The Soul of the Han Dynasty in the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 923 Capture Liu Zongmin Alive

The victorious bandits were dazzled by the victory, and their nerves were stimulated by the looting of too much gold, silver, treasures, food, and livestock, and they got carried away for a while.

Huang Sifang received information from the banner guards sent by Zhao Shisan, and learned that Liu Zongmin, one of the rogue generals, led [-] vanguards to "Loyalty Fort".

There are still about 15 follow-up troops, led by Gao Yingxiang himself, but because many ordinary people with their families are involved, the distance from the forward is no less than two hundred miles.

At this time, Huang Sifang had assembled about [-] infantrymen of the "Red Banner Army", less than [-] cavalry, and less than [-] guards, regiments, and township soldiers.

Most of the cavalry came from bodyguards, too few men and horses, and their combat effectiveness was not too strong. Their main task was to scout.

Relying on more than [-] troops, they fought a defensive battle in the "Loyalty Fort" with a good mass base, and no less than [-] young and middle-aged men took the initiative to take up white wax spears to participate in the battle. It was not easy for the rogues to break through the defense line.

But Huang Sifang was not satisfied with passively waiting, but tried to stop the rogues at the periphery.

He took the initiative to find Liu Zhilun who had already retreated to the "Loyalty Fort" line of defense, and suggested that the two armies jointly set up an ambush to deal a head-on blow to the rogues so that they would not dare to advance.

Liu Zhilun is worrying about whether to give up the territory in the south of the capital and retreat to the capital.

Because even if he wanted to fight, there were too many bandits, and if he got entangled, he would face the danger of being surrounded.

After carefully listening to Huang Sifang's plan, he also learned that the "Red Banner Army" had also organized more than [-] troops. Liu Zhilun believed that it was worth a try for the two armies to join forces to kill Liu Zhongmin's vanguard.

Liu Zongmin, who was born as a blacksmith, was in his thirties. He killed people like hemp and was extremely brutal.

In history, this person committed a heinous crime. After entering the capital, he was extremely cruel when he was handcuffed, which pushed the rogues to the opposite of more people in a disguised form, which led to Li Chuang's defeat.

Liu Zongmin looked down on the fighting power of the Ming army at all. Knowing that the "Red Banner Army" was fighting the Qing army far away in Liaodong, he thought that 5 horses should be unmatched, and the advancing speed was very fast.

Huang Sifang and Liu Zhilun's plan was that the "Red Banner Army" would lead the village infantry to strike head-on, while the cavalry from the Beijing battalion moved behind Liu Zhongmin's troops to break his way back, and the infantry attacked sideways.

After retreating to the "Fort of Loyalty", the soldiers of the Beijing camp felt at home.

The officials of the "Red Banner Army" system warmly received them, not only providing food, but also providing canned sea fish, eggs, and pork as much as possible.

Winning over the soldiers of the Beijing camp is a political task.

Therefore, when Liu Zhilun brought his men and horses to "Fort of Loyalty", no one was arguing about who would bear the expenses. He directly took care of food and drink, and there was also a rationed supply of wine and meat.

Originally, he had feelings for the "King of Han" and got benefits. When he learned that he was about to join hands with the "Red Banner Army" in a big battle, the morale of the soldiers in the Beijing camp was immediately high.

"Loyalty Fort" has a radius of more than [-] li. The "Red Banner Army" has been in business for many years. When they learned that the bandits had crossed the Yellow River, they carried out fortified walls and cleared the fields. The common people brought food, household belongings and large animals to "Loyalty Fort" and "Houjiazhuang". .

There were too many people, and the two castles could not accommodate them. Only the elderly, children, and weak women could enter the castle. Young men and strong women took up ash pole spears and stationed in the camp between the two castles.

Liu Zhilun had more than 3 cavalry and about [-] infantry in his hands. Together with Huang Sifang's [-] horses, they set up an ambush eighty miles south of "Fort of Loyalty", and indeed they took the aggressive troops of Liu Zongmin into it.

