[223] It is advisable to chase after the poor 1

Just when Li Zicheng was still hesitating whether to borrow the tall city wall of Wuchang to fight, an urgent report came from the direction of Huanggang that the vanguard of Fang Kongzhi's corps had come from Huangpo and Xinzhou, and had reached the national style, as if they were going to capture Huanggang and cut off the road of the Dashun army to the east. Li Zicheng was shocked. If Huanggang is lost, the enemy crosses the river to occupy Gedian and joins forces with the enemy of Hongshan, and Wuchang will not be able to defend. In the afternoon of the same day, Li Zicheng received another report that the enemy had transported the red-coated artillery to the vicinity of Hongshan and was preparing to attack the Great East Gate and the Little East Gate of Wuchang.

Li Zicheng immediately ordered the men and horses stationed in Hanyang and Dabie Mountain to withdraw to Wuchang on the 23rd, and ordered the defenders of Huangzhou to hold out until the 26th, and then withdraw to the south bank of the Yangtze River to join the army from the east. The battalions stationed outside Wuchang City, only Bai Wang's battalion, in addition to a part of the allocation, there are still 15,000 people, who have not been to the north to fight, have not lost a battle, plus Bai Wang has been carefully trained in De'an, and now it is relatively neat. Li Zicheng ordered him to lead this group of men and horses to leave Wuchang first, go to Xingguozhou, and then enter Jiangxi, while receiving the eastward army led by Li Zicheng himself at any time, and at the same time opening the way for the next step to Xuan and She.

On the afternoon of 23 April, the Ming soldiers learned that Li Zicheng was about to flee from Wuchang and stormed the camp outside Wuchang. The Dashun army had few firearms, could not withstand the Ming army's red-coated artillery attack, and rushed with elite cavalry, the Hongshan defenders soon surrendered, and the positions outside the east gate of Wuchang were also lost one after another, and Jiangxia County was lost.

Song Youliang of the Chinese army's big tent looked at the map, tapped his fingers on the table, and closed his eyes to think. So far, the development of the situation has not jumped out of Song Youliang's grasp, and it is all within the history that Song Youliang knows.

"Report to An Guogong, Li Chuang thief led Liu Zongmin to lead 3,000 men and horses out of the Great East Gate!" The scout shouted loudly from outside the tent

"What?" Song Youliang hurriedly went to look outside the tent, only to see the fire in the direction of the Great East Gate, the sound of guns and cannons continued, and the two men and horses fought forward in the sound of war drums and shouts, recaptured two camps in Fujiapo, and continued to go to Hongshan. But he didn't go far before he met a large Qing army and fought a fierce battle at the foot of Hongshan. The cavalry of the Dashun army was far less strong than the enemy's cavalry, and there were few firearms, coupled with the cowardice of the enemy, as soon as they took the battle, they retreated one after another. The more the Dashun army feared the enemy, the more ferocious the Ming army attacked, and the two camps of Fujiapo were soon lost again. Fortunately, Liu Zongmin often rushed to the most critical place with a group of personal soldiers and generals to block the enemy, and at the same time beheaded a few generals who retreated from the battle, so as to avoid the collapse of the whole line. However, despite Liu Zongmin's desperate efforts to supervise the formation, the Dashun army still had no ability to counterattack, and the camps were lost one after another. Fortunately, it was getting late, and Shang Kexi, who was defending the Great East Gate, temporarily collected his troops to rest, waiting for the follow-up troops, and prepared to completely surround Wuchang City by land tomorrow.

At the time of the second watch, the Dashun army left Wuchang at the same time, and Liu Fangliang led 5,000 men and horses to protect the old and small homes of the whole battalion, and went east almost day and night, intending to take advantage of the emptiness of Jiujiang to occupy Jiujiang, and the ships entered Poyang Lake from the mouth of the lake. Li Zicheng personally led the cavalry to retreat from the land route, very calm on the surface, but full of despair in his heart. His only hope now is that he can get rid of the enemy's pursuit and not be wiped out within a month, then he may be able to gain a firm foothold in Jiangxi.

"Want to escape?" Song Youliang looked at the Shunjun banner that had fled far away with a telescope, and sneered: "Secretary Zhou listens to the order~"

"Secretary Zhou is here~" Secretary Zhou bowed down on one knee

"I order you to lead the cavalry of the headquarters and the cavalry under Zhang Nai, together with the Mongolian cavalry, to rush to Fuchikou day and night. Li Chuang fled in a hurry, and it must have been too late to build a barracks and set up a fence. You're going to take him by surprise. Song Youliang threw an arrow to Secretary Zhou

"The last general commanded~" Zhou Guoqing took the order arrow and went to the troops

