Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 54
After Wang Wei separated from Wang Yan, he urged the [-]-step army of the Zhongyi Battalion to rush to Yangzhou, but because they carried artillery and supplies, and it was rainy for days, they marched very slowly.

Wang Wei dragged himself through the rain and mud all the way, and when he arrived at Zhenjiang, it was already May [-]st, and Wang Yan in Yangzhou City had already held firm for six days.

When Wang Wei arrived, Liu Liangzuo's troops also rushed outside Yangzhou City.

Liu Liangzuo was a Zuowei from Datong, Shanxi. During the reign of Chongzhen, he commanded troops to fight against the peasant army in Susong, Luzhou, and Lu'an.

After the Jiashen Incident, in order to prevent the Shun army from attacking Jianghuai, Ma Shiying recruited Liu Liangzuo to lead his troops into Weinan Zhili. He burned, killed and looted all the way into the Jianghuai area.

When Liu Liangzuo arrived at Linhuai, the people heard that his military discipline was extremely poor, and they were raped and robbed by his soldiers along the way, so they dared not let him enter the city.

When Liu Liangzuo saw the people sticking to the city, he was furious and sent troops to attack, but he couldn't attack for a long time. Ma Shiying quickly intervened and asked him to move to Shou County.

During the battle between Fu and Lu, Liu Liangzuo felt that it was profitable to own Fu, so he was granted the title of Guangchang Bo. After dividing the residence, he kept threatening the court by force, asking for money and food.

When Zuobu went east, he didn't do his best. Although Liu Liangzuo was a minister of Ming Dynasty in name, he was a speculative warlord in essence, and he had no loyalty at all.

It was not accidental that Liu Liangzuo was sent to the Qing Dynasty. Apart from the fact that he was a speculator who sought advantages and avoided disadvantages, his younger brother Liu Liangchen also played a very important role.

In the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631), during the Battle of Dalinghe, Liu Liangchen was a guerrilla general under the command of Zu Dashou. After the defeat, he surrendered to the Qing court.

The Qing army marched south and encircled Yangzhou. Liu Liangzuo felt that the Ming dynasty was over. At the same time, the Qing court sent his younger brother Liu Liangchen to surrender, promising to raise the flag and confer title.

Liu Liangzuo wanted to find another way to escape from the wrecked ship of Daming, and the two sides hit it off immediately. After leaving Chizhou for a few days, he wrote down the list and voted for Duoduo.

In addition to the 10 soldiers and horses brought out from Chizhou in the town of Liu Liangzuo, there were nearly [-] soldiers in the area around Shouzhou, where he was stationed in the north of the Yangtze River, with a total of [-] soldiers and horses, all of which belonged to the Qing court.

Wang Weibing went to Zhenjiang, and Liu Liangzuo also rushed to Yangzhou with 4 horses to wait for the dispatch of the new master Duoduo.

Yangzhou could not be attacked for a long time, and Duoduo was worried that the Ming army on the south bank would cross the river to support him. When he was anxious, Liu Liangzuo led the troops and asked him to add [-] soldiers, which made Duduo very happy.

Liu Liangzuo's 4 troops were deployed along the north bank of the river, while the reinforcements of the Ming Dynasty in Zhenjiang City were only [-] infantry from the Loyalty Battalion brought by Wang Wei.

Since Zheng Hongkui reported to the imperial court to ask for reinforcements, there was no one in Zhenjiang except for Wang Wei's troops. On the other hand, the strength of the Qing army outside Yangzhou continued to grow.

Since Duoduo played Dorgon, please send reinforcements from Shandong, and went south to attack Yang, the Qing court was running at full speed.

On May [-], Dorgon ordered Gushan Ezhenzhun Pagoda in Shandong to lead a partial division from Shandong to the south, and received Li Chengdong and other high-ranking generals.

Liu Zeqing, Marquis of Dongping, one of the four towns, heard that the Qing soldiers were approaching Huaiyang, and had no intention of resisting, so he hurriedly handed over the land, people, soldiers, horses, and food in the [-] prefectures and counties of Huaiyang to Bai Yongfu, the general under his command. However, I fled to sea with a group of civil and military personnel, including Wang Yongji, governor of Shandong, and Shi Tianyang, governor of Caodu.

Wang Yan was trapped in Yangzhou, and the news was blocked. He didn't know the situation facing Daming. It didn't change much because he occupied Yangzhou. It was still precarious, and it was still in danger.

At this time, he was on the west city, watching the artillery team, engaged in artillery battle with the Qing army artillery formation on the high slope of the west city.

The artillery of the Qing army is placed on the high slope outside the west city. You can look down at the city and point to where to fight. It is very unfavorable to the defenders of the west city, especially the northwest gap, which has not been repaired so far. Hundreds of thousands of defenders will die every day. The army, more than the total number of Ming troops killed in other directions, is extremely unfavorable for the defense of the city.

Wang Yan wanted to change the unfavorable situation. He had to either take down the high ground outside the west city, or use the artillery on the city to suppress the Qing army's artillery formation. , It is okay to defend against the city, but he can't beat the Qing army when he goes out of the city. He has no chance to take advantage of it, so he can only rely on the artillery on the city to fight against the Qing army.

Wang Yan was not proficient in artillery warfare, so he had been beaten by the Qing army's artillery before. Fortunately, He Gang recommended him, and Chen Yujie, the chief of the Ministry of War, slowly reversed his disadvantages and barely fought to a draw with the Qing army.

Seeing that Chen Yujie commanded the artillery team with ease, he was a hundred times stronger, so Wang Yan was naturally happy. After some understanding, he found out that Chen Yujie was the nephew of the late Ming minister Yu Guangqi.

Xu Guangqi was an official to the Minister of Rites of the Chongzhen Dynasty, a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, and a second assistant to the cabinet. He was also a well-known scientist, proficient in Western learning, and good at casting cannons and firearms. Chen Yujie was influenced by him since he was a child.

He is knowledgeable, well versed in astronomy, familiar with the secrets of the use of guns in the West, and is proficient in city defense. He has made great contributions to the imperial court and was named Doctor Qin Tianjian by the imperial court.

After the martyrdom of Emperor Lie, Emperor Hongguang succeeded to the throne. He lived in the south and was recruited to Yangzhou by Shi Kefa. He was responsible for training soldiers to use muskets and artillery as a military officer.

When the Qing army besieged Yangzhou, he happened to be trapped in the city and was rescued by officers and soldiers of the Zhongyi Battalion.

Firearms are a sharp weapon for defending the city. Wang Yan can get a talent like Chen Yujie, so he naturally wants to reuse them, and he is ordered to command the artillery team.

There was constant cannon fire inside and outside Yangzhou City, and a great battle was going on that related to the life and death of Ming Dynasty. In Hubei and Jiangxi, another battle related to the life and death of Dashun was also coming to an end.

In March, Zuo Liangyu raised the banner of rebellion under the pretext of receiving a secret edict from Emperor Lie's "Prince", and the whole army sailed eastward by boat and set fire to Wuchang.

Li Zicheng led a large army to station in Wuchang City, which had become a deserted land. Soon after, the Qing army of Azig's troops followed and surrounded Wuchang.

Li Zicheng ordered Liu Zongmin and Tian Jianxiu to lead 5000 troops to fight, and was defeated by the Qing army. He was terrified and dared not fight the Qing army again, so he gave up Wuchang and continued eastward.

At this time, the Dashun Army was already in a very difficult situation. The Jingxiang Four Mansions easily fell into the hands of the Qing Army.

The Dashun army had to protect the family members of the army, guard against the Qing army, and try to raise food for the more than [-] troops everywhere, so the command suddenly became chaotic.

The Dashun army invaded Jing and Yue, went down to Qi and Huang, raised food everywhere, was in chaos, and no longer had a clear direction of battle. The Qing soldiers who fell behind.

In the first ten days of April, the Dashun army was caught up by Azig again at the entrance of Fuchi in Yangxin. Unprepared, the camp was broken by the Qing army and suffered heavy losses.

(End of this chapter)