Emperor Ming Fengyunlu

Volume 9 The Great Tribulation

Chapter 4 Turmoil in all directions is critical

Section 7 Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang

After Li Zicheng led the army to defeat the trilateral governor Hong Chengchou and the Xuanda governor Zhang Zongheng, the army of thieves was greatly invigorated, and the outcasts, thieves, and horses from all over the world came to join the gang. In just a few months, Li Zicheng's army of thieves has expanded to 500,000 people, and the number of homeless people coerced by the army of thieves has reached millions!

In addition to the increase in troops, after Zhang Xianzhong's death, the addition of his surnames Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi, and Liu Wenxiu was restored, which made Li Zicheng like a tiger; The participation of literati such as Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and Li Yan made Li Zicheng see the hope of opening a state.

All of a sudden, the army of thieves roamed through the northwestern provinces like an army of locusts, turning the cities into ruins and the countryside into hell. In the end, Li Zicheng led the army of thieves to stop in the area of Xi'an City, and they were preparing to attack the ancient capital of Xi'an!

At this time, under the persuasion of Liu Zongmin, Li Guo and other subordinates, Li Zicheng inherited Gao Yingxiang's name of "King Chuang" and began to give orders to the army of thieves from all walks of life.

After defeating the officers and troops of Hong Chengchou and Zhang Zongheng, Li Zicheng concentrated his forces to besiege Xi'an City, trying to take this important town in Shaanxi in one fell swoop and lay down a "land of Longxing" of his own. However, the city of Xi'an, which was fortified and the defenders dared to fight, made Li Zicheng's army of thieves run into a bloody head, and after losing tens of thousands of soldiers, Li Zicheng had to change the onslaught to a siege.

During this period, Li Zicheng, under the advice of his advisers Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and Li Yan, began to rectify the military discipline of the thieves, and put forward the slogan of the army of thieves to win the hearts of the people for themselves: "Juntian is exempt from taxation", and the children's rhyme of "Welcoming the king and not paying food".

All of a sudden, the slogan of the army of thieves spread rapidly in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and other provinces that were seriously affected by the disaster, and many places where the displaced people had gathered seriously were affected by the army of thieves and a popular uprising broke out. For a time, the situation in the northwest took a sharp turn for the worse and became more and more out of control.

However, Li Dingguo, Li Guo, Liu Zongmin and other rogue generals suggested that Li Zicheng seize the time to reorganize the army and train elite soldiers. The previous several battles between the army of thieves from all walks of life and the Hanwei army made everyone remember the powerful Hanwei army vividly, and the sharp attack, excellent military equipment, and indomitable momentum were like a mountain pressing on everyone's hearts.

Li Zicheng also felt cold in his heart when he remembered that the Han Wei army came, and immediately adopted the suggestions of Liu Zongmin, Li Dingguo and others, and spent a month to reorganize the 500,000 army under his command and seal the generals under his command.

Li Zicheng appointed Liu Zongming as the general of the former army, ranking first among the generals, and Liu Fangliang as his partial general; appointed Li Guo as the general of the Chinese army, and Li Laiheng as his partial general; Tian Jianxiu was appointed as the general of the Left Army, and Li Dingguo was appointed as his partial general; appointed Li Dang as the general of the Right Army, and Ai Nengqi as his partial general; Gao Yigong was appointed as the general of the rear army, and Liu Wenxiu was his partial general. Liu Tichun was appointed as the escort of the Chinese army, and Li Zicheng was appointed as the escort of the unified army.

The establishment of the army was also slightly modified by Li Zicheng, Li Zicheng divided the 500,000 troops to the generals according to their official positions, each general commanded 50,000 troops, each partial general commanded 30,000 troops, and the Chinese army escorted Liu Tichun commanded 30,000 troops, and the remaining 70,000 soldiers and horses were the strongest soldiers carefully selected by Li Zicheng, and the most old battalion soldiers and horses were directly under Li Zicheng's personal command.

At the same time, Li Zicheng also carried out a rectification of the millions of displaced people who were coerced by the army, and every time there was a big war, he would draw a different number of people from among the displaced people, and dispatch them together with the army of thieves, using them as cannon fodder for the army, and trying to consume the strength of the official army before the army of thieves and the official army clashed. Moreover, those homeless people who have not died in several battles and have good skills still have the opportunity to be favored by the generals of various armies, and be incorporated into the army of thieves to replenish the strength of the army of thieves at any time.

After Li Zicheng finished rectifying the army of hundreds of thousands of thieves and millions of refugees, the army of thieves, who were originally chaotic and like a rabble, seemed to have been reborn.

At the moment, Li Zicheng was about to besiege Xi'an City again, but was dissuaded by Li Dingguo, the general of the left army: "King Chuang, Xi'an City is tall and strong, there are many defenders and people in the city, and our righteous army is eager to conquer it quickly. ”

Li Zicheng faced Xi'an City, which had been attacked for a long time, and he actually had the intention of retreating in his heart, but he was worried that his order to retreat would shake the morale of the army, so he didn't show it.

At this time, the words of withdrawal came out of Li Dingguo's mouth, and Li Zicheng took the opportunity to go down the steps and agreed.

