Chapter 81 The best way to prevent intelligence leaks is to go alone
After entering Tashan City, Zheng Chenggong was able to obtain much more detailed information on the frontline military than what he had learned from Wu Sangui a few days ago.
After all, Li Fuming has been fighting here for half a year. Although he has been surrounded, he can still figure out who the enemy is and how many soldiers and horses there are.
Now that he wanted to cooperate sincerely, Li Fuming told everything he knew:
"...The enemy situation around Tashan is now like this. I heard that the old slave has been seriously ill since the twelfth month of last year.
Now, those who are left to besiege and isolate the city between Song, Xing, Pagoda and Jin are mainly the puppet prince Azige, the leader of the White Banner, who is stationed at the front, and the puppet prince Jierha, the leader of the Zhenglan Banner, who is besieging Jinzhou in the rear.
Lang.
The Tatar's deployment is to use Azige as a co-ordinator to cut off the communication between our three cities, besiege Songshan, and use Jierhalang as backup. Azige himself is currently stationed in Machang Town between Songshan and Xingshan, across the
They set up camp at Xiaoling River and built a temporary bridge across the Xiaoling River.
In this way, no matter where in Songshan or Xingshan there was someone who wanted to break out and contact them, he could divide his forces to stop them, without having to make temporary arrangements to cross the river to gather troops.
Under Azige's command, two Jialas with a white flag were also divided, which were located in Yao Township between Songshan and our Tashan Mountains, and Beitun between Xingshan and Tashan Mountains. These are necessary for our Tashan Mountains to communicate with the other two cities.
The essentials of the scriptures.
Alas, God has not blessed our Ming Dynasty. To be honest, the troops left by the Tatars now are at least half less than they were during the war half a year ago. At that time, the Eight Banners came out to fight us bloody battles. Now there are only two left.
Flag siege of the city. If the old slave had fallen ill a few months earlier, before the decisive battle, maybe Governor Hong would have won the bet!"
As Li Fuming spoke, he became emotional again. Thinking of his regrets, he couldn't help but slap his thigh so hard that his nail blades rang loudly.
His last emotion was already well known among the Ming troops on the front line, but Zheng Chenggong and others did not know about it, so they couldn't help but ask curiously.
Li Fuming only said a few more words, telling them that the puppet Khan Huang Taiji was actually seriously ill during the decisive battle in early winter last year. The specific illness has not yet been found out. Anyway, he went back to recuperate after the battle.
Later I heard that in the winter, the old slave's false concubine died of illness (Hai Lanzhu, Bumbutai's sister), and the old slave fell seriously ill again.
After Zheng Chenggong listened, he inevitably felt a little regretful for a while.
After all, according to history, Huang Taiji only had more than a year left to live. However, there are no time travelers here, so no one knows this. If Chen Shuren was here, he would not be surprised.
Many unofficial historians say that Huang Taiji was murdered by Dorgon during his final serious illness, but these are obviously not credible. Huang Taiji's health was already very poor in the last year or so before his death.
There was no point worrying about the health of the enemy chief. Zheng Chenggong quickly returned to a forward-looking mentality, summed it up, and said:
"In this case, the total number of troops in the Songjin battlefield is only the two banners of the Tatars. I heard that the Tatars have one banner with five armors, one armor and five oxen, and each oxen has 300 households. During the war, each household has its own
Come out a little.
Therefore, one Jiala has 1,500 cavalry, and one banner has 7,500 cavalry. The full strength of both banners is 15,000 men and horses. There must have been many losses in the previous battles, and it is estimated that it is barely 10,000 people.
We have tens of thousands of officers and soldiers from the three cities, right? Why are they so surrounded that they can’t move at all?”
When Li Fuming heard this, he couldn't help but sneer, feeling that Zheng Chenggong's dandy son didn't know the heights of the world: "That's easy to say! There are a lot of two flags. During the decisive battle last year, even though all the Eight Banners came out, our army still had eight soldiers totaling 130,000!"
After the decisive battle that day, as many as 50,000 to 60,000 of our troops were wiped out, and countless more were trampled to death on Bijia Mountain! The remaining troops in the three cities were only 50,000 at most.
This took another half a year. Fortunately, we and Xingshan have few people. The army rations are consumed slowly. The main force is in Songshan. I am afraid that they have already started eating dead people. Such a tired army will never be able to fight against the two banners.
