scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 308

After repeatedly confirming the movement of Fatty Lu's army, Kang Mazi, on October 13, [-], General Laita of Qing Pingnan also personally led [-] Zhejiang Qing troops, including some new conscripts, to command Yata as the deputy capital. Li is the vanguard, going north along the canal to rescue Songjiang Mansion with only [-] defenders and Jiaxing Mansion with [-] defenders, and prepares to fight the main force of the fat man army in Songjiang, where cotton and grain are abundant, to resolve the crisis on the northern front.

In view of the fact that the Qing army in Zhejiang made decisions before moving and striking later, the Laita army marched extremely fast, marching more than [-] miles a day, and it took only one day to reach Shimen County, the border between Hangzhou and Jiaxing.At the same time, the fat man's brigade, which marched no more than three to forty miles a day, had just arrived at Gaoqiao Town in Wuxi County like a turtle crawling, and it was still hundreds of miles away from its destination, Suzhou City.

Marching in the base area under the strong control of the self-army is still crawling like a tortoise. Naturally, Fatty Lu's laziness and conservatism was unanimously complained by all the generals of the Fatty Army. Fatty speeded up and rushed to Suzhou City to join forces with Li Tianzhi as soon as possible, killing all the dogs by surprise - anyway, the granary of the main force of Fatty's army was in Suzhou, and there were canals for the transportation of firearms and ammunition.

And Han Yuanren, who is the forward, also sent people back several times to protest, hoping that Fatty Lu would take back the rule that he was only allowed to march [-] miles a day, and let him rush to Suzhou to join forces with Li Tianzhi immediately. Here is the opportunity to join hands with Li Tianzhi to take down the cornucopia of Songjiang Mansion in the world of clothing and quilts!But Fatty Lu replied eloquently: "What's the rush? Last time we ran thousands of miles to Nanjing, the soldiers were already very tired. Let them rest more. Otherwise, when they reach their destination, they won't have the energy to fight. what to do?"

"Haven't he recovered from the exhaustion from running thousands of miles to Nanjing City half a year ago? Are we so useless?" The fat generals all felt faint, but seeing Fatty Lu's smiling fat face, the fat generals I also knew that persuasion must be in vain, so I had no choice but to go with Fatty Lu helplessly, thinking that I would waste a day of military rations anyway.

On the morning of October [-]th, Fatty Lu's army arrived at the foot of Wuxi city. The county magistrate Wang Guo was leading all the civil and military officials out of the city to welcome him. This general will not enter the city anymore, your county is well governed, and this year’s public grain handover ranks among the top among the counties in the south of the Yangtze River, this general should report to the prince of Ming to ask for credit and rewards for your county.”

"The general has won the award. In fact, it is all due to the general." Wang Guozheng nodded and bowed and said, "Thanks to the general who organized the refugees from the Yellow River to refine nitrate in small counties. Fertilizers for the rice fields, this year the small counties can only get a bumper harvest, and they haven’t been apportioned indiscriminately like the Mangou court, and the people in this county are very grateful to the general, and many people have erected longevity tablets for the general.”

"Is there someone else who will set up a longevity tablet for me?" Fatty Lu laughed, and was about to ask for details, but a rider came galloping from a distance, and the knight put a small red flag on his back, which represented the urgency of ten thousand, Fatty Lu quickly swallowed his words , Pushing away Wang Guozheng took the initiative to greet the messenger, and asked before the messenger dismounted: "Is it the military situation of Zhejiang Mangou?"

"Back to the general, yes." The messenger replied panting while rolling off the saddle, "Our army has made the latest scout report, Mangou Pingnan General Laita led an army of [-] troops, and he set off from Hangzhou the day before yesterday. , the speed is very fast, as of yesterday morning, it has arrived in Shimen County, Jiaxing Prefecture!"

"Then what is their purpose? Where is it?" Fatty Lu asked.

"Songjiang!" The fat man's army messenger replied panting: "The banner of the main force of Mangou is to rescue Songjiang and flatten Suzhou!"

"Okay!" Fatty Lu clenched his fist fiercely, waved his hand and said to the messenger, "Thanks for your hard work, go down to rest and receive your reward." Before the messenger could agree, Fatty Lu immediately turned around and shouted at the Wu army generals behind him: " Gao Hongchen listens to the order!"

"The last general is here!" Gao Hongchen quickly stepped out and clasped his fists in agreement.

"I order you to lead two thousand cavalry as the vanguard, and immediately divert to the southwest, and go to Yixing to join forces with Guo Yingfu, the guard there! Prepare to go south and attack Huzhou City!" Fatty Lu shouted loudly: "Remember, you are only allowed to arrive in Yixing before the third watch tonight! Promise ahead of time, no delay!"

