Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 576 Support ([-])

Shi Tingzhu stood with a gloomy face at the gate of Yangzhou Academy (namely Ganquan Academy), listening to the rumble of cannons not far away, it was the army from the east bank launching an attack at night.There are elegant and refreshing gardens everywhere in that area, and Shi Tingzhu also occupied a house there, and also raised several famous prostitutes from Yangzhou City as outer rooms. favorite.But now all of this is doomed to come to naught. The yellow-clothed thieves attacked every department of our Daqing Green Battalion with an unstoppable momentum. After a few days, they have lost more than [-] people, and a considerable number of soldiers are still missing. Shi Tingzhu suspected that they took off their uniforms and hid in the folk houses in the city.

Alas, the defeat is like a mountain!Shi Tingzhu sighed inaudibly.Originally, he saw that the bandits in yellow clothes had complete troops, artillery teams, and cavalry teams, and their military capacity was at its peak, and their numbers were similar to his own. Knowing that his troops were two pounds, he didn't dare to go out of the city for a decisive battle.After the northern city wall was blown down, he had hoped to rely on the rows of buildings and complex terrain in Yangzhou to resist, consume the yellow-clothed thieves, and then force them to retreat despite difficulties.

But as soon as the two sides fought against each other, he knew that he was wrong. Not only was the yellow-clothed thief brave in the field (known as "invincible"), he even fought in the street battle with a lot of discipline.The artillerymen, bird gunners, and armored spearmen cooperated seamlessly, causing his group of former Nanming troops, who had been trained sparingly on weekdays, to suffer heavy losses and lose positions again and again.As of today (May 5th), more than 14 of his men have been killed or injured in the city. General Cai Shiying was wounded, Ma Degong was killed, and more than 2000 of them disappeared, probably collapsed.If the [-] people who were lost in blocking the gap and the first day out of the city to invite the battle were added, his men and horses had already lost more than [-] people, and the rest were panic-stricken and basically lost the courage to continue fighting.

Alas, the Nanming army will be weak, and the morale will be low if there is a slight setback.If he was leading the old subordinates from the west of Liaoning, or the troops of Kong Youde, Shen Zhixiang, Wu Sangui and others, how could the bandits in yellow easily occupy Yangzhou, a famous capital in the world!Thinking of this, Shi Tingzhu felt a little depressed.

"Master, it's time to retreat. If you don't retreat, it will be too late!" The coated slave brought a steed horse and reminded softly.

Shi Tingzhu looked at the several battlefields that were still fighting fiercely in the distance, and then at the servant who was looking at him eagerly, hesitating a little.At this time, the Qing Dynasty had just founded the country, and the military law was extremely strict.If an admiral-level general like Shi Tingzhu loses his teacher and loses his land, he will probably be severely punished by the court. Even if Shi Tingzhu is old in qualifications, early in his career, and has a strong relationship, and the death penalty is not serious, he will inevitably be beaten to the end and sent to prison for interrogation. .Of course, based on his relationship with Shi Tingzhu, it is not impossible to get rid of the crime if he runs around, but it will cost a lot of money.

"Master, if you keep the green hills, you won't be afraid of running out of firewood." The wrapped slave seemed to see his intentions, and persuaded him in a low voice: "There are only so many yellow-clothed thieves, and they must not be able to occupy this Yangzhou city for a long time. Naturally, the troops will retreat. When the time comes, the master will lead the army back, shut up the mouths of some insiders, and then do some digging around, it may not be impossible to turn the danger into a breeze. Master's body of ten thousand gold, why throw it lightly?"

Shi Tingzhu was silent at first, but after a while he finally made up his mind, got on his horse, and turned his head to glance at the garden area which was in chaos.There was his own mansion there, as well as the concubines he had recently acquired. Of course, these were not enough to make him feel heartbroken. What hurt him the most was the 20 taels of silver hidden in his mansion!It was all collected by him in the past half a year, and he hadn't had time to transport it away, so now he had to take advantage of those yellow-clothed thieves.

