Although Li Zicheng used the water of the Fen River to trap Liang Tingdong's cavalry in the quagmire and successfully crossed the Fen River, it was still very risky for them to attack Taiyuan at this time.
Li Zicheng said: "Song Military Advisor, is it inappropriate to attack Taiyuan at this time?"
"The cavalry of the Ming Army are only temporarily trapped. They will come to support soon!"
Song Xiance said with a smile: "The Ming army's cavalry is indeed a great threat to us. We cannot attack Taiyuan with all our strength without defeating them!"
"So we have to attack Taiyuan and force them to come to the rescue!"
Li Yan also said: "According to the information provided by the prisoners, Emperor Chongzhen is in Taiyuan City at the moment. If we can capture Chongzhen, can we achieve great things?"
All the generals also said in unison: "Congratulations, Your Majesty, this is really a blessing from God!"
Li Zicheng was forced to rebel when he rebelled, but he never expected that not only would he become the Emperor of Dashun, he would even have the opportunity to capture the real emperor Chongzhen!
At this time, he couldn't help but feel a little proud!
He said: "Now Li Xianzhong is busy seizing Zhili and Shandong, and the soldiers and horses from Liaodong have not yet entered Shanxi. Shanxi is a land of mountains and rivers, and the world is victorious. As long as we capture Shanxi, we can use the terrain here to the north of the Yellow River. Stand firm!”
"If Chongzhen can be captured, Jiangnan can be conquered faster. At that time, with Jiangnan's financial and material resources, we can finally defeat Li Xianzhong's Liaodong Army, overthrow the puppet emperor Zhu Yousong, and rule the world!"
Encouraged by Li Zicheng, the Dashun Army appeared under the city of Taiyuan shouting the slogan: "Conquer Taiyuan and capture Chongzhen alive"!
The Dashun Army suddenly appeared under Taiyuan City, which completely panicked Emperor Chongzhen.
He said: "Is it possible that the combat power of these bandits is so terrifying that they have already wiped out the elite cavalry under Liang Tingdong's command?"
As Minister of War, Yang Sichang still knew the situation outside the city.
He said: "After Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of Datong, defeated tens of thousands of bandits, he indeed underestimated the enemy and fell into the bandits' ambush!"
"However, Governor Liang Tingdong of Xuanda and the general soldiers of Xuanfu still led 15,000 horsemen to confront the bandits in Fenhe River. I guess that the bandits only temporarily used the water of Fenhe River to trap Governor Liang's troops and horses."
"Please don't worry, Your Majesty. There are still 23,000 defenders in Taiyuan City. As long as we hold on to the city, it won't be long before Governor Liang's cavalry will return to support us!"
Hearing that there were still 15,000 cavalry outside the city, Chongzhen felt relieved. After all, there were only 3,000 cavalry in Taiyuan City now. If all the cavalry were gone, how could he retreat south to Jiangnan?
No matter how fast the two-legged infantry runs, they can't outrun the "four legs" of the Liaodong cavalry!
However, the formation of hundreds of thousands of peasant troops in Taiyuan City was still very frightening.
At a glance, the city's southeast, southeast and west sides were surrounded by dense crowds of people and horses, as if it were boundless.
The soldiers of Dashun Army were wearing all kinds of armors and holding various weapons, shining coldly in the sun.
Their faces were full of determination and determination, and their eyes shone with the desire for victory.
The air was filled with an atmosphere of tension and chill, occasionally mixed with the neighing of war horses and the whispers of soldiers.
The Ming army on the wall of Taiyuan City was in a tight formation, watching every move of the intruders with vigilant eyes.
As time passed, the besieging army began to attack.
Countless arrows poured down on the city like a torrential rain, accompanied by deafening drums and shouts.
The siege engines and ladders under the city slowly advanced towards the city wall, trying to open a breakthrough.
Dashun's army surrounded Sanque, naturally to facilitate Chongzhen to ask for help from Liang Tingdong!
Li Zicheng showed a satisfied smile as he watched the sentries running out of Taiyuan City to deliver messages.
Soon after, Liang Tingdong and Yang Guozhu received orders from Chongzhen to return to Taiyuan immediately!
Yang Guozhu said worriedly: "Although the water level has dropped a lot, the movement of the cavalry is still greatly restricted. We may encounter bandits and bandits when we send troops at this time!"
Liang Tingdong was also helpless. Things like rescuing the driver were more about expressing a position and attitude.
If they did not send troops in time, it was likely that Chongzhen would doubt their position.
As long as Li Zicheng was not a fool, he would definitely send troops to intercept, but at this time Liang Tingdong had no better choice.
