Chapter 149, Liaodong Theater Relief Strategy (Part 2)
July 17, the sixth year of Chongzhen, Jinzhou
After a short and not very fierce battle, this fortress city, the core of the Ming Dynasty and Liaoxi defense line, once again changed its owner.
——Like other cities in the Liao region, Jinzhou City's defense force became very empty after the Qing troops entered the country in large numbers. After all, this city is stuck between the Liaodong hometown of the Jurchen Eight Banners and the newly conquered Central Plains territory. It is the only way from Beijing to Shengjing. No matter from which perspective, Huang Taiji would not allow the Guanning Army in western Liaoning, headed by the Zu family and the Wu family, to continue to control this choke point after surrendering to the Qing Dynasty.
Otherwise, as long as Guan Ning's army raises its flag to cause chaos, the Eight Banners soldiers on the Guan Nei battlefield will have no way to return.
If the Jurchen Eight Banners can squeeze out excess troops, I believe they will deploy a heavy military group in Jinzhou just in case.
Unfortunately, Huang Taiji's most reliable Eight Banners elite soldiers, a total of only 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers, were too few to be put into the battlefield in the Central Plains. How could they be wasted in the Jinzhou area where there was no war? Therefore, the strapped Qing government had no choice but to do the opposite and ordered all Guan Ning's troops to enter the pass and not leave any troops in Jinzhou, lest they suddenly raise troops to occupy the Western Liaoning Corridor and cause chaos one day, cutting off the Jurchen Eight Banners' rear. road.
The generals of the Guan Ning Army also readily agreed to this. After making great progress in the Central Plains strategy, they successively took all the generals and soldiers who had followed closely to the south. After all, the northern land is suffering from bitter cold and famines, and the people's livelihood is extremely difficult. For them, the colorful world of the Central Plains in the south is obviously more attractive. Next, as Guan Ning's army gradually gained a foothold in the Central Plains, in order to alleviate the suspicion of the Qing court, the generals of western Liaoning also consciously sold off the farms in Jinzhou and Ningyuan, and then moved their tribesmen into the Central Plains to assist They consolidate new territories.
——In this era that pays attention to clans, most of the superiors subconsciously believe that it is more safe to use their own relatives.
The 21-year-old former Ming Dynasty guerrilla general Wu Sangui, the crown prince of the Zhou Dynasty in the Qing Dynasty, was captured when he came to Jinzhou to organize the inward relocation of distant tribesmen.
Due to some organizational and coordination problems, the Allies did not launch their attack on Jinzhou until nearly half a day after the battle in Shengjing broke out. However, due to the distance, the government in Jinzhou did not receive any early warning information - Martial Arts The flying pigeons delivering messages in the novel are, after all, just legends. In reality, no dynasty would dare to use such "advanced" communication methods on a large scale. As for the beacon tower... Until a year ago, Shengjing and Jinzhou belonged to two countries, and then they became the rear of the Qing Empire away from the war. How could they maintain such a high level of reconnaissance?
When hundreds of soldiers from the Funing Army appeared directly in Jinzhou City through the [Random Gate], there was almost no army to resist in this once important border defense town of the Ming Dynasty, and it was much emptier than Shengjing and Liaoyang— - In order to show sincerity to the Qing court and to show no nostalgia for their hometown in Jinzhou, the Guan Ning Army retreated extremely completely from western Liaoning. At this time, not even a single soldier of the so-called "Guan Ning Iron Cavalry" was left behind. The Qing government only stationed more than 20 Manchu uncles in the city, mostly old, weak, sick and disabled. The able-bodied men who could really fight had all gone to the Central Plains to make a fortune.
As a result, after easily killing a few blind Yamen servants and a number of undercover servants who relied on their own strength, the 5,000 Funing Army led by Chief of Staff Jin Qiude personally took over the entire city almost without a fight. , only less than twenty people were killed in the whole process. Only at the post station in Jinzhou City did the small raiding force of the Funing Army encounter fierce resistance from the highly alert young general Wu Sangui and his personal guards. But this was of no use. When the leader Wu Sangui was entangled in a fishing net and pinned down, the remaining Wu family soldiers had no choice but to drop their weapons and surrender.
In fact, Wu Sangui didn't even figure out what happened until he was knocked to the ground and became a prisoner - because there are still a considerable number of Funing officers and soldiers who have not yet changed their uniforms and are still wearing their uniforms. The Ming Dynasty official army uniforms, and the defecting Guan Ning army had not yet changed into the uniforms of the Eight Banners soldiers, so Wu Sangui and others had a huge misunderstanding, thinking that this was a common mutiny or rebellion in the late Ming Dynasty. Rebellion.
