Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 252 Ajige's Actions
Just as Zhu Cilang concentrated the main force of the Palace Army to besiege the city of Jinan without attacking it, the Ming and Qing armies continued to confront each other.

The troops originally deployed in Henan, including Ajige and Jin Li, also secretly lurked in the western prefectures at the junction of Henan and Shandong.

"Have the Ming army's scouts reached Gema Mountain?"

Ajige was looking at the abstract map hanging on the wall. When he heard someone coming in, he immediately turned around and asked Jin Li who was walking in front of him:

"What's the situation in Jinan City now? Duoduo actually escaped early. How long can Kong Youde hold out for Jinan City alone?"

Jin Li did not answer directly. He handed the letter for help sent by Duoduo's scouts to Ajige, and then stood aside.

As a Han Chinese, it was naturally not easy for him to interfere in the fight between several princes.

Moreover, the Ming court is becoming increasingly powerful, and the Qing court's rule is in jeopardy. Not to mention these princes, even whether the Qing Dynasty will still exist in the future is a big problem. He naturally does not want to anger any of the parties at this time, as that would be courting trouble.

Of course, this was also because Dorgon had always been dissatisfied with Ajige, but the war on the front line was tense and the Qing court had no generals available, so Dorgon had no choice but to continue to appoint him.

In fact, Jin Li was also won over by Dorgon. He was sent by Dorgon to assist Ajige.

But Jin Li was a Han Chinese after all, while Ajige had been leading troops outside for a long time, had served as the commander-in-chief of a large army, and was also a prince. His influence on the army was definitely not comparable to Jin Li's.

Therefore, although Ajige knew that Jin Li was highly valued by Dorgon, he was still fearless towards Jin Li. His attitude was sometimes cold and sometimes enthusiastic, depending entirely on his mood.

"If there is no reinforcement, Jinan City will definitely be captured by the Ming army in three to four months at the shortest, and half a year at the longest. Once Jinan is captured, northern Zhili will be in danger." Jin Li looked up at Ajige and sighed slightly.

"Now, Emperor Ming has sufficient troops. He only needs to leave a small force in western Shandong, and he can directly lay siege to Jinan day and night."

Ajige said, folded up the military newspaper again and placed it on the table:
"We must move faster. If Jinan is captured, Zhu Cilang will be able to gather a hundred thousand elite troops, and then we will have no chance of winning this battle."

Ajige now has only more than 10,000 elite soldiers, of which only more than half are elite Eight Banner soldiers. Even with Jin Li's reinforcements, their total strength is only 20,000. Even if those baoyi soldiers who are capable of fighting are included, it is still less than 250 million.

Therefore, they had to join forces with Dorgon's main army, or at least with Duoduo, before the fall of Jinan City, and then pretend to rescue, then lure Zhu Cilang into setting an ambush, and then pretend to be defeated and ambush Zhu Cilang in the valley southwest of Jinan.

Jin Li thought for a moment, then stood up, holding his chin with one hand, and said:
"But if we want to lure Zhu Cilang into pursuit, we must first defeat him. Together with the regent's bannermen and the Green Camp troops, we should be able to gather more than 15,000 baits. It should be no problem."

"By then, as long as we add two thousand elite soldiers to support the front and two thousand green soldiers to the flanks, the formation and numbers will be almost the same."

Ajige narrowed his eyes, the muscles on his face twitched, and continued:
"If we want to trick Emperor Ming, spending a little money is nothing. If our army has no fighting power, Emperor Ming will definitely be suspicious.

The Qing Dynasty no longer has the time, nor the opportunity, to prepare for another war like this. We must win this battle.

Now that we have Jinan City as a distraction, Zhu Cilang can only mobilize 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers and horses, or even less than 70,000. We can at least mobilize 50,000 elite soldiers to ambush them when they are pursuing, and we will be able to wipe them out in one battle.

But if Jinan falls, there will be no chance anymore."

Jin Li nodded after hearing this. He actually agreed with Ajige's plan, but the timing was not good. Although he and Ajige had a lot of conflicts because of Dorgon, they could still distinguish right from wrong on such a big issue.

"What's the situation in Nanyang now?"

Ajige looked at the map for a while and asked again.

"Gao Di has basically gained Liu Tichun's trust. If nothing unexpected happens, Liu Tichun and Ma Shixiu will soon besiege Nanyang City."

