Chapter 217 Battle and harmony

Wu Sangui's overall military strength is not small. Especially in the process of hard work in Shaanxi, he was also a pioneering military strategy to promote military power, in order to take advantage of the situation when the world is in chaos. However, like many local powerful factions at that time, there were not many forces that could really come in handy.

Although there are many tens of thousands of troops under the name, most of them are second-rate or third-rate teams stationed in the places, and they do not have much combat power. Especially when facing strong enemies such as the Death Army, the local troops in those prefectures are useless at all. The only one who can compete with the Death Army is the elite Guanning Army.

Guanning Army is Wu Sangui's capital and confidence.

Although the number of troops who were recruiting Haoge was quite powerful, they had long been disbanded for the purpose of being on guard at that time. Moreover, many of them were deployed in northern Sichuan and Zhang Xianzhong, and they could not be transferred back at all. Even if they could be transferred back, they would not have time.

The larger the war, the more it determines the outcome, the more it is not the comparison of the overall strength of the two sides, but the most elite part. If this small part is defeated, the overall outcome has actually been decided.

Wu Sangui had long been prepared for the strength of the army to die, and did not plan to completely defeat Li Si. As long as the war was delayed, it would be his greatest victory. However, after the first day of battle, this abacus was obviously wrong.

The power of the army to die far exceeded Wu Sangui's expectations: he used the most elite Guanning Iron Cavalry in a surprise attack. Although it caused quite a lot of trouble to Li Si, he did not achieve the expected tactical goal. Instead, he was beaten back by the opponent's new recruits, which was enough to explain something.

Although it was a high-intensity battle, the casualties of both sides were within acceptable range. After all, neither side did the army to do their best, and just used some of the troops in their hands.

When the Guanning infantry caught up, they met with the new army of firearms that went to the death. The battle between the old infantry and the new infantry was not tragic or cruel, but Wu Sangui was frightened and knew that the situation was hopeless.

The infantry of the Guanning Army is also a powerful soldier who has experienced many battles. It is not an exaggeration to say that he has experienced many battles. He hesitated that the tradition of the Guanning Army is "the Liao people governing Liao", so many soldiers have blood or geographical relationships, and brothers and fathers and sons account for a large part. Brothers and brothers and brothers and brothers and fathers and sons are not just verbal talk. They are all fighting hard on the battlefield, and they are extremely brave. But it is precisely because of this bravery that the heavy losses are also shocking.

The platoons of the army who went to the death were so steady. The Guanning Army rushed up one after another, and there was no need to say how much blood and heroism it was. However, the new army of the army who went to the death was unmoved and advanced slowly according to the rules, putting down groups of extremely brave infantry in front of the formation, and then stepped forward on the enemy's corpses.

No matter how you fill it in, no matter how you pad it, you can't stop the dead army.

In this field battle where brigades rush together, the proportion of casualties between the two sides was shocking. As long as the Guanning Army rushed forward, few people could come back alive, but there were few casualties on the side of the dead army.

Anyone can see that this is completely a death sentence, or a person is taking his life to fill the guns of the dead army. No matter how many people there are, it doesn't work. (The showdown between the old and new infantry is actually a queue to die. To borrow a classic saying from Fengyun Nada of the Far East, it is called queuing to shoot.)

The era of killing one thousand enemies and losing oneself to eight hundred is over, and this is the real victory.

Although it was just a side battlefield, Wu Sangui also realized that this was not a war at all, but a massacre, just like a butcher slaughtering a sheep, without any suspense.

He decisively ordered to retreat, and retreated for more than 40 miles in one breath. After a little calmer, he retreated again...

As the main battlefield of this war, Yan'an Prefecture really survived the first day.

The next day, the artillery of the army to die was bombarded again, almost leaving the defensive equipment and fortifications on the city. When the army attacked the city, there was no resistance at all. At this moment, everyone realized that the Guanning army had been retreating...

Run away? Chase!

Relentless pursuit is a "glorious tradition" of the army to die. On the fourth day of the pursuit, something funny happened. This seemingly funny joke changed the course of the entire Shaanxi war.

Wu Sangui wrote a letter to the death commander Li Si: The battle between the Jingshen. You and I have both broken soldiers and armor. It is better to rest for half a month and then fight again.

Wu Sangui is going to truce.

This is a joke. If you surrender, surrender. If you don’t want to surrender, then continue fighting. You are about to be beaten and you can’t stand up. How is it possible? You rolled your eyebrows and said that you will have to wait for half a month. In this half month, you will have already beaten you, Wu Sangui.

But the Grand Marshal immediately agreed to Wu Sangui's ridiculous truce suggestion and really called for a timeout in time.

