scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 372

On May 29th, at the right time in the morning, the main force of the Fatty Army began a full-scale pursuit of the main force of the Qing Army withdrawing from the north. The mighty Wan Dajun marched northward along the canal by water and land, marching all the way to catch up with the main force of the Qing army that had withdrawn to the north at noon the previous day.At the same time, Fatty Army General Gao Dejie was left by Fatty Lu in Yangzhou City to rest because the army was too exhausted and suffered too many casualties, and he was going to pursue him two days later.

At the same time, the main force of the Qing army led by Yue Le fled desperately, and had already fled to Cheluo Town, south of Gaoyou City, to take a rest the night before. Yue Le suggested that the main force of the Qing army had better withdraw through the Xinghua Canal first, and then rest assured.However, Yue Le considered that the Qing army's troops had been attacking the city continuously for two days and two nights, and they were very tired up and down. At the same time, crossing the river at night was very dangerous. So Yue Le finally rejected this suggestion, and just asked Dong Weiguo to lead an army to escort the grain and grass to the north first, to protect the precious grain and grass and withdraw first, and at the same time build more pontoon bridges on the Xinghua Canal to facilitate the Qing army to cross the river quickly.

Fortunately, the Fatty Army's pursuers did not go northward to Cheluo Town overnight, which gave the exhausted Qing Army brigade a few hours of precious rest time.But for Yue Le and other Qing army commanders, the more fortunate ones are still behind. The scouts reported that Fatty Lu personally led the main force of the Fatty Army to the north to catch up. However, he became suspicious and completely believed that the retreat of the Qing army was due to the heavy casualties under the city of Yangzhou, so he had to retreat north.

Fortunately, after the bitter plan was successful, Yue Le quickly arranged a retreat plan, ordering the former army led by Dong Weiguo to retreat at full speed day and night, and try their best to transport the precious food and military supplies back to the Xiba Camp in the north of the Yellow River; the cavalry team was in the middle, and Yue Le personally Leading and guarding Kang Mazi's false Luanjia then went north; as for the task of the rear, Yue Le handed it over to Fatty Lu's old friend Jie Shu, and asked him to lead the more than 1 troops brought from Chuzhou to the rear, and fight and retreat To lure the main force of the fat army to pursue them with all their strength - the more than 1 troops that Jie Shu brought from the western front are actually the most capable infantry troops in the Qing army at present. Destroyed in World War I.

In addition, Yue Le, who had no other choice, naturally had to send a fast horse first, and sent an order to his deputy Tu Hai and his son Sai Leng'er to destroy it immediately after reading it - wait for the main force of the Fat Man Army to cross Baoying County. Approaching Huai'an City, do it immediately!

Next, a spectacular pursuit and retreat began. From the sky bird, on the official road from Yangzhou to Huai'an, the Qing army with a strength of more than [-] troops was divided into three teams, and retreated northward with great strides. , like a colorful flood flowing northward.The fat man's army with a strength of nearly [-] was also divided into three teams, and they chased northward at the same speed and stride, like a pure white tide, galloping northward quickly and firmly.

What puzzled Yue Le, Shang Shan, Jie Shu and the others was that although the Fatty Army went out with all their best and pursued with all their strength this time, the speed of chasing and killing the Qing Army was not fast. At the same speed as the Qing army, the Qing army traveled [-] miles a day, while the fat army only chased [-] miles a day, and the Qing army traveled [-] miles a day, but the fat army only traveled [-] miles. At a distance of ten miles away, he bit the tail of the Qing army's rear.Moreover, there were no night raids, no surprise raids, and no active wars. Only when the rear of the Qing army turned around and took the initiative to meet the enemy, did the Fat Man fight with the rear of the Qing army, and beat the rear of the Qing army away. Unhurriedly continue to chase behind the Qing army.

This kind of pursuit method, especially the pursuit and killing, might as well be said to send the Qing army out of the country and drive them out of the base area.

At the beginning, Yue Le, Shang Shan and others were puzzled by Fatty Lu's weird pursuit strategy, but when they accidentally saw the lying yellow dragon on the map of northern Jiangsu, Yue Le, Shang Shan and others suddenly realized, Then they yelled together again, "God damn Lu Yifeng's thief, he is really cunning and vicious, he must plan to use his strength when our main force crosses the Yellow River! Maybe he chased into the territory of Huai'an Mansion, this thief will most likely come back!" Divide up and seize the Qinghe Ferry, completely cut off our escape route, and catch us!"

After scolding Fatty Lu's treachery and viciousness, Yue Le was secretly happy, and said in his heart: "Since you, Lu Yifeng's bastard, are planning to chase after Huai'an Mansion and then exert your strength, this king just wants it. Waiting for you When we arrived near Huai'an City, I tried my best to sacrifice my life for my country, and I also tried my best not to kill these tens of thousands of mobs. I would also drag you and your main force to die together! As long as you destroy the main force of your bastard, our Qing army may only be left With [-] to [-] troops, there is hope to regain the entire Jiangnan!"

........................

The orderly pursuit of the fat army's main force is naturally extremely boring, so let's take a look at the situation of the Gaojiayan dam, which was regarded by the generals of the Qing army as the only hope, and also briefly introduce the Gaojiayan on the east bank of Hongze Lake. According to legend, the history of Gaojiayan can be traced back to the era of Dayu, when Hongze Lake was far smaller than it is now, and Gaojiayan at that time was also called Luweiba; later in the early years of the Three Kingdoms, in order to develop the Huaihe River Basin At that time, Chen Deng, the prefect of Guangling County, led the people to build a [-]-mile-long embankment from Wujiadun to Xishunhe Town, and named it Hanhuai Weir, which laid the foundation of today's Gaojiayan embankment in Hongze Lake.Then, at the end of the Three Kingdoms period, the old thief Sima Yi also sent the famous general Deng Ai to preside over the repair and reinforcement of the Gaojiayan embankment, and to store grain under the Gaojiayan to store grain and grass for the state of Jin to destroy Wu.

Later, after a thousand years, Emperor Song Lizong of the Southern Song Dynasty launched the Duanping Northern Expedition. In order to hinder the progress of the Song army, the Mongolian army dug up the inch gold embankment on the south bank of the Yellow River, artificially created a diversion of the Yellow River, and the Yellow River took Sishui into the Huaihe River. Preempting the Huaihe River into the sea, a large amount of Yellow River water rushed into Hongze Lake, which more than doubled the water area of ​​Hongze Lake. Rigao caused Hongze Lake to finally form a hanging lake.

Then in the Ming Dynasty, Liu Bowen and Pan Jixun and other famous officials of the Ming Dynasty presided over the repair and reinforcement of Gaojiayan, and finally built an earth-rock dam with a length of more than [-] miles.But this still can't change the status quo of the hanging lake of Hongze Lake. The water surface of Hongze Lake is still more than three feet above the horizon, threatening the lives and property of Huainan people at all times. In a word, it also comes from this.And now, when the main force of the Fatty Army and the main force of the Qing Army are about to start the final decisive battle of life and death on the land of Huainan, those utterly devoid of conscience in the Fatty Army and the Qing Army will naturally fight this way Gao Jiayan's idea.

After introducing the basic situation of Gaojiayan, let’s get down to business. In [-], there was no May [-]th in the lunar calendar, but Leap May. The secret envoy finally arrived at Gaojiayan on the east bank of Hongze Lake. On the Shigongtou embankment near the Huaihe River in the northeast of Gaojiayan, they met Tuhai and Sailen'e and presented Yue Le's secret order.

At this moment, the Gaojiayan was already full of turmoil. In order to prevent the Fatty Army from blowing up the embankment in advance, the 6 Qing soldiers brought by Tuhai and Sai Leng'e guarded the Gaojiayan day and night. On the most dangerous ten-mile embankment at the northern end of Jiayan, Tuhai and Sailen'e even lived on the most dangerous Shigongtou embankment - this location just happens to be at the turning west of the Huaihe River, and the highest water level will be destroyed even if it is destroyed. , The flood can immediately submerge the Qinghe Ferry and Huai'an City, and the more than [-] main forces of the Qing army who have not had time to escape the Yellow River are either swallowed by the flood or caught by the fat army.

After reading Yue Le's autographed warrant that was specifically marked to be destroyed, Tu Hai first handed Yue Le's autographed warrant to Sai Leng'e, and asked Yue Le's son to destroy it himself to avoid suspicion. Luanjia finally captured Lu Yifeng's dog thief's soul, it is expected that the master will not pass the Yellow River and we dare not blow up the embankment, so we came here desperately."

"Come on, the more you come, the better." Sai Leng said with a smirk, "As long as Wu Dog's main force crosses the Jing River and Pingqiao Town, we can kill Wu Dog's main force at any time."

"General Selen'e, the next three or four days are the most critical." Tu Hai reminded again: "If Wu Dog wants to blow up the embankment, he must blow up the embankment in advance during these three or four days, and use the flood to cut off our The main force of the army is returning home, so we can't be negligent in the past few days, and if we make a slight mistake, you and I dare not even think about the consequences."

"Tutang don't worry, the matter is related to the life of the general Ama, and the general dare not slack off." Sai Leng replied respectfully: "From now on, the general will visit the embankment every other hour, and will never give Wu Gou the slightest shame." Take the opportunity."

"The night is the most dangerous. Prepare enough torches and firewood. Don't be stingy. Once it gets dark, a bonfire will be built every ten steps." Tu Hai worried, and after a little calculation, he called a soldier and ordered. : "Take my famous assassin to Huai'an City, see Cai Shiying, the governor of water transportation there, and ask him to send a thousand soldiers to Gaojiayan to listen to it, and bring some small boats over by the way to strengthen the inspection of Hongze Lake."

The personal soldiers led away, and the Qing soldiers stationed at Gaojiayan also strengthened their inspections of Gaojiayan. All ordinary people who dared to approach Gaojiayan, no matter who they were, were killed immediately; at the same time, a large number of scout ships were sent to Strictly search the lake near Gaojiayan to prevent Fatty Army soldiers from touching Gaojiayan from the water; and closely inspect every inch of land in the northern section of Gaojiayan to prevent the ruthless Fatty Lu from touching Gaojiayan to bury explosives in advance; And at night, the security of the Qing army was even tighter. The Gaojiayan embankment was illuminated by piles of bonfires. Even a fly can never fly up the Gaojiayan embankment.

Tuhai's worries seemed to be wasted. The night of the second day of the fifth lunar month passed, and there was no abnormality in the Gaojiayan area. Not to mention the soldiers of the fat army, even ordinary people, no one dared to approach Gaojiayan within half a mile. ——Of course, this is also based on the fact that the Qing army has killed hundreds of innocent people.When it was just dawn, Cai Yurong, the father of the hardcore traitor Cai Yurong, the governor of the water transport of Qingqing, and the hardcore old traitor Cai Shiying, sent his fourth son Cai Yumao to lead a thousand water transport flood soldiers to Gaojiayan, and brought [-] small boats. The defensive power of Gaojiayan was greatly strengthened, and Tu Hai and Sai Leng, who had been nervous all night, could finally close their eyes and rest for a while.

"Report—!"

As soon as Tuhai closed his eyes, something happened. As soon as Tuhai fell asleep in the thatched shed built on the embankment, an orderly rushed into the thatched shed and called Qian Zou: "Master Tu, a group of people tried to get close to Gaojiayan. Army soldiers stepped forward to block the expulsion, but they not only refused to leave, but also asked you, my lord, and General Selen'e to meet them."

"Did you reveal their identities?" Tuhai asked, yawning.

"No." The orderly replied.

"No? Why?" Thinking of Fatty Lu's treachery and viciousness, Tu Hai, who had already suffered enough losses, couldn't help jumping in his heart, and blurted out: "Let Sol and take two hundred soldiers to take them all. If you dare Resist, shoot to kill!"

The messenger led the order to go, but not long after, the messenger stumbled into the thatched shed and said: "Master Qitu, Saul and the general were slapped by the people, and then Saul General He knelt down to that group of people again, and asked the servants to invite Master Tu and General Sai, and let you go there immediately!"

"Who the hell is that person?" Tu Hai was even more puzzled. At the moment, Tu Hai didn't dare to neglect, and quickly limped and called Sai Leng'er, and then rode on his horse and rushed all the way to the place where the incident happened half a mile away. When he got to the place where the incident happened, Tu Hai almost fell off his horse and broke his other dog leg—the leader of the group of people was wearing a golden gown with azurite satin and a satin crown with black fox legs. Roe-headed mouse eyes, crooked melons and cracked dates, protruding ears, yellow teeth, and small pockmarks all over the face, who is not the supreme chief who eats bran and drinks pockmarks?
"Slave Tuhai, slave Sereng'e, please greet the master." Tuhai and Sailen'e got off the saddle and kowtowed again and again to plead guilty. !"

"Get up, those who don't know are not guilty." Kang Mazi yelled coldly: "If you dare to leak a word about today's matter, be careful of the heads of you dog slaves!"

"Cover." Tu Hai kowtowed together with Sai Leng, knowing that Kang Mazi must be afraid that the old witch of Xiaozhuang would know that he had sneaked across the Yellow River, so he asked us to keep it a secret.

"Lead me to Gaojiayan." Kang Mazi said coldly again, "I want to see the situation of Gaojiayan for myself."

Tu Hai and Sai Leng'er agreed, got up quickly and went forward to lead the way, leading Kang Mazi up to Gaojiayan for inspection. It was only at this time that Tu Hai found out that his good friend Zhou Peigong was also in Kang Mazi's team. The rest of the entourage were disguised as bodyguards such as Su Lun and Lang Tan, and there were some first-class fighters who were good at attacking the camp, but these people all had serious faces, and Zhou Peigong even winked at Tuhai with a wink, implying Kang Mazi's mood Very bad, Tuhai should be careful to answer correctly.

Along the way to the Gaojiayan embankment, which is nearly twenty feet thick and more than sixty miles long, Kang Mazi walked along the embankment for about two or three miles under the breathless gaze of the crowd, observing the condition of the embankment all the way. The mason stood at the embankment, and what caught Kang Mazi's attention were several large piles of newly dug up soil and gravel, several large water tanks looted from the people, and a pile of bamboo that had been opened up. There are knotted moso bamboos, and several caves that are half a person high and three to four feet deep.

Knowing that Kang Mazi found out that they were going to blow up the embankment, Tu Hai and Sai Leng'e were too frightened to even breathe, and lowered their heads, ready to wait for Kang Mazi's rage.But Kang Mazi didn't speak, and quickly turned away his pockmarked face, strode to the inner side of the embankment, staring at the water surface of Hongze Lake in a daze.Kang Mazi's bodyguards, Tu Hai and others all followed, and Tu Hai and Sai Leng'er knelt beside Kang Mazi, waiting for Kang Mazi's hadith.

After a long time, Kang Mazi finally spoke, continued to stare at the surface of Hongze Lake, and asked in a hoarse voice without looking back: "That, is the trick you plan to use to wipe out Lu Yifeng's dog thief?"

"Master, this servant and Prince An think that this is the only way to get rid of Lu Yifeng's thief." Tu Hai replied cautiously.

"On the battlefield, are you really helpless against Lu Yifeng, a failed scholar?" Kang Mazi asked hoarsely again: "Apart from this utterly unconscionable method, is there no other way to wipe out Lu Yifeng's bastard?"

"Slaves and others are incompetent. Except for this method, the slaves really have nothing to do." Tu Hai said tremblingly: "Maybe the master already knows that Lord An bombarded Yangzhou for half a month, and he stormed Yangzhou at any cost for two days and two nights, but there was still nothing." Take Yangzhou City. But Lu Yifeng's dog thief only took one day to break through Fanchang, annihilated Shuncheng Baylor's [-] troops and our Qing Anqing Navy, and only took another day to annihilate Prince Zhang's [-] main forces captured Prince Zhang alive. The disparity between strength and weakness is so great that the servants have no other way but to win in defeat."

"It's a shame that you still have the face to boast about Lu Yifeng's record as a dog thief!" Kang Mazi snorted coldly, "Even if Wu Gou's firearms are more powerful, the cavalry of our Qing army is still several times that of Wu Gou's, and the bow and horse riding and shooting are also better than Wu Gou's. The dog is much stronger, why did it become like that? In such a short period of time, Wu Gou wiped out so many elites of our Qing Dynasty?!"

"My servant is bold. In fact, the western front shouldn't be fought like that." Tu Hai said boldly, "If it weren't for Prince Zhang's mistakes in command and tactical arrangements, our western front army of the Qing Dynasty would hold back the main force of Wugou for a couple of minutes. months..."

Tu Hai couldn't continue talking here, because Zhou Peigong was winking at him, and secretly pulled his clothes on his back, telling him to shut up quickly.But it was already too late for this meeting, and Kang Mazi snorted coldly without looking back, "The key is the choice of the coach, both on the western and northern lines."

"Oops!" The sweat on Tuhai's forehead suddenly seeped out.

"Zhangtai, you trash!" Kang Mazi roared madly at the surface of Hongze Lake, "Yue Le, you are an even bigger trash! I entrust so many elites to you, and so many cavalry to you , Tighten the waist of your trousers to borrow money from the people to provide you with food, grass and military pay, and you still fought the war like this! Two days! Two days, you can actually pay me almost [-] troops! You let me down so much! You let me down so much! disappointed----!"

Everyone present knelt down, and Yue Le's son, Sai Leng E, simply pressed his forehead on the muddy embankment, trembling like a dead leaf in the autumn wind.Fortunately, Kang Mazi has no plans to let his son and Laozi bear the burden together for the time being. He just snorted and asked: "Have you checked out the situation of Lu Yifeng's dog thief's pursuit? He just returned from the western front. The army should be very fast." Are you tired? The casualties shouldn’t be small, right? The ammunition should be almost consumed, right?”

"Master, the servant returned to Gaojiayan four days ago, so I don't know the specific situation of Wu Gou's pursuit of soldiers." Tu Hai replied tremblingly.

"Trash!" Kang Mazi finally vented, turned his head and kicked Tu Hai, roaring with a pockmarked face, "I asked you to lead the army to suppress the rebellion, but how much strength and ammunition do you even have for the bandit army?" I don’t even know, no wonder you lost a lot of battles and lost troops! Trash! Idiot! Dog slave!”

"Slave deserves to die!" Tu Hai helplessly kowtowed to plead guilty, and then hurriedly kowtowed and said, "But slave, please rest assured, as long as Gaojiayan succeeds, no matter how many troops and ammunition Wugou has, there will be nothing left, master. You can also personally lead our Qing army to crush the remnants of Wugou, and restore the money and food in the south of the Qing Dynasty."

Tu Hai's words finally struck Kang Mazi's heart. He stared at Tu Hai for a long time with a pockmarked face. Finally, Kang Mazi asked hoarsely, "After you win, how much of our Qing army will be left?"

"This..." Tu Hai hesitated for a moment, and bragged as much as possible: "Back to the master, there should be more than half of the army left. The army under Prince An's command is mostly cavalry. Let General Dong Weiguo lead a team of elite soldiers to escort food and grass first. At that time, at least we can advance to Huai’an city to avoid water, and even cross the Yellow River to return to Xiba camp first. Therefore, our Qing army should be able to save more than half. Wugou’s army is mostly infantry , and there is no city to avoid water, at least eighty to ninety percent of him can be drowned."

Kang Mazi stopped talking again. After a long time, Kang Mazi walked past Tuhai, led Zhou Peigong and the guards away from the Gaojiayan embankment, and said, "Remember, I have never been to the Gaojiayan embankment. , Leaked a sentence to the outside world, raised your head and apologized to me."

"Cover." Tu Hai agreed with a kowtow understanding, and respectfully sent Kang Mazi away from the Gaojiayan embankment, and returned to the ferry in Qinghe County twenty miles away to cross the river.

In fact, Tuhai should be pleasantly surprised. After going down the Gaojiayan embankment, Kang Mazi beckoned Zhou Peigong to his face, and whispered in his ear: "I'm in the imperial camp at Xiba, and there are more than 1000 people left." Some of the two thousand catties of Sanhao explosives were seized on the battlefield, some were bought from General Wu Gou, and some were secretly paid by Geng Jingzhong to me. Immediately send someone back to bring all the explosives to Tuhai. "

"Cover." Zhou Peigong replied more respectfully, and couldn't help but secretly smiled in his heart—Master, we are indeed the same as us.

"Gaojiayan, Hongze Lake, it's all up to you." Kang Mazi looked back at the magnificent Gaojiayan dam again, and murmured in his heart: "Don't let me down, as long as you can drown Wu Gou's main force, drown that thief Lu Yifeng, even if you drown millions of barbarians, I will give you titles and new names!"

(End of this chapter)