As a last resort, Li Zicheng had no choice but to say to Liu Zongmin, the first general under him: "General Liu, I don't know if my brother is willing to go?" ”

Liu Zongmin thought about it for a while and said: "The king's order didn't dare not be disobeyed, but now my subordinates are fighting with the Qing army in Shanhaiguan, you know this, if there is anyone to replace the minister, the minister is willing to return to Chang'an." ”

Li Zicheng knew that what he said was the truth, and Shanhaiguan could not leave him at present, because Liu Zongmin's command was the 160,000 elite of the Dashun army, and he had to defend the capital on one hand, and resist the Qing army on the other, and no one could replace him except him.

Li Zicheng said to Li Fangliang again: "General Li is willing to go?" ”

"The king, the minister is guarding against the Qing army in Tongzhou, and if he withdraws rashly, the Qing army may immediately go south, so our army is in danger."

Li Zicheng was helpless, so he could only ask Ji Yu's military advisor Oxford: "I don't know if the military advisor has a good strategy?" ”

A middle-aged man with a goatee: "King, although the Ming army is known as an elite soldier now, I expect him to be difficult to return, and the generals are really worried, I bet that as long as you bring enough men and horses, you can defeat the Ming army in one battle."

Oxford Star turned to Li Zicheng and said: "Since the others are unwilling, then please ask the king to allocate 300,000 horses to me, and I will guard the rear for you."

"Three hundred thousand? Military advisor, how can you take so many men and horses, we now have more than 200,000 Qing troops to defend outside the pass, and there are still 450,000 Ming troops to fight in front of us, leaving this little man and horse is not enough to defend. Liu Zongmin was the first to refuse.

In the past, when the peasant army was like a rainbow, the number was indeed quite a lot, but because the peasant army had no military discipline, they all relied on a slogan to join in, and now some people immediately left the team after gaining some small profits, after all, being a soldier in the war years is a job to put your head on the belt of your pants, and the rebellion can not glorify your ancestors, after the profit, the fool will not do it again, so today's peasant army is the capital, and the others are scattered sand, wall grass, unreliable.

"And how much do you think is appropriate?" Oxford asked with a smile.

"100,000 — 150,000 at most."

"Good! Please ask the king to give an order to General Liu 150,000 horses and let him return to Chang'an. ”

"Haha! Well, at the critical moment, General Liu can take on a big responsibility, and he is worthy of being the first fierce general of this king, and General Liu must not shirk again, so it is decided. Li Zicheng made the final decision.

This is also for himself, the old way of the bull's nose is really not a good thing, scolding and scolding, Liu Zongmin still has to fight for himself, and immediately said: "King, what should I do about Shanhaiguan?"

Oxford Star said with a smile: "General Liu doesn't have to worry, just hand it over to Hao Wanshan, the general of the Chinese army."

Liu Zongmin glared at Oxford Star angrily, Oxford Star shook a goose feather fan and couldn't see it, Li Zicheng didn't look at him, and ordered: "Liu Zongmin listens to the order, I will make you the generalissimo of the thief, and lead 150,000 horses back to Chang'an, and everywhere you go, the army and soldiers are under your control."

Liu Zongmin reluctantly accepted the order, and the next day he took the improvised 150,000 horses to Chang'an.

As soon as Liu Zong's militia horses left the capital, they were detected by Wu Sangui's detectives. Wu Sangui informed Huang Degong and Gao Jie, and now Gao Jie has led the army to the vicinity of Chang'an, and when Liu Zongmin arrived at Taiyuan Mansion, Huang Degong also successfully captured Shunde.

Liu Zongmin went all the way down, the city he passed, almost all of them were abandoned cities, none of them were intact, and even many of the gaps in the city wall that were dug down when the peasant army attacked were still there, Liu Zongmin was shocked to see it, and the defenders could not see the crisis in this place, and they took care of their own pleasures, although there were many officials who bribed him along the way, but he was terrified.

In this way, Liu Zongmin led the army to Taiyuan, but he couldn't move, because the grain and grass of the army had not yet arrived, and the barracks had been out of food for a day.

Li Zicheng, who was in the capital, had never thought about supplying him with grain since Liu Zongmin set out, and the peasant army had been robbing the official warehouses and the reserves of wealthy merchants to make military rations all the way, and no matter how poor the people were, they would consciously support them. But he forgot that in just two months, the peasant army has been regarded by the people as bandits and thieves.

Liu Zongmin waited for the left and saw the grain and grass, and the right waited for nothing, so in order not to starve, the subordinate soldiers began to loot in all directions without waiting for him to give an order, and even worse, looking for seeds to eat in the fields that the people had just sown, which made the local people even more complaining.

Within a few days, someone began to secretly break away from the team, Liu Zongmin once patrolled, and actually found that the city gate was open at night, and when he got closer, there was no defender, all of them slipped away, and he was scared into a cold sweat, and since then, he has never dared to sleep.

In this way, Liu Zongmin, who had not yet fought with the Ming army, sent urgent documents to the capital like snowflakes.

Huang Degong, who found out the situation in Taiyuan Mansion, seized the fighter plane and immediately waved his troops to Taiyuan Mansion.

"Dashuai, why is there no one in the city of Taiyuan Mansion? Will there be a deception from the thieves? "Led the army to Taiyuan Mansion, and saw that there was no one in the city, Zheng Chenggong said.

Huang Degong is also puzzled, what about Liu Zongmin's more than 100,000 horses, even if he is suspicious, Zhuge Liang still has to keep two veterans.

"Someone! Take a look at the city with flying talons. Huang Degong ordered.

Immediately, a partial general came to the city gate with dozens of soldiers, and found that the city gate was not closed tightly, and several people pushed it open very easily.

This situation has been completely blinded to them, what is the situation?

Huang Degong saw this situation and ordered Zheng Chenggong to bring people into the city to explore the situation.

Zheng Chenggong came to the city, except for the occasional wild cat on the street, there was no one, only to find a few old and weak under the search, only to know that the thief army Liu Zongmin because of the lack of food in the army, serious attrition, in order not to be surrounded by the Ming army to starve to death, the day before they arrived left the city to escape, this matter made Zheng Chenggong very speechless.

Huang Degong entered the city, and on the one hand ordered to collect the people, and on the other hand sent scouts to find Liu Zongmin's traces, and soon the scouts came to report that Liu Zongmin had fled to the capital.

Huang Degong immediately reported the war report to Gao Yiming, and Gao Yiming was overjoyed when he received the battle report, if this is the case, the thief army will not be destroyed in a year.

He immediately sent officials to Taiyuan Prefecture and also brought relief grain and grass. At the same time, he ordered the Shen Cewei who trained Xiaocheng to be led by Zhang Zhenyuan, the general soldier who was transferred back from Fujian, to enter Taiyuan, and ordered Huang De's power army to capture Datong and control Wanquan Dusi, which was a place for the Qing army to enter the customs in later generations.

In this way, the scope of Li Zicheng's activities in the capital was compressed to Hebei and Beijing-Tianjin.

Different from the ease of Taiyuan, Gao Jie encountered resolute resistance from the peasant army in Chang'an, because this is the place where Li Zicheng is prosperous, the people have a good foundation, and Li Zicheng also left more than 200,000 horses here.

In order to alleviate Gao Jie's pressure, Gao Yiming ordered Jin Wuwei to enter Liangguang, commanded by He Jiaoteng, to contain Zhang Xianzhong, and ordered Zhang Zhenyuan to lead 50,000 gods to support Gao Jie.