1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 838
November 1668, 11, Hejian Mansion, Wuqiao.

Tuhai, the first-class captain of light vehicles in the Qing Dynasty and deputy governor of the Eight Banners of Manchuria Zhenghuang Banner, was wrapped in a fur. He was sitting on a tree with his eyes closed, as if he was not sleeping.A few Ba Yala guards silently waited around, comforting the horses beside them, while looking out of the forest from time to time.

"Heaaaa..." Suddenly, there was a sound of horseshoes in the distance, and a leader of the Eight Banners looked back at Tu Hai who was still dozing by the tree, and then walked quickly towards the edge of the forest.

"What's the situation?" When the two cavalry guards rushed to the edge of the forest, got off their horses and were about to run into the forest, the Eight Banners leader stopped them.

"Return to your lord." There was a hint of joy on the sentry's face, "Five miles to the northeast, a Ming army's baggage convoy is passing by, with about a thousand soldiers and horses accompanying it."

"Did you startle them?"

"The other party was very vigilant. They should have spotted us. When Han Lai sent his slaves back to report the news, the officers and soldiers of the Ming army who were guarding him began to urge the civilian husband pulling the cart to speed up the journey."

"Among the guards of the Ming army, are there muskets?"

"So what if you have a musket?" A voice came from behind.

"Lord Dutong." The eight-banner assistant leader and messenger scout saw Tu Hai walking out of the forest, immediately knelt down on one knee and beat him a thousand times.

"Send down the order and prepare to launch an assault on the Ming army's supply team!"

"Whoo!"

Following Tu Hai's order, the more than [-] cavalrymen of the Eight Banners who were ambushing in the woods immediately started to move, led their horses out of the woods, and then jumped on the horse's back, looking at their general with awe-inspiring eyes.

"There will be no prisoners in this battle, and all will be killed." Tu Hai was riding on a horse, looking at more than a thousand Eight Banners cavalry who were full of murderous looks, and couldn't help but feel proud.

Tuhai is talented and loyal, and has a dunious temperament. He is not from military background like other Eight Banners. He first became an official with a pen post in the second year of Shunzhi (1645). In the eighth year of Shunzhi (1651), Emperor Shunzhi saw that he behaved steadily and worked diligently, so he awarded him a bachelor of the Academy of Internal Secretaries.

In the tenth year of Shunzhi (1653), he was promoted to a bachelor of the Hongwen Academy, listed as a minister of state affairs, and participated in the maintenance of the aircraft. Since then, he has been on the rise.In the 12th year of Shunzhi (1655), due to his dedication to his duties, he was added to the crown prince and Taibao.Not long after, he was also in charge of the Minister of the Ministry of punishment. The next year, he passed the exam and was added to the Shaobao.

However, in the leap March of the 16th year of Shunzhi (1659), Tuhai was framed for favoritism and dismissed by Emperor Shunzhi for the case of a fight between Alana, the bodyguard, and Daiqing's slaves in the city, and his family property was confiscated. I lost my life.

After Kangxi succeeded to the throne, Tuhai was gradually reused, but his position was not as good as that during the Shunzhi period.However, in August of this year, Kangxi made a sudden move to take down Oboi and thoroughly liquidated Oboi's party members, which almost wiped out all the officials and generals in the court.

In this way, Tu Hai, a disciple of the Eight Banners who had never been attached to Oboi, was immediately reused, not only restored the removed title, but also took charge of the Ministry of Punishment again.

However, his ass was still hot in the position of Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice, but the Xuzhou camp was eliminated because of Oboi. The coach Murima led his troops to rebel and collapsed in an instant, allowing the Ming army to capture Jianghuai and break through in a short period of time. Shandong threatened Hebei, so that the situation in the Qing Dynasty fell into a very dangerous situation.

A month ago, Tuhai was appointed as the deputy capital commander of the Xiaoqi Battalion, and together with Dingyuan General Shu Mulu Yide led more than [-] Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners cavalry to fight against the attacking Ming army.

Under the stormy offensive of the Ming army, the Qing court continued to lose divisions and territory, and lost more than [-] soldiers and horses. It was really flustered for a while, and even half of the princes and ministers suggested that Kangxi abandon the capital and retreat directly outside the pass.

