Out of the consideration of annihilating as many Qing troops as possible within the pass,
Don't leave these real Tatars who come and go like the wind to be dealt with on the battlefield outside the customs in the future, and try to kill one more if you can.
After the military meeting that day, Zhang Huangyan roughly sorted out a new combat strategy: He had to choose to temporarily maintain a stalemate on the frontal battlefield, consume Haoge, and at the same time wait for a better opportunity to weaken the enemy and encircle and annihilate——
Haven't all of Hauge's main forces been assembled at the junction of Daming Prefecture, Guangping Prefecture, and Dongchang Prefecture? Other areas in Shandong controlled by the Qing army, as well as some marginal areas at the junction of Hebei and Shanxi, have now fallen into emptiness.
In addition to the 300,000 main force responsible for holding Haug head-on, the Ming army also had 150,000 people on land from east to west and 50,000 on sea routes, who could outflank him. They slowly took up territory and cannibalized Haug's two wings, forming a more powerful force.
With a deep encirclement on three sides, fighting steadily, and finally seeking a decisive battle, it is obviously easier to achieve annihilating results than if we just rush forward rashly now.
Of course, at the military meeting that day, many generals who knew the military also pointed out a problem: this approach of advancing on two wings and striving to be surrounded on three sides must not be rushed - because once such measures are taken, the Qing army will fight on the inside.
, with 250,000 to 300,000 people twisted into an iron fist, it has an advantage in troop dispatch.
Once the left and right flanks of the Ming army penetrate deeply, and the Qing army seizes the opportunity to desperately attack one of the Ming armies, it will easily collapse and fall into danger. Especially the Qing army has a high proportion of cavalry and moves quickly, so the risk is even greater.
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Thirty years ago, during the Battle of Sarhu, didn't the Ming army just want to complete their victory in one battle and strive to encircle and annihilate more Qing troops, so they resorted to a four-pronged outflank strategy?
In the end, Nuerhachi said, "You can come in any way, I will only go all the way." He concentrated his superior forces to create a time difference and defeated the four Ming armies one after another.
The four Ming armies lost because they were unable to coordinate communications and arrived at the battlefield at the same time, resorting to a fueling tactic.
Yin Jian is not far away. The tragic defeat of Saarhu left an indelible mark on the psychological trauma of the Ming Dynasty civil servants. Of course, Zhang Huangyan would be cautious and try his best to avoid it.
Therefore, after final weighing, he found a new and improved method: separate attacks and attack in three directions to exert pressure and encirclement on three sides. However, when the troops on both wings advance, they must be very careful to "strengthen the stronghold and fight a dull battle."
, set up a camp every thirty miles! We can't be like what happened in Saarhu, where the Ming army frequently advanced lightly on a certain road and marched long distances.
Nowadays, the Ming army has an absolute advantage in attacking fortifications and defending strongholds. With the deployment of rifle and artillery fire, as long as there are fortifications to rely on, and the enemy attacks with heavy troops, even if the Qing army has five times or more than the Ming army, the Ming army can hold on.
Stay, and then send a letter asking for help.
Therefore, if the Tatars are not caught and the left and right flanks of the Ming army are deployed for a decisive battle in the field and have the opportunity to defeat them, nothing will happen.
To force Hauge to fight in the field, he can only fight with Zhang Huangyan's main force of 300,000, without giving him the chance to pick on the weaklings.
This improved version of the plan finally won the support of all front-line military commanders and was successfully implemented.
Of course, no plan is perfect. Just because the generals support it, it doesn’t mean that no one else objects. In the final stage of the military discussion, some civilian officials in charge of logistics complained to Zhang Huangyan:
This type of attack is destined to be protracted, and it may take until the twelfth lunar month of winter to complete a steady and maneuverable attack. And because the Qing army has strong walls and clear fields, it is more difficult for the Ming army to raise food and cannot obtain food and grass on the spot.
Nowadays, it is necessary to use land vehicles and horses for transportation from Yanjin to Ji County. Only when you reach Ji County can you take a boat to Zhangshui. Or you can choose another route and transport by land between Dongming and Puyang.
