Zhu Youjian knew something about this, but he just "knew it."

After all, the imperial court is encountering difficulties now, and the people have worked hard. Let the people be patient, and things will get better and better in the future.

After Zhu Youjian scraped together the departure funds, the nobles finally led the army to the expedition.

The Beijing camp dispatched 50,000 elite members of the original new army, plus 30,000 Gansu-Shaanxi border troops, forming a counter-insurgency force of 80,000.

The 80,000 regular field troops of the imperial court were enough to reflect the importance Zhu Youjian and his cabinet attached to the Gansu-Shaanxi Uprising Army.

After all, it can be said that a group of peasant bandits and 80,000 regular imperial troops gave these mud-legged soldiers a lot of face. In the eyes of those high-ranking big shots, dispatching the imperial army

Ting Jingrui, is there still something that can't be solved?

But they didn't realize at all that these mud-legged soldiers who could conquer the important city of Xi'an could be ordinary mud-legged soldiers?

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were pleasantly surprised to find that more and more rebels came to join them, and many of them were very capable people. Some were good at training troops, some were good at leading troops in battles, and some were good at planning.

Strategy, there are people who are good at governing a party.

After these people came to Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, they did not become arrogant because of their abilities. On the contrary, they were very low-key and harmonious. Everyone gathered around Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, making suggestions for them, checking for deficiencies, and helping them take root in the local area.

, try not to harass the people, and don't rob those victims who can't survive.

On the contrary, they also advised Zhang Xianzhong and other anti-kings to focus on major issues, asking them to provide food relief to the victims to gain a foundation for reputation development, and planned a series of strategies in detail.

Only then did the thirteen rebels unite to conquer Xi'an.

With these talented people and strangers, it can be said that the Thirteen Routes of Rebellious Kings are going smoothly. There is no shortage of martyrs, food, weapons, money, etc.

Obviously, what awaits the noble Ming Dynasty is not an easy battle.

And these honorable nobles have not realized this at all. In their view, using the elite divisions of the imperial court to deal with a group of mud-legged people is simply to hang them up and beat them, a 360-degree all-round crushing without blind spots. Is it true?

Is there any reason to fail?

When the time comes, the army will press forward in full force. Isn't it easy to defeat three thousand against ten thousand, or ten thousand against eighty thousand?

So after the army entered Gansu and Shaanxi, these nobles quickly divided into three groups. According to the strategy arranged by Sun Chengzong in the capital, they ignored the other rebels and went straight to Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and Gao Yingxiang, the biggest rebels of the three groups.

On March 13th, the sixth year of Chongzhen, the imperial army's counter-rebellion army encountered Li Zicheng's and Zhang Xianzhong's Gao Yingxiang's troops in Huayin, Luonan, and Heyang.

The imperial army formed a formation and faced the enemy. During the fight, the nobles were shocked to find that the fighting power of the mud-legged soldiers on the opposite side was almost the same as that of the elite elites of the imperial court on their own side!

Regardless of the military qualities they displayed or their ability to adapt to the enemy, these mud-legged soldiers did not look like peasant rebels at all, but more like the regular army of the imperial court.

Since both sides have similar military qualities and even equipment, numbers and command determine everything.

The total number of the imperial counter-insurgency army, which amounted to only 50,000, was divided into three groups and was crushed by nearly 100,000 troops from three anti-king factions. The regular army that had originally been imagined to defeat the peasant army became an elite force to defeat the elite, and the imperial anti-insurgent army was instantly defeated.

.

Even though these elites of the imperial court had good military qualities and could persist in fighting, the nobles commanded by Naihe did not want to fight, so they all paid money and retreated.

This battle reduced the imperial court's counter-rebellion army by nearly 20%. The nobles who only had 40,000 troops left did not dare to be arrogant and did not dare to divide their troops. They quickly reunited with the Gansu-Shaanxi border army and returned to seven

Ten thousand people later retreated to Tongguan to await military support from the imperial court.

A few days later, the ordnance supported by the imperial court arrived, including a batch of artillery and firearms and other heavy equipment. The nobles once again regained their confidence: Now that we have artillery, we are still the regular army of the imperial court. Even if your quality is not bad, you can still fight at this time.

What can I do?

As the saying goes, a long hand beats a short hand, and a firearm beats a cold weapon. I don’t believe that I can’t beat him this time!

Moreover, this time the nobles learned a lesson and no longer targeted the three families who rebelled against the king at the same time. Instead, they first caught Gao Yingxiang's family and beat them up.

On March 22nd of the sixth year of Chongzhen, the imperial court suppressed the rebel army and the 70,000-strong Gansu-Shaanxi border army fought against Gao Yingxiang's main force in Huayin. During the fierce battle between the two sides, something that the nobles had never expected happened.

The Gansu-Shaanxi border troops actually rebelled!

Thirty thousand border troops from Gansu and Shaanxi defected before the battle, and the imperial army's anti-rebellion army was defeated. The defeated army retreated eastward and ran out of Tongguan!

As a result, the entire Gansu and Shaanxi provinces no longer had the official military force of the imperial court. Just five days later, all the remaining prefectures and counties in Gansu and Shaanxi provinces were occupied by the rebels.

At the end of March in the sixth year of Chongzhen, the Gansu-Shaanxi uprising army completely occupied the entire territory of Gansu and Shaanxi. Thirteen families rebelled against the king and spied on Shanxi.

All the province's territory has been occupied by rebels, and even Shanxi is in danger.

The situation was so bad that it had not been seen in the Ming Dynasty for a century.

In eight hundred miles of Shanxi Province, military intelligence was urgently reported to the capital. Emperor Chongzhen was shocked three times a day.
Chapter completed!