scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 291 Desperate

Fatty Lu actually somewhat overestimated the information transmission ability of the Qing army, and also somewhat underestimated the experience of the old fox Xiergen in reporting good news but not bad news. In fact, until the day when he ordered the withdrawal of troops on March [-], Xiergen did not dare to The news of the fiasco in the decisive battle in northern Jiangxi was rushed to the capital by [-] miles, and reported to Kang Mazi. Every day in the big tent, I was worried about big eyes to small eyes, old eyes to young eyes, and old eyes to young eyes with Master Beizi of Zhangtai. How to report the bad news to Kang Mazi.

Some friends will definitely ask, it’s alright for Mr. Zhangtai Beizi, how could the old fox Xiergen worry about how to report the fiasco in northern Jiangxi to Kang Mazi?Isn't this nonsense?If you lose, you lose, and if you lose, you lose. The responsible Hilgen can just report the truth, so why worry about whether to report good news or not bad news? What if the military plane is delayed?
My friends are right to ask. Hilgen, who is loyal to Kang Mazi and the Qing court, really wants to honestly confess the fiasco to Kang Mazi, and asks Kang Mazi to make strategic adjustments as soon as possible to prevent Wu Jun's attack. The next move—but the question is, does Hilgen dare?It was Kang Mazi who credulously believed that Fatty Lu was shot and seriously injured, and it was Kang Mazi who believed in Han Daren's false surrender, and it was Kang Mazi who ordered the main force of the Qing army in northern Jiangxi to go west and north to fight the Wu army!

Could it be that Hilgen really went and said to Kang Mazi, "Master, it's all because of your stupidity, your incompetence, and your ignorance of military command, which killed tens of thousands of our Qing army, and made our Qing The good situation in the northern Jiangxi battlefield was ruined with one hand." Then something happened, and Hilgen and Zhangtai Beizi really couldn't imagine what to say.

It was also because of Kang Mazi's pockmarked face that he had to take into account Kang Mazi's pockmarked face, so Hilgen stationed his troops on the sidelines for two days after the fiasco, intending to find the Wu army's flaws, and use the tens of thousands of troops who still had the strength to fight in their hands. After Wu Jun's big victory, he got carried away with the opportunity and took advantage of a loophole to win a small battle to save Kang Mazi's face.I never imagined that I would run into such an excellent enemy as Fatty Lu again. Not only did he not get carried away after the big victory, he didn't even plan to continue to expand the result of the victory. Secretly calling it unlucky, he had no choice but to order the troops to retreat and defend the city.

Originally, if it was replaced by a truly selfless general of the Qing army like Obai or Yue Le, perhaps he would have to bite the bullet and shoulder the responsibility for the disastrous defeat on his own, and blamed himself for all the crimes, but it is a pity Yes, Hilgen is not as great as this.So it was not until the first day of April that Xiergen and Zhangtai Beizi, who had reached a secret agreement in private, reported to the Qing court with [-] li in a hurry, and blamed all the blame for the fiasco in northern Jiangxi to the deputy general of Dingnan and the Ministry of Rites. Shangshu Hargaqi insisted that Hargaqi credulously believed in Han Daren's false surrender, and tried his best to push the Qing army to cross the lake for a decisive battle, which led to the defeat of northern Jiangxi and the defeat of the whole army!
Anyway, Halgaqi is a dead man and he can't speak anymore. He has taken the blame. Not only can Hilgen and Zhangtai Beizi be less guilty, but Kang Mazi's face is also saved. The guilt of Ergen and Zhangtai Beizi is naturally lighter.So, Lord Hargaqiha, let me wrong you.

At noon on the fifth day of April, after more than four days of fleeing in fear like a bereaved dog, the remaining 4000 defeated Qing soldiers finally fled back to Anqing City, and stayed here. Wang Yongyu personally led the generals to welcome them out of the city, but at the welcoming ceremony, naturally, there was no joy, laughter and high spirits like seeing off the army that day, and it was full of downcast and frowning.After carefully observing the situation of the defeated Qing army brought back by Hilgen, Niyahan asked Hilgen in a low voice: "General, we have an army of more than 4, and this is all we need? There is really no rear army behind us." ?”

Hilgen smiled wryly, and was really ashamed to answer Niyahan's question. Fortunately, Niyahan didn't pursue the question any further, but just comforted him: "Don't be discouraged, general. Victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs. Wait until our reinforcements arrive. , reorganize the soldiers and horses, and fight Wu Gou at the foot of Anqing City before it's too late."

"It's not too late to fight Wu Dog under the city of Anqing?" Hilgen was taken aback, and asked quickly, "What do you mean? Is there any movement from Wu Dog?"

"Just received the urgent report from the scout clippers." Niyahan replied: "Just yesterday morning, Wugou's 6000 troops crossed Poyang Lake, and Wugou's 30 sailors also mobilized. Forty-six thousand, claiming to be [-], was led by Wu Gou Lu Yifeng's thief himself, with Wu Gou General Han Daren as the vanguard, claiming to attack Anqing, go straight to the south of the Yangtze River, take the Yangtze River waterway and the south bank of the Yangtze River, advance by land and water, and have already killed Anqing. coming!"

"Little Lu Yifeng didn't go to fight Nanchang, but he came directly to Anqing?" Hilgen was taken aback, and hurriedly asked: "Did our military scouts see it with their own eyes, or was it rumored by the people? How dare Lu Yifeng's little boy dare to let go?" Leaving Nanchang alone, and directly killing Anqing?"

"Back to the general, our scouts saw it with their own eyes." Niyahan replied again: "In addition, our army's spy work also found out that Lu Yifeng's dog thief left only one general, Li Xiongfei, to lead the army to guard Jiujiang City to protect the grain road. Although the strength of the city guards has not been figured out yet, it will definitely not be many. The few armies that Wugou can fight the most on the East Road have all been brought to Anqing by Lu Yifeng's dog thief."

"Enter the city immediately!" Hilgen gave a jolt, and hurriedly ordered: "I will send orders to all the troops. After entering the city, immediately go to the city to strengthen the city defense. Carefully dredge the moat and fill the river with water. I brought it back from the front. Move all the cannons to the city wall, and hurry up and install them in place." Niyahan respectfully agreed, and hurriedly followed the order, while arranging for the defeated army to enter the city to garrison, and at the same time, arranging for all the troops to strengthen the city defense, so as to meet the next battle of attacking and defending the city.

In the evening of the same day, the news that Fatty Lu personally led the army to conquer Anqing was once again confirmed by the scouts of the Qing army. After crossing Poyang Lake in half a day, more than 4 fatty troops immediately marched by land and water, marching in a hurry Marching for more than [-] miles in one breath, they arrived at the city of Pengze that night.The magistrate of Pengze, who had almost no soldiers to defend, did not dare to close the city to resist, and immediately opened the city to surrender.And the fat man army did not enter the city, but after ordering the whole city to cut their braids, they set off from Pengze again at dawn this morning and continued eastward, threatening to capture Anqing and point their swords at Jiangnan!

At this point in the matter, Fatty Lu's tactics are already very obvious. Obviously, he wants to take advantage of the opportunity that Anqing's Qing army is still in shock after the fiasco, and also take advantage of the opportunity of the Qing army's failure to rescue Anqing, and attack this Jiangnan gate in one go. Then plan to enter the south of the Yangtze River, or return to the division to attack Nanchang.

Fortunately, although Xiergen did not dare to report the tragic defeat to Kang Mazi immediately, but as early as the second day after the decisive battle in northern Jiangxi, Xiergen had already reported to Kang Mazi who was stationed in Luzhou (Hefei) Prince Jieshu sent a messenger for help, imploring him to send troops south to Anqing City to help in the battle, in order to prevent Fatty Lu from chasing after the victory and attacking Anqing City.And on the night of the fifth day of April, news finally came from Luzhou that Jieshu sent Zhenghongqi chief and deputy commanders Bayar and Madha to lead an army of [-] to take the official road to the south. Come to Anqing for reinforcements.Obviously, Prince Kang is too aware of the importance of Anqing.

It was finally confirmed that a support army was on its way to the battlefield. Hilgen, Niyahan, Zhangtai and the others inevitably breathed a sigh of relief. The news came that in just one day on the fifth day of April, the main force of the Wu army led by Fatty Lu had marched for nearly a hundred miles and arrived at the city of Jiande County, the capital of Chizhou!Zhao Liangsheng, the magistrate of Jiande County, was caught off guard. Although he quickly closed the city and defended it, he was attacked by the Wu army and boarded the city wall. Eighty miles!
Fatty Lu advanced so fast as if he had been injected with chicken blood. It can be said that he caught Anqing's Qing army by surprise. He raced against time to strengthen the city defenses, and Hilgen and others had to send messengers to contact Jieshu's reinforcements again. , asking Bayar and Madha to speed up as much as possible and rush to Anqing for reinforcements as soon as possible.However, just after the messenger was dispatched, an unexpected messenger came to Anqing City on his own initiative and got in touch with Hilgen and the others. The governor of Liangjiang, A Xixu, and the general of Jiangning, Echu, were jointly sent to understand the war situation in northern Jiangxi.

Axixu and Echu are so concerned about the war situation in northern Jiangxi. Of course, they have already received the news of the Qing army’s disastrous defeat at Poyang Lake—the speed of express delivery by water is much faster than that by land. They are worried that if Anqing does not protect the south of the Yangtze River, the door will open. Naturally, Xi Xu and E Chu didn't dare to be negligent, so they sent E Chu's right-hand man, Le Bei, to Anqing to learn about the war situation in northern Jiangxi, and to judge whether Anqing could hold and for how long.

Because of this, after getting a general understanding of the battle situation in Poyang Lake and the current situation of the two armies, Lebe immediately asked Hilgen straight to the point: "Old general, the Wugou army is about to approach the city. With Anqing's current situation How long can we hold on to the situation? Please tell the truth, the old general, and finally report to Governor A and Ejunmen, and ask them to decide whether to reinforce Anqing."

Hilgen remained silent and was quite dissatisfied with Lebe's attitude, while Niyahan over there replied: "General Le, the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly. If you want to say how long Anqing can hold and whether it can be held, no one will." Dare to play such a guarantee. However, General Le can repay Governor A and Ejunmen. We all know the importance of Anqing to Jiangnan, so the [-] soldiers of the Qing Dynasty in Anqing will definitely fulfill the responsibility of guarding the city with all their strength. The city is dead and the people are dead!"

"Old General Xi, General Ni, please forgive me, the last general is also in a hurry, so he spoke a little too aggressively." Lebe also found that his tone of speech was not right, so he apologized first, and then said very sincerely: " But the general can swear to the sky, the general has absolutely no intention of despising the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty in Anqing, but Governor A and E Junmen will report to you two before leaving. There is a slight mistake! As long as General Xi and General Ni can guard Anqing, Governor A and Ejunmen will give them whatever they want, food for food, boats for boats, and people for people, but Anqing City must not be destroyed. Wu Gou breaks through!"

"Governor Ah and Ejunmen's kindness, this old man appreciates it." Hilgen finally opened his mouth and said helplessly: "The food and grass in Anqing City can last for half a year, and there is no shortage of food. There are still 80 warships. There are many, the navy is not very useful in the defense of the city, and there is no shortage, the only thing that is missing is..."

"What's missing?" Lebay asked hastily.

"There is a lack of troops." Zhangtai Beizi said with a sad face, "The horse-buried and navy troops in the Anqing defense area have just reached 2 people, and most of them are defeated soldiers who were scared by Wu Gou. Their morale is low and their morale is low. They are scattered, there is really not much combat power left, and some troops have to be sent to guard the neighboring city of Chizhou, which is really insufficient."

"Twenty thousand troops is still too small?" Le Bei was stunned, and then hurriedly asked: "Master Bei, Old General Xi, isn't twenty thousand troops enough? Anqing is a well-known fortified city in the world, with high moats and deep fortifications. Sturdy, logically speaking, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, as long as you have a small amount of troops, you can support it for a long time, why do you still think there are not enough troops?"

"General Le, you haven't seen how powerful that Lu Yifeng dog thief is." Zhangtai Beizi almost didn't cry out, and said through gritted teeth: "That shameless Lu Yifeng dog thief is more cunning than a fox, more cunning than a jackal. It's more ruthless, more poisonous than a corona snake, and more vicious than a tiger! Our Qing army's disastrous defeat in northern Jiangxi this time was at the hands of him alone!"

"If someone else came to attack Anqing, [-] defenders would have been more than enough." Hilgen was not as lyrical as Master Zhangtai Beizi, and said frankly: "But this time it is Lu Yifeng's dog thief who came to attack the city, so The old man has no confidence."

"Why?" Lebe asked: "Please tell the truth, the old general. The last general will report the truth to Governor A and Ejunmen."

"General Le, do you know Wuchang City and Jingzhou City?" Hilgen asked back, and then said weakly: "Those two cities are as strong as Anqing City, but they were both built by Lu Yifeng. The dog thieves broke it with their own hands. In Wuchang City, which was captured by Lu Yifeng's dog thieves, there were more than 4 defenders, and in Jingzhou City, there were more than [-] defenders. So this time, I really don't have much confidence."

"So powerful?!" Lebei was taken aback. Looking at the nodding expressions of Xiergen, Zhangtai and others, Lebei probably had a bottom line in his heart, and understood that Xiergen and others were indeed scared by Fatty Lu. , has completely lost the confidence to win in front of Fatty Lu.At that moment, Lebei nodded and said: "Well, please rest assured, General Xi and Master Bei. The general will go back to Jiangning to report to Governor A and Ejunmen, and ask them to send troops to reinforce Anqing City as soon as possible."

"Then I would like to thank General Le." Master Zhangtai Beizi was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "General Le, please tell Governor A and E Junmen that the more reinforcements come, the better, and the faster the better. Only in this way can we ensure that we are safe and secure, and will not be invaded by Wu dogs!" Lebei nodded in agreement, left immediately, went out of the city and boarded the clipper, and took advantage of the smooth wind and the river to rush back to Nanjing to ask for help.

Judging from Lebei's tone of voice, Governor-General of the Two Rivers Axixu and General Jiang Ning Echu really wanted to help Anqing's Qing army with all their strength - but this is not surprising. After Anqing is over, Nanjing will not have a good life.In this way, Xiergen, Zhangtai and the others, who had expected that Axixu and Echu would send troops to reinforce their own army, had more or less strengthened their confidence and determination to stick to Anqing, and began to make up their minds to consolidate the city defense and organize the army to go all out. stick to it.

On the morning of the seventh day of April, the main force of the Fatty Army finally approached Anqing City and set up camp at the Dadukou across the river from Anqing City. After going down to the camp, the Anqing Qing army, whose courage had been broken, did not dare to leave the city for a decisive battle. Then come out to fight the Wu Jun navy—the crazy tactics of the Wu Jun artillery covering the close-board battle battlefield have also shocked the courage of the Qing army navy who is still stronger than the Wu Jun navy.

In the early morning of the eighth day of April, after a short rest overnight, the Wu army divided into two groups. One was led by Han Daren to attack the downstream city of Chizhou. The Hongyi cannons carried bombarded Anqing City across the river with the Hongyi cannons with a super long range, so as to strengthen the army.This time the shelling was very short, and it stopped after only more than [-] shells were fired, but it also knocked down the Qing army's water gate tower in Anqing City, and once again shocked the courage of the Qing army's defenders.Afterwards, Fatty Lu sent a soldier of the Qing army to fly a white flag across the river and send a letter to surrender, threatening that if the defenders did not surrender, after the Wu army broke through the city, the whole city would defend the army without leaving any chickens or dogs behind!Xiergen also beheaded the envoy and destroyed the book, vowing to live and die together in Anqing!
On the ninth day of April, the Wu army's side division, Han Daren, approached Chizhou City and launched a strong attack on Chizhou City. Under the frenzied bombardment of mother and son cannons, Chizhou's defenseless and weak troops quickly abandoned the city and fled across the Yangtze River to the north bank. On the same day, Pu Huaiyu, the prefect of Chizhou, led the whole city to surrender.Immediately after Han Daren entered the city, he began to recruit sailors and collect civilian boats so that the Wu army could cross the river and attack the city.

Waiting for another day in fear, on the tenth day of April, the reinforcements sent by Jieshu arrived in Gaohe. The Anqing defenders felt a little more at ease and were desperately mobilizing the whole city to defend Anqing City. , continued to advance eastward, and the navy also went eastward along the current, and arrived at Chizhou City first on the same day.Shocked and suspicious, Hilgen and the others hurriedly dispatched a large number of scouts to spy on Wu Jun's movement.At the same time, they sent fast horses to contact the Nanchang friendly army and ordered them to send troops to pretend to attack Jiujiang City, forcing Fatty Lu to return to the army to protect the grain road.

At noon on April [-]th, the main force of the Wu army arrived at Chizhou Fucheng and stationed in the city. While organizing the people to strengthen the city defenses, it spread rumors that the Wu army was going to use Chizhou City as a foothold, cross the Yangtze River at Chizhou Ferry, and then attack Anqing City.The Qing army sent a report to Hilgen. Hilgen was skeptical, but he didn't have the guts to go out for a decisive battle, so he had to continue to stand still and stick to Anqing, the throat of the Yangtze River.On the same day, reinforcements led by Bayar and Madha arrived in Anqing and entered the city to assist in the defense.

On the early morning of April [-]th, the main force of the Wu army finally moved again, but instead of crossing the Yangtze River north to attack Anqing City as promised, they completely abandoned Chizhou City and continued eastward along the official road, with an unknown target!At the same time, the Wu Jun navy fleet led by Li Guodong also left the port to set sail, taking advantage of the smooth wind and water, all the way eastward, and the target was also unknown!

When the news was sent back to Anqing, the treacherous and cunning Hilgen's first thought was——Wu Gou is trying to divert the tiger away from the mountain again!It must be the well-known treacherous and cunning Lu Yifeng dog thief who found that Anqing City was strong and did not want to consume troops and ammunition in a frontal assault, so he repeated his old tricks, trying to trick his precious army away from the protection of the Fortified City, and once again fought in the field. Annihilate the main force of our own army, and then plan to attack the city.So General Xi quickly made up his mind that the army would never leave the city, and continue to monitor Wu Jun's movements!

As if to verify the wisdom of the old fox of Hilgen, at night, the Qing army scout Pegasus returned to the city to report that the flag of the Wu army was found in the dense forests on both sides of the road near the Wuxi Bridge, the only way from Chizhou to Qingyang. !At the same time, in the area of ​​Laozhoutou in the lower reaches of Chizhou, Wu Jun's sampan was also found lurking in the reeds on the bank of the river, but the Wu Jun's navy continued to go east-obviously, the Wu Jun's navy was also luring the Qing army's navy to leave Hong Kong for a decisive battle , and then used the suicide sampan to severely damage the Qing army navy!

"Go east if you have the ability, I just won't be fooled, let's see what you will do!" The old general Hilgen snorted coldly, and at the same time repeatedly ordered the navy and army to stay still, and not to send out a single soldier without authorization!
On April [-]th, the Wu army's navy and army continued to move eastward at the same speed, but Wu's ambushes were still found on both sides of the land road. At the same time, identity sampans were found lurking on both sides of the river bank of the waterway from time to time. Old General Hilgen continued to stand still. Waiting for Wu Jun to return to the division with a sneer.

On April 1th, Wu Jun's navy arrived at the water surface of Tongling, and the land route had already penetrated into the territory of Ningguo Mansion, but the land and water routes continued to advance eastward without stopping.In this way, the old General Hilgen finally realized that something was wrong. At this time, in the evening of the same day, a group of fast horses also rushed to the foot of Anqing City. He wrote a letter to Hilgen, and told Hilgen very excitedly, "Don't worry, old general, General Ejunmen and Lebey have personally led an army of [-] and rushed to Anqing by boat. Within five days at the latest, we will arrive in Anqing for reinforcements!"

"Thank you, Governor A, thank you Jun..." Before he could say a word of thanks, Hilgen shuddered violently, and shouted like crazy: "What? General Junmen and Lebay personally led the army Are you here to reinforce Anqing? Or go by water?"

"Yes." The dusty messenger replied with a smile: "After General Lebei brought the old general's request back to Jiangning City, Governor A immediately dispatched E Junmen and General Lebei to lead the army to reinforce the Anqing battlefield. My lord said, Anqing is my Jiangning portal, and Jiangning is close to each other, if Anqing can't be defended, Jiangning will be in danger, so Ejunmen and General Lebei must spare no effort to reinforce Anqing City as soon as possible!"

"Then how many sailors are there to escort our troopship fleet?!" Hilgen asked tremblingly.

"Back to the general, no." The messenger replied truthfully: "The warships we built before and the newly recruited sailors have all been sent to Anqing City. Now the warships in Jiangning City are either not completed, or There is no navy, and the only [-] sailors have all gone to the mouth of the Yangtze River to guard against the sneak attack of Zheng Ni's navy in Taiwan, and there is no navy to escort the troop convoy."

"Woo—!" Hilgen stared round his cloudy old eyes, and hissed like a beast from his throat, and almost fainted on the spot.After finally swallowing the blood that had poured into his throat, Hilgen asked with trembling lips, "So, how many troops are there in our Jiangning City?"

"Only eight thousand." The messenger replied, "but don't worry, old general, as long as you can defend Anqing City, Jiangning City will be able to sit back and relax. Also, the governor, Mr. A, has ordered that the Jiangning governor, Mu Tianyan, be killed first and then played." Together with the magistrate Xie Dongxie, we will go all out to recruit troops, within a month, at least [-] new recruits must be recruited as a backup."

"Ah!" Hilgen finally yelled hysterically, and then spurted out a mouthful of blood, and fell on his back, fainted by Fatty Lu's shameless and despicable anger for the third time.

"Old general, old general! Lang Zhong, quickly call Lang Zhong!" Everyone turned pale with fright, and rushed up to help Xiergen, pinching people and rubbing his chest. It took more than an hour, After the doctor managed to wake up Xiergen with a silver needle, the first thing Xiergen did was to grab Niyahan's hand and faintly shouted, "Hurry up, hurry up, send out..., send troops, send out... All armies."

"Send troops?" Niyahan asked in surprise: "Old General, didn't you say that without your order, you are not allowed to send out a single soldier? Why is the whole army sent out again? Where are you going? What are you going to do? "

"Save..." Hilgen didn't know that there was a force coming out of it, and he yelled crazily: "Save Jiangning City! Save Echu's troop fleet! Hurry up!"

As soon as he finished speaking, blood gushed out of Xiergen's mouth, and he fell on the hospital bed again, but this time, the old fox of Xiergen, who was nearly seventy years old, never had a chance to wake up again.

"There is only ten days of food and grass, and the weapons and ammunition are only enough to fight a big battle." At the same time, on the official road leading to Nanjing City from Chizhou Mansion, Lu Fatty, who was lying on the spot, silently calculated the strength of his own army and its success or failure, muttering in his heart Said: "Except for the [-] sub-cannons, the other artillery pieces are all on the navy ship, without any siege weapons. It is uncertain whether the navy can arrive on time or whether they can reach the battlefield smoothly. City, Nanjing City, known as the first strong city in the south of the Yangtze River..."

"Hehe, it's all up to you. If you receive the favor of a drop of water, you should repay it with a spring—Brother Xie, I saved your life. You should give me the city of Nanjing in return, right?"

(End of this chapter)