I

  Chapter 420 418 [Man Qing wants a decisive battle]

  Liu Liangzuo went out of the city in fear, and led his troops only three miles before he was discovered by sentry cavalry crouching in the dark.

   "Woo!"

  The sharp copper whistle sounded in the night, and the nearby dragoons came quickly, and then they blew their horns to call for more friendly troops.

  Lu Xiangsheng's cavalry are also on standby near the camp, feeding the horses with night food at the moment. Hearing the sound of the horn, he immediately got on his horse and jogged towards the direction of the sound of the horn.

  Liu Liangzuo wanted to flee back to the city, but he was worried that the city wall would be bombarded by artillery. It would be better to surrender now than to surrender at that time.

  However, the "warriors" of the Thousand Night Raiders were selected from various ministries. It is difficult for these "warriors" to obey the abnormal military orders issued temporarily, or they cannot react at all.

  Liu Liangzuo was about to surrender, but before he gave an order, the soldiers under his command started to flee—they came to rob the camp, and since they were discovered by the enemy, they naturally ran away subconsciously.

   More than two hundred dragoons wanted to fire their guns, but when they saw the enemy fleeing, they immediately rode their horses to kill them.

  After fighting for a while, Lu Xiangsheng led the Xiao cavalry to kill, and the battle situation was settled in an instant, and the Qing soldiers began to disperse and flee.

   These guys, five hundred cavalry and five hundred infantry, all carried firelighters. The hooves of the horses were wrapped in cotton cloth, and the horses' mouths were covered with cages to avoid making noise during the march.

  Liu Liangzuo fled when he saw the situation was bad, without even a chance to surrender.

   He was chased outside the city by several dragoons, and when he saw the city gate opened, he rushed in immediately.

  The Datong dragoons did not dare to follow, because there was an urn inside, even if Lu Xiangsheng led thousands of cavalry to enter, they would be locked in the urn and shot from all directions.

  A thousand soldiers were scrapped, only Liu Liangzuo fled back alone, and a few cavalry slipped away, not knowing which direction they fled.

  The guards in the city have nothing to say, so they can only continue to guard the city of sorrow.

the next day.

   Bombardment, Bombardment, Bombardment!

  The gap in the city wall is getting bigger and bigger, and it is only a matter of time before it collapses.

  …

  Dorgon was in Fugou County. When he learned that Xiangcheng and Shenqiu had fallen, he immediately decided to follow suit.

   In Shangshui, Chenzhou, and Xihua counties, Dorgon only left a small number of troops. It is nothing more than attracting Jiang Liang's fifth division to capture, not only can lengthen the fifth division's supply line, but also allow the fifth division to divide its forces to defend the city.

   When the time comes, send cavalry to cut off the food roads, and then the army will besiege and annihilate them!

  The idea was quite good, but as a result, Zhao Han sent a military order, not only did the Fifth Division not continue to attack, but even spit out Xiangcheng and Shenqiu that had already been occupied. They even retreated for two hundred miles, directly to Yingzhou (Fuyang), and even lost Taihe County, which had been divided into households and land for more than a year.

   Just one word: Steady!

  Jiang Dashan's Sixth Division is similar, defending Yancheng without moving. With the strength and food of the Sixth Division, it will be no problem to guard for half a year. If Dorgon is awesome, he will lead his troops around Yancheng and go to the hinterland of the Datong Army to rob everywhere.

   Zhao Han is not the court of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty was ravaged by the Manchu Qing in the Gyeonggi area, and even the actual strength of the Manchu Qing was not clear.

   As long as Dorgon dares to come, Zhao Han will lose population and food at most, and he can definitely mobilize the army to close the door and beat the dogs.

Just when Dorgon was hesitating and didn't know whether to pursue him or not, the messenger sent military information: "His Royal Highness, the main force of the enemy army is besieging Shangqiu, with fifty or sixty cannons. There are also three giant cannons, there may be seven or eight One thousand catties!"