It was not until Jin Qiude, He Dingyuan and other generals from the Funing Army who had come from Liaodong came to check on the prisoners proudly that Wu Sangui was shocked to learn the truth about the attack, and suddenly felt as if his head was "buzzing". , all common sense and concepts collapsed in an instant.
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In the backyard warehouse of Jinzhou Zongbing Yamen, Wu Sangui, who was still a little bruised and swollen, was reading a slogan with still wet ink in his eyes:
"...According to the order of the Chinese League Headquarters and the Chinese League East Asia Republic, our Chinese League East Asia Theater will send troops to suppress the Jurchen Tatar bandits today. This time our army has gathered powerful forces from all over the world to save the people from the sea of suffering. All the people of Li are here to help. Eat pot pulp, To welcome the king's troops, don't act like a chariot. The Jurchen bandits are about to die, and they have to surrender to Huang Taiji. Otherwise, everything will be unpredictable when the soldiers arrive.
Huang Shi, Commander-in-Chief of the East Asia Theater Command of the China Alliance"
Reading this domineering and arrogant statement, in which the Jurchen cavalry was regarded as nothing, young Wu Sangui's mind was flooded with thoughts.
If another military general had written such wild words, he would have slapped him away: How could the Eight Banners warriors be so easy to deal with?
But if it were Huangshi... Wu Sangui had to admit that this guy was really qualified to slaughter the Liaodong Jiannu as cattle and sheep!
I remember that in the Liaodong War during the Tianqi years, from Huang Taiji to Mang Gurtai, Huang Shi's subordinates were all defeated. From the Battle of Lushun to the victory of Juehua Island, the Eight Banners braided soldiers were as fierce as tigers in front of Guan Ning's army. Huang Shi was beaten and beaten in various positions over and over again. Whether it was a field battle, an ambush, or a city attack and defense, the Eight Banners soldiers failed or failed in front of Huangshi's military flag. Even the divorce plan jointly planned by Huang Taiji and Yuan Chonghuan was resolved by Huang Shi. For this reason, the old wild boar Pinurhachi even lost his life in Huang Shi's hands!
When Wu Sangui was still young, he also grew up listening to the legendary battle history of Huangshi. When the Battle of Daling River broke out the year before last, his father Wu Xiang also sighed in private, thinking that if Huangshi was still in Liaodong, there would never be such rampant slave building!
Unexpectedly, although Huangshi is no longer a pillar of the Ming Dynasty, he still leads the army back to Liaodong, the place where he started...
At the end of Tianqi, when Huangshi was transferred to Fujian, the generals of Western Liao Dynasty drove away a competitor. Every great victory Huangshi won in Dongjiang Town reflected the corruption and incompetence of Guan Ning's army from the side. Guan Ning's army, who did not dare to attack the slaves, gnashed their teeth with hatred; but they were also worried that the slaves would be in trouble: Sure enough, in just a few years, the braided soldiers of the Eight Banners had already invaded Beijing!
——Although it was Guan Ning's army who took the initiative to switch sides, get out of the way, and led the Eight Banners soldiers into Shanhaiguan, which caused the city of Beijing to change its owner...
Just when Wu Sangui's mind was full of confusion, his servant came over with a few things and cursed, "...Young Master! Funing Jun is really bullying! I know who you are, but you actually gave it back." Let’s eat coarse food that even dogs are unwilling to chew!”
"...Hey, what can I do? Nowadays, people are fighting for the sword, and I am the flesh of the fish! Uncle Huangshi has no friendship with my father. When Mao Wenlong was still there, there were still many old grievances between Liaoxi and Dongjiang, and his men did not take care of them. If I cut it off, I’m lucky!”
Wu Sangui put down the slogan in his hand and said nonchalantly. The current situation of being a prisoner not only did not make this young hero give up on himself, but made him become particularly pragmatic and good-tempered, "...Do you still want them to treat me like a guest of honor?"
"...So, the Funing Army people said that General Huangshi has entered Shengjing, do you think it is true?" The boy handed the "prison food" he received to Wu Sangui and continued to ask, "... …That’s the hometown of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty. How could it be so untouchable?”
