Zhifu Du Yinxi has been recruiting and training chieftain soldiers in the western Hunan area. He only wants to protect the country and the people, and try to avoid conflicts with the powerful Shun army.
However, Du Yinxi's official position was not as good as that of He Tengjiao. Faced with He Tengjiao's blind confidence, Du Yinxi could only lead thousands of chieftain soldiers who had just recruited him to attack Changde from Yongshun.
But he had just led his troops to Jiuxi Guards, but he didn't expect that there were rumors on the road that He Tengjiao and Zhang Kuang's army had been defeated by the Dashun Army. It was said that the entire army was defeated, with less than one in ten.
Du Yinxi was anxious, but because most of the people in Changde Prefecture and Yuezhou Prefecture were beneficiaries of the Dashun camp system and were tightly organized through the militia system, it was difficult for him to search for any useful information, so he had to sit back and sit down.
After spending several days under the Jiuxi Guard City, they finally learned the truth from the gathered defeated soldiers:
It turned out that He Tengjiao and Zhang Kuang's Northern Expeditionary Army units were not under each other's control, and each unit marched against each other. Man Dazhuang's unit was the first to rush to Yuezhou with He Tengjiao's supervision standard. However, after the soldiers of the Dashun Army quickly maneuvered ashore in the boat division,
With the cooperation of the naval division's artillery, although the militiamen were not good at hand-to-hand combat, they severely defeated the Ming army with intensive and fierce firepower.
After Man Dazhuang was randomly shot to death by the Shun army, the governor's pacesetters were immediately defeated. Later, Long Jianming was captured alive, and Yao Youxing and others were frightened by the news and fled southward.
The Dashun Army's Qianjiang County Bandits Chief rushed in with hundreds of standing militiamen to pursue them. The force was quite limited. After an unexpected encounter with Zhang Kuang's Biao Camp at Wanyu Bridge, Zhang Kuang himself was killed by a soldier from the Biao Camp after a short period of fighting.
After being abandoned, he was captured by the Shun army.
After hearing the news, the rest of the Ming army completely lost restraint and jurisdiction, fled in all directions, or set fire to plunder the people on the spot and then ran into the mountains to become bandits. He Tengjiao was so angry that he tried to suppress the deserters with his own soldiers, but was defeated by the deserters instead.
He fell into the water during pursuit and had to be rescued by his own soldiers before escaping back to Chengdu.
So far, He Tengjiao's Northern Expedition plan was easily eliminated after the Dashun Army gave a false alarm.
Unfortunately, not long after Du Yinxi led the Xiangxi chieftain troops to march eastward from the Yangtze River, he received the news of He Tengjiao's complete defeat. He had no choice but to retreat quickly, but at this time, the Dashun Army's militia had been relatively fully mobilized, and Zhu Yinxi had no choice but to retreat.
The militiamen rushed to the vicinity of Jiuxi Guard one after another, and some Shizhou chieftain soldiers also chose to side with the Dashun army and blocked Yinxi's retreat.
Soon, Liu Xiyao, who had not enjoyed fighting in Yuezhou, also rushed to Jiuxi Guards with his navy. Under the "suppression" of many troops, the chieftain soldiers under the command of Du Yinxi, although their combat effectiveness was much better than that of He Tengjiao's troops.
The pro-army were good at fighting, but they were outnumbered and quickly defeated.
Unwilling to change his ways and surrender to Dashun, Du Yinxi fled to the mountains of western Hunan and lived with Miao Yao. However, soon the chieftains in Yongshun also accepted the official titles given by Chen Xin, the envoy of Dashun to Huguang Economic Affairs.
In view of the uncertain outcome of the war in the north, Chen Xin believed that the time was not yet ripe to directly occupy Hunan, so he recalled Liu Xiyao and ended this farcical conflict.
From Yuezhou to the north, there is a peaceful and peaceful land of Jingchu. After the Chu people avoided the disaster caused by He Tengjiao, Huguang Economic Strategy enabled Chen Xin to free up his hands, mobilize manpower and material resources, and increase support for the front line.
He first transferred some of the standing militiamen who had withdrawn from the Yuezhou Battle to Yunyang Prefecture. After joining with the Dongting Lake Navy under Lin Chengcheng's command, he supported Hanzhong and the Longxi garrison withdrew from the northwest.
Li Laiheng ordered the transfer of Hanzhong and Longxi to Ximing, which was difficult for the Shunjun troops in the northwest to accept. Both Milayin of Longxi and He Zhen of Hanzhong were deeply dissatisfied with this.
However, the fact of the balance of power prevented them from criticizing King Jin's decision.
After all, the Dashun Army now needs to concentrate all its forces on the "Guanhe Defense Line" of "Tongguan-Yellow River-Grand Canal". It is difficult to defend Hanzhong, which is surrounded and attacked by the Qing Army and the Western Ming Army.
After abandoning Hanzhong, Longxi was left alone, and there was even less possibility of holding it.
In desperation, both Mi Laoyin and He Zhen could only obey Miao Lichen and Lin Chengcheng's requests and gradually withdraw their troops to the front lines of Yunyang and Tongguan.
