scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 326
It's hard to say two things with one mouth, and the chaotic and complicated situation in the Jiangnan battlefield can't be explained clearly in two sentences. The 12 Qing army led by Yue Le, the main force of the unimpeded Southern Expedition Army, arrived at the West Dam Ferry of the Yellow River in Qinghe County, Jiangsu Province on the 13nd day of the twelfth lunar month in the 22th year of Kang Mazi. The northernmost Baoying County in Yangzhou Prefecture is less than a hundred miles away.

Because of insufficient knowledge of the enemy's situation, Yue Le, who was cautious in using troops, was not in a hurry to cross the river. Huai'an), and reported the enemy's situation at Xiba Ferry.Cai Shiying and Yang Yingyao didn't dare to be negligent when they heard the order, so they hurriedly left the guard Wu Zhanyang to guard the city, and brought a heavy gift to the Xiba Ferry to kowtow. It's a pity that Yue Le is a more practical character among the kings of the Qing Dynasty. For Cai Shiying He didn't even look at the presents presented by others, and immediately asked, "Wu Gou in the south, is there any change?"

"Returning to the lord, the next official sent more scouts to investigate carefully according to the lord's order, and found that Wu Gou did not make any other changes except for strengthening the city defenses in various places." Cai Shiying replied respectfully.

"What about Hongze Lake?" Tu Hai was concerned about another matter, "This year, the Yellow River broke its embankment in Henan and diverted its course in the upper reaches of Hongze Lake, so there must be a lot of sediment rushing into Hongze Lake , how is the situation at Gaojiayan?"

"The situation at Gaojiayan is a bit serious." Cai Shiying replied honestly: "Since the Shunzhi Dynasty, the Yellow River has breached every year, and the water of the Yellow River has invaded Hongze Lake many times. Although we tried our best to rescue and repair it, there was little success. However, this year the Yellow River burst, and the river rushed into the sea near Huoqiu, Anhui Province. A large amount of yellow sand rushed into Hongze Lake. Gaojiayan, which was in disrepair, burst out two openings, flooding a lot of fertile fields, and also caused a serious reduction in grain production in Huai'an this year."

"God damn Lu Yifeng's thief!" Tu Hai cursed, "No wonder this slick thief refuses to take down Huai'an and defend by the river. He must have discovered the danger of Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake. He would rather not have Huai'an Mansion. Don't want the Yellow River defense line, and don't want to take this risk!"

"Prince An and Master Tu, please don't worry." Yang Yingyao, the prefect of Huai'an, who is also a traitor Zhengbai Banner like Cai Shiying, hurriedly said, "It is winter now, and there is little water from the upper reaches of Hongze Lake, and the lake level has dropped a lot. At least, Lord An and Master Tu can cross the river with confidence."

"Be careful." Yue Le turned to Tu Hai and said, "Master Tu, you should be careful. Tomorrow, you will take a few water control officials from the Ministry of Industry and go to Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake to make sure there is no danger. Decide whether to cross the river."

"Zha." Tu Hai agreed without hesitation, while Cai Shiying and Yang Yingyao, two traitors from the banner over there, looked at each other in dismay, thinking that it was difficult for us, Lord An, to deal with Mr. Tu, and we would not even believe our report, so we had to do it in person. Seeing is believing after a trip, it seems that we will work together with them to suppress thieves in the future, and we will have a hard time for a while.

Next, Yue Le couldn't help but ask Cai Shiying and Yang Yingyao about the situation in Huai'an City, mainly about the situation of soldiers, horses, food and grass in Huai'an City, as well as the situation of the Fatty Army in Yangzhou Prefecture south of Huai'an.Cai and Yang reported the truth, saying that there were about [-] troops in Huai'an City, and another [-] township militiamen could join the battle. However, due to the diversion of the Yellow River and the breach of Hongze Lake, the grain production in Huai'an was reduced. Apart from the grain in the treasury, there are only more than [-] shi of grain in the city, which is barely enough for the local army in Huai'an until next year's autumn harvest, and it is really unable to prepare food for Yue Le.

