Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Zhuxian Town.If you have friends who are familiar with "The Complete Biography of Shuo Yue", you must be familiar with a story, and that is "Eight Hammers Havoc in Zhuxian Town".

And Zhuxian Town is already the gate of Kaifeng City, so Qin Hui used thirteen gold medals to recall the Yue Family Army back then, and he can see how regrettable it is.

But now is not the time for Baijia Forum.But as an ancient battlefield, Zhuxian Town is undoubtedly a battleground for military strategists.Therefore, neither the official army nor the peasant army will let go of this strategic point unless they no longer want to fight a decisive battle.

Facing the powerful Li and Luo coalition forces, all the generals of the Ming army flinched. They had many conflicts before, and they were more concerned about guarding against their own allies than dealing with the peasant army.In addition, the supervisor Ding Qirui is incompetent in command, so although the concentration of troops by the official army this time is unprecedented, it is completely scattered.

In desperation, the supervisor Ding Qirui formed a strange formation.So Ding Qirui began to make peace with each other. He asked the officers and soldiers from all walks of life to stop arguing, and everyone lined up, divided the fruit and went hand in hand.It doesn't matter what kind of forward or defender, anyway, no one suffers.

But in this way, the speed at which the officers and soldiers marched can be imagined.Because no one was willing to advance aggressively, they all stared at the marching speed of the friendly army, and wanted to retreat a few steps while the friendly army was not paying attention, so that the friendly army could become the first bird to fight with Li and Luo Lianjun.Therefore, the official army is almost advancing at a turtle speed.

And how could the Li and Luo coalition forces let go of this good opportunity that came to their door?They calmly spread out their troops and surrounded the imperial army, then organized labor leisurely, and then leisurely dug three large trenches about 18 feet wide and three or four feet deep around the imperial army. The army surrounded like this.

What is extremely ridiculous is that during the three days when Li and Luo's coalition forces dug trenches, all the officers and soldiers watched the actions of the peasant army in amazement.But still no one is willing to be the leader and take the initiative to destroy the siege of the peasant army.This rabbit will bite people when it is anxious, but the 18 officers and soldiers are not even as good as rabbits.

When this group of "rabbits" finally came to their senses, they were immediately blown away.Only then did they realize that they were surrounded; only then did they realize that they had not brought much food and grass; only then did they realize that almost all the main force of the imperial court had been concentrated around them, and there were no reinforcements to relieve the siege.

Supervisor Ding Qirui immediately dispatched dead soldiers to break through the encirclement and rush to Runing, asking for help from the only hope in the vicinity—the Runing Army.But before Wu Shigong and the others figured out the situation, the situation took a turn for the worse.

Just like when Wang Pu and Wu Sangui fled first during the Songjin War, the various officers and soldiers no longer listened to the orders of the supervisor Ding Qirui.They all ran away.

The first is Zuo Liangyu.Relying on his "rich experience" and his viciousness, he drove the cannon fodder in his army to the front, filled the trenches with the corpses of cannon fodder, and even brought his [-] elite troops with him.Charged out from the weak point of the peasant army.

After that, the other generals also collapsed without a fight.They followed Zuo Liangyu's example and used the conscripted civilian husbands and military households as cannon fodder.Trampled on the corpses of the cannon fodder and rushed out.Barely guaranteed the safety of his servants and elites.

The supervisor Ding Qirui fled to Guangzhou and Gushi via Xuzhou on the pretext of recovering Zuo Liangyu; Yang Wenyue fled to Guide in a hurry.The peasant army won a complete victory.In this campaign, Jiang Mingwu, the chief soldier of the Ming Dynasty, was captured and killed, and nearly [-] soldiers, [-] mules and horses were captured, and countless weapons and armor were captured.

But in this battle, it did not exceed ten days.The imperial court's army, which had been assembled with great difficulty, disappeared in smoke.After the war, there were less than 5 government troops who had escaped from various places.

After the Li and Luo coalition forces received nearly [-] soldiers, they were supplemented by a large number of veterans of the Ming Dynasty.In addition, the folk song: "Eat his mother, drink his mother. Everyone opens the door to accept the king of Chuang, and when the king of Chuang comes, he does not pay the food." In the embrace of the army, the total number of Li and Luo's coalition forces once again exceeded one million.

But this time, the army of one million is not mainly composed of old and weak women and children.With the addition of a large number of Ming army veterans and young adults, the combatable strength of the Li and Luo coalition forces exceeded 50.And because of the large number of seized supplements, their equipment is also quite sophisticated.In addition to artillery, archers, and armored infantry, there were more than [-] cavalry intruding into the camp, and Luo Rucai's cavalry also exceeded [-].Immediately, a powerful force that shook the world was formed.

At this time, the Runing Army was still digesting the results of the campaign in a daze.The battle situation was completely beyond Wu Shigong's expectations. Not only did the Li and Luo coalition forces not lose their strength, but they also became stronger and stronger, and the combat effectiveness of the entire army also formed a leap.

