In the early morning of November 16th, Duduo's troops had no choice but to withdraw their troops and reorganize their formation to welcome the Ming army's reinforcements that were about to arrive.
If at this time, Zhu Shuren lets his vanguard troops advance lightly at the Great Victory Pass, breaking away from the main force and advancing ahead, he may even bite some of Duduo's rear troops, causing more losses to Duduo.
Unfortunately, things are not perfect, and Zhu Shuren also came from afar. Before hearing the news about Duduo crossing the river, his troops had been deployed in hiding in Anqing and Chizhou, with the excuse of taking a few days to rest (Zhu Shuren could not directly teach others,
It makes people think that he deliberately lured the enemy and caused Nanjing's danger. He could only show his hurry and slowness and just arrived at the most critical moment). After learning that Duduo took the risk, he rushed downstream without stopping.
Therefore, Zhu Shuren could not get any more information. How was the fighting under Nanjing City? Did Duduo spend a lot of money to fight for his life? How is the status of Duduo's troops now... Zhu Shuren could not open his eyes to this information.
,
He could only choose to be prudent first and wait for the information to be exchanged with the Nanjing defenders before making long-term plans.
The Qing Dynasty could afford to gamble, but today's Ming Dynasty cannot afford to gamble. It is better to be more stable, win less every time, and accumulate more and more.
…
With a steady advance, Zhu Shuren's army did not enter Nanjing until the afternoon of the 16th.
After his vanguard arrived at the Qinhuai River dock in the morning, they did not even enter the city immediately. Instead, they took control of the port, cleaned up the destroyed water fortress, and waited for the front line of the Chinese army. They showed that they could be ready at any time.
Continuing to advance by land and water, they maintained a steady posture and were at loggerheads with the city's defenders.
Although he did not achieve any results as soon as the reinforcements arrived, Zhu Shuren still won a grand welcome from the Nanjing defenders and the people.
They had just finished the bloody battle to defend the city for more than half a day, and everyone knew that the reason why Duduo retreated and the bloody siege battle was ended was because of the reinforcements of King Qianli Qin, who worshiped the surname of the country.
It is better to arrive early than to arrive at the right time. It is the greatest favor to show up at the most critical moment for the friendly forces.
Longwu Emperor Zhu Changzi also personally lined up his troops and led hundreds of officials out of the city to welcome him. Although the welcome was not far away, because the Qinhuai River dock was only a few miles away from the city gate of Nanjing, it was impossible to welcome him further.
Before Zhu Shuren got off the boat, he saw the emperor Luan Jia. He did not dare to neglect, so he hurriedly jumped off the trestle and saluted respectfully in front of all the officials watching.
"Your Majesty, the Governor-General of Huguang, Sichuan and Guangxi, and the military... I am here to pay homage to Your Majesty. I am very frightened that King Qin has arrived late."
Zhu Changzi naturally would not criticize his son-in-law harshly, but also praised him truthfully: "It's not too late, but fortunately you arrived in time, otherwise Duduo would not have been able to retreat so easily. I have long been thinking that the decline of our Ming Dynasty is due to you."
Due to lack of skills.
When the late emperor ordered you to destroy the Western bandits first, Zhang Ni was crowned the leader before he was over 10 years old. Then I asked you to rescue him. Although there was a slight delay, it was just to kill the intruders. Even if Duduo can retreat and return north this time,
It's just that Qing was unable to catch up due to his lack of skills. He won't be so lucky next time.
If the Ming Dynasty could have three ministers who were loyal to the country, talented and strategic, I am afraid that the late emperor would not have to die for the country at that time. He would just dispatch and destroy the Western bandits, raiders and Tartars. Fortunately, now the Western bandits and raiders are all
It no longer exists. From now on, you will concentrate on dealing with the Tartars. The destruction of the Tartars is just around the corner!"
Zhu Changzi's words made the civil and military officials in the dynasty feel awed and ashamed, and they did not even dare to disobey him.
Because this is indeed the truth: Li Zicheng was able to kill Chongzhen because Chongzhen first sent Zhu Shuren to completely eliminate Zhang Xianzhong. After Zhu Shuren freed up his hands and regarded Li Zicheng as his number one enemy, Li Zicheng was wiped out in ashes while heading south to Huguang.
?
Even if Duduo was not wiped out immediately this time, it can only be regarded as Zhu Shuren being temporarily stumbled by Li Zicheng and Azige. In other words, based on Zhu Shuren's experience in the five and a half years since his debut, any frontal battlefield he personally took charge of, no matter what he faced,
Whoever the opponent is, he maintains an absolute victory record!
The reason why Ming Dynasty often retreats and suffers setbacks is because Zhu Shuren did not coordinate the overall situation. He was only sent to take charge of one side, so he could only crush the side he blocked, and suffered setbacks on other sides that he could not control!
In the twelfth year of Chongzhen, he only served as an official for half a year and did not take charge of the local government. He only helped to reform the accumulated shortcomings of water transportation, so he can not be counted.
In the 13th year of Chongzhen's reign, he became a local magistrate and magistrate. In the first year of taking charge of a prefecture, he destroyed Liu Xiyao, who was causing harm to the prefecture.
In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, he took charge of several adjacent prefectures, and even the other three battalions of the fifth camp of Gezuo along with Huang Xinyang were wiped out!
In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, he took charge of almost half of the province for the first time. Finally, he completely expelled Zhang Xianzhong from southern Hunan and defeated Huguang!
In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the late emperor allowed him to go out of the province to pursue him. He immediately defeated Li Zicheng once and completely wiped out Zhang Xianzhong, including Zhang Xianzhong himself!
Now in the 17th year of Chongzhen, before his death, Chongzhen changed his order to deal with Li Zicheng with all his strength. Nine months later, he really killed Li Zicheng!
Jin Cancan's resume is there. Any task assigned to him by the imperial court, and any enemy he is willing to take on alone to destroy, there is no enemy that cannot be destroyed! The Tatars have not been seriously injured before, but it is just that the imperial court did not arrange for him to do this!
When you think about it carefully, it is very scary. It is simply like "there are no thieves that the king of the country cannot destroy, there are only thieves that the imperial court has not sent him to destroy."
As long as the imperial court authorizes it, he can go anywhere!
Calculating carefully, it has only been more than a month since Li Zicheng's death.
Because of Duduo's threat, the Nanjing court had not spared any energy to discuss the reward for Zhu Shuren's great contribution to killing Li Zicheng. Now that the emperor personally raised the matter, the officials who accompanied him to greet him remembered it.
The atmosphere has been heightened to this point, and it seems that no matter what reward the emperor offers in the future, the cabinet, officials, and the bunch of censors and officials who make a living by complaining will have nothing to say.
Everyone was a little apprehensive, but as expected, Zhu Changzi said casually in the next sentence: "Since the late emperor has given you a surname, everything should be in accordance with the clan. With your merits in killing the intruders, you will be crowned king."
, it’s all right. In the future, we have to redouble our efforts and drive the Tartars across the river first.”
After all, there were a few censors nearby who couldn't help it. They knelt down and remonstrated: "Your Majesty! How can the proposal of making the king a child's play? Even if it is a clan with the surname of the country, our dynasty has no right to make the king for merit. It can only be based on relatives.
Noble bloodline makes you a king. If you want to raise honors, a duke is the ultimate. All the founding princes are like this."
"Your Majesty, now is not the time to discuss such a big matter! A powerful enemy is still on the side, the siege of the capital has just been lifted, and the situation is still unclear."
Zhu Shuren himself felt that this statement was too fast, and it was not the right time now, so he quickly expressed his modesty. Of course, Shen Tingyang also had to be modest on such occasions.
After a brief push, Shi Kefa, the chief assistant of the cabinet, stood up and came up with a compromise plan:
"I can understand your majesty's painstaking efforts. At present, Duduo has just suffered a setback, and it is time for the soldiers to use their lives to defeat the poor bandits. In order to encourage the Qinwang soldiers, rain and dew will be given to them to reward them, and it is also the proper meaning of the title.
But the idea of making the king a king is really... It's a serious matter. Now is not a good time to discuss it. If it is just for the convenience of commanding all the soldiers and horses to pursue, Zhu Shuren can be given the title of Minister of the Ministry of War first, and he can temporarily supervise the entire army of thieves. After this time, they can completely retreat.
Behind enemy lines, we should take a long-term approach and reward all the merits."
As mentioned before, before King Lu ascended the throne as emperor, Zhu Shuren was only the governor of Huguang in the hands of Chongzhen. After his father-in-law ascended the throne, he was promoted to the governor of three provinces, but his status was still lower than when Yang Sichang, Hong Chengchou and other governors were sent to other places.
The main difference lies in the fact that those highly respected foreign ministers were appointed governors with the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of War, and they could oversee more provinces. Yang Sichang and Hong Chengchou both had five or six provinces.
Shi Kefa's proposal was already considered a prudent one. The old man wanted to seek the country. The two sides were asking for high prices, so they sat down to pay back the money. They gave a compromise. In order to coordinate all the troops at hand, including the local troops in South Zhili, so as to avoid the final pursuit battle, the general would not know the troops.
A soldier does not know his general, everything is as it should be.
If there are people who want to oppose, it is not against Zhu Shuren’s promotion, but they want to “undermine the great cause of unified command to fight against the Tatars”. What are their intentions!
