Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 22 Shi Kefa, transfer troops to Xu
Wang Yan and more than [-] people from Sun Chengwu's department had already arrived at the bank of the Yellow River that afternoon after they left Kaolan County.

The accompanying Qing army was completely unaware of Xu Dingguo's defeat and murder. Wang Yan led his men to unfurl the banner of Xu's tribe and enter the Qing camp disguised as Xu Jun's infantry. There was a sudden riot at night, and the cavalry of Sun Chengwu's tribe ambushed outside the camp. Take advantage of the momentum to attack and break through the Qing soldiers.

After the first battle, more than [-] Qing soldiers were beheaded, more than [-] people were captured, and more than [-] ships were seized, which can be called a great victory.

The main force of the Qing army fought against the generals of the Shun army for more than a month. There were not many Qing troops in Beizhili, Shandong, and northern Henan. people.

The army was empty, and the rule of the Qing court in Beizhili, Shanxi, and Shandong was not stable, so Hauge was extra cautious and did not dare to act rashly.

This is also the reason why Xu Dingguo asked his son to send troops to support him after he sent his son to the Qing camp as a hostage, but he refused to send troops on the grounds that "he did not dare to go without the order".

Therefore, it can be seen that this is a great opportunity for the Ming army to attack across the river and recover the rivers and mountains. Therefore, when Xu Dingguo was killed, the entire Qing army was wiped out, and the news that the ships were seized was sent back to the Haoge camp on the other side, he Immediately, the pressure doubled.

He was afraid that Gao Jie's troops would take advantage of the situation to cross the river, so he hurriedly reported to Dorgon, intending to dispatch troops to meet the upcoming battle.

Wang Yan did not expect how much pressure his actions had brought to the Qing court. Dorgon, who was in Beijing, couldn't help but feel a sinking heart when he heard about Hauge's memorial.

At this time, the Qing army had gained a huge advantage in the battle against Dashun. Gao Yigong and Li Guo in northern Shaanxi abandoned Yulin and were defeated in Xiangshui. Shangluo withdrew into Henan, and the situation of the Qing army on the western front was very good.

The whole court of Qing court also seemed excited because of successive victories, but the news of Gao Jie's troops crushing the Yellow River made the Qing court in great joy, like a sword hanging from the sky, and even Dorgon fell into a dilemma.

If troops were not dispatched to support Hauge, if 4 people from Gao Jie's troops were killed across the river, the good situation in the Qing court might be reversed in an instant, and it is possible to be driven back outside the pass.

However, if the troops are transferred, there is no troops to send elsewhere, so they can only transfer troops from the western front, but at this time Li Zicheng is not chaotic, and there are still 10,000+ troops. If the deployment of troops gives Li Zicheng a chance to breathe, then in the future In the battle, the outcome will be unknown!

When Dorgon recruited ministers to discuss countermeasures in Beijing, Wang Yan, one of the instigators, did not expect that he could bring such trouble to the Qing court.

After defeating the accompanying Qing soldiers, Wang Yan led the Zhongyi Battalion to practice the water station while waiting for the main force of Li Chengdong and others to arrive.

Five days passed in a blink of an eye, and on the [-]th day of the first lunar month, the waiting army still hadn't arrived. This made Wang Yan very puzzled. When he was about to send Liu Shun to look for Li Chengdong, the envoys sent by the main force happened to be in time. Come to the camp to deliver the order.

Wang Yan hurriedly asked Sun Chengwu to be informed, and then the two listened to the military order conveyed by the military envoy, but it was not that the army wanted to cross the river to attack the Qing army, but the Shige Department urgently recruited the army to return to Xuzhou.

Wang Yan couldn't help being taken aback after hearing this, and almost passed out from anger.

He practiced the water battle of the Zhongyi Camp in order for the army to cross the river to attack Haoge and recover the rivers and mountains, but with one order, not only his and his brothers' preparations were in vain, but also Da Ming would lose an excellent opportunity to counterattack.

The situation in Shandong was very good back then. King Ji and many rebels had already controlled Shandong, and they were only waiting for the Ming army to go north to take over.

Afterwards, Wang Yan made a suggestion to take Qingzhou for Zhao Yingyuan, and the situation in Shandong improved again, but Wang Shi looked south, but Wang Shi didn't come again, which resulted in the failure of the incident.

Now that the Qing court is empty, it is an excellent time for the Northern Expedition, but it has to be abandoned again. Such inaction over and over again is really chilling!
Wang Yan suppressed his anger and asked why the envoy's army returned to Xuzhou. The envoy didn't explain clearly, but said that Li Chengdong and others immediately pulled out of camp and returned after receiving the order.

The military order was conveyed, and Sun Chengwu was not as keen on fighting the Qing army as Wang Yan was, so after he got the order, he returned to the camp to gather troops and prepare to chase the main force.

Seeing this, Wang Yan couldn't help but let out a long sigh. He had 1000 troops and no large army to support him. If the Qing army didn't kill them and cross the river, he would be Amitabha.

Now that the matter has come to this point, Wang Yan knew that staying in the Zhongyi Battalion would be of no use, so he had no choice but to obey the military order and lead his troops back east.

But he was reluctant to part with Sun Chengwu as soon as he got twenty large ships, and went straight down the Yellow River to Xuzhou with the ships and the looted supplies of the Qing soldiers.

Gao Jie's troops returned to the east, which relieved Hauge on the other side, and quickly sent a fast horse to report to Beijing.Dorgon was already preparing to order the Duoduo Ministry to temporarily abandon Li Zicheng and turn to support Hauge. Now that he got the news, he immediately changed his mind and ordered the West Road Qing Army to fully pay Li Zicheng's Dashun Army.

