Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1170
Soon after Jiang Xiang returned to Taiyuan with 4 horses, the Qing army followed closely, and Bai Zhang, the rebel general in Huozhou, also surrendered to the Jin army after being defeated by the Jin army.

Hauge led the army northward, and along the way, Zhou County heard that the Qing army had killed people and massacred the city, and was worried that it would fall into the hands of the Qing army. After weighing, Fenzhou and other places watched the wind and surrendered to the Jin army.

On November 29, shortly after the Qing army arrived in Taiyuan, the Jin army also killed the city of Taiyuan.

With 4 Jin troops and 3 Qing troops, a total of 7 troops besieged Taiyuan, encircling more than 4 rebels in the city.

Of course, in addition to the 20 coalition troops, more than [-] civilians who were driven by the Qing army will also participate in the siege operation.

The Qing army didn't have much supplies, and they relied on plunder for their own supplies, so naturally they didn't care about the driven people.

These more than 20 people can be said to be extremely miserable. They were forced to fill in the trenches by the Qing army, but they had nothing to eat, and the women had to provide sex for the flag soldiers.

Not to mention the hatred of the rebels on the city, even the generals of the Jin army who besieged the city were dissatisfied with the Qing army. They took in many people who fled to the Jin camp, and there were conflicts with the Qing army from time to time, and they almost met each other.

Although the emperor of the Kingdom of Jin was a Manchu, the Kingdom of Jin was actually a regime dominated by Han people, and the Jin army was very dissatisfied with the barbarism of the Manchus.

But the war was cruel after all. Although many Han generals in the Jin army were dissatisfied with the actions of the Qing army and felt that their national sentiments were hurt, they only sheltered very few people who fled to the Jin camp. The people under control are helpless.

Under the city of Taiyuan, such a scene would often appear. The people filling the trenches suddenly dropped their tools and ran to the Jinying side, and the Jinying side would immediately open the camp gate and let them in.

When the chasing Qing army reached the edge of the Golden Camp, they would stop their pursuit, tacitly acquiescing to the fact that the people were taken in by the Golden Camp.

Regarding this point, Lou Qin also found Hauge, hoping that the Jin army would return these escaped people to the Qing army, otherwise it would affect the Qing army's siege operations.

Although Hauge was migrating the people of Shanxi to Guanzhong, he also knew that it was not appropriate for the Jin army to do so. Not to mention affecting the siege operations, it would also cause discord between the Jin and Qing armies.

It’s just that there are 16 people in the Jin Kingdom, and less than [-] people from the Manchus and Mongolians. Among them, many Mongolians are loyal to Sun Kewang and other Han gentry. hand it over.

In fact, the Kingdom of Jin is more similar to the Ming Dynasty until now. The Jin army is generally hostile to the Qing army, because the Qing army is different from them. They think they are the Central Plains dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty is a completely barbaric Hulu regime.

If the Jin army was not forced by the situation, the three-point structure of the world made them have to help the Qing army, and the Jin army would definitely not want to get involved with the braided Qing army.

Under the city of Taiyuan, although there was a gap between the Jin and Qing armies, as the Qing army filled up the moats, the coalition attack on Taiyuan officially began.

Counting the 4 troops of the Jin army, the army used to quell the Shanxi rebellion has reached 16. The Jin-Qing coalition forces already have a huge advantage over the Shanxi rebels, and the trend of the uprising's spread has been completely suppressed.

After all, the real elite of the Shanxi Rebel Army is only [-] Datong soldiers. After the Jin-Qing Allied Forces entered Shanxi, combined with their superiority in cavalry, the main force of the rebel army could only be trapped in Taiyuan, Lu'an, Datong, Xuanfu and other places. Being able to drill into the mountains and enter the forest is waiting for the turning point of the Ming Army's Northern Expedition.

……

When the anti-Qing wave was raging in the north, the Ming Dynasty in the south was also running at full speed, preparing to advance the Northern Expedition.

Wang Yan's original plan was that the Northern Expedition would have to wait at least three or four years later, but the plan could not keep up with the changes. The Qing army invaded the south, which made him use Jiang Xiang's pawn in advance, and when Jiang Xiang moved, he had to advance the Northern Expedition.

The army of the Ming Dynasty was different from the Qing army. In the areas controlled by the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, it was difficult to get enough food. Therefore, if you give a knife and a spear, you can pull up a team with a bowl of food. The cost of war is low.

The Ming Dynasty had a developed society and a wealthy economy, and the cost of war was much higher than that of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

A very simple reason, a young man can earn 12 taels of silver a year at home, so if he joins the army, he must earn at least 24 taels a year, and he must be given other preferential treatment before he can join the army and be willing to fight.

The 50 troops of the Ming Dynasty cannot be inspired by the righteousness of the nation alone. The vast majority of people will still care about their own interests. They also need to support their families.

The Ming Dynasty’s preparations for the Northern Expedition were not sufficient. If it was only Datong, Wang Yan might have thought about whether to give up on Jiang Xiang. Time waits for no one, the opportunity is rare, and we must make a move.

From September, when Jiang Xiang occupied Taiyuan, the news of rebellion against the Qing Dynasty spread to the south, and the Ming Dynasty began to operate at full strength.

Once again, the Ming Dynasty was heavily in debt and ordered the workshops affiliated to the court to produce day and night. The private workshops that were not qualified to make firearms were also authorized to help the court manufacture new firearms.

Huge orders were placed, and each workshop was forced to expand its scale due to production pressure. With the expansion of workshop scale, it indirectly drove the development of iron ore and copper mining and smelting, as well as transportation.

A large number of tenants who lost their land found jobs because of this, which made the Nanjing court a little bit overwhelmed. It did not expect that social conflicts could be resolved in this way.

The society of the Ming Dynasty was undergoing drastic changes, which had not changed for thousands of years. Many things were encountered for the first time. The Nanjing court had no experience and could only cross the river by feeling the stones.

They think that social conflicts are solved, but in fact it is only temporary. Military workshops are not like weaving and porcelain making. The products they produce must be consumed by war. Now there are wars, which can temporarily boost the economy of the Ming Dynasty and solve employment. However, once the fight is over, bigger problems will arise again, and even lead the Ming Dynasty astray.

In addition to building weapons, the most important thing in preparing for war is war horses.

Because of the urgency of time, it was impossible to train qualified cavalry, so Wang Yan could only transfer all the cavalry from Sichuan to Huguang.

In addition, in Qinghai, which was controlled by the Ming Dynasty, recruited volunteers and bought war horses. They did not ask the cavalry to understand cavalry warfare, but only wanted to be able to use it as a substitute for walking, so as to strengthen the marching ability of the infantry to counter the Qing cavalry.

In terms of the overall strategy, Wang Yan decided to adopt a defensive strategy against the Kingdom of Jin, drawing Li Dingguo and other elite soldiers from Sichuan.

Entering Sichuan is difficult, but getting out of Sichuan is relatively easy. In November, after the Jin army withdrew from southern Qinghai, Sichuan cavalry had 8000 soldiers, plus [-] Yi Cong recruited. The [-] war horses exchanged in Qinghai were all transferred to Luzhou, and then set off from there, taking a boat to the south, heading to Huguang to assemble.

(End of this chapter)