Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 159 Blocking War

After hearing this, Song Xiance became wary and said to Li Zicheng: "Wei Chen didn't know the Jurchens before, so there are some things that are hard to say. Since I came in contact with the Jurchens this time, Wei Chen has observed me carefully again. Your Highness, you must be on guard." ah!"

Li Zicheng was a little surprised when he heard this, and immediately asked: "What are you guarding against them for?"

Song Xiance looked serious and answered Li Zicheng seriously: "I suspect that the Jurchens are not satisfied with separatist control of Liaodong. If this is the case, there is no need to be more active than us and just think about how to destroy the Ming Dynasty!" Wasn’t it them who came up with the idea of ​​digging up the imperial tomb for the first time!”

After hearing this, Li Zicheng was a little disapproving and said: "They are all bitter and cold people. They are not used to the customs. What's the surprise in separatist Liaodong?"

"Your Highness, the Jurchens in history established the Jin Kingdom, but they also had the intention of going south to annex the Song Dynasty!" Song Xiance said seriously, "If the Changping War can really achieve significant results, then in the world today, at least here, we will be the two of us. Our family is the strongest, so we must prevent the Jurchens from suddenly taking action against us!"

Upon hearing this, "Cao Cao" suddenly flashed through Li Zicheng's mind, and he nodded and said, "Yes, you must be on guard against others. Send the order and be on guard in secret!"

He himself continued to annex other rebel armies, such as Cao Cao, Luo Rucai, Ge Zuo Fifth Battalion, Xiao Yuan Camp, etc. to grow stronger.Therefore, he is still very vigilant in this regard.

As a result, the Dashun Army did not have a good night's sleep.

However, there was no movement until dawn, and Jianlu only had signs of coming to the Dashun Army.

Li Zicheng stayed up most of the night and fell asleep in the morning to catch up on his sleep.

Unexpectedly, not long after he fell asleep, Tan Ma hurriedly came to report and woke him up.

"What, the Jurchens left?" Li Zicheng was a little confused, "How?"

"All the Jurchens broke camp and headed north. Even Tianjin Guards is an empty city!"

When Li Zicheng heard this, he finally came to his senses, but it was even more strange: without saying hello, they all suddenly ran away. What does this mean?
He couldn't figure it out himself, so he called all his advisers over to ask. Both Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance were confused.

No matter from any angle, it seems unreasonable to leave so early in the morning without even saying hello!

Unable to figure it out, Niu Jinxing said to Li Zicheng: "The Jurchens like to go around. Anyway, we don't want them to stay in the pass."

After hearing this, Song Xiance frowned and said, "Are you afraid that they are not trying to escape, but have other plans? But if the capital is captured and they want to rob the capital, they should go west. Why go north? What? Could it be that they want to deceive us and feint? But this shouldn’t be the case! The movement they made last night was probably that they were packing their luggage. Logically speaking, our scouts should have arrived, right?"

Li Zicheng heard this and was about to speak when he suddenly heard rapid footsteps coming from outside.

So, he immediately smiled and said: "Look, I guess it's a reward from Tan Ma!"

While they were talking, they looked up and looked out of the lobby. As a result, they were dumbfounded when they saw the people rushing in.

"Your Highness, we are defeated, we are all defeated!" Liu Zongmin said loudly with a sad face and sweat all over his body.

You know, Liu Zongmin never looked like this even when he was completely defeated. Now, Li Zicheng was shocked. He stood up immediately, hit his knee on the table but didn't care, just stared at Liu Zongmin and shouted loudly. :"What happened?"

Before Liu Zongmin could say anything, another person broke in. It was Hu Li Guo. His face was also sweaty, exhausted, and he looked shaky. He said loudly: "Uncle, it's all over!"

In his desperation, he didn't even call His Highness, but directly called out the most familiar title.

Li Zicheng, Song Xiance, Niu Jinxing: "..."

Li Zicheng was really confused and shouted immediately: "What's going on? Don't you have 12 troops? Didn't the Emperor of Ming Dynasty only have 5 troops last time? Even if it were doubled, it would still not be as many as your troops. Why? Damn it, why did you tell me that you were defeated and finished as soon as you came here?"

