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

Chapter 382 Zhu Chenggong's Defeat in Nanjing

Summer was not over yet, but the Red Army had to act early and prepare to attack Changsha. There was no other way, as accurate news came from Southern Zhili: the Cixing Fan was defeated at the gates of Nanjing, and Zhu Chenggong led the navy back to Fujian.

The specific situation is highly similar to history:
The Cixing Fan navy was large and had an overwhelming advantage on the southeast coast. Zhu Chenggong led the navy to feint an attack on Dinghai, confusing the Qing army into moving troops to Zhejiang. Then he set sail northward and entered the Yangtze River, completely unexpectedly for the Qing army.

Ma Fengzhi (Ma Jinbao), the Qing Dynasty's Susong governor, had secretly contacted Zhu Chenggong and passively resisted, allowing Zhu Chenggong to easily break through the Wusong-Chongming-Langshan defense line.

Passing by Jiangyin, Zhu Chenggong did not attack Jiangyin County because it was small, and continued upstream, first conquering Guazhou and then Zhenjiang. Guazhou is located at the intersection of the Grand Canal and the Yangtze River in the north, and Zhenjiang is located at the intersection of the Grand Canal and the Yangtze River in the south. Cixing Fan cut off the Grand Canal transport in one fell swoop, causing a great shock to the Qing court.

Strangely, Zhu Chenggong did not rush to attack the city, but stayed in Zhenjiang to review the troops, recruit gentry, and enforce military discipline. This move had a good political effect, and the surrounding prefectures and counties surrendered one after another, but it was disadvantageous in the military, and the Cixing vassal lost the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Nanjing.

When Zhu Chenggong decided to go west, the generals had a dispute over whether to go by land or water. The Cixing vassal states were all seagoing ships, which could not go upstream in the Yangtze River and had to be pulled upstream, so the speed was extremely slow.

In this surprise attack on Nanjing, Cixing Fan learned the lesson from the attack on Zhongzuo and brought his family with him. Therefore, most of the generals advocated taking the water route. Zhu Chenggong followed the generals' advice and decided to take the water route to the west.

The Qing Dynasty thus had a precious respite. Governor Ma Guozhu of Jiangnan, Jiangxi and Henan stepped up to dispatch troops from all over the country to reinforce Nanjing. When the Cixing Fan slowly arrived at the gate of Nanjing, the defense of Nanjing was still very empty. The Manchu soldiers stationed in Nanjing even tried to massacre the Han people in the city to prevent them from becoming the internal supporters of the Cixing Fan, but they were strongly opposed by Han officials such as Ma Guozhu.

Ma Guozhu pretended to surrender to Zhu Chenggong, but asked for a month's grace period, falsely claiming that the Qing court had a regulation that if the garrison surrendered after more than one month, their families would not be punished.

Zhu Chenggong actually believed Ma Guozhu and stationed more than 100,000 troops outside Nanjing city, keeping them on hold.

Zhang Mingzhen and Zhang Huangyan tried their best to persuade Zhu Chenggong to attack the city, but failed, so they led the navy upstream to pacify Hezhou, Wuhu and other places.

The Qing army reinforcements arrived in large numbers, and even Oboi led the Manchurian Firearms Battalion to approach Nanjing. Zhu Chenggong realized that he had been deceived and ordered his troops to attack Nanjing fiercely.

The Manchurian soldiers went out to fight, and the Cixing Fan sent out the Iron Man Army to fight back, and defeated the Manchurian soldiers. But then, the Jiangnan Green Camp defeated the Cixing Fan Iron Man Army with flails and clubs. The Qing army attacked from both inside and outside, and defeated the Cixing Fan.

……

The Intelligence Bureau sent back dozens of secret reports from Nanzhili, and the whole story of the Battle of Nanjing gradually became clear.

"What a pity, what a pity!" Qian Bingdeng sighed after reading the latest intelligence, saying, "Zhu Chenggong's entry into the Yangtze River has boosted the south of the Yangtze River, and famous cities and towns have responded one after another, with the intention of dividing the border with the Tartars. Unexpectedly, this battle was a failure, and the Cixing vassal state had the best of both worlds, but was defeated by the Tartars."

Whenever a major war was about to break out, Qian Bingdeng would always offer advice at the headquarters, becoming one of Danchu's most trusted advisers.

"The mistake of granting surnames can serve as a lesson for our army. According to your opinions, why did Zhu Chenggong fail?" Dan Chu looked around at everyone in the tent and asked.

The Red Army has formed a system. Whenever there is a major event, senior generals and staff are convened for full discussion. Danchu consciously did this in order to inspire everyone and improve their strategic level. He himself often benefited from it. "It is mainly because of underestimating the enemy." Qian Bingdeng spoke first and said, "In this battle, the Cixing Fan was too successful. Whether in Dinghai, Chongming, Guazhou, or Zhenjiang, the Fan army was invincible. Especially during the Zhenjiang period, the surrounding prefectures and counties surrendered one after another. I think Zhu Chenggong must have been a little arrogant, so he delayed in Zhenjiang for many days and kept his troops in Nanjing, hoping to conquer Nanjing without fighting."