Sure enough, after Shi Kefa finished speaking, no one objected. Zhu Shuren himself was just a token of modesty, and then he was ready to accept it.
However, Zhu Shuren also had to finally plug a small loophole, which might lead to slander in the future. Because he knew that in this battle of Nanjing, he arrived at the most critical moment, and after all, he did not fight the first stage of the hard battle.
If there is a big victory in the pursuit in the future, will the credit be greater in the first stage or in the second stage? Will the friendly troops who took the damage in the first stage be convinced and completely accept his command? Will anyone think that "Zhu Shuren is just a man?"
Those who go down the mountain to pick peaches leave the hard work to friendly forces, and they only engage in the counterattack phase?"
Although He Xini will not affect Zhu Shuren's future in the future, it can make the image in the history books more perfect, and Zhu Shuren will not hesitate to add a touch.
So he kindly reminded the emperor: "Your Majesty, since I have been given the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of War and commanded the entire army to fight against Duduo, how dare I resign for the sake of false reputation and cause trouble?"
However, if our army can finally defeat Dodo in the future, the contribution of the generals who defended the city cannot be underestimated. Without them to lay the foundation, how could we have been in today's situation if Dodo was severely damaged before the minister arrived?
The generals guarding the city have just suffered a lot of casualties, and they have to obey the unified dispatch of the minister. I am afraid that they will not be able to make any subsequent achievements. If we do not reward them first and judge their merits, I may cause your majesty to argue that the rewards will not be exhausted."
Zhu Shuren did not say whether the Southern Zhili generals would be dissatisfied with the temporary transfer to his command. He only said that the opponent was tired of fighting and had insufficient troops. There might be fewer opportunities to make meritorious deeds in the next stage.
If this happens, it means they are really weak, and it's not that I don't give them the opportunity to expand their results.
The ears of all the officials present pricked up, and they also thought of this situation. But Zhu Shuren said so frankly, it must not be for the sake of power, but to seek truth from facts.
When everyone was in trouble, Shi Kefa thought of a way. He had presided over the defense of Nanjing a few days ago, and was most familiar with the merits and demerits of the Ming army that participated in the war, so he said straightforwardly:
"Your Majesty, in the past few days in the battle to defend Nanjing, all the generals have been fighting on the front line, and Li Fuming's troops have been the most meritorious. Why don't you ask your Majesty to reward Li Fuming first and appease him and ask whether his troops are worthy of fighting again."
Zhu Changzi thought about it and felt that there was nothing wrong with it, so he asked Li Fuming to come out and perform the duel in front of everyone.
Li Fuming, who still holds the title of Commander-in-Chief of Shanxi Province, was not transferred or resettled after going south, so he was sent to various places in southern Zhili to plug leaks and defenses by Shi Kefa. He finally showed his face a few days ago, and he was the original defender of Nanjing.
The Shanxi frontier army was the most daring to fight. At this moment, when the emperor named him, he quickly came out excitedly.
Zhu Changzi said: "I came to Nanjing thanks to the orders of the generals. The former Haidao Commander Zhang Mingzhen cleared the river defenses, stabilized Zhengshuo, and was granted the title of earl. Commander Li's contribution to defending the capital this time is not as good as that of him. The cabinet can
Discuss the title as appropriate to boost morale."
This is tantamount to asking Shi Kefa to go back and discuss the title of an earl and to confer a title on Li Fuming.
Li Fuming quickly thanked him and burst into tears of gratitude, but Zhu Changzi asked one more question, hinting whether he was willing to accept Zhu Shuren's leadership in the subsequent pursuit of Duduo.
Li Fuming had just received a heavy reward, and his own merits had been fulfilled. Moreover, Zhu Shuren was already kind to him, so naturally he would not resist. He said quickly:
"Why did your Majesty say this? It is the law of the imperial court for a general to be restrained by his governor. What's more, when the general was in Liaodong the year before last, he was cornered by Hong Chengchou. If it weren't for... Mr. Shen Ge rescued Zhang Junmen thousands of miles across the sea, the general and his subordinates
I'm afraid Buqu is now a bunch of withered bones on Tashan. Under Zhu Butang's control, no one will be dissatisfied."
After Li Fuming expressed this attitude, Zhu Shuren could take charge of all the armies of the Southern Zhili Province without any flaws in stealing power——
Because Li Fuming had the most credit in the previous defensive battle, and the people with the most credit have expressed their dissatisfaction, how can the other group of soy sauce guys who have not made much contribution have the face to be dissatisfied?
If these matters of military power delegation were discussed in the court, they would probably have many complications and be criticized by a group of people. But now the emperor, the chief assistant, and the generals who had made major contributions in the city defense battle were just talking and laughing.
