Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 111 Close the door and beat the dog
Outside the city of Nankang Prefecture, several Qing army vanguard scouts were whistling back and forth, constantly making strange noises. Behind them was the army of Oboi that was coming in an endless stream. The terrain here was complex and the mountain passages were very narrow, so the Qing army cavalry could not move very fast.

Ajige did not completely trust Ma Jinzhong. To be on the safe side, he sent out 1,500 cavalrymen as originally planned, instead of the 1,000 soldiers Ma Jinzhong requested in the secret letter.

Not only that, after understanding the terrain west of Nankang City, he also asked Oboi to be cautious enough during the march to prevent the Ming army from ambushing on the hillside.

Except for the area near the main ridge at the southern foot of Lushan Mountain, the terrain in other places is not steep, especially the hillsides outside Nankang City. Although it occupies 70% to 80% of the land, as long as the Qing army sends scouts to search carefully, they cannot hide a large number of troops.

Although Oboi did not take Ma Jinzhong or even Zuo Liangyu seriously, he basically abided by the basic ethics of marching. He did not find any trace of the Ming army on the side of the hillside that was most suitable for ambush along the way.

Zhuobutai led a team of cavalry and quickly came to the plain west of Nankang City along the valley passage. He encountered almost no obstacles along the way. Ma Jinzhong withdrew most of the scouts and sent a deputy general to lead the way.

However, there were other Ming troops in Nankang City. Although Zhuobutai's actions were very covert, they were still noticed by the Ming army's secret sentries. His plan to sneak into the city with the support of Ma Jinzhong was thus ruined.

The secret outposts deployed by the Ming army in the valley basically retreated back to the city in a panic after a brief resistance. The huge gap in the number of cavalry between the two sides made the Ming army in Nankang City unable to fight back.

This was no different from the Ming troops Zhuobutai had encountered before. He just felt a little sorry that he had missed the opportunity to quickly capture the Nankang city.

At the same time, the Ming army in the city also sent hundreds of cavalry out of the city to counterattack, but as Zhuobutai led the Eight Banners cavalry to arrive quickly, they had to retreat immediately.

This made Zhuobutai suspicious. The Ming army's performance seemed too active, and with Ma Jinzhong's advance deployment, things should have gone more smoothly!

He had a vague feeling that Ma Jinzhong didn't want them to enter the city early, so he was interfering. He probably wanted to raise the price and demand a higher official position and reward.

After all, the only thing Ma Jinzhong can rely on now is the city wall. Once the protection of the city wall is lost, these Ming troops will be nothing more than fish on the chopping board in Zhuobutai's eyes.

Thinking of this, Zhuobutai suddenly felt a little ridiculous. Even if Ma Jinzhong asked for a higher price, what would happen if he agreed? As long as he entered the city, what would Ma Jinzhong use to continue bargaining?
He had deduced from the Ming army's secret sentries, the number of counterattack cavalry, and the military intelligence transmitted by Ma Jinzhong that there were no more than 500 Ming army cavalry in Nankang City, and no more than 4,000 armored infantry. If these troops went out of the city to fight in the field, they would definitely not be his opponents.

However, although Ma Jinzhong revealed the Ming army's troop deployment in various cities in the secret letter of surrender, much of the information was very vague, especially regarding the situation in Jiujiang and Nanchang. Ma Jinzhong claimed that he only knew the main general stationed there, and the specific number of troops was not clear.

This created considerable obstacles for Ajige's eastward deployment, especially since the situations in many places were different from those found by the scouts, but in more places they were verified by each other.

In these situations, even Ajige and his veteran generals found it difficult to distinguish clearly which were real military intelligence and which were mazes.

But for Zhuobutai, these were not so important. He looked at the Nankang City in front of him and thought about the scene of attacking Jiangnan and capturing Nanjing in the future, and his heart was very excited.

At this time, on the city wall west of Nankang Prefecture, Ma Jinzhong looked at the vast masses of Qing cavalry on the plains outside the city and the gentle slopes of the mountain, as well as the endless Eight Banners cavalry on the mountain road, with fear and worry revealed on his face. Based on the military intelligence reported back by his deputy general, he already knew that Oboi had brought a total of 1,500 cavalry.

He slowly twisted his neck, and in his sight, he saw hundreds of Qing cavalry standing on a gentle hill running from northeast to southwest at the southern foot of Lushan Mountain, stretching from the plain at the foot of the mountain to the edge of the dense forest on the mountainside. Some of the cavalry were scattered to the side of the mountain pass on the south side, as if they were on guard against possible ambushes of the Ming army in that direction.

