When the Shandong army first arrived at the city, the commander-in-chief Liu Zhaoji suggested taking advantage of the enemy's main force not yet arriving and gaining a firm foothold and going out of the city for a battle.

Shi Kefa said: "Don't try your sharpness, and raise a full front to wait for it to be killed." ”

In terms of city guarding, Shi Kefa also arranged: "The terrain of the west gate of the old city is low, and the high fu outside the city overlooks the city, which is like a building, and it is the ancestral tower of Li Eun in Xinghua, the trees are shady, from the outside to the inside, there is no barrier, the branches return to each other, and the potential is less." The generals have repeatedly said this. The public is in the shade of the Li family, and he can't bear to cut it down. In other words, you will take this place as a danger, and I will defend it."

On the night of the second day of the sixth month of the leap month, the gentry in Yangzhou gathered hundreds of people in the city, launched a rebellion, and opened the city gate to invite the Shandong army into the city. The fierce battle lasted until the early hours of the morning, and the city of Yangzhou fell into the hands of the Daping army on the third day of the first lunar month. Liu Zhaoji died in battle, Yangzhou prefect Ren Minyu and He Gang were killed, Shi Kefa and others were unwilling to surrender after being captured, and were beheaded by Chi Ming's order.

Shi Kefa's vow not to surrender to the death can indeed be called loyalty to Nanming. However, Shi Kefa did not have any commendable achievements in the entire Chongzhen period; His rapid rise in status and fame also occurred during the Hongguang period.

However, as a politician, Shi Kefa made a fatal mistake in planning the establishment of a new monarch, which led to the military generals stealing the "decision" and losing power; As a military strategist, he ran Jiangbei for nearly a year as a dignified superintendent and cabinet department, spending a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, but he was at a loss and did nothing.

Until the southward movement of the Shandong Army, a non-main force of the Daping Army, the vast majority of the generals he controlled surrendered and became the strong force of the Daping Dynasty to conquer the Southern Ming, which can be seen as the incompetence of Shi Kefa's generals.

It is to take the Battle of Yangzhou as an example. Nor did Scofa organize effective resistance. Before the Shandong army attacked the city, Shi Kefa was already pessimistic and disappointed, and handed over all military affairs to the staff. As a result, in less than a day, Yangzhou was lost.

As the commander of the heavy army of the Jianghuai in the Southern Ming Dynasty, Shi Kefa's insight and talent are really ordinary. But in his life, there are also two points worthy of affirmation: one is that he is honest and diligent, and the other is that he would rather die at the last moment. As for his entire political career, it does not deserve too much recognition. It can be said that Shi Kefa's decisions on important military affairs were almost all wrong, and he was inescapable of taking responsibility for the collapse of the Hongguang Imperial Court.

Of course. Shi Kefa's death also has the reason why Wu Shigong did not know his "fame" in the original history. Now there are a large number of high-ranking officials of the former Ming Dynasty who have returned to the Daping Dynasty, and there are more than a dozen people whose status is higher than that of Shi Kefa. Wu Shigong only regarded Shi Kefa as one of them. So it's not possible to get a special treatment.

To be honest, Wu Shigong still has to pay more attention to Liu Zongzhou, the leader of the world. Otherwise, Wu Shigong would at least give an explanation to Chi Ming and let him not dispose of Shi Kefa at will.

And at this time, Chi Ming. There is only one town of the new army that can be safely controlled. Among them, there were only more than 1,000 officers and non-commissioned officers of the former Runing Army. Even with the more trusted Yuan Minglu army, the total number of soldiers and horses is only 30,000. But now, in the face of the Nanming army that is swarming and surrendering, Chi Ming has a sense of anxiety that he can't control the troops.

Coupled with the crooked mouths of those generals, he said: Shi Kefa is the first assistant governor of the Southern Ming Dynasty, and his status is the most noble. If he is spared, it may cause the morale of the surrendered army to be unstable. So Chi Ming also "followed the good as the stream".

