Dashun Yongchang

Faced with the hint brought by Luo Luohong and Shang Kexi through the messenger, if they don't have reinforcements to help them defend Kaocheng, then they may have to give up Kaocheng. Man Dahai, Tongbo and Tuo obviously can't afford it. responsible.

After all, they also know very well that Kaocheng is the key point connecting with the army of the East Road. If Kaocheng can be defended, then the area of ​​activities of the Shun Army will be further compressed, and most of Henan will be truly controlled by the Qing Dynasty. up.Judging from the changes in the area controlled by the Qing Dynasty and the Shun army brought about by the defense of Kaocheng, the importance of Suizhou City will obviously drop to a higher level.

After discussing with their subordinates, Man Dahai, Bo and Tuo decided to suspend the attack on Suizhou City, and made maintaining the smooth flow between Suizhou and Kaocheng the current top priority.In private, Bo and Tuo also discussed with Man Dahai: "Azig led the main force to the south, but the main force of the Shun army ran to the north. I'm afraid there is something wrong with it. I think we should give Azig a hand. Ge wrote a letter, asking him to bring the main force back to the north, or at least send Wu Sangui's troops back. If we have [-] to [-] troops gathered here, even if there are any plots by the Shun Army, it is impossible to succeed."

Man Dahai followed Bohetuo's suggestion and sent a messenger to Chenzhou on January [-], asking Azig to return north with his army.At the same time, the Qing army outside Suizhou City began to stop attacking the city, and instead dug long trenches outside the city, as if they were going to carry out a long-term siege.

Chen Yongfu in the city saw the changes in the Qing army outside the city, and immediately said to his subordinates: "The Qing army has just entered the pass, and there is no stable rear in the pass. Only by plundering local supplies can the war be sustained. Once they fall into a long-term siege, they will not be far from failure.

Now the Qing army is uncharacteristically digging trenches outside the city to besiege us. Obviously, some changes must have happened outside. These changes are not conducive to the Qing army, so they want to confuse us through such means.Brothers, the turning point of this war should have come, and then we have to get ready to go out of the city to pursue the Qing army..."

Chen Yongfu's judgment immediately attracted cheers from the soldiers at the top of the city. Most of the soldiers here followed Liu Yongfu from the Yellow River defense line. They have been chased and beaten by the Qing army for more than two months. With Chen Yongfu always encouraging them, these people dispersed long ago.But even so, everyone is still full of doubts about whether they can repel the Qing army.

Now that Chen Yongfu told them that victory was not far away, everyone didn't even doubt it, but felt that their hearts were brightened, as if they saw hope.So when the Qing army dispatched troops and generals outside the city, the Shun army inside the city also began to mobilize troops, preparing to launch an assault on the Qing army outside the city at a critical moment.

And on this day, Liu Zongmin who was stationed at Luogang also received an order from Li Zicheng through the army staff. After reading it, he notified Li Tong and other subordinates to hold a meeting. After telling Li Zicheng's order, he said to the generals: "Next, our army will undertake the most critical task, ambushing the Qing army advancing towards Kaocheng, and intercepting the Qing army fleeing from Kaocheng to Suizhou. From now on, cut off all connections between Kaocheng and Suizhou, except for the army's messengers, no one else is allowed to pass through this area..."

On January 500, the Qing army in Suizhou dispatched [-] people including Mei Le Zhang Jing Jin Yuhe, deputy general Chang Ding, and general Chen Guocai to aid Kaocheng.Before leaving, Man Dahai told Jin Yuhe: "Whether Kaocheng can be defended will be directly related to whether the east and west armies can be combined, so you must go as soon as possible. After you arrive in Kaocheng, you should listen more. In King Zhishun's opinion, he has fought all his life and must have more experience than Luo Luohong."

Jin Yuhe naturally understood what Mandahai Beizi meant. Obviously, this Beizi was very worried about his noble nephew's military capabilities, for fear of messing up the next battle to defend the city.Jin Yuhe agreed with Man Mouth, and assured Man Dahai that he would guarantee the safety of Lord Belle no matter what.

