Gao Jie led the army from Yangzhou and went straight to Henan Mansion (that is, Luoyang), where he planned to capture Henan Mansion first, and then continue to march westward to capture Chang'an.

Li Zicheng in the capital, since the occupation of Shanhaiguan, has returned to the life of drunken dreams, although from time to time there will be some friction with the Qing army outside the pass, and also sent a few people to attack Shandong, but they have not taken advantage, so they shrank up, and the three parties temporarily formed a stalemate.

I have to say that Gao Yiming's recognition of the Daxi regime is high, since the Ming Dynasty recognized the Daxi regime, the relationship between Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong has undergone subtle changes, and the former brothers are not so close, which makes Li Zicheng even more afraid to act rashly, because of the situation of his own team, he himself knows best, and none of his generals are willing to leave the capital now.

Originally, after occupying the capital, Li Zicheng should immediately use the Ming Dynasty's subordinates to form a court organization and restore the rule of officials, but he was blinded by his immediate interests, and wantonly looted officials, squires and ordinary people's money, causing public resentment in the Beijing and Tianjin areas. What was even more terrifying was that what the peasant army did in the capital soon spread within the Dashun regime.

Maybe Li Zicheng himself didn't expect that he could easily enter the capital, let alone stay in the capital for a long time, so since he entered the capital, what he did was to pick up the grass and beat the rabbit, a hammer deal, who knew that Wu Sangui's sudden withdrawal, as well as the Qing army's wait-and-see, made him reluctant to leave the capital for a short time.

But the more he stayed, the more uneasy Li Zicheng became, and when he turned around and wanted to restrain his subordinates, he found that everyone was drunk and dreaming of death, and he couldn't control it but couldn't catch it. Later, he simply didn't care about him, as long as everyone still respected him as the king, a little wealth is peace, which is a big taboo.

Because Li Zicheng brought a large number of men and horses when attacking the capital, claiming to be one million, but in fact there were seven or eight hundred thousand, and now these people are staying in the capital with nothing to do, resulting in a very empty rear.

When Gao Jie led his troops all the way to Henan Mansion, he saw a desolate scene, and it was obvious that the generals of the peasant army did not know how to build a city, nor did they know how to really make decisions with the people.

"Report! Dashuai, there are still fifty miles to Henan Mansion, there are some guards on the head of the city, the situation in the city is unknown, and the thieves have not blocked the collapse of the gap around the city wall. "The scout is coming.

"Revisit." Sending away the scouts, Gao Jie said to Zhang Huang beside him: "It seems that the thief army has no plans to stay here, and the city wall will not be repaired."

"Not really, now the army of thieves is in the capital, I heard that from the thieves to the ordinary soldiers, they are enjoying the fruits of victory, and at this moment, I am afraid that I can't think of the things that enrich the rear."

"What you say is also true, this is the malaise of the peasant army, and they will be complacent for a little petty profit, and they will also be bloodied because of a little petty profit, alas! I really can't bear the righteousness of my family and country. Gao Jie remembered the original intention of the peasant army to eliminate traitors and serve the people at the beginning, and he sighed with emotion.

"What the marshal said is very true, and I also ask the marshal to allocate some men and horses to the last general, and wait for me to take Henan Mansion and open the city to welcome the marshal."

Seeing Zhang Huangyan's automatic request, Gao Jie immediately agreed: "Okay, you will lead 20,000 horses to attack the city and explore the reality of the enemy." ”

"Yes!" After Zhang Huangyan left, Gao Jie continued to march towards Henan Mansion with a large team of men and baggage.

As a result, as soon as Gao Jie arrived at the city, he saw a scout coming to report: "The marshal, the deputy marshal led people to avoid the main gate and entered the city from the gap, the enemy army was defeated without a fight, and now the enemy defenders have been captured and more than 8,000 people have been captured." ”

"Got it, herald the army to be stationed outside the city." After that, he entered the city with dozens of pro-soldiers.

On both sides of the street, as far as the eye can see, there are almost ruins, and many people lie in the ruins and cry.