But at the critical moment, the Empress Dowager and Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty withstood the huge pressure, eliminated public opinion, integrated people's hearts, actively mobilized and dispatched troops from all over the country, and prepared to use our Qing Dynasty to fight in the vast northern plains. Taking advantage of the maneuverability of some cavalry, they annihilated the invading Ming army and reversed the current critical situation in one fell swoop.

In more than a month, the Qing court successively mobilized more than [-] Manchurian and Mongolian Eight Banners cavalry from Shanxi, Guanwai, and Monan, and urgently mobilized almost all the Eight Banners cavalry in the capital. The great general Shu Mulu Yide led.The army went out to Bazhou, where more than [-] soldiers from the Eight Banners and Green Battalions of the Han Army and the Green Battalion were stationed here, and then came to Cangzhou.

The counterattack tactics of the Qing army are very simple, that is, follow the model of the Battle of Songjin in the past, first concentrate all the cavalry troops, harass and cut off the logistics supplies of the Ming army, so that the more than [-] Ming troops who rushed to Cangzhou will not fight. , and finally look for an opportunity to annihilate it.

The Ming army attacked all the way from Xuzhou to Cangzhou in three months, and the battle line stretched for a thousand miles. Even in the Jianghuai, Shandong and other areas they captured, there are still countless officials and generals loyal to our Qing Dynasty who stick to the city.This made the logistics supply line of the Ming army unstable.

Especially after the Ming army captured Dezhou and Binzhou, they only rested for half a month. After waiting for follow-up reinforcements and a large amount of supplies, they rushed directly to Cangzhou, an important town in Hebei, as if they were going straight to the capital.However, in this way, a large gap was left behind the Ming army, and they also went deep into the flat hinterland of Hebei, which created an opportunity for the Eight Banners cavalry, which has the advantage of maneuverability, to counterattack.

After Shu Mulu Yide led the troops to Hejian Mansion, he did not immediately rescue Cangzhou, which was besieged by the Ming army. Instead, he divided all the cavalry in his hands into more than ten groups, scattered them behind the Ming army, and attacked their logistics routes. Cut off the supplies of the Ming army.

Two hours later, Tu Hai led more than a thousand cavalrymen under his command to raid the Ming army transport convoy on its way, beheading almost all the guarding Ming army and masters in the open field. The fire burned up the transport supplies of the Ming army.Then, continue to look for the next attack target. .
-
November 11, Cangzhou.

Duke Baoguo of the Ming Dynasty and the head coach of the East Route Army Wang Shangli watched the thousands of Ming troops retreating slowly. Although there was no expression on his face, deep in his heart he could not help but sigh.

Just now, under the fierce bombardment of several heavy siege artillery purchased from the Qi State, a section of the city wall to the east of Cangzhou City was bombed down. More than [-] Ming troops took advantage of the situation to launch an attack and rushed towards the gap in the city wall.However, the Qing army in the city organized hundreds of musketeers to shoot at the Ming army with volleys of guns. At the same time, they were supplemented by more than a thousand brave men, blocking the gap in the city wall.

During this period, there were still countless strong people in the city confiscated. Under the threat of the Qing army, they quickly threw all kinds of stones, bricks, tiles, and wood from the houses in the city at the gaps in the city wall.

In less than 10 minutes, the attacking [-]-odd Ming army suffered heavy casualties under the crazy blocking of the Qing army, and soon lost more than [-]% of their losses. Moreover, most of the gaps in the city wall were gradually blocked, and there was no chance to attack again. In town.Seeing this, the general who led the attack on the city immediately ordered the troops to withdraw temporarily, preparing to bombard the city wall with artillery.

Almost [-] Ming troops gathered under the city of Cangzhou. Except for the north, they almost surrounded the other three sides of the city. They attacked continuously for more than ten days. The ground was forced out, which made the Ming army extremely frustrated.

