It is worth noting that among the current Ming court vassal kings, even the Rui King Zhu Changhao, who was supported by Sun Chuanting, has a very different bloodline from Chongzhen.

Chongzhen committed suicide when the city of Youzhou was defeated. Before committing suicide, he massacred many people in the palace. One of his daughters was hacked to death with his own hands, and his other three sons also died in the rebellion.

There is no bloodline left in the Chongzhen lineage.

And Chongzhen himself has no living brothers...

Ever since, the battle for the throne in the Ming Dynasty has become a multi-party game.

Chongzhen’s elder brother, the famous carpenter emperor Zhu Youxiao in history, did not have a surviving son either...

In this way, the royal bloodline can only be traced back to Chongzhen's grandfather, the Taichang Emperor Zhu Changluo. This man was also the protagonist of the famous Hongwan case, and he died after being emperor for less than a month.

Among Zhu Changluo's brothers, there is only one King of Rui, Zhu Changhao, left alive now. As for the others, they either died before the rise of the Chu Dynasty or died at the hands of the Chu army, including King Fu Zhu Changxun and King Hui Zhu Changrun.

, King Zhu Changying of Gui.

The reason why the Rui King Zhu Changhao is still alive and well is purely because his fiefdom is in Hanzhong. Later, because of the threat from the Chu army, he went to Xi'an to live for a long time... That was territory that the Chu army had not yet touched...

After the death of Emperor Chongzhen, Sun Chuanting and other officials in the Shaanxi-Gansu region naturally supported him as emperor and awarded him the title of "Longxing".

Zhu Changzi, the king of Lu supported by Zuo Liangyu, is also relatively close by blood. He is the grandson of Longqing Emperor Zhu Zaihe and the nephew of Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun.

The above two people are actually the only two vassal kings with relatively close bloodlines left in the contemporary Ming Dynasty royal family. As for the others, they are basically dead.

However, they are not the only ones who have proclaimed themselves kings and emperors... After Chongzhen died, ambitious people suddenly appeared. A group of Ming clan members with very distant bloodlines came out. This proclaimed emperor,

That Jianguo... all the rebels in the Chu Empire were surprised to see...

Because there were too many Ming vassal kings proclaiming themselves emperors, supervising the country, etc., the Chu thieves didn’t even know for a while which side of the Ming court’s control area they respected.

What’s even more funny is that the army of Chu thieves is watching eagerly from the side and will kill them at any time, but they themselves are fighting each other...

No, in October, Sun Chuanting, who supported Emperor Longxing, sent an army of more than ten thousand to attack Zuo Liangyu, who supported King Lu to supervise the country. The armies of both sides fought fiercely in Linfen, Shanxi, and stunned the nearby Chu army.

Now...

What kind of trouble is this!

————

When he learned that Sun Chuanting was attacking Zuo Liangyu, General Li Dongshao, the commander of the Shanxi campaign, thought about how to take advantage of this opportunity to invade Shanxi.

It is a pity that the supply situation of the various units under his command is not very good, making it difficult to launch a long-term and large-scale assault operation.

"If I had known that I would have agreed to replenish that batch of ammunition and mules and horses to the Third Army when I came from Shandong!" Li Dongshao looked at the various material reserves of his own troops and couldn't help but regret it.
p>

It's a pity that it's useless for him to regret it.

At that time, some supplies were transferred from the First Army to the Third Army for emergency replenishment. This was an order personally issued by Huai'an.

Well, even though it bears the name of the General Staff Department of the Military Academy, this must have been approved by His Majesty, and Li Dongshao could not refuse at that time.

At that time, the various units of the Third Army, after more than half a year of continuous fighting, traveled thousands of miles all the way to Shanhaiguan. Not only did they consume a lot of ammunition, food and fodder, but they also spent a lot of money on mules and horses, and they had not replenished it for a while.<

/p>

It is worth mentioning that during marching operations, not only ammunition, food, grass and various weapons are consumed, mules and horses are also consumables.

Especially the mules and horses in the logistics troops suffered a lot of losses.

If an artillery unit continues to maneuver for several months, more than half of its mules and horses may be used up.

The endurance of mules and horses is far inferior to that of humans. It seems that the cart can run quite fast, but if you really want to keep up with the marching speed of the infantry, you will have to pay a heavy price in the form of a large number of mules and horses dying from exhaustion.
p>

During the Northern Expedition, the Chu army was actually relatively careful, and its advance to the north was not too fast. However, even so, it was inevitable that a large number of mules and horses would fall due to the continuous march.

Now the Chu army is searching for almost all the mules and horses they can find in the entire northern controlled area, just to meet the army's needs for mules and horses.

When the Third Army was fighting in Shanhaiguan, the situation was quite urgent and they were in urgent need of all kinds of ammunition, artillery and even mules and horses...

The Logistics Department's daily supplies were not enough, so they directly transferred part of the First Army, which was still stationed on the front line in Shandong and was moving to the front line of Zhendingfu, North Zhili.

After this deployment, the First Army arrived at Zhending Mansion, and it did not have enough weapons, ammunition or even mules and horses to launch a large-scale attack on the Shanxi front line.

However, the supply priority of the various units fighting in Shanxi can only be regarded as the second queue, and the supplies have been delayed.

In this regard, General Li Dongshao was also helpless!

In the past few months, the Chu army's logistics supply system has tried its best to meet the needs of the Northern Expedition.

