The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen.

The southern suburbs of Yangzhou were in a mess.

Li Yan stood on a low slope in the southern suburbs, holding the command flag tightly in his hand. His knuckles had turned blue and white from hitting the flagpole with so much force.

His face was gloomy, as if water was about to drip out.

The war horses pawed their hooves restlessly, raising clouds of dust that smelled of blood.

The smoke from the battlefield not far away had not yet dissipated, and broken flags and corpses were scattered on the scorched earth.

"The North City and West City of Yangzhou have now fallen into the hands of the Jingnan Army, and the central mansion was lost this morning."

Yuan Shizhong stood beside Li Yan, his armor covered with dust and dark red blood stains.

His face was as dark as iron, and veins bulged on his hand that was gripping the knife.

He held the battle report sent from the front in his hand, his face flushed and he kept cursing.

"The soldiers of the Jingnan Army are a bunch of lunatics. They are all fucking crazy!"

Li Yan took the battle report from Yuan Shizhong and took a look at it. His expression became even more gloomy.

It is no wonder that Yuan Shizhong lost his composure like this. The news coming from Yangzhou City in recent days is just too unbelievable.

In just seven days, they had lost more than 30,000 soldiers in Yangzhou City.

Most of the buildings in Yangzhou City had been reduced to ruins by the Jingnan Army's indiscriminate bombing. The soldiers of the Jingnan Army occupied the streets and alleys everywhere like mad dogs.

They relied on the bastions built by demolishing residential houses in Yangzhou City and barely managed to hold on to the southwest corner of Yangzhou City.

Battalion after battalion of soldiers were poured into the city of Yangzhou, and then battalion after battalion of soldiers were consumed in the city of Yangzhou.

Seven days, just seven days.

They left more than 30,000 corpses in Yangzhou city.

The canal in Yangzhou city was littered with corpses, and the streets were filled with blood. The soldiers at the lower levels were frightened by the crazy offensive of the Jingnan Army, and their morale had almost fallen to the bottom.

No matter how much the officers ordered and urged, no matter how high the rewards and official titles were, no one dared to step out of the towers and bastions.

If they had not prepared six months in advance, allowing them to build a large number of military buildings in the southwest corner and deploy almost half of the artillery, they would have lost Yangzhou City long ago.

"Under this situation, it is impossible to defend Yangzhou City."

Yuan Shizhong's expression was gloomy. He walked up to Li Yan and sat down.

"The Jingnan Army has already occupied a favorable position in the city. Our defense line cannot withstand the bombardment of the Jingnan Army's artillery, and our soldiers have lost the courage to fight the Jingnan Army in close combat."

"Fighting the Jingnan Army in the city is a disadvantage among disadvantages for us."

"Under the current circumstances, no matter how many more troops we send to Yangzhou, they will all be wasted. The losses suffered by the Jingnan Army are much smaller than ours. Yangzhou...can no longer be defended..."

"We have to prepare for the worst..."

Li Yan clenched the command flag in his hand, then released it, and repeated this process over and over again.

He didn't want to give up Yangzhou, but he knew that what Yuan Shizhong said was right.

The Jingnan Army occupied the western and northern sections of the city wall, and the key locations in the city were also captured by the Jingnan Army.

Under the heavy bombardment of the Jingnan Army's heavy artillery, the loss of Yangzhou City was only a matter of time.

In the streets and alleys, facing the soldiers of the Jingnan Army holding the Haishi Guns, they were completely at a disadvantage in the shootout.

The Jingnan Army in Yangzhou City not only has powerful firearms, but also a group of elite armored soldiers who dare to fight in close combat, and there are also many archers with superb archery skills.

They were completely suppressed on the battlefield in the city, and the situation was always one-sided.

"The morale of the soldiers in Yangzhou City has collapsed. There is no point in defending it any further."

Yuan Shizhong's face showed struggle, and his voice was already filled with pleading.

"marshal!"

"Give the order!"

"We really can't fight any more."

Yuan Shizhong's last words could be considered a beg.

Li Yan's expression changed, and the hand holding the command flag slowly loosened.

"Get out..."

Li Yan lowered his gaze; his eyelids drooped.

Those two short words seemed to have drained all his strength, causing him to shorten his figure.

"Seven days..."

In seven days, not only Yangzhou will be lost.

The defense line in the southern suburbs, the bastion defense line that he placed great hopes on, was simply vulnerable to the offensive of the Jingnan Army.

There are a total of sixty-four bastions in the southern suburbs of Yangzhou.

There are thirty-two towers on the east side of the river and thirty-two towers on the west side of the river.

