Chapter Twenty-Five: The Defeat of the Chuan Court Kiln Gang Dispatches Troops

Sun Chuanting was going to send troops to attack Li Zicheng, and Li Zicheng got the news very early. Because Li Zicheng is a battle-hardened person, he is well aware of the importance of intelligence work, and he has also established a huge intelligence network. The news that Sun Chuanting was coerced by the imperial court to send troops, Li Zicheng also knew in detail.

To say that Li Zicheng's soldiers and horses are now more than Sun Chuanting's. But for a famous general like Sun Chuanting, he still has lingering palpitations, because his predecessor King Gao Chuang was captured by this Sun Chuanting and sent to Beijing to be scraped, and he was also designed by Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou to set up an ambush in Tongguan, so that the whole army was wiped out, and only eighteen people were left to break out.

Li Zicheng's entire army did not dare to be careless, and made serious preparations. Upon learning the news that the Shaanxi official army had left the customs, Li Zicheng personally commanded the army and went north to Henan to meet the enemy.

Due to the lack of grain and grass in Henan, Li Zicheng adopted the strategy of luring the enemy into depth, deploying the main force in the area south of Jiaxian, and leaving the logistical problem to the officers and troops who had traveled long distances. It should be said that Li Zicheng adopted a very correct strategy and tactics.

Because Li Zicheng gave up the vast area from Tongguan to Jiaxian, the Shaanxi official army was "like a bamboo" along the way, occupied Luoyang in early August, and attacked Ruzhou on September 8, what Li Zicheng did not expect was that Li Yangchun, the fourth heavenly king, surrendered Sun Chuanting's official army.

After Li Yangchun's surrender, he leaked secrets to Sun Chuanting's officers and troops, causing great losses to Li Zicheng, who reported that Li Zicheng's old camp was in Tang County, the elite troops were in Xiangcheng, and the local civil and military officials were gathered in Baofeng.

Based on this information, Sun Chuanting took targeted actions, first breaking through Baofeng, beheading Li Zicheng's governor Chen Kexin and others, and then marching to Tang County to kill the family members of Li Zicheng's army who were placed there.

On 14 September, the official army and Li Zicheng's main force fought a fierce battle in Jiaxian, Li Zicheng's army was defeated and fled, Sun Chuanting's official army was in hot pursuit, Li Zicheng's Guoyi general Xie Junyou was captured and killed by the Shaanxi official army, and Li Zicheng himself was almost captured. Later, Li Zicheng led the defeated army to flee into Xiangcheng, and Sun Chuanting's Shaanxi official army also followed.

In the face of the crisis, some of Li Zicheng's soldiers had the idea of surrendering. Li Zicheng said: "Don't worry, I will kill the vassal king, burn the imperial tomb, the crime is unforgivable, you might as well fight to the death again, if you can't win, it's not too late for you to kill me and surrender." ”

At this time, God helped Li Zicheng, and it rained heavily for seven days, and the officers and soldiers of Sun Chuanting who were in the open house outside the city were miserable, because the roads were muddy, the grain trucks of the officers and soldiers were difficult to move, and the logistics of the officers and soldiers had problems.

At this time, Li Zicheng sent the general Liu Zongmin to lead 10,000 cavalry from the small road to the rear of the official army, cutting off the grain route of the official army.

Sun Chuanting had no choice but to decide to return to the division to welcome the grain, and he ordered Chen Yongfu, the general soldier of Henan, to stay in the barracks, and he led the officers and soldiers of Shaanxi to return to the division to open up the grain road.

Chen Yongfu's subordinate soldiers were indignant when they saw that the Shaanxi officials and soldiers were gone, but they were left to starve and starve as substitutes, and they all retreated behind the Shaanxi officials and soldiers. How could Li Zicheng let go of such an opportunity and take the opportunity to launch an attack, and the entire official army collapsed.

The officers and soldiers fled until Nanyang to recover and turn around to meet the people's army, and the two sides started a big battle.

Li Zicheng led the army to set up five battle formations, the first was the hungry people, the second was the infantry, the third was the cavalry, the fourth was the elite cavalry, and the fifth was the family members.

Sun Chuanting's commander's army broke through Li Zicheng's first three battle formations in a company, and the elite cavalry of the fourth battle formation could not hold on.