   "How strong is the enemy army?" Dorgon asked.

  The messenger handed over the military information: "There are countless, my master is asking for reinforcements."

   Countless, really countless.

  Outside Shangqiu City, although there are only Zhao Han's pro-army and two divisions, there are only more than 20,000 regular troops. But there are many peasants, soldiers and peasants, as well as a large number of hungry people and rebels, and the camp stretches for more than ten miles.

  How does this make the defenders in the city count?

  Dorgon opened the letter and read it repeatedly, but he couldn't find a description of the enemy's strength. The letter only said that the enemy camp stretched more than ten miles.

   Camped for more than ten miles, because Zhao Han was afraid of being affected by the hungry people, so he threw the hungry people far away. Moreover, when a plague was found among the hungry people, Zhao Han ordered not to gather in large numbers.

  After thinking about it, it was difficult for Dorgon to make a decision, so he recruited his generals to discuss the matter.

Man Dahai, the grandson of Nurhaci, the Duke of the Manchu Dynasty, and the owner of the banner with the red flag, said: "This place is no better than Liaodong, and the puppet is not the same as Ming Dynasty. It is difficult to get news back from the spies we send out, and it is not easy to buy spies. In this way The situation of the enemy army is unknown, how can we let him come a few ways, and I just go all the way? Those southern barbarians, it is easy to call, but it is difficult to get news when they go back!"

   "Yes, let's just say that in Yingzhou City, even beggars can't be found!" The one who spoke was Nurhachi's nephew, Prince Heshuo Zheng, and Jierhalang, the owner of the Xianglan Banner.

  Manchu Qing entered the customs several times to plunder Daming, and fought in Beizhili, and the news was better than that of Ming. In addition to having businessmen as spies, they also like to buy beggars and refugees, and even secretly support beggar gangs.

  The two counties of Yingzhou and Taihe are very strange. The secret agents of the Qing Dynasty wanted to buy beggars in the city, but found that there were no beggars in the city.

  It's very simple. The population in northern Anhui is scarce, so Zhao Han has to immigrate from the south.

  Under such circumstances, how can a beggar be allowed to idle around?

  Beggars in the city, as long as they are good at hands and feet, they will all be thrown to the countryside to divide the fields. If they don't know how to farm, they will learn from the immigrants. Disabled people are admitted to nursing homes, where they learn to weave baskets and straw sandals. Anyway, they have to support themselves.

  As for the businessman's secret work, since last year, he has cut off business contacts with the Manchu land.

   Once you find merchants coming from the north, you are not allowed to put them back. There are checkpoints along the way. Even the merchants under Zhao Han's rule are not allowed to go to the north to do business again!

  City spies are difficult, but rural spies are even more difficult.

  The mayor of the town, the head of the village, and the peasant association strictly check the migrant population. Not only to guard against spies, but also to prevent the plague. Under group defense and group control, farmers in Taihe County alone seized more than a dozen spies.

  Dorgon could only obtain a small amount of information about Anhui, and although his eyes were smeared, he was not too far from being blind.

  In this situation, do you want to lead a large army to fight in the annihilation battle?

   Dreaming!

  When Dorgon's strategy of luring the enemy failed, Zhao Han ordered the other roads to stick to it, and his plan of "going only one road" was shattered.

  The owner of Zhenghongqi, Daishan, is old and has been suppressed by Dorgon in disguise. Now he is living in Beijing for the elderly. His fourth son Wakda sneered: "We will fight as the regent wants to fight. You don't need to discuss with us..."

   "Fourth brother, stop talking nonsense!" Man Dahai immediately scolded.

  Wakda laughed and said, "Hehe."

  The top nobles of the Eight Banners have never been of one mind.

  Wakda and Man Dahai's father, Daishan, was the second son of Nurhachi and was the first successor to the Later Jin regime.

  After Nurhachi's death, the post-Jin regime was precarious, almost on the verge of collapse. Daishan felt that he could not control the situation, so he took the initiative to give way to Huang Taiji, and Huang Taiji also respected him very much.

