Chapter Twelve: Soldiers rise from a piece of stone (1)
Just as Chongzhen had predicted, in mid-April, Li Zicheng mobilized some of the elite left army troops stationed in Henan to rush to the aid of the capital. He personally led a total of 80,000 troops to the entrance of Shanhaiguan, where he arranged troops to confront Wu Sangui, the general guarding the pass.
In the Shunjun camp, Li Zicheng looked at the old man kneeling on the ground in front of him and said lightly: "I didn't expect that you, Wu Xiang, gave birth to a good son."
This old man is Wu Sangui's father, Wu Xiang.
I saw that he was cleanly dressed and had a rosy complexion. He had not been mistreated because of Wu Sangui's rebellion.
"I'm telling you, your majesty, it's all my fault for the traitorous son's rebellion. Previously, your majesty asked us to help with payment, but someone added some extra fuel to the matter and spread it to my son's ears. He thought your majesty had raided our Wu family, so he returned to Shanhaiguan."
Li Zicheng was very angry when he heard this. He stood up, grabbed Wu Xiang's collar, lifted him in the air, and shouted: "Are you just going back to Shanhaiguan? How dare your good son kill the envoy sent by Laozi without permission and lead troops to attack the Tang Dynasty.
Tong, now I still want to cooperate with Jianlu inside and outside! How do I treat your father and son? When did I raid your Wu family? Someone actually arranged for my general to steal your son's concubine? She will marry your mother."
"Ahem...it's all the villain's fault...cough...the villain is guilty." Wu Xiang was afraid that Li Zicheng would chop himself in anger, so he kept begging for mercy while waving his hands.
Li Zicheng cursed a lot and his anger subsided a little. He put Wu Xiang down, clapped his hands and said, "I'll give you another chance. Go to the city and tell your son. Now look back and forget about it. I promised him that the title of Marquis will remain the same! Hurry up!
roll!"
Wu Xiang was dragged away by several people and went to Guancheng to persuade Wu Sangui to surrender.
"Liu Zongmin listens to the order. Li Guo and Li Guangxian will be your lieutenants and lead the second left and rear battalions to attack the three cities of Xiluo, North Wing and Dongluo. When I give my order, we will attack immediately."
"promise!"
"Tang Tong and Bai Guangen listened to the order. You and others will lead their troops to retreat to the area of Yishishi to cut off Wu Sangui's retreat for me."
"promise!"
"Gu Kecheng, you will lead the front camp and the rear to make preparations, and I will lead the Zhongji camp to provide support in the center."
"promise!"
The military orders came out one by one from Li Zicheng's mouth, and the fierce generals of the Shun army also left the main tent one by one. This time when the troops entered Shanhaiguan, Li Zicheng did not bring Niu Jinxing with him, letting him guard the city in the capital. He only brought military counselor Song Xiance with him.
This battle was different from the past. Wu Sangui's Guan Ning army was very powerful. During this period, spies reported that Wu Sangui might have been on the line with Jianlu. Song Xiance felt vaguely uneasy and immediately said: "Your Majesty, Jianlu has Huang.
The bird is behind you, so you have to be on guard."
"Hmph, I heard Tang Tong say earlier that Jianzhou Jurchens are invincible. How come I didn't see these Tatars conquer the capital? They were also bombarded by Yuan Chonghuan to kill their ancestors. It's ridiculous. They are just a bunch of savages. I have an army of millions.
A fart could kill him."
"Your Majesty only brought 80,000 troops this time. Isn't it unsafe?"
"There are 40,000 garrison troops in Shanhaiguan, and Wu Sangui's retainers are only a few thousand. My 80,000 elite troops are enough to defeat them in one battle. When I take Shanhaiguan, I won't worry about building captives."
Seeing His Majesty like this, Song Xiance couldn't say anything else, but his right eyelid twitched from time to time, making him feel that this battle might not go as smoothly as expected.
Inside Shanhaiguan.
"My lord, the intruders have sent someone to take Lord Wu Xiang into custody. They are calling for surrender at the foot of the city."
"I know, let's go down."
Wu Sangui walked slowly in the hall, while his son Wu Yingqi stood beside him with an anxious look on his face.
"Father, if something happens to grandpa..."
Wu Sangui stopped, looked at Wu Yingqi and said, "Now, do you think there will be no accidents if we surrender?"
