Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 180 The Qing Army Retreats
After Dorgon and Dodo, the two supreme commanders of the Qing army, reached an agreement, the Qing army's retreat began quickly. Dorgon even directly dispatched 10,000 Eight Banners cavalrymen to the north, not only to support Shandong and northern Zhili, but also to reinforce Xiangyang.

Jingzhou could not be captured for a long time, and the situation in Huguang had long been irreversible. Wuchang was certainly important, but Xiangyang was equally indispensable to the Qing Dynasty's rule in the Central Plains.

Dorgon knew very well that as long as he controlled the two important military towns of Xiangyang and Wuchang in the south and the north, the Ming Emperor would have to deploy a large number of troops in Huguang to prevent him from marching south again. Then the Ming court would not have enough troops in other places to launch a new offensive.

The Ming army was indeed different from before, but the Ming emperor had only tens of thousands of troops who could truly fight against the Eight Banners in the field. Although Dorgon had changed his contempt for Zhu Cilang, he did not go to extremes and overestimate the Ming army's combat effectiveness.

However, the Qing army's retreat, especially the sudden increase in its military deployment in the direction of Hanyang, made Zhu Cilang immediately realize that something was wrong.

He had previously sent the Poyang Lake Navy to attack Wuchang and Hankou, disrupting the connection between the Qing troops on both sides of the strait, especially the reinforcements to Wuchang from the north bank of the Yangtze River. He was waiting for this moment.

After Dorgon concentrated his main forces in Jingzhou, the Ming army's actions were greatly restricted, and the collection of various intelligence became increasingly difficult. If Zhu Cilang wanted to grasp the movements of the Qing army, he had to ensure that he could interfere with the key deployments of the Qing army.

Wuchang is of vital importance to the Qing army. Under the current circumstances, once the Qing army retreats north, it will inevitably send a large number of troops to stay in Wuchang and reinforce with food, fodder and ammunition.

Zhu Cilang's insight into the battlefield was the key to all his decisions, and now things were happening just as he expected.

Faced with the obstruction of the Poyang Lake navy, Dorgon had to send a large group of troops to reinforce Hanyang. After great efforts, he finally drove away the Ming navy in the river and rebuilt the floating bridge on the river.

Since the Qing army's southern expedition to Huguang, it has suffered heavy losses and captured very little. Most of the original supplies in Wuchang City have been consumed. In particular, when Tan Tai led his troops south, he even asked Aljin for supplies for the army.

Tong Yanghe and Aljin were surprised and happy when they saw the reinforcements coming, but they soon understood the whole story and couldn't help but show worry on their faces.

"General, when does the Regent plan to withdraw his troops?" Aljin asked with a worried look on his face.

"It will be soon, no more than a month at the latest." Tunqi frowned, and his initial pride was long gone.

Tong Yanghe's face also turned unhappy when he heard this, and he asked with a heavy face:
"How many troops has the Regent sent for reinforcements? The Emperor Ming almost completely wiped out Zhunta's army last time. Wuchang City is definitely not defendable with just the few men I have!"

"What are you afraid of? Emperor Ming is still hiding in Yuezhou City and trying to survive. If he dared to go out of the city to fight in the wild, Yuezhou City would have been captured by us long ago." Tun Qi shouted angrily.

"The Ming Emperor is very cunning. He is not like the previous Chongzhen Emperor, who can be easily defeated. He will never easily leave the city to fight in the field without confidence."

As Aljin spoke, he recalled the losses suffered by the main force of the army in Jingmen Prefecture, Jingzhou, Changsha and other places during this period of time, and could not help but sighed slightly:
"When the Regent withdraws his troops, he must be careful, otherwise the army behind him will be very likely to be ambushed by the troops sent by Emperor Ming."

Aljin's words slightly eased the awkward atmosphere. Tunqi paused and then said:

"Don't worry about that. Prince Yu will personally lead the troops to cover the retreat. Huguang is not Jianghuai, and our army is still strong. The Ming army will not dare to pursue us rashly."

While Tunqi led a large army to reinforce Wuchang, the scouts sent by the Ming army had also returned to Yuezhou City. Zhu Cilang received the news that the Qing army was preparing to withdraw in the temporary palace, and thus learned more detailed military information from the northern battlefield.