Just as Jin Yuhe was leading the army towards Kaocheng, the siege battle on Kaocheng's side finally broke out.This was about the first time that the Manchus faced the enemy's cannons in the city. After all, the Ming army, who did not dare to engage in field battles with the Manchus, could hardly force the Manchus into the city to guard.

Thus, for the first time, the Manchus experienced the fear of the Liaodong Ming army who once guarded the city being shot by dozens of red cannons.Similar to the shelling tactics adopted by the Qing army, the artillery of the Shun army was aimed at the center of the city wall rather than the defenders on the wall.The biggest advantage of this kind of shooting is that such a large city wall is erected there, and the next firing can be carried out almost without fine-tuning after the cannon is fired.

If it is shooting a moving target, the cannon will lose its position due to recoil after one shot, so it needs to be re-calibrated before each shot.Even for the Shunjun Artillery, which has absorbed a large number of scholars, it is still a difficult problem to calculate the shooting angle.But when the moving target becomes an extremely wide fixed target, shooting becomes easier.

Except that the artillerymen of the Shun Army were not used to it at the beginning, so many cannons were fired together, and at most three or four cannons were fired together during the exercise.The continuous roar from the side made some artillerymen seem too nervous and made mistakes, but with the non-stop loud reprimand of the artillery officers on the side, these artillerymen finally forced themselves to concentrate on their work superior.

When the artillerymen focused their attention on the process of shooting, mistakes were reduced, and the speed and accuracy of shooting increased significantly.The rate of fire of the cannon has been increased from one shot every three to five minutes to one shot every two minutes.It was only after the officer's scolding that these gunners slowed down their firing speed. After all, too fast firing speed would cause too much damage to the cannon.

This time, the Shun Army carried 40 red cannons with a caliber between 6 cm and 12 cm. According to the establishment of an artillery company for every six artillery pieces, there are a total of 7 artillery companies.However, the Shun Army only deployed 4 artillery companies with about 24 artillery pieces on the artillery positions in the northeast.

From 9 a.m. to 10:1 a.m., the Shun army fired nearly 9 shells in one and a half hours, and at least [-]% of the shells hit the city wall.Although the earth wall in winter is harder than in other seasons, it also destroys the buffering capacity inside the soil layer.Therefore, after being bombarded by the artillery of the Shun army for an hour and a half, the city wall in the northeast of Kao City, which was not very strong, suddenly collapsed by more than [-] feet.

This result was unexpected by both inside and outside the city. The defenders in the city thought that no matter how weak the city wall was, it would be no problem to support it for two or three days. This is the first time that the Shun army outside the city has concentrated so much Many red-clothed cannons attacked, and the power of the cannons to attack the city was also underestimated. Therefore, the attack was not launched immediately after the city wall collapsed, because it was not ready at all.

So when the Shun Army organized troops to attack the gap, the recovered Qing army had already completed the temporary fortifications relying on the low walls of the trenches dug in advance in the city, and repelled the first attack organized by the Shun Army hastily. attack.However, although the Shun army's attack was repelled, the panic of the Qing army in the city did not disappear.

Chapter 369

On a high platform built in front of the Northeast Camp of the Shun Army, Zuo Yan and Li Bingdao pleaded guilty to Li Zicheng with flushed faces.

Li Zicheng stood on the edge of the high platform with his hands behind his back and looked at Kaocheng, which was opened by a cannon in the distance. All the wrong examples, and then let everyone learn from them, so as not to fall twice in the same pit.

Mistakes at work are not the problem. The real problem is not acknowledging mistakes, or not knowing where the mistakes are.Take today's siege battle as an example. After all, it is the first time we have used cannons to attack such a city. It is also possible that we have insufficient assessment of the power of the cannons.

Of course, this cannot cover up the mistakes we made in organizing the military to coordinate operations. After this battle is over, you should conduct a post-war review on this matter, and then send it to the general staff to study and explain exactly what went wrong. Bar.

