Chapter 259: The Fourth Defeat (VIII)
"What day is today?" Basai asked the soldier beside him.
The soldier counted on his fingers for a while and answered unconfidently: "March 30th? Or April 1st?"
General Basai asked again, "We will start our march south on March 15, right?"
"The general is right." The soldier replied quickly.
General Basai felt that this was the way it should be, but he also felt that it was not the way it should be. If everyone remembered correctly, he had only fought for more than half a month. How could half a month make him become like this? This was simply outrageous!
However, the old general couldn't even be angry. It was only half a month ago that he led 50,000 troops south, but it felt like a month or even longer ago.
Since the siege of Chenzhuang began, they had been retreating all the way. Every day, apart from continuing to retreat southward, they were also preparing for the next day's retreat southward.
Before General Basai could figure out what was going on, his personal guards had already led someone over. When the person saw Basai, he knelt down and saluted, "General, I pay my respects to you."
After seeing this man for a while, Basai recognized him. This man was named Zhou Zifu, a bannerman of the Blue Banner of the Eight Banners of Han, and had fought under Basai before. In this siege of Huo Chong, Zhou Zifu fought on the southern front.
Zhou Zifu did not reminisce about the past. He stood up and said quickly, "General, our general has heard about the current situation. The ferry is ready, and we are waiting to join forces with the general and march south."
Still heading south? General Basai began to feel confused again. Where should they retreat ?
After a moment of confusion, General Basai regained his composure and asked, "Are we going to withdraw across the canal or across the Yellow River?"
Zhou Zifu quickly replied: "Cross the Yellow River! After we cross the Yellow River, the thieves can't catch up with us!"
On the fourth day of April, Yang Wangfu arrived at the north bank of the Yellow River for the first time in his life. Looking at the turbid current on the wide river stretching from west to east, an indescribable feeling lingered in his heart. Yang Wangfu sighed and said, "Did the Qing army eat something wrong? They can run so fast!"
Similar to Yang Wangfu, the Han army commanders who chased to the Yellow River looked exhausted. They set out from Linzi, defeated the Qing army in Chenzhuang , and chased to Xiaoqing River in the north. They chased all the way from Xiaoqing River and chased for more than ten days.
Along the way, they had to deal with the various Qing troops they encountered and pursue the troops led by the Qing commander Basai. The hardship was beyond words.
I thought the Qing army would be too hungry to run without supplies in Shandong, which was a fortified and deserted place. This was indeed the case. Most of the Qing army was too hungry to run.
Unexpectedly, the Qing troops in Basai kept running, and many horses died of exhaustion. The Qing troops simply cut the horse meat hastily and continued to flee south. Basai's troops went the farthest and ran the fastest. In the end, they joined the Qing troops in the south and escaped across the Yellow River.
Battalion commander Wang Weichang, who performed well in the Chenzhuang battle, angrily shouted at the broad surface of the Yellow River: "Basai, if I see you again next time, I will squeeze your balls out!"
This rather frustrated roar was soon blown away by the river wind, but it caused everyone to laugh. For a moment, the atmosphere became much more relaxed.
Basai didn't know that someone was obsessed with his eggs, and even if he knew, he wouldn't care. After such a great defeat, only 5,000 of the 50,000 troops escaped. The rest were all trapped in Shandong. Basai knew that he would be severely punished.
Compared with the pain in my heart, being worried about my eggs was nothing. After crossing the Yellow River, Basai sent someone to deliver the message for the third time, informing the commander of the central route, Ortai, of the current situation.
As early as when he had just contacted the Qing army in the south, Basai had already sent people to contact Ortai. Since he had already lost, he could no longer keep everyone in the dark. As for dismissal from office, or even beheading in public, it didn't matter to Basai. In fact, after crossing the Yellow River, Basai had already considered whether to commit suicide to apologize.
After receiving the notice from Bassay and when Wang Weichang's angry curses disappeared in the river breeze, Ortai and Yue Zhongqi simultaneously proposed a plan to withdraw the troops.
Yue Zhongqi looked stern, but his tone was not as fierce as before, "Governor, let me give the order to withdraw the troops."
Ortai turned pale and replied unhappily, "What a fool! How can a deputy general order a retreat? Brother Yue, I will give the order. I will also write the memorial to the court."
After saying this, Ortai picked up the pen, but the pen was suspended in the air and could not be put down. It was not that Ortai could not read, nor that Ortai could not write a good article. Although Ortai was a Manchu Jinshi, and Manchus were generally considered to be inferior to Han people in knowledge, but the Manchus who could pass the Jinshi examination were not inferior to Han Jinshi, and they were not incapable of writing anything.
