Dashun Yongchang

We have been fighting for a full year since we left customs last year, and many horses have lost weight seriously, and they will be useless if they don't train for a period of time.Is cavalry without horses still cavalry?Without the suppression of the cavalry, the advantage of the Shun Army in infantry will be revealed, and we will instead become the prey of the Shun Army. "

Regarding Tong Tulai's complaints, Du Erhu could only talk about him, because the ten kings only asked him to go to the front line to have a look, and did not give him any power to ensure the supply of grain and fodder. This is not a problem he can solve.

In fact, Du Erhu felt that the ten kings might not be able to solve this problem. The ten kings might be able to solve the problem of food and fodder for one or two troops, but it was impossible to solve the problem of food and fodder for all the troops on the front line. But now the battle with the Shun army is all-round Yes, that is to say, just relying on one or two troops to break through the front line of defense cannot solve the problem at all, because the Shun army can set up a new line of defense behind.

This is also the reason why the ten kings are unwilling to continue to press the army forward, because the front line is not short of people but short of food.Mobilizing a large number of troops to the front line will only increase the logistics and transportation burden of the Qing army, and will not allow the Qing army to win.

In the end, Du Erhu could only ask Tong Tulai this question, "Do you two adults think that we can defeat Li Zicheng's army in Shan County? Or, if we want to defeat Li Zicheng in Shan County, what conditions do we need? "

Nikan and Tong Tulai looked at each other, both of them felt that this question was difficult to answer, and after a while, Tong Tulai said: "We may be able to defeat Shunjun here, but I am afraid that it will be difficult to defeat Li Zicheng." Unlikely."

Du Erhu was a little surprised and asked: "Why did Master Tong say that? Since you can defeat Shunjun, can't you defeat Li Zicheng?"

Tong Tulai replied frankly: "If we want to defeat Li Zicheng here, we first need Li Zicheng to bring the main force to rescue Shan County, but this is almost impossible, because now Li Zicheng does not need to take such a risk to come to Shan County county.

Judging from the few battles Li Zicheng has fought against our army since he went north, Li Zicheng is actually quite stable in his use of troops. Before weakening our strength, he will not take the risk of a decisive battle with us, but once we show our flaws, then he will The whole army will be pressed up to fight for the possibility of victory.The same is true for playing Cao County and Kao City.

That is to say, he took a risk outside the city of Suizhou, but at that time, the army of the Prince of England had been on the road for several days, and the horsepower was already weak, so the risk he took at that time was not too big.Now even if our army captures Shan County, it will not change the general trend of fighting with the Shun Army, so why does Li Zicheng appear in Shan County?If he doesn't show up in Shan County, we won't be able to defeat him.

And if Li Zicheng appears in Shan County, it means a possibility. He wants to eat our army, so what we have to consider is not to defeat him, but to hold him back until the army of the ten kings arrives for reinforcements until.So, I don't think we can beat Li Zicheng here. "

Only at this time did Nikan ask: "What are the ten kings thinking now? It is said in the military book that the war is more expensive than the long. We have sent troops for too long. Now we should end the war as soon as possible and give the soldiers a chance to recuperate." That's right, otherwise the soldiers wouldn't be able to bear it any longer. Their families had just moved from outside the pass, and they hadn't seen the land allocated to them with their own eyes. How could they rest assured and continue fighting with the Shun army?

The ten kings stopped the army near Dingtao, which certainly relieved the logistics and transportation pressure on the front line, but seeing the ten kings' army not moving, didn't the frontline soldiers feel more panicked?If you don't want to fight anymore, then you should return to the army as soon as possible. "

Du Erhu felt speechless for a moment, because he felt that what Nikan said was reasonable, if he didn't want to fight anymore, wouldn't he be waiting for death if he didn't withdraw his troops?

Chapter 493 Ambushed

The dialogue with Nikan and Tong Tulai ended in silence, because Du Erhu was very cautious and refused to make any guesses about the thoughts of the ten kings. It is one thing to write to the ten kings to withdraw troops, but it is another to disturb the morale of the frontline soldiers. One more thing.

Du Erhu knew very well that there was no force behind him to protect him. Once he was involved in the struggle between the various banners and the two white banners, he would be crushed to pieces.Through the observation of the two Qing army camps in Cao County and Shan County, Du Erhu has seen that most of the soldiers actually don't want to fight anymore. Morale, it has to maintain such an attack.

