Obeying Wang Kong Youde, he followed the order of General Tan Tai of the Southern Army and led his troops as the vanguard to go south first and rushed to Xuzhou to garrison.
As soon as the soldiers and horses arrived in Nanyang (Yutai), they received bad news.
The reconnaissance cavalry rushed over and brought the news that Xuzhou had been lost. "Shen Bao, deputy commander of the Xuzhou garrison, rebelled and surrendered."
Kong Youde was eating stewed fish caught in Weishan Lake. He almost got stuck in his throat when he heard these words and threw down his chopsticks, "Shen Bao rebelled and surrendered? He is one of Liu Liangzuo's five tiger generals. It seems Liu Liangzuo also rebelled!"
"Your Majesty is wise, Liu Liangzuo took Huai'an and rebelled, and also encouraged several old troops to surrender together. Now Sizhou, Haizhou, Xuzhou, and Qingyang have all surrendered without a fight."
"Pass my order to break camp and set off immediately, rushing to Xia Town!"
"Your Majesty, the Ming thieves are coming fiercely, and the Liu thieves are rebelling. Do you want to station here first and report to General Tan urgently?" a general reminded him.
"Huama Liu is nothing," Kong Youde said disdainfully. "This guy was just demoted and dismissed by the imperial court for losing Yangzhou, so he was afraid of surrendering to the enemy. There are no Ming thieves who can fight. Hurry and go south, don't let the thieves come back. Robbed Xia Town."
Xiazhen was originally called Xiacun, a small village by a Weishan lake.
At the end of Jiajing, the transportation road from Xiacun to Nanyang was newly opened, so Xiacun became a shipping dock, and industry and commerce became increasingly prosperous. In the third year of Longqing, the village was transformed into a town.
At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and the Household Division moved from Gutou Village to Xia Town. Starting from the 16th year of Wanli, it took two years to build four earth walls and four towers.
It is more than 900 meters tall and is two feet and five inches tall.
Troops are stationed here all year round to maintain water transportation, so it is also called the Ministry City.
Xia Town borders Nanzhi and Shandong, and is divided into two provinces.
The north part of the town belongs to Teng County, Shandong Province, but the south part of the town is under the jurisdiction of Nanzhi Pei County, so there is a saying that two provinces and three temples are built at one step, and one street is divided into two counties.
Kong Youde did not pay attention to the flower horse Liu, nor did he pay attention to the Ming army. This obedient king was originally a miner in Tieling, Liaoning. He was good at bows and horses but illiterate. After the Jin Dynasty occupied Liaoshen during the Tianqi period, Kong Youde and his brother Kong Youxing defected to Mao Wenlong, participated in the Zhenjiang Victory, and later transferred to Pidao.
He also became very close to fellow countryman Geng Zhongming and worshiped him as his adopted brother.
Because Kong Youde was brave and good at fighting, he was the first to arrive at the battle and became the highest among the generals. Mao Wenlong adopted him as his adopted grandson and gave him the name Mao Yongshi.
However, Mao Wenlong was later killed by Yuan Chonghuan. Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming were angry and dissatisfied, and finally left Dongjiang to join Sun Yuanhua, and finally followed him to Denglai.
At that time, Sun Yuanhua advocated Western learning and actively built a new army of Western-style firearms. He purchased many firearms from Macau, Guangdong, Fujian and other places, and recruited many Western gunner instructors. The tools were waiting for Denglai to form a new army. Kong Youde became the new army. of generals.
In the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, Kong Youde led the new army across the sea to Liaodong to support the operation. However, he encountered strong winds at sea and returned. He led 800 cavalry to support the land route. However, there was a snowstorm on the way and there was insufficient supplies. When the soldiers passed by Wuqiao, they ate chicken at the landlord's house without giving him any money. , was sued to Kong Youde, who punished the soldiers by piercing their ears with arrows and traveling to the camp. As a result, the hungry and angry soldiers mutinied, burned the landlord's manor, and persuaded Kong Youde to mutiny and return to Dengzhou.
That was already thirteen years ago.
In the end, Kong Youde was defeated in the Denglai mutiny and led more than 10,000 troops across the sea to Beitou to Houjin, bringing with him the fleet, red cannons and craftsmen that Houjin urgently needed.
