Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 293 The Northern Expedition, the Northern Expedition!
November of the 18th year of the Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty, which was the 15th year of the Yongli reign of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

After the Battle of Chongqing in late October, the 400,000-strong Qing army that had entered Sichuan was completely wiped out, with very few survivors.

It can be said that there are very few.

Because Old Zhu had surrounded the entire camp and was bombarding it with artillery fire, not allowing a single person to escape.

But some lucky ones escape by jumping into the Jialing River or the Yangtze River.

No more than five hundred people survived.

Afterwards, Zhu Di swiftly marched to Tongchuan, intending to kill Wu Sangui.

However, Wu Sangui was still too cowardly. With the Qing army surrounding Chongqing, he sent out countless scouts every day to gather information.

At that time, his scouts were in the mountains north of the Jialing River, watching helplessly as Ao Bai's army was annihilated.

In that instant, Wu Sangui's scout was terrified and rushed back to Tongchuan to report the matter to him.

When Wu Sangui learned of this, he was also terrified. After weighing the pros and cons, he abandoned his infantry without hesitation and fled north to Shaanxi with only his cavalry.

He knew that it was unrealistic to try to take his 100,000-strong army with him, as they would inevitably be caught up by the Ming army.

Therefore, it is better to be ruthless and cut off one's own arm.

It must be said that although Wu Sangui's fighting skills were average, his ability to escape was truly first-rate.

By the time Zhu Di arrived, Wu Sangui himself had already fled and disappeared. His infantrymen, seeing their commander had run away, looted military supplies and scattered in all directions.

Zhu Di could only send men to hunt down Wu Sangui's scattered troops while searching for Wu Sangui himself.

Basically, it was a chase and a killing spree.

If someone is captured and asked where Wu Sangui went, they will be executed regardless of whether they know the answer or not.

The Green Standard Army was no good; their massacres and plundering were even worse than those of their Tartar masters. The people of the south suffered greatly, and they were partly responsible for the massacres in Sichuan.

Despite the relentless pursuit, Wu Sangui was faster than a rabbit, disappearing without a trace, much to Zhu Di's dismay.

Afterwards, Zhu ordered him to lead a team into Shaanxi to pursue Wu Sangui and conquer Shaanxi.

Meanwhile, Lao Zhu himself led his team into Hubei in November.

By this time, the Ming army's artillery fire had been almost exhausted, but the Qing army in the entire southwest, including Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hunan, and Hubei, had been wiped out.

This is also true in Guangdong and Guangxi.

Because Li Qifeng, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, received orders from Ao Bai to lead his troops to attack Guizhou, he happened to encounter Feng Sheng, Fu Youde, Lan Yu and others who came from Guizhou. It was like throwing meat buns to a dog – they went there and never returned, and died without a second chance.

As a result, the Qing army in Guangdong and Guangxi was wiped out, leaving only the troops of Shang Kexi, the Manchu Prince of Pingnan, who remained in Guangzhou. Now, they have also been wiped out by Feng Sheng and Lan Yu.

As a result, in November of the eighteenth year of the Shunzhi reign, almost all the Qing troops in the southwest were wiped out.

The Ming army advanced with unstoppable momentum, encountering almost no obstacles.

In the following month, Lao Zhu entered Hubei and then split his troops into two groups. One group went north to Xiangyang, entered the Nanyang Basin, and marched towards Henan.

He himself led his army eastward, taking the Yangtze River waterway to Wuhan, and then marched towards Huangzhou Prefecture.

The news spread throughout the north and south of the Yangtze River as the Ming army continued its conquests.

The world was shocked.

The Qing troops, especially those in Jiangxi and Fujian, were living in constant fear.

Because the Ming army recovered Guangdong and Guangxi and Huguang, which were very close to Jiangxi and Fujian, many Qing soldiers in the area began to scatter and flee for their lives.

Numerous rebel armies also emerged among the people, attacking county towns, killing Qing officials, and raising the banner of anti-Qing restoration.

Zhang Chaolin, the then Governor-General of Jiangxi, hurriedly mobilized Qing troops to suppress the rebellion. However, the morale of the Qing troops was low. Upon hearing that the Ming army was leaving no Manchu soldiers alive, they scattered in panic.