Because there were only two hours left before dark, and in this swampy environment, it was impossible to conceal one's whereabouts.
They had no choice but to bite the bullet and march into Taiyuan.
If they could quickly break through the blockade of the Chu army, they might be able to sneak attack a wave of bandits outside Taiyuan City while it was dark.
So Liang Tingdong divided the Ming army into two groups. Yang Guozhu, the general of the Xuanfu, led 10,000 Xuanfu cavalry to take the lead, and he led the remaining 5,000 cavalry to break up the rear.
But it was obvious that Liang Tingdong underestimated Li Zicheng's determination.
At this time, the Dashun army under Taiyuan City, although their banners covered the sun and seemed endless, was only 100,000.
Their purpose was to create momentum and force Chongzhen to order Liang Tingdong to return to Taiyuan.
At this time, Li Zicheng's main force was already waiting for the Ming army.
He did not want to block Liang Tingdong's return, but wanted to completely eat this cavalry.
Soon Yang Guozhu and others stopped advancing, because the Dashun army in front not only set up resisting horses, but also deployed a large number of soldiers.
At this moment, Yang Guozhu still despised these peasant soldiers in his heart. Although there was still some water under their feet, it was already very shallow and only submerged the horses' hooves.
Although it has some impact on the cavalry's charge, just because of this, it is too naive for the thieves to rely on infantry to stop them!
Following his order, Xuanfu's cavalry began to urge their horses to charge towards Dashun's army.
Although the splashing water somewhat affected their vision, they quickly rushed in front of the Dashun Army.
At this time, the artillerymen at the rear of the Shun Army began to fire artillery. Their Franco machine guns fired solid bullets. Although they caused some damage to the dense cavalry, they did not disrupt the overall formation of the cavalry charge.
Then the gunmen of Shunjun also started shooting.
"Bang, bang, bang"
As a burst of white smoke appeared, three to four hundred of the cavalry charging at the front were shot and fell off their horses.
Soon the following cavalry resumed their charging formation.
Yang Guozhu also had a smile on his face. Although they paid a certain price, they were already very close to the bandits.
Once the cavalry reaches this distance, it can complete the crushing state of the infantry.
But surprisingly, the cavalry that Yang Guozhu imagined did not appear to attack the enemy formation and crush the bandits.
Instead, a large amount of splashing water suddenly appeared in front of the enemy formation, as well as the neighing of war horses!
This group of cunning thieves actually dug many horse traps in front of the position, but the accumulated water covered the traps, leaving the charging cavalry defenseless and constantly being attacked.
At this time, Li Guo and Liu Fangliang, who were ambushing on the left and right sides, also led their cavalry to fight out from both sides of Yang Guozhu.
Seeing that the number of cavalry was at least 20,000, Yang Guozhu secretly thought that something was wrong.
The front was blocked by the bandit's trap, and large cavalry came out from the flank.
But at this time he could only reluctantly accept the challenge.
The cavalry from both sides fought together, and the entire battlefield was filled with the shouts of soldiers, the sound of metal clashing from the collision of weapons, and the neighing of war horses.
The Xuanfu cavalry is worthy of being the elite of the Nine Sides. Not only do they have to face double attacks from cavalry twice their size, but they also have to beware of sneak attacks by thieves and gunfire.
Even if the Dashun Army calculated it like this, they still did not fall behind in the scene.
Yang Guozhu was also extremely depressed at this moment. The reason why he refused to retreat after being defeated was because Liang Tingdong's five thousand cavalry were coming to reinforce him from behind!
As long as he persists, he may turn defeat into victory!
But why haven’t Liang Tingdong’s men arrived yet?
At this time, Liang Tingdong was no better than Yang Guozhu.
Li Zicheng and Li Yan used a full 200,000 people to destroy them, 170,000 infantry and 30,000 cavalry.
At this time, Liang Tingdong's 5,000 men were being blocked by 10,000 cavalry and tens of thousands of infantry led by Tian Jianxiu.
He couldn't break in at all.
After several attempts, Liang Tingdong had no choice but to withdraw his troops in order to avoid being trapped by the Dashun Army.
This is equivalent to pronouncing Yang Guozhu's death sentence!
When Li Guo saw how difficult the army was to deal with him, he decided to capture the thieves first and capture the king first.
Soon he held a spear and killed Yang Guozhu directly.
Li Guo, nicknamed "Yi Hu", was known for his bravery and fearlessness in battles, and he was a tiger general.
I saw him leading a group of old camp cavalry to kill Yang Guozhu.
