The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 455 Hong Chengchou's Lament

"The Ming army took advantage of the navy to harass and harass along the Qiantang. Our army had to be divided into different places. Even though there were more than [-] horses, it was almost impossible to move." Hong Chengchou said angrily, "The only thing we can do now is to clear the north bank of the Qiantang and retreat the army. Only where the southerners cannot use boats to attack can they take the initiative again. But these people don’t distinguish between priorities, and they are holding back everywhere in the court!"

This is also the countermeasure he came up with after thinking hard for a long time - to move all the people on the north bank of Qiantang to the north for a hundred miles, while the Qing army abandoned the towns along the coast and retreated to deploy defenses fifty or sixty miles offshore.

In this way, once the whereabouts of the Ming army's landing troops were revealed, if they wanted to return to the ship to circle around, they had to march for [-] miles—about two days—to reach the Qiantang River.

During this process, he, Hong Chengchou, had room to move around. Whether he was chasing and killing, or laying an ambush on the way back from the Ming army, etc., he could get the Qing army out of the unfavorable situation in front of him and find opportunities to severely injure the enemy.

But he did not expect that when he wrote this strategy as a memorial and sent it back to Beijing, he was immediately condemned by Feng Quan and others.

Yang Zhihe bowed to one side and said, "My lord, it is said that Chen Gebu, Wu Yushi and even Lord Tan Bai all agree with your proposition, but Feng Quan is the leader in the court, and people from the southern party have repeatedly presented their offerings to the north of Zhejiang by saying 'avoid war and fear the enemy'. Yudi insulted you with words such as "abandoning an important town without authorization", and even said "collaborating with Ming people", and there was a commotion in the Hall of Martial Heroes at that time."

Hong Chengchou let out a long sigh, but his thoughts drifted back to the Chongzhen Dynasty.

At that time, the Donglin Party was the leader and was fighting with the Eunuch Party and the Zhejiang Party. All the courtiers would only shout and scream, stretching their necks and desperately demanding that the frontline officers take the initiative to attack.Whoever dares to speak weaker will immediately be criticized by the enemy party as "fearing the enemy" and "traitoring the country", not to mention strategic contraction.

Under such an atmosphere in the DPRK and China, the generals in charge of the army could only attack blindly regardless of the strength of the troops, and many battles were lost because of this.

In the 14th year of Chongzhen, Jinzhou was besieged by Huang Taiji's army because Wu Bashi, the guard of Jinzhou's East Gate, surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.So Emperor Chongzhen sent him to lead an army of 13 to reinforce.

At that time, the Qing army built many camps near Jinzhou and set up iron barrel formations.Seeing this, he did not forcefully attack the besieging enemy army, but stationed his troops in Ningyuan, more than 100 miles away from Jinzhou, forming an echo with Jinzhou.

Then he attacked everywhere and repeatedly harassed the Qing army in Tashan and Daxingbao, causing heavy losses to the enemy. However, the Qing army was restrained by the Ningyuan Ming army and did not dare to attack Jinzhou City.

Just when his strategy of step-by-step and steady and steady strategy was achieving initial results, Chongzhen listened to the courtiers' words that Hong Chengchou "did not dare to attack the enemy" and "feared the war and retreated", and repeatedly ordered him to "advance troops as soon as possible" and make a quick decision.

He then wrote a letter to the imperial court, stating that "the enemy is in front, the soldiers are fierce and the battle is in danger, and there is no time to slow down. The dead will be buried, and the wounded will not rise. Within half a month, I will supervise the decisive battle... Jinzhou is urgent!"

But the imperial court refused to give him even this half-month buffer period, and sent Ma Shaoyu, Zhang Ruoqi and others to supervise the battle.

In desperation, he led his army to leave Ningyuan in July, and fought a decisive battle with the Qing army between Songshan and Xingshan.Unexpectedly, Azig burned the grain and grass he had hoarded in Bijia Mountain, and Wang Puyi, the commander-in-chief of Datong, retreated against his order, which eventually led to the collapse of the Ming army.

Afterwards, the Qing army took all the land of pine and brocade, and the defense system built by the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong for many years has since completely collapsed.

The Battle of Songjin will always be a thorn in Hong Chengchou's heart. He also surrendered to the Qing court after he was defeated and captured in this battle.He believed that the strategy at that time was not a big mistake, it was all caused by the rivalry between the court and China, and Chongzhen was partial to it, which ruined the entire Liaodong.

And now some people in the court criticize him for "avoiding war and fearing the enemy", how similar this is to the Chongzhen Dynasty!
He couldn't help but think of the night he surrendered.Concubine Zhuang said with certainty that the emperors of the Qing Dynasty were all sages, and the courts were pruned, and the officials were clear and bright. The Qing Dynasty must be a prosperous age of great harmony.But now it seems that the destructive military victory of the Qing army covered up all the problems. Now that there is a slight stalemate in the war, all kinds of ghosts and monsters immediately surfaced.

That's right, the courtiers are still the same people, and the party is still fighting, but it's just a change of emperor, can we expect earth-shaking changes?
He sighed again, "These people sit in the court, but they always dictate the war, and I will be killed by them sooner or later..."

Yang Zhihe nodded and said, "My lord, there is nothing we can do about it. All the courtiers only know that our army is more than [-] and the southern army is only [-] or [-], so they all think that the army is like a flood, and Fujian and Zhejiang will be captured overnight."

Hong Chengchou has recently received frequent reports from the mansions along the Qiantang River, knowing that no fewer than 8000 to [-] of his men and horses have been eaten, and he has long since lost his contempt for the Ming army. The eight banners of the state are not so easy to deal with."

He glanced at the memorials on the ground, and snorted coldly: "Conquer Fujian and Zhejiang? Then dispatch the warship to the old man quickly! Could it be that more than [-] troops swim across Qiantang?"

He looked at Yang Zhihe again and said, "By the way, where is Zheng Zhilong?"

Yang Zhihe's expression changed immediately, and he stammered: "Going back to the capital hall, this is another matter that has been marked here to report. Mrs. Zheng...was recalled to Bohai Sea by the regent to suppress the bright ships that harassed Tianjin and Shengjing." ..."

"what?!"

Hong Chengchou immediately lost his composure when he heard the words. Without Zheng Zhilong's navy, he would never be able to cross Qiantang to the south, and the situation of being repeatedly harassed by the Ming army along the river to the north bank will continue.

He grabbed Yang Zhihe and shouted: "Didn't you already send the Jiaodong navy to help defend Shengjing and other places? Why did you send Zheng Zhilong there again?!"

Cold sweat was already oozing from the latter's forehead, "The Tang newspaper that just came from Beijing... the Jiaodong navy was wiped out by the southerners, and not even a small boat that reported the news could escape. There was also civil unrest in Liaodong, and the mausoleum of the Taizu They were all almost destroyed by the rebellious army, and the court was shocked.

"The regent dare not take it lightly any longer. He has dispatched [-] capital battalions to Liaodong for assistance, and also summoned Zheng Zhilong's navy to make a detour with the enemy's ships."

Hong Chengchou was taken aback, the Jiaodong navy had thirty or forty warships anyway, even if they were defeated, they wouldn't even be unable to escape, right?

How did he know that Jianlu's [-] or [-] boats were not enough for the Ming Navy Expeditionary Force to fill their teeth.Zheng Chenggong first led the Jiaodong captive army into the deep sea with a small boat, and then the capital ships such as the Shaowu rushed out suddenly, and after a few rounds of salvos, they were basically settled.

Yang Zhihe whispered: "Perhaps there are Jiaodong Army generals who join the enemy."

Hong Chengchou's heart was moved, and he hurriedly ordered Lu Shiyang who was beside him: "Here, all the troops on the north bank of Qiantang stick to their respective jurisdictions and are not allowed to take half a step back!"

"Subordinates obey orders!"

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(End of this chapter)