Hanzhong County, Shaanxi, thirty miles north of Yangxian County.

This is the hinterland of Hanzhong County, Yangxian County is Luogushui in the north, overflow in the west, Youshui in the east, the place where the three rivers converge, so that Yangxian County is always the grain production area of Hanzhong County, the villages and towns around the city are also very rich, the good fields are strange, the chickens and dogs smell each other, and the business and travel are endless.

But at this time, Liu Yan stopped on the south bank of the Youshui River and looked into the distance, but he only saw the boundless barrenness, and the fields as far as his eyes could see became dry and cracked, and no grass grew.

Even the Youshui River in front of me has lost its former waves, and although there is still a current, it has fallen to the point where it can directly wade across the river, and it is more appropriate to say that it is a stream than a river.

"My lord, the cavalry battalion and the front and rear battalions have already crossed the river one step ahead and are building a defense on the north bank."

Miao Shao stood aside and said.

Liu Yan said: "Order the baggage soldiers of each battalion to immediately transport money, food and materials across the river, and the rest of the battalions will rest on the spot and stand by. ”

"Order the artillery battalion to get ready, and after crossing the river with baggage, the artillery battalion will begin to cross the river."

"Yes."

After Miao Shao sent the heralds, he said worriedly: "My lord, after we entered Hanzhong County, we didn't see a decent village, basically all of them are deserted villages, along the way Xixiang, Ziyang and other county seats, are also a depression, most of the dock forts of rich families around the country have been broken by thieves, it seems that Li Zicheng's power is not trivial, not Zhang Xianzhong can compare." ”

Liu Yan nodded in agreement, in history, Li Zicheng's strength was much stronger than Zhang Xianzhong, after all, Li Zicheng was able to lead the army to finally attack Beijing City, and he was by no means an idle person.

"All the battalions have been scattered at night?"

"Don't worry, my lord, all the battalions will be sent out if they don't collect at night, and there will be rewards one after another."

After entering the territory of Shaanxi, Liu Yan attached great importance to the collection of intelligence, in order to prevent being besieged by most of the thieves, Liu Yan specially ordered that all battalions should not stop at night and make every effort to search around the army.

The night of each battalion of the new army is divided into three layers, the inner layer is about five miles around the army, the middle layer is ten to twenty miles around the army, and the outer layer is not collected at night, and it is even necessary to explore the range of twenty to thirty miles around the army.

In this way, although the new army also encountered a small group of thieves, but the strength was about hundreds, most of them were dozens of thieves and soldiers carrying hundreds of homeless people, such people and horses had no combat power, it was okay to rob the people and burn villages, and it was completely insufficient to raid an elite army like the new army.

Liu Yan didn't care when he saw this, but just ordered the various departments not to collect at night and the guards to attack and disperse. The army has also beheaded more than seventy levels along the way, which is better than nothing.

Liu Yan said: "Where is Yue Qianhu? ”

"My subordinates sent someone to find it."

It didn't take long for Yue Ming to come on horseback, turn over and dismount and salute.

This time he went out with the army, Yue Ming suffered a lot, after all, it was the first time to go out with the army, and it was such a long-distance attack, which made Yue Ming very unbearable.

After nearly a month, Yue Ming's whole person had lost a lot of weight, and his cheeks were a little sunken.

Seeing this, Liu Yan said: "Yue Qianhu should pay attention to his body, don't be tired, this official still has to rely on Yue Qianhu to take care of the army's money and food." ”

Yue Ming said with a smile: "Don't worry, my lord, although it was very hard along the way, my subordinates were happy in their hearts, and their bodies couldn't collapse." ”

Liu Yan then asked, "How much food is left in the army now?" ”

Yue Ming said: "My lord, our army has no supplies along the way, it is completely to consume the money and food in the army, plus the need to help the displaced people encountered from time to time along the way, now there is less than half of the grain and grass left in the army, and it is estimated that it is enough for the army to consume about a month." As for the silver, there was more left in the army. ”

Liu Yan said: "After the whole army crosses the Youshui River, the army will advance to the northeast and enter Xi'an. I hope that the situation in Xi'an will be better, and when the time comes, you will bring some soldiers and come across a place where you can buy food, and you will spend money to buy it, no matter how high the price is. ”

Yue Ming nodded and took the order.

