Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 115 Duoduo in a Dilemma

Southwest of Jining Prefecture, Shandong Province, on all sides of Jinxiang City, soldiers and horses were bustling, dust was flying, and military flags of various colors were fluttering in the thick yellow dust. Tens of thousands of soldiers in different uniforms covered the ground like a colorful carpet.

This is the "West Shandong War" planned by Lu Zhenfei, a pillar of the Ming Dynasty who controls the Xuzhou and Huai'an prefectures and the governor of the Central Plains rebel army. The rebel forces from the southern part of Qingzhou Prefecture and the southwestern part of Yanzhou Prefecture gathered here and are making final preparations for the attack on Jinxiang City.

Gao Jie was riding on his horse, looking at the city that he had tricked into opening its gates by flying the flag of the Shun army after escaping from the south of Shanxi. He felt mixed emotions.

In just one year, the entire north has undergone such a huge change. The rebel army was short-lived, the Ming Dynasty was revived, and the Tartars not only entered the pass, but also attempted to occupy the magpie's nest.
If someone had told him these things a year ago, he would never have believed it, not only would he not believe it, he would have laughed at the other person - it was simply a pipe dream!
But now, all of this had happened, and he had witnessed it firsthand. It was unbelievable that the Tartar army, which had been so unstoppable the year before, was now stuck in the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, unable to advance or retreat.

Gao Jie took a look at the poorly defended Jinxiang City, then looked away proudly. Seeing this, the leaders of the rebel army, such as Zhao Yingyuan, Yang Wangxiu, and Qin Shangxing, came forward to flatter him and praised his divine use of troops.

After the uprising last year, they received appointments from the Nanjing court. They led their troops from Qingzhou Prefecture, Changle, Shouguang and other places to hide in the Jiaodong mountainous area, or went directly south to Yanzhou, relying on the mountainous area at the junction of the two prefectures to fight guerrilla warfare with the Qing army.

The Qing army is currently short of manpower and has weak control over these places. As long as they do not capture the provincial capital, their activities in the mountainous areas of Yanzhou Prefecture, Qingzhou Prefecture, Laizhou Prefecture and other places will be completely out of control.

However, if Zhu Cilang wanted to cut off the food supply of Duoduo's army and weaken the enemy's confidence in a decisive battle, he had to make some big moves. The rebel army in Shandong and other places was undoubtedly the best help on the Jianghuai battlefield.

Lu Zhenfei originally wanted to organize a large army to attack Cao County, but Huang Degong's attempt to lure the enemy in Bozhou failed. Zhunta seemed to have noticed the actions of the rebel army in the north, and he led his troops to stay in Shangqiu, as stable as a rock.

Seeing this, Gao Jie did not dare to attack Cao County directly. After sending Tang Ma to report to Lu Zhenfei, he shifted the target of attack to Jinxiang, which was farther away from Shangqiu and had more rivers blocking it. At the same time, it could also threaten Jining Prefecture, the canal hub, and was also close to Xuzhou.

The same was true for Zhao Yingyuan, Yang Wangxiu, Qin Shangxing and others. Most of those who disobeyed Nanjing's orders and attacked the city without authorization were wiped out by the Eight Banners Army sent by the Qing court before the southern expedition. Among them were the rebel leaders Zhao Shenkuan, Guo Bapai and others who were also from Qingzhou Prefecture.

In fact, they were very afraid of the Qing army and agreed with Gao Jie's decision. Now that they saw Jinxiang City was within their grasp, they were all eager to take action and volunteered.

However, Gao Jie did not let them act recklessly, but carefully deployed the siege operation. He wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of Huang Degong being transferred to the south to contain Zhunta to establish his prestige among these rebel leaders so as to expand his strength in the future.

At this time, Gao Jie still had not gotten rid of the habitual thinking that had been immersed in the Ming army for more than ten years. No matter what he did, he always thought about annexing other people's troops and expanding his own strength.

Soon, under Gao Jie's order, more than 30 artillery pieces transferred from Xuzhou and gathered by more than a dozen rebel forces immediately began firing in unison.

The rumbling sound of cannons rang out one after another, and hundreds of indestructible stone bullets flew out from the muzzles and hit the city walls of Jinxiang City.

Faced with the continuous attacks of the Ming army, the Qing troops stationed in the city had only some old traditional firearms to use except for two small cannons on the city wall. The arrows shot from the top of the city wall had no effect on the Ming army pushing shield carts to attack.

Soon, bursts of screams were heard from the dilapidated walls of Jinxiang City. The bricks and stones outside the walls were bombarded by artillery shells, and dust and gravel were flying.

