***
Providing food to the enemy, this tactic is very familiar to the Dashun Army.
Back then, the Dashun Army roamed around everywhere, destroying everything but producing anything. If they hadn't been seeking food from the enemy, they would have all starved to death.
Although Li Guo's 60,000 men have changed their flags and transformed from the Dashun Army to the Qin Army's Loyal Camp, their signature skill remains.
Ma Yongzhen received a strict order from the General Staff and did not give Li Guo time to hesitate. He issued five days' worth of food and weapons and ordered him to move camp north the next day.
Ma Yongzhen personally led 10,000 Qin troops to support the battle. A total of 70,000 troops marched north out of Nanyang and successively captured Ye County, Xiangcheng, Jia County, Ruzhou, and Song County with an unstoppable force.
The 70,000-strong army suddenly launched an attack. With only a small amount of baggage and a very fast speed, the Manchu general Daur, who was in charge of defending Luoyang, was overwhelmed. He only had 1,000 Manchu and Mongolian bannermen and 500 Han bannermen.
The Green Camp soldiers defending the cities had very poor combat effectiveness and had just surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. When they saw the powerful Qin army, some Green Camp soldiers in some counties had already left the city to surrender before Ma Yongzhen arrived.
Seeing the seriousness of the situation, the Daur sent people to Xinyang and Guanzhong for help, while withdrawing his troops and retreating to Yique Pass south of Luoyang. Yique Pass is located between Longmen Mountain and Xiangshan Mountain south of Luoyang. There is a river between the two mountains, and the pass and the river are locked together. The situation is dangerous. It is the only way to go south from Luoyang and north to Jingxiang.
Whether the 70,000-strong army can capture Luoyang depends on whether they can quickly capture Yique Pass.
***
At Guifeng Mountain in Macheng, Guo Yunlong and Hu Shouliang finally agreed to go down the mountain to be reorganized after Wu Jimin promised to exchange their families for the Tartar captives.
In fact, the 20,000 Guanning troops had run out of food and grass, and could only rely on killing some injured war horses to barely survive, and they could not hold out for long.
However, Ma Yongzhen's war on the northern front had already begun, and the prelude to the entire grand war had already been opened. Qin Mu no longer had time to waste with the 20,000 Guanning troops, so he agreed to exchange prisoners for their families, prompting the 20,000 troops to surrender quickly.
As soon as the 20,000-strong army came down the mountain, Liu Meng and Wu Jimin immediately reorganized it thoroughly. They first dispersed them and then reorganized them with the cavalry of Su Jin and Li Jiu. Generals, assistants, and chief assistants at all levels were placed in the army. While reorganizing and brainwashing them, they publicized the various systems of the Qin army and strictly enforced military discipline.
While reorganizing the Guanning Army, the General Staff ordered Tian Jianxiu to be the commander-in-chief, and Hong Niangzi, Hong Dazhuang, and Liu Tichun to be deputy generals. Zhao Han was appointed as the chief general of the army, leading the 30,000 remnants of Li Zicheng who had been reorganized earlier, carrying two red cannons and eight thousand-jin Portuguese cannons to the north, preparing to retake Wuyang Pass and then threaten Xinyang.
***
Queshan is located on the north bank of the Huai River, with the remnants of Tongbai and Funiu Mountains to the west and overlooking the Huanghuai Plain to the east. It is 150 miles away from Xinyang in the south and is the only way from Zhengzhou to Xinyang.
Dongfang Sheng, deputy director of the Military Intelligence Department, divided 460 men into small groups and set out from Funiu Mountain, rushing 200 miles in two days and nights. After arriving at Que Mountain, they hid.
It was already the second watch of the night, there were no stars or moon in the sky, and it was pitch black. Fortunately, Dongfang Sheng's men had been drinking pine needle water for a long time, which helped them overcome their night blindness. Otherwise, they would not be able to move at all on such a night.
Dongfang Sheng and Gan Nan of the Supervisory Department accepted Qin Mu's arrangement. They led 200 people to Henan, Shandong, Northern Zhili and other places to organize the battle behind enemy lines. In a blink of an eye, more than a year had passed.
