Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 239

After the war, Yuezhou City was devastated, and every family had filial piety, some of them paid homage to their dead relatives, and some of them were for the martyrdom of the imperial servant Zhang Kuang.

In the battle of Yuezhou, the entire Yuezhou suffered heavy losses. Nearly 60 young and strong people died in the battle, all of which needed to be compensated by the court, but Wang Yan only had [-] taels of silver left, but he was already stretched.

At this time, he wanted to reward the troops, and Luck Dehun did not retreat to Wuchang, but went to the camp at the intersection of Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River, thirty miles away from Yuezhou. There will definitely be a big battle next. All need the support of money and food.

The reason why Luck Dehun was willing to retreat from Yuezhou was because Wang Yan had already captured Huarong and the army was about to rescue Yuezhou, because he was worried that the grain road and the back road would be robbed.

Yuezhou was originally closed with four gates, and only Manda Zhuang had more than 2000 people wandering outside, which did not pose much threat to the Qing soldiers, but after Wang Yan took down Huarong, tens of thousands of Ming troops were free to fight Manda He used warships to transport troops to the rear of the Qing soldiers via the Yangtze River, harassed the grain roads, and even cut off the connection between Luck Dehun and Wuchang. Therefore, he retreated for [-] li and built simple forts on the south bank of the Yangtze River to prevent the The warship of the Ming army slipped behind him.

In fact, after the Qing army failed several times in Huguang, the situation has already favored the Ming army. It would be unwise for Luck Dehun to continue to attack Yuezhou.

According to Wang Yan's request, he withdrew the army for [-] miles and let Wang Yan cross the Dongting Lake calmly. Let the Qing soldiers be defenseless.

As the saying goes, "Take a step back to open up the sea and the sky", this retreat of Luke Dehun not only allows his soldiers who have been fighting for a long time to take a breather and rest, but also can turn passive into active, and redisplay the advantages of cavalry.

If the Ming army wanted to force him back to Wuchang, they would have to abandon Jiancheng and come out to fight him in the field, so Luck Dehun's retreat seemed forced, but it was the best choice, not a helpless one.

Wang Yan also saw through the intelligence of Yi Luke Dehun, and after he reminded him, he would definitely choose to retreat, so he wrote the letter of war.

The reason why Wang Yan wrote the letter of war and was eager to cross the lake was because he had no money, apart from worrying that Yuezhou would be captured by the Qing soldiers.

In addition to competing for military strength, the most important thing in war is money and food, and even money and food are more important than the army.

In history, hundreds of thousands of troops, because of the shortage of money and food, the examples of birds scattered like beasts are too numerous to mention. Although Wang Yan won several battles one after another, he did not capture anything. He could not rely on his spirit and national justice alone. Just let 8 people give up their lives.

As far as the 60 taels of silver in his hand is now only enough to pay pensions to the soldiers who died in battle, he has no more silver, and he can support and fight with the Qing soldiers for even one more month, so Wang Yan urgently needs a battle, so he sends Lu Ke Dehun hurried back to Wuchang, and then took a rest to raise food and wages.

In fact, whether it is the old soldiers around Wang Yan or the Ming army adapted from the Shun army, they are all exhausted troops. They have experienced successive battles in just over a month, and they are mentally and physically exhausted. .

If the battle continues to drag on, once the Qing army has a new force to join, it will inevitably change again, so no matter what, Wang Yan urgently needs to fight with Luck Dehun.

The death of eunuch Zhang Kuang made Wang Yan very sad, but it also gave the Ming army an opportunity.

Wang Yan wrote memorials and letters to report many recent affairs to Fujing and Changsha, and at the same time held a grand memorial ceremony in Yuezhou City as a sacrificial text to pay homage to Zhang Kuang.

Seven days later, all the Ming troops stranded in Huarong crossed Dongting Lake and came to Yuezhou. After recapturing Changde, Du Yinxi and Gao Yigong also came to Yuezhou to help in the battle.

More than 8 Ming troops, the entire army buried Zhang Kuang in Jin'e Mountain, and then drove to Hukou in mighty force.

At noon, the spring sunshine makes people drowsy.

The [-] Qing soldiers had already lined up outside the camp, ready to fight to the death with the Ming army. On the plain, there was a stretch of Qing army phalanx, with flags flying, swords and guns everywhere, horses neighing, and murderous intent.

Wang Yan sent someone to send the letter of war again, and the decisive battle is scheduled for today. Compared with attacking the strong city, Luc Dehun naturally couldn't ask for it.

He rode on the horse, looked up at the noon sun, could not help frowning slightly, and couldn't help worrying whether Wang Yan would keep his promise.

At this time, he couldn't help picking up the binoculars and looking forward. After a while, a few puffs of dust and smoke appeared in his line of sight. They were sentry cavalry sent by him. , followed by the appearance of mountains and plains.

The sentries of the Qing army rushed back all the way and reported to Lekethun, but without his words, all the Qing soldiers could see that tens of thousands of Ming troops came rolling in, as if they had spread a white carpet on the ground.

Seeing this, Luke Dehun couldn't help but feel agitated. This will be a field battle in which the Qing army has invested the most elites since the Battle of Piece of Stone.

Wang Yan raised [-] soldiers from Yuezhou. Before he came to the Qing soldiers, he saw the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake on the left, a small hill on the right, and Pingchuan wilderness in the center. It was a good battlefield.

At this time, [-] Ming troops met with [-] Qing soldiers, and shot the positions with artillery.

Wang Yan was wearing armor, standing on a tall building car with governor Du Yinxi, overlooking the entire battlefield.

At this time, Wang Yan first ordered sentry cavalry to go out to explore the area within a radius of [-] li, and then ordered the flag officer to wave the command flag and order the soldiers and horses of each department to line up according to the battalion number.

Half an hour later, a scout horse ran back from behind the hill, went straight into the formation, came under the building cart, got off the horse, bowed on one knee and said: "I report to the Duke, there are no Qing soldiers in ambush within a radius of twenty li. "

Hearing this, Wang Yan nodded, waved the cloak behind him, and said solemnly: "Explore again, if there is any abnormality, report it immediately."

"Nuo~" The sentry made a salute, then got on the horse again, and rode away.

Seeing this, Du Yinxi smiled slightly, "It seems that Luck Dehun really wants to fight the Duke with dignity."

Wang Yan looked at Fangzheng, the Qing army stretching in the distance, and couldn't help sneering: "He, like Ben Du, can't afford to delay. The Qing army has lost one after another in Huguang. If the news reaches Beijing, Dorgon will definitely send a veteran The prince of the war campaign came to replace him in command of the Qing army. He has the advantage of the cavalry in today's battle. He has no reason not to fight, and this battle is also his last chance. He is afraid that the governor will not fight with him. He fought, so he shouldn't cheat."

Du Yinxi nodded when he heard the words, "How sure is the Duke of this battle?"

Hearing the words, Wang Yan looked at the more than 4 Mongolian cavalry in the wilderness, and said with a serious face: "The battlefield changes rapidly, but it's hard to say.

Ben Du sent sentry cavalry everywhere, what he was looking for was stability. In this battle, Ben Du also seeks stability first, and then wins. "

(End of this chapter)