In early December of the first year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, a Ming Dynasty surrender army whose morale was extremely low, and who walked with their heads downcast, came to Beijing, a city that was both familiar and unfamiliar to them.
This army was the army of Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo. When they decided to rebel against the Ming Dynasty, they led an army of more than 20,000 people in total, which could be described as a strong force.
But just ten days later, when they arrived at the gates of Beijing, the number of troops had been reduced by three-quarters! The entire army numbered less than 5,000 men, and they lost their armor and equipment and a large amount of baggage.
The reason why they suffered so miserably was that they were attacked by 7,000 new troops commanded by Li Ruolian near Liaocheng. Even though Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo had 20,000 men, that was their total strength, including a large number of rabble and heavy baggage troops who could not fight. The real number that could fight was only five or six thousand, which was not as many as Li Ruolian!
Moreover, Li Ruolian's four associations have been strengthened by Su Guansheng, governor of Denglai, and Shen Tingyang, minister of Beiyang, and are very well equipped. Especially after Shen Tingyang became the Minister of Beiyang, he began to operate Dengzhou Water City as his base camp. He expanded the water city and connected it to Dengzhou City. At the same time, he also opened a shipbuilding yard and ironworks in the water city.
The former can produce centipede warships, while the latter can produce artillery and fire guns... Although the output is not large, the output of turtle dove foot fire guns is only a pitiful 50 pieces per month, starting from August to October. At the beginning of January, 150 useful turtle-dove-foot fireguns were produced.
This Beiyang Minister is also very interesting. He did not leave any one behind, but all supported the Dengzhou Association, the main force under the Shandong Commandery Department, which is the new army of the Dengzhou Guards (belonging to the new armies of the guards) - Dengzhou Association is the substitute If the navy guards their hometown soldiers and they are defeated by the Tatars, the Beiyang Navy will be in misery.
As for the possibility of the navy being defeated by the Tatars at sea, Shen Tingyang believed that it did not exist. He originally owned two centipede boats, and after he became the Beiyang Minister, he ordered a batch of new boats. Now one has been delivered, and he owns a total of three centipede boats, each with two 12-pound Hongyi cannons!
It may not be enough to meet the navy of the old Zheng family or the Westerners. For the Korean navy and the Tatar navy, it is not a piece of cake!
Therefore, what Shen Tingyang is most worried about is not problems at sea, but problems on land. So he not only gave all the 150 turtle-dove-foot fireguns produced in his own iron factory to Dengzhou Xie, but also purchased 170 turtle-dove-foot fireguns at a high price through various channels, and gave them all to Dengzhou Xie.
Therefore, when Li Ruolian of Dengzhou led the Dengzhou Association to attack, each flag team of the association was equipped with 20 turtle-dove-footed firegun teams (the rest were equipped with spears and swords). When fighting against Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo's troops, these 320 turtle-dove-footed fire cannons really showed off their power!
The fire gun soldiers of the Dengzhou Association have been strictly trained, and the quality of the fire gun is also reliable. Facing the rebels of Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo again, the Dengzhou fire gun soldiers were protected by spear soldiers and sword soldiers, so they could open fire with confidence.
Therefore, these 320 turtle-dove-footed fire cannons all exerted their normal power, using waves of volleys (the fire cannon soldiers of the new army cannot fire in turns, but only volleys and scatters), and they defeated two families. The rebels fell on their backs.
And then the new army launched a powerful spear assault, giving them another fatal blow! If it weren't for the fact that Li Ruolian didn't have many cavalry at his disposal, these two heads would have gone to Nanjing to meet Zhu Cixiang...
Although his head was saved now, he had very little capital left to become a traitor, and his desire to serve the Qing Dynasty was a little "gray". The two of them thought that they could not defeat the Tatars, the bandits, the divisions that defeated the new army, and the ruthless characters like Huang Degong, Gao Jie, and Zuo Liangyu, but they couldn't defeat the guards, right?
The foundation of the guards is just a group of farmers. How good can a group of farmers be after four or five months of training? Can it be compared with the battle-hardened servants?
In the Battle of Liaocheng, Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo wanted to fight quickly, but they took out their servants to fight from the beginning. I thought I could win with one blow, but who knew that my opponent used more than 300 turtle-dove-footed muskets and fired several volleys from 30 paces away, followed by a wave of rifle assault... What a loss. Tragic!
After the war was fought like this, both traitors felt that they were no longer worthy of being traitors, so on the way to Beijing they discussed making some contributions as a meeting gift to the Tatar Regent.
After much deliberation, all they can bring forward now, apart from the falsehoods of the New Army that they have mastered, is the little evidence that Wu Sangui colluded with the Southern Dynasty.
