Win the Ding 1617

Known as the No. [-] city in the world, Tongguan is adjacent to the Qinling Mountains in the south, the Yellow River in the north, and Hangu in the east.Those who have attacked Tongguan in the past have often returned home without a feather. Generally, they have to cross the Yellow River and bypass Xiongguan before they can invade Shaanxi.

There are nine city gates and nine gate towers in Tongguan, and each gate has an urn, a city gate, and an archery tower. The west gate is connected to the official road in Xi'an, and the front of the city wall is relatively flat, but there are also gate towers and archery towers, as well as inner and outer gates.

The situation of Tongguan is long from east to west and narrow from north to south. The whole city looks like a saddle and a gold ingot. Going north along the city wall, you will soon see the Wei River. On the top, the city wall is not far from the river bank, and the widest point is less than one mile. When the water rises, the city wall is used as a river embankment.

Then arrive at Beiguan, where the Weihe River and the Yellow River meet.

The east gate tower, the city tower here is called "Ying'en Gate", the Wengcheng is called "Zhanzi Department", and the archery tower is called "Nianxian Tower".There are three watchtowers outside and five watchtowers inside, forming the pattern of an urn city. These watchtowers are like the walls of houses with many windows, effectively covering the soldiers guarding the towers.

Looking from the Tianxian Tower, the official road from Xi'an passes through the city and exits along the archery tower. Then the official road runs close to the base of the wall, winds along the hillside to the foot of the mountain, and then descends to the Yuanwanggou to face its own side. , completely exposed to the eyes of the defenders.

The city wall built on the mountain, with the rolling wood and rocks on it, poured down along the mountain, and the enemy army coming from the official road, a single rolling log could roll down a large area.

Xiongguan Huju refers to the East Gate Tower of Tongguan City, just like a tiger squatting on the Qilin mountainside.To the north of the city tower is the Yellow River, from east to south is the city wall of Qilin Mountain, which winds along the mountain, and the southeast is adjacent to Yuanwanggou, almost from the top of the ditch to the original face, which is the foot of Qilin Mountain.

Along the winding mountain road, countless red military flags are dotted with dots to decorate this majestic and dangerous pass in midsummer.Tens of thousands of Ming troops left the pass under the scorching sun on this mountain road.

Under strong pressure from the imperial court and Shilin, Sun Chuanting's troops had no choice but to leave the pass to fight against the bandits.

Along the official road to the East Gate of Tongguan, which is the only gate to enter from the east, all kinds of vehicles are crowded along the way.Carts full of supplies, wheelbarrows, sidecars loaded with artillery, and trains developed by Sun Chuanting himself made the roads that were not considered wide even more congested.

"The peaks and mountains are gathered together. The waves are like anger, and the mountains and rivers are outside and inside the Tongguan Road. Looking at the western capital, I hesitate. Sadly, where the Qin and Han Dynasties traveled, thousands of palaces and palaces have been made of soil. Prosperity, the people suffer; death, the people suffer!"

On the tower of Tongguan, surrounded by a group of generals, deputy generals, Zanhua and others, Sun Chuanting lived on the tiger-skin chair, looking at Tongguan in front of him, and the scene of the army marching out, but he read Zhang Yanghao, the leader of the Yuan Dynasty. The hillside Yangtong cares about ancient times.

"The governor is worried about the affairs of the state and considers the sufferings of the people. He is a role model for our generation!" Qiao Qiangao, the Deputy Superintendent of the Army, praised loudly beside Sun Chuanting.

Sun Chuanting glanced at it, but his eyes were still fixed on the mountainous terrain and river in front of him.

Since Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai's army went south to Huguang, Zhang Xianzhong fought in Wuwei, Fengyang and other places.There was a tendency to invade Fengyang again, and even approach Jiangnan, putting great pressure on Sun Chuanting from the court.Yu Xi galloped forward, wishing he could send three official documents a day to urge Sun Chuanting to leave the customs.

