I

  Chapter 623 620【The Eight Banners Soldiers Gradually Rotten】

  The Eight Banners Army of Manchuria, many hedgehogs gathered on the front lines of Sarhu, Jiefanzhai, Gulezhai, and Hetuala to prevent the Datong Army from breaking out from Fushun Pass.

   Send troops from here to Yehe City, the straight-line distance is 270 miles, and the whole journey needs to climb mountains and mountains.

   On the contrary, the Datong Army is closer. The Datong Cavalry Division stationed in Tieling, 120 miles to the northeast is Zhenyuan Fort. Further ahead is Zhenbei Pass, which is dozens of miles away to Yehe City, and the terrain along the way is relatively flat.

  The Eight Banners Army in the direction of Sarhu did not dare to transfer away at all. Daishan could only transfer 8,000 "elites" from other places to counter the rebellion.

  8,000 troops are enough for the expedition. After all, the Manchu Qing ruled the Yehe tribe for many years and firmly controlled the war horses there. The young and strong Yehe tribe who could fight were also organized into the Eight Banners, and the rest were all banner family members, and they didn't even have weapons and armor.

  However, fighting is not just about equipment.

Man Dahai found Daishan worriedly: "Father, a Haixi soldier in the Eight Banners Army, heard that Nan Chu rebelled, and fled back to his hometown one after another. They couldn't stop them, so they could only intercept and kill those who had already fled. Those who wanted to escape But those who haven’t escaped, we can’t kill them all, because if we act recklessly, it will lead to mutiny.”

   "How much did you escape?" Daishan asked.

  Man Dahai said: "The specific details are still unknown, but there are more than 2,000 known Haixi deserters in half a month."

   Daishan was silent.

  The four parts of Haixi have been at war with Jianzhou Jurchen for many years, and every family has a deep hatred. Hearing that his tribe has been reestablished, why would he still want to stay in Jianzhou?

  Of course, the more important reason is that they knew that the Manchu Qing would perish, and they didn't want to stay and be buried with them.

  There is also the treatment of the Eight Banners soldiers, which has plummeted compared to before.

  At that time in Nurhachi, the Eight Banners soldiers had no military pay, and the leaders of the various ministries brought Niulu to rob. During the Huangtaiji period, the Eight Banners soldiers began to be regularized, and the central government gathered the military power of the tribal leaders at the cost of paying the soldiers their military salaries. During Dorgon's period, the salary of the elite Eight Banners soldiers was as high as four taels of silver per month at their peak.

  Nowadays, the silver salary has been reduced to one tael, and the food and salary are often not enough. Even the Jianzhou soldiers are generally dissatisfied.

   "Da da da da!"

  A fast horse entered the city and went straight to Daishan's palace.

Holding the signboard of the urgent military report, the knight went all the way unimpeded. When he saw Dai Shan, he knelt and said, "His Royal Highness, there are more than 400 soldiers in Gule Village. They were led by their generals and abandoned the village over the mountain to vote. The Southern Barbarians of Fushun Pass!"

   "Understood." Daishan was physically and mentally exhausted, and waved the person away.

   These more than 400 Eight Banners soldiers are all from the Ula tribe.

  The Ula tribe also belonged to the Haixi Jurchen, and mainly lived in Heilongjiang, where the pity horses used in the wars of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties came from. After the Wula Tribe was destroyed, all the clan members were incorporated into the Zhengbai Banner, and most of them served as soldiers in the fourth and fifth positions of the Zhengbai Banner.

  Dorgon was not dead, but was under house arrest. Many people thought he was dead.

  Dorgon is the owner of the Zhengbai Banner, and all the troops were incorporated by Dayuer. Da Yuer is good at playing politics, but Daishan, Man Dahai and his son are in charge of the army, and Zhengbaiqi soldiers have always been disliked. The Jianzhou soldiers are fine, but the Haixi soldiers who are in the white flag are simply born by stepmothers.

  The Manchus, who were forcibly blended, were already full of internal conflicts, and now they are tantamount to a complete outbreak.

  Gule village is between Sarhu and Hetuala, and the soldiers of the Ula tribe stationed here cannot go back to their hometown. They were simply led by the officers, and ran collectively to join the Datong Army.

