Zhou Zheng continued to be busy with his affairs, running around in Tianjin Wei, Liaodong, and Shandong, and countless things piled up on him.
In September, Zheng Sen finally arrived at Tianjin Wei, who had just passed the Juren exam and was studying hard and preparing for the exam.
Seeing that he was still very young, Zhou Zheng saw him once and encouraged him, so he sent him to the Military Academy and asked Sun Chuanting to take care of him for one or two, so he didn't pay much attention.
Similarly, two months ago, Li Dingguo was also sent to the Military Academy by Zhou Zheng.
At the end of October, the northwest changed again.
Li Zicheng made a comeback, but in half a month swept Fengxiang Mansion, the number of people soared to nearly 100,000, and the target was Xi'an Mansion, Shaanxi was hit.
At the same time, gangsters in Sichuan, Huguang, Guizhou and other places have also emerged one after another. Some previously dormant surging out again, echoing Li Zichengyao.
In mid-November, Li Zicheng did not break the Xi'an Mansion, turned around and entered Sichuan, broke through the Sixteenth City, then entered Huguang, and the army attacked Xiangyang!
The lid of the northwest was completely lifted, and gangsters everywhere took advantage of the wind, and the momentum was even greater than before!
In Chongzhen, the court panicked, and quickly ordered Zhang Guowei, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, to take Shangfang Baojian to the northwest to coordinate the governors and conquer the bandits.
In mid-December, Zhang Guowei arrived in Xiangyang, swore the three armies, and prepared to attack Li Zicheng.
However, people from all walks of life used money and food and soldiers as a reason to play perfunctory responsibilities, and did not listen to Zhang Guowei's book of war.
Zhang Guowei tried to persuade him and didn't move, but was unable to suppress it. After thinking about it, he could only write to Zhou Zheng and ask Zhou Zheng for advice.
After receiving Zhou Zheng's reply, Zhang Guowei arrested Fang Kongxian, governor of Jiangxi, and impeached him for twelve major crimes without saying a word.
In this way, the various armies were frightened and jointly sent troops to defeat Li Zicheng outside the city of Xiangyang.
Li Zicheng was forced to retreat to Shaanxi, but once again swept Shaanxi. Shaanxi's army was scattered. Except for Xi'an, the other provinces were unable to stop him. Li Zicheng was allowed to move. But in one month, his army soared to 200,000!
The government and the public shook incomparably, and the short-term ease quickly disappeared. Chongzhen, the court once again focused on the northwest, and issued an decree to Zhang Guowei, ordering him to get rid of Li Zicheng as soon as possible.
The Sweeper King, White Horse Heavenly King and others are also very powerful in Sichuan, avoiding Qin Liangyu's main force, attacking the city everywhere, and the officers and soldiers can hardly stop them.
The court urgently transferred Zuo Liangyu and others from Huguang to Sichuan, but due to money and food problems, Zuo Liangyu and others were unwilling to move. Only Shi Kefa led the army northward, but was defeated and had to retreat.
The imperial court wanted to transfer money and grain from Nanzhili, but it was not yet May. There was a sudden flood in Suzhou, Songjiang, Huzhou and other places. The heavy rain poured continuously, and the price of rice suddenly increased three or four times!
The imperial court had no money and food, and the people from all walks of life were stagnant. Li Zicheng saw the opportunity and joined the Sichuan bandits, invaded Dachang, Jianzhou, and even defeated Ma Tianlong in Hanzhong, occupying more than half of Hanzhong.
The court was terrified and ordered Zhang Guowei to suppress the bandits.
Zhang Guowei arrived in Chongqing and summoned He Renlong and Zuo Liangyu, but he refused to listen.
Li Zicheng was overjoyed when he saw that the official army was not coming. He attacked the city in the northwest and even invaded Henan. He adopted a tactic of exhausting the enemy and dragged the army.
Now the Northwest is not what it used to be. Zhang Guowei, the new Shangshu, does not have enough prestige. He is almost a soldier and bandit who begs his grandfather to sue his grandmother.