Kong Youde was awarded the title of marshal of the capital, settled in Liaoyang, and formed an army of his own, called the God's Blessing Army.
A few years later, when the Later Jin Dynasty was transformed into the Qing Dynasty, Kong Youde was granted the title of King Gongshun.
After that, when they conquered Korea and attacked the Ming Dynasty, Kong Youde acted as the vanguard and made many military exploits. However, the Tatars did not trust this obedient king very much and basically did not let Kong Youde lead the army alone.
This time King Sanshun went out together, but he was still subordinate to the two first-class princes, Tan Tai and He Luohui.
Kong Youde did have some qualifications to look down on Wen Changbo's flower horse Liu. After all, when he was traveling across Liaodong and separatizing Denglai, Liu Liangzuo had not yet come into his own.
Although Kong Youde was born as a miner, he had been fighting for half his life.
His former opponents were Nurhaci, Huang Taiji, Zhu Dadian, Yuan Chonghuan, Wu Sangui, Li Zicheng and others. Many heroes were defeated by him. Naturally, he looked down on Liu and Lu Jianguo.
The fact that Kong Youde rushed to Xiazhen in a hurry was not because of his loyalty, but simply because his army did not have much food and grass supplies. The original plan was to go to Xiazhen to replenish supplies after passing Nanyang, and then go to Xuzhou to replenish them.
If he can't rush to Xia Town quickly, then he will have no food in the army.
Kong Youde brought 6,088 Han troops from Liaoyang this time. This army was relatively elite. Different from those of the Green Battalion, they were truly battle-hardened veterans. Many of them were brought to Liaodong from Denglai when he crossed the sea.
Among the six thousand soldiers and horses, there were three thousand cavalry, accounting for half of the soldiers and horses, and another three thousand infantry battalions. In fact, those three thousand were Kong Youde's artillery troops, not traditional infantry.
He went from Liaoyang Waterway to the Bohai Sea, crossed the sea to Tianjin by boat, and then went down the canal to Shandong.
This road basically followed the canal. His tanks, artillery, gunpowder, and artillerymen were not affected at all, and they marched very fast.
Kong Youde even firmly believed that after replenishing supplies in Xia Town, his six thousand men could advance directly to Xuzhou City. His artillery carried many tanks, artillery, and many red cannons, and he was good at using cannons.
, and has rich experience in using gunpowder to blast city walls.
As long as the Ming army did not gather in large numbers in Xuzhou City, he could directly capture Xuzhou.
Kong Youde's troops were marching very fast. He sent people to report to Tan Tai and others who were still in Jining, and at the same time rushed to Xia Town at a speed of two hundred miles a day.
The distance between the two places is no more than a hundred miles. At this speed, we can reach Xia Town before dark.
You can garrison in the city at night instead of camping outside. It's already September, it's already a bit cold outside at night, and the Ming army has captured Xuzhou, so it's not very safe in the wild.
Garrisoning in the city not only saves you the trouble of setting up camp, but is also safer.
Xuzhou.
Shen Bao of Xuzhou only had one thousand Green Camps in hand. He originally had two thousand, but Chen Tai took one thousand away from him when he went south last time, so he was left with one thousand, and this thousand was still picked.
The old and the weak after joining the elite.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Of course, this thousand is only in name, and is only stored in the military register.
In fact, after being robbed of a thousand integer by Chen Tai, Shen Bao really only had about 300 people left in his hands. As for the more than 600 missing, they were the free wages he shared with his officers, and only their names were left. There was actually no one on the register, and all the wages, money, food, equipment, etc. were eaten by them.
Xuzhou is originally an important town in the Jianghuai River and a strategic point.
But because the Qing army had already reached the Qiantang River, this important town was not that important.
Shen Bao led about 300 old and weak men, how could he defend Xuzhou?
So when Liu Liangzuo sent his son to see him and told him that the Qing government wanted to take away their military power and punish them for their crimes, Shen Bao had no choice but to go.
He, the deputy general of Xuzhou, was also responsible for the loss of Yancheng, Gaoyou and other places in Yangzhou, because although he was stationed in Xuzhou, he was under Liu Liangzuo's command and was also the defender of Jiangbei.
