Chapter Forty-Seven: Abandonment of Chengdu II

Li Dingguo stared at Wu Sangui's eyes, as if he wanted to see something wrong in Wu Sangui's eyes.

It's just that I don't know if Wu Sangui's Taoism is more profound, or if what Wu Sangui said is from his heart, anyway, Li Dingguo didn't see the slightest inappropriateness.

did not see a trace of flaw in Wu Sangui's words.

In the past few years, Li Dingguo has dealt with Wu Sangui the most, so he understands the special situation of Wu Sangui in the Qing army.

Zhang Xuan has always wanted Wu Sangui to surrender, which is based on this.

However, Li Dingguo never thought about what the situation would be if Wu Sangui retreated to the northwest.

But Wu Sangui will definitely not be a loyal servant of the Qing court.

Once unfaithful, a hundred times not used.

Between the Qing court and Wu Sangui, there has long been a knot.

Even if Wu Sangui retreats, are you willing to believe Wu Sangui?

I guess it's enough to choke.

Li Dingguo pondered for a while and said, "This matter is very important, and it needs to be reported to His Majesty before a decision can be made. ”

Wu Sangui said: "In that case, how about we make a truce for the time being? ”

Li Dingguo said from afar: "Chengdu City can hold on for more than ten days, it is still possible." ”

Li Dingguo was worried that it was a delaying tactic.

Wu Sangui said: "Okay. Then he flicked his sleeves and left.

Then hundreds of horsemen followed behind Wu Sangui, guarding Wu Sangui to the death, and the group returned to Chengdu City.

When Li Dingguo returned to the camp, he just called He Hutou over and told him about this matter.

He Hutou listened to it for a while, and it was difficult to decide, he seemed to think that letting Wu Sangui go would be more beneficial to the overall situation, but Wu Sangui is almost a turtle in an urn now, and they have been fighting with each other for so many days, and both sides have each other's blood on their hands.

Letting go so quietly and not talking about others, He Hutou felt very uncomfortable.

As Li Dingguo said, such a major event must be decided by Zhang Xuan.

So there was a messenger, and he went straight downstream, but in a few days, he arrived at the city of Yangzhou.

After Zhang Xuan read it, he returned the seal and only wrote one sentence on it, that is: "The general is outside, the monarch's order is subject to it, and the general is outside, and I am not far away." ”

It's just that Zhang Xuan didn't know that when he wrote this line, there were new changes in the city of Chengdu.

As soon as Wu Sangui returned to the city of Chengdu, he ordered more than 30,000 cavalry members, who were mixed with new and old cavalry, but the old ones were all Guanning iron cavalry.

He also conscripted almost all the cattle in Chengdu and brought 30,000 foot soldiers.

These 30,000 foot soldiers, the same, are all Wu Sangui's old team, among which there are not many Sichuanese, or even very few, and more Sichuanese are left in Chengdu.

Li Dingguo besieged the city, surrounded three and missing one, and let go of a major road in the north, of course, there were many ambushes in the dark.

Wu Sangui took advantage of the night to abandon Chengdu City and fled north, and Li Dingguo was a little caught off guard.

The Xia army's various ambushes suddenly came out, and they were killed on both sides, and Wu Sangui's Guanning Iron Cavalry broke out with extraordinary strength in the midst of the escape, and stubbornly resisted the attacks from both sides, and escaped from the encirclement of Chengdu City.

After a night of fierce fighting, when Li Dingguo was about to give the order to pursue, the gate of Chengdu was opened, and the generals of the Sichuan army at all levels surrendered to Li Dingguo and presented a letter written by Wu Sangui.

Li Dingguo opened it and saw that it was a list of all kinds of materials in Chengdu, except for mules and horses, the rest were there, and there was no less.

The rest says nothing.

In the face of the tens of thousands of surrendered troops in Chengdu, as well as the materials in the treasury that can supply the army for more than a year, Li Dingguo just ordered: "There is no need to chase." ”

The reason why I don't chase it.

There are two reasons, one is that Wu Sangui played at the level he should have in the breakout battle. Let Li Dingguo know that Wu Sangui should not be humiliated, and Wu Sangui's department has recruited almost all the pack horses in the whole army.

The whole army was lightly armed, with not many supplies, and the speed was extremely fast, unless the cavalry went to chase, it could not catch up, but there were not many cavalry under Li Dingguo, and if they caught up, they might not be able to win.

Second, it is the stall left by Wu Sangui.

Tens of thousands of surrendered troops, so many supplies, if sorted out, Li Dingguo's soldiers have a lot more out of thin air, the army can also get rid of the supply of grain and grass in Huguang, and the Western Route Army will also have a stronger force.

