This is the coldest time in the Northeast outside Guanhai Pass. The vast Liaoxi Corridor is covered with ice and snow, and even the nearby sea is frozen as hard as iron, making it difficult for people to walk on it.
This time of year is also the time when the bannermen stationed in the Liaoxi Corridor feel most at ease. They don’t have to worry about the increasingly ferocious Ming army suddenly landing somewhere along the long coastline in western Liaoning, and they don’t even have to be wary of the Ming Dynasty’s meticulous maneuvers. The spies secretly landed on the beach in a small boat.
The frozen sea is an insurmountable natural danger.
During these two months, the Liaoxi Corridor, which was clearly leaning on the sea, was a frozen land completely closed to the Ming Empire.
Therefore, when the Qing Emperor Taishu Duduo led his army and marched mightily along the Liaoxi Corridor, there was no need to worry about being noticed by the Ming Dynasty - even if there were Ming Dynasty spies lurking here in western Liaoning, there was nothing they could do Send the information you hear.
In order to achieve the suddenness of sending troops, Duduo stayed in his palace in Shengjing until the Liaoxi coast was sealed, looking like he was preparing for winter. Moreover, he frequently released news that he was preparing to ascend the throne after the death of Emperor Shunzhi.
He is the emperor's uncle!
If Shunzhi died for his country in Meishan Castle, wouldn't he be the Qing emperor?
Therefore, it is normal for him to support his troops outside the pass and watch Emperor Shunzhi's misfortune.
After releasing the news that he was going to sit back and watch the death of Emperor Shunzhi, Duduo used the war between the Ming and Qing Dynasties as an excuse to blockade Xiaoheishanguan and Liangfangkou Port in southern Liaoning and send troops when the winter of the 10th year of Shunzhi came. The Uiju defense force that entered the Kingdom of Korea also controlled the passage between Liaodong and Korea. By blocking the roads, the efficiency of the agents carrying green flags in delivering messages was also greatly reduced.
Later, Duduo issued an order to gather soldiers at Jiugu Mountain in Siangbang, a prefecture outside the pass!
Now that the New Year has just passed, on the frozen official road in the Western Liaoning Corridor, an army of 55,000 strong men from the Nine Banners outside the Pass took advantage of the fine weather to roll forward. Under the command of Duduo, Heading towards the mountains and seas.
It is different from the formation of the Eastern Army during the Battle of Jieshi Mountain more than a year ago. Now there are more cavalry in the army under Duduo. This is because Duduo pulled away from the pass after the Battle of Jieshi Mountain. He attracted a large number of Lao Ba Banner disciples.
Duduo also further realized the value of the musketry cavalry in the Jieshi Mountain Battle. After pulling a large number of Lao Eight Banners out of the customs, he focused on expanding the number of cavalry in the forward battalion. By the end of the 10th year of Shunzhi, the number of cavalry in the forward battalion under Duduo The number of people has doubled from the original 6,000 to 12,000. There are also the same number of valiant cavalry, which are the traditional Eight Banners vests.
Duduo also selected for himself 2,000 "Baya soldiers" from the Nine Banners outside the Pass. These Baya soldiers are "year-round cavalry", not only equipped with spears, bows and arrows, bucklers, but also equipped with Matchlock imported from Zhsbania.
In addition, Duduo also took out the artillery originally assigned to the firearms battalion and established a separate Wuzhenchaoha Military Yamen."
The Wuzhenchaoha Yamen is also divided into the fort Wuzhenchaoha and the field Wuzhenchaoha. Among them, Wu Zhenchaoha in the field compiled 10 Niulu, each of which had 12 3-pound Hongyi cannons, for a total of 120 3-pound cannons. At full strength, the total number of Uzhenchaoha soldiers in the field was as high as more than 2,500, and they owned more than 3,000 horses. The number of forts in Wuzhenchaoha is about 1,800, divided into 6 Niulu, stationed at six forts including Shanhaiguan, Vladivostok, Nurgan, Hailanpao, Xiaoheishan and Liangfangkou.
