Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 595 Give way
"Southwest?"

Hong Chengchou and Hou Fangyu turned their heads sharply, and saw that on the southwest coast, the beacon tower next to the Chaohe camp had already ignited soaring smoke.

"what happened?"

"Could it be that the Ming army went to Fuhekou?"

Hong Chengchou's face instantly collapsed.

If it shows that the army has gone to Fuhekou, then their deployment at Chaohekou will be in vain.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Hou Fangyu yelled even more out of composure, "Unless Chongzhen is a fool, it is absolutely impossible for the Ming army to run to Fuhekou."

Compared with the Chaohe River, the disadvantages of the Floating River are obvious.

First of all, the surface of the Fuhe River is very narrow, far less wide than that of the Chaohe River.

The second and most important point is that the upper reaches of the floating river are connected to the Grand Canal.

In other words, when the Ming army marched along the course of the Fuhe River, they would eventually advance along the Grand Canal, and then they would have to face countless blunderbusses all over the banks of the Grand Canal.

There are far fewer gun platforms on both sides of the Chaohe River.

"It's a mistake, it must be a mistake!"

Hou Fangyu continued to roar: "Someone must have made a mistake."

Hong Chengchou ignored Hou Fangyu, there are strict regulations and mechanisms in the beacon fire communication, how could he make a mistake?Only a layman who knows nothing about the beacon communication mechanism will suspect that the wrong beacon is clicked.

However, the beacon message can only convey a win-win news, that is, the main force of the Ming army has been found or attacked by the main force of the Ming army in a certain place in the southwest. As for which place was attacked, and how many troops does the Ming army have?These can only wait for the express delivery that arrives later.

But there is one thing to be prepared in advance.

At that moment, Hong Chengchou hurriedly got off the beacon tower.

He also ordered Hong Da: "Hong Da, beat the drums and gather the generals!"

"Send the flying cavalry to inform the garrison troops at the Shahekou and Leting camps, and come to the Chaohekou camp to meet up immediately!"

Regardless of whether the Ming army went to Fuhekou or Dagukou, the Eight Banners Han troops and Green Battalion troops stationed in Chaohekou, Shahekou, and Laoting camp had to rush to help.

……

However, the Ming army was neither at Fuhekou nor Dagukou.

At this time, the main force of the Ming army had just reached the mouth of the Xiaoqing River, and it was still three hundred miles away from the mouth of Fuhe River, and a full four hundred miles away from the mouth of Dagu River, and it would take three or four days at the earliest.

"Stop!" Chongzhen signaled the ice sledge to stop.

The Ming army who was driving hurriedly stepped on the skates.

The skate immediately made a deep scratch on the ice.

There was a harsh creaking sound, and the ice sledge stopped firmly on the ice.

Chongzhen got off the ice sledge, and Gao Qiqian waited for a few eunuchs and Wu Batan and dozens of guards to come down to the Jiannu Beacon Tower at the mouth of the Xiaoqing River.

This is a rammed earth beacon tower.

The height is about two feet, and the shape is extremely simple.

There are still bullet holes on the rammed earth wall of the beacon tower.

The bullet holes were apparently left by the infantry of the First Town.

But the bodies of several Jiannu who were killed have been removed.

One of the supply battalions in the first town is rushing to repair the camp.

It is said to be a camp, but it is actually three defensive gun platforms distributed in a zigzag shape.

After the completion of the three gun towers, there will be a total of 288 new troops left.

"Long Live Lord, this is the Xiaoqing River." Gao Qiqian pointed to the estuary in front of him and said, "After crossing the Xiaoqing River, there is the Daqing River. If you go up the Daqing River, you can directly reach the Grand Canal."

Chongzhen nodded silently, waiting for the next time the Yellow River diverted,
There will no longer be a Daqing River in the world, but only the Yellow River.

However, it is still very early for the next diversion of the Yellow River.

Because Pan Jixun's Shuhe sand attack was still very effective.

……

Hong Chengchou soon got the detailed military situation.

Shang Kexi who was stationed at Fuhekou camp sent his younger brother Shang Keyi to report.

"Hongbutang, the first to be attacked by the Ming army was the Beacon Tower at Zishui River Estuary, followed by the Beacon Tower at Xiaoqing River Estuary, and now it is estimated that the Beacon Tower at Daqing River Estuary has been taken down." Shang Keyi said in a deep voice, "Ming Dog used There are a large number of mules and horses and ice sledges, so the speed of advancement is extremely fast, and you can walk hundreds of miles in a day!"

"So, the Ming army marched north along the coastline?"

"Didn't you go deep into Qingzhou Prefecture along the Zishui or Xiaoqing River?"

Hong Chengchou calmed down a bit, because he found that the ultimate goal of the Ming army might still be the Chaohe Estuary. It was nothing more than changing the route of march from a straight line to a curve along the coastline.

Hou Fangyu also breathed a sigh of relief: "Hong Butang, what did I say? The Ming army's target must be Chaohe Estuary, and it can only be Chaohe Estuary. Unless Chongzhen is crazy, it is absolutely impossible to choose Fuhe River or Weihe River , it is even more impossible to go by land, so we only need to wait for work at the mouth of the Chaohe River.”

Hong Chengchou did not dare to make such an arbitrary judgment.

After pondering for a moment, Hong Chengchou asked again: "Shang Keyi, are you sure that the Ming army really has 10 people?"

Shang Keyi said: "Reporting to Hongbutang, 10 people is not much, and there are at least [-] mules and horses plus [-] ice sledges, stretching on the ice along the coast for more than ten miles, oh By the way, there are tens of thousands of cavalry!"

