History live broadcast: My audience is the ancestors

Chapter 220 Battle of Shanhaiguan

My charming but short-lived ancestor: Doesn’t that mean Sun Chuanting was a general? How do you feel about being a judge?

Who in the clouds sent a brocade book: Yes, but as soon as this story came out, I became curious about why Chongzhen wanted to kill him!

Wan Ning can't sleep acridine (Guan): He even killed Yuan Chonghuan, let alone Sun Chuanting!
Wudu refuses: Agree!
Su Yue looked at the comment area and said, "Okay, now let's take a look at the Battle of Shanhaiguan!"

Wu Sangui was originally stationed in Ningyuan (now Xingcheng, Liaoning) to prevent the Qing army from entering Shanhaiguan.

When Dashun's army was approaching the capital, Wu Sangui was ordered to lead five thousand soldiers and horses into the pass to defend the capital. When they arrived in Fengrun (now part of Hebei), they heard that the capital had been defeated and that Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian had hanged himself, so he turned back to Shanhaiguan.

Li Zicheng ordered the Ming surrender general Tang Tong to lead eight thousand troops to Shanhaiguan to recruit surrender.

After much thought, Wu Sangui decided to surrender and led his army from Shanhaiguan to Beijing. When they arrived at the Xisha River Post in Yongping (now Lulong), they met family members who had escaped from Beijing and learned that his father Wu Xiang was tortured by the peasant army in Beijing and that he loved his concubine. Chen Yuanyuan was captured, so he changed his original intention and refused to surrender Li Zicheng under the banner of revenge for Emperor Chongzhen. He wrote a letter to his father, saying, "My father is trying to be a royal minister, but he is ashamed of a woman."

If a father cannot be a loyal minister, how can a son be a filial son? Gui and her father bid farewell to each other from today. If my father didn't plan ahead, the thieves would place his father's cauldron next to him to lure him, but Gui would ignore him." Then he returned to Shanhaiguan and attacked Tang Tong's tribe.

When Li Zicheng heard the news, he summoned the ministers of civil and military affairs to discuss countermeasures and decided to implement both conquest and pacification.

When Tang Tong repeatedly asked for help, Li Zicheng ordered General Quan Liu Zongmin and others to lead about 100,000 troops (some say 60,000) on April 13 to march towards Shanhaiguan.

In order to win over Wu Sangui, he brought the Ming Dynasty princes Zhu Cixiang and Wu Xiang with him.

Wu Sangui was expected to be unable to defeat him, so he sent his lieutenants Guo Yunlong, Yang Kun, and Sun Wenhuan to ask for help from Dorgon.

The Qing army met Wu Sangui's envoy at Wenghou (in today's Fuxin, Liaoning), so they changed their route from Lianshan (in today's Huludao City) to Ningyuan, traveling day and night, and rushed to Shanhaiguan.

The Qing troops set out on April 9th. On April 20th, the Qing troops arrived at Lianshan (today's Lianshan District, Huludao City). Wu Sangui repeatedly urged the troops. The Qing troops knew that Li Zicheng's army was approaching Shanhaiguan, and they marched day and night, with more than 200 troops marching in one day and night. Li, a total of thirteen days of marching.

The walls are strong and the country is clear, and even my father will not surrender. Let’s talk about the first day of the Shanhaiguan battle between Wu Sangui and Li Zicheng in detail.

Confrontation
Li Zicheng was unaware of the situation of the Qing army and was slow to move. He only arrived at Shanhaiguan on April 21 and was in a confrontation with Wu Sangui's troops on the west bank of the Shihe River.

On the same day, Li Zicheng's Dashun Army fought fiercely with Wu Sangui in Yiyishi and Xilao City. At the beginning of the battle, Wu's army had a small victory over Xiluo City. Then Li Zicheng's army stormed the two cities of Dongluo and Beiyi.

That night, the Qing army marched to the front line 15 miles outside Shanhaiguan to gather.

Shanhaiguan is adjacent to Jiaoshan Mountain in the north and Bohai Sea in the south. The city has high walls and strong walls. Luo City and Yicheng are built outside as horns, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

In addition to Wu Sangui's troops, the defenders also included 10,000 Shanhaiguan General Soldier Gaodi troops and about 30,000 Xiangyong troops.

On the day Li Zicheng arrived at the pass, he issued an ultimatum to Wu Sangui to force him to surrender. After being rejected, he ordered nearly 20,000 people from Tang Tong and Bai Guangen's troops to set up a border camp from a piece of stone (now the ninth gate of Suizhong, Liaoning) to cut off Wu Sangui's retreat. Sixty thousand troops attacked Xiluo, Beiyi and Dongluo cities respectively.

Wu Sangui arrayed his main force on the line west of Shihe River in Xiluo City to prevent Dashun's army from attacking the key point.

The two sides fought fiercely near Xilao City. In order to get out of the predicament, the defenders pretended to surrender and lured thousands of Dashun troops to approach the city wall, and fired artillery fire on the city wall.

Dashun's army suffered many casualties and was forced to retreat. In the North Wing City, Dashun's army took advantage of the condescending terrain to storm the city wall and fought fiercely until dawn the next day, forcing part of the defenders to surrender. However, because other cities had not yet been conquered, the Dashun army failed to enter Luocheng.

