The war to conquer Liao and save Korea was delayed again and again. In the first half of the second year of Tianfa, the ministers in the court seemed to have gradually become aware of the emperor's intentions, and gradually stopped writing letters to request troops.

However, the Dashun Army never relaxed in its military preparations for the invasion of Liao.

Although Liu Fangliang has not yet returned to the front line, Liu Tichun and Chen Yongfu have been sent to Beijing. At this time, the city of Beijing has been undergoing repair work for more than a year, and the city has been slightly revitalized.

The huge damage caused by the Qing army when they withdrew from Beijing, more than a year later, the scars are still there, and the sight of the country being destroyed and deep in vegetation made the soldiers of the Shun army who came here afterward feel very sad.

There are many Yan people in the army, and there are also some former Ming army's Guanning border troops and soldiers who surrendered in the Beijing camp. They all have deep feelings for the city of Beijing. Many of them even have family members and relatives from the capital.

Daishan's fire completely destroyed this great city that had been the capital of the world since the Yuan Dynasty. The Qing army was still looting madly in the Jifu area. When the Eight Banners soldiers had just withdrawn from the Youyan area, it could be said that there was no human habitation for a hundred miles.

Hundreds of thousands of people were forcibly moved to Liaodong.

Just because of hunger and cold, hundreds of thousands of people died on the road.

At that time, Liu Fangliang was ordered to bring Qingqi to pursue the Qing army. After the soldiers saw countless corpses accumulating on the road, they marched four hundred miles overnight, setting a new speed limit for the Shunjun Qingqi army. Only then did the Eight Banners Army retreat.

Before Liaodong, they were intercepted.

The battle took place on a stone battlefield near Shanhaiguan. There were about 8,000 Shunjun Qingqi under Liu Fangliang, while the Qing army formed a formation of 20,000 troops to block the attack.

There was a huge gap in military strength between the two sides, but the Shun army took the initiative in pursuit, while the Qing army had to protect an astronomical amount of baggage, gold and silver treasures, and plunder the people, so maneuvering was extremely difficult.

What's more, after the continuous defeats in the previous year, the Qing army generally had low morale when facing the Dashun knights and did not dare to fight. Now they are plundering the entire territory of Jifu, and every Manchurian's pocket is full of gold.

Why did Yin Caibao risk his life near Shanhaiguan before withdrawing to Liaodong?

The Qing army was fighting and retreating, but did not have the courage to resolutely block the rapid advance of the Shun army's light cavalry.

This was quickly understood by the keen Liu Fangliang. With his usual light and sharp style, he and his officers led hundreds of cavalry to take the lead in charging into the battle. The morale of the cavalry was greatly boosted, and the entire army pressed forward. It was a stormy time.

The Shunjun cavalry who took the initiative immediately adjusted their attack direction and occupied a favorable position in the wind direction.

The soldiers of the Qing army needed to protect a large amount of baggage, so it was extremely difficult to adjust their posture, and they were in a passive position to be beaten.

As a result, during the first battle, the sky was dark and the wind and sand blocked the sun. The Shun army cavalry, led by Liu Fangliang, fought desperately and quickly broke through the Qing army's half-hearted defense line.

Upon seeing this, the main force of the Qing army was no longer restrained and retreated north without authorization. The Eight Banners cavalry with war horses also withdrew from the battlefield while preserving their captured wealth.

Daishan had no choice. After all, he had to protect Tongzhi and Emperor Zhaohe to prevent Zhu Cihong from falling into the hands of the Shun army. Therefore, he also did not send out elite guards to fight. How could the Eight Banners troops belonging to other banners fight to the death to cut off the rear?

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Ever since Dorgon was captured, there has no longer been a strong leader within the Eight Banners who can unify the forces of all the banners!

In the Battle of a Stone, Liu Fangliang chased the enemy with thousands of light cavalry to the north, attacking more with less. Although the Qing army withdrew from the battlefield too quickly and did not kill many real Manchurians, it successfully rescued 140,000 captured civilians.

There are many, so he has established a very deep prestige among the people in Jifu area.

From this point of view, perhaps it would be most appropriate for Liu Fangliang to be the head coach of Liao in the future.

However, Li Laiheng also had to consider maintaining a balanced status among the nobles of the Shun Army - after all, Liu Fangliang was quite senior and was one of the five battalion commanders during Li Zicheng's period.

