During the confrontation between the main force of the Ming army in the Hunan battlefield and the Manchu and Han Qing troops in Xiangtun, Sun Kewang sent another army and horses to attack southern Sichuan, intending to occupy the whole Sichuan, and at the same time, the Qing court also sent Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi, and Li Guohan, the general of Dingxi, Gushan Ezhen, to lead his troops and horses from Hanzhong in Shaanxi to Sichuan. Wu Sangui and Li Guohan led their troops to Baoning, the provisional capital of Sichuan, and rested for a few days before heading south, and soon advanced to Chengdu.

Lin Shitai participated in the Great Western Army led by Zhang Xianzhong in his early years, and after Zhang Xianzhong died in battle, Lin Shitai felt that the Great Western Army had no future, so he surrendered to Azig, the prince of Qingying, and Azig appointed him as the chief military officer of Baoning. A few years later, Lin Shitai heard that the rest of the Great Western Army was under the leadership of Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo to join the Ming Dynasty to resist the Qing Dynasty, so he rebelled against the Qing Dynasty and returned to the Ming Dynasty in Tongchuan.

After Lin Shitai surrendered to the Qing Dynasty again, Wu Sangui thought that this person was capricious, and the Qing court had issued a clear order to arrest him when he returned to the Ming Dynasty, so he ordered Lin Shitai to be beheaded for public display, and 1,650 of his cronies were killed.

After the Qing army occupied Chengdu, Wu Sangui sat in the city, and Li Guohan commanded the troops in Meizhou, Jiading, and captured alive the former Yunnan Lin'an Prefecture Shiping Prefecture Xuanwei Si Tuguan, who is now the chief military officer of the Ming Dynasty. Later, Wu Sangui and Li Guohan mobilized Mei Lezhang, Jingge Chaozhong, Bai Hanzhen, Tong Shisheng, Lu Guangzu, the general soldier of Kuizhou, Chen De, the general soldier of the left road, and Bai Yongfu, the general soldier of Yongning, to attack Chongqing.

Lu Mingchen, the defender of the Ming army in Chongqing, was unable to resist the menacing Qing army due to his weak troops, so he abandoned Chongqing on the 14th. In late April, Wu Sangui sent another Qing army led by Jialazhangjing Yang Zhengtai, Guo Yunlong, Nan Yikui, the general soldier of the right road, and Ma Huabao, the general soldier of Xuzhou, to attack Xuzhou. So far, in addition to the Baoning area originally controlled, the Qing army has successively captured Chengdu, Chongqing, Xuzhou, Mahu, Qiongzhou, Yazhou, Jiading, Meizhou and other prefectures and counties, and most of Sichuan has fallen into the hands of the Qing army, so that the Qing court thought that the whole of Shu was gradually decided. It is necessary to pay attention to the aftermath and manage the land of abundance, and use the material resources of Sichuan to support the subsequent offensive against Yunnan and Guizhou.

Sun Kewang, who was confronting the Qing army on the battlefield in Hunan, learned that Sichuan was unstable and that the Qing army had occupied most of Sichuan, but he was afraid that the Qing army would invade Guizhou after gaining a foothold in Sichuan. He then sent Liu Wenxiu, the king of Funan, to lead 450,000 reinforcements into Sichuan in three ways, and launched a comprehensive counterattack by Jianchang, Xuyong, and Pengshui. On the ninth day of the first month of August, the Ming army conquered Syria, and the Qing soldiers who defended the city were all annihilated. There were dozens of victims in Jiala and Niulu. At the same time, Bai Wenxuan, a general under Sun Kewang, also led his troops from Yongning to counterattack Chongqing.

Wu Sangui and Li Guohan saw that the Ming army was strong, and on 19 August they held an emergency meeting with Li Guoying, the governor of Sichuan, in Jiajiang County, and decided to withdraw the whole division north to protect everything. The Qing generals stationed in Chongqing, Mei Lezhang, Jing Ge Chaozhong, Tong Shisheng, Bai Hanzhen, Zhang Jing, Yin Decai, and the general soldiers Bai Yongfu, Chen De, and Lu Guangzu who were stationed in Chongqing received Wu Sangui's order to retreat on 24 August, and crossed the river to the north on 25 August. On the same day, the Ming army regained Chongqing, and immediately sent troops to pursue the Qing army, surround the Qing army at Zhuxi, which is 120 miles away from Chongqing, and besiege it on all sides with firearms. On the 28th, the Qing army was defeated. Melle Zhangjing Bai Hanzhen was captured alive, and when Bai Yongfu, the general soldier of Yongning, fled to Baoning with the remnants of the defeated soldiers, his subordinates were weakened and weakened, and only more than 100 remnants were collected.

