On April 28, Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Xuanda, led 15,000 iron cavalry to the capital, becoming the first Qinwang army to Beijing. This Lu Xiangsheng is a battlefield general, born in Wujinshi, the second rank of official residence, the rank of the secretary of the military department commands the soldiers and horses in Shanxi, and has won many battles against Li Zicheng's peasant army, known as the victorious general. The 15,000 men and horses of the Shanxi battalion under his command this time are the elite troops of his lineage and family.

The military situation was urgent, and Lu Xiangsheng received the holy order and did not dare to stay, so he immediately led his troops to the front line of Zunhua to meet the enemy. On the way to Tongzhou, Lu Xiangsheng saw that the official road was full of fleeing people, and after inquiry, he knew that Wang Qiang ordered everyone to evacuate urgently, and couldn't help but be annoyed, and said secretly: "The enemy has not yet arrived, but Wang Qiang has ordered to escape, this eggless person is really a coward!" "I first despised Wang Qiang in my heart.

Wang Qiang learned that Lu Xiangsheng led his troops through Tongzhou, and waited in front of the big archway in the Special Administrative Region early, and when Lu Xiangsheng came closer, Wang Qiang bowed and said: "Lu Dashuai has come from afar to work hard, please get off the horse and rest, brother here has prepared some wine, reward Dashuai and the brothers of the Shanxi battalion." ”

Lu Xiangsheng didn't have a good impression of Wang Qiang, so he immediately clenched his fists and said: "The military situation is urgent, and the commander will not stop, but the front line should be supplied with grain, grass and ordnance, and ask Lord Wang to handle it properly. Lu Xiangsheng relied on his identity as the commander-in-chief of Qin's order, and spoke to Wang Qiang in the tone of an order.

Wang Qiang is also a Qincha identity, and being crowned the crown prince Shaobao is also the official title of the second grade, Lu Xiangsheng's attitude is rude at first, Wang Qiang can't help but feel a little awkward in his heart, considering the current enemy, he endured his anger and said with a smile: "Don't worry, don't worry, I don't have anything else in the Special Administrative Region, there is grain, grass and ordnance, and the army can take it at will, and it can't be wrong." However, there is indeed something important to discuss with the marshal. ”

Lu Xiangsheng saw that Wang Qiang refused to give way, so he had to dismount, Wang Qiang led Lu Xiangsheng to walk away a few steps to sit on a stool on the side of the road, and then said: "Dashuai, according to the news I got below, now the Qing army has occupied Zunhua, and it will be possible to arrive in the capital in a few days. ”

Lu Xiangsheng looked down on Wang Qiang, and when he saw him shaking his head and asking about his strategy for retreating from the enemy, he was a little impatient, and said coldly: "The strategy of resisting the enemy is already clear to your lord, but the military plan must not be exposed to others at will, and Lord Wang still manages his own duties." ”

Wang Qiang was annoyed in his heart, and said in his heart: "Grandson, you actually pretend to be a big-tailed wolf with me, and when you are defeated, I am afraid that you will have to rely on Lao Tzu to support you." Thinking of this, Wang Qiang also sneered and said: "Hehe, Lord Lu is a victorious general, and now he is a commander who commands the army. Now that the Qing army has occupied Zunhua and has gained a firm foothold, the troops of King Qin in various places are all tired divisions who have traveled from a long distance, and the enemy is waiting for work. The troops of Qinwang in various places are not the same, and they are not familiar with each other, although they are controlled by you, I am afraid that it will be difficult to unify the power for a while, and once the war starts, I am afraid that it will be difficult to take care of the end and be broken by the Qing army. Therefore, it is better to coordinate the men and horses, gather in Tongzhou here, and wait for work, then the attack and defense are mutually exclusive, and the soldiers of the king of Qin in various places will definitely retreat from the enemy as soon as they arrive. In addition, 5,000 militia members have been trained under the order, and they can also help adults at that time. ”

Wang Qiang's thoughts were communicated with Li Gang, and they were really good words from the consideration of the overall situation, how could Lu Xiangsheng always be very self-assured, a little underestimated the enemy, and felt that the Qing army was working far away and the army was alone, and he must have run out of food and grass, exhausted, and he had a disgust for Wang Qiang, how could he listen to it. He got up, snorted angrily and said as he walked: "I should be something important, but for this, the military situation on the front line is urgent, and there is no room for a moment's delay, and Ben Shuai has no time to talk nonsense with you." After speaking, he didn't wait for Wang Qiang to react, turned over his horse, waved his horsewhip, and ordered the troops to pull out!

