scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 345
The three-line and four-way joint attack, the coordination was perfect, the arrangement was extremely careful, and the tactics varied so much that people were dazzled, but the final result disappointed Yue Le, the commander-in-chief of the Qing army, and Tu Hai, the chief of the general staff.In the case of doing their best and consuming a lot of precious materials, not only did they fail to achieve the campaign goal of severely injuring the Fatty Army or capturing an important town of the Fatty Army, but they also paid a very painful price. They were all lost soldiers and suffered heavy casualties. The Zhejiang army on the southern front did not even receive the effect of consuming the fat army's strength and supplies. Take advantage of it.

What frightened Yue Le, Tu Hai and other senior generals of the Qing army was that this time they joined forces to encircle and suppress the Fatty Army. Losing the main force of the two corps and part of the strength of the two corps caused huge losses to the Qing army. If the four major corps of the Fatty Army went all out together, Yue Le, Tu Hai and others could hardly imagine the consequences. .

At the same time, what made Yue Le and other senior Qing army generals dumbfounded and extremely depressed was that in this Jiangnan war, the only outstanding performer in the Qing army was actually the two hundred and five recognized by the generals of the Qing army—the prince of Zhangtai County, avoiding the fat army Not to mention the vast network, the surprise attack on Nanjing almost succeeded, forcing the Fatty Army's direct army to abandon the military operation that severely damaged Jieshu's army, inadvertently achieved the effect of encircling Wei and saving Zhao, and helped Jieshu's army, which was doomed to fail miserably, escape by luck.

What's even more outrageous is that after the prince of Zhangtai County's surprise attack on Nanjing almost failed, he even snatched a large amount of food and supplies in the area controlled by the Fatty Army, and broke through the "siege and interception" of the Fatty Army in a big way, completely establishing the reputation of the Qing Dynasty God of War. In other words, it made Yue Le, Tu Hai and others even more unable to explain to Kang Mazi - the prince of Zhangtai County established the unrivaled power because he did not implement the tactical plan that Yue Le explained. This just proves that Yue Le and others The tactical plan laid out by people is completely a pile of dog excrement?

I was extremely depressed, and before I knew it, the time had already arrived on March 14, the 23th year of Kang Mazi's [-]th year, and it was also the last day for Kang Mazi to give Yue Le the last chance. Yue Le and Tu Hai, who were standing under Gaoyou City, had no choice but to temporarily agree on a countermeasure, that is, within one day, at all costs, break through Gaoyou City, which is at the end of its strength, and then use it to break through Gaoyou and The result of the surprise attack on Nanjing, which was almost successful, went to Kang Mazi on business, tried his best to get through the pass, and broke the idea of ​​Kang Mazi's imperial conquest.

With a certain idea, Yue Le immediately summoned all the generals of the Qing army who were commanders and generals, arranged the siege plan with a sullen face, and then told these generals that there was only one day left in the deadline Kang Mazi gave him, so this If one day I can't capture Gaoyou City again, then I will be taken back to the clan's mansion and imprisoned forever, and if it is serious, my head will fall to the ground - but before I am taken back to the capital or beheaded, I will definitely pull my back of!

Seeing Yue Le, who is usually generous and gentle, suddenly become so murderous, the generals of the Qing army also understood the seriousness of the matter. The leader, the participating leader, and the co-leader threatened the assistant leader, the assistant leader threatened the sentry officer, the sentry officer threatened the captain, and the opposing commander threatened the soldiers...; the same is true for the green battalion soldiers. Participating generals, participating generals threatened Qian Zong and Ba Zong, Qian Zong and Ba Zong threatened the chief whistle officer, and the chief whistle officer..., so the threats continued layer by layer.

In a word, if all these threats are really realized, there may not be a few left in Yue Le's 12 army.

The soldiers were fed, the horses were fed, the bows and arrows were ready, and the horns sounded. Just as the siege army was about to go out to battle, a group of scouts rushed into the Qing army's camp and rushed to the central army's tent to report , while screaming in despair, "Wugou's reinforcements are here! Wugou's reinforcements are here! Wugou's reinforcements have entered Gaoyou Lake from the canal. There are hundreds of large ships! There are thousands of small boats!"

