“Crack, crack, crack—!”

Tang Tong's muskets and bows and arrows also sounded like fried beans. Servants kept falling from their horses. However, those servants on horses did not stop and instantly reached the front of Tang Tong's central army.

"Boom boom boom——!"

Several rounds of shotguns were fired, and dozens of Guan Ning's cavalry servants were immediately torn to pieces. But the remaining servants clamped their heels hard, pierced their spurs into the belly of the war horse, and moved forward while the horse was in pain.

The rushing force violently smashed the three-eyed firecracker forward in his hand.

Because they were shot three times in a row, the cannon fodder standing in front had already loosened their formation, let alone formed a complete formation of guns and flowers. So the servants of Guan Ning's cavalry suddenly rushed into the formation of Tang Tong's army.

The flying of the three-eyed fire blunderbuss caused the blood and brains of the soldiers who were hit to splash. The visual impact of the tragic scene far exceeded the effect of the spears. So the formation of the front row of Tang Tong's army

It collapsed immediately.

The Guan Ning Iron Cavalry servants from the back rows rushed in one after another, hitting Tang Tongjun's central army like a sledgehammer. In an instant, the collapse spread. And the Guan Ning Iron Cavalry light cavalry were attacking.

At this time, they also came to kill, followed closely by nearly 20,000 infantry who shouted to kill.

At the moment of the confrontation, the outcome of the two armies was decided. Seeing that something was wrong, Tang Tong turned his horse around and ran away without hesitation. His soldiers and servants also followed and fled, and the situation suddenly became one-sided.

…

On the first day of August, Li Zicheng led the main force of the Dashun Army to arrive, but he did not take Tang Tong's defeat seriously. He even held a banquet to calm Tang Tong's shock and offered good words to comfort Tang Tong and other defeated generals.

For Li Zicheng, it was expected that the 20,000 troops were defeated by the more than 40,000 troops of Guan Ning's cavalry. In addition, Guan Ning's cavalry did not dare to pursue them wantonly, which caused Tang Tong to finally retreat.

The defeat of more than 10,000 troops did not cause unbearable losses. Therefore, at this time, Li Zicheng showed extraordinary generosity. After all, he also wanted to show his kindness to Tang Tong and other Ming army generals who surrendered.

In addition, Li Zicheng also passed the test of Tang Tongjun, which proved that the Qing army was just sitting on the sidelines. This also made Li Zicheng less worried about being an enemy on both sides, so Li Zicheng believed that the loss of Tang Tongjun was worthwhile and cost-effective.

Anyway, those are all surrendered Ming troops, and other people’s children will die endlessly!

Therefore, instead of punishing defeated generals such as Tang Tong, Li Zicheng gave Tang Tong 50,000 troops to monitor the actions of the Qing army near Dazhongzhuang and guard against sudden attacks by the Qing army. Of course, although this partial division was in name only

It was commanded by Tang Tong, but in fact it was deputy commander Xie Junyou who commanded most of the Dashun Army. The rest of the Dashun Army pressed towards Yutian County with great momentum.

What is quite strange is that Li Zicheng and others are very excited about the upcoming battle. They can't wait to prepare for a life-and-death fight with Guan Ning's cavalry.

Throughout the Ming Dynasty, the Trilateral Army in northern Shaanxi has always been the most powerful army in the world, and this was also the pride of Li Zicheng and other Dashun generals who came from the Trilateral Army. However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, with Li Chengliang in Liaodong,

The Liaodong Iron Cavalry suddenly emerged. The reputation of that powerful army has gradually been taken away by the Liaodong Iron Cavalry.

Therefore, Li Zicheng and others have always been very unconvinced. He has always wanted to touch the world-famous Guan Ning cavalry. Therefore, if the Dashun Army wins this battle cleanly, then the Dashun Army will be worthy of the name.

Strong army.

Another thing that is strange is that in the eyes of people like Li Zicheng and Wu Sangui, they all think that their troops are stronger than Wu Shigong's Runing Army. This is also because the Runing Army has a bad background and is an inland army rather than a frontier army.

But the more important reason is that Runingjun is too wealthy.

In the view of Li Zicheng and Wu Sangui, the combat effectiveness of the Runing Army should be inferior to that of their border troops. It is only because they have money and equipped with a large number of firearms and sophisticated armor and weapons that the combat effectiveness of the Runing Army can be equal to that of the border troops.

.

But while the Dashun Army was actively preparing for war, Li Zicheng unexpectedly encountered a group of envoys composed of Shanhaiguan gentry, Confucian scholar Li Yousong and other six people. These envoys were sent by Wu Sangui, and they welcomed them with letters of surrender and rewards.

Li Zicheng's army expressed his intention to surrender. In fact, Wu Sangui wanted to delay the arrival of the Qing army.

At the same time, Wu Sangui once again sent an envoy to the Qing army camp. He asked the Qing army to abide by their promise and join forces as soon as possible to jointly fight against the Dashun army.

In this letter asking for help, Wu Sangui expressed Wu Sangui's basic position on the important issue of uniting with the Qing Dynasty to conquer it. In this letter, Wu Sangui repeatedly called the Ming Dynasty "our country" and "our dynasty", and called the Manchu Qing Dynasty "the Northern Dynasty"

.In other words, Wu Sangui asked for help from the Manchu Qing Dynasty as a minister of the Ming Dynasty. The purpose of requesting troops was to "destroy the bandits" and enable the Ming Dynasty to "revitalize" rather than allow the Qing Dynasty to take over the Central Plains.

