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Hongniangzi's 300 men took away all the work of Shi Qing's 3,000 men, and the hundreds of Qing troops in Shibei Town were chased all the way to Anqing.
The enraged Qing army chased out of the city, and Hong Niangzi immediately ran away, leading the Qing army to Shi Qing's vanguard. Shi Qing formed a battle array and fought with a thousand Qing soldiers. Qin Mu sent cavalry reinforcements. The Qing army was afraid of being entangled, and hurriedly retreated to Anqing.
Hongniang then attacked again, and this cycle continued, causing chaos among the Qing troops outside Anqing.
When Qin Mu's army arrived at the city of Anqing, she was leading three hundred men to engage in a quarrel in front of the Qing army camp, looking very arrogant.
The circumference of the Anqing city wall is 9 li 13 steps, and the wall is 2 zhang high. The middle is piled with earth, and the two sides are covered with blue bricks to the top. There are 3032 battlements on the top, and the city is slightly circular. There are 5 gates in the wall: the east side, the Congyang Gate; the southeast side, the Kangji Gate; the south side, the Shengtang Gate; the west side, the Zhengguan Gate; the north side, the Jixian Gate.
To the north of the city there is a mountain range running from southwest to northeast, called Daling. The westernmost part is called Nitou Mountain. Nitou Mountain is surrounded by lakes on three sides, so there is no need to worry about water shortage.
Kong Youde used 40,000 men to defend Anqing, including 3,000 Manchu and Mongolian bannermen, 3,000 Han bannermen, and the remaining 30,000-plus were Green Camp soldiers.
However, he did not withdraw all his troops into Anqing City. Instead, he set up a solid camp on the mountain, installed cannons, and stationed 10,000 troops to garrison there, forming a pincer attack with Anqing City.
Qin Mu set up camp in the north of the city and immediately prepared for a strong attack;
The first thing to do is to eliminate the enemy camp outside the city, otherwise the enemy may attack from behind at any time and the siege will be extremely dangerous.
Shang Shan, a Qing general on the mountain, took advantage of the fact that the Qin army had just arrived and had not yet established a firm foothold, and led 3,000 cavalrymen to swoop down, rolling like waves. Qin Mu sent Huo Sheng to lead 10,000 infantry and cavalry to meet the attack. The huge shields were like walls, and the long spears were like forests. The battle under Anqing City was in full swing;
On the Yangtze River and at Huangshiji on the south bank, the wind was already bloody and the rain was flying. Di Zhongxing destroyed the enemy's water strongholds at the cost of losing 31 warships, including two Fuzhou ships, and defeated Liu Kongzhao's navy, sinking more than 80 enemy ships and capturing more than 200.
However, the artillery and navy on the shore tried to land on the beach several times, but were forced back to the river by the Qing army.
The presence of these cannons always poses a huge threat to ships on the river. The range of the red cannon is as long as seven or eight miles, which can completely block the entire river waterway.
After Meng Ke's 60,000 troops arrived, they launched a fierce attack on Huangshiji from land in coordination with the navy. Tu Lai led 3,000 Manchu and Mongolian flag troops to support the battle and commanded 40,000 Green Camp soldiers to fight Meng Ke repeatedly. The cannons roared under Huangshiji, and both sides suffered heavy casualties. Corpses were scattered all over the ground.
Qin army lieutenant general Chen Qishan was hit by eleven arrows and died heroically; the Qing army's Melezhang Jingtahunci and the guard commander Akda were both knocked off their horses by artillery fire and their bodies were never found.
The Qin army must quickly break through the strategic location of Anqing to avoid fatigue. Once Duoduo returns to help, the Qin army will surely repeat the mistakes of A Youliang at the gate of Nanchang.
The Qing army regarded Anqing as the gateway to Nanjing and had to defend it to the death, while buying time for Feiyanggu, Durde and Yierduqi on the southern front to break through. Both sides refused to give up an inch of land and fought for every inch of land. The casualties of both armies on the first day exceeded 5,000, and the degree of tragedy was beyond description.
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As a strategic surprise force, Su Jin and Yuan Zongdi each led 10,000 cavalrymen to cooperate with each other and bypassed Chaohu Lake. They experienced more than ten battles on the way. Su Jin and Yuan Zongdi attacked whenever they could, and bypassed the cities that could not be quickly broken.
The two surprise troops rushed all the way to Nanjing, and it took them six days to reach Chuzhou, a journey of a thousand miles. The one thousand defenders of Chuzhou were caught off guard, and they didn't even have time to close the city gates before they were killed by hundreds of vanguards sent by Su Jin, and they were immediately defeated.
Taking Chuzhou by surprise attack was of great significance to Su Jin and Yuan Zongdi's two isolated armies deep behind enemy lines. At least they had a relatively safe place to rest and their food and fodder supplies were temporarily resolved.
But Su Jin did not stay in Chuzhou for long. He only rested for two nights and one day, leaving 500 soldiers and horses. At the same time, he organized the young and strong men in the city to participate in defending the city. Then, nearly 20,000 troops marched southward and approached Pukou, which was only separated from Nanjing by a river. This shocked Nanjing and even the entire Jiangnan region.
As Su Jin's army was temporarily unable to cross the river, this move had more political significance than military significance. At this time, the anti-Qing wave in Jiangnan was rising one after another. The arrival of 20,000 Qin troops near Nanjing would greatly inspire the enthusiasm of the people in Jiangnan to resist the Qing and strengthen their confidence in resistance.
