Ming Empire

Chapter 268

Cangzhou was also quickly captured, but because of the fierce resistance of the Manchus defending the city, the two guards led by Gao Jie paid a relatively high price.In the end, the Ming Jiang army and a part of the Han army in the city turned against the water and surrendered to Gao Jie at the gate of the city. Gao Jie then successfully captured Cangzhou and wiped out most of the Jiannu who were unwilling to surrender.

Cangzhou was captured. This was the fifth day after Dorgon led his army to retreat and rescue Beijing in an emergency.After Gao Jie led his army to capture Cangzhou, the main force led by Cao Yue also arrived here. He did not stop in Cangzhou, and continued to lead the fleet northward.

Dezhou is more than [-] miles away from Beijing. According to Cao Yue's estimate, it will take at least six or seven days for Dorgon's army to return to Beijing.Dorgon can send a team of troops back to aid in three to four days by changing riders, but it is impossible for the main force to achieve this speed.It is impossible for the chasing army led by Cao Bianjiao not to cause trouble for Jiannu.

You must know that the cavalry army, which has not participated in the battle, is the main force in this pursuit, and more than ten thousand musketeers also pursued it on horseback.The Ming army won big victories one after another, but the cavalry army only watched the show and never went into battle. This situation has already killed the cavalry army soldiers.Now the task fell to them, and everyone was in a state of ecstasy like a clockwork.

When Dorgon's army retreated, it still adopted the previous strategy to cut off the Han and North Korean troops.The morale of these servants who have suffered successive defeats is extremely low, and their fighting will cannot be compared with that of the Ming army.When Cao Yue arrived in Cangzhou, he received a report from his son Cao Bianjiao, saying that the chasing army led by him had severely damaged the Jiannu after the end several times, killing and capturing nearly 5 Jiannu, most of whom were servants.

Most of Jiannu's servants have been wiped out, and the Ming army pursued by Cao Yue encountered the second echelon of Mongolian soldiers.The combat effectiveness of the Mongolian soldiers was also far inferior to before. Most of the battles were defeated at the touch of a button, and the pursuit battle was fought smoothly.It's just that they couldn't know where the Jurchen main force led by Dorgon had traveled in real time, but they believed that the pace of their pursuit was not far behind.

Cao Yue, who was in charge of the overall situation, didn't expect things to progress like this when the Northern Expedition started. The current situation can be described as never dreaming.Many times, he feels that everything is like an illusion, very unreal.It's just that he accepted the current situation calmly and followed the trend.If the first battle can completely remove Jian Nu, then he will not let go of this opportunity.

In the hasty Northern Expedition, Cao Yue originally wanted to save Li Zicheng's rogues from the fire and water, and let the surviving rogues and Jiannu fight to the death. With the current strength of the Ming Guards, Jiannu can be wiped out and Beijing and the entire north can be recovered.If he had known that the war with Jiannu would be like this, then he wouldn't need to keep the power of the bandits and let Jiannu wipe them out.If Jiannu wants to eliminate the rogue bandits, his strength will inevitably be greatly damaged. The Ming Dynasty Guards' Northern Expedition may be under less pressure.

But after thinking about it, Cao Yue still felt that it was necessary to save the rogues. After all, those were all Han Chinese, and maybe many of them would become members of the Ming Dynasty's army in the future.Jiannu is a foreign prisoner, and the foreign prisoner must not be allowed to kill more Han people.Moreover, Jiannu captured many places, and their power further expanded. It is possible that more Ming officials or rogues surrendered to Jiannu, so that Jiannu's strength would not only not decrease, but would greatly increase.The Ming Guards, equipped with a large number of firearms, did not have much difficulty fighting Jiannu, and it would not be difficult to eliminate the rogues.

It is possible that after hearing about the strength of the Ming Guards, many of the rogues were afraid and would defect or break away from the rogues.Just like the Jiang brothers, after hearing that the Ming Guards had won consecutive victories, they rebelled against Jiannu again. Although such a person is despised, at least for the hostile forces. constituted a blow.

When the warship he led arrived in Cangzhou and continued to rush to Tianjin Wei, Cao Yueling captured the Gaojie tribe in Cangzhou, and instead of staying in Cangzhou, he attacked from the north by land, cooperating with the Daming navy that had almost arrived at the foot of Beijing. Attack Beijing, or the Jiannu who are delayed in returning to aid return to Beijing.

Gaining Cao Yue's trust and being qualified to command two guard divisions in battle, Gao Jie swept away his past depression and became energetic.There was no slack in attacking Cangzhou this time, and finally repaid Cao Yue's kindness with a big victory.When he received Cao Yue's order to carry out the next strategic goal, he naturally acted according to Cao Yue's order without any hesitation.

In the past, although Gao Jie had done many shameless things, he was a brave general after all, he was brave in battle, he had experience in leading an army, and there were more than [-] cavalry in the two guard divisions under his command.Since Cao Yue asked him to urgently reinforce the navy attacking Beijing, in order to hurry, he immediately ordered [-] cavalry to rush to Beijing, and led the follow-up troops to march towards Beijing at the fastest speed.

In the process of rushing towards Beijing, Gao Jie did not forget the threat of Jiannu. He ordered the soldiers under his command to take adequate precautions. Surrounded and annihilated by Jiannu.

And just when Cao Yue and Gao Jie left Cangzhou successively, Cao Ming, who commanded the navy to take Tianjin Wei lightly, had arrived at the foot of Beijing, outside Chaoyang Gate.

Cao Ming was originally a lieutenant general of Cao Yue's father, Cao Wenzhao, and later returned to Datong to recuperate due to injury, but due to serious injuries, he eventually became disabled.Nian Qi was loyal to his father Cao Bianjiao and was very strategic. Cao Yue asked him to serve in the navy, and was eventually promoted to a senior general of the navy because he could all be promoted.

Cao Ming is naturally grateful that he is a useless person, but he can still be reused by Cao Yue, and vows to follow Cao Yue to fight the world in this life.He also lived up to Cao Yue's expectations, and without a surprise captured Tianjin Wei in return.

After capturing Tianjin Wei, Cao Ming also faithfully carried out Cao Yue's arrangement, and immediately led the navy to attack Beijing.

Because Jiannu intercepted along the canal and there were obstacles in the canal, the naval warship arrived outside Beijing a day and a half later than expected.However, they finally rushed to the city of Beijing before the main force of returning slaves.

Because it was already known that there were naval warships of the Ming Dynasty coming along the canal, Jiannu set up interceptors in the canal near Beijing, but because of the rush of time, only some wooden stakes and the like were placed.The civilian workers who were driven to do these things heard that the Ming Dynasty's army had recovered Beijing, and their minds changed early. They all looked like they were not working hard. The canal moved.

Finally, when they saw the warships of the Ming Dynasty Guards approaching, these peasants took advantage of the supervising Jiannu fleeing in a panic, and scattered in a crowd.

The naval warship of the Ming Guards finally arrived outside the Chaoyang Gate smoothly.

When the warship was about to arrive at the canal wharf, Jiannu organized a force to launch a surprise attack while the navy warship was still in motion, but was quickly blasted away by the artillery on the warship, and hid back on the city wall in embarrassment .

Finally, after clearing the Jiannu and obstacles near the pier, the navy warship anchored and aimed its artillery at the head of the city.

(End of this chapter)