Besides, in the palace, after Chongzhen learned the news that Zhang Lei had entered Songshan and started a fierce battle with the Qing army, his whole mood suddenly improved. The tension and anxiety he had felt during the past few days were instantly relieved at this time. , too many things have happened this year, Zhang Lei is already his only sustenance. Since the beginning of the year, he has not heard any good news at all.
For example, on the seventh day of February, the commander-in-chief Zuo Liangyu, the governor-general of Shaanxi Province Zheng Chongjian, and others defeated Zhang Xianzhong at Manao Mountain in Taiping County. At that time, the rebel army was divided into three routes: the west route Zhang Xianzhong occupied the Chu-Shu border, the east route Ge Liyan, the south route Cao Wei, Guo Tianxing and so on. Yang Sichang stationed himself in Xiangyang and ordered Zuo Liangyu to suppress Zhang Xianzhong. Zuo Liangyu led his army to fight Zhang Xianzhong at Gouping Pass (west of Xing'an County, Shaanxi Province), but Xianzhong was defeated. Zuo Liangyu asked to go to Shu from Xixiang, Hanyang, to pursue him. Yang Sichang ordered Zuo Liangyu to send other generals to pursue him, but Zuo Liangyu refused. At that time, Zhang Xianzhong moved his army to Jiugunping. Seeing the steepness of Manao Mountain, he took control of it. Zuo Liangyu's army reached the bottom of the mountain, but Zhang Xianzhong had already occupied the top of the mountain. Zuo Liangyu divided his troops into three groups and marched up after hearing the drum. After a long and fierce battle, Zhang Xianzhong's army was defeated. Zuo Liangyu's soldiers defeated the sweeping king Cao Wei, the white horse Deng Tianwang and 16 other rebel leaders. Zhang Xianzhong's wife and concubines were captured, and Zhang Xianzhong fled to Xing and returned to the mountains. Soon they entered Xing'an and Fang counties. The officers and soldiers were afraid of the dangerous mountains and did not attack. Zhang Xianzhong lurked in the dense forests and bribed the mountain people to buy salt and rice. The mountain people became the eyes and ears of the rebel army. Zhang Xianzhong gathered loose soldiers and regained his momentum.
For example, on May 13th, heavy rains fell day and night in Wujiang, Gui'an and other places in Su, Song, Hu, and other prefectures. The water suddenly burst out and surged instantly, regardless of the embankments, and houses collapsed. However, the price of rice is soaring, and the price of a fight of rice is three or four cents, and many rich families are keeping their money. The roots and bark of the grass and trees that the people eat are all gone. Leaving his wife behind to sleep with the deceased. The tyrannical men were in small groups. People eat when they make noise, the neighbors go on strike, and the villages close their doors and people are angry.
Another example is that in July, Zhang Xianzhong walked west to Baiyang Mountain to meet Luo Rucai. At this time, Cao Wei and Guo Tianxing wanted to cross the river, but were blocked by Ming officers and soldiers. Zhang Xianzhong arrived and met him. Although Zhang Xianzhong was defeated, he was still full of energy and immediately rode by the river. Those who did not do so would kill them frequently, and the officers and soldiers would retreat. After Zhang Xianzhong crossed the river, he stationed himself in Wanqing Mountain. At this time, Yang Sichang came up from Yilingshuo by boat. However, Zhang Xianzhong's power was already strong, and he successively captured Dachang and Kaixian, attacked Jianzhou in the north, and was about to enter Hanzhong. He also attacked Mianzhou and Luzhou and reached Kaixian County. Yang Sichang is in Chongqing. He summoned Renlong and Zuo Liangyu to come for help, but neither of them came.
Half a year has passed in the blink of an eye. In the past six months, the originally good situation took a turn for the worse. Most of the Ming Dynasty once again fell into the hands of the enemy. The only news of victory that could be heard came from Zhang Lei. Chongzhen couldn't help but feel desperate. He loved and hated Zhang Lei. What he loved was that he could bring him such big surprises every time. What he hated was that Zhang Lei was so outstanding that he was afraid that he would not be able to hold it in the future. Zhang Lei. Sometimes he even wondered, if Zhang Lei had not been driven away, but allowed to continue to assist him, would the rebellions in various places have been eliminated and the reconstruction work started? Of course, this is just an if. From the moment he drove Zhang Lei away, this if has ceased to exist. What awaits Chongzhen is only the consequences and results.