As for the bigwigs in the court, as long as they think they have friendship with Sun Chuanting and have enough status, they will write to Sun Chuanting in their own name, urging him to leave the customs as soon as possible to fight against the bandits.The words are either asking him to look at the millions of people living in Huguang and the mausoleums of the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty, and pleading for the rapid rescue of troops, or putting himself on a moral high ground.He sternly demanded that Sun Chuanting send troops quickly, "Do the best you can!" The letters in these two tones launched a fatigue bombardment on Governor Sun in just a dozen days, and piled up his signing room. full.It's too late to watch.

Different from this kind of soft and hard foam, the imperial court has the means of the imperial court.

In May, Chongzhen first appointed Sun Chuanting to supervise the military affairs of Henan and Sichuan, and then in early June, Sun Chuanting was appointed Minister of the Ministry of War to supervise the military affairs of the seven provinces of Henan, Sichuan, Shanxi, Huguang, Guizhou, Jiangnan and Jiangbei.He also gave Shang Fang a sword, and gave him all the power to raise rewards, dismiss punishment, life and death, from civil servants to governors and military officers to generals, with only one purpose, to make him leave Tongguan quickly.

When the news came out, the officials, gentlemen, generals, nobles and noble families in the entire Xi'an city immediately boiled.One after another, they went to the Xingyuan of the Supervisor to ask when the Lord Supervisor will leave the pass to suppress the thieves. We will prepare to reward the three armies with wine, meat, pigs, sheep and other things.

Qin Wang's Mansion even sent several eunuchs to Xingyuan, and brought a lot of silver dollars, grain, rice, pigs, sheep, wine, and a piece of calligraphy written by His Highness Qin Wang, wishing Sun Chuanting victory after he left the customs, and for Lao Zhu The family keeps the ancestral grave.

At first glance, it seems that Sun Chuanting's prestige has reached the extreme, and he is deeply respected by everyone, but the juggler cannot be fooled by the gong-beater.

"Where do they expect the governor to leave the customs to fight against the bandits? They clearly hope that the governor will leave Shaanxi as soon as possible. This is not to welcome our army to go out to suppress the thieves, but to send off the plague god!" He looked gloomy during the meeting.

In his opinion, these ministers and clans pleaded for him to leave Tongguan as soon as possible, just based on one word, "Li!" Those who were originally from Jiangnan, or belonged to the Donglin faction, did not want Zuo Liangyu to be chased all the way to Jiangnan by Li Zicheng. Go, and don't want Zhang Xianzhong to take advantage of the opportunity to escape into the south of the Yangtze River.Disturbed their Taoyuan scenery.

As for the officials, gentry, generals and clans in Shaanxi, they are even more naked.As long as Sun Chuanting leaves, the system of one errand and one payment system he promoted will end silently.

Every year in May of the lunar calendar, it is almost the harvest season of summer grain in various places in Ming Dynasty. The land tax in Ming season is divided into summer tax and autumn grain. The summer tax does not exceed August, and the autumn grain does not exceed February next year. In the government, there was a great plague of locusts, and the people peeled off bark, sawdust and miscellaneous chaff to eat, or dug white mud from the mountains to eat, and it was called Guanyin powder.

Therefore, Sun Chuanting is also a word, delay!At least he has to wait until the summer grain collection is collected and the autumn grain is about to enter the field. By that time, the military pay and rations will also appear to be a little more abundant. If there is any mistake in going east to Henan, there is also a material basis for retreating to Shaanxi.

"If the wheat, cotton, and flax from Qinchuan in the eight hundred miles are all stored in the warehouse, the food and wages will be sufficient to feed Ma Teng. The governor will immediately lead the troops out of the pass to fight against the bandits!" Facing the righteousness of public opinion, Sun Chuanting's words The reply was also impassioned. "Although the horse leather shroud corpse is nine deaths without regrets!"

However, the enthusiasm and generosity of the ruling and opposition parties was among the voices urging Sun Chuanting to leave the customs.There are also some less gregarious voices.Compared with those who made these voices, some other ministers were uneasy. They had calculated that the available military force of the imperial court had been divided into three major parts: although the Liaodong army was relatively elite, it was already incapable of resisting the Qing soldiers. Transposition; Zuo Liangyu's department is known as having many soldiers and generals.In fact, fearing the enemy and avoiding war is difficult to be domineering; the only trump card that can be used to deal with the rebel army is the Shaanxi official army led by Sun Chuanting.It would be a blessing if Sun Chuanting's troops were able to win with all their strength; however, they also felt that the hope of such a fluke victory was very weak after all. If Sun Chuanting's troops were wiped out, the Ming court would be doomed.

