Chapter eight hundred and fiftieth chapter kicks off
However, Tian Jianxiu's march south to Hanzhong was relatively smooth, and all the prefectures and counties along the way surrendered. On March 12, the Shun army entered Chenggu County and besieged it for four days, conquering the city. Gao Ruli, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty, tried to escape to Sichuan.
On the way, he was forced to surrender by the Shun army. After the Hanzhong area was pacified, Tian Jianxiu left his subordinates He Zhen and Han Wen to lead troops to guard the area, and then returned to Xi'an.
Liu Zongmin, He Yaoqi, Yuan Zongdi and others led the army to march westward and reached Guyuan. Bai Guangen, the general of the Ming Dynasty, surrendered. In order to win over the Ming army generals and reduce the resistance during the march, Li Zicheng gave Bai Guangen a banquet in person and had a good conversation. Zuo Guang
After hearing the news, they also surrendered. Following Bai and Zuo, other Ming Dynasty generals also surrendered.
Yuan Zong's troops advanced from Fengxiang, Shaanxi to Gongchang. Along the way, the Ming generals fought to surrender in fear of their queen. After occupying Gongchang Mansion, all the prefectures and counties they belonged to surrendered without a fight.
As for Ningxia, as soon as the message of the Shun Army reached the governor, Li Yukui, the governor, and Zhu Zhuo, the king of Qing who was entrusted here, were at a loss what to do. After some discussions, the Qing clan clan and civil and military officials gathered in the palace and decided to surrender. Li Zicheng ordered Ming Ming.
Supervisor Chen Zhilong was the military envoy of Ningxia, and Niu Chenghu, the surrendered general, guarded the area.
After Guyuan, Ningxia and other places were pacified, the remaining strongholds of the Ming government in the northwest were Gansu, Qinghai (called Xiningwei at the time) and other relatively remote places. Li Zicheng ordered Liu Zongmin to return to Xi'an to prepare for a large-scale eastward expedition and complete the westward expedition.
The task fell to He Yaoqi.
In March, He waved the flag and led his troops to Gansu, conquering Anding in one fell swoop. Jin County opened its doors to welcome the surrender, and the troops went straight to Lanzhou. Ma Xu, the commander-in-chief of Gansu Province in the Ming Dynasty, deputy general Ouyang Gun and others saw the critical situation and persuaded Su Wang Zhu Shizhen
Hongxi rushed to Ganzhou (today's Zhangye) to recruit troops and stick to it. Zhu Shizhen, Hongsi and Ma Lianzhan, did not adopt this idea. So Ma Xu and others fled to Ganzhou on their own.
On March 21, the troops under He Yaoqi arrived in Lanzhou, and Lanzhou Kaicheng surrendered. Su Wang Zhu Shihong fled out of the city in a hurry. He was captured by people sent by Yang Qi, the outgoing commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty, and regarded as his surrender.
The meeting gift of Shunjun. However, He Waiqi hated him for selling his people to gain wealth. He was neither loyal to the Ming Dynasty nor sincerely surrendered to Shunjun. Therefore, he not only executed King Su, but also beheaded Yang Qi and his son.
However, this approach was obviously not strategic enough and was not conducive to winning over the civil and military generals of the Ming Dynasty who were still waiting to see. After He Yaoqi left Dang Shousu to guard Lanzhou, he led his troops and continued to advance westward. In Liangzhou of the Ming Dynasty (today's Wuwei, Gansu), Zhuang Lang
The two guards surrendered one after another and followed the army to invade Ganzhou.
Lin Rirui, the governor of Gansu, and Ma Xu, the commander-in-chief, organized a resistance. In April, the Shun army forcibly crossed the river and reached the gate of Ganzhou City. It rained heavily at that time, and the officers and soldiers who were forced to go to the city to defend fought in the rain, and all complained.
.However, the soldiers of the Shun army were in high spirits, making siege equipment and actively preparing to attack the city.
On April 22, the defenders of the Ming Army rebelled and led the Shun army into the city. The Shun army successfully captured Ganzhou City. Lin Rirui, Ma Xu and others were executed. After occupying Ganzhou, Suzhou (today's Gansu Province
Jiuquan) and other places fell without a fight. He Yaoqi sent officials to various prefectures and counties to pacify the local areas, and the entire territory of Gansu came under the jurisdiction of the Dashun regime.
