Dashun Yongchang

In this way, it can not only meet the rear troops, but also stay away from the army of the Shun army, and occupy the terrain to block the pursuers.If it is possible to repel the attack of the Shun army once and delay the time until night, we can take advantage of the night to stay away from the Shun army's pursuit.This is the best way. "

Shang Kexi and Xu Erxian next to him were furious when they heard this, but Shang Kexi looked around and realized that his guards had been pushed to the outside at some point, and now they were surrounded by Manchus and Mongolians. It made him calm down quickly.

Chapter 375 Twelve Before the Great War

Gao Hu of the First Cavalry Regiment was standing beside Ma Bao watching the rejoined Qing army, and frowned for a while and said to Ma Bao: "After these two groups of slave cavalry meet, it will be difficult to fight. .”

While feeding his mount fried soybeans, Ma Bao stared at the troops of the Qing army not far away, and said in his mouth: "Unless they stay here or defeat us first, otherwise at such a short distance , Do they still dare to show their backs to us and run for their lives regardless? In that case, we will save trouble."

As the attached cavalry regiment of the First Army Division, Gao Hu is actually not related to Ma Bao, but the status of the guard cavalry is always higher than that of ordinary cavalry regiments, so in this attack, he also He chose Ma Bao as the leader, but he didn't expect the current changes to occur in this mission.

Gao Hu was also a little annoyed. If he had known that there were still large groups of cavalry escaped from the Qing army in the city, he would not have unconditionally obeyed Ma Bao's proposition, but should have insisted on following the plan of the General Staff.In that case, they might have wiped out some of the slave cavalry long ago, so that they would have time to deal with the slave cavalry that appeared later.

As if feeling Gao Hu's mood, although Ma Bao didn't have any regrets in his heart, he calmed Gao Hu and said: "Actually, it's not a big deal. Now everyone is just equalizing the number of people, but it is impossible for Jiannu to have any institutional system." The cavalry troops have escaped, and our main force is by our side. As long as we delay them, they will not be able to leave. Besides, the second guard cavalry division should be arriving soon. By then, our troops will still have an advantage. There is no escape."

At this time, Gao Hu will naturally not regret it anymore, otherwise, wouldn't it be that the two ends are not human.Just when the Shun army adjusted its formation and recovered its horsepower, the Qing army's team over there finally showed some changes.

Watching the movement of the Qing army, Ma Bao threw the remaining fried soybeans back into the horse sack, and while beckoning his subordinates to get on their horses, he said to Gao Hu: "It seems that these Qing soldiers are quite courageous, and they chose to go first. Defeat us and run away. The old rules, I will lead people to intercept them, Lao Gao, you will sweep the formation for me."

Gao Hu nodded in agreement, and turned back to his team.When the cavalry of the Qing army chose to attack, Gao Hu was still a little nervous, because the distance between the two sides was actually not enough for the cavalry to charge. But it is possible to drag them into the melee that is most unfavorable to them.

It's just that Gao Hu's nervousness dissipated quickly, because after the three cavalry teams of the Qing army rushed out, there was no follow-up soldiers and horses to keep up. Even the subordinates around Gao Hu felt that the movements of the Qing army were a bit strange, and said to him: " Captain, the Qing army wants to leave their comrades and run away, right? Should we catch up at that time, or continue to help Master Ma encircle and wipe out these people?"

Gao Hu didn't respond to his subordinates' inquiries, but just paid attention to the movements of the Qing troops staying in place, until these Qing troops finally moved, but instead of joining the battlefield in the northeast, they retreated slowly in the southwest direction. At this time, Gao Hu vomited He said to his subordinates in a low tone: "Li Jin, take your brigade to follow up, don't let those Qing troops out of your sight, and send someone to report their position every once in a while. Everyone else is ready, we will help first Master Ma killed these hundreds of Qing soldiers, and then chased after them..."

Xu Chenggong and Lu Kexi, Shang Kexi's subordinates who were facing the cavalry of the Heshun Army, suddenly heard exclamations from the subordinates behind them, which distracted them from looking back, only to see that the main force behind them was moving away from the battlefield again.A thought suddenly popped up in the minds of the two of them, they were abandoned, which made the remaining fighting spirit in their hearts fade away.

