On January 21, the second year of Hongxian's reign in the Chinese Empire (1651), the Chinese army sent troops to attack Jizhou, officially kicking off the all-out Northern Expedition.--./
The Chinese Army's comprehensive Northern Expedition was carried out in two routes: the east route sent troops from the Huainan Military Region to advance into Shanxi and the capital, and the west route sent troops from the Huguang Military Region to advance into Shaanxi and Gansu areas.
At this time, the 25th Army organized by the Daxi Army has returned, and the strength of the Huainan Military Region has reached four armies, designated as the 1st, 15th, 18th, and 25th Army, with a total number of more than 100,000 people.
.Military Region Commander Cheng Jin
It was decided to divide the troops into two groups to attack. The 15th and 25th armies, led by deputy commander Zhao Yingjie, sent troops to Kaifeng and invaded Shanxi. He and Chief of Staff You Hongliang led the 1st and 18th armies to attack from Damingfu and invade Beijing.
On January 2, Chapter 223, on the 11th day of the all-out Northern Expedition, the Chinese army first attacked Jizhou. The Qing army retreated without a fight. The Chinese army occupied Jizhou without spending a single soldier. Then the Chinese army took advantage of the victory and advanced, one after another.
Hengshui, Wuyi, Wuqiang and other counties were captured, and the military front was also
They were forced to the south bank of the Hutuo River. And there was basically no resistance from the Qing army along the way. Almost as soon as the troops arrived, the Qing army was defeated and fled, while the county town opened its doors to accept the surrender. As a result, in just a few days, the entire battlefield was
It advanced nearly a hundred miles to the north.
The battle went so smoothly from the beginning, which was indeed beyond Cheng Jin's expectation. Although the empire now had an absolute advantage over the Qing court, the Qing court was not vulnerable. Now it is time to leave
More than a year has passed since the Central Plains War.
, the Qing court has more or less gathered some strength again, and it is not that it cannot fight. Moreover, at this time, the Chinese army's military front is approaching Beijing. Can it be said that the Qing court intends to evacuate Beijing? Or the Qing court
It is used to lure the enemy deep and prepare to attack the Chinese army from the side and rear for a long time.
Therefore, Cheng Jin did not dare to be careless, and immediately ordered the forward troops to temporarily station by the Hutuo River, and sent a large number of scouts to detect the whereabouts of the Qing army. However, after several days of reconnaissance, various signs showed that the Qing army was
Chapter 223 Comprehensive
The Northern Expedition indeed withdrew to the north bank of the Hutuo River, and gave up the entire south bank to the Chinese army. There was no ambush left, so the reason is probably because the Qing court had insufficient troops, so it had to abandon the south bank of the Hutuo River and shrink
troops.
After grasping these situations, Cheng Jin ordered the troops to cross the Hutuo River and launch an attack on Hejian Prefecture and Zhending Prefecture. Because Hejian Prefecture and Zhending Prefecture were both important towns in Hebei, Cheng Jin did not believe that the Qing army would return.
Will retreat without a fight.
In fact, in addition to insufficient troops and shrinking the defense line, there was another compelling reason for the Qing government's large-scale retreat.
Now the Qing government's troops in the pass are roughly divided into two parts. One is the troops led by Abatai, Bolo, Yue Le and his son, who are responsible for the defense of the capital; the other is led by Vadak and Lek.
The troops led by Dehun's uncle and nephew are currently stationed in Shaanxi.
The troops of Abatai, Bolo, and Yue Le were based on the original 50,000 to 60,000 horses of the Bolo tribe. After the New Year, Fulin issued an edict, appointing Jirharang, Abatai, and Hong Chengchou as military ministers.
In order to preside over the military affairs of the Qing court, Abatai returned to Beijing to take charge of the military affairs.
