1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 579 The Great War Begins ([-])
On November 11, the army of the North Road of the Qing Army left Qingzhou, crossed the Mi River, and occupied the deserted Changle County.

On November 11, the Ma Degong Department of the Qing Army entered and occupied Weixian County without any counterattack.

On November 11, Yang Chengzu of the Qing army attacked Changyi County and encountered slight resistance. When the Qing army launched artillery and bombarded the city wall, the defenders withdrew from Changyi one by one, crossed the Weihe River, and then destroyed all the bridges along the road. According to the river and guard.

When the officers and soldiers of Denglai Town withdrew from Changyi, they shared with Yang Chengzu an imperial edict issued by Emperor Yongchu, saying that if they could reconcile Daming in time, the past would be ignored, and the official positions, titles, and troops would remain the same as before.

After Yang Chengzu read it, he was silent for a long time, and then hid the edict in a close place, and led the troops to guard Changyi, waiting for the arrival of the follow-up Qing army brigade and food and supplies.

On November 11, Bo Luo, the commander-in-chief of the Qing army on the South Road, ordered Zhang Tianfu, Li Qifeng, Hao Xiaozhong, Guo Hu and other troops to leave Yizhou (now Linyi City, Shandong Province), and then divided up and plundered Juzhou and Andongwei.

On November 11, Hao Xiaozhong entered and occupied Juzhou, and Liu Zeqing's troops retreated to Zhucheng.However, when Li Qifeng and Guo Hu attacked Andongwei, Li Benshen counterattacked strongly and lost hundreds of troops.

That night, Li Benshen sent someone to Guo Hu's place, saying that in the past, they were both generals of Gao Jie, and they had some friendship, but now they are their masters, but they can't bear to attack each other.In addition, a copy of the imperial edict was forwarded to Emperor Yongchu, urging him to fight back against the Ming Dynasty, to take a blow against Jiannu, and to allow him to be named Marquis Baigong in the future.

After Guo Hu read it, he was noncommittal, but he ordered his confidantes to entertain the envoys and send them out of the camp secretly.The next day, leading the troops to attack Andongwei again, Li Benshen's Ming army had already withdrawn, and retreated eastward to Rizhao County along the coast.

On November 11, Boluo led the army to Zhucheng, but Liu Zeqing's Ming army still did not counterattack, abandoned the city and fled to Jiaozhou.

On November 11, Boluo Du's army stormed Jiaozhou and broke through the city on the same day. Liu Zeqing's troops fled to Jimo.

On November 11, Zhang Tianfu and Hao Xiaozhong of the Qing army jointly attacked Gaomi. Before the enemy arrived, Liu Zeqing's defenders abandoned the city and fled to Pingdu Prefecture.

On November 11, Bo Luo led an army to attack Jimo. The defenders of Liu Zeqing only resisted for half a day, and then surrendered to the Qing army.

After the Qing army entered Jimo, except for a few generals of Liu Zeqing's defenders, all the soldiers who surrendered were slaughtered.Afterwards, the Qing army began to massacre the city, and the more than [-] people in Jimo City and nearby villages and towns that had not yet been evacuated were slaughtered by the Qing army within four days.The once prosperous county town has become a dead place.

Jimo had already fallen, and Boluo then supervised the army to drive directly to Laiyang in the northeast.

The defenders stationed in Laiyang are more than [-] officers and soldiers from the Youxie of Denglai Town. There are more than ten artillery pieces on the top of the city, and they have already prepared a complete response to the attack of Jiannu.The defenders are also very confident that they can stick here for ten days or even half a month.

However, when Boluo's army attacked Laiyang, thousands of Liu Zeqing's troops fled to the city clamored to abandon the city and fled, claiming that the establishment of slaves was unstoppable, and the whole army should retreat to Qixia, which is more dangerous.

The officers and soldiers of the Right Association of Denglai Town looked at this group of routs and were speechless. Nima, although it was agreed at the beginning that Jiaozhou, Gaomi, and Jimo do not need to stick to it, but they should resist for a few days to delay the rapid advance of Jiannu .But you are lucky, you didn't resist at all, and easily gave up the above-mentioned areas, so that Jiannu advanced to Laiyang so quickly without any obstacles.

