Xie Ming

With the Northwest largely pacified, the Qing army was at the height of its arrogance.

In order to achieve unification as soon as possible, Dorgon took advantage of the victory and led Dodo's army to launch a large-scale invasion southward, unilaterally breaking the peace agreement between the north and south and going back on his word.

In response, the situation in Shandong took a sharp turn for the worse, and Huang Degong, the military commander in charge of defending Jinan, was completely unprepared and on guard.

In a daze, Dodo's army split into three routes and crossed the river to the south.

On the evening of March 18th, the main force of 20,000 troops, along with 10,000 Han and mixed troops, knocked on the northern end of Jinan. The red-coated cannons displayed their might, and the 10,000 Han and mixed troops under the command of Dorgon had already begun the siege.

In addition, on the western front, the right wing army led by Geng Zhongming and Shi Tingzhu, with 25,000 troops, crossed the Yellow River and simultaneously attacked Feicheng and Changqing from two directions.

Huang Degong's original troops from Chuzhou were stationed in these two places, numbering no more than 5,000 garrison soldiers.

After a swift and fierce attack by Qing generals Geng and Shi, the city was on the verge of falling.

If we stop talking about the west and go east, then going to the east again, the situation is probably not as good as going west.

The Qing army's left wing, led by Kong Youde and Bahana, crossed the river at Jiyang and headed towards Zhangqiu.

The original garrison commander of Zhangqiu had only two thousand soldiers. When he saw the Jurchens from the north approaching with a large army, he was terrified and panicked. Instead of resisting the enemy, he abandoned the city and fled.

Originally, Esen intended to head west to join forces with Jinan, so that news could reach Huang Degong quickly and preparations could be made in advance.

Secondly, Jinan is a formidable city with high walls and strong defenses, making it a suitable place for resistance.

However, in a panic, after running for about ten miles, the fierce enemy cavalry from the north caught up with them.

Unable to remain calm, the fleeing rabbit, useless against the enemy, has mastered the art of escaping.

Immediately, the general from Zhangqiu quickly split into two groups. One group continued westward to Jinan, leading the Qing dogs behind them.

The other large group, however, took their own way and made a detour southwards, heading in the opposite direction towards Qingzhou.

Xu Yi, that grandson, was probably terrified. He figured that since Zhangqiu already had a large army attacking, Jinan must have already been captured long ago.

Rather than panicking and recklessly plunging back into the encirclement, it would be better to flee eastward to Qingzhou.

That place is not a crucial strategic location, and it is unlikely that the Qing army would abandon its main force and pursue their two thousand men eastward for the time being.

And so it is, and so it is.

Dodo's left wing army captured Zhangqiu without bloodshed, while Kong Youde and Bahana also rushed westward to besiege Jinan.

As a result, by noon on the 19th, Jinan, where Huang Degong was located, was surrounded on three sides, and the situation was extremely critical.

If it weren't for that old Huang from Chuzhou, who still had some sense, having already dispatched multiple scout teams south the day before yesterday, hoping to waste another day, by the nineteenth, it would have been impossible to send people out again.

but.

The story goes that a messenger was sent south.

However, it is extremely difficult to achieve anything if one only acts on one's own wishful thinking.

Sure enough, later, in Jinan, Huang Degong made every effort to support the city and defend against the enemy on three sides.

All sorts of things happened, and each day felt like a year. In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.

Even though Jinan is fortified with high walls and deep moats, it will not fall.

However, the request for reinforcements was completely ignored.

Liu Liangzuo's force, with a main force of over 30,000, was holed up in the area of ​​Yanzhou and Jining, which was only about 300 li away from Jinan city.

If they really want to provide support, it should arrive in seven or eight days at the latest.

But now, Huang Degong is trapped on the top of Xiguan City, his eyes are practically bleeding from waiting, but he hasn't seen a single ghost of reinforcements from beginning to end.

Liu Zeqing's force, consisting of 25,000 main troops in Shandong, has also retreated to Yishui and Mengyin, a distance of four or five hundred li, and to this day, not a single soldier has been found.

