Chapter 138 Don't explain to me, go and explain to His Majesty.
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Zhang Xianzhong's entire army collapsed and fled madly.
Zhu Wenzhen chased for a long time on the first day. In the end, due to the lack of physical strength and horsepower of the Ming army's cavalry, he only caught up with a few stragglers who had fallen behind because they were carrying too heavy belongings.
But Shen Shuren would not allow him to give up the pursuit because of this. After all, Zhang Xianzhong on the opposite side also needed to eat, drink, and sleep. He had to pass at least two state capitals along the way from Hengzhou to the west before he could leave the boundary of Huguang.
Since the opponent also needs to sleep and rest, Zhu Wenzhen's cavalry, after recovering their strength, can regroup and continue to pursue, which may increase the results of the battle. They cannot give up until the last moment.
Especially the remnant soldiers on the opposite side may each carry a lot of property. If you catch each one, you can make a fortune. How can you miss this opportunity to expand the results in the harvest stage?
Even if there are many mountainous areas along the way and the road is difficult to navigate, Chen Shuren's troops should try their best to continue chasing until they chase beyond the boundaries of Huguang. Only in this way can they maximize their own interests and reputation, and at the same time avoid falling into court.
Zhongyanguan Yushi's statement -
Chen Shuren pursued Zhang Xianzhong this time and recovered the state capital that Zhang Xianzhong temporarily captured and fell. The legal basis came from the authorization of Yang Sichang, the governor of the military affairs of the six provinces. It was Yang Sichang who asked him to pursue and fight, so he came to pursue and fight.
It's not self-assertion.
The "six provinces" in the title "Governor of Military Affairs of the Six Provinces" above Yang Sichang's head do not include the Yunnan-Guizhou region. In the southwest, the scope that Yang Sichang can control is bounded by Huguang and Sichuan.
The reason why Yunnan and Guizhou are not included is because in the last years of Chongzhen, the reform of the Southwest was never realized. In such troubled times, local chieftains rebelled against self-reliance from time to time, and the imperial court could not control it at all, and it did not establish effective rule, let alone those who
Pursuing stray thieves in a place where there was no rule in the first place.
If Zhang Xianzhong fled westward from the southernmost part of Huguang, he would not be able to escape directly into Sichuan. He was destined to temporarily enter Guizhou first.
At that time, even Yang Sichang, the governor of the military affairs of the six provinces, no longer had the authority to pursue the case. The Ming Dynasty's legal control of generals and ministers was so strict.
Therefore, as long as he catches up to that point, even if Zhang Xianzhong is not destroyed, Shen Shuren has already done his best to benevolent and righteous, and is infinitely worthy of the Ming Dynasty and Emperor Chongzhen.
It’s not that we don’t want to do more for Chongzhen. With Shen Shuren’s selflessness, he wanted to burn himself out and illuminate the Ming Dynasty with all his heart, but Chongzhen really wouldn’t let him!
At that time, he can only resolutely return to Wuchang like Yue Wumu who received Zhao Gou's twelve gold medals.
Zhu Wenzhen was a little confused about Lord Futai's decision at first, but later he fully unified his thinking and understood the situation, and then he high-spiritedly let the troops rest for a while, took a nap, and then continued the pursuit, preparing to fight for ten days.
Eight days of protracted fighting.
And at this moment, the logistical preparations made by Shen Jiajun some time ago finally showed their full effect——
The escape route originally chosen by Zhang Xianzhong was very unexpected. This route made it difficult for the pursuing officers and soldiers to ensure logistics. It also caused Zhang Xianzhong to bear more losses, greatly increasing the number of troops who could break through and keep up.
Reducing it can be regarded as "harming others and harming oneself".
The reason why I say this is because originally, when escaping from Hengzhou to the west, we should choose to go upstream along the Xiangjiang River, first go southwest to enter Yongzhou Prefecture, and then try to turn northwest, climb over the mountains and slowly move to northern Guizhou. That kind of road
In the first section, you can march along the Xiangjiang River Valley. The infantry will not easily fall behind and the road is easy to travel.