In the afternoon of the same day, all the units of the New Army crossed the Youshui River, and after a short rest on the north bank, they continued their march, and three days later the army entered Xi'an Province and stopped at Exian County, Xi'an Province.

Exian County is only more than 100 miles away from Xi'an, the location is superior, surrounded by rivers such as Daping Valley Water and Gaoguan Valley Water, and close to Xi'an Province, Xianyang County and other big cities, it was originally a densely populated and prosperous place for commerce.

But at this time, what Liu Yan and the soldiers of the new army saw was an empty city with broken walls, broken official roads, and open city gates. From a distance, there was no guard in sight on the city, and not a single common man was seen along the city gate.

Liu Yan frowned, and said to the herald: "Send the night and the guards into the city to search, and report quickly!" ”

"Yes!"

Immediately, the night of the brigade and the escort horses rushed out of the military formation, from the south gate of Exian County into the city, Miao Shao for the sake of safety, also sent a guard battalion soldiers to occupy the south gate, and on the head of the city, watchout.

Liu Yan and the soldiers of the army waited outside the city for a while, and then saw that Ye Bushu and the guards rushed back.

"Report!"

"Lord Qiyu, there is no one in the city of Exian County, most of the houses in the city have been damaged, and the county government, arsenal, government treasury, military camp and other places have been demolished and burned!"

"Lord Qiyu, a large number of corpses were found in the city, and the clothes were all the people in the city, and there were some Ming troops defending the city, depending on the situation, they should all be slaughtered in a centralized manner."

"Lord Qiqi, in the ruins of some houses in the city, many corpses of women have been found, and these women have been abused in their lifetimes. In addition, in one place in the city, a crematorium was also found, and the corpses were all children! ”

Liu Yanduan sat on the war horse, his face was pale, Miao Shao, Xu Ming, Chen Xun, Wang Yue, Zhang Yi, Wang Bo, Shen Tuo, Qian Zhang, Xun Jingyun, Bao Xuezhen, Yue Ming and others also gathered around, and after listening to the return that was not collected at night, everyone was filled with righteous indignation.

Liu Yan was extremely angry at this time, the tragedy in Exian County must have been committed by thieves, during this time, Li Zicheng's troops have always been attacking the city around Xi'an, and even wanted to attack Xi'an Mansion for a time, but were repelled by the Ming army defending the city.

Exian County is next to Xi'an Mansion, and it must be an army of thieves passing through here, taking the city by chance, and then slaughtering the city in order to vent their anger!

Later generations mostly preached that Li Zicheng was a hero of the peasant rebel army who resisted the tyranny of the Ming Dynasty, but this is not the case in real history. Li Zicheng is a thorough rogue, with no strategic vision and no national righteousness, and he is completely a-stirring stick in troubled times.

Slaughtering the city and killing the people, looting the place to loot the people's fat and ointment, all kinds of miserable means, the army of thieves can do it, and its means are not even much better than the Manchu Tartars, and the invasion of later generations ~ Huari ~ The army is the same as inhuman.

It can be said that if Li Zicheng had not wreaked havoc in Shaanxi, Henan and other places at the end of the Ming Dynasty, with the overall strength of the Ming Dynasty at this time, it was entirely possible to consume the Manchu Qing, as long as it lasted for a few more decades and waited until the end of the Xiaoice River period, perhaps Daming would be able to regain his life, at least it would not be in vain to cheapen foreign tartars.

Liu Yan looked at the ruined city in the distance, and said coldly: "The army will be stationed in the city tonight to rest, and the front and rear battalions will be stationed on the city wall for defense, and the rest of the battalions will collect the corpses in the city. ”

"Yes!"

Xun Jingyun said in a trembling voice: "The sun and the moon are Zhaozhao, the sun and the moon are Zhaozhao!" Don't those thieves have no parents, no brothers, no families? How can they do it! ”

Liu Yan said: "From the moment they committed themselves to being thieves, they were no longer humans, but beasts, beasts that ate people and drank blood, and only knew how to destroy but did not know how to build!" Treat the beasts, only by killing them, killing them all, the world will return to tranquility! ”

The crowd agreed.

