Chapter 171: The End
Guo Sheng, Zhang Chao and other generals of the Ming army, although in just three days, occupied the entire territory of Tianjin, and marched towards Langfang, all the way like a bamboo, defeating and capturing more than 20,000 enemy troops. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
But their situation is also very dangerous, not to mention the Azig headquarters that is returning to help in the starry night, as well as the more than 25,000 Qing troops in Zhangjiakou, Cangzhou, which is less than 200 miles away from Tianjin, has 100,000 Qing troops.
If all these armies of the other side come back to help, the total strength of the Qing army in the capital will reach 300,000, and it will not be difficult to flank this lone army in depth under the combination of inside and outside.
Therefore, in order to alleviate the pressure on Tianjin, Li Dingguo also launched a full-scale attack, especially on the Cangzhou side, the Yangtze River Naval Division is on standby around the clock, as long as Cangzhou is broken, the Yangtze River Naval Division can take the Grand Canal and drive straight into it, and quickly support the Ming army that landed in Tianjin.
Without the support of cavalry, the Manchu defenders soon could not parry, and the 50,000 Mongolian Eight Banners stationed in Datong were the first to abandon the city and flee, their hometown was in the vast steppe, and there was no need to fight for their lives for the Manchu Dynasty.
Although the 50,000 Qing troops in the direction of Baoding resisted desperately, they could not stand the Ming army, and the city was broken by the Ming army in just three days, and the 50,000 Qing troops were killed or captured more than 30,000, and the remaining 20,000 remnants of the army were defeated, retreating in the direction of the capital, intending to converge the army in the capital and find another way out.
At this point, the west and southwest of the Beijing division were broken by the Ming army.
Although the defenders of Cangzhou are the most, most of them are soldiers of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, and they do not have a strong sense of belonging to the Manchu Dynasty.
By now, even Wu Sangui and others could not effectively restrain the Cangzhou defenders, after all, Wu Sangui and Shang Kexi's own descendants had long been wiped out, and whether they retreated or held on, it was not up to them to call the shots.
In the end, after the usurpation of the spies in the city, most of the defenders of Cangzhou announced their surrender, and only about 30,000 people chose to flee, and together with Wu Sangui and other generals, they went to Jingshi, and Bo was the last way out........
So far, the total strength of the Qing army has been less than 250,000, and the strength of the Ming army, excluding the strength of garrisons and prisoners stationed in various places, can be put into the battlefield as high as more than 400,000.
The Jingshi is about to change hands...........
Nowadays, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has only two roads to go, one is to go north, out of Juyongguan, take Zhangjiakou, and detour through the Mongolian steppe to return to the northeast.
However, in this way, although a large amount of combat power has been preserved, it is also equivalent to giving up Shengjing, because of the detour, Shengjing's troops will be in a vacuum for a long time, and the Ming army can take advantage of the situation to take Shengjing without giving the Manchus any chance to react.
The second way is to go directly to the east and go through Shanhaiguan to go out of the customs, before for the retreat, Dolgon has transferred nearly half of his belongings to Shanhaiguan.
As long as they could reach Shanhaiguan, the Qing army would not only be able to transport these belongings to the northeast, but also send a large number of troops back to Shengjing to cover the evacuation of Shengjing's people.
Shengjing as the Manchu Qing Dynasty was once the capital, which is also very rich, the Ming army offensive is too fast, the property in the pass can not be all shipped out, only the transfer of Shengjing's property, the Manchu Qing can continue to fight against the Ming Dynasty in the future.
Otherwise, without enough property, those tribes bound by interests are likely to fall apart, and even if the Ming army does not pursue the northeast, the Manchu will quickly decline.
However, taking Zhangjiakou is the safest road at present, and if the Qing army goes through Shanhaiguan, it must break through the blockade of 100,000 Ming troops who landed in Tianjin.
"The biggest failure in my life is to help Chongzhen destroy Li Zicheng!" Dorgon sighed.
When the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, Dolgon thought that the Ming Dynasty was exhausted, and as long as Li Zicheng could be eliminated, he would be able to gain enough popular support, and then carry the power of thunder to unify the entire Central Plains.
However, I never thought that in the end, it was the praying mantis catching the cicada and the yellow finch behind, and the Ming Dynasty, which had only a few provinces, after a few years of recuperation, put the Manchu Qing on the verge of life and death in one fell swoop.
"Regent, we still have a chance, the northeast is vast, the Ming army does not dare to go out of the pass to pursue, within ten years, we will definitely be able to make a comeback." Fan Wencheng said with relief.
However, even he himself did not quite believe in this statement.
The landing of the Ming army in Tianjin had changed the existing mode of warfare, and in the coastal zone, the support capacity of steam warships was no worse than that of the Qing cavalry.
Coupled with the more and more advanced firearms and equipment of the Ming army, it will be even more difficult for the Qing army to take advantage of the mobile advantages of cavalry in the future to enter the customs and plunder.
