Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 326
Zhu Yihai led the Jinwu cavalry to the city of Yanzhou.

Eight thousand cavalry flags fluttered behind him, and countless flags waved behind him, as if a hundred thousand troops gathered, filled with smoke and dust.

"The supervisor is here!"

Eight thousand Jinwu shouted, and the yellow dragon flag was hunting.

During the Northern Expedition, after recruiting and defeating many Qing troops, Zhu Yihai also captured a lot of horses and armor, and the Jinwu cavalry expanded to [-] cavalry all the way.

The [-] cavalrymen in cotton armor lined up there, and they were overwhelming.

In Yanzhou city, Tan Tai, the general who conquered the South, stood there with a gloomy expression, never speaking.

At this time, there were still many horses in Yanzhou. Ten thousand and eight banners and ten thousand Liaodong Han troops were stationed in Yanzhou city. The reinforcements from Henan and other places have no supplementary supply of food and grass.

And Beijing also sent an urgent envoy, ordering Tan Tai not to underestimate the enemy.

The imperial court caressed Shang Kexi who died in the battle, comforted Kong Youde who was defeated in the battle, and even did not pursue Geng Zhongming who had neglected his duties, but severely punished the general Tan Tai.

From first-class public to third-class marquis.

Lieutenant General He Luohui was also deprived of his post, but still ordered to make meritorious deeds.

Under the strict punishment and restraint of the regent, the two dared not fight lightly, especially because Kong Geng and Kong Geng were passive and could not actively inquire about the situation of the Ming army, so Tan Tai had to wait in Yanzhou City for the winter.

Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming were refused to enter the city, so they had to camp outside the city. As the weather became colder, they arrested many peasants and helped build the camp all day long. There are archery towers and so on on the piers.

Many earth houses and wooden houses were also built in the stockade to avoid the tent from being too cold in cold weather.

Everyone is busy repairing the village and naturally has no time to do other things.

The Ming army rushed all the way to the city of Yanzhou, but Tan Tai's Eight Banners could not get out of the city, and Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming were guarding the east and west villages, and they couldn't get out of the city.

"The Ming army is so majestic, it's no wonder that Shang Kexi was defeated and died. Just having nearly ten thousand armored cavalry is already very impressive."

On the top of the city, He Luohui looked at the countless Ming troops, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

"This is a bit like Guan Ning's cavalry."

"How do you think King Lu can gather so many elite cavalry in such a short time?"

Tan Tai was also helpless, he asked who to know, "Look at the back of the cavalry, the flag is faintly visible, I guess there are more soldiers and horses, didn't it mean that when the army attacked Hangzhou City, there were dozens of cannons in red clothes door, and it shoots harder and farther than ours? There may be red cannons there!"

"Then can we keep it?" He Luohui was a little skeptical.

After all, it was really unexpected that the Ming army was able to fight all the way from Shaoxing to Yanzhou, Shandong. Encircled, then dug trenches to cut off the connection with the outside world, and then the red-clothed cannons bombarded them.

At that time, the Ming army was very good at building and defending the city outside the pass, and the hard-pressed Tartars practiced the same good siege tactics.

In the past, the Qing army was mainly attacking, but now they are defending by themselves, and the opponent has strong soldiers and many more powerful artillery, which makes them start to worry.

The effect of the red cannon attacking the city is very significant.

"We have 2 horses, and if we defend the city, we should be able to defend it."

"I'm afraid that the second king outside the city is unreliable."

"Not so much."

"It may not be possible for them to surrender, but I'm afraid that the two of them will abandon us and run away at the critical moment."

It is quite normal for Man and Han to distrust each other.

But in the current situation, the two sides still don't trust each other, so it will be even more difficult to defend the city.

"Then the only way is to fight to the death, I am ten thousand armored and eight banners, can't I still not be able to defend a city of Yanzhou?"

