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For three days and two nights, one thousand Qin soldiers relied on the low tea hills and rough trenches to fight a bloody battle with four thousand enemies. The enemy soldiers surged up like clouds, and arrows rained down from the sky. The arrows shot by the two armies fell on the battlefield like a forest of thorns.
The weapons clashed, blades struck, flesh and blood flew everywhere, the sky and earth were dark, even the majestic gods became angry, and the air was filled with a murderous aura of war.
This was a desperate battle in which we were outnumbered. The enemy came with great force, rushed up the hillock that the Qin army was guarding tightly, and surrounded it from all sides. The Qin army soldiers fought bravely and with great courage.
The trenches were filled with enemy corpses, layer upon layer. However, due to the lack of room for maneuver on the small earthen mound, the Qin army was outnumbered after all. After three days and two nights of bloody fighting, all the thousand soldiers were killed or wounded.
Bang!
Han Gang felt a sharp pain at the back of his head and a feeling of dizziness came over him. The early autumn sky was filled with dark clouds, depressing and hazy. He tried hard to open his closed eyelids, but he had no strength left in his body. His strong body collapsed and fell to the ground.
On the tea mountain beside the Qu River, the shouting and screaming that had lasted for three days and two nights finally subsided.
The birds are silent and the mountains are silent, the fields are vast and the wind is rustling. Souls gather and the sky is dark, ghosts gather and the clouds are thick. The sun is cold and the grass is short, the autumn is bitter and the frost is white, the corpses lying on the ground, the scattered weapons, the defeated horses neighing to the sky, everything is sad and miserable.
Fei Yanggu covered the wound on his arm, but there was no joy of victory on his face. After three days and two nights of fighting with four thousand against one thousand, the tea mountain was covered with corpses. Near the top of the tea mountain, there was a wall of corpses piled up by the Qin army, which was three feet high.
Many corpses had already begun to stink, yet were blurred by fresh blood. None of the 1,000 Qin soldiers surrendered. In order to capture this small hill, Fei Yanggu suffered a total of 1,700 casualties, almost twice the number of Qin soldiers. This was something he had never dreamed of before the war.
Since entering the Pass, the Ming troops he encountered were always vulnerable or surrendered at the first sight of the enemy, but the 1,000 Qin troops, besieged by a force four times their size, fought to the last soldier without a single surrender.
Thinking of the brutality of this battle, Fei Yanggu was still frightened.
The clouds in the sky were getting lower and lower, and a drizzle began to fall. The wounded warhorse was still looking up at the sky and neighing. The blood clots on the swords scattered on the ground were slowly washed away by the rain, revealing their original cold light.
Han Gang slowly woke up. He was brought before Fei Yanggu and was told to kneel down. The Tartar who was holding him kicked him hard at the ankle and pushed him down.
Han Gang, who had no strength left in his body, licked his cracked lips and said proudly to Fei Yanggu: "Now, you can force my body to kneel down, but you can never make my heart kneel down."
Fei Yanggu quickly raised his saber, and Han Gang closed his eyes with a smile, ready to die.
"Let him go!"
The Qing army holding Han Gang listened to the order and let him go. Han Gang staggered and fell. But even lying on the ground, he still smiled calmly and said, "I can rest assured now. Four thousand against one thousand, you left behind nearly two thousand troops. And in such a small mound, if you rely on your people to attack a strong city like Quzhou, you will dream of taking it down."
Han Gang's words made Fei Yanggu's heart ache. In this battle, Han Gang was defeated but still glorious. He could not show off the prestige of a winner in front of Han Gang.
"Come on, give me a quick death!"
"You're dreaming!" Fei Yanggu said in stiff Chinese. "I will keep you here and torture you to death slowly."
"It's up to you, but I believe you won't be tortured for long, because you will soon become a prisoner of our King Qin."
Fei Yanggu raised his foot fiercely and kicked Han Gang, causing him to roll several feet away and faint again.
Fei Yanggu no longer had the heart to torture anyone. What lay before him was a cruel reality: heavy casualties and low morale. Even if he transferred all his troops over, he had no confidence in capturing Quzhou again.
But according to Hong Chengchou's plan, his troops were responsible for breaking through the southern line, advancing into the heart of Jiangxi, and forcing Qin Mu to withdraw the siege of Anqing.
Originally, he was full of confidence in Hong Chengchou's arrangements, but the battle of Chashan turned out like this, with only one third of the troops he brought gone. How could he attack a strong city like Quzhou
For a moment, Fei Yanggu was caught in a dilemma.
***
Under the city of Anqing, the night of fighting came to an end. The front camp of the Qin army was breached, with more than 2,000 casualties.