As for the garrison situation of the Fatty Army in Yangzhou Prefecture, Cai Shiying and Yang Yingyao don't know much about it. They only know that the Fatty Army has heavy troops stationed in Yangzhou City and Zhenjiang, but the exact number of troops is not very clear. The only one who fully understands the situation is the one closest to Huai'an Baoying County Fatty Army, there are only about [-] Fatty Army stationed in Baoying County, and most of them are composed of refugees from the yellow flood zone recruited before, and their combat effectiveness is not very strong.In addition, Cai Shiying and Yang Yingyao also have accurate information, that is, the fat army in Baoying City does not have much military rations, and it is supplied by the Gaoyou Granary once a month. The Fat Man Army is not far from defeat without a fight.

Cai Shiying and Yang Yingyao, two novices on the battlefield, thought that Fatty Lu didn't pay enough attention to Baoying, but after hearing this situation from Yue Le and Tu Hai, these two old sparrows on the battlefield shivered together, and said together: " Damn Lu Yifeng's dog thief! Baoying's army is definitely a lure army, deliberately pretending to be false, luring our army to cross the south of the river and step into his ambush circle! Don't be fooled, absolutely can't be fooled again!"

In the early morning of the next day, Tu Hai indeed led a group of flood control experts from the Qing Ministry of Industry to cross the river to Hongze Lake to survey the terrain, and found that the situation was indeed what Cai Shiying and Yang Yingyao said. Later, the sedimentation of Hongze Lake was indeed very serious. Although there is less water in winter and the danger of Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake has been reduced, the lake level is still more than two feet above the ground—that is to say, the Qing Dynasty Once the main force of the army crosses the river and enters the Subei Plain in Huai'an, the wolf-hearted Fatty Lu only needs to dig up and blow up Gaojiayan, and the 12 Qing army will still end up feeding fish and bastards!

Tu Hai returned to Xiba Ferry to report the survey situation to Yue Le. That night, Yue Le called again the top generals to discuss the military situation—of course, those idiots raped the prince, and Yue Le refused to let them say anything. Participated in the discussion of the military situation.At the military meeting, after Yue Le briefly introduced the garrison situation of Fatty's army and the hidden danger of Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake, Dong Weiguo, Laita, Mu Zhan and Shang Shan, several old friends of Fatty Lu, all opposed it with one voice. Taking the risk of crossing the river, he even decided that the army that Fatty Lu deployed in Baoying was just a decoy army, the purpose of which was to lure the Qing army from the south to go deep into the south of the Yangtze River, and then use conspiracy to break it!

There is no way, Dong Weiguo and his group of hapless bastards who were tortured to death by Fatty Lu really know Fatty Lu's cruelty and unscrupulous methods too well!As long as it is an immoral thing that can kill 10,000+ Qing soldiers, not to mention flooding half of Huai'an Mansion, even half of Jiangsu, Fatty Lu can definitely do it!

"My lord, this servant thinks that our army should adjust its route of attack." Mu Zhan suggested: "If our army adjusts its route of attack, there are two options. One is to cross the Yellow River from Taoyuan and go south to Chuzhou via Sizhou. The Yangtze River confronted the Jiangning main force of Lu Yifeng's dog thief across the river, looking for opportunities to defeat the enemy. Second, our army went down the river and crossed the river at the Dianhu ferry in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. The Yangzhou and Gaoyou lines of defense, which are heavily garrisoned, directly threaten Dongtai and the hinterland of Rugao, which are empty of troops."

"I think you can choose the first road." Laita echoed: "Crossing the river from Taoyuan can avoid the hidden danger of Hongze Lake, and go south to Chuzhou via Sizhou, where you can join forces with Lord Kang's army in Chuzhou, and you can also join the Yangtze River. To the south of Tongling, Lebeile's army echoed from a distance, concentrating their forces on a decisive battle with Lu Yifeng's dog thief."

"Then what about our grain road?" Yue Le rolled his eyes at Mu Zhan and Laita, and snorted coldly, "12 troops directly marched on the Yangtze River in Chuzhou, so our grain and grass had to land in Xuzhou and travel more than 1000 miles by land. Before Fengyang arrives at the army, how much consumption will be added on the road? And we have concentrated all our forces on the western front. Not only is Lu Yifeng's dog thief easier to defend, but he may also be flanked by the Wugou army from upstream. Isn't it more dangerous ?”

Mu Zhan and Laita were speechless, and only then did they think of this important issue. The road loss of transporting grain, grass and military supplies by land was far greater than that of waterways. The Qing court, which was already on the verge of financial collapse, naturally could not afford such a huge waste.

