Chapter 253: The Fourth Defeat (Part 2)
The sound of gunfire rang out from the other side of the Xiaoqing River. Yang Wangfu raised his telescope and looked for a long time before putting it down.
The staff officer immediately asked what the Qing army was doing across the river. The Qing army's movements were very strange, really very strange. You said he was trying to test the Han army's arrangements by the river. The Qing army fired their guns far away from the river bank and was erratic. You said he did it unintentionally, but he was always not far from the river bank.
Yang scratched his head calmly and said unconfidently: "I think they are hunting."
"Hunting?" The staff officer thought for a while and suddenly understood. "That makes sense."
But after saying this, the staff officer felt that he could not believe such a thing and pointed to the green mountains in the distance and said, "With so much food, why do they need to hunt?"
The Qing army did not pick wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger as the Han army staff had thought. These people had never thought of such a solution. Most importantly, these soldiers who came from military households did not know how to distinguish wild vegetables.
General Banlong watched the soldiers in front of him rushing over with two wild boars, so he bent his bow and drew his arrow, and shot a wild boar, which was hit by the arrow and roared. Banlong was very disappointed. He used to be able to seriously injure a wild boar with one arrow, but now he couldn't do it. Is this what happened just because he didn't have enough food for three days?
Fortunately, the Qing army participating in the hunt was so hungry that they attacked again and again, and finally killed the wild boar. The Qing army participating in the hunt cheered and rushed towards the wild boar waving their weapons, as if they had won a great victory.
"Sir, what should we do with this pig?" the soldier asked tentatively.
Banlon replied with a straight face: "I ate them all at once!"
The guard went to call for help with a happy look on his face, and Banlong couldn't help but recall what happened yesterday. Another general went hunting first and sent half a pig. General Basai, the commander of the Northern Army in the big tent, immediately started to curse, saying that he followed Kangxi to the west to conquer Junggar, had nothing to eat, and gave the last bite of food to his master. He got a bowl of water, gave it to his master, and drank horse urine himself.
General Banlong and other generals bowed their heads and kept silent. Since sending a pig to the commander would only result in a scolding, Banlong did not want to offend him. It was more important to finish eating it quickly.
Of course, the pork at this time could not be processed carefully. The fishy smell of the pork was still strong, and General Banlong frowned from time to time while eating it. Somehow, this fishy pork reminded the general of eating lion's head, and drinking boiled water also reminded the general of fine wine.
Those who came hunting with General Banlong were his personal soldiers and confidants. After they ate the two wild boars cleanly, they asked General Banlong what to do next.
With food in his stomach, Banlong was finally able to concentrate on the battle. When the Qing army retreated to the Xiaoqing River, they found that the Han army had already reached the north bank of the Xiaoqing River, and defensive positions had been set up at key points on the south bank of the Xiaoqing River. The more than 10,000 Qing troops were completely unable to break through the Han army's defense line and retreated back to Jinan.
What was worse was that the Qing army had lost their food and supplies, and had robbed the homes of the Han gentry. The food they found was eaten up in just one day. Now there were two major difficulties: one was that they could not win the battle, and the other was that they had no food. Relying on hunting, it was impossible to provide food for more than 10,000 Qing troops.
If you can't win, you can only retreat. You can't go north, you can't go west. The only directions you can consider are east and south.
Now that there is no baggage, the only thing we can consider is to go southeast, to Qingzhou, and then all the way to northern Jiangsu. At least that place is still the territory of the Qing Dynasty.
After coming up with an idea, Banlong went to see General Bassey, and after paying his respects, he asked the general how he planned to deal with the current situation.
"We will go to Qingzhou." General Basai said somewhat unconfidently.
Banlong was delighted. It was the best for the general to say so. If Banlong said it and it was denied, he would have to consider breaking out by force.
After waiting carefully, I heard General Basai continue to say: "Before we set out this time, we heard that Linyi was captured by the enemy army. We can't leave Linyi. Alas..."
If Lei Hu in Linyi heard this, he would probably laugh out loud. Because Lei Hu was standing on the top of the city, watching the Qing army outside the city timidly pushing the siege weapons, and he couldn't help but grinning.
"Why is the Chief of Staff laughing?" Liu Shiwang, who was in charge of commanding the Linyi garrison, asked jokingly.
Lei Hu stopped grinning. Everyone had to be at least polite to Huo Chong's sixth apprentice brother Liu Shiwang.
Even though the upper echelons were well aware of the relationship between Huo Chong's "master" Uncle Liu and Huo Chong, and also knew the origins of Liu Shiwang, the so-called sixth junior brother, they still had to give him the face he deserved.
Lei Hu pointed at the terrified Qing army and said, "These people don't know how to fight. They think victory means capturing some important places and driving away many enemies. Even if we abandon Linyi, it has nothing to do with the victory of the Qing army."
Liu Shiwang thought for a moment and said, "Chief of Staff Lei's speech is becoming more and more like that of my senior brother."