As the Southern Guangdong Army under Liang Guogong who is not a direct line of the imperial court, he will take the opportunity to rise up. God knows if Li Shouhan will become the second Cao Cao or Li Yuan?

They therefore urge caution.At least until the training of the new army in the Beijing camp is completed and there is a usable soldier in hand, Sun Chuanting's troops can be used.Some ministers straightforwardly explained their interests to Emperor Chongzhen, pointing out that if Sun Chuanting’s troops did not move in Shaanxi, the rebel army would inevitably have worries if they wanted to attack the capital north or go east to Nanjing; if Li Zicheng’s rebel army planned to take Shaanxi first, Sun Chuanting could not leave his rear base Therefore, it is much more beneficial to stick to Tongguan than to go deep into Henan and Huguang alone.Zhang Fengxiang, the servant of the Ministry of War, said the most sincerely: "Sun Chuanting has all the best soldiers and generals in the world, and the emperor only has this family property, so don't touch it lightly."

But words beg again.It also couldn't stand the violent attack of almost the entire bureaucratic interest group of the Ming Dynasty.On the first day of August, under the repeated urging of Chongzhen, Sun Chuanting chose this place to swear in Guandi Temple in Xi'an.Naturally, it was to take shelter of the spirit of the "Warrior Sage" and beg for a smooth exit operation.In addition, Sun Chuanting himself is from Shanxi, and he also hopes that his fellow from Hedong can bless him.After the ceremony was over, he ordered the commander-in-chief Ma Yu and Qin Yiming to follow Feng Shikong, the governor of Shaanxi, to enter the Nanyang area of ​​Henan via Shangluo as a partial division; he himself commanded the commander-in-chief Bai Guangen, Gao Jie, Niu Chenghu and other troops with a total of 10 troops to leave Tongguan.At the same time, Zuo Liangyu was mobilized to lead the troops to the west, and together with various people and horses, they attacked the peasant army.

The residence newspaper came out.From Beijing to Luoyang, to Wuchang, and even as far as Jinan and Nanjing, there were cheers.

(Oh, there seems to be something wrong, please help to find it!)

"The governor should take a steady and steady approach to attacking troops this time. First, use Luoyang as a base to repair the battlements, recruit refugees, open up farmland, and store grain and grass. In this way, you can fight when you advance, and you can defend when you retreat. When the time is right, you can enter the Central Plains."

After the ceremony, Shaanxi governor Feng Shikong, who had already been tied to the same boat as Sun Chuanting, presented him with this strategy of fighting steadily and seeking invincibility first.

However, Sun Chuanting refused with a wry smile.

"How can I! I know that I will never return, but how can a man treat the jailer again!"

As soon as these words came out, two lines of tears flowed quietly across Sun Chuanting's cheeks.

"Why did the supervisor say such ominous words?" Feng Shikong looked around and took out a secret letter from the sleeve of his robe.

"Congratulations, my lord! Congratulations, my lord! The student has something to report to his lord."

"What's the matter?" Sun Chuanting asked after taking the sealed letter in doubt.

"Qiu Zhitao, the servant of the puppet military government set up by the thieves, is quite loyal even though he is trapped among the thieves, and he is dedicated to making meritorious service and redeeming himself. He has sent back and forth secret letters with the students many times, and informed them of the situation among the thieves. The students are afraid of this. People are deceitful, so I didn't dare to report it to the supervisor. However, this time is just at the right time. Now that the Zuoping bandits are defeated, it shows that what this person said is true. The two bandits who broke into Cao Cao have excellent soldiers and good horses in Xiangyang !Nanyang, Luoyang, Kaifeng, etc. are empty, and it is time for you to make great achievements!"

In Qiu Zhitao's secret letter, he informed in detail the military system, strength, and weapons of the Peasant Army, and specifically stated that at present, "the two cutting-edge bandits among the bandits have all set out to attack the four prefectures of Xiangyang and besieged Zuo Kunshan's troops. Liu Zongmin, Hao Yaoqi, Yuan Zongdi and other bandits also all went together."

In this way, Sun Chuanting searched extensively. In addition to taking away all the artillery that could be used in Shaanxi to enrich Bai Guangen's car camp, he even made Pingyang Mansion (now Linfen) in Shanxi across the river. All states and counties provide the army with food, rice, beans, horses, grass, etc., without delay, and those who violate it will be killed!

However, there are more than [-] troops, plus the civilian husbands accompanying the army to transport supplies, artillery, grain, grass and ammunition.If you haven't left Tongguan, you have suffered enough.

The reason why Tongguan is known as a natural danger is that it is tens of miles away from the Qinling Mountains barrier to the south and the Yellow River natural moat to the north.There is Huashan Mountain in the west, and the city is actually on a plain.

But for thousands of years, due to the cutting of Qinling streams and the erosion of floods, many fragments have been formed.The original surface with ravines and ravines is a great obstacle to traffic and military use.Digging trenches on the plain can be used to stop the enemy. The uncanny workmanship of nature has created Tongguan's peculiar terrain.

The Qinling Mountains in the south are difficult to cross, and the Yellow River in the north is difficult to cross. Then the streams flowing from the Qinling Mountains to the Yellow River have created many valleys.Most of these valleys run north-south, just blocking the road from Henan to Shaanxi.

Roughly counted, within the territory of Tongguan.There are nearly a thousand gullies running from north to south, and more than ten gullies that are ten miles long, cutting a plain into pieces.Many places are still high and low, and there is a gap.

There are ravines everywhere, the original high ravines are deep, and the hills and valleys are undulating. Of course, such a terrain is not easy to walk.

Just like the Loess Plateau, there are thousands of ravines. Walking on the plain, there is a good ground in front of you.Suddenly a deep valley appeared.Unless you have crossed a deep valley, if you make a detour, it will most likely take a few days to look forward to the death of the original run.

Perhaps alone.Those with high skill and courage can climb over slowly, but those who have luggage carts and horses to pull luggage, can they fly over these ditches that appear from time to time?

Some valleys even have a drop of hundreds of feet, so roads are needed.

In Tongguan, there used to be such a joke: a little daughter-in-law wants to go back to her natal home.When the fifth watch just dawned, he set off on a donkey.At noon, I stopped to drink the donkey, and suddenly realized that I forgot to bring the clothes prepared for my parents, so I raised my head and yelled at the top.

After the husband heard it at home, he found the package from home and threw it directly from the top of the cliff to the bottom of the ditch.The little daughter-in-law picked up the package, dusted off the dust, and walked to her mother's house.Although it is a joke, it also reflects the characteristics of the local terrain.This is still riding alone. Just imagine, 10,000+ people have to walk this road, and there are a large number of heavy artillery accompanying them. It is no wonder that they can walk fast!

The advantages of Tongguan, in addition to the Qinling Mountains and the Yellow River, are also more reflected in the valleys. The most advantageous valleys are two, one is the Yuanwang Valley and the other is the Forbidden Valley.

Yuanwanggou is just under Tongguan, at the foot of Qilin Mountain in the southeast of the city, connecting the Yellow River to the north, and extending towards the Qinling Mountains in the south, with a length of more than 20 miles.

Then, about five miles west of the ditch, there is a parallel ditch, which is the forbidden ditch.

This ditch is deeper and longer, connecting Haochayukou in the Qinling Mountains in the south and Shimen Pass in the south of Tongguan City in the north. Door.

The past dynasties also realized the importance of the forbidden ditch to Tongguan. On both sides of the ditch, many beacon towers were built, one every three miles, and there were twelve supporting cities. These twelve cities were connected with Tongguan County, known as It is the twelve cities.

Usually business travel is prohibited, pedestrians are prohibited from passing by, and it is also prohibited to cut down trees in the ditch, so together with Qinling and Tongguan, it forms a solid line of defense that birds cannot cross.

