Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 117: Early War

After the interrogation by the Embroidered Uniform Guards was over, Zhou Shixian immediately followed Zhu Cilang's orders and hanged all three envoys who were secretly sent into the city by Duoduo, and hung their bodies on the city wall of Hongwu Gate.

Not only that, he and Zhang Huangyan continued the previous psychological warfare and verbal attacks, and through the soldiers shouting on the city wall, they directly exposed the fact that Duoduo had sent envoys to secretly seek peace.

Of course, the "letter of peace" they read out was forged by someone arranged by Zhang Huangyan. Duoduo's words and deeds in the letter were very humble, and it also linked the previous facts that he was Huang Taiji's illegitimate son, colluded with Dorgon, and that Xiaozhuang murdered her brother and father.

Therefore, Duoduo, the so-called prince who had long been surrounded by rumors, was seen by the Qing soldiers guarding the trenches outside the city as an attempt to collude with the Ming court and usurp the throne.

Duoduo did send secret envoys into the city, but those three so-called secret envoys are all dead now. He is completely at the mercy of others and has no way of explaining himself.

He originally thought that Zhu Cilang would take advantage of the situation, and then he could take advantage of the situation while waiting for the oriole to come. However, he never expected that the other party was so vicious and would directly overturn the table, leaving him no chance to operate.

But Tulai was experienced after all, and he turned the tables and pointed out that the three were undercover agents of the Ming court, but they came to their senses and were eventually summoned by the Qing Dynasty to go to the city to deliver false information. Unexpectedly, they were discovered by the Ming Emperor, and finally they died heroically for the country.

Without waiting for anyone to say anything, Tulai immediately asked for battle, wanting to personally lead the army to attack and avenge the three loyal ministers, to show that the Qing Dynasty would never let any loyal minister die in vain.

He had seen too many things like this - the more arrogant and conceited a person was, the more likely he was to lose his composure when faced with setbacks and do foolish things in order to recover the so-called losses.

However, Tulai really didn't expect that Duoduo, who was always cunning and intelligent, was actually such a person, and he had made such a stupid move behind his back without telling him.

If Emperor Ming was really forced into a desperate situation and wanted to negotiate peace, then using the excuse of peace talks to set a trap would indeed be feasible, but what has Emperor Ming shown in the past few months?

Zhang Huangyan was quite surprised by Tulai's series of counterattacks, and even couldn't help but admire him. He actually pulled Duoduo back from the brink of political death.

However, the Qing army also paid a heavy price for this. This round of forced attack ultimately resulted in the loss of hundreds of armored soldiers and bannermen, as well as nearly a thousand civilians, but still failed to make any progress.

However, the conspiracy and intrigue on the battlefield was always just a minor episode. When Duoduo realized that his so-called brilliant plan was completely wishful thinking and humiliated himself, he immediately followed Tulai's advice and began to deploy the army's retreat.

Moreover, according to Tulai's suggestion, he prepared to expand the remaining troops and selected a Jiala from each of the four strongest flags to fight, to ensure that the Ming army could not gain an advantage in any direction.

As the Qing army no longer concealed its intentions and revealed its cards directly, the withdrawal operation began to accelerate. Duoduo, Bolo, Nikan, Tulai and others began to try to boost the morale of the army and restore the army's combat effectiveness as much as possible.

The most crucial point is to eliminate the growing fear of the Ming army among the entire army, and to suppress the surrendered Ming army, the rebel soldiers, and the civilian laborers' eagerness to act.

In the next few days, Tulai and Bolo personally led their troops out of the camp, forcing thousands of civilians to attack the city in turns. Kong Youde also led artillery to assist. They took advantage of their superior numbers to attack Fengyang City from the south and east at the same time. They broke through the outer earth wall twice and once attacked the trench between the two earth walls, but were quickly repelled.

Under Zhu Cilang's deployment, the Palace Army and the Beijing Camp in the city also began to attack frequently. They took advantage of the opportunity when the Qing army broke into the earth wall and had no time to deploy defenses, and launched a large-scale counterattack under the cover of firearms on the city wall.

The fighting between the two sides exceeded the initial plan. Although these breakthroughs by the Qing army effectively covered the retreat of baggage in the outer positions, the losses of troops were further increased.

The Ming army also suffered heavy losses in the frequent night attacks that followed. In order to adhere to the established strategy and preserve their strength, Chen Fu and Chang Denggui quickly adjusted their strategy, relying on firearms on the city walls to continuously consume the attacking Qing army.