When Zhang Chaolin finally gathered his troops and arrived at the drill ground, he found that of the 20,000 troops originally stationed in Nanchang, Jiangxi, only less than 3,000 remained.

The rebel army then launched a fierce attack on Nanchang. However, many of the rebels were members of folk societies such as the Luo Sect, the Wenxiang Sect, the Zhai Sect, the White Lotus Sect, the Mahayana Sect, and the Maitreya Sect. Although they had a large force, they were short of heavy weapons.

On the other hand, although there were less than three thousand Qing soldiers left in Nanchang, they had cannons and the situation remained deadlocked for a time.

The main reason was that the Qing army generals in the city were afraid of being purged.

In the fifth and sixth years of the Shunzhi reign, the Manchu Tartars, under the command of General Tan Tai, launched an unprecedented massacre in Nanchang.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed.

The main force responsible for attacking and massacring cities was the lackeys of the Manchu Green Standard Army.

Such as Gao Jinku, Feng Junrui, Liu Bolu, Jia Xiong, Bai Yuanyi, He Mingbi, Xu Qiren, Yang Wulie, Cui Guoxiang, Li Shiyuan and others.

Among them, Gao Jinku, Liu Bolu, and He Mingbi were respectively appointed as the generals of Gaolei, Chaozhou, and Jiaying Prefecture in Guangdong. They were taken to Guizhou by Li Qifeng, the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, and are now dead.

Feng Junrui, Xu Qiren, and Yang Wulie, who had previously served as generals in Guangxi, were also taken to Guizhou by Li Qifeng and died there.

Those who remained in Jiangxi included Jia Xiong, Bai Yuanyi, Cui Guoxiang, and Li Shiyuan.

The uprising leaders in various places raised the slogan that they would skin them alive to console the victims of the Nanchang and Southern Jiangxi massacres.

In this situation, although these people wanted to run, they couldn't.

The rebels have already offered a reward and are hunting them down everywhere. They are too big a target. If they abandon the army and run away, they will be doomed if they are caught. Therefore, it is better to keep the personal guards, defend the city, and wait for reinforcements.

of course.

There are no reinforcements left.

Because at this time, Zheng Chenggong had already landed in Xiamen.

Once he landed, coupled with uprisings breaking out everywhere in Jiangnan, the Qing army in Jiangnan was unable to move, leaving the Qing army in Jiangxi to fight alone.

Zheng Chenggong was forced to attack Taiwan because there were simply too many Qing troops in the Jiangnan region at the time, making it impossible for him to fight them.

But with war raging across the Jiangnan region and the Qing army preoccupied with its own problems, it was the perfect opportunity for him to go ashore.

In Siming Prefecture, Fujian, the howling sea wind blows, and thousands of sailboats, like a dark cloud, sail toward this island suspended in the sea.

Xiamen is an island and also a port, and it is close to Kinmen Island.

The north wind in November made the flags on the ship flutter, their bright red color dazzling, as they slowly approached Xiamen Port on the island.

Haimen Port is located on the opposite shore of Xiamen.

Last year, Zheng Chenggong fought against Qing general Dasu here, annihilating Dasu's 40,000-strong navy, occupying Xiamen and Kinmen, and using these two places as a base to prepare to attack Taiwan.

But Taiwan had not yet been conquered at this time, so he hurriedly returned.

When the ship docked, Zheng Chenggong's son, Zheng Jing, came to greet him, along with Zhang Huangyan, a Grand Secretary of the Southern Ming Cabinet.

When Zhang Huangyan learned about Zhu Yuanzhang's affairs, he wanted to start a rebellion in Zhejiang. However, his forces were too weak to shake the Qing army in Zhejiang, so he sent someone to contact Zheng Chenggong.

Upon learning of this, Zheng Chenggong in Taiwan immediately wrote a letter inviting Zhang Huangyan to Xiamen, and told him that he would also return to Xiamen soon to meet with him.

Therefore, in addition to Zheng Chenggong's troops, Zhang Huangyan also led a force of about three or four thousand men to Xiamen Island by sea.

"Lord Xuanzhu!" "Prince Yanping."

"Father."

"Ah."

After disembarking, the group gathered together.

Perhaps due to his years of wandering at sea, Zheng Chenggong, now thirty-seven, looks somewhat weathered.

