Chapter 77 Section 30 "The Thief's Loss of Power is Ending"

Zhang Xianzhong's third problem is the loss of military superiority. Among the heroes at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the most important factor for Zhang Xianzhong's troops to stand out, run rampant all over the world, and establish a dynasty based on territory was Zhang Xianzhong's superb guerrilla tactics. In the Zhang army, the ratio of cavalry to infantry is "horse seven steps three", the main force "everyone has fine cavalry or straddles two horses", "the horses are paid, come and go like the wind, and walk (chuo) hundreds of miles a day and night ".Wherever he went, mules and horses were the most important thing when he seized the spoils, and he didn't care about the others.

Zhang Jun has a powerful cavalry. It is said in history: "The soldiers of Xian (loyalty) come like a sudden wind and rain, and their whereabouts are as hard to know as ghosts (yu). Therefore, they may gallop north of the river for a few months, or tend to Chuyu ravaged the three provinces, making the officers and soldiers chase after him, which is the method of "go out of the way, go out of the way...avoid the reality and attack the emptiness" as Sun Tzu said. The commander fell into his tricks and didn't notice it." Speed ​​brings initiative, and initiative is the key to victory.Zhang Xianzhong's troops are accustomed to "defeating the enemy with their actions".Zhang Xianzhong did not fight defensive warfare all his life. Before entering Sichuan, his strategic principle was to avoid sticking to a corner under any circumstances and to fight at high speed.They did not have a fixed stronghold and attack target, and never attacked a city to the death. The area they attacked was the empty area where the Ming army was weakly defended.Therefore, if you can avoid reality, you can avoid reality and win steadily.

In contrast, the Ming army was much bulkier.They are in the clear, every stronghold must garrison troops, always on the defensive, and the front line is very long. "I (the Ming army) defends everything, and the other party attacks everything." Constrained by huge logistics, they were dragged away by the insurgents. , Passive position.As Zhang Xianzhong's Peasant Army sang: "In the past, there was Governor Shao, who often came to the regiment to pass (turn) dances; later, there was Liao who joined the army and followed me without fighting; what a Yangge department, three days away from me."

However, after the founding of the base area, the situation changed completely. As the emperor, you have to send troops to guard your empire.Not only must heavy troops be deployed on the border, but every city must also garrison troops to suppress local reactionary forces.As a group of "thieves" who gathered together, Zhang Jun was very powerful. However, once he was scattered all over Sichuan, Zhang Xianzhong found that his army was like a handful of rice thrown into a big river, disappearing in a blink of an eye.Because there are not so many troops to divide, he can only station a thousand people symbolically in each prefecture and county.Even in some counties, only the county magistrate was sent by him.This is an important reason why he cannot accurately occupy remote places.

Zhang Shaoyan, the head of the Ming Household Department, said: "The thieves gain power while the thieves lose power." This is indeed the most reasonable statement.Zhang's military advantage is flowing. Once it stops and changes from offense to defense, Zhang Jun's disadvantages will be revealed at once.In the past he took the initiative and the enemy was passive, but now the enemy takes the initiative everywhere and he is passive everywhere.After the flow was stopped, they were forced to fight a defensive battle that they were not good at. Zhang Jun's offensive spirit of crossing Jiangchu in the past is gone, and his all-powerful vigor has disappeared.As the battle lines get longer and longer, more and more holes and weak links inevitably appear in his defense.

Those defeated opponents who were vulnerable in the past have become stronger one by one now.