Yanzhou City has been guarded by Lu Fan for more than 200 years. The whole city is large and strong. There is also a royal city in the city. Now the city is full of Eight Banners.

However, Tan Tai is not very confident, because as early as the 11th year of Chongzhen, when the Qing army entered the pass, he had killed the city of Shandong, and again in the 15th year of Chongzhen, and broke through the city of Yanzhou. Zhu Yipai committed suicide after breaking the city, and Zhu Yihai, the general of the town, was hacked three times and survived.

Tan Tai really wanted to lead the Eight Banners out of the city to fight, but now he didn't know how many people from the Ming army had come, and he didn't trust the two kings Kong and Geng very much. In addition, the regent ordered him not to fight, so he had to stay in the city.

Zhu Yihai rode with eight thousand Jin Wujia to show off his martial arts at the foot of Yanzhou city, and he didn't come to attack the city.

Because he only brought [-] armored cavalry, not infantry battalions, nor cannons.

He went deep into the city of Yanzhou this time to cover other troops and demolish the surrounding areas of Yanzhou City. Of course, this is only incidental.

In fact, he came this time only for bluffing, and his real purpose was to cover the retreat of the Ming army from the Northern Expedition.

Came to the city by surprise deliberately, and made a siege posture, just to scare the Tartars, and the cavalry is fast, and it is easy to leave.

"The Tartars really dare not come to fight?"

The generals were very surprised when they saw the Qing army in the villages inside and outside the city without daring to say a word. They didn't know that Zhu Yihai had already learned about the deployment and countermeasures of the Qing court and Dorgon for the current situation in Shandong through Qian Qianyi's secret report. .

The Tartars couldn't figure out the situation for a while, and they couldn't send troops to the south, so they had to be on the safe side, especially after the news came back from Jiangxi anyway. Tan Tai can't wait for the waves to fight, let them hold out, and he must not be easily fooled by the Ming army again.

Don't repeat Kong Youde's gratifying mistake.

If the 2 people were fooled and wiped out again, then the Qing court would really be unable to stop the Ming army, and Zhu Yihai would be able to sweep across Shandong and Henan, and even enter Beizhi.

You must know that Hong Chengchou has arrived in Wuchang. He wrote a memorial to Dorgon, talking about the current situation in Huguang, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Shaanxi, and believes that Huguang is completely corrupt now, and the same is true for Jiangnan.

Now as long as the garrison is rebuilt, the Eight Banners are garrisoned, but the number of the Eight Banners is too small, so they have to rely on the Han army.But he directly proposed to Dorgon that the green battalion soldiers from Shandong, Henan, and Beizhi were not needed, saying that these soldiers were too weak to fight.

It's not that Hong Chengchou, a Fujianese, looked down on northerners, but that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, these places had been torn apart by repeated tensions, and indeed there were not many good soldiers left.

He named soldiers from Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Liaodong, saying that these soldiers were tough and capable of fighting, and then he asked for young and strong fighters from the green battalions in those places. He asked about [-] soldiers to be stationed in Huguang, plus another [-]. Five or so Eight Banners, and then Huguang can not be lost.

Based on this, some local barbarians were recruited in Huguang, and then the soldiers were fully paid, trained, and equipped with equipment, and then launched a counterattack against Jiangxi, Sichuan, Guangxi and other places.

Before that, there was no way to fight anymore. He even proposed to take the initiative to give up Changsha, which has become an empty city in ruins, because it is really impossible to defend, or the court simply confines generals like King Sanshun or Wu Sangui to guard Changsha with their families. .

In this way, they will definitely guard very hard.

It is said that Hong Chengchou's memorial made Dorgon kick the table angrily. He had hoped that Huguang would make further progress, at least to attack and contain the Ming army.

Who knew that Hong Chengchou still wanted to give up such an important town as Changsha, and wanted to defend it by the river, only guarding Dongting and Hubei.

