Chen Yongfu, who is stationed in Taiyuan, is indeed preparing to break out these days. The reason he gave up on Taiyuan was that Li Zicheng once again miscalculated people's hearts!
His "benevolent government" in Shanxi did not win the hearts and minds he wanted, but instead created a strong enemy for him - Shanxi merchants!
Previously, when the Datong Ming army colluded with the Qing army to deal with Dashun, Shanxi merchants contributed to it. The Qing army that later invaded Taiyuan Prefecture could obtain a large amount of supplies from the local area, and the contribution of Shanxi merchants was indispensable. Later, when Wu Sangui went south to attack Luoyang, Shanxi merchants also provided food and grass along the way. The city of Taiyuan where Chen Yongfu is now stationed is also in panic due to the destruction by Shanxi merchants.
Since late October, various rumors have been circulating among Chen Yongfu's troops, saying that Li Zicheng was defeated and died, and that the Dashun Dynasty had perished. The Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty had reached an agreement, with the Yellow River as the boundary and dividing the world equally. If there are traitors in Taiyuan City, Kaicheng will soon surrender. Why else would the Qing army build a dam to store water in the upper reaches of the Fen River? The water will soon overflow Taiyuan City...
Chen Yongfu was upset by these rumors, and the Dashun Army strongholds around Taiyuan were indeed uprooted one by one by the Qing army, eventually turning Taiyuan into an isolated city.
The lonely city will not be defended after all!
And in November, the situation in Taiyuan City is even worse! A fire broke out in a large granary in the city, burning more than 10,000 stones, rice and noodles. The loss was not big, but people were panicked, and the residents in the city were rushing to buy food like crazy.
What worries Chen Yongfu even more is that the Qing army outside the city seems to have strong support from the Shanxi gentry! Starting from late October, a large number of civilians began to dig long trenches outside Taiyuan City under the supervision of the Qing army!
In this case, sticking to Taiyuan would mean losing the troops in vain.
And because Wu Sangui's 30,000 troops left, only 30,000 Qing troops besieged Taiyuan remained. Although they are all powerful Eight Banners troops, their numbers are ultimately too small to besiege a big city like Taiyuan. Therefore, the possibility of a successful breakout has also been greatly increased.
On the fifth and sixth day of December, the temperature around Taiyuan suddenly dropped sharply, and the Fenhe River in the west of the city was well-fortified, enough for horse racing.
Chen Yongfu did not hesitate to seize the opportunity when the river had just frozen and the Qing army had not had time to adjust the encirclement. Together with Li Ruoxing and Han Wenquan, he led his troops to break through. After the successful breakout, the army split into two groups. Chen Yongfu led the main force to Jiaocheng in the southwest, while Li Ruoxing and Han Wenquan led their troops to the west and entered the Luliang Mountains.
The Qing army besieging the city was divided into three groups. One group was led by Duduo himself, who pursued Chen Yongfu, who fled to the southwest, and captured Fenzhou and Pingyang Mansion; the other group was led by Duoluobelenikan, who stayed in Taiyuan; Led by Jige, he went north to Daizhou and left Yanmen Pass to attack Datong Prefecture. According to Dorgon's plan, after Azige arrived at Datong Prefecture, he would replace Hauge, who had fought in vain for a long time, and become the commander-in-chief of the Qing army in Datong.
In Dorgon's opinion, Hauge and Obai were not incompetent, and the elite soldiers of Zhenglan Banner and Xiangyang Banner were not vegetarians. How could it be possible that the long battle was in vain? So Datong Mansion is just a fruit that is about to ripen, and Azige is here to pick the fruit... The Daifan of Datong is frankly the Datong border army of the Ming Dynasty. How powerful can it be?
But at this time, Dorgon, Duduo and Azig did not expect that their struggle with the Ming Dynasty vassal had just begun!
Moreover, the main battlefield of the struggle between the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty was not in Datong Prefecture at all, but on the Luliang Mountains...
...
At the beginning of December, military officials were waiting solemnly on the left side of the road.
Li Jiantai, who was preparing to escort the king to Luliang Mountain, also stood outside the gate of the royal city to greet him with several concubines dressed in military uniforms.
The acting king Zhu Cijiong saw them at a glance, and hurriedly walked over, surrounded by the accompanying eunuch Zong Zhen, the palace foreman Wang Jianwei, and the palace Jishan (teacher) Bi Keli, Chen Yongxi and others, and said to Wang Yongji , Jiang Gan and others said warmly: "The wind and snow are very strong, so there is no need to send you off far."
