Although the main force of the coalition forces has withdrawn from the outskirts of Taiyuan, the battle between the coalition forces and the Chuang Army is not over yet. There are still a considerable number of troops from both sides fighting in Qalan Prefecture, Dingxiang County and other prefectures and counties in central Shanxi.
After Li Zicheng personally brought 60,000 soldiers to cross the Yellow River, he passed Pingyang Mansion and immediately headed towards the city of Taiyuan. Bai Guangen and other generals under Li Zicheng were all old friends of Sun Chuanting. They were familiar with the tactics of the Qin army and immediately discovered the enemy as soon as they clashed.
Among them, there are no fierce and powerful Eight Banners soldiers as rumored.
The generals of the Chuang Army, including Li Guo and Niu Jinxing, were all worried about the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners Army because of the defeats of Datong and Yanmen. They all believed that the Qing Army did not appear under Taiyuan City and was obviously lurking elsewhere.
There is another plan.
Therefore, Li Zicheng did not immediately put the main force into the Taiyuan battlefield and launch a rescue operation. Instead, he garrisoned Xuanweng Mountain in the south of Taiyuan City and set up a camp to contain Sun Chuanting's siege troops. He also sent Li Guo to lead an elite force.
Detour north toward Tianmenguan and search for traces of Qing troops along the way.
This gave Sun Chuanting the opportunity to calmly withdraw from Jinzhong. Originally, after the Battle of Yanmen, most of the 30,000 main force of the Breaking Army who stayed in Shanxi were destroyed. Only Tian Jianxiu, Jiang, and Ren Jirong pieced together 10,000 defenders in Taiyuan City. The situation
It was so critical that it was impossible to stop Sun Chuanting's offensive.
However, after the Battle of Yanmen, Dorgon immediately changed his previous attitude of obeying Sun Chuanting's words. First, he ordered the 20,000 Qing troops to withdraw from Shiling Pass during the siege of Taiyuan and fight passively. Soon after, the cavalry was sent from the front.
After hearing the news that Li Zicheng had crossed the river and entered Jin, he directly withdrew his troops and returned to Datong without notifying Sun Chuanting in advance.
This almost trapped Sun Chuanting's lone army under the siege of Li Zicheng's reinforcements. At that time, Li Laiheng and Liu Fangliang also sent troops from the direction of Guguan, with the intention of flanking Sun Chuanting's regiment. If Li Zicheng had not been suspicious of the "disappeared Qing army", he would not have started a direct war.
, then there is no doubt that Sun Chuanting's old Qin army of 30,000 people will be completely wiped out.
At the end of March in the 16th year of Chongzhen, Sun Chuanting took advantage of the opportunity of the hesitant reinforcements of the invading army to decisively stop attacking the city before Li Guo cut off Tianmen Pass's retreat. He gave up Taiyuan City, which was almost about to be captured, and immediately withdrew his troops.
Sun Chuanting ordered Gao Jie to rear, and the whole army pointed north, and immediately retreated to Ningwuguan and Yanmenguan to fortify themselves. Under Sun Chuanting's reorganization, although the Qin army's discipline was much better than before, it was still not as flexible as the Qing army.
In order and uniformity, the emergency retreat under the siege of the intruders was naturally full of dangers.
However, Li Zicheng always believed that the Qing army was lurking somewhere north of Taiyuan, so he did not dare to act rashly. Only a small force of Li Guo tried to intercept Sun Chuanting's troops retreating north.
However, Li Guo's troops were limited and he only fought once with Gao Jie's troops near Tianmen Pass. All the cavalry of the invading army dismounted, formed a formation with spears, and blocked the attack on the mountain. Although the Qin army had a local advantage in strength, it was an army that wanted to return.
, but due to the terrain, Li Guo used a small number of troops to block it for a long time.
If it weren't for Gao Jie's general Li Chengdong leading hundreds of people through the forest and mountains and hoisting the flag of the Qing army on the flank of the invading army, which made Li Guo, after hesitation, take the overall situation first and voluntarily give up the interception, Sun Chuanting's entire army would have almost been thrown into retreat.
