Chapter 142: Confrontation between the Three Emperors (Part 1)
South Zhili, Xuzhou Prefecture, Pei County
Accompanied by several loud "boom" sounds and the flames spitting out from the muzzle, the ground seemed to begin to tremble.
After the smoke dissipated, the long-disrepaired Peixian city wall in the distance had collapsed with a huge gap.
Upon seeing this, a Qing army officer straightened up from his horse and waved the flag he was holding tightly in his hand. Next, the Eight Banners soldiers who had been waiting for a long time immediately waved various weapons and rushed towards the gap with roars and shouts.
If you are facing a truly strong enemy, such a hasty and indiscriminate attack is definitely not a wise move. However, the Wenxiang Cult monsters stationed in Pei County are obviously not strong enemies. From the time these Hongyi cannons were placed under the city, No more defenders were seen on the top of the city.
It seems that these cowards like chickens and dogs are not worth the efforts of the brave and capable Eight Banners men to deal with.
Also out of extreme contempt for the defenders of Peixian County, several generals on horseback in the Qing army's main formation did not pay much attention to the Eight Banners soldiers who were storming the county seat, but rode straight towards the cannon. Seeing these nobles coming, the dozens of Eight Banners soldiers guarding the artillery array quickly drove away the Ming Dynasty soldiers who were responsible for firing the artillery, beating and scolding them, and made a place for their nobles to stop and stop their horses.
When several Qing generals arrived in front of the Hongyi cannon, they all turned around and dismounted, watching carefully. One veteran even reached out and patted the cannon body and said with a smile:
"...Hey, Heshuo Baylor, this clumsy thing of a Han dog is really useful. When I went out to fight in the past, I was afraid of these cannons! The Ming army's bastards would run away very fast when fighting, but this cannon is really powerful , once it hits, even an iron man can't stop it."
After hearing the veteran's joke, Heshuo Belzier Harang frowned slightly and said warmly: "...Be careful! You can't say this, if it weren't for the castings collected by those Han officials. Gunsmiths and Western missionaries, where did we get such military weapons? ”
Being scolded by Jierharang, the veteran's face suddenly turned red, but he also knew that Huang Taiji was determined to lead the Jurchen Eight Banners to take control of the Central Plains. We couldn't tolerate anyone deliberately provoking conflicts between the two clans, so we quickly bowed and agreed, "... Heshuo Baylor taught me that it was indeed me who made a mistake, and I will definitely remember to change it in the future..."
Looking up and seeing the groups of soldiers pouring into Peixian County along the gap, Jierhalang knew that the big thing was decided, and then he calmly gave instructions: "...these soldiers who are manning the artillery are all from our Qing Dynasty. Those who have meritorious service, please go down and give me some wine and meat tonight!
The soldiers over there passed the message over, and the Han artillerymen who had just been driven away immediately cheered and knelt on the ground and kowtowed in thanks. Jilharang, on the other hand, raised his riding whip and triumphantly taught the veteran beside him, "...You see, as long as you give these slaves a little benefit, they will be extremely grateful. They are there to drill the cannon, and they are there." By charging forward, we Eight Banners athletes will sacrifice less.”
"...What Heshuo Baylor said is true, but after our Eight Banners invaded the Central Plains, the benefits given to those Han officials were too much!"
The veteran general nodded at first, but then continued to complain, "...not to mention anything else, the fiefdoms allocated to Wu Xiang and Zu Dashou, the defeated generals, are better than those of our bannermen. Every Baylor needs more Too many! I just don’t understand! Why did the Great Khan insist on giving Shanxi to Zu Dashou? Even the imperial capital of Luoyang was awarded to Wu Xiang, making one of them the king of Jin and the other the king of Zhou. !
Humph, no matter how much I think about it, I am still not convinced. None of the Eight Banners warriors who captured them at Daling River has been crowned king yet. But the two captives, Zu Dashou and Wu Xiang, were crowned kings first! The Great Khan led us all the way into the Central Plains, fighting life and death, for whom? ! ”
After hearing this complaint, Jirharang couldn't help opening his mouth, but in the end he remained silent - being cautious in his words and actions and not easily offending anyone were Shuerhaqi's consistent principles of life. You must know that his father Shuerhaqi was imprisoned to death by Nurhaci, and his brother Amin is still imprisoned by Huang Taiji. However, Shuerhaqi not only did not suffer, but was promoted step by step. The difficulty is naturally conceivable.
As for the veteran Jurchen general who seems to be arrogant and always complaining, his name is Aixinjueluo. Abatai is Nurhachi's seventh son, and he is still Huang Taiji's elder brother - Huang Taiji is Nurhachi's eighth son.
