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Qin Mu was fighting desperately with Ajige on the east bank of the Ju River, and the situation in Wuchang City was not peaceful either.
Zhuge Min, Li Yuan, and Yang Shen, the three "cabinet ministers", together with the "Minister of Revenue" Liu Boquan, the "Left Censor-in-Chief" Bai Tie, the Wuchang prefect Li Mingtang, Wu Jinxi, Du Yinxi and a large number of people rushed into the side hall of the Chu Palace and launched a fierce attack on Sima An and others.
Except for Wuchang prefect Li Mingtang, who has a real official position, the others do not actually have formal positions. But this is not important. Within Qin Mu's system, they do bear corresponding real power.
For example, Liu Boquan, in fact, some people had been calling him the Minister of Revenue behind his back.
The reason why these people reacted so strongly this time was because Qin Mu was trapped on the east bank of the Ju River and something unexpected could happen at any time. They felt that Sima An, He Liang, Shao Hua and others, as military leaders, had an unshirkable responsibility.
Sima An and others were speechless. This time, Qin Mu bypassed the General Staff and staged such a huge battle. He himself entered the dangerous area as bait. The matter was already a fait accompli. The General Staff had to fully cooperate with his battle plan.
But this inevitably made administrative officials feel that this was a combat plan devised by Sima An and others, and the flood of saliva almost drowned Sima An and his companions.
Sima An explained with difficulty: "The battlefield changes rapidly. The Lord made such deployment based on the situation. In order not to affect the situation, we can only try our best to cooperate..."
"Cooperate? Sima An, you must explain clearly today, why did you do this? You watched the adults fall into danger, did not dissuade them, and cooperated vigorously. What is your intention?"
He Liang explained weakly: "The battle report has come from the front. The lord has just dealt a heavy blow to Ajige and killed nearly 4,000 enemies..."
"He Liang! Do you think we know nothing? It is true that you killed 4,000 enemies, but you suffered more than 5,000 casualties. Now Wu Sangui has joined forces with Ajige. The total force is nearly 50,000, and you only have more than 10,000 left. The situation is like a pile of eggs, and you are still sitting there. Why don't you persuade you to withdraw?"
"We can't retreat. The Tartars are watching us closely. If Ajige crosses the river now, he will surely attack with all his might. Our army will surely be defeated..."
"I don't care whether you win or lose, you must get your Excellency out of danger immediately. The Qing Dynasty is powerful and has taken control of the entire Central Plains. It cannot be destroyed in one battle. Now Nanjing has fallen, the emperor has been captured, the whole country is in a panic, and the people of Huguang and Jiangxi are all counting on your Excellency for support. If you make a mistake, the three armies will be defeated, and it won't take long for Huguang and Jiangxi to fall. Can you bear such a responsibility?"
"That's right. No matter what, you must make the adults leave Fanshang Village immediately, immediately!"
"Everyone, please listen to me." Sima An said with a sigh of relief. "Your Excellency has made a solemn oath in front of the soldiers. You will never leave Fanshang Village at this time. Please think about it. Your Excellency has irreplaceable prestige in the hearts of the soldiers because you always keep your word. The soldiers also believe that following you will win. Therefore, our army's morale has always been high. Even if we are at a disadvantage, we can fight to the end. If you leave the army in danger and leave alone at this time, it will definitely be a fatal blow to your prestige. It will be difficult to expect the soldiers of the three armies to be so dedicated in the future. If that happens, I am afraid that Huguang and Jiangxi will not be able to be saved."
"Sima An, according to you, are you going to let the Lord fall into danger?"
"Don't worry, everyone. I have made the corresponding arrangements and will ensure your safety."
"How can you guarantee that? You must explain clearly."
"The General Staff has ordered Liu Fangliang to lead 20,000 cavalry to quickly reinforce you. Li Jiu's 3,000 troops will also arrive at the west bank tomorrow morning. In addition, Zhu Yijin has been arranged to lead his men to the west bank to provide covert support. If the battle situation is unfavorable, immediately tie you up and take you to the west bank, and then Zhu Yijin will escort you back to Wuchang."
"Sima An, I will trust you for once. If anything happens to you, we will find you and kill you."
****
Qin Mu quickly received a report from Yan Gaofei about the situation in Wuchang. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Fortunately, his officials were rational and restrained. Otherwise, they would have quarreled endlessly over this matter, paralyzed the military and political affairs, and his entire army would have been wiped out.
But Qin Mu no longer had time to think about these things. He had managed to win by chance last time, and now the most difficult moment had just begun.
