Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chongzhen seven years on November [-]th.

In the morning, Guan Kesong, the prefect of Runing Prefecture, and all the officials of the prefect’s yamen, Zhou Junwu, the representative of Henan governor Xuanmo, Ye Zhong, the military supervisor of Runing, and Baiding Wu Shigong, discussed matters in the government yamen.

There was a fierce dispute during the discussion, and all other officials disagreed with the decision of the Runing Army to abandon the southern part of the Runing Mansion, and wanted to prevent the main force of the Runing Army from going out.

The only one who participated in the discussion was Bai Ding, who fought against the Confucians. Afterwards, an official's diary recorded Wu Shigong's situation at that time, which was "very disgusting!".In the end, Wu Shigong pushed Zhou Junwu, the governor's representative, to the front line and told the officials that this was an order from the governor.Until then, all the officials pinched their noses and recognized it.But Zhou Junwu, who had no choice but to become Wu Shigong's shield, immediately became the most unpopular person in the official circles of the entire Runing Mansion.

After discussing the matter, all officials who are qualified to submit the memorial jointly wrote this resolution into the memorial, affixed their respective official seals, and sent it to the imperial court quickly.Among them, Wu Shigong had no official seal but only a signature, while Zhou Junwu was forced to sign his own name, which also showed that this was the order of Henan Governor Xuanmo.

At this point, the officials in the Henan officialdom have completed the memorandum.In case of losing the southern part of the Runing Mansion, the responsibility cannot be held to the officials of the Runing Mansion and the military attache of the Runing Army.

In order to reassure the officials of the Runing Mansion, Wu Shigong left the famous generals Xue Yongli and Qiao Song in the headquarters of the Runing Army.And dispatched four six-pound artillery, more than 1000 people from the Department of Internal Affairs and the Department of Mountains and Rivers, and 2000 people from the village and road protection teams, led by Qiao Song and Xue Qiang, entered Runing Prefecture to strengthen the defense.Of course, Qiao Song's role was to reassure those officials that Xue Qiang was the commander in charge of the city defense.

After the meeting, the government office immediately issued an official document to the counties in the south, asking all the people in the wild to evacuate to the north or hide in the county.After the meeting, Wu Shigong also issued an order for a full retreat through Deng Qifan. The Runing Army only left two militia groups on the southwest border of Runing Mansion.Observing the movement of the peasant rebel army, if there is a change, it is ready to withdraw at any time.

At the same time, the Runing Army issued a general mobilization order, and all the young and strong men who had participated in the military training gathered in the field and issued weapons to enter a state of combat readiness.And the mobilization orders of the various troops were also passed on immediately.

In the evening of that day, Wu Shigong entered the camp of the headquarters of the Runing Army, and the war machine began to launch.

On the same day, the Henan Ming army led by Henan governor Xuan Mo all withdrew from the Lushi line of defense, and Henan's abdomen was completely exposed to the peasant rebel army.

November [-]th.

A total of 8000 people from the Teaching Corps, Cavalry Corps and other departments of the Runing Army Headquarters were dispatched.In the end, in order to ensure the safety of the grain road and build fortifications, Wu Shigong decided to bring the engineering regiment with him.The Guide Army and the Runing Army also received orders to mobilize.They began to assemble the whole army.

The supervisor Ye Zhong did not set off with the Runing army.And Zhou Junwu, who has no taste in staying in Runing Mansion, can only go out with him.And when he saw the number and equipment of the Runing Army headquarters, Zhou Junwu was completely stunned.But at this time, Wu Shigong is not interested in concealing the true strength of the Runing Army from outsiders.

On the same day, the Xingyang General Assembly of the Peasant Rebel Army was held, and a plan was made to divide the troops into multiple routes.

November thirteenth.

An infantry regiment and a cavalry battalion of the Guide Army, with a total of more than 500 horses, began to march towards Ye County under the leadership of the army commander Xue Yong.The remaining troops will be defended in the Iron Triangle area under the leadership of the deputy army commander Qian Qi.

Under the leadership of Yang Rusong, the head of the army, and Liang Hui, the deputy head of the army, the Runing army marched towards Ye County in a hurry.There are more than 300 people in the whole army.And a militia group took Wu Shigong's hand letter to Mrs. Hou and Zhao Ming to Guide Mansion City, and they will arrive at Guide Mansion City in five days.

November fourteenth.

Various soldiers and horses of the peasant rebel army were dispatched.On the same day, soldiers and horses from the East Road occupied Lu's line.Soldiers and horses from the North Road crossed the Yellow River.The soldiers and horses of the South Road marched towards Nanyang Mansion.

November fifteenth.

The main force of the Runing Army Headquarters rushed to Ye County.Converging with the 300 troops of the Nanyang Army, the total number of the whole army reached 500.

Wu Shigong received Li Lu and local gentry.Arranged for the defense of Ye County, Luojia Town Daying and Longyan Town bases.The whole army rests.And sent a large number of scouts to the northwest.

November [-].

The Runing Army rushed to Ye County.And because there were refugees everywhere in Henan, the scouts sent out by the Runing Army didn't get much. On the contrary, they lost more than a dozen riders when they placed orders from a long distance. Wu Shigong ordered the scope of the scouts to be reduced to [-] miles ahead.

On the same day, the East Road Peasant Rebel Army approached Kaifeng Mansion.

In Taiyuan, Zhang Yingchang and Cao Wenzhao's department heard that the peasant rebel army on the North Road had entered Shanxi.Regardless of the governor of Shanxi's efforts to persuade him to stay, he took the initiative to attack with three thousand troops.

Xuanmo's troops were successfully withdrawn to the banks of the Yellow River.At the same time, [-] soldiers from Zuo Liangyu's troops were dispatched to Kaifeng along the route to prevent the peasant rebel army on the North Road from re-entering Henan here.