And if it is not cleaned up, maybe these people will also make a mess.

For the sake of prudence, it is better for Li Dingguo to sit in Chengdu to appease the people and surrender troops.

Of course, that doesn't mean you won't chase it at all.

Li Dingguo sent several troops, one to send Wu Sangui out of Sichuan, and the other to take down other places in Sichuan one by one.

As a result, the first merit of the Xia Army's Northern Expedition was taken down by Li Dingguo.

The whole territory of Sichuan was annexed, and for a time Sichuan's salt, grain, horses and other materials gave Xia Jun's finances a shot in the arm.

Li Dingguo immediately prepared to go north to Hanzhong, all the way to Hanzhong, entered Guanzhong, and joined Cao Zongyu under Luoyang City.

However, at this time, the focus of the Central Plains War was no longer under Luoyang City, but in Xiangcheng.

It is said that it is Xiangcheng, but in fact, there is no city anymore.

At the beginning, after Li Zicheng broke Wang Qiaonian, he demolished Xiangcheng, and then when the Qing army retreated, it was destroyed more, and Xiangcheng was just a camp built on the ruins of Xiangcheng.

However, more than 100 people were stationed to serve as a warning.

After Cao Zongyu's Northern Expedition, Xiangcheng expanded again, and a battalion was stationed to cover the grain route. And at this moment, the main force of Xudu, 30,000 people, is camped here.

And not far to the north of Xiangcheng is the cavalry of the Qing army.

I have to say that as soon as Prince Zheng made a move, he hit Cao Zongyu's vital point. 、

Cao Zongyu stationed troops in Longmen, and the grain road was going to come from Nanyang, and after arriving in Xiangcheng, he turned to Ruyang. The east of Xiangcheng is an endless vast plain, and the west is the mountains of western Henan, which can be said to be unsafe, and the city of Xiangcheng no longer exists.

As long as you occupy here, you can firmly lock Cao Zongyu's grain route. Cao Zongyu can be trapped to death in Yishui Valley Road.

However, Cao Zongyu is not an idiot either.

This place will be handed over to Xu Du to guard.

The 30,000 people of Xu Du and the tens of thousands of cavalry of the Qing army have fought here I don't know how many times.

Xu Dusuo's army discipline is strict, inheriting the embers of the Zhejiang army, in the squad formation, it is better than the other departments of the Xia army, it can be said that among the Xia army, no one is unconvinced in this regard.

It's just that after the rise of firearms, such tactics gradually took a back seat.

But at this moment, the formation of the flat ground still made the Qing army helpless, as if it was a rock, firmly protecting Cao Zongyu's grain route.

If it weren't for the lack of cavalry under Xu Du, Xu Du would have the heart to defeat the Qing army with an ancient brain, drink the Yellow River, and sweep through eastern Henan.

Of course, this is also related to the uninhabited wilderness in eastern Henan.

On the side of Xiangcheng, Xu Du can't help Dongyu, and Donglu can't help Xu Du. But the decisive battle could not be fought. After all, the Qing army can't beat it, and if you want to leave, you can't catch up.

But under the city of Luoyang, the state of decisive battle gradually took shape.

A team of men and horses, out of the Nanyang Basin, transferred to Ruzhou, and then stationed troops in Longmen.

Longmen is only a few dozen miles away from Luoyang.

The last section of the road, although it is in the Luoyang Basin, is conducive to cavalry assault, but Cao Zongyu uses the most secure way to use the Yongdao to directly connect to Luoyang City.

Let the Qing army be helpless, and finally it will be the offensive and defensive battle of Luoyang City.

Although siege warfare is the most brutal.

But at this point, the Qing army could not give up Luoyang.

Once Luoyang City was abandoned and Tongguan Road was sealed, the Qing army in the northwest lost its ability to interfere in the situation in the Central Plains. Although it cannot be said that the range of strength of the Qing army was divided into two halves from the middle, there is not much difference.

Not to mention that Shanxi is mostly mountainous, the Xia army is in the plains, and there are still some fears about the cavalry, but in Shanxi, where most of the horses can't run, what are the fears?

If Cao Zongyu continued to go north, he would be able to make the Qing army unfortunate.

This kind of strategic intention is also very clear to Prince Zheng Zierharang. But his strategy was to defend Luoyang, not to fight in Luoyang.

The real place of the battle was to go out of Wuguan to attack Nanyang, and here in Xiangcheng.

The two sides cut off Cao Zongyu's back road and starved Cao Zongyu to death under Luoyang City.

Both sides have their own calculations and fight very loudly, but as for who can succeed, it depends on the combat effectiveness of the armies of both sides.