Chapter 278: Unexpected Path (Part 3)
Chen Mingtai frowned as he watched the servant rush in and scream. If the servant had not been so panicked, Chen Mingtai might have been furious, but at this moment the servant was so frightened as if he had seen a ghost that Chen Mingtai could not figure out how to deal with such a situation for the time being.
Just then, I heard footsteps, and a familiar yet unfamiliar figure walked into the study. That person had no golden rat tail on his head, and his thick black hair was more than half an inch long. He looked like he had just returned to secular life... Gao Pang...
Not only did Chen Mingtai gasp, he also exclaimed in his heart, "What a ghost!" Fortunately, Chen Mingtai had read some strange novels, and he quickly looked at Gao Pang's feet, and saw a shadow under Gao Pang's feet.
Still worried, Chen Mingtai quickly pulled Gao Pang to the yard. He saw that the shadows under their feet were the same, and he was relieved. Chen Mingtai complained, "Do you know how many people you disturbed by faking your death?"
Gao Pang laughed dryly but didn't want to apologize. Faking his death would only disturb many people. If people knew that Gao Pang had defected to Huo Chong, these people would not only be disturbed, but beheaded.
Chen Mingtai didn't expect Gao Pang to be so calm at this time. He was unhappy and looked at Gao Pang again and asked, "What are you doing with this strange outfit?"
A quarter of an hour later, Chen Mingtai sat down in a chair, completely speechless. In this quarter of an hour, Chen Mingtai had understood what had happened to Gao Pang in the past two years. Although it was bizarre and tortuous, Chen Mingtai temporarily resolved the doubts in his heart. Gao Pang's unusual growth and inexplicable "drowning" had to be explained in this way.
"Teacher, if Mr. Huo wants to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, someone must stand up and support Mr. Huo first. Don't you want to drive out the Tartars?"
Hearing Gao Pang's words, Chen Mingtai replied unhappily: "Huo Chong is an official of the imperial court, and you are the top scholar. Aren't you afraid of being blamed by future generations for betraying me like this?"
Seeing Gao Pang wanted to say something, Chen Mingtai suddenly got angry and said, "Go away. I won't see any guests today."
Gao Pang knew the teacher's temper, and this time he really offended him. It seemed that he had to come back in two days.
However, at the meeting the next day, Huo Chong ordered an attack on Nanjing. Gao Pang was very surprised and asked, "General, why are you so anxious?"
Huo Chong replied calmly: "We rely on force to fight head-on, and the Qing Dynasty is so stupid. Let's fight quickly and decisively."
Gao Pang wanted to persuade him, but before he could open his mouth, he heard the head of the regiment, Wang Weichang, suggest, "Commander-in-chief, isn't this too careless?"
"We just need to be careful and cautious when marching and searching for the enemy. As for the rest, I know nothing about it. It's useless to be careful about something you know nothing about."
Gao Pang was dumbfounded. This statement was logically correct, but it was a bit too confident.
Huo Chong certainly knew how reckless such an action looked, but talking about a foolproof plan at this time would only be asking for trouble. War was never a clear game of numbers and intelligence, but a human action shrouded in the fog of war. Huo Chong's quick action at the moment was a risk, but the enemy had no idea what was happening. Risks were the same for everyone.
Without waiting for others to raise any opinions, Lei Hu rushed to express his position, "I support the governor. Regardless of other things, we should capture Jiangning, pay tribute to Zhu Yuanzhang, and announce it to the world. As for Jiangning City, why do we have to occupy it?"
"Conquer Jiangning City, but don't occupy Jiangning City?" Gao Pang was shocked by the implication of Lei Hu's words.
Lei Hu also felt that the meaning of his words just now was somewhat inappropriate. Since they had captured such an important city as Jiangning...
Huo Chong interrupted the argument that was about to break out, "Why do we have to occupy Jiangning City after we conquer it?"
Gao Pang quickly advised, "Commander-in-chief, we have put in so much effort. If we give up, all our efforts will be wasted!"
Huo Chong actually didn't think that much. When he was opposed, he answered naturally: "If people survive and land is lost, both people and land will be gained. If people survive and land is lost, both people and land will be saved. We attacked Jiangning to commemorate Zhu Yuanzhang and announce to the world that we have mastered the orthodoxy of restoring China. As for the symbol of China, is Xianyang, the capital of the Qin Dynasty, a symbol? Is Chang'an, the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, a symbol? Is Kaifeng, the capital of the Song Dynasty, a symbol? Orthodoxy is orthodoxy. If the flag is raised first, it is orthodoxy. As for the symbol, my Han army and my Han people are China and the symbol of China. Where we are is China! I will not let so many people die meaninglessly just to save a city!"