Although Ajige suffered 3,800 casualties, after joining forces with Wu Sangui, the total force was still close to 50,000, and they were rushing towards Fanshang Village with murderous intent.
In the last battle, the actual casualties of the Qin army were more than those of the Tartars, reaching 5,200. However, the casualties of the Qing army were real "deaths", because after the great defeat, most of the injured became prisoners. The Qin army could not even save their own wounded, so how could they care about saving them? They were just waiting to die.
On the Qin side, many wounded soldiers had the opportunity to return to the battlefield after treatment and became the most valuable veterans. In this way, the actual death toll of the Qin army was less than that of the Tatars.
However, these wounded soldiers could not be relied upon at the moment. Qin Mu only had 15,000 combat-ready soldiers left. Facing Ajige's force of at least 47,000 men, the situation was extremely dangerous.
The fastest reinforcements would take another day to arrive. Ajige and Wu Sangui would arrive after noon at the latest. Whether they could survive today would mean the difference between life and death.
"How many shotgun shells are left?" Qin Mu asked.
Zhang Cheng, who was in charge of food and military equipment, immediately replied: "Your Excellency, each cannon is still capable of firing nine rounds."
At this time, the shotgun shells were actually small lead iron balls, so there was no concept of how many there were. After the propellant was loaded, it was directly poured into the barrel and compacted before firing. Therefore, the range was very short, only about two or three hundred steps, but it could form a large barrage of bullets, which had a terrifying lethality to the densely packed cavalry infantry.
Qin Mu originally had two red cannons and ten Portuguese cannons. With the three red cannons captured from Ajige, he now had a total of fifteen cannons.
According to the range of the shotgun, at a distance of two hundred steps, only one shot is enough, and the enemy soldiers will rush in front of you. This is not acceptable.
Qin Mu then ordered: "Cao Taiping, you immediately take 8,000 men and horses to dig more trenches a hundred steps outside the chariot formation and a hundred steps outside the small river on the east side. Do it quickly and dig as many trenches as possible to prevent the enemy cavalry from charging in directly."
"I obey your command." With less than half a day left, Cao Taiping dared not delay and immediately led his men to dig trenches.
Yue Zhongliang, the assistant official, said, "Sir, I don't think Wu Sangui is necessarily determined to submit to the Qing Dynasty. After today, why don't we send someone to contact him tonight and see if we can persuade him to defect."
"We can give it a try, but I don't think there's much hope. First of all, Wu Sangui is extremely hostile to the former Dashun Army. We have already recruited Li Zicheng's troops, and it will be difficult to get Wu Sangui to join them. More importantly, the families of the Guanning Army are now all under the control of the Tartars. Before the overall situation in the world is clear, it is unlikely to ask them to abandon their wives and children and defect."
Su Jin thought for a moment and said, "Sir, there is a passage in the Art of War by Sun Tzu about the use of spies. There are five types of spies: local spies, internal spies, double agents, dead spies, and living spies. If all five spies are used, no one knows how to use them. As you said, it is difficult to persuade Wu Sangui to defect, but Ajige is brutal, rough and unwise. I wonder if we can use spies to make Ajige suspicious of Wu Sangui, and force Wu Sangui to defect."
Qin Mu thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "Su Jin's idea is spot on. Let's discuss how to use spies to achieve this effect."
Cui Sheng immediately said: "Sir, we have thousands of wounded Tartar soldiers in our hands. We can use them as sowing discord."
"Well, I'm afraid this kind of counter-espionage alone won't work immediately."
Liu Yongzhi then said: "A big reward will surely bring courage. Sir, you can use both dead spies and double spies. You can write a letter to Wu Sangui and have the dead spies deliver it."
Qin Mu was quite interested when he heard this, and then asked: "Everyone, think about it, is there anything else to add?"
Su Jin pondered and said, "Sir, you can still use the main room."
"What is Mingjian?"
"If the Qing army launches an attack in the afternoon, we can kill as many Tartars as possible and as few Guanning troops as possible, so as to give Ajige a preconceived suspicion. When the subsequent double agents and dead agents are deployed together, the possibility of Ajige being fooled will certainly increase greatly."
"Well, this is something we can consider, but the enemy is three times as large as us, and we may not have a chance to do so under the fierce attack."
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ps: It’s March 3rd again, kites are flying all over the sky, and some friends have made an appointment to watch a folk song competition. I’m not going because I want to keep updating and work hard.
I hope you will give me more encouragement, rewards and monthly votes. Your support is my motivation!
... (To be continued...)
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