As for pleading guilty or something, this is not discussed during the war. I think you should come up with a new siege plan, and you can't fail again. If the morale of the Qing army in the city is boosted, it will be really troublesome. "

Aside

Bai Bangzheng couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty, now that the city wall has been blown down by cannons to create such a big gap, the Qing army in the city must be in chaos at this time. Maybe they were just lucky enough to repel our army's attack. It's better to let them If I personally lead the troops to charge, maybe they will be defeated."

As soon as Bai Bangzheng finished speaking, Zuo Yi and Li Bingdao also said in unison: "This time, we are not doing enough to dispatch, please give me a chance to lead the troops to charge once, so as to redeem the past..."

Zuo Yi and Li Bingdao also had no choice. Since the establishment of the General Staff Department, they have actually been distributing the power of the generals of the Bo Commander Army. In terms of the staff's attitude towards this new thing, these generals leading the army are actually no different from the generals of the rebel army. They all feel that these staff officers have too much control.

That is to say, it is still wartime, and the existence of the General Staff has guaranteed the supply of troops and logistics for each army, which makes everyone have to accept this new thing.However, the generals have never been less critical of the staff officers in private. They think that these scholars who sit in the room writing and drawing all day are of no use when the two armies are fighting desperately.

Of course, the staff of the General Staff Headquarters cannot accept this view of the generals. In their own view, their current job is to reshape the army, an army that is completely different from the Ming army or the rebel army in the past.

This army will be completely in the hands of the emperor through the General Staff, so as to eliminate the warlord system in the past army.On the other hand, the army will also use the general staff to train reserve talents and compete with civilian officials for various resources, thus changing the Ming Dynasty's tradition of using literature to control military affairs.

With these beautiful ideals in mind, Zuo Yan and other officers who were selected into the General Staff feel that they have as great a future as the General Staff. Anyone who hinders the General Staff and their own future will naturally be marginalized from the army by them. .

Bai Bangzheng took the initiative to invite Ying in front of Li Zicheng. In their view, this was to attack the prestige of the General Staff in front of His Majesty, trying to suppress them with personal bravery, so as to prove that the staff of the General Staff are only suitable for clerical work. This is obviously something they cannot back down.

Facing this scene, Li Zicheng finally withdrew his gaze from Kaocheng, turned his head to look at the generals behind him, and then said softly: "Are we the ones who are in a hurry now? Isn't it the Qing army in the city? We Since the city walls here can be broken down, can the walls around Kao City protect them?

Wasn't our previous plan to open the protection of the city wall of Kaocheng, and then force the Qing army to flee, and finally wipe out the Qing army's established forces in the pursuit?I think this plan is okay, but the speed of opening the city wall is a little faster. Next, of course, we will increase the pressure on the Qing army, rather than rushing to fight them hand-to-hand.

Why use human lives to solve problems that can be solved with cannons?You are all my beloved generals, and I will not let you fight with endangered beasts.Such a tall city wall has been bombed down by cannons, how many cannons can those rushed barricades in the city stop?Bring up the cannon, and fight 'em with shells.In addition, set up my banner to let the Qing army in the city know that I am here, I want to see if they can escape..."

The news of the collapse of the city wall in the northeast quickly spread back to the county government in the city.

Kuruk immediately ordered to his deputy Jiala Erzhen Chuku: "Let our people go to the west gate in batches. You control the west gate and don't allow anyone to approach it. After I take Baylor, we will leave the city immediately."

Chu Ku was still a little confused about the situation, and subconsciously asked his boss: "We're leaving like this, don't we inform King Zhishun and the others? Isn't it safer to walk with King Zhishun's soldiers and horses?"

Kuruk widened his eyes and shouted anxiously: "Are you stupid? It's daytime now, and we will be watched by the Shun army when we go out of the city. Before we talked about breaking out at night, everyone gathered together and ran out of the city. It's safe, running under the eyes of the Shun Army now, the bigger the team, the more the Shun Army will pay attention to it? Besides, King Zhishun's troops are scattered all over the city, and when he gathers his troops and leaves the city, the soldiers in the city will know We are going to run away, what will happen if those left behind mutiny? If Baylor is left here, don’t we still have good fruit to eat?”

