Chen Shi, the rebel general who occupied Shahe, was a pirate. In the third year of Tianqi, he was recruited under Mao Wenlong's tent on Pi Island. He followed Mao Wenlong to recover the two prefectures of Jingai. Later, Mao Wenlong was unjustly executed by Yuan Chonghuan, the governor of Jiliao. People in Dongjiang were panicked, and Mao's old troops were all
Looking for a way out. In order to protect himself, Chen sometimes joined the brothers Liu Xingzuo and Liu Xingzhi who were converted from the Jurchens. During this period, he met Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, who were known as the "Three Mining Disciples of Shandong".
The reason why Chen Shiyou joined the Liu brothers was that they had the largest number of troops in the Dongjiang tribe, and their tribe also had Jurchen soldiers, making them the most powerful of all the armies. Under his brother's command, there was no need to worry about being plotted against.
Unexpectedly, in the second year of Chongzhen, the court suddenly transferred Liu Xingzuo. After his brother left, Liu Xingzhi, who felt that he was alone, launched a mutiny and killed Chen Jisheng, another general under Mao Wenlong, in an attempt to dominate the Dongjiang River. However, no one expected that the court learned of Chen Jisheng's death.
Later, instead of appointing Liu Xingzhi as the commander-in-chief of the Dongjiang Army, he sent Staff General Huang Long to serve as the commander-in-chief.
Knowing that the imperial court did not believe the Liu brothers, Mao Wenlong's old subordinates Zhang Tao and Shen Shikui launched a mutiny and killed Liu Xingzhi and the Jurchen soldiers he led. As a result, Liu Xingzhi's generals were squeezed out by other Dongjiang soldiers and had no way to continue to fight in Pi.
Island foothold.
In desperation, Chen sometimes followed Kong Youde and others to a foreign country and took refuge in the tent of Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai. Sun Yuanhua, who was eager to organize a new fire-style army when he heard that the generals from Dongjiang had returned, was overjoyed and immediately appointed Kong Youde as the infantry left battalion staff officer.
General Geng Zhongming was sent to Dengzhou Fortress, while Chen Youde served as the commander-in-chief of Kong Youde's infantry left camp.[
The two years in Denglai can not but be said to be the happiest time in Chen Ou's life. Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, attached great importance to their group of Liao generals who came from Dongjiang. He gave them ample military pay and sufficient supplies.
Chen, who has been wandering at sea all his life, sometimes thought that he would spend his whole life in Denglai, and even took a wife. But who knew that the heavy snowfall in Wuqiao would change his fate.
The soldiers who injured the Wang family's servant were Chen You's subordinates, and it was also his subordinates who beat the Wang family's servant to death in the anger of the crowd.
In the end, at the instigation of Li Jiucheng, who had lost all his horse-buying money and was worried that he would not be able to explain when he went back, Chen Youde, who was afraid of being implicated by his subordinates, followed Kong Youde and raised a rebel flag in Wuqiao. After that, his true nature as a pirate was immediately revealed, and even his wife at home was
Regardless, he led his troops to attack the government and plunder the county, and became Kong Youde's right-hand man.
After Kong Youde went east to pretend to surrender to Dengzhou, Chen Youde took the responsibility and became the general of the end of the line. He took the 300 elite Liao soldiers given to him by Kong Youde and 5,000 mobs to occupy the Shahe River, which was the only way to Denglai in the east.
Shahe River stretches from the eastern end of the Taihang Mountains and is the place that must be passed on the way to Denglai. If you don't pass here, you will have to take a detour of more than a hundred miles and pass through Shandong.
Shahe is named because there is a flowing sand river in the territory. However, the terrain of Shahe is flat. Although it is the eastern head of Taihang Mountain, it is not steep and can almost be defended. However, the Shahe, which is dangerous and defensible, blocks the rising and diving Beijing.
Ying and the Ming army in Northern Zhili.
Really, a small river of sand, a huge army of thieves.
