I

Page 304

The intensity of the war was too high, beyond the imagination of the generals, and they couldn't understand why both sides were not afraid of death.

"withdraw!"

Some of the bitten Qing cavalry remained alive and were directly abandoned by Dorgon and Hauge.They took the opportunity to distance themselves and wanted to continue playing routines.

Li Zicheng gritted his teeth and said, "Back to Shanhaiguan!"

Although this tactic is effective, it was created by the Haier army.Although it can effectively kill the enemy, if you come a few more times, thousands of child soldiers will have to confess here, and Dashun Xiaoqi will have to pay a heavy price.

Seeing Li Zicheng's retreat, Hauge and Dorgon came back with troops.

Li Zicheng was determined to be ruthless, and after he separated hundreds of children into the army, the teenagers used their lives to cover Li Zicheng's retreat.

Chapter 367 [Plague]

Li Zicheng has already given birth to the idea of ​​​​withdrawing his troops, not from Shanhaiguan, but from the whole of Beizhili.

Food shortage!

Even if the Manchus could be repelled in this battle, Li Zicheng would be completely out of food.Once the food is cut off, not only the army will fry the pot, but most of the people in Beijing will starve to death. What's the point of being an emperor like this?

It's better to withdraw from the vortex of Beizhili, take the army to other places to get food, and come back when the food is sufficient.

Even if you want to retreat, you have to kill the Manchu and Qing cavalry in the pass, otherwise it is very likely to retreat until the whole army collapses.

When Hauge and Dorgon came again with cavalry, Li Zicheng also brought cavalry to fight, but this time the equipment of Dashun cavalry changed.

Do not carry bows and arrows, especially quiver, a few quiver is dead heavy.

The inner armor was also taken off, and only the cotton armor for defending bows and arrows was worn, and even the armor piece in the cotton armor was also removed.

Everything is just to reduce the burden on the cavalry.

The surviving child army also has this set of equipment.

Dashun Xiaoqi and Dashun Boyer Army, there are only 1 people left in total.

Hauge and Dorgon still wanted to play routines, and they dispersed into countless cavalry and archers, and the formation was so scattered that it was outrageous.

The Dashun cavalry didn't care about anything, they even threw their bows and arrows at Shanhaiguan. Under the leadership of Li Zicheng, they divided into several groups and charged directly against the rain of arrows.

It was life for life. After the Dashun cavalry lost weight, they could quickly catch up with the Manchu Qing cavalry who armored the key parts of the horse.

This time it was Hauge and Dorgon was beaten. Because the formation of the Manchu and Qing cavalry was too scattered, after the cavalry of the two sides fought, a Manchu and Qing cavalry was often surrounded and killed by several Dashun cavalry.

Of course, the Dashun cavalry is not having a good time either. The enemies in each unit are scattered and few, and they have to find another unit after killing them.And in the process of chasing, he will be shot and killed by the rain of arrows.

The whole battle process can be simply divided into two links——

The Dashun cavalry pursued and was shot dead by the Manchu cavalry.

The Dashun cavalry caught up and killed the Manchu cavalry.

After some fighting, Dorgon and Hauge couldn't bear it anymore, and immediately ordered the cavalry to assemble.

After the assembly was completed, Li Zicheng did not dare to charge again.

Because they can't rush, the Manchu and Qing cavalry are better equipped and have the advantage of bows and arrows. Once assembled, they can hang and beat the lightened Dashun cavalry.

Li Zicheng directly ordered the withdrawal of the troops. They are riding fast now, and the Manchu cavalry cannot catch up.

In this battle, the two sides each suffered more than a thousand casualties, almost a one-to-one record.

Huang Taiji was outside Shanhaiguan, still bombarding frantically, and ordered the Han army flag to attack the city after the bombardment.

That afternoon, the cavalry engaged again.

This time Li Zicheng brought a bow and arrow, and the two sides used traditional cavalry tactics.

Fighting, Hauge and Dorgon played tricks again, Li Zicheng ordered the whole army to throw away their quiver, and did not wear the inner armor and cotton armor at all.

Another life-changing, the Manchu cavalry dared not play anymore, and regrouped to fight, Li Zicheng once again withdrew to Shanhaiguan.

Dorgon and Hauge were really scared of being beaten!

[-] cavalry rushed across the Great Wall, and after several cavalry battles, only [-] were killed.Although Li Zicheng's cavalry died more, how many Manchu warriors were there in total?

In the next three days, although the Manchu and Qing cavalry would come over, they did not dare to approach Shanhaiguan, for fear that Li Zicheng would catch up and risk their lives.

In fact, the Manchu and Qing cavalry can slightly adjust their tactics to break Li Zicheng's style of play, and exchange lives with Li Zicheng with equipment advantages-although it is still a change of lives.

