After Gao Yigong arrived at Tongguan from Luoyang, he immediately took over all frontline defenses. As the brother-in-law of Li Zicheng, he can be regarded as a relative of Dashun. Moreover, Gao Yigong has been the economic envoy of Huguang for a long time. Whether he is an old brother in northern Shaanxi,
Even among the upstarts of Chu Chuang, he has great prestige.
This heroic and gentle young man, after several years of experience in governing Huguang, has made great progress in all aspects of life and military administration.
Gao Yigong grew a long beard and looked more mature and steady than his age. The original two commanders of the Tongguan garrison, Luo Dayen and Zhao Yingyuan, had handed over military power to Gao Yigong. Although they were
Cao Ying is a veteran general, but in terms of qualifications and resume, he may not be able to compete with Gao Yigong.
Others, such as Li Weiqun, Ma Jinzhong, Gao Ruli, etc., were even worse. For all the orders of Gao Guogong, the Tongguan garrison stood in silence and listened attentively.
Gao Yigong moved the command headquarters from the county town affiliated to Guancheng to the front line of the Guancheng defense line, which was very close to the first line of the battlefield where the Wu army stormed.
From time to time, thunderous roars of artillery battles between the enemy and ourselves could be heard outside the government office. Gao Yigong knocked on the chopping board and said with a smile:
"In the past, it was the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty and the Manchurian barbarians who chased us away with those terrifying red barbarian cannons. Thirty years have passed since Hedong and thirty years have passed since Hexi. Today is their turn to taste the power of the Dashun Army's artillery.
La."
Except for the elderly Luo Dai'en, who was sitting next to Gao Yigong, the other generals, Zhao Yingyuan, Li Weiqun, Ma Jinzhong, and Gao Ruli, all lined up and stood in awe on both sides of the official hall.
In the center of the lobby of the government office is a giant sandbox map that Gao Yigong brought from Luoyang - naturally, all the sandbox maps of Shunjun now are based on the military intelligence information sent back by Fang Yu's books, business trips and frontline troops.
, produced.
The sand table map brought by Gao Yigong details the mountain trends and river veins of Tongguan, Hanzhong and the entire southern Shaanxi region. It also clearly identifies Shunjun and Shunjun troops on the sand table with blue and green flags.
The distribution of Qing army’s troops.
The generals analyzed the military situation in the northwest through the sand table, and the overall situation seemed particularly intuitive and clear.
Li Weiqun was born in Chuchuang and was also an officer cadet from Suiying Academy. He and Gao Yigong were old friends, so he did not feel any pressure in front of the Grand Marshal, and he joked easily:
"This is called the turn of events. Twelve years ago, Chongzhen's camp suffered a lot from the Qin Army and Guan Ning Army in Shaanxi, and also suffered many artillery fire. Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting had no chance to take advantage of our cannons, so they had to
Leave this opportunity to Wu Sangui."
Li Weiqun put his hand on his sword and said: "Wu Jun has been attacking the city for more than ten days in a row, but he still braved the heavy snow to attack the city! At this point, no matter how strong the iron man is, he will not be able to hold on. Lord, it's time for us to take the initiative, right?
?”
Gao Yigong looked at the sand table map placed in the center of the official hall. Of course he was well aware of the exhaustion of the Qing army's continuous siege of the city. But it was hard to say whether the time for counterattack was ripe now.
When the generals of the Tongguan garrison saw Gao Yigong frowning, they knew that the counterattack was not that simple.
Zhao Yingyuan asked cautiously: "What is the Duke worried about? Since the Duke arrived at Tongguan, our army's morale has been cheered up, and the soldiers have worked hard. They have repelled more than a dozen sieges by the Qing army without paying many casualties. The battle has been so successful, and we have recovered."
What are you worried about?"
Gao Yigong replied: "All the generals have been in the army for a long time and are known as knowing soldiers. It should be obvious that Wu Sangui is about to retreat. As the ancient art of war has said, retreating in front of the enemy is a taboo among military strategists. I think in the hearts of all the generals,
You must be unwilling to give up this opportunity, bite the tail of the Qing army's retreat, and pursue it all the way, right?"
Li Weiqun, Ma Jinzhong, Gao Ruli and others all silently acknowledged what Gao Yigong said.
