Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 248 Betrayal!

In the dark night, the Ming army and the Qing army fought fiercely. The artillery fire and arrows were merciless. Both sides suffered casualties. The battle lasted for more than two hours.

All the "rocket" fireworks on the Ming army side were fired in vain, making it impossible to tell which were the Qing soldiers and which were their own people.

On the front line of hundreds of feet, countless cavalrymen rushed into the Ming army like raindrops, making a dull and huge roar.

Long spears pierced the Tartars' armor, the horses' bodies, the flesh, the muscles and bones, and blood gushed out in the dark night like a black spring.

The world suddenly became chaotic, with countless collisions and the smell of blood filling the senses.

Rumble~
During this period, countless Qing soldiers were killed or wounded, some fell into the trenches, some were trampled, some were hit by their own people...

In the end, the troops of the Red Banner broke through.

Next, until dawn, Ming troops came out one after another to clean up the battlefield.

"Damn it, these bastards are really capable of resisting and fighting, yet they actually rushed over." Everyone in the Ming army camp cursed.

Compared with the five major camps and the Pinglu army who killed 30,000 enemies, their 60,000 troops could not even stop more than 10,000 people. This caused a huge gap between the troops of Ji Liao and Xuan Da.

It’s not that the Ming army lacked combat capability, it’s just that they were not fully paid before.

When hunger and survival were problems, the soldiers did not have much feeling about making achievements, until this time.

Facing one hundred thousand Manchu soldiers and horses, he finally felt very clearly in his heart... the urge to be granted a title of nobility.

There is actually not much difference between the natures of people.

bang~
The warning fireworks suddenly exploded in the air, followed by the sound of warning gongs. In order to prevent the army from not understanding the warning sound, the Ming army set up two warning systems. Even if they didn't notice it the first time, they would hear it the second time.

Suddenly someone shouted, "Qing troops, more Qing troops are coming."

"A large group of people!"

Following the scouts' reminder, the troops of Ji Liao and Xuan Da suddenly became active.

"Damn it~ that one group just ran away, but I didn't expect so many to come?" Bai Guangen whipped a man who was trying to tear off the armor of the Tartars with his horsewhip, "Everyone listen up, don't clean up the battlefield, let's get to work!"

Wu Sangui held up the telescope and said, "Last night there was only one flag, but today there are seven flags at the back, as well as Mongolian cavalry and Korean soldiers."

"later……"

Before he could finish his words, Hong Chengchou said, "Behind are the troops of the five major camps."

"Everyone prepare!"

"Hold them off!"

As the figures of the Eight Banners soldiers became clearer and clearer, even the pockmarks on their faces could be seen clearly, the camps of both sides were like two huge walls, and the moment they came into contact.

"Kill~"

At this moment, the entire battlefield seemed to be shaking, and the line of sight was slightly shaken by the iron hooves.

Both sides used all their strength to hack at the enemy's head.

A wave of blood surged out instantly, soaking the front line.

"Kill~"

“Ping ping…”

Everywhere around my ears were the sounds of fanatical shouts, the sounds of metal clashing with stone, and the dull thud of swords and guns entering flesh. In a very short period of time, the front line was already like a rising sea of ​​blood from the underworld.

……

In Dalingh River, after six years, the shouts of killing shook the sky again.

The armies collided, fought, and bit each other... like a few wild beasts entangled with each other.

Dorgon was carrying two yellow flags, rolling constantly like in the huge waves, and was constantly crushed and crushed. A chariot guard named Lazhangjing under the two yellow flags was beheaded by Li Dingguo with a single blow while he was guarding Dorgon.

One of Dorgon's fingers was also cut off, and he was dragged out by the bondservants, covered in blood.

Li Dingguo had amazing fighting power, and he was the kind of person who kept his eyes and ears open. When he was fighting, he never focused on the soldiers, but on the enemy's princes and nobles, the one with the highest title.

Plus, he's a good fighter, and he fights without regard for his life, so once he targets you, you'll be badly injured even if you don't die.

"Let's go, take the emperor away quickly."

The people of the two yellow flags subconsciously escorted Dorgon away. Li Dingguo wanted to continue chasing them, but was stopped by Jirgalang and his troops.

The troops of the Bordered White Banner formed a battle array, blocking all the roads for Li Dingguo's pursuit, leaving no gaps.

"One ran away, you can come too."

Li Dingguo was not picky. He had never met Dorgon before, but he knew that the person in front of him was an extremely important person. However, the fact that Jirgalang was also wearing the armor of a flag lord made Li Dingguo's eyes light up suddenly, and he rushed forward to kill him.

With Hong Chengchou's troops chasing and blocking them in front and the five major camps of the Pinglu Army chasing them from behind, the Qing cavalry had no intention of fighting a decisive battle.

Compared to the last time when they fought anyway, this time they just ran away, like an avalanche.

