Zhou Shimin conquered Yan'an Prefecture and captured Feng Shengzhao, the governor of Yansui in the Qing Dynasty, alive, and his reputation suddenly rose. In the northern Shaanxi area, from officials and gentry to traffickers and pawns, when the name of Zhou Daxia was mentioned, they all gave a thumbs up. In order to inspire the people of Shaanxi,
Zhu Hengjia issued an order to make Zhou Shimin the deputy general of Jiazhou.
Zhang Bin picked up the medicine box and left Fushi and Jinyiwei. He had always been a dragon that never saw its end. No one knew where he went, and no one knew his achievements. It was not until he retired that he wrote an autobiography.
: "My Days in Jinyiwei" was widely circulated, and Zhou Shimin realized that the biggest contributor to Fushi's victory was not himself, but Zhang Qianhu.
Then, the rebel army continued to move south, conquering Ganquan, Yanzhou, Yichuan, Luochuan, central and Yijun counties. The number of soldiers and horses increased to more than 30,000, approaching Xi'an Prefecture.
At this time, in Chang'an City, there were only more than 6,000 Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners under Xi'an General Fu Kachan, plus 2,000 Green Camp soldiers and horses, which was only more than 8,000. They were so frightened that they defended the city while facing the governors of the three sides.
Tuhai, Governor of Xuanda Ma Mingpei, and Governor of Gansu Liu Doutong asked for help.
The Shanxi soldiers were still guarding the Shanxi-Shaanxi border and did not dare to leave the province; the Gansu Green Battalion was repeatedly mobilized, and Liu Doutong was also short of soldiers and horses, so he only sent a thousand Green Battalions for symbolic reinforcements.
Tu Hai, who was fighting against Fan Youxian in Hanzhong, was in a dilemma. Originally, he successfully relied on Nanzheng Jiancheng to block the Ming army's northward advance. But now there was a fire in the backyard. If he did not rescue him, Xi'an would not be safe. After thinking about it, he decided to
First withdraw to Xi'an and wipe out the rebels.
He was a wise general. Before retreating, he launched a large-scale counterattack to confuse the Ming army. Then by surprise, he crossed Zhongnan Mountain and returned to Xi'an. He returned with only 15,000 troops and horses, leaving behind Chen Wanlue, Ma Ning, and Lai Nu.
We have 20,000 troops to guard Zhongnan Mountain.
"Commander Chen, I order you to be the chief general. Before I can wipe out the bandits, you must only defend and not attack. You must defend by the mountains and hold back the Ming army."
"嗻", Chen Wanlue promised loudly.
After the explanation, Tu Hai led his army into Xi'an. Although there were not many soldiers and horses, they were all elite, and he was confident that it would be easy to defeat the rebels.
If you don’t succeed, it’s not that you haven’t won, but that you haven’t found it.
Zhou Daxia slipped away. As soon as he heard that Tu Hai had returned, he knew that he was no match for a head-to-head confrontation, so he immediately slipped back to Yulin, joined forces with Zhu Long, and prepared to attack Yulin City three times.
"Bah, these thieves are so cunning and angry," Xi'an general Fu Kachan said angrily.
The post of General of Xi'an was established in June of the second year of Shunzhi (1645), and had jurisdiction over a total of 6,468 people from the Eight Banners of Manchu and Mongolia. In the sixth year of Shunzhi (1649), after the Mancheng of Xi'an was built, these Eight Banners soldiers were all stationed in the city. p>
"General, there is no need to be angry. Our army has the advantage of cavalry and will be able to wipe out these bandits sooner or later." Tu Hai had the demeanor of a general and was not angry at all.
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Under Yulin City, Zhou Shimin and Zhu Long reunited.
At the time of separation, Zhou Daxia had only 10,000 people, but when he came back, it became more than 30,000; while Zhu Long's army initially had 17,800 people, but after fierce siege battles, several thousand more were lost. The power of Zhu Long was declining and growing.
Long looked at Zhou Shimin with envy and jealousy.
He smiled and asked: "Brother, what do you think is the best way to attack Yulin City?"
Famous generals are all gained from fighting in wars. At this time, Zhou Shimin already had rich combat experience after experiencing several wars. He pinched his chin with his hand and said calmly: "My little brother is fighting in Yan'an this time. What will happen?"
A lot of cannons have arrived. I visited the city yesterday and found that Zhenyuan Gate (South City Gate) is in ruins. We can focus on cannons to blow down the city wall and attack it."
Yansui Town is an important town to guard against the Mongols. There are many artillery pieces. Although some are old and some are from the Hongwu period, they are very powerful. After Zhou Shimin captured Yan'an, he collected hundreds of heavy artillery pieces and pushed them on artillery carts, preparing to use them.
Yulin.
"It's true, my dear brother, that when you left, you were empty-handed, and when you came back, you even had cannons." Zhu Long laughed.
On June 11, the fourth year of Guangwu in the Ming Dynasty, the third Battle of Yulin started.
Zhu Long, He Huan, Zhu Yingyuan, Zhu Yingkui, Sun Chongya, and Zhao Guangyin pretended to attack Weiningmen, Zhenwumen, Guangyumen, Xuanwumen, Longdemen, and Xinlemen respectively.
Zhou Shimin led his army and slowly approached Zhenyuan Gate, which was guarded by Qing guerrilla Xie Hongru.
The gunners of the rebel army began to adjust the distance of the guns. There was a shortage of skilled gunners, and many people could only load and fire. Fortunately, there were many guns, and the Zhenyuan Gate had been exposed to war for a long time and was badly damaged.
