Chapter 341 You Can Pretend You Don’t Know (6,000-word chapter)
When Zhu Shuren heard what Huang Degong said, he immediately laughed.
It is a good thing that there are more weak and despicable opportunists in the enemy army. There is no need to delve into it too much. You can just turn a blind eye.
No matter whether it can be reused in the future, you can first give the surrendered general some money and a false title of honor, so that he can be used as a mascot for the surrender, which will help to better undermine the enemy's support and bury a trick in the future.
Therefore, Zhu Shuren took good security measures and asked the guards to thoroughly search the bodies of the surrendered generals who claimed to have killed Abatai. Then he met them in person, allowing him to judge right from wrong and give an explanation.
Soon, a young Han general in his twenties or thirties, who had just had his pigtails cut off, was brought up. He was still twenty steps away from Zhu Shuren when he knelt down and walked forward, kowtow and apologize:
"The guilty general Yuan Qing... Geng Jimao, the former Tatar and Han army in the Yellow Banner, pays homage to Prince E! The guilty general is aware that he has lost his way and begged the prince to take him into his care!"
Zhu Shuren's face sank slightly, and he completely gave up the idea of really using this person: "Geng Jimao? Is Geng Zhongming your father? Where is he?"
It turns out that he is still a member of the hardcore traitor circle, the Sanshun King faction!
Geng Jimao kowtowed: "My father... He was originally stationed in Pizhou before the war and was responsible for guarding the imperial troops from Huai'an from going north. However, Dorgon was worried that the main attack force on Abate's route was insufficient, so he sent my father and the fake Beizi Shangshan to attack.
They were all transferred from Huai'an and Xuzhou to Fengyang.
Before this decisive battle, Abatai wanted to keep troops to continue the siege of Shouxian County and Bagong Mountain. Most of my father's troops and horses were left on the siege battlefield. Abatai did not regard us Han people as human beings at all. Every time he encountered heavy casualties, he encountered heavy casualties.
, let us Han people lead the team to climb first.
This time, General Sin took some troops from the Han Army Banner, Zhenghuang Banner, and went south with Abatai to participate in the field battle. Seeing the power of Prince Tian, he couldn't help but abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side, asking the Prince to show a clear way!"
After Zhu Shuren thought about it for a while, he realized that the Qing army did have a tradition of controlling Han generals in this way. When the troops needed to be divided, they would send some of them out to fight in the field and leave some relatives to lead the troops in the rear. This could be regarded as keeping hostages.
But usually, in this situation, the father is asked to lead the troops out, leaving the son behind as a hostage.
It's just that Geng Zhongming is already old. It has been more than fifteen years since he came to the Qing Dynasty. According to history, if he lives for another two years, he will die of old age and illness. Therefore, Abatai did not let him travel back and forth to participate in the field battle this time, and stayed at the Shouxian battlefield.
Let his young and strong son lead the team in the field.
Now that he knew that the old traitor Geng Zhongming was still in Shouxian County, Zhu Shuren had reason not to reuse Geng Jimao for the time being. After thinking about it for a while, he pretended to be considerate and said:
"You are not afraid that the matter will be exposed. Qing Gou killed your father? How dare you surrender? Your father killed the governor who was stationed in the imperial court, the officers and soldiers, and also brought the red barbarian cannon to the Tartars. The original crime was unpardonable! But you have already
Being able to kill Abatai before the battle can also atone for one's sins and perform meritorious deeds.
Now that your father is still in the enemy's camp, if I immediately openly reward you and reuse you, after the news is leaked, your father will definitely be liquidated by Yue Le and Bolo, and even if he is not killed, he will be imprisoned.
Therefore, for the safety of your father, and out of your filial piety, I will not give you a position for the time being, and will only give you gold and silver rewards. When the battles of Shouxian and Fengyang are over, if the Tartars can be completely driven out and the main force of the Qing army can be annihilated, you will also
If you can convince your father to abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side, then I will sum up my merits and publicly give you actual positions and titles!
For now, you can temporarily publicize it to the outside world and say that you died in the battle and died to defend Abatai, so that the Tatars can relax their vigilance against your father.
However, I can’t guarantee whether this plan will work. You were too showy just now. At least thousands of prisoners of war have heard you preach that you killed Abatai. I can’t guarantee how long you can keep it secret!"
Geng Jimao didn't know it was a ploy, so he thought Zhu Shuren was very careful, and for the sake of his father's safety, he temporarily concealed his claim to have contributed to the killing of Abatai.
He also heard that Zhu Shuren promised to make him invisible first and reward him with gold, silver and jewels, so he felt at ease. He really thought that Zhu Shuren would put the blame behind him and give him glory and wealth.