I thought I was the vanguard, and after a while, the main force would catch up with and repel the Shunjun cavalry, and then everyone left safely together.Now the Qing army cavalry caught in the battle suddenly discovered that they were just a group of outcasts. Whether they were Manchus or Shang Wang, they tried to use them to block the pursuit of the Shun army cavalry so that they could withdraw safely.

As a result, the cavalry of the Qing army on the battlefield suddenly lost their desire to fight. Except for a few confidantes who were still guarding the general, the other cavalry had begun to withdraw from the battlefield consciously, and then fled away on horseback. The direction of their escape was far away from Kaocheng. , the direction where the main force left, and the location of the cavalry brigade of the Shun Army, so the cavalry battlefield where the two armies faced each other suddenly became a scene where the cavalry of the Shun Army brigade surrounded the cavalry of the Qing Army.

Seeing that there were fewer and fewer subordinates behind them, and more and more Shunjun cavalry around them, Xu Chenggong and Lu Ke, who were surrounded by heavy siege, finally chose to dismount and surrender, seeing that there was no hope of escape.

In fact, Ma Bao didn't bother to accept the surrender of these Qing cavalry, because he had already discovered that these Qing cavalry were all Han Chinese, and the Manchus and Mongols who had been surrounded by them had already run away.Capturing hundreds of Han troops is obviously not comparable to capturing hundreds of Manchus and Mongols. The latter are the enemies that the Marshal's Mansion attaches great importance to.

Ma Bao touched the neck of his mount, and said to a guard beside him: "My mount didn't even sweat, those Manchurians must not have run far, let the Gaohu United team clean up here, and clean it up." Our people are all called up, and continue to chase along the direction where the people are fleeing..."

When Gao Hu received the order from Ma Bao's personal guards, his subordinates were rather unhappy and said: "It's rare that we shouldn't be the ones to start the pursuit. Are Mr. Ma and the others staying to clean up the battlefield? Wouldn't it be like this that we are completely stalking them?" gone?"

Although Gao Hu felt a little unhappy, he still stood by Ma Bao's side to appease his subordinates and said, "Actually, it's not bad for us to clean up the battlefield. At least we can choose a batch of good horses for ourselves."

Hearing what Gao Hu said, these subordinates changed their attitudes again. Soldiers fight for two things: military exploits and spoils of war.Pursue the remaining Qing cavalry and pick a batch of good horses for yourself. The latter obviously looks more tempting. After all, the Manchus who escaped are not soft persimmons. Except for the guard cavalry, they don’t have to worry about the source of the horses. In addition to military merits, these ordinary cavalry regiments hope to get a good horse, which is equivalent to an extra life on the battlefield.

Luo Luohong held Shang Kexi hostage and galloped forward. Seeing Shang Kexi's livid face on the road, Luo Luohong couldn't bear to comfort him: "King Zhishun, don't worry too much, as long as you can return to the army safely Among them, I will definitely suggest to the general that you can choose the Han army at will to supplement your troops, and if you lose a little, you will soon be replenished."

Shang Kexi glanced at this ignorant Lord Baylor, thinking in his heart how could these Dongjiang veterans be recruited at will, and after this incident, how much trust would his subordinates have left in him?But at this time, he couldn't speak ill of Luo Luohong, after all, it was impossible for him to get off the boat of Manren.

So after holding back for a long time, Shang Kexi could only utter a few words coldly: "I hope their sacrifice will not be in vain."

It's just that this is obviously just a good wish, and soon a group of cavalry from the Shun army followed up. Although there were only a hundred or so cavalry, it put a lot of pressure on the fleeing Qing army, because there was this cavalry from the Shun army. With the army cavalry in the back, they had to keep in formation to prevent this group of cavalry from the army from attacking them.

Although Kuruk once wanted to organize troops to eat up this army of cavalry, so that he could go on the road safely.But after abandoning their friendly forces twice in a row, the Manchus and Hans in this team could no longer trust their companions.They were all worried that the so-called rear guard at this time was just another sacrifice abandoned to the pursuit of the Shun army.