However, no matter how small Jinxiang City is, it is still a county town. This level of artillery bombardment cannot destroy the city wall. At this time, the hundreds of feet long city wall shows no signs of collapse or loosening.

Gao Jie had obviously guessed this, and in addition to bombarding the city walls, he also focused his artillery fire on the city gates. In the face of the several-pound iron bullets, the iron-clad city gates were as fragile as paper. One shot could create a hole, and a few shots could create a large hole.

However, the Qing army in the city was also prepared. In order to prevent the Ming army from directly blowing up the city gates and quickly advancing into the city, they had completely blocked several city gates with bricks and stones.

If the Ming army wanted to enter the city, they would have to blow down the city walls or set up ladders and climb up the city walls like ants. This would greatly slow down the siege and buy time for their counterattack.

After nine rounds of volleys and thousands of shells bombarding continuously, the walls of Jinxiang City were already filled with smoke and dust. The tower that the Ming army focused on attacking was almost destroyed by the shells. Broken stones and tiles kept falling and hit the Qing soldiers who were crouching down to avoid them.

Many of the parapets on the city wall that were hit by artillery shells turned into flying stones, which continuously made sounds of collapsing rubble and hit the armor of the Qing soldiers hiding behind the parapets, making a tinkling sound. The injured Qing soldiers screamed and wailed one after another.

The Qing officials in the city were gazing at the battlefield situation from the top of the city wall. Through the thick smoke in front of them, they saw the dense Ming army formations covering the ground in the distance, as well as large groups of cavalry galloping back and forth on the periphery. They were very frightened and some had already given up resistance and fled to hide in the city.

Tens of thousands of rebel soldiers outside the city who were preparing to attack the city looked at the artillery positions filled with thick smoke and flashing orange-red flames, and then looked at the Jinxiang County walls where dust was flying and screams were faintly heard. They were all stunned.

This was the first time they had seen such a grand occasion!

Gao Jie patted the horse under his crotch. The rumbling sound of the cannon made his mount a little agitated. The warhorse, which already had a bad temper, kept twisting its body and stomping its hooves on the ground angrily.

The horses under the crotch of Zhao Yingyuan, Yang Wangxiu and others had already started jumping violently, as if they were frightened. In the final analysis, they were just a group of enhanced militia.

In the wilderness outside Jinxiang City, the Ming army's war drums and bugles sounded, various flags fluttered, and thousands of Ming soldiers pushed various siege weapons and began to charge.

At the same time as the artillery bombardment, hundreds of Ming soldiers were already pushing dozens of shield carts forward with a "squeaking" sound.

The Qing army in Jinxiang City was completely unprepared. Apart from a moat outside the city, there was almost nothing that could stop the Ming army's attack. The arrows and artillery shells shot from the top of the city had almost no damage, let alone hindering the Ming army's advance.

When the Ming army advanced to within more than forty steps of the moat, the Ming soldiers who had been hiding behind the shield carts directly pushed the moat bridge, carried the ladders, and rushed up with shields. The attack was very swift.

If it were Fengyang City, without the cover of shield carts within a distance of dozens of steps, such an attack would have no effect at all, and the charging soldiers would have been quickly wiped out under the fierce attack from the top of the city.

However, Jinxiang City was completely unprepared for this sudden war, and this small city did not have enough soldiers and firearms. Facing the offensive of the Ming army, it was almost powerless to resist.

The bridges on the moat had been completely destroyed by the Qing army. More than a dozen moat bridges were pushed to the front by the soldiers, followed by a larger number of ladders.

The Qing army on the city wall seemed to have lost the ability to fight back, allowing the Ming soldiers to build a bridge across the river. Dozens of scattered arrows were shot from the top of the city from time to time, but they were unable to stop the Ming army's charge with such momentum.

The armored soldiers who were responsible for the assault mission held up their shields and crossed the Hao Bridge in a column, rushing directly into the flying dust. Braving the arrows shot from time to time, they set up ladders and climbed up. Using their shields as cover, they soon reached the top of the wall.

However, the Qing army in the city had not completely lost its combat effectiveness. As soon as the Ming army soldiers attacking the city appeared, pots of boiling hot golden juice were poured on them.

In this situation, except for those soldiers who were holding up shields and barely blocking the attack, or those who were still below and were blocked by their comrades in front, dozens of armored soldiers immediately fell from the ladders with screams.

The Ming army's siege of the city was too sudden, and there were indeed few defensive supplies in Jinxiang City. No earth, stones, or wood were prepared. Most of the arrows and gunpowder were sent to the south, leaving only feces in sufficient stock.