Chu Ku finally realized that their master was Aixinjueluo, not Shang Kexi, and losing Shang Kexi was just a reprimand, but if Luo Luohong was left in Kaocheng, they, the guards, would never again It's hard to turn over.

So he hastily accepted the order, and after sending Kuruk away, he immediately called his personal guards, and issued orders to them one by one, letting all the cattle go to the west gate in batches.After this order went down, the county office finally became chaotic.

For the retreat tonight, the Manchu soldiers were resting at this time, and now a sudden order made them get up again, so naturally they looked a little messy.Fortunately, some of the packed items had already been packed, so after a while of chaos, order was restored in the county office.

Thanks to the consistent military habits of the Manchus, no matter where they are, Manchus and Mongols will not mix with Han people. Therefore, only Manchus and Mongols are stationed in the county government. The Han soldiers did not know where these Mandarins were going.

However, Xu Erxian, who was not at ease with the Manchus, sent people to monitor the county government and the West Gate. When he heard that the Manchus were constantly going to the West Gate, he immediately went to Shang Kexi, who was still organizing personnel to defend, and reported to him. this matter.

Shang Kexi was somewhat skeptical about Xu Erxian's report, and he said incredulously: "I understand Rollo Horn Baylor. Although his temper is a little weaker, it's impossible for him to run away."

Xu Erxian stomped anxiously and said: "My lord, can this officer still lie to you? If you don't believe me, go to the county government office now. If Baylor is still there, I won't complain even if you take my head. But If we don't prepare again, will we still leave when they know that the crowd is gone?"

Shang Kexi looked at the soldiers whispering to each other under the city wall, he held on to his beard for a long time, and finally said: "These people below are still willing to defend the city because the king is still here. Let's go, they will definitely find their own way out. If no one helps us hold back the Shun army, then even if we go out of the city now, it will be very difficult for the whole army to retreat."

Seeing that Shang Kexi was still hesitating, Xu Erxian was about to turn red-eyed. Just as he was about to continue persuading, he suddenly heard bursts of cheers from outside the city. Xu Erxian and Shang Kexi listened together, but they heard rumors from outside the city that Here came the cheers of the word "long live".

Xu Erxian's expression changed immediately, and he hurriedly said to Shang Kexi: "This is Li Zicheng's arrival. No wonder the Lushun army has so many cannons in red. It turned out to be the main force led by Li Zicheng. My lord, if we don't leave now, I'm afraid we won't be able to leave now." ah."

Shang Kexi leaned on the wall and turned his head to look to the northeast. Of course he couldn't see where Li Zicheng was, but he could only see a black camp in the northeast.After staring in this direction for a long time, Shang Kexi finally lowered his voice and told Xu Erxian, "We can't all leave, we need to leave some people to stabilize the newly surrendered troops in the pass, and tell them that we are going back to the county government to deploy defenses, so that we can Buy some time to go out of the city. Also send someone to the south gate to inform Ban Zhifu, and ask him to take someone out of the city through the south gate..."

Shang Kexi took Xu Erxian's troops back to the county government to set up defenses. This rhetoric did confuse many people, but Liang Biaoxiang, who was stationed in the east, did not believe Shang Kexi's words.He has also been sending people to watch Shang Kexi's movements. He dare not send people to watch the Manchurians, but it is easier to watch Shang Kexi, because if he wants to take charge of the overall situation, he will naturally be exposed to the eyes of the soldiers. As long as Shang Kexi is still in the city, it means that Manren hasn't run away yet.

When Shang Kexi left the city and returned to the city, Liang Biaoxiang immediately realized that Shang Kexi and the Manchus were about to run away, because Shang Kexi's troops and the Manchus were mostly cavalry soldiers, and these people could not defend the city wall Wouldn't it be suicide to just break through and escape instead of guarding some county office and putting yourself in a desperate situation?