These two sections of the land route are more than 80 miles long, plus the losses of unloading and loading trucks twice, and the grain transporters and dock workers will waste a lot of food if they eat horses and chew them. The constant stalemate is definitely detrimental to the national strength of the Ming Dynasty.
Huge losses.
However, Zhang Huangyan asked Zhu Shuren who was behind in Kaifeng for instructions on this point. Zhu Shuren said that this was a war to destroy the country against the Qing Dynasty. The last word was to seek stability and win. Don't worry about wasting money and food. As long as you can win, you can win.
To annihilate the main force of the Tatars, he will not limit Zhang Huangyan's budget!
Zhu Shuren also asked the envoy to bring his original words to Zhang Huangyan: "I have been facing the wall for ten years to break it. I, Ming Dynasty, have been recuperating in the south for five or six years, and Xu has been making progress. Isn't it just for this moment! The money and food saved in these years is
For this moment! Gu’s support for my brother is stronger than Qin Shihuang’s support for Wang Jian when he led 600,000 Qin troops to fight Xiang Yan for more than a year! He will not waver!”
Zhu Shuren all talked about this, saying that as long as Zhang Huangyan could win, even if the stalemate was like Wang Jian's stalemate with Xiang Yan, he would squeeze out food from the rear. Zhang Huangyan had no worries at all and went on to do it.
…
Zhang Huangyan chose to advance to the south bank of the Zhang River. After facing the Qing army across the Zhang River, he built high bases and deep trenches, and began to build trenches and earthen walls that stretched from Neihuang to Puyang.
Such a gesture naturally made Hauge on the opposite side a little confused at first.
From early October to early mid-October, Hauge first waited and watched the stalemate for five or six days, keeping alert to prevent the Ming army from pretending to be in a stalemate but actually preparing to find an opportunity to attack.
After waiting and waiting, the Ming army did not make any sneak attacks, nor did they try to cross the Zhang River to cause some damage. Hauge finally lost his composure and decided to engage in some tentative harassment battles.
Therefore, after two or three days of calm investigation, the Qing army selected a field fortification area along the Zhangshui River between Neihuang and Puyang that seemed to be relatively weakly defended. They found a cloudy night and sent out a group of thousands of people.
A massive Mongolian cavalry secretly crossed the Zhang River to launch a surprise attack.
Of course, this attempt by the Qing army was not a random choice. It had really done rigorous and detailed work to confirm that the number of Ming troops in this defense area was insufficient.
Therefore, the crossing of the river went smoothly at first. The troops successfully landed ashore, and then only encountered constant resistance from a small number of Ming troops relying on high forts and deep ditches.
Since the Qing army's concentrated sneak attack troops were far more numerous than the dispersed Ming army garrison, the Qing army broke through the defense line in just two tea-hours of fierce fighting and took control of a section of trenches and earthen walls.
However, just by delaying the time of these two cups of tea, the Ming troops on the left and right reacted quickly and immediately came to support and defend. When the Qing troops controlled some of the fortifications, more Ming troops had formed a siege from three sides.
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After the bloody tug-of-war, the Mongols were unable to perform at all on this kind of positional battlefield. As thousands of Wuchang-made rifles took turns firing, the Mongolian cavalry fell to death one after another. In the end, they had to retreat and cross back to the north bank of the Zhang River.
The Ming army also took advantage of the situation and killed hundreds of Mongolian cavalry who had no time to get into the river. More people were injured or chose to ride horses and ford the river. Unfortunately, the water level in Zhangshui was not low enough, so many people had to abandon their horses and swim in the dark.
Escape.
After the failure of Hauge's first sneak attack, he was still unwilling to accept it. In the following seven or eight days, he tried two more small-scale attrition. But each time he ended up losing one or two thousand troops. In comparison, although each time
Hundreds of Ming troops were killed and wounded, but the exchange ratio was obviously very poor.
Moreover, the total strength of the Qing army was smaller than that of the Ming army. There was absolutely no future in exchanging lives like this. By late October, Hauge had to give up this attempt.