Nikan and Tong Tulai also hinted to him during the conversation that if the ten kings have no intention of fighting with the Shun army, they should order the withdrawal of troops as soon as possible, because although they can rely on the attack of a small group of troops to maintain a dominant position However, if the Shun Army really gathers the army to Shan County, then they will not be able to win, because their morale is now maintained on the basis that the Shun Army cannot fight back.

For an enemy who cannot fight back, everyone at least feels that they are safe, and their morale will naturally be higher.But if they realize that the Shun army on the opposite side still has the ability to fight back, then the shadow of the failure of the Azig army and the lack of food and fodder will inevitably bring down the morale of the Qing army to the bottom.

Although Du Nuwen didn't say anything in front of Nikan and Tong Tulai, after leaving the big tent, he couldn't help but said to his elder brother Du Erhu: "Uncle and Tong Tulai don't want to fight anymore, so they just don't want to fight." I will make such a lame excuse, I have been fighting for decades, if the morale is low because of the death of a few people, then how can we fight?"

Although Du Erhu felt that Nikan and Tong Tulai might be a little exaggerated, his desire to end the war as soon as possible was indeed shown, and he said indifferently: "It's better to have a reason than to withdraw troops without a reason." Strong. But now it seems that everyone has no interest in fighting, so it will be easier for us to talk when we go back."

Du Nuwen said somewhat unwillingly: "It was hard to break through the Dingtao and Chengwu lines. Now whether we go south to capture Xuzhou, or go west to attack Guide, we can deal heavy damage to Li Zicheng. The prince's failure can also be made up for, wouldn't it be a waste of all previous efforts to withdraw troops like this?"

Du Erhu looked at this younger brother who was still immersed in the fantasy of Manchu martial arts and couldn't help himself. Right now, the kings of Liangbaiqi are most worried about not defeating Li Zicheng, but how to keep the status of Liangbaiqi.

The reason why the Nine Kings were able to become the uncle regent to monopolize the government is because he pushed forward the entry into the customs to fight for the affairs of the Ming Dynasty, and easily won Shanhaiguan and Beijing, and got the surrender of hundreds of thousands of Ming border troops. It is to make the Nine Kings' decision to enter the customs extremely wise, which is why no one can oppose the Nine Kings' sole regent.

But the status of the Nine Kings is based on his ability to guide the Manchus in the right direction, not that the strength of the two white flags is really superior to the other flags.In other words, as long as the Nine Kings can lead everyone to win continuously, then the status of the Nine Kings will be unshakable, and the status of the Two White Banners will become increasingly stable.

However, Azig's failure gave the two white flags a head-on blow, and Dorgon's image of being wise and mighty also collapsed by a small amount. At this time, the Manchus still have a lot of remnants of the tribal era. For example, the tribal leaders must be tribal The strongest in the world, the weak can only obey the strong, but if the strong weakens, then there will be a new strong to replace it, and everyone will not feel sorry for it.

Huang Taiji was able to force the other three Baylors to surrender their power, and Dorgon was able to suppress Jierhalang, Haoge, and Daishan, which is the influence of this tribal legacy on the Manchus.So for Dorgon's struggle for the throne after Huang Taiji's death, the Manchus actually don't think there is any problem, because Hauge has always been suppressed by his father. Under the suppression, the strength of the two white flags was preserved, which is indeed very strong.

But when Dorgon shows signs of decline, he will also be challenged by others. It is inevitable that those in power who rely on force will step down because of the decline of force.Therefore, the victory or defeat of the ten kings not only determines the life and death of Manchu, but also determines the life and death of Liangbaiqi and the Dorgon brothers.

The stakes in this war have suddenly risen to such a level, how can the Nine Kings bet easily, after all, the current situation of the Nine Kings has not reached the time to fight each other with their lives.The problem now is that if the ten kings win or tie the battle, the nine kings will only keep their status as regent kings, but if they lose, then the nine kings and the two white flags will bear the burden of losing the war. responsibility.

Compared with trying to defeat Li Zicheng, the Nine Kings are probably most concerned about not being able to lose on the side of the Ten Kings.Since the premise of the next battle with the Shun Army is not to lose, it is impossible to continue the previous tactic of chasing and fighting.But Dunuwen obviously hasn't seen this clearly yet, and is still looking at the war from the perspective of the war between the Manchus and the Hans, which makes him want to save the face of the Manchus on the battlefield.

