The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 252 Chongzhen 12 Years

In the 12th year of Chongzhen, the first day of the first month.

At the beginning of the new year, the city of Jinan was dead silent.

A strong smell of blood filled the streets and alleys of Jinan City.

The breath of despair hangs over everyone's heart.

Outside the city of Jinan, the lights are brightly lit.

The Qing army set up the Ming camp on the west, south, and north sides of Jinan City.

The flames covered the outskirts of Jinan City little by little, forming a bright sea of ​​lights.

The bright camp stretches so long that it is hard to see at a glance, and the lights of Yingye are connected to the stars in the sky. Looking up, it is impossible to tell which is the sky and which is the earth.

In the camp of the Qing army, in the tent of the Chinese army.

Dorgon sat alone on the first seat with a cold expression, and the seat next to him that originally belonged to Yue Tuo was now vacant.

Not only that, except for the absence of Yue Tuo, the number of generals in the camp was also nearly half less than what it was outside Jiazhuang.

Breaking through Jinan was only a matter of time, but the atmosphere in the Qing army's military tent was dull and there was not much joy, but it was terribly depressed.

The reason for all this is that shortly after they entered the vicinity of Jinan, someone in the army suddenly gave birth to smallpox, and it spread rapidly.

The outbreak of smallpox first appeared in the Zhenghong flag, and later spread to the Xianghong flag, Zhenglan flag, Xianglan flag, and Xianghuang flag.

Many people in the army lieutenant generals were infected with the disease, and even Yue Tuo contracted smallpox.

The epidemic was discovered in a timely manner. Dorgon made a decisive decision and ordered all the infected people to be quarantined, and those who came into contact with the disease were also accommodated in an independent camp. Only then did the spread of smallpox be curbed.

But even if the spread was contained, the effects of smallpox were long-lasting and irreparable.

Smallpox is different from other diseases. There is no way to treat it. The fatality rate of smallpox is three to four out of ten, which means that at least [-] to [-]% of people cannot survive this wave of epidemics.

And even if they survived, many of them will be disabled due to smallpox, and disfigurement is already considered a mild sequelae.

And because of the appearance of smallpox, the morale of the army fluctuated uncontrollably, and morale was also hit hard.

Among the military tents, the only owner of the Manchurian Banner is Duoduo, and there is also Gushan Ezhen Tantai of the Zhenghuang Banner.

The flag owners of the two blue flags and the two red flags have not left their camps in their respective military camps, and the epidemic has had the greatest impact on their four flags.

Gushan Ezhen Yechen of Xianghuang Banner was also not included, and smallpox also spread to the military camp of Xianghuang Banner.

Heavy troops gathered outside the city of Jinan, and the main forces of the two yellow flags were all under Huang Taiji's command. They followed Huang Taiji in the border town to contain the battalions of Liaodong and other towns.

The two yellow flags at the entrance were much fewer than the other flags.

Only four flag owners of the Eight Banners of Mongolia were present, namely Adai from the Zhenghuang Banner, Ibai from the Zhengbai Banner, Suna from the Xiangbai Banner, and Hushibu from the Xianglan Banner.

The rest of the flags are all within the range of smallpox, or they need to guard against the surrounding situation, so they didn't come.

Dorgon's eyes swept across the people in the tent, and almost all the generals who could arrive had already arrived.

Dorgon was about to speak, but he didn't speak yet. Tan Tai, who sat down, asked first.

"I don't know why Prince Rui suddenly called a military meeting at this time? Could it be that there is some important military matter?"

Tan Tai leaned back on the chair, his attitude was not respectful, his tone was quite rude, and his eyes were looking directly with a bit of coldness.

He is Gushan Ezhen of Zhenghuangqi, and also Huang Taiji's real confidant. His duty to enter this time is actually to be Huang Taiji's eyes.

Although Dorgon and Yue Tuo are the generals in name and have the commanding power, Tan Tai's right to speak is not inferior to the two.

During this period of time, many accidents happened in the army. I don't know why smallpox flowed into the army this time. The details made Tan Tai feel a little strange.

It was as if there was an invisible hand manipulating everything.

What's even more strange is that smallpox only spread in the two red flags and the two blue flags, but there were not many sick people in the two white flags. Only the Mongolian Zhengbai flag was slightly affected.

This naturally caused Tan Tai to have a different idea in his heart.

However, there is no way to say something without evidence.

Tan Tai looked directly at Dorgon, trying to see some clues from Dorgon's face.

But Dorgon's face was still the same as before, and there was not much change, and there was no abnormality at all.

But Duoduo changed his color and turned his head to glare at Tan Tai.

"I do have an important military matter to announce this time about raising the account."

"It's still a first-class military priority, otherwise I wouldn't raise my account and gather generals at this time."

Dorgon ignored Tan Tai's gaze and disrespect, he knew very well that Tan Tai was Huang Taiji's confidant.