Liang Biaoxiang immediately called a few subordinates, and said frankly to them: "Luo Luohong and Shang Kexi have already run away, do you think we still need to guard?"

These subordinates were speechless for a moment, and it took a while for someone to ask: "They really ran away? Didn't they say they had to stay for at least three days?"

But soon someone said angrily: "Whoa, three days. I spent a lot of money to bribe a Manchurian. He said he was leaving tonight and asked me to prepare early. I didn't expect them to run away at noon." Way to go, these bastards took money and lied to me, damn it..."

Chapter 370

The people around Liang Biaoxiang all looked at the colleague who bribed Manchurians with unkind eyes. Obviously, this guy did a good job of keeping secrets, and he didn't notify everyone when he knew that he was going to retreat at night.Under the gaze of everyone, this person also knew that he had made a slip of the tongue, and quickly shrank his head to defend himself: "I wanted to tell everyone, but I was afraid that it would leak, so I want to say it before I leave..."

Of course, such perfunctory words cannot satisfy the surrounding officers, but Liang Biaoxiang is not willing to go deeper into this issue, so as not to cause conflicts among himself first, he coughed and took the conversation: "Okay, Now that the Manchus and Liaodong people have all run away, we have to discuss a countermeasure first, we can't wait here to be beaten by the Shun army, right?"

Liang Biaoxiang's words finally attracted everyone's attention, and someone responded immediately: "Of course we can't wait here to die, we should express our willingness to surrender to the Shun army as soon as possible, otherwise wait for the Shun army to fight again , we are not necessarily surrendering, but are about to be captured. There are still conditions to discuss for surrender, and what is there to talk about if we are captured?"

The officer's proposition was supported by the majority of people, but there were also people who said worriedly: "Manchu people are running away, but the supervisors in our army have not yet run away. Will they surrender with us?"

Everyone was silent for a while, Liang Biaoxiang suddenly stretched out his hand and made a downward gesture, and said: "If they don't want to surrender with us, then we have to send them back to Liaodong. Zhang Biao, go and lure Lu Ke away." , I brought people to clean up Jin Yukui. If he doesn't surrender, he will also be dealt with. Li Shangshan, you take my pass and go out from the east gate, please enter the city with the army..."

A battalion of Shun troops stationed outside the east gate of Kao City was waiting for the main force to attack the gap in the northeastern city wall, and made a feint attack on the east gate. However, before the main force was ready to attack, the east gate suddenly opened. Then a team of four or five people came out of the city and ran towards their position.

Although the battalion officer Zhang Dan did not know where these people came from, he also knew that these people were obviously not here to attack him, because not only did they not carry weapons, but there was no movement behind them, so he called one of his platoon leaders Said: "Han Shangliang, take a few people up to see, what are these people coming out of the city for?"

Han Shangliang agreed, turned around and called his younger brother Han Shangyi, his clansman Han Hanchen and several subordinates, and then greeted the few people who were leaving the city.The two sides met at a distance of more than [-] meters from the Shun army's position. After hearing the purpose of the Qing troops who had left the city, Han Shangliang returned to the position with the leader and blatantly reported to the battalion commander.

I heard that these people were sent by the generals of the Qing Army stationed in the East City, and they were about to sacrifice the city gate to the Shun Army. They boldly and subconsciously looked towards the main attack direction of the northeast, and found that the cannons were still dragging slowly, wanting to It might take more than an hour for them to start attacking, Zhang Dan suddenly realized that his chance had come.

He called several subordinates around him and asked, "Do you think the Qing army in the city really surrendered, or did they pretend to surrender?"

A subordinate replied without hesitation: "Is there any real or fake surrender at this time? As long as they hand over the city gate, what else can they do to resist us? Unless they really don't want to live, they just want to lie to us Let's go in and die together."

Han Shangliang also took the initiative to speak: "Yes, no matter whether they are acting or not, as long as we control the city gate, the Qing army in the city will be helpless. Now if we take down the city gate, we can directly attack the county government , maybe there will be some cavalry left who didn't have time to escape."

