In the first year of Guangzhong, that is, in mid-February of 1644 AD, the Dashun Army and the Qing Army were fighting to the death on a front that extended from Tongguan and Taiyuan to the coast of Haidai.

On this thousands-mile front with the Taihang Mountains and the Yellow River as the main dividing points, both the Shun Army and the Qing Army invested hundreds of thousands of troops.

From west to east, the Shunqing front was mainly divided into four battlefields: Northwest, Taiyuan, Hebei and Shandong.

On the northwest battlefield, the Dashun Army relied on its advantage of sufficient logistical supplies to ensure its invincibility. Gao Yigong defended Tongguan to the death, and Wu Sangui, even though he took the lead and fought hard, even wearing down his own body, still could not move an inch.

Can't enter.

On the battlefield of Taiyuan, Jierhalang and Ye Chen were still besieging Taiyuan, but Jiang Quan and Chen Yongfu were both first-class city defenders who rose to fame in the late Ming Dynasty. Although the Shun army was at a disadvantage, they could firmly defend Taiyuan City for a few more months.

But it's not a problem.

On the battlefield in Shandong, after the victory in Liaocheng, the battlefield situation turned silent again. Although Ajig has a relatively strong force in Jinan, I don't know whether it is because of insufficient military supplies or because Ajig

The elite of the Georgian army were transferred to Dorgon's army, and the Qing army never launched a large-scale offensive in the direction of Shandong.

On the battlefield in Hebei, this was the battlefield where the Dashun Army faced the worst situation.

Dorgon put all the most elite main forces of the Qing army into the battlefield in Hebei. During this period, although Dorgon committed a surprise attack on Liaocheng, he made rapid progress in Hebei. The front line of the southern expedition had already begun

Arrive at the second mansion of Huaiqing and Weihui on the north bank of the Yellow River.

However, the various units of the Dashun Army in Hebei still defended tenaciously under the command of Liu Tichun. Although the Qing army captured most of the prefectures and counties in the four prefectures of Hebei, except for the fall of Damingfu Fucheng, Zhangde, Huaiqing, and Weihui

The capital city of the mansion is still under strict defense by the Shun army.

Anyang, the capital of Zhangde Prefecture, Jixian, the capital of Weihui Prefecture, and most of the cities in Huaiqing Prefecture, all became isolated islands in the ocean of the Qing army due to the tenacious resistance of the defenders.

At the same time, for Dorgon, these strongholds that the Shun army desperately defended became hidden dangers scattered on the sides and rear of the Southern Expeditionary Army.

On February 20th of the first year of Guangzhong, as the freezing situation of the Yellow River was changing, Dorgon may have considered the possibility that the Yellow River would thaw at any time with the end of winter, so he stepped up military operations to cross the Yellow River south.

The Southern Expeditionary Army took into account the important towns on the north bank of the Yellow River that were still under the control of the Shun Army. Dorgon felt that if they did not remove these strongholds and risked drinking the Yellow River, once they failed, there would be a danger of the entire army being annihilated.

As a result, the main force of the Qing army's 100,000-strong southern expedition force stepped up its offensive against various cities in Hebei.

At this time, the generals of the Shun Army in Hebei were led by Liu Tichun to guard Kaizhou, Liu Rukui to guard Anyang, and Li Polu to guard Ji County. Among these three strongholds, Anyang was the capital of Zhangde Prefecture, and Ji County was the capital of Weihui Prefecture.

It is tall and difficult to attack, and it may be difficult to break the city in a short time.

After Dorgon looked at the map, he believed that Anyang was deep in the Zhao territory and was isolated. Even if the Qing army did not attack the city, Liu Rukui, who was guarding Anyang, would have a hard time cooperating with the troops on the southern front to attack the Qing army.

So the Qing army selected Kaizhou City as the target, which Liu Tichun focused on defending.

Kaizhou is not the capital of Daming Prefecture, and the city is relatively small. After Liu Tichun withdrew from Daming to Kaizhou, although he repaired the Kaizhou city wall, such a small city was still very dangerous under the siege of the main force of the Qing army.

On February 21, the first year of Guangzhong, Dorgon severely punished, humiliated and imprisoned Yue Le and other Liaocheng defeated generals, and then personally led the guards and elite guards to Kaizhou.

Tens of thousands of Qing troops surrounded the city of Kaizhou on the north bank of the Yellow River. The Yellow River was surging. If Kaizhou fell, not even a city larger than a county seat south of Kaizhou could withstand the pace of the Qing army.

At that time, Dorgon could bypass Huaiqing and Weihui, go directly south from Kaizhou to Yinma Yellow River, cross the river from Tongwaxiang, and directly attack Kaifeng.

This time, Dorgon personally directed and deployed the attack on Kaizhou. The Qing army deployed several times the siege force as in the Battle of Daming, and almost all the Hongyi artillery was mobilized to attack Kaizhou day and night.

The reinforcements of the Shun Army arrived to relieve the siege before breaking the city.