The cowardice of the Ming army made Chen Shiyou even more arrogant. For two days in a row, with only 500 old and weak men left to guard the camp, he led troops and horses to plunder everywhere, and once even passed through the city of Shang County in a majestic manner.
The men brought dozens of eagle cannons (large pole cannons) and fired at the top of the city. The soldiers on the city were so frightened that they huddled under the crenellations like turtles, without even having the courage to look up.
It is the consensus between Chen Shi and all Shahe rebels that officers and soldiers are more capable. Under this consensus, the rebels do not believe that Shahe will be lost in their hands one day.
Unfortunately, there are no absolutes in things in the world. Just as Chen You was not the most elite soldier of the rebels, similarly, the Jingying camp in Shang County was not the most capable army of the Ming Dynasty. Xiao Xu was still sixteen miles away from Shahe.
Zhuang, the Jinzhou Army, which had caused heavy casualties to the Donglu Eight Banners Army, was heading towards Shahe under the leadership of General Shi Dayong.
Raid, raid, raid!
In view of the fact that there are too many rebels in Shahe, it is impossible to fight a frontal annihilation battle with our own limited strength. We can only resort to a rout battle. Otherwise, we may lose the advantage of mobility. Therefore, Shi Dayong decided to attack Shahe with only cavalry and use the cavalry to attack Shahe.
With the advantage of surprise attack, try to avoid a stalemate with the rebels and achieve a quick victory!
As long as Shahe is captured, the goal will be achieved. As for how many rebels are killed, that is secondary. Of course, it is sometimes best if the rebel general Chen can be captured, but if not, there is nothing to regret.
After all, the military order from the governor of Shandong is hanging over Shi Dayong's head like a sharp sword. He must rush to Dengzhou as soon as possible, otherwise military law is waiting for him and the Jinzhou Army!
The forces participating in the attack were Cao Bianjiao's wolf cavalry and two hundred "horse infantry" led by Jiang Wanli.
All the army horses brought back from Qiushui Town were used, and Jiang Wanli selected two hundred Hui Cavalry soldiers to accompany the Wolf Cavalry.
This time, it was not a suicidal tactic of tying people to horses. After the Battle of Jinzhou, Shi Dayong had consciously begun to carry out riding training for the Changping infantry. On the way south, riding training was also carried out on a small scale.[
Although these two hundred Changping soldiers could not control the horse as freely as the wolf cavalry, they could barely sit on the horse without falling. However, it was impossible for them to charge into the battle like the wolf cavalry. Shi Dayong brought them with him for the main purpose.
, which was to take advantage of the surprise attack so that the rebels could not figure out how many cavalry were coming.
Since it was a surprise attack, it was natural to go into battle lightly, leaving all heavy armor behind, not even dry food.
Shi Dayong told the soldiers participating in the raid that they would stay in Shahe tonight, sleep in the rebels' houses, and eat their food and wine.
The general's confidence naturally infected the soldiers. The four hundred sergeants who participated in the raid were all excited and emotional. They seemed to have slept in the rebels' house, chewed their meat, and drank their wine.
Another three hundred Changping soldiers who did not participate in the raid continued to advance on foot towards Shahe under the leadership of Shao Wu and Li Dashan.
The heavy armor of the Wolf Cavalry and the weapons, equipment, and food collected from the Beijing camp were piled in twenty-five carts, and they drove slowly towards the east.
On the way east, there were all the blood marks of horses' hooves, as well as the tracks of wheels, all the way to the end.
Thirty-nine horse thieves including Peng Dachui were also asked to attack Shahe together. Peng Dachui's attitude towards this non-negotiable order was firm - he was willing to go with the general. Shi Dayong's order to them was to capture and kill the rebel scouts.
to prevent exposure to attacks.
In order to conserve power, we took two breaks along the way, each time for half a stick of incense. In this way, we could arrive at Shahe in the evening and then rush into Shahe at night.
