Chapter 302 Cao Huangxue goes to Yangzhou at night
"General, something big has happened! There is a fire at Jinshan Temple on the other side! Even the brothers in Guazhoudu can see the flames filling the sky! Could it be that the prince succeeded?"
Yangzhou guard Liu Liangzuo was woken up by his subordinates in his sleep, which made him quite annoyed.
But after he calmed down a little and confirmed that it was news about Duduo, he immediately pinched his thigh forcefully, causing himself to wake up completely from the pain, and he did not dare to neglect it at all.
"Quickly, put on the armor for me and let me see it in person!" Liu Liangzuo gave an order and asked the guards around him to help him put on the armor.
Then he hurried out, mounted his horse, and rushed to the riverside pier. He hurriedly changed boats and boarded Guazhou. He also prepared a Western-style monocular on the way, and once he arrived at Guazhou, he climbed up to look south.
Now that he has become a traitor, there is no way out. As a domestic slave with three surnames, Liu Liangzuo knows very well that if he continues to mess up the Qing Dynasty, there will really be no place for him in the vast world.
"The fire is definitely not fake. You can see that the Cishou Pagoda in Jinshan Temple burned down. I guess the prince's army finally captured Zheng Chenggong regardless of casualties?"
After watching carefully with a telescope for a long time, Liu Liangzuo finally felt confident in his heart, because he saw with his own eyes that the remains of the famous Cishou Pagoda further collapsed in the fire. This could never be faked.
As an aside, Zhu Shuren pretended to set fire to the Jinshan Temple to show weakness and lure the enemy into arrogance. This is definitely not considered destroying a historic site. This is because the Cishou Pagoda in Jinshan Temple was first built in the Southern Qi Dynasty during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and another one added in the Northern Song Dynasty echoed it.
The pagoda was damaged once during the civil war when Zhu Di usurped the throne in the early Ming Dynasty.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, what was left was only a few remnants of the core. The general situation was similar to the condition of the Lei Feng Tower in West Lake that had not yet been collapsed as described by Mr. Lu Xun in the early Republic of China. Only some masonry parts remained, and the outer wooden structure had long since disappeared.
It's just that these pagodas were originally more than ten feet high. Even if only the masonry remains are left, they are still tall and conspicuous. It is very eye-catching when viewed with a telescope across the Yangtze River.
The Cishou Pagoda seen by later generations of tourists was actually not rebuilt until the Guangxu period. Of course, the original site was completely bulldozed before the reconstruction. Now, due to the butterfly effect of Zhu Shuren, the ruins were cleared in advance, and it was rebuilt directly after the war.
Already.
In a few hundred years, all the traces left by Zhu Shuren will be turned into places of interest, and he himself will be the biggest historical maker.
…
After chatting for a while, Liu Liangzuo carefully observed the enemy's situation for a long time. At the same time, he also ordered his soldiers and naval warships to be ready, and asked his subordinates to return to Huai'an with their clippers, and informed Kong Youde's fleet of ships who were still on the way.
Speed up and come to Yangzhou to listen.
He already had a hunch in his heart that there might be new instructions coming from Duduo.
Due to the Ming army's blockade, news from both sides of the Yangtze River has been cut off for more than half a month. The prince will not fail to seize this opportunity to remove the Ming army's throat.
Liu Liangzuo's premonition was indeed right. Just an hour later, the sky was about to light up. Liu Liangzuo was planning to return to the city, but suddenly several small boats appeared on the river and headed towards the Qing Dynasty crossing Guazhou.
The military signal seemed to be asking the Qing army to respond.
Liu Liangzuo did not dare to neglect and immediately asked his subordinates to sail over to confirm the situation.
As the Qing warships approached, the scene in the darkness in the distance became increasingly clear - it turned out that behind those few boats, there were some Ming warships chasing them!
These Ming army warships were not tall and sharp, and they were not the main type of ships. They were purely fast boats that pursued speed. They were obviously patrols. The Qing army immediately killed them, and relied on their large numbers to kill the Ming army's speed boats. They were in a panic.