The train battalion was prepared to deal with Li Zicheng's powerful cavalry, and in order to enhance the firepower and protection capabilities of the Ming army, Sun Chuanting specially made 30,000 "trains" carrying artillery, which could resist the impact of cavalry when marching and defend in a circle when stationed. Regarding Sun Chuanting's pros and cons on the use of trains, later generations also have different opinions. But it's useless to say anything at this point.

The rout of the train battalion triggered a chain reaction, and the cavalry could not resist and began to flee, and the situation on the battlefield changed dramatically in an instant, from the two sides fighting each other to one chasing and killing the other.

Li Zicheng's army poured out of the nest and pursued it relentlessly, chasing and killing more than 400 miles in one day and one night, killing more than 40,000 officers and soldiers, and losing hundreds of thousands of weapons and baggage.

Sun Chuanting's officers and troops retreated until Meng Jin did not stop, and after a brief count, most of the 100,000 soldiers and horses brought at the beginning had been lost, and the more serious weapons and baggage were lost, and the army had no fighting spirit. Sun Chuanting knew that he had lost the last bit of belongings of the Ming Dynasty, and it was difficult to survive. Sun Chuanting, a five-foot-tall man, couldn't help crying.

At this time, the people around him did not dare to step forward to persuade him, and when Sun Chuanting cried, Bai Guangen and Gao Jie dared to come forward to persuade each other. This Gao Jie used to be an iron buddy who came out to rebel with Li Zicheng, and later hooked up with Li Zicheng's little wife and became an adulterer, and he surrendered to the official army together. This person can also be regarded as able to fight well, and he has made many meritorious contributions to the official army to suppress Li Zicheng.

Relying on Sun Chuanting's trust in him, he stepped forward and said, "My lord, now is not the time to stay. There is not enough food in a small place in Mengjin, and Li Zicheng will soon chase after him. Let's go back to Tongguan as soon as possible and make plans. ”

Sun Chuanting knew that Gao Jie was reasonable, so he took a breath and said, "Withdraw." ”

In fact, it is right to retreat, but it should not be an unorganized retreat.

Sun Chuanting's retreat, Shaanxi County, Juyong Pass, and other dangerous passes, almost all of them were abandoned. A generation of famous generals like Sun Chuanting was also chaotic when he was defeated. It may also be that in the face of those defeated soldiers who have no food, they have no power to return to heaven and cannot organize. This is the so-called defeat of the army.

At this time, Li Zicheng had already let out a long breath, and the soldiers captured Sun Chuanting's handsome flag, which greatly boosted the morale of the army.

Li Zicheng and his generals knew that they had pulled out the last bone of the Ming Dynasty after this battle.

Niu Jinxing, a military advisor with a face full of joy, said: "King Chuang, don't let up, we should take Tongguan straight and not give Sun Chuanting a chance to breathe." At the same time, it is also necessary to be prepared to go directly to Xi'an. ”

Li Zicheng said: "The military advisor is reasonable. Our men and horses can't stop, let Zong Min take the front and immediately send troops to Tongguan. ”

At this time, it was the end of September, and Zhang Zhimu was on his way to kill the tiger. On the way, Zhang Zhimu was thinking, according to the original history, in early October, Li Zicheng should occupy Tongguan, and Sun Chuanting died in battle. I wonder how the war is going on over there now?

Tongguan garrisoned Ningde, and after knowing the news of Sun Chuanting's defeat and retreat, he knew that the matter was irreparable. also immediately sent someone to inform the kiln gang.

According to what he had thought in advance, Ouyang He said to the visitor: "The soldiers of our kiln gang are different from your officers and soldiers, they are usually workers and farmers who cultivate the land, if Li Zicheng calls, it is okay to let them defend their homeland, but it is very difficult to mobilize them to go out to fight." However, we will immediately send out warships to provide artillery support for Tongguan in the Yellow River to assist you in defending Tongguan. ”

People who came knew that it was impossible for Yaogang to send troops to support at this time, Sun Chuanting was a few people and hundreds of thousands of troops, and it didn't take long for them to come back, and there were not many people in Yaogang together, no matter how powerful it was, it was useless. But if you can ask for some other assistance, the tens of thousands of horses and horses that Sun Chuanting came back from defeat lost all their grain, grass and baggage, and they didn't need Li Zicheng to fight, and they starved to death around Tongguan.

