Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 738
In the wilderness, there was a pile of corpses. The soldiers of the Ming army walked among the corpses with blood-dripping swords. When they found the wounded soldiers of the Ming army, they called for a shelf to carry them away. .

At this time, a Ming soldier suddenly grabbed a Qing soldier who was lying on the ground and pretended to be dead, and hugged his head from behind with one hand, stretched the gleaming Miao Dao to his neck, and pulled it like killing a chicken. The same, the blood splashed straight and shot far away.

The Ming army needed prisoners to serve as cannon fodder, but these disabled soldiers could only become a burden. It was very difficult for Wang Yan to raise the wounded soldiers of the Ming army. How could he have the money to take care of the wounded soldiers of the Qing army.

The sparse soldiers of the Ming army just walked among the piles of corpses with knives and guns. While picking up the scattered weapons and binding them together, they stabbed the undead soldiers of the Qing Dynasty to end their sinful lives. Stop giving your life to the Tartars.

Outside the battlefield, the captives of the brigades were connected into a string by hemp ropes, and the Ming army with a small flag could often escort nearly a hundred captives to the town near the battlefield.

Lulang Town, located between Dasheng Pass and Ma'anshan, has a population of hundreds of households. Now the outside of the town has become a sprawling military camp, where a large number of prisoners are held.

The Ming army set up a temporary camp outside the town. After a while, the people in the town beat the drums and drove the pigs and led the sheep. Under the leadership of the squires, they changed into net towels, put on Han clothes, and came to the gate of the camp. Reward the army.

These days they were also worried. Before Jin Shenghuan called, Laobao was slaughtering pigs and sheep to welcome the Ming army. As a result, Jin Shenghuan was defeated by Boluo, and someone in the town reported to the Qing soldiers that Laobao was secretly informing the Ming army. Forced to commit suicide, now the people in the town, after seeing a large number of Qing soldiers' captives, are convinced that the King of Hengyang really won, so they came out to work again under the leadership of Lao Baozheng's son.

Everyone has a belief in their hearts that the gentry and people in the south of the Yangtze River used to live well, but in the past few years under the rule of the Qing court, the original economic structure went bankrupt, production was destroyed on a large scale, and the Qing court exploited them, making life worse than before.

The Five Loyalists camped outside the town, and they did not plunder food, occupy houses, or abuse girls. They could tell the difference between good and bad.

The gentry and common people in the town used the little surplus food to light up fires, and every household prepared the best food as if they were celebrating a festival. They wanted to serve the soldiers who had been fighting for a day, at least the generals, or at least they had to do it for King Hengyang. A hot meal.

At this time, the whole town came out in full force, and hundreds of people crowded in front of the camp with baskets and loads, but Wang Yan was not in the camp. Not long after the battle, he met Jin Shenghuan and Wanji , and immediately led nearly a thousand guards to Ma'anshan.

At the foot of Ma'anshan, the Qing soldiers had already withdrawn from the siege, but the Ming army did not leave. Firstly, the army was too hungry and weak, and secondly, the emperor had only one breath left. It is estimated that he would die if he moved a little, so no one dared to move.

At this time, the emperor and ministers were still in the temple on the top of the mountain, but the soldiers went down the mountain and occupied the camp of the Qing army.

Man Dazhuang knew that the soldiers in Jiangxi had been trapped for many days and their food and grass had run out, so as soon as the Qing army left, he ordered the navy to go ashore, remove the food on board, set up a marching stove, and prepared pancakes and thick porridge.

Jiangxi soldiers who had been starving for several days suddenly turned into wolves and beasts, and swarmed down the mountain. Some went straight to the river, burying their heads in the river, and some ate wildly. Some ate too fast and choked to death. of.

After Jin Shenghuan and others went down the mountain, they learned from Man Dazhuang that in order to prevent Boluo from retreating into Dasheng Pass, Wang Yan made a detour to copy before Ma'anshan.

After Jin Shenghuan and others discussed for a while, they reluctantly pulled out some soldiers who still had strength, and chased after Boluo.

Although the siege of Ma'anshan was resolved, Tang Wang and many ministers did not relax. They were worried about two issues, one was whether Wang Yan could defeat Boluo, and the other was whether the emperor was no longer able to continue the battle of Jiangnan.

In the temple, the emperor was seriously ill, and the king of Tang has now become the backbone of the Tang-supporting faction, and has been re-supported by the ministers as the supervisor of the country.He was sitting in a wing room, and there were more than a dozen ministers in the room. There were not so many stools in the temple, so they could only stand.

After the ups and downs of the past few days, most of these senior officers are haggard, and the military university soldiers have become strong for a while, their cheeks are sunken, the beards under their jaws are mostly white, and they cough non-stop from time to time.

At this time, he stood up, stopped coughing for a long time, and then saluted the king of Tang: "His Royal Highness, the Hengyang clan rushed to help and fought Boluo in the wilderness again. Whether we win or lose, we should have prepared early! "

Hearing what he said, many officials in the room were not surprised, with melancholy on their faces.

After this battle, the supporters of the Tang Dynasty suffered heavy losses, and once the emperor died, the morale of the Ming army would inevitably plummet, and many ministers already felt resigned.

In addition, they were defeated by Boluo, and the confidence and morale accumulated in the past few years also disappeared with this battle. It is difficult for Jin Shenghuan and Wang Deren to recover their fighting strength without a period of rest. .

They were defeated by the Qing soldiers, and the initial fear of the Qing sprouted in their hearts, so Wang Yan was also a big question mark in his heart as to whether he could defeat Boluo.

Chen Zizhuang took the lead in saying this, and Gu Yuanjing, a senior scholar, also came out and said: "Your Highness, if the Hengyang Domain is defeated, then we will be in danger of being besieged again. Now that your majesty's dragon body is hard to support, I suggest that your highness should withdraw to Jiangxi and prepare for it." Ascension to the throne."

What he said was more direct, and he even meant to let King Tang ascend the throne first.

When the emperor passed away, the entire power of Fuming would be in turmoil. When the news reached King Lu, it was possible that King Lu would ascend the throne first, and Wang Yan might also set up Gui Fan. All the ministers were very anxious.

As soon as the two bachelors spoke, most of the other officials also meant the same thing.

The King of Tang sat in the middle, listened to their words, and understood their concerns, but the Battle of the South of the Yangtze River was of great significance and was related to the fate of the Ming Dynasty. Now that the emperor is still there, if he retreats in such a disheveled manner and is in a hurry to ascend the throne, it will be a shame for him. It's not good-looking, it's hard to convince the public, and it will damage his prestige, and the influence of the court he established will also be greatly reduced.

Tang Wang saw that the ministers in the room were a little confused, and his thin face seemed to be covered with a layer of frost. He looked at the crowd, was silent for a while, and suddenly said: "Silence!"

Everyone in the room heard the sound and saw that his face was not good, so they hurriedly quieted down.

King Tang looked at them, speechless for a long time, and then said after a while, "The results from the front line have not been reported yet, why should you be so flustered. Wang Deren sent people to the east to investigate. Whether he wins or loses, his own spies will return! If the Hengyang Fan wins, I will retreat with everyone alone, and I will become a sinner of Ming Dynasty; if the Hengyang Fan wins, the boat will be on the river, and it will not be too late to retreat!"

After hearing this, Chen Zizhuang and the others pondered for a while. What King Tang said was reasonable, but they were still a little uneasy. If King Tang was taken away by the Qing soldiers, it would be the end of Ming Dynasty, but since King Tang said, it would be inconvenient for them If you object, you can only choose the next best thing, "Your Highness, there is no way to be prepared. I suggest that the soldiers should be prepared first, so as not to cause chaos when the time comes."

Tang Wang pondered for a while, did not veto, and sighed dejectedly: "Just follow Qing's words."

When Chen Zizhuang saw that the king of Tang should come down, he went out of the house and was about to go down the mountain to convey the order, but just as he reached the door, he was bumped head-on by a man. Holding on, I didn't fall down, but there was also a cough.

The person who bumped into it was Wang Deren, and he was startled too. He didn't care about saluting Tang Wang, so he took a step forward to check.

When King Tang saw him coming, he stood up immediately and asked anxiously, "Wang Qing, there is news from the front line."

Wang Deren came to his senses, and saluted Tang Wang with great joy: "Your Highness, I just got the news that Hengyang King defeated the main force of Boluo in one fell swoop forty miles west of Dasheng Pass, and is now rushing to Ma'anshan with Jindu Town!"

(I bragged a lot a few days ago, and the author tried his best to get back his morals.)
(End of this chapter)