Ming politicians

After entering Songpanwei, without going far, the scene changed completely.

The green that can be seen is getting less and less, and the desert grassland is beginning to appear. The scenery here is very similar to the Hetao area. If there is no guide to lead the way, it is really inconvenient for the army to move.

The soldiers of the Jiangning Battalion can adapt to such an environment. They have gone deep into the Hetao area many times, and they have basic experience in fighting in the desert and on the grasslands, although they cannot be regarded as fully adapted and proficient.With the guide leading the way, their marching speed was very fast.

He Renlong has already begun to think. This time, leading [-] soldiers to wipe out the rogues, the army has no other support. It must make accurate judgments based on intelligence and make no mistakes. Otherwise, there will be no reinforcements in the vast desert and grassland. For tactical arrangements, He Renlong always kept Su Tiancheng's instructions in mind.

Attacking the heart is the most important thing, these are the four words that Su Tiancheng especially emphasized. The remaining rogues have become frightened birds, and are always on the verge of collapse. When encountering the attack of the imperial army, especially the attack of the Jiangning battalion, they must not be able to bear it. Yes, but how to minimize the casualties of Jiangning battalion soldiers is knowledgeable. The political offensive has basically been in place. The news of Li Zicheng's defeat has spread to every corner of Sichuan. Luo Rucai must also know it, including those who stayed in the The rogues in Bazhou also surrendered to the imperial court. Under such circumstances, it is best to disintegrate the rogues first, and then deal a devastating blow.

He Renlong's biggest task was to capture or kill Luo Rucai alive, but if he couldn't complete this task, even if he wiped out the bandits' team, it wouldn't be considered as having completed the task.

There are many gates in Songpanwei, such as Guihua Pass, Yedang Pass and so on.Every pass means that there are sergeants stationed. These sergeants are not the army of the imperial court, but the army of the chieftain. Songpan is a famous border town in history.Known as the gateway to western Sichuan, the imperial court has always attached great importance to it. In the early Ming Dynasty, the imperial court sent a large army to station here. However, after the Wanli period, due to the rise of the Mongolian tribes, the Jin gradually unified the Mongolian tribes after Jia. Songpan suffered many times. With the attack, the imperial army slowly declined.The army ruling here is gradually dominated by the chieftain army.

The Mongolian tribes have always coveted Songpan, but because of their limited capabilities, they could not launch a full-scale attack on Songpan.

The situation of the imperial army stationed in Songpan is very bad, it can even be said to be miserable. Most places in Songpan are grasslands and deserts.The income of the army station is not big, and the court is in trouble.It is impossible to pay the army in full, so the survival of the troops stationed has become a problem. In addition, the attention of the court is mainly concentrated in Liaodong.Secondly, pay attention to places such as Shaanxi, and ignore the military focus of Songpan.

There are also many bandits in Songpan, and many bandits entered from the mainland, and this is their safe haven.Some bandits even colluded with the army to plunder the common people, and the imperial army was too busy to take care of themselves.

In Songpanwei, there is another point, that is, the news is very stuffy, the chieftain army stationed at various passes, Yelang is arrogant, does not know the situation of the outside world, and always thinks that his own army is the most powerful.

The most important point is that the majority of Tibetans in Songpan are Tibetans, and the Tibetans still practice slavery. The chieftain is one of the largest slave owners, including the army, cattle and sheep, food and other materials, all of which are the private property of the slave owners. I own them. The power of life and death, their orders are more effective than the emperor's orders.

Fighting in such a place is different from fighting in the interior.

When he left Huangyang Pass and entered Songpan territory, He Renlong explained to the soldiers that he didn't understand Su Tiancheng's last request, which was to respect the local people and customs, and not Doing things that annoy the local people, such as not touching the top of the local people's heads with your hands, not even for children, how can you pay attention to these details when the army is conquering, but Su Tiancheng made a request, He Renlong still must be done.

Along the way, traces of rogue bandits' food and lodging could be found at any time. Not far from the hyoid bone, there were even signs of a rogue army stationed there, which made He Renlong very happy.

Five days after entering Songpan, the scouts in charge of the investigation finally discovered the situation.

After discussing with Hong Chengchou, Su Tiancheng and Hong Chengchou specially dispatched one hundred of the most experienced scouts to join the five thousand army. Su Tiancheng knew a little about the situation in Songpan. Most of them were Tibetans there, the land was sparsely populated, and the natural conditions Bad, the role of scouts is crucial.

"General, more than a hundred miles away from Hongyuan, traces of bandit activities have been found."

"Oh, what about the details."

"The subordinates have investigated. Hongyuan is under the jurisdiction of the Manger's Pacification Department. The rogues have a large activity track in these places, and it seems that they have not been disturbed. If the rogues pass through Hongyuan and advance more than [-] miles, they can enter Dogandus."