Shaking his head at his younger brother's naivety, Du Erhu was about to go back to his tent to draft a report on the Ten Kings, but when he heard a loud noise coming from the direction of the big tent, Du Erhu, who was about to leave, immediately took back his steps and turned to face the big tent. The tent walked back, and Dunuwen, who was still talking to himself, followed his brother's footsteps when he saw this. He was also very curious about what happened at the big tent.

In the courtyard in front of the big tent, Nikan angrily reprimanded several generals kneeling on the ground: "I have already issued several orders not to cross the East River. Are your ears just for display? Why did Tursai say so?" In the team? Who asked him to participate in today's tour mission?"

Du Erhu, who was standing on the periphery of the crowd, listened to the intermittent conversations in the inner circle, and finally realized that the so-called attack by a small group of troops to maintain morale was actually sending troops to the surrounding villages to plunder. This finally dispelled his doubts, no wonder The army here doesn't have much desire to attack the county seat of Shan County, but they are so keen on attacking small groups of troops, which is in line with his perception of the Manchus.

However, he was also very curious about how many troops the Shun Army sent to encircle and annihilate most of this nearly 200 cavalry unit, and even lost a Baya La Jia La Ezhen, which is already the best among the people. The backbone generals.

The two Niu Lu Ezhen who led the team back, one is the Mongolian Halhan Eban, and the other is the Han Eight Banner Chen Tianmo, they looked at each other, and finally, under the persecution of Nikan, he hesitated to tell the story after.

Although the Qing army arrived in Shan County and was repelled by the Shun army, the Qing army still controlled the rural areas outside the county by virtue of the superiority in the number of cavalry. Therefore, the Qing army quickly gave up the attack on the county and began to attack the countryside. looting.This situation gradually curbed the actions of the Qing army with the continuous increase of troops from Fengxian and Guideshun to Shanxian.

After the confrontation between the forces of the two sides began, the Qing army and the Shun army almost formed their respective control areas across several rivers such as Shanxian County, the Yellow River, and the East River.Under the looting of the Qing army, the people in the area controlled by the Qing army fled to the area controlled by the Shun army one after another, which made it impossible for the Qing army to find targets for looting. He began to cross his own control area and entered the control area of ​​Shun Army.

This kind of action naturally got the acquiescence of Nikan and Tong Tulai in the past, because it can not only boost the morale of the soldiers, but also get a piece of spoils.However, after Li Zicheng arrived in Guide, the morale of the Shun Army began to rise continuously. These small groups of troops that penetrated into the area controlled by the Shun Army began to encounter fierce resistance. Nikan believed that continuing this kind of looting now would not be worth the candle. After all, a cavalry soldier is not enough for the lives of a few Han people, so all the ministries are required not to go too deep into the Shun Army's control area when attacking, so as to avoid being encircled and suppressed by the Shun Army.

But obviously, before the temptation of interests, his orders as the chief general are not very effective, especially when the logistics supply is not in time, the soldiers of the Qing army count on this kind of attack to improve their lives, so they are not willing to Obey Nikan's restrictive orders to himself.

This time the patrol mission was actually in charge of Halhan Eban and Chen Tianmo. They took two dissatisfied Niulu cavalrymen to make a circle between the east of Shan County and Donghe, but before departure, Baya Lajiala Erzhen Tursai joined them with fifty or sixty Manchurian cavalry. Tursai and the others felt that being in the camp was too boring, so they decided to go hunting outside for fun. How could Halhan Eban and Chen Tianmo dare to refuse this lord request, so the two became Tursay's followers.

Tursai's so-called hunting is actually to go to Han Chinese villages to plunder, but this time the villages they passed by have been emptied, which means they have found nothing, so Tursai is not reconciled to making a trip in vain Then he took people across the East River.Although Halhan Eban and Chen Tianmo said that they were forced to do so, several discerning people could see that Tursai was definitely not the only one who advocated crossing the river.

Nikan also didn't want to listen to these two people's excuses and put all the blame on Tursai, so he scolded them and asked them to skip these unimportant parts, and explain how they were ambushed and Tursai. Tell me how you died.

Halhan Oban finally replied honestly: "After crossing the river for about a few miles, we found a woodcutter by the edge of the forest. We knew that there was a village with hundreds of families nearby, so Mr. Tursai ordered everyone to go to the village. The woodcutter pointed the way no problem, and he could see the smoke from the village's cooking from a distance. Obviously, this place should not have been looted in the past.

