Chapter 235 Enlightenment

Li Zicheng's annihilation of Xiao Yuan Camp certainly had some problems unique to Yuan Shizhong, the leader of Xiao Yuan Camp.

For example, Xiao Yuanying, who had joined forces with Li Zicheng, suddenly left regardless of the overall situation before the peasant army attacked Kaifeng for the second time (the peasant army lost this battle, and Li Zicheng also lost an eye). For example, Yuan Shizhong himself has been constantly fighting against the Ming government.

There were some back and forth, for example, before Yuan Shizhong was destroyed, he actually killed the people Li Zicheng sent to try to join forces again, etc.

Of course, these things are not entirely Yuan Shizhong's fault. Li Zicheng also has a lot of responsibility for always treating Yuan Shizhong like a subordinate and constantly using Xiao Yuan Ying as cannon fodder.

No matter what, the resentment between Li Zicheng and Yuan Shizhong was there and deep, but it was not so deep that it was life-and-death.

Li Ping felt that the deeper issue should be that Li Zicheng's strategic focus began to completely shift to the north, otherwise Li Zicheng would not have to kill the Xiao Yuan camp thousands of miles to the north.

This should be the main reason for Li Zicheng's overall contraction in Huguang in the past few months.

Li Ping's guess was not wrong, and in addition to the history he knew in advance as a time traveler, many signs also confirmed his guess.

After completing the annexation of Luo Rucai and the 5th Battalion of Gezuo, Li Zicheng's troops quickly began to move northward. Not only did his troops completely withdraw from Hanyang and only huddled in the Hanchuan area, their troops were also very sparse.

Even the top general of the peasant army in the entire Chengtianfu area was just a man named Bai Wang who few people had heard of, while the Hanchuan general was simply the little-known Ming army descendant Xie Yinglong, who was still Ming last year.

A person who is a general, a servant, and a servant.

However, Li Zicheng's strategic choice was not made casually, let alone wishful thinking, but was the result of careful choice.

After the establishment of political power in Xiangyang, the political ambitions within Li Zicheng's group naturally began to explode, and three opinions about the future soon emerged.

They are Niu Jinxing's idea of ​​taking Hebei first and then going straight to the capital; Li government minister Yang Yongyu's idea of ​​taking Jinling (Nanjing) first, cutting off the north-south water transportation, trapping the capital and then taking the opportunity to expedition north; and the military government's idea of ​​taking Guanzhong first, then attacking Shanxi, and then attacking

Beijing.

Gu Junen believes that "Jinling is in the lower reaches. Although it can help with great things, its strategy will fail slowly. If we attack the capital directly, if we fail to win and have nowhere to retreat, our strategy will fail urgently. It is better to take Guanzhong first and make it the homeland of Marshal Sangzi, and

The capital of Qin, Baier Mountain and River, has captured two-thirds of the world, established the country, and then plundered three sides to use its troops to capture Shanxi, and then move towards the capital. If you advance, you can attack, and if you retreat, you can defend, then this is the overall strategy."

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Gu Junen's opinion fully took into account the characteristics of the current world situation and the actual situation of Li Zicheng's army.

Because at this time, there were only three heavy military groups on the side of the Ming Dynasty, namely Wu Sangui's Guan Ning Army, the army controlled and newly trained by Sun Chuanting, the governor of the three sides, and Zuo Liangyu's army.

Among them, Wu Sangui's Guan Ning Army had to guard against the increasingly powerful Qing army and was too busy to be transferred into the interior. Zuo Liangyu's army, although the largest in strength, was also the weakest and most vulnerable.

Only Sun Chuanting's army dared to fight and had the numbers, and it directly posed a strong threat to Li Zicheng.

Gu Junen believes that if Li Zicheng takes Beijing or Nanjing first, Sun Chuanting, who currently has great offensive awareness and strategic ability in Shaanxi, will definitely attack them from the side and rear, making them vulnerable from both sides.

But it is different to attack Guanzhong first. You can advance, attack, retreat or defend. Especially Guanzhong is the place where Li Zicheng’s peasant army arose and has a good civilian base. Zuo Liangyu in Huguang and Jiangxi will most likely not be able to preserve his strength.

Will attack them from the side and rear.

In the end, Li Zicheng adopted Gu Junen's opinion, which also meant that he had to first kill Sun Chuanting, who was also supervising military affairs in Huguang and Sichuan by the Ming Dynasty.