The military affairs on the Hebei front line are in charge of brothers Boluo and Yue Le. In more than a year, the army has also expanded to a certain extent, and now has a total strength of about **0,000. But the defense of the capital also includes
In Shanxi, the current military strength is still not enough.
Before the New Year, a military aircraft group composed of Jierharang, Abatai and Hong Chengchou discussed and concluded that now the Chinese army has conquered North Korea, and the Liaodong area has been threatened by the Chinese army's front, and has retreated to the outside of the pass to wait.
The plan of change has become impossible to realize, so
The top priority can only be to reduce the number of troops and establish a defense line with Beijing as the core, Shanhaiguan as the defense line in the north, Shanxi in the southwest, and Hebei in the southeast, and then unite with Mongolia to compete with the Chinese army. At the same time, it also ensures that the passage to Mongolia is smooth. This is what the Qing government
The only way out.
Therefore, under the current situation, Shaanxi is no longer a place that must be defended. The troops stationed in Shaanxi should be withdrawn to Shanxi to garrison and fully defend the capital area. In fact, since the defeat of the Central Plains War, the Qing government's attitude towards Shaanxi has been
It’s unnecessary, because Wakda and Luck Dehun were once in conflict before Fulin came to power.
They planned to seize control of the imperial court, so after Fulin took charge, they were sent to Shaanxi to garrison. In fact, they were left to fend for themselves. Although at that time, Wakda and Luck Dehun still had about 50,000 people.
However, the Qing government still had the option of retreating outside the pass and did not attach much importance to this force.
But now that the Chinese army has surrendered to North Korea, its retreat outside the customs has become a cloud. Only then did the Qing court remember that the troops of Wakda and Luck Dehun could still be of great use. So on January 6,
The Qing government ordered Wakda and Lekedhun stationed in Shaanxi to abandon Shaanxi and lead their troops to withdraw to Shanxi.
Then the Qing government issued two edicts in succession on September 14th and 14th, both of which urged Wakda and Luckdehun to mobilize troops to garrison Shanxi. However, it was not until the 20th that Wakda and Luckdehun did
He wrote a memorial in the letter and replied to the court, saying that Shaanxi was an important place and the foundation of the country, so he could not give up lightly. He asked the court to think about it again and again. In short, he was pushing left and dragging his troops, refusing to withdraw his troops and come back to garrison Shanyou.
It is not that Wakda and Luckdhun were unaware of the current situation, but when Fulin took advantage of the retreat outside Guanwai, he drove his uncle and nephew to Shaanxi to fend for themselves. In fact, he planned to take advantage of the Chinese army.
Come to destroy yourself. Now that you have discovered that Liaodong is no longer reliable, you think of yourself and want to station yourself in Shanxi, defend Beijing, and then work for him. That would be such a good thing.
Moreover, Wakda and Luck Dehun also knew that once Liaodong was lost, the Qing court would lose all its power, and it would be a matter of time before the country was destroyed and the dynasty was destroyed. Even if they gave up Shaanxi and stationed in Shanxi, they would not be able to change this result. Moreover, in
In the past year, Wakda and Luck Dehun have been constantly thinking about their own future, so they are also active in activities.
Adjacent to the northern part of Shaanxi is the Ordos tribe of the Mongolian Yike Zhao League. The leader of the Ordos tribe, Efuchen, was granted the title of King of Zasakdoluo County, Ordos Left Wing Middle Banner, by the Qing government. Now the two have reached an agreement with Eluochen.
Once the Chinese army attacked Shaanxi, Wakda and Luck Dehun led their troops to retreat into the area where Yi Ke was recruiting allies, and Efuchen would send troops to respond. The two sides joined forces to fight against the Chinese army at the same time.
Precisely because of this trump card, Wakda and Luck Dehun are of course unwilling to work for the Beijing court and defend Shanxi. First of all, they should focus on preserving their own strength, because even if they retreat to the Yike Zhao League in the future, their hands will
There still need to be soldiers, negotiations, alliances
Well, it's all based on strength. How Beijing resists the Chinese army's attack is none of their business. Of course, Wakda and Luck Dehun don't want to completely break up with the Qing government now.
