Back to the end of the Ming Dynasty when the emperor

Chapter 285 It's Time to Activate the Engineer Battalion
In fact, Gao Xiangguo didn't bring much food and salaries this time. At most, it could support Zhu Yousong's 9 or [-] people for about [-] days. With the original inventory, the food and salaries could last until the beginning of April at most.

Because it is the season of spring famine, and it is difficult to raise food and salaries, we can pay some from Zhu Yousong's treasury, and some from Zhu Yousong's internal funds, and some from the rich households in the south of the Yangtze River, but most of the rich households in the south of the Yangtze River are rich and unkind When it is said that they are asked to pay for the country's war with their own money and food, they will become poorer and poorer one by one.

There is no way Gao Hongtu took the lead in asking civil and military officials to raise donations again. How much is the first-rank civil official, how much is the military officer, how much is the second-rank civil and military, and how much is the third-rank civil and military. Collect 200 million taels of silver and [-] shi of grain and grass.It is said that this batch of food and wages is not too small.

But now the Ming Dynasty is fighting on the third front. Jiujiang in Jiangxi Province and Kaizhou and Shanjiang in Henan Province are all fighting. In the final analysis, the war is fighting for money. Now the third-line food and payment are in short supply. If the front-line food and payment supply is insufficient, it will definitely affect the morale of the army and lead to mutiny. Therefore, all three lines have to be supplied.

Now, in Kaizhou, Henan Province (today's Kaifeng area in Henan Province), the armies of Henan and Shandong provinces of the Ming Dynasty are fighting with nearly 7 Qing troops led by Duosheng. Although these [-] horses are not many, they are mainly composed of Eight Banners cavalry. , with the assistance of a powerful traitor team, extremely fierce and difficult to defeat.

Years ago, Governor Chen Qianxun of Henan Province and two general officers Yuan Shu and Zheng Longfang lost 10 horses in a row. Many of the recovered lost land fell into the hands of the Qing army. In desperation, they asked Zhu Yousong for help. Because Zhu Yousong was busy with the Jiujiang war, he had to ask Huang Dede, the commander of Shandong, to support him. In order to control the two groups of people, act in unison, and fight against the enemy in unison, Zhu Yousong appointed Lu Jiude as the governor of the two provinces, the governor of Henan and Shandong. Provincial soldiers and horses are fighting against the Tartars. They have fought each other since the end of the year, and they have won and lost each other.

Therefore, Gao Hongtu divided the rations into two, and sent 100 million taels of silver and 100 shi of grain and grass to Lu Jiude and the others, and the remaining [-] million taels of silver and [-] shi of grain and grass were sent to Zhu Yousong. Che Yujiu big meat and so on.

Although Zhu Yousong knew that food and payment would soon become a problem, he must solve the problem quickly, and then find a way to solve the problem of food and payment, otherwise there would be chaos without a fight, because Zhu Yousong understood the principle of food and grass before the soldiers and horses were moved.

But the battle in front of us has to be fought. Take Jiujiang and Wuchang, etc., let Zuo Liangyu and his son control a large area of ​​land to return to the court, completely wipe out this group of national thieves Han Xun, and drive away the tartars. From time to time, we can collect some more from the landlords and rich households in this area, which can solve some urgent needs. It will be easy to get together until the summer grain comes down. As for the money, we can think of other ways, Zhu Yousong planned this way.

However, no matter how tight the food and salary are, Zhu Yousong is never stingy when it comes to spending money, especially for the army, he is willing to spend money. Power comes out of the barrel of a gun, and the soldiers are working hard for his Ming Dynasty. It is never difficult to treat the soldiers badly. Pursuing the principle of not defaulting on the general's rations, one or two pennies, and clear rewards and punishments.

Now I saw that another batch of food, wine and meat had been shipped in. After the food and money were put into the warehouse, the merits and demerits were registered in the register, and then Zhu Yousong sent an order to the whole army to congratulate the whole day.

Three days later, Zhu Yousong's [-] troops arrived at the foot of Jiujiang City, but no matter how Zhu Yousong set up a battle, the Qing army and traitors in the city acted like turtles, turning a deaf ear, closing the four doors, and turning a blind eye.

Zu Keyong advocated a strong attack, but Zhu Yousong looked at Jiujiang City, which was high and deep. Know that storming is not the solution.

Zhu Yousong passed the decree to retreat Wuli and set up the camp, and then called all the generals to study the strategy of breaking Jiujiang.Now Yuan Jixian, He Tengjiao and Du Yinxi, three civil servants who know the soldiers, also crossed the river and came to Zhu Yousong's imperial tent to help him make suggestions. Zhu Yousong will naturally not ignore these three great sages.

The generals were led by Zheng Hongkui, Liu Zhaoji, Zu Keyong, He Zhaoxiong, Zheng Cai, Zheng Damu, Li Quan, He Xuanjiao, Liu Chunhong, Luo Dai, Daoxing and dozens of high-ranking generals of men and women all came to the imperial tent.

After several days of recuperation, the arrow wound on He Zhaoxiong's leg was basically healed.

As usual, Zhu Yousong wanted to hear their opinions first.

These people have roughly two propositions.Most of the generals advocated a strong attack, especially Zu Keyong and Liu Zhaoji were competing to be the first echelon to attack the city. Although the casualties were heavy, they would definitely be able to take Jiujiang quickly with the support of artillery fire. Are there any undead in battle?It's fine if you can win, but what's the point of killing some people?

None of the three civil servants was in favor of a strong attack, especially Yuan Jixian. He had been an official in Jiujiang for many years and knew the city defense of Jiujiang well. A few months ago, he only brought a few thousand old and weak soldiers and some ordinary people to defend the city. With the support of artillery fire, Wan Dajun stormed in for nearly two days, which shows how easy it is to defend Jiujiang City.

And even though the Qing army has suffered consecutive defeats, there are still [-] Qing troops in the city. They are still outnumbered, and they are defending the dangerous city.How many people will be killed or injured in a strong attack, so they advocate outsmart, specifically, to besiege the city and fight for aid.

The reason why Nikan and Zuo Menggeng didn't fight was nothing more than waiting for reinforcements. They definitely didn't just sit and wait for death. Your Majesty can surround the city but not attack it. When their reinforcements arrive, try to eat the people they came to rescue. , Let them open the city and fight us at that time.

After listening to Zhu Yousong, he felt that these two plans had some truth, but he rejected them all.

Regarding the strong attack, Zhu Yousong’s reason for denying it is that there are artillery on the top of Jiujiang City, and the Qing army fired artillery at a distance, and they fired bows and arrows and rolling logs when they were close. The range of the artillery fire, the longer the distance, the weaker the firepower, and it is difficult to blast through the fortified city.Without the advantage of artillery fire, it is definitely not the work of a wise man to build a strong city with [-] soldiers and [-] hard work.

Zhu Yousong also disapproved of besieging the city and fighting for aid.Although Jiujiang City can be surrounded by a division of 10,000, when the reinforcements from the Qing army arrive, he can also dispatch troops to disperse the Qing army who came to rescue.Because he knows that the Tartars are very loud, but they are incomparable with the Han people. The real Tartars are no more than [-]+ people at best. Their arrogance is largely due to a large number of traitors and lackeys. There is also the army. It can be said that the number of traitors and Eight Banners far exceeds the number of real Tartars.

Now the Tartars are fighting against Ming's army in Henan on the southern front, and Li Zicheng's troops must be guarded in the west, and another force must be left to guard Gyeonggi. Under such circumstances, the Qing court simply cannot send a large number of reinforcements to support Jiujiang.

The remaining reinforcements are Zuo Menggeng's remaining troops, but Zuo Menggeng's troops in Wuhan and Yichang are too limited, and the main force is in Jiujiang.Even if tens of thousands of mobs come, it is not a worry, so Yuan Jixian's siege and reinforcements are a feasible way.

The reason why Zhu Yousong rejected this plan was that it would take too long to besiege the city and fight for aid. If this plan was adopted, the battle of Jiujiang would have lasted at least a month, and the battle in Wuchang, Yichang and other places would have dragged on for too long Now, the food and salary are limited, and the food and grass will not be available at that time. The lack of food and salary is a taboo for marching and fighting. In addition, there is a Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan, who is eyeing the imperial court, so it must be resolved quickly.

Zhu Yousong spoke out his reasons, and all the civil and military personnel present were silent. His Majesty was too thoughtful and thoughtful, but how to fight this battle, neither a strong attack nor a siege, the Qing army closed the city gate It's too tricky to be a shrinking turtle.

Zhu Yousong smiled, it's time to activate the engineer battalion!

(End of this chapter)