Chapter 326 The Supervisor State Arrives to Show His Power
Zhu Yihai led Jinwu's cavalry to the foot of Yanzhou City.
The flags of eight thousand cavalrymen were fluttering behind them, and there were countless flags waving behind them, as if a hundred thousand troops were gathering together and filled with smoke.
After going all the way to the Northern Expedition, recruiting surrenders, and defeating many Qing armies, Zhu Yihai also captured a lot of horses and armor, and the Jinwu cavalry also expanded to 8,000 cavalry.
Eight thousand cavalrymen, wearing cotton armor, lined up there, with the potential to overwhelm mountains and seas.
On the Yanzhou City, General Tan Tai stood there with a gloomy expression and never spoke.
At this time, there were still many horses in Yanzhou, including 10,000 Banners and 10,000 Liaodong Han troops. The 10,080 Banners were stationed in the city of Yanzhou. Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming each led several thousand troops, stationed in the east and west outside the city, because they could not get to Shandong.
Troops from Henan and other places sent reinforcements, but there was no additional supply of food and grass.
Beijing also sent an urgent messenger, ordering Tan Tai not to underestimate the enemy in the wave battle.
The imperial court comforted Shang Kexi, who died in the battle, and comforted Kong Youde, who was defeated. It even did not hold Geng Zhongming accountable for his dereliction of duty, but severely punished the general Tan Tai.
Demoted from first-class public servant to third-class nobleman.
Lieutenant General He Luohui was also deprived of his official rank, but was still ordered to perform meritorious service.
Under the severe punishment and restraint of the regent, neither of them dared to go to war easily, especially because Kong and Geng were passive and could not actively inquire about the situation of the Ming army. Tan Tai had no choice but to wait and spend the winter in Yanzhou City.
Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming were refused entry to the city and had to camp outside the city. As the weather got colder, they captured many civilians and helped build the camp all day long. They forcibly built the temporary camp into a semi-permanent city with trenches, earthen walls, and
There are arrow towers on the piers and abutments.
There are also many mud houses and wooden houses built in the stockade to prevent the tent from getting too cold in cold weather.
Everyone is busy building the village and naturally has no time to do other things.
The Ming army rushed to the foot of Yanzhou City, but Tan Tai's Eight Banners were unable to get out of the city, while Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming were guarding the East and West Strongholds separately, and they were even more unable to get out.
"The Ming army is so majestic, no wonder Shang Kexi was defeated and died. Just these nearly ten thousand cavalry are already very impressive."
On top of the city, He Luohui looked at the countless Ming troops and couldn't help but sigh.
"This is a bit like the Guan Ning Cavalry."
"How do you think King Lu can gather so many elite knights in such a short period of time?"
Tan Tai was helpless, who could he ask to know, "Look behind the cavalry, the flag is faintly visible. I'm afraid there are more people. Didn't the Ming Dynasty attack Hangzhou City before, there were dozens of red cannons?"
Door, and is it heavier and farther than ours? There may be a red cannon there!"
"Then can we hold on?" He Luohui was a little doubtful.
After all, it is really unexpected that the Ming army can fight all the way from Shaoxing to Yanzhou, Shandong Province. The Qing army has been experienced in attacking cities and strongholds since they started outside the customs, but they can only attack the strongholds like the old three.
Encirclement, then digging trenches to cut off communication with the outside world, and then bombarded by red cannons.
At that time, the Ming army was very good at building and defending the city outside the Pass, and the tough Tatars practiced equally good siege tactics.
In the past, the Qing army mainly attacked, but now it was up to them to defend. The opponent had strong troops and many more powerful artillery, which made them start to worry.
The effect of the red artillery siege is very significant.
"We have 20,000 troops and are defending the city. We should be able to defend it."
"I'm afraid that the two kings outside the city are unreliable."
"Not that much."
"It may not be possible for them to surrender, but I'm afraid they will abandon us and run away at the critical moment."
It is extremely normal for Manchus and Chinese to distrust each other.
But in the current situation, both sides still don't trust each other, so it will be even more difficult to defend the city.
