: Sweeping Hangzhou Mansion (please subscribe for support)

Author: Scholar Wu

: Sweeping Hangzhou Mansion (please subscribe for support)

In the Zhejiang Governor's Yamen in Hangzhou, Xiao Qiyuan was in a good mood.

Previously, there had been great changes in eastern Zhejiang, and the Ming army was attacking cities and plundering territory. He was also worried, but Tian Xiong, who went to reinforce, finally sent a battle report.

After receiving a series of failed reports of losing cities and territory, he finally received good news.

In the early morning of March 17, Huang Binqing and Zhang Mingzhen of the Ming Dynasty led tens of thousands of troops and a large number of warships to storm Ningbo. Huang Wantian, the prefect of Ningbo, insisted on refusing to surrender, leading to the loss of Ningbo.

Fortunately, Zhejiang Admiral Tian Xiong led his troops to Huitong Dingguan Deputy General Hu Hitili's troops in time, and defeated the Ming army twice outside Ningbo City, killing more than 10,000 of the main Ming army.

At present, the Qing army has successfully besieged the bandit Zhang Mingzhen and others in Ningbo Prefecture, and is intensifying its attack.

However, there are currently only 6,000 troops left in Hangzhou Prefecture, and Xiao Qiyuan has no troops to send.

Fortunately, judging by time, the Eight Banners led by Jin Li should have arrived in Huzhou by now. As long as they capture Huzhou, it will not be a problem to pacify eastern Zhejiang.

In the West Lake in the early morning, there are many people fishing beside Su Di.

Old man Wang had bad luck today. After fishing for a long time, he was still an "air force". At this time, he suddenly found a beautiful wooden box floating on the shore of the lake.

This box was very exquisite, and it looked like it belonged to a wealthy family. Old man Wang's eyes immediately lit up, and he quickly used a fishing rod to get the box over.

At this time, several nearby fishermen were also attracted. Everyone said that there was some kind of strange treasure inside, and lamented that Old Wang was so lucky.

Because in the Ming Dynasty, if you picked up other people's lost property and turned it over to the government in time, you could get half of the reward, which is what we often call "half the reward when you meet".

According to the provisions of "Daming Laws. Household Laws. Money and Debts. Obtained and Lost Things": Any lost things must be sent to the official within five days.

Half goes to the person who returns the lost property.

Although it is already the fifth year of Shunzhi, the Qing government has not promulgated the formal "Qing Law", so the local officials still make punishments according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty. Old man Wang can obtain half of the property in the box according to the law.

Old man Wang opened the box tremblingly under everyone's expectant eyes. As a result, there were two heads and a letter in the box.

At this time, Old Man Wang turned pale with fright, and everyone was shouting to report to the official.

More and more people gathered around, and spies from the Intelligence Department were also mixed in the crowd. They took the opportunity to say: "Old man Wang picked up this box. Of course he went to report it to the official. It has nothing to do with us. But this letter says

What, is there anyone who can read aloud to everyone?"

There is no shortage of people eating melons. There are actually two heads in the box. This is a bizarre and big case. The people eating melons around me also echoed: "Who wrote this to everyone?"

At this time, a man who looked like a scholar picked up the letter and read loudly: "The Governor of Suhu in the Ming Dynasty wrote to the people of Hangzhou: The 4,000 Eight Banners led by Jin Li, the pseudo-Qing general Pingnan, have been completely wiped out under the city of Huzhou. I am hereby entrusting General Pingnan to

Jin Li and the heads of Hangzhou’s deputy general Li Baoguo. Our king’s army will go south to capture Hangzhou in the near future. We also hope for the people of Hangzhou.”

The surrounding Hangzhou people were immediately shocked. This is actually the head of Pingnan General Jin Li. Hurry and report it to the official!

Just like that, the news that "the Eight Banners in Hangzhou were completely annihilated, and the Governor of Suhu in the Ming Dynasty will soon lead his army to the south to regain Hangzhou" spread throughout the streets and alleys of Hangzhou in an instant.

After Xiao Qiyuan received the report from the governor of Hangzhou, he was even more furious.

The prefect of Hangzhou was ordered to quickly post a notice to refute the rumors, and the city gates of Hangzhou were closed. The entire city was under martial law, and the officials went to the streets of Hangzhou to arrest "rumour-mongers".

Although it is not certain whether the Eight Banners in Hangzhou were really wiped out, the heads of Jin Li and Li Baoguo are genuine. Now Qian Mo is sending the heads to Hangzhou just to make people in Hangzhou panic. It seems to be true.

We are going south to capture Hangzhou.

Qian Mo, the governor of Suhu Lake in the Ming Dynasty who descended from the sky, claimed to have fifty thousand troops under his command. Xiao Qiyuan has never been able to figure out the details of Qian Mo.

