Chapter 214 Fierce battle

Shanhaiguan.

When Nanjing was in a rebellion because of its support for the new emperor, the bandits and Wu Sangui fought fiercely on a stone for five days.

Six days ago, Li Zicheng led 100,000 elite bandits to Yongping, and joined more than 10,000 remaining soldiers of Li Guo and Li Yan. The troops were divided into two groups. His nephew Li Shuangxi led 20,000 troops to attack Shanhaiguan, while he himself led nearly 100,000 troops to attack Yishi.

A stone is the pass of the Great Wall to the north of Shanhaiguan. After all, Li Zicheng is an old bandit who has experienced many battles. He is extremely old in tactics. His tactics are very simple, which is to first break through the pass with relatively weak defense, and then form a cross-strike to Shanhaiguan from outside the pass. This move is undoubtedly very powerful, because the bandits have an absolute advantage in military strength.

However, Wu Sangui is not a good person. Through his observation of the frontal bandits in Shanhaiguan, he accurately judged the intention of the bandits, gathered heavy troops in a stone pass, and came to a point of attack on the wheat. The bandit army launched an attack on Shanhaiguan and a stone pass the next day, but was hit by the Guanning Army.

After five days of fierce battle, both armies suffered heavy casualties. Although the Guanning Army had natural barriers in the Great Wall to prove, the bandit army at this time was no longer the same as before. These 100,000 bandits were not only experienced many battles, but also had extremely well-equipped. The lineup included cavalry, archers, spearmen, swords and shields and other perfect configurations, and even brought more than a dozen red cannons from Beijing City.

The closing of a stone pass was soon destroyed by the red cannons, and the bandits rushed forward, and the two armies fought desperately in the cave in the city gate. After five days, nearly 10,000 corpses were left inside and outside the city gate, and the bodies of the soldiers of the two armies almost filled the entire closing door. The stench of the rotten corpses was stolen, and the stench of the rotten corpses was a thousand steps away.

"Boom boom boom..."

After more than a dozen cannons, a violent wave of Earth Soul Mountain followed. The corpse that blocked the city gate was instantly blown by solid iron bombs from the red cannons, and the simple city wall that the Guanning Army built around the city gate overnight was also blown into ruins. Dozens of Guanning Army soldiers who were staying under the city wall were buried alive under the broken walls.

Amid the deafening shouts, the army of thieves flocked toward and launched a fierce attack on a stone pass again!

On the pile of stone passes, Wu Sanguiyuan stared at the blood-red eyes and stared fiercely at the thief surging like a tide, almost shattering his steel teeth. He had not had a good sleep for six days. Since the thief army reached the stone, he had never slept well again!

However, Wu Sangui was not sleepy, but on the contrary, he felt a perverted excitement!

The strength of the bandits was far beyond Wu Sangui's expectations. As early as three or five years ago, this group of bandits were just a group of vulnerable mobs. At that time, any Ming official army could beat them up. The Guanning Army had the strongest combat effectiveness among all the Ming Dynasty's official army. What was the bandits at that time?

However, after just a few years, the fighting power of the bandits has made a qualitative leap! In the fierce battle in a cave in a stone city gate, the most elite Guanning Army of the Ming Dynasty actually suffered a great loss! After the fierce battle in the past five days, the bandits only died more than 4,000 people, while the Guanning Army was killed more than 8,000 people!

Relying on the natural danger of the Great Wall, the proportion of deaths was twice that of the bandits. Wu Sangui held the dove and sighed in his heart. It would be great if he could transfer the ten red barbarian cannons on Shanhaiguan to a stone. If there were these ten red barbarian cannons, would the bandits dare to swarm in such unscrupulous manner?

"The thief is coming!"

"Brothers, cheer up!"

"Damn it, move quickly and lift the pile of stones to the top of the city!"

"Why are you? Don't lie on the ground and pretend to be dead. Be careful that I will kick your eggs!"