"The last general will obey..." Gao Hongchen was dumbfounded halfway through the promise, and exclaimed: "General, aren't we going to fight Songjiang and Jiaxing? Why did you temporarily change your plan to fight Huzhou?"

"Who said I changed my plan temporarily?" Fatty Lu glared at Gao Hongchen, and said with a sneer, "Am I stupid? If I really plan to fight Songjiang or Jiaxing, I will let the rumors out in advance and disclose the news to unreliable people." An ally? Let Mangou prepare in advance, let us spend time and effort to attack city by city?"

"Will the attack on Huzhou affect our army's tactical goals?" Wang Xu asked worriedly.

"Of course not!" Fatty Lu grinned, "Not only will it not, but the effect will be better. Huzhou is a large granary in Zhejiang and is not connected to the canal. It is inconvenient to transport. This autumn grain must not have time to be transported. We can capture Huzhou. Not only can we get a lot of money One stroke, when Man Gou hurried back to the teacher to rescue him, we can wait for work and still have a strong city to defend, and if Man Gou is severely injured in a field battle, wouldn't that be easy?"

"It turns out that you, General, have been holding on to this for a long time! No wonder you walked so slowly on this road. It turns out that you are waiting for the main force to move eastward!" Wang Xu, Gao Hongchen and others suddenly realized, and Gao Hongchen suddenly remembered something, He hurriedly said again: "No wonder when General Li Tianzhi sent the garrison map of the southern line to the general before, we reminded the general that you said that the troops on the side of Yixing were too weak and should be strengthened. Not only did you not listen, but you also said that it was you Deliberate arrangement, it turns out that you are afraid of scaring the snake."

"Just understand!" Fatty Lu urged with a wave of his hand, "Stop rambling, go and execute the order, and when Huzhou is captured, everyone will be rewarded!"

"Decree!" Gao Hongchen clasped his fists loudly in agreement, and ran down to carry out the order.Fatty Lu ordered again: "Everyone obeys the order, the heavy artillery is unloaded immediately, the whole army stops going south, turns around southwest, and marches to Yixing to rest! Then send someone to contact Han Yuanren, let him also turn around and march to Yixing in a hurry Join us!"

Fatty army generals clasped their fists together and agreed, Wang Guozheng was waiting for a group of Wuxi officials, and they were all stunned for a long time. It was the first time since they were born that they heard such shameless military tactics. The prefectural and county towns of the city were ready to welcome them, and turned around halfway to fight Yixing.But Fatty Lu didn't notice it at all, he just laughed triumphantly and said, "Little Laita, this time, I will definitely give you a big surprise!"

………………

"Little Lu Yifeng, this time, I will definitely give you a big surprise!"

Fatty Lu's unlucky opponent this time, Qingping Nan General Laita, who also laughed triumphantly, arrived at Shimen on the morning of October [-]th, and Laita ordered the whole army to march to Wuzhen to rest, and then to Wuzhen to rest until the sky was over. When it was dark, Laita ordered the whole army to light up torches and march overnight, and took advantage of the night cover to take the official road to Huzhou. The time when Fatty Lu knew about the army's movements.By the morning of October [-]th, when Fatty Lu received the first move of the Zhejiang Qing army, the army of Laita had already arrived at Yuanjiahui near the capital city of Huzhou to rest.

"Great General, your soldiers are very fast." Yao Qisheng, the new army staff officer, approached him, saluted and suggested: "My servant believes that our army should go to Jiapu Town, Changxing County to rest for the night within today, and cross Tianmu Mountain at dawn tomorrow. Pulse, launch an attack on Yixing, and kill Wu Gou by surprise!"

"It makes sense." Laita nodded, stood up with the support of Yao Qisheng and shouted: "The order is passed on, the whole army will stop resting and move on. We must arrive at Jiapu Town within today! Rest there for the night!" Qing All the army generals agreed together, and each of them rushed back to the team to deliver the order, and the [-] Qing army got up again, and continued to gallop along the official road.

At this time, the secret agents of the Qing army sent by the Qing army to monitor the movement of Fatty's main force had already arrived in front of Laita. When they heard that Fatty's army continued to go south along the canal, the generals of the Qing army such as Laita, Yao Qisheng, and Yatari burst into laughter. Laughing, everyone said that Lu Yifeng's undefeated reputation as a dog thief will finally be reimbursed this time. When we take down Yixing and approach the hinterland of Fatty's army base, Fatty Lu will be dumbfounded.

