Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 325 Retreat

South of Yuezhou City, hundreds of red-haired heavy artillery were lined up under the city. Red light gushed out from the thick muzzles, and iron bullets rained down on the walls of Yuezhou City.

The artillery pieces under Yuezhou City were all three thousand jin red-haired heavy artillery pieces. The ten-jin shells could instantly create a fist-sized hole in the city wall.

Yuezhou is the gateway to Hunan and Hubei. The city walls are high and thick, and the width of the city walls is five or six meters. Although the bricks and stones on the city walls were scattered, they still could not be broken for a while.

After the artillery fire from the city, the gunners of the Ming army immediately took a wet mop and went forward to clean the barrel to cool it down. A quarter of an hour later, the artillery fire from the city again
While the Ming army was cleaning their guns and reloading their ammunition, there was no one to be seen on the top of the city walls. Hundreds of artillery pieces bombarded the city day and night. No one in the city dared to go up to the city walls, whether they were the Hunan soldiers from the Green Camp or the Liaodong veterans under Kong Youde and others.

The Ming army's artillery fire continued below the city, but the Ming army not far from the artillery position was quite leisurely.

Ma Jinzhong, Hao Yongzhong and others led 5,000 soldiers to guard the rear of the artillery camp. At this time, white smoke was lingering under the city, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of sulfur.

Although Hao Yongzhong had been guarding the artillery array outside the city for more than half a month, he couldn't help but speak when he saw the red light constantly spewing out of the smoke.

"I didn't expect there would be such a way to attack a city."

After Hao Yongzhong and his men were incorporated into Ma Bao's army, they followed the two imperial guards and marched forward. Hao Yongzhong and his men originally thought that after being incorporated into the Ming army, even if they did not die, they would definitely be driven to attack the city and suffer heavy casualties.

But since Hao Yongzhong and his men arrived in Yuezhou, not to mention being forced to attack the city, they had not even seen many Qing soldiers.

When the Ming army arrived at Yuezhou City, they only made a brief exploration and found that the city was heavily guarded. They then deployed their artillery and began to bombard the city.

After the artillery was deployed, the Ming army never organized any manpower to attack the city again.

The Ming army's method of attacking the city also surprised Ma Jinzhong and others. It was not uncommon to attack the city with artillery.

However, artillery sieges mostly occurred in the north, while the south remained peaceful. Hao Yongzhong and others had almost never seen such a fierce artillery battle.
When Ma Jinzhong, Hao Yongzhong and others were still bandits, they also attacked cities, but their way of attacking cities was completely different.
When Ma Jinzhong and his gang invaded the Central Plains, there were two main ways to attack a city. The first was to send people to sneak into the city in advance, and then take the opportunity to disrupt the city and seize the city gate. This was also the most common method used by Li Zicheng and other bandits to break into the city.

The second method is to drive the people to attack the city, use a steady stream of people to exhaust the city's defense supplies, consume the morale of the defenders in the city, and then use a small number of elite troops to attack the top of the city to capture the city.

If neither of these two methods worked, the bandits would give up attacking the city, choose to plunder the area around the city, then go around the city and flee to other places.
The Ming army was attacking with hundreds of artillery pieces in order to bring down the city walls. Hao Yongzhong and his men had never seen such a method before.

Hao Yongzhong looked at the black city wall in the distance that had been plowed away, and a trace of fear flashed in his eyes. Fortunately, they chose to defend Hengzhou to the death that day, and were eventually incorporated into the court.
If they had abandoned the city and left He Tengjiao to die in Hengzhou, once the imperial court was furious and used these artillery to attack them, the scene would be chilling just to think about.
In the past, when defending a city, one should not defend it to the death unless the two sides have a huge disparity in military strength.
However, the Qing troops in the city dared to go out of the city to harass the Ming troops for a few days after they arrived, but they did not even dare to open the city gates.

The Qing army did not dare to leave the city, on the one hand because of the 30,000 Ming troops outside the city blocking them, and on the other hand because the morale of the Qing army in the city had been broken by the hundreds of artillery pieces.

When Hao Yongzhong thought of this, he couldn't help but speak.

"If our army had so many artillery pieces back then, there would be no place in the world that we couldn't go."

Ma Jinzhong, who was standing by, put down the telescope in his hand and said softly
"It's useless even if we have them. We can't afford them."

Hao Yongzhong was stunned when he heard this, and then he couldn't help but nodded slightly.

It is now the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, and the Ming army has been besieging the city for nearly half a month.

Since the siege began, the Ming army's artillery fire had hardly stopped, with thousands of shells fired into the city every day and no less than 7,000 to 8,000 kilograms of gunpowder consumed every day.
Hao Yongzhong had also seen how gunpowder was carried in the camp. Bags of gunpowder were carried to the front like flour, and then after just five or six shells were fired, a bag of dozens of pounds of gunpowder would be completely emptied. Once it was used up, more would be sent up from the rear, as if it was free.