The noise started on the wall again. Wu Sangui recruited the civilians to help guard the city began to nervously carry the wooden and rolling stones to the wall. The archers of the Guanning Army were still hiding in the hidden soldiers' cave and not coming out. The spearmen and swords and shields sat calmly behind the pile, trying to keep their bodies close to the piles.

Several servants hugged them, blocked Wu Sangui with their bodies, and raised the big shield in their hands.

Before the servants raised their shields, Wu Sangui saw a "locust" rising from the sky in the distance, roaring towards the pass. Of course, it was not a "locust", it was the rain of arrows shot by the thief archers! Wu Sangui never expected that the damn thief actually had so many archers.

In the past five days of fierce fighting, it was this group of thieves and archers who suffered a lot from the Guanning Army. Most of the more than 8,000 people who died in battle died under the thieves' rain of arrows.

"Aoah..."

“Ahhaha…”

Amid the overwhelming roar, thousands of thieves rushed towards the wild like wild beasts smelling blood. Hundreds of elite thieves in heavy armor directly attacked the cave in the city gate, colliding with hundreds of elite Guanning troops who were guarding the cave in the city gate first. The sound of human bodies hitting, sharp blades pierced through the heavy armored voices, and the tragic howlings suddenly sounded inside and outside the city gate.

The narrow city gate hole has become the bloodiest meat grinder!

Here, the bandits and Guanning Army don’t have to think too much, and they can’t help thinking too much. They only have time to make one move, that is, to stab the steel knife and spear in their hands at the opponent. After doing this move, no matter how strong you are, it is difficult to have another chance to survive.

This is a way of fighting with life to win the lives. The competition is the spirit and will of the two armies, which depends on who is less afraid of death! If one side cannot stand this kind of killing without a chance to survive and collapse, then it will be not far from defeat. However, so far, the bandits and the Guanning Army have not collapsed.

In addition to launching a fierce attack on the city gate, the bandits also used hundreds of simple ladders to attack the Great Wall at the same time. While the bandits attacked, the archers' rain of arrows did not stop at all, and they still poured on the wall after round. The Guanning army on the wall was often just emerging and was quickly shot into a hedgehog.

But even if they were shot into a hedgehog, the Guanning Army did not dare not to emerge. The bandits had already rushed to the city wall and ladders were also set up. If they did not attack and let the bandits kill the city wall, there would be no need to fight this battle. Once a stone pass was lost, Shanhaiguan would definitely not be able to defend it.

The battle fell into a fierce heat from the beginning, and Li Zicheng, a bandit, had his own logic.

The thief may be used to living a poor life and is afraid of poverty. So once you have a powerful and elite archer, you will use it happily without any intention of being stingy with arrows. The thief's indifference to life has reached an outrageous level. There are several city walls that have climbed to the top of the city, but the thief's archer's archer's thief is still covering indiscriminately!

Many thieves fell under the rain of arrows from their own people, but more of the fallen Guanning Army were falling.

Seeing Guan Ningjun falling down one by one, Wu Sangui was worried and angry, punching the stone bricks on the Duanba. In his opinion, the thief's fighting style was completely nonsense and had no rules at all.

If Wu Sangui commanded the bandit army to attack, he would let the attacks of archers and infantry alternately, so that the killing effect would be better, and the casualties of his own people would be smaller. At the same time, the army would be divided into several stairs, and each attack would only be one staircase, with feint attacks in the middle. There would be feint attacks and strong attacks. Feint attacks could paralyze the will of the defenders, and strong attacks could catch the defenders off guard, so that the attack would be better.

But the thieves did not play this way at all. The bandits attacked continuously from the beginning, and they were in a state of striking attacks. They had no sympathy for their soldiers to die under their own arrows. However, this kind of unruly fighting style has damaged Wu Sangui's Guanning Pass and suffered heavy casualties.

"well."

Wu Sangui sighed deeply, looked back at the direction of Liaodong, thinking that if Jiannu didn't come again, he and Guanning Army would really explain to him in a stone pass.

