Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 885
The cold wind howled and snow powder flew.In the middle of winter, the wind in Liaodong is not called wind, but a knife and a whip!It's such a cold weather, no matter how much you wear, it's useless. Even if you wrap yourself in a quilt, it's still cold, terribly cold!
In this spooky weather where water was splashed into ice, the Ming army staggered forward and marched towards Gaizhou with difficulty.Clothes from the dead war robes, animal furs, and even the flags of the enemy army, they have put on everything that can keep them warm, but it is still cold, and some people have exhausted the last trace of heat and fell into the ice and snow.A huge arrowhead paved with corpses starts from Panjin and extends all the way towards Gaizhou, facing each other end to end, which is shocking.The civilian husbands were the first to fall. The treatment of the civilian husbands was very poor. The necessities of survival such as quilts and food were incomparable to those of the army. Under the raging cold wind, they became the first batch of victims. Tens of thousands fell down. Every morning, when the Ming army struggled to get up, they would always find a large circle of corpses around them.The soldiers of the Ming army were not much better off. Their clothes were much thicker than those of civilian husbands, but those wearing armor and wearing armor exhausted a lot of energy, and the limited food could not replenish their consumption. Many people fell asleep forever, unable to open their eyes again.Those who were still alive soon developed frostbite, and even their fingers and toes were necrotic, and they had to be cut off with a dagger. The painful howls of the frostbitten soldiers echoed in the queue. They must be envious of the dead.

The Qing army's small cavalry has been haunting the Ming army like a pack of wolves, and they can't get rid of them no matter how they shake them off.At the beginning, the cavalry of the Ming army would take the initiative to attack and drive them away. As more and more horses were frozen to death and frostbitten, the Ming army gradually lost the strength. The Qing army would let them follow if they wanted to. When they came up to attack the large troops, the Ming army didn't bother to pay attention to them.Behind the small group of cavalry is a large army. Once a Ming army falls behind, the Qing army immediately pounces on it like a hungry wolf eager for fresh meat, and surrounds it.After the siege, they did not launch an attack, just surrounded like this, surrounded for a day or two, the people in the encirclement were cold to death, starving to death, and they all died in sevens and eighties. After days of fighting, the equipment of the Qing army responsible for the pursuit was changed from head to toe.Sometimes the Qing army surpassed the Ming army, and if they set up an ambush ahead to block the Ming army, they did not fight recklessly, and immediately withdrew after a delay of more than half a day, leaving the Ming army with nowhere to go.Under the continuous harassment and obstruction of the Qing army, the Ming army could only travel forty miles a day at most, and as time went by, it became slower and slower.There is no way, more and more soldiers are dying of frostbite, and countless mules, horses and war horses have been lost. Many supplies can only be carried by people, can the speed not be slow?
Seeing thousands of Ming soldiers and civilian husbands fall, Chongzhen wept bitterly.Now he finally understands the meaning of "When the emperor is angry, the blood flows for thousands of miles, and thousands of households are left alone", and he really did it, but it is his own blood that is shed!Just because he raised his troops in a rage, hundreds of thousands of lives disappeared in the wind and snow, and countless innocent souls whizzed around in the cold wind, lingering and lingering, turning him into terrible nightmares to wake him up again and again.His gray hair increased at an alarming rate, his whole body was aging extremely fast, and his whole body was about to collapse.

If Chongzhen knew the situation in the pass, he might collapse completely.The news of the defeat of the Ming army quickly spread throughout the pass, fearing that the hundreds of thousands of troops would not be able to return, all the slaves in the north and south were shocked by it, and the deep-rooted fear of Jiannu was awakened by this unprecedented defeat again. Both inside and outside the government and the public were astonished: Didn’t the past few years have been successive victories and good news? Isn’t Jiannu being firmly suppressed, unable to move, and seeing that he is only breathing more than a dead man? One hundred thousand troops, even the Son of Heaven and the Empire God of War...

