After Yao Liang received the order from Xue Yongli in Kaifeng, he ignored the efforts of the officials in Kaifeng to stay, took 20,000 yuan plus another 30,000 taels of silver scattered here and there, turned around and went home, and also returned at the end of March.
Arrive at Guide.
At this time, the city of Kaifeng was in turmoil. Because of the loss of their relatives, the governor of Henan, Li Xianfeng, and the commander-in-chief of Luoyang, Wang Shaoyu, had been locked in prison cars by the imperial envoys sent by the imperial court. The person who took over as governor of Henan was Gao Hengfei. So in the rush of handover, the city of Kaifeng
The officials were not in the mood to harass Yao Liang's troops so that they could not leave.
So in the end, I wonder if Shu Mo and Yao Liang will have a big fight after they meet up? I think they were competing tit-for-tat for auxiliary soldiers at the time, but now they have become a family. The future is really unpredictable.
ah!
At the same time, after discussions with Deng Qifan and others, Xue Yongli jointly decided on a plan to expand the army in advance and recruit another 20,000 new soldiers. However, in this recruitment, the Runing Army required retired veterans to re-enter service due to "crisis moments" for the first time.
There are nearly ten thousand such veterans, so as long as these veterans are equipped with weapons, they can immediately go into battle.
As soon as Yao Liang returned, Xue Yongli left Zhou Xun in Runing to command, and left He Fei's personal guards and Yang Rusong's Huhou Town in Runing, and then led the four towns and direct artillery regiments.
More than 35,000 troops began to conquer the Peasant Army of the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo.
By this time, it had been more than two months since the 5th Gezuo Battalion left the Dabie Mountains. As soon as they left the Dabie Mountains, the 5th Gezuo Battalion conquered nearby cities and obtained a large amount of money and food. They also used relief to attract refugees.
After investing, the power also expanded very quickly.
But there is one county that has not been captured, and that is Huoshan County, where Sun Chengxiu was the magistrate. After the Runing Army's contraction strategy was implemented, although the Dabie Mountains were abandoned, there were two strongholds that were never abandoned. One is Huanggang on the edge of the Yangtze River.
The other one is Sun Chengxiu's Huoshan. Of course, Wu Shigong also chose Huoshan because he wanted to take care of Sun Chengxiu.
Therefore, when soldiers and horses from the fifth battalion of Gezuo attacked Huoshan County, they were surprised to find that there was actually a battalion of the Runing Army and more than 4,000 merchants from Chang Meng in the county. If you add in the civilians mobilized by Sun Chengxiu in the city,
The number of soldiers and horses defending the city actually exceeds 6,000. Such a number of defenders can even exceed that of an ordinary city in the Ming Dynasty, not to mention that the equipment of the Runing army is very sophisticated.
As for Chang Meng, the highest official of the Runing Army in Huoshan County, although he is not very good at fighting, he is a confidant who used to stay with Wu Shigong and is quite familiar with the combat effectiveness of the Runing Army, not to mention that he is very knowledgeable.
He knew that he couldn't fight, so why would the officers of the Runing Army fight if he couldn't resist them? So Chang Meng became a hands-off shopkeeper and let the troops of the Runing Army and the guards of the trading company perform freely.
The result of this battle was no surprise. Originally, it was a partial division of the 5th Battalion of Gezuo that attacked Huoshan County. The number was not large, and their morale was demoralized after the attack failed. After recharging their strength, the Runing Army rushed out.
After Huoshan County, the battle became one-sided. The partial division of the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo abandoned their helmets and armor and fled away.
And the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo couldn't stop for a small Huoshan County. Since Huoshan County has such a strong army, okay! You are cruel! We can't afford to offend and hide. So the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo went around.
We drove to Huoshan County and headed east.
I won’t go into details about this journey eastward. Anyway, there were no Ming troops on this journey. The Fifth Battalion of Gezuo also looted and recruited refugees along the way, gradually swelling to more than 300,000 people.
Until they reached the line between Hanshan County and He County, the Gezuo Fifth Battalion was still intercepted by the Nanjing Jingying Battalion led by Lu Jiude. The battle between Liu Guoneng's peasant army and Huang Degong's troops once again happened again.
But this time both sides were very cautious. There was only a small-scale contact battle and no large-scale decisive battle. Because Lu Jiude had already brought out all the Ming troops in Nanjing, he was afraid that if anything went wrong, it would cause corruption in Nanzhili.
.The fifth battalion of Gezuo did not want to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army. They still wanted to find another way out and resumed their movement.
So after a stalemate for a period of time, the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo began to collect ships and prepared to cross the Yangtze River to seek other development. But at this moment, the battle situation suddenly changed.
On March 20, the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, a regiment of the Marine Corps stationed in Huanggang set off early under the cover of seventeen gunboats and began the Runing Army's campaign to encircle and suppress the 5th Battalion of the Revolutionary Left. Three days later, Runing
An alliance between Military Pegasus Town and Jiaoshi Town requisitioned more than 7,000 military and civilian horses, and began a rapid march.
On March 28, the gunboats of the Runing Army sailed to the Hexian section of the Yangtze River and opened fire on the ships collected by the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo. They destroyed and captured more than a hundred ships. Then, the gunboats' fire cleared the shore.