After that, Li Zicheng announced that the army would attack in multiple directions, and divided his troops to march towards Fengyang, Taiyuan and other cities. Just when the army of thieves began to move, preparing to attack and sweep the northwest in multiple ways, Li Zicheng received the news that he didn't want to hear the most: "The Hanwei army has sent troops!" Liu Yunwei, the uncle of the broken army, personally led tens of thousands of troops to kill Shaanxi, and he will enter the territory of Shaanxi in ten days! ”

Hearing this news, all the thieves including Li Zicheng were still very, and many people had the idea of retreating, even though the army of thieves had hundreds of thousands of troops at this time, they were also very afraid of the Hanwei army in the hearts of everyone.

At this time, Li Dingguo stood up and said: "King Chuang, since Uncle Po personally led the army to kill, then our army must not come forward to fight, otherwise the morale of the army will definitely be hit!" ”

Li Dingguo is the only one among all the thieves and generals who calls Liu Yunwei a broken army. Just because Liu Yunwei has been fighting bloody battles with the Qing army all the year round, and has made great achievements, he stacked his great military exploits with the head of the Tartars, so although the two belong to the hostile camp, Li Dingguo still respects Liu Yunwei in his heart.

Li Zicheng and others also knew this, but they didn't say anything without exception, after all, Li Dingguo had always taken the lead in the process of conquest, and he didn't have any outrageous actions, and everything was for the sake of the future of the righteous army, so everyone was used to it.

Li Zicheng pondered for a moment, and then said: "What General Li said is extremely true! Our army cannot avoid its edge, but must concentrate all its forces and fight to the death with the Hanwei army! Take advantage of our army's absolute superiority in strength and fight a big victory! In this way, our army's fear of the Hanwei army can be completely changed, otherwise, our righteous army will have no future! ”

Seeing that Li Zicheng had made up his mind, the generals said in unison: "The last general is willing to live and die with King Chuang!" Defeat the Han Wei army! ”

Two days later, Li Zicheng led the army of thieves to abandon the city of Xi'an, and the army of hundreds of thousands of thieves together with the tide of millions of wanderers turned to the northeast, along the city of Xi'an, Lintong, Weinan, Tongzhou, and finally took the city of Jaw Yang in one fell swoop.

At this point, Li Zicheng began to arrange his troops and ordered the former general Liu Zongmin to lead the army to break into Shanxi and occupy Ronghe City, which was the forefront of resisting the Hanwei army; Ordered the left general Tian Jianxiu to lead the army to ambush north of Ronghe City, the right general Li Dang led the army to ambush south of Ronghe City, and the lieutenant general Li Guo led the army to ambush west of Ronghe City, forming a huge encirclement, just waiting for Liu Yunwei to lead the Hanwei army to rush in, hundreds of thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of displaced people will rush up, even if they step on it, they can kill Liu Yunwei and tens of thousands of Hanwei troops!

At the same time, in order to prevent accidents, Li Zicheng also ordered the general Gao Yi's power army to capture Pucheng, west of Jayang City, to protect the retreat of the army; And Li Zicheng himself led the Chinese general Liu Tichun's troops and the old battalion army to garrison Jayang City, near the front line to command the battle to annihilate Liu Yunwei's troops.

After everything was arranged, Li Zicheng stood on the wall of Jaeyang City with confidence, looked at the sunset that was about to set in the east, and secretly said in his heart: "After this battle, Liu Yunwei will die without a place to be buried, and our righteous army will be famous in Kyushu, and the thousands of miles of rivers and mountains in the Ming court will become the bag of my righteous army!" ”

Eight days later, Liu Yunwei led more than 40,000 soldiers from the reorganized pacesetter battalion to Wanquan, Shanxi, and stopped advancing, and began to rest in the garrison city. During this period, Liu Yunwei sent a large number of Yebu to the west to reconnoitre, but they were all blocked by the dense scouts of the army of thieves.

At this time, the army of thieves was different from the state when Gao Yingxiang was in power, at this time, under the leadership of Li Zicheng, the army of thieves successively defeated the officials and troops in various places, captured a large number of war horses and equipment, and also absorbed a lot of horses and routs, and the strength of the army has undergone earth-shaking changes.

In particular, the 70,000 soldiers and horses of the old battalion led by Li Zicheng himself, almost all of them have horses and armor, and in terms of combat strength alone, they are fully capable of fighting a bloody battle with the Qing army.

Liu Yunwei was worried about the changes in the army of thieves, and during the few days he stayed in Wanquan City, he stared at the northwest map almost day and night to think about how to break the enemy.

In the end, after staying in Wanquan City for four days, the Hanwei Army Pacesetter Battalion finally continued to drive westward.

However, when the army marched to the east of Ronghe City, Liu Yunwei suddenly led the army of the pacesetter battalion to turn south, bypassing Ronghe City and rushing directly to the west of Jayang City, which made Liu Zongmin, Li Kang, Li Guo, Tian Jianxiu and others deployed in the area of Ronghe City shocked and chaotic.

The ambush circle that Li Zicheng painstakingly laid out was suddenly useless!