Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 768 Jinan ([-])

On April 1649, 4, outside Zhangqiu County.

The camp that was set up in strict accordance with the military system on the east bank stretched out for several miles, across both sides of the Xiaoqing River.Between the two banks of the Xiaoqing River, the military team has also erected a solid pontoon bridge and water transport pier. Thousands of military men with spears are stationed here, while transferring various materials transported from the Gaojiagang Salt Field Military Station. On the one hand, it ensures the smooth flow of both sides of the Xiaoqing River.

In the big camp in Hexi, Mao Desheng was carefully reading a letter that had just been forwarded from Yantai.The letter was written by Navy Commander Liu Haiyang, and the main content is the current anti-Qing situation in the South.Since 1649, the anti-Qing situation in the south has been in full swing, mainly concentrated in the four battlefields of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Huguang.

In Guangdong, since Jin Shenghuan bombarded the city walls of Ganzhou and killed Gao Jinku with the cannons in yellow, Li Chengdong temporarily stopped thinking about going north to help Jiangxi, and began to clean up places in Guangdong.It's ridiculous to say that when Li Chengdong was still in the Qing camp, the remnants of the Ming army in some places in Guangdong surrendered one after another; and when Li Chengdong returned to the Ming anyway, these Guangdong local troops refused to return to the Ming.In fact, it is no wonder that they made this choice. It is really that the small court of Nanming at this time does not seem to be able to accomplish anything, so everyone is naturally unwilling to return to the Ming Dynasty for the sake of their own interests.This made Li Chengdong furious, so he began to take tens of thousands of his direct line "Yanke" troops to attack the city in Guangdong, clean up the place, in order to control the overall situation. addition effect.

Compared with the leisure and ease in Guangdong, the situation on the Jiangxi battlefield is much more dangerous.Jierhalang took [-] Manchurian Eight Banners and Starry Night to go straight to Jiangxi, conquer Jiujiang first, and then advance to Nanchang. Its momentum is unstoppable.After Jin Shenghuan led the elite troops out of the city and was defeated twice in the field battle, his heart became cold, so he retreated into Nanchang City and focused on defense.Although the soldiers led by Jierhalang were relatively elite, their numbers were not large, and it was difficult to completely encircle Nanchang City.At present, we can only order Wuchang and Nanjing to send some reinforcements over, and at the same time, we are also wantonly recruiting local regiments to practice miscellaneous brands, so as to quickly increase the number of cannon fodder, otherwise it will be a year of the monkey to take down Nanchang City?Now that Wang Zamao and Wang Deren are still stationed in Ganzhou with their troops. I heard that his troops are from camps and have a certain fighting power, so they have to send people to be on guard, so they can't capsize in the gutter.

If the situation in the Jiangxi battlefield is very unfavorable, then the Fujian battlefield is in a mess.More than 1 mixed armed forces led by Chen Tai drove Lu King's troops all the way to the sea, and then quickly defeated Zheng Chenggong's troops who came ashore, and finally repelled Li Chengdong's troops who went north to Fujian. It's really majestic and majestic.But fortunately, they had few soldiers, only [-] men, and they were not enough to defend the whole of Fujian.

And when the time came to April 1649, perhaps the most optimistic anti-Qing situation in the whole of China should be Huguang and Sichuan.Sichuan was caused by the strategic contraction of the Qing government due to Jiang Xiang's rebellion. A large number of Manchurian Eight Banners elites and Wu Sangui's troops were transferred to Daibei to calm the situation in Shanxi. Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong's Daxi Army and Shun Army He Zhen and other departments became active again. , which made Meng Qiaofang, governor of Shaanxi in the Qing Dynasty, very nervous.As for the territory of Huguang, after Jierhalang ordered the troops of King Sanshun and Xushun to retreat to Wuchang, and at the same time dispatched a large number of troops to the east to support the Jiangxi battlefield, all this led to the Dashun army to start a full-scale counterattack. Li Guo, Liu Fangliang , Yuan Zongdi, Gao Yigong and other ministries have attacked one after another. At present, the whole territory of Hunan has been restored and they have begun to advance to Hubei. The situation looks very optimistic.

