"The eleventh year, the eighth day of December..."
North Zhili, Zhending Prefecture, Zhending Suburbs.
Chen Wang was wearing armor and sitting on the cold snow, staring at the Hutuo River running eastward not far in front of him.
The Hutuo River is still just like in the past, rushing eastward, roaring and rolling.
It was like this a few days ago, it was like this a few years ago, and it was like this for thousands of years.
The wheel of history is still rolling forward.
The battle outside Zhending City did not affect the Qing army's strategy.
Lu Xiangsheng still led the remaining tired troops under his command south to Shunde Mansion, heading towards Julu.
The Qing troops from all directions were also converging on the giant deer, and they kept getting closer to the giant deer. A large net was rising straight up and down towards the giant deer.
There were only three days left before the historic Battle of Julujiazhuang broke out.
Now Lu Xiangsheng has led his army into Shunde Prefecture. In two days, on December 10, Lu Xiangsheng will be stationed in Jiazhuang, Julu.
Gao Qiqian will also command the battalions in various towns in Guanning and lead the troops into Jize after the Qing army breaks through Jize.
Lu Xiangsheng sent someone to contact him, hoping to join forces the next morning for a decisive battle with the Qing army.
However, I went eastward to Linqing.
In the early morning of the 11th, Qing troops would come from all directions and surround Lu Xiangsheng.
The battle lasted until the afternoon of the 12th. Lu Xiangsheng's artillery was exhausted and he fought hand-to-hand with the Qing army.
At the last moment, Lu Xiangsheng jumped on his horse and galloped into the Qing army's formation, killing many people. He was hit by four arrows and three blades, and died of exhaustion.
The Qing army eliminated the last threat from Beizhili, and then continued southward into Shandong, conquered Jinan in one fell swoop, and captured Zhu Youshu, King of Mingde.
When they returned from Shandong and set out for the fortress, all the Ming troops along the way followed them and did not dare to attack. When they set out for the fortress this time, the Qing soldiers captured more than 460,000 people from Dingkou and gained more than a million gold and silver, and returned home fully loaded.
After this battle in the three towns of Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi of the Ming Army, almost all the soldiers who dared to fight were killed, and they were in ruins.
The Qing army's plundering made Beizhili almost corrupt, and Shandong Province was in turmoil.
A large number of bandits emerged between the two places in a short period of time, which made the local area even more unbearable and the people suffered a lot.
And all this is not the most serious consequence.
The disastrous defeat of the Ming army in North Zhili spread to the south without surprise.
The rogue bandits in the south who had been defeated by the Ming army and chose to surrender became rebellious again.
Lu Xiangsheng's death in battle and the disastrous defeat of Beizhili made Chongzhen lose trust in the border troops.
Therefore, Chongzhen retained Sun Chuanting and appointed him as the governor of Baoding to protect the capital.
Hong Chengchou was also transferred to the post of governor of Jiliao and led the Shaanxi troops eastward to join forces with Ma Ke in Shanhaiguan and Wu Sangui in Ningyuan.
Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting and a large number of Shaanxi troops were transferred to the north, leaving southern China extremely empty.
Among them, the first one to react was Zhang Xianzhong...
In fact, until Chongzhen twelve years ago, the Ming Dynasty did not show many signs of subjugation.
Twelve years ago, the pirate rebellion in the southeast had ended.
Hong Chengchou, Xiong Wencan, Sun Chuanting, Fu Zonglong and other governors worked together to almost eliminate the rogue rebellion in the mainland.
Lu Xiangsheng's military training at Xuanda University has also begun to bear fruit, and the strength of the northern frontier army has greatly increased.
The financial crisis of the Ming Dynasty was greatly alleviated.
However, this rare opportunity for recovery was interrupted due to the Wuyin Incident.
The Wuyin Revolution ended with a great victory for the Qing army, which revealed the weakness of the Ming Dynasty, and Huang Taiji's ambitions gradually expanded.
Yang Sichang's plan for peace talks to first pacify the outside world came to nothing.
The strategy of spreading a net from ten sides also became a broken net because of the transfer of Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting to the capital Qin Wang, which caused the peasant army to revive.
As a result, the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty took a turn for the worse, and the country and the country were once again plunged into continuous war...
…
Chen Wang's heart was very confused.
If it follows the original course of history and his original plan.
After Lu Xiangsheng's defeat, Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou will be transferred to the north.
Soon the rogue bandits will rise again, causing chaos in the world.
At that time, he could take the opportunity to leave Beizhili, a place of right and wrong.
Twelve years after Chongzhen, the prestige of the Ming court was greatly lost, and Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou were transferred to the north.
At that time, he will no longer face as many constraints in Hanzhong Mansion as before.
A large number of Shaanxi soldiers were transferred to the north. At that time, his troops were strong. The newly appointed governors of the three sides and the governor of Shaanxi will rely on him to carry out their campaigns, just as they relied on He Renlong in history.
At that time, it was true that the sea was wide enough for fish to leap, and the sky was high enough for birds to fly.
He could take Hanzhong as the center, build high walls, hoard food, hide his strength and bide his time, and continuously expand his power.
only……
What he saw along the way and the tragic scenes along the way made Chen Wang shaken.
The stench filled the cities that had been breached, and corpses with mutilated limbs were everywhere.
Bodies were lying on the street, lying on top of each other, and even the ditches and ponds were filled with corpses.
There are so many atrocities that cannot even be described in words.
Chen Wang clenched his fists tightly and stared at the river in front of him, his mind spinning over and over again.