"Wait~" Zhang Nai stopped Zhou Guoqing and said to Song Youliang: "Our cavalry has always been led by me, and it has always been indomitable to kill the enemy, and I have no intention of competing with General Zhou." But the general wants to send my cavalry to pursue and kill the enemy, why don't you just send me? ”

Song Youliang said with a smile: "Zhang Nai, you used to be Li Zicheng's old department, if you go to pursue, will you kill Li Zicheng or not?" If you kill Li Zicheng, the world will say that you are ruthless and unjust, and you will kill the old master without mercy; If you don't kill them, you may not escape the suspicion of arson, and the generals will not accept it. So I thought about it, and I still don't want you to make this dilemma. ”

Zhang Nai was furious, took off his helmet and threw it on the ground, shouting loudly: "Who does the general think of me? Back then, in Thirty Miles, Li Zicheng abandoned me, and he was the first to be wrong. And the general disregarded his previous suspicions, healed my wounds, and rebuilt them with grace. Whoever is ruthless and unrighteous, who is affectionate and righteous, the people of the world have their own public opinions in their hearts. If the general can't trust me Zhang Nai, then what's the point of me Zhang Nai's life? After that, Zhang Nai picked up the helmet and pressed the tip of the helmet against his throat, "Zhang Nai is willing to die." ”

Hearing only a whoosh, Song Youliang threw out a copper coin from his hand and hit the back of Zhang Nai's hand, Zhang Nai's hand shook, and the helmet fell to the ground with a clatter

"Okay~ I'll order you to go with Secretary Zhou!" Song Youliang picked up the helmet from the ground, wiped off the dust with his sleeve, and then solemnly put it on Zhang Nai's head

Zhang Nai knelt down on one knee and said loudly: "The last general is willing to smear the general's liver and brain!" ”

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On the afternoon of 26 April, around the end of the Shen Dynasty, Li Zicheng stopped at Fuchikou. There were only a few small battles along the way, but because every time he encountered the enemy, there were those who were scattered, surrendered, and captured, so he only had about 30,000 men left, and he was scattered on the small streets of Fuchikou and on the east and west banks of Fushui. The terrain on the west bank of Fushui was slightly flat, and the garrison was convenient, so Li Zicheng and the old battalion set up camp on the west bank. There were still more than 2,000 sailing boats, carrying the dependents of the soldiers, the wounded, the baggage, and a part of the infantry escorting the fleet, all anchored on the south bank of the river.

The people on the small street of Fuchikou fled a day ago, and they didn't even leave pots and buckets. The people of the small villages within a dozen miles of the vicinity also fled and hid in the mountains and lakes. In previous years, in western Henan and Shaanxi, the common people understood that King Li Chuang was a hero of the uprising and had done a lot of good things to win the hearts of the people. Now south of the river, no one sympathizes with him, only that he is a "thief" who rebelled against the imperial court, broke Beijing, and forced the emperor and empress to death. People have been the people of the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years, and the thoughts and feelings of being loyal to the Ming Dynasty are very deep-rooted.

As soon as Li Zicheng was mentioned, he naturally thought of Huang Chao: "Yes, the Huang Chao rebellion in the past, isn't it the same fate?" also killed the common people as food to eat~~~" What made the common people particularly unable to sympathize with Li Zicheng was that he even lost the battle, and after fleeing to Wuchang, not only was his morale low, but even the military discipline was so bad that he couldn't do it. This army could not live without going out to collect food, and when it resisted, it would inevitably kill, set fires, and rob. What's more, in that era, southerners and northerners had a deep sense of region, which increased the emotional confrontation between the Dashun army and the people. Of course, this is also indispensable to the hard propaganda of the Jinyi guards sent by Song Youliang - Li Zicheng is not a big hero who works for the well-being of the people, but an out-and-out bandit leader.

All these unfavorable circumstances caused the remnants of the Dashun army to encounter difficulties that they had never imagined on weekdays after fleeing to Fuchikou. Many of the infantrymen's legs were swollen, their feet were blistered, and some were bleeding, and they really didn't have the strength to go any further. Li Zicheng estimated that it would take a day for the enemy to arrive, so he ordered to stop here and rest.

Li Zicheng's imperial camp was close to the river, surrounded by seven or eight hundred cavalry and infantry guards, but it was too late to build a camp and set up a fence, so he only used some carriages to form a circle. There are two big boats that are ready for Li Zicheng and his concubines to ride. On the big boat in front of them were Concubine Liu and Concubine Chen. Because Concubine Liu is pregnant and coarse in writing and ink, and she is more shrewd and sensible, she needs to lead the officials, so she has been named a concubine after fleeing to Xiangyang. The other ship arranged two large cabins for Li Zicheng, equipped with a bed, a table, a rattan chair, and a dozen stools, where he could handle official business and summon generals. In the aft compartment of this large ship was a concubine and two attendants, and it also carried a lot of gold, silver, jewelry, and various valuables brought from Xi'an. Twenty other large ships carried the emperor's personal troops to protect the two large ships.

