The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 732 Hard fight
Before they knew it, it was October of the twelfth year of the Qiansheng reign. It was the season when the autumn wind blew across the Wei River and fallen leaves filled Chang'an. By calculation, Jia Huan had been serving as the Governor-General of Shaanxi for five months.

Since the launch of the three-pronged campaign to suppress the rebels in July, except for the southern army led by Tie Hu which encountered some setbacks, the northern and central armies have made great strides. In just three months, they have basically wiped out the rebel forces in Taozhou, Minzhou, Gongchang Prefecture, Ningxia and Pingliang Prefecture. The progress can be described as quite smooth.

As the battle lines shifted eastward, in mid-September, Jia Huan moved his headquarters from Lintao to Pingliang. The second batch of military pay allocated by the imperial court, totaling 500,000 taels, also arrived. Jia Huan once again drew more troops from various garrisons and formed an elite force of 20,000 men, which he personally led, in preparation for the next tough battle.

That's right, it's a tough battle!
Although progress has been rapid over the past three months, apart from Luo Rucai, the other hundreds of bandit groups that have been wiped out were basically small fry. However, next, the northern army led by Man Gui will face its first tough opponent—Shen Yikui; while the central army led by Xing Wei will also encounter another tough opponent—Tuo Yangkun.

Shen Yikui was entrenched in the Huan County area of ​​Qingyang Prefecture. Originally, his army numbered only 30,000 to 40,000. However, in the past few months, the bandits who had been decimated fled eastward, and most of them surrendered to Shen Yikui. As a result, in just a few months, Shen Yikui's strength more than doubled, reaching 70,000 men.

Another formidable figure, Tuo Yangkun, was even tougher than Shen Yikui. He commanded an army of 80,000 and was nicknamed "Scorpion." He wreaked havoc in the Longzhou area of ​​Fengxiang Prefecture. Meanwhile, another bandit army existed within Fengxiang Prefecture, led by Zhang Miaoshou. This army, numbering about 20,000, was based in Qianyang County, which bordered Longzhou. They supported Tuo Yangkun and worked together to deal with the government forces' encirclement and suppression efforts, making them extremely difficult to deal with.

In addition, there are two more powerful bandit armies in Yulin Town to the north of Qingyang Prefecture and in Yan'an Prefecture to the east, namely Gao Yingxiang and Wang Ziyong, whose current forces exceed 100,000, which is very frightening.

It is worth mentioning that Gao Yingxiang and Wang Ziyong are two of the three "sixth brothers" who dug up the emperor's ancestral tomb in Taiyuan, Shanxi this April. The other one is named Wang Jiayin.

After digging up the Xu family's ancestral graves, Gao Yingxiang, Wang Ziyong, and Wang Jiayin became famous, and countless people came to join them, causing their strength to rise rapidly. However, Wang Jiayin was unlucky; when he retreated from Shanxi, he was blocked by the elite troops of the Beijing army.

Heh heh, how could the emperor's ancestral tombs be so easy to dig up? If you do, you'll have to pay the price. In the end, Wang Jiayin was killed by the rampaging Beijing garrison, and his entire army was almost wiped out. The remnants under his command defected to Gao Yingxiang and Wang Ziyong respectively.

Gao Yingxiang and Wang Ziyong escaped quickly, fleeing from Shanxi back to Shaanxi Province. Wang Ziyong fled to Yulin Town, while Gao Yingxiang fled to Mizhi County, Li Zicheng's hometown. However, Mizhi County was too poor and there was not much to gain, so they planned to capture Yan'an Prefecture. Unexpectedly, Lu Xiangshan, who had been promoted to the position of prefect of Yan'an, was not an easy opponent and defended the prefecture city as if it were an impregnable fortress. Gao Yingxiang had no choice but to retreat to the northwest and occupy Bao'an County.

