The time when the Qing army sent troops was sent, twelve days had passed before the merchant army captured Macheng County. In addition to the reason for gathering troops, there was another point, that is, it took nearly ten days to be true of the merchant army.
time.
In fact, the news spread to Huangzhou Prefecture as early as after the merchant army captured Luotian County. Zheng Xinmin, the magistrate of Qishui who was released by the merchant army, personally rushed to Huangzhou Prefecture, but the magistrate reported that the merchant army had arrived in Hubei.
But Liu Hai'an, the prefect of Huangzhou Prefecture, did not believe that the merchant army was fighting against the Qing army in Zhejiang, Jianghuai, so how could it suddenly come to Huguang? Qishui County must have been captured by a group of bandits, and Zheng Xinmin
He must have been timid and timid in the enemy and left the city and fled, but in order to suppress his own responsibility, he supposes that he is a merchant army. This is too unreliable. How could such a rational person as the prefect believe his nonsense?
Therefore, Liu Hai'an sternly scolded Zheng Xinmin. Zheng Xinmin almost cried in anger, and then sweared to show that he had never lie. At this moment, news came again, even Luotian County was also
Captured by the merchant army.
At this time, Liu Hai'an was a little skeptical, but he still didn't believe that it was the merchant army who really came to Hubei. It must be a bandit who pretended to be the famous discussion of the merchant army. Of course, this bandit was able to conquer Qishui and Luotian counties in succession.
It means that they have a certain combat power, but they are not comparable to the remnants of the Dashun Army in Hubei. It is very likely that a branch of the Dashun Army has returned to Hubei. Therefore, this cannot be blamed entirely on Zheng Xinmin, so Liu Hai'an
He ordered Zheng Xinmin to return to Qishui County first to appease the residents, and he would personally lead the army to wipe out this group of troops.
Liu Hai'an was originally a military general under Wu Sangui. After Wu Sangui led his army eastward, he was left to guard Huangzhou Prefecture, and his subordinates had about 2,000 troops. Liu Hai'an also felt that relying on these 2,000 troops was enough to wipe out this.
The tributary bandits.
But just as Liu Hai'an was about to lead his troops, news came again that the bandits actually captured Macheng County again. This time, they left before they finished fighting and stationed in Macheng County, and there were many more.
Landlords and gentry who escaped from Macheng County, like Liu Hai'an, reported some things about the merchant army in Macheng County, such as holding a public trial meeting, beating local tyrants, dividing land, etc.
From these information, this bandit is indeed somewhat similar to the merchant army. Liu Hai'an couldn't help but be cautious. Regarding the merchant army's strength, he could not hear that the calluses were coming. If Macheng County was occupied, he could not help but be cautious.
It's really a merchant army, but it's not something that his two thousand men can handle. Therefore, he didn't dare to send troops rashly, but sent people to find out about Macheng County, and at the same time ordered it to be in Huangzhou.
Recruiting troops within the prefecture.
Three days later, the person sent out to inquire about the news also came back and told Liu Haiwei that an unfortunate result was that he occupied the army in Macheng County, and it was very likely that it was the merchant army. After returning to Liu Hai'an, he became nervous, although he was also in his heart.
Strangely, why did the merchant army come to Hubei, but now he can't think of the answer. Although Tan Ji also said that the merchant army has not many troops, about two or three thousand people, what is the merchant army?
The army is more than enough, not to mention ten, but three. Therefore, if you want to fight against the merchant army, you must have at least about ten thousand troops.
At this time, the troops he recruited were less than 4,000, which was not enough. Therefore, Liu Hai'an also ordered all the major families and powerful people near Huangzhou to order them to recruit all their guards and join the army. He sent someone to De'an Mansion to ask for help.
The one who stationed in Detuo Mansion was the Wansheng Army, a general under Wu Sangui, with 5,000 troops. It was Wu Sangui's main general stationed in Hubei. If De'an Mansion could send some troops to support him, then this battle would be more certain. It's right.
A few days later, the Wansheng Army of De'an Prefecture also wrote back to Liu Hai'an, saying that he would dispatch 3,000 troops to attack Macheng from the west through Huang'an County. At the same time, he asked Liu Hai'an to send troops from Huangzhou and attack the merchant army in two strokes.
After receiving the letter, Liu Hai'an was a little relieved. During this period, he sent someone to inquire about the situation in Macheng County. He was basically sure that this was the merchant army, and the troops were not large, no more than three thousand.
At the same time, because the news of the merchant army fighting against local tyrants and sharing the land in Macheng has spread, everyone in Huangzhou Prefecture's powerful forces are in danger, so they actively responded to Liu Hai'an's move and recruited all the guards in their homes. Get up and take Liu Hai'an into the collection. He was a powerful local tyrant who escaped from Macheng County and was even more active. Some people paid for it, but no one paid for it. He hoped that Liu Hai'an could drive away the merchant army with the army and take it back by himself. everything.
