Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 350 Li Dingguo defeated the famous king three times

On the Huguang side, the Dashi Army had recently won an unprecedented victory against the Qing Army.

In October, Nikan, the Manchu prince, led a large army of Manchus, Mongols and Han Chinese across the Yangtze River and headed straight for Hunan. The Qing court ordered Wu Sangui to leave southern Sichuan and occupy the entire Sichuan first to threaten the flank of the Dashi Army; Nikan first took Hunan and then joined Wu Sangui in Guizhou.

Obviously, the Qing court's intention was to first defeat the Dashi Army's offensive and stabilize Sichuan, Hunan, and Guizhou. As for Jiangxi, the Qing court still ordered Zhumala and Geng Jimao to take a defensive stance to secure the important place of Ganzhou.

Nikan led the main force of the Qing army to first capture Changsha, then attacked Xiangtan, and came into contact with the Ming army.

Li Dingguo was the commander of the Dashi Army and ordered to lure the enemy deep into the territory and then retreat. Ma Jinzhong, Duke of E, attached himself to the Dashi Army and led his troops to retreat to Baoqing. Li Dingguo led the main force of the Dashi Army to Hengzhou in the south.

Nikan was unaware of the plot, so he withdrew his camp from Xiangtan and advanced to a place thirty miles north of Hengzhou the next day.

Hengzhou is a strategic point between the north and the south, and its terrain is extremely important. It has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. Li Dingguo sent his troops to pretend to resist, and only allowed defeat, not victory.

Nikan became even more arrogant, thinking that the Ming army was vulnerable, and he "marched at full speed" all night long. When he arrived at Hengzhou Prefecture it was still before dawn.

Li Dingguo learned that Nikan underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, so he ambushed a large number of troops in advance and ordered the front-line soldiers to only lose, not win. The Dashi Army retreated as soon as it came into contact with the Qing Army, pretending to be vulnerable.

Nikan was overjoyed and personally led his troops to pursue the enemy for more than 20 miles. The Manchu and Mongolian vanguard had more than one man and more horses, and was separated from the main force of the infantry and fell into an ambush by the Dashi Army.

With a cannon shot, the entire Dashi Army rushed out, the sound of killing shook the sky and the force was like thunder.

The Qing army was caught off guard and panicked. Even if the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners were elite, they could not defeat the Dashi Army, which was well rested and outnumbered. Nikan led the vanguard and was killed on the spot in the melee. First-class earl Chengni, Nikan's personal guards and other Eight Banners military officers were all killed in the battle.

The deputy commander of the Qing army, Tunqi, led his troops to withdraw to Changsha. Aixinjueluo Tunqi was born in the Manchu royal family, the grandson of Prince Shuerhaqi, Naizhuang, at the age of 38, and was given the title of Duoluo Beile.

Although Tunqi had been in battle for a long time and had made great achievements, he had never been able to lead a single army. Only once, in the second year of the Yongli reign, when the Hui Muslim Milayin of Shaanxi Province revolted, Dorgon appointed Tunqi as the General of Pingxi and led his army to defeat it together with the Duke of Fuguo Han Dai. Before Tunqi could fight the rebel army, the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu, Meng Qiaofang, had already killed Milayin. Tunqi had no choice but to return to the army of Prince Ying Ajige, garrison Datong, and besiege Jiangzhe.

In Jiangxi, the Qing government still ordered Zhumala and Geng Jimao to guard southern Jiangxi to prevent the Red Army from moving north. Zhumala was busy mobilizing troops to encircle and suppress the "Four Camps" of the Jiangxi Volunteer Army. The Jingnan vassal army suffered a great defeat and its morale was low.

For the Red Army, it seemed that it was not a bad idea to march north to Jiangxi at this time. Generals such as the commander of the Second Regiment, Kuang Shi, the commander of the Huben Regiment, Ma Bao, and the councilor of the Council of State, Jiao Lian, had written to Danchu, proposing to send troops north to Jiangxi.

After listening to the intelligence chief's introduction to the situation in Huguang and Jiangxi, Danchu was also somewhat moved and said, "Our army has occupied eastern Guangdong and is gradually showing signs of secession from Lingnan. In the future, we can use troops in two directions, either to march north to Jiangxi or to march east to Fujian. This clan has always believed that a northern expedition to Jiangxi is more feasible than an eastern expedition to Fujian. But if our army marches north to Jiangxi, it will inevitably clash with the Dashi Army."

At the beginning, Cen Danchu strongly advocated a marriage with Zhu Chenggong, but there was considerable opposition in the army. During the war years, warlords were in power, and Sun Kewang, Cen Danchu, and Zhu Chenggong were nominally subordinates of Yongli, but in fact they each had their own plans, and it was inevitable that who would be the better would be determined in the future.

