The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 197
It was the first ten days of October in the tenth year of Chongzhen when Li Zicheng led the troops from Wenxian County to Songpanwei.

Less than a month and a half later, Li Zicheng had already arrived at the city of Chengdu and raised his troops in the northern suburbs of the city.

Li Zicheng's all the way to the south was like a broken bamboo, Wang Weizhang, the governor of Sichuan, was in a hurry, and sent official documents to the four parties to ask for help.

The chieftains of the Ming army in western Sichuan, southern Sichuan, and eastern Sichuan were all recruited.

Although Wang Weizhang lost his footing and hid himself in the city of Chengdu, he did not dare to move, but the generals guarding Sichuan Province were not mediocre.

The She'an Rebellion in Sichuan was completely eliminated in the second year of Chongzhen. Almost all the generals in Sichuan Province were killed in the sea of ​​corpses and blood, and few of them were mediocre.

In fact, Wang Weizhang's request for help was not sent to Hong Chengchou at the first time, but to Xiong Wencan first.

Xiong Wencan, whose name is Taimeng and whose name is Xinkai, is a native of Luzhou, Sichuan, and a Jinshi in the 35th year of Wanli.

He was first granted the title of Tuiguan in Guizhou, and later moved to the head of the Ministry of Rites.

In the first year of Chongzhen, he first served as the Zuobu political envoy of Fujian. At that time, pirates were rampant and harassed the coasts of Fujian and Guangdong.

During his tenure, Xiong Wencan recruited Zheng Zhilong, a giant bandit on the southeast coast at that time, and at the same time organized and trained naval forces, trained the army, and used both suppression and appeasement.

In February of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Xiong Wencan was appointed as the right servant of the Ministry of War and the censor of Youqian capital, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi military affairs, and the governor of Guangdong.

In October of the following year, the navy of the Ming army defeated the coalition forces formed by the Dutch East India Company and the pirate Liu Xiang with an absolute advantage in Liuluo Bay on the southeast coast of Kinmen, Fujian.

Since then, Xiong Wencan's reputation has spread far and wide, reaching heaven and hearing, and becoming popular among people.

Yang Sichang took over as Shangshu of the Ministry of War, and proposed the strategy of "four positives and six corners, and ten sides to spread the net", hoping to put down the rebellion in the pass.

To achieve this plan, there must be two people.

The first person is Hong Chengchou, who is the governor of the three sides, and the second person is naturally Wang Jiazhen, who is temporarily acting as the prime minister of the six provinces.

Lu Xiangsheng, the former prime minister of the six provinces, was ordered to serve the king because of the invasion of the Gyeonggi area by the Qing soldiers in the ninth year of Chongzhen.

After arriving in Beijing, he was left in Xuanda, the governor of Xuanda, Shanxi and other local military affairs, and also took care of food and pay, and wrote an imperial edict to him.

Lu Xiangsheng's original appointment as prime minister of the six provinces was temporarily taken by Wang Jiazhen, the left servant of the Ministry of war.

However, Wang Jiazhen was not capable enough and was not valued by Yang Sichang. Yang Sichang thought Wang Jiazhen was not fit for the job.

After all, as soon as Wang Jiazhen took over as the premier of the six provinces, Zhang Xianzhong broke through several fronts one after another. The originally good situation was ruined by the coaching change, and the situation deteriorated even more.

Therefore, Yang Sichang never thought about using Wang Jiazhen to attack at the beginning of formulating the plan.

At this time, the well-known Xiong Wencan just came into Yang Sichang's sight.

Yang Sichang didn't hesitate much, under his operation.

In April of the tenth year, Xiong Wencan was promoted again, and concurrently served as the right deputy capital censor, and the prime minister of Nanzhi, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Huguang, and Sichuan military affairs, specializing in offensives.

In late October, Xiong Wencan had already arrived at Xingyuan in Anqing, and he also received a request for help from Sichuan Governor Wang Weizhang from Chengdu.

Xiong Wencan has just taken office not long ago, but he still knows a lot about the situation of the rogues in the pass through various means.

When he heard that Li Zicheng was approaching the city of Chengdu, Xiong Wencan did not panic, but first transferred the distribution and number of guards and battalions from various places in Sichuan Province.

Then Xiong Wencan acted resolutely, divided into three routes in western Sichuan, southern Sichuan, and eastern Sichuan, and each set up a leader to lead troops and horses to help Chengdu, encircling them and leaving.

All the way in the west of Sichuan, from the northwest of Chengdu, all the way south to Chengdu via Wenchuan and Guanchuan.

This part of the army is composed of the chieftains in Songpanwei, as well as the chieftains in the northwest of Chengdu Prefecture and the local battalion, totaling [-] people.

On the South Sichuan Road, there were 5000 battalion soldiers, guards and chieftain soldiers mobilized from Lizhou Appeasement Division, Yazhou, Jiading Prefecture, Meizhou and other state capitals.