Ma Chongxi, Li Guo's old subordinate standing behind Gao Yigong, said: "It's a long way from Tongguan to Chang'an and Fuping. The Qing army has repeatedly raided the land along the way, and it's almost a white field. What the Duke is worried about is that we
If the army rashly leaves the border and marches into the wilderness, it is likely that the Qing army will have a chance to return with a killing blow."
Li Weiqun disagreed: "The Qing army has been attacking Tongguan City for a long time. The army must be extremely exhausted. Where is the chance to return?"
Gao Yigong said:
"Wu Sangui is a veteran general in Guan Ning, and Duoduo is also one of the best generals in Manchuria. Their military talents cannot be underestimated. Our army has limited military strength. Even if we sent troops out to pursue, we defeated Wu Sangui because Weinan was wiped out by the Qing army and turned into ruins.
Bai Di, it is still difficult for Dashun to control the Chang'an area with such a small number of troops.
In terms of results, a vertical pursuit may be able to achieve certain results, but it will still fundamentally change the situation of confrontation between the enemy and our armies in the northwest.
In the event of an accident, Wu Sangui finds an opening for our army to launch a counterattack. At this time, our army is light and he can take advantage of it and sneak in, which may affect the overall situation of the Battle of Jiahe, King of Jin."
Li Weiqun didn't know whether Gao Guogong should be cautious or fearful of the enemy. He thought that although Gao Yigong was good at defensive operations, he was too conservative and too inactive in terms of offense!
It's just that Li Weiqun's status cannot be compared with Gao Yigong. After being pulled by Ma Jinzhong's sleeve, he retreated again.
While the generals were discussing the matter of military aircraft, the Qing troops outside Tongguan Pass had gathered their forces and retreated from the siege line.
Under the towering and majestic city walls of Tongguan, and under the dense forts and deep trenches built by the compliant army, the Qing army had to abandon countless corpses and siege equipment.
Even because the artillery battle was so fierce, many Hongyi cannons of the Qing army exploded in front of the formation like the artillery commonly used by the Ming army after repeated firing.
Wu Sangui ordered the siege troops to discard the exploding cannons. After Gao Yigong found out, he immediately sent Li Weiqun and Ma Jinzhong to lead their troops out of the city - the purpose was not to pursue the enemy, but to take advantage of the enemy's retreat to drag these used cannons away.
Return to the city.
It is very time-consuming and labor-intensive to repair a blown-out artillery piece or to melt it down and cast it.
But in Huguang, Geng Yingqu invested in workshops using hydraulic forging hammers in Xiangyang and Wuchang last year. Gao Yigong estimates that by now, there should be a large number of workshops in Huguang using hydraulic forging hammers and other technologies.
If the used cannons, which were originally thought to be very time-consuming and laborious to recast, could be dragged to a hydraulic workshop for recasting, a lot of time and cost could be saved. Maybe the new cannons after recasting could even catch up with Jiahe River.
What about the decisive battle?
There was a foot of snow outside Guancheng, and the defenders rushed out of the city one step at a time, dragging the destroyed cannons abandoned by the Qing army under the city back to the city one by one.
Li Weiqun and Ma Jinzhong led a small group of cavalry and stopped west of Tongguan, carefully watching the retreat of the Qing army.
Li Weiqun said: "It seems that Wu Sangui is really going to retreat."
Ma Jinzhong thought: "It's hard to say. Retreating troops, retreating troops, retreating to Chang'an and Fuping is retreating troops, retreating to the Qing army camp in Huayin is also retreating troops, but there is a big difference between the two."
Ma Jinzhong said: "General Li, if Wu Sangui retreats to Huayin, we still have to be careful about the defense of Tongguan."
Li Weiqun pulled the reins, turned the horse's head, and coldly snorted: "After these battles, Donglu can be considered a strong enemy. Wu Sangui has nothing to say. I only hate the lack of troops on hand. If the enemy and our troops are equal, this
The hypocritical king has already been sent to Kaifeng by me."
Ma Jinzhong laughed and said: "There is no way, the army is all on the river. The Yellow River, always the decisive battle on the Yellow River, is the real important battle."
Li Weiqun curled his lips and said: "The northwest is empty. The King of Jin sent 20,000 more people to us. Now Chang'an has been restored."