Chapter 252: The Fourth Defeat (I)
Ever since he learned that the people sent to welcome the government troops were taken by the government troops to kill Chenzhuang, the master of the Yang family began to feel uneasy.
Master Yang also said that he was not quite sure about the reason for this uneasiness. His first feeling was naturally that those people in the Yang family would suffer. After the government troops wiped out Huo Chong, if these people knew that it was Master Yang who sent people to lead the government troops to kill Chenzhuang, they would definitely resent Master Yang.
After a long period of anxiety, Master Yang remembered that when he was watering the fields in the spring, all the Yang clan members had gone to Huo Chong's side, and hatred rose in his heart. Master Yang felt that he had a conscience, but did the Yang clan members also have a conscience? If they had the least conscience, they would not have gone to Huo Chong, the bastard.
The anger and anxiety in his heart also dissipated a little. However, Master Yang still sent people to secretly watch the battle of the government troops from a distance.
Hearing that Huo Chong's bandits attacked from behind while the government troops were besieging Chenzhuang, the government troops quickly left Chenzhuang and fought a decisive battle with the bandits. Mr. Yang's heart was once again in turmoil, and he immediately burned incense to the Bodhisattva at home, praying that the Bodhisattva would bless the government troops to completely wipe out Huo Chong's bandits.
In the past, Master Yang seldom burned incense and prayed, because he didn't really believe in these things. Reading the books of sages was certainly one of the reasons, but after seeing too many poor people burning incense and praying for blessings, Master Yang no longer had any interest in praying.
After the work group sent by Huo Chong entered the village, they preached to the poor people what Huo Chong said, "If there really is a god in the world, then the reason you are poor is because of the so-called arrangement of the god. Will it be of any use if you pray to the god again?"
Hearing this, Master Yang suddenly understood. Originally, a big reason why he didn't believe in God was because he despised himself for falling into a poor situation. Now he really didn't believe in God. Regardless of whether it was Huo Chong who said that, Master Yang listened to it, because it was consistent with Master Yang's intuitive feelings and cognition from thinking.
At this moment, Master Yang was just like the poor ghost he despised the most , kneeling before the statue of the Bodhisattva and praying devoutly with his head bowed. During the intervals of prayer, Master Yang completely realized how weak, powerless and helpless he was in front of the real strong.
When the strong ones stir up storms and disasters, the result of Master Yang jumping out is bound to be shattered. Apart from worshiping and praying to the more powerful existence in the dark and praying for the protection of the gods, the weak really have no other choice to feel the slightest comfort.
Master Yang humbly continued to burn incense to the Bodhisattva and made a wish from the bottom of his heart that if he could survive this disaster, he would rebuild the Bodhisattva's golden body. Footsteps were heard outside, and before the housekeeper entered the house, he shouted in panic: "Master, Master, it's bad. The government troops are coming."
Standing up, Master Yang was once again filled with a strong sense of uneasiness. He quickly asked, "Why are the government troops coming to attack us?"
Before he finished speaking, he heard someone shouting and kicking the door. Before Master Yang could call on the few remaining elderly servants in the house to be on guard, soldiers had already climbed over the wall and left.
The old servants dared not fight against the government troops, and fled to the corners to hide. The government troops immediately rushed into every house, ransacking and looting.
The housekeeper was so frightened that his face turned pale and he dared not speak. Master Yang was also pale. He intuitively felt that the government troops were probably defeated. They were defeated by Huo Chong's men again.
At this time, the door of the granary was pried open, and the soldiers immediately cheered, "There's food!"
Soon, the kitchen door was kicked open and all kinds of pots and pans were taken out. The scene was in chaos.
In the chaos, some Qing soldiers dragged Master Yang out. A Qing army officer was standing in the yard. When he saw Master Yang, he shouted, "Hurry up and cook for us! If you don't, we will kill your family!"
Master Yang wanted to say something, but he felt dizzy. Ever since he thought of the possibility of the government army's defeat, Master Yang's mind has been dizzy. All his previous efforts were based on the assumption that the government army could eliminate Huo Chong, and now the government army has been defeated again. It means that all his previous efforts and contributions have gone to waste.