Zhang Dan then made up his mind and said: "Han Shangliang, you take your group of people and follow them into the city to accept the surrender. In order to distinguish between the enemy and ourselves, let the surrendering Qing soldiers tie a piece of cloth on their left arms and take off their helmets..."

When Han Shangliang called his group of people to walk towards the city, Zhang Dan sent people to report to his superiors, and at the same time began to gather his own battalion and prepare to enter the city.

Soon Zhang Dan got an ambiguous order from his superiors, asking him to go into the city to investigate the morale of the Qing army, and to assist the main attacking force in taking Kaocheng.It was a fairly broad order that gave him plenty of room to act while respecting the rights of the main attacking force.Of course, this still did not change the essence of letting Zhang Dan's troops enter the city first.

When Han Shangliang led his subordinates approaching the east gate of Kao City, his brother Han Shangyi suddenly passed him and entered the city gate first. They passed through the city gate and saw a group of Qing army officers waiting in front of the city gate to greet them. Han Shangliang knew that this was a real surrender.

When Han Shangyi saw a group of officers about to salute him, he quickly stepped aside, revealing his elder brother behind him. These Qing army officers just hesitated for a moment, and then bowed down to Han Shangliang who walked out of the city gate.

Han Shangliang pressed the saber on his waist with one hand, and asked these Qing army officers: "Who is the leader here, and how many people are willing to surrender to our army? What is the situation in the city now?"

A tall general of the Qing army came out of the crowd, held his helmet and replied obediently to Han Shangliang: "I am Liang Biaoxiang, the deputy general who defends the east gate, and we have nearly 2000 people here who want to submit to the Marshal's Mansion. In addition, there are more than a thousand people in the south and north of the city who should also be willing to submit to the Marshal's Mansion. I am sending someone to contact them, and news will come soon.

Apart from our [-] people, there are about [-] to [-] Manchus and Mongols in the city, [-] to [-] Han army banners, [-] to [-] Tianzhu soldiers, and nearly [-] local regiments for training.The Manchus, Mongols, Han army flags, and Tianzhu soldiers should have all started to run away. The local regiment training soldiers are not familiar with us, and we still don’t know whether they want to leave or stay...”

Han Shangliang knew that as long as he guarded the city gate, he would have done nothing wrong, but he couldn't sit still when he heard what Liang Biaoxiang said. The city had obviously lost its organization at this time. When the Liaodong Han army comes, a large part can be left behind, which can be said to greatly reduce the burden on the pursuit troops outside the city.

Since joining the army, this life is naturally not as safe as at home. Anyway, it is a risk, why not take a big risk for the credit?Wu Guogui shined brilliantly in the Battle of Cao County, relying on his achievements in defeating the Manchu cavalry unit, he jumped from squadron leader to regiment leader, crossing two ranks at once, but it aroused the envy of many grassroots officers of the Shun Army.

Han Shangliang pursed his lips, and then asked Liang Biaoxiang: "Then, is Vice General Liang planning to hand over his weapons now? Or is he planning to revolt before the battle?"

Liang Biaoxiang looked at the Shunjun officer in front of him in confusion, and asked hesitantly, "What is an uprising before the battle?"

Han Shangliang glanced at the soldiers of the Qing army who were watching him around the city gate, and then raised his voice and said, "Putting down your weapons now can only be considered as your fault in this war. You should be held accountable. But if you take up arms to fight back against the Manchus and Han troops who refused to surrender, then the Marshal's Office will recognize your achievements and will not hold you accountable for the war crimes you committed before.

Now the Manchus in the city and the Liaodong Han army have fled in a hurry. If you can keep some people behind, it can be regarded as an uprising before the battle.So are you going to revolt, or surrender? "

The surrounding generals all turned their attention to Liang Biaoxiang, Liang Biaoxiang just nodded after a few breaths of silence and said: "Of course our army is willing to serve the Marshal's Mansion, but after your army enters the city, how will you separate us from those who refuse to surrender?" The army of the army is divided..."

