I

  Chapter 369 367 [Plague] (addition for the penguin boss)

  Li Zicheng has already given birth to the idea of ​​withdrawing troops, not to withdraw from Shanhaiguan, but to abandon the whole of Beizhili.

   Lack of food!

  Even if the Manchus can be repelled in this battle, Li Zicheng will be completely out of food. Once the food is cut off, not only the army will fry the pot, but most of the people in Beijing will starve to death. What's the point of being an emperor like this?

   It is better to withdraw from the vortex of Beizhili, take the army to other places to get food, and come back after the food is sufficient.

   Even if you want to retreat, you have to kill the Manchu and Qing cavalry in the pass, otherwise it is very likely to retreat until the whole army collapses.

  When Hauge and Dorgon came again with cavalry, Li Zicheng also brought cavalry to fight, but this time the equipment of Dashun cavalry changed.

  Do not carry bows and arrows, especially quiver, a few quiver are dead and heavy.

  The inner armor is also taken off, and only the cotton armor for defending bows and arrows is worn, and even the armor piece in the cotton armor is also removed.

  Everything is just to reduce the burden on the cavalry.

  The surviving child army also has this set of equipment.

  Dashun Xiaoqi and Dashun Boyer Army, there are only 10,000 people left in total.

  Haug and Dorgon still wanted to play tricks, but they were scattered into countless cavalry and shooting, and the formation was so scattered that it was outrageous.

  The Dashun cavalry didn't care about anything, they even threw their bows and arrows at Shanhaiguan, and under the leadership of Li Zicheng, they divided into several groups and charged directly against the rain of arrows.

   It is life for life. After the Dashun cavalry lose weight, they can quickly catch up with the full-body armor and armor the key parts of the horse.

  This time it was Hauge and Dorgon was beaten. Because the formation of the Manchu and Qing cavalry was too scattered, after the cavalry of the two sides fought, a Manchu and Qing cavalry was often besieged and killed by several Dashun cavalry.

  Of course, the Dashun cavalry is not having a good time either. The enemies in each unit are scattered and few. After killing them, they have to find another unit. And in the process of chasing, he will be shot and killed by the rain of arrows.

  The entire battle process can be simply divided into two links—

  Dashun cavalry pursued and was shot to death by Manchu cavalry.

  The Dashun cavalry caught up and killed the Manchu cavalry.

  After some fighting, Dorgon and Haoge couldn't bear it anymore, and immediately ordered the cavalry to assemble.

  After the assembly was completed, Li Zicheng did not dare to charge again.

  Because they couldn’t rush, the Manchu and Qing cavalry had better equipment and had the advantage of bows and arrows. Once assembled, they could beat the lightened Dashun cavalry.

   Li Zicheng directly ordered the withdrawal of the troops. They are riding fast now, and the Manchu cavalry cannot catch up.

  In this battle, the two sides each suffered more than a thousand casualties, almost a one-to-one record.

  Huang Taiji was outside Shanhaiguan, still bombarding frantically, and ordered the Han army flag to attack the city after the bombardment.

  In the afternoon, the cavalry fought again.

  This time Li Zicheng brought a bow and arrow, and both sides used traditional cavalry tactics.

   Fighting and fighting, Hauge and Dorgon played tricks again, Li Zicheng ordered the whole army to throw away their quiver, and did not wear the inner armor and cotton armor at all.

   Another life-for-life exchange, the Manchu and Qing cavalry dared not play, and regrouped to fight, Li Zicheng withdrew to Shanhaiguan again.

  Dorgon and Hauge were really scared of being beaten!

   20,000 cavalry rushed across the Great Wall, and after several cavalry battles, only 14,000 were killed. Although Li Zicheng's cavalry died more, how many Manchu warriors were there in total?

  In the next three days, although the Manchu and Qing cavalry would come over, they did not dare to approach Shanhaiguan, for fear that Li Zicheng would catch up with them and risk their lives.

  In fact, the Manchu and Qing cavalry can slightly adjust their tactics to break Li Zicheng's style of play, and exchange lives with Li Zicheng with equipment advantages—although it is still a change of lives.

  That night, under the pretext of discussing military affairs, Li Zicheng trapped and killed Ma Ke, who was thinking about surrendering.

   Then in the middle of the night, they took Dashun's elite and quickly withdrew from Shanhaiguan. Except for the grain workers (there was not much food left), the rest of the troops were left behind.

