The first year of Shaotian in the Ming Dynasty and the second year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty.
The twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month.
An important town in the south of the Yangtze River, Suzhou.
The bright flag appeared at the foot of Suzhou City. The leading general was the Admiral of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the Marquis of Jingnan, and the right wing of the imperial camp as the main force. Wang Meng's Yongwei Town, Zhang Pengyi's Yulin Town, and Lu Xiang
Guan's Zhongsu Town, plus Zhou Hezhi's Jiangsu and Zhejiang Navy Zhenyuan Town, with the four towns of Yuying, water and land as the main force.
There were also troops from the four towns and provincial camps in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, plus the governor, governor, and governor of the state, and the patrol battalions, with flags flying one after another.
Martial law was quickly imposed in the Jiangsu city.
Tu Guobao, who was temporarily the governor of Jiangning and the admiral of Cao Jiang, stood on the top of the city and looked at the countless waving flags. He couldn't help but sigh, "This King of Lu is really spreading the beans into an army."
Cao Hu reminded him, "The man who is now in power and has ascended to the throne is the Ming Emperor."
Tu Guobao had a toothache when he heard that. Now he is more and more convinced that Yan Jinglue is secretly transparent. Otherwise, there are 8,000 soldiers and many cannons in Jiangning City. They gritted their teeth and held on. How could they hold on for a while.
But in fact, it’s okay not to mention Jiang Ning now.
Since his return from Jiangning, he has heard all bad news. Originally, he planned to bring back two thousand yuan from Jiangning City, but Yan Wogong said that Jiangning needs troops to defend, and it will be difficult for him to bring troops.
He quickly returned to Suzhou and left Jiangning Fubiao behind.
But the sporadic news I heard now is that most of Jiangning Fubiao and Jiangnan Governor Superintendent Biao's officers in Jiangning either mutinied or acted secretly. After several military rebellions, they finally died in a surprise attack by the Ming army on the night of Laba.
about there.
Hearing the news, Tu Guobao was heartbroken.
Fortunately, Zhang Dayou only took 2,000 Fubiao to Jiangning, and Suzhou kept 3,000.
After he came back, he also recruited soldiers from all over the place, and reluctantly formed a five-thousand-strong guarding force, and even cobbled together a five-thousand-strong water camp.
Of course, they are actually canal workers and boatmen.
All they have are canals, fishing boats, etc. that were forcibly brought up, and now the canals from Zhenjiang all the way to Hangzhou are covered with thick ice. Even Taihu Lake is three feet frozen, but you can run horses on the ice. His so-called water camp is also
It's even more useless.
In addition to the 10,000 land and water men and horses assembled by Tuguobao, Suzhou City also has 1,800 Manchurian armors from Kangkara who came back with them.
Kangkara took his 1,800 Manchu soldiers, designated an area in Suzhou city, and built a city in the city, which was called Mancheng.
Watching the Ming army attack in large numbers.
Kangkara was obviously a little panicked, but he still arrived with some generals. Facing the countless flags, he publicly announced that the thieves were just bluffing, and our Manchu elite from Songjiang Hangzhou of the Qing Dynasty was about to arrive.
The thief will be defeated.
He vowed to defend Suzhou to the death again.
There was also a heavy reward of twenty taels of silver for each person who killed a thief who was enlightened, and slogans such as those who dared to be enlightened were killed without mercy.
The Manchurian soldiers became the supervising force of the Suzhou Guard.
Fu Biao is at the forefront.
However, outside the barely repaired Suzhou city wall, there is a completely different scene.
The Royal Camp of the King's Division arrived. Although the flags were flying, in fact only the vanguard of Yongwei Town came first, with several other towns still behind. The ice on the canal did affect the march, especially the transportation of many supplies.
But the people around Suzhou came to greet him. Not only the ordinary people, but also the local gentry, basically all sided with the Ming army.
Since Tu Guo Bao was guarded by Su Song, there have been endless means of plundering the people. The people have suffered terribly, and the hair-cutting order has aroused great anger and resentment. However, Tu Guo Bao was lost in Suzhou City three times, and Li Chengdong, Wu Shengzhao, etc. successively destroyed Su Song's land.
