lcionline Chapter 431 Battle of Fengyang
Chapter 431 Battle of Fengyang
With Su Hongtu's assistance, the framework of the first cavalry unit of the Qionghai Army was established, and under Ma Wei's leadership, it began training in Dengzhou. Lu Gengyu completed his mission and returned to Lingao first.
With Zhu Dadian's permission, famine victims from Shandong were continuously transported to Lingao via Dengzhou through Lin Tianming's arrangements. As the situation in Shandong stabilized, fewer and fewer famine victims volunteered to go to Lingao. The number of immigrants in the fourth batch plummeted to 5,000, and subsequent batches averaged only 2,000 to 3,000 per batch. However, Lingao's population base had already increased several times over, with both agricultural and military populations doubling in size, and the needs for production and military expansion were initially met.
Through maritime trade and tax collection at checkpoints, the Qionghai Army rapidly accumulated enormous wealth. After absorbing the population, it also focused on grain production and military development, accumulating sufficient strength and waiting for a suitable opportunity to formally march into the Central Plains.
In the Northwest, after looting places like Xuanfu, Huang Taiji led his army back to the border. Although the land was devastated and people were taken away, leaving it a barren wasteland, the fact that the Tartars were gone was a great relief to the court. From the emperor to the court officials, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
The year 8 of Chongzhen's reign was drawing to a close. Although there had been many bad news that year, the victories brought by the Qionghai Army and the suppression of the Shandong rebellion made Chongzhen's year relatively peaceful. Little did he know that this was merely the calm before the storm.
As early as the beginning of the eighth year of the Chongzhen reign, Chongzhen appointed Chen Qiyu as the Governor-General of Five Provinces, unifying the command of the government troops in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Sichuan, and Huguang, attempting to annihilate the various rebel armies in one fell swoop. Cao Wenzhao led the Guan-Ning Army to defeat the rebel armies in Shanxi, and Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and others fled to Henan, where they were surrounded by multiple Ming armies led by Cao Wenzhao and Zuo Liangyu. However, in August of that year, Huang Taiji personally led a large army into the pass, shocking the court and the public. In order to deal with the Tartars, Chongzhen summoned generals such as Cao Wenzhao, abandoning the encirclement and suppression of the rebel armies, and went to Xuanfu and Datong, allowing the rebels to break through the encirclement.
After the Tartars retreated beyond the Great Wall, Chen Qiyu, who had failed in suppressing the bandits, was replaced. In December, Hong Chengchou succeeded him as Governor-General of Five Provinces, with the additional titles of Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince and Minister of War, overseeing the military affairs of Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Huguang, and Sichuan provinces. He changed his predecessor's strategy of using suppression to promote appeasement and fighting while simultaneously appeasing, instead deploying a large force to encircle the main force of the bandits and launch focused attacks. The various rebel armies suffered repeated defeats at places like Queshan and Zhuxianzhen (southwest of present-day Kaifeng), and were forced to retreat to the western mountainous areas.
After the New Year, in the first month of the ninth year of Chongzhen's reign, Hong Chengchou led his main force out of Tongguan and held a grand meeting of his generals in Xinyang, Henan, to prepare for a large-scale encirclement and suppression of the rebel army and to defeat the major bandit forces such as Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, and Zhang Xianzhong in one fell swoop.
At this very juncture, a historical event that would significantly influence the course of events at the end of the Ming Dynasty occurred.
Because Hong Chengchou was quite capable, under his command the refugee army suffered repeated defeats, and all the forces deeply realized that only by fighting together could they have strength. Thus, the refugee armies of Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, Lao Huihui, Luo Rucai, Geliyan, Zuo Jinwang, Gaishiwang, Shetatian, Hengtianwang, Hun Shiwan, Guo Tianxing, Jiutiaolong, and Shuntianwang, a total of 13 families and 72 battalions, gathered in Xingyang, Henan, to discuss strategies against the enemy.