Qin Mu immediately launched a counterattack, gathered a large number of troops and took the opportunity to capture Daling Mountain, thus removing this thorn outside Anqing City.
According to post-war statistics, the Qing army suffered more than 800 casualties in this battle, which was equivalent to one-third of the casualties of the Qin army. However, it is hard to say that the Qing army gained an advantage. The loss of the camp in Dalingshan made Anqing a completely isolated city.
After daybreak, Qin Mu ordered the encirclement of Anqing and bombardment of the city walls with artillery. At the same time, Liu Meng proposed a battle plan to secretly dig a tunnel directly to the bottom of the city, and then pile up explosives in the tunnel to blow down the city wall.
This plan was adopted by Qin Mu, and Liu Meng immediately sent people to dig a tunnel.
At this time, Xu Yongshun, who had not been seen for a long time, came to Anqing. When he was brought into Qin Mu's tent, he looked depressed. And with him came an old acquaintance: Lu Daqi.
"Master Lu, long time no see."
"I dare not. I, Lu, greet the King of Qin." Lu Daqi bowed with a look of emotion on his face.
"Master Lu, please take a seat. Xiao Shunzi, last time you tried your best to persuade Huang Degong, but you never came back. I thought you had gone to be a slave to the Tartars."
“Brother Qin... King Qin...”
"If you have something to say, just say it."
"I persuaded Huang Degong last time. When I was preparing to return to Yueyang, I received the news that my father had been unfortunately killed. I..." Xu Yongshun choked and could not continue.
No wonder, he ran back to mourn. Qin Mu comforted him, "Don't be sad, Xiao Shunzi, just accept my condolences."
Xu Yongshun quickly shut up. This was indeed not the time to tell Qin Mu about family affairs. Messengers kept coming in from outside the tent, reporting battle reports from all sides to Qin Mu. He did not dare to disturb them and could only retreat to a corner and wait quietly.
"Send a message to Prime Minister Hui Deng, no need to wait, let his 60,000 troops set out immediately and implement the leapfrog tactics." After Qin Mu gave the order, he nodded to Xu and Lu and said, "Lord Lu, I don't know where you came from, why didn't you send someone to say hello in advance so that I could go and greet him."
"I dare not. I am a man of a fallen country, like a wandering ghost. This time I have come to the King of Qin to seek refuge."
Qin Mu showed a rare warm expression on his face, and said happily: "Now the Tartars are wreaking havoc across the country, countless people have been slaughtered, and the world is in danger. I have raised the flag to resist the Qing Dynasty, but I feel that my strength is weak. Lord Lu is a pillar of society, and I am looking forward to having him. Now that Lord Lu is here today, don't think about leaving. Even if I have to tie you up, I will keep you here. I hope Lord Lu can help me to drive out the Tartars as soon as possible and save the people from danger."
Qin Mu stood up, hugged his head and bowed, his attitude was extremely humble. Lu Daqi quickly returned the greeting, saying, "Your Majesty, you are too polite. Now, the people of the whole world are placing their hopes on you. I have a small talent and a little wisdom. If your Majesty is interested in me, how dare I not serve you wholeheartedly?"
"Lord Lu is too modest. Please take a seat."
Qin Mu asked someone to serve tea, and patiently talked with Lü Daqi. Lü Daqi was a member of the Donglin Party, and Qin Mu had always tried to avoid using Donglin Party members, but if someone like Lü Daqi took the initiative to surrender, Qin Mu still planned to use a few of them;
If there are no major mistakes, it should be possible to take over Jiangnan this time. However, once Jiangnan is taken over, we will have to face a problem, that is, the so-called orthodox descendants of the Zhu family.
At this time it is particularly important to have a few Ming Dynasty ministers following you. These people will represent the people's support. People all over the world will think, look, the important ministers of the Ming Dynasty have changed their support to King Qin, which means that the only way out is to follow King Qin.
It was for this reason that Qin Mu did not care about Lu Daqi's Donglin Party background and decided to use him.
Moreover, unlike Qian Qianyi and other spineless people, Lu Daqi has some backbone and is unwilling to be a slave of the Tartars. Qin Mu appreciates this.
During the tea drinking and conversation, Lu Daqi seemed very frank. He said that he originally wanted to go to Fujian to join Longwu, but because the road was blocked, he was forced to go to Jiangxi. After much hesitation, he decided to go to Anqing.
Qin Mu knew that it was not easy to get someone like Lu Daqi to change his allegiance, but once he thought it through and decided to come to him, there would be no need to worry about him having second thoughts. So, Qