Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

Chapter 245: I am the one who decides on Yanjing (Part )
On April 23, the Dashun Army, which had occupied North Wing City, began to seek a decisive battle. Although he discovered that the Qing army was entering the pass, Li Zicheng still took a chance on the situation and hoped to defeat the Guan Ning army quickly and achieve a decisive victory. He changed the siege into a field battle, deployed all his troops from Jiaoshan to Bohai, and formed a long snake formation, forming a decisive battle posture.

The elite Dashun Army set up the battle formation for which they were famous. The entire army was habitually divided into three square formations. In addition to the newly consumed auxiliary troops and artillery, the main infantry formed a spear square formation. Expand one word. Behind them were supported by a large number of raised crossbowmen, and Li Zichen himself, together with the most elite cavalry, was deployed behind the infantry.

With the Qing army emboldened, Wu Sangui simply pulled most of the troops out of the city for a decisive battle. Dorgon was watching the battle from the top of the mountain in the north. He saw that Li Zicheng had arranged the main force from Beishan to the seaside in a long snake formation, so he placed Wu Sangui's troops on the right wing of the Qing army, and ordered the Qing army to attack the weak points at the rear of Dashun's formation along the coast. The formation was set up for the first time, ready to attack, and all ministries were warned not to advance too quickly. Li Zicheng did not know the intentions of the Qing army. He thought that he had never fought against the Qing army and had no grudges in the past or recent times. Moreover, Wu Sangui was the common enemy of both sides. Therefore, in addition to sending a small number of troops to pay close attention to the movements of the Qing army, he still attacked Wu Sangui's army as planned. Press hard, wave the flag left and right, and charge back and forth.

Wu Sangui's Guanning army and militia had a large number of heavy infantry equipped with long shields and spears, deployed four rows deep in the center of the column. In front of them were three rows of melee infantry using bucklers and machetes; behind them were three rows of light infantry using crossbows and muskets; the elite Guan Ning cavalry were also deployed behind the infantry line.

Dashun cavalry was the first to attack. They roared out from behind the infantry line, rode their horses to the front of Guan Ning's army, and skillfully released their bows and arrows. Under the intensive arrow attack, the heavy infantry of Guanning Army raised their shields to defend, while the long-range infantry fired back with free fire. Although according to military regulations, light infantry often need to shoot together in a certain order. However, due to historical reasons, most of the infantry of the Ming Army at this time were mixed with matchlock guns, old-style fire gate guns, bows and arrows, and crossbows. It is not an easy task to make such complicated long-range weapons fire at the same time. Fortunately, such disorderly but continuous firepower was enough to drive back the approaching light cavalry.

When the infantry firepower gradually weakened, Guan Ning's cavalry came out from the rear. Influenced by the Mongolian and Manchu cavalry, they first shot the intruding cavalry with bows and arrows, and then launched close combat with spears, machetes or bones. The cavalry of the Dashun Army knew that they could not be reluctant to fight, so they retreated backward skillfully, and then retreated into the second line through the gap between the three infantry squares.

Many Dashun soldiers were from the Ming Dynasty's frontier army. Since the rebellion, they have gone through bloody battles and become extremely elite. Their infantry line continued to advance against the firepower of Guan Ning's army. Under the cover of the crossbowmen behind them, the heavy infantrymen raised their spears and advanced slowly, leaning on their long shields. The disadvantage of Guan Ning's army's insufficient firepower was also exposed at this time. Dashun's army approached the opponent's sword player without suffering much loss. After a fierce and dull shield collision, the spearman's advantage was undoubtedly revealed. The sword players of Guan Ning's army were forced to retreat, and the second line of shield and spear soldiers immediately came forward to replace the front row that began to retreat.

Because the Qing army was suppressing the formation, Wu Sangui resisted tenaciously. At that time, strong winds and sand were blowing, and the two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Dashun's army surrounded Wu Sangui's troops regardless of casualties. The bloody battle lasted until noon. Both sides were exhausted and suffered heavy losses. Although Guan Ning's army is known as the elite, most of them are still just veterans hiding behind the elite. At this time, they were facing the invading army, which had been trained in the northwest for a long time and had experienced fighting in the Central Plains and other places. They gradually began to fail. These elite intruders had been on the sidelines during the previous two days of fighting. With their superiority in numbers and physical strength, they slowly pushed back the two wings of Guan Ning's army and surrounded Guan Ning's army on three sides.

