Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 567

Shaotian three years, Lu Shunzhi four years.

summer.

On the western edge of the Hanzhong Basin, Lueyang, a small mountain town located at the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan, Zhang Dapeng, the admiral of the Shaanxi-Gansu camp, rushed to the gate of the city with the camp officers.

Greetings to the envoys who came from Tokyo.

On the first day of the new year, because of the tense situation in Shaanxi and Gansu, he did not enter the court.From last year to now, he has been busy fighting and training troops, entering Wudu, taking Gongchang, dividing troops in Hexi, using troops to form counties and Huizhou, and recovering Lueyang.

Along the Han River, they invaded Hanzhong and occupied this important place.

Although Lueyang is small, its geography is dangerous.

The place where it is used is called Lue, and the rule is called Yang in the south of Xiangshan Mountain, so it is named Lueyang. After occupying the slightly area, the camp has already overlooked the Hanzhong Basin in the east.

"Fengtian Chengyun Emperor's edict said..."

Zhang Dapeng knelt down to receive the imperial decree. This decree, which spanned thousands of miles and was issued from the Penglai Palace on the coast of the sea, first arrived at Qingdao Port, then went to the mouth of the Yangtze River by boat, and then went all the way to Chongqing via the Yangtze River, and then passed through Shunqing, Baoning, Jinniu, etc. This road is also called Jialing Road, and it is the place where Qin Long enters Shu from Huixian County, Gansu Province to Lueyang, Shaanxi Province.

Lueyang is located at the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains, bordering Hanzhong in the east, Bashu in the south, Longnan in the west, and Guanzhong in Beiping. It has been known as "the throat of Guanlong and the gateway of Bashu" since ancient times.

The importance of this place was particularly prominent in ancient traffic.

The imperial battalion's Shaanxi-Gansu camp was able to capture Huixian, Chengxian, Lueyang, Liangdang and other places one after another. Although they were all remote mountainous areas, they were very important strategic areas, no worse than the Hanzhong Plain.

Especially during the current war.

Last year Zhang Dapeng joined the reorganization battalion in Wudu, and later let Zhang Dingguo pass through the border, and then let He Hongqi and others divide the camp to go west, and then he also led the army to reorganize and attack, all the way to Lueyang.

The emperor in Shandong was very satisfied with Zhang Dapeng's decisions and victories.

Satisfied with the emperor's decree, Zhang Dapeng was accepted as the fourth adoptive son, given the country's surname Zhu, changed his name to Zhu Pengfei, and bestowed the title of Marquis of the Founding of Wuxing County, a hereditary title.

After receiving the order, Dapeng was still a little confused.

He had stayed in Yulin Town before, and he had personally served as a soldier for the emperor, but he was only an orphan after all, and there were many soldiers like him in the imperial camp, even if the emperor had many guards and personal soldiers what.

It was not the eunuch who came to proclaim the decree, but the emperor's imperial bodyguard, Fu Qingzhu, a fifth-rank Qianniu who was prepared. Come to Zhu Pengfei's army.

The position of the Chinese army is roughly equivalent to the deputy chief in the Republic of China. Its function is similar to that of the director of the office.

Fu Shan, the central army, commanded Zhu Pengfei's guards, and was in charge of the transmission of orders, official documents and letters, etc. It was a very important position, and he had to be the commander's confidant.

"Your Majesty is very satisfied with the admiral's performance in Hanzhong, and hopes to make persistent efforts."

After finishing speaking, he handed him a private letter written by the emperor himself, and asked him to read it himself.

Fu Shan also brought a batch of silver dollars to reward the soldiers.

Other ordnance, etc., are inconvenient to transport, and they are still in Chongqing for the time being, waiting for follow-up delivery.

Not only Zhang Dapeng was rewarded, but also the generals and schools in the camp were rewarded, and the soldiers were also rewarded. The emperor fully affirmed their achievements.

Zhang Dapeng received the emperor's handwritten letter. He was illiterate before, but later he entered the imperial camp and began to learn to read. The imperial camp has a tradition of employing scholars as deputies at all levels. He also spends his free time teaching soldiers about loyalty to the emperor, patriotism, benevolence and filial piety. Etiquette, let them learn to read and so on.

The emperor's letter was written in vernacular as much as possible, but he could only understand part of it. In the end, he asked Fu Qingzhu to help him explain what he didn't understand.In the letter, the emperor talked about Zhang Dapeng's past, talked about his loyalty, diligence and bravery, and praised his outstanding performance after entering Sichuan.

