760 deteriorating situation in Shanxi

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As the earliest batch of generals who started with Li Zixiao, Wei Hong's status in the White Dragon Army can be said to be second only to Li Zixiao, and he is the deputy commander of the White Dragon Army.

But Wei Hong has never commanded the army to go out to fight, he has always sat in the rear, raising supplies for Li Zixiao, training new soldiers, and guarding the territory.

Therefore, Li Zixiao has always called Wei Hong, his 'chief manager', and the chief steward of the entire White Dragon Army.

At this time, Li Zixiao said jokingly, which couldn't help but cause the generals to laugh.

But don't look at Wei Hong's inability to lead the army to fight, but Li Zixiao knows very well that Wei Hong's role in the White Dragon Army is far greater than that of other generals.

If it weren't for Wei Hong in the rear, guarding the territory for Li Zixiao, making overall plans, raising grain and grass, and training soldiers, how could Li Zixiao be able to fight abroad with peace of mind.

If he didn't know that Wei Hong was loyal to him, he wouldn't dare to hand over such a great power to Wei Hong.

Moreover, this time Li Zixiao really didn't expect that Wei Hong would be able to arrive so quickly.

You know, he sent someone to Kaifeng to ask for help, and it has only been three and a half days now.

But Kaifeng is more than 500 miles away from Shouzhang, and even if the foot soldiers march at a rapid pace, it will take at least five or six days.

With those heavy baggage, it is estimated that the walk will be slower.

But now it has only been three and a half days, and they have already arrived in Puzhou, and there is only one day left before Shouzhang.

In fact, Li Zixiao didn't know that the reason why Wei Hong marched so fast was entirely because he controlled the logistics troops.

The logistics unit of the White Dragon Army, Li Zixiao has attached great importance to it over the years, and has been investing a lot of money to build a large number of sturdy and durable four-wheeled carriages.

These four-wheeled carriages have a large volume and high speed, and are the main capacity of the White Dragon Army's land transportation.

It turned out that these four-wheeled carriages were only used to pull grain and baggage, but this time, Wei Hong emptied all the four-wheeled carriages in Kaifeng, and there were more than 3,000 two-wheeled and four-wheeled carriages.

Not only can all the heavy materials brought by Wei Hong be carried by car, but even the 10,000 foot soldiers he brought can all be carried forward by car.

Wei Hong was worried about Li Zixiao's safety in Shouzhang, so he asked his subordinate transport team to pull him and six thousand soldiers first and move forward at the fastest speed.

The rest of the men and horses in the rear guarded the baggage battalion and went north slowly, and the baggage battalion walked slowly.

With the white dragon soldiers traveling in a carriage, it was always much faster than their rapid march.

Of course, they didn't all make carriages along the way, and the horses pulling the carts couldn't stand it.

They took a carriage for some distance, and then they got off the carriage and marched quickly, so that they could shorten the time by more than a day and arrive at Puzhou.

"Okay, since Wei Hong is coming, then I'll leave it to him to deal with it here.

Benjue is going to lead his army north today to pursue the Tartars, and Benjue is afraid that Dorgon will play some kind of conspiracy.

Du Tengfei led 3,000 men and horses to stay, waiting for Wei Hong to arrive with baggage, and then you will take a batch of baggage to the north and join Benjue.

The musketeers' ammunition and iron-clad mines needed to be replenished.

In addition, when Wei Hong comes, you tell him to let him deal with the problem of the people stranded here first, and Benjue has already sent someone to inform Yanzhou Mansion overnight.

In two days, the Yanzhou government will send people over to relocate these people and find a proper resettlement place for them.

Then, let Wei Hong train recruits, rebuild the Flying Dragon Battalion and other affairs, understand? ”

Li Zixiao looked at Du Tengfei next to him and admonished.

"Yes, sir, my subordinates remember." 、

Du Tengfei originally wanted to follow Li Zixiao and go north to pursue Dolgon and other Tartar troops, but he didn't expect Li Zixiao to let him stay.

But Du Tengfei couldn't refuse this order, and still answered with his head held high.

"Very good, the whole army obeys the order, set off in half an hour, you go back now and gather the men!"

Li Zixiao waved his hand to the generals next to him, such as Li Tianba, Zhao Zilong, and Peng Hao.

"Yes, sir."

The generals dispersed, and after half an hour, a white dragon army of 30,000 horses left Shouzhang and went all the way north.

……………………………………

Just when Li Zixiao defeated Dolgon in Shandong, in Shanxi, the Ming army led by Lu Xiangsheng suffered a major defeat.

After Qi Wei supported Lu Xiangsheng, repelled the main force of the Qing army led by Azig, and secured Yanmen Pass, Lu Xiangsheng even confidently believed that this time the Qing soldiers would definitely not be able to enter Taiyuan Mansion.

After all, there were only two ways for the Qing army to enter Taiyuan Mansion, except for Yanmen Pass on his side, which was Ningwu Pass in the west.

