November 18th, the sixth year of Chongzhen, at the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain, Wu'an County, Zhangde Prefecture, Henan Province.
The weather is cold and the ground is freezing, and the various camp flags in the mountains are soaked with dew and frozen into ice. The Shaanxi Mountain Peasant Army has set up fifty-seven battalions in the Taihang Mountains. Horses gallop back and forth among the crisscrossing mountain roads. From time to time, a sound of northern Shaanxi dialect is heard in the empty valley. The medium pass goes very far.
Li Zicheng was hugging his fur robe by the lake. The cold wind blew up the hem of his arrow jacket, revealing the high cotton boots under his feet. He drove his horse towards the frozen lake with his hand holding a felt hat.
The felt hat in his hand is not a Fan Yangli, but a military hat that was popular in ancient times. Because the strap is not afraid of bumps, it is easy to use on horseback. However, it was replaced by the Confucian crown belt during the Wanli period and has disappeared from the folk.
It was not until the Tianqi and Chongzhen years that this kind of hat became popular again in Xuanfu. It was made of various materials such as soap gauze and lacquered gauze. It was also decorated with gold foil on the top or hung with horsetails and heron feathers as decoration.
It is a military hat worn by military attachés, thieves, and honor guards of the Xuanfu government when they meet their superiors. It means that they will immediately receive a title, so it is called a Xuan hat.
As the peasant armies fought in Shanxi, Henan, and Beizhili for a year, Chuangying, the most disciplined among the fifty-seventh battalion, fought with the officers and soldiers from all walks of life, killing generals one after another and establishing unparalleled prestige. .
This hat was Li Zicheng's trophy, and it was also a symbol of military prowess for the officers, large and small, who entered the camp.
Li Zicheng watched the war horses walking on the ice, turned and looked south, slowly spitting out a white mist. This year's winter was colder earlier than in previous years, and it was also colder. Jingniang Lake was frozen solid, and the Yellow River was not far away. .
They want to break out.
Returning to the camp of Yanchanguo Temple in Dingjin, Li Zicheng led his horse and walked on the mountain path between the stone statues. He heard a soldier reporting from behind: "General, King Hengtian has persuaded Zhang Miaoshou, Ma Huihui and others to jointly send troops to Wu'an. People pretend to surrender."
Li Zicheng was stunned for a moment, then nodded heavily and said, "Okay!"
On the battlefield spanning five hundred miles within the Taihang Mountains, the imperial court recruited talented and fierce generals from all walks of life to form an elite group and form a huge encirclement against the rebels.
General Liang Fu was stationed in Baoding, Lu Xiangsheng led the Tianxiong Army of Daming, Guangping, and Shunde. Zuo Liangyu led the Changping Army to station in Henan. General Tang Jiuzhou of the Assistance and Suppression Campaign fought everywhere to assist and suppress the Sichuan Army under General Deng Qi. On the battlefield, Qin Liangyu's son, Shizhu chieftain Ma Xianglin, and his daughter-in-law, counselor Zhang Fengyi, led the Shizhu army. They were both elite soldiers and strong generals.
But as time went by, the rebels' advantage grew.
This year's war was very close to both the government and the rebels. The generals and generals were very close to each other and used all their courage and strength.
The 7,000 Mao soldiers from Fuyuan, Henan were repeatedly defeated in battles and were beaten until they surrendered. Zuo Liangyu led his troops to rush for reinforcements and moved to Henan alone. Then Ma Xianglin led Shizhu's army to Henan to assist in the war, and his wife Zhang Fengyi stayed in Zhangde Mansion. counterinsurgency.
Later, Zhang Fengyi was killed by the rebels at Linming Pass in Yongnian, and most of his Shizhu army was wiped out.
The rebels besieged Tangyin. Sichuan general Deng Qi was heavily besieged by the rebels at a place called Tiqiaowo on the outskirts. He was almost annihilated by the Chengzhi army. Zuo Liangyu led a lone army to rescue him and risked his own life to pull him out of the siege. .
But after that, the situation took a turn for the worse for the officers and soldiers.
