It was the 23rd day of the first lunar month in the 20th year of Hongxing's reign in the Ming Dynasty.
Dashanguan - Monkshara area.
"Victory! Victory...The Ming Dynasty is victorious!"
On the battlefield, there was a huge cheering sound like a mountain roaring and a tsunami, soaring into the sky, and also boosted the morale of all the Ming troops on the battlefield to the extreme.
In the area from Dashanguan to Heshangyuan, there are dozens of hills and terraces, plus a series of fortresses and fortifications built along the Dashan River, which form the Dashunguan defense line of the Dashun Army. This line of defense has been unbreakable for the past seven or eight years, serving as a magnet to attract the Ming army and an iron wall to defend the Dashun regime.
But the cost of maintaining this line of defense is too high!
Li Ding's idea of farming in front of the National Front has long been in vain. The food obtained from the farming is simply not enough to support the consumption of the various armies on the Shaanxi front line. The number of compliant troops on the Shaanxi front line is variable. Sometimes there are as many as 200,000, and sometimes as little as 200,000. At that time, there were only 50,000 or 60,000.
In addition to military needs, what determines whether there are more troops or fewer troops is the ability of the rear to supply food - the road to Shu is difficult, and it is difficult to reach the sky!
To transport one stone of grain to the front line of Shaanxi, the amount of grain eaten by the people and livestock on the road, or lost due to various reasons (including concentrates eaten by livestock), is often as high as eight or nine stones... .It is simply unrealistic to maintain more than 100,000 or 200,000 troops at the front for a long time.
But it is impossible to defend the Guanzhong frontier and the Qiuchishan-Qishan frontier with only 50,000 to 60,000 people. Therefore, Li Dingguo had no choice but to set up three more large camps in Jiezhou, Lueyang, and Hanzhong. Each camp could have a maximum of 30,000 troops, totaling 90,000 reserve troops.
When the Guanzhong and Qiuchishan-Qishan front lines are relatively relaxed (usually winter and spring), Li Dingguo will reduce the garrison there and withdraw the main force to Jiezhou, Lueyang, and Hanzhong for food. When the front line was tense, he would transfer troops from Jiezhou, Lueyang, and Hanzhong to the front line.
If the fighting in Shaanxi is too fierce, Li Dingguo will mobilize a large army from Chengdu, so that the number of troops on the front line will reach more than 200,000.
In the winter of the 19th year of Hongxing, although the situation on the Shaanxi front line had begun to become tense. However, Li Dingguo still reduced the frontline troops as planned, and by the first month of the 20th year, he even further withdrew the garrison in that area.
By the time the Dajianshan Uprising broke out, the total strength of the Shun Army on the Guanzhong and Qiuchishan-Qishan fronts had been less than 40,000, and the number of troops on the Dashanguan defense line was less than 20,000... these two Thousands of people also began to retreat on the 21st and 22nd of the first lunar month. By the time the Ming army launched its attack on the 23rd, less than 6,000 people were still standing at various important strongholds on the front line of the Shun army.
Moreover, these six thousand defenders do not intend to fight to the death... These people are Li Dingguo's personal soldiers, and they are all equipped with Yunnan and Sichuan horses that are good at walking on mountain roads. They can leave at any time.
But acting still requires a complete set!
The Jin King of Dashun, Li Dingguo, wanted to withdraw his troops from the front line, but he had to leave behind the elite palace troops!
How could it collapse at the first touch?
However, when the 30,000 elite troops commanded by Liu Sheng and Wu Guogui launched a general offensive under the cover of 24-pound mortars, 12-pound long cannons, and other small and medium-caliber field artillery, the speed of collapse of the Shun army under Li Dingguo still made this man The famous general who fought with the Ming Army on the front line of Shaanxi for nearly eight years felt a bit disappointed...
From the eyes of Li Dingguo, who was standing on a high ground on the south bank of Dashan River, he could see that the sun and moon flag of the Ming Dynasty had been raised above the Dashan Pass Fortress.
The Shun army, which had just abandoned the city gate and rushed towards Dashanshui, looked embarrassed and defeated. The not-so-wide battlefield was filled with soldiers wearing blue uniforms, either on horseback or running wildly towards the water.
The nail-head shells fired by the Ming army's 12-pound long cannon exploded among the blue-clad crowd from time to time, sending out high and low plumes of smoke.
