Li Zicheng's offensive in the northwest was like an autumn wind sweeping away the leaves.

On the second day of the first month of May, Li Guo defeated Gao Jie in Yan'an Mansion.

Gao Jie fled to Yichuan and escaped by snatching the boats of local fishermen across the river.

On the fourth day of the first month, Yuan Zongdi conquered Qinzhou, and the defenders of Qinzhou led the people to surrender.

Yuan Zongdi then attacked Gongchang Mansion and took it very smoothly.

Around this time, there was also good news from Liu Zongmin's department.

Liu Zongmin pursued Sun Chuanting's old subordinate Zheng Jiadong to Guyuan, Zheng Jiadong held out for ten days, and finally surrendered in despair.

On the seventh day of the first month, Li Guo and Liu Fangliang joined forces, gave up the pursuit of Gao Jie, and instead attacked Yulin Town.

The general army of Yansui was abandoned and fled to Ordos with his people, but was besieged by the people led by Eluchen.

The Ming army was completely annihilated, and Wang Ding was killed in battle.

Why did Eluchen kill Wang Ding?

It turned out that the former minister received a secret order from Yang Chengying, and he must be eliminated when he encounters a rout of the Ming army.

After killing Wang Ding, Eluchen sent someone to inform Yang Chengying through the post station.

After Wang Ding ran, Liu Fangliang led the army to besiege Yulin Town.

Yulin Jiangmen is world-famous, such as You Shilu's brother You Shiwei, and Hou Shilu, who was unlucky when Ding Mao changed, all lived in Yulinwei.

They led their families to hold on, and they only held for seven days before they were broken by Liu Fangliang's army.

After the city was broken, none of the Yulin generals were willing to surrender, and all of them were killed.

On the 16th, the general Tian Jianxiu conquered Chenggu and captured the general soldier Gao Ruli.

Gao Ruli was also born in the peasant army, and once served under the command of Bu Mud, and Li Zicheng was barely old.

Seeing that Li Zicheng's forces had been formed, Gao Ruli surrendered very smoothly.

On the 20th, He Jin went straight to Lanzhou, and the king of Su in Lanzhou was captured and executed, and the general soldiers fled to Ganzhou.

He Jinliu guarded Lanzhou and continued to pursue the Ming army.

On the 21st, under the strong attack of Liu Zongmin, the Ningxia general military officers Fumin and King Qing, who had held out for six days, surrendered.

Li Zicheng sent Chen Zhilong, the superintendent of the army, and Niu Chenghu, who surrendered to Li Zicheng, to defend Ningxia.

At the end of May, He Jin conquered Ganzhou, killed the general soldiers and horses of Gansu, Lin Rirui, the governor of Gansu, and the Ming army of Suzhou surrendered without a fight.

So far, Li Zicheng has taken the northwest of the Ming Dynasty into his pocket in addition to the eastern part of Qinghai.

Li Zicheng's class returned to Xi'an, and all the generals who stayed in Xi'an came to greet him.

After returning to the Qin Palace, Li Zicheng left everyone to eat together.

I have to say that Li Zicheng's style is the same as usual, including dressing, and there has not changed in the slightest due to the expansion of his power.

During the meal, Gao Yigong told him: He Jin has received good news that he has led the army to attack Qinghai, but he has achieved little success so far. Because Qinghai is a trap, it is not easy.

When Li Zicheng heard about this, he smiled and said, "Don't worry. No one can become a big fat man in one bite, and if it doesn't go well for the time being, you can also withdraw the troops and run Gansu well."

"Brother-in-law, there's one thing you should think about seriously." A high level of merit.

"What's the matter?"

"Of course, it's the emperor! Hey, brother-in-law, you don't want to learn Cao Pi in the opera, just excuse yourself a few times."

"Hahaha...... I want to be Cao Pi, and the idiots in the Forbidden City refuse to be Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty!"

"What's so hard about that. Wait for you to become the emperor, lead everyone to enter the Jingshi, so that Chongzhen, this kid, can't even be the Duke of Shanyang."

Everyone nodded one after another, and they all persuaded Li Zicheng to be the emperor.

Li Zicheng was silent.

After the meal, the soldiers all withdrew.

Facing his confidant Wenchen and military generals, Li Zicheng said: "I think, it's not too late to wait until everyone enters the capital to become emperor."

