"If the Manchu and Qing Tatars send troops to help, Li Zicheng will definitely not be his opponent!"

Liu Fang's expression became serious and he said in a deep voice: "Wu Sangui's Guan Ning army and the Tatar cavalry are both the best in the world. If they join forces, there will be no one in the world that can compete with them!"

"Your Highness, the Tatars are ambitious. After entering the pass, they will inevitably fight for the world. We must be ready for the Tatars to invade Huaibei at any time!"

Tan Youdao nodded repeatedly and made suggestions.

He said: "Zizheng is right. Although Huai'an Prefecture is good, it is still too small. His Highness wants to find opportunities to capture Yangzhou, Fengyang, Luzhou and Anqing. It is best to occupy Jiangbei. With the territory,

We need to recruit more soldiers and train them well, so that we can stop the Tartar cavalry in the future!"

Feng Yuan shook his head slightly, Tan Youdao said it was simple, but it was not easy to do.

Putting aside Fengyang for the moment, Yangzhou, Luzhou and Anqing are all the best places in the north of the Yangtze River. Even if Chongzhen was willing to give these territories to him, the ministers and scholars in the south of the Yangtze River would not agree.

"We still have time. Let's take it step by step. Let's take over Xuzhou first and then talk about other things!"

Feng Yuan is not in a hurry now, but impatience is the most important thing when it comes to big things. He plans to move forward steadily. He will first clean up the Huaiyang land and train a hundred thousand soldiers and horses who can go into battle before plotting other territories.

After all, the Fengyang, Luzhou and other places that Tan Youdao mentioned are still the territory of the Ming Dynasty. After the Tatars move south, he can legitimately annex them under the pretext of going to support them.

The various places in the south of the Yangtze River, unlike those in the north, have not yet encountered military fire, and if they are captured by force, they will inevitably suffer backlash.

Feng Yuan quickly made arrangements based on everyone's suggestions and his own ideas.

Jiang Yingjie led 5,000 troops to Xuzhou to organize the city defenses and build a fortress as the first defensive barrier in Huaibei.

Huang Shouzheng led 3,000 troops to Shanyang Fucheng to hand over the defense to Lu Zhenfei.

Feng Yuan is also planning to move the palace center to Fucheng.

After all, Fucheng, located at the core of the Grand Canal, is the most important place in Lianghuai.

This is also the dividing line between the south and the north. Countless merchants and merchants gather here. Huai merchants, salt merchants from Yangzhou, and wealthy families from the south of the Yangtze River all set up shop here and make a fortune every day.

These wealthy businessmen are extremely wealthy, but no matter how rich they are, the government cannot receive much money from them.

As a central place for river transportation, the annual tax money can barely support the officials of Huai'an Prefecture, and the tax money turned over to the Ministry of Household Affairs is only tens of thousands of taels.

Feng Yuan was not a scholar, nor was he Chongzhen who cherished feathers and cared about his own reputation. After he arrived in Fucheng, he would definitely clear the land by force and collect commercial taxes.

Whoever dares to jump out and scream will be killed directly.

…

The mountains are like the sea, and the blood seems to dye the white clouds red.

Two soldiers and horses were fighting desperately on the west side of Shanhaiguan, with shouts of killing rising into the sky. Li Zicheng and a group of personal guards stood on a hillside watching the battle. Their faces were a little gloomy.

The Shun army had been fighting Wu Sangui's Guan Ning army for two days and had a slight upper hand. However, the Guan Ning army seemed to have become very tenacious and resisted desperately, causing the Dashun army to suffer serious losses.

General Liu Zongmin is supervising the battle at the front, constantly directing the elite troops of the old battalion to advance forward. If this continues, no matter how tenacious Guan Ning's army is, they will not be able to escape the result of defeat.

"Something feels wrong!"

Li Zicheng frowned slightly. Although the Dashun Army was about to win, an ominous premonition emerged in his heart. He subconsciously looked to the side, wanting to ask Li Yan for advice.