It can be said that the task is very heavy and the pressure is great.

The fact that only light troops and little-known generals were left in Huguang also shows Li Zicheng's understanding of the difficulty of this goal.

He must concentrate his efforts!

In this way, Xiao Yuanying, who had always been flirting with the Ming Dynasty, had no choice but to submit or die. Li Zicheng had to clear all other obstacles before the battle with Sun Chuanting.

In the end, the alternative Xiaoyuan Camp in the late Ming Dynasty was like a flash in the pan and was quickly submerged in the long river of history. Even people in later generations had almost no way of examining the details of the establishment and composition of Xiaoyuan Camp.

But the destruction of Xiao Yuanying also unexpectedly gave Li Ping an enlightenment.

From the conversation with Qin Yi, Li Ping could clearly understand that Xiao Yuan's camp had never had a stable base, and its main activity area had always been a plain area with no danger, which was the place where the Four Wars were fought. This made Xiao Yuan

It is difficult for the battalion to maintain long-term concentration on its subordinates, and it also seriously lacks the ability to respond to changing situations.

What's particularly critical is that Xiaoyuan Camp always lacked a clear goal, so its strict military discipline not only failed to transform into combat effectiveness, but also greatly affected combat effectiveness. To put it bluntly, everyone did not rush forward and lacked the willingness to follow closely.

Money, ideals and women must be the same!

Xiao Yuan's camp collapsed under the attack of Li Guo, who was even inferior in military strength, and most of them surrendered. This was a cumulative reaction to this problem.

You must know that Xiao Yuanying is not incapable of fighting, on the contrary, his combat effectiveness is still very strong.

The simplest example is that before Xiaoyuan's camp was destroyed, he took the initiative to go north to attack the Qing troops entering the Pass. Not only did he show a strong sense of national consciousness, but he also beat the Qing troops hard in continuous battles. The record was quite impressive.

Bingfeng even reaches as far as the outskirts of Jinan.

But Xiao Yuanying, who had just defeated the powerful Qing army and suffered few casualties, was surprised again when facing Li Zicheng's troops.

It is obvious that the Chuang King Li Zicheng, who is becoming more and more powerful and is not a foreigner, is becoming more and more attractive and tempting to the officers and soldiers of Xiaoyuan Camp.

Even Qin Yi, who couldn't stand Li Zicheng, had to admit that Li Zicheng was a hero under the general desire and respect of the people around him, and then unconsciously used the honorific title Chuang Wang.

Li Ping realized that his army and situation were very similar to those of Xiao Yuan's camp, and he must deeply learn the lessons from the destruction of Xiao Yuan's camp.

He needs a safe base area that is large enough and has enough strategic buffers. He needs a base area that he can absolutely control. His subordinates need a home and a home.

And these, Fuchi and Xingguozhou obviously cannot satisfy him.

The devilish thoughts in Li Ping's heart began to become stronger and stronger.

The Ming Dynasty is heading for destruction along the historical track that Li Ping is familiar with, and Li Ping is currently unable to defeat Zhang Xianzhong, let alone Li Zicheng. He has no ability to change this historical process.

If he doesn't want to be buried, he must change his previous ambiguous attitude. He needs a clearer goal. He needs to leave Fu Chi and Zuo Liangyu, who have too many fetters. He must stay away from the influence of the Ming court. He needs to be able to control his own destiny.

Now that Xiaoyuan Camp has been destroyed, Zuo Liangyu has no courage to go to Li Zicheng to trouble him. If Li Ping's estimation is correct, the next unstable factor Li Zicheng will solve will be Zhang Xianzhong, who has always been at odds with him.

Li Ping realized that Zhang Xianzhong's sudden departure from Wuchang in history was probably caused by Li Zicheng. It was impossible for Li Zicheng to allow Zhang Xianzhong to cause hidden dangers behind his back.

It's just that Li Ping didn't know what method Li Zicheng adopted or when it happened.

But tomorrow will enter July, and there is not much time left for Li Zicheng. He cannot let this problem affect the progress of his overall deployment.

"Everyone must be ready to leave Fuchi and Xingguo Prefecture immediately. We have to change places." After thinking about it, Li Ping found Ma Yong, Duan Qiang and Hu Zhongshan, his three most loyal subordinates, and told them

Explained.

