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It was impossible for Zhang Xianzhong's 160,000 troops to travel 400 miles in two days like Qin Mu did. Moreover, he took the Pingxiang route back to Changsha, which was more than half the distance. Under normal circumstances, an army of more than 100,000 would take at least 11 or 12 days to travel.
After finally arriving in Pingxiang, we encountered continuous autumn rain, and it was cloudy all day. In this kind of weather, if you don't get caught in the rain, you'll just feel a little cool, but once you get wet, you'll shiver with cold.
In addition, the road was muddy and extremely difficult to travel on. Although Zhang Xianzhong was eager to return home, he could not march under such circumstances. He had to stay in Pingxiang temporarily and wait for the weather to clear. At this time, waiting was undoubtedly the most painful thing for him.
His food and supplies were not abundant. If he delayed for one more day, his morale would drop, and his chances of winning would decrease. But for Qin Mu, who was recruiting soldiers and building a defense line, one more day would allow him to make more preparations and increase his chances of winning.
With Wu Xueli following behind him, Zhang Xianzhong was already under attack from both sides. He was so anxious that he could not sleep at night and his hair was almost turning white.
Just at this time, news came that Chenzhou was captured by Ganzhou troops. Huguang, which was finally conquered, became riddled with holes in an instant. Zhang Xianzhong was so angry that he went crazy. He killed several of his personal soldiers in front of the tent and even scolded Xu Yixian several times.
Let's not talk about how Zhang Xianzhong in Pingxiang was going crazy, but Sun Kewang in Yuezhou was also in a state of panic. He was Zhang Xianzhong's most trusted general. After being adopted as his adopted son, he changed his surname to Zhang. Now he should be called Zhang Kewang. He led an army of 100,000 to guard Yueyang, mainly to prevent Zuo Liangyu, who was lingering in Dazhi, from going south, and to form a horn with Ai Nengqi who stayed in Wuchang to prevent Zuo Liangyu from attacking Wuchang.
When Zhang Xianzhong went south, he left less than 20,000 people to Ai Nengqi. At that time, Li Zicheng was in Xiangyang, and Zuo Liangyu was afraid of Li Zicheng. He did not dare to attack Wuchang. Now most of Li Zicheng's troops have gone north, and Zuo Liangyu's fear has gone. Zhang Kewang dare not guarantee that Zuo Liangyu will not attack Wuchang.
Therefore, after learning that Qin Mu had captured Changsha and recruited troops, Sun Kewang did not dare to go south with all his strength, but he had to recapture Changsha. Qin Mu's move was like a robbery in Go. With one move, Zhang Xianzhong's 200,000 troops became a turtle in a jar. Trapped in Pingxiang, if Zhang Xianzhong was not rescued, he would become a dead dragon.
Sun Kewang was in a dilemma and had to leave 50,000 troops in Yueyang to guard against Zuo Liangyu in the north, and he himself led 50,000 troops to rush south. However, when he was still hundreds of miles away from Xiangyin, he encountered continuous autumn rain.
Sun Kewang cursed the heavens while forcing the army to continue marching south. However, the marching speed was slow, as the road was full of mud and the soldiers slipped with every step. After a day of hard work, they only managed to march 20 miles. The logistics and food supplies were even more difficult to keep up, and the 50,000 soldiers complained. Many of them even deserted at night.
Well, let's spread our wings like a roc, traveling 90,000 miles a day, and then press on Zhang Kewang who is struggling to move forward. Let's first look to the north of the Yangtze River.
During the Huguang War, a massive battle was also going on in western Henan, which was crucial to the change of the world. I believe everyone has guessed the two players who appeared on the stage. One is Li Zicheng and the other is Sun Chuanting.
It was obvious at first glance that the two players were not on the same level;
Li Zicheng is a big, strong man with throbbing biceps. He looks arrogant and looks like no one else can do it.
Sun Chuanting was just the opposite. He lacked calcium since he was a child and lacked love when he grew up. He was malnourished, pale and thin, and had to use his hands and feet to climb onto the stage.
