Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 192: All-out Counterattack
As Lin Changfeng arrived with the main force of the Tianqi Army, Tunqi's flag quickly rushed north. The Eight Banners Army, which Dorgon had high hopes for, was on the plain north of Wuchang City. After several rounds of breakouts and counterattacks, it was still unable to break through the blockade of the Tianqi Army. The two cavalry units chased each other and fought continuously.

However, in such a dark battlefield, the Tianqi Army was unable to organize a cavalry formation. They could only chase and intercept the Eight Banners Cavalry on the plains within a radius of more than ten miles north of Wuchang City, delaying time and waiting for dawn.

As the sky gradually brightened, under the command of Lin Changfeng, the powerful Ming cavalry reorganized slightly, and then, like a surging tide, launched round after round of attacks on the demoralized Qing army in the encirclement.

Under the fierce attack of the Tianqi Army's cavalry formation, the Qing army's line, which had been barely maintained after fleeing for a night, quickly collapsed. The Tianqi Army on the left wing and center of the battlefield, under the command of Lin Changfeng, immediately launched a major counterattack.

After Tunqi broke out, he soon realized Wang Fuchen's rebellious intentions. With no way to retreat, he personally led the most elite Bayala Majia in the army and fought to the death.

But in the end, they failed to break out, and after dawn, the last cavalry with him had no hope of breaking out. The remaining two hundred or so horsemen finally surrendered.

After the Wusheng Gate was opened, some of the Green Camp troops in the city tower also broke out. Wang Fuchen only managed to recruit more than a thousand Green Camp soldiers. These defeated Qing soldiers were swept away by the cavalry formation led by the generals. Those who failed to escape were almost all killed under the hooves of the Tianqi Army's cavalry formation, which was like a sieve.

By this time, all the Qing troops in the city knew that Wuchang could not be defended. They set fire to the city and broke out on their own, making it impossible for the Ming army to concentrate its forces to block and intercept.

However, under the attack of the Tianqi Army, these Qing troops had nowhere to escape. The originally chaotic team quickly turned into a dense crowd, with countless defeated soldiers scrambling to flee. It can be said that "the defeat was like a landslide."

In the fields north and east of Wuchang City, hundreds of defeated Qing soldiers had just left the city when they were pursued by the Tianqi Army and fled south in panic. There was even a tragic stampede.

At this time, Zakana also led a group of hundreds of Eight Banners cavalrymen to break out from the three small gates in the north of the city that were originally used to surprise attack the Ming army's siege troops.

Tian Jianxiu, who is stationed in the north of the city, currently has sufficient troops. There are thousands of combat soldiers in the reserve forces alone, and there are nearly a thousand cavalry available in the army.

Not only was he not worried about the Qing army breaking out of his encirclement, but he was worried that the encirclement was too tight, and the Qing army in the city would be forced into a corner and would resort to desperate measures. At that time, he was afraid that both sides would be destroyed, so he did not try his best to blockade the city.

Not only that, Tian Jianxiu did not rush to pursue until most of the remnants of the Qing army broke out. Zhu Cilang had already told him that he only needed to annihilate these Qing troops and must minimize his own casualties.

After Zakana led his troops out of the city, he did not dare to slack off for a moment and headed straight for the Yangtze River ferry northeast of Wuchang City. He wanted to take advantage of the opportunity that the Ming navy had not yet moved north and completely blocked that section of water, and cross the river to the north from there. However, he failed to break through and was attacked from both sides.

In the process of breaking out, these defeated soldiers had almost lost their horses and direction. Now they were divided into groups of three or five, and then exploded into dozens of small groups, fleeing in all directions. However, under the blockade of the Ming army, they were forced to the bank of the Yangtze River northwest of Wuchang City after making many circles.

After being forced to the riverbank, these fleeing soldiers could only flee northward along the river bank, but the Ming army's pursuers were getting closer and closer. Although the Tianqi Army's formation had become chaotic during the charge, as a victorious army, they easily launched a concentrated attack on these chaotic Qing army's fleeing soldiers.

At this time, the Qing army soldiers had completely lost their fighting spirit. All they were thinking about was escaping. No one dared to resist the pursuit of the Tianqi Army. Dense figures were running on the plain. The arrows shot from behind were like deadly soul-catching chains. The defeated Qing army soldiers fell down one after another with screams.

