Chapter 313 Dodo: Finally collapsed from the superposition state of both life and death to pure death
"Wasn't this Yangzhou City breached three months ago? It only took the Nanmanzi twenty days to fight back, so how could it be so strong again? It was even harder to break open than the first time it was built!
You Han trash, why didn't you think about repairing the city defense when it was your turn to defend it, so you were taken back by the Nanbarbarians so easily!"
On the morning of the 18th day of the first lunar month of the first year of Longwu, when the Qing reinforcements from the north organized the newly arrived artillery for the first time, they tried to bombard the Yangzhou city wall again, imitating the tactics used three months ago to break through the Yangzhou city again.
Not long after the bombing, they realized that the current Yangzhou City Wall was much more difficult to bomb than the first time.
Although the Ming army recaptured Yangzhou for less than a month, the reinforcement and transformation of the city in these more than 20 days has been countless times better than the messy state last year.
Berenikan, who was currently in charge of the Qing army in Huainan and Jiangbei, saw the effect of this attack and became a little angry. He scolded his Han generals and complained that they were not careful in their work.
In contrast, Mandahai, who had just been transferred from the battlefield in Henan, and was under Azig, was quite accustomed to this kind of urgently reinforced city defense, and was obviously well-informed in Henan.
Faced with his cousin's irritability, he didn't take it seriously in his heart. He also secretly mocked his cousin for being so rare, but his tone was not obvious:
"Really? It seems that the soldiers and horses sent by the Qing Dynasty to Huainan originally encountered too weak enemies, which led to the progress being too smooth at the beginning. Now they are reinforced by Zhu Shuren's Huguang Ming Army King Qin, and they are afraid that they will encounter obstacles at every turn. Hard nails.
The rumors spread by the Nanmanzi in the past two days are probably not all intended to shake the morale of our army. It is really possible that Uncle Fifteenth suffered a... setback."
Nikan is the third son of Chu Ying, the eldest son of Nuerhachi, and Mandahai is the seventh son of Daishan, the second son of Nuerhaci, so they are cousins. Nikan is eleven years older than Mandahai. .
After Dorgon came to power, he deployed the southern expedition and sent all the sons of his eldest brother to Duduo and the sons of his second brother to Azig.
Naturally, there is some competition between these two factions and they want to compete. But it is not a big conflict, it is just an ordinary factional dispute.
Mandahai originally wanted to say "Uncle Fifteen is probably really dead", but he also wanted to leave some room for it and did not want to say those offensive and unlucky words, so he changed the words to "frustration".
Nikan was ridiculed by his cousin, so he naturally retorted:
"Really? It turns out that Prince Ying's progress in Hubei and Henan was slow. He couldn't attack Nanyang City for three whole months, and he couldn't even touch the Han River defense line of Nanmanzi. Is it all because the Huguang Ming Army's city defense plan was more complete? Then we should really learn from it, please be sure to introduce some more lessons."
"You..." Man Dahai was also young and energetic. After all, he was a man in his twenties. He was a little angry for a moment, but he couldn't get angry. In the end, he only said one sentence
"Anyway, I feel that if Uncle Fifteenth really had an accident, there would be no need to attack Yangzhou again. If the fortified city has been transformed in this way, it will be impossible to capture it if there is still sufficient energy from Hongyi cannons.
Now that we want to attack the city, we must first capture Guazhou Ferry in the south of the city and block the Jiangnan Ming Army from transporting firearms and ammunition to the city through the Yangtze River waterway! The current situation is completely different from before Zhu Shuren arrived in person! Compared with the Huguang Ming Army The Ming army in South Zhili is many times stronger! Continuous foreign aid has no point in attacking at all!"
When the Qing army first came to attack Yangzhou, they did not cut off the waterway used by the Ming army for reinforcements in advance. That was because the Qing army was not afraid of reinforcements from the Ming army in the south of the Yangtze River -
In the view of Duduo at the time, it would be great if the Ming army would take the initiative to cross the Yangtze River and send it to the north of the Yangtze River for the Qing army to kill. He was eager to use the fueling tactics in Yangzhou to let the Ming army continue to go into this meat grinder.
It's free, so the follow-up will be easier.
The Southern Zhili Ming Army in its initial state, which had not been built by Zhu Shuren, was just a piece of garbage in the eyes of the Qing army at that time.
Nowadays, the situation is changing too fast, and naturally there is a lot of discomfort, which makes the Qing army very painful and needs to be adjusted again.
Nikan and Mandahai did not have a dispute for a while. On the Yangzhou siege position ahead, the Qing army's artillery, which had been preparing firepower, was bleeding every moment.