The Qing army's fighting style, which spared no lives, was certainly very effective, and the siege progressed more smoothly than ever before. In particular, the first earth wall was finally breached in two places, which quickly boosted the morale of the Qing army.

However, while Tulai and Bolo's plan to restore the army's morale seemed to be a desperate attempt to save lives, it was actually limited to breaking through the first earthen wall. Even then, the Qing army only managed a brief breakthrough before being repelled by the Ming army stationed at the second earthen wall and the city wall.

The second earth wall further back was basically intact because it could not be covered by the Qing army's artillery. It was also much taller than the first earth wall. There was almost no cover between the two earth walls, so the armored soldiers had to charge into the battle themselves.

This was the last thing the two men wanted to see - sacrificing precious armor and soldiers for an earth wall that was ultimately impenetrable.

Zhu Cilang naturally would not make any concessions. He continued to send his troops forward and even began to distribute weapons on a large scale, mobilizing the civilians who had been selected and trained in the city to go up to the city, relying on the strong city to consume the strength of the Qing army.

During this period, good news continued to come from Yanzhou, Guide, Kaifeng, Xuzhou, and even Bozhou in the north. Although Duoduo had previously sent a troop of troops to the north for support, he had obviously underestimated the strength of the Ming army in these places and was still exhausted at this time.

On the fifth day of the Qing army's continuous attack, Duoduo received news that rebels had appeared in Kaifeng and other places. At the same time, Yanzhou, Guide and Bozhou were in a state of emergency.

Not only that, Ming troops also began to appear in the direction of Runing Prefecture in the east of Henan. Even several Ming troops in Yanzhou Prefecture began to move westward, most likely to raid Kaifeng Prefecture and march into the Central Plains.

Then, the army led by Huang Degong was frantically harassing the vast land between Bozhou and Mengcheng, constantly attacking the Qing army's grain transport convoys and ships, which seriously threatened the Qing army's retreat and supplies.

For this reason, Duoduo had to send an elite cavalry to retreat to between Bozhou and Mengcheng to launch a counterattack in advance, but he did not expect that Huang Degong was not afraid at all and continued to attack.

While Zhu Cilang was receiving the latest military intelligence from the north, He Tengjiao in Jiangxi was also constantly reporting on the movements of Ajige's army. The surrounding situation was improving, which made him more confident.

Duoduo had no choice but to send reinforcements to the north again.

After all, if he led the army to retreat to Huide directly, it would be unsafe. It would also mean that all previous efforts and strategies would be in vain, especially the army's baggage would all be lost, which would take several years to replenish.

Duoduo, Bolo, Tulai and others no longer had any idea of ​​inflicting heavy damage to the main force of the Ming army and reversing the defeat.

But they were really worried that this was Zhu Cilang's strategy of confusing the enemy with new ones, and if they retreated hastily, Zhu Cilang would take the opportunity to attack them, and the losses would also be considerable.

After all, at this time, the Ming army still had some strength left, and they had no way of finding out in advance whether a large army had been gathered from the southern provinces by sea.

In fact, Zhu Cilang was not willing to lead his troops directly to block the Qing army and fight a battle with them openly. He preferred to pursue them from behind, achieve the greatest results with the least damage, and destroy the Qing army's fighting spirit at the same time.

As for the Qing army's withdrawal plan, Zhu Cilang had actually deduced a rough idea based on their movements. This was indeed feasible in theory, but in practice, it was not the same thing.

The Qing army wanted to evacuate in an orderly manner. The Eight Banners soldiers might obey orders, but the Han army would not obey. These were variables that Duoduo and others could not control.

Otherwise, if an accident occurred during the Qing army's retreat, they would most likely collapse out of panic, or even be routed thousands of miles apart.

In this era when the military system and command were still very backward, retreating soldiers were easily affected by various factors. Even the originally victorious army had to be cautious when retreating before the main force of the enemy that had not been defeated, not to mention the Qing army led by Duoduo, which had just recovered its morale.

Zhu Cilang was not optimistic about the Qing army's retreat plan, but he did not dare to take it lightly. He asked Lu Zhenfei to pretend to expand the offensive in the north, and ordered several troops in the north of Yanzhou and Fengyang to continue to launch surprise attacks, forcing Duoduo to speed up his withdrawal and thus seize the initiative on the battlefield.

In a head-on confrontation with the main force of the Qing army, the Ming army did not have a military advantage, but if they relied on rivers and city walls to besiege the Qing army's small forces, the situation would be completely different.