Wang Qiang laughed angrily, sneered at Lu Xiangsheng's back and said, "Then I will prepare a celebration wine here and wait for the handsome to triumph!" ”

But said that this Lu Xiangsheng with a large group of men and horses all the way to the horse, arrived outside Zunhua in the late afternoon, before the camp, only to hear a cannon in the city, the Qing army took advantage of his unstable foothold, poured troops to attack, Rao is Lu Xiangsheng Ping Su Zhi army has a way, brought elite iron cavalry, or was killed by surprise, the soldiers retreated ten miles before they set up a position, 15,000 men and horses ten stops actually went to three stops.

Lu Xiangsheng lost the first battle, he was irritable, and he was alone in the big tent of the Chinese army that night to think about countermeasures, recalling Wang Qiang's words, Fang Pin's words were actually right, but it was a pity that he was arrogant and underestimated the enemy, and took the loyalty as a deaf ear. If the Ming army assembles in Tongzhou, relying on the canal and the county seat of Tongzhou, it forms a tug of war with the Qing army, and then orders the troops from all over the country to form an encirclement from the flank and rear of the Qing army, cutting off the retreat of the Qing army, and then they can gather and annihilate it in one go. Wang Qiang's original proposal was indeed feasible. He felt that it was better to take his suggestion, and that personal face was a small matter, and he should still focus on military affairs.

At this time, the quartermaster escorted grain and grass back to the camp from the SAR to hand over the order to him, and Lu Xiangsheng asked: "Is the ordnance, grain and grass all ready?" ”

The quartermaster said: "Back to the commander, all are together, Lord Wang also allocated another 500 hard crossbows and tens of thousands of rockets, Lord Wang also specially instructed that the Qing army should not fight in the field, and it is effective to shoot the side with bows and crossbows when the base battalion is used." ”

"Well, what else did he say?" Lu Xiangsheng asked.

He added, he said------ "The quartermaster hesitated."

"What else did he say? Speak! Lu Xiangsheng said angrily.

"Yes, he also said, he also said, if you don't listen to the old man, you will suffer in front of you." The quartermaster whispered.

"Fart! Wang Qiang, you eunuch deceived me too much! Lu Xiangsheng had a strong sense of self-esteem, and when he heard Wang Qiang ridicule himself like this, he gritted his teeth with hatred, and the idea of adopting Wang Qiang's suggestion just now was completely dispelled. He felt that with the existing men and horses, he could still fight with the Qing army, and he still had full confidence in his Shanxi battalion.

The next day, Lu Xiangsheng, as the commander-in-chief of the enemy, convened several commanders and generals of King Qin's soldiers and horses who arrived first to discuss the strategy of retreating from the enemy. The generals are not the same, each with a ghost, plus Lu Xiangsheng's new defeat, everyone is also a little unconvinced, so there is no charter to quarrel around, and finally at Lu Xiangsheng's insistence, he reluctantly formulated a plan to lure the enemy into depth, divide and attack, this plan is to use their own Shanxi battalion as a bait to lure the Qing army to attack, and the other people and horses first detour to the two wings, once the Qing army and the Shanxi battalion are engaged, the other people and horses quickly attack the Qing army from the flanks and behind, as long as they can entangle the Qing army, do not let them continue to advance south, When the other forces arrive, the situation can be reversed. There are two prerequisites for the success of this plan: one is that the Shanxi battalion has enough strength to withstand the attack of tens of thousands of Qing troops and create conditions for a joint attack, and the other condition is that the troops and horses of all walks of life can take into account the overall situation and go all out to counterattack. Even Lu Xiangsheng himself knew that this plan was too risky, and if others didn't say it, even his own more than 10,000 people and horses would not be sure at all if they wanted to withstand the attack of tens of thousands of Qing troops. After the generals left, Lu Xiangsheng thought about it and felt that the current plan had little chance of winning, and the plan proposed by Wang Qiang was the most suitable, but in the end, a strong sense of self-esteem prevailed, and he would rather die on the battlefield than bow to the little eunuch.

In Zunhua City, Dolgon, the commander of the Qing army, was also thinking about the next battle plan. He led his troops to the south this time, with only one goal, to destroy the Tongzhou Special Economic Zone and destroy the source of the revival of the Ming Dynasty! This time, he brought the most elite men and horses of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the left and right pioneers Aobai and Duoduo are all fierce generals who can conquer and fight, and Aobai is known as the first warrior in Manchuria, with superb martial arts and infinite strength! The advance was originally very smooth, the discipline of the Ming army was lax, the army was discouraged, and it collapsed at the first touch, and there was not much combat effectiveness, so there was no decent resistance along the way. Now the Tongzhou Special Zone is close at hand, but Dolgon has always kept a clear head, he knows that now that the Qing army has penetrated deep into the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, it is a great risk to attack from afar. This Lu Xiangsheng in front of him is extremely difficult to deal with, yesterday's battle, although he won, but also tried to find out that this Ming army from Shanxi iron cavalry still has a little combat effectiveness, if you want to break through the Shanxi battalion, you have to go through a bloody battle! Although the morale of his troops is high, but also somewhat tired, and after all the way to the battle, also lost a lot of men and horses, grain and grass are also a little unable to help, once the long battle is unfavorable, entangled, there is a danger of being surrounded and annihilated by the Ming army.