But as soon as he turned his head, he suddenly thought that because Niu Jinxing said that "the master artifact of the Eighteen Sons" might be attributed to Li Yan, he did not take him with him when he went on the expedition.

Guard Tian next to him had sharp eyes and suddenly looked happy. He pointed forward and said, "Look, Your Majesty, Guan Ning's army can't hold it anymore!"

Li Zicheng immediately looked up and saw that, as Guard Tian had said, Liu Zongmin himself put on armor and went into battle, roaring into the enemy formation, tearing open a hole in the blink of an eye.

The Dashun soldiers behind Liu Zongmin formed a large mental formation. Regardless of the fact that most of their physical strength had been consumed, they followed closely with shouts and charged in.

"Zong Min is indeed brave!"

When Li Zicheng saw this, he immediately felt relieved. As long as Shanhaiguan was captured, there would be a barrier to the east of the capital. His throne would also be secure.

Woohoo!

At this moment, the sound of a horn suddenly came from the direction of Shanhaiguan. Li Zicheng looked around and saw the South Water Gate, North Water Gate and Guanzhong Gate of Shanhaiguan three miles away suddenly opened.

Tens of thousands of black cavalry surged out and charged towards the exhausted Dashun Army.

Phew! As the cavalry protruded, dark clouds appeared in the sky, and a gust of wind howled.

"No, it's the Manchu Tatars!"

Li Zicheng suddenly changed his color.

He finally understood the reason for his uneasiness. It turned out that the Manchu Tatars arrived outside the Shanhaiguan Pass at some unknown time. The Dashun Army was blocked by the relevant wall and could not detect them in time.

kill!

I saw the Manchu and Qing cavalry divided into two wings, each with 20,000 to 30,000 cavalry, with thousands of horses galloping, and arrows like locusts, slamming into the Dashun army's formation.

For a moment, Dashun's soldiers fell to the ground like they were harvesting wheat.

In a field battle, no one could stop the charge of fifty or sixty thousand cavalry. What's more, the Dashun Army and the Guan Ning Army had both been killed and were at a low point.

The Manchus and the Qing Dynasty waited for work and exhausted their energy, and immediately defeated the Dashun army one after another.

Liu Zongmin roared angrily and rushed forward to meet him. As a result, random arrows were fired, and the war horse was instantly shot into a hornet's nest. This extremely brave general was also hit by several arrows, and was quickly protected by his own soldiers and retreated back.

After 50,000 to 60,000 Manchu cavalry charged back and forth for three battles, Dashun's main force finally could not withstand it and the whole army collapsed.

One of the cavalry seemed to have seen Li Zicheng watching the battle on the hillside, and immediately changed its direction and charged towards the hillside.

"Your Majesty, nothing can be done. Let's retreat quickly!"

A general came forward with an anxious expression and persuaded.

Li Zicheng's dark face turned red, and he stood still without moving, with a look of reluctance on his face.

He was about to win, but in the end he missed the Manchu and Qing cavalry, allowing these Tatars to take advantage. When he thought of this, he felt so depressed that he couldn't breathe out.

"Walk!"

After seeing that the defeat was irreversible, he gave a sharp shout, pulled up the reins, and left the hillside with the two thousand soldiers beside him.

During the retreat, he also joined Liu Zongmin and gathered some of the defeated troops.

The large number of defeated troops in Dashun slightly hindered the speed of the Manchu and Qing cavalry's pursuit. Before the opponent formed a circle of encirclement, Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin and others successfully withdrew.

Perhaps it was because they had been encircled and suppressed many times and fled for their lives, and the generals of the Shun Army had rich experience in retreating and breaking out of encirclements.

After a brutal battle, most of Dashun's main force was lost, but not a single general was killed.

For Li Zicheng, defeat was nothing. As long as the general was not killed and given some time, he could regain his strength and raise another army.

He thinks so, but others don't.

As soon as the news of the defeat of the Dashun army reaches the capital, those officials who surrendered to Dashun will inevitably have other thoughts in their hearts.

Anyone with some wisdom can see that Dashun's main force has been mostly lost and it is no longer able to stop the attack of the Manchu cavalry.
Chapter completed!