Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

At the beginning, Hong Chengchou used the reason that the mobilized troops were insufficient; then the reason was that the food and salaries were not in place; and then the reason was that Liaodong was cold in winter and it was not suitable for combat.In fact, the reason why Hong Chengchou delayed sending troops was because he wanted to pass the cold winter and force the Qing army not to besiege Jinzhou in the wild, so he wanted to break the siege of Jinzhou without fighting.

This idea should be said to be very reasonable, but it also reflects that Hong Chengchou is extremely unprogressive.He asked the court for soldiers, food, and everything, but he pinned his hopes on the goodness of God.But Huang Taiji didn't let Hong Chengchou get what he wanted. He let Hong Chengchou see what it means to be able to conquer the sky.

As an excellent military commander, Huang Taiji has always adhered to the principle of achieving one goal in one battle; using sufficient strength for one goal.Therefore, Huang Taiji had considered all the difficulties he might encounter during the siege of Jinzhou City long before the war.

According to Huang Taiji's deployment, the Qing army dug and built four trenches to besiege the city outside Jinzhou City, and built two city walls to besiege Jinzhou. It was like building a city outside Jinzhou City.

In addition, the Qing army built a wooden house between the two city walls as a barracks to station troops, completely turning the siege into a siege and defense battle, because no matter whether the Ming army broke through from the inside of Jinzhou City or rescued from the outside, they had to Breaking through these two city walls created a situation where offense was turned into defense.And with these wooden houses, the Qing army will definitely not be afraid of the cold winter in Liaodong.

In addition, the Qing army also organized a large number of coats and slaves to farm around Jinzhou City, in order to reduce the shortage of food supply and transportation loss for the army, as if they were fighting with Jinzhou City for food consumption.

To be honest, in order to capture Jinzhou, the Qing army had already mobilized the whole country, and almost all the men who could be used were mobilized to Jinzhou City, looking like they were dying.If the Ming army can break the blockade of the Qing army outside the city.As long as grain can be transported into Jinzhou even once, the Qing army will collapse and the national power will be greatly depleted.

Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to call this battle a decisive battle that will determine the fate of the two countries, and Hong Chengchou's cautious attitude is also understandable.The only questionable thing is that Hong Chengchou was too cautious, and he was extremely cautious. Even the Ming court couldn't bear this cautious attitude.

However, at this time, Hong Chengchou's prudence was supported by various Ming armies in Liaodong, even Wu Shigong was no exception.In successive banquets.Wu Shigong also had a profound exchange of views with Hong Chengchou and other officials, and admitted that this was a decisive battle, so in the end, Wu Shigong decided to support Hong Chengchou's prudence. [

Because if this battle can indeed break the siege of the Qing army, the national power of the Manchu Qing will not be able to recover within a few years.And taking advantage of this precious time, the Runing Army can completely create a new situation in the Central Plains.And Wu Shigong will also fight for an upper hand in the future.

to this end.Wu Shigong did not hesitate to spend more than [-] taels of silver to purchase grain and grass to support the supply of the Runing Army, and wrote to Runing to build and transfer [-] chariots with one-pound artillery to Liaodong to strengthen the strength of the Runing Army.Of course, all of this was based on Wu Shigong's unawareness of the sudden outbreak of the Central Plains Peasant Army.

"Has the letter been delivered?"Xue Yongli asked.

"It has been sent to. Chen Guerrilla said to give him some time to think about it." Xue Zhinong replied.

"Give him another message. Wait for two hours. If he doesn't agree, let's meet each other!" Xue Zhinong ordered.

"promise!"

After the news of the rise of the peasant army in the Central Plains and the news that it broke two big cities and killed two feudal lords was urgently reported to Liaodong, Wu Shigong still decided not to bring the Liaodong Runing Army back to Runing because of preparations for the decisive battle in Liaodong.Because he felt that with so many troops in Runing's headquarters, it should be more than enough to protect itself.

Therefore, Wu Shigong sent a reply letter to Runing, saying: "Self-defense, wait for self-determination." With such a long distance, it is impossible for Wu Shigong to command remotely, so besides setting a general principle, other things are Let Runing host Deng Qifan and Xue Yongli to play freely.

As for military operations, it is mainly to listen to the opinions of officers like Xue Yongli.But after some discussion, the officers decided to take the initiative to fight for an initiative.

Of course, this decision is derived from the absolute confidence in the Runing Army itself, and it is also a consistent manifestation of the aggressiveness of the officers of the Runing Army.But more importantly, Xue Yongli wanted to seize this opportunity to show his ability to independently command a major battle.

In fact, without mentioning the selfishness of Xue Yongli, the officers of the Runing Army, just look at the current peasant army, and they are all so close to the control area of ​​the Runing Army, then we must fight hard, otherwise relying on the Runing Army With such a small territory, it is easy to lead the flames of war to one's own territory.

Therefore, the problem now is not a question of taking the initiative to attack, but a question of which way to fight the peasant army.After deliberation, the Runing Army finally targeted the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo heading east.