After removing the artillery, the various firearms battalions were expanded by Duduo into the musketry Niulu of the fourteen infantry battalions. According to Duduo's arrangement, Yifu, Siangbang, and Jiugushan outside the pass evolved into In local yamen where the military and civilians are integrated, each yamen has an infantry camp and a cavalry camp. The infantry camp always has a musket oxen, and the cavalry camp also has a vest oxen. Both of them have an establishment of 300 people. . As for other standing troops, they include 12,000 forward battalion cavalry, 2,000 Baya La soldiers, 2,500 field Uzhenchaoha, and 1,800-man fort Uzhenchaoha. There is also the Jianrui Battalion of a thousand men of the navy, and the navy mainly composed of "European Bannermen" (numbering between three and four thousand) are standing armies, directly under the Fujun Yamen of Duduo's Emperor Taishu.
The 12,000-strong cavalry army and the spears, swords, bows and arrows of the fourteen yamen (Yifu, Si'angbang, Jiugushan) are all soldiers and peasants.
In other words, the current army under Emperor Taishu Duduo is composed of a standing army of about 31,000 people and a squad army of up to 70,000 to 80,000 people.
The military strength has surpassed that of the Qing Dynasty before entering the customs!
However, the financial pressure was not small. The standing army of more than 31,000 people spent nearly 2 million on food and money every year, accounting for almost 70% of the income of Emperor Taishu Fujun Yamen.
Under the pressure of such huge rigid expenditures, what Dodo, with its strong military strength, fears most is a protracted war that is far away.
So he could only fight his opponent as quickly as possible!
In order to end the war before the sowing season outside the customs in the spring of the eleventh year of Shunzhi, Duduo secretly mobilized more than 24,000 people from ten local yamen, plus 8,000 forward battalion cavalry, eight The Qianxiao Cavalry Battalion, all the Baya La soldiers and the eight field Wu Zhen Chao Ha Niulu, the combat soldiers alone mobilized as many as 44,000!
In addition, Jierhalang of Datong and Chang Adai of Taiyuan have also received orders from Duduo, and will each send 3,000 elite troops to join Duduo.
In this way, the three coalition forces can have 50,000 soldiers (the number of soldiers), which is not too much, but it is enough in Duduo's opinion.
Because his goal was not to repel the Ming army that invaded Henan and Shandong at all, he knew that this was impossible! Even if he can win a few battles, he will have to retreat from Shandong and Henan due to excessive casualties and high costs.
Duduo's goal is very practical, which is to keep Tianjin Wei on the eastern front (canal line), and at the same time conduct a battle around the north and south camps of the Yellow River on the western front. If the battle goes unfavorably, he will dig up the Yellow River dam and flood Henan, creating a large area of Yellow flood area, and then return to the first line of Baoding and Baoding. To protect the security of Beijing and Tianjin.
In his opinion, the city walls of Beijing and Tianjin will be the home of the future exchanges between the Ming and Qing Dynasties!
The mountains and seas are already in sight, bathed in the dusk sunlight, showing a dazzling golden color, looking majestic and majestic.
Duduo, who was riding a horse and marching, felt a little emotional. He couldn't help but think of his high spirits when he followed Dorgon into Shanhaiguan almost 10 years ago.
Who would have thought that the loss of Beijing would become the starting point for the Ming Dynasty's resurgence...
At this moment, more than ten people came galloping from the direction of Shanhaiguan on fast horses, found Duduo's banner, and quickly rushed to Duduo.
Duduo discovered that the leading cavalry was Shanhaiguan Angbang Zhangjing Heluohui.
He Luohui arrived in front of Duduo's horse and was about to dismount and salute, but Duduo waved his hand to stop him.
"If you have anything to say, just say it!"
He Luohui cupped his hands on horseback and said, "Uncle Emperor, the Emperor has gathered more than 60,000 troops from Manchuria, Mongolia and Han Dynasty to leave Beijing and go south to attack Shi Kefa. They are currently stationed at Tianjin Guards."
"What?" Duduo was stunned, "Did he go on a military expedition himself?"
"Yes!" He Luohui said, "And this time the Southern Army's combat power is extraordinary. Their cavalry is similar to our forward battalion. They are equipped with muskets, which seem to be sharper. They are all made of flintlocks without match ropes." The gun can fight in snowy days and at night, and the rate of fire is much faster! Fan Wencheng's Zhenglvqi is no match at all. It was surrounded by groups in Dezhou, Liaocheng, Anping, and even the southern part of Zhili was harassed by the Southern Army's cavalry. , many cities were broken. So..."
"No need to say it!" Duduo waved his hand and shouted to his left and right, "Instruct the three armies to march forward... We must reach Tianjin Guard within three days!"