Seeing that the person who came was still hesitating, Ouyang He understood what he was thinking, and said, "You go back and tell Ningde Guard, we are old friends." We will not look at it, when our warship arrives, if the thief army has begun to surround Tongguan, we will disperse the thief army with artillery fire, you immediately send people to rush out of the pass, to the dock to unload the grain, we will use artillery fire to provide cover cover, you go back and let the garrison prepare the equipment for transporting grain, unload the grain as quickly as possible, if you can't unload it that day, don't unload it at night, you can unload it again the next day, so as not to be taken by the thief army. ”

The person who came said: "You can rest assured about unloading grain, our Tongguan is a big wharf, and we load and unload countless grains every year, and we have a way." ”

Ouyang He sent people to Lingshui Wharf, and asked Fan Chengkun to send a speedboat to send people to Tongguan.

After Li Yunhe's original steam engine on the lathe was removed, he remodeled it and installed it on a small boat, although the remaining space of the boat was very small, and it didn't look good from the outside, but the speed was indeed very fast, and the back and forth operation was also very flexible. Fan Chengkun They were so happy to see it, this is an excellent speedboat. When there is something going on, this speedboat is also convenient.

Seeing off the guests, Ouyang He said to Chen Yufeng: "It seems that it is time for us to appear." ”

Chen Yufeng said: "We now have six Fu ships, two centipede ships, eight large ships, as well as twelve Cangshan ships and three flat-bottomed ships, all of which are equipped with steam engines. They haven't figured out how to change those eight wheels yet. I think those three flat-bottomed boats should be transported. Our eight big ships and 12 Cangshan ships all went to Tongguan, and those who needed to escort the convoy and transport ships could go from Tongguan, and those who did not escort them were all in Tongguan. ”

Ouyang He smiled and said, "You want to train Li Zicheng." Each of the eight large ships could hold twenty mortars, and the Cangshan ship could also hold ten mortars. If you go, it's 300 mortars. I think this time let Li Wei accompany Liu Yun to participate in the war, this guy has been experimenting with 120 heavy mortars recently, I don't know how their shooting table is doing? ”

Chen Yufeng said: "I also mean to let Li Wei go." Playing with cannons, it's still Li Wei's kid. Don't look at him as big, but he is not rough-hearted, he has a scheming, he can sum things up when he comes back. Besides, Fan Chengkun, no teacher can figure out how their newly trained artillerymen can figure it out. ”

Things are so strange, Li Zicheng and the officials and soldiers are in full swing over there, and the Yaogang people should produce and produce here, and they will not even delay the transportation to the outside. I don't know what will happen to Li Zicheng if he knows about this self-confidence?

When Sun Chuanting led his troops to retreat to Tongguan in embarrassment, Ning De's words to him made him calm down a little. Ningde told him that the Yaogang people would immediately send warships to support. They will support Tongguan with artillery fire on the Yellow River, ensuring that all sides along the Yellow River will be covered with artillery fire. In addition, it will also bring food to support Tongguan.

Sun Chuanting burst into tears after listening to Ning De's words, and said: "Only then can I see who is loyal and who is traitorous." They didn't say how much food they could support? ”

Ningde said, "We can't ask. But they know how many we are and how we are, and I want to be able to feed us. ”

At this time, Sun Chuanting's mood calmed down a little, and he asked softly: "Haven't our people already been arranged?" ”

Ning De showed a little smile at this time and said: "I sent someone to see it, Zhang Dongjia is really a friend, and our people can't be better arranged." Especially the children, that happy, if you let them go back to Xi'an now, they may not do anything, they will all arrange for school. I heard that the school there is the best in our Ming Dynasty, and the clothes are uniformly issued. Even the food is very particular, and it is said that it is a nutritious package. Family, you can rest assured. ”

Sun Chuanting fought in the war, and other aspects were not ambiguous, this time a total of one wife, three concubines, two sons, two daughters and one grandson were sent to Yaogang.

Ning De also knew that if he was a little happy at this time, Sun Chuanting would be in a better mood.

