() Zhang Xianzhong suffered several major defeats, and the morale of the Dashi Army was greatly damaged. The Dashi Army even developed a phobia towards the Qin Army.
After repeated consideration, Zhang Xianzhong felt that there was no chance of winning if he went south to attack Changsha again. From a strategic point of view, he had lost the opportunity to sweep south of the Yangtze River.
In this situation, it would be more cost-effective to go west to Sichuan and seize Bashu, the land of abundance, as the foundation rather than stay in Huguang and fight with Qin Mu.
So on October 16, Zhang Xianzhong gritted his teeth and gave up the city of Wuchang, and led an army of 150,000 to advance towards Sichuan. This was his second time entering Sichuan, and he was very familiar with the route.
At this time, Li Zicheng was also leading the Dashun Army to advance towards Guanzhong. After Sun Chuanting was defeated outside Tongguan, Guanzhong had become a mere formality, and there was no doubt that it would be occupied by the Dashun Army.
Sichuan was connected to the imperial court through Hanzhong and Guanzhong. Once Guanzhong and Hanzhong fell into the hands of the enemy, Sichuan's strategic connection with the Ming court would be severed. Upon hearing that the Dashi Army was advancing towards Sichuan, many Sichuan officials abandoned the city and fled to Guizhou.
Lu Daqi led several thousand troops with him, plus Ling Zhan's 10,000 troops, and rushed to Wuchang. However, Zuo Liangyu seemed to have calculated the time when Zhang Xianzhong would enter Sichuan, and "recaptured" Wuchang first.
After retaking Wuchang, he immediately sent 60,000 troops to advance towards Yuezhou. Is there any need to say what he was going to do? Half of the 80,000 Zuo troops Wu Xueli brought to Jiangxi died at the hands of the Qin army. Was the hatred between Zuo Liangyu and Qin Mu not shallow
Qin Mu had no choice but to send another 10,000 troops to Yuezhou, so the military strength of Yuezhou increased to 35,000. If the 60,000 Dashi Army prisoners of war were also counted, the military strength exceeded 90,000, all led by Ma Yongzhen.
Suddenly, war clouds gathered over Huguang again. This made Lu Daqi very anxious, and he hurried to Wuchang to persuade Zuo Liangyu.
On the other hand, Qin Mu ordered Meng Ke, the newly appointed general of Jiangxi, to lead 20,000 people from Zhuzhou, and quickly march towards Jiujiang via Pingxiang, Yuanzhou, and Nanchang.
Zuo Liangyu has finally come out in full force this time, and there are not many troops left in Jiujiang City. As long as Meng Ke's actions are not discovered by Zuo Liangyu in advance, there will be no problem in taking Jiujiang.
In the Sansi Hall south of the screen wall of the Huguang Governor's Office, Qin Mu and his staff and subordinates were holding a three-day regular meeting. Since Huang Lianshan had already rushed to Nanjing, he was responsible for implementing several important tasks assigned to him by Qin Mu. The intelligence work in Changsha was presided over by Yan Gaofei, the deputy commander of the Bachelor's House.
Yan Gaofei was only 26 years old, thin and not good-looking, but full of energy. He reported in a clear and melodious voice: "After the Dashun Army won a great victory in Xiangcheng, Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin, Li Guo, Tian Jianxiu, Liu Fangliang and others personally led the main force of the Dashun Army from Luoyang to the west to attack Tongguan, breaking through the pass in one fell swoop. The commander-in-chief Sun Chuanting and the deputy military supervisor Qiao Qiangao died in the battle;
On the other hand, General Yuan Zongdi of the Right Battalion of the Dashun Army and his deputy generals Bai Minghe, Liu Tichun and Lan Yingcheng led 60,000 troops of the Right Battalion as a detachment, starting from Deng County, Henan Province, and advancing to Xi'an via Shangluo, Shaanxi Province. They arrived at Shangzhou on October 12, captured the city on the 15th, executed the Shangluo Bingbei Dao Huang Shiqing who resisted, occupied Luonan County on the 17th, successfully joined forces with Li Zicheng's main force, and captured Xi'an on the 20th.
After taking Xi'an, Li Zicheng did not stop for a moment. He led the rear camp of Li Guo's troops and the left camp of Liu Fangliang's troops to the north to pursue General Gao Jie's troops, preparing to seize northern Shaanxi; General Tian Jianxiu led his troops south to Hanzhong to pursue General Gao Ruli's troops; and sent General Liu Zongmin, General He Jin, Yuan Zongdi and others to pursue General Bai Guangen's troops westward. Wherever the Dashun troops went, they were unstoppable, and officials from all states and counties surrendered at the sight of them.
Ning Yuan, Liu Meng and Su Jin, who were in the conference room, couldn't help but look at Qin Mu when they heard this, because when Qin Mu was on his way to southern Jiangxi to take up his post, he had predicted that Sun Chuanting would die in the battle of Tongguan and that the Dashun Army would take control of Shaanxi.
Now the facts are exactly the same as Qin Mu predicted. If it were just this incident, it could be said to be a coincidence, but he had predicted things about Zhang Xianzhong before, and they were all confirmed one by one.