The militia sent out by the Runing Army entered Guidefu City to help defend it.

November [-]th.

The Guide Army rushed to Ye County.Wu Shigong ordered the whole army to rest for a day.

On the same day, the vanguard of the South Road Peasant Rebel Army approached Nanyang Mansion.The vanguard of the East Road Peasant Rebel Army entered Kaifeng Mansion.

November [-]th.

The entire Runing Army was dispatched.The total force is [-] soldiers and horses.

On the same day, Nanyang prefect and Nanyang ginseng sent Sun Wei's appeal letter and Ruzhou prefect's appeal letter to Ye County.And the reconnaissance cavalry of the Runing Army also discovered the enemy's situation for the first time.

At dusk, a cavalry regiment of the Runing Army rushed forward with a total of 500 reconnaissance cavalry, and took the initiative to charge the mixed vanguard of the peasant rebel army forward of [-] cavalry and more than [-] infantry on the south road.

Caught off guard, the vanguard of the peasant rebel army was defeated in a rally.It was only because of the darkening sky that the cavalry of the Runing Army did not take advantage of the victory to pursue.

In this battle, more than 500 heads were harvested and more than 200 prisoners were captured.More than forty horses and several weapons were seized.A small victory in the first battle.

November 21st.

Under Wu Shigong's order, all the reconnaissance cavalry of the Runing Army stopped moving, and all the cavalry who rushed forward also retreated.

The Nanlu Peasant Rebel Army, which was hit suddenly, immediately sent a large number of spies, but found nothing.Facing the calm after the attack, Ge Liyan and Zuojian Wang, who led the peasant rebel army on the South Road, immediately fell into a daze.

After analyzing that the possible reason was the interference of a small group of Ming army cavalry, so after a day's pause, Ge Liyan and Zuo Jianwang dispatched a group of ten thousand peasant rebel troops as the vanguard and continued to advance towards Nanyang Mansion.

On the same day, most of the main force of the East Road Peasant Rebel Army entered Kaifeng Mansion.

November 22st.

All the cavalry of the Runing Army consisted of more than 300 cavalry, and under the leadership of Li Sanhe, the commander of the cavalry corps, they suddenly launched a long-distance attack.At noon, meet the vanguard of the Peasant Rebel Army's [-]-strong force.

Facing the peasant rebel army in formation, the cavalry of the Runing Army came up with a newly invented cavalry tactic: they first sent two teams of cavalry with four or five firecrackers, about fifty paces from the front of the peasant rebel army. distance relative to running laterally.While running, these cavalry shot sideways at the peasant rebels who were in formation.

When the firecrackers finished shooting and the two teams of cavalry crossed each other, revealing the "gate" in the middle, the cavalry who had already lined up in the back passed through the "gate" and rushed into the formation of the peasant rebel army.

The peasant rebel army who had been hit by the firecrackers was completely defeated, and then after being collided by the cavalry formation, the entire ten-thousand-man army was in a commotion and immediately fled in all directions.

And this is the new tactic invented by the cavalry of the Runing Army, and Wu Shigong gave it a very vivid name-one fast and two swimming!

Then the cavalry of the Runing Army began to repeatedly charge, slash and kill, outflank and divide, and take advantage of the situation to cover up and kill. The whole battle immediately became a tactical training session for the Runing Army cavalry.

A total of more than 4000 heads were harvested in this battle, and those cavalrymen killed so much that basically no prisoners were left.The South Road Peasant Rebel Army finally gathered less than 3000 vanguard troops.

At the same time, the main force of the Runing Army began to march to [-] miles southwest of Ruzhou City, [-] miles away from the main force of the South Road Peasant Rebel Army.The peasant rebel army was immediately in an embarrassing situation where it could neither fight nor retreat.

After the two wars, the casualties of the Runing Army did not exceed a hundred, and the whole army was immediately in a joyous mood.The South Road Peasant Rebel Army led by Ge Liyan and Zuo Jian Wang also had 4 to 7 people, and they immediately asked other peasant rebel troops for help.Soon, more than [-] troops of King Sweeping and King Taiping came.

The Donglu Peasant Rebel Army also delayed their actions, and dispatched nearly [-] troops from the Eighth King Zhang Xianzhong to rush here.

Seeing that the peasant rebel army on the opposite side is gathering more and more, the Runing Army is overhauling the fortifications, and on the other hand, it continues to send cavalry and small troops to harass and attack the peasant rebel army, just to prevent them from evacuating smoothly.

At this time, Wu Shigong thought that he had mastered the rhythm of the whole battle, and his Runing Army had already entangled the main force of the peasant rebel army.Because the peasant rebel army on the opposite side has gradually exceeded 30 people.But Wu Shigong didn't know that many of them were new refugees from Henan.

Furthermore, because the north-south traffic in Henan has been blocked by the peasant rebel army, until now, Wu Shigong still does not know that there are several other peasant rebel army in action.

November 23st.

The peasant rebel army on the North Road encountered Zhang Yingchang and Cao Wenzhao's troops.As soon as they saw the banner of the butcher Cao Wenzhao, they were in a panic. They hurriedly dropped some gold, silver and cloth and turned to flee.

In this battle, Zhang Yingchang and Cao Wenzhao's troops did not gain much, only more than 200 heads were cut off.But the peasant rebel army on the North Road, which had become frightened, immediately turned back to the Yellow River, crossing the Yellow River and entering Henan again.

On the same day, Zuo Liangyu, who returned to defend Kaifeng along the Yellow River, arrived in Kaifeng City. He left the army outside Kaifeng City, and entered Kaifeng City with his own soldiers. (To be continued..)