On the 13th day of the first lunar month of the first year of Qiongyuan, the Daping Army’s Quan Dashan Division took the lead in occupying Xi’an. The next day, Xue Yong’s troops coming from the direction of Tongguan came to join them. After entering Xi’an City, Xue Yong, Quan Dashan and others were surprised to find: there was actually something inside the city.
There was a large amount of food, grass and supplies left, which could completely supply the Western Conquest Army for their campaigns in the northwest provinces. So after some rest, the Western Conquest Army continued their northwest campaign.
The fall of Xi'an was also like a signal, causing the Dashun regime in the northwest region to completely collapse. Especially a group of former Ming Dynasty demoted officials and generals. They showed their true colors one by one and took advantage of the provocation. They went to conquer the Western Army.
There was an endless stream of envoys coming to the camp to express their surrender.
Dong Xueli, who had served as the deputy general of Huamachi in Ningxia during the Ming Dynasty, joined Dashun in the attack on the city of Beijing. Later, he withdrew from Beijing due to the defeat in Yutian, and surrendered to Xue Yong's Western Expeditionary Army on the way to the west after being ordered to retreat westward.
After Dong Xueli surrendered, he was eager to make meritorious deeds. He sent someone with a letter to ask Chen Zhilong, the Ningxia Jiedushi of the Dashun regime, to raise troops to serve as an internal response. Chen Zhilong used to be the military supervisor of the Ming Dynasty. His surrender to the Dashun regime had ulterior motives. In his own words
It is "borrowing its military power to wait for the right time."
Dong Xueli's secret letter was intercepted by Niu Chenghu (who was the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty and was guarding Ningxia under the orders of the Dashun regime). Niu Chenghu did not agree with betraying the Dashun regime and had all Dong Xueli's family members executed. However, Chen Zhilong hid and waited until
After the Daping army entered Shaanxi, he used his authority to win over some of the troops, advocated leading both civil and military soldiers and civilians to surrender, and forced Niu Chenghu to surrender to the Daping Dynasty.
In addition, former Lanzhou Commander-in-Chief Zheng Jiadong, Ganzhou Commander-in-Chief Zuo Xing, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Xie Zhenrong and others all rebelled and surrendered to the Daping Dynasty after the fall of Xi'an. Sichuan Jiedushi Li Yutian (formerly Li Yutian) led the army into Sichuan on the order of Li Zicheng
First, he was the governor of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty), the commander-in-chief Ma Ke (who was named Huairen Bo after surrendering to Dashun), the deputy commander-in-chief Ma De, Gao Ruli, and Shi Guoxi. They also led more than 10,000 soldiers to rebel after the Western Army was recruited and surrendered.
Great Ping Dynasty.
In addition, those who defected to the Daping Dynasty included more than 10,000 soldiers from Hannan's deputy general Hu Xianghua, Huangfu Camp guard Gao Luan, and the Shiyingbao frontier troops from Xiangshui to Ningsai in northern Shaanxi.
It can be seen that when Li Zicheng was rushing through the northwest, the former Ming Dynasty generals who were forced to surrender to the Dashun regime almost all defected to the Daping Dynasty. As a result, the total strength of the Western Expeditionary Army suddenly increased to 20.
Fifty thousand people.
Moreover, the political rebellion of these former Ming generals caused great harm to the Dashun Army. When their attitude was ambiguous and they had not openly rebelled, Li Zicheng and others had to leave a considerable number of the old Dashun Army troops to take precautions.
Surveillance, this is urgently needed on the front line
They were unable to fully and effectively concentrate their forces during reinforcements; and when they rebelled, these people were often eager to attack the Daping Dynasty. Or they launched a treacherous surprise attack on the Dashun Army, or used the area where they were garrisoned as an entrance ceremony, or even
It’s both.
As a result, the Ming Dynasty's rebellion in the northwestern region caused officials and generals to be demoted. The rear area that Li Zicheng and others had worked so hard to manage suddenly became full of wars, making it impossible to hold on. When the Western Expeditionary Army conquered northern Shaanxi, it was like a domino-like situation.
fee
The whole territory of Shaanxi. Except for Yulin and Yan'an guarded by Gao Yigong and Li Guo, the other former Ming surrendered generals responsible for defending the castles along the border were quickly pulled over by the Daping army, leaving Yulin and Yan'an isolated and helpless.
status.
