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When Qin Mu arrived in Kaifeng, cavalry generals such as Su Jin, Hu Shouliang, Guo Yunlong, Niu Wanchuan, Li Jiu, and Shi Qing had already led their troops to break away from the infantry and advance rapidly towards the north like black clouds.
Among them, Li Jiu and Shi Qing led 10,000 elite cavalry, crossed the Yellow River, climbed Taihang Mountain, went to Changping, and went down to Luzhou. Their troops were already pointing to Taiyuan Prefecture where He Luohui had retreated.
In northern Zhili, after Su Jin and Hu Shouliang's 20,000-strong army crossed the river, they successively captured Weihui Prefecture, Anyang City, Cheng'an County, Guangping Prefecture, Shunde Prefecture, Julu County, Ren County, Neiqiu County, Lincheng County, and Gaoyi County; along the way, Su Jin and his men were invincible and actually encountered very little resistance. In some counties and prefectures, even before the Qin army arrived, the people had already revolted, seized the city defenses, and raised the large Qin flag to welcome Su Jin and his men.
Su Jin and Hu Shouliang advanced extremely quickly to Yuanshi County, which was only a hundred miles away from Zhending, the strategic point where Lekedehun retreated.
Guo Yunlong and Niu Wanchuan in the east were even faster. After capturing Daming Prefecture in one fell swoop, they marched through Guantao, Linqing, Wucheng, Gucheng, Dezhou, Wuqiao, and headed for Cangzhou.
The people in Cangzhou area were tough and brave, and they had long been unwilling to be bondservants of the Qing Dynasty. The civil unrest around Yanjing quickly spread to Cangzhou. After Tianjin, Cangzhou was the second prefecture and county to be captured by the militia.
The arrival of Guo Yunlong and Niu Wanchuan with more than 10,000 Qin cavalrymen was warmly welcomed by the people of Cangzhou. People cut off their braids, put on Hanfu, and brought pots and bottles of wine to welcome them on the roadside. Some cried, some laughed, and the emotions were very excited.
In fact, if we count carefully, the Qing Dynasty still had tens of thousands of troops. He Luohui's 15,000 troops were basically withdrawn to Shanxi. Ajige originally had 20,000 troops besieging Jiang Ge in Taihang Mountain, and later transferred 5,000 troops out of the pass to fight with Aobai at Dalingh River. Ajige still had 15,000 troops left.
Together with the original 5,000 in the capital, Lekedehun gathered the remaining soldiers and found about 5,000.
In total, the Qing Dynasty originally had 40,000 troops in the interior of the country, but don't worry. Among these 40,000 troops, the Eight Banners of the Manchu Army only accounted for about 16,000, and the rest were the Eight Banners of the Han Army and the Eight Banners of the Mongolian Army.
As the Qin army pressed forward step by step, the Qing Dynasty suffered defeat after defeat. Its fall was only a matter of time. The Eight Banners of the Han Army and the Eight Banners of the Mongolian Army were unwilling to fight for the Qing Dynasty anymore, and 70% of them fled.
Even the Eight Banners soldiers of the Manchu army were in a panic and their morale was low. Everyone just wanted to escape back to the outside of the Great Wall.
Under such circumstances, it is not difficult to understand why Su Jin and his men were able to be so unstoppable and unstoppable.
In the Cangzhou government office, Guo Yunlong and Niu Wanchuan had a disagreement on the next route of advance.
Guo Yunlong said: "Hejian Prefecture is very empty now. We should go west and quickly capture Hejian Prefecture, then divide our forces to attack Baoding Prefecture and cut off the return route of Lekedehun's 10,000 troops in Zhending. This will surely scare the Qing army in Zhending and may even collapse without a fight. If we lose the 10,000 troops in Zhending, the Qing Dynasty will most likely collapse and Yanjing will also collapse without a fight."
Guo Yunlong's analysis is very reasonable, and it would be a good strategy to act accordingly.
But Niu Wanchuan was not satisfied with this. He said: "Why go to Hejian Prefecture? Is Hejian Prefecture as big as Yanjing? If we want to do something, we should do something big and attack Yanjing!"
Speaking of Yanjing, Guo Yunlong was also very tempted. However, from a purely military perspective, attacking Hejian Prefecture was relatively easy, and the effect it would have was no less than attacking Yanjing;
He said, "General Niu, you have probably been to Yanjing, right? That is the capital of the Ming Dynasty, the walls are high and thick, and we came here lightly, so it is almost impossible for us to take it down.
Instead of doing this, it would be more practical to take Hejian Prefecture first and then attack Baoding Prefecture. These cities have sparse garrisons and no Manchu generals stationed there, so it will be much easier to attack them. "
When Guo Yunlong said that Niu Wanchuan had never been to Yanjing, his tone was slightly contemptuous. Niu Wanchuan felt that he was being treated as a bumpkin, and could not help but sneer and ridicule: "That's right, I have little experience. Unlike General Guo, I led the Jiannu and fought my way through the pass from Liaodong. I have been to Yanjing, Taiyuan, Chang'an, Luoyang, Xiangyang, and everywhere else..."