After realizing this, Master Yang's mind was completely confused. After listening to the officer's words, Master Yang still didn't understand.
As the officer came up and slapped Mr. Yang hard several times, the burning pain on his face forced Mr. Yang's spirit to reunite with his body.
There was already a knife on Master Yang's neck, "Tell your family to cook! Hurry up!"
Even a child can tell whether a person is really in a state of madness. Master Yang looked at the expression on the face of the Qing army officer and dared not say anything else. He could only ask someone to cook.
The eldest daughter-in-law trembled as she entered the kitchen, and heard the Qing army officer yelling, "When can you cook a good meal for just one person? Let your whole family cook! If you don't cook, I will kill your whole family!"
A few miles away from the Qing army, Deputy Platoon Leader and Cook Squad Leader Fan Sanyuan was leading the kitchen squad to prepare meals.
Fighting and marching, Fan Sanyuan felt his mind was in a mess. He was busy preparing meals here, and the people over there kept urging him to do it. After being the head of the kitchen squad for more than a month, Fan Sanyuan finally stopped scolding people. In the past, he had been bullied by both sides. Fan Sanyuan had scolded the people in the kitchen squad more than once, and he had scolded the people in the company more than once. Every time he lost his temper, he would be criticized, and he was even severely criticized for scolding the people in the kitchen squad, and he was sung the "Three Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention Song" in public several times.
Knowing the hard work of the kitchen squad is certainly one of the reasons why he stopped cursing. Fan Sanyuan also heard from his old battalion commander who promoted him that all officers who want to be promoted must work in the kitchen squad and do a good job. Eating is an extremely important part of marching and fighting. If you can't even take good care of everyone's food, you will definitely not fight well.
When the company sent someone to ask when the meal would be ready, Fan Sanyuan answered, holding a watch the size of an alarm clock: "In five minutes, the steamed buns and the first dish will be served!"
The messenger did not stop, but turned around and went back to report.
Seeing the kitchen staff waving their engineer-sized spatulas to quickly fry, stir-fry and deep-fry in the big iron pot, Fan Sanyuan sighed in his heart that it was not easy to cook a good meal.
After cooking, the meal was served. The kitchen staff had no time to rest. I ate quickly, and then boiled water so that everyone could wash their faces.
After that, the fire must be extinguished, and the stove, kitchen utensils, cooking oil, and food materials must be loaded onto the kitchen team's special vehicle. The main force will then continue to march, and the kitchen team must also follow the main force.
Soon, the company ordered to assemble. Fan Sanyuan also arrived at the assembly site. The battalion commander came to the troops and said loudly: "The superiors have ordered that we should split into different battalions to pursue the Qing army this time. There are troops blocking the Qing army's retreat route, and all places are fortified. The Qing army has ordered to kill all the people in Chenzhuang, and we can't let them go back alive this time! Do you hear me!"
"I heard it!" Five hundred officers and soldiers shouted in unison. The viciousness of the Qing army really aroused the anger of the Han army. In the past, they had only heard that the Qing Dynasty massacred hundreds of millions of civilians. Everyone had heard about it. This time it was confirmed to be true. The Han army from top to bottom had a common idea, to kill all these Qing troops.
It took Mr. Yang and his women two hours to prepare enough food to feed the Qing army that rushed in. Mr. Yang heard someone from the Qing army report, "Sir, we searched the whole village, but we really didn't see anyone."
"Yes." The Qing army officer responded and said to Mr. Yang, "Your whole family should come to transport military rations."
Mr. Yang wanted to die. The so-called military rations were all from Mr. Yang's granary. It was April, a time of shortage, and there was not much food left. The Qing army had taken it all away. Even so, the Qing army did not let Mr. Yang go. They even asked Mr. Yang's family to transport food for them.
It was really unacceptable, so Master Yang begged, "Master, we are obedient citizens and good people. It was my family who took you to Chenzhuang..."
Just as he said this, a well-fed Qing soldier jumped up and shouted angrily: "So it was you who tricked us! If you hadn't tricked us into attacking that village, how could so many of us have died!"
Cursing angrily, the Qing army rushed over to punch and kick Master Yang. How could Master Yang resist? He was beaten to death in a moment. In pain and fear, Master Yang cried out: "God, save me. I really did nothing wrong!"