To be honest, classmate Sun Chuanting didn't want to fight in this ring, but classmate Chongzhen took a stick and kept poking him in the anus from behind, and forced him onto the ring.
In August, under the repeated urging of Chongzhen, Sun Chuanting swore an oath at the Guandi Temple in Xi'an, and led 100,000 troops including generals Bai Guangen, Gao Jie, Niu Chenghu and others to march east out of Tongguan, and at the same time issued an order to mobilize troops from all directions to attack Li Zicheng.
Li Ziben originally wanted to return to Shaanxi, but when he heard the news that Sun Chuanting was leading his troops out of the pass, he was overjoyed and personally led his army north to meet the enemy.
At this time, Henan had been devastated by years of war, with thousands of miles of barren land and a lack of food and fodder. Li Zicheng adopted a strategy of luring the enemy deep into his territory, deploying his main forces in the area south of Jiaxian County, leaving the logistical issues to Sun Chuanting who had to travel a long distance.
Because the Dashun Army gave up the vast area from Tongguan to Jiaxian County, the Shaanxi government troops were unstoppable along the way, occupying Luoyang in early August and attacking Ruzhou on September 8. Li Yangchun, the commander of the Dashun Army and one of the Four Heavenly Kings, surrendered.
After surrendering, Li Yangchun leaked secrets to the government troops, causing great losses to the Dashun Army. He reported that the Dashun Army's old camp was in Tang County, the elite troops were in Xiangcheng, and the local civil and military officials were stationed in Baofeng.
Based on this intelligence, Sun Chuanting took targeted actions. He first captured Baofeng and beheaded the pseudo-provincial governor Chen Kexin and others. Then he led his troops to Tang County and killed all the families of the Dashun Army who were settled there.
On September 14, the government troops and the main forces of the Dashun Army fought fiercely in Jia County. The Dashun Army was defeated and fled, and the government troops pursued them relentlessly. General Guoyi Xie Junyou was captured and killed, and Li Zicheng himself was almost captured. Later, the Dashun Army fled to Xiangcheng, and the government troops followed.
Facing the crisis, some soldiers of the militia wanted to surrender. Li Zicheng said to his men: "Don't worry, I killed the princes and burned the imperial tombs, which are unforgivable. Why don't you fight me to the death again? If you can't win, it's not too late for you to kill me and surrender."
At this time, God helped Li Zicheng. A cold front swept across the vast mountains and rivers of the Ming Dynasty from north to south, and it rained heavily in Xiangcheng for seven days. The government troops living in the open-air houses outside the city suffered terribly. Due to the muddy roads, the government troops' food carts were difficult to move, and the government troops had logistics problems.
The government troops hoped to capture Jia County to obtain supplies, but Jia County had already been depleted. After capturing the city, they only got some mules and horses, which were quickly eaten up by the soldiers.
At this time, Li Zicheng sent General Liu Zongmin to lead 10,000 cavalrymen to sneak into the rear of the government army through a small road and cut off the government army's food supply. In order to paralyze the government army, Li Zicheng wrote a declaration of war on a big sign, agreeing on a date for a decisive battle with the government army, thereby distracting the government army.
The government troops were caught in the rain and had no food to eat, and their morale began to grow. Sun Chuanting had no choice but to decide to return to get food. He ordered Chen Yongfu, the general of Henan, to stay in the barracks, while he led his own government troops from Shaanxi to return in different routes to open up the food supply route.
When Chen Yongfu's soldiers saw that the Shaanxi government troops had left, while they were left behind to starve and serve as scapegoats, they were very angry and followed the Shaanxi government troops in retreat (the front army moved, while the rear army was in chaos). Chen Yongfu was unable to control the situation (Yongfu could not stop them by beheading them). The government army was in chaos, and Li Zicheng took the opportunity to launch an attack, and the government army collapsed across the board.