Ban Zhifu, the commander-in-chief standing at the head of the south gate, was waiting for his subordinates to gather at the south gate from various parts of the south city. Suddenly, he heard shouts of killing coming from the east, middle, and north of the city. Looking at the streets in the city from the pillars of the gate tower, he said in surprise, "How can there be fighting in the city? The Shun army entered the city so soon? It's impossible..."

It didn't take long for him to be surprised, guerrilla Zhang Xingyao led a few people and ran over from the north of Nanmen Street, towards the wall on the city wall.

Ban Zhifu shouted: "Master Zongbing is not good. The Han army in the pass has rebelled. They said we will throw them to the Shun army and run away on their own. Now the native soldiers in Henan are not willing to obey orders. Our army The soldiers were blocked in the streets by these Han troops, and they can't withdraw now..."

After hearing this, Ban Zhifu was shocked and said, "Then where are the prince and Xu Zongbing? Have you seen them?"

Zhang Xingyao was stunned for a moment before replying: "My lord and Mr. Xu should go to the west gate. The ones who are stopped now are all the troops carrying the luggage. Otherwise, we don't want those luggage."

Ban Zhifu said angrily: "People can't starve to death if they don't eat one meal or two, can a horse run without eating one meal? You have to grab some, otherwise, are you going to walk to Suizhou?"

In fact, Ban Zhifu still had a bigger worry in his heart. It was hard to say whether they could evacuate to Suizhou smoothly when Li Zicheng appeared here.If you want to detour to other places, then the place that looks a little safer is Zhengzhou, four or five hundred miles away.If there is no luggage, how many of them can go to Zhengzhou?

The two to three thousand people in the headquarters are all Dongjiang old men. If one is lost, one will be lost. It is difficult to replenish. Even if new troops are recruited, it is difficult to have a high sense of loyalty to this group.The reason why they were able to form an independent army was to rely on this group to maintain it. Even Huang Taiji knew that the Dongjiang soldiers were different from the Liaodong Ming army and it was difficult to digest. Differentiation and absorption.

Under Ban Zhifu's scolding, Zhang Xingyao and Tong Yangmo led more than a hundred people to the depths of the city, trying to rescue some luggage, but at this time, the chaos in the city became louder and louder, apparently joining the rebellion There are more and more soldiers on one side.

Chapter 371

The sudden changes in the city were both unexpected and expected for the Shun and Qing armies.What surprised Shunjun was that some Han troops in the city were so quick and decisive anyway. Shang Kexi, although he expected that there would be chaos in the city when his headquarters evacuated, he didn't expect that his side hadn't left the city yet. Chaos started.

Shang Kexi once wanted to go back to appease the mutinous army in the city, but was stopped by Xu Erxian who grabbed the reins of his horse and said, "My lord, the war has already begun, and it will be useless for you to go back at this time. We can't take them with us, You can't stay and defend the city with them, how can the rebels be willing to give up?"

Shang Kexi looked hesitantly at the place where the sound of fighting sounded in the city, and couldn't help saying: "But we still have a lot of people who haven't withdrawn. They followed me from Guanglu Island to today. Although they are not family members, they are better than family members. If I Leave them here, how will you explain to their families when you go back? Just let go, even if I can't appease the soldiers, at least I will take them back."

But Xu Erxian refused to let go, and said anxiously: "My lord, you can't. If you follow the lord to this day, you are selling your life to the lord. As long as the lord can go back alive, then their death is worthwhile, but if the lord is not It's here, so who will take care of their family in the future? Otherwise, please ask the prince to leave the city first, and let the general go back to save people."

Shang Kexi watched Xu Erxian hesitate for a moment, and finally shook his head and said: "Since this king can't go back, then you can't go back either. Send someone back and tell them to find their way out of the city, as long as they can come back alive."

Xu Erxian and the guards around him breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Shang Kexi can go back alive, then their group can survive. In this chaotic world, how can they survive without the protection of the group.