The original place between the two ditches is called Linzhiyuan by the locals, also known as Nanyuan. This flat land is located in the south of Tongguan, about 20 miles long and four or five miles wide. In the old days, it was mostly Tongguan defenders The place where grain is stored and wheat is grown, there are also some guard villages gathered on the plain.

From military considerations, by guarding Yuanwanggou and Forbidden Valley, the enemy cannot sneak into Shaanxi, let alone go around the west gate, Tongguan city will not be besieged, and reinforcements, food and grass from the hinterland of Shaanxi can provide continuous support. .

Therefore, the Ergou is very important, and the continuous connection with Tongguan makes the city as strong as gold. Therefore, "those who guard the pass but not the forbidden ditch, keep it like a guard, and those who guard the forbidden ditch instead of building the Twelve Linked City are not good at keeping it. The city is especially good. In a room, the door is closed to prevent the birds from entering, and the door is forgotten to be closed."

As a result, the forward Gao Jie's troops had already left Tongguan to Baofeng and Lu's area, but the Chinese army, the soul of the whole army, had not yet left Tongguan.The troops of Niu Chenghu and others are still wandering in Xi'an, Xianyang and other places.

In Qiu Zhitao's secret letter, it is very clear that the vast area from Tongguan to Jiaxian is "empty with thieves", so Gao Jie's troops are like a broken bamboo along the way.After sworn in on the first day of August, the forward Ranger rushed to the Zhougong Temple outside Luoyang City in the first ten days of the month, showing off his might.

On the 280th, they arrived at the city of Baofeng.Chen Kexin, the shepherd of Baozhou, and Jiang Li, the state judge appointed by Li Zicheng, organized the people to defend the city.On the evening of the 280th, [-] eight people from the gentry went out of the city to surrender.Sun Chuanting ordered him to "choose two seniors from among the [-] people who surrendered, and order them to be named one by one. If there are more than ten people who cannot be named, they are suspected of being thieves and beheaded."

Such a victory has greatly encouraged the Shaanxi soldiers from top to bottom. Sun Chuanting personally supervised in Tongguan, organized a brigade to speed up the progress of exiting the customs, and at the same time ordered Gao Jie to advance to Tanghe County quickly, because, according to Qiu Zhitao's secret report, here The family members of the old camp where the thieves are stationed, all their children and treasures are here!With such a temptation, Qin Bing's marching speed immediately became much faster.

On the other hand, Sun Chuanting reported the victory to the court and said: "The thieves have heard of the names of the ministers. The ministers swear to be clear about Yu, and will not leave the king and father with a thief."

Zhu Youjian was overjoyed when he got the report, and he happily passed Sun Chuanting's letter of victory to the courtiers, and shouted excitedly: "The thief will perish soon!" , Most of the Tuzhai villages have been recruited. All towns and Fuyi have whole brigades to cross the river and go to their posts quickly. Those who can’t avoid the former will fly to participate in heavy governance. On the one hand, they will be recruited and moved, and the barren land will be reclaimed; on the other hand, the cities will be repaired and the people will be resettled. , to help the superintendent, to send transportation to places near Shanxi without delay, and to reap all the merits. The reward of Tonghou will break a lot of gold."

It seems that the goal of calling back the main forces of Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai has been achieved, and the ancestral graves and state capital sites in Chengtian and other places can be preserved.He has already started preparing to add official rewards to the heroes.However, Feng Yuanbiao, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, paused his head worriedly and said: "The thief sees Lei to lure my teacher, which is taboo in the art of war. I can't be worry-free."

Hearing these disappointing words, student Zhu Youjian immediately became speechless for a long time. If he was not overjoyed, he would have almost ordered the big Han general to pull this guy who can't chat out and give him a stick!

However, it seems that none of the ancestors of the Ming court went to bed today, and everyone's mood became better because they didn't have to worry about illegal demolition activities.

A young eunuch hurriedly rushed to the gate of Qianqing Palace with a copy of Shanhaiguan's pond newspaper, staggered and almost fell to the ground.

"My lord! My lord! Great joy!"

"Slave chief Huang Taiji is dead!" (~^~)