Baoning (now Langzhong area) is located in the northeast of the Sichuan Basin, in the middle reaches of the Jialing River, at the southern foot of Qinba Mountain. The mountain is surrounded on all sides, and the water surrounds three sides. It is bordered by Bazhong and Yilong in the east, south in the south, Jiange County in the west, and Cangxi County in the north. It has always been a key point in Bashu and a military town. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, it was the temporary provincial capital of Sichuan, which lasted for 17 years, and was the political, economic, military and cultural center of northern Sichuan in successive dynasties.

The strategic change of the Northern Expedition was that the military offensive to be taken by Lianghuai, Shandong, and Liaodong was still in full swing, while the southwest was already approaching the city and about to go to war.

The two Ming armies of Zhenshuo and Qiushuo marched north along the Jialing River, although the troops were strong, they did not divide the troops to advance. The operational intention was obvious, to take Baoning firmly with an absolutely superior force, and then continue northward to form a situation of confrontation with the Qing army in Hanzhong, and then divide troops to occupy all parts of northern Sichuan.

Baoning, the Qing army in northern Sichuan has been gathered in this important place, other places are sparsely populated, the Qing army is unjust, and the Ming army is not in a hurry to occupy it.

Faced with the advance of 60,000 or 70,000 Ming troops, Gao Mingzhan, the governor of Sichuan, played three times a day, asking the Qing court to give instructions, either to send reinforcements from Xi'an, or to allow him to retreat to preserve his strength.

Governor of Sichuan, Gao Mingzhan now hates his title very much. Because the governor has the responsibility of defending the territory, and Sichuan only has the foothold of Baoning, if he retreats without the will of the imperial court, his head will be the scapegoat for the Qing court to explain to the outside world.

"Is there a messenger coming?" In the Baoning official office, Gao Mingzhan frowned, and he didn't know how many times he had asked.

After receiving a negative answer, Gao Mingzhan let out a long sigh and flipped through several military newspapers in distraught.

Although the Qing court sent the commander of the protector army, Arzin, to rush from Xi'an to Baoning for reinforcements with 4,000 Manchu and Han Eight Banners, Gao Mingzhan did not think that this bit of troops and horses could withstand the attack of the Ming army. Fortunately, he withdrew all his troops from Chongqing relatively completely, and barely brought the total strength of Baoning to nearly 20,000 men. Compared with the Ming army, there is too much difference in numbers. Even one of them was inferior in numbers.

Although the Qing court had the intention of abandoning northern Sichuan and securing Shaanxi, it was still hesitant and undecided. It's like wanting to give up the two Huai and shrink the defense line, but he refuses to give up so unconditionally. And if you want to support it as much as possible, the Qing court has another consideration. That was the autumn harvest a little over a month later.

There is no need to count on Caoyun and Caoyu, and the north was affected by the Xiaoice River period, and grain production decreased, but it was not a grain without harvest. As long as they can hold on for more than a month and hold on to one more piece of territory, the Qing court will scavenge more grain and be able to support the national war for a longer time.

However, the negotiation of peace did not stop the Ming army's action, and the timing of the attack at this time was obviously very tight, the land and the people. Even with the crops to be harvested in the field, the Qing court's determination to give up categorically was delayed. Hesitating, hesitating, and with a little luck and illusion, the Qing court gradually lost the opportunity to shrink the front.

"My lord—" Wang Mingde, the chief soldier of the confidant general, hurriedly walked in, waved off his staff, and whispered to Gao Mingzhan's ear: "Arzin is going to lead his troops to withdraw to Jiameng Pass with supplies, and is preparing vehicles and horses. ”

Gao Mingzhan was stunned for a moment, then shook his head with a wry smile. Said helplessly: "It is full of people, and it is a guest army." You can advance or retreat. But if we retreat without the express decree of the imperial court, we will die in the law. ”

Wang Mingde had an angry expression and scolded: "He saw that the Ming army was about to flee, and he wanted to take away part of the Ganshan Green Flag, but he left us here." I don't care if we live or die. ”

Gao Mingzhan pondered for a moment, guessed and said: "The garrison of Arzin at Jiameng Pass also guarantees a passage for our army to break through into Shaanxi. Ben Fu estimated that he thought like this: If the thieves surround Sanque Yi, our army will not be able to hold Baoning, and they will retreat to Jiameng Pass; If the thieves are besieging on all sides. Our army has no way to retreat, so it can only survive by fighting against the city. In either case, it would be difficult to threaten the Eight Banners led by him, and perhaps the thieves would surround the whole city, exposing the weakness of their division of troops and giving them a chance to raid. Just like when the puppet king Liu Wenxiu attacked Baoning. ”

Historically, Liu Wenxiu, who was still the king of Funan, was invincible along the way after he invaded Sichuan, and he was sure to win the battle, and directly attacked the city of Baoning, and thus produced the idea of pride and contempt for the enemy. When deploying to attack Baoning, Liu Wenxiu placed the main force in the north of Baoning City, and even dispatched a part of the army to "North Saijiameng Pass, East Sailiangshan Pass" to prevent the Qing army from breaking through and entering Shaanxi after conquering Baoning.

In other words, Liu Wenxiu's arrangement was aimed at completely annihilating the Qing army under Wu Sangui, Li Guohan, and Li Guoying, and thus changed the situation of taking danger on three sides and smothering the Qing army, so that his main force was placed in the dangerous situation of the enemy defending the important town in the north of Baoning City, and the east and west were backed by water, and violated the principle of "besieging the army must be lacking" in the art of war.

This arrangement made the Qing army have no way to retreat, only the trapped beasts still fought and fought to the death; Second, the 40,000 or 50,000 horsemen under the command of Liu Wenxiu were weakened, and the Qing army was given an opportunity to concentrate on a counter-breakthrough. And the defeat of Baoning did prove that Liu Wenxiu was too big and the flaws of the combat deployment.

