Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 156
"Master Hou, it's bad, the Qing soldiers have escaped!"

"What?" Liu Zongmin was very surprised when he heard this, and at the same time he didn't understand. He immediately confirmed, "What does it mean that the Qing soldiers ran away?"

Anyway, he definitely didn't run away literally. At least in his understanding, the Qing soldiers were very powerful. How could he know that the Ming army ran away just after leaving the capital!
Besides, wasn’t this strategy thought up by the Qing people? How could they possibly escape when the Ming army finally got out of their turtle shells?

It's absolutely impossible to run away!
Li Guo and Gao Yigong were also very surprised. They didn't know what it meant, so they were out of breath and sweating profusely as they answered Liu Zongmin's questions.

Then Tan Ma replied angrily: "They just ran away, they ran away to Jizhou!"

Jizhou was to the east of them, so there was no possibility of a detour to cut off the Ming army's retreat.

Liu Zongmin couldn't help being shocked when he heard this, and immediately shouted angrily: "If you don't ask about the situation, what do they mean?"

When the Tanma heard this, he quickly said: "Master Hou, we and the imperial court never stop fighting at night, and they never stop fighting until death. It would be better if our two families don't fight. How can we be allowed to get close to ask for news!"

This is the disadvantage of disharmony at the bottom!

Liu Zongmin and the others had actually known about this situation for a long time, but they pretended that they couldn't see it and even restrained them. But unexpectedly, something went wrong here.

Gao Yigong heard this from the side and became anxious immediately. He quickly asked Liu Zongmin: "What should we do? The Emperor of Ming Dynasty has almost arrived with his troops, and his troops are even more powerful than ours. How can we fight?"

Liu Zongmin is the commander-in-chief and must make the decision.When encountering this kind of situation before the war, to be honest, he had all the thoughts of robbing his eighteenth generation ancestors.

But no matter what, it's useless no matter how much he complains at this moment, he must make a decision as soon as possible.

It has to be said that Liu Zongmin is also a ruthless person, and he immediately ordered with a bitter voice: "How else can we fight? Of course, the soldiers will come to block it, and the water will come to cover it up! If you want to retreat at this time, you will be chased and beaten by the Ming army!"

To retreat in the face of battle is a nice thing to say, but normally, it is to flee after hearing the news.

If it were in earlier years, Liu Zongmin and the others would have had no burden at all and they would have run away when they needed to. If they couldn't escape, they would be unlucky.

But now, they are no longer bandits, but the Dashun Army.If it weren't for the army led by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty that we encountered this year, all the officials and soldiers of the imperial court would have fled after hearing the news!
No matter what, I already have some pride in my heart, and it is absolutely impossible to return to the era of bandits.

Besides, although the imperial army did defeat the Dashun army, they were all sneak attacks, or they had an absolute advantage in strength or something.Nowadays, the two armies should be about the same. Face to face, head-to-head, they can fight, right?

Li Guo and Gao Yigong had the same idea. After hearing Liu Zongmin's words, they didn't say anything more and quickly led their respective armies to prepare for a decisive battle with the imperial army!

…………

"Report, the army of bandits has been lined up five miles ahead, waiting for battle!"

The leader of the vanguard was Zhou Yuji. Upon hearing this, he immediately shouted: "Send the order, prepare for battle and form a formation!"

Upon hearing this, the infantry soldiers immediately took off their armor from the accompanying convoy and put it on very quickly, which shows that they usually train in this method of wearing armor.

The cavalry originally wore armor, but now that the infantry guards were wearing armor, they looked very organized.

Ye Bushou continued to spread the news to all armies. Except for Zhou Yuji's troops, other armies also immediately prepared for battle, and then entered the predetermined position to form formations.

About an hour later, the Dashun army and the imperial officers and soldiers were face to face.

After Liu Zongmin observed the imperial officers and soldiers for a while, he immediately laughed and said: "Where did the eighty or ninety thousand come from? It's only about seventy thousand, and the number of troops is no more than ours!"

So, he immediately sent an order and asked his bodyguard to ride on horseback to convey his words.

"With this battle, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty is destroyed, and our country, Dashun, can replace the Ming Dynasty. Everyone is the founding hero, and his wife and son are just around the corner!"

