The next day, the first day of the Lunar New Year in the 13th year of Yongli's reign, perhaps because of the interference in staying up late yesterday, the Ming army harassed the front line of Laohu Mountain more frequently.

At noon, the main force of the Han army rushed to Jiangshan County first. Before nightfall, the green camp also hurriedly arrived. The total strength of the Qing army also surged from 10,000 to 32,000 soldiers. This is not a bad situation.

Huge numbers, but the problem is that during the same two days of the first and second day of the first lunar month, the Ming army's Qinding Town, Youqi Town, Zuohuwei Town, Youhuwei Town and Rong Banner Zuo Town,

Troops from as many as six towns in Rongqi Youzhen also arrived one after another, raising the total strength of the Ming army to 24,000.

On this night, the Qing army still had an absolute advantage in strength. But after these two days, the Ming army seemed to have more desire to fight.

Due to the failure of the night attack on New Year's Eve, Akshan, who still held the view of taking the lead in war, could no longer get much support from the Manchurian generals. What's more terrible is that after the night attack failed, the few Han army flag officers carried

The scapegoating caused the newly arrived generals and generals of the main force of the Han Army to fall to the camp of the main defenders. Since you can't avoid being scapegoated even if you don't speak up, it's better to follow the crowd, at least you can get away with it and not blame the public.

In this way, the main defenders headed by Melezhangjing Ayuxi have the say in the army. In addition, 14,000 of their 32,000 soldiers are green camp soldiers. Due to the formation of the army during this period,

Because of his distrust of the Green Battalion's combat power, Jidu was not quite ready to attack rashly.

However, it only took a short night to indulge in the beauty of having superior strength and that the Ming army had no choice. On the second day, before lunch was even delivered to the table, Jidu received the news that he had lost his appetite for food.

And this news happened to be caused by him specially sending someone to ask for it, and he didn't know if this would be considered as causing trouble for himself.

"Your Majesty, Master Hadanara may have been slowed down by the pirates in returning reinforcements. Perhaps he did not leave from Guangxin Fucheng..."

When Jidu ordered Gadakhun to return reinforcements earlier, he specially sent people to Guangxin Fucheng to ask the local government and the Green Camp to make logistical preparations for the return of reinforcements. This was as it should be, but after a few days,

Gadahun, who was supposed to be able to arrive in one day, was nowhere to be seen. There was not even a flying pigeon in Guangxin Fucheng to pass the message. Jidu felt something was wrong and sent someone to Guangxin Fucheng to inquire, but he rushed back to Guangxin Fucheng.

The news is that Guangxin Fucheng has never seen Ga Dahun and his men at all, and there is no even news.

If a large living person, or three or four thousand bannermen, disappeared inexplicably, it would be difficult for Jidu to have any strange thoughts at a time when Jidu was in urgent need of help.

Here, Lord Hadanara in Jueluo Yabulan’s mouth naturally refers to Gadahun. Because the Nala clan is also called the Nala clan or the Nalan clan. This surname mainly comes from the royal families of the four Jurchen tribes in Haixi, such as Kangxi

Nalan Mingzhu, a powerful minister of the court, was born in the Yehe tribe, so he can also be called Yehenala Mingzhu. In the same way, Gadahun was born in the Hada tribe, so he can also be called Hadanara.

Because they come from the four royal families and are also noble surnames in Jurchen history, the Nala family is not a minority in the Qing army. When Joluo Yabulan mentioned the Gushan Ezhen, he used his full name, which was a distinction.

It was a reminder to Jidu that as the commander-in-chief of the army, he could not place all his hopes on his subordinates. If Gadahun could not arrive in time, or could not come back at all, he must be prepared for the worst.

Although Jidu was a step ahead of his father, he was not stupid. He was more lacking in experience and experience. At this moment, when the clan elder said this, he understood clearly what should be done.

But even so, questions like "Where on earth did Gadahun go?" kept popping up in his mind.

With such doubts, Jidu spent another two days. During this period, he repeatedly sent people to Guangxin Fucheng to inquire about the news, but there was no result. But after these two days, he could no longer sit still.

