Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 258 The Battle of Huguang Ends (Second Change)

Ao Bai endured the severe pain between his legs, and pushed Azig, the coach of the Qing army, to the top of the mountain.

At this time, Azig was exhausted, and was ready to go down the mountain on the back of a strong white-armored soldier.

However, it was precisely because Azig showed his tracks as soon as he went up the mountain, Liu Xiyao, who was a hundred steps away from him, hurriedly raised his flintlock and fired two shots in the direction of Azig.

One shot hit Azig directly in the arm, while the other shot was blocked by a wrapped servant of Azig, who rolled down the hillside.

And Azig screamed, and rolled off the white armored soldier, and fell to the other side of the hillside.

"My lord!" Seeing this, Obai hurriedly rolled down with a group of cavalry from the Qing army, rushing to save Azig.

Here, Liu Xiyao immediately chased after him with a group of guard infantry, but when they reached the top of the mountain, these remnants of the Qing army who followed Azig also surrounded Azig and fled into the deep darkness.

Liu Xiyao glanced at Dong Zhining: "Leave a team here to meet the other brothers, and the rest will follow me!"

Liu Fangliang and other guard cavalry also led their horses to the top of the mountain. After hearing that Liu Xiyao had led the infantry to chase after them, they immediately led their horses down the mountain.

Wait until dawn the next day.

Liu Fangliang's cavalry was still searching and chasing the remnants of Azig's retreating troops in the vast field at the southern foot of Dahong Mountain.

However, at this time, Azig and other remnant soldiers had already arrived in Sui County, where they made up for the military supplies of horses, and quickly left for Xiangyang City.

Suizhou is between Tongbai Mountain and Dahong Mountain, but in the northwest of Suizhou is a vast plain, which is an alluvial plain belt formed by many tributaries of the Han River. Therefore, Azig and other cavalry rode from Suizhou to Xiangyang at the speed of horses. Naturally, it is extremely fast.

However, Liu Fangliang was also chasing in the direction from Suizhou to Xiangyang at this time. He also knew that Azig could only run in this direction if he wanted to run. If he ran in other directions, he could only enter Tongbai Mountain again.

As soon as he arrived in Xiangyang, Azig did not stop for a while, but went along the river valley in the direction of Shiyan to Shangzhou, Shaanxi, and arrived in Xi'an ten days later, then entered Shanxi and returned to the capital.

From last year to the present, Azig went south to Huguang after going out to Shaanxi, and brought more than [-] Manchu, Han and Mongolian cavalry, plus soldiers who surrendered along the way, no less than [-] people. There are only more than [-] cavalry left.

It can't be said that he was badly hurt.

Liu Fangliang officially regained Xiangyang on the third day of July, and stopped in Xiangyang because he considered that the vast mountains of Qinling Mountains were in front of him and it was not easy to pursue.

At this time, Liu Xiyao's infantry also followed Liu Fangliang's order to go south along the Han River to recover Chengtian Mansion.

Shang Kexi's artillery and infantry, as well as part of the Han Eight Banners cavalry, were annihilated by Huang Degong's troops, and even Shang Kexi was captured alive by Huang Degong.

Li Yan also began to order the extermination army to go north to recover the lost ground.

On July [-]th, the Extermination Army and Huang Degong's troops followed the Han River all the way and the Suizhou Xiaogan all the way, and joined forces with Liu Xiyao's troops and Liu Fangliang's troops in Jiangling and Xiangyang respectively.

So far, the battle of Huguang is over.

This battle ended with the disastrous defeat of the Azig Department of the Qing Army. The total casualties of the Extermination Army reached more than 8, and there are still more than [-], while the Huang Degong Department suffered more than [-] casualties, and the Guards suffered more than [-] casualties. , thirty infantrymen.

In general, the extermination army suffered the most casualties.

However, the Qing army also lost more than 3 troops. The most worth mentioning is that the Qing army lost more than 1 Manchurian cavalry. These are the essence of the Qing army, which means that Dorgon not only lost Duoduo An arm, and now Azig's arm is also seriously injured.

Although Azig still brought back [-] cavalry and could still guarantee Dorgon's position in the ruling and opposition parties, it was obviously difficult to completely suppress forces such as Jierhalang and even Haoge.

In addition, Wang Shang Kexi, a Han Chinese from the Qing court, was also captured alive.

It also means that among the Han military landlords that the Qing court has won over, only Wu Sangui has not been captured by the Ming Dynasty.

Liu Fangliang officially transferred the city defense of Xiangyang to the Lieutenant Army, and his Third Guards Army will still be transferred back to Fengyang. Xiangyang is still the forefront of Ming's battle against the Qing army on the Huguang border.

To the north of Xiangyang is the Qinling Mountains, and to the south of Xiangyang is the alluvial plain of the Han River. Therefore, now that Xiangyang is in the hands of Daming, it still means that Daming can still firmly control the defensive initiative in the Huguang area.

From the Shandong Peninsula in the east to the south of the Yellow River in Henan, then to the south of Huguang Xiangyang, and finally to the two provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou. Except for Sichuan and Hanzhong, which are still in the hands of Zhang Xianzhong, in the 18th year of Chongzhen today, in [-] AD in the Western calendar For half a year, Daming still controlled half of the entire south, and even part of the Central Plains, such as Shandong and most of Henan.

The land within the pass controlled by the Qing government now is Beizhili, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and the land north of the Yellow River in Henan. Of course, if the land outside the pass controlled by him is included, the land area is still larger than that of Ming Dynasty.

However, the only place of wealth and wealth is North Zhili.

As for the so-called grain production areas, there are almost no grain production areas except North Zhili. The Sanjiang Plain outside the Guan has not yet been developed, and the main grain production area in Henan is in the south of the Yellow River and is in the hands of Daming. The main grain production area in Huguang is also in the south of Xiangyang. In the hands of Daming, Sichuan and Hanzhong, the main grain producing areas in the southwest, are in the hands of Zhang Xianzhong.

Therefore, the future situation of Manchu Qing can be described as not optimistic.

But Daming naturally wouldn't care about the situation in the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Now that the Qing army's strategy of conquering the world in the south had been defeated, Daming himself had to start preparing for his own Northern Expedition.

"Blocking Taiwan, military advisor, don't send it away. Liu almost came one step too late, and almost wiped out the entire army of the brothers of the Mielu Army. My apology", Liu Fangliang said and rode away.

And Huang Degong also came over and patted Du Yinxi and Li Yan on the shoulders: "After this battle, although we don't know when the next battle will start, Huguang must still be the place where the Qing army must attack besides Jiangnan. Everything has to be done." It depends on the two."

"Please don't worry, my lord. His Majesty's entrustment has never been forgotten by the lowly ranks. If the Qing army dares to come again, he will never come back."

Du Yinxi smiled vigorously and said a few words.

Huang Degong smiled and chanted his whip and pointed south, riding Juechen to Jiangxi.

And Du Yinxi and Li Yan also looked at each other with a smile, and each went back to write the secret performance of the Huguang battle for His Majesty Zhu Youjian, the Emperor of Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youjian gave Du Yinxi and Li Yan the right to play in secret, with the purpose of allowing them to supervise each other.

At this time, Du Yinxi praised Li Yan in the secret performance for how he predicted the enemy ahead of time, worked out the overall situation for the court, and did not hesitate to hold back the Azige army with the future of the entire army of exterminating the captives.

And Li Yan also praised Du Yinxi in the secret memorial, as the governor of Huguang, but he did not pretend to be an official of the court, and discriminated against the extermination army who was born as a bandit.

(End of this chapter)