Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 231 Darkness Chen Cang
The identity of the prisoner cannot be guessed.

When the prisoner was captured, he didn't have any tokens on him. Apart from a gorgeous armor to prove his identity, there was nothing special about him. And Yang Chao couldn't find anyone who could speak Manchu, so he couldn't interrogate him. Now he has to interrogate There is no chance, because the captives have been sent away. They have been away for three days, and now they are probably halfway. If there is no accident, they will arrive in Huai'an in a few days.

Moreover, Yang Chao didn't take that captive general too seriously before. After all, he only brought about three hundred captive generals who he plundered personally, and at most he was a general of the Jialaerzhen level. Don’t pay too much attention to the military officer, but I didn’t expect him to attract thousands of people to rescue him, so he must not be at the level of Jiala forehead. I can’t guess what it is, and I can’t ask it. Anyway, it’s a big Fish no doubt.

After figuring this out, Yang Chao regretted a little, not because he regretted being escorted back to Huai'an, but because he regretted not sending heavy troops to escort him. If he ran away halfway, he would suffer a big loss.

Seeing the three of Huang Qi leave, Li Wuliu felt a little regretful, and Wang Pu was also very unwilling.

Huang Fengfu frowned deeply, and couldn't help asking Yang Chao to speak aside.

"It's not right, my lord."

Huang Fengfu was very worried.

Yang Chao smiled and said, "What's wrong?"

Huang Fengfu sighed: "The army is seeking money with the captives, if it gets out, I'm afraid it will be bad for you!"

This is a problem. The Ming Dynasty was very taboo for officials to negotiate peace with the enemy, even civil officials would not allow it, let alone military officials.

Chen Xinjia, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, was impeached and attacked by officials and imprisoned by Emperor Chongzhen because he negotiated peace with Houjin in private.

Moreover, Chen Xinjia was allowed by the emperor to negotiate a peace in private, but after being known, the emperor did not want to bear the bad name of negotiating peace with a thief, so he arrested Chen Xinjia.

Later, Zhou Yanru accepted bribes to persuade the emperor, and moved out the national law practice that "the great Sima soldiers will not be killed if they don't come to the city", but the emperor still did not change his original intention. Chen Xinjia was in charge of border defense, but the war was not going well, and he fell into seven battles during his tenure. A pro-vassal, Chen Xinjia was abandoned on the charge of "killing and humiliating my pro-vassal seven".

With the Ministry of War Shangshu's national law that he would not be killed if he was not beaten to Beijing by the enemy's soldiers, and his own instructions secretly, the Emperor Chongzhen refused to let Chen Xinjia go, lest he would bear a stigma. Really taboo.

If the officials found out, Yang Chao would have to be impeached, and the emperor would kill Yang Chao without hesitation. The officialdom of the Ming Dynasty was really dangerous.

Yang Chao accidentally discovered that he had done something wrong, and it was a political mistake. He couldn't help sweating, but he didn't care too much. He is a military commander. As long as he can fight, the emperor is unlikely to kill him if he wants. Of course, it is not safe for me to be a general manager now. If I can be the general soldier, then I don’t have to be afraid. Even if I really have collusion with the enemy in private, the emperor can only turn a blind eye. .

"Let's finish this battle first and worry about this issue."

Yang Chao laughed.

If he is defeated, needless to say, he is dead. If he wins, then the person who impeached himself will have no basis.

Huang Fengfu sighed: "It would be alright if my lord had made up his mind to fight to the death with the Eastern captives from the very beginning, but in this case, there would be no room for change. We can only fight against the captives in Haizhou."

What Huangfeng Mansion meant was that Yang Chao still had a chance to break out of the siege, but now he can only stay in Haizhou and fight Donglu to clear his suspicions.

Yang Chao didn't care too much about this. He really didn't think about breaking out at first, because the captive soldiers were cavalry and he was infantry. If he wanted to retreat in front of the cavalry, it would be no different from courting death.