Before and after the Shandong army conquered Yangzhou, the Ming army in Jiangbei and Nan was almost without fighting spirit. He surrendered in a hurry before he could fire. Gao Jie's department was led by his son Xingping Hou Shizi Gao Yuanzhao, Admiral Li Benshen, and General Soldier Li Chengdong; Guangchangbo Liu Liangzuo also led his troops to surrender.

In less than four months from June to the beginning of September (this year was leap June), as many as 23 Southern Ming troops and 47 deputy generals came to surrender in the entire Huaiyang area. The total number of horse infantry was a staggering 238,300.

It is particularly worth mentioning that the troops of such commanders as Li Chengdong, Li Benshen, Jin Shenghuan, Li Guoying, Tian Xiong, Ma Degong, Xu Yong, and others are well-equipped and have outstanding combat skills. It can be said that as long as they are combined by two or three troops, they can completely fight with Chi Ming's Shandong army. But such troops are also disheartened and surrendered to the Great Ping Dynasty without sending a single shot. It's really a defeat.

The major feudal towns of the Hongguang Dynasty surrendered in this way, not because the soldiers were unbearable for a battle, but because they formed a powerful group with a big tail by virtue of "fixed policies" and other reasons, and they had the heart to hold the court hostage and had no will to serve the country loyally. Since all they care about is to keep their glory and wealth, once a strong enemy presses the territory, it is natural to take the "Xugong" as the best policy.

In a word: the Hongguang Imperial Court relied on the enveloping of the feudal town, and it was the feudal town that rebelled and died.

On June 17, Zhou Xun and Xue Qiang led an army of 130,000 down the river and met Zuo Mengeng, the son of Zuo Liangyu, for the first time. Zuo Mengeng's subordinates had a total of 10 soldiers and more than 70,000 soldiers, and they did not dare to meet Zhou Xun and Xue Qiang's troops who came from the west, nor did they dare to go east to confront Chi Ming's troops, and they were even unwilling to go south to Jiangxi to temporarily avoid the main force of the Daping Army, so they led their troops and horses to surrender to the Daping Army on 29 June in the Yangtze River flowing from Jiujiang to the east.

Surrendered with Zuo Mengeng, there was Huguang Patrol according to Yushi Huang Shu. And Yuan Jixian, the governor of the Southern Ming River, became a prisoner of the Daping Army under the coercion of Zuo Mengeng's force. After Yuan Jixian was coerced to see Zhou Xun, he categorically refused to persuade him to surrender, and was later escorted to Beijing under house arrest, and then released him to his hometown in the five-year amnesty of Qiongyuan.

Because Zuo Liangyu and Wu Shigong had personal grievances, the negotiation of surrender took a long time. It wasn't until Hou Sui lobbied in the middle to guarantee that Zuo Mengeng's troops surrendered with confidence. And because the military discipline of the left was too corrupt, it took more than ten days to reorganize and reduce the army. Therefore, by the time Zhou Xun and Zhang Biao's troops acted again, the time had reached the twentieth day of the sixth month of the leap month.

By the way, about the fate of this notorious unit on the left. Later, almost all of the troops were dismissed, and all the generals returned to their hometowns after being paid a generous salary. Only Zuo Mengeng was named an earl, but most of Zuo Menggeng and Zuo's generals got a good death. It's really impressive - the thief of the country!

After the reorganization of the Daping Army, they wanted to make a detour to the northeast and cut off the heavy troops of the Southern Ming Dynasty stationed in Fengyang and Luzhou. Respond to the weak Zhang Biao's Daping army.

But as soon as they set off for two days, they were glad to hear that the Southern Ming army in Fengyang and Luzhou had also surrendered to the Daping army.

