Dorgon's order to Zu Dashou was to do everything possible to hold back the Datong Army on the battlefield in the middle and prevent the Datong Army from rushing to reinforce Shangqiu.
Therefore, either Xihua County or Fugou County will be stuck.
Compared with hundreds of years later, the rivers in Henan Province in the Ming Dynasty changed greatly. This was mainly caused by the diversion of the Yellow River. Blocking the two counties of Xihua and Fugou, the Sixth and Seventh Divisions of the Datong Army could not march quickly along the rivers.
, we can only take the land route slowly, and we have to cross rivers several times along the way.
Zu Dashou could not retreat. The most he could do was retreat to Fugou. If he retreated to Xuzhou, he would be disobeying the military order.
A soldier came over to report: "Du Tong, Yuan Shizhong has led his troops to Fugou, but he does not want to continue coming to join forces."
Although Zu Dashou was not given any title, he was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Han Army of the Zhenghuang Banner. In other words, he was in charge of all the Han armies of the Zhenghuang Banner, which was one of the highest military positions among the Eight Banners of the Han Army.
Zu Dashou frowned and said, "This person may defect!"
Wu Sangui said: "He is a Henan bandit who was granted the title of Marquis of Shunyi by the Qing Dynasty. What else can he do to change sides? Can Emperor Zhao of Nanjing grant him the title of Marquis of Shunyi?"
"Well, who can say for sure?" Zu Dashou shook his head and sighed.
In history, there are many stories about Yuan Shizhong. For example, Li Zicheng married his adopted daughter, but Yuan Shizhong abducted Li Zicheng's daughter. Some historical materials also record that Yuan Shizhong's troops did not kill civilians, but also rescued them, so he was called
The "Buddhist soldiers" even defeated a small group of Eight Banners troops who entered the country to plunder, killed 50 Tatars, and even collected the Tatars' belongings without acknowledging their debt.
It is also said that Li Zicheng was afraid of Yuan Shizhong, so he first excluded him, then attacked him from a flank, and finally killed Yuan Shizhong and annexed his tribe.
In fact, it was not that exciting. Yuan Shizhong's troops did have good military discipline. They once expanded to tens of thousands, but they suffered successive defeats and were helped by Li Zicheng. Therefore, Yuan Shizhong obeyed Li Zicheng, but maintained his independence and developed through Li Zicheng's prestige.
power.
The imperial court sent people to appease him, and Li Zicheng also sent people to appease him.
Yuan Shizhong chose the imperial court and killed Li Zicheng's envoy. Li Zicheng was furious and led his troops to kill Yuan Shizhong!
Previously, Yuan Shizhong was ordered to guard against the 7th Division. When the 7th Division of the Datong Army moved, he was recruited by Zu Dashou to join forces. As a result, when he reached Fugou County, he suddenly stopped moving and even recruited refugees along the way. By this time, he had expanded his troops.
to more than 30,000 people.
Once Yuan Shizhong chose to defect, it would be equivalent to blocking Zu Dashou's retreat.
Zu Dashou was so frightened that he sent a scholar named Gong Yijie to Fugou County to appease Yuan Shizhong.
After meeting Yuan Shizhong, Gong Yijie asked: "Why did the Marquis stop advancing?"
Yuan Shizhong explained: "The soldiers in the army are prone to diseases. If they go to Xihua County to join forces with Zudu, they may also be infected with the plague."
Gong Yijie said: "The enemy's army is about to arrive, and it's time to use troops. A little plague is not a cause for concern. Please lead the troops there immediately."
"Alas, many of my generals are infected with the epidemic." Yuan Shizhong sighed.
Gong Yijie tried his best to persuade: "Master Marquis, the Civil War is the time to serve the country. If the Marquis stops the army, he will be held accountable after the war. This is the worst policy. Does the Marquis think that the soldiers of the hypocrisy have won our great victory?"
Clear the Eight Banners?”
"Hey, it's hard to say this." Yuan Shizhong suddenly laughed.
Gong Yijie said in horror: "Why did the Marquis say this?"