Therefore, Kuruk's plan did not get the support of his subordinates, and neither the Manchus nor the Hans were willing to turn around and intercept this army cavalry.At this time, Kuruk realized why when hundreds of Manchus chased tens of thousands of Liaodong Ming army, no Ming army dared to turn around and resist, because the defeat was like a mountain, and no one was willing to sacrifice their lives for others. Life, I just want to run faster than my colleagues, so that I can survive.

Maybe this team is not yet frightened, but the morale of this team is not far from collapse. The reason why it can maintain the current formation is entirely due to the nature of the army to keep warm, because the soldiers are in danger. Always prefer to stay in the group rather than run away alone.

Kuruk couldn't command his subordinates to turn around to meet the cavalry squad following them, so he knew that he had almost lost control of this troop, and the so-called plan to occupy a favorable position in Shaba to meet the pursuers was no longer possible. It may have happened.

Kuruk's guess was not wrong. An hour later, less than a mile from the sand dam to the west of the river area, the cavalry of the brigade caught up with them again.Although Kuruk shouted loudly and asked his subordinates not to panic, as long as they kept their formation and retreated towards the sand bar, the Shun army would not be able to pose any threat to them.

But empty words are hard to resist the actual actions of the cavalry of the Shun army. After the cavalry led by Ma Bao caught up with the Qing army, they did not even make any adjustments and rushed directly to the end of the Qing army. The desperate posture of catching up and taking a bite destroyed the last discipline of this Qing army.

Shang Kexi's subordinates at the end of the team fled in all directions, and had no intention of stopping the Shunjun cavalry at all. This directly exposed the Manchus in the middle of the team to the attack of the Shunjun cavalry. Although Kuruk tried to command his subordinates to form a circular formation , copying the previous experience of successfully defending the Shunjun cavalry, but last time it was Chu Ku who gave up his life to block the impact of Ma Bao, and gave Kuruk the opportunity to form a circular formation. This time, everyone rushed forward to block the attack. Ma Bao's shock.

On

After Ku Luke commanded several teams of Manchu cavalry to intercept Ma Bao and were overwhelmed, even the Manchus and Mongols on the Qing side began to retreat on their own, only thinking about fleeing across the sand dam.Kuruk failed to stop these Mongolian cavalrymen from fleeing. After seeing Ma Bao encircling the one or two hundred cavalrymen in the middle of the team, he could only take hundreds of cavalrymen who still obeyed his orders to protect Luo Luohong. Flee to the sand bar not far away.

Although Ma Bao watched the Qing army start to flee, but this time he learned his lesson, he did not leave the intercepted one or two hundred cavalry to pursue, but decided to eat the intercepted Qing army first.

When he surrounded this part of the Qing army, hundreds of cavalry came from the east. Ma Bao was on guard at first, but soon saw that it was his own flag, so he was overjoyed and sent someone to Stop the other party and try to get the other party to accept your order.

Chapter 376 Before the Great War Thirteen

Facing the people sent by Ma Bao, Wu Guogui subconsciously touched the armor on his body. To be honest, if it wasn't for the purpose of suppressing the arrogant soldiers in the cavalry guards, he would actually want to reward Li Zicheng with his armor Treasure it, after all, it represents a kind of honor.

Even Ma Bao and Li Laiheng had to be courteous to those in armor, not to mention the cavalry generals who were drawn from various ministries by Li Zicheng.Of course, Wu Guogui is also very clear that wearing this armor is actually very enviable, because his qualifications in the Shun Army are too shallow, but the honor he has received exceeds those of the old people in the Shun Army, so naturally he will not get these The old man's heart is convinced.

But he had to wear this set of armor to go into battle, because his qualifications in the Shun Army were too shallow, and he was not even a veteran of the Rebel Army, because he surrendered to Dashun as a prisoner after the Battle of Tianjin. Even if he is only a squadron leader of the guard cavalry, others think that he has been promoted too quickly, because many people have joined the rebel army before the founding of Xi'an, but until now they have not been able to get an official position.

These veterans are relatively deep, but the rebel soldiers who let him be a captive over his head are actually not convinced by his status.However, the cavalry squadron leader is still only a low-level position after all, so the soldiers who are dissatisfied with him have not yet reached the point where they cannot be restrained.

