In early October of the fourth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, winter just entered, and the Central Plains ushered in the first snow of the year. The snow was extremely heavy, fully demonstrating the power of the Little Ice Age to people in this troubled world. It was just the first snow, and the sky and the earth were completely white. The cold wind blew by, and snowflakes the size of goose feathers were flying in all directions. The temperature has dropped sharply and has already reached below freezing point. Several rivers north of the Huaihe River have already formed a thin layer of floating ice.
People living in the Central Plains have long been accustomed to this life of ice and snow as soon as winter comes. After the autumn harvest, they begin to prepare for the winter.
In the Central Plains territory firmly controlled by the Qing Dynasty, the common people who were not qualified to shave their heads and wear money and rat tails, although they lived under the iron heel of the so-called Tatars, did not have to worry about dying of hunger and cold in the slow winter.
Although the weather is cold and dry now, and the grain yield per mu in the Central Plains is generally low, a ten-acre farm is still enough for a slightly more industrious small farmer to get enough food from the barren land.
The land rent of four liters per acre, the household payment of one piece of cotton or linen cloth per household, and the ten days of corvee service are much easier than the earlier days when farmers worked for the landlords.
I have to say that life without landlords and old wealth is a good life...
So when the first snow came in the fourth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, in the Central Plains under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, those small, but quite sturdy Baowu-style villages were gathering everywhere. of vitality.
Of course, for those who have survived the waves of chaos and have not been forced to travel far away, although food and clothing are no longer a problem, the danger is not far away.
The flames of war are still spreading across the Central Plains. The originally dying Ming Dynasty actually regained its vitality after moving south. With signs of ZTE, it now begins its northern expedition to the Central Plains in order to regain its lost territory.
And Zhang Xianzhong, the thief who had been plundering in all directions for many years and killing countless people, didn't know what medicine he took. He didn't want to stay in Guanzhong and be his king of Dashun. He suddenly broke into the Central Plains and occupied Luoyang City and proclaimed himself emperor.
The small farmers in the Central Plains who originally thought that the troubled times were about to come to an end, all they can do during this winter is to stay alive and cherish every day, which is to raise the walls of the Wubao where they live as high as possible and make more preparations. Arrowheads and wooden bows were used to guard the home.
And those gentlemen who are qualified to have a money rat tail are not so lucky. They can guard their own fortress and try their best to block this endless troubled world outside their homes.
Because they have braids and all of them are lords of the Qing Dynasty, they cannot be obedient citizens of the Ming Dynasty and must fight to defend the Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, starting from the autumn, the old, weak, women and children of the Qing Dynasty and the Green Banner began to gather in the castle where their respective Jiala Zhangjing was located, with not much wealth. Some Jia La who were closer to the front line also moved to stronger fortresses further back.
As for the bannermen of the Qing Dynasty's Zhenglu Banner, at this time, except for a small number who stayed in the fortresses where Jia La or Gushan Ezhen were located, and some were transferred to key places such as Shanxi and Beiqing, the remaining large troops They all concentrated one after another around Zhengzhou City where Emperor Ama of the Qing Dynasty was stationed.
Concentrated in Zhengzhou were not only the more than 100 Niu Lu from the Zhenglu Banner, numbering in the tens of thousands, but also the powerful force of the Old Eight Banners from around Beijing, and there were also more than 100 Niu Lu, not counting the accompanying minions. , the number of Zhengding soldiers alone is no less than thirty or forty thousand.
Nearly 90,000 elite soldiers of the Nine Banners finally gathered around the Qing Emperor Amadorgun in this freezing and snowy winter!
...
"Long live the Emperor, long live, long live, long live..."
Outside Zhengzhou City, on the bank of the Yellow River that had begun to freeze, cavalry and infantry formed a square formation in units of Jia La, densely covering a large area, and they all let out high-pitched cheers. Standing on the bank of the Yellow River, Emperor Amadorgun of the Qing Dynasty finally showed a satisfied smile.