"So, it's really the main force of the Ming army." Hong Chengchou nodded, and said again, "However, the Ming army didn't take a straight line and take shortcuts, but chose to take a detour along the coastline. What's the intention?"

"Hong Butang, didn't I say that the target of the Ming army must be Chaohe Estuary."

Hou Fangyu said decisively: "So don't be confused by Chongzhen's superficial articles."

Hong Chengchou frowned and said: "But Hou Canjun, have you ever thought about it? If the Ming army continues to advance along the coastline, it will soon advance to the Fuhekou camp. At that time, will the garrison of the Fuhekou camp be defending or letting go? And we Do you want to send reinforcements from the Chaohekou Camp and the other three camps?"

Along the coast of Beihai, the Qing army set up a total of five camps. From south to north, they were the Fuhekou camp, the Weihekou camp, the Chaohekou camp, the Shahekou camp, and the Leting camp. The battalion was attacked by the Ming army, and the Qing army in the other four battalions had to reinforce it immediately.

There is nothing wrong with the plan itself.

Because the purpose of Hong Chengchou's defensive deployment is to hold back the main force of the Ming army and form a stalemate between the two sides, there is no difference between a stalemate at Chaohekou and a stalemate at Fuhekou.

But the problem now is that the Qing army set up an ambush at the mouth of the Chaohe River.

It would undoubtedly be the best if the Ming army could be led to Chaohe Estuary.

As a result, Fuhekou cannot be guarded, and must give way.

So Hong Chengchou was hesitant, wondering if he should give up the Fuhekou.

Hou Fangyu did not hesitate at all, and said decisively: "Get out of the way of the Fuhekou, and let King Dingnan lead his army to retreat to the vicinity of Cangzhou on the upper reaches of the Fuhe River, and the defenders of the other battalions don't have to go for reinforcements!"

"In this way, even if Chongzhen is really insane, there is no problem if he insists on taking the Fuhe River. King Dingnan's army will stand firm in Cangzhou for three to five days, and the reinforcements from the Weihe Camp will arrive. In a few days The rest of the battalions can also arrive, so they can still rely on the guntai groups on both sides of the Grand Canal to start a long-term confrontation with the Ming army."

Speaking of this meal, Hou Fangyu said again: "Of course, this is only the most extreme situation, but the lower officials thought that Chongzhen would never be so stupid that he insisted on taking the Fuhe River instead of the Chaohe River."

Hong Chengchou must admit that Hou Fangyu's analysis makes sense.

At that moment, Hong Chengchou ordered Hong Da to say: "Ada, send flying cavalry to inform King Dingnan that he immediately abandon Fuhe Estuary, retreat to the vicinity of Cangzhou, and rely on the upper reaches of Fuhe River to rush to repair the blunderbuss platform."

"Hey!" Hong Cheng turned and left in a hurry.

……

The next day, the forward cavalry of the Ming army entered the Fuhekou.

The Fuhe River is connected to the canal in the west, passing through Dongguang, Huanghua and Beihai. It is almost the south drainage river of Huanghua City today. The river course is neither wide nor deep enough, and its navigable capacity is extremely limited.

But it is very useful as a "highway" after freezing.

The ice sledges of the Ming army's supply troops could follow this "highway" to the canal, and then go north along the canal "highway" all the way to Beijing.

Therefore, theoretically speaking, it is still possible for the Ming army to march along the Fuhe River.

This is why Hong Chengchou wanted to set up a big camp at the mouth of the Fuhe River.

At this moment, Hu Guozhu straddled his horse and stood standing outside the gate of Jiannu Fuhe camp.

Jiannu is now really learning from all aspects of Ming Dynasty, and he has learned it very thoroughly. All the barracks he built are all blunderbuss platforms, that is, the blunderbuss platforms are combined to form a barracks. They are independent of each other, but they can support each other.

There are more than 20 blunderbusses in total, probably because they walked in a hurry, so they didn't have time to destroy them.

However, Hu Guozhu was already a seasoned veteran, so he still sent scout cavalry into each gun platform to check carefully to avoid ambushes.

Soon another scout reported: "My lord, Jiannu was found more than ten miles upstream of the Fuhe River. There are at least tens of thousands of slaves, carrying Flang cannons and red-clothed cannons."

"Chase!" Hu Guozhu decisively ordered the pursuit.

After chasing for about half an hour, he caught up with the Jiannu.

However, this group of Jian slaves has formed a large square formation using vans and carts, and a large number of Franglers and tiger crouching guns have been set up on the vans and carts.

Seeing this, Hu Guozhu resolutely gave up the idea of ​​attacking.

Attacking an infantry with a car camp and artillery protection with cavalry is purely courting death.

So Hu Guozhu led the cavalry around to the front again, trying to hold back the Jiannu, and waited for the infantry and artillery to catch up before encircling and annihilating them in the wild.

However, Hu Guozhu quickly ordered to let go.

Because Jiannu's chariot formation can move on the plain.

Therefore, Hu Guozhu and the cavalry soldiers under his command could only follow Jiannu's ass far away until dark, and sent this Jiannu to the vicinity of Cangzhou.

The wild is no longer safe after dark.

Hu Guozhu could only take the cavalry back to the camp at Fuhekou.

However, the scout cavalry of the cavalry town did not return, but still wandered in the vast fields on both sides of the floating river, and started brutal hunting and counter-hunting with Jiannu's Yebushou.

The war between the Ming army and the Qing army has not yet really broken out.

But the deadly battle between the scout cavalry and Yebushou on both sides,

However, it has been staged in the wilderness and under the night without knowing how many times.

(End of this chapter)