However, after the Battle of Cao County, he ascended to the sky in one step, surpassed the class of the captain, and directly assumed the post of captain of the cavalry regiment, and he was considered to have entered the class of middle and senior officers in Dashun, which caused dissatisfaction among many rebel generals , after all, there are only a few positions on the upper floor, and if one more person squeezes in, it means one less position.

Faced with this kind of competition among colleagues, Wu Guogui is actually very familiar with it. After all, he has experienced many such turmoil around Wu Sangui. It is not a new thing for the army to crowd out newcomers or people from other groups.However, there is still a difference between the competition among the Guards Cavalry and the competition among the Liaodong Army. Most of the competition among the Guards Cavalry will be on the bright side, and Li Zicheng will not interfere too much, but if someone engages in private group relations, Li Zicheng will strike.

Therefore, compared with the personnel struggle in the Liaodong Army, the personnel competition within the Shun Army still has a certain degree of fairness, and it is not as chaotic as the internal relations in the Liaodong Army, because Li Zicheng does not need to use the checks and balances in the army to maintain himself For the control of the army, this is the credit of the General Staff.

Wu Guogui can still accept this level of personnel competition, at least as long as he can suppress the doubts of his subordinates and colleagues, then he can sit firmly in his position.But now his subordinates and colleagues are dissatisfied with him as the captain. Wu Guogui knows that it is because everyone feels that the merits of the Battle of Cao County are not enough to support his promotion, especially Li Zicheng also rewarded him with the imperial armor he used. .

Touching the armor on his body, Wu Guogui quickly made up his mind. Accepting Ma Bao's order to meet up now is just a matter of following the rules and doing nothing wrong. At most, it can change Ma Bao's perception of him, but it cannot Make others change their minds about themselves.And what he needs now is not the gratitude of one or two people, but to make his achievements worthy of the honor he has received, so that other people will eliminate their prejudice against him, and agree to make Emperor Yongchang keep watching him.

After making this decision, he raised his head and said to the guards sent by Ma Bao, "According to the military regulations, the military orders issued by the General Staff have the highest priority. The general staff received by our department before departure The order was to intercept the Manchu troops and the puppet King Shang Kexi's troops who fled from Kaocheng. If Master Ma intercepted the main force of the fleeing Qing army at this time, then our department would naturally go to obey Master Ma's order.

But now what Master Ma intercepted was only a part of the fleeing Qing army, and it has already gained the upper hand. If our troops do not go forward, it will not affect the result of Master Ma's victory.Therefore, our department's top priority right now should be to continue chasing down the fleeing Qing cavalry and buy more time for Commander Ma..."

For Wu Guogui's refusal, the guards sent by Ma Bao could only return angrily. After the establishment of the Marshal's Mansion, Li Zicheng formulated strict military regulations on the class differences among the army, stipulating that in military operations and military camps In the military control area, the absolute respect of low-ranking sergeants to high-ranking officers.

That is to say, in the past, the cronies of the general's servants ordered and reprimanded the officers in the army at will, but in the Shun army, it is becoming a violation of military law.Naturally, Ma Bao's personal guards did not dare to point fingers at Wu Guogui on this occasion, lest he be punished by military law.

However, Wu Guogui's decision won the support of the soldiers of the Second Guards Cavalry Regiment. Although everyone is a member of the Guards Cavalry, the Second Regiment belongs to the Second Guards Cavalry Division. The First Division of the Guards Cavalry is different. They don't want to see Ma Bao dictating the regiment. This has violated the authority of the division commander Li Laiheng.

Although Li Laiheng is still young, he is indeed inferior to Ma Bao in terms of martial prowess, but in terms of a bright future, Li Laiheng is much brighter than Ma Bao.Because he is Li Guo's adopted son who is valued by Li Guo, and is deeply trusted by Emperor Yongchang, so everyone is naturally unwilling to let the commander of the second guard cavalry division feel that they have betrayed him.