However, the Jurchen clan has always had the tradition that children are valued by their mothers. Because Abatai was born as a commoner and his mother's clan was relatively humble, his status was very low. When Huang Taiji first ascended the throne, he thought he would be named Heshuo Baylor. Who would have thought that he would only be awarded the ordinary title of Baylor. As a result, Abate was very dissatisfied and complained a lot overtly and secretly. , after reaching Huang Taiji’s ears, the Khan was naturally very unhappy.
However, Abatai has the status of a royal family, and because of his low status, he does not pose a threat to Huang Taiji's throne. So even though Huang Taiji knew that this guy was constantly complaining about him, he still held his nose and appointed him. This time when they went south to test the combat power of the Wenxiang Cult monsters, Abatai and Jierhalang were given the responsibility of leading the troops, so as not to allow the three Dorgon brothers of the two white flags to make new achievements and make the Eight Banners unbalanced.
On the other side, facing the wolves and tigers of the Eight Banners soldiers, the Wenxiang cult members in Peixian County who were negligent did not hold on for long. They were dying and surrendering... After a while, the shouts of killing had subsided. . And a series of disgraced prisoners were led out with their heads tied.
Seeing the prisoners of war being escorted out, the Qing soldiers inside and outside the city cheered in unison. Jierhalang and Abatai looked at this overwhelming situation and naturally nodded and smiled... While everyone in this group was enjoying themselves, Jierhalang suddenly turned around and said:
"...Abatai, don't always regard the Eight Banners as your own! Look at those slaves of the Han army, aren't they cheering together too!"
Upon hearing these words, Abatai quickly turned around and found that the Han soldiers who were firing the artillery just now were also cheering. The joy was even more enthusiastic than that of the real Eight Banners soldiers. He immediately spit on the ground with disdain, but after thinking about it carefully, he still didn't say anything unpleasant - after all, the current situation is indeed different from that in Liaodong. .
Then, the victorious Qing troops from all walks of life poured into Peixian County and began to plunder the city in accordance with past practice.
When it came to carving up the scope of robbery, all the Han soldiers were very conscious of being inferior. They knew that the gold, silver, treasures, silks and satins in the city belonged to the Eight Banners, so they set their target on the kitchen from the beginning. ——Although the current situation in the entire Central Plains is not good, in the kitchens of the mansions of the incense masters of the Wenxiang Sect, we still found a lot of salted fish, ham, and wind chicken bacon hanging from the beams.
The above-mentioned harvest made the poor soldiers who had been tortured by hunger for too long overjoyed. In an instant, they swept away the kitchen without leaving a trace of minced meat. Many people carried bacon and salted fish on spears and swaggered through the market, dangling to attract the attention of everyone nearby. There was also someone who was desperately stuffing boiled eggs into his mouth that he got from nowhere, and the bits and pieces of crumbs dyed the beard on his mouth a ridiculous yellow-white color.
However, as the commander-in-chief of this Qing army, the two Belles, Jierhalang and Abatai, naturally did not care about the small pleasures of the lower-level soldiers, and even paid attention to the gold and silver treasures presented by their servants. The wine woman was equally dismissive.
Because, the latest piece of information obtained through torture from the prisoners of Wenxiang Cult completely attracted their attention.
"...The Wenxiang Sect's army has now marched southward to Yangzhou. The defense of Xuzhou's old nest is very empty, but there is a lot of gold, silver, grain and rice accumulated in the city?"
Ji'erharang and Abatai exchanged glances with each other. Although their expressions were relatively calm, their hearts were full of enthusiasm, and they were even eager to try out the extraordinary achievements that Dorgon had just accomplished in Henan not long ago. Maybe they can do it in Nanzhili?
However, as a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty, of course he could not take matters into his own hands - "...Such military and national events must be reported to the Great Khan quickly!"
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In late May of the sixth year of Chongzhen, after sweeping away the remnants of the Ming army in Shandong, a vanguard of the Qing army continued southward along the canal, entered the area of influence of the Wenxiang Sect in South Zhili, and made a surprise attack on Peixian County, and then swept away the Next, the Wenxiang Cult demons entrenched in the county town died or surrendered.
After careful interrogation of the prisoners, it was learned that because the Ming army had recently abandoned the land north of the Yangtze River and retreated to the south of the Yangtze River, Wang Ke, the leader of Wenxiang Cult, was overjoyed and now led his entire army out to march south to Yangzhou. However, the old camp in Xuzhou, which had hoarded countless grains, rice, gold and silver, became very empty as a result.
