Chapter 88: A Famous General Kong Youde (6,000-character Chapter)
"Old thief Hong! The barbarian is really stubborn. He has already destroyed the city and still lets his subordinates fight to the death! Thousands of lives will be counted on you!"
An hour later, as Azig and Abatai finally calmed down the situation in Songshan City and successfully tied up Hong Chengchou in front of the Songshan County Yamen,
Faced with the casualties of this bloody battle, Azig was of course furious. He whipped Hong Chengchou all over his face with a riding crop, slapping him painfully and insulting him at the same time.
Because of the butterfly effect brought about by Shen Shuren and Zheng Chenggong, although the ending of the Battle of Songshan was the same as in history, the process took many twists and turns.
Historically, the Qing army originally planned and then moved, making complete preparations without urging Xia Chengde to take action, so Xia Chengde could slowly look for opportunities.
Finally, under the pretext of hosting a banquet, Hong Chengchou, Qiu Minyang and others discussed the breakout military aircraft, and then directly detained Hong Chengchou and Qiu Minyang, and then opened the door to dedicate the city.
The Ming army in the city could not find the governor or governor, and no one organized a resistance, so the street fighting was not very fierce. The Qing army took control of the whole city with only a few hundred people killed, then disarmed the Ming army, burned, killed, looted and killed.
More than 20,000 people.
But in this life, because the Qing army was afraid of long nights and long dreams, they forced Xia Chengde to take action in advance. Xia Chengde did not wait for the opportunity to arrest Hong Chengchou and Qiu Minyang first, and only controlled one city gate.
The duration and intensity of the street fighting after the Qing army entered the city also rose to a higher level. At least one to two thousand more Qing soldiers and traitor soldiers under the banner of the Han army were killed or injured than during the same period in history.
Azig's anger was, of course, much more intense, and he deeply resented Hong Chengchou for being ignorant of current affairs and actually engaging in brutal street fighting for so long.
Abate, who was next to him, did not stop Azig from beating him wildly, but just watched the show with a sneer. At this juncture, the senior officials of the Qing court had not yet shown any intention of soliciting Hong Chengchou, and they would not be punished if they beat him casually.
After all, even if he pushed back a few days, Huang Taiji was still not sure when Songshan City would be secured. Nothing happened, so how could he think so far and think about the aftermath. Even if Hong Chengchou was slashed in the chaos, at most
In other words, the soldiers who killed him will be directly credited.
Hong Chengchou, who had just been captured, seemed to still have some blood. Perhaps he felt that he was bound to die, and wanted to have a good time before he died, so he yelled at Azig:
"Dog Tatar, if you want to kill, kill him! How dare you bark! Bah, I can't plan it, it's God! The traitors in the court are restraining me, so that I can't get justice. If Chongzhen Shuzi had listened to my words, how could I be today! Dog Tatar is still here!
I really thought you could defeat this governor just by relying on your own skills!"
Azig was so angry that he drew out his knife and was about to kill Hong Chengchou. It was only at this moment that Abata, a mature and prudent man, took action and grabbed Azig's arm:
"Okay, a whipping is enough. After all, Hong Chengchou is the old governor of Nanchao Pavilion. Since he has been captured alive, it is better to escort him back to His Majesty for his personal punishment. We will have more credit. If you and I deal with it at will, it is inevitable that we will give others a reason."
Azig did not dare to disobey his brother too much. As he put down the knife, he whispered bitterly:
"If I had known that this guy was so stubborn and foul-mouthed, I shouldn't have captured him alive just now. He was chopped into pieces by the rebel army. It's a credit all the same! There's no way a guy like this could be surrendered even if he was sent back.
None of the Southern Barbarian officials who surrendered before were depressed and frustrated by Chongzhen. This guy has already become the old governor of the pavilion, and he is not a lieutenant general who was bullied. How could he surrender? Can your Majesty still give him a higher official position?
?It’s just unnecessary.”
Abatai did not explain much in front of others. He just ordered Hong Chengchou to be tied up, and then took Azig into the treasury of Songshan City. When counting the war profits, he added:
"Although we don't understand the art of war and strategy, the insults that Hong Chengchou just made out of desperation are probably not lies. When a person wants to die, he will not tell lies. He even scolded Chongzhen, saying that there were treacherous and sycophantic people in the court.
There are just some constraints.
We also know that His Majesty's meticulous work in Beijing last year paid off. Before the decisive battle at Songshan, Hong Chengchou was forced to fight by a group of officials from the Ministry of War's Staff Division.
