Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 84 Ambush Geng Zhongming

"Suzhou, Taoyuan, Bozhou and other counties have been conquered by the Qing army. Pizhou and Suqian are still being harassed by small groups of Qing troops from Xuzhou. Huang Degong requests to lead the troops to fight and destroy the prestige of that Qing army."

"The Qing army used artillery to blast open the walls of Bozhou City. Chen Qianfu and Sang Kaidi refused to surrender and fought to exhaustion, ultimately both sacrificing their lives for their country."

"Most of the defenders in Bozhou also fought to the death, angering the Qing army. After Duoduo captured the city, he buried alive over 300 soldiers who surrendered and looted all the civilians. He was currently scavenging timber throughout Bozhou, preparing to march south."

"According to intelligence gathered by our scouts, Duoduo is already gathering his troops and should be heading south within ten days. The vanguard he's sending is Geng Zhongming's troops. They've been gathering civilians in Suzhou, Lingbi, and other counties and villages. They set out south early in the morning two days ago."

Military reports were delivered to Zhu Cilang's desk one after another. With Duoduo's full-scale counterattack, the situation in Huaibei took a sharp turn for the worse.

Although the two most important strategic fulcrums, Xuzhou and Huai'an, were still in the hands of the Ming army at this time, and Yangzhou had not yet been besieged by the Qing army, with the loss of these strongholds in the north that could effectively contain the Qing army's forces, the military pressure faced by Fengyang was rapidly increasing.

After eliminating several major tie-down points deployed by Zhu Cilang, Duoduo had no intention of stopping. He was organizing his army and making rapid preparations. It seemed that he would soon head south again.

This is the huge gap in military strength between the Ming and Qing dynasties today.

Once Duoduo stopped seeking a quick victory and took a steady approach, like pruning branches and leaves, and gradually eliminated the Dingwu court's series of defensive deployments in Jiangbei, Zhu Cilang would be unable to stop him.

For a war that determines the fate of a country, those small victories and defeats, those temporary gains and losses, those fancy battles of wits, and fierce clashes of hearts and minds are not worth mentioning at all in a real showdown with real swords and guns.

In other words, facing such a powerful enemy as the Qing army, it is impossible to fool them by relying solely on so-called strategies without fighting a good battle and deciding the outcome on the battlefield.

This is the enemy that Zhu Cilang has to face and must defeat, and he is also the enemy that ministers such as Shi Kefa and Ma Shiying fear like a tiger!

In the face of the absolute strength of the Qing army, people in Jiangbei inevitably became uneasy again. As Suzhou and Bozhou were captured by the Qing army, Taoyuan and countless villages and forts surrendered one after another, the morale of people in Huaibei fell to the bottom for a while.

Among these, the most important thing is the fluctuation of military morale. The image of the Qing army as invincible and unbeatable in field battles was once again strengthened with Duoduo's counterattack.

After seeing these military reports, Zhu Cilang made a prompt decision and prepared to send troops to attack the Qing army's vanguard according to the original plan. In particular, the troops that had already marched south to serve as the Qing army's vanguard were not the Eight Banners, but the Dongjiang soldiers of Geng Zhongming's army.

He needed a real victory to boost the army's increasingly low morale, and more importantly, he needed to dampen Duoduo's arrogance.

At this time, this series of victories once again made Duoduo feel complacent. The image of the Ming army, which was weak in combat and even dared not fight in the field, except for a few elite servants, became more and more deeply engraved in his mind.

In fact, Duoduo never took the Ming army assembled in Fengyang City seriously, so he did not send the organized Eight Banners Army to go south with Geng Zhongming. He only let the latter take more than a thousand elite surrendered soldiers from Liu Zhong's army, plus his own troops, totaling no more than 3,700 people.

In Duoduo's mind, if Geng Zhongming's more than 3,700 soldiers and horses were to fight a head-on battle on the plains, no Ming army would be able to compete with them.

Not only him, but even Geng Zhongming did not look down on the Ming army in Fengyang City, so he was so confident and bold to go south.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Ming army.

Zhu Cilang acted decisively and mobilized the 1000th and 2000th headquarters of the Tianwei Central Camp, the Tianqi Camp, the Wuyong Camp, the 1000th headquarters of the Tianwu Left Camp, the Wuyao Camp, and the cavalry of the Wufen Camp, which he had previously sent to Wuhe to confront Nikan's troops, totaling nearly 7,000 troops to attack.

By this time, the Qing army was about to reach their doorstep, and the officials in the Dingwu court finally dared not dissuade him anymore. The firm will that Zhu Cilang had previously shown had made them realize that they could not influence the court situation.

So, after sending scouts to continue scouting the movements of Geng Zhongming's troops, Zhu Cilang also summoned all the generals in Fengyang and began planning an ambush.

"Geng Zhongming has about 3,000 soldiers under his command. They were originally Western-style soldiers trained by Sun Yuanhua in Dengzhou. They are particularly skilled in firearms, so they are equipped with many muskets and artillery, but not many cavalry.

In addition, he also obtained some of Liu Zhong's surrendered soldiers. According to the intelligence obtained by the scouts, there were more than a thousand people, including more than a hundred cavalry.

In addition, in order to escort the artillery and supplies southward, the Qing army vanguard led by Geng Zhongming also brought several thousand civilians with them. Their marching speed was not fast. They had already set out from Suzhou for two days and still had not reached Guzhen.

Chang Denggui stood in front of a table covered with a brand new map, holding a bamboo stick in his hand, and was introducing the basic situation and preliminary battle plan of Geng Zhongming's army to the generals participating in the war.

"At their current speed, they should be able to cross the Hui River by tomorrow evening and set up camp there. If we want to ambush them, the lake area about thirty miles south of the Hui River would be the best place.

The army set out from Fengyang early in the morning. Even if they wanted to avoid the scouts sent by Geng Zhongming, one day was enough, and another half day was left to arrange ambushes for various units.

Moreover, Geng Zhongming is quite cautious, and his son Geng Jimao is said to be very good at scouting military intelligence, so arriving one day in advance would be the most appropriate."

"We've already cleared out all the boats around the Rui River. Building new ones would take too long. If Geng Zhongming wants to cross that lake, the best option is to build a pontoon bridge in the narrow part of the water. Then he'll definitely be able to transport the cannons across the river."

Chen Fu looked at the location of the lake south of the Rui River on the map, paused, and then said:

"If we set up an ambush at the edge of the lake, we can prevent them from transporting their artillery, thus ensuring we are not at a disadvantage in terms of firepower. However, the problem is that the terrain to the north is flat, and Geng Zhongming's scouts are difficult to deal with. An ambush there would be too easily exposed."

But if we wait until all of Geng Zhongming's troops have crossed the river before taking action, these four or five thousand soldiers are well-equipped with guns and cannons, and are battle-hardened, so I'm afraid it won't be so easy to defeat them."

"General Chen is right. If the Tartar cavalry really runs at full speed, they can probably cover the 200-mile distance in a day and a night. We must defeat Geng Zhongming within half a day, otherwise we will be unable to advance or retreat." Bai Yongfu, who was born in Liaozhen, agreed.

"That's true. Back in Xuanda, the Tartar cavalry could move automatically along the plains in the mountains. Now that Huaibei is covered with large tracts of flat land, the cavalry must be able to run more freely." Tian Xiong, who came from the Xuanda army, also echoed.

The Eight Banners under Duoduo's command have always been an indelible nightmare for the Fengyang troops. None of them dared to fight a decisive battle with the enemy on the plains, especially after the bad news kept coming from Jiangbei during this period.

The reason why Zhu Cilang dared to send troops this time was actually because Geng Zhongming, as the vanguard, did not go south with the Eight Banners. Xuzhou, Huai'an and Bozhou and other places tied down Duoduo's large troops.

Although he was not afraid of Duoduo, he also knew that he could not defeat the opponent in a head-on confrontation. Since he was taking the initiative to attack, Zhu Cilang had to find ways to increase his chances of winning so as to boost the morale of the army.

Otherwise, if after all the operations, they were defeated, it would be an unbearable blow to the morale of the army, and even the guards of Fengyang City might be in trouble.

