I

  Chapter 280 278【Suffering】

  Lu Xiangsheng was very tired, physically and mentally exhausted.

  Whether it is the original history or this time and space, there will be big debates about whether to negotiate a peace this year.

  But the battle between war and peace was essentially over when the Qing army arrived in Beijing.

  Soldiers are approaching the city, why are you still negotiating with a ghost?

  No matter how mentally retarded the Manchu rulers and ministers were, they would never imagine that the Manchus could still negotiate a peace when they fought in Beijing.

  In history, the core of the conflict between Lu Xiangsheng, Yang Sichang, and Gao Qiqian was not the main battle and main peace written in "Ming History", but a completely different strategic policy!

  Lu Xiangsheng belongs to the "main combat faction", actively fighting and waiting for opportunities to wipe out the enemy.

  High-rise dives belong to the "war-avoiding faction", hoarding heavy troops and passively defending.

  Yang Sichang belongs to the "War Stability Faction", and divides his troops to defend the city, and avoids waves of warfare.

  Yang Sichang and Gao Qiqian both hoped that the Manchus would leave as soon as they were finished. The only difference was that Gao Qiqian didn't dare to fight at all, while Yang Sichang was willing to fight with full confidence.

  In order to prevent Lu Xiangsheng from rushing into the waves, Yang Sichang even deliberately delayed the supply of grain and grass.

   "Supervisor, we are running out of food and grass!"

   "Send someone back to ask for food."

  Lu Xiangsheng was not only fighting against the Manchus, he was also fighting against the civilian and military generals around him.

  Even if Yang Sichang was transferred from Beijing, the situation still could not be changed.

  Because Gao Qiqian did not want to fight in the field, the generals under Lu Xiangsheng also did not want to fight in the field. Therefore, the former withheld grain and grass, while the latter obediently obeyed, in order to force Lu Xiangsheng not to run around.

  Generals like Wang Pu, who command eight thousand troops, are likely to retreat without a fight at critical moments.

  For the military generals in the border town, even if the whole of Beizhili was robbed, as long as Beijing was not taken down by the Manchu Qing. The people were burned, killed and looted. This matter has nothing to do with them. They just want to keep their troops.

   If the troops were saved, even if they returned in a big defeat, the emperor would not dare to punish them severely.

   If you lose your troops, even if you win a big victory, you may lose your official position and go to prison for no reason.

   That being the case, why take the initiative to seek field battles?

  Follow two to three hundred miles away, and wait for the Manchus to leave after the robbing, wouldn't it be good for them to "recover" the lost ground?

  Lu Xiangsheng was inspecting the barracks when suddenly there was a commotion in one place. He hurriedly rode there, met the messenger on the way, and immediately asked, "What's the matter?"

   "Supervisor, Li Zhongzhen's department complained about the salary, saying that it has not been paid for two months. Recently, they are still reducing meals, and they all complain that they don't have enough to eat." The reporter said.

  Lu Xiangsheng sighed helplessly, and rode over to appease the troubled soldiers.

  He holds a sword of Shangfang, and the governor of the world works hard for the king's soldiers. But Gao Qiqian is the director, supervising the soldiers and horses in the world. Yang Sichang is not in Beijing, and all food and grass are controlled by Gao Qiqian.

  If Lu Xiangsheng was really killed, it was absolutely impossible to be framed by one or two people.

   But the civilian and military generals in charge of leading the troops will kill him. Only when Lu Xiangsheng is dead, everyone will not have to fight hard. Only when Lu Xiangsheng is dead can he guard the city with peace of mind and wait for Manqing to leave by himself!

   "Report!!!"

  Lu Xiangsheng had just appeased the soldiers who were making trouble, when suddenly a spy came to report: "Master, the Mandarin slaves are besieging Julu, and the magistrate of Julu sent someone to ask for help!"

   "Revisit!"

  Lu Xiangsheng summoned all the generals to discuss the matter, and said: "The slave army is just outside Julu City, and it will march south tomorrow! The army of Gao Jianjun (Gao Qiqian) is in Linqing, and I have sent someone to ask him to join forces to kill the enemy!"

   "This must be a strategy to lure the enemy by besieging the city and fighting for reinforcements. Don't act rashly." Wang Pu said.