Lord Tursai ordered Chen Zhangjing to guard the horses, and ordered me to lead people to guard the back of the village, while he himself led people to rush into the village.There was nothing unusual at first, but soon after we went around the back of the village, we heard the sound of bird guns and explosions in the village. Leading his men rushed into the village.

But the Shun army was very cunning. They hid on the roofs and fences and fired at us. Our horses could not turn around in the alleys, so they could only be beaten in vain.In the village, I failed to find Mr. Tursai, but ran into Chen Zhangjing who rushed in from the front of the village. I joined forces with Chen Zhangjing and continued to search for the village, but the firepower of the Shun army in the village became more and more fierce. There was the sound of the Shun army shouting to kill..."

Chapter 494 Gao Zhuang

Walking in the alleys of Gaozhuang, Zhang Yong can see the bright red blood stains on the ground and walls from time to time, and some thatched cottages by the roadside have been burned to ashes, but people can still feel the aftermath when they walk by. Wen, even if he didn't see the corpse, he could feel that a fierce battle broke out here.

After passing through the alley, in the open space in the center of the village, this was originally the village’s grain drying field, but now there are corpses parked one after another. The ones parked in the north are those of the Shun Army, and the ones in the south are those of the Qing Army. , there are more than a dozen corpses in the south, about thirty or forty.

The officer of the Shun Army who was counting the corpses noticed Zhang Yong's arrival, walked over quickly, saluted him and said, "Good company commander, we are asking the captives to identify the corpses. The main general Jiala Erzhen Tursai was killed by us."

Zhang Yong raised his eyebrows, suppressed his excitement and said, "Find a few more people to verify Tursai's identity, and find out about this person's status in the Qing army, his banner status, past achievements, and family relations. Nothing can go wrong."

The subordinate agreed, and then said: "In this battle, we killed a total of 34 people, seriously injured 19 people, and captured 57 people; our casualties were about 21 people, and 17 people were seriously injured. The soldiers accounted for nearly two-thirds, and Gaozhuang has been destroyed. In order to prevent the Qing army from killing a carbine, should we evacuate here as soon as possible?"

Zhang Yong nodded and said: "Just now we chased those fleeing cavalrymen of the Qing army. Seeing that they have escaped across the Donghe River, I don't think they have the guts to come back. But if they find their own people, they may not Don't dare to kill him back, if Tursai's identity is true, they will definitely try to snatch the body back.

In this way, except for Tursai and other identifiable corpses who were transported to Feng County, everyone else had their heads cut off and taken away, and the corpses were buried outside the village, and a wooden sign was set up for the Qing army to see.As for our remains, all of them will be transported away and must not be discarded here.As for the wounded and captives of the Qing army, they should be transported to Zhangjiaji first, and then Feng County will be asked for instructions on how to deal with them.Our wounded are transported to Zhangjiaji first, and the seriously injured will be transported to Feng County for treatment tomorrow. "

The subordinate hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice and said, "Commander, do you want to transport them outside the village and bury them? It will take a lot of effort. Why don't you just find an earthen house and push them away?"

Zhang Yong stared at his subordinates for a while, and then he lowered his head, and then said: "Now Gaozhuang has been destroyed by the battle, but when the war is over, the people will still come back, you put the corpse Buried in the village, how will the common people live when they come back? How did His Majesty educate us?"

The officer immediately changed his words and said, "I'll find someone to find a place outside the village and bury them."

But Zhang Yong stopped him again and said, "Find a place closer to the main road, where you can see it at a glance."

After ordering his subordinates to do things, Zhang Yong went to the team of town soldiers and talked with the team leader.They expressed their approval of Zhang Yong's arrangements for the captives and the wounded, but a few young people said to Zhang Yong: "Why do we still have to bring those seriously wounded? These slaves have harmed many of our folks. They should be sentenced to death when they go back, why bother to take them away, it would be better to cut them here."

Of course, Zhang Yong would not accept such a rough approach. Even if he had not received education from the Marshal's Mansion before, he knew that killing prisoners was inauspicious.As for now, to these young people's doubts, he immediately replied according to the standard answer of the education of the Marshal's Mansion: "Yes, they have indeed harmed many folks, so it is not only the people here who have hatred against them. people, and many who are not here.