"In that case, we have no choice but to cross the river at Dianhu Lake." Dong Weiguo mused, "Crossing the river at Dianhu Lake and landing in Funing, the grain and grass can be transported directly to Beisha Town on the south bank of Dianhu Lake by water, and then walk another [-] miles by land to get to Funing. Funing, there is also a Chuanchang River waterway from Funing to the Yangtze River, which is convenient for our grain and grass to be transported."

Except for Yue Le and Tu Hai, the other important generals of the Qing army all nodded and echoed Dong Weiguo's opinion one after another. It was not until these people had finished expressing their opinions that Yue Le turned his attention to Tu Hai and asked, "Lord Tu, what do you think?"

"Based on my position, it's all the same." Tuhai said in a flat tone: "It's the same to cross the river from there, and it's the same to choose which road to march in. Anyway, you can't beat them. Instead of wasting time and wasting food and grass by going around the long way, it's better to go to This Xiba Ferry crosses the river."

"Master Tu, what do you mean, ignore the danger of Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake, and just cross the river here?" Yue Le asked in surprise: "Lu Yifeng's thieves have not captured Huai'an Mansion so far, so they must have discovered the Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake." The weir is dangerous, our main force crosses the river to Huai'an Mansion, what if Lu Yifeng's thieves blow up the Gaojia Weir and flood our army?"

"Prince An, why do you only think about the danger of Gaojiayan in Hongze Lake being used by Lu Yifeng's dog thief?" Tu Hai said surprisingly, and asked: "Why didn't you think that Lu Yifeng's dog thief can use Hongze to take advantage of Hongze Lake?" Why can't we take advantage of the danger of Zehu Gaojiayan?"

"Master Tu, do you want to use the old tricks you used in Jingzhou?" Shang Shan asked: "Deliberately cross the river into the Yellow River Flooding Area to lure Wu Dog to attack Huai'an City, and then we took the opportunity to blow up Gaojiayan and flood Wu Dog The main force?"

"No!" Tu Hai shook his head resolutely, and said in a deep voice: "This trick has already been used once in Jingzhou. That time Lu Yifeng's dog thief almost suffered a big loss. With his treacherous character, he will never say anything again this time." He was fooled. If he really plans to attack our army with water, once the main force of our army crosses Hongze Lake, he will definitely strike first and blow up Gaojiayan first!"

"Why did Master Natu suggest that the main force of our army cross the river here? He also suggested using the natural danger of Gaojiayan?" Shang Shan asked in bewilderment.

"I didn't say all the main force crossed the river." Tu Hai smiled, and said darkly: "What I mean is, anyway, we are fighting head-on on the battlefield, and we can't beat Wu Gou no matter what, so it's better to send some of the main force to cross the river to lure Wu Gou Part of the main force goes north to fight, and then blows up Gaojiayan, so that part of our main force and Wugou's main force will die together!"

There was no sound in the big tent, even if all the generals of the Qing army present had their hands stained with Han blood, and all of them were beast butchers who killed people without batting an eyelid, they were all stunned by Tuhai's crazy plan, and they were speechless for a long time. Can't say a word.

"Are you all scared?" Tuhai looked around at the people present, and said with a sneer, "Maybe you all think I'm too crazy and inhuman, but don't forget that the army in our hands is Wu Is the dog's opponent? Battlefield experience, weapons and equipment, morale and fighting spirit, military pay and food, isn't that the same thing that is far from Wu Gou? Rather than letting them be slaughtered by Wu Gou on the battlefield, it is better to pull some Wu Gou and them We will die together! Even if we exchange [-] troops for Wu Gou's [-] troops, we will never suffer!"

Yue Le and the others were still silent, not even daring to take a breath, while Tu Hai said lightly: "I'm talking about the plan here, regardless of whether the prince and the generals adopt it, Tu Hai has absolutely no opinion. But I want to remind the prince What's more, this is the only way we can win in the northern Jiangsu battlefield, other than this way, I really have nothing to do."

After finishing speaking, Tu Hai closed his mouth and didn't say a word again. After the Qing army generals thought about it for a long time in fear, Shang Shan said hesitantly: "Although Mr. Tu's idea is too... that, but yes As far as our army is concerned, it is indeed the only chance to win. Otherwise, with the army in our hands, no matter where we cross the river or what route we take to advance, in the end there will only be one end, a fiasco!"

