Ming Zhengzhi, I am Zheng Kezang

Updated: 2012-10-30

The two edicts with similar content in the 34th year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty and July and August in the third year of Wuding in the Ming Dynasty surprised both the North and the South.No one would have thought that when the war was critical and the outcome was not yet decided, each crown prince would ignore the current situation and rashly launch an armed rebellion like ants shaking a tree in the fundamental place.

Although the prince in the south, in the highest name of eradicating power and traitors and returning to the royal family, may have a little more reason than the prince in the north who is unfaithful and unfilial, but "people of insight" all regard the two as ignorant A reckless person who doesn't know how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.Therefore, it is asserted that even if he is lucky enough to be in the position, it may not be beneficial to the overall situation.

Of course, after the news from the north reached the south, Zheng Fan was heartbroken. He thought that the change in Nanjing and the retreat of Liu Ning'an's main force to the east made the Northern Expedition army lose the opportunity to win in one fell swoop, so he treated the Ming room with cold eyes and cursed; Kangxi in Beijing also beat his chest and feet for a while after receiving the news from the south, thinking that Chang Ning's unauthorized retreat had lost a good chance to turn the tide of the war, so he ordered him to be seized as the commander-in-chief and replaced by Prince Zhuang Boguoduo.

Fortunately, after all, the coaches of both sides are the heroes of the moment. If they know that they have missed it, they will miss it. Adjusted his mentality and turned his attention to the next battle.

Where will the next possible battle take place?As long as you know a little history, you can spot the target at a glance.Yes, to guard the river, you must guard the Huai River, but without Jingxiang, there is no Huai River. Not only Kangxi understood this truth, but Zheng Kezang also understood it.That being the case, the ongoing siege of Wuchang is bound to attract the attention of both sides.

So both Kangxi and Zheng Kezang began to try their best to accumulate troops to Huguang.However, standing in front of Zheng Jun is Anqing, who is strangling the throat of the Yangtze River. If this thorn in the flesh cannot be pulled out, not only will he not be able to use Huguang on a large scale, but he will also worry about the safety of the newly acquired Huainan and Jiangbei.As far as the Qing army is concerned, if Cewang Arabtan, who occupies Gansu, is in Longwangshu or is unwilling to withdraw his troops, then the Green Banner soldiers in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and other provinces that are pinned down in Shaanxi cannot easily be transferred south.

what to do?The two sides can only compete for time to see whether Zheng Jun took down Anqing first, or the Qing court appeased the Xizhun army first.Of course, the battle under the city of Wuchang is also very important, and it can be said that it will determine the order of the entire battle.

On August 25, Zheng Jun, the first batch of reinforcements, arrived in Ruichang.On the second day, Zheng Jun, who had no time to rest, advanced by land and water, broke through the blocking of the Qing army in one fell swoop, and smoothly rescued Xingguo Prefecture (Yangxin), which had been besieged for nearly a month.

In the early morning of August 27, part of the Yangtze River Fleet of the Zheng Jun Navy attacked from Yangxin. At noon, it successfully intercepted a Qing army grain transport fleet on the river in Wuchang County (Ezhou) near Chibi on the east slope, captured 23 large and small grain ships and captured The 800 reinforcements of the Qing army who crossed the river with the boats were the first in turn. The water traffic between the Qing army from Wuchang (county) to Jiayu was once again interrupted. The Qing army was forced to smuggle at night to maintain the supplies of the troops in the south of the Yangtze River. Naturally, the efficiency was much lower. forward.

On August 28, part of the Yangtze River Fleet, which went west to Dongting to reinforce Wang Xinhua's Ministry, sailed to Jingzhou, releasing guns along the way to disperse civilian ships.Jingzhou trembled when the alarm came, and the Qing army did not dare to meet Zheng Jun on the river, so they planned to use iron locks across the river to stop Zheng Jun from advancing.However, the iron cables in Hengjiang became the raw material for Zheng Jun to return to the furnace to make iron, and the connection between the two sides of the Jingjiang River was still blocked.It's just that the number of ships of Zheng Jun's navy is limited, and they can't be too scattered in the enemy-controlled area. Therefore, the Qing army can still continue to communicate with Jiangnan through the upper reaches of Jingzhou.