Liu Liangzuo said that he had surrendered, and Shen Bao immediately followed suit.
After all, Liu Zehan brought all the imperial edicts from the Lu Supervisor State, and Shen Bao was named the Commander-in-Chief of Xuzhou and the Viscount of Tancheng County.
Shen Bao accepted the edict and changed his flag. Over there, a Ming army came outside the city. They had obviously arrived a long time ago. If Shen Bao had not agreed, Liu Zehan might have asked their men to tie him up just now.
The cavalry from Jinwu Town was stationed in Xuzhou. After quickly taking over the defense, they sent troops to attack Xia Town, 200 miles away. At the same time, a navy also sailed from the canal into Weishan Lake.
When Shen Bao was told that Xuzhou would be demolished and defended immediately, he was not unhappy. He even felt a sense of relief. If Xuzhou was demolished and no longer defended, he would naturally not have to fight the Tatars. He was looking forward to it.
So he rolled up his sleeves himself, led his men to drive out the people in the city, and began to demolish the city.
Another fleet over there sailed to Xuzhou and began to ship money, grain, books, craftsmen, etc. and left.
Kong Youde's soldiers marched hurriedly. When they finally arrived at Xia Town, they suddenly heard loud rumbling noises coming from the direction of Xia Town.
"Send a scout to check!"
Qingqi galloped away and soon brought back shocking news.
"Summer Town is gone."
"What do you mean gone?"
If it's gone, it's gone.
Xia Town is not a brick city wall. Although it took two years to build it, it is still a rammed earth city wall. The city wall is more than two feet high. However, the Ming army arrived before them. They used a simpler method. Just dig holes under the city wall, build many blasting chambers, and then pile them with gunpowder.
Ignite and explode.
Although it took a lot of gunpowder, it was indeed the fastest and most effective way.
After Xia Town was emptied of supplies, archives, craftsmen, etc., the Ming army blasted the city walls and gates of Xia Town, leaving gaps everywhere in the once prosperous industrial and commercial town with canals. Even the docks were burned and silted up. .
Kong Youde and his troops approached Xia Town cautiously, and only after confirming that the Ming army had really withdrawn did they dare to enter the city.
It was found that the town was indeed destroyed, and all the people in the city ran away and did not dare to come back.
The city wall was tilted this way and that, all four city gates were blown down, and the canal docks outside the city were all destroyed, making it impossible for ships to rely on them.
Not to mention that there was not even half of the batch of grain and grass that officials had urgently collected under the orders of the Qing army.
Look at this ruined city.
Kong Youde was so angry that he dropped his helmet.
After a while, I let out a long breath of anger, then walked to the gaps and looked at them carefully one by one.
After looking at it for a long time, I only came to one conclusion.
The Ming troops who bombed the city seemed to be experts in blasting like him. The holes they dug and the amount of gunpowder they used were just right.
Blasting a city wall is a technical job. It is not just about digging a hole and stuffing gunpowder into it. You have to select the weak points of the city wall. The blasting hole you dig must also be one with a right-angle turn. Put the calculated amount of gunpowder.
In the blasting hole, bricks and stones were finally used to block the right-angle turn, leaving only a small hole for the fuse to ignite.
Doing this can maximize the power of the gunpowder blast, otherwise it will be difficult to exert sufficient power even if you put a lot of gunpowder. This is all experience.
But now the Ming army has completely destroyed Xia Town, and their blasting methods are actually very impressive and perfect.
Watching the dusk fade.
Kong Youde's expression became solemn, he knew he had met his opponent.
"The whole army has withdrawn into the city. Quickly demolish the houses and block the gaps with wood and rocks. Rest in the city tonight and send more soldiers and horses to guard and defend. Be careful of thieves coming in the middle of the night."
"All artillery, chariots and horses are entering the city."
The dock was destroyed and the ship could not dock at the dock. The cannons on the ship were not easy to bring into the city. However, Kong Youde did not dare to be careless and still insisted on letting the soldiers transport all the cannons into the city.
The Ming army was stronger than he expected, so he had to be careful.
"Tonight, all 6,000 people will turn a blind eye and sleep!"