However, Wu Sangui also made certain concessions and promised that after the Qing army eliminated the peasant army, it would use "children's treasures" and part of the land as a reward and reward for sending troops to the Qing Dynasty.

In addition, Wu Sangui also distributed leaflets everywhere to create public opinion about the restoration, preaching that "the destiny of Zhou Dynasty has not changed, and the virtues of Han Dynasty can be remembered" and "Let's see whether Chixian's return home is still the orthodoxy of the Zhu family". He also incited the gentry and bureaucrats to mourn for Emperor Chongzhen, and gained nearby

The sympathy or support of most of the bureaucrats, gentry and even some Confucian scholars of the Ming Dynasty made them ready to actively invite the Qing army for joint operations in terms of public opinion.

However, Wu Sangui's efforts failed to achieve any results. First, when the Dashun army approached Yumen, Li Zicheng discovered that the envoy sent by Wu Sangui to contact him for surrender tried to escape. This immediately exposed Wu Sangui's true intention of pretending to surrender.

Then on the evening of the second day of August, Wu Sangui personally led a small group of elite soldiers to raid the camp of Bai Guang'en of the Dashun Army, and won another victory. But this victory aroused the fighting spirit of the Dashun Army. Under Li Zicheng's order

Next, tens of thousands of troops transported artillery to the front line, and then Li Zicheng led more than 60,000 soldiers and horses of the old battalion to Yumen.

Under such military pressure, Wu Sangui made major concessions to the Qing army. He sent an envoy to promise Huang Taiji that as long as the Qing army sent troops, the Guanning cavalry would donate the land in Liaodong, including Shanhaiguan.

This is the first time that Wu Sangui has clarified the specific territory to be ceded to the Qing Dynasty, especially the Shanhaiguan Pass that he will donate, which is an important obstacle for the Qing army to enter the customs. One more point should be pointed out: without the Ningjin Defense Line dominated by Shanhaiguan,

Then the Yanyun area will become completely undefended. As long as the Qing army is willing, it can occupy the entire North China Plain, including Beijing. Therefore, Wu Sangui's promise shows that he is already anxious.

For the Qing army, this condition was simply a God-given opportunity. The generals of the Qing army all hoped that Huang Taiji would agree. However, Huang Taiji understood the psychology of Wu Sangui and the others, and at this time he saw his plan.

Huang Taiji quickly replied to Wu Sangui, telling them to put aside their past grievances, and promised to "confer the land to the Jin Dynasty as a vassal king" and "enjoy wealth and honor for generations to come." In fact, the real meaning here has become, let Guan Ning's cavalry surrender to the Qing Dynasty.

The army is gone.

In desperation, Wu Sangui could only vaguely agree to this condition. And the Qing army also began to leave Ninghe County and move towards Yutian County.

On the fourth day of August, the Dashun Army launched an attack on the Guan Ning Cavalry in three groups. Because Yumen County was too small, the Guan Ning Cavalry could only rely on the county seat to fight in the field. In the half-day battle, the Guan Ning Cavalry fully demonstrated its strength.

In his true military character, Wu Sangui personally led the troops to attack left and right, resisting the fierce attack of Dashun Army.

The veterans from the three sides of Li Zicheng's old camp also performed well. They fought evenly with Wu Sangui's Guan Ning cavalry, so in the initial battle, the two armies fought evenly.

However, as the battle progressed, the superiority of the Dashun Army became apparent, and the Guan Ning Iron Cavalry gradually became unable to withstand the Dashun Army's fierce attacks from three sides. When the battle lasted for half a day, the Guan Ning Iron Cavalry had nearly 3,000 men.

After the surrender of the Dashun Army, the war situation took a turn for the worse. Wu Sangui could only order the troops to withdraw into Yutian County to avoid the fierce offensive of the Dashun Army.

That night, facing a desperate situation, Wu Sangui sent eight consecutive messengers to urge the Qing army to send troops, but they all failed to return. In desperation, Wu Sangui could only come to the Qing army camp in person and implore Huang Taiji to send troops.

Seeing Wu Sangui's personal arrival, Huang Taiji was very enthusiastic and received him cordially. But Wu Sangui was desperate and made new concessions to Huang Taiji, agreeing to cede the territory north of the Yellow River, including Beijing.

Large areas were given to the Manchus.

However, Wu Sangui also proposed: Do not hurt the people, do not violate the tombs, visit the East Palace and the residence of the two kings, and establish Nanjing. He asked the Manchu Qing Dynasty to allow him to support the late Ming prince in Nanjing and establish Nanming.

At this point, it can be seen that Wu Sangui was still vague about surrendering to the Qing Dynasty. In his heart, he still wanted to be a "Ming minister" and work hard to restore the rule of the Ming Dynasty. As for the Qing army's dispatch of troops

, Wu Sangui still regarded it as "borrowing troops between brotherly countries", just like the Tang Dynasty borrowing troops from Xianbei. Wu Sangui was still half-hearted about surrendering to the Qing Dynasty.

Huang Taiji fully agreed to Wu Sangui's request. However, he politely said to Wu Sangui: Because the Han people have similar looks, it is difficult for the Qing soldiers to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy. In order to facilitate joint operations, Wu Sangui and all the officers and soldiers of Guan Ning Cavalry are required to shave their heads, otherwise

The Qing army will not enter the battlefield.

In fact, Huang Taiji's intention was to ask Wu Sangui's Guan Ning cavalry to completely surrender to the Manchus. But Wu Sangui, who was forced to a dead end, had no choice. After returning to camp that night, he immediately ordered that the entire army be shaved.
Chapter completed!