Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 577 Support ([-])

On May 1647, 5, after learning of the latest movement of the Qing army sent by the naval gunboat, Mo Ming no longer hesitated, ready to accept as soon as it was ready, and began to lead the army to attack Rugao County to the east of the Jingjiang River, preparing to kill all the way along the Yangtze River. Go to the Yellow Sea.

At this time, the Qing army in Yangzhou Prefecture had been gradually assembled in Yangzhou and Taizhou under the dispatch of Shi Tingzhu, with a strength of 3. In addition, a few soldiers from Huai'an Prefecture also went south. This news was intercepted by scouts from the east bank. A messenger from the Qing army came here for interrogation, but the exact number is not known, it seems to be a cavalry; and Hong Chengchou, who was in Nanjing, heard that the water transportation was blocked and the navy suffered heavy losses, so he did not dare to organize troops to cross the river during the day, but from Nanjing at night Upstream to Jiangpu County on the north bank, 5000 horses were crossed in batches, including nearly [-] Manchurian Eight Banners soldiers. It can be said that they did not pay attention to the severe situation in Jiangbei.

After these 3 people crossed the river, the people on the east bank lost their traces, but it is conceivable that they would first go to Gaoyouzhou and Taizhou for food.Now the area around Jiangdu and Yangzhou has been seized by the people on the east bank. It is impossible to support the tens of thousands of troops in a short period of time. Therefore, they will definitely go to these two places to obtain supplies before they can chase after the army on the east bank.

As for the other Qing army going south from Huai'an Prefecture, according to the information obtained by the people on the east coast, its main force seems to be still on the front line of Haizhou and Shuyang. is still far away.In short, the Qing army seems to be preparing to carry out heavy encirclement and suppression from the west and north, just like it did more than a year ago.With a long front line and a tight force, they have never been able to do anything with the mobile fighting east coast army.

After the army withdrew, 18 medium-sized fishing boats filled with silver, food, livestock and some personnel, escorted by four sailing warships, set sail and left the bank of the Jingjiang River along the current.After entering the Yellow Sea, they hoisted their sails and headed north under the blowing of the southeast wind. Their destination was Heishui Port.As for the remaining 9 steam engine sailboats and 4 transport ships, they were still cruising from the east of the Jingjiang River to the mouth of the sea, and dispatched gunboats to send people ashore to contact the army from time to time, so as to constantly determine their respective positions.

On June 6, the army on the east coast quickly advanced to the city of Rugao County, Taizhou, leaving behind a large number of luggage and lightly loaded.After several shells were fired, an accident occurred in Rugao City.The leader of the regiment training led hundreds of township soldiers to capture and kill the county magistrate who insisted on resisting, and then opened the city gate to welcome the army from the east bank to settle in.Mo Ming brought more than a thousand people into the city. First, he encouraged Wu Shouzhong, the leader of the township soldiers who led the army to "do it anyway", and then brought the wives and daughters of the county magistrates, chief bookmakers and other officials who insisted on resisting the army on the east bank, together with Shi Tingzhu's concubine. Incorporated into the women's stand-up team to feed the soldiers.

On June 6, scouts from the public security team came to report that in the early morning of June 3, thousands of Eight Banners cavalry of the Qing Army set off from Yizhen County and traveled part-time, and should have arrived near Taizhou by now.Rugao County is under the jurisdiction of Taizhou, and it is only a hundred miles away from the city of Taizhou. This distance can be reached in a day by horse.However, the cavalry of the Qing army rushed to Taizhou from Jiangpu for several days. At this time, it should be exhausted and in urgent need of rest, otherwise it would be impossible to carry out effective combat.The yellow-clothed thieves are not those weak Ming soldiers. If they don't adjust their condition, the thousands of cavalry might really go up to deliver food.

Mo Ming, who was informed about the news of the Qing army, still didn't panic. There were only a few thousand cavalry, and he had nearly ten thousand soldiers here, all types of troops were complete, so afraid?Therefore, after collecting the money, grain and livestock in Rugao County, he asked Sun Shouzhong to lead more than [-] people (all of them were regimental trainees and their families anyway), and then personally supervised the brigade to head towards Tongzhou in a swaggering manner. .They didn't even cover up their whereabouts along the way, allowing the spies of the Qing army lurking in the countryside to pass on information about their troops, which seemed to be invincible.

On June 6, when the army from the East Bank marched to Baipu Town, less than 7 miles northwest of Tongzhou, this Qing army cavalry finally appeared far away in the sight of the East Bank people.At this time, the true face of the Qing army was finally fully exposed to the people on the east bank. They were probably a mixed formation of the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia. There were a total of more than 3000 people. Quite expensive.At this moment, they are far behind the large troops on the east bank, and seem to be hesitating whether to step forward to carry out harassing attacks.

But before they could make a decision, Marshal Mo Mingmo had decided to send about 2700 remaining cavalry from the cavalry wing and security team to launch a tentative attack on them.The Eight Banners soldiers were obviously taken aback when they saw that the yellow-clothed cavalry, who were not as numerous as them, took the initiative to attack, but they also just wanted to try the yellow-clothed cavalry, so nearly [-] cavalry from both sides came together in the name of Baipu Town. A large-scale massacre took place in an unknown place.

The fight between the cavalry was short and intense, but in just half an hour, both sides broke away from the battle.On the east bank, more than 600 cavalrymen fell to their horses and died, including more than a dozen elite security team scouts. In addition, more than a hundred people were injured, and the casualty rate was about one-sixth.As their opponent, the Eight Banners soldiers who were "Warrior in Riding and Shooting", because their weapons and equipment were not as good as their opponents, the casualties were heavier. About [-] people were killed or injured in total. I don't know how many of them were authentic soldiers of the Eight Banners.