It was a shame, so he went to court and talked a lot about it, but he still didn't send troops.
After receiving the joint memorial from Wakda and Luck Dehun, Fulin and the three military ministers were also anxious and angry. At this time, Fulin's illness had not recovered, and now he was even more angry. But now
The Qing government basically had no good way to restrain Wakda and Luckdhun. After getting angry, they had no choice but to approach them again and persuade them again and again.
He also knows how to use reason and move with emotion, and advises the two of them to keep in mind the love of flesh and blood and take the overall situation into consideration. Moreover, if Beijing is lost, the Qing Dynasty will be destroyed, and there will be no eggs in the nest. Please withdraw as soon as possible.
, stationed in Shanxi. He also repeatedly guaranteed that money, food and military equipment would be fully supplied, and that once the Chinese army came to attack Shanxi, Beijing would immediately send an overwhelming number of troops to help, etc.
But before the two men mobilized troops to garrison in Shanxi, Boluo and Yue Le could only divide their troops to guard Shanxi. Yue Le led 30,000 troops and garrisoned in Taiyuan. As a result, the Qing army's garrison strength in Hebei was actually less than 60,000.
.
Of course, such a force cannot compete with the Chinese army. Therefore, Bolo can only abandon the area on the south bank of the Hutuo River. Firstly, it is to shrink the defense line and save troops. Secondly, it is also to delay the Chinese army's attack time. It still hopes that Wakda
He and Luck Dehun can mobilize troops to garrison Shanxi, so that Boluo can concentrate his troops to defend Hebei with all his strength.
But blindly retreating is not the answer. Although the area on the south bank of the Hutuo River was delayed for more than ten days, it also further compressed the maneuver space of the Qing army, because after crossing the Hutuo River, there was Zhending Mansion and Hejian.
Zhending Mansion, Zhending Mansion is less than twenty miles north of Shijiazhuang City in later generations. Since ancient times,
It has always been the southern gateway of Beijing, and Hejian Prefecture is located at the midway point south of Beijing and Tianjin. In the hinterland of North China, it is known as the first prefecture in the south of Beijing. If there is another mistake between these two places, the capital will be shaken. Therefore
The Qing government also issued an urgent order to Boluo, ordering him to strictly abide by Zhending and not to retreat further from the Hejian area.
In fact, unlike the Qing court's order, Boluo also knew the importance of Zhending and Hejian, so after retreating to the north bank of the Hutuo River, he also concentrated his troops in Zhending and Hejian to defend the line with all his strength. And the Central Plains War
After that, the Qing government tried its best to defend Zhending and Hejian to protect the capital. And relying on the Hutuo River, it built a large number of military fortifications in these two areas.
Of course, in order to stop the Chinese army's attack, the Qing court did spend its last effort. Shanxi's troops could not be mobilized. The Qing court transferred 20,000 horses from Beijing to supplement Bolo's troops. It also gave Boluo some troops.
Three thousand muskets, four
Ten artillery pieces were used to guard the Zhending and Hejian defense lines with all their strength. At this time, Beijing's troops were less than 20,000. It can also be said that this was Beijing's last line of defense. Once Zhending and Hejian were breached, Beijing would basically be
There is no guarantee anymore.
Now Bolo has more than 75,000 troops, more than 16,000 muskets, and more than 80 artillery pieces of various types. Because judging from the movement of the Chinese army's troops, the main direction of the Chinese army's attack is
Zhending Mansion. Therefore, Bolo also gathered 50,000 troops in Zhending Mansion, including 12,000 musketry soldiers and more than 60 artillery pieces, preparing to face the Chinese army's attack with all his strength.
On February 5th, the Chinese army crossed the Hutuo River and marched to the gates of Zhendingfu.