Zhang Biao, who was stationed in Ye County, Nanyang Prefecture, immediately led 5,000 soldiers and horses who had been ready to go to Runing on 24 June. Then another 10,000 recruits were gathered at Runing. Because the former Runing military station was set up quite well in Runing Fuzhong, this unit was able to march at high speed and arrive at the junction of Runing and Fengyang on June 30.

At this time, the Southern Ming army stationed in Fengyang and Luzhou had a total of more than 60,000 soldiers and horses. However, they are composed of two parts: one is the Ming army left behind in Fengyang Mansion when Ma Shiying went north; The other part is the troops left behind by the late Gao Jie.

And the Ming army left behind in Fengyang Mansion was originally crooked melons and cracked dates, because the elite of this army had already been requisitioned and transferred north by Ma Shiying. In addition, Fengyang's troops were already doing business with the Runing army, and there were inextricable links between the two armies. So seeing the arrival of Zhang Biao's troops, they surrendered without thinking.

And the other Southern Ming army was even more discouraged. In March of the first year of Qiongyuan, Gao Jie, together with Yue Qijie, the governor of Henan, and Chen Qianfu, the governor of Henan, led the army to Luzhou, preparing to go north to occupy the "three regardless" places of the two armies in Xuzhou and other places, and it was best to go north to attack the hinterland of Henan. And this northward march was also the only military operation of the Southern Ming Army to take the initiative to attack the Daping Dynasty.

And Xu Dingguo, the chief soldier guarding the place, had already secretly exchanged money with the Daping army in Runing, Henan, and according to the request of Xue Qiang there, he sent his sons Xu Er'an and Xu Erji to Runing Mansion as hostages.

Therefore, when Gao Jie's army arrived in Luzhou, Xu Dingguo was panicked and lost. He knew that his troops were no match for Gao Jie, and he asked Xue Qiang to send troops to support but was refused, so he had to take risks with all his heart.

So Xu Dingguo went out of the city to meet Gao Jie, which was falsely respectful; While secretly plotting a way to deal with it. In fact, at that time, Gao Jie had already known the news that Xu Dingguo had sent his son to Runing, and in order to prevent him from leading his subordinates to dedicate the Luzhou region to the Daping Dynasty, he wanted to use his superior forces to coerce Xu Dingguo and his subordinates to accompany the army to the north.

On the 12th, Xu Dingguo held a feast in Luzhou City, nominally for Gao Jie, Yue Qijie, and Chen Qianfu. And Yue Qijie advised Gao Jie not to enter Luzhou City easily, in case of accidents. However, Gao Jie was a martial artist, thinking that he had many soldiers, and Xu Dingguo would never dare to act rashly, so he only brought 300 personal soldiers into the city for the banquet, accompanied by Yue Qijie and Chen Qianfu. Xu Dingguo ambushed the army in advance, used flower cards to persuade wine, and drunk Gao Jie and others.

In the middle of the night, the ambush suddenly broke out, killing Gao Jie and all the accompanying soldiers, Yue Qijie and Chen Qianfu panicked and fled from Luzhou. The next day, Gao Jie's troops learned that the main general had been killed, and they were indignant, and immediately invaded Luzhou to massacre the soldiers and civilians in retaliation. And Xu Dingguo led his relatives to flee west and surrendered to Runing.

After Gao Jie's death, there was no master in the army, and his subordinates were in chaos. And nearby Huang Degong and other generals wanted to take the opportunity to carve up the soldiers and horses and territory of Gao Jie's department, and the two sides were tense.

The people of the time said: Who called the mountain harrier to come (Gao Jie was nicknamed the mountain harrier in the peasant army), and the boy was not in harmony (Huang Degong's name Huang Chuangzi). Raise swords on the ground, Mrs. came to suppress the village (original note: Mrs. Xing), killed the old matchmaker (original note: Shi Gongye), went to the river and Huai, and the emperor was drunk and drunk.

It's a piece of chicken feathers anyway.

The military plan to go north this time not only failed completely, but also plunged the Southern Ming army into strife. It's really a disaster. (To be continued......)