A moment ago, the debate on whether to hold on to Jiangning City after taking it was about to explode, but when Huo Chong finished speaking, everyone lost interest in the debate. The meeting even became a little cold.
Huo Chong immediately ordered: "Put forward some ideas for marching and fighting."
If you travel by land from Zhenjiang to Nanjing, it is 200 li. You will have to cross many rivers and take detours along the way. The distance is at most 300 li.
In contrast, the distance from Shanhaiguan to Beijing was more than twice as long. The 600-mile road gave Hong Zhou in the capital an early warning.
Upon learning that Lao Ba was leading his army south, the upper echelons of the capital decided to fight. The middle and lower level officials, whether they were from the Eight Banners or Han people, all said nothing and did not participate in any discussion at all.
This situation was rare. Ortai and Yue Zhongqi failed to defeat Huo Chong, and the Manchu upper echelons remained silent. However, the lower-level officials in the capital launched a round of petitions to severely punish the two.
Hong Zhou was very surprised, but also somewhat relieved. Without these middle and lower-level officials causing trouble, at least he could focus on dealing with the civil war in the Qing Dynasty. Facing the important officials of the Grand Council, Hong Zhou tried to confirm again, "Did Huo Chong really go south? Will he make a feint?"
The Minister of War quickly replied: "Your Majesty, it is indeed so."
Hong Zhou wanted to confirm it again, but he knew that it was meaningless to ask again and again. Nian Gengyao commented that Huo Chong used his troops elegantly, and based on what Hong Zhou saw after he ascended the throne, this was indeed correct. Huo Chong's troops were wreaking havoc in southern Zhili and the Henan Plain. The court thought that Huo Chong would let his troops plunder and destroy these areas completely, just like the Qing Dynasty did before entering the Pass.
However, they did not expect that Huo Chong's troops would not stop, and apart from destroying the Qing government in these areas, they did not cause any losses to the people.
Just when the court thought Huo Chong would go north, Huo Chong actually led his troops south. Every action was not only clean and neat, but also beyond expectations. Now, no matter what Huo Chong did, it would not surprise Hong Zhou.
No matter how powerful Huo Chong is, he can't fly tens of thousands of people from Jiangnan to Shandong. Since it is impossible to predict, it is better to wait and see. Hong Zhou asked: "Who is willing to lead the army?"
Old Fourteen said nothing. He was indeed angry that Old Eight had actually fought with his brothers, but he still refused to lead the army to fight Old Eight himself.
Hong Zhou was also worried about letting the Fourteenth General lead the army. It was not that the Fourteenth General would rebel, but that he lacked the backbone and could not take on the responsibility. Looking at the people in the Military Affairs Office, the only veteran general was General Basai, who had fled back to the capital after being defeated.
Basai did not act pretentiously and immediately pleaded, "Your Majesty, please forgive my crime. I am willing to lead the army this time and make meritorious contributions while serving my sentence."
The reason why Basai was asked to attend the meeting was to let him go to war. Hong Zhou looked at the others, and no one objected. After seeing Hong Zhou's gaze, all the military ministers agreed.
Hong Zhou was satisfied and turned to look at Basai. Although Basai did not dare to tell others how he led thousands of his troops to break through the northern part of Shandong Province, Basai did not dare to lie to Hong Zhou.
It is believable that such a general maintained the tradition of cannibalism when the Eight Banners entered the Pass and successfully broke through by relying on the meat.
Basai soon received Hong Zhou's order and led 40,000 people to Shanhaiguan to fight against the Shengjing troops led by Lao Ba.
With the emperor's permission, Basai immediately reorganized his troops. The Beijing Camp had to defend the capital at this time. Among the 40,000 people given to Basai, 10,000 were from the Manchu Eight Banners, 10,000 were from the Han Eight Banners, and 2,000 to 3,000 were from the Mongolian Eight Banners. The remaining 17,000 to 18,000 were from the Green Camp.
Before the troops were reorganized and ready to set off, Xing Gui came to see them off. General Basai was not familiar with Xing Gui, so he could only treat him with courtesy. Unexpectedly, Xing Gui suggested: "General, if we can find out the true strength of the Shengjing rebels during this trip, it will be enough."
Basai was very unhappy after hearing this, "What do you mean?"
