Chapter 94, The Death Knell of the Ming Empire (Part 1)
September 25, the fifth year of Chongzhen, Beizhili, Shuntianfu, Jizhou
In the mottled and barren wilderness, swirling sandstorms filled the sky and earth, covering up the coolness of autumn. Both the sky and the earth were a blur of gray-yellow. Dry thatch and dead trees with their bark peeled off were inserted crookedly between the ruins. All kinds of scenery were distorted into broken and swaying shadows like mirages, floating feebly. The north wind blew away the dust, vaguely revealing corpses and withered bones.
"...dong dong dong..."
"...Woooo——"
The passionate drums and the desolate horns sounded together, and two armies with similar uniforms were fighting each other risking their lives in the heart of the capital of the Ming Empire. The sergeants on both sides were wearing the same style of red jackets, using basically the same flags and drums, holding similar weapons, and shouting kill sounds with almost the same accent - just over a month ago, they were all members of the Ming Empire. The imperial officers and soldiers, and the most famous elite soldiers among the officers and soldiers. But by this moment, the team in the east had shaved off its hair and defected to Liaodong Jiannu.
On this windy and sandy autumn afternoon, the 20,000 Tianxiong troops who marched north to King Qin and the 12,000 Guanning troops who defected to Tartar were beaten into a pot of porridge on the outskirts of Gyeonggi, which had long been ravaged by war. The dull sound of artillery fire made the ground rumble and tremble, and the screaming shells plowed bloody ditches in the phalanx; the flying arrows penetrated the sky and splashed bright blood among the crowd. Huahe let out a shrill scream; the sound of gunfire, the sound of metal and body collisions, and the hysterical shouting and cursing intertwined together to perform a messy song of death.
As time went by, despite its superiority in strength, the Tianxiong Army gradually began to disintegrate under the repeated attacks of Guan Ning's army. After all, the so-called "Tianxiong Army" that came to Beijing this time to King Qin was just Lu Xiangsheng. The wealth of the three prefectures of Daming, Guangping and Shunde have been recruited in the past two or three years. The miscellaneous local army that came here; but the Guan Ning Army that turned traitor, but since the Tianqi Year, the Ming Dynasty has spent all its financial resources and spent four to five million taels of silver every year to build luxurious elite soldiers... No matter in terms of the quality of the soldiers, ordnance and equipment Or combat experience, both are not on the same level.
Therefore, after the infantry of both sides fought hand-to-hand for about a stick of incense, the Tianxiong Army began to slowly retreat, while the Guan Ning Army pressed forward step by step. In the end, the Tianxiong Army could no longer maintain its array, and it evolved from a retreat to a The army was defeated and finally rushed towards the rear camp out of control.
"...Hold on! Hold on! Serve the imperial court! Kill the traitors!"
On a chariot in the main formation of the Tianxiong Army, Lu Xiangsheng, the right political advisor of the Ming Dynasty with a white scarf on his head and a tired look on his face, forcibly raised his spirits and shouted slogans hoarsely. In the blink of an eye, he shot down several Guan Ning Army soldiers who were rushing forward.
"...Bang bang bang!"
Several rows of three-eyed muskets sprayed out waves of smoke and fire, and the bloody corpses of Guan Ning Army soldiers twisted and rolled in the rain of bullets. For a moment, there were cries and blood mist, making the wind and sand even more filthy. The menacing wave of attacks suddenly stopped.
After the firearms fire, several deep war drums sounded in the Tianxiong army formation. Lu Xiangsheng personally pulled out his long sword, jumped out of the chariot, and took the lead to pounce on the enemy and fight to the death with his sword. Hundreds of horsemen from the Tianxiong Army's Military Standard Battalion also came out with swords and guns. They galloped past the firearms soldiers guarding the formation and rushed towards the scattered Guan Ning Army on the opposite side. In an instant, they killed those Guan Ning soldiers who had started to turn around and flee. The Ning army infantry rushed to pieces.
But only ten minutes later, the sound of rolling horse hooves sounded again on the other side of the battlefield - in terms of the number and combat effectiveness of the cavalry, Tianxiong's army was definitely no match for Guan Ning's cavalry. After the mutual testing outpost battle ended, Guan Ning's army finally unleashed their trump card: after retreating for a while and successfully widening the distance, nearly a thousand Guan Ning's cavalry were assembled to attack the already scattered Tianxiong army's formation. A powerful attack was launched.