After a heartache, Shi Tingzhu finally turned his head away, quietly left the gate of the academy surrounded by a group of soldiers, and withdrew towards the outside of the city.Before him, more than a thousand flag soldiers of the Han army had already retreated first.After he withdrew, more than 2000 Han army bannermen and [-] green battalion soldiers in the back of the palace also evacuated one after another. The entire evacuation operation lasted most of the night.

Before dawn, several generals from the Green Camp from Jiangxi Province came to ask Shi Tingzhu for instructions on the next step, but unexpectedly they were all in vain.Knowing that Mr. Shi had slipped away, they immediately cursed, and after cursing, they also fled with their more than 3000 subordinates.Of course, they still have a conscience, and they notified the next friendly army before retreating.

The news that Shi Tingzhu fled the battle spread like wings in the city.The green battalion soldiers who were not able to resist at first completely lost the will to resist when they heard this. They either fled backwards without thinking, or they got into the left and right houses to rob and kill wantonly. Of course, there were a few Simply contact the thief in yellow and surrender directly.

In short, at dawn on May 5, the original 15 Qing troops in Yangzhou City had disappeared. Except for about 5000 people who fled successively, the rest were either killed or injured in the battle with the army on the east coast, or were killed. The captives from the East Bank were either still hiding in the houses in Yangzhou City, but they had undoubtedly lost their organizational system and were no longer a threat to the East Bankers.

After sending out cavalry regiments to search and chase the fleeing Qing army, Marshal Mo Mingmo, surrounded by all the troops, moved into the Yangzhou government office that had been cleaned up, and then ordered the soldiers outside the city to dismantle the camps and enter In the city.At the same time, the city gates of Yangzhou were closed, and people were sent to search the city to search for the hiding Qing soldiers; the logistics staff began to count the trophies, the intelligence staff began to interrogate the prisoners, and Luo Tiansheng, Chief Luo, who accompanied the army, began to search for soldiers in the city. Posted an Anmin notice, instructing the people to live in their own places and not to move around at will; finally, he also sent someone to notify the navy that was cruising on the river, and asked them to closely monitor the movements in the south of the Yangtze River, especially in Nanjing. They immediately harassed and intercepted, and at the same time quickly notified Jiangbei's army.

And since the day when the east bank fleet appeared on the river in late April, the water transport system from Zhenjiang to the north via the canal to Beijing has been effectively interrupted, and before the east bank army attacked Yangzhou, a few soldiers were also sent The soldiers of the army blocked the Grand Canal with spears, so that the blood transfusion artery was completely cut off.It's just that in this era, the Qing Dynasty hadn't formed the habit of relying on rice from the south of the Yangtze River. The truncated Grand Canal would certainly have an adverse impact on them, but it was far from as big as imagined.

In the five days starting from May 5th, Mo Ming has been sitting safely in Yangzhou City, waiting for his subordinates to search, count, and transport the spoils in the city.Undoubtedly, capturing Yangzhou, a well-known and prosperous city, would not be a small gain.According to the current rough statistics, a total of more than 15 taels of treasury silver (including government treasury, county treasury, and salt transfer treasurer’s unpaid tax silver) and enemy property (cash silver belonging to the Qing army generals identified by the Leading Party) were seized in the city. More than 30 taels, 29 shi of rice grain, more than [-] mules and horses, more cloth, silk, silk, tea, porcelain, etc. Earn a lot.

It's just that when the logistics staff reported the gains to Mo Ming with a trembling and excited voice, Mo Ming was still not satisfied.Then, under his suggestion, the wealthy businessmen in Yangzhou City suddenly fell into bad luck. After being blackmailed by the East Bank people, they jointly "donated" 80 taels of tea to the East Bank army, and Mo Ming gave up.These people have been really unlucky in the past two years. First they were robbed and blackmailed by Duduo's army, and then they were blackmailed by Shi Tingzhu and others.However, these people are extremely wealthy, and they have a lot of money. Usually, buying a bird’s nest costs several thousand taels, and paying a daily fee of a hundred taels for a red card prostitute is almost unblinking. Surplus money.

