The governor of Xi'an was named Hong Daoyuan. Although he didn't like those arrogant and powerful generals, he still came down from the tower to greet them.
But the general who led the troops ignored him and kept speeding towards the city.
Of course, hundreds of cavalry were also dispatched to quickly occupy the Xi'an city gate and drive away the Dashun army's guards.
The gatekeepers showed no resistance at all, and even smiled apologetically as they walked, exchanging opinions with each other:
"It's strange that the cavalry don't wear armor."
"Everyone has a blunderbuss."
"The firegun doesn't have a match rope, and I don't know how to light it."
"What material are the clothes made of? They are all buttoned up. They look very energetic."
"I'm afraid it's not the prince (Li Guo)'s team. The prince passed by us in Xi'an a few months ago..."
"..."
The guards guarding the city stood far away, pointing at the Datong dragoons.
Hong Daoyuan ran over quickly and said with a smile: "May I ask which general is in front of you?"
The officer responsible for seizing the city gate was named Wang Enmin. He turned around and asked, "Who are you?"
Hong Daoyuan said in surprise: "From the general's accent, he is from Huguang? My ancestral home is Xiangyang. I wonder where the general is from?"
Wang Enmin said angrily: "What kind of official are you?"
Hong Daoyuan replied: "I am Hong Daoyuan, I am the governor of Xi'an."
"The prefect of Xi'an is the prefect of Xi'an, and what kind of prefect is there? Do you think this is Jinling?" Wang Enmin scolded, "This is a hypocritical official, arrest him quickly!"
Hong Daoyuan was a little confused. Why did he take action just as he said it?
Hypocrite?
The civil servant's mind was spinning very fast. The guards were still watching the fun, but Hong Daoyuan had already understood. When he was held down by the dragoons, he knelt down and said, "The sinner Hong Daoyuan greets the Heavenly Soldiers of Datong. Long live His Majesty the Emperor of Datong!"
Wang Enmin couldn't laugh or cry: "Why don't you show your loyalty to the hypocritical emperor?"
Hong Daoyuan replied: "What kind of hypocritical emperor? That's a trespasser! I am a junior minister with a good family background, and I have a good reputation, but I am ordered around by the hypocritical thief. A good prefect cannot control this or that.
The martial artist has the final say in everything. Although I am originally from Xiangyang, I have moved to Chang'an County for four generations. My ancestors worked hard to create some foundations and purchased thousands of acres of land in Chang'an County..."
"Has the land been divided?" Wang Enmin asked.
"It's not that the land was divided, but there were hundreds of acres of good land that were forcibly occupied by soldiers," Hong Daoyuan said with a sad face, "Let's not talk about occupying the upper fields. When a scholar encounters soldiers, he can't explain why. But our tenants
, some were called to farm land for the military generals. The remaining tenants all went to farm unowned land. The government said that after three years of land reclamation, only half of the grain and tax were paid, so didn’t all the tenants run away?"
Wang Enmin laughed loudly: "You deserve it!"
Hong Daoyuan seemed not to have heard the ridicule and said: "The tenants ran away and paid it off. The rent and money they owed were wiped out by the hypocritical court. The tenants did not pay back the money and grain they owed, and they did not give the landlord land to cultivate. The landlord's life
But how can we survive? Now that the soldiers have arrived in Xi'an, and we can finally defend it until the clouds clear and the moon shines, the damn intruders will definitely be defeated!"
Wang Enmin became more and more outrageous as he listened, and asked: "Don't you know that our Datong court will also wipe out the money and grain owed by the tenants? Moreover, it will also divide the land of the landlords?"
"Those are all rumors," Hong Daoyuan thought he was testing himself and said with a smile, "The Datong imperial court is the orthodoxy in the world, how can it act like a bandit?"
Wang Enmin was speechless. This hypocritical civil servant of the imperial court had too little information, right?