  The next day they encountered Manchu cavalry, and the infantry retreated cautiously. Li Zicheng personally led the cavalry and went to expel Dorgon and Hauge.

  After bypassing Funing, because there were no enemies ahead, and because Li Zicheng abandoned Shanhaiguan, the elite of the Dashun Army began to decay like a cliff. Especially those old thieves, they knew that Shanhaiguan was lost, and Beijing would definitely not be able to defend it, so they looted along the way, and even insulted women to vent their desires.

  Li Zicheng turned a blind eye to this, and the Dashun Army, which had committed no crimes, became a traditional rogue once again.

  …

  Niu Jinxing, who stayed behind in Beijing, had already received the news in advance and quickly organized manpower to deliver the goods.

  Li Zicheng did not dare to go to Shandong. Even if Shandong was captured, he was afraid of being flanked by the Manchus and Zhao Han. He wants to retreat to Shanxi, and then take Shaanxi, and perhaps form an alliance with Zhang Xianzhong.

   During the dozens of days of fighting against the Manchus, Li Zicheng's elite force was reduced to just over 50,000, and the number of cavalry dropped sharply to several thousand.

  Sun Chuanting took the initiative to assist in organizing the transfer, got two rough horses to pull the cart, and then quickly ran back to the residence: "Hurry up, take your money and go south immediately!"

"it is good!"

   Concubine Tian Gui brought a bag of coarse grain, only three catties, they only had so much grain, because the rations of officials were also rationed.

  Since there was a lot of money, Li Zicheng was so poor that he had only money left, and Sun Chuanting served as the left servant of the military government, and immediately received ten taels of silver for settling down.

   Those civil officials who were released to take over states and counties also had money to take.

  Li Zicheng couldn't afford food, so he had to pay more money.

  Dashun’s elite hadn’t returned yet, and the city of Beijing was already in chaos. Concubine Tian Guifei rode a horse with her child in her arms, and fled quickly under the leadership of Sun Chuanting.

  Because the city gate was closed, Wang Tingchen, who had been blocked outside the city, also rushed into the city with his family cavalry. Their family members were all in Beijing, and they went home quickly, and left immediately with their relatives. Cao Bianjiao also brought his cavalry to join them.

  Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao, although they cannot enter the city these days, they are not sitting outside the city and waiting.

  They snatched several large ships, all of which were merchant ships docked in nearby towns after the canal was blocked, and they also used food to recruit a group of boatmen by the way.

  As for how the food came from, of course it was borrowed from the gentry’s house. Do the people in Beizhili still have food to grab?

  After Li Zicheng occupied Beijing, the gentry who were a little farther away from the capital were not liquidated, and even enjoyed the treatment of not paying grain.

  Ride a horse and take a boat, and leave quickly.

  Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao have a very good relationship now. One has only more than 200 cavalry, and the other has only more than 100 cavalry. They had to huddle together to keep warm, and Cao Bianjiao even waited for many days to help Wang Tingchen go to the city to pick up his family.

  At the boundary of Xianghe County, a horse suddenly came after them and shouted at the cavalry: "But Cao Zongbing and Wang Zongbing are facing each other?"

  The man was stopped by the cavalry and shouted again: "I am Sun Chuanting!"

   There was a commotion, Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao came over to check the situation, and said in surprise, "It's Sun Dushi?"

   "Are you two going south?" Sun Chuanting asked.

   Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao looked at each other and asked, "Where is Governor Sun going?"

  Sun Chuanting probed: "How about voting for Zuo Liangyu?"

  Cao Bianjiao laughed and said, "Master Sun, please don't lie to me. How could your Excellency seek refuge with Zuo Liangyu? I'm afraid he went to Nanjing to join the King of Wu."

   "Where are the two generals?" Sun Chuanting neither denied nor admitted.

  Wang Tingchen said: "Zuo Liangyu is unreliable, and we have enmity with bandits, so we can only go to Nanjing. Even if we can't lead troops in the future, we can live in peace and stability."

   "Then let's go on the road together," Sun Chuanting waved to the back, and Concubine Tian Guifei came on horseback, "This is the widow of an old man, can she be allowed on board?"

  Wang Tingchen smiled and said: "Please do it yourself."

