Chapter 190: Bloody Battle at Daming Prefecture (Part 2)
In early June of the fifth year of Yongzheng's reign, the weather had already become completely hot. Only three days after Yue Zhongqi was escorted to Beijing, Yongzheng issued an edict that Yunsi recommended Yue Zhongqi out of selfishness, wanting to collude with Nian Gengyao's old friends. Now Yue Zhongqi has lost his army and humiliated the country, and his crime is unforgivable. Yunsi is also guilty. Since Yunsi's yellow belt has been stripped and his name has been removed from the clan house, Yunsi should be ordered to change his name. Yunlu had also been removed from the clan house before, and he also had to change his name.
After the decree was issued, Yongzheng met with Prince Cheng Yunzhi after the court session. Yunzhi was the third son, and before Yongzheng could speak, he immediately said, "Your Majesty, if you hand it over to me, I can put it to death."
Yongzheng understood the meaning of such a meaningless talk. Since the third brother was so clear, there was no need for unnecessary arguments. Yongzheng ordered, "Change the name as soon as possible!"
Prince Cheng Yunzhi immediately went to meet Lao Ba and read out the decree. Lao Ba felt it was funny to hear that he was asked to change his name, and he couldn't help laughing.
Just after laughing a few times, Prince Cheng Yunzhi shouted: "You have offended the emperor, which is a heinous crime. What's so funny?"
The Eighth Brother also thought it was not funny. Prince Cheng Yunzhi had always been unkind to his brothers, and since he was in charge of this matter, it didn't matter whether they laughed or not. After thinking for a moment, the Eighth Brother said, "Since I have to change my name, I'll just call myself Aqina."
Prince Cheng Yunzhi was ordered to compile "The Origin of Calendar" and "The Complete Works of Ancient and Modern Books" during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, and his literary skills were extraordinary. Hearing the name Aqina, he could not help but snort coldly.
In Manchu, Aqina means fish frozen in ice. Now the situation of Lao Ba is exactly the same as the name. Since he felt the despair and helplessness of Lao Ba, Prince Cheng Yunzhi turned around and left.
When they arrived at Laojiu's place, they saw that Laojiu's room was low and shabby, but the doors and windows were nailed shut with wooden boards. Prince Cheng Yunzhi was once again convinced that Yongzheng was going to kill him.
The one in charge of guarding the ninth prince, Yunlu, was Chuzong, and it was he who was responsible for bringing the ninth prince back. After carefully checking the decree, Chuzong ordered the door to be opened. Prince Cheng Yunzhi couldn't help but laugh and said, "With so many people watching, are you afraid that he will run away?"
"Third Master, that's not the case. The emperor has issued an order." Chu Zong responded quickly.
It turned out that Yunlu was tied with three iron chains and escorted to Beijing by Chuzong and others. He was quite calm along the way. However, when he saw the prison cell prepared for him, he was shocked. He repeatedly asked Chuzong and others to make a petition on his behalf, but was rejected. He also asked the guards for a table, but was not given one. Emperor Yongzheng issued a special decree: "Except for cheap food" to be sent in, "all pens, ink, beds, books, writings, a piece of ice, and a cup of soup" were not to be given.
The third brother saw that the door was already open, so he walked in. As soon as he reached the door, he smelled an extremely unpleasant odor, so he stopped. The room was dark, and there was a sound of chains. The air was mixed with various unpleasant odors, which was like a cattle pen.
"Haha, it turns out to be the third brother." A sneer came from the dark cell.
Since he was recognized, Prince Cheng Yunzhi had no choice but to walk into the room. After getting used to the darkness, he saw a man with dishevelled hair and dirty face, locked in the room with two chains.
Seeing the miserable state of the ninth prince, Prince Cheng Yunzhi sneered and read out Yongzheng's decree. The ninth prince Yunli was so angry that he wanted to get up, which caused the chain to rattle.
"I won't change my name! I already have a name, why should I change it!" The ninth one roared angrily, trying to rush towards the third one. However, the chain gave him limited space to move around, and the ninth one was still some distance away from the third one, and could no longer get close.
Veins bulged on the dirty forehead of the ninth brother, and he shouted at the third brother: "My name is Aixinjuelu Yunlu. No, my name is Aixinjuelu Yinlu, and I will not change my name. Don't even think about asking me to change my name!"
Prince Cheng Yunzhi laughed. The ninth son was rather fat, which was very displeasing to Kangxi. At this moment, he was dirty and excited, looking like a wild boar.
Given the reaction of the Ninth Brother, it seems that he will not agree to change his name. Prince Cheng Yunzhi thought for a moment and said, "We are brothers, and I have to help you. Since you don't want to, I will give you a name. Let's call you Seth Black."
The so-called Seth Black refers to a person who is as disgusting as a wild boar. As for the current appearance of the Ninth Brother, the Third Brother thinks that this name is the most suitable.
After returning to the emperor's palace, Yongzheng was extremely satisfied with the two names and immediately issued an imperial decree to announce them.
In Yongzheng's view, there was nothing wrong with what he did. The Eighth and Ninth were no longer members of the Aixinjueluo family, so of course he had to give them a new name. Otherwise, how could he prove that he was sincere?