The caller for help was received.
After the rescuer was rescued, he was not grateful. Instead, he was arrogant: "Is Liu Liangzuo doing nothing these days? The prince is on the other side, and he doesn't bother to prepare for the rescue. He transports more supplies. He is as afraid of the enemy as a tiger!"
The soldiers of the Qing army in Yangzhou did not dare to retaliate when they were scolded. They knew that the people coming from the other side were probably the celebrities in front of the prince. Those who were responsible for logistics support did not do their job well, so they deserved to be scolded by the prince's people.
.
The Yangzhou officer also respectfully brought the rescued person to Liu Liangzuo. As soon as the two met, they quickly recognized each other.
"Chen Shenling? Why is it you?" Liu Liangzuo recognized that the person was Chen Shaozong, who was under Geng Zhongming's command, and immediately relaxed his guard.
Chen Shaozong's rank in the Qing army was actually not high, he was just a staff officer, so he was one level lower than Liu Liangzuo's status after surrendering to the Qing Dynasty with Fengyang.
On the other hand, Lien Decheng, the boss who had been killed by Chen Shaozong in front of the battle line in exchange for his title of surrender, was about the same level as Liu Liangzuo.
But everyone knows that status in the Qing army should not only be judged by rank, but also by years of service.
The old traitors under Geng Zhongming all surrendered to the Wuqiao Mutiny in the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign. Their traitor qualifications are twelve years older than Liu Liangzuo, who had just surrendered just a few months ago!
When a new traitor meets an old traitor, he naturally loses his temper. So when Liu Liangzuo surrendered, he established a good relationship with the low-level generals under Geng Zhongming and Kong Youde. Even if he was a senior general, he would give them gifts, drink and treat them with women in order to show their support.
Integrate into the warm traitor family as soon as possible.
Chen Shaozong was slightly relieved when he saw that Liu Liangzuo was still polite, but he did not show it on the surface. He still maintained his momentum and said the lines that Zhu Shuren taught him:
"You guys are just eating, drinking and being stuck in Yangzhou all day? The fire in Jiangnan broke out in the middle of the night, and you didn't know how to send troops to respond! Take the initiative to investigate!
Although the prince had a great victory in the land battle, there were not many ships left around him. He sent me to cross the river secretly to deliver the order, but I was almost intercepted by the remaining patrol fleet of the Nanmanzi!
Just because you were late in responding, Dr. Sun’s boat was intercepted and he died for his country!”
Chen Shaozong's head start completely suppressed Liu Liangzuo's doubts.
Indeed, as the defender of Yangzhou, he should know that Duduo does not have many ships left, but is invincible in land battles. Even if the land battle is won and the Ming army of Jinshan Temple is completely destroyed, Duduo can send orders to ask for help and ask for more ships to transport supplies.
, the quantity will not be large, the losses in the previous stage were too great.
At this time, the Yangzhou garrison should take the initiative. Seeing the fire on the south bank, no matter what, send ships to respond first to strengthen the momentum! Liu Liangzuo did not attack, which means he hesitated and wanted to preserve his strength. He deserved to be scolded.
After diverting attention with guns and sticks, Chen Shaozong also conveyed a message: he was not the envoy sent by Duduo to deliver orders, he was just to protect the envoy. But because of the Qing Navy in Yangzhou
The response was unfavorable, and the envoy's ship was intercepted and killed by the remaining patrol boats of the Ming army just in front of them!
This is also very reasonable. A skinny camel is bigger than a horse. Even if Zheng Chenggong's main force was surrounded and annihilated at Jinshan Temple, the Ming army would still be able to bring out hundreds of patrol boats.
In this way, Liu Liangzuo would have an explanation for asking Chen Shaozong why he couldn't produce Duduo's personal token or a document bearing Duduo's seal.
Sure enough, after the two of them communicated for a while, Liu Liangzuo quickly remembered this issue, but was put off by Chen Shaozong.
Even if there was still a trace of suspicion in Liu Liangzuo's heart, he always felt that something was being done to him, but he made the mistake first and felt extremely guilty, so he had no choice but to admit it.
Only then did Chen Shaozong follow the rehearsal lines exactly and said, "Require the Yangzhou garrison to immediately prepare all Hongyi artillery and ammunition stocks to cross the Yangtze River and provide reinforcements."
According to Chen Shaozong, Duduo has been victorious, but the material consumption has been too great and the combat power has begun to decline. The most critical thing now is to ensure the supply of shells, arrows and gunpowder to deal with the strong walls of the Jiangnan Ming Army!
Chen Shaozong also admitted that the Qing army did suffer a defeat in the direction of Nanjing, but in areas other than Nanjing, it could still kill everyone! Slowly destroy Jiangnan!
All his words sounded like a general who was eager to atone for his sins because of his failure to escort the messenger, resulting in the death of the envoy.
It’s not that Chen Shaozong is a good actor, it’s just that his life and wealth are at stake. He rehearsed it countless times before coming here.
As long as you work hard, no one can act anymore.
Liu Liangzuo had no choice but to transport supplies, but when to leave, how to avoid Ming army patrols, reduce losses, and choose a route that would be easiest to avoid enemies after Jinshan Temple changed hands... these all had to be considered.
Chen Shaozong didn't push him too hard, he just helped explain a few things to note when going down the steps, saying that the prince also knew that it would be impossible to come here tonight to deliver the order and start the operation immediately, and would give them time to prepare.
But the day after tomorrow or three days later, the prince's army will try to support him at the Jinshan Temple Pier on the south bank, as well as the Luyuan Port and Huanggongshan Pier that were just captured. By then, Liu Liangzuo can watch the Ming army patrolling the river section wherever it looks empty, and just set off.
The three alternative docks in the south of the Yangtze River are all controlled by the Qing army. The Jinshan Temple is just the most difficult to attack, and it was only captured by the prince recently. The other two are farther away and require longer sailing time.
There is no need to mention these details, just to make Liu Liangzuo further feel that the chance of safe delivery is not small.
Liu Liangzuo finally decided on specific measures.
…
After receiving the order and finally setting off, Liu Liangzuo still spent two days preparing. These two days were also to wait for the storm to pass and for the Ming army patrols on the Yangtze River to relax their vigilance.
Liu Liangzuo was already cautious enough. He also thought, "If a small boat from Jiangnan had successfully stolen last night and passed on the news, would the Ming army become more vigilant?". Only by waiting for two days of limelight, can
The Ming army mistakenly thought that they were thinking too much, and no one in the world could guard against thieves for a thousand days, so they relaxed.
On the 13th day of the twelfth lunar month, in the middle of the night, Liu Liang left a group of Yangzhou Qing troops to escort the reinforcements. He also gathered all the artillery shells, gunpowder, and other materials that the rear had desperately transported to Yangzhou City in the past month, loaded them on ships, and picked them up.
He consciously figured out the recent patrol patterns of the Ming army and found a safe channel to transport it out.
Absolutely safe waterways do not exist. At best, they can only be relatively safe. This relative safety was brought about by Duduo's capture of Jinshan Temple, which caused the Ming army to lose its frontier nail stronghold.
The Jiangbei Qing army must take this remaining risk, otherwise if something happens to Duduo, they will all die.
Because Liu Liangzuo himself was the garrison of Yangzhou and was not directly in charge of the navy, it was certainly impossible for Liu Liangzuo himself to escort this fleet.
Kong Youde, who was in charge of the rear navy, had to coordinate the overall situation. He couldn't rush to Yangzhou so quickly. The person who finally led the fleet across the river was by chance, who had just arrived in Yangzhou with the latest batch of material fleet the day before. Kong Tingxun commanded.
Kong Tingxun is Kong Youde's eldest son. He is only in his twenties now. He became a council leader entirely because of his father's influence. It must be said that the name Kong Youde gave his son is also very shameless -
Since ancient times, the father's training to his son is called "court training". It comes from the allusion of Confucius standing in the yard when Kong Li was passing the court and stopped to ask questions. Confucius asked Kong Li if he had studied poetry and etiquette recently. If he didn't learn poetry, why would he say that he didn't learn etiquette? Why stand.