Hearing this, Lei Hu was a little stunned. He didn't know whether this was a compliment or a mockery. At least on the surface, being like Huo Chong was not a bad thing. Of course, it was also possible that Liu Shiwang was mocking Lei Hu for deliberately imitating Huo Chong.
Thinking of this, Lei Hu tentatively asked, "Captain Liu, isn't it good to be like the governor?"
Liu Shiwang hesitated to speak, and finally sighed: "Everyone is different. Why do we have to be the same?"
Lei Hu felt that Liu Shiwang was envious. He even felt a little sympathetic towards Liu Shiwang. The people who should be close to Huo Chong were not Huo Chong's junior brothers, but Huo Chong's apprentices. The eldest apprentice Qian Qing and the second apprentice Yang Wangfu. These cousins were recognized as Huo Chong's confidants.
In addition, I, who came from a foreign land, have already served as the chief of staff. Liu Shiwang has fought under me.
According to the historical records, Lei Hu was a guest official. Qian Qing and his family were not surnamed Huo, but foreign relatives. At this time, the Han regime was actually ruled by guest officials and foreign relatives. However, it seems that most of them were like this when the country was founded. If so, the Han Dynasty had a bright future.
While I was daydreaming, I saw some changes under the city. The Qing army finally pushed the artillery cart into the range of the Han army's artillery fire.
Lei Hu immediately ordered: "Drive back their artillery vehicles!"
Liu Shiwang was a little surprised, "Why not let more of them come in and fight?"
"We are trying to contain the Qing army and make them stop outside the city. Anyway, as long as the other routes are victorious, the Qing army on this route will definitely retreat. Naturally, the later they retreat, the better."
I thought I had made it very clear, but Liu Shiwang actually frowned and asked in confusion: "Since the Qing army cannot defeat us, won't they retreat?"
Lei Huda looked down on Liu Shiwang's judgment and could only try to explain, "Captain Liu, if someone started a fight, blood and flesh would fly everywhere in a short time, and several people would die. Do you think they can keep fighting?"
Liu Shiwang thought for a long time before shaking his head. "This... they definitely can't fight any further. They've already fought all the ones that can."
"If both sides keep cursing at each other, how long do you think it will last?"
"Then we'll have to curse each other for a long time. Sometimes we'll curse for a day or two."
"When we see the Qing army approaching, we will bombard them with artillery fire, just like yelling at them. If we really kill a few thousand Qing soldiers, they will see that they can't continue the fight and will think of other ways."
Before he finished speaking, a scout came running to report, "Chief of Staff, a Qing army bypassed the mountain road and tried to get behind us."
"Let them in. Commander Liu, lead your troops to block them in the mountainous area and annihilate them."
Liu Shiwang asked in a mocking tone: "Isn't this scolding?"
Although Lei Hu was a little embarrassed, he tried to say straightforwardly: "How can I not eat the meat that is delivered to my mouth!"
When Liu Shiwang led his army away, Lei Hu thought of Qian Qing. At least he had a strong city like Linyi to defend, and it would be extremely dangerous for Qian Qing to be surrounded by the Qing army.
Qian Qing didn't feel that she was in danger at this moment. She stood by the canal, looking at the floating bridge that was gently undulating on the gray-green water in front of her.
Collect the wooden boats on the canal, nail iron rings on them, string them together with large iron chains, and then lay wooden boards on them, and you have a very convenient floating bridge. Qian Qing felt that the wooden boards on the floating bridge were a little eye-catching. There were red and black ones. They were quite different from the other unpainted wooden boards.
The engineer battalion commander in charge of building the bridge noticed Qian Qing's gaze and said awkwardly, "There is a wealthy family nearby who has a longevity tree. It looks good."
Qian Qing burst into laughter, and then said loudly: "That's right. It's a good thing to make a fortune by raising the coffin."
Regardless of whether the engineer battalion commander understood the homophonic meaning, he pointed at the canal and said, "Take care of that too..."
It was getting dark, but Ortai and Yue Zhongqi did not go to rest. Ortai looked at the prepared fireboats and praised Yue Zhongqi: "Brother Yue, this is a great idea. The fireboats burned the enemy's pontoon bridge, which will make it difficult for them to finish off their retreat. We can defeat them one by one."
Yue Zhongqi was not so optimistic. "I just hope that God will bless us and we can defeat them in one fell swoop."
Ortai seemed very confident. "They are just bandits. It's impressive that they can build a floating bridge. And Huo Chong is not here, so there is no need to be afraid."
Yue Zhongqi felt a little uneasy after hearing what Ortai said was what he expected. After all, the Han army's actions were equivalent to cutting off the canal's shipping. If it lasted for a few days, it would be fine. But if the Han army blocked the canal for several months, something bad would happen.
The imperial grain was called "Tianyu Zhenggong". The imperial court collected 4 million dan of imperial grain from eight provinces, namely Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Henan and Shandong. Excluding the part that was levied in exchange for other purposes, the actual amount collected was generally around 3 million dan. The imperial grain was the main source of food for the palace, the princes and officials, and the soldiers of the Eight Banners in the capital. Therefore, the collection and transportation of imperial grain was highly valued by the Qing government.