"This battle must be concluded within a day. The Tartar cavalry is still some distance away from us. No matter which direction they come from, they will need to cross the river, and their speed will not be very fast. We don't need to consider their impact for the time being.

But Geng Zhongming himself is not easy to deal with. How to strike him with one strike, severely inflict heavy damage on these thousands of Qing troops, or even annihilate them completely, is the key to this battle."

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang looked around at his generals and slowly said:

"We don't have many soldiers and horses available, and we don't have an absolute advantage in cavalry. Geng Zhongming's troops are originally Western soldiers, skilled in firearms. We absolutely cannot allow them to transport artillery across the river, otherwise they will rely on artillery to hold their ground, which would be disastrous."

"What your Majesty said is absolutely true."

Chen Fu clasped his hands and agreed.

"If Geng Zhongming relies on firearms, muskets and artillery to confront us, it will definitely not be a problem for him to hold out for two or three days. If we fail to break through by then, we may be bitten hard when we retreat.

But if we ambush directly by the lake, Geng Zhongming's scouts will most likely notice it. By then, Geng Zhongming will be wary and won't cross the river, so won't we return empty-handed? "

"The Tianqi Battalion can launch a surprise attack from behind and quickly destroy the Qing army's artillery." After hearing this, Chang Denggui suddenly said:

"Since we can't attack them halfway across the lake, we might as well wait until Geng Zhongming's entire army has crossed the river, especially the artillery pieces have been transported to the south bank and blocked the entrance to the pontoon bridge before we take action.

The most crucial point is not where to ambush the Qing army, but to prevent them from using artillery, and even muskets, or at least to minimize their use."

"That's right. As long as Geng Zhongming's entire army crosses the river safely, they will definitely relax their vigilance. Then the cavalry will circle around and launch a surprise attack, which will definitely destroy their artillery. Then, we can cover the infantry to encircle them and catch the Qing army off guard." After hearing this, Zhu Cilang immediately nodded in agreement.

"This method is worth a try. As long as we can successfully destroy Geng Zhongming's army's artillery, we will also be able to disrupt their defenses. Then, with twice the number of troops, it will be easy to defeat them."

After determining the general strategy, he immediately led this group of generals to arrange the battle sequence, especially the allocation of cavalry. The "Wuyong Camp" under Hu Maozhen had less than two hundred cavalrymen, and together with the cavalry of the Tianqi Camp and the other two Beijing Camps, there were less than two thousand cavalrymen, and they all had to be used to the best effect.

In addition, in order to prevent accidents, Zhu Cilang also mobilized the navy of Fengyang City to defend the Huai River, and Chen Fu and Bai Yongfu led the army left behind in the city to provide support.

At the same time, Zhou Shixian continued to send the Jinyiwei to Bozhou in the north and Wuhe County in the east to keep track of the movements of the Qing army in the north and east at all times to prevent large-scale cavalry raids by the Qing army.

What Zhu Cilang was undertaking was ultimately a military adventure, and he had to be cautious enough to ensure that the army could escape unscathed if an accident occurred.

Early the next morning, at daybreak, Zhu Cilang, accompanied by a group of personal guards led by Lin Changping, crossed the Huai River on a pontoon bridge and led thousands of troops under his command northward.

Gao Hongtu, Shi Kefa, Ma Shiying, Lu Daqi, Chen Zilong, Zhao Zhilong and other ministers and nobles were not able to accompany the emperor. Some of them still wanted to follow the emperor, but Zhu Cilang did not agree. Taking these people to fight would definitely bring trouble to himself.

Of course, there were some who did not dare to take the initiative to ask for the opportunity to accompany the emperor. They were even glad that Zhu Cilang did not ask the ministers to accompany him.

After all, they all knew that this time they were going to fight the Qing army, not to quell the rebellion. It was not safe at all, and there was no such thing as a "sure win."

In other words, if Zhu Cilang had not already forced these ministers into a corner, he would probably have to discuss matters with these mediocre ministers in the court again when he personally led the army this time.

Gao Hongtu, Shi Kefa, Ma Shiying, Lu Daqi and others watched Zhu Cilang's back disappear into the darkness on the north bank of the Huai River. They all had complicated expressions, and even looked at each other, sighing, and no one knew what they were thinking.