Kong Youde was originally from Shandong. He always claimed that he was the direct descendant of Confucius and a moral model. He named his son Kong Tingxun, which clearly meant that his son was likened to Kong Li. Since Confucius was reincarnated, he was simply too virtuous.
However, the Qing army did not know that when Kong Tingxun took the Yangzhou Qing army's recently reassembled fleet and supplies and embarked on a journey across the river, everything about them quickly fell under the surveillance of the Ming army.
What's more, when Kong Tingxun chose the final route to cross the river, the two routes they did not choose were also passed back to Jiangnan by careful messengers sent by Chen Shaozong. Everything was transparent to the Ming army.
Then, when the Qing army was crossing south, the Ming army asked Cao Bianjiao's army to choose another route abandoned by the Qing army, and quietly crossed north in the opposite direction to near Taixing County, east of Yangzhou.
The Qing army in Jiangbei has made frequent waterway movements in the past two days, and the local defenders are used to it. They know that they shouldn't ask too many questions, so they are completely unguarded——
All this was requested by Liu Liangzuo personally. He was afraid that there were Ming army traitors among the county defenders. If they inquired too much and knew that there would be a fleet crossing the river nearby at night, the information would be leaked to the Ming army on the other side. Therefore, Liu Liangzuo said hello in advance and asked the garrison in Taixing County and other places not to meddle in other people's business, and not to inquire when the Navy is mobilized! Everything is a military secret!
Cao Bianjiao had already landed. There were only a thousand defenders in the small county of Taixing. Before they took it seriously, Cao Bianjiao succeeded in a sneak attack! After establishing a foothold in Taixing County and gathering the rear army, Cao Bianjiao immediately used his cavalry to rush westward. Yangzhou!
And on the same night, Huang Degong's Huainan Ming Army, which had been cautiously deployed west of Chuzhou and Liuhe, also changed its previous defensive posture and suddenly became active, rushing eastwards!
Cao Bianjiao and Huang Degong both bypassed the fortified city and marched through the night regardless of the way back. The cavalry could travel hundreds of miles in one night. Except for counties, Liuhe County was bypassed by Huang Degong, while Taizhou County was also ignored by Cao Bianjiao.
At dawn the next day, Liu Liangzuo felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, because the scouts came to report that a large group of Ming army cavalry had been approaching Yangzhou. The Ming army in the east had passed Taizhou County, and the Ming army in the west had also passed Liuhe County. , it is only one Yizheng County away from Yangzhou.
"What? This is impossible! How dare the imperial court attack Jiangbei?"
When he received the report from his subordinates, Liu Liangzuo was so shocked that he didn't even notice that when he mentioned the Ming army, he couldn't help but use the word "imperial court" instead of "Nanmanzi".
After the computer was down for dozens of seconds, he slapped his thigh and screamed:
"No! Last night Chen Shaozong took Major General Kong to transport ammunition. I'm afraid they fell into the enemy's trap! I'm afraid the Ming army already knew that we were going to cross the river! Hurry! Send someone to inquire about the response and see if we crossed the river last night. How is the fleet doing?
Also, immediately dispatch fast horse warriors to deliver the message! Go to Huai'an to ask Kong Youde for help! Go to Fengyang to ask for help from Nikan Beile!"
No matter how fast the Ming cavalry came, it was indeed impossible to cross Liuhe and Yizheng in one night. Liu Liangzuo could still deliver the message if he wanted to.
But this time was limited to sending messages. It was absolutely impossible to wait for Nikan or Kong Youde to reinforce him.
In the morning and afternoon of that day, the Ming army bypassed the strong city from the east and west and attacked on both sides of Yangzhou City.
At this point, the only thing Liu Liangzuo can count on is that the cavalry cannot attack the city, and his life should not be in danger for the time being. As long as it takes a few more days, Kong Youde and Nikan come to the rescue, and there is a chance to break the Ming army's cavalry encirclement.
