Griffin Commander in the Late Ming Dynasty

People were talking about it. Some were afraid of Li Zicheng, while others looked down on him from the bottom of their hearts.

The reason was that Li Zicheng saw the leaders of each camp drinking and having fun every day, like rich old men, which he disliked very much and often scolded them privately as drunkards and womanizers.

Yuan Shizhong and other leaders who defected to Li Zicheng, after nearly half a year of getting along with him, all felt that Li Zicheng had many problems, acted insincerely, and pretended to be frugal and caring for the people, but he was really putting up a memorial arch for a whore, which was an insult to the sanctity of rebellion! We came out to drink big bowls of wine and eat big chunks of meat, who are you showing off to?

They even told their subordinates in private that Li Zicheng was a complete country bumpkin who didn't know how to spend his money and was just wasting it.

"The King of Chuang is here!"

With a loud shout, everyone in the tent immediately put down their bowls and chopsticks and became restrained. Even Yuan Shizhong, who had the loudest voice and was the most eloquent, suddenly kept silent and put down the chicken leg in his hand, feeling that it was not so delicious anymore.

Li Zicheng and a group of rebel generals strode into the big tent and habitually clasped their fists to the leaders of the rebel forces around them: "Hello, brothers!"

"King Chuang!" Everyone quickly returned the greeting, acting like warm brothers.

Eating and drinking were just small matters for this meeting, so everyone hurriedly ordered the banquet to be removed and sat down together to discuss the matter.

The generals of the Chuang army who gathered together sat at the top, their conversations were full of Qin accents. When they talked about military affairs, they mainly discussed among themselves. Although the leaders of various forces were dissatisfied, they did not dare to show it.

Li Zicheng did not take it seriously. These common people came to him because they were afraid of being surrounded and defeated one by one by the government troops. He did not forcefully annex them. He was already extremely humble.

Although the rebel armies in various places held the banner of anti-Ming, they were secretly annexing each other. Who here has not done such a thing?

Li Zicheng looked around at the generals and said, "I called you all here today mainly to say hello to you. There is a plague raging outside, and we must be on guard in our army. I hope the leaders of each camp can take the initiative to eliminate those infected with the plague in their camps."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone asked, "May I ask how to clear it, King Chuang?"

Li Zicheng narrowed his one eye and laughed, "Of course they were expelled or buried."

The leader asked, "Does King Chuang want us to kill our own brothers?"

He continued, "When we came out to rebel, we swore to share happiness and hardship. But now you have abandoned me just because I am sick. What kind of loyalty is this?"

"Who the hell are you? How dare you talk to the King of Chuang like that!"

The man who was speaking was sitting above the generals of the rebel army. He was nearly forty years old, wearing heavy iron armor, with a very burly figure, a rough face, and a short, angry beard. His voice was like thunder, and his eyes were bright and powerful when he looked around. He was Liu Zongmin, Li Zicheng's trusted general.

The leader was not afraid at all and said, "I'll tell you my name so you'll be shocked. I'm Wu Yousheng from Shanxi!"

Liu Zongmin laughed and said, "So you are just a little thief who has taken over the mountains and claimed to be king. How dare you talk to the King of Rebellion like that? Just based on the thousands of refugees under your command who are as skinny as monkeys?"

Wu Yousheng laughed and said, "Haha, I am a small thief who occupies the mountain and is the king. Aren't you the same? You are deceiving yourself and others!"

Liu Zongmin immediately rushed to the king and shouted, "You stinky bastard, are you tired of living? I'll chop you into pieces if you don't want to live!"

Liu Zongming drew his knife and was about to pay with money. Wu Yousheng saw someone attacking him and quickly swung his knife to fight back. However, Liu Zongming dodged it easily and chopped down his chest with the long knife in his hand. Wu Yousheng's eyes suddenly widened with bloodshot eyes and his face turned as red as liver. There was a huge long knife mark on his chest and blood was gushing out. Then he fell straight down.