At this time, the truce is to give Wu Sangui a chance to breathe. At that time, we will mobilize the army and horses from the expedition to make a final sacrifice with the army to die. Although many brothers cannot understand, the commander's meaning cannot be disobeyed. Since the commander said that he was going to quit, let's go and talk about it in half a month.

Anyway, Wu Sangui's so-called elite is like this, and everyone is not afraid of him flying into the sky.

The so-called truce will never be a real truce. Wu Sangui and Li Si are both heroes for a while and understand the meaning of this truce: the war has actually been decided long ago, and there is no need to continue to fight. The purpose of the army to fight Shaanxi is not to destroy the place, nor can it be that the Guanning army will no longer exist like the Tartars. The fundamental point is to occupy Shaanxi.

As for the incorporation of the Guanning Army, it is hard to say about this kind of thing. The army to die is still so powerful, and various constructions have already become the most basic. Instead of incorporating the Guanning Army, it is better to build a more powerful new firearm army directly.

The current truce actually represents the end of the war, and what remains is the bargaining between each other at the negotiating table.

The war could no longer be fought, and the army to die did not want to destroy Shaanxi, and Wu Sangui did not want to destroy all his family. The two sides hit it off. Although the negotiations have not been put on the surface, they are all in full swing.

The war to the death army was suspended, but it does not mean that there is peace in Shaanxi.

The war has just stopped the side of the death army, but another major war in Shaanxi has just begun.

When he saw that Wu Sangui could not stand it, Jiang Yan, who was entrenched in the northwest of Shanxi, could not sit still. If he kept such a big advantage, wouldn’t he really go to Baoshan and return empty-handed? He first sent out four thousand troops, then another three thousand, and then he fought from the north, and then greeted Li Si...

Basically, as everyone imagined, in the first few days of the war, Jiang Yan was in the limelight, and he was invincible and defeated. He occupied five counties, and was as powerful as a bamboo shoot. But Wu Sangui's family was still there, and it was not so easy to bully. He was still preparing for a peace talk, but he trapped Jiang Yan's main force.

It is not as simple as fighting Wu Sangui, a dog who fell into the water. When it comes to the root, he still wants to expand his territory and prevent Li Si from swallowing Datong. Seeing that the limelight was about to turn, Jiang Yan, the old fox, was panicked and no longer dared to play the trick of finding first and then playing. He put down his figure and begged the dead army to support him.

No matter what, until now, Jiang Yan and Li Si were all ally, and had secret agreements. According to the prior agreement, Jiang Yan did not have to participate in the war, and could be rewarded for the death army as long as he was neutral. Now this old fox wanted to get a bargain, but Wu Sangui knocked off his front teeth and had to move closer to Zhongsheng Bo, further strengthen the secret agreement, and become a de facto offensive and defensive alliance.

Therefore, the parties to the peace talks will evolve into three parties. When Wu Sangui and Li Si compete for hegemony, Jiang Yan, the "little shrimp", also rolled in.

Negotiations are just talking, but they are not that simple.

During the first peace talks, Wu Sangui's plenipotentiary representative Wu Sanmei was defeated by the harsh conditions jointly proposed by Zhongsheng Bo and Guan Jiangyan, the general of Datong garrison, and left.

The first peace talks were ruined.

Although Wu Sangui was destined to be a weak side at this time and the door had been opened, he was not at the mercy of others. He would never accept some too mean conditions.

Logically speaking, in this case, we must promote negotiations by fighting, and fight and talk while fighting, but both sides (three parties) did not really make a big fight. Instead, we continued to truce...

During the second peace talks, both sides took a step back, but... they still parted in disagreement.

The loyal Bo Li Si was very "antied" and believed that Wu Sangui had no "sincerity" for peace talks and must get things that could not be obtained on the negotiating table on the battlefield.

The loyal Bo's anger means killing and fighting, and there is nothing in the world who is not afraid of it. But Wu Sangui is also a "hard bone". Not only is he not afraid, he instead made a "general mobilization" of war, saying that "it is better to break the jade than to make the whole thing."

If you have a little clever mind, you can see that these are all terrifying things. Zhongsheng Bo cannot defeat Wu Sangui, and Wu Sangui is not really not afraid. But if you really want to fight, why wait until today's dispute? If you really want to fight, you will not be on the verge of the fight.

Wu Sangui also understood Li Si's intentions and adopted a bastard strategy of preventing some of the main and secondary, and even shouted loudly about "resisting to the end".

Of course, these are all scenes for the people of the world to see, and have no impact on the overall situation. However, what Wu Sangui said is not unreasonable: "This peace talks are the matter of Li Si and Jiang Qin want to divide Shaanxi and follow the separatist situation, so they cannot accept it..."

Wu Sangui didn't feel guilty at all when he said such shameless words. He himself wanted to separatist. But this did not prevent him from being righteous and righteous: "This matter should be submitted to the court, and he begged for a long time to make a judgment, otherwise Wu Sangui would not give in until the last soldier..."

