The sky is as blue as the sea, and the white clouds are as white as waves. On the Loess Plateau in August, there are not only deep yellow wind and sand sweeping through, but also thousands of ravines dyed green.
Splendid green covers the exposed barren bones of the earth. Between the ups and downs, the simple and vigorous brown strata are faintly revealed. The grass is dotted with yellow dandelions like stars. The cavalry of the Dashun Army gallops past.
The rising dust and whirlwind blew these dandelions into the sky.
They floated further and further away, disappearing into the blue sky. After a feast, a few gray-feathered crows screamed happily and flew past like fish swimming in the sea.
On the mountain ridges on the horizon, trees stood on the hillsides, standing like individuals; individuals guarded the valleys, erected the flag of the Qing army, and became forests again.
On the vast loess land, an ancient plateau is collapsing.
In August, the wind in northern Shaanxi weakened and the scenery was elegant. The whole summer was basically a gentle breeze, graceful and gentle, coming slowly, but Li Laiheng smelled the smell of gunpowder smoke and blood from this gentle wind.
The troops of the Dashun Army stood in formation in front of the Yezhu Gorge in the south of Ganquan County, Yan'an Prefecture. The mouth of the Yezhu Gorge is dangerous and narrow, making it an important garrison area. At this time, the canyon was already filled with Qing soldiers.
, also built a simple wooden fort and placed the heavy Hongyi cannon used by the Eight Banners Army.
Li Laiheng left Luo Daien and Luo Yanqing to take care of the refugees in Lintong. He managed to assemble nearly 20,000 troops and surrendered the Ming Dynasty troops including Gao Ruli and Wang Liangzhi, as well as the Hexi army led by Mila Yin.
, brought them all over and headed north to Yan'an Prefecture, preparing to rescue the northern Shaanxi garrison led by Yuan Zongdi.
As for the Qing army, Dorgon would not sit back and watch Li Laiheng calmly move north. Although he was still fiercely attacking the three cities of Ningxia, Yulin, and Yan'an, after nearly a month of siege battles, these three solid fortresses had already
Revealed a wavering trend.
Shun Jun Yuan Cong was mostly from northern Shaanxi, and Mizhi County in Yan'an Prefecture was Li Zicheng's birthplace. There is also the Li family's ancestral tomb that Li Zicheng had just rebuilt here. The locals all knew that once the Shun Jun was defeated, the Qing army, as well as
Those officials and gentry who hate Dashun will definitely massacre Mizhi.
Therefore, the people of northern Shaanxi, especially the people of Yan'an, gave their full support to the Dashun Army. Common people went to the city walls one after another to help Yuan Zongdi defend the city. People tried to squeeze out a little bit from their own rations.
I came here and wanted to use it to help the defenders, but Yuan Zongdi refused - after all, Yan'an is the focus of Dashun's defense, and there is no need to worry about grain storage for at least a few months.
However, after nearly a month of fierce attacks by Dorgon and Wu Sangui, the three rock-solid cities in northern Shaanxi, even under the defense of famous generals Yuan Zongdi, Wang Yongqiang, Sun Shoufa and others, finally came to the end due to being outnumbered.
teetering on the edge.
Dorgon was therefore free to mobilize more than 30,000 troops. Since the Manchu Eight Banners soldiers and the Mongolian soldiers from foreign vassals, even Wu Sangui took about 3,000 elite servants and followed King Rui to the dangerous wild boar.
Ridge deployment.
Li Laiheng looked at the array of Qing troops waiting on the hillside, and his face did not show the slightest trace of embarrassment. His expression still looked relaxed and comfortable, showing a calm and leisurely sense of self-confidence.
"In the early Tang Dynasty, Liang Shidu and the Turkic coalition army went south to invade Guanzhong, and the camp was built here."
Zhang Pili asked: "Is it on this wild boar ridge?"
A local Shaanxi scribe who praised the secrets of painting in front of the army boldly came forward and said:
"Zhang Zhishuai, this is what was passed down by Liang Shidu in the "Old Book of Tang". Liang Shidu was just like Wu Sangui who betrayed his country and joined the barbarians for glory. They were both traitors who surrendered to the Tatars. The famous general Yan in the early Tang Dynasty
Duan Decao, the commander-in-chief of the state, defeated Liang Shidu several times in northern Shaanxi. Duan Decao was the son of the famous Northern Qi general Duan Shao. I heard that the commander was also a member of the Yuan Dynasty of Dashun. Since he is similar to Duan Decao, he will definitely be able to defeat Wu Sangui in the future."
Dashun is always flaunted by the rituals and music of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and Li Laiheng often sent storytellers to the people to create public opinion that he was the "reborn son of Taiyuan".