If Liu Fangliang is allowed to continue to establish unparalleled achievements, it may not be a good thing for the power structure of the Shun Dynasty.

In a sense, Liu Fangliang and Gao Yigong are all the leftover ministers of the Taizong Dynasty left by Li Guo. They are not direct descendants of Chu Chuang. Their relationship with the Chu party that now occupies the key points of the Shun Dynasty is weak, and it is not as easy as Guo Junzhen.

Establishing a strong political faction appears to be more "safe".

However, the status of any faction should not be too prominent.

This is one of Li Laiheng's major principles for controlling government affairs, and Liu Fangliang has been fighting in the north and south for many years. He has no heirs and has not yet enjoyed wealth. This is where the Li family feels sorry for Liu Fangliang, so Li Laiheng kept him in Beijing and gave him a house and gifts.

I hope to compensate Liu Fangliang.

After all, when the first batch of veterans who broke into the camp followed Li Zicheng to fight in the world, their own lives were not necessarily guaranteed. The generals were exposed to the wild for ten years, and their lives were precarious. How could they marry a wife and have children?

It was not until Li Zicheng was proclaimed King of the Tang Dynasty, and later proclaimed himself emperor in Taiyuan and established Dashun, that the veterans of the camp had fixed residences and started to build families.

But who could have imagined that not long after, Li Zicheng was killed in the battle of Huolu, and immediately Yang Chengzu rebelled, and the entire northwest region fell into great turmoil.

The Dashun Dynasty faced another life-and-death test. In such a critical moment, how could anyone have the time to think about marrying a wife and having children?

So much so that today, it has been four years since the establishment of the Shun Dynasty, but most of the most respected nobles, including Fang Yiren, Guo Junzhen, Liu Fangliang, Gu Junen, etc., have no heirs yet.

Regarding this situation, Li Laiheng sometimes felt that he was indebted to his heroes, so in recent times, he often rewarded his heroes and encouraged them to stay in Kaifeng and enjoy peace.

However, this situation later had some significant and subtle impacts on the development of the political structure of the Shun Dynasty that people would never have imagined at this time:

That is the descendants of the founding fathers. Since almost no one experienced the peasant uprising war and the anti-Qing war in the late Ming Dynasty and the early Shun Dynasty, and even few people experienced the magnificent development in the early days of the Tianfa Dynasty, the second generation of the founders in the early Shun Dynasty

They almost never occupied any prominent position in the court.

The military noble class withdrew from the main stage of the Dashun court very early and became a generation enjoying peace.

Instead of the noble class, the group that filled the power gap of Shunjun officers in the early wars of the Republic of China were the "marching generals" who were mainly graduates of the field army camp schools and later more specialized graduates of the martial arts halls of various provinces.

The Lord’s “Military General.”

Most of the officers who were born in the army were first-line soldiers in the field army, and were promoted to lead officers based on their merits. Most of them are familiar with military affairs, have extremely rich military resume and experience, and are often from poor backgrounds, and many of them participated in the early Republic of China.

During the Peasant Uprising War and the War of Resistance against the Qing Dynasty, they often called themselves "Yuanrong" and were an important faction in the Shun Army, the "Yuanrong Party", or the Qin Party in the Army.

Those young officers who came from martial arts halls in various provinces are just the opposite. Many of them are from wealthier gentry families. Since their families were among those who joined the Dashun Army earlier, most of them also have good official connections.

relation.

Most of the young officers who graduated from the martial arts hall will first serve as staff officers in the local army. The best among them will be directly promoted to serve in the Military Academy. Once they have rich resumes, they may be airborne and transferred to higher-level military officers.

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Compared with the Yuan Rong party members who gained a rank through hundreds of battles, these young staff officers can be said to be on a shortcut to success.

Since the students of the Jiangwu Hall will be given the Yangwu Sword as a gift from the Emperor when they graduate, this important faction is also called the "Yangwu Party" or the Chu Party in the Army.

Because most "Yuanrong" prefer to wear waist knives to show their military status rather than swords, and they are mostly from Shaanxi and Henan provinces, the Yuanrong party is sometimes scornfully called "swordsmen" by hostile factions.

Because most of the Yangwu Party were staff officers, and the military helmets worn by staff officers were equipped with red feathers, they were often derogatoryly called "red hair" or "huatou" - a problem that troubled the Shun Dynasty in modern times.
Chapter completed!