While Zhu Cixiang was busy commanding his troops to capture cities and territories in Shandong and Liaodong, and bluffing in western Liaoning, Dorgon was not idle either.
In addition to slowly gathering his feudal army these days, he has been training the army with new tactics.
When Zhu Cixiang launched the Second Northern Expedition, Dorgon was undergoing a military reform - this generation of Tatars was the most capable of learning and improving! Starting from Huang Taiji and ending with Dorgon, it has evolved from a primitive country that was not much stronger than the tribal alliance to a semi-bureaucratic and semi-feudal empire with relatively strict systems.
So when they encountered the "modern Ming Army" that absorbed the latest results of Western military science, they naturally began to make targeted improvements.
There are two directions for improvement, one is to enhance firepower, and the other is to enhance mobility.
Although the previous Qing army was said to be "invincible with bows and horses," it was actually only mounted infantry and was not very mobile. Moreover, although the Qing army also attached great importance to artillery and brought Hongyi artillery to the field battlefield, the firepower in field battles was considered weak in this era.
It's just that their opponents are weaker, so they have the effect of being invincible.
And this kind of "invincibility" is far from the strongest state that the "Nine Flags" can achieve!
The strongest state of the "Nine Flags", in Dorgon's vision, is a combination of cavalry, mounted infantry and light field artillery.
When the 90,000 troops of the Nine Banners of the Qing Dynasty slowly gathered in Zhengzhou, Dorgon did not rush to go to war, but took his time to review and train the army outside Zhengzhou.
In early October, Dorgon also organized a mobile drill involving 100,000 people (including coated slaves). They ran twice around Zhengzhou and ran a "high-speed" of 75 miles a day - 100,000 people. The army, pulling 48 3-pound bronze cannons and 48 one-pound general cannons, and a large convoy of baggage, could travel 75 miles a day, which was not too slow.
Moreover, after running for several days, the army that returned to the garrison outside Zhengzhou City was still full of troops and seemed ready to go into battle at any time.
"Congratulations to the Emperor's Arma, congratulations to the Emperor's Arma. With such elite soldiers, the Emperor's Arma will definitely be able to win the battle and defeat the Southern Ming Dynasty..."
Before the cheers of the soldiers completely stopped, Nikan, the prince of Jingjin County who was following Dorgon, raised his thumb and started praising him.
"Huang Ama is really like a god in using his troops, and he is even more like a god in training his troops! It has only been a few days! He has trained such an invincible force..."
Abatai's third son, Duanzhong County Prince Bolo, who died of illness last year, also started playing with Nikan, with a look of admiration on his very loyal face.
"With Huang Ama here, we can dominate the world from morning to night! The elite soldiers trained by Huang Ama are simply heavenly soldiers!"
Daishan's eldest son, Mandahai, was not to be outdone, and started to flatter Emperor Ama too... Oh, it wasn't flattery, it was just words that spoke from the bottom of one's heart.
After listening to the heartfelt words of Nikan, Boluo and Mandahai, Dorgon felt much better. He turned to the three of them and said, "The little emperor of the Zhu family is rich in capital. When it comes to using troops to fight, he is not good at it." Far away... If his new army of overcoming difficulties stayed on the south bank of the Huaihe River, I would indeed have nothing to do with them. But he didn't know how to die, so he personally marched to the north. The battle in the north relies on horses. Army, in the past we mounted our horses to charge into battle, dismounted and fought hand-to-hand, coupled with the hard work of riding and shooting, we were able to sweep all directions. Now that we have a horse-drawn cannon, we can still do it!"
"Huang Ama," Nikan, who has already played "horse-drawn cannon", is eager to try, "I will give you this battle... I will give you ten thousand powerful troops and twelve small red barbarian cannons. If you keep it, you can solve it." Overcame the siege of Liaocheng."
"Hahaha," Dorgon laughed, "our four-legged cavalry army needs to go to Liaocheng to rescue the siege? That is to ask the little emperor of the Zhu family to lead them... I don't dare to do that, I want to lead them Hit Zhu Cixi on the nose!"