Yang Guozhu was currently directing his troops to block Liu Fangliang's attack, and did not notice Li Guo at all.
When he reacted, Li Guo was already very close to him!
I saw a bit of cold light flying by, and the spear came out like a dragon. Li Guo's spear directly pierced Yang Guozhu's chest.
Although he was unwilling, Yang Guozhu's body still fell off the horse.
In the end, the leaderless Xuan cavalry were surrounded and annihilated by the Dashun army. Ten thousand horses and five thousand were killed in the battle, and the remaining half surrendered to Li Zicheng.
Although this battle failed to completely annihilate the Ming army's cavalry, it was still a huge gain to be able to surrender five thousand enemy troops.
In particular, the emperor's nephew Li Guo was so brave that he directly killed Yang Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of the Ming army, which made Li Zicheng extremely happy!
Li Zicheng named Li Guo the "Champion Lord", which shows that he has high expectations for him.
The next thing they have to do is to conquer Taiyuan Mansion and capture Emperor Chongzhen alive.
At this time, Chongzhen did not know about the cavalry being defeated by Li Zicheng. The first thing he received was the bad news from Xuanda University.
Li Xianzhong, who had been silent for a long time, finally took action.
Li Xianzhong sent Zu Dashou and led 30,000 troops to attack Xuanda.
The main force of Xuanda had already followed Chongzhen south, and only 30,000 infantry were left behind.
Facing the menacing Liaodong Army, they were helpless!
With the support of 18-pound Hongyi artillery, the Liaodong Army captured Juyongguan, the east gate of Xuanfu, in just one hour!
Zu Dashou appointed Wu Sangui as the vanguard, and the Huailai Guards and the defenders of Baoan Prefecture fell in the face of the wind!
At this time, Xuanfu Town was completely leaderless. In the end, all three guards of Xuanfu surrendered to Wu Sangui!
Seeing that the Xuanfu army had surrendered, Datong Town naturally lost the confidence to resist!
In the end, Datong Town surrendered to the Hongguang court under the leadership of the acting king Zhu Dingwei!
The acting king Zhu Dingwei was also the second vassal king to declare his allegiance to Hongguang Emperor Zhu Yousong after Queen Qing of Yinchuan!
Chongzhen was even more furious when he learned that King Dai had rebelled. This meant that Zhu Yousong was increasingly recognized by the Ming Dynasty clan, and his recognition as the real emperor was getting lower and lower.
He regretted a little. He should have gone south with King Dai. Even if he was killed by bandits and ransacked his house, it would be much better than taking refuge with Zhu Yousong!
Li Zicheng killed ten vassal kings in total, and he had never been so angry as now.
Fortunately among the misfortunes, Zu Dashou did not directly lead his army south to besiege Taiyuan after taking over Xuanfu and Datong.
They only occupied Ningwuguan, Yanmenguan and other places under Taiyuan Prefecture.
But even so their situation is not easy.
After defeating Liang Tingdong's troops, Li Zicheng's nearly 300,000 troops had surrounded Taiyuan City into an ironclad!
Taiyuan City at this time was not the "Longxing Land" of the Five Dynasties period. The original Taiyuan City had been destroyed under the order of Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi as early as the early Northern Song Dynasty.
Two years later, although Zhao Guangyi ordered it to be rebuilt again, Taiyuan City in the Northern Song Dynasty was only a small city less than 8 miles in circumference.
The current Taiyuan was built in the ninth year of Hongwu's reign on the basis of Taiyuan City in the Song Dynasty, extending to the east, south and north.
It has a circumference of 24 miles and a total of 8 gates.
The city wall is 11 meters high, 13 meters wide at the bottom, and 7.95 meters wide at the top and inside. The city wall is based on stone and built using plum blossom masonry method, showing a simple and majestic style.
There are a total of 4 city towers, 4 turrets, 36 watchtowers, 1 Kuiguang Tower, 1 watchtower, and 6 wall door openings (12 holes in total).
It can be said to be a fortified city!
Yang Sichang said with relief: "Taiyuan city wall is tall, there are still more than 23,000 soldiers in the city, and the food is enough for more than half a year. Your Majesty, please relax!"
It is true that Taiyuan is strong enough, but what is its use?
Now that they have no reinforcements, they are trapped in the isolated city. It is only a matter of time before the city is destroyed!
The only suspense is whether he will fall into the hands of Zhu Yousong or Li Zicheng?
Li Zicheng was extremely cruel, and he even killed the Ming Dynasty clan. Everyone, including Yang Sichang and Wen Tiren, naturally hoped to fall into Zhu Yousong's hands.