"Who is the general who patrols the defense line of the Nanmanzi opposite? Why do they react so quickly every time? Don't they relax in the middle of the night? They have been in a stalemate for so long and they still remain vigilant every day?"
Facing failure, Hauge couldn't help but want to find some excuse, so he asked this question manically.
Fortunately, the basic intelligence work on the Tatars was still OK. The people below gave him the answer after a brief summary and assessment:
"Reporting to the prince, the general of Nanmanzi on the opposite side who is responsible for patrolling the defense line between Neihuang and Puyang is Li Dingguo, the commander-in-chief of Nanyang. This man was originally a remnant of the Western thief Zhang Xianzhong. After being conquered by the barbarian court, he has been following Zhang Huangyan, beating some hard-working people.
War of attrition.
A few years ago, when the British Prince Azig was still alive, he attacked Nanyang, which was guarded by Zhang Huangyan, but was held back by this man, fought a long war of attrition, and finally returned without success."
When Hauge heard that he had to deal with Li Dingguo for a sneak attack, he had no choice but to give up completely. Li Dingguo's rigorous military management and method of deploying defenses were quite well-known among the Qing army. After Azige's defeat, he exaggerated
, no one wants to exchange lives with Li Dingguo.
And because Hauge was hesitant and tried randomly, he was delayed for half a month and suffered more than 5,000 casualties. This number of people was not considered for the Qing army with a total size of 2.78 million.
There are many, but they keep losing battles on a small scale, and the loss of morale is also obvious.
In addition, in the past half month, the Ming army in the direction of Shandong, led by Li Fuming and Zhang Mingzhen, made considerable progress in enclosing territory and captured two more state capitals.
To the west, in the direction of Shanxi, Jiang Quan was ordered by Zhu Shuren to leave Jingxingkou after resting and began to harass the Zhending Mansion controlled by the Qing army. Wu Sangui chose the harassment route to the south to threaten the surrounding areas of Xingtai.
Jiang Yu and Wu Sangui were also very good at conserving their strength. They both strictly implemented the "strengthen the stronghold and fight the war" strategy of setting up camps every thirty miles. They fought steadily and advanced slowly, but extremely firmly.
Hauge's army also divided its forces as appropriate to try to counterattack, but every time Jiang Yu and Wu Sangui encountered the main force of the Qing army approaching, they immediately switched to a defensive position. Although they each only had 30,000 to 40,000 troops, even if the Qing army came to attack with 100,000 people, Jiang Yu
Wu Sangui relied on rifles and cannons to hold on to the fortress, but the Qing army could not attack it.
…
After Hauge was frustrated, he felt Zhang Huangyan's slow but firm noose again. He couldn't help but feel a little panic, so he once again summoned the main generals and advisers in the shogunate in Wei County to discuss countermeasures.
"Zhang Huangyan has been in a stalemate with Gu for twenty days. You said to Zhang Huangyan before that our army has a strong wall in the south of Daming Mansion to clear the country. It is not easy for them to transport food. Zhang Huangyan must be advantageous in fighting quickly. How can he be willing to waste time like this now?
It seems that Wu Sangui, Jiang Quan and Li Fuming are all fighting steadily to advance the occupation. If it is delayed any longer and they are divided into combined attacks and arrive at the battlefield of Daiming and Wei County at the same time, what will happen to our army?
Hong Chengchou! First tell me, it was you who persuaded Gu Jianbi to clear the country, and it was you who said that the Southern Barbarians had the advantage of fighting quickly! If our army is dragged to be surrounded on three sides in the future, how will we break the situation!"
Being held accountable by Hauge, important adviser Hong Chengchou was also a little embarrassed.
In the conscience of heaven and earth, the poisonous plan of "strengthening the wall and clearing the field" is generally not something that the Manchu nobles and nobles would think of. The Manchus are used to fighting mobile warfare. They like to defeat the enemy for food and hate logistical coordination the most, so they rarely do this.
