Signed to Zhu Cihong, Prince of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 127 Chapter 127, the Ming army went south to counterattack, Li Zicheng was shocked and worried
Everything has been prepared, and finally on this day, the mighty [-] troops of the Ming Dynasty began to march south.

British Duke Zhang Shize served as the chief general, Xiangcheng Bo Li Guozhen served as the deputy general, and Prince Zhu Cixi served as the supervisor. These were the "three giants" of the Ming Dynasty army.

The reason there were only 5 people was because the Ming army also suffered considerable losses after experiencing the fierce battle at Shanhaiguan. At the same time, it had to divide its troops to guard strategic locations in the capital and Beizhili.

In addition, the shortage of food and grass is also a reason.

Standing in front of Chongzhen, the Lord General Zhang Shize was full of confidence: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will definitely be able to recover Jinan this time. If Li Zicheng dares to attack again, I will make him look good!"

Chongzhen was quite satisfied with Yinggong's answer, he nodded, spoke a few more words with Li Guozhen, and then walked in front of Zhu Cihong.

The father and son looked at each other, and although they didn't speak, it was worth a thousand words.

Chongzhen patted Zhu Cihong's shoulder, and said seriously: "Remember to come back properly."

Zhu Cilang said with a smile: "Father, please rest assured, my son will return with the news of victory!"

The army left the capital in mighty force, and officially headed south.

Riding on a horse, feeling the ubiquitous heat wave surrounding him in summer, Zhu Cixiang suddenly missed modern times very much.

If you drive south in an air-conditioned car at this time, the comfort level will not improve much.

During the break, the British Duke came to Zhu Cihong's side.

"His Royal Highness, do you think Li Zicheng will go to rescue Jinan?"

The British Duke is now very convinced of Zhu Cihong's military talent.

Zhu Cihong gave the answer that he had already thought about: "Yes, but not completely."

This answer sounded a bit awkward, but the Duke of England immediately understood: "Your Highness, could it be that you think that Li Zicheng will only send a partial division to come, but the main force will not come in person?"

Zhu Cihong nodded in agreement.

This is not based on the judgment of the battlefield, but Zhu Cihong's judgment on Li Zicheng.

Although Li Zicheng first broke through Xi'an and then besieged the capital in the past two years, he felt like a tiger swallowing thousands of miles, but in fact, this guy has always been running away when facing the Ming army.

In the past so many years, Li Zicheng's fighting style has been to run as long as he can, and if he can't run, he will fight a battle, and then continue to run if he loses.

It was in such a constant "Li Paopao" life that the Central Plains of the Ming Dynasty was turned into a mess by Li Zicheng, countless victims of disasters gathered under Li Zicheng's command, and the elite officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty also turned against each other due to lack of pay and food. This is how Li Zicheng came to be It was a big comeback in the history of Ming's victory.

To put it bluntly, Li Zicheng's level of fighting is very limited, but his level of "operation" is quite high.

Now that the Ming army has once again gained a military advantage over Li Zicheng, it is impossible for Li Zicheng to lead the main force to continue to confront the Ming army head-on. The most he can do is send a partial division to harass him.

Li Guozhen didn't know when he appeared on the sidelines, and interjected: "Now I am a little worried that Li Zicheng will attack the capital from Shanxi, or take advantage of our siege of Jinan to cross the Yellow River and go up to attack Bei Zhili again, and play a game of besieging Wei and saving Zhao with us. "

The British Duke thought for a while and said: "Shanxi should not be possible. Since Li Zicheng retreated to Kaifeng, he has transferred almost all the main forces from Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Shandong, leaving only [-] mobs to guard Jinan. This proves that His current goal is still to stick to Henan. Instead, he crosses the Yellow River to the north..."

Seeing the Englishman hesitate to speak, Zhu Cihong suddenly laughed: "If Li Zicheng really chooses not to rescue Jinan but to cross the Yellow River north, then we will make a lot of money."

Yingying Gong and Li Guozhen were stunned at the same time, with obvious puzzled expressions on their faces.

Zhu Cihong said sternly: "After Li Zicheng crossed the Yellow River, he attacked Beizhili. According to this policy, he should want to threaten the capital and force us to withdraw from Jinan, right?"

The two nodded at the same time.

Zhu Cihong continued: "However, it should be noted that the capital is at the northernmost point of Beizhili, and Li Zicheng will attack from the southernmost point of Beizhili after crossing the river, which means that he has to get through the whole of Beizhili to reach the capital. By that time, we have already conquered Jinan!"

Ying Gong and Li Guozhen were stunned for a moment, and at the same time they suddenly realized.

The British Duke smiled and said: "The authorities are really fascinated. If it weren't for His Highness the Crown Prince's guidance, the old minister would not have thought of this."

Li Guozhen also said: "I didn't expect His Highness to be so proficient in strategy. I really admire it."

Zhu Cihong chuckled and accepted all these compliments.

If you can boast, you should boast more!
The news of the Ming army's march south naturally reached Kaifeng as quickly as possible.