To be honest, he was also conflicted about surrendering today. After all, his own father was equivalent to a hostage and was still within the Qing army.
It's just that the bones of such a family of traitors are often very soft. When faced with a life-or-death situation where one's own life is in danger, who cares about his father or not? As long as he can escape with his life, he will die if his father dies!
"Thank you for the reward, Your Majesty! Your Majesty's holy candle illuminates thousands of miles! You will have to join your Majesty in the end, just like seeing the sun when the clouds clear, and the rain after a long drought! If my father could have met a wise master like the Prince, he wouldn't have made a mistake and regretted it for eternity!" Geng Jimao said!
He was so excited that he banged his head, and Zhu Shuren had someone pull him down, and then the matter was over.
Seeing Geng Jimao leaving, Cao Bianjiao, Huang Degong and other Ming army generals were a little unimpressed:
"Does the prince really want to reuse such a despicable villain? The despicability and shamelessness of Geng Zhongming's family can only be compared to Kong Youde, far more than Shang Kexi, and even worse than Wu Sangui and others who had no choice but to temporarily surrender to thieves.
When the Tatars first got the Ming Dynasty's Hongyi cannon, it was brought by Geng Zhongming and Kong Youde! From then on, there was endless poison! The crime was so serious that the late emperor also said that not killing would not be enough to anger the people.
Abatai was obviously not killed by him. In order to stabilize people's hearts, it's okay for the prince to reluctantly confess him for the time being. But at most, he can give a little money to avoid the guilt. If he returns the title... I'm afraid it will ruin the world."
Zhu Shuren raised his hand, backed away, and whispered to Cao Bianjiao and Huang Degong: "How could I not know this? There will be other reasons. This is just a temporary act of complacency to stabilize Geng Zhongming.
Once there is a better opportunity, we must use this Geng Jimao as an inducement to cause another civil strife among the Qing army in Shouxian County, Fengyang and other departments! Only then will we, the Ming Dynasty, be able to fully conquer Fengyang battlefield!"
After hearing what Zhu Shuren said, they didn't really want to reuse or give honor to each other, Cao Bianjiao and Huang Degong felt better and expressed their understanding.
Zhu Shuren is such a good person. When he saw the resentment of the two generals, he tried to win over people's hearts while the iron was hot: "Anyway, we know that Abate died of illness, so we cannot publicly publicize Geng Jimao's claimed achievements for the time being.
Let's just say that the two generals led their troops to attack together. In the process of finally annihilating the enemies in Feixi, the rebel army worked together to kill Abatai. As for who actually did it, don't worry about it. The credit goes to
You two share it equally.
If Abate is ultimately determined to have died of a sudden illness, the total credit of the generals in our army will be inferior. If I can give everyone more credit, why not do it?
For the death of Abatai, I will give you an additional reward of ten thousand taels of gold, one hundred thousand taels of silver, and ten thousand bolts of silk and satin. Look at your generals. Who has not yet been ennobled, but who has accumulated merits and worked hard and is able to convince the public? Give them to those who cannot be hereditary.
Earl of.
You can discuss the distribution among yourselves. Whoever's subordinates get the earl will get less gold, silver and silk. Those who don't get the title will get two-thirds, and those who get the title will get one-third.
The gold and silver that Geng Jimao should be given will be paid out of my own pocket and cannot be made public."
Cao Bianjiao and Huang Degong were already feudal lords themselves. They had made great achievements in the battle to kill Duduo and the subsequent recovery of Huaiyang. Of course, they themselves did not care about this earl.
But there were an extra ten thousand taels of gold and one hundred thousand silver, as well as so many other cleverly named rewards, which could win over the hearts of the subordinates. They were so grateful that they knelt down and kowtowed with tears in their eyes:
"The generosity of the prince is unparalleled in ancient and modern times. The last general will have to die for the prince, and he will never change his ambition! If my descendants can still be generals, they are also willing to serve the prince's descendants from generation to generation!"
Zhu Shuren already knew that Abatai actually died of a sudden illness, but he was still willing to pretend to be a fool, and said to the outside world that he was killed in a formation.
Due to bad luck, his subordinates were unable to make further great contributions. He turned a blind eye and regarded the other party as having made such great contributions, and paid out more rewards out of his own pocket...
Where can I find such a leader?
This is a clever way to give your subordinates more money and honor!
Nowadays, in the rear of the Ming Dynasty, there are still four or five families of Yuanzhi vassal kings with little power, and there are also five or six families who have been deposed as common people and seized the title of nobility, but the bloodline is still the descendants of Zhu Yuanzhang.
