scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 328
Sunrise and sunset, the moon is full and the moon is waning, autumn is passing and winter is coming, and there is a lot of snow. Unknowingly, the pace of time has quietly entered the first month of the second year of the lunar new year, and at the same time, it has entered the 14th year of the New Year of Qingkang Mazi.

For the Eight Banners parasites in the capital who are used to eating, drinking, and having fun, it is undoubtedly an extremely difficult and bleak New Year. The road rebels fought bloody battles, and most of them were dead, injured, missing, or unknown. The rest of the old, weak, sick, and women and children struggled to survive. With the ever-increasing price of rice, food and goods, they are all counting the rice grains and putting them into the pot. There is not much meat on New Year's Eve, and there are no new clothes or shoes on the first day of the new year.There are also many girls from mite families who are even more miserable. Because Ama was drafted into the army, she couldn't find anyone to give her first night when she got married.

Compared with the Han people, the Eight Banners parasites are actually lucky. The poor Han people in Gyeonggi, Zhili and Shandong are living a miserable life.Due to the increase in population, over-exploitation of land, and climate change in Shandong Province, Zhili has long been unable to achieve food production. In addition, the water transport was cut off by Fatty Lu, who killed thousands of dollars, to support the Qing court, hundreds of thousands of parasites and mites The heavy burden of the southern Qing army was all passed on to them. Not to mention the extremely harsh taxes and labor, they had to be plundered by the military currency issued by the Qing court, and they had to be exploited and searched by corrupt officials. All kinds of oppression and exploitation As a result, before the first month arrived, most of the people's homes were cut off from cooking.

Prices have skyrocketed. A sesame seed cake that once could be bought by a big man is now generally sold for [-] yuan a piece, and a pair of cloth shoes with [-] yuan copper coins is now sold for at least one tael of silver—if it is military currency, it costs three taels.The body of a girl with a yellow flower is not worth five catties of grain, and the lives of the Han people are not as good as a lame donkey. Especially in remote and impoverished places, tragedies of cannibalism have occurred.The common people complained endlessly, and the local officials searched desperately while thinking about how to surrender to the rebels. The Qing court was frowning, and they all counted on Yue Le's Southern Expedition Army to wipe out the Jiangnan rebels as soon as possible, re-open the water transport, and let the Eight Banners The parasites can go back to the good old days when they parasitized and sucked blood from the Han people all over the country.

As for Kang Mazi, besides having to shut down Chengde Mountain Resort and Changchun Garden completely, all of Kang Mazi's hopes were pinned on his cousin Yue Le alone. If Fatty and the gang of rebels do something, the economic collapse will kill Kang Mazi!No, Yue Le's army had just arrived at the edge of the Yellow River, and Kang Mazi had already issued an order to urge Yue Le to cross the river as soon as possible to fight Fatty Lu.

After receiving the imperial decree from Kang Mazi urging him to cross the river for a decisive battle, Yue Le could only smile wryly, and promised to give himself half a year, and now he is here to urge him, and in a few months he will not be ordered to receive thirteen gold medals every day Send troops?But fortunately, the accurate news of Fatty's army and Geng Jing's army's turning against each other has spread to Yue Le's army, and Yue Le has no choice but to write the good news of Lu Geng's turning against him as a memorial, and rush it to the capital to go to Kang Mazi on business, temporarily stabilizing the military idiot Kang. Mazi, at the same time, sent someone to contact Shang Shan Tuhai, and asked them to organize the Qing army on the western front to release water as soon as possible, so that Xia Guoxiang would go to the south of the Yangtze River and fight with Fatty Lu.

In addition, Yue Le, who knows the beauty of combining vertical and horizontal forces, had no choice but to send secret envoys to the south to try to get in touch with Geng Jingzhong's army, and secretly joined hands with the north and south to attack Fatty Lu.

At this time, Tuhai, who was lame on one leg, and the light cavalry team of Mite Qing Baylor Shangshan, finally arrived at the front line of the battle between the Qing army on the western front and the Wu army's Xia Guoxiang Department - Anqing City.While passing through Luzhou on the way, Shang Shan Tuhai had already conveyed Yue Le's order to Prince Kang Jieshu who was stationed here, ordering Jieshu to send troops east to Chuzhou, directly threatening Nanjing City, the headquarters of Fatty Lu - the key is Don't let the grumpy and high-ranking Jie Shu make trouble on the Western Front.

