On the second day after Li Laiheng arrived in Jinan, after breakfast, he took some of his soldiers to personally inspect the terrain ahead and the situation of the officers and gentry groups practicing armed defense. He did not return to the city until noon to convene a meeting with the generals.
Since the Chuang Army's Northern Expedition, the progress of the three-pronged war has been very smooth:
Compared to Bai Guangen's remaining Qin troops, the troops of the West Route Army Luo Rucai and Yang Chengzu can be said to have more soldiers and generals, more people and strong morale. Yang Chengzu did not wait for Luo Rucai to lead the main force to arrive, and then attacked Tongguan first.
Guancheng launched an attack. Bai Guangen set up two high strongholds outside Guancheng, hoping to serve as a cover. However, as soon as the intruders arrived, the defenders of these high strongholds dispersed without any resistance.
All the family members of the defenders lived in Guancheng, so after they fled, they all ran westward to rush into Guancheng and escape with their families and children. However, Bai Guangen did not allow the defenders to open the city gate, and the soldiers broke away angrily.
They split open the Nanshuiguan fence and rushed into the city, hoping to take their families with them and then escape through the city from Beishuiguan.
Yang Chengzu, who was paying close attention to the war at the front, saw this rare opportunity and immediately led his troops into the city following the defeated troops. When Bai Guangen looked at the swarming defeated troops and the rebel soldiers following them,
There was no way to stop it, so I had to abandon Tongguan with my family, cut through the pass, and retreat to Xi'an.
Later, the main force of the West Route Army led by Luo Rucai also arrived at Tongguan. After the two armies merged, although Luo Rucai praised Yang Chengzu's prompt decision and praised him for his military exploits in winning Tongguan, he also blamed Yang Chengzu for letting Bai Guangen go because he was bent on occupying Guancheng.
a few words.
In fact, when the Guan soldiers were defeated, if Yang Chengzu had pursued Bai Guangen wholeheartedly, he could have completely wiped out the Qin soldiers during the pursuit. However, he could not plan this, and he only wanted to occupy Tongguan City and win the military exploits in front of him, so he gave up.
Running away from Bai Guangen can indeed be said to be a missed move.
Yang Chengzu was quite unhappy when he was scolded by this. It was only after the leniency of Cao Ying's military advisor Ji Duo, who had always been close to him, that Yang Chengzu put aside his awkward mood and continued to march towards Xi'an with Luo Rucai.
However, because Bai Guangen successfully escaped back to Xi'an, local officials intercepted 5,000 Sichuan soldiers who were passing through Xi'an to assist in defense. In addition, Yulin Daodu and former commander-in-chief Wang Shiqin, Hou Shilu, Hou Gongji, You Shiwei and other
General Ye also led his troops from northern Shaanxi to the south to reinforce Xi'an, and nearly 20,000 defenders were assembled in Xi'an city.
Because Shaanxi is the hometown of most of the generals of the Chuang Army, and Xi'an is the administrative seat and provincial capital of Shaanxi. Luo Rucai did not want to conduct an overly destructive siege in Xi'an, so he sent Ji to Xi'an with 50,000 taels of silver.
Trying to recruit Bai Guangen and others to surrender.
However, although the Chuang Army's Northern Expedition has captured many places, Sun Chuanting is still near Beijing. Bai Guangen has certain faith in Sun Baigu, and the generals of the Qin Army still have great doubts about the future of the Chuang Army. As a result,
The attempt to surrender ended in failure, and Luo Rucai spent several days sending envoys into the city to persuade them, but none of them worked, so he had no choice but to use force to attack the city.
Because Luo Rucai was unwilling to cause too much damage to the ancient city of Xi'an, and because he considered the living conditions of Xi'an citizens, he did not take the suggestions of Yang Chengzu and Ji to cut off Xi'an's water sources and food routes, and force them to surrender through starvation. Instead, he adopted the strategy of surrounding Sanque
One strategy.