In the middle of the first lunar month, Gao Yigong and Li Guo's troops were defeated by the Qing soldiers again in Boluo, and fled into Gansu and Qinghai in a hurry. Li Zicheng's main force was chased and killed by the Qing soldiers on the way from Lantian to Shangluo, and lost all eight battles. Greatly hurt.

Since then, the Qing court has completely gained a firm foothold in the north through these battles, and has become the most powerful military presence on the land of China.

On February [-], Wang Yan went down the Yellow River. After ten days, he finally arrived outside the city of Xuzhou. On the same day, Li Chengdong and others also entered Xuzhou.

Gao Jie's body entered the city with the army. Mrs. Xing and Gao Jie's son Gao Yuanzhao organized the funeral for him. Wang Yan offered the head of Xu Dingguo to pay homage to Gao Jie.

Mrs. Xing is grateful to Wang Yan who can avenge Gao Jie, and Wang Yan gradually integrates into Gao Jie's army from a new recruit.With Gao Jie's burial, another question emerged, who will be the new master of Gao Jie's department?
From the point of view of etiquette, Gao Yuanzhao, the son of Gao Jie, will inherit his father's title and military power, but he is still young and lacks prestige.

There is a saying that the Lord Shaoguo doubts, and there is an undercurrent in Xuzhou City.

As the news of Gao Jie's death spread, the undercurrent also expanded. Huang Degong, who was also one of the four towns, saw Gao Jie's remaining troops in chaos, so he wanted to annex Gao Jie's troops and territory.

Before Li Chengdong and the others could compete, Huang Degong had raised his troops to the north, and the whole Xuzhou was suddenly in turmoil.

Shi Kefa, the governor of Jiangbei, finally appeared at this critical moment after he ordered the army to return to the east, and Wang Yan finally got to meet this famous minister.

Shi Kefa is a very contradictory existence in Wang Yan's heart. He is in awe of his reputation and integrity, but he is full of criticism about his ability.

Shi Kefa has been the governor of Jiangbei for some time, but in fact he has achieved nothing. He hesitated on the issue of making a policy, which caused Hongguang to beg for help from the generals, causing the four towns to sit on the merits of "determining the policy". manipulate.

At a time when Donglin Party members and Ma Shiying were fighting fiercely, as the first and auxiliary minister, he was supposed to sit in the court and mediate in the middle, but he cherished his own reputation and was unwilling to participate, which made the party dispute worse.

He asked to set up four towns, but he had no long-term plan. He ignored the land of Henan and Shandong, and just wanted to keep Jiangnan.

Zhang Dai once said, "The four towns established by the Shige Department are not located in Shandong and Henan, but within a few hundred miles of Nanjing. This is the first failure of the Ge Department."

Liang Yizhang, who was the magistrate of Shangqiu County, also wrote to Shi Kefa, saying: "Guarding the river is not a strategy. Today, Henan and Shandong are shielded from the south of the Yangtze River, imitating the system of festivals and envoys in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and a large vassal was set up in Shandong to manage the whole province. set up a large feudal clan in Henan, manage the whole province, and use Gushan and Shanxi to select ministers who are both civil and military talents, and gather troops thickly, pretending to be cheap. Set up lines in Jining and Guide, To prepare for the patrol, to show that the world will not forget the Central Plains, so that it can be overcome. If we abandon the two provinces and defend Jiangbei, the situation will be bent, that is, we want to be more peaceful, but we will not be able to."

Shi Kefa also refused to listen to other people's suggestions, so one can imagine his stubbornness.

On the issue of the four towns in Jiangbei, he also made frequent tricks.

Among the four towns, he can't command anyone. In addition to the four towns' own reasons, it has to be said that Shi Kefa's strategy for the four towns also has serious problems.

The four towns were domineering and hard to control because of their merits in supporting Hongguang. Shi Kefa didn't try to restrict them, but he even came up with the stupid strategy of dividing their territory and allowing them to collect money and food in exchange for the support of the four towns.

As everyone knows, after the army has its own territory and can collect money and food by itself, who will obey the orders of the central government?
In another time and space, another era, a group of warlords who control the territory and the army have tossed China for decades.

Shi Kefa managed Jiangbei for more than half a year, spending countless money, food, and supplies, but he had no achievements and no progress, which showed his mediocrity.

This time he stayed in Gao Jie's army for more than a month, persuading Gao Jie hard, and finally he urged Gao Jie's army to realize his plan to cooperate with the Qing army in the crusade against Dashun.

Gao Jie was killed during the Suizhou Incident, and the strategy of uniting with the captives to defeat the thieves completely failed. Since it had failed, Shi Kefa, as the supervisor, should take advantage of the situation to change course, give up the illusion of making peace with the Manchu Qing, rectify the army, or attack Hebei, or Cleaning up Henan and preparing the army for war, but he was heartbroken because of the failure of the plan, and hurried back east, missing a great opportunity.

After returning to the east, he did not summarize the changes in Suizhou. He didn't rush to appease him until Huang De's power department came north and was at war with the rest of Gao Jie's department, which was about to trigger a civil war.

(The author thinks that Shi Kefa's national integrity of swearing to the death should be fully affirmed, but his contribution is not worth exaggerating. In the twenty years of the Southern Ming Dynasty, there were countless people who died of festivals, and the whole family died righteously. Shi Kefa The reason why he is sought after by people, I think, is because he is a big official, but in the Hongguang Dynasty, almost all of his decisions were wrong. As a governor with military and political power, the author believes that the rapid demise of the Hongguang Dynasty, Shi Kefa has an inescapable reason responsibility.)
(End of this chapter)