Ming Taizi's Total War

Chapter 293 Li Zicheng who fled to the mountains
Although most of Li Chuang's men had survived a hundred battles, they were elite soldiers who fought from the Central Plains to Shanhaiguan, and then all the way from Shanhaiguan to Huguang.

But in the past few months, there have been more losses than victories, and morale has dropped to a very low level.

The factor that caused the combat effectiveness of these invading officers and soldiers to drop most was the lack of supplies. Because they retreated all the way and lost their bases, their supply level returned to the state of bandits surrounded by officers and soldiers.

Countless soldiers were hungry and full, and the wounded didn't even have enough medicine. Occasionally, some treasuries and medical centers were looted, and the medicine was barely enough, but there was a lack of doctors, so there was no way.

After all, these people have long legs, and it is not so easy to catch Chuangjun if they want to run.

Even if they were caught, if they didn't want to be treated, Chuang Jun had nothing to do, even if they were threatened with death, they could only work and heal Shun Jun without any effort.

Therefore, when they contacted Liu Liangzuo's Ming army in the early hours of this morning, the Chuangjun soldiers were able to cope with it at first, but later they were exhausted, and the follow-up was exhausted.

Because they did not have sufficient food supply for many days, and the long-distance march was too hard, the officers and soldiers lost their body fat and muscles severely.

In addition, he had just marched overnight, so once he met the Ming army, his body would not be able to bear it for a long time.

Naturally, Liu Liangzuo also discovered this, so he kept urging the officers and soldiers to advance, desperately throwing his reserve team into the battlefield, trying to crush the Chuang army in an instant with the momentum of Mount Tai.

However, Liu Liangzuo obviously overestimated the combat effectiveness of his own officers and soldiers. Although the Chuang army was always at a disadvantage in combat due to many reasons such as health and morale, they still showed no signs of retreating.

However, both sides have already seen that the battle is in a very delicate state, and it is uncertain when one of them will be defeated like a mountain.

Li Chuang's generals frowned when they saw the fierce battle between the two armies on the battlefield. They pondered for a long time, and finally one person came to Li Zicheng's side to beg him.

"Your Majesty, let me lead five thousand troops, and you should retreat quickly. We cannot be held back by this Ming army." Gu Kecheng came to Li Zicheng's side, bowed his hands and begged.

Li Zicheng was the core of their peasant army. If something happened to him, the mighty anti-Ming uprising would be half over.

As a veteran of the peasant army, Gu Kecheng has gone through hundreds of battles. In any case, he does not want to see the resistance of the peasant army being completely strangled by the Ming Dynasty officials.

"You?" Li Zicheng stared at Gu Kecheng.

"Do you know what that means?"

At this time, Gu Kecheng chose to lead the troops to die, and nine out of ten had no hope of surviving.

"The general knows, but some things always need someone to do." Gu Kecheng looked at the battlefield firmly.

He was already ready to die. Once Liu Liangzuo's Ming army dealt a major blow to the Chuang army, it would not be long before Li Zicheng and others would all be finished.

Only by leaving a small army to block Liu Liangzuo and let the big army leave, can their Dashun rebuild one day.

"Okay." Li Zicheng patted Gu Kecheng's shoulder with great emotion and said.

"Brother, in the next life, we will be reborn in a peasant family to rebel against the emperor."

"Definitely." Gu Kecheng agreed.

Although he doesn't know whether there is an afterlife, people always need to think about it.

Soon, the Chuang army was divided into two parts. A large force of more than [-] people followed Li Zicheng into the mountains and walked northward, breaking through the blockade and siege of the Ming army.

The other 5000 people served as the rear troops under the command of Gu Kecheng to block the pursuit of Liu Liangzuo's troops.

Although Li Zicheng didn't give Gu Kecheng a specific time, it would take several hours if Liu Liangzuo's troops were unable to track down the Chuangjun troops.

After leaving the battlefield, it took Li Zicheng several sticks of incense to enter the forest, and ordered the soldiers to dig some holes to block the pursuers behind him.

After walking non-stop for a day in the mountains and forests, until the sun was about to set, the Chuang army found a flat place to set up camp.

"Let the soldiers bury pots and make food. We should have traveled dozens of miles. The Ming army can't see our cooking smoke." After setting up camp, Li Zicheng asked the soldiers to make food.

Because they had already marched for dozens of miles, he felt that it was impossible for the Ming army to find their traces.

Soon, a large iron pot was driven into the camp, and wisps of smoke rose, which was particularly eye-catching under the dim sunset. The intruders poured the rice into it and cooked it casually. This was them. Dinner tonight.

"I'm going out to scout the surrounding terrain, you stay in the camp first." After Li Zicheng said goodbye to Song Xiance, Niu Jinxing and others, he took ten or twenty guards and went forward to explore the way.

When marching and fighting, mastering the terrain is the most important thing. It is impossible for a veteran like Li Zicheng who has been on the battlefield almost all his life not to understand.

In fact, peasant army generals like him like to find out the terrain and terrain, and then use the advantage of the location to attack the officers and soldiers.

In the past, when the situation in the world was not corrupted, the number of officers and soldiers was large and their combat effectiveness was strong. The peasant army like Li Zicheng could only rely on this trick if they wanted to defeat the officers and soldiers or escape from their noses.

When he had hundreds of thousands of troops under his command and became emperor, Li Zicheng still liked to personally inspect the nearby terrain, and even Zhang Xianzhong of Bashu was no exception.

Naturally, there are reasons for these people's fighting habits, and also the reason why the peasant army did not establish a systematic military reconnaissance organization.

If they could be like the Ming and Qing armies, whenever they went to a place, without waiting for the general to issue an order, there would be scouts and sentries to scout the terrain, inquire about information, and then send them back to the general's shogunate, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong would not have to do this .

While Li Zicheng and his party were walking in the forest, the guards beside him started talking to each other.

"I don't know if there is anyone around here. I really want to eat some white flour steamed buns, or wine and meat for a tooth festival."

Before these people had time to enjoy the joy of the rest of their lives, they worried about their stomachs first.

"In this deep mountain and old forest, it is so possible that there is a family."

"Even if there is a family, they must have hunting bows and machetes. If you dare to go to someone's house to rob things, it would be strange if you don't fight you hard." A horse guard retorted.

"I didn't say robbing. Our Dashun army is the king's division, and we have to buy it with money."

"Your Majesty, do you think so?" After finishing speaking, the guard looked at Li Zicheng.

As Li Zicheng's guards, most of these people had fought with him for a long time and were very familiar with Li Zicheng, so they spoke unscrupulously, and even dared to talk to Li Zicheng, the Emperor of Dashun Yongchang.

(End of this chapter)