But this casualty was enough to impress them.Almost 20% of the troops were casualties, which was already an unbearable figure for them.Therefore, after the two sides looked at each other fiercely for another hour, the Eight Banners soldiers turned their horses and disappeared into the distant woods.The East Coast cavalry, who were also grinning in pain, did not pursue them. They lost a large number of experienced Polish veterans and skilled Tatar riders in this battle, and they did not feel much better than the gang of Tartars.

After the Qing army cavalry that was biting the hardest was knocked away, there should be no more Qing army brigades catching up and harassing them in a short time.This time they killed or injured hundreds of Manchurian Eight Banners soldiers. The severity of this incident can be heard to the heavens. Most of the Qing army commanders who led the team did not have the courage to use the precious Manchurian Eight Banners to fight against the yellow-clothed thieves. Consumption, even the Han army flag has to be used sparingly.It seems that the Qing army will not launch a large-scale offensive until the green camp troops arrive.It's just that with the slow-moving and low-morale generals of the green battalion, can they catch up with the band of yellow-clothed thieves?The answer is naturally no.

On June 6th and 9th, when the army on the east coast finally captured Tongzhou City in two days, the main force of more than 10 Qing troops on the west road, mainly from the Green Battalion, was able to start from Taizhou City.This is also the reason why they took a lot of supplies and moved forward at the same time. If they followed the normal rhythm of grinding foreign workers, they might have just set off from Jiangdu at this moment.

As for the Qing army on the North Road, the situation is vague.The scouts sent by the people on the east bank did not find any useful information, but according to speculation, the main force of the Qing army in Huai'an Prefecture should have crossed the Yellow River one after another, the total strength should be between 4 and [-], and the forward might have arrived Yancheng area.However, Yancheng is still a certain distance away from Tongzhou. The bold and reckless Mo Ming decided to take a rest in Tongzhou City for a day and collect supplies, money, food and livestock.

On the night of June 6, the vanguard of the East Coast Army arrived at the foot of Haimen County, Tongzhou.It is known that thieves in yellow clothes have a tradition of forcing good men into prostitution. Li, the county magistrate of Qinghaimen, killed his wife and daughter and committed suicide by drinking medicinal wine. The gentry in the city sent two representatives to send two hundred pigs, sheep, Five thousand stones of rice grain, two thousand bolts of silk and 12 taels of silver were used to bribe the bandit in yellow to leave.

Although Haimen County is considered affluent, it is not a small amount to give so many things to the people on the east coast at once, so it shows its "sincerity".Mo Ming was already a little tired of the endless journey, and wanted to go to the riverside to board a boat and return to the north as soon as possible.As for this Haimen County, it is natural that you can get it if you can get it, but you can’t get it, but I didn’t expect that people would take the initiative to send so much property, so it’s really not for nothing.

After accepting the other people's things, Mo Ming naturally didn't plan to go to Haimen County anymore, after all, there were still tens of thousands of the main force of the Qing army hanging behind him.According to the news just received this morning (13th), at least [-] Qing army forwards should have arrived near Rugao County by this time.As for the Qing army in the north, its whereabouts are temporarily unknown because no one has been sent to investigate carefully recently, but its main force should have entered Yancheng, and most of its forwards have also entered the territory under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou Prefecture.Considering that it will take three or four days to board the ship, it is indeed not appropriate to delay the time at this time.

Therefore, at noon on the 13th, the army on the east bank passed the city without entering, and went straight to the river.All the Haimen gentry who heard the news expressed their gratitude. As for the unlucky or "honest" magistrate Li and his family, they died in vain...

Beginning on the night of the 13th, the army on the east bank began retreating and boarding operations on the riverside south of Haimen County.The entire operation lasted until the evening of the 17th before it was declared over. A total of more than 20 taels of silver, a large number of jewelry, jade, calligraphy, paintings and books, 1 shi of grain, more than 800 bundles of hay, more than 13 livestock, and more than 13 people were stuffed into the A total of [-] transport ships were transported.Naturally, there were [-] troops on the east coast (some of the civilians had already withdrawn) who boarded the ship with them. So many supplies, people and animals crowded the [-] ships tightly.Fortunately, their destination was Jeju Island, and they only had a few days of voyage under the condition of downwind, so they arrived after a little patience, and there would be no major problems.

On June 6, the fleet on the east bank set sail, turned northeast after leaving the Yangtze River, and headed for Jeju Island.As for the total of nearly 18 Qing troops sent off by the two routes, it was reported that the fastest one had just entered Haimen County on the evening of the 17th, and at this time the boarding operation of the people from the east coast had almost come to an end. , everyone is destined to be on the same side.

The Jiangbei Battle (Mo Ming jokingly called the Jiangbei Armed Parade) lasted nearly two months from the day it landed on April 4.They captured one prefectural city, one prefectural city, and four county towns in the Qing Dynasty. About 25 Qing soldiers were killed, wounded, and about 2000 were killed or injured (including reductions due to illness), of which about 10% were from the East Coast Army.

As for the seized materials, they were massive, about 255 million taels of silver alone, and the rest of the materials were countless.Of course, the greatest effect of this battle was the successful mobilization of a large number of Qing army's armed forces, including more than [-] elite Eight Banners soldiers, making them difficult to care about and exhausted in the Jiangnan and Jiangbei.At least, it was difficult for Hong Chengchou to understand Kong Youde's request for reinforcements on the Huguang battlefield for a while.Of course, this battle also gave me a series of resounding slaps in front of the whole world. Especially when the Qing court was in full swing, I believe this would greatly boost the morale of the anti-Qing armed forces in the south.

(End of this chapter)