***
"King of Pingxi, my master orders you to capture Suizhou City before noon, otherwise you will be subject to military law, humph!"
A soldier in white armor walked proudly into Wu Sangui's tent and shouted in Manchu with an extremely arrogant attitude, as if he was not calling him the King of Pingxi, but the Dog of Pingxi.
According to the Qing army's practice, each Niulu had 10 people as White Bayala, 40 as Red Bayala, and 50 as Black Camp. Later, during the reign of Huang Taiji, the Red Bayala was abolished, but the White Bayala was still retained.
Baibaiyala is also known as the white-armored soldier. Wearing mercury armor, killing people without hesitation, it can be said that only the brave who have fought through the mountains of corpses and seas of blood can become a white-armored soldier;
They were the elite among the elite of the Qing army, and often served as the personal soldiers of senior generals of the Eight Banners and Niulu Zhangjing.
Prince Heshuo Ying Ajige was a tough, arrogant, rude and unwise man, not to mention the personal soldiers under his command.
Before Wu Sangui could answer, the white-armored soldier snorted coldly and turned away.
"Damn it..." Looking at the receding back of the white-armored soldier, Deputy General Feng Peng could not help but curse angrily.
Wu Sangui took off the red hat with flower feathers on his head and subconsciously touched his bald head. As a Han Chinese, he was still not used to the ugly hairstyle of the Manchus.
The hairstyle of the Manchus at this time was not the yin-yang style of shaving only the forehead;
Instead, the entire head is shaved bald, leaving only a coin-sized bunch of hair on the top of the head, which is braided into a rat's tail-like braid. This is the so-called "Golden Money Rat Tail".
Wu Sangui touched the "rat tail" on his head and spat fiercely. Just as he was about to speak, Lieutenant General Guo Yunlong said indignantly: "General, our brothers have been attacking fiercely for most of the night and have only rested for more than an hour. Now we are asked to attack the city again. How can our brothers bear it?"
"Ajige doesn't treat us as human beings at all. Ever since the pursuit of Li the thief began in the capital, he has always let us rush to the front. Now, nearly half of our 40,000 brothers have been killed. The Manchus simply want to take the opportunity to weaken us. If this continues, I'm afraid our troops will be wiped out." Another lieutenant general, Hu Shouliang, also said angrily.
"Shut up!" Wu Sangui shouted, "Li the thief has a grudge against Youhe for killing my father and stealing my wife. I will never reconcile with Li the thief. I, Wu Sangui, swear not to be a man if I don't kill Li the thief. You don't need to say more. You must know that disaster comes from the mouth. Everyone, hurry up and prepare. We must take Suizhou before noon. There must be no mistakes."
Suizhou City was filled with smoke and blood. After days of fierce fighting, nearly half of the 5,000 soldiers of the Dashun Army had been killed or wounded, but in order to buy time for Li Zicheng to move, Tian Jianxiu still gritted his teeth and held on.
With the sound of drums, the red cannons under the city roared again, and huge projectiles whistled and hit the city wall fiercely. The watchtower, which had already been ravaged, collapsed with a crash, and broken tiles flew and dust flew.
Wu Sangui's more than 20,000 Guanning troops rushed forward again, shouting and rushing forward, like a flood, trying to submerge Suizhou City.
On the hillside north of the city, Ajige stood in front of his big tent and looked at the battle on the city wall. This time he gave Wu Sangui a death order. Taking the opportunity to weaken Wu Sangui was secondary. He was really anxious.
Although he, Dorgon and Doduo were brothers, Dorgon and Doduo were of similar age and grew up together, so they were much closer to each other.
However, he was seven years older than Dorgon and Dodo, and there were some conflicts between them. When Huang Taiji was in power, he found an excuse to abolish his position as the leader of the Plain White Banner. Now he supported Dorgon's regency, but Dorgon had been refusing to return the Plain White Banner to him.
Although he did not appear to have a falling out with Dorgon, he was always unhappy in private. Dorgon knew this, so he was always looking for opportunities to suppress him, openly or secretly.
He and Duoduo attacked Guanzhong in two routes. Duoduo broke through Tongguan first, but he was blocked by Gao Yigong in Yulin. Duoduo broke through the pass and entered Xi'an first, but the credit was taken away by Duoduo.
Afterwards, Duoduo led his troops to sweep across Henan, and was invincible. He occupied the Central Plains, conquered the two Huai regions, and headed straight for Yangzhou. He also forced the surrender of Ming generals such as Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo, and obtained the surrender of 200,000 to 300,000 soldiers. The King of Yan issued an imperial decree to commend Duoduo for his merits and awarded him a sword inlaid with pearls and a golden belt.
Compared with Duoduo, although Ajige chased Li Zicheng like a stray dog, he did not have any outstanding achievements. Li Zicheng's main force was still there, and the cities he occupied from Guanzhong to Xiangyang to Suizhou were only a handful.
For various reasons, Ajige could not delay any longer and had to break the situation as soon as possible to gain greater military merit. Seeing that the defense of Suizhou City was already shaky under Wu Sangui's fierce attack, Ajige ordered the Jiala Zhangjing Jituo beside him: "You take 3,000 troops and help Wu Sangui to break the city as soon as possible."