The reason for choosing Gezuo Fifth Battalion is because of the following reasons:

First of all, of course, it is the persimmon picking soft pinch. The strength of the Gezuo Fifth Battalion is the smallest among the peasant army of the third route, and the peasant army of this route is also blocked by the Nanjing Jingying Battalion in front of it.

After the sudden rise of the Peasant Army this time, the senior leaders of the Runing Army immediately conducted a review.They believed that the previous plan to support the bandits was correct, and what was wrong was to let go of those bandits with strong appeal.Just look at those famous bandits!Whether it is Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, etc., or the five leaders of the Gezuo Fifth Battalion, with their reputation, they can call a large number of refugees to seek refuge in a short period of time.This cockroach-like performance is simply too terrifying. [

For this reason, the Runing Army's attack this time must take the elimination of the bandits as the main goal.Even if the refugees are still there, the world is still full of bandits. As long as there are no bandits with strong appeal, those refugees and bandits will still be in a mess and pose no threat to the Runing Army.

Therefore, the Gezuo Fifth Battalion, which has the Nanjing Jingying Battalion in the front and the Runing Army in the back, has become the best target.Because the Runing Army can use the Nanjing Jingying Camp to form an effective encirclement circle against the Gezuo Fifth Battalion, trying to prevent the five leaders from escaping.Even the Runing Army's dispatch of troops can be supported by the Runing Army Navy on the Yangtze River and the Runing Army Navy Marine Corps in Huanggang, tightening the encirclement.

The second is the analysis of the movements of these three peasant armies.Xue Yongli and the others believed that without capturing Kaifeng City, Li Zicheng's camp would not go south or east to threaten Runing and Guide, because it would be easy to be attacked by the Ming army attacking from Kaifeng City.

Li Zicheng's battalion had also fought against the Runing army. They knew the fighting power of the Runing army, and they would not abandon Kaifeng City, which was already rich in their mouths, to fight a bitter battle with the Runing army.

And Zhang Xianzhong, who had suffered several losses from the Runing Army, was even less likely to provoke the Runing Army.And as the Zuo Liangyu Department stationed in Huguang, it will also fight with Zhang Xianzhong's peasant army, and will not let Zhang Xianzhong's peasant army move freely.

Therefore, as long as the Runing Army retains the necessary troops to garrison, it can draw out the main force of about [-] to attack.The only thing to be prevented is that Li Zicheng broke into the camp and Zhang Xianzhong's troops attacked Runing and Guide at the same time.But this situation was also denied after Zheng Ling's intelligence analysis.

Because Zheng Ling analyzed through a lot of intelligence: Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are both unwilling to be inferior. If their two armies converge, then this coalition army should listen to Li Zicheng?Or should we listen to Zhang Xianzhong?So one mountain can never accommodate two tigers.

In the end, the plan to attack south is also consistent with the original plan of the Runing Army.The original plan of the Runing Army to support the bandits and drive away the tigers and wolves was aimed at the southern front.If you go north, because it is too close to big cities such as Luoyang and Kaifeng, it is easy to arouse the sensitivity of the court, which is not conducive to the Runing Army's possession of a large amount of land.

If it goes south, the impact will be much smaller, and the land in Huguang is also richer than that in Henan.Therefore, this time the Runing Army's attack on the Fifth Gezuo Battalion was in line with the original plan.

However, before the Runing Army was dispatched, it was necessary to take some actions against Li Zicheng, who was the most threatening, breaking into the camp.Therefore, the Runing Army is going to use Guide Shumo's independent association, as well as a town in the headquarters of the Runing Army and the Cavalry Association to carry out a feint against the camp.And by the way, a reinforced infantry regiment with thirty one-pound artillery chariots was sent across the Yellow River to support Wu Shigong in Liaodong.

In this way, Chuangying could not let go of his hands and feet to attack Kaifeng, which also gave Kaifeng city a chance to breathe.As long as the integrity of Kaifeng City is guaranteed, there will be an explanation to the court, and an attitude of obeying Henan Governor Li Xianfeng, which will also be beneficial to the future dealings between the Runing Army and the court.

But in this way, the Runing Army will first deal with the guerrilla Chen Zhongzhi's troops stationed at the junction of Runing and Kaifeng.After the return of King Qin, Chen Zhongzhi was still stationed at the place where the Chen and Jiang coalition forces were stationed, and the strength of his troops reached more than 4000.The Runing Army didn't take any measures against this force that was eating inside and out.After all, they are the army of the imperial court, and Wu Shigong's eating should not be too ugly.

But now, Xue Yongli and the others can no longer tolerate this army doing everything so close to Runing.Taking advantage of going to rescue Kaifeng City, Xue Yongli wanted to drive this army into Kaifeng to help Kaifeng City's defense.This was also an explanation to the imperial court, and by the way, drove this army out of the area controlled by the Runing Army.

Another point is that Xue Yongli also took a fancy to the more than 1000 war horses owned by Chen Zhongzhi's department.Anyway, they are going to defend the city, and the horses are useless, so it is better to take advantage of the Runing Army first.So under Xue Yongli's order, the Runing Army immediately mobilized troops to surround this friendly army, and issued an ultimatum to Chen Zhongxia. (to be continued...)