In the city of Nanjing, Hong Chengchou urgently discussed countermeasures with Beile Nikan and Gushan Ezhen Baiyintu. Nikan was the third son of Nurhaci's eldest son Chu Ying. He was arrogant, cruel and domineering by nature. He immediately wanted to gather all his troops and cross the river to attack.
Hong Chengchou hurriedly stopped him and said, "My Lord, please be patient. Although there are 30,000 troops in Nanjing, there are only 2,000 elite soldiers of the Eight Banners left. There are undercurrents in the city right now. If all 2,000 elite soldiers of the Eight Banners are sent out, there may be chaos in the city. We must be on guard against this. If we send out 20,000 Green Camp soldiers, if they are defeated, the consequences will be even more difficult to deal with."
Baiyintu also advised: "My Lord, the enemy has already reached the north bank. If we cross the river now, we will be easily attacked by the enemy halfway across. Instead of doing this, why not lure them across the river and attack them halfway across?"
Nikan sneered, "It's just two thousand shrimp soldiers and crab generals. Look how you've been scared into shrinking into turtles."
Although Hong Chengchou was authorized by Dorgon to manage the military and political affairs of Jiangnan, he could only pretend not to hear Nikan's sarcasm. He continued, "Even if Prince Beile wants to cross the river to attack the enemy, he must first mobilize troops from the cities north of the river and besiege the enemy before crossing the river to avoid being taken advantage of by the enemy."
In fact, for Hong Chengchou, military pressure was secondary. What worried him was the political impact. In fact, Nanjing City had always been turbulent, especially after Qin Mu proclaimed himself king in Wuchang and sent troops to the east, all kinds of rumors spread privately in the city;
Even among the Green Camp troops in the city, rumors were spreading that the Qin army had defeated Ajige and would soon reach Nanjing. By then, if anyone could realize their mistake and turn back in time, the Qin army would forgive them, and if anyone could help the Qin army defeat the enemy, they would be rewarded with great merit.
If anyone is determined to follow the Tartars to resist the Qin army, when the city is broken, his eyes will be gouged out, his nose will be cut off, and his ears will be cut off. This is true. I heard that the King of Qin used such torture on the captured Tartars by the Ju River.
In short, all kinds of rumors were rampant in the city, causing unrest in the army and turmoil among the people. Some people even posted a sentence on the street: "Shi Kefa was loyal but failed to pacify the enemy; Shi Kefa was generous but did not think of serving the country but became an enemy." This sentence compared Hong Chengchou with Shi Kefa who died in Yangzhou, and made a sharp satire on him.
Hong Chengchou ordered the arrest and beheading of many rumor spreaders as a warning to the public, and only then did the city calm down a little.
Now 20,000 Qin troops have reached Pukou, which is only separated from Nanjing by a river, which confirms the previous rumors in the city: the Qin army is coming.
This undoubtedly added fuel to the fire of the situation in Nanjing, making the military morale and public opinion in the city even more turbulent. Hong Chengchou had no choice but to issue a martial law order, but he knew very well that this was by no means a long-term solution. The longer the martial law lasted, the more turbulent the people's hearts would become.
More importantly, the news that the Qin army had reached Nanjing would quickly spread throughout Jiangnan. The Jiangyin City, which had been resisting stubbornly before, had already raised the Qin army's flag. There was almost no doubt that more people in counties and prefectures would be inspired to rise up in rebellion.
"Report, Academician Hong, the enemy troops in Jiangbei have divided their forces into 10,000 and are heading east."
"Have you found out where the enemy is going?"
"It's not clear yet, I only know it's heading towards Yangzhou."
"Yangzhou?" Hong Chengchou's mind raced. Yangzhou was an important city in northern Jiangsu, but the people in the city had just been massacred two months ago. Even if the Qin army took it, it would be difficult to defend it.
"Oh no, the Qin army is going to Jiangyin!" Hong Chengchou exclaimed. Now the people in Jiangyin and Jiading areas are resisting most fiercely. Liu Liangzuo's army of nearly 100,000 has been attacking Jiangyin for two months, not only has it failed to capture it, but it has frequently requested reinforcements. If 10,000 Qin troops join in, Liu Liangzuo will undoubtedly be defeated.
With Jiangyin as its base, the Qin army could quickly unite with the rebel forces in Jiading, Suzhou and other places to attack Nanjing from both sides. By then, the consequences would be disastrous.
Hong Chengchou didn't have time to think about it, and immediately ordered: "Pass on my order, order Bolo to stop pursuing Lu Wang Zhu Yihai, return to attack Jiangyin, and make sure to remove Jiangyin as soon as possible."
Afterwards, Hong Chengchou sent another order to Jiangbei, mobilizing the garrisons of Tianchang, Lai'an, Hezhou, Gaoyou, Quanjiao and other places to encircle the Qin army in Jiangbei. At least they had to contain this army and prevent it from crossing the river.
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ps: I won't write a single chapter today. In order to make sure I can keep my promise of updating three times a day, I stayed up until 2:30 last night and got up again at 7:30 today. The May Day holiday is other people's business. I will try my best to update more.
My waist pain is unbearable, so I can only lie on the bed and write it by hand, and then input it into the computer. Anyway, I will not leave the front line despite the injury. I hope you guys can support me.
beg!
beg!
beg!
.(To be continued..)
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