That night, Li Zicheng dreamed of Emperor Chongzhen and dreamed that he was killed by random arrows in the formation of the two armies. Suddenly, Li Zicheng rushed to his body and was shaken vigorously, the scene in front of him suddenly disappeared, and he was immediately woken up loudly: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty, the enemy has arrived, hurry up! ”

Li Zicheng opened his eyes suddenly, and heard a chaotic sound of shouts, footsteps, horses' hooves, and the clashing of weapons. He was lying in his clothes, but at this time he didn't have time to inquire about the situation, Huo Di jumped up from the ground, hurriedly put on his shoes, grabbed his sword, rushed out of the royal tent, and saw a scuffle in front of him.

A pro-general led the oolong horse and waited outside the tent, urging loudly: "The emperor gets on the horse!" ”

As soon as Li Zicheng got on his horse, the enemy had already rushed to his side. In a hurry, he swung his sword and killed two enemies in a row, but he was already surrounded by dozens of cavalry. At the critical moment, Yuan Zongdi led dozens of cavalry to rush into the middle of the enemy, and with a burst of stabs and slashes, temporarily killed the enemy and protected him to retreat to the river. He asked left and right, "Where is Liu Zongmin?" ”

"The general is fighting with the enemy."

At this time, the river was already very chaotic, the Ming cavalry rushed down from the upstream, and some of the ships used for fire attack surrounded from the north, and the torches on the river were bright. The sound of cannons, human voices, and water sounds, all in a mess. Li Zicheng saw his two royal ships. The soldiers on the ship were constantly shooting arrows and firing firearms at the Ming cavalry on the shore. Most of the soldiers who escorted the ship were killed in battle, some committed suicide by throwing themselves into the river, and some were captured. About 200 boats fled downstream, and while they fled, there were people standing in the boats and shooting arrows at the enemy. Many fighters were shot by arrows and fell overboard.

"Why did the Ming army come so quickly?" Li Zicheng didn't have time to think about it, so he struggled to break through under the escort of Yuan Zongdi and others

It turned out that the ordinary people who were hiding on the nearby mountain could see clearly the place where Li Zicheng was camping. They believed that Li Zicheng was a "thief" who overthrew the Ming Dynasty and forced the emperor to death. He also believed that Song Youliang was a relative of the emperor and led the army to avenge Emperor Chongzhen, so he told Zhou Guoqing and Zhang Nai, who pursued Li Zicheng, about Li Zicheng's camp, and told the Ming army about the geographical situation in the area of Fuchikou and the location of Li Zicheng's imperial camp. In this way, Secretary of State Zhou sent an elite cavalry of about 2,000 people to directly attack Li Zicheng's imperial camp. The rest of the men and horses rushed from the rear and attacked the camps of the Dashun army. These two thousand elite cavalry were not discovered until near Li Zicheng's imperial camp. The soldiers of Dashun woke up from their dreams and rushed to the battle. Fortunately, hundreds of soldiers in the imperial camp desperately protected the emperor's imperial tent and launched a fierce melee with the enemy. Although groups of people died in the rush, they were always able to stop the enemy and prevent them from rushing into the tent, so Li Zicheng had time to escape

Li Zicheng rode the south bank of the river and the melee everywhere on the river, crossed the mouth of Fuchi, and ran eastward. There were less than 10,000 men and horses camped on the small streets of Fuchikou and the soldiers who escaped from the melee, and some of them hung up their colors and followed him beside and behind him. Almost all of them are from various counties in Yan'an Prefecture, Shaanxi. Some of them have followed Li Zicheng to revolt for more than ten years, and Li Zicheng knows their faces, and even remembers the names and origins of most of them.

They fled to Sangjiakou in Jiangxi, but they could not hear the shouts of the pursuers, and they were sleepy and tired, hungry and thirsty, and could not go any further. Li Zicheng ordered to rest here for a while, and quickly feed the horses. The two or three hundred big boats that escaped also arrived at Sangjiakou. Li Zicheng got off the oolong horse and walked among the soldiers for a while, and couldn't help but think of the end of Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, and said with emotion in his heart: "The remaining thousands of people are also my Jiangdong disciples!" ”

At this time, Wu Ruyi also broke through and came to Sangjiakou, and he told Li Zicheng a bad news: because the soldiers of each battalion fought separately and broke up for a while, the whereabouts of many important generals were unknown, and the ministers only knew that Ruhou Liu Ye and Song Junshi were captured by the Ming army.

Li Zicheng was shocked: "What? They've been caught? ”

"Yes, the minister saw it with his own eyes!" Wu Ruyi replied

"The sky is going to kill me, the sky is going to kill me!" Li Zicheng thumped his chest