Two old soldiers came forward to investigate, their faces slightly startled, and reported to Li Zicheng: "The King of Rebellion, he is dead."

Liu Zongmin spat on the ground and said, "Pah, what a thing! I thought he was some great guy, but now he is just...

Li Zicheng shouted angrily: "Liu Zongmin! How dare you kill our brothers in the righteous army? Where does our alliance stand? Considering that you have taken the overall situation into consideration, I will let this matter go. There is no place for you here. Get out!"

Liu Zongmin smiled and let several old soldiers lead him out of the camp. He knew that he would be fine, and this was their tacit understanding over the years.

Li Zicheng turned around and looked at everyone in the field: "Now that we are facing a powerful enemy, we must put the overall situation first. I hope you can give me some face."

Everyone present was silent, not daring to say a word, secretly cursing you, old man, you are such a piece of shit, he killed someone and you just told him to get out? You didn't even punish yourself by drinking three cups, how rude!

November

The bandit army was so powerful that it stretched for dozens of miles towards Zhending. Zhending Prefecture was shocked three times a day. Various scouts of the Ming army were frequently coming and going. Yang Sichang had received the imperial edict of Emperor Chongzhen, ordering him to inflict a heavy blow on the bandits in Zhending Prefecture and reverse the decadent trend of the Central Plains.

He did not dare to delay and immediately issued an edict to all officials and generals, convening another military meeting in the commander-in-chief's headquarters in Zhending City to discuss the battle plan.

Yang Sichang sat at the head, smiling slightly. He seemed to be in control of the situation, but in fact he was feeling very miserable.

The situation in the Central Plains confused him. The more he suppressed the bandits, the more rampant they became. Even if some places were suppressed, the local bandits would soon revive as soon as the soldiers withdrew. If he wanted to completely pacify the situation, he would have to kill all the locals like Hong Chengchou did in the past! If he couldn't solve the problem, he would solve the problem's people.

The situation is now even worse. The bandits actually dared to go north to attack Zhili. Zhending Prefecture is the southern gateway to the capital, and it poses a great threat to the capital and the entire Zhili. Yang Sichang has no choice but to repel the enemy here.

However, judging from the emotions of the generals, they seemed unstable. Shandong General Liu Zeqing, Shaanxi General He Renlong, Niu Chenghu and others were unwilling to initiate a war. The millions of bandits made them feel terrified.

Military meetings had been held for several days before, but there was no unified and feasible battle plan. Several generals and warriors quarreled with each other and almost came to a head in the central military tent.

Yang Sichang has been in charge of the Central Plains for two years, and he has a clear understanding of the nature of his generals. Liu Zeqing, He Renlong and others are hypocritical and domineering, just like Zuo Liangyu! They have no skills, but a lot of bad tempers!

Especially Liu Zeqing and He Renlong, who had the largest number of soldiers and were more domineering. Yang Sichang was at a loss as to what to do with them. He did not dare to trigger them or yell at them, fearing that these two warriors would quit their work when the war was about to begin, thus affecting his plan to suppress the bandits.

But if he was so cowardly and refused to fight, hiding behind the city, Yang Sichang could imagine the scene of the officials in the court impeaching him, especially the cold eyes of the emperor...

It was not until this time that Yang Sichang deeply realized the predicament that Lu Xiangsheng had faced when he was the commander-in-chief. It was too difficult!

At the meeting, Miyun General Wang Tingchen suggested that they take the initiative to attack the bandits when their army just arrived and their position was unstable, and inflict heavy damage on them. Yang Sichang nodded with satisfaction and had a good impression of him.

Wang Wannian, the general of Shanxi, sat there in silence, with a neutral attitude, occasionally taking out a few melon seeds from his sleeves and eating them...

Wang Wannian had led the Shenji Camp and was very familiar with firearms. He was ordered to train a new firearms army of 10,000 men in Shanxi Town. Yang Sichang relied heavily on him and could not say anything.

