Chapter 91 The battle is over, but the infighting has just begun
"What? Duke Shen is about to be promoted to the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing during the Ming Dynasty? Even his eldest son is already a governor?"
After listening to Zheng Chenggong's advocacy for the Shen family, Li Yu on the opposite side was immediately shocked.
Originally, he just had the mentality that "the fact that his father sent a concubine to pretend to be his legitimate son was about to be exposed, so he had to pretend that the war was not going to happen and disappear", so he randomly voted for a Ming general, without any expectation that he would be able to join the subordinates of any powerful acquaintances.
He had been chatting with Shen Lian for so long just now. Shen Lian was modest and did not deliberately show off his official position, so Li Yu was kept in the dark.
Zheng Chenggong couldn't figure out why Li Yu was so shocked, and asked with a joking look on his face: "What? Do you think Shen Jiaguan did too much?"
Li Yu quickly paused and admitted his mistake: "No, no, no...that's not what I meant, it was just a bit unexpected. The general is not very familiar with the current situation of the Ming Dynasty. He only heard his father occasionally mention that when Mr. Shen abandoned business and entered politics, he seemed to be just a principal for many years. .
Ten years after Chongzhen, the trade between Korea and the Ming Dynasty turned private, and my father never knew about it anymore. Now that I think about it, it is really gratifying."
Zheng Chenggong and Shen Lian were both curious and checked again, finally knowing what was going on.
Ten years after Chongzhen, Korea was invaded by the Qing Dynasty and became a vassal state. Therefore, from then on, the official trade between Korea and the Ming Dynasty was of course cut off. The Shen family could not bear to part with this trade route, so they had to turn to secret trade that was equivalent to smuggling.
In the period of official trade, it was helpful to brag about your official position in the Ming Dynasty. It could prevent the other party from trying to take advantage of you, and you could also get preferential purchase prices or even tax reductions.
When the shopkeeper of the Shen family arrived in North Korea, he often said, "My master is the head of a certain department in the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty."
But since switching to private trade, this kind of pretentious behavior has no value.
Because it would only get a sentence: "You used your official position in the Ming Dynasty to come to the vassal country of the Qing Dynasty to ask for trade concessions. You have such great official authority."
In the past five years, every time the shopkeeper of the Shen family came to North Korea, he kept a low profile. The North Koreans' perception of Shen Tingyang's official position was based on expired information five years ago.
However, Shen Shuren only traveled through time three years ago, and his father's official position was promoted three years ago by "one person attains Taoism, an immortal, a chicken or a dog".
In just three years, he has gone from being a chief to being a doctor, to being a minister of household affairs in Nanjing, and now he is very likely to be promoted to minister.
When this news was once again synchronized to the North Koreans who had been offline for five years, they were shocked for several years.
"It seems that you are really lucky. You unexpectedly surrendered to the enemy randomly and found refuge with such a powerful general. As long as you stay anonymous in the next few years, there should be no problems."
Li Yuru thought to himself, and was determined to seize the opportunity to show off his combat prowess.
And his opportunity to perform came quickly.
…
The time soon came to the sixth day of March.
The Ming army originally planned to be stationed at Bijia Mountain for a few hours, but in the end they found that the enemy could not do anything to them, so they actually stationed themselves there for more than a day and a half.
They also gathered one or two thousand more Cao Bianjiao and Li Fuming's remaining soldiers who had fled earlier.
By the way, we will repair a little bit the warships that were damaged in the fierce battle with Kong Youde's troops last night, reload and unload the equipment on the Korean ships onto the Ming warships, and then send the Korean ships that are not suitable for cross-sea voyages back to Shanhaiguan to Cao Bianjiao.
Doing all of this takes time. And the delay is just enough time to explain to Cao Bianjiao and the others the false accounts:
"Originally, there are still thousands of people in your rear army who have not been transported back, and they should be allowed to return to the army. But in fact, because we repelled Kong Youde's temporary raid, thousands of enemies were killed, and we withstood another wave of Aziz.
Hege's land attack resulted in the loss of most of these soldiers."
Therefore, Cao Bianjiao and others did not have to wait for their rear army. The rear army "no longer exists", at least it disappeared from the books.
While making false accounts against generals such as Cao and Li, Zhang Mingzhen also spent more than a day doing intense work to reform and persuade the soldiers from Cao and Li's old departments.
It is impossible for the Shen family's fleet to bring too much gold and silver this time. After all, there is nowhere to spend it on the sea, and bringing it will only increase the risk, so there is no way to directly send money to win over those rescued Ming troops.
Fortunately, the Shen family's servants and sailors were each rewarded with at least a dozen taels of silver before setting sail, so the rescued Ming army soldiers could get to know each other and the Shen family's servants, and recall the hardships and sweet memories.
Draw a pie.