This kind of person may have hope if he harbors resentment in his heart. If he really surrenders to the Qing Dynasty, he may not be seeking glory and wealth like those military generals. He may just want to avenge his grievances and avenge his grievances."
Azig calmed down and pondered this truth for a while, and had to admit that his brother had much more knowledge and experience than he did. Although Abatai didn't know much about the art of war, he had more than fifty years of life experience, so he could judge people.
Still somewhat discerning.
"In that case, let's just send it back to the rear first and let His Majesty feel relieved!"
Azige bitterly asked people to tie up Hong Chengchou, and then sent troops to escort him.
As soon as the captured officials were taken care of, Azig started killing people in the city.
In addition to Xia Chengde's 5,000 men who can be retained, and other soldiers who can be recruited and surrendered, they will have a way to survive for the time being.
In addition, all injured soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, as well as all the people in the city, were massacred. In the end, 15,000 people were killed (in history, the direct massacre was 24,000 people, but now it is much less, because more people died in street fighting.
, and those who escaped)
It was impossible not to massacre. After all, the Qing army had besieged the city for more than five and a half months. The army was exhausted and had deep resentment. There were some casualties in the previous tentative sieges. Now that the city was broken, of course, they would kill and loot like crazy to vent their anger and take back the city.
Wealth is distributed among his subordinates.
This kind of massacre cannot be completely ended within two or three days, and Azig has only been killing for half a day. At noon on the fifth day of March, when the troops rested for lunch, a group of scouts suddenly came from the south to report.
I was very anxious, it didn't seem like good news.
The scout stumbled straight to Azig less than twenty steps before he dismounted from his saddle and rushed up to him: "Master! Urgent report! Beacon Mountain, Xingshan urgent report, Kong...Kong Youde Kong
Something happened to the commander-in-chief!"
Kong Youde already had the title of king, but the title given to the Han people was not worth much. Therefore, when reporting military information to the Manchu masters, within the Qing army, as long as it was reported to people above Baylor, they would not use the title of king of the Han surrendered generals, but directly
It's called official position.
When Azig heard this, he was stunned for a moment: "Didn't Kong Youde look for an opportunity to sneak attack and intercept the barbarian troop transport? At least he has a force close to a Han army flag, how come he can't even do this little thing? What is the specific battle situation! Tell me quickly.
Come on, come on, give him a bag of water!"
…
It must be said that Azig's surprise was justified, because judging from the book strength detected by the Qing army, Kong Youde's enemies were indeed not strong.
The story is divided into two parts, and the timeline goes back half a day to the same moment when Azig, led by Xia Chengde, made a sneak attack into Songshan City, which was the early morning of the fifth day of March.
After an afternoon and an evening preparation the day before, Kong Youde's troops set sail southward from late at night. After midnight sailing, they easily completed the sea route of just over fifty miles.
Located in the west of Jingzhou City, near the mouth of the Xiaoling River, the Qing navy garrison was very close to the Bijiashan battlefield in a straight line, only more than 40 miles away.
However, considering that Beacon Hill is a peninsula extending into the sea, and Kong Youde's Ministry prepared many disposable boats specially designed for arson, they did not dare to take a straight route and had to sail close to the coastline to prevent wind and waves from sinking the small sampan. A little.
After taking some detours, the mileage increased to more than fifty miles.
Before the attack, Kong Youde also continued to inquire about the enemy's situation, so what he learned about the Ming Navy's combat strength was approximately as of nightfall that day.
Because the intelligence was wrong from the beginning, it was believed that the Ming army only had 200 ships, so the Qing army believed that Zheng Chenggong only brought two to three thousand sailors, plus two to three thousand soldiers, which was nearly half of the actual number.
Although the number of people Cao Bianjiao and Li Fuming broke out was underestimated, the proportion was not that high. In fact, 16,000 people escaped. According to the Qing army's estimate, there were at least 10,000 more.
Therefore, in their opinion, when the Ming army at Beacon Hill was at its peak, there should have been 15,000 soldiers in full force.
However, the Qing army's continuous investigation showed that the Ming army's guard was lax and the number of people staying at the dock was rapidly decreasing. At least 5,000 broken troops were transported away that morning, accompanied by at least a thousand sailors -
Because Zheng Chenggong indeed asked Cao Bianjiao and Li Fuming to return to Shanhaiguan with all the wounded, sick and servants before noon that day. The route to Shanhaiguan was a swaggering sailing ashore, and the Qing army was deployed at Gaoqiao and other places on the southern side of the Liaoxi Corridor.