Along with the dust thrown up by thousands of horse hooves, the Guanning Army cavalry that could not be seen at a glance made a circuitous circle on the battlefield, easily tearing apart the side of the Tianxiong Army's formation like a mauling force. The collision and collision of the horses Trampling, the Tianxiong army that had just stabilized its decline suffered another death and injury,
Facing the approaching Guan Ning's cavalry, Tianxiong's army fired a volley of crossbows and all the artillery roared. Sharp crossbow arrows and deadly projectiles buzzed past the ears of the cavalry. Some people kept screaming and falling off their horses, or they were trampled to pieces by the robes because their horses were injured and fell to the ground. However, cannonballs and arrows could not stop all the cavalry, and the Tianxiong Army did not have heavy infantry with large shields that could confront the cavalry head-on.
Then, like a sharp knife cutting through butter, the already shaky Tianxiong army formation was finally cut through and torn by Guan Ning's cavalry from the left wing, and the entire army collapsed in an instant. The Tianxiong Army cavalry that launched a countercharge before was instantly overwhelmed by enemy cavalry that was several times their own size.
Next, Guan Ning's cavalry rushed directly into the empty Tianxiong military camp, setting fire and hacking wantonly!
"...Kill! Kill! Kill! Our army will be victorious!"
"...Hold on! Don't retreat! Anyone who retreats will be killed without mercy!"
"... How can I still withstand it... Defeated! Defeated! Run away!"
The Tianxiong Army did not expect that the enemy would break into the camp so quickly. The soldiers who had retreated had not had time to rest and recuperate. The combat soldiers and auxiliary soldiers were mixed together, and there was no army structure at all. Facing the sudden attack of Guan Ning's army, the Tianxiong army, which was tired from long battles and had low morale, fell into chaos in an instant. A few brave soldiers were busy piercing armor and getting guns, while more people shouted and fled back.
When Guan Ning's army set fire to the baggage, Tianxiong's army fell into complete chaos. Some officers wanted to counterattack, some wanted to form defensive formations, and some wanted to retreat and reorganize. In this chaos, the entire army was completely disintegrated from top to bottom. If the soldiers could not find the generals, they would not be able to find the soldiers. Eventually it fell apart. And the crowds of people swarming and fleeing also overwhelmed the personal servants brought by coach Lu Xiangsheng to try to reinforce...
"...Sir! The front army and the left army were scattered, and the cavalry was defeated! The camp and the baggage are all gone! We can hardly support it here!"
An officer with disheveled hair and blood on his face ran out from the chaos. He almost rolled off his horse and knelt in front of Lu Xiangsheng. He buried his head deeply on the ground and shouted desperately, "... let's withdraw. ! If we don’t withdraw, our way back to the capital will be cut off!”
"...We can't retreat...We can't retreat...If we retreat at this time, the whole army will inevitably collapse! How can I face the Holy Lord..."
Faced with an irreversible defeat and the Tianxiong army that was being defeated and fled, a turbid tear quietly shed from the corner of Lu Xiangsheng's eyes, but the sword in his hand was still pointing stubbornly at the battlefield ahead - in the late Ming Dynasty, Lu Xiangsheng was He is famous for his good military management, but the Tianxiong army he trained still cannot change the bad habit of bullying the weak and fearing the strong, and it will collapse at every turn. Moreover, logistical support and food supply have always been very difficult. Faced with such difficulties, Lu Xiangsheng could only infect his subordinates with his charisma, taking the lead time and time again, sharing the joys and sorrows with his subordinates, and always inspiring loyalty...
In general, although Lu Xiangsheng is a scholar, he is a berserker like Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, on the battlefield. Every time he goes into battle, he personally attacks with a knife and fights in bloody battles. With amazing courage and superb martial arts, he wins the world. The support and appreciation of military soldiers...but the motivating effect of this "leadership and taking the lead". After all, there is a limit. Now, after suffering repeated setbacks, the morale of the Tianxiong Army has almost dropped. Apart from attacking hungry people and bandits, the Tianxiong Army has not experienced several battles. After all, It is difficult to defeat the Guan Ning cavalry who have been trained on the battlefield in Liaodong.
