Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 351: Driving the tiger to swallow the wolf?

Sichuan Province
Guangyuan
Since the area south of the Yangtze River was still in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, Sun Shoufa and He Zhen, who had a retreat route, did not fight a desperate battle with the Qing army in Hanzhong.

The most direct impact of this was that the Dashi Army felt the huge threat from the Qing army in advance, and thus closed the Guangyuan loophole before Hauge arrived in Sichuan.

just
"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

As the sound of artillery fire rang out, Zhang Xianzhong, standing on the top of Guangyuan City, could not help but frown, full of worry.

He originally thought that after arriving in Guangyuan, he would immediately face the Tatars coming from the north, but unexpectedly, after sending people to occupy Hanzhong, Hauge did not immediately lead his troops south, but waited for many days before arriving.

Zhang Xianzhong was naturally puzzled by this, but after some inquiries, he figured out something.

The western Tartar army was originally led by Hauge, but after he killed most of the northwestern rebel army, he was stripped of his title on the grounds of "slandering Prince Rui Dorgon."

Afterwards, Gushan Ezhen Heluo, who had come forward to complain, replaced Hauge to lead the western route, but for various reasons he had been entangled with the remaining rebel troops and made no progress at all.

Such a situation was certainly not what the Qing court wanted to see. In addition, the successive defeats of the eastern and central routes dealt a heavy blow to Dorgon's power. It was natural for Hauge to once again become the General of Jingyuan, commanding the western route.

It was obvious that Hauge had not been idle during these months.

Even though Zhang Xianzhong was not clear about what changes had taken place in the Qing court's western route, he could imagine a rather bloody purge.

Naturally, he was happy to see this situation happen.

After figuring out why the Qing army did not come directly, Zhang Xianzhong concentrated on repairing the fort while waiting steadily for the Qing army to crash into him.

But who would have thought that when the Qing army actually arrived, the group of forts that he was so proud of would become like paper in front of their sharp artillery.

By this time, the fighting had only lasted a few days, but more than a dozen outermost forts had been captured by the Tartars. Even if Zhang Xianzhong had a chest big enough to fit a dog, how could he not have a worried look on his face?

"Your Majesty! No more hesitation!"

Just as Zhang Xianzhong was thinking hard in his heart, he heard an anxious voice behind him. When he turned his head slightly, he saw a young general in his twenties looking at him with burning eyes.

Zhang Xianzhong adopted a total of 12 illegitimate sons, but only four of them are still alive.

These four men each have their own strengths and can all be called outstanding individuals, and this young general is Li Dingguo, who is the most skilled in military strategy.

Previously, Li Dingguo had suggested personally leading an army to take a small road to bypass the Qing army's rear and raid Hanzhong, and after cutting off their food supply, attack them from both sides to defeat the powerful enemy.

To be honest, Zhang Xianzhong was quite tempted by this suggestion, but the roads at the border between Sichuan and Shaanxi were rugged. If he took the small road, it would mean that he would not be able to carry artillery like the Tartars.

In this way, the troops sent out will surely be able to challenge the fortified city with blood and flesh.

Let’s not talk about whether Hanzhong can be captured by then. Even if it is captured, what’s the point of “attacking from both sides” for the team that has suffered huge losses?
"Dingguo, Hanzhong is a strong city. How can we capture it if we go there with light cavalry?"

"Your Majesty, our army will come out from a small road, and the Qing army will definitely be unprepared!"

It is undeniable that Li Dingguo's strategy was not without the possibility of success.

But why did Zhuge Liang reject Wei Yan's Ziwu Valley strategy back then?
The root cause is that there are too many uncontrollable factors in taking risky measures, and everything is just Wei Yan's unfounded conjecture without any evidence.

According to Wei Yan's prediction, he would be able to lead 5,000 elite soldiers and reach the city of Chang'an from Ziwu Valley in ten days. Then he would be able to hold the city and wait for Zhuge's army to arrive.

At first glance, this plan seems ingenious, but in the eyes of a strategic master like Zhuge Liang, it is full of loopholes.

Needless to say, whether the 5,000 troops after a long journey could capture the fortified city of Chang'an with a large garrison, and whether they could hold out until reinforcements arrived under the attack of the various Wei troops. Just considering the march alone was enough to refute this plan.

Although the route from Ziwu Valley to Chang'an is secretive and direct, it is dangerous and prone to enemy ambushes.

Furthermore, Wei Yan felt that it would only take ten days to reach Chang'an from Ziwu Valley, but the Shu army would have to pass through mountain roads, river valleys, passes and other terrains along the way.