What made Laita even more excited was still behind. Li Zhifang, who stayed behind in Hangzhou, sent a fast horse to catch up with his army, and sent Laita the original letter from Fatty Lu to Zeng Yangxing, the commander of the Northern Expedition Army of the Geng Army. When he saw Fatty Lu In addition to laughing at the ugly calligraphy of Fatty Lu, a failed scholar, Laita proudly laughed at the ugly calligraphy of Lu Fatty introduced in the letter. He was even more relieved at Yao Qisheng's ingenious plan, and repeatedly urged the army to rush northward to the scheduled destination. Destination rest overnight.

The second watch was approaching that evening, and the exhausted main force of the Qing army finally arrived at Jiapu Town, which is located on the shore of Taihu Lake and at the foot of the Tianmu Mountains. They urgently blocked all intersections to prevent news from leaking, and the soldiers of the Qing army who had been marching for a day and night fell down one after another. I just fell asleep, and I didn't even bother to set up the marching tent, so I fell asleep.It's just that the main force of the Qing army never dreamed that at almost the same time, an exhausted fat army cavalry arrived in Yixing County, thirty miles to the north, and joined forces with Guo Yingfu, the fat army guard stationed in the city. Also immediately blocked the intersections of all roads and roads in the Tianmu Mountains, allowing entry and no exit, strictly preventing news from leaking...

Here is a brief introduction to the situation in the area bordering Huzhou, Zhejiang and Yixing, Jiangsu. Originally, in the densely populated Jiangnan Fuhua Township, it was difficult to find an ideal road for a surprise attack. This place is the only exception, because the remaining veins of the Tianmu Mountains are directly adjacent to it. Because of Taihu Lake, there is hardly much land suitable for farming in this area with many mountains and forests. It is almost the only place in the Jiangnan water town with a large area and few people.In addition, the largest Changguang coal mine in Zhejiang has not been discovered in this era, so although there are official roads suitable for marching in this area, there is not a single village on the thirty-mile road from Yixing County to Jiapu Town. And market towns, the concealment of marching and raids can be guaranteed to the greatest extent!
It was also because of this that the two big villains, Fatty Lu and Yao Qisheng, chose this path as the surprise attack route. As a result, the good show was about to begin.

Closer to home, in the early morning of the next day, the Fat Man Army, which had been marching for half a day and night, finally arrived at the small town of Yixing. Just as they stopped outside the city to rest, Gao Hongchen, Guo Yingfu, and Shi Zongyao, the magistrate of Yixing County, had already come up to pay their respects. Gao Hongchen and Guo Yingfu held their heads high. The report said that he was ready for the expedition, but the county magistrate Shi Zongyao said tremblingly: "General, I really don't know that the general will send troops from Yixing to the south, and I didn't make preparations in advance. The people in Yixing city are poor, and there is food in the city I'm afraid it's only enough for the general's army for half a month, and his position is humble and incompetent, so General Wanwang understands Haihan."

"Half a month is enough." Fatty Lu waved his hand indifferently, and said with a smile: "In three days, this general will be able to take Huzhou City, Zhejiang Granary. Yes, the general will send you food, you just organize civilians to prepare to receive it. Besides, the lack of food in Yixing is because I didn’t stock up here beforehand, so what’s your business?”

"Thank you, General, for your understanding." Shi Zongyao, who was worried that he would not be able to provide food and be taken care of by Fatty Lu, was overjoyed, and quickly nodded and said: "The general and the generals of the Zhou Dynasty are exhausted from the distance, and the humble staff organized the people to serve as the general and the generals last night." Breakfast is prepared, the rice and dishes are hot, and the general and soldiers can eat immediately."

"Be careful enough and work hard, maybe you will be the magistrate of Huzhou this time." Fatty Lu laughed with satisfaction, and then ordered: "Then quickly bring out all the food and let the brothers eat, we are all starving. "Shi Zongyao agreed repeatedly, and hurried down to organize the people's officials to carry the food and distribute it.

"Guo Yingfu, you are familiar with this area." Fatty Lu turned to Gao Hongchen and Guo Yingfu and ordered, "Take your [-] troops to lead the way immediately, and General Gao Hongchen's cavalry as the vanguard, cross Tianmu Mountain to attack Changxing County, I will rest here for two hours, and after two hours I will send troops to meet you."

"Decree!" Gao Hongchen and Guo Yingfu sang promises and agreed, took the order and quickly organized a team to go south to open the way for the whole army. Fatty Lu led the main force of the fat army to eat and rest outside Yixing City. He only waited for his physical strength to recover a little. Go south to attack Changxing City, the northwest gate of Huzhou.

