1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 547 Gathering Soldiers ([-])

Faced with the Qing army's continuous forcible crossing of the Yanghe River, the Qi army did not hold on for long.After killing and wounding the Qing army in large numbers through artillery and muskets, Niu Hu ordered the troops to retreat to the south bank of Fengshui River (now Fenghe, Huangdao District, Qingdao) that night.Here, a simple line of defense was continued to block the Qing army.

Compared with the Yanghe River, the terrain of the Fengshui River is more dangerous. Although the river originating from the Tiezhu Mountain Range is less than [-] miles long, the river has many bends and many tributaries, and the tributaries are all short-source and fast-flowing. It is difficult for people and horses to pass.And the river section defended by the army of Qi is precisely the place with the most gentle and shallow water level.

Of course, Tulai, the coach of the Qing army, could also choose to detour the northern mountainous area, pass through the shallow water in the upper reaches of the river, and then attack Lingshanwei, and then retreat to Huaibei through Rizhao County.However, in this way, the Qing army will inevitably have to detour for more than a hundred miles, and will have to walk on mountain paths.Not to mention that there are not many supplies left and there is no way to delay too much time, even how the more than 1000 cavalry returned through the mountains is also a problem.

Tulai now has some headaches. When the attack came, the road was smooth, passing through the state and counties, and the momentum was like a broken bamboo. How come it is so difficult to retreat back at this time?If there is regret medicine to take, Tulai will definitely try his best to get one.If I had known this earlier, when I attacked Denglai, I should have fought steadily step by step, and stationed a large army in the food and grass area.

Now, the back road is cut off, and there are faint signs of instability in the army, especially those surrendered troops at both ends of the first mouse.Turai looked coldly at the retreating troops who were cowering in front of them, and he couldn't help but feel a strong killing intent in his heart.

"Go, urge them to cross the river immediately." Tu Lai ordered to a leader of the Eight Banners: "If you continue to shrink back, the officer will kill you immediately!"

"Hey!" the leader of the Eight Banners promised loudly, and then galloped forward.

Lieutenant General Zhang Siyi looked at the stern Eight Banners leader announcing Tulai's attack order loudly, and his heart was filled with bitterness.Although the black army on the other side of the river was small in number, just over two thousand, the other side had seven or eight artillery pieces.One's own side often has to face the intensive bombardment of artillery before rushing to the river. In the past, they have never encountered such a battle.Not to mention, the opponent still had a well-organized array of firecrackers, and the soldiers under his command were shot and killed countless by the platoon guns from the opposite bank before they forded the river.

However, looking at the nearly 1000 Manchurian Eight Banners behind them, staring at them murderously, especially the more than 3000 cavalry, their swords and guns have been unsheathed, and they are ready to charge at any time.If you don't follow, if someone charges, most of your [-] soldiers will be driven into the river and drowned to death.

I thought that I would follow Dongping Bo Liu Zeqing to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, so that I could enjoy the food and drink, and enjoy the glory, but unexpectedly, I was forced by the Eight Banners Army to attack Denglai.In the first ten days or so, they were able to attack like a tide, and went to Jiaozhou smoothly, during which time they also robbed a lot of floating money.

But how could he be cut off by the opponent's counterattack, cut off the supply, and had to follow Tulai back in a hurry to open up the supply line in the back.But this army in black was too difficult to fight, and they couldn't get close at all, so they were repelled by artillery and firecrackers.In other words, when did this firecracker become so powerful?

"The whole army assault!" Zhang Siyi drew out his long knife, pointed at the river bank, and ordered loudly: "In this battle, there will be no retreat, and anyone who retreats without my order will be killed!"

Immediately, he led more than 100 servants and drove the soldiers to rush to the bank of Fengshui River again.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..." When the Qing army was still more than 200 meters away from the river bank, the artillery in the black-clothed army on the opposite bank immediately began to roar. A series of bloody passages came out, causing chaos in the formation.