The local scouts will definitely discover the whereabouts of this fleet.
In the afternoon of the following day, Zheng Chenggong actually evacuated another group of defeated troops, about 5,000 people. However, this group did not evacuate to Shanhaiguan, but directly evacuated in the direction of Denglai, allowing them to linger at the port at the tip of the Shandong Peninsula for supplies.
Wait for all the rear troops to retreat, and then go to Jiangnan together.
Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong also had to consider the food and grass issue on Beacon Mountain. After all, they had no intention of sticking to it.
Now we find that the enemy is not strong, it is possible to delay and wait for a while, get more votes, and also help to make false accounts and deceive more of Cao Bianjiao's troops to sink. And for every half day stationed in Bijia Mountain, so much more food must be prepared.
After calculations, Zheng Chenggong found that to defend the land defense line of Bijiashan Village, only five to six thousand people were actually needed at most - they could kill the direct descendants of the Shen family, leaving a musketeer team of 3,000 people, and then another three thousand people.
Qian Cao, Li's elite soldiers who are in good condition are responsible for holding the line in close combat. There are six thousand people at one far and one close. They can definitely prevent the enemy from breaking through the water stronghold and hold it for a long time.
Of course, if the enemy also used Hongyi artillery to completely destroy the front line and simple fortifications, then the Ming army would have to leave quickly.
After some calculations, Zhang and Zheng only left 6,000 marines in Bijia Mountain. They had already transported the ship sailors needed for these 6,000 people, plus the gunners on the dozen or so gunboats. The actual total number of soldiers
There are about 8,000 people.
Looking at the strength of the Qing Army and Navy, Kong Youde actually has less than one Han military banner under his command, and he is not qualified to be the banner leader. And each banner has a full strength of 7,500 people. Kong Youde's direct lineage is actually only in the May 6th
Thousands of people.
However, the navy led by Kong Youde this time was not only his own soldiers, but also part of his brother Geng Jimao's troops. After adding these, the total number of Qing navy in this battle was already approaching
Ten thousand.
Among the three kings who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Kong Youde and Geng Jimao had a very close relationship. They both surrendered to the Qing Dynasty after the Wuqiao Mutiny in the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign. During the Wuqiao Mutiny, Geng Jimao acted as Kong Youde's internal collaborator and jointly killed the people at that time.
came to the governor's office.
However, the last of the three kings, Shang Kexi, was the general who pursued the two traitors on behalf of the Ming army. He had a grudge against Kong and Geng. Unfortunately, Shang Kexi failed to pursue the two traitors. After returning to Dongjiang Town, he was recruited by the court again.
The appointed Dongjiang Commander-in-Chief was jealous and ostracized, and the process was difficult to discern. Two years later, in the seventh year of Chongzhen's reign, Shang Kexi also gritted his teeth and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.
But in comparison, even after they served in the Qing Dynasty together and became generals in the same dynasty, the relationship between Shang Kexi and Kong and Geng was still not harmonious, at least it was impossible to borrow troops from each other.
Before this battle, Kong Youde felt that he had nearly 10,000 troops, which was still not enough, and he was not sure that he could completely crush Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong. Therefore, before going to the battle, he went to Master Jierhalang and asked for more reinforcements.
Jierhalang, of course, felt very strange about this request: the cavalrymen of the Eight Banners were not good at water warfare at all. How could they borrow the soldiers and horses of the Eight Banners to help Kong Youde go on a sea adventure?
Faced with Jierhalang's decisive rejection and insults, Kong Youde also shamelessly explained: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, how can I dare to expect the Eight Banners warriors to help me in the battle? I am not qualified to command them."
It’s just that among the Jinzhou siege troops, aren’t there still 1,500 gunmen sent by the King of Korea to assist in the battle? In sea battles, guns and cannons are the first priority. Only with sharp firearms can we have a better chance of winning. I implore the prince to use these Korean birds.
The gunman is temporarily lent to the general."
When Jierharang heard that this guy was not arrogant enough to think that the Han people could command the Manchus, he was not so angry. After the other party gave him a heavy bribe and said many good words, he finally got rid of these fifteen hundred Korean birds.
The gunman was temporarily handed over to Kong Youde.
