Chapter 179 Taking advantage of the victory to pursue
When Li Zicheng woke up again, it was already three full days later.
His location was moved a full two hundred miles north-northwest from the Chen County battlefield to Zhuxian Town near Kaifeng.
One of his eyeballs was completely gouged out by a military doctor while he was in coma. His head and face were wrapped in tight and thick gauze, and blood was still leaking out intermittently.
There was nothing that could be done about it. Because of the butterfly effect, the injury Li Zicheng suffered this time was more serious than the injury he suffered under Kaifeng City at the same time in history.
If you are just shot in the eyeball by a bow and arrow, you can at most just pull it out like Xiahou Dun did, and the subsequent infection will be easier to control. If you are hit by a lake of fragments from a lead bullet, and some of the fragments are still in your eyes, the risk of infection and poisoning will naturally increase.
It is much larger, and naturally there are more parts to be cut off.
After Li Zicheng sobered up a little, he recalled that his side seemed to have suffered a new disastrous defeat. His lips were dry and cracked, and pale and bloodless, but he still trembled a few times and asked others in a low voice with difficulty:
"How many troops did our army lose? Where did it retreat to?"
Song Xiance stayed by his side and quickly reported: "Your Majesty, please rest first, the dragon body is important. Our army may have lost 50,000 to 60,000 horses in this battle, but there should still be some soldiers who were defeated and fled."
, can be gathered back slowly.
You were in a coma for three days, and we withdrew you two hundred miles in a row, even abandoning Yancheng and other places. The government troops should still be clearing Yancheng. Their marching army is not as fast as ours in escaping lightly, and we can't catch up yet.
Here, you can rest for two more days before making a decision."
When Song Xiance reported the losses, he obviously exercised restraint, not wanting to irritate Li Zicheng further.
In fact, the losses in this battle will be a little higher. Even if the scattered troops who were able to escape and gather together are included, the absolute losses will be at least 60,000. The specifics are still unclear.
Before Li Zicheng fought with Shen Shuren, he claimed to have an army of 380,000. He had attacked the city several times before, and each time he lost more than 10,000 to 20,000 to 30,000 people. Huang Degong also used a detour to defeat Yuan Zongdi and eliminate him.
Li Jiyu made an emergency landing on Yuan Shizhong, and each wave of losses amounted to more than 10,000 people.
So in total, in the past two months, Li Zicheng's troops had lost at least 150,000 horses at the hands of Chen Shuren.
Of his 380,000-strong army, there are currently about 2,120,000 left on hand. Even if the deserters collected later are included in some health, the maximum number will not exceed 2,340,000.
Of course, the Chenshu people on the opposite side also suffered losses. After all the bloody battles, the total number of casualties among the officers and soldiers reached 10,000 or 20,000.
Chen Shuren claimed to have 140,000 Huguang troops before the war, and he brought 90,000 troops to deal with Li Zicheng, plus more than 10,000 coastal defense divisions (Zhang Mingzhen's troops) seconded from Nanzhili, so the actual number of troops participating in the war exceeded 100,000
people,
After fighting for two months, the loss was 10,000 to 20,000 yuan, which is about 15% of the battle loss ratio. If it suffered such a large loss all at once, the army would definitely collapse. Fortunately, these were the last two days.
After months of slowly grinding away the casualties, morale was maintained, and the more we fought, the more resilient we became.
Moreover, the medical conditions and logistical support of the official army are definitely much better than those of the Chuang army.
Except for the Shaanxi old camp, which has relatively complete medical treatment, the majority of the other cannon fodder soldiers in the Chuang Army are injured and left to their fate. Therefore, among the losses of 150,000, the mortality rate is so high. As long as the seriously injured are not
The officers basically all died in the end.
On the government and military side, except for those who were obviously fatally injured and could not be saved, there was more or less medical input. In addition, the armor and stomach were relatively sophisticated, so there were really not many people who died directly in battle.
Among these 20,000 casualties, only 4,000 to 5,000 were killed directly in battle, 2,000 to 3,000 were seriously injured and later died, and nearly 10,000 others could be rescued. Excluding the 2,000 to 3,000 disabled people who needed to be resettled.
