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Chapter 95 Changde

 The strong wind knows the strong grass,

I know the honest minister.

The brave man An Zhiyi,

A wise man must be kind.

After the Battle of Changsha, Kong Youde ordered Huaishun King Geng Zhongming to lead 30,000 troops to attack Changde; Zhishun King Shang Kexi led 20,000 troops to attack Youxian; General Ma Jiaolin led 10,000 troops to attack Chenzhou Prefecture; he led an army of 40,000

Continue to pursue He Tengjiao.

He Tengjiao suffered a huge defeat, and his subordinates set off a wave of Qing Dynasty.

Dong Ying, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese army stationed in Liuyang, led his troops to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. As the governor of Biaoying, he received more pay than other troops and surrendered without a fight.

Governor He's confidant, Fu Shangrui, the governor of Pianyuan who was stationed in Yuanzhou, surrendered from Chenzhou Prefecture. His surrender directly affected the Duyinxi Zhongzhen Camp stationed in Changde and Yuezhou in the north, and the Yan Zungao and He Tengjiao tribes in the south.

Cut in two with a knife.

After being notified by Yang Fuchen, the Ming Dynasty Wuyong Marquis Yan Zungao, who had advanced to Shaoyang and Qiyang, was shocked when he heard the news. He immediately ordered Fulu Marquis Liu Wenxiu to lead 20,000 troops to retake Chenzhou Prefecture.

Liu Wenxiu's army of 20,000 men and Ma Jiaolin's army of 10,000 men fought fiercely near Yuanzhou. Ma Jiaolin, who did not know the strength of the Great Western Army, was severely defeated and fled back to Changsha in embarrassment. The Ming army re-established contact with Changde.<

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Where there is traitor there is loyalty. Governor He's confidant, Zhang Kuang, the imperial censor of the right capital of the Longwu Dynasty, was determined to be loyal to the country.

Zhang Kuang, courtesy name Yu Ye, Xie Yuan, was a Jinshi for ten years in Chongzhen, and was the teacher of the great Confucian Wang Fuzhi. He was ugly, with a crooked head from birth, and a giant mole on his face. He had a lot of tricks in his belly, and he helped He Tengjiao come up with many bad ideas to trouble people.

Although there are shortcomings in small details, the national justice is never ambiguous.

At the beginning, he guarded the city of Xiangyin, "If the city survives, I will survive. If the city dies, I will perish. Xiangyin City will be my coffin!" He vowed boldly.

He Tengjiao was about to fight the Battle of Changsha, so he led his troops to join up with He Tengjiao. After the defeat, he cut off the army and moved three hundred miles south to retreat to Hengyang.

In Hengyang, he held He Tengjiao's hand and cried: "If Changsha had not been lost, we could still have fought to the death. But now that Hunan has collapsed, how can we be worthy of the huge sacrifices the people have made for us in the past two years?"
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Qing soldiers invaded Hengyang, and Zhang Kuang retreated to Qiyang. He led more than a thousand people to contain the enemy troops invading the south, and was known as "Zhang Beiyuan who is not afraid of death."

After retreating to Yongzhou, Zhang Kuang saw that the generals were self-respecting and did not listen to orders. They retreated as soon as they heard the warning. He was depressed and vomited blood. Before his death, he summoned his disciples and generals to drink and say goodbye.

He asked everyone present to sing together, and the sound was extremely sad and shrill. At the end of the song, he passed away at the age of thirty-six.

He once wrote a "Death Poem" to his subordinate Meng Zhengfa: "Blood is made of water and fire, and the heart is used as a furnace to melt a piece of Hunan soil. I swear with my heart to the day and the child, and I will die to repay the kindness of the king and the body does not love me."

Inspiring Meng Zhengfa: "I hope you will become Liu Kun and Zu Ti. Don't imitate children and cry for me."

??

Youxian County, an ancient city during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, was known as "the courtyard of Heng and the gateway to the pond", with beautiful mountains and rivers and charming scenery. It has the reputation of "Luan Mountain is matched with Fengling, and golden water surrounds Silver Pit".

What is inconsistent with this beautiful scenery is that the 20,000-strong army of King Qing Zhishun, Shang Kexi, came over.

On a night when the moon was high and the people were killed, the wind was strong and the sky was on fire. Prince Shang wanted to attack He Tengjiao's general Huang Chaoxuan who was entrenched in Yanziwo area of ​​You County.

As soon as he arrived in You County, Shang Kexi found that the people here were different from other places and were not resistant to the Qing army. When they heard that Huang Chaoxuan was going to be attacked, they all expressed their willingness to lead the way.

What's going on?

After asking, I learned that Huang Chaoxuan, who was called an official soldier, was actually worse than a bandit. He ravaged the place and harmed the people. The elders of You County hated him to the core.