Zhang Xianzhong chose to break out of the encirclement in the northwest direction, through Baoqing Mansion, which led to the breakout battle out of the city. The choice of direction on the battlefield at the beginning was a little bit unexpected by the officers and soldiers. He had thought from the beginning, "If he can't defeat,
Don’t worry about whether the main force of our infantry can keep up, just take the shortcut through the mountains.”
Logistics supplies for Zhang Xianzhong and Zhu Wenzhen will be very difficult on this road, and there are no waterways for the army to transport food. Therefore, all the food, grass and ammunition needed by Zhu Wenzhen's cavalry must be carried on horseback.
We need to bring our own supplies, as the baggage vehicles and ships cannot keep up.
At this time, the benefits of the canned food packed in porcelain jars that Shen Shuren had prepared earlier became apparent. It allowed the troops to march directly with more nutritious and high-calorie cooked food without cooking.
The dried meat, condensed milk, dried green beans, and meat and vegetables that I was originally reluctant to eat were combined with meat and vegetables. This way, I don’t have to go into the hilly jungle like the lower-level soldiers of Zhang Xianzhong’s army and have to hunt or even eat people——
Unless Zhang Xianzhong dared to stop halfway and spend time attacking Baoqing Mansion, or at least loot and massacre the remote counties of Baoqing Mansion to obtain supplies, Zhang Xianzhong's troops would definitely not be able to escape the logistical dilemma of cannibalism.
After all, the limited transportation capacity can be used to carry gold, silver and jewelry first. Who will carry more food? How much is food worth, and how much is the same weight of gold and silver worth?
Ordinary soldiers without foresight would not be willing to use their energy to carry an extra bag of silver to carry an extra bag of dried meat, even if they knew that their future was uncertain and it might be difficult to obtain supplies in the future.
Zhang Xianzhong's army had no choice but to find villages and towns where mountain people lived, massacre and plunder food. However, the mountain people in Baoqing Prefecture (Shaoyang) and other places in western Hunan were fierce and would find ways to resist the bandits when they encountered them.
Although he was certainly no match for Zhang Xianzhong, he was still able to delay Zhang Xianzhong's journey before he was massacred, creating opportunities for the officers and soldiers to pursue him.
After passing Baoqing Prefecture, there is Chenzhou Prefecture to the west. You have to pass through Chenzhou Prefecture before entering Guizhou. Not only are there more mountainous areas in the Chenzhou Prefecture, there are also very few Han people, almost all of whom are Miao people. Zhang Xianzhong
You have to fight all kinds of poisons.
In the end, Zhu Wenzhen's troops could not withstand the situation of going into the jungle in late summer and early autumn to fight against the poisonous elements of the Miao border. They only managed to catch up to Chenzhou Prefecture and had to withdraw their troops.
The entire pursuit lasted for about ten days, and the two to three thousand stragglers left behind by Zhang Xianzhong were successively killed, and property worth more than two million taels was recovered.
Almost all of Zhang Xianzhong's infantry were killed, leaving only 6,000 cavalrymen to retreat to Chenzhou Prefecture.
For Zhang Xianzhong, the only good news now is that his troops are not the only ones he brings with him.
His eldest son, Sun Kewang, who stayed in Zigui and Wuxian areas, still had 20,000 to 30,000 men guarding the house. His third son, Liu Wenxiu, also had more than 10,000 men.
While he was escaping all the way to the west, he was also trying every means to contact Liu Wenxiu and others, asking them to abandon the base between Sichuan and Hubei despite the hardships, turn southwest, and try to meet him so that they could take a detour into Sichuan in the future.
Taking into account the difficulty of traveling along the Central Guizhou Road, Sun Kewang and Liu Wenxiu would certainly have suffered losses along the way through Miao territory, so it was not possible that all of the more than 40,000 men and horses could make it. Killing the sick along the way, the number of people who lost their lives in the end was estimated to be
It will exceed the 6,000 people around Zhang Xianzhong.
Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong's army, before he sent troops in June, was said to have more than 110,000 troops. When they arrived in Changde and Yuezhou, they relied on capturing strong men and reached a peak of more than 120,000 to 30,000 men.