"Fire!" Zhou Shimin roared.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp", hundreds of cannons fired together, and soon, the Zhenyuan Gate collapsed.
"Brothers, follow me to kill." Zhou Shimin raised his sword and rushed towards the gap in the city wall. Seeing his bravery, his subordinates were immediately aroused and the Qing army was frightened. After a while, Xie Hongru was beheaded.
Hero Zhou was not a fool of himself. As soon as he entered the city, he rushed straight to the Zhenbei Tower where the Qing army general Xu Zhankui was stationed.
Without the barrier of the city wall, the rebels took advantage of their numerical advantage and tightly surrounded Zhenbei Tower.
The last soldier fell. Xu Zhankui was covered in blood and stood leaning on his sword. Seeing the rebels approaching, he suddenly laughed and said: "Call the eldest among you and other lieutenants. I don't want to die at the hands of a nobody."
"Hmph, I wonder if Zhou Shimin is qualified enough to kill you?" came a loud voice.
"Zhou Shimin, Zhou Daxia?"
Xu Zhankui was stunned, then smiled and said: "That's enough, take my head quickly."
"What a pity for this knife," Zhou Shimin sighed, raising his hands and lowering his head.
In this battle, the Ming army also killed Qing general Zhang Guoyan and guerrilla Qian Yinglong.
After three consecutive attacks, Yulin City was captured. Zhou Shimin was filled with emotion and wrote a poem:
"Yulin"
Three battles fortified the city, and the courage was strong,
One hundred thousand company battalions were destroyed by artillery fire.
The murderous aura soaring into the sky moves the corner of the city,
Chief Hu will not return until he is destroyed.
Who gave me the Qinghai arrow?
Shoot down the poplar flowers to make snow fly.
Fu Shi newly captured Governor Feng,
Crossing the river, he beheaded Xu Zhankui.
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"Brother, although Yulin has been defeated, Tuhai's pursuers are approaching. My younger brother suggests that we avoid the enemy's main force and attack the three Ningxia guards in the west. Ningxia's commander-in-chief Ma Ning has been transferred south, and the attack will not be difficult." Zhou Shimin advised Zhu Long,
Leave if you can't beat them, which is an old tactic of the rebels in the late Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Long refused to withdraw. He was jealous of Zhou Shimin's growing power and wanted to occupy Yulin and recruit troops.
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"Although what I said makes sense, the city of Yulin is strong and a battle is not impossible."
The two couldn't argue, so they had no choice but to divide their forces. Zhou Shimin and Sun Chongya went west to attack Ningxia; Zhu Long and He Huan stayed in Yulin.
Upon hearing that the rebel army was divided, Tu Hai sneered and said, "Send orders to all armies to pursue the Zhou thieves with great fanfare."
"The use of troops by the Governor has always been secretive, why is it so big today?" Li Shixun was puzzled when all the soldiers were promoted.
"Haha, the big fanfare is for Zhu Long. Chase him to Xiangshui Castle and return immediately. Destroy Zhu Long first, and then Zhou Shimin."
Tuhai used troops ruthlessly and wrote to Ma Mingpei, the governor of Xuanda, asking him to transfer the Mongolian deputy commander Biliktu of Zhenglan Banner who was stationed in Pingyang, and the Manchu Mele Zhangjing of Zhenglan Banner who was stationed in Linxian County.
The Hazhan tribe marched west to Yulin to assist in the suppression; they also ordered the deputy capital of Xi'an, Tongdu Min, to lead three thousand cavalry to follow the rebels of Zhou Shimin's tribe from a distance, and sent a letter to Liu Doutong, the governor of Gansu, asking him to help defend Ningxia.
Liu Doutong was pitiful. Gansu's elite troops were almost exhausted, and their return to the base was unstable, so he had to order the thousand green battalions previously sent to Ningxia.
Ma Ning, the commander-in-chief of Ningxia, has been transferred to the south. These thousand green battalions are the only soldiers of the three guards of Ningxia. Plus thousands of local guards, how can they defeat more than 30,000 rebels? Soon Zhou Shimin captured
Ningxia defender, Ningxia avant-garde, Ningxia central defender, the number of troops increased to 40,000.
"Are you saying that Tu Hai went after Zhou Shimin?" Zhu Long asked Ye Bu, who reported the news.
"It's true, villains can see it clearly."
"Very good, let's go down and have a rest." Zhu Long relaxed his vigilance. Now that Tu Hai has left, Yulin will be safe.
Tu Hai made a counterattack, and after arriving at Xiangshui Fort, he turned around and attacked Guide Fort, heading straight to Yulin City.
The rebel army was careless and the Qing army broke in before the city gate could be closed. Ming general He Heng died in the battle.
Zhu Long hurriedly took his two sons, Zhu Yingyuan and Zhu Yingkui, to retreat eastward from Jiazhou. They were met by Biliktu and the six thousand Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners of the Hazhan tribe coming from Shanxi. They were defeated again. Zhu Long and Zhu Yingyuan died in battle, and Zhu Yingkui led a small number.
The remaining soldiers took a detour and fled to Ningxia.
In Ningxia Vanguard Shigou City, Zhou Shimin had just finished inspecting military affairs when his subordinates reported that Zhu Yingkui was here.
When he saw Zhu Yingkui's blood-stained shirt, Zhou Shimin was shocked: "My dear nephew, why are you here?"
Zhu Yingkui knelt down and cried loudly, "Uncle Zhou, you want to avenge my father and brother!"