"Niu Wanchuan!" Guo Yunlong jumped up instantly as if someone had stepped on his tail. His face turned purple. He drew his sword and pointed it at Niu Wanchuan, shouting, "If you have the guts, stop talking. Let's see who's the winner today..."
"Yoho! Do you think I'm afraid of you?"
No one expected that the chief and deputy commanders would suddenly become hostile and murderous because of a single sentence.
In fact, there have always been factions among the Qin army generals. The soldiers of the original Dashi Army, Dashun Army, and Guanning Army can be disbanded and reorganized, but no matter how the generals are reorganized, it is impossible to eliminate this faction.
Among the original group of people who started Qin Mu's career, led by Meng Ke and Ma Yongzhen, they each had their own faction;
Finally, there are Liu Meng, Su Jin, Xiang Liancheng, Li Chen, Han Gang and other direct descendants brought up by Qin Mu.
The various factions in the army usually competed with each other openly or covertly. As long as they didn't make too much trouble and affect the war, Qin Mu would turn a blind eye.
Because it is unrealistic to turn all the hundreds of thousands of troops into so-called direct descendants.
Some differences are actually conducive to checks and balances. If guided well, they can also form healthy competition.
But Qin Mu certainly could not tolerate the situation where Niu Wanchuan and Guo Yunlong drew their swords against each other.
When the battle reached a critical moment, the chief and deputy commanders suddenly turned against each other and wanted to fight to the death. The deputy commander Yu Hong was horrified and jumped between Niu Wanchuan and Guo Yunlong, shouting: "General Niu, General Guo, what are you doing? You are all generals commanding thousands of troops, but you are like street thugs, drawing your swords against each other at the slightest disagreement. How can this be disgraceful!"
In the Qin army, the deputy general was similar to the political commissar. Although he had no right to intervene in the command and could not interfere with the battle plan decided by the commander, in fact, the deputy general had great power.
He was not only responsible for rewarding and punishing soldiers, but also for political supervision of the chief and deputy commanders. In a situation like this, as long as he made an urgent report, Niu and Guo would end up in a miserable situation.
Yu Hong shouted loudly, angrily pushed away the swords of Niu and Guo with his hands, pointed at their noses and shouted: "You are capable, right? Good! Let's see who has the faster sword and cuts me first. I want to see who is so brave! Do you still have the King of Qin in your eyes? Do you want to rebel?"
The word "rebellion" uttered by Yu Hong scared Niu and Guo.
The King of Qin was strict in disciplining his army. Once Yu Hong reported the matter to the emperor, even if it was not enough to constitute treason, the two would most likely be sent back home to farm.
Thinking of the possible serious consequences, Niu and Guo'er's expressions changed suddenly. They quickly put away their knives, forced a smile together, and pleaded with Yu Hongxiang with a serious face: "Yu Chenshi, Yu Sir, we are just joking, please don't take it seriously!"
"Yes, yes, we were just joking. Please don't take it seriously, Mr. Yu. We were wrong. We shouldn't have made such a joke and scared you..."
It was amazing that Niu and Guo, two rough guys, could force a smile so quickly and temporarily put aside their grudges to form an alliance, talking to Yu Hong one after another.
"I've been unlucky for eight lifetimes following you two! The Qing Dynasty is about to collapse, and there are so many military achievements waiting for us to take, but you two are fighting among yourselves at this time. What a talent!" Yu Hong didn't buy it, and still scolded angrily, "Look at you! Do you think you are the only ones who can fight? Without you, can the Great Qin not unify the world? My Great Qin has hundreds of thousands of strong armies and generals, who is like you two? You are the first to do this, fighting among yourselves, it's shameful! I have lost my face because of you!"
"I'm here!"
"Master Yu!"
"Listen to us, I, the old cow, kowtow to you, okay?"
"I kowtow too, Lord Yu. You are a magnanimous person. Let's just pretend that this never happened, okay? General Niu and I..."
"I, Lao Niu, apologize to General Guo. I was wrong."
"No, no, no, I was wrong. I apologize to General Niu."
"Let's kowtow to Yu Chenshi together..."
Guo Yunlong and Niu Wanchuan were fighting with each other and almost knelt down and kowtowed to Yu Hong. This incident made everyone suddenly realize that the assistant officers who had little say during the war, actually had amazing restraining power when the commander made some principled mistakes.
"Don't try this on me, you two!" Yu Hong's expression eased a little, and he sighed, "This is the first offense, so let's forget it for now. As a military officer, I can't afford to lose this person, but if there is a next time, the truth will come to light, so you can only wish you the best."
"Thank you, Master Yu!"
"Thank you, Lao Yu. After the battle, I, Lao Niu, will treat you to a drink..."
"You are the chief and deputy commanders. Tell me, where should we attack next?"
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.(To be continued..)
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