At the same time, earth-shattering cheers erupted from the towering Gaoyou City in the distance, even if it was more than ten miles away, they could be heard clearly here—obviously, this is the sailor of the Fatty Army. Arrived at the west water gate of Gaoyou City.Hearing the cheers and knowing the news of the arrival of Fatty's reinforcements, the Qing army was in despair. Gaoyou City was already so difficult to attack that the Qing army lost tens of thousands. With the navy reinforcements of the Fatty Army, the Qing army will never even think about capturing this terrifying Gaoyou City.

To reinforce Gaoyou, the support army was sent by Fatty Lu himself. After repelling the three-way invasion of Jieshu, Leerjin and Zhangtai, the pressure on the western front of the Fatty Army was greatly reduced, and he learned about the cruelty and hardship of Gaoyou's defense war. After the bloody battle, Fatty Lu, who estimated that Gaoyou's defenders were at the end of their strength, adjusted his tactics. He dispatched 12 troops from the Taiping Mansion and Nanjing Legions, brought a large number of defense materials and new firearms, and boarded Li Guodong's command The main fleet of the fat man's navy entered the Shaobo Lake via the canal, avoided the Qing army's obstruction, and then entered Gaoyou Lake from Shaobo Lake, and arrived at the Gaoyou battlefield by water for reinforcements.The purpose is to further strengthen Gaoyou City's sustainable combat efforts, continue to contain Yue Le's [-] mobs, and use the navy to transfer the soldiers and civilians in the city when necessary.

Fatty Lu's wishful thinking was well done, but Yue Le, Tu Hai and the others yelled at Fatty Lu for being a hooligan, and he had no good intentions. Under Gaoyou City, while sieging the city and fighting hard, while consuming the incomparably precious food, grass and military supplies of our own army, we consumed our army of more than [-] to death!

"How? To fight or not to fight?" Looking around at the generals in the tent, Yue Le asked in a hoarse voice: "Our army is attacking Gaoyou now, what are the chances of winning?"

All the generals of the Qing army, including the resourceful Tu Hai, were all frowning and silent. After a long time, Dong Weiguo, Yue Le's hand-picked deputy, bit the bullet and said: "Don't blame me, my lord. Forgive me for speaking bluntly, we'd better give up this siege Let's plan. Now that Wugou's reinforcements have entered the city by water, the morale of the Gaoyou rebel army and civilians has been greatly boosted, and they must have obtained firearms and supplies. "

"I also know that the current siege is to cause unnecessary sacrifices for the soldiers. I also know that when the quality of weapons, firearms, food and soldiers is not as good as that of the enemy, it is completely a trifle with human lives to attack the city with more people." Yue Leyi Pai Shuai's case, and lamented: "But what else can I do? If I still can't produce a record that satisfies the master today, the master is likely to go to the imperial conquest! When it really comes to that time, what will the consequences be, I dare to go Imagine?"

Dong Weiguo lowered his head, and felt sad for Yue Le in his heart. Having such a stupid emperor's nephew on the table is really a dilemma, and he has no choice. With the current situation of the Qing court, the most sensible choice should be to retreat to the north Taking a defensive position to linger on, so there may be hope for a turnaround at 01:30, but Kang Mazi not only insists on taking the offensive, wasting the precious national power that is already small with a weak attack, but also calls the imperial conscripts and failed scholars at every turn Fatty Lu fights to the death!The stupidity of his strategy and the paranoid decision-making make people wonder whether Kang Mazi is the product of a marriage between close relatives.

"Tutang, what do you think?" Yue Le turned his expectant eyes to Tuhai again.

"My lord, it's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice, and the slave really has nothing to do." Tu Hai replied weakly.

"No matter how helpless you are, you have to find a way for this king." Yue Le patted the table and shouted: "If you can't pass this level, you and I will be ransacked and hacked to pieces. It's just a trivial matter! Master really It’s a big deal if you come to the imperial conquest!”