But if there are about ten families in total, who would dare to question it again in the future? Or if Zhu Shuren’s son has a shortcoming and he needs another princess wife to adopt, then the generals in the army will definitely support him unconditionally.
Zhu Shuren is here, and whoever dares to jump will be destroyed.
Are those pig-raising princes nothing? They just have Zhu Yuanzhang’s blood on their father’s line. Prince E’s son has Zhu Yuanzhang’s blood on his mother’s line anyway. Isn’t that enough?
The best soldiers and generals in the world have been fed by Prince E for many years, they have been paid by Prince E, and they have been rewarded by Prince E. They have official positions, titles, honors, descendants and wealth. Of course, they must be absolutely and unconditionally loyal to Prince E.
One lineage!
Whatever Prince E said, it means that the world is upright and upright!
Zhu Shuren waited for Cao to become Jiaohuang and had enough of venting, so he gently and respectfully ordered the two of them to stand up, without being polite, and let them prepare their troops, continue to clean the battlefield, nurse the wounded, and withdraw the troops back to camp to prepare for the subsequent counterattack.
The generals have promised to take care of things without mentioning anything.
…
The words are divided into two parts.
The Feishui Battle on the eighth day of September ended with the Qing army annihilating up to 80,000 people. The retreat and reorganization of the defeated troops naturally required continued chaos for several days.
After learning from the bodyguards of Abatai who had fled back that Abatai refused to retreat and died of a heart attack in the battle, the morale of the Qing troops at the Shouxian battlefield and Fengyang lair behind was naturally plummeting.
Panic further aggravated the Qing army's subsequent confusion and distortion of its tactical deployment.
Of course Zhu Shuren would not miss this opportunity, so he asked Huang Fei, Lin Chengcheng and other troops leading the main force of the infantry to rest and prepare for another attack.
However, Cao Bianjiao and Huang succeeded in selecting the 20,000 cavalry who were in relatively good condition, and formed two separate armies to pursue them.
The Ming army had a total of more than 30,000 cavalry in the Hefei Theater, but a considerable number of them were killed or wounded in the decisive battle of Feishui, and were not in good condition. Therefore, it was pretty good to be able to select 20,000 to continue high-intensity operations.
Fortunately, there were not many cavalrymen on the opposite side of the Qing army. With the two white flags plus the blue flag, only 17,000 people escaped alive, and there were wounded among them. In fact, they could not all participate in the next battle.
The Ming army's condition declined after the war, and the Qing army's condition naturally declined as well. It was no longer possible to make a desperate fight with the Ming army.
Zhu Shuren expected that the death of Abatai would more or less lead to chaos in the command of the Qing army for a period of time. There would definitely be different opinions on whether to continue fighting or to defend, and people who opposed Yue Le and Bolo would also appear. This is a rare and unfortunate event.
Take advantage of the opportunity.
He estimated that this period of chaos could last as little as three or four days, or as much as five, six or seven or eight days, which would be a good time to expand the results of the battle.
What's more, the Ming army still has more than 30,000 well-preserved city defenders in the encirclement of Bagong Mountain and Shouxian County. Once the Ming army's rescue force launches a pursuit, the city defenders can also attack. If they cooperate inside and outside, the Ming army will be sure.
Bigger.
Just two days after the decisive battle, on the tenth day of September, Cao Bianjiao and Huang Degong led 20,000 cavalry. After covering up the false shot the day before, they suddenly turned their guns and rushed towards the Qing army's encirclement camp south of Bagong Mountain.
——
Before this offensive, the Ming army made some fake moves. Cao Bianjiao and Huang Degong first calmly crossed the Feishui River, and when they arrived at Feidong, they planned to kill the defeated Qing troops who crossed to Feidong.
, the posture of chasing Fengyang all the way.
In the end, they were only halfway through the chase when they suddenly turned their guns to the north and penetrated directly behind the Qing army's encirclement camp south of Bagong Mountain.
Responsible for the defense of Shouxian County and Bagong Mountain were General Liu Zhaoji and others of the Ming Army. There were a total of 30,000 troops, including about 20,000 in the city of Shouxian County and more than 10,000 in the Dazhai and fort of Bagong Mountain.
The total number of Qing troops responsible for the siege in the two places was fifty thousand, which was twenty thousand more than the total number of Ming troops on the defensive side. However, people were already panicking these two days.
In addition, the Ming army controls the Feishui River, and the Qing army has garrisons in Feidong, Feixi and Huaibei. It is difficult to watch and help each other immediately. If any one place is attacked by the Ming army with concentrated superior forces, the other two places will be attacked.