It sounds very bad to hear what they mean.He was also anxious. He was gentle and did not call himself Gu Bu Gu. He also blurted out familiar names.

Niu Jinxing, who could not figure out the normal situation, thought of a possibility, and suddenly asked in shock: "I heard that Emperor Taizu appeared before. If you go to dig the emperor's tomb, shouldn't Emperor Chengzu or something have also appeared? ?”

When Liu Zongmin and Li Guo heard this, they couldn't help but look at each other.There was still doubt in their eyes.

Could it be that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty really showed up, scared the Jianlu away, and then injected chicken blood into the imperial officers and soldiers?

Song Xiance was a fortune teller, and he didn't believe in ghosts and gods. Seeing them stunned, he asked, "What's going on? You guys tell me!"

Liu Zongmin seemed to have recovered a little, and immediately replied: "The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty led 8 horses to Changping, but the Qing soldiers ran away before they saw the imperial officers and soldiers. And that emperor was really evil. He actually The one who leads the charge, risking his life. So... so our army is gone too!"

When Niu Jinxing heard this, he couldn't help but be very shocked and said: "Could it be that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty really appeared? Otherwise, how could it be like this?"

When Song Xiance heard this, he shook his head and said, "If you want to dig someone's ancestral grave, why don't you go to great lengths? What does this have to do with the appearance of the spirit? But the Jurchen suddenly ran away. What does this mean?"

Hearing this, Niu Jinxing came back to his senses and said strangely: "Yes, if the emperors of the Ming Dynasty appeared, why did the Jurchen of Tianjin Guard also run away?"

Song Xiance had some thoughts at this time, and frowned and said: "It seems that the Jurchens from Tianjin Wei received the news last night, so they packed up and ran away overnight. If the Jurchens on both sides ran away, there is only one possibility. Something big happened in Liaodong. Got it!"

When Li Zicheng heard this, he asked: "What big thing will happen in Liaodong? Didn't they say that there are still tens of millions of people and horses that can be mobilized?"

"I heard that the emperor of the Qing Dynasty was very young, and the one who entered the country was the regent. Maybe he was fighting for power and profit!" Song Xiance guessed after hearing this.

They still know too little about Liaodong and believe that the Jurchens will not really have only this small number of troops.

Li Guo must have breathed his last by now. Seeing that they were still discussing things that didn't happen on the [-]th and [-]th, he shouted loudly: "What do you care about the Jurchens? If we don't leave, it will be difficult for the emperor to lead his army to catch up!" "

Seeing that he was afraid of being like this, Li Zicheng was dissatisfied. He immediately glared and shouted at him: "Why are you panicking? We still have more than 8 troops here. Doesn't the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty only have [-] to [-]? If you dare to chase us, I... I dare to wait for work in my spare time, I can't beat him to death!"

After saying this, he heard Liu Zongmin say to him: "Your Highness, it's better to leave quickly. It's really hard to leave any longer!"

This statement made Li Zicheng very surprised. He looked at Liu Zongmin with an unbelievable expression. Is this still his number one general?Why are you so afraid?
For a moment, he even thought that he had returned to the early years of Chongzhen. When he heard the news about the army, he immediately wanted to escape!

Perhaps seeing his shock, or trying to cover up for himself, Liu Zongmin immediately explained: "Your Highness, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and his army are a bunch of lunatics, and they will definitely not be able to defeat us if they are quite powerful. It’s better to go back first and make a long-term plan!”

"Yes, yes, they are really a group of lunatics!" Li Guo heard this and quickly agreed, "After fighting for so many years, I have never seen such a group of lunatics on the battlefield. I really can't fight!"

After hearing this, Niu Jinxing muttered: "Look, you have to dig up someone's ancestral grave. It would be strange if they don't work hard!"

After saying this, several people present turned to look at Li Zicheng, with a bit of complaint in their eyes, which seemed to be saying: "Look, okay, why are you digging people's ancestral graves? Isn't it irritating them?"

Li Zicheng was also a little unreasonable, but this was not because he was wrongful about digging up other people's ancestral graves, but because he acted arbitrarily and refused to listen to their advice and insisted on digging up other people's ancestral tombs.

Suddenly, he remembered something and immediately changed the subject: "Where is Gao Yigong? Where are the others?"

