Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

On the first day of the first month of the first year of Qiongyuan, outside Tongguan.

"Boom boom boom!"

The Guancheng of Tongguan was filled with smoke and dust, and at a distance of 21 steps in front of the Guancheng, the Runing Army assembled [-] artillery pieces of more than six pounds, and concentratedly bombarded the city wall of the Guancheng.

When the gunpowder smoke cleared, an officer of the Daping Army said to Xue Yong: "General! This wall is solid. So many iron bullets went up, and only a few holes were made. It looks like it will be blasted for a while."

Xue Yong smiled and said: "It's just like this, it will collapse sooner or later. What are you in a hurry for? This is a big Chinese New Year, you just treat it as a cannon. You have never let go of such a big cannon during Chinese New Year before!"

"Hahaha!" The surrounding officers and soldiers immediately burst into laughter.

When Li Zicheng and other leaders of Dashun got the news that the Daping Army occupied Shanxi, they took it for granted that the next offensive target of the Daping Army would be northern Shaanxi. Therefore, Li Zicheng and others focused all their attention on strengthening Shaanxi. North's defense is on.

In the winter of the 16th year of Chongzhen, the Dashun Army continued to transfer a large number of troops to the north.It is necessary to stop the southward pressure of the Daping Army from Shanxi.But at this time, they obtained new information: the troops of the Daping Army in Shanxi were continuously transferred to the Tongguan area.This made it difficult for Li Zicheng and others to judge the main attack direction of the Daping Army.

Logically speaking: Tongguan is the most powerful pass in the world, and the Dashun Army has heavy troops stationed there.The Daping Army mobilized long distances and made no secret of their actions, so the difficulty of attacking Tongguan must be much higher than crossing the Yellow River and attacking the hinterland of Shaanxi from northern Shaanxi.But the Daping Army mobilized so many troops to Tongguan, so the two Daping armies in Shanxi and Tongguan.Which way is the main attack?Which way is a feint?Or even say, will these two roads be the main direction of attack?

So Li Zicheng and others, who were caught in the dilemma of the north-south attack, began to hesitate.Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin and others.After leading the main force of the Dashun Army from Xi'an to Luochuan County, they stayed there for ten days.Apparently, they were at a loss because of the Daping Army's invasion from two fronts, so they had no choice but to stay still for the time being and wait for further news before deciding where to send reinforcements.

As a result, the Dashun Army's original strategic plan to meet the Daping Army in northern Shaanxi had to be changed as the situation changed.Li Zicheng and others were completely passive in the battle situation.Moreover, because Quan Dashan in Shanxi is also stepping up the integration of miscellaneous troops, and waiting for news to cooperate with the attack in the direction of Tongguan, the advance is slow.But the news from Tongguan was getting tighter and tighter, so in the end, Li Zicheng finally decided to lead reinforcements with Liu Zongmin and others to rush to Tongguan.

On the 16th day of the twelfth lunar month in the [-]th year of Chongzhen.The Battle of Tongguan begins.Facing the Daping Army's army that was battling dozens of miles outside Guancheng.It is impossible for the Dashun Army to turn a blind eye, otherwise they will be completely suppressed by the artillery fire of the Daping Army.And until now, Li Zicheng and others still don't know: Which Daping army is the main attack?So Liu Zongmin led his troops out to fight, and wanted to first confirm the "quality" of this Daping army.

Facing Liu Zongmin's attack, Xue Yong and the others had no pressure.Among the Daping Army, the original Runing Army and the Heiyun Army, as the core troops, may have difficulty attacking and besieging the city, but they are more than enough to defend against the Dashun Army's attack.So Liu Zongmin was unfavorable in the first battle.

The 25th day of the twelfth lunar month five days later.Liu Fangliang led the troops to fight and suffered a big setback again.then.Li Zicheng led the cavalry and infantry to resist the battle, but was also counterattacked by Xue Yong's Daping army, and the Dashun army was defeated again.In this counterattack, the power of the Daping Army's counterattack was brought into full play, so that the infantry of the Dashun Army who went out of the customs basically did not escape back.

If it is not possible to fight head-on, Li Zicheng and others want to send surprise soldiers.On the evenings of the 26th and 27th, the Dashun Army launched consecutive night attacks, but none of them achieved results.It wasn't until the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month that the Daping Army mobilized the sharp weapons for attacking the fortifications-the artillery of more than six pounds in the army, the captured general guns, and the general guns, and advanced to Tongguan Pass, and put them in place, the Dashun Army stopped. In the battle of Guanguan, heavy trenches were dug in front of Guancheng, and strong walls were erected to prevent the Daping army from attacking Tongguan.

Seeing his cannon firing round after round, Xue Yong looked calm.The reason why the siege was officially launched today is also because Xue Yong wanted to present a gift for the new establishment of the Daping Dynasty and Wu Shigong's ascension to the throne.

Xue Yong looked at the noisy officers in front of him.And these officers are also very relaxed, they are betting - how many rounds of shooting will the Dashun army rush out of the pass to fight back?

"Stop talking nonsense! The thieves have come out!"

Suddenly, Xue Yong saw that the closed door of Tongguan had opened, and a group of cavalry from the Dashun Army rushed out from the closed door, so he immediately interrupted the bet of the officers: "Let the boys keep their eyes open, don't let them go!" At the last moment, capsize the boat and beat the thieves back."

"No!" The officers said immediately.

The Dashun Army cavalry who rushed out of Tongguan were not many, only more than 3000 cavalry.As soon as they left the pass and stepped through the remaining passages between the trenches, the cavalry of the Dashun Army did not have time to line up, so they wanted to swarm towards the artillery positions, trying to overturn these heavy artillery that threatened the most.

However, the Daping Army arranged the most powerful defensive firepower on both sides of the artillery positions.Under a burst of fire from small cannons and firecrackers, the cavalry of the Dashun Army did not charge at all, and they gave up charging on the artillery position.

However, the officers of the Dashun Army who led the team still did not give up their efforts.Under his order, the cavalry of the Dashun Army divided into two teams, and they wanted to detour to the rear of the Daping Army to make an assault, trying their best to turn the tide of the battle.

However, the Daping Army in the back line has long been ready.On the road where the Dashun Army might charge, they had already arranged horses and carts as obstacles. When the cavalry of the Dashun Army approached, they fired fiercely at these cavalry.Even some cavalrymen of the Dashun Army were lucky enough to escape the hail of bullets, but they had to slow down their horses when they rushed to reject the horses and carts.

Seeing that the cavalry of the Dashun Army was blocked from charging, the cavalry of the Daping Army launched a counter-charge in due course.The cavalry lost their speed, and their power was not even as good as that of the infantry. Therefore, after a lot of hacking, the remaining cavalry of the Dashun Army also fled back to Tongguan in a panic.

Seeing how easy the battle was going on, a former Ming general who had just surrendered came up to Xue Yong, and he said with a flattering smile: "General! The main force led by Chuang Ni is so vulnerable, this Tongguan It seems that it is just around the corner, and the general and prince Wandai is right in front of us!"

Hearing this, Xue Yong smiled modestly: "It will take a while to fight. It's too early to say. I just don't know. How is the fight at Dashan?"

……

On the same day, Yulin.

Looking at the Dashun Army at the top of Yulin City as if they were facing a formidable enemy, Quan Dashan frowned, feeling a little helpless.Because the heavy artillery in the army was transferred to Tongguan, facing Yulin, a strong city in northern Shaanxi, the whole mountain had no good strategy for attacking the city.

But at this moment, several scouts came galloping, and they reported to Quan Dashan: "My lord! No enemy troops have been found in Hengshan and Mizhi nearby. According to the prisoner's office, only Yan'an still has more than 4000 civilian thieves. In the rest of northern Shaanxi, no other bandits have been found."

"Oh?" Quan Dashan's eyes lit up.He made some calculations in his mind, and then immediately ordered: "General Jiang! You lead [-] troops to besiege this Yulin. If a bandit abandons the city, he can flee from west to south, but he must not be let into Shanxi!"

"Promise!" Jiang Guan, who surrendered to Dashun first and then Daping, led the order.

"The rest of the generals will rush to Xi'an with my old man. If the Yan'an civilian thieves can't get out of the city, then just leave an army to guard them; if they come out of the city to fight, we will wipe them out!"

"promise!"

"It's time for the man to make a name for himself, let me copy Chuangni's lair!" Quan Dashan raised his right arm and shouted.

"Okay!" All the generals immediately let out thunderous cheers.

Before the new year in the first year of Qiongyuan, Quan Dashan led a [-] Daping army across the Yellow River from Baode Prefecture, Shanxi Province and entered northern Shaanxi.For the first time, I encountered Yulin, where [-] troops of the Gao Yi Gong Department were stationed.

However, when Quan Dashan found that the Dashun Army in northern Shaanxi was empty of troops, and the main force of the Dashun Army moved to Tongguan, it immediately turned into a feint attack and accelerated the pace of attack.So Quan Dashan left Jiang Yu and other generals who surrendered, led [-] surrendered troops to besiege Yulin, and led the troops to the south.

On the second day of the first lunar month, the Daping army occupied Mizhi, Li Zicheng's hometown, and then advanced towards Xi'an.Li Zicheng in Tongguan, when he learned that the Daping Army on the North Road was coming, he understood that under the attack of the Daping Army on both sides, the fall of Shaanxi was a foregone conclusion, so he was forced to withdraw the main force to Xi'an and gave up on Tongguan. defense.

On the third day of the first lunar month, Wushan Bo Ma Shiyao, the general of the Dashun Army guarding Tongguan, surrendered with more than [-] troops, and the Daping Army formally occupied Tongguan.But that night, Ma Shiyao sent an envoy to send a secret letter to Li Zicheng, but it was intercepted by the Daping Army and sent to Xue Yong.

The next day, Xue Yong hypothesized that he was hunting, and ambushed the army at Jinpenpokou, ten miles southwest of Tongguan City. Then he claimed to hold a banquet and remove all the horses and equipment of Ma Shiyao's army.Then with an order, ambushes broke out everywhere, and more than 7000 soldiers of the Dashun Army were all killed.

And it only took three days for the Daping Army to actually attack Tongguan.And this world-famous dangerous pass was repeatedly captured without any fierce fighting in the wars at the end of Ming Dynasty.This is true whether it is the Ming Army or the Dashun Army.It really makes people sigh: the defeat of the army is like a mountain!

As a result, the east and north roads in Xi'an were opened wide, and they were directly attacked by more than [-] Daping troops.Li Zicheng knew that it was hopeless to hold Shaanxi, so he decided to abandon Xi'an on the day he withdrew to Xi'an (the fourth day of the first lunar month) and headed south via Lantian and Shangluo. (To be continued..)