Compared with Yanmen Pass, Ningwu Pass in the west is also steep, easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The important thing is that at this time in Ningwu Pass, there are enough 60,000 defenders of Jia Changming to guard it, and the main force of the Qing army is Yanmen Pass, so Lu Xiangsheng thinks that Ningwu Pass is safer than Yanmen Pass.

However, what Lu Xiangsheng never expected was that on the third day when Qi Wei led his army to leave Yanmen Pass and part ways with them, he received bad news from Ningwu Pass.

"What! Ningwu Pass is lost, this is impossible! ”

After Lu Xiangsheng received the news, he couldn't believe it, not only did he not dare to believe it, but even the other generals of the Ming army couldn't believe it.

Although Lu Xiangsheng couldn't believe it, everything that the bloodstained Ming soldier who knelt in front of him told him was true.

It turned out that on the night of October 5, he led the army to attack Ningwu Pass at night.

Although Jia Changming's subordinates had 60,000 soldiers stationed at Ningwu Pass, they were lax and had no vigilance.

In fact, Jia Changming knew that the main force of the Qing army, after attacking the Yanmen Pass guarded by Lu Xiangsheng himself, he thought that the Qing army would not come to attack him.

As a result, Du Du, a group of more than 10,000 Qing soldiers who were originally in the north and contained Jiang Hao, the general soldier of Datong, bypassed Shuozhou and attacked Ningwu Pass at night.

In the face of the sneak attack at night, the fierce Qing soldiers who had already killed the city wall, those Ming soldiers who had just gotten up and had not even put on their armor were completely reduced to the targets of slaughter.

The soldiers of the Ming army in Ningwu Pass could not find the generals, and the generals could not find the soldiers, so there was a complete chaos, and then the rout naturally happened.

Jia Changming saw that there was a chaotic situation everywhere, and the Qing army was chasing the Ming soldiers everywhere, so he naturally panicked, and escaped from Ningwu Pass directly under the protection of a group of guards.

60,000 Ming soldiers were chased and killed by the Qing army, and drove out of Ningwu Pass overnight, and after dawn, Ningwu Pass had completely changed hands and was captured by the Qing army.

Because of his quick escape, Jia Changming escaped from Ningwu Pass under the protection of the guards and saved his life.

At this time, if Jia Changming led the army in Du Du and had just captured Ningwu Pass, he would immediately ask Lu Xiangsheng for help, or find Wu Sangui for help.

Perhaps, Ningwu Pass can be recaptured, after all, there were not many Qing soldiers in Du Du's hands at that time, and the main forces of the Qing army were on the side of Azig, and they couldn't catch up with Ningwu Pass in a day or two.

But at this time, Jia Changming was selfish, afraid of taking the responsibility for losing Ningwu Pass, and thought that he would regather his men and horses and recapture Ningwu Pass.

So, he spent a day south of Ningwu Pass to collect the Ming soldiers who were driven out of Ningwu Pass by the Qing army and scattered, and then counterattacked Ningwu Pass in an attempt to recapture it.

As a result, these Ming soldiers, who were already demoralized, failed in their counteroffensive to recapture Ningwu Pass, and were defeated again.

It was only at this time that Jia Changming had no choice but to send someone to ask Lu Xiangsheng for help in Yanmen Pass.

By the time the herald sent the news of the loss of Ningwu Pass to Lu Xiangsheng, the time had already reached October 8, and it had been three days since the loss of Ningwu Pass.

In the past three days, the main force of the Qing Army's Western Route Army led by Azig has already been evacuated from Yanmen Pass, and they have rushed to Ningwu Pass and captured Shuozhou casually.

Immediately, the Qing army, which opened the northwest gate of the mountain from Ningwu Pass, under the leadership of Azig, Haoge and Dudu, drove straight into the city, villages and towns hundreds of miles south of Ningwu Pass.

Lu Xiangsheng, who received the bad news at Yanmen Pass, had to reorganize his men and prepare to support Jia Changming.

However, at this time, he was in Yanmen Pass, and there were only 10,000 Ming soldiers left, and he had just experienced a bloody battle.

At this time, Lu Xiangsheng hated two people the most, one was the incompetent Jia Changming, and the other was Du Xun, the supervisor of the 20,000 Ming Army in Daizhou.

If the 20,000 Ming troops in this era were not taken away by Du Xun, Lu Xiangsheng would still have troops to support Jia Changming.

Don't look at the Ningwu Pass conquered by the Tartars, but the Yanmen Pass still can't be lost.

In the end, Lu Xiangsheng had no choice but to lead 5,000 Ming troops to leave Yanmen Pass to support Jia Changming, and at the same time send people to catch up with Qi Wei's 10,000 White Dragon Army who had left.

However, before Lu Xiangsheng could find Jia Changming, the situation in Taiyuan Mansion deteriorated sharply.

With the fiasco of Jia Changming, in the entire north of Taiyuan, except for Lu Xiangsheng and Wu Sangui, as well as Qi Wei's department, there was no longer an organized Ming army.

As for Xiang Zhenwuwei and Zhenxiwei, this kind of Ming army guard is basically negligible, because when they meet the Tartars, there is only one end, that is, immediate rout.

