Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 396 Like being struck by lightning
When the Tatars fought, they usually used Aha to consume the enemy first, and when the enemy was tired, they used armored men to attack the weak points, and finally used flag soldiers to strangle the enemy.

This time, Li Guohan's troops were responsible for Aha's mission. If they could cause chaos on the flank of the "Daxi Army", then a large group of troops would follow closely.

However, to Hauge's surprise, Li Guohan's troops, who usually served as armored men, were beaten back before they could even complete Aha's mission.

This would not be a big deal in normal times. After all, the guards in front of them were the Zhenglan and Huanglan flags. If time dragged on, they might be able to break the enemy's formation.

But this is not an ordinary time after all, and the people standing in front of the two flag guards are not ordinary people.

When the rain-like bullets pierced the armor on their bodies, the blue waves that were still constantly hitting the "Daxi Army Formation" seemed to have encountered an invisible dam and could not move forward an inch.

As the saying goes, one works hard, then fails, and three times it is exhausted.

According to common sense, Mei Chun, as the commander of the rear army, should have been extremely happy to see the enemy defeated in front of him. However, as he looked at the musket army formation slowly advancing and the Qing army formation that was already showing signs of retreating, he kept looking towards the rear of the formation with an anxious look on his face.

Why haven't you come yet?
If it had been any later, the Tartars would have been unable to hold out.

As the pressure from the fire gun army on the Tatars became stronger and stronger, he couldn't help but worry about the arrival time of Li Guo and others.

In Zhu Cilang's original plan, the ultimate goal of this battle was to encircle and annihilate a small number of elite Tartars. However, the enemies in front of them were already in retreat, and Li Guo and others who were responsible for cutting off the Tartars' retreat were nowhere to be seen.

He knew very well that in such an open area, the musket formation would be invincible with its extremely high firing rate and extremely long range, but once it reached a narrow and long terrain like the Jinniu Road, its advantages would be completely lost.

If Hauge really gave the order to retreat at this time, then wouldn't the plan that Your Majesty had painstakingly planned for a long time only be able to catch some small shrimps to cover the retreat?
With this in mind, Mei Chun turned his head back a little faster, but apart from the central guards, there were only some disintegrating Tatar cavalry left on both sides of the army. The Li Guo cavalry that he was thinking about was still nowhere to be seen.

"Go ask His Majesty whether he should reduce the offensive and wait for Li Guo."

As soon as he finished speaking, a rider rode away, and Mei Chun couldn't help but smile bitterly after taking a look at the battlefield.

Before long, the Tartars who were about to cross the Yangtze River were like a sharp blade on the necks of the Ming Dynasty's emperors and ministers.

At that time, not only were the civil and military officials in the court in panic, but even Emperor Hongguang fled at night. Although Mei Chun became a marginal figure because of guarding the imperial mausoleum, he also knew that Yingtian was unable to be defended.

But now.

Only a little over a year later, he had the courage to consider whether or not to hold back when facing the enemy's elite. How many people could calmly accept such a change that was like the reversal of the heavens?
Of course, he also knew that the current situation was the result of a number of coincidences, not entirely caused by the sharp power of firearms.

After all, most of the more than 100,000 Qing troops who initially marched south had been lost in the battle with Zhang Xianzhong.

Even though these losses were all surrendered troops who were like cannon fodder, without these men and horses, the Tatars' usual tactics could not be implemented.

You have to know that there are 70,000 to 80,000 people. Even if they stand still and allow the rear army to kill them, with less than 20 rounds of ammunition carried by each person, the rear guard may not be able to kill them all.

If the battle were to really be against General Hauge's troops who had just marched south, it would be unknown how the battle would turn out.

"Marshal, His Majesty said that we should just fight as the truth says, there is no need to stop."

While Mei Chun was still sighing in his heart, the knight had already rushed back. After hearing the report, he couldn't help but ask another question.

"Does your Majesty have any other instructions?"

"No."

He was the last of the five guards to follow Zhu Cilang, but for some unknown reason, he had the most profound understanding of "killing the Qing army's manpower" among them.

With this understanding, he naturally hoped that Li Guo could arrive in time before all the Tartars retreated into the Jinniu Road.

But now.
Alas~~~~~, we are finally a little far away.

Mei Chun sighed inwardly, but felt helpless.

After all, this was a conspiracy. In order to prevent the Tartars from discovering the clues, except for the two armies in the center and rear that had changed into the uniforms of the Dashi Army, the rest of the troops did not dare to approach Guangyuan.

