Chapter five hundred and ninth famous generals wither
On June 28, the eighth year of Chongzhen, Salo Village.
Today, Cao Wenzhao has been fighting bloody battles for most of the day. He has fought six times with the peasant rebels. Each time, he has taken the lead. Surrounded by the superior peasant rebels, he organized effective resistance from the Ming army and fought continuously.
He retreated and preserved most of the Ming army in an organized manner, which showed his personal bravery and superb command art.
However, such a battle also comes at a cost. Cao Wenzhao has already suffered several injuries. Although he was not seriously injured because of the armor and stomach, if he does not leave this dangerous area, then the Ming army will be in danger.
.
But at this moment, there was another drumbeat all around, and countless flags suddenly appeared all over the mountains and plains. The peasant rebel army ambushed here rushed towards Cao Wenzhao's Ming army again.
After the Ai Wannian tribe was eliminated, the morale of the peasant rebel army was greatly boosted. Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng led their troops to go west to Ningzhou, and joined forces with Guo Tianxing, Scorpion Block, King of Chaos and others who were active in Qingyang area, preparing to use the Ming army
out of revenge, he launched another ambush.
Later, they learned that the Ming army was sending Cao Wenzhao, the old enemy of the peasant rebel army, the reinforcement and suppression commander, so these leaders carefully planned an ambush to encircle and annihilate Cao Wenzhao.
At this time, because the countryside of Shaanxi was controlled by the peasant rebel army, Cao Wenzhao's Ming army became blind and deaf, which allowed the peasant rebel army to boldly mobilize its troops and set up ambushes at several key points.
Buji was detected by spies from Cao Wenzhao's troops. Under such circumstances, Cao Wenzhao's troops rushed into the encirclement.
On June 27, Cao Bianjiao, Cao Wenzhao's nephew, led the elite troops in the vanguard. Cao Wenzhao led the infantry in the rear. When they arrived at Xianzi, Qiutou, the peasant rebel army ambush and cut the Ming army into two sections. The troops were divided.
Surround and kill.
Cao Wenzhao, who was trapped in the siege, did not know that he had fallen into the trap. Because in so many years of fighting with the peasant rebels, the numerically superior peasant rebels had set up ambush against the Ming army not once or twice, but every time they fought, they
It was because of the huge disparity in combat effectiveness that the surrounded Ming army not only broke out of the encirclement, but in turn defeated the peasant rebels. Therefore, Cao Wenzhao believed that this was the same for the ambush.
Sure enough, Cao Wenzhao's nephew Cao Bianjiao took the lead in the battle and killed more than 500 peasant rebels. The peasant rebels then pretended to be defeated and retreated to the forest area to the east.
Anyone who has read "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" or other descriptions of ancient wars will know the military proverb - no one can enter the forest. But at this time, Cao Wen's imperial edicts had already lost their heads, and they still followed the defeated peasants in rebellion.
The army pursued him into the forest area.
Why didn't Cao Wenzhao's troops pursue pursuit? According to the routine formed by years of fighting, it should be the peasant rebels who dropped a large number of women with wealth and silk to frustrate Cao Wen's troops' pursuit, allowing these soldiers to have a smooth flow of water.
?
But this time the peasant rebels did not follow common sense. Cao Wenzhao's troops pursued them for more than 30 miles and arrived at Diaoling Pass. Seeing that the Ming army entered the ambush circle, the peasant rebels rushed out from all directions and fought with Cao Wenzhao.
Travel to Zi'ao in Qiutou.
Due to the long pursuit, Cao Wenzhao's troops were scattered. It was difficult to look at the head and tail, and they suddenly lost their ability to fight. They suffered heavy casualties, corpses were scattered in the mountains and fields, and blood flowed into rivers, staining the villages.
On the next day, June 28, the peasant rebel army was spearheaded by the King of Troubled Times, with Li Zicheng in the middle, followed by Tianxing, and surrounded the Ming army again. A decisive battle with Cao Wenzhao's troops was bound to completely eliminate this Ming army.
Cao Wenzhao pursued the left and blocked the right, fighting and retreating. At this time, the peasant rebel army deliberately opened an opening to lure the enemy to the west, because the peasant rebel army did not just arrange an ambush point.
When Cao Wenzhao's troops arrived at Saluo Village, the peasant rebel army ambushed the most elite Wanqi from the old battalion here. They surrounded them from all sides and gathered together, and the battle suddenly reached a fever pitch.
"Commander! General Wang Qian has opened a way!" Seeing the Ming army in front breaking the encirclement, Cao Wenzhao's captain immediately shouted.
"Let's go!" Cao Wenzhao held the bloody spear in hand and without hesitation drew his horse and fled in the direction of Mr. Wang Qian. At this time, time was extremely precious, and life and death were at that moment.
But after running a few steps, Cao Wenzhao suddenly heard a shout from the right: "General, save me quickly!" Cao Wenzhao glanced over and saw only a few Ming soldiers surrounded by peasant rebel legions.
The man who yelled was still a veteran who had been following him, and was now being pinned to the ground by several peasant rebels.
Cao Wenzhao hesitated for a moment, then immediately turned his horse's head in the direction of the Ming army. Seeing his commander acting like this, the guards around him also stepped forward bravely. After a few kills, they killed the surrounding peasants.
The rebels were killed and dispersed, and the few Ming soldiers were rescued.
Cao Wenzhao didn't waste any time and said, "Follow me!" Then the rescued Ming soldiers either jumped on their empty horses or rode together with other soldiers, and then headed towards the gap in the encirclement.