"But still, it's too much." Dong Weiguo said hesitantly: "The folk songs in the south of the Yangtze River are sung like this: Gaojiayan is down, and Huaiyang will not meet. It may be easy for us to blow up Gaojiayan, but it is too difficult to think about the aftermath. "

"Maybe, maybe if Gaojiayan is overthrown, we will lose Huaiyang in the Qing Dynasty." Tu Hai said coldly, "But if we don't get rid of Lu Yifeng as a thief, our Qing Dynasty will definitely be a bit of scum." there is none left."

Dong Weiguo had nothing to say, he just turned his gaze to Yue Le, and everyone present also turned their gazes to Yue Le, waiting for his opinion, but Yue Le's expression changed from cloudy to cloudy, and his eyes flickered. After a long time, Yue Le hesitated He said: "Things have not reached that point yet, and our strategy of using thieves to control thieves has just begun. If this strategy can bear fruit, we won't need to implement such a poisonous trick that hurts the peace."

"My lord said so, and the slave can only support it unconditionally." Tuhai said helplessly: "Well, my lord, the slave suggests that the main force of our army should not be busy crossing the river, and stay on the sidelines for a while, and hurry up to train. The army. In addition, please send someone to Anqing to get in touch with General Niyahan and Le Belle on the western front, and urge them to implement the plan to release water, and let the Wu dog army march into the south of the Yangtze River, and kill each other with the Lu Yifeng dog thief. If so, the orders you gave them before, my lord, may not be strictly enforced."

"Yes." Yue Le nodded, and ordered: "Shang Baile, Mr. Tu, then you two should work hard, go to Anqing to contact Niyahan and Le Erjin, and urge them to deliberately release the water and release the Wu dog. Enter Jiangnan, and kill each other with Lu Yifeng's dog thief. Also, tell them, as long as they can let Xia Guoxiang's dog thief enter Jiangnan, I will bear all the blame for losing the city and land!"

"Zha." Tu Hai and Shang Shan agreed together, and Shang Shan asked again: "My lord, where is Lord Kang? Now that Wu Gou and Ma Bao have retreated, he has come to ask for a fight again. How will the lord plan to arrange him? Lord Kang has a strong temper." , and hate Wu Dog to the bone, I'm afraid you may not agree with Wang Ye's strategy of using thieves to control thieves."

"You guys bring me a written order to him." Yue Le replied: "Let him send troops to Chuzhou, and go to Chuzhou City to confront Lu Yifeng's dog thief Jiangning army across the river, and wait for my next order, lest he make trouble again , ruined this king's plan."

"Zha." Tuhai and Shangshan agreed again, and just as the meeting was about to end, Tuhai said something to Yuele, "My lord, when the slaves go south, if you make up your mind, you can let the Mongolian cavalry go They died together with the main force of Wugou. They were not very obedient, and they were all cavalry. Wugou was definitely willing to invest money in them-in addition, the Mongolian army was weakened. For our Qing Dynasty, it may not be a happy thing for the master thing."

A cold light flashed in Yue Le's eyes, and he nodded slowly after a while, and said darkly: "Of course this king understands this truth."

........................

At about the same time, in the city of Nanjing, Fatty Lu, who was worrying about the enemies coming from all directions, welcomed another uninvited guest, an envoy sent by Zeng Yangxing, the commander of Geng Jingzhong Army's right army, an officer of Jingnan Palace, a native of Zhangpu, Fujian— — Huang Kun!
This Huang Kun is not very well-known, but his elder brother Huang Yong is quite famous in the coalition forces of Wu, Geng and Zheng and the three kings—it's just notorious.When Geng Jingzhong raised troops, he was worried that his prestige was not enough and his reputation was too bad to convince the public, so he sent Huang Yong and Huang Kun brothers to Taiwan to contact Zheng Jing, persuade Zheng Jing to send troops, and Geng Jingzhong joined forces to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, and promised to send it to Zheng Jing After passing Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, Fujian, as a foothold, Zheng Jing, who hated the dog so much, was naturally overjoyed when he heard the news. He immediately agreed, and personally led the army to gather in Penghu, preparing to send troops to support Geng Jingzhong.

The bad thing happened to Geng Jingzhong's emissary, Huang Yong. Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing had just reached an alliance, and he immediately reported to Geng Jingzhong the situation in Taiwan, which was extremely exaggerated. , the soldiers are disheveled, the armor is not neat, the ships are moored scattered, and there are very few-of course, this is not entirely an exaggeration. Zheng Jingtai, which has been blocked by the Qing Dynasty for many years, is indeed on the verge of collapse. It is definitely not like what Bao Yi said, he can easily spend millions of taels of silver to honor a certain Lord, and it is not as prosperous and prosperous as Taiwan in the late Qing Dynasty.