As he expected, before the retreat, Dorgon sent a large number of troops to reinforce Wuchang, including not only the Eight Banners Army, but also tens of thousands of Green Camp Army.

However, even so, as long as the Qing army retreats, Zhu Cilang will still have a huge military advantage, and his plan to recapture Wuchang will be able to proceed as usual.

In just a few months, the Qing army's southern expedition turned back and forth several times in Huguang. Although the losses were not great, the morale was greatly affected.

Du Yinxi relocated all the people around Jingzhou, Yuezhou, Changsha and other cities early on, and controlled the gateways to western Hunan, southern Hunan, western Hubei and other places, making it completely impossible for the Qing army to obtain supplies in the surrounding areas. These were the keys to the Ming army's ability to force the Qing army back so quickly.

Dorgon's plan was also very obvious, and Zhu Cilang guessed it early on.

The Qing army occupied Wuchang and Xiangyang, and even built a new castle directly in Hanyang Prefecture City, so that they could launch an attack on Yuezhou Prefecture City at any time in the future and destroy the Ming Dynasty's settlements in the surrounding areas.

If Wuchang cannot be recaptured, the Ming Dynasty will always be at a strategic disadvantage of passive defense in Huguang and Jiangxi, and a large number of troops will need to be stationed in Yuezhou, Jiujiang and Jingzhou.

However, the situation faced by the Qing army was not much better. Xiangyang was not surrounded by enemies on all sides, but Wuchang City was isolated in the south. It was not easy for Tunqi, Aljin, and Tong Yanghe to defend this strategically important city under Zhu Cilang's powerful offensive.

The generals of the Ming army soon gathered in front of Zhu Cilang again to discuss the various deployments for pursuing the Qing army.

Today, Dorgon still has an army of 100,000 under his command. While the Ming army is pursuing him, they must also guard against the Qing army taking the opportunity to launch a surprise attack.

After all, this victory was more strategic than on the battlefield. Although the Ming army was the victorious army, Zhu Cilang knew very well that he should not take the risk of sending the main force out of the city to pursue at this time.

Dorgon and Dodo were both calculating men. Even if his sneak attack succeeded, it would only be a small victory. Once he failed, the situation would most likely be completely reversed or even collapsed.

In other words, as Dorgon led his army to retreat, Zhu Cilang's strategic goal had been achieved, and he had no need to take this risk.

As orders came out from the temporary palace in Yuezhou City, the war in Huguang was about to come to an end after hundreds of thousands of troops had been fighting back and forth for several months.

This time, Dorgon and Dodo had already withdrawn their experience and skills. Their deployment left Zhu Cilang with no chance to take advantage of, and in the end he only killed a few lone Qing soldiers.

Under Zhu Cilang's orders, Lin Changfeng led the Tianqi Army in pursuit, monitoring the movements of the main force of the Qing army to ensure that the latter had really withdrawn from Huguang.

Not only that, he also successfully established contact with the Tianqi Army's thousand-man headquarters that had been sent to Yunyang in the south of Xiangyang, and through the troops harassing on the Xixia-Dengzhou line, he determined that most of the main forces of the Qing army had withdrawn from Nanyang.

Dorgon also left garrison troops in Xiangyang. In order to support Xiangyang, he even left an Eight Banners Army in Nanyang, and sent Gao Di's Green Camp Army to assist in the defense.

Not only that, he also settled tens of thousands of civilians recruited with the army in the cities of Xiangyang and Nanyang, and also added thousands of strong civilians to Wuchang. On the one hand, it was to make up for the population loss in the war, and on the other hand, it was to provide labor for the army's subsequent actions to consolidate the city's defense.

When Dorgon's army was retreating, he saw that the Ming army was always vigilant, so he gave up his plan to ambush them on the way.

He knew that at this moment, if the pursuers did not underestimate the enemy, it would be impossible to launch an unexpected ambush or surprise attack, and it would even be counterproductive.

As the main force of the Qing army retreated northward, the reinforcements from Wuchang Prefecture, led by Commander Tunqi, entered the city, and the Ming army completely gained the upper hand in Huguang.