When we arrived near the Swallow's Nest, we were delighted to see what a high mountain it was!

He only has 20,000 people, but Huang Chaoxuan has 30,000 people, and they are still occupying dangerous ground. This battle is not easy to fight!

Shang Kexi bit the bullet and prepared to attack the mountain.

Before they could attack, Huang Chaoxuan's envoy arrived and asked for surrender and peace.

Shang Kexi disagrees.

At this time, King Sanshun already wanted to split the land and seal the territory. They regarded Huguang as their own territory. Huang Chaoxuan had harmed the people and his reputation was too bad. Allowing him to surrender would ruin the reputation of King Sanshun. It is best to kill him.

To win the hearts and minds of the people.

Shang Ke was happy but was not allowed to surrender. Huang Chaoxuan was dumbfounded.

What should I do if no one will accept my surrender? Run away!

Huang Chaoxuan had no choice but to pack up his belongings and lead his troops to Hengzhou.

Shang Kexi is chasing after her.

After escaping for thirty miles, Huang Chaoxuan asked for surrender again, but Shang Kexi refused again.

Huang Chao announced his escape, but he was still happy to pursue him.

After chasing him to Changsha and the junction of Hengzhou, Huang Chaoxuan sent someone to ask for surrender.

Shang Ke is happy to think about it. This kid has long legs. If he is not allowed to surrender, he will go to the end of the world. That's right!

When he heard that Shang Kexi had agreed to surrender, Huang Chaoxuan was overjoyed. He could finally become a traitor smoothly!

He immediately ordered his subordinates to shave their heads and come down to the Qing Dynasty.

Thirty thousand subordinates strictly follow the standard, and all have domineering and handsome braids, which are shiny black, thin and long, and are shaved more like the Eight Banners than the Eight Banners.

Seeing how submissive Huang Chaoxuan was, King Zhisheng decided to treat him to a meal, a meal without his head.

After dinner, Shang Kexi spoke: "General Huang, you are so loyal to our Qing Dynasty, so I shouldn't kill you. But you have done too many bad things, and if I don't kill you, it won't be enough to make the people angry."

After saying that, without any explanation, they had Huang Chaoxuan and his son dragged out and beheaded.

This trick was very effective, and the people in You County had a great change in their impression of Shang Kexi, and they all said that King Zhisheng was a good man.

Shang Kexi inspected the Huang family's property and got hundreds of thousands of taels of silver; he also annexed his army of 30,000; he also bought the hearts of the people of You County. He killed three birds with one stone.

It's just pity that Huang Chaoxuan and his son were determined to be traitors, but they failed to do so and ended up costing Qing Qing's life.

Shang Kexi captured Chenzhou Prefecture again and went to Hengzhou Prefecture to meet Kong Youde.

Wang Jincai's troops withdrew to Lanshan; Hao Yongzhong's troops withdrew to Guiyang Prefecture; and the remnants of He Tengjiao's troops withdrew to Changning. In this way, the Ming army in southern Huguang along the line of Shaoyang, Qiyang, Changning, Guiyang Prefecture, Lanshan and Lianzhou of Guangdong Ming army,

The defense lines of Yangshan, Yingde, Fogang, Longmen and Luofu Mountain are connected into one.

After Kong Youde captured Changsha, Hengzhou and Binzhou, he left Shang Kexi to guard Hengzhou and Chenzhou, and led the main force to kill Changde and join Geng Zhongming.

??

Changde is adjacent to Dongting in the east, Yuezhou in the north, Chenzhou in the west, and Changsha in the south. Not only is the land route located in Huguang, but the waterway also has the Yuan River from west to east, which passes through Changde and enters Dongting, and then connects to the Yangtze River from Dongting. It strangles the throat of water and land.

, it has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times.

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Liu Tichun, the Marquis of Anhui in the Ming Dynasty, Bo Ma Jinzhong of Wuchang, Bota Tianbao of Yidu, Bo Dang Shousu of Xingping, and the 40,000-horse army of Bo Wang Guangxing of Nanzhang have joined forces with the army of Geng Zhongming, King Huaishun of the Qing Dynasty, across the Yuanshui River in Wuling.

Taoyuan, Baima, and Gaodu faced off on the front line. They fought for more than ten days, and each lost thousands of people. No one could do anything to the other.

Continuously, reinforcements came from both sides. For the Ming army, generals such as Li Chixin, the Marquis of Xingguo, Gao Bizheng, the Marquis of Ying, Yuan Zongdi, the Marquis of Jingguo, Lin Yangcheng, Niu Wancai, Li Laiheng, etc., increased their strength to 100,000;

From the military side came the following generals: Kong Youde, the obedient king, Shen Zhixiang, the Xushun Duke, Gushan'e Zhenjinli, Xu Yong, Ma Jiaolin, Tang Guochen, Han You, Gao Shiqing, Hui Zhiguan and other generals. Their strength increased to 90,000.<

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The two sides could not stop fighting for a long time. Kong Youde ordered generals Tang Guochen and Han You to lead 10,000 troops to attack Chenlong Pass in Chenzhou in an attempt to cut off the connection between Changde Mansion and Baoqing Mansion.

Unexpectedly, Li Chixin had anticipated this move, set up an ambush at Yitoushan, defeated the Qing army, and killed Tang Guochen, the deputy general of Qing Wuchang.

Kong Youde was feeling annoyed when he suddenly reported that another supporting force had arrived. Li Maozu, the governor of Guangxi in the Qing Dynasty, and Yu Shizhong, the commander-in-chief, rushed to Changsha with a force of 20,000 troops.

It turned out that the talented regent Dorgon intended to conquer Guangdong and Guangxi in one fell swoop, and ordered Li and Yu to go south to support Tong Yangjia and Li Chengdong in Guangdong.

As soon as he arrived in Changsha, he was coaxed and tricked by Kong Youde into intercepting Hu, and asked them to help him finish this battle before going to Guangdong.

With the addition of 20,000 troops, Kong Youde's confidence greatly increased.

Yuanshui River originates from Jiguan Ridge in Yunwu Mountain, Guizhou Province, passes through eastern Guizhou and western Hunan, and enters Dongting Lake. This river is very special. The Guizhou section in the upper reaches is unruly, with valleys and walls cut along the way, running rampant, and rushing fast;

From the beach to Taoyuan County, the water flow begins to slow down; downstream from Taoyuan to Wuling, Longyang, and Dongting Lake, the water becomes gentler and the water is about one mile wide.

Kong Youde walked along the beautiful Yuan River to check the water situation.

Yuanshui is very beautiful, like a Tianhan silver river, full of clear blue, crystal clear and lovely. Like silk and satin, like glass, pure and without impurities, you can recognize it with a smile, and drink it with your hands.

It's a pity that Kong Youde was a martial artist who couldn't read a word. He didn't care about admiring the beautiful scenery of Yuanshui, but carefully inspected suitable crossing points.

He chose Wuling, where the water is gentle and the river is 400 paces wide, completely within the range of the red cannon and Fran machine gun.

This is it, what a great place! King Gongshun laughed loudly!

A word "good" suddenly turns this picturesque scenery into a Shura battlefield.

??

On June 18, the 20th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, the Battle of Yuanshui began.

The Qing army set up a fort one mile along the river. At this distance, their red cannons could hit the Ming army, but the Ming army's Franco machine guns and tiger crouching cannons could not hit them.

The fort is well repaired. Not only the gun pads are repaired, but also a low wall is built in front. This low wall can protect one's own gunners from the opponent's shell fragments. Although at this distance, the opponent's small and medium-sized artillery cannot hit itself, the soldiers of Tianyou still

The fort was built meticulously in strict accordance with the requirements of the artillery drill.

They were once the best Denglai firearms soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, and now they are the "God's Blessing Army" of the Qing Dynasty.

On the shore, the Qing army also deployed some Fran machine guns and transported some squatting tiger cannons to the small boats.

There were three types of artillery shells in this era: solid shells, shotgun shells, and blooming shells.

The Qing army's 3,000-pound red-coat cannon is loaded with solid bullets. This kind of shell has no gunpowder inside and is mainly used for siege and ship shooting. It is extremely destructive to fortifications, but it is not very lethal to personnel and has a long range.<

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The Tiger Crouching Cannon is mainly loaded with shotgun shells. There is no gunpowder inside the shells. They are composed of several kilograms of lead and iron pellets or gravel. They are mainly used to kill personnel. They are not very destructive to fortifications and have a short range.

The Fran cannon is mainly loaded with shells (can also be loaded with shotgun shells). Splash shells are another name for explosive projectiles. They contain gunpowder inside. When they explode, shrapnel shoots out in all directions, like flowers blooming.

Because the shells are filled with gunpowder, they are more lethal to infantry than shotgun shells, and their range is farther than the Crouching Tiger Cannon and closer than the Red Coat Cannon. Flowering artillery shells were widely used in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, such as the Ningjin Victory.

Flowering artillery shells were originally a powerful weapon for the country, but because the Manchu artillery thinking focused on destroying enemy fortifications, such as city walls, ships, watchtowers, antlers, and horse resistance (the Manchu and Qing Dynasties left the matter of killing and wounding enemy personnel to the infantry and cavalry)

), and did not pay attention to using artillery to kill enemy personnel. As a result, in the late Qing Dynasty, the production method of flowering artillery shells was actually lost, and flowering artillery shells had to be purchased from foreigners. Historically, Zuo Zongtang excavated the artillery shells from the ruins of a Ming Dynasty fort when he was suppressing the rebellion in the northwest.