   "Father, we can't let this go on!" Man Dahai said urgently.

  Daishan said: "We must win a battle, and if we don't win a battle, the morale of the army will be unstable."

Man Dahai said: "But where are we going to win the battle now? The Nanmanzi is guarding the Liao Great Wall, only a hundred miles away from the capital (Hetuala). If our army moves, the Nanmanzi will definitely take the opportunity to fight out, and then even the capital It's all gone!"

  Daishan stopped talking again, because he couldn't help it.

   The Datong Army stationed in Liaoning has not done anything for a year, and the Manchu Qing side itself began to collapse. In addition to internal conflicts, the main reason is the lack of food and money. They simply cannot afford to support so many troops. Forcibly maintaining a large army will inevitably reduce their salaries.

  Man Dahai thought for a while, then lowered his voice and said, "It's better to get rid of the title of emperor and bow down to the one in Nanjing."

  Daishan suddenly opened his dim eyes, and wanted to scold him angrily, but said: "It's a way, but Emperor Zhao may not agree."

   "How will you know if you don't try?" Man Dahai said.

  The father and son really couldn't take it anymore, not to mention forcing the army, but also maintained a state of wartime confrontation. The Eight Banners soldiers who were supposed to go home to farm the land were forced to become professional soldiers. Tens of thousands of people were stationed on the front line to garrison the city.

  Sometimes, Daishan really wants to lead troops into a fight, and let God decide whether to win or not, which is better than consuming food and grass every day.

  Daishan sighed: "Wait a little longer, wait a little longer."

  Waiting for half a month, Daishan waited for the news of the defeat on the front line.

   The 8,000 troops who were ordered to put down the rebellion of Ye He's tribe ran more than 1,000 on the way.

   Some of the more than a thousand deserters belonged to Inner Mongolia, that is, the Mongols who could not get along in the grassland and moved to join the Qing Dynasty. Some of them are from the Wusu clan, whose hometown is not far to the east of Yehe City, and they just took the opportunity to escape and go back to farming, so fools would go to Yehe City to fight.

  The constant phenomenon of deserters caused the morale of the soldiers who hadn't escaped to drop day by day.

   What's more interesting is that the coach who went to the Yehe tribe to suppress the rebellion was a member of the Yehe tribe who had never led an army in battle—Da Yuer's confidant Leng Sengji.

  This appointment involves a power struggle between Dayuer's mother and son and Daishan's father and son.

   Leng Sengji is indeed very loyal. Although he is from the Yehe tribe, he vowed to put an end to the chaos in the Yehe tribe. It's a pity that the soldiers are disobedient. Not only are there more and more deserters, but those who don't escape are also slow-moving, and they can't walk a few miles in a day.

   "The marching of the Tartars is too slow, right? We have been waiting for more than ten days." Wang Fuchen, a living Lu Bu, led the cavalry in the ravine and kept complaining.

   "Da da da da!"

   "Report from the scouting horse, the enemy army is already more than ten miles away!"

  Nan Chu led only a few dozen Yehe cavalrymen, and followed Wang Fuchen and said, "General Wang, do we have enough troops?"

   "Three thousand knights are more than enough to kill the Tartars." Wang Fuchen sneered.

   Soon Wang Fuchen couldn't laugh anymore, and the enemy marched two miles northward. It was still early in the evening, and they actually camped on the spot. You have to wait until tomorrow at least before you can enter his ambush circle.

  Wang Fuchen complained: "These Tartar soldiers, the more they live, the more they go back, similar to the officers and soldiers of the previous Ming Dynasty. If they don't come, let's go over and attack the camp at night!"

  Ten miles away, Leng Sengji urged the soldiers to set up camp, and sent sentries to disperse the guard.

  Although he has never led a soldier, he has served as a bodyguard by Huang Taiji's side for many years. Moreover, he was superb in martial arts and skilled in bow and horse. When Zu Dashou surrendered to Huang Taiji, Huang Taiji specially held shooting activities to celebrate. Leng Sengji ranked first and was awarded a camel.

  The valley ahead is dangerous, and Leng Sengji dare not enter without authorization, and will wait until tomorrow to investigate before marching.