Jin Li recalled for a moment, then suddenly remembered something and continued:

"However, I'm still worried that Liu Tichun and Ma Shixiu were deliberately tricked. They shouldn't be so careless!"

"Nanyang City is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Even if Gao Di is alone, with the help of Chen Tai, we will have no problem holding it for a few months." Ajige said confidently.

Jin Li was still a little worried and said:
"Liu Tichun may have guessed our plan, so he deliberately jumped in. Moreover, if he sends troops north, it is not difficult to avoid our secret sentries. Western Henan is full of mountains and hills, and it is a vast expanse. It is not difficult to do so."

After Jin Li finished speaking, his face suddenly darkened. He was actually a little worried that after he left, Liu Tichun would immediately lead the main force to attack the city. The enemy was no ordinary force. Once the city fell, the situation would be very bad.

By that time, I'm afraid he will be the one to take the blame.

But Ajige didn't care. After getting the answer he wanted, he nodded slightly and said:

"Well, if Liu Tichun had sent troops north with great fanfare, I wouldn't have believed him. But if it's the current situation, it means he's carefully avoiding us.

However, this alone is not enough to judge the actions of Liu Tichun's army. Ultimately, it depends on the situation in Shanxi. If he goes north, where else can he go except Shanxi?

In fact, Ajige didn't care what Liu Tichun would do. All he wanted was to leave Chen Tai and Gao Di in Nanyang City with a legitimate reason and let the other party and his men defend it for a few months.

After all, as the Qing court's top military and political leader in Henan, he couldn't openly show his intention to abandon Gao Di and others. If he did, the morale of the entire army would be broken and the city would be impossible to defend.

"After Emperor Ming led his troops to besiege Jinan City, Zhang Mingzhen concentrated his main naval forces along the Daqing River. The troops that were originally used to harass the coastal areas of northern Zhili had almost all been withdrawn. Zhang Mingzhen even left few troops in Jiaodong.

Liu Tichun is now continuing his siege of Nanyang, probably because he received the news and saw this opportunity."

Jin Li followed Ajige's words and continued:

"Not long ago, Liu Tichun led thousands of troops to attack Henan Prefecture, but was defeated by the Green Camp defending the city. He must have learned from that lesson. This time, he will definitely not send only this small number of troops to attack Nanyang. I'm afraid the main force will continue to move north."

"The Ming Emperor is besieging Jinan, and Liu Tichun is about to capture Nanyang. It's not just us who are anxious, Dorgon must be extremely worried as well."

Ajige said, turning to look at Jin Li and said with a smile: "General Jin, haven't you noticed that every time Liu Tichun wrote letters to Gao Di and others to persuade them to surrender, it was always two or three days after the military report from Shandong arrived?"

After hearing this, Jin Li frowned slightly. After thinking about it, it seemed to be true. This time, Liu Tichun said he would send troops to Shanxi after hearing the news that Zhu Cilang's army had captured all the prefectures outside Jinan and wiped out all the Qing troops outside the city.

Moreover, Jin Li estimated that with the strength of Kong Youde and Gao Di, if Ajige and Jin Li did not go to rescue them, Nanyang City and Jinan City would most likely be captured within half a year.

"Liu Tichun really doesn't dare to fight a tough battle?" Jin Li understood the meaning of Ajige's words and gained some confidence.

Seeing that the other party was wavering, Ajige continued:

"Liu Tichun is a bandit born into a wealthy family. He is extremely cunning and difficult to predict, but he also lacks the strong will of Emperor Ming. It's not that he doesn't dare to fight, but that he doesn't want to fight. He wants to preserve his strength, which is probably more important to him than more military achievements.

Liu Tichun has privately negotiated with you Green Camp members numerous times. I'm afraid he's actually more focused on his own interests, preparing for future actions. If I'm right, he's very good at calculating benefits and making strategic decisions. This is why I suspect he'll head north to Shanxi to take advantage of a weak situation.

Of course, this isn't entirely certain; he might have followed Emperor Ming's orders. But did Emperor Ming's orders necessarily mean the siege of Nanyang City?

Although Ajige was impatient, he was also the best among the princes of the Qing court, and his analytical ability was naturally not weak. As Liu Tichun was a bandit, he naturally thought he had guessed Liu Tichun's little thoughts.

"Jin Li, don't worry. By the time Liu Tichun realizes what's happening, I'll have already reached Jinan. By then, Liu Tichun won't dare to act rashly."

Having said that, Jin Li knew that it was not appropriate for him to say anything inappropriate at this time. He then showed an expression of sudden enlightenment, as if he had completely understood the situation.

Of course, Ajige and Jin Li also knew that the other was pretending. Everyone knew it and knew that the other was acting, but they cooperated with each other tacitly.

In fact, Ajige's idea was similar to Jin Li's: Liu Tichun might know that the officers under Gao Di did not really want to rebel, or he might not know, but no matter what, he would choose the side that was most beneficial to him.

Ajige was very confident about the situation in Henan, and then said:
"So, this battle outside Jinan City must be won. Regardless of whether Chen Tai and Gao Di can hold Nanyang, or whether Liu Tichun is fooled, this battle must be fought. This is the key point."

Jin Li understood what the other party meant; he was actually just worried. After all, all they could do now was to increase their chances of winning, or in other words, choose the method with the highest chance of success.

"That's right!" Ajige suddenly thought of something and smiled at Jin Li:

"When the time comes, you will personally take action and make sure to stabilize the Green Camp and the Bannermen that morning. You must not let Zhu Cilang notice anything unusual!"

"Me?" Jin Li asked in surprise. This was not an easy job.

Seeing this, Ajige looked at Jin Li and asked, "Why, do you have other ideas?"

Jin Li knew what Ajige wanted him to say, and knew that he couldn't avoid it, so he immediately clasped his fists in response.
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East of Jinan City, on the northwest hillside of Gema Mountain, Chen Fu was holding the latest "Clairvoyance" made by the "Yingtian Weapon Bureau" and observing the battle between two teams of scouts in the valley ahead.

His deputy general looked at the "clairvoyance" with a very curious expression on his face. This thing is still a limited edition, and the one they use is the old version, which is not so clear and exquisite.

The seven scouts under Chen Fu's command and the six scouts sent by Ajige were all scouting the valley. When Chen Fu discovered them, the two armies had already started fighting.

Both sides were experienced cavalrymen, and after several rounds of fighting, neither side could determine the winner.

"Send a few people down to capture all these Tartars, and try to capture them alive." Chen Fu ordered.

These Qing army scouts fought very fiercely. Chen Fu's scouts often fought with them during this period and suffered heavy losses.

They also captured two people alive, and after interrogation, they found that they were wild Tatars who had just arrived from the north outside the Great Wall.

Now, he had the advantage in military strength and was not worried that his cavalry would be killed by these extremely ferocious and barbaric Tatars.

"Yes, General!" Chen Fu's deputy general received the order and immediately turned around and gave instructions to a young general behind him.

After receiving the order, the latter immediately jumped on his horse and rushed down the mountain road with a dozen cavalrymen, heading straight for the place where the two armies were fighting.

"General, there are more and more Qing army scouts recently. It seems that Ajige can't sit still anymore!" said the deputy general excitedly.

Chen Fu put down the "Clairvoyance" in his hand, nodded, and said:
"If you spare no expense, Your Majesty will be able to capture Jinan within three months. What we are doing now is just to buy time and wait for Ajige to come to the rescue.

If we continue to siege and attack cities one after another and try to capture all the remaining cities, I'm afraid Your Majesty will even trap Kong Youde to death in Jinan, and we won't be able to do it."

In fact, it was not only the Qing army that wanted a decisive battle, but Zhu Cilang did the same. The location had already been chosen for him, in this valley southwest of Jinan.

After all, there are hills and slopes nearby, towering mountains in the distance, and rivers blocking the way, which is very suitable for ambushes.

From this perspective, both sides have the same idea.

"But Ajige has only 20,000 to 30,000 troops in Henan now. The general is personally leading the troops to block the attack at Gema Mountain. Does he really dare to come?" Chen Fu's deputy general was not worried about Ajige coming. Instead, he was worried that Ajige would not dare to come, especially the terrain at Gema Mountain. Coming to rescue is like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth.

"Didn't the Qing army suddenly attack the lost Houtai outside the city a few days ago, catching us off guard? Ajige and his men are not so afraid of fighting. They will come."

Chen Fu laughed coldly and said that Zhu Cilang deliberately let the other side reveal some flaws, and the Qing army was fooled.

"After this group of troops goes around and returns in batches, the Qing army will definitely not notice. Moreover, if Ajige knows about such a good opportunity, he will definitely not miss it. He doesn't have much time."

"The general is in control of the situation. Ajige will be caught off guard." The deputy general immediately flattered him without missing an opportunity.

(End of this chapter)