He has been very submissive for many years, so Huang Taiji has never touched him, and the loss outweighs the gain by offending Tan Tai.

And Dorgon is also very clear why Tan Tai's attitude is like this.

Actually...Tan Tai's suspicion...is very reasonable...

"Detective cavalry report, a large number of Ming troops have passed Yucheng, the number is around [-], and they are less than [-] miles away from Jinan City..."

Before Dorgon finished speaking, there was a lot of noise in the military tent.

Even Tan Tai, who looked like he was inquiring about the crime, suddenly changed his face at this time, revealing an expression of disbelief.

"Prince Rui, are you really not joking?"

Tan Tai's face darkened. Although he heard the news from Dorgon himself, he still couldn't believe it.

Although they failed to complete all their efforts in the battle of Jiazhuang, Xuan Dajun was half disabled by them, and he didn't have much combat power at all. Moreover, they also received news that Xuan Dajun seemed to have retreated to the second line and went to Baoning. Retreat in the direction of the government.

However, the Guan Ning Army has been huddled in Linqing City since the first battle of Linqing and dare not go out. They have left scouts to wander in Linqing. If the Guan Ning Army is dispatched, they will receive the news first.

Right now, the Guan Ning Army has no action at all, and no idea of ​​leaving the city at all.

Most of the Ming Guoqin King's army gathered towards Beijing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and there were only two Ming armies left near Jinan.

One was the Shaanxi Army that rushed to aid Jiazhuang. After the Battle of Jiazhuang, they followed the border between Shandong Province and Beizhili to the east and entered Dezhou. Previous investigations showed that the Shaanxi Army had only about 5000 people.

However, the combat power seems to be very strong. Zhasuka and Sele of the Zhenglan Banner led more than [-] people and were defeated by this Ming army, losing a lot of troops.

The other one was the Guan Ning cavalry led by Zu Kuan. Zu Kuan had about [-] men under his command, and he led a partial division.

The reason why Tan Tai couldn't believe it was simple. The Shaanxi army led by Sun Chuanting and the Guanning cavalry led by Zu Kuan were only 2 people combined.

Dorgon said that more than [-] Ming troops had passed through Yucheng and rushed to Jinan. Does that mean that Sun Chuanting and Zu Kuan joined forces and went south together?
Now in Jinan, the total number of their dozens of banners has exceeded 6, three times that of the Ming army, and the Ming army dared to fight?
Tan Tai had heard of Sun Chuanting's name, and he dared to fight, Tan Tai could understand, after all, Sun Chuanting had almost won all the way.

Gao Yingxiang, a big bandit in the Ming Dynasty, seemed to have been captured and killed by this man.

But Zu Kuan dared to fight, which is a bit unbelievable.

Zu Kuan could be counted as their old opponent, and Tan Tai knew everything about Zu Kuan.

When Zu Kuan was a general in Ningyuan, he had already fought.

Zu Kuan is not considered strong in Liao Town, he is only considered to be quite satisfactory, and the servants under his command can still fight, but that's all, not very eye-catching at all.

But right now, Zu Kuan dared to go south with Sun Chuanting.

"A matter of discussion in the military, how could I be joking at this time?"

Dorgon glanced sideways at Tan Tai, lowered his voice a little, and said in a concentrated voice.

"It was at dusk today when the army of the Ming Dynasty reached fifty miles. They camped near the official road, which means that the army of the Ming Dynasty is within fifty miles to the northwest of our army at this time."

With a distance of fifty miles, the Ming army could reach the outskirts of Jinan in as little as one day.

In the military tent, all the generals of the Qing army had solemn and gloomy expressions.

If they had heard in the past that there were few Ming soldiers rushing to help, not only would they not feel that it was a problem, but they would also dislike that too few came and brought too little military merit.

But right now smallpox is spreading in the barracks, [-]% of the troops are difficult to mobilize, and only [-]% of the troops can be mobilized for the time being.

If they wanted to fight against the Ming army coming from the northwest to aid Jinan, then Jinan had to leave some guards to guard the camp, and at least [-]% had to be removed.

If we don't slow down the offensive against Jinan City, then we will have to reduce the number of people by about 7000%. In this way, only about [-]% of the army can be mobilized, which is [-] people. The advantage of the force has actually shrunk. a lot of.

In the battle of Jiazhuang, there were many casualties in all the banners, and many generals were also damaged, which can be said to be broken.

To be honest, they were not willing to fight the main force of the Ming army.

And most importantly, one of the Ming troops who came to aid was the Shanxi Army led by Sun Chuanting.

Outside Zhending City, Zhenglan Banner had already fought against the Shaanxi Army, and they returned in a complete defeat, leaving behind hundreds of dead bodies, and fled in a panic all the way.

The foreheads of the two leaders of the Zhenglan Banner were really stripped off, and they were ordered to commit crimes and perform meritorious service.

