Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 151 Breakthrough!

Almost no one could foresee something like the camp roar, but there were some clues to it.

Generally speaking, when the soldiers are under tremendous psychological pressure, the probability of this situation occurring will greatly increase, and the surrendered soldiers who were trapped in the river and frightened by the "cannon execution" just meet these conditions.

If at other times, if the enemy army had a camp roar, Xiang Rensheng would naturally be extremely delighted to see it all happen. But now, on the one hand, he was surprised at the coincidence of the camp roar, and on the other hand, he looked in the other direction with an anxious look on his face.

Tonight's actions had been planned in advance. Hu Maozhen had to make a noise first, and then Xiang Rensheng would set up his formation, making it impossible for the surrendered troops to provide support.

But now that the surrendered troops have caused a camp riot, Xiang Rensheng naturally doesn't need to do anything else. However, this will definitely alert the Qing army. Does Hu Maozhen still have a chance?
No better than.
As soon as the thought came to mind, he extinguished it immediately.

Regardless of whether Hu Maozhen surrendered truly or pretended, the original plan would certainly fail after causing such a commotion in the camp.

Under such circumstances, Xiang Rensheng was very clear that no matter what his ideas were, he had to fully understand the enemy's situation before considering anything else.

Thinking of this, he gave an order to the remaining soldier, and then headed in the direction where the real Tartars retreated.

At this time, the shouting and killing sounds in this camp were deafening. It was not known whether the Ming army several miles away could hear it, but the other two adjacent Qing army camps could already distinguish what the noise meant.

"Marshal! What should we do?"

The personal soldiers around him were already extremely anxious, and Hu Maozhen naturally could not remain calm.

After he returned from the Ming army camp that day, he summoned his confidants to make detailed arrangements on how to proceed. However, who knew that Nikan would issue a military order the next day, ordering no one to leave the tent unless necessary.

In order to implement this order, he not only asked Goshaha to take the order to all the generals, but also sent several Niulu to the two surrendered army camps to inspect them.

At first, Hu Maozhen thought the news had leaked and planned to fight to the death.

But after those Niulu took control of the entire camp, they did nothing except forbid the soldiers to leave their tents. He then understood the real reason why Nikan acted this way.

In the final analysis, it was the words that Zhu Cilang ordered his men to shout that forced Nikan to take some precautions.

This is the scary thing about open conspiracy. Everyone knows its purpose, but everyone has to take corresponding actions for it.

The fact that things had developed to this point proved Zhu Cilang's guess at human nature, but at the same time, Hu Maozhen's hands and feet were tied, and his original plan had no basis for implementation.

Hu Maozhen was extremely anxious during this day, but no matter what countermeasures he came up with, they were of no use under the supervision of the Tartar soldiers.

until
"Hurry up and ask Lord Beile to send troops to suppress the rebellion. If it's too late, these two battalions will be destroyed!"

"General Hu, your area has not been affected yet, why are you so panicked?"

Hu Maozhen did not respond to his own soldiers, but shouted to the surrounding Tatar soldiers in a more anxious tone. However, the leading Tatar soldier seemed to have never seen the severity of the camp roar, and his tone even carried some teasing meaning when he spoke, which made Hu Maozhen at a loss as to how to respond for a moment.

This was not because the Tartar soldiers were ignorant, but mainly because the Eight Banners soldiers were elite and their ability to withstand pressure was much stronger than that of the Ming army.

Therefore, their understanding of things like camp roars is mostly limited to the level of the enemy's inexplicable defeat at night in a certain battle, but they have never personally experienced such an emergency that can cause an entire army to collapse overnight.

Seeing the other party's attitude, Hu Maozhen certainly couldn't let it go.

Not to mention that this was the best opportunity for him to escape from the control of the Qing army, the fact that his elite troops might also be involved made him unable to remain calm.

After another explanation of the pros and cons, the leading Tatar seemed to understand that what was before his eyes was the legendary "camp roar". After sending two soldiers to report the news, he looked at the increasingly bright fire with a serious face.

“It’s over~~! It’s over~~!”

"Marshal~~! Please don't do this!"

"The wealth I have saved for many years~~! Actually~~~~~! Actually~~~~~!"

Just as the leading Tatar was still assessing the speed of the fire's spread, he heard a burst of crying behind him. When he turned around, he found that Hu Maozhen had collapsed on the ground as if his soul had been taken away, and the personal soldier was holding Hu Maozhen's arm and crying as if he had lost his parents.

"General Hu! Why is it so? Why is it so?!"

"Eh, you don't know. This camp howl spreads very quickly. I'm afraid we won't be able to wait for Lord Beile to lead his troops to suppress it."

The leading Tartar saw this situation and didn't know how to persuade people. He said something helplessly, but Hu Maozhen didn't respond at all. When the personal soldier explained, he couldn't help but feel a pain in his heart.

When he came, Nikan had already explained all the seriousness of the situation, for he was afraid that the surrendered officers might become disloyal and thus drag the ordinary soldiers into causing trouble.

In this situation, the generals are indeed no longer a threat, but the soldiers will all be killed in a camp roar.

Normally, the leading Tartar never took these surrendered troops seriously, but now he realized how important these tens of thousands of soldiers were.

If we allow them to suffer losses here, the Ming army may launch a general attack at dawn.

By then, no matter how strong the Eight Banners are, they will probably be defeated here.

"General Hu, is there really nothing we can do?"

"Unless we can form an elite force, otherwise."

Hu Maozhen's distraught look made the leading Tatar extremely contemptuous of him, but who else but him could form an elite force in such a short time?
Thinking of this, the leading Tatar suddenly had an idea. He then called out to his soldiers and went to the tents of the generals.

"Oh! Where are you going?"

"Elite team!"

"You can't leave, our commander."

Before the guards could say something else, the Tartars had already slipped into the gap between the tents.

Looking at Hu Maozhen again at this time, although he was still lying on the ground, the expression in his eyes was no longer the same as before.
"Well done!"

"hey-hey!"

"Go call them and ask them to follow the plan. I'll buy time."

"Order."

After a few simple conversations, the two went in different directions.

The method Hu Maozhen had planned earlier was to stage a false camp riot, and then defeat the Tartars one by one after dividing their forces.

Now the fake camp roar has become a real camp roar, and what was well prepared has become a hasty response. Time is naturally a little tight, so he has to find a way to buy some time so that his trusted people can complete the arrangements.

After about three or two incense sticks of time, he arrived outside Nikan's camp.

Although the Tartars had not yet sent out their troops, the camp was already filled with noise. It was obvious that it would not take long for the Eight Banners soldiers to go and suppress the noise.

After some notification, Hu Maozhen finally entered the camp. When he saw Nikan standing outside the big tent from afar, his emotions immediately got out of control.

"Lord Beile~~~! Send out the troops quickly, send out the troops quickly~~~!"

"Hu Maozhen! What are you doing!" Seeing the man kneeling on the ground and walking towards him when he was still three or two feet away from him, although Nikan knew that he was confused by the camp roar, he still felt that this was a bit too much.

"Lord Beile! The camp roar is coming! It's coming!"

"Snapped!"

As Hu Maozhen continued to cry, the Qing army camp, which had been extremely noisy, suddenly became quiet.

Seeing that the soldiers seemed to be affected, Nikan decisively whipped them with a whip. When he could no longer hear any crying, he shouted sternly: "Stand up and talk properly!"

The older generation of Manchus acted with many barbarian habits. Nurhaci once ordered the massacre of "people without grain" when the effects of the Ming Dynasty's containment reached its peak.

Although the younger generation still had a lot of barbarism in their bones, most of them had read some Han books, so they were not as cruel as the older generation when treating slaves.

"Thank you, Lord Beile."

Seeing Hu Maozhen being awakened by his whip, Nikan suddenly felt that the method of his ancestors was direct and effective. After hearing his thanks, he accepted it calmly.

"How can you yell and shout in the middle of an army formation? If you don't even have this little bit of self-control, how can you lead the troops to fight the enemy?"

"That's what Lord Beile taught me."

"Tell me, what's going on?"

At this time, Nikan was no longer on guard against Hu Maozhen, and his entire attention was focused on the situation in the two surrendered army camps.

"Lord Beile! The situation is urgent, send troops quickly!"

After the description, Hu Maozhen urged him again, but Nikan just frowned and looked into the distance without giving him any response.

Camp roars can indeed be suppressed by force with large numbers of soldiers, but according to Hu Maozhen's description, a small number of soldiers in his camp were already killing each other.

In this situation, it would be useless to throw these people in.

No better than.
"Lord Beile! It's not even midnight yet. If we wait until dawn, I'm afraid there won't be many of the 30,000 troops left. How can we fight the Ming army?"

Nikan naturally understood this logic, but his current concern was not whether to stop the camp roar, but whether he should take the opportunity to attack.

Now that the Ming army has discovered what's happening here, they have only two choices.

One is to guard the defense line and wait until dawn to clarify the situation and then respond; the other is to take action now.

However, no matter which one they choose, their attention will inevitably be diverted here. If Nikan leads these 2,000 troops to break out from their weak point now, they will definitely have a good chance.

This is indeed a good choice, but there are not many Manchus. How could Nikan abandon the few Niulu who were sent to control the surrendered troops?

After a struggle between his conscience and his own desires, he realized that his only choice was to suppress the camp roar as quickly as possible.

As for the others, although there was a good chance of success, he really couldn't bear to pay such a heavy price.

Having made up his mind, he no longer hesitated. After sending out fifteen thousand men to guard against the Ming army, he led the remaining eight hundred and attacked Hu Maozhen's camp directly.

Although these eight hundred people were indeed too few for the more than ten thousand people, Nikan understood clearly that it was impossible to let the flag soldiers suppress the camp roar. As long as he could use these people to organize the soldiers who had not been affected, he could expand the team like a snowball until the camp roar was completely suppressed.

When Hu Maozhen came, he was alone and had a warhorse, so it didn't take him much time. But when they left, this mighty team couldn't run as fast as he did.

So after a long time, the team had only traveled half the distance, which made him extremely anxious.

As a general commanding troops, he doesn't even have this much self-control.

After realizing that Hu Maozhen had lost his composure, Nikan couldn't help but complain in his heart.

Deep down, he had thought highly of Hu Maozhen earlier, but who would have thought that a camp riot would reveal his true colors, which made him extremely disappointed.

But Nikan had never thought that this inexplicable camp roar was largely due to his defense against the surrendered troops, and the reason why it spread so quickly was all because he detained all the generals in his tent.

"Lord Beile, we are almost there, why don't you get ready first?"

"It's okay. The camp roar doesn't seem to have spread here yet. We'll make arrangements after we enter the camp."

Nikan said this patiently, and then urged his horse to go to the front of the team.

At this moment, he didn't want to say another word to this coward and just wanted to stay as far away from him as possible. Hu Maozhen also seemed to have noticed that the prince disliked him, so he stopped his horse and stood where he was, not knowing whether to catch up with him under the mocking gazes of the soldiers.

After another incense stick of time, Nikan, who was at the front of the team, was about thirty or forty steps away from the surrendered army camp.

But at this moment he discovered that the silence in the camp seemed a little abnormal.

"Was it like this in the camp when you left?"

As soon as Nikan asked the question, he realized that he had already gotten rid of Hu Maozhen. When he turned his head to look behind the team, he found that there was no trace of General Hu anywhere.

"Where is Hu Maozhen?"

"He was at the back of the team."

Hearing the answer from Gosha beside him, Nikan planned to stop the team first, but before he even opened his mouth, he heard a sound of breaking air.

"Line up to meet the enemy!"

In this situation, who would not know that they were attacked by the enemy? Although the generals did not know who the enemy was, they still instinctively issued orders to the soldiers. However, Nikan, who had commanded troops for many years, had already guessed the outline of the situation from Hu Maozhen's inexplicable disappearance.

But he really couldn't understand how they managed to seize such an opportunity when there was almost no trace of Ying Xiao.

"Hey!"

"Lord Beile! Retreat quickly!"

Goshaha, who was standing beside him, used his sword to block an arrow for Nikan, and when he saw that Nikan was still standing there in a daze, he shouted anxiously.

However, at this time, the Beile of Gushan in the Qing Dynasty was unable to react to this series of changes. Even though the situation was extremely critical, he did not react at all.

"Snapped"

"Lord Beile! As long as we have life, we will never be short of firewood! We must fight our way back to the camp as soon as possible before we are surrounded and killed!"

Goshaha had followed Nikan for many years and was very close to him. Moreover, the situation was extremely urgent, so he did not care about status. He slapped Nikan in the face and started shouting in his ear.

By the way, never give up until the end!
"Break out to the camp!"

(End of this chapter)