Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 187: That's it? This shouldn't be the case.

Since Zhu Cilang came here, countless people have changed their original destinies.

Xu Yu, who should have died by Zhao Zhilong's knife, Yue Qijie, who should have committed suicide by hunger strike, Shen Tingyang, who should have died in defeat, and Zhu Datian, who should have burned himself and his family to death, all these people have left a mark in history, far more than the number of people who died on Double Ten Days.

But in the final analysis, his current strength is still concentrated in the southeast of Taihu Lake. Even if he infiltrated southern Anhui through Wu Yi, he only established contact with the areas closer to Taihu Lake. He knew almost nothing about southern Anhui where Qiu Zude, Jin Sheng and others were.

However, after the defeat of Ningguo, the Tartars were ultimately unable to kill everyone. Chang Guanlin, who had occupied Anji for only a few days, also received the news on the second night.

It was quite accidental that I got this news.

After the surprise attack was successful as planned by His Highness, Chang Guanlin contacted the border between Jiang and Anhui according to the information given by Wu Yi. When a team of soldiers were returning, they happened to meet the people who escaped from Ningguo.

In this way, combined with various information, he formed a general impression of the situation in southern Anhui.

just
"I'm afraid the Qing army has left Tianmu Mountain."

Chang Guanlin came to the conclusion immediately. After hearing his words, although Shen Tingyang didn't quite understand, Zhang Guowei figured out the key after a little hesitation.

This is not Shen Tingyang's fault. Although he has been dealing with the navy for half his life, he is, after all, an official who is more inclined towards economics. It is understandable that he is not very clear about war.

However, the cooperation between the few people these days is quite good, so he did not hide his confusion and asked directly: "Tianmu Mountain? I'm afraid it's unlikely."

His reason was actually very simple. According to the plan of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the Qing army still had at least 40,000 to 50,000 people. Even if there were roads in Tianmu Mountain, how could such a large army be allowed to pass through at will?

"The Tartars should have sent out light cavalry, leaving the main force to defend the Hangzhou camp."

After he finished speaking, Shen Tingyang fell silent, as if he agreed with Chang Guanlin's judgment.

However, he failed to realize that although there were many Qing troops left in Hangzhou, those who ventured across Tianmu Mountain were the main force of the Qing army.

At this point, it actually doesn't make much sense to discuss where the Qing army came from.

The most important thing facing them is how to deal with this situation.

After Nikan surrendered, Zhu Cilang quickly left the Suzhou and Songjiang battlefield. After that, they followed His Highness's arrangements to wipe out the remaining enemies and planned to attack the Qing army directly in Hangzhou.

But at this time, His Highness's military order came again, ordering them to split into three groups. One group, composed of Chang Guanlin, Zhang Guowei, and Shen Tingyang, was responsible for attacking Anji directly to tighten the siege on the Qing army.
Meanwhile, Yang Tinglin broke up the team and was responsible for cooperating with the rebel forces in various places to prevent the Tatars from joining forces;
The last one is Hou Chengzu, who was sent to Taihu Lake by Zhu Cilang as a maneuver. It seems to be the easiest task, but this is the heaviest one.

In this way, the Crown Prince's plan was clearly revealed to them. To put it bluntly, he wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Qing army was at a disadvantage in the overall situation and force it back to Jiangbei, and then take this opportunity to inflict as much casualties as possible on the Qing troops scattered in various places.

If the situation developed according to Zhu Cilang's plan, the Qing army would probably have no choice but to retreat back to Jiangbei.

After all, the two armies are too far apart in terms of navy. Even if they leave troops in Zhenjiang, they will probably be eaten up by the Ming army relying on the advantage of the navy. It is better to withdraw all of them to Jiangbei at once to avoid unnecessary losses.

However, the two sides fought for such a long time, and the Qing army was at a disadvantage due to carelessness and other reasons.

Once in a desperate situation, Duoduo would naturally put aside all these trivial matters, and the Qing army would naturally no longer be in a passive situation of being beaten.

The Ming army in Anji was naturally caught in a dilemma.

At this time, they already knew that Zuo Menggeng and Yuan Jixian's troops were in a stalemate with the Qing army in Wuhu, and although Duoduo's troops, who had left Tianmu Mountain, still had to break through the obstruction of several cities before they could threaten their retreat, those cities were only defended by some rebel troops, and they might be captured by the Qing army in one battle like Ningguo Prefecture.

