Chapter 3 3. The rebels feigned surrender and broke through the natural danger of the Yellow River

On the seventh day of December in the fifth year of Chongzhen, Cao Wenzhao, the commander-in-chief of Lintao, was ordered to lead 3,500 elite troops from Qingyang, Gansu Province, cross the river through Tongguan, and go to Puzhou, Shanxi Province and Hejin Uprising together with his subordinates Ma Ke and Cao Bianjiao. Army gathered and other places, and then transferred to Pingyang and Lu'an where the rebels often haunted, preparing for a large-scale encirclement and suppression.The Ming court placed great hopes on the army led by Cao Wenzhao. Zhu Youjian personally approved him to be promoted to one level first, and gave him the right to command the officers and troops in other regions.Ma Ke, Cao Bianjiao and others were also promoted to encourage them.The ruler hopes to extend the achievements of Shaanxi to Shanxi, and a battle to encircle and wipe out the Shanxi uprising army is about to begin.

In order to prevent the uprising army from entering the plains closer to the capital and protect the safety of the capital, Zhu Youjian mobilized heavy troops to cooperate with the famous soldier Lu Xiangsheng and the Shanxi official army to suppress the rebel army.In the battle with the official army, the rebel army adopted guerrilla tactics based on the favorable terrain and fought against the official army in the three provinces of Shanxi, Hebei, and Henan.The official army couldn't figure out where the rebels fell, and they were often in a passive position to be beaten.Sensing the seriousness of the situation, Zhu Youjian sent eunuchs Chen Dakui, Yan Siyin, Xie Wenju, and Sun Maolin as the internal army to supervise the three generals of Cao Wenzhao, Deng Qi, and Zhang Yingchang in the three provinces.

In May of the sixth year of Chongzhen, Zijin Liang (Wang Ziyong), an important leader of the uprising army, died of illness in Jiyuan, Henan.After the sacrifice of Wang Jiayin (formerly the leader of Wang Ziyong, who died in the fourth year of Chongzhen (AD 1631)), Wang Ziyong was promoted as the leader of the alliance by various uprising armies in Shanxi.The leader's death, to a certain extent, increased the difficulty of the situation of the rebel army. In the winter of the sixth year of Chongzhen, the officers and soldiers dispatched by the Ming government gathered at the junction of the three provinces of Shanxi, Hebei and Henan.Since the main battlefield had been moved to northern Henan at that time, the official army in Henan Province was called the main army, with a total of more than 8,300 soldiers.There were 19,600 guest soldiers from Shanxi, Hebei, and the Jingying camp. Including the Shaanxi soldiers under the command of Cao Wenzhao and others, the total number of officers and troops participating in the encirclement and suppression should be more than 30,000.The rebel army has less and less room for activities, food and supplies are extremely difficult, and they are facing the danger of being surrounded and wiped out by the government.Under such circumstances, the leaders of the rebel army began to try their best to find a way out of the predicament.

In the rebel camp, several leaders gathered together to discuss a solution.The flickering candlelight shone on everyone's faces. Their expressions were complicated and tense. "I'm afraid there is nothing we can do now. With the current strength of our rebel army, it is difficult to persist. I think it is not too late to find an opportunity to concentrate our forces on the Jin area where the defense of officers and soldiers is weak, and to break through." Man Tianfei Said. "I'm afraid this won't work. Even if we successfully break through and our troops return to Shanxi, it's like getting back into the cage again. This method won't work." Chuang Tatian shook his head and said.

"This time is a duel with great disparity in strength. It will definitely not work if you come hard. The rebel army's combat capability cannot be compared with that of the official army. In terms of strategy, we just have the advantage of the terrain. The encirclement and suppression by the official army this time has also completely cut off our retreat. , I’m wondering if we don’t send a single soldier, can we get out of the encirclement by the officers and soldiers safely.” Zhang Miao muttered with her chin in her hand. Man Tianfei smiled and said: "You are just talking in your sleep, the generals of the army are not fools, they finally surrounded us, and then let us go..."

General Li Zicheng remained silent, but after hearing Man Tianfei's words, he suddenly had a plan in his heart.He interrupted Man Tianfei with a wave of his hand, and said, "It's not impossible for them to let us go willingly. But we may have to take a risk." As soon as they heard that there was a way, they asked Li Zicheng together: "What way is there to take risks?" "When we were in Shanxi, the officers and soldiers issued an appeasement order to us, asking us to take refuge in the imperial court, and everything in the past will be forgotten. Do you still remember?" Li Zicheng asked mysteriously.