Finally, talking about the current Sichuan-Shaanxi war situation, pointing out that at the most critical time, the emperor hopes that Zhang Dapeng can play a more active role...
"Your Majesty said that Zhang Xianzhong refused to accept Wen An's proposal and went back to Long'an Mansion to rest, then his defeat is imminent, so we must be prepared."

Regarding the situation in Shaanxi and Gansu, the emperor also decided on a strategy in Denglai.

The Hexi Muslim Rebel Army led by Mi Layin and Ding Guodong was granted the banner of Guiyi Town, and they were moved to Lanzhou, marched eastward along the Great Wall, and forced into Zhenrong (Tongxin County) in Pingliang Prefecture to meet Wu Dading, Wang Yongzhen, etc. The Central Shaanxi Army defeated the rebels, threatened Guyuan, and seized the opportunity to collect the three guards of Ningxia outside the Great Wall.

And He Hongqi's generals' Western Expeditionary Army awarded the banner of Xuanyi Town, and let them move to Qinzhou (Tianshui), advance along the Wei River, reach Longshan, and approach Fengxiang Baoji.

Now Longyou and Hexi are basically restored and pacified, and the Ming Dynasty formed an alliance with Heshuote Gushi Khan, the Moxi Mongol who occupied Qinghai-Tibet, and Gushi Khan sent envoys to Fengtian to worship the emperor, pay tribute, and pay tribute to white cattle, white horses, white camels, etc. , and Zhu Yihai rewarded them with armor, bows, arrows and muskets, and ordered him to rule over all the tribes.

This can be regarded as a formal tribute, showing the relationship between suzerain and vassal.

Gushi Khan, who marched into Qinghai-Tibet from the Western Regions, supported the Gelug Sect, and won the title of Protector of the Dharma King, is very powerful now, but he has just controlled Qinghai-Tibet not long ago, and there are still many Tang-Tibetan forces opposing, so facing the rising Ming Dynasty , He chose to be a minister and pay tribute.

Naturally, Zhu Yihai ordered to restore the tea-horse trade at the border, and not to offend each other.

Under such conditions, the eight sons of Gushi Khan who stayed in Qinghai, the Bataiji tribe, were stationed in Qinghai, and Zhu Yihai also ordered He Hongqi and Mi Layin in Longyou Hexi not to cross the border for the time being.

First turn around and go to the east to deal with the Tartars.

The border issue on the Qinghai side has been put on hold for the time being.

Regarding the division of defense areas between Guiyi and Xuanyi towns, Zhu Yihai decided to use the Datong River as the boundary.

Lanzhou, Xining, Lintao, and all the way to the east of Qinghai Lake belong to Xuanyi Town, while Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Shazhou, etc. are assigned to Guiyi Town.

Due to the needs of the war, Guiyi Town in the west of the river was stationed in Lanzhou.

The main generals of Guiyi Town, Mi Layin and Ding Guodong, were all Hui from Hexi, or hereditary local officials. Most of their rebel army were Hui, and there were also some Han Chinese from the Ming Army and Shun Army, mainly Hui.

The Xuanyi army in Longyou is mainly Han, with some Qiang Di troops, and many Han soldiers came from Guanzhong.

These two groups of people were designated as foreign towns, which meant that they were given more privileges, and the military and government were allowed to temporarily arrest them, and the military pay, food, and grass were also settled by themselves.

Fu Shan was the emperor's imperial guard. This time, he came here not only for a simple promotion, but also for a special mission. He wanted to pass on the strategy to Zhu Pengfei on behalf of the emperor.

The towns of Xuanyi and Guiyi are just outlying towns, and sending them to Lanzhou and Qinzhou is nothing more than a peripheral containment and threat to Guanzhong. The emperor's real high hopes for the Hanzhong battlefield are Zhu Pengfei's camp in Shaanxi and Gansu, and Zhang Shipeng in the camp in Sichuan and Guizhou. And the men of Wen Anzhi and Qin Liangyu.

Zhang Xianzhong is going to die, this is the emperor's deduction, not speculation.

Although Zhang Xianzhong exchanged the gold and silver he had robbed Qiong for 20 stone grains from Wen Anzhi, he also sent his adopted son Zhang Nengqi to lead troops to reinforce Zhang Kewang and Zhang Dingguo's second adopted son who were besieged in Dingjun Mountain in Hanzhong.

But it didn't go well.

