Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 99 Time
Cloudy on August 6th
The southern part of the Yangtze River has entered the plum rain season. Although it does not rain all day, it does rain sparsely every once in a while, which makes people feel uncomfortable.

It was impossible to dig trenches and build cities in such weather, so Bolo asked all the laborers to transport the wood needed to build siege equipment.

But then again, the roads were muddy and difficult to travel on, and transporting wood was also extremely difficult, and even resulted in many casualties, so this was actually just a way for Bolo to relieve his panic.

The day before yesterday, Nikan sent a letter saying that the small court in Hangzhou had sent people to negotiate peace, and specially requested Duoduo to come quickly.

Seeing that there would be no progress in Yingtian for a while, Duoduo left Bolo here and took a light cavalry to meet Nikan.

Bolo is of the same generation as Nikan, the grandson of Nurhaci and the son of Abatai, but because of their different early experiences, his personality is very different from Nikan.

Having said that, I have to talk a little more.

The older generation of Manchu nobles were mostly tyrannical and cruel due to their living environment. Not only were they cruel to their enemies, they would beat or kill their own flesh and blood at will.

But among this group of people, Bolo's father Abatai is an outlier.

Maybe it was because he himself had never received much fatherly love, but he doted on his children to the extreme.

Not only was he repeatedly reprimanded and punished for his children's misfortunes, but he even disobeyed the emperor's orders twice over his daughter's marriage.

As a result, Bolo became a little arrogant and was not as cautious as Nikan.

"Any news from them?"

Bolo asked the question out of the blue, and Gosha, who was standing beside him, was stunned for a moment before he realized what his master was asking.

"Lord Beile, the nearby cities have been occupied by the Bordered Yellow Banner and the Two White Banners, and the Ezhens have not gained anything yet."

Hearing this, Bolo tapped his palm with the whip a few times, obviously dissatisfied with the situation.

He was from the Zhenglan Banner, but after entering the Pass he was assigned to the Eastern Route Army which was mainly composed of the two white flags.

Although he was no longer in the capital, he could hear clearly what Dorgon was planning.

But he was different from Natulai. The emperor was only a boy of sixteen years old and could not compete with the Dorgon brothers. It was natural for the two people of the Yellow Banner to find their own way out.

Let's look at Hauge of the Zhenglan Banner. Although he was a bit reckless, the number of troops under his command was the largest among the Eight Banners, and he was also in his prime. It would take time to see who would win and who would lose, and naturally he could not change his allegiance too early.

Therefore, Bolo was ambiguous with the Dorgon brothers. Although they would not push him too hard, they would not put Bolo first when it came to eating meat.

This is how things are in the world in general. Although Bolo was a little dissatisfied, he could understand it a little.

But come to that, if you don’t give it to me, then I don’t want it?
Even if the ones nearby are gone, there must be some far away.

The city gates of the southerners could be opened by shouting "Your emperor has surrendered", so it didn't matter even if they walked far away.

As for the Yingtian City that Duoduo had been thinking about
After so many days, the situation in the city has been roughly understood. To put it bluntly, it was unexpected that the garrison troops could defend the city.

If they really dare to leave the city, not to mention the elite Eight Banners under their command, even those southern surrendered troops would be able to give them a good beating.

"Have you found out about the beacon fire this morning?"

"We have checked it out. It should be that the scouts got too close."

"Let's go out and take a look."

As if feeling a little bored staying in the tent, Bolo said a few words to Goshaha and walked out of the tent.

In the past few days, many of the Eight Banners subordinates in the army have been dispersed, and even many of the southerners with stronger fighting capabilities have been abducted by those brats.

Although there are still 60,000 to 70,000 troops left, they have become quite lazy because there is no threat. So when Bolo gets tired of staying there, he will go out for inspection to prevent others from catching him if something really happens.

As he patrolled along the way, Bolo indeed found that except for the soldiers on duty, all the others who came from outside the Great Wall were shirtless. The Qing army was composed of Manchus, Mongolians, Han Eight Banners, and surrendered soldiers from the south. Except for the surrendered soldiers from the south who came from the Jianghuai area, the others were all from extremely cold places and were not adapted to the weather in the south of the Yangtze River.

However, Bolo did not blame him too much. After all, most of the soldiers in the camp at that time were surrendered soldiers from the south, and there were only three or four thousand brought from outside the Great Wall.

If something really happens, the surrendered army only needs to hold out for a moment, and the elite troops in the army will be able to be fully equipped and rush into the battlefield. By then, even if the invaders are the Guanning Iron Cavalry, they may not be able to cause much damage to the army.

As for the relatives and strangers, Bolo was extremely tolerant of those brought from outside the Great Wall.

Even if the person who made the mistake was a Han soldier from the Eight Banners, he would at most reprimand him a few times.

But when facing the surrendered southern troops, he seemed like a different person.

"Snapped!"

"Snapped!"

"Snapped!"

Seeing that the camp gate was blocked by a piece of wood about two feet long and as thick as two people could hug, Bolo whipped the surrendered soldiers who were struggling.

"Idiot! Move the wood away first, don't block the camp gate!"

To be honest, no matter how heavy the wood was, it would not be able to block the camp gate for so long under normal circumstances. But now the ground has been soaked by rain, and people have to be extra careful when walking. Even if the soldiers try their best, it will be in vain if they can't exert their strength.

"Dig! Dig out all the mud."

After watching for a while, Bolo seemed to have discovered the key point, and the soldiers scattered in search of shovels after hearing the sound.

His idea was indeed good. As long as all the mud was dug out and drier land was exposed, the soldiers would naturally have a place to leverage. Even if the wood was heavy, there was a way to move it.

It has to be said that the Eight Banners generals at this time did not inherit much nobility from the Han people. The soldiers were digging mud there, and he, the Beile, was guarding by their side.

After all the mud around was cleared, Bolo gave an order.

Then, with everyone's efforts, the piece of wood was slowly moved to the side.

"Use your brains! You southerners just don't like to use your brains!"

Now that the problem had been solved, Bolo decided not to hang out with this group of surrendered soldiers. After saying this with great sorrow, he left somewhere else.

"Qi Lao Er, are you okay?"

Hearing Xiaoqi's question, Qi Laoer gently touched the whip marks on his face with his hand, and immediately a sharp pain spread to his brain.

He was really unlucky. When he was picking up corpses by the river, he was almost cut in half by the Tartars. When the corpses were almost washed away by the river, he was tasked with transporting supplies to Yingtian.

If you want to transport it, then let's do it. There are no Ming troops around anyway, and those in Yingtian City are trapped inside and can't get out. This job is nothing but tiring.

But when he arrived at the camp, he was assigned to transport timber.

Oh my God, the road is so slippery, and if he is not careful with such a big log, he will be either dead or injured. If his family members were not still in Zhenjiang, he would really want to take the opportunity to escape.

"It's okay, it'll be fine in two days."

"Be careful. Next time if you see something is wrong, use your back to push him, don't use your face to resist."

"Ah."

(End of this chapter)