After clearing up, a regiment of more than 2,700 Marines landed at Baiqiao Town and occupied Baiqiao Town. They also overhauled fortifications in Baiqiao Town to block the retreat of the 5th Battalion of Ge Zuo.
On the second day, more than 10,000 mounted Runing troops marched towards Shihe Town. After handing over the requisitioned horses to the cavalry of Pegasus Town for safekeeping, the Xiemen from Jiao Attack Town also blocked the retreat of the fifth battalion of Ge Zuo here.
As a result, the 5th Gezuo Battalion was suddenly surrounded by the Nanjing Jingying Battalion and the Runing Army.
Seeing that their retreat was cut off, the Fifth Battalion of Ge Zuo immediately panicked. They first launched an attack on the Runing Army in Shihe Town. However, the troops defending Shiqiao Town, with the cooperation of the Runing Army in Pegasus Town, steadily
The battle line was held. However, the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo could not form a continuous attack at all, and the battle suffered successive setbacks.
Then, the Fifth Battalion of Ge Zuo began to attack Baiqiao Town. After all, they still had some ships saved. If this road was opened, a group of them could escape whether they walked along the river or crossed the Yangtze River in the dark. Of course,
It is impossible to bring the entire army out of the encirclement.
This battle was quite fierce. After all, the Marine Corps had a small number of people. Although there was artillery cover from the gunboats, the 5th Battalion of Gezuo attacked the town three times, and was finally counterattacked by the Marine Corps.
However, the attack of the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo also cost a lot of money. They finally used the old battalion men. The Marine Corps suffered more than 800 casualties. If Shiqiao Town was not small, it might have missed due to lack of troops.
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It was not until April 3 that the main force of the Runing Army arrived at Wuwei County under the leadership of Xue Yongli. This made the Gezuo Fifth Battalion suddenly realize: It turned out that Wu Butcher of Runing had sent troops, and he had been surrounded by two powerful Ming armies.
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As soon as Xue Yongli's troops arrived, he immediately launched a strong attack on the 5th Gezuo Battalion. On April 4, the Runing Army defeated the 5th Gezuo Battalion, killing and capturing more than 20,000 soldiers of the 5th Gezuo Battalion.
On the second day, the Runing Army continued its strong attack, causing the 5th Gezuo Battalion to lose more than 30,000 people. That night, more than 5,000 soldiers from the 5th Gezuo Battalion fled to the main camp of the Runing Army.
Under the fierce offensive of the Runing Army, it was about to collapse.
After learning about the successive victories of the Runing Army, Lu Jiude laughed so hard that he could not close his mouth. He kept sending messengers to the Runing Army and assured Xue Yongli: As long as the Runing Army completely wiped out the fifth battalion of Gezuo, he would definitely
Xue Yongli and the other officers were given promotions and titles. But at this moment, the Runing army strangely stopped attacking.
On April 7, King He Jin of Zuo Jin was in his camp.
"I called the two brothers over today! I just want to discuss it. I don't like to talk nonsense, so I just want to tell the two brothers that I, Lao He, are ready to surrender to the army. I don't know what the two brothers mean?"
He Jin said.
Today, He Jin only invited the reformed king Liu Xiyao and the troubled king Lin Chengcheng. Because the old Huihui Ma Shouying and Ge Liyan He Yilong have always been at odds with the court and resented recruiting them, He Jin first sought out these two "revolutionary wills."
I am not a very steadfast companion, and I want to get to know each other better among these three people.
But He Jin's words immediately stimulated the two of them. They couldn't help but press the handle of the knife with their hands, and looked outside the tent unconsciously, observing what might happen.
"Don't be suspicious!" He Jin waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "I want to throw a cup as a sign, Lao He, do I still dare to sit here alone?"
Liu Xiyao and Lin Chengcheng were right. There were only three of them in the tent, and they were carrying weapons. If there was an ambush, He Jin might be killed first. So it seemed that He Jin had a negotiation attitude. Therefore,
Liu Xiyao and Lin Chengcheng were a little relieved, and their hands also dropped from the handle of the knife.
"Brother He, have you contacted Guan Gou...the government?" Liu Xiyao asked.
"Yes!" He Jin nodded and said, "I sent someone out last night and talked with them."
"Which side is it from?" Liu Xiyao asked again.
"Where else? Butcher Wu's side."
"Isn't there another side?" Lin Chengcheng immediately asked, "To be honest, when the war reaches this level, we are desperate. But the officers and soldiers on both sides have to choose a good one. Whoever has better conditions will go.
Which one."
"That's true!" He Jin nodded and said, "But do you still have to choose? The people I sent met with Chuang Tatian. Everything was fine with him at Wu Butcher's place. He led his troops and kept his family wealth.
, even the families of my brothers have been accommodated, can you give us the ones you mentioned?"
"But that's Eunuch Lu from Nanjing over there! He's much bigger than the general, Butcher Wu." Lin Chengcheng said again.
"If you believe the words of the Eggless Man, even sows will climb trees!" He Jin curled his lips and said disdainfully, "Give us an official position and guard against us. The brothers under you will either be cannon fodder or be dismissed. Still,
Displaced, unless we still want to fight back, who will care about them?"
Liu Xiyao and Lin Chengcheng nodded to He Jin's words. Then Liu Xiyao asked with concern: "What conditions did Butcher Wu give us?"