Liu Zongmin and Li Guo couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed when they heard this.

Seeing that the situation was not good, they all ran for their lives, not caring about anything else.

"Probably...probably still on the way?" Liu Zongmin guessed.

Later, Li Zicheng held a military meeting and said that he had received news from Yuan Zongdi and wanted to lead his army to fight Zuo Liangyu. Then he broke camp and left quickly south, leaving slightly slower than Jianlu.

………………

You cannot walk in a straight line from Changping to Qingyue Mingyueguan.Instead, go east to Pinggu, then go south around the winding mountains to reach Jizhou, then go northeast to Zunhua, then go northeast, and after passing Santun Camp, you can reach Jizhou Town.After arriving here, go north to reach Xifengkou, go southeast to reach Qian'an, and go further north to Qingshui Mingyue Pass.

On a hot day, an army dozens of miles long marched on this road.

The weather was so hot that the marching soldiers were all wearing only single clothes, with some kind of covering on their heads, and they were covered in sweat as they walked.

Generally speaking, when marching in this kind of weather, the soldiers will definitely scold their mothers, it is so miserable!

However, the troops walking in front of the army were all busy on their way, and few people talked at all on the road.

If you look down from a high altitude, you can see that after a few days of walking, the head of this marching team is obviously some distance away from the army behind it.

At the headquarters of the Chinese Army, Emperor Chongzhen only wore a piece of silk and no cotton, leather or iron armor, otherwise he would suffer from heat stroke.

He was riding a horse, wearing a hat on his head, but he was still sweating.

Fang Zhenghua on the side was wearing a short coat, revealing white and tender skin, but it was obviously a little red from the sun.Sweating like rain, he said to Emperor Chongzhen with some worry: "Long live my lord, more than 1000 soldiers have fallen. Why don't we let those soldiers slow down?"

The original plan was to get up early and rush on the road, and when it got too hot around noon, he would take shelter under the shade of his subordinates, and then continue on the road in the evening.Unexpectedly, the newly surrendered army insisted on walking a little longer. Slowly, the entire team was forced to speed up their march.

Emperor Chongzhen felt the same way when he heard this.

Although he had asked the cavalry to clear the way ahead and prepared cold water on the march route for the soldiers to quench their thirst, there were still many soldiers who kept it simple and drank water whenever they saw it, or gave themselves a refreshing break. Watering it thoroughly caused many soldiers to fall ill.

The weather is really too hot, so I only have a few straw hats, and I use broken branches as hats, or other things, but they don't actually cool down much.

Another point is that when we were traveling on a hot day, even the animals pulling armor and food fell a lot.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen really felt that in ancient wars, it was very possible that the attrition of the army was not caused by swords and swords, but by non-combat attrition.

The transportation is too inconvenient and there are few supplies of all kinds. Basically, people have to adapt to it.If you can't adapt, you will naturally get sick.

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen said to Fang Zhenghua: "Wait until Ye Bushou detects Jianlu's whereabouts, and then redesign the march plan."

Ye Bushou, who was inquiring about the information, also suffered. Fortunately, one person and two horses were better than the starting army, but they only had a lot to do, and they might also encounter enemies, which was also a dangerous job.

Just as he was talking, he saw a dozen riders in front of him heading towards the Chinese military tent.

When Fang Zhenghua saw it, he said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, it's the forward Ning Long!"

At the front were Ning Long's troops, then the [-] surrender troops, and then the soldiers from the Beijing camp.

Seeing Ning Long rushing back in person meant that there should be something going on ahead.

Sure enough, after approaching, Ning Long, who was sweating profusely, dismounted from his horse, saluted Emperor Chongzhen, and then reported: "Your Majesty, we have found out that there are captives stationed in the Santun camp at night, and they have fled north from the Tianjin Wei side. The Jianlu army is about to move to the west."

At this time, the imperial army's forwards had already arrived at Zunhua. They had previously reported that Zunhua was an empty city, and the Chinese army where Emperor Chongzhen was serving had not yet arrived at Zunhua.There are still thirty or forty miles from Zunhua to Santunkou, and the infantry takes about a day's journey.

Emperor Chongzhen did not expect that Jianlu would send troops to garrison at Santunkou.