In Hao Yongzhong's opinion, the Ming court was not attacking the city with artillery at this time, but was clearly throwing silver into the city. The Ming court wanted to use silver to break open the wall of Yuezhou.
Outside Yuezhou City, Hao Yongzhong and others were still lamenting the extravagance of the Ming court, but the Qing army in the city was extremely tormented at this time.
After the Ming army besieged the city, they returned to the camp to rest for a few hours at night, and spent almost all of the rest of the time firing cannons.

The 30,000 Qing troops in the city had hardly heard any sound except the sound of cannon fire in recent days, and were close to collapse.

The Yuezhou government office, Kong Youde and others are in front of the government office. The Yuezhou government office is located in the city, several streets away from the south city.
But Kong Youde and others standing at the gate of the government office could still feel the slight vibration coming from the ground.

Kong Youde and the other two looked at the city wall in the distance with gloomy expressions on their faces. Although the city wall was still standing, the foundation crenels on top had been blasted with several gaps of about one meter.
The shells from outside the city flew over the top of the city wall and smashed into the city. The streets and attics near the city wall would collapse to the ground from time to time.
Although the Ming army had only blasted a few small holes in the city walls, the areas near the city walls had already been smashed into ruins by the shells.

Kong Youde retracted his gaze and spoke to Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi behind him.

"Yuezhou City is strong, the Ming army can't attack it for a while. A letter was delivered to the court last night. Let's go back and discuss the matter first."

Kong Youde and the other two were about to return to the government office when Kong Tingxun came towards them hurriedly, holding a piece of letter paper.
"Dad, urgent news from outside the city"

Kong Youde looked at Kong Tingxun, who was in panic, and his expression suddenly darkened. He shouted:

"The Ming army hasn't attacked yet, why are you panicking? If the people below see you like this..."

But before Kong Youde finished speaking, Kong Tingxun interrupted him and said

"Dad, don't talk about this, just watch it first."

Kong Youde frowned slightly and took the letter from Kong Tingxun. However, after just one glance, his expression suddenly changed and he shouted angrily:
"Waste, all of them are waste, these mediocre generals all deserve to die"

Shang Kexi and the other man looked at each other, their hearts tightened immediately, and they said

"Brother Ruitu, what's going on? Are there more reinforcements coming from the Ming army?"

"Look for yourselves, those idiots from Huguang actually lost all of Jingxiang. What a bunch of bastards!"

Shang Kexi and the other man's expressions suddenly changed after hearing this. After reading the contents of the letter, their faces also darkened instantly.

The intelligence recorded the news that Jingzhou and Xiangyang had fallen one after another a few days ago. Once Jingzhou and Xiangyang were lost, the Qing court only had three prefectures left in Huguang, namely Wuchang, Huangzhou and De'an in eastern Hubei, and was already surrounded on three sides.

And according to what was said in the letter, the situation was even worse at this time. The Ming army not only captured Xiangyang, but also took Zaoyang. Now the Ming army in the direction of Xiangyang has already attacked De'an Prefecture and attacked Suizhou.

There are two land routes to Hubei Province. One is from Nanyang, Henan Province, through Xinye, Dengzhou to Xiangyang, and then into Huguang.

The other route starts from Xinyang, Henan Province, crosses the Dabie Mountains, and enters Huguang via the Xinyang Three Passes. Suizhou is just in front of the Xinyang Three Passes.
At this time, Xiangyang had been lost, and it was impossible to enter Huguang from Nanyang. If the Ming army captured Suizhou and blocked the three passes of Xinyang, the only remaining support route for Huguang would be the Yangtze River waterway.

But the Qing court did not have a decent navy at that time. As long as the Ming army blocked the river with iron chains, the only remaining waterway would be directly blocked.

If Suizhou was also conquered by the Ming army at this time, Kong Youde and his men would no longer have to think about defending Yuezhou and Wuchang. It would be wise to find a way to evacuate along the Yangtze River as soon as possible.
And this had to be done quickly. If the Ming army blocked the river ahead of time, Kong Youde and others in Huguang would be stuck.

Shang Kexi put down the letter in his hand and was silent for a moment. However, a hint of determination flashed in his eyes, and he said in a deep voice:
"Brother Ruitu, let's think about our retreat. We must immediately withdraw to Wuchang and find out the news from Suizhou."

"If Suizhou has not been lost, we should immediately rush to help and save Suizhou. If Suizhou has been lost, we should immediately evacuate Huguang!"

