Chapter Sixty Reunion

  Shanhai Pass North, on top of Jiao Mountain.

  Li Zicheng gazed out from a high vantage point, with the entire battle unfolding before his eyes. Not long ago, an arrow letter had been shot out of the city, reminding him to be cautious of the Qing forces. Afterwards, many officials secretly sent people to pay their respects to Li Zicheng.

  Although he did not fully believe it, Li Zicheng still strengthened his guard against the Qing and specially arranged for Liu Zongmin to lead 10,000 elite soldiers as a reserve force to deal with possible trouble.

  But to be honest, Li Zicheng still had his doubts about the loyalty of the Qing generals.

  But at this moment, a strong gust of wind blew, flying sand and rocks, blocking out the sun, and it was almost impossible to see people's shadows in front. The higher places were even more unstable, and Li Zicheng could only lead his men to temporarily avoid them.

  When the wind subsided, they returned to Jiaoshan. Suddenly, Li Zicheng's pupils constricted and he was too shocked to speak.

  It was unknown when the battlefield had countless white-clad and white-flagged soldiers, who were extremely brave and invincible. The Dashun Army was completely unable to stop them and was constantly slaughtered. The enemy was like a highly efficient killing machine, constantly devouring the lives of the Dashun Army.

  Watching the most elite warriors being slaughtered by the enemy, Li Zicheng was so enraged that he almost bit his steel teeth to pieces.

  "Your Majesty, these men in white are not from the Guanning Army, they must be Qing bandits. Your Majesty should temporarily retreat."

  "No way, you Tartars think you can intimidate me? Let Liu Zhongmin go and intercept them for me!"

  Li Zicheng's order was passed down, and Liu Zongmin led his troops to charge towards the Qing army. The former Liu Zongmin could be called the first brave general of the Shun camp, but things will change.

  At that time, Gu Zhenhua shot off half of his ear with one arrow. Liu Zongmin was both hateful and angry, and at the same time, he also felt a strong sense of fear. So many years of life and death, finally breaking into the capital, good days have not yet begun, and his head is lost, is it worth it?

  In the past month, Liu Zongmin brutally tortured officials and extorted money, and also abducted Chen Yuanyuan to his mansion. After Li Zicheng ordered him to hand over Chen Yuanyuan, Liu Zongmin was not willing to give up, and continued to plunder the daughters of officials and nobles, indulging in pleasure without restraint, feasting and drinking excessively every day.

  Li Zicheng had originally planned to have Liu Zongmin lead the troops to attack Wu Sangui, while he himself would sit in Beijing. However, this Liu Zongmin unexpectedly confronted him directly: What right do you have to enjoy yourself in Beijing and let me go suffer the northwest wind?

  Under duress, Li Zicheng had no choice but to take personal command. In just a few dozen days, Liu Zongmin looked unchanged in appearance, but inside he was already a different person.

  He led his troops and charged at the Qing army. A Manchu general swung his saber and chopped towards Liu Zongmin, who hastily parried. However, his originally strong body had lost its strength, and he was unable to block this blow.

  Liu Zongmin felt something was wrong and hastily dodged, but it was too late. The enemy's knife struck his shoulder, and blood splattered out instantly. His bodyguards rushed to rescue him, managing to save Liu Zongmin's life, but his will to fight had been completely cut off. He retreated with his bodyguards, allowing the Qing army to easily defeat Liu Zongmin, cutting off the Great Shun Army's long snake formation at the waist. The battle situation suddenly reversed, and the Great Shun Army was on the verge of collapse.

  ……

  "It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but hard to go from extravagance to frugality. The defeat of the Great Shun Army is now apparent, and I fear that things will only get more difficult in the future. Its rise was sudden, its fall will also be sudden! General Li, I have always admired your talent, if you are willing to continue cooperating with me, we can join hands to resist the Qing, wouldn't that be a good thing?"