Regarding the above-mentioned major military information, the pioneer generals of the Qing Army, Jierhalang and Abatai, did not dare to act independently and immediately sent envoys on Pegasus to Jinan to report the news to Huang Taiji. At this time, Huang Taiji was eager to win a more brilliant victory in order to overshadow the three Dorgon brothers of the Two White Banners. Therefore, after hearing the news, he ordered Jilharang and Abatai to advance quickly. , seized Xuzhou, and personally led the Eight Banners army southward as its back-up.
On June 11, 30,000 Qing troops surrounded Xuzhou. After a day and night of fierce fighting, they completely crushed the resistance of the Wenxiang congregation in the city and seized millions of taels of gold and silver, and nearly a million shi of rice and wheat of all kinds. Even the family members and children of Wang Ke, the leader of Wenxiang Cult, could not escape and were all captured by the Qing army.
After a short rest, Huang Taiji led the elite soldiers of the Eight Banners and continued southward along the canal without stopping, with overwhelming momentum and invincibility along the way.
At this time, Wenxiang leader Wang Ke's "royal driver" had just entered Yangzhou City, which had been abandoned by the Ming army. They were busy looting and showing off their power. Unexpectedly, they learned that there was a fire in the backyard. They panicked for a while and had to quickly gather all kinds of soldiers and horses. They turned around and headed north along the canal in an attempt to rescue Xuzhou.
However, although Wang Ke's Wenxiang Cult members appear to have many soldiers and generals, claiming to be an army of 500,000, there are actually only more than 100,000 of them, and among them, there are only more than 10,000 elite soldiers and veterans who can actually fight. What's even more terrible is that because the old nest was captured and all the family's savings fell into the hands of the enemy, the morale of this counterattack force was extremely scattered, and its morale was extremely low. Many soldiers fled along the way.
On June 25, the main force of the Wenxiang Sect met the Eight Banners soldiers, and the two armies fought in Qingjiangpu. As a result, on the battlefield of Qingjiangpu, the Wenxiang cult members fully demonstrated their nature as a mob. They fell into a state of command failure almost from the beginning of the battle. Then they fled one after another, suffered a complete defeat, and were eventually killed by Huang Taiji. The land will fall apart and the blood will flow everywhere. Even the leader Wang Ke himself became a prisoner of the Eight Banners soldiers.
At the same time, the Eight Banners partial division led by Dorgon also entered Fengyang from Guide Prefecture in Henan and easily annihilated another main force of the Wenxiang Sect.
Next, with the illustrious reputation of winning three battles in Xuzhou, Qingjiangpu and Fengyang, the remaining Wenxiang Sect forces in various places were all frightened to death by the Eight Banners Cavalry. After getting the letter of surrender written by Wenxiang leader Wang Ke after he was captured and surrendered, and having a decent step to climb down, he rushed to surrender to Huang Taiji. More than 20 counties in Lianghuai and Huaihe River that were originally occupied by the Wenxiang Sect were defeated within half a month without a fight.
However, there are also a small number of Wenxiang followers who refuse to surrender. Instead, they support Xu Xin'er, the young daughter of the former leader Xu Hongru, and gather thousands of remnants to continue to defend Haizhou. After hearing the news, Marshal Chen Xin, who was entrenched in Dengzhou, also sent several ships of ordnance to the holy aunt, encouraging them to hold on to the end in Haizhou.
However, in Huang Taiji's view, these guys were weak after all and could not pose a real threat. Moreover, various Qing armies were busy taking over the Wenxiang Sect's large territory and countless wealth scattered in Lianghuai, so for a while He didn't bother to send troops to attack the remnants of Haizhou who were stubbornly resisting.
On the fourth day of July, Abatai led thousands of Qing army vanguards to arrive in Yangzhou, and the entire Yangzhou Prefecture was in despair. Zhenjiang and other places on the other side of the Yangtze River were suddenly panicked. Although local governments ordered martial law, rumors still spread among the people, and officials and gentry were even more frightened overnight.
At this point, the Jurchen Eight Banners, who originally lived among the white mountains and black waters, realized their grand ambition to dominate the Central Plains and drink from the Yangtze River just one year after they invaded Shanhaiguan. Suddenly the world was shocked and the limelight was unparalleled, and he seemed to have the momentum to dominate the world!
As the Jurchen king and co-leader of the Eight Banners, Aixinjueluo. Huang Taiji is about to usher in the most glorious peak of his life...
* A little more reserved. Those Roman generals often only had territory equivalent to a few counties in China, yet they dared to proclaim themselves emperors in a big way, and even went down in history. So I imagined that it would be very interesting if there was an era in China like the "Year of the Twenty Emperors" or the "Year of the Thirty Emperors" where emperors were everywhere.