But one thing is certain, the civil servants did not like Li Zicheng, and they were suppressed by the generals and could not stand out. Therefore, Cao Bianjiao and Chen Tangong led the cavalry, and they always looked forward to the wind wherever they went. The civil servants and the soldiers who defended the city knelt down to meet the soldiers.
.
Not only did the generals bully him, Li Zichen himself also treated the civil servants very harshly.
He demanded that civil servants must be diligent in their duties, and those found guilty of corruption would be severely punished. At the same time, the salary was low, far inferior to that of the Datong court. If you only used salary to support your family, you could barely have enough to eat.
…
Zhou Mu Yamen.
"General, we have taken control of the entire city, and all the officials and soldiers of the puppet court have been captured!"
"Keep public order and don't let chaos break out in the city. Let Liu Yao and the others go back and report that Xi'an has been captured. Also, recruit troops on the spot. Only good people with families in the city will be recruited. Beware of enemy generals leading a large army to attack Xi'an...
…”
After arranging things, Cao Bianjiao looked at Wang Zeyao and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhou Mu, where in the whole of Shaanxi are there large armies?"
Wang Zayao shook his head: "I don't know."
"It seems that Mr. Zhou Mu is willing to die to be loyal to Li Zicheng?" Cao Bianjiao threatened.
Wang Zayao said anxiously: "I really don't know. Although I am a state pastor, civil servants are not allowed to interfere with military affairs. Not only can they not interfere, but they cannot even ask, otherwise they will be inquiring about military affairs without authorization."
Cao Bianjiao asked again: "How many soldiers do Xi'an have?"
Wang Zayao replied: "There shouldn't be many soldiers, they are all city guards and government officials. The number of city guards in various states and counties ranges from dozens to hundreds, and it is absolutely impossible to have thousands. Moreover, they are all weak soldiers and did not fight much.
After the war, those who could fight were taken away."
Cao Bianjiao asked in confusion: "It's normal if there are no soldiers elsewhere. This Xi'an is the capital of Shaanxi. How come there are only four to five hundred weak soldiers defending the city?"
Wang Zayao sighed: "This is the land of Guanzhong. What is Guanzhong? There are male passes on all sides. Even if there are soldiers, they will guard the male passes. How can they defend Xi'an?" As he said, Wang Zayao was very curious, "Where did the general come from Xi'an?
?”
Cao Bianjiao smiled and reported the cities he passed along the way: "Puzhou, Linjin, Ronghe, Hejin, Hancheng, Heyang, Chengcheng, Baishui, Pucheng, Fuping, Sanyuan, Jingyang, Xianyang. Along the way, plus
In Xi'an, we captured fourteen cities. On the way, there was only one Chaoyi County where there was resistance with puppet officials and troops."
Wang Zayao muttered: "There are troops stationed in Weinan, which is the gateway to Xi'an, but you have bypassed it."
"What? Why didn't you tell me earlier!" Cao Bianjiao was furious.
Wang Zayao said: "There are only three thousand troops stationed there, so there is no need to panic, general."
Cao Bianjiao asked: "Where are the soldiers?"
Wang Zayao didn't bother to hide it: "Two of Shaanxi's troops are in Yulin and Ningxia to guard against the Mongols. One is in Gansu, stationed at Jiayuguan. One is in Hanzhong, guarding against the Datong Army in Sichuan. One is in Tongguan, guarding against Datong in Henan.
Army. The three thousand garrison troops in Weinan are used to guard grain and grass. The grain from Guanzhong is transported to Weinan first, and then from Weinan to Tongguan."
Cao Bianjiao grasped the overall situation instantly. After all, he was a border general and knew the geography of Shaanxi very well.
Li Zicheng had too many places to defend, and there were Mongols to the north and west. If he did not leave enough defenders, he would be plundered by the Mongolian tribes.
The Ordos tribe in the Hetao area was originally subordinate to the Chahar tribe and was surrendered to the Qing Dynasty along with the Chahar tribe.
But the Chahar tribe wanted to rebel, and the Ordos tribe further away had not listened to the orders of the Manchus for a long time. Until now, the Manchus have not set up a flag in Ordos, which means that it does not even count as Jidu rule.
