Chapter 172 The Eight Banners Han Army is going to be in trouble
Many days have passed again.
The time came to late November of the 17th year of Chongzhen.
Li Zicheng had summoned the Qi army and marched to Luochuan County in northern Shaanxi.
However, at this time, a shocking news reached Luochuan County: Prince Duduo of Manchu Qing Dynasty and another slave-building army had entered Henan Prefecture and were advancing towards Luoyang!
[Note: Henan Prefecture is a prefecture under the Henan Chief Envoy Division]
Also sent along was news of the defeats of Yuan Zongdi and Chen Yongfu.
It was also at this time that Li Zicheng learned that Yuan Zongdi and Chen Yongfu had recaptured Huaiqing Mansion before, and almost recaptured Weihui Mansion, but now they let Jiannu take it back.
Now not only Huaiqing Mansion has been taken back by the Jian slaves.
Even Luoyang and Tongguan are in danger!
At this time, a huge problem was placed in front of Li Zicheng.
Should we continue north to northern Shaanxi for a decisive battle with Azig? Or return to Xi'an and then go to Tongguan to face Duduo?
"Your Majesty, I think we should continue to go north." Song Xiance took the lead and said, "Tongguan is a dangerous place in the world. Since ancient times, there has been a reputation of one man guarding the pass and ten thousand men can't open it. Only a small number of elite soldiers can stop the 100,000-strong army of Jiannu! So!
, our Dashuntian soldiers have enough time to defeat Azig first."
"Your Majesty, I second this proposal." Gu Junen also said.
"If our Dashun Tian soldiers divide their forces to resist the enemy, it is difficult to say that the north and south will win. But if we unite our troops in one place, we can be sure of victory whether facing Azig or Duduo."
"That's not appropriate." Niu Jinxing objected.
"Although Tongguan is dangerous, Jiannu has the red barbarian cannon."
"Back in Shanhaiguan, we had already seen the power of the Hongyi cannon."
"Shanhaiguan is more dangerous than Tongguan, and it cannot withstand the Hongyi artillery. How many days can Tongguan hold out? In just such a short time, can our Da Shuntian soldiers really defeat Azig's army?"
After a pause, Niu Jinxing finally said: "Azig has an army of 200,000 people!"
Li Zicheng's pupils couldn't help but shrink slightly. Niu Jinxing's last words still had some weight.
Although the main force of the Dashun Army is 200,000, plus Yulin Gao Yigong and Suide Li Yan's 100,000 troops, the strength of the Dashun Army has reached 300,000, but it is still difficult to face Azige's slave-building army.
We still don't have an overwhelming military advantage, so even if we win in the end, I'm afraid it will be a stalemate for a long time.
But can Tongguan really persist for such a long time?
What if the winner has not yet been determined here in northern Shaanxi, but Tongguan is lost...
Then wouldn't their Dashun army be homeless and become rogues again?
But Li Zicheng was really unwilling to give up going north and go to Tongguan instead.
Because Wu Sangui was in northern Shaanxi, he dreamed of killing Wu Sangui, a thief.
After thinking for a long time, Li Zicheng still couldn't make up his mind, and finally said with a frown: "Pass the order, the army will first enter Luochuan County to station, and remember not to disturb the people, any violators will be executed!"
Li Zicheng still wanted to wait and see.
…
At this time, it was within the territory of Henan Prefecture.
Henan Prefecture starts from Gong County in the east, Tongguan in the west, Yellow River in the north, and Funiu Mountain in the south. The government is in Luoyang.
Luoyang is one of the four ancient capitals. It has a high city and deep ravines and a large population. But that is the past. After being destroyed many times by bandits, Luoyang city has become dilapidated and the population has dropped sharply.
By this time, the defeated troops of Yuan Zongdi and Chen Yongfu had fled back to Luoyang.
However, before the Dashun army could take a breath, the Jiannu army chased them nearby.
This is also a major feature of Jiannu. The speed of the advance is extremely fast. In another time and space, Jiannu relied on this incredible speed to defeat the Nanming Army and the Dashun Army.
Knowing that the Jiannu army was catching up, Yuan Zongdi and Chen Yongfu knew that they could not hold on, so they had no choice but to abandon Luoyang City and continue to retreat towards Mianchi.
Mianchi is just a small county town. Without a fortified city and deep ditches, it is even less reliable.
Yuan Zongdi and Chen Yongfu's idea was to retreat directly to Tongguan and rely on the natural dangers of Tongguan to block Duduo's main slave-building force.
In any case, Yuan Zongdi and Chen Yongfu still have more than 20,000 people in total, and they are basically old soldiers. They are a little tired from continuous fighting, but as long as they enter Tongguan and let them rest for a while, wait until their physical strength recovers.
, it is fully capable of blocking the Dodo army with the Tongguan natural barrier.
…
Dodo also knows this very well.
Duduo has been fighting on the battlefield since he was a teenager and has been fighting on the battlefield for nearly twenty years. These years of fighting on the battlefield have brought him countless honors and a lot of experience.
Yuan Zongdi and Chen Yongfu gave up Luoyang even though they still had the strength to fight, Duduo guessed their intention and immediately sent someone to call Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming.
"Your Majesty." Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming knelt on one knee and hit Duduo with a thousand punch each.
"Get up." Duduo signaled the two of them to get up, and then said, "Although the Dashun Army suffered two defeats in Weihui Mansion and Huaiqing Mansion, the actual damage in the battle was not great, and they still have the strength to fight."
Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming looked at each other and said, "I can see this too."
Duduo said: "As expected, the remnants of the Dashun Army want to retreat to Tongguan as soon as possible, and then rely on Tongguan's solid defense to gain a chance to breathe. If this is the case, it will be difficult to defeat this Dashun Army in a short time.
The remnant."
Kong Youde looked calm and said: "So the prince will lead the Eight Banners Manchuria and Eight Banners Mongolia to pursue and kill them first, right?"
"Yes, I have decided not to give the remnants of the Dashun Army a chance to breathe!" Duduo nodded and said, "No matter what, we cannot allow the tens of thousands of remnants of the Dashun Army to escape back to Tongguan."
"I will take Eight Banners Manchuria and Eight Banners Mongolia away later."
"The grain, grass, baggage, and red cannons will be given to you Eight Banners Han Army."
After a pause, Duduo said again: "King Gongshun, King Huaishun, you need to be careful. The situation in Henan is complicated at the moment. There are many powerful and arrogant bandits in various prefectures. A few days ago, you were fighting against the Red Banner Han Army in Yanshi.
Are you being attacked? You must be careful."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I understand." Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming bowed at the same time.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Okay, then let's say goodbye." Duduo got on his horse and walked away.
Soon, the Jiannu army that was originally marching along the official road split into two groups. More than 70,000 cavalrymen accelerated their speed and rushed towards Mianchi.
However, these more than 70,000 cavalry must be put in quotation marks.
Because not all of the more than 70,000 cavalry are cavalry.
Among them, nearly 30,000 Jurchens and more than 10,000 Mongolians were real cavalry, and they also rode real war horses.
But the remaining nearly 30,000 people rode pack horses, mules and donkeys, and some simply marched on foot. These were the ones who accompanied the army and worked as coolies.
More than 70,000 "cavalry" quickly moved far away.
There were only more than 10,000 Eight-Banner Han troops and thousands of carriages left on the official road.
At this time, Geng Jimao came to Geng Zhongming and hesitated to speak.
Geng Zhongming immediately turned black when he saw Geng Jimao. The reason was that Geng Jimao suffered a huge defeat with Zu Zerun in Shandong last time.
Although he saved his life in the end, the Geng family was punished.
"Where have you been these past two days?" Geng Zhongming said with a dark face, "I left the army without permission and didn't even say hello. Do you want me to die early to make room for you?"
"Dad, what are you talking about?" Geng Jimao said with a bitter face.
Kong Youde was very friendly to Geng Jimao. He smiled and said hello: "My eldest nephew, do you have something to tell us?"
"Uncle, my nephew really has something to say." Geng Jimao did not dare to look back at Geng Zhongming and said to Kong Youde, "Did Prince Yu lead the cavalry to chase the remnants of the Dashun Army first?"
Kong Youde nodded: "Yes, the prince will leave first with the cavalry."
Geng Jimao's face instantly turned pale when he heard this, and he said to Kong Youde: "Uncle, let Prince Yu come back quickly, or at least bring back the Eight Banners Mongolia, otherwise our Eight Banners Han Army will be in trouble."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Geng Zhongming said angrily, "Who are you? How dare you change what Prince Yu decided? You don't know how much you weigh?"
"Dad, we are really going to be in trouble." Geng Jimao became anxious.
Then he turned to Kong Youde and said: "Uncle, the night before yesterday it was your turn to raise the red flag and the Han army sent out the red flag without closing it. Then they were attacked near Yanshi, and several people died. Do you still remember?"
"Why don't you remember?" Kong Youde said, "But they were bandits, a group of bandits."
"It's not a bandit." Geng Jimao said anxiously, "At first, my nephew thought it was a bandit, but later he went back to carefully inspect the scene and realized that it was not the case!"
"Have you been back to Yanshi in the past two days?"
Kong Youde smiled and said: "Tell me about your discovery?"
Geng Jimao's expression stiffened and he said, "Nothing was found."
"Didn't you find it?" Kong Youde joked with a smile, "Then how do you say that's not a bandit?"
Geng Jimao said anxiously: "It is precisely because nothing was found that my nephew concluded that he was not a bandit. If the Han army who attacked Zhenghong Banner and refused to take it at night was really a bandit, how could he not leave the head and tail behind?"
Kong Youde was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then he and Geng Zhongming laughed at each other.
After a long while, Kong Youdecai smiled and shook his head and said: "Nephew, do you have any misunderstandings about bandits? The bandits here are not the bandits you imagined? They are really powerful."
Geng Zhongming also said: "The old soldiers among these local thieves are more powerful than the street thieves."
When they were still officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, they suffered a lot from these bandits.
"But no matter how powerful they are, they are just bandits." Kong Youde said, "They cannot threaten the army!"
Geng Jimao said: "Father, and uncle, if Chongzhen personally leads the Ming army cavalry to catch up, can it pose a threat to our Eight Banners Han army?"
"Ming cavalry?" Kong Youde was stunned again when he heard this.
Then he burst into laughter again, until tears flowed down his face.
Geng Zhongming was also so angry that he wanted to whip his son with a horse whip.
Did the Ming army beat this worthless good-for-nothing like a fool?
With the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, is it still capable of sending decent cavalry to chase down the Eight Banners Han Army? It is not that they underestimate Chongzhen and the Ming Army. If they really send cavalry, they will only die.