In September, Wu Sangui also led his troops to retreat to Mianzhou, and then to Guangyuan. As a result, Baoning, the provisional provincial capital of Sichuan of the Qing Dynasty, had only more than 100 soldiers under the inspector Yu Shi Hao Yu and the general soldier Yan Ziming. Wu Sangui and Li Guohan had plans to abandon Sichuan and retreat to Hanzhong in Shaanxi under the situation of defeat like a mountain.

Governor Hao Yu persuaded Wu Sangui and Li Guohan not to abandon Baoning with "If you don't die as a thief, you will die in the law", and Li Guoying, the governor of Sichuan, also grabbed Wu Sangui. persuaded each other bitterly: "The king is a guest soldier, and he can return to the Han; The governor is the minister who guards the land, and he should live and die with Boryeong. Wang Zi returned to Han, and the governor returned to protect the cooking guard at night. After speaking, he said goodbye to Wu Sangui and Li Guohan. He led hundreds of battalions of soldiers to return to Boryeong.

Seeing this, Li Guohan hesitated and said to Wu Sangui: "We can't lead the army to restore Sichuan, if we abandon Baoning and lose the governor, I know what the king of Fadu knows, how can I resign to the court?" ”

Wu Sangui woke up after hearing this. The envoy chased Li Guoying back and asked him: "I want to go to Baoning, does the governor have any food?" ”

Li Guoying said: "Although there is not much grain in Baoning, it is still enough for soldiers and horses to spend for five months. ”

Seeing that Boryeong had food to support, and fearing the consequences of losing the land and losing the governor of Boryeong, Wu Sangui led his troops back to Boryeong with Li Guohan.

After Liu Wenxiu conquered Xuzhou and defeated the Qing Chongqing defenders, he was invincible along the way, which led to the heart of the enemy, and after his troops arrived on the outskirts of Baoning, Liu Wenxiu decided to forcibly attack the city without full certainty. Wu Sangui and the others saw that there was no way out, and only the trapped beasts were still fighting and fighting against the city could they survive in a desperate situation.

On the 8th day of October, the main force of the Ming army gathered in the north of Baoning City, and Liu Wenxiu climbed the northeast hill to command the siege. Wu Sangui learned through reconnaissance that Zhang Xianbi's division was the weakest in the fighting power of the besieging Ming army, and decided to concentrate his forces to attack Zhang's army first. In order to confuse the Ming army, Li Guoying ordered his subordinates to change the Green Battalion to the Eight Banners Banner.

At dawn on October 11, Liu Wenxiu commanded the army to attack the city, the soldiers and horses covered the mountains and descended, the sound of artillery shook the sky, from the river bank in the south, to Shagouzi in the north, lined up for 15 miles, the front line of war elephants, the second with artillery, birds, cards, flat knives, bows and arrows, spears, cascading Lixu, swarming to attack the city.

At the end of the day, Wu Sangui led his troops out of the city and attacked Zhang Xianbi's army. Zhang's troops could not resist the enemy, and fled one after another, and the defeated troops rushed the army of Wang Fuchen and other troops into a mess. The Qing army took advantage of the situation to fight bravely, and the Ming army's position was chaotic and could not stand still, and it had completely collapsed at noon that day. During the retreat, due to the pontoon bridge being cut off, a large number of soldiers could not cross the river, and were chased and killed by the Qing army or fell into the water and died. The Ming Dynasty exterminated the general Wang Fuchen, the general Yao Zhizhen, Zhang Xianzhen, Wang Jiye, Yang Chunpu and others were captured and killed by the Qing army, losing most of the soldiers, three war elephants, more than 2,300 horses and mules, and Liu Wenxiu's Funan Wang Jinyin was also captured by the Qing army.

