Ming Taizi's Total War

Chapter 290 The Huguang Battlefield Comes to an End
While Zhang Yong fought bloody battles against Li Jin, Dang Shousu and others at Yumen Pass in the northwest, Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo, Zuo Liangyu and other generals were leading an army of more than [-] to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng.

Of course, the main ones were the strong men recruited by Zuo Liangyu, who constituted the main force of the army that encircled and suppressed Li Chuang.

After fleeing to the Huguang area through Sichuan and Shu, Li Zicheng captured many counties here, killed many bureaucratic landlords, and robbed a lot of wealth.

He also recruited [-] soldiers and made them armor, swords and guns.

However, due to the limitations of the strength of the handicraft industry in the Huguang area and the embargo imposed by the Ming army on materials in the Huguang area, most of Li Zicheng's recruits used leather armor, rattan armor, paper armor, and other cheap armor or armor with southern characteristics.

But armor is better than nothing, and even wearing two extra clothes is better than going shirtless.

What really restricts the combat effectiveness of Li Zicheng's recruits is the degree of training. The recruits have not received training, nor have they experienced the waves of the battlefield.

They have mixed good and bad, and they have a passion for rebellion, but they never know how cruel and bloody the battlefield is.

So Li Zicheng led these recruits as soon as they came into contact with Huang Degong, the main force of the Ming army, and they collapsed at the touch of a touch. Thousands of recruits dropped their weapons and armor and fled in a hurry.

Even if Li Zicheng organized the supervisory team to hack and kill, it would be difficult to stop. After all, it is not easy for tens of thousands of people to escape in a hilly and mountainous place like Huguang.

Retreating step by step, after facing Huang Degong's defeat in the first battle, Li Zicheng lost several states and counties one after another, and he no longer had the momentum that swept the world at the beginning.

At this time, there were actually quite a few peasant armies in the south, but they were scattered in different places, with language barriers, and they were all working in separate groups, so they couldn't make a difference.

Li Zicheng tried to contact them many times, but even the messenger was killed.

The peasant army brothers on the same front did not understand, support, or help, and the Ming army encircled and suppressed on all sides, and the 30 troops marched together, and allied with bureaucratic and landlord forces from all over the country to jointly attack.

Li Zicheng and his Chuang army were defeated one after another, but within ten days, more than half of his newly recruited 4 troops were killed or injured, and only [-] or [-] of his old brothers who followed him were killed or injured.

Even his control area was continuously compressed, and in the end, only the territory of Yuezhou Prefecture and a few counties remained, with a population of only a few hundred thousand.

However, the Ming army, who vowed to wipe out the peasant army, was pressing harder and harder. After Li Zicheng entered Yuezhou Prefecture, Huang Degong and Zuo Menggeng also entered Baling County in Yuezhou Prefecture.

Baling County is a small county, and Li Chuang only left more than a thousand soldiers here. When he saw Huang Degong and Zuo Mengeng coming with tens of thousands of troops, he was immediately frightened and could not even close the city gate. He fled towards Yuezhou Fucheng.

On the contrary, Huang Degong and Zuo Menggeng were able to regain a county seat without any effort, and gained a lot of credit.

In the government office of Baling County, Huang Degong, Zuo Menggeng and their generals are discussing how to capture Yuezhou Mansion and wipe out Li Chuang's army.

Because the former county magistrate couldn't escape in time and was killed by the army, Huang Degong simply occupied this place and used it as his marching shogunate.

"How long will it take for Ning Nanbo's 15 troops to arrive?" Huang Degong asked Zuo Mengeng.

Although most of Zuo Liangyu's tents were recruited by force and their will to fight was weak, at least they had a knife and gun, which could barely be used as auxiliary soldiers.

When he wanted to wipe out Li Chuang's army, Huang Degong didn't think there were too many soldiers.

"Due to the lack of food and grass in the rear, my father will not be able to come for about five days." Zuo Menggeng answered Huang Degong truthfully about Zuo Liangyu's situation.

Hearing Zuo Menggeng's words, Huang Degong was not outraged. The Ming army gathered 10 people in the Huguang area, and the food needed by the army could not be supplied in Huguang alone.

However, if you rely on several nearby provinces for supplies, the supply line will be much longer, and the supply time will also take a lot.

"Then it seems that we can only let that old Li Zicheng live for a while." Huang Degong said full of hatred.

"And we have to hurry up and get outside the city of Yuezhou Prefecture. Once the Chuangjun shows signs of leaving the city, stop them immediately, especially not let him go east or south."

"Aren't there volunteer soldiers from all over the south and east, as well as landlord regiments, and guard soldiers? It would be good if they stopped Li Chuang." Zuo Menggeng said puzzled.

He and Huang Degong traveled all the way through the starry night, the soldiers were exhausted to the extreme, even he, the chief general, felt very tired.

Now he has to continue on his way, march to the vicinity of Yuezhou Fucheng, and intercept the Chuangjun at any time. Just thinking about it makes Zuo Menggeng's scalp tingle.

"Nonsense, how can those people stop Li Chuang, not to mention that they are not as numerous as the Chuang army, even if there are Chuang troops, it is absolutely impossible to stop them."

"At that time, if the Chuangjun is allowed to flee to a wider area, the poison will be very serious, and we will be sorry for the court and the people even if we die." Huang Degong educated Zuo Menggeng.

The Ming army's battles to annihilate Li Chuang for more than ten years have proved one thing, that is, if Li Chuang or other peasant armies are not annihilated quickly, they will become stronger and stronger.

From howling together in the mountains and forests, to attacking prefectures and counties, and finally even launching a large-scale battle with the army field corps, you punched me and kicked me, and they fought with real knives and guns.

"You are right." Zuo Mengeng admitted that Huang Degong's words made sense.

"Okay, let's go."

"Come here, pass on my general order, and order Liu Liangzuo to lead his troops to the west of Yuezhou Fu City as soon as possible before tomorrow night. There should be no mistakes." Before leaving, Huang Degong ordered another order to Liu Liangzuo, urging him to march quickly.

Because before leaving Tongguan, Zhu Cihong gave Huang Degong the power to control Zuo Menggeng and Liu Liangzuo, so now Huang Degong seems to be the supreme commander of the Huguang area.

After spending several hours of effort, Huang Degong and his two finally managed to reach the vicinity of Yuezhou Fucheng.

Because they were worried that the intruders in the city would break out of the encirclement due to fear, Huang Degong and Zuo Mengeng just set up camp far outside the city, only blocking the south and east intersections and building some defense lines.

It's not yet the final battle, Huang Degong doesn't want to have any contact with Li Chuang. Once he starts to frighten the snake and makes him rush left and right, and leave the trap carefully arranged by Huang Degong, it will be bad.

In fact, the reason why Li Zicheng was trapped in Yuezhou Gucheng to this day was not because of the superb strategic strategies of Huang Degong and others, but because of the too many Ming troops.

The Ming army was several times larger than the Chuang army, and there were more landlord regiments practicing armed forces. Volunteer soldiers organized by various states and counties, and soldiers from various guards rushed to help. Li Zicheng had nowhere to retreat, and his enemies were everywhere.

(End of this chapter)