After receiving this series of resolutions from Nanjing, Shang Yi could only smile bitterly. Of course, he was sober. Although these resolutions were made by Ma Shiying on the surface, there might be shadows of the Xuan Emperor's Instruction behind them.
Of course, Xuanhuang Cult would not be afraid that Shi Kefa would return to Beijing to enter the cabinet, but he was full of vigilance against Shang Yi. Shang Yi not only had troops, but also had territory, but also had great ability to use troops, and had strong governance capabilities.
After Shang Yi won the victory of guarding the Huaihe River defense line, his reputation almost reached its peak. Almost all the knowledgeable people in the south regarded Shang Yi as the only hope to resist the Qing army's southern invasion.
Now that the attack of the Qing army was frustrated, the threat to the south was greatly reduced. Therefore, in the eyes of the Xuanhuang Cult, Shang Yi had replaced the Qing army and became the biggest threat in the eyes of the Xuanhuang Cult. To put it bluntly, if
Shang Yi also learned from Zuo Liangyu to raise his troops and marched from Zhejiang to Nanjing. It would probably take ten days.
Therefore, the leader of the Xuanhuang Sect also recruited several elders in the sect to discuss and decide to take this opportunity to keep Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo near Nanjing. On the one hand, he found an opportunity to slowly annex these two soldiers and take them into his own.
On the other hand, the private army also allowed Shang Yi to fight hard with the Qing army, so as to watch the tiger fight. After both sides suffered losses, they could reap the benefits of the fisherman.
However, Xuanhuang Cult still adopted another suggestion from Shang Yi, to surrender Li Zicheng's Dashun Army, and let Li Zicheng's army station in Hubei, help the Nanjing court, and guard the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Of course, Xuanhuang Cult also knew that surrendering Li Zicheng was of course a matter of
It is a big deal to do things in the world, so according to Shang Yi's suggestion, these things are done in the name of Ma Shiying, so that Lao Ma can bear the infatuation. When necessary, Ma Shiying can be sacrificed. Anyway
In the view of Xuanhuang Sect, Ma Shiying's role is now just a chess piece.
Although Shang Yi was put on a trick by the Xuanhuang Sect this time, there was no other way to deal with it now. Fortunately, he had never expected much from the Ming army, and he had never planned to defend the Huaihe line in Fengyang.
After winning the first stage of victory, he became more determined in his thoughts. Even if Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo returned to Jiangbei, if the Qing army really dispatched a large army to attack again, Shang Yi would give up Fengyang appropriately and retreat to
On the front line of Yangzhou, using the vast area of the Jianghuai area, it is not bound by the gains and losses of one city and one place, but instead concentrates superior forces on local battlefields to annihilate the living forces of the Qing army through mobile warfare, and slowly deal with the Qing army. It's not good.
Now implementing these tactics for yourself has reduced some contact points and increased some difficulties.
Therefore, Shang Yi ordered Li Yan to send his younger brother Li Mou to Nanjing first, accept the appointment of the Nanjing court, receive the imperial edict, and then rush to Huguang to find Li Zicheng.
At this time, Li Zicheng's situation was quite sad. After the Qing army captured the northwest, the Dashun army retreated to Huguang in two directions. The Eastern Army was led by major generals of the Dashun army such as Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, etc.
The main force of the Dashun Army heading south, the soldiers and their families had a total of more than 300,000, and they carried a large amount of property and supplies. Therefore, they were very slow and were chased by Ajige, and they were in Dengzhou, Chengtian.
De'an and other places were pursued by the Qing army. Both sides fought several times in a row, and the Dashun army suffered a defeat. However, Li Zicheng fought and retreated, and finally arrived in Xiangyang in late March 1645, the first year of Hongguang.
House.
The Dashun Army on the West Road encountered some trouble. The main generals on this road were Li Guo and Gao Yigong. They were originally troops stationed in Yan'an and Yulin. After Li Zicheng abandoned Xi'an, it turned out that the Dashun Army was originally in the northwest region.
The Ming Dynasty surrendered to the generals Zuo Guan, Niu Chenghu and others surrendered to the Qing Dynasty one after another. The Qing army had cut off their direct convergence with Li Zicheng and went south. Therefore, Li Guo and Gao Yigong had to change from Hanzhong, Shaanxi to Shu and follow the Yangtze River to the east of Hubei.
, was joining forces with Li Zijun.
However, the four generals of the Dashun Army, He Zhen, Luo Dai, Dang Meng'an and Guo Dengxian, who were guarding the Hanzhong area, had already turned against the Qing Dynasty and used force to block the Dashun Army of Li Guo, Gao Yigong and other troops. After a fierce transition
After the battle, Li Guo, Gao Yigong and other troops broke through the defense zone of He Zhen and others, went south from Hanzhong to Taiping, Dongxiang, Dazhou, Kuizhou and other places in Sichuan, and then went east along the river to reach the Jingzhou area of Huguang.
It's the second half of the year.
Therefore, the only one who arrived in Huguang now was the Eastern Army of the Dashun Army. However, although he encountered fierce pursuit by the Qing army along the way, at this time, Li Zishu still brought 130,000 Dashun Army from Xi'an and Henan.
The remaining troops, and the four prefectures of Xiangyang, Chengtian, De'an and Jingzhou were deployed in Huguang area, and there were more than 70,000 troops. They were also mobilized by Li Zicheng to accompany the camp, with a total of about 200,000. In addition, the Dashun Army was
The main personnel Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, Liu Fangliang, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and others are still there, and the Dashun Army has been operating in the four prefectures of Huguang for nearly two years, and its ruling foundation is relatively stable. It can be said that the Dashun Army is still very powerful.