However, He Zhen held Hanzhong for a long time, and because he defeated Fan Yiheng with a small number of victories, Wang Guangen's Northern Expeditionary Army suddenly became famous. He was very popular in the Hanzhong area. When the northwest army retreated to Xing'an Prefecture, He Zhen secretly
They instigated the soldiers to make noise and were unwilling to continue retreating eastward.
Miao Lichen knew that this was He Zhen's doing. He had a solid and resolute nature, and originally planned to resolutely confront He Zhen and restrain the military discipline of the troops. However, Lin Chengcheng, who was traveling with him, was a soft and flexible figure. He proposed:
"The King of Jin only ordered Mi and He Erzhen to be handed over to Longxi and Hanzhong to Xiying, and the army retreated eastward. He did not explicitly request that Xing'an Prefecture be handed over to Xiying.
Miao Shuai, although Xing'an Prefecture belongs to Hanzhong Prefecture, General He has already handed over the city of Hanzhong Prefecture to Xiying. This should be enough to give Zhang Xianzhong an explanation.
Xing'an Prefecture is connected with Yunyang in terms of terrain, and it can cover the flanks of the Tongguan defense line. If we keep troops here, we can completely connect the Qinling Mountains, Shangluo Mountains, and Huashan Mountains, which will be of great help in resisting the Eastern invaders.
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Miao Lichen was a miner and had led troops in the Yunyang Mountains for a long time. He was not only proficient in tunnel blasting, but also good at constructing civil fortifications based on strong terrain.
He relied on his long-term memory and careful observation of the map to come to a conclusion similar to Lin Chengcheng's.
Miao Lichen then said to He Zhen:
"...Since Longxi and Hanzhong have been transferred to Xiying, and General He is stationed in Xing'an Prefecture just in case, there is no problem. Shuiyin Mountain within the boundaries of Xing'an Prefecture, Shibapan Mountain northwest of Yunyang Prefecture, plus
Shangluo Mountain and Huashan Mountain have formed a line, which is enough to form a solid and insurmountable line of defense."
He Zhen was actually worried about inciting soldiers to mutiny. After seeing Miao Lichen give in, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly explained:
"His Royal Highness the King of Jin's strategy of guarding the pass and guarding the river is similar to that of the late Jin Dynasty. Back then, the Mongols took the Xing'an line from Hanzhong, bypassing Tongguan and the Yellow River, and entered Henan directly.
We stayed in Xing'an Prefecture to prevent the Manchus from making detours."
Miao Lichen nodded silently, but he still made a mental note of He Zhen's instigation of mutiny. However, Miao Lichen was a loyal person, and he thought that if the war went well, he would not report this matter to the Supervisor.
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Dashun's northwest garrison gradually evacuated their defense area, but Milayin believed that he was far away in Taozhou and the journey was long, so it was impossible to withdraw his troops to the Yunxi area in a short time.
Moreover, most of Milayin's elite troops were chieftain soldiers from the Hexi area of Qinghai and could not leave their hometown to fight. Like He Zhen, he strongly opposed the evacuation order, but Milayin took a different approach.
Following the orders of Miao Lichen and Lin Chengcheng, he withdrew the anti-Qing rebels he had recruited in Longxi and stationed in the Minzhouwei area to Hanzhong, and then followed He Zhen to Xing'an Prefecture.
But Mi Layin himself insisted on leading his army to stay in Taozhou Village.
At this time, due to the long distance, Miao Lichen's military orders no longer had any mandatory effect on Mila Yin. Most of his subordinates were chieftain soldiers who could not be easily mobilized by the court. Miao Lichen felt helpless again:
Miao Lichen was more worried that Milayin was isolated in Taozhou, which was extremely far away from the actual control area of Dashun, and would face the danger of being besieged by the Qing army from all sides. Therefore, he hoped that Milayin would withdraw to the hinterland of Dashun.
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But Milayin insisted on his opinion. As a chieftain, he would rather die in the old village of Taozhou than give up his homeland easily. Moreover, Milayin also believed that since the decisive battle between the Dashun Army and the Qing Army was imminent, so in his opinion
Knowing the talent of the King of Jin in using troops, the time should be not far away for him to defeat the main force of the Qing army and regain Guanzhong.
In this case, why give up Taozhou?
Of course, Mi Laoyin did not completely disobey Dashun's military orders. He still handed over the Minzhou Guards and Gongchang Prefecture controlled by the Shun Army to the Western Ming Army Li Dingguo's headquarters in accordance with the good alliance conditions reached by Lin Chengcheng.
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After Li Dingguo left Yulei Pass and arrived at Cheng County of Gongchang Prefecture, he looked at the Dashun garrison that was either retreating eastward to Yunyang or westward to Taozhou, and he couldn't help but sigh:
"With orders and prohibitions, he can give up the territory he has already acquired at any time. Li Laiheng's binding force on his generals is many times greater than that of the old king!"
Li Dingguo still didn't know that the towns of Milayin and Hezhen had not accepted Li Laiheng's complete reorganization due to the current situation, otherwise his surprise and sigh would have been far greater than this.