Please ask me to be the emperor

Just as Hong Tai was in full swing in Liaodong, Zhang Shunzheng led three battalions of Yang Chengzu, Zhang Rujing and Wang Zhong, nearly ten thousand men, to rush towards Taiyuan.

Li Wanqing, who had just arrived in Huozhou, quickly admonished Zhang Shun: "Governor Yang Wenyue of Shanxi is stationed in Luzhou to stop our army."

"Now the rebel army, Ke Lingshi, is in Tongqi County. They are detouring here and attacking from the front and back to defeat this thief."

"If this thief is defeated, all the land of Shangdang will be in my hands. Although the Ming Dynasty is so vast, Shanxi will not be able to rely on it, and the world will not be able to defend it!"

It turns out that Lingqin in Lingshi County can lead eastward to Qinzhou, while Jialing Station in Qi County is the only place to go north from Lu'an Prefecture and Qinzhou.

This is one of the reasons why Sun Chuanting and his rebel army were blocked by Zhu Xieyuan as soon as they arrived at Jia Lingyi.

If Qi County is completely occupied by the rebels, Luzhou will not be protected, and if Luzhou is not protected, Qinzhou and Liaozhou will not be protected.

The four places of Ze, Lu, Qin, and Liao were the ancient Shangdang. The Shangdang no longer existed, and the rebels were in a commanding position, threatening Shunde, Guangping, and the three prefectures of Daming.

If these three mansions are lost, the true stability will not be preserved. If the true stability is not preserved, the capital will be in danger!

Although Qi County is not in the hands of the rebels now, the spirit stone has already fallen into the hands of the rebels.

If Zhang Shun marched eastward at this time, attacked Yang Wenyue along the Lingqin Trail, cut off his wings, and released the South Route Army that was confronting Yang Wenyue, Yang Sichang, Zhu Dadian and others, then Taiyuan would naturally not be a concern.

However, if we only consider the territory of the Ming Dynasty, Li Wanqing's proposal is a sure-fire strategy.

If we look at the world as a whole, this is a strategy to delay the opportunity to fight.

Because from a traditional strategic perspective, if the rebel army takes Shangdang Prefecture, three prefectures, and then Taiyuan and Hebei, it will naturally be a drain on the bottom of the pot, and Beijing Shuntian Prefecture can only sit back and wait for death.

However, if you join the Liaodong Jurchen force, it will naturally be a different matter.

Because the Later Jin Dynasty took Liaodong as the hinterland, and the North Korean, Chahar, and Tumote tribes as the two wings, it confronted the Ming army in Xuandaji Liao.

If when the rebels captured the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, Hou Jin was allowed to occupy important places such as Xuan Da Ji Liao, it would mean that the entire north would be exposed to Hou Jin's cavalry.

Therefore, when Zhang Shun formulated the Eastern Expedition strategy, the minimum goal he set was to capture Taiyuan.

If the Shangdang area, which consists of Zelu, Qin, Liao and three prefectures, is the "backbone of the world", then Taiyuan is the "shoulder of the world" that is "the fortress of the four fortresses and the capital of the five plains".

In the past, the Anshi Rebellion broke out during the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty. Li Guangbi, who stayed in Taiyuan, defended Taiyuan City and defeated the 100,000-strong army of the rebels Shi Siming and Cai Xide. This laid a solid foundation for the Tang army to regain the two capitals and put down the rebels.

Although the subsequent Song Dynasty lost the sixteen states of Yanyun, it was still able to rely on Taiyuan to rebuild the northern defense system and occupy the core area of ​​​​the world.

During the Jingkang period, Taiyuan was lost and all the land in the north was abandoned.

The Northern Song Dynasty could no longer re-establish the world and restore the mountains and rivers like the Tang Dynasty, and thus became the Northern and Southern Dynasties!

Accordingly, Zhang Shun deeply understood Taiyuan's strategic position.

As the saying goes: "Controlling the mountains and rivers, standing on the shoulders of the world, is the foundation of Hedong." If Taiyuan is there, Shanxi will be there, and if Shanxi is there, the north will be safe.

Therefore, although Zeluqinliao in Shangdang area is important, it is not as far as Taiyuan.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shun couldn't help but shook his head and said with a smile: "Shanxi Governor Yang Wenyue only has one battalion of troops. Now he is stationed in Luzhou and can barely support himself. Why use these many troops?"

"What's more, the Southern Route Army commander Hong Chengchou and the left commander Li Xin are not mediocre people. With such superior strength, why do they need help?"