"Then the only way is to fight to the death. I have ten thousand men in armor and eight banners. How can I still defend Yanzhou City?"
Yanzhou City has been a fiefdom guarded by the Lu clan for more than 200 years. The entire city is very large and very strong. There is also a royal city in the city, and now it is full of Eight Banners garrison.
However, Tan Tai was not very confident, because as early as the eleventh year of Chongzhen year when the Qing army entered the Pass, they had attacked this city in Shandong. In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen year, they had attacked again and captured Yanzhou City. At that time,
King Zhu Yipai of Lu committed suicide after the city was broken, and General Zhu Yihai was stabbed three times before he died.
Tan Tai really wanted to lead the Eight Banners out of the city to fight, but now he couldn't figure out how many Ming troops had come, and he didn't trust King Kong and Geng very much. In addition, the regent had a strict order not to go out to fight, so he had to stay in the city.
Zhu Yihai led eight thousand Jin Wujia cavalry to show off his strength at the foot of Yanzhou City. He was not here to attack the city.
Because he only brought eight thousand armored cavalry, and no infantry chariots or cannons.
He went deep into Yanzhou City this time to cover other troops and demolished the surrounding areas of Yanzhou City. Of course, this was only incidental.
His visit this time was actually just a bluff, and his real purpose was to cover the retreat of the Ming Army in the Northern Expedition.
Deliberately coming to the city by surprise and making an siege posture will only scare the Tatars, and the cavalry is fast, making it easy to escape.
"Tatars really don't dare to fight?"
The generals were extremely surprised when they saw that the Qing troops in the city and in the stockades outside the city did not dare to say a word. They did not know that Zhu Yihai had already learned about the Qing court and Dorgon's deployment strategies for the current situation in Shandong through Qian Qianyi's secret report.
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The Tatars could not figure out the situation for a while and were unable to send troops south, so they had to play it safe. Especially after the news came back from Jiangxi, it was said that Dorgon was so angry that he vomited blood, and then sent three envoys to Yanzhou within one day to warn
Tan Tai could not wait to waste the battle, and they would not be able to hold on, and he would never be easily fooled by the Ming army again.
Don't make the mistake that Kong Youde made again.
If the 20,000 troops were deceived and destroyed again, the Qing government would really be unable to stop the Ming army. By then, Zhu Yihai would be able to sweep across Shandong and Henan, and even enter Beizhi.
You must know that Hong Chengchou has already arrived in Wuchang. He wrote a memorial to Dorgon, talking about the current situation in Huguang, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Shaanxi, and believed that Huguang is now completely corrupt, and Jiangnan is the same.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Now as long as the garrison is rebuilt, the Eight Banners must be relied on for garrison, but the Eight Banners are too few, so they have to rely on the Han army. But he directly proposed to Dorgon that Shandong
, Henan, and Beizhi Green Camp soldiers were not wanted, saying that these soldiers were too weak to fight.
This is not because Hong Chengchou, a native of Fujian, looked down upon the northerners, but by the end of the Ming Dynasty, these places had already been destroyed by repeated military campaigns, and indeed there were not many good soldiers left.
He asked for soldiers from Shanxi, Shaanxi and Liaodong by name, saying that these soldiers were hard-working and capable of fighting. Then he asked for young and elite warriors to be drawn from the green camps in those places. He asked for about 30,000 soldiers to be stationed in Huguang, plus 10,000 more.
Only after five or so Eight Banners can Huguang be preserved.
Based on this, we will recruit some native barbarians in Huguang, prepare enough troops, pay them, train them, and equip them with equipment, and then launch a counterattack against Jiangxi, Sichuan, Guangxi and other places.
Before that, there was no way to fight anymore. He even proposed to give up Changsha, which was already in ruins and an empty city, because it couldn't be defended. Or the court would simply let generals like King Sanshun or Wu Sangui vassalize Changsha with their families to guard it.
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In this way, they will definitely guard it very hard.
Hong Chengchou's memorial was said to have made Dorgon kick the table in anger. He originally hoped that Huguang could make further progress, or at least attack and contain the Ming army.
Who knew that Hong Chengchou actually wanted to abandon an important town like Changsha, and wanted to defend Dongting Hubei by the river.
