Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 286: Severity
In Qijiang City, in the government hall, all the Qing army generals gathered, all of them had long, thin pigtails on their heads.

The main seat in the hall is occupied by the Qing Dynasty's General Jingyuan, Prince Su Haoge, who is also the commander-in-chief of the Qing Dynasty's expedition to the southwest.
Below on the left is Duoluo Beile Nikan, who was the deputy commander of the Qing Dynasty's Western Expedition Army at that time. Below Nikan is Gushan Ezhen Malaxi, the commander of the Bordered Red Banner.

The first person on the right is Gushan Beizi Man Dahai. Man Dahai is Daishan's biological son. If nothing unexpected happens, he will be the future successor of Li Prince Daishan. This time he leads the Zhenghong Banner to join the army. Below Man Dahai is Aobai, the commander of the Bordered Yellow Banner Guard.

Further down are the White Banner Gushan Ezhen Zhunta, the Blue Banner Gushan Ezhen Jueluo Bahana, the Red Banner Gushan Ezhen Dulei and others.

In fact, the deputy commander of the Western Expedition should be Luo Luohun, the leader of the Bordered Red Banner, but after Luo Luohun followed the army to Qin Province, he died of illness in the army in August last year. The Bordered Red Banner troops were then led by Gushan Ezhen Malaxi of the Bordered Red Banner and continued to follow the expedition.

Hauge and his men came all the way south, and after pacifying a group of pro-Ming forces led by He Zhen in Hanzhong, Qin Province, they led their troops into Sichuan Province in December last year.
Zhang Xianzhong sent Liu Jinzhong, the general of the Western Army, to guard the Sichuan Pass. Seeing the Qing Dynasty's power, he surrendered directly to the Qing Dynasty.

Under the leadership of Liu Jinzhong, the elite Qing army team took advantage of the heavy fog and rushed directly to Zhang Xianzhong's tent.

Zhang Xianzhong heard that the Qing army was coming and didn't believe it. Instead, he beat the messenger to death. Zhang Xianzhong wore a half-sleeve ragged shirt and had three arrows stuck in his waist. He led his generals to the river to watch. Under the guidance of Liu Jinzhong, the Qing army shot Zhang Xianzhong to death with one arrow.

Zhang Xianzhong died suddenly, and the Western Army was leaderless and in chaos. The Qing army took advantage of the situation and defeated hundreds of thousands of Western Army troops in one battle. Only Sun Kewang and others escaped with a few backbone members of the Western Army.
After the Qing army defeated the Western Army, there was no longer any decent defense in northern Sichuan, so the Qing army dispatched generals to occupy various places in Sichuan Province.

Chengdu was originally the capital of the Western Dynasty, but after Zhang Xianzhong's repeated devastation, Chengdu has become a wasteland.

When Zhang Xianzhong first entered Sichuan, his military discipline was strict, but as the pro-Ming gentry in Sichuan continued to rebel, Zhang Xianzhong began to lose patience.
Zhang Xianzhong thought that his killing was not fierce enough, which made the gentry in Shu dare to rebel, so he began to order his troops to slaughter the cities that dared to resist, but this made the resistance of the people in Sichuan Province more intense.

Zhang Xianzhong saw that the whole of Sichuan was in rebellion, so he wanted to abandon Chengdu and go to Huguang. Before leaving Chengdu, Zhang Xianzhong thought that the people of Sichuan had failed to show his kindness, so he slaughtered the people in the city.

After killing many people, Zhang Xianzhong went down the river to enter Huguang, but he was defeated by Yang Zhan at Pengjiangkou not long after. Zhang Xianzhong fled back to Chengdu, and then Chengdu was massacred again.

After Zhang Xianzhong's two massacres, Chengdu is now empty and only one in ten people are left.
After Zhang Xianzhong left, the people gradually returned to the city. Li Guoying, the general of Chengdu appointed by the Qing court, arrived at the city with more than a thousand soldiers and directly occupied Chengdu without any resistance.

