Just as the provincial examinations were being held in various places in the Ming Dynasty, in distant Suzhou, General Li Guo of the Shun Army frowned and looked at the snow-capped Qilian Mountains.
Forced by the Ming army from three sides, the Shun army was unable to gain a foothold in Guanzhong and had to retreat all the way west.
The Shun army, composed of ordinary poor people, could not compete with the elite Ming army.
The Ming army's firecrackers and artillery were too powerful.
When the two armies fought, the Shun army suffered heavy casualties before close combat, and it was impossible to fight.
In Li Guo's mind, the Ming army now is far from the Ming army a few years ago.
A few years ago, when I followed King Chuang to conquer the world, I always killed the Ming army and fled.
When the army crossed the Yellow River eastward to attack Beijing, no matter it was the local Ming army or the Xuan army, who dared to compete with the Shun army?
It’s not like everyone is clamoring to surrender.
However, in just a few short years, the situation has undergone earth-shaking changes.
Li Guo believed that the combat power of his men was no worse than that of the past, but the problem was that the Ming army's combat power had improved too much, and it was completely different from the Ming army of the past.
Unable to fight, even the city could not be defended.
The Ming army seemed to have mastered the Five Thunder Method, and the solid city wall could be easily broken.
There was no other way, so Li Guo had no choice but to take his subordinates and flee westward, all the way to Suzhou.
Looking at the snow-capped Qilian Mountains, Li Guo suddenly thought of the meeting with Chen Yue, the king of Ming Qi, more than half a year ago.
Suddenly the two sides were told by Chen Yue.
At that time, Chen Yue told him that there was still a vast world in the Western Regions and suggested that he lead the army.
Head to the Western Region to establish a foothold.
At that time, I sneered at Chen Yue's words, but I didn't expect that it would become a reality now.
Could this all be due to Chen Yue's conspiracy?
"Father" Li Laiheng, the adopted son, walked up to Li Guo and reported: "Father, the children have been counted.
There are a total of 28,100 soldiers who followed Suzhou, and there are more than 30,000 family members.
Your Majesty and his entourage also returned In Ganzhou, they have been reluctant to move westward. " Since the westward march, the road has become more and more desolate, sparsely populated, the wind is howling, the wind and sand are everywhere, and the environment has become increasingly bad, making the Dashun soldiers and their families miserable.
With no choice, Li Guo could only personally lead the army as a vanguard and march westward to clear the way for the large group of troops.
Three years ago, when Dashun's military power was at its peak, Li Zicheng sent a large number of troops to attack Xining, Hexi and other places.
These territories were successively owned by Dashun.
With the defeat of Dashun and the transfer of troops, this area fell into the hands of the Qing army.
After the Ming army's Northern Expedition, the Qing army withdrew from the Guanzhong, and the Shun army advanced into Guanzhong, and then ruled these places again.
So as we marched westward, we didn't encounter any enemies.
The only enemy was the increasingly bad environment.
Li Guo led an army of 30,000 people and their families all the way west.
More than a thousand soldiers died on the road, and his family members suffered even more losses.
The reasons for this situation are firstly the harsh climate and secondly the lack of food.
No wonder Emperor Li Zijing has been reluctant to come.
"I'm afraid it won't be up to him if he doesn't want to come," Li Guo sneered.
The conspiracy of Chen Yue, the king of Qi in the Ming Dynasty, was already obvious, which was to drive the Shun army to the Western Regions, so the Ming army would never allow Li Zijing to stay in Ganzhou for a long time.
"Father, your Majesty, how can he be worthy of being the emperor if he is so ignorant?"
Li Laiheng said angrily.
All along, Dashun's success has depended on his adoptive father's protection from east to west.
However, Li Zijing only relied on the fact that he was Li Zicheng's younger brother.
He couldn't even explain how he deserved to be the emperor of Dashun.
"Shut up," Li Guo glared at Li Laiheng and scolded.
No matter how miserable Li Zijing is, he is still his uncle, and the power of Dashun still belongs to the Li family.
Don't you know why Li Zijing was appointed emperor?
The generals of the Shun army were not in harmony with each other.
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Only by appointing Li Zijing and Dashun could they barely maintain order.
"Father, what should we do?"
Seeing Li Guo getting angry, Li Laiheng did not dare to say anything, but asked about his future plans, "The army has been lingering in Suzhou for several days and consumes countless grains every day.
If this continues, I'm afraid we will We are unable to advance into the Western Regions, foster father, why don’t we simply fight with the Ming army, which is better than going to the barren land of the Western Regions.”
"What do you know about fighting?
If you can fight and win, why don't you say it?"
Li Guo scolded, "What's wrong with going to the Western Regions?
No matter how barren the Western Regions are, it's better than staying in the Ming Dynasty and waiting to die.
With our current strength, we can conquer the Western Regions There is no problem for all countries.
Since we cannot stay in the Ming Dynasty, we will expand our territory outside the territory and build Dashun."