.What’s more, this just means that the Manchurian Tatars have two flags, and there are also the Mongolian and Han military flags in Azigh.”
Li Fuming was also afraid of raising the enemy's ambition, so he did not say "Jurchens are absolutely invincible", but the tone in his words was already very obvious.
Zheng Chenggong also knew that he did not understand the situation and was young and ignorant, so he immediately expressed his humility to accept teachings.
Li Fuming saw that he was only an eighteen-year-old boy, full of vigor and eager to come to the rescue, so he didn't bother much.
The two worked together sincerely again to plan a specific way to break out.
After some calculations, Zheng Chenggong suggested: "Now it seems that it is impossible to save Governor Hong from Songshan. You only have seven or eight thousand people here. As long as our fleet at sea is well hidden, the Tatars will not discover it in advance.
The trip to Beacon Mountain is only twenty-five miles away. Taking advantage of the gap in enemy patrols, it is possible for the infantry march to reach Beacon Mountain. There are deep water berths there, and large ships can dock directly. It is very fast to board the ship, even if the Tatars catch up.
, can also fight to the death to buy time for friendly forces to board the ship. Therefore, it should be no problem to rescue your troops.
But according to what you said, there are at least more than 10,000 friendly troops at Cao Bianjiao Cao's military gate in Xingshan. They are not far from the sea. It is about forty-five miles to the Pier of Bijia Mountain. If we can agree on a time, we can rush to Bijia Mountain together.
This time we can be considered as having completed our merits.
Why don't we agree to meet at Beacon Hill at dawn the day after tomorrow? You can calculate the time yourself and leave the city in the middle of the night to try to avoid the Tatar scouts, or simply ensure that a group of Tatar scouts are intercepted and killed.
If possible, it is best to pretend to be escaping overland to the southwest with a small number of cavalry to confuse the attention of the Tatars. This way, you will be more confident of escaping at night.
On the other side of Xingshan, I will send a small sampan to land in Beiwan tomorrow and try to notify the Xingshan garrison. Regardless of whether the Xingshan garrison is notified or not, we will arrive at Beacon Hill at dawn the day after tomorrow to respond."
Zheng Chenggong thought very clearly that if he directly asked Li Fuming to go overland to Xingshan, sixty miles away, to inform Cao Bianjiao, he would definitely be intercepted by the Qing army.
Therefore, we can only take a roundabout way, first steal the opportunity and return to the sea in the dark, and then send a few ships to the northeast for sixty miles, and then find a shoal to land on.
The Tatars guarded the traffic arteries between cities very closely, but they did not pay attention to the long coastline and shoals. In addition, the Ming army had telescopes, so they could always find gaps.
However, Li Fuming still found two loopholes in Zheng Chenggong's plan. He thought about it again and again, shook his head and said, "There are still two loopholes in this method. First, Zheng Tiju, you notify our army and Xingshan Cao Junmen,
At least the difference is more than a day.
But before you entered the city in the dark this morning, you intercepted and killed a small group of Tatar scouts on the way. Now the Tatars may have discovered that a group of their scouts did not return to camp. Wouldn't they be alert? If we delay it any longer, we will definitely alert the enemy and the night will be long.
Therefore, if we have to notify Xingshan Cao Junmen to launch a joint attack, we have to do some drama today. At least we must separate hundreds of cavalry, pretend to break out and try to escape overland back to Shanhaiguan, and we have to fight with the enemy's squad of scouts.
, expose your whereabouts so that you can conceal your presence.
Otherwise, maybe the siege around Tashan will be intensified tomorrow, and it would be a fool's errand to think of sneaking out of the city by then."
Zheng Chenggong thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case. It would be really difficult not to alarm the Tatars in advance.
When Li Fuming saw that the other party agreed, his face turned cold, and he turned around and ordered his guard Li Tongtai: "How many war horses are there in the city?"
Li Tongtai felt a chill in his heart and had a bad premonition, but he still said: "There are only two hundred horses. Many of the sick and injured horses have been killed for meat. We haven't brought in military rations for five months. We have to rely on storing rations to survive."
today."
Li Fuming gritted his teeth and said solemnly: "Tonight at dusk, you lead a hundred cavalry to break out, take all the horses away, strive for one person and two horses, and then take with you the only preserved meat in the city.
