I

  Chapter 551 548 [The hearts of the people are scattered]

   Yicheng captured by the Datong Army was easily recaptured by Liu Fangliang, because there were no defenders in the city, not even officials and farmers.

  However, there are 3,000 farmers and soldiers stationed in Quwo to the west of Yicheng.

   Liu Fangliang camped on the outskirts of Yicheng, waiting for more troops to gather on the spot. Hongdong County in the north was also recaptured by the Dashun Army, but was stuck in Linfen by the Datong Army and could not go south.

   Yicheng.

  Xie Yinglong went to find Tian Hu in the tent: "Uncle (Count), the situation is not good."

   "Oh, I know, the morale of the army is floating." Tian Hu was helpless.

  Ren Guangrong, Ren Jirong, Tian Hu, and Xie Yinglong, the four of them joined Li Zicheng at the beginning, and all of them were from the Ming army.

  Now, the Ren family brothers have run away, Tian Hu and Xie Yinglong are in an embarrassing situation.

  Although Liu Fangliang kept expressing his trust, he was faintly guarded. After recapturing Yicheng, all the troops sent to defend the city were Liu Fangliang's confidantes, while Tian Hu and Xie Yinglong were forbidden to enter the city.

  Of course, Liu Fangliang was afraid that if he went too far, he would force Tian Hu and Xie Yinglong back, so he personally led troops to station outside the city.

  The reason is that the people cannot be disturbed. Yicheng is too small, and too many troops entering will easily cause chaos.

  Liu Fangliang's vigilance is really normal, because Tian and Xie's troops not only have a lot of people from Henan, but also many people from the Ming Dynasty's army. When the soldiers learned that the brothers of the Ren family had led the troops back to their hometown, they had already discussed a lot, hoping that their own general would also return to Henan.

  Xie Yinglong said in a low voice: "Now that we are guarded, how can we fight? Brother Tian, ​​you are also a man who knows how to fight. Do you think you can win the battle now?"

  Tian Hu muttered: "Your Majesty treats us well, don't have any thoughts. As for the soldiers of the battalions, just be patient and comfort them."

  Xie Yinglong sneered.

   It’s true that Ren Jirong, who led the troops to run away, and Tian Hu in front of him, were both named General Guo Yi, and they both won an earl.

   But what about Xie Yinglong?

  It’s just a miscellaneous general, and the mere baron will be dismissed.

   This made Xie Yinglong extremely dissatisfied. The Ren family brothers and Tian Hu were just junior officers of Ming Dynasty. But Xie Yinglong was born as a general's personal soldier, and the firearms troops under his command are extremely powerful.

   Xie Yinglong and Tian Hu, together with the firearm battalion, brought a lot of firecrackers and cannons, and offered the city to join Li Zicheng in an uprising.

  Why did Tian Hu quickly ascend to the position, but he himself became Tian Hu's subordinate?

   "Then I will go to appease the soldiers." Xie Yinglong said.

  Tian Hu said: "I will go in person."

  Liu Fangliang's barracks was in the north of the city, and Tian Hu and Xie Yinglong's barracks were in the east of the city.

  Tian Hu took Xie Yinglong to comfort the soldiers in the camp. It is nothing more than to say that when the Dashun Army conquers Henan, everyone will be able to return to their hometowns.

   It's useless, but it makes soldiers resist.

  Civilian officials lack a sense of belonging to the Dashun court, do low-level soldiers have it?

  Li Zicheng's army was the most vigorous when it first entered Beijing, but it plummeted after being defeated by the Manchus. Their thinking was simple, the Tartars defeated the Dashun Army, and the Datong Army defeated the Tartars, so the Datong Army must be stronger, and Emperor Zhao occupied a large territory.

  Since you can't fight, why do you have to fight to die?

  Passing around the barracks, Tian Hu went back to his tent to rest.

  Xie Yinglong called several officers over: "I tried it out, General Tian doesn't want to go back to Henan, he is thinking of the kindness of Emperor Dashun."

   "Hey, Li Zicheng has kindness to him, but he is ungrateful to us." The person who spoke was Wang Chengzhong, who, like Xie Yinglong, was a soldier of the Ming general Luo Dai.