It is precisely because of the rebellion of a large number of demoted officers and generals that the Western Expeditionary Army does not need to consider dividing its troops to station in various places; it does not need to consider supplies; it does not need to consider replenishing soldiers; it does not need to consider local management, and it can quickly expand its troops.
Increase investment in military offensive in the northwest.
Faced with a favorable situation, Xue Yong, Quan Dashan and others immediately pursued Remaining Yong. On the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, the Western Expedition Army was divided into three groups: Xue Yong personally led the main force of 120,000, and followed the Dashun Army heading south.
; Quan Dashan was awarded the rank of General of Sichuan (on the way by Daping
Posthumously awarded by the imperial court), he led 90,000 troops into Sichuan to annihilate Zhang Xianzhong's Daxi Army. Jiang Cheng and Zhao Degong each led 10,000 troops and went north to join Jiang Quan in Yulin. They combined nearly 40,000 troops to pursue them and fled westward from Yulin and Yan'an.
Gao Yigong, Li Guo's army was in great harmony.
Gao Yigong and Li Guo's troops saw that the northwest region had been successively occupied by the Daping Army and could no longer gain a foothold in northern Shaanxi, so they were eventually forced to retreat. After that, the Dashun Army had to take a roundabout way to join Dang Shousu and others who were guarding Gansu.
Heading south to Sichuan via Hanzhong
, and then went down the river. It was not until more than a year later that the remnants of the Dashun Army of more than 10,000 people joined forces in Yunnan with the remaining Dashun Army who had followed Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin southward. By that time, both Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin
Already died in battle.
The rise of the Dashun Army had neither a deep foundation nor time to settle, so once things went wrong, the Dashun regime collapsed like a building built on the beach.
In particular, the Dashun regime itself did not have a stable rear, and the key to this was that Li Zicheng and others ignored and even were hostile to the official, gentry and landlord class. Therefore, without culture, you may be able to conquer the country, but without culture, you will definitely not be able to defend the country.
.The main reason why the Dashun Army retreated steadily after the Battle of Yutian was not that the Daping Army was invincible, but because of its own internal instability.
The northwest military strategy actively expanded by Xue Yong, Quan Dashan and others also accelerated the pace of the Great Ping Dynasty's unification of the country.
In particular, the main force of the Western Expedition Army led by Xue Yong, who is pursuing the Dashun Army, will strive to join forces with the Southern Expedition Army led by Zhou Xun and Zhang Biao to attack the remnants of the Dashun Army led by Li Zicheng. Of course, if they can take advantage of the situation and invade Nanming,
, they will never stop. Although the main attack direction of the Daping Dynasty is the Manchu Qing Dynasty in Liaodong, if they can invade the Jiangnan area without spending too much troops, then why not do it?
The rapid defeat of the Dashun Army also led to the rapid death of Li Zicheng. Since Li Zicheng did not want to tangle with the Daping Army stationed in the Xiangfan area, the Dashun Army marched west of the Han River, then crossed the Yangtze River and headed eastward towards Nanjing to seize the opportunity.
Occupy the southeastern wealth area before the Daping army.
At this time, in the Huguang area of southern Henan, the strength of the Daping Army was actually very empty. Therefore, Zhou Xun could only divide his troops into two groups. He asked Zhang Biao to take command of the garrison troops, while he personally led the 14,000 troops in Xiong Chui Town.
The soldiers and horses flanked the remnants of Dashun's army.
Comparatively speaking, the Dashun Army still far outnumbered the Daping Army at this time. However, after consecutive defeats, their morale was low. When they retreated, they took their families with them and moved slowly. On the 29th of the first month, the main force of the Dashun Army
After retreating to Fang County, they stayed here for a long time. It was not until Xue Yong's Daping Army caught up with them that they broke camp and went south on March 18.