………………

Fatty Lu's movements were obviously a bit slower. Just as the sky was just getting dark, in Jiapu Town (now Hudong Town, Huzhou City), the exhausted soldiers of the Qing army were already arrested under Yao Qisheng's suggestion and Laita's order. The officer woke him up by yelling and yelling, and after hastily eating some dry food, the unlucky [-] Qing troops headed north again under the strict order of Laita, galloping at full speed along the official road, and rushed towards the small town of Yixing thirty miles away.In view of the fact that no abnormal movement of the Fatty Army was found last night, the generals of the Qing Army, such as Laita and Yao Qisheng, had already negotiated on their horses that they should attack those cities next after the Yixing soldiers were taken down and approached the hinterland of the Fatty Army.

"Split an army to attack Liyang first, and then attack Jintan and Danyang? Will Lu Yifeng's thief's nest be completely disrupted?" After listening to Yao Qisheng's suggestion, Laita quickly agreed to Yao Qisheng's plan after repeated consideration, and made a final decision. : "Then let's do this. After Yixing is captured, our army will immediately divide a force to fight Liyang, and then go up the Kunlun River to fight Jintan and Danyang, so that Lu Yifeng's dog thief can't care about him, and his hinterland will be completely wiped out." Spoil it, and create an opportunity for us to counterattack in an all-round way!"

"We can also look for opportunities to cut off the supply line of Lu Yifeng's dog thief." Yao Qisheng said with a smile: "The only thing Lu Yifeng relies on is his sharp firearms, which are hard to resist, but if our army can find a chance like Zhou Peigong, the famous general of the Qing Dynasty, The fire burns away the firearm supplies of Lu Yifeng's dog thief, and Lu Yifeng's dog thief is a grasshopper after autumn, and it won't be able to jump for a few days."

"That's right, as long as Wu Gou has no firearms, we will be invincible in the world with our Eight Banners' bow horse riding and shooting!" Laita nodded again and again, and was about to brag again when there was a loud shouting sound in the distance. Laita and Yao Qisheng were shocked together, and when they raised their heads to look at the place where the sound came from, they were even more surprised to find that the noisy sound of shouting and killing came from the north of the official road. Judging from the sound, it must be The forward Yatari's cavalry engaged with the enemy.

"Hurry up, send someone to find out what's going on!" Laita shouted an order, "The whole army will speed up and go to meet General Yatari! It will be troublesome if you are caught in an ambush by Wu Gou!"

The order was conveyed, and the bewildered main force of the Qing army speeded up again, fearing that Yatari would rush to meet him in ambush. After a while, the forward general Yatari finally sent a soldier to report the situation to Lai The pagoda saluted and said: "General, the forward of our army has encountered Wu Dog's team going south, and has fought against Wu Dog's team in the Mashanling area!"

"How many soldiers and horses does Wu Gou have? Is it the vanguard who ambushed us?" Laita asked anxiously.

"Back to the general, Wugou has about [-] troops, most of them are cavalry." The soldier quickly replied: "It's not an ambush, but an encounter! And General Yatari can be sure that Wugou's team certainly didn't think of it beforehand." There will be such a battle, because when Wu Gou found our army, the cavalry were walking with horses to save horsepower."

"Wu Gou didn't expect to meet us here?" Laita was amazed, "Then why did they march south?"

"Father commander, is it possible that Wu Dog is also planning to attack Changxing?" Fei Yelen, the eldest son of Laita next to him, interrupted and said, "Wu Dog's main force has arrived in Suzhou, and a surprise army from Yixing will be sent to Huzhou. It is the same as our surprise attack on Yixing. To the miraculous effect of disrupting our army's defense."

"Is there any backup for this Wugou army?" Yao Qisheng asked quickly.

"No." The soldiers sent back by Yatari replied: "Mashanling happened to be quite high. After encountering Wu Gou, General Yatari was afraid that Wu Gou would have backup in ambush, so he quickly sent people up the mountain to observe, but Wu Gou was not found. Ambushes and backup for dogs."

"Strange?" Yao Qisheng frowned, wondering: "Wu Gou's main force has already gone to Suzhou, how could there be a lone army with no backup here, mostly cavalry? Could it be that Lu Yifeng's dog thief also intends to let this strange army A sneak attack on Huzhou, disrupting the northern defense of our Qing army?"