Zhu Cilang was not in a hurry to lead his army to besiege the city immediately. He was waiting for military intelligence from Shandong, Northern Zhili and other places. At the same time, he was also working on restoring agricultural production in Huguang.

At this time, it was already mid-to-late March. After the war ended, the people of Huguang began to rush to plant. The Xiangjiang Plain was bustling with activity. The people who had suffered from the war and had been hiding for a whole winter had regained their vitality.

Although the war in Huguang did not spread to the entire province, the decisive battle between the Ming and Qing armies was very short - Dorgon and Dodo spent most of the time on the march, and Changsha was only surrounded for a short time before they withdrew their troops.

However, this war, in which the two armies had a total of more than 300,000 troops participating, the damage caused by the march itself, and the conscription of corvee labor required by the Ming army in the course of its military operations, all had a huge impact on agricultural production in southern Huguang and even Jingzhou Prefecture.

However, Zhu Cilang and Du Yinxi were well prepared. When the main force of the Qing army retreated, Du Yinxi had already begun to deploy, and the Ming court bureaucrats throughout Huguang were instantly busy.

In this chaotic world, whether it is military officers and soldiers, ordinary people, or dignitaries, landlords and gentry, everyone needs food, and the harvest of spring plowing will affect Zhu Cilang's subsequent local governance and military development plans.

The so-called strong army is built by accumulating money and food. Otherwise, Zhu Cilang would not have invested heavily in the Palace Army. The supply standards and training requirements of the Beijing Camp, the Left Town Camp, the Loyal Camp, and the local standard camps were different.

He doesn't have that much silver and food!
Zhu Cilang postponed the military action to recapture Wuchang and did not immediately impose large-scale labor service, which was based on one consideration.

If spring plowing is seriously affected, it will be difficult for him to carry out large-scale military operations in the second year. Instead, he will have to find ways to solve the food problem of the people under his rule.

Fortunately, Du Yinxi's governance ability lived up to Zhu Cilang's trust. In southern Huguang, officials from various prefectures and counties in the former Ming Dynasty ruled area quickly united with local gentry to complete spring plowing assistance and resettlement of the people in various places.

Du Yinxi also quickly sent officials to take over Chengtian, De'an, Huangzhou, Hanyang, and even Puqi, Yicheng and other counties originally occupied by the Qing court.

Li Guo naturally sent troops to support them. In just one month, they had united with the local gentry who actively cooperated and established effective rule at the county level in these prefectures. They also began to survey local farmland and collect refugees. Of course, in this process, the land originally occupied by the Qing court had to be taken back by the court, and Zhu Cilang also had to establish dozens of large military forts on these tens of thousands of hectares of confiscated land. These were the foundation for him to consolidate local rule, improve tax efficiency, and expand his army in the coming year.

If Zhu Cilang wanted to further expand the Palace Army, he would have to thoroughly reform the Ming Dynasty's taxation system and crack down on local forces. But before that, he also needed to make preparations to ensure the support of the armies in various places.

If he could not establish sufficient military deterrence at the local level and only relied on the civil service system which had close ties with local gentry, the Ming Dynasty would not have been able to complete land surveys and comprehensive taxation at the local level.

You must know that the land situation in various places in the late Ming Dynasty was very complicated and involved huge interests. Once a thorough investigation and survey began, unrest was inevitable.

The lands that were being prepared for the construction of garrisons were Zhu Cilang's biggest bargaining chip.

Of course, while vigorously restoring agricultural production, although the land army has not yet taken large-scale action, the two major naval forces of Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake have not been idle.

After Tan Tai led the army outside Hanyang City to evacuate from the north bank of the Yangtze River, the Poyang Lake Navy quickly took cover, cut off the connection between Hanyang and Wuchang again, and began to bombard the city wall on the river side of Hanyang.

As time went on, Zhu Cilang began to mobilize troops and head north to Wuchang.

With Du Yinxi in charge of Huguang's political affairs, he didn't need to worry too much. What he cared about most now was how to remove Wuchang, the fatal nail in the heart of the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, Zhu Cilang did not have much time left. He had to do everything he could to recapture Wuchang as quickly as possible to ensure that the subsequent military training, internal affairs, and court cleansing could proceed as planned.