About thirty miles away from Mr. Yang's house, General Aisin-Gioro Basai, the commander of the northern route of the punitive army, finished eating a dog leg and felt no longer hungry.
The generals and officers following the deputy general of the Qing Dynasty could only eat Shandong flatbreads without any meat, and listen to the general who was full and satisfied asking, "How many wealthy families did you see on the way this time?"
"Reporting to the general, there are four."
"Go to the next one immediately." Basai ordered.
"What about the other armies?"
Basai's face twitched a few times. Fifty thousand Qing troops besieged Chenzhuang. The general thought he could easily win and then let his men kill people to build up their courage. Unexpectedly, Chenzhuang's resistance was so tenacious that the Qing army could not break through such a small place.
After that, Huo Chong sent troops to the Qing army, and the Qing army moved to a place where they could take advantage of their strength. At the beginning, the situation was very good. Huo Chong's army only sent out phalanxes to attack forward, and the entire army could not even maintain a front line.
The Qing army immediately surrounded these scattered bandits and tried to wipe them out in one fell swoop. Unexpectedly, the bandits not only had powerful firearms, but also had incomprehensible command. Each square formation had only four or five hundred people, and these four or five hundred people remained calm no matter how many Qing troops surrounded them.
Facing the attack of the Qing army, these bandits used guns to shoot at the distance and knives to stab at the close ones. General Basai did not know what the strange blade on the bandit musket was used for. After seeing it with his own eyes, he understood that it turned out that if the blade was pulled off, turned around, and the round iron tube under the blade was put on the muzzle, a musket became a pistol.
The Qing army's spearmen and archers could not charge, so it was the sword and shield soldiers who charged. The short spears were long enough to easily deal with the sword and shield soldiers, and the few sword and shield soldiers who risked their lives to rush in front of the enemy army were easily killed.
The most terrifying thing was that after defeating the Qing army in front of them, those square formations did not stop to join other bandit troops, but continued to attack forward. When a bandit square formation broke through the Qing army line, General Basai still thought he could handle it.
Next, two, three, and four square formations of the bandits broke through the Qing army's line. The Qing army could no longer bear it and the battle line collapsed. Although the number of troops was still three or four times that of the bandits, the Qing army collapsed completely first. At first, the armies fled in the same direction, but as they fled, they scattered under the pursuit of the enemy.
Now General Basai can only gather around more than 10,000 people. Although at this time, he should gather all the troops with these more than 10,000 people as the core, but General Basai is actually very clear that if there are five or six square formations of bandit troops chasing him, his 10,000 people will not be able to defeat them at all. They will only collapse into more scattered teams.
Rather than going to such a desperate situation, it would be better to withdraw these more than 10,000 people to the north of Xiaoqing River now.
Just as I was thinking about what to say, a soldier said, "All the troops are heading north. I'm afraid they can run faster than us. The general is at the rear. There's no need to wait. The right thing to do is to continue heading north."
Basai thought this soldier was quite talkative. Before he could say anything in praise, he heard other generals start to agree with him. Basai couldn't help but sneer in his heart. These generals were really spineless!
The commander of the Han army was Yang Wangfu, who had been under the command of either Huo Chong or Qian Qing. Or maybe the battle was too small, and it was not easy to fight a big battle if he commanded alone.
At this time, Yang Wangfu felt as if a fire was burning in his heart, and he led the two regiments to march quickly towards Xiaoqing River. The two regiments marched all the way, almost regardless of their physical strength, towards their destination.
It was getting dark, and the staff officer asked if they should take a break. Yang Wangfu ordered, "Light the torches and leave at night. We must reach Xiaoqing River before the Qing army!"
"Is it really that urgent? Is it unsafe?" The staff officer also became a little worried.
"No, I went back and forth between the two banks of the Xiaoqing River many times. At that time... it was not easy to swim across the Xiaoqing River. I tried it. Without a boat, I couldn't bring anything with me if I wanted to swim across the Xiaoqing River. I could only swim across with empty hands. After we reached the north bank of the Xiaoqing River, we patrolled along the coast. Not a single Qing soldier could cross!"