The Ming army always liked to bluff, Qian Mo would not believe it with 50,000 men, otherwise Xiao Qiyuan would not have dared to send Tian Xiong to support Ningbo.

But if Qian Mo really eats Jin Li's 4,000 Eight Banners and Li Baoguo, and Wang Zaixing's 4,000 Green Camp, he might actually have 50,000 horses in his hands.

The unpredictable opponent is the most terrifying thing, but Tian Xiong is besieging Ningbo at this time, and Xiao Qiyuan will not transfer Tian Xiong back unless it is absolutely necessary.

So he quickly sent someone to ask for help from Ma Guozhu, the governor of Liangjiang and Henan, hoping that Ma Guozhu could send troops to support Hangzhou. After all, Suzhou and Songjiang were very close to Hangzhou. Previously, Xiao Qiyuan also sent Tian Xiong to garrison in Songjiang. Now that Hangzhou is in danger, Ma Guozhu cannot die.

No help.

In addition, people were sent to Fuzhou to ask for help from Chen Jin, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang. After all, Zhejiang is also under the rule of the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang. Although the war in Fujian has entered a critical moment, if Hangzhou and eastern Zhejiang are lost, so will Chen Jin, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang.

Hard to blame.

However, after all, these can't quench the thirst from far away. At present, Hangzhou's military strength is empty, so it is still necessary to draw troops from surrounding prefectures first.

The closest to Hangzhou is naturally Jiaxing Prefecture, but Jiaxing has already deployed 2,000 of Wang Zaixing's men to attack Huzhou, and now it seems that the situation is more doomed. Now there are only 1,000 people left in the entire Jiaxing, but if all of them are mobilized, Jiaxing will

It was lost. It was equivalent to Zhejiang and Jiangsu being cut off by Qian Mo. He would not dare to touch these 1,000 people no matter what.

There is no need to consider Shaoxing Prefecture. It does not have much troops, and some of them were recruited by Tian Xiong to attack Ningbo.

Although Yanzhou Mansion and Jinhua Mansion are now empty of troops, they are not as important as Hangzhou anyway. Xiao Qiyuan ordered the two governments to send at least 2,000 troops each to support Hangzhou.

Now there are only 6,000 soldiers and horses left in Hangzhou Prefecture, 5,000 are in Hangzhou City, and 1,000 are stationed in Changhua and Lin'an to the east of Hangzhou. At this time, there are no other places to worry about, and these 1,000 soldiers and horses are also needed.

All shrink to Fucheng, Hangzhou.

After receiving two messages from the Intelligence Department, Qian Mo hurriedly led 6,000 troops from the Chongming Battalion and the Shenji Battalion to directly occupy Anxi Town, north of Yuhang, which was originally the residence of Hangzhou Deputy General Li Baoguo to resist the Ming Army from Huzhou.

threats.

However, with Li Baoguo's entire army annihilated, there were no Qing troops stationed here at this time.

Liu Yichen said: "Now the entire city of Hangzhou is under martial law, and the nearby Qing troops are heading to Hangzhou to support Hangzhou. However, Jiaxing has not received orders from Xiao Yuanshan to support Hangzhou."

Qian Mo said with a hint of regret: "It seems that Xiao Yuanshan is still using his troops calmly. If he doesn't mobilize Jiaxing's troops to go to Hangzhou, we can't cooperate internally and externally to capture the city of Hangzhou."

"He did not abandon Jiaxing, probably because he was waiting for reinforcements from the Susong area. He ordered Wu Qi's Taihu Battalion to attack Xishan Island in Taihu Lake. In addition, the Intelligence Department released the news that the Ming army was going to attack Nanjing and Suzhou. Ma Guozhu could not be allowed to go to Hangzhou to cause chaos.

.”

Gu Yanwu said: "The news that our army has completely annihilated the Eight Banners in Hangzhou has been sent to Chongming, and His Royal Highness the Supervisor is very pleased. The Chongming Navy will also cooperate to contain the Qing army in the Susong area. At this time, the Qing army in the Susong area is only ten thousand.

They may not dare to come to support Hangzhou."

"Tianjiazhuang's workshops and personnel have all moved to Tianmu Mountain, and Jiaxing is ready. Once the Qing troops in the Susong area go south to support Hangzhou, the prefect Lu will lead them to the Tianjiazhuang bastion."

Qian Mo said: "In addition to the Susong area, surveillance must also be strengthened in other directions. The lessons learned from Jin Li's last sneak attack on Huzhou were too profound, and we must take precautions."

Liu Yichen said: "The Intelligence Department is doing its best to investigate from all directions, and first-hand intelligence will be sent at any time to ensure that we know the movements of various Qing troops faster than Xiao Yuanshan."