As a result, there were now four major bandit groups gathered around Qingyang Prefecture, with a combined force of nearly 400,000 men, which was quite frightening. Even Jia Huan felt a great increase in pressure and secretly recalled the Southern Route Army led by Tie Hu from Hanzhong, preparing to do everything in his power to annihilate these major bandit groups.

After escaping, Luo Rucai crossed the Qinling Mountains and fled in a sorry state to the Hanzhong Plain. Before he could even catch his breath, Tie Hu, filled with hatred, came after him. He could only continue to run for his life, hiding here and there. In the end, he was left with only a few dozen remaining soldiers. It was truly a miserable situation.

Tie Hu was eager to take down Luo Rucai, but just then, Jia Huan's order arrived, commanding Tie Hu to immediately head north to assist in the suppression of several major bandit groups. As the saying goes, military orders are absolute, so Tie Hu had no choice but to abandon Luo Rucai, take the Ziwu Road, cross the Qinling Mountains, and head north to the Guanzhong Plain.

It has to be said that Luo Rucai was incredibly lucky, managing to escape with his life at a critical moment. However, at this point, he was a stray dog ​​with only a few dozen loyal followers left. He could no longer cause any trouble and could only take a boat south from the Han River to the Jingxiang area to eke out a living.

…………

As the autumn wind howled and a chill began to set in, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Jia Huan personally led an army of 20,000 south from Pingliang Prefecture, intending to join forces with Xing Wei to first eliminate Tuo Yangkun and Zhang Miaoshou within the territory of Fengxiang Prefecture.

Tuo Yangkun was entrenched in Longzhou, north of Fengxiang Prefecture, while Zhang Miaoshou stationed his troops in Qianyang County, south of Longzhou. The two had a combined force of over 100,000 men. However, based on past experience, the rebel army had at most 30,000 to 40,000 able-bodied men who could fight, which was not a cause for concern.

Now, Jia Huan is known as a "fierce and infamous figure," striking fear into the hearts of the rebel army. When Tuo Yangkun learned that the former had personally led his troops here, he was naturally very wary and immediately contacted his neighbor Zhang Miaoshou to discuss how to deal with him.

Unfortunately, Zhang Miaoshou was already preoccupied with his own problems, because Xing Wei was leading another 10,000 elite troops from the south to the north, attacking him in coordination with Jia Huan.

Meanwhile, Jia Huan led 20,000 troops to Longzhou, where Tuo Yangkun actually lined up his troops on the opposite bank of the Longshui River, ready to fight Jia Huan in open battle. This was somewhat overestimating his own strength, and it was probably some lousy strategist under his command who gave him this bad idea!
Without hesitation, Jia Huan ordered the construction of a bridge to cross the river. Strangely, Tuo Yangkun did not stop the Jin army from building the pontoon bridge. Instead, he waited until the Jin army had completed the pontoon bridge and the vanguard had crossed the river before ordering the attack. It is estimated that he wanted to follow the military strategy taught in military books and launch a "half-crossing attack" against the Jin army.

The so-called "attack while the enemy is crossing" means waiting until half of the enemy troops have crossed the river before launching a sudden attack. Taking advantage of the enemy's unstable footing, the attack destroys the pontoon bridge, cutting the enemy in half, leaving them unable to defend themselves, causing chaos in their formation, and ultimately leading to their utter defeat.

Unfortunately, Tuo Yangkun overlooked the fact that even when "attacking while the enemy is crossing the river," one must first consider one's own strength. Talking about war on paper can really kill you!

Tuo Yangkun's peasant army was no match for the regular army in terms of equipment or individual combat strength, so the idea of ​​"attacking while crossing the river" was a false proposition, or even wishful thinking.

The first group of Jin soldiers crossing the river quickly formed a shield wall, followed by the addition of spearmen. In an instant, the shield wall turned into a "hedgehog wall," with countless spears protruding from between the shields. The sharp spear tips gleamed coldly in the sunlight, inspiring fear in all who beheld them.