They didn't care whether Li Zicheng joined forces with the Manchus, they would go south to grab food whenever they found an opportunity.
In the past few years, Li Zicheng rested and recuperated, retaining only 100,000 troops, and all the remaining troops went to farm. These farming troops were either surrendered soldiers or refugees, and had no combat effectiveness at all. They did not practice after being ordered to farm.
Therefore, Li Zicheng was actually very short of troops. In addition to the 100,000 standing army, tens of thousands were temporarily trained this year. Most of the troops stationed in Tongguan belonged to the new army.
Due to the great earthquake in Guanzhong during the Jiajing period, the Yellow River changed its course, and Daqing Pass lost its role in guarding the throat. Tongguan could only block the westward advance of the Datong Army. As long as the Datong Army successfully crossed the river, it could quickly move northward and sweep across the Xihe River.
Now, for the Dashun court, the situation in Shaanxi was completely ruined.
The main reason is not only that there are few soldiers, but also that the civil servants in various places surrender too quickly. These civil servants have no sense of belonging to the Dashun court and have long been prepared to surrender at any time. As long as they pretend to defend the city, Cao Bianjiao cannot even defeat them.
Fourteen cities, and the siege speed is faster than the speed of news spreading.
Cao Bianjiao asked again: "Who is guarding the army rations in Weinan?"
"Liu Sanhu." Wang Zayao said.
"Liu Sanhu?" Cao Bianjiao had never heard of this name.
Wang Zayao explained: "He is the third brother of Liu Tichun. Liu Tichun is Liu Erhu, his brother Liu Hong is the big tiger, and there are three tigers, four tigers and even seven tigers. Now the Liu family has died and only three tigers are left."
Most of the generals under Li Zicheng came from miserable backgrounds.
Let’s just say that the Liu family’s Qihu were simply forced to rebel. The family owed the landlord 1 stone and 5 dou in rent, and also owed 20 taels of silver to the loan shark with compound interest. Dahu and Erhu were tied up and beaten, and the landlord forced them to pay rent.
The son, three tigers, and five tigers got angry and beat to death two of the landlord's slaves.
The landlord reported to the officials, and the Liu family's seven tigers gathered to revolt, killing the landlord and opening a warehouse to release grain.
When the Liu family's Seven Tigers defected to Li Zicheng, their rebel army had grown to tens of thousands. They were considered shareholders who brought capital into the group, and they were not ordinary thieves. Li Zicheng regarded them very highly.
He Zhen, Dang Meng'an and others defected and unexpectedly met Liu Erhu (Liu Tichun).
This tiger was also very reckless. When the army was in disarray, he did not fight with the Datong army. Instead, he risked his life and chased into the Yellow River. He killed the traitor He Zhen before escaping for his life.
"Can you persuade Liu Sanhu to surrender?" Cao Bianjiao asked.
Wang Zayao shook his head: "Impossible."
Historically, Li Zicheng's favorite adopted son Zhang Nai was surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, but Liu Erhu chose to hang himself with his whole family.
Cao Bianjiao still wanted to give it a try. After consolidating the city defense, he sent people to Weinan to persuade them to surrender.
Liu Sanhu's reply was: "Xi'an will give it to you first, and I will get it back later!"
Tian Jianxiu, Liu Erhu, Liu Sanhu and others were expanding their army crazily, issuing weapons and equipment to civilians. In a blink of an eye, the army expanded to 50,000, and they were training soldiers in Tongguan, Chaoyi, and Weinan.
When Li Guo returns from Hanzhong with his troops, Cao Bianjiao's lone army will inevitably be surrounded.
Unless Cao Bianjiao and his cavalry jump out in advance and continue to attack various places in Guanzhong.
The next battle will most likely be near Tongguan. Without taking out Tongguan, it will be difficult for the Datong Army to truly occupy Guanzhong. On the contrary, the Datong Army in Hexi is very likely to be dumped, because the Dashun Army of Shanxi is also on the way.