After more than a day of contact, those miserable Shanxi soldiers and Liaodong soldiers learned that they could earn so much as soldiers in the south, and that the Shen family was so lenient in providing settlement expenses, and quite a few of them were reformed and willing to surrender.
Officers below the rank of Chief Qian all feel that their current status is worthless, and the worst they can do is join the Shen family as a black household for the time being, and then get another status in the future.
Only a few officers were more cautious and felt that it would be difficult to clear their household registration in the future. Zhang Mingzhen's identity was not suitable to explain this issue, so Shen Lian secretly answered their doubts:
"What's the big deal? The master is now in charge of the Nanjing Household Department and is responsible for the transformation of water transportation to the sea and the resettlement of Cao people. Every year, tens of thousands of water workers in Huai'an, Linqing and other places are relocated to the south.
The eldest son is in Wuchang, and he also takes over the Cao people who are moved here every year. When the time comes, you will all be registered as Cao people who moved to the south of Shandong, and you will be given a new identity. In addition, if you perform well as Cao people and join the army, you will be promoted back to your original rank as soon as possible.
, What’s so difficult about this? The master and the eldest son are in the south, and the financial, military, civil and political power can be grasped, and the whole family can be taken care of from top to bottom!"
Only then did these middle-level officers from Cao, Li's old department, completely dispel their doubts.
Especially after looking at it in the past few days, they also discovered that the combat effectiveness, morale and mental outlook of Zhang Mingzhen's army are far from comparable to any army in the Ming Dynasty today.
Is it better to hang out with such a strong teammate than to be randomly blocked and used as cannon fodder?
Especially since everyone is in Tashan, Xingshan has been surrounded by bitterness for almost half a year. They have long been fed up with the hardship of not having enough to eat. The mere fact that they can ensure that they have enough to eat in the south is already attractive enough.
In the words of Mr. Lu Xun, "If there is a kind of violence that treats people as human beings, not only as human beings, but also as inferior to oxen and horses; when people envy oxen and horses and sigh, "If people are separated from others, they are not as good as peace dogs," then give them
If the price is slightly equal to the price of cattle and horses, then people will be sincerely convinced and praise the peaceful and prosperous age."
…
And as the Ming army delayed in Beacon Mountain, news of new changes soon came in more than a day.
On the evening of the sixth day of March, Zhang Mingzhen, who was guarding the water village, had just finished brainwashing and reforming the friendly forces when he received another small group of broken soldiers from the north.
Zhang Mingzhen was originally surprised that it had been two days and one night since he was so far away from Tashan and Xingshan, and there were still broken troops escaping one after another.
But then, after a brief interrogation, he got even more explosive news from these defeated soldiers.
He also immediately called for Zheng Chenggong and discussed it together.
"These defeated troops escaped from Songshan City! I heard from them that it was in Tashan and the day after the Xingshan garrison broke through that the Tatars urgently instigated a rebellion within Songshan. Lieutenant General Xia Chengde broke into the city! Governor Hong and Qiu Fu
Everyone in Taiwan has died for their country!
According to what they said, most of the Songshan City defenders have been wiped out, and only a few thousand people have escaped. Should we wait? Maybe if we wait another day, we can gather three or four thousand more people.
But the risk is that Azig and Abatai have already freed up their hands, and the whole army may come south to Bijia Mountain at any time to attack! It seems that Azig's offensive force was so weak the day before yesterday. Sure enough, it was because the main force was busy dealing with Division Hong.
!Now that the entire army is moving south, its combat power must be extraordinary!"
When Zheng Chenggong and others heard this, they were also shocked, and then they became enlightened.
At least the reasons for the confusing enemy situation in the past few days can be fully explained.
Zheng Chenggong was young and energetic. Of course, if he wanted to make great contributions, he would do it all at once and get more benefits. He then suggested: "In this case, we will ensure that we can securely defend the water stronghold. Even though there are many soldiers and horses in Azige, we will not be able to do it in a day or two."
It's impossible to break through, so it's better to wait one more day!
There is no need to worry about being cut off by the enemy navy at sea. Kong Youde has just been defeated and lost thousands of people. It is impossible for the Tatars to prepare a second batch of fleets enough to intercept us so quickly!"
Zhang Mingzhen felt that it was a little unreliable: "After our water stronghold was reinforced, there were so many firearms battalions to cooperate with the Hongyi cannons on the ship to provide cross-fire defense. We are really not afraid of the enemy's rapid attack several times the number."
However, if the Tatars' red cannons arrive, we will be doomed! Fortunately, even if the Tatars have red cannons, they should be at Songshan. It has been nearly a hundred miles to get here, and the cannons are heavy and slow to transport. It should not be possible to arrive in one day.
.
In any case, we can try to defend during the day tomorrow. If the enemy does not have artillery, we will delay it throughout the day to accommodate more broken troops who have escaped from Songshan. At night, we must take the opportunity to sneak away and retreat as a whole.