Some horrific rumors quickly spread: Such a disastrous defeat was not because the Ming army could not fight, but because the Ming army was exhausted!These rumors first came out from the mouths of some magicians who liked to play tricks, and soon spread throughout the capital and spread across the country at an alarming speed, causing huge waves wherever they went.Yanguan, Qingliu, and Jinshen jumped out to add fuel to the flames, raised their pens, and laughed and cursed.Why did the Ming Dynasty suffer this disaster? It was all because Chongzhen was a villain and a virtuous minister. He trusted Yang Menglong, a sycophant who had misled the country, and denounced the gentlemen in the court. He could not listen to unfavorable advice!Yang Menglong started a low-income industry, farmed far away, favored evil villains, abused Jin Gentlemen, was obsessed with strange and cunning techniques, and despised moral articles. He was actually thousands of times worse than Wei Zhongxian and Liu Jin. In just a few years Just exhausted Daming's vitality, such a person really deserves death!Only by making up our minds to bring order out of chaos, can the people of Ming Dynasty see the light of day again!It has to be said that the influence of these Yanguan, Qingliu, and Jin gentry in the Ming Dynasty is indeed terrifying. When Yang Menglong was still there, he could suppress them with newspapers. Now Yang Menglong is far away in Taiwan, and his life or death is uncertain. These people who were once suppressed by Yang Menglong The guy rebelled all of a sudden, turning right and wrong into black and white, his pen as sharp as a knife, and his sentences were punitive, which made the situation extremely chaotic.The common people simply couldn't believe that how could a pillar of the empire become a traitor to the country? However, now that most of the elite troops of the Ming Dynasty were lost, and the Qing army might enter the border at any time, many people were frightened, and many people could not help but be shaken and believed these things. Nonsense.

The Qingliu people gritted their teeth and shouted: "The new army is the minion of the rebellious officials and thieves, a great harm to the Ming Dynasty! If the new army is not eliminated, the country will be destroyed!"

The frontier troops in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu provinces controlled by civilian officials responded to their call with actions. Facing the rolling Mongolian and Manchu cavalry, they stepped aside from the line of defense one after another, and even simply changed their banners and shaved their hair, aiming at the butcher knife. The Tianxiong Army defending the Nine Frontiers.The Nine Frontier Defense Line, which the Tianxiong Army had painstakingly managed for several years, was torn open a huge gap, and the barbaric torrent that was suppressed by them outside the Great Wall surged in. Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Ningxia were full of wars, and blood flowed like rivers.The Tianxiong army, who tried to repel the invading enemy in the field, was conspired by the friendly army one after another, and suffered heavy losses. They could only retreat to the strong fortress, watching in despair as the Mongols bypassed their defense line and rushed in from the gap. ...Originally, two of the three regiments of the Tianxiong Army were scattered on the nine border defense lines, and each defense line had a thousand or several hundred soldiers. The large number of frontier troops and national cavalry cooperated in the battle. Li Chongshi's regiment served as a strategic reserve at any time. Coordinating, this kind of deployment can be described as seamless, pressing down on the Hetao Plain like Mount Tai, overwhelming the Mongolian and Qing troops.But now the strategic reserve team has been transferred away, and most of the frontier troops and subordinate national cavalry have rebelled against the frontier. There are gaps everywhere in the strict defense line, and there are loopholes everywhere. Faced with such a desperate situation, the Tianxiong Army, which was once as sharp as a blade, could only sigh in despair that "the enemy is determined to kill the enemy, but there is no power to return to heaven".

The vanguard of the Mongols, with the cooperation of many frontier troops, swept through Shanxi and Shaanxi like a whirlwind. Behind them were tens of thousands of green-eyed troops, and there were waves of soldiers coming slowly from east to west. The main force of the Qing army——Early before the decisive battle with the Ming army, Huang Taiji ordered Doer Gun to lead the four banners of the Zhengbai Banner, Xiangbai Banner, Xianglan Banner, and Xianghong Banner to move westward. .It is not difficult to imagine Dorgon's mood when he received this order. This is a typical case of hard work but no credit. After annihilating the hundreds of thousands of troops led by Chongzhen himself, Huang Taiji led the 10,000+ Guan Ning army into Guan, the capital It's a day and night, but Dorgon has to face the terrifying Tianxiong army in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Ningxia. The outcome is unpredictable!Even if they can win, I'm afraid it will be a heavy loss. Want to fight against Huang Taiji? There is no way!

Regardless of whether Dorgon is happy or not, the army he leads, as well as the Mongolian army and rebel Ming army, which are several times stronger than his four-banner army, are all huge threats that Lei Shisheng's corps must face. Before Dorgon, the Lei Shisheng Corps could not move!
The situation in Gansu and Ningxia was equally severe. The Junggars had as many as 16 troops. They ate up countless villages, drank up countless rivers, annexed countless tribes, and finally entered the Hexi Corridor with huge waves swallowing the rivers.Unlike the situation in Shaanxi and Shanxi, the new Gansu governor Liang Tingdong ordered all the elite Gansu Ming troops to fight against the Junggar army in Wuwei.The Ming army in Gansu assembled 7000 troops and deployed defenses in Wuwei. There was nothing wrong with such a deployment. Wuwei was an important military town, with rolling snow-capped mountains to the south and boundless desert to the north. If you want to attack Lanzhou, you must pass through Wuwei. In the face of the threat from the northwest, defending Lanzhou must defend Wuwei.But the bad thing is that Liang Tingdong didn't know whether he took the wrong medicine. When the Junggar army was pressing down on the border, he actually ordered the Ming army to march thirty miles out of the city to fight. A total victory!
What the Ming army, who mustered up the courage to go out of the city to face the battle, saw was not a tired army with exhausted men and horses, but a powerful army with strong men and strong horses and high fighting spirit.The Junggar people have been able to resist the Qing Dynasty for 200 years. They have their own advantages. In terms of the obedience and hard work of the soldiers, and in terms of the tacit understanding between the commander and the generals, they are comparable to the era of Genghis Khan. Liang Tingdong actually underestimated such a troop. A strong team, the consequences can be imagined.Not long after the battle between the two sides, when he saw that the Ming army could not withstand the impact of the Junggar people and retreated, Liang Tingdong exclaimed: "We are defeated, defeated, retreat quickly!" Before the Ming army could react, he led thousands of his followers and fled. .The Ming army was outnumbered and had insufficient confidence. Liang Tingdong's shouting demoralized the already low morale. They all dropped their weapons and fled, and they were defeated like a mountain.Only Tianxiong Army General Zheng Jing, who led the [-] Tianxiong Army and [-] cavalry, and the Qiang and Tibetan warriors he had recruited in the past few years fought left and right, fighting to the death, and sacrificed a huge amount. At the cost of the attack, the Junggars' offensive was finally contained and they withdrew to Wuwei.

After returning to Wuwei, what Zheng Jing saw was a burning city.It was fine for Liang Tingdong to leave the army and flee, even Wuwei didn't dare to guard, so he burned all the warehouses with a fire, and fled towards Lanzhou non-stop.Zheng Jing was so angry that he almost vomited blood. Wuwei could not defend, but the Junggar army was chasing him, so he had to defend, otherwise the whole army would be wiped out!In desperation, he called his lieutenant, Jin Jun, and said in a hoarse voice, "I'll give you five hundred infantry and three hundred cavalry to cover the people of Wuwei and evacuate to Lanzhou. I'll stay and cover!"

Jin Jun gritted his teeth and said, "What are you going to do, you're going to die together!"

Zheng Jing was furious: "Do you think we don't have enough dead people? Get lost!"

Jin Jun repeatedly insisted that he bring some infantry to stay for cover, but Zheng Jing was unmoved, and finally even pulled out his knife.Jin Jun had no choice but to take the [-]-step cavalry to cover the people of Wuwei and retreat towards Lanzhou.He looked back three times at every step, tears streaming down his face, because he knew that after leaving, he would never see those comrades in arms again.

This division of troops made the already small number of troops in Zheng Jing's hands thinner, leaving only 4000 Tianxiong Army infantry, and more than 10,000 Qiang and Tibetan soldiers.A mere [-] people stood firm in the isolated city, and their savings were reduced to ashes. Facing the [-]+ Junggar army, everyone knew what was waiting for them.The Tianxiong army calmly accepted their fate and seized the time to repair the city wall and build fortifications.But those Qiang and Tibetan leaders quit, they clamored for Zheng Jing to be their own king, otherwise they refused to obey his order to fight for this fucking country--they have had enough of the selfishness of the Ming Dynasty , stupid, cowardly officials.In desperation, in order to stabilize the morale of the army, in the scorched-earth city of Wuwei, Zheng Jing proclaimed himself king and made the tribal leaders generals.These tribal leaders are loyal to him, and he has nothing to repay them. All he can give them is these false names.

