Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

For the peasant army like Li Zicheng, Huang Taiji, who was the supreme ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, has always maintained a high degree of concern.And the Qing army knew the movements of the peasant army well, it could be said that they knew it quite well.That's why every military operation of the Qing army was "just right".

Even before the Battle of the Entrance, Huang Taiji repeatedly told the soldiers of the Qing army: "If you encounter rogues, you must tell them: You are the political disorder of the Ming Dynasty, and you will change it. I will come to conquer. That’s exactly why.” Huang Taiji also requested that the peasant army be treated kindly, not to have any enmity with the peasant army, and if the other party is willing to send an envoy or have a letter to hand over, it must be properly approached.

Although due to a coincidence and the erratic movement of the peasant army, the Qing army has never established a formal communication channel with the Dashun army, but there are those Shanxi merchants who have business with both armies sending messages back and forth, so Li Zicheng and the others are more or less Learn a little about the "goodwill" of the Qing Dynasty.

As for the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Li Zicheng, the top officials of the Dashun Army, did not know anything about it.For many years, the Dashun army had been fighting against the Ming army, so they only thought that defeating the Ming army would take over the world, so they sadly reduced their attention to the Qing army outside the pass.

Even Li Zicheng and the others believed that he was an enemy of the Ming Dynasty, and the Manchu Qing was also an enemy of the Ming Dynasty. In this case, the Dashun Army and the Qing Army were natural allies.Li Zicheng and the others didn't know at all: In the relationship between the two countries, the enemy's enemy may not necessarily become an ally.

In fact, the strategic pattern at the end of the Ming Dynasty was a situation in which Ming, Qing, Chuang, and Henan competed for the world.And among these four parties, it is absolutely impossible to have real allies, they can only become enemies.So on this mahjong table where the world is the bet, Li Zicheng ignored one of the most important opponents.

So now these three armies that were about to fight created a rather complicated situation.

Let’s first look at Li Zicheng’s Dashun Army: the Dashun Army is rich and proud, but mostly composed of peasant troops.The ingredients are very mixed, ranging from young to old, lacking regular army training.Its main military leaders are also mostly composed of farmers, with very low cultural knowledge and lack of overall strategic planning. Therefore, this army has outstanding advantages in guerrilla field warfare.I am relatively unfamiliar with formalized urban warfare.

Coupled with the addition of a large number of surrendered Ming troops, although the power has expanded, it has not had time to combine new forces.There was no time to occupy and consolidate the hinterland of the Central Plains, and it can be said that it lacked strategic depth.

Then look at Wu Sangui's Guan Ning Iron Cavalry: Guan Ning Iron Cavalry is strong but weak, and he is allied with the Qing army, who has been an enemy for many years; the enemy is the Dashun Army, which has just established a new dynasty and has a rainbow of morale.That is, no strategic odds.There is no strategic depth either.At this time, the only thing Wu Sangui held on to was that he was the only one who could fight well.

Finally, look at the Qing army led by Huang Taiji: Manchu Qing had already established a country and proclaimed itself emperor at this time.It has been painstakingly managed for decades.It can be said that the country is rich and the people are strong, and the soldiers are strong and the horses are strong.The Eight Horsemen of the Qing Army fought against the Ming Army for many years, and their combat effectiveness was strong, which was a first-class army at that time.

At the same time, the Qing government.From the system to the system, they have also been greatly improved. Over the years, they have emphasized Sinology and used Hanchen.Recruiting wise men from all over the world can be regarded as political clarity, and the internal affairs have also been united and strengthened under the integration of Huang Taiji.Therefore, at this time, the Manchu Qing Dynasty had fully met all the conditions to take over the Central Plains, and there was only one opportunity left to take advantage of.If there is still a disadvantage for the Qing army, it is that only the Manchus are left.

What is particularly frightening is that although they are somewhat wary of the Manchu Qing, Wu Sangui and Li Zicheng both have a certain degree of trust in the Manchu Qing.Therefore, the Qing army can take advantage of the fire and wait for the Dashun army and the Guanning iron cavalry to lose both, and then take the most beneficial action.