Xie Zhun, another Henan military officer, said: "Uncle Tian didn't want to leave because he was greedy for his title. We don't have any titles, so what are we doing here? Very powerful. Li Zicheng can't even beat the Tartars, but he can still kill Emperor Zhao and sit in the world?"

  After some discussion, Xie Yinglong said: "Each go back and gather troops quietly, and leave tonight, light the fire and fire the cannons as a signal, and run to the southwest together after disturbing the barracks!"

  Midnight.

   "Boom boom boom!"

   Without any warning, the artillery battalion rang out, and then the battalions ignited fires one after another, and the tents of the camps suddenly burst into flames.

   Tian Hu woke up suddenly: "Where is the cannon?"

   "I don't know." The soldier hurriedly said.

  Tian Hu walked quickly outside the tent, and found that there were fires in every battalion, and the shouts of soldiers were everywhere.

  Tian Hu shouted: "The enemy attacked the camp, quickly gather troops!"

   It's a fart to get together, all the battalions are on fire, and it's completely messed up.

  The army led by Tian Hu, counting the temporarily expanded soldiers, has a total of more than 8,000 people. Although there are less than 2,000 Henan nationals, 90% of the officers are from Henan.

   This is normal, because its prototype is the Henan official army, and Li Zicheng threw some Henan peasant troops in. Even though it was supplemented many times later, the main generals are all from Henan, and of course the promotion of officers should give priority to fellow villagers.

  More than a thousand soldiers from Henan Province took advantage of the chaos and ran to the southwest, leaving behind six thousand soldiers from Shanxi and Shaanxi at a loss.

  These Shanshan soldiers didn't understand the situation at all, and thought that the Datong Army had really killed them. When they heard the sound of gunfire and saw fire everywhere, they scattered and fled like chickens without their heads.

  Most people ran to the mountains, and they would definitely return to their hometowns after they ran away. Tian Hu's army was doomed.

   Tian Hu was startled, and with a few soldiers, rode towards the north of the city. Liu Fangliang's barracks is very quiet, and he must not have been "night-raided", and he will be safe after passing.

  Of course, Liu Fangliang was also awakened by the sound of gunfire. He ordered the camp to be strictly guarded, and the soldiers were not allowed to run around. It took half an hour to calm down the chaos.

   "Don't shoot arrows, I am Tian Hu, I was attacked by the enemy at night!"

  Outside the camp, Tian Hu, who was shot back by several arrows, yelled aggrievedly.

   After a while, Tian Hu was brought in.

   "How many enemy troops are there?" Liu Fangliang asked.

  Tian Hu shook his head: "I don't know."

   Liu Fangliang asked again: "Can the enemy come after them?"

  Tian Hu said: "It seems not."

   Liu Fangliang was furious: "You lost a battle, why don't you know anything?"

  Tian Hu said: "I was awakened in the night. There were fires everywhere, and the barracks were in chaos. Even if the troops were withdrawn, how could I know the situation at night?"

  Liu Fangliang could only suppress his anger and let the soldiers continue to be on guard until dawn before leading the soldiers to the east of the city to check.

  The barracks in the east of the city was in a mess, and even the place where grain and grass were stored was burned.

   Fortunately, Liu Fangliang was prepared. The army rations were given every ten days, and there was not much food in Tianhu camp.

   Liu Fangliang looked at the intact artillery, then reached out to touch the inside of the barrel, rubbed the residue on his fingertips and said, "These artillery must have fired last night, and the barrels were not even cleaned."

   Tian Hu was silent, he probably understood.

   Liu Fangliang sneered and said: "You are indeed loyal to His Majesty, but the soldiers under your command don't think so. You don't even know that you were pushed aside by your own generals?"

  Tian Hu sighed: "It's because I don't manage the army strictly, and I am willing to be punished."

  Liu Fangliang shook his head: "In the Dashun army, you and Ren Jirong have the highest military rank and title. Ren Jirong led the troops and ran away. If you are punished again, I am afraid that all the soldiers in Henan will be forced to turn back. I can't bear such a big responsibility."