First, Ma Xianglin, who lost his wife sadly, blamed his wife for being besieged by a lonely army. Generals such as Sun Hongmo and Yang Fang of the Baoding Fuyuan Army were close at hand but did not rescue her.
Then the Sichuan army under Deng Qi had been out of Sichuan for four years. Deng Qi's promise to them to return home after the war was not fulfilled. The court owed money and lost troops and generals in Tangyin. Military law could no longer restrain the soldiers, and military discipline tended to deteriorate.
Liang Fu, Zuo Liangyu, and Tang Jiuzhou fought well, but seeing that the encirclement had been successful, the imperial court sent Ni Chong, Wang Pu, and eunuchs Yang Jinchao, Lu Jiude and others from the Beijing camp to collect the victory.
Forget it, these Beijing troops actually caused them a lot of trouble.
Liang Fu, the commander-in-chief of Baoding, moved his camp to Shunde Prefecture to help suppress the bandit rebellion in Handan, Yongnian, and Linmingguan areas. The people in the Xishan Mountains of Handan destroyed their homes to rescue the bandits. Father, son, and brothers formed a volunteer army and asked themselves to kill the bandits.
Ding Kuichu, the governor of Zhenbao who came with the Baoding army, originally wanted to commend the bravery, but found that the thief that the people of Handan wanted to kill was not Li Zicheng, but the Beijing camp army.
Because there is a small camp in the Beijing army, which is the Liao soldiers under Wang Pu's father Wang Wei, with more than 800 people. It is said that this group of veterans should be well cared for and treated, but Wang Wei squeezed them too much, so that this The small battalion was transferred to the Zhangde Mansion area, where they mutinied and all became thieves.
The general tried his best to appease them, but in the end he only called back 190 people. The rest were not allowed to come back. They were abused and mistreated by their superiors for several years. Once they robbed the people's property, their fighting power doubled. Liang Fu Eight thousand Baoding soldiers could not annihilate these 600 people.
As for Zuo Liangyu, Zuo Liangyu, who was brave, good at fighting and willing to help others, did not complain about anything. It was just that the battle in Tiqiaowo outside Tangyin City was the last time in his life that he risked his life to help the friendly forces.
All generals outside the Beijing camp, no, all the troops including the Beijing camp, will no longer lead their troops to search the mountains after the autumn.
It was not only the officers and soldiers who were exhausted. The rebels paid a price several times higher than that of the officers and soldiers. Dozens of their leaders died in the battle. They were trapped in the Taihang Mountains without food and grass, and lived on porridge with bark, grass roots, and roots.
By the time next year comes, there will be no need for the imperial court to launch a general offensive, and their hearts will collapse.
Therefore, crossing the river was imperative for Li Zicheng.
Moreover, crossing the Yellow River has three benefits. First, floods, droughts, and locust plagues in Henan are very serious and the people are struggling to make ends meet. They can make up for the human losses caused by the war by entering Henan.
The second is to cross the Yellow River and the siege situation will be naturally relieved.
As for the third one, the conflict between the fifty-seventh rebel battalion has become unprecedentedly acute. If they get together again, sooner or later they will kill each other.
As the rebellion progressed during this period, it became more and more complex. They had different origins, including Shaanbei people, Guanzhong people, Hexi people, Shanxi people, Hebei people, Henan people, Liaodong people, and Mongolians.
There are frontier soldiers, scholars, guardsmen, farmers, landlords, gangsters, bandits, bandits, scholars, merchants, horsemen, etc., all kinds of life.
Some people raise armies to do great things, some people are angry and have no choice but to raise armies, some people are full of anger and eager for revenge, some people kill innocent people indiscriminately, some people uphold justice and uphold justice, some people want to recruit people and change them to an official position, and some people want to Kill everyone and make a clean slate.
These fifty-seven chiefs alone have almost nothing in common except that they are traitors to the imperial court who will be hunted down by the army.
Li Zicheng led his headquarters to break into the camp and fought many difficult battles with Wang Jiayin, the king of Hengtian. People learned warfare in the war and suffered many head-on confrontations with the army. Now they have figured out a mature strategy based on ambush and lure.
He has been very prestigious among many leaders by rushing to rescue many times to help friendly troops and defeating official troops in many ambushes.