Against this background, the Dashun Army made major strategic changes.For the time being, they gave up attacking the outer city of the capital, and wanted to encircle and fight for reinforcements. First, they eliminated the Guanning cavalry coming from the east, and let the Qing army leave the pass, and then went south to wipe out the Runing army and Heiyun from the north military.

On July 27, Li Zicheng personally led the 37 main force of the Dashun Army to leave Beijing.With the [-] surrendered Ming army led by Tang Tong as the vanguard, they took the initiative to meet Wu Sangui's Guanning iron cavalry.The reason for bringing such a huge army has the effect of deterring the Qing army.But in his heart, Li Zicheng could not help but have the meaning of taking advantage of the victory to wipe out the Qing army entering the pass.To be honest, he did not fully trust the guarantee of the Qing army.

In addition, Li Zicheng took away almost all the main generals in Chuangying this time, and the one who stayed in the capital was the more than [-] Dashun army led by the prime minister, Song Xiance.And Niu Jinxing will be responsible for gathering the other Dashun troops who are "running wild" everywhere, and will reinforce the main force of Li Zicheng's Dashun army after they are gathered.

At the same time, Li Zicheng also issued an order to Tian Jianxiu: to resist the attack of Runing Army and Heiyun Army.If you can't resist, you have to resist one by one, consuming more of the strength of the Runing Army and the Black Cloud Army.When Li Zicheng's victorious army returned, they defeated the Runing Army and Heiyun Army who committed the northern crimes in one fell swoop.

At that time, the outer city of the capital without reinforcements will also become a lonely city. Whether it is a surrender or a hard attack, the Dashun army can easily capture it.

Obviously, this is a military plan that Li Zicheng and the others came up with all at once.Although this military plan seems to have a decent appearance, the formulation of this plan has completely failed to meet a basic principle in military affairs, that is-know yourself and your enemy.

We can see that this military plan can be said to be wishful thinking, without taking into account any changes in the war situation.What should the Dashun army do if it becomes stalemate?What should I do if I lose the battle?Li Zicheng and the others never thought about it.They just thought: Dashun Army's victories will be one after another, it's nothing more than the amount of hands and feet it takes on the road to victory.

In fact, regardless of whether Tian Jianxiu's South Road Dashun Army can withstand the attack of the Runing Army and the Heiyun Army, the main force of the Dashun Army led by Li Zicheng alone has many hidden dangers of defeat.

First look at what are these hidden dangers?

First of all, due to the origins of people like Li Zicheng, they don't have a strategic vision to take over the world.From the perspective of a politician and military strategist, Li Zicheng can be regarded as excellent, and he is also capable of serving as a prince on one side of the separatist regime.But his overall strategic vision and strategic mind are quite different, and he is completely unable to become a hegemon who aspires to the world.

Even because Li Zicheng's jumping speed was too fast, in just three years, he went from entering Henan with thousands of riders to having an army of one million.And successfully overthrew the Ming Dynasty, resulting in a considerable shortage of civil servants and generals, no one with strategic vision and independent leadership, so the entire group of the Dashun Army did not have any talents who could assist Li Zicheng to control the world.

The second is what I said above: Li Zicheng and the others believed that defeating the Ming army would own the world.So I don't understand the Qing army at all, and I don't understand the strategic intentions of the Qing army.He was even more ignorant of the combat effectiveness, strategy and tactics of the Qing army.So once the Qing army changes, the Dashun army will immediately be at a loss and become confused.

The third is also as mentioned above: the success of the Dashun Army is due to luck, and it has not been tested by tough battles.But Li Zicheng and the others believed that their success was a matter of strength and had been tested.So they are not afraid of Guan Ning cavalry at all.Not to mention the barbarians outside the customs in Liaodong.

