In the scorching sun, the half-withered elm trees stood weakly with their leaves drooping, while the Elaeagnus elegans on the side was half-bent, blooming with flowers, making final savings for the upcoming fruits.
Not far away, a wide riverbed stood clearly, but there was no trace of water. A wild sheep did not want to give up and kept pulling at it, trying to dig out some water.
"call out--"
Suddenly, an arrow shot suddenly and hit its butt directly. The wild sheep immediately ran away and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
After a while, a huge army came overwhelmingly and soon covered the entire river. Of course, someone would catch the unlucky wild sheep.
"stop--"
Tian Jianxiu reined in his horse and looked at the dry river in front of him, his brows instantly filled with joy.
"Your Majesty, yes, this is it -"
He turned around and shouted.
After a while, the one-eyed and powerful Li Zicheng came over covered in dust, his armor and hair on his temples covered with yellow sand.
"What you said is right."
Li Zicheng smiled with satisfaction and said to the timid young man beside him: "The road is good. If you find water, I will let you go."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
The man's eyebrows were filled with joy and he couldn't help but bow his hands.
Immediately, he dismounted and cautiously came to the river bed, then he kept searching with his eyes and walked slowly.
Immediately afterwards, Liu Fangliang, Hao Yaoqi, Li Laiheng, Yuan Zongdi and other four generals, as well as some junior generals, also came one after another.
Song Xiance lay on the horse, feeling like his whole body was about to fall apart, and finally arrived.
All the intruders were concentrating on the river bed and the man looking around, not daring to move even an inch.
"Fuck me to death." Hao Yaoqi poured half a bag of water into his stomach. He was speechless and kept muttering:
"If there is no water, I will drink his blood..."
Some soldiers couldn't bear it, so they grabbed a handful of leaves and flowers and chewed them in their mouths, hoping to squeeze out the juice.
Some were exhausted and fell on the yellow sand. As a result, they immediately stood up from the heat and cursed their mothers.
I don’t know how long it took, until the sun set in the west, and I waited for a sentence: "There is——"
In an instant, Li Zicheng didn't have to worry about that much and strode away, followed closely by the others.
"Here, it's wet here. You can get water by digging about half a foot."
The man knelt on his knees, pulled the river sand with his hands, and pointed at the wet ground.
"Very good." Li Zicheng breathed a sigh of relief and continued:
"Even this well can't feed so many of us. It will take at least twenty people."
"You go and keep looking. I will never let you miss the reward you deserve."
The news of the water instantly spread to the entire army. The army cheered and their morale finally stabilized.
Seeing this, Li Zicheng truly felt relieved, and the fatigue in his single eyes also relaxed a little.
Last year, when the guards were defeated in Xining, he thought it was a great shame and humiliation, so he immediately led his troops to raid Ganzhou, but returned without success.
So he recuperated for many days, led an army of 30,000, and set out impatiently towards Ganzhou to recapture the Hexi area that belonged to him.
Unfortunately, the weather in the northwest is really weird. The army has enough food and grass, but not enough water.
Some of the water points and oases that had been marked in the past had disappeared. The army was tired and thirsty. Just when they could no longer hold on, they finally discovered the river bed.
For two days, the intruders dug dozens of wells, and everyone's water bags were only half full, but the water was gone.
Thirty thousand people and horses consumed an astonishing amount of water, and the depleted waterbed withered.
However, although the water was available, everyone had no fighting power.
"Your Majesty." Song Xiance noticed the morale problem and said softly: "The Ming army has been preparing in a tight formation and has been recharging its strength for a long time, but our army is running thousands of miles away. Its morale is low and it is difficult to fight!"
"I will definitely kill Gao Yigong."
When Li Zicheng heard this, his eyes were full of anger: "He took refuge with the Ming thieves and became the commander-in-chief of the army. This shameless guy is so shameless. If I don't kill him, I can't get rid of the hatred in my heart."
Seeing this, Song Xiance had no choice but to invite Tian Jianxiu, a good old man in the army who was known for his caution.
Tian Jianxiu also had no interest in continuing to conquer Gansu.
In his opinion, the northwest region is full of sand, which is useless and a pity to abandon. Is it possible to lose vitality for such a useless place?
If you want to fight, go to Shaanxi. Why come to Gansu to eat dirt?
"Your Majesty, none of our brothers want to go to Ganzhou anymore."
Tian Jianxiu was a martial artist after all, so he said directly: "This time we are lost again, and we are short of water. We all don't want to go to Gansu, where there is nothing, to eat sand."
Li Zicheng was stunned: "That's the traitor Gao Yigong."
"Your Majesty, morale is hard to use. If we continue, I'm afraid it will cause a mutiny."
This time, Li Zicheng fell silent.
He believed in Tian Jianxiu's judgment.
If it weren't for the anger of revenge that was holding him up, he wouldn't have wanted to leave.
He is in his 40s. At this time, it is not too much to call him an old man, but he is still busy fighting the war and doing everything himself. The trauma of many years of war has made him exhausted.
"What do the others mean?"
After a long time, Li Zicheng opened his eyes and asked.
"None of us want to go to Gansu."
The other four generals walked into the camp at this time and knelt down on one knee quite ashamed.
Li Zicheng looked at these people, and some of them lost their minds for a moment.
He knew that these people were tired or exhausted, or they no longer wanted to do useless work.
He knew full well that even if Gansu was captured, he would not be able to hold it, not to mention Shaanxi. Without artillery, the Xining Guards would not be able to capture it.
"Go back to the teacher!"
Li Zicheng waved his hand lonely and issued the military order.
Soon, the army returned to the Tumut Department at a speed several times that of the northern expedition.
At the moment of their return, many soldiers cried with joy, and even the married women came out of their tents to greet them. Many of them even held their children and were pregnant.
Looking blankly at these women and the smiling soldiers, Li Zicheng understood instantly.
Sighing, he shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I never thought that dividing the fields and women among these people would also tie up their hearts."
"Revenge? In this huge army, I am probably the only one who has this thought!"
With no heirs or concubines around him, he can be said to be alone. Naturally, he wants revenge at all costs.
But others have changed their minds.
Starting from northern Shaanxi, he traveled through most of the world, including the Jinluan Palace in Beijing, and was finally driven to the shores of Qinghai Lake, where he lived in despair with a group of Tatars.
Li Zicheng had never imagined this kind of scene.
"In the past, I laughed at Zhang Xianzhong's grassroots team in Southwest China, but I never thought that I would follow in his footsteps."
After making up his mind, Li Zicheng discussed with Niu Jinxing to divide the entire Tumut part into several counties and establish a national system.