Xie Ming

Things in the world are a situation of growth and decline, and it is a situation of conflict and chaos!

It is said that since the middle of August in the first year of the Hongguang reign, when Xiao Jingchuan completed his campaign and exhausted the enemy's morale on the north bank of the Yellow River, it was not until November that the Yellow River flood had passed, and the confrontation between the north and the south remained firmly along the Yellow River, without either side moving an inch. They both temporarily stopped fighting and each went their own way.

In Henan, in late October, Xiao's army arrived in the west and took advantage of the opportunity to recapture most of Henan.

In November, due to the situation of attending a meeting alone, he invaded Kaifeng again.

In the middle of the twelfth month of that year, they recovered Luoyang, Huaiqing and other places.

At this point, most of Henan, except for Zhangde and Weihui, was under the control of Xiao's army.

In Nanjing, Emperor Hongguang was extremely delighted about this.

Xiao Jun was able to use an indirect method, without causing major fighting or prolonged battles, and cleverly captured many cities in Henan, which made him very satisfied.

In this way, the overall situation of peace between the North and the South will not be too bad, and the territory can be expanded northward. Why not do it? !
So when the New Year was just over, he hurriedly recalled Xiao Lang to the court and personally commended him.

Openly, due to external public opinion, it was difficult to give any reward, but secretly he promised it and used an excuse to raise a large amount of military supplies, firearms, and armor. As for the salary, it came to about 450,000 taels.

According to Xiao Wei's initial calculations, a force of tens of thousands of people would be enough to last for a year.

In the northwest, Li Zicheng's Dashun Army faced the Qing army and the Jiannu, and the war had never stopped since the end of October.

Wherever the wolf smoke goes, bones are exposed in the wild and no roosters crow for thousands of miles!
On the Qing court side, good news came frequently from the Ajige tribe in the northwest.

On the other hand, Li Zicheng of the Dashun army suffered repeated defeats and his army was completely routed.

In Shanxi, because of the disaster caused by the Qing troops' attacks on the northern and eastern fronts, they lost Taiyuan, Lu'an, Pingyang and other cities in November.

When Linjin was no longer defended, the army completely lost control of Shanxi and was forced to withdraw all its troops all the way to Shaanxi, with the army blocked at Tongguan.

However, it was obvious that the Qing court was not satisfied with this situation and continued to attack and fight again to take advantage of the victory.

Later, Ajige was appointed as the General of Jingyuan in the army.

He then captured Wu Sangui and Shang Kexi, two Han generals who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and led more than 30,000 soldiers and horses, openly repairing the plank road while secretly marching through Chencang.

He prepared to withdraw his troops back to the capital in order to paralyze the rebels' minds.

Later, he looked for an opportunity and followed orders, advancing northward via Shanxi. On the way, he transferred troops from two towns in Xuanfu and Datong, bringing the total number of troops to 80,000.

They made a feint to the east and attacked in the west, taking a detour to attack northern Shaanxi.

At the same time, in mid-November, in Beijing, the Regent Dorgon issued another transfer order, appointing Prince Yu Duoduo as the General Dingguo.

He led the surrendered generals Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, totaling more than 20,000 troops, and marched westward to capture Tongguan.

Together with Ajige in the north, they formed a pincer attack from the northeast.

The war broke out again in Shaanxi, and it was difficult to take care of both ends.

At the end of December, Duoduo's troops used the power of the red cannon to pry open the Dashun defense line.

Li Zicheng was in a difficult situation, so he took a risk and made a desperate decision to lead the army to reinforce Tongguan immediately.

On the 29th, the decisive battle began. The Dashun army lined up on the mountain in front of the pass, while the Qing army's vanguard commanders Nushan, Eshuo and others outflanked the army from the flanks and rear. The guard commander Tulai led the cavalry to attack head-on. Although the Dashun army fought tenaciously, it was still unable to resist the general trend and was doomed to failure.

On the fourth day of the first lunar month of the following year (the second year of Hongguang), Liu Fangliang, a general of the Dashun Army, led several thousand troops to launch a surprise attack on the Qing camp, but was defeated by the Qing army again.

