Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 146 Chen Bangfu Borrows Troops
After more than four months of siege, the Qing army in Yongzhou ran out of food and killed and cannibalized each other. On the first day of November, the Qing garrison collapsed and surrendered one after another. He Tengjiao led the Ming army to set up ladders and finally captured Yongzhou and beheaded Yu Shizhong, the general of the Qing Dynasty.

The victory of Yongzhou was not glorious. The Ming army was ten times larger than the enemy and it took more than four months of siege before finally taking Yongzhou. One can imagine how weak the Ming army was.

At this moment, Jin Shenghuan's situation in Jiangxi was already quite difficult. He Tengjiao immediately led his army northward, taking only a small number of light cavalry, and rushed to Changsha overnight.

The Qing army in Hunan huddled in Changsha City. The Pianyuan Governor Xian Jin and the general Xu Yong stubbornly resisted in the city, but there were only 3,000 Qing troops defending the city.

Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng, under the order of Du Yinxi, led the Loyalty Battalion to attack Changsha fiercely: "Attack the city from all sides", "Arrows rained down, bullets fell into the city like chicken eggs, and everyone hit was killed", "Dig holes in the city, determined to win"...

Xu Yong, the Qing Dynasty's Changsha defender, was also a Ming Dynasty surrendered general. While supervising the battle on the city wall, he was shot in the thigh by Li Chixin, and the morale of the defenders was greatly reduced.

Jin Shenghuan, Duke of Yu in the Southern Ming Dynasty, defended Nanchang alone, longing for reinforcements. Tan Tai, a Manchu Gushan Ezhen of the Zhenghuang Banner of the Qing Dynasty, led a large army of Manchus, Mongols and Han people to surround Nanchang.

The situation in Changsha was quite similar to that in Nanchang, but the host and guest were in different positions. Xu Yong was alone in Changsha, looking forward to reinforcements. The Qing Dynasty reinforcements were also far away: Jirgalang was still in Shandong suppressing the Liuyuan Army Uprising, and Kong Youde was in Wuchang and Hanyang, with enough strength to protect himself, and did not send a single soldier to Nanchang and Changsha.

Like Jin Shenghuan, Xu Yong was a general under Zuo Liangyu. When he was young, he served in the Liaodong Army and admired Liu Jing and Du Song, who died in the Battle of Sarhu. He made a vow: "A real man should tie his hair and join the army. If he meets a wise ruler, he will be promoted to the position of a pillar of the country, fight on the battlefield, and his name will be passed down through the ages."

Unfortunately, after the great traitor Xu Yong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty with Zuo Menggeng, he devoted himself to being loyal to the Qing Dynasty. Like Li Maozu, the governor of Guangxi Province of the Qing Dynasty, and Yu Shizhong, the general who "fought and died for their country", Xu Yong was determined to defend Changsha to the death.

In this situation, it depends on which side of the Ming and Qing dynasties can gain the upper hand. The situation is very delicate, but in general, the Ming army has the upper hand.

First, Changsha is located upstream. Once the Ming army conquers Changsha, Du Yinxi and He Tengjiao can be combined, and the Zhongzheng Camp, Zhongkai Camp, Zhongwu Camp, Yudian Camp, and even Jiao Lian's Gui Division and Xiong Zhaozuo's Chu Division can go downstream and directly threaten Jiangxi. In addition to Li Chengdong in Guangdong, the Ming army can attack Tan Tai's army from both sides. If it goes well, Jin Shenghuan can also go out of Nanchang to counterattack, so that Tan Tai will never return, and there is hope for the recovery of Jiangnan.

Second, the Southern Ming court was closer to Nanchang and Changsha, which theoretically allowed it to better command the war and dispatch troops, money and food.

Ideals are beautiful, but reality is extremely cruel.

At this critical moment, He Tengjiao started another trick: he went to Changsha to meet Du Yinxi in person, and asked Du Yinxi to lead the Zhongzheng Battalion and Zhongwu Battalion to rush to Nanchang as a commander. The Zhongzheng Battalion and Zhongwu Battalion belonged to Li Chixin and Ma Jinzhong respectively, and were the most elite troops under Du Yinxi's command, and also the strongest Ming army in Huguang at that time.

Objectively speaking, Changsha is close to Nanchang, and it is more convenient for Li Chixin and Ma Jinzhong to reinforce Nanchang. Privately, He Tengjiao also wanted to recapture Changsha, thinking that Changsha was lost in his hands and should be recaptured in his hands.

The key point is that He Tengjiao's main force is still in Yongzhou, more than 600 miles away from Changsha, and even if it is a forced march, it will take ten days. He thought that Changsha could be captured soon, so he could let his subordinates fight for the credit of Changsha.