After the regiment retreated to Fuchi, Ma Yong immediately took over the vacant chief of staff position as originally planned and returned to his old job.

"Where are we going?" Shock was written on everyone's faces, including Zhao Lanyue who was bored at the side.

"Zhang Xianzhong should leave Wuchang soon, and we will follow him." Li Ping selectively stated part of his thoughts.

"Shall we follow Zhang Xianzhong?"

No one raised any doubts about Li Ping's judgment that Zhang Xianzhong would leave Wuchang in the short term. Whether they understood it or not or believed it or not, they were all accustomed to Li Ping's deep thinking about the overall situation.

Moreover, the magistrate of Macheng was also Zhang Xianzhong's Minister of War. Zhou Wenjiang heard that Macheng had just been elected and returned to the court. Zhang Xianzhong's situation was obviously not good, so it would not be too surprising for him to leave.

But what does it mean to follow Zhang Xianzhong?

Sooner or later, many people can expect to leave Fuchi, especially the senior officers in Li Ping's army. There are discussions and judgments on such issues within the army, and they are used to it.

After all, this is war time, and they have been leaving Xiangyang since they left.

But where he will go in the future is not certain for everyone. It can only be said that there are some rough predictions. After all, this has always been Li Ping's arbitrary decision. However, among all the predictions, there is definitely no such thing as following Zhang Xianzhong.

item.

"That's right, follow Zhang Xianzhong. Wherever he goes, we will go. You start making preparations! But remember, where we are going is not allowed to be leaked. Only a few of us know. The troops only need to know how to prepare for departure.

Just be prepared, and you must control the scope, and don’t know what you don’t need to know.” Li Ping said seriously and without a doubt.

"Understood." Duan Qiang's answer was quick and firm.

But Ma Yong hesitated for a moment, and then quickly asked carefully: "Our army currently has many local soldiers, and most of them are new soldiers. It is okay to protect Xingguo Prefecture. If we leave our hometown, many people may not be willing."

It is a rule that Li Ping's troops have gradually formed not to forcefully recruit soldiers and not to kill deserters who are unwilling to leave their homeland. Ma Yong's problem is very real.

"Do more ideological work first, and don't force yourself if you don't want to. Anyway, they are basically new recruits, so it's not such a pity." Li Ping's answer was simple. He had obviously thought about this issue.

Seeing that Ma Yong and Li Ping's questions and answers were natural, Hu Zhongshan's expression relaxed, and then he asked: "What should we do with the workshops and craftsmen in the guarantee camp? The workshops can be destroyed, but new ones can be recruited.

What to do with so many craftsmen? If they don’t leave, many of our unique technologies will be leaked.”

"Several departments that produce steel, artillery and salt are subject to enforcement. Others are meaningless. It is also a good thing for us to open the production of some things, including gunpowder and agricultural production. Song Yingguan should have considered the several departments that require enforcement before

, not too many people will be involved, just wait until he comes back to deal with it." Li Ping continued to set the tone smoothly.

Seeing that Li Ping had already considered everything, the three of them stopped asking any more questions and quickly left in a hurry to make arrangements.

When the army sets off, there are too many things that need to be prepared.

"What on earth do you want to do?" Zhao Lanyue asked solemnly when they were the only two left in the yard.

"I want to go to Sichuan." Li Ping didn't hide it this time.

"Why Sichuan? I remember you said before that Zhang Xianzhong almost slaughtered Sichuan. Are you going to save it? But how can you guarantee that you can defeat him?" Zhao Lanyue's tone became serious.

But Li Ping said with a strange expression: "I can't save anything, I just want to save ourselves. Sichuan is remote, the land is fertile, and it is very conducive to defense, and Zhang Xianzhong's murderous nature can also help us clear out everything we occupy there.

Obstacles, then we will have unlimited possibilities. As for whether we can defeat him, I can't guarantee anything, but we at least have a chance, a great chance."

"That's why you want to follow him?" Zhao Lanyue's eyes widened with disbelief on her face.

"If you don't break it, you can't build it! Some things must be broken. Zhang Xianzhong can do it better than us, and it can also increase our chances of winning." Li Ping's eyes became profound.

…

Note:

The theory that Yuan Shizhong was Li Zicheng's son-in-law was actually made up by Yao Xueyin in his "Li Zicheng" and cannot be true.
Chapter completed!