Lin Changfeng brandished the spear in his hand and killed his way forward. He was already blood-thirsty. The guards holding the flag followed closely behind him. Everyone around him was covered in blood.

In the rounds of spear thrusts and arrows, the Qing army suffered heavy casualties. The originally dense fleeing soldiers gradually became sparse, and corpses were scattered everywhere on the plain. There were also hundreds of war horses running around without anyone to control them.

Not only that, after the defeated Qing soldiers broke through and fled, the army deployed outside the city quickly launched a blockade. Those defeated soldiers had run for their lives in the city, and they were wearing heavy armor. They had little physical strength left. Facing the cavalry of the Tianqi Army that was chasing them, they had no power to fight back.

As a result, another one-sided massacre took place outside the city of Wuchang. Except for a few Qing cavalrymen who reacted first and had the advantage of war horses and escaped, the defeated Qing soldiers eventually disappeared on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

As the rising sun in the east gradually climbed to the zenith, the shouts and cries of killing gradually faded away on the battlefield. The smoke in the air was soon dispersed by the wind blowing from the river. Traces of the battle were everywhere inside and outside Wuchang City.

Thousands of corpses of the Eight Banners Army and the Green Camp Army of the Qing Dynasty, as well as countless incomplete weapons, armor and flags, covered the devastated land. Blood dyed the ground red, and many wounded and dying war horses neighed on the ground.

In Wuchang City, as the sky brightened, the battle was nearing its end. Countless defeated Qing soldiers no longer hid, and some fled to surrender, or tried to break out, but were eventually intercepted.

Gu Defu was injured in the leg when he was leading his troops to block the remnants of the Eight Banners at the street corner. In the melee, he was knocked down by the charging Qing army horse, and several ribs on his right chest were directly broken. He was now being carried onto a stretcher by the paramedics.

However, Zhao Zhengdong had no time to pay attention to him at this time. Before Gu Defu was lifted onto the stretcher, he received an order from Chang Denggui and took his soldiers to take over the surrendered Green Camp soldiers nearby.

In this battle, the Central Army in Front of the Palace paid a very small price, with final casualties of less than 4,000, most of whom were slightly injured. With the current medical conditions and abundant reserves of medicine and food of the Central Army in Front of the Palace, most of them would not be infected and die.

The Qing army suffered heavy losses, especially after the Baoan Gate's blockade collapsed. The battle within the city was essentially a one-sided massacre for the central army in front of the palace. Of the 35,000 main Qing troops in the city, less than 5,000 were able to break out.

Although most of these troops were from the Green Camp, such a fierce offensive and tragic casualties had already shaken the foundation of the Qing court.

Soon, Zhou Shixian returned to the tower of Baoan Gate. He was accompanied by Zhang Huangyan, Chang Denggui, and Du Yinxi, who had just arrived from Yuezhou. While on the way, Zhou Shixian had synchronized the situation in the city with them, as well as the actions of Wang Tizhong, Wang Deren, and others in the city.

Zhu Cilang sat down at the head of the hall in the meeting room on the tower. After Zhou Shixian, Du Yinxi, Chang Denggui, Zhang Huangyan and others came in, they immediately performed the sovereign-subject ceremony towards Zhu Cilang, who was sitting at the head of the table. Then, when Zhu Cilang asked, a steady voice came from Chang Denggui's position:
"Your Majesty, the Qing army has been completely defeated. The total casualties of the Eight Banners and Green Camp troops inside and outside Wuchang are estimated to be close to 20,000. Even Tunqi was killed on the battlefield by Lin Changfeng's cavalry."

"How many Qing soldiers have been captured so far?" Zhu Cilang nodded, then ordered, "Those Green Camp soldiers coming from the north must be strictly monitored and carefully identified. Their families are all in the north, and they are likely to try to escape. We must not be careless."

According to the military regulations established by Zhu Cilang, most of the Green Camp prisoners could be reformed, but those who committed heinous crimes and assisted the tyrant were spared by Zhu Cilang. This was not because he wanted to reform them, but to squeeze out the last bit of their value.

After all, labor is a scarce resource at all times, especially labor that can be used to death, and those surrendered Eight Banners soldiers and the Green Camp soldiers who committed heinous crimes are the best source of hard labor.