Once the matter is settled, no one else can get involved.
Zhu Shuren once again thanked the emperor for his kindness and the trust of his colleagues, and then made another gesture at the right time - he asked Zhu Changzi for instructions and asked to leave part of his troops to camp at the dock of the Qinhuai River. Because there were too many people and the rear army had not arrived yet.
If they all enter the city, I'm afraid Nanjing will be chaotic and unable to accommodate such a large number of people who suddenly appear out of thin air.
Zhu Changzi took advantage of the situation, and asked Zhu Shuren to lead only 20,000 to 30,000 people, and mainly led the officers into the city, leaving most of the people outside the city, waiting for Queen Qin and Queen's army to come together.
When all the officials saw this, they were also impressed by Zhu Shuren's caution - up until this moment, he had not missed the chance of foreign soldiers swarming into the capital to control the government by force.
…
There is no need to mention those dirty red tapes. After entering the city, after hastily drinking Jiefeng wine, Zhu Shuren thanked him and left the palace. Finally, he could chat with Shi Kefa about the official affairs of the military aircraft.
It was only at this moment that he was able to grasp in detail the specific losses suffered by Duduo's side in the previous battle to defend the city, as well as the remaining combat strength.
In fact, Shi Kefa never figured out the specific total number of troops Duduo crossed the river. He only said that the total number of people crossing the river one after another should be no less than 100,000, and it was possible that he was bluffing.
As for the losses in the siege of Nanjing, Shi Kefa hastily calculated the losses. The piles of corpses of the Qing soldiers that could be found totaled nearly 10,000, and there were also corpses that fell into the Qinhuai River but could not be found.
According to Shi Kefa's preliminary statistics, the number of casualties suffered by Duduo's army under Nanjing City should be no less than 20,000! The loss of so many people in just two days of siege can be regarded as a new peak in the history of war in the late Ming Dynasty.
As for the Ming Army, there were six to seven thousand casualties among the regular troops up and down, not counting the minzhuang who helped transport ammunition and supplies, and those who surrendered to the enemy and were forced to the wall by the war supervisor's sword. Therefore, those people added
There were thousands of casualties.
It's just that the Ming army had the power to clean up the battlefield after the war, so most of the wounded in the Ming army could be treated, and the death rate was relatively low.
】
The reason why the Qing army's casualty ratio was so high, at least more than half of the people died, was actually because when the Qing army retreated, the wounded were left behind the city walls, and they could not carry their wounded comrades with them. Many of the wounded were left behind.
If it is within the fire coverage of the Ming army's city walls, towing it away may result in more casualties.
Of course, when the Ming army was cleaning the battlefield, they would not be polite to these dog Tatars. Anyone who saw rat tail braids would have their heads chopped off with a knife regardless of whether they were angry or not. Thousands of people were killed with one last blow.
Zhu Shuren estimated the loss. Based on the fact that Duduo still had 80,000 soldiers to fight, he actually still had tens of thousands of people left in Jiangbei. However, he had not been able to cross them all because there were not enough ships before. Halfway through the crossing
He was intercepted by Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Hongkui, and he was unable to come over for several days after that.
This kind of distribution ratio is said to be very cost-effective for the Ming army. Each part of the Qing army will not be too strong, and it is relatively easy to defeat them individually.
After understanding the size of the enemy's army, Zhu Shuren's next focus is what territory Duduo currently occupies.
Shi Kefa didn't have any more news in this regard. After all, the siege had only been relieved in the middle of the night and all morning, and the Nanjing Ming Army's scouts had just been sent out and had not yet reported back.
At present, Shi Kefa only knows that Longtanwei and Qixia Mountain were lost a long time ago. They were Duduo's landing sites. In addition, Jurong County in Yingtian Prefecture was also lost. They were blocked by Duduo before he attacked Nanjing City.
It was not until late at night when Zhu Shuren arrived and the latest batch of Ming army scouts reported back with the latest situation that everyone knew that during the siege of Nanjing, Zhenjiang Prefecture in the east also confirmed that it had lost two counties, Danyang and Dantu.
They all fell into the hands of thieves. There is no news yet from Jintan County and Wujin County, Changzhou Prefecture further east.
Zhu Shuren calculated: "So, Duduo is now calculated as having 80,000 combatable troops, but his morale is low and his military equipment is weakened. It has been confirmed that he has three counties to occupy. As our army continues to pursue, this number is still possible
It expanded to five counties, but that should probably stop there——
The Jiangyin County side of Changzhou Prefecture is guarded by Yan Yingyuan, the new magistrate recommended by me, and Duduo probably won't be able to get through, so in the worst case scenario, we will have to stop at Wujin County."