Because the last news sent back by the courier to Guangxin Prefecture turned out to be that Yushan County was lost. In other words, the Ming army had completely cut off the road for Gadakhun to return to aid. At the same time, the Ming army seemed to have started again.

In the new round of reinforcements, the first to arrive was a unit called Ranger Town.

"This guerrilla town did not appear at the end of the twelfth lunar month. It is likely that the pirates were just transferred from northern Fujian."

As a witness, Ayuxi must have a better understanding of the enemy's formation than other Eight Banners generals. The arrival of this new force is obviously not a good thing - not only is the Ming army's strength increasing, but more importantly, they had previously speculated that Zheng Chenggong

The reason why there has been no further increase in troops in the past few days is that the transportation capacity of Xianxia Pass is limited, and military supplies and grain and grass occupy a large amount of transportation capacity. But now it seems that the Ming army has most likely solved this problem and has the ability to further increase troops.

"In addition to the twenty-eight star camps, there are at least six towns where the pirates have not appeared..."

Six towns means 18,000 soldiers. And this does not include the twenty-eight star camps. Even if some of them have appeared on the ground of Jianchang Mansion and Guangxin Mansion, this is after all.

There are a total of 14,000 soldiers, even if only half of them come, there are still 7,000. If we include the Ming army that has now arrived in Jiangshan County, then Zheng Chenggong will have more than 50,000 soldiers!

Obviously, this guerrilla town is probably just the first, and more troops will inevitably cross Xianxia Pass, and by then their strength advantage will no longer exist.

"We can't wait any longer. Even if we wait any longer, it will be useless even if Guan Zhongzhong and Gadahun arrive. Our army must fight the pirates before their strength exceeds ours!"

This sense of urgency stems more from the distrust of the Green Camp's combat power. Not to mention the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners, even the Han Army's Eight Banners did not think they would easily lose to the Ming Army. However, the Eight Banners in Jidu's hands

In total, there are only 18,000 soldiers, which is already less than the current number of Ming troops. Even if Gadahun can come back with reinforcements, even if Zhongzhong can arrive smoothly, he can only level the troops.

That's all.

But according to the momentum of the Ming army, they have no intention of giving him any chance. At that time, the Ming army only needs to use five elites plus three cavalry towns to contain the Eight Banners of Manchu and Mongolia regardless of casualties, and the remaining towns will attack the Han army.

The Eight Banners and Green Camp troops attacked fiercely, and the probability of defeating the Qing army was so great that Jidu was absolutely unwilling to accept this battle. Once the Ming army had an absolute advantage in strength, Tiger Mountain and Xishan could not be defended at all. He would have to give up.

The Eight Prefectures in eastern Zhejiang must stick to the Qiantang River defense line, or risk a fight to the death and sacrifice the lives of thousands of Eight Banners troops to survive. No matter which option is chosen, the result will be unbearable for him.

In the past four years, this is the first time that Prince Zheng Jidu has acted "arbitrarily". Needless to say, the main combatant faction has not mentioned this. As the Eight Banners Army, they have long hated the passive defense for a long time. Even if Ayuxi is the leader, As the situation further deteriorated, the main defenders also expressed their determination to fight to the death. This is obviously not a conflict between the battle and defense strategies, but a matter of life and death for the Quzhou Eight Banners Army. They are united together like never before. There is no distinction between flag color, no distinction between Mongolian and Han troops.

Starting from the fifth day of the first lunar month, the Qing army began to mobilize aggressively to expel the Ming army from infiltrating into Laohu Mountain and the southern section of Xishan. In response, the Ming army sent more troops to increase the harassment of the Qing army. The scale of the battle between the two sides It continued to escalate, and on the sixth day of the first lunar month, a large number of Eight Banners troops appeared in the area west and south of Laohu Mountain. At this point, Zheng Chenggong also understood the intention of the Qing army, but did not shrink the front, but mobilized More troops participated in the war, and even assumed a posture of decisive battle with the Qing army.

The Ming army did not choose to continue waiting for reinforcements. This was indeed beyond the Qing army's expectations. However, since Zheng Chenggong was so arrogant, it was the best thing for them. Because the battlefield would be more favorable to them. The place adds a chance of winning.