When they came, Li Zicheng had occupied Henan and Shandong. Then the Qing army came and the Central Plains was in chaos. Dongfang Sheng took the opportunity to gather some of the scattered Dashun Army and Ming Army soldiers and took them to the mountains to become bandits.
It is not an exaggeration to say that they have become bandits. Now, apart from being able to contact Ye Bushu, they cannot get any support from the rear. They are no different from the bandits who occupy the mountains and act as kings.
However, it was they who took advantage of the Qing Dynasty's military focus moving southward, gathering and dispersing frequently in Henan, Shandong, Shanxi, and northern Zhili, and launched a vigorous guerrilla warfare, which gave Dorgon a lot of trouble.
Tonight, Dongfang Sheng made careful plans and decided to set fire to the Tartars' camps.
It was three o'clock in the morning. Dongfang Sheng touched the pigtail on his head, spat violently, and ordered 460 people in a deep voice to go out in the dark and head straight for Queshan County a few miles away.
Shortly after the third watch, the Manchu general Dai Long, who was sleeping soundly in Queshan County, was suddenly awakened by a violent explosion. Then his personal soldiers rushed in and reported that the east, south and west city gates were attacked by an army of unknown origin.
Dai Long was shocked. He had just arrived at Queshan County at dusk while escorting 60,000 shi of grain and grass, and Queshan was attacked in the middle of the night. This showed that the other party must have planned it in advance. Moreover, the fact that they dared to attack Queshan County, which was guarded by 3,000 troops, showed that their strength must be strong.
The enemy's situation was unclear, and the other side still adopted the siege tactic of surrounding three sides and leaving one side. Dai Long did not dare to take it lightly, and quickly dispatched troops to defend the east, south, and west gates. He also went to the south gate to observe the enemy situation in person. When he found that the enemy under the city was just bluffing, Dai Long immediately felt something was wrong. This was not surrounding three sides and leaving one side, but a feint to the east and attacking in the west.
"Quick, go to the north gate! The enemy is going to attack the north gate!"
Dai Long reacted quickly, but while he was roaring, a shocking explosion was heard from the north gate. Queshan County was not big, and from the south gate one could see a huge fireball rising from the north gate, and could feel the top of the city shaking.
"The north gate was blown open, the north gate was blown open..."
The Qing army on the city wall was shouting in panic. In the dark night, they had no way of knowing how many enemies there were. Once the city gate was blown open, everyone's psychological defenses seemed to be blown up at the same time, because usually in this situation, a tide of enemies would rush in from the north gate.
Dongfang Sheng personally led 300 troops and charged in from the weakest defended north gate. There were shouts and flames everywhere. At this time, it was even more difficult for the Qing army to judge how many enemies there were.
The situation was urgent. Dai Long had no time to think about it. He immediately organized his troops to attack the north gate and engaged in a fierce street fighting with Dongfang Sheng inside the north gate. After all, the Qing army had more people and gradually stabilized the situation. Dai Long even charged forward personally, ready to drive the enemy out of the north gate.
However, at this moment, Huo Fang's food supplies in the city were suddenly ignited, thick smoke billowed up, and flames quickly illuminated the night sky red. Dai Long then realized that the attack on the north gate was just a trick, and the enemy had already arranged for an insider to burn the food supplies.
Looking at the flames rising into the sky, Dai Long attacked the city angrily, his eyes bloodshot. That was a full 60,000 shi of grain and grass. If they were all burned, what would the tens of thousands of troops in Xinyang eat
Dai Long had to send people back to put out the fire, and the advantage he had just gained was lost again. Taking advantage of the chaos in the Tartar army, Dongfang Sheng took the lead and led the troops to counterattack again.
The tens of thousands of civilians who were responsible for transporting food and fodder became the last straw that broke the camel's back. When the food and fodder caught fire, someone started to incite the tens of thousands of civilians: "Everyone, run! The food and fodder have been burned. The Tartars will not let us go. Run! The Tartars are coming back. The food and fodder are gone. If we don't run, we will all die. Run!"