After meeting with Zhang Huangyan, Zhang Huangyan said with a smile: "I didn't expect the city guards to be so unbearable, the last general will go down with a drum, in addition to most of the defenders in the city who surrendered, there are some who are on the run, I have ordered the general to lead people and horses to pursue." ”

Gao Jie nodded and said: "You and I should report to the emperor by name, and at the same time report the situation here, there is an urgent need for the imperial court to help here, otherwise it is very likely that people will eat people." ”

Hearing this, Zhang Huangyan couldn't laugh anymore, and nodded solemnly: "What to do with these captives?" ”

"Whoever has the blood of innocent people on his hands will be killed; Whoever rapes a woman of a good family will be killed; The leader will be killed. Gao Jie coldly said that there were three killings, Zhang Huangyan was ordered to carry it out, at this time, he couldn't be soft, even if these people were released, no one dared to guarantee that they would not return to their old business again in the future, after all, they had tasted the sweetness of unearned gains, and it was difficult to quit.

"Gao Jie! - Brother Gao! ——”

Gao Jie was a little surprised to hear someone among the captives calling him, because of the distance, the other party was wearing a cloak and couldn't see his face clearly.

Gao Jie asked the sergeant to bring the man over.

"Brother Gao! Brother Gao - it's me, Ma Er, you forgot, we used to mix with King Chuang, and we drank together. ”

Gao Jie looked at the left and right generals, a little embarrassed.

Seeing that Gao Jie didn't say anything, Ma Lao Er also gave up his life in order to survive, and took out a stack of silver tickets from his arms, as well as some gold and silver jewelry, and carried a guy who asked for money and didn't want to die.

"I have a lot of money, I can give it to you, now I see that Brother Gao is a high-ranking official, please look at the past feelings, let me go."

"Shut up!" Gao Jie shouted: "Ma Lao Er, we used to be poor brothers, and now the handsome has been attached to the imperial court, if you can keep your heart, the emperor has the virtue of a good life, and it is not impossible to spare your life, now you look at yourself, is your hands already stained with the blood of innocent people, what face do you still have to say about the past friendship." Someone came, dragged the thief down, corrected the law on the spot, and confiscated the gold and silver obtained. ”

The left and right guards received the order and immediately pulled him down, and the old man of the horse shouted to himself: "Gao Jie, you betrayed the Lord and begged for tolerance, and had no morality, I cursed you not to die well, ah!" ——”

With a scream, Ma Lao Er was cut off by the sergeant.

After dealing with the surrendered soldiers, Gao Jie collected more than 3,700 soldiers, restored the rule of officials, and issued a notice to appease the people in the city.

Gao Yiming received Gao Jie's battle report, his heart was overjoyed, this battle let him find out the reality of the thief army, in order to clear the whole territory of Shanxi as soon as possible, not to give the Qing army outside the pass a chance to enter the customs, he sent officials to Henan Mansion to relieve the disaster and the people, on the other hand, he ordered Gao Jie not to stay in Henan Mansion for long, immediately waved his army westward, and at the same time ordered Huang Degong to capture Zhangde and Daimyo, march to Shunde, threaten Taiyuan, and ordered Wu Sangui to send troops to the river, forming a posture of hitting the tail, cutting the waist, and hitting the head, and launched an all-round attack on Li Zicheng.

In order to fill the rear of Shandong, Gao Yiming sent the two armies of Suzaku and Baihu to Shandong and handed them over to Wu Sangui under the command.

When the news that Henan Mansion was conquered by the Ming army reached the capital, Li Zicheng was shocked and called the generals to discuss.

"Brothers, now the Ming army is fierce, Henan Mansion has been lost, look at the posture of the Ming army's next target is Chang'an, there is our base camp, but because we don't know the Ming army's defense of the capital, almost all of our troops are here, but is anyone willing to take the army back to Chang'an?"

After Li Zicheng finished speaking, he glanced at the generals, everyone lowered their heads, and he had no choice but to continue: "I also know that everyone can't let go of the wealth in hand, but once the Ming army captures Chang'an, then our situation is not good, there is a Qing army in the north, and there are Wu Sangui and Huang Degong in the south. ”

Still no one spoke, and they didn't want to be this budding bird. Now against the reorganized Ming army, no one dares to say that they are absolutely sure that they can defeat it, and they just took advantage of the large number of people, and everyone understands it in their hearts.

Li Zicheng had no choice but to continue: "Originally, it was best for me to bring the army back to help, but now Wu Sangui is coming towards the river, and his 340,000 horses are claimed to be 500,000, and I need to personally sit in the capital to meet the enemy, which is really lacking." And Chang'an is too far away from here, rushing back and forth, the enemy army will not give us this time. ”

The people below still didn't say anything, Li Zicheng at this time had a sense of frustration, and at the same time a little regretted stretching the battle line so long, and now he was too busy to take care of himself, and he was in a dilemma.