But Lu Xiangsheng and Qi Wei's position at this time was too unfavorable, and for the cavalry of the Qing army in the north of Taiyuan Mansion, they were beyond the reach of the whip, and they were too late to support.

In just a few days, the entire north of Taiyuan was full of beacon smoke, and the Qing army successively conquered eight or nine county towns such as Ninghuasuo, Jingle, and Lanxian, and dozens of villages and towns of all sizes.

Immediately, the Qing army divided its troops on October 12, with a group of more than 40,000 people led by Azig and Du Du, and the main force of the Tartar Zhenglan Banner and Zhenghong Banner, and went straight to Taiyuan.

Haoge led more than 30,000 Qing troops with the Yellow Banner of Tartars as the main force to attack Xinxian County to the east, trying to open Xinkou, Yuanping, and Daizhou to the north, and then leave from Yanmen Pass.

As a result, the 5,000 Ming army led by Lu Xiangsheng encountered Haoge's men and horses on the way to Xin County, and was killed by Haoge's cavalry for a while, and fled in defeat.

Fortunately, under the protection of a group of Ming army soldiers, Lu Xiangsheng finally escaped into Xin County, but he also lost his troops.

In this way, Lu Xiangsheng was cut off in Xin County, and he didn't even have the opportunity to return to Taiyuan.

As for Jia Changming and his 60,000 Ming soldiers, in the past few days, they have been constantly chased and killed by the Qing cavalry under Azig, and they have long since died, scattered, and the ghost knows where they went.

Even Jia Changming, the chief soldier of Shanxi, had no news, and he didn't know whether he was captured and killed by the Tartars, or he hid himself.

And the 40,000 Tartars who led Azig himself to the south finally did not go well, and they were blocked by Wu Sangui who arrived at the Tianmen Pass in the northwest of Quyang.

At this time, Qi Wei had already received the news from Lu Xiangsheng, and immediately decided to turn back and continue to help Lu Xiangsheng.

Otherwise, Qi Wei expected that the entire Taiyuan Mansion would be ruined by the Tartars, and if it was not good, Taiyuan would be attacked by the Tartars.

"General, our scouts have reported that now the Tartars are divided into two routes, one way is now to the west of us, and they are attacking Tianmen Pass, and the target should be Taiyuan.

However, now the Qing army in the direction of Tianmen Pass has been blocked by Wu Sangui and his army.

On the other hand, Xin County, to the north of us, is attacking Xin County and Dingxiang, and there seem to be signs of Lu Dashuai being found there.

What are we going to do to support that way? ”

At this time, in the south of Xin County, in the northeast of Taiyuan, a White Dragon Army scout flag general was reporting the information returned by the scout to Qi Wei.

"Xin County found traces of Lu Dashuai?"

Qi Wei's face was solemn and he wanted to confirm again.

"Yes, our scouts learned from the people who fled from the north that two days ago, an official army that had come from the north was ambushed by the Qing army and fled into Xin County.

At this time, the only Ming soldiers and horses in the north should be Lu Dashuai's men and horses guarding Yanmen Pass.

The situation in Shanxi is already like this, it is impossible for Lu Dashuai to sit still at Yanmen Pass, and most of the Ming army that was defeated by the Qing army and fled into Xin County was led by Lu Dashuai. ”

After Qi Wei heard such a detailed account from his subordinates, he also had the same judgment in his heart.

Immediately, Qi Wei made a decision, and said in a deep voice: "Let's go, let's not go to Taiyuan, go to Xin County first, and support Lu Dashuai." ”

"Yes, General."

The reason why Qi Wei didn't go to Taiyuan and Lu Xiangsheng was trapped in Xin County was only one reason.

More importantly, Qi Wei guessed that the real person in charge of Taiyuan at this time was most likely Du Xun, the eunuch of the prison army who had led 20,000 Ming troops to rush over.

With Qi Wei's understanding of Du Xun, a despicable villain, even if they arrived in Taiyuan, they felt that if they couldn't get Du Xun's good face, they would definitely be pushed to the front to block the tartars.

Qi Wei is really unwilling to cooperate with Du Xun, a despicable dead eunuch, because you don't know when, you will be stabbed in the back.

Moreover, the Tianmen Pass in the north of Taiyuan has been guarded by Wu Sangui, Taiyuan is the capital city of Shanxi Town, the city is high and the pool is deep, it is one of the rare big cities in the Ming Dynasty, and there are tens of thousands of Ming troops guarding the city.

In addition, siege is not the strong point of the Tartars, and if they can't hold it like this, it will be a waste.

Compared with Taiyuan, Lu Xiangsheng in Xin County in the north should need more support at this time.

Qi Wei, who had just experienced the battle of guarding Yanmen Pass, knew that there would not be too many people under Lu Xiangsheng at this time.

In the face of Haoge's attack in the north, Lu Xiangsheng will not feel good in Xin County.

"Let's go, hurry to Xin County."

Immediately, Qi Wei led 10,000 Bailong soldiers and horses, left Shiling Pass, and rushed north to Xin County to help Lu Xiangsheng.

(End of chapter)