Facing Yue Le's strategic deployment, although Jie Shu raised doubts and worried that the Qing army would be dispersed too much, Tuhai and Shang Shan tricked Jie Shu into saying that Yue Le's move was to disperse Fatty Lu's troops and let Fatty Lu's four major armies fight on their own , unable to support and rescue each other, it is convenient for the Qing army to defeat each other.Jieshu felt that it made sense, and he hated Fatty Lu, the enemy who killed his son and cut his fingers to the bone. Jieshu didn't say much, and immediately agreed to send troops eastward as soon as possible, and personally command the main force of the Qing army in Luzhou to wait for orders in Chuzhou.

Monk Tuhai came to De'anqing City. The southern general Niyahan of Miqing Town, the naval admiral Gente Batulu, and the governor of Anhui Jin Fu naturally led all the Chinese and military officials of the city to greet him outside the city. Shuncheng Beller Jin received the order in advance, and left his deputy Shu Shu to lead the army temporarily, and has already rushed to Anqing to join his former comrades in arms.When I met my old friends who traveled south to Yunnan and Guizhou, things were different and people were different, and the ranks of titles were also very different. Naturally, I couldn't help sighing.

"General Niyahan, where is Wugou Xia Guoxiang's army?" Tu Hai was quite practical, and before he had time to enter the city, he asked Niyahan, the coach of the Qing army in Anqing, about the situation of the Wu army.

"On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, the Wugou Xia Guoxiang Department and the Ma Bao Department met in Wangjiang, where they celebrated the New Year." Niyahan quickly replied: "Three days ago, on the second day of the first lunar month, two Wugou teams traveled side by side from the north and south of the Yangtze River. Going forward, Xia Guoxiang's dog thieves successively captured our two counties of Wangjiang and Jiande in Daqing, and has now arrived at Huangshiji; battalion, so the possibility of Xia Guoxiang's dog thief crossing the river at the ferry cannot be ruled out."

"It is also possible that the Ma Bao dog thief crossed the river to the south bank, followed the example of Lu Yifeng dog thief, bypassing Anqing City and directly killing Jiangning by land." Anhui governor Jin Fu added.

"If that's the case, we'd be relieved." Tu Hai sighed, "It's a pity that with Xia Guoxiang's conservative style of using troops, let him take this risky move, regardless of food and resources, retreat and attack Jiangnan, he still doesn't have the courage. .”

"Master Tu, don't worry, Xia Guoxiang's use of troops is indeed inferior to Lu Yifeng's use of troops." Zhangtai Beizi, who hadn't shown his face for a long time, said with a smile on his face: "Before we only deployed more than 2000 troops in Pengze and Xiaogushan to stand firm. The [-] army blocked him for twelve days, and judging from Xia Guoxiang's dog thief fighting Nanchang for more than five months, this dog thief must be very bad at fighting fortified battles. Our Qing army in Anqing has a strong city to defend, There are plenty of troops, food and grass, and there is absolutely no problem blocking the path of Xia Guoxiang's dog thief and Lu Yifeng's dog thief joining forces."

Tuhai Mung Dou rolled his small eyes, glanced at Zhangtai, and then at Niyahan. Niyahan understood, and whispered in Tuhai's ear: "Master Tu, don't blame me, the general didn't dare to order that order. Let Master Bei know, lest he repeat the mistakes of Jiujiang and miss our army's important affairs."

Tuhai understands, and understands that he and Kang Mazi are the same kind of military idiot Zhang Tai. Once he knows Yue Le's order, and knows that Yue Le ordered the Anhui Qing army to release water deliberately, something will happen in all likelihood. Instead of letting him make trouble, Niyahan It would be better to hide him.At the moment, Tu Hai didn't say much, but just urged everyone to quickly enter the city and garrison, and also asked Le Erjin about the Taiping Mansion war, and Le Erjin told Tu Hai sullenly, saying that he had assembled an army of 3000 to attack Taiping Mansion, besieged Wei and rescued Zhao to relieve Zhejiang crisis, but because of the sharp rockets of the Fat Man Army, they didn’t even see the city walls of Taiping Mansion City. Forced to return to the teacher.

"There are a lot of rockets in Han Daren's dog bandit army?" Tu Hai was most concerned about this question, and hurriedly asked: "Le Belle, how much did Han Daren's dog bandit use in the battle you fought with Han Daren in Wuhu?" Rocket?"

"At least 3000 rounds, and another [-] or [-] pieces of artillery." Le Erjin replied helplessly: "Fortunately, I was on guard and seized the Baima Mountain highland in the southwest of Wuhu in time to limit the Wugou rocket attack. The power of the horizontal fire and the dispersal of the army led to the loss of more than [-] people. Otherwise, the loss of troops would definitely be more than this figure. Later, I saw that the situation was not good, so I had to order the central army and the rear army to turn around and retreat, and did not continue Hit hard nails."

"Three thousand rockets? One hundred fifty or sixty fire guns shivered in the sea, thinking that Lu Yifeng's dog thief only had one legion, would there be so many firearms? If the four legions went into battle together, the rockets and artillery How many, do we dare to imagine? If we don’t find a way to deal with these firearms quickly, will our Qing army and Lu Yifeng’s dog thief dare to fight in the field?
After entering the city of Anqing, Niyahan, Jin Fu and other local tyrants had to throw a big banquet to entertain Shang Shan, Tuhai and Le Erjin, three guests from afar, but due to the critical situation at the moment, the banquet was luxurious and extravagant. Still, the atmosphere at the banquet was quite depressing. Everyone didn't speak much, but Zhangtai Beizi was spitting and mocking at the slow progress of Xia Guoxiang's attack on Nanchang, Pengze and other cities collected by the Qing army. , and ridicule Xia Guoxiang's love of sensuality, he must first recruit beautiful dancers whenever he goes to a place, and the army has dozens of concubines with singing and dancing girls at any time.

In the end, Master Beizi Zhangtai still patted his chest and promised that the Anqing Qing army would suffer a lot when Xia Guoxiang was in the impenetrable Anqing City, so that Xia Guoxiang and Fatty Lu's dream of joining forces would be completely shattered!Tu Hai had no choice but to wink at Shang Shan, Le Erjin and others, and asked them to join forces to drink wine for Zhang Tai until Zhang Tai was so drunk that he crawled unconscious on the table, and in the banquet hall It finally calmed down.

"General Ni, Jin Zhongcheng, Le Belle, General Ghent." Without Master Zhang Taibei's disturbance, Tuhai drove away the guards and servant girls who were present, and then turned the conversation to the point, and said straight to the point: " Xiaguan and Chamberlain came to Anqing at the order of Prince An. It is said in honor that they came to understand the military situation on the western front in the Jiangnan battlefield, but in fact, you must be very clear about what it is for—to put it bluntly, to supervise And the one who directed you to release water to Xia Guoxiang's dog thief!"

There was complete silence in the banquet hall, and the four commanders-in-chief of the Qing army on the western front, Le Erjin, Niyahan, Ghent Baturu, and Jin Fu, were silent and did not dare to speak.Seeing this scene, Shang Shan said: "Three generals, Mr. Zhong Cheng, I believe you must be very hard to understand Prince An's secret order. The western front has a great hope to block Xia Guoxiang's dog thief from eastward, so why take the initiative to release the water?" , deliberately let Xia Guoxiang break through the cities along the way, let this dog thief enter Jiangnan and join Lu Yifeng dog thief?"

"Honestly speaking, at the beginning, it was difficult for me to understand." Shang Shan continued: "But after thinking about it carefully, I feel that Prince An's hand is extremely clever. You all know how powerful the firearms of the Wugou army are. Not to mention, as long as the number of Wugou's three good rockets is sufficient, we don't care about infantry and cavalry in field battles, and we don't even think about rushing into the front of Wugou's formation. What are we going to use to fight? There are also soldiers of our Qing army , The elite are basically gone, and they are all lost in Guizhou, Huguang, and Jiangxi. Even if Wu Gou has no firearms, there is not much chance of winning if he fights with Wu Gou's elite with real knives and guns."

"So there is no other way." Tu Hai added for Shangshan: "Since we can't beat Wu Gou, we simply let Wu Gou kill each other, deliberately let Xia Guoxiang's thieves into Jiangnan, let Xia Guoxiang and Lu Yifeng's two thieves Fighting in the south of the Yangtze River in the dark, consuming all their firearms and troops, and after they have lost both sides, we will go out to pick up the cheap and reap the benefits of the fisherman!"

"You must ask, why does Prince An conclude that Xia Guoxiang's dog thief entered the south of the Yangtze River, and he will definitely fight with Lu Yifeng's dog thief?" Shang Shan continued: "Now I can tell you for Prince An, Prince An is absolutely sure, We are absolutely sure! Judging from Lu Yifeng's behavior in Jiangnan, this dog thief must have the ambition of the world, and is already preparing to betray the old thief Wu Sangui to stand on his own, and fight with the old thief Wu Sangui and our Qing Dynasty. The imperial court is fighting for the world together. If Xia Guoxiang's dog thief enters Jiangnan, it will only ruin his great affairs, shatter his emperor's dream, and put a magic spell on him, so he will never allow Xia Guoxiang to enter Jiangnan, and he must have already done it In preparation for a firefight with Xia Guoxiang, we took the initiative to let Xia Guoxiang enter the south of the Yangtze River, just to let the two of them kill each other."

"What about the evidence?" Anhui governor Jin Fu finally spoke, and asked in a deep voice, "Lord Tu, Shang Belle, what evidence do you have for believing that Xia Guoxiang's dog thief will fight with Lu Yifeng's dog thief?"

"Lu Yifeng's thief would rather send troops south to attack Zhejiang than send troops west to meet Xia Guoxiang. This is the evidence." Tu Hai replied: "Otherwise, Jin Zhongcheng, you can think about it. If Lu Yifeng's thief is really right The old thief Wu Sangui is loyal. After he has established his foothold in the south of the Yangtze River, what is the most correct choice? Should he send troops to the west, open up land contact with the old thief Wu Sangui, strengthen the Wugou army in the south of the Yangtze River, and wait for the opportunity to launch the Northern Expedition? He chose to send troops to Zhejiang, isn't this the ironclad proof that he is trying to betray Wu Sangui's self-reliance?"

"But from a tactical point of view, it is not wrong for Lu Yifeng's gangster to send troops to Zhejiang?" Niyahan said hesitantly: "In order to wipe out Geng Jingzhong's gangster, our Qing Dynasty has deployed heavy troops in Zhejiang, and his southern front is in crisis. , He sent troops to Zhejiang to weaken our Qing army, which is also an extremely correct tactical choice? Why do you conclude that he has the will to betray the old thief Wu Sangui?"

"Yes, it can be explained." Tu Hai nodded, and asked again: "Then it has been nearly a month since Lu Yifeng's dog thief returned to the army, and the news that Xia Guoxiang's dog thief sent troops to the east should have already reached his ears. Why are you still standing still on the western front, refusing to send a single soldier to meet Xia Guoxiang's dog thief going east?"

"I heard that it's because of this dog thief and Geng Jingzhong's dog thief falling out." Jin Fu replied: "The secret agent we sent to Jiangning got accurate information that Huang Kun, the emissary of Geng Jingzhong's dog thief, was rude and molested Lu Yifeng. One of the dog thief's concubines forced Lu Yifeng's dog thief's concubine to hang himself from the beam, which completely angered Lu Yifeng's dog thief, and Lu Yifeng's dog thief was going to fight Geng Jingzhong's dog thief, so he had no time to send troops to meet Xia Guoxiang's dog thief."

"What else?" Tu Hai and Shang Shan hadn't heard the news because they had been on their way to Anqing by detour.After listening to Jin Fu's detailed introduction, Tu Hai immediately yelled at the case, "God damn Lu Yifeng's thief, you are really treacherous! Let's not say whether this news is true or not, even if it is true, Geng Jingzhong, a thief The emissary was just an excuse to send him to his door. Now, fighting with Geng Jingzhong's thieves is completely moral, leaving Geng Jingzhong speechless, but also giving him an excuse not to send troops to the west, so that Xia Guoxiang can continue to fight alone. Can't enter Jiangnan!"

"But...." Niyahan and Jin Fu were still a little worried.But at this moment, Le Erjin, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said: "Stop talking, I have ironclad evidence in my hand, which can prove that Lu Yifeng's dog thief doesn't want to join forces with Xia Guoxiang's dog thief, and he really hopes that we can stop Xia Guoxiang. Even run away."

"Lord Baylor, do you have any evidence?" Niyahan and Jin Fu were astonished, while Tu Hai and Shang Shan were extremely surprised—they were most worried about this Le Erjin before, worried that he would not pay attention to Yue Le The mystery of using thieves to control thieves vigorously opposed Yue Le's strategy, but he never dreamed that Le Erjin would speak for them.

"To be honest, I also thought Prince An's order was ridiculous before." Le Erjin said slowly: "We obviously hope to stop Xia Guoxiang's dog thief, stop him and Lu Yifeng's dog thief, why deliberately let the water go? What if Xia Guoxiang dog After the thieves entered Jiangnan, what should I do if Wugou in Jiangnan is more powerful? But what happened a few days ago made me understand that Prince An's decision was correct."

"What happened a few days ago?" Everyone asked quickly.

"A Jiangning businessman came to me and wanted to sell me a batch of Wugou's rockets and grenades." Le Erjin snorted coldly: "Although the businessman explained that his rockets and grenades were smuggled out by General Wugou You can give me a free sample first if you guarantee it is not fake, but I immediately understood that this must be the instruction of Lu Yifeng's dog thief. He wanted our Qing army to have firearms to resist Xia Guoxiang's dog thief, and continue to serve him. Free shield!"

"What else?" Tu Hai and the others exclaimed.

Le Erjin didn't speak, reached out to his waist and took out a grenade and threw it on the table, sneered: "Look, this is the sample of the grenade that the Jiangning businessman gave me, and he also offered a low price of three taels of silver. Price! Fucking Lu Yifeng dog thief, you think Ben Baylor is a fool? I sent people to sneak into Jiangning several times before, and I couldn’t buy a single piece of silver, but this time Xia Guoxiang’s dog thief came here with all his strength , the cheap grenade was delivered to the door, is there such a coincidence in the world? It’s not that I have never tried sneaking into Wu Gou’s firearms camp, but in the end, I couldn’t even touch the edge. How can a mere private businessman be so smooth? Just got so many grenade rockets?"

"General Ni, Jin Zhongcheng, have you seen it?" Tu Haixi said, "This is the treachery of Lu Yifeng's thieves. In order to keep us from Xia Guoxiang's thieves, he even sold firearms to our Qing army. If we hit him If you try your best to stop Xia Guoxiang's dog thief for him, it is tantamount to acting as a watchdog for him!"

Niyahan and Jin Fu are not stupid, and they have long understood Fatty Lu's treachery and viciousness. Now that they saw the ironclad evidence presented by Le Erjin, Niyahan and Jin Fu were finally completely relieved and nodded together. Start to shake.Seeing that the time was right, Tu Hai hurriedly took out two warrants from his bosom, and handed them to Niyahan and Leerjin respectively, and said in a deep voice: "General Ni, Lord Baylor, please keep them well, this is what Prince An ordered you to give." Xia Guoxiang's dog thief released the water, and let Xia Guoxiang's dog thief enter the south of the Yangtze River. If the two Wu dog armies fight together, you return these two warrants to Prince An. If Prince An miscalculates, Xia Guoxiang's dog thief and Lu Yifeng's dog thief There is no fire, and the court is prosecuting you for the crime of dereliction of duty - I believe there is no need for an official to explain how to use these two warrants?"

Of course, Tu Hai doesn't need to explain, Le Erjin, Niyahan and others are very clear that Yue Le is betting his family and life. If he wins the bet, it's fine. If he loses the bet, then all the responsibilities are on Yue Le One person alone, has nothing to do with anyone!Secretly admiring Yue Le's selflessness, both Le Erjin and Niyahan nodded together, carefully put away the warrant, and then said: "Master Tu, please give the order, how to let Xia Guoxiang dog thief into the south of the Yangtze River, you can arrange it. "

"My lord, please forgive me for saying something more." Jin Fu hurriedly interrupted and said, "Since Lord An has made up his mind, as a subordinate, I naturally dare not object, but it doesn't matter what city or prefecture you want to give up, only Anqing City. You must not give up! The specific reason must be clear to you. Anqing is the largest granary in Anhui, and it is also the general granary of our army on the western front of the Jiangnan battlefield in the Qing Dynasty. It is absolutely impossible to transfer the grain and grass in the city to other cities within ten and a half months, and Apart from the city of Chizhou, which must be abandoned, there are no big cities near Anqing where we can stockpile grain, so we can only stay in Anqing to ensure safety."

"That's right." Niyahan quickly echoed: "Anqing is too important, we must not give up, we can only let Xia Guoxiang's thieves bypass Anqing City from the south bank of the Yangtze River, as for the cities of Chizhou, Qingyang and Nanling, all are fine. give up."

"This is not easy." Tu Hai frowned, and said in a deep thought: "Anqing is the gateway to the south of the Yangtze River, tightly strangling the throat of the Yangtze River. The food road for Xia Guoxiang's dog thieves must pass under the city of Anqing. If Anqing is not taken down, in order With his character, I'm afraid he doesn't have the guts to go around Anqing and kill Jiangnan."

"Jin Zhongcheng and General Ni can send someone to contact Xia Guoxiang's dog thief." Le Erjin suggested: "Tell Xia Guoxiang's dog thief directly, you can draw a river with him as a boundary, let him pass under Anqing City, and promise not to do it afterwards. Stop his grain boats and military ships, and let his grain, grass and baggage be delivered to the front line smoothly."

"Will the Xia Guoxiang dog thief believe it?" Niyahan said with a wry smile: "There is no reason to propose to draw the river as a boundary, to give up the road on the south bank and to guarantee that he will not block his grain road. Is he going to dance?"

"Just say that you have a grudge against me, and you want to use his hand to kill me." Le Erjin said impatiently: "The Tongling Mansion where I am stationed is also blocking his way to the east. Start a war with me, and you say you plan to use his hands to kill me, he should believe it, and when he attacks Tongling, I will retreat to the north bank of the Yangtze River and give him the way."

Speaking of this, Le Erjin paused again, and added: "If Xia Guoxiang's dog thief still doesn't believe it, you can give him a hostage, and hand over your son to Xia Guoxiang's dog thief, so that Xia Guoxiang's dog thief can enter the Jiangnan smoothly. Let your son go, anyway, you will not break your promise, as long as Xia Guoxiang keeps his word, your son will not be in danger."

Niyahan and Jin Fu stopped talking again, Le Erjin was risking their son, so they naturally couldn't agree.On the contrary, Tu Hai said: "Don't mention the hostage in advance, send an envoy to contact Xia Guo first, and then do it according to Lord Belle's idea, saying that you deliberately let him go to Lord Belle to settle accounts, so you are willing to lend him the way. Next How to make Xia Guoxiang fully trust you, I will figure out a way."

Niyahan and Jin Fu finally nodded and agreed to Tu Hai's arrangement together. Immediately, Jin Fu immediately went to find an eloquent eloquent person to serve as an envoy to the Prime Minister of Xia. Niyahan, Tu Hai and others also left the table Prepare letters and gifts, and think about how to make Xia Guoxiang feel at ease bypassing Anqing and going straight to Jiangnan.As for Master Zhangtai Pei who was crawling on the table and got drunk, no one even took a look at him, but asked his servants to carry him back to his room to rest.

What Tu Hai and the others never dreamed of was that they had just left the front foot, and the snoring master Zhangtai Beizi who was lying on the table suddenly opened his eyes, and continued to snore while laughing in a low voice, "Okay!" Ah, I said it's no wonder why I have to drink alcohol anyway, and whispered secretly, so I wanted to do such a good thing to deceive the king without telling me!"

"Hmph! Fortunately, Ben Beizi is familiar with military books, has a deep understanding of strategy, and has an amazing capacity for alcohol—I just went to the latrine to spit out some wine. Otherwise, Ben Beizi will miss a great opportunity to expose the treacherous courtiers for my master."

(End of this chapter)