The Ming soldiers on the ladders suffered heavy casualties. This weapon was extremely vicious. In that era, once injured, there was basically no hope of recovery. The wailing and screaming of the wounded easily shook the morale of the army. However, thanks to the protection of shields and armor, most of the Ming army was not seriously injured. The few soldiers in the front had already fought with the Qing army defending the city. People kept falling and were constantly replaced. The Qing army was weak in number and could only use the city walls to block the attack from above for a while, but they were quickly defeated.

As the Ming army made a breakthrough in its attack on the city wall, the remaining Qing troops on the wall retreated step by step and began to flee to the towers behind. More and more Ming troops appeared on the city wall.

The morale of the Ming army was greatly boosted. A large number of soldiers rushed up the city wall from all directions and advanced quickly. They soon occupied the four towers and began to attack the city.
Two days later, Duoduo received urgent military intelligence from the north. On the evening of the previous day, he had just received the news from Ajige in Ruichang. He was extremely furious at this time.

Although Zhu Cilang did not launch another large-scale night attack, he still sent troops out of the city to harass the Qing army from time to time, making the Qing army suffer and their morale deteriorated.

Zhu Cilang was still worried that Duoduo would plot against him during the retreat, but he never expected that Duoduo at this time was no longer the victorious general who was full of vigor and looked down on everything at the beginning of the year.

Now, Duoduo, who had suffered many setbacks, was no longer thinking about how to counterattack the pursuing Ming army, but who to leave behind to cover his retreat so that he could safely retreat to the north.

In several battles with Zhu Cilang, he had gradually realized the situation clearly: the Ming court was not so easy to conquer!

This is how the battlefield situation shapes people. During the era of Nurhaci and Huang Taiji, there were indeed a large number of famous generals in the Qing military group. However, the so-called achievements of Dorgon, Duoduo and others who achieved brilliant results after entering the Pass were extremely inflated.

Dorgon was known for his great talent and strategy, and Dodo was also praised by some people in later generations as the greatest meritorious official, but their military achievements were not outstanding before they entered the Pass. They only performed well when they entered the Pass to deal with the Ming army inside the Pass that was constrained by Chongzhen.

During the Battle of Songjin, Dorgon repeatedly flinched against the main force of the Ming army led by Hong Chengchou, earning him two punishments from Huang Taiji. In the 15th year of Chongzhen's reign, during the siege of Jinzhou, he and Duoduo were ambushed by Ming army retainers and fled in disarray, showing no trace of the heroic spirit of a warlord.

However, after the Qing army entered the pass, the only ones left in the Ming army inside the pass were a bunch of trash that were not even worth mentioning in the early years. Li Zicheng, who absorbed the main force of the Ming army, made a series of strategic mistakes, causing the two strongest Ming armies in Shaanxi and Gansu and Guanning to almost all turn to the Qing court. This is how Dorgon and Dodo gained their so-called fame.

Inside the central army tent, Bolo, Tulai, Nikan, Tunqi and others all looked heavy-faced as they watched the military intelligence coming from the north from Junta. They had just received the news from Ajige yesterday, and their hope of capturing Nanjing was completely shattered.

Now, news came that Jinxiang had been captured by the Ming army, and the precarious military situation in Yutai, Jining Prefecture, Juye and other places made their withdrawal urgent.

After several months of fighting, the Qing army generals believed that the power comparison between the Ming and Qing sides had changed dramatically, and they had to change their strategy immediately.

"The Ming Emperor's strength is probably even greater than previously revealed. He has actually organized tens of thousands of troops in the Central Plains. Everyone has seen the military intelligence transmitted from Zhunta. Now, multiple Ming troops have appeared not only in Shandong, but also in Henan."

Duoduo looked at Bolo, Tulai, Nikan, Tunqi and others in front of him, paused, and then continued to analyze:
"Given the current situation, even if I capture another 30,000 or 50,000 civilians, transport thousands of kilograms of gunpowder, and tens of thousands of artillery shells, and continue the fierce attack, I'm afraid I won't be able to take Fengyang City in a short time. There is no other way to take down such a fortress except to besiege it.

Moreover, the most important thing now is that the Ming army is everywhere in the north. There are also reports from Huai'an and Xuzhou that large groups of Ming troops have appeared. The situation in the Central Plains is much more serious than imagined."

"The Ming Emperor probably didn't dare to concentrate his main forces to attack Shandong. He didn't have the strength to do so. Even if he won temporarily, he would not be able to hold on in the end. Fighting on the plains, those Nikans are definitely no match for our Qing army."

Tulai knew that Duoduo was bluffing in order to persuade the generals to retreat north. He was not as pessimistic as Duoduo at this time, and he disliked Duoduo's behavior of boosting others' morale and destroying his own prestige, without any demeanor of a commander-in-chief.

"Those Ming troops in the north are nothing but a bunch of ignorant militiamen. It's easy to wipe them out. We still have Zhun Ta in Guide, so there's no need to panic.

But our most important task now is to quickly retreat northwards, taking the baggage transported southwards while the Ming army in the city remains fully prepared. The Ming Emperor still has some strength left, and if he finds an opportunity, we'll likely lose thousands more soldiers."

After Tulai finished speaking, a slight discussion was heard in the big tent. In fact, at this point in the battle, especially with the increasing amount of rain in recent days and the temperature becoming hot, and there was no hope of breaking the city, these Manchu nobles had long given up wanting to fight.

Now that the Ming army has launched an attack in the north, they have a reasonable reason to retreat to the north. And annihilating the Ming army there and stabilizing the rear is the best excuse.

"That's right, Emperor Ming will definitely not let us withdraw easily. He will definitely take action." Nikan hesitated for a moment, then suggested to Duoduo:
"But if we retreat hastily, the military supplies will be in jeopardy, and the Ming Emperor will surely pursue us. We must be prepared, otherwise we will be harassed by the Ming army from behind and suffer continuous casualties."

"Then Nikan, what do you think we should do?" Duoduo became alert when he saw Tulai and Nikan speaking one after another.

Seeing this, Nikan knew that Duoduo had misunderstood his meaning, and immediately explained:
“In fact, the journey from Fengyang to Guide is not that far. As long as we are well prepared, we can retreat to advance, or even set an ambush and wait for Emperor Ming to take the bait.

On the plains, no one can defeat the Qing army. If the Ming Emperor dares to pursue us, with the current strength of our army, we can repel him with a surprise attack. If he dares not pursue us, we can retreat safely to the north.

The most crucial thing now is to see who is the most suitable person to set the ambush. This force cannot be too large, otherwise the Ming Emperor will definitely not be fooled, but it cannot be too small either, as the Ming Emperor is quite powerful. "

"That's right." Bolo, who had been silent the whole time, also agreed with this idea. His focus was also on the retreat.

"The Ming Emperor has always been bold and is definitely not the type to shrink from battle. He certainly has the courage to pursue us, and he's more than willing to take the risk. Now, he's relying on the advantages of the terrain and the strong city, and he's won so many battles in a row. He will definitely attack, and we can't hide from him."

As soon as Tulai finished speaking, a flurry of discussion erupted within the tent. In reality, the Qing generals were eager to learn how to safely retreat north, fearing a surprise attack from Zhu Cilang.

Bolo's words almost confirmed the Ming army's pursuit. They all knew that this was a very troublesome matter for them, and they were unwilling to accept it emotionally, but rationally they accepted it.

"In that case, we might as well just retreat north in a grand manner. I will leave three to five thousand cavalrymen behind to cover our retreat. As long as Emperor Ming dares to pursue us, he will never return." Duoduo was pressed by several people and directly stated the final plan.

"This also cannot guarantee that it will be foolproof!" Tulai said immediately after hearing this:
"What if the Ming Emperor holds on to the three to five thousand horsemen we left behind? Your Majesty, don't forget that the Ming army has a navy that can easily cut off the Huai River."

This is the dilemma the Qing army is currently facing.

If too many troops were left behind, chaos would inevitably ensue during the final full retreat, and the food and supplies would be a heavy burden. However, if too few troops were left behind, the Ming army would likely not show any mercy and simply swallow them up.

"There is no such thing as a foolproof method!" Duoduo was annoyed and his face darkened. He then added:
"Leave those civilians in the army to create chaos and hinder the enemy. They will definitely be able to tie down the main force of the Ming army. Now start moving the army's baggage and wait for the right weather. If fog comes one day, immediately retreat the entire army. The Ming Emperor will definitely not dare to pursue rashly."

At this time, Tulai wanted to clean up the mess, improve the morale of the army, and then retreat slowly, but he did not want to lose too much baggage and equipment. At the same time, he also wanted to take a chance on the Ming army.

But Duoduo was completely different. At this time, he no longer wanted to defeat the main force of the Ming army and turn defeat into victory. He had lost the patience to continue fighting with Zhu Cilang.

(End of this chapter)