As soon as the rising sun emerged from the shore of the Wei River, Li Weiqun found Ma Jinzhong's detachment heading north to search for the whereabouts of the main force of the Eight Banners soldiers.
On the thirsty loess land, the Jingwei River flows together, and the few poplar forests on the river bank look so withered and weak in winter. The water of the Weihe River makes a beautiful arc from the southwest skyline and goes straight to the loess plateau.
Ma Jinzhong led more than a hundred knights to stop by the river. Their armors were all in good condition and there was no blood on their robes. It seemed that no fierce battle had occurred.
This made Li Weiqun feel relieved, but also confused whether Ma Jinzhong had completed the task.
"Ma Jinzhong! Have you found any clues about the whereabouts of the Eight Banners soldiers? Are there still large groups of Qing troops in the north?"
Ma Jinzhong also looked at Li Weiqun's group. He saw that the number of guards around Li Weiqun had decreased a lot. Even Li Weishuai's horses had been stained a lot, and the soldiers' bodies were soaked with blood.
There is no doubt that this night attack was a hand-to-hand fight to the death.
"To the north..." Ma Jinzhong said hesitantly, "It was dark at night and there was not enough time. We did not cross the river, but just observed the situation on the south bank of the Wei River... There were no other large Qing troops on the south bank. As for the north bank, I will not do it for the time being.
No movement was found."
Li Weiqun grimaced with some displeasure. Ma Jinzhong's answer did not satisfy him. Because of the night attack last night, both Li Weiqun and Gao Ruli were able to conclude that Wu Sangui must have been reinforced by many Eight Banners soldiers, so the northern front
How come there are no traces or clues of the Eight Banners Army's massive reinforcements?
In fact, this is not surprising.
In the past, the north and south sides of the Wei River were irrigated by this Guanzhong river. In addition to the desolate loess ridges, there were many continuous crop fields and knee-deep wormwood beaches. Mountains, rivers, and plains gathered in Weinan.
To the north, the Qinling Mountains are faintly like a trace of light ink, the river slowly spreads like a fluttering jade belt, the setting sun spreads the water, the waves are dazzling, the sand gulls gather, the reeds sway, all the essence of Guanzhong is here.
There are so many ordinary people and farmers, they are as dense as stars. It can be said that there are villages everywhere on both sides of the Weishui River, and there are densely populated places everywhere.
It's just that Guanzhong has been ravaged by several natural and man-made disasters, especially the recent rebellions launched by Yang Chengzu and Ji Gui and Wu Sangui's repeated purges and massacres to implement the hair-cutting order. This densely populated land with villages has been burned to ashes.
Ruins and white ground.
During Ma Jinzhong's roundabout search to the north, he found almost no large settlements. The few people who were still living in the countryside of Guanzhong had already established their own villages and lived in steep mountains and forests. The Weinan Plain turned into
An empty land.
Ma Jinzhong is a clever woman who cannot make a meal without rice. All the way north, she could not find any guide, let alone any clues about the activities of the Qing army.
He explained the situation to Li Weiqun with a wry smile:
"...Since Yang Ji's disaster in Shaanxi, Wu thieves have now slaughtered and plundered Pingliang, Guyuan, Gongchang, and Guanzhong. Even the trees are dead. Those endless terraced fields in the past
and villages have all been abandoned and abandoned by the Qin people.
It was such a bleak situation, and it was late at night, and there was no one in the wilderness. We searched in hundreds of ways, but it was really difficult to get any useful clues."
After hearing Ma Jinzhong's explanation, Li Weiqun also let out a long sigh in his heart. He was born as an orphan among the villagers in the Dabie Mountains. Of course he knew the suffering of the people who were displaced. When he thought about Pei Shouyue and Wang Quan's success in running Shaanxi Province, he thought about himself.
When we headed west from Kaifeng and Luoyang to exit the customs, we saw the lush, vibrant and vibrant scene in the Dashun military area.
Li Weiqun was filled with deeper hatred for Dorgon, Wu Sangui, these foreign bandits and traitors.
He cursed: "If the traitor Wu Sangui falls into my hands, I will hang him above the Wei River and starve to death."
The knights of the Shun Army heard what Ma Jinzhong said about the tragic scene in Weinan and were equally indignant. Although most of Li Weiqun's subordinates were Chu people, some of them were Qin people from other armies.
People in Qinzhong Township thought that when Li Zicheng first settled in Chang'an, the land of Guanzhong, which had been tortured by war, finally recovered a little bit of its vitality. At that time, many Qin soldiers in Shaanxi saw the scene of the peaceful Qing Dynasty that had not been seen for many years, and it was covered with poplar trees.
How lush is the shore of the Wei River with trees, reeds, and grass mixed with acacias, willows, and mulberry trees?
The water on the banks of the Wei River is still so clear. After the Qin soldiers surrendered, some of them were transferred from Chang'an to northern Shaanxi to guard. What they saw along the way was the peaceful atmosphere of the people recuperating. How could you imagine that it only lasted a year?
Shaanxi has turned into a hell on earth again?
The soldiers who were originally from Shaanxi knew that their hometown had been poisoned by Wu Sangui, and they almost couldn't bear it anymore and wanted to turn around and return to the enemy camp to fight again.
Ma Jinzhong added: "We found many abandoned villages along the way, most of which were ruins after being set on fire. There are also some villages where corpses are still lying on the road. Wu Sangui set fire to the village, but did not clean up the civilians.
The corpses of the people of Qin were left lying in the wilderness, where they were eaten by wild beasts."
"Wu Thief!" Li Weiqun said bitterly, "We must fight back to Chang'an."
The soldiers were all ready with their swords exposed, waiting for the general's order. However, Li Weiqun still held back his anger. He knew that the most important thing at this time was to bring the news back to Tongguan as soon as possible.
"Let's go...! Time does not wait for us. Return to Tongguan. Judging from the current situation, it is hard to say whether the Qing army mobilized a large number of Eight Banners troops to enter Shaanxi. However, there is no doubt that Wu Sangui received some reinforcements from Manchurian soldiers.
Thing! The northwest front will definitely be one of the main directions of attack for the Qing army."
The knights surrounded Li Weiqun and Ma Jinzhong. Everyone waved their whips, and the horses ran towards the east against the rising sun, casting long shadows under the vast and desolate loess.
The last banner of the Shun Army left Weinan. Ma Jinzhong was from Shaanxi. He reluctantly forgot about his hometown Sangzi and couldn't help asking Li Weiqun:
"Counterattack, counterattack, when can we counterattack and return to our hometown in Yan'an?"
Li Weiqun held the riding whip tightly and gritted his teeth and replied: "With King Jin here, the days of counterattack and returning home must be numbered."
Li Weiqun had originally ordered Gao Ruli to lead the team back to Tongguan first, but this surrendered general, who had always been known for his capriciousness in the past, was uneasy at this time and led dozens of cavalry to wait in the Huayin area.
Gao Ruli saw Li Weiqun from a distance, and Ma Jinzhong waited until the two hundred cavalry came out safely before he laughed:
"I'm worrying too much."
Also as a precaution, Zhao Yingyuan also led more than 2,000 Tongguan defenders to the Huashan area to wait for Li Weiqun. The Tongguan defenders had originally built some additional wooden fortresses along the Huashan Mountains, and the defenders advanced cautiously until they saw
After the cavalry had finished fighting, they immediately sent people out to respond.
Zhao Yingyuan personally led the team out to greet everyone. He hugged Li Weiqun's arms and said in admiration:
"There really is no simple person under the command of the King of Jin. All the elite soldiers and generals of Dashun are in the Chu army!"