Zhaozhou, a subordinate state of Zhending Prefecture, which is famous for its Zhaozhou Bridge in later generations, is already a sea of Dashun troops in blue clothes and white hats. The highly disciplined veteran soldiers came like a flood. The officials and soldiers stationed in Zhaozhou of the Qing Dynasty did not even have the courage to resist, so they became the "brave" who fled in the face of the wind. However, before they escaped, they caused great harm to Zhaozhou City. First, they captured the few residents in the city, drove them out of Zhaozhou City in this severe winter, and all headed north, and then set fire to the city. All the houses were burned down. It also has a beautiful name: strong walls and clear fields.
Shortly after the Qing soldiers retreated with the people in arms, nearly 30,000 high-morale Dashun old battalion soldiers led by Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu marched into the deserted Zhaozhou City.
By the way, Li Zicheng's old battalion suffered a series of blows and suffered heavy losses after the defeat at Yishui. Of the 60,000 veteran soldiers who originally led the Eastern Expedition, less than 30,000 were able to retreat to Shanxi. Although more than 10,000 old camp backbones were recruited from Gao Yigong in Guanzhong and Yuan Zongdi in Xiangyang to supplement them. But no matter what, it cannot reach the current number.
Therefore, the 40,000 veteran soldiers led by Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu were actually troops injected with water. There were only fourteen to five thousand elite soldiers who entered the old camp before the Stone War. The rest are all newly recruited brave men. Some are from the Ming army, some are bandits and bandits, and some are simply civilians. Therefore, the combat effectiveness of this army is no longer the same as that of the veteran soldiers who fought against the Qing Army and Guan Ning Army in Yishi.
This roundabout Northern Expedition was able to achieve such results, which was beyond the expectations of Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu.
Both of these two people have a relatively cautious temperament, especially after Tianjin Wei and Yi Yishi suffered a lot, they no longer have the same heroic spirit that they used to have to sweep through all the wastes. Therefore, when facing the situation of consecutive battles and victories, they became more cautious and did not dare to move forward after advancing to Zhaozhou.
In the Zhaozhou Yamen, which had been through the fire, Li Guo, who was wearing a sheepskin coat, was sitting on a stone bench in the garden with an old acquaintance in a daze. This old acquaintance is Li Yan and Feng San, a subordinate of the Red Lady. Now he has a famous name, and he has a well-known official status. He is the chief historian of the Ming and Tang Dynasties and the commander of the left guard.
However, this time he did not come under the orders of the King of Tang. Instead, he brought Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu an autographed letter from Zhu Cixiang, the prince of Fujun in the Ming Dynasty.
The Prince of Ming Dynasty wants to fight against the Qing Dynasty together with his nephew of Dashun!
Moreover, Zhu Cixiang also explained to him in the letter the matter of Dai Fan's unauthorized alliance with the Qing Dynasty - this matter was definitely decided by Dai Fan's people, and the Ming Crown Prince himself was determined to resist the Qing Dynasty!
In addition, Zhu Cihong also told Li Guo in the letter that if the situation of the Northern Expedition was unfavorable, he was welcome to go south to station in Kaifeng and Nanyang. There is no need for him to surrender to the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty is willing to non-aggression with him and can also lend him rice, flour and cloth...
This condition is quite attractive!
But now the whole world knows that the Ming Prince is cunning and cruel. If they join forces with him to fight against the Qing Dynasty, will they be annexed even though they resist?
...
"Bohou, we don't have much food left. Ever since we defeated Wei Hui Mansion, it has been difficult to raise food along the way. The Tatars burned and killed people everywhere, and both sides of the road were destroyed into white fields..."
After Fengmingshan left, the person who spoke to Li Guo was Tian Jianxiu. Next to Li Zicheng, he was a boss-level figure on an equal footing with Liu Zongmin. Now he is with Li Guo, but he is a head shorter than Li Guo and has become Li Guo's deputy. After withdrawing from Beijing, Li Zicheng firmly grasped his old camp.
The only ones who could take charge of their own affairs were Yuan Zongdi, who had long been separated to lead troops in Xiangyang, his eldest nephew Li Guo, his brother-in-law Gao Yigong, and the leader of the children's camp Luo Hu, who he regarded as his own.
Even Tian Jianxiu and Liu Zongmin are no longer allowed to lead the army alone.
Unlike Liu Zongmin's unruly temperament, Tian Jianxiu was a general who knew how to advance and retreat, so Li Zicheng asked him to assist Li Guo.
"Is there any news about the emperor?" Li asked.