  Li Chongzhen said: "The emperor still doesn't send hungry soldiers. The soldiers lack food and pay, and their morale is low. How can we fight without enough food and pay?"

   Li Guozhu sighed: "Let's wait until the troops of the High Supervising Army join forces."

  Hu Dawei and the other generals bowed their heads in silence, obviously not agreeing to rescue Julu.

  Lu Xiangsheng holds Shang Fang's sword in his hand, and has nothing to do with these generals.

  Because the generals are right, the Manchu Qing must be besieging the city to fight for aid. Moreover, the emperor did not send hungry soldiers, and if he did not give enough food and pay, the soldiers were likely to break out in mutiny.

  Forcibly ordering an attack, or killing people to establish power, there will be a mutiny immediately!

  Lu Xiangsheng had no choice but to give up. While waiting for food and grass, he waited for Gao Qi to sneak over to join forces.

   Regarding the shortage of food and grass, it is really not all Gao Qiqian deliberately making things difficult.

  The Manchu and Qing dynasties wreaked havoc along the way, and the officers and soldiers could not collect food on the spot, so they could only transport it from Beijing. They drove Manqing southward, and the food road got longer and longer, almost reaching the border of Shandong.

   There is not much food and grass in the first place, so Gao Qiqian will naturally replenish himself first, and then throw the remaining bits and pieces to Lu Xiangsheng.

  Lu Xiangsheng just waited like this, with a little food and grass waiting for him, but he was marching at a high speed. Linqing and Julu are only more than a hundred miles away, and the route is relatively flat. The 40,000-strong army walked for ten days.

  The two sides communicated through messengers and made an appointment to attack the Qing army from the north to the south.

  Go up and set up camp, wanting Lu Xiangsheng to fight first. If Lu Xiangsheng wins, he will take advantage of the victory to pursue; if Lu Xiangsheng loses, he will retreat to Linqing.

  Lu Xiangsheng was full of confidence and ready to attack together, but none of the generals under his command moved.

  Those guys once again urged the soldiers to fight for pay, and it was all the ministries of Xuanda who made the noise together. If you don't pay enough food and wages, you will resolutely refuse to move forward.

  Lu Xiangsheng was furious, he sacrificed Shangfang's sword, and beheaded more than 20 rioting officers one after another.

   He dared not kill high-level generals, but he didn't care about low-level officers.

  Finally, after two days of rectification, the whole army set off.

  Da Ming has not figured out how many troops the Qing army entered this time. I only know that except for the artillery, the rest are all cavalry, and the soldiers are divided into three groups to plunder southward.

   On Julu's side, there may be about 10,000 Manchu cavalry.

  Lu Xiangsheng led his troops to kill them, a few miles to Julu County, and 2,000 enemy horses rushed towards him.

   "Just drive away, don't chase too far." Lu Xiangsheng sent cavalry to pursue, and he had a total of 7,000 cavalry under his command.

  The two thousand Manchu Qing cavalry didn't seem to have thought about fighting. When they saw the Ming cavalry coming out, they immediately turned around and fled. And all kinds of detours are just for the purpose of slowing down Lu Xiangsheng's advance speed.

  Sentry cavalry have spotted the Qing army camp, but they dare not get too close.

  Lu Xiangsheng led the army and approached cautiously. After procrastinating for a long time, I finally found out that the situation was not good. The camp outside the Julu City in the Qing Dynasty was actually empty, only a few thousand grain animals were looted, not even men and women were plundered!

   This year the Tartars broke through, which is different from any previous time.

  During the first two or three months of the war, there was only constant destruction and no looting.

  The intention of the battle was obvious. The Manchu and Qing defeated the battle around Beijing, so they divided their troops and dragged the Ming army to the south. The supply line of the Ming army was getting longer and longer, conflicts among ministries were increasing, and the soldiers were getting more and more exhausted.

  Historically, Lu Xiangsheng had only 5,000 soldiers left, and the Manchus went to attack Lu Xiangsheng.

  Now, Lu Xiangsheng has 24,000 people, and Gao Qiqian has 40,000 people. Man Qing suffered from Lu Xiangsheng's loss, so he went straight to make a high dive, leaving an empty camp to confuse Lu Xiangsheng.