During the march, various conditions such as weather, terrain, and enemy forces may all become factors that cause the march to slow down or even stagnate.

At that time, if anything unexpected happened to Wei Yan's troops, the main force of the Shu army coming out of Xiegu would inevitably fall into an extremely passive situation.

Under such circumstances, let alone the fact that the Wei army had Sima Yi as its commander, even if it was really like the end of the Shu Han Dynasty, how many people would dare to take action except Deng Ai who was forced by the situation?

"This plan is too risky and does not need to be mentioned again."

After saying this lightly, Zhang Xianzhong turned his gaze to the distance again. The young Li Dingguo did not dare to say anything after seeing his adoptive father's behavior. He just stood behind Zhang Xianzhong in great confusion, wondering where the risks his adoptive father mentioned were.

It is undeniable that Li Dingguo did possess a remarkable talent in military strategy, but he was still young at that time, and there was still a big gap between him and the two famous kings in the future. He was naturally a little confused when faced with Zhang Xianzhong's denial.

But then again, given the current situation, the fortress defense line that the Dashi Army had painstakingly built obviously did not play the expected role.

In Li Dingguo's opinion, there was really no other way except to use a clever strategy to break the impasse.

Therefore, after some thought, he planned to make another suggestion, but when he was about to open his mouth, he saw a cloud of dust rising from the periphery of the fort group, followed by a roar of the city wall collapsing.

"His Majesty."

Just as Li Dingguo was about to say something, he saw his adoptive father waving his hand, and he swallowed the rest of his words. However, Zhang Xianzhong spoke first after looking at him carefully for a while.

"I understand what you mean, but we are not at the end of our rope yet. There is no need to risk the lives of our soldiers."

After hearing these words, Li Dingguo, who had just mustered up his courage, was stunned for a moment.

On the surface, Dashi still occupied an area in central Sichuan and had an army of nearly 300,000 in the country.

Even if Guangyuan was lost, they could still resist step by step, and even if they withdrew from Sichuan through Kuimen, they would not be completely hopeless.

But Li Dingguo, who was a military commander, knew that his adoptive father, under the instigation of the Left Prime Minister Wang Zhaolin, had killed too many people, and it was no exaggeration to say that he had lost the support of the people.

Moreover, now that his adoptive father has become the emperor, his mentality is completely different from when he was a bandit. Under such circumstances, it seems that he can't defend or escape, so how can he not be at the end of his rope?
This idea was not limited to Li Dingguo. His four adopted sons all felt that killing civilians indiscriminately was not a good idea.

In the original history, after Zhang Xianzhong's death, they immediately executed Wang Zhaolin, and then issued an order to each camp: "Everyone should work together to support the young master and accomplish great things." Only then "after the order was issued, the camp was filled with cheers... and each camp was at peace."

Having said that, I have to mention something.

In the early days, Zhang Xianzhong was full of banditry, and his methods were even several times more cruel than Li Zicheng's. However, such outstanding people have the ability to learn lessons from the failures of others.

After the Dashun Rebellion, which swept across the area north of the Yangtze River, collapsed in an instant under the joint suppression of local forces and the Tatars, he began to think of changing his ways.

But things don't always go as planned.

On the one hand, Daxi has become like a demon in the eyes of local forces, and the forces of the entire Kawachaka are doing their best to fight against him;
On the other hand, the Dashun regime was defeated so quickly that Zhang Xianzhong was not given any time to adjust his policies.

With these two factors combined, he could only leave a sentence to his four adopted sons: "The Ming Dynasty has been the orthodox dynasty for three hundred years. It is God's will that it will not perish. After I die, you should return to the Ming Dynasty and do nothing unjust." Then he passed away and had no chance to manage Sichuan carefully.

"Look, even after the Tartars blasted open the fort, they still needed a while to completely capture it. What does this mean?"

Just as Li Dingguo was astonished at his adoptive father's assessment of the situation, Zhang Xianzhong's voice came again.

"Your Majesty means"

"The Tartar soldiers are just like this. Our army is not without the ability to fight."

"Can"

"The Tartars were able to conquer the world not because of their strong fighting power, but because of their luck."

Having said this, Zhang Xianzhong paused. After looking at the battle situation in front of the formation, he found that Li Dingguo was still puzzled, so he began to explain again.

"Look at Li Zicheng. After he entered Beijing, he never changed his banditry. Not to mention the people he offended, the key point is that when he encountered a strong enemy, he only wanted to retreat, which made the army's morale collapse to the limit. If the emperor is like this, how can the army have the will to fight again?"