Although Mount Lushan is famous for its "majesty, strangeness, danger and beauty" and stretches for more than 40 miles from north to south, the remaining ranges on the south are not steep, and the several hills on the southeast are quite flat and not completely covered by dense forests.

Although Zhuobutai was not as brave and skilled in fighting as Oboi, he was also experienced in many battles and had not lost the basic principles of leading troops on the battlefield.

After a quick look, Ma Jinzhong had a rough idea of ​​what he was doing, and his initial worries were largely dispelled. Fortunately, during the previous military meeting, Zuo Liangyu had supported these generals and not adopted He Tengjiao's radical strategy. Otherwise, the Qing army would have discovered the ambush by now.

These cavalrymen had no ability to attack the city, and since he was looking down from a high vantage point, he could not see the baggage they carried or the civilian laborers accompanying them in the mountain passage.

If the enemy wants to besiege the city, there should be caravans and civilians transporting food and supplies, coming in continuously along the mountain passages.

Without a solid camp as a support, even the Eight Banner Army would be defeated if it came under a powerful attack, especially the cavalry, which had almost no ability to fight back against firearms attacks in the special terrain.

The reason why Zuo Liangyu agreed to fight this battle was actually because of the special terrain of Nankang. The Qing army could not quickly cross these steep mountains, and the Ming army did not need to ambush at the beginning. They only needed to wait for the Qing army to pass and then send troops to guard the mountain pass.

The plain west of Nankang City is only four or five miles long from north to south and from east to west. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and can only be traversed by narrow mountain passages. It will not be easy for the Qing army to withdraw at that time.

Of course, the most crucial thing is that Poyang Lake is to the south of this plain, and there are more than a dozen warships hidden in the northeast of Nankang City.

These warships were equipped with two red cannons on the bow, and there were even two ships transferred from Nanjing, which were equipped with more than a dozen French cannons on one side of the ship. The range was enough to cover the four or five miles of plain.

In fact, He Tengjiao was not very brave to fight, but the special terrain of Nankang, Zhu Cilang's plan to visit northern Jiangxi in person after the war, and the reinforcement of the navy's artillery all gave him courage.

The same was true for Zuo Liangyu and his generals. The emperor was about to arrive, and for the sake of their own future, they had to fight. Although these artillery pieces could not completely wipe out the Qing army, they had gathered several times more troops and horses, and they still dared to fight a group of Qing soldiers who were scattered by artillery.

Ajige, Oboi, Zhuobutai and others did not expect that He Tengjiao and Zuo Liangyu had secretly deployed gunboats, but they did not expect that such terrain was very dangerous.

However, if they were facing Zuo Liangyu's Ming army, which was able to abandon a fortress as impregnable as Wuchang City without firing a single shot or cannon, it seems excusable and even reasonable.

If they couldn’t even defend a fortified and huge city like Wuchang, what could a small city like Nankang do?

Ma Jinzhong was so calm not only because his opponent underestimated him, but more importantly because of his own strength. His troops in the city had already been prepared. With the support of He Tengjiao, more than 3,000 elite soldiers were ready to fight at any time.

At the same time, the 500 cavalrymen led by Wang Yuncheng and the more than 1,000 household cavalrymen led by Li Guoying, Jin Shenghuan, Ma Shixiu and others were behind the mountains, waiting for the Qing army to enter the plains so that they could take quick action.

In such terrain, the Qing cavalry had no room for outflanking and outflanking, and lost its advantage in mobility. Once the cavalry's power could not be exerted, they would be no longer a threat if they charged through a narrow area.

Oboi and Zhuobutai thought they had already secured victory, but they never imagined that this was a strategy set by the Ming army to "lure the enemy into a trap and then beat the dog behind closed doors."

Soon, Oboi also led the main force of this vanguard cavalry into the plains outside Nankang City. Zhuobutai and Ma Jinzhong negotiated to no avail. The latter refused to open the city gate on the grounds that he had no right to command. Then he rode his horse angrily to Oboi.

"Brother, Ma Jinzhong is unwilling to open the city gates. I'm afraid he has something to hide. The more I look at the terrain around Nankang City, the more I feel something is wrong. If the Ming army has ambushed their troops in the forest two or three miles behind the mountain, we won't be able to find them at all."

After hearing this, Aobai looked up at Nankang City, then looked around the surrounding area, squinted his eyes and nodded:
"Ma Jinzhong is not such a muddle-headed person. Even if he wants to bargain, he won't do it now. This is definitely a trick!"

Zhuobutai looked at Aobai's calm face, without any tension, and calmed down immediately:

"Brother, are you planning to take advantage of the Ming army's advance and trick Ma Jinzhong into letting us into the city?"

"He wouldn't dare to march his entire army into the city, but with two or three hundred horsemen, he might not be afraid. If the Ming army really dares to ambush us, they will definitely find a way to force us to split up."

After hearing this, Aobai nodded, then laughed coldly and said:
"These Nikans have overestimated their abilities. They even want to ambush me, Aobai. They are simply overestimating their own strength. I have probably killed more Ming generals at my hands than Ma Jinzhong has ever seen. As long as we can get two or three hundred horsemen into the city, Nankang will be in my pocket. No matter what tricks those Nikans play, it will be useless. Zhuobutai, you lead the troops into the city yourself and seize the city tower."

"But if this is really an ambush, there are probably thousands of Ming troops in the surrounding mountains." Zhuobutai looked around and said worriedly.

"A few thousand Ming troops are nothing. Even if there are tens of thousands, they can't do anything to us." Aobai still looked complacent, and his tone left no room for doubt.

"It's a good opportunity to fight these Nikans, just like what Duoduo did at Tongguan, to completely stop them from thinking about blocking or resisting, and to make them understand the strength of the Qing Dynasty."

"Can"

"Why, Zhuobutai, do you think that 1,500 horsemen can't deal with 10,000 or 20,000 Nikan soldiers?" Oboi asked jokingly with a smile on his face.

When Zhuobutai was asked this question, he seemed to think it was true and immediately challenged:

"This Ma Jinzhong is so audacious that he actually dared to deceive the prince and the prince. I will chop off his head with my own hands."

But Ma Jinzhong did not have the courage at all. Most of his cavalry were handed over to the "Iron Cavalry King" Wang Yuncheng, so he began to continue to fight with Zhuobutai, demanding that the other party enter the city alone and renegotiate the terms of surrender with him in order to delay time.

He had to wait until the gunboats on Poyang Lake east of the city and the surrounding troops surrounded them before he could really turn hostile. Otherwise, the Qing army would notice the ambush and would most likely withdraw directly. By then, the infantry would not have formed a formation and the artillery would not be ready. It would be difficult to intercept them with just the more than 1,000 cavalry.

However, Ma Jinzhong never expected that Oboi and Zhuobutai had already guessed his trick, but they did not care about the ambush of the Ming army at all, and wanted to take advantage of the situation.

Seeing that Ma Jinzhong kept delaying, Zhuobutai knew that the other party did not have the courage to open the city gate, and he certainly would not be willing to do such a stupid thing as entering the city alone and committing suicide.

He then rode his horse back to Aobai and was about to ask what to do next when he suddenly saw a number of large, blurry ships appearing on the lake in the south where the water met the sky.

Zhuobutai was a little surprised, and immediately pointed in the direction of Poyang Lake in the south with a look of surprise. Seeing this, Aobai also turned his head to look, and a look of surprise also appeared on his originally cold face.

On the shimmering lake, large ships were approaching. The shapes of their white sails could soon be seen, and the military flags on the ships were flying in the wind. There seemed to be two black spots on the deck at the bow, which were getting bigger and bigger.

For a moment, they didn't understand what these huge ships that came against the wind and waves were doing. They just watched quietly, looked at each other, and then talked about it.

At this moment, large groups of Ming troops suddenly appeared in the narrow passages in the northwest, southwest, and northeast of Pingye. These Ming troops used cavalry to clear the way and quickly drove away the scouts left by Aobai, occupying the hillsides on both sides of the three passages.

After confirming that the 1,508 bannermen under Oboi had entered the preset battlefield, Zuo Menggeng, who personally commanded the battlefield on behalf of Zuo Liangyu, immediately ordered all units to attack with the assistance of Ma Shixiu and Hao Xiaozhong.

In the valley west of Nankang City, flags were suddenly flying, and the cavalry camps that had been ambushed in the outer mountains early in the morning quickly set out. Under the guidance of the camp commanders who recognized the flags, the sound of horse hooves rumbled up.

Under the protection of his personal cavalry, Zuo Menggeng walked along the gentle slope at the edge of the dense forest on the mountainside, crossed several undulating hills, and soon arrived at a ridge northeast of Nankang City, which was the safest place.

Zuo Liangyu mobilized almost all of the most elite troops from the five inner battalions just to win this battle. In exchange, He Tengjiao was not allowed to participate in the war, and he wanted to leave all the military merits of this battle to his son.

On the plain in front of Zuo Menggeng, the Ming cavalry had already engaged in a melee with the scouts deployed by Oboi in the valley for surveillance and reconnaissance. Dozens of cavalry were chasing each other, shooting arrows at each other from behind, or charging close, clashing with swords, raising clouds of flying dust.

Upon seeing this, Oboi immediately ordered the main force to assemble, and at the same time ordered his officers to lead the troops to counterattack and kill the Ming cavalry.

However, the Ming army had deployed enough cavalry early on, and these counterattacking Eight Banners cavalry failed to quickly achieve the expected breakthrough.

Under the cover of the cavalry, a steady stream of Ming cavalry crossed the hillside, emerged from the gentle slopes on both sides of the three mountain villa passages, and then lined up at the mountain pass to cover the infantry moving in the rear.

The troops dispatched this time were all elite troops under Zuo Liangyu. They had rested in northern Jiangxi for nearly two months and had sufficient supplies. They also received a lot of well-made armor as supplements. Their combat effectiveness was well restored and their performance at this time was very satisfactory.

These cavalrymen quickly entered the designated positions. Under the trampling of thousands of horses' hooves, the gentle slopes in three directions were now covered with billowing dust. Wherever the eyes could see, there were the figures of galloping and jumping war horses everywhere. The shiny iron armor on the Ming cavalry was still flashing with dazzling light.

The flags of the Ming army fluttered in the wind on the gentle slopes, and the sound of military trumpets for formations was endless. Thousands of infantrymen quickly formed up on the gentle slopes of the three mountain passes. Dense helmets and horse heads surged on the hillside like a rolling black tide.

Faced with the Ming army that intended to block him on the plain, Oboi immediately realized that the situation was not right, especially with the large ships approaching from the south.

He looked down on the Ming army, but the battlefield experience he had accumulated over the years made him aware of the danger. There must be something fishy about those large ships, otherwise the Ming army would not have acted as if everything would be fine as long as they held the mountain pass.

At this time, Oboi had completely lost his initial complacency and immediately ordered his assembled army to prepare for battle. He was even prepared to break out immediately if the situation turned bad.

However, looking at the three narrow mountain passes and the densely packed military formations of Ming soldiers, Abahai felt that it would not be easy to break through.

He waved his hand and immediately sent a team of cavalry towards the mountain pass they came from. Under the guidance of their respective officers' flags, they quickly came to the plain in front of the mountain and joined the melee between the two armies' cavalry.

After the Qing army received support, the originally stalemate battle was quickly decided. The Ming army's scouts fought and retreated. They were originally there to tie down the Qing army and cover the infantry formation, so naturally they had no desire to fight at this time.

The Ming army was originally afraid of the Eight Banners cavalry, and it was even more difficult to compete with the enemy due to the disadvantage in troop strength. This was a backwardness in overall combat power level, which could not be made up for in a short time.

However, just as the Eight Banners cavalry were about to pursue the victory, they were immediately counterattacked by the main force of the Ming cavalry on both wings of the army formation on the hillside. Faced with the Ming cavalry outnumbering them by several times, they were unable to break through and could only begin to circle the Ming cavalry, trying to lure them out of the army formation.

At the same time, these Eight Banners cavalrymen were also secretly observing the Ming army infantry formation at the mountain pass. They soon discovered that the latter were actually setting up artillery at the mountain pass and building a breastwork on the spot.

Aobai soon received the military intelligence sent back by the cavalry, but he still couldn't understand why these Ming troops dared to be so bold. Did they really think they could stop the powerful army of the Eight Banners?

He has not led his troops to charge yet, not because he is afraid of the Ming army, but because he subconsciously despises the Ming army. He does not feel the need to rush, and does not think that these Ming troops can pose a threat to him.

This kind of contempt from the bottom of his heart would not change easily. Oboi never thought that the Ming army inside the Great Wall was worth his fear.

Just as Abahai stopped thinking and turned to look at Zhuobutai, preparing to let him lead his troops to defeat the Ming army blocking the mountain pass in the northwest, a loud rumbling sound suddenly came.

When the Eight Banners generals heard the sound, they all turned their heads and saw white smoke rising from the lake in the south. More than a dozen warships were spitting out flames from the bows, and black shells were whistling towards them.

　Thanks to the book friend "What What Fish" for the reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)