Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1156
Xuanhua is very close to Beijing, and the reinforcements from the Qing army should have arrived in Xuanhua long ago. In fact, Dorgon was indeed preparing to rescue Xuanhua, but the soldiers and horses in Beijing were not ready yet. Zhending in the south of Beijing was captured by Jiang Xiang After the capture, Baoding Mansion was also in a hurry.

Dorgon weighed three and had to let Lou Qin lead Beijing's 1 bannermen to the south to defend against the enemy, while the remaining troops in Beijing were only [-] bannermen and more than [-] green camps. Don't dare to move.

After Jiang Xiang raised his troops, he attacked the Manchus in roughly three directions.

In the north, led by Jiang Youguang, coerced the rebels to set out from Datong, attacked Xuanfu, and threatened Beijing from the north.

Under the leadership of Gao Ding, the general of the South Route Department, he went all the way from Taiyuan to Jinnan to integrate the rebel army in the south of Shanxi, threatened Henan, and gained contact with the Ming Dynasty.

The main force of the Central Route Army was Jiang Xiang, who set off from Taiyuan. The army went out of the well to attack Zhending, and then encircled Baoding with the partial division Liu Qian, and then joined the North Route Army to attack Beijing from north to south.

Facing Jiang Xiang's three-way army, Dorgon also responded, and 6 horses were transferred back from Henan to deal with Gaoding who was entrenched in southern Shanxi.This road and the Ming army formed a two-sided attack on Luoyang Kaifeng, which must be broken, otherwise the more than [-] Qing troops will fall into the situation of being attacked from both sides.

For Jiang Xiang's Central Route Army, Lou Qin led 2 people to respond, trying to force Jiang Xiang back to Shanxi, so as to prevent Hebei from being affected and follow the rebellion.

For the North Route Army, Dorgon can only wait for the Mongolian soldiers to go south, and Nikan from North Korea returns to help.

Judging from Dorgon's arrangement, the Manchu Qing has almost used all its strength, but because Wang Yan restrained more than [-] troops, the Manchu Qing army used to counter the rebellion did not occupy an absolute position against Jiang Xiang. Advantage.

In Xuanhua City, Hao Xiaozhong shook his head when he heard Fan Yongdou's words, "Master Fan, the young and strong have not undergone sufficient training and can only play a supporting role. Besides, they may not be of one mind with us if they are recruited by force. When there is a rebellion, they will not Beauty! Compared with defending the city, I am more worried that there will be internal responses from the rebels in the city."

In order to reduce the financial pressure, Dorgon allowed rich folks to spend money to buy officials. Fan Yongdou spent 20 taels to make up a Taoist platform.

People's hearts are unpredictable, Xuanhua has been besieged for a month, no one can guarantee whether someone will secretly contact the rebels.

"Junmen, the guys of the firm can still be trusted. As for the internal response in the city, I will let people strictly investigate!"

Fan Yongdou got the news that his hometown of Jiexiu had been raided by Jiang Xiang, and his whole family of more than 100 people was killed by the rebels. The dead included his old father, several of his brothers, his wife and several pairs of children. However, the rebels also took away more than [-] million taels of silver hidden in the cellar at home.

Just as unlucky as him was the Wang family of Lingshi. He also had a son who was doing business in the Kingdom of Jin, but Wang Dengku's sons were all killed.

Fan Yongdou knew that once the city was broken, he would inevitably die, so he tried his best to help Hao Xiaozhong defend the city, and he was more active than anyone else.

Geng Tang escaped from Datong and killed Ning Wanwo, but he became a hero praised by Dorgon.

In order to reward him for escaping from Datong and reporting to Daqing, Dorgon added him as governor of Xuanda to preside over Xuanda's counter-insurgency.

Unlike Hao Zhongzhong's melancholy and Fan Yongdou's anxiety, the newly appointed governor of Xuanda, Mr. Geng, has no idea what to do. He looks at the rebels outside the city, only with growing fear.

"If this drags on, the city will be destroyed sooner or later! Panic has already appeared in the city, so hurry up and think of a way to keep Xuanhua City!" Seeing Hao Xiaozhong's lack of confidence, Geng Tang panicked, and suddenly he asked again: "Is there still no news from the Prince Regent?"

Fan Yongdou was trapped in Xuanhua City, and if there was no reinforcements, he would die with Xuanhua, so he was also very anxious inside and stopped talking, "Three letters asking for help have been sent, the imperial court originally wanted to save us first, However, Baoding is in a hurry, and the reinforcements will go south to break the siege of Baoding first. The regent wrote back to let us not worry, the imperial court has dispatched Mongolian and Korean troops to help, but I estimate that there will be no reinforcements coming from Xuanhua for a while."

Geng Tang was shocked when he heard this, "It's been a month, and I haven't seen half a person! Could it be that the regent has abandoned us and just wants us to drag the rebels?"