   Neither of them spoke anymore.

  Henan military officers under Tian Hu's command ran away with Henan soldiers, but the main general Tian Hu was kept in the dark. what does that mean?

  It means that the officers and soldiers have no confidence in the war, and they are not willing to fight with the Datong Army at all!

   Many soldiers of the Dashun Army are not only afraid of war, but also have a heart to avoid war. Such an army cannot fight, and even if it fights, it will undoubtedly lose.

  Liu Fangliang understands this truth, and Tian Hu, the person involved, naturally understands it even more.

  One of them is a marquis and the other is an earl. They have every reason to die for Li Zicheng. But ordinary soldiers don't have it, let alone low-level soldiers. These soldiers just want to survive.

  But he said that Xie Yinglong led his troops to defect to the Datong Army, and they were all gunfire soldiers, and there were also some artillerymen who lost their artillery. Liu Zhu was very happy when he heard about the situation.

  The battle was imminent, Liu Zhu sent someone to deliver a letter, discussed with Jiang Liang on the south bank of the Yellow River, decided to temporarily retain Xie Yinglong's establishment, and ordered these firecrackers to garrison Jiangzhou.

  In southern Shaanxi, Li Guo led his troops to Xi'an, and when he was more than a hundred miles away from Xi'an, he galloped after him on a fast horse.

   "Zhang Luo, Yin of Hanzhong Prefecture, cooperated with Wang Guangen and Wang Guangtai to rebel, and has occupied Hanzhong Prefecture!"

  Li Guo was shocked and at a loss.

  He just left Hanzhong with his troops, and Hanzhong actually rebelled?

  Brothers Wang Guangen and Wang Guangtai were originally Zhang Xianzhong's generals, but were later recruited by the Ming court. In history, they also fought against Li Zicheng, and later surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

  Because of factional conflicts, Wang Guangen was killed by the Qing Dynasty. Wang Guangtai immediately rebelled against the Qing Dynasty and became one of the thirteen families of Kuidong.

  In this time and space, because the Ming court was too hip, when the Wang family brothers faced Li Zicheng, they did not choose to fight hard, but led their troops to join Dashun collectively.

  Liu Fangliang and Li Guo both went to Tongguan to fight, and they both got into trouble.

  Dashun court, people's hearts are broken!

  Li Guo's head is a little down, he doesn't know whether to go to Xi'an first, or go back to Hanzhong to suppress the rebellion.

  The battle of Tongguan decided the ownership of the two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi.

   But if they don’t return to Hanzhong, the Datong army in Sichuan will drive straight in from Hanzhong.

  There is really a Datong army over there, only Huang Yao is left in Guizhou, Fei Yinggong leads troops northward, and is holding back the Dashun army in Hanzhong.

  After much deliberation, Li Guo decided to return to Hanzhong.

  But just two days after he returned to the army, he received another urgent report: the Yangping Pass guards were attacked from the front and back, the guards surrendered collectively, and the Datong Army had entered Hanzhong.

  What to do? What to do? What to do?

   Li Guo was so distraught that he fell ill in the army.

  Xi'an and Hanzhong were both occupied by the Datong army, and their own general fell ill again, and the whole army suddenly became confused.

   Lieutenant General Gao Yigong couldn't hold back at all.

  Gao Yigong is Gao Yingxiang's son and Li Zicheng's cousin. His ability to fight can only be regarded as mediocre, and he cannot bear the heavy burden of being ordered in a crisis.

   Next, there were deserters every day. After a few days, one-eighth of Li Guo's troops fled.

  Any fool knows that Shaanxi is definitely gone, and continuing to fight is not far from death.

  If it was the Tartars, they might still be united, but the Datong court was also Han Chinese, so why should they continue to work hard?

   Seeing this situation, Li Guo's general Zhang Neng led his troops to leave the camp overnight, and ran to Hanzhong to join the Datong army, taking a third of the soldiers away.

  The news spread that there were more deserters, and in a blink of an eye there were only 2,000 people left, and the Dashun Army had given up all the way.

  (end of this chapter)