  "Gu Zhenhua, are you trying to persuade me to surrender to the Great Ming?"

  Gu Zhenhua burst out laughing: "From the moment the Manchu entered the pass, this world no longer had a great Ming or Qing, only Han people. We fight among ourselves, and outsiders take advantage of us, stealing our land. Isn't this lesson profound?"

  Li Yan's face sank, and he didn't say a word for half a minute before shaking his head: "Lord Gu, Chuan Wang has treated me with kindness, let alone the fact that Da Shun hasn't reached the point of defeat. Today we join forces to resist the enemy, and past grievances are written off. I'll lead my men to rescue Chuan Wang, Lord Gu, you do as you please!"

  Li Yan finished speaking and urged his horse to leave. Gu Zhenhua looked at their backs and shook his head too.

  He rode back to the army array, waved his hand at everyone, and said loudly: "Brothers, our Shanhai Pass battle is over. Follow me south, a good world is waiting for us!"

  Gu Zhenhua finished speaking, and then galloped away on horseback, with the soldiers closely following behind. When they left the city, there were less than 3,000 men and horses in total. They had a big battle with the Qing army, and Gu Zhenhua's side lost more than 100 brothers. However, during their retreat, many more Dashun Army troops joined them, and the entire team exceeded 3,000 people.

  There were more than 10,000 war horses and over 300 chariots. The scale was ten times larger than when they first escaped from the capital. The flames in Gu Zhenhua's heart were burning fiercely. Now the most important thing was to find a base area, reorganize the army well, digest all these things, and by then, there would be enough capital to deal with the Qing court.

  Tartars, you just wait, we will come back and kill you sooner or later!

  Gu Zhenhua's rapid march south, the Battle of Shanhai Pass had also reached its final stage. Ajige led the Plain White Banner to break through Liu Zongmin's defense line, cutting the Great Shun Army into two segments.

  The Qing army was like chopping melons and cutting vegetables, constantly crushing the Dashun Army, and Li Zicheng could no longer hold on, and could only flee frantically under the protection of his personal guards.

  The final battle started from early morning and ended when the sun was about to set, with the remaining sunlight looking like blood. Under the glow of the setting sun, Shanhai Pass was shrouded in a bloody atmosphere.

  A life-and-death battle, the Great Shun army's 100,000 elite troops had 40,000 beheaded and killed, with another 30-40,000 fleeing in defeat. Li Zicheng's elite forces were almost completely wiped out!

  As the victorious side, the Geng Jingzhong and Qing armies also suffered greatly. Before the war, Wu Sangui had more than 50,000 men, but during the battle, more than 20,000 were killed, and Gu Zhenhua took away more than 2,000 people, and some surrendered to Li Zicheng. In the end, Wu Sangui's remaining troops were less than 20,000. Moreover, his younger brother Wu Sanrong, Shanhaiguan General Gao Di, and others died, reducing the combat effectiveness of the Geng Jingzhong army by more than 60%!

  The Qing dynasty was also badly hurt, due to Gu Zhenhua's warning, the Dashun Army was also prepared, and with Gu Zhenhua and Li Yan joining forces, they killed around 1,000 Eight Banner soldiers. The Qing suffered more than 3,000 casualties in this battle.

  The loss far exceeded the previous losses, and considering the population base of the Qing dynasty, this loss was even more devastating. In fact, although the Qing dynasty often won battles in recent years, their core combat effectiveness has not increased much, and even decreased.

  The reason is also simple, the casualties of battle may not be many, but non-combat attrition is also deadly, especially after years of fighting, and the population that can give birth to children is not many. If it were not for the Mongolian and Han Eight Banners supporting them, the military strength of the Qing would have been greatly reduced.

  So when Dorgon heard the report, his eyebrows stood up immediately, and he called Dolun and Ajige over, scolding them with dog blood on their heads. Especially Dolun, who was slapped twice, loosening his molars.