What's more, compared to obeying Ma Bao's order and sharing a little bit of leftovers, how could they have the comfort of going out alone and enjoying a big meal alone? With Li Laiheng at the front, they are not afraid of Ma Bao and themselves taking credit.Therefore, Wu Guogui's decision has slightly improved the favor of the soldiers of the alliance, and the chief officer who can help the alliance win the interests can still be recognized by everyone.

As for Ma Bao, watching the cavalry team in the distance bypassing the battlefield and chasing in the direction where the Qing army fled, even if the envoy he sent didn't rush to him, he knew that the cavalry team rejected his request.Looking at the general in yellow armor in front of the cavalry, he immediately realized that this was Wu Guogui's regiment.

Ma Bao's subordinates couldn't help but complained to him with some dissatisfaction: "Do these people still see the big picture? We have gnawed the bones. Do they want to eat meat? This is too shameful."

Ma Bao was equally angry, but at this moment he calmed down.He turned his gaze back to the Qing army in front of him. This net did catch many real Manchu soldiers, and the intensity of resistance was much stronger than those of the Han army cavalry before. Obviously, these Manchu and Mongolian cavalry also knew that they were captured. The prisoner's fate will not be good, so he forced a bit of courage between life and death, but he couldn't clean it up for a while.

After looking around for a while, Ma Bao said to his subordinates: "Withdraw the intercepting troops in the direction of Shaba, and see if they have a chance to escape and whether they will be so desperate. When they start to escape, we will pursue them." go up..."

On the Qing side, as Kuruk expected, the dispersed cavalry of the Qing army did not stop after crossing the sand dam, so the original plan to build a defense line based on the sand dam came to an end without a problem.After five or six miles away from Shaba, the fleeing cavalry of the Qing army gradually calmed down. Only then did Kuruk and Xu Erxian find an opportunity to gather troops and prepare to reorganize the army.

But the soldiers and officers of the Qing army have not yet returned to the building, and the cavalry regiment led by Wu Guogui has arrived there. Seeing the messy Qing army troops on the official road, some Qing troops are dismounting their horses and feeding their mounts, while some Qing troops are walking. Wu Guogui didn't even have time to reorganize his troops when he fetched water from a small river nearby. He just roughly divided his army into two parts, the front and the back, and charged towards the Qing army with a relatively complete cavalry.

Luo Luohong and Shang Kexi were sitting on a wooden stake by the road and drinking water. Because of the sudden incident, they were forced to escape from Kaocheng without even eating lunch. Naturally, it is not the time to eat, but people are fine if they don’t eat , The horses still have to eat, otherwise how can they bear the burden of running.Therefore, feeding the horses when gathering troops is also a very normal behavior.

It's just that the cavalry of the Shun Army caught up so quickly, which they didn't expect.The Shun army's assault this time was the last straw that broke the camel's camel's back. The morale of the Qing army, which was already quite low, this time directly yelled "defeated, defeated" and fled directly to the officer. Wilderness on either side of the road.

This time, Kuruk didn't even have the strength to stop him. Seeing the cavalrymen charging in, he immediately led his men to Luo Luohong's side, pushed the Baylor onto the horse, and left with Mafen With Luo Luohong sandwiched between them, they ran along the official road, without even caring about Shang Kexi who was on the side.Soon Xu Erxian came over with dozens of confidantes, and asked Shang Kexi to get on his horse.

Shang Kexi looked at the subordinates in front of him who were turned on their backs by the cavalry assaulters of the Shun Army, and instead of taking the reins in Xu Erxian's hand, he said to the confidant general with a gloomy expression: "Is there any need to escape now? If this is the case, what can we do if we escape back? Our capital has already been lost here, so I might as well die here.”

This is the second time Xu Erxian saw such a depressed Shang Kexi, the last time was when Marshal Mao passed away, at that time Shang Kexi was also at a loss, not knowing what to do in the future.He could only reluctantly persuade Shang Kexi: "My lord, if you keep the green hills, you are not afraid of running out of firewood. Since the Manchus entered the pass to fight for the world, they have to rely on us old people from Liaodong, otherwise what would they use to fight for the world?

Therefore, in the past, the Manchu people were suspicious of us and did not allow us to expand our military, but now it is different from the past.With Li Zicheng's tenacity, the Manchus are bound to be invincible, and they always need our helpers.Therefore, as long as the prince escapes back, the Manchus will definitely help him recover his strength, so that we will have a chance to come back and seek revenge from Li Zicheng.

