Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 923 Battle of Hezhou
One month after the assassination incident, Brother Hao came to Hezhou City at the end of September, announcing that the three-year collegial agreement between the Ming Dynasty and the Jin Kingdom had officially broken down after three years of tacit understanding.

The two battlefields in Sichuan and Yangzhou started almost at the same time, but because of the geographical location, the news spread slowly, so the war in Yangzhou was over, and the Ming Dynasty was still unclear about the situation in Sichuan.

If Wu Sangui hadn't raided Wan County, the Ming army could send personnel down the river to the east, and the news could be sent to Nanjing in half a month, but Wan County was raided by the Jin army, which cut off the connection between the Ming army and Chu. News is naturally slow.

In fact, these two wars were carried out almost at the same time, but Yangzhou was provoked by the Ming army, while the war in Sichuan was caused by Jin Guo's breach of contract.

The Ming army in Sichuan hadn't fought for three years, but the Jin Kingdom had used troops every year in the past few years. Although the Jin Kingdom had not been established for a long time, it should not be underestimated.

Haoge led the army out of Lizhi Road and appeared in Hezhou. The Ming army had already made preparations in Hezhou. Yuan Zongdi asked his deputy general Wu Yi to lead 1 troops to guard Hezhou, but Haoge immediately transferred from Chengdu. With 2 people, the Jin army camped for forty miles under the city of Hezhou, which put great pressure on Wu Yi.

The strategic position of Hezhou in Sichuan is very important, especially in the battle between the north and the south of Sichuan, it can be said that it is a place that must be contested.

The terrain of Sichuan is surrounded by mountains on all sides, and in the interior of Sichuan, there are many mountains, rivers and rivers. Except for the Chengdu Plain, other places are more or less not particularly flat.

Hezhou is located in the eastern part of Sichuan, between the Chengdu Plain and Chongqing, with mountains on the east and west sides and the confluence of the Jialing River, Qujiang River and Peijiang River.

If you want to avoid the mountains and travel between the Chengdu Plain and Chongqing, Hezhou is the best choice.Because there are mountains on both sides of him, and he is still at the intersection of three rivers, it can be said that whoever occupies it will take the initiative.

Meng Yuan conquered the Southern Song Dynasty and fought around Hezhou for decades. During the last Sichuan-Shu war, the goal of the Ming army’s West Route Army was to take Hezhou and cut off Brother Hao’s route into eastern Sichuan. In the end, Ding Kuichu lost Hezhou also almost made the Sichuan aid campaign fail.

The importance of Hezhou is self-evident, so Yuan Zongdi learned that Hao Ge's company camp was forty miles away, and the main force was gathered, so he judged that the Jin army wanted to take advantage of the superior strength of the Ming army to go to Hezhou first before the Ming army reacted. , Open the route into eastern Sichuan, and then push it all the way to the front line of Chongqing.

After Yuan Zongdi discussed with the generals, everyone thought that he should rely on Hezhou to defend against the enemy and prevent the Jin army from going deep into eastern Sichuan, so he recruited [-] elite troops and went to Hezhou to defend against the enemy in person, but he didn't want to Wu Sangui unexpectedly dispatched a surprise army to outflank his rear, causing the main force of the Ming army to be surrounded in Hezhou City.

The Ming army immediately asked for help in the direction of Chongqing, but the Jin army surrounded the spot for help. Chuandu Wang Yingxiong, who rushed to the rescue, was ambushed by Wu Sangui.

Hauge immediately asked Wu Sangui to send the big banner of the governor of Sichuan and the body of Wang Yingxiong to the city for the Ming army to watch, and persuaded the Ming army in the city to surrender. No. flatly refused.

The surrender failed, and the Jin army did not attack the city. Instead, it temporarily besieged Hezhou and waited for the enemy to surrender. However, they did not want the reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty to enter Sichuan so quickly, which changed the strength of the Ming and Jin armies in Sichuan. The number is already very close to the Jin army, so that the Jin army no longer has a huge force advantage.

Brother Hao can only let Wu Sangui block the reinforcements of the Ming army, so that he can continue to maintain a relatively superior force in Hezhou, and then attack Hezhou at the fastest speed, in order to solve Yuan Zongdi as soon as possible, and then bring the momentum of great victory to the Ming army. The army rushed to the south of the Yangtze River.

Starting from mid-October, after Brother Hao failed to recruit several times, 6 people began to prepare to take Hezhou City by force.

The Jin army cut off the internal and external traffic of Hezhou, built artillery carts, built various equipment, and transported ten red cannons from Chengdu, which is bound to take Hezhou.