Once the forces of Zuo and Yuan were defeated under the pincer attack, it was inevitable that the morale of the Qing army would be boosted, not to mention anything else.

By then, whether Duoduo fights or retreats, he will be much calmer than he is now, and Zhu Cilang's plan will naturally add a lot of variables.

According to common sense, under such circumstances, the Anji Ming army should go to the rescue, but their three groups of troops were either newly recruited soldiers or original garrison soldiers.

If Hu Maozhen had not been the first to turn against the enemy, the navy might have been able to only besiege Nikan's troops. How could they dare to risk a field battle with the Tartars to go to the rescue?
After understanding the current situation, the three of them suddenly fell silent.

"If Anji and Xuancheng were connected by water, I could lead the navy to arrive before the Tartars, but..."

Shen Tingyang stopped talking at the end, but his eyes were fixed on the map, as if he could find a navigable waterway from it.

Xuancheng is a large city located between Ningguo and Wuhu. If we can find a way to reach it before the Qing army, we may be able to stop them with the help of the city walls.

However, according to the intelligence they had obtained, there seemed to be only a few thousand volunteers defending Xuancheng. Under such circumstances, how could the Ming army, which was far away in Anji, arrive in time?

"Why not give it a try?"

Chang Guanlin, who had experienced many years of polishing in the officialdom of Yingtian, dared to say "should" to Zhu Cilang. At this time, the brave warrior in him was completely awakened after following His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in several battles.

If there was no chance at all, he might still be waiting quietly in Anji City, but now there seems to be a little hope. How could he watch his friendly forces being robbed? How could he watch the situation he had worked so hard to achieve slide into the unknown?
But among the three of them, Zhang Guowei had not had much contact with Zhu Cilang. After hearing this, he couldn't help but ask: "There is no military order, if it is Your Highness..."

Although he did not say all the words, the meaning was obvious. When Chang Guanlin was in Yingtian, he was with the Crown Prince every day, and he did not care about Zhang Guowei's worries at all.

"Don't worry, Minister. His Highness is always in the army and is not such a stingy person."

This statement has two meanings. On the surface, it seems to be saying that Zhu Cilang is not stingy, but when it reached Zhang Guowei's ears, the focus was on the middle half of the sentence.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is often in the army.

The kings stayed in the palace all day long, so they naturally worried about losing control of their army. Based on this, it was understandable that they did not allow their generals to make decisions on their own.

However, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who is often in the army, can be said to be present in almost every battle, and his prestige among soldiers and officers far exceeds that of any general.

Under such circumstances, he was naturally the General Tiance of the Ming Dynasty. How could he feel jealous because his generals adjusted their strategies in response to the battle situation?
"Then I'll do as the general says. I'll write a letter to Hangzhou right now!"

Zhang Guowei was obviously not someone who could be convinced by just a few words. The reason why he was so straightforward was probably because he recognized the prestige of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in the army.

When besieging Nikan's troops, he noticed that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince liked to hang around among the soldiers. Combined with what Chang Guanlin said, how could he not understand this?
After some operations, Chang Guanlin led his elite troops to Xuancheng, and several messengers also rode fast horses to Hangzhou.

There was nothing wrong with their guess. Since arriving here, Zhu Cilang had focused his main energy on controlling the army.

Up to now, although he did not dare to say that he could command all the troops under his command, he could be completely relieved about people like Chang Guanlin, Xiang Rensheng, and Fang Guoan, and he could also trust the rebel armies and navy that had just fought a battle.

It was precisely because of these reasons that Zhu Cilang figured out after much thought what the abnormality during the meeting with Li Benshen that day meant.

That’s right, it’s Xinzhong!
Will Duoduo trust the Han people?

Of course not. Not to mention him, even after more than 200 years of the founding of the Qing Dynasty, the Manchus had never truly trusted any Han minister.

Under such circumstances, how could he send an untrusted surrendered soldier to meet with his "old master"? And how could he not send anyone to monitor the meeting?
Zhu Cilang thought that Duoduo had already placed spies around Li Benshen, but considering the current situation, if Li Benshen really had ulterior motives and said something during the meeting with Zhu Cilang, should he deal with him or not?
In this way, the best option is to put someone next to Li Benshen so that he dare not show any second thoughts during the meeting. But after careful observation, Zhu Cilang found that those people seemed to be Li Benshen's confidants.