Jiangxi rebelled, Huguang died, and Dorgon had no choice but to send several envoys to Yanzhou again, warning Tan Tai and the others to stand firm and not to fight.

Knowing such important information, Zhu Yihai naturally felt confident. Before the canal was frozen, his soldiers took boats up the canal to Jining, Dongping, Anping, Dongchang, and Linqing, all the way to the south of Beizhili on the border.

Basically like no one's land.

No one in Shandong dared to defend, let alone come to fight. As soon as the Ming army arrived in Dongping, the governor of Shandong was frightened and transferred his troops directly to Jinan to strengthen the defense. The important towns such as Dongchang and Linqing on the canal could not be taken care of. .

It is true that the troops are too few and too weak. If we defend each city separately, it will inevitably end in the destruction of each city. We can only concentrate on defending Jinan.

But Zhu Yihai didn't let them go deeper.

Jinan is easy to defend and difficult to attack, so it cannot be easily provoked. If the [-] Qing troops in Yanzhou block the way again, there will be no way out.

As for Dezhou and other places in the north, you can't go there. If you go further, you have to go deep into Beizhi. Although the Beizhi Green Battalion cannot fight, there are many Eight Banners stationed in Beizhi.

Zhu Yihai only dared to stroke his beard because he had mastered the deployment of the upper echelons of the Qing army, knew the defense of the Qing army and even their orders.

He intimidated the Qing army in Yanzhou here, and took the opportunity to sweep up a wave there.

The Qing army wanted to negotiate peace, and of course Zhu Yihai knew about it through Qian Qianyi and other insiders.

Knowing that Dorgon wanted to make peace and delay the attack, Zhu Yihai was also happy to do so. He needed more time to relax than the Tartars.

He wanted to negotiate a peace, but he had to be tough. That's why he made this seemingly extremely risky move of eight thousand armored riders to show off their martial arts under the city of Yanzhou.

Baqian Jinwu kept shouting challenges in front of the city.

[-] Qing troops guarded the city and could not get out.

At night, Zhu Yihai camped outside the city, as if welcoming the attack.

Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming were very tolerant, they resolutely refused to open the gate of the camp, and sent troops out of the camp one after another.

But Tan Tai couldn't bear it any longer. In the second half of the night, he sent out thousands of flags, divided into several groups, pretending to attack and bluffing.

But Mingying was very calm.

Just as quietly as a mountain.

A Tartar general ignored Tan Tai's order to feign an attack, and led his troops straight to the camp. As a result, he was greeted by countless guns and arrows, and even a lot of small cannons.

After a rumbling half a day, the Tartar general threw away dozens of cavalry corpses and hurriedly retreated. Then the next morning, the head of the Tartar leader was hung on the gate of Yanzhou City. The officers of the cavalry, All were dismissed from their posts, each was fined a hundred lashes, and fined as grooms.

After that, the two armies lived in peace, and there was no further action.

Zhu Yihai trained soldiers every day in the city of Yanzhou, and even started a riding and shooting competition. After staying like this for half a month, on a foggy night, the people of the Ming camp called Ma Si made a lot of noise, which made the Qing army very nervous. Wearing armor, they were exposed to the cold wind for a whole night, but after the fog cleared in the morning, they realized that the Ming camp ten miles away was gone.

The Ming army withdrew from the camp.

Tan Tai carefully sent Qingqi to reconnaissance, and finally got a report that the Ming army had retreated south along the canal, Jining City was empty, and the city walls were almost demolished.

The cavalry kept sending news back.

The Ming army withdrew from Luqiao Town, Xia Town, Xuzhou, Qinghe, and Huaian...

There is no more Ming army north of the Huaihe River.

At this time, it was already mid-October, and the Huaihe River was already freezing.

Tan Tai and others could finally breathe a sigh of relief, and hurriedly reported the good news to Beijing that all the Ming thieves had finally evacuated from Huaibei.

(End of this chapter)