"It is a mistake, it is a mistake. Cixing Fan should not have brought his family to the battlefield." Director of the Operations Bureau He Zhaoji said, "The ancients said that it is unlucky for women to enter the military camp. Cixing Fan could have taken the land route from Zhenjiang to Nanjing, traveling day and night, and arrived in Nanjing in one day and night, but he chose to take the water route. The soldiers pulled the boat and it took ten days to reach Nanjing. The reason is probably because his family was on the boat."

"Indeed," Director of the Education Bureau Chu Yongpei echoed, "After the Cixing Army was defeated, the soldiers all fled to the riverside to protect their families. There were no extra forces to reinforce the front line. Most of the troops on the front line were surrounded and annihilated by the Qing army, and the generals were either killed or captured."

It doesn't matter if you lose a battle, there will always be a chance to make a comeback in the future. If you are surrounded and annihilated by the enemy, the consequences will be serious, and the soldiers will either be killed or captured, and there will be no chance to take revenge in the future.

This time, Zhu Chenggong was defeated miserably. Most of the elite troops of the army were deployed on the front line, and most of them were surrounded and annihilated by the Qing army. The most important generals of the Cixing Fan - the middle admiral Gan Hui, as well as the rear admiral Wan Li, Xuanyi Zuozhen Wan Yi, Zuo Wuwei Lin Sheng, and Youhuwei Chen Kui were either killed or captured.

Zhu Chenggong spent a lot of money to build the elite army - the Iron Man Army, but they were also completely destroyed in this battle. The army of Cixing Fan was weak to begin with. After several years and millions of taels of silver, they finally trained a hundred thousand army. However, they were defeated in one battle and all the elite were annihilated. It was unbelievable.

"The Cixing vassal has no cavalry. Or rather, the cavalry is too weak." Ma Bao has always attached great importance to cavalry. He said: "Without the cavalry of Cixing, the land army can hardly travel far. Most of them are deployed under the city of Nanjing, not to the surrounding prefectures and counties to block the roads. The Tartars dispatched reinforcements, and they can travel all the way without hindrance and reach the city of Nanjing directly."

Jiao Lian, the commander of the Fourth Town, echoed, "The defeat of the Iron Man Army can also be attributed to the cavalry. The Iron Man Army wore iron armor, so they could resist the bows and arrows and firearms of the Manchu soldiers. They used firearms in battle, so they were able to defeat the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia. But the Iron Man Army was inconvenient to move, so they had to have cavalry to support them. The Jiangnan Green Camp has always been unknown, and they took advantage of the fact that the Ci surname had no cavalry. It was really unexpected that the Green Camp cavalry could defeat the Iron Man Army with flails and clubs."

Gu Yanwu was eager to recover Jiangnan, saying: "As soon as the surname was granted to Jiangnan, the scholars and people were excited, and the officials changed their clothes and surrendered. Once Zhenjiang was captured, Dantu, Gaochun, Lishui, and Jianping came to submit; once Nanjing was entered, Shangyuan, Jiangning, Liyang, and Danyang were defeated. Dingxi Hou (Zhang Mingzhen) and Zhang Sima (Zhang Huangyan) led a weak army upstream, and went west to Chizhou, south to Huizhou, east to Heyang, and north to Lujiang. More than 30 counties all changed their flags. The Qing Dynasty in Jiangnan was about to collapse, which showed the people's support."

Intelligence Bureau Director Feng Jiali said: "The troops of Dingxi Marquis and Zhang Shilang were weak and went deep into the upper reaches. They had no close contact with Cixing. It is said that Cixing retreated to Zhenjiang after the defeat and did not inform Dingxi Marquis. By the time Dingxi Marquis heard the news, the Tartars had already arrived.

"Marquis Dingxi fought unyieldingly and died of exhaustion. Minister Zhang gathered the remaining troops and wanted to join forces with Cixing to fight again. But Cixing was eager to evacuate and abandoned Zhenjiang and Guazhou. Our detective has contacted Minister Zhang and invited him to go up Jiangxi, enter Poyang Lake, and join our army."

"However," Feng Jiali said, "when the nest is overturned, no egg is left unbroken. I heard that the soldiers under Minister Zhang mutinied in Anqing, so he had no choice but to sink the ship and land on the north bank of the Yangtze River with the remaining troops, preparing to contact the nearby Yingshan and Huoshan righteous armies before making further plans."

The volunteer forces in Yingshan and Huoshan areas were not reliable. The leader of the largest volunteer force was Chu Liangfu, whose stance was wavering.

Cen Danchu only met Zhang Huangyan once, but he admired him very much. After the defeat of Zhang Mingzhen and Zhang Huangyan, the military system of Lu Jianguo was finished, and the southeast coast became the world of the feudal lords.

But Zhu Chenggong had just been defeated in Nanjing, and the elite troops of the army were almost completely wiped out. In the short term, the overall situation of the anti-Qing movement in the southeast might be depressed for a while. Next, it would depend on the battlefields in Jiangxi and Huguang.

Danchu looked northeast toward Nanjing and said, "Spread the news in Jianghu, saying that this vassal has issued an order that anyone who dares to murder Minister Zhang will be killed no matter how far away they are, and anyone who supports Minister Zhang to enter Jiangxi will be rewarded no matter how far away they are."

(End of this chapter)