Zhang Lei didn't know what happened in the Central Plains, and he didn't need to know, because there was nothing he could do if he knew. He was still fighting the Qing soldiers. Because he had advanced weapons, after using Songshan City as a transit point, the plane flew again Arriving over Jinzhou. Huang Taiji and Ye Bushu were both extremely frightened because they realized that they were wrong. The things flying in the sky could not only fly from the big ship to Songshan City, but also to Jinzhou. After passing these two places , they were no longer in the mood to try how far this strange guy could fly, so in desperation, Huang Taiji ordered his troops to retreat and stationed in Shenyang, waiting for an opportunity to attack again. It was impossible for Zhang Lei to fight to Shenyang, as his flying ability did not allow it, so he had to give up. After all the soldiers stationed in Jinzhou and left all the aircraft, fuel and artillery shells, etc., the Taiping No. 1 had no use. Qin Luofeng drove back to Taiping Island.
Chongzhen was extremely happy to learn that Zhang Lei had driven the Tatar soldiers back to Shenyang. He issued an edict asking Zhang Lei to come back and help him fight the peasant army. Zhang Lei refused on the spot on the grounds that if he left, the Qing soldiers would definitely attack again. Jinzhou, instead of waiting for Jinzhou to be captured by the Qing army and then recapture it, it is better to directly station in Jinzhou to contain the Qing army. As for the civil war, let Chongzhen appoint other people. It was already a critical moment, and Chongzhen couldn't lose his temper with Zhang Lei, so he could only tolerate Zhang Lei and ordered him to garrison Jinzhou to protect the safety of the north.
In August, Yang Sichang sent troops to Shu. At that time, the supervisor Wan Yuanji entered Shu first and ordered the Shu generals to guard Ba, Wu and other dangerous places. Qin generals He Renlong and Li Guoqi, and Chu generals Zhang Yingyuan, Wang Zhifeng, and Zhang Zuokai were dedicated to the pursuit. Ying Yuan and others fought with the rebels in Kuizhou and camped in Tutu Ridge. The people and dragons stayed there and could not move. Zhang Xianzhong learned that most of the Chu troops were newly recruited soldiers, so he led a large army to attack Ying Yuan and Zhi Feng. Ying Yuan broke through and Zhi Feng died at the foot of the mountain. Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai marched towards Guanyin Rock and took advantage of the danger to defend it.
On the sixth day of September, the Ming army was defeated at Guanyin Rock. At that time, ten thousand yuan was auspiciousGuarding Wushan, Shao Jiechun was stationed in Dachang, supporting each other. Hou Jiechun used the words of his generals and believed that the upper, middle and lower horse crossings of Dachang were shallow and flat and difficult to guard, so he divided his troops into three places, each with three to four hundred men to defend them. The rebel army suddenly arrived and broke the upper horse crossing first. Yuan Ji urgently ordered the generals to gather at Tanjialing, Qibengkan, Qianxi and other places, and also sent Zhang Zuokai's troops to garrison Jingbi. Jiechun sent two generals, Luo Hongzheng and Shen Yinglong, to help him. However, Zhang Xianzhong had already broken through Jingbi and headed towards Dachang, so he captured Dachang.
Li Zicheng entered Henan from Yun and Jun. At first, Li Zicheng was besieged in Yubeli Mountain (east of Fengjie County, Sichuan). At that time, many rebels surrendered to the army. Li Zicheng wanted to commit suicide, but his adopted son Shuangxi dissuaded him. Li Zicheng's subordinate Liu Zongmin killed his wife and told Li Zicheng that he would swear to obey the emperor to the death. When the strong men in the army heard about it, they killed their wives many times and swore to follow Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng burned all his baggage and rode lightly into Henan.