And if it is discovered during the day tomorrow that the enemy already has Hongyi artillery, then no matter what, we must immediately board the ship and retreat! Even if the last troops on board are chased, we will not care!"
Zheng Chenggong thought that Zhang Mingzhen's strategy was safer than his, so he agreed to cooperate fully.
That night, the Ming army was in Bijia Mountain, and as expected, they successively took in more than a thousand defeated troops from Songshan and Hong Chengchou. However, many of them had discarded their equipment and armor, and were completely unorganized. They all pretended to be civilians and fled.
Take it off and come here to try your luck.
Zhang Mingzhen was unable to identify the other party for a while, so he could only lock them in a special ship and search them to make sure they did not bring weapons, so as not to sneak into the Tatars.
And early the next morning, Azig and Abatai arrived with the main force of the Qing army, which was carrying the power of Songshan's victory.
Seeing that the Ming army was still staying in Bijia Mountain, Azig was also a little angry: He didn't take them seriously! They won a game the day before yesterday, so they thought the Great Moslem couldn't capture such a mere port camp?!
Azig immediately ordered a strong attack again. Abata advised him to be cautious, but he did not stop.
As expected, Azig also paid the price for this. The Ming army originally had a firearms battalion of about 3,000 people. This time, 1,500 Korean gunsmiths under Li Yu were added, bringing the total number of firearms to 4,000.
Five hundred people.
With so many long-range fire defenses, the peninsula water fortress has been simply reinforced for two days. It only needs to defend one direction in the north. The attackers cannot make a detour, and they also have to bear the side firepower of Hongyi cannons on the sea...
Even if the attackers gathered more than 20,000 people, they were unable to deploy their forces for a while, and several attacks were repulsed.
Fortunately, after suffering a loss last time, Azig was not too impulsive this time and did not dare to be too desperate. When he found that the situation was not right, he immediately retreated.
Abatai also advised him again: "The Ming people are good at guarding the city. Since their foothold is stable and the morale of the army has not wavered, wouldn't such a strong attack be a waste of human lives? Wait for one more day, and the Hongyi artillery will arrive from the rear and ram the fence into the earth wall.
Blast them all to pieces and create a gap. It’s not too late to attack again!”
Azig was so ashamed that he had to endure the loss of hundreds of Eight Banners cavalry, wounded soldiers and Han-Mongolian soldiers, and even more.
And because the Qing army surrounded the water village, within this whole day, the Ming army, which had previously been defeated from Songshan, was defeated and hungry, and they did not dare to take the direct land route to Bijiashan water village to survive.
If you were at least ten or twenty miles away from the place, you would inevitably drown if you jumped into the sea with a plank and swam to escape.
Fortunately, after the patrol fleet of Zheng Chenggong discovered this situation, it reported the situation while fishing for people. Zheng Chenggong also divided some more fleets, brought ferry sampans, and broke them into pieces to respond. Only then did they arrive inland within a day.
Continuously responded to more than 2,000 comrades who jumped into the sea to escape.
After staying up until late at night on the seventh day of March, Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong didn't do anything else. They directly chose to light bright lookout lights in the camp, but in fact they quietly boarded the last batch of defensive soldiers and evacuated.
At dawn the next day, as the Hongyi artillery unit of the Qing army from behind was pulled to the front line of Beacon Mountain, Azige finally launched a general offensive with full confidence.
Unfortunately, after a round of Hongyi artillery bombardment, as the walls of the water village collapsed, there was no wailing counterattack. Only then did Azig realize that something was wrong, and sent out close combat troops to carefully search and attack, but there was no response.
Any musket shot.
"Master! The Ming army retreated overnight last night!"
When Yild came back and reported this information, Azig was so angry that he almost vomited blood.
After waiting so long for the Hongyi Cannon, the Nanmanzi was so shameless and finally ran away!
Why don’t you run in the morning and run in the evening?
After setting sail to the sea, Zhang Mingzhen did not rest again. After five days of sailing, he regrouped all the ministries in Denglai for supplies, then continued south and returned. After another ten days of sailing, he finally returned to Suzhou Port at the mouth of the Yangtze River.
When they landed, it was already March 22nd. And their deeds had already spread within this half month.
Around the tenth day of March in the capital, they heard the news that Songshan City had been destroyed, and later learned that some of the troops had been picked up by sea-route ships transporting military supplies, and they were finally evacuated.
The changes in the battle situation in Liaodong have become the hottest topic of exchange between the North and the South throughout mid-March. A large group of people need to be responsible for the defeat and the pursuit of victory in defeat, and there are countless civil servants who are waiting for this.
Opportunity to attack one's political opponents.
And Chongzhen, who finally lost hundreds of thousands of troops, was completely shattered.
——
ps: There will be two updates today. The purpose of this update, which is over 4,000 words long, is to clean up this battle as quickly as possible. The next chapter will be about internal affairs and the division of spoils, and the protagonist will appear. Please bear with it.