Chapter 29: During the Northern Expedition (Part 2)
You Shiwei and others worked diligently to collect grain and grass in Shanxi in order to participate in the fruits of victory in recapturing Beijing.
Even if Beijing didn't fight, it still managed to overwhelm the Mongolian tribes along the way, recapture Xuanfu, and then go south to Beizhili. These are all achievements!
There is no greater achievement than recovering territory.
Of course, Beijing is indeed greedy. As far as he knows, if nothing unexpected happens, the imperial court will award eight points of merit for this battle.
This is the second time after the Battle of Nanjing that the merit points have exceeded eight.
Why isn't it coveted?
Time is passing by little by little.
On the fifth day of August, the Ming army, which was like a tortoise racing, finally arrived at Tianjin Wei.
There is no need to go into details about the origin of Tianjin Wei. Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, crossed the river to the south and called it Tianzi Jindu.
At this time, Tianjin Guard was divided into three, including Tianjin Guard, Tianjin Left Guard and Tianjin Right Guard. It was not until the ninth year of Shunzhi in original history that the three guards were unified.
Of course, the origins of Tianjin’s special accent are firstly the Huaihai army who came from Nanjing when the capital was moved, and secondly the Huaihe army under his command who was stationed in Tianjin when Li Hongzhang was the Minister of Beiyang in the late Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, upon entering Tianjin, many soldiers immediately noticed a familiar smell.
Similar accents can bridge the gap between people.
In this way, Li Jizu felt relieved.
He called Li Yingren and said, "Tianjin is an important place and must be guarded by someone."
Li Yingren was shocked. Are you trying to exclude me from regaining Beijing?
Sure enough, Li Jizu's words did not go beyond what he expected, and he said directly: "General Li, as far as I know, your army has been established for less than a year, and most of its troops have only been trained for less than two months."
"With all due respect, it is difficult to fight those Mongols and Manchus with such troops and horses."
Hearing this, Li Yingren clenched his fists and his face turned red. He hesitated again and again and could only lower his head.
There was a reason why he recognized it so quickly and swiftly.
After defeating Cangzhou, some counties on the road were no longer of concern, but they still continued to resist and fought to the death.
At this time, Xingji County still refused to surrender, so Li Jizu was not prepared to send out elite soldiers such as the Jingying camp, but instead asked the newly arrived Pidao soldiers to fight.
Among the armies, the ones he was most worried about were the Yuyuan Army and the Pidao Army. After spending several months in Yanzhou, he had a deep understanding of the Yuyuan Army, with the exception of the Pidao Army.
So this is a test.
As a result, tens of thousands of Pidao troops attacked a county town garrisoned by a thousand people, and the fight was so intense that there was a stalemate all morning.
In the end, it was the Henan Army who charged in to end the problem.
Such an actual battle not only exposed the Pidao Army's lack of siege capabilities, but also revealed its bloated characteristics.
That is to say, among ten thousand people, there are only a few hundred elites, but they are dragged down by other soldiers and horses and cannot show their strength.
In addition, Li Yingren was unwilling to sacrifice his elite troops and urged new troops to join the army, which led to the delay of the war.
To put it bluntly, if you expect a group of new recruits who have just heard military orders to fight, it can only be said to be a boring life.
The Yuyuan Army was even more powerful than him.
Although it has been an army for a long time, it has always been a bandit, relying on individual bravery without a sense of community.
Once they encountered an organized army, they were immediately defeated. Thanks to the favorable location, otherwise they would have been wiped out long ago.
In order to fight decisively, Yuyuan Army and Pidao Army must be eliminated from the ranks.
"The final general is willing to obey the command of the military commander."
"good!"
Li Jizu patted him on the shoulder and said happily: "I want you to garrison Tianjin Guards and protect the canal. In addition, I will order you to monitor the Yuyuan Army."
"Don't worry, you are indispensable for the meritorious service, at least it will be the last one."
"The Yuyuan Army won't go either?"
Li Yingren ignored the last sentence and said in surprise.
"Most of them won't go."
Li Jizu shook his head and said: "Ren Qi and Zhang Qi will only bring the most elite 3,000 people with them, while you will monitor the remaining troops at Tianjin Guard. Don't let them harass the people."
"The general will obey the order."
Li Yingren sighed and reluctantly agreed.
After appeasing Li Yingren, Li Jizu led an army of 100,000 people and marched to Beijing in a mighty manner.
At this time, the city of Beijing was like a ghost land, with an empty sky and no human habitation.
Since the last years of Chongzhen, Beijing has been suffering.
Plague and smallpox took turns to be rampant, killing hundreds of thousands and causing heavy population losses.
When Li Zicheng entered Beijing, it was difficult to restrain all the soldiers. For a time, the torture of officials turned into the torture of rich people, and ordinary people were also affected, making things worse.
By the time the Manchus came to power, only 20 to 30% of the once large city with a population of one million remained.
The families of the Eight Banners moved in and finally gained popularity, but in the past few months they were forced to return outside the customs. In addition, they smelled the military disaster, and the people fled the capital one after another.
It is not surprising that there are more animals than people.
Emperor Shunzhi had returned to Shengjing long ago, and the regent Dorgon originally planned to stay, but was dissuaded by the civil servants.
"The Regent must not bear the burden of a defeat——"
In other words, those in power personally commanded the battle, and the victory was enough. Once the battle was defeated, the court would immediately be in turmoil.
Since Emperor Shunzhi was still young, Dorgon was the cornerstone of the Manchu Qing's retreat to Liaodong and had an irreplaceable role.
Even if the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty hated him, they had to hold their noses and recognize him.
The imperial commander's personal expedition is usually a last resort choice.
Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty was an exception. He had a prince to supervise the country and he could do whatever he wanted.
For example, the battle of Huai'an that Zhu Yixi fought was a life-and-death battle in which Jiangnan would be lost if he didn't fight. If he didn't fight, he wouldn't be able to do it, and he wouldn't worry about others.
But when it came to the Northern Expedition, even though it was of great significance, he gave up and let Li Jizu take command. He only gave strategic guidance.
From July to August 15th, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, I heard that the Ming army set off from Tianjin Wei.
Azig didn't take it seriously and continued to command his troops, quietly waiting for the Ming army to arrive.
On August 20, 100,000 Ming troops finally arrived near the eastern suburbs of Beijing, less than ten miles away from the city.
From mid-June to mid-August, it takes two months to get from Yanzhou, Shandong to Beijing, which is quite satisfactory.
Azir didn't waste any time and simply dispersed the Mongolian cavalry to his heart's content.
"They are indeed Mongols."
Li Jizu picked up the monocular and looked at the bright dome in the center of his head and the braided hair around it. He immediately knew he was a Mongolian.
Immediately, he glanced at the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty again, turned to Chen Yongfu and said: "I thought that the money rat braids were ugly enough, but I never thought that the Mongolians were better than others."
Compared with having braids on a bald head, he will not accept braids on a central bald head.
"Because the hair of the slaves was almost completely shaved, and they looked like monks in the temple, while Mongolia looked like a mutilated figure?"
Chen Yongfu smiled.
"No!"
Li Jizu shook his head and said calmly: "When you are old, you can wear money braids, but Mongolians cannot decorate them."
"Hahaha!"
Chen Yongfu laughed: "Who is not bald in old age?"