Early in the morning on the seventh day of the first lunar month, the Ming army came out in full force and attacked the front line of Laohu Mountain. In response, the Qing army naturally sent troops to fight and formed a formation in the southwest of Laohu Mountain.

The scouts and rangers of both sides chased You Dou in this large area, trying to obtain more intelligence and better shield their own military intelligence. The Qing army's cavalry was more dominant in terms of quantity and quality, but the Ming army's cavalry was more dominant. After so many years of fighting, the cavalry is by no means a weakling. Both sides come and go, and the light cavalry dog ​​fights are endless. As the Ming army presses step by step, there is also room for them to fight. They continued to compress until the Ming army reached two miles away from the Qing army's formation.

"Master Guo, the Tatars seem to be ready."

"There's no rush, they want to wait for work and are waiting for our army to launch an attack."

Although he has long been canonized as a prince, Zheng Chenggong still likes his subordinates to call him the surnamed Lord. This title has special meaning to him, not only because of the deep kindness of the former Emperor Longwu, but also because of the deep kindness of the former Emperor Longwu. The feeling of guilt that allowed him to persevere no matter how dangerous the environment was.

At this moment, the main force of the Qing army was already in front of him, but he was surprised that he did not have the urge to kill them all immediately. This restraint was developed little by little through many years of fighting, and it was especially because of him. He told himself time and time again that he and Chen Kai had been planning for years, step by step, to weaken the main force of the Qing army to its current level. All that was left was to finish the job, and there must be no mistakes, otherwise The hard work of these ten years will be ruined in one day!

"Let the sons gather their strength and defeat the Tatars in one fell swoop. Our army will have lunch in Jiangshan County."

The scouting horses from both sides continued to report back. The Ming army responded to the formation of the Qing army and placed the most elite Rong Banner Zuozhen, Zuoxiangzhen and Qindingzhen on the left wing of the army, while the other two elites—— Rongqi Youzhen and Youxiangzhen occupy the center of the army, while Youbingzhen and Zhiwu Town, which just arrived yesterday, are tied on the right flank near the west bank of Jiangshan Port.

"The pirates are planning to drive us down the river."

These words popped out one by one, and Jidu was furious.

In fact, he was not angry because of the intention of the Ming army's formation, but because they had the same idea and placed the most powerful Eight Banners of Manchuria and some of the Eight Banners of the Han Army on the right wing corresponding to the left wing of the Ming Army.

The army and the left wing were assisted by the remaining Eight Banners of the Han Army and the Green Camp. To put it bluntly, the Ming Army wanted to face the Eight Banners of Manchuria. Otherwise, they could completely put up a layout of defending on the left, attacking on the right, and assisting in the middle.

"Your Majesty, there seem to be fewer pirates than we expected."

"What?"

According to the intelligence of the Qing court, the Ming army in Fujian was mainly infantry, with a mixed cavalry and artillery force consisting of three thousand soldiers from the five battalions of the two associations, and a cavalry force composed entirely of cavalry, with a force of one thousand cavalry. According to this calculation

, the Ming army should have 27,000 soldiers. But just now, Tan Ma unexpectedly discovered that the two newly built towns of the Ming army - Zuo Huwei Town and You Huwei Town each had only about a thousand saber bearers.

The shield holds a crossbow, but there is no armor at all. The sword is a common lancet, and the shield is also a shield commonly used by the Ming army, but the crossbow vaguely looks like a crossbow, and the soldiers are all tall and strong.

These two towns also have a strength of 3,000 soldiers, but except for the crossbowmen, the remaining twice as many soldiers seem to be just auxiliary soldiers, who are probably dedicated to winding the crossbowmen. But now, they are

He was driving a strong ox to pull a cart, and there was only a large box that seemed to be integrated with it. However, he found that the strange horse could not get any closer, so he could only see so much.

"Putting out a crossbow? A single crossbowman can form a town?"

Not to mention Jidu, even Ashange, who is the real Gushan'e, and Jueluo Yabulan, who has been commanding the white-armored soldiers for many years, have no idea what kind of medicine Zheng Chenggong is selling in his gourd.

