At the end of January of the 16th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng had led a large army to help Luo Rucai conquer Xi'an. The outgoing commander-in-chief You Shiwei and others who were defending the city were all executed by Li Zicheng on the order of Li Zicheng because their hands were stained with the blood of the rebels.
After occupying Xi'an, Li Zicheng immediately deployed to clear out various Ming Dynasty strongholds in the northwest region, so as to relieve his worries before returning to Taiyuan to deploy the Eastern Expedition.
The specific deployment is: Li Zicheng left Luo Rucai to guard Xi'an, and he personally led Yuan Zongdi, Li Shuangxi, Liu Tichun, Li You, Wu Ruyi and other elite troops from the middle and right camps to continue to clear out the remaining Ming army strongholds in the northwest; Li Guo led the main force of the rear camp.
They marched south to Hanzhong and opened up the tunnel south to Sichuan; He Jin and other troops went west to pursue the fleeing Ming army, capturing Ningxia, Gansu, Xining and other places along the way.
In February, Li Zicheng returned to his hometown in fine clothes and returned to his hometown of Mizhi after a long absence. He was warmly welcomed by the local people. Before that, the Ming court had dug up the graves of Li Zicheng's grandfather and father and burned their remains. Li Zicheng returned this time
In my hometown, I only killed a local evil gentry who participated in planning to cut down the tomb, and I didn't commit any other crimes.
He also sent Liu Chang and Jiang Xueyi, the ministers of the Li government, to rebuild the ancestral tombs and offer sacrifices. In addition, Li Zicheng spent a lot of money to visit his old friends and relatives, and presented him with gold and silk. He also changed Yan'an to Tianbao Prefecture and Mizhi to Tianbao County.
Qingjian is Tianbo Mansion.
Li Guo's march south to Hanzhong was also very smooth. The prefectures and counties along the way surrendered. On February 12, Li Guo arrived in Chenggu County. It only took him one day to conquer the county. The Ming army stationed there tried to escape to Sichuan, but was captured on the way.
Li Guo led his troops to intercept and was forced to surrender.
Only Gao Doushu, Huang Shu, Wang Guangen and others who defended Fucheng City in Hanzhong Prefecture, because most of them had a grudge against the rebels, knew that they would have no way out if they fell into the hands of the rebels, so they resolutely resisted the attack of Li Guo's army.
Gao Doushu and Wang Guangen had the experience of holding on in Yunyang, and Huang Shu relied on the fact that he had defeated the invaders several times under the city of Kaifeng, so they sent reinforcements to Sichuan, and at the same time threatened the Hanzhong soldiers and civilians that the invaders were about to massacre the city, and mobilized the people to repair the city defenses.
However, Gao Yigong, the military governor of Wuyue under Li Laiheng at this time, after wresting control of Yuezhou in Hunan from Zhang Xianzhong, spied on the Changsha area several times at the end of the 15th year of Chongzhen. Zhang Xianzhong believed that Xiying and the Chuang Army
Due to the huge disparity in strength between the two armies, he decided to abandon the occupied central and southern areas of Hunan, join forces with his old friends He Yilong and Ma Shouying, and decided to forcefully pass through the Chuchuang-controlled area and seize Sichuan, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, as the foundation.
Therefore, the Sichuan side also had a clay Buddha crossing the river and could not protect itself. It could not provide the reinforcements that Gao Doushu, Huang Shu, Wang Guangen and others expected. After several days and nights of fierce attack and defense, Wang Guangen felt that he could no longer resist Li Guo's attack, so he persuaded Gao Doushu and others.
, fled to Sichuan at night.
On the way, the Ming army was pursued by Li Guo and suffered heavy casualties. Huang Shu disguised himself as a refugee and fled, but his whereabouts are unknown. Gao Doushu and Wang Guangen jumped into Sichuan.
After the Hanzhong area was pacified, Li Guo appointed He Zhen, a surrendered general who had served as a general under Fan Yiheng, Shaanxi Bingdao in the Ming Dynasty, to guard Hanzhong, and he returned to Xi'an.
He Jinze led the partial division to continue marching westward. After making an emergency landing in Guyuan, he then advanced from Fengxiang, Shaanxi to Gongchang. After occupying Gongchang Mansion, all the prefectures and counties fell without a fight.