There are three large bastions that can accommodate a thousand people, and the rest are small bastions that can accommodate about three to four hundred people.

The bastions of a hundred men are all quadrangular, while the large bastions are octagonal.

The Jingnan Army attacked the camp in Hexi.

In seven days, the Jingnan Army had successively captured 18 small bastions in the northwest and west of Hexi, and the spearhead had reached the main bastion in the north.

"The bastion cannot stop the offensive of the Jingnan Army."

Yuan Shizhong sighed. The loss of Yangzhou was a foregone conclusion. The most important thing now was no longer Yangzhou, but the front battlefield.

"I know."

During these days, Li Yan has discovered that the bastion they built was not as strong as he expected.

"The Jingnan Army did not use artillery but instead used cold weapons and muskets to capture our bastion."

"This means that the walls of these captured bastions remain almost intact."

"The musketeers sent by the Jingnan Army entered the bastions and transported a lot of artillery. A lot of cavalry were also left in each bastion as reinforcements."

Yuan Shizhong looked extremely solemn. He pointed at the defense line in the distance and said in a deep voice.

"The Jingnan Army relies on these bastions. With these bastions as fulcrums, they can deploy their troops at will without worrying too much about flank threats."

"The Jingnan Army's guns and artillery are powerful, and their cavalry are brave and sharp."

"There is no way to enter the bastion area they control. Once you go deep into it, you will be attacked from all sides."

The bastion line of defense that they painstakingly built has now become a boost to the Jingnan Army.

"We can't defend the bastions in Hexi."

After a period of silence, Yuan Shizhong persuaded.

"Now we have no choice but to retreat to the east of the river and rely on the canal, the navy, and our superiority in military strength to delay time."

"Don't you understand?" Li Yan shook his head, his mouth bitter, and sighed. "We have no way out."

Yuan Shizhong frowned slightly. He was not sure what Li Yan meant by his words.

"We still have 350,000 soldiers and horses, and we have the advantage of the navy. It will not be easy for the Jingnan Army to cross the canal. This is our advantage..."

Li Yan raised his hand and interrupted Yuan Shizhong's words.

"Yangzhou was lost, the southern suburbs and Hexi were lost, and 60,000 soldiers and generals were killed. With such big news, do you think Zheng's fleet didn't receive any information at all?"

Li Yan's voice was low and hoarse. He turned his back to the candlelight, with shadows covering his thin face. Only his sharp eyes flashed coldly in the darkness.

"Yangzhou has been lost, and now we have retreated to Hedong. What do you think Zheng Zhilong will do based on his personality?" Yuan Shizhong was slightly stunned, but in just a moment he understood what Li Yan meant.

His Adam's apple rolled and he swallowed a mouthful of dry saliva.

They really have no way of retreat now. They can lose Yangzhou, but they have no way to retreat to the south.

They cannot lose this battle no matter what.

Zheng Zhilong had always maintained a neutral stance, neither choosing to accept the olive branch offered by the Wanmin Army nor completely side with the Jingnan Army.

But that was in the past, not now.

The situation in the world is gradually becoming clear.

Zheng Zhilong, who had always been ambiguous with them, had gradually begun to lean towards the Jingnan Army when they suffered successive defeats on the front line and lost most of Nanzhili.

This time, Chen Wang sent troops to Yangzhou, and Zheng Zhilong also sent a large fleet into the Yangtze River to harass the two prefectures of Suzhou and Yangzhou.

Although there was no attack on the prefectures and counties, a certain attitude was already demonstrated.

Between the Wanmin Army and the Jingnan Army, Zheng Zhilong, as a businessman, still placed more chips on the Jingnan Army.

But now, they have been defeated again and again on the front battlefield, and are about to lose Yangzhou City if they withdraw from Hexi again.

This will undoubtedly force Zheng Zhilong to make a choice and completely side with the Jingnan Army.

Chen Wang now almost completely controlled the Central Plains and the Lianghuai and Huguang Governor He Tengjiao surrendered his military power and entered Xiangyang to assist in government affairs.

Chen Wang married the daughter of Shizhu Xuanwei Sima, and in return he gained the support of the six major Xuanwei offices in the southwest.

The four provinces of Jiangxi, Guizhou, Guangdong and Guangxi are already under the influence of the Jingnan Army.

All the towns in the southern country submitted, and all the generals of the Western Army surrendered.

Chen Wang now has numerous elite soldiers and generals under his command, as well as hundreds of thousands of armored soldiers.

Now it has the potential to sweep the world.

At this time, Zheng Zhilong's eyes must be on Yangzhou.

If they retreated to Hexi, they would expose their own weakness.