Since Li Guo's troops could not arrive in time, they could only kill as many enemy troops as possible.

Thinking of this, Mei Chun pressed his hand forward, and then the soldiers beside him waved the colorful flags in their hands, and the musket army formation that was slowly advancing immediately quickened its pace.

The battle has reached this point, and the outcome is obvious. However, Liu Wenxiu, who is in the middle of the battle, doesn't know whether to be happy or sad.

When the Tartars who were escorting the hostages retreated, he rode his horse to chase them, but when he was only three or four steps away from Zhang Xianzhong who was being taken away, the Tartar reinforcements arrived.

Seeing this situation, he couldn't just let the other side disappear into the crowd, but the situation on the battlefield changed rapidly, so he could only throw the spear in his hand hard and focus all his energy on dealing with the enemy soldiers beside him.

It is not difficult to imagine what happened next. As the Tartars pressed forward, Liu Wenxiu was completely submerged in the sea of ​​people. If it were not for his outstanding martial arts and extraordinary armor, he would have been completely knocked down by the blue wave in an instant.

But then again, this is not the Three Kingdoms or the Northern and Southern Dynasties after all.

At that time, anyone with a spear could be considered a soldier, and if he had a set of leather armor, he could be considered an elite.

Naturally, such troops would often be defeated by a hundred or a thousand men against a general in iron armor. However, the equipment level of generals and ordinary soldiers has been reduced to the same level as now.

Under such circumstances, even though Liu Wenxiu was not much different from the ancient military generals, he was still in danger and covered with wounds when facing the two-flag guards equipped with various types of armor.

It was God's pity that he did not want such a loyal and brave man to die in the chaos of war.

Just when he was hit hard on the waist and was somewhat unsteady on his feet, the two flags of the aggressive guards were completely defeated by several rounds of bullets.

As a bandit who had fought for most of his life, Liu Wenxiu naturally knew how to deal with the trampling of the defeated army.

But when he curled up on the ground like a hedgehog, he couldn't help but worry about Zhang Xianzhong's whereabouts.

He knew that the direction of the previous spear was correct, but there were three or four Qing soldiers holding Zhang Xianzhong hostage. Even if this spear could kill one, the remaining two could be brought back to the Tartar formation.

Thinking of this, Liu Wenxiu felt somewhat disappointed and annoyed, but after so many years of failure and rise again, he would not be the kind of person who would seek death at every turn.

Therefore, when the Qing soldiers stepped on his back and fled to the main camp, and fell to the ground one by one due to the constant sound of muskets, he curled up on the ground and kept thinking about how to rescue his own emperor. There was no hope on his own, so he could only see if he could ask for help from the Emperor Ming.

But after such a defeat, if it were him, he would have to retreat directly to Guanzhong to repair himself. Even if the Emperor Ming agreed to help,
As his mind turned, Liu Wenxiu's mood naturally became more and more depressed, but who would have thought that just when he was almost completely disappointed in rescuing Zhang Xianzhong, several pieces of information stored in his mind suddenly came together.

possible!
There is hope!

If it were Hauge, he would definitely not be able to escape!
"General Liu! Make way!"

Just when Liu Wenxiu felt hope again, a voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

At this time, the chaotic footsteps around him had been replaced by orderly steps. When he turned around, he saw that the Ming army's musket formation was less than four or five feet away from him.

Seeing this, Liu Wenxiu naturally knew what "make way" meant. He then rolled over from the ground and then crouched down and ran to the flank of the army formation.

The space outside Guangyuan City was not that big. Even though he had lost his mount, he was running at full speed and it only took him half an incense stick of time to hear a report.

"Your Majesty, Liu Wenxiu requests an audience."

"Oh? He's still alive? Did you rescue Zhang Xianzhong?"

"Reporting to your majesty, Liu Wenxiu came alone, so he was not rescued."

Hearing this, Zhu Cilang thought for a moment and nodded slightly. After the guards left, he turned his attention back to the battlefield ahead.

Although the Tatars in the central battle group had completely fled at this time, the main formation of the Qing army in the rear was only retreating slowly.

It was obvious that although Hauge had lost the will to fight again, since the troops participating in the battle were limited to the guards of the two banners, these battle-hardened elite soldiers of the Eight Banners would not flee directly like the Ming army in the past.

He was not too disappointed with this situation. After all, the objective factors were in front of him, and being able to bite off a piece of meat from Hauge had already achieved the original goal.

After all, apart from the two armies of the Imperial Guard, he had no troops around him who could engage in a head-on confrontation with the elite troops of the Eight Banners.