The reason to bring them back is not because we have too much food to waste, but because the Marshal's Mansion hopes to let more victims know that their enemies have accepted the trial of the Marshal's Mansion, and they can use this to comfort themselves loved ones.If we killed them here, would the folks who have been harmed by them know that their enemies have been judged justly?So will they continue to live in pain? "

The young men finally stopped talking. At this time, some more mature soldiers stood up and expressed their willingness to accept Zhang Yong's opinion, but what should they do next.

Zhang Yong said to the soldiers without hesitation: "You have done a good job this time, but after the Qing army suffered such a loss, they will not be so careless next time, so we will not do this again for the time being." Trap, you can go back to Zhangjiaji to reunite with your family first. If there is a new plan that requires your cooperation, the Marshal's Mansion will notify you separately."

It's just that these township soldiers didn't show any smiles when they heard Zhang Yong's words. When Zhang Yong was reflecting on what was wrong with his words, a middle-aged man sighed and said, "Where do we have family? Come here and The Manchus are desperate, they all come to the Manchus for revenge."

Only then did Zhang Yong come to his senses, the two sides were silent for a while, Zhang Yong changed the subject and talked about the arrangement for the township soldiers to retreat, the township soldiers accepted it, which ended the conversation.

While everyone in the village was busy, Zhang Yong climbed to a roof at the highest point in the center of the village, and took a look at the village and its surrounding scenery.The architectural style here has quite similarities and differences with Guanzhong, but the architectural style difference between Guanzhong and Huaian is much smaller.As an officer who was born in Shaanxi and finally surrendered to Li Zicheng in Huai'an, Zhang Yong actually didn't miss Daming much, because the status of warriors in Daming was too low.

As a hereditary mid-level officer of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Yong had studied and received formal military training, but when he joined the army instead of his father, Daming had already rushed all the way to the abyss, so he had almost no room for display. All the way to follow the army to escape and run away.After Emperor Hongguang came to power, the four towns in Jiangbei were divided into four towns, but when the four towns were fighting each other for Yangzhou, Zhang Yong was completely disappointed with Daming, but he didn't want to be a thief, but was thinking about how to give up his military post and go back to his hometown.

But things changed faster than he imagined. After abandoning Beijing, Li Zicheng chose to go south instead of fleeing back to Shaanxi. Then he went to Huaiyang under the banner of sending the body of Emperor Lie to the south, and quickly instigated the defenders of Huai'an. In the end, Huai'an was taken, which forced Zhang Yong to surrender to the Shun Army with the large army again.

Although he was extremely disappointed with Daming, Zhang Yong still didn't think that Li Zicheng could take over the world, because he treated the gentry too harshly, and he really didn't look like a Ming lord.The education that Zhang Yong has received since he was a child, what he has learned is to be sold to a wise king who can rule the world, not to a rogue who is doomed to fail.

However, Li Zicheng took Yangzhou, said to surrender Gaojie, contacted the Zheng family in Fujian and Zuo Liangyu in Wuchang, forced Emperor Hongguang to abdicate and return to the vassal, and stationed in Yangzhou under the banner of the prince to control the south. It gave Zhang Yong a huge shock.Although he didn't know how Li Zicheng succeeded in doing these things, these operations gave the Shun army a chance to win against the Qing army in the north.

It was also seeing this that Zhang Yong, who originally wanted to give up his military post and go home, finally stayed and was selected to join the training regiment of the New Army.Zhang Yong, who was originally a platoon leader, was directly promoted to company commander in the training camp by virtue of his own ability. The selection mechanism of the new army also made Zhang Yong very fond of it, because it was very difficult for him to get this kind of training in Daming. Improve the chance, unless he can get the favor of the above.

However, some of the above-mentioned people need to be arranged by their own people, so it is difficult to have a position for mid-level and lower-level officers with no connections like them.However, the selection mechanism of the new army is completely different from that of the Ming army. The selection of officers of the new army is determined through a series of examinations. Besides the examinations, the new army also has an in-military education mechanism.Therefore, as long as you can achieve something in your studies, it is not difficult to advance. After all, the current new army is blank and has not formed a fixed rank of officers.

That is to say, because the war is still going on, the education of the new army is not perfect. If you want to learn the various skills used by the new army to select officers in a short period of time, you really need a certain talent, so that the promotion of the officers of the new army looks like It's not that easy.Literacy and mathematics alone can knock down most of the junior officers. Many junior officers are promoted by virtue of their bravery. It is simply embarrassing for them to take these tests.