After he finished speaking, he did not return his attention to the fort, but waited calmly for Li Dingguo to digest his words.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that he spoke fluently, but this was actually the result of his contemplation for several days.

In essence, being an emperor or not is not as simple as changing the title. It not only means that one has responsibilities for the people within the territory under his jurisdiction, but also means that one can no longer fight on the move as in the past.

It was precisely because of this realization that he decided to change his ways, and he pledged his resistance to his subordinates by killing his wife and children.

But time is too tight.

Thinking of this, Zhang Xianzhong couldn't help but feel a little regretful, but he was ultimately a rare talent among men, and that thought only lasted for a moment before it was completely dispelled. Then, seeing that Li Dingguo seemed to have realized something, he continued to speak.

"Look at the Ming Dynasty. The same soldiers and generals, but with a new emperor and a different strategy, they were able to defeat the Tartars. Doesn't this just prove that the Tartars are not invincible and can be defeated with the right strategy?"

This is another reason why Zhang Xianzhong decided to fight head-on.

On the surface, the Ming emperor was able to defeat the Tartars because of the crisscrossing waterways, but did the Huai River and Yangtze River regions also have such geographical advantages? Why did the Jiangnan region become the Tartars' nemesis?

Zhang Xianzhong certainly didn't know much about the internal struggles within the Ming Dynasty, but he had long felt that the emperor's escape would be an extremely demoralizing act, and therefore attributed the fundamental cause of Duoduo's defeat to Zhu Cilang's defense of Yingtian.

Obviously, this is a rather one-sided view, but it is also a statement that fits the reality very well.

After he finished speaking, Li Dingguo had some understanding, but before he could understand it further, he heard Zhang Xianzhong's voice again.

"You see, our fortress has blocked the Tatars in the mountain pass, which prevents them from fully deploying, but isn't it also a restriction on our army?"

Following Zhang Xianzhong's direction, Li Dingguo looked far away.

Although more than a dozen outermost forts had been breached at this time, only part of the Tatar troops had escaped from the narrow mountain path, while the main force was still under the shelter of two layers of mountains.

Seeing this situation, Li Dingguo could easily distinguish the pros and cons. When he thought about what Zhang Xianzhong had said before, he immediately understood why his adoptive father had no response while the forts were broken one after another.

"Your Majesty, do you want to release the Tartars?"

"Yes, I have carefully observed the past few days. The fighting power of the Tartars is not as strong as the rumors say. After we use the fortress to consume them for a while, it will be time for our army to engage in a head-on battle with the Tartars."

It is not known whether he gradually calmed down after this explanation, or whether he was slightly encouraged to see that Li Dingguo understood the meaning, but when he said this, Zhang Xianzhong used the word "I" again. It is obvious that his mentality has changed greatly from before.

"Report~~~~! Your Majesty, urgent news from Chengdu!"

As the shouts came, a soldier holding a letter knelt not far from the two men. After hearing the words "urgent letter from Chengdu", the two men who had been quite excited a second ago were suddenly startled.

It has to be said that in order to safeguard their own interests, all parties in central Sichuan erupted with extremely strong combat power when fighting against the Dashi Army, causing unrest in Dashi throughout the country.

Zhang Xianzhong was naturally quite troubled by this and had tried to wipe out all these Ming troops, but because of their reputation for indiscriminate killing, all forces in Sichuan hated Dashi deeply.

Not only did they provide the Ming army with all kinds of support including money and food, they also organized troops to attack officials sent by Dashi.

Under such circumstances, the Dashi Army, which nominally occupied the wealthy land of Sichuan, could only hide in various cities. Except for limited areas around the cities, it did not have much control over the entire Sichuan Plain.

Therefore, when they heard the urgent message from Chengdu, their first reaction was that the Ming army took advantage of the situation and cut off their retreat.

"Can someone tell me where the army has reached?"

Although he was opening the letter with both hands, Zhang Xianzhong still asked the soldier a question. After hearing this, the soldier was stunned for a moment, and then he seemed to understand and quickly replied: "Your Majesty, the messenger did not mention the war, but only said that Fan Yiheng, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi of the Ming Dynasty, sent an envoy."

messenger?
Not here to attack?

Hearing the soldier's answer, Zhang Xianzhong couldn't help but pause for a moment. After he took out the letter and looked at it carefully, his brows relaxed at first, and then frowned again.

"Driving the tiger to devour the wolf, what a good idea!"

(End of this chapter)