, half a year later at least 7,000 wounded soldiers can be recovered to restore their combat strength.
After such a bloody baptism, the fighting will and technical and tactical level of the Huguang Army will obviously be improved to a higher level. Even if the number of troops is reduced by 15%, they can still get stronger and stronger after resting.
…
Li Zicheng also knew that Song Xiance was probably hiding something from him, so he comforted him with a nice word. But now that he was seriously injured, he didn't want to be more serious.
Li Zicheng was a man who could take things easily and let things go. He had been defeated countless times in his life and had to flee alone. He didn't know how many times he had done it. If he could do it again, he would have more debts and no worries about lice.
So he quickly got out of his psychological shadow and sighed: "Victory and defeat are common matters for military strategists. I had listened to my husband's words earlier and didn't seek a decisive battle in this field battle and just retreated. Everything was Gu's fault. It was Gu who failed the three armies."
Soldiers, so many old brothers.
But it’s still too late to correct mistakes after we know them, and we don’t want to lose face. This is much more flexible than that poor guy Chongzhen. Sooner or later, Chongzhen will die because of his unwillingness to give in and save face.”
Song Xiance breathed a sigh of relief: "Your Majesty, if you can bend and stretch, you will be able to resolve important matters."
Li Zicheng waved his hand with difficulty and ordered: "I will order the entire army to abandon Zhuxian Town and other siege camps around Kaifeng, and ask Liu Zongmin to dig up the Yellow River embankments, release water to resist the enemy, and block the pursuing troops.
Our army retreated through Xingyang and defended itself with the natural danger of Hulao. When Gu's injuries improved and all the armies regained their combat strength, they planned to march westward to Tongguan. At the moment, we can only suffer the people of Luoyang. The cost of military rations is as high as that of Henan Prefecture.
And the people of Ruzhou and Dengfeng provided it."
Last year, Li Zicheng took advantage of the people's dissatisfaction with King Fu in Luoyang and asked the defenders to invade Luoyang and kill Queen Fu. At one time, he tried to win over the local people.
When the city was first captured, he fulfilled his promise and used a considerable portion of the money he had robbed from Prince Fu's Mansion and other wealthy officials in Henan to open warehouses and distribute grain to the poor. Therefore, there are still some living people in the Luoyang area today. But Li Zicheng is like this
After a huge defeat and no food being collected, it was natural that they could only catch the fish from the lake.
Even if Luoyang is completely robbed and killed without leaving any base, he still has to ensure that he recovers his health quickly so that he can fight against Sun Chuanting, or at least break through or bypass Tongguan and enter Guanzhong.
There are still more than 200,000 troops to support, and they only rely on the territory of one or two prefectures, but they have to scrape the ground without leaving chickens and dogs behind.
After Song Xiance heard this, he felt that Luoyang alone would not be able to support him even if he killed them all, so he tactfully suggested that Li Zicheng consider dividing his troops.
In the last two months of winter, we can consider taking the troops who originally crossed the Yellow River north and robbed Huaiqing, Weihui and other places to return to their old places and cross the Yellow River north again, but after crossing the river, they changed to the west, to Pingyang in the southwest corner of Shanxi.
Eat in the counties in the southern part of the government.
That place, which was later known as the Yuncheng Basin, included counties such as Anyi, Xieliang, Linjin, and Wenxi. The agricultural foundation was relatively good, and there was also the salt lake in Yuncheng. Exhausting the lake for fishing should have been enough for tens of thousands of troops to survive the cold winter.
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Moreover, from the Yuncheng Basin, in the future, you can also go downstream along the Huishui River, enter the Yellow River from Pubanjin, and then cross west to reach Guanzhong. In this way, you can bypass the natural barrier of Tongguan and directly fight Sun Chuanting on the Guanzhong Plain.
Li Zicheng was seriously injured and was not able to think quickly. After listening to Song Xiance's suggestion, he agreed to it and told him not to bother him again and to do it immediately.