"If the prince only intends to stop the emperor's personal conquest and does not care about all costs, then this servant has a solution." Tu Hai replied with a wry smile: "That is to attack the city immediately, attack Gaoyou City at all costs, and then go after capturing Gaoyou Attack Yangzhou, and then we don’t have to worry about the conquest by the master—there is no army, so what is the master going to do with the conquest?”

"Hehehehe..." There was a helpless chuckle from the generals of the Qing army in the tent, Yue Le also gave a wry smile, and then patted the table and shouted: "Tutang, be more serious, although you are our general staff, you can do whatever you want Express your opinion, but this is cool, and you can't make jokes."

"I'm not joking, I'm very serious." Tuhai murmured in his heart: "Our master who doesn't understand military affairs at all, the only hope now is these 12 mobs. If you can make up your mind Compensating all these 12 mobs will not only break the master's thoughts, but also save precious food, grass and military pay, and the correct strategy of the Qing Dynasty to retreat to the north of the Yangtze River may also be realized."

The muttering is back to the muttering, but the strategy of deliberately accompanying 10,000+ troops is too appalling. No matter how powerful and bold Tu Hai is, he dare not bring it up for discussion in public, so after Tu Hai muttered, he quickly suggested: : "My lord, there is only one way. Let the servant return to Beijing to report on his work with the almost successful record of the lord Zhang's surprise attack on Nanjing. Try to get away with it. I also hope to persuade the master to change his mind, give up the plan of the imperial conquest and insist on the strategy of attacking and suppressing. The correct strategy is to fully retreat to the north."

"Are you sure you can persuade the master to change his mind?" Yue Le's eyes lit up.

"I didn't have it at first, but now there is a little hope." Tu Hai took out a mansion newspaper from his arms, pointed to the contents of the mansion newspaper and said, "My lord, please take a look, this is the mansion newspaper that my master Ming issued to the world more than 20 days ago." , there is such a content written on it-the Minister of the Ministry of Recruitment, the General Zhengxi, the Counselor Zhou Chang returned to Beijing to report on his work. This Zhou Chang, Zhou Peigong, once worked as a staff for the slaves, and was appreciated by the master due to various chances and coincidences. From a seventh-rank small The official has been promoted all the way to the current second-rank official, and he has won the trust of the master, and is the first-class celebrity in front of the master."

"You want to work with Zhou Peigong to persuade the master to change his mind?" Yue Le came to his senses.

"My lord is famous, that's exactly what it is." Tu Hai nodded, and said: "The slave guesses that the master summoned Zhou Peigong back to the capital at this time, and it is very likely that he intends to let Zhou Peigong serve as a staff officer and accompany the master on the expedition. The slave of Zhou Peigong understands that he is a very A person with a strong mind and vision, who has fought against Wu Gou for many years, and knows the situation of the frontline army like the palm of his hand, must be able to see the danger and adventure of the master's personal conquest, and will definitely try to persuade the master to change his mind. Counting time, Zhou Peigong will be here in the next few days It’s time for Nei to return to Beijing, so the servant plans to go back to Beijing, one is to report to the master on behalf of the prince, and the other is to join forces with Zhou Peigong to try to persuade the master to change his mind and not take risks in Jiangnan.”

"Then it's hard work for you." Yue Le, who was completely helpless, nodded, ready to let Tu Hai try his luck again.At the end, Yue Le said again: "Then don't rush to leave, wait for me to write a secret book for the empress dowager ancestor, you can take it back to Beijing for me, and give it to my Sanfu Jin, and let her send it to the ancestor In front of you, please ask the ancestors to stop the emperor again, so that you can have more hope."

"That's the best." Tu Hai nodded, and said helplessly: "Now in this world, the only person who can force the master to change his mind is probably the ancestor of the empress dowager."