But once Li Chixin and Ma Jinzhong withdrew, the defenders could take a breather, collect food and grass, and strengthen the city walls. By the time He Tengjiao's troops arrived in Changsha, the daylily was almost cold.

If He Tengjiao's words were really followed, it would be very likely that the Ming army would lose both Hunan and Jiangxi, and it was possible that the Ming army would lose everything.

Du Yinxi argued with reason, hoping to buy a few days for the Zhongzheng Camp. The Zhongzheng Camp was the remnant of the Dashun Army, and they were brave in combat and had rich experience in siege. They had fought bloody battles for many days under Changsha City, using the method of chiseling the city walls to attack the city, and dug holes in the city walls. "Two holes have been dug, and the city is in danger."

But He Tengjiao was stubborn and used the seal of the commander to issue an order. Du Yinxi had no choice but to leave Ma Jinzhong's troops of the Zhongwu Camp to take over the siege and ordered Li Chixin of the Zhongzheng Camp to lead his troops eastward to reinforce Nanchang. …

On November 15th, an uninvited guest came to Yong'an City: Zhao Hongyuan.

Zhao Hongyuan was the commander of the central army of Duke Chen Bangfu of Qing, and also a capable general under Chen Bangfu.

In July, Emperor Yongli left Nanning and moved his throne to Zhaoqing. Xiangfu Marquis Hou Xing led his army to protect the throne. Chen Bangfu had a grudge against Hou Xing and saw that Hou Xing had a lot of wealth, so he sent Zhao Hongyuan to kidnap Hou Xing and take away his women and wealth.

It can be seen that Zhao Hongyuan is Chen Bangfu's thug, the kind of thug who does all kinds of evil.

Danchu looked down on Chen Bangfu, and even more so on Zhao Hongyuan. But Zhao Hongyuan brought a piece of news that was too explosive, so Danchu had to meet him in person.

"Deputy Commander, Xu Biao of Nanning Prefecture is even more vicious than Nguyen Phu Cuong of Wutunso. He is simply an unforgivable criminal. He abuses his power in Nanning. He not only forced men to work, extorts money, and rapes women, but also insults and beats officials and monopolizes money and grain. The governor was humiliated by him and resigned and hid in the mountains. The prestige of the court is gone. How can this be disgraceful?"

What Zhao Hongyuan said was certainly an exaggeration. But it was true that Xu Biao had done evil in Nanning. He was originally a bandit, and was recruited by Zhao Yi, the governor of Guangxi, who hoped that he would check and balance Chen Bangfu.

This guy really has some skills. He really helped Zhao Yi to defend Nanning and prevented Chen Bangfu from interfering with Nanning.

But if a person is born in a humble family, once he has tasted the power and lacks restraint, he will often be bitten back by the power. Xu Biao was stationed in Nanning and lived in the same city with Zhao Yi, and there were many conflicts between them. When Emperor Yongli was in Nanning, the two could still maintain superficial politeness. As soon as the court left, Xu Biao immediately turned hostile and treated Zhao Yi as a subordinate, bossing him around and often scolding him in person.

Chen Bangfu had long wanted to take over Nanning, and since he was Zhao Yi's son-in-law, he sent troops to punish him. Zhao Yi was caught in the middle and was in a dilemma, so he simply lived in seclusion in the mountains and let Chen Bangfu and Xu Biao attack each other.

From August to November, the two had been fighting for more than three months. Chen Bangfu was much stronger than Xu Biao, but was defeated by Xu Biao one after another. Xu Biao took advantage of the victory to counterattack and captured Yongchun, Yuxiangwei and Hengzhou downstream of Nanning.

Going down along the Yujiang River from Hengzhou, you will enter Xunzhou Prefecture, the core territory of Chen Bangfu. After passing Guixian, you will reach Chen Bangfu’s old nest - Xunzhou Prefecture City.

Chen Bangfu was at a loss, so he sent Zhao Hongyuan to Yong'an to try to borrow troops from Danchu.

The Intelligence Bureau had sent scouts to Nanning and Xunzhou, and Danchu had a good understanding of the situation in the two places. He was just about to get involved in Nanning when Chen Bangfu came to him.

"Brother, you are right. Xu Biao is a bandit who was favored by the court and promoted to the position of commander-in-chief. He did not think of repaying his loyalty, but instead took credit for himself and harmed the people in his hometown. He did not take the court seriously. If we do not punish him severely, where will the reputation of the Duke of Qing be? Where will the prestige of the court be?"

Zhao Hongyuan was secretly delighted when he saw Dan Chu's clear attitude, thinking that the matter of borrowing troops should be settled.

(End of this chapter)