But for Zhang Yong, who has studied, he has hardly encountered any cultural difficulties except that his geometry study is a little behind.As a talented soldier, he does not think that the new army's cultural assessment of officers is a kind of embarrassment, because the new army's combat method is different from that of the Ming army. Organization and use of firearms.

Regardless of whether it is the formation or the management of gunpowder, if the grassroots officers do not have certain computing power and culture, they are obviously not competent for their tasks on the battlefield.The grassroots officers of the Ming Dynasty are more like a unit that controls the head, or a warrior who takes the lead in the assault. That is to say, in the eyes of the generals of the Ming Dynasty, a team officer either represents the strength of the troops, or is a warrior who can be used to charge the battle. Don't think of the team officer as the commander of a basic combat unit.There is only one commander of the Ming army, and that is the civil servant commander sitting in the back. The generals and soldiers only need to charge according to the commander's order.

But in the new army, the grassroots officers starting from the platoon leader are regarded as a commander, and they still have the command right to complete the military order in whatever way under the military order of their superiors.In fact, Zhang Yong also vaguely noticed that Li Zicheng's training of officers in the new army is not fixed. It seems that in Li Zicheng's eyes, the promotion of officers from platoon leader to division commander is smooth, not like Daming. After the appointment, it has almost become a fixed world position, that is, the emperor hopes that your children and grandchildren will inherit this position to serve him.

Under the thinking of the Three Cardinal Cardinal Principles and the Five Constant Principles and the immutable Tao and the unchanging sky, a fixed position, fixed class, and fixed occupation are the only magic weapons for long-term social stability.After all, under the foundation of Emperor Wanshi's lineage, the people below are always restless and want to rise up, and sooner or later it will shake the overall stability of society.

But as a self-motivated young man, a fixed job is simply a kind of bondage. My job should be linked to my talent and hard work.Therefore, the promotion mechanism of the new army was quickly welcomed by young officers, including Zhang Yong.

Chapter 495 New Army

Zhang Yong, who originally planned to go home, also had the idea of ​​staying, and the reason why the new army is called the new army does have a completely different side from the old army.In the past, in the Ming army, the first duty of soldiers was to be loyal to the emperor and to love the country. Of course, the soldiers below had neither met Junfu nor heard what Junfu said to them. They could only show their loyalty by obeying their superiors.

As for patriotism, this is obviously a more nihilistic concept than loyalty to the emperor. For a group of illiterates, they don't understand what a country is. They can only understand their patriotic enthusiasm from loyal officials through novels like Yue Fei's biography So as to imitate this as an example.Of course, the soldiers of Ming Dynasty mainly think about survival most of the time, so they don't have so much time to think about imitating Yue Fei.

As a result, the Ming Dynasty's official army, which believed in loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, eventually became an army without any sense of morality, because they had no responsibility to the people, they were only responsible to the top.Therefore, the military discipline of this army is almost connected with the personal morality of the generals who lead the army. The cowardly generals bring out a group of cowards, the brutal generals bring out a group of butchers, and the generals with good personal conduct are brought out by the court's logistics. To the pit to death.

But the Dashun New Army has chosen another path since its establishment, that is, the primary task of the army is to protect the family and the country. .In terms of the concept of defending the country, Li Zicheng also first clarified what a country is, so why the army should defend the country is not like Daming who avoids talking about patriotism and whose country he loves.

Li Zicheng not only explained the concept of the country in the army, but also discussed the country with great fanfare in the newspapers, and made it clear that Dashun was a precedent for a group of rebellious peasants trying to establish a country belonging to the people.Facing such a frank and flesh-and-blood emperor, although the soldiers had different views on Li Zicheng's words, compared with the aloof Chongzhen, Li Zicheng was a real person in their minds. They understood Li Zicheng's thoughts and knew What is he doing.

Although Li Zicheng's approach has greatly weakened the mystery of himself, after all, in this era, most people think that the emperor is the son of heaven, a special existence with destiny, so everyone can only obey him.Even those who dare to rise up and rebel against the emperor are served by the stars in the sky, not ordinary people.

When a person eats, drinks, and sleeps like you, and looks the same as you, will you still contribute your hard work to him?This is obviously difficult.Therefore, when Li Zicheng broke the mystery of himself, whether the army and the people supported him was no longer out of respect for the destiny, but whether Li Zicheng's words and actions were in line with his own interests.

