With the end of the Liaodong War, the northern frontier of the Ming Dynasty has calmed down. However, the Ming Dynasty, which never comes singly, will never be able to settle down, because the north has just calmed down, and trouble has arisen in the south. As the northern Shanxi army and Cao Wenzhao's frontier army have withdrawn one after another, the Ming Dynasty has been
The remnants of the rogue bandits, who were beaten with half their lives, took this opportunity to ignite the flames of war again.
Before the first day of August in the sixth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng's general Li Tianxiong led an army to attack Xiangyang Hua Town. At the same time, He Renlong's troops near Gucheng also suddenly turned to the southeast, broke through Shihua Lake in one breath, and poured directly into
To the south of Baokang County, He Renlong's 30,000-strong army abandoned the banks of the Zhushui River and was ready to swallow up Baokang County in one fell swoop. Such actions by He Renlong and Li Tianxiong's armies in Baokang County show Li Zicheng's ambition
So big, he is going to attack Xiangyang.
On the second day of August, more than 4,400 Xiang soldiers in Baokang County started a fierce battle with the rogue bandit Li Yan. After half a day of bloody battle, the bandits failed to break through Baokang County.
Sun Chuanting, who was far away in Luoyang, was also very anxious. Once Baokang County was lost, even if the gate to the south of Xiangyang was opened, if the bandit soldiers really attacked Xiangyang, then even the emperor would not be able to save Sun Chuanting? Mr. Sun Chuan immediately went down.
Under strict orders, the new Henan garrison Xin Zhongyuan was ordered to lead the entire army southward and must capture Guanghua City in Xiangyang Prefecture within two days.
Guanghua City is located in the northwest of Xiangyang. As long as Guanghua City is recaptured and the army goes south to threaten Zhushan County where Li Zicheng is located, are you still afraid that Li Yan and He Renlong will not return to help Hangzhou? Sun Chuanting has led the army for many years, and his decision will naturally be good.
, but after all, he thought too simply. Xin Zhongyuan finally led his troops to the outside of Guanghua City. Who would have thought that Li Zicheng seemed to have been prepared for it. He asked Luo Yonghao to wait in Guanghua City early, and when Xin Zhongyuan's exhausted troops arrived,
Luo Yonghao suddenly came out and caught Xin Zhongyuan by surprise. Fortunately, Xin Zhongyuan was also a capable general on the battlefield, and he fought and retreated. Although the casualties were not heavy, he was defeated when he came to Changhua. You can imagine his morale.
With morale so low, thinking about swallowing up Guanghua City in one breath with a thunderous force can only become a fantasy.
On the third day of August, Xin Zhongyuan's army was defeated outside Guanghua City and his army was blocked. However, the occupation outside Baokang County took a shocking turn. Ma Bin, who was stationed in Nanzhang, suddenly surrendered to the enemy, leaving Nanzhang unguarded. Li Yan took advantage of the situation to lead the army.
The soldiers poured into the outside of Baokang County and joined forces with He Renlong. At this point, nearly 50 million traitor soldiers gathered around the entire Baokang County. On the third day of August, Bao Xishan, the guard of the south city gate, abandoned the gate.
Changsheng led the troops into Baokang County, but the thieves swarmed in, and Baokang County was declared to have fallen. Li Tianxiong had a red face, and when the war started, his face looked like it was filled with blood. Now Baokang County has been destroyed,
Taking over the whole city is just around the corner.
Li Zicheng was restless, and Zhang Xianzhong, who had been in the Central Plains, was not idle either. The Northern Shanxi Army and the Shaanxi Frontier Army withdrew, but Zhang Xianzhong breathed a sigh of relief. In August, Li Zicheng made a big fuss in the Xiangfan area, attacking the county and recruiting young men.
, the power quickly recovered. Zhang Xianzhong naturally would not just sit and do nothing. Seeing Li Zicheng like this, he was also jealous.
On August 17, the sixth year of Chongzhen, the bandit Zhang Xianzhong, who had been silent for a long time, finally couldn't stand it any longer. No one knows why Zhang Xianzhong, who had been holding back in Dengzhou for two months, suddenly thought of sending troops to attack Henan Prefecture. In fact, Zhang Xianzhong did not use any force at the beginning.