Thinking of this ruthless strategy of "killing one thousand enemies and losing eight hundred to oneself", even if they burned, killed and looted, it was just a temporary move and they did not expect to rely on looting to implement some big strategic plan.
In contrast, the situation of those die-hard traitor advisers is different. They are familiar with the art of war and the fighting style of the Han armed forces. Food and grass come first, so they are particularly good at this type of targeted coordination.
Faced with pressure, Hong Chengchou could only help Hauge to stabilize people's hearts: "Your Majesty, I still feel that it is not a bad idea to fortify the wall and clear the country. In the current situation, although the Ming army chose a stalemate, it seems to have achieved the effect of slowly pressing forward step by step.
But all this is based on the premise that they advance extremely cautiously. If they increase the speed and reveal a slight flaw, it will be the situation in Saarhu back then.
With the current speed of advancement, they will not be able to capture Zhending County and Xingtai County by the end of October. Our army still has troops to support those key nodes. If the Ming army wants to complete the three-sided encirclement of our army, it may take until the end of November.
Even until the twelfth lunar month!
And this year’s winter doesn’t look like it’s going to be warm. Not only will the Yellow River be frozen, but the Zhang River will also be frozen. If the Ming army comes from afar, why don’t they have to compete with our army for time? Our army has strengthened the walls and cleared the country so thoroughly that when the rivers in the north are no longer usable,
When transporting grain, the stalemate between the two sides will inevitably change."
Hauge touched his beard, but before he could refute, Mandahai next to him took the lead and shouted: "Pedantic words! How can our army wait for the Nanbarbarians to encircle them on three sides! Besides, even if their rivers freeze in winter, they will stop transportation.
,
But before the river freezes, Zhang Huangyan is desperately transporting military rations from the rear to Puyang and other places to stock up. In my opinion, maybe he can save enough rations for more than two months of the twelfth and first lunar months before the river freezes! Or even more!
When the river thaws and the water volume recovers in February next year, the Ming army may have surrounded us here! During the spring plowing, it rains continuously and the land is muddy, and our cavalry cannot display its combat effectiveness.
In my opinion, what we fight in the Qing Dynasty is the advantage of cavalry, and the northerners are cold-resistant. If we want to decide the winner, we have to fight in winter and fight quickly. Otherwise, if it drags on, even if our army loses little in transporting food, it will ultimately affect our national strength.
I can’t hold it anymore!
The Southern Barbarians already have so many prosperous provinces, but our Qing Dynasty relies on depleting the lakes to fish and killing and plundering the military rations raised by the people of Hebei. After the spring famine next year, we will not have enough land and population to produce with peace of mind. Even if spring plowing is forced, the fertile fields of Hebei will be flat.
It’s easy for Nanmanzi to destroy it!”
Mandahai has now inherited the title of his recently deceased father Daishan. He is Prince Li, so his words naturally carry some weight. His words quickly won the support of other Manchu royal relatives, who all felt that Hong Chengchou was too cowardly and that his strategy was a waste of time.
Too big.
Seeing this, Hauge just nodded slightly: "Everything you said has some truth to it. We can't expect it to last forever, but the southern barbarians are not well supplied in winter, and the southern soldiers are afraid of the cold, so we have to use them."
The others thought for a while, and then Bolo came up with an idea: "Brother Wang, since we want to weaken the endurance of the Ming army for long-term operations, and also take advantage of the winter to make full use of our cavalry, why not wait and see for a while and find an opportunity?
When the Zhang River is about to freeze, how about sending troops to make a detour and sneak attack, go upstream along the Zhang River, attack Neihuang, or Junxian and Huaxian behind enemy lines, so as to weaken the Ming army's grain and grass gathering areas?
As Hong Shangshu said, once the rivers freeze, the Ming army will no longer be able to transport food by water, but short-distance deployment within a hundred miles by land will not be affected.
Today, Zhang Huangyan is stationed in Neihuang, Puyang, Qingfeng and other places. Only Neihuang is closest to the upper reaches of Zhangshui River and is connected to the rear of the Ming army. The remaining two counties are not directly close to Zhangshui. Therefore, the Ming army mainly stores grain.
