The sun never sets in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 745 Covering the Military and Civilian Retreat
The main task for Zuo Shouquan to come to the hinterland of the Central Plains again is to try his best to transfer Han people to the coast and along the river.

Even if most of them are unwilling to cross the sea and go south, more people should be able to escape the fate of being cannon fodder and survive.

Zuo Shouquan succeeded in persuading Li Zhongzheng to abandon Kaifeng and go south, and then went to Nanyang Mansion. The cunning Nanyang prefect went back to his hometown Ding You, and now he is the prefect Gao Zhiyong.

Gao's family knew that there were many bandits in Henan Province year after year, and worried about the safety of the second son, they sent all the family's confidantes to protect Gao Zhiyong.

Gao Di's servants are well equipped and have high military value. The relationship between the Gao family and the Huang family is very good. More than [-] servants have been carefully selected and trained by the "God of War" instructors.

Of course, the Gao family’s participation in shipping and sea trade these years is not short of money, and they have enough money and food to match the equipment produced by "Nanming". Therefore, the quality of the more than 300 people is no less than that of the "God of War" cavalry.

Gao Zhiyong has worked conscientiously for more than ten years. He hates Jiannu and hates bandits, and has fought against bandits in Henan many times.

He witnessed with his own eyes the massacre of more than [-] soldiers and civilians after Juehua Island was captured by Jiannu. Since then, he has secretly made up his mind that he will never lay down his arms and let the enemy slaughter him.

With Gao Zhiyong's quality and family background, it is even more impossible to surrender to the intruders, and he is bound to fight them bloody to the end.

The commander-in-chief stationed in Nanyang is as fierce as a tiger, and he is not greedy for life and fear of death. With the support of acting prefect Gao Zhiyong and Tang Wang Zhu Yumao, he led his subordinates to hold on to the city. Nanyang is also the fiefdom of the Ming vassal, and it is the residence of the Tang vassal. The city is not small. Very strong.

Li Duyan, who was defeated in Kaifeng, wants to find his place in Nanyang City, but unfortunately, the civilians, generals and officials at all levels who stick to Nanyang City work together to defend the city, and the intruders have no chance to succeed.

Li Duyan decisively bypassed the city to plunder, and he lost the mulberry elm harvested in the eastern corner, and even went to Neixiang, Zhenping, Xinye, Biyang, Yuzhou and other counties, and the team more than doubled in size.

Gao Zhiyong got a scouting report from the Jia Ding team, knowing that the bandit soldiers became more and more powerful, and the number of bandits reached a terrifying 50 million. He felt really uncomfortable.

However, the reinforcements from the imperial court have not arrived for a long time, and he himself is responsible for defending the land. When the bandits make a comeback, Nanyang City may no longer be safe.

At this moment, the old friend Zuo Shouquan came, and he persuaded Gao Zhiyong, fierce as a tiger, and Tang Wang to abandon Nanyang City and lead the army and civilians to join Li Zhongzheng to guard Hankou.

Of course, their memorial to the imperial court was also to be stationed in Gwangju.The Gao family is a die-hard member of the "God of War", and Gao Zhiyong has long been yearning for "Nanming". He immediately agreed to the protection of the "God of War" when he led the army and civilians to retreat to Hankou.

Gao Zhiyong's memorabilia was written in a high-sounding way, and they packaged their escape from the city as going to Gwangju to join forces with the main force to form a fist, so as to prevent the scattered defenses from being broken one by one by the bandits.

The Henan vassal kings were the first to bear the brunt when the bandits broke through the city, and nine times out of ten they died unexpectedly. The current Tang king saw that the Nanyang army and civilians had withdrawn, so he dared not stay here, so he quickly packed up his belongings and ran away.

In the 15 years of Chongzhen, the imperial court has long lost its majesty, and most of the local warlords have been obedient, and a strange phenomenon has appeared. The imperial court rewards are no longer measured by military merits and battle results.

Among the generals, as long as there are many people under their command, even if they don't contribute to the court at all, they will be rewarded generously every time.

If any general led his troops in a bloody battle with bandits and lost troops, there were not many people under his command. In all likelihood, this general would be held accountable or even beheaded by the court.

The food and salaries of the generals such as Mengruhu, Hu Dawei, Chen Yongfu, etc. are basically determined by the generals themselves. Which way the Ministry of War wants to transfer troops to fight, and does not send people to send enough money to impress them. These have tended to be warlords. The transformed generals simply ignored them.

Is it because these generals are of poor character?This requires looking at the problem in two.

The benevolence of the imperial court does not care about the life and death of the soldiers. The generals who support the soldiers live a prosperous life, and the idiots who serve the country are hard to sustain and will be decapitated.

Fortunately, Zuo Liangyu, the thief general in history, was tricked by Huang Sheng. If there is such a disaster, he will bring hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers worse than the thief soldiers to eat the court, eat the bandits, eat the common people, and eat the rich. How many Han people will die in vain.

Several military commanders and military commanders unanimously wrote a letter requesting the concentrated use of troops. Where is the reason for the Ministry of War to refuse?

In fact, the members of the Ministry of War also knew that disagreement was not the same thing, and the warriors below did not listen to dispatch at all. Notifying the Ministry of War was enough to give the court face.

Most of the soldiers and civilians in Nanyang knew that the rebels were powerful and Nanyang was in danger. It wasn't that they didn't want to escape, but they really didn't know where to escape to be safe.

Now that we have a clear destination, we have also heard the "God of War" publicity team advertise that the new city of Hankou that is about to retreat is a grain storage city built by King Nan, which is as strong as the city wall of the capital. You can get on board and escape at any time.

The surviving people in Nanyang Mansion and the surrounding area immediately took action. The fierce tiger, Gao Zhiyong's guard team and the Zhang Xiushen cavalry who came to help did not escort the people south, but took the initiative to attack the trespassing department.

There is a big problem, Li Duyan's hundreds of thousands of bandits and refugees camped for more than ten miles, people screaming and children crying, it was a mess.

Being suddenly attacked by thousands of cavalry, it immediately became a mess, and tens of 10 people fought with amazing momentum, and it was also scary to flee in defeat.

It took several days for the thieves and vagrants to rush forward, and Li Duyan used the old battalion to contain the collapse. When he came back to his senses, he rearranged and prepared to encircle and wipe out the daring Ming army. He found that the enemy had already run away up.

From being attacked by the Ming army and rushing for dozens of miles, to regrouping the troops and forming a formation to choose a favorable terrain to prepare for a counterattack. More than half a month passed, the intruders got a report, and the soldiers and civilians of Nanyang Mansion fled.

Li Zicheng, who was used to fighting, understood the Ming army's intentions and knew that the opponent used offense instead of defense to cover the retreat of the army and civilians with a shot.

It is not surprising that the thousands of cavalry who followed were the usual Ming cavalry, but the cavalry who had become Li's one-eyed nightmare took the lead. Although they did not hold high the banner of "God of War", Li Zicheng knew him when they turned into ashes.

Dust-laden memories emerged in his heart. Although those majestic knights seemed to be no more than a few hundred, Li Zicheng still remembered the cold visor. The fierce battle in Meridian Valley often woke Li Zicheng up from nightmares. Break out in a cold sweat.

It was that kind of cavalry that defeated him and Gao Chuangwang's team. Gao Chuangwang was out of luck and was intercepted. He was lucky and ran out in the chaos with only eighteen cavalry left.

(End of this chapter)