Surrounded by tens of thousands of Ming troops on land and sea, the situation in Hanyang City, which is across the river from Wuchang City, is imminent. The entire city is in danger and may be breached by the Ming army at any time.

After the attacking Ming navy bombarded the city with artillery from the battlefield for more than ten days, the walls of Hanyang City were severely damaged, and hundreds of Qing troops and civilians defending the city were killed or wounded.

However, the Eight Banners Army was supervising the battle in the city. They all knew that once the city was broken, they would all be killed by the Ming army and no one could escape, so they kept fighting desperately.

But Zhu Cilang had to capture Hanyang no matter what, which would completely cut off the Qing army in Wuchang City's hope of quickly receiving reinforcements from the north.

For the Ming army, which had a navy, the wide river flanking Hanyang City would provide a formidable barrier for defending the city. With the support of the navy, the vast expanse of the Yangtze River would allow the defenders inside the city to obtain necessary supplies in an emergency, or even to withdraw in a timely manner.

In other words, once the Ming army captured Hanyang, if Dorgon wanted to support Wuchang in the future, he would have nowhere to cross the river. The Qing army's offensive operations would be greatly weakened, and he could only sigh at the river.

The Qing army occupied Huguang for a short time and did not build a strong city defense in Hanyang. After Zhu Cilang led the main force to Hanyang in late April, he quickly captured the city.

However, the city of Wuchang across the Yangtze River, the hub of the entire middle reaches of the Yangtze River and once an important financial, tax and military center of the Ming Dynasty, is not so easy to attack.

In the early morning of the third day after the army broke through the city of Hanyang, the vanguard of the central army in front of the palace, under the deployment of the Five Army Commander-in-Chief's Office, landed at the ferry controlled by the navy and arrived at the foot of Wuchang City.

Under the continuous bombardment of the navy warships on the south bank of the Yangtze River, the watchtowers built by the Qing army had already been completely damaged and could no longer play a role in blocking and early warning.

At this time, the Manchu Beizi Tunqi, who was the commander of the Wuchang City garrison, saw the situation and had to withdraw the imperial guards originally deployed outside the city to block the Ming army from landing on the river bank back to Wuchang City.

He stood on the city wall of Baoan Gate in the south of Wuchang City, looking at the Ming army soldiers lined up on the plain outside the moat. From the plain where the Ming army lined up to the moat of Wuchang City, there were dozens of Ming cavalrymen marching around, looking very arrogant, with no expression on their faces, making them difficult to understand.

After observing for a while, Tunqi quickly determined that this army was the vanguard of the Ming army. Including the scouts outside the other three city walls, there were only two to three thousand soldiers. The main force of the Ming army was landing, and some cavalry had already begun to enter the plains outside the city.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The Ming Emperor had taken advantage of such opportunities many times before to ambush and harass the Qing army, and Tunqi would naturally not let it go.

Now, as the defenders of Wuchang, a fortified city that was renovated to imitate the Ming army, Tunqi's previous fear of the Ming army and the Ming Emperor Zhu Cilang due to defeat is gradually disappearing.

He had many battle experiences with various parts of the Palace Army. Compared with Aljin and Tong Yanghe, he understood the real combat capability of the Palace Army better. He was also cautious and would not take risks easily. This was why Dorgon and Dodo finally decided to appoint him to guard the city.

However, although Tunqi was cautious, he was not timid. Seeing that the Ming army was not yet firmly established, he immediately ordered Aljin to dispatch hundreds of elite cavalry to attack, preparing to take advantage of the fact that the Ming army outside the city was not yet firmly established to kill the enemy's fighting spirit.

After all, once Emperor Ming leads the main army to deploy outside the city, there will be no such opportunity again!

In this era, whether attacking or defending a city, the morale of the army was extremely important. If Tunqi wanted to spend seven or eight months fighting the Ming army in the isolated city of Wuchang, he had to win several battles against the Ming army to inspire the fighting spirit of the entire army.