Zhang Siyi and his servants cut down a few fleeing soldiers behind the formation, and shouted at the soldiers to continue charging, but he couldn't help but feel terrified when he saw the bullets constantly coming.

As expected, when the troops rushed to the bank of the river, they were quickly defeated after receiving intensive fire from the opposite bank.

Zhang Siyi came to Tu Lai, just about to defend himself, but saw the other party suddenly raised his arm, swung a long knife and slashed down fiercely.Before many surrendered generals could react, a huge head flew up.

"Passive idlers, behead!" Tulai took a step forward, grabbed the head of Zhang Siyi who had rolled to the ground, and shouted at the dozen generals in front of him, "We must cross this river by force before noon today, Keling Mountain!" Wei, return to Rizhao. Otherwise, we will all be trapped here, waiting to die! The bandit army in black on the other side has only two thousand people, which is less than [-]% of our army. We only need to work hard to overcome this bandit military!"

When the generals of the descending army saw this, Nuonuo dared not speak.

Afterwards, Tulai gave an order, and the whole army crossed the Fengshui River for several miles along the river bank.

Niu Hu, the commander-in-chief of the Qi Marine Corps, also confronted each other, scattered seven marine companies along the river, and deployed three rows of musket arrays.

The muddy beach and the waist-deep river made the progress of the Qing troops who forcibly crossed the Fengshui River very slow. The musket fire from the bank kept firing, killing the slow-moving human-shaped "targets" one by one in the river. Among them, the blood water turned the originally clear river water into a deep red. Under the washing of the river water, countless corpses of the Qing army floated up and down downstream, and finally merged into the sea.

However, to Tulai's great disappointment, this huge charge of the entire army was ruthlessly smashed into pieces in the river under the fierce firearms of the black army on the other side. As many as [-]% of the casualties caused the entire army It collapsed immediately.The surrendered army swarmed back irresistibly, and the Eight Banners soldiers who were in charge of the formation were also wrapped up and retreated.

Seeing this situation, Tulai could only lead more than a thousand Eight Banners cavalry to gather the defeated army and temporarily stop on a hillside.The morale of the army has been lost, and it may be difficult to fight again today.However, being blocked by the enemy at the Fengshui River meant that their meager supplies would be consumed for another day.The danger of running out of food is imminent.

On the evening of August 8, after receiving the message from Tulai, more than 8 people from Li Benshen's evacuation hurried to the Fengshui River to join Tulai's army.

Before noon on August 8, more than 9 people from Liu Zeqing's department also rushed to the Fengshui River.So far, all the more than [-] troops of the Qing army who attacked the Denglai area in the early stage retreated to the Fengshui River, preparing to counterattack the enemy's blocking and return to Huaibei.

Although the number of troops has increased, this has only made Tulai's worries even deeper.

Because, the army is out of food!

Li Benshen and Liu Zeqing encountered resolute resistance from the defenders in Gaomi and Jimo, and it was difficult to conquer them under the urgency.I originally wanted to keep some people to monitor the city, and they would lead troops to plunder the place, and they could get some supplies to some extent.However, the officials and defenders in the Denglei area responded quickly. Before the Qing army attacked, they did a certain amount of fortification and clearing the field, so that the Qing army gained very little under the four fields.

After receiving Tulai's order to withdraw troops, he immediately returned with the army in a hurry, and there was not much food and grass left with him.When they arrived at the foot of Jiaozhou City, they saw that the army led by Tu Lai was nowhere to be seen, and heard the Eight Banners Rangers who stayed here say that the back road was cut off by a Denglai army, and the army was counterattacking. A lot of supplies were also discarded along the way.

Therefore, although the army is gathered here, it looks like a huge army on the surface, but in fact the main generals seem a little panicked, and they can't help but worry about the safe retreat of the army.

Turai was even more anxious about this.Bo Luo ordered him to lead a group of surrendered troops to attack Deng Lai, obviously uneasy and kind.Not long after the surrendered army was newly attached, it should be suppressed with the main force of the Eight Banners, and led to the south of the Yangtze River, sweeping the weak power areas of the Southern Ming Dynasty, slowly restoring morale, and cultivating loyalty.