Li Zicheng personally led the cavalry and infantry to resist the battle, but was also defeated.

After a series of defeats, Tongguan was no longer captured and was soon occupied by Qing troops.

at the same time!

Bad news came frequently from the north.

After receiving reinforcements, Ajige's troops surrounded Yulin from northern Shaanxi, occupied Mizhi, and launched a brutal attack.

It was the first month of the year, and it was pushing westward to the city of Xi'an.

The situation in Shaanxi had been in a desperate situation since the fall of Tongguan.

After all, after Tongguan, there are no more strategic places to defend in Guanzhong.

After this disastrous defeat, the Dashun Army was in panic and morale was low.

Li Zicheng thought that he could not resist the Qing army, so he gritted his teeth and cut off his tail to survive. On the 13th, he set fire to the palace in Xi'an, took his baggage and family, and fled the city at night.

Later he went out of Lantiankou and retreated to Shangzhou.

On the 18th day of the first lunar month, the Qing army led by Duoduo was the first to enter the city of Xi'an.

However, at this moment, Xi'an is like a deserted city.

In a rage, he ordered the guard commander Aljin to pursue Li Zicheng.

However, in the end, there was no trace of it, so we had to give up.

At this point, the Jiannu Tatars were in the northwest, occupying Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces. For the time being, their military strength was unmatched, and the arrogance in the army became more and more serious.

The remaining Dashun forces, which had lost their territory in the battle, were forced to retreat to a corner of southwestern Shaanxi.

Later, in order to expand the depth of the army, they were unable to defeat the enemy by going east, so they had to find another way, turn southwest, and invade the hinterland of Sichuan.

There, the Dashi regime was just getting started.

So, who founded this Daxi?

There is no doubt that this person is Zhang Xianzhong.

If we want to explain it clearly, we have to go back to the Tianqi Dynasty.

During those years, natural disasters and man-made calamities were already spreading all over the north, and local conflicts were becoming increasingly fierce.

During this period, the natural disasters were most severe in Shaanxi.

The court was uncaring and the officials forced the people to rebel.

In the third year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong gathered peasants from eighteen villages in his hometown and formed a group to respond to the riot of Wang Jiayin and others, and called themselves the "Eight Kings of the Western Camp."

By the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong was becoming more and more courageous in battle. His troops made great progress and expanded their forces. They captured Fengyang and raised the banner of "Ancient Yuan True Dragon Emperor".

Later in the 16th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong proclaimed himself "King of the Great West" in Wuchang.

As time passed, in the first year of the Hongguang reign, he entered Sichuan, isolated himself in a corner, and even proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu, naming his country "Daxi" and changing the era name to "Dashun".

But, from beginning to end, Zhang Xianzhong had no ambition to rule the world and only lived in peace in Western Shu.

At this time, Li Zicheng would lead his troops into Sichuan, which means he saw that the emperor had no great ability and wanted to pick on the weak.

So, in a nutshell, that’s the bottom line.

After this year, all parties have been tugged at on a large scale.

In the Shandong affairs, the Qing court and the Southern Ming court, relying on the natural barrier of the Yellow River, formed a north-south confrontation.

The Jiannu entered the pass and stabilized northern Zhili, while the Southern Ming was able to maintain a relatively safe position and protect the southern part of the Yangtze River.

In Henan, Xiao Jingchuan made great contributions to the advancement of the province.

The Qing government took advantage of the peace opportunity to win another great victory in the northwest, forcefully seizing large tracts of land in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces.

Li Zicheng was forced to enter Sichuan and became a stray dog, no longer as glorious as before.

Originally, Xiao Langmou had hoped to have a three-way confrontation to compete for the world.

It is hard to predict, considering that Li Zicheng is so incompetent and the Jiannu army is so powerful.

Therefore, I can't help but feel a lingering fear.

Judging from the current situation, I am afraid that the situation is more serious than expected. If the successors are unable to find an opportunity to break the momentum of the north, then the Southern Ming will also be in danger.

As one gains strength, the other loses strength. If the time comes and we plan to jump over the wall, there will be no one to come back to us.

All for the sake of others.

Wouldn't you regret it? !

(End of this chapter)