Tian Jianxiu shook his head: "Bohou, the emperor has withdrawn his troops from Guguan. I don't know where he went. He can't be contacted... Maybe he returned to Guanzhong."
The backbone of the Dashun Army are all Shaanxi people. After they withdrew from Beijing, they began to miss home and wanted to return to their hometown in Guanzhong as soon as possible to live a happy life... In the eyes of the Shaanxi people, Tongguan and Wuguan are closed. , Guanzhong can become a world of its own.
Li Guo actually had the same idea. After hearing what Tian Jianxiu said, he sighed: "It's better to go back to Guanzhong... In fact, I should have gone back long ago. After coming out of Beijing, I should have gone straight to Guanzhong. Guard Guanzhong Only when we operate well can our foundation be solid."
"Management?" Tian Jianxiu shook his head and lowered his voice, "Bohou, I asked Feng San about it. Li Yan is doing a great job in Runing! In just a few months, he has managed a great situation. Already..."
"How does he manage his business?" Li Guo asked with a frown.
"It's not too difficult, just seize the land, population, and money," Tian Jianxiu said, "and then reward according to merit and distribute part of the land, population, and money... Feng San Ming Dynasty's Fujun The prince did the same thing in the southeast. He confiscated tens of millions of acres of land and tens of millions of taels of silver from the honorable ministers in the southeast! The tens of thousands of soldiers of the new army who followed him to overcome difficulties all got land, at least 50 acres of paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River! Everyone is happy... The situation of the Zhu family in the southeast is considered stable.
In addition, the Tatars also encircled farmland, occupied houses, and invested money within 300 miles around Beijing, and distributed the land and population to their Eight Banners generals..."
Li Guo sighed: "We should do the same!"
"But your lord..." Tian Jianxiu swallowed his words as soon as he started.
In fact, even if he didn't say it, Li Guo knew what he was talking about - wasn't it just that "the emperor has a bit of a womanly kindness"?
Is there any need to talk about this? Who among the top brass of Dashun Army doesn’t know?
The Yongchang Emperor looked very scary when he was cruel and could do any evil deeds. But deep down in his heart, he sympathizes with the poor people very much. He really cares for the poor as the foundation of Dashun.
His approach is a bit like the "free model" of later Internet companies. They first use the free model to capture the market, and then find ways to make profits.
However, Li Zicheng was unable to raise funds to make up for the shortfall caused by the free model, so he had no choice but to deprive his brothers.
Nowadays, the monthly salary of ordinary veteran soldiers is only one tael of silver, which is not enough to support their families, and the military rations are only enough to satisfy their hunger. If they want to make a fortune, they can only rely on robbery. However, Li Zicheng is afraid of losing people's support if he robs too much, so he has strict restrictions.
Compared with the Eight Banners soldiers who occupied a large amount of flag land and the veterans of the New Army who were able to get at least 50 acres of paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River (new soldiers must have meritorious service or serve for five years before they can be granted land), the actual income of the veterans of the Dashun Army is now , only about one-tenth of others, so what’s the motivation? We could still talk about our ideals before taking Beijing, but what nonsense are we still talking about now?
Fortunately, in this era, information is not developed and transportation is not convenient. Otherwise, there would be no need to fight. All the old soldiers under Li Zicheng would submit their resumes to Zhu Cixiang!
But if Li Guo really took Li Zicheng's 40,000 veteran soldiers to garrison in Kaifeng and Nanyang, which are adjacent to Runing Prefecture, and if he and Zhu Cixiang were to play an anti-Qing united front, haha... Li Yan would not be allowed to corner the wall. Destroyed?
Of course, Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu are not without the risk of seeing Lian Ming, but they have no way out now. This roundabout counterattack has been a bit exhausted until now. Going further north, do you really want to take a walk around the city of Beijing? We can’t expect the people of Beijing to welcome King Chuang this time, because Beijing has basically become a city of bannermen...
Moreover, it is impossible for all the Tatar soldiers to be trapped in Shanxi. As long as Dorgon still has 20,000 Tatar soldiers on hand, Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu's troops and horses will be in danger.
Since it is very dangerous to go north, it is inevitable to turn south. The question is just where to go?
So when more than 10,000 Eight Banners soldiers led by Luo Luohun and Tan Tai appeared in Zhending Mansion, Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu didn't even think about a decisive battle, and immediately chose to retreat in large strides.
At the same time, Wu Sangui's army crossed Wangwu Mountain and rushed into Huaiqing Mansion, which also blocked Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu's retreat to Henan Mansion (Luoyang).
So withdrawing south to Kaifeng and then turning to Nanyang became the only retreat for Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu's troops.
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