Just when Xu Erxian pulled Shang Kexi's horse's head and hurriedly walked towards Ximen, Shang Kexi who was sitting on the horse was a little distracted at this moment.As a native of Liaodong who has experienced the transition from rule to chaos and back to rule in Liaodong, although Shang Kexi was not born as a general, he has rich combat experience because he joined the army since he was young.

In fact, most of the officers in Dongjiang Town came from the lower ranks of the Ming army and the Han Chinese who survived the Liaodong Rebellion. These people learned how to fight in the war, rather than having family education like the children of the Ming generals.This also makes Dongjiang Town an alternative in the military system of the Ming Dynasty. The last alternative was the professional army system created by Qi Jiguang, who was born as a general.

In essence, the Ming army is more hostile to alternatives than it is to the Mongols and Manchus, which are unstable factors in the frontier.Because the Mongols and Manchus can only defeat them, they cannot eliminate them, but the alternatives in the Ming army can transform and destroy the tradition of the Ming army, which is the hereditary system.

For the lowest-level military households, this hereditary military service system is of course disgusting, because they are at the bottom of the oppression, not only do not have their own land, but they cannot even choose other occupations except for the army.Although military households can also go to school through the imperial examination, for the millions of military households in the Ming Dynasty, how many people can pass the imperial examination and jump out of the fire pit?

But for those hereditary officers in the army, the hereditary system is a kind of iron rice bowl. Although some places are too poor, the officers are also living in poverty, but at least this is a profession that eats the royal rations. People should live comfortably.

It's like those clerks in front of the yamen complaining to outsiders, saying that not only can't they get much money from this job, but sometimes they have to pay for official property, and even get beaten by the elders. If they really want to take their positions away, he I'm going to fight you hard again.Why?Because the small officials in front of the Yamen are like servants in front of officials and gentry, but they are more prestigious in front of the common people than the county magistrate, because the county magistrate will not personally go to the people's homes to collect state taxes.

The hereditary system in the Ming army has not only become a shackle that binds the vast number of military households, but it is also a hard-core crop for some people. Anyone who wants to move these hard-core crops will be counterattacked by these vested interests.This is why Qi Jiguang will be dismissed from office, and even the Qi family army and military reform plan he left behind will also be abandoned.

Similarly, Dongjiang Town, founded by Mao Wenlong relying on hundreds of low-level soldiers and civilians, is another threat in the eyes of Daming generals.They cannot allow a second Qi Jiguang to appear, so Mao Wenlong must die, and Dongjiang Town cannot continue to exist.This is also the main reason why the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town did not merge with the surrendered Liaodong Ming army after they surrendered to the Manchus. Even in the Manchus, the two sides could not pee in the same pot.

Facing such a military tradition of the Ming Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty that upholds this tradition, the soldiers of Dongjiang Town naturally disliked the Ming Dynasty, because they could not find their place in this country at all, and they could only be slowly forced to stay in Daming. wipe out.Thinking about the fate of Qi's army, no one will be loyal to this shameless court.

After surrendering to the Manchus, although ten years were spent under the suspicion of the Manchus, for Shang Kexi, these ten years were the most stable ten years after the Liaodong Incident.Although the Manchus are jealous of them, they don't need to eliminate them and then hurry up, and this is the bottom line for them to be able to endure.

Of course, although the ten years of silence allowed Shang Kexi and the Dongjiang soldiers to live a rare and stable life, for Shang Kexi, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and others, it was a little dull, and they were in Dongjiang Town before. The years cannot be compared.For those who struggled from a small soldier to a general with their own hands when they were young, an overly ordinary life is actually not suitable for them.

Therefore, they all support the entry of the Nine Kings. After all, most of them are around 40 now, which is the prime time for making contributions.The continuous surrender of the Ming army since entering the customs has further stimulated the desire of these Han generals who surrendered to the Manchus. They are not fighting for the Manchus, but for themselves, because the Manchus simply do not have this The ability to rule a country with a population that is more than a hundred times its own.