…
The words are divided into two parts.
The day after the invading army was defeated and fled, at nightfall,
With the war completely over and no pursuit after dark, Shen Shuren finally took a break and met with the various generals who came to help.
"I will see Master Futai at the end! Master Futai is a divination! Congratulations to Master Futai for this incredible feat!"
Two generals, Huang Degong and Zhang Mingzhen, came hand in hand. As soon as they saw Shen Shuren, they bowed sincerely, regardless of the fact that they were wearing armor and it was inconvenient to perform the ceremony, which made the armor on their bodies clang.
Chen Shuren humbly resigned with a smile on his face: "Two generals, please excuse yourself! Our army's great victory today is inseparable from the right reinforcements and combined attack by the two of you. We all share this merit!"
However, for now, we have only repelled and wounded the main force of the intruders. The siege of Kaifeng City has not yet been relieved. His Royal Highness the King of Zhou, Governor Gao, and General Chen are still besieged and suffering in Kaifeng City. We will not celebrate Chongqing's success until we have fully accomplished our feats.
On that day, after rescuing everyone and relieving the people from the danger of water and fire, I will drink with you for three days!"
Chen Shuren spoke with both comfort and political correctness in mind. After all, they were ordered by Chongzhen to relieve the siege of Kaifeng. The primary purpose has not yet been fully realized.
Being happy too early can easily lead to criticism. The imperial censor Yan Guan in the late Ming Dynasty was very good at finding fault with others.
After hearing this, Huang Degong understood his difficulties, but he was actually quite unhappy. Fortunately, Shen Shuren immediately said that General Huang's good wine would not be missing. He could drink as much as he wanted. Huang Degong praised happily:
"Sir, you know me. We are completely devoted to you. All this is to guard against those bully gossips. We know it in our hearts!
But don't worry, when it comes to rescuing King Zhou and Governor Gao, you already have several great achievements in your pocket - just a few days ago, the general has safely placed King Fu and King Lu in Xiangcheng.
Would you like to take some time and go over to pay a visit? Anyway, the intruders were defeated, and the follow-up around Kaifeng is not just a race to enclose the territory, but a sweeping decision? There is no need for you to take action personally.
In addition, Mo will learn that you are waiting for an opportunity to seek a decisive battle with the intruders in the field. After solving the problem of the intruders in one go, he made his own decision and said this matter when negotiating with King Lu and King Fu.
'When the intruders heard that our army had rescued King Lu and King Fu, they wanted to abandon Chen County and go to Xiangcheng to attack and kill the vassals. After hearing about this critical situation, Shen Futai, you ignored your own safety and went to Chen County.
The county can stick to the consumption, but take the risk and choose to go out of the city to fight in the field, lest the intruders bypass Chen County and endanger the kings'.
King Lu and King Fu didn't believe it when they heard it. Now that our army has won a great victory, you can go and pay a visit. It's a great favor and there's no need for extra trouble."
Chen Shuren was quite surprised when he heard Huang Degong's words. He had always thought that Huang Degong was just a reckless man. At most, he was very good at battlefield tactical command and commanding troops, but he did not expect that he could also use these little tricks of worldliness.
Chen Shuren couldn't help but praise: "General Huang, you are very quick-thinking, but I should not think of you as a warrior all the time."
Huang Degong also smiled without hesitation: "The general is not very good at reading, but he doesn't even know how to welcome and send people to the world. If he can't take advantage of this, how can he be promoted to the rank of general soldier?"
Shen Shuren was right. Military generals may indeed not study, but it does not mean that military generals have low emotional intelligence. This ability to flatter leaders is a basic skill in officialdom and does not distinguish between civil and military officials.
Back then, Qi Jiguang had to give Zhang Juzheng dried seals, dried seahorses and other tonics to flatter him. Can we say that Qi Jiguang is a bad guy?
Huang Defong told the truth in front of him, and he completely regarded himself as Shen Shuren's confidant.
"Okay, this is a good job. I will naturally take the time to cook when I have time. However, you must be careful if you pursue Li Zicheng alone to rescue Kaifeng."