Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 514 The Northern Expedition
New book for collection: "The Rise of Great Powers 1900"

------------

The Kuidong Thirteen Families have various forces, but they have always survived in the mountains between Jingxiang and Sichuan. There are more than ten counties with tens of thousands of soldiers.

If the Kuidong Thirteen Clans are willing to make the Northern Expedition, then they will move eastward along the river, and it will be easier for them to unite with the Ming army in the Northern Expedition to attack Jingzhou, and the Ming army’s Hubei offensive will be easier to launch. Therefore, Xu Shinan, on behalf of Yang Chao, agrees with this proposal, although Sun Kewang is not very happy However, at this time, what Sun Kewang opposed was supported by Li Dingguo. With the support of many parties, this agreement was reached.

Wen'an is old and strong, so he asked him to go north to Kuizhou to be in charge of coordination in the middle, and to be the supervisor of the [-]th Army of Kuidong.

Next came the preparations for the Northern Expedition.

Xu Siman expressed his wealth and wealth, willing to provide half of the military rations for the Northern Expedition, to support Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo with 500 million dans of military rations, and at the same time willing to give each of the two sides [-] armor and [-] cannons.

This price is not low. For the poor and used to the West Army, a pair of iron armor means a good soldier, and the cannon has never even thought about it. I didn't expect to get a thousand at once. Naturally, I am overjoyed win.

And Wen Anzhi asked for [-] iron armor and [-] cannons for the Kuidong Shisan family before he went to Kuizhou to be the supervisor. Compared with such generous gifts, the Kuidong Shisan family had no reason to refuse him as the supervisor.

After the logistics support is free of worries, they can choose the attack route. It is impossible for Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang to be together, otherwise they may fight first.

Yang Chao thought that the opponent of Li Dingguo's elite cavalry should be the elite of the Qing Army's Eight Banners, and Li Dingguo was also willing to fight against the Qing Army's Eight Banners, so he hoped that he would start from Wuchang and pass through Huangzhou Mansion to attack Henan and fight against the Qing Army's Eight Banners in the Central Plains.

Sun Kewang wanted to cross the river from Yuezhou, directly attack Chengtian Mansion (Zhongxiang) in Hubei, then attack Xiangyang Mansion along the Han River, and finally invade Nanyang, Henan.

The Kuidong Thirteen Families attacked Jingzhou from west to east, Yunyang Mansion to the north, and finally entered Shaanxi along the Han River.

The Yang Chao Department was the main force of the Northern Expedition. There were two main directions for using troops. The first was Kaifeng, Henan, and the second was Shandong.

This time the Northern Expedition went ahead and never retreated. The goal was to completely drive the Qing army out of the territory of the Ming Dynasty in one go, and completely restore the territory of China.

The imperial court also began to distribute the benefits after the successful Northern Expedition.

Li Dingguo is the king of Jin, and he will be enfeoffed in Shaanxi Province at that time. Sun Kewang will be enfeoffed as King of Qin, and he will be in charge of Shaanxi in the future.

Yang Chao was granted the title of King Huai, and the Jianghuai region was his vassal.

This kind of division is obviously wishful thinking of the court. First of all, Yang Chao occupies more than half of China, and it is simply unrealistic for Yang Chao to accept only one Jianghuai. Not to mention Yang Chao's own wishes, it is impossible for his group promise.

Li Dingguo readily agreed that he wanted to be a loyal minister, and it was his personal interests. Shanxi was obviously much better than Yunnan.

Sun Kewang didn't have any problems, not to mention that he didn't have any land now, Shaanxi was his hometown, and he was willing to go back.

The Kuidong Thirteen Family would not think that Sichuan had treated them badly.

Therefore, the biggest sacrifice was to be made by Yang Chao, but Yang Chao agreed very happily, saying that he would completely accept any order from the imperial court and completely obey the great cause of the Northern Expedition.

Once the agreement is reached, start working immediately.

Wen Anzhi immediately went north to Kuidong, contacted the Thirteen Family of Kuidong, and the Thirteen Families readily agreed. Their lives were not good, and the territories they occupied were places where birds would not shit. It is a poor county, let alone now.

The various materials that Yang Chao promised were also delivered continuously.

Li Dingguo also released Zhang Sheng, Wang Ziqi, Di Sanpin, Wang Hui, Zhang Guangcui, Zhang Mingzhi, Guan Youcai, Zhang Hu and other Sun Kewang's direct descendants.

After Sun Kewang sent his army to Yuezhou to take over these direct descendants, the force quickly recovered to 10.

Li Dingguo also took away 10 people when he sent troops to Wuchang Mansion. Among them, [-] were his direct troops, and the remaining [-] were the centrists in the past and the Ming army that finally came to the court.

The Kuidong Thirteen Families joined forces, with a force of 5 people, all of whom were fighting seeds preserved after the Southern and Northern Wars. The equipment Wen Anzhi has arrived for them.

The three Northern Expeditions totaled 25 people.

However, Yang Chao used 75 troops for the Northern Expedition, which happened to be a full army of 100 million, and his determination for the Northern Expedition was unshakable.