But this time, Liu Tichun learned from the experience of Cizhou and the fall of the name. As a defeated general, he personally deployed the defense of Kaizhou City.

Although Kaizhou City is a small town, the soldiers and civilians of the state are well aware of the fate of the entire city's residents being massacred by the Manchus after the fall of Daimyo. In order to protect themselves, the people of the state were mobilized by Liu Tichun, and a new building was built in just a few days.

There are a large number of stone and earth forts and wooden towers.

After Liu Tichun's strict deployment and full-scale management, the soldiers and civilians of Kaicheng were united and determined to hold on to the city. Therefore, the Qing army mobilized the Hongyi artillery as soon as possible, but even if Dorgon personally came to the front to command the siege, the Eight Banners elites still stopped their troops at the city.

No progress.

There is sufficient food in Kaizhou City. Although the city is small and the city walls are weak, the soldiers and civilians defending the city are united. Liu Tichun learned the experience and lessons from the loss of the daimyo, and the deployment was just right. The result was that the Qing army used twice as many troops as the daimyo to attack and defend the city that was weaker than the daimyo.

Kaizhou, on the other hand, was unable to win.

Although the Qing army completely surrounded Kaizhou, the defenders in the city believed that the Jin army was about to come for reinforcements and were not afraid at all. The archers and gunmen of the Dashun army all went up to the city wall and used dense crossbows and guns to surround them.

Shoot back.

Every time the Eight Banners attacked the city, they used red barrage artillery as the precursor. After blasting some gaps, the guards and escorts took the lead in the assault. However, Liu Tichun dug inner trenches and built wooden towers behind the city wall to form a second line of defense.

, the Shun army defenders could always rely on this second line of defense to thwart the Qing's assault.

Dorgon had no choice but to send Qing army cavalry to patrol the north bank of the Yellow River to guard against Dashun's main force in Henan, and at the same time stepped up the siege of Kaizhou.

The next day, Dorgon personally went to Kaizhou City to persuade him to surrender. He shot a letter into the city and said: "...if the entire city's soldiers and civilians can repent and return to their sincerity, they will continue to be kind and supportive." He ensured that the Qing army would not kill anyone indiscriminately in Kaizhou.

He also said: "When I ask others to come here, your army and the people may be afraid and refuse to obey; if I come here alone, I will come and obey you happily. If the Tathagata returns and obeys, the city of Shuhe will be conquered. I hope that the people in the Central Plains will show my kindness, and your soldiers and people will be grateful to me."

The sins are known and forgiven. Surrender as soon as the order is given, and you will continue to support yourself as before. Do not doubt or worry any more, which will harm the city's officials and people. If your soldiers and civilians do not surrender, then there will be no way out. As soon as the solitary words are spoken, escape.

If there is a backlash, who in the world will trust him again?"

Liu Tichun received this letter of persuasion to surrender, and under the persuasion of the angry Kaizhou soldiers and civilians, he tore the letter to pieces on the spot.

Liu Tichun originally invited local literati from Kaizhou to write a letter that viciously insulted and humiliated Dorgon as a return gift. But after careful consideration, he changed his mind.

Liu Tichun ordered the secretary to write a letter saying: "...the northern soldiers have besieged the city several times. They have dug grass in the city to eat. When the food is exhausted, they will kill the mules and horses to eat. The gentlemen, soldiers and civilians are suffering unbearable hardships...Only when I heard about it, the northern soldiers often attacked the famous names."

If you want to kill, who among my commander and the soldiers and civilians of Kaizhou is willing to sit back and die?"

He deliberately exaggerated the unfavorable situation in Kaizhou City, claiming that Kaizhou City was about to run out of food, showing a weak posture, hoping to trick Dorgon into slowing down his offensive and changing from a fierce siege to a gentle siege.

Then Liu Tichun said nonsense again: "The people in Kuanghe City are determined to die. Even if the king is sincere and generous, who dares to believe it? I just sent an edict to provide a certain amount of food. I will lead the people to wait for it in a few days. There is no other way."

I look forward to it."

In addition, Liu Tichun also made up a lot of nonsense in his letter to Dorgon. He said that Kaizhou had been abandoned by the main force of Dashun, so the soldiers and civilians defending the city had long planned to surrender, but they were worried about being attacked after surrender.

The fate of massacre has persisted to this day.

As long as Dorgon agreed to send a batch of food to Kaizhou soldiers and civilians for emergency relief, and then stopped attacking the city for three days, then when the defenders and civilians confirmed Dorgon's goodwill, Liu Tichun could lead the people in the city to surrender.

It's just that Dorgon was also familiar with "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", so how could he be deceived by Liu Tichun's old tricks of Zhou Lei. After receiving the letter, he knew that it was impossible to persuade Kaizhou to surrender, so he had to angrily order to step up the attack on the city.

In Kaifeng, the Dashun Army's central army and the main field force of the palace's left army, led by Li Laiheng personally, have been fully mobilized and are about to cross the Yellow River north to aid Kaizhou. After the Battle of Huolu, the second battle between Shun and Qing Dynasties
Chapter completed!