Li Guoying went to western Sichuan to take Chengdu, while Lu Guangzu was ordered to take Kuizhou. Kuizhou was the main waterway from Huguang to Sichuan. Defending Kuizhou was enough to stop the enemy from Huguang, and it had always been an important town in eastern Sichuan.
The Qing government occupied two important places, one in the east and one in the west, and then Hauge began to march south to capture Chongqing. Although it was called an attack, in fact, the Qing army did not encounter any decent resistance along the way.
Sun Kewang and his men from the Western Army fled southwards, having already wiped out all the resistance forces along the way. Sun Kewang and his men even defeated the main force of the Ming army led by Zeng Ying in a battle in Chongqing. The Qing army did nothing, and the forces in Sichuan Province had already collapsed on their own.

The Qing army followed the route of the Western Army to the south, followed the city, and had no obstacles along the way.

When the Qing army arrived at Chongqing, the Western Army had already retreated to Bozhou. Chongqing, as the hub of Sichuan Province, was directly occupied by the Qing army without firing a single shot.
The Qing army occupied Chongqing at any time, but did not place the army camp in Chongqing, but set it up in Qijiang further south.

It was not that the Qing army did not know the importance of Chongqing, but that Chongqing was not suitable for garrison at that time.
Before Sun Kewang and his men left Chongqing, they had anticipated that the Qing army would pursue them, so they mobilized their troops to demolish the city wall of Chongqing and push all the bricks and stones of the city wall into the river.
At that time, Chongqing did not even have a city wall. There was no difference between being stationed in Chongqing and being stationed in the wild. The Qing army had no choice but to choose another place to station.

At the Qijiang County Government Office, Haoge glanced at the people below and asked

"The situation in Bozhou has been thoroughly investigated."

Nikan below heard this and replied

"The military scouts have arrived near Bozhou, but according to the scouts' report, the Ming army flags are hung on the top of Bozhou City, which seems to be still occupied by the Ming army."

"Ming army flag?"

"Didn't I report earlier that the Western bandits had occupied Bozhou? Where are those Western bandits, Sun Kewang?"

Hauge had a puzzled look on his face. Although the main force of the Qing army did not immediately pursue, the Qing court was still aware of the general movements of the Western Army.
The reason why the Qing army did not immediately pursue the remnants of the Western Army was because they knew that Sun Kewang and others were blocked outside the Chongqing River. It was not until Sun Kewang defeated the Ming army in one fell swoop that the Qing court officially began to pursue them.

"I don't know. The Ming army in Bozhou has fortified its walls and cleared the fields. The Ming army in the city is extremely cautious. The cavalry scouts only operate near Bozhou City. We have not been able to catch the Ming army cavalry scouts for the time being, and no trace of the Western Army has been found nearby."

After the Ming army discovered that the Qing army had occupied Chongqing, Jiao Lian immediately ordered the relocation of people outside Bozhou City in order to prevent the Qing army from obtaining food and money outside Bozhou City.

The people near Bozhou were either sent into the city or sent to the southern province of Gui. The Qing cavalry could not catch anyone and could not figure out the situation in Bozhou for a while.
Nikan looked at Hauge, who was frowning above him, with a gleam in his eyes, and suddenly said

"Although the scouts were unable to find out the situation in Bozhou, according to their reports, the Ming army's cavalry scouts in Bozhou are also very elite, and the flags on the top of Bozhou city are very neat. The Ming army has been prepared for it. It may not be easy for us to break through this city."

"Bozhou is located in the mountains. From Qijiang to Bozhou, there are hundreds of miles of barren mountainous land along the way, and it is impossible to obtain food and money."

"Even if we seize Bozhou now, it will not be of much use. I think we should withdraw our troops here and not attack the city for this rotten land."

As soon as Nikan finished speaking, Hauge's expression straightened and he said

"Nikan, what you said is wrong. Bozhou is the main road from Sichuan to Guizhou. How can such a place not be important?" "The Qing Dynasty wants to unify the Central Plains. In the future, it will definitely invade Yunnan and Guizhou. For the sake of the Qing Dynasty, we must seize this important place for the court now."

Hauge's face was determined. Nikan looked at Hauge with a serious expression, but his face darkened and he said

"Although Bozhou is the main route to your province, there are priorities. Prince Su also knows the current situation in the court. The Khalkha rebellion in the north is still unresolved. The Ming court in the southeast has fortunately occupied Fujian and Zhejiang, and is eyeing the land of Jiangnan."

