Generally speaking, the beginning of hand-to-hand combat in this era often means that the battle has entered a substantive stage, but for the Muling Army, by this time, the battle was actually coming to an end.
Although at this time, the Qing army still had 700 or 800 people left, in the past battles between the Qing army and the Ming army, it was not uncommon for 7800 people to defeat 3,000 people. In the seventh year of Chongzhen (1634), Huang Taiji's third victory
The first time he led an army to attack the Ming Dynasty, he once boasted to Haikou: The Ming Dynasty sent 10,000 troops, and I only had to use a thousand to fight them; the Ming Dynasty sent 1,000 troops, and I only needed to send 100 troops, which was more than enough.
But this time the situation is very different, because almost all the elite Manchu Eight Banner armored soldiers and auxiliary soldiers in the Qing Army died in battle, and now the remaining 700 to 800 people are almost all Han soldiers, including soldiers and soldiers.
The combat effectiveness of people like Yi is greatly reduced. And more importantly, the mentality of both sides is completely different. The morale of the Muling army is strong and vigorous, while the morale of the Qing army has dropped after suffering a strong blow.
It fell so hard that no one was interested in fighting anymore.
The two armies with such mentality met and fought, and the strength of the troops was very different. Is there any suspense about the outcome? As soon as the two armies came into contact, the Qing army was defeated by the Muling army, and they had to flee towards Linqu County.
.And Shang Yi immediately ordered the entire army to pursue him, and he must not let the Qing army go. He also took advantage of the victory to recapture Linqu County in one fell swoop, achieving the purpose of sending troops this time.
The situation on the battlefield was reversed again. The Qing army was still in a panic when being chased and beaten by the Ming army. Only then did Shen Yang and others let out a long sigh, even though they had not yet gone to Muling Pass to check the heads.
, but Shen Yang and others Yiquan have no doubt that Shang Yi's victory report is absolutely true. Look at the defeat of the Qing army this time, the number of beheadings is no longer lower than the last victory report.
In Shen Yang's heart, he felt a lot more at ease, not only because it was confirmed that Shang Yi's military exploits were real and that the Jin Yiwei had made a great contribution this time, but the result would definitely make the emperor happy. And based on the past few years,
Judging from his experience, when the emperor is happy, he will often reward those who have made meritorious deeds. Maybe he can reuse the royal guards. The glorious days may come, and this Shang Yi is definitely a useful one to him.
He must be held captive. Whether Jin Yiwei can stand up or not may depend on him.
Therefore, Shen Yang also saluted Shang Yi and said, "Congratulations, Mr. Shang Qian, you have won another great victory, defeated the Tatars, and recovered Linxian County. This contribution is not small!"
Shang Yi thought to himself, what a great achievement this battle is, you haven't seen the real great achievement yet! But seeing that he was polite, he felt a little more favorable to him, and he returned the favor and said: "I told you before."
Fortunately, we won this battle. It was all thanks to the emperor who sent several superior officers to supervise the battle. Thanks to the power of these superior officers and the emperor's good fortune, we, the Muling Army, defeated the Tatars."
Shen Yang laughed and said: "Shang Qian, you don't have to be polite. The emperor is naturally blessed, but what kind of power we have? We just looked at it from the side and didn't do anything. In this battle, it's Shang.
Mr. Qian’s contribution.”
Shen Yang has been an official for so many years, but he still can't understand the meaning of Shang Yi's words. He wants to share this victory with a few of himself. He only needs to add a few strokes to the victory report, and Shen Yang and other Jin Yiwei will do it.
They all have merit. But now Jin Yiwei doesn't need this credit. He just needs Shang Yi to make merit. The bigger the better, that's fine.
At this time, Zhou Wei said on the side: "I think Shang Qian just defeated the Tatars, mostly by using fire blunderbuss."
Shang Yi nodded and said: "No, it doesn't matter. The Tatars are good at cavalry, brave in battle, and have thick armor and fast horses. Only by using fire blunderbuss can we effectively attack the Tatars. Therefore, our Muling Army always prioritizes the use of fire blunderbuss.
"
Zhou Wei said: "In our Ming army, there are quite a few troops who use fire blunderbuss. Why don't we see that they can defeat the enemy with fire blunderbuss like Mr. Shang Qian?"
Shang Yi smiled bitterly. This is a very profound question. It has also triggered debates among many experts or amateurs in later generations. Why did the Ming Dynasty have advanced firearms but could never defeat the Qing army? The answer is of course various.
, each has his or her own opinion. In Shang Yi's view, the main reason is very simple, that is, politics is corrupt, and advanced weapons are of no use. War is actually a continuation of politics. Historically, there is absolutely no one who is politically corrupt and incompetent.
The country can achieve military victory.
However, Shang Yi also knew that if he said this, he would be immediately arrested by the Jin Yiwei and beheaded on charges of disrespect. Therefore, he had no choice but to say: "Reporting to Shangchao, this is because I can't practice the method properly and can't use it properly."
Tao, so the fire gun cannot be used to its maximum effect."
His statement is actually not wrong. The emergence of firearms ushered in a revolution in tactics. If we still use the tactics of the cold weapons era, firearms will naturally not be able to play their full role.
