On the first day of the first lunar month of the first year of Qiongyuan, outside Tongguan.
"Boom boom boom——!"
The Guancheng of Tongguan was filled with smoke and dust, and at a distance of 500 steps in front of the Guancheng, the Runing Army assembled 21 artillery pieces over six pounds and concentrated on bombarding the walls of the Guancheng.
When the smoke cleared, an officer of the Daping Army said to Xue Yong: "General! This wall is quite solid. With so many iron bullets, it only made a few holes. It looks like it will last for a while."
Xue Yong said with a smile: "If you just blast like this, sooner or later it will collapse. What are you anxious about? Just think of it as a cannon during the Chinese New Year. You have never let off such a big cannon during the Chinese New Year!"
"Hahaha——!" The officers and soldiers around him burst into laughter.
When Li Zicheng and other Dashun leaders received the news that the Daping Army had occupied Shanxi, they took it for granted that the next target of the Daping Army's attack would be northern Shaanxi, so Li Zicheng and others focused all their attention on strengthening Shaanxi.
The defense of the North is up.
In the winter of the 16th year of Chongzhen's reign, the Dashun Army continued to move north in large numbers to block the southern pressure of the Daping Army from Shanxi. But at this time, they obtained new information: the Daping Army in Shanxi
Troops were continuously transferred to the Tongguan area. This made it difficult for Li Zicheng and others to judge the main attack direction of the Daping Army.
Logically speaking: Tongguan is the most powerful pass in the world, and the Dashun Army is stationed with heavy troops. The Daping Army mobilized long distances and made no secret of their actions, so the difficulty of attacking Tongguan must be much higher than crossing the Yellow River and attacking from northern Shaanxi.
In the hinterland of Shaanxi. But the Daping Army mobilized so many troops to Tongguan. So, of the two Daping armies in Shanxi and Tongguan, which one is the main attack? Which one is a feint attack? Or even, will both of them be
What is the main direction of attack?
So Li Zicheng and others, who were caught in the dilemma of a north-south attack, began to hesitate. Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin and others led the main force of the Dashun Army from Xi'an to Luochuan County and stayed for ten days. Apparently, they were attacked by the Daping Army.
The situation of invading forces from two directions made it difficult to advance or retreat, so we had to stay put for the time being and wait for further news before we could decide where to send reinforcements.
As a result, the Dashun Army's original strategic plan of preparing to attack the Daping Army in northern Shaanxi had to change as the situation changed. This made Li Zicheng and others completely passive in the battle situation. Moreover, Quan Dashan in Shanxi was also stepping up its efforts.
Integrating the miscellaneous troops and waiting for news to cooperate with the attack in the direction of Tongguan, the advance was slow. The news about Tongguan was getting tighter and tighter, so in the end, Li Zicheng finally decided to rush to Tongguan with Liu Zongmin and others to lead the reinforcements.
On the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the Battle of Tongguan began. Facing the Daping Army camped dozens of miles outside Guancheng, it was impossible for the Dashun Army to turn a blind eye, otherwise it would be completely suppressed by the artillery fire of the Daping Army.
.And until now, Li Zicheng and others still don't know: Which Daping Army is the main attack? So Liu Zongmin led his troops out to fight, wanting to first determine the "quality" of this Daping Army.
Facing Liu Zongmin's attack, Xue Yong and others had no pressure. Among the Daping Army, the original Runing Army and the Heiyun Army, as the core forces, may have difficulty attacking and siegeing the city, but they can defend Dashun.
However, the army's attack was more than sufficient. Therefore, Liu Zongmin was unlucky in the first battle.
Five days later, on the 25th of the twelfth lunar month, Liu Fangliang led his troops to fight, and suffered another big setback. Then, Li Zicheng personally led the cavalry and infantry to resist the battle, but was also counterattacked by Xue Yong's Daping Army, and the Dashun Army failed again. This counterattack
During the battle, the power of the Daping Army's counterattack was fully demonstrated, so that basically none of the Dashun Army infantry who left the border to fight this time escaped back.
When frontal combat failed, Li Zicheng and others wanted to launch a surprise attack. On the evenings of the 26th and 27th, the Dashun Army launched continuous night attacks, but they failed to achieve any results. Until the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, the Daping Army
Weapons for attacking fortifications - the army's six-pound artillery pieces and captured general cannons were mobilized and advanced to Tongguan Pass. After they were put in place, the Dashun Army stopped the outbound operations and dug in front of Guancheng.
Heavy trenches and strong walls were built to prevent the Daping army from attacking Tongguan.
Watching his artillery firing round after round, Xue Yong looked calm. The reason why he officially launched the siege today was because Xue Yong wanted to pay tribute to the establishment of the Great Ping Dynasty and the enthronement of Wu Shigong.
Xue Yong looked at the noisy officers in front. These officers were also very relaxed. They were making bets - how many rounds of shooting will it take for the Dashun Army to rush out of Guancheng and counterattack?
"Stop talking nonsense! The thieves have come out!"
Suddenly, Xue Yong saw that the closed door of Tongguan had been opened, and a group of Dashun Army cavalry rushed out from the closed door, so he immediately interrupted the officers' bet: "Let the boys open their eyes wide, don't
Capsize the boat at the last moment and fight back the civilian thieves."
"No!" the officers immediately took the order.
The number of cavalrymen of the Dashun Army who rushed out of Tongguan was not large, only more than 3,000. As soon as they left Guancheng and stepped through the remaining passage between the trenches, the cavalry of the Dashun Army had no time to line up, and they wanted to swarm towards the artillery.
They rushed over to the position to overturn these heavy artillery pieces that threatened the most.
However, the defensive firepower arranged by the Daping Army on both sides of the artillery position was also the most powerful. Under the burst of fire from small artillery and muskets, the Dashun Army cavalry did not charge at all, and they gave up the charge against the artillery position.
.
However, the Dashun Army officer who led the team still did not give up his efforts. Under his order, the Dashun Army cavalry was divided into two teams, and they were to bypass the Daping Army formation and attack, trying their best to reverse the situation of the battle.
However, the Daping Army in the rear was already well prepared. They had already deployed horses and carts as obstacles on the road where the Dashun Army might charge. When the Dashun Army's cavalry approached, they fired fiercely at the cavalry.
. Even some Dashun Army cavalry were lucky enough to escape the hail of bullets, but when they rushed to resist the horses and carts, they had to slow down their horses.
Seeing that the charge momentum of the Dashun Army's cavalry was blocked, the Daping Army's cavalry also launched a countercharge at the right time. The cavalry had no speed and was even less powerful than the infantry. Therefore, after a series of killings, the remaining cavalry of the Dashun Army were killed.
They all fled back to Tongguan in panic.
Seeing that the battle was proceeding so easily, a former Ming general who had just surrendered approached Xue Yong. He said with a flattering smile: "General! The main force led by Chuangni is so vulnerable. This Tongguan
It seems like it’s just around the corner, and the generals and princes of all generations are right in front of us!”
After hearing this, Xue Yong smiled modestly: "The fight will last for a while. It's too early to say this. I just don't know how the fight will be in the mountains."
…
On the same day, Yulin.
Seeing the Dashun Army at the head of Yulin City as if facing a formidable enemy, the entire mountain frowned, somewhat helpless. Because all the heavy artillery in the army had been transferred to Tongguan, facing Yulin, the strong city in northern Shaanxi,
There is no good strategy for siege in the whole mountain.
But at this moment, several reconnaissance cavalry galloped over, and they reported to Quan Dashan: "Sir! In the nearby Hengshan Mountain, Mizhi did not find any enemy troops. According to the capture department, only Yan'an still has more than 4,000 civilian thieves.
, no other civilian thieves were found in the rest of northern Shaanxi."
"Oh?" Quan Dashan's eyes suddenly lit up. He thought about it in his mind, and then immediately ordered: "General Jiang! You lead 15,000 troops to besiege this Yulin. Just like the thieves abandoned the city, they fled west and south.
Yes, but they must not be allowed into Shanxi!"
"No!" Jiang Kuan, the former commander-in-chief of Datong in the Ming Dynasty, who surrendered first to Dashun and then to Daping, said.
"The rest of the generals will rush to Xi'an with my boss. If the Yan'an thieves are locked up and cannot leave the city, then just leave an army to guard them. If they come out of the city to fight, we will wipe them out with one blow!"
"promise!"
"This is the time when a man makes a name for himself, so let me raid Chuangtei's lair!" Quan Dashan raised his right arm and shouted.
"Okay!" The generals immediately let out thunderous cheers.
Before the New Year in the first year of Qiongyuan, Quan Dashan led 70,000 Daping troops across the Yellow River from Baodou, Shanxi, and entered northern Shaanxi. For the first time, they encountered Yulin, where Gao Yigong's troops were garrisoned with 10,000 troops.
However, when Quan Dashan discovered that the Dashun Army in northern Shaanxi was empty of troops and the main force of the Dashun Army had moved to Tongguan, it immediately turned into a feint attack and accelerated the pace of the attack. The frontline of the army was directed towards Xi'an, the capital of the Dashun Army.
Jiang Quan and other surrendered generals were left in the whole mountain, leading 15,000 surrender troops to besiege Yulin, while he himself led his troops south.
On the second day of the first lunar month, the Daping Army occupied Mizhi, Li Zicheng's hometown, and then advanced towards Xi'an. As for Li Zicheng, who was in Tongguan, when he learned that the Daping Army from the north was attacking fiercely, he understood that before the Daping Army attacked from two directions,
By then, the fall of Shaanxi was a foregone conclusion, so they were forced to withdraw their main force to Xi'an and abandon the defense of Tongguan.
On the third day of the first lunar month, Wushan Bo Ma Shiyao, the general of the Dashun Army who was guarding Tongguan, surrendered with more than 7,000 troops, and the Daping Army officially occupied Tongguan. However, that night, Ma Shiyao sent an envoy to deliver a secret letter to Li Zicheng, which was intercepted by the Daping Army and sent to Li Zicheng.
Xue Yongchu.
The next day, Xue Yong pretended to be hunting and ambushed his troops at the entrance of Jinpenpo, ten miles southwest of Tongguan City. He then announced a banquet and disarmed all the horses and equipment of Ma Shiyao's troops. Then with an order, an ambush broke out and more than 7,000 soldiers were killed.
All the soldiers of the Shun army were killed.
It only took three days for the Daping Army to actually attack Tongguan. And this world-famous dangerous pass was repeatedly captured in the wars of the late Ming Dynasty without any fierce fighting. Both the Ming Army and the Dashun Army
It's all like this. It really makes people sigh: the defeat is like a mountain!
As a result, Xi'an's east and north roads were both wide open, and were directly attacked by more than 170,000 Daping troops. Li Zicheng knew that it was hopeless to hold Shaanxi, so he decided to abandon Xi'an on the day he withdrew to Xi'an (the fourth day of the first lunar month)
, via Lantian and Shangluo area to the south. (To be continued...)