On August 29, Zheng Kezang, who led his troops to join forces with Hong Lei, inspected the three armies under Anqing City, and the cheers soaring to the sky could be heard even in the city.Just as Anhui governor and Anhui admiral Wang Weizhen tried his best to appease his subordinates and strengthen his will to defend the city, Zheng Kezang ordered Huguang general Hong Gongzhu and Jiangxi general Wu Shu to switch positions.At the same time, Zheng Kezang urgently ordered Wu Shu, who was in Nanchang, to rush to Xingguo Prefecture to preside over the overall situation, and then deployed two divisions of the Longxiang Army to reinforce Wuchang.

On the same day, Zheng Kezang appointed Xi Daping as the general of Huainan to preside over the deployment along the Huaihe defense line.In view of the fact that there were still [-] divisions, including the Third Xinjian Division, and more than [-] members of the new attached army under the city of Anqing at this time, Zheng Kezang allocated three of them to the north to transfer to Lufeng, and at the same time ordered Yongwei to Yang Bokang, the commander of the First Division of the Army, led his troops and [-] newly attached troops into Lu'an Zhili Prefecture to prevent the Qing army from sneaking into the theater from the northern foot of the Dabie Mountains and the south of Yingzhou Fun.

On September [-], the Qing army besieging Wuchang broke through Caobu Gate (also known as Wusheng Gate, at Jiyu Bridge) in the north of the city. Troops were dispatched to the front lines of Pinghumen and Pinghumen for emergency rescue.Although it took a lot of effort to repel the Qing army's invasion, but at the same time, the Sanmen of Xicheng sent people to call.

Seeing that the city of Wuchang was about to be destroyed, there was a sudden rumble of cannons on the river.Seeing that the situation was not good, the rampant Yangtze River Fleet approached Jiangnan decisively and launched a fierce shelling on the rear positions of the Qing army attacking the three city gates.Shanahai, the coach of the Qing army who commanded the siege, had no choice but to order the withdrawal of the Qing army who had already boarded the top of Wuchang city because he was worried that Zheng Jun's sailors would land at a critical moment and hit the Qing army in the back.Therefore, the Wuchang Fucheng was lucky enough to be preserved that day.

However, the exhaustion in the city was evident, and if the reinforcements did not arrive, the city might be destroyed just around the corner.

For this reason, Wu Shu, who was sick and rushed to Xingguo Prefecture to command the war, did not dare to neglect after hearing the news, and immediately drove an army of [-] to Wuchang County.The Qing army besieging Wuchang was forced to relax its attack on Wuchang Fucheng due to external pressure, and instead implemented a siege. The main force moved eastward, trying to defeat the Zheng army who came to relieve the siege first.

At this time, the Wang Xinhua Department on the southern front also marched northward under the repeated strict orders of Zheng Kezang, and the counties such as Tongcheng, Chongyang, and Puqi that had just joined the enemy immediately switched their gates and declared their allegiance to Ming Dynasty, a vivid scene was staged The wonder of changing the Dawang Banner at the top of the city.

However, Wang Xinhua's pace was still too slow. After the three counties of Tongcheng changed flags, most of the Liu tribes who surrendered to the Qing in Jiayu, Xianning, Tongshan and other places had the intention of joining the Qing Dynasty, but Wang Xinhua was worried that he would be attacked by the main force of the Qing army after advancing aggressively. Therefore, it has been too late to promise.Since the threat from the southern front was not great, the Qing army was able to dispatch it calmly and devote all its energy to dealing with the Zheng army coming from the west.

However, Zheng Jun, who entered Wuchang County along the river, encountered a sudden crisis: the coach Wu Shu came here with an illness.

Under such circumstances, several commanders at the same level either said to retreat or stand firm or advocated to continue to advance. They could not persuade each other, so they had to send ships to Anqing to report and ask for instructions, and on the other hand, under the cover of the fleet Build a camp and stick to it.

The Qing army was unaware of what had happened to Zheng Jun, but the secretiveness of Zheng Jun's actions gave Shanahai a chance.