When Li Banghua and Chongzhen's central army arrived, they saw that the battlefield was full of dead and wounded Qing cavalry and infantry all over the mountains.

It was hard to tell which group it was. The trench was surrounded by bloody corpses, and blood pits extended to both sides and gathered inside the trench.

Dorgon broke out, Yuetuo broke out, but Jirgalang failed to break out.

Besieged west of the Daling River.

All the Qing soldiers who failed to break out relied on the old ruins of Dalingh River to resist the five major camps of the Ming Dynasty. Several attempts to break out according to the traditional rules ended in failure.

Jirgalang looked at the dense Ming army around him and couldn't help gnashing his teeth. "This is troublesome. I'm afraid I can't get away."

The most terrifying thing is that the food and wages have been cut off and there is a food shortage in the city.

As long as the Ming army surrounded them for a few days, the army would not be able to hold on.

……

On October 21, Dorgon finally returned to Shengjing with his men.

But soon after, the news that Jirgalang was trapped in Dalingh City reached the Shengjing Palace, and Dorgon couldn't help but turn pale. More bad news followed one after another and spread throughout the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty in a flash.

Everyone felt a chill down their spine and their scalp tingled.

The offensive and defensive forces have changed.

"Your Majesty, Prince Zheng must be saved!"

"How to rescue him? Li Banghua is going to adopt the same strategy we used to besiege Jinzhou and attack the reinforcements. Not only will the troops we sent out fail to rescue Prince Zheng, but all our troops will also be lost. Tell me how to rescue him?" Dorgon held his forehead.

After the siege of Dalingh River, the Qing troops in the city could only sit and wait for death. If they wanted to get out alive, they could only wait for reinforcements.

But where will the reinforcements come from?
Then send in the Eight Banners Army and engage in a field battle with the Ming army at Dalingh River?
The morale of the Qing army is now low. Even if they are well fed, they will not have the upper hand in a battle with the Ming army.

Moreover, the enemy was larger in number and we were smaller in number. With such a huge disparity, it would be even more difficult for the Qing army to win if the Ming army surrounded and attacked the reinforcements, which would only further deplete the morale of the Eight Banners soldiers.

Dorgon asked angrily, "Where is Yuetuo? Where is he now?"

"Your Majesty, after he returned to Shengjing, he did not stay there, but led his troops directly back to Liaodong."

"What? That's an unforgivable crime."

The capital of Liaodong is Liaoyang, which was the capital during the period of Nurhaci. It was also the most prosperous city of the Qing Dynasty. However, the Jurchens and Han people lived together in the city, and the conflict between the two sides was extremely serious. On the other hand, Liaoyang City had to face threats from both Korea and the Ming Dynasty. It was for this reason that Nurhaci moved the capital to today's Shengjing.

But now Yuetuo actually ran away with his troops. How could Dorgon not be angry?

……

Dalinghe City, Li Banghua ordered the army to surround Dalinghe City, not to fight them, but to consume them. As the weather dropped sharply, the Ming army's food and grass supply was more diligent than before, because the cold weather consumed more energy for both people and horses.

This was true for the Ming Dynasty and the Qing army as well.

The Qing troops organized several breakouts, but were completely wiped out.

Li Banghua had someone build a high platform from which he could see the situation inside the Dalingh River.

Chongzhen watched Li Banghua's series of operations these days and seemed to understand something. He did not ask any more questions, but began to learn carefully.

Two days later, the person in charge of the inspection reported: "Commander-in-chief, horses have started to be killed in the city."

Two days later, the person in charge of the investigation reported: "Commander-in-chief, all the horses in the city have been killed."

Li Banghua waved his hand and asked people to retreat, "Hurry up and kill the horses. We can only eat people."

Sure enough, a few days later, the Ming army reported another word.

"Cooking bones and disintegrating corpses!"

It means using human bones as firewood and cutting off human flesh to roast and eat.

The entire city was littered with human remains, and human flesh was being burned and eaten everywhere. At this time, the Daling River had become a living, gloomy underworld in broad daylight.

First came the soldiers who were injured and starved to death, and then came the North Korean soldiers. But here problems arose: the North Korean soldiers mutinied.

The Mongolian soldiers also mutinied next.

Soon, the Eight Banners of Mongolia in Dalingh City sent a letter first, took the initiative to contact the Ming army, and secretly asked for surrender.

The Eight Banners of Mongolia and the Korean soldiers were willing to act as internal support.

The Ming army sent people to persuade him to surrender, but was rejected by Jirgalang.

On October 27, Dalinghhe City was captured.

Except for Jirgalang, Prince Adali, Beizi Shuotuo and other Manchu princes who were captured, all the rest of the Eight Banners soldiers were killed. A Jingguan was built on the bank of the Dalingh River to comfort the Ming soldiers who died in this city six years ago.

Morigen, the leader of the Eight Banners of Mongolia, and a large number of Korean soldiers who participated in the internal support temporarily surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, but Li Banghua did not incorporate them into the camp.