"Whoever kills the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom will be given a knighthood by His Highness!"

"..."

Mobilization before war and boosting morale are absolutely necessary.

Liu Zongmin knew this, and Emperor Chongzhen certainly knew this.

And at this time, he also received good news.No, I heard Fang Zhenghua next to him immediately say with great joy: "This Jianlu must have heard of the reputation of Lord Long Live, so he fled in the face of the battle and sold this thief!"

During the time when Fang Zhenghua returned to the capital, he was mostly practicing the army and was not with the emperor. Therefore, he did not know much about Wu Sangui's affairs.

But the emperor knows!

Emperor Chongzhen certainly did not think that Jianlu would flee upon hearing the news. It might be possible in the future, but it is absolutely impossible at present.The only thing that can make Jianlu not use the trap he laid out, but run away first and cheat his allies, is that there is only one possibility: that is, Jianlu knows that his home has been robbed!
However, in order to be cautious, he still sent out a large number of Ye Bushou to prevent them from being killed by Jianlu during the decisive battle with the bandits.

The original plan was to quickly defeat the army of rogue thieves and then use all their strength to deal with the Jianlu.Therefore, he did not relax and immediately sent a team of cavalry to shout in front of the bandits' formation.

"Your Majesty has a decree. You are forced to rebel. As long as you don't resist, you can be pardoned, serve the country, or be discharged and return to the field. If you are stubborn, you will be killed without mercy!"

This statement is no longer new, it has been said before.Now I reiterate that the purpose is to make all the soldiers of the Dashun Army remember this.

Of course Liu Zongmin didn't want them to come here to fight in front of his own formation, so he sent troops to expel them.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't use any more tricks. He stretched out his hands, and two royal guards immediately lifted his shield and gave it to the emperor to hold.On the other side, two more imperial guards carried his big hammer and gave it to the emperor to hold.

Just after adding two hundred kilograms of weight, the horse under Emperor Chongzhen's crotch became a little agitated, as if it was too heavy on its back.

In this way, Emperor Chongzhen held a shield in one hand and a big hammer in the other. He walked out of the formation and faced the military formation on his side. The hammer lightly knocked on the shield, and the sound of gold and iron was heard, which was clear and sweet.

Almost everyone's eyes are focused on the emperor. Looking at the equipment displayed by the emperor, there is no doubt that His Majesty is brave and unparalleled!
Just such an appearance made the morale of the imperial officers and soldiers climb to a peak.

Emperor Chongzhen pointed forward with his big hammer and shouted: "Kill the thieves with me!"

After finishing speaking, he urged his war horses and began to advance towards the Dashun Army's formation.

"kill!"

The imperial officers and soldiers, whether cavalry or infantry, followed immediately.Like waves, they surged out from the depths of the sea and crashed towards Dashun Army.

There is nothing fancy, no matter whether the infantry or the cavalry, charge the entire front.

In this era, although there were artillery, they were all solid bullets, which were more intimidating than lethal.Once the opponent is not afraid of death, field artillery is mostly just a display and cannot fire a few rounds in battle.

Generally speaking, artillery is more useful when attacking and defending a city.

On the Dashun Army side, whether it was Liu Zongmin or ordinary soldiers, they were all looking at the opposite side.Everyone was shocked when they saw the emperor's weapons on the opposite side; they were shocked when they saw the emperor leading the charge; and they were even more shocked when they saw the imperial officers and soldiers starting to attack across the board as if they were not afraid of death.

After being shocked, I felt very stressed.

The army in front of them was really something they had never seen before.There has never been a court army that could fight to the death with all its members.

Facing the approaching officers and soldiers from the opposite court, almost everyone felt like a big mountain was approaching them, and the pressure was increasing.

When an army is united and fearless in battle, the momentum it displays is definitely very strong!With clear rewards and punishments, armor protection, the power of mourning soldiers, and the brave emperor charging at the front, such an army is no better than the Battle of Julu, where the King of Chu led 20 troops to charge [-] Qin soldiers. Inferior, even more powerful!