.
However, in the evening of that day, even worse news came again, which severely damaged the morale of the Qing army in Yangzhou.
Zheng Chenggong, who was supposed to have been killed by Duduo, actually led his troops to the south of Yangzhou City, crossed the river from Jinshan Temple to Guazhou Ferry, and easily wiped out the Qing navy sailors at Guazhou Ferry with the force of a tiger descending the mountain.
The village was also captured by the Ming army.
Zheng Chenggong's style of play was very fast and violent. Anyway, he just used the red cannon to clear the way, blasted at the dock buildings, then landed and stormed, rushing forward quickly.
The Qing army never thought that a place like Guazhoudu needed to be tightly defended and built more fortifications, nor did they expect that the Ming army would counterattack on land. There were a total of two to three thousand people in Guazhoudu, but Zheng Chenggong quickly and completely swallowed them up.
After taking Guazhou Ferry, Zheng Chenggong's warships directly attacked the water gate on the south side of Yangzhou City, and divided the troops to land and began to deploy siege positions. Late that night, the first batch of siege artillery positions were set up and began to bombard the city with red cannons.
.
However, the observation field was not good at night, and the bombardment had no results. He only fired a few cannons occasionally to strengthen the army and scare the defenders in Yangzhou City. Liu Liangzuo could not sleep, was mentally and physically exhausted, and the morale of the soldiers was low.
For Liu Liangzuo, the longest day in his life was finally over.
With another sunrise, the time came to the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. Just when Liu Liangzuo was worried about how long he could last and whether the reinforcements could arrive early. After the Ming army put up a strong attack posture, they actually played another vicious trick.
trick.
Early that morning, Cao Bianjiao's cavalry went to show off their power outside the east gate of Yangzhou. Cao Bianjiao also showed his flag and personally inspected outside the range of the Qing army's crossbows and muskets at the top of the city. He also asked the scolding soldiers to shout and took out their weapons.
Lots of trophy tokens.
"Listen, you weaklings in the city! The imperial court is thinking that you are just coerced by the generals and led astray by ignorance, and cannot bear to kill them all, so this is why they give you a chance to surrender!"
Otherwise, it will not be easy to regain Yangzhou as soon as possible with the remaining power of the imperial army that killed Duduo! Look clearly, the head of the false king Duduo is here! The fire at Jinshan Temple a few days ago was actually the 200,000-strong army of Guo Xingye
Arriving there, they encircled Duduo and annihilated them all! Otherwise, the imperial army could easily cross the river and come to Yangzhou in large numbers?
Now that you have killed the generals and superiors who planned and led the traitors, and presented them with their heads, according to the court's regulations, you are still regarded as "refugees who were coerced and shaved". Although they are not as good as the unyielding righteous people, they will not be punished after all.
Severe punishment can only reduce half of the effort! This is only one chance to turn from darkness to light. Once the city is broken, it will be too late to prove your innocence!"
Liu Liangzuo was also at the city gate at that time. Hearing these words, he felt cold all over his body. He yelled at the top of his lungs to stop the generals around him from believing these nonsense:
"How could the prince do it so easily? Unfortunately, this is all a trick of the Ming army. You must not credibly shake the morale of the army! Anyone who dares to spread rumors will be killed!"
It is indeed impossible for Cao Bianjiao's words to be believed by all the Qing troops in the city, but it is more than enough to shake the mentality of the Qing troops.
It can only be said that Zhu Shuren has taken advantage of the information gap that isolates the Qing army in Jiangnan and Jiangbei to the extreme. In the future, he plans to use "The Qing army in Jiangbei is finished" to undermine the morale of the Qing army in Jiangnan. So now it is better to lose the date.
Take a shot and try to use "the Qing army in the south of the Yangtze River is finished" to first demoralize the Qing army in the north of the Yangtze River.
One fish, three meals is considered a game that Zhu Shuren has completely figured out.