You must know that the Ming army launched an attack from Suzhou, and even conquered important military towns such as Xuzhou, Jining, Jinan, Binzhou, and Dezhou. The capture process was relatively easy and did not suffer too much loss.Of course, when the Ming army arrived in Jinan, it took a little time for the Ming army to recover the city because of the high walls and the gathering of the main military and civilian leaders of the Qing captives in Shandong Province, but after breaking through the city walls, The Qing army also quickly collapsed, or fled in all directions, or knelt down and begged to surrender.

It was originally thought that the city of Cangzhou, as the gateway to Hebei, would not cause too much trouble to the Ming army even if it was a bit difficult to attack.But I never thought that the more than 5000 troops, under the morale of the rainbow, stormed for more than ten days, but they were unable to conquer it for a long time.According to a rough estimate, the number of Qing troops in the city would not exceed [-] at most.

"Damn it, I don't believe it anymore. Even if the two of us exchange him for one of the Qing captives, we can kill the Qing captives in the city!" Feng Guanghe, the general soldier of Pizhou, said bitterly: "Break this Cangzhou city, Kill everyone inside!"

"The King of Qin has ordered that the Northern Expedition clear the captives, and there should be less killing." Wei Shida, the general of Huai'an, took a peek at the commander Wang Shangli, and said softly: "Also, it's not worthwhile for us to exchange two for one of the captives."

"What?" Feng Guanghe glared at Wei Shida, "Look at the situation, how can the soldiers conquer Cangzhou City if they don't try their best?...It won't be possible to bypass the city, right?"

"It's strange to say." Wei Shida said: "We attacked Cangzhou for more than ten days, but the reinforcements from the Qing army stayed at Hejian Mansion all the time, and they didn't come to rescue the siege. I'm afraid there must be some conspiracy."

"One of the Qing army's heavy troops is in Xuzhou, the other is in Wuchang, and the other is in Shaanxi. Now, the Qing army in Xuzhou has collapsed, and the Qing army in Wuchang has retreated to Runing. In this Hebei area, even if the Qing army mobilizes troops everywhere, at most It is only [-] to [-]. Facing our army of more than [-], we are still at a disadvantage. Moreover, the Qing soldiers need to keep some soldiers in the capital, and stationed in several important towns such as Tianjin and Baoding, in case we take advantage of the gap to break into Calculated in this way, the Qing captives may not even be able to gather [-] soldiers and horses to rescue the siege."

"In case, the Qing captives gather all the soldiers and horses near the capital to fight a local decisive battle with us as those Qi's combat staff said, it may cause us a lot of trouble." Wei Shida said He said without worry: "Furthermore, those staff officers of the Qi State reminded us to pay special attention to the cavalry of the Qing Dynasty. If they gather thousands of cavalry from the Eight Banners to harass us on our flanks or rear, it will definitely affect our logistics. supply."

"Aren't the cavalry of the Qing Dynasty concentrated in Henan and Shaanxi?" Feng Guanghe shook his head and said, "If they dare to deploy cavalry to assist Hebei, wouldn't it be an opportunity for our army to break through the middle and west roads? Furthermore Having said that, if the Qing captives ignored Baoding and Tianjin and dispatched all their troops and horses to help, wouldn’t we be afraid that we would bypass Cangzhou and rush into the capital from Baoding or Tianjin to attack their inner circle?”

"Shi Guogen!" Wang Shangli turned around suddenly and shouted to the deputy general of the Chinese army behind him.

"The last general is here!" Shi Guogen walked quickly to Wang Shangli's side, bowed and saluted.

"In the past few days, is the delivery of materials in the rear still normal?"

"Back to Commander..." Shi Guogen hesitated for a moment, and then said softly: "In the past few days, the supplies sent to the camp from the rear have been decreasing. The general sent people back to Dezhou and Binzhou three days ago to press for this matter."

"...Why didn't you report to me earlier?" Hearing this, Wang Shangli immediately sensed a hint of danger, his beard and hair all stretched out, and he glared at Shi Guogen angrily.

"... Marshal." Seeing Wang Shangli's anger, Shi Guogen panicked, "A few days ago, it rained heavily, and the general thought that the road ahead was difficult, so that the import of materials was delayed. Moreover, the camp has accumulated all kinds of materials. , there are still ten days to go, so I haven't reported it to the commander..."