Facing such an army, slowly, as the imperial officers and soldiers approached, many soldiers of the Dashun Army showed a look of fear on their faces.Can such an army be defeated?It's impossible to win, right?

Liu Zongmin has been fighting for so many years, and he can naturally see that the momentum of the imperial officers and soldiers on the opposite side is too strong. If they fight in such a short distance, they will definitely be defeated by the opponent in one blow.

We must interrupt the momentum of the imperial officers and soldiers and improve our own morale before we can win!
So, he immediately sent an order for the artillery soldiers to fire.

As for the three forces of the Dashun Army, the imperial army and the Jianlu, the most powerful ones in the use of firearms were actually the Jianlu. Of course, it was the Jianlu when Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming were still there, followed by the imperial army and the Jianlu. Dashun's army is comparable. Of course, this also refers to the former imperial officers and soldiers.

For now, in terms of firearms, the Dashun Army is the weakest.I have no firearms craftsmen or professional firearms soldiers. They were all surrendered by the imperial officers and soldiers.As for the imperial officers and soldiers who surrendered, they were generally those who were treated very poorly. Their firearms level was not the same as that of Kong Youde's troops, and they were all trained by Folangji people.

There is something wrong with Liu Zongmin's command.

The range of field artillery is not very far. At this time, when the artillery was ordered to be fired, it was more of a useless artillery.His artillerymen received military orders, and naturally they were busy firing under pressure. Their skills were poor, and it sounded like a "boom, boom, boom" with great momentum.However, the solid bullet fired was either too high and hit a crater on the ground after a parabola, or the parabola was too low and quickly fell to the ground and bounced, exhausting its kinetic energy before it reached the Ming army's formation.

Only occasionally a few solid bullets rushed into the formation of the imperial officers and soldiers, plowing a bloody ditch, but it seemed to be nothing. All the imperial officers and soldiers still maintained their original formation and advanced together.

Liu Zongmin was so angry that he shouted loudly and ordered all the artillery to aim at the Ming Emperor and fire.

But asking them to target people and fire cannons is really a bit difficult for them.

At this time, the imperial officers and soldiers also began to speed up.

The war horse changed from pacing to trotting, and then slowly increased its speed.The infantry also began to take long strides and increased their speed.

The soldiers of the Dashun Army, after seeing this scene, felt that the pressure on their faces was getting bigger and bigger.

Suddenly, there was a loud "boom", and the Dashun Army's artillery position exploded. There were many casualties, but one of the artillery exploded.

In fact, it was very common for artillery in this era to explode.

Not to mention that the artillery in the Dashun Army was all captured from the imperial army, and the quality varied. In the early years of Chongzhen, the imperial court hired Folangji people to build artillery. As a result, one of the three artillery pieces exploded during the test firing.

The thickness of the barrel of each hand-made artillery gun is different. When going into battle, the gunpowder loaded under pressure may be wrong to some extent, and the probability of the barrel exploding is naturally high.

"Kill!"

The imperial officers and soldiers began to roar and further increased the speed of their attack.

At the front of them was none other than Emperor Chongzhen, facing Liu Zongmin's commander-in-chief. ,

After Emperor Chongzhen drove his horse to a stone's throw away, he jumped off the horse, blocked the front with a shield in one hand, and launched a charge with a hammer in the other.The personal guards around him, under the command of Fang Zhenghua, all dismounted, each wearing heavy armor, to protect Emperor Chongzhen in the charge, and a group of sharpshooters behind him began to cover and shoot.

"Blah blah blah..."

The sound of firearms sounded immediately, and the firearms soldiers on the front line of Liu Zongmin's formation began to shoot.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen really didn't feel afraid.When charging into battle, his adrenaline surges, especially with the protection of a thick shield, which makes him charge even more energetically.

"Kill..."

Some of the lead bullets hit the shield, but they all slid away to both sides.Emperor Chongzhen felt as if someone was throwing stones at him.

At this moment, there were no thoughts at all. He just charged. He felt the blood boiling in his blood and roared forward.

The emperor is like this, how can the imperial officers and soldiers lag behind after seeing this?The fighting spirit is even more arrogant, and everyone is risking their lives to attack the enemy in front of them, regardless of whether any of their comrades around them are shot, or whether they will be the next one!