After the plan was settled, Yue Le immediately took up a pen and wrote a book, and wrote a tearful pleading letter to the old witch of Xiaozhuang, begging the old witch of Xiaozhuang to come forward again, obstruct Kang Mazi's personal conquest and change the counter-rebellion strategy, and hand it over to the old witch Xiaozhuang. Tuhai was brought back to the capital and sent to the old witch of Xiaozhuang through nepotism.Then Yue Le resolutely gave up the plan to attack Gaoyou City, and the whole army retreated northward and returned to Jieshou Xiazhai, waiting for Kang Mazi's order, lest these innocent soldiers of the Qing Dynasty go to Gaoyou City to die in vain.And with this order, the fat soldiers and civilians in Gaoyou City are naturally cheering, celebrating that they have worked together to finally push back the siege army of the Qing Dynasty. The Mongolian Eight Banners complained a lot, secretly scolding Yue Le for being cowardly and causing all previous efforts to be wasted.

When the news of Yue Le's withdrawal came back to Nanjing, it was already March 26, the second year of the Chinese New Year. Hearing the news, not only did Fatty Lu not feel happy at all, but he slapped his fat palm on the table and said bitterly, "Oh no!" ! On the Mangou side, there must be someone who is planning to retreat in an all-round way! Otherwise, it is impossible to give up so easily after the Gaoyou war has reached this point!"

"Brother San, is it a good thing for us that Mangou retreats completely?" Xie Dong asked inexplicably: "Mangou stops attacking, we can seize the time to expand our army and train, build more new weapons, and use Jiangnan's money and food are exhausted, so why are you screaming?"

"Brother Xie, you don't understand." Fatty Lu shook his head and said with a frown: "For our army, Man Gou is absolutely not afraid of taking the initiative to attack. The only thing we are afraid of is Man Gou fully retreating. Not only will it take more time and money to eliminate the main force of Mangou, but it will also expose various internal problems in a comfortable environment. At the same time, once Mangou retreats, the problem of urgent money and food will be greatly alleviated. Eating a catty of food on the front line and eating a catty of food in the rear are completely two concepts. Not only will there be no road consumption, but the soldiers will also greatly reduce the consumption of food, grass and military pay when they are not in combat. , our advantage in money and food is not so obvious.”

"The most frightening thing is not this." Wang Shaobo added for Fatty Lu: "The most frightening thing is that Man Gou has completely retreated to the south of the Yangtze River. If this is the case, the main force of Man Gou scattered in the south of the Yangtze River may be twisted together. stocks, posing a greater threat to our army. And our friendly troops will also come to ask for money, food, and territory.”

"So that's how it is." Xie Dong came to his senses, and quickly asked: "Brother San, what should we do now? We have the most food and money in the whole world now. Once we border on the friendly army, they will dare to talk as much as they want." Zhang."

Fatty Lu kept a stern face and didn't answer, and couldn't find anything to answer, but Yao Qisheng who was next to him suddenly spoke up, smiled and said something nonsensical, "It is estimated that in a few days, there will be a lot of quarrels in the court. It's a pity, we are too far away, we don't have the chance to see this lively scene of dogs biting dogs."

"Master Yao means that there will be a quarrel within the Mangou court over whether to change the strategy?" Fatty Lu asked tentatively.

"Of course." Yao Qisheng replied with a smile: "When Mangou rose outside the pass, the Ming court also quarreled over whether to lead the battle or defend it. For this reason, the heads of Yang Gao, Wang Huazhen and Yuan Yingtai, who were fighting the main battle, fell one after another. Isn't it true? To die in the hands of Mangou is to die under the law of the country. Xiong Tingbi, who was in charge of the defense, was also handed over to the nine sides. He did not take full charge until he lost Guangning. The current main force in the south of the Yangtze River of the Mangou court still exists, and it owes another ass. We urgently need money and food from the south of the Yangtze River to pay off our debts, so it is so easy to abandon the south of the Yangtze River and change our strategy of attack and suppression?"

"That makes sense." Fatty Lu nodded, and said in a deep voice, "However, the Mangou court is different from the Ming court. The censors of the Ming court even dare to scold the Emperor of Ming. They can obstruct, oppose, and even refuse to implement all the decisions of the Emperor of Ming. However, the Mangou court is the Emperor Mangou's words, and even if the Emperor Mangou says something is wrong, the slaves must carry it out, and there is no possibility of objection."