Chu Qingjun could only watch.
So when Cao Bianjiao, Huang Degong and Liu Zhaoji cooperated with each other and picked the softest persimmons first, the already panic-stricken Qing troops encircling the south side of Bagong Mountain quickly chose to break through and retreat to the area between Shouxian and Fengyang.
Huaiyuan County Residency.
The Qing army ran very fast, and the advantage was that the loss of troops was relatively small. The 20,000 troops only suffered more than 1,000 casualties before they began to break through. They were also pursued by the Ming army, killing and capturing another 1,000 or 2,000 people, leaving 80% of the troops.
He escaped whole body.
However, the Qing army retreated so cleanly that the damage it caused to the Ming army was minimal. Under the flanking attack of Cao Bianjiao and Liu Zhaoji, the attacking Ming army only suffered a few hundred casualties in total, in exchange for a small victory of annihilating three thousand enemies.
.
Cao Bianjiao originally had a chance to continue the pursuit, but considering that there was a larger force of the Qing army surrounding Shouxian County in Feixi waiting to outflank, Cao Bianjiao and Huang Degong gave up the small for the greater and did not pursue deeply.
Zhu Shuren and Cao Bianjiao didn't know that among the Qing troops surrounding Bagong Mountain that they let go, there was the traitor Geng Zhongming's troops - his son had just been captured a few days ago, and he surrendered to the Ming Dynasty in fear of death.
After Geng Zhongming escaped, he fled directly back to Fengyang City, the home base of the Lianghuai Qing Army. The Fengyang Qing Army garrison did not watch out for his own people. He only let them into the city after verifying the identities of the main generals of Geng Zhongming's army.
.
…
The Qing army camp surrounding Bagong Mountain in Feidong was defeated, and most of them fled back to Huaiyuan. The news of Fengyang, of course, reached the Qing army camp outside Shouxian County in Feixi that night.
In Feixi and Huaibei, there are more than 30,000 Qing troops in total. They all know that sooner or later they will be surrounded by the Ming army. They must not sit back and wait for death. When Cao becomes Jiaohuang and becomes free, they must find a way to leave now.
.
Unfortunately, the Qing army had bypassed Shouxian County before, and its move southward from Bagong Mountain was a rash move. Because the key nodes of the waterway were not removed, the warships could not keep pace with the army.
The Feidong Qing army could at least take the land route and escape back to Huaiyuan along the south bank of the Huaihe River. However, if the Feixi Qing army wanted to escape, they would have to either cross the Huaihe River north and then march to the north of the Huaibei to retreat. Or they could first cross the Feishui River eastward and then follow the Huainan route.
retreat.
No matter which route they choose, the Qing army has to cross a river, and the three forks of the Feishui and Huai Rivers are blocked by the Ming Army’s Bagongshan Fort! Ships can’t get in!
With no other choice, the Qing army had no choice but to rely on the small boats collected on the spot in Feixi during this period and the improvised rafts they built to slowly ferry the troops in batches to Huaibei to gather in order to prepare for an orderly retreat.
In addition, it was found that it was still not fast enough, so we could only ask some of the Qing army ferries and warships located on the main stream of the Huaihe River downstream of Shouxian County to sail upstream in the dark despite the blockade of the Bagongshan Fort, passing through dangerous areas, and then help ferry them.
However, the Ming army defenders in Shouxian County were not prepared to let them go at all——
Shouxian County is originally an important military town in Huaifei. The purpose of its existence for thousands of years has been to connect the Yangtze River and Huaihe River. Therefore, Shouxian County was built close to the Feishui River and the Huaihe River. There are water gates on both sides of the east and north sides of the city that lead directly to the river. Inside the water gate
It can also hide some warships.
After discovering that the Qing army had made a move and wanted to escape, the Ming army of course used all its firepower. Not only did the Hongyi cannons on the Bagongshan fort spare no ammunition, but even if they had no vision, they fired at the Huaihe River to cover the waterway. From time to time, they could blind the passing Qing army ships.
Once or twice.
The Ming warships, which had been conserving their strength and hiding at the Shuimen Pier in Shouxian City, rushed out immediately and wreaked havoc on the Huaihe River, intercepting and killing the Qing troops who were trying to escape across the river.
It was a pity that the Qing army retreated overnight. The night was very dark, and the Ming army could not gather many ships to intercept them in a hurry. Therefore, as long as the Qing army was not hit, they could still cross the river safely.
But precisely because of the dark sky, if the Qing army was unlucky enough to be caught nearby by a Ming warship, they would basically be dead. They would either be sunk, gang members would fight to seize the ship, or they would surrender.
