Chapter 54 1.defeat again

Li Zicheng returned to his life of hunger and exhaustion, recalling the sun and moon in the Forbidden City, it was like a big dream. "Family to government, three hundred and five." It is a full three hundred and fifty miles from Qianmen of Beijing to Beiguan of Baoding Prefecture.It took six days for the Dashun army with ample pockets to run through the three hundred and five.Seeing that many people have been pulled down behind, Li Zicheng is going to rest in Baoding and wait for those who are left behind. At this time, Ma Shiyao, who was in charge of breaking the rear, sent news that the forward of Wu Sangui's troops was only half a day away from them, and that another group had already divided troops from Ansu, from Mancheng and Wanxian to Quyang, and there was a tendency to encircle them from behind.

Li Zicheng looked at the map in his hand. The southwest of Quyang is Jingxing. Jingxing is one of the eight Taihang Xings, and it is the throat from Hebei to Shanxi.I thought to myself: If Wu Sangui is allowed to step forward and control Jingxing and Guguan first, the road back into Shanxi will be cut off.Thinking of the seriousness of the situation, I decided to go south to Dingzhou. Therefore, the idea of ​​stopping in Baoding for a day was dispelled. Early the next morning, the team continued to set off after having breakfast. At noon, the forward had already passed the Qingfeng shop, and the soldiers of the Dashun Army were burying pots and cooking. Suddenly, someone pointed to the west and shouted: "No, the braided soldiers are here."

At this time, Li Zicheng was resting under a big tree, and Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance were sitting on both sides. After days of running around without a good rest, and because he didn't sleep well last night, Li Zicheng felt a little tired, and was about to take a nap while the meal was not cooked, when he heard this, he couldn't help jumping up.This area is a plain, stretching as far as the eye can see, so he had no choice but to stand on a baggage cart, put on the awning and look forward, and he saw a lot of dust from the west, and it was clear that a group of people and horses were coming to the side.

Li Zicheng was watching and judging the number of opponents. Li Jin, who followed him up, also saw this situation. He said: "Your Majesty, it seems that this is probably Wu Sangui's side division. Since it is a side division, there will not be many people. If Wu Sangui's main force arrives and eats up this side division, then we can retreat to Guguan calmly. " This is exactly what Li Zicheng meant.At this time, Gao Yigong and Hao Yaoqi all surrounded him, and Gao Yigong also agreed with this idea, saying: "The son of a bitch is too bullying. If we don't give him a good lesson here, even if we can retreat to Shanxi safely, we will never stand still."

Right now, Liu Zongmin's injury has not yet healed, and he is still lying in the car unable to move freely. Li Zicheng had no choice but to hand over the command to Li Jin and Gao Yigong, and asked: "Western soldiers are strong, don't underestimate the enemy." Li and Gao replied, "Please don't worry." They withdrew. After discussing for a while, they immediately gathered the team, did not cook, and prepared to fight.Ma Shiyao, Li Yan and others from the rear were still facing the enemy, Hao Yaoqi and others protected the imperial camp, Li Jin himself led a team to the left, Gao Yigong led a team to the right, and outflanked the troops from the left and right respectively. The enemy, in an attempt to wipe out all this group of people.

As soon as the deployment was completed, the enemy rushed over. In fact, this partial division was not a Manchurian army, but a Ningyuan army led by generals Yang Kun and Guo Yunlong. The number was only 5,000, but they were very elite.They have all shaved their heads now, and they are full of energy and give up their hearts.After several battles with the Dashun Army, I know that the combat effectiveness of the Dashun Army is far inferior to before, and I also understand that they have plundered in Beijing and fled south with a lot of gold, silver, treasures and women, so I just want to stop them , make a fortune.

They went south from Tongzhou and chased them all the way. They met no resistance on the way, but they picked up a lot of clothes, food and grass left by the Dashun army.Right now, the enemy army is not far away, the plains, and they can be seen at a glance - just to the south of them, there is a small river, the river bed is dry to the bottom; to the north is the way of the Dashun army, where there is a dense willow forest. Hidden troops, the Dashun army came in two ways, one along the river beach and the other through the willow forest, they could all see clearly.I thought, the rogues want to eat us, how can we let his plot succeed, so while sending people to contact the main force, urging them to come as soon as possible, at the same time, we dispersed the team and retreated a little to prevent being surrounded by the enemy.