Seeing Li Guo getting angry, Li Laiheng didn't dare to say anything more.
"No waiting, we will cross Jiayuguan and enter the desert early tomorrow morning and head towards the sandbank," Li Guo said resolutely.
Early the next morning, nearly 30,000 troops and 30,000 accompanying family members, and more than 60,000 people replenished food and fresh water, left Jiayuguan and entered the vast desert.
The direction they were heading towards was Shazhou in the desert.
There are more than 700 kilometers from Jiayuguan to Dunhuang, most of which are deserts.
The windy and sandy climate here is far from comparable to that of Shaanxi and northern Shaanxi.
Most of the Shunjun soldiers were from hard-working farmers, and they couldn't bear the hardships all the way.
In the desert area, the temperature changes greatly between day and night.
During the day, the sun is shining and it is extremely hot.
At night, it is freezing to the bone.
Along the way, the soldiers of the Shun Army were miserable.
Many people fell in the desert, while others could only Can bury the body and move on.
When marching in the desert, the most important thing is to drink water, because it is difficult to find water sources in the desert.
At first, some people did not pay attention and drank too much water when they were thirsty during the day.
In the next few days, there was no water to drink, and in the end they were forced to live with the livestock. of urine.
The most suitable livestock for walking in the desert is naturally the camel.
However, the soldiers of the Shun Army did not have camels, but only mules and horses.
However, the mules and horses that ran like flying in the plains were blinded in the soft desert and did not have much forage.
There was no extra drinking water, and within a few days of walking, the mules and horses fell dead one after another, and they could only be cut up for food.
Without the mules and horses, the heavy supplies had to be carried by people, which made the march even more difficult.
On the eighth day, looking at the empty kettle, Li Guo also felt despair.
Perhaps, he would never be able to leave the desert.
"Look, foster father!"
At this moment, Li Laiheng, whose face was full of dust and his lips were chapped, pointed to the distance and shouted in surprise.
Li Guo looked carefully and saw a city appearing in the sky among the yellow sand.
The Shazhou Guards finally arrived.
Shazhou is located in the desert.
It is one of the few territories owned by the Ming Dynasty in the Western Regions.
There are Shazhou guards stationed in this territory.
However, after more than two hundred years, the defense here has become very lax.
At this time, the Western Regions are no longer the period of the Han and Tang Dynasties.
The Silk Road has been in decline for many years.
In the past year, there are not many caravans passing through Shazhou in the Western Regions.
Without the Silk Road, even the Mongols would not want to come to Shazhou to rob.
There used to be thousands of military households in Shazhou Wei.
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After more than two hundred years, the military households have been severely dispersed.
Now there are only a few hundred households left.
Together with some naturalized Mongolians and natives from the Western Regions, the soldiers in the entire Shazhou are also There were just over 500 people, and the total number of people was less than 10,000.
In this Western Region, this is already a relatively large force, because at this time the total population of the entire Western Region east of Congling is only hundreds of thousands.
The rebellion of the mainland bandits and the invasion of the Qing army had little impact on Shazhou.
At this time, Shazhou was still under the banner of the Ming Dynasty, and the guard was the hereditary Shazhou Guard commander Feng Yan.
However, looking at the overwhelming incoming troops, Commander Feng Yan's face was full of bitterness.
Although there are more than 500 soldiers in the Shazhou Guard City, there are tens of thousands of bandits coming out of the desert.
Shazhou City, which has experienced more than two hundred years of wind and sand, is already in dilapidated condition.
How can it withstand the attack of so many people?
"Sir, what should I do?"
Commander Zhi Niu Liu asked in fear.
"Didn't it mean that the Ming Dynasty had retaken Beijing and defeated the bandits?
How come so many bandits came to Shazhou?
What are they doing here in this sky full of yellow sand?"
Feng Yan asked with a wry smile.
In this Western Region, which is full of yellow sand, what is there to grab?
"Sir, do you want to fight or not?"
Niu Liu continued to ask.
"What are you fighting for?"
Feng Yan murmured as he looked at the overwhelming army of thieves approaching from afar, and then at the panicked men in the city.
Finally walking out of the desert and seeing an oasis, the tens of thousands of Shun soldiers suddenly recovered.
Li Guo began to mobilize his subordinates who were still capable of fighting to prepare to attack Shazhou City.
However, before he could start the attack, the gates of Shazhou City were opened and defender Feng Yan led his troops to surrender, which made Li Guo very happy.
Feng Yan's surrender was considered very wise.
Although the arrival of the Shun Army was a catastrophe for the people of Shazhou, he avoided a massacre because he chose to surrender.
However, there are some things that cannot be avoided at all.
Along the way, Shunjun's food and water have been exhausted, and they can only replenish them in Shazhou.
As a result, countless soldiers of the Shun Army rushed into people's homes and looted all their food.
In the end, Li Guo simply ordered that all the ten thousand people in Shazhou be taken into the army.
The army was recuperating in Shazhou for half a month.
