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Volume 13: Reviving the Ming Dynasty Chapter 631: The Defeat of the Arrogant Soldiers

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    Wu Sangui was very excited to be appointed by the emperor to lead troops to quell the rebellion. Although he had been a general in Liaodong for many years, it was also a great honor to be personally appointed by the emperor.  So after receiving the order, he immediately selected the most capable and capable soldiers from Liaodong's 100,000 elite soldiers, and then set off for Gansu to quell the rebellion.

    Before he left, his father Wu Xiang reminded him earnestly: "The way of using soldiers is not only a word of courage. Although the enemies we face cannot compare with the fierce Jiannu, you cannot take it lightly."

    In front of his father, Wu Sangui naturally did not dare to be presumptuous and quickly agreed, but in his heart, he did not agree with it.  He had fought against the Jin people, and following Tang Feng, he had easily defeated the rebels who were far superior to his own many times or abandoned their weapons and surrendered. Therefore, in his young heart, he believed that these rebels were simply vulnerable.  Yes, as long as he arrives in Gansu, he can calm down the chaos as quickly as possible.

    His idea quickly spread to the hearts of every sergeant. After a long period of undefeated results, the whole army was filled with an aura of arrogance from top to bottom.  However, because Wu Sangui was ordered by the emperor himself this time, and there were no stable generals accompanying him to quell the chaos, there was no one around to persuade him.

    After half a month of trekking, 30,000 troops finally entered Gansu.  Although he despised the enemy, Wu Sangui's long-term combat habits still caused Wu Sangui to immediately mess up his plans. After arriving at the place, he sent a large number of scouts to investigate. At the same time, he also sent thousands of vanguards.  I want to give the rebels a showdown before they find out.

    ¡°Obviously, the rebels were not prepared for the arrival of the Liaodong Army, and they were not surprised until someone encountered the vanguard.  With a similar troop strength, the combat power of this vanguard Liaodong Army was indeed beyond what ordinary rebels could resist. After the first battle, they wiped out about 2,000 enemies and suffered almost zero casualties.

    When Wu Sangui learned about such brilliant results, he was very happy.  He no longer marched cautiously, but marched forward with a large army. He wanted to find the main force of the rebel army and fight it decisively, so as to put an end to the chaos that had just started in one battle.

    However, as the army accelerated its pace, problems slowly emerged.  Except for a few enemies who were unable to dodge, the anti-military horses that had been detected suddenly disappeared. Every attack of the army was missed. This made the whole army have strange thoughts or feel disappointed.  Or they underestimate the enemy and think that these rebels are nothing to be afraid of.  At this time, Wu Sangui suddenly realized that he had acted too hastily.

    The current situation is that they have penetrated deep into the central part of Gansu, but they have not seen many cities. Naturally, they cannot obtain food and grass on the spot, let alone find enemies to fight with them.  Gansu was originally a sparsely populated area, but now because of some rebellion, a lot of people were taken away, which made the place even more desolate.  When he learned that the army's available food supply was less than three days' supply, Wu Sangui quickly ordered people to go back and collect food supplies. He vaguely felt that he had really made a big mistake.

    Just when the Liaodong Army was in a dilemma, their enemies were already planning a counterattack against them.  The leader of this rebel army was none other than Wu Sangui's old acquaintance, Li Zicheng and Li Yan, who had been defeated by him many times in Shaanxi, Henan and other places.

    After being defeated and forced to surrender three years ago, Li Zicheng and others were dispersed again and filled into the border army.  Although they were not convinced, after completely losing command of their personnel, they were unable to cause any major disturbances.  In desperation, Li Zicheng had to restrain his rebelliousness temporarily, but he did not remain silent, but became more hidden.

    This year, Li Zicheng was finally appreciated by his superiors for his extraordinary ability, and was promoted. He was sent to a health center here in Gansu as a general.  And here, he met his old partner Li Yan again.  Li Yan was sent here a long time ago. Although he has martial arts skills, he already knows that personal martial arts cannot play a big role. Only by uniting more people can he deal with the government.  So in the past two years, he actually tolerated it and used the White Lotus Sect's methods to form many brothers here.

