Chapter seven hundred and twenty nine disasters everywhere
But after all, there was a period of time between the Qing army's entry and the attack on the camp. After Liu Zhaoji's military attache shouted, some Ming troops were ready for battle. They hurriedly formed a formation and surrounded the Qing army who was attacking at night.
.
At this moment, more than 200 Qing troops took down firecrackers from their horses. They were a batch of imitations made by the Qing army after capturing the medium-sized firecrackers used by the Runing cavalry. So after a volley,
The Ming troops who had gathered in a hurry were completely dispersed.
The loud noise of the firecrackers at night was quite frightening, and the fear caused by the sound was far greater than the actual damage caused by the firecrackers. Therefore, the soldiers in Liu Zhaoji's camp immediately dispersed and could no longer organize effective resistance.
Seeing that the Ming army was fleeing, Tan Tai ordered without hesitation that all the Qing troops go straight into the camp. And they deliberately bypassed Liu Zhaoji's tent because Liu Zhaoji's soldiers and surrounding troops were there.
They have gathered together and are preparing to resist the Qing army's attack.
Therefore, for Tan Tai, there was no obstacle to the Ming army in other places, so it went smoothly and they gradually rushed to the other end of the camp.
Taking advantage of some Qing troops dismounting again and pushing against the fence here, Tan Tai took a rough look at the men and horses and found that no one was left behind, so he smiled and shouted: "Retreat!" and then took the lead in jumping into the night.
The Qing troops who attacked at night also had high morale. They shouted a victory shout in unison, then threw the remaining torches on the surrounding tents, and then Tan Tai withdrew from the camp.
Just as a night attack suddenly occurred when they arrived, the Qing army also ended the battle suddenly. The entire night attack lasted for more than half an hour. The Ming army in other battalions were also panicked and huddled in
In his own camp, he was afraid that the Qing army would attack his camp.
The reason why Tan Tai ended the night attack so early was because he remembered what Huang Taiji said to him before the expedition: "The Qing Dynasty is different from the Ming Dynasty. If too many men and horses are lost, it will take many years to replace them." He remembered again.
The Qing generals who had taken other flags talked about the Ming army with contempt, as if defeating the Ming army in a field battle was easy. In this case, why would Tan Tai risk the athletes of the two yellow flags in order to increase the results of the night attack? So,
He took a quick decision.
Of course, it is logical for Tan Tai to worry about being encircled by the Ming army. But in fact, there is no need to worry about it. At this time, all the Ming troops in the battalions were like frightened birds. Who dared to come out of the camp to rescue Liu Zhaoji's camp and encircle Tan Tai?
What about Tai's night attack on the Qing army? On the contrary, if Tan Tai took advantage of the situation and expanded the chaos to other battalions of the Ming army, or expanded the scope of killing in Liu Zhaoji's camp, he could greatly increase the casualties of the Ming army and obtain more
Big results.
Therefore, although the chaos caused by Tan Tai was serious, the casualties of the Ming army were actually not large. Liu Zhaoji's camp only suffered more than 2,000 casualties, and the Ming troops in other battalions were unscathed. But even so, it also caused
This caused huge panic among the entire Ming army.
Therefore, when the main force of the Qing army appeared the next day, the Ming army still settled in this chaotic camp and did not dare to send out a single soldier. It had no confidence at all to fight the Qing army in the field.
And on the third day, after the Qing army retreated slightly, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, ordered the entire army to turn around and withdraw to Ningyuan first.
This unexpected move caught the Qing army by surprise. However, after a brief period of shock, Hauge and Tan Tai divided the Qing army into several teams and followed them in pursuit.
Fortunately, the Ming army gathered in one place and was very experienced in huddled defense. After several counterattacks by Ningyuan Commander-in-Chief Wu Sangui and Runing Commander-in-Chief Wu Shigong, both sides killed each other and curbed the Qing army's arrogant pursuit.
arrogance.
But even so, when the Ming army retreated to Ningyuan, they heard that the main follow-up force of the Qing army was about to arrive. So Hong Chengchou left Wu Sangui and Liu Zhaoji in Ningyuan to help the defense of Ningyuan City, and made a sign of advancing troops in an attempt to scare them.
Blocking the further pursuit of the Qing army, Hong Chengchou led other Ming troops back to Shanhaiguan again.
However, this move is quite ridiculous. The Ming army did not send any reconnaissance cavalry at all, and where did they hear about the follow-up main force of the Qing army? Do they have reconnaissance satellites? It is obviously a rumor!
But no matter what, the main force of the Ming army led by Hong Chengchou returned to Shanhaiguan smoothly. After nearly a month of marching and fighting, in order to siege Jinzhou City, the Ming army successfully came from Ningyuan after suffering 2,000 casualties.
Arriving at Shanhaiguan, it was really a "brilliant battle"!
It was so embarrassing that it was brought to my grandma's house. If the Ming army was defeated after the decisive battle with the main force of the Qing army, such a retreat would be understandable. But just like this, when they encountered a night attack with few casualties, the Ming army was terrified.
Retreat, there is nothing to say about such a fighting will.
However, civil servants like Hong Chengchou had a way to cover up such embarrassing things. In their memorials to the court, they wrote colorfully. They described an evenly matched battle situation. However, due to insufficient supplies and insufficient troops, Hong Chengchou continued to fight.
The main force was preserved and successfully retreated to Shanhaiguan.
