1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 655 Attacking Nanjing ([-])
Sai Shuo, the deputy commander of the Eight Banners of Manchuria and the Blue Banner, just caught a glimpse of the soldiers in black and holding bayonets, launching an all-out assault. The soldiers and horses of Qi State who do not want to meet.

These god-killing black-clothed thieves actually came here from Denglai, so far away, to trap and kill my Qing soldiers and horses.This small town is completely a large killing formation carefully set up by the other party, and the target is their reinforcements from Nanjing City.

Seeing the disintegrated team, Sai Shuo turned his head and ran away. He had to leave this small town quickly. Who knows if there are other elites of the Ming army here besides the troops of Qi.In addition, he also suspected that the target of the Ming-Qi allied forces might not only be Zhenjiang, they might very well be targeting Nanjing.

I don't know if King Shuncheng got the letter. If he still led the inlaid blue flag armor around the town and tried to intercept the Ming army, he might be blocked halfway.If anything happens to Prince Shuncheng, none of these Eight Banners generals will survive.Therefore, Sai Shuo led a dozen guards and ran desperately towards the starting camp.When we got there, gather some soldiers of the Eight Banners, and then get on the horse and make sure to snatch King Shuncheng out.

"Commander!" Before Se Shuo reached the starting camp, he saw Luck Dehun leading more than a thousand armored horses standing in the direction of the town, and he couldn't help being surprised and delighted, "Commander, we won Ambush!... It's Qi's black-clothed bandits!"

Lu Kede sat on the horse, his face was livid, he held the rein tightly with both hands, and said through gritted teeth: "This commander knows. Gather up the rout immediately and prepare to retreat!"

"Whoo!"

Sai Shuo breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at the town.I saw countless routs of the Qing army pouring out of the town. From time to time, there was a burst of firecrackers in the town, and occasionally there was the roar of artillery.The soldiers of the Ming army who had evacuated from the ponds and trenches rushed out from both sides of the town with their knives and spears in hand, constantly intercepting and killing the defeated Qing soldiers who were fleeing.

There were also brave military officers of the Qing army who tried to gather troops and turned around to counterattack the pursuers, but the bandits in black and gray who kept approaching stopped immediately and fired with guns, quickly disintegrating the gathered Qing army groups one by one, and then Immediately, holding a bayonet, he rushed forward and stabbed the Qing soldiers to the ground one by one.

When the Qi Marine Corps and the township soldiers rushed to the outside of the town, they found that more than a thousand cavalry and hundreds of Eight Banners infantry had gathered in the distance. They immediately stopped their pursuit and quickly assembled under the organization of officers at all levels. The soldiers of the artillery battalion re-installed the artillery that had been abandoned near the wall of the village on the artillery carts and pushed them to the front of the army formation.

The Qing troops who escaped from the small town also gathered in the temporary camp one after another. Le Kede took a rough look and almost spit out a mouthful of old blood. There were more than [-] Han troops in the Eight Banners, but less than [-] escaped in the end. A, most of them were lost in the small town.Today, there are more than [-] soldiers and horses left, and [-]% of the entire army has been lost.

Seeing more and more Ming-Qi coalition forces gathered outside the town, Le Ke Dehun dropped the artillery carried by Wuzhen Hachao, covered with cavalry, the infantry retreated first, and slowly headed towards Jiangning (after the Qing army occupied Nanjing, Renamed to Jiangning) to return.At nightfall, the two sides temporarily separated from the battlefield.

However, when the Qing army retreated to the Qixiang River overnight, they were horrified to find that a pile of huge bonfires were lit every [-] meters on the west bank of the river, extending several miles along the river bank in both north and south directions.

The Ming army even deployed blocking troops on the west bank of the river!
There is blocking in the front, and chasing troops in the back. If one is not careful, the whole army may be in danger of being wiped out.At this moment, Luck Dehun's heart sank continuously, the troops of Qi State actually wanted to wipe them all out in one fell swoop.

If so, Nanjing is in danger!

On the other side, under the reflection of the bonfire, there were many figures, and it was impossible to see the opponent's soldiers and horses, and they didn't know where the defense was weak.

"Zhang Tianlu, lead the Han army to cross the river by force!"

"...Hey!" Zhang Tianlu promised bitterly. He escaped from the small town only in the afternoon and escaped with his life. At this time, he actually wanted to lead the remnant soldiers as the vanguard of the whole army to test the defense of the other side.

However, he also knew that forcibly crossing the river at night was their best choice at present.If they waited for daylight, although the sight line was good, it was easy to cross the river safely, but for the Ming army blocking the other side, it was more conducive to their defense.

Zhang Tianlu divided the [-]-odd Han troops into several groups, and chose dark places to cross the river. Then he took off his armor, held a knife in his mouth, and jumped into the cold river.

The water was gurgling, the feet were full of mud, and the movement was very slow. All the soldiers of the Han army who crossed the river wriggled and wriggled towards the other side of the river step by step.No one dared to make a sound, for fear of alarming the Ming army blocking the attack from the other side.