"Khalkha is adjacent to our ancestral land of Liaodong, and Jiangnan is the source of the world's wealth. These two places are of the utmost importance. Compared with these two places, Yunnan, Guizhou and even Sichuan are insignificant."

"The Regent has sent me several letters, asking us to return to the court. Please, Prince Su, take the court's affairs as the most important thing and do not linger in Sichuan any longer. Come back as soon as possible..."

Nikan had a serious look on his face and kept trying to persuade him, but he didn't notice that the look on Hauge's face was getting uglier and uglier.
When Hauge heard the words of the Regent, his face turned cold and he shouted:

"Stay?"

"I was ordered by the court to attack Sichuan, but you said it was a delay. I was ordered to go to war, so when is it your turn to make irresponsible remarks?"

"Bozhou, Sichuan and Guizhou are the key roads. You actually called such a key place a bad place. If it is a bad place surrounded by mountains, then except for Chengdu Prefecture, every place in Sichuan Province is a bad place."

"According to what you said, when I enter Sichuan this time, do I have to take nothing from anywhere except Chengdu?"

"This king and the warriors of each flag worked hard for several years and fought bloody battles before we defeated hundreds of thousands of Western bandits and captured Sichuan Province. Now, look what has happened. In the blink of an eye, even Sichuan Province has become an insignificant place as you, Nikan, said."

"When our warriors from various flags captured Shunqing and Kuizhou, the court issued a commendation, which was a great achievement recognized by the court. Now you are here talking about returning to the court as soon as possible."

"Nikan, who gave you the courage to speak so arrogantly in front of me?"

Man Dahai, Aobai and others in the field were dissatisfied when they heard this. They had fought for thousands of miles with the army and were about to take over Sichuan Province, but Nikan said that Sichuan Province was an insignificant place.
If Sichuan Province is insignificant, then are their hard work over the past few years also insignificant?
Seeing the expressions of the people in the room, Nikan realized that he had spoken out of turn, and he immediately spoke

"That is not my intention. The capture of Sichuan Province by Prince Su and the other generals is an indisputable achievement. What I mean is..."

Nikan was about to explain, but before he could finish, Hauge interrupted him coldly, not giving Nikan a chance to explain.

"I have been ordered to conquer Pingchuan. Bozhou is an important town in southern Sichuan. If we cannot take Bozhou, then our mission will not be complete."

"Now, you are afraid of us just now because we have encountered a strong city. You want us to retreat. Is this how you work for the court?"

"Didn't you say that the Ming army in Bozhou is well guarded? Well, I will order you to lead your troops to attack Bozhou immediately. Do you understand?"

Nikan heard this and a trace of anger flashed across his face. It was clear that Hauge was seeking revenge, but Hauge didn't care about Nikan's expression at all and said in a cold voice:

"As the commander-in-chief, I order you to capture Bozhou. Do you want to go or not? Answer me!"

Nikan looked gloomy, but he didn't speak for a long time.

Seeing Nikan remained silent for a long time, Hauge's eyes suddenly flashed with a fierce light. Gushan Ezhen Jue Luo Bahana of the Zhenglan Banner and Deerdehe, the commander of the Zhenglan Banner Guard, saw Hauge's expression and their faces turned cold. They stared at Nikan above their left.

The expression of Gushan Ezhen Malaxi, who was below Nikan, changed slightly. He wanted to persuade him, but he was hesitant when he saw Haoge with a gloomy expression. Mandahai and Aobai on the right sat on the chairs with blank expressions, as if it had nothing to do with them.

Seeing that no one in the room was talking, Nikan finally agreed after a while. However, Nikan's expression turned cold.

"The commander has given an order, and I shall obey it. However, my troops are too few, and the warriors of the Eight Banners cannot be easily killed."

"If Prince Su wants me to attack the city, please send another 10,000 soldiers to help me."

"Zuo Xiang is in Chongqing to collect grain. You go find Zuo Xiang and ask for him."

Hauge replied coldly, and forced Nikan to attack the city. At this time, both sides were no longer in a good mood. After deciding this matter, Nikan turned away.

Mandahai, Aobai and others saluted Haogelue and then left the hall. The military meeting ended unhappily.
(End of this chapter)