Li Zicheng was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly summoned many confidants to come to discuss.

"The soldiers and horses of the imperial court have gone south again. This time it seems that they want to attack Jinan. Let's talk about it, what should we do?"

After listening to Li Zicheng's words, the officials of Dashun present also looked worried.

Three months ago, the rulers and ministers of the Dashun regime were very optimistic, and they all felt that this wave could flatten Daming and establish a new dynasty.

But now?Daming was able to be reborn from a situation that seemed to be doomed, and even launched a fierce counterattack against Dashun once again. This psychological gap is too great.

Not only that, but several of Li Zicheng's great think-tanks, including Niu Jinxing, were captured by Zhu Cixiang, Song Xiance disappeared after Baoding was defeated, and many Dashun soldiers also quietly left without saying goodbye. These are also very heavy. Destroyed the morale of the Dashun Army.

That is to say, Li Zicheng is used to ups and downs over the years, so some people are still willing to believe that he can make a comeback and continue to follow him, otherwise the group would have disbanded long ago.

After a moment of silence, Li Yan stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I feel that Jinan should be rescued. If Jinan is not rescued, the north and south of Ming Dynasty will become one again, and our situation will become even more difficult at that time." ”

Hearing this, Li Zicheng nodded slightly in agreement.

Why did Li Zicheng's strategy choose three routes to attack first, break through Henan and Shandong first, and then attack the capital? It was to cut off the transportation route from the south of the Yangtze River to the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Now that the Ming Dynasty wants to re-open this route, it is difficult for Li Zicheng to remain indifferent.

Although the truth is this truth, it does not mean that no one opposes it.

Li Zicheng's nephew, Li Guo, stood up and said in a deep voice, "I cannot agree with Li Yan's words. In the current situation, the imperial court's soldiers and horses are already stronger than ours. If we go to Jinan at this time A decisive battle with the imperial court, isn’t it in the imperial court’s arms? We should take the initiative to give up Jinan, strive to keep the existing Shanxi, Henan and Shaanxi, and deal with the imperial court slowly, this is the best policy.”

Li Guo belonged to an important figure in the "royal family" of Dashun, and his speech immediately changed the situation of this meeting.

Li Yan shook his head, and said: "Marquis of Hao County (Li Guo's title), what you said is wrong, the current court has not completely recovered, as long as we can hold Jinan, we will be able to strangle Jinan to death. The supply route of the imperial court. As long as we can persist for a year or so, the imperial court will inevitably suffer heavy losses due to insufficient supplies, and then we can launch a counterattack and win, and it is not impossible to come to the capital and conquer it again!"

Li Guo shook his head and sneered, "It's easy for you to say! Did we win when we surrounded the capital three months ago? Did we win when we were in Gu'an two months ago? Did we defend Baoding a month ago? These three times Every battle ended with the court winning and we losing, and now you are still thinking of going head-to-head with the main force of the court, I think you are just impatient!"

The two fell into a fierce quarrel.

Hearing these quarrels, Li Zicheng became more and more irritable, and finally roared: "Enough is enough, shut up!"

Li Guo and Li Yan both knelt down in fear and confessed their guilt.

Li Zicheng's eyes wandered over the two people, and he wanted to get angry, but in the end he didn't.

Li Zicheng also knew that these two people were actually for the good of Dashun, but they just had different positions.

Li Zicheng composed himself and said to Li Yan: "Aren't you going to help Jinan? Well, I will give you [-] troops and horses. You can take them to Jinan. If you can save them, you can save them. If you can't, you can save them." Take it back to me immediately!"

Li Yan was overjoyed, but then he said: "Your Majesty, thirty thousand troops and horses are still a little less. I wonder if your Majesty can give me another twenty thousand?"

Li Zicheng said impatiently: "Then I'll give you another ten thousand! Remember, don't lose all my troops there!"

Li Yan responded repeatedly, happily taking the soldier talisman from Li Zicheng's hand.

Others couldn't help being moved when they watched this scene, especially the displeased expression on Li Guo's face was even more obvious.

After more than half a month of "recruiting soldiers and buying horses", Li Zicheng's subordinates have regained a 50 army, claiming to be [-], but a large part of this [-] army is a strong man who was arrested or recruited everywhere. I don't know how much higher it is.

Right now, they have returned [-] yuan, almost half to Li Yan, which is too generous.

Li Zicheng didn't bother to pay attention to other people's thoughts, and directly announced the end of the meeting.

Li Zicheng returned to his bedroom, quickly wrote a letter, and called a confidant.

"Send this letter to Shengjing City immediately, and hand it over to Hong Chengchou!"

After all, Li Zicheng was a tycoon of his generation, and he still had the strategic vision he should have.

Now that he is no match for the Ming Dynasty's army, he has no choice but to use the Manchu Qing as a backup.

Li Zicheng never thought of surrendering to the Manchus, but just like Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, once surrendered to the Turks after he raised his army in the late Sui Dynasty, Li Zicheng did not mind taking advantage of the Manchus when he did not have the advantage!
(End of this chapter)