After some weighing, Dolgon finally made up his mind to quickly defeat the Shanxi battalion in front of him, destroy the Tongzhou Special Zone at all costs, and complete the strategic task of going south! Dolgon immediately ordered the drum to raise the tent, summoned the generals of all departments, and deployed to attack the Shanxi camp tomorrow and occupy Tongzhou City!

The next day, as soon as the sky was dawning, 10,000 soldiers and horses of the forward battalion of Chebai were roaring and slaughtering the Shanxi battalion, Dolgon led 20,000 horses of the Chinese army to follow up, and 10,000 horses of the rear battalion were postponed to monitor the movements of other Ming troops.

Chebai took the lead in rushing in front of the team to kill the camp of the Ming army, the Ming army guarding the camp only released a few arrows indiscriminately and fled in all directions, Chebai led the troops to rush into the camp of the Ming army, I don't want the huge military camp to be silent, there is no one to see, it is an empty camp!

It turned out that this Lu Xiangsheng was also old, he considered that he would definitely not be able to support the Qing army for long with his little men, and he had to use a strategy, so he pondered for a long time before he came up with a plan for a fire attack. He estimated that when the morning dawned, the Qing army would definitely come to the camp, so he quietly withdrew his troops and horses at night, ambushed in the nearby forest, mixed two carts of gunpowder bags brought from the Tongzhou Special Zone and a large amount of firewood and grass and other flammable materials and placed them in various places in the camp, and then ordered a small group of soldiers to swim in the camp to confuse the Qing army.

However, they said that the Qing soldiers entered the camp and saw that it was an empty camp, thinking that the Ming army was cowardly and had fled at night, so they all dismounted and rushed to the tent to search for loot. Lu Xiangsheng, who was ambushed in the forest, saw that the Qing army had been hit, he waved the order flag, thousands of Ming soldiers came out of the dense forest, and released arrows together, and the arrows were like locusts shooting at the Qing army, and the rockets were fired into the camp, igniting the firewood and grass, and igniting the gunpowder.

Lu Xiangsheng saw that the time was almost up, and waved the spear in his hand to the sky and shouted: "Brothers in the Shanxi battalion, the Qing army has been in chaos, the time has come for us to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions and serve the imperial court, brothers, rush with me!" After speaking, he rushed out first, and 10,000 Shanxi iron horsemen shouted, followed closely behind, and covered the Qing army in a whirlwind.

Chebai only woke up from a dream at this time, knowing that he had hit the plan of the Ming army, and immediately ordered to blow the trumpet and retreat, the forward battalion of Chebai was the elite of the Qing army, well-trained, heard the trumpet, immediately withdrew from the camp, regrouped the formation, and the Qing army that lost its horses and moved slowly was trampled into meat sauce by the Ming army's iron cavalry. Seeing that the Ming army only had 10,000 people, which was equivalent to his own strength, he was not afraid in his heart, and he shouted loudly on the horse: "Eight Banner warriors, the Han people can only play conspiracy and tricks, and the real swords and guns are not our opponents, brothers, kill me!" His voice was like a bell, and it was rumored for several miles, and a shout immediately stabilized the army's heart, aroused the fighting spirit, and the Qing army shouted and killed the Ming army. In an instant, the two armies collided violently, and suddenly the people turned on their backs and fought together. That Lu Xiangsheng was originally a tiger general, with a spear in his hand, flying up and down, and killing heartily with a team of personal soldiers; The chela worship power is infinite, there is the courage of ten thousand people to stop, a mace in his hand, in the Ming army left and right rush, when the person is killed, invincible. Both armies were elite, morale was strong, and they were evenly matched for a while.

20,000 soldiers were wrenched together in the open countryside, the smell of blood in the air, the roar of soldiers, the neighing of war horses, the wails of the wounded, and the clashing of weapons sounded together.