The grain collected by the six provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei was levied rice, which was the main part of the grain tax. It was used as the salary rice for the soldiers of the Eight Banners and the salaries of the princes and officials. Among them, 220,000 dan was glutinous rice, also known as white grain, which was collected from Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou and Taicang Prefecture in Jiangsu Province, and Jiaxing and Huzhou in Zhejiang Province to supply the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Guanglu Temple, and also as the salary rice for the soldiers, eunuchs and princes and officials in the palace and the Forbidden City.
Wheat was mainly collected from Henan Province to be used by the Imperial Household Department, and beans (black beans) were collected from Shandong and Henan Provinces as feed for the horses and camels raised by the officers and soldiers in the capital.
Every year, this large amount of grain was transported to Tongzhou by water, mainly the Grand Canal. After unloading in Tongzhou, part of it was transported to the capital and stored in warehouses. The part sent to the granary in the capital was called "regular rice", which was used to provide rice for the soldiers of the Eight Banners; the part stored in the Tongzhou warehouse was called "gaidui rice", which was used to provide rice for the salaries of the princes and officials. The princes and officials had to go to Tongzhou to collect their rice salaries. Among the above items, the amount of rice for the soldiers of the Eight Banners that entered the Beijing warehouse was the largest, about 2.4 million shi per year.
It was April, and the last batch of grain had been shipped out. The grain came from six provinces: Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, and Hubei. The Han army blocked the canal in Jining. If the canal was closed for several months, the capital would not be able to expect grain supply this year.
In addition to food supplies, all kinds of southern goods and silver also had to be transported via the canal. If the capital had no food and no money, even if they didn't starve to death, they would at least be very miserable.
The reason why he adopted such an unreliable method as fire attack was that Yue Zhongqi knew that once the capital knew about this situation, he would definitely order Ortai and Yue Zhongqi to fight to the death to annihilate the bandit army and restore the canal transportation. At that time, no one knew what would happen.
The fireboats were quietly dispatched. Yue Zhongqi couldn't help holding his breath as he watched the fleet moving further and further away in the darkness, getting closer and closer to the first line of defense of the Han army. He estimated how long it would take for the fireboat team to pass the outermost checkpoint of the Han army.
Just as he was thinking about it, he heard some noise coming from the water. After a while, the noise became louder and louder. Yue Zhongqi knew something was wrong and quickly asked his men to be on guard. After a while, two small boats came back in a hurry.
When the people on the boat saw Yue Zhongqi, they hurriedly reported, "Sir, I don't know what happened, the boat ahead was blocked by something and capsized!"
After a while, some people came back. After interrogation by Yue Zhongqi's men, they were found to be the people on the boat in front. They learned that the Han army had put iron chains in the water. There were also caltrops on the iron chains. After the boats passed, they were blocked by the iron chains, and the people who fell into the water were cut and hooked by the caltrops. There was no way to burn the floating bridge. They couldn't even get close to the floating bridge.
Yue Zhongqi was disappointed, but somehow relieved. At least now he was sure that his decision to avoid the battle was correct. Although he didn't know who the opposing commander was, at least as Yue Zhongqi expected, he was a decisive and meticulous commander. He was very thorough.
Ortai sighed. Yue Zhongqi knew Ortai's disappointment and could only persuade him: "Governor, let's write a memorial to the court."
The news of the canal being cut off was delivered to the capital at the speed of 600 miles. Even the Thirteenth Brother, who tried his best to remain calm, could not keep his temper and cursed. On the contrary, the Fourteenth Brother was angry but kept silent.
Hong Zhou was surprised to see his 13th uncle losing control. After comforting his 13th uncle, Hong Zhou turned his attention to his 14th uncle who had once tried to compete with him for the throne.
His own father had nothing good to say about his brother, who was born to the same father and mother. He was always mocking him. The most positive comment he made was probably that he was "stupid". As for the comment that his uncle was "not a determined person", I don't know what to say.
In short, when this group of adults were helpless, the young Hong Zhou took on the responsibility of persuading them, "It is not yet time to transport the grain. As long as we defeat the enemy army, there is still time."
This is not without reason. The deadline for collecting grain from each province is November every year. At that time, the collectors must stay at the dock, check the color of rice, collect the rice for each ship, and hand it over to the escort officer. The departure date of the grain ship varies from province to province, depending on the distance of the journey. The grain from the six southern provinces is called "Southern Grain". There is a time limit for the southern grain to be transported through Huai'an, which is called the "limit of crossing the Huai River".
Because the efficiency of the canal transportation is so poor, and last year's canal transportation has just arrived, it will take at least half a year for problems to occur.
After hearing this, the Fourteenth Prince spoke up, "Your Majesty, the rebel army must be confident to fight the government army in Jining. I think we should not urge Ortai too much. Ortai was favored by the late emperor, and his brother was killed by Huo Chong. We must trust him."
When Hong Zhou heard his fourteenth uncle say this, he simply asked, "Where is Yue Zhongqi?"
Without waiting for Old Fourteen to speak, Old Thirteen sighed and said, "The money from the canal transportation is the big deal."