"Fourteenth brother, that old boy Wu Sangui can't stand it anymore, let's attack," the grumpy Azige shouted anxiously.

"That's right, Brother Fourteen, if we don't attack again, the fighter plane will be gone." Duduo couldn't hold back his anger.

These two are the regent's half-brothers, and they are also the people he trusts most.

"Twelfth brother and fifteenth brother, please return to the formation as soon as possible and wait for my general order." Dorgon smiled slightly and was confident.

"嗻", the two of them returned after hearing the order.

Dorgon stood on the top of the hill and observed for a while. He saw that Wu Sangui's Guan Ning army was on the verge of collapse. In addition to the infantry being outflanked by the two wings of the intruders, the cavalry was also slowly retreating in the gaps and wings of the square formation. "Well, the time has come! Chuan Gu's general ordered the whole army to attack." The regent, who was as cunning as a fox, finally issued the military order.

"Woo~wu~wu~"

The desolate attack horn sounded, and what Li Zicheng least wanted to see happened. The Qing generals Azige and Duduo, each with 20,000 elite cavalry, rushed down the hillside in the wind.

Riding the wind and waving the white flag, we faced off against the Dashun Army.

After releasing a round of strong bows, the Manchurian and Mongolian cavalry slammed into the light infantry formation behind the Dashun Army infantry. Most of the Dashun troops had no time to turn around and shoot before they were stunned by the better-armored cavalry. The ensuing collapse is inevitable. The heavy infantrymen in front of them who were engaged in hand-to-hand combat were soon besieged from both sides, and many of them were strangled by the Qing army and the Guan Ning army.

The strong wind gradually subsided, and the exhausted Dashun army became chaotic and suffered heavy casualties. General Liu Zongmin was wounded by an arrow. Witnessing all this, Li Zicheng was unwilling to fail and wanted to lead the elite cavalry into battle. However, the bad situation was irreversible. The path to prosperity of a generation of overlords was abruptly interrupted in a sea of ​​blood and corpses.

When the battle reached noon, Li Zicheng saw that the defeat was certain and ordered the remaining troops to fight and retreat towards Yongping. However, Dorgon, who had won a great victory, did not want to miss the opportunity to decide the country in one fell swoop, so he ordered the Eight Banners soldiers to charge fiercely and pursue them fiercely. When the Qing army pursued Fanjiadian, the angry Emperor Yongchang vented his anger by killing Wu Xiang. He led his remaining troops back to Beijing on the 26th and killed 34 members of Wu Sangui's family. On April 29th, Li Zicheng held an enthronement ceremony at Wuying Palace. On April 30th, he evacuated Beijing in the name of worshiping heaven in the suburbs.

On the second day of May, Wu Sangui, who was granted the title of Pingxi King, led the Guan Ning Army into Beijing. This was the first batch of Qing troops to enter Beijing. From then on, he would unify the mountains and rivers for the Qing army, doing the hard work of dogs and horses. Beijing was just the first stop on the road to the stars and the sea.

After capturing Beijing, Dorgon strictly prohibited looting, stopped shaving his hair, and held funeral ceremonies for Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Youjian, which won the favor of the Han gentry. He then welcomed the young Emperor Shunzhi to Beijing to ascend the throne, and quickly stabilized the situation in the occupied area. .

In order to unify the Central Plains, dominate the Nine Provinces, and "build a cause that will last for thousands of years", in June of the first year of Shunzhi (1644), Dorgon discussed with the ministers Baylor and decided to move the capital to Beijing. On August , the Qing Dynasty began to move its capital. In September, Emperor Shunzhi arrived in Beijing from Shengjing (Shenyang), named Dorgon the regent of his uncle, and granted him the title of Diao Mang court robe. The Ministry of Rites was ordered to build a monument to record Dorgon's achievements, and also gave Dorgon a treasure, a black fox crown decorated with thirteen eastern beads, a black fox fur coat, gold, silver, horses and camels, etc. On the first day of October, Emperor Shunzhi issued an enthronement edict to the whole country at Huangji Gate (renamed Taihe Gate in the second year of Shunzhi) and officially established Beijing as the capital. When the young emperor held the enthronement ceremony at the Huangji Gate and named Dorgon the regent of his uncle, he immediately ordered a monument to be built for Dorgon to commemorate his achievements and "perpetuate his fame forever." From then on, Dorgon's status in the Qing court was higher than that of other kings.

(End of this chapter)