That night, Li Zicheng trapped and killed Ma Ke, who was thinking about surrendering, under the pretext of discussing military affairs.

Then in the middle of the night, with the elite of Dashun, they quickly withdrew from Shanhaiguan. Except for the grain workers (there was not much food left), the rest of the surrendered troops were left alone.

The next day they met the Manchu cavalry, and the infantry retreated cautiously. Li Zicheng led the cavalry and went to expel Dorgon and Hauge.

After bypassing Funing, because there were no enemies ahead, and because Li Zicheng abandoned Shanhaiguan, the elite of the Dashun Army began to decay precipitously.Especially those old thieves, they knew that Shanhaiguan was lost, and Beijing would definitely not be able to defend it, so they looted along the way, and even insulted women to vent their desires.

Li Zicheng turned a blind eye to this, and the Dashun Army, who had committed no offense in the autumn, once again became a traditional rogue.

……

Niu Jinxing, who stayed behind in Beijing, had already received the news in advance and quickly organized manpower to deliver the goods.

Li Zicheng didn't dare to go to Shandong. Even if Shandong was captured, he was afraid of being flanked by the Man Qing and Zhao Han.He wants to retreat to Shanxi, and then take Shaanxi, and perhaps form an alliance with Zhang Xianzhong.

Fighting against the Manchus in the past few dozen days, Li Zicheng's elite was only more than 5 left, and the number of cavalry dropped sharply to several thousand.

Sun Chuanting took the initiative to help organize the transfer, got two rough horses to pull the cart, and then quickly ran back to the residence: "Hurry up, take the money and go south immediately!"

"it is good!"

Concubine Tian Gui brought a bag of coarse grain, only three catties, and they only had so much grain, because the rations of officials were also rationed.

There was a lot of money, Li Zicheng was so poor that he had only money left, and Sun Chuanting served as the left servant of the military government, and immediately received ten taels of silver for his family.

Those civil officials who were released to take over states and counties also had money to take.

Li Zicheng couldn't afford food, so he had to pay more money.

Before Dashun's elite came back, the city of Beijing was already in chaos. Concubine Tian Guifei rode a horse with her child in her arms, and fled quickly under the leadership of Sun Chuanting.

Wang Tingchen, who had been kept out of the city because the city gate was closed before, also rushed into the city with his family cavalry.Their family members were all in Beijing, and they went home quickly, and left immediately with their relatives. Cao Bianjiao also brought his cavalry to join them.

Although Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao cannot enter the city these days, they are not sitting outside the city and waiting.

They snatched several large ships, all of which were merchant ships docked in nearby towns after the canal was blocked, and they also used food to recruit a group of boatmen by the way.

As for how the food came from, of course it was borrowed from the gentry's house. Could it be that the people in Beizhili still had food to grab?

After Li Zicheng occupied Beijing, the gentry who were a little farther away from the capital were not liquidated, and even enjoyed the treatment of not paying grain. At first, Li Zicheng publicized not paying grain, and when he ascended the throne, he said that he would not pay grain for five years.

Ride on horseback and take a boat, and leave quickly.

Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao have a very good relationship now. One has only more than 200 cavalry, and the other has only more than 100 cavalry.They had to huddle together to keep warm, and Cao Bianjiao even waited for many days to help Wang Tingchen go to the city to pick up his family.

When they reached the border of Xianghe County, they suddenly chased after them and shouted at the cavalry: "But Cao Zongbing and Wang Zongbing are facing each other?"

The man was stopped by the cavalry and shouted again: "I am Sun Chuanting!"

After a commotion, Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao came over to check the situation, and said in surprise, "It's actually Dushi Sun?"

"Are you two going south?" Sun Chuanting asked.

Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao looked at each other and asked, "Where is Governor Sun going?"

Sun Chuanting probed: "How about voting for Zuo Liangyu?"

Cao Bianjiao laughed and said, "Master Sun, please don't lie to me. How could your Excellency seek refuge with Zuo Liangyu? I'm afraid he went to Nanjing to seek refuge with the King of Wu."

"Where are the two generals?" Sun Chuanting neither denied nor admitted.

Wang Tingchen said: "Zuo Liangyu is unreliable, and we have a grudge against the bandits, so we can only go to Nanjing. Even if we can't lead troops in the future, we can live in peace and stability."

"Then let's go on the road together," Sun Chuanting waved to the rear, and Concubine Tian Gui came riding on horseback, "This is the widow of an old friend, can you let her aboard?"

Wang Tingchen smiled and said, "Please do what you want."

The crowd continued to go to Yang Village, and found that there were more pedestrians along the way.And it's very strange, these people dragged their families with them and fled towards the north.

Go north to eat soil?

Sun Chuanting rode forward and was about to inquire about the situation when he suddenly saw the dead body beside the road and turned back in shock: "Don't come into contact with strangers, there may be a serious epidemic ahead!"