Therefore, after a night of military discussions, the Qing army decided to attack immediately and defeat Zheng Jun before he built his camp.However, Shanahai never imagined that Zheng Jun used cement to build a number of fortifications in a short period of time. Although they were not very strong because they were not completely dry, his plan to take advantage of the situation went bankrupt. up.

Relying on the existing fortifications, the divisions of Zheng's army bombarded them far away, and used rifles near them. In addition, the red single boats on the river frequently fired artillery to assist in the battle. Although the Qing army attacked several times and suffered heavy casualties, they did not gain much. , Not even one of Zheng Jun's strongholds was conquered.

The frustrated Shanahai was not willing to stop there. He wanted to cut off Zheng Jun's food road instead, but Zheng Jun had naval divisions to assist in the battle, and the rolling Yangtze River was a natural channel that the Qing army could not block. bankruptcy.As a last resort, the Qing army had no choice but to build a stronghold against the city and form a confrontation with the Zheng army.In this way, Wang Xinhua's northward marching troops became the key to the battle.

However, the Wang Department did not have this awareness. After several days of hesitation, the Wang Xinhua Department finally moved northward slowly.However, the opportunity has been missed. General Li Gao of Liu Junbu, who originally agreed to join the royal department, was once again seduced by the price offered by the Qing army, and refused to accept the royal department.

Shanahai seized this opportunity and sent a cavalry team of more than 1000 horsemen to attack from a distance of hundreds of miles.The royal family who was attacking Xianning did not expect that the Qing army would appear in front of them so quickly, so when they were caught off guard, more than ten thousand soldiers would collapse on the spot, and the Qing army took advantage of the situation to cover up and kill them. To describe it, and lost Chongyang and Tongcheng, which had just been acquired, and fled back to Yueyang without armor and armor.

But Shanahai's victory did not help the overall situation. Just the day before he won the Xianning victory, Hong Gongzhu, who had just been transferred to Jiangxi General Army, led three and a half divisions of Zheng Jun in the three battles of Fenyi, Yichun, and Luxi. After defeating the Hunan Qing army that had invaded in succession, they took advantage of the trend to counterattack and enter Hunan.

Mao Hongyan, the Hunan general who had been gearing up for a long time, also took the opportunity to move his troops northward. The two ministries formed a joint force and approached Changsha from the southeast.

And more than a dozen red single ships of the Yangtze River Fleet still in Dongting Lake broke through the obstruction of the Qing army navy and entered the Xiangjiang River.

Seeing that Zheng's army was powerful and invincible, Sang E, governor of Hunan and admiral of Hunan, abandoned Changsha city early in the morning, and fled back to Baoqing with more than ten thousand remnants in panic.

The Zhennan General Si Ge, who had just been appointed by the Qing court, had nothing to do at this time, so he had to lead another 6000 people to flee back to Changde.

In this way, the threat to the south of Yueyang can be considered to be completely eliminated, and the main force of Wang Xinhua's Department can concentrate on dealing with the northern front war without hesitation.It is precisely because he understands the current situation, and at the same time, in order to wash away the image of ineffective combat before, Wang Xinhua personally supervised and led the reorganized three divisions to move northward on the third day after changing hands in Changsha.

As a result, the Huguang Qing army will face the unfavorable situation of the north-south attack.

Shanahai is also a veteran in the battlefield. He understands that the only way to solve the current crisis is to disregard the main force of the Zheng army in Wuchang County and gather the Qing army that surrounds Wuchang Fucheng all the way south.But if he really wants to do this, he must disregard possible actions in two aspects.Not only that, but since Zheng Jun's navy was traveling across the river, he also had to consider whether the grain and fodder could last until Yueyang was conquered.

So Shanahai, who was tossing and turning after thinking about it, decided to withdraw his troops voluntarily, but he had to ask Zheng Jun's Yangtze River Fleet whether he would agree to the withdrawal.Therefore, Shanahai bluffed every day during the day, and then rushed across the night with multiple forces, and withdrew most of the forces across the Yangtze River before the Zheng army from the north and south could react.In the end, the Yangtze River Fleet sailing at night discovered that the enemy's situation had changed, so at least the Qing army was left behind.