Duduo lost fifty red barbarian cannons before, which was the output of the entire Qing Dynasty in one year and one-sixth of the total stock of the Qing Dynasty. This time, the reinforcements sent by Dorgon only amounted to twenty or thirty cannons.
, I cherished it very much. In the middle of the morning under Yangzhou City, the Ming army reimbursed three more gates. It was really a big loss.
Nikan saw that his attempt to attack Yangzhou step by step and open up a road was a bit frustrated. He was afraid of embarrassing himself in front of his cousin again, so he had to call in the defeated generals Shang Shan and Li Chengdong who had escaped before, and forced them to ask them what the situation was like in Duduo before they broke through.
.
The two were quickly brought up. They escaped across the Yangtze River on the third day of the first lunar month and spent another three to five days hiding in Tibet through Taixing, Haimen and other places before returning to the area controlled by the Qing army. When Nikan first summoned them
, it’s about the ninth day of the first lunar month, almost ten days have passed since then,
It turned out that it was Shang Shan and Li Chengdong who, in order to reduce their guilt for being defeated and fleeing, had made up their own confessions from the beginning and killed them. They did not know whether Duduo was dead or not. They only said that they had no clear news when they broke out and that they heard Zhang Cunren.
They broke through after being given an order to break out and ask for help.
After all, being ordered to break out of the encirclement and call for help is a credit, but their commander dies in battle but they are defeated, which is a serious crime.
If Zhu Shuren could listen to Nikan and Mandahai's cross-examination of Shangshan and others in the Qing army's camp at this moment, he would definitely suddenly realize the truth:
It turned out that Duduo had been dead for twenty days, but the Qing army still wanted to rescue him. It was all the fault of these two guys! It was these two people who put their own life and death, honor and disgrace, and family interests above the national interests.
Make a time difference to absolve yourself of guilt!
Of course, considering that Shang Shan and Li Chengdong are now generals of the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Shuren will definitely be happy to see such half-hearted people in the enemy camp who care about their family and not the country.
At this time, facing another cross-examination by Nikan and the supervision of outsider Manda Hai, Shang Shan was certainly not stupid and continued to insist: Duduo was indeed not dead when they left!
While Shang Shan lied, he thought to himself: "There were only a few hundred soldiers who followed us to break out of the encirclement, and so many people died on the way. Ordinary soldiers didn't know about it. It's not like Li Chengdong and I are just like each other."
If you refuse to give up the evidence, you will die without proof?
Although Jueluo Guoke and others of the Mongolian Army Banner also escaped, they were defeated directly on the decisive battlefield and then broke out along the riverside. They left earlier than us, and the prince was indeed not dead when they left.
How could they possibly know when the prince died after they became deserters? We are the last group around the prince to break out, so it is impossible for anyone to come up with irrefutable evidence to expose us!"
Shang Shan insisted on this, and he felt that he could have as much advantage as possible in the distribution of responsibility for the defeat within the Qing army - if they left late, they could blame those who left early for abandoning friendly forces and escaping alone.
If Jueluo Guoke of Mongolia's Zhenghong Banner wanted to imitate Shang Shan and described his defeat as "being ordered to break out and ask for help," Shang Shan could prove it false, because Shang Shan stayed with Duduo longer and traveled further.
In the evening, he can collude with Li Chengdong to prove that Duduo did not let Jueluo Guoke break out! He was just defeated! The opposite is not true.
This is why in the past ten days, Shang Shan and Li Chengdong have not taken any responsibility at all.
This is just like when the late emperor died, the later the late emperor's edict was issued, the higher the legal validity -
You may have the late emperor's edict in your hand, which is true, but when you got the edict, had the late emperor died?
What? No? Then how do you know whether the late Emperor changed his mind after you left and during the last period of time before he died?
This last edict in our hands came later than yours, and after we got it, we watched the late Emperor die before our eyes! So we must act according to this last last edict!
During the days when Shang Shan and Li Chengdong were on the run for life and death, they thought about the logic of this every day. Naturally, they thought it through thoroughly. There could be no loopholes. It is naturally the same today.
But unfortunately, the situation is different today.
In the afternoon of that day, just after the "two meetings" between Nikan and Mandahai were completed, a guard suddenly came in to report to the commander of the Qing army:
"Belle, just after the truce, an envoy was sent from Yangzhou City, saying that they wanted to negotiate and persuade our army to withdraw. They also said that they were willing to return the prince's body."
It turned out that as the siege force reached a truce in the evening, the defenders took advantage of the fatigue of the attacking force to send peace envoys.
From a psychological point of view, sending envoys at this time is indeed the best choice. If you send them early in the morning before fighting, the siege team will only think that the defenders are cowardly, and it will easily increase morale.
Vibrate.
