Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

The twelfth lunar month of the 14th year of Chongzhen.Wu Shigong led the whole army of more than 700 people out of Shanhaiguan and started the military operation to rescue Songshan.

After the Runing Army marched northward to Ningyuan, they received the supplies from Ningyuan City and gathered the [-] soldiers sent by Wu Sangui, but they did not go further north, but went west.After traveling west for about fifty miles, they set up camp at a position parallel to Ningyuan City.And this location was carefully selected by the Runing Army to build the stronghold of the Runing Army in Liaodong.

Wu Shigong looked at the scenery here, a frozen river was passing around like a white belt, and the city chosen by the Runing Army was at the bend of the river, which could just stop the movement of the army on both sides.The only disadvantage is that this place is relatively close to the western grassland, where the Mongolian tribes are easy to come and invade, so when the Ningjin Line of Defense was originally built, this site was not selected for the construction of the city.

"Is Lao Ha there?" Wu Shigong turned around and asked around.

Hadan Bateer, who was hiding behind, heard Wu Shigong calling him, immediately stepped forward, nodded and bowed his head, and replied: "Master! I'm here! Do you have any orders?"

"Is this your slave guard?" Wu Shigong asked while pointing around with his whip.

Hadanbaatar turned his eyes, and immediately agreed with Wu Shigong firmly and said: "Exactly, this place to the east is all master's slave guards."

"Oh? Is it that big?"

"Of course! As big as the master's heart is, so is Gannuwei."

"Puchi!", Wu Shigong was immediately amused by Hadan Battelle's pleasant words.This is what Wu Shigong has heard all the time in modern times.What is "the heart is as big as the sky; and the sky is as wide as the earth!" or something.Unexpectedly, Hadanbaatar, an illiterate Mongolian, was quite literary.

"That's good! Build the acropolis of Gannuwei here! The name of the acropolis is Zhenyuan!"

"Zhenyuan! What a good name! Your lord is really talented!" Wu Shigong's ears suddenly sounded full of flattery.

While enjoying the flattery around him, Wu Shigong secretly laughed in his heart.As a person who traveled from modern times.Don't you know the name "Zhenyuan"?

At that time, the Ming court awarded Hadan Bateer the official position of commander of the slave guards, which was actually a false title, and did not designate the site of the slave guards at all.But now, Wu Shigong is going to turn Gannuwei from fiction to reality.

The guards outside the pass in the Ming Dynasty were basically on the coast of the Bohai Sea, not close to the west grassland at all.Of course, there are still three guards of Duoyan on the grassland, but at this time, the three guards of Duoyan also defected to the Qing Dynasty, and they were basically enemies of the Ming Dynasty.therefore.When Wu Shigong wanted to enclose land for Qiannuwei outside the customs, he could make the enclosure as big as he wanted, as long as Wu Shigong had the ability to keep it.

Of course, the matter of enclosing land is still too far away, and the Runing Army does not have such great strength outside the pass.Nor is the strategic focus here.Therefore, Wu Shigong just wanted to establish a foothold in Liaodong first.

The Runing Army first used Hardan Bateer's Gannuwei title.Build this Zhenyuan City first.Leave a force in Liaodong that can threaten the Qing army.Let it not go around the Great Wall unscrupulously and enter the Central Plains.Gain time for the Runing Army's decisive war in the Central Plains, and gain a first hand for the future decisive war with the Manchu Qing.

Moreover, the behavior of the Runing Army will not arouse the resentment of the Ming court. After all, these sites were originally unclaimed land, which did not harm the interests of the court and the Liaodong generals.Moreover, with the double ghosts guarding the gates of Ningyuan City and Zhenyuan City, Shanhaiguan will always be safer. Therefore, the court and the civil and military personnel of Liaodong should have a welcoming attitude towards the city-building behavior of the Runing Army.

After the Runing Army built Zhenyuan City.They will also reclaim wasteland and graze near the city, gather military households and herdsmen who have taken refuge, and strive to establish a basic logistics system that can make Zhenyuan City self-sufficient.

so.This time the Runing Army's Northern Expedition rescue, the rescue of the Ming Army in Songshan Hong Chengchou has become a secondary task, and the primary purpose has become the construction of Zhenyuan City.

"Ye Chao! Today is the 25th, and the army will be stationed here until the New Year. These days, the whole army will first build a prototype of Zhenyuan City. When the army goes north, I will give you two battalions, plus those craftsmen. He Junhu, you will preside over the construction of Zhenyuan City." Wu Shigong ordered.

"promise!"

Now that the expedition has already started, the Runing Army must work hard to save Songshan once.And those craftsmen and military households have no fighting power at all, and bringing them is also a burden.The Runing Army will also receive 1000 troops in Xingshan and Tashan, and join them together to go north to Songshan City.Therefore, these craftsmen and military households might as well stay in Zhenyuan City to help repair the city.

This time, although the Runing Army did not receive the dispatched troops, they had Xingshan and Tashan as cover on the way north, and it was nothing more than a battle with the Qing army at the foot of Songshan City.Therefore, in terms of safety, it was much safer than when the Runing Army withdrew from Songshan.As for this rescue going north, Wu Shigong will also hold a mentality that success is the best, and that if he fails, he can withdraw safely.