The Qing army also had no way of calling friends and allies in the dark to gather together to fight back, and could only fight on their own. The southern army had a natural advantage in naval combat power, and the Ming army had an advantage in ship-borne light artillery.
It was destined that as long as a single ship on the water faced a duel, the Ming army would definitely be able to crush the Qing army.
After a night of fighting, the Qing army was killed by the Ming army at a very low cost. Thousands of people were killed. Thirty thousand Qing troops surrounded Feixi and Huaibei. In the end, only 23,000 Qing troops escaped.
The Ming army's casualties were also less than a thousand, and the battle was almost as exciting as the Battle of Feidong the day before. After two days, the Ming army's total losses were only fifteen or six hundred, while the Qing army on the opposite side had lost more than ten thousand troops in total.
.
Continuous weakening, one ebbing off the other, worsened the balance of forces between the two sides. Not only did the Qing army suffer continuous losses, but even the soldiers who retreated alive were demoralized and panicked.
The total number of Qing troops in the Fengyang War Zone, which also numbered 170,000 or 80,000, had been annihilated in total, more than 90,000 and nearly 100,000. The remaining nearly 80,000 troops were frightened overnight, retreated repeatedly, and finally shrunk completely.
Arrive at Fengyang, Huaiyuan and Linhuai counties.
To put it bluntly, it has shrunk to Fengyang as the core, plus several satellite counties extending upstream and downstream along the Huai River to Fengyang to protect Fengyang, and the rest has been lost.
The offensive and defensive momentum between the Ming and Qing Dynasties was completely reversed, and the Qing army became demoralized and tightly defensive, while the Ming army prepared to take advantage of the trend to counterattack in order to regain the Ming Dynasty Central Capital.
The Battle of Feishui ended on the eighth day of September, the siege of Bagongshan was relieved on September 11th, and the siege of Shouxian County was completely relieved on September 13th. After a short rest, the Ming army continued to advance along the Huaihe River, from Shouxian County to Huaiyuan.
For a hundred miles, the Ming army advanced while fighting, but it only took three to five days to complete the journey.
On September 17, the leading troops of the Ming army arrived outside Huaiyuan City. Two days later, the main force arrived one after another, preparing to set up camp, build equipment and attack the city.
The total strength of the Ming army in pursuit reached 140,000. The total strength of the Ming army in the Hefei theater was originally 180,000. At this time, more than 20,000 people need to be left to defend the rear. There are still 10,000 to 20,000 people who were damaged in previous battles.
, casualties, so pulling out 140,000 people is indeed very extreme.
The Qing army on the opposite side only had 80,000 soldiers left, but they finally stabilized their position.
At the same time, the news of the disastrous defeat ten days ago and the death of Abatai in the battle was also sent to Beijing after a six-hundred-mile expedited journey of four days each way to Dorgon. Dorgon was also given two days.
Time to digest this bad news and make adjustments.
Therefore, when the Ming army besieged Huaiyuan, the Fengyang Qing army was officially appointed by Dorgon. Bolo led the remaining 80,000 Fengyang Qing army, followed by Yue Le. The other generals were not held responsible for the defeat for the time being.
, requiring them to each stick to their duties and stabilize the front.
Yue Le and Bolo are brothers, and both are the legitimate sons of Abatai.
In terms of age, Yue Le was the eldest brother, but Bolo's military ability and historical achievements, as well as his performance evaluation in Dorgon's mind, were slightly better than his brother's. In an emergency, Dorgon asked Bolo to temporarily take command of the crossing.
There is nothing wrong with surviving a crisis.
Although Yue Le was a little unwilling, he was not jealous to that extent between brothers. He quickly accepted the reality and planned to serve as deputy and work together with his brother to avenge his father through hard times.
Yue Le still couldn't do that kind of thing, ignoring the dead body and attacking each other.
After Bolo stabilized his position, he immediately formally summoned the generals as the head coach for the first time to discuss strategies to defend and stabilize the front.
Yue Le, Shang Shan, Geng Zhongming, Yin Erdeng, and Ye Bilong lined up on the left and right to take orders.
Previously, other important generals above the level of auxiliary generals under Abatai were either killed in battle or seriously injured, and were no longer able to participate in subsequent military discussions and combat command.
And even the five people in front of him may not all be safe. Zhu Shuren is still holding a time bomb on his side, but it's a pity that Bolo doesn't know about it yet.
"My father died in battle, and our army has lost nearly 100,000 troops in total. Only three counties in Huainan are in the hands of the imperial court. How should we hold on and wait for reinforcements now? I also ask all the generals to work together and work together!"