Xie Ming

The beacon fires shattered the lonely city walls; soldiers were dispatched at night, their mouths gagged.

The sword flashes, the northern wind chills, and nine deaths are inevitable as they journey eastward.

On the night of April 29th, Huang Degong's troops in Chuzhou, after holding out in the isolated city of Jinan for over a month, finally succumbed to the dilapidated state of the city walls and could no longer hold on.

That night, taking advantage of the enemy's relaxed vigilance after the encirclement, they...

Huang and Tian secretly gathered all the troops in Zhoucheng, opened the south gate of the city, and led their troops to break through the siege.

At this moment, due to the limited number of enemy soldiers surrounding them from the south, Tian Xiong took the lead, broke through the enemy formation, and revealed a chance for survival.

Afterwards, the remaining troops, numbering over ten thousand, took the secret passage connecting Mount Tai, Mount Chan, and Mount Shao to the north, and suddenly turned east.

When the Tartar cavalry heard of this, they also ordered Prince Yu, Dorgon, to lead more than 8,000 cavalrymen from Shi Tingzhu and Bahana to surround and pursue them from behind.

After a night of frantic running, Huang and Tian led the remaining troops of Chuzhou, secretly crossed the Changshan border, and fled in panic, heading straight for Qingzhou.

By noon the next day, the vanguard, including Huang and Tian, ​​had appeared in the vicinity of Niushan, west of Qingzhou.

However, they were routed and pursued by a powerful enemy.

Of the more than 10,000 remnants of the original army that had been brought out, there are now less than a thousand who can still follow.

The remaining survivors, either scattered or killed by pursuers during the night, did not return alive.

Seeing this situation, Huang Degong was heartbroken and beat his chest in despair.

At the foot of Niu Mountain, he cursed the two Lius, his anger and blood boiling.

Unexpectedly, the sudden anger caused his internal injuries to relapse, and he fainted.

Tian Xiong was horrified and distressed, knowing that the situation was already set and could not be reversed.

To ensure the safety of the old general and to help him regroup and rise again in the future, Tian and his remaining troops dared not linger for even a moment longer.

He hurriedly leaped back onto his horse and rushed to Qingzhou, heading towards the Shandong-Qing and Laizhou border region. Another brave general under Huang Degong, Ma Degong, also fled, and that's another story.

Meanwhile, on the western front, Dodo's main force marched into Jinan city that morning, a mighty and imposing army.

The commander ordered that the city of Jinan be massacred for three days without the sword being sheathed.

Thus, the important city of Jinan was instantly transformed into a living hell. The remaining civilians were all slaughtered, leaving not even a chicken or a dog alive.
On the sixth day of the fifth month, after several days of looting, Dodo's main force finally regrouped, emptied Jinan, and then marched south in full force.

Following the route of Geng Zhongming's right wing army, they marched along the Pingyin and Ningyang line, heading straight for Yanzhou.

Meanwhile, Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing's troops, who had previously retreated and huddled in the rear, were now assessing the enemy's strength and taking a more cautious approach.

With Jinan already lost and Dodo's main force advancing rapidly towards them, they were like frightened birds, fearing they might end up like Huang Degong.

Therefore, they waited for the opportunity to send envoys to mediate between the troops of Dodo and Yanzhou.

The two traitors, Liu and Liu, eagerly flattered and pledged allegiance to each other. Upon contact, they were so eager that they knelt down and rushed to surrender to the Qing army.

As for the secretly sent gold and silver, and the tacit promises of high-ranking officials and marquises.

In reality, Dodo was taken advantage of.

You should know that, given the cowardly and cowardly nature of those two Lius, even if you didn't have these qualities, they wouldn't pose much of a threat.

So it is, and so it is.

This avalanche farce has completely overturned the situation in Shandong.

Huang Degong suffered defeat after defeat and fled to Qing and Lai, where he was no longer willing to resist.

The combined forces of Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing, numbering 50,000, surrendered to the enemy without firing a single shot, becoming their vanguard.

The Northern Qing army under Dodo advanced directly towards Nanjing, its advance unstoppable.

However, judging from the current situation, it seems that there is no longer any force to stop it north of the Yangtze River.