After a moment of hesitation, Ortai made up his mind and began to write a memorial. After analyzing his observations and contacts with the 30,000 Han troops over the past month, Ortai had to admit that Huo Chong's men were well-trained. Their offense and defense were very methodical. What was even more terrifying was that the firearms of this bandit army were extremely sharp, and their discipline was even stricter than their firearms.
Since the government troops in the north and south had been defeated, Huo Chong could mobilize troops to reinforce. Without the advantage of manpower, the government troops would immediately fall into a passive position. Therefore, Ortai ordered a certain number of troops to defend Jining, and the rest of the government troops to withdraw to the west of the canal. South of Jining, continue to confront the bandit army.
Finished. Ortai sighed. No matter how he used words, the fact that the Qing army could not continue to fight against Huo Chong's men would not change. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Masters were in charge of the court, and they would not tolerate any sand in their eyes. They would definitely see this fact. At that time, he would be dismissed or imprisoned, and he could only leave it to fate.
The Qing army's movement quickly attracted the attention of the Han army's scout cavalry. Hu Yue quickly found Qian Qing and asked if they should pursue them. Qian Qing looked stern and did not answer. Hu Yue could not help but persuade him, "Commander, why don't we fight again? At least we can get more military merits."
"No!" Qian Qing denied it decisively.
"Why?" Hu Yue asked quickly.
"I can't make sense of it. Nonsense, do you think if the governor were in my position, would he agree to your pursuit?"
"Well...if the governor were here, I would ask as well. But I know before I ask that the governor probably won't agree."
"Why?"
"Well... the governor always finishes a task as quickly as possible. What he hates most is procrastination. I think he doesn't want to make the battle too long."
Qian Qing's brows relaxed and a smile appeared on his face. "You're right! I think I understand."
"What did you figure out?" Hu Yue became interested.
"We are here to fight, not to annihilate the Qing army. Since the Qing army is unwilling to fight and is retreating on its own initiative, let them retreat. We will stop here for now."
"What should we do next?" Hu Yue became interested.
Seeing that Hu Yue's reaction at this time was similar to Hu Yue's reaction when facing Huo Chong, Qian Qing was delighted and even more relieved. "Next, we will not attack Jining yet. We will retreat to the east of the canal and wait for orders."
As the commander of the Eastern Front, Qian Qing made the decision to end the campaign and withdraw from the battle and immediately implemented it. At the same time, he quickly conveyed his decision to Huo Chong.
The memorial from Ortai to the Qing court and the report from Qian Qing to Huo Chong were delivered to the destination almost at the same time. Huo Chong spent a minute to make an assessment of the situation after reading it, and he was very happy.
Seeing Huo Chong's relieved look, Gao Pang couldn't help but ask, "Commander-in-chief, why don't you ask Commander Qian to give chase? If we continue to give chase, we may achieve great results."
Huo Chong liked chatting with Gao Pang more and more. In the Han Dynasty, there were really not many people who could understand the world. Gao Pang was one of them.
Holding up two fingers, Huo Chong smiled and said, "There are two reasons. First, it is already April, and it is the busy farming season. Disengaging from the battle is a very good choice. Second, our army is already exhausted. If we continue to fight, it is hard to say who will lose their heads. I think it is very good that the other side is willing to disengage from the front line."
Gao Pang obviously understood what this meant, but he still asked, "Doesn't the governor consider military merit?"
Huo Chong wanted to see Gao Pang's current level of cognition, so he asked, "Gao Pang, is military achievement a result, a process, or a cause?"
Gao Pang wanted to say the result, but when the words came to his lips, he felt something was wrong. He thought for a long time before answering: "It depends on everyone's purpose."
"That's right. For me, I want to pursue the interests of the Han regime to the greatest extent, and my view of the world is materialistic. Even from the perspective of war, if Qian Qing has 80,000 people, do you think she will let the Qing army go?"
Gao Pang shook his head repeatedly.
"After this autumn harvest, we can expand our army to 100,000. By next year, which is the second year of Kunlong, do you think the Qing army can resist 80,000 people in Jining?"
Gao Pang still shook his head.
"The soldiers who suffered fewer casualties in our army can serve as instructors, carry out land reform, or serve as grassroots cadres. Even if there are no results, wouldn't the families of these soldiers be happy to see their loved ones return home safely from the battlefield? At least in my logical judgment, talent is the most important."
Gao Pang originally just wanted to understand why Huo Chong was content, but he didn't expect to hear Huo Chong's judgment on value. Gao Pang became interested, "Commander-in-chief, if that's the case, why did you teach me?"
"You are one of us and will shoulder important responsibilities in the future. I require you to have such values!"
