GBP Chapter 762 Who Else But Me (New)
Chapter 762 Who Else But Me (New)
Feigning defeat with a single unit to lure the enemy into an encirclement is a common tactic used by bandits. When their overall strength is inferior, they repeatedly defeat government troops using this method. Logically, Liu Guozhu, with his experience, shouldn't have fallen for it so easily. The strange thing is that Liu Zongmin's defeat was genuine; he was putting on a show, using nearly ten thousand men as "bait," making the outcome completely unpredictable.
The Shun army had snowballed to three or four hundred thousand men. Although most of them were just there for show, even ants can kill an elephant if there are enough of them. When this army of men surged over the mountains and plains, the shouts of battle were deafening, and the legs of the Baoding cavalrymen began to tremble.
"General, what should we do?" several subordinates asked, trembling.
Looking at the densely packed crowd of people, Liu Guozhu felt a chill in his heart. He raised his saber and shouted tragically, "We can't escape! Charge straight at the bandits' main camp! Killing one is enough, killing two is a bonus! Let's die with dignity, not cowardly and disgrace the Baoding Camp!"
"Kill!" The Baoding cavalry followed Liu Zongmin as he crossed the river, charging forward without hesitation.
Liu Zongmin was startled. Forgetting his own camp, he spurred his horse ashore and rushed into the central army formation. Looking at the "Shun" banner, he found Li Zicheng and shouted, "Grand Marshal, Zongmin has lured the government troops into an encirclement! This is the perfect opportunity to strike. These Baoding soldiers are very troublesome. If we annihilate them, we'll face one less major obstacle on our northward march..."
Li Zicheng frowned. He could see that Liu Zongmin was in a very bad state; it wasn't a feigned defeat to lure the government troops into a trap, but a genuine defeat. However, with a formidable enemy at hand, he didn't want to dwell on the matter. Besides, Liu Zongmin was a veteran general, and he needed his support to capture the capital and even ascend the throne. So, he had to turn a blind eye to some things.
He waved his hand and said, "Surround these soldiers. I want to capture them alive." His opponent had clearly done something to defeat Liu Zongmin so badly; if he could recruit him, he would gain another powerful general. Now that his own army was strong and well-equipped, he felt more confident in recruiting soldiers.
The menacing cavalry surged forward, charging towards Liu Guozhu. In the distance, a surging crowd also gathered, engulfing the Baoding troops…
A few days later, within the territory of Daming Prefecture.
Liu Ye, mounted on horseback, listened to the intelligence department's report.
"What? The entire army of the General of Baoding was wiped out, Liu Guozhu was captured alive, and Li Zicheng's attempt to persuade him to surrender failed?"
Wang Qinian nodded: "According to the information passed on by Liu Heizi, Chu Shengchang and others, Liu Zongmin, a general under the rebel leader, was defeated, but during the pursuit, he was surrounded by a large army and captured after a fierce battle."
"It's a pity," Liu Ye said with some regret. "Among the officers and soldiers, how many are truly hard-working and willing to fight? Liu Guozhu is one of them, but now that he's in Li Zicheng's hands, I'm afraid his chances of survival are slim. Have Liu Heizi and the others keep an eye on things. If there's an opportunity, try to rescue him, but don't force it. First and foremost, ensure your own safety."
"Yes, sir." Wang Qinian replied respectfully.
"Where is Li Zicheng now, and how far away is he from us?"
"The bandit army has entered Shuntian Prefecture, and the resistance they have encountered is sporadic. According to a report from Huanglong in the capital, Minister of War Yang Sichang has transferred the troops guarding against us from Yongping Prefecture back to the capital region to maintain a tight defense in order to protect the capital. The bandits will not face much resistance before they reach the capital. In addition, the Ministry of War has sent out several batches of messengers to urge us to enter the capital to defend the emperor as soon as possible."
"Haha..." Liu Ye laughed loudly, "In the end, they pinned their hopes for rescuing the emperor on me, a troublemaker who rebelled and besieged the capital. What a great irony! When Yang Sichang bombarded the military camp to kill me, did he ever think of this day?"
Yan Guang, standing nearby, laughed and said, "Yang Sichang never imagined that the faster we urged him, the closer he and the emperor would be to their deaths. This was all a scheme we orchestrated."
Liang Xiaoming shook his head: "You politicians are truly ruthless. To seize power, you go through such a huge roundabout process. How many refugees, soldiers, and citizens of the capital have to die? If you ask me, why not just roll up your sleeves and take matters into your own hands, forcing Chongzhen to abdicate? That would be much simpler, and far fewer people would die..."
Yan Guang curled his lip indifferently, but dared not directly refute Liang Xiaoming because of Liang's status as the second-in-command.
Liu Ye chuckled and pointed at Liang Xiaoming, teasingly saying, "Mingzi, with a blockhead like you, if this were a TV series, you wouldn't last three episodes. You'd be sold out and still be counting the money for the seller. I told you long ago, taking over Beijing isn't difficult, but in this era, righteousness and popular support are the most important things. Li Zicheng didn't have righteousness; he was just a bandit leader. Even if he took over Beijing, it would only be a flash in the pan. I won't repeat his mistakes."
"Besides, it's better for some people to die now than for tens of millions to die when the Qing army enters the pass in the future." Liu Ye looked to the north. "The change of dynasties will inevitably involve bloodshed and sacrifice. No one can avoid this. You have to know how to weigh the pros and cons."
Shi Ying, who had remained silent until now, asked, "General, can you really calculate how many people the Qing army killed when they marched south? Tens of millions, how much is that? I don't quite understand." The rudimentary arithmetic he had learned at the military academy could only calculate up to hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, millions, or even tens of millions, which was beyond Shi Ying's comprehension.
Liu Ye naturally wouldn't say that this wasn't a calculation, but a historical fact. According to historians' calculations, including those who went into hiding, the total population at the end of the Ming Dynasty was close to 200 million, while the population census at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty was only around 100 million. This means that the Qing army's entry into the Central Plains led to a population reduction of at least 40 to 50 million. In the early Qing Dynasty, the entire country, both north and south, was in ruins. Zhili was described as "a vast expanse of desolate fields," Henan as "overgrown with weeds and sparsely populated," and Sichuan as "overgrown with weeds, as if the world had just been created." An imperial censor in the second year of the Shunzhi Emperor's reign stated: "In recent years, the flames of war have been rampant, and thousands of miles of land have been scorched, from the south of the capital to Shandong, all of this is evident." This shows the extent to which the land of China had been devastated by war at that time.
“Shi Ying, let me explain it to you like this: Our Great Ming Dynasty has 100 million people now, but given the Qing army’s indiscriminate killing habits, if they enter the pass, that number will be halved, and the total population of the Great Ming Dynasty will be reduced by half.” Liu Ye made a slashing gesture.
Everyone fell silent. Liu Ye had always been incredibly insightful, and no one doubted his words. The thought that the Qing army's entry into the pass could reduce the Ming Dynasty's population by half weighed heavily on everyone, making it hard for them to breathe.
Yan Guang broke the silence: "So Heaven sent down a saint like you, General, to save the Ming Dynasty from fire and water, and to carry out the heavy responsibility of suppressing the bandits and driving out the Tartars. Who else but you, General and our Qionghai Army, could do this?"
The crowd's emotions rose, and they raised their fists and shouted:
"Who else would it be than me!"
"I swear to follow the general to the death and save the people of the Ming Dynasty!"