    The arrival of Li Zicheng greatly increased Li Yan's confidence. Together, the two soon had a large number of his cronies.  They deserved to have the opportunity to rebel again. Due to the financial difficulties of the imperial court, the soldiers here in Gansu actually owed military pay for several months this year. In addition, the soldiers' land in their hometowns was occupied by some powerful people, which made the soldiers complain a lot.  .  Some people even escaped secretly because of this, but the local military attach¨¦s in Gansu did not take it seriously. In their view, with a few fewer soldiers, they could eat more free pay, which was actually a good thing.

    As a result, these superiors are even more harsh on ordinary soldiers.  The conflict between the two parties was seen by Li Zicheng and they naturally did not agree.Will let it go.  When they got together with their subordinates during the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, the two began to instigate each other in harmony, mentioning the Shangguan's greed and the difficult situation of the soldiers several times, intentionally or unintentionally.

    Those ordinary sergeants felt the same way about this. Driven by their drunkenness, they followed the two of them and cursed the unworthy officials.  Little did he know that at this time, a Shangguan from the local police station was invited by Li Zicheng to attend the meeting. After hearing everyone's insults to him, the Shangguan naturally couldn't bear it and even had these people punished.

    These soldiers were originally resentful of their superiors, and now they were beaten by them. Under the influence of alcohol, they rebelled.  The Shangguan had only a few hundred trusted followers, but here there were hundreds of strong men. Once the two sides started taking action, victory or defeat would naturally be decided.  While the two sides were fighting and the situation was chaotic, Li Zicheng sneaked up on Shangguan and killed him with a single blow.

    When everyone suddenly discovered that Shangguan had been killed, most people were awakened, but the facts could not be changed.  Li Zicheng immediately provoked: "If we kill our superior officer, the court will not spare us lightly. I am afraid that we will die of humiliation, and it will also harm our own families."

    ??????????????????????????????????????????????? Out of nowhere, everyone didn't know who it was that took advantage of the chaos to kill Shangguan. Seeing that Li Zicheng's words were reasonable, everyone felt as if they were mourning.  Finally someone asked, "What should we do?"

    "Then there is only one way, rebel! Anyway, we are all going to die. Why don't we fight for our future? Maybe we can also create a new dynasty. By then, not only will everyone not die, but they will also be able to honor their ancestors.  , We don¡¯t have to suffer from those dog officials anymore!¡± Li Yan came out in time to add fuel to the fire.

    When it came to this, it was either rebellion or death. The sergeants made their decision immediately.  In order to show their determination, they also killed all the soldiers brought by Shangguan, thus completely cutting off their escape route.  Then several hundred of them began a vigorous rebellion.

    The treatment of the local officers and soldiers in Gansu is not only inferior to that in important towns such as Liaodong, but also in Shaanxi and other places. The officers and soldiers here are also pent-up and have nowhere to vent their anger.  Therefore, after Li Zicheng and others raised the banner of rebellion, thousands of people followed them in a short period of time.  At this time, Li Yan even used his own methods to agitate people's hearts and put forward the slogan of equalizing the land and exempting them from grain taxes.  It is said that as long as those who surrender to Li Zicheng can not only get the fertile land taken from the rich, but also will not be charged any taxes.  As soon as this slogan came out, the people even more enthusiastically supported them. The number of Li Zicheng's rebel troops also increased sharply. From a mere few thousand, it suddenly increased to nearly 50,000 people, and most of them were former officers and soldiers. This strength was even greater.  Sheng Gao Ying Xiang that year.

    Seeing that he had enough troops in his hands, Li Zicheng once again took up the banner of Chuang Wang. This time, he naturally became Chuang King as a matter of course.  As a result, after September entered, many people who were originally Gao Yingxiang's old troops came, which allowed Li Zicheng's power to expand again.