Even if you take a boat, you can’t run away. After all, the speed of a boat in the canal can’t compare with the speed of a horse. You must know that many sections of the canal still rely on people to pull the fibers. fast boat.

Therefore, the moment the reinforcements arrived, Yang Chao was doomed to fight another battle.

This battle is probably more dangerous than the last one. Yang Chao had to face 600 soldiers against 4000 or more captive soldiers, with his back against the strong city, but he could not get any support. There is nothing more difficult than this .

At this time, Gao Liangming, the magistrate of Haizhou City, was very dissatisfied with Yang Chao's threat. Yang Chao even told him that if he did not let his soldiers enter the city, he would leave Haizhou.

Gao Liangming immediately asked Jiang Yang angrily, "He wants to lead troops into the city, what is his intention?"

This sentence is very sinister, suspecting Yang Chao's intentions in insisting on leading troops into the city, they almost said that Yang Chao wanted to rebel.

This is obviously nonsense, but it is the culture of ancient China, especially at the end of the Ming Dynasty. In the eyes of civil officials, the army is no different from bandits. Except for these civil officials who read sage books, everyone else is unfaithful and untrustworthy. of.

He let Yang Chao enter the city, what if Yang Chao dedicates the city to the captive army?
But Jiang Yang had no way to refute this nonsense, he could only say: "General Yang also hopes to use the strong city to fight the captives decisively."

Gao Liangming snorted coldly: "The captive soldiers are just outside the city. He wants to fight the captive soldiers. Why does he have to enter the city?"

Yes, the enemy army is outside the city. Since we want to fight the enemy army, we should fight outside the city. What a reasonable logic. Then why did the Ming Dynasty build these fortified cities?Just to stop commercial traffic?Isn't it for defending against the enemy?
He said that Jiang Yang couldn't talk to civil servants, so he had no choice but to go out of the city to report to Yang Chao.

Yang Chao is checking the defense situation.

Things were not going well at this point.

Although [-] captive soldiers were eliminated, Yang Chao's loss was not small. The casualties were not many, but the loss of weapons was quite large.

Especially the bird guns, there are a total of one hundred, and now there are only seventy left.

The muskets of the arquebus era cannot be compared with those of later generations. The gap in materials prevents the firearms of this era from being used for as long as the rifles of later generations.

The lifespan of the barrel of a birdcrack gun is just over 100 rounds, and it will be scrapped after [-] rounds in the sky. Either the barrel is deformed or it is severely worn.

Of course, the [-] guns that Yang Chao scrapped were mainly due to wear and tear, because Yang Chao’s gunners strictly practiced rotation shooting. If the gun is fired, it will become hot and deformed and unusable. Yang Chao uses three barrels in rotation, and at the same time, he has no chance to shoot continuously, so the barrel is protected.

Of course, it is also because these gun barrels are excellent birdcracks made by skilled Nanjing craftsmen. If the stocks of the Bingzhan Bureau are probably not worn out, they may have been scrapped because of the bombing. Not only the guns are scrapped, but everyone may have to scrap together.

The reason for the wear and tear is not that Yang Chao's musketeers fired so many shots under the city of Haizhou, but more because Yang Chao had been shooting live ammunition for several months when he was in Huai'an, relying on gunpowder and lead bullets No money is required. Yang Chao spent his life training with live ammunition. As a result, most of the bird guns were worn out at that time. The results of the training were reflected in the city of Haizhou, but at the same time, the bird guns were overwhelmed, and many of them were scrapped.

This problem caused Yang Chao more headaches than the deformation, because the deformation was often due to improper operation, and the wear and tear problem was unavoidable. The normal wear and tear of [-] guns made Yang Chao worry that the other bird guns were probably close to the limit of scrapping.

Jiang Yang came back and told Yang Chao that Haizhou City still refused Yang Chao's entry into the city.

"Well, at least these people have to be released into the city. Tell Haizhou Zhizhou that if he refuses to agree to this, the general will participate in impeaching him no matter what in the future!"