Seeing the warriors in the camp shouting rudely, Yang Sichang raised his hands and pressed them lightly, saying gently: "Stop arguing, the bandits are approaching Zhending, so let's think about the specific combat arrangements!"

He looked at everyone slowly. The civil servants on the left, including the military supervisor, governor, and inspector, all had frowns on their faces and no one knew what they were thinking.

The generals on the right were in a tense situation. Hu Dawei, Wang Tingchen, Liu Zeqing, He Renlong and others were arguing with each other. Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding who was good at speaking, was mediating and trying to persuade them with kind words. And Wang Wannian, who was eating melon seeds, looked like he wanted to hurry up and see a river of blood.

Liu Zeqing and He Renlong stood together, not because they had a good relationship. One was in Shandong and the other in Shaanxi. They had no contact on weekdays and had different interests and hobbies. Both of them were old runners. The only thing they had in common was killing innocent people to gain credit, retreating when facing a strong opponent, and retreating wherever they encountered obstacles.

He Renlong shouted in a hoarse voice: "I still say the same thing, the enemy is too powerful, it is not advisable to fight, we should focus on defense!"

Liu Zeqing also said: "Our army is weak, and the enemy's troops are sharp. If we fight hastily, we may suffer losses. Zhending City has strong defenses, so we can defend it steadily!"

Seeing these two people singing the same tune, Yang Sichang frowned slightly and sneered in his heart. He Renlong and Li Zicheng are from the same county. When Li Zicheng attacked Xi'an, He Renlong guarded Tongguan and kept his troops on hold, which made him suspected of collaborating with the enemy.

Some people in the court impeached He Renlong for colluding with bandits and killing the Three Border Governor-General Wang Qiaonian. Even Chongzhen became suspicious of him and issued a secret order to Yang Sichang to guard against him and kill him if necessary to prevent future troubles.

Yang Sichang forced a smile and said, "General He is a powerful figure who has intimidated the bandits. The court has shown great favor to you. Now the bandits are approaching Zhili and the situation is critical. If General He is able to fight the bandits, I will recommend you to the court as the general who will suppress the bandits. What do you think?"

"General who pacifies bandits?" He Renlong's eyes lit up and a surprised smile appeared on his face.

General Suppressing Bandits is a title bestowed upon a general with a seal. It is a prestigious position that every military general would want to obtain. However, how difficult is it to obtain this title in a court run by Emperor Chongzhen and his bunch of civil officials?

Hong Chengchou was good at managing things, had a backer, and was promoted quickly. But He Renlong was helpless, and it would be difficult for him to even get the title of a general in his lifetime. Now that Yang Sichang had thrown such a big pie at him, how could he not be tempted?

He Renlong did not agree immediately. He stroked his luxurious raccoon fur cloak, pondered in silence, posing and acting arrogantly.

When several civil servants saw that there was a way, they hurried forward to persuade him. Yang Sichang also smiled and spoke in a friendly manner. He Renlong felt proud and finally agreed to switch from defense to offense and fight the bandits to death.

The whole hall was filled with joy, except for Liu Zeqing, who was secretly dissatisfied. You gave him a reward, but what about me? Damn it, I was here first, why did you forget about me?

Yang Sichang seemed to be aware of Liu Zeqing's emotions. After thinking for a moment, he said a few words of comfort, saying that after the war, the court would reward him according to his merits.

In his eyes, Liu Zeqing, the famous runaway general, was just a piece of trash. He was a complete waste. Shandong had encountered the Tartars three times, and all three times this man ran away as fast as a rabbit, handing over the great city to the Tartars. The court was lucky that they didn't kill him. How could they allow such a person to be promoted? What the hell are you thinking?

The atmosphere became much better afterwards. Yang Sichang laid out the battle strategy he had formulated, and after additional discussions with the generals, the Ming army finally decided to send out its best troops to fight the bandits to the death.