Why do you think Zhang Shun said this?

It turned out that at the beginning of the plan, Zhang Shun, Hong Chengchou and others formulated the strategy of "attacking Shangdang slowly and seizing Taiyuan quickly".

For the rebel army, "Taiyuan is more important than Shangdang," while for the Ming army, "Shangdang is more important, but Taiyuan is less important."

The rebel army urgently needs to seize Taiyuan, connect it with the Shaanxi border area, and reorganize the northern defense system.

The Ming army urgently needed to keep the rebels outside Shangdang to ensure the safety of Beizhi.

Taiyuan was not unimportant to the Ming army, but because Taiyuan City was close to the third town of Xuanda and had elite soldiers to guard the city, they thought they were not afraid of the rebel siege.

Therefore, before the war, Zhang Shun deliberately agreed with Hong Chengchou and Li Xin to "slowly attack Zelu to show the enemy's weakness."

This caused the Ming Dynasty to have a fluke mentality, thinking that the rebel soldiers were not strong enough and the "submissive thieves" had little ambition, so as to shake their determination to fight decisively.

In fact, this strategic deception was very successful. Although the Ming Dynasty successively dispatched Zuozhuguo Zhu Xieyuan and Ministry of War Shangshu Yang Sichang as supervisors to fight against the rebels, the focus has actually been swinging between the rebels and the Hou Jin Dynasty, and it has not mobilized Xuanda on a large scale so far. Elite troops from the four towns of Jiliao entered the pass to fight against the rebels.

Now or never!

Given such a great opportunity, if Zhang Shun did not seize Taiyuan quickly, could he wait for the Ming Dynasty and Hou Jin Dynasty to mobilize their armies before making plans?

After a brief understanding of the current situation, Zhang Shun issued a death order to Li Wanqing who shot the sky: "Huozhou is an important area for our army, and Lingshi is our army's retreat. The general must divide more than a thousand troops to garrison Huozhou, and lead two soldiers on his own." Thousand Death Guard Stone."

"After this battle, if the spirit stone is there, you can expect to be crowned a prince. If the spirit stone is lost, you will raise your head to see me. Please be careful!"

Li Wanqing was shocked when he heard this. He never expected that Zhang Shun would issue such an order.

As the saying goes, "Pick the weak persimmons." The governor of Shanxi, Yang Wenyue, only had a battalion under his command.

In fact, the reason why he made this suggestion was not that he wanted Zhang Shun to personally lead an army to attack Yang Wenyue in Luzhou, but that he wanted to raise his own troops and horses to advance eastward in order to establish some achievements.

As a result, now you only need to station in one county to get such credit in vain, so why take risks?

Thinking of this, Li Wanqing quickly ignored the clothes and armor, kowtowed three times and bowed nine times, saying long live: "If the spirit stone is there, Wanqing will be there, if the spirit stone is gone, Wanqing will die. Li swears to live and die with the spirit stone!"

Seeing Li Wanqing's repeated assurances, Zhang Shun left Lingshi with confidence and led the army all the way north to search for Sun Chuanting and other troops.

The army marched for two days, but unexpectedly heard that the rebel army was fighting a battle with the Ming army in Qixian County. Zhang Shun quickly urged the soldiers to rush all the way to Qixian County without stopping.

As a result, when they arrived at Qixian County, the war was already over. Sun Chuanting led Wei Zhiyou and Zhang Damhou's troops to retreat to Jiaocheng.

So, the two armies joined together, and Zhang Shun met Sun Chuanting and told him about their separation.

It turned out that on that day, Sun Chuanting lined up against the water and fought with the left governor Zhu Xieyuan and more than 10,000 elite Ming troops for a long time.

The Ming army was "inferior to men with artillery" and was repeatedly repelled by the rebels, unable to gain any advantage.

In the evening, when both sides were exhausted, Sun Chuanting ordered a boat to carry 500 cavalrymen from Zhang Damhou's troops ashore from the upper reaches of the Fen River and stormed the right flank of the Ming army.

The Ming army could not resist and had to retreat.

The rebel cavalry took the opportunity to come out, kill the Ming army gunners, and seize more than 20 Ming army artillery pieces.

Zhu Xieyuan saw that he couldn't do anything, so he retreated as a whole team.

At this time, the rebel army was already exhausted with a small attack but a large number, so they crossed the river to the west and captured Jiaocheng on the west bank of the Fen River for temporary repairs.