  So, Daishan and his son Yuetuo, the father and son actually owned Zhenghongqi and Xianghongqi.

   It's just that, including Yue Tuo, several of Daishan's sons died in the army, which is a bit strange.

  After Dorgon embraced Fulin, Daishan's other son, Shuotuo, died even more confusingly. It turned out that the Eight Banners agreed to Shunzhi's succession, and Shuo Tuo jumped out to support Dorgon again, and was inexplicably sentenced to death for the crime of disorderly government.

  Although Shuotuo was dissatisfied with his father's domestic violence and tried to rebel against the Qing Dynasty twice, but this strange way of death is still enough nonsense.

  Now, Daishan has been thrown in Beijing, and the two red flags have enough reasons to be dissatisfied with Dorgon.

  The weird Wakda in front of me was punished by Fulin forces in history. He had just made great contributions in pacifying Shanxi, but when he came back, he was involved in a small case. He was investigated for joint responsibility and dismissed from the six ministries, and then he was dismissed from the post of discussing politics. He died at home a few months later.

  Dorgon was really ruthless. After Hauge was beaten up, he aimed at the two red flags of Daishan, and put his hand into the two yellow flags of Emperor Shunzhi.

  At this moment, it is the time when the power struggle between the Manchu and Qing Eight Banners is intensifying.

  Dorgon is taking power, once he loses the battle, I don't know what troubles will happen.

  Dorgon asked Kong Youde: "King Gongshun thinks how to fight?"

  In this situation, Kong Youde dared not talk too much, and quickly said: "It's all at the request of His Royal Highness the Regent."

Ji Erhalang said: "Since the main forces of the Puppet and Nanban besiege Shangqiu, they should lead their troops to a decisive battle. Regardless of whether he is besieging the city to fight for reinforcements, there are more than 60,000 Eight Banners soldiers, and tens of thousands of defected elites will join the more than 100,000 Shangqiu defenders. .Is there any battle in the world that cannot be fought?"

Man Dahai said: "That's the reason. You can let a few Han generals lead troops to go around the hinterland of Puppet Tong to plunder, forcing the enemy troops in Yancheng and Yingzhou to return to deal with them. In this way, the enemy in Shangqiu will have no reinforcements. , we have more than 100,000 people to fight, how can we not beat him?"

   "It's time to fight like this," Wakda said, "Who are the Eight Banners of Manchuria afraid of? If more than 100,000 people have been killed, there are millions of enemies who are not afraid!"

   The top nobles of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, although their tactics were steady and steady, they liked to take risks strategically, and many times they won by gambling. But every time they fight against Daming, they can win the bet.

  Dorgon saw that everyone agreed with this proposal, and he himself felt that he could fight, so he said: "Then go to Shangqiu for a decisive battle!"

  When Dorgon led the army to Shangqiu, he also ordered Wu Sangui and other generals to gather cavalry to plunder Suiping, Shangcai, Taihe and other counties. In this way, the Datong army in the middle of Henan can be restrained, so that these Datong army cannot go to reinforce the Shangqiu battlefield.

  Wu Sangui received the military order, and took the remaining Guanning iron cavalry, as well as some surrendered border generals, and the whole cavalry team went south to plunder.

After crossing the Lishui, Wu Sangui said to the surrendered generals: "A team of three hundred cavalry should only kill and set fire. Don't grab too much property, otherwise the enemy will not be able to chase you fast. Each person should grab at most ten catties of grain and bring them with you. Those who don’t leave will be burned!”

   All the surrendered generals couldn't bear it.

   It's not that they can't bear to burn, kill and loot, but they can't bear to burn food. All these motley crews are short of food.

  Wu Sangui also said: "All the houses along the way will be burned down. Don't chase after the enemy. After five days, cross the river and go back. Don't be chased by those cavalry with guns."

  (end of this chapter)