   Leng Sengji is too familiar with this mountainous area. He is not only a member of the Yehe clan, but also a relative of the leader of Yehe, and he is within the five uniforms with the rebellious Nan Chu.

  At night, Leng Sengji sleeps in his clothes, with his saber, bow and arrow at hand.

  Suddenly there was a noise, Leng Sengji woke up with a start, picked up a weapon and walked out. It was the sentinel he sent out, blowing the horn on the top of the mountain, obviously seeing an enemy army coming to attack at night.

   "Stand in camp!" Leng Sengji shouted.

  The sound of rumbling horseshoes came, but after revealing their whereabouts, Wang Fuchen no longer covered up, and led the cavalry to the Qing army camp at full speed.

  The distance between the two armies is still quite far, there are still three or four miles of land. As long as the Eight Banners soldiers guard the camp calmly, they will not be easily defeated.

   But the Eight Banners soldiers are really dying, more than half of the elite died, and they mainly stayed on the front line of Saerhu to guard against the Datong Army. Many of the thousands of soldiers in Leng Sengji's hands belonged to the second-line troops, and because there were too many deserters, morale dropped very seriously.

  The horn of the gathering soldiers sounded, but the Eight Banners soldiers seemed to be unable to hear it. At least half of them ran towards the mountains, and all the grain transporters even ran away.

  The sound of horseshoes was getting closer, Leng Sengji's heart was cold, and he said to the soldiers who gathered one after another: "Manchurian man, follow me to kill the enemy and serve the country. Kill!"

  The cavalrymen of Datong avoided the place with the most torches, divided into two and walked around the camp, and unexpectedly ran into deserters who had abandoned the camp.

  After a slash and kill, Wang Fuchen shouted: "Tartars are prepared, don't forcefully attack the enemy camp. Blow the horn, blow the trumpet, and go after the rout outside the camp first!"

   Leng Sengji gathered more than 3,000 troops around him, and wanted to rely on the camp to defend, but he was lonely, and Wang Fuchen didn't come to attack at all.

  In the early morning, the sky is getting brighter.

  Wang Fuchen came back with Xiao cavalry, blocked the main entrance of the camp, and confronted Leng Sengji across the simple wall.

  Wang Fuchen threw the binoculars over and said to Nan Chu, "Come and see, who is the general in the village, let him lead his troops to surrender."

  Nan Chu picked up the binoculars, looked at it for a while, and said, "It's a cold monk's machine. In terms of seniority, he should be my cousin."

   "Go and see to persuade the surrender." Wang Fuchen said.

  Nan Chu approached the camp slightly, and shouted at the top of his voice: "Leng Sengji, you are a member of the Yehe tribe, and you actually help the Jianzhou Tartars and lead troops to attack your tribe. Hurry up... ah!"

   But Leng Sengji bent his bow and set an arrow, and from such a long distance, an arrow hit Nan Chu's shoulder.

   Leng Sengji scolded angrily: "You and my relatives are all in Hetuala, do you want to kill the whole family? Surrender quickly, and come back with me to plead guilty!"

  Wang Fuchen sneered: "You stubborn people, surround yourself and beat them slowly!"

  Wang Fuchen was not in a hurry, but the Eight Banners soldiers were in a panic. At this time, there were only more than 3,000 of them left.

  That night, Wang Fuchen did not attack the camp, but the Eight Banners soldiers took the initiative to escape. Moreover, there were more and more deserters, causing other soldiers to make misjudgments, thinking that the Datong Army had come to kill again.

   "Run!"

  The Eight Banners Army even bombed the camp by themselves, all of them were frightened.

  Wang Fuchen looked at the chaotic enemy camp, and he was a little confused: "I haven't fought for more than a year, and the Tartar soldiers are so rotten? Damn, follow me to kill the enemy!"

  The result of this battle made Daishan completely disheartened.

   On the other side of Nanjing, Zhao Han received a secret report: Daishan requested to abolish the puppet Qing emperor, and Manchuria proclaimed his vassal to the Datong court. As long as Emperor Zhao agrees, Daishan is responsible for persuading Dayuer and Shunzhi.

   (Thanks to the leader of disizhang for the reward.)

  (end of this chapter)