"In this battle, our army captured at least 13,000 Green Camp soldiers, including those who rebelled. According to the military intelligence reported from outside the city, only a few Qing soldiers managed to escape, less than 1,000. The main force of the Qing army in Wuchang City has been completely wiped out." Chang Denggui continued to report.

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang nodded slightly, his face very calm, as if he had anticipated such a battle situation. Then, he turned his head to look at the generals in front of him and said solemnly:
"Everyone, the Battle of Wuchang has been won, and the Qing army has been completely annihilated. This is the credit of you and all the soldiers, but now is not the time to celebrate, nor is it the time to relax.

"Propagate my military order. All troops, except those left behind to clean up the battlefield and rescue the wounded, must gather their forces immediately. The remaining Qing troops in Wuchang must be wiped out today. No mistakes will be made."

Upon hearing this, all the civil and military officials in the room exclaimed that he was wise, and Du Yinxi couldn't wait to speak:

"Your Majesty, the remaining Eight Banners Army in Huguang is no longer a concern. This is a great opportunity to expand our victory. If Li Guo can capture Xiangyang, Huguang will undoubtedly be in the hands of our army.

At that time, Your Majesty can immediately dispatch a large army from Xiangyang to capture Nanyang and Kuizhou, threatening Sichuan. In this way, under the invincible might of our army, the Qing army's deployments in Sichuan and Henan will surely collapse without a fight."

Zhu Cilang nodded after hearing this. Now was a good time to expand the victory. However, he was far away in Wuchang and could not influence the situation in Xiangyang for a while. He could only send a message to Li Guo and wait for news from the other side.

"That's what I mean. Once Wuchang is captured, the situation in Huguang and Jiangxi will be resolved. I can also send the Dongting Lake Navy north to assist the Loyalty Battalion in capturing Xiangyang. As soon as the military intelligence from Wuchang reaches the north, the Qing troops in Xiangyang will be terrified, and the Qing troops in Nanyang will not dare to send reinforcements without reinforcements."

"Your Majesty, our army is making rapid progress, successfully coordinating internal and external forces. We will complete our mission several months ahead of our best-case scenario. Now, it's time to send more troops to Jiangbei, especially the Shandong-Liaohai region, to convey the message and make new deployments.

If we're too late, the various Qing armies to the north will likely have already begun ambushing us. These troops will likely be used to counterattack the Northern Expedition's navy. Huang Fei and Zhang Mingzhen's combined strength may not be enough to stand up to the main Qing forces. Zhang Huangyan immediately warned, "Yes, that's right. The Shandong-Liaohai diversion can be withdrawn. The main Qing forces suffered at our hands not long ago, and they certainly won't travel thousands of miles to suffer again." Zhu Cilang smiled and continued,

"However, apart from Xiangyang, Wuchang City is also currently in turmoil and needs capable people to govern it. After the central army battalions have wiped out the remnants of Tunqi's troops, they must continue north to recapture Xiangyang Prefecture and even the prefectures and counties under Nanyang Prefecture."

"Your Majesty, do you want to transfer General He from Jiujiang to come here to appease the people and restore order in Wuchang?" Chang Denggui asked immediately after hearing this.

While he was on the road, he heard Zhou Shixian say that many places in the city had been severely damaged by the Qing army, and many fires had not yet been extinguished. He would probably stay in Wuchang, and he did not want to cooperate with He Tengjiao.

"He Tengjiao is indeed qualified for the job." Zhu Cilang said as he stood up and paced in the hall. He seemed to be very hesitant about this candidate.

Seeing this, Zhou Shixian remembered the recent reports submitted by the Jinyiwei, the yamen responsible for internal affairs surveillance. He immediately understood what Zhu Cilang meant, so he stood up, clasped his hands and said:
"Your Majesty, I believe that Commander Du is more suitable. Commander He is capable, but lacks experience in battlefield command. Wuchang City is still unstable, and there are still fleeing Qing soldiers hiding everywhere. If he were to handle this, many things would be difficult and inconvenient. Commander Du is both civil and military, and can handle both government affairs and military affairs. Under the current circumstances, there is no more suitable candidate than Lord Du."

After listening to this, Zhu Cilang did not express his opinion directly. Within the Ming Dynasty's recovering bureaucratic system, those old ministers who were given important positions have recently shown a tendency to stick together.