The city was ablaze with flames and cries of killing. Tens of thousands of civilians were already panic-stricken, and now, when they were instigated, they immediately ran away like headless flies.
Dai Long rushed back with more than a thousand men to put out the fire, but was thrown into chaos by tens of thousands of civilians. First, the Green Camp soldiers followed the civilians and fled, and Dai Long led only more than a hundred Manchu and Mongolian bannermen to kill them wantonly;
But during this chaotic night, fires broke out in more and more places, and the fleeing civilians became more and more numerous. Eventually, Dai Long's more than one hundred bannermen were scattered by tens of thousands of civilians.
That night, the entire Queshan County was destroyed by a fire. The 60,000 shi of grain and fodder that Dai Long had transported here turned into ashes. More than 2,000 Green Camp soldiers were completely defeated, and more than 100 Manchu and Mongolian Banner soldiers were killed among tens of thousands of civilians and people in the city. The city was in chaos, and as many as half of them died from being trampled upon.
After Dongfang Sheng succeeded, he quickly broke up into small groups and disappeared outside Queshan City. Dai Long had no idea from beginning to end where the enemy attacked him from.
***
Shizhu is located in the east of Chongqing Prefecture and on the south bank of the Yangtze River. It belongs to the middle mountain area of Wushan Dalou Mountain. The terrain in the area is high in the east and low in the west, with an undulating and descending pattern. There are continuous mountains, overlapping peaks and ridges, interlaced peaks and ridges, and crisscrossing gullies.
After the defeat in Kuizhou, Qin Liangyu was rescued back to Shizhu by her nephew Qin Yiming and others. Zhang Xianzhong occupied all of Shu and sent people to recruit the local chieftains, but he did not dare to go to Shizhu to persuade them to surrender.
In the entire Shu area, the Shizhu Tusi was the only one that survived.
Wang Huanran was ordered to go on a diplomatic mission to Shu with fifty people. On the way back, he deliberately took a detour to Shizhu. Qin Liangyu heard that Qin Mu, the governor of Huguang, had sent an envoy, so she ordered her nephew Qin Yiming and grandson Ma Wannian to go and greet him in person.
Facing Qin Liangyu, who had fought all her life and was now seventy years old with white hair, Wang Huanran knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times in a solemn ceremony.
Qin Yiming and Ma Wannian who were present were both extremely surprised. Even Qin Liangyu, although she remained calm on the surface, was also very surprised in her heart. She said slowly: "Why do you have to perform such a great ceremony, Lord Wang? I really don't deserve it. Lord Wang, please stand up quickly."
While Qin Liangyu was speaking, she coughed twice. The once powerful heroine could not resist the erosion of time and had become so old.
Wang Huanran ignored all dissuasion and kowtowed three times before he stood up and said respectfully, "Madam, I was sent by the Governor of Huguang, Mr. Qin, to come to Shizhu to pay my respects to you. This ceremony is for our Governor Qin, who is a branch of the Qin family in Zhongzhou and belongs to the literary generation. Please read it, Madam."
Wang Huanran carefully handed over a family tree, which was the family tree that Qin Mu had asked Huang Lianshan to find from his old house in Nanjing after Yang Zhi reminded him. Qin Liangyu took it and handed it to his nephew Qin Yiming, sighing, "My eyesight is not good, Yiming, you come and take a look."
"Yes, aunt." Qin Yiming was already in his forties, of medium build, with thick eyebrows and big eyes. There was a murderous aura in his actions, but in front of Qin Liangyu, he was extremely respectful.
He took the genealogy and read it carefully before saying, "Aunt, according to this genealogy, Governor Qin is indeed from a branch of my Qin family. He moved to Qinhuai in the eighth year of the Yuan Dynasty, and it has been eleven generations. According to the generational level, Governor Qin and my aunt are of the same generation..."
"Qin Mu is actually a descendant of the Qin family in Zhongzhou..." Qin Liangyu muttered to himself while leaning on his cane.
****(To be continued...)
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