Because Li Banghua didn't trust them.

But the Ming Dynasty could not let them eat the food for nothing, so some troops were left behind to watch them build Dalingh City, while the rest continued to advance towards Shengjing.

Ten years later, the Ming Dynasty took back Dalingh City again.

Dalingh City is a satellite city of Jinzhou and the only way for the Qing Dynasty to march into the interior, which is equivalent to strangling the Qing Dynasty's throat again.

……

With the capture of Dalingh City, the Ming Dynasty's offensive was like the raging waves of the sea, continuous, but compared with the previous offensive, there were changes.

There was another piece of news that further boosted the morale of the Ming Dynasty.

Sun Chuanting's troops cleared the south of the Yangtze River and sent 50,000 elite troops to support Liaodong.

With sufficient troops and food supplies, even though the weather was getting colder, the morale of the Ming Dynasty was getting higher and higher.

However, Li Banghua's offensive was obviously slower than before, allowing the troops of each major response to rest.

"Supervisor..."

"I know what you want to say. This is what your majesty meant. Whenever there is a war, we must have enough artillery shells and bullets. Right now, the reserves of artillery and muskets are less than 50%."

Li Banghua took a sip of hot tea and continued with a smile: "Besides, your Majesty's edict directly stated that there are newer types of shells coming."

"New type of ammunition?" Chongzhen was somewhat delighted and went to the rear with Li Banghua to see what the so-called new type of ammunition was.

When they arrived, they found that some soldiers were already testing the new type of ammunition.

"It's accurate. It's so accurate."

"Hey... good stuff!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, this thing is really handy."

"..."

A hundred steps away, there was a portrait of an Eight Banners soldier painted on the target, but his chest was full of holes.

The Ming army's muskets and cannons were no longer the kind that were loaded with gunpowder first, then loaded with bullets, pounded, then the flint clip was pulled down, and finally the trigger was pulled.

Instead, it adopted an "advanced rifle" with fixed ammunition.

The amount of gunpowder loaded each time is almost the same, and the ballistic consistency when shooting is greatly improved, but the firing method is still flintlock.

The most critical time is from pulling the trigger to the bullet leaving the chamber. It takes some time for a tiny spark from the flint to ignite the propellant.

You can imagine the scene of the flint igniting the propellant after pulling the trigger.

There was smoke billowing in front of my eyes. God knew whether the gun would fire in half a second or one second, but the target was still running desperately.

The shooter himself was unsure whether the musket would hit the target the next moment.

The invention of primer solved this problem.

After half a year, under the deliberate guidance of Zhu Changgan, the Bingzhang Division finally produced the primer.

Mercury fulminate, one of the most sensitive gunpowders, will explode at the slightest impact.

This thing definitely cannot be used as propellant for bullets: not to mention that it has to be pounded to make it solid before making artillery shells, even if it is made into fixed-charge bullets, if you fall while walking, it can hit you with a bang, and you won't be able to bear it.

The mildest cases result in lifelong infertility, while the most serious cases result in death.

But this characteristic can be used to replace flint to detonate explosives.

All you need to do is replace the original flint clip with a small firing pin, and because fulminate of mercury reacts quickly and the sparks it emits are thick and long, the primer can ignite the propellant at the fastest speed.

Almost the next moment the trigger is pulled, the propellant is completely ignited and fired.

With the primer and the cartridge case, its awesomeness comes out.

The quality of the bullet and the quality of the gunpowder are completely locked, ensuring the consistency of the trajectory; and the actions of loading gunpowder and bullet can be completed at one time, greatly improving the firing rate and accuracy.

Zhang Shize held the musket in his hand and said, "With this thing, it will be easy for my Ming Dynasty to wipe out the Qing Dynasty."

The morale of the Ming army was high.

In addition to the five major camps, the troops of the Pinglu Army, the Guanning Iron Cavalry, the Ji Liao Army, and the Xuan Da Army had a solid military spirit and high morale that had not been seen in decades.

……

On the Qing side, as time went by, war reports continued to wash over the minds of Dorgon and other princes, and even their world views.

It was not until dark that the news that followed dealt a huge blow to Dorgon.

Jirgalang defected.

Prince Zheng of the Qing Dynasty, Jirgalang, formally surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. When the news reached Shengjing of the Qing Dynasty, everyone was shocked. For Dorgon, this news was like a bolt from the blue, leaving him stunned.

However, he roared at the princes and ministers in the court: "You are all lying to me, this can't be true!"

In his eyes, no one who betrays the country could be Jirgalang.

One of the main reasons is that Jirgalang was Prince Zheng of the Qing Dynasty. He supported Hauge at first and Ajige later. He did not change his loyalty to the Qing Dynasty and even protected himself at a critical moment. How could he possibly betray?
What's more, Jirgalang's entire family is in Shengjing, and they hold various important positions...

(End of this chapter)