After the rewards were awarded, Zheng Jing, the King of Wuwei, inspected the three armies. Amid the sound of horseshoes approaching outside the city, King Wuwei ordered the soldiers of the three armies to give each a bowl of strong wine. Said: "There is a huge gap between the number of people in this battle. If you stick to Wuwei, you will undoubtedly die! But for the sake of millions of lives in Lanzhou, we must stick to it to the end... I, Zheng Jing, please everyone!" , and then resolutely rushed to the city wall, and the Battle of Wuwei began. Zheng Jing, a little-known general, shone with glory at this critical moment when the building was about to collapse.

The brutality of the Battle of Wuwei was beyond everyone's expectation.The four thousand lone soldiers drank blood and chewed bark and grass roots to hold on to the fortified city. When they ran out of artillery shells, they used stones to hit them. After throwing grenades, they took down the bricks from the building and threw them at the enemy's heads.Fierce Qiang and Tibetan soldiers fought hand-to-hand with the Dzungars on the city wall, killing each other with blood and flesh. The 10,000 Tianxiong troops were divided into four teams and attacked wherever there was a gap. The Dzungars besieged the city day and night and rushed into the city several times. , was beaten out again, and there were corpses lying on pillows inside and outside the city, one layer on top of another. The cruelty was indescribable.The Junggar people's 20+ vigorous army was besieged on all sides. All the elite soldiers and strong generals pressed forward. They were repelled and suppressed by Zheng Jing time and time again.This bloody battle with extreme disparity in strength lasted for 3 days. After paying a heavy price of [-] casualties, the Junggars finally broke through Wuwei. At this time, there were only a few hundred tired and hungry soldiers left in Wuwei. , The wounded soldier who couldn't even stand up.

Zheng Jing was wounded by an arrow in the street battle, and fell into a coma. He was captured by the Junggar people and sent to the king's tent.The Junggar Khan Batur was overjoyed and ordered the military doctors to use the best medicine to treat him with all his strength, dragged Zheng Jing back from the gate of hell, and then promised to surrender with a high-ranking official and generous salary.Not only Zheng Jing, but also the wounded soldiers of the Tianxiong Army received better care.The men on the prairie have always respected heroes. Zheng Jing was able to resist their 4000+ army with only 10,000 people, making them unable to advance half a step for 20 days. .However, Zheng Jing refused. Even if Batur proposed to marry his beloved daughter to him and make him the head of ten thousand husbands, he would not be moved. He just said lightly: "The Tianxiong Army only has generals who died in battle. A traitor to a foreign race."

Batur's face darkened: "If you don't submit to me, you will die!"

Zheng Jing said: "I should have died in Wuwei City."

Facing this stubborn and stubborn guy, Batur had no choice but to put on a pleading look: "Is it not easy for you to die? But please think about your family! Think about your elderly father, Bai Gray-haired mother, wistful wife, toddler, don't you miss them at all? Don't you want to go back to them?"

Zheng Jing's facial muscles twitched slightly, and there was a long silence.Just when Batur thought his heart was loose, he regained his composure and said, "There is snow in Saibei, and flowers in Huainan. Children of the Zheng family have no home!"

He couldn't be tempted by a high-ranking official and rich salary, and he couldn't be afraid of death. He didn't even have the slightest nostalgia for his home in the Central Plains. Facing this hard-hearted general, Batur had no choice but to order Zheng Jing to be beheaded.

The captured Ming troops unanimously asked to die with them, but no one surrendered.

After conquering Wuwei, the Junggar army continued to advance, pointing directly at Lanzhou.Although the Wuwei garrison's spirit of seeing death as home and their unswerving loyalty shocked the whole army, the Junggars continued to move forward. They firmly believed that in that decaying empire, there were not many such warriors. It belongs to them!
The Junggar army approached the city, Lanzhou was shocked, and the Ningxia left wing that Tianxiong Army had worked so hard to manage was on the verge of collapse.

Thousands of kilometers away in Liaodong, the Qing army left some troops to continue chasing and killing Chongzhen. All the prefectures and counties were looking forward to the wind, and the emptiness of Beizhili was like a ripe peach tree, and the Qing army could easily pick it up.So far, Huang Taiji's plan to destroy the Ming Dynasty has been infinitely close to success. If this was a best-of-three match, he would have already become the winner.

Regrettably, this is a war in which the fate of two countries and two ethnic groups has been bet on. There is no such thing as two out of three games, unless one party perishes to determine the winner.When the Qing army rolled southward, the Sichuan army, the Heluo new army, and the Denglai new army also flocked to the north like waves, and his destined nemesis had already rushed ahead of the army and blocked the Qing army.

(End of this chapter)