It can be seen from this that at this turbulent time, after the Qing government judged the national situation, only Sichuan and Huguang were the only provinces that implemented the policy of strategic contraction.Because these two opponents are strong and have a strong will to fight, it would be unwise for them to be unable to take them for a while, and instead trap their precious troops there, so they resolutely withdrew temporarily for later.Speaking of this, I have to mention Fujian. To be honest, the Qing court originally planned to give up this place temporarily. However, the combat effectiveness of King Lu and the Zheng family is really too scumbag. A mere 5000 people under Chen Tai's department can kill them. What else can I say if I've been beaten to pieces?If the two are more competitive, let alone Fujian, Zhejiang has only more than 4 Qing Army Green Battalion troops, and they can completely win at one go.It's a pity that the land combat strength of these two companies is completely negative, so naturally nothing will be mentioned.

Seeing this, Mao Desheng couldn't help shaking his head and sighing, the opportunity was created for you, but you didn't grasp it yourself, and you are still ignorant, if you are a monk hitting the clock for a day, then who can blame it?The halo of good luck will not always favor you forever, the emperor will leave you one day.

At the end of the letter, Liu Haiyang stated that Nanming's army was too scumbag, and he planned to mobilize the [-] troops in his hand (Sun Shouzheng's [-] soldiers, plus more than [-] people from Dashun Cai Huaze's troops who were originally stranded in Shandong), Engage in some small-scale landing raids in the areas of Fujian, Zhejiang and South Zhili.If necessary, contact the Zheng family to work together, while restraining and attacking the Qing army, while collecting some craftsmen and books and artworks to transport back to the mainland.

"The raid on the southern coast is still too small to be a major event." Mao Desheng put down the letter paper in his hand and thought: "If we want to break the balance that the Manchu Qing is still struggling to maintain in the whole country, then we can only A breakthrough has been achieved at a certain point. This point can be Dashun’s capture of Wuchang in Hubei, or it can be marked by the capture of Chengdu and Chongqing by the Daxi Army. Of course, it is best for us to break through Jinan and take Shandong as a breakthrough point. After all The geographical location of Shandong is too sensitive, and it is a place that cannot be given up. Although most of Shandong will not be able to defend the whole of Shandong in the future, taking Jinan at this time and annihilating the main force of the Qing army in Shandong should make the Beijing court very sad. .Then... let’s do this!”

Once the idea was made, Mao Desheng no longer hesitated, and began to order various ministries to attack the Qing army positions on the outskirts of Jinan in turn.Every time there is an attack, there is a clear division of labor, which one is the main attack, which one is the support, and which one is the reserve team.The Battle of Jinan, a battle with a combined scale of more than 11 people, was a rare exercise for Mao Desheng's servant army system, which was mostly mobs, and its value far exceeded that of the previous Qingzhou Battle.

On April 4, after five consecutive days of fierce fighting, the attacking force led by Ding Mingwu and Xie Qian finally broke into Zhangqiu County after suffering heavy casualties of more than 20 people.More than 5000 people from Niu Chenghu's Department of the Qing army were killed, wounded and captured in this battle, and the number of their own casualties was equal to the number of enemies killed, which was not a good thing for the inferior army on the east coast.After Niu Chenghu's troops were defeated and retreated from Zhangqiu County, due to the arrival of the Qing army's support troops soon, the Qing army's Kong Xigui's troops on the Changchengling side also all pressed northward to force the troops on the east bank. As a result, Mao Desheng's troops were unable to effectively pursue Niu Chenghu's troops. (The cavalry beheaded more than a thousand people after hastily chasing their tails), so as to continue to expand the results of the battle, which is very regrettable.

On April 4, tens of thousands of soldiers from Dong Xueli and Chen Zhilong from the East Bank Army attacked Kong Xigui’s 26 men from the Qing Army’s side of Changcheng Ridge. At that time, the news came that the Mongolian cavalry of the Qing army had attacked the transport ships on the east bank of the Xiaoqing River. Mao Desheng had to send additional troops to guard the safety of the transport troops. 0.8 meters east coast gunboat.