On the night of the 21st, Tang Tong's troops were defeated by the Qing army at Yishi, and the remaining troops retreated into the pass.

After a day of fierce fighting, Dorgon knew that the Dashun army was weak and weak, so he adopted a cautious strategy of waiting for work and attacking later. He hoped to wait until the Dashun army and Wu Sangui's tribe were exhausted from the continuous battle, and then use surprise troops to win in one fell swoop.

decisive battle
In the early morning of April 22nd of the lunar calendar, the Qing army advanced only two miles away from Shanhaiguan City. Seeing the critical situation, Wu Sangui led a few members of his light cavalry to break out of the encirclement and galloped to the Qing army camp at Weiyuan Fort, two miles east of Guancheng. Kneel down and surrender to Dorgon.

Dorgon immediately "sited down and gave tea, and ordered the door to be closed as the first achievement." Wu Sangui said: "If the Qing army is unwilling to help the Ming army in Shanhaiguan, and I am unwilling to return to Shanhaiguan to supervise the war, Li Zicheng's army will definitely attack Shanhaiguan in one go. Attack the Qing army!"

So Dorgon saw that Wu Sangui's surrender was not a deceit, and accepted Wu Sangui's request. Dorgon ordered Wu Sangui to shave his head according to Manchu customs, and promised to marry Princess Jianning, the daughter of Huang Taiji, to Wu Zi Wu Yingxiong.

Together with Prince Azige of Shuoying County and Prince Duoduo of Doluo County, they led a strong force of 80,000 people and entered the pass through Nanshuimen, Beishuimen and Guanzhongmen respectively. Wu Sangui's tribe was named Baibu as the vanguard.

Before midnight (8 a.m.) on April of the lunar calendar, Wu Sangui's army was gradually unable to support itself. A Wu Sangui army guarding the North Wing City surrendered to Dashun's army. Dorgon watched the battle from Weiyuan Terrace in Huanxi Ridge and ordered The Qing army entered the pass through three routes: Nanshuimen, Beishuimen and Guanzhongmen.

The Dashun Army failed to seize the pass after a day and night of attacking, so they resorted to field battles and deployed all their forces from Jiaoshan to Bohai Sea, forming a long snake formation and forming a decisive battle posture.

Dorgon used Wu Sangui's troops as the right wing to fight, and his heavy troops lined up at the weak point at the rear of the Dashun Army's formation on the Bohai Sea, waiting to attack, and warned all troops not to advance too quickly.

Dashun's army did not know the intention of the Qing army, but still pressed on Wu Sangui's army according to the original plan, waving their flags left and right, and charging back and forth.

Wu Sangui resisted tenaciously because of the pressure of the Qing army.

At this time, strong winds rose and dust covered the sky, which was not conducive to the Dashun Army, which was not familiar with the geography of Shanhaiguan. The two sides started a hand-to-hand fight. The Dashun Army ignored the casualties and surrounded Wu Sangui's troops. The bloody battle lasted until noon. Both sides were exhausted and suffered heavy losses.

Seeing the situation, Dorgon urgently ordered Azig and Duduo each to lead 2 fine cavalry, ride on the wind and wave the white flag, and fight against Dashun's army.

Thousands of horses galloped, flying arrows were like locusts, the strong wind gradually subsided, and the exhausted Dashun army was caught off guard when the Qing army suddenly arrived. Their positions gradually became chaotic and suffered heavy casualties.

At the end of the Shenshi period (after 15 o'clock), Li Zicheng's Dashun army was defeated. Liu Zongmin was wounded by an arrow, and tens of thousands of Dashun soldiers died. Niu Jinxing did not lead the army to support Li Zicheng in BJ, which was one of the reasons for the defeat of Dashun army.

Li Zi established Ma Xiaogang Fushang to supervise the battle. A monk knelt in front of his horse and said: "The cavalry holding the white flag is not Guan Ning soldiers, but Manchu soldiers. Your Majesty, please get out of the way."

Seeing that the defeat was certain, Li Zicheng urgently ordered the remaining troops to fight and retreat towards Yongping.

On the same day, Dorgon named Wu Sangui the King of Pingxi and ordered him to be the leader to pursue and kill all the way to the capital.

When the Qing army chased Fanjiadian, Li Zicheng killed Wu Xiang to vent his anger and hung his head on a high pole in public. After returning to the capital, he killed thirty-eight members of the Wu family, old and young.

On April 29 of the lunar calendar, Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor in Beijing. The next day, Li Zicheng left Beijing and retreated to Xi'an. Only forty-two days before and after.

After the Qing army entered BJ on June 1644, 6, the capital was moved from Shengjing to BJ.

ending
In this battle, Li Zicheng's Dashun army was unprepared for the Qing army's entry into the Pass to assist in the battle. At the same time, it lacked experience in fighting the Qing army's cavalry. In the end, it was taken advantage of by the Qing army. The elite suffered heavy losses and were unable to recover. The Qing army took advantage of the situation to occupy BJ and gain national power.