Otherwise, under the current situation, the army defending the city is very likely to collapse from within, especially since there are only less than 10,000 Eight Banners troops in the city, and the remaining nearly 30,000 soldiers are all Green Camp troops, and their morale is even more difficult to control.

Soon, in the center of the city wall in front of Tunqi, hundreds of Eight Banners soldiers sat high on their horses, ready to attack. The one leading them was Zakana, the Duke of Fuguo, who was sent by Dorgon.

Aljin quickly withdrew his gaze from the city wall and turned to Tunqi and said:
"This Ming army is truly too arrogant. With only a thousand men, they dare to line up on the plains, not taking us seriously at all. General, while they are still unable to stabilize their formation, we must kill them without a single soldier remaining."

After hearing this, Tun Qi retracted his gaze and nodded.
"I'm afraid things aren't that simple. The Ming army may not just land at the ferry. Pass on my order and dispatch another team of cavalrymen to ambush in the city walls of Wangshan Gate and Zhonghe Gate respectively. But don't attack yet. Wait for my order.

If the Ming army really intends to ambush us, or if the combat effectiveness of these troops exceeds our expectations, we can wait for the Ming army to pursue us, trap them, and then strike hard."

"Zhe!" After hearing this, Aljin did not refute anything and immediately went down to deploy the plan personally.

This plan of Tunqi was foolproof. If the Ming army wanted to lure the enemy, they would fall into the trap. Moreover, the most crucial point was that it was impossible for the Ming army to hide so many troops outside the city.

Soon, as the flag bearer beside Tunqi waved the flagpole in his hand, the 380 fully armed and battle-ready soldiers in the Baoan Gate city wall immediately rode out to attack.

With the sound of "creaking", the drawbridge outside the city wall was slowly lowered. Dozens of Eight Banners horsemen rushed out first and started a fierce chase with the scouts of the Palace Army outside the city.

Under the cover of these dozens of horsemen, more than 200 other Eight Banner horsemen in the city also quickly left the city. The sound of horse hooves rumbled, and the two cavalry units quickly rushed together.

However, the scouts of the central army in front of the palace also reacted quickly. They did not confront the numerically superior Eight Banners cavalry head-on, but fought and retreated. After leaving behind a few corpses, they safely withdrew to the flank of the infantry formation.

Tunqi attached great importance to the first battle outside the city of Wuchang. This opportunity was too precious and would never come again in the future, so he directly asked Aljin to send Bayala, the most elite soldier in the army, to lead the troops.

These Bayalas were very experienced in combat. When they led the other cavalry to rush to more than 300 steps away from the Ming army's infantry formation, they realized that something was wrong and stopped chasing.

The Ming army's infantry formation looked very solid. The outer shields, the black muzzles of the guns behind them, and the helmets that remained motionless when the cavalry approached all made them surprised and dared not act rashly.

However, Zakana was not willing to retreat like this. Under his command, the Eight Banners cavalry quickly turned their horses around and rushed back and forth in front of the Ming army's infantry formation, and continuously shot arrows in the direction of the infantry formation, trying to disrupt the Ming army's deployment.

This is the most common combat method used by the Eight Banners Cavalry when dealing with infantry formations. On the one hand, it allows them to observe their opponents and test their strengths and weaknesses. On the other hand, it allows them to take the opportunity to find the enemy's flaws and then break through to win.

For the battle-hardened and experienced Bayala of the Qing army, just this one try would allow them to understand the basic situation of the army in front of them.

After several rounds of firing, there was no movement in the Ming army's infantry except for a few screams and the clanging sounds of arrows hitting armor and shields.

It was obvious that the Qing army's harassment did not succeed, and the performance of the central army soldiers in front of the palace made them give up the idea of ​​a strong attack.

You have to know that these elite soldiers who grew up in rigorous training and have practiced every tactical move hundreds of times are definitely not something that can be easily broken through by vests.

But they gave up the idea of ​​attacking and prepared to retreat, but the Ming army did not.

At this time, the Heavenly Cavalry, under the command of Lin Changfeng, had quietly assembled thousands of cavalrymen and, taking advantage of the chaos in the army's formation, had already approached. He personally led the cavalry to charge from both wings of the battle formation.

(End of this chapter)