Because the Micang Road climbs mountains and ridges, it is more difficult to walk than the Jinniu Road, especially many roads are divided into sections. Some sections are barely passable for people and horses, but some connecting sections are extremely dangerous. You have to tie a rope around your waist, even at night. I had to tie it to the cliff overnight, and I could only carry some supplies with me, not too much.

Therefore, although Zhang Nengqi got 7 stone grain in Dazhou, most of his 2 horses stayed in the Dazhou area. He could only take less than [-] young and strong people to cross the mountains and rush to Dingjun Mountain .

After finally buying food and crossing the road, they fought several battles with the Qing army on the other side of the mountain, before they suddenly blocked it and fought all the way to Dingjun Mountain.

Then, it was surrounded again.

Bai Guangen and Ma Ke led troops to set up a camp in the south of Dingjun Mountain, dug trenches and erected fences to block it.The two generals Xu Yong and Zhang Yong set up camps in the east and blocked them.

It faces Jialing River in the west and Han River in the north.

Zhang Nengqi was like a meat bun beating a dog, he managed to kill them, but he was exhausted, the most terrible thing was that they didn't bring much food along the way, and there was nothing left after they arrived on the mountain.

Brothers Zhang Dingguo and Zhang Kewang have been besieged on this mountain for too long, and most of their subordinates fled. They broke through several times and were repelled. Now they are hungry and have no fighting power, so the three brothers can only hug each other and cry, and continue to be surrounded.

Zhang Xianzhong waited left and right, seeing that the situation was not good.

There is no way.

He had no choice but to go all out, and he dispatched Zhang Wenxiu, the last of the four adopted sons, to lead [-] soldiers to the Yangping Pass. After arriving at Yangping Pass.

This road is much shorter than the Jingyin Ping Road, which is a roundabout for thousands of miles, but the road is more difficult to walk, and it is easy to be guarded against.

In fact, as soon as Zhang Wenxiu moved, the Qing army discovered it.

Li Guohan, who was stationed at Yangping Pass, sent a deputy general to stay at Yangping Pass, and personally led the elite Eight Banners to garrison Wangjiawan Fort to intercept.

Zhang Wenxiu led his army to attack.

But although Wangjiawan Fort is not as strong as Yangping Pass, it is still guarded according to the danger. It is between Zoumaling and Wangjiahe, so it is easy to defend and difficult.After several days of storming, there were countless casualties, and they were unable to move.

Then Xu Yong led an army from Dingjun Mountain to come for reinforcements.

This Xu Yong was Xu Yong who led the army out of the city to defeat the Ming army of 10 horses during the Han War in Wuchang.

After Hauge and Wu Sangui left, Gushan Erzhen Li Guohan was the main general stationed in Hanzhong, and Xu Yong still led the army to assist the town.

Xu Yong was also a famous general in his early years. Later, he followed Zuo Liangyu's son to the Qing Dynasty and made great contributions in Huguang.

After he arrived, he immediately joined Li Guohan to fight out of the castle and stormed Zhang Wenxiu.

Zhang Wenxiu's troops were unable to attack for a long time, and the narrow river valley outside Liying Pass was raided by the Qing army, and they were defeated. Almost the whole army was wiped out. Only Zhang Wenxiu fled back to Yangping Pass with more than a hundred cavalry.

Zhang Xianzhong failed.

So he made another plan, taking advantage of Li Guohan and Xu Yong's main force still in Wangjiawan Fort, he pretended to lead the troops to retreat, but in fact he led the troops to forcibly cross the river not far south. Travel lightly.

Unexpectedly, they bypassed Yangping Pass.

Although the price is that only more than [-] people crossed the mountain, and almost all the luggage and equipment were left on the other side of the mountain, and the food and grass were only seven days of rations.

But Zhang Xianzhong couldn't care about these anymore, it was a desperate move.

At the time of the New Year, Zhang Xianzhong took Zhang Wenxiu and 2 horses, abandoned the [-] people in the old camp, and finally entered Hanzhong, stepped into the Hanzhong Basin, and successfully reached the foot of Dingjun Mountain.

The Western Army crossed Mianshui in the south, a little ahead of the edge of the mountain, and killed at the foot of the mountain.

It's a pity that the three brothers Zhang Dingguo, Zhang Kewang and Zhang Nengqi at the foot of Dingjun Mountain have been besieged for a long time, and there are only about [-] men and horses under them, and they are all starving to death. exhausted.

Zhang Xianzhong personally committed suicide, and they also went down the mountain to meet him.