Try to choose warriors and officers with high martial arts skills in the army, so that you can fight the Tatar scouts when you encounter them. It will be dusk when you leave the city, and you should be able to get rid of them after dark.
Then try to escape as far south as possible. If your life is good, you can run back to Shanhaiguan. If unfortunately you are intercepted and killed on the way, the other Paoze brothers will remember you. You can distract the enemy's attention for the main force and delay time.
I will give you a personal token that Wu Sangui of Shanhaiguan should recognize. As long as you get there alive, you will not be regarded as a deserter."
Li Fuming did not dare to write a secret letter to explain the situation to Wu Sangui. He was afraid that the secret would be leaked if Li Tongtai was intercepted by Tatar cavalry on the way.
If you only bring a token and Li Tongtai relays the situation orally, there will be no risk. The Tatars will not be able to understand the token anyway, and the token itself has no confidential information for interpretation. Even if Li Tongtai is injured and captured, there is no need for him to take the initiative to reveal the Tatar capital.
Unpredictable secret military information.
After listening to the command of the commander-in-chief, Li Tongtai knew that it was a great achievement to accomplish this, and it was indeed possible for him to sneak away with the only war horses of the Tashan Army and return to a safe place faster than Paoze. This is also possible.
Unable to refuse, he gritted his teeth and agreed.
After Li Fuming confirmed that nothing would go wrong here, he turned back to Zheng Chenggong and pointed out another flaw in his plan: "You want to meet at Beacon Mountain at dawn the day after tomorrow. This is a good idea, but you don't understand the enemy's situation too well.
Bijia Mountain is a peninsula east of here that is isolated from the land during high tide and is integrated with the land during low tide. It has always been a pagoda and a supply dock for the Xingguan Army. Just half a year ago, before the Songjin War started, there was also a peninsula there.
A temporary granary was built to store grains shipped from the rear.
After the decisive battle failed, Azige led people to burn and seize the grain stored in Bijia Mountain. Since the facilities there are complete, it is impossible for there to be no defenders. Now, it seems that there is still a Jia La establishment stationed there.
Considering that the Tatars had suffered a lot of losses in previous battles, it is impossible for a Jia La to have a full complement of 1,500 cavalry, but even a thousand cavalry, plus occasionally one or two cavalrymen were sent out to patrol, and three soldiers were stationed at Beacon Hill Wharf.
This unsatisfactory compilation is not something that a few sailors like you can defeat in a hurry.
And you can't take action in advance, otherwise you will alert the enemy. You can only attack suddenly when the response time is not long before dawn the day after tomorrow, at most half an hour, or even a quarter of an hour.
As for our army and the retreating troops of Cao Junmen in Xingshan, if we want to cooperate with you inside and outside to attack the defenders of Bijia Mountain, it will be as difficult as climbing to the sky. The Tatars are already brave, and relying on the dock camp, our army will have to march on the night road for twenty
Five miles, Cao Junmen has to march in the dark for more than 40 miles. How can he have the energy to rush into the fierce battle and attack the camp when he reaches Bijia Mountain?"
Li Fuming didn't know Zheng Chenggong's military strength, so of course he didn't dare to expect the other party to land on the beach and annihilate the Qing troops guarding the dock before responding.
When Zheng Chenggong heard this number, he was slightly frightened. But after all, he was only eighteen years old, and he didn't think his life was valuable. Anyway, he had not made many achievements, so he quickly adjusted.
In the past few years, he has been following Brother Shen as an example. Brother Shen has made great achievements and is famous all over the world. If he doesn't take some risks and be loyal to the country, how can he become famous all over the world!
"Don't worry! Our army actually has five thousand soldiers this time! There are also red barbarian cannons on the sea ships, and they are rushing to the beach to attack a pier. The Tatars' ability to ride and shoot may not be used! That's it, it's settled, it can't be defeated!
Our army is taking over the Bijiashan Pier at dawn and Yinshi the day after tomorrow! Regardless of whether you and Cao Junmen come or not, we will hold on to the Bijiashan Pier for an hour and a half! We will retreat to the sea at the beginning of the day! We will not wait until the expiration date! How many people can break through in one and a half hours?
Go to Beacon Hill, escape on the ship, and settle down with your destiny!"