Moreover, for fear of exposing their true colors, Li Guo and other generals' cavalry were also on standby more than ten miles away.

Taking these two factors into consideration, he was quite satisfied with the result and would not be too demanding.

"The defeated general Liu Wenxiu pays respect to His Majesty."

With a loud greeting, Zhu Cilang's attention was drawn over. Although he did not react much after seeing Liu Wenxiu lying on the ground, Hu Yiqing moved between the two without leaving a trace.

It is obvious that although Liu Wenxiu cooperated with the Ming army once, he failed to gain the trust of the Ming emperor and his ministers.

After all, as long as Zhang Xianzhong is alive, there is no possibility for a person like him to return home. Since Liu Wenxiu failed to rescue Zhang Xianzhong at this time, he is still a threat to the Ming Dynasty.

Under such circumstances, Hu Yiqing's reaction was understandable.

However, Liu Wenxiu did not show any concern about this. When he saw Zhu Cilang raised his hand slightly, he stood up from the ground.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty. Congratulations, Your Majesty. I saw clearly in the battle group earlier that at least three to two thousand Tartars who came to fight were knocked down by the muskets. This battle really broke Haoge's finger."

According to Zhu Cilang's thinking, since Liu Wenxiu failed to rescue Zhang Xianzhong, he could be said to have been congratulated for no reason. However, his current behavior seemed to be that he was sincerely congratulating the Ming army for a victory, which made Zhu Cilang a little surprised.

"However, Hauge had a total of about 30,000 people from the Manchu, Mongolian and Han banners. Only 3,000 or 2,000 of them are left behind, which can only be regarded as a broken little finger."

Sure enough, with the word "but", Liu Wenxiu changed his wording, and when Zhu Cilang looked at him expressionlessly, he looked back fearlessly, as if he was just stating the facts and had no other thoughts.

"Just say whatever you want to say. When have you ever seen me not letting others speak?"

Honestly speaking, Liu Wenxiu's performance really surprised Zhu Cilang.

In the past few days, he had been acting as if he was filled with deep hatred and resentment, as if it was his Ming Dynasty that had captured Zhang Xianzhong.

But now, this general whose level of internal affairs in the Dashi Army was almost the same as Sun Kewang's, showed his other side in front of Zhu Cilang for the first time. Driven by the inertia of thinking, he would naturally feel a little uncomfortable.

But then again, this was understandable at the time.

Handling internal affairs requires not only extremely high IQ, but also extremely high EQ. How could Liu Wenxiu, who was able to govern the southwest in an orderly manner in history, be in the same state only a few days ago?

"Your Majesty is wise. According to what I have thought, the Ming Dynasty has not yet recaptured the Jianghuai area. Although the Yangtze River is long, it is just a facade with many leaks. If we cannot inflict heavy damage on Haoge in one fell swoop, then within three or two months, he will surely be able to form another force with his elite troops as the main force. By then, I wonder whether Your Majesty should focus on recapture the Jianghuai area, or on defending against Haoge in Sichuan and Hunan."

It has to be said that what Liu Wenxiu said was also the main focus of Zhu Cilang's plan.

After all, the land still under the control of the Ming Dynasty is not as large as that during the Southern Song Dynasty. If the Tartars really divide their troops into several routes to attack, Zhu Cilang will be unable to cope with the situation and will inevitably worry about leaving an opportunity.

It is said that every sip and every carving is predestined.

In order to consolidate his position, Zhu Cilang often led the troops himself. On the one hand, this made his prestige in the army almost reach the level of Taizu and Chengzu, but on the other hand, it also made it impossible for the Ming Dynasty to find another commander who could stand on his own.

Zhu Cilang was well aware of this, but this situation was destined when he started his army in Yingtian. Unless a genius really joined his army one day and he could be confident enough to give him enough trust, the situation where the emperor acted as a firefighter would not change in a short period of time.

"Tell me, what do you think? What do I need in exchange?"

Since Liu Wenxiu had said this, Zhu Cilang naturally knew what he was thinking.

Faced with a method that could temporarily resolve the threat from the southwest, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would not be stingy. After asking this question, he waited quietly for the other party's answer.

"Your Majesty is magnanimous. All the defeated general wants is to be rescued."

Seeing that Zhu Cilang agreed, Liu Wenxiu was immediately delighted. However, before he could say half of his words, a soldier came running over panting, and then he froze in place as if struck by lightning.

"Your Majesty, the body of Zhang Xianzhong has been found!"

(End of this chapter)