After hearing this, Sun Chuanting let out a long breath and said, "It seems that we owe Zhang Dong a big favor." I don't know if I can repay it in this life? ”

Ning De said: "What are you talking about, we have the warships of the people of Yaogang to help, and we will definitely be able to hold Tongguan." ”

At this time, Sun Chuanting's unique sensitivity of the famous general shocked him and said: "Li Zicheng can't attack Tongguan, so he will definitely attack Xi'an." Xi'an's soldiers, horses, grain and grass have all been transferred out by me, and it is basically an empty city. ”

Sun Chuanting stood up and turned around in the center of the ground a few times, and said: "We will reorganize the team as soon as possible, and after defeating Li Zicheng's several attacks, we will quietly divide our troops and return to Xi'an. Can you borrow some money and grain from the kiln? ”

Ning De asked: "Is Tongguan not guarded?" ”

Sun Chuanting smiled bitterly and said: "When the Yellow River freezes without kiln ships, it will be difficult for us to defend Tongguan." Besides, without Xi'an Shoutong Pass, it will be trapped here. However, I will leave some people for you in Tongguan, and Tongguan cannot be lost now. Winter is really not good, if the kiln gang people don't take over Tongguan, you can take people to the kiln gang to listen to others. ”

Ning De nodded and said, "My lord." However, when it comes to borrowing money and grain, let's not talk about borrowing, just asking for help. I guess the kiln people can support some, but not too much, they are such a little place after all. I'm very touched that they've been able to do what they are now.

Liu Zongmin received Li Zicheng's general order, did not stop for a moment, led the team to chase Sun Chuanting's soldiers and horses, and quickly chased to Tongguan.

Sun Chuanting now knew that the warships of Yaogang would soon come to help, so he withdrew all his men and horses into the city.

Liu Zongmin and the others all knew that there was a trade of Yaogang people outside the city, and the first thing his people did when they arrived outside Tongguan City was to set fire to the houses that bought and sold the Yaogang inn and the Yaogang ticket number. Because there is no one who has been evacuated by the kiln gang people a long time ago, there is nothing of value left. They can only take the house out of anger.

Liu Zongmin was a very experienced general, he did not attack the city immediately, let the army surround Tongguan, and waited for Li Zicheng's brigade. Because he knew that Tongguan was different from other places, Sun Chuanting would not retreat again. After many years of construction, Tongguan is not easy to break, and it must wait for the siege artillery to come before attacking.

Although they all know that Tongguan is not easy to attack, but Li Zicheng is in the army, and no one will doubt that Tongguan will be taken soon. Because the main force of the official army has been dispersed, all the passes along the way have been taken without much effort. Those officers and soldiers who fled to Tongguan and were already frightened would not have the determination and will to resist. In fact, Li Zicheng's judgment was not wrong, according to the original historical trajectory, Sun Chuanting would have died in battle on the third day of October, and Tongguan would have been lost. But now there is an additional factor that has not existed before, and it is about to play a role again at this historical juncture. This is also something Li Zicheng did not expect.

Li Zicheng arrived at the periphery of Tongguan and was in a very good mood. Niu Jinxing and the soldiers studied the siege plan, and he took the "Yaogang Weekly" sent by Song Xiance, and looked at it while drinking tea.

Li Zicheng himself knows that he has added a problem, that is, reading "Yaogang Weekly". In the past, I was very willing to read "Yaogang Weekly", the fresh and unique style, sometimes spicy and sarcastic, sometimes loud praise, can resonate with Li Zicheng, and sometimes I feel that what I say is what I am talking about. At that time, he often had the idea of having a good conversation with that Zhang Zhimu. But soon, "Yaogang Weekly" made him dislike a little, starting from the article "On the Hypocrisy of Li Zicheng's Failure to Pay Grain", almost every issue of "Yaogang Weekly" has more or less self-directed content, especially in the previous issues, Li Zicheng's several massacres of the city, carefully and carefully in the newspaper with bloody words, unceremoniously exposed. This made Li Zicheng almost tear up the newspaper. But it's just strange, the more I don't want to see this, the more I want to see it. Even Song Xiance said: "The hands of the Yaogang people are really vicious. We didn't even have the power to fight back. Those tactics of ours make them a trick of liars as soon as they say it, and it's really infuriating to say. ”

This time, due to his all-out efforts to deal with Sun Chuanting, Li Zicheng did not have time to read the "Yaogang Weekly". Now I have time to read the "Kiln Gang Weekly".

Handing Li Zicheng the newspaper, Song Xiance said: "King Chuang, look at this thing, don't be really angry, then you will be fooled." ”

King Chuang smiled and said, "It's okay, it's Lord Sun Chuanting who should be angry now." Ha ha! ”

Li Zicheng looked at the newspaper very leisurely, he didn't know that his nemesis Yaogang was almost there.