, must be stored in Neihuang, and the grain harvesting land further back may be in Huaxian County.
We wait for them to gather most of the food they need for the winter in Zhangnan Wharf County, which is closest to the battlefield, before the Zhang River freezes. Then we will raid that county at all costs and completely rob or burn the stocks.
, then Zhang Huang said that the hundreds of thousands of troops must have been forced to retreat because they had no food to survive the winter and the rivers were frozen and could no longer transport transportation. When the time comes, our army will pursue and exhaust the enemy's food, and we will win a complete victory!"
Bolo said this in high spirits. He originally wanted to add more detail and describe the upcoming decisive battle as another "Songshan Battle."
After all, the field part of the Songshan Battle in the 13th and 14th years of Chongzhen's reign was because Hong Chengchou's troops rushed in and were cut off from food routes. After being trapped, their morale collapsed.
But when Bo Luo finished speaking, he remembered that Hong Chengchou was now on his side, so he kept his words and did not give an example.
Hauge, who was responsible for the final decision, after carefully considering the opinions of all parties, felt that Bolo's words seemed feasible.
As relatives of the Manchu Emperor, they were all familiar with "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Being compared by Bo Luo just now, Hauge almost felt that he was very similar to Cao Cao during the Battle of Guandu, and Zhang Huangyan was very similar to Yuan Shao during the Battle of Guandu.
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As long as the river north of the Yellow River freezes in winter and cannot transport grain, and if the grain storage fields rushed to be transported before freezing are burned, the Ming army will not be able to survive the winter.
After all, troops were sent to the north only in late autumn. The biggest disadvantage is here: if you want to win in late autumn, the key is to defeat the enemy with food! Use the enemy's autumn food for your own soldiers to eat! The Qing army strengthened the walls and cleared the fields, but the Ming army did not get it.
Hebei's local autumn grain, then military grain is the biggest and easiest weakness of the Ming army!
Moreover, according to his investigation, the Ming army did not transport all the grain stored in Neihuang Tun into the county due to difficulties in transportation.
It may be that the Ming army considered that these grains were not for the local soldiers and civilians in Neihuang, but had to be transported to other places. Neihuang was just a transit and distribution center. If they were all transported into the city, they would be transported out of the city in the future. How much more would it take to load, unload, and ship?
times, the loss was too great.
In addition, Neihuang is a very small county town. It originally had a population of only tens of thousands, but now it has to supply grain storage for hundreds of thousands of troops for a winter. All the granaries in the city are full and cannot be accommodated, and they have to be demolished.
Private houses were converted into temporary granaries.
Considering that the cost of dismantling and rebuilding would be more time-consuming and laborious than building it directly on the plains outside the city, the Ming army chose to build it directly.
Therefore, the Ming army chose to build a camp on the dock on the south bank of the Zhang River outside the west gate of Neihuang County, and directly stored a huge amount of military rations in this tightly defended dock and water camp. The camp also covered an extremely large area and was tightly defended.
However, in Hauge's view, no matter how tight the defense of the camp is, it will definitely be easier than attacking the city. Hundreds of thousands of Ming troops were scattered in many places, and several strongholds were sixty to eighty miles apart.
If the Qing army can find an opportunity to secretly gather troops in advance and attack a certain point of the Ming army, it may take a day or two for other reinforcements of the Ming army to come to the rescue. Then they may not have a chance of winning by taking advantage of this time difference to burn most of the Ming army's rations.
!
During the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao went to burn Wuchao. After the battle in Wuchao, it took more than half a day or even a day before Yuan Shao's rescue force arrived!
After careful consideration, Haug felt that instead of waiting for the enemy to slowly tighten his neck, it would be better to take this fight.
"Then it was decided that we would wait for a few more days and wait for the Zhangshui to freeze and the Ming army's rear area to be unable to transport food, then we would take the initiative and burn down the west gate of Neihuang County, the Zhangshui Wharf water village, and the Ming army's main granary.
Come on! Force Zhang Huangyan to retreat, and then pursue the whole army!"