The governors, governors, and general soldiers of the provinces lost their cooperation. As the gangsters grew, they had to fight on their own. In addition to the problem of money and food, the officers and soldiers lost consecutive battles and suffered heavy losses.
In mid-May, heavy rains continued for more than ten days in central Shaanxi. The officers and soldiers of various routes were blocked, and the disaster caused by waterlogging caused the civil unrest to expand further.
Li Zicheng took the opportunity to turn around, defeated He Renlong in Hanzhong, and marched into Tongguan.
Tongguan, known as the second majestic gate in the world, at the junction of Qin, Jin, and Henan, is also the throat that enters the Central Plains, and it is also a Dinghai Shenzhen in the northwest.
Both Hanzhong and Xi'an can be lost, but Tongguan can't be lost. Losing Tongguan means losing Shaanxi, losing Shaanxi, and the Northwest will be completely out of control!
Zhang Guowei knew how powerful he was, and gathered more than 100,000 troops at Tongguan, waiting in full battle.
The heavy rain poured and the river surged, and the entire northwest seemed to slow down.
Zhang Guowei was standing on the head of the city at the moment, looking at the northwest direction where Li Zicheng was, his face full of anxiety and anxiety.
Next to him was the governor of Shaanxi, Qian Kelei, who was equally frightened and said: "My lord, the thieves are coming fiercely. There are eighteen camps outside the city. This is a must to win Tongguan."
Zhang Guowei curled his brows, his original handsome look became frowning during the year and a half. He sighed softly and said, "Now the heavy rain is continuous, and there is no news around us. We don't have much food and grass..."
Qian Kelei was about to speak, and turned his head to look, and saw a man escorted by the guards, braving the rain to trot towards the tower.
Qian Kelei frowned and said, "My lord, the prison army is here."
Without looking back, Zhang Guowei said, "It should be the emperor who has urged me to send troops again."
Qian Kelei looked at the muddy road ahead, the rain still falling above his head, and said, "Is there no one in the court to excuse us when we are ready to send troops in this kind of weather?"
Zhang Guowei was full of worries and said, "There is no one who knows soldiers in the DPRK. It would be fine if Lord Zhou was in Beijing."
After all, Zhou Zheng had wiped out gangsters in the northwest. If Zhou Zheng was in Beijing, he would say a hundred words to others.
Qian Kelei was about to say more, the inner supervisor Huang Ancheng had already come up and shouted anxiously: "I said, Zhang Shangshu, when are you going to send troops? If you fool our family again, don't blame our family for being polite!"
The corners of Zhang Guowei's face twitched, his worried face turned around and he smiled and said, "Duke Huang, you have also seen it, now the heavy rain is continuous and the roads are muddy, how can I send troops? Besides, the situation of the gangsters has not been figured out yet, the specific directions Don't know how to send troops? Three days, give me three more days."
Huang Ancheng stared at Zhang Guowei's face, snorted coldly, and said, "Okay, just three days! Three days later, if Zhang Shangshu doesn't send troops again, our family will ask you for your crime and hand over Tongguan to someone else!"
Zhang Guowei was suddenly alert, still smiling on his face: "Okay."
Huang Ancheng snorted again and turned to leave.
Qian Kelei watched Huang Ancheng leave, only then said with an ugly face: "My lord, what does Huang Ancheng mean? Do you want to seize the adult's military power?"
Zhang Guowei nodded helplessly, and said, "It should be."
The Jianjun represented the emperor and indeed had the power to seize power, and Zhang Guowei could not resist at all.
If Huang Ancheng seizes the military power and comes arbitrarily, then Tongguan may be lost in an instant.
Zhang Guowei, Qian Kelei was full of anger and helplessness.
To the northwest of Tongguan, Li Zicheng's army stretched for an unknown length, and its morale was like a rainbow. It was not frustrated by the heavy rain at all, let alone stop.
Inside Li Zicheng's big tent, a group of people were smiling and proud.
More than a dozen people including Li Zicheng, Song Xiance, Li Yan, Liu Zongming, and Gao Jie are present, discussing how to break through Tongguan. (End of this chapter)