"With these six thousand people, we finally have some ability to protect ourselves."
Zhu Yixi was quite excited.
"Inspection, General Li sent someone to say something big happened."
At this time, a messenger reported.
Did something happen to Governor Sun?
Zhu Yixi was shocked and hurriedly got up and left.
After entering Tongguan, Li Jizu said anxiously:
"Brother Zhu, you came just in time. News came from outside the customs that Luoyang has been occupied by bandits again."
"Luoyang?" Zhu Yixi was shocked. As a big city in Henan Province, the importance of Luoyang is evident. Therefore, when Sun Chuanting left the country, he first wanted to control Luoyang.
However, now that Luoyang, the rear area, is actually occupied by intruders, doesn't that mean that the Qin army's retreat has been cut off?
"The intruder cut off the army's retreat?"
Li Jizu said in a deep voice, with some suspicion in his tone.
"It should be!" Zhu Yixi nodded helplessly: "I'm afraid that soon, Nuxiang will also be occupied and approach Tongguan."
"Then what should we do?" Li Jizu panicked.
He couldn't help but panic, Zhu Yixi herself panicked.
He had been preparing for this moment in anticipation, but when it actually came, he felt particularly uncomfortable and panicked.
One hundred thousand Qin troops were gone, and if nothing else happened, Shaanxi was also gone. Next, it was time to escape.
Alas, things are unpredictable!
"First send people to garrison in Neng Township. Once the rebels come, they will immediately return and report. If they are our people, we will respond to them."
Zhu Yixi said in a deep voice.
"Okay!" Li Jizu calmed down and nodded.
Zhu Yixi's mind was full of thoughts and was unclear.
Relatively speaking, Tongguan has six artillery pieces and a garrison of about 10,000 people. Even Li Zicheng may not be able to capture it without a few months.
However, if it were the returning Qin troops, they would be quite a threat to him.
Not to mention anything else, those two thousand muskets and four thousand infantry are the biggest temptation.
After all, in troubled times, as long as you have a certain amount of troops, you will be respected no matter where you surrender.
"Brother Li, Tongguan is very important. If something goes wrong, Shaanxi will be destroyed. No one should be allowed in except Governor Sun."
Zhu Yixi said in a deep voice, and then he wanted to fake his deeds again and added: "Even if you see the Superintendent Dazhu (Shuai Qi), don't let him in."
"By the way, we must see the real person, even let him speak, listen to the sound and identify it."
"Ah?" Li Jizu was startled: "No, Brother Zhu, you are too careful!"
"You can never be too careful!" Zhu Yixi shook his head and said seriously: "The matter has come to this. Inspector Sun's whereabouts are unknown. Saving Tongguan is our last choice."
After waiting for several days, thousands of soldiers finally returned from Ruzhou. They were all panic-stricken, emaciated from hunger, and almost exhausted.
Zhu Yixi fed them and then asked: "Where is the supervisor?"
"I don't know what to expect!" A general took a breath and said, "Ruzhou ran out of food, and everyone started to fall into chaos. Then they were invaded by bandits, and there were people all over the mountains and plains. I finally managed to run back."
"Ruzhou?" Zhu Yixi was shocked and asked: "That should be where the rear army is, and most of the food, grass and baggage are here. Then, where did the supervisor go?"
"I should have gone to Xiangcheng or Baozhou. We really don't know-"
“It all looks like it!”
Zhu Yixi waved her hands and fell into deep thought.
"Brother Zhu, why is this?" Li Jizu asked.
"It's just a group of deserters." Zhu Yixi sighed: "I'm afraid that when chaos broke out in Ruzhou, they ran back before the intruders could come. They didn't encounter the intruders at all. The journey was peaceful, so they were the first to come back.
."
"Next, I'm afraid there will be countless troops defeated."
Sure enough, his words came true.
Starting from September 14th, about three to four thousand people came back one after another, and they were all elites from the three sides, and they were the rear army commanded by Wang Ding, Guanfumin, and two generals.
"They are all elites!" Zhu Yixi looked at the so-called elites from the three sides, but felt helpless. He shook his head and said, "It's a pity that he has lost his will and is afraid of breaking into the army. He is timid before fighting."
In other words, unless there are major changes, these elites will not be able to fight against the invading army.
However, although it was unable to fight against the Chuang Army, it was quite confident against other armies, such as Zhang Xianzhong's Daxi Army.
"Datou, you control this group of people and gather them together. They will be of great use in the future."
Zhu Yixi turned around and gave instructions to Zhu Meng.
"Yes, Sect Master."
Zhu Meng nodded hurriedly and gathered the army. He was very familiar with it. From the epidemic prevention army to the mining army, his experience increased greatly.
After waiting for a few more days, only a few of the defeated troops from Ruzhou escaped, but they brought bad news: Wang Ding, the commander-in-chief of Yansui Town, and Fumin, the commander-in-chief of Ningxia, had been killed in battle.
Nearly half of the elite troops from the three sides it carried were gone.
Li Jizu was so frightened that he stood at Tongguan Pass all day long, waiting for the arrival of Governor Sun.
Zhu Yixi naturally understood what he was thinking. As long as Sun Chuanting was still there, what would be the point of training the Qin Army?
And once Sun Chuanting is gone, Shaanxi will naturally be gone too.
Waited for a few more days.
At noon, immediately, spies from Nexiang County came to report that a group of cavalry was approaching. It was estimated that they were cavalry.
"Cavalry?" Zhu Yixi said in a deep voice: "It seems that it should be Gao Jie's command, and only their cavalry can be so fast."
Sure enough, at Tongguan Pass, Zhu Yixi and others saw in a cloud of dust, the Qin army's cavalry, who were in a state of disarray, being tightly held by a considerable number of intruders of mixed colors.
"Quickly, open the city gate——" Li Jizu said hurriedly.
"Not urgent!"
Zhu Yixi hurriedly stopped her, squinting her eyes and looking into the distance: "Once the city gate is wide open, our cavalry can come in, and so can the other party's, so we must be careful."
"Then, you can't just ignore it, right?" Li Jizu said helplessly.
Zhu Yixi sighed, this Brother Li is indeed a traditional military commander of the Ming Dynasty, he has everything except brains.
"In range?"
He turned around and asked about the artilleryman.
"The red cannon was about four miles away when it was tested, and the damage was only within two miles. The best is about one mile. Now the enemy is about to enter the two miles range."
The artillerymen trained by Wang Xi have a rich reserve of knowledge.
"Then launch!" Zhu Yixi said in a deep voice: "Disrupt the intruders' offensive and let General Gao get rid of them."
"That city gate?" Li Jizu asked.
"No." Zhu Yixi shook his head and said: "The cavalry is better than nothing at Tongguan. Let them go to Mengjin to cross the river and go to Shanxi."
Li Jizu could only nod.
Gao Jie took the lead and was guarded by his own soldiers. He turned to look at the chasing bandit cavalry and gritted his teeth and said, "Damn it, I lost a lot of money this time."
"Why, isn't Tongguan open yet?"
Gao Jie looked coldly at the checkpoint not far away and said sternly: "Wait until I get in and see how I deal with you."
Boom——
Suddenly, there was a huge roar in the distance, and six huge iron balls broke through the air, turning red. They passed directly past the cavalry and rode towards the thieves not far away.
The iron ball collided head-on with a cavalryman. His men and horses were torn into pieces, and with the smell of cooked meat, they rushed again. Several cavalrymen were caught unawares and were killed together.
Immediately, he jumped a few more times and took away many cavalrymen who could not escape.
Six iron balls could not kill more than a hundred people, and the bandit cavalry was instantly stopped and even retreated in panic.