Huang Yong tried his best to belittle his allies, and even persuaded Geng Jingzhong not to fulfill his promise to give Quanzhou and Zhangzhou to Zheng Jing as a foothold in the mainland. Severed the covenant with Zheng Jing and prevented Zheng Jing from landing by force.As a result, coupled with Geng Jingzhong's confidant Liu Yan's brother's instigation and discord, Geng Jingzhong, who was also in the water, actually wrote a letter to Zheng Jing to break the contract, prohibit Zheng Jing from landing, and sever the covenant with Zheng Jing!It made Zheng Jing furious, and also angered Zhao Desheng, the commander-in-chief of Haicheng who sincerely opposed the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty (appeared in Chapter 230 of this book). In anger, Zhao Desheng contacted the generals of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou to rise up and welcome Zheng Jing's army The landing was successful, and Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing turned against each other.Later, it was the old traitor Wu who came forward to mediate the conflict between Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing, making Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing use Fengting as the boundary and not to invade each other, which temporarily quelled the dispute between Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing.

The story is far away, let’s get down to business, seeing Huang Kun sent by Zeng Yangxing as an envoy, Fatty Lu inevitably frowned, because according to the information that Fatty Lu had, when Huang Yong provoked Geng Jingzhong and Zheng Jing to turn against each other, this Huang Kun was also there Among them, it was Huang Kun who sent a letter to Huang Yong and desperately instigated and belittled Zheng Jingyou's army in front of Geng Jingzhong. It doesn't bode well for the fat men on the border.

Sure enough, after entering the city of Nanjing, Huang Kun's money-greedy, lustful and arrogant face was immediately exposed. He not only boasted arrogantly and exaggerated the powerful combat power of Geng Jingzhong's army in front of the fat man's army generals, but also hinted at threatening the fat man's army officers and soldiers, and asked Fatty Lu for help. The military rations demand military pay, and even molested Huang Xifeng, the fiancée of Fatty Lu who he ran into by accident, Xiaojiali—seeing that Xiaojiali was beautiful and young, Huang Kun thought that Xiaojiali was just the servant girl of Fatty Lu Xingyuan. She wanted to do whatever she wanted, so she reached out to touch Xiaojiali's tender buttocks without saying a word.

As a result, the fat man's army, who had been suffocated for a long time, finally broke out. Seeing Xiaojiao screaming and crying, An Jiarong, the nephew of Fatty Lu's Yi nationality, was the first to rush up and smashed Huang Kun away with one punch. Gao Hongchen and Hu Tongchun punched and kicked Huang Kun rolling all over the floor, howling like ghosts and wolves.Fatty Lu, whose fiancée was being molested over there, couldn't bear it any longer, and shouted an order, "Shoot me out with sticks! Hit me out of Xingyuan! Hit me out of Nanjing City!"

"General, please calm down." Yao Qisheng hurriedly persuaded: "General, although this Huang Kun is a scoundrel and despicable, he is always the envoy of our friendly army."

"Fucking friendly envoy!" roared Fatty Lu, he raised his leg himself, kicked Huang Kun's stomach held by Hong Xiguan and Xiao Erlang, and shouted, "Go back and tell Zeng Yangxing to join forces against the Qing Dynasty!" Fuming, if you want military pay and rations, send another envoy who speaks human language! Send another animal like you as an envoy, don’t blame me for not giving him face, cut it off with a knife! Shoot out!”

"Great General, spare your life, Great General, spare your life!"

Amid the cries of ghosts and wolves, Huang Kun, who was already covered in bruises, was beaten away by Fatty Lu's own soldiers, but Fatty Lu was still angry, and he picked up his teacup and smashed it on the back of Huang Kun's head. If you want to turn your face, turn your face earlier, I can save some food and military pay! If I start a war with you, I will have an excuse not to send troops to the west!"

Note: As early as the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, Hongze Lake was formed as a hanging lake due to the diversion of the Yellow River. In the sixth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, Pan Jixun served as the governor of Hecao. It is already more than ten meters above the ground. The phrase "Down Gaojiayan, Huaiyang will not meet" is recorded in Pan Jixun's "River Defense Overview".

(End of this chapter)