Three months passed quickly, and all the families were fully prepared. After the Chinese New Year, military operations began immediately.

Li Wuliu added the title of governor of Shandong Province to control the Shandong Corps, under the jurisdiction of Zhao Kang's cavalry department and Sun Changfu's department, with a total force of 30; The total force is also 30; Yang Chao personally leads many men's departments, as well as Hu Quan's artillery department, as the Chinese army, with a total force of 15.

Yang Chao was determined to win this Northern Expedition. Naturally, he couldn't give up this opportunity, and he must personally command it.

It's just that this arrangement made Zheng Chenggong quite dissatisfied. He personally ran to Yunnan and asked Emperor Longwu for orders.

Emperor Longwu has a very deep relationship with the Zheng family. It was the support of the Zheng family that allowed him to become emperor. In the past few years, he has traveled to many places. In the end, he realized that the Zheng family treated him well. The resistance of Zheng Zhilong to surrender to the Qing Dynasty has long since disappeared. , Comforted Zheng Chenggong with good words, and gave him the surname of the country, and at the same time allowed him to attack Tianjin from the sea, with the name of Chenggong, I hope he can succeed immediately.

Zheng Chenggong, who had already completed the internal integration of the Zheng family, was so encouraged by the emperor that he was so grateful that he vowed to make great contributions and achieve unrivaled achievements to repay the emperor.

The number of Jianghu heroes under the Zheng family has always remained at 20, with excellent equipment and outstanding martial arts, but the discipline is too poor. to 120 million.

Yang Chao could not see any possibility of the Qing court escaping this disaster.

So I wrote a special letter to Zheng Chenggong, hoping that he could make a surprise attack from the sea, land directly at Shanhaiguan, and block the Qing army in the pass. He also told Zheng Chenggong that if he could block the Qing army, he would immediately go out to fight. He made the first effort of the Northern Expedition, which made Zheng Chenggong even more excited.

It is impossible to hide such a large-scale mobilization of troops from the eyes and ears of the Qing army. The Qing army's reaction was as expected and extremely nervous.

Information from the north shows that Dorgon strictly ordered all Manchurians to be armed, and issued the order before entering the customs that year, all Manchurian bannermen over ten years old and under sixty years old must go to war, so they can be armed Raise [-] Manchurian Eight Banners, and at the same time mobilize Mongolian young men from Monan and Mobei, recruit Han frontier troops from Shaanxi, and the Manchu Qing also organized a million-strong army.

Yang Chao also began to build momentum in the newspapers, swearing to the common people that the world is about to be peaceful, and the day when Master Wang set the Central Plains in the north is not far away, he encouraged the common people to actively buy bonds and contribute to the Northern Expedition. Yang Chao prepared 5000 million taels of bonds Bonds, intended for sale at any time.

It can be said that all the forces that can be mobilized have been mobilized, and the entire Jiangnan region has become a high-speed machine.

On the [-]th day of the first lunar month, Yang Chao killed three animals by the Yangtze River and crossed the river.Wang Pu and Li Wuliu launched an attack in the direction of North Zhili and Henan at the same time.

On the [-]th day of the first lunar month, Yang Chao arrived in Yangzhou.Wang Pu captured Kaifeng Mansion.Li Wuliu captured Dezhou and entered the territory of Beizhili.

On the fourth day of February, Li Dingguo raided and captured Huangzhou Prefecture, captured Luotian on the fifth day, and captured Macheng on the eighth day.Sun Kewang surrounded Jingzhou.

On the tenth day of February, Yang Chao arrived in Xuzhou.Li Dingguo suddenly crossed the Dabie Mountains, crossed Wushui Pass and captured the mall.On the same day, Kui Dong's thirteen families captured Yunyang Mansion and divided their forces to attack Baihe.Sun Kewang continued to surround Jingzhou.

On the first day of March, Yang Chao arrived in Jining Prefecture, Li Wuliu led troops to capture Cangzhou, and Zhao Kang's striker approached Tianjin Wei.Li Dingguo captured Runing Mansion and continued to march into Kaifeng. He planned to join Wang Pu's troops in Kaifeng, and after resting, he divided his troops to attack Huaiqing Mansion and Weihui Mansion.Kui Dongjun captured Baihe, marched all the way to Xunyang, and marched all the way to Shangjin.Sun Kewang is still besieging Jingzhou.

On March [-]th, Yang Chao arrived at Cangzhou Mansion, and Li Wuliu's army was blocked in Weijian City, Tianjin.Wang Pu captured Weihui Mansion, and Li Dingguo captured Huaiqing Mansion, preparing to cross the Wangwu Mountains and enter Shanxi to capture his fiefdom.Kuidong Army captured Xunyang, captured Shangjin the next day, assembled towards Shangzhou, and prepared to cross Wuguan and go to Xi'an Mansion from Lantian.Zheng Chenggong entered the Bohai Sea by surprise, landed near Shanhaiguan, and captured Funing.Sun Kewang is still besieging Jingzhou.