As the army left the city, the sky gradually brightened, and the originally gray eastern sky slowly emitted golden light.
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To the north of the Rui River, teams of soldiers and civilians were passing by the ruins of Guzhen. On the slightly higher flat ground around them, guard scouts had already been deployed, monitoring any movement around them.

Not only that, Geng Zhongming also sent his son Geng Jimao to lead a vanguard of more than one hundred cavalrymen to cross the Rui River first, spread out to the plains in the south, and even to the banks of the Huai River to gather military intelligence.

The Rui River is only more than 30 miles away from the lake area in the south. The cavalry can arrive there in less than half a day with light equipment. However, to cross the river connecting several lakes, it is necessary to rebuild the pontoon bridge.

To ensure that artillery can pass through, the pontoon bridge must be strong enough, which is absolutely impossible to do without half a day's work.

Of course, although the simple pontoon bridge cannot meet the requirements of large-scale marches, especially the transportation of supplies and artillery, it is still easy to carry out the movement of dozens or hundreds of cavalrymen at a time.

Geng Zhongming wasn't the best at fighting among the three Shun princes, but he definitely had the best brains. He had guessed from Zhu Cilang's deployment in Jiangbei and the previous counterattacks against the Qing army in various cities that Zhu Cilang was a very aggressive person.

Such an emperor, who was very young at the time, would certainly not be able to swallow this humiliation after Duoduo had destroyed more than half of his deployment in Jiangbei. And he, as the vanguard of the army, was the best target for revenge.

In fact, Geng Zhongming had already mentioned this matter to Duoduo when he received the order to march south, but Duoduo had already been dazzled by the successive victories at that time and thought that he was afraid of fighting. After a few perfunctory words, he let him march south as ordered.

However, Geng Zhongming was stubborn after all. After much persuasion, he finally got more than a thousand reinforcements from Duoduo. Although they were not Eight Banners soldiers, they were all Liu Zhong's direct subordinates and were still capable of fighting.

In fact, he was not worried that Zhu Cilang would lead the Ming army stationed in Fengyang City to ambush him, but he was worried that he would be ambushed and would not have enough troops to completely wipe out the invading enemy.

Duoduo looked down on the Southern Ming Army, and so did Geng Zhongming. Even the servants of Gao Jie, Huang Degong and others were only so powerful. The other Southern Ming Army must be even weaker.

After all, he had served in the Ming army for several years and was very clear about the combat effectiveness of the Ming army in the mainland. During the rebellion in Shandong, until the Liaozhen entered the pass, the Dongjiang soldiers were invincible and defeating the government soldiers was like cutting melons and vegetables.

Of course, he knew better than anyone else that there were few people in the Ming court who knew anything about military affairs, from the emperor to the ministers. However, they all thought that leading troops to fight was just a simple matter and that they could definitely do it.

In other words, what Geng Zhongming was most worried about now was not that Emperor Ming would ambush him, but that the other side would be persuaded by those cowardly ministers and would not dare to send troops to attack.

He also wants to take advantage of this rare opportunity to make a great contribution!
After all, if we don’t seize this opportunity, we will have to work hard to attack Fengyang City if we want to make achievements in the future.

How could Geng Zhongming not know which one is more important and which one is easier?

Soon, while Geng Zhongming was waiting anxiously, Geng Jimao rode his horse up to a high point by the river and came to Geng Zhongming's side. After reining in his horse, he said:
"Dad, you're truly a prophet. This morning, before dawn, the Ming army from Fengyang City set out. We estimate there are nearly 10,000 of them, and they're definitely coming for us."

After hearing this, Geng Zhongming's mouth curled up, and a very smug smile appeared on his face. He said in a sarcastic tone:
"This Ming emperor is indeed young and hot-headed. After suffering a loss in Huaibei, he is eager to get back at it. He probably thinks that he can only defeat the Tartars, but he can definitely beat us, hahahaha!"

"It's good to be full of energy. If you were timid and stayed in Fengyang City and didn't dare to come out, we would be the ones who would suffer!" Geng Jimao laughed.
"It's a pity that the Ming Emperor will never leave the city. Otherwise, if we could defeat this Ming army heading north, this war would be over, and you, Dad, would definitely be able to surpass Kong Youde in the future."