After all, to them, it was just that the Ming Dynasty had changed to another emperor. Although their career was basically over, their wealth and life could always be saved.
If Li Zicheng breaks into Taiyuan Mansion, based on Emperor Dashun's attitude towards the gentry, they will basically die.
So before Taiyuan was surrounded, Wen Tiren had secretly sent an envoy to Datong to deliver a message to Zu Dashou, asking him to send troops south quickly, and expressed in the letter that they were willing to serve as internal correspondents.
Wu Sangui seemed very excited after hearing the news.
He said excitedly: "Uncle, capturing Chongzhen is a great achievement. Let's quickly send troops south to Taiyuan!"
Zu Dashou said calmly: "Why, the King of Liaodong County has just promoted you to deputy general, and you are not satisfied anymore?"
Wu Sangui said with a smile: "We generals have caught up with the good times now, and we no longer have to suffer from the arrogance of those civil servants. We have caught up with the change of dynasties, so of course we will seize the opportunity to fight for the title, so that we can honor our ancestors and grant our wives in the future." Yinzi!”
Zu Dashou said: "It seems that your ambition is not small."
"But I only saw the benefits. How could I know that this wasn't Wen Tiren's conspiracy?"
Wu Sangui said: "Why, does Wen Tiren still dare to trick us?"
My nephew, who is both civilized and military, is not a mortal. Unfortunately, his utilitarianism is a bit too strong, and he still needs to be tempered!
Zu Dashou said: "Now Li Zicheng's 300,000 troops have surrounded Taiyuan. Wen Tiren asked us to lead the troops south at this time. It is obvious that he wants us to fight with Li Zicheng, so that he can reap the benefits. These literati are so thoughtful. They are vicious, you must not underestimate them."
Zu Dashou thought that Wu Sangui would give up the idea after his reminder.
Unexpectedly, he said: "Uncle is still too careful. The 300,000 thieves are just a mob. Are we still afraid of them?"
"If uncle is worried that the 30,000 troops and horses we have are too few, and the 30,000 troops from Xuanda are unreliable, we can also ask Governor Xiong Tingbi of Monan for help."
"He has tens of thousands of Mongolian cavalry under his command. As long as the Mongolian cavalry goes south and joins our Liaodong cavalry, these intruders will be wiped out soon!"
Wu Sangui thought he was proud of himself, but unexpectedly Zu Dashou scolded him: "You bastard, how dare you let the Mongolian cavalry go south!"
"The prince of Liaodong County has repeatedly said that the independent Mongolian cavalry can only contain the Ming army along the Great Wall, and they must not be allowed to go south into the hinterland of the Central Plains to avoid plundering the people of the Ming Dynasty!"
"This is the reverse scale of the Liaodong County Prince. If you dare to touch it, your career in the army will be over!"
Wu Sangui also knew that he had made a mistake, and he quickly said: "Uncle reminds me that Sangui did not consider this matter carefully!"
Seeing Wu Sangui taking the initiative to admit his mistake, Zu Dashou's expression softened a little, and he said again: "Do you think the Liaodong County Prince really wants to arrest Chongzhen?"
"With the prince's talent and strategy, he has no plans left. If he really wants to capture Chongzhen, I'm afraid Emperor Chongzhen will never have a chance to leave Beijing!"
To be honest, Wu Sangui has never thought about this. It seems that ginger is still hot with age!
He said to Zu Dashou: "What my uncle said is that Sangui has been taught, go to hell Wen Tiren!"
But Zu Dashou said: "This matter cannot be handled this way. Send Wen Tiren's letter to the capital in person to see what the Liaodong County Prince wants!"
Li Zicheng's 300,000 troops besieged Taiyuan day and night. Wen Tiren and Yang Sichang, who had not waited for Zu Dashou to go south, were also extremely disappointed.
They did do this behind Chongzhen's back, and they had two plans.
If Zu Dashou's men and horses really lost both sides in the fight with Li Zicheng, then they would take advantage of the chaos to break out of Taiyuan with Chongzhen.
If Zu Dashou's Liaodong Army occupied Taiyuan, then they would hand over Chongzhen and surrender to Zhu Yousong. In this way, they would be considered to have made a great contribution.
It's a pity that God did not fulfill his wishes.
For the current plan, they can only stick to Taiyuan first and wait for the situation to change.
At this time, Li Zicheng was also very depressed. There were a large number of red cannons in Taiyuan City, and his Dashun army suffered heavy casualties.
At this time, Song Xiance said: "Your Majesty, don't disturb us. We can use the water of Fenhe River again!"
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(End of chapter)