He wasn't wearing military armor, but rather a scholar's robe, and his skin was dark.

Zhang Huangyan was actually only four years older than him.

At this point, the Southern Ming Dynasty had truly reached a dead end.

The Lu Prince's faction, including pillars such as Xiong Rulin, Ma Sili, Zhang Kentang, Shen Chenquan, Qian Sule, and Zhang Guowei, all died for their country under repeated attacks from the Qing court.

Zhang Huangyan was just a junior, only twenty-four years old when the Ming Dynasty fell, but in recent years he had been traveling around Jiangsu and Zhejiang, trying to raise the banner of resistance against the Qing Dynasty in the south.

However, the Southern Ming Dynasty was plagued by internal strife and infighting. Not only was there in the imperial court, but various warlord factions also existed, which led to the Qing army defeating them one by one. The anti-Qing forces continued to decline, ultimately resulting in the situation we see today.

Zhang Huangyan, who had been in despair, now showed a look of joy and stepped forward to Zheng Chenggong, saying, "Your Highness, have you heard about what happened?"

"Ah."

Zheng Chenggong nodded and said, "I have heard that His Majesty the Great Ancestor descended to earth to save the world, and the Tartars have mobilized a large army to besiege the southwest."

"This is news from a long time ago."

Zhang Huangyan said with delight, "Your Highness probably doesn't know, but now the whole of Jiangnan knows that the Tartars sent more than 400,000 troops to besiege Chongqing, but they were all annihilated by Emperor Taizu! Emperor Taizu's army didn't even suffer a single casualty!"

After saying this, he cupped his hands in a gesture towards the northwest and said, "To be honest, when I first heard this news, I thought it was false. But it's being spread throughout Jiangnan. Moreover, the founding generals under the Taizu Emperor, such as the Duke of Ying, the Duke of Song, the Duke of Liang, the Marquis of Yan'an, and the Marquis of Ji'an, have already conquered Guangdong and Guangxi, Huguang, and other places, and are advancing into Jiangxi. The Jiangxi Tartars are scattering and fleeing. The news has long since spread throughout Jiangnan, so I have no choice but to believe it. Now, Liu Liangzuo, Li Shuotai, Geng Jimao, and others are living in constant fear, while Ma Degong, Huang Wu, Shi Lang, Yu Chenglong, and others are like stray dogs."

The people he was referring to included Liu Liangzuo, one of the masterminds behind the massacres of Yangzhou, Jiading, and Jiangyin, and who now serves as the highest military commander in Nanjing and Anhui, as the Governor-General of Jiang'an.

Li Shuotai was appointed Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, responsible for affairs in Zhejiang and Fujian.

Needless to say, Geng Jimao...

Therefore, these three are essentially the highest-ranking military and administrative officials of the Qing government in the Jiangnan region at present.

At this time, during the Shunzhi reign, the Manchus had not yet been widely used to establish the Eight Banners garrison system in various regions, and the military and political leaders in various regions were mainly Han Chinese. It was not until after the Revolt of the Three Feudatories that Kangxi began to use Manchus to rule the country on a large scale.

These so-called "Han" officials have been elevated to the status of Han Eight Banners, such as Liu Liangzuo of the Bordered Yellow Banner of the Han Army, Li Shuotai of the Plain Blue Banner of the Han Army, and Geng Jimao of the Plain Yellow Banner of the Han Army. Although they are called Han people, they are actually traitors and act as executioners for the Manchus. They have committed numerous crimes.

After Zhu Yuanzhang annihilated the 400,000-strong Manchu army led by Ao Bai in Chongqing, Li Qifeng led tens of thousands of people from Guangdong and Guangxi to Guizhou to their deaths. This was in addition to Shang Kexi, as well as Yuan Kuoyu, the governor of Pianyuan who had been killed earlier, and Bian Sanyuan, the governor of Guizhou.

Currently, the entire Qing dynasty has lost more than 500,000 troops. Apart from 200,000 troops remaining in the southeast, even the imperial court in Beijing only has tens of thousands left.

The Qing government was thrown into turmoil, and uprisings broke out in various parts of Jiangnan. Even Zheng Chenggong rushed back to Xiamen after hearing about the situation.