"Continue to investigate and report the situation at any time."

Relying on the gold, silver, treasures and food in his hands, Luo Rucai finally formed a tacit understanding with the officers of the Mang'er Zhe Appeasement Division. The two sides did not interfere with each other. He paid a large price and bought some war horses. After entering the Duo Gandu Division, these war horses can play an important role.

Here, Luo Rucai had almost no sources of news, and he didn't know that the five thousand soldiers of the Jiangning battalion led by He Renlong were slowly approaching, and the two sides would soon start fighting.

Chongzhen 11th September [-]th.

The temperature in the Hongyuan area has dropped. The temperature during the day is below ten degrees Celsius, and the temperature at night may drop below zero. This is also the temperature, which has a great impact on the army. When the rebels set off, they did not think about this problem. , in order to solve the problem of the sergeant's protection from the cold, Luo Rucai had to spend gold and silver again to buy clothes and bedding at high local prices.

The preparations of the Jiangning battalion soldiers are much more adequate, and they have already prepared cotton clothes.

The encounter between the two armies was very sudden.

Luo Rucai is stationed in a small town. There are few people and few houses here. Outside the town, most of the places are grasslands, and there are no trees to be seen. He is about to leave Hongyuan and enter Duogandusi. Luo Rucai didn't care about the outside situation any more, what he was thinking about was how to gain a foothold after entering the Duogan Dusi.

Luo Rucai didn't even set up the necessary security. After reaching an agreement with the officers of the Mang'er Zhe Appeasement Department, he no longer needs to care about security. As for the Jiangning battalion and the imperial army, it is estimated that they are still celebrating in the capital.

When the army led by He Renlong suddenly appeared outside the town, Luo Rucai's face lost all color.

The leaders of the two armies finally met face to face.

Neither He Renlong nor Luo Rucai met, but Shuai Qi explained everything.

In fact, the two armies basically do not have to fight.

Knowing that they were surrounded by Jiangning camp soldiers, the fighting spirit of the rogue soldiers completely disappeared. They did not think of resisting. They also thought that it was impossible to face the Jiangning camp. With less than [-] people, I am afraid that there is no need to fight, and it will collapse first.

He Renlong was staring at him, Luo Rucai had no fighting spirit, and the outcome of this battle had already been decided.

He Renlong thought of Su Tiancheng's entrustment, and spoke loudly to Luo Ru who was not far away.

"You must be Luo Rucai, nicknamed Cao Cao. I am the imperial envoy of Zuoqin and the commander of the infantry battalion and guards of the Jiangning Battalion. The escort was sent to the capital to be beheaded, I don't want to lose my life, if you lay down your weapons, I can consider sparing the lives of the soldiers."

He Renlong had never said such a thing, even though Su Tiancheng specifically asked him to, it was still a bit awkward for him to say it.

Luo Rucai was silent for a while. Resistance was meaningless. Looking at the soldiers behind him, they had no fighting spirit. Once they fought, they were like lambs being slaughtered.

"Master He, I, Luo Rucai, rebelled in the first year of Chongzhen. More than ten years have passed, and it is enough. After the defeat of Chuang Wang Li Zicheng, I knew that the general situation was over. I can surrender, but there are conditions."

Gaining all his energy, He Renlong, who was about to launch an attack order, was a little caught off guard when he heard Luo Rucai say this, and almost yelled at him. The purpose of running so hard is to make a big fight. Look at the situation in front of you , I may not be able to move my hands anymore, this feeling is very uncomfortable.

Thinking of Su Tiancheng's entrustment, He Renlong nodded with a dark face.

"Master He, these sergeants have followed me for many years. They have not committed any serious crimes. They just rebelled according to our request. Please forgive them. As for me, you can do whatever you want."

He Renlong almost thought he heard it wrong, so he surrendered without resisting.

In fact, this is what He Renlong did not expect. Jiangning battalion soldiers suddenly appeared here. Luo Rucai and the rogues were not prepared at all, and their morale was already low.

Luo Rucai quickly dismounted and asked the soldiers around him to tie him up.

The sergeants behind them put down their weapons, expressing their surrender.

He Renlong had no other choice. He hadn't expected this situation, but he had already put down his weapons, so it was impossible to continue killing. This was not allowed by the Jiangning Camp, and he himself could not disobey it.

There is also a letter on his body, which was left by Su Tiancheng, telling him to open the letter after the battle is over.

At this time, the battle that had not yet started was over, and He Renlong opened the letter.

After reading it, He Renlong immediately issued an order.

100 people from the scout battalion, plus [-] soldiers, escorted Luo Rucai and other important officers, returned to Chengdu as quickly as possible, handed these people over to Qin Liangyu, and escorted the rest of the prisoners to Long'an Mansion and handed them over to the local government. (To be continued..)