If you fight for a day first, and then send out after the fighting is painful, you will not have these worries. If you seek peace through war, you will survive in peace, and if you seek peace through compromise, you will perish in peace.
"What?" Nikan and Mandahai finally jumped up in unison.
Although they had estimated that Duduo had met with misfortune in the past few days, they could not believe it, and they did not dare to make a casual conclusion because the matter was so important.
It was only at this moment that Dodo collapsed from the "quantum superposition state of both death and life" to a pure death state due to their "observer effect".
Man Dahai immediately picked up Shang Shan's collar: "Uncle Fifteen has brought so many elite soldiers and generals. Even if he is trapped in the south of the Yangtze River, why can't he rely on the last cavalry to rush, loot and survive? How could he be killed? Shang Shan was killed.
, what did you say before!"
Shang Shan also had a little blood rushing to his head, but he had thought about it countless times in the past few days. Knowing that sooner or later this matter would be confirmed, he had no choice but to pretend to be innocent and excuse himself:
"Perhaps the Ming army used some conspiracy. When I left, there were really not many defeated soldiers around the prince. They only had thousands of horses. Maybe they were accidentally diverted during a breakout...
Besides, the Ming army sent envoys today just to shake the morale of our army. It is better to kill the envoys directly and don't listen to their nonsense. If the prince really marries his country, this is the only way. Just kill a few Ming officials to pay homage."
Mandahai let go of his hand and snorted coldly: "How can it be possible to kill the envoy? The envoy said that he would return the body of the fifteenth uncle. If he kills the envoy, will he give up collecting the body?"
Shang Shan: "Then don't say much, just ask them to confirm the prince's death, get the body back and then kill him!"
Regarding this shameless statement, Nikan and Mandahai had no intention of stopping it. In their eyes, there was really no need to take the lives of several Ming Dynasty envoys seriously.
The Qing Dynasty doesn't care about its reputation in the field of negotiation now. Anyway, there are only two powers left in the world. There is nothing to do with conspiracy and manipulation. They can just see the truth with swords and guns.
However, Nikan Mandahai didn't care, and the guard who came in to report poured some cold water on Shang Shan: "Master Bei, I'm afraid this argument is inappropriate... The envoy sent back by the Ming Dynasty is not a civil servant from their side.
But in the Battle of Jiangyin half a month ago, several Mongolian cavalry officers under Jueluo Guoke who were defeated and captured by the riverside were our own..."
Shang Shan was speechless. The Ming Dynasty actually used force to deliver the message to the captured prisoners of war. They couldn't kill one of their own.
After hearing the other party's identity, Shang Shan's heart skipped a few beats for no apparent reason, and he carefully confirmed: "...Which film did Nanmanzi put back?"
"It belongs to the Mongolian army flag Zhenghongqi." The guard added in detail.
Shang Shan was slightly relieved in his heart, and the expression on his face remained unchanged: "Fortunately...it was the friendly forces that broke up before the prince's death. I don't know what happened next.
But since Zhu Shuren can think of releasing the captives to deliver the message, we are lucky this time. Next time, if we release a few loyal people who can last longer than me by the prince's side, how should Li Chengdong and I deal with it?
Alas, in order to bear less guilt and gain more hard work, if you tell a lie, you have to use more lies to cover it up... The harsh military reward and punishment system of the Qing Dynasty is really out of date."
Shang Shan couldn't help but doubt the harsh system of the Qing Dynasty.
But to be honest, the strict military laws of the Qing Dynasty were indeed useful when the national fortune was on the rise, and it was easy to encourage snowballing. But once the national fortune reached its peak, it began to turn around, and it became normal for most people to lose battles, and it became common for senior generals to die for their country.
Under normal circumstances, if you continue to insist on such strict military laws, you will definitely cause big trouble.
Of course, during the reign of Chongzhen, the Ming Dynasty also paid a heavy price because their rigid reward and punishment system was too rigid and easy to break. Chongzhen used the originally peaceful laws to get stuck and demanded the civil and military performance of his subordinates.
, high standards and strict requirements, but in the end the subordinates were unable to meet them and were afraid of being punished, so a lot of traitors were born.
It is a very difficult balance to balance the severity of rewards and punishments while also winning the trust of the world. Since ancient times, few rulers have been able to figure it out.
…
After Nikan and Mandahai met with the captured Mongolian officers who had been released, they naturally asked a lot of questions.
Although those Jia La and Niu Lu themselves were captured before the defeat of Duduo's Chinese army, they did not see the subsequent battlefield outcome of Duduo's army.
But the news of Dodo's death was certain, because they could still hear the news after entering the prisoner of war camp.