Qian Mo was quite satisfied with Liu Yichen, especially since the Intelligence Department immediately sent the news that Zhang Mingzhen was trapped in Ningbo by Tian Xiong, which was very timely.

Although King Lu was in Chongming, Zheng Cai could not coerce the emperor to order the princes, and the Ming army in Fujian did not have internal strife like in history. However, because the Ming army recovered 3 prefectures, 1 state, and 27 counties in Fujian in one fell swoop, the commotion was really too big

, a large number of Eight Banners soldiers have rushed to Fujian to support, and now the Ming army in Fujian is retreating steadily.

The Intelligence Department also promptly sent the news that the Fujian Ming Army was about to be defeated by the Qing Army.

This is what shocked Qian Mo. It was precisely because the Qing army transferred a large number of troops from eastern Zhejiang to Fujian that the Ming army was able to conquer eastern Zhejiang so smoothly. If the Ming army on the mainland of Fujian was completely defeated by the Qing army,

Once this is done, the tens of thousands of Manchu and Han troops in the hands of Chen Jin, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, can be used to support other battlefields.

At this time, Li Chengdong of Guangdong had not announced that anyway, whether Chen Jin went north to Zhejiang or west to Jiangxi, it would be very detrimental to the Ming army. That's why Qian Mo gave up his rest and went south to attack Hangzhou overnight, and even publicized the annihilation of the Eight Banners in Hangzhou everywhere.

, making themselves the target of attack by the Qing army.

Xiao Qiyuan was indeed no ordinary person. He should have seen Qian Mo's intention to bring back Tian Xiong to rescue Zhang Mingzhen, and did not send Tian Xiong's troops back to rescue Hangzhou.

However, Xiao Qiyuan's intelligence lagged behind after all. He, the governor of Zhejiang, could not see the overall situation from a higher strategic level. Qian Mo expected that he would definitely ask for help from Chen Jin, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang. Chen Jin was asked to mobilize some troops to assist Zhejiang.

, Qian Mo’s real purpose is to give Fujian’s Zheng Cai a breath of relief.

As long as Zheng Cai persists for another month and Li Chengdong of Guangdong also announces that he is changing, the situation in Nanming will be completely revitalized. By then, it will not matter even if the Ming army has lost Fujian's territory.

In the west city of Lin'an, Niu Xiaocun, the commander-in-chief of the Qing army, was anxiously heading towards Changhua.

Xiao Yuanshan, the governor of Zhejiang, ordered him and the 500 Qing troops from the Changhua direction to rendezvous in Lin'an and withdraw to Hangzhou together, and they must arrive before noon tomorrow.

It is already dusk now. According to the route from Changhua, the Qing army should have arrived. Why haven't they arrived yet?

Seeing the very anxious look of his boss Qian, the soldiers on the city asked in confusion: "Mr. Niu Qian, the commander ordered us all to evacuate to Hangzhou City. The entire Hangzhou Prefecture except Fucheng is completely empty. Chang

Just gave all of Hua and Lin'an to the Ming army?"

Niu Xiaocun was originally in a bad mood. Seeing this weak-sighted soldier who said "avoid picking up which pot", he ignored him.

Unexpectedly, another soldier next to him said: "Not only Changhua and Lin'an, I heard that Yanzhou and Jinhua also received orders to transfer their troops to Hangzhou. Now the entire northwest of Zhejiang is empty of troops."

Niu Xiaocun became angry all of a sudden. He knocked down the soldier and cursed angrily: "If you dare to talk nonsense and disturb the morale of the army again, you will be dragged out and chopped."

At this time, another soldier quickly came to the rescue and said: "President Niu Qian, President Wu Ba from Changhua and the others seem to have arrived."

Niu Xiaocun hurried down to the city and asked, "Brother Wu, why did it take you so long to arrive? Governor Xiao strictly ordered us to arrive in Hangzhou before noon tomorrow."

"It's almost dark now, and there's no time for you to rest. Let's set off right away."

At this time, Mr. Wu said with embarrassment: "It's not just the big gentry in Changhua. They heard that the Ming army was about to attack and they were worried about retaliation, so they blocked us on the road and refused to let us go, which wasted time."

Niu Xiaocun was in a hurry to set off and didn't notice the panic look on Mr. Wu Ba's face.

Fortunately, Lin'an was less than 50 kilometers away from Hangzhou, so there was still enough time. Niu Xiaocun quickly gathered his team and set off overnight.

At the Jinxi Pier outside Lin'an City, the ships had been prepared for a long time, and the army decided to take the water route to Yuhang first.

Yuhang is only 20 kilometers away from Hangzhou. The most important thing is to travel by water and land to save energy and time.

On the hillside near Yuhang Pier, Huang Yu has led the Jingnan Battalion to lie in wait for a long time.
To be continued...