"It must be so! It's just that Wu Gou never dreamed that our main force didn't go to rescue Songjiang and Jiaxing, but came here!" Fei Yelen waved his hand and made a decisive judgment.At the end, Fei Yelen hastily suggested: "Father, this is a god-sent opportunity. This area is high in mountains and dense in forests, which is not conducive to cavalry operations. Wu Gou's war horses are all purchased from sea, and the quantity is extremely limited. Eating Wu Gou's cavalry team will greatly weaken Wu Gou's mobility!"

"It makes sense!" Laita thought about it carefully, and now Laita waved his hand and shouted: "The whole army speeds up and kills the team of Wu dogs in front!"

"Advance faster! Advance faster!" Amidst the continuous roars, tens of thousands of Qing troops accelerated their pace of advancement again, and at the same time sent countless scouts to explore the way, looking for the northward path to share the pressure of marching on the official road.And when the Chinese army led by Laita arrived at Mashanling, the battlefield of the encounter battle, the disoriented Wu army's Gao Hongchen and Guo Yingfu's troops had already begun to retreat in an all-round way-as Fei Yelen said, the high mountains and dense forests in this area are not conducive to Wu army's cavalry combat The experienced Gao Hongchen would not be so stupid as to use his own weaknesses to attack the enemy's strengths here.But the Qing Army Brigade pursued closely without mentioning it.

At this time, the news of the sudden encounter between the forward of the Fatty Army and the Qing Army had already been delivered to Fatty Lu by a fast horse. Hearing the news, Fatty Lu was also shocked at first, and he never expected that this place would fall from the sky A Qing army team - the Tianmu Mountains area is high in mountains and forests, which is not conducive to the deployment of the main force of the Wu army. The Qing army can block the main force of the fat army for a long time with only a few thousand troops.

Shocked and shocked, Fatty Lu did not dare to neglect the serious business, so he had to order Gao Hongchen to retreat from the mountain area that was not conducive to the Wu army cavalry's operations, and at the same time ordered the main force of the fat man's army to prepare for the battle, ready to meet the chasing army of the Qing army, or put on infantry to enter the mountains Lots of combat.And when the main soldiers of the Fatty Army who were resting hurriedly got up and just prepared to fight on the south bank of the Jingxi River, Gao Hongchen had already led the cavalry of the Wu Army out of the mountain area first, and returned to the south bank of the Jingxi River to report the enemy's situation to Fatty Lu.

"How many dogs are there? Where is the team from?" Fatty Lu asked before Gao Hongchen could speak.

"I don't know." Gao Hongchen, who was obviously still in a daze, replied with a sad face: "The terrain in that area is too narrow, so I can't confirm how many teams are full of dogs. I only know a lot. By the way, the combat effectiveness is also good. The team of the last general was caught off guard I also suffered a small loss, losing nearly a hundred brothers. Fortunately, Brother Guo’s team is all infantry, and the last general’s cavalry is the rear, otherwise I’m afraid the loss will be even greater.”

"Where did the team full of dogs come from? Did it fall from the sky?" Fatty Lu also asked a similar question.

"The last general doesn't know either." Gao Hongchen replied helplessly, "Fortunately, as soon as you pass the Macheng Ridge, the terrain will open up. You should be able to figure out how many troops Mangou has and where the team came from. "

While speaking, Guo Yingfu, the fat man's army at the back of the palace, had withdrawn from the Machengling mountain area, and two more fat man troops went up to meet them, and stopped the pursuers for Guo Yingfu.At the same time, the pursuers of the Qing army found a dark fat army brigade appearing on the south bank of the Jingxi River, and they were frightened out of their wits. A good opportunity for the army's forward team, just patiently observe and judge.

While waiting patiently, more and more troops of the Qing army came out of the mountainous area from the official road and the mountain road, and formed a large formation on the flat ground with the mountainous back. Lime Mountain, when the Commander's Flag was planted on the top of Lime Mountain, Fatty Lu finally figured out who the enemy was.Correspondingly, Laita held up the binoculars to look at Fatty's army flag array, and when he saw Fatty Lu's flag with the word Lu, he immediately understood which plague god his army had encountered.Then…………

"Shameless full of dogs! It's really not a good thing!" Fatty Lu yelled, "The main force said to save Songjiang Jiaxing, but in fact, they came here to sneak attack on my Yixing City, trying to smash my hinterland! Dreaming!"

"Despicable Wu dog! It's really not a good thing!" Laita's face was also livid. "The main force said to fight Songjiang Jiaxing, but in fact, they came here to sneak attack on Lao Tzu's Huzhou mansion, and wanted to take Lao Tzu's Huzhou granary! Dreaming!"

"Fortunately, I am wise and powerful, and I was not fooled by Man Gou (Wu Gou)!" Fatty Lu and Laita cursed again in unison.

(End of this chapter)