As the biggest tycoon in the late Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng was actually a man of great courage. The reason why he said this is because from the time he raised his army, he had been defeated and defeated repeatedly. At the most miserable time, there were only eighteen riders left!
If this were the case for ordinary people, they would have become disheartened and hid in the mountains and forests. However, he did not just stay silent. He defected to other bandits and was willing to become his little brother and start over again, and then slowly grew stronger.
It can be said that in the past ten years since he started his army, he has been in a state of embarrassment even though he has been attacking cities and plundering territory. It has only been in the past two or three years that he has truly become unstoppable. Now he finally conquered a territory and stood up against the Ming Dynasty and the Xian thieves. Facing him,
The Ming court could only retreat steadily and become embarrassed.
They took Jingxiang as their base, then occupied Xi'an to establish the country, and then the Eastern Expedition once reached outside the gate of Beijing. It was said to be at the height of their power. Although they were pushed back to the west bank of the Yellow River by Chang Yu, the foundation was not damaged. Why did they suddenly seek peace?
As Chang Yu expected, Zhang Xianzhong's life is not easy now!
Before the Eastern Expedition, the sun was indeed at its peak, and no one could stop him from meeting Buddha and killing Buddha.
The same thing happened after crossing the Yellow River, but stopped at Taiyuan.
The Battle of Taiyuan was the strongest counterattack he suffered in the past two or three years. In the end, he was defeated and stopped in Taiyuan, but this defeat only scratched the surface. Then he followed Liu Fangliang's route and took the east road to Baoding Prefecture, where he fought with the aliens.
Chang Yu, who had gained prominence as a soldier, fought several fierce battles and finally escaped in embarrassment. At this time, the most they could do was cut off a few pieces of his flesh without damaging his muscles and bones.
What really made him unforgettable was Gao Jie's three hyenas biting him thousands of miles away.
Although Chang Yu's liger is fierce, it only damages its skin and consumes most of the fallen soldiers, that is, the original officers and soldiers and cannon fodder. However, the hyena digs out the crotch and uses insidious and vicious methods. It bites all the way for thousands of miles, causing Li Zicheng to lose his troops and suffer unspeakably.
It was a huge blow to the morale of the military.
Although after withdrawing to Xi'an, Li Zicheng's staff were all bragging about their strategic successes. For example, this Eastern Expedition broke through more than ten state capitals of the imperial court and destroyed dozens of cities, which caused great damage and blow to the imperial court and made it short-lived.
Time was unable to disturb Xi'an, so they could take the opportunity to stabilize the regime, which was also the main purpose of launching the Eastern Expedition.
Secondly, the surrender of troops and cannon fodder consumed a lot of the strength of the officers and soldiers, and also eliminated these burdens for themselves. The real regular soldiers and horses of the direct line did not suffer much damage.
Third, a large amount of wealth and materials were plundered.
From this perspective, it is indeed a victory.
However, it is an indisputable fact that he lost troops and generals. Everyone knows that a group of important generals under his command died and surrendered. Especially at this time, Li Yan was the pillar of the Ming Dynasty, and the governor of the Yellow River, such as Hao Yaoqi, Liu Tichun, etc.
He was the vanguard general of the Ming Dynasty.
And did he really lose only his fur? He did use troops and artillery fire to consume the strength of his officers and soldiers, but in the later battlefields and during the thousands of miles of escape, his elite were severely hit by the three hyenas more than once or twice.
The most elite troops under his command, Ma Bao and Luo Hu, were severely defeated.
Let’s talk about the wealth they plundered. There was indeed a lot of wealth in the three provinces, more than ten prefectures and dozens of counties, but how much was left after crossing the west of the Yellow River? Did the three great heroes Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo share so much wealth?
Therefore, his so-called second and third items are actually just propaganda terms used to fool ordinary people and comfort themselves. In fact, only the first item is true: a strategic victory was achieved.
That is to say, the original purpose of the Eastern Expedition was accomplished.
It caused harm to so many places, left so much mess, and caused so many people's homes to be destroyed. It was indeed a fatal blow to the Ming court, and it was indeed impossible to deal with him in a short time.
The so-called self-knowledge of warmth and coldness is one thing to publicize to the outside world, but it is another thing to know one's own situation.
Li Zicheng breathed a sigh of relief when he just escaped from the Yellow River. Although he was injured, he always felt that the strategy was successful and the gains outweighed the losses. He could run Xi'an with peace of mind. What's more, Bai Wang was still singing all the way in the Yangtze River Basin, so he was still relatively optimistic about the prospects.
of.
But the optimism did not last long. News of Bai Wang's demise spread to Xi'an, which surprised Li Zicheng and the thieves. They thought that Bai Wang could fight Zuo Liangyu for several years in Jiujiang and win every battle. How awesome is that?
Damn it, how come the eunuch was destroyed not long after he left?
Thinking again about the mighty army of hundreds of thousands during his Eastern Expedition, and his ultimate defeat at the hands of the eunuch, I thought that Bai Wang's destruction was reasonable.
The fall of Bai Wang was a huge blow to Li Zicheng, because it directly caused a major change in the situation, and he was instantly at a disadvantage. What's even worse, bad news soon came. The officers and soldiers gathered together to march to the front line of the Yellow River to see how the formation was about to cross the river.
Attacked?
Li Zicheng, who was still thinking about recuperating, had no choice but to quickly mobilize his troops and generals to defend the Yellow River. He was surprised that the imperial court still had the strength to continue the conquest? Are their skinny camels really bigger than horses?
But as for myself, it had just been less than half a year since the founding of the country in Xi'an. The foundation was unstable and the morale was low due to the loss of troops after the Eastern Expedition. However, I was busy deploying defenses to deal with the officers and soldiers crossing the river and marching westward. In an instant, the pressure came over me like Mount Tai.
But then more bad news came. Zuo Liangyu from Wuchang sent troops to attack Jingzhou!
Damn it!
Being attacked from both sides, Li Zicheng couldn't help but tense up.
Li Zicheng didn't know why Zuo Liangyu, who had been sitting on the mountain watching the fight between tigers and tigers, suddenly launched an army to attack Jingzhou. However, if his so-called two hundred thousand troops really attack Jingzhou, Jingzhou will definitely not be able to defend it. If Jingzhou loses Xiangyang, it will be in danger.
With no way out, the officers and soldiers here cross the river again to attack Xi'an. Where will they go?
Xinjiang?
The sudden change in the situation made Li Zicheng very passive. While paying attention to the war in Jingxiang, he also had to deploy the Yellow River defense line. This made him feel very strenuous when he had not even settled down in Xi'an, especially since the troops who had just gone through the Eastern Expedition had already
There was a great sense of war weariness and morale was extremely low.
But this kind of pressure is not unprecedented for Li Zicheng. In the past years, he was beaten and he still had eighteen years left to ride. No matter how hard he is now, he still has one-third of an acre. But so to speak, the so-called bare feet are not afraid of wearing them.
Shoes, there were only eighteen riders left back then and there was nothing left to lose. The mentality was completely different. Now, even if a pillar of the shop that was finally built up was broken, it would be heartbreaking.
Just when the pressure doubled, he suddenly contacted Gu Junen, who had been lost in the battle in Baoding Prefecture. He was still fighting guerrillas on the east bank of the Yellow River with a small number of defeated troops, and was in contact with the craftsman and the green forest road there.
From Gu Junen, he learned that the young eunuch Chang Yu had been very arrogant and ostentatious recently, so he thought of the Jianghu people's solution, which was to assassinate Chang Yu. The court was suddenly like a chicken in the past few years because of this eunuch.
If Kong is out of the world, as long as he is killed, the imperial court will be in disarray. Although there are generals, they will fight on their own and no one will submit to anyone. There is nothing to be afraid of in dispersion.
However, bad news soon followed. Gu Junen's entire army was taken away, and he himself did not know whether he was alive or dead. The Ming army was more tightly guarded on the Yellow River defense line, and its spies and spies entered the country more frequently and became more rampant.
There was a group of people who did not conceal their whereabouts. After entering the country, they rampaged across several counties, fighting their way in and out. It was simply too rampant.
What makes Li Zicheng even more chilled is that in recent months, the city of Xi'an has suddenly fallen into a white terror. Many generals or staff under his command have been assassinated. The assassination activities are very carefully planned. They are frequent and precise. Either one hit is sure to hit, or one hit misses.
He immediately ran away.
This caused panic among the troops in Xi'an.
Of course he knew that this was the little eunuch sending people into the country to assassinate him in kind.
But this is what shocked him, because he thought that the people had a good foundation, and everyone on the Green Forest Road respected him as the leader of the alliance, but judging from the opponent's assassination methods, they were all charlatanism. What does this mean...