He Tengjiao has been directly involved in it. Although this is inevitable, He Tengjiao, as a local minister, is too actively involved in the central government's affairs. This is something Zhu Cilang must warn of, otherwise the matter will become more difficult to handle as time goes on.

He paused, then turned to look at Du Yinxi and asked, "Zhong Yan, what do you think?"

Du Yinxi did not have access to the information that Zhou Shixian knew, and was kept in the dark for a while, but from Zhu Cilang's reaction, he already knew what he should answer - He Tengjiao would not be further reused.

Zhu Cilang's question clearly indicated that he didn't want to make the decision himself. Zhou Shixian must have known something, as he was the head of the Imperial Guard.

"I will obey your majesty's orders. The army still needs to be deployed to the front lines, and the city will need the support of the troops from Changsha and Yuezhou for a long time. If your majesty is worried, you can wait until I have stabilized the situation in Wuchang, and then transfer Elder He to govern Wuchang permanently."

Zhu Cilang got the answer he wanted and said with a smile:

"Okay, then let's follow Zhong Yan's suggestion. This way, we can fully utilize everyone's talents while also preventing him from being overworked and unable to balance tasks. Wuchang is in ruins, and many people across Huguang are still struggling to find food and clothing. We must quickly mobilize a batch of food and supplies from Changsha and Yuezhou to provide relief, otherwise, who knows how many people will starve to death in this city."

"Your Majesty's benevolence and love for the people are truly a blessing to the people of Wuchang and the people of the world!" Zhou Shixian immediately bowed and spoke after hearing this.

In fact, Zhou Shixian had already guessed the reason why Zhu Cilang used Du Yinxi instead of He Tengjiao. His Majesty not only wanted to crack down on those so-called orthodox people who called themselves "clean stream", but also wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity to attack the bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty.

When the generals heard this, most of them had not thought of this, but they immediately clasped their fists in response, and then, under Zhu Cilang's command, quickly gathered their troops and prepared for the next battle.

With the cooperation of Wang Tizhong and Wang Deren, the Ming army captured Wuchang City at the lowest cost. In the end, they not only captured tens of thousands of Green Camp soldiers, but also rescued tens of thousands of civilians in the city. The manpower was further replenished, the morale of the army was high, and the willingness to continue fighting was extremely strong.

Not only that, in Wuchang City, the stored baggage and food supplies were largely intact, except for some warehouses in the north of the city which were basically burned down by the defeated soldiers.

Li Guo, Wang Guangen, Gao Yigong and others soon received news of the victory of the "Wuchang Battle". Li Guo divided his troops to escort Li Laiheng north along the river to attack Xiangyang, while leading the remaining troops to continue northward and directly blocked Shuanggoukou at the junction of Baihe and Gunhe rivers leading from Nanyang to Xiangyang.

Not only that, Li Guo quickly led the main force of the Zhongzheng Camp north to attack Shuanggoukou Town where the Qing army was stationed. The vanguard quickly arrived and surrounded this important military town.

The garrisoned Qing troops were hesitant at first due to lack of information and insufficient understanding of the battle situation. Seeing that the Ming army surrounded them but did not attack, they held on for two days and found that the Ming army from the south was still coming in an endless stream, and was even heading towards the Nanyang Prefecture City in the north. They immediately led their troops to break out of the city.

Li Guo's attack to the north indicated that the battle situation in Wuchang City had already come to an end, and it was an extremely unfavorable result. Although the Qing army in Shuanggoukou Town had not yet received the exact news, no one was willing to take a gamble. In order not to expose the breakout operation, they even had no time to burn the food and supplies in the city, and hurriedly broke out to the north and headed straight for Nanyang.

After Li Guo captured Shuanggoukou Town, he obtained much-needed food and fodder for his army. He then joined forces with Wang Guangen and split his forces into two groups. Li Guo's army headed north to capture Nanyang Prefecture, while Wang Guangen's army headed west to harass Neixiang, Xixiakou, and other areas.

Gao Di received military intelligence from the south and originally wanted to send troops to defend Shuanggou Town, a strategic location, to prevent the Ming army from directly threatening Nanyang. However, Xiangyang City had just completed repairs and reinforcements, and it was still uncertain whether the city defenses were solid. If Xiangyang could not be defended, the troops he sent out would be like throwing meat buns at a dog, and they would never return.