As long as the Ming Dynasty imposed a grain embargo, it would be difficult for the Manchu tribes to survive, and it was only a matter of time before they split.
"Forget it, let's withdraw, send an order to Hong Chengchou, organize a 20,000-strong army, and tell him that as long as he can stop the Ming army for ten days, it will be regarded as returning the affection of the year. The rest of the troops retreated in the direction of Juyongguan. Dolgon eventually opted for a conservative retreat.
Retreating from Shanhaiguan, Dolgon did not have the slightest confidence, because the Ming army could land from Tianjin, and it could also land from Qinhuangdao.
Hong Chengchou is also a famous general of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen was an official to the military department of Shangshu, the governor of Jiliao, is a capable minister of the Ming Dynasty, a high position, and a good reputation, not only for the emperor to rely on, but also by colleagues and subordinates respected and loved.
Later, when he was trapped in Songshan and ran out of ammunition and food, he was defeated and captured, and he wanted to sacrifice his life for righteousness, but he fell into the "beauty plan" planned by Huang Taiji and finally had no choice but to surrender.
However, as a famous military general, Hong Chengchou never carried out any military action against the Ming army after he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and the only time he fought was the "Battle of a Stone" against Li Zicheng when the Qing army entered the customs.
After that, Hong Chengchou has been stranded in Gyeonggi, the war between the Qing army and the Southern Ming, Dolgon tried to let Hong Chengchou lead the troops to fight several times, but he was rejected for various reasons.
Now at the last moment, Dolgon intends to give up most of the Han generals, and this Hong Chengchou is naturally in Dolgon's "list", but in order to squeeze the surplus value of the other party, Dolgon is ready to use the "friendship" of the year as a bargaining chip.
Hong Chengchou did have a set of troops, and when he ran out of ammunition and food, he could still be trapped in the lonely city for half a year, and in terms of defense, even Shang Kexi was less than one-tenth of him.
After he grasped the military power of Gyeonggi, he first sent people to completely block the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal near Langfang with merchant ships and stones, delaying the advance of the Ming army.
After that, he led his troops to take the initiative to attack, and returned to Beijing in response to the defeated troops in Baoding, Cangzhou and other places, and the number of troops soon increased from the original 20,000 to 70,000.
Although the army was still not superior, the Ming army was also unable to transport artillery to the capital in a short period of time because the river was blocked, so it was unable to launch a general attack on the capital.
Hong Chengchou used a large number of defensive equipment left by the Beijing Division, coupled with the continuous dispatch of small units to harass the logistics of the Ming army, delaying the arrival of the Ming army's artillery, and finally let him hold the Beijing Division for a full thirteen days.
However, Hong Chengchou's ability was only that, and after Dolgon withdrew from Juyong Pass, he soon joined up with Azig's cavalry troops, plus reinforcements from Zhangjiakou, bringing the total strength to 200,000.
Although it was impossible to enter the pass and fight to the death with the Ming army, there was no problem in retreating.
In order to preserve his strength to the greatest extent, Dolgon did not even leave a single soldier in Juyongguan, and the entire Han Eight Banners of the Beijing Division were completely abandoned by him.
Subsequently, the Ming army who came from the direction of Datong successfully took over Juyong Pass and tightened its pockets.
They did not have enough troops to go out to pursue Dolgon's main force, but there was no problem at all in blocking Hong Chengchou's retreat.
Nearly 200,000 well-equipped Ming troops besieged 70,000 remnants of Hong Chengchou's defeated generals, and the results speak for themselves.
In the end, Hong Chengchou led the army to hold on for thirteen days, in his own mansion, hanged himself, Wu Sangui, Shang Kexi, Kong Youde and other Han Eight Banner generals, were captured after the city was broken, after five years, the Ming army recaptured the national capital, Beijing.
At the same time, Li Dingguo carried out another landing operation, transported the Second Group Army to Qinhuangdao, and took Shanhaiguan in only seven days, recapturing nearly 20 million taels of silver worth of property (equivalent to the financial revenue of the Southern Ming Dynasty in a year).
After that, the 6th and 7th Army landed from Quang Ninh Province (now Panjin City), took Shengjing in a month, and took back Tamuwei, Yidong Hewei, and Mugu Hewei (near present-day Changchun).
The key is to recover a total of nearly 30 million taels of silver, which has made a great contribution to the rapid recovery of productive forces in the Central Plains in the future.
It seems that Dolgon's choice to go to Juyong Pass is correct, at least he can take some of the food and supplies, as well as gold and silver (worth about five million taels of silver), otherwise he can only lead tens of thousands, poor Manchurian cavalry, retreat to the northeast.
So far, the battle of the Northern Expedition, which lasted for a year, ended successfully with a complete victory for the Ming army.