However, Cao Wenzhao's actions immediately attracted the attention of the leader of the peasant army who was commanding the battle. At this time, another soldier in the peasant rebel army who had defected from the Ming army pointed at Cao Wenzhao and shouted: "This is...
It’s General Cao.”
"Surround him!", "Catch him!", "Don't let Butcher Cao escape!"...
The leader of the Peasant Army, who did not need any command at all, ordered the Peasant Army officers and soldiers who had a bloody feud with Cao Wenzhao to immediately be overjoyed and the siege became even more urgent.
So Cao Wenzhao fell into a tight siege again. He was exhausted and killed dozens of peasant soldiers. He fought for several miles and was seriously injured in more than ten places. He passed through the red mud city of Baozigou in Yancun and ran to Jijiashan. He saw that there were no generals inside.
, there were no reinforcements outside, and they were surrounded by dense peasant army soldiers. Cao Wenzhao knew that he had no hope of breaking through.
Cao Wenzhao gave a bitter laugh. After hunting geese all day long, he was really blinded by the goose pecks. Cao Wenzhao was also a ruthless man. He pulled out his sword without hesitation and killed himself with it.
"Commander! Follow..." The captain of the soldiers in front of him hadn't noticed Cao Wenzhao's move yet, but when he turned his head, he saw a stream of blood spurting out from Cao Wenzhao's neck, and he immediately opened his eyes with anger.
He shouted: "No--!" He couldn't help but try to grab Cao Wenzhao's knife, but the distance was too far, so he missed it.
Seeing Cao Wenzhao's body falling heavily under the horse, the battlefield seemed to pause. The captain of the soldiers immediately pulled out his sword and killed himself to accompany the leader. While the remaining dozen Ming soldiers rushed towards him with shouts.
Entering the peasant army, the entire army was eventually annihilated.
In this battle, the peasant army led by Li Zicheng severely damaged the Ming army. Cao Wenzhao lost most of his troops, and more than 20 guerrilla generals and generals died. In particular, Cao Wenzhao, the first Ming army bandit suppressor general known for his proficiency in fighting,
, was defeated and committed suicide in this battle, which made the Ming army feel depressed, while the peasant army cheered and was extremely happy.
However, in the second half of the battle, the peasant army's attention was focused on Cao Wenzhao, so Cao Bianjiao gathered more than a thousand remaining troops and broke out of the peasant army's encirclement, leaving the peasant army incomplete.
achievement.
Since the peasant army in Shaanxi rebelled, what they feared most were the two Ming generals: Cao Wenzhao, Cao Butcher, and He Renlong, He Madman. Of course, Wu Shigong and Wu Butcher are also following behind.
Especially Cao Wenzhao, he took the lead every time he fought, and he cared deeply for his soldiers and rewarded them generously, so he was very loved by his soldiers and his troops were also very effective in combat.
Look at Cao Wenzhao's military exploits! Cao Wenzhao successively defeated Wang Jiayin, the leader of the peasant army who was stationed in Hequ, and successively killed dozens of peasant army leaders such as Dian Dengzi, Li Laochai, Ke Tianfei, Liu Daojiang, etc. The peasants he wiped out
There were countless soldiers in the army. As a result, the peasant army often changed their faces when they heard about it, and often fled. It was said at the time that "there is a cao in the army, and thieves will be frightened when they hear it."
But Cao Wenzhao's attitude towards the people was completely different. Even the imperial court could not stand it. Even the Ministry of War impeached Cao Wenzhao. At that time, there was a folk proverb in Shaanxi: "It is better to be robbed by thieves than to be robbed by thieves."
Don't teach Cao's soldiers to block. The thieves will only rob, but Cao's soldiers will do endless harm. The thieves will rob the people's wealth, and Cao's soldiers will kill the people."
I really don’t know whether Cao Wenzhao destroyed more peasant troops or whether he forced more people to rebel. However, because Cao Wenzhao was madly hostile to the peasant troops, the court still allowed Cao Wenzhao to harm the people.
In fact, Cao Wenzhao was a typical military attaché in the late Ming Dynasty, with all the advantages and disadvantages of a military attache in the late Ming Dynasty. However, compared to other military attachés who were timid in battle and conserved their strength, Cao Wenzhao's performance was actually quite "excellent". However,
This kind of "excellence" really makes people speechless!
When Cao Wenzhao was dying, he wondered if he would remember that when the peasant army first rebelled, for the sake of his own power and wealth to support the bandits, he still tried to make a long run? You must know the sheep in his eyes back then.
He has turned into a jackal! I really don’t know if Cao Wenzhao will regret it!
After the peasant army killed Cao Wenzhao, their formidable enemy, cheers resounded throughout the sky. However, after getting Cao Wenzhao's body, Li Zicheng showed great respect for this important opponent, did not insult the body and returned it to Ming Dynasty.
Later, his nephew Cao Bianjiao built a tomb and a monument at the place where Cao Wenzhao committed suicide.
At this time, we can see that compared to the Ming Dynasty court's excavation of Li Zicheng's ancestral tomb, Li Zicheng at this time has already shown his magnanimity.
After Hong Chengchou learned about Cao Wenzhao's death, he cried to the sky and regretted it endlessly. Emperor Chongzhen was also very sad and ordered the construction of a temple to offer sacrifices, so that Cao Wenzhao could enjoy all his sorrow and honor.
The combat effectiveness displayed by the peasant army this time actually shows that the battle between the peasant army and the Ming court has entered a stalemate stage, and the court's suppression of bandits will also become a long process. However, Emperor Chongzhen and the important officials in the court still cannot distinguish the situation.
, they still thought that this defeat was an accident, and still set a time limit and ordered Hong Chengchou to wipe out the peasant army within a time limit. (To be continued...)