Then, the last straw that broke the camel's back was finally thrown.
"...It's bad! Lord Participant! The rebel reinforcements are coming!"
In the wilderness not far from the battlefield, a long silver dragon suddenly appeared. It was a torrent of iron armor that could be called super luxurious in this era. Thousands of soldiers from the Guan Ning Army, possibly mixed with a small number of Hou Jin's white armored soldiers, were wearing dazzling armor and were slowly pressing towards the Tianxiong Army who were still resisting. Under the sunlight, the rebel battle formation opposite was filled with cold light, like a silver snake twisting its body.
Seeing such a scene, Lu Xiangsheng finally had to admit that his defeat was determined this time, "...Retreat! Go to Tongzhou!"
"...I have an order! Take the adults away quickly!" The general who came to report the news gritted his teeth, turned around and jumped on his horse, waved fiercely at the officers and soldiers of the Supervisory Biao Camp, and then led his servants and soldiers, and then Rush towards the east side of the battlefield.
At the same time, the banner of the army commander began to move slowly towards the capital in the west...
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After the Guan Ning Army defected and Liaodong Jiannu invaded Shanhaiguan, Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army was the first to respond to the edict of King Qin of the World. At that time, he had just wiped out the rogue bandits in the capital and was leading troops to reinforce the battlefield in Shandong. Finally, he arrived in Cangzhou. After learning of this shocking change, he had no choice but to turn around and head north again. At this time, Guan Ning's army had captured the entire Yongping Mansion, but the canal was still open for the time being, so Tianxiong's army quickly returned to the capital by water.
Unexpectedly, after arriving in the capital, the imperial court neither provided food nor paid military salaries, but only urged Lu Xiangsheng to go out to defeat the enemy as soon as possible. At the same time, the eunuch Gao Qiqian was sent to serve as the supervisor of the army, and Lu Xiangsheng's 10,000 troops were separated, saying that he was going to defend the capital and resist the remaining Shaanxi bandits stranded in Jifu.
Lu Xiangsheng knew that with the remaining 20,000 troops on hand, he was no match for the Jin Army and Guan Ning Army, which were more than 100,000 later. He originally wanted to set up camp outside the city and compete with the capital's defenders, relying on the strong city and the Build a stronghold to defend against enemy troops. Helpless, a group of armchair scholars in the Ministry of War pressed hard, and even mobilized the imperial censor to stir up a wave of public opinion, criticizing Lu Xiangsheng for being afraid of the enemy... In desperation, Lu Xiangsheng had no choice but to bite the bullet and march eastward, hoping to defeat the rebels or the slave builders. A vanguard should make an explanation internally and externally, and then return to the capital. As a result, as soon as his Tianxiong army set off, Zu Dashou had already led a Guan Ning army into Shuntian Mansion. The two armies met in Jizhou, about 100 kilometers away from Beijing, and a battle broke out immediately.
On the Jizhou battlefield, the Tianxiong Army, which had only fought against a few grassroots bandits since its formation and lacked experience in hard battles, was obviously no match for Guan Ning's cavalry. Soon the entire line collapsed, and even the old camp was taken away. In the end, there were only less than three soldiers. Thousands of people followed Lu Xiangsheng and fled to Tongzhou. All artillery and baggage were lost.
At the same time, Wu Xiang led another Guan Ning army to attack Tianjin Wei and cut off the canal leading to Beijing.
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Eastern suburbs of the capital, outside Tongzhou City
After running wildly for three days and three nights, the exhausted Lu Xiangsheng finally got rid of the pursuit of Guan Ning's cavalry and led the remaining Tianxiong army to the foot of Tongzhou City. Then I learned another piece of bad news: the 10,000-strong Tianxiong Army that had previously been stationed in the capital was unfortunately ambushed by the Shaanxi Peasant Army under the indiscriminate tossing of Gao Qiqian, the ambassador of the Supervisory Army, and was defeated in Xishan. Gao Qiqian rode alone. After escaping back to the capital, the army immediately collapsed. They either surrendered to the enemy or fell into bandits. Only a few thousand people fled to Lugouqiao Lizhai, and now they broke camp and came to join the coach Lu Xiangsheng.
But in this way, even if the troops who escaped from the Jizhou battlefield were reunited, the entire Tianxiong army only had 5,000 people left.
The even more terrifying news is not the morale of the military that has been weakened by successive defeats. Instead, it was a terrifying plague that came quietly - when Tianxiong's army was fighting a bloody battle in Jizhou, people in the suburbs of Beijing generally suffered from coughing up blood, vomiting, diarrhea, high fever and other symptoms and died in large numbers. Officers and soldiers from all walks of life were also killed in the plague. Tired. When Lu Xiangsheng arrived at Tongzhou, the water transport terminal, the officials and people in the city actually closed the city gates tightly and refused to let Tianxiong's army enter the city.
Fortunately, when the enemy was approaching the city, the corrupt officials in the court finally remembered that they had to feed the Tianxiong army before they could fight, so they reluctantly squeezed out some old grain from the Tongzhou official warehouse to let the fugitives The Tianxiong army who left the battlefield was able to feed themselves.
At night in the Tianxiong Army camp, the rice and wheat they had just received were thrown into large pots, and then they were surrounded by hungry Ming army officers and soldiers, eagerly waiting for the rice to be cooked and fighting with each other - even though the imperial court had allocated it. The food was heavily deducted, and what was actually obtained was very limited. However, there were not many Tianxiong officers and soldiers left, so if they spent frugally, they could still feed the surviving soldiers for seven or eight days. Full meal.
In the simple tents, those lightly wounded people who had managed to escape were sighing. What was even more frightening was that from time to time, people would be found showing symptoms of the plague, which caused waves of panic and panic, making the whole building panic. The military camps were shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere of despair.
In the main tent of the Chinese army, a lamp looks like a bean. Although the "Guangdeng" (kerosene lamp) sold from the south has become widely popular among the wealthy households in Beijing in recent years because it is cleaner and brighter. But Lu Xiangsheng, who had always lived a simple life, still only used a dim and old-fashioned oil lamp.
Under the oil lamp, Lu Xiangsheng, who was hit by an arrow in the forehead during the Battle of Jizhou and had to be wrapped in white cloth, was lying on the couch sickly. He looked at the map of Gyeonggi and the latest military report. He couldn't help but sigh and raised his head. He started to look at the roof of the tent with empty eyes, a sad and helpless look on his face: "... Alas, tens of thousands of the descendants of southern Hebei lost their troops and generals in Jizhou and retreated in a great defeat. How unworthy of the divine grace... Now the Shaanxi bandits are occupying Xishan (Shijingshan), peeking at the sacred capital; the Guanning rebels have captured Jizhou and Sanhe, and their soldiers and horses How can this be a good thing?”
——With the defection of Guan Ning's army and the invasion of slaves, the situation in Northern Zhili collapsed instantly. The Shaanxi bandits who had been driven into the Taihang Mountains took the opportunity to once again rush into Jifu in large numbers, roving and looting everywhere, and even once Under the city of Beijing - according to the description in the Ministry of War newspaper, "the Jifu bandits numbered in the tens of thousands. The Xishan area was covered with valleys, and Liangxiang, Changping, and Zhuozhou were also burned by them from time to time."
Faced with the east-west attack by rogue bandits and slave-builders, the Beijing court was stretched thin for a while. The chief minister of the cabinet, Wen Tiren, who presided over the government, had to mobilize troops to fight against the invading enemies, while also dealing with the "non-violent non-violence" campaign of the East Forest Party members in North Korea. "Cooperation", I was really exhausted, but I received There are still only one defeat after another - the Jiannu in the east are advancing steadily, no matter how many officers and soldiers are mobilized, they will be defeated in every battle, like moths flying into the flame; the rogue bandits in the west are slippery, and the officers and soldiers are temporarily defeated. They couldn't catch up or wipe them out cleanly, and they often got ambushed and suffered a few losses.
By this time in late September, as the cities of Shuntian Prefecture fell one after another, the encirclement of Beijing City was further compressed under the pressure of enemies from all walks of life. Especially after the collapse of the Tianxiong Army, the imperial court had completely lost The ability to fight the enemy in the field can only be trapped in an isolated city.
At this time, we could collect about 40,000 officers and soldiers from every nook and cranny inside and outside the capital. It seemed like a lot, but if it were used to defend Beijing, a city with a million people, it would barely be enough to cover the city walls. That’s all. As for combat effectiveness, it can only be described as rubbish. For this reason, Wen Tiren, the chief minister of the cabinet, ordered the ministers to guard the capital separately. At the same time, he issued official documents to urge Zhu Dadian, who was going to suppress the Wenxiang Rebellion in Shandong and Xuzhou, and Zhu Dadian, who was leading 50,000 Qin troops from Shandong on his way back to the capital. Hong Chengchou and the border troops from Xuanfu and Datong towns in the northwest came to help. Seeing that the situation in the capital was so critical, Zhu Dadian could only give up the Wenxiang Sect rebels, quickly mobilized 30,000 officers and soldiers, known as one hundred thousand, and rushed to the capital along the canal at starry night.
But even so, on the Gyeonggi battlefield, the total strength of the Ming army was still at a disadvantage, and its combat effectiveness was far from comparable to the elite troops of the Eight Banners.
The most terrible thing is that the military command capabilities of the civilian officials in the Ming Dynasty were not even worthy of carrying shoes in front of Huang Taiji and the Eight Banners chiefs.
In addition, the plague now spreading in Gyeonggi has further weakened the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty's official army.
Lu Xiangsheng was naturally unwilling to face such a passive battle situation, but after much thought, he could not come up with any clever tricks to break the situation - he had never had a decent contest with the Jurchens before, but had only defeated the bandits repeatedly, so he thought The Tianxiong army he pulled out was pretty good. Unexpectedly, in the battle with Guan Ning's army, they found that Tianxiong's army was as helpless in front of Guan Ning's army as a young child fighting against a strong man.
And it is this kind of Guan Ning Army that the imperial court spent all its treasury to build. It can be called the brave and powerful Guan Ning Army. However, in recent years, it has been beaten by the Jurchen Eight Banners every time and has lost its armor and armor. At first, it was just that it did not dare to fight in the field when facing the Jiannu. But last year In the Battle of Dalinghe, Guan Ning's army could not even defend the city.
In view of the above-mentioned poor performance, many military generals in the mainland are quite disdainful of Guan Ningjun, feeling that this group of people is just a show-off. But I didn't expect that at this moment, when Guan Ningjun turned around and attacked the court, he would be so fierce and sharp.
The 30,000 Tianxiong Army that he personally organized and trained is already considered one of the most capable troops among the current Beizhili army. However, on the Jizhou battlefield, they were defeated by the Guan Ning Army, a slave-building force. In front of him, he was still helpless. And now he not only has to fight Guan Ning's army under the walls of Beijing again, but there are at least 40,000 to 50,000 elite Eight Banners troops behind him who need to be dealt with.
Such a desperate situation can no longer be described by the words "a mantis trying to beat a chariot". No matter how talented Lu Xiangsheng is, there is no way he can make a comeback.
"...Zhu Dadian is still in Jinan. For a while, it is difficult to save the fire from far away. The capital camp has been abandoned for a long time and is completely vulnerable. I heard that Xuanda and Da Town have also been attacked by rogue bandits recently, and I am afraid that I will not be able to enter the capital to serve the king... Now For the safety of the capital, it seems that we can only rely on Hong Hengjiu (Hong Chengchou)’s Qin army.”
Lu Xiangsheng frowned and said thoughtfully, "...If this happens, Shandong will be depleted of its troops. Not only will the Wenxiang Sect probably revive, but the Chen thief (Chen Xin) in Dengzhou may also be ready to make a move... Well, whatever, Now everything is about the safety of the capital, and nothing else can be taken into consideration..." Similar to Lu Xiangsheng's thoughts in Tongzhou, all the civil and military officials in the Beijing court now regard Hong Chengchou's Qin army as the last straw. However, after waiting unbearably for several days, Lu Xiangsheng and the Manchu civil and military officials in Beijing received such devastating news:
"...Tianjin mutiny! The 50,000 Qin troops led by Hong Chengchou mutinied and rebelled on their way north to King Qin!"