The staff thought it made sense and agreed with Yang Wangfu's decision. Since they agreed, the staff immediately began to make arrangements according to the rules of marching with torches at night. After dinner, the troops distributed equipment. As soon as it got dark, torches were lit on the road. The deputy platoon leaders of each platoon were responsible for holding torches and walking at the front of their platoons.
The troops were not as quiet as during the daytime march. In each platoon, the deputy platoon leader would shout from time to time, "Watch out for the pits under your feet!"
"Be careful of the pit under your feet!" "Be careful of the pit under your feet!" The soldiers passed the order backwards.
There are signalmen at each intersection who are responsible for giving directions. When they see a team approaching, they will shout, "Turn left!"
Next, the commands of "turn left" and "turn left" were passed among the teams.
The troops had no time to conduct reconnaissance or explore the road. The two regiments of more than 3,000 people relied on the night march regulations to operate. Everyone only did what they were supposed to do and had no energy or mood to think about other things.
The troops walked until late at night and took a short break. The cavalry also acted as a transport team, transporting the kitchen team to the front. The troops stopped in front of the kitchen team one by one. They ate hot meals and drank hot water. Then they walked a little further forward, wrapped themselves in military coats and lay down to sleep for a while.
More than two hours later, they were woken up again, lined up in a daze, holding the drawstrings on the back of the backpacks of their comrades in front of them, and continued walking forward.
At nine o'clock the next morning, the vanguard finally arrived at the bank of Xiaoqing River after a long journey. Just after the troops finished their meal, they saw a fleet of boats on the river. The Cao Gang's fleet arrived as scheduled to transport the troops across the river.
At the same time, the women in Mr. Yang's family prepared breakfast for the Qing army while crying.
The Qing soldiers devoured the food, completely ignoring the women they had raped the night before. Although it was unknown who went first, the Qing soldiers did it anyway. Perhaps they were full, or perhaps they really felt that the atrocities of the previous night were unjust. The Qing soldiers let the women cry, and did not beat or curse them.
After the meal, the Qing army officer who led this team summoned his personal soldiers to discuss what to do next.
They had traveled northwards for a while before being defeated, but there was nowhere to find food along the way. There was indeed wheat in the fields, but it was the time of the lean season. The so-called lean season did not just mean that the wheat was not ripe, but that it was simply inedible.
Seeing that they were starving, the Qing army officers remembered Mr. Yang's house and turned back. They were lucky and did not encounter the Han army. So they calmly rushed into Mr. Yang's house.
So far, the Qing army officer's judgment has been correct. So this officer is very concerned about his vague uneasiness. Whenever he thinks about continuing to go north, he feels a wave of weakness in his heart. But he can't tell why.
Finally, he hardened his heart and ordered, "Let's not go north, let's go northeast!"
I thought the soldiers would give some suggestions, but unexpectedly, after listening to me, they immediately said that there was no problem and they followed their master.
If it was a normal day, the officer would be in a very good mood if the personal soldiers said this. However, today, the officer was extremely disappointed. What he needed at this moment was not subordinates who would obey orders obediently, but subordinates who could hold things up and come up with solutions.
But it was too late. The officer stood up and ordered the troops to set off quickly. His subordinates had personally witnessed the strength of the Han army, so they naturally did not resist such an order. They stood up and took the baggage and the women to the northeast.
The Qing court far away in the capital had not received the news of the Northern Army's defeat. At this time, they were making preparations according to Hong Zhou's little tricks.
Hong Zhou had not yet shown strength comparable to Yongzheng, but this guy probably never thought about competing for the throne since he was a child, so he went for the humorous route. Although his little tricks at this time were not mainstream, they were really useful.
Since the Eight Banners of Jingzhou do not support the Beijing court, but do not oppose it either, let the Eight Banners of Jingzhou send people to persuade Lao Ba, which also gives everyone face to step down.
The imperial court even collected intelligence and found an interesting thing. The eight banners in Jingzhou had always had difficulty in supplying meat, and they relied on fishing and hunting outside the city. After all the wild boars were killed, the situation became even worse, because the local pigs in Jingzhou did not produce much. Without pigs to eat, it would be a death sentence for the Manchus, so they had been complaining a lot.