In a state of disrepair.
After that, it was not until the Qin army withdrew all the way to Yanmen Pass and Ningwuguan that Li Zicheng slowly confirmed that the Ming and Qing allied forces' retreat was not to lure the enemy, but indeed to withdraw directly to northern Shanxi.
There are also different speculations and opinions within the Chuang Army regarding the sudden retreat of the Ming and Qing allied forces. For example, Niu Jinxing believed that Sun Chuanting and Dorgon (he also believed that Sun Chuanting and Dorgon were from the same group) suddenly retreated northward because of Sun Chuanting's support.
Li Zichen himself believed that the sudden withdrawal of the Ming and Qing allied forces was mainly due to fear of the main force of the invaders brought by Li Zicheng. On the other hand, it may also be because the complex terrain of Shanxi was not conducive to the advantage of the captive cavalry.
But for Sun Chuanting, he could have expected that the Qin army could avoid defeat at the gates of Taiyuan after the consecutive victories in the Battle of Datong and the Battle of Yanmen, and withdraw to northern Shanxi while the morale of the army was still relatively high.
Best case scenario.
"Yingwu, the Lu army...what's the current situation of the Qing army?"
The news of the defeat of the Baigouhe Allied Forces has spread throughout the world, almost completely offsetting the impact of Sun Chuanting's two battles and two victories on the Ming court. The Qing army is now waiting and watching, with an ambiguous attitude, and the capital is extremely empty. Although Emperor Chongzhen is here
As a last resort, the border wall was opened and Huang Taiji led the main force of the Qing army to enter the pass. However, the Ming court was very worried about Huang Taiji. The court repeatedly sent edicts to Yanmen Pass, asking Sun Chuanting to return to Beijing to escort him.
Sun Chuanting was worried that if things continued like this, something unexpected would happen to the Ming Dynasty. After he politely received a group of local officials and gentry, he went to Gao Jie to ask about Dorgon's movements without having an in-depth discussion.
Although Gao Jie was Li Zicheng's old subordinate and a surrendered general who surrendered to the imperial court from the bandits, he was born very heroic. Although he was not too young, he was no less handsome than Liu Fangliang. He was handsome and charming, so it was no wonder that he would marry Li Zicheng.
Wives and concubines are entangled together.
Gao Jie was an outspoken person. When he was still in the camp, he bluntly said several times that General Tian Jianxiu, who was second only to Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin at the time, was mediocre.
After the servants in the room left, Gao Jie spread his hands and said helplessly:
"The Nine Kings of Donglu keep saying that they are willing to send troops to defend Ningwu and Yanmen Pass, but in fact they are dragging their feet and have only sent a few hundred troops so far."
Sun Chuanting closed his eyes and said: "The imperial court's urgings are becoming more and more severe. I am also worried that things will happen again after the captive chief comes to Yanxia. In this case, he must return to Beijing as early as possible."
"My lord, when the world was in a state of confusion and everyone was clamoring, you were brave enough to fight and achieved two victories in two battles. Why do those powerless officials and ministers talk about our Qin army?"
"Alas! The country is currently in dire straits, the country is in danger, and the imperial court has no troops available, so it has to borrow help from the army to suppress the enemy. However, the Eastern Division is greedy and has been living in Jifu for a long time, so there will be changes. It is reasonable for the imperial court to transfer the Qin Division back to the capital."
In the eleventh and twelfth years of Chongzhen's reign, Dorgon also led the Qing army to enter the fortress and captured more than 80 prefectures and counties in Northern Zhili and Shandong. Everywhere he passed was burned, killed, looted, and the scene was extremely miserable.
At that time, Sun Chuanting was ordered to intercept, but he could not win several battles with Dorgon. He could only sit back and watch the Qing army leave laden with gold, silver, silk, people and livestock.
He had a deep understanding of the strength of the Qing army, and he also knew that in the past, fortunately, the border wall had restrained the Qing army, so that the Qing army could only find a gap in the Great Wall to enter and exit. Now Emperor Chongzhen had to fight against the little thief Li.
