golden scales

Abate was dizzy as he rode on the horse.He was originally going to stay in Shengjing, but because of Dorgon's disadvantages on the front line, Ji Erhalang insisted on bringing him here too.

This time Jierharang asked him to lead the Manchurian army on the South Road. It was also because in the eighth year of Chongde and the 15th year of Chongzhen, Abatai was ordered to enter the customs from Huangyakou, broke the city 88 times, and fell to the city for 36 years. Captured 220 people, got [-] taels of gold and [-] million taels of silver, swept the entire North China and half of Shandong, and captured and beheaded Zhu Yipai, king of Ming and Lu.

With such an outstanding record, coupled with his familiarity with the geography of North China and Shandong, Abatai is naturally the most suitable commander of the South Route Army.

But Jierharang ignored Abatai's physical condition.The 55-year-old Abatai is not considered old, but since he entered the customs, he has had the problem of acclimatization, and his body has been deteriorating day by day. Even now, riding a horse has become a problem, let alone leading troops to fight.

Fortunately, his two sons, Bo, Tuo and Boluo, have grown up, and their 30s are the golden age for generals.With these two men in his army, Suohai and Tulai are veteran generals, and he doesn't need to worry about ordinary affairs.Even the young Ye Bilong fought the Songjin Battle with the late emperor, and his work was fairly reliable.

"Ama, do you want to stop the front?" Boluo looked at his father anxiously: "Or my son will find you a carriage?"

Abatai squeezed out the word "Chuan" between his brows, waved his hands, and said, "What does it look like for the soldiers to ride in a carriage outside?"

"Ama, you are tired." Boluo said.

"Hey, where is this?" Abatai shook his head and said, "The Ming Dynasty is vast, and you won't know it unless you go there yourself. Even if we conquered Shandong, it's just a small piece of the Ming Dynasty."

Boluo is a new generation of pillar generals in Manchuria. Dorgon admires him quite a lot, and he is also very close to Dorgon.But now that Dorgon has lost power, it is only natural for him to go out with his father.

What's more, he secretly voted for Jierhalang.

Hearing what his father said, Boluo also hesitated a bit, and said: "The population of the Ming Dynasty is really too large. We can't manage so many people. We still have to let the Han people take care of them. In the future, if these Han people bite us back, I'm afraid that even if they want to quit the customs Disaster."

Abatai shook his head: "You don't understand the Han people. They have a saying that if you have milk, you are a mother. As long as you can live on, you don't care who is the master. The terrible thing is that we are full of discord..."

"Misunderstanding..." Boluo felt a little guilty, wondering if his father took the opportunity to hedge his bets.

"Xian Khan started with thirteen sets of armor and swept all the ministries. How did our people work together? When the first emperor broke the rules, he wanted to learn the Han system. The result? All the banners have their own ideas. Many Ergun took all his belongings and smashed it in the pass, which is the critical moment for the whole family, but the two yellow flags and the two white flags are still fighting among themselves."

Boluo was silent. When passing through Baoding yesterday, the governor of Tianbao, Sukesaha, still refused to supply food and grass, pushing back and forth, with a look of gloating.Fortunately, Abatai Yu Wei is still there, otherwise I really don't know how he will be bullied by others.

"Ama, we have passed the front line of Tianbao, and the defense line of the Ming army is ahead, should we concentrate our forces?" Boluo seemed to ask for advice, but in fact he was suggesting.

After the Battle of Sarhu, both the Ming army and the Qing army knew the danger of dividing their troops, so they dared not divide their troops.In the Battle of Gaocheng, Zhu Cihong believed that the territory was narrow and there were no mountains and valleys, so he wanted to divide his forces and attack together, but the result was disappointing.

However, if an army of more than [-] marched, if they followed one another and marched along a route, then the strength of the country would be tested.During the Wanli Dynasty, all Ming army movements were like this, because the prefectures and counties along the way had enough food and grass supplies.However, in the early years of Chongzhen, the prefectures and counties in the Jifu area could not even pay for the food and grass of King Qin's guest army, which eventually led to the rout of soldiers joining the refugee uprising, which greatly enhanced the combat effectiveness of the rogues.

For more than ten years, Jifu was repeatedly raided by soldiers from the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, and it was impossible to recover its vitality.This time the Manchus also suffered a lot. No one marching route could support the food and grass consumption of more than [-] horses, so they were forced to divide their troops and march southward from Baoding, Hejian, and Tianjin.