Many of the Red Army's core members were from Shaanxi, similar to the Dashi Army, while most of the Cixingfan core members were from Fujian. Many people believed that instead of competing with the Dashi Army, the Red Army should first be weak and then strong, and first march east to Fujian to practice with the Cixingfan. The war years were so cruel, either you eat me or I eat you. The Yongli court had no prestige, and it was almost impossible for the various vassal states to work together.

However, Danchu always felt that although the Dashi Army was powerful, Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu were only superficially united; although the Cixing vassal state was weak, Zhu Chenggong had a very high prestige and no one in the vassal state could challenge his position.

The Cixing Fan naval division is invincible and can move freely on the sea. Rather than conflicting with the Cixing Fan, it is better to compete with the Dashi Army.

Qu Shisi had always been hostile to the peasant army. He said, "Sun Kewang is arrogant and disloyal. He has proclaimed himself the ruler of Qin and has not obeyed the imperial edicts. If the Red Army marches north to Jiangxi and progresses quickly, it is expected that they will be able to occupy Jiujiang and Hukou before the Western Army. By then, it will be more advantageous for the Red Army to recover Jiangnan."

"The king has already formed an alliance with the Cixing clan, so it is inconvenient for him to march east to Fujian again." Wang Huacheng, the right councilor, said: "The Lu army of the Cixing clan is weak and unable to threaten eastern Guangdong. The Red Army will march north to Jiangxi, not only to deal with the Tartars, but also to guard against the Western Army. If we stabilize the Cixing clan, we will be more confident in the northern expedition to Jiangxi."

That's the truth. But the problem is that the northern expedition to Jiangxi is very inconvenient, and Danchu has some concerns.

First, there was only one way to march north to Jiangxi, which was to cross Dayuling Mountain from Nanxiong Prefecture in Guangdong and enter Nan'an Prefecture in Jiangxi through Meiguan. Dayuling Mountain was the highest of the Five Mountains, and it was not easy to cross, and it was difficult to transport food and grass, and there was no water conservancy.

Secondly, after passing Nan'an Prefecture in Jiangxi, the next step is Ganzhou Prefecture. Ganzhou is a famous strong city, surrounded by water on three sides and mountains on one side, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Not to mention using ladders to attack the city, using red cannons and underground sieges is also difficult to work. Apart from a long-term siege, forcing the defenders to run out of food, Danchu could not think of a worse way to attack the city.

Secondly, the Qing army was very well prepared, and set up the Southern Gan Governor and the Southern Gan General in southern Jiangxi to manage the military and political affairs of Nan'an and Ganzhou. In order to prevent the Red Army from going north, the Qing court also ordered the Manchu veteran Zhumala and Jingnan King Geng Jimao to guard Ganzhou.

……

"Li Dingguo defeated three famous kings and became famous. There is a poem that goes, 'The dazzling pearls of the East are inlaid on the helmet, and a thousand gold coins are enough to buy the king's head.' Our intelligence agency believes that Sun Kewang is narrow-minded and will definitely have a rift with Dingguo. Soon, changes may occur within the Western Army."

Feng Jiali continued, "Although Li Dingguo won a great victory in Hengyang, he did not kill many people. Most of them were the vanguard Tartars led by Nikan. There is a hidden story behind this."

Li Dingguo was good at using troops. When he deployed the Hengyang Campaign, he planned it very carefully. It was originally planned that Ma Jinzhong and Feng Shuangli would move their troops to Baigao City, and Li Dingguo would lead the main force to stay in Hengzhou. When the main force of the Qing army passed Hengshan County, Ma and Feng would go behind the enemy lines and attack from the north and south together with Dingguo, hoping to completely wipe out the Qing army.

Sun Kewang was jealous of Li Dingguo's success, so he secretly ordered Feng Shuangli to retreat to Baoqing, and Ma Jinzhong also withdrew. Although Li Dingguo killed the Qing army commander Nikan, due to Sun Kewang's sabotage, he was not only unable to pursue the Qing army, but also in danger of being alone in the deep. Although he won a great victory in Hengyang, he was forced to give up Hengzhou.

Sun Kewang also attacked Liu Wenxiu for personal reasons. After the Battle of Baoning, Sun Kewang should have sent more troops to Sichuan to support Liu Wenxiu in continuing to manage Sichuan and confront Wu Sangui's Qing army.

However, Sun Kewang took advantage of the situation and removed Liu Wenxiu's military power and sent him to Kunming to live in idleness. Liu Wenxiu himself was discouraged and many generals of the Dashi Army were also indignant.

The Dashi Army has changed, and the Red Army is not constrained. It might be a good idea to go to Jiangxi to test it. Danchu has not yet made a final decision, so he decided to mobilize 80,000 troops from Huben Town and the Second Town to prepare for the Northern Expedition.

(End of this chapter)