When Zhang Cunren and others were finally executed by Lingchi, the Nanjing court also pulled out Duduo's body and displayed it. At that time, many prisoners were taken to watch the execution, and they watched helplessly as those who were more responsible for war crimes were killed by the executioners of the Ming Dynasty.
Kill them one by one.
Therefore, after a brief interrogation, Nikan and Mandahai received very detailed information.
Mandahai paid more attention and tried to ask them if they knew "in which battle Duduo died, who ordered to break out before his death, and who abandoned the commander and fled first."
But the prisoners who were released were not very clear about these issues. Anyway, they could only admit that people like Jueluo Guoke were really defeated first.
Shang Shan listened to Man Dahai's cross-examination, feeling uneasy in his heart. It was not until after the questioning that there were no questions from him that he temporarily felt relieved.
In his heart, he couldn't wait to put an end to this matter. He just wanted to get to this point and stop asking for more details.
Is there any point in the factional struggle where the merits of defeat must be so clearly divided? Doesn't it mean that you have to work hard to come back alive? Is it wrong for you, Man Dahai, to like attacking dissidents and promoting yourself so much?
On the other side, Mandahai had a final exchange with Nikan. Because Duduo's body still needed to be retrieved from the Ming army camp, and these Mongolian officer prisoners were released today, they naturally had to go back to Yangzhou City to retrieve Nikan.
He expressed his willingness to accept Duduo's body and take it back with him.
The siege battle between the two sides had to be temporarily suspended. Before the Ming army returned the corpses, Nikan could not directly attack the city no matter how shameless he was.
But he still felt that the Qing army on the East Road had lost too miserably in the series of battles, and it would be difficult to explain to Dorgon when he returned. He still had the thought in his heart: "When we get Uncle Fifteen's body, we can make another move and consider whether to
Fall out with Akito and make a sneak attack to get some benefits and earn back some face."
He did not express this idea very directly to his own people, but Xianmohu hinted at it, which made Monk Mandahai very unhappy.
Mandahai felt that it was a unnecessary move. Duduo was already confirmed to be dead, so what was the point of attacking Yangzhou City and consuming it now?
Since the Qing army on the east route is so incompetent, why are they still struggling? Let's just take the blame for the worst performance in this year's southern expedition and help Azig's west route army to set off their incompetence.
Azig is indeed not a good player, but compared with Duduo, he can still "rely on the support of his peers".
Shang Shan is Duduo's subordinate. From a factional perspective, he should support Nikan. From the perspective of smearing each other's faults, he should not be able to deal with Mandahai.
However, on the issue of "preventing this war of attrition from continuing", Shang Shan had to take a stand with Man Dahai. It was really complicated - the camp's position was Zannikan, and the specific decision-making position was
Only the interests of the small group of Man Dahai, Shang Shan and Li Chengdong can be maximized.
If the fight continues and the Ming army releases some unknown high-level prisoners like a time bomb, who knows how much ideological confusion it will cause.
Therefore, Shang Shan also had to think about how to find a way to end the battle as soon as possible, so that everything would end here and be completely covered.
…
On the other side, Guazhou Crossing outside Yangzhou City.
Nikan released the Mongolian prisoners and asked them to express their willingness to collect the bodies. Naturally, Zhu Shuren immediately asked those people to carefully interrogate them and asked them to truthfully explain what Nikan said and what he asked.
Since they were originally burdened with diplomatic missions, the Mongolian prisoners did not think that some topics were confidential, so they told them all they could.
The aide responsible for questioning on the Ming Army side quickly sorted it out and handed it over to Zhu Shuren.
Even if Zhu Shuren only relied on this information, he would of course quickly find out: "What? It turns out that the Tatars have not confirmed the death of Dodo until today?
Shang Shan and Li Chengdong are still regarded as the heroes who broke out and asked for help from the opposite side? Is there anyone in the world who is so shameless to put gold on themselves? "
Shang Shan and Li Chengdong's operation of turning crime into merit really surprised Zhu Shuren. He had never thought that someone could go so far and use the fact that there was no evidence to prove that he was so noble and unyielding.
Later, although Zhu Shuren could not deduce the details, he could easily deduce the fighting will of all the forces in the enemy camp:
"That's easy to handle... Since they have to blame each other and hide so many things, Mandahai and Nikan will probably have different opinions on the issue of war or peace in the future.
Shang Shan was originally supposed to be consistent with Nikan, but he has his own little secret, so he must be inconsistent... There are three enemy armies, one wants to stop here, one wants to fight, and one wants to leave. This operation
There’s so much space.”
——
PS: I'm sorry that the recent strategy writing is a bit too dependent on psychological warfare. It's a bit cumbersome and not certain enough... Please understand, it may be that my own brain has been in a state of psychological warfare these days, which affects what I write.