Therefore, until the end of December of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, although the ancient city of Xi'an was already crumbling under the offensive of the Chuang army, it was still under the control of the imperial court. Yang Chengzu and Ji also lamented that Luo Rucai was really not Cao Cao's nature, and he would not do anything like this
Do we have to wait for Li Zicheng to personally lead his troops to seize the good opportunity in Guanzhong?
However, based on Luo Rucai's own considerations, maybe he really didn't want to make too great a contribution and cause a situation where his success would shock his master, so he deliberately delayed the time, waiting for Li Zicheng to resolve the battle in the middle, and then return to the division to help him capture Xi'an!
As for the battle in the middle route that Li Zicheng personally commanded, it was much smoother than that of Luo Rucai's west route army.
After the invasion army began the Northern Expedition in Leap November, Li Zicheng divided his troops into two groups. One group was commanded by Liu Fangliang. He first took advantage of the frozen Yellow River to cross the river and captured Huaiqing Mansion, and then wiped out northern Henan. The other main force was personally commanded by himself.
After crossing the river, it only took a few days to reach Zezhou Prefecture.
After that, the main army rested for a while in Zezhou and then continued to march towards Taiyuan. Lu'an and other prefectures were successively occupied by the intruders. After occupying Weihui Mansion, the partial division troops led by Liu Fangliang continued to move north to the south of Zhili.
At this time, the people of Shanxi were waiting for the arrival of the invading army like a drought. Song Xiance sent many people to the prefectures and counties in Shanxi to preach to the invading army that they would "not kill or commit adultery, and they would not tax their deeds."
The song "Give Me Grain" immediately created a sensational effect. Everywhere, civilians swarmed to defect to the invading army, and soldiers who owed money rushed to open the city to welcome Li Zicheng.
Seeing the disintegration of Shanxi people's hearts, Governor Cai Maode also managed to concoct a post on behalf of the people of Henan, claiming how brutal the invasion force was in Henan. However, this kind of fabricated public opinion could play a certain role in the past when the news was isolated.
But now that the invading army has come to Shanxi City, how can we convince the people of Jin?
What's more, even at the critical moment, the clan kings such as King Xihe and King Jiaocheng, who were sealed in southern Shanxi, were still stingy about keeping money and were unwilling to donate money to help defend the city.
Since the clans that cannot jump off the boat of the Ming Dynasty are so wise and wise in protecting themselves, how can Cai Maode, the governor of Shanxi, do anything to make those gentry who can change boats at any time come up with money?
By December 6, Li Zicheng's main army had arrived at Taiyuan City. It was only at this time that Jin King Zhu Qiugui was willing to spend a mere three thousand taels of silver and send it to the top of the city to "recruit dead men and kill thieves." But even so,
Shanxi Tixue Li Zhi actually deducted a large part of it and used merit notes instead of cash. The morale of the defenders was even lower and they could no longer sustain themselves.
In the early morning of the third day after Li Zicheng arrived at Taiyuan City, Zhang Xiong, the governor's general, opened the new south gate and surrendered. The king of Jin, Zhu Qiugui, was captured alive and all the palace property was confiscated. However, Li Zicheng considered the beginning of the new dynasty and there was no need to go on a killing spree.
, that is why he did not hang Zhu Qiugui on the palace lantern of the palace according to the custom of the Chuang Army.
Most of the officials in Taiyuan, headed by the governor Cai Maode, showed their loyalty to the imperial court. Although Li Zicheng acted as a courteous corporal and personally took the captured Jin King Zhu Qiugui with him to persuade Cai Maode and other officials to surrender, Cai Maode spat on him.
He vomited on Li Zicheng and still cursed him as a thieves in northern Shaanxi.
The angry general of the Chuang army was about to kill Cai Maode, but Li Zicheng stopped everyone and ordered many officials who were unwilling to surrender to be paid travel expenses and sent back to their hometowns, trying to win the hearts and minds of the Ming Dynasty officials. But Li Zicheng had just left.
, Cai Maode committed suicide by touching the wall, and six or seven other officials followed him and committed suicide by jumping into the water.
