There were corpses everywhere outside Tongguan City. In the second month of the lunar calendar, the weather slowly warmed up and the corpses began to emit a stench.
Looking at the countless corpses in front of him, Li Zicheng knew that the battle could no longer go on. Most of these corpses were not killed in battle, but died of starvation and freezing. By spring, the army had basically run out of food.
, if this battle continues, it may be the brothers from the old camp who die.
"Send the order, the army will return to Luoyang tomorrow." Looking at the majestic Tongguan City again, Li Zicheng turned his white horse around and headed eastward without looking back.
Entering Shaanxi is definitely what the old brothers want to do the most, but Li Zicheng will not do this if he exhausts all possible means in order to enter Shaanxi.
"Commander, the intruders have withdrawn!" Sun Chuanting, who was concentrating on a major case at the Tongguan City Government Office, was awakened by the sound of victory reported by his subordinates. After more than a month of fierce fighting, he could no longer resist.
"Withdrawn? Send a detective horse out to investigate carefully. If there is any news, report it as soon as possible."
Sun Chuanting was not surprised that Li Zicheng was able to withdraw his troops. The war started for ten days, and after the army withstood the first wave of violent attacks by the rogue bandits, Sun Chuanting knew that Li Zicheng's withdrawal was inevitable.
Tongguan City is not like other big cities. There are no grain-producing areas around it and it is all mountains. The longer the war drags on, the harder it will be for the outnumbered bandits.
Li Zicheng withdrew his troops, and Sun Chuanting became confused. What should he do next? Originally, the bandits were tired, and they should have taken the opportunity to attack. But now the soldiers and horses in his hands were not easy to get there.
"Get ready. Let's all withdraw the main army to Guanzhong." The helpless Sun Chuanting had no choice but to withdraw his army. His army has not rested since the defeat in Ruzhou. He has to return to Guanzhong to recover his energy, but he doesn't know the next step for the intruder.
Fight there!
Where should he go next? After Li Zicheng arrived in Luoyang, he summoned his generals and masters for a military meeting.
"Everyone, we can't attack Guanzhong. Where will we fight next?" Li Zicheng looked at his generals with burning eyes and asked about the next strategic direction.
"General, I feel that since our army has been fighting hard for days, it is better to stay in the Central Plains first, reorganize the broken Central Plains, and then attack the four directions after it is restored to life." The person who said this was naturally Li Xin, he was
What the people of the Central Plains have always been thinking about is restoring the Central Plains.
"No, I have hundreds of thousands of troops staying in the Central Plains with no food to eat. This proposal is absolutely unacceptable." The first person to object was not the general leading the troops but Gu Junen. He was in charge of logistics and knew the importance. How could there be a supply of food for these dozens of people in the Central Plains?
Thousands of people eating and drinking? Stay here and don't need others to fight. You will be in chaos first!
After Li Xin's suggestion was rejected, everyone talked nonsense about where to go next. Some said to go to Shandong, some said to go to Nanzhi, but the most people said to go to Shanxi.
Because Shanxi is close to Shaanxi, the bandit leaders are familiar with the place. After going to Shanxi, they can cross the river back to northern Shaanxi and then go south to Guanzhong, so it is recommended that most people go to this place.
Zhu Youjian also received a report from Sun Chuanting, saying that the rogue bandits had withdrawn from the Central Plains. People from the military command hall and the cabinet were summoned, and the city of Beijing was also discussing where Li Zicheng would march next.
"The rogues are fighting hard, won't they take a break for a month or two?" Zhou Yanru raised his own question when he heard other military generals talking about where the bandits were going to fight. In his opinion, even if Li Zicheng and the others were animals,
, let’s take a breath before talking! How could we continue marching just after a hard battle?
"Mr. Ge, in His Majesty's words, bandits have no basis for rest! Historically, when the weather is warm, bandits are active. Although they fought countless hard battles this winter, they will not rest because they have to find food.
Eat anywhere.”
"Where there is food? Isn't that the two places of Nanzhi and Shandong?" Zhou Yanru felt that this matter was easy to figure out. Huguang was also a good choice originally, but now that Zhang Xianzhong and Zuo Liangyu are tossing there, Li Zicheng should not
I would go there and join in the fun. So the best places are Nanzhi and Shandong.
Lao Zhou's words were agreed by many people, and they also felt that Shandong or the Lufeng area in the south should be the first choice for rogue bandits such as Li Zicheng.
Shandong or Nanzhi? Zhu Youjian looked at the map and fell into deep thought. If they choose this march route, it seems to be beneficial to themselves. Because of the existence of the canal, the new army will move south very quickly, and there will be no worries.
The front line of Xuzhou and Yanzhou in Shandong is not far away, and there are 20,000 to 30,000 Henan troops stationed by Gao Mingheng and others, which makes it an ideal battlefield.
If they go to Nanzhi, the situation will be fine. There are Huang Degong's 10,000 soldiers and horses there, and Zhou Yuji in Nanjing City is not far away. If the New Army passes three more divisions, the Yongwei Battalion system will have six or seven
With thousands of people there, it should be enough to defeat Li Zicheng.
After taking care of Li Zicheng, we can also promote it to Huguang and kill Zuo Liangyu and Zhang Xianzhong.
Would Li Zicheng choose these two lines to march? Zhu Youjian didn't know why, but he always felt that they would not take this route.
"Bai Shenzhi, in your opinion! Will you take these two paths to break into the camp?" Bai Guangen was a bandit, and his ideas should be more in line with Li Zicheng's ideas.
"The general feels that they may go north!"
"Going north? Bai Tang said that Shanxi is not a land with abundant food and grass. How could a bandit go north?" Chen Xinjia was very skeptical of Bai Guangen's idea. According to normal logic, going to Shanxi was the least profitable, and they were least likely to choose this route.
road.
"I feel that Shanxi is the northern part of the country. They are more familiar with it and there are valleys there, so it is easier to grasp."
"Just because it's the North? Isn't this just as ridiculous as when the bandits were from the North and didn't eat rice from the South?"
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The military officials of the Ming Dynasty once made such a joke, which led to the neglect of precautions in the Nanzhi area, and Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong dug up the graves of the old Zhu family.
Chen Xinjia felt that Bai Guangen's judgment was as ridiculous as the northern thieves who refused to eat southern rice.
Is it really ridiculous? After hearing Bai Guangen's judgment, Zhu Youjian's heart suddenly jumped a few times. It seems that in real history, Li Zicheng had already made great strides towards Shanxi and Beijing at this time. The current situation is indeed consistent with the real situation
Historically, there have been great changes, but there is no guarantee that they will not continue to go north because of historical habits.
Will they go north? Theoretically speaking, going north is the worst choice. In addition to the fact that Shanxi is not as rich in grain and grass as the other two places, it is also extremely risky militarily. If their main force goes north and Sun Chuanting leaves Luoyang again, Li Zicheng can
They will be stuck in the Shanxi Valley, with no way forward or retreat.
If they go north to Shanxi, the only trouble is that the new army is being reorganized now, and it will take another month or two. As long as Li Guofu, Chen Qiyu and the others in Shanxi can give a little more effort and support for a month or two, things will be promising.