At this conference, Li Zicheng, the "rebel general," demonstrated his exceptional military vision by proposing the strategic policy of "dividing troops and launching a four-pronged attack." This involved dividing the refugee army into four routes—east, west, south, and north—to engage the enemy, while placing the main force of the refugee army on the eastern side, where the enemy's forces were weaker. Li Zicheng's foresight was affirmed and agreed upon by everyone, and it was unanimously decided to use this strategic policy to guide the operations. Among them, the strongest forces, led by Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, and Zhang Xianzhong, advanced eastward to resist the enemy, achieving victory after victory and sweeping all the way to Zhongdu (Fengyang).
The historically famous Battle of Fengyang thus began. Zhu Guoxiang, the Ming general defending Fengyang, led his troops to meet the enemy. The cunning Zhang Xianzhong and his forces sent men to infiltrate the city in disguise. These infiltrated peasant soldiers then set fires everywhere, coordinating closely with the main peasant army outside the city. The government troops, caught in a pincer attack, were thrown into chaos. Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong's forces seized the opportunity to enter the city. Zhu Guoxiang committed suicide, and over 4000 defending soldiers were annihilated.
After capturing Fengyang, the refugee army beheaded the commander of the guards, Yuan Ruizheng, the prefect of Fengyang, Yan Daxuan, the judge, Wan Wenying, and others. Finally, they set fire to the imperial tombs and released all the prisoners in Fengyang. The capital was thrown into chaos, and the court and the public were shocked.
The capital city, the Forbidden City, the Qianqing Palace.
Emperor Chongzhen angrily roared at the people kneeling before him: "I have allocated so much silver and dispatched so many troops, yet not only have I failed to annihilate the bandits in one fell swoop, but in the end, the rebels have even stormed into Zhongdu, and now they have even burned down the imperial tombs. How can I face my ancestors? You all keep saying you want to share my burdens."
The Minister of War Zhang Fengyi and others kneeling below dared not argue, but simply lowered their heads and lay prostrate on the ground, wishing they could disappear into a crack in the ground.
Because Wen Tiren was the Grand Secretary and enjoyed the deep trust of Emperor Chongzhen, and because of his advanced age, he was specially granted a seat. He sat upright in the chair, his eyes downcast, as if in deep meditation, while inwardly praying that the emperor would not ask him for advice.
But what he feared most came to pass. After giving Zhang Fengyi and the others a good scolding, Chongzhen saw that they were all in mourning and no one could offer any good advice. He could only turn his attention to the chief minister he trusted.
"Changqing, Zhongdu has suffered a great upheaval. Do you have any good solutions?"
Wen Tiren's face twitched a few times as he sighed inwardly. Even Chen Qiyu and Hong Chengchou couldn't handle these bandits; what good plan could he possibly have? He racked his brains but couldn't come up with any immediate solution, so he could only vaguely reply, "The best course of action now is to order Hong Chengchou to lead his army eastward swiftly to relieve the siege of Fengyang, and then deploy troops to besiege it..."
Chongzhen was quite disappointed. These were all correct but useless words. Regardless of whether he gave the order or not, Hong Chengchou would definitely advance eastward and drive the bandits out of Zhongdu. He wanted to hear suggestions on how to severely defeat or even annihilate the bandits in a short period of time.
He stood up abruptly, paced back and forth, and said as he walked, "I want more than this. Originally, considering that the bandits were also my subjects, I agreed to Chen Qiyu's idea of appeasement through suppression. But these scoundrels are lawless and even dare to desecrate the imperial tombs. How can such people, who have no ruler or father, be appeased? I wish I could have them all slowly tortured to death. You must find a way to wipe out all the bandits, leaving not a single one alive!"
Zhang Fengyi and the others groaned inwardly. Their master was far too impatient. The bandits were powerful; how could they be so easily wiped out? Asking them to devise a solution in such a rush was practically driving them to their deaths!