Jiangxi rebelled and Huguang died, so Dorgon had no choice but to send a few more envoys to Yanzhou to once again warn Tan Tai and others to hold on and not to waste the war.
Knowing such important information, Zhu Yihai was naturally confident. Taking advantage of the canal before it froze, his soldiers took boats and went up the canal to Jining, Dongping, Anping, Dongchang, Linqing, and all the way to the south of Beizhili.
On the border.
It's basically like being in a deserted place.
No one dared to defend Shandong, let alone fight. As soon as the Ming army arrived in Dongping, the governor of Shandong was so frightened that he transferred his troops directly to Jinan to strengthen the defense. Important towns such as Dongchang and Linqing on the canal could not be taken care of.
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The troops are really too few and too weak. If we defend each city separately, we will inevitably end up destroying all the cities. We can only concentrate on defending Jinan.
But Zhu Yihai didn't let them go deeper.
Jinan is easy to defend but difficult to attack, so it cannot be easily provoked. If Yanzhou's 20,000 Qing troops block the way back, there will be no way forward or retreat.
As for places such as Dezhou in the north, you cannot go there. If you go further, you will have to go deep into Beizhi. Although the Green Camp in Beizhi cannot be attacked, there are many Eight Banners stationed in Beizhi. If you go deep into Beizhi alone, you will also be surrounded.
Zhu Yihai only dared to stroke his beard like this because he now had control over the deployment of the upper echelons of the Qing army and knew the Qing army's defense and even their orders.
He intimidated the Yanzhou Qing army here, and took the opportunity to sweep away the troops there.
The Qing army wanted to negotiate peace, and of course Zhu Yihai found out through Qian Qianyi and other insiders.
Knowing that Dorgon wanted to negotiate peace and delay the war, Zhu Yihai was happy to take advantage of the plan. He needed time to relax more than the Tatars.
He wanted to negotiate for peace, but he had to show toughness, so he took this seemingly extremely risky move of 8,000 armored cavalry showing off at Yanzhou City.
Eight Thousand Jinwu kept shouting challenges in front of the city.
Twenty thousand Qing troops defended the city wall and could not leave.
At night, Zhu Yihai camped outside the city, posing as if he was welcoming the incoming attack.
Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming were very tolerant and resolutely refused to open the camp gate and sent out soldiers one by one.
However, Tan Tai couldn't bear it anymore. In the middle of the night, he sent out thousands of flags and divided them into several groups, pretending to attack and bluffing.
But Mingying was very calm.
Just as quiet and motionless as a mountain.
A Tatar general ignored Tan Tai's order to feign an attack and led his troops straight into the camp. As a result, he was greeted by countless muskets, arrows, and even many small cannons.
After a long period of rumbling, the Tatar general lost dozens of cavalry corpses and hurriedly retreated. Then the next morning, the head of the Tatar commander was hung on the Yanzhou city gate. The officers of the cavalry,
They were all dismissed from their posts, each was punished with a hundred lashes, and was made a groom.
After that, the two armies were at peace with each other and made no more moves.
Zhu Yihai trained troops every day under Yanzhou City, and even held horse riding and shooting competitions. After staying like this for a full half month, one foggy night, the Ming camp people made a lot of noise and made the Qing army very nervous.
Wearing armor, they braved the cold wind all night, but when the fog cleared in the morning, they discovered that the Ming camp ten miles away had disappeared.
The Ming army broke camp and evacuated.
Tan Tai carefully sent out light cavalry for reconnaissance, and finally received reports that the Ming army had withdrawn southward along the canal, Jining City was deserted, and the city walls were almost demolished.
News continued to come back from the cavalry.
The Ming army evacuated Luqiao Town, evacuated Xia Town, evacuated Xuzhou, evacuated Qinghe, evacuated Huaian...
There are no more Ming troops north of the Huaihe River.
At this time, it was already mid-October, and the Huaihe River had already frozen.
Tan Tai and others could finally heave a long sigh of relief and quickly reported the good news to Beijing that all the Ming thieves had finally evacuated Huaibei.
