While Ma Bao quickly attacked and captured the three counties in the southern part of Hejian Prefecture, Zhang Pili also led the cavalry troops and rushed to Guguan for reinforcements. Guguan is one of the most important passes in Zhenbao Town, starting from Niangziguan in the north to Jiayu Valley in the south.
If the solid pass at the entrance of Baihui Village is lost, then the flanks of Li Laiheng's entire army will be directly threatened by the enemy.
The four famous passes in the west of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty, Juyong Pass, Zijin Pass, and Daoma Pass, are now controlled by the Ming and Qing coalition forces. If even Gu Pass is lost, then the entire North China situation and the invading army will be at risk.
It's hard to do anything big anymore.
Birds pass through the clouds, and the scenery is the same as the desert. From Han Xin to Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, this pass is often the key to determining the fate of North China.
When Zhang Pili rushed to the vicinity of Guancheng, he looked up and saw the flag of the invading army still flying above Guancheng. He felt a little more relaxed, but he still did not dare to relax completely, for fear that this would be
The enemy's deception plan.
Zhang Pizhu, who has been baptized in countless battles, is still very young, just a young general much younger than Li Laiheng. However, his rich battlefield experience has made Zhang Pizhu the oldest in Chu Chuang's army.
One of the most seasoned warriors.
The walls of Guguan Pass are all made solid with lime clay grouting. They are solid and dangerous, majestic and majestic. On the top of the wall is the way for garrison generals to patrol the city. There are forts and forts built on the top of Songshan Mountain around the city.
Yu was worried about an enemy ambush, so he first divided his troops to approach from the mountain road in ambush, and at the same time sent several cavalry into Guancheng to explore.
The west gate of Guancheng is inlaid with the word "Gu Guan" engraved on the forehead. The octagonal tower is majestic. There are bronze cannons and dozens of iron cannons on both sides of the tower. The towers on both sides of the city gate are impressive.
The sidewalks are all paved with stones and are very solid.
Between the west city gate and the east city gate is an arc-shaped urn city circle more than 100 meters long. After Chu Chuang's detective cavalry entered the urn city to confirm, Zhang Pizhu finally felt relieved, believing that Guguan was still under the control of the Chuang army.
.
He immediately ordered all the cavalry troops he led to be brought into Guancheng to increase the strength of the defenders. At the same time, he immediately asked the defenders about the development of the battle in Shanxi.
There is an archery path inside Guancheng, which is a place for officers and soldiers to shoot arrows. There is a training ground outside the city, and now it has become a place where Zhang Pikui temporarily collects wounded and defeated soldiers. Not long after arriving at Guguan, he discovered that in the middle of Shanxi
, there are many broken-up soldiers scattered in the north.
There is also a Xuanwu Temple in the Xifeng Mountain nearby. Because when Zhu Di Jingnan was raising troops, he often tied himself to the myth of Emperor Xuanwu, so Xuanwu belief occupied a very important position in the Ming Dynasty.
At this time, not only the Xuanwu Temple, but also the nearby Guandi Temple, Notre Dame Palace, Lao Mu Temple and other temples became places where Zhang Pizhu took in wounded soldiers from the invading army.
He really didn't expect that in just half a day after he arrived at Gu Pass, he would be able to accommodate hundreds of escaped soldiers from the invading army.
The corruption of the situation in Shanxi is evident.
"What exactly is going on in the Battle of Yanmen?"
Chu Chuang already had a very detailed understanding of the defeat of Chu Chuang's army in Datong. He knew that Zhang Tianlin and Zhang Tianlin's black-faced army of more than 10,000 troops had long been wiped out.
But including Zhang Pizhu, because the situation in Shanxi was too chaotic, after Tian Jianxiu and Jiang led more than 30,000 troops to Yanmen, what the battle situation was like and what the outcome of this army of more than 30,000 people was completely unclear.
I don’t know.
Thirty thousand elite soldiers is by no means a small number even for the Chuangjun regime, which has now expanded its overall strength to more than 200,000 soldiers.
What's more, the 30,000 old men under Tian Jianxiu, except for the right battalion troops originally commanded by Yuan Zongdi and the old Jin troops temporarily summoned by Jiang, most of them came from the Chu army except Chu.
The most elite Zhongying pro-army outside Chuang.
If thirty thousand were all red...
Zhang Pixuan could not imagine this situation. Li Zicheng has not yet completely pacified the northwest. If these 30,000 soldiers and horses are wiped out, then Li Laiheng's 50,000 troops alone will definitely not be able to defend the southern Hebei front line.
In this case, it was necessary for Zhang Pizhu to inform Li Laiheng immediately and be prepared to withdraw to Henan in one fell swoop.
He put his hand on his forehead and felt anxious about the future of the invading army. However, the defenders at the gate told Zhang Pizhu a new situation that, although not optimistic, still had a glimmer of hope.
Some of the defenders at Guguan and the defeated troops who fled here personally participated in the fierce battle that took place at Taihe Ridge near Yanmen Pass. Tian Jianxiu led the main force of the Shanxi garrison of more than 30,000 invaders and was unexpectedly attacked by Ming Dynasty.