That night, the officers and men of the new army were stationed in the city of Exian County, but in the middle of the night, Liu Yan and the commanders of the battalions and thousands of households were alarmed, and everyone came to the east city wall to watch.

I saw that in the night in the east of Exian County, countless figures were swaying outside, like the tide of zombies in later movies, marching in groups in the dark and barren wilderness, looking at the direction of Xi'an.

Liu Yan's face was solemn, and several commanders next to him also gritted their teeth, Xun Jingyun struggled to hammer the city, and a whimpering sound came out of his mouth. And Yue Ming and Bao Xuezhen couldn't bear to look at it anymore, and they hid their faces and cried.

Through the light of the fire on the city, Liu Yan and the others could see the situation of the neighboring city wall, which was the countless homeless people "migrating" in the dark night.

Most of the homeless people were unclothed, and even many of the women were naked, as if their souls had been drained.

What makes everyone even more uncomfortable is that from time to time, there are homeless people who fall headlong, and they know by looking at the withered figure that it is the road to starvation.

Immediately afterwards, around every fallen homeless, countless companions flocked to him, they did not want to treat the fallen homeless, but to eat people, really cannibalism!

Under the firelight, a cannibalistic feast was presented in front of Liu Yan and others, and even Liu Yan saw a dead three- or four-year-old child being picked up, so he hugged him in his arms and nibbled on it, and a mother-like woman stood aside, first stunned for a while, and then even pounced, pulling an arm and gnawing it, crying and gnawing.

"Order: Bird-Bearers fire, shoot the cannibals!"

"Your Excellency!"

Everyone looked at Liu Yan with red eyes.

"If they don't fire, they're going to eat people, and if they fire, they're going to die. When they die, they can still retain a dignity as human beings, but when they live, they are no longer human beings, they can only be called beasts! ”

Liu Yan's eyes were also red, and he asked, "How do you choose!" ”

Yue Ming said excitedly: "My lord, put the grain, there is still grain and grass in the army, save those homeless people first!" ”

"How much can I save?"

The crowd fell silent.

Liu Yan said: "It's not that I'm hard-hearted, who of you knows how many homeless people are outside the city?" Are there any thieves and soldiers in ambush outside the city? Can the food and grass in the army save them one meal, or two? ”

"Now that we release food, our new army will be trapped here, and more displaced people will come before dawn, what will we do then? If the grain continues to be released, the soldiers of the whole army will starve, and if they encounter an army of thieves, the whole army will be annihilated. Stop releasing grain, and the tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of the displaced people who gathered over will become chaotic people, or even an army of thieves, and the end of the entire army will be wiped out! ”

The more Liu Yan spoke, the more excited he became, and roared angrily: "Can any of you tell me what should I do?" What to do! ”

At dawn the next day, Liu Yan and a group of commanders and thousands of households were still standing at the head of the city, and everyone stood here for a whole night, and finally there was no food.

As Liu Yan expected, the tide of displaced people outside the city walked for most of the night, at least tens of thousands of people, and in the second half of the night, everyone also heard the roar of the movement of the cavalry, and it was obvious that there was an elite group of thieves hidden in the night.

After the sky was bright, Liu Yan ordered the soldiers to go out of the city to collect the corpses outside, and within an hour, hundreds of mutilated corpses were collected, and the wilderness outside the city was full of mottled bloodstains, which was shocking.

"My lord, should we go to the direction of Xi'an Mansion to have a look?"

Facing the inquiries of Miao Shao and others, Liu Yan shook his head, this time he did not have an order from the Ministry of War, even if he went to Xi'an Mansion to join in the fun, the local soldiers and horses would reject him, after all, the name was not right, and the supply of the army was still not settled, which was too dangerous.

"The army immediately hit the road, went to Lantian County, and went to Shanxi!"

"Yes!"

Subsequently, the soldiers of the new army passed through Lantian County and Tongguan into Shanxi, and then entered Beizhili, from Beizhili to the south of Jinan Prefecture, where Lu Xiangsheng and Yan Jizu prepared supplies of grain and grass for the army in the city of Jinan, and rewarded the soldiers of the new army who met in triumph.

In early August, after more than a month of expedition, Liu Yan led his troops back to Jimo Yingcheng.

Some people died, but not completely......