This was not the most crucial point. The news that Tunqi's army was annihilated in Wuchang City soon reached Nanyang. The Green Camp defenders in several counties and prefectures of Nanyang Prefecture rebelled and joined the troops of Li Guo and Wang Guangen.

In this situation, let alone Nanyang, even the once impregnable Yunyang City had been taken down by the Ming army without a fight because of Wang Guangen's rebellion. Seeing this, Gao Di gave up the idea of ​​supporting Xiangyang City and instead gathered his troops to defend Nanyang City.

At the same time, after receiving support and guidance from Green Camp soldiers from all over the country, Li Guo's army easily captured the two cities of Dengzhou and Xinye in the south of Nanyang Prefecture. In the southern cities of Nanyang Prefecture, the Green Camp soldiers who had not rebelled also retreated to the north of Nanyang Prefecture under the leadership of their respective commanders, or directly entered the city of Nanyang Prefecture.

However, Li Guo had limited military strength and was actually unable to continue the attack at this time. He had to integrate the surrendered Green Camp soldiers from Xiangyang and southern counties of Nanyang before the main force of the Palace Army went north.

As for Xiangyang Prefecture, he actually just surrounded it without attacking it, to see if he could persuade it to surrender. Gao Di had no confidence in Xiangyang's defense, but this military stronghold far surpassed Shuanggoukou, and it was not so easy to break through.

At the same time, as the news of the Ming army's great victory in the "Battle of Wuchang" spread throughout the south and north of the Yangtze River, the troops deployed by Zhu Cilang in these places also began to take action, harassing Ajige's troops who had not yet withdrawn in Xuzhou, Huai'an, and northern Fengyang to contain the Ming army.

Generals such as Gao Jie and Huang Degong began to lead their main troops, as well as the auxiliary troops composed of more than 20,000 peasant soldiers and civilian laborers from Jiangbei who were mobilized by Li Banghua, and began to counterattack with the support of the Yangtze River Navy.

Zhang Mingzhen received the news from the south at sea, and began to withdraw his troops south at the same time as other armies were taking action. Huang Fei only received the news the day after Zhang Mingzhen started the action, but his action was still very timely.

At this time, the army led by Dorgon had just begun to deploy in various places in Northern Zhili and Shandong. It took them a full month to completely withdraw from Huguang to Northern Zhili. The deployment in various places in North China required coordination from top to bottom.

This is an emergency operation. We have not prepared food, fodder, laborers, and military equipment. War cannot be fought by sending out an army at the command of a single word. The preliminary preparations require the assistance of the entire system.

Zhou Shixian's Jinyiwei operations were very successful. More than twenty Green Camp soldiers deployed by the Qing army in northern Zhili and Shandong, from captains to guerrillas, garrisons, and even lieutenant generals, were successfully infiltrated.

This also made Zhu Cilang very clear about the Qing army's garrison situation in various parts of North China. With the victory of the Battle of Wuchang, these Green Camp troops were even more eager to get in touch with Nanjing.

Now, from Huguang to Jianghuai, the Ming army launched a full-scale offensive. For the first time, the strategic offensive and defensive situation between the Ming and Qing dynasties underwent a qualitative change, with the Ming army beginning to gain a partial advantage in frontline forces. Meanwhile, the Qing court continued to suffer defeats, with heavy losses among the Eight Banners, its foundations eroded, and it was about to face the Green Camp troops who were constantly rebelling and increasingly active anti-Qing forces in the rear.

As the news of the Qing army's defeat in Wuchang City reached Chongqing and northern Sichuan, the Dashi Army, which had just been defeated by the Qing army, finally escaped Hauge's pursuit. Both Hauge and Wu Sangui were worried that the Ming army would ambush them in Chongqing, and finally decided to withdraw their troops and retreat to Baoning and Hanzhong to defend the city.

After losing the mad leader Zhang Xianzhong, the various units of the Dashi Army, Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi, regained power. They immediately reached a consensus, killed the rebellious queen and prime minister, and discussed continuing south to Yunnan and Guizhou.

Under Zhu Cilang's instructions, Gao Yigong had already made preparations to recruit them and sent people to contact them at the right time. However, the four Sun Kewang brothers did not accept the surrender directly. Instead, they stationed their troops on the Fu River and confronted Gao Yigong's Ming army across the river.

(End of this chapter)