But if the prince dies here, then their sacrifices will be in vain. If the prince is gone, will the Manchu people treat our family preferentially? "

Xu Erxian was persuading, and his hands were not idle, he pushed Shang Kexi onto the mount abruptly, and then got on the horse to protect Shang Kexi and ran down the official road. At this time, they could no longer deviate from the official road, because In this unfamiliar place, once he lost his way, he would be chased down by the cavalry of the Shun army.

Wu Guogui's assault this time caused the final defeat of the Qing army, but he still failed to keep the core figures of the Qing army, but there were only two or three hundred Qing cavalry who fled along the official road and on both sides of the official road. , Wu Guogui felt that as long as the Qing troops around him were cleaned up first, then the final end could be done.

However, when he was busy dealing with the Qing army cavalry in front of him, Ma Bao led two cavalry brigades to catch up. Seeing the scene in front of him, Ma Bao was unwilling to talk nonsense with Wu Guogui, so he asked someone about the Qing army's escape. He followed the official road in the same direction.

Chapter 377 Before the Great War Fourteen

When Ma Bao was chasing after Luo Luohong and Shang Kexi, Li Zicheng was already standing on the tower of the north gate of Kao City. He looked at the smoke in the city, and then told Zuo Ye next to him: "Notice Commander Zuo, the troops entering the city will clean up the area and send people to put out the fire. The city has now returned to us, and it is our property. Don't do unnecessary damage. Otherwise, where will the troops live at night?

In addition, Ren Guangrong's troops stationed at the Nanmen camp did not need to enter the city. They could set off directly for Suizhou and join Liu Zongmin's troops to besiege the Qing army's camp in Suizhou. they bring.Today is the seventh day of the lunar new year, so inform Jiexuan that I will meet him in Suizhou City before the tenth day of the new year. "

After receiving Li Zicheng's order, Zuo Xie ran to the side and wrote the document, handed it over to several staff officers and sent it to various places. Soon he walked back to Li Zicheng's side and reported to him: "Most of the original Ming troops in the city have surrendered. Now, those who are still stubbornly resisting are the Liaodong Han people, the Manchus, and the local soldiers. These local soldiers are afraid of being retaliated by our army, so they dare not put down their weapons and surrender. I think His Majesty can issue an order to pardon their previous crimes. Then the resistance in the city will soon subside."

Li Zicheng stared at the city for a long time, before he said: "Our target is not them after all. Tell the enemy troops who are still fighting everywhere in the city, if they put down their weapons and surrender within half an hour, the Marshal's Mansion will not investigate their war crimes." Anyone who is still stubborn after half an hour will be shot to death."

Soon Li Zicheng's order was spread by the Shun Army's various ministries in the city. The small Qing army who had been hiding in various houses in the city and fighting guerrillas with the Shun Army, after hearing the pardon order, some people walked out suspiciously and surrendered to the Shun Army. up.The Shun army also kept their promise. After taking away their weapons, they took them to the prisoner camp, and did not kill them on the spot.

With these people taking the lead, more and more Qing troops came out of their hiding places and surrendered to the Shun army, especially those local regiments. , and hid with himself

Manchus or Liaodong Han people were all arrested and sent to the Shun army together.

After these Manchus or Liaodong Han people did not escape out of the city in time, they found that the original Ming army was unreliable, so they ran to the local regiments, hoping to use these locals to escape from Kaocheng.I just didn't expect that these local regiments were not unwilling to surrender, but did not dare to surrender before they were sure of their own safety. Once they were sure of their own safety, they immediately abandoned the Qing Dynasty.

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, almost all the remnants in Kaocheng had been wiped out, and Li Zicheng entered Kaocheng together with the generals around him. The streets leading to the county government were in a mess, and some prisoners were being cleaned up under the surveillance of Shunjun soldiers. Obstacles on the way.

