Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 461
It is easy to mobilize troops and impeach.

The main forces are all in the Huaibei area of ​​Shandong, and they dare not withdraw easily. There are only about [-] troops in the south of the Yangtze River, and the defense is still difficult. How can we help Zheng Chenggong.

Yang Chao's primary goal now is not going south to Fujian, but going west to attack Jiangxi. Hong Chengchou is always a great hidden danger lying beside him.

But Yang Chao doesn't have to worry, he is taking the initiative now, he is aggressive, and Hong Chengchou can only defend.

Don't think that Yang Chao's sudden northward attack on Shandong was a sudden whim, or he was in a hurry to expand the territory. It was a big game of chess. It was a big plan to let Yang Chao be strategically passive, and the effect has already appeared at this time.

As early as in the north, Yang Chao deliberately asked Zhao Kang to lead cavalry to rush into the hinterland of Beijing. He did not seek to capture the city, but just circled around Tianjin. Hong Chengchou was unlucky.

To be honest, Hong Chengchou's strategy has been perfected, and Yang Chao still has lingering fears. It can be said that last time he was completely played by this old man under the applause.

However, it is true that Hong Chengchou has outstanding abilities and far-reaching strategies, but he is a Han.

But his master is full of people.

This is Hong Chengchou's original sin.

When Yang Chao asked Zhao Kang to go around the hinterland of Gyeonggi, the effect came out. The Beijing court was panicked at first, and the big and small dignitaries quarreled, but they didn't blame them for giving up Shandong to Yang Chao in order to preserve their vitality. Jierhalang, on the contrary, put all the responsibility on Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou was strongly activated by Dorgon, which also shows that Dorgon's employment is unknown. In fact, it is still the anti-Dorgon forces who are taking the opportunity to cause trouble.

These people attacked and said that it was because Hong Chengchou failed to restrain Yang Chao in the south of the Yangtze River that he let Yang Chao out to bite them. And transferred Hong Chengchou's Sanshun King back to Beijing to protect the property of the masters and protect the vast manor of the masters in Beizhili.

Dorgon knew very well that Hong Chengchou had done quite well. At least Hong Chengchou did not lose. Except for the savage Chao, the rest of the place was full of wailing.

But Dorgon could only compromise, and temporarily fined Hong Chengchou half a year's salary, and issued a decree to reprimand him, but he did not transfer Sanshun Wang away. He joked that Hong Chengchou took Sanshun Wang in Jiangnan and let Yang Chao run to Tianjin. Hong Chengchou was not here With strategic containment, Yang Chao dared to attack Beijing.

Therefore, not only did Hong Chengchou dare not transfer Hong Chengchou's troops, but he planned to strengthen his troops, but he was short-lived for the time being, and he really couldn't come up with enough troops. With Yang Chao nailing him in Shandong, he basically nailed down the troops of the Eight Banners in the north. .

Dorgon just issued a secret decree to allow Hong Chengchou to recruit troops by himself, expand the number of troops in his hands to [-], and ordered him to find a way to launch a victorious offensive against Jiangnan. It's enough if you can see it, so that Dorgon can block the mouth of the Eight Banners nobles.

After receiving Dorgon's secret decree, Hong Chengchou couldn't help but smile wryly, and the secret decree to expand the army is treating Hong Chengchou as an outcast. In the future, someone will definitely use this matter to mess with him. up.

As for launching an offensive, Hong Chengchou was also a little powerless. Last time King Sanshun was defeated, less than half of the 2 army was lost, and there were only [-] people who could fight in front of him. Including the [-] Eighth Banner soldiers in Bashan, there were only [-]. How? Fight against Yang Chao's more than [-] troops in the south of the Yangtze River.

After this battle, Hong Chengchou had figured out the strength of Yang Chao's army. To a certain extent, Yang Chao's army could fight against the Eight Banners. This surprised Hong Chengchou. He had analyzed all of Yang Chao's previous battles. He didn't show any outstanding field combat ability, so he dared to let King Sanshun rush to Nanjing City regardless of everything, and then opened the city gate with his internal force. He thought that as long as he entered the city, Yang Chao's fifty thousand recruits in the city If they are defeated without a fight, Nanjing will be taken. If Nanjing is taken, it is best to take Yang Chao as well, then the whole of Jiangnan will basically be taken.