On April 4, Du Chong led more than 28 armed people from all walks of life to Zhangqiu Town, the water transportation node. Although they were repelled by the defenders headed by the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia led by Zhang Jinglai in the Qing Dynasty, their great momentum also aroused great concern. Luke Dehun in Jinan paid attention to it, and began to consider sending some troops from Jinan to strengthen Zhang Qiuzhen's defense.

On May 5, the army on the east bank captured the Qing army camp on the side of Changcheng Ridge, clearing away an important threat on the flank.This time, the casualties of the army on the east bank were much smaller. The combined number of Dong and Chen's troops was less than 3, but they achieved a major result of killing, wounding and capturing nearly 3000 Qing troops.Of course, this is also the result of Mao De Shengli assigning a large number of artillery to them to fight. The regular army on the east coast did not hesitate to consume a lot of gunpowder and shells to help them achieve this victory.Nearly 5000 people from Kong Xigui's remnant troops retreated to Tai'an Prefecture at night. Along the way, Dong Xueli, who was chasing after him, cut down and captured more than 6000 people. In Zhoucheng, there were only about [-] people left, and most of the ordnance and supplies were lost. It is difficult to become a threat again in a short time.

However, when a large number of artillery from the East Coast Army was transferred to the southern battlefield to support Dong Xueli's Ministry, Luck Dehun, who was based in Jinan, seized the opportunity to take the initiative to attack and regained Zhangqiu County.Ding Mingwu's troops defending the city were beaten into wolves and broke into groups. Three to 4000 people were killed or injured in one night. In addition, they ran around in the dark at night. , there are less than 3000 people.Ding Mingwu was so angry that he wanted to wipe his neck, but was stopped by someone.Fortunately, after dawn, more than 2000 people came back one after another, but their morale was no longer the same as yesterday, and they had to withdraw for training.

After more than half a month of fighting, Mao Desheng finally discovered that he still overestimated the combat effectiveness of most of his servants.A mob is a mob. For example, there are more than 5000 people in Ding Mingwu's department. At that time, when Mo Ming was there, he planned to cut off more than half of them. However, due to time constraints, he failed to do so. But today's battle scenes really show that this department is the most unbearable. Zhangqiu County, which had already been conquered, was lost to the Qing army again.

Of course, he also underestimated the fighting will of the Qing army.Now that the situation in the Manchu and Qing Dynasties is tense, why doesn't Luck Dehun know the key?Therefore, he desperately wanted to defend Jinan City, and he must not let the thieves in yellow capture it, otherwise, it would have unimaginable adverse political and military effects.Because of this, Luck Dehun was so ruthless in this offensive and defensive battle in Jinan. Not only did the various departments of the Qing army make up for the supplies, food and salaries, but also promised many other benefits to encourage these Qiubamen to fight.In addition, under the propaganda of the Qing court, the gentry from all over the country began to work hard to set up regiments and armed forces to fight against the yellow-clothed thieves.

Armed training by the Han landlord regiment was also a double-edged sword for the Qing court, but the Qing court could no longer care about it when the battle reached this point.Countless gentry in the [-] prefectures and counties of Shandong Province, as long as they report to Jinan and know about it, they can get the right to set up regiments and train armed forces.These landlord armed forces may be considered vulnerable or even ridiculous by both the Qing court and the East Bank at this time, but as time goes by, how do they know that they will not soar into the sky when they grow up?

On May 5, the army on the east bank after adjusting the attack sequence launched an offensive again.In this campaign, the artillery units were no longer stingy in using gunpowder and shells, and all 10 artillery pieces were pulled out to bombard Zhangqiu.Finally, after paying more than 24 casualties, Zhangqiu County was conquered for the second time.The Qing army defending the city, led by Li Tai, was disabled and fled back to Jinan in embarrassment.

After these three battles, the cumulative number of casualties of the East Coast Army has reached 3000. Even if the number of repeated statistics is removed, the actual casualties are more than 20, and less than [-]% of them can be killed again. Return to the battlefield.Such tragic casualties ([-]% casualty rate) greatly lowered the morale of the servant army, and this also made Mao Desheng turn his attention to the battlefield behind the enemy, hoping to force the Qing army into chaos through the victory in the battlefield behind the enemy, so as to reduce the casualties of the frontal attack .

(End of this chapter)