All the way to the east of Sichuan, it was composed of guards and battalions from all over the country, with a total of 1000 soldiers. They went all the way west from Nanchong in Shunqing Prefecture, and rushed to Chengdu via Suining.

The soldiers and horses of the three routes surrounded Chengdu from the east, south and west, like a pocket.

In northern Sichuan, Hong Chengchou finally led his troops through Wen County in the southwest of Gongchang Mansion, entered Songpanwei in the northwest of Sichuan Province, and rushed south along Li Zicheng's road to Sichuan.

Chen Wang followed Cao Wenzhao to the east of Wei County, where he reunited with the two camps of Hou Liangzhu and Cao Bianjiao.

……

Chongzhen ten years, the third day of December.

Northern Sichuan Province, Long'an Mansion, northern Jiangyou.

As the sun went down, it seemed as if a giant beast opened the mouth of the abyss and swallowed the whole world, and the world fell into darkness.

The Yinping Road, which was once narrow and difficult to walk in the Three Kingdoms period, has been widened a lot in the Ming Dynasty, and many places can even accommodate several vehicles and horses in parallel.

From Jiangyou all the way to the north, the mountains began to become steeper.

Li Zicheng set up a temporary camp on a high slope near the official road in the north of Jiangyou.

Bonfires were lit everywhere in the camp, except for the sentry and patrolling soldiers, most of the people had already fallen asleep.

In the Chinese military tent, Li Zicheng put his hands on his knees, lowered his head, and sat on a wooden chair with his eyelids slightly closed.

Coming all the way from Chengdu, with almost no stops along the road, Li Zicheng's physical strength was somewhat difficult.

However, compared to his physical exhaustion, Li Zicheng's spirit was actually worse.

His heartstrings were always tensed and could not be relaxed, and a great burden was on his body.

What he is doing now is like dancing on the tip of a knife, without the slightest mistake.

Once there is any problem, the cold point of the knife will pierce his legs and feet.

Then he fell into the mountain of knives and died of thousands of knives without leaving any bones.

Under the closed eyelids, Li Zicheng's eyeballs rolled slightly from time to time, and his brows frowned from time to time.

Li Zicheng didn't fall asleep, he was still awake, just thinking about something.

He has not had any sleep for two days.

From Shaanxi to Nanzhili, and then from Nanzhili to Shaanxi, he swept across thousands of miles and moved to the land of seven provinces. Li Zicheng has long been accustomed to fighting and fighting.

In the past, no matter what the circumstances, he could sleep soundly.

But this time, Li Zicheng suffered from insomnia.

Just like when he first raised the flag, his heart was full of fear, and his mind was full of things that would happen after the defeat.

For a long time, Gao Yingxiang stood in front of him, stood in front of all of them, and led them forward.

At that time, he didn't need to think about too many things, he just needed to do his own thing well.

but now……

No one stood in front of him anymore.

Now it's him, standing in front of everyone else.

The tent of the Chinese army is empty, except for Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng slowly opened his eyes, his eyes were full of exhaustion.

Only now did he realize how heavy a responsibility was on Gao Yingxiang's shoulders.

He doesn't know whether the decision he made is correct, and he doesn't know whether his arrangement will go wrong.

Li Zicheng raised his head, and the captured map was placed on the low table in front of him.

Several maps were spliced ​​together to form a larger map.

The proportions of these maps are roughly the same, and there will not be much error.

The main components of this big map are the map of Chengdu Mansion, the map of Long'an Mansion, and the map of Gongchang Mansion.

Li Zicheng's gaze stayed on the map on the desktop.

There are many circles and battle flags drawn with red ink on the map.

Each of these circles and battle flags represents a team of officers and soldiers.

Li Zicheng's eyes fell on Wei County, the gateway to the northeast of Chengdu Prefecture, where he left nearly 7 people.

Most of the troops and hungry soldiers were left by him in the area of ​​Mianzhou and Wei County, defended according to the mountains, and set up camps to protect them, in order to ensure the smooth retreat.

The soldiers he left behind also did what they were supposed to do - to ensure that the road to retreat was smooth.

Cao Wenzhao and Hou Liangzhu have not broken through the defensive positions he arranged so far, and the two armies are still in a stalemate.

Li Zicheng's eyes moved to the south, and finally stopped at the city of Chengdu in the south.

The purpose of attacking Chengdu was to attract soldiers and horses from all over Sichuan to gather in Chengdu. Now that his goal has been achieved, there is no need to stay in Chengdu anymore.

He left only more than 1000 horse troops in Chengdu, and there were more than 4 hungry soldiers responsible for the siege.

But these hungry soldiers were just cannon fodder. When Li Zicheng retreated, he ordered to retreat quietly, trying not to startle the enemy, and did not let these hungry soldiers know.

