Moreover, Guanzhong has always been a strategic center of gravity. Although Guanzhong is no longer a fertile land and does not have the natural dangers of the Qin and Han Dynasties to defend, its location still overlooks Sichuan, Sichuan and the northwest.
Not to mention the city of Xi'an, which was the capital of great empires such as Qin, Han, and Tang, and many separatist regimes also proclaimed themselves emperors and established their countries here. Its political significance is self-evident. (In fact, Xi'an and Chang'an are not very similar.
The big thing is that with the demise of every dynasty, the capital will most likely be buried with it. Like the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, they rebuilt new cities by themselves, while the previous dynasty had long been reduced to ruins.)
Li Zicheng proclaimed himself the emperor and founded the country after capturing Xi'an. Then his power increased rapidly and he advanced all the way. In just a few months, he stormed thousands of miles away and conquered the capital in one fell swoop.
From the moment Li Zicheng captured Xi'an, he was no longer a bandit leader, but an overlord who wanted to conquer the Central Plains and conquer the world.
During his march, countless people came and returned.
The reason why he marched so quickly is because he transformed from a rogue bandit and became reasonable and legal. He established the Dashun Dynasty, a new dynasty, and a new regime was born.
In the long course of history, something like this happens every few hundred years. In the eyes of people all over the world, it is normal to replace the old with the new.
When he established his political power and swept the world, not only the common people lined up to welcome him, but even the gentry and officials were uncharacteristically different.
Except for a few who were still die-hardly loyal to the Ming Dynasty or the emperor, the rest all opened the city gates, knelt on the ground and shouted long live King Chuang to welcome Li Zicheng into the city.
On his way north to capture the capital, Li Zicheng did not encounter any strong obstruction, and not even a decent battle broke out.
Ever since he launched a rebellion and fought for more than ten years, he finally reached his peak moment. His life had never been so smooth, so much so that he himself felt dizzy.
It was not until he met the fierce general Zhou Yuji at Ningwuguan that the hundreds of thousands of troops led by Li Zicheng fought the only tough battle.
Zhou Yuji only led two thousand sergeants from the Yongwei Battalion and the remaining idle soldiers in Shanxi Town, totaling less than 10,000 people, to fight Li Zicheng's hundreds of thousands of troops here in a decisive battle.
Although the battle at Ningwuguan lasted only seven days, it caused huge casualties to the invading army, with the battle loss ratio being nearly ten to one.
Li Zicheng, who had always gone smoothly, was frightened. He stood on the top of Ningwuguan, looked in the direction of the capital, and said worriedly to his subordinates:
"Although Ningwu was defeated, there were countless casualties. Since then, they have reached the capital, Datong, Xuanfu, and Juyongguan. There are hundreds of thousands of soldiers like Ningwu. How can we not have any survivors? It is better to return to Shaanxi and succeed."
It can be seen that at this time, Li Zicheng had already had the idea of withdrawing his troops back to Shaanxi and attacking at another time. However, a letter of surrender from Jiang Bi, the commander-in-chief of Datong, changed Li Zicheng's idea and the fate of the Ming Dynasty.
You know, before Li Zicheng established a political power, few of these gentry and literati looked up to him, let alone knelt down and kowtowed and shouted long live.
Before Dashun, there were many civilian officials in various cities and towns who committed suicide and died for their country. Even some well-known generals would not choose to surrender because they could not bear the shame.
After the establishment of Dashun, there was no need to invade the city with troops. These people took the initiative to surrender, saying that the Ming Dynasty had been suffering for a long time, hoping for the stars and the moon, and finally hoping that the Emperor of Dashun would come to save the people from the fire.
Before the capture of Xi'an, most of the counselors and civil servants around Li Zicheng were half-qualified. Not to mention elite talents, there was not even a single Jinshi.
The people around him, including Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and others, were either fortune tellers or unlucky scholars who failed to win the exam. Others were charlatans or fortune tellers who made a living by cheating among the people.
Just like the Manchus, they were all people who couldn't survive in the Ming Dynasty and went to invest in gambling.
But all this began to change with the fall of Xi'an.
This is the political influence and capital brought by an ancient capital. Occupying an ancient capital with the aura of dragon and the image of the emperor is much better than separatist rule.
Although the Ming Dynasty's northwest military power was not weak, its economy was really poor.
He sent Qin and Chen to Xi'an to explore the road and build a stronghold. Naturally, the two generals obeyed the emperor's will unconditionally.
They led the army into Xi'an to take over the city defense, and after stabilizing the people in the city, they started running errands without stopping, and finally selected a military camp in Xicheng.
They recruited thousands of young workers locally to assist in the construction work of the engineering battalion and the Habayashi Army, but they only moved construction materials.
The construction area was all fenced off with guardrails. These young workers only knew that the army was building houses there, but they knew nothing about anything else. They were not even qualified to enter.
Two days before it was about to be completed, the emperor's messenger finally arrived.
"The angel has arrived!"
Chen Guang and Qin Bangping, who were conducting the acceptance inspection, immediately ran out of the construction site and saw that the people coming were the imperial guards who were accompanying them. They were holding a yellow letter and were kneeling on the ground respectfully, waiting for instructions.
The Jin Yiwei who came to convey the order said:
"Two generals, Your Majesty's order has arrived. After receiving the order, the two generals should immediately assemble the army, take grain, grass, gunpowder and other baggage, and go to Hanzhong first to wait for orders!"
After speaking, he handed the order to Qin Bangping and continued:
"After arriving in Hanzhong, please ask General Qin Bangping to send a letter to General Qin Liangyu immediately, and get in touch with Zhu Xieyuan, asking them to assemble the army and stand by!"
"The two generals should immediately convey His Majesty's orders to each battalion, leaving two thousand Huben soldiers here on standby to greet them. The rest will immediately organize supplies and equipment and head south!"
Chen Guang stood up, patted the dust on his knees, and said excitedly:
"Okay, after resting in Xi'an for so many days, I am finally going to Sichuan. I wonder if the chieftains in this land of Sichuan and Sichuan can compare with the Tartars outside the pass!"
Qin Bangping on the side also said:
"I have been away for nearly two years, and I am finally close to home. If I don't go back, I will forget what the stone pillars look like!"
The day after the construction work was completed, the Southern Expedition Corps, which had been stationed in Xi'an City for more than a month, finally set off again, heading towards the Sichuan-Sichuan region, the so-called "Land of Abundance".
The officials and gentry in the city who had been threatened by gunfire last time were relieved to learn that these evil stars had left. As long as Xi'an was still theirs, they no longer wanted to provoke these ungrateful men.
Their impeachment memorial had been submitted to the capital a long time ago, but there was no response at all. Dozens and hundreds of bullets and seals had already disappeared into the sea.
The imperial court acquiesced to the actions of these warriors, which shocked them. They immediately cursed the treacherous ministers and ignorant kings for being powerless.