Although we know that Liu Zeqing's troops are relatively weak and have low morale, it's not like defending a city is so unbearable!What's the matter, when you arrive in Laiyang, you still want to continue to retreat?

The dispute in Laiyang City was not over yet, more than [-] Qing troops rushed over quickly, and under the order of the Eight Banners generals who supervised the formation, they began to attack Laiyang violently before setting up camp.

With more than a dozen artillery pieces, the defenders of Laiyang City killed and wounded the Qing army in large numbers. The hastily made ladders and wooden frames and simple carts lost most of them in less than half a day under the bombardment of the artillery at the top of the city, and the morale of the Qing army was also low. One stagnation, ready to stop the attack, waiting for the arrival of the follow-up brigade.

However, seeing the urgent attack of the Qing army outside the city, the officers and soldiers of Liu Zeqing's troops were terrified. Under the leadership of several officers, they stormed the north gate and had a fierce conflict with the guards of Denglai Town. They opened the gate of the city and fled northward. .

Hao Xiaozhong, the chief general of the Qing army outside the city, saw the opportunity and immediately led his troops to attack the north gate of Laiyang, and broke into the city when the defenders in the city were in chaos.

Although the officers and soldiers of the Youxie in Denglai Town dispatched dozens of musketeers to inflict a lot of damage on the Qing army at the city gate, but the Qing army was so numerous that they rushed into the city and started street fighting with the defenders.

In the evening of the same day, the main force of the Qing army arrived one after another, and the Denglai defenders in Laiyang City were finally exhausted. Except for more than a thousand people who broke out, the rest were killed or captured.After the Qing army broke through Laiyang, they carried out a bloody massacre of the city just as Jimo had done.Afterwards, more than [-] soldiers and civilians in the whole city of Laiyang and its surrounding areas were slaughtered, just like ghosts.

Compared with the strength of the Qing army on the South Road, the Qing army on the North Road seemed to be struggling.The former army led by Han Dai was blocked by the officers and soldiers of Denglai Town on the west bank of the Wei River for several days and failed to break through, but lost more than [-] troops.

In the face of the mobile and fierce small artillery in Denglai Town on the river bank, the Qing army could not give full play to its advantage in numbers. In addition, Denglai seemed to have been prepared on the east bank of the Weihe River. Moreover, the river water was artificially drawn into the range of tens of meters on both sides of the bank, forming a large mud flat, which made the Qing army become slow-moving targets when they forcibly crossed the Weihe River. As soon as he was shot on the bank of the river, the water of the Weihe River was dyed blood red.

On November 11, when Duoduo led the army to Changyi County, Han Dai had not yet broken through the Weihe River.Duoduo then ordered Baiyintu, who had already attacked Pingdu Prefecture, to withdraw and return, and attacked the Denglai garrison on the east bank of the Weihe River from the southeast side.

On November 11, the Denglai garrison on the east bank of the Weihe River was raided by the Qing army Baiyintu and lost more than 24 soldiers. They had to retreat to the east bank of the Shahe River and continue to defend by the river.

Duoduo then ordered Ma Degong, Wang Zhigang, Kong Xigui and other Han troops to cross the river with all their strength, and Liu Liangchen (Liu Liangzuo's younger brother), Zu Zerun (Zu Dashou's son) and other Han troops from the Eight Banners followed to supervise the battle. Cannons bombarded the Ming army on the east bank, and attacked along the entire line for more than ten miles along the Shahe River.

Since the Shahe River is a small stream with shallow and narrow water and a slow flow rate, the Ming army in Denglai Town retreated to Ye County after massacring the Qing army, preparing to continue to consume the strength of the Qing army by relying on the strong city defense.

When Ma Degong, Wang Zhigang and other Qing troops came to Ye County, their faces immediately turned bitter.This is not a city, it is clearly a group of fortresses!

Starting from the original county town of Ye, a total of five strong fortresses with a radius of 400 meters were built around it, extending to the seaside.The Nanyang River originating from Laishan meanders through several forts, like a natural moat.Looking from a distance, not only the main city of Ye County has a large number of artillery, but also at least six or seven artillery pieces are placed on the small forts. All the forts are connected by a two-meter-wide protective wall. Mutual support can be achieved, and cross-fire cover can also be carried out.