But could this "evidence" be Prince Zhu's counterintuitive plan? That traitor is a cunning and cruel master! If it was a counter-intentional plan, they would have harmed Wu Sangui.
Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo were still undecided until they entered Shuntian Mansion.
"Mr. Liu, something doesn't seem quite right!"
The tall and majestic city of Beijing was within sight, but old man Xu Dingguo realized something was wrong...
"What's wrong?" Liu Liangzuo glared at the old man Xu who was walking beside him, "The ruler of the Southern Dynasty was treacherous and his ministers were treacherous, and the ruler of the country had lost power. Sooner or later, he would be destroyed by the Northern Dynasty... Since ancient times, Beiding has been The south is nine out of ten, and the south is equal to the north only once. I, the Qing Dynasty, have defeated the rogue bandits, and will soon pacify the Central Plains and become the master of the Northern Dynasty. Next, we will determine the south from the north, and we will be like a broken bamboo!"
He spoke eloquently, but the old man Xu on the side waved his hands repeatedly, "Don't mention this, this old man knows it. What I said is that it is not too cold outside Beijing. We are almost at Chaoyangmen. I have returned to Beijing. At that time, there was a lot of traffic and people outside Chaoyang Gate. What's going on right now..."
After what he said, Liu Liangzuo also felt that something was wrong. When he came back to Beijing last time, the outside of Chaoyang Gate was not as deserted as it is now.
Although the city of Beijing has changed its master twice this year, there has never been a big fight after all, and it has been more than half a year since the Qing Dynasty established Beijing, so it is time to regain some popularity, right?
"Second brother, why is it so deserted here?"
Liu Liangzuo called him his second brother, Zhangjing Liu Liangchen, the leader of the Han Army under the Xianghuang Banner. He surrendered to the Qing Dynasty with Zu Dashou when he was defeated at Dalinghe in the fourth year of Chongzhen. Zu Dashou himself pretended to surrender that time, and later surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Looking for an opportunity to run back to the Ming Dynasty. But Liu Liangchen really surrendered. He has been a traitor for 13 years now and has won the trust of his Manchu masters.
Before Liu Liangzuo rebelled against the Ming Dynasty and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, he was leading his troops to fight hard in Datong Mansion with Haoge and Aobai!
Because the Ming army in Datong also carried out drastic "land reform", all soldiers were allocated at least 100 acres of land. Therefore, the morale of the Datong Army has been significantly improved, and its combat effectiveness has also reached a higher level.
Moreover, Jiang Yu was not a fool. He had long been wary of the Qing army betraying the alliance. Therefore, the defenses of the Zhenlu Guards and the Andong Zhongtun Guards were arranged very carefully. The former is facing the direction of Xuanfu, and the latter is facing Daizhou. The soldiers and civilians of both places, under the orders of Datong General Soldier Guan Si, fortified their walls and cleared the country, and were always ready for war.
Therefore, the Qing army that attacked Datong Prefecture was in trouble from the beginning. The surprise attack failed, and it also fell into hard battles one after another - if it did not attack the fortifications, it would not be able to obtain supplies on the spot, and if it did not attack the fortifications, it would lose troops and generals.
Hauge proposed to withdraw from Shanxi and redirect troops to Shandong. There are also factors in this regard...
And Liu Liangchen's Han army was the vanguard in attacking fortified cities and strongholds, and the losses were even more severe! Now I see my brother coming back in a mess, and I feel even more depressed.
So when I heard Liu Liangzuo's question, I sighed deeply: "Brother, haven't you heard of land enclosure, house occupation, and investment? Today's Beijing city is no longer the Beijing city of the past... Live Everyone inside has changed their species!"
Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo both took a breath after hearing this.
At this time, Liu Liangchen said again: "Brother, you and General Xu's troops cannot enter the city, so let them camp outside Chaoyang Gate... but they are not allowed to leave the camp without permission, and they are not allowed to disturb the people. Now outside the city of Beijing, Most of the land has been occupied by the Eight Banners, and those who farm the land are slaves. Although they are slaves, they are more noble than the Han people!"
What?
Isn't this worse than a slave?
Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo felt unhappy. They were princes in the Ming Dynasty, but here they didn't even dare to offend their slaves...
Liu Liangchen then ordered: "In addition, the regent of the Qing Dynasty is wise and decisive, and he is a genius. Whatever you two know, you must tell the truth, and you must not hide anything."
There must be no concealment, Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo thought: Then Wu Sangui must be betrayed!
Wu Sangui, I'm sorry!