It turns out that North Korea has been invaded twice by the Qing Dynasty since Chongzhen.
The first time was the "Ding Mao Rebellion" when Chongzhen first ascended the throne (Chongzhen had just ascended the throne at that time, but he still used the reign name of the seventh year of Apocalypse, and his brother Ming Xizong had just died and had not yet changed the reign name).
That time caused North Korea to give up its subordination to the Ming Dynasty, and could no longer support Mao Wenlong in Dongjiang Town with military rations. The next year, Mao Wenlong could no longer hold on, and was subsequently killed by Yuan Chonghuan with excuses.
The second Manchu invasion of the Qing Dynasty was the "Bingzi Rebellion" that occurred ten years later in the tenth year of Chongzhen. After this time, North Korea was directly beaten and had to surrender to the Manchu Qing Dynasty. In the following two years, the princes and the legitimate sons of the ministers were also killed.
Sent to the Manchus as hostages. Finally, in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, on the eve of the Songjin War, North Korea was ordered to send 1,500 bird gunners to assist in the war.
It turns out that the Qing army has always despised North Korea's military power, but they were only very impressed by North Korea's gunners - one thing to say is that even in modern times, Koreans have always been proud of their archery skills, and they often use bows and arrows in the Olympic Games.
Participate in various shooting and archery events.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, North Korea already had a very mature habit of gunshot hunters. Although the combat effectiveness of other troops was rubbish, the accuracy of the gunshot shooters was truly remarkable.
In the "Bingzi Rebellion", the most senior general who died in the battle before the Qing army entered the customs, Yang Guli, who enjoyed the treatment of Baylor, was killed by a North Korean gunman. (Yang Guli is the one mentioned above.
The uncle of Yinde, the lieutenant next to Azig. He is the son-in-law of Nuerhachi and cannot be named Baylor, but he enjoys the treatment of Baylor)
Historically, in the final stage of the Battle of Songjin, these 1,500 Korean cannon soldiers were arranged by Jierhalang outside Jinzhou City to participate in the siege of Zu Dashou. Now that Kong Youde needed more long-range firepower for naval battles, he sent them This force was borrowed.
With an additional 1,500 elite bird gunners, he suddenly felt much more confident, and it was easy to destroy the Nanmanzi.
…
At about the beginning of Yinshi, Kong Youde's troops finally quietly reached the outside of Bijiashanshui Village, which was only a few miles away.
A total of more than 11,000 troops boarded fifty Ming-style warships, carrying more than 7,000 people as the main force. In addition, there were more than 200 arson boats and sampans, each with only a few arsonists. In the end There are also thirty medium-sized rapid response ships, equipped with 1,500 North Korean gunmen, to respond to the dead soldiers who retreated after the arson ship was set on fire.
In fact, quite a few of the large ships of Kong Youde's tribe were snatched from the Ming army during the Wuqiao mutiny, and there were many large ships worth 400 pieces.
At that time, they directly rode these warships across the sea to the Qing Dynasty. There are also a few that were imitated by the Qing Dynasty warships in recent years to practice their skills.
It is not ironic to say that now we are going to sail to the Ming Dynasty on the ships we obtained from the Ming Dynasty a few years ago.
As for those medium-sized clippers, they were imitated from the Koreans and were very suitable for sea-based shooting operations. Since Yi Sun-shin resisted the Japanese army decades ago, North Korea has been very fond of developing long-range combat at sea and giving full play to North Korea's birds. He has a gun advantage and does not like to engage in close combat with the enemy.
That's why North Korea's large warships developed turtle ships, with spikes on the roof to prevent enemies from jumping on board, who would be directly stabbed to death.
The medium-sized speedboat in front of us was improved from the houseboats of decades ago. The square bow of the houseboats was eliminated and a more streamlined shape was used to increase the speed.
No one is allowed on the deck. All soldiers have to fight in the cabin, open the portholes and shoot outside. The bulkheads are made of thick hardwood boards, some of which are covered with iron sheets, which can prevent crossbows and firearms from penetrating, and can also prevent the penetration of crossbows and firearms. These ships can only be destroyed by a direct hit from the cannon shot of the Hongyi cannon.
Of course, North Korean ships focus on gunfire and speed, and naturally have disadvantages, that is, this kind of ship is very weak in close combat. The height of the ship is very low, and it will be condescended to the enemy in close combat. It is also very easy to jump into gangs. Once it is compared with traditional large-scale battles, Once the ship enters the dock and is slashed, it's basically doomed.