The hungry soldiers who stayed in Chengdu were just abandoned sons to attract the attention of the officers and soldiers, and the horse troops were the troops to supervise the battle.

To be precise, all the hungry soldiers and stranded cavalry in Weixian, Mianzhou, and Chengdu were nothing more than abandoned sons.

The [-] elite cavalry and [-] horse troops who followed Li Zicheng into Sichuan from Wen County had already followed Li Zicheng to the north of Jiangyou.

There was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps outside the tent, Li Zicheng suddenly raised his head, his eyes sharpened sharply, and followed the sound.

The curtain was knocked open, Li Zicheng's pupils shrank slightly, and he could see the person clearly.

The one who broke into the tent was a general who had followed him all the way to the South and North Wars, named Tian Jianxiu, from Suide County.

"There is already an enemy situation in Pingwu. Two days ago, a group of officers and soldiers came from the north."

"The number of officers and soldiers is about 8000 to [-], all of them are armored, and they are all Shaanxi soldiers, including the general flags of Madman He and Zuo Guangxian."

Tian Jianxiu walked all the way to the front, with a slightly embarrassed expression on his face, and reported in a low voice.

"Gao Jie's banner is also there...it seems to be the Shaanxi soldiers led by Hong Chengchou himself."

Tian Jianxiu's last words made Li Zicheng's eyes sharpen.

A palpitating killing intent circulated in Li Zicheng's eyes.

Gao Jie...

In the battle of Chunhua, it was Gao Jie's rebellion that caused him to lose that crucial battle and almost half of his family fortune.

That battle was also the battle of Chen Wang's rise...

Li Zicheng clenched his fists and subconsciously looked in Zitong's direction.

Chen Wang was also among the officers and soldiers who came to suppress this time. He followed Cao Wenzhao all the way from Mian County.

"Gao Jie is the battalion officer. Since he is here, Hong Chengchou must be there."

Li Zicheng's eyes became peaceful again, and he had already suppressed the agitation in his heart.

Li Zicheng is very clear that at critical moments, he must keep a calm mind and must not be dazzled by anger.

Anger can make people's thoughts confused, and anger can also make people's judgment ability go wrong, and then choose the wrong path.

And now he... must not make any mistakes...

Li Zicheng stood up slowly, then leaned over to look at the situation on the map.

Officers and soldiers surrounded him from all sides, trying to trap him to death in Chengdu Mansion.

"A net with four sides, six corners and ten sides..."

Li Zicheng sneered, he also knew Yang Sichang's four points, six corners and ten sides of the net.

Those adults who live above the temple have never understood the sufferings of the people.

With an increase of 280 million salaries, the military salaries that can really be implemented are probably not even one million taels.

An additional 12 soldiers were added, and in the end, 6 or [-] people could be recruited, which is already regarded as a clean government.

It seems that the government is increasing the salary and conscription, but in fact they are raising the salary and increasing the number of soldiers.

The more local government pays, the more people are willing to follow them.

The more soldiers recruited locally, the more people in those cities would be willing to act as internal support and open the gates for them.

Li Zicheng not only set up defenses in Wei County and Mianzhou, he also set up defenses in Pingwu in Long'an Prefecture.

When he took down Pingwu, he did not tear down all the walls of Pingwu City as before, but kept them, and the checkpoints along the way were roughly preserved as well.

He led troops to sneak into Sichuan from Wenxian, and the Ming army would probably send people to pursue them along the way to prevent him from returning to Wenxian and entering Gongchang Mansion again.

All of this was expected by Li Zicheng. Although Li Zicheng hadn't read any military books, he had fought battles for so many years after all.

So Li Zicheng had left about [-] people in Pingwu to occupy the checkpoint and block the road in advance.

"Pingwu, how long can Liu Fangliang last?"

Li Zicheng turned his head and looked at Tian Jianxiu.

"The offensive of the officers and soldiers is not strong, and there is no pressure on Lao Liu's side, but it may be that the officers and soldiers rushed all the way here, and they haven't used their full strength yet."

"Crazy He and Zuo Guangxian both have strong soldiers, and most of Lao Liu's soldiers are hungry soldiers. There are only one thousand elite cavalry and three thousand horse soldiers."

Tian Jianxiu touched his nose, which was flushed red from the cold and felt unconscious, and let out a sigh of relief.

"If the officers and soldiers are ruthless, Lao Liu should only be able to block it for three days at most."

"Three days..."

Li Zicheng looked dignified and his eyes were gloomy.

"Almost enough..."

Li Zicheng raised his head, looked out of the big tent, and already had a plan in mind.

"Communicate to the whole army. Tomorrow, the three shifts will make meals, and the fourth shift will pull out the camp..."

"All the way to the north, straight into Qingchuan!"

Li Zicheng lowered his head and stared at the map in front of him, his eyes were as bright as torches.

"We... re-enter Guanzhong!"

(End of this chapter)