Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 273

Surrounded by Hong Chengchou, Fan Wencheng, Ning Wanwo, He Luohui and others, Dorgon and Duoduo stood on the bank of the Yellow River and watched the pontoon bridge built by thousands of coats inlaid with white flags.

"Master, this servant has already tried it, and it won't work to directly block the river with the iron chain."

He Luohui said: "One is that it takes too much time and materials to build iron cables longer than five miles, and it is too heavy. There are no fixed objects to tie the cables on both sides of the strait."

Ning Wan me said: "How much does the five-mile-long iron chain weigh?"

He Luohui didn't say much, and asked Baoyi to push an iron cable over with a cart.

He Luohui pointed to the iron chain coiled on the cart like a python and said to me, "Mr. Gongfu, this iron chain is about twenty steps long and weighs a thousand catties."

"It's only twenty steps long, but it weighs more than a thousand catties?"

Ning Wan and I were taken aback: "Isn't it true that a mile-long iron chain weighs more than [-] catties?"

Fan Wencheng continued: "An iron cable five miles long weighs more than [-] catties?"

"[-] catties is just too much." He Luohui said, "Therefore, there is no fixed object to tie such a heavy iron chain on both sides of the Yellow River. No matter whether it is an earth pile, a wooden pile or a stone pile, it can't bear such a heavy weight." The iron chain, because the iron chain weighing more than [-] catties must be straightened to expose it to the water, and the pull that needs to be endured is too great."

"Maybe it is possible to build iron piles, but it needs a very large and long iron pile."

"The problem is, we simply can't find that much iron now."

"In order to build the hundred or so twenty-step iron cables in front of us, we collected almost all the iron wares in Shangqiu City, and didn't even leave the iron pots of the rich families for them."

After a pause here, He Luohui said again: "If you want to pull up five iron chains to block the Yellow River, even if you collect all the iron artifacts from Guide Mansion, Kaifeng Mansion, and Dongchang Mansion, I'm afraid it may not be enough."

Dorgon nodded and said: "Since the iron materials are not enough, we don't need to pull the iron cables to block the river. Anyway, there are pontoon bridges across the river that can stop the Ming army navy, and the pontoon bridge can be stationed. The defense is tighter than the iron cables. Floating bridges are not enough, we still need to build more pontoon bridges, at least five pontoon bridges."

"Hey!" He Luohui responded, and said again, "Master, don't worry, the fishing boats, hemp ropes we collected, and the iron cables we made can build at least five pontoon bridges. The fishing boats in the middle of the pontoon bridges are relatively light, so we only use three strands of thick hemp rope. The fishing boats on both sides are the heaviest, so they are connected in series with iron cables, and finally tied to the stone piles on the shore with iron cables."

Dorgon gave a light grunt, and then specifically reminded: "We need to send troops to garrison the bridge, and set up more beacon towers on the fishing boats. If the Ming army navy attacked at night, they would immediately light up the beacon fires on the boat to illuminate the fortresses on both sides. With the firelight from the beacon tower on the ship, the warships of the Ming army navy will have nowhere to hide, and they will not be able to break through the blockade of the red cannon."

"Hey!" He Luohui respectfully agreed.

……

At this time, on the ninth peak of Yunlong Mountain.

Chongzhen pointed to more than [-] fishing boats moored in the Jiannu Water Village, and asked Zheng Hongkui, "Zheng Qing, if we attack at night, can we burn these Jiannu fishing boats?"

Jiannu wanted to build a pontoon bridge, but Chongzhen naturally wanted to destroy it.

Zheng Hongkui put down his binoculars and replied: "It's hard to say, the person in charge of building the Jiannu water village is quite knowledgeable about the essence of water warfare, so the site selection is exquisite, and it happens to be hidden deep in a concave river bend. Two forts were built on each side of the land, and a total of eight Hongyi cannons were responsible for protecting the entire water village."

"If you launch a strong attack regardless of everything, it should be no problem to attack."

"But the loss of our navy may not be small, maybe half of the warships will be lost."

The protection of the bird boat is still a bit weak, and it is still incomparable with the black-tailed boat that can carry three or four hundred people.

Speaking of this meal, Zheng Hongkui said again: "If there are cavalry or infantry on both sides of the strait to fight together to contain the forts on both sides of the river bend, then this battle will be very easy."

Chongzhen immediately shut up and didn't say any more, well, let's pretend he didn't mention this.

Sending cavalry and infantry to fight together is basically the same as committing suicide.

Still the same sentence, the current Ming army can only defend the city and fight a dozen.

Going outside the city to fight against Jiannu, small-scale or certain conditions can barely be a battle, and a dignified field battle with more than [-] people is purely giving away heads.

There is nothing wrong with this, if you can't beat Jiannu, you can't beat it.

Anyway, before the new army has been trained, Chongzhen will never rashly fight against Jiannu.

Zheng Hongkui found Chongzhen's disappointment, and hurriedly said: "However, destroying the pontoon bridge is not a problem. We have a way to destroy the pontoon bridge regardless of fire attack or force attack."

