The Soul of the Han Dynasty in the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 679 Fighter
Shanxi was destroyed by the Qing army with more than [-] passes, cities, and fortresses. Not every offensive and defensive battle was fought fiercely.

There are very few Daming cities that really fought fiercely with the Qing army to the last moment like the Yanmen Pass offensive and defensive battle.

Therefore, there were countless Ming soldiers who fled, and many Ming soldiers were captured by Qing soldiers, but the proportion of Ming soldiers who died on the battlefield was not very large.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army had long been unable to achieve the standard configuration of cavalry, three infantry and seven infantry. Of course, the reason is that cavalry is too expensive. To raise a cavalry, you must have at least one inferior war horse, which is enough to raise three or four spearmen.

Of course, the cavalry accounted for a high proportion of the Ming army who were able to escape. After all, four-legged war horses can definitely escape faster than infantry.

When they came to join the "Red Banner Army", many Ming soldiers were reluctant to talk about their previous garrisons. They were worried that they would be questioned by the general who had captured them because they fled without fighting.

Since this kind of situation is very common among the scattered Ming army in Shanxi, Huang Han issued an order to forget the past, and all the Ming army will record their merits and demerits from the moment they are taken in by the "Red Banner Army".

This order was really timely, and the tens of thousands of Ming troops who were in a state of anxiety were immediately relieved.

In fact, they were also full of complaints, telling the "Red Banner Army" town governor one after another that they were the ones who spared their lives, but the chief took the lead and ran away without a trace.

If the remaining Ming army voluntarily organizes to defend the city, it will not only face the dilemma of no one to command, but also no food and supplies. Under such circumstances, who would be stupid?
There are also many Ming soldiers who have seen the food, clothing, armor and weapons in the hands of the "Red Banner Army" with their own eyes. Definitely repay it with death!
The town governors of the "Red Banner Army" expressed their opinions one after another. What they said was false. Next, let's look at everyone's actions. As long as the combat skills and ideology are qualified, the "Red Banner Army" welcomes everyone to become a member.

With the help of young soldiers, Liu Zaiqi's propaganda team kept talking, and inspired by the positive energy of the "Red Banner Army", the veterans of the Ming Army gradually lost their gangster spirit, walking like the wind and standing like the wind. Loose, sit like a bell, and don't dare to move your eyes around.

The "Red Banner Army" has already formed a system and is fully capable of assimilating newcomers, so Huang Han is not worried at all that his subordinates will be ruined by soldiers.

There are tens of millions of Ming soldiers to face in the future, and reforming the old army is an unavoidable problem. Now in Shanxi, why not start recruiting all the Ming troops who volunteered to join and strengthen themselves?

After entering Shanxi for less than a month, the number of "Red Banner Army" has doubled. This is a good thing, but it also has negative effects, that is, the food problem has become a big problem.

Huang Han can't just keep the able-bodied people, he also has to take care of the life and death of these people's families. Although he is only rationed for two meals plus one grain cake, he must ensure that these people can be [-]% to [-]% full, so as not to make them hungry I can't even walk.

Drought, insect plagues followed by military disasters. It is an indisputable fact that Shanxi was seriously short of food in the ninth year of Chongzhen. Even if the city of Shuozhou was seized and the food hoarded by the slaves was not enough to accommodate refugees.

Food rations before the Spring Festival should not be a problem. The most difficult time should be the end of spring and summer. Although the autumn harvest is in sight at that time, Shengdou Xiaomin should be at the end of his rope.

Zhang Fengyi, the superintendent, was placed in the right position, just like Zheng Zhihui, Chengquan, Fang Jingcheng and other eunuchs who supervised the army, he chose to obey the orders of the general who conquered the captives unconditionally without pointing fingers.

The first task Zhang Fengyi accepted was to inspect all the Daming cities that were still standing, to count the population and food reserves, and to estimate in time how much food was lacking to ensure the minimum survival needs of the soldiers and civilians.

Maybe Zhang Fengyi is not good at fighting, but he is very handy in doing such things. He has been an official for decades, but he does not know that the consequences of lack of food are wars everywhere.

Zhang Fengyi was full of enthusiasm, and immediately started to work. Finally, he didn't need to speculate on the holy will, and he didn't need to intrigue with courtiers. He could do some practical things to make a living for millions of hungry people.

The anxious Emperor Chongde of the Qing Dynasty led his troops across the frozen Yellow River and entered Shanxi again. In eight days, they drove [-] miles around Taiyuan Jiancheng to Ningwu Pass.

Lu Xiangsheng is not an ordinary person, he always thinks of killing slaves to repay the emperor's favor, and his generals such as fierce tiger, Li Chongzhen, Lei Shisheng, Liu Guangzuo, etc. are not given for nothing.

The emperor issued an imperial decree to clarify the tasks of the defenders in various places, and did not support leaving the city to launch an attack, but Lu Xiangsheng made a change.

Since Jiannu crossed Luoyang to besiege Kaifeng, generals such as Lu Xiangsheng and Meng Ruhu often led their cavalry out of the city to find opportunities to attack the Qing army. Without exception, they used the general cavalry as a unit to carry out small-scale operations in the name of scouting the surrounding area. fighting.

A lot of harassment battles were fought, and there were victories and losses. More than one hundred people were beheaded, and more than three hundred Ming army cavalry were killed.

Discovering that the Qing army was passing outside the city again, Lu Xiangsheng, who stood firm on the Luoyang city, keenly spotted the fighter plane. In order to verify the situation, he personally led a general cavalry out of the city to investigate.

At the same time, Mengruhu, Li Chongzhen, and Lei Shisheng each led a general cavalry to investigate the Quartet. Liu Guangzuo was given the task of going to Kaifeng to contact Henan Governor Chen Biqian to further find out the whereabouts of Jiannu.

After collecting information, Lu Xiangsheng learned that Dong Nu intended to retreat from Henan, and found out that the main force of the slave building was in a hurry to get ahead, leaving behind the rear team that escorted the looted people, livestock, supplies, and grain by at least three hundred miles.

Lu Xiangsheng immediately conveyed the order to prepare to go out of the city to attack the Qing army, and Luoyang defenders such as Mengruhu and Li Chongzhen responded and actively prepared for the battle.

The emperor had an imperial order to strictly guard against death. For this reason, Lu Xiangsheng wrote a memorial and presented it to the emperor requesting to lead the main force to fight, and he took the initiative to contact Liu Zhilun, Shangshu of the Ministry of War.

Lu Xiangsheng clarified that the main force of slavery in Henan should have rushed to Shanxi to fight against the general who conquered the captives. There were not many soldiers and horses left behind, but there were a lot of people, livestock, food, and supplies plundered.

Liu Zhilun and Fang Zhenghua have never crossed the Yellow River under the control of the emperor. Now it is confirmed that the slave chief led the main force to cross the Yellow River from the north of Shanzhou to Shanxi.

The two of them were particularly interested in Lu Xiangsheng's intelligence. Fang Zhenghua and the others fought together with Huang Han and got a lot of capture every time, and they had long been used to taking advantage of wars.

Now seeing that the post-establishment slave team escorted the Han people's movement and seized them, they could barely walk fifty miles a day, and they were all moved.

Liu Zhilun and Fang Zhenghua did not dare to act without authorization. In order to get the emperor's approval, Fang Zhenghua galloped to the capital to play the emperor himself overnight.

Of course, he was going to explain that attacking the Qing army at this time was less risky and more rewarding, and asked the emperor to order him and Liu Zhilun to join Lu Xiangsheng's troops to attack the slowly retreating Qing army.

(End of this chapter)