"...This...it's hard to say! After all, that's the Huangshi Huang Gongbao who swept across Liaodong in the past!" Wu Sangui sighed and shook his head, "...Speaking of which, how did Jinzhou City be lost? I'm so confused! At present, the southeast, northwest and northwest of Jinzhou City have already become the territory of the Qing Dynasty. Pan, could it be that these Funing troops fell from the sky? Even if they came from the sea, they wouldn't have entered the city without any movement, right? Could it be that they have an internal agent in the city... eh? It’s actually square and so hard?”
"...I'm telling you, Master, those Funing soldiers really just call this thing grain bricks..."
——It is a pity that the armies raised by travelers from all walks of life in this time and space have not learned much about the People's Liberation Army's tradition of preferential treatment of prisoners of war. They will not have the nobility to give up the only food they have to prisoners of war rather than not having enough to eat. The spirit of philanthropy. Its prisoner-of-war policy is basically similar to that of modern Western armies. Probably because they would not kill prisoners casually unless absolutely necessary, and if there were sufficient supplies, they would try to feed the prisoners as much as possible, that's all.
Therefore, the meals provided by the Funing Army to prisoners of war are military compressed biscuits commonly produced by various travel groups. Specifically, high-yielding crops such as corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes are steamed and dried, then ground into powder, then mixed with a small amount of seasonings and dried vegetable leaves, and finally pressed into brick-like objects by machinery. . Although this thing has the advantages of small size and long shelf life, the taste is really unflattering. It's even tastier than those vacuum-packed compressed biscuits sold in supermarkets in the modern world.
Generally speaking, people who get this kind of compressed biscuits have to use a pot to add water to boil the biscuits into a paste before they can be swallowed. The more sophisticated ones will add some vegetables and game collected locally. However, the soldiers of the Funing Army who were responsible for guarding the prisoners obviously had no intention of cooking for the prisoners of war, and the prisoners who had nothing could not open a small stove themselves. Therefore, Wu Sangui and his close followers could only cook from the backyard well. I poured cold water into it and tried another way to eat compressed biscuits: eating them dry.
I have to admit that for General Wu Sangui, who has been pampered since childhood, this is really an extremely painful experience.
Just when he had a bitter and resentful expression on his face, he wanted to use chopsticks to stab the "grain bricks" in his mouth directly into his stomach with chopsticks. Li Yunrui, the intelligence chief who had been with Huangshi since the Tianqi years, was famous for his extremely shocking sexual orientation and for having raped a mare with a gun. However, he appeared in front of him silently. Wu Sangui was so frightened that he choked and coughed repeatedly. It took a while to catch my breath.
After Wu Sangui finished coughing, Li Yunrui said slowly, "...Xiao General Wu, hurry up and pack up and get ready to hit the road!"
"...What? On the road?!" This word with a double meaning immediately made Wu Sangui's eyes widen again.
Li Yunrui continued to admire his distorted expression for a while with full of bad taste, and then explained slowly, "...Don't think too much, it's General Huang who wants to see you for something! Quickly freshen up and get on the ship. Come with us to Shengjing, uh, no, to Shenyang!”
"...Go to Shengjing?! Have you really knocked down the Jurchens' lair?!"
"...then there is still a lie? The whole Liaodong is ours now! General Xiao Wu, freshen up and change clothes and come with me. Don't worry, it is a good thing for you to go to Shenyang, I won't lie to you. General Huang wants to I want to discuss a business deal with your family..."
So Wu Sangui dubiously followed Li Yunrui out of the city to the seaside, boarded a steam steamer, and then headed east along the coastline, then up the Liao River, all the way to Shenyang. What he saw and heard along the way, especially the piles of braided heads hanging on the trees in the countryside, made Wu Sangui finally have to admit that in just a few days, the huge Liaodong had changed. Owner!
Then, in the Dazheng Hall of the Shengjing Palace, Wu Sangui was received by General Huangshi and held a secret meeting for two hours.
More than half a month later, the dusty figure of Young Master Wu Sangui quietly appeared in the Wu family's mansion in Beijing...
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On the other hand, after hearing the news about the sudden change of hands in their homeland of Liaodong, the Manchurian bannermen in Shanhaiguan were naturally incredulous at first, and then became extremely angry. They immediately gathered their troops and fought back to their hometown outside the pass.
However, before the Manchu soldiers who were determined to take revenge had time to gather from all over North China, they were disrupted by another piece of bad news. ——Commander Chen Xin, who was entrenched in the Jiaodong Peninsula, had been dormant for nearly a year. At this time, he mobilized his troops in Dengzhou Town and launched an overwhelming campaign against the Qing troops entrenched in Qingzhou and Jinan. Attack violently!