Corruption. This year’s autumn grain harvest had just begun, so the Qing army began to go to the countryside to grab grain.
The people worked hard to cultivate the land in these troubled times, but they were snatched away as soon as the harvest was harvested. Who wouldn't be angry?
Some of the wealthy gentry originally thought that they could continue to live a stable life by welcoming the new dynasty. Who knew that Tu Guobao was not polite at all. They collected grain today and collected taxes tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow they distributed more, and the day after tomorrow they apportioned it again.
consumption, and eventually had to borrow money to borrow food.
Susong, which was originally a wealthy place, had developed silk weaving and prosperous handicrafts. However, now that food from outside cannot be transported in, local goods cannot circulate. Not only are the handicraft owners unable to survive, but small handicraftsmen are even more unable to eat.
Satisfied.
The prices of salt and grain are rising steadily, and the people are hungry and full.
The city of Suzhou was lost three times, and the gentry and common people were plundered repeatedly.
By now, everyone understands that these Tatars are much more ruthless than the officials of the Ming Dynasty.
If you continue, your family will be ruined sooner or later.
Seeing that the Ming army is now recovering and growing in strength, everyone hopes that the Ming army can completely wipe out these Tatars, end chaos, and restore light.
Leading sheep and carrying wine, the gentry and landlords took the lead in welcoming Master Wang.
Seeing this scene, Wang Chuangzi ordered his old brother Wang Meng to fight bravely in Yongwei Town. The armored soldiers lined up in front. He also gathered all the horses in the town and hired several cavalry.
Walk in formation.
The cannon leader also tied big red silk flowers to the cannon, mounted it on the carriage, and marched forward in line with a mule pulling it.
The majesty of Master Wang increasingly inspired the gentry and common people who came to welcome him, and they cheered and shouted one after another.
The soldiers in Warrior Town were also greatly inspired. Their chests stood out higher, their heads lifted higher, and the expressions on their faces became more and more proud.
Someone shouted long live!
"Fuyuan, this Ming army is extremely powerful, we're afraid we won't be able to defend it,"
The city of Suzhou was captured three times. Each time before the Ming army evacuated, they organized manpower to tear down the city, destroy the walls, and fill in trenches. On the surface, he was a national treasure and fought to recapture Suzhou three times in a row. But in reality, he knew the situation and had to pay for the redemption.
After arriving at the city, the Ming army collected enough money and demolished it before leaving.
Once the Ming army demolished it, he repaired it, and once it was demolished, he repaired it.
Suzhou City was demolished and repaired three times within half a year, but after all, they were repaired in a hurry, and many places were still repaired very simply. If we really want to attack by force, those are all weak points.
Tu Guobao looked at the momentum of the Ming army below the city and fell into deep thought.
The Ming army was in good order, and the most important thing was that he saw countless armored uniforms.
The presence or absence of armor is a key indicator of whether an army is elite or not. In fact, the military uniforms of the Qing army today are generally inherited from the Ming Dynasty frontier army. Even the so-called Eight Banners of the Qing army today are just a way of distinguishing the Ming army in the past.
.
The Ming army used flags to distinguish the army, and divided them into southeast, northwest, and middle according to the directions, and each direction was marked with different colors. For example, the north was generally black, etc. To be specific, it was a very strict set of things.
Soldiers' military uniforms often have different colors based on this, and there are even main colors to add category markings, etc.
Therefore, in the past in Liaodong, the military uniforms and armors of the Ming and Qing armies were generally similar. The most obvious difference was that the Tatars shaved their hair and wore braids.
Now Zhu Yihai's imperial camp has captured a lot of clothes and armor from the Qing army, and basically used them directly, that is, adding a blouse and vest on the outside.
"Those are horse-killing swords, right?"
"Well, it is said that in Xuzhou before, the soldiers of the Nine Kings used this horse-killing sword to annihilate several thousand cavalry of King Zhishun Shang Kexi."