Gu Junen disagreed: "It is only a matter of time before the army attacks the Beijing Division, but before entering Beijing, we must clearly show our banner to the people of the world. Let the people of the world know the general trend and take the initiative to surrender to the king, this is the best policy."

"That being said, but I only occupy the northwest corner, and if I become emperor, I am worried that I will lose Zhang Xianzhong and other wings."

"King Chuang is worried

Not really. Zhang Xianzhong will not be willing to be your flank just because you are not the emperor, and resist the counterattack of the Ming army from the southeast."

The matter of becoming the emperor has been thinking about it in everyone's hearts for a long time, and they all feel that the time is ripe.

Only Li Zicheng was worried that the emperor would make some forces that were originally inclined to neutrality choose to rebel because they were unwilling to be Li Zicheng's subordinates.

Gu Junen didn't think so, he felt that the general trend had been achieved, and it was time to show the banner, further screen the forces in various places, and then eliminate the rebel forces one by one.

Instead of continuing to mess with the mud and "turning a blind eye", that will not take over the world.

After discussing for a while, everyone still supported Li Zicheng as emperor.

Li Zicheng finally agreed.

On the first day of June in the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng solemnly sacrificed to the Temple of Heaven and Earth in Xi'an and officially proclaimed the emperor.

Li Zicheng named the country "Dashun", changed the Yuan Yongchang, changed Xi'an to Chang'an, took the Qin Wangfu as the temporary palace, and Gao Guiying as the queen.

Regarding the country name, it is said to be related to a popular folk story in the Ming Dynasty.

The words show that Taizu admired Liu Bowen's thaumaturgy and asked Liu Bowen for advice on the national fortunes of the Ming Dynasty.

Liu Bowen said: "Hang a curved ruler on the tree, and if it is good, it will stop, so far the world has not ended."

The authenticity of the story is no longer verifiable, but it is widely spread among the people.

Li Zicheng knighted the generals who had fought with him for many years, the marquis at the level of General Quan and the general, and the uncle and baron at the level of General Guo Yi and the mighty general.

The six governments upgraded the specifications, from the squire to the Shangshu, the Hanlin Academy was changed to the Hongwen Museum, the six departments were the counselors, the imperial history was the direct commander, the Shangbao Temple was the Shangqi Division, the Taifu Temple was the Horse Inspection Temple, and the General Administration Department was the governor of the political envoy.

According to the Ming system, the local government sent additional provincial-level officials, called jiedu envoys, which were equivalent to governors.

Economically, the inferior coins in the Chongzhen period were abolished, and the "Yongchang Tongbao" was minted, and the jurisdiction area was exempted from taxation for three years, so that the people could breathe a sigh of relief.

The fiscal policy will continue to carry out "recovery of stolen goods and subsidies" for the time being, which is, to put it bluntly, torture. Continue to use the money from torturing corrupt officials and gentry to not loot the poor.

On the sixth day of the first month of June, Li Zicheng personally sacrificed to the Taimiao Temple and announced that he would personally lead a large army to the east, preparing to go straight to the Beijing division and eliminate the Ming court.

On the eighth day of the first month of June, Li Zicheng left Empress Gao and Tian Jianxiu to guard Chang'an, with Liu Fangliang as the commander of the Southern Route Army.

The Southern Route Army would seize northern Henan along the north bank of the Yellow River, and then attack Guangping, Hejian, Baoding and other regions, cutting off Chongzhen's retreat.

Li Ziben personally led a large army to Shanxi to meet Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Xuanda, who was guarding Shanxi, Datong and Xuanfu.

Taiyuan, the south gate, Lu Xiangsheng in military uniform stands at the head of the city.

He looked to the north and was worried.

Behind him, the soldiers advised, "Master Overseer, you have been standing here for an afternoon, go back and rest."

Lu Xiangsheng shook his head: "No, if I can't wait for the Datong soldiers, I won't go back."

It's not so much about waiting as it is about self-punishment.

It seems that standing and waiting like this will make Lu Xiangsheng feel better.

Hearing that Shaanxi had been lost, Lu Xiangsheng immediately led the army to Taiyuan, an important town in Shanxi, to guard against the peasant army.

However, others arrived, but there were not many soldiers and horses.

What's even worse is that the Datong soldiers, who are most likely to have the strength to fight with the peasant army, also did not listen to the dispatch at this time.

If the Datong soldiers don't come, it will not work just by relying on the standard battalion, Xuanfu soldiers, and Shanxi soldiers under his command.

Not at all!