This time, there are almost 6,000 people recruited from other places. Huangzhou Prefecture has 3,000 more people, and De'an Prefecture has added 3,000 more people. The two groups have added up to 9,000 people. Liu Hai'an also thinks it should be possible. He fought with the merchant army. Therefore, Liu Hai'an led the recruited soldiers to set out from Huangzhou Prefecture and launch an attack on Macheng.
However, after so long, Huangzhou Prefecture was gathering troops with great fanfare, of course, Li Dingguo from Macheng County soon learned about it. Therefore, Li Dingguo immediately recruited members of the 14th Regiment to discuss how to fight the Qing army. attack.
Although the Qing army is not strong in combat, it has a large number of people, but it is a large number, almost three times that of the merchant army. Moreover, it has two forces, and has launched a pincer attack on Macheng, so it cannot underestimate the enemy. At the same time, this is also the merchant army. After entering Hubei and establishing a base, the Qing army launched its first attack on the base. This battle not only had to win, but also had to win beauty, so that the people's confidence in the merchant army can be maintained, and it is also beneficial for the merchant army to quickly in Hubei. expand influence and lay the foundation.
Finally, Li Dingguo and the officers of the 14th Regiment unanimously discussed and decided to concentrate their superior forces first, destroy one of them, and then turn around to deal with the other ones. The Qing army that was determined to attack first was Liu Hai'an's troops from Huangzhou.
Because Huangzhou is close to Macheng County, the threat to Macheng County is greater than that of De'an Prefecture. At the same time, among the new recruits of the merchant army, they are basically locals and are familiar with the region. Although the total force of Liu Haiwei's army is about 6,000, But no more than two thousand people are truly combat-capable, and the rest are all mobs. In real battles, they not only cannot play any role, but will also drag the main force back. Therefore, Liu Hai'an's actual combat power is more powerful than the other way Bad. Naturally, it has become the first target of the merchant army.
After the tactical plan was determined, Li Dingguo immediately took action and sent out a battalion troops, led by Deputy Regiment Commander Xiao Bo and Chief of Staff Huang Wei, stationed in Macheng County, and was responsible for restraining the Qing army from De'an Prefecture. The three battalions under the jurisdiction were led by Li Dingguo and Li Yangang, and fought against Liu Hai'an's headquarters. The three battalions were added to a guard platoon of Li Dingguo, with a total of about 2,700 people, and more than 800 selected new soldiers were added. There are 3,500 people in total.
Liu Hai'an led his men and horses along the Jishui River and headed straight to Macheng County.
Huangzhou is about 200 miles away from Macheng. At the normal marching speed, you can reach Macheng within three days. However, due to the uneven quality of the Qing army, it is basically a hilly area from Huangzhou to Macheng. Although there is a road, it is still ups and downs, so the march is very slow. After walking for two days, he didn't even reach a hundred miles. Although Liu Hai'an was anxious, he had no choice. At the same time, he comforted himself, in fact, this was also the case. OK, let the Wansheng Army's troops meet with the merchant army first, and wait for them to fight to lose both sides, and then arrive at Macheng by themselves, so that they can reap profits.
At noon on the third day, the front of the Qing army arrived near Pantang Town between Macheng and Huangzhou. The Qing army was preparing to bury the pot and cook rice, but encountered the blocking force of the merchant army. When the army was still more than 60 or 70 steps, the merchant army raised their guns and shot them together, caught the Qing army off guard, and killed more than a dozen people.
Liu Hai'an also knew that the only ones under his command were the two thousand soldiers stationed in Huangzhou. The others could only make up the numbers. When attacking collectively, they could follow them, but they could not make big promises. Therefore, the five hundred people in the current department were selected from the troops stationed in Huangzhou. Although they were attacked by the merchant army, they were not panic. And the horse discovered that there were not many merchant army blocking them, probably only one There were about two hundred people, so they sent someone to send a letter to Liu Hai'an behind them, and rushed towards the merchant army.
As soon as the Qing army attacked him, the merchant army fired another row of guns and turned around and fled. The Qing army chased after him for a while, but the soldiers of the merchant army were all steadily and wading through mountains and rivers as if walking on flat ground. How could the Qing army? He couldn't chase after him. Therefore, after chasing for a while, he stopped chasing him. But at this time, the merchant army turned around and shot at the Qing army. When the Qing army chased him again, the merchant army ran away again.
Just chased and stopped, fought and ran away, and ran away for almost two hours. I don’t know how many roads I ran. Anyway, the merchant army never fled far, and was always within the scope of the Qing army’s vision. Within, they just don't contact with the Qing army. And as soon as the Qing army stopped, they immediately turned around and shot, just like they were deliberately fighting with the Qing army. As a result, the Qing soldiers were so exhausted that they were panting and headed I was confused because I hadn't eaten lunch yet, and I was tired and hungry. And then I realized that I was lost and didn't know where I was.
Only then did the Qing army realize something was wrong. They were thinking about returning on the same route, but it was too late. They heard the sound of killings in the hills and woods on the left and right, shouting and killing the sky. Thousands of merchant soldiers came from Killed out of the woods, and the sound of muskets continued to sound. The Qing army fell one by one.