The Qing coalition forces had a premeditated ambush. Sun Chuanting seized key passes in advance, densely deployed guns and artillery, and circled around for bombardment. The intruders were caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties.
But after all, this army was mostly elite soldiers. Although it was at an absolute disadvantage compared to the enemies in front of them in terms of strength and number of guns, Tian Mixiu himself was not an outstanding battlefield commander.
But at the critical moment, Jiang fought bravely. He was worthy of being one of the few frontier generals in the Ming army. At the critical moment when the Chuang army was attacked and in chaos, it was Jiang who made suggestions for Tian Jianxiu to stabilize the Chinese army. When Sun Chuanting ended the gun bombardment,
When Dorgon led his troops to forcibly attack the main force of the rebel army, it was Wang Fuchen, a young general under Jiang, who clashed with the rebel army. He fought ten battles and ten battles with unparalleled bravery and withstood the first wave of the Eight Banners soldiers' attack.
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This allowed the Chuang army to pack up their troops and adjust their posture in the narrow mountain road, avoiding the danger of being defeated by the Ming and Qing coalition forces at the first opportunity.
Even Zhang Pili couldn't help but admired after hearing Wang Fuchen's heroic deeds of rushing and killing in the rebellious army: "What a brave cavalryman, comparable to Lu Fengxian during the Three Kingdoms."
However, the Ming and Qing coalition forces originally had a strength of more than 50,000. After the Battle of Datong and the surrender of Liu Qian's Ming Dynasty border army, the total strength reached as many as 70,000.
In comparison, Tian Jianxiu's 30,000 troops were actually at an absolute disadvantage. What's more, the invading army was ambushed by the enemy in a premeditated manner. They did not gain an advantage in terms of time and location, lost the opportunity, and were once defeated.
Sun Chuanting commanded the cannon and artillery troops to inflict unnecessary casualties, and morale suffered a huge blow.
Even if Jiang and Wang Fuchen fought bravely for a while to stabilize the Chuang army's front, it only prevented the Chuang army from collapse immediately, and could not reverse the victory at all.
During the fierce battle, Dorgon personally led his troops to rush down the hillside and storm the flanks of the Chuang army. Tian Hu, the general of the Chuang army, tried his best to resist and organized infantry to set up musketry in an attempt to stop the Qing army's offensive.
However, the old troops of the Chuang Army were not mentally prepared for the ferocity and bravery of the Eight Banners soldiers. Because of Chu Chuang's victory in Dangshan, neither Tian Jianxiu, Ren Jirong nor Tian Hu regarded these braided soldiers as such terrible strong men.
enemy.
As a result, immediately after the battle with Dorgon, because the troops were not strong enough and the battle line was too thin, the Eight Banners soldiers broke through several defense lines in succession, causing the entire army to waver and the situation to deteriorate.
According to the soldiers of the Chuang Army in Guguan, the fierce charge launched by the Qing army on the flanks of the Chuang Army did not cause much direct damage to the Chuang Army. However, during the chaotic battle, General Tian Hu, who was ordered to command the firearms unit of the Chuang Army, was killed by the Eight Banners.
The soldier shot an arrow in the neck, fell off his horse and died in battle.
His death dealt another fatal blow to the morale of the Chuang army, causing chaos in the Chinese army. The Eight Banners soldiers took advantage of the situation to make a surprise attack. At the most dangerous moment, they almost rushed in front of Tian Jianxiu and seized the large banner of the Chinese army of the Chuang army.
Fortunately, the valley is narrow and constricted. In addition to making it difficult for the Chuang army to maneuver, it also restricted the Ming and Qing coalition forces from further exerting their superiority in strength. At the critical moment, Jiang led his old troops to abandon their horses and fight on foot, desperately blocking the rest of the Qing army's offensive.
This quite surprised Zhang Pili, because he had always admired Li Laiheng's judgment and had long regarded Jiang as a particularly unreliable figure. He did not expect Jiang to be so brave.
However, Tian Jianxiu could not save the victory after all. Although the Chuang army blocked the Qing army's offensive, they tried their best to attack northward, trying to break through Sun Chuanting's weakest frontal defense line.
However, because the generals of the Qin army who followed Sun Chuanting at this time, such as Gao Jie and Li Chengdong, were also brave for a while. The two sides fought a bloody battle of attrition near Taihe Ridge.
Unable to break through the encirclement, Dorgon attacked the rear and suffered heavy casualties. In the end, only about half of the troops escaped from the encirclement and returned to Taiyuan through Dingxiang.
However, the allied forces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties continued to pursue and kill them along the way. Tian Jianxiu originally wanted to set up defenses in the prefectures and counties north of Taiyuan, but due to the heavy casualties in the Battle of Yanmen, he was overtaken by the allied forces several times along the way, causing even greater casualties.
By the time he fled back to Taiyuan, only about 10,000 of the more than 30,000 elite soldiers remained. The number of casualties in this battle was actually the most tragic since Li Zicheng launched his army.
After hearing the news, Zhang Pili was speechless about Tian Jianxiu's military talent, but he was also grateful: "At least the whole army was not wiped out! With 10,000 troops left, we can at least hold Taiyuan for a few days... I think
During this period, Chuang Wang’s army is crawling, so it’s time to crawl back to Shanxi, right?”