Once the imperial edict was issued, all the rumors were no longer rumors, but confirmed facts. In several villages in the capital, there were sounds of brushes falling to the ground, tea cups tipping over, or sighs of surprise and anger. No matter what Yongzheng thought, there were still people who thought differently from him.
Five days later, someone from Huo Chong's side came and delivered something. Huo Chong opened it and his eyes lit up. He showed the thing to the main generals of the Jinan Campaign. Wan Qian from the Intelligence Department almost cheered, "Sir, if it's true, we have won!"
Qian Qing was also very happy. He took the Qing army's plan to launch a surprise attack on Huo Chong and read it carefully, verifying the similarities and differences between the content of the plan and the geography that Qian Qing knew.
Lei Hu was completely surprised, "Sir, can this be trusted?"
“Why not?”
"Willn't it be troublesome if we are so rigid in the battle outside?"
"Haha." Huo Chong laughed. "Lei Hu, when I read history books, I found it very funny that various military operations had to be planned and executed by the emperor and ministers in the capital. Now it's just history repeating itself. I've heard a saying that fools repeat history, while smart people repeat history accurately. That's all."
Most of the people around only understood the vernacular part, and only three of them were really amused and laughed out loud. When they laughed, Huo Chong also smiled mockingly, and the others were influenced by the crowd's emotions and laughed too.
Huo Chong looked at the three guys who were amused by "repeating history". It was not surprising that Qian Qing and Lei Hu laughed, but the third person was a young battalion commander, Hu Yue. Hu Yue was less than 20 years old this year and had an amazing ability to imitate. He could learn anything about war. And he could organize the troops according to what he learned.
What the officers in the army have to do is to be able to implement the contents of the drill manual and to follow the various situations described in the drill manual. If the enemy's actions are beyond the description of the drill manual, they must follow what they have learned and find similar content to carry out the operation.
Therefore, the officer who can understand war and fight with the most appropriate means is called a genius. However, the standard for most excellent officers is not genius, but the officer who can execute the combat plan.
Hu Yue is obviously an excellent officer. Compared with a number of battalion commanders who lack even this ability, Hu Yue is already very good.
Huo Chong did not expect Hu Yue to be so good at culture. The reason why he could remember Hu Yue was because Hu Yue made a joke when he started learning on Huo Chong's Zhongfu platform five years ago. He made a mistake in the radical of the character "悦", and the vertical heart radical became the word "言", so "胡悦" became "胡说". So Hu Yue got the nickname of 胡说.
However, since everyone failed to understand the funny part of the joke, the laughter soon died down. Wan Qian exerted the skepticism of an intelligence officer, "Sir, could it be that someone deliberately did this to deceive us?"
"My intuition is that it shouldn't happen. Besides, we are here to surround a point and attack its reinforcements. Is there such a thing that we can use as a reference?" Huo Chong replied.
Huo Chong did not want to let the Qing army escape easily. Besides, it was already June and the crops were about to mature. Huo Chong ran to the north of the base to attract the enemy's attention.
This year's grain harvest is expected to be good. If the enemy cannot cause harm in the base area, the people can be sure to have a good harvest.
As for the reason for asking for 200,000 kilograms of gunpowder, it would be a good thing if Jinan City could honestly hand over the gunpowder. Huo Chong's gunpowder consumption was very high, and even though he had seized a lot, it still felt insufficient.
From any perspective, the Battle of Jinan was necessary.
Furdan didn't know his plan had been leaked, and he spent a lot of effort to organize his troops and boost morale. Meanwhile, Seleng'e in Jinan City sent two groups of people to ask for help almost every day, saying that Huo Chong had already started bombarding with huge cannons, and the government troops on the top of the city suffered heavy losses. If the reinforcements didn't come, it would only be a matter of time before Jinan City fell.
Under such urging, Furdan still held back and carefully reorganized his troops. On June 13, the supplies from the rear had arrived, and Furdan distributed gunpowder and other items before ordering the entire army to cross the river.
Tens of thousands of people crossing the river was truly magnificent. With the determination to fight to the death, Fuerdan and other central troops crossed the river and crossed the Daqing River under the protection of their personal soldiers.
After crossing the river, Fu Erdan carefully commanded the Qing army to move south and go around behind Huo Chong. After two days of marching, they entered the mountainous area. Just as Fu Erdan ordered the troops to speed up the march, a scout came running over, "Sir! We have encountered the enemy army!"
Huo Chong had been monitoring the movements of the Qing army for a long time, and the performance of the 65,000 Qing troops was somewhat beyond Huo Chong's expectations. At least under Fuldan's command, they had the intention of acting as a group.
It was precisely because of the ability of Fuerdan and other Qing army generals that they were able to enter the encirclement perfectly.
Since the Qing army is cooperating so well, what else is there to say? Let’s go!
At the command, except for the two battalions defending the base and the two battalions blocking the city of Jinan, the thirty-six battalions under Huo Chong launched the attack as planned!
The end of the Qing army's three encirclement and suppression campaigns finally began.