After Ma Shiyao and Li Yan were in charge of breaking up, for three days, they were constantly attacked by militia groups on the way, and they suffered a lot. Hold the enemy, wait for the left and right to outflank, then the enemy can be divided and surrounded. Don't want to wait and wait, the enemy just waved their flags and shouted, but they didn't rush forward.Ma Shiyao couldn't help being anxious, so he led people to rush over, but Li Yan wanted to stop him, but he didn't have time, so he had to lead people to follow behind. In this battle, both sides were very involved, and the fight was indistinguishable.

Li Jin and Gao Yigong saw that Ma Shiyao was entangled with the enemy, so a team climbed up from the river bed, and another team rushed over from the willow forest, trying to surround the enemy.But when Yang Kun and Guo Yunlong saw each other coming out both left and right, they gave an order, and the main force retreated slowly, just not letting them surround them. Li Jin and Gao Yigong were enraged, so they commanded the three armies to rush forward in a swarm, flying arrows like rain and roaring like thunder, Wu's army was too small to support them, and they were about to be divided and surrounded.

At this moment, the British King Azig led the Eight Banners Battalion to catch up from behind. The large willow forest on the north side of the battlefield blocked the Dashun Army's sight. They didn't realize that the enemy brigade from the north had arrived in time, but Azig found them immediately when he heard the shouts of killing. Under the order of Dorgon, Wu Sangui and Azige went south to chase Li Zicheng. First, they chased all the way. Azige was not familiar with the road, so he could only run behind. Yuegu Pass to Shanxi.Therefore, he negotiated with Azige, and Azige chased after him, but he sent Yang Kun and Guo Yunlong to lead a light cavalry from Ansu to the city and Wanxian; Insert the county.The three roads advance side by side, and Wu Sangui's branch in the east is almost advancing in parallel with Li Zicheng.But Ma Shiyao and the others only found Yang Kun's partial division, but not Wu Sangui's.

