The storm in South Zhili was beginning to settle, but the storm was already coming in North Zhili. A large number of troops led by Li Zicheng set off from the capital on April 13th. After four days of walking, they arrived at Yongping, which is only less than 10 meters away from Shanhaiguan.

One hundred and fifty miles.

In Yongping, Dashun's army easily broke through the first line of defense deployed by Wu Sangui.

That night, Li Zicheng also met with the peace envoy sent by Wu Sangui. Although he did not completely believe what these Jin gentry said, he just imprisoned these six people with the army and planned to take them to Shanhaiguan together.

At the same time, Li Zicheng also sent Wang Zayao, the governor of Miyun who was demoted from the former Ming Dynasty, to Shanhaiguan to negotiate with Wu Sangui as the minister of the Dashun military government.

In fact, even at this time, Li Zicheng still had hope of recruiting Wu Sangui to surrender.

He really couldn't figure out what better way out the other party could have besides surrendering to him?

However, when Wu Sangui withdrew to Shanhaiguan, he implemented the "strengthening walls and clearing fields and barren stoves and plugging wells" along the way, which also made Li Zicheng wary.

This required his army to travel another four days from Yongping to Shanhaiguan due to the detour.

During these eight days, Wu Sangui's Guan Liao Army not only repaired the gaps in the wall of Xiluo City, but also sent people to transport the large and small firearms guarding Ningyuan City to Xiluo City in Shanhaiguan.

However, Li Zicheng did not pay much attention to the prepared Guan Liao army. In addition, the army marched for eight days in a row, so he immediately ordered his troops to recharge their batteries that night and not attack the city for the time being.

Originally, Li Zicheng was certain that Wu Sangui would definitely come to surrender. He had originally planned to send Wu Sangui to lead his troops as the vanguard of the Southern Expedition, to recruit Ming generals to surrender, and to pacify Nan Ming. However, he did not expect that it would lead to the current situation.

After being reminded by Zhou Shixian, although Li Zicheng sent Yuan Zongdi to Shandong, he also brought 10,000 more veteran soldiers than in the original history, just in case.

To subdue Wu Sangui, 40,000 to 50,000 veteran soldiers were actually more than enough. The extra 10,000 were to prevent the possible emergence of Manchu Tatars.

However, when he saw the tall city walls of Shanhaiguan and the dozen or so thousand-jin cannons on Xilao City, he couldn't help but feel a little worried.

Because Li Zicheng's army did not carry large artillery - the Dashun Army had been accustomed to mobile combat for many years, had no artillery manufacturing base, and did not pay attention to the huge role of firearms in war.

This cannot be blamed on Li Zicheng. He has been fighting with officers and soldiers in the Central Plains and has never fought against the Eight Banners soldiers of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Although he has heard rumors that the Eight Banners soldiers are brave and good at fighting, when he thinks that the Ming army can withstand them for decades, he becomes angry.

He didn't take it seriously anymore.

Although he was not afraid, Li Zicheng still brought 10,000 more veterans of the camp just in case something unexpected happened, and asked Tang Tong and Bai Guang'en to bring 10,000 more elite soldiers from the former Ming army, which was a full 20,000 more troops than originally planned.

One night later, as the sun rose, the Dashun Army immediately set up their formation outside Shanhaiguan.

"Father!"

Li Zicheng's adopted son Zhang Nai led several bodyguard cavalry and galloped to his side. "All troops and horses are ready and can start attacking at any time."

"What's going on outside the customs?" Li Zicheng narrowed his eyes and asked in a calm tone.

"The thirty or so scouts sent out have returned and found nothing unusual." Zhang Nai said with great certainty.

"Hahaha, let me just say, how dare the Tatars come?"

Li Zicheng burst into laughter, "It is indeed Zhu Ming's consort's trick. That boy is really good at playing with people's hearts. His words are both half-truth and half-lie. When I saw Wu Sangui's look, I almost believed it.

It seems that people are difficult to deal with!"

After hearing this, Zhang Nai flattered a few words, then took out a piece of paper from his waist and reported the status of the soldiers and horses in each battalion to Li Zicheng:

"General Quan Liu Zongmin led the Central Quan army, with 19,000 people; Liu Fangliang led the Zuoying camp, with 22,000 people; Liu Xiyao led the front camp, with 7,000 people; He Jin led the Zuolao camp, with 8,000 people; Tang Tong,

Bai Guangen led his headquarters and the elite border troops transferred from Xuanda University, totaling 29,000 people; a total of 85,000 people. "

Li Zicheng listened and nodded slightly. These more than 80,000 people were the most troops he could spare considering the situation across the country. It was definitely enough to deal with a mere Wu Sangui.

"Where's Wang Zayao, is there any news?" Li Zicheng asked with concern.

A few days ago, he specially sent the newly appointed Minister of the Military Government to Shanhaiguan to finally persuade Wu Sangui, but now it seems that it is in vain.

Zhang Nai shook his head and said angrily: "Father, now that things have come to light, that thief Wu Sangui is ungrateful and has shown his rebelliousness. We must not let him go."

Li Zicheng narrowed his eyes and sighed slightly. He still didn't understand why Wu Sangui refused to submit to him.

But now that the matter is over, the reason no longer matters.

Since Wu Sangui ignored the two marquises, father and son, but chose to touch an egg against a stone, then Li Zicheng would definitely not be polite.

Although Guan Ning's army is said to be strong in combat power, it only has 30,000 troops. Among them, the number of personal guards Wu Sangui can rely on is only 3,000. In addition to the more than 10,000 soldiers of Shanhaiguan Commander-in-Chief Gao Di, the newly recruited troops

Wanliaodong Xiangyong can only number 50,000 people at most.

