Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 137 You are plotting against me? Don’t you know that I am also plotting against you?

The task that Zhu Cilang assigned to the Ming army in Susong was actually not difficult.

In short, the solution is to try to transfer part of the Qing army from Suzhou and then besiege it somewhere.

However, Wu Zhikui's own troops did not seem to be enough to trap the Qing army, so Huang Fei transferred 3,000 troops from his own army, increasing the number of troops besieging the Qing army to 10,000.

Wu Zhikui was also a cunning man. Even with an army of 10,000, he still had no intention of fighting the Qing army head-on.

After learning of the Qing army's movements, he built many trenches and roadblocks along the route they had to take. In short, he intended to trap the enemy rather than fight.

Looking at the Qing army, burdened by the dozens of carts of money and food, Ordu was unable to break out easily.

But on the other hand, he had never thought about breaking out.

After all, this place is only fifty or sixty miles away from Suzhou. If you travel quickly, it will only take half a day.

Under such circumstances, he naturally wanted to cooperate with the Qing army in Suzhou to completely wipe out these Ming troops in one battle.

As a result, a strange situation emerged.

Those who were surrounded took their time, and the besiegers only launched a few exploratory attacks.

On the eve of nightfall, both sides even set up pots and cooked in the wilderness, as if they were having a collective picnic.

To be honest, the armies of Ming and Qing dynasties each had their own plans, so being so leisurely cannot be considered as passive sabotage.

However, when the news of the siege of Ordu reached Suzhou, the two surrendered generals were not as calm as they were.

Although he was not explicitly appointed by the higher authorities, Erdu's Jiala Ezhen was their actual superior.

Now that their boss was surrounded, they should rescue him quickly, but they had some differences on how to rescue him.

"Isn't this exactly what I expected? What are you still hesitating about?"

Li Chengdong said this angrily, and then sat back in his chair.

After receiving the news that all the counties had encountered enemies at the same time, they felt that this matter would not be so simple.

After all, they took great pains to capture the county town, and then retreated without even defending it. Anyone who saw this would notice that there was something weird about this behavior.

Therefore, before leaving Suzhou, Ordu had made an agreement with the two that once he discovered the whereabouts of the Ming army, he would try to delay it, while he needed to lead the army to Suzhou as quickly as possible to achieve the goal in one battle and bring peace to Suzhou and Songjiang.

Now everything is ready. They just need to lead their troops to arrive and completely annihilate this Ming army. However, I don't know if Wu Shengzhao has gone mad, but he is still hesitating.

How could Li Chengdong not be annoyed in such a situation?

"I'm not hesitant, I just think I should wait and see the situation."

"What else is there to see? We are surrounded by a large number of Ming troops. As long as we lead our troops to attack, we can fight inside and outside to stabilize the peace of Suzhou and Songjiang." At this point, Li Chengdong seemed to have realized something, and then asked in a suspicious tone: "Are you still connected with the Ming army?"

idiot!

Hearing this, Wu Shengzhao, who was originally explaining patiently, immediately cursed in his heart.

Although these surrendered generals are not welcomed in the Qing Dynasty, will they be welcomed if they turn around and surrender to the Ming Dynasty?

What's more, although the situation of the Qing army is slightly worse than before crossing the river, this is only their route. Ajige's central route and Hauge's western route are both advancing rapidly and have almost no enemy to match.

Under such circumstances, only a fool would turn around and surrender to the Ming Dynasty unless he was forced into a desperate situation.

"What nonsense are you talking about?!"

After drinking this, Wu Shengzhao began to think about how to explain to Li Chengdong.

He admired this reckless man very much when it came to fighting. The cavalry under his command were invincible when they were fighting against the rebels. When they followed Gao Jie to join the Ming Dynasty, they were even more powerful.

But is it enough to be an official of this rank just by knowing how to fight wars?
If it could be done, why would Gao Jie be so foolish as to fall into someone else's trap? How could the remnants of their army be humiliated by Shi Kefa for no reason?

Therefore, Wu Shengzhao's thoughts on how to fight this battle were much more complicated than Li Chengdong's.

"We will wait until tomorrow noon, and if there is no change, we will send troops to rescue."

"Why do we have to wait until tomorrow? If you don't explain clearly, I will lead my troops out of the city right now."

"Can't you just listen to me for once?"

"cannot!"

Wu Shengzhao's words were almost like a plea, but Li Chengdong flatly refused.

He naturally knew that Wu Shengzhao was unlikely to defect to the Ming Dynasty, but his attitude of knowing something but not wanting to say it was too irritating.