But after entering September, with the capture of Youzhou City and the successful conclusion of the Northern Expedition, the logistics supply system was readjusted and changed to give priority to supplying Jiliao, and expanded the front lines of these border towns in preparation for the Eastern Conquest.
p>

The Second Army and the Third Army fighting in the above direction are the focus of logistics supply. Even the logistics supply sequence of the second-class divisions is stronger than Li Dongshao's First Army...

There is no way, they have to fight against the Donglu, and they have just fought a battle in Shanhaiguan and another one in Miyun. The possibility of a war breaking out in the future is very high, and the pressure is not small. This logistics direction is naturally important to them.

As for the First Army to which Li Dongshao belongs, it is only considered the second cohort for the time being, and this second cohort is not just them, but there are many...

For example, the Fourth Army facing the front line of Shaanxi is also the second army.

Then there are some second-class divisions and even armed tax police stationed in the hinterland of Beizhili, Shandong, Henan and other places. They can also be regarded as the second group.

Even most of the time, they can obtain supplies earlier than the Second Army and the Fourth Army.

Because these local garrison troops seem to be newly formed second-class divisions and nondescript armed tax police. Their combat effectiveness is not very good, and they are still in the hinterland of the rear. But to be honest, their missions are much more important than those of the First Army.

!

They need to carry out large-scale clearance of these newly occupied areas to cooperate with the administrative departments to build and stabilize local administrative rule. The most important thing is to copy the taxes...well, collect them...

These second-class divisions and armed tax police in the newly occupied areas all have heavy tasks and high pressure... In comparison, it is easier for the First Army to go to the front line of Zhending Mansion and confront Zuo Liangyu.

Some.

After all, Zuo Liangyu on the opposite side is unlikely to take the initiative to fight as long as his brain is not burned out...

Since the opponent did not fight, and the top brass of the Chu army had no urgent idea of ​​quickly capturing Shanxi, the First Army became a stepmother...

With the current strategic reserves of the First Army, there is no problem in conducting defensive operations, short-distance counterattacks, and assault operations. However, if you want to reach Taiyuan in one go, or break through Tongguan and go to Xi'an in one go,

, then it is still very reluctant.

——

It's just that Li Dongshao can't just watch the internal fighting between the Ming army on the opposite side, and he is indifferent...

Therefore, with the idea of ​​not missing the opportunity before it comes again, Li Dongshao planned to launch a wave of surprise operations. It didn't have any big goals. It was like taking advantage of the two fronts to fight and try to win the solid pass on the opposite side.<

/p>

This place is the first pass from Zhending Prefecture in North Zhili to Taiyuan Prefecture in Shanxi. As long as this pass is captured, it will be equivalent to prying open the east gate of Shanxi. In the future, Li Dongshao can slowly surround Pingding Prefecture.

Cheng, Shouyang, Mengxian and other cities fight Zuo Liangyu.

Even if there is still no large amount of ammunition supplies from the rear, we can still manage to fight.

With this idea in mind, Li Dongshao quickly ordered his troops to attack Guguan.

In order to capture Gu Guan, Li Dongshao was more cautious and deployed the First Guards Division of the First Army, as well as the 117th Division and the 118th Division.

The latter two are second-class divisions formed by recruiting soldiers from the southern region of Beizhili. To be honest, the combat effectiveness of this new second-class division is relatively limited.

Because the proportion of recruits in these newly-formed second-class divisions is very high, it is often a veteran who leads the new soldiers to fight, and they are not full of soldiers. Each division often only has a few thousand soldiers, as few as six or seven thousand, and as many as eight or nine.

Thousands, rarely more than 10,000 people.

Needless to say about equipment, there are only a few two-and-a-half-pound field guns plus some short-barreled artillery, eighteen-pound mortars and other light artillery. As for the heavier five-pound field guns or even nine-pound field guns, these troops are very few.

If there is equipment, even if it is available, it is often deployed fixedly at a certain city or checkpoint, lacking mules and horses for maneuverability.

Li Dongshao has three such second-class divisions under his command. Together with the First Guards Division and the Fourth Division of the First Army, they constitute the forces under the Shanxi Campaign Headquarters.

The Battle of Guguan began in late October, and after several days of preparation, a full-scale attack was launched on November 2.

Li Dongshao used the 1st Guards Division as the core, the 117th Division, and the 118th Division as supplements, and used a large number of medium and large-caliber field artillery and a large number of mortars belonging to the First Army to quickly break through

Understand the defense line built by the Ming army in Guguan.

By November 4th, the Chu army Li Dongshao's troops had completely captured Guguan, annihilating more than 1,500 enemies, capturing more than 5,000 prisoners, and seizing six long-barreled artillery pieces, ammunition, grain and grass.

In addition, nearly ten thousand Ming troops fled in panic!

The loss of Gu Guan to the Chu thieves was equivalent to the opening of the east gate of Shanxi, and the Chu thieves were able to march straight into Taiyuan.

For a time, the civil and military officials of the Ming army in Shanxi were extremely panicked. Zuo Liangyu immediately surrendered to Sun Chuanting and asked King Zhu Changzi of Lu to cancel the so-called supervising the country and recognize Emperor Longxing's succession to the throne.

After taking care of Sun Chuanting's side, Zuo Liangyu couldn't wait to dispatch troops from Linfen's front line to rush to Taiyuan Prefecture.

What made Zuo Liangyu feel strange was that after the Chu army on the opposite side captured Guguan, several days passed but no troops were sent westward.

Zuo Liangyu naturally didn't know that Li Dongshao, who had limited ammunition reserves, basically shot all the nine-pound field artillery and forty-eight-pound mortar shells in order to win Guguan...

If we continue to fight westward, we can even use the remaining ammunition to capture one or two cities, but what next?
Chapter completed!