This record was even worse than Xuan Dajun's previous record.

All banners know how difficult the bones of the Xuanda army in Jiazhuang World War I are.

Now that the more difficult Shaanxi army is coming, if there is a real fight, even if they can win, it will probably be a miserable victory.

If they were defeated, they were in Shandong Province of the Ming Dynasty, surrounded by King Qin's army of the Ming Dynasty, if they were defeated, they would be in a place of eternal doom.

They entered to plunder property, food and grass to live a good life, not to really fight to the death with the Ming army.

They couldn't accept too heavy casualties. The previous casualties in Jiazhuang had already shattered all the banners.

Dorgon looked at the faces of the generals in the military tent, and he actually had expectations for such a situation in his heart.

Several banner owners and generals of the Mongolian Eight Banners obviously didn't want to fight this battle, but they couldn't speak well due to the current situation.

Although Dorgon looked as usual, his heart was not as calm as his face.

The general below doesn't want to continue fighting with the Ming army, so does he just want to continue fighting with the Ming army?
Jia Zhuang suffered heavy casualties, which had a great impact on his prestige. In order to maintain his own status and prestige, it was a last resort to attack Jinan.

According to news from the north, two armies came from Shaanxi in the Ming Dynasty. One was led by Sun Chuanting, and the other was brought by Hong Chengchou, the trilateral governor of the Ming Dynasty.

Not long ago, Hong Chengchou had led his troops to the outskirts of the capital of the Ming Dynasty in Beizhili, and Chen Xinjia also led the troops originally stationed in Changping into the Gyeonggi area.

The troops of the Ming Dynasty in the capital totaled [-].

At that time, they will have to go north through the capital area of ​​the Ming Dynasty to exit the customs, which is undoubtedly another potential threat.

"The first battle in Jiazhuang failed to complete the battle, and there were casualties in all banners. I am very clear about this."

Dorgon looked at the expressions of the generals in the tent. During the decades of ups and downs, he learned a lot, one of which was to remain calm no matter what the situation was.

There is a sentence in the Ming Dynasty's Military Book that Dorgon thinks is right.

For the way of generals, first cure the heart.

Mount Tai collapsed in the front without changing its color, and the elk flourished in the left without blinking.

Then you can control your interests and wait for the enemy.

Dorgon stood up slowly, the first seat was supposed to be higher than the others, when Dorgon stood up, he was almost half a body taller than everyone else.

"For decades, the Ming Dynasty has mobilized millions of troops and spent billions of dollars in an attempt to destroy the Qing Dynasty, but what happened? The final result is not to flee back to the south of the Great Wall in desperation?"

"Sarhu, Kaitie, Guangning, Hunhe... which battle did not have more Ming troops than this time?"

"But what happened?"

Dorgon's eyes were cold, and he asked in a deep voice.

His questions hit everyone's hearts one after another, and the atmosphere in the military tent also changed under his words.

All the generals of the Qing army in the military tent slowly came to their senses, and they realized that they had a little fear of the Ming army before.

"Xian Khan raised his army with thirteen pairs of armor, and conquered Liaodong with a small army. Now our army is a hundred times more powerful than Xian Khan's, and the Ming army is only [-]. What is there to fear!"

"The battle to intercept the Ming army in Yucheng is mainly based on the two white flags, and the rest of the flags are supplemented."

Dorgon looked around at the generals in the tent, finally landed on Tan Tai, and said in a concentrated voice.

"General Yangwei is currently in poor health and is recuperating in the barracks. The important task of attacking Jinan is left to Mr. Tan Tai."

Tan Tai frowned slightly, his eyes narrowed slightly, Jinan City was a foregone conclusion, and it would definitely be captured in two or three days.

As the supreme commander, Dorgon expressed his attitude, saying that the two white flags are the main way to intercept the Ming army in Yucheng.

Giving him the task of attacking Jinan is tantamount to handing over the power to enter Jinan first, giving up a lot of benefits.

The benefits are in sight, and Dorgon has also shown his due attitude, and Tan Tai naturally has no reason to refuse.

"Counting the army of King Qin from all over the country, by the middle of this month, the Ming army in Beizhili, Jinan and other places will reach 20."

Dorgon walked down the first seat slowly, his eyes were sharp, like a tiger in the forest.

"The reason why the army of the Ming Dynasty dared to rush to aid Jinan is because our army failed to win the battle of Jiazhuang."

Dorgon's cold voice echoed in the ears of all the generals of the Qing army.

"This time, if we can't defeat the Ming army rushing to help, the rest of the Ming army will think that we are really weak."

"Wounded beasts cannot survive between the white mountains and black waters. Hunters in the mountains and forests will come closer by following the blood and smell."

"Everyone, don't forget that we are now in the territory of the Ming Kingdom, not in Liaodong, in the desert. Once defeated, we will be defeated!"

(End of this chapter)