    The Gansu government sent out troops several times, but they were severely defeated. In the end, they had to spend 600 miles to rush to the court for help.  This matter soon became known to Li Zicheng, and Li Yan devised a way to deal with it.  He knew very well that once the imperial court sent troops, they would most likely be the Liaodong Army, which was something he could not handle. Only by deploying surprise troops could he be sure of victory.  Therefore, his strategy was to bring in the government troops and lengthen their logistical supply lines, thereby cutting off their supplies by taking advantage of the convenience that the local people in Gansu had bought for him, and win without a fight.

    This strategy was very successful. Wu Sangui completely ignored the supply problem because of his contempt for the rebel army. By the time he realized it, it was already too late. The army had less than three days of food available, which made him very frustrated.  Worry.  He quickly called his generals and asked them to send people to the back to collect food. They must have people deliver the food within three days, while he himself led the troops and continued to search for enemies around him.  But all this has been informed by the local people through various means to Li Zicheng and others, who stayed far away from the sharp edges of the government and army.

    Two days later, on the bank of the Yalong River, which was 70 miles away from the official camp, the imperial army escorting hundreds of carts of food was attacked by the rebels at night. The team of about 2,000 people was surrounded by more than 5,000 people.  After eating the dumplings, only dozens of people escaped, and all the hundreds of carts of food were taken away by the rebels.

    When the escaped sergeant told Wu Sangui the bad news, he couldn't believe his ears.  At the same time, he felt frightened and angry again. Now there was no food available for his 30,000 men.  He quickly gathered the generals together and asked for their opinions. At this time, he no longer had the determination and high-spiritedness he had before.

    In the end, everyone only came to one conclusion. It would be very difficult to retreat under such circumstances, because the food left in the army nowThey can only eat for a day or two, but it will take at least five days to retreat to a place with supplies.  The only way is to find the rebels and seize the food and grass from their hands. This can ensure the needs of the army.

    In desperation, the government and army had to send reconnaissance cavalry and scouts everywhere to find the location of the rebels.  But the rebels have been avoiding each other these days, how could they easily find them?  Gansu is a large place with few people, which is more convenient for them to hide. At the end of the day, those who were sent out found nothing at all.

    After knowing that it was impossible to find the enemy in a short period of time, Wu Sangui had to make a decision that made him feel ashamed - to withdraw.  He knew that he had fallen into the enemy's trap. Once the army ran out of food and its morale was shaken, the enemy would come and kill him, and then it would be really out of control.

    The army then set off to return eastward, but Wu Sangui still kept an eye on it and ambush 5,000 elite soldiers on the road before retreating.  Once the rebels take this opportunity to attack, these five thousand troops alone will be enough to make them run away without food.

    But unfortunately, the army walked eastward for a day and never saw a trace of the rebels.  It can be said that the quelling of the rebellion was a huge failure. Only a few small troops were defeated, but a team carrying grain was lost, and hundreds of carts of grain were lost.  How could Wu Sangui bear this breath? He looked back at the flying dust behind him and said bitterly: "When I prepare enough food and grass, I will definitely annihilate all of you next time!"

    When Wu Sangui turned around and said these harsh words, he never thought that the rebels would set an ambush in front of them.  When the army was tired and hungry and set up camp to rest, 70,000 to 80,000 rebel troops came out from three sides at the same time. It was the end of September and there was no moon in the sky.

    It is true that the Liaodong Army is elite, but after a day's journey and only eating less than half a bowl of gruel, the combat power of the Liaodong Army cannot be compared with the enemy who was waiting there early and had a full meal of war food.  When the rebels suddenly arrived, lit fires everywhere, and rushed into the official camp, the long-time battle-hardened Liaodong Army also panicked. At most, they had less than 100% of their ability.  Thirty percent.  Under such circumstances, the inferior Liaodong Army immediately fell into passivity.