So he made up his mind that if Wu Shengzhao still refused to tell him all his thoughts, he would lead his troops out of the city immediately.

"You really want to drive people to death!"

Under normal circumstances, Wu Shengzhao wouldn't even blink an eye whether Li Chengdong left or not, but if his guess became a reality, he really couldn't leave his men.

So when facing Li Chengdong's coercion, Wu Shengzhao seemed very passive. After some thought, he gritted his teeth and said everything he was thinking.

The Ming army's operation this time was very large. They were able to wipe out all the Qing troops in the counties near Suzhou in just one or two days. Even if there was internal support, they still had to mobilize a large number of troops.

After all this trouble, was the purpose of the Ming army just to kill off the mere two or three thousand people in Ordu?
"According to you, they want to attack Suzhou?"

Li Chengdong asked, and when the other party nodded, he continued to ask: "Then why didn't you tell me?"

"Why don't you understand? If Suzhou is lost, who will be held responsible?"

Wu Shengzhao had said this to the point, and even though Li Chengdong was a little slow in such matters, he understood what he meant.

When the counties were attacked, Ordu, as the main general, led troops to rescue, leaving Wu and Li to guard Suzhou. There was nothing wrong with that, right?

On the way back, Ordu encountered an ambush and asked Suzhou for help. There's nothing wrong with that, right?

Then the problem is coming.

If Suzhou was lost after they led their troops away, should the blame for the loss be placed on Ordu or on them?

"Can't we divide our forces?"

Although he understood Wu Shengzhao's meaning, Li Chengdong was still a little confused.

Although the Ming army is large in number, their combat effectiveness is just so-so. If he were to take over, he would probably only need one or two thousand elite troops to break through the encirclement and join forces with Ordu.

By then, what would be the problem with the mere 10,000 Ming troops?

"Why are you sending troops? Don't you want Suzhou anymore?!" "I'll take 2,000 with me, and you still have more than 2,000 here. If you add the several thousand local troops, you should be able to hold out for at least four or five days."

"There are Ming troops inside the county, but there are none in Suzhou?"

"If you say so, even if all 4,000 soldiers stay, they won't be able to defend Suzhou."

There was no point in talking to each other, and it was obvious that there was no possibility for the two to reach an agreement.

Wu Shengzhao's concerns are reasonable, but Li Chengdong's idea is not wrong either.

If we really want to argue who is right and who is wrong, we can only say that everyone is different and has different ways of thinking about problems.

However, the military situation was urgent, and there was not much time left for the two to fight here. After a while, Wu Shengzhao said, "If you insist, then you defend the city and I will send troops."

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

Since the other party had agreed, Li Chengdong didn't think too much and decided to accept it. However, before he could even open his mouth, a sound like summer thunder reached his ears.

Thunder? Fireworks?
Doubts arose in the minds of both of them at the same time.

Then Wu Shengzhao took a few quick steps and went straight to the yard without waiting for Li Chengdong's reaction.

It was already night, and although there were no stars in the sky, there was no lightning either. When the next roar was heard, he naturally turned his head towards the source of the sound.

The roar suddenly rose and then gradually faded, and the sky west of Suzhou city also kept flickering.

Such a battle was obviously not something that the broken Ming army ships in the lake could create. Wu Shengzhao was stunned for a moment before he said in a hoarse voice, "Ask Hangzhou for help."

Such a scene certainly could not be created by Wu Yi's civilian ships. In order to bring enough pressure to the Qing army in Suzhou City, Zhu Cilang even deployed nearly 200 warships of Huang Fei's troops here.

Hundreds of artillery pieces opened fire at the same time. Not to mention Li Chengdong and Wu Shengzhao, two landlubbers, even Huang Fei and Wu Yi were shocked by the earth-shaking effect and were speechless.

"If we keep bombing like this, Suzhou City will be razed to the ground, right?"

At the beginning, Wu Yi's main job under Shi Kefa was planning. When he saw the bursts of flames that even reflected the general outline of Suzhou City, he couldn't help but worry about the safety of this important city in the south of the Yangtze River.

just
He had never seen such a scene, and Huang Fei had never seen it either.

Although a large number of inland warships were equipped with broadside guns at the end of the Ming Dynasty, under the influence of inherent thinking, the tactics of naval commanders were still at the level of firing a few shots from a distance and then approaching to board the enemy.

Therefore, even though Huang Fei had nearly 600 large and small cannons on his warships, he had never seen such a scene before.

But then again, even though he had never seen it, he was very familiar with the performance of weapons and equipment.

The river where the fleet was located was about one or two miles away from the Suzhou city wall, and among his cannons, only about a hundred could actually hit the city. Taking into account the factors on the left and right, although this formation seemed to be enough to cause the sky to collapse and the earth to split, there were actually only about fifty cannons that could really have an effect.

If you want to raze Suzhou city to the ground with more than 50 artillery pieces, it will probably take a month or so.

"Probably. Probably not."

Huang Fei responded, but Wu Yi seemed to be still immersed in the shock of the cannons. Seeing this, he did not bother him any more. He turned around and said to the general behind him, "Order all the ships to turn around."

At this time, most of the cannons on one side of the ship had already fired five or six rounds. If they continued firing, not only would the service life of the cannon be reduced, but it might also explode on the spot.

Anyway, it was a one-sided fight now, so after he felt that the situation was about the same, he planned to warm up the artillery on the other side of the warship.

"Master, if we continue to put it down like this, I'm afraid there won't be enough gunpowder."

"It doesn't matter. After this round, I will stop firing the small cannons and only fire the big cannons. The remaining gunpowder will be enough for a few days."

When they met on the island before, Zhu Cilang had told them that they could use small cannons to increase their strength, and Wu Yi naturally knew this.

However, when Huang Fei ordered the warship to turn around, he did not mention the need to stop firing the cannons, so he gave them a subtle reminder in this way.

Actually, Wu Yi said he was raising money and food, but his fleet was loaded with leather, armor, animal tendons, hardwood, and anything else that had anything to do with military supplies.

However, after Zhu Cilang had settled all the coordination issues, he simply transferred most of the gunpowder to Hangzhou, leaving only one ship for Huang Fei to threaten Suzhou.

It is unknown how long the next battle will last, so it would not be considered stingy if Wu Yi was a little more careful with his budget.

After a while, the warship successfully turned its hull, and the deafening artillery fire once again sprayed flames towards Suzhou. Li Chengdong and Wu Shengzhao, who had just landed on the north city of Suzhou, finally saw the situation in the west clearly.

As for why we have to go to the North City to see the situation in the west instead of going directly to the West City.
The noise made by the artillery was really too loud. If the two of them were killed by stray bullets, there would be no need to defend Suzhou.

At this time, they could not only clearly see where the artillery fire came from, but also use the bursts of fire to see the warships anchored on the river.

"If a few large ships block the river, then this Ming army will be unable to escape even if they have wings."

After all, people are different. After seeing such a shocking scene, Wu Shengzhao's first reaction was to plan the street fighting after the city wall collapsed, while Li Chengdong, also known as Li Hezi, actually thought about how to annihilate the Ming army's navy.

But what he said was probably just talk. It was the flood season right now, and it was simply a pipe dream to want to block the river which was dozens of feet wide.

"Don't think about anything else. Think about what to do if the city wall collapses."

"This city wall is at least ten feet thick, so it shouldn't be destroyed."

Faced with Li Chengdong, a "thief" who had never seen the world, Wu Shengzhao had no intention of making any response.

But he changed his mind and realized that they were all tied to the same rope, and he would have to rely more on Li Hezi in the future battle against the Ming army, so he thought about it and told him what he knew.

He had spent a long time in Liaodong in the past, and naturally had many battles with the Dongjiang Town people who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

The Ming army inside the Great Wall only used firearms as auxiliary means when fighting, but the inhumane group in Dongjiang Town used firearms as the main means to kill the enemy in battle.

Its effect.
"When two armies meet, at most they can fire two muskets and it will be a hand-to-hand fight. Soldiers who are used to using muskets are easily afraid of fighting. I don't know what is so powerful about firearms that you admire them so much."

As a cavalry general, Li Chengdong was obviously extremely averse to firearms. He interrupted Wu Shengzhao after he had said only a few words.

He, Li Chengdong, is Li Hezi, but how can Wu Shengzhao have a good temper after fighting all the way from Liaodong to Jiangnan?

Before he finished speaking, Wu Shengzhao directly refuted him, "Although you have fought many battles, the ones you fought against were all hastily assembled new armies. If the elite troops of the Ming army had not been tied up outside the Great Wall, do you think the rebels would have been able to enter the capital?"

"you!"

These words seemed to have hit Li Chengdong's weak spot, causing a surge of karmic fire in his heart to rush straight to his head.
But which statement that can hit people's hearts is not true?
In the end, that fire of karma could not be vented at all except for the word "you".

"Let's think about how to fight the enemy." After saying this lightly, Wu Shengzhao turned around and walked down the city wall.

(End of this chapter)