Since the Southern Ming Dynasty, the Ming Army has never lacked in strange and bizarre formations. The Luoluo and War Elephants of the Southwest Ming Army, the spear phalanx, grenadiers, Iron Man Army, and Tengpa Formation of the Fujian and Guangdong Ming Army are all beyond their imagination.

There is nothing that the Ming Army cannot do. However, the vehicle and artillery battalions trained by Guan Ning Army at that time still used artillery and firecrackers as their main attack weapons, and they were still beaten by the Eight Banners Army to the point where they didn’t even recognize them anymore.

It's just two thousand crossbows, so it's really nothing to make a fuss about.

This information was discovered by the Ming army's scouting horses during the march. At this time, the Ming army had already formed its formation, and Zheng Chenggong had hidden the two heavy crossbow towns behind the commander's flag. The only ones they could vaguely see were the two town flags.

——Two tigers lunged towards the left and right with their mouths wide open.

As the Ming army's formation was completed and they began to take final rest, Jidu's attention returned to the field battle in front of him. Nervousness and excitement were intertwined and twisted into a knot. You can't tear me away, and I can't tear you away.

, how exciting it is.

This was the first time he led an army in a wild battle with the Ming army, and the power of command had been entrusted to Gushan Ezhen Ashangge. Here, looking at the leader of his command, Ashangge, Jidu knew very well that this Gushange

Shan Ezhen is not good at planning, but he is an absolute expert in wild battles and charging into battle.

At this time, the Ming army seemed to have completed its final rest. Zheng Chenggong's commanding flag moved, and Wan Sheng's shouts rushed towards his face like a mountain roaring and a tsunami, making Jidu's face turn green.

It is undeniable that in the past twelve years, under the leadership of Zheng Chenggong and Chen Kai, the Fujian, Guangdong and Ming armies started from a small island and now have become a behemoth that controls the territory of nearly three provinces and has tens of thousands of troops. During the Ming and Qing wars

Zhong has long become a presence that cannot be ignored. However, the Manchu Qing behind him did not grow up as a small Jianzhou Guard. With three generations and decades of achievements, he could dominate the world. At its peak, the Ming army was limited to Yunnan and Guizhou.

and some islands along the coast.

At this moment, Jidu was bearing the oncoming sound wave and watched the end of the sound wave as the Ming army marched in formation in an orderly manner. Looking back, he saw the Qing army's lookout post on Tiger Mountain signaling "nothing happened".

Flag language, he looked back again, more confident in victory than the enemy.

Within two miles, in response to the shouts and heavy footsteps of the Ming army, the Hongyi cannons operated by the Eight Banners of the Han army also let out angry shouts. The Hongyi cannons took a long time to load, even Chen Kai's Hongyi cannons.

Systematically trained artillery teams such as the artillery team are still inevitable. Every time the sound of artillery roars by, the drums and footsteps of the Ming army will become the main theme of the battlefield again, over and over again. Even if the artillery shells fall into the battle formation of the Ming army

It stirred up flowers of blood, but it still couldn't change at all.

The Ming army was marching forward. What made Jidu feel a little strange was that the Ming army's Hongyi artillery team was so prestigious. Even if they didn't arrive, the artillery teams in each town should return the favor. However, looking at it, Ming

However, the formation of the Qing army did not push the artillery forward, and even the infantry archers and gunmen did not step forward. They were completely ready to fight the Qing army directly.

Regarding the battlefield, he mostly listened to what his fathers talked about and saw it with his own eyes. If there was anything strange, it was extremely difficult for him to ask questions based on his current state of mind. However, this question did not follow the Ming army as they advanced.

They formed a team and disappeared again and again. They always maintained the same formation as when they started to advance without any change. Even when they were within a hundred steps, they were still facing the rain of arrows from the Qing army.

"Isn't it time to use the archer to shoot back?"

Jidu heard his father say that in their early years, they fought against the Ming army and killed hundreds of people head-on, which was often enough to collapse an army of tens of thousands. Even if it was as strong as the Eight Banners Army, its ability to withstand casualties was limited.

.Here, the Ming army is smaller than the Qing army, and much smaller. Logically speaking, the Ming army should attack and cause damage to the Qing army as much as possible, instead of just the rattan players skillfully raising the rattan cards like now.
To be continued...