The government troops only recovered after fleeing to Nanyang and turned around to fight the Dashun Army, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.
The Dashun Army had five layers of battle formations: the first layer was the hungry people, the second layer was the infantry, the third layer was the cavalry, the fourth layer was the elite cavalry, and the fifth layer was the family members.
The government troops broke through the first three battle formations of the militia, and were unable to defeat the elite cavalry in the fourth battle formation. During the fierce battle, Bai Guangen's train battalion could not hold out and was the first to be defeated.
The defeat of the Train Battalion triggered a chain reaction, and the cavalry could not resist and fled. The situation on the battlefield changed drastically in an instant, from the two sides fighting each other to one side chasing the other.
The Dashun Army came out in full force and pursued the enemy relentlessly for more than 400 miles in one day and one night, killing more than 40,000 government troops and losing hundreds of thousands of weapons and supplies.
In this battle, the Ming Dynasty lost all its only possessions and became a lamb to be slaughtered. The strategic problems of the Dashun Army were also solved, and it was only a matter of time before they took advantage of the situation to seize Guanzhong.
In general, Sun Chuanting performed well in this battle and lived up to his reputation as a famous general. Although he looked pale and thin when he entered the battle, he almost crippled the big and strong Li Zicheng by various means.
Perhaps the Ming Dynasty really had run out of luck. Even Henan, which was suffering from drought, happened to have seven consecutive days of heavy rain at the most critical moment of the battle, which caused problems with Sun Chuanting's logistical supply, allowing Li Zicheng to make a comeback and win.
Looking back, although both were rebels, Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng had different lucks. The rainy weather that swept across the country from north to south did Zhang Xianzhong a disservice, trapping him in the quagmire and making him unable to extricate himself.
If Huguang also experienced seven days of continuous heavy rain, Qin Mu would not have to fight, as Zhang Xianzhong's 160,000-strong army would probably have collapsed due to lack of food and fodder.
Finally, let's look to the north. The sky over the capital was covered with gloomy haze, there was bitter wind and rain in the Forbidden City, and the whole city was filled with a gloomy atmosphere. Li Zicheng defeated Sun Chuanting, and Zhang Xianzhong swept across Huguang, like two gusts of cold wind, making the old man of the Ming Dynasty tremble with fear.
The beautiful and enchanting Concubine Tian was grinding ink in the imperial study. The room was dimly lit with a flickering candle. The prematurely aged Chongzhen, wearing a patched dragon robe, had no interest in Concubine Tian's beauty. He held the pen tremblingly and was brewing the fifth self-criticism edict of his life. However, he had just issued a self-criticism edict in June, and he didn't know what to say if he issued another one now.
After much deliberation, Chongzhen decided not to issue the edict of apology for the time being, because there was only one voice left in his heart shouting angrily: I am not the king who has lost my country, it is you, the ministers who have lost my country!
We will not dwell on the dismal scene of the capital city any longer. Let us spread our wings and fly to the northeast to see what the new Qing Dynasty was like.
At 11:00 p.m. on September 21, the fat Emperor Huang Taiji died suddenly in the harem of Shengjing at the age of 52. His life was summarized by his servants in 17 words: Emperor Yingtian, Xingguo, Hongde, Zhangwu, Kuanwen, Rensheng, Rui, Xiaowen.
Amid the mourning music, a political storm was brewing rapidly in Shengjing City. Dayuer, Dorgon, Haoge, Duoduo and others were competing fiercely for the chair left by Huang Taiji.
In the palace, the plump and charming Dayu'er used her slender fingers to untie her belt bit by bit, revealing her charming breasts. She was just thirty years old this year, not too old, and with proper maintenance, her breasts were still very attractive.
With such capital, how could she not make use of it? Of course, as a woman, this was all she had left.
So, she decided to become famous by taking off her clothes.
Let those who are eyeing the throne lose themselves in her alluring body, weaken in her gentle moans, and no longer have the heart to fight for that chair.
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.(To be continued..)
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