Yang Sichang even stood up, bowed deeply to the generals, and said in a deep voice: "This battle concerns the safety of the country and the rise and fall of the Ming Dynasty. I am in your hands!"

The civil servants of the Ming Dynasty were highly respected, and the chief minister of the cabinet, Yang Sichang, was the boss among the civil servants. When he did this, everyone stood up with a serious expression and shouted, "We are willing to die for the country!"

On November 6, Yang Sichang led 200,000 Ming troops, claiming to have 500,000 troops, and marched to the Taiping River area to assemble and set up camp, erecting high strongholds. He decided to confront the bandits in this vast plain area and meet them in battle array with spears and halberds.

At this time, Li Zicheng and the rebel forces, numbering a million, had already pressed their troops to the Taiping River. Both sides set up camps ten miles apart. On the banks of the Taiping River, there were endless camps.

The bandits were now powerful, but the officers and soldiers were equally motivated, and a bloody battle was inevitable.

Countless people are watching this life-and-death battle. If the rebel army wins, it will be able to defeat the main force of the Ming army. Li Zicheng will no longer have any rivals in the Central Plains, and the capital will be in his hands.

If the officers and soldiers win, not only can they destroy the main force of the bandits, but they can also get rid of this major worry for the court. Yang Sichang has even prepared elite cavalry, and when the bandits are defeated, they will hunt down Li Zicheng and several generals of the rebel army, and kill them in the chaos, thus completely eliminating future troubles!

Volume 393: Chapter Chapter : Decisive Battle

On November 27th, after many test battles, the two sides finally went out into the battle with their entire armies deployed in battle formations, all ready for a decisive battle. In fact, Li Zicheng's Dashun Army still wanted to go to Kaifeng for another trip, however, on the way to Kaifeng, they encountered an obstruction from the Volunteer Army. After much discussion, they decided to continue northward.

Yang Sichang used the two new armies of Wang Wannian and Wang Tingchen as the front line of the central army, followed by Yang Wenyue and Yang Dezheng's Baoding troops. He also had the troops of Liu Zeqing, He Renlong and An Guoan as the left wing, and Xuanfu General Hu Dawei, Tongzhou General Jiang Mingwu, and Yulin General Niu Chenghu as the right wing.

The main elite troops have been deployed, and the remaining miscellaneous soldiers are stationed in the rear to serve as garrison reinforcements for the entire formation. Both sides have crowds of people like the sea and flags like forests, and the atmosphere is filled with a strong fighting spirit.

In the past few years since he took office as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, all kinds of bad things have happened. Now he has to supervise the troops outside as a civilian. Yang Sichang has aged very quickly, just like a certain president of Guanhai. His hair is turning white. Now he still insists on beating the drum himself to encourage the soldiers of the three armies, shouting: "Kill the bandits!"

When the Ming army had not yet moved, the Chuang army had already launched an attack, starting with the classic three things, a steady stream of hungry civilians as the vanguard, attacking the officers and soldiers in the center and depleting their momentum.

Behind the hungry people was a large infantry formation that stretched for miles. The black mass of rebel troops marched forward with spears in hand. The cavalry on both wings of the two formations also launched an attack, with great force like a surging tide.

As the sound of war drums became more and more urgent, countless hungry people shouted and advanced like a wall, a surging tide of people.

In the center of the Ming army, Wang Wannian's face gradually became solemn. Behind him were 10,000 well-trained Shanxi Town Fire Gun Army and a battalion of artillery, which he had trained with countless efforts.

Seeing the soldiers standing still, Wang Wannian gained confidence. He drew out his sword and pointed it forward: "Fire!"

The command flag was waved, and in an instant there was a loud roar of artillery fire. The Shanxi Town Artillery Battalion roared, and the artillery fire was endless, like a rainstorm. The hungry civilians who charged into the battle suffered heavy casualties, and many of them collapsed before they could get close, and retreated in fear.