"That's right, that's right!" Yao Qisheng nodded vigorously, and then said with a smile: "If the general wants to continue the strategy of luring the Emperor Mangou to conquest himself, then the general still has a chance now, and that is to make good use of the servants of the Mangou court. System. As long as the general can figure out a way to make Emperor Mangou make up his mind to conquest, then no matter who it is, even the old bastard, the Empress Dowager Mangou, will not be able to prevent Emperor Mangou from conscripting himself!"

"That's right." Fatty Lu clenched his fat fists, gritted his teeth and said, "The life and death of the Mangou court is actually in the mind of Kang Mazi. If he can listen to the opinions of the guards, then the Mangou court will It will definitely last for quite some time, and there is even hope of a comeback at 01:30. But if Emperor Mangou is determined to take the main battle and decides to continue to recapture Jiangnan, then it will be the blessing of our people of all ethnic groups in China!"

"Mr. Yao, in your opinion, the Emperor Mangou is more likely to adopt that strategy?" Xie Dong asked curiously.

"I can't tell." Yao Qisheng shook his head and analyzed: "In my opinion, it must be difficult for Emperor Mangou to make such a decision. On the one hand, there is a well-founded and correct strategy of the main guard, and on the other hand, the pressure of money and food from bad debts and The temptation to take back Jiangnan, the key to which strategy to adopt, the Mangou Emperor himself is inclined to that side. But fortunately, with the Mangou Emperor’s arrogance to strengthen his character, the main defenders in the Mangou court want to persuade him, It's not that easy."

Speaking of this, Yao Qisheng turned his attention to Fatty Lu again, and said with a smile: "General, you are also very important. If you can think of a way to make the Emperor Mangou who hates you to the bone decide to fight, we still have a chance!" hope."

Fatty Lu pondered without answering. After a long time, Fatty Lu suddenly turned his gaze to Xie Dong again, and asked with a smile: "Brother Xie, I heard that your newly married concubine Li Xuemei is very beautiful. How about giving it to my brother?"

"Brother Sanhao, have you taken a fancy to my little brother's concubine?" Xie Dong hesitated, and quickly replied: "Brother Sanhao, if you like it, just take it. Brothers are like siblings, wives are like clothes, just a piece of clothing, Brother Sanhao You can take it if you like.”

"Brother Xie, you are really honest." Fatty Lu didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Lord Xie is not enough." Yao Qisheng shook his head and reminded: "Don't forget about the general, your resourcefulness has long been known to the world, and suddenly you robbed your subordinates' concubines and forced them to rebel—anyone can guess It can be concluded that you are playing tricks again, General, not only will you not be able to achieve results, it may even be counterproductive. What's more, Sir Xie and you are life and death friends, and if you suddenly betray you, everyone will suspect that you are using tricks again, General."

"Yes, Master, have you forgotten about Han Daren?" Wang Shaobo also echoed: "Before, Master, you let Han Daren feign surrender in Jiujiang, and Mangou has suffered enough losses. Mangou will fall into your trick again. ?”

"I really forgot, my character is not good, and now no one dares to trust me." Fatty Lu lamented.

"You just know? I'm one of the victims!" Yao Qisheng muttered quietly in his heart, but after the muttering was over, Yao Qisheng suddenly realized that something was wrong—because Fatty Lu suddenly turned his gaze to him, and the smile on Fatty's face was still there. Treacherous.After the doubts passed, Yao Qisheng suddenly came to his senses, and hurriedly asked: "General, you don't want the students to feign surrender, do you?"

Fatty Lu continued to smile, but quickly put away his smile, shook his head and said, "No, absolutely not. I had this plan before, but thinking of your sister, Junshi Yao... No, I'd better think of another way."

"Thank you, General, for your understanding." Yao Qisheng heaved a sigh of relief——Yao Qisang's younger sister, Yao Qisang, is in Beijing now, and she is still the principal wife of Huang Xiyan, Minister of the Ministry of War. Lose.

"It should be, and I also hope that Junshi Yao's younger sister can come back smoothly." Fatty Lu waved his hands, then pondered: "Then what should we do? Brother Wang Xu, it would be great if you were still here."

(End of this chapter)