Now after two months of bloody fighting, more than two-thirds have been lost. Those who can reach Guizhou alive are only these 40,000 people.
Although Shen Shuren failed to annihilate Zhang Xianzhong, it was still a very remarkable result. It basically brought Zhang Xianzhong back to the level of two years ago, and made Zhang Xianzhong's development and military expansion in the past two years come to nothing.
After all, although Zhang Xianzhong's strength before the war could not exceed the total of the original 5th Gezuo Battalion, it could at least exceed the sum of the remaining four battalions after the 5th Gezuo Battalion eliminated the strongest Ma Shouying.
Chen Shuren had previously spent a total of two years in order to annihilate the four weaker warlords in the fifth battalion of Gezuo. Now even if he replaces shotguns with cannons, he can't accomplish his feat in one battle.
Being able to take Zhang Xianzhong with him and annihilate most of the main force is already very impressive. The two partial armies of Sun Kewang and Liu Wenxiu are destined to have no energy to deal with it for the time being.
…
Zhu Wenzhen did not catch up with Zhang Xianzhong in the end, but his achievements were fully recognized by Shen Shuren.
Moreover, his pursuit finally resulted in the seizure of millions of taels of gold and jewelery for Shen Shuren, and also greatly weakened Zhang Xianzhong's development potential when he later relied on the property robbed in Huguang to recruit troops from other provinces.
Of course, a considerable part of the property that Zhang Xianzhong gained from massacres in various places in Huguang was not taken away with him and was left in Hengzhou City. It was mainly copper coins, silk and some silver. Light items such as gold and jewelry would not be left behind.
of.
This is also the reason why Chen Shuren could not personally intervene when he detached Zhu Wenzhen's partial division to pursue Zhang Xianzhong. Because he had to sit on the Hengzhou siege battlefield and watch the main force of the Ming army take back Hengzhou City.
It is said that Zhang Xianzhong himself ran away, and the defenders of Hengzhou City should have no intention of fighting. It would be easy for them to surrender directly to the court.
But in this process, there were still some problems that could not be circumvented. As a result, Chen Shuren had to spend more energy on making preparations and besieged for another ten days and eight days before it was completely solved——
The main problem lies in the fact that the garrison soldiers who were sold by Zhang Xianzhong and stayed in Hengzhou City include the original Changsha Commander-in-Chief Yin Xianmin and Hengzhou Commander-in-Chief He Yide.
The two people also negotiated and contacted Shen Shuren at the beginning, hoping that Shen Shuren would promise to pardon their crimes and let bygones be bygones after they returned to the court.
Yin Xianmin He Yide also thought rashly: "Now that the world is in chaos, Hong Chengchou has surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, the elite border troops of the Ming Dynasty have been wiped out, and Chongzhen is no longer able to control the place. As long as Chen Shuren has the same desire to separatist rule as Zuo Liangyu, he can protect anyone."
They can be saved. If the Shenshu people are willing to protect them, they will promise to work hard for the Shenshu people in the future."
But how could Shen Shuren protect these two spineless losers? Nowadays, Chongzhen's control over the local area has indeed been greatly reduced. If Chongzhen wanted to deal with him, Shen Shuren, then he would definitely have to "obey the instructions but not the propaganda."
I will not be subject to the arbitrary orders His Majesty gave after being bewitched by traitors in the court."
But what kind of virtue is Mr. Yin? Do they deserve to be protected by Shen Shuren regardless of their reputation?
Besides, someone has to take responsibility for the great changes in southern Huguang in the past few months. When Zhang Xianzhong arrived, these two generals surrendered and joined the bandits without even holding on for three days. They must be regarded as the chief culprits! Otherwise, Shen
How will the tree man lead the team in the future?
Therefore, he decisively rejected Yin Xianmin He Yide's surrender conditions, and would rather delay the army for ten or eight more days!
But at the same time, he did not give up on dividing and disintegrating Zhang Xianzhong's army of more than 10,000 people who finally fled back to the city. Chen Shuren made conditions on his own, allowing the soldiers to shoot arrows into the city:
It means that those who were originally in command of a brigade or above in Zhang Xianzhong's army will not be pardoned, those who surrendered to thieves above those in the Ming army will not be pardoned, and those who want to be pardoned in the guerrilla, capital, or garrison ranks of the Ming army can be beheaded and surrendered superiors above the rank of general.