Ning Yuan, Liu Meng and Su Jin were shocked, frightened, respectful and submissive to Qin Mu's miraculous predictive ability. Qin Mu's eyes seemed to be able to see through everything. In front of him, Ning Yuan and others felt that they had nowhere to hide and dared not even have any selfish thoughts.
Qin Mu knew what they were thinking, but pretended not to know. He said to the people in the hall calmly: "Li Zicheng's entry into Guanzhong is a foregone conclusion. If my prediction is correct, once he has pacified Guanzhong, in order to prevent the court from catching its breath, Li Zicheng will definitely quickly take the capital in the east. Henan is devastated and the land is barren for thousands of miles. It is difficult to provide supplies for his million-strong army. It is unlikely that Li Zicheng will return to Henan. Next, he should plunder the three borders to provide supplies for his troops, and then take the shortcut of Juyongguan to take the capital directly."
When Qin Mu said this, Zhuge Min, Li Yuan, He Liang, Yang Shen, Liu Boquan, Shao Hua, Yan Gaofei and others all changed their expressions. After Qin Mu's analysis, the capital seemed to be in danger, but everyone had to admit that Qin Mu's inference was reasonable.
At this moment, Zhuge Min and the others suddenly had mixed feelings in their hearts. They didn't know whether they were lamenting that the death knell of the Ming Dynasty was about to ring, or lamenting that the time left for them suddenly became so short.
Qin Mu said in a deep voice: "Don't think about those useless things. We can't save the capital. If we don't deal with it quickly, we won't be able to protect Huguang in the future. I tell you all this to remind you that Li Zicheng entered Guanzhong and went north to plunder the three borders. The troops left in Henan are very limited. Let's think of a way to see if we can lure Zuo Liangyu to seize Xiangyang. As long as he stays in Wuchang, we will never be able to live in peace."
Zhuge Min said, "This time Zuo Liangyu led 60,000 troops south to attack Yuezhou. If our army can defeat these 60,000 troops and then use the power of the victory to attack Wuchang, it will not be difficult to drive Zuo Liangyu away from Wuchang. However, the one who led the 60,000 troops south to Yuezhou this time was Zuo Liangyu's general Jin Shenghuan. Jin Shenghuan is from Liaodong and is quite good at fighting. If we want to defeat him, I'm afraid that General Ma's 35,000 troops alone will not be enough. My lord, I suggest mobilizing a large army to the north and strive to defeat him in one battle. After forcing Zuo Liangyu away from Wuchang, Huguang can be temporarily safe."
Yang Shen shook his head and said, "General Meng Ke is leading 20,000 troops to Jiujiang at the moment, and local troops must also be left behind to garrison. The troops that can be mobilized to the north are extremely limited. If we mobilize troops from Ganzhou, it will be too much trouble. Therefore, instead of mobilizing a large army, it is better to follow the current plan and let General Ma Yongzhen defend the city, consume Jin Shenghuan's troops, and wait until he fails to capture the city after a long time and loses his fighting spirit, and then defeat him in one fell swoop."
He Liang thought for a moment and said, "Most of the soldiers under Zuo Liangyu were originally civilians from Xiangyang. They were forced to serve as soldiers by Zuo Liangyu and have been away from Xiangyang for a year. They have been retreating with Zuo Liangyu for the past year and have not found peace. In addition, Wu Xueli lost all 80,000 soldiers, so there must be many people in Zuo's army who want to return home. I believe everyone is familiar with the story of being surrounded on all sides. This plan is cost-effective and I think we might as well follow suit. Perhaps it will work wonders."
"Okay!" Qin Mu immediately decided: "Let's give him a four-sided attack, Yan Gaofei!"
"I am here."
"Send a message to Ma Yongzhen immediately and have him carry out the plan."
"Yes, sir."
Qin Mu then shouted, "Su Jin."
"I will be here in the end."
"You will lead 10,000 cavalrymen to set out immediately and cooperate with Ma Yongzhen on the periphery. This will be considered as a real combat exercise for your cavalry. Remember, you should focus on harassment and not be rash. Forget it. I will not be responsible for it. You can decide based on the situation of the battle."
Qin Mu was feeling very conflicted. These 10,000 cavalrymen had just been raised not long ago and were not yet suitable for actual combat. Now he had to be sent out. Naturally, Qin Mu was worried that the losses would be too great.
But at the same time, Qin Mu also knew that always treating them like treasures and protecting them was not necessarily a good thing. An army that had never seen blood could never become a truly combat-ready army. Furthermore, if Su Jin was restricted too much, he would lose the freedom to be flexible on the battlefield, which would not only make it easy for him to miss opportunities but could even lead to a disastrous defeat.
Su Jin naturally knew Qin Mu's conflicting thoughts. Qin Mu wanted to train his troops through actual combat, but he also didn't want the cavalry to suffer too much loss. He had to grasp this balance well. "Don't worry, sir. I know the importance of this matter and will not let you down."
"Well, go ahead." Qin Mu was like a father sending his child on a long journey. He hoped that his child could create a world for himself, but he was also worried that he could not withstand the wind and rain outside on his own.
ps: Well, birthday is coming again, Hao Yuan is one year older, time is running out, but nothing is accomplished. Please click "Send Blessings" and select the last gift box to send Hao Yuan a free blessing. It's good for all book friends to have the intention, no need to spend money, just let Hao Yuan have some fun.
My youth, where has it gone
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