The border troops of Miyun Town are also the focus of **'s new army formation. After a lot of military training, although one year is still a short time, it has already reached a certain scale. Ten thousand musketeers stand there motionless waiting for orders.

Yang Sichang was shocked when he saw the neat formation of Wang Wannian's army. After all, it was Emperor Xianfeng who ordered the training of the new army and provided them with sufficient military pay and funds. He then looked at Liu Zeqing and other troops on the left wing, who had a loose style and frowned slightly.

There was thick smoke ahead, and countless bandits were killed by artillery and muskets, with wailing everywhere. Then a wave of bandits was defeated, and more bandits came from behind. The bandit cavalry on both wings also fought with the two wings of the Ming army.

There were not many artillery pieces in the Ming army, and most of the artillery pieces nowadays were solid bullets with a much narrower striking area. To the bandits who were pouring in like a tide into the sea, the shells they fired were like small waves and could not stop the attack of the Chuang army.

When the rebels came within a hundred steps, the Ming army's central flag waved, a distinctive cannon blast sounded, and 20,000 musketeers from Shanxi and Miyun towns shouted in unison: "Tiger!"

In response to the majestic shouts, the musketeers from the two towns took a step forward in unison, turned the muskets in their hands down, and aimed them at another wave of hungry people rushing towards them.

The musketeers of the two towns fired crackling volleys of fire, and the bandits' infantry who were approaching with shouts were knocked to the ground, with screams audible.

The air was filled with gunpowder smoke and the pungent smell of blood. The battlefield was littered with wailing bandits and wounded soldiers, as well as densely packed dead bodies. The tragic scene was horrifying.

On the right wing, Hu Dawei personally led 3,000 cavalrymen from Xuanfu Town and fought fiercely with the cavalrymen who broke into the camp, defeating several attacks by the bandit cavalry. This was also the last bit of Lu Xiangsheng's strength in Xuanda. If he used it up again, it would be completely gone.

The troops led by Liu Zeqing and He Renlong on the right wing did not weaken in formation and stood firm tenaciously, repelling several attacks by the rebel army and achieving good results.

The situation was very good. The officers and generals of the Ming army were excited. Yang Sichang and several civil officials were even more excited. They opened champagne on the spot. He said proudly: "That's it! This is it! This is the best of the bandits!"

The attack was thwarted, and Li Zicheng decisively gave up the cavalry attacking the two wings, and only used hungry civilians and infantry to attack the center and the two wings. Some cavalry kept roaming outside the formation, looking for flaws in the Ming army.

The rebel army was large in numbers and powerful in strength, and the human wave tactics they implemented were no joke. Due to the supervision of the old camp soldiers in the rear, the Ming army's muskets might not hit them, but the crossbows of the supervision team would definitely pierce them to the core. The hungry people who charged into the battle did not dare to retreat, and after being beaten back, they gritted their teeth and rushed forward madly.

Amid the deafening roar of killing, the two sides fought to a standstill. The Ming army used firearms to suppress the bandits' large numbers. Yang Sichang kept redeploying troops and replacing the tired soldiers in the front. The same thing happened to the Chuang army, who took turns to fight in the battle.

After a few hours of fighting, the battlefield plain was littered with dead and wounded, but these deaths were not meaningless. A large number of Ming army muskets needed to be cooled, and they could no longer be replaced and fired as frequently as at the beginning.

Yang Sichang looked through the telescope, and saw that the rebels were still coming forward tirelessly. He frowned and murmured, "Perhaps in the eyes of the rebels, these hungry people are not worth a lead bullet from the officers and soldiers..."

But he felt very strange. What was Li the bandit doing? Why did his central army always surround the enemy with flags flying all over the sky without moving at all? Could it be that Li the bandit was not in the central army? Did he lead the old camp to attack from behind?

After thinking it over carefully, he dismissed the idea. According to the Ming army's deployment, the bandits would not gain any advantage even if they launched a sneak attack from behind. They might even be defeated by the Zhending city defenders from both sides.