Among the Ming army showing off outside the city, there were many armored warriors holding broadswords, which were just this kind of horse-killing swords.
This knife is also called a machete. It is like a crescent moon, seven feet long, with a blade three feet long and a handle four feet long. It is a bit like the Qinglong Yanyue Knife. This knife cuts across a horse's feet like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. It is extremely smooth and fast to chop. Compared with the Qinglong
Yanyue Dao, this kind of horse-killing knife has a very long blade.
The entire knife is more than two meters long, and the blade is nearly one meter three.
These horse-killing swords of the Ming army were originally equipped by Zhu Chenggong's retainers. He had an elite retainer brought from Fujian, equipped with more than thirty kilograms of heavy armor, and a set of leather armor.
Holding a sword and saber, the name is Iron Man Army.
Able to withstand cavalry attacks.
After Zhu Yihai saw this, he was very impressed by the Iron Man Army and the Saber Saber, so he ordered the rear arsenal to purchase Fujian Iron to make a large number of Saber Sabers to equip various towns and form a heavy infantry to fight against the Qing cavalry.
After all, the Ming army lacked cavalry and horses. When faced with the attack of cavalry, it would be very dangerous if they could not block it.
Compared with simply using a spear or a large shield to block, this sword can be used to cut people at the top and cut off the legs of horses at the bottom. It can attack and defend against cavalry.
Yongwei Town is known as the first town in the imperial camp. It has both its seniority and its military exploits. Now their equipment is also good. The whole army has 5,000 soldiers and 1,880 auxiliary soldiers. In addition to the two associations and four standard
There are eight combat barracks, and there is also a commander-in-chief directly under the command of a cavalry battalion and an artillery battalion.
Of course, the Warrior Pacesetter Cavalry Battalion is far inferior to the Jinwu Town Cavalry. They are mainly equipped with mules and some horses. Although they are not as elite as the Tatar Cavalry, they still have four legs and can maneuver quickly.
Among the eight battalions of infantry, each battalion of 500 soldiers has 100 armored soldiers and 100 musketeers. The armor rate has reached 20%. This does not include the 500-man cavalry battalion, which is a
Fully armored, fast-moving armored infantry mounted on mules and horses.
Even those Ming troops who did not yet have iron armor such as cotton armor, cloth face armor, etc., all wore uniform military uniforms, and basically every man had an iron helmet.
Spears, swords, bows and arrows, and shields are all well matched.
Tu Guobao, who was standing on the city, looked at the Ming army and then at the Qing army defending the city behind him. He couldn't help but sigh secretly. Cao Jiang, the dignified governor and admiral of Jiangning, and his pacesetters were now wearing armor due to repeated defeats and losses.
The rate is less than 10%.
As for the newly recruited thousands of Fubiao and Shuiying, not to mention, even their clothes are still ordinary people's attire of all kinds, and most of them only have a spear or even a sharpened wooden gun.
As for the imperial camp of the Ming Army, even the auxiliary soldiers in Yongwei Town were all wearing uniforms of blue cloth, and even had knives, guns, bows and arrows and other weapons.
Wang Meng led Yongwei Town to hold a parade performance under Suzhou City, not only for the gentry and common people who came to welcome him, but also for the Qing troops on the city.
The people watched with excitement and loved this powerful imperial camp. Many people even heard that the emperor had been marrying wives for the soldiers in the imperial camp, so they directly brought suitable girls from home and pushed them directly into the team.
In the eyes of the gentry and common people of the Ming Dynasty, the former Ming army was very despicable and despicable, even like beggars, or they were just bandits and thieves.
The Ming army gave them a majestic and enviable impression.
Outside the city, the soldiers and civilians got close to each other and even began to marry each other.
But in Suzhou City, Tu Guobao felt a severe toothache.
"Report, Master Junmen, another Ming army has arrived, under the banner of Yuying Yulin Town, and the leader seems to be Zhang Pengyi!"
"hiss!"
Tu Guobao felt his tooth hurt even more. Zhang Pengyi knew that his brothers were very good at fighting, and Yu Lin was one of Emperor Ming's personal guards.