Kong Youde heard this and his face became gloomy. He said

“I want to quit, but how can I quit now?”

"We have been stripped of our titles and reduced to marquises before. If we lose Yuezhou again, how can Dorgon let us go?"

"Yesterday, a secret letter from the court was just delivered to the city, saying that the court's reinforcements have already headed for Huguang. Dorgon told us that we must defend Yuezhou and must not retreat." Shang Kexi and the other man looked unhappy when they heard this. Shang Kexi was silent for a moment, then spoke again.

"Where will the imperial court send reinforcements from, and when will they arrive?"

"The court sent two reinforcements. One was led by Zhang Yingxiang, the general of Henan. This group of troops was originally scheduled to depart from Nanyang and go to Xiangyang to rescue Jingzhou. The other was led by Kakamu, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel. He led the elite troops of the Eight Banners from Nanzhili and went to Huguang by water."

Shang Kexi was also stunned when he heard this, and said

"Aren't you going to Jingzhou to save us?"

Kong Youde looked at Shang Kexi opposite him with a blank expression on his face and said

"The court's intention is to let us hold on to Yuezhou and tie down the Ming army under the city of Yuezhou, so as to buy time for the reinforcements from Henan Province to rescue Jingzhou. After Kakamu leads his troops into Huguang, we can combine the forces of the three parties and look for an opportunity to defeat the Ming army under the city of Yuezhou."

Shang Kexi was furious when he heard this and suddenly started to curse
"Defeat them! The court is still thinking about defeating the Ming army in Huguang! Reinforcements! Damn your reinforcements!"

According to the letter just received from the Huguang Governor's Office, after the Ming army captured Xiangyang, they not only sent troops to attack Suizhou, but also to Xinye, Dengzhou and other places in Henan Province.

Regardless of whether the Ming army could invade Henan Province, since the Ming army had already invaded Henan Province, Zhang Yingxiang and others in Henan Province could never come to Huguang for rescue.

That is to say, the only reinforcements left for Huguang are from Kakamu. However, considering the Ming army's siege posture, it is hard to say whether Yuezhou City will still be there when Kakamu arrives in Huguang.

Shang Kexi took the document handed over by Kong Youde and looked unhappy after reading it. Dorgon made very harsh words in his mind and ordered them to defend Yuezhou.
Shang Kexi had previously thought of holding out for one day at a time, and if things really got out of hand, he would immediately evacuate. However, after reading the secret letter sent by Dorgon, Shang Kexi no longer dared to flee easily.
At this time, Jingxiang fell, and the Qing Dynasty was defeated in Huguang and lost face. Dorgon must have been looking for someone to take responsibility for the fall of Huguang.

If they disobeyed Dorgon's order and evacuated without authorization, they would just put themselves under Dorgon's knife.

If Dorgon wanted to put the blame for the defeat of Huguang on them, then they couldn't just get away with it by stripping their titles like they did last time.

If they abandoned the city and evacuated, they might be pushed out by Dorgon to take the blame. If they did not evacuate, Kong Youde and the other two would have no confidence in being able to defend Yuezhou.

At this time, there seemed to be 30,000 troops in the city, but the only ones who could be used were Kong Youde and Shang Kexi's 8,000 Liaodong veterans, and the remaining 20,000-plus Hunan soldiers collected from Hunan Province. They were good for assisting in defending the city, but if they went out to fight, I'm afraid they would collapse immediately.

The Ming army has now made up its mind to blow up the walls of Yuezhou. Once the southern city wall collapses, the Ming army will push more than a hundred heavy artillery into the city. At that time, let alone the Liaodong old soldiers, even if they put a row of iron men in the city, they will be blown to pieces by the Ming army.

Kong Youde and others knew that staying in Yuezhou was just waiting for death, but they couldn't withdraw at this time.
Kong Youde and the other two frowned as they pondered over countermeasures. The atmosphere in the field was heavy, but at this moment Yuezhou was caught between the Ming and Qing dynasties. How could they find a way to deal with the situation in a hurry?

There was silence for a long time, and then Shang Kexi suddenly spoke

"Brother Ruitu, have you checked clearly about Sichuan Province? The court report was vague, saying only that Nikan was ambushed by the Ming army and his entire army was wiped out, which led to the fall of Sichuan Province."

"The imperial guards of the Ming court only entered Sichuan Province in April and May. Hauge had 20,000 soldiers under his command. It has only been less than half a year. How come they were suddenly defeated and only Baoning Prefecture was left?"

Kong Youde sneered when he heard this and said

"Nikan's entire army was indeed annihilated, but it was not the Ming army that killed them, but Hauge!"

"News came from the capital that Dorgon wanted to use Nikan to seize Hauge's military power. Hauge was furious and directly handed Nikan over to the Ming army."