On the first day of April, after paying 1 casualties, Li Wuliu captured Tianjin Wei. In this battle, [-] people from the Eight Banners were killed and [-] people were captured. Beijing was shaken!Wang Pu captured Zhangde Mansion and began to encircle Beizhili.Li Dingguo was blocked by Wanziguan.Kuidong Army attacked Wuguan after capturing Shangzhou, but was repelled and retreated to Shangzhou.Zheng Chenggong began to attack Shanhaiguan.Sun Kewang is still besieging Jingzhou Mansion.

The battle lasted for three months, and all the soldiers and horses were very tired, and they entered the rest stage one after another.

Jiangnan issued bonds to fully support the needs of various armies, and Jiangnan's productivity was running at a high speed.

"Shanxi is known as the internal and external rivers and mountains that are easy to defend and difficult to attack. With Li Dingguo's bravery, he may not be able to attack for a while. Shaanxi has been known as the land of the four fortresses since ancient times. The territory of the Tyrant Qin is not so easy to capture. After all, the Eastern Kui Army is weak. Libo, they were supposed to join forces with Sun Kewang to attack Shaanxi. What's going on with Sun Kewang, can't beat Jingzhou in three months?"

Yang Chao couldn't bear Sun Kewang's speed of advancing troops. Although the overall situation was very optimistic, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was already a grasshopper after autumn, and it would only take a few days to jump around.

"I heard that Hong Chengchou led Jingxiang's elite to sit in Jingzhou, with sufficient food and grass, and Sun Kewang would not be able to attack."

Yang Chao snorted, "I'm afraid he wants to preserve his strength. But he's afraid he's going to miscalculate. Let the emperor put some pressure on him, and let the wind out, saying that the one who enters the pass first will be the King of Qin!"

This is what King Huai of Chu told Liu Bang and Xiang Yu back then. If you don't believe him, Sun Kewang won't be tempted.

"Our army rests for a month, and we should go straight to Beijing. Let the navy deliver supplies from the canal and sea. In one month, we must send us enough supplies, especially artillery shells and gunpowder. This is a military order, and there must be no mistakes! "

Success is in sight, and Yang Chao is already planning to hold a city entry ceremony when he enters Beijing.

On the tenth day of April, suddenly there was an urgent message from eight hundred miles from Jiangnan.

"No, it's not good, Wu, Wu Sangui attacked Chishui!"

Yang Chao was taken aback. How did Wu Sangui get to Chishui? Sichuan is already a thousand miles of red land, and the Chengdu plain is uninhabited. The most difficult thing in entering Sichuan is not fighting, but marching. There are tigers on the road, and the road to Shu is difficult, and there is no logistics supply. Now, Wu Sangui can still fly to Guizhou, even though he is nicknamed Parachutist!
"Check, find out the information and report back!"

Yang Chao didn't believe that Wu Sangui could go to Guizhou. The reason why he didn't choose Sichuan this time was because Sichuan was already a barren place. Last time Wu Sangui defeated Liu Wenxiu in Baoning, he didn't take the opportunity to send troops south, but retreated. Shaanxi, because there is no food supply, he needs to eat in Shaanxi.

On April [-]th, another urgent report came.

"Wu Sangui captured Chishui!"

He was sure that it was Wu Sangui.

"Also, Sun Kewang withdrew the siege of Jingzhou, crossed the Yangtze River south, and went south to King Qin!"

"what!"

Yang Chao was taken aback for a moment.

"This thief!"

With a yell, he still didn't understand. Sun Kewang rebelled, and he rebelled again. He stayed in Jingzhou for four months. There's nothing tricky about it to be damned.

"Li Guohan's troops left Wuguan, Kuidong's army was defeated, and Shangzhou has fallen."

"Yesterday Li Dingguo went south."

"The rear of Zheng Chenggong's troops was attacked by the Eight Banners of the Qing army, and was flanked by the Shanhaiguan defenders. They were defeated and fled to the sea."

From the [-]th to the [-]th, all kinds of bad news continued to come.

Li Guohan was a veteran general of the Qing Dynasty, and his father Li Jixue was a businessman in Liaodong. He once followed Yang Gao to send troops to crusade against Nurhachi.

Li Guohan was promoted in the era of Huang Taiji and became a bodyguard of Huang Taiji, and was awarded the title of Moergen, which is the same as the title of Dorgon.This person has been cooperating with Wu Sangui in Shaanxi and Sichuan, and also monitoring Wu Sangui. Who knows that Wu Sangui suddenly arrived in Guizhou, and Li Guohan sent troops to attack Kuidong Army.

"Azig went south from Shanxi, captured Huaiqing, and drove directly to Kaifeng!"

This is the worst news. If Azig occupies Kaifeng, Wang Pu's army will be cut off. Without supplies, he will become a lone army. However, Wang Pu is staying behind in Kaifeng. I have to live in Kaifeng.

However, because of Li Dingguo's sudden southward movement, most of Henan was very empty, and Azig could easily reoccupy Henan.

April [-]th.

"The emperor has abandoned the country!"

The worst news ever came.

Yang Chao closed his eyes: "It's a failure!"

Then he suddenly felt a surge of blood energy, and passed out all of a sudden.

(End of this chapter)