The vanguard army of 60,000 Jiannu led by Dorgon had already advanced to Shaheyi, less than a hundred miles away from Shanhaiguan and Yishi. However, Dorgon still kept his mind. Dorgon did not completely believe in Wu Sangui, and he had to guard against it. If Wu Sangui colluded with the bandits and played a good show, then Dorgon would not only lose only Jiannu's 60,000 elite troops, but also the future and destiny of the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, the army stopped when it arrived at Shahe Post. Dorgon decided to wait until the subsequent army arrived before moving forward. At the same time, he sent a large number of explorers to spy on Shanhaiguan to see if there was a fierce battle there?

The horses sent out came back that night, claiming that there were sounds of killing in the direction of Shanhaiguan and a stone pass, especially the sound of killing in the direction of a stone pass was shocking. A horseman risked his life to climb a small hill near the pass and found that two troops were fighting fiercely, with many casualties, unlike acting.

Dorgon, who received the news, was very excited. It seemed that Wu Sangui had really turned against the thief, which was undoubtedly a great favorable news for the Qing Dynasty.

[Statement: When Huang Taiji was reigned, he ascended the throne and became emperor, and the country's name was changed to "Qing", so Jiannu in the article called himself the Qing Dynasty.]

What made Dorgon even more overjoyed was that that night, Wu Sangui actually rushed to Shaheyi with only a dozen personal soldiers and submitted a "National Letter" to Dorgon, and officially invited the Qing army to enter the pass to suppress the thieves in the name of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, Dorgon knew that this "National Letter" was forged by Wu Sangui, and Chongzhen was already dead. Where did the Ming Dynasty's letter come from?

However, it doesn't matter whether the letter of the country is true or false. What's important is that the Qing army finally had a reason to enter the pass. With the invitation of Wu Sangui and Guanning Army, the Qing army entered the pass and became a "benevolent and righteous army" who wiped out the bandits and avenged Emperor Chongzhen. Instead of the previous few times, it was a barbarian army that entered the pass and plundered.

Once the Qing army had the hat of "a army of benevolence and righteousness", the resistance the Qing army would be much weaker after entering the pass, and it would no longer be a distant dream to set the Central Plains. With the help of Fan Wencheng and Ning Wanwo, two hard-core traitors, and later Hong Chengchou, Dorgon had already quite aware of Han culture.

In Dorgon's view, Han culture is a pathological culture. They attach too much importance to the formal things such as the so-called "Three Bonds and Five Constant Persons, Etiquette and Integrity". In this regard, the Han people have always shown that they are petty and do not give in, but they often seem generous to some actual interests.

For example, the corrupt officials in the Ming court would argue for many years about whether the Qing Dynasty was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty or two equal countries. They insisted on fighting for a distinction between the master and the subordinates, and for this, they fought for more than ten or twenty years of verbal battles. But when they turned around, the Qing army entered the pass and plundered hundreds of thousands of Ming people and a large amount of property, but they could turn a blind eye to it and enjoy it.

Dorgon looked down on this pathological Han culture from the bottom of his heart.

In Dorgon's view, no matter which ethnic group or culture it is, it should be like a wolf. Whoever is stronger is the king. In the Ming Dynasty, even the people of its own country and its own nation cannot protect it, and it still competes for the title of a great power? Even if it competes for the title of a great power, without strong force as a backing, people will invade if they want to invade, and there is another use for a bird?

However, Dorgon also understood that the Ming Dynasty was a huge empire, much larger than he thought. The Han people were also a huge nation, and the number of Han people was thousands of times that of the entire population. If the Qing Dynasty wanted to enter the Central Plains, it would only use the pathological Han culture to strengthen its control over the Han people. Therefore, Wu Sangui's invitation would be so important to the Qing army!

Because Wu Sangui represented the position of the Ming Dynasty, with Wu Sangui's "official" invitation, the remaining scholars and gentry in the Ming Dynasty would not psychologically exclude the Qing army, because in their opinion, the Qing army was no longer an invader at this time, but a benevolent and righteous army for the Ming Dynasty to go to the national crisis, which laid the foundation for the Qing Dynasty to rule the Central Plains.