Although the Manchu Qing Dynasty was not completely wiped out, his political system had been completely destroyed by the Ming army, and the Qing Dynasty established by Huang Taiji once again became a nomadic people with no fixed residence, and with the passage of time, this relatively powerful nomadic people will become disintegrated because of survival reasons............
When Guo Sheng and Zhang Chao's troops landed in Tianjin, Li Hongfei did not pay attention to the situation of the Northern Expedition, but turned his attention to the South Seas.
Under Li Hongfei's repeated usurpation, Zheng Zhilong finally agreed to go to sea again, and served as the Nanyang regional manager of the "Huaxia Ocean Trading Company", leading more than 20,000 foreign sailors (in fact, foreign servants) and Situ Yan's fleet that had been hidden in the snow before, starting from Hong Kong and starting a trade battle with companies from European countries in the South China Seas.
The reason why Li Hongfei is eager to compete for the market in the South Seas is because now the Dutch and the British are snatching the big cake of India and cannot put their surplus forces further into the South Seas, which is Li Hongfei's opportunity.
After all, he is not as good as Britain and the Netherlands now, everyone uses the army of a country, and the Ming Dynasty is not very interested in overseas resources, at least until it sees enough profits, the imperial court and even the military cannot set their sights on this region of the South Seas.
If he can't seize this opportunity, after the British and the Dutch have stopped, Li Hongfei will be very difficult to dye the sea.
Fortunately, although it is a "pirate", its equipment is more luxurious than that of the navies of European countries, with a hundred steam warships, plus large and small merchant ships, and a total of more than 500 troop carriers.
In terms of personnel, there are also as many as about 30,000 servants and Cao Gang, compared with Zheng He's trip to the West, he did not let in at all.
The goods of the Ming Dynasty, whether it was porcelain, tea, silk, matches, cigarettes, instant noodles, and mirrors, could be sold at sky-high prices all over Nanyang.
However, the goods that Situ Yan brought to Nanyang this time were not these sought-after things, but the things that Nanyang natives had always wanted to buy, but could not buy - firearms.
In the Ming Dynasty, nearly 100,000 arquebuses and flintlock muskets were eliminated or captured, and these weapons were enough to arm all the indigenous soldiers of Nanyang.
Li Hongfei is not greedy, an arquebus plus matching bullets can be taken away with only ten taels of silver or equivalent goods.
Originally, the arquebus sold for only about three taels of silver in China could be sold for one million taels of silver when it changed hands, and most of these were guys who were about to be scrapped, and in addition, in addition to "selling", trading companies also "bought", and using the money from selling arms, they could also buy goods needed in the country locally and sell them to the country at five to ten times the price.
It can be said that as long as this transaction can be completed, one-third of the principal cost of setting up the "Huaxia Ocean Trading Company" will be recovered.
The journey to Nanyang is not too far, you can run four or five round trips in a year, and it only takes one year for the "Huaxia Ocean Trading Company" to return to its original cost and make a profit.
What if no one buys these weapons?
Hehe, no in case, what does the crew of the trading company eat? The duty of these servant armies is to "sell products".
After settling the matter of the "Huaxia Ocean Trading Company," Li Hongfei began to perform his duties as a minister, and on the one hand, he wantonly amassed wealth and collected the people's feelings in various localities, and by the way, he made decisions for the local people, punished local corrupt officials, and sent people to conduct in-depth investigations into those corrupt officials who were entangled with officials in Nanjing, so as to prepare for joining the cabinet in the future.
Li Hongfei understood that the Northern Expedition was coming to an end and the political struggle was about to begin, and not only him, but all the ministers of the DPRK and China were preparing for peach picking.
Even the monolithic Donglin Party is no longer so "iron" now.
In the past, because of the small territory of the Southern Ming Dynasty, there were a large number of officials in the imperial court, and many officials could only hang their names in the court, idle at home, and receive the meager income every month, barely surviving.
At that time, the court officials had to stand in the same boat, because they did not have the confidence of Li Hongfei, and if they were not careful, they would be kicked out, and the court at that time was not short of people who governed the country, and someone could come out to replace the position at any time.
But now it's different, the military has taken so many cities at once, and they all need court officials to go to the government, and at this time, everyone wants to be on top, who is willing to be in the same boat with you?
It's okay if I don't step on you.
Even some officials who lost power began to turn to Li Hongfei, because there were rumors that Li Hongfei would join the cabinet after his southern tour.
When such a bigwig with great prestige in the military enters the cabinet, his voice may not be inferior to Gao Hongtu, Shi Kefa and others, especially those officials who want to enter the local yamen, are secretly ready to move closer to Li Hongfei.
This is because the military has to take into account to a large extent the feelings of local officials, and at least, with the cooperation of the military, these officials will not encounter difficulties from the military when they take office.
Li Hongfei has gradually changed from a public enemy of a scholar to a sweetheart, and the political struggle is really so delicate.
If you have milk, you are a mother..........