Lead a team to shoot.
After all, what Chen Shuren needs to attack most is the unity among the bandits. Just as what he likes to use most is the bandits who killed his adoptive father and later surrendered.
Anyway, Shen Shuren himself would never adopt an adopted son in his life, and he didn't think that this method of destroying the loving and filial relationship between adopted father and son would do any harm to him.
Although there are no generals in the troops in Hengzhou City who accept their subordinates as adopted sons, the principles are the same. Anyway, Shen Shuren will not accept unconditional immunity and surrender directly. If you want to surrender, kill the superior to surrender! Kill the bigger villains.
The thief chieftain is guarding and offering his head to the tent!
Thanks to Chen Shuren's combined civil and military efforts, the Hengzhou garrison resisted for a few days, but due to lack of morale and leaderlessness, the Hengzhou garrison suffered heavy losses.
In the end, under the repeated stimulation of the battle situation, several officers at the first level of the defense finally rebelled against their old superiors. Taking advantage of the fact that the two men did not dare to close their eyes, they personally supervised the battle and defense of the city. When they fell asleep from exhaustion, they captured Yin Xianmin and He Yide alive.
He was tied up and sent to Shen Shuren's tent.
The scene was exactly the same as when Song Xian and Wei Xuhou Cheng tied up Lu Bu and sent him to Cao Cao in Baimen Tower.
After Chen Shuren learned that the two boneless soldiers had been kidnapped, he was also overjoyed and went out to see the results of his battle in person.
"You're living well. If you take him to the capital and be chopped off, it will help your majesty calm down. It's a pity that it will be difficult for more than a month. Why is he so thin? He won't be able to do many cuts by then."
Chen Shuren took a simple look at Yin Xianmin and He Yide's physique like he was examining an animal.
When encountering bandits who surrendered without a fight, what kind of guilt should they have? Shen Shuren was too lazy to talk to them and let them talk to Chongzhen.
…
After taking Hengzhou City, Shen Shuren also had the opportunity to count how many battlefields were captured by wiping out Zhang Xianzhong's main force.
When Zhang Xianzhong slaughtered Changsha City before, he got several million taels from Prince Ji's Mansion alone, which was more than what he got from killing Prince Xiang in Xiangyang last year. Changsha City was also rich, and all the wealthy gentry and wealthy merchants in the city were slaughtered.
It was no less impressive than Prince Ji's Mansion, so much so that the entire city of Changsha squeezed out at least more than 10 million taels of oil and water.
This city of Hengzhou is economically underdeveloped and has few wealthy people. However, the wealth of Prince Gui's Palace far exceeds that of Prince Rong's Palace. Who knows that their family is Chongzhen's uncle?
Being a vassal king is either an old brand that has been around for more than two hundred years and relies on a lot of wealth accumulated over time, or it is based on being close to the emperors of recent generations, and the local officials dare not control their wealth and influence.
Ugly. King Fu is a typical example of this type.
Although King Gui is far inferior to King Fu, he is still Chongzhen's uncle after all. With such a close relationship, he should be rich. In the end, Zhang Xianzhong's income from Prince Gui's palace actually exceeded 7 million taels.
Throughout the Huguang area, Zhang Xianzhong traveled all the way to extract money balances, which were close to 20 million taels!
Zhang Xianzhong himself had tried his best to take it away, but unfortunately it was still only a small amount, and he had saved about more than six million taels. There were still more than 12 million taels, all of which were taken advantage of by Shen Shuren.
Of course, Shen Shuren did not get this for nothing. After all, he led fifty or sixty thousand regular troops in bloody battles for two or three months. The military expenditures were also huge. After winning the battle, he had to give rewards to win over the people after the war. The expenses were also huge.
.
Chen Shuren certainly deserves these twelve million taels.
The boss is often empty-handed. Every day when he opens his eyes, he will see an army of 100,000 people, eating, drinking and eating. How many mouthfuls will be left in his mouth?
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