But Wang Jiayin could no longer suppress the leaders who disliked each other. At the same time, Li Zicheng could not suppress his disgust for many leaders.
Separation is the only way to temporarily avoid conflicts.
Soon, the leaders of the fifty-seven connected families wrote a joint letter in the Taihang Mountains, and Zhang Miaoshou personally sent it to the capital camp in Wu'an, where he was stationed in Wu'an, and presented it to Ni Chong and Wang Pu.
At the same time, more than 100,000 rebels who were hiding in the mountains were using the mountains of the Taihang Mountains to hide their troops and speed up their migration southward.
They went south from She County to Zezhou via the mountain road, and entered Wangwu Mountain in large quantities for repairs.
People rushed to the plank, especially Li Zicheng's camp, and set up a furnace to melt the twelve lion cannons into copper ingots and distribute them to his subordinates.
These cannons were bought from Gao Yingxiang in Shizigou with money and grain earlier. They were all two hundred kilograms of good copper cannons. Li Zicheng was very distressed when he ordered them, but the four hundred kilograms of this gun carriage made it difficult for him to pass through the ice quickly. I can only endure the pain and melt it away, and recast it when I have the opportunity in the future.
But Li Zicheng didn't know whether there was any chance of recasting.
On November 24, at the Guandi Temple in the ravine of Wangwu Mountain, the generals who broke into the camp gathered together. Everyone wore Xuan hats and dressed up in fancy clothes.
In fact, Li Zicheng had very high requirements for military discipline. Many of his old brothers were from the frontier army. After the uprising gradually became famous, they followed Wang Jiayin, who was almost a regular soldier. They also received guidance from Gao Yingxiang through trade with Shizigou.
For Wang Jiayin and Gao Yingxiang, two people who have come before, their advice to Li Zicheng is a cliché: discipline.
Wang Jiayin is the leader of the Shanxi rebels in Shaanxi, while Gao Yingxiang is more like the patron saint of a large temple in northern Shaanxi - his artillery and weapons will bless every child who leaves northern Shaanxi and goes out to explore.
Nowadays, the leaders who are relatively close to Li Zicheng include the Huntian King Zhang Yingjin, the Sweeper King Zhang Yichuan, the Troubled Times King Guo Yingpin, and the Scorpion Block Tuo Yangkun. They are called the Fifth Battalion of the Chuang Army, and they all use Gao Yingxiang's early Lion Battalion setup.
This group of people formed the strongest combat force under Wang Jiayin. Each of them had a battalion with 2,500 to 3,500 people. In addition, there was a small battalion with women's dependents, all with a size of 700 or 800 people. .
Because they left their families in Shishizigou.
This organization, which was summarized by Liu Chengzong during his mobile operations, was very useful and greatly improved the efficiency and survivability of the leaders in looting and harvesting grain.
In fact, Li Zicheng did not have high requirements for the leaders who joined him in the camp. It did not matter whether they were strong or weak in combat. He only required obedience. Don't panic when ambushing, don't run when attacking, and when marching, each person can only take one woman with him at most.
At this point in the war, all other requirements are simple, except for women, and only these few people can do it.
They also have uniform requirements for officers and soldiers to wear them, but unfortunately it is winter now.
Being trapped in the Taihang Mountains for nearly half a year, the campers could not get enough winter clothes. In order to keep out the cold, people wrapped themselves in almost everything they could find.
The half-burned candles in the Guandi Temple flickered, and Li Zicheng said to the crowd: "The guard of Mianchi is called Yuan Daquan. We will cross the river from there and cross the Yellow River. We will not be with them. There are only five of our battalions."
Zhang Yingjin and Zhang Yichuan are both old figures in the rebel army. Especially the Huntian King Zhang Yingjin is very senior in terms of seniority. In his early years, he worked together with Liu Chengzong and Gao Yingxiang.
Zhang Yichuan was a little worse and had never met Liu Chengzong. He was Gao Yingxiang's little brother. But after Wang Zuoguai was recruited, Zhang Yichuan led his troops to follow Wang Zuoguai. Many of Zuoguaizi's subordinates were unwilling to recruit him. All the experienced soldiers voted for Zhang Yichuan.