The "hedgehog wall" slowly advanced, creating a buffer zone to cover the continuous crossing of the river by subsequent troops from the pontoon bridge.

At this moment, Tuo Yangkun realized that things were not going well and urged his troops to launch an attack to stop the Jin army from crossing the river. However, faced with the Jin army's terrifying "hedgehog wall", the rebel army was intimidated and hesitated to attack, thus missing the last opportunity.

Soon, the Jin army's musketeer battalion also crossed the river. Only then did the rebel army rush forward in a sparse manner, undoubtedly running into the line of fire—courting death!
bang bang bang...

The musketeers mercilessly pulled the triggers of their flintlock muskets. The dense gunfire was like popping beans; the enemy soldiers in front fell like withered grass. Those behind were stunned, frozen in place, unable to advance or retreat. "Kill! Kill! Kill!" The Jin army's swordsmen and shieldmen pounded their shields with their swords, creating a terrifying explosion, as they advanced rapidly, followed closely by spearmen and musketeers.

Under the overwhelming force of the Jin army, the rebel army was so frightened that they dared not confront them directly. They shouted once and turned to run away.

Jia Huan had anticipated that the enemy army would be easily defeated, but he had not expected them to be so easily defeated. His army had only crossed a third of the river when the enemy could not hold out. Even the cavalry had not yet crossed the river. What should he do?
There was nothing else Jia Huan could do but order the vanguard to pursue at full speed and hasten the cavalry to cross the river. But by the time all one thousand cavalrymen had crossed the river, the enemy had already vanished without a trace, which was truly both laughable and lamentable.

The vanguard of the Jin army pursued and killed his enemies, reaping lives as easily as cutting melons and vegetables. Many bandits, seeing that they could not escape, threw down their weapons, fell to the ground, and kowtowed to beg for their lives.

Since the governor had given an order before the battle that those who surrendered would not be killed, the Jin army did not kill the surrendered rebels. They simply confiscated their weapons and put them under guard.

Furthermore, the bandit leader Tuo Yangkun never dreamed that he would be defeated so quickly. The firepower of this government army was too damn fierce, and it was simply incomparable to the local garrison troops and militia. He really couldn't win!

Tuo Yangkun fled into Longzhou City in one breath and hurriedly closed the city gates. He breathed a sigh of relief, but when he counted the number of people, his heart sank. It turned out that only about 8,000 people had fled back with him. Adding the 5,000 people left to guard the city, there were only 13,000 left. It was truly a loss of seven or eight out of ten. What a tragedy!
Originally, Tuo Yangkun's army, which was said to number 80,000, had nearly 20,000 able-bodied men who could fight, excluding the old and weak. This time, in order to bolster his morale, he also brought the old and weak into battle, leaving only 5,000 men to defend the city. As a result, he suffered a crushing defeat and almost lost everything.

However, having a large number of people also has its advantages. Let alone 60,000 or 70,000 people, even 60,000 or 70,000 pigs running all over the mountain would take a lot of time to catch them all. Otherwise, Tuo Yangkun might not have been able to escape.

After several days of searching, the Jin army finally captured more than 40,000 people, but nearly 20,000 had escaped and scattered. It was simply impossible to capture them all. However, most of these scattered soldiers were old, weak, women and children, so they could escape without consequence. Therefore, Jia Huan paid no further attention to them and went straight to the city of Longzhou.

Standing atop the city wall, Tuo Yangkun watched the well-disciplined Jin army surge forward like a tide, and couldn't help but gasp, thinking, "Jia Huan is indeed worthy of his reputation; his momentum is many times stronger than that of the local garrison troops."

Just then, a rider charged out from the Jin army ranks, galloping swiftly to the city walls. He shouted at the city wall, "Listen up, you bandits on the city walls! The governor has ordered you to surrender by noon tomorrow. After noon, the army will raze this city to the ground. Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy!"