"It's not urgent." Chongzhen also had a way to destroy the pontoon bridge.

Not to mention the pontoon bridge, even Chongzhen, the iron cable blocking the river, can be destroyed.

The Taiping Army once used iron cables to block the river to intercept the navy of the Hunan Army, but Zeng shaved his head and melted it in a stove.

It is always easier to destroy than to build. It is much more difficult for Jiannu to block the Yellow River than to block the Yangtze River. The Taiping Army failed to lock the Yangtze River, and Jiannu could not completely block the Yellow River.

But this matter is not urgent, and it is far from the time to deliver money and food.

Perhaps Jiannu was forced to retreat without waiting for the delivery of money and food.

Chongzhen turned his gaze to Luoyang, counting the time, Huang Zongxi should have arrived in Luoyang, right?With Huang Zongxi's eloquence and insight, it should be easy to persuade Niu Jinxing to send troops.

However, Chongzhen did not expect that Li Zicheng would also come to Luoyang.

……

At this time in Luoyang, Li Zicheng was there.

Niu Jinxing's prime minister Xingyuan has become the emperor Xingyuan.

"Your Majesty, we have already found out." Chen Yongfu said, "Instead of retreating, Jiannu has increased troops to Xuzhou, and the number of troops has increased by more than [-]. Now there are more than [-] Jiannu outside Xuzhou!"

"[-] people?!" Li Zicheng said, "Jiannu has so many soldiers?"

Chen Yongfu said: "Jiannu has a coat, so it should be included in the coat."

Li Zicheng said: "We encountered Jiannu coats in the First Battle of Shanhaiguan. Most of these coats were young and strong, and a few wore armor, but everyone had weapons, and they still had certain combat effectiveness."

At this time, Niu Jinxing suddenly said: "In this way, Beijing will be empty!"

Chen Yongfu said: "At root, there are only hundreds of thousands of real slaves in Jiannu, [-] to [-] in the Han Army of the Eight Banners and Mongolia in the Eight Banners, [-] to [-] troops from the Guanning Army and others, [-] to [-] in the Mongolian Outer Domain, and more than [-] enslaved slaves. Calculated, even if Beijing has not become an empty city, there should not be many troops left to garrison it."

"My lord, this is a god-sent opportunity!"

Niu Jinxing said excitedly: "Taking advantage of the opportunity of Jiannu coming out in full force, we suddenly send troops to attack Beijing, and our Dashun army is very likely to take Beijing in a short time. In this way, Jiannu can only rush back to the outside of the pass in embarrassment. , then Henan, Shanxi, Datong, and even the whole of Beizhi will belong to our Dashun Dynasty again!"

"No, absolutely not!" Song Xiance, who had just arrived, objected.

Song Xiance and Li Yan were inseparable, ever since they knew that Niu Jinxing wanted to harm Li Yan, even if Song Xiance competed with Niu Jinxing, he had to target almost everything.

Niu Jinxing talked about the east, but Song Xiance talked about the west.

Niu Jinxing said yes, but Song Xiance said no.

Anyway, it's wrong with people and things, and it's right with you everywhere.

"Why not?" Niu Jinxing said with fire in his eyes, "Song Xiance, are you deliberately against me? I am also thinking about the future of the Dashun Dynasty, so what is your intention?"

"I really think about Dashun." Song Xiance retorted, "But you want to harm Dashun!"

Speaking of this meal, Song Xiance said to Li Zicheng: "Your Majesty, at this time, Jiannu is besieging Xuzhou with all the troops of the whole country, and Nanming is also pouring all the power of the whole country to defend Xuzhou. Right now, the most important thing for me, Dashun, is to do what the Holy Majesty ordered before. Sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight, waiting for Jiannu to fight with the Ming army, both sides will suffer, and then send troops to clean up the mess."

"If my Dashun Army sent troops to attack Beijing at this time, the situation would be very different immediately."

"Jiannu found out that Beijing might fall, so he would definitely withdraw his troops from Xuzhou, turn the spearhead on our Dashun army, and then start a decisive battle with our Dashun army in Henan. Isn't this setting fire to himself?"

There was another pause at this point, and he continued: "When the Ming army and Jiannu confronted each other in Xuzhou, our Dashun army was still willing to station heavy troops in Luoyang to contain Jiannu's flanks. If Jiannu fought our Dashun decisively in Henan, The Ming army would not have such good intentions, and would send troops to Guide and even Kaifeng to support them, and by then, it would be Nanming watching the fire from the other side."

"Well, what Zuo Junjun sees coincides with what I see." Li Zicheng was deeply convinced.

This is also Li Zicheng's original strategy, which is to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, and watch the fire from the other side.

What Niu Jinxing thought in his mind was to lead the right battalion to capture Beijing. Only in this way can he earn a great contribution and not be compared to Li Yan, otherwise he really can't suppress Li Yan.

