Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 557
At the foot of the Wushan Mountain, tens of thousands of Ming troops stand among the forests, all over the mountains and plains, there are many swords and guns, and the flags are hunting. The soldiers raised their spears, or waved their arms to the sky, and then raised them again after they were lowered. The sound of shouting resounded through the sky.

"Wan Sheng!"

"Wan Sheng!"

At this time, Wang Yan and all the generals were riding on their horses, and following the big flag, they slowly advanced, and the mountains and forests seemed to be covered with a red carpet.

Huguang defeated the Eight Banners, Sichuan and Shu broke through Guanning, and the morale of the Five Loyalty Army was in full swing. Once this sense of pride and identity is established, more than [-] people will identify with a community. With a strong centripetal force, its momentum will be irresistible .

"Report, please report to your lord, defeating the battalion to eliminate the enemy on the mountain, the enemy general Guo Zhuang was beheaded by General Liu."

"Report! Please report to my lord, stepping into the battalion to reach the southern foot of the Wushan Mountain, the enemy general Chen Junji led the defeated army to surrender."

As the Ming army moved forward, from time to time a fast horse galloped up, kicking up a cloud of dust. The knight turned over and rushed forward, reporting on one knee.

Wang Yan reined in the horse, and the army behind him stopped immediately, exuding the aura that should be an elite. He leaned over to look at the sentry cavalry, pointed at the distant foggy mountain with his whip and asked loudly, "Has Wu Sangui entered the mountain yet?"

"Reporting to Mr. Wu, it has been about two hours since the Wu thief escaped into the mountains."

Wang Yan nodded when he heard the words, and Chen Bangyan thought to himself: "There is no road in the mountain. Wu Sangui's thousands of defeated troops entered the mountain, so the movement should be relatively slow, and when thousands of people enter the mountain, there must be traces to be found along the way. Mr. Gong, whether to pursue or not ?”

"If you don't die by killing a tiger, you will have future troubles. Chase, why don't you chase?" Wang Yan said with a smile, seemingly full of ambition, and he immediately ordered, "Let Qin Gongming and Qin Yiming come and see the truth."

Not long after, the two generals rushed over, clasped their fists and saluted, "See you, Mr. Xiang."

Wang Yan nodded, "Wu Sangui fled into the mountains. According to the truth, you are the only ones who are good at fighting in the mountains and forests. Now you have five thousand soldiers. You two can go into the mountains immediately and pursue them. You will definitely destroy Wu's soldiers."

"Promise, the last general will fulfill his mission and capture and kill Wu thief." The two generals clasped their fists together and responded in solemn voices.

"Okay, I was looking forward to your good news. You two belong to the Qin family. Don't insult Qin Taibao's reputation."

Wang Yan waved his hand, telling the two to retreat, and then the army retreated.

With Wu Sangui fleeing, the first battle in Wanxian was basically over. The defeated soldiers of the Wu army who fled in the mountains and forests were hunted by the Ming army and civilian husbands, unable to escape the siege, and had to go out of the mountains to surrender to the Ming army.

In this tragic battle, the Guan Ning army killed and injured a lot because of the revenge of the Ming army before killing prisoners and retaliating. More than 3000 people were killed. Only 5000 people surrendered in the end. People followed Wu Sangui into the mountains and fled to the north, and thousands of people were missing, and the Ming army also lost nearly 3000 people.

At this time, the whole battle situation has been decided, there are mountains in front, which is not conducive to the movement of the army, and the soldiers left behind are enough to pursue. As for whether Wu Sangui can be caught, it depends on Wu Sangui's luck.

The main force of the Ming army slowly returned to Wan County. Along the mountain roads, there were many Ming soldiers and civilian husbands leading war horses and driving the captives back to the camp.

Although it shows that the army failed to wipe out the Guanning army, it has gained countless supplies and armor, especially more than 3 horses, which can be described as a rich harvest.

In the Ming Dynasty novel "Water Margin", Ximen Qing rides a taller green horse, which is estimated to be 80 taels of silver. No. 40 writes about the two horses of Yunli Temple three times, and Ximen Qing looks at it once, saying Not a good horse, even if the horse is not very good, these two horses are worth 70 taels of silver.

Although the book describes the events of the Song Dynasty, it was written by the Ming people, which somewhat reflects the price of horses in the Ming Dynasty. Now that the Ming Dynasty has lost half of it, it is more difficult to obtain war horses than in the early Ming Dynasty. The value has already doubled. These war horses alone are enough to make up for it. The Ming army sent troops to Sichuan and Shu to consume.

Guan Ning's horses were obtained by the imperial court in every possible way, full of people's fat and people's anointment, the Liao pay even dragged down the entire Ming Dynasty, and now they are considered to be returned to their original owners.