At this moment, the scouting horse in front had hit the village military fort that the Ming army was defending, which meant that the fortified battle was about to begin.And the small villages along the way have been emptied out. It is obvious that the Ming army fortified the walls and cleared the fields in time, leaving no usable manpower and materials for the Qing army.

"The first Khan and the late emperor used troops. It was necessary to detect the enemy's deployment first, buy the enemy's defenders, and install internal support, so that they can win every battle." Abatai did not directly respond to his son's words, but sighed: "Now the enemy is deep It is really not a good sign to launch a large army without knowing anything."

"There are three guards here, all of whom are important generals who have recently emerged from the Ming Dynasty." Bo Luo said, "I heard that the one with the Xiao character flag is the most difficult to deal with, and there is also a battalion of fierce soldiers with the double-winged flying tiger flag under his command." , Wu Yong even surpassed the warriors of Zhushen."

"Just this news?" Abatai coughed violently suddenly, and he stopped to catch his breath after a long time, and said, "Go to Hong Chengchou, he has been a supervisor in the Ming Dynasty for 12 years, so he knows something, let's see what he does. explain."

Boluo nodded and left with a whip.

Hong Chengchou came over quickly on horseback, and he didn't show any dignity because of his status as governor.

In fact, no matter how high the official position of the Han people is, they still have to be short in the face of the Manchu dignitaries.

"My lord," Hong Chengchou and Abatai walked side by side, "the front is the front line of the Ming army."

"Exactly. That's why I want to discuss with Governor Hong how to fight." Abate said, "The Governor has a prominent position in the Ming Dynasty. Did you ever know about the three guards here?"

Since the last time Bahana and Shi Tingzhu were defeated, Hong Chengchou has paid attention to the generals here. It is reasonable to say that they command three to four thousand troops, and they are so good at fighting. At least he has to be a general.But these three people seemed to have jumped out of the cracks in the rocks, without any past experience.

He used some old disciples who were still in the Ming Dynasty to inquire, but also did not get any useful information.Knowing that Niu Chenghu and Zuo Guangxian were under Dan Ning's command, I found it even more incredible.Niu and Zuo are both long-established titans, ranking in the top of the army. How can someone who can be above them be an unknown pawn?

Hong Chengchou shook his head: "The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead, I don't recognize these young soldiers anymore."

Abatai nodded, and said: "The Ming army's old skills are only fortresses, but the distance from the mountains to the sea is nearly [-] miles. I don't know where to start."

Manchuria's ability to attack fortifications is not strong, and the commonly used methods are to dig cities, attack by force, and use space.During Huang Taiji's administration, trench siege and aid were developed.It wasn't until Kong Youde brought the red cannon that the Qing army had the ability to attack cities and villages.

"The horse scouts I sent reported that there are many villages here, dotted with military forts, and people are often patrolling and sweeping them. Obviously, they are in full swing." Hong Chengchou couldn't relax his brows: "I'm afraid we still have to be patient and find a good place to attack."

"Since there are three towns guarding the six hundred miles here, then the connection between the towns must be the weakest, and we can start from there." Abatai said: "It would cost a lot to build a military fort. It was impossible in the Ming Dynasty. It has been repaired to Nanjing. As long as this layer of defense is broken, the defenders will naturally be drawn out to fight."

This is also the tactical habit of the Manchurians. First break through the defense a little bit, and then penetrate like an awl, forcing the Ming army to give up the defense line and come out to fight in the field.Relying on the strength of its soldiers and horses, the Ming army is definitely not its opponent.

Of course, in more cases, as long as one Ming army retreats, other friendly troops will flee one after another, without the will to fight at all.

During the Wanli period, the civil servants and military generals of Ming Dynasty were amazed that the Koreans would collapse in front of the weak Japanese army. How could they have imagined that the Ming army would have degenerated to this point 30 years later.

What's even more tragic is that the Ming army was not that the soldiers were incompetent, but that the generals were unwilling to fight at all.

Just like in the Battle of Songjin, Zu Dashou was determined to defend Jinzhou, and did not let the Qing army succeed for two full years.Especially in the 14th year of Chongzhen, Wu Bash, the guard of Jinzhou East Gate, surrendered the city, and the outer city of Jinzhou fell.The food surplus in the city was less than one month, and in the end even survived by eating corpses.

In the war history of Ming and Qing Dynasties, more than [-]% of them were Ming army leaders who cowardly avoided battles, resulting in major defeats. (To be continued.)