The opening of the hole allowed the captive cavalry to be driven in directly from Shanhaiguan and other departments, and they stayed in the interior for a long time. Even if the suppression of the bandits was successful, the Wuhu and Anshi disaster would be left behind.
"Drink poison to quench thirst! There is no other way!"
Gao Jie was still a little uneasy and said: "Guan Ning's army was defeated at Baigouhe. From now on, the Qin army will be the only backbone force to destroy the intruders, and it will also be the last remaining force of the imperial court to defend the capital... Once something happens, if something unexpected happens
, there are those who cannot bear to speak out about things in the world.”
Sun Chuanting heard the worries about the country's subjugation from Gao Jie's words, and was deeply shocked. Although Gao Jie was a bandit general, since the defeat of Xin'an, Gao Jie's military strength has become the only pillar of Sun Chuanting's command. The two supported each other, and they are what they are today.
ZTE’s hope for victory in World War II.
Gao Jie was born into a bandit, but his concern for the country moved Sun Chuanting deeply.
"How can we bear the important responsibility of the rise and fall of the country if we are not honest in court? My husband's main priority is to serve the country. The court needs us to return to defend Beijing. Even if something unexpected happens, we will not hesitate to die."
Sun Chuanting thought of the miserable situation in which he, Gao Jie and others fled along the way after the Qin army was defeated in the Battle of Xin'an. He thought of the sacrifices of countless Qin soldiers along the way. He also thought of the clever tricks he used in Datong and Yanmen to kill the traitor generals Zhang Tianlin and Tian.
The victory of Hu and others had mixed feelings in his heart, and he sighed:
"Restore the Ming Dynasty, restore the Ming Dynasty..."
At this time, there was a burst of noisy footsteps outside the door. After Gao Jie asked Sun Chuanting for instructions, he opened the door. Gao Jie's general Li Chengdong hurried in from outside. He cupped his fists and said:
"Sir! The general has just contacted Liu Zhentai, and the Jin soldiers have come to take over the defense."
Huang Taiji led a large number of Qing troops into the pass. Chongzhen was worried and asked Sun Chuanting to lead the Qin army back to defend Beijing. However, in this case, the newly recovered northern Shanxi area would have the possibility of being taken back by the Chu army.
Now that Liu Qian, the commander-in-chief of Datong, is willing to help Sun Chuanting defend Ningwuguan and Yanmen Pass, it is perfect. There are about 20,000 Datong frontier troops and about 20,000 Qing troops. Sun Chuanting also plans to leave 10,000 Qin troops in Shanxi.
To assist in the defense, he estimated that even if Dorgon was unwilling to attack, at least the Eight Banners soldiers would no longer be so passive in defense.
In this way, the garrison in northern Shanxi has about 50,000 soldiers. Including Datong, Yanmen, Ningwu and other fortresses, Li Zicheng personally proposed an army of 60,000, and Tian Jianxiu had another 10,000 garrison in Taiyuan, for a total of 70,000.
It is difficult to break through the front line of northern Shanxi in a short period of time.
Sun Chuanting finally felt relieved and decided to lead his troops back to Beijing as soon as possible to stabilize the situation in the capital first, and then consider the next step after meeting the emperor.
Li Chengdong continued: "My lord, Wu Zhentai, Gao Zhentai and Shandong Zhentai of Guan Ning Army have all written letters. They are all anxious to meet the governor now, just like Wang Yunni after a long drought.
"
"Hahaha!"
Sun Chuanting and Gao Jie looked at each other and smiled. It seemed that Guan Ning's army had indeed suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Baigou River. In fact, Emperor Chongzhen recruited Sun Chuanting to return to the capital. In addition to wanting him to defend the capital, he also wanted Sun Chuanting to rectify the Qin army.
Same, use the same means to rectify Guan Ning's army.
After the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Baigouhe, Sun Chuanting estimated that Guan Ningjun's morale should have been reduced a lot. Now that Wu Sangui and others took the initiative to write a letter, they should also be making a gesture of submission.
He estimated that it would be much easier to go to Beijing to rectify Guan Ning's army than when he went to Shaanxi to rectify the Qin army!