In Ningxia, as soon as the rebellion's message arrived, the Ming Dynasty governor Li Yukui and the Qing King who was entrusted here were helpless. The Qing clan clan and civil and military officials gathered in the palace and decided to surrender after some discussions. Li Zicheng ordered the Ming Dynasty to supervise the army.
Dao Chen Zhilong was the military envoy of Ningxia, and Niu Chenghu, the surrendered general, guarded the area.
After Guyuan, Ningxia and other places were pacified, the Ming court's remaining strongholds in the northwest were left in relatively remote places such as Gansu and Qinghai. Since Gansu was far away, Li Zicheng returned to Xi'an first and handed over the task of continuing the Western Expedition.
He Jin and the generals of Zhongying Dang Shousu, Xin Sizhong and others.
In March, He Jin led his troops to Gansu and conquered Anding in one fell swoop. Jinxian County opened its doors to welcome the surrender, and the troops went straight to Lanzhou. Seeing the critical situation, Lieutenant General Ouyang Gun and others from Gansu Province in the Ming Dynasty persuaded King Su to rush west to Ganzhou.
The troops were drafted and stood firm. However, Su Fan's slaves and horses fell in love with each other and did not adopt this opinion. Ma and others fled to Ganzhou on their own. He Jin then took Lanzhou directly. King Su fled out of the city in a hurry and was captured by Yang Qi, the retired commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty.
As a greeting gift for surrendering to the rebel army.
He Jin was disgusted with him for selling his clients to gain wealth. He was neither loyal to the Ming Dynasty nor sincerely surrendered to the rebels. Therefore, he not only executed King Su, but also beheaded Yang Qi and his son. Although this approach made many people happy,
But it also aroused strong resistance among the civil and military officers of the Ming court who were still waiting to see what happened.
He Jin left Dang Shousu to guard Lanzhou, and he led his troops to continue marching westward. The Ming army in Liangzhou and the second guard of Zhuanglang surrendered successively, and the rebel army marched into Ganzhou. Lin Rirui, the governor of Gansu, the general soldiers and horses, and others organized a stubborn resistance. Due to the
The weather was getting warmer and the rebel soldiers were in high spirits. Xin Sizhong personally went into battle and led his troops to continuously attack the city. The officers and soldiers were forced to defend the city. When they saw this, they turned their sides and surrendered. The rebel army was able to successfully capture Ganzhou City. Lin Rirui,
The horses and others were put to death.
After the Chuang army successfully occupied Ganzhou, Suzhou and other places did not fight. He Jin sent officials to various prefectures and counties to appease the local areas, and the entire territory of Gansu was under the complete control of the Chuang army regime.
At this time, the rebel general Lu Wenbin, who was ordered by He Jin to march into Qinghai, led his troops to Xining. He was defeated by Qinghai chieftain Qi Tingjian, Lu Yinchang and others, and Lu Wenbin was killed. After He Jin heard the news, he personally led the army from Ganzhou to Xining
, because we were outnumbered, He Jin did not think much about it, and forcibly led his troops into the Qinghai Tusi area where there were many foreign races. Unfortunately, he was ambushed by the Tusi soldiers. Although he relied on his bloody courage to kill Lu Yinchang and annihilated them all.
, but unfortunately he was killed by a poisoned arrow.
He Jin's soldiers were filled with grief and anger and determined to avenge their general. Under the leadership of Xin Sizhong, they captured Xining, captured the chieftain Qi Tingjian alive, executed most of the local chieftains who had rebelled, and completely pacified Qinghai, which had been in turmoil since the Ming Dynasty.
In the area, the remaining chieftains flocked to Xi'an one after another, so Dang Shousu proposed that all these people move to Xi'an.
After that, Li Zicheng appointed Zhou Boda of Guanxi Province, who had surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, as the governor of Gansu Province, and promoted him to the general of control. In the Xining and Qinghai areas, because they were located on the border, where Westerners gathered, Li Zicheng directly asked Xin Sizhong to serve as governor.
A famous military general served as the military governor of Xining and exercised strong military control over the western border area.