After chasing for three days, Azig found that he had finally caught up with the bandits, and he couldn't help being excited.Seeing the opponent's entire team coming forward, leaving only a few people behind, he led his troops and charged straight over. Li Zicheng was standing on the roof of the car watching the battle. Seeing that the enemy in front of him was out of support, and gradually, the encirclement was completed, he thought to himself, after eliminating this group of enemies, he would come back for lunch.At this moment, Hao Yaoqi, who was in charge of monitoring the north, shouted: "Your Majesty, it's not good, the troop of braided soldiers has rushed over." Li Zicheng looked back and saw a group of cavalrymen with white helmets and white armor rushing out from the willow forest in the north. Li Jin and Gao Yigong were going forward with all their strength, commanding three groups of troops to divide and surround Yang Kun and Guo Yunlong. Unexpectedly, they heard the sound of gongs coming from behind. When they looked back, they saw that the imperial camp was being chased and killed by a large group of white banner soldiers. , couldn't help turning his horse's head, and came to rescue the imperial battalion. This time, his formation was messed up first... The Dashun army already had a natural fear of the braided soldiers after the battle at Shanhaiguan, especially now, the two white flags are repeating the old trick, while they are fighting with the frontal enemy, they charge from behind, catching them off guard , So, they didn't care about it, and ran for their lives. Speaking of which, their respective forces are quite equal. The Dashun Army still has more than 50,000 troops, including more than 20,000 new troops who went north from Baoding and then went south with them; There were more than 5,000 soldiers, and Wu Sangui's army still had more than 10,000 soldiers who had not joined the battle, but the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed. The 50,000 Dashun Army was defeated by the 30,000-odd Allied Army, and they fled to the southwest one after another. . At this time, the Dashun army brought more things than when they went to Shanhaiguan to fight. In addition to women, gold, silver and jewelry, silk and satin, clothes and antiques, there are also many furniture.All the way back from Beijing, because the pursuers were in a hurry, they began to throw away some cumbersome rough goods, such as furniture, clothes, antiques, etc., and now they are carrying treasures that have been eliminated several times, and no one can bear to throw them away.As a result, these things became a burden that prevented them from escaping, and also became a weapon to lure the braided soldiers to give up their lives to chase them. They kept their eyes on the front and chased them desperately. There was another shout of killing from above, it turned out that this was the main force of Ningyuan's army led by Wu Sangui himself. When Ma Shiyao, who was in charge of the rear, saw it, he had no choice but to take his troops and go forward desperately.I didn't want the Wu army to occupy Gaofu, rushing straight down from the top, unstoppable, and then fought. The third-rank general Gu Dacheng was shot in the face by an enemy general, and fell off his horse. On the other hand, he hacked Gu Dacheng to death with random knives. During the scuffle, Li Yan was also shot by an arrow in his right arm, and almost fell off his horse. Fortunately, Hong Niangzi followed closely behind. Although the guards she led were female, they were all experienced women. Seeing this, they immediately stepped forward , although several people were killed and injured, but Li Yan was saved and rescued. At this time, Wu Sangui's army pursued closely, seeing that the distance was getting closer again.Although it is difficult for the Wu army to block and annihilate the Dashun army on this great plain, the Dashun army still cannot get rid of the chasing troops if they continue to chase like this. shouted: "Throw away things, throw away burdens!" Li Zicheng also came to his senses, and hurriedly ordered all the soldiers to throw away their burdens, and shouted at the driver: "Throw away everything in the car." This statement finally reminded everyone.The carts around Li Zicheng were filled with gold and silver brought out from the palace. Many gold and silver utensils were stomped on and packed into wooden boxes before they could be melted. The big wooden box on the car was thrown out of the car, and the box hit the ground, and the gold and silver were scattered everywhere. For a while, the ground was bright yellow and white, and it was all dazzling things. This move is really effective - Wu Sangui's Ningyuan soldiers and Azige's two white banner soldiers are all characters who are open to money. When they see so much property left on the road, this is what they are desperately chasing, so, One by one scrambling to snatch. Seeing this situation, Li Jin and Gao Yigong here rushed to counterattack with their troops. On weekdays, the Dashun Army would definitely turn defeat into victory, but unfortunately the Dashun Army at this time is no longer as aggressive as before, and only a few people are willing to obey the military orders. Although they took the opportunity to kill many Wu soldiers, most of them took the opportunity to flee for their lives , I gave up this great opportunity in vain. Seeing that the shouts of killing were fading away, Li Zicheng took a breath, and then felt his stomach growling. But at this time, all the food and cooking utensils were lost, and there was a large plain around. Although there were houses, there were no people—they They all fled with their families and they had no pots and stoves, let alone a grain of rice. In this place where the Four World Wars were fought, Li Zicheng was afraid of militias and pursuers, so he didn't dare to send his men to search for food far away. It was better to walk, so he endured hunger and starved, and fled to Xinle before stopping. Xinle has a military station of the Dashun Army, led by a seventh-rank brigade, who has not received the order to retreat, but is still holding on. He has heard that the emperor has suffered a defeat and will pass by here, so he will wait early in the morning Meet at the curb.Li Zicheng didn't care about anything at this time, he just urged: "Hurry up and bring me something to eat, and leave after eating." The head of the brigade led the order, and put the prepared meals on the table in a hurry, let Li Zicheng and others eat, and the others followed suit. After eating hastily, Li Zicheng asked the traveler, how far is it to Zhending?The traveler said it was less than a hundred miles away.Because Li Yan was injured, he had no choice but to order Li Jin and Hao Yaoqi to stay and resist the pursuers, while he led a group of civil and military officials to retreat to Zhending. In this battle, not only more than 10,000 people were lost and left behind, but all the vehicles and luggage were lost, and several generals including Gu Dacheng were also killed.