Xie Ming

Zeguo Jiangshan entered the war map, Shengmin He Jile Qiaosu.

Relying on Junmo's words to seal the affairs of the princes, one will succeed in a thousand bones.

Rumors say that a single battle would cause a hundred gods to grieve, and the powerful armies on both sides of the strait have yet to cease their conflict.

Who says the Cangjiang River is always peaceful? Lately, it has been constantly stained with blood.

The ramblings about Hangzhou's splendor are too much to bear; let us pause for now.

Ye then spoke of the struggle for supremacy in the north, a struggle that would never cease.

Although it was said that Xiao Jiang led his cavalry south and settled the world in one fell swoop.

However, amidst the fierce battles fought in many places and units in northern Huaihe River region over the past month, there has been little peace and tranquility.

To begin, we must start from the beginning of July.

It is said that after a fierce battle on the north bank of the Yangtze River, Pei Zhong poured most of his troops out of Henan and moved eastward to Sishui and Taoyuan, tying down the main force of Duoduo's troops. He had no choice but to tighten his grip on the Yangzhou-Huai'an line.

To resolve the immediate crisis of having no way to retreat, Dodo was forced to send a battle report northward, requesting reinforcements to jointly annihilate Sun Peizhong's forces and secure Xuzhou, Fengyang, and other places.

Therefore, in early July, by order of Dorgon Sidu, the original 50,000 troops of Ajige's army set off from Taiyuan and headed east, returning swiftly to Henan.

By this time, Li Zicheng's main force of the Shun dynasty had already been driven out of Shaanxi and Shanxi.

Even for the time being, the Northwest cannot be considered truly secure.

However, the southeast is indeed wealthy, and its value far surpasses that of the western capital.

In order to open up the Jiangnan region as soon as possible and seize this lucrative opportunity.

The Qing court, willing to take the risk, did not hesitate to hastily pull Ajige's main force back east, which was perfectly reasonable.

Then, around the thirteenth or fourteenth day.

Ajige's army crossed Jingxing, passed through Zhending Prefecture, and marched straight to the northern border of Henan.

Moreover, their army was thus divided into three routes.

Wu Sangui's 10,000 Guan Ning troops seized Huaiqing Prefecture and fled.

Ajige's fierce general, Lege, led 20,000 troops and marched straight to Kaifeng.

Meanwhile, Ajige's main force of 20,000 men was preparing to rush to Guide, then turn around and head straight for Xuzhou, where they would join forces with Dodo's troops to trap General Peizhong.

In this way, he neither disobeyed Dorgon's military orders nor did he have to kill two birds with one stone, but instead reoccupied Henan and seized a province of plains and grain-producing land to expand his army.

If Pei Zhong's forces in Xuzhou were defeated and his remaining troops fled west, he could still rely on the fact that the prefectures and counties in Henan had been occupied early to prevent the Ming army from escaping.

He really thought it all out and planned it all out. In reality, that Ajige didn't take Sun Peizhong's troops seriously at all, which is why he was so arrogant.

Of course, this is why the enemy forces were able to make such a rash move to divide their troops at this time.

In reality, Henan at that time was in dire straits, lacking soldiers and generals, which explains why it was looked down upon.

After Pei Zhong led his army eastward, only three detachments of the original Henan troops, which were of considerable size, remained.

One of them was Zhou Tai, the deputy vanguard under Sun Peizhong, who was promoted to commander of the army. He was given 5,000 troops from Fengyang to guard Kaifeng.

One of the leaders was Niu Kuisheng, one of Li Huchen's former deputy generals, who led 5,000 soldiers to guard Guide.

There was another route, led by Gao Hu and Xu Wenze, with 5,000 men, which was stationed in Huaiqing East and Luoyang area.

Unexpectedly, in mid-July, Ajige's Qing army swept in from the northwest.

Before the Guan Ning army could even reach the city gates, Gao Hu, having heard the news, and instigated by that treacherous Qiu Maohua, made up his mind and secretly submitted his surrender to Xu Wenze.

Before the battle even began, the Huaiqing and Luoyang area had already fallen to the enemy.

The officials of the surrounding prefectures and counties had no choice but to submit their petitions to the emperor.

Xu Wenze narrowly escaped death, but with no other option but to fight back, and with the situation hopeless, he was only able to escape from Gao Hu's camp with the help of a dozen or so personal guards. He then urgently sent a message eastward.