The knight shouted the same thing three times, then turned his horse around and galloped away without hesitation.

The bandit leaders on the city wall looked at each other in bewilderment, their eyes turning to their leader, Tuo Yangkun. After the battle on the banks of the Longshui River, the bandits had clearly lost all their courage and now had no will to fight left.

The government troops have such powerful shotguns, what's the point of fighting?

Seeing this, Tuo Yangkun's heart sank even further. However, he was unwilling to surrender so easily, especially since Jia Huan had not promised to let him go. If he rashly surrendered, he might just run into Jia Huan's blade. So, Tuo Yangkun gritted his teeth and decided to take one last gamble, asking Jia Huan to send someone to negotiate a price before deciding whether to surrender.

To everyone's surprise, Jia Huan had no intention of giving him a chance. At noon the next day, more than a dozen cannons were pushed to the front of the battle line, including two newly built Hongyi cannons. They bombarded the city wall with several rounds of bombardment, causing people and horses to fall and blood to fly everywhere. Even the city tower was blown down. The unlucky Tuo Yangkun was crushed to death on the spot by a large beam that collapsed.

Tsk tsk, those bandits were already terrified. Seeing that their leader, Tuoyangkun, had kicked the bucket, they simply cut off his head, raised the white flag, and opened the city gates to surrender.

In this way, Jia Huan annihilated Tuo Yangkun's rebel army with overwhelming force. Zhang Miaoshou from the neighboring Qianyang County was clever. Seeing that Tuo Yangkun had fallen, he immediately opened the city gates and surrendered to Xing Wei, offering up all the looted treasures, grain, and horses. He was as submissive as a grandson. Xing Wei could not find an excuse to kill him, so he had no choice but to spare his life.

With Tuo Yangkun dead and Zhang Miaoshou surrendering, the bandit forces within Fengxiang Prefecture were basically wiped out. As a result, Jia Huan no longer had any worries and could deal with the other three bandit groups around Qingyang Prefecture: Shen Yikui, Gao Yingxiang, and Wang Ziyong.

Gao Yingxiang was undoubtedly the most difficult to deal with, because Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were both under his command. These two were the most famous rebel leaders at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Li Zicheng even attacked Beijing, forcing Emperor Chongzhen to hang himself on Coal Hill. If Wu Sangui hadn't led the Qing army into the pass later, Li Zicheng might have eventually seized the throne.

Of course, although this world of Dream of the Red Chamber is very similar to the late Ming Dynasty, the Great Jin Dynasty is ultimately not the Great Ming Dynasty, and the final outcome is still unknown!

Getting back to the main point, after Jia Huan wiped out Tuo Yangkun's gang, while the army was resting in Longzhou City, they suddenly received a report of victory from Man Gui of the Northern Route Army, saying that they had defeated Shen Yikui in the Huan County area of ​​Qingyang Prefecture and beheaded more than a thousand people.

Upon receiving the news of the victory, Jia Huan showed no joy; instead, he frowned. He had already ordered Man Gui to remain in place and not attack Shen Yi Kui, waiting for Tie Hu to arrive with his southern army before coordinating the attack. Shen Yi Kui's territory was too close to Gao Yingxiang's and Wang Ziyong's. These three bandit groups formed a triangular formation, mutually supporting and watching over each other, and all were extremely powerful. Venturing deep into enemy territory alone could easily lead to disaster.

Jia Huan hurriedly pulled out a map to check Man Gui's current location, and his heart skipped a beat. He exclaimed, "Oh no!"

Upon hearing this, Tie Niu, Lu Xiangjin, Dong Dao, Fan Jian, and others gathered around and asked, "General, what's wrong?"

Jia Huan said solemnly, "Dong Dao, you are quick and agile. Go to Huan County immediately to deliver my order: forbid Man Gui from pursuing Shen Yi Kui any further, or he will be executed without mercy!"

(End of this chapter)