Arzin, the commander of the Protectors, obviously also knew about the historical Battle of Boryeong, and his response was not unreasonable. He led an army to ensure the retreat of the Qing army in Baoning, and was able to form a horn momentum in order to flank the Ming army inside and outside. This is better than the whole army shrinking to Boryeong and passively defending.

But for Gao Mingzhan and others, psychologically, it is difficult to accept Arzin's attitude of putting them in danger, saving them if they can, and abandoning them if they can't. If the Qing court was strong, Gao Mingzhan and others might choose to die in battle, or commit suicide in order to be loyal to the court; But now, when the decline of the Qing court became more and more obvious, they had one more choice, and they planted the poisonous weed of rebellion in their hearts.

Just like during the Jiashen Rebellion, the Ming officials and generals in the north lost confidence in Chongzhen and the imperial court in Beijing, and when Li Zicheng came with his army, they gave up resistance one after another, and the surrender was overwhelming. The situation is similar today, with more and more people re-examining who they are allegiance to and re-evaluating what is best in their own interests.

Is it really worth the life of a declining imperial court? This question will increasingly arise in the minds of the civil and military generals of the Qing court and Han people in the north.

"The imperial court had already intended to ensure Shaanxi, but it hesitated and refused to abandon the land of northern Sichuan, was indecisive and brought disaster upon itself." Wang Mingde spoke openly, gritted his teeth, and his resentment was overflowing.

Gao Mingzhan glanced at Wang Mingde and sighed: "Benfu's family is in Beijing, what can I do?" Moreover, Er Tan will stay in Boryeong, they have rebelled against the Ming army, and they will definitely resist desperately. ”

The second Tan refers to Tan Yi, who was named the Marquis of Xianghua by the Qing court, and Tan Hong, the Marquis of Muyi, who assassinated Tan Wen in the joint attack on Chongqing by the Thirteen Families of Kuidong, and rebelled, resulting in a reversal of the tide of the war. Because of this, these two people have lost the opportunity to surrender to the Ming army again, and they will inevitably be loyal to the Qing court to the end.

Wang Mingde suddenly smiled slyly and said in a low voice: "With the prestige of an adult, what is Er Tan?" As for the family members of the adults, you must know about the escape of Wu Sangui's son from Jingshi, right? Moreover, how could the imperial court be for the family members of adults who died of unfulfilled loyalty? ”

Gao Mingzhan was startled, almost jumped up, stared at his henchman and favorite general, and when he saw Wang Mingde squeezing his eyes, he suddenly understood, grinned, and laughed ugly.

"This requires accommodation over there to make the court believe that Lord Ben is dying with the city, and he will be loyal to the Festival of the Dead!" Gao Mingzhan's eyes rolled and rolled, thinking about the possibility of the plan succeeding.

"What's so difficult about the secret envoy?" Wang Mingde paused after speaking, gritted his teeth and said: "Do your best to tell Alzin about the movements, let the Ming army intercept and kill, and then capture Ertan, it can be regarded as a great achievement, right?" ”

Gao Mingzhan narrowed his eyes and thought about it again and again, nodded fiercely, and said, "Then handle it like this, you are the most trusted person in Benfu, and I will leave it all to you." ”

"Humble duty will never be dishonored." Wang Mingde gave a deep salute, turned around and walked out.

……………

After the Manchu Qing entered the customs and went south to destroy the Hongguang regime, the two peasant armies, the Great Western Army and the remnants of the Great Shun Army, had the actions and propositions of the Ming Dynasty to resist the Qing Dynasty. However, due to the difference in strength and the attachment of Emperor Yongli to the Great Western Army, the rest of the Great Shun Army was crowded out and estranged from the Great Western Army.

Especially when Sun Kewang asked the Yongli court to add the title of King of Qin, the generals of the loyal battalion expressed dissatisfaction, Gao Yigong and Dang Shousu once personally came forward to reprimand Sun Kewang's envoy, to the effect that the status of the original Dashun Army and the original Daxi Army was similar, and after the rest of the Dashun Army resisted the Qing Dynasty, the generals were only crowned dukes, but Sun Kewang insisted that the court should crown him as the king of one word, which was unfair, and even said the threatening language of "the two soldiers and horses, know each other, whip the whip, and are enough to be considerable".

As early as before the deaths of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the relationship between the two sides had already been fought against each other because of the battle for Sichuan, and the dispute over sealing Qin undoubtedly deepened the rift. When Sun Kewang sent troops to Guizhou and Sichuan, and the Qing army invaded Guangxi, the loyal battalion reorganized by the rest of the Dashun army could not defeat the southern king of the Qing Dynasty, Kong Youde, and was unwilling to attach to Sun Kewang.

More than ten years later, the soldiers and horses of the two sides met again, and on the outskirts of Boryeong, the two were once separate subordinates, but now they belonged to the same camp and met the generals who were loyal to the Ming court.

King Jin and King Zheng are also one-word kings, if they are really compared according to their qualifications and prestige, Li Dingguo, the king of Jin, is obviously more noble than Liu Tichun, the king of Zheng. But in the etiquette of meeting, the two are equal and polite.

Among the generals under the command of both sides, there were very few who still harbored old grudges, and a large number of Wutang officers filled the army, which also changed the conflict and conflict between the two armies to a great extent. Similarly, the mentality of Li Dingguo, the king of Jin, has been adjusted and changed a lot, and most of his views have been abandoned; Liu Tichun, the king of Zheng, is a general and open-minded person, especially Jian Ba from the prince to the prince, and he is grateful for the fear and seriousness. (To be continued......)