More than 15 Ming troops faced about 5 rogues, including [-] "Red Banner Army" soldiers. The overall combat effectiveness should not be weaker than the elite old battalion of [-] rogues.

The battle of more than 10 horses sounds mysterious, but it is not as spectacular as imagined, and there is no such thing as a stalemate and repeated rushes.

That's because most rogues fear the "Red Banner Army", admire the "Red Banner Army", and don't mind being captured by the "Red Banner Army".

When the sound of cannons sounded, the red flags fluttered in all directions, and there were bursts of shouts, "The Red Flag Army treats prisoners preferentially, and those who lay down their weapons will not die!" When the slogan was earth-shattering, most of the rogues chose to kneel and surrender.

When Liu Zongmin realized that the situation was not good, he led the [-]-year-old cavalry to flee. Unfortunately, the Ming army had already grasped the specific information. Zhou Yuji, Chen Gao, Lin Daye and other Ming army generals all had portraits of Liu Zongmin in their arms.

More than [-] Ming army cavalry and [-] bodyguards chased and intercepted the [-] bandit cavalry, and their fighting power was enough to crush them. The shouts of "Catch Liu Zongmin alive! Promoted to three ranks in a row!" shouted one after another.

In the end Zhou Yuji became the lucky one and captured Liu Zongmin who had been injured by him alive.

In less than half a day, 5 people were eaten, and only a few hundred people from the old battalion fled back. Gao Yingxiang turned pale with shock.

After careful questioning, he realized that the front was the territory of the "Red Banner Army", and the number of "Red Banner Army" who shot should be no less than [-].

The rogue leaders and minions who had been triumphant at first learned that the fierce Liu Zongmin's troops were almost wiped out, and they inquired one after another, and it was confirmed that they were attacked by the "Red Devils", and their morale plummeted.

Immediately, rumors spread, and bandits spread one after another. Liu Zongmin's 5 men were rounded up without even holding on for a long time. The "Red Devils" must have more than [-] men, maybe [-] or even more.

Many low-level rogues were discussing, and they could simply surrender. Anyway, the "Red Banner Army" didn't kill the prisoners and gave them enough food, so there was no need to fight for King Gao Chuang.

The situation took a turn for the worse, the team immediately became difficult to lead, and the number of deserters increased.

It would definitely not work if this continued. Gao Yingxiang made a wise decision, gave up the illusion of killing and running to the capital, and retreated with a population of 80 million people and a large amount of spoils.

After King Gao Chuang personally led the old battalion of more than [-] cavalry, the morale of the army was relieved, and the phenomenon of running away was effectively curbed.

Being slapped in the face by the cruel reality, Li Yan, who has been following Gao Yingxiang closely, has a lot of worries. He begins to doubt life, and the pride of expressing his ambitions is gone.

I thought that strengthening military discipline and winning the hearts of the people would rejuvenate the rebel army, but most of these people were muddy and could not support the wall, and they lost all energy before seeing the "Red Banner Army".

If the "King of Han" pacified Liaodong and led the victorious army to enter Henan and Shaanxi, how many rebels would dare to fight?[-]% or [-]%?
This scum among scholars, one of the culprits who destroyed Ming Dynasty in history, realized that his end would not be good, and thought about whether to take Xing Hongniang to choose the right time to escape into the mountains to live in seclusion.

Relatively speaking, Gao Yingxiang's psychological quality is much higher.

King Gao Chuang's reputation was earned. He has been up and down for more than ten years. He once ascended to the top and called out tens of thousands of followers. He was once like a bereaved dog with only a few dozen people around him.

Now it's just a small loss, and there is no injury at all. There are people and food, and there are soldiers. As long as a few hundred thousand people are taken away, it will be easy to replenish 10 within half a year.

(End of this chapter)