Then he said to Li Jiantai: "Mr. Li, you are old, so be careful about catching cold. Don't stand for a long time in the wind and snow. Get in the car quickly."
Seeing the young prince's caring attitude toward his subordinates, Wang Yongji, Jiang Yu, and Li Jiantai were all moved for a while. None of the three of them had seen Zhu Cixiang who was possessed by Zhu Yaofei's soul, and naturally they didn't know how powerful Zhu Cixiang was, so they thought that the 13-year-old His Highness, the King of Dai, looked like a wise king. He looked a little stronger than his father...at least he ran pretty fast. Before the Tatars could siege the city, he ran away on his own, and even ran to Luliang Mountain.
Jiang Yan cupped his hands and said, "My lord, you should also dress warmly. It's cold here in Datong, and it's the coldest time in December. There's ice and snow everywhere outside the city, and it's even colder when you go into the mountains."
Wang Yongji said: "This journey has been really difficult, Your Majesty... Speaking of which, the ministers were incompetent and were deceived by the Tatars!
However, I will not make things easier for the Tatars. With the strong city of Datong, I can always defend the city for two years! I don’t believe that the Tatars can stay outside Datong for so long! "
In terms of city defense, Datong City is much better than Beijing! Even if the Qing army had a large number of Hongyi cannons, it would be very difficult to break through the Datong city defenses - the main city wall of Datong was four to five feet wide, covered with rammed earth and bricks, and was extremely strong. Even if it was blasted with Hongyi cannons, it would be very difficult. Difficult to collapse. Moreover, destroying a section of the city wall will not achieve a breakthrough, because there are a total of 62 majestic gate towers, turrets, and watchtowers on the Datong City Wall. They are spaced apart and are not far from each other. When troops are deployed on them, they can use bows and arrows, firecrackers, and Buddhist statues. The Lang machine guns supported each other, forming a crossfire.
The sturdiness of these gate towers, turrets, and watchtowers is not comparable to that of city walls. Among them, the gate towers all have urn structures. The turrets and watchtowers are often shaped like protruding trapezoids. The front is relatively narrow, and the interior is solid. Even if it collapses, it will form a steep slope that is difficult to climb.
Therefore, Wang Yongji, Jiang Quan and others estimated that the Qing army would not attack Datong by force, but would adopt a protracted siege. In fact, it’s just that there are more hungry people inside and outside the city!
If we are trapped in an isolated city alone, no matter how many reserves there are in Datong City, they will eventually be exhausted. Fortunately, Luo Xiushen had started to plan a way out for the king a few months ago. The royal castle in the Luliang Mountains had been built, and Zhenxiwei and the various forts, forts, cities and villages below were basically under control. .
In addition, four counties and two prefectures, including Hequ County, Xing County, Lan County, Ling County, Baodou County, and Qalan Prefecture, located in the northwest of Shanxi Province, are also under the jurisdiction of officials sent by the Dai Wangfu.
With the territory of Yiwei, two states, and four counties located in the Luliang Mountain area echoing the Datong Prefecture, Datong Prefecture is no longer an isolated city... So Wang Yongji and Jiang Quan are full of confidence at this time. I feel that we can fight a protracted battle with the Qing army in Datong Fucheng.
The acting king, Zhu Cixiang, had already mounted his horse, and the palace guards had prepared a carriage for the elderly Li Jiantai to use. This second minister, who surrendered to Li Zicheng, spent 150,000 taels of silver to buy a "return certificate", and had a Shanxi merchant background, was theoretically very unreliable. However, after he took refuge under Dai Wang, he actually repented and provided money and food. He also collected many useful muskets and gunpowder for Dai Wang's bodyguards.
Moreover, he also helped Luo Xiu build a royal castle in Luliang Mountain, and also had more than forty of his fifty wives and a large number of children sent to Luliang Mountain.
It seems that he wants to live and die with His Highness the King!
After the acting king Zhu Cijiong sat firmly on the horse, he turned to look at the ministers who were seeing him off. He suddenly raised the whip in his hand and pointed it south: "I will call on the heroes of Shanxi and Shaanxi in the Luliang Mountains to fight against the Donglu to the end. May you all stick to Datong and wait for me to lead the righteous and brave troops from all directions to relieve Datong!"