Kong Youde had been in charge of the navy for several years in the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, and his basic skills were still very solid. He also understood the essence of the use of these Korean ships.
He knew that these Korean ships were fast and weak in close combat, so they were specially used to deal with the soldiers who jumped into the sea to escape from the burning ships, so that they could retreat quickly after setting fire and lure the enemy.
…
Due to strict control, there were no torches on Kong You's German ships. So the darkness was not discovered by Shen's army patrol boats——
After all, the first quarter moon at the beginning of the month is not bright, and it is difficult to see ships in the distance without fire on the sea. When Zheng Chenggong led the Shen Army in a sneak attack a few days ago, Tatar guard Yonggui failed to detect Zheng Chenggong. Now the offensive and defensive positions have changed, and Zheng Chenggong Naturally, they also have to bear the disadvantage of detection that is detrimental to the defender.
Of course, Zheng Chenggong's vigilance must be much stronger than that of Yong Gui, an outsider. After all, he is a veteran who has been making a living on the sea for several generations.
Zheng Chenggong sent out a patrol boat to patrol all night, but Yonggui did not arrange a patrol boat at all.
Unfortunately, in order to improve the field of vision, the patrol ship must also raise its own fire. This creates an unfavorable situation where Kong Youde's troops are in the dark and Shen's army is in the light. Kong Youde's troops can clearly see the trajectory of the patrol ship and find the right opening in a roundabout way to dig in.
.
The existence of the patrol boat only blocked the movement space and time of Kong Youde's troops, preventing them from approaching the water village as they pleased. They could only form a snake formation in small numbers and in batches, and use flexible boats to infiltrate and advance.
It took about a quarter of an hour to infiltrate, and Kong Youde's more than 10,000 people finally infiltrated the arson boats with small targets into the patrol circle of the water village, and some of the medium-sized North Korean cannon boats that responded also followed.
Only the fifty large main warships remained outside the patrol circle and were somewhat out of touch with the front army, but the problem was not big. As long as the arson was successful and the Shen family's navy was slightly weakened, it would still be too late for the big ships to make noise and charge again.
However, just when Kong Youde was proud, an accident happened.
It turned out that it seemed that several North Korean ships were responsible for picking up the dead men on fire ships. When they passed through the patrol circle of the Shen Army, they moved a little slower, as if they were discovered by the Shen Army.
Originally, the Shen Jiajun did not dare to be sure of the other party's identity. They only saw a few boat silhouettes in the darkness and did not dare to identify the enemy or ourselves immediately. They were worried that their own troop transport ship had been washed away by the waves, so they just shouted to the other party to stop the ship.
However, the North Korean ship immediately went into action and fired wildly, alerting the Shen family's sailors for several miles around.
Including those ships that were still moored and resting on the dock, sailors jumped up immediately when they heard the gunfire and hurriedly set sail to sea.
"Li Yue is a loser! You can't even do this! This can be exposed! The Koreans are really pigs!" As soon as Kong Youde, who was sitting at the rear, heard the gunshots, he knew that the sneak attack would not be completely successful, and he couldn't help but feel pain.
Scolding North Koreans for being incompetent is causing trouble.
At this point, the various units of the Qing navy could only act according to circumstances and fight independently.
Those arson ships did not care about the last mile or two before leaving the enemy's position. They filled up the sails, adjusted the angle, fixed the steering surface, and ignited the fire in advance so that the arson ships could continue to move forward by relying on inertia and wind power.
Because the sails are fixed, the sailing speed of these fireships can still be maintained, but they cannot turn without anyone controlling them, just like out-of-control torpedoes. Once the Shen family's warships avoid it in a roundabout way, the fireships cannot turn to follow them.
Staring is strong.
The dead soldiers on the fireboat jumped onto the small sampans tied to the stern of the ship and rowed hard to the responding Korean gunboat.
The Qing army ships at the end, all under the command of Kong Youde, beat drums to cheer and formally attacked.
——
ps: The updates a few days ago were too loud. In order to quickly get over the plot without the protagonist, although I updated it twice a day, it actually added up to more than 10,000 words, and not a single word was saved.
It’s a three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, and I didn’t spend the first two days with any relatives or guests. I really had a social event yesterday, so I just updated it once, but it still has 5,000 words.
The map is about to be changed, and the outline is a bit stuck and needs to be reorganized. So today, the six thousand words are combined into one update.