Zheng Chenggong would never dare to stay any longer, otherwise the main force of the Tatar cavalry might arrive. The cavalry could march fifty miles in one hour at night.
Zheng Chenggong had just seen the map pointed out by Li Fuming. The town of Machang on the Xiaoling River where Azige himself was stationed was only fifty or sixty miles away from Bijia Mountain.
If the retreating troops of the Ming army encounter the Tatar cavalry at the Jiala level, they may be blocked and delayed. However, if they encounter the banner-level army, they will definitely be in danger.
After Li Fuming listened, he was silent. He knew that after Zheng Chenggong sneaked away tonight, he would not send anyone to contact him again to talk nonsense. Therefore, even if there were changes in the future, he could only choose to go or not to go. There would be no chance of anything happening again.
Opportunity to reschedule another time.
If Zheng Chenggong fails to do this and leads the main force of the Tashan garrison to break out in the middle of the night tomorrow night, and rushes to Beacon Mountain in the early morning of the day after tomorrow but fails to find the supporting troops, then the Tashan garrison will be tantamount to abandoning the fortified city and being lured by Azig in the wild.
Annihilated.
For a moment, Li Fuming even at this moment was still doubting "whether Zheng Chenggong was a spy sent by the Tatars to trick us into giving up our geographical advantage."
But reason told him that there was so much evidence and the war had been delayed for so long, everything should be true. If they were going to cheat, the Tatars should have cheated long ago.
At this point, even if the Tatars do nothing and keep the siege for two more months, they can still capture Tashan - given the food storage situation in the city, people will be cannibalized in one month, and in two months, I'm afraid it will be
Everyone eats everyone.
"That's all, let's just rush to Bijia Mountain for a field battle! Killing a few more Tatars is enough! If we really wait to starve to death in Tashan City, maybe the number of Tatars we kill in the end will be less than the number of Tatars killed the day after tomorrow.
Woolen cloth!"
Li Fuming and Zheng Chenggong discussed until evening. As it got dark, Li Fuming asked Li Tongtai to take more than a hundred cavalry and take the lead out of the city to break through the encirclement by land in the direction of Shanhaiguan in order to detect suspicious soldiers in advance.
After Li Tongtai left, he stayed up until late at night before Li Fuming personally escorted Zheng Chenggong and others out of the city.
When the time came, Li Fuming still felt a little uneasy in his heart, and asked the last question: "When you come to help this time, you must keep things secret, right? The Tatars do a lot of things, and there are many treacherous sycophants in the court who are easy to be bribed. If this matter is solved by the Tatars, If you detect the military situation in advance, the whole army will be wiped out!"
Zheng Chenggong was very confident, and very proud that the other party finally asked about this worry. He said proudly: "Of course, Brother Shen has long expected how unreliable the Gong Gong in Beijing is.
Therefore, Brother Shen paid for what we did from beginning to end and contributed money by himself to serve justice. The government did not know the details at all. We only received wages for transporting military rations by water, but at the right time, we did so much more. eventful!
Even the ministers of the DPRK and Central Government don’t know about things, where can the Tatars go to bribe and spy on military intelligence!”
Zheng Chenggong's simple truth immediately convinced Li Fuming, and the last stone fell to the ground. At the same time, he had a higher level of understanding of Shen Shuren and Zheng Chenggong's righteousness.
Zheng Chenggong's behavior at this moment is like Admiral Hipper of the German Navy during World War I - the German Enigma code at that time had long been deciphered by the British army. Including the Battle of Jutland, all the German army's elaborate plans All the battles were actually planned by the British.
But General Hipper often adapts to circumstances, goes alone, and when cruising outside with the battle patrol unit, he maintains radio silence and does something on the spur of the moment. As a result, this kind of plan, which even the German general staff does not know about, often has miraculous results. , but achieved some British military results.
After all, it is impossible for the British to decipher the Enigma code to obtain something that even their own general staff does not know about.
In the late Ming Dynasty, those confidential officials of the Ministry of War in Beijing were surrounded by Tatars who had been bribed by the Tatars. This level of spying could be said to be as good as the British's ability to decipher the Enigma code.
It's a pity that even Chongzhen, Zhou Yanru and Chen Xinjia don't know exactly what Zheng Chenggong wants to do or how to do it. The Tatars' spying will only lead to their carelessness and darkness.