning coal and drinking water?" ”

The legend of the steam engine also spread to the Hetao, and Li Yan had also heard of it, but before he saw it with his own eyes, he resolutely didn't believe it, but today he was slapped in the face by the facts, there really is a steam engine!

"yes, it's the kind of steam engine." Zhu Cijiong smiled, "One steam engine is equivalent to three thousand horses!" ”

"What, the equivalent of three thousand horses?" Li Mu exclaimed, "A horse can pull two thousand catties, what kind of machine can pull six million catties at a time?" ”

"Yes, you can pull six million catties at a time." Zhu Cijiong nodded.

The three brothers Li Yan, Li Mu and Li Nian were completely shocked.

Zhu Cijiong smiled again and asked, "Sir, do you want to visit the train?" ”

"Visit?" Li Yan was obviously a little moved, but he was a little hesitant.

Zhu Cijiong smiled slightly and said, "Sir, don't worry, Xiao Wang is not so aggressive, and he will never make a fuss about this." ”

After a pause, Zhu Cijiong said again: "If Li Zicheng trusts Mr. enough, he will never be suspicious just because Mr. visited the train, if Li Zicheng doesn't trust Mr., this reminiscence between Mr. and Xiao Wang is enough to make him suspicious of ghosts, so Xiao Wang can't be guilty of being this wicked person at all, isn't he?" ”

Of course, Li Yan knew that this was Zhu Cijiong's discord plan.

But Li Yan really wanted to see what was going on with the train?

At that moment, Li Yan instructed Li Nian: "Third brother, you stay." ”

He said to Li Mu again: "Second brother, you go with me to visit." ”

Li Mu sighed, and immediately ordered dozens of cavalry to accompany him.

Li Nian whispered: "Big brother, are you inconsiderate like this?" ”

Zhu Cijiong heard it, but said with a smile: "If Mr. is worried about his own safety, Xiao Wang can stay here as a hostage and leave after Mr. has finished visiting." ”

"There's no need for this, I can trust the king." Li Yan refused.

Li Nian was helpless, so he could only watch Li Yan follow Zhu Cijiong and leave.

Coincidentally, a general rushed over and reported: "General, Yaoguo Gong is here to reward the army." ”

"Yaoguo Gong? Treat the army? Li Nian's face immediately turned pale, I am afraid that he came to supervise the army.

Because this Yaoguo Duke Li Ziming is Li Zicheng's younger brother, he has no bullshit military exploits but was named Yaohou after the founding of Dashun, and his title even has Niu Jinxing, Liu Zongmin and Song Xiance and other founding heroes, only two years later, he was promoted to Yaoguo Gong without an inch of merit, and it is said that he will be promoted to the prince soon.

While thinking about it, a military general in a python robe came closer.

Behind the general, there were more than 300 pro-troops.

Li Nian could only salute immediately: "Li Nian sees Yaoguo Gong." ”