While recovering its strength, it was also waiting for the arrival of the follow-up army.
However, half a month later, the follow-up army did not appear at all.
Li Guo had no choice but to leave a thousand troops to garrison Shazhou and continue to advance northwest with a large group of troops to attack the Hami Guard.
After occupying Shazhou, hundreds of camels and more than a thousand war horses were seized, and with Feng Yan and others who were familiar with the desert as guides, both roads and water sources could be easily found, making the journey to Hami much easier.
When Li Guo led the vanguard of the Shun army to advance toward Hami, a battle was going on in Suzhou.
The farther west it became, the more desolate it became, and most of the Shun army officers lamented that Tian Jianxiu, Dang Shousu and other Shun army generals were unwilling to move forward at all, but instead deceived the Dashun Emperor Li Zijing into staying in Suzhou.
Seeing that Dashun was about to be defeated, instead of fleeing to the barren Western Region, it was better to simply surrender to the Ming Dynasty.
Even if he went home to farm as a farmer, it would be better than dying outside the region.
This was what many people had in mind.
Li Zijing himself was an uninformed farmer.
He was not even good at speaking, and he did not have the ability of his brother Li Zicheng.
Being deceived by some generals, coupled with greed for enjoyment and fear of marching, he really stayed in Suzhou and delayed giving orders to continue the march.
At this time, the Ming army saw that the Shun army was approaching the Hexi Corridor.
General Yu Feng saw that the strategy was about to be realized, so he was not in a hurry to continue marching.
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His plan was to give Shunjun some time so that they could be fully prepared before entering the desert, and there was no need to push too hard.
Who knew that this Shunjun would stay in Yongchang Wei, Suzhou and not be able to take him with him.
How shameless, Yu Feng was angry, and ordered to continue marching, forcing the army to move westward.
At this moment, Shun thief Dang Shousu and other generals secretly sent people to surrender to the Ming army.
Yu Feng sneered as he wanted to surrender.
If surrendering was so easy, why would he bother to surround Baal on three sides and drive him away?
Yu Feng immediately told the visitor that it was okay to surrender.
Ordinary soldiers could surrender and be forgiven, but the generals of the Shun army had done many evil things and none of them could be forgiven.
After hearing the report of the people sent, Dang Shousu and others were shocked.
Unexpectedly, the commander-in-chief of the Ming army was unwilling to surrender.
Even if they offer Li Zijing as emperor, they will not do it.
There was no choice but to continue running away.
However, the Ming army advanced too fast.
Before the Shun army could gather and leave Suzhou, the Ming army's vanguard had already arrived.
The Shun army gathered 50,000 troops and hurriedly fought, but were defeated by the Ming army's vanguard of less than 5,000 troops.
They abandoned their helmets and armor and fled west in a hurry.
On the way to escape, even Shun Emperor Li Zijing didn't know where he threw it.
When they hurriedly fled from Suzhou to Ganzhou, they saw that the Ming army was not pursuing them.
The generals of the Shun army breathed a sigh of relief and counted their troops.
They found that the total number of troops in their hands was only more than 10,000, and their family members were all lost. .
What to do?
Yuan Zongdi, Gao Yigong, Dang Shousu and other generals of the Shun Army gathered together and discussed for a long time but could not come up with a solution.
Li Guo left some people in Ganzhou and told the generals that Li Guo was going to Shazhou.
With no choice, the generals could only lead the remaining 10,000 people to follow the footsteps of Li Guo's pioneers and advance into the desert.
In Suzhou, Yu Feng almost laughed out loud when he looked at the Dashun Emperor Li Zijing, who was wearing a yellow robe and had a face as dark as an old farmer, kneeling on the ground and trembling.
A person like the one in front of me can also be an emperor.
No wonder the shun thieves are becoming more and more in decline.
Just thousands of forwards defeated the Shun army and captured countless prisoners.
Yu Feng no longer knew what to say.
The prisoners were ordered to be screened, and all generals who obeyed the army were beheaded, while ordinary soldiers and their families were detained and sent to various places in the pass to work as farmers.
As for Dashun Emperor Li Zijing, he was escorted to Beijing as proof of victory.
A hundred thousand troops went on an expedition, spending countless amounts of money and food, but there had to be tangible results.
Now that Shaanxi Province has been recovered and Emperor Shun Li Zijing has been captured, this is the final achievement of this battle.
With this, the King of Qi can explain to the court.
As for Yu Feng himself, his mission is far from over.
General Zhengxi is not as simple as recovering Shaanxi and Hexi.
He wants to lead his army into the Western Regions and regain the Han territory in the Western Regions for the Ming Dynasty.
Recovering the Western Regions and crossing the Congling Mountains into Central Asia was Chen Yue's strategy for the Western Regions.
The Shun Army was just marching first.
When the Shun Army wiped out all the forces in the Western Regions, it was time for Yu Feng to move in to receive the results.
The general who conquered the west just kept attacking to the west: