Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 545
History is really not a game. When the protagonist is not around, its wheels are also rolling forward irresistibly.

On a piece of yellowed kraft paper, he was crooked and twisted like a snake crawling. Behind the paper, candles could be seen, and some dark red spots could be seen vaguely. What came was a deep sigh, and immediately the kraft paper scroll was thrown into the brazier.

What was it like to witness the collapse of an empire?And on this piece of kraft paper, Song Qingshu had already seen the sparks flying from the collapse of the empire, and the fragments were all over the sky.

The subjugation of the country is often the failure of several key battles. The urgent report sent by Sun Chuanting from the front is another major node of the subjugation of the Ming Dynasty, the battle of Zhuxian Town!On the second day of May, just a few days before Song Qingshu sent troops to Manila, the biggest battle since the Chongzhen Dynasty’s suppression of the bandits kicked off. Under the urging of Emperor Chongzhen, Ding Qirui, the governor of the Central Plains, led the governor of Baoding Yang Wenyue, and the commander in chief Zuo Liangyu , Yang Dezheng, Fang Guoan, Jiang Mingwu, etc. assembled more than 18 general soldiers from Henan, Shanxi, Hebei, Huguang and other places, surrounded by a huge army of 40 soldiers, guards, guards, and civilians in each town. With the aid of Kaifeng and the Kaifeng defenders, the 50 army Hong Chengchou requested was almost complete.

However, the ending was disastrous. Like the Songjin War, the government army, which had almost gathered most of the main force of the Ming Empire, collapsed inexplicably before the battle started.

Armed with a heavy army group to break the siege of Kaifeng, but from the supervisor Ding Qirui down, almost no generals are willing to fight, and almost all have ulterior motives, expecting others to take the lead, and looking for opportunities to escape later, but the officers cannot be harsh. On the one hand It's the harsh deduction of military pay. I know all the virtues under my command. On the other hand, Emperor Chongzhen is too mean and ungrateful, and the rewards and punishments are unfair. Zuo Liangyu, the escaped king, became a general who suppressed bandits above all generals. Then look at Lu Xiangsheng, what a loyal general. Jiazhuang was wiped out in the first battle, and the emperor didn't even have a reward. With these two role models, who would still Give your dog emperor his life?
On May [-]th, the main force of the Ming army approached Zhuxian Town, an important town near Kaifeng. Instead, the characteristics of the peasant war were brought into full play. The main force first occupied the southwestern main road leading to Xiangyang, and then dug trenches along Zhuxian Town to cut off the water source for the officers and soldiers. Millions of hungry people waved their hoes together. The three floors in the trench of a hundred miles and the outer three floors almost completely surrounded the heavy army group of the officers and soldiers, and the officers and soldiers just watched helplessly.

On May 25th, Zuo Liangyu's troops were the first to collapse and fled towards Xiangyang. Ding Qirui, Yang Wenyue, etc. also collapsed one after another. A general attack was launched, and several cavalrymen supported the Central Plains. They drove Zuo Liangyu and Ding Qirui into the encirclement circle that had been set up long ago. countless.

The general soldier Jiang Mingwu died in battle, and more than 7 officers and soldiers surrendered to the Chuang army. In the hands of Emperor Chongzhen, except for the three-sided Qin army that was still scarred in Shaanxi, there were only tens of thousands of Guanning troops left by Wu Sangui in Shanhaiguan, and then fled back. The remnants of Zuo Liangyu's army in Huguang, and the last one, Song Qingshu's Huai army.

But now everyone knows Sima Zhaozhi's heart, and everyone in the court knows that Zuo Liangyu and Song Qingshu are unreliable, the former is an escaped king, and the latter is a domineering general.

Looking at the brazier, the stack of pretexts that came directly from the battlefield in Zhuxian Town quickly turned into ashes. Standing by the side, Scarface raised his fists and asked, "Marshal, do you want to inform Master Hong Chengchou?"

If it is said that Emperor Chongzhen is gnashing his teeth, who is it that he wants to eat meat and sleep?That must be Hong Chengchou. In this era, although he didn't turn to Jiannu, he just swore impassionedly in the capital that he would take all the military and financial resources of the Huaihe River and Huaihe River, and build a fierce lion for the Ming Dynasty. The emperor's resentment towards Hong Chengchou was even greater than Yuan Chonghuan's after he disappeared. If it weren't for the fact that there was nothing to replace him, Jin Yiwei would have locked him up and taken him to the capital.

So, during the battle in Zhuxian Town this time, the emperor also gave Hong Chengchou, the prime minister of the five provinces, a death order, ordering him to urge the Huai army to go north, support Kaifeng, and jump into the fire pit with Zuo Liangyu and his gang of unlucky ghosts. Naturally, the imperial decree could not reach Hong Chengchou, it was all for Song Qingshu to look after Fu Shan in his hometown, and Sun Chuanting accepted it on his behalf.

The words of this imperial decree can be regarded as the most severe since it was opened in the Ming Dynasty. If it was another civil servant, I would wish to kill him head-on after receiving it. , Song Qingshu didn't care and threw that imperial decree into the brazier casually.

"Just tell Mr. Hong the news of Zhuxian Town's defeat. He doesn't need to know anything else."

With a fist in his arms, Li Xiangjun, the chief of staff, simply stepped out of the tent to pass on the news, and after that stretched his waist, Song Qingshu also walked out of the Chinese army's tent with a big sword in his arms. The scorching sun near the equator dazzled his eyes After a while, the spreading battlefield came into his eyes again.

It has been almost a month since the begging army surrounded the city of Manila. The artillery defense of the fortress of the Westerners is quite strong. The lives of the begging army soldiers are much more precious. Song Qingshu did not issue a general attack order, but surrounded the city of Manila, The fortifications were dug.

It was similar to Li Zicheng's tactics. It was also a trench encirclement battle, but Song Qingshu's trenches were obviously much more scientific than Li Zicheng's. Surrounding the Paxi River, the densely packed trenches seemed to be dug into a net. Although the trenches were chaotic, they were in chaos. In an orderly manner, there are dead ditches with landmines buried as bait, slopes dug and gun trenches hidden with cannons, road ditches used as passageways for transporting troops, and dark ditches hiding snipers and scouts.

Manila is the central stronghold of the Spanish Empire in Southeast Asia. There are indeed many defenders here. There are tens of thousands of Spanish conquistadors alone. There are also mercenaries from other countries, especially the local natives who slaughtered the Han people. Tens of thousands of strong men, plus one piece is a full thirty to forty thousand, but they have also suffered a lot in front of this trench. Every time the city organizes superior forces to attack the trench, either the people who were blown up by the landmines in the dead trench turned their backs on their backs, or they were in a complicated situation. In the ditch of the city, he was killed by the frontier army who was familiar with the terrain.

Within a month, the begging army has also been replenished. The original three divisions have been increased to six divisions. The scar-faced Daiyi Division, Fengyang Fourth Division, and Fifth Division have all been transferred to the front line to surround Manila. So, this day has just begun, and the artillerymen of the Qihuo Army have just pushed the large and small artillery in the position, planning to launch a new round of shelling.

Where does truth come from?In this day and age, the truth is only within the range of cannons, so it is really a diplomacy. These days you come and talk about the truth, and everyone talks about it, but it is still Song Qingshu's hard point, even if it is made of bluestone. The raised city walls of the Royal City of Manila, after so many days of shelling, are also cracked and collapsed in several places. Standing outside, you can even spy on the cathedral in the city, as well as the frightened and tired busy figures of Spanish mercenaries and native soldiers. .

When Song Qingshu came out, the first round of shelling had just begun. The shells fired from the trenches precisely hit the barricades that the Spaniards had just piled up in the gap yesterday. What's more, an old brass naval gun flew upside down, killing several Manila defenders with a thing of several hundred kilograms. Although the clothes were all local soldiers, it was worth it.

The strong smell of burning also floated in from afar, into Song Qingshu's nose, sniffed the familiar smell of gunpowder heavily, and a burst of divine light dispelled the haze that just received the informant, this is his Song Qingshu's war!
However, the Ming army's defeat at Zhuxian Town still brought tremendous pressure to Song Qingshu. He picked up the binoculars hanging under his neck and watched for a while, then suddenly put down the binoculars. Song Qingshu turned his head and said to Scarface, who was also here to supervise the battle.

"General Xia, call the officers of all divisions to come to a meeting in a while! And Shi Lang, the admiral of the navy, don't be left behind!"

As he spoke, he suddenly lost interest in the battlefield. Song Qingshu put down the binoculars and returned to his tent, but this simple order made Scarface's shoulders tremble slightly. The scars seemed to be excited, and the officer meeting was held every day, but Song Qingshu emphasized that this time was the only time, this veteran in the battlefield, already smelled a bloody smell.

Sure enough, half an hour later, in the large tent of the Chinese army, the topographical data collected so hard by the Xuanfeng Army for so many days was completely displayed on a large sand table. Under the excited gaze of Li Dingguo and many other generals, Song Qingshu slammed a cannon The model was pressed on the city wall of Manila.

"The commander-in-chief has decided! Tomorrow, we will launch a general attack on the Spanish barbarians in Manila to completely eradicate these murderous monsters!"

…………

On this side, the tens of thousands of begging army began to gear up under the mobilization of a voice. On the other end, the efficient information transmission channel of the begging army also flowed like blood vessels, between the front line of Manila and Laoag in Northern Luzon. In the meantime, on a secret communication path, the green cloaks of more than a dozen selected forward army special combat sergeants danced like elves in the shade of the trees.

Laoag, Northern Luzon.

In a month's time, compared with the original quiet and remote village, the appearance of this place has obviously changed. A small fortress that can accommodate tens of thousands of people has just emerged on the seaside plain. The first batch of 3 guard soldiers, The craftsmen also arrived at their positions, and almost all of them were young and strong. Although the mobilized production and construction corps did not go directly to the battlefield, it was said that they were producing for the army, and they were also full of energy. Although he was cheated so far, the army was well paid and food, and there were still tens of thousands of native captives who could be oppressed. They were whipped to do dirty and tiring work, and their morale was also very strong.

Hong Chengchou was not polite, he first repaired the yamen of his governor's mansion, and the newly built three-storey villa still smelled of lime, and he directed the craftsmen to beat the furniture with wood from Taiwan. Cao Bianjiao, a rough guy, is also very busy at the moment.

"Marshal's Mansion Military Order!"

All of a sudden, a few big men of Angzang broke into the office that had just been plastered, and the plaster on their bodies immediately slammed against the white wall. Cao Bianjiao's strong mango face twitched a few times immediately, but these beggars in the army The beast warrior didn't care how he made noises, the leading officer stretched out a scroll in front of Cao Bianjiao with a stiff face and no expression.

"understood!"

Somewhat reluctantly, Cao Zongbing stretched out his hand to take the scroll, who knew that at this time, the officer of the selection front army suddenly retracted his hand.

"The commander-in-chief has an order. The prime ministers of the five provinces, Mr. Hong, personally ordered him. Where is Mr. Hong?"

"This……"

For a moment, the corner of Cao Bianjiao's mouth twitched unnaturally...

(End of this chapter)