Inside a stone pass, there is a camp of thieves.

Li Zicheng was summoning civil servants and generals under his command, including Li You, Li Tong, Liu Zongmin, Ma Weixing, He Zhen, Xiao Yunlin, Song Xiance, Gu Junen, Tian Jianxiu, Li Guo, Li Yan, etc. to discuss matters. Just now, Wu Sangui sent someone to deliver a letter of war, threatening that the Guanning Army would line up ten miles east of a stone pass tomorrow to fight the rebel army.

Li Zicheng glanced at the tent with his eyes and asked in a deep voice: "What do you think?"

"Good thing." Liu Zongmin shouted, "Wu Sangui's grandson can't stand it anymore, I want to ask for some fun."

The other generals nodded and agreed with Liu Zongmin's opinion. Only the general Li Yan raised different opinions: "King, Wu Sangui suddenly proposed to retreat ten miles to fight our army to a decisive battle, and there must be a fraud!"

"Is there a fraud?" Li Zicheng asked in a deep voice, "Tell me, what tricks can Wu Sangui play?"

"That's right, what tricks can Wu Sanguihua play?" Liu Zongmin agreed, "He doesn't even guard a stone pass, what tricks can he play? He's ambushing and luring the enemy into the deeper? Then he has the ability. With the remaining 20,000 or 30,000 remaining defeated soldiers, what tricks can he play?"

"King." Li Yan ignored Liu Zongmin and said to Li Zicheng, "Don't forget that there is Jiannu outside the pass!"

"Jiannu?" Liu Zongmin sneered disdainfully, "How many people can a group of barbarians have and how much combat power can they have?"

"My king, don't underestimate Jiannu." Li Yan said, "The last general had a fight with Jiannu in Datong. The army of more than 50,000 was stormed by less than 10,000 cavalry in less than half an hour. If it weren't for Datong General Wang Pu sending troops to rescue him, the Shaanxi rebel army would have been wiped out!"

"So what?" Liu Zongmin said, "Later, in Datong, Wang Pu was still dealt with more than 50,000 people. Besides, what army was your Shaanxi rebel army at that time? It was called a mob! What army is the king's army today? It was called an elite army. Can it be compared?"

Li Yan said: "Anyway, I think the king should be more careful. Jiannu is not good at fighting tough battles, but the field battle is extremely powerful."

"Deputy Military Advisor." Li Zicheng's single-eyed eyes turned to Song Xiance and asked, "What do you mean, is it possible for Wu Sangui, the gray grandson, to defect to Jiannu?"

"It's hard to say." Song Xiance said, "If Wu Sangui really dares to surrender to Jiannu, he will be infamous for thousands of years and will always bear the reputation of a traitor. But if he doesn't surrender to Jiannu, he will definitely die. It's really hard to make a conclusion about whether he cherishes his life or his reputation."

The confidant Gu Junen suddenly stepped out and said, "King, my subordinates think that Wu Sangui will never be able to collude with Jiannu."

"Oh?" Li Zicheng said, "Tell me your reasons."

Gu Junen said: "It took only more than a month before and after our Dashun Army entered the capital, and it was less than ten days since the rebellion with Wu Sangui. How could Wu Sangui get involved with Jiannu in such a short time? Before that, Wu Sangui and Jiannu had been in a hostile relationship. Even if Wu Sangui was willing to surrender to the thief, Jiannu could not believe it."

Gu Junen's analysis makes sense. As usual, this is true. Even if Wu Sangui is willing to surrender the thief, he will first send someone to contact Jiannu, and then Jiannu will then send someone to reply, first establishing political mutual trust, and then establishing cooperative relations in the military. This does take some time and will never be reached in a hurry.

But this is just common sense. There are many things in the world that cannot be measured by common sense, especially those who are courageous and skilled. Everything they do cannot be measured by common sense!