The Ming army returned to the camp one after another, counted the gains, cleaned up the battlefield and corpses, and prevented the plague.

University scholar Wang Yingxiong, who had retreated to the eastern part of Kuizhou, and the remnants of Zeng Ying’s troops also rushed to Wanxian County. Wang Yan immediately asked Wang Yingxiong and Zeng Ying to guard the eastern part of Sichuan, and wiped out the bandits in eastern Sichuan, as well as the defeated Guanning army scattered into the mountains, the main force of the Ming army. They are going to move to Chongqing, and then go to Hezhou to meet Hauge.

But at this moment, a fast boat went down the river from Chongqing, bringing a shocking news to the Ming army. The West Route Army was defeated. Many people disappeared, Hauge rushed to the fotu pass, and the Chongqing government was in great danger.

"Baxian Chronicle" records: "Yuzhou is near the river, and the land road is only the Fotuguan line, with thousands of walls and thousands of layers.

Fotu Pass is the only land pass in Chengdu along the East Road from Chongqing Mansion. Li Guoying guarded it at first. When Wang Yandong went to Kuizhou, he ordered Yu Shizhong and Jiao Lian to guard Chongqing Mansion. He also told them to focus on guarding This pass.

This is Wang Yan's careful statement, but he did not expect that the Qing army really broke through Hezhou and came to this pass.

After Duoduo learned that Wang Yan had entered Sichuan, he hurriedly mobilized the Chengdu Eight Banners force to go southward and traveled to Hezhou. The city was occupied by the West Route Army, which blocked the passage of the Qing soldiers going south, and Hauge immediately expelled more than [-] people. , Siege the city day and night.

When the West Route Army saw the Qing soldiers spreading across the mountains and filling the river with the common people as ants, they were terrified at first, but after a few days of fighting, Ding Kuichu and others suddenly became less afraid.

The soldiers of the Eight Banners couldn't bear the scorching heat, and their combat power was greatly reduced. They rushed to the city in cotton armor and failed to climb the city wall. There were hundreds of people suffering from heatstroke every day. Protected by armor, the Qing soldiers died faster, and they didn't even climb the city wall a few times.

Seeing this, Hauge had no countermeasures, and was helpless in being trapped in the city. At this time, because the Qing soldiers were unacceptable, the weather was hot, and there was an outbreak of epidemic disease in the camp, there was no way to take Hezhou.

In this way, the Qing army attacked the city several times without any achievements. The generals of the West Route Army felt that the Eight Banners soldiers were nothing special, but mediocre.

The battle of Hezhou gradually entered into a stalemate. Seeing that there was no progress in the siege and no hope of breaking the city, Hauge thought of retreating. At this time, Oboi took the opportunity to remonstrate and simply showed weakness to the Ming army. Returning to the north, he lured the Ming army out of the city to fight in waves.

Oboi's strategy worked quickly. The Qing army was humiliated under the city of Hezhou one after another. The confidence of the West Route Army on the city was more and more overwhelming. They knew that the Qing army was so easy to fight, and they should have come out of Guizhou to fight against the Qing. Otherwise, how could the Five Loyalty Army take the lead?

At this time, as soon as the Qing soldiers withdrew, Ma Jixiang became anxious, and began to urge Ding Kuichu to send troops to pursue him, and took the initiative to attack Chengdu, so that Hauge could not escape.

Ding Kuichu still remembered some of Wang Yan's instructions, "Stick to the city and never fight the enemy in the wild", but Ma Jixiang and Chen Bangfu thought that Wang Yan was worried that the West Route Army would steal his limelight, so they kept persuading him , Instigated, Ding Kuichu was also a little moved, so he immediately asked Chen Bangfu and Ma Jixiang to lead 2 horses to pursue.

Hauge lured Chen and Ma to the Chengdu Plain, and suddenly killed a carbine. Tens of thousands of Eight Banners cavalry charged in turn, and more than 2 West Route Army immediately collapsed. Chen and Ma were powerless to fight back. After seeing the strength of the Eight Banners cavalry, they cast clear in battle.

The defeated soldiers fled to Huizhou, explained the situation of the battle, and said that when the Qing soldiers came back, Ding Kuichu was so frightened that his face turned pale. Fan Yiheng, the governor of Sichuan, advised him: "There are still ten thousand people in the city. The Qing army can't bear the heat, so they can still persist."

But Ding Kuichu was so frightened that he didn't listen at all. He led his troops and horses and abandoned Hezhou and rushed to Chongqing. However, the army was overtaken by Qing cavalry before they had traveled more than ten miles. , The West Route Army suffered countless casualties, and only a few people fled to Chongqing.

(Two updates today, will make up tomorrow. Thanks to Hao’s 388, and thanks to Yuedong Woxin for the reward,)
(End of this chapter)