But Hong Chengchou didn't expect that Yang Chao commanded [-] recruits, and he also repelled King Sanshun's attack, and then persisted until the reinforcements arrived, completely driving King Sanshun's army out of Nanjing City.

There is nothing wrong with Hong Chengchou's strategy, nor is there any problem with the combat effectiveness of the army. The problem is that he underestimated the discipline of Yang Chao's army.

So during this period of time, Hong Chengchou has been looking for a way, hoping to restore the gap in military strength and combat effectiveness through strategy, but he doesn't want to take the initiative to attack. It would be good to be able to hold Jiangxi. The troops were concentrated in the two cities of Nanchang and Jiujiang, and only civilian officials and a few guards were left in other places, which was no different from giving up.

Yang Chao was also very aware of Hong Chengchou's predicament. He knew it very well when he was in Xuzhou, because the attitude of the Beijing Eight Banners nobles was too fierce at that time, and rumors spread all over the city.

That's why Yang Chao dared to go to the north for the Northern Expedition after he was attacked by Hong Chengchou once in the south, because the Qing dignitaries kept mobilizing Hong Chengchou's troops to go north to defend. In this case, give Hong Chengchou a hundred courage, he I didn't dare to play Jiangnan's idea.

Because the troops under him actually don't have the ability to attack Jiangnan again, and if he takes the risk of attacking Jiangnan with the strong anger of the Beijing Eight Banners nobles, let alone fail, as long as he can't win a substantial victory, Yang Chao can do it. It can be seen that Hong Chengchou's old fate is about to be explained.

Yang Chao even wished that Hong Chengchou could fight Jiangnan once. With the strength of his troops, after Yang Chao learned his wisdom and took precautions, he might not even be able to defeat a county.

So he boldly stayed in the north for more than a month before returning, and the return was not passive, but Yang Chao planned to take the initiative, and took the initiative to trouble Hong Chengchou.

But before that, there is one more thing to deal with.

"Internal response! Hmph!"

At this time, Yang Chao began to settle the matter. The last time Nanjing City was inexplicably opened, Yang Chao was very surprised.

After the war, it became clear that the guards at the south gate were careless for a while. As a result, at night, a group of people suddenly rushed into the city gate with their carts. The whole gate flew out, and soon the cavalry from outside the city rushed in, and the soldiers guarding the gate were either killed by the bomb or hacked to death by the Qing army, so for a long time, Yang Chao didn't figure out who the enemy was. How did they enter the city? I only know that the city gate was blown up, but I don't know how.

Later, among a group of Sanshun King's subordinates who were taken prisoner, an officer confessed that there was an internal response in Nanjing.

Yang Chao was in a hurry to go to the Northern Expedition, so the search for Nei Ying was left to many men who stayed in Nanjing. After Yang Chao came back this time, many men had already captured Nei Ying and were waiting for Yang Chao to deal with them.

"My lord, what should I do?"

Many men are a little uncertain.

"What else can I do? Aren't the spies killed directly?"

Yang Chao snorted coldly, he was very dissatisfied with the internal response, because there were his soldiers among them.

"But then, Young Master Hou!"

Many men have some concerns.

It was one of Yang Chao's soldiers, Hou Fangyu, the famous Fourth Young Master who was worried. Killing such a person would definitely cause criticism, and no matter whether you have solid evidence or not, there will be suspicions that Yang Chaogong is avenging his personal revenge, and the promise will be included in the history books , has become one of the mysteries studied by later generations.

The thing is like this, Nei Ying sent by the Tartars has long been lurking in Nanjing City, and then colluded with Hou Fangyu who was captured by Yang Chao and the scholars and sent to the army.