Therefore, after Zhou Wei heard this, he felt that what he said was quite reasonable. He pondered for a while and then said: "What if you were asked to train the troops of the imperial court? Are you willing? Can you train them to be like the Muling Army?
How about being good at using firearms?”
Shang Yi thought to himself that the Ming Dynasty was just on its last legs and there was no way to save it. What was the use of training one or two new soldiers? Just like the Qing Dynasty later, the navy also trained, ironclad ships were bought, and foreign instructors were hired. How about it?
?Is it still being beaten to the ground by Little Japan? What’s more, the Ming Dynasty now wants money but no money, and no one wants people. There is only a group of officials who can fight for power and profit. Even if they have the heart, they don’t have the power, and in
Is it fun to work under Chongzhen? You don't even know how you died. Unless you travel through time and possess Chongzhen, you can directly control the power of the empire, or you can save the Ming Dynasty.
But he said: "It is still the duty of a minister to do his best for the court. Therefore, as long as the court needs it, the subordinates will naturally not refuse. They must do their best to fulfill their duties for the court."
Zhou Wei was obviously quite satisfied with his answer. He smiled sweetly and said: "Okay, today the world needs people like Mr. Shang Qian. You will definitely make great achievements in the future."
As soon as she smiled, two small dimples appeared on both cheeks, and the woman's demeanor must be revealed. When Shang Yi saw it, his heart couldn't help but thought that this little girl was actually about the same age as Ye Yaoyao. If she changed into women's clothes,
She is not much inferior to Ye Yaoyao, but I don’t know her identity. But if she is mixed with Jin Yiwei, she will not be an ordinary person.
Shen Yang was so discerning. One look at Shang Yi's expression and he knew that he had already identified Zhou Wei's daughter. He coughed dryly and took over the conversation and said: "Mr. Shang Qian, we'd better rush to Linqu immediately.
Let’s go to the county, I think the troops should have chased them to Linqu County by now?”
Shang Yi also nodded and said, "Okay, we'll set off right away."
The Mu Ling Army chased the Qing Army all the way to Linxian County, and took advantage of the situation to advance into the county town. The Qing Army could not resist, so they had to abandon the city and flee. As a result, out of the 3,000 Qing Army, less than 300 people escaped. The Muling Army also successfully recaptured Linqu County.
At this time, most of the old, weak, sick and children in Linqu County were killed by the Qing army. Only the young and middle-aged men and women were left, who were also imprisoned by the Qing army. They also imprisoned many people who were kidnapped from nearby villages. , a total of about 30,000 people. Fortunately, the Qing army occupied Linxian County for a short period of time, only two or three days, so the people did not suffer much. At the same time, they also gathered a large amount of money, food and materials.
After Shang Yi, Shen Yang and other people entered Linpeng County, they immediately issued an order to release all the arrested people and all the residents of the county to go home. Residents who were not residents of the county were also arranged to live in other places. Because no one dared to go out of the city at this time. At the same time, they were very grateful to Shang Yi. They knelt down and kowtowed to him, and begged Shang Yi not to leave. Shang Yi also lifted up the people who were kneeling one by one, and at the same time comforted him with kind words. He also guaranteed that the Muling Army would definitely defend Linqu County and would not leave.
By the afternoon, the statistics of the results of this battle were also available. In this battle, a total of 2,337 people were beheaded, and another 342 people were captured alive. However, the vast majority of the Qing troops captured alive were It was the Han army, and most of the Eight Banners soldiers died in the battle.
The harvest of this battle was 517 pieces of iron armor, 443 pieces of chain mail, 828 pieces of cotton armor, and 573 pieces of leather armor. The banner had twelve poles and 100 pieces of leather armor on its back. Forty-six flags, 385 tents, more than 2,760 swords, guns and weapons, 76 large and small vehicles, 326 war horses, more than 400 dead horses, poultry and livestock There are more than 1,500 animals, more than 38,000 shi of rice, and more than 5,600 shi of flour.
In addition, there were 1,110 taels of gold, 95,000 taels of silver, more than 3,800 pieces of silk, and 1,700 pieces of other utensils.
This battle did not yield much in terms of weapons, but it was extremely rich in money, food and supplies. This was mainly because the Qing army attacked a county town and not only seized all the supplies in the county town, but also concentrated supplies and money from nearby villages. Linqu County is therefore rich in supplies, far exceeding the income from previous wars.
However, the county has a population of 20,000 to 30,000, which is not a small number. Shang Yi decided to allocate half of the grain, poultry, livestock, and silver to the residents evenly so that they could live a good life. The remaining half was except for the silver. , all of them were kept in Linqu County for storage for backup. Zhou Shaohuan and Tong Dayong were left to lead a thousand soldiers to guard Linqu County. At the same time, people were sent back to Muling Pass immediately and Zhou Shaoqing was transferred to be responsible for handling the civil affairs of the county. Affairs. He also sent people to Qingzhou Prefecture to report to the prefect Yu Honggong that Muling's army had recovered Linqu County.
Early the next morning, Shang Yicai led the remaining soldiers and returned to Muling Pass with the captured weapons and supplies, horses, heads, prisoners, etc., together with Shen Yang and other Jinyi Guardsmen.
Xiao Wenjun and Han Zhi also had to return to Dengzhou to report to Zeng Hualong what they had seen and heard in Mulingguan during this period. Therefore, they parted ways in Linqu County.