Li Zicheng's awakening was still too late!
In early October of the 16th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng conquered Tongguan, captured Xi'an, and swept across Shaanxi. Until the first month of the following year when he proclaimed himself emperor and marched eastward, sweeping Shanxi, he had a good hand.
If he could wake up at that time and realize that "winning the hearts and minds of the people" means that you must first firmly control the wealth and life of the "people" before you can think about how to win the hearts and minds of the "people". That’s a big deal!
Otherwise, how would you know that you have won the hearts of the people? Do you think about it alone in the palace? Isn't this the same as Emperor Chongzhen?
It's a pity that Li Zicheng felt so good about himself at that time that he didn't realize that he had not really won the "popular support". It was just that the poor people who were oppressed by corrupt officials, gentry, and the foolish king who thought they were wise had no interest in him, the leader of the rebel army. It's just a good impression and a hope.
That's not winning the hearts and minds of the people, it's just that the people's hearts have expectations for him, and it's still far from "winning"!
If Li Zicheng could take advantage of the expectations of the people, confiscate the land of the gentry and corrupt officials, redistribute it (not necessarily evenly), and establish a system of equalizing land and granting land to control the population and land in Shaanxi, Shanxi, western Henan, and northern Huguang, At the same time, sufficient benefits are distributed to followers.
The Dashun Dynasty became...
But at that time, Li Zicheng knew how to exploit the rich by extorting money, and hurriedly entered Beijing to ascend the throne for the second time. As a result, he began to decline all the way after entering Beijing, and lost one battle after another. It was not until the beginning of the second year of Yongchang (the eighteenth year of Chongzhen) that he finally came back to his senses. My son is here, but he’s not fully awake yet! Isn't it too late to just carry out "land reform pilot projects" in Xiangjing and Yuanyang?
Just when Li Zicheng and Niu Jinxing thought it was "not too late", in Yulin Town in northern Shaanxi, disaster was already approaching!
Yulin Town, also known as Yansui Town, is one of the so-called three sides of Shaanxi. The other two are Ningxia Town and Gansu Town, both of which are now in the hands of Wu Sangui. As for Yulin Town, Wu Sangui has no interest in getting involved for the time being - this is because the site in Yulin Town is really bad, and Wu Sangui doesn't like it.
Because the land area of this town is not mainly divided into areas, but is distributed in points and lines. Starting from Qingshuiying on the edge of the Yellow River in the east and ending at Huamachi in the rear of Ningxia in the west, it stretches for more than 1,200 miles and forms a border defense line along the northern edge of Yan'an Prefecture. In order to defend this line of defense, the Ming Dynasty also spent huge sums of money to build the Yansui Border Wall that was more than 1,700 miles long, and also built a pier defense system that stretched for more than 1,200 miles. Thirty-six forts were also built and deployed along the Yansui border wall. Tens of thousands of troops are stationed all year round to prevent the Mongolian cavalry from marching southward.
Of course, such a winding and narrow border town has little potential, unless the neighboring Yan'an is taken over as well. And Yan'an Prefecture, with its thousands of ravines, is not as good as Ningxia, which is known as the Jiangnan Fortress, and it is not as good as Gansu, which has access to the western regions and snowy areas. Wu Sangui, who wants to find a good site for himself, naturally looks down on Yulin Town. .
Although Li Zicheng was well aware of the importance of Yulin Town, his Dashun regime was still implementing its promise of "no conscription for three years" until recently, and its finances depended entirely on taking advantage of large households and plundering. Naturally, there is not much spare power to support the defenders of Yulin Town, and most of the defenders of Yulin are now recruited Ming Dynasty border troops. These frontier troops resisted Li Zicheng's surrender in the 16th year of Chongzhen. At that time, Wang Shiqin, Hou Shilu, Hou Gongji, You Shiwei and others, who were the commander-in-chief and former commander-in-chief of Yulin Dao, were stationed in Yulin City to resist Li Guo and Liu Fangliang's seven-year campaign. Ten thousand troops marched for thirteen days. After the city was broken, You Shiwei and other generals were executed, and the defenders from all over Yulin Town gradually surrendered to Dashun.
Of course, Li Zicheng did not believe in such a Yulin army. To recruit them was to have someone guard the Yulin border wall to prevent the Mongolian tribes that had long declined in the Hetao grassland from going wild in Li Zicheng's hometown of Tianbaofu (Yan'an Prefecture).