In this way, Wu Shigong spent his second New Year in Liaodong in Zhenyuan City.On the first day of the Lunar New Year's Day in the 15th year of Chongzhen, the entire Runing Army was ready for the official northern expedition.

But when the Runing army left Zhenyuan City, a few Ming troops galloped in from a distance. They were the court's messengers, and they sent Wu Shigong the latest court order.

When Wu Shigong opened the decree, he felt a little unbelievable. Wu Shigong read these few short lines several times.When Wu Shigong handed the decree to his side for the generals to circulate, he shook his head and sighed: "Hey! Songshan, Jinzhou are over, Liaodong is over, and the Ming Dynasty is over!"

When Wu Shigong sent the order to Runing to send the Runing army back to the two prefectures, Xue Yongli carried it out without hesitation.After all, he once ordered Li Xin and Wu Chengying to be placed under house arrest, for fear that Wu Shigong would be dissatisfied.So now that there is any favorable opportunity to wipe out Li and Luo's coalition forces, Xue Yongli dare not act rashly any more, and would rather not send troops.

At this time, in addition to the scattered Runing Army troops in Junzhou, Hexian, and Huanggang, the Runing Army in Runing and Guide has soared to more than 8 in accordance with the military expansion order. It will overflow.But Xue Yongli's holding back made the Li and Luo coalition forces have an illusion. They thought that they were already powerful, and they didn't dare to attack Runing and Guide for the time being, but it would be no problem to run freely around the area controlled by the Runing army. .

Therefore, after Li and Luo's coalition forces conquered Dengzhou, they moved northward and attacked Xiangcheng in December.Immediately the city was broken, and Li Wanqing, the guard, was executed.At the same time, the peasant army also captured a large number of counties and counties such as Zhenping, Xinye, Tangxian, Biyang, Wuyang, Ruzhou, Xuzhou, Yuzhou, Xinzheng, Yanling, Weishi, Tongxu, Chenliu, etc. Under the city of Kaifeng.The second attack on Kaifeng began.

On December 23, the peasant army arrived at the foot of Kaifeng City. Li Zicheng's headquarters was set up in the garden of Yingcheng County King outside the embankment, and Luo Rucai set up his headquarters in Fanta Temple outside the city.Outside the city of Kaifeng, the original Ming governor Ding Qirui had transferred [-] official troops. As soon as the peasant army arrived, these soldiers who had no fighting spirit all surrendered.But because the officials and gentry in the city organized the peasants to cooperate with the officers and soldiers to resist desperately, the attack of the peasant army was blocked.

After the news of Li and Luo's coalition forces rampant in the Central Plains reached the court, it once again aroused the shock of Emperor Chongzhen and his ministers.Under such circumstances, Emperor Chongzhen's will was almost shaken. He even wanted to adopt Wu Shigong's strategy, and promoted Wu Shigong to the position of prime minister of the five provinces.

But at this time, Chen Xinjia, Minister of the Ministry of War, pointed out a "new" path to Emperor Chongzhen.Chen Xinjia was very good at trying to figure out what Emperor Chongzhen was thinking.He knew: Emperor Chongzhen wanted the Runing Army to rescue Songshan, but he refused to let Wu Shigong control more troops.And he and Emperor Chongzhen didn't understand the real combat effectiveness of the Runing Army. They both believed that only the Runing Army with more than 3 soldiers and horses would never be able to break the siege of Songshan.

In the original plan, Emperor Chongzhen and the court wanted Wu Shigong's Runing Army and the Qing Army to lose both sides.However, the rampage of the Li and Luo coalition forces in the Central Plains made them reluctant to waste this official army.So under such circumstances, Chen Xinjia came up with a bad idea.

Let’s talk about the Ming army besieged in Jinzhou and Songshan first!The besieged Ming army in Song, Jin and other cities were eagerly looking forward to the arrival of reinforcements, but they never expected it, and it became more and more difficult to defend the city.

However, Songshan City is located on a concave land protruding all around, the entire city area is only about 0 square kilometers, and the city wall is not strong.Hong Chengchou led more than 1 Ming troops to garrison in this narrow town. Food and grass were exhausted, gunpowder was scarce, and it was almost impossible to stick to it for a long time.

Huang Taiji also seemed to have expected that the Ming Dynasty would not send a large number of reinforcements. He went back to Shenyang in September, leaving only Dudu, Duoduo, Azig and other kings to take charge of military affairs, and formulated a policy of encircling and not attacking. , Waiting for the city's grain to collapse itself.So under such circumstances, in fact, the Runing Army has a great chance of breaking through the blocking of the Qing Army and rescuing the besieged Ming Army.

However, there was no news in Songshan City after all, and Hong Chengchou gradually believed that the imperial court probably would not send reinforcements. He had organized a forced breakout five times, but all failed.The weather is getting colder day by day, and the hearts of the soldiers in the city are gradually cooling down. Everyone knows that the city will be broken sooner or later.

So at this time, whether it is the Ming court or the besieged Ming army, they are actually just quietly waiting for the day when Song, Jin and other cities are finally breached.With such psychological preparation, everyone became calm and patient.Young and old are waiting to die together anyway. (To be continued..)