Therefore, the current Runing Army must change its combat deployment.If the Runing Army immediately launched a decisive battle with the Li and Luo coalition forces, it would instead become a mutual consumption of strength between the Runing Army and the Peasant Army.And the imperial court will also take advantage of this good opportunity to recuperate, and maybe there will be an oriole in the rear, and when the Runing army and the peasant army are both defeated, they will take everything away.

When Wu Shigong and the others were distressed, several bad news spread to Runing one after another.

The spring of Chongzhen's 15th year is almost over, but the heavens did not show any signs of special favor.Severe spring droughts have occurred in the Yellow River Basin and Jifu area, and the harvest is hopeless; the drought in the Jianghuai area is also spreading. In some places, it is impossible to transplant rice seedlings due to lack of water, so the paddy fields have to be converted into dry fields.

In order to maintain the stability of the area under its control, the Runing Army also took out stored grain and opened warehouses to release grain in the area under its own control.Although the flow of personnel in the Runing Army is strictly controlled, there is a sharp weapon of food stamps to control the loss of food.However, after the large-scale disaster relief, the food storage of the Runing Army has also dropped to the position of the warning line.

At this time, people in the Central Plains and Northwest regions who had been hungry for more than ten years participated in the riots one after another. Even Nanzhili and Zhejiang, which had always been relatively stable in law and order, also had incidents of starving people turning up.With the response of the hungry people, the offensives of the various peasant armies became more fierce.

Especially the lingering Zhang Xianzhong, who used to be a small group of troops operating in northern Anhui, but after recruiting a large group of hungry people, he suddenly became active.So Zhang Xianzhong captured Shucheng in April, changed Shucheng to Desheng Prefecture, and established six ministers and other officials.And this is a peasant army that established local government for the first time.

The activeness of Zhang Xianzhong's troops immediately made the Runing Army unable to calm down.The location of Shucheng is between He County and Lu'an, which is the back garden of the Runing Army.The Runing Army has already reserved control of this area, and will use it as its main food supply area in the future.

So the Runing Army immediately changed its strategic focus, and first mobilized a large army to encircle and suppress Zhang Xianzhong's department, which threatened the most.As for the Li and Luo coalition forces, they put on a defensive posture to prevent them from wreaking havoc in their own control area and deal with them later.

Here, let’s pause for a moment the battle in the Central Plains, and first look at the actions of the two courts, the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty!

First look at Manchu:

After winning the Songjin battle, Huang Taiji was like a treasure for the captive Hong Chengchou.After Hong Chengchou was captured in Shengjing, he was determined to repay the emperor's kindness with his death, so he went on a hunger strike for several days, scolding all the relatives and ministers of the Qing Dynasty who came to persuade him to surrender.

However, when Fan Wencheng, a scholar of the Academy of Secretaries of the Qing Dynasty, came forward to persuade him to surrender, Hong Chengchou still cursed, but Fan Wencheng only comforted him with good words, and talked with him about the past and the present.

After the conversation, Fan Wencheng reported to Huang Taiji: "Hong Chengchou will not die. When I was talking with him, there was occasional dust on his clothes from the beams, and he brushed them off immediately. Even clothes are cherished, let alone life." ?”

So excited, Huang Taiji immediately struck while the iron was hot.Huang Taiji not only sent people to persuade him to surrender, but also went to visit him personally, and gave him his sable fur to wear.Hong Chengchou loved life and was deeply moved at the same time. Perhaps he had reflected on it deeply during the six months of Songshan's siege, and felt that the demise of the Ming Dynasty was a foregone conclusion, while the Qing Dynasty was the destiny.

Under such circumstances, Hong Chengchou finally surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.Of course, there is another saying that it was Huang Taiji's concubine Concubine Zhuang who personally sent ginseng soup to Hong Chengchou, which moved him.Although this statement excited the screenwriters of later generations, it should be a legend.No matter what, Huang Taiji is also a hero, he will not be so lowly as to give away his own woman.

But no matter what, Huang Taiji really cherishes Hong Chengchou very much.After Hong Chengchou surrendered, he was rewarded with a large number of treasures, and performed songs and dances in the palace to celebrate him.

And this ultra-standard practice even caused dissatisfaction among the generals of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties.The generals of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties thought that this kind of preferential treatment for a prisoner of war was a bit too much.

So Huang Taiji asked them: "What are we fighting against the wind and rain for?"

Everyone said: "Of course I want to win the Central Plains!"

So Huang Taiji explained again: "For example, pedestrians, you are all blind, now I get a guide, how can I be unhappy?"

Hong Chengchou is quite familiar with the rivers, mountains and rivers of the Ming Dynasty, and he also knows the deployment of officials and troops in various places.Moreover, he has been the top civil servant of the Ming Dynasty for a long time, and his disciples and former officials and his network of relationships are also entwined, and he is very familiar with all the situations of the Ming Dynasty.

Especially for the current Ming Dynasty, there are indeed too few handsome talents who have strategy, courage, and prestige.The most important thing is prestige. Now only Hong Chengchou, a handful of commanders, can command all kinds of Ming Dynasty generals with ulterior motives.

However, the Ming Dynasty lost such a commander-in-chief, and the Manchu and Qing Dynasties gained such an effective guide. After the ebb and flow, the strength of both the Ming and Qing Dynasties was further stretched. (To be continued..)