He couldn't help but wonder, was Duoduo out of his mind and trying to force his generals to rebel when the situation was unfavorable, or was there some other situation that prevented him from acting according to common sense?

When two armies are fighting, the most feared thing is having no idea about the enemy's behavior. Now that he already has a guess, all that remains is testing.

During the day, he first asked to meet with Duoduo, and then asked to meet with Kong Youde.

After being rejected, he even sent a team of cavalry to shout and curse outside the Qing army camp.

It's not difficult to guess what the words meant. It was probably something like that Duoduo was timid and didn't dare to come out to meet him, but the wording was not so polite.

The result is predictable. Not to mention Duoduo, even Kong Youde did not show up.

At this point, even if Zhu Cilang had not expected that Duoduo had already escaped, with so many ministers in Hangzhou, someone would certainly have reminded him.

It was just a guess after all. Without any concrete evidence, he didn't dare to act rashly.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

After realizing this, he sent people to find a few small cannons that were still usable from the destroyed artillery position.

When the sun was hanging low in the sky, he led his men to place the small cannons near the Qing army camp.

Such action was certainly not intended to expect those few small cannons to kill all the tens of thousands of Qing troops. To put it bluntly, the intention was to use the artillery fire to force the Qing troops to take action, so as to find some clues from it.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

There was another round of artillery fire, and from the outside it seemed that the Qing army still had its camp gates closed and showed no reaction.

In such a situation, not to mention Zhu Cilang, even Xiang Rensheng, who came from a coolie family, had sensed that something was wrong.

"Your Highness, we have already reached the gate, but the Tartar has not responded yet. I am afraid he has really escaped."

According to common sense, in the previous battles, the Ming army either won by relying on the advantage of its navy or the power of its artillery. The Qing army, which was rampant in Jiangbei, must have been holding back its anger.

At this time, Zhu Cilang led his troops to the front of the Qing army camp. Wasn't this an opportunity for a field battle that came right to him?
If Duoduo was still in the camp, how could he miss such an opportunity?
just
"Let's see what happens."

Zhu Cilang was self-aware. He knew very well that his successive victories were not due to his own strong strategies. To put it bluntly, it was just that the Qing army was careless and he knew where the situation was headed.

The current situation is very different from what he knew. After suffering a series of defeats, Duoduo will no longer be careless and underestimate the enemy. Under such circumstances, he will naturally be much more cautious than before.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

There was another round of shelling, but the Qing army still hid in the camp pretending to be dead.

Under such circumstances, Zhu Cilang would not tolerate it. With a command, the soldiers carried the cannons towards the Qing army camp.

"Aim well and shoot at the wall of their camp."

At this time, the Qing army camp had changed from the original fence to a surrounding earth wall. Although he could not see the situation inside through the earth wall, as long as seven or eight shells could hit it, he should be able to see what the situation inside was.

Although the cannon was called a small cannon, it weighed three or four hundred kilograms. Even if the soldiers just wanted to move it forward forty or fifty steps, it would take a lot of time, and the wilderness naturally became quiet.

At this moment, a gust of wild wind blew by, and it seemed to be mixed with some other noises, but they were so weak that they were ignored.

However, among these thousands of people, there are always some with better hearing. Before the soldiers could move the cannon to the position, a general reported to Zhu Cilang: "Your Highness! Listen!"

这 是
No way.

Even if Duoduo ran away, how could it be possible?
"Your Highness! There's a fight going on inside!"

How can it be?

It doesn't make sense.

"Your Highness! A real fight has broken out."

Since Zhu Cilang came here, he has been either fighting or preparing for war. How could he not recognize the sounds that the generals and soldiers could recognize?

But this situation was really something he couldn't understand, so even though the people around him had already confirmed that the shouting and screaming came from the Qing army camp, he still believed it.

But then again, it doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. After all, he brought his men with him. As long as they can break through the wall of the Qing army camp, they will know what happened.

No matter what situation arises at that time, he will not be without a response, and there is no need to rush.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

The artillery fired again, but its accuracy was a little off. Only one shell hit the wall of the Qing army camp, but it only made a small hole.

The generals were a little disappointed when they saw this situation, but before the artillery could fire again, they saw the gate of the Qing army camp slowly open from the inside, and then a man ran out holding a white flag.

This? This shouldn't be the case.

(End of this chapter)