When Xing Honglang heard Li Zicheng mention appeasement, he immediately lowered his face and said, "I thought it was a good idea. It turned out that we wanted to join the court. What is our purpose? Isn't it to overthrow the corrupt government? Such outrageous words..." "Listen to me first, it's not too late for you to get angry." Xing Honglang had the most violent temper, and Li Zicheng didn't argue with him. "We can pretend to be willing to accept the recruitment, and when the officers and soldiers relax their vigilance against us, we will quickly withdraw and lead our troops south to Henan."

"How exactly?" Zhang Miaoshou and the others asked. Li Zicheng said with a smile on the corner of his mouth, "Judging from the current situation, we must be unable to fly, and the officers and soldiers can also guess that a big battle is inevitable. There must be casualties between the two armies, and the officers and soldiers are also very scrupulous about fighting. The leopard before death is not easy to mess with, even if our situation is like this, if we really fight, if we want to take us down, the officers and soldiers will suffer heavy casualties." He looked at the crowd and said: "So, In this situation where victory or defeat is so close, if we 'surrender', the officers and soldiers can win without a single soldier, which is what they wish for."

Zhang Miaoshou was nodding all the time. Li Zicheng had just finished speaking when he interjected, "General Chuang is right. We are used to hard fighting, so we ignore it. The reason why the officers and soldiers have not launched an encirclement and suppression campaign is actually to a large extent. I am afraid of what Chuang Jiang said just now. Now that things have happened, this method is perfect for us. But we really have to take risks to convince them, and it seems that we have to go there in person to show our 'sincerity'." Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp, was discussing the next battle plan with the lieutenant general in the tent, when a soldier ran in and said, "My lord, I have important news."

Wang Pu originally wanted to reprimand the soldiers for not understanding military discipline, but when he heard that he had important news, he suppressed his anger and asked, "What important news?" The soldier replied: "Just got the exact news, the rebel army rumored that they would accept the Lord's offer, and the leaders represented by Zhang Miaoshou released the news that they would come to see the Lord." "Is the news accurate?" Wang Pu couldn't believe his ears, so he asked the soldier again. "Indeed!" replied the soldier. Wang Pu guessed that the rebels must be unable to hold on anymore, and that they spent a day was actually one step closer to death.Now I am afraid that the food and grass are exhausted, and there is really no way out, so I choose to take this step.He immediately notified Yang Jinchao, Lu Jiude, and Chang Daoli of Bingbei Dao of the news.

The next day, 12 people, including He Shuangquan and Zhang Miaoshou, leaders of the uprising army, really went to Wu'an County, Zhangde Prefecture, Henan Province (now part of Hebei Province) to meet Wang Pu in person. He Shuangquan said: "In fact, we are all good citizens. It is only because Shaanxi has been suffering from years of drought that we cannot live, so we committed such a heinous crime. Now we have figured it out and vowed to surrender to the imperial court, and hope to release us back to Shaanxi." Yang Jinchao had some doubts in his heart, but the doubts soon disappeared. He thought that since the leader of the rebel army was willing to take the risk, the surrender must be true, and they couldn't be joking with their lives.Yang Jinchao and others believed it was true, and immediately reported to the court, and at the same time stopped the attack on the rebel army. The rebel army used "pseudo-surrender" as a cover to paralyze the civil and military officials involved in the Ming Dynasty.At this time, under the pretext of returning to Shaanxi, the rebels bought furs, boots and other clothes from officers, soldiers and local people, and actively prepared to cross the river to the south. On the 24th, the weather was extremely cold. The section of the Yellow River between Yuanqu, Shanxi and Jiyuan, Henan was frozen into a bridge, and the ice was two feet thick.Taking advantage of the unpreparedness of the officers and soldiers, the rebel army carried a large number of wooden boards or dismantled door panels overnight, paved a road on the Yellow River, and galloped across in three ways.Arrive at Horseshoe Nest and Wild Boar Nose in Mianchi County, Henan Province. At this time Yuan Daquan, an officer guarding the River Fanghe in Henan, was asleep. When he heard that a large number of rebels had passed through the Yellow River and were on their way to Henan, he immediately turned pale with fright and hurriedly led his troops to intercept them. The rebel army had been on guard for a long time, stagnated, and opened up their positions.Yuan Daquan's army had just arrived and was immediately surrounded by rebels.The two armies fought until dawn, and the officers and soldiers were defeated, and the whole army was wiped out. Yuan Daquan tried to escape the encirclement while taking advantage of the chaos, but was shot dead by Xing Honglang with an arrow. After Yang Jinchao, Lu Jiude and others learned that the rebel army had passed the Yellow River, they secretly regretted it.In order to remedy the situation, all the troops were gathered together and prepared to go south to pursue the rebels.But at this time, the rebel army led by Zhang Miaoshou and others had already passed through Henan and penetrated deep into the territory of Henan. It is impossible to imagine the previous situation of encirclement and annihilation.The official army fell into the scheme of the rebel army and lost the only chance to wipe out the rebel army.