As expected, the Qing army was in chaos as a result, and as the sky completely brightened, Zheng Chenggong's artillery began to bombard the city with all its strength, and prepared to attack from other directions.
Within half an hour, with the pressure from the Ming army and the fermentation of rumors, the Qing army in the north of the city was the first one to try to abandon the secret and surrender to the Ming Dynasty. Liu Liangzuo's subordinate guard, although there was no chance to get close to Liu Liangzuo himself, assassinated Liu Liangzuo and surrendered.
However, he still managed to get in touch with Cao Bianjiao and negotiated an agreement to sacrifice his family in exchange for the lives of his subordinates and return to the imperial court.
After the north gate was sacrificed, Cao Bianjiao's cavalry finally found an opportunity to show off, rushed directly into the city, and fought with Liu Liangzuo's troops in the streets.
Soon, the west gate was also captured by Huang Degong in the chaos, and another group of cavalry rushed directly into the city.
At this moment, the Han soldiers in the city, whether they were under the Han banner of the Qing Dynasty or the former Ming army under Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo who later surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, all lost their will to resist and surrendered.
Liu Liangzuo brought only a few hundred and nearly a thousand silver-fed servants, a Manchu troop with white flags in the city, and a Mongolian soldier in armor, fighting to the death and trying to break through.
These two Jia La Manchu and Mongolian soldiers were the troops that Duduo stayed in Yangzhou City to meet Liu Liangzuo. After all, Liu Liangzuo was a newly surrendered Han, and Duduo could not say that he had absolute trust in him.
Taking into account that people who are not our own race will have different intentions, it is also a consistent operation of the Qing Dynasty to let the Manchu and Mongolian soldiers monitor the newly attached Han troops.
These Manchu and Mongolian soldiers knew that they had no chance to surrender and survive, so they naturally had to fight to the death and survive.
However, when the Han soldiers had already turned against the Han soldiers in large numbers and surrendered as a courtesy, these three to four thousand Manchu and Mongolian soldiers plus a thousand Liu Liangzuo's retainers, a total of five thousand people, could not make trouble at all.
"Death to the dog Tatar!" Cao Bianjiao's cavalry entered the Guangchu Gate in the north of the city from Meihua Ridge and fought all the way along the long street. They met Jia Erbut with a white flag who was the first to break through.
It is fate to say that the Meihua Ridge area at the north gate of Yangzhou is where the Shi Gong Temple will be located in later generations, which is also where the tomb of Shi Kefa died in battle in history. And this long street in Guangchumen is said to be the place where Shi Kefa died in battle.
It was the place where Shi Kefa died in battle, but his body and bones could not be identified, so he could only leave a burial mound.
But now the situation has turned around, and this long street will become the burial place of Liu Liangzuo, Erpot and others.
Cao Bianjiao was extremely brave and brave. He was wearing fine iron armor and had a steel blade as long as two chi.
】
Behind him, hundreds of horsemen were also stacked up in layers, filling the long street, directly facing the Qing army and colliding wildly, meeting each other on a narrow road.
Erbut tried his best to parry, wielding his sword and slashing wildly, opening and closing it, but Cao Bian was still able to swing him away, stabbing him in the heart and knocking him off his horse.
"Kill all the dog Tatars!" Cao Bianjiao struck out with his spear and continued to kill like a mad tiger through the long street. Just halfway through, he saw Huang Degong stabbed diagonally and had a large circle of Mongolian soldiers' heads hanging around the neck of his horse. He had already killed him.
Passed through half the city.
"We are willing to surrender! We were forced by Liu Liangzuo to surrender! We have no way to serve the country!"
When the battle reached this point, even Liu Liangzuo's close servants and generals began to betray him. Finally, someone attacked him from behind, stabbed Liu Liangzuo to death in the back, and then announced his surrender before the battle.
It's a pity that he took action too late. If he wanted to make meritorious service and be rewarded, he might not be able to do it. If he takes action at this time, the most he can do is forgive his previous sins.
——
ps: Recapture Yangzhou, 6,000 words without breaking the chapter