The pursuing Ming army also appeared on the smoke-filled battlefield, forming red phalanxes, like moving fortresses, crushing over and trampling all the enemies in front of them.
Li Dingguo's eldest son, Li Puxing, was ordered to stay at Dashan Pass. Now he was chased by this group of red-coated soldiers and fled through the water to the south bank of Dashan River. He found Li Dingguo's "Jin" Wang Qi, and then rode directly up the high slope. In front of Li Dingguo, he rolled off his horse and knelt on one knee.
"Father, retreat quickly... brothers can't resist it anymore!"
Li Dingguo had a stern face and looked very dissatisfied.
"We were defeated too quickly, weren't we? In less than half a day, we couldn't defend it? It would be fine if we encountered soldiers in black clothes, but my father clearly saw that the enemies coming were all soldiers in red clothes!"
The soldiers in black he was talking about were the Guards of the Ming Army. The Guards were good at night fighting, so they all wore black - the color of their night clothes!
In addition, the black cavalry of the Ming Army also wore black clothes because they also had to perform tasks at night...
The other troops of the Ming Army all wore red.
After fighting on the front line of Shaanxi for so many years, Li Dingguo already knew that compared with the Guards in black, the ordinary Ming army in red was not even a little bit behind!
Li Puxing shook his head and said: "Father, the red-coated soldiers my child encountered today are also different from those in the past... Some of them are equipped with flintlock rifles, and there are many fewer pikemen, and they are also equipped with musketeers." Mixed together, and also compiled a sword player, the melee combat ability is much stronger!
What's even more hateful is that they also throw an exploding javelin! Our brothers had never seen such a weapon and could not resist, so they had to escape. "
Wu Sangui will also improve his tactics!
He had fought with the Dashun Army for so many years, and of course he found that the pikemen were of little use in mountain warfare. Nine times out of ten, I’m watching a play...
Even if the musketeers are equipped with bayonets, they can't beat the swordsmen! In particular, the sword players of Dashun Army are also very good at throwing javelins.
Therefore, Wu Sangui has improved his army of monks Kexi and Kong Tingxun since last year, reducing the number of spears, adding swords, and tying grenades to the javelins of swordsmen.
This is equivalent to combining the sword player and the grenadier into one!
The first encounter with this kind of bomb-throwing swordsman made Shunjun, who was already panicked, no longer have the will to fight. After a little resistance, he simply collapsed...
Li Dingguo snorted: "It's just a small trick!" He took another look at his defeated troops rushing through the water, gritted his teeth, and ordered: "Withdraw... and let's see who will catch up!"
Li Puxing let out a breath. No matter who would catch up, he didn't want to stay on the south bank of Dashanshui for a moment longer... and he never wanted to come back!
Eight years of fighting is a dream!
...
"Father, this Li Dingguo is nothing more than that!"
At the same time, at Erli Pass, Wu Yinglin, who had just led a group of elite soldiers to capture Dashan Pass, came happily to report his merits to his father.
Wu Sangui snorted: "But even so, he has blocked his father for so many years... Although he was defeated by his father today, it was a mistake that was not due to fighting. It is really because the national strength of the rogue bandits is not good enough. We call it the Ming Dynasty." It’s all gone! We won this battle not on the battlefield, but on our national strength.”
"Father, should we send troops to chase him?" Wu Yinglin's fight was a bit unsatisfactory, as if he wanted to take away the credit from Shang Kexi and Kong Tingxun.
Wu Sangui waved his hand and said with a smile: "Let Shang Kexi and Kong Tingxun go... Do my father and son still lack this little credit?"
"Father," Wu Yinglin said, "my father and son have an aunt to take care of them. Of course they have no shortage of credit, but what about the brothers below? After the Battle of Sichuan, will the court still need them? The more credit you can earn now, the more credit you can earn in the future. Get a little reward.”
This time Wu Sangui also felt that what his son said was right, so he said: "Then let Shang Kexi and Kong Tingxun pursue them first, and we will lead the troops to follow... Li Dingguo's tactics are treacherous, and there must be other tricks. Then we will Breaking his back move is also a great achievement!"
Wu Yinglin held up his hand and said to Wu Sangui: "Father, that kid is going to organize his team and prepare to pursue!