Even the Dashun Army believed that the Manchus outside the pass could not conquer the Ningjin line of defense when the main military forces of the Ming Dynasty were dealing with the peasant army. Compared with the veterans of the three sides, it is really not the same.

The fourth hidden danger is: the outer city of the capital that the Runing Army successfully defended because of Yang Rusong.This restrained the actions of the Dashun Army.At this time, the Ming Dynasty had officially perished.Therefore, a short-term political vacuum was formed on the vast land of China at that time.

But after the Dashun Army invaded Beijing.However, it is impossible to send troops south to attack the vast areas north of the Yangtze River such as Henan, Shandong, Hubei, Anzheng, etc., so as to quickly form its own strategic hinterland.

The fifth hidden danger is: Since the military operations of the Dashun Army to the east of Beijing were basically march-style, no effective second-line preventive measures were taken along the way.After the invasion of Beijing, the Dashun Army did not make such an arrangement in time.

Just imagine if Li Zicheng took measures immediately after he invaded Beijing.Establish the first line of defense along the Taihang Mountains and Hengshan Mountains along Shanxi and Hebei, build a second line of defense along the Yellow River between Shanxi and Shaanxi, and add the first line of Hebei, Shandong, and Henan, then it will be a failure.There is also a chance for a comeback.

The sixth hidden danger is: Invading Beijing is of great political significance, but it does not necessarily have much advantage in terms of military affairs, especially in terms of geographical advantages.Tens of miles around the Beijing area is a plain area, which is good for attack and bad for defense.But Li Zicheng did not see this in time.

If Li Zicheng had moved to the Great Wall area around Yanshan immediately after he invaded Beijing, and successively occupied Juyongguan, Gubeikou, Miyun, Lengkou, and Shanhaiguan, the situation would not have been so dire. It will control Wu Sangui's army in the plain area from Beijing to Shanhaiguan.

In this way, the Dashun army would have a better chance of winning, while the Guanning iron cavalry had no choice but to surrender.

And in this way, it can also effectively deter the Qing army.It may be that the Dashun army has strong soldiers and strong horses, and it has occupied a favorable terrain. The Qing army may not dare to rush into the battle, so that the Dashun army has a favorable strategic situation.

Even if the Dashun Army was defeated, Li Zicheng could turn from offense to defense.As long as they can successfully resist the Qing army on the front line of the Yanshan Mountains for three months, the situation will be very different.

At that time, the Dashun Army will quickly occupy and stabilize Hebei, Shanxi and other places; the Dashun Army will further consolidate several of its defense lines; With the support of the majority of the people, it is possible within half a year to form a situation in which the Runing Army, the Dashun Army, and the Qing Army will stand together; as the northern defense line is strengthened, the Dashun Army will start a decisive battle with the Runing Army in the Central Plains. Determine who is the master of the world.In the worst case, the Dashun army can also retreat to the northwest and temporarily separate one side.

The final hidden danger is: the troops of the Dashun Army who went out of Beijing to "hunt for wild food" "herded sheep" too hard. In the end, Niu Jinxing didn't gather many troops at all, let alone lead troops to reinforce them.Li Zicheng, who was on the front line, always thought he had reinforcements.This kind of misjudgment also made Li Zicheng and the others overestimate their own strength.

It can be seen from this that the Dashun Army's expedition this time was completely desperate, but Li Zicheng and the others were really ignorant of all this.They all rushed into the darkness of destruction with the most optimistic mood.

On the 28th, Wu Sangui's Guanning Iron Cavalry drove to Yutian, and they immediately relied on Yutian County to form a formation, and sent an urgent letter to the Qing Army, asking the Qing Army to come quickly and fight jointly with Guanning Iron Cavalry.On the same day, 12 troops of the Qing army marched to Ninghe, but they stopped and started watching from the sidelines.

On the 29th, the [-] troops of Tangtong, the vanguard of the Dashun Army, fought fiercely with Guanning cavalry, and the battle of Yutian officially started. (To be continued..)