At this time, Lu Wenbin (originally a Ming Dynasty general), a Shunjun general who was ordered to march into Qinghai by He Waoqi, led his troops to Xining. He was defeated by local chieftains Qi Tingjian, Lu Yinchang and others who were loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Lu Wenbin
Killed.
After He Yaoqi heard the report, he personally led the army from Ganzhou to Xining. Qi Tingjian and others were frightened and confused, so they joined the army and Hu Lianqi offered his advice: "Congratulations on the bravery of the thieves. We are few and far between, and we can outwit them but not with strength."
We are the enemy." It was suggested that some ethnic minority people should be sent to pretend to surrender, pretend to be guides, and lead Hewa flag into the ambush area to murder them.
However, He waved the flag and was eager to annihilate the enemy, so he led his troops forward, killed Lu Yinchang in formation, and wiped out all his troops. Due to his lack of vigilance, he unfortunately fell into an ambush of the Ming army and was killed by the chieftain. This Li Zicheng's capable general became
In this way, he fell on the way to the west.
After He Yaoqi was killed, He Yaoqi's soldiers were filled with grief and indignation and determined to avenge their general. Under the leadership of Xin Sizhong, they captured Xining and captured chieftain Qi Tingjian alive. Li Zicheng then ordered Xin Sizhong to guard Xining and sent troops to pacify Qinghai. Each chieftain successively
Attachment.
At this point, all official and military strongholds in the entire northwest region had been eradicated, and this series of battles actually took less than two months. The brilliant victory immediately made the soldiers of the Shun Army high in morale. Li Zicheng and others thought: Overthrow the Ming Dynasty
The time for court has arrived.
Under the deliberations of Dashun's civil servants and military officers, the Shun army formulated the strategic goal of conquering the world, which was to use the main force to attack North China and conquer Beijing in order to change the dynasty. After occupying the central government, they could use
In the name of Zhengshuo, he can win over, recruit and surrender, and jointly attack various forces, and finally achieve unification of the world.
So the Shun Army began to concentrate its forces, and they wanted to gather almost all of their nearly one million (not so-called) troops first. General Li Zicheng personally led the main force from Xi'an, crossed the Yellow River, and attacked Beijing, the home base of the Ming Dynasty.
Come and kill.
After crossing the Yellow River and arriving in southern Shanxi, the Shun army will be divided into two parts. One is the partial division, commanded by General Liu Fangliang, which crosses the Taihang Mountains along the north bank of the Yellow River and turns north to attack Lu'an (today's Changzhi, Shanxi), Zhang
De (today's Anyang, Henan), Guangping (today's Handan, Hebei), Shunde (today's Xingtai, Hebei), Zhending (today's Zhengding, Hebei), and Baoding were on the front line, advancing towards Beijing from the south. The other line was the main force, and Li Zicheng personally controlled it, along the central line of Jinzhong
The valley goes north, out of Datong and Xuanfu, and from the northwest to the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
Before the expedition, Li Zicheng issued the famous edict of the first year of Yongchang. The full text is as follows:
"When God looks at things, he is actually looking for misfortune. When the people return, they only want to come and find suspense. Since fate is constant, emotions are especially visible. Guangdong knows the causes of gains and losses in the past; looking at the past and the present, he knows how to deal with the unexpected.
Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, you have been in peace for a long time, and have relaxed your discipline. The king is not very dark, isolated and obscured. The ministers are all private, and they are less loyal than the party. They even bribe the palace, which brings the power of the court.
The sun is moving; the gentry is good at benefiting the clan, and the fat on the left side of the palace is exhausted. The princes and princes all eat meat and cowards, relying on their confidants; the eunuchs know the dogs and dolphins, and use their ears and eyes. There are many prisoners in the prison, and the soldiers have no intention of repaying the gift; conquer.
There is a heavy burden, and the people have the hatred of dying together. Si Hao Tian is so poor in kindness that he has caused the people to suffer from disasters. I lifted up my cloth clothes, witnessed the haggard figure, and felt the pain of the disease. I think that the whole world leads the earth, and everyone suffers from poverty.