Looking at this scene, Li Zicheng couldn't help saying to the people around him: "After this battle, Kaocheng has to be built from scratch. In addition to dealing with the war, the Marshal's Mansion also needs to consider the post-war reconstruction work. We can't expect The common people rely on their own strength to restore their homes, and the Marshal's Mansion must undertake the work of leading and organizing the people to rebuild their homes. This is the fastest way to restore areas destroyed by war, and it is also the responsibility that the Marshal's Mansion should undertake."

The generals around Li Zicheng didn't understand Li Zicheng's words deeply. They just felt that Li Zicheng had compassion for the people. Of course, this is a good thing. After all, everyone still hopes to enjoy a peaceful life after the war. A monarch who rests with his people is better than a monarch who wants to fight all day long.

However, for those civil servants who followed Li Zicheng, they felt some other intentions in Li Zicheng's words, that is, after this war, Dashun might not immediately retake Beijing by the Northern Expedition, but would first focus on In restoring people's livelihood.

For civil servants, this is an excellent signal.After the establishment of the Marshal's Mansion, almost all government affairs revolved around the war, and all affairs unrelated to the war were placed in the back position, which also greatly reduced the status of civil servants.

If someone compares the systems of Manchu Qing and Dashun, they will find that these two regimes are actually quite similar. The military is placed before all affairs, and other national affairs have become subordinate to the military, which is somewhat similar to Qin Dynasty. country's tyranny.

The only difference is that civil servants had almost no status in the Manchu Qing regime. The Manchu Eight Banners system and the meeting of kings and ministers completely suppressed the power of civil servants.On the side of Dashun, although the Rebel Army did not establish a civil service system in the past, as people of Ming Dynasty who lived and grew up in a civil society, the Rebel Army still had a natural fear of civil servants.

And the former civil officials of the Ming Dynasty who re-entered the Marshal's Mansion under the banner of the prince were not willing to give up their status. They tried to make this new regime a defender of the interests of the civil servants through the transformation of the Marshal's Mansion.Therefore, when I heard that Li Zicheng had the idea of ​​ending the war, I was naturally excited.

After arriving at the county government office, Li Zicheng met with Liang Biaoxiang first. Li Zicheng highly praised the former Ming army general who first surrendered and encouraged his subordinates to assist the Shun army to attack the Manchus. He said to the generals in the hall :"one

Liang Biaoxiang, a Guo Guangfu, can wake up before the national righteousness, which is at least much better than those fools who are obsessed with obsession. "

Guo Guangfu and Liang Biaoxiang, who had just arrived from Yifeng, felt relieved immediately after receiving Li Zicheng's words of affirmation. No matter what guarantees other people made to them, they were not as valuable as Li Zicheng's words. .

After inquiring about the composition and wishes of the two men's subordinates, Li Zicheng said to them: "You two can maintain the same official ranks and troops, but if any of your subordinates is willing to disarm and return to the field, you must not stop them.

Guo Guangfu, your troops will continue to garrison Yifeng, and move towards Kaifeng to appease those local tyrants. For those local tyrants who still can't see the situation clearly and are enemies of the Marshal's Mansion, you can call in local troops to destroy them.As for Liang Biaoxiang, your subordinates can set up their own battalion in the city, and after the Marshal's Mansion sends someone to make a selection, they will follow me to the south.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them now. "

Both Guo Guangfu and Liang Biaoxiang are very acquainted, they know that their actions are just icing on the cake, not a timely help. Even without their defection, Shunjun can still win Yifeng and Kaocheng, so naturally they would not propose such and such to Li Zicheng. requirements.

After the two retreated to the side, Li Zicheng began to get to the point, and said to the generals in the hall: "Take a look at the city, and the east and west armies of the Qing army going south will be separated by our army. Marshal Du The first step of the government's plan for this battle is more than half completed, and the next goal is to further expand the distance between the Qing army's east and west armies, so that there is no possibility of mutual assistance.

To achieve this, it is necessary to encircle and annihilate the Qing army camp near Suizhou City, recover the vast area from Suizhou to Zhengzhou, and divide the Qing army southward to the West Road into Luokou, Suizhou, and Chenzhou. The three divisions divided and wiped out the Qing army along the way.This is the main goal of the second-step battle plan.

When the General Staff formulated the plan before, it was very clear that the Qing army went south to the east and west, and as long as one of them failed, the Qing army would lose the possibility of encircling and annihilating our army. Failed.