But if you think about it seriously, it doesn't seem strange.

Santunying is located in the Yanshan Mountains and is the only way to go east from Zunhua.From Santun Camp to the north, it is only sixty miles away from Xifengkou.If Santun camp is controlled, the smooth flow of Xifengkou can be guaranteed.The General Military Mansion of Jizhou Town is located here. If something happens, it is very suitable to reinforce several passes from here.

Jianlu fled to Qianxi quickly, which meant that they were a little faster than the forwards of the imperial army. If no measures were taken, they would be able to pass through first.

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately ordered: "The forwards should cross the Santun Camp and intercept the Jianlu who fled north; the troops behind should attack the Santun Camp and capture it as soon as possible!"

Santunying is a valley. The imperial court has set up [-] military households to farm here. The place is quite spacious.If the army wants to cross without being attacked by the rebels in the city, it is actually possible.However, the army's food and baggage could not cross. They had to go where there was a road, and Santun Camp was stuck on the road.

After hearing the emperor's order, Ning Long immediately rushed back to the front of the army.The war with Jianlu began.

For Emperor Chongzhen, after arriving in Zunhua, it was already evening and it was going to be dark soon.

News from the front line came one after another, and the situation was not optimistic.

"Your Majesty, the surrendered troops attacked the Santun Camp three times, but were repulsed by the Jianlu troops, with more than [-] casualties."

"Your Majesty, the main forward force that bypassed the Third Tun Camp suffered heavy casualties and is in urgent need of Fran cannon defense."

"..."

To sum up these situations, it is that the prisoners of Santun Camp used the captured artillery and artillery to easily hold Santun Camp.

The imperial officers and soldiers who crossed the Santun camp blocked Jianlu's way. They jumped over the wall in a hurry. Jianlu fought desperately. They were equipped with various firearms and well-equipped. On the contrary, the imperial officers and soldiers who blocked the Santun camp were defeated by the Santun camp because of their logistics. He was stuck, and his firearms and other aspects were inferior to Jianlu's, so the fight was naturally very hard.

And because the Three Tun Camps blocked the road, it was not easy for the army to cross on a large scale.

All in all, even the war ahead was unfavorable because of the Three Tun Camp.

After Emperor Chongzhen heard the report, without saying a word, he immediately led the Biaoying camp and Qingqi directly under the imperial command to the Santun camp and went to the front line to watch the battle.

Even though it was already evening, Emperor Chongzhen was sweating again after running thirty or forty miles.By this time, it was getting dark.

There is half a moon hanging in the night sky, and the sky is full of stars. Even without torches, you can still see the road clearly at a close distance.

Here on the front line, the leading generals are Li Laiheng, Wei Shizhen and He Zan.When they saw Emperor Chongzhen coming, they naturally accompanied him to introduce the situation.

Emperor Chongzhen listened to their explanation while looking at the brightly lit Santun Camp on the city in the distance.

I heard He Zan introduce it to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, Santun Camp is the headquarters of Ji Town's general army. The city walls are tall and the defense methods inside are even more complete. It is extremely difficult to capture in a short period of time!"

Li Laiheng couldn't say this, because Jiang Jun had to prove himself first, so how could he say such depressing words.However, He Zan and others saw in their eyes that these surrendering troops were really desperate, so they took the initiative to bring it up to Emperor Chongzhen.

Another commander-in-chief, Wei Shizhen, was also adding reasons why it was difficult to fight.From a certain perspective, it really feels like I shot myself in the foot.Because these three camps were built by the imperial court itself, and now they are in trouble.

Because it was dark, Emperor Chongzhen could not see the entire situation of the Three Tun Camps, nor the scenes of the battle. It was difficult to say anything, but he did believe in the judgment of his generals.

In other words, it is difficult to capture Santun Camp in a short time.However, if Santun Camp is not captured, the imperial officers and soldiers blocking the front will be very hard.

Emperor Chongzhen frowned and suddenly asked: "How about a night attack? Can we capture the Santun camp?"

He Zan was a little speechless after hearing this, so he reminded the emperor: "Your Majesty, Jianlu is very vigilant. There are torches everywhere on the city, so there is no way to attack at night!"

(End of this chapter)