Huang Degong had been looking forward to this for many days, but his heart had grown cold.

The two Lius' troops refused to send any reinforcements, leaving only a portion of their own forces stranded in Jinan, waiting to die. They were cowardly and just wanted to watch the show.

Thinking back, the four generals of Jiangbei, along with those two Lius, had a long-standing friendship.

Unexpectedly, when faced with a life-or-death situation, they turned out to be so heartless, ungrateful, and shameless.

Above, there is no ruler or father, no thought of defending the country and fighting together to resist the enemy.

Below them were also ungrateful and petty men who watched helplessly as the troops of Chuzhou were completely wiped out, not wanting the matter to end.

It's truly infuriating! What can I do?
As the saying goes, the city was starving and there was no help from all sides, only the sound of bugles could be heard from all directions.

At first they ate horses, then they ate people; they climbed the tower and beat the drum, but the drum did not sound.

The north wind blows coldly on this night, the wine cup is broken, and the guards on the outskirts are sick and starving.

The situation in Jinan is critical, but we can hold it together. What plan do we have to break through the enemy lines and return south?

It's difficult, it's hard to do.
Having finished discussing Shandong, we turned our attention to the Yangtze River and then to Jiujiang and Anqing.

Time passes, and the clouds of sorrow rise in the east and clear in the west.

To recount the great victory of Xiao Jun.

In the blink of an eye, it's April 10th.

After five or six days of decisive victory over the Hubei rebels, the rebel soldiers and generals, originally known as "a million strong," were now difficult to control and manage.

Despite Xiao Jingchuan's efforts to mediate, he remained unresponsive and difficult to control.

Unexpectedly, on the tenth day of the month, another mutiny broke out in the army.

The five battalions, with nearly ten thousand surrendered soldiers, were dissatisfied with their treatment as prisoners of war, and a riot broke out in Jiujiang at night.

This group of rebel soldiers is extremely destructive.

Moreover, with public opinion so tense and all departments on high alert, the first move was a reversal.

Once the situation began to escalate, the various enemy and prisoner camps along the Anqing-Jiujiang line became even more turbulent and unsettling.

In just one night, fires broke out in all directions. Xiao's army was already small in number and was exhausted from dealing with the situation, and it was on the verge of collapse.

That's why they say you can't rush things.

When measuring people, you also need to know their body size and what size underwear they need.

Xiao Jun's army, in the battle of blocking the enemy's advance, fought skillfully and brilliantly, achieving a great victory despite being like an ant trying to shake a tree.

However, this area is short of soldiers and generals.

How could it be so easy to subdue over two hundred thousand surrendered soldiers with only thirty thousand men?!

Fortunately, Ma Jinzhong, one of the five close generals under Zuo Liangyu, was highly regarded after surrendering to Xiao He, and they felt a sense of camaraderie.

With the cooperation of his 30,000 troops, the situation gradually stabilized.

The Fifth Battalion of the Vanguard Army, with tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers, and Hao Xiaozhong's force of over 40,000, suffered thousands of casualties in the Anqing naval battle. With their general dead and no commander in command, a mutiny broke out, and five or six out of ten soldiers fled on the spot, leaving less than 15,000 soldiers.

Jin Shenghuan was captured, and the 30,000 men he led rebelled that night. Most of them abandoned their ships, crossed the mountains, and fled westward to Hubei, where they were never pursued again.

Wang Deren was beheaded by Chuanwu on the battlefield. His troops numbered about 30,000. After the landing battle, 2,000 were lost. On the night of the tenth, about 30% of them scattered and fled. More than 20,000 were still captured.

Of the five battalions of the rear army, numbering over 100,000, half were lost or fled after this incident, leaving only about 50,000 remaining.
It seems that if Xiao Jun hadn't done enough to reorganize and divide the troops these past two days, the situation would have been much worse.

Furthermore, he also coerced Zuo Menggeng and made great efforts to promote and win over Ma Jinzhong, Zhang Shixun, and others. This chaotic situation may be even more difficult to control.

Whether this will backfire and turn into a situation of repeated defeats and overwhelming victories remains to be seen!
(End of this chapter)