Zhang Tieniu kept his promise, and the middle and low-level officers and ordinary soldiers, as long as they have not escaped, will all distribute food and go home.
The premise is to confiscate their weapons and armor.
This is already kind enough, Zhang Tieniu even wanted to kill all those officers, regardless of their rank.
Moreover, there is absolutely no mistake in killing!
These officers and soldiers have been suppressing bandits in Guangdong and Guangxi for three years, and the imperial court does not pay them any food. Where does their military food come from?
All of them have bloody hands, and they are all executioners who slaughtered the people.
Maybe some military officers have even done things like killing good people and taking meritorious service. One kill is a village, the money and food are taken away and put into pockets, the head is cut off and used as a reward for meritorious service, and then it is said that the village was slaughtered by rebels.
Some of the officers and soldiers who escaped on the day of the capture of the city rushed to Shixing County to report, and the Shixing defenders also reported to Nanxiong.
"Take only a small amount of luggage, and the whole army will evacuate!"
?Guangdong General Lu Qian turned pale with fright, and immediately withdrew from Nanxiongfu City, taking away the troops from Shixing County by the way. They had to leave early, otherwise they would be blocked there and unable to advance or retreat, because Zhang Tieniu's route of attack was to stab chrysanthemums.
In fact, Lu Qian's main force has been blocked by Zhang Tieniu.
When evacuating, Lu Qian couldn't walk the normal way, so he could only leave through the mountain by a small road called "Qinghua Path".
After crossing mountains and ridges, he finally came to Wengyuan County. Lu Qian still didn't dare to stay, and continued to retreat to Yingde County to garrison, and Zhang Tieniu was stuck on the main road to continue going south (Wengyuan County in Ming Dynasty was very close to Yingde County).
The entire northern part of Guangdong was captured, leaving only Yingde City.
To the south of Yingde is Guangzhou!
Although there is Qingyuan blocking the waterway in the middle, there is a land official road between Yingde and Guangzhou.
Just need to capture Yingde again, and you can go directly to Guangzhou City.
This is not how powerful Zhang Tieniu is, but Shen Youlong's strategic mistake, not sending troops to guard against Huguang. As a result, once Shaozhou fell, the main force in the direction of Nanxiong and Shixing would be at risk of being blocked and encircled and wiped out, which frightened the general Lu Qian to withdraw his troops from the mountain path overnight.
Shen Youlong himself, in fact, does not know how to fight. He relies entirely on his staff to give ideas, and the specific military affairs are handled by generals.
When the news of the fall of northern Guangdong came, Shen Youlong's situation became even more embarrassing.
He wanted to shrink the line of defense, voluntarily abandoned the city, and withdrew to join forces with Lu Qian in the direction of Guangzhou, but was blocked by Fei Ruhe in Longchuan and could not return.
On that road, Fei Ruhe divided his troops and got stuck.
In desperation, Shen Youlong could only do his best, leading more than 6,000 old soldiers, the same number of civilian husbands and a large fleet. More than 13,000 people voluntarily abandoned Longchuan City and went to attack Fei Ruhe outside Heyuan City.
There are also 3,000 defenders in Heyuan, equal to more than 16,000 people, and 6,000 people (including civilian husbands) attacking Fei Ruhe from both sides.
One hundred and thirty miles, marching along the river bank.
Camp in the evening.
After nightfall, there were shadows around the barracks, and a large number of grain transporters fled at night. They were forcibly recruited, and they were not willing to fight at all. How could they not escape such a good opportunity?
Shen Youlong was awakened by his own soldiers, and after learning about the situation, he didn't dare to stop him.
If there is too much commotion in the middle of the night, it is very likely that the camp will be bombed directly, and the officers and soldiers will follow.
Those officers and soldiers are also unwilling to fight!
The advantage of Shen Youlong is that he knows how to delegate power. He can't fight, so he trusts his generals very much. However, this also led to the corruption of military discipline. It took three years to suppress the bandits in Guangdong and Guangxi, and many times they deliberately let the bandits go.
For those generals, instead of fighting tough battles with the rebels, one can support the bandits' self-respect, two can preserve their strength, and three can take the opportunity to make a fortune.
The generals got rich by robbing, but the top soldiers didn't get much.
Even the military pay is not enough, and the food is also very poor. This is the normal state of the army in the late Ming Dynasty. That army can feed the soldiers, but it belongs to the heterogeneous among the heterogeneous.
Shen Youlong can defend the city with a large army. Once he leaves the city and the Datong army is nearby, the soldiers and civilians will make up their minds to flee.
The march continued the next day. As a large number of civilians fled and scattered, soldiers were required to transport food, resulting in a slower march.
Camp in the evening.
This time, Shen Youlong learned his lesson and put the civilians in the middle and the soldiers on the periphery, so that the civilians could be prevented from escaping at night.
The civilian husband did not have a chance to escape, but the soldiers started to run. The outermost troops lost as much as 60% during the night, and more than 800 people fled overnight.
In the morning, count the number of people, Shen Youlong and ?Unexpectedly, it was his own nephew, but he sailed away in the night last night!
Shi Wangzheng is not the only one who is angry. Obviously, there are also generals who are using public equipment for private use, and they are also using grain ships to carry goods.
In order to stop the loss, the generals asked for the unloading of the goods, and asked the civilian men to carry the goods on the shore, and move the luggage and food back to the ship. Even if he escapes, the civilian husband can't take too much away, unlike the boat that escapes and loses everything.
Shen Youlong was so angry that he called the generals and scolded his head and face: "What time is it, you are still greedy for money. Take out your silver and donate one hundred taels per person. I will give it to the soldiers again." Pay more!"
It can only be punished in this way, the board falls gently, and the war is about to start, Shen Youlong dare not offend the general.
The military generals in the late Ming Dynasty were indeed of low status, but at the same time they were arrogant and domineering.
A military officer of the sixth rank dared to wear casual clothes of the first rank, and swaggered past the civil servants, but the civil servants could only turn a blind eye to it.
"kill!"
As he was walking, there was a sudden cry of killing in the mountains ahead.
"Stop marching!"
"Array, array, don't panic!"
After a while, only a few search teams were killed by 500 Datong ambushes, and more than 20 people sent out to explore the road were killed by the Datong army's ambushes.
Shen Youlong was about to be driven crazy. For more than a hundred miles, he had to walk along the river bank, and both sides of the Dongjiang River were full of mountains, and any section of the road might be ambushed.
Fei Ruhe only needed to send five hundred soldiers to create panic along the way.
More officers and soldiers were sent into the mountain, and the five hundred fellow soldiers ran away immediately. Once the officers and soldiers relax, the false ambush may become a real ambush.
These officers, soldiers and soldiers are almost suffering from neurasthenia.