Zhang Yingjin didn't speak, but just nodded; Zhang Yichuan spat out and said: "I can't stand them anymore. Once we destroy this Yuan Daquan, where will we go? Henan has finished the drought and floods, and the locusts have finished the floods. We can't wait any longer. We are Enter Huguang, or go to King Chuang?"
Li Zicheng asked: "Go back to northern Shaanxi?"
Zhang Yichuan shook his head and said mysteriously: "No, I heard that King Chuang came out of Shishizigou, had an internal fight with the Yan'an officers and soldiers, pulled more than a hundred cannons and headed south, maybe going to attack the city of Xi'an. "
Internal strife?
This is a rather special word. Li Zicheng blinked and didn't understand.
Zhang Yichuan smiled and said: "Hey, anyway, we have come out of the capital of Chuangwang. We were not allowed to talk about it before, but now it should be fine. In fact, the soldiers and thieves in Yan'an are all from the same family, and their full surname is Liu."
Li Zicheng asked in confusion: "The surname Liu is a common surname in Yan'an Prefecture. Many people in Yan'an Guard and Yan'an Camp are named Liu. I know this, but there are not many people named Liu in King Chuang?"
He started the incident later than others, still in Mizhi, and he didn't stay in his hometown for long. He basically traveled around Shanxi to fight. When he returned to northern Shaanxi, he only went to Shishizigou to find Gao Yingxiang.
Because except for Shizigou, both sides of the Yanhe River are areas of absolute chaos. The villages there are extremely organized. The villagers are also poor and fierce. They do not provide food to the court and do not allow the army to stay overnight.
The people who stayed there couldn't be distinguished by simple army thieves, because they all attacked... Usually, regardless of the army thieves, a small team went in and became a missing person, and the common people took the musketry team and the artillery team to lay the mine array. Give it to them.
As for the powerful rebel officers and soldiers, they are of little use. There is no food collected on both sides of the Yanhe River, and no one can stay there permanently.
I don’t know anymore!
Zhang Yichuan shook his head quite proudly, raised his hand and said: "Those are all Liu from the Northwest King."
He said in his heart that this Yan'an warrior's early development is precious information. If I don't tell it, how can you juniors know it?
Zhang Yingjin was much calmer than him. He never talked about this to anyone, but he said now: "It's useless for any of you. There are princes so far apart. Now they are all fighting. Don't say anything else." ,where are we going?"
Li Zicheng was stunned. He felt from Zhang Yichuan's words that Yan'an General Yang Yanchang was also a member of Liu Chengzong?
Then he regained his composure, shook his head and said, "I originally wanted to go to Huguang, but if it's like what you said, I don't think it's necessarily a real fight."
"It should be true. I heard that the commander of the Yan'an Guards, Ren Quan'er, handed over Zhongdou Xing's head, and they also suffered heavy losses."
As soon as Zhang Yichuan finished speaking, he was interrupted by Li Zicheng: "No, no one in the court has seen Zhongdou Xing."
"But there are some bastards who want to recruit people..." Zhang Yichuan was halfway through his words and thought about it: "General Yang Shen has Du Wu next to him, who will disguise the corpse."
"That's right. King Gao Chuang came out of the mountain because there was not enough food to eat. We were surrounded. No one was going to transport food to Shizigou this year. He wanted to find food. To find food, he had to go to Guanzhong. Once he entered Guanzhong, the imperial court would inevitably mobilize the Yan'an army to go south for peace. Rebel."
Li Zicheng analyzed: "Only if they fight a battle first, the Yan'an army will be unable to go south to suppress the rebellion, and Tongguan will not be able to pass... Nanyang, let's go to Nanyang, and then march to Hanzhong, and ask for news about King Chuang on the way."
At this moment, a scout horse rushed to Guandi Temple and reported: "General Chuang, King Hengtian sent an order, the Yellow River is blocked!"
"Sealed?"
Li Zicheng stood up and patted the dirt on his body, took a deep breath, and said to everyone: "Let the brothers hold up the door panels, and we will cross the river. From now on, the sky is high and the birds can fly!"
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Good evening!
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