Seven days later, it was mid-May, around the eighteenth day. The enemy army invaded northern Anhui, consisting of the original right wing army, 25,000 troops under Geng Zhongming and Shi Tingzhu, plus a force of over 30,000 under Liu Liangzuo, and they advanced into Fengyang.

At this time, the troops stationed here were Gao Jinku's troops, which had been forcibly disbanded by Xiao Jingchuan, and they still had more than 10,000 followers under their command.

On that day, Geng, Shi, and Liu served as vanguard generals, passing through Suining and Linhuai, and were already besieging Fengyang City, where they fought a fierce battle with Gao Jinku.

Gao Jinku, who had besieged the city and resisted the enemy, exerted only a fraction of his strength, and after less than three days, he surrendered to the enemy.

Before the city fell, Xing and Xu Wenze, having anticipated the overwhelming force of the enemy, decided to temporarily evade the attack and quickly dispatched most of their provisions and funds, thus escaping danger and fleeing to Shouchun with Gao Hu's troops.

Gao Hu, relying on his connection with Sun Peizhong of Henan, had logistical support.

After being besieged in Fengyang for two days on the 18th and 19th, he led more than 3,000 troops to launch a night attack and defeat the reinforcements.

However, unexpectedly, Generals Geng and Shi were skilled in commanding troops.

Although Gao Hu was somewhat flustered at the beginning of the attack on the camp.

However, the Tatar cavalry reacted with surprising speed.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Gao Hu's sneak attack was completely thwarted.

Seeing that the enemy soldiers were brave and could not withstand a prolonged battle.

Gao Hu also had a quick decision to make, and immediately led his troops to retreat westward.

Even so, those who were slow and greedy in the rear were caught up and killed by the Jurchen cavalry, with seven or eight out of ten being killed.

When he rushed back to Shouchun, he turned around and saw that of the three thousand brave men he had brought with him, only a few hundred remained.

The enemy's fighting strength was so terrifying that, with no other choice, they retreated from night until dawn.

After Gao, Xing, and Xu discussed the matter together, they all realized that the troops in Shouchun were insufficient and could not hold out for long.

Therefore, it was necessary to avoid any loss of grain and money taken from Fengyang.

In the early hours of the 20th, thanks to the light rain that followed the night, there was an early morning fog.

Gao Hu, Xing Shi, and Xu Wenze, along with the remaining troops of Shouchun, hastily fled west again, abandoning Mengcheng and Huoqiu. The remaining troops, few in number and courageous, headed straight for Guide and joined Pei Zhong.

At this point, the Southern Ming army north of the Yangtze River had no power to resist.

The right wing armies of Geng and Shi will soon fight again at Chuzhou.

The original garrison was guarding its old stronghold, and Huang Degong's old troops numbered about seven or eight thousand who were still capable of fighting.

However, these troops were mostly old and weak who were unable to carry out the northward expedition, and their combat strength was truly insufficient.

So on the 20th, after Fengyang fell, the soldiers in Chuzhou also fled at the first sign of trouble.

On the same day, he crossed the river to Nanjing, claiming that he was willing to rely on the natural barrier of the Yangtze River to defend against the enemy and serve the country.

Therefore, Chuzhou was lost without a fight, leaving the enemy to occupy the empty city.

On May 25th, the troops of Geng and Shi's right wing reached Liuhe, Jiangpu, Hezhou and other places, and were now only separated from Nanjing by the Yangtze River.

At the same time, Dodo's main force, along with the left wing troops of Kong Youde and Bahana, and Liu Zeqing, the vanguard leader, were dispatched to head towards Yangzhou.

The reason for such a large force on this route is that Yangzhou is wealthy, and they can easily crush any enemy without any trouble.

However, this large army marched at breakneck speed, breaking through Shandong and penetrating deep into the heart of Anhui. Poor logistics were a major taboo in the army and could not be ignored.

Therefore, it is only reasonable and necessary to mobilize a large force to take over Yangzhou.

It's a pity about Liu Zeqing. He surrendered to the Jurchen Qing court and served as a dog in Dodo's army. He wasn't satisfied with that. Now, his old stronghold in Yangzhou, which he had built up over many years, is about to be destroyed by him. All his hard-earned silver and grain will be handed over to others.

Among all the bitterness and humiliation, Liu Da Nao swallowed it all alone, even as he broke his teeth.

It's all his own fault, he has no one to blame but himself!
(End of this chapter)