In order to prepare for the next decisive battle, Hong Chengchou suggested in the memorial that the troops of Cao Bianjiao, Zuo Guangxian, Ma Ke and Wu Shigong be sent into the pass to recuperate their strength. As Hauge and Tan Tai's Qing troops retreated, Wu Sangui
, Liu Zhao based himself between Songshan and Xingshan, and once again pretended to march into the army to contain the Qing army's actions.
Moreover, Hong Chengchou suggested to the court: repatriate Zuo Guangxian to the west and replace him with Bai Guangen; remove Liu Zhaoji from his post and replace him with Wang Tingchen. The two generals involved in the night attack failure should be punished. The cabinet and ministers agreed.
accepted Hong Chengchou’s suggestion.
In addition, Emperor Chongzhen also supported Hong Chengchou's proposal to mobilize 150,000 soldiers from both inside and outside the pass to prepare for war and prepare enough food and grass for a year.
The military operation to rescue Jinzhou ended in an anticlimactic manner.
At this time, the situation of encircling and suppressing the peasant army in the Central Plains was also very good. Yang Sichang used powerful troops to suppress the peasant armies staying at the junction of Sichuan and Hubei into the territory of Kuizhou Prefecture. Later, even Luo Rucai also came to Kuidong.
Beginning in June and July, various peasant armies that were forced to eastern Sichuan surrendered one after another. By August, the only one who had not surrendered was Luo Rucai. At this time, he also decided to surrender again in order to preserve the remaining
There are less than 10,000 horses. We will wait and see the situation in the future.
At this time, Zhang Xianzhong was oppressed by Zuo Liangyu and moved to the Xingshan and Zigui areas. He took a short rest in the mountains at the junction of Sichuan and Hubei and replenished food and salt. At this time, Zhang Xianzhong only had a few thousand people left.
, he ceased his activities, did no harm to the people, and even used money to relieve the people. Therefore, such a "righteous act" prevented the officers and soldiers from knowing his whereabouts.
In mid-August, Zhang Xianzhong heard about Luo Rucai's station and heard that Luo Rucai had decided to surrender. He was very anxious. He first sent Ma Yuanli to see Rucai to persuade him not to surrender in a hurry; then he sent military advisor Xu Yixian to confront you.
Cai analyzed the weaknesses of the army and the army, explained why Yang Sichang was bound to fail, and asked you to meet with Xianzhong.
Because there were two people in the camp who wanted to persuade Luo Rucai to surrender, Luo Rucai was afraid that the news would be lost, so he arranged to meet secretly at Xianzhong Station to decide on the big plan. Zhang and Luo started fighting side by side again.
The natural disasters that have not stopped since the early years of Chongzhen have lasted for more than ten years, and in the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the momentum became more intense in three years. Droughts, floods, and locust plagues were overwhelming. Emperor Chongzhen announced a disaster in May of the 13th year of Chongzhen.
The edict also has to admit: “Recently, there have been reports of hunger in various parts of the province, and in Jifu (now Hebei), Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places, it has recently been heard that local people eat vegetables, and the people have no food, and even cut out meat for cooking.
bone."
Even the Jiangnan region, which has always been known to be prosperous and has relatively good weather, has experienced a rare severe drought. In many places, it is impossible to plant rice because of lack of water, and the price of rice has soared. However, local officials used the famine relief to create a clever excuse and wantonly extorted money. Some people actually
Made a fortune.
The famine situation was the most severe in Henan. Lu Weiqi, the former Minister of War in Nanjing, recorded the situation at that time: "Nowadays, exiles are all over the country, and corpses are everywhere. Where the wind blows, there are ghosts and fireflies, and in the deep mountains and forests, hungry people gather together. Some whole families have committed suicide by throwing themselves into the ring.
There are people who have closed their doors and fled in the whole village. One day hundreds of people drowned in the river. Some eat wild goose excrement and silkworm excrement. Some eat thorns and thorns. Some eat earth and rocks. Some are like ghosts and "shenyin". Some are zombies.
There are those who are speechless in the way, and there are those who gather thousands and hundreds of people to rise up on the main road in the corner of the city."
Therefore, except for the areas controlled by the Runing Army, hungry people are overwhelming. Even the Runing Army is under tremendous pressure, and the amount of food stored has been greatly reduced. At this time, there is no way to implement the order to reduce the population, because I want to
There were too many refugees pouring into the areas controlled by the Runing Army. Therefore, the Runing Army once again sent heavy troops to block the border, and the operation to seize land was helplessly stopped again.
The Great Famine was already shocking, but the Ming court repeatedly sent additional "three rates", which made the disaster even more painful.
In the twelfth year of Chongzhen's reign, the newly increased "training salary" reached 7.3 million taels at a time. There were three major increases in training during the Chongzhen period, and this time the increase was the largest. And the hungry people who had been struggling for years on the verge of death were under such harsh conditions.
There was really no way to survive in front of them. Except for those who would starve to death or even be eaten, they had no choice but to flee.
In some areas of Shaanxi and Henan, more than 80% of those who fled died, but the number of households was less than 20% of the original number, and the number of households was not even 10%. People were starving and dying everywhere, and there was still no way to survive after escaping.
They gathered in the mountains and forests and became "robbers". These hungry people, refugees and "thieves" all over the Central Plains became the most reliable source of soldiers for the large peasant army.