"You're just dreaming about this. If the Emperor Ming were to personally command, even if it was a 100,000-strong Ming army, I could still defeat them in one battle." Geng Zhongming snorted coldly, then shook his head and said:

"Emperor Ming is just young and energetic, with a bit of courage, but can he defeat those old foxes in the court? Those guys themselves don't dare to go to the battlefield, how can they let a bunch of kids do it?"

Geng Jimao nodded after hearing this and said, "These civil officials are only thinking about fighting for power and profit all day long. It is really impossible for them to allow military men to get close to the Emperor Ming. Otherwise, how can they hold on to power and continue to embezzle military funds?"

"Don't talk about these useless things. The Ming army has very few cavalry. Those infantrymen have little combat power, but the cavalry are almost all family servants and can still fight. If we want to win, we must disperse those cavalry from the beginning." Geng Zhongming narrowed his eyes and said seriously.

"The Ming army sent by Fengyang may have one or two thousand cavalrymen. They should be the elite troops in Fengyang City." Geng Jimao did not look afraid at all, but was very excited.

"Dad, I already explored it yesterday. There's a large deserted village about twenty miles away on the other side of the lake. The Ming army has nearly ten thousand men. If they want to ambush us, that's definitely the best place to hide.

That deserted village is far enough from the lake that if they were to hide at night and send out scouts to obstruct them, the area is so large that our scouts wouldn't be able to reach them and wouldn't be able to clearly detect what's happening more than twenty miles away."

After hearing this, Geng Zhongming immediately started thinking. He had great confidence in Geng Jimao's ability to detect military intelligence, which had been tested countless times on the battlefield. Not to mention other veterans under his command, even the top Bayara of the Qing army probably could not compare with him.

If he didn't have this ability, how could Geng Jimao avoid the scouts sent by Chang Denggui, sneak out of Fengyang City without anyone noticing, and then return to the army without anyone noticing.

Geng Jimao was also very confident in his ability to gather military intelligence. He looked at Geng Zhongming, who seemed to be lost in thought, and then continued triumphantly:
"Dad, we can definitely achieve great success this time. If we can capture a few Ming generals alive and persuade them to surrender, then when we besiege the city, we can cooperate with them from inside and outside, and the credit for marching south will be ours."

Geng Zhongming nodded after hearing this. He already had a general strategy in mind, and then asked:
"Since the Ming Emperor overestimates his own strength and intends to ambush us, we should follow Duoduo's example and use a trick on him. When will the Ming army reach the deserted village to the south?"

"We should be able to arrive before tonight. Judging from the time, the Ming army must have calculated it accurately. They were probably afraid that if it took too long, our scouts would notice something unusual, so they set off early this morning."

Geng Jimao counted on his fingers. He knew the Ming army had set out before dawn, and based on a forced march, he could only bet that the enemy would arrive by night. Huaibei was full of plains. If the Ming army couldn't cover 80 miles in a day, there was no need to fight.

"If we want to transport artillery and supplies, we will just arrive at the lake tonight. We cannot build a strong bridge at night. If the Ming army is hiding behind the deserted village, they must be planning to suddenly attack us when we cross the river early tomorrow morning.

So, even though the distance is only about twenty miles, overnight is too short, and our scouts' nighttime mobility is greatly reduced, making it difficult to detect their movements."

"Hahaha. That's a good place. With those broken walls blocking the way, the Ming army can't run fast, and we can kill more of them."

Geng Zhongming laughed loudly after hearing this, and then said, "The Ming army must have sent out scouts as well. We need to create some deception to make them think we won't cross the river until tomorrow morning."

After hearing this, Geng Jimao leaned over and said, "Let's take all the cannons and baggage with us now. If we march more slowly, we won't arouse the suspicion of the Ming army's scouts."

Geng Zhongming smiled and nodded when he heard this:
“That’s it. I’ll have them slow down now and reach the southern lake before dusk.

"When the time comes, you will personally lead the troops and build a simple pontoon bridge before dark to send the scouts across. Tomorrow morning, I will lead the others to cross the river lightly and catch the Ming troops off guard."

(End of this chapter)