Jiang Yang could only nod his head in agreement, and continued to negotiate with Kochi Prefecture. At the same time, he offered to ask Yang Chao to help him get a batch of equipment and supplies.

Yang Chao is not short of equipment and supplies. The food is enough for him to eat for two months. The armor and spears are enough to equip 1000 people. The only problem is the bird gun problem. Jiang Yang told Yang Chao that Haizhou City can give him a batch of birds Guns, but Yang Chao was not too worried about the quality of the weapons in the Haizhou Guard.

Soon Huang Qi came over to the barbarians again, and after reporting back to his master, he came to negotiate with Yang Chao again.

This time Huang Qi came alone.

This time Yang Chao seemed to be a different person, he enthusiastically invited Huang Qi into the warehouse, found a room, and served him drinks.

Huang Qi was very proud of Yang Chao's changes, and became arrogant when speaking, admiring Yang Chao's understanding of current affairs.

"My master said that as long as you surrender, Mr. Yang, high officials and rich salary are indispensable."

This time Huang Qi still intends to win over Yang Chao, especially the change in Yang Chao's attitude, which made him suddenly confident. If they can recruit Yang Chao, then they will not only save the lives of important people, but also enter Haizhou City. They have known about Haizhou's prosperity for a long time. If they hadn't really had the energy to spare, they would have come to fight a long time ago.

The most important thing is that he, Huang Qi, will be able to make a great contribution.

Yang Chao was a little hesitant about this temptation to surrender: "Forgive me, Lord Huang, but I cannot surrender. I am from Nanjing, and my family members are all in Nanjing. If I surrender, I am afraid that my family will suffer."

Huang Qi laughed loudly: "Your Excellency Yang is absurd, you are always kind, even if Lord Yang surrenders, your family will be fine."

Yang Chao asked doubtfully, "How can you see that?"

Seeing that Yang Chao was worried about this, Huang Qi couldn't help being puzzled.

"That Hong Chengchou's dignified strategy, didn't he also surrendered to my Qing Dynasty. The Ming court did not anger the Hong family. There is also the ancestor's birthday. Many people from the ancestors surrendered to me. The ancestor's birthday is still high-ranking and generous. Today, the birthday is also down. In the Qing Dynasty, Wu Xiang and his ancestors are in-laws, and he is still a high-ranking official in Liaodong, and his son Wu Sangui holds a heavy army! There is also Shandong Liu Liangzuo, whose younger brother Liangchen has long surrendered to my Qing Dynasty, Liu Liangzuo still holds a heavy soldier The official residence commander. What are you worried about, Mr. Yang?"

Yang Chao couldn't help being startled, there were so many relatives and children of generals in the Ming Dynasty who surrendered, and the Ming Dynasty still let these people hold heavy soldiers, this is no longer a question of benevolence, but a question of stupidity.

Of course, the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty probably believed that although their relatives surrendered, trusting these officers would make them more grateful for serving the court, and at the same time, it would also give the surrendered officers a way out so that they would not fight to the death for the Qing Dynasty.

Yang Chao felt that although his family could not be implicated, he could no longer let these people hold heavy soldiers, even if they were to be raised by a high-ranking official, they would not be allowed to lead the army anymore.

Yang Chao didn't show it in face, but still hesitated, expressing that he was very worried, and procrastinating until night, told Huang Qi that he needed to think about it, and sent him away.

Jiang Yang came back and told Yang Chao that the governor of Haizhou was worried that there would be captive soldiers and spies among the people, so he also gathered these people into the city.

This made Yang Chao drop the cup directly, and during the day, he and Huang Qixu made a fuss, the purpose was to delay time, to secretly hide the situation, to send these people into the city first, and then fight them to the death, but he didn't expect it to be wasted.

"Good, good, good!"

After Yang Chao said three good words in a row, he had nothing more to say.

(End of this chapter)