As for military pay and supplies, of course it is impossible to give more, not even to Li Zicheng! As an emperor, he has already suffered a loss, so what else can he expect?
Therefore, the Yulin Guard established by Li Zicheng has been extremely poor since its opening until now. Only the three or two thousand direct descendants of Dashun stationed in Yulin City have better supplies. The "frontier troops" stationed at the Thirty-sixth Camp and looking at the 1,700-mile border wall were really worse off than when they served as soldiers for Emperor Chongzhen.
At that time, there was not much pay, but there was money to be made from the border trade. Because the Mongolian Tumut Khanate had long since weakened, the Yulin Border Wall had been relatively peaceful over the years. There are no Mongolian bandits coming south, but the mutual trade between the two sides is quite lively. Yulin Town doesn't have much land, so it just relies on the mutual trade to eat.
But Li Zicheng took advantage of the large Shaanxi merchants in Guanzhong and directly wiped out the Yulin Mutual Market! As a result, a group of border troops who relied on trade for food could no longer survive, and most of them dispersed on their own. By the second year of Yongchang, the garrison of the thirty-sixth camp in Yulin, not counting the three thousand direct descendants of Yulin City, there were only three or four thousand left.
These people were dispersed in units of sentries and stationed in barracks and castles, forming isolated strongholds scattered along the border wall that stretched for 1,700 miles, pretending that the Yulin border defense still existed.
Chen Boliang, the sentry commander who was ordered to garrison Weiyuan Fort, walked down from the watchtower. He smiled bitterly at Gao Wei, the sentry commander who lived with his first sentry troops, and said: "Another day! Everything is fine... It seems that both Wu Sangui and the Mongolians look down on us in Yulin! But when will these days of fading away from birds come to an end!"
Gao Wei was previously a Qian Commander in the Ming Army. After being absorbed by the Dashun Dynasty, he was given the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Brigade. Later, too many of his subordinates fled and he was reduced to the rank of Commander-in-Chief, in charge of three sentries.
When Chen Boliang came down from the tower, Gao Wei was eating steamed buns outside the barracks below the tower. The dry steamed buns were soaked in mutton soup that didn't taste like sheep. It was a makeshift meal.
Hearing Chen Boliang's complaint, Gao Wei snorted: "It's good to live... you have a house to live in, a field to farm, and a girl to sleep with. What else are you dissatisfied about? Well, Weiyuan Castle doesn't have anything." , no one thinks highly of it, it happens to be so mediocre..."
As soon as he said this, the sound of a gun broke through the tranquility of the grassland outside the side wall. The Mongols on the grassland have no guns! This must be Ye Bushou released by Gao Wei and Chen Boliang and firing.
Gao Wei immediately stood up and listened attentively with Chen Boliang.
Gradually, I heard the thundering sound of horse hooves!
Both of them changed their colors, and the peace of Weiyuan Castle ended today.
I don’t know if it’s Wu Sangui’s troops or the Mongols on the grassland who are coming?
The rally horn sounded immediately over Weiyuan Fort. The soldiers who had just finished dinner came out of their homes one after another and walked towards the north gate of Weiyuan Fort with bows, arrows, spears, swords and shields - they had all lived in Weiyuan Fort for generations. The wives and children of the military households in the far fort are also here. The land outside Weiyuan Castle is their main source of income now.
To protect Weiyuan Fort is to protect their home!
Gao Wei and Chen Boliang had already climbed up the tower. It was already dark, and they could only see the torches in the distance forming a rolling fire dragon. The enemy's formation was neat and orderly, and one could tell at a glance that they were not Mongolians on the grassland.
And there are so many of them, the long dragons composed of torches are flowing on the endless grassland, and they can't see the edge either.
Soon, the second, third, and fourth fire dragon appeared in their sight!
"Yes, is it Wu Sangui?" Chen Boliang asked in a skeptical tone.
"Impossible..." Gao Wei shook his head, "I'm afraid there are tens of thousands of people... Why did Wu Sangui send so many soldiers here?"
Now that Wu Sangui is still acting as the general military officer of Ningxia and Gansu in the Ming Dynasty, the defenders here at Weiyuan Fort will not resist at all, and sending a few hundred people will be enough.
Tens of thousands of people...
"It's the Donglu!" Gao Wei looked pale, "We're done... light the beacon fire, beat the war drums, and the whole city is preparing for war. Anyone who can take up arms must join the battle! If Weiyuan Fort is broken by the Donglu, None of us will survive!"