With a sound of "whoosh", a torch was suddenly thrown over from the shore, although it quickly fell into the water and extinguished it.But that momentary light revealed the terrified faces in the river.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..." A moment later, a dense volley of musket fire immediately killed the Qing army crossing the river in the river.Immediately afterwards, the sound of gunfire, the sound of bow and arrow strings, and many screams were heard from the river section within a range of several hundred meters.

Luck Dehun immediately ordered all the Qing troops to cross the Qixiang River within a few miles of the east bank.He hoped that the Han army's first crossing operation would attract more blocking troops from the other side and create favorable conditions for the Qing army to cross the river.

"Stop, stop!" Zhou Ning was running towards the north with a platoon of marine soldiers, and there was a lot of musket fire, and he probably encountered a large group of Qing troops crossing the river, and his companions were struggling to stop the enemy.However, he faintly heard the sound of water splashing in the river on the right, as if there was the sound of horses snorting, and immediately stopped dozens of his subordinates.

"Laishun, throw a bomb into the river."

The bonfire in the distance couldn't illuminate the position of the river at all. Zhou Ning's eyes widened, but he could vaguely see a figure moving in the river, but it was not very real.

"Boom!" A soldier ignited the bomb, paused for a moment, and threw it into the river.

"what!……"

"咴咴..."

The neighing of horses and the screams of dying people sounded in the river. At the same time, there were several roars and scolding sounds, and the movement in the river suddenly became louder.

"Everyone is ready!" Zhou Ning raised his musket and pointed it at the place where the loud noise was made in the river.

"put!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..."

"Bayonet formation!"

In the dark, unable to continue to reload the musket, Zhou Ning immediately held the musket with both hands, and stepped down, preparing to stab the Qing army who was about to go ashore.

Luck Dehun felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder, and couldn't hold the knife in his hand, and fell into the river.He gritted his teeth, endured the pain, and slammed his feet on the horse's belly, trying to get to the shore as soon as possible.

Originally, he took more than twenty cavalry and chose a darkest section of the river, wanting to sneak across the river quietly, but he didn't want to let the enemy on the other side hear the movement.First there was a bomb, which reimbursed three people, and then another row of muskets came, and at least seven or eight people fell into the water. The heavy armor caused these people to sink into the river immediately.

The horses were struggling to move towards the river bank, but the closer they got to the bank, the more muddy the beach became. The speed of the armored cavalry of the Qing army who was about to land on the shore seemed to be moving extremely slowly.

"Stab!" With a loud shout, more than a dozen figures rushed forward in the darkness.

"咴咴..."

"thump!……"

The neighing of several horses resounded through the night sky, and six or seven of the armored cavalry of the Qing army who were attacked immediately fell off their horses and fell to the thick mud bank.

Luck Dehun kicked the horse's belly vigorously again, pulled out a short knife from under his waist with his left hand, and stared nervously at the shore.

"Huh!" Under the urging of the master, the war horse leaped vigorously and landed on the shore, but the soft soil was unable to use its strength to gallop, and the four hooves moved forward slowly.

After Zhou Ning stabbed violently, he quickly retreated and gave up the position of stabbing again to the soldiers in the back row.While he was panting, he suddenly saw a tall war horse jumping up from the river. Jiannu on the horse was still beating the horse's belly with his feet, trying to make the horse run quickly.

"Fucking shit, I want to run!" Zhou Ning rushed over with his bayonet straight, aiming at the horse's belly and stabbing fiercely, and then stirred it a few times.

"Hey..." The horse felt the pain, raised its front hooves, jumped forward and ran out.But before he ran very far, he neighed and fell to the ground.

Zhou Ning ran forward and saw a Jiannujia cavalry figure trying to get up from the ground. Without any hesitation, he straightened his bayonet and stabbed the figure twice.Perhaps because he felt that the armored cavalry was wearing thick armor, he was afraid that he would not die, so he raised his foot and stepped on the armored cavalry's head, and stabbed at the neck again.

The dagger that Luke Dehun had just raised in his left hand suddenly dropped powerlessly, his mouth was wide open, and he was exhaling vigorously, but there were blood stains coming out of his mouth, and his fierce eyes began to gradually become lax. stand up.
-
September 9th, before noon, in Nanjing, the University Scholars Mansion of the Governor-General of the Five Provinces (formerly the mansion of the Duke of Wei in the Ming Dynasty, Xu Wenjue, the last Duke of Wei in the Ming Dynasty, was moved to Beijing by the Qing court).

Hong Chengchou stared dumbfoundedly at Tule, the ginseng leader of the Manchurian Eight Banners with Blue Banners in front of him, unable to say a word for a long time.