It's all nonsense. If Wu Sangui really dares to fight, he will still be so yelling and acting like a shrew. Even the most powerful thing is that a soldier and a soldier, and the ghosts don't believe it? If they are all done, who will still be the one who is Wu Sangui?

Not to mention Wu Sangui and Li Si, a powerful faction who is stronger than the court, is Xiao Xiami Jiang Yan. When did he treat the court as a dish? It’s so lively that anyone has ever paid attention to the court?

At this time, I remembered the court. It was ridiculous no matter how you looked at it. It was clearly just finding a way for you. It was clearly just trying to use the court to preserve your strength.

The war thousands of miles away actually has nothing to do with the court. There must be a thought in the court that the fisherman will benefit from the battle between snipes and clams. But I didn't expect that the difference would be divided so quickly.

Everyone can see the essence of the matter clearly. The so-called court ruling is just a fancy situation, and no one will take it seriously. If the court said that it would not fight or let Zhongsheng Bo give up, would Li Si be so obedient? Haha...

However, the court attached great importance to this "ruling". The little emperor Xingwu issued a decree with a stern tone and condemned the actions of the "poor creatures" of the three parties in the war with a high tone, resulting in "the land being reduced to war again", not only cut off the title of the head of the three parties in the war, but also fined three people a year's salary. Even the official positions that Li Si himself recruited were wiped out, and the court was pursuing the general seal. Judging from this, Li Si could not even be the general.

Wu Sangui's punishment was almost the same as Li Si. He first took the title of King Pingxi and Pingxibo, then fined him from his salary and was given an official position, and the punishment would be added in the future.

Li Si and Wu Sangui, who have always been strong, are both very well-behaved. Perhaps it has really shocked Tianwei. They have apologized for the guilty statement and expressed their conviction for the emperor's punishment and have been "thank you" all the time.

The young emperor Xingwu issued another strict order, and all parties involved in the war retreated. The court ordered the handling of this matter. If there was any further battle and killing, it would be punished for the crime of resisting the order.

In this way, Jiangnan was in full bloom.

This world is still from the Ming Dynasty!

But the emperor got angry. Are these powerful factions in these places "stimulating"? Li Si, Wu Sangui, and Jiang Yan, which country is not holding heavy troops? Which one is not a powerful character who dominates the world? When the Holy Lord was angry, he immediately stopped his domineering spirit and handed over the apology like a snowflake, fearing that "the power of heaven is furious". Which army to die or Guanning Army, is not a strong Tiger Ben soldier? The imperial court's order must not be retracted obediently?

Local tyrants bowed their heads and confessed their guilt, and they did have the face of the monarchs and ministers in Xingwu, and they were very majestic as wise rulers in prosperous times, but only their own family knew the bitterness.

What is the reason why Tianwei is so angry? Not to mention a giant tycoon like Li Si and Wu Sangui, but Jiang Yan, who was afraid of the court? As for each retreating his troops, it is just a talk. The victory or defeat has been decided, and the court is just doing extravagant things.

These local emperors didn't care about any titles. Even if they were demoted to minor officials from the ninth rank, they would not affect their strength at all. As for the fines, they were completely laughing at them.

Regarding the fact that all parties unanimously demanded the court to decide the dispute, it was actually just a formality. It is not certain that Li Si and Wu Sangui had already discussed the conditions for a truce, but they just lacked a high-sounding reason to cover up their face.

The so-called ruling of the court is definitely not just a simple way to show that the effort is simple. If this is the case, the court does not need to make the case. If there is the idle intention of ruling mediation, it will not sit down to watch them fight each other. The key is that all parties do not want to fight and want to fulfill the conditions. At this time, the nominal central Xingwu court needs to consider its own interests.

It would be best if they could check and balance each other. However, if it really doesn't work, Wu Sangui, the capricious villain, could not be swallowed up by Li Si. In that case, Li Si would have no scruples or restraint.

No matter how you talk about it, Li Si is the real master of most of the Ming Dynasty, and no one can change it. Anyway, Li Si has long been strong enough. Is he stronger a little more? It is the same for the court. Wu Sangui has been defeated, and the old nest of the Tartars in the north is in danger and can be taken down at any time. At present, Li Si has drawn his sword and is invincible, but he is still recruiting troops and expanding his military equipment almost madly, which is worrying.

In terms of force, the army to die has no rivals. Now that a new army has filled in with firearms, it is really like a tiger. In this case, Li Si should focus on developing people's livelihood. With such a military force, is it because he wants to attack Jiangnan?

The loyalty of Li Si people is not mentioned, or it is not loyal. It is just to see where the people-oriented road of the imperial court can go, and not to do too much interference. However, this kind of thing cannot be simply relied on the will of Li Si people. Even if Li Si does not have the intention to take the army to Jiangnan, his subordinates will not have this intention.