At this time, Zhu Cilang had gathered the relatively complete troops in Fengyang City, including the Palace Army, Nanjing Jingying and Fengyang Standard Camp, and selected more than 3,000 elite reinforcements from the nearly 20,000 garrison troops in Fengyang City. Now, there are more than 10,000 infantrymen who can go out of the city to fight in the field.

Among them, the most critical cavalry of the Tianqi Camp and the cavalry of various units of the Jing Camp have been well trained after taking turns fighting during this period of time. If they are used to pursue the Qing army in the future, the Ming army will have a greater advantage.

This powerful force of over 10,000, having been battle-hardened, was the key to this counterattack. The thousands of fine war horses captured in the previous battles in Jiangbei had given the Ming army a formidable mobile combat capability, a serious threat to the Qing army. Duoduo's misjudgment of the Ming army's strength, particularly the two armies trained by Zhu Cilang, was the primary reason for his repeated defeats.

Of course, Duoduo has now realized the seriousness of the situation, otherwise he would not be so cautious.

As the Ming army took frequent actions in the north, his confidence was inevitably affected, and the same was true for Tulai. Facing the Ming army's comprehensive counterattack, the two of them were not as confident as they had once thought.

Tulai did not lack confidence in the Eight Banners soldiers and officers at all levels, but after experiencing so many things, he was not confident in Duoduo, the commander-in-chief of the army, and the Han troops.

These people had no desire to fight, but were afraid to speak out because of military law and discipline. The performance of the generals in previous military meetings and the frequent desertions during this period all proved this point.

At this time, the Ming army launched frequent night attacks that were not in line with common sense, and each time they fought quickly and decisively, killing and running away. This caused this emotion to be sharply amplified in the Qing army and even affected the judgment of this veteran on the battlefield.

Faced with the increasingly frequent attacks of the Ming army, Tulai and Bolo jointly made suggestions, and Duoduo immediately convened an emergency military meeting in the army and finally decided to retreat early to prevent the Ming emperor from taking advantage of the opportunity.

Tulai also stayed behind to cover the retreat under the expectant eyes of everyone. He would personally lead the troops to ensure that all units could act according to plan. This was the key to the successful retreat. They did not know how many troops Emperor Ming had left, and they were all quite panicked.

Under such a severe battlefield situation, Duoduo, Tulai, Bolo and others have involuntarily begun to make the worst-case plans.

Soon, the order to withdraw troops in advance began to spread to the middle and lower-level officers. Kong Youde also came to the artillery position and began to order his soldiers to prepare in advance. It was not easy to transport these hundreds of artillery pieces.

In the pitch-black night, Kong Youde stood on an earthen platform and looked up, but he could not see the situation of the troops in the trenches clearly. All he could see were some places with lanterns hanging on wooden poles and burning bonfires to prevent the Ming army from attacking at night. He could barely see the figures of some patrolling soldiers swaying.

"I'm afraid that Emperor Ming is about to send out a large army for a surprise attack. After so many days of harassment, it's time to make a decision. Tulai is already tired of fighting." Kong Youde withdrew his gaze from the battlefield in front of him with dotted firelight and sighed.

"Don't worry, Your Highness. The Ming army's harassing scouts didn't notice anything unusual. They attacked as usual tonight, and were repelled by the cavalry deployed by Tulai.

Although some of the Eight Banners horsemen in the trenches had withdrawn, it was impossible for these Ming cavalry to break through. Unless..." Xian Guoan clasped his fists and said, but he didn't finish his words.

While the two were talking, there was a sudden explosion at the edge of the trench position in front of them, which was originally pitch black. It was someone who stepped on a landmine.

However, after the afterimage of a burst of fireworks flashed by, the wilderness returned to its original tranquility. Neither the Ming nor the Qing sides expressed any opinion, as if they had long been accustomed to it.

Kong Youde paid no attention to the explosion, and continued:

"Give the order tonight and start clearing up tomorrow morning. The judgment of that old fox Tulai will never be wrong. The Ming Emperor will launch a general attack soon. The sooner we can leave, the better. If we stay, we may lose our lives at any time."

"Don't worry, Your Highness. We brothers have been prepared for this. The Ming army is too ruthless. They have attacked us nine times in seven days. It seems that the Eight Banners soldiers can no longer bear it. Now they are withdrawing one after another. We brothers are not stupid and we know that something bad is going to happen."