  The crowd continued on to Yang Village, and found that there were more pedestrians along the way. And it's very strange, these people dragged their families with them and fled towards the north.

  Go to the north to eat dirt?

  Sun Chuanting rode forward and was about to inquire about the situation, when he suddenly saw the dead body beside the road and turned back in shock: "Don't come into contact with strangers, there may be a serious epidemic ahead!"

  "Great epidemic?" Both Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao were terrified.

   Not only is there a major epidemic, but the plague and smallpox are spreading from Shandong to surrounding provinces.

  The family members on board did not dare to disembark again, and the cavalry did not dare to make contact with others, so they proceeded cautiously all the way. Only occasionally get out of the boat to extract well water, and repeatedly check whether there are dead bodies in the well.

   Fortunately, they are not short of food for the time being, and they borrowed a lot from the gentry before.

  When passing by Tianjin, the gates of this place were wide open. The Tianjin officials appointed by Li Zicheng had all fled in fright because of the plague.

  When they arrived in Cangzhou, everyone's food was about to run out, so they had to venture into the city to borrow food.

  Cangzhou is an important place, the city is high and the pool is deep, but at this time there is no defense, and the city is in chaos. Hundreds of cavalry rushed into the city and found that every house was closed and there were very few pedestrians on the street.

   After tossing and tossing for a long time, they finally borrowed grain from grain merchants and brought many wells from rich households.

  The closer to Shandong, the more serious the epidemic. Sun Chuanting and the others had no choice but to bite the bullet and go south.

   It was precisely because of the great epidemic in Shandong that the checkpoints along the canal were relaxed, and Zuo Liangyu's soldiers hid and dared not go out. Similarly, Zhao Han did not dare to send troops to Shandong, but set up checkpoints to block the people going south.

  Facing the terrible plague, all military plans had to be abolished.

   Swallowing Shandong at this time is purely looking for death. Even if he didn't fight Zhang Xianzhong, Zhao Han would not take risks in Shandong.

  When the team reached the border of Yutai County, what Sun Chuanting was worried about happened.

  A family member was infected with smallpox, and two cavalrymen were infected with plague. Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao responded quickly.

  The family members disembarked, the cavalry left, and they were thrown two bags of miscellaneous grains to fend for themselves.

  At the boundary of Pei County, the number of people infected with the plague had increased to double digits, and the entire team was in panic.

  But apart from abandoning the sick, they had nothing to do, and they didn't even dare to leave alone.

  The team finally arrived in Xuzhou, but they were blocked on the other side of the Huaihe River and were not allowed to come over.

  Datong soldiers patrol the river by boat every day, and drive back those who try to cross the river. This is extremely inhumane, but it is necessary. The plague must not be allowed to spread southward.

   "I have a solution, maybe I can try it." Sun Chuanting said.

   Cao Bianjiao asked: "What can I do?"

  Sun Chuanting finally told the truth: "We have a prince on board, we will see if the other side will let him go."

  Two merchant ships sailed to the center of the river, and soon the Datong Army came by boat.

  The soldiers raised their guns and shouted: "Go back immediately, if you dare to cross the river again, the artillery on the bank will serve you!"

  Tian Guifei hugged her feverish young son, knelt on the deck and said in a loud voice: "Ming Emperor Guifei Tian, ​​and the prince ask the King of Wu to take him in!"

  The soldiers did not dare to neglect, and went back to report to the superior.

  Fei Ruhe discussed with the governor of Xuzhou and agreed to allow these people to cross the river, but they had to be isolated by the river for a month.

   Not only Concubine Tian Gui, but also the rest of the smuggled people are treated in the same way.

  There are always people taking advantage of loopholes to sneak across the border, can they all go back? Some of Zhao Han's sites are not blocked by rivers, so it is easier for people to run over.

  The borders of the jurisdiction, the counties, villages and towns, grassroots officials and farmers' associations have been operating.

  Mobilize the people to defend and guard. Once strangers enter the village, they will be driven to the outermost part of the village immediately, and these people will be quarantined for at least one month.

  Wait for a month before they get sick, let them boil their clothes in boiling water, and wash their whole body several times, so that they can go to the village to take refuge.

  Shandong has already exploded, and Beizhili is about to explode. After the Manchus enter the customs, they will find that they have come to a land of plague.

   (Third watch is late but arrived, please ask for a monthly pass.)

  (end of this chapter)