It can also be seen that not all officials in the Ming Dynasty were unscrupulous. There was no shortage of truly loyal people under Chongzhen, but most of these loyal people were placed in positions that were not suitable for them.
However, among Shanxi officials, there were also figures like Shanxi Ti Xuedao Li Zhi, who had previously deducted the reward for the defenders, and directly surrendered to the invaders. He knelt in front of Li Shuangxi and Dang Shousu, who had been ordered to torture officials at all levels in Shanxi, and tried their best to
To cleanse myself, I also dedicate ten thousand words of "eulogies" written to Li Zicheng.
Shao Shichang, who assisted Li Shuangxi in the torture and plundering work, persuaded Li Shuangxi in every possible way, saying that the generalisal allowed you to master the power of torture and the power of prestige and blessing came from you, so you could use this power to benevolent to the officials of the Ming Dynasty.
The officials of the Ming Dynasty who were pardoned in this way will be in your pocket from now on.
Although the power of torture originally belonged to the generals, the scope of arrests and releases was personally determined and controlled by Li Zicheng. It was only after the implementation of the nine-level system of recovering stolen goods and the invading army's occupation of the area.
As the situation continued to expand and the number of people tortured and looted continued to increase, Li Zicheng mainly considered the issues of paying officials above the sixth rank and the torture of officials above the third rank.
All lower-level torture matters were handed over to Li Shuangxi.
Li Shuangxi himself was not interested in Shao Shichang's suggestion, but after Niu Jinxing and Tian Jianxiu learned about the matter from Dang Shousu, they both went to Li Shuangxi in person, repeated the matter to him, and asked him to act as Shao Shichang suggested.
.
The surrendered people like Li Zhi escaped being tortured and paid. In addition, some officials who were imprisoned and tortured by the intruders were also released one after another because of Li Shuangxi's intervention, and even soon
Later, these people were recommended by Niu Jinxing and became officials again.
Because at this time, in the Datong and Ningwu areas, there were still 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers and horses from Jiang, Zhou Yuji and other tribes. Although their combat effectiveness was not as strong as that of the Qin army, they could not compete with the Chu army led by Li Zicheng in the middle in terms of quantity and quality.
Compared with the Northern Expeditionary Army, if the Jin soldiers resolutely defend the pass, they are still likely to cause some trouble to the invaders.
In order to eliminate the threat posed by the Datong frontier troops to Taiyuan, so that in the next step, the troops could be transferred back to Guanzhong to help Luo Rucai conquer Xi'an and wipe out the three sides, or mobilize the Eastern Expedition and attack the capital directly, it was necessary for the whole brigade to continue fighting northward.
After Li Zicheng rested and reorganized his troops in Taiyuan for five days, he divided his troops into two groups. One group he personally commanded to attack Ningwuguan, and the other group Li Zicheng commanded to attack Zhenwuwei.
Zhou Yuji, the commander-in-chief who defended Ningwuguan, was from the Yongwei Battalion of the Beijing New Army established by Chongzhen. Similar to Huang Degong, who is currently fighting Zhang Xianzhong in Jiangxi, he was one of the more adept generals in the army.
He guarded Ningwuguan and refused to surrender even when Li Zicheng personally called him to surrender. He even bent his bow and shot an arrow in front of Li Zicheng's horse.
However, the time before and after the battle of Ningwuguan was very short. It only took Li Zicheng two days to conquer Guancheng. Zhou Yuji died for the Ming Dynasty and died in the battle. He can be regarded as a loyal minister and good general, but realistically speaking
, he actually did not cause many casualties to the intruders at Ningwuguan, nor did he delay Li Zicheng for a few more days. 1
It was only after the news of Zhou Yuji's death in battle reached Beijing that Chongzhen and many officials in the government and the public were deeply moved. Later, it was gradually spread that Zhou Yuji "set up surprises to win every battle" at Ningwuguan, and that Chuang Jun
The half-month stalemate severely damaged Li Zicheng's myth of being the main force.