If it were in the past, I would have just withdrawn.

The strong strength of the Jingnan Army, as well as their weakness, will undoubtedly become the reason why Zheng Zhilong completely turns to the Jingnan Army.

Everyone has seen Zheng Zhilong's fickleness over the past few days.

Zheng Zhilong is a businessman at heart.

Businessmen make huge profits.

Zheng Zhilong wanted to maintain his hegemony on the southeast coast and his treasure trove in the sea.

So what Zheng Zhilong had to do was to place his chips on the force that was most likely to dominate the world.

At the beginning, they won victory after victory on the battlefield.

When they asked for food, Zheng Zhilong transported food to them.

When they needed people, Zheng Zhilong transported them for them.

But now, with the growth of the Jingnan Army, Zheng Zhilong has changed from his original ambiguity to neutrality, and now he has directly sent troops to intervene.

"Zheng Zhilong..."

Yuan Shizhong gritted his teeth. He hated Zheng Zhilong's two-faced behavior.

But no matter how angry he was, he could not change the situation on the battlefield.

Zheng's navy roamed the open seas with strong ships and powerful guns, and was more powerful than the navy of the Jingnan Army.

It’s not like they haven’t tried before.

For the first attempt, they gathered more than 300 warships and headed for Chongming Island.

Zheng's navy only sent more than 50 warships to fight.

But the result was that they suffered heavy casualties and abandoned nearly a hundred ships - a complete defeat.

"Our army's offensive in the south has been slow, and Zheng Zhilong has already begun to turn to the Jingnan Army."

There was not much ripple in Li Yan's heart. During the days of dealing with Zheng Zhilong, he already knew clearly what kind of person Zheng Zhilong was.

"Zheng Zhibao originally led the navy to harass Jingjiang."

"Three days ago, our army was defeated and Zheng Zhibao had already led the navy from Jingjiang to the waters east of Zhenjiang Prefecture."

"Not only that, the main force of Zheng's navy on Chongming Island also took action. Zheng Zhilong led more than 200 ships from Chongming to Jingjiang."

Yuan Shizhong also recalled the news brought back by the scouts a few days ago that Zheng’s fleet was pressing towards the mouth of the Yangtze River like a dark cloud, and his heart sank.

"Zheng's navy has 500 large and small ships, and a total of more than 20,000 soldiers."

Li Yan slowly exhaled the foul air that had been trapped in his chest and said lightly.

"Do you still think that if we lose, we can retreat back to Jiangnan?"

Li Yan's question does not require an answer, or rather, everyone has the same answer in their hearts.

Once they retreated to Hedong and exposed their exhaustion, Zheng would inevitably join the war.

Li Yan could even foresee the scene where Zheng's huge warships were crossing the river with their guns pointed at them.
Zheng's participation in the war could easily defeat their navy, cut off all their routes of retreat, and trap them.

Although they were completely defeated on the battlefield, Zheng Zhilong would never miss the opportunity to give them a good beating.

The navy will definitely have a firm control over the river area, making it impossible for them to cross the river to the south.

Zheng Zhilong would never mind taking their heads to Chen Wang in exchange for rewards and hereditary positions.

They have no way out.

"Bang! Bang! Bang bang bang!"

Deafening cannon sounds came from Hexi, like thunder exploding in the sky during a rainstorm.

Even though they were nearly ten miles apart, the shock still made everyone's chest feel uncomfortable.

The river breeze blew towards me, bringing with it the smell of blood, and the sounds of fighting from the battlefield in the distance drifted in the wind.

Li Yan turned his head and looked towards the northwest.

The Jingnan Army has launched another attack, this time they are attacking the northernmost of the three large bastions in the center.

There were more than 2,000 soldiers of the Wanmin Army guarding that bastion, and there were camps of the Wanmin Army all around, with a scale of nearly 100,000.

The cavalry of both sides had already started chasing and fighting on the surrounding fields.

According to past estimates, the infantry of the Jingnan Army will be deployed to the battlefield in half an hour and launch an attack on the bastion.

The northern bastion had been bombed to pieces by the Jingnan Army's heavy bombing for several days.

In the Battle of Fengyang, they never captured any bastions of the Jingnan Army from beginning to end, and had no idea of ​​the internal structure, only the external situation.

The bastions built by the Jingnan Army were only intended to guard against cavalry raids and used as strongholds. They were not intended to resist artillery fire.

Their bastions had no way of defending against heavy artillery of that size.

"Order to the entire army."

Facing the gazes of the generals in the army, Li Yan slowly stood up.

"us……"

"Cross the river!" (End of this chapter)