"Haha." Xinggui laughed dryly. "I don't mean anything else. It's just that the emperor summoned me and mentioned this matter. Since the rebels from Shengjing came here at this time, they probably risked their lives. Instead of fighting them to death, we should find out the truth first."
Hearing this, Basai realized that Xinggui was not here to talk nonsense, but to convey the emperor Hong Zhou's intention. This was absolutely correct and it should be so. However, in such a situation, Basai was under tremendous pressure. He had to win the battle. Hong Zhou's informal statement was too important to Basai.
Basai calmed down his boiling mood before answering in a more stable tone: "Lord Xinggui, please go back and report to the emperor. I will remember the emperor's kindness in my heart. I will definitely find out the truth and win the battle for the emperor."
After understanding Hong Zhou's intention, Basai felt much more relaxed after sending out his troops. He headed towards the direction where the Shengjing rebels were coming from along the main road. If the Shengjing troops and Basai's troops fought fiercely on the official road, the troops from the capital could come immediately and launch a fierce attack on these Shengjing rebels. Although this would put Basai in great danger, Hong Zhou treated him so well that Basai decided to fight for the emperor until his death.
After walking for a few days, they heard the news that the rebels in Shengjing had conquered Luanzhou and gathered in Luanzhou. Basai led his troops to the place immediately.
Luanzhou is located between Shanhaiguan and the capital, and is a very important border defense site. However, the Qing Dynasty completely occupied the interior and exterior of the Shanhaiguan Pass, and Luanzhou has ceased to be a border defense site for nearly a hundred years. Although it is still called a prefecture, it is actually regarded as a county. At least this prefecture does not have a county seat under its jurisdiction.
As soon as Basai set up camp near Luanzhou, he immediately sent cavalry to patrol along the roads. After two days, the cavalry found a group of rebels transporting food and supplies. Seeing that there were not many people guarding the food and supplies, the cavalry rushed out.
The Shengjing rebels escorting the convoy fought desperately, but they could not stop the Qing army. In the end, they could only abandon the food carts and flee in panic. However, Basai's troops did not dare to pursue them too much, so they could only burn the carts and food, and then return to the camp with the prisoners.
Listening to the Shengjing accent outside the Great Wall, Basai felt very familiar. His ancestors and fathers all spoke with this accent, which was the accent of the old Manchus. Those who spoke with this accent were real fellow villagers.
Moved by this, Basai was not polite to his fellow villagers. He scolded and interrogated them, and soon found out the true situation of the rebels in Shengjing.
It turned out that Shengjing was going to split into two groups. One group was the Eight Banners from Shengjing, entering from Shanhaiguan and heading straight for the capital. The other group was the Manchu Eight Banners mixed with the Mongolian Eight Banners, coming in from Zhangjiakou. The two groups would attack the capital, making it impossible for the capital, which had a temporary advantage in terms of military strength, to exert its advantage.
After hearing this, Basai still didn't dare to fully believe it and sent out cavalry again.
Since the loss of the grain carts, the Shengjing rebels have been much more cautious. The scouts of both sides clashed many times in succession, and General Basai also suffered a lot of losses. In the end, seven or eight Shengjing rebels from different teams were captured.
After interrogation and forced confessions, the captured scouts confessed that there were more than 40,000 Shengjing rebels who had entered Luanzhou, and it was said that there were still 20,000 to 30,000 in Shanhaiguan. Knowing that Basai was blocking the road, the Shengjing rebels had considered a decisive battle with General Basai.
Basai quickly sent the news back to the capital, and at the same time prepared for a large-scale battle with the Shengjing rebels who had a slight numerical advantage.
Outside Nanjing, Huo Chong's troops were already deployed. General Hangzhou said nothing, and General Jiangning looked embarrassed.
When General Hangzhou was allowed to enter the city, General Jiangning still mocked General Hangzhou harshly, thinking that this guy's idea that Huo Chong would attack Jiangning first was simply incomprehensible.
At that time, General Hangzhou did not argue, but silently endured the ridicule. If General Hangzhou had argued a few words, General Jiangning would probably not be so embarrassed now. What's more embarrassing is that General Hangzhou still hasn't mentioned the previous argument, as if he had never heard General Jiangning say that Huo Chong's target would be Jiangning.
Although he made a strategic mistake, General Jiangning was still unwilling to accept the defeat. He thought that if the general of Hangzhou had not fled but stayed in Hangzhou, he could have taken advantage of Huo Chong's presence at the gates of Jiangning to trap Huo Chong from behind.
There is a strong city in front and an outflanking force behind. Is Huo Chong really that powerful enough to win?