In fact, as long as you look at the specific time when the Chuang Army marched into each city and where the main force of the Chuang Army was every day in the past month, you will know that the myths of Zhou Yuji and Ningwuguan are only used by some people after all.
It's just a deceptive fantasy.
In just a few days, Ningwuguan and Zhenwuwei were lost one after another. Although Wei Jingyuan, the governor of Datong, still swore allegiance to Emperor Chongzhen, the commander-in-chief Jiang was already ready to find another boat. Jiang sent people on a special trip
He went to Ningwu and presented his report to Li Zicheng. He also sent his own servants to guide the invading army, which enabled Li Zicheng to occupy Datong, the most important pass in northern Shanxi, without a single soldier or a single blow.
Wei Jingyuan, the governor of Datong, was the same as Cai Maode. Although Li Zicheng tried every means to persuade him to surrender to the Chuang Army, but after three days of persuading him to surrender, Wei Jingyuan only changed the title of Li Zicheng from "Northern Shaanxi Bandit Horse" to "King Chuang".
"That's all.
When Li Zicheng saw that he refused to surrender, he didn't care much about it. He also praised Wei Jingyuan, "You are a loyal minister. I will take you back home by post." However, Wei Jingyuan was determined to die quickly. He was afraid that his life would be harmful.
The rule of the Ming Dynasty would make more officials of the court choose to survive, so on the day when Li Zicheng gave him fifty taels of travel expenses home, he took advantage of the opportunity when the guards relaxed their vigilance and committed suicide by drowning.
The surrender of General Jiang of Datong set off a storm among the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty. Everyone finally began to believe that the imperial court's national destiny was not far away, and at the beginning of the new dynasty, whoever surrendered earlier and occupied a position would be better than later ones.
Those who surrender are treated better.
It's just that after Li Zicheng occupied Datong, he immediately returned to Taiyuan and began to prepare for the great cause of opening an infrastructure ship. On the way, he also received unfavorable news about Luo Rucai's attack on Xi'an.
Therefore, Li Zicheng failed to receive letters of surrender sent one after another from Yanghe, Xuanfu and other places...
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1. "The Northern Strategy of the Ming Dynasty", Volume 20, "The Battle of Ji-Ningwu in Zhou Dynasty" said, "When encountering Ji, devise surprises to win, and you will win every battle." The stalemate lasted for half a month, and it was not until the first day of March that the Dashun army captured the city. This is
unreal.
According to the "Magazine" in Volume 30 of "Shanxi Tongzhi" in the 21st year of Kangxi's reign, Li Zicheng "started from Taiyuan on February 16th and arrived in Ningwu in a few days";
The manuscript of "Having Pressured the Cloud Realm and Other Things" states that the Dashun Army "passed Yanmen Pass on the 20th and attacked Ningwu on the 21st." According to Volume 11 of "Ningwu Prefecture Chronicles" in the 15th year of Qianlong's reign, the Dashun Army conquered Ningwu.
Wu's time is February 22nd.
This clearly shows that the entire Ningwu Campaign lasted only two days. As far as the officers and soldiers were concerned, they were already at the end of their strength and their morale was low. They only reluctantly faced the enemy under the pressure of Zhou Yuji. There was no "half-month stalemate" at all.
.
Zhou Yuji was commendable for his loyalty and bravery, but the so-called battle of Ningwu made Li Zicheng lament: "Although Ningwu was defeated, the damage was already severe. Since then, there have been 100,000 soldiers from Datong, 100,000 soldiers from Xuanfu, 200,000 soldiers from Juyong, and 200,000 soldiers from Yangzhou."
The legend that He and other townsmen have a total of 200,000 soldiers. Even if Ningwu is like Ningwu, there are still some survivors! It is better to go back to Shaanxi to rest and find another way." The legend is completely unbelievable.
In fact, the total number of Xuan soldiers was only 30,000 to 40,000, which was mediocre, and Yanghe's soldiers were even fewer. No matter how stupid Li Zicheng was, he would not be so ignorant of the enemy's situation, and it would be impossible for him to utter such a sigh without common sense.