Go back to the end of the Ming Dynasty to be a soldier

Chapter 203 Yang Sichang's defeat

Li Zicheng was superior in skills. He knew that a large number of government troops would soon come to encircle and suppress him from the fact that he was killed from Shangluo Mountain. Relatively speaking, he chose to develop in Henan with a relatively weak force.

Living in seclusion in the mountains for more than a year, Li Zicheng has never been idle for a day. Apart from training his men and horses, he is thinking about the world's major affairs, and he has his sights on this precious land in Henan.

After leaving Shangluo Mountain, according to the news he got, Zhang Xianzhong, Ma Huihui, and Luo Rucai were all in the Huguang and Shanshan areas. He wanted to enter Henan, but changed his way to Hubei, and chose Yunzhou and Junzhou, which were the most emptied of troops. Turning the road to the north, you enter Nanyang land in Henan.

Practice has proved that Li Zicheng's move is really good, and his judgment is very accurate.Zhang Xianzhong revolted in Gucheng, killed officials and seized the mansion, and then went north.Luo Rucai also killed officials and seized the mansion in Yunzhou, Junzhou, and left after looting.

The officers and soldiers chased after them, and Yunzhou and Junzhou were empty, so Li Zicheng's troops encountered little resistance. They encountered a few groups of officers and soldiers in the middle, and they collapsed at the first touch, and they were completely vulnerable.

Therefore, his several thousand troops entered the Nanyang territory smoothly.

At the end of Ming Dynasty, Nanyang was a large prefectural city, second only to the provincial capital.Because Nanyang is the fiefdom of Tang Wang.This Tang king is not the Tang king Zhu Yujian in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Yu, the 23rd son of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, who was named Tang king, and the fief is in Nanyang.

During the Yongle period, a large-scale Tang Dynasty palace was built in Nanyang City. During the Chenghua period, another 9 county palaces were built. In Dalai, various business halls and mansions sprang up in various places, and grain, cotton, raw silk, tobacco, silk, oil, fur, wood, medicinal materials, copper, iron, etc. flooded into the market and sold all over the country.At that time, Nanyang was thriving in all kinds of industries, and there were new developments in architecture, gardens, painting, sculpture, calligraphy and so on.

That is to say, it is a bustling big city.It's just that in the past few years since Emperor Chongzhen came to the throne, due to natural disasters, man-made disasters, internal and external troubles, the economy here has also been affected, and there has been a depression, and hungry people are everywhere.But relatively speaking, Nanyang City is still relatively rich. How many years of wealth they have accumulated, a lean camel is bigger than a horse.

After Li Zicheng learned about this, he planned to take down Nanyang.Occupy the city and cannot sleep in the wilderness.Only by occupying the city can they change their status quo, improve their lives, and further expand their power.

But to attack Nanyang, they must first capture the three places of Xinye, Neixiang and Xichuan. These are the three counties in the south of Nanyang. There are garrisons in the three places. Although there are not many, they guard the gate of Nanyang in a triangular shape.

Li Zicheng used his probing horse to find that there are not many garrisons in these three small counties, and the phenomenon of starvation is serious, military discipline is lax, and soldiers do not repair borders. There are only about 500 people left in each county, and the garrison in Nanyang City is only more than 2000. .

After finding out these, Li Zicheng immediately sent general Li Guo to lead troops to attack Xinye.At the same time, let generals Liu Fangliang and Yuan Zongdi attack Neixiang and Xichuan, making the defenders in the three places difficult to care about each other.

Li Zicheng led the rest of the troops to keep an eye on the soldiers in Nanyang City. If Nanyang City sent reinforcements to support any place, he would take the opportunity to attack Nanyang.

The soldiers and horses of Nanyang City did not dare to act rashly.The three counties of Xinye, Xichuan and Neixiang all have three to five hundred defenders. They are internally corrupt, neglected to defend, and have no fortified cities. When they heard that Li Zicheng's men were coming, many soldiers were frightened and fled without fighting.