He planned to march north because he was really psychologically affected by being beaten by the Northern Shan Dynasty army before. However, half a month ago, an old man in black robe came to Shunyang. Instead of saying that he was powerful, Zhang Xianzhong had to think more. Now.
Gao Yingxiang was destroyed, Luo Rucai hid in Hulao Mountain to survive, and Li Zicheng, the most powerful, prospered in his career. If Zhang Xianzhong still has no improvement, then whether Li Zicheng or the Northern Shanxi Army, as long as one party is interested in Zhang Xianzhong, he will only
Waiting for death.
Originally, Zhang Xianzhong planned to join forces with Li Zicheng to attack the Xiangfan area, but the words of the old man in black robe had a great effect.
As for how the old man in black robe made Zhang Xianzhong change his mind, it was actually simple. He just told Zhang Xianzhong that there was a huge wealth hidden somewhere in Luoyang. With this wealth, he could not only recruit troops and horses, but also use this money to increase the city of Luoyang.
You can definitely force the court to negotiate in order to recruit peace and get good treatment. If Luoyang City alone cannot impress the court, but with that wealth, the court will definitely agree to recruit peace. So, Zhang Xianzhong was moved, he thought
Recruitment is not only a way to survive, but also to achieve a greater career if there is a chance in the future. Zhang Xianzhong will not sincerely surrender to the imperial court. He just feels that life has been difficult recently. As long as he joins the imperial court, he will be counted as an officer and soldier.
He will not use the knife on Zhang. As long as he takes a two-year break, he is confident that his strength can be restored to the same level as before, or even reach a higher level.
On August 18, his general Shangguan Yi led 20,000 bandits to attack Longxing County in Ruzhou. Shangguanyi did not attack the city of Ruzhou, but attacked Longxing County under the jurisdiction of Ruzhou. It was really unexpected.
At this time, Henan soldiers and horses were dispatched by the imperial court. Most of them were trapped in Xiangfan area, fighting with Li Zicheng. The total number of soldiers and horses left near Luoyang was only more than 20,000. Sun Chuanting did not have many soldiers and horses at hand.
Reinforcements were urgently deployed. Kaifeng garrison Li Weixian was near Yanshi County and could not send troops in time. Longxing County only had more than a hundred village warriors, plus less than a hundred government officials. After resisting for an hour, the county was overrun by bandits. Shangguan Yi
After entering the city, they launched troops to loot and plunder everything in the city.
This time Shangguan Yi did not kill anyone, but arrested all the people in Hecheng. No one knew what Shangguan Yi wanted to do, or what Zhang Xianzhong was planning. If Shangguan Yi's attack on Longxing County was unexpected,
What’s even more surprising is what’s behind.
After taking Longxing County, I thought that Shangguan Yihui would be ordered to go north to attack Ruzhou. For this reason, Sun Chuanting also made arrangements and ordered his general Cen Wenyuan to lead 5,000 troops to garrison Ruzhou City. What surprised people was that
Not only did Shangguan Yi not go north, he also sent troops to the south and captured Lushan County and Ye County in just one day. After capturing these two counties, he still looted and then tied up some people and imprisoned them.
In Luoyang City, Sun Chuanting and Ding Luyan were thinking so hard that they were completely confused by Shangguan Yi. What did the traitors want to do? In the past, it was common for traitors to rob county towns, and arresting young people was not uncommon.
, but when will the traitor soldiers detain the common people? Marching with a large number of ordinary people is simply adding baggage to oneself, so all the time, any traitor soldier will not carry too much burden when marching and fighting, but this time is an exception, the traitor soldier
Not only did they march with the people, but they also arrested many people in the towns they passed along the way, as if they were afraid there wouldn't be enough.
Zhang Xianzhong is so hungry that he wants to eat human flesh? How is it possible? I have heard that Zhang Xianzhong eats human flesh, but they are all delicate little ladies. When have meat and vegetables not been tabooed and eaten by men, women, old and young? And so many people are too many.