"Yes!" Jito responded and immediately went to check the troops.
Under Wu Sangui's fierce attack, the Dashun Army on the city was already at the end of its strength. In addition, Jituo led three thousand fierce Tatars and attacked like wolves and tigers. The situation was suddenly dangerous. Tian Jianxiu was also hit in the left arm by a stray arrow and bled profusely.
More and more ferocious Tatars attacked the city walls, and the Dashun soldiers were beheaded one by one. Tian Jianxiu knew that he could not hold the city anymore, so he immediately ordered the city to be abandoned.
At the same time, the explosives buried under the city wall were detonated. Boom! With a loud bang, thick smoke billowed up, and twenty or thirty Tatars who were rushing into the city wall to open the gate to let the army in were blown up into the air, their limbs broken and their internal organs flying.
Although the entire city wall collapsed and covered the city gate, making it difficult to open it again, the soldiers in Wu's army, including Wu Sangui's deputy general Feng Peng, secretly felt refreshed.
The Wu army fought desperately and were about to capture the city when the Tartars came up to take advantage of the situation. They were even scrambling to open the city gate and take the first credit. They deserved to be blown to death.
After taking Suizhou City, Ajige, who was rough and anxious, immediately ordered a pursuit to the south and sent a large number of elite cavalry to gather information.
When they chased to Anlu, they encountered the Dashun Army blocking them. This time Ajige did not hesitate. The elite Qing and Mongolian troops, who rarely participated in siege warfare, rushed forward and attacked Anlu fiercely. They broke the city in half a day.
At this time, news came that Li Zicheng had fled to Huangzhou.
Wu Sangui volunteered, "Your Majesty, Huangzhou is within the Dabie Mountains. Once Li the thief retreats into the Dabie Mountains, it will be even more difficult to wipe him out. I am willing to lead my troops as the vanguard to pursue Li the thief."
"The King of Pingxi is loyal and brave. All right, you should chase him."
"twitter!"
Of course, Ajige would not let Wu Sangui act alone. He sent a Manchu general named Atu with 4,000 Qing troops to follow Wu Sangui and pursue Li Zicheng together.
****
The south of the mountain and the north of the water is called Yang.
The city of Hanyang was originally named because it is located north of the Han River and south of Guishan Mountain. However, a severe flood during the Chenghua period caused the Han River to change its course. In fact, Hanyang is now located south of the Han River.
When the ambitious Ajige led tens of thousands of troops to Jiangbei, he found that there was not a single grain of rice left in Hankou, let alone people. If he wanted to attack Hanyang, he had to cross the Han River; if he wanted to attack Wuchang, he had to cross the Yangtze River.
On the river, six 400-ton Fu ships and more than a hundred bluff ships, sand ships, and eagle ships were on standby, and the black Qin flag was fluttering in the river breeze.
Ajige sent people to look for boats everywhere, but found none, so he ordered the surrendered Green Camp soldiers to cut bamboo and wood to build boats and rafts. They were busy working and were determined to capture Wuchang.
After receiving the report, Qin Mu did not dare to take it lightly. He ordered scouts to monitor the movements of the Qing army day and night and boats to guard the river. This was the first battle against the Qing army and must be fought well.
The Jurchens are invincible if they are less than 10,000. This is the consensus of the people of the Ming Dynasty. Even the most elite Liaodong Army of the Ming Dynasty was no match for the Manchu Tartars. During the Chongzhen period, the Tartars frequently knocked on the gates, as if they were in an empty land. The fear of the Tartars has long been rooted in the hearts of the Ming army and people, and the soldiers under Qin Mu are no exception.
Now, under Qin Mu's hard training, the Qin army's combat effectiveness is not bad and its morale is also very high. However, if this battle is not fought well, it is difficult to guarantee that the Qin army will not develop a phobia of the Tartars like other Ming troops.
Once this phobia develops, it will be a huge disaster for the Qin army. By then, it is likely that a dozen Tartars will be able to chase thousands of their troops all over the place.
During the later War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, many Chinese people developed a phobia of the Japanese devils, so much so that when three or five devils entered the village, thousands of villagers would submit and dare not disobey in the slightest.
Therefore, this first battle must be fought to boost morale and confidence. Only in this way, when facing the Tartars who are said to be as ferocious as evil spirits, will the Qin army soldiers dare to charge forward and fight to the death.
Although Qin Mu had made strict precautions, Ajige was not a fool. Building boats was one thing for him, but he did not expect to cross the river directly with these small boats.
That night, Ajige sent several groups of troops to cross the Han River from the upper reaches. The messages were real and fake, fake and real, and the Qin army was caught off guard.
Finally, the 5,000 elite Manchu and Mongolian troops and 5,000 Green Camp soldiers led by Jituo successfully crossed the Han River at Yazui Beach upstream. At dawn, an army of 10,000 rushed towards Hanyang.
In Hanyang, a bloody battle is about to begin.
.(To be continued..)
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