Thinking of this, General Jiang Ning ordered, "Go out of the city to fight!"
The entire camp in Jiangning City immediately followed the order. When General Jiangning saw General Hangzhou, he actually sighed slightly, with a hint of disappointment on his face. He was so angry that he asked, "Do you think we can't win?"
General Hangzhou sighed, "The Green Camp still hasn't arrived. I, the Manchus, can only lead the charge."
General Jiangning's heart skipped a beat when he was told this. This question really hit a sore spot for him. In order to encircle and suppress Shandong, the imperial court had previously recruited troops from the Green Camp around Shandong. After several battles, they lost 200,000 troops, and several more were withdrawn. Many Green Camp troops in the Jiangning area were withdrawn.
Now Huo Chong suddenly arrived at the city of Jiangning. General Jiangning ordered the Green Camp to come quickly, but none of them have arrived yet.
Just as the Hangzhou general said, Jiangning City must send out a full battalion to fight.
It cannot be said that there are no Han troops in the city at all. It's just that the city has been at peace for a long time, and these Han troops are good at guarding the city gates on weekdays, but they cannot be relied upon to fight.
No matter how many Han people died, it would not affect General Jiangning. However, if the Han army was defeated, the morale of the Manchu camp would certainly be damaged. And the people in Jiangning would also be afraid. Therefore, they had to send the Manchu camp, which was trained normally on weekdays, out of the city to fight.
Of course he felt pain in his heart, but General Jiangning still did not recall his troops. He watched as Manying and Huo Chong's bandit army formed their battle arrays in the open space outside the city and approached each other.
Three quarters of an hour later, General Jiang Ning was dumbfounded as he watched the entire camp collapse. From beginning to end, he was carefully watching the situation. The enemy troops on the opposite side did not play any tricks. The government troops formed a musket formation, and the enemy troops also formed a musket formation. The government troops advanced in formation, and the enemy troops also advanced in formation. The government troops launched artillery to fire at the enemy troops, and the enemy troops also fired at the government troops.
In such a clear and distinct battle, the government troops were defeated within less than a quarter of an hour of the actual engagement, collapsing under the fire of artillery shells and bullets.
The general saw that the enemy army's formation was strict and steady, and the firepower was so strong that it seemed like a dream. The Qing army fell down in rows like straw cut by a sickle. Faced with such a situation, the Qing army did not retreat. The shieldmen held up their large shields and let the sword and shieldmen and musketeers hide behind them. At least the Qing muskets could not easily penetrate the thick shields.
The enemy's muskets were less effective when they encountered large shields. There was no longer the situation in the beginning where a row of muskets could knock down dozens of Qing soldiers.
Then the enemy's artillery began to fire fiercely. Every shell that landed in the Qing army's formation exploded immediately!
General Jiang Ning had rubbed his eyes several times, shaking all over, trying to wake up from this nightmare. However, he was unable to wake up from the nightmare, but only saw more clearly what kind of hell the Qing army camped under the city was trapped in.
No matter how powerful the big shield is, it is impossible to stop the cannonballs. However, cannons are not so reliable. Often, they may not hit a target even after firing more than ten shots. Therefore, this kind of casualties should be within the acceptable range.
But the enemy's artillery was fast and powerful, and seven or eight out of ten shells could hit the Qing army's formation.
According to General Jiang Ning's knowledge, even if a solid shell hit the formation, one shell would only injure seven or eight people. He never expected to see an exploding shell. This shell penetrated into the Qing army and exploded at once, killing or injuring a circle of Qing soldiers.
Facing the sharp muskets, the Manchus showed amazing courage and withstood the attack. Under the bombardment of the unprecedented explosive shells, the Manchus could no longer bear it. The formation collapsed, and everyone from soldiers to officers turned around and fled to the city wall, trying to escape back to the city to save their lives.
After the Qing army left the city, the city gates were closed according to regulations. Seeing that the Qing army had already fled to the closed city gates and huddled together, General Jiangning could only order the artillery on the city walls to do their best to stop the enemy army and at the same time open the city gates to let the Qing army enter the city.
Unexpectedly, the enemy army was extremely ruthless, and the shells were poured towards the city gate where the Qing army was gathering. For a moment, the explosion outside the city gate was earth-shaking. General Jiang Ning only felt that the city wall under his feet seemed to be shaking slightly.
Looking down at the city in the smoke, the Qing army had their arms and legs broken and their bodies were scattered all over the ground. The water in the moat outside the city had changed color.