There are more than a hundred bombs, and I can't help but look up to the sky and sigh: China had this thing three hundred years ago, but now it has been lost and even bullied by the big powers.

??

The beautiful south bank of Yuanshui River is covered with thousands of Qing army ships. Although most of them are small boats, the sheer number is shocking. Looking from a distance, they look like countless ants.

Kong Youde's flag was waved, and the first batch of fifty small boats began to cross the river.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Various artillery pieces of the Ming army opened fire.

The lookouts of the Qing army carefully assessed the positions of the Ming army's artillery and recorded them.

The "God Blessing Army" has received training from Western Yi instructors, and many of them are proficient in mathematics.

More than ten of the first batch of small boats were sunk and they withdrew in embarrassment.

The flag was waved and the second batch of boats crossed the river.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The Ming army's artillery roared again, and the Qing army's lookouts discovered more than a dozen new artillery pieces on the other side.

Then came the third batch of small boat trials.

When the arrangement of the artillery on the other side was almost complete, Shen Zhixiang, Duke Xushun of the Qing Dynasty, waved his flag, and the Qing army's red cannons and Fran machine guns fired at the same time.

"Boom!" Twenty kilograms of solid artillery shells were fired at the Ming army's forts and artillery carriages. As long as they were hit by one shot, they would be reduced to smithereens.

The Qing army first fired several rounds of solid bullets, destroying the Ming army's artillery.

Another round of chain bombs was fired to clear the arrow towers, sidecars, deer antlers, horseback and other obstacles on the river bank.

Chain bombs were originally mainly used to destroy the sails of enemy warships. Two small cannonballs smaller than the caliber of the gun bore were connected in series with a chain. After being fired, one cannonball dragged the other cannonball and flew out centrifugally.

It can tear a big hole in the sail or tear the rigging. With luck, it can even break the mast and paralyze the enemy ship. It is also effective in destroying taller obstacles.

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Along with the roar of heavy artillery, the Qing army's Franco machine guns also opened fire. Their mission was not to destroy the Ming army's artillery and fortifications, but to kill and injure the Ming soldiers on the shore.

Soon, the artillery of the Ming army on the other side became sparse.

Kong Youde's Chinese army waved their weapons and the general offensive began.

The Qing warships that had already set their sails rushed towards the other side.

Generals Xu Yong, Ma Jiaolin, Han You, Gao Shiqing, and Hui Zhiguan each displayed their respective flags.

A fleet of eight or ten ships, so many but not chaotic.

King Sanshun's royal flag is not on the ship, and he is already a prince. There is no need to do things like charging into battle personally. Under heavy rewards, there must be brave men. There are many generals who want to make meritorious deeds.

"Commander, there are too many Tatars and they can't stand it any longer!" Yuan Zongdi, the Marquis of Jingguo, Liu Tichun, the Marquis of Anhui, and Bo Ma Jinzhong of Wuchang reported to Gao Bizheng, the Marquis of Ying.

In order to prevent the Qing army from cutting off their retreat, Li Chixin, the Marquis of Xingguo of the Ming Army, led 20,000 troops to garrison at Chenlong Pass. The 80,000 Yuanjiang army was commanded by Gao Bizheng, the Marquis of Ying.

"I have to hold on even if I can't hold it back!" Gao Bizheng roared.

The fierce battle lasted for more than an hour, and more and more Qing troops began to land and form formations.

Qing general Dong Ying was beaten the hardest. He was a surrendered general, so he was naturally sent as the first batch of cannon fodder by Kong Youde. More than a thousand of his men had landed.

Strangely enough, since surrendering to the Qing Dynasty, Dong Ying has changed from the useless person he was when he was under He Tengjiao, and his combat effectiveness has skyrocketed every time he fights.

"Kill!"

Dong Ying commanded the charge with a sword.

"Dog Tartar!"

Li Laiheng, a young general of the Ming army, shot an arrow and hit Dong Ying between the eyebrows.

Although the Ming army resisted desperately, the Qing army's artillery and artillery were sophisticated and well-trained, and they gradually became exhausted.

Xu Yong, Yang Wenfu, Ma Jiaolin, Han You, Gao Shiqing, and Hui Zhiguan all boarded the shore one after another.

Kong Youde's Chinese army also crossed the river.

Gao Bizheng sighed: "Withdraw!"

The Ming army retreated to Chenlong Pass in an orderly manner. Nanzhang Bo Wang Guangxing and his deputy Niu Wancai cut off the rear.

The two fought to the death and refused to retreat, covering the transfer of the main force, and both died on the riverside.

In the Battle of Yuanjiang, the Ming army lost 20,000 people and retreated to Chenlong Pass; the Qing army lost 15,000 people and captured Changde.


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