In addition to the narrow victory, Wu Sangui once sighed to the left and right: "I have never seen such a strong opponent in my life, and I owe it to my ears." ”

Liu Wenxiu led the remnants of the defeated army back to Guizhou, and Sun Kewang was deeply dissatisfied and ordered him to be relieved of his military power and sent back to Kunming to live idle; Zhang Xianbi was beaten to death with a stick

During the Baoan Campaign, because neither side could eat anyone, the Ming and Qing dynasties were in a long-term stalemate on the Hunan battlefield, and during this time, Sun Kewang led his troops to firmly hold the line of Chenzhou, Yuanzhou and Wugang. The Qing army guarded the Changde, Changsha, and Baoqing areas. In the ninth year of Shunzhi, Tunqi led the remnants of the Manchurian Eight Banners brought to Hunan from Nikan to return to Beijing to recuperate, which made Hong Chengchou, who had just arrived in office, complain bitterly, and worriedly sent several reports to the Qing court, asking the Qing court to give him more troops. Otherwise, the situation in Huguang will not be changed.

Hong Chengchou complained for his own reasons, and Shunzhi used him in order to implement the policy of "using Han to control Han" set by Dolgon, so as to avoid excessive losses of the Manchurian Eight Banners in the southern battlefield, so as soon as Hong Chengchou arrived in Wuchang, Shunzhi urgently ordered the Manchurian Eight Banners in Hunan to withdraw to Beijing led by Tunqi. The Huguang War was entirely under the responsibility of the Han Army Banner and the Green Battalion. However, Hong Chengchou designated only more than 10,000 soldiers and horses to be mobilized in Hunan, and the green battalion troops originally stationed in Huguang, Guangxi, and Sichuan were absolutely difficult to match with the Southern Ming army commanded by Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo, and the actual combatable soldiers were only less than 20,000. As soon as the Manchurian soldiers who were the backbone of the main heart withdrew, the Han army and the green battalion were even more panicked, and the tens of thousands of Southern Ming troops commanded by Sun Kewang in front of them were all afraid, and they did not dare to provoke easily, if it were not for Sun Kewang's inability to launch an offensive in Hunan at this time, Hunan was likely to fall into the hands of the Ming army because of the withdrawal of the Manchurian soldiers of the Tunqi Division.

Hong Chengchou knew that only relying on the troops under his command to deal with the 13 armies of Xiangxi, Guizhou, and Kuidong under the direct command of Sun Kewang could not only defeat the enemy and win, but also held Yiling and Jingzhou in Hubei. Hunan Changde, Changsha, and Baoqing are all uncertain. As for the fact that most of Guangxi within his scope was still controlled by Li Dingguo, the general of the Southern Ming Dynasty, he was even more powerless.

Moreover, after a long period of war in Hunan, the place is ruined, the so-called big enemy is in front, and the small Kou is in the opposition. Full of soldiers, plus the trouble of sending and greeting. And the one or two refugees who were recruited also returned. If the people do not come, they will go. Changsha City, where Hong Chengchou is stationed, is even more depressed, and there are no people and no houses inside and outside Baoqing City, and there is no vegetable trading.

Faced with such a mess, Hong Chengchou did his best. Efforts were made to organize the Green Battalion and other Han soldiers to hold the place, and on the one hand, he asked the imperial court to send another Manchu army to help in the war, and urged the Qing court to order Geng Jimao, the king of Jingnan, to quickly move to Wuzhou, Guangxi, with the actual intention of passing on the responsibility of capturing Guangxi and containing the Ming army of Li Dingguo's army to the two Han vassal kings in Guangdong.

After the Qing court received Hong Chengchou's recital. There was no decree to let Geng Jimao, the king of Jingnan, move to Guangxi, but he also knew that it was difficult for the Han soldiers and horses controlled by Hong Chengchou alone to compete with the Ming army, so in December of the tenth year of Shunzhi, Shunzhi appointed Gushan Ezhen Chen Tai as the general of Jingkou in Ningnan, and led the Manchurian Eight Banners to Hubei and Hunan to defend the Eight Banners of Manchuria. After Chen Tai was appointed as the general of Jingkou in Ningnan, he did not lead the troops south, but waited until the Tunqi Department returned to Beijing before going south, and more than a year passed in a flash.