The defeat of Governor Chuan was a great blow to the morale of the Ming army in Hezhou, because they didn't know that Wang Deren had entered Sichuan, but they knew that after the death of Governor Chuan, there were basically no reinforcements in eastern Sichuan who would come to Hezhou to rescue the siege. Yuan Zongdi thought Hezhou Unable to defend for a long time, he immediately organized several breakouts, but they were all defeated and returned to the city because of the cavalry charge of the Golden Army.

After failing to break through the siege, the Ming army could only stick to Hezhou and wait for help. Yuan Zongdi said to the soldiers that if Hezhou is lost, eastern Sichuan will be in danger, and if eastern Sichuan is lost, the country will open its door to the southwest, and the Chu region will change. Dangerous by the Jin army.

To put it more seriously, the Ming Dynasty finally gained the strategic initiative and would lose it, becoming very passive.

If Sichuan is lost, the situation of the Ming Dynasty will be like a sharp knife on the side of the waist, and the Northern Expedition will be indefinitely, because the Northern Expedition must be attacked by several groups at the same time, and once Sichuan is lost, the Ming army in Huguang will not dare to move. The Jianghuai Ming army marched northward alone, and they would undoubtedly only be violently beaten by the Qing army.

If the two roads go out together and the army goes north, the south of the Yangtze River will be empty. If the Sichuan Jin army goes down the river, wouldn't it just stab the Ming army in the waist.

Yuan Zongdi decided to live and die with the city, and the Jin army's sudden change from siege to attack also made him aware of whether something had changed outside.

The brutal Hezhou offensive and defensive battle started immediately. The Ming army repelled the Jin army's attack continuously, causing a large number of casualties to the Jin army every day, but at the end of October, the Ming army couldn't bear it anymore.

Sichuan is known as the land of abundance and is rich in grain, but not every place is rich in grain. Sichuan’s grain-producing areas are mainly controlled by the Jin army, while eastern Sichuan is dominated by hills and mountains, and grain is very limited. The army’s grain is transferred to Sichuan from outside. .

The road to Sichuan was difficult, so the grain shipped in by the Ming Dynasty was very limited each time.

Hezhou originally stationed 1 people and had food for three months, but after Yuan Zongdi brought his troops over, there were too many people, and naturally there was not enough food.

From the end of September to November, the grain in Hezhou City was quickly consumed, and Chongqing was unable to transport grain to Hezhou. The situation of the Ming army immediately became critical.

Hezhou is a strong city, but since the appearance of artillery, the strong city in the strict sense does not exist. When the city fell into a food crisis, after more than a month of shelling, the west city of Hezhou was finally bombed by the Jin army.

All of a sudden, Hezhou was troubled both internally and externally. After Hezhou was besieged for more than two months, the city had already reached the point where people killed for food, and houses were demolished for cooking.The situation of the soldiers and civilians in the city was very difficult, and many people escaped from the gap in order not to starve to death.

At this time, Hauge had received the news from Wu Sangui, knowing that He Tengjiao had arrived at Fotuguan and Sun Kewang had gone to southern Sichuan. He immediately felt that time was running out, and the two-month siege had cost him twenty thousand soldiers. The endurance is also approaching the limit.

At this time, Han Chaoxuan, the accompanying academician, immediately suggested that Brother Hao should surrender again and treat the soldiers and civilians who escaped from the city well. Haoge adopted his opinion and gave food to the people who escaped from the city, and asked them to write letters and shoot them into the city, or to kill them under the city. Shout out, call the relatives in the city to come out.

On November 25th, the fleeing of the people in the city became the fleeing of the army. A thousand households in Zhenwei Camp took advantage of the night to escape from the city with 300 people and surrendered to Haug, and were immediately awarded the post of guerrilla.

On the 28th, Fengyiying Tongzhi took advantage of the fire in the city and brought more than 100 people out.

Yuan Zongdi saw that the food in the city was exhausted, the rats had been eaten clean, the morale of the army had been eroded, and reinforcements had not arrived for a long time, so on the [-]th day and night, they split up again to break through.

As a result, only Jiang Tianyi and a few people escaped, and Wu Yishan, the commander of the Zhenwei Battalion, was shot dead by Oboi, and the army retreated back to the city.

The next day, Hauge launched a general offensive, and Chen Ke, the Tongzhi of Zhenwei Camp, rebelled and offered the city. The Jin army rushed in and Hezhou fell.Deputy General Wu Yi was hit by three arrows, returned to the government office, and died by self-immolation. Yuan Zongdi broke through to the south gate, and the Jin army blocked the city gate. He led the troops to charge three times and killed hundreds of people. .

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(End of this chapter)