He Jin, Xin Sizhong, and Dang Shousu's Western Expedition lasted several months. During this period, Tian Jianxiu suffered repeated defeats in Shanxi, resulting in the fall of Datong, the siege of Taiyuan, and the entire Jin Dynasty. Therefore, Li Zicheng, who had returned to Xi'an,
, they gathered the opinions of Niu Jinxing and Luo Rucai who hoped that Li Zicheng would become emperor.
Li Zicheng believed that although the Chuang Army had occupied northern Huguang, all of Henan and Shandong, part of Shanxi and Beizhili, it had now swept through several northwest provinces, and most of the northern areas had become the rear base of the Chuang Army. But the defeat of Shanxi showed that
The Ming court still had the energy to fight for the last time, especially after Chongzhen and his assistant minister Chen Xinjia implemented the national policy of uniting with the captives to quell the invaders, the balance of power between the enemy and ourselves changed again.
Therefore, Li Zicheng assessed the situation and decided to postpone proclaiming himself emperor. He issued a sign in Xi'an, claiming:
"Today, Taiyuan's Erfutian is trapped in the east of the river. General Li Guo has been sent to lead the Yi and Han tribes to return to the horseback with 300,000 infantrymen. He crossed the river from Xiheyi and went first to recover and suppress it. Then he alone brought a million soldiers behind, and from
Chang'an raised their horses and marched in three directions to restore Jinzhong and annihilate Daibei. The rebellious officers and soldiers were thoroughly cleansed, and the people who obeyed me could not escape.
The army did not commit any crimes when it passed by, so they gave instructions to the civil and military officials in advance to assess the situation at all times, present the city and receive seals, and seek early promotion and promotion.
The living beings are like officers and soldiers fighting together. When the soldiers arrive and the city is destroyed, jade and stone are not separated. How can we regret it?"
Li Zicheng then mobilized his troops. In addition to leaving the original force of Chuangying, about 40,000 troops, Xin Sizhong was in Xining, Dang Shousu was in Lanzhou, He Zhen was in Hanzhong, Luo Rucai was in Xi'an, Niu Chenghu was in Ningxia, and Yuan Zongdi was in northern Shaanxi.
, he raised about 30,000 people including Li Guo, Li Shuangxi, Liu Tichun, Li You, Wu Ruyi and other troops to the camp, and 30,000 troops from the northwest surrender army such as Bai Guangen and Zuo Guangxian left the customs in person and rushed to
Taiyuan rescued.
In this way, by March of the 16th year of Chongzhen, except for Xining and parts of Gansu, the Chuang army had completely pacified the northwest. Li Zicheng and Li Guo personally mobilized the Chuang camp base and the Qin army to surrender a total of 60,000 troops.
Rushed to Shanxi to rescue Tian Jianxiu.
As for the Ming and Qing coalition forces, Sun Chuanting led an army of 30,000 to besiege Taiyuan, and Liu Qian's Datong frontier army of 20,000 people also stopped actively fighting after discovering that the 20,000 Qing troops led by Dorgon were waiting and watching.
Negative situation.
On the northern Zhili front, Li Laiheng and Liu Fangliang defended a broad defense line in southern Hebei with 50,000 troops. The situation was very unfavorable.
In the Gyeonggi area facing Li Laiheng, Abatai and Bo Hetuo and his son's troops suffered heavy losses, which are no longer worth mentioning. The Ming army under Wu Sangui, Gao Di, and Liu Zeqing still had more than 20,000 troops and horses, and was still capable of fighting.
, but comparing Li Laiheng and Liu Fangliang's 50,000 elite soldiers, they are far apart.
The biggest variable at this time is that after the Ming court opened the border wall, how many troops did Huang Taiji lead into the pass to reinforce the Qing army? As for the Chuang army, even the Chu Chuang red team, which paid the most attention to collecting intelligence, had little idea of the overall strength of the Qing army outside the pass.
Lacking accurate knowledge, Li Laiheng could only vaguely estimate that the Qing army outside the Pass could still mobilize about 100,000 troops.
No matter what, as long as Huang Taiji's support army has more than 60,000 to 70,000 troops, whether it is deployed on the Shanxi battlefield or the Southern Hebei battlefield, it will give the Ming and Qing coalition forces an overwhelming advantage.