April of the twelfth year of Shunzhi. The army of the Eight Banners sent by Chen Tai entered Hunan, and the army led by him marched to Jianli County, Hubei Province, because the river overflowed and the embankment was broken, and it was impossible to advance until the army died of illness.

After the Eight Banners under the command of Gushan Ezhenji Xiha and Lan Bai arrived in Hunan, Sun Kewang knew that it was not his own strength to kill the generals and hold the banners, so he decided to reinstate Liu Wenxiu, the king of Funan who had been stripped of his military power due to the Battle of Baoning. However, Liu Wenxiu has become more and more passive since the defeat of Baoning and was deprived of military rights, and he even wanted to go to the mountains to learn Taoism when he lived in Kunming. Sun Kewang summoned him to Hunan several times, and finally at Sun Kewang's insistence, Liu Wenxiu took up the post of "big recruitment", in the spring of the ninth year of Yongli (the twelfth year of pseudo-Shunzhi), Liu Wenxiucai led the general Lu Mingchen, Feng Shuangli and other horses, infantry Ding 60,000, and more than 40 elephants, and embarked on the journey of attacking Huguang in the east. In April, Liu Wenxiu's troops gathered in Chenzhou, Hunan, planning to capture Changde first, cut off the passage to Hubei and Hunan west of Dongting Lake, then recover Changsha, Hengyang, and Yuezhou, and then attack Wuchang in the north after success.

According to Liu Wenxiu's deployment, the Ming army attacked Changde and adopted the policy of advancing by land and water. Liu Wenxiu sent Lu Mingchen to lead an army to advance by boat from the Yuan River, and he himself led the army to advance by land. When the Ming army set off, it was the season of rising water, and Lu Mingchen's troops took more than 100 ships down the river, and on April 17, they conquered Taoyuan County and captured Li Ying, the magistrate of the Qing Dynasty. However, the main force led by Liu Wenxiu personally was very difficult to march because of the rain for several days, the water in the streams rose sharply, the roads were muddy, and the horse infantry was stranded for dozens of days, and it was impossible to cooperate with the waterway army under the command of Lu Mingchen.

After Hong Chengchou and Chen Tai received the news that Liu Wenxiu's army had entered Hunan Province, they quickly took countermeasures, and in addition to sending troops from Hengzhou and other places back to Changsha, the provincial capital, on 10 May, they dispatched the troops of the Eight Banners of Manchuria from Jingzhou to Changde to strengthen the defensive forces. On the night of May 23, Lu Mingchen's troops entered the city of Changde, and were ambushed by the superior Qing army.

After the war, the Qing army strengthened the defense in the face of Chenzhou, Liu Wenxiu's plan to attack by water and land failed, and the death of Lu Mingchen seriously affected the morale of the army, Liu Wenxiu had to give up the plan to capture Changde and lead the army back to Guizhou. Sun Kewang was deeply dissatisfied with Liu Wenxiu's moves, and once again relieved him of his military power and let him return to Kunming, Yunnan Province to live idlely.

Sun Kewang appointed Liu Wenxiu as the Great Recruit, with the original intention of letting him lead the army from Hunan out of the Yangtze River in the eighth year of Yongli and join Zhang Mingzhen and others to seize Jiangnan. At that time, the Qing army of the Tunqi Department retreated north, and the Qing army of Chen Tai Department had not yet moved south, which was a good time to break the Han army cobbled together by the Qing Dynasty and Hong Chengchou in one fell swoop and enter the south of the Yangtze River. However, due to Sun Kewang's plot to usurp the throne and try to take the Ming dynasty, Liu Wenxiu, who has always opposed this move, was unwilling to act according to Sun Kewang's strategy, lest Sun Kewang take advantage of this to successfully usurp the throne.

After the Battle of Changde, Liu Wenxiu returned in vain, Chen Tai also died of illness, although the Ming army was defeated in the Battle of Changde, but the Qing army did not obtain any territory in the Southern Ming, basically still in the western part of Hunan with Sun Kewang Ming army confrontation.

After several months of confrontation, the spies sent by the Qing army to the area controlled by the Ming army came with shocking news - Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo had a domestic dispute, and Li Dingguo had led his troops to break through Sun Kewang's defense line in Tianzhou, Guangxi, and go straight to Guizhou, which was obviously a rush to Yongli! (To be continued.) )