An army was passing through the mountains and ravines in Qingyang Prefecture in northern Shaanxi.
There was a rather large army here, not only large in number, but also accompanied by many mules and horses, making the team even larger. Standing in the middle of the team, it is hard to see the head and tail. Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses are heading northwest in a mighty manner. The vanguard of the army has already entered Pingliang Prefecture, while the rear army is still at the Ziwu River in Yan'an Prefecture.
Wu Sangui was among this team, riding a Liaodong horse, wearing long iron armor and an eight-petal iron pointed helmet. The braid hanging behind his head disappeared without knowing when, and he was completely like a soldier. The attire of a deputy Ming army general.
Behind him, the banner of King Pingxi of the Qing Dynasty was also missing. Instead, there was a banner of General Pinglu, General Pingxibo, who was guarding Ningxia Town. He is an official of the Ming Dynasty! And Ping Xibo was also a knight in the Ming Dynasty!
Now Wu Sangui hides his braid, plays the Ming Dynasty's sign, and appoints himself General Pinglu, the chief military officer of Ningxia Town. This is not because he returned to the Ming Dynasty anyway, but to win over the powerful gentry in Shaanxi who are still loyal to the Ming Dynasty.
When he fought in Shanxi earlier, he had tasted the benefits of assistance from Shanxi merchants and Shanxi scholar-officials, and he also knew how unpopular the bandits were with the scholars.
Therefore, after entering Tongguan, he ordered the troops to put away the banner of the Qing Dynasty, and also asked the soldiers to hide their braids. They also had some large banners made by General Pinglu, Pingxibo, the chief military officer of Ningxia Town.
From this large scroll, we can probably know Wu Sangui's goal after entering Tongguan - although Dorgon promised him the title of King of Guanzhong, Wu Sangui knew how much he weighed. With his little strength, he couldn't compete with Li Zicheng... and he was tricked by Zhu Cixiang, and he was almost second to Hong Chengchou! How dare you use all your strength?
If Guan Ningjun loses all his money, Dorgon will definitely let him go down to accompany Hong Chengchou!
Therefore, after Wu Sangui entered Tongguan, he set up a large camp at the foot of Phoenix Mountain, and the main force crossed the Wei River at night and entered Weibei. Then they marched quickly along the Luoshui River into Yan'an Prefecture, then marched westward along the Ziwu River and entered Qingyang Prefecture.
In order to hide their whereabouts, his 40,000-strong army avoided towns as much as possible, and all the common people they met along the way joined the army.
Although Li Zicheng had occupied Shaanxi for more than a year, he had never operated at the grassroots level - allocating land to soldiers was also considered a kind of management, but Li Zicheng did not implement it. His officials were only sent to the county. Although the people's support was towards him, there was no communication channel between the people's support and the Dashun government. Therefore, even if some "citizens" discovered Wu Sangui's army, they would not be able to react to Li Zicheng for a while.
That's why Li Zicheng temporarily lost control of the movements of Wu Sangui's army!
However, Wu Sangui also knew that Li Zicheng would not be "blind" for long. After all, the movement of the 40,000-strong army was too loud, so he must seize the time to get the troops as far away from Chang'an as possible and as close as possible to his first target—— Guyuan Prefecture in Pingliang Prefecture.
It was originally the headquarters of the General Army of Shaanxi Town, and it was also the main road from Guanzhong to Ningxia. As long as you go northward along the Hulu River that flows by Guyuan Prefecture City, you can enter Ningxia Town.
As long as he occupies Ningxia Town, Wu Sangui will have a truly reliable base!
Ningxia Town is one of the important towns on the nine frontiers. It has jurisdiction over five guards: Ningxia Guard, Ningxia Qianwei, Ningxia Zhongwei, Ningxia Guard and Ningxia Left and Right Zhongtun Guard. It has a large number of frontier military households and generals from generation to generation.
Moreover, when Li Zicheng took over the three sides in the 16th year of Chongzhen, there was no resistance at all from Ningxia. It was decided by Li Zicheng's instructions. Therefore, Ningxia's generals, military households and agricultural production did not suffer much losses.
Now it can be used by Wu Sangui!
After taking control of Ningxia Town, Wu Sangui also planned to continue westward to seize Gansu Town and capture the Hexi Corridor and Xiningwei.
In this way, Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi, can become a veritable king of the northwest!
"King Pingxi, King Northwest..." Wu Sangui whispered to himself, with a rare proud smile on his face. Looking at the mountains in front of him, at the long queue of soldiers and horses rolling forward, and at the setting sun in the west, he turned around and called out again, "Liu Sheng, how far is the front team from Guyuan Prefecture?"
"It's about fifty or sixty miles back to the prince." Liu Sheng is from Qingyang Mansion and is very familiar with the terrain of Qingyang and Pingliang. "The front team just came to report and captured Shuangfeng Fort and Magang Fort, leading to The road in Guyuan Prefecture has been opened."
"Fifty or sixty miles..." Wu Sangui looked up at the sky. It was almost dusk, "It seems that we are going to walk at night again... I wonder if the brothers can still walk?"
Guo Yunlong, who was marching with Wu Sangui, said: "You have to walk even if you can't walk... This battle is a competition of foot power with the bandits, but we must not lose!"
Li Zicheng also regarded Wu Sangui as an official soldier, but Wu Sangui did not completely change his mind and still regarded Li Zicheng as a fast-running bandit.
But in fact, Li Zicheng's army can no longer "move up"!
While Wu Sangui led his troops to march desperately, Li Zicheng's army did not move even a step in his capital, Chang'an.
Because not long after Ma Shiyao recaptured Tongguan, the great banner of Duduo, Prince of Henan in the Qing Dynasty, appeared at Fenglingdu, which is across the river from Tongguan!
Now that Wu Sangui is in the west and Duduo is in the east, Li Zicheng, who originally had a victory over Guanlong, suddenly fell into a comprehensive passive position.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, we found Wu Sangui! Wu Sangui went to Pingliang Mansion..."
In the Wuying Hall of the Chang'an Imperial City, Li Zicheng, who was anxious for the officials to discuss countermeasures, finally knew where Wu Sangui was.
"Pingliang?"
"Your Majesty, it was reported by Ningxia Jiedushi Chen Zhilong."
After listening to the report from Chen Linran, the Minister of the Military Government, Li Zicheng felt dizzy. In Ningxia, Dashun only had two surrendered generals, Chen Zhilong and Niu Chenghu, and five to six thousand defenders adapted from the Ming army. How could it be possible to fight Guan Ning's army of 30,000 to 40,000 men?
Even... they may not know how to fight. Those two losers will have to take refuge with Wu Sangui as the third minister - I don't know if Wu Sangui himself is now the second minister or the third minister (who defected to the Ming Dynasty)?
"Your Majesty," Ruhou Liu Zongmin hurriedly called for battle, "I will lead the troops to rescue Ningxia! Give me 40,000 troops..."
"No need!" Li Zicheng interrupted before Liu Zongmin finished speaking, "It's not appropriate to divide the troops now... Wu Sangui's only plan is Ningxia and Gansu, just give it to him! They are the thorn in their side, Still Tartars!”
This is a bit weird to say... Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, Gu Ying, Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance all present could not help but frown!
What does Emperor Yongchang think? Is Wu Sangui rampant in Ningxia and Gansu? Is this possible? Who can guarantee that he will not come from the west to seize Chang'an City when the Dashun Army and the Tatars are fighting in the east...
.