"Hauge then openly defied Dorgon's order to return to the court, led his troops to occupy Hanzhong and Baoning, and established his own army."

"Dorgon has lost face this time, so he dare not explain it clearly in the court report. However, the matter has already spread all over the capital, so who can he hide it from?"

When Kong Youde said this, a hint of satisfaction flashed in his eyes. Shang Kexi was also stunned when he heard it, but then Shang Kexi's eyes suddenly lit up.

Kong Youde was still mocking Dorgon's missteps, but Shang Kexi had completely ignored Kong Youde and the other man beside him.
Shang Kexi lowered his head and thought for a while, but his expression suddenly brightened up and he said

"Good, that's good. Now we can evacuate safely."

Shang Kexi looked at the stunned Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, and without waiting for them to ask, he continued

"Haoge openly occupied Hanzhong with his troops. Dorgon had to transfer troops to Qin Province to guard against Haoge. Dorgon's prestige was greatly lost. In order to control the situation, the Eight Banners soldiers in Beijing would not dare to move lightly. Henan Province had to defend Xiangyang, Ganzhou had to defend Guangdong Province, and Nanzhili had to defend Fujian and Zhejiang. The court now has no troops available!"

"What we need to do now is to withdraw to Wuchang as soon as possible, and then send troops to defend Suizhou. As long as Suizhou is not lost, the three prefectures in eastern Hubei can still be defended. As long as eastern Hubei is still there, the Qing court can only rely on us to defend it."

Shang Kexi let out a sigh of relief when he said this. Kong Youde and the others immediately understood what Shang Kexi meant when they heard this.

Shang Kexi looked at Kong Youde who was still hesitant, and spoke again in a deep voice

"Brother Ruitu, once Jingxiang is lost, Yuezhou will be an isolated city. If we defend it for one more day, more casualties will be incurred by our old soldiers. Yuezhou cannot be defended any longer."

"If we let all of our soldiers die or get injured while defending Yuezhou, I will be punished by the court."

Geng Zhongming also said in a deep voice at this time

"Brother Yuanji is right. As long as East Hubei is still there, the court can only rely on us to defend Huguang. As long as the soldiers under our command are still there, the court will never do anything to us." Shang Kexi's name is Yuanji.

Seeing that Geng Zhongming and the others both agreed to evacuate, Kong Youde finally made up his mind and said

"Then we will retreat, but there are many soldiers in the city. How are you going to retreat, Brother Yuanji?"

Shang Kexi heard this and spoke directly

"We don't want any of the Hunan soldiers. We can only take our 8,000 Liaodong old camp with us. We must evacuate Yuezhou before the Ming army notices."

Kong Youde and his men decided to abandon the city and flee, and quickly began to formulate a withdrawal plan. There were not enough ships in Yuezhou City, and it was difficult to withdraw all 8,000 Liao soldiers.

After discussion, Kong Youde and others decided to split the troops into two groups. Kong Youde led 3,000 men from the north water gate of the city and evacuated to Wuchang along the Yangtze River. Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi collected horses and mules in the city and led the remaining 5,000 men to evacuate from the east gate on horseback.
Everyone decided on a plan to withdraw the troops, and Shang Kexi continued to speak.

"Before we evacuate Yuezhou, we need to blow down the southern city wall."

A fierce look flashed in Shang Kexi's eyes. They did not abandon the city and flee. Instead, the Ming army's artillery bombarded the city wall.

They fought desperately, losing 20,000 men, but the imperial reinforcements were slow to arrive, so they had no choice but to lead the remaining 8,000 soldiers back to Wuchang.
Kong Youde and the others nodded immediately after hearing this. The three of them decided to evacuate, and then they left to prepare.

Two days later, at dawn, Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi led 5,000 Liao soldiers to flee the city. At this time, outside the northern water gate, a number of sand ships had already raised their sails.
After Kong Youde and his men led the army to evacuate, a deafening roar suddenly erupted from the south of the city. The southern wall had been bombarded by hundreds of artillery pieces of the Ming army for half a month, but it still stood firm. However, at this moment, it collapsed with a loud bang.
It was early morning, and the Ming army heard a loud noise in the city, so they hurriedly gathered their troops and marched towards the city. When the Ming army arrived at the foot of the city, Yuezhou City was already in chaos.

When the Green Camp soldiers in Yuezhou saw the Ming army entering the city, they immediately threw down their weapons and surrendered. The day the Ming army entered the city was the first day of the first lunar month.

In the second year of Gui's regent, the third year of Lu's regent, and the fifth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, the Ming army recaptured Yuezhou. This important town at the gateway to Hunan and Hubei also became the first New Year's gift received by the Ming Dynasty in 1648.

(End of this chapter)