Because the barge needed to be loaded with grain, Fan Chengkun and his fleet came out a little late. When he was about to reach the entrance of the Yellow River, Liu Yun said to Fan Chengkun and Mu Yi: "You can fight as planned by you, I don't understand the affairs of the navy, I just watch the excitement." ”

Fan Chengkun said: "Okay, when you get to the place, you will be the shopkeeper." ”

Li Wei said: "At this point, we will also get a fleet of ships to be dispatched, which is nearly 300 mortars. And my five 120 heavy mortars. That's too big, isn't it? ”

Liu Yun said: "Uncle Shi means that let's all come out to practice soldiers. In particular, you, who haven't shot for a long time, let you all come out to practice, otherwise you will lose your skills. ”

Li Wei laughed happily with everyone for a while, and said, "It's a pity, Li Jing's kid took away all the more than 30 girl guns, otherwise I would have taken 30 people directly ashore to catch Li Zicheng." ”

Since the rifle gunfire in the kiln was much quieter than that of the musket, Li Wei and the others privately joked that this was a girl's gun. But to say that, they didn't dare to underestimate this girl to rob.

Fan Chengkun and Mu Yi had never seen a rifle, but when they returned to Yaogang, when they listened to Chen Yufeng give them a briefing, they gave them a brief introduction and asked everyone to keep it secret.

Fan Chengkun asked: "Li Wei, tell me, is that kind of gun really that powerful?" ”

Li Wei shook his head and said, "Then you don't need to say." The kind of grab can press in 30 bullets at a time, and you can shoot a single shot, or you can just deduct it and shoot all the bullets out. With 200 rounds of ammunition each, who do you say can stop it? ”

Mu Yi said: "Li Wei, you can't talk specifically, what kind of good method is that gun?" ”

Li Wei said: "Isn't what I said good enough? By the way, this kind of gun, that accurate, you don't know. In the past, we all had muskets that could only be aimed at close range, and only a few people could shoot accurately. But this kind of gun, within 200 meters, if you can't hit a humanoid target while lying on your stomach, then you are a big fool. And don't look at the bullets of that kind of gun, the sound is small, but if you hit someone, you will go in and go out, and there will be a big hole. ”

"You say, that's what happened?" Mu Yi asked.

Li Wei held the shelf and said, "Let me tell you, because when the bullet enters the human body, it will roll and destroy all the internal organs of the person." ”

Li Wei's words made everyone feel a little chilled when they heard it.

Fan Chengkun said: "It would be good when we could equip it." ”

Liu Yun said, "It's almost there." This time, Li Yunhe made thirty handfuls for Li Jing and them to experiment with, to see if there was any problem, and if there was no problem, mass production would be. ”

Mu Yi said: "We have such weapons, what kind of defense do we have, just hit it directly, who can stop us?" ”

Fan Chengkun said: "You think that Zhang is always an ordinary person, and the things they consider are beyond your imagination like you and me." ”

Liu Yun also said: "After all, we are still a small place, and it is not a good idea to directly confront anyone, so we just listen to the command and fight our own battles well." ”

At this time, a speedboat that went out to reconnoiter stopped next to Fan Chengkun's command boat. Command the ship to lower the spider plant and lift the people on the reconnaissance ship.

Scouts came in and reported that Li Zicheng's troops had surrounded Tongguan, and we could see from the boat that they were setting up artillery on the shore, and it was estimated that they would attack the city after they were erected.

Liu Yun said: "It seems that we came at the right time." Li Zicheng would never have dreamed that we would kick their ass in the back of them. ”

There was another burst of laughter.

Fan Chengkun spread out the map near Tongguan and said: "It's still early, let's see that we will take advantage of our searchlight tonight to catch them off guard." ”

Liu Yun said: "Good idea. ”

Fan Chengkun briefly discussed with Mu Yi, ordered the boats to stop near the mouth of the Fen River, and ordered the speedboats to pick up the captains of the boats.

It was really convenient to have a speedboat, and it didn't take long for the captains of each ship to gather on Fan Chengkun's command ship. Mu Yi personally arranged a wave of targets for each ship. After the first wave of strikes, other targets can be fired freely. But don't waste shells.

After the meeting, the captains happily walked back.

Before leaving, Liu Yun told everyone: "Captains, don't be careless, because Li Zicheng has a lot of artillery, and one shot is enough to choke." ”

Everyone said: "Don't worry, it's easy for us to hit their fixed targets, but it's difficult for them to hit our mobile targets." ”

------------------

Mechanics of Materials, Theoretical Mechanics, Elastic Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics. --Progress of "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty".