Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 268 The Situation in the North

As military intelligence from the south reached Taiyuan, Datong and other places, the situation changed rapidly.

The Green Camp troops who were still fighting fiercely with Gao Yigong's army suddenly announced their rebellion without any hesitation, and even proclaimed themselves "Generals of Anti-Qing, Restoration of Ming and National Salvation."

At this moment, they no longer seemed to be the remnants of the Qing Dynasty left in Shanxi, but a group of heroes full of fighting spirit.

Of course, the Green Camp troops in southern Shanxi, central Shanxi, northern Zhili and other places began to set up their own factions, win over each other's troops, and try to incorporate the "friendly forces" from various places into their own camps.

Those soldiers who broke out from Henan flocked to the temporary camp established by Jiang Xiang in Datong.

This situation made Jiang Xiang, who was originally fighting alone, instantly become the leader of all the former Ming border troops and current Green Camp soldiers, who now wanted to rebel but were afraid of being liquidated.

In this chaotic situation, Jiang Xiang had to think about his own way out.

He understood that if he, a man who had quickly surrendered after the Qing army entered the pass and betrayed Li Zicheng, could not escape disaster, it would be difficult.

After all, it was Gao Yigong who led the troops to attack.

As for those soldiers and generals who changed their stance according to the situation, they were just using him as a test. If he was fine, they would naturally not be punished by the Ming court.

For them, changing the master and still having food is not another way of survival, right?
But Jiang Xiang knew better in his heart that as the spokesperson for these rebels, his fate was actually completely in the hands of the unpredictable political trends.

At this moment, the situation in the north is unpredictable.

As the breakout progressed, Lin Changfeng and Tian Jianxiu almost occupied the entire Henan Province. Like tigers out of a cage, they quickly launched a two-pronged attack on Taiyuan.

At the same time, in northern Shanxi, Gao Yigong's troops were also watching covetously, ready to attack at any time.

Although Jiang Xiang and the Green Camp Army in Northern Zhili and Shanxi claimed to be "rebellious", they even sent troops south to reinforce Taiyuan.

But in reality, they were only defending themselves and had no offensive power. Gao Yigong and Li Guo had no intention of stopping the offensive.

Behind this turmoil, Jiang Xiang tried to seize the opportunity to return to the Ming Dynasty.

He understood that if he wanted to survive in this chaotic situation, he had to find a force to rely on.

If Gao Yigong and Li Guo can't do it, then others must give it a try. He must assess the situation and make a decision as soon as possible.

In this complicated situation, Jiang Xiang could only struggle desperately and try to find his own foothold.

The situation in northern Zhili became increasingly tense, and the pressure faced by the Qing army became increasingly greater.

The Qing army's dying military strategy and the fluctuations in people's hearts were intertwined, like a war without gunpowder.

At this time, the tense atmosphere inside and outside the Qing court was escalating.

Dorgon realized that the Ming army would soon send its main force north, but they were not free to take action for the time being, so he finally let go of his worries.

Now, he had to take tougher measures to suppress the rebellion and maintain the final rule of the Qing Dynasty.

At the same time, the news reached Beijing, causing considerable unrest within the Qing court.

Those Eight Banners soldiers who originally did not obey Dorgon took advantage of this chaos and attempted to resist Dorgon's rule under the name of "clearing the court."

After all, they have been oppressed in the court for a long time and have been holding grudges in their hearts for a long time.

However, without Ajige's restraint, Jirgalang had no intention of fighting internal battles. This rebellion seemed to have a great chance of success, but in fact it was an extremely dangerous attempt.

However, Emperor Shunzhi was only eight years old at that time, and Dorgon had been in power for three years and had already established a solid power base in the army and the court.

His confidants were spread throughout the Qing court and beyond. Although the Qing Dynasty was at the brink of life and death and there were only 10,000 Eight Banners soldiers in Beijing, a rebellion of this scale was almost impossible to succeed.

However, Dorgon had to face the pressure from foreign enemies on the one hand and suppress internal turmoil on the other, which made him exhausted.

After suppressing this small-scale rebellion, Dorgon, with the support of Empress Xiaozhuang and the ministers, began to mobilize the Eight Banners while Duoduo was still able to hold back the main force of the Ming army.

Just like they did when they invaded the Great Wall to plunder in the past, they captured Han people around Shuntian Prefecture and forcibly escorted them outside the Great Wall as slaves.

This looting was not only to replenish manpower and material resources outside the Great Wall, but also a form of blocking.

At the same time, the Qing government frantically plundered money and grain, transporting large amounts of grain, gold and silver, as well as weapons and ammunition from Beijing workshops to the outside of the Great Wall.

Western missionaries were also forced to go with them, as if this was their plan to occupy the area outside the Great Wall for a long time.

Dorgon’s so-called “unity of Manchus and Han” was vulnerable in the face of crisis and eventually tore off this hypocritical veil.

The Qing government mobilized all the Eight Banners soldiers and their bondservants in Beijing, and only a few Green Camp soldiers who still defended their homeland resisted the looting.

Most of the cities in northern Zhili were almost defenseless, and most of the organized gentry had already fled south along the canal in an attempt to avoid this disaster.

Dorgon's looting of northern Zhili was not only for the purpose of replenishing manpower and material resources outside the Great Wall, but also to turn it into a scorched earth and hinder the Ming army from going out to conquer Liaodong.

If northern Zhili was burned, all the people were killed, and looted, and the city was covered in rivers of blood, then the Ming army would have to bypass Xuanda and travel thousands of miles across the grassland to attack outside the Great Wall, which would inevitably greatly reduce the Ming army's deployment capabilities.

Before that, the Ming army may have to deal with relations with the Mongolian tribes, which is also a time-consuming and laborious task.

When the Qing Dynasty was growing in military power, the Mongols had caused chaos many times, let alone in the current situation?

At this moment, the Ming army not only had to face the dilemma in northern Zhili, but also had to resolve relations with external forces, which obviously added more variables to their strategy.

Under such circumstances, if the Ming army could send troops from Shandong and attack Liaodong by sea, it would sound like a good strategic choice.

But it won't be easy.

One of the unspeakable "Ten Complete Military Achievements" of Nurhaci, the father of Emperor Shunzhi's father, was the massacre of almost all three million Han people in the Liaodong region.

In other words, if it were a sea route, it would be almost impossible for the Ming army to obtain supplies along the way.

In other words, if the Ming army's logistics base for attacking outside the Great Wall could be destroyed, Dorgon would be able to free up his hands outside the Great Wall and make full preparations for the subsequent retreat.

He knew very well that if the Ming army could not support itself logistically, it would be isolated and helpless, and would eventually be unable to advance and even be forced to retreat.

However, these brutal Manchu nobles seemed to underestimate the strength of the rebel army in northern Zhili.

As the rebel forces from all over the country quickly merged with the Green Camp, they began to obtain a large number of weapons and armor.

Although these rebels lacked combat training and might not have been able to directly confront the Eight Banners, they were able to rely on the city walls and launch frequent attacks, which undoubtedly greatly slowed the Eight Banners' looting. In this chaos, the most loyal and deeply connected baoyi soldiers to the Manchus had already died on the battlefields in the Central Plains.

Most of the newly recruited baoyi were those whose land was plundered after entering the Pass. Faced with the newly acquired weapons, many of them chose to escape and resist.

After experiencing slavery for a few years or as long as nearly ten years, these people were not completely numb.

On the contrary, their desire for freedom grew stronger.

Now that they see the opportunity to resist and feel the hope of victory, how could they continue to help the evil?

These rebel armies, the Green Camp rebels and the defected baoyi soldiers put up a tenacious resistance, which prevented the Qing court's cruel looting plan from being fully implemented.

In the end, they only plundered the towns and villages around Beijing.

However, even so, the Qing court still plundered more than 300,000 people, countless livestock and grain from northern Zhili.

This resulted in the near destruction of Shuntian Prefecture, Yongping Prefecture, including the city of Beijing, and even half of Baoding Prefecture and part of Shanxi.

At the same time, the fighting in Northern Zhili and Shanxi escalated again, and the situation became increasingly tense.

Relying on the only 3,000 remaining veterans of the Datong border army, Jiang Xiang transformed himself into the leader of the Green Camp army in the northwest region.

But his position was not solid. Although the Green Camp troops in northern Zhili and Shanxi were nominally under his command, not all of them obeyed his command completely.

Under the joint attack of Gao Yigong and Li Guo, the Green Camp soldiers in Taiyuan, Datong and other places kept escaping, and leaked local deployment secrets while fleeing.

At the same time, amid the chaos, many Green Camp troops gathered in Jiang Xiang's camp.

Jiang Xiang assembled nearly 30,000 troops in a short period of time, which made his army seem powerful, but in fact they all had their own ulterior motives.

Therefore, although his troops were larger than those sent to Datong by Gao Yigong and Li Guo, their fighting power was difficult to match.

There were many factions within this so-called army, and many soldiers were unwilling to fight directly with Gao Yigong and Li Guo's troops.

They joined Jiang Xiang's alliance in the chaos, but in fact they were just fence-sitters, swaying with the wind.

Those who were truly willing to share the same hatred with Jiang Xiang and hope to promote the value of united front work were, on the contrary, the traitors who had allowed the Qing Dynasty to enter the pass or had made great military achievements in suppressing peasant uprisings.

Among them, most were troops from Henan Town who retreated to Shanxi and Northern Zhili. They became loyal supporters of Jiang Xiang.

Their joining makes Jiang Xiang's team more powerful.

Although this force was not enough to fight against the joint forces of Gao Yigong and Li Guo, it at least gave him a glimmer of hope.

Jiang Xiang and his allies eventually concentrated their main forces in Datong and northeastern Shanxi, seemingly preparing for a life-and-death battle with the coalition forces of Gao Yigong and Li Guo, who were already at the gates of the city and attacking from two directions.

As the situation developed, both sides were actively preparing, mobilizing personnel, and looking for the right time to launch an attack.

The allied forces of Gao Yigong and Li Guo had forged an elite force in battle, and their morale was high. They were determined to capture Taiyuan and Datong in one fell swoop and consolidate their ruling position in central and northern Shanxi.

Jiang Xiang knew very well that if effective measures were not taken, the army he relied on might fall apart at any time.

He tried to consolidate strength through compromise and mediation among various factions. At the same time, he also sent a signal to the various Ming troops that he wanted to resist the Qing court, hoping to be recruited.
.
At the same time, in Cangzhou City, the Eight Banners Army and the elite Green Camp troops from all over the country gathered, with a strength of more than 10,000 soldiers, as well as tens of thousands of Green Camp guards recruited locally.

Now everyone is ready to take action.

As soon as the news of Dorgon and Ajige's defeat spread, the city was in turmoil. In particular, the rumor that Jin Li's defeated troops were wiped out near Hejian Prefecture made the already demoralized army begin to waver.

However, although the rebellious trends of these Green Camp troops frequently surged, they were strictly suppressed by the Eight Banners soldiers in the city and failed to cause greater waves.

At present, there are still more than 3,000 Eight Banners soldiers and Baoyi soldiers stationed in the city, of which more than 1,000 are new Eight Banners from outside the Great Wall. Nearly 1,000 Baoyi soldiers make Cangzhou's defense line seem unbreakable.

The defense of this city is extremely complex and solid, with thick walls and steep trenches, which makes it impossible for these scattered Green Camp soldiers to attack the city while rebelling.

Even if morale was high, it would be almost impossible to successfully revolt in the face of such strong defenses.

Compared with the situation in Cangzhou, the defense in other places in northern Zhili appears much more fragile.

Although those cities were equally strong, under the attack of the Ming army, the Green Camp soldiers in the city moved quickly. Under the attack from both inside and outside, these originally impregnable cities were often breached within just one day.

The Eight Banners soldiers were all wiped out in the joint attack by the Green Camp Army and the Ming Army, and in the end only a few Green Camp soldiers survived.

Gao Jie's attitude towards the Manchus' surrender was very clear. He did not accept the Manchus' surrender, and the Manchus did not dare to surrender lightly.

They were well aware of the crimes they had committed on this land, and knew what a miserable end would await them if they were caught by the Han people.

With almost all cities in Shandong recaptured by the Ming army, Cangzhou now became the Qing court's only stronghold in the southern part of northern Zhili.

But the people in the city had already been in turmoil. Despite the suppression of the Eight Banners soldiers, many officers and soldiers still chose to follow. They did not dare to act rashly because they were afraid of being executed in public.

But this depressing situation was not sustainable in the long run. As the anti-corruption trend continued to spread, the city's defenses became precarious.

Although there is enough food in Cangzhou City to sustain the consumption of 20,000 troops for a year, this can only delay death.

The reality of the isolated city made the Qing soldiers realize that to hold on was just to wait for destruction.

Today, Cangzhou City has long been reduced to an isolated city. The war situation of the Qing Dynasty around it has collapsed, and there will be no more reinforcements.

Without external aid, the troops in the city were not enough to defeat the powerful Ming army, and the fall of Cangzhou became almost inevitable.

Under such circumstances, the only thing that kept these tens of thousands of soldiers and horses going was the illusion of breaking out to the north.

They hoped to reunite with the Qing court in Beijing and escape outside the Great Wall to seek survival.

However, all this required an immediate breakout before the Ming army's rule in the north was consolidated.

Although the breakout plan has hope, the situation will only get worse if it is delayed any further.

If we wait until the Ming army integrates its forces, Cangzhou will be like a besieged island.

What would become of them after escaping? The Qing court's control over Beijing was weakening, and if they could not receive timely support, the breakout army would be completely destroyed.

(End of this chapter)