"Graduate scholar, hurry up and organize the troops in the city to prepare to defend the city." Tuller looked downcast, "After crossing the Qixiang River at night, the final general waited in Qixia Town for half the night, but King Shuncheng did not return. It is estimated that they may have fallen into the enemy's army. The regent will be furious when he finds out. For the present plan, we only have to hold Jiangning City, and maybe we can win a chance for our family."

"The king of Shuncheng..." Hong Chengchou still had an expression of disbelief on his face, and hissed, "How could the king of Shuncheng fall to the enemy? Then the troops of Qi and the Ming army came together, and you were on the way. Didn't find anything? There is no counterattack in the battle?"

"This time, we were careless." Tuller shook his head and said, "Including King Shuncheng, none of us would have thought that the soldiers and horses of the Qi State would come here from Denglei. . . . With sharp firearms and continuous cannons, the Han army invaded Nalongtan Town, and almost all of them were trapped in the formation. When our army returned, they stopped at the Qixiang River, and most of them were killed in the river. They were able to escape intact. Those in Jiangning City are about 500 of us."

"Since I entered the Qing Dynasty, I have never lost a county king in a battle!" Hong Chengchou lamented, "When the regent hears about it, he will definitely be furious, and we will all be punished. What's more, we will lose in one battle. There are more than [-] troops in the Eight Banners, which is a rare and disastrous defeat in the past few years!"

"...I will all die in Jiangning City." Thule smiled miserably, "Maybe the regent will see that we will not harm our family while we are waiting to fight to the death."

"Chengze." Hong Chengchou summoned a scribe, "Call all the guerrillas and above generals in the city to the mansion for discussion?"

"Qingyuan, lead the five hundred governors' relatives and soldiers to start recruiting the people in the city."

"The whole city has started a curfew, and no orders from the Governor's Mansion are allowed, and any random people are prohibited from going out!"

"Send people to demolish all the houses outside the city near the city wall and set them on fire."

"Send people to Taiping Mansion (now Ma'anshan City), Chuzhou, Luzhou (now Hefei City), and Changzhou Mansion to ask for reinforcements."

"..."

Hong Chengchou then began to mobilize all forces in the city to strengthen the defense of Nanjing City. As for sending envoys to the surrounding counties to ask for reinforcements, most of them were far away from the water and could not quench their thirst, but it was better than nothing.

Although the Qing army in Nanjing City tried their best to cover up and isolate the news, at night, various abnormal behaviors in the city still attracted the attention of the people and gentry in the city.

"The Ming army is coming!"

"The Tartars suffered a major defeat in Longtan Town not far from Nanjing City. The coach, Le Kede, died all over his body, and the five thousand army was wiped out!"

"They are troops sent by the imperial court of Denglai Yongchu, and they also borrowed soldiers from the southern feudal kingdom - Qi State, to cross the sea and across the river, and they are about to attack Nanjing City!"

"...A hundred thousand troops have come, and they are declaring that they will massacre all the slaves and allies in the city!"

The officials of the Qing court in the city are all in panic, but the common people are secretly looking forward to it, hoping that the master of the Ming Dynasty will invade Nanjing as soon as possible to wash away the smell of the ancient capital.

At midnight, the officials and common people in Nanjing City faintly heard the sound of rumbling guns from the river in the north. Then, within two quarters of an hour, the whole Nanjing City suddenly became noisy, and groups of Qing soldiers were running on the street. , ran from the barracks to several walls.Driven by the officers and soldiers, some of the transferred civilians also sent countless supplies and ordnance in the treasury to the direction of several city walls.

The people who were ordered to stay at home due to the curfew huddled in their houses, anxiously waiting for the unknown fate to come, but more people showed a look of expectation on their faces.

Surrounded by several generals of the Qing army, Hong Chengchou inspected the city defense of Nanjing.At this time, he stopped on a tall tower, overlooking the river.Through the dark night, he seemed to be able to see countless huge ships and boats swimming on the river, and groups of Ming soldiers in mandarin ducks and jackets, holding swords, came ashore continuously, and then lined up. The tight army formation roared towards the city of Nanjing.

"Great scholar, the Ming army came by boat in the middle of the night. Presumably they will not land and attack the city of Nanjing at this time." Bu Congshan, the general of Wucai, took a step forward and said softly, "Please go back to the city early to rest."

Hearing this, Hong Chengchou turned his head, glanced at Bu Congshan, Qiu Yue, Yu Yongshou, Yang Shouzhuang, Zhao Dajie and other generals and lieutenants, and nodded.Then, lift your feet and walk down.

"Everyone, the safety of the whole city of Jiangning depends on you to fight with all your strength." Hong Chengchou walked more than ten steps, stopped, and turned to look at the crowd, "No matter what your background is before, at this moment, The glory, wealth, fame and wealth of all of you are all given by me in the Qing Dynasty. Compared with the days when you were ministers, you have even more official positions and wealth. If you want to repeat it, how can the world tolerate it?"

"Since that's the case, you shouldn't take the old man's great head to ask for a reward from the Ming army outside the city tomorrow, right?"

(End of this chapter)