"If you miss a major event in our army because of this, I will cut you off!" Wang Shangli kicked Shi Guogen over, then turned his head and ordered Yan Zonggui, the general of the Ranger Battalion, "Scatter all your cavalry and spread out the city of Cangzhou with a radius of [-]." Let me go through all the places in it."

"Yes, Commander!" Yan Zonggui immediately jumped on his horse and ran towards the camp after receiving the order.

"Feng Guanghe!" "The end is here!"

"Immediately organize the officers and soldiers of the various ministries and the accompanying civilians to reinforce the camp and add defensive facilities!"

"Yes, Marshal!" Feng Guanghe couldn't help asking after receiving the order: "Marshal, do you suspect that the Qing captives have cut off our army's logistics supplies and gathered troops to attack our army?"

"I suspect that the Qing army is near us." Wang Shangli couldn't help but glanced at the open field in the distance, with a serious expression on his face.
-
On April 12, Changshan Island.

More than a dozen military and civilian officials and officers from the Qi State stationed in Daming surrounded Huang Zijia and walked towards the pier, preparing to send the Qi State Honglu Temple Minister to board the immigration fleet and set off to return to the mainland of Hanzhou.

Regarding the war between Ming and Qing, Huang Zijia finally rejected the military action plans formulated by the army and navy because he was concerned about the so-called long-term plan of King Qi, and adopted the most conservative strategy, that is, not sending the main force into the mainland The territory intervened to some extent in the wars between the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

"Actually, I privately think that the future development of Ming Dynasty may not be carried out according to the king's long-term plan." Huang Zijia felt the bitter cold wind, and couldn't help tightening his fur robe, "Whether it's the north, or The northwest is a place of bitter cold. After the reunification, the Ming Dynasty may not look down on those territories at all, so naturally it will not spare no effort to develop them. The maritime trade, with its lucrative profits, may attract their attention, and then we The state of Qi is fighting for supremacy."

"That's okay." Qiu Chengdu, the head of the Ryukyu District, said with a smile: "We have managed Annan, Ryukyu, Japan, and Korea for a long time. How can the unified Ming Dynasty be able to shake it? In addition, we will spare no effort to support Yunzhou Isn't the Yongwang faction just to deal with the repeated policy changes in the unified Ming Dynasty. As for the king's long-term plan, I secretly think that there is another meaning."

"Oh?" Huang Zijia couldn't help but stop, looked at Qiu Chengdu, "I would like to hear more about it."

"Your Majesty may want to establish a potential competitor for our country of Qi." Qiu Chengdu said thoughtfully: "Da Ming and our country of Qi have the same root and origin. It can be said that they are of the same blood. They are both branches of Chinese civilization. If they are separated from each other, Not communicating with each other, or suppressing each other, trying to control or influence each other. Then, our Chinese civilization will be caught in unnecessary long-term internal friction, and the barbarians of the foreign race will gain power for no reason."

"Your Majesty, you want our Qi State and Daming to cooperate and compete at the same time, so that both parties can continue to develop and progress, and then work together to expand each other's living space?" Huang Zijia couldn't help being startled.

"I guess so." Qiu Chengdu said: "The king once said that a country, a nation, should avoid complacency and unnecessary internal friction. The former will make the country stagnate, while the latter will consume too much vitality. In the future, We Qi State and Ming Dynasty each rule the north and the south, whichever stagnates and lags behind will naturally make the elites of the country and the common people of Li to make choices with their feet."

As he was talking, he saw a flying fish fast boat sailing into the pier quickly, and then two naval officers hurriedly boarded the pier, rushing towards Cao Xinzhong, the commander of the Ryukyu Fleet in Daming Squadron.

"The army of the Ming Dynasty was defeated in Cangzhou, losing more than [-] soldiers. Wang Shangli led more than [-] remnants and retreated to Dezhou, discarding almost all the baggage and artillery. Now they are besieged by tens of thousands of Qing soldiers, and the situation is at stake." Cao Xinzhong walked away solemnly. Go to Huang Zijia and tell him the shocking news.

"So, we need to take action." Hearing this, Huang Zijia couldn't help shaking his head with a wry smile.

(End of this chapter)