   "Director Senior is in danger, go to the rescue!" Lu Xiangsheng was shocked in the empty camp.

  Those military generals in the frontier town were all overjoyed.

  They rescued the city of Julu County, and also recaptured thousands of livestock and a lot of grain and grass carried by the livestock.

   It's all military exploits!

  …

  However, Gao Qiqian said that he would lead troops over and go directly to Jize County to station. At this time, Jize County was sandwiched between the Fuyang River and the Luo River, and there were two rivers that protected nature and were very safe.

   This guy never thought about going to war, otherwise, it would be impossible to garrison troops in such a place that is good for defense and bad for offense.

   Whatever you are afraid of, come here.

Gao Qiqian and a small number of confidants live in the city, while the army camps outside the city—Julu County is not big, and it is impossible to cram all 40,000 soldiers into it, and there are countless grains and supplies. Only the defenders will put the army in. .

  At noon this day, he was very drunk and was taking a nap in the city.

  A **** ran over in panic: "It's not good, the slave army has crossed the river and is heading towards Jize!"

   "How many people?" Gao Qiqian asked in panic.

   "I don't know, I'm afraid there are 20,000 to 30,000 cavalry!" The little **** replied.

  Twenty to thirty thousand farts, the Qing army on this road can have at most ten thousand cavalry.

   "Quickly let the army enter the city and refuse to defend!"

  The gates of Jize County opened soon, and the cavalry entered the city first. Gradually, the sound of rumbling horseshoes could already be heard, and the 40,000 army suddenly panicked and rushed into the city desperately.

   "Close the city gate!"

   "Shoot the arrow, let the arrow go!"

   Instead of shooting arrows at the Manchus, they shot arrows at the Ming army outside the city, and the gates of the city began to kill each other.

  The sound of horseshoes was getting closer and closer. Seeing that they could not enter the city, the remaining soldiers immediately fled to the south.

   Of the 40,000 troops, only more than 12,000 elite entered the city.

  The remaining 28,000 people, more than half of them are civilian husbands and auxiliary soldiers, so they were exposed to the Manchu butcher knife.

  The Qing soldiers chased and killed them all the way, and after killing the Ming army outside the city, they headed towards Guangping Fucheng without looking back. They will continue to plunder food and grass, continue to lure the Ming army to go south, and continue to lengthen the supply line of the Ming army.

  Gao Qiqian stood on the city tower, watched the Qing army go south, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately, fortunately, the Da slaves did not besiege Jize."

   Another day later, Lu Xiangsheng led troops to help, but was angrily reprimanded by Gao Qiqian for being afraid of the enemy and not moving forward.

  The impeachment memorial has been sent to the capital.

   As for the content, the two men jointly attacked the Qing army on the West Road, and fought bravely, while Lu Xiangsheng was afraid of the enemy. As a result, it was impossible to form a joint attack, and a good opportunity to wipe out the enemy was lost, which led to Gao Qiqian's defeat.

   A few days later, Gao Qiqian joined forces with Lu Xiangsheng's generals, and soon there was a mutiny.

  Gao Qiqian issued the second impeachment memorial, accusing Lu Xiangsheng of embezzling the Mexican military rations and only caring about his own pacesetters, which led to the change of generals in the Xuanda frontier army.

   Again, no one wants to fight except Lu Xiangsheng.

  Whether Lu Xiangsheng was killed or taken to prison, they didn't care. I just ask Lu Xiangsheng not to be the commander-in-chief again. If the fight continues like this, all the soldiers and horses will be eaten up by the Qing army.

  To be honest, if selfishness is put aside, it is difficult to distinguish who is right and who is wrong.

  Lu Xiangsheng's strategic decision was definitely correct in the early stage. But now it has been dragged to the later stage, the battle line is too long, and it is impossible to fight any more. If you continue to fight in the field, you will have to be defeated by the Qing army one by one.

  Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army can withstand it, how can other troops withstand this long-distance pursuit?

  As the commander-in-chief of the entire army, in such a situation, you can't mess around.

  But you have to fight, you can't let the Manchus burn, kill and loot, right?

   Whoever takes this seat has to be as entangled as Lu Xiangsheng. It’s not even if you fight, and it’s not if you don’t fight.

  Da Ming, there is no hope.

  (end of this chapter)