At that moment, Niu Jinxing persuaded Li Zicheng again: "Your Majesty, if you don't take what God gives, you will be blamed instead. If the time is not right, you will suffer instead. Beijing is empty right now. If you dare not send troops with such a god-given opportunity, you will be punished by God." !"

"Niu Jinxing, what you said is easy." Song Xiance snorted and said, "No matter how empty Beijing is, there will always be [-] to [-] defenders. Are we really sure that the Dashun Army will take it before the army of slaves returns? You don't want it." Forgot, there are a large number of cavalry in the founding slave army, and their marching speed is much faster than ours!"

Niu Jinxing's eloquence was not as good as Song Xiance's, and it was even more unreasonable when he was in a hurry.

At this moment, a servant came in and reported: "Your Majesty, there is an envoy from Ming Dynasty to see you."

"Mingshi?" Li Zicheng said, "Let him come in."

……

Dorgon and Duoduo have returned to the gate of Zhakou Town.

For some reason, Dorgon always felt that his right eyelid was twitching, so he got up and walked to the bamboo screen, and said to Duoduo and Hong Chengchou, "My fifteenth brother and three gentlemen. There are also omissions."

"Brother Fourteen, how many times have you done it?" Duoduo said unhappily, "There is no omission at all."

Dorgon said: "It is best if there are no omissions. In short, there is no harm in adding up again, but only benefits."

"Okay, okay, then let's sum it up again." Duoduo shook his head helplessly, then walked to the screen and stood still.

Dorgon first pointed in the direction of Xin'an Town and said: "Zhengbai Banner is monitoring the Ming Army in Pizhou and Xiangyong in Huai'an Prefecture. There should be no problem."

Duoduo said: "Sixty Niulu from the Zhenghong Banner and Zhenglan Banner will monitor the Ming army in Xiazhen's direction, and there will never be any problems. The Ming army under Huang Degong's command can still fight, but they want to fight against our Eight Banners warriors. It’s still a bit off.”

Ning Wan said to me: "The Ming army in the direction of Fengyang Mansion are all local chickens and dogs, and it is enough to have the inlaid blue flag stationed in Xiao County."

Fan Wencheng said: "The only thing to worry about is the direction of Dangshan. If the [-] puppet troops from the Luoyang direction come to invade, the more than [-] cattle slaves with red flags will definitely not be able to stop them."

Dorgon said: "Don't be afraid of this. If the [-] puppet troops from Luoyang come to invade, then leave the wrapping clothes of two white flags and disguise them as two white flags to deter the Ming army in Xuzhou city, and then gather two white flags, bordered The Red Banners, Eight Banners Han Army, Eight Banners Mongolia, and Outer Fan Mongolia give priority to destroying the Puppet Shun Army."

Fan Wencheng said: "Then there is no problem."

Hong Chengchou said: "Actually, there is still a hidden worry."

Dorgon said: "Is Heng Jiu worried that the Puppet Shun Army will invade Beijing City from the direction of Datong?"

"That's it." Hong Chengchou pointed to the screen and said, "The [-] puppet troops in the direction of Luoyang are actually nothing to worry about. Even if they go north to the Daming Mansion and invade Beijing, we can completely stop them with the speed of the cavalry, but Tu Mo The [-] puppet army in the special direction poses a much greater threat, and Wu Sangui and Jiang Yu alone may be difficult to stop them."

Dorgon's thick eyebrows frowned immediately, and Hong Chengchou's words hit the nail on the head.

After a while, Dorgon frowned and said: "If the puppet army from the direction of Tumote sends troops to Xuanfu, then let Wu Sangui lead the Guanning army to retreat to Juyongguan, Jiang Guan and the others retreat to Zijingguan, Datong, Xuanfu, etc. We don’t want Shanxi, anyway, as long as Xuzhou is defeated and the main force of the Ming army is wiped out, Xuanfu, Datong and even Shanxi can be taken back at any time.”

Hong Chengchou said: "That's exactly the case, so as long as you make up your mind, it will be no problem to fight the Ming army in Xuzhou."

Dorgon said: "From today onwards, you can no longer worry about gains and losses from the king down. The whole army must be determined to fight the Ming army in Xuzhou for life and death! There is no need to hold back the garrison fields of each banner, three million mu Plant them all!"

……

on the other side.

Huang Zongxi made a long bow to the tunnel and said, "I'm Yuyao Huang Zongxi, see His Majesty the Emperor Dashun."

"Huang Zongxi?" Li Zicheng asked, "What position did you occupy in the Ming Dynasty? What is your official rank?"

Huang Zongxi said: "I am just a scholar, and I have no official position, so there is no hierarchy."

"It turned out to be just a scholar." Li Zicheng asked with contempt on his face, "Why did Chongzhen send you to Luoyang?"

Huang Zongxi thought to himself, if it was Niu Jinxing, he would naturally use the previous rhetoric.

But now that Li Zicheng has also come to Luoyang, the previous rhetoric cannot be used, otherwise it will be counterproductive, because Li Zicheng is different from Niu Jinxing.

(End of this chapter)