Zheng Chenggong was previously fighting at Chikan City, a distance of over 800 kilometers, making communication extremely difficult. He only knew about Zhu Yuanzhang's massive distribution of leaflets in August, and only now did he learn that Zhu Yuanzhang had actually wiped out 400,000 Qing troops.

Upon hearing this, Zheng Chenggong stood frozen in place for a long time, until Zheng Jing called out a few times, "Father, Father?"

"Huh? Oh."

Zheng Chenggong snapped out of his daze and asked, "Is this true?"

"He's really my father."

Zheng Jing also said, "These days, many Tartars have fled, and some have even surrendered to us. In many places in Jiangnan, uprisings have also broken out. The Tartars' power is gone."

"Good, good, good."

Zheng Chenggong exclaimed "Good!" three times, then looked northwest and couldn't help but say, "If it's true, then it really is as if the founding emperor has descended to earth, and the Ming Dynasty is saved."

"Father, should we bring Prince Lu back?"

Zheng Jing asked cautiously.

Zheng Chenggong thought for a moment and then said, "Please ask Prince Lu to move to Xiamen first, and we will immediately send someone to Sichuan to contact the founding emperor."

"No need to go to Sichuan."

Zhang Huangyan said, "The Duke of Song and the Duke of Liang have conquered Guangzhou and executed Shang Kexi by slow slicing. They are now bordering Fujian. We can send ships to Guangzhou to find them."

"Yes, I heard that Emperor Taizu has also arrived in Hubei and will probably reach Nanjing soon. Now is the perfect time for us to launch a northern expedition."

Zheng Jing also said the same thing.

Although his son later surrendered in history.

At least Zheng Jing himself has always adhered to his father's last wish and resisted the Qing until his death, so naturally he is now preoccupied with the matter of the Northern Expedition.

Zhang Huangyan also advised, "That's right. The Tartars at Haimen have all fled, leaving the area vulnerable. We sent people to scout ahead, and my troops are now stationed there. Once we reach Haimen and enter the land, we can head west to Zhangzhou and then to Guangdong to find the Duke of Song and the Duke of Liang. If we can obtain an imperial edict from the Taizu Emperor, even if it's just to follow the Duke of Song and the Duke of Liang in their campaign against the Tartars, it will be a great honor."

Did they follow the founding generals to fight against the Manchu Tartars?
"Yes, the Northern Expedition!"

Zheng Chenggong lifted his scholar's robe, and for a moment he appeared spirited and high-spirited. He said to his generals Ma Xin, Yang Chaodong and other generals around him, "Quickly, pass on the order: advance the troops to Haimen!"

"Yes!"

The soldiers had already heard about the situation and were all very excited, so they boarded the ship without stopping.

soon.

The army then crossed the Xiamen Strait and entered Haimen Port.

Just as Zhang Huangyan said, the Qing army here had already fled, and even the Qing army's camp had been occupied by Zhang Huangyan's troops, without any obstacles at all.

Upon seeing this, Zheng Chenggong stood at the bow of the ship, looking down at Haimen Port, and for a moment he was somewhat incredulous.

Although he won a great victory in the Battle of Haimen, he only defeated the Qing navy. The Qing army on the shore was still countless, preventing him from landing.

Ultimately, he had no choice but to flee to Taiwan, where he planned to use it as a base for a northern expedition.

However, the Qing army camps that covered the mountains and fields as far as the eye could see last year are now deserted and have long since disappeared.

For a moment, Zheng Chenggong felt like it was all unreal.

The founding emperor really came.

Moreover, in one battle, they annihilated hundreds of thousands of Qing troops and Tartars, causing the Tartars to be wiped out and flee in droves.

Countless Zheng soldiers disembarked from the ships, and everyone excitedly went ashore. They were from Fujian and had thought they would never set foot on their homeland again, but now, none of them expected that they would return one day.

Looking at the bow of the ship, Zheng Chenggong was already in tears. He waved his hand and shouted, "Soldiers, Northern Expedition! Northern Expedition!"

"Northern Expedition! Northern Expedition! Northern Expedition!"

Upon hearing the sound, the soldiers on the shore below shouted.

The sound quickly spread, one after another, until soon tens of thousands of people on the shore were shouting in unison, a roar that lasted for a long time.

They have been waiting for this moment for far too long!

(End of this chapter)