"Great epidemic?" Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao were inexplicably terrified.

Not only is there a great plague, but the plague and smallpox are spreading from Shandong to surrounding provinces.

The family members on board did not dare to disembark again, and the cavalry did not dare to make contact with others, and proceeded cautiously all the way.Only occasionally get out of the boat to extract well water, and repeatedly check whether there are dead bodies in the well.

Fortunately, they are not short of food for the time being, and they borrowed a lot from the gentry before.

When passing through Tianjin, the city gates here are wide open.The Tianjin officials appointed by Li Zicheng had all fled in fright because of the plague.

When they arrived in Cangzhou, everyone's food was about to run out, so they had to venture into the city to borrow food.

Cangzhou is an important place, the city is high and the pond is deep, but at this time there is no defense, and the city is in chaos.Hundreds of cavalry rushed into the city and found that every house was closed and there were very few pedestrians on the street.

After tossing and tossing for a long time, they finally borrowed grain from grain merchants and brought many wells from rich households.

The closer to Shandong, the more serious the epidemic, Sun Chuanting and the others had no choice but to bite the bullet and go south.

It was also because of the great epidemic in Shandong that the checkpoints along the canal were relaxed, and Zuo Liangyu's soldiers hid and dared not go out.Similarly, Zhao Han did not dare to send troops to Shandong, but set up checkpoints to block the people going south.

In the face of the terrible plague, all military plans had to be scrapped.

Swallowing Shandong at this time is purely courting death. Even if he hadn't fought Zhang Xianzhong, Zhao Han would not take risks in Shandong.

When the team reached the boundary of Yutai County, what Sun Chuanting was worried about happened.

One family member was infected with smallpox, and two cavalrymen were infected with plague. Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao responded quickly.

The family members disembarked, the cavalry left, and they were thrown two bags of miscellaneous grains to fend for themselves.

At the border of Pei County, the number of people infected with the plague had increased to double digits, and the entire team was in panic.

But apart from abandoning the sick person, they have nothing to do, and they don't even dare to leave alone.

The team finally arrived in Xuzhou, but was blocked on the other side of the Huaihe River and was not allowed to come over.

Every day, Datong soldiers patrolled the river by rowing boats, and drove back those who tried to cross the river.This is extremely inhumane, but it is necessary. The plague must not be allowed to spread southward.

"I have a solution, maybe I can try it." Sun Chuanting said.

Cao Bianjiao asked, "What can I do?"

Sun Chuanting finally told the truth: "There is a prince on our ship, we will see if the other side will let him go."

Two merchant ships sailed to the center of the river, and soon the Datong Army came by boat.

The soldiers raised their guns and shouted: "Go back immediately, if you dare to cross the river again, the artillery on the bank will serve you!"

Concubine Tian Gui held her young son who was having a fever, knelt on the deck and said loudly: "Imperial Concubine Tian of the Ming Dynasty, and the prince, please ask the King of Wu to take him in!"

The soldiers did not dare to neglect, and went back to report to the superior.

Fei Ruhe discussed with the governor of Xuzhou and agreed to let these people cross the river, but they had to be quarantined separately by the river for a month.

Not only Concubine Tian Gui, but also the rest of the smuggled people were treated in the same way.

There are always people taking advantage of loopholes to sneak across the border, can they all go back?Some of Zhao Han's sites are not blocked by rivers, so it is easier for people to run over.

The borders of the jurisdiction, the counties, villages and towns, grassroots officials and peasant associations have already started functioning.

Mobilize the masses to defend and guard. Once strangers enter the village, they are immediately driven to the outermost part of the village and ordered to isolate them for at least one month.

After a month before getting sick, they were asked to boil their clothes in boiling water, and they had to wash their bodies several times before they could be allowed to take refuge in the village.

Shandong has already exploded, and Northern Zhili is about to explode. After the Manchus enter the customs, they will find that they have come to a land of plague.

Chapter 368 [Battle Start]

In early April, spring plowing ends.

Zhang Xianzhong has completed the assembly of troops and the mobilization of food and grass, and may attack central and northern Anhui at any time.

At this time, Li Zicheng was about to surround Beijing, and Emperor Chongzhen was about to hang himself.

Wu'an Town, Huangjia Village, where Zhao Han started the incident.

A group of farmers and soldiers came to Huang Shui's house: "Captain, I heard that other towns are sending troops, why is there no movement in our village or our town?"

Huang Shui is a veteran with a broken ring finger and little finger on his left hand. He returned to his hometown to serve as the captain and instructor of the peasant army.Holding a bowl of gruel, he said, "There are too many soldiers in Wuxing Town. We fought wars a few years ago, and every time we sent out peasants, soldiers and peasants. This time, the superiors have said that they will not be recruited from Wuxing Town. You should be honest when you go home." go planting."