Soon after, Zhou Tai led his troops to defend Kaifeng, facing off against Lege's 20,000-strong army. However, he was helpless against the overwhelming force of the enemy.

Despite receiving guidance from Pei Zhong on city defense tactics, Zhou Tai could only hold out for six or seven days in the predicament of having no external reinforcements before finally succumbing to the onslaught.

Left with no other choice, in order to preserve the strength of their troops, they devised a plan and took the risk of breaking out under cover of night.

When they finally escaped from the enemy's grasp and fled in disarray to Nanzhuxian Town, half of the remaining cavalry behind them had already perished.

The defeat is obvious, what should we do?
Despite being struck by several arrows and facing the danger of being pursued by enemy troops, Zhou Tai dared not delay for even a moment. He had no choice but to rush through Chenliu to Tuocheng and then to Niu Kuisheng of the allied forces, determined to at least protect Guide and prevent the arrival of the commander Peizhong, who would then have no way to retreat to Henan.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.

Before this army could reach Guide, just as they were galloping northwest of Tuocheng, they unfortunately encountered Ajige's main force.

That's it, we're completely done for.

In a field battle with his depleted troops, how could Zhou Tai and his group of demoralized Fengyang soldiers possibly stand a chance against Ajige's Jiannu iron cavalry?

Upon contact with their heads, the army quickly collapsed like a house of cards.

When the boy fought his way out in a panic, he looked back and saw that the remaining cavalry behind him numbered less than a hundred.

In his haste, Zhou Tai thought to himself, "With such a small number of men, if we were to go back to Guide, it would be like inviting a wolf into the house."

With gritted teeth and resentment, Ye could only quickly lead his defeated troops across the river to flee south again, temporarily heading towards Runing, hoping to gather troops in the south and then regroup.

very quickly.

On July 23, the Guide Prefecture, which was defended by Niu Kuisheng, was also unable to withstand the enemy.

On the day the city fell, Niu Kuisheng led his remaining two thousand soldiers, abandoning their armor and weapons, and retreated all the way to Luyi, before turning towards Xiangcheng.

By July, most of the prefectures and counties in northern Henan had fallen into the hands of the Qing army, like autumn leaves swept away by the wind.

Its speed and the swiftness of its collapse were astonishing, and both the Southern Court and Xiao Lang had not anticipated it.

Therefore, at the beginning of August, Xiao Jingchuan, who was still in Nanjing overseeing the defense of the Yangtze River, had no choice but to send troops westward.

After all, Henan is the heart of the Central Plains.

The fertile fields stretch for thousands of miles, and the grain and fodder are plentiful.

Wouldn't it be a pity to just give up on the enemy like this?

With this shift in balance, losing this province will likely make it even harder to sustain operations in the future.

Furthermore, in terms of terrain and topography, Henan is located at the western source of the Yangtze River.

If this place is lost, then the downstream areas along the Yangtze River will likely be extremely difficult to defend as well.

So it is, and so it is.

Faced with immense difficulties, Xiao gritted his teeth and weighed the options, but had no choice but to forcibly remove an army from the Huaibei front.

Li Hongsheng was dispatched with over 10,000 soldiers, along with Ma Jinzhong, a newly surrendered general from Hubei, and his 30,000-strong naval force, to sail up the Yangtze River to remedy the decline in Henan.

And who could have imagined this?
Even now, the situation is still spiraling out of control and becoming increasingly worse.

Before Xiao's troops conquered Henan, Xu Dingguo, the general of Henan, was later placed under the control of Xiao Jingchuan and remained stationed in the Suizhou area of ​​eastern Henan.

Now that there was no Xiao Jun to check and balance things, this traitorous general quickly colluded with the Qing court to surrender quickly, and in order to show his loyalty, he even sent his own son to the Qing camp as a hostage.

In western Henan, after Gao Hu surrendered to the enemy, local powerful figures such as Liu Hongqi and Li Jiyu, west of Luoyang, could not hold back and came out into the open.

They each occupied a prefecture and began recruiting soldiers and expanding their private funds, each acting independently.

Seeking to rise above others in chaotic times, they dreamt of becoming emperors, and so did they.

It truly reflects the saying, "Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny?"
Honestly, it's inexplicably both laughable and frustrating. (End of Chapter)