Xian Guoan lowered his voice, rolled his eyes, and then whispered:

"Your Highness, are there really tens of thousands of Ming troops in the north? Are the Tartars about to collapse? I think the situation is clearly not right!"

Kong Youde glared at Xian Guoan immediately after hearing this, but did not speak. Instead, he turned his head and looked around. After confirming that there was no one around, he said quietly:
"The situation was not right, but it wasn't that bad. Ajige had won many victories in the west, but he was tired and didn't continue.

The north looks powerful, but there are actually only a few soldiers. Otherwise, they could just go north and attack Beijing. By then, Duoduo would have retreated faster than anyone else. The Ming Emperor looks very strong now, but his troops should be very limited. It's still a long way to go before the Tartars can't hold on!"

After hearing this, Xian Guoan nodded repeatedly as if he had suddenly understood something. Just as he was about to say something, another roar was heard from the south.

"Boom, boom, boom——"

On the southern plain, which was originally pitch black, red lights suddenly flashed, and rockets with red tails roared towards the Qing army's trench positions.

The Ming army on the city wall could fire more than 50 rockets at a time. After seven or eight rounds of volleys, the rockets basically filled the inside and outside of the trench positions opposite the city wall. Although most of them were stuck in the earth wall in front of the trench, the remaining part was enough to cause damage to the Eight Banners soldiers behind the trench and the earth wall.

In front of the Qing army's trench position, shouts and wails suddenly rang out. The Qing army's reaction at this time was extremely skillful. The officers quickly suppressed the chaos. The injured soldiers were immediately transferred to the rear, and some other soldiers who had been hiding in the pits were quickly replenished to the corresponding positions.

However, the officers at all levels who were still guarding the trenches at this time showed some impatience with the frequent harassment of the Ming army. Some officers saw the civilians who were transporting the wounded in the dark and running a little slowly, and they went up and stabbed them directly.

In the eyes of the Qing army, these rockets with red tail flames were simply here to take their lives. The earth wall in front could not stop them at all. Some rockets could fly more than two hundred steps and explode after landing. It was simply a nightmare.

Etuhun looked at the earth wall in front of him, where the wreckage of several misfired rockets stuck in the wall were burning. There was no change in his expression. This was not the first time that these Ming troops had launched rocket harassment. After several previous launches, they would take advantage of the Qing army's brief confusion to launch a surprise attack.

Now, after many battles and the loss of hundreds of soldiers, the Qing army has gradually mastered the way to deal with the situation. Etuhun has even become accustomed to the sound of rockets.

However, the Ming army did not have many cavalry, and many of them were just vanguards to increase chaos and make feints to the east while attacking in the west. They did not pose a big enough threat to the Qing army, nor could they quickly expand the results of the battle.

"Master, we will retreat tomorrow. Those Nikans should not come again tonight, right?" Shen Zhizhong looked at the chaos on the side position and felt a little panicked.

Etuhun raised his head and glanced at him, saying sinisterly:

"These Nikans are so vicious. When you think they won't come, they come and attack you. You think they will come, but you wait and wait and they never come. But as soon as you take a nap, they will come immediately."

Shen Zhizhong became even more nervous after hearing this. As soon as the sun rose, he could retreat. He hoped the Ming army would not come. He could retreat safely and save his life.

After these days of fighting, Shen Zhizhong had nightmares constantly when he saw the countless casualties among the Baoyi soldiers and Eight Banner soldiers. He was even punished once for waking up in the middle of the night and shouting.

Etuhun was not much better off. In his heart, the Eight Banners warriors were always invincible, but now they were no match for a group of Nikans and suffered repeated defeats. This caused him a huge psychological shock. Every time he was sent to the front line for duty, he dared not relax at all.

However, in front of the servant, Etuhun did not show any fear, but comforted him:
"Those Nikans also suffered heavy losses before. They don't have many soldiers left to fight now. At most, they have been harassed by dozens of soldiers recently. If we retreat north in advance, we will be safe."

"Master, what you said makes sense!" Shen Zhizhong responded immediately.

Just as he finished speaking, there was another loud "bang" on the plain ahead, and a ball of red light burst out. Amidst the dazzling fireworks, a Qing army scout who wanted to sneak up on Fengyang City to investigate was thrown directly into the dark air.

But just as Etuhun and Shen Zhizhong withdrew their gazes from a distance, thinking that it was just a normal landmine accident, a huge sound of thousands of troops marching out suddenly erupted from the south of Fengyang City.

　Thanks to the book friend "Yuekenlu Dazhuang" for the previous reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)