The overwhelming momentum reached its peak in these last hundred steps!Although I didn't say it, the charging posture of the entire army clearly told the opponent: Anyone who stands in my way will die!

Liu Zongmin watched this scene, especially the emperor holding up the shield to block all the muskets and still charging, with a shocked face and a low voice.If you get close, you can hear what he said: "Crazy, crazy, the emperor is a madman, he is all crazy!"

His eyes could naturally tell that this battle was impossible to win!
Because you will lose!

A habit he hadn't had for a long time suddenly reappeared in Liu Zongmin's mind. Without saying a word, he turned his horse's head and ran away!

The Dashun Army was already about to collapse in the face of such a powerful and fearless offensive. Now when they saw their commander escaping, they naturally collapsed immediately.

Some people immediately followed the coach and ran away. They didn't know whether they could escape, but they just followed blindly and ran away.But most people remembered the emperor's will and dropped their weapons and knelt down.

The Dashun Army had [-] cavalry and [-] infantry. Except for the cavalry who fled all over the mountains and fields, the [-] infantry had almost no resistance and all knelt down and surrendered.

This caused Emperor Chongzhen to hold up his shield and rush behind the Dashun army formation. When he wanted to hit people with a hammer, he found that there was no one to hit, so they all knelt on the ground and surrendered!

This made him miss Jianlu's white-armored soldiers a little. Maybe he could try the actual combat power of the hammer!
This battle was originally planned to be a fight to the death. First, go all out to defeat the Dashun Army, and then be able to deal with it with all its strength before Jianlu could react.Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen had already decided that he would charge forward, lead by example, and take down the Dashun Army in one go.

In the end, the plan did not change quickly. Jianlu escaped first, and the Dashun army surrendered directly. What was originally an imagined tough battle, a life and death battle, turned into an easy victory!

Throwing the hammer on the ground and making a hole, and using his shield as a crutch, the sweaty Emperor Chongzhen looked at the situation on the battlefield and found that the imperial officers and soldiers, both cavalry and infantry, were chasing and killing the Dashun soldiers who had fled in all directions. He then issued an order to Fang Zhenghua: "Send the order and stop the pursuit!"

Fang Zhenghua was a little surprised when he heard this, but he obeyed the emperor's will without hesitation, so he immediately ordered the troops to retreat.

After doing this, he asked with a little puzzlement: "Long live Lord, I used to take this opportunity to chase down bandits, and the results would be great."

Generally, the damage done to the enemy is greatest when chasing after the enemy collapses.

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen opened his visor, wiped the sweat from his face and said, "The weather is too hot. I'm afraid that the soldiers may collapse and have accidents in their excitement."

In ancient times, generally hot weather was not suitable for fighting.

Because in ancient times, people had to wear armor when fighting. If the weather was too hot, strenuous exercise, and the body was covered tightly, it would be easy to become dehydrated and collapse, and even death would not be a surprise. Another thing is the armor-removing wind. It is said that if you quickly take off your armor to cool down when you are sweating profusely, you are prone to stroke, or even directly lead to death from cardiovascular disease.

It is said that Chang Yuchun, the most capable general in the founding period of the Ming Dynasty, died suddenly in his prime because of this armor-removing style.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was sweating profusely. He paused, wiped his sweat again and continued: "Those thieves should run away if they want. Let them take their fear back with them. When I go back to deal with other thieves, It’ll be easier too!”

This purpose was the main purpose. Emperor Chongzhen believed that the battle just now directly destroyed Li Thief Dashun.This brought about fear of the imperial officers and soldiers, and of him as the emperor, which would inevitably penetrate into the hearts of the escaped thieves.As long as this influence is expanded, things will become smoother and smoother.

Prestige can be quickly established in such situations.

When Fang Zhenghua heard this, he suddenly realized and said quickly: "Long live the Holy Ming!"

Emperor Chongzhen just smiled and then ordered: "I will pass on my decree again and remind the soldiers not to rush to cool down, and not to drink cold water!"

Before the war, he had already sent orders to all armies.But wherever he looked, some of the soldiers guarding the prisoners had already taken off their helmets.

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(End of this chapter)