    That night, the Liaodong Army was severely defeated, with more than 10,000 casualties. Wu Sangui only escaped with more than 2,000 people.  The Liaodong Army has never suffered a defeat since it was founded by Sun Chengzong.  What's more serious is that the rebel army not only gained great confidence from this battle, but also obtained the equipment of the Ming Dynasty's most elite army, whether it was high-quality steel swords, guns, armor, or firecrackers, bows and crossbows.  The combat effectiveness of the anti-military forces has increased by more than one level.

    Ten days later, Tang Feng, who had been staying at home, learned of Gansu's defeat earlier than Chongzhen. The news was naturally brought by Bai Liangfeng, who came in at night.  He felt very helpless. He had just wanted to make a name for himself as a Jinyiwei by helping Wu Sangui quell the chaos, but the Liaodong Army was defeated so easily by the rebels.  It's a pity that after all his hard work, so many capable people in Jinyiwei have just made progress, but they have no use.

    Tang Feng was also startled when he learned the news. He knew that he had been negligent and had forgotten that Wu Sangui was just a young man and was far from being sophisticated.  Even if he had the most elite Liaodong Army in the Ming Dynasty, he would still be defeated if he was negligent.

    Seeing that Tang Feng didn't speak for a long time, Bai Liangfeng couldn't bear it any longer: "Guo Gong, what should we do next? This time, things must not be hidden from Dongchang. Their power is getting stronger and stronger. We must  Make a difference."

    Tang Feng sighed and said, "It's God's will. It seems that after this battle, these anti-military forces will become extremely powerful, and it will be even more difficult to contain them." After saying this, he  Only then did he react and said to Bai Liangfeng: "Now is not the time to lose heart. Although Wu Sangui was defeated, as long as he cleans up the remaining troops and old troops, he can still fight the enemy. By then, perhaps the role of Jin Yiwei will be more obvious.  Woolen cloth."

    Bai Liangfeng didn't quite believe such words of comfort, but he could also tell that Tang Feng said it when he had no other choice.  He could only nod in agreement, and then left depressedly.

    After walking out of the study room, Tang Feng felt even heavier. Will this failure make the ending of the Ming Dynasty repeat itself in history?  The rebel forces then increased in strength, until they finally invaded Beijing. If this was the case, what could they do?

    "It's a pity that now it is impossible for Tang Feng to gain the emperor's trust and lead troops to go on an expedition. Otherwise, he could have recommended himself to the emperor for orders.  And once the Jin people learn about Gansu, will they be content in the Northeast?  The soldiers and horses in Liaodong can no longer move, and the combat effectiveness of the soldiers and horses in other places is much weaker. How to quell the chaos?  Tang Feng suddenly felt that the adverse consequences caused by this defeat were so serious.

    After a sleepless night, when Tang FengWhen he came out of the bedroom, he saw Xie Huo waiting for him outside.  He asked a little strangely: "Quiet, didn't you watch the emperor in the palace last night? Why didn't you go and take a rest?"

    "Young master, I'm waiting for you specially. I saw something in the palace yesterday. I don't know if it's what you want to see."

    "Oh, what is it? Let me hear it." Tang Feng immediately became interested and asked quickly.  He had already thought of killing Chongzhen, and naturally he would not let go of any opportunity.

    "At three o'clock yesterday, someone suddenly sent a battle report outside the palace. The emperor was in a bad mood after reading it. At this time, a eunuch accidentally knocked over a lamp in front of the emperor. So the emperor  He got furious and punished several eunuchs around him. The one who accidentally knocked over the lamp was beaten to death.

    "Before I left, I heard some eunuchs whispering that they missed the Tianqi Dynasty very much. They are not human beings now" Xie Yuu told the story exactly.

    After listening to this, Tang Feng¡¯s eyes flashed with light. He felt as if an opportunity had arrived. This might be the moment to change his destiny, but it was also extremely risky and made it difficult for him to make a decision for a while
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