Not to mention that, wealthy families with property in Yangzhou City were also knocked door-to-door by the army on the east bank to collect money, which collected another 20 million taels of silver.In addition, some shops, banks, brothels, teahouses and so on were donated by Lianhe to more than 230 taels of silver.After accumulating these items, the silver harvested in this battle has exceeded [-] million taels, and nearly three years of military expenditures have been harvested in one fell swoop, which made Mo Ming very happy.

Yang Mingyang, the cavalry captain who led his army to chase the Qing army a few days ago, also led his army back.They pursued the escaped Han army of Zhengbai Banner under Shi Tingzhu to Yizhen County later on May 5th. The Qing army, who had not expected the yellow-clothed bandits to come after them so quickly, did not dare to stay and abandoned the city again. It is going in the direction of Gaoyou Prefecture in the north.The 15 Green Battalion soldiers who fled here with Shi Tingzhu's troops on mules also dispersed when they saw this, and a few soldiers who stayed in Yizhen City simply went out of the city and knelt down and begged for surrender.

Yang Mingyang didn't bother to pay attention to them. After dispatching 500 people to supervise the 1000-odd soldiers escorting a large amount of money, grain and livestock seized in Yizhen County to Yangzhou, he led [-] cavalrymen from Yizhen back to Jiangdu along the road, and On the way, they intercepted and defeated a large number of green battalion troops of the Qing army.These Qing troops all escaped from the city of Yangzhou. At this time, they were in a hurry to flee for their lives. Their ranks were disorganized and their soldiers had no fighting spirit. They were often defeated by the cavalry on the east coast. He was cut down to the ground by the cavalry of Yang Mingyang's troops, and the rest disappeared, scattered everywhere.

Of the 1-odd soldiers directly led by Shi Tingzhu, after this battle, only less than [-] people escaped successfully, and the rest were completely lost.Moreover, among the nearly [-] people who escaped, more than half of their equipment and equipment were lost, and everyone was demoralized and panicked. It seemed that they would not be able to go to the battlefield again without long-term training.If Hong Chengchou in Nanjing was clear enough, it would be better for Shi Tingzhu to go to the south to deal with Nanming in order to regain his confidence. Put it in Jiangbei, that would be only [-] pigs.

After Yang Mingyang’s troops returned, on May 5, the Navy urgently reported that the Qing army had assembled a large number of ships in the Nanjing and Zhenjiang areas, and seemed to want to cross the north; and the Qing army in the Taizhou and Gaoyou prefectures seemed to have also received reinforcements—probably from the Huai’an Mansion—At present, its forwards have begun to tentatively move southward, and a small-scale scouting battle has already occurred with the security team.

Faced with such a situation, Mo Ming, who originally intended to lead his army northward to attack Taizhou to expand the results of the war, suddenly changed his mind, and he ordered the entire army to abandon Yangzhou City and retreat eastward.At present, the fleet is shipping the captured spoils in Jingjiang area, Mo Ming decided to lead the army to withdraw there first.After this stage of the Yangzhou battle, the army on the east bank suffered heavy losses, with more than 1200 casualties: among them, Zhai Cong'e's troops were killed and injured more than 500 people (the department recruited more than a thousand strong men near Yangzhou to make up for the loss of troops), and the Black Eight Banners lost 100. More than 260 people were lost in the stand-up team, more than 30 people were lost by the East Coast Army, and 300 soldiers were lost.The soldiers on the east coast are not iron men, and they also need to rest now.Anyway, judging from the current situation, they seem to have successfully mobilized the Qing army, as evidenced by the fact that the main force of the Qing army in the south of the Yangtze River intends to cross to the north.Now that the goal has been initially achieved, it is better to retreat eastward and get closer to the navy, and then wait and see.

On the afternoon of May 5, the mighty east coast army marched eastward to Jingjiang County, Changzhou Prefecture without hindrance. The Qing army guarding the city abandoned the city and fled. Mo Ming led the army to enter the city.After the army on the east coast withdrew from Yangzhou with a large amount of spoils, Shi Tingzhu immediately occupied Yangzhou City as quickly as possible, and at the same time declared to the outside world that his troops had "recovered" Yangzhou after a "hard fight", and the bandits in yellow beheaded several of them.

(End of this chapter)