kvmb Chapter 106 1 Road South
Chapter 106 1 Road South
The Battle of Sarhu was an extremely important turning point in the history of war between the Ming and Qing dynasties. The failure of this battle directly accelerated the demise of the Ming Dynasty and also allowed the Later Jin Dynasty to take the initiative in the war.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty at this time had already been rotten to the core from top to bottom.
At this time, Emperor Wanli had been in power for 47 years, and was considered the longest-reigning emperor of the Ming Dynasty. In his early years, because of Zhang Juzheng's management, the Wanli Dynasty once entered a period of revival.
But after Zhang Juzheng died, Emperor Wanli lost control and completely let himself go, indulging in excessive desires, being lazy and negligent in government affairs, and even being too lazy to attend court.
Even the imperial examinations and official appointments and dismissals of the Ming Dynasty were shelved, which directly led to no new officials joining the court for a long time.
According to statistics, in the late years of the Wanli Dynasty, there were no prefects or county magistrates in many places, and the operation of the entire country became a problem.
In addition, Emperor Wanli had been fond of drinking and sex since he was a child, and had favored palace maids. He spent 120 million taels of silver on cosmetics for the harem every year.
Under such circumstances, the Ming court was naturally short of money. The local troops lacked food and wages and could not organize proper training. It had become a rule for generals at all levels to eat empty salaries, and they could not support themselves without eating empty salaries.
Even the border troops have not been paid for a long time, how can the soldiers have fighting capacity?
In the 46th year of the Wanli reign, Nurhaci complained to God about his seven major grievances and marched south to attack Liaodong. Li Yongfang, the defender of Fushun in Liaodong, surrendered without a fight. The entire border defense system of Liaodong was in danger of collapse. Emperor Wanli had to summon troops from all over the country and appointed Yang Hao as the main general to fight against Nurhaci.
Due to the lack of money in the court and the inability to support the Ming army for a long time, Emperor Wanli could only repeatedly urge the front-line generals to launch a decisive battle as soon as possible.
The Ming army assembled troops from all over the country, with a force of 20 on paper and a claimed force of 47, but in reality it had only 8 troops.
These more than 8 Ming troops were gathered from all over the country, and among them there were many old, weak, sick and disabled.
Moreover, due to the lack of money and food, the Ming army had not replaced their weapons and armor for a long time, and many of their swords, knives, and muskets had even rusted. On average, only one out of three muskets was usable.
These troops mobilized from all over the country were not familiar with each other, and the hasty battle made it difficult for them to coordinate well.
Commander Yang Hao had no military command ability at all. Although he formulated a four-way siege strategy before the war, Yang Hao actually told the enemy his own route in order to intimidate the enemy.
Faced with various suggestions from his generals, Yang Hao insisted on his own way, which directly led to the Ming army being unable to take care of each other in the north and south and the loss of contact between the armies.
After Nurhaci sent out a large number of scouts to find out the situation of the Ming army, he directly formulated the strategic policy of "let them come from several directions, I will only go one way".
The General Du mentioned by Lu Wenzhao is the General of the Western Army among the four armies of the Ming army, Du Song.
Du Song was a man of courage but no strategy. He was greedy for merit and acted rashly. He ignored the advice of his subordinates and marched forward in a hurry. When crossing the river, many Ming soldiers were drowned by the flood released by the Later Jin army.
After crossing the river, they fought two battles and burned down two Later Jin camps, but only captured 14 Later Jin Tatars.
Afterwards, because the Western Army lost contact with the rest of the troops, it was besieged by the Later Jin troops. It was a pity that tens of thousands of troops in the Western Army were slaughtered by the Later Jin.
After the defeat of the Western Army, the remaining armies were also defeated one by one by the Later Jin Army.
At this point, everything was hopeless and the Battle of Sarhu had entered its final stages.
In just five days, the Ming army lost more than 5 soldiers and a large amount of military supplies.
Lu Cheng, Lu Wenzhao, Shen Lian and Guo Zhen managed to escape death with great difficulty. They headed south and avoided the Later Jin army. They finally caught up with a group of defeated Ming troops and fled south among them.
Lu Cheng and his companions also learned some information from these defeated soldiers.
After the Western Army and the Northern Army in front were defeated one after another, the commander Yang Hao saw that the situation was hopeless and immediately ordered the other two armies to withdraw in time.
However, because the Eastern Army had already penetrated deep into enemy territory and had lost contact with its commander, they did not receive the message to retreat in time.
Not only that, Nurhaci also sent people to pretend to be Ming troops and give orders to the Eastern Army, asking them to continue advancing until they fell into Nurhaci's trap.
In the end, the Eastern Army was defeated and the commander died on the battlefield.
Only the southern army, which had been unable to keep up with the pace due to its slow march, immediately lost its composure after receiving the order to retreat. At this time, the scouts of the Later Jin Dynasty sent out a signal of attack on the mountain. Li Rubai, the commander of the southern army, thought that the Later Jin army was about to launch a general attack, and immediately fled in panic.
The entire southern army was in complete chaos, trampling on each other, and more than a thousand people were killed or injured.
After hearing this, Lu Wenzhao couldn't help but curse in a low voice: "You useless bastards! You've already lost more than 1000 people before you even saw the enemy. You're worse than us!"
Shen Lian also frowned: "This time, the whole front was defeated. It will be more difficult to win the battle again in the future."
Lu Cheng glanced at the defeated troops around him and couldn't help but shake his head.
There is absolutely no hope for a Ming Dynasty like this.
Heading south, we could see defeated soldiers everywhere. Some were walking numbly, some who couldn't walk just found a place to lie down, and some were gathered in groups of three or five.
Lu Cheng and his companions were tired from walking, so they found a place to sit down and rest.
Before leaving the battlefield, Lu Cheng searched several Ming army soldiers and took some water and dry food with him. At this moment, everyone was sitting together and eating.
Among them, Lu Wenzhao was a fifth-rank garrison military officer, which was considered a middle-level military general in the Ming Dynasty.
Lu Cheng’s identity is the general flag and a seventh-rank military officer.
In the military system of the Ming Dynasty, the smallest rank was the Xiaoqi, which was of the seventh rank and in charge of ten soldiers, equivalent to the squad leader in later generations.
The general flag is of the seventh rank, in charge of five small flags and fifty people.
Going up further are the sixth rank trial centurions, the sixth rank regular centurions, the fifth rank deputy centurions, and so on.
Of course, up to now, whether it is Lu Cheng's general flag, Shen Lian's small flag, or Lu Wenzhao's garrison, they have all become commanders without a single soldier under their command.
Now that General Du has been defeated and killed in battle, the future of his subordinates is still bleak.
Lu Wenzhao glanced at them and said, "Brothers, we are now friends who have risked our lives for each other. When we get to the capital, as long as I, Lu, have something to eat, I will never let you go hungry."
The eunuch Guo Zhen at the side also said: "My lords, after we enter the palace, our family will also do our best to find a good job for us all."
"Thank you, Eunuch Guo."
Among the four, Lu Cheng and Shen Lian have the lowest official positions and have no relationship with them.
Lu Wenzhao and eunuch Guo Zhen at least have some relationship, so they can work it out.
In the original drama, Lu Wenzhao became a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard eight years later, Shen Lian also became a hundred households of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and Guo Zhen even became a eunuch ordered to build a treasure ship, which were not low positions.
At this moment, Lu Wenzhao looked at Lu Cheng: "Brother Lu Cheng, I haven't had time to ask you before, which branch of your family are your ancestors from?"
"Great-grandfather..."
Lu Cheng’s identity information also includes a verifiable family tree.
After listening to this, Lu Wenzhao recalled for a moment, then nodded and said, "Your great-grandfather and my great-grandfather should be cousins. So, you and I are of the same generation. How old is brother Lu Cheng this year?"
"This year is twenty-one."
"Then you and I are real brothers from the same clan. According to the seniority of our generation, your name should have one more character, Lu Wencheng. From now on, you and I will call each other brothers. How about that?"