Order it and eat it all. It would be strange if you don’t burst to death.
Shangguan Yi was doing evil in Ruzhou, Zuo Mou, Fang Han and others were also torturing Yingchang Mansion and Tangzhou. For two consecutive days, the bandits did not move north in large numbers, but were struggling in the south of Henan Mansion. August 22,
The bandits came out of Funiu Mountain and attacked Yiyang. Since Zhang Xianzhong had opened a hole under the east wall of Yiyang when he occupied Yiyang, a group of Huaixi bandits quietly sneaked in through the dog hole and waited until Yiyang guard Pan Yunlin
When they realized something was wrong, the bandits had already attacked the east city gate from both inside and outside.
On the same day, the city of Yiyang was defeated. Pan Yunlin, the new garrison of Yiyang, was killed in the battle. More than 3,000 people were killed and wounded, and the rest fled back to Luoyang. Zhang Xianzhong occupied Yiyang again. Now Zhang Xianzhong is really proud of himself, and Yiyang holds
With Ruzhou in hand, we only need to capture Ruzhou before we can attack Luoyang with a large army. That's Luoyang. If we can capture it, it would be good to go and sit in the Luoyang Palace.
Zhang Xianzhong arrived at Yiyang, and Cao Wenzhao's army had just arrived at Guozhou after marching all the way.
On August 13, Zhang Xianzhong personally led the army, with Shang Guanyi, Zuo Mou and Fang Han as generals, and besieged Ruzhou City. In order to protect Ruzhou, before the 20,000 troops from Kaifeng Prefecture arrived, Sun Chuanting ordered Ding Luyan to lead the army.
More than ten thousand soldiers and horses rushed to Ruzhou's aid. It can be said that Sun Chuanting's deployment was not a big problem. Ding Luyan led the troops all the way south and soon arrived at Linru Town in the north of Ruzhou. Just when Ding Luyan planned to defend Ruzhou with
When they were about to make contact, the bandit soldiers who had been attacking Ruzhou for more than half a day were like cats that smelled fishy smell. They abandoned Ruzhou and ran towards Linru Town.
Linru Town was too close to Ruzhou, and Ding Luyan never expected that the rebel soldiers would abandon Ruzhou and instead use all their strength to attack the reinforcements. Linru Town had no protection, and Ding Luyan did not have many people.
They have the advantage, they are coming in a hurry, and the soldiers are tired, so the best way to deal with it at the moment is to withdraw from Linru Town and temporarily avoid the front line. Doing so will inevitably cause suffering for the people of Linru Town, but sometimes on the battlefield, it is necessary to
Those who give up must give up. But at this time, Ding Luyan made a big mistake. He hesitated, but still did not want to let go of these poor townspeople. In the south of Linru Town, Ding Luyan had tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and Zhang Xianzhong had 40,000 soldiers.
The armies were engaged in battle. As soon as the two sides started fighting, Ding Luyan's soldiers and horses were entangled.
A fierce battle was going on in Linru Town. A soldier suddenly came out of Ruyang, sneaked around Linru Town, and appeared at the gate of Yingyang City at the end of the day. At this time, Yingyang's troops were empty, and how could they withstand the fierce attack of the thieves?
?In just one hour, Zhang Xianzhong's general Wei He captured Yingyang. News of Yingyang's fall soon spread to Linru Town. After hearing the news, Ding Luyan, who had taken a break for a while, turned pale with shock.
At this time, Ding Luyan already knew what the rebels were thinking. He stormed Ruzhou in order to force Luoyang to send reinforcements. After the reinforcements were entangled, he raided Yingyang and blocked the way for the reinforcements to retreat north. Now the situation is that Yingyang
Yang was occupied and could not return to the north. There were a large number of bandit soldiers in front and could not reach Ruzhou. They were attacked from both sides and were in danger. If the current situation was not the worst, then what happened next made Ding Luyan feel desperate.