Conversely, as long as we can wipe out all the troops of the Qing army, we will then take the initiative in the war. It depends on the situation to continue the war, or temporarily suspend the troops to restore the strength of the people, it will be up to us, not the people.

Therefore, the second-step battle plan is essentially the key content of the battle plan drawn up by the General Staff Headquarters this time, and to achieve the second-step battle plan, or to improve the perfection of the second-step battle plan, you must It is inseparable from the goal completion of the first step plan.

What is the goal of the first step program?It only separated the Qing army's southward and eastern routes, and blocked the retreat of the Azig army's northward return to the Yellow River.Only by accomplishing these two steps and perfecting these two goals as much as possible, then we will be more sufficient and confident in achieving the second step of the battle plan..."

Except for the two new generals Guo Guangfu and Liang Biaoxiang, the generals in the hall have actually heard this battle plan several times before, but this time they listened most seriously.After all, when they were discussing this plan, the Qing army had not entered Kaocheng yet, and everyone was a little worried whether the Qing army would follow the plan of the Marshal's Mansion.

If Shang Kexi’s Ministry does not enter Kaocheng, then the Marshal’s Mansion will go to Yifeng to destroy this Qing army, because as long as this Qing army is still there, the Shun army must keep a large number of troops in Kaocheng to prevent the Qing army from attacking the city. Cutting off the Shun Army's logistics will put tremendous pressure on the Shun Army.

But now that they have wiped out Shang Kexi, the main force of the Qing army in Kaocheng, everything from Kaocheng to Zhengzhou along the Yellow River is safe. Reduced the escort pressure on logistics support.The first step of the battle plan can be carried out so smoothly, and everyone's confidence in the battle plan drawn up by the General Staff has greatly increased.

It is also the first time for Guo Guangfu and Liang Biaoxiang to participate in such a high-level combat meeting. Whether it is the Qing army or the Ming army, combat command is extremely confidential. Except for the commander-in-chief and the general, other generals are impossible. Learn about the entire battle plan.

For the Qing army with relatively high enforcement, such a secret arrangement did meet the need for secrecy, but for the Ming army with low execution, most of the time it was a secret that even civil servants knew. The middle and low-level generals didn't know it, so the Ming army could neither keep secrets nor exert their subjective initiative, because they didn't know what the mission of the friendly army was.

Li Zicheng allowed the two of them to participate in such a confidential meeting. In addition to making them feel that they were valued, another important feeling for them was that we were about to win.With such an understanding, the two of them were naturally more willing to cooperate with a series of orders issued by the Marshal's Mansion.

At this time, Li Zicheng also began to make a final conclusion: "Therefore, the first step of the plan is to close the palace and do the last two things. The first is to persuade the local tyrants in the countryside between Suizhou and Zhengzhou to go anyway, so that the Qing army Losing eyes and ears and helpers; the second is to eliminate the main force of the Qing army in Suizhou..."

Chapter 378

After the military meeting in the county yamen was over, Li Zicheng summoned the regimental leaders who put down their weapons. Facing these local tyrants at both ends of the scale, Li Zicheng did not threaten them with words, but comforted them with kind words.

However, these local tyrants did not feel the warmth that Li Zicheng brought to them, because the Shun Army quickly registered their subordinates, and paid travel expenses to those tenants who were pulled by them to make up the number, and asked them to follow the distance. Far and near teamed up and went home.

With the hope of going home, the Shun Army gave the travel expenses again, and these villagers who were a little anxious quickly obeyed the Shun Army's order with peace of mind, and honestly explained some situations about themselves and the leaders they followed.Some tyrants who had danced with the Qing army before were quickly picked out and taken to Feng County for trial.

Although the actions of the Shun Army seem to have violated their promises, after all, Emperor Yongchang had announced that they would be exonerated from war crimes, but the arresting Shun Army soldiers claimed, "What the Marshal's Mansion exonerated was their war crimes against Dashun." , but it did not exonerate them from the crime of harming civilians. These tyrants harmed civilians while marching with the Qing army, and were identified by their subordinates, so they should be judged by the national law."