"From now on, everyone in the world will say that your father is a capricious villain, but who can understand your father's dilemma?"
Ever since Wu Sangui lost in the Battle of Guangning and witnessed the Liaodong strategy Xiong Tingbi's first nine sides, and when the Liaodong governor Wang Huazhen was imprisoned, he had put a question mark on his fate as a Liaodong general. After that, Yuan Chonghuan's death made
He completely lost confidence in the Ming Dynasty.
So when Chongzhen ordered him to go to the capital, King Qin, he marched at a tortoise speed of more than ten miles a day until the capital was captured. If King Yuan Chonghuan succeeded, he would also die. Why should I go?
Now, the only two choices before him were surrendering to Shun or surrendering to Qing. At first, he was leaning towards surrendering to Shun, otherwise he would not agree to Li Zicheng.
But since receiving a letter from his uncle Zu Dashou and some rumors about Shunjun, he clearly realized that he and Li Zicheng were by no means the same people.
"Ying Qi, where are the Qing troops?"
"Sencamped fifteen miles outside the pass, led by Dorgon himself, with about 80,000 people."
Dorgon's arrival as promised gave Wu Sangui great confidence, so he no longer hesitated and made a decision.
"Ying Qi, pass the message to the city. I, the Guan Ning Army, are inseparable from the intruders. If you dare to hurt my father even a hair, I will bury him with the blood of the nine intruder clans."
After Wu Xiang carefully relayed Wu Sangui's words, Li Zicheng laughed in anger and ordered his soldiers to chop off Wu Xiang's head on the spot.
"Wu Sangui, today I will sacrifice the flag with Nai Gong's blood, beat the drums, and attack the city!"
"Dong...dong dong" "Woo!"
The marching drums and horns sounded, and the old camp of the Shun Army began to urge the refugee camp to attack the city. Their role was to form a human wall to consume the defenders.
The cavalry followed the refugees to supervise the battle. If they saw those who were stagnant or trying to escape, they would go up and chop them to death.
Among the army of refugees who were forced to move forward with heavy steps, two people held a wooden shield together and walked at the forefront. Behind them, there was a little child holding on to the corners of their clothes.
The three of them were none other than the man named You, Deng San, and Gou Wa, who had met Chongzhen once before outside Xizhimen.
As soon as they left Xizhimen, the three of them wanted to flee to Henan, but they were caught by the intruders who had gathered north as local refugees. Their horses were surrendered, and they were brought to Shanhaiguan to serve as human shields for the siege.
With the sound of cannons on Guancheng, the death began.
Several solid black cannonballs were hoisted into the ranks of the refugees in a parabola. After the cannons hit the ground, their kinetic energy did not decrease and they ejected again in the crowd, bringing up a piece of flesh and blood stumps.
"If you want to live, run forward! Don't stop! Follow me and run forward!" The man surnamed You shouted loudly, calling for the distracted refugees around him.
Deng San screamed, raised his shield high, and rushed forward together with the man surnamed You.
The dog boy had tears in his eyes and his nose was drooping on his mouth. He shouted along with Deng San to embolden himself.
Once they entered the artillery range, the cavalry behind them stopped following and stood outside the artillery range, staring at the refugees.
If refugees want to survive, they can only keep moving forward.
The man surnamed You muttered silently: "Two hundred steps, one hundred ninety-nine, one hundred ninety-eight..." When he reached fifty steps, he immediately squatted down and held his shield diagonally in front of him.
.
"Gouji, come here quickly, lie down! Lie down." The man pulled Deng San close to him, and Gouji crawled into the gap under the two of them.
Countless arrows were shot from the city, like rain falling, covering the sky and covering the sun.
There was a refugee next to Deng San who had nowhere to hide. Seeing that they had wooden shields, he rushed over and squeezed between the three of them, almost knocking the wooden shield down.
Deng San lay on the ground and kicked the man hard in the heart, cursing: "Fuck you."
Immediately afterwards, there was a continuous "puff" sound on the shield, and the arrows were inserted into the shield one by one, vibrating continuously.
You and Deng were carrying shields, but they were knocked backwards by the incoming arrows. Deng San intentionally turned his head to look at the man he had kicked away just now. He was already covered with bows and arrows, and he was lying on his back.