Li Guo, known as a tiger, took 1000 troops and captured Xinye County in one charge. Liu Fangliang also easily captured Neixiang. Brother Yuan Zongdi was even more trouble-free. As soon as the troops arrived, the defenders of Xichuan County surrendered directly.

Taking these three county towns was a piece of cake.Li Zicheng was very happy, and ordered to strictly enforce military discipline, open granaries to these three places to release food, give relief to the people, and win the hearts of the people.

Just as he was about to rectify his troops and horses to attack Nanyang, bad news came one after another.

One is the battle of Baishuihe, Luo Rucai claimed that the 10 army was wiped out, and Luo Rucai was also captured by Lin Yi.

This caused a shock in Li Zicheng's entire army.Because among the surviving bandits, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Ma Huihui, Ge Zuo Wuying, etc., the weakest one is Li Zicheng, with only 4000 troops.Luo Rucai's strength is no less than that of Zhang Xianzhong. This is his old comrade-in-arms for many years. They have dealt with the government and army for many years. They cooperate with each other, support each other, and echo each other. Sometimes they fight side by side. Raising the flag of righteousness, he was immediately wiped out by the army.The lips are dead and the teeth are cold, and the rabbit is dead and the dog is cooking.

Before Li Zicheng left Shangluo, he had secretly met with Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai, and he was already in the world before raising the banner.They expected that a large number of government troops would come to encircle and suppress Jieshi, and their respective routes were basically determined. Zhang Xianzhong, Lao Huihui, and Luo Rucai were active in Huguang and Shaanxi. Li Zicheng took a fancy to Henan and Shanxi, so that they could echo each other from afar. , Involved in the strength of the officers and soldiers, let the officers and soldiers take care of one thing and lose another.

But they didn't expect Luo Rucai to be finished so soon. This was undoubtedly a major blow to their teams.

Moreover, Baishuihe, the battlefield where Lin Yi wiped out Luo Rucai, was very close to Li Zicheng and the others, only a few hundred miles away.

How could these not cause shock to Li Zicheng and others.For a while, the name Lin Yi spread among Li Zicheng's generals.In the past, they only knew that among the officers and soldiers, Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao, He Renlong, Zuo Guangxian, Zuo Liangyu and others could fight. They had never heard of the name Lin Yi.

Now they have to keep this name in their hearts, and there is a lot of discussion.

Because these thieves have been hiding in the mountains for many years, the news is relatively closed, and now they don't know who this Miyun general Lin Yi is, so Li Zicheng quickly sent people around to inquire.

At this time, the second bad news came. Yang Sichang, the great nemesis of the Peasant Army, personally supervised the division, and with Nanjing soldiers, Shandong soldiers, and Baoding soldiers, [-] to [-] officers and soldiers also appeared in the Baishui River area, joining the Miyun soldiers. Nearly [-] officers and soldiers assembled on the banks of the Baishui River, and they were about to go south to Henan.

After discussing with Liu Zongmin, Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin decided to give up attacking Nanyang for the time being, because with their current strength, even if they successfully captured Nanyang, it would be difficult to hold on to it. In Nanyang City, there is no food and grass outside and no reinforcements, so they can't fly, and there is only one dead end.

Therefore, Li Zicheng decided to temporarily use these three counties as bases to rectify his troops, develop his strength, and wait for the opportunity.In this way, advance can be defended and retreat can be attacked.Because these three counties have mountainous areas and flat land, for Li Zicheng, the mountains and forests are the organic soil for their survival and reproduction.

Li Zicheng had just gained a firm foothold in these three counties, and Yang Sichang led 6 to [-] soldiers from the three routes from Yunxi to Xishan County in Henan.

After Li Zicheng got the report, he immediately ordered Yuan Zongdi, who was stationed in Xichuan, to lure the enemy to retreat deep into the inner countryside, causing the officers and soldiers to flee in embarrassment.