The insiders are all people who have enemies with Yang Chao. They are Xu Zhongxiao's family who once harmed one party. The Xu family was actually taken care of by Feng Kezong. At that time, the men were allotted and the women were sold. So I hate it deeply.

This kind of enmity cannot be eliminated. Coincidentally, Xu’s son was dispatched outside the customs, and was soon captured by the Tartars. He became a coated slave of the Manchu nobles. After all the hardships, only Xu Zhongxiao and his younger brother Xu Shuxiao survived. down.

After the First World War in Haizhou, their fate began to change. At that time, Huang Taiji issued a reward order, and anyone who could provide Yang Chao's news would be rewarded with a cow. Xu Zhongxiao revealed the list at that time and told everything he knew about Yang Chao. Going out, and he was rewarded, not only got the cow, but also got to be by Huang Taiji's side, the situation changed suddenly, otherwise Xu Zhongxiao and his younger brother would probably be exhausted like the sons, elder brothers, and nephews .

After becoming Huang Taiji's own coat, he didn't have to go to work anymore, and he soon became a village head.

After that, Dorgon came to power and entered the customs. What they knew about Yang Chao's situation became a bargaining chip to raise his status again.

After Yang Chao killed Duo Duo, Dorgon also found them and inquired carefully about Yang Chao's situation. However, Dorgon was obviously more solid than Huang Taiji in employing people. Back to Nanjing to hide.

Xu Zhongxiao was originally from Jinyiwei, so he is good at this kind of thing. Wearing a wig and dressing up in disguise, he managed to hide in Nanjing City, and started to engage in private activities. When Yang Chao was recruiting scholars to serve in the army, he found an opportunity and contacted Hou Fangyu. He went on, and formed an anti-Yang alliance, planning to give Yang Chao a fatal blow at a critical moment.

They didn't wait long at this critical moment. Hong Chengchou activated his chess piece and asked him to find a way to open the Nanjing city gate for King Sanshun's cavalry. This is the story of blowing up the city gate with gunpowder later.

"Kill! Don't look forward and backward."

Yang Chao's attitude was very firm. Hou Fangyu, an idiot, felt good about himself and had a high self-esteem. He provoked Yang Chao again and again, failed every time and didn't know how to stop, and finally reached the step of betraying the country, so he deserved to die.

In the past, Yang Chao regretted that he was a talented person. Although he was cruel to deal with him, he would not kill him. Otherwise, he could cut off his head if he organized a scholar to make trouble.

"However, there can be a trial before killing. It's best to follow the clues and find out those idiots."

Not to mention that many men really knocked out a lot of things from Hou Fangyu's mouth. It is not surprising that many soldiers in the army are their accomplices. Originally, a considerable number of the ten thousand scholars were Erli He is a member of the society, and Hou Fangyu is the leader of the Erli society. If he can't develop his own troops in the army, that's hell.

It's just that he took advantage of this relationship to help the enemy open the city gate, which is too much.

"Check, find out who participated in it, and kill them all!"

Many men quickly completed the order, uncovered hundreds of Hou Fangyu's henchmen, and then put them all to beheaded at the entrance of the vegetable market, announced their charges in public, and posted notices to announce them.

"How about it, are you still swearing at the governor when you are dying?"

Yang Chao imagined what a lofty scholar like Hou Fangyu would look like before he left.

Many men disdainfully said: "No. He kept crying and begging for mercy, and his feces and urine flowed all over the floor. But that Xu Zhongxiao has some backbone."

Yang Chao guessed wrong, but thinking about it, this kind of elegant and suave young man, who is willing to die, is not willing to die. Xu Zhongxiao is already dead, and they are villains on the street. are different.

Yang Chao also guessed correctly about the following things. Sure enough, some scribes began to scold Yang Chao, but what he didn't guess was that those people scolded Yang Chao for harming Zhongliang, and at the same time they desperately washed Hou Fangyu's land, saying that he was forced to Those who framed him said that he would rather die than surrender, and he cursed Yang Chao endlessly before he died.

Hey, literati, open your mouth up and down!
(End of this chapter)