"Instruct the three armies to attack as planned, defeat Wu Sangui and capture Shanhaiguan!" Li Zicheng immediately ordered.

As Li Zicheng's military order spread throughout the entire Dashun Army, in front of Xilao City in Shanhaiguan, the sounds of troops marching and forming, generals commanding, soldiers shouting, horses' hooves trampling the ground, and soldiers' armor clashing could be heard.

Mixed together, it suddenly became a noisy sound.

The vanguard of the Dashun Army faced the first line of defense set up by Shanhaiguan General Gao Di and Wu Sangui's general Yang Kun in Shihe. There were about 8,000 soldiers and horses stationed on the north and south sides of the west Shihe defense line.

Wu Sangui personally led 3,000 elite troops to defend the second line of defense in Dongshihe.

A large number of artillery pieces are also deployed between the two lines of defense. These artillery pieces will provide fire support to attack the Dashun Army's forward who lacks artillery cover.

However, the situation was no different from the original history. The two sides went back and forth, winning and losing, and the Dashun Army did not make any substantial progress.

One of the troops in the siege force managed to invade the auxiliary city from the north wing, but was quickly repulsed by Wu Army General Gao Dejie with 200 elite troops, and the battle situation returned to its original state.

On the second day, after Li Zicheng found out Wu Sangui's strength, he immediately decided to launch a fierce attack with the main force.

Moreover, Tang Tong's troops deployed outside the pass last night had discovered the forward of the Manchu Eight Banners Army. This was terrible news for Li Zicheng.

If Shanhaiguan cannot be captured again, and Wu Sangui and the Manchus really collude together, then the troops and horses he brings will not be enough to win.

In addition to the main city, Shanhaiguan also has four auxiliary cities that are connected to the main city and serve as horns to each other. The ones in the north-south direction are called North Wing City and South Wing City, and the ones in the east-west direction are called Xilao City and Dongluo City. Among them, the south wing

Close to the sea, the north wing is connected to the Great Wall, Dongluo City leads to Ningjin, and Xilao City faces the main force of the Dashun Army.

The city's high walls were strong, and there were more than a dozen thousand-pound artillery on it, and dozens of artillery pieces of various types, which were very lethal. Although the Dashun army had high morale and sacrificed their lives to attack the city, they still couldn't make any progress for a while.

Li Zicheng stood on a hill with a panoramic view of the entire battle. Three thousand Chinese Army Biao Battalion cavalry led by his adopted son Zhang Nai were guarding him. On the hill, he could use flags and messengers to command and mobilize the army at any time.

Because he had brought more troops and horses, Li Zicheng also had two reserve teams, He Jin and Liu Xiyao, totaling 15,000 people, which could be mobilized at any time according to changes in battlefield conditions.

To the west of Shanhaiguan, the fighting between the two armies intensified, and the battle situation became more and more anxious.

Relying on their numerical superiority and high fighting spirit, the Dashun Army gradually took advantage of the battlefield.

Just when the situation had just improved, Li Zicheng suddenly discovered a powerful cavalry on Huanxi Ridge on the east side of Guancheng. It could be said that "a hundred flags were fluttering, which was very spectacular."

However, Li Zicheng did not panic. He just cursed those two losers Tang Tong and Bai Guangen in his heart.

Judging from the current situation, the poster is true, the Manchu Tatars have really come, and looking at the crowd, there are at least 50,000 to 60,000 people.

Judging from the hillside where they were stationed, they should have just arrived and were still resting, so they would not be able to fight in a short period of time.

Therefore, Li Zicheng did not immediately put the two reserve teams led by He Jin and Liu Xiyao into the battlefield, but immediately ordered Liu Zongmin and Liu Fangliang to step up the attack. He must deal with Wu Sangui immediately, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous.

You must know that in such a decisive battle, shrinking the troops and retreating in front of the "Guanning Iron Cavalry" and the Manchu Tatars will only lead to a dead end, and it will inevitably lead to a one-sided massacre.

Although Li Zicheng knew in his heart that if he continued to attack the city, the casualties would be huge, but success or failure depended on this one move. For the great cause of the dynasty, a few more deaths were inevitable.

At this moment, a gust of northwest wind suddenly blew from the west of Shanhaiguan City Wall, causing sand and rocks to fly for a while, covering the sky and covering the sun.

Dorgon outside the pass saw the situation and urgently ordered Azig, who had secretly entered the pass last night. Duduo led 20,000 people with two white flags to ride on the wind and wave the white flag to confront Dashun's army.

This is what Li Zicheng never expected - the Qing army secretly entered the city last night, and Tang Tong only sent someone to spread the news after being defeated all night.

Well, such a pig teammate is worthy of the Ming army that just surrendered.

In an instant, thousands of horses galloped east of Beiyi City, and flying arrows were like locusts. The Dashun army was caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties.

Liu Zongmin's troops were at the downwind of the storm. Under the impact of the oncoming sandstorm and the retreating army, the formation was in chaos for a while, and the soldiers retreated one after another. Under the attack of the Manchu and Qing cavalry, they were completely unable to fight back.

.

Dense arrows fell like raindrops on the Dashun army. Liu Zongmin, who was leading the army, was quickly shot and fell from his horse. The Dashun army, which was at a disadvantage and had lost its leader, immediately panicked.

But Li Zicheng did not panic. He immediately ordered two reserve teams led by He Jin and Liu Xiyao to enter the battlefield in order to save the defeat.

Although the Qing army arrived in a surprise attack, the Dashun army was not incapable of continuing the battle as long as they stabilized their front line.
Chapter completed!