During this period, what Lu Xiangsheng said that day echoed in his mind every moment.
He thought about it day by day and dreamed about it at night. In his sleep during these days, he dreamed of the Battle of Jiazhuang almost every night, dreamed of Lu Xiangsheng fighting fiercely with the Qing army in Jiazhuang, and dreamed of Lu Xiangsheng dying from multiple wounds to his body.
I dreamed of mourning and dying, with bones thousands of miles away.
Perhaps, Jiazhuang can remain undefeated...
Maybe Lu Xiangsheng can survive...
Lu Xiangsheng now has 8,000 troops under his command. If he gathers the surrounding troops, he may reach 10,000 troops, which is more powerful than in history.
If they can rush to help in time, even if they don't win, they can still be invincible...
Many things have changed. Cao Wenzhao did not die and followed Sun Chuanting all the way east.
Sun Chuanting's current situation is not the same as the original process. Except for He Renlong and Zhou Yuji, there are no soldiers who dare to fight. Even if he wants to, he is unable to do so.
According to the original process, Sun Chuanting stopped in Dingzhou and stagnated.
But now, Sun Chuanting led them all the way to Zhending Mansion before stopping. The reason for stopping was no longer the incompetence of the soldiers, but because they encountered the same dilemma as Lu Xiangsheng - insufficient food and grass.
Their situation is much better than when Lu Xiangsheng couldn't get any food and grass to support him.
Zhending Mansion will still provide a certain amount of food and grass every day, saying that they will mobilize more food and grass, and they only need to wait a few more days to prepare the food and grass for the expedition.
However, there are still two to three days of food and grass in the army. They have traveled all the way south from Zhending Mansion to Julu. If they are quick, they can get to the battlefield before or during the Battle of Jiazhuang...
Usually, Chen Wang knows what he is doing and when to do it.
But now, for the first time, Chen Wang didn't know what he should do.
If he went to remonstrate with Sun Chuanting, or through Cao Wenzhao, Sun Chuanting would most likely choose to lead his army south for reinforcements based on Sun Chuanting's personality.
This may really change the situation in Jiazhuang, and even change the outcome of the Wuyin Incident.
It's just that the impact of this will make everything that follows will be completely different. Changing more things will also disrupt his original overall plan...
Everything will fall into the unknown abyss, and everything will slide in an unpredictable direction.
In the battle of Jiazhuang, the Qing court gathered a large number of troops. Lu Xiangsheng had less than 10,000 people under his command. Even if they were included, there were only more than 20,000 people, but they had to face more than twice the enemy force.
The disadvantage in terms of military strength was difficult to make up for, and he only had three thousand soldiers under his command.
Three thousand soldiers can only play a very limited role in a battle involving tens of thousands of people. If something unexpected happens and the army is defeated...
This is not impossible...
And even if the outcome of the Battle of Jiazhuang was changed, the Wuyin Incident also changed.
Whether we can return to Hanzhong, Shaanxi Province by then is a new question.
Historically, Cao Bianjiao followed Sun Chuanting to help the north and was left behind.
After Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai surrendered, they rebelled again, and another civil uprising broke out in the pass.
The newly appointed Trilateral Governor Zheng Chongjian asked Cao Bianjiao to lead his troops to the west, but Chongzhen refused, and then appointed Cao Bianjiao as the general military officer of the ASEAN Association.
This paved the way for Cao Bianjiao to accompany Hong Chengchou out of seclusion and die in Liaodong.
Perhaps, at that time, he had no way to return to Hanzhong, but had to follow Hong Chengchou's troops out of Liaodong and into Songjin...
Or maybe...
Chen Wang's mind was confused and there were too many possibilities. He chose to save. Everything was unknown and unpredictable.
After all, his current strength is still too weak, and there are too many things that he cannot change.
The torrent of the times carries the fate of individuals.
The fate of being trapped by the times can only rise and fall with the times.
After a lot of hard work and effort, he finally became the commander-in-chief of a town.
But in the chessboard of the world, it is just an insignificant chess piece...
…
In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, it was early morning on December 11th.
Beizhili, Julu, Jiazhuang.
The Ming army's camp was now filled with smoke, and each camp was filled with the aroma of rice porridge.
Lu Xiangsheng stood on the camp wall, and beside him stood a student wearing a black diagonal scarf and a dark blue cloak.
The student's name was Yao Dongzhao, and he came to deliver food. He heard that Lu Xiangsheng's army was short of food.
Before the Qing army completed the encirclement, Yao Dongzhao took advantage of the cover of night and led his clan members to enter Jiazhuang with a total of 700 shi of grain.
Now that the Qing army has completed the encirclement, he is also trapped inside.
The 700 shi of food he sent was undoubtedly a timely help for Xuan Dajun, who had been without food for nearly three days.
After enduring hunger for more than a month, the soldiers of Xuan Dajun finally had a full meal.
only……
On the outskirts of Jiazhuang, the Qing army's various banners are constantly increasing.
If someone looked down from the sky at this time, they would be able to see a large number of Qing troops swarming towards Jiazhuang from all directions.
…
"Biography of Donglin·Volume 4·Biography of Lu Xiangsheng":
Xiang Sheng swore that he would die. He came out of his tent in the morning and worshiped on all sides, saying: "I and the soldiers have received the country's grace. If you worry, you will not die. If you don't worry, you will not live." Everyone wept, and no one could look up.
Two chapters, 7700 words, 300 short, will be completed tomorrow
(End of chapter)