Now, with less than [-] Manchurian Eight Banners troops, he supervises more than [-] surrendered troops to attack the Denglai area where our Qing army has been defeated several times.If the battle goes well, that's fine, these surrendered troops can rely on continuous looting to maintain their low morale.But if the battle is unfavorable, then it will be difficult to control these troops of the Ming Dynasty who have little integrity.What's even more frightening is that if Tulai is defeated because of this, Dorgon in Beijing will definitely use this to repair their remnants of the two yellow flags.

After the death of Huang Taiji that year, the senior generals of the Two Yellow Banners, represented by eight people including Sony, Tulai, Turge, Baiyintu, He Luohui, Tan Tai, and Leng Sengji, resolutely supported Hauge as emperor.With the support of the two yellow flags, Hauge still held the Zhenglan flag in his hand. In terms of strength, he was comparable to Dorgon who was supported by the two white flags.

In addition, Prince Li Daishan, who holds the two red flags, and Prince Zheng Jierhalang, who holds the inlaid blue flag, also chose to support Hauge, which gave Hauge the absolute initiative.

However, Hauge's slightly modest words instantly made the throne that was almost in his hands pass him by.

"I am blessed with little virtue, how can I be worthy of this job."

Nima, fighting for the emperor, do you need to show modesty?

If Sony and Oboi hadn't stood up first and said a resounding sentence, "If you don't establish the son of the emperor, you would rather die and follow the emperor underground!".

It can be said that it was this sentence, which was almost a threat of force, that put tremendous pressure on everyone present at that time, otherwise, Dorgon would have climbed to the throne of the emperor.

Later, the Qing Dynasty established Fulin, the ninth son of the emperor, as emperor, and Dorgon became the regent.Since then, Dorgon has continued to suppress the forces that previously supported Hauge by virtue of his status as the regent.

He Luohui, Tan Tai, and Leng Sengji also took refuge in Dorgon successively, and actively reported and exposed other generals and courtiers of the Two Yellow Banners, which caused the disintegration of the Two Yellow Banners by Dorgon and greatly weakened their strength .

Dorgon found an excuse to depose Sony of all titles and positions, and sent him to Shengjing to guard Zhaoling.As for Oboi, he was suppressed by Dorgon several times before and after. Not only his achievements were directly obliterated, but his life was almost lost.Following Azig in Dengzhou, Henan and Chengtian, De'an, Wuchang and other places in Hubei, he fought thirteen battles and severely damaged the Dashun Army.But after returning to Beijing, Azig was implicated because he violated orders and refused to return. Not to mention the loss of rewards, he was demoted again.

Hauge was also deposed by Dorgon because of his defeat in Denglai last year, and he was ordered to close his family for self-reflection and relieved of all military affairs.

If it hadn't been for the identity and achievements of the son of Fei Yingdong, the "Five Founding Ministers", Dorgon would have saved some "face" and hadn't asked Tulai to settle it for the time being.

Then, if he Tulai lost to Denglai here, or even lost his teachers and territory, and lost a large number of troops of the Eight Banners, it is conceivable that Dorgon's punishment for him will definitely not be lenient.

However, fortunately, their army has a large number, which is more than ten times that of the black army on the other side of the river. In the morning, the army will attack along the whole line of the river. As long as they can break through a little, they will be able to use their superior strength to wipe out all the black army. Surround and annihilate.

Thinking so, Tulai led people to inspect the camp, and then told the Eight Banners to rest for a night, recharge their energy, and supervise the army to defeat the enemy tomorrow.

On the right side of the camp of the Eight Banners of Manchuria is the camp of more than [-] people under the former Ming Dongping Bo Liu Zeqing.Inside a large tent, the lights were brightly lit. All Liu Zeqing's subordinates gathered here, and each of them sat on both sides with dignified expressions, but stared straight at their leader, Liu Zeqing.