The power of
However, the four prefectures of Huguang are small and have little room for maneuver. Moreover, there is a Ming army behind them, which cannot be used as the basis for resisting the Qing army. Therefore, Li Zicheng discussed with the generals and decided to seize Nanjing before the Qing army headed south.
Then he resisted the Qing army. He also sent Tian Jianxiu as his vanguard to cross the Yangtze River from the Shahu area of Mianyang Prefecture, and defeated Zuo Liangyu's general Ma Jinzhong and Wang Yuncheng's troops at the mouth of Jinghe River, and captured Wuchang Prefecture. In this battle
It is also the direct reason why Zuo Liangyu sent troops to invade the east.
But Ajige's army also rushed to Huguang and rushed straight to Xiangyang. Because at this time, Li Zicheng concentrated all his troops along the Yangtze River and prepared to attack Nanjing. The defense in Xiangyang was very empty and was captured by the Qing army in one fell swoop.
In Jingzhou Prefecture, Li Zicheng urgently sent Liu Zongmin to lead the army to fight against the Qing army at De'an Prefecture, but was defeated by the Qing army and De'an Prefecture was also lost.
At this time, the Dashun Army had lost three of the four prefectures in Huguang. Now there are only Chengtian and Wuchang. Li Zicheng was also in a dilemma because the Qing army came too quickly, with Nanjing and Ming army defending it. If we continue to lead the army, we will continue to lead the army to lead the army.
The army went east, Chengtian and Wuchang were difficult to protect, and it was difficult to take down Nanjing for a while. In this way, the army had no place to provide logistics supply, and had to protect the family members of the army. They only had great chaos in command, and they were actually in the process of
It's very difficult too.
At this moment, Li Mou took a boat along the north of the Yangtze River and arrived at Wuchang Prefecture. He met Li Zicheng, and told him about the Ming Dynasty's intention to surrender the Dashun Army, and sent a letter written by Li Yan to Li Zicheng.
Only then did Li Zicheng realize that Li Yan had surrendered to Shang Yi. After reading Li Yan's letter, although Li Zicheng was silent for a while, he was really moved. After withdrawing from Beijing, the Dashun Army was defeated again and again.
Although Li Zicheng has been saying "We have nothing, no matter what, we killed the emperor, became emperors, and lived in the palace. Now we just have nothing. We can fight again if we lose it.
Come back." The soldiers of the Dashun Army were also comforting themselves.
But Li Zicheng knew in his heart that he was no longer the bandit who had nothing at the time. Not to mention anything else, the more than 100,000 families who followed the army could not give up easily. If he could really accept the Ming Dynasty at this time, he would be able to accept the Ming Dynasty. At least you don’t have to be attacked from both sides and you can resist the Qing army wholeheartedly. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty was able to provide food and salary for itself, which was much better than wandering around again.
As for other things, you can make a conclusion after you have defeated the Qing army. Anyway, you have not really surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. If it is really not going well, then you can rebel again. As long as you have soldiers in your hands, He was not afraid of anything. Moreover, among the Ming army, Li Zicheng, except for the merchant army, did not care about other troops.
Moreover, Li Mou also made the words directly to Li Zicheng. In fact, Shang Yi was not united with the Ming Dynasty. Now he just wanted to use the Ming Dynasty's famous discussion to separate the wealthy areas on the southeast coast and become king. Li Mou did not do anything. It is said that if the Qing army is repelled, both sides can even attack Nanjing from east and west, destroy the Ming Dynasty in one fell swoop, and then divide the land in the south equally, and make themselves kings. This suggestion also made Li Zicheng very moved, after all, he has also served as a few. This is still very good for the Emperor. If you can do it for a few more days, it will be very good.
Therefore, Li Zicheng also recruited all the generals to discuss the matter together. Although he was opposed by many generals at the beginning, after Li Mou's explanation, all the generals also felt that as long as the independence of the Dashun Army was maintained, they were discussed in a famous way. It is not unacceptable to accept the invitation from the Ming Dynasty.
But just when all the generals of the Dashun Army agreed to accept the invitation of the Ming Dynasty, Niu Jinxing suddenly jumped out and said, "It is okay to return to the Ming Dynasty, but now the emperor has inherited the great throne and established a career. How can he only accept it if he is to accept it if he is the emperor. A small Duke, in his opinion, must at least be granted the title of King Shun before he can accept the envoy."
After he said this, all the generals also started to clamor and demanded that the Ming Dynasty be named Li Zi be the King of Shun, because the generals of the Dashun Army were also named Duke and Hou. If Li Zicheng accepted the title of Duke of Shun, then other people All the titles have to be demoted. Although the names are different, these people have not yet had enough official addiction, so naturally no one wants to do it.
Li Mou did not expect Niu Jinxing to come in here. He had already greeted his ancestors for 18 generations. Fortunately, he also had some talent for adapting and said, "I am a king and a chastity, but it is just a How can a king who has a false reputation compare to a Duke who has real power? Why do you care about this title and lose the big one because of the small one." Turning his head and saying to Li Zicheng: " What's more, the King of Chuang could accept titles from the Ming Dynasty in famous discussions, but in Huguang, he was still the emperor of Dashun."
After hearing this, Li Zicheng nodded and said, "Brother Li Mou is right. I think it's decided. Duke Shun is Duke Shun. In the future, we can still be granted the title of king. Wait."