Yuan Shizhong did not explain, and sneered: "I wanted to continue to wait and see, but you reminded me. Since the Tatars will definitely be held accountable, why not rebel now and not let Dorgon come back alive? Someone is coming!"
"Here!" Several soldiers came in.
Yuan Shizhong said: "Behead this man and send him to the Datong Army. Tell him that I have raised troops to fight against the Qing Dynasty, occupy Fugou, and cut off Zu Dashou's retreat!"
"Master Hou, think twice...Master Hou, think twice..." Gong Yijie shouted and was dragged out.
Yuan Shizhong was born in a small landowner family. He was educated when he was a child. He was strong and strong, and he had practiced some martial arts since he was a child.
In Henan in the late Ming Dynasty, even small landowners would not be able to survive if they encountered corrupt officials.
Yuan Shizhong's family was first reduced to self-cultivating farmers, and gradually they also worked as sharecroppers on the land. He was constantly pressed by the government, and his family members starved to death one after another. He had no choice but to flee the famine and work as a beggar in Kaizhou.
Historically, this man rose up in rebellion. Due to his good military discipline, the people enthusiastically joined him and quickly stood out among the many rebel armies. In his heyday, he had an army of 300,000.
Yuan Shizhong's thinking mode is biased toward scholars. He does not want to be a rebel, and always wants to be recruited into a regular position.
After surrendering to the Manchus, Yuan Shizhong always felt uncomfortable.
Because the Manchu Qing Dynasty exploited the people very much, no less than the Ming Dynasty officials. Although he was made a marquis, the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not allocate military pay, or even salary, and relied entirely on Yuan Shizhong to raise it himself.
This seems to be no different from being a rebel in the past, right?
Yuan Shizhong cherishes feathers and cares about his reputation, so he has been relying on landlords to persuade him to get food. Moreover, he doesn't like shaving his hair and hates the braid on the back of his head!
When Dorgon was around, Yuan Shizhong did not dare to rebel.
As soon as Dorgon left and there were no Eight Banners soldiers nearby, Yuan Shizhong immediately thought of defecting. Even if he was defeated, he could retreat with the Datong army and go to the Han territory where there was no need to shave his hair and leave braids.
…
Xihua County.
Zu Dashou asked: "How far away is the puppet army?"
"The enemy cavalry has arrived several miles away, and the enemy's main force is estimated to be dozens of miles away," Wu Sangui said.
"The entire army withdraws to Fugou," Zu Dashou said. "If the Yuan thief (Yuan Shizhong) dares to kill, we will annihilate him in the wild. If the Yuan thief defends the city, Fugou County must be captured in a bloody battle! Yuan thief
If we don't get rid of it, we will be attacked from both sides."
Wu Sangui suggested: "It is better to lead troops to Taikang. In this way, we will not be attacked from both front and rear, but we can also block the enemy troops and prevent them from rushing to reinforce Shangqiu."
Zu Dashou hesitated.
Wu Sangui's strategy is indeed feasible, but a large amount of baggage must be discarded, because the march cannot be carried out by water. Once all the supplies are taken on the road, tens of thousands of civilians must be used, and there will be chasing troops behind them.
Yuan Shizhong's sudden reaction disrupted all Zu Dashou's plans!
Before this, Zu Dashou could choose to defend the city, go out to fight, or retreat to Fugou. But now he had no choice, either to return to the army and kill Yuan Shizhong, or to abandon the baggage and go to Taikang County.
This situation is purely the result of the Manqing itself.
The Manchu Qing Dynasty expanded too fast, taking over four provinces in half a year, and everyone was willing to take it in. What's even more frightening is that there was not enough food at all, and they could not really control the troops coming from all directions. During the war, even in
Land robbery by surrendering soldiers and generals.
With this approach, there will definitely be no problem in advancing with great success, but conflicts will break out when the Datong Army blocks it.
There is no need to even wait for the Qing Dynasty to be defeated. If the war situation remains in a stalemate for a little longer, some of the troops and generals will surrender and switch sides again.
And Zhao Han's reputation for kindness finally showed his appeal.
Wherever they passed along the way, the people welcomed him warmly. Even the hungry people knew that if they followed Emperor Zhao, they would definitely have food to eat. Even some landowners and gentry were dissatisfied with the tyranny of the Qing Dynasty and spent all their wealth to support Zhao Han in the war.