This kind of fortification group cannot be conquered only by a large number of soldiers and horses. It can only be conquered by long-term siege and supply from the city, so as to force the opponent to run out of supplies and have to sacrifice the city to surrender.

But the problem is that the Qing army mobilized more than [-] troops to attack Denglai this time, and consumed countless grains and materials. It is not enough for Shandong to provide supplies, and it is beneficial to fight quickly.If you want to besiege Ye County for a long time, regardless of whether you can achieve your goal, even the hundreds of miles of supplies from Jinan to Qingzhou and then to Ye County will cause headaches for the Qing army.

In the next few days, the Qing army launched several tentative attacks on Ye County, all of which were defeated without exception, and thousands of troops were lost.

When Duoduo led the army to Ye County, it was difficult to see the fortified city in front of him.Therefore, the crowd will discuss how to conquer it and go straight to the heart of Dengzhou.

The many Manchu and Han generals under the tent had no good strategies. Except for the strong attack and siege, they all hoped that Baiyintu would cross Laishan, conquer Zhaoyuan, and fight to the east of Ye County, cutting off the back road, so as to shake the defenders' determination to resist.

Duoduo repelled the generals irritably, thinking about how to deal with the current predicament alone in the tent.In this attack on Denglai, in addition to mobilizing a large number of the main forces of the Eight Banners and the Han army, the state capitals of Huaibei, Shandong, and Henan were also ordered to continuously import countless grain and fodder resources to Yizhou and Jinan for daily use by the northern and southern armies. The fee is huge.The original plan was to rush into Denglai quickly with the momentum of thunder, and kill as far as Penglai in the shortest possible time, slaughtering the small court of Yongchu, so as to shock the world.

Now, it has taken nearly 20 days from Qingzhou to attack Ye County. Although the supply of grain and grass is still maintained, Duoduo knows that if the time is delayed a little longer, there will inevitably be problems in the supply of grain and grass in the rear.

When attacking Jiangnan, Fujian, Jiangxi, Huguang and other places, the Qing army was able to obtain a large amount of local supplies and increase its troops, and almost never worried about the problem of logistical supplies.But now, in order to deal with the Qing army's attack, this land of Denglai has built a solid wall and cleared the wilderness for a month, evacuated materials and personnel from more than ten prefectures and counties, and created more than 200 miles of no-man's land, making it impossible for the Qing army to obtain the nearest land. Supplies can only be transported to the front line bit by bit from Jinan and Yizhou hundreds of miles away.

"Prince Yu, at last there is a strategy to offer, which can destroy the strong city of Ye County." Just when Duoduo was at a loss, Yang Chengzu, who had just left, knelt down in front of Duoduo's knees and said in a low voice.

"You have a good plan, why didn't you tell me about it just now?" Duoduo stared at Yang Chengzu and asked sharply.

"... The general is worried that there are... people in the tent who still have their hearts attached to the Ming army." Yang Chengzu gritted his teeth and said.

"What do you mean by that?" Dodo suddenly became suspicious.

"Prince Yu, please take a look..." Yang Chengzu said, and took out the edict of surrender written by Emperor Yongchu from his bosom.

A Bai Ya assassin took the imperial edict from Yang Chengzu's hand, stepped forward two steps, and handed it to Duoduo.

"Prince Yu, this edict was written by the false Emperor Yongchu of the Ming Dynasty and the last general, who wanted to surrender to me before the battle, and rebelled against the Qing." Yang Chengzu carefully explained: "The late general is worried that such an edict may not only If the general will receive it, other people...maybe should also receive the edict of surrender, and secretly hide by their side."

Duoduo looked at Yang Chengzu fixedly, subconsciously pressed the handle of the knife with his right hand, and tightly held the edict of surrender with his left hand.

"Why didn't you hand over this edict to me earlier?" Duoduo asked coldly.

"The last general has been fighting in the front army before, and he has not been able to meet the prince in person." Although it was already winter, Yang Chengzu was so scared that the sweat oozed from the top of his head under Duduo's gaze, worried that Duduo would disagree. , Killed himself in the tent with a single knife.

Duoduo was silent for a moment, looking at the ashen-faced Yang Chengzu, he gently let go of his right hand holding the knife handle.

"Could it be that the good strategy you offered is to use this edict to feign surrender to the Ming army in Ye County?" Duoduo showed a smile on his face.

(End of this chapter)