Zhu Dadian, the general of Nanjing, Liu Zeqing, the general of Shandong (who had not yet returned to Shandong to quell the chaos), and Hu Dawei, the general of Baoding, pursued them all the way. After occupying Xichuan, they pursued in the direction of Neixiang.

But everyone doesn't know that Li Zicheng is not what he used to be. He is no longer the intruder who was chased by officers and soldiers with nowhere to go and nowhere to go.After more than a year of savings and preparations, although the strength of the army is not large, its feathers are gradually becoming more and more plump. The so-called gaining wisdom by eating a ditch, Li Zicheng's leadership level and experience have gradually matured. , Therefore, the three-way army was fooled by Li Zicheng in Zhaojiagou, Neixiang County.

6 or 1000 horses were attacked by four-way thieves.Yuan Zongdi walked behind them with 1000 soldiers and horses, and Liu Fangliang led [-] soldiers and horses to kill them back.

Liu Zongmin and Hao Yaoqi each led a troop and attacked from the left and right. Li Zicheng left Gao Guiying and Gao Yigong brothers and sisters to guard Xinye, and personally led the Chinese army to rush towards the official army. , suddenly fell into the quagmire of chaos.

In addition, at this time, Liu Zeqing was dissatisfied with Yang Sichang and fled without a fight. In this way, there were more than 3 soldiers from Zhu Dadian's Nanjing and Hu Dawei's Baoding soldiers, who were cut into several sections by Li Zicheng's Five Route Army.

As a result, there was a scuffle in Zhaojiagou, and the officers and soldiers suffered heavy casualties. When they rushed out of Zhaojiagou, more than half of the two officers and men were lost.

Li Zicheng won a big battle, this is his biggest victory since he came out of Shangluo Mountain, his generals were greatly encouraged, and refugees from all over the world came to vote.

Yang Sichang was furious, and just about to punish Liu Zeqing for his crimes, when the imperial decree arrived, an uprising of hungry people occurred in Shandong, and Liu Zeqing was transferred to Shandong to quell the rebellion.Yang Shichang had no choice but to follow the order, and left another Liu Zeqing with more than 1 horses.

When Li Zicheng learned that Yang Sichang had only more than 1 troops, he planned to prepare a counterattack and completely eat up these officers and troops.At this time, the person he sent to inquire about Lin Yi returned.

These people not only brought the experience of Ji Dong's rise, but also brought the news that Ji Dong had entered Henan along the Baishui River with more than 2 horses.

After listening to the story of Lin Yi's rise, Li Zicheng couldn't help but gasped.

In the past, he was unattractive and calm, but in the past few years, with the help of God, Lin Yi has grown from a small soldier on the frontier to a second-rank official of the imperial court and a general who suppresses thieves in just four years. He is a military genius.

Let's look at his growth path again, punishing bandits, destroying Tartars, fighting factory guards, and persuading Mongolian tribes. which end.

The core figures who have repeatedly defeated the Tartars, even Huang Taiji and his son were defeated in front of this person. Sweeping the ground, shooting down the sky, passing the sky, the lights are not bright, and they are not sticky, all fell into the hands of this person. No wonder Luo Rucai's 6 or [-] horses were wiped out in just one battle.This is really a legendary figure who can no longer be legendary. Li Zicheng couldn't believe it.

His general Hao Yaoqi didn't take it seriously, shaking his head, "King Chuang, what's so great about Lin, leave him to me. As long as he dares to come, I, Hao Yaoqi, will take care of him!"

At this time, a Tanma came to report that Lin Yi's soldiers had reached Laohekou, that is, the area around Danjiangkou in later generations.

Hao Yaoqi patted his furry chest: "The kid surnamed Lin came really fast, don't fight with me, King Chuang, give me a team, and I will definitely kill him and leave him behind! "

(End of this chapter)