As a result, the five masters rushed together and fought for a day. Not only did they fail to defeat Ma Ke, Bai Guangen, and Zhang Yong, but they were beaten and retreated. In the end, Zhang Xianzhong had no choice but to take Zhang Wenxiu back to the mountain.

Now it's all right, the five masters successfully joined Dingjun Mountain, and they were also rounded up by the Qing army.

In this battle, the key to the defeat was that the Qing army had an elite Eight Banners participating in the battle, that is, the [-] Manchu Eight Banners under the command of Oboi himself, they suddenly rushed out when Zhang Xianzhong and the others were exhausted from fighting.

If the four brothers Zhang Dingguo hadn't tried their best to stop them, I'm afraid the Western Army would have ended here.

In the end, they barely retreated to the mountain, and there were less than 5 of the [-] horses left.

Countless people were cut off, and many were surrendered directly.

Afterwards, Zhang Xianzhong and five masters were trapped on the mountain. Although they repeatedly broke through, the Qing army was not in a hurry. They strengthened the camp, especially Li Guohan and Xu Yong rushed to surround them.

They surrounded but did not attack, and waited for the Western Army to rush.

Relying on the low walls of the camps, trenches, and using bows, arrows and muskets, countless Western troops were killed and wounded.

He intends to trap them to death like this.

Zhang Xianzhong refused to surrender and has been holding on.

But certainly not for long.

Therefore, Zhu Yihai, son of the great emperor, has already concluded that he will be destroyed in a short time, and the Ming army must start to intervene.It will be too late to intervene.

The emperor was very satisfied with Zhu Pengfei's successive capture of several important cities on Chencang Road during this period.

But not enough.

It's time to send troops directly to the Hanzhong Plain and confront the Qing army head-on.

The emperor hoped that Zhu Pengfei would lead the Shaanxi-Gansu camp to march for [-] miles, take advantage of the Qing army's siege of Xiying at Dingjun Mountain, detour through Yangping Pass, capture Yangping Pass, and then seize Mian County.

Generals such as Gao Doushu, Gao Bizheng, Liu Tichun, Hao Yaoqi, and He Zhen from Zhongkai and Zhongyi Townships in the east will counterattack and advance westward from the lower reaches of the Han River, while Zhang Shipeng, Zhu Wanhua, Qin Liangyu and other soldiers and horses will go north from Dazhou to Hanzhong. At that time, they will first go to Nanzheng, the prefectural city of Hanzhong.

Lueyang, Mian County, Nanzheng.

If these three cities can be taken by chance, the more than 2 Qing troops in Dingjun Mountain will be surrounded by partitions.

The mantis catches the cicada, and the oriole is behind.

The Battle of Hanzhong has been fought for almost a year, and it is almost time to end.

While Wu Sangui was still in Guanzhong, the Qing army was still busy with the aftermath of Shanxi and northern Shaanxi, and even reinforced Shandong and Henan, regaining Hanzhong in one fell swoop.

At that time, one net will be two fat sheep.

After this battle, Zhang Xianzhong was also completely abolished. At that time, calling him into the capital and reorganizing his troops will solve a serious problem in his heart.

And if the more than [-] troops of the Qing army in Hanzhong were annihilated, it would be a heavy blow to them. They could only defend Guanzhong, and they were powerless to seize Hanzhong, let alone Sichuan.

The Qing army and Xiying had spent too much time confronting each other in Hanzhong, and they were both exhausted at this time. The Ming army attacked at the right time.

The road to Shuhan is difficult.

There are five main roads from Guanzhong Plain to Hanzhong, Qishan Road, Chencang Road, Baoxie Road, Tangluo Road, and Ziwu Road.

From Hanzhong to the four basins are mainly Jinniu Road, Micang Road and Lizhi Road, and there is also a Yinping Road from Gansu to Sichuan.

Now Zhu Pengfei has occupied the important Lueyang city on Chencang road, and this road has been blocked.

The rest of the Qishan Road came from Qinzhou in Longyou. Now Qinzhou and Chengxian County are also controlled by the Ming army, and they are also blocked.

There are still three roads left, but as long as Mian County and Nanzheng City can be taken, it will still be impossible.

The emperor is going to close the door and beat the dog.

Zhang Xianzhong's main force has been trapped in Dingjun Mountain in Hanzhong. The emperor ordered Qin Liangyu of Wen'an to immediately send troops to take over the whole Baoning.

Blocked at both ends and besieged on all sides.

(End of this chapter)