Not to mention anything else, Emperor Hongwu of Taizu, also adopted the strategy of "building high walls, accumulating grain, and slowing to be king" to seek victory in the world. But to a certain extent, even though he knew that he had not yet become king, he had to ascend to the great treasure to announce his founding. This does not depend on his personal will. If he did not do this, the generals and the old brothers who followed him through life and death would feel that they had no future and could not see a clear direction. Only by becoming emperor can the overall interests and prestige be further improved and there will be lasting cohesion. Everyone understands the truth in this very well.

Li Si has reached this point now. Even if he is not interested in the dragon throne in Nandu, it cannot mean that his subordinates do not have this idea. If Li Si cannot take this step, it will be difficult for the entire army to go further.

In the eyes of many people, Li Si must have received a message from his subordinates to persuade him to enter, or simply said that even the dragon robe was ready, just waiting to put it on his body at that time, and then he made a reluctance, saying something like "It's not my intention, the wish of the army" and "little forcefully" to proclaim himself emperor and found the country...

Yang Tinglin laughed: "Loyalty... I have seen Li Si's thoughts clearly. The emperor and his colleagues don't have to worry about this. If Li Si had a ill-behaved, he would have done something wrong long ago. How could he wait until today?"

These old school officials and Li Si are also old acquaintances, and they don’t believe that Li Si will plot against rebellion, but the army to die has no opponent and is still preparing for military and military preparations. It is obvious that they are going to carry out wars. Looking around, only Jiangnan can be regarded as the target of the army to die...

"It is true that Li Sida's military affairs are invincible now, and it is true." Yang Tinglin said with a smile: "I have heard some news, and think about what he had talked with Li Si before when he was going to the death army. He wanted to take troops to take over. He did not want to take Jiangnan or other places, but to expand externally and expand territory."

To put it nicely, this kind of thing is a "great battle", but it is actually an invasion. Li Si's army to die is already strong enough, and he is still preparing for war, just to export war, expand the living space of this nation with iron-blooded means, and concentrate the resources and manpower of all directions...

That's it, but aggression has always been full of blood and violence, which represents war.

Foreign invasion has always been what every emperor dreams about the most. He opened up thousands of miles of territory and achieved a generation of common rulers. The little emperor Xingwu dreamed of such a generous and heroic feat.

The key is strength.

The Ming Dynasty was not without its strength. The fleet of the Sanbao eunuch was so strong that it had waited for countless barbarian small states, but it did not act as a general invasion. After all, it was the influence of the benevolence and righteous thoughts at that time.

Emperor Taizu Hongwu was a typical pragmatist, and he was also a great decree: "If there are any barbarian countries overseas who are suffering from China, they must not be punished; if they are not Chinese patients, they must not raise troops themselves. The ancients said that the vast land is not a plan for long-term stability, and the hard work of the people is the source of chaos. For example, Emperor Yang of Sui vainly launched troops to conquer Ryukyu, killed barbarians, burned their palaces, and captured thousands of men and women. The land was not enough to provide, and the people were not enough to be ordered. He only admired his reputation, and he abused the middle ground, and recorded it in history, and was ridiculed by later generations. I used the barbarian countries to block mountains and seas and be remote in a corner. If they were not Chinese patients, I would never attack them..."

If you don't offend me, I won't offend you. If you offend me, I will fight. This is the national policy established by the Ming Dynasty. The overall strategy to the outside world is to fight back. If the opponent and the Ming Dynasty are in peace, they will never fight. As for the conquest by force, it is even more impossible.

Emperor Taizu listed fifteen small states including Japan, Annan, Ryukyu, and other fifteen small states as "barbarians who do not seek refuge" and entered the "Ancestral Instructions": "The descendants of later generations rely on China's prosperity and strength, be greedy for temporary military achievements, raise troops without reason, and cause fatal injuries..."

The "teachings" of these ancestors must be followed by the kings of the Ming Dynasty, so they did not take the initiative to fight. Later, they gradually realized the benefits of this and realized the wisdom of the ancestors: those barbarian and small states are really not worth fighting hard. These small countries are mostly barren lands, and their people are also savages who eat raw meat and drink blood, so they are useless. If they are seized through war, it will not only cost money, but also have to raise these barbarians, which is really not worth it...

Excluding the idea of ​​the upper class, the people also believe that the kingdom of heaven should have the style of a great man when he goes to court. Relying on his strong national strength to conquer those barbarians and small countries, it is really abhorrent of the kingdom of heaven. Instead, it will be regarded as a violent dynasty by the barbarians and too much of the demeanor of the court. Let those small countries and people from other countries pay tribute to the heaven and then give them more generous gifts, so that the demeanor and mercy of the upper country of heaven will be shown.
To be continued...