After entering the territory of Guide Prefecture, gentry and self-recruited village warriors came to vote every day.
There were nearly 20,000 Xiangyong troops, and the rebel army composed of hungry people was close to 100,000. Some Xiangyong and hungry people, even from Kaifeng Prefecture, traveled across states and counties to seek refuge with Emperor Zhao.
Well, Emperor Zhao's military rations were consumed very quickly, and a good appetite could make people poor.
…
All the cavalry in Xihua County were assigned to Wu Sangui.
Wu Sangui gathered more than 4,000 cavalry and patrolled near Yingqikou, preventing the Datong army from crossing the river and covering the retreat of Zu Dashou and his infantry.
A fire broke out in the city, but it was Zu Dashou who burned all the extra supplies, including a lot of stolen food and grass.
The Henan bandits who had surrendered to the Manchus had a look of intolerance on their faces. When these bandits rebelled, they just couldn't have enough to eat. Seeing Zu Dashou burning the food and grass, they felt so miserable that they were bleeding.
"The enemy has escaped!"
Cao Bianjiao rode his horse to the bank of the Shahe River and met Wu Sangui, who was also with his cavalry, across the river.
There was no way to go over, so we could only watch and send people back to report the news, because the main force of the Datong Army was still thirty miles away.
Jiang Dashan, Huang Shun received the news and immediately ordered to speed up the march.
The civilians and soldiers all took action to dock more than ten grain-carrying ships to unload their cargo. Then, some soldiers took the boats and moved forward, while the remaining soldiers followed along the coast, taking away all the rations and artillery without any hurry.
The soldiers on the boat arrived at Yingqikou first and stood on the boat to shoot Wu Sangui's cavalry on the shore.
Wu Sangui did not dare to shoot at the gunmen, so he could only get out of the way of the dock at Yingqikou.
The fire gun soldiers took the opportunity to land ashore and cover Cao Bianjiao's cavalry as they crossed the river by boat. After all the cavalry crossed the river, the remaining infantry also came and continued to cross the river by boat.
"Pursue the whole army!" Jiang Dashan and Huang Shun jointly ordered.
The infantry of the two divisions were all lightly armed and trotting on the road, and their armor could only be left on the ship. The grenadiers, who were ten thousand enemies, could not bring them with them, and they only had a waist knife.
More than 10,000 Datong Army infantrymen who took off their armor marched towards Taikang County in a hurry.
Two cavalry generals, Cao Bianjiao and Wei Guoxiang, each led 2,500 dragoons to drive away Wu Sangui's cavalry.
The Guan Ning Cavalry has long been disabled and was once divided into three parts. One part was transferred to Guan to suppress the northwest bandits; one part was assigned to Zu Dashou; the other part was assigned to Wu Sangui.
All battles have been fought, and it has been constantly consumed.
Although Zu Dashou and Wu Sangui still had cavalry under their command, they were no longer the real Guan Ning cavalry, but more similar to the servant cavalry of the Ming Dynasty border generals.
At this moment, Wu Sangui commanded more than 4,000 cavalry, of which about 2,000 were considered elite, while the rest were miscellaneous under the command of various generals.
Facing five thousand dragon cavalry, Wu Sangui dispersed the attack and fired bows and arrows.
After shooting a few arrows, he stopped shooting.
If you're too far away, you won't be able to shoot; if you're too close, you'll get shot.
Wu Sangui wanted to go around the back and attack the synchronized soldiers who were taking off their armor and marching quickly. The dragoons also quickly followed up to protect the safety of the friendly troops and prevent the enemy cavalry from approaching.
Although Jiang Dashan had a mount, he was running with his soldiers at the moment. He shouted: "Don't worry about the enemy cavalry, just run forward!"
There were more than ten thousand synchronous soldiers, but they really ignored Wu Sangui, as if they couldn't see the enemy cavalry, and trotted forward in the direction of Taikang with their weapons in hand.
The two armies were dozens of miles apart, and the Datong Army actually planned to pursue them on foot.