Most of these literati and gentry from Shaanxi who came to Dashun and surrendered to Dashun already believed that after the withdrawal of the Shun army, there would be chaos in the northwest and Sangzi would suffer an unprecedented disaster. Only by fully supporting Li Laiheng could there be a chance to expel the Tartars and reorganize the country of Guanxi.
.
Therefore, when Li Laiheng held the medical examination in Lintong to recruit doctors, there were actually many officials and gentry who were unwilling to raise troops to rebel. From Fengxiang, Pingliang, Qingyang, and even Lanzhou, they rushed with their families to the vicinity of Chang'an and voluntarily gave up.
The ancestral property must follow the Dashun army to evacuate Guanzhong.
This scribe who praised painting secrets in front of the army was one of them.
In fact, Zhang Pili's father was just a pawn in the early days of the camp, but Li Laiheng heard that he spoke very pleasantly, so he smiled and said: "What is the name of this gentleman? I must remember your name."
The scribe was immediately overjoyed and said: "Little man... The little minister Du Chongli, whose courtesy name is Guiren, is from Fuping. He was awarded the title of Juren not long ago, and before he was awarded the official title of the Ming Dynasty, the Dashun King's division was entered into the pass. The little minister had written earlier
I wrote countless articles and thousands of words about strategies to Taishi Niu, but I don’t know why there was no reply. Fortunately, His Highness the King of Jin has taken notice of me and followed me to the front of the army. I should repay the favor with my body.”
Li Laiheng pointed to the stacked and extremely heavily defended Qing troops on Yezhu Ridge in front, and asked:
"Looking at the strength of the Qing army, there are about 30,000 in number. The number of troops is greater than ours, and they occupy a favorable location. They are ready to work. How do you think Du Sheng can defeat the enemy?"
Now Li Laiheng suddenly inquired about his military affairs, and Du Chongli couldn't answer any of them, and he couldn't help but sweat. But Du Chongli was a scholar in the late Ming Dynasty after all. Even if he was not familiar with practical matters, he was good at using the Six Classics to make mysteries. It seems that if he can't answer, his future will be ruined.
Yu and Du Chongli could only bite the bullet and talk:
"The king is wise and powerful, so he must have matured a long time ago. How can a small minister dare to play tricks on others? "The Book of Changes" says it well, don't use a hidden dragon. If you overpower a dragon, you will regret it. Many chiefs have strong soldiers and horses and occupy high ground. It is obvious that they are overpowering a dragon, and there will be disaster.
Your Highness is a hidden dragon. As long as you act cautiously, you will be able to seize the loopholes of many chiefs and destroy them in one fell swoop. Sun Tzu's Art of War says, those who are invincible should defend;
The army will defend; if the Donglu show their weakness, our army will attack. Those who are good at defending will hide under the Nine Earths, and those who are good at attacking will move above the Nine Heavens. This is a perfect strategy."
Li Laiheng listened to him talk eloquently for a long time. He seemed to cover everything but actually missed the point. He knew that Du Chongli was a common Kongshu scholar in the late Ming Dynasty, so he didn't care about him and just smiled: "Mr. Du is right about what he said, the so-called wonderful application."
, out of one mind, the lonely king has a strategy to defeat the enemy."
Li Laiheng held the riding whip tightly in his hand and stared at the Qing army on the Wild Boar Ridge in the distance. It was not until the yellow banner of the Qing army's center finally started to move that he completely relaxed his frown and pointed at the mountain with his whip.
explain:
"The Tartars have been unable to attack Yan'an for a long time, and their morale has declined. Now, although they have a large number of troops, they are not patrolling forward. They sit back and watch our reinforcements gather. This is because their morale has deepened.
Dorgon's biggest advantage is that he occupies favorable terrain. If I were on the side of the Qing army and using troops, how could I unfurl all the flags like this? It is simply that I want to expose all my troops to the enemy. This is completely inconsistent with the art of war, Pi
Hey, what do you think the Qing army’s purpose is in using troops like this?”
Zhang Pizhu was surprised and said in disbelief:
"By making such a grand display, Chief Rui wants to scare us away with his power? He is simply dreaming! How could the soldiers of the Dashun Army be intimidated by this small number of troops?"
Li Laiheng pointed to the Qing army’s front troops and said:
"Look, a messenger is coming."
There was just a white-armored Eight Banners cavalryman with no weapons in his hands or on his saddle. He just held a Qing army flag and stopped in front of the Dashun army.
Therefore, all the generals looked at Li Laiheng, who stopped the Shun army's attack and said calmly:
"Let's also send envoys to see what Dorgon's intentions are."