"Lord Geng, don't mess yourself up!" Hao Xiaozhong was already very worried about the current situation, but hearing what he said, he felt even more irritable.

Dole Gun didn't understand how Geng Tang escaped from Datong, but Hao Xiaozhong understood a little bit. This guy killed Ning Wanwo and made the situation in Shanxi corrupt. When he arrived in Xuanhua, he did nothing except report the letter.In this way, he was promoted to the governor of Xuanda by the regent, which is really blind.

Hao Xiaozhong glanced at Geng Tang and Fan Yongdou, sighed and said: "The Regent's reply is very clear, the imperial court has dispatched Mongolian soldiers to the south, and King Jingjin will also come from North Korea. It is just the news that it will take time to mobilize troops. .Xuanhua is so close to the capital, how could the court give up on Xuanhua?"

Hao Xiaozhong was agitated for a while, originally he was lacking in confidence, Fan Yongdou comforted him, which made him more courageous, but now he was disturbed by Geng Tang, the atmosphere was gone, and he was asked to come over to encourage people.

"What the army said is true! The imperial court will never give up on us!" Fan Yongdou said immediately with a punch.

Geng stew pursed his lips, he didn't know what was on his mind, so he didn't speak.

Jiang Youguang's camp, in a wilderness five miles west of Xuanhua, is a walled military camp, mainly to defend against cavalry raids.

Datong Town has a lot of cavalry because of its proximity to Mongolia, but in terms of numbers, it is still far behind the Qing army.

In the north, the cavalry of the Qing army came and went like the wind, and they might suddenly kill them at any time. Therefore, in order to guard against the impact of the cavalry, the fortress walls of the camp built by Jiang Youguang were all built like city walls.

Jiang Youguang had nearly 3 troops, [-] troops were stationed in the large camp to the west, and two small camps were stationed in the north and south, each with [-] troops.

Since the Jiang family was in Datong anyway, many military forts in Xuanda have rushed to respond. He used to have 2 troops, but now he has reached [-].

The Qing army has searched the place extremely hard these years, and these fortresses in Xuanda are no exception. These military households in the Ming Dynasty were not rich in the first place, and now they are all poor. They respond to the Jiang family, and most of them want to come to Xuanhua to rob One pass, let's have a prosperous New Year.

Jiang Youguang knew their purpose. These people were not a regular army, and his control was limited. They were all attracted by the wealth of Shanxi merchants in Xuanhua City, so they kept gathering here.

These people are okay if they fight with the wind, but if they encounter setbacks for a while, they will definitely disperse immediately.

When he set off from Datong, he was in full swing, sweeping through a prefecture and two prefectures in a very short period of time, but he just failed to capture Xuanhua City in front of him.

If the city is impoverished for a long time, the morale of the army will definitely be frustrated, especially for the rebels who came to help the battle. If it takes a few more days, they may run out of food and leave the camp.

In addition, when the reinforcements from the Qing army would arrive, it was like a sharp sword hanging over Jiang Youguang's head, making him have to find a way to break through the city as soon as possible.

In fact, regarding Xuanhua's defenders, Jiang Youguang didn't think they were elite. There were only four thousand green battalions in the city, and there were more than two thousand men from the eight imperial merchants, and more than ten thousand civilian husbands to help defend the city.

The reason why he failed to take down Xuanhua in several attacks was because Xuanhua was a majestic city like Datong. It was an important part of the nine-border system of the Ming Dynasty. It is difficult to attack with boarding ladders, and more equipment must be used.

Half a month ago, Jiang Youguang had stopped attacking the city, and started building siege equipment while filling trenches.

Now that some equipment has been built, and a section of the moat has been filled, it is time to attack the city again.

Jiang Youguang was looking forward to this very much, but the military report from the north ruined his good mood.

In order to conquer the Ming Dynasty in the south, Dorgon mobilized all the Eight Banners of Mongolia to go south. It can be said that there are not many people in the Mongolian tribes.However, the Mongols have been riding and shooting since childhood, and every man is a natural warrior. Under Dorgon's order, the Mongolian tribes still gathered a 2-strong force to go south.

In the big tent, Jiang Youguang paced back and forth with his arms and hands behind his back, and glanced at the sand table in the middle from time to time. Along the Great Wall in the north, many small flags appeared, which threatened his safety.

The Mongolian soldiers appeared on the Great Wall at this time, which made Jiang Youguang very uneasy and annoyed. The uneasiness was because he was worried that the Mongols would break through the Great Wall, which would make it difficult for him to resist. The annoyance was that the other side was ready to attack Xuanhua, but now it was going to waste all previous efforts!

For a while, Jiang Youguang had a hard time making a choice. He was walking around anxiously when a soldier's report came from outside the tent, "General, we have urgent information!"

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(End of this chapter)