The formation of the new army not only weakened the generals' control over the soldiers, but also weakened the army's blind obedience to Li Zicheng.But it also brought some benefits, such as having an army with a unified consensus, which has greatly improved its combat capabilities.

In the past, the soldiers' blind obedience to the general made the general choose not to obey the order of the superior, and the soldiers below would not have any burden, because this is the power and responsibility of the general.But in the new army, when a general deviates from the order of the superior, the soldiers below will question it, because their allegiance is not to a certain general, but to the Marshal's Mansion.And this kind of power to question the general, with the support of the staff system, can bypass the general and directly contact the superior, thus eliminating the possibility of a certain general supporting himself.

It can be said that the new army is rapidly refreshing Zhang Yong's inherent understanding of the army, and he also feels that the old traditions of these troops are really useless. After abandoning these old traditions, the combat effectiveness of the army has been improved, and the relationship between the army and the people has been improved. The relationship between them has also eased.

In the past, it was almost impossible to unite the army and the township soldiers. Either the army recruited the township soldiers to fight, or the township soldiers regarded the army as an enemy.Because the two sides have no common interests, the army will not protect the villagers. Under the slogan of loyalty to the emperor, the army will not show mercy when they plunder the villagers. The soldiers regard this kind of plunder as a reward for their loyalty from the emperor.

Although Zhang Yong has opinions on this bad habit, he also admits that it is a way to maintain the morale of soldiers.Because if soldiers do not get rewards, it is impossible to obey military orders and fight on the battlefield.Of course, he does not agree with the looting of soldiers in the army without authorization, because this kind of looting can easily cause an imbalance in the distribution of spoils within the army, thereby creating internal divisions.

However, the new army has given another way to maintain morale, that is, perfect logistics support, treatment of wounded soldiers and living guarantees for disabled soldiers retired from the army, thus solving the bad habit of soldiers looting civilians at every turn.Since the Ming army often owed their salaries, the army’s looting of civilians has become an informal military salary, but the generals above accounted for the bulk of this looting, and the soldiers below actually earned a lot of money most of the time. Appetite.

When the Marshal's Mansion provided complete logistical support and properly arranged for the disabled soldiers, the soldiers' interest in looting civilians dropped sharply. The military discipline of the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who were not long after Dashun also improved rapidly.Coupled with the political education of the army by the Marshal's Mansion, the army has a basis to defend the civilians.

And Zhang Yong also discovered that for those newly recruited soldiers, it is much easier to accept them to go to the battlefield to defend the civilians than to let them go to the battlefield for the emperor or the general, because these recruits have not yet changed from the civilian mentality. They still regard themselves as members of the civilian population, so defending civilians feels like defending themselves, which makes their will to fight on the battlefield more durable.

As for those veterans, although they don't really believe in this, when the recruits maintain their will to fight, the veterans will not flee, because the veterans understand one thing better than the recruits, and they die the fastest when their backs are turned to the enemy.The ambush in Gaozhuang this time also proved this very well. A team of rural soldiers who had not received much training cooperated with the veterans of the new army. defeated them.

This battle proved one thing, that is, the formation policy of the new army is feasible, and after the organized villagers are equipped with gunpowder weapons, even the outdated three-eyed blunderbuss can give the arrogant Manchus a deep impression. lessons learned.After witnessing the battle with his own eyes, Zhang Yong realized that it was impossible for the Manchus to enter the pass because the way of fighting had changed.

In the past, a warrior could decide the victory or defeat of a battle. It was impossible for a recruit to defeat a veteran, but there are no warriors under gunpowder weapons.Civilians who have undergone short-term training can completely use gunpowder weapons against veterans relying on the terrain.With China's population, as long as one-tenth of the power can be exerted, the full population can be exhausted.

When Zhang Yong was watching the scenery on the roof and thinking about the lessons learned from this battle, the soldiers in the village finally packed up the battlefield and prepared to retreat. An officer came up to ask him for instructions. Zhang Yong looked back and nodded his order Said: "First arrange for the wounded to evacuate, then the captives, then the villagers, and I will withdraw last..."

When Zhang Yong returned to the battalion, the sky was already dark. Battalion Commander Zhang Hong sent someone to call him over to learn about today's battle. After listening to it, Zhang Hong broke into a cold sweat and said: " You are really courageous, there are [-] or [-] cavalry, and your company is only in the early [-]s including the township soldiers, how dare you fight this battle?"