Along the way, I don’t know whether the rebels were too careless or because of the heavy snow, but I didn’t see any rebel scouts or civilians. Instead, I saw a village with empty houses. From the village
It can be determined from the extent of destruction that the rebels must have come here. However, no corpses were seen, and there was no blood in the house. It seems that there was no massacre. The villagers may have known that the rebels were coming to Shahe and fled with their families.
Because there were no rebel scouts or people along the way, the progress was so smooth that it actually arrived an hour earlier than expected. The Jinzhou Army arrived at Shahe at Shenshi (3 to 5 p.m. in later generations)
).
The Taihang Mountains in the distance are covered with white snow, like a snow-capped mountain. The Liusha River flows out of the mountains, turns a corner here, and flows eastward. It is not known which river it will merge into later, or whether it will flow straight to the sea.
Shahe Town is just two miles ahead and is the only important transportation point for this thing.
The sand in the flowing river has long since frozen, and there is a layer of snow on the ice, so you can't hear the sound of running water.
On the other side of the river, you can vaguely see villages and towns. There are people moving in the towns. They are far away and it is difficult to tell whether they are rebels or ordinary people.
I don’t know how frozen the Liusha River is, so Shi Dayong didn’t dare to cross the river rashly, because the Liusha River is a big river, and the water in the middle of the river is deep enough to swallow people and horses. If the ice is not thick and he steps on the ice rashly, he will probably die.
They were all buried in the belly of the fish.
You can't cross the ice, you have to find a bridge.
However, after searching the entire field of view, no bridge was found on the river. The sharp-eyed sergeant discovered that there seemed to be traces of a broken bridge on the river bank diagonally above the left hand side.
Could it be that the rebels deliberately destroyed this bridge, the only one in the area?
Without a bridge, how can we cross the river and how can we fight this battle?
Shi Dayong frowned. They were already near the Shahe River. No matter how careless the rebels were and did not send out reconnaissance cavalry, they would not be able to set up military posts near their lair. If they were to find a bridge along the river now, there would be so many people and they would be far apart.
Being so close, it is impossible not to be discovered by the rebels. In that case, the raid will be meaningless. Either attack by force or retreat, no other plan.[
If there is a force attack, the rebels who are prepared are not fools. They will definitely hide in the town like the bunch of losers from the Beijing Camp in Qiushui Town.
At that time, the rebels will be like hedgehogs. Should they fight or not? If they fight, they will only increase their own casualties and gain nothing. If they don't fight, they will be surrounded here in the ice and snow?
If we just retreat, wouldn't that be playing into Gao Qiqian's plan?
I just told my subordinates that I want to prove to the Beijing camp, to the eunuch Gao, and to the emperor that our Jinzhou Army is the strongest army in the world, and no enemy can stop our progress!
In the blink of an eye, he broke his promise and retreated without fighting. How did the soldiers see themselves? What kind of impact would it have on the morale of the military?
what to do?
Shi Dayong was in a dilemma, not knowing how to deal with this chess game.
Cao Bianjiao and Jiang Wanli also looked at each other. This situation was unexpected for them.
Peng Dachui and the other horse thieves did not react at all. They sat on their horses and watched the Liao soldiers worried.
Seeing that someone in the town seemed to be heading towards the river, Jiang Wanli hurriedly reminded Shi Dayong: "General, someone is coming out of the town. Whether to advance or retreat, please make a decision early. This place is too close to the rebels, and we cannot stay for a long time."
Hearing this, Shi Dayong raised his head and glanced at the other side of the river, and found that someone was indeed coming to the river. If someone discovered that the government troops were coming to the other side, the rebels in the town would definitely be alerted, and they would be left in despair.
There is no other way to evacuate.
He couldn't help but think too much, so he decided to give the order to evacuate first. Unexpectedly, before he could give the order, he suddenly heard someone from far behind laughing and scolding: "Damn it, you idiot Wu, you are really unlucky. I left empty-handed."
Go back, but you made a lot of money, what a damn stupid person has a stupid blessing! If I had known, I would personally take people there."