But Li Zicheng was obviously convinced by Gu Junen and Liu Zongmin, or was too confident in the 100,000 elite thieves under his command. He was like a nouveau riche who had been poor for most of his life and was exposed overnight. He thought that the two money in his hand could handle everything in the world. Li Zicheng really didn't take Jiannu seriously.

The next day, the Guanning Army indeed retreated ten miles to form an array as agreed.

Wu Sangui arranged the Guanning Army, which had less than 40,000 left, into a dozen rectangular square formations, along the Great Wall, forming a long snake formation with a character-shaped square formation. In the middle of the long snake formation was a mixed square formation composed of spearmen and sword and shield hands. In the front three rows were spearmen, behind were sword and shield hands, and the two square formations on both wings were Guanning Iron Cavalry.

It was confirmed that the Guanning army had all withdrawn from the pass, and the bandit army began to cross the Great Wall.

With the help of the city gate hole at the pass and hundreds of cloud ladders, nearly 60,000 bandit infantry all crossed the Great Wall in less than two hours. By noon, nearly 20,000 bandit cavalry also passed through the pass. Nearly 80,000 bandit cavalry and infantry army set up a larger long snake formation along the Great Wall. The two wings were cavalry, and the middle were spearmen and swords and shields, but there were 20,000 archers behind the bandits!

After the three-way drum, Li Zicheng immediately pulled out his waist knife and led forward. The nearly 80,000 cavalry army immediately swept towards the Guanning Army like a flood that broke the dike. Li Zicheng, the bandit, took his original "unorganized" tactics to the fullest.

In theory, the best tactic to crack the Guanning Army's one-character snake formation should be to restrain the two wings and then gather superior forces to break through the middle, or gather superior forces to defeat the enemy's wing first. However, Li Zicheng did not follow these classic tactics, and no matter how many times he came up, he would attack the entire line.

This is also the usual style of a thief. If you win, you will beat you to throw away your armor and spit out. If you can't beat me, I will run away.

However, with the rich combat experience of the bandits and the transformation of a large number of new recruits into veterans, coupled with the improvement of equipment, few troops can withstand the fierce attack of the bandits.

In terms of individual soldiers' quality, Li Zicheng's bandits and Wu Sangui's Guanning Army can be said to be comparable. Jiannu outside the pass may be stronger, but the advantages are not obvious. The combat effectiveness of these three armies is basically at the same level, but in terms of equipment, the Guanning Army is the worst.

In addition, the bandits had twice the advantage of military strength. After less than half an hour of fierce fighting, the Guanning Army began to feel overwhelmed. Although the Long Snake Formation had a long front defense, it increased the difficulty of the bandits' detours behind the side, but because the formation was too long, the troops in each square formation were less, and under the fierce attack of the bandits, it was already on the verge of collapse.

The Guanning Army was on the verge of collapse, but Jiannu still did not make any noise. Wu Sangui was anxious and angry, and greeted Dorgon's ancestors in his heart. Of course, he knew what Dorgon had planned. Dorgon's wishful thinking was to let the Guanning Army use up the spirit of the bandits and then reap the benefits of the fisherman!

In fact, the 60,000 Jiannu army led by Dorgon had already quietly moved behind the ridge of the left wing of the Guanning Army.

Seeing that Wu Sangui's Guanning Army was about to be unable to support it, Dorgon gave an order and took the Zhenghong Banner and the 5,000 iron cavalry of the Zhenglan Banner as the vanguard, and the 20,000 Korean Eight Banners and the 20,000 Han Army Eight Banners as the main force to launch an attack on the right-wing cavalry corps of the bandits. Dorgon was somewhat despised by the bandits, and his understanding of the bandits was still at the level of the mob outside Datong City.

Dorgon's wishful thinking made a sound. He first used 5,000 iron cavalry from the two flags of Zhenghong and Zhenglan to defeat the cavalry corps on the right wing of the bandits, and then used 40,000 Korean Eight Banners and Han Army to detour the bandits' central army to cooperate with the Guanning Army to launch a counterattack and defeat the bandits in one fell swoop. In this way, Dorgon could exchange the biggest victory at the lowest price.
To be continued...