Under the oil lamp, Zhang Yong said with a calm expression: "Gaozhuang is very beneficial to the defender after the renovation. Moreover, Gaozhuang is not small in scale, and there are many internal alleys that are not suitable for cavalry operations. In addition, we have removed the walls and cellars in the village. The connection has made it easier for our people to move around in the village. The Qing army has no idea about our strength and reality. Coupled with three-eyed guns and fire mines, the Qing army has almost no power to fight back, and we are still in the village. There are suspicious soldiers deployed outside, and the Qing army will lose their composure if they are suddenly attacked, so the lower officials think that this battle can be fought."

Zhang Hong didn't think so. He shook his head and said, "If it wasn't for the bad luck of the Qing army, the Qing army might not have been so panic-stricken. They are all equipped with cavalry, as long as they exit the village, the initiative can be restored. They have been beaten."

Zhang Yong thought for a while and said: "But after this battle, the fact that the morale of the Qing army is low has been proven. If it weren't for the low morale, so many people would not have surrendered. It seems that the Qing army is also approaching its limit Now, as long as we can win again on the frontal battlefield, the officials thought that those Han troops who surrendered to the Manchus would abandon the Manchus."

After pondering for a moment, Zhang Hong couldn't help but nodded and said: "I think so too, but if you want to defeat the Manchus on the frontal battlefield, I'm afraid His Majesty has to make up his mind. Now we can only report what we have seen and let Your Majesty will use it as a reference. You go back tonight and write down the history of the ambush in Gaozhuang today, and hand it over to the general staff in Feng County tomorrow."

Zhang Yong nodded in agreement, but then said, "I still have something to report. Although the Gaozhuang ambush was successful, I don't think the Qing army will suffer this loss. I am afraid that the Qing army will retaliate next time." , I am afraid that our arrangement in Yangcun will not let the Qing army be fooled again, so it is better to let the fourth company retreat from Yangcun first."

Zhang Hong nodded after hearing this and said: "Indeed, it is impossible for a fool to step on the same cesspit twice. But even if the Qing army wants to come back for revenge, it is impossible to use too many troops. Do you think it is possible for us to attack him again?" ticket?"

After pondering for a while, Zhang Yong walked to the side of the map and said: "If the Qing army comes back to take revenge, they will definitely search around Gaozhuang, and the villages in this area are actually not safe anymore.

However, Wulou is close to a lake and swamp. If we can attract the Qing army into the swamp, then we can set up an ambush in the swamp to fight the Qing army again.Now that the temperature is getting warmer and the earth's atmosphere is rising, many places in these swamps have thawed, and it is difficult for horses to go deep.If the Qing army went deep into the swamp, the cavalry would lose its use. "

Zhang Hong looked at the map and thought for a long time, finally nodded and said: "You go back and come up with a more detailed plan, and then let's go to Wulou to see where is suitable for setting up an ambush..."

Chapter 496 Fengxian One

"...It is said that in the Qin Dynasty, the northeast of the city was a large swamp. The Cang River came from the west to the northeast of the city and turned to the southeast. We could only rely on this stone bridge to cross the river. In spring and summer, the water vapor rose in the morning and evening. Standing on the top of the city and looking at the bridge When I went there, I saw a piece of mist winding around the bridge deck, and the north of the bridge was full of water and sky. I don’t know where it leads to, so this bridge is called Longwu Bridge..."

Under the rising sun, Song Xiance, who was standing at the head of the city of Feng County, looked at the small Cang River in front of him, and then at the vast wilderness north of the bridge, he couldn't help but also sighed: "The vicissitudes of life are completely different. This Longwu Bridge seems to have left a name, and the old scenery has disappeared.”

Wu Xing, the original city scribe who explained the city's allusions to Song Xiance, looked at Song Xiance's expression and said cautiously: "Although the scene of dragon and fog is gone, Feng County is still a treasure land. The grain fields in the north and the Guolin, even in a year of severe drought, no one in this county died of starvation."

Song Xiance reached out and stroked his beard, nodded slightly and said, "Feng County is indeed a good place. After all, the land of Longxing of Han Gaozu is different from other places. If this war is over, I must ask Your Majesty to order Do you want to rebuild the Longwu Bridge to match the water virtues of this dynasty?"