; I have endured the changes in the waters of Yanshan, but have not succeeded in the soup and fire. I have bowed to the eternal Hebei and appeased Guizhou and Li. I still consider your ruler and ministers, but have not reached the emperor's heart and have not expressed my intention. This is a warning: You can embody the heaven and remember your ancestors.
, I will judge my virtues, and I will benefit the predecessors, no matter how many. Like Qi, like the Song Dynasty, I will enjoy the sacrifice forever and show your filial piety; I have a house and a family, and the people are happy, and I will show your benevolence. Fanzi
Hundreds of workers are encouraged to protect them, and the merchants and grandchildren are generously paid, and the guests are not heard from. They are willing to pay tribute to you, and the friendship between ministers is too much. But now the imperial edict is issued, and it is allowed to spread to the heart. You are thinking of it, and you don't complain about Zonggong.
, Don’t endanger your ministers and common people. I am prudent. I am still loyal to the emperor and my father, and I have made a fortune for my family. I sincerely give this edict in the first year of Yongchang.”
The edict of the first year of Yongchang was actually an ultimatum-style letter of surrender issued by the Dashun regime to the Ming Dynasty. In the edict, it comprehensively exposed the extreme corruption of the Ming Dynasty and pointed out that this court only safeguarded honorable persons.
The interests of the big landlord class and the wealth of the world fell into the hands of the clan gentry (the Ming Dynasty clan and bureaucrats), princes, and eunuchs. However, they levied heavy taxes on the common people, causing the leftist family to be exhausted. This forced the people to
He stood up and fought against them. In other words, he expressed to the world the justice of the Dashun regime.
Then, Li Zicheng solemnly announced: "I got up from my cloth, witnessed the haggard figure, and felt the pain of pangs in my body. I thought that the whole world led the earth, and I suffered from poverty; I endured the changes of water and Yanshan, and the water and fire were not solved." He expressed his
We share a common destiny with the people of the world and are determined to fight to the end.
However, in order to reduce the resistance during the march, the edict also pointed out the way out for Emperor Chongzhen, asking him to "examine the situation", see the situation clearly, and surrender as soon as possible.
And in this edict, the sentence "The emperor is not very dark" seems to think that in Li Zicheng's eyes, Emperor Chongzhen was not that bad. The main reason was that the ministers did evil things and made the great mountains and rivers a mess.
But in essence, this edict is a letter to persuade him to surrender, so he has to leave a little room in the tone. If Emperor Chongzhen is described as extremely dim, persuading him to be aware of current affairs will become playing the piano to an ox. But no one will believe it.
If Emperor Chongzhen really surrenders, Li Zicheng will let Emperor Chongzhen's family go. This is nothing more than a propaganda strategy.
Around the time the edict was issued in the first year of Yongchang, on May 21, the 16th year of Chongzhen, the Dashun Army marched toward the Jifu area with overwhelming force in accordance with the original deployment.
This action of the Dashun regime undoubtedly believed that the time was ripe. Because at this time there was no longer a powerful Ming army in the north, and in the Central Plains, the Runing army was again fighting fiercely with the Qing army and Zhang Xianzhong's Daxi army.
They can't escape at all.
Li Zicheng and others even believed that their millions of troops were enough to crush any force. In particular, they seriously underestimated the strength of the Qing army.
In the eyes of people like Li Zicheng who were born in the Trilateral Army Town, the Trilateral Shaanxi Army was much stronger than the Liao Army, and the Qing Army was at most stronger than the Mongolian army that was bullied by the Shaanxi Army and couldn't find the north.
Limited. So based on this comparison, they believed that the Qing army was nothing more than this. It was only because the Shaanxi army did not appear that the Qing army jumped to this point. There is no doubt that this view without common sense is a bit ridiculous.
Li Zicheng and others even overestimated their own strength. Among his millions of loyal troops, his core troops were only 200,000, and the rest only served as auxiliary troops, and their combat effectiveness on the battlefield was not very good. In addition,
The Shangshun Army was brought together by various units in a short period of time, so mutual cooperation and centripetal force were quite poor.
But no matter what, Shunjun's march this time kicked off the various forces' quest to dominate the world! (To be continued...)