"The guns of the black-clothed army are so sharp that we can't fight them physically. What's more, the river is more than ten feet wide, the current is fast-moving, and the mudflats on both sides are muddy. Forcibly charging is tantamount to committing suicide before the enemy's battle." Gao Zhongzhou said in a low voice with lingering fear: "Uncle Dongping, tomorrow morning, Natulai will continue to lead the way for the army with our army as the guide. If this is the case, the army will definitely suffer heavy losses. I think that with thousands of people in our army, few will rush to In the river, under the fierce artillery fire of the opponent, [-]% was lost in an instant, and Zhang Siyi, the deputy commander of our department, was also beheaded by Tulai's military law....We can't fight this battle!"

Liu Zeqing listened expressionlessly, noncommittal to what Gao Zhongzhou said, but he kept thinking about it in his heart.There was not much food and grass left in the army, and he knew it vaguely.He also has some opinions about crossing the Fengshui River tomorrow with his department as the guide.They are also descended from the army, so why does Tulai not allow Li Benshen to be the vanguard?

Could it be that because he surrendered late, he was suppressed by Gao Jie's commander-in-chief for no reason?
"Uncle Dongping, in the 15th year of Chongzhen, Abatai entered the customs and plundered the border, and Liu Yuanqing (Liu Zeqing's younger brother) died at his hands. When Boluo recruited us, he had already heard about it. ... Therefore, they were still a little wary of us. "The commander-in-chief Ma Huabao reminded softly.

Liu Zeqing's eyes froze, and he turned to look at Ma Huabao.

"Li Benshen and others, but after Duoduo slaughtered the city in Yangzhou and killed Shi Dushi, it can be considered that they have handed in their certificates." Ma Huabao continued: "And we have voted for the Qing army, but we have done nothing. !"

"Are you dissatisfied with Qing Dynasty?" Liu Zeqing asked with a smile.

"We have tens of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of tank ships. Whether it is going to the south of the Yangtze River to return to Daming, or boarding a ship and going to the outer islands, it is better than being treated as cannon fodder here!" Ma Huabao said forcefully. .

A few days ago, Zhang Siyi's troops forcibly crossed the Fengshui River, and lost thousands of soldiers. These were all his subordinates, so how could he not make him feel distressed.In this chaotic world, all the soldiers and horses are gone, but there is no capital at all. How can the generals survive in this chaotic world.Maybe, in the end, it will not be discarded by the Qing army like a foot wrap.

"You said, can my Qing Dynasty attack the Yangtze River and go straight to Nanjing?" Liu Zeqing smiled after hearing this, and then, looking at the generals sitting there, asked loudly.

"Ships south and horses north, if the Ming navy has been so tyrannical, it is estimated that the Qing Dynasty will not be able to cross the Yangtze River in a short time." A lieutenant shook his head and said: "Perhaps, the Song and Jin incidents will happen again in the future."

"However, even if the Qing Dynasty cannot cross the river, it still has more than half of the country. In terms of strength, it is also the strongest."

"It's not entirely true." Bai Yongfu, the general soldier, said: "Without the tax and food in the south of the Yangtze River, the strength of the north will be greatly reduced. It's really hard to say what will happen in the future!"

"..."

All the generals were talking about it.

"Everyone, is it true what you said about the Denglai prince?" Liu Zeqing suddenly asked again.

"It should be true." The commander-in-chief Bai Yongfu said: "Last year, Nanjing sent several officials from the former Ministry of Rites to Denglai to confirm the authenticity of the prince, and several other young princes and princesses of His Majesty Chongzhen were also in Denglai. "

"Denglai has the prince of the Ming Dynasty sitting in the town. From last year to now, he has defeated the siege of the Qing army several times, and also caused the Qing army to lose troops and lose their generals, making them ashamed. From this point of view, this prince can also fight against the Qing army. If you can still win the battle, and you have a righteous reputation, maybe you can achieve great things." Liu Zeqing rolled his eyes and said softly: "If I go to vote for the prince, what do you think?"

(End of this chapter)