After a while, the artillery and muskets of the Ming army could no longer fire and gradually stopped moving. The gun barrels had become red hot and needed to be cooled. The Ming army's archers and spearmen stepped up and replaced the artillery and musketeers.

At this moment, a guerrilla general of the Ming army in front suddenly shouted: "Cannon, it's cannon!" Everyone didn't understand what he meant, but when the generals raised their telescopes to observe, they were all shocked.

I saw that there were fewer and fewer hungry people in the rebel army, and the infantry in the rear dispersed, revealing a row of artillery of various sizes, including hundreds of red cannons and Portuguese cannons!

Not only that, but there were also a lot of fire gun soldiers in the army! They were wearing the mandarin duck uniforms of the Ming army, and they were obviously the Henan officers and soldiers who surrendered to Li Zicheng!

It was not until now that the generals of the Ming army understood why Li Zicheng used flags to cover the central army and continuously used hungry civilians to charge into the battle line in order to consume the firepower of the Ming army. It turned out that they also had artillery and muskets!

Are you done? This time, it's my turn!!!

As early as ten years ago, some officers and soldiers had joined the bandits. In recent years, as Li Zicheng's power grew, more officers and soldiers from Henan, Shaanxi and other places surrendered. Since a trial would be held after the volunteers entered the city, no one could escape, from princes and officials to landlords and gentry. In order to save their lives, most officials and soldiers chose to surrender to Li Zicheng, which still allowed them to save their lives to a certain extent.

The Chuang army kept advancing forward, with soldiers and horses covering the sky and flags blocking out the sun. The Ming army on the opposite side also came out of the camp and fought in a highly tense state.

In front of the rebel army's formation, artillery pieces were lined up in a row, and behind the artillery pieces were countless bandit infantrymen, firearms soldiers, and archers. Behind these ranged soldiers were layers of spear formations.

Li Zicheng laughed and said, "The dog officers and soldiers have tormented us for so long, it's time for us to have some comfort."

When Li Zicheng first followed Gao Yingxiang to cause trouble, he realized the power of the firearm. Later, after many brief contacts with Jiang Han's army, he further attached importance to the firearm. Therefore, he reorganized the surrendered officers and soldiers to form a firearms unit.

Of course, they still have very few muskets and artillery pieces, so they need to use human lives to consume the opponent's artillery firing times first. Unlike Jiang Han, who is born to fight, it's my turn, it's still my turn!

Such fighting can never bring smiles!

The sound of gongs and drums rang out, and the sound of artillery fire suddenly shook the sky in the Chuang army. Dense artillery shells tore through the sky like a rainstorm, and continuously shot towards the center of the Ming army.

The range of the central army's musketeers is long and narrow, and the density is very high. Even if the artillery of the rebel army is not accurate, it can still pick off a group of them.

Cannonballs weighing several kilograms were fired with fierce power into the gun formations of Shanxi and Miyun towns. The shells rolled and swept out a trail of blood. Corpses were shattered from time to time, and wooden shields flew everywhere, causing heavy damage and psychological deterrence to the surrounding Ming army gunners.

Under the fierce artillery bombardment of the rebel army, a group of officers and soldiers with broken hands and feet rolled on the ground and screamed loudly. The ground was littered with scattered bodies and broken arms. It was extremely horrifying. Even Yang Wenyue's troops behind them fell into chaos when they saw this horrific scene.

As the artillery fire of the Chuang army raged, the officers and soldiers of the Ming army in the rear were terrified and pushed some earth carts forward to try to block some of the shells, but they were again hit by crazy fire.

At this time, Yang Sichang, who was commanding the battle, was already at a loss and a little confused. He had only led the troops for less than half a year, and when he went out, he was chasing after the Tartars who were eager to return home. He had never seen such a tragic scene.

Previously, the Ming army's artillery and muskets had killed the rebels from a hundred steps away, so it was not very clear what was happening. However, the scene at this moment was happening right next to him.