During this long period of rest, Li Zicheng suspected Li Yan of rebelling and set up an ambush to kill Li Yan. Li Yan's first wife committed suicide. The whereabouts of the red lady are unknown, and there are rumors that she lived in seclusion in the world.
From March to April of the first year of Qiongyuan, the Daping Army fought eight times in seven places including Fangxian, Baode, Jingmen, Jingzhou, Honghu, Xianning, and Jiujiang, Jiangxi, and the Dashun Army was defeated in all of them. And here
The eight battles mentioned were not all direct confrontations between the main force of the Dashun Army and the Daping Army. They only mentioned some larger battles.
In April, the Dashun army arrived in Jiujiang, and Zuo Liangyu, who was guarding Jiujiang in the Nanming Dynasty, was in danger. Yuan Jixian, the governor of Jiangxi in the Nanming Dynasty, thought that the Dashun army would march towards Nanjing along the south bank of the Yangtze River, so he led a part of the army to Jingdezhen to join Zuo Liangyu in Jiujiang.
They echo each other from afar.
However, although the Dashun Army was vulnerable to the Daping Army, it was more than enough to deal with Zuo Liangyu's tribe in the Southern Ming Dynasty. The main force of the Dashun Army defeated Zuo Liangyu's general Ma Jinzhong in Ruichang.
shock.
Zuo Liangyu was also frightened out of his mind, so he had to make a big fuss about the "Prince from the North" issue, raised the banner of the Qing monarch, and claimed that he would go to Nanjing to attack Ruan Dacheng and others. (This incident will be described in detail later)
After the Zuo Army moved eastward on April 23, there were no troops stationed in Jiujiang, and Li Zicheng took the opportunity to occupy the city.
Li Zicheng's plan at that time was to seize the southeast as the base of the Dashun Army, so in order to concentrate his strength, he incorporated the Dashun Army and other battalions of peasant armies staying in various places along the way into the army. But in this way, when
During the Zhouxun patrol, when Xue Yong's Daping army came after them, the rear of Dashun's army was empty and had no power to block the Daping army's advance. However, Li Zicheng and others could only flee all the way, and could not even find time to rest.
Because the Dashun Army did not leave a large number of troops to guard the place, nor did it organize the necessary counterattack in a timely manner, but just marched eastward, this reckless approach finally led to a disastrous defeat. In May, when the Great Ping Dynasty
The army pursued them to Fuchikou, Yangxin, and took advantage of the Dashun army's unpreparedness to rush into the camp, causing the Dashun army to suffer another defeat.
In the latter part of the same month, the Dashun army was attacked into the old camp forty miles away from Jiujiang, Jiangxi. The Dashun army had been in battle for a long time, and the outstanding general Liu Zongmin was captured, as well as military advisor Song Xiance, Ming surrender general Zuo Guangxian, and Li Zicheng's
His two uncles, Marquis Zhao and Marquis Xiangnan, and a large number of family members of the generals accompanying the army were also captured by the Qing army.
Unwilling to surrender and fearing trouble, Zhou Xun ordered Liu Zongmin and Li Zicheng's two uncles to be killed, while Song Xiance and Zuo Guang surrendered first. Around this time, Prime Minister Niu Jinxing also thought that the situation was over and left without saying goodbye.
, started a desertion
. Niu Jinxing’s son Niu Quan was originally the Yin of Shangluo Prefecture of the Dashun regime. When the Dashun army was retreating steadily, he surrendered to the Daping Dynasty long ago. He was first appointed as the magistrate of the Daping Dynasty, and later was gradually promoted to Daping.
Governor of Shaanxi Province.
After Niu Jinxing escaped from the Dashun Army, he lived in Niu Quan's government office and enjoyed the old man's happiness until his death at the age of eighty-three. What a dramatic life!
In early June, Li Zicheng traveled to the foot of Jiugong Mountain in Tongshan County, Hubei Province, and was suddenly attacked by armed local landlords. At that time, he was only followed by his adopted son Zhang Nai and 28 soldiers. Seeing that there were not many soldiers, the landlords swarmed up.
Twenty-eight soldiers were killed one after another, and Li Zicheng also died on the battlefield during the fight.
It is true that its prosperity is booming and its demise is sudden!