Perhaps the bandits deliberately spread the news of the fall of Yingyang to Ruzhou. Han Zitong, the guard of Ruzhou, was afraid that the army in Linru Town would be attacked from both sides and be wiped out by the bandits, so he ordered 4,000 capable soldiers in Ruzhou to attack the bandits fiercely.
Afterwards. As a result, Han Zitong was ambushed at Luomapo, ten miles north of Ruzhou City, not even half an hour after leaving the city. After two hours of fierce fighting, Han Zitong who was guarding the guard was killed in battle. More than half of the more than 4,000 soldiers in Ruzhou were killed or injured, and the rest fled in all directions.
.
Without Han Zitong garrisoned, Ruzhou would have no ability to fight against the bandits. At the beginning of the 25th day of August in the sixth year of Chongzhen, Fang Han led an army of 10,000 and returned to Ruzhou. This time, Ruzhou only lasted for a quarter of an hour before being defeated by the bandits.
The soldiers were defeated. Han Zitong died in the battle and Ruzhou fell. Ding Luyan knew that it was meaningless to stay in Linru Town. Maybe if he stayed for a little longer, he would be swallowed up even to his bones by the troops of Yingyang and Ruzhou.
There are no left. Now there are only two ways to go in front of Ding Luyan. Either go eastward into Yingchang Mansion and join the reinforcements from Kaifeng Mansion. However, this road will pass through Yingchang Mansion and will be severely attacked by thieves.
obstruct.
Either go west, but this direction will face a tight blockade by the Yiyang bandits, which seems to be much more dangerous than retreating to Yingchang Mansion. It didn't take long for Ding Luyan to make a decision. He wanted to retreat west. See
It seems that the west is very dangerous, but Yiyang is the only place where bandit soldiers are stationed. As long as you pass Yiyang, you can go to Yongning and Xiong'er Mountain. I heard that General Cao has led troops to rush for reinforcements and is now stationed near Mianchi. With Cao's help,
The general's ability to lead troops in combat will definitely send troops across Xiong'er Mountain to occupy Yongning and Fuchang. Therefore, going west may seem dangerous, but in fact the possibility of survival is greater. On the night of November 25th, the general soldiers of Henan
Lu Yan led more than 3,000 remaining soldiers to extinguish the torches, placed dummies outside Linru Town to confuse the rebels, and finally withdrew from Linru Town without any danger.
Zhang Xianzhong did feel it was a pity that Ding Luyan escaped. However, since he had already obtained Yingyang and Ruzhou, it didn't matter if Ding Luyan left. Moreover, General Du Fucai was stationed in the west. It was still unclear whether Ding Luyan could escape.
Can you tell?
On August 26, when everyone thought that Zhang Xianzhong would send his troops north to directly besiege Luoyang City, Zhang Xianzhong asked Zuo Mou to lead an army of 10,000 to attack Dengfeng eastward. In one day, Dengfeng, which was empty of troops, was captured.
On the same day, Shangguan Yi set out from Dengfeng to attack Yong'an County in the east of Luoyang. Yong'an County is sandwiched between Luoyang and Zhengzhou. If Kaifeng Prefecture's soldiers and horses want to rush to Luoyang, they will inevitably pass through Yong'an County. If Yong'an falls, Kaifeng Prefecture's soldiers and horses will be defeated.
To stop them, it would take more than ten thousand Luoyang soldiers and horses to face nearly tens of thousands of thieves to attack.
It’s not that Sun Chuanting didn’t know the importance of Yong’an County, but his military strength was really stretched thin, so he failed to deploy heavy troops in Yong’an County in advance, and the rebels just caught this fatal loophole. In the past, Zhang Xianzhong rarely took so many detours when attacking cities and territories.
In this confrontation and all the military maneuvers, Zhang Xianzhong seemed to be a different person.
Yongan County cannot be lost. If Yongan is lost, Luoyang will be in danger without the support of Kaifeng soldiers and horses. Should we rely on the Northern Shanxi Army under Cao Wenzhao? Sun Chuanting feels that Cao Wenzhao has no good intentions. If Cao Wenzhao is really wholehearted
On the way, we should have arrived in Luoyang by now, so why stop in Mianchi?