Although Chongzhen was a little unhappy since Zhang Lei said he would be stationed in the north, he was still grateful to Zhang Lei from the bottom of his heart. Although he did not help him go to the Central Plains to fight, at least it gave him no worries, right?
The reason why Zhang Lei did not choose to go south was to guard against the Qing army. Another thing that has to be said is that his soldiers were too few to support a two-front battle, so he chose to block the northern troops. Manchu Tatars, leaving the Central Plains to other soldiers. And with Zhang Lei in charge here, the Manchu Tatars were indeed very obedient and determined not to go too far. In addition to presiding over the reconstruction of production, life, defense, etc. in the north, Zhang Lei was also designing a system that could be used. The only weapon that can crush opponents on land is tanks. As long as there are tanks, the problem of too few soldiers will be solved.
He stayed in Jinzhou, but as a result, his stay created a big problem. He really overestimated the combat capabilities of the Ming army and underestimated the corruption capabilities of officials.
In the blink of an eye, in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, there was no one in charge in the entire Ming Dynasty. The armies that had lost their credibility and food and salary supplies followed the rebels to burn, kill, and loot at all costs, especially when locust plagues broke out all over the world. At that time, it was even more out of control. Li Zicheng broke through Kaifeng City, Zhang Xianzhong defeated Zuo Liangyu, broke into Xiangyang City and killed King Xiang, leading to the execution of Xiong Wencan. Yang Sichang, who was seriously ill and could not resist, was forced to commit suicide by internal and external troubles, and Emperor Chongzhen died with his own hands. The last glimmer of hope for the great country!
With absolutely no one to stop him, Zhang Xianzhong was out of control in the south. After conquering Huguang, he once again raised troops to invade Fengyang. This time, no matter how Shi Kefa raised his troops, he could not stop his 200,000-strong army. Zhang Xianzhong defeated Yingzhou and burned it. Shouzhou, Xialu'an Prefecture, violently attacked Luzhou for seven days, divided their forces to capture Shucheng and Lujiang River, and finally merged into one to attack Chaoxian County with all their strength!
Within two years, the city defense facilities that Zhang Lei had worked so hard to build and left behind were wiped out by greedy officials. The magistrate of Chao County sent a signal for help through the hidden line Zhang Lei left behind, and then organized the entire city's soldiers and civilians to fight to the death, killing blood. Flowing pestle.
This situation made Zhang Lei feel both resentful and helpless. He really couldn't think of any other words to describe his current mood. After learning that Chaoxian County was attacked, Zhang Lei immediately made up his mind and led his troops south to rescue. All the aircraft were retained, and Rodman was appointed commander-in-chief to carry out defense work on his behalf. Zhang Lei knew that the Qing soldiers were not afraid of him, but of the aircraft that were very mysterious and extremely lethal to them. Leaving the planes in Jinzhou could effectively deter the Qing army.
After arranging the entire work, Zhang Lei did not leave immediately because he had just received a report that the Tianzi warship was about to arrive here, bringing the latest individual equipment, which were all from the laboratory on Taiping Island. The result of careful research and preparation. Zhang Lei¡¯s ideas have already penetrated into all aspects of Taiping Island¡¯s latest technology. He believes that although the three-eyed gun is now very powerful in combat against other armies, its shortcomings are self-evident, so the pace of research and development must not be stopped. Coupled with the newly developed nitroglycerin and detonators, Before leaving, Zhang Lei taught Fang Yizhi all the next work and asked him to do it on his behalf. Fang Yizhi was indeed a talent. After arduous experiments, he finally produced nitroglycerin explosive and could use it in actual combat.
Seeing that the world was out of control and learning that Zhang Lei was about to go south to fight again, Lu Xiangsheng wrote to Chongzhen asking to follow Zhang Lei to drive out the bandits. After Yang Sichang's death, no one in the court could restrain him. Chongzhen then once again appointed Lu Xiangsheng as the Governor of the National Military and Horses, and used his hand to order Zhang. Lei was the deputy governor of Huguang, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Fengyang and Luzhou, and was the general commander in charge of rectifying Zhang Xianzhong's banditry. (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature. The novels will be better and updated faster!