The brutal fighting lasted for half an hour, the combat effectiveness of the Ming army was slightly inferior to that of the Qing army, coupled with the long journey, there was no sufficient rest, and gradually showed fatigue, the Qing army had gotten rid of the initial panic and began to gain the upper hand. He rode his horse up a gentle slope to observe the situation on the battlefield, and saw that most of his team had been lost, and the morale was not as strong as at the beginning, but the Qing army was becoming more and more courageous, and the Qing army's brigade was slowly advancing here, and the commander of the Qing army was clearly visible. If at this time, the Qing army sends another new force to join the war group and cut off its own back road, then its Shanxi battalion will be the end of the entire army. Reinforcements! Where are the reinforcements you deployed? By the time of day, they should have launched an attack on the Qing army from both flanks, and now, there was not even a shadow of reinforcements in sight. "These bastards who can't be saved when they see death, lose their planes and mislead the country!" Lu Xiangsheng scolded indignantly in his heart. He knew that at this time, the wisest thing for him to do was to lead his troops out of the battlefield and retreat southward, and the forward battalion of Chebai had lost nearly half of its men and horses, and it was already the end of the crossbow, so he might not dare to chase down. You can go to Tongzhou to reorganize the army, rely on the city to resist, and wait for reinforcements. But at the thought of retreating to Tongzhou, Lu Xiangsheng felt irritable for a while, and he swore in front of the little eunuch that he threatened to retreat from the enemy, but he fled back in defeat in a row, how could he save face? The little eunuch would definitely be harsh and mean, and it would be even more uncomfortable than killing himself.

"A dignified seven-foot man would rather die on the battlefield than bow his head in front of others!" Thinking of this, Lu Xiangsheng suddenly became arrogant, stood on the gentle slope and shouted: "Brothers, a manly man protects his family and defends the country, and dying on the battlefield is the supreme glory of our soldiers!" Even if we fight for our lives, we must not embarrass the elders of Shanxi, brothers, kill! After speaking, he urged the war horse, dancing the spear to re-enter the battle group, the Shanxi battalion is Lu Xiangsheng brought out of the lineage, he is the most loyal, the soldiers heard his shout, knew that this battle was dead or alive, and they also gave up their lives, went crazy and generally attacked the Qing army, no matter what formation, formation, where there is a Qing army, it will kill where, it is all a lifeless move. In the face of the Ming army's sudden and crazy counterattack, the Qing army was a little timid, and the situation on the battlefield was reversed.

Dolgon, who commanded the Chinese army, closely watched the changes on the battlefield, and when he saw the Ming army sacrificing this suicidal style of fighting, he smiled slightly, and said in his heart: "It seems that this Lu Xiangsheng is determined to die, since this is the case, then this commander will fulfill you!" He turned his head to the herald and said: "Order the left battalion to attack, cut off the retreat of the Ming army, and be sure to annihilate the Ming army!" ”

"Obey the order, order the left battalion to attack, cut off the retreat of the Ming army, and be sure to annihilate the Ming army!" The herald repeated the order, then rode his horse to deliver the order.

The 10,000 horses of the left battalion of the Qing army were dispatched under the leadership of Duoduo, and the horses trembled slightly on the ground, making a rumbling sound, and in the blink of an eye, the remaining thousands of Ming legions surrounded the core. 10,000 fresh troops joined the battle group, the Qing army occupied an absolute advantage, and the Ming army was already in chaos, and was soon divided into several pieces by the well-trained Qing army, and was annihilated one by one.

Lu Xiangsheng rushed left and right with his own guards, how could the Qing army have a lot of people, and there were soldiers everywhere to block the sea there, and his team was fighting less and less, and was gradually squeezed and besieged by the Qing army on a mound, Lu Xiangsheng looked around, there were less than a thousand soldiers left around him, these soldiers were exhausted, and most of them were wounded, he himself also suffered three knife wounds, and the spear was lost, so he had to kill the enemy with a sword. The Ming army has reached the point of exhaustion, and it has no ability to parry. Lu Xiangsheng watched the Ming army divided and surrounded by the Qing army being strangled one by one, and felt extremely painful, these Shanxi children have been following his left and right, like brothers, but now they are dying tragically in a foreign land, and the Shanxi battalion that he has built for many years has also been destroyed. He stroked the sword of Shang Fang given by the emperor himself, and felt sad in his heart, the emperor hoped that he could lead the army to retreat from the enemy, but who knew that because of his own stubbornness, arrogance and contempt of the enemy, he ended up with a whole army annihilated, and the Qing army had no obstacles on the way to the capital, and soon could directly threaten the safety of the capital. At this time, he really regretted that he did not listen to the advice of the eunuch Wang Qiang, and only took care of his own face, but did not consider that the consequences would be so serious, not only harming more than 10,000 Shanxi children, but also living up to the emperor's trust, he felt that he had no face to live in the world anymore, at this time, the Qing army surrounding them rushed up as a whole team, Lu Xiangsheng looked around at the soldiers around him, and said in a deep voice: "Brothers, today's defeat is all the fault of Lu Mou, Lu has failed the grace of God, has no shame to see his hometown fathers, and is determined to die for the country, Please break through on your own! He knelt down on his knees facing the direction of the capital, slowly picked up Shang Fang's sword with both hands, and shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, the criminal minister Lu Xiangsheng has a heavy trust from the saint, he doesn't listen to his loyalty, he misses the opportunity and misleads the country, and he can't be convicted of ten thousand deaths, and Weichen is gone!" Then he put his sword around his neck and was about to kill himself.