  "Prince Regent, please calm down. I think that after the battle of Shanhai Pass, the rebel's elite forces were all lost and there won't be such a brutal fight again. Moreover, we can let Wu Sangui take the lead and serve as the vanguard for the Qing dynasty!" Fan Wen Cheng advised with a bitter tone.

  Dorgon finally suppressed his anger and said in a huff: "Call Wu Sangui over, the brave warriors of the Qing Dynasty helped him fight, shouldn't they be rewarded? Let him prepare food, cattle and sheep, reorganize the army well, and pursue Li Zicheng as soon as possible."

  Fan Wen's face turned difficult: "Regent, I'm afraid it won't work out. The granaries at Shanhai Pass have all been burned down, and Wu Sangui can't produce any grain either. It's likely that we'll still need to transport some from outside the pass."

  "What?" Dorgon suddenly burst into thunder: "Is Wu Sangui a rice bucket? How can he not even keep an eye on the grain?"

  "I report to Your Highness, I heard that there is a person named Gu Zhenhua. He originally protected Zhu Ming's crown prince and escaped from the capital city to Shanhaiguan. As a result, during the battle, he led his troops in rebellion against Wu Sangui, not only taking away several thousand soldiers and horses but also burning down the warehouses in the city."

  "Crown Prince?" Dorgon's eyes almost popped out of his head, and he burst into a loud curse: "That idiot Wu Sangui, I let him kill the Crown Prince, and yet this kind of thing happened. Fan Xueshi, you immediately order Wu Sangui to lead men to pursue that guy named Gu Zhenhua, and be sure to bring back his head."

  "Brother Wang, give me a chance too! I want to redeem my mistakes!" Duoduo also spoke up at this time. He was also deeply resentful of Gu Zhenhua, having been blown up twice by explosives and losing both face and dignity. If he didn't kill him, it would be hard to alleviate the hatred in his heart.

  Dorgon looked at him and frowned, saying: "Shanhaiguan was just established, there were many things to do, and we still need to assist the king. Let's send two thousand brave warriors with Wu Sangui to go together, which is enough to capture Gu Zhenhua!"

  Dorgon gave the order, Wu Sangui took Deputy General Yang Kun and 2,800 Eight Banner soldiers, quickly left Shanhai Pass, and pursued Gu Zhenhua.

  Gu Zhenhua still had no idea that danger was approaching, he led the army out of Shanhaiguan and rushed overnight, running over a hundred miles before finally taking a breath.

  "Master, where should we go?"

  "Tianjin." Gu Zhenhua said without hesitation: "At first, I only had a few hundred people and didn't have the confidence to take Tianjin. Now that we have several thousand soldiers, Tianjin is no longer a problem. Li Zicheng has returned to Beijing, the Qing dynasty is at Shanhai Pass, and once we arrive in Tianjin, it will be like three legs of a tripod standing together!"

  Just as Gu Zhenhua was speaking, a scout suddenly came running over in a flurry, dismounted in front of Gu Zhenhua and hastily said: "Lord Gu, there is a group of people coming from the front who claim to be looking for you!"

  Gu Zhenhua listened and suddenly stood up: "What kind of person did they say he was?"

  "They didn't say anything, they just said Master saw him and recognized him."

  Gu Zhenhua's eyes lit up, he didn't say another word, flipped over and mounted his war horse, and galloped away in a cloud of smoke.

  "Wait for us, Master! Be careful, there might be a trap!" Yue Poqiu also hastily followed with his attendants.

  Gu Zhenhua ran out for about five miles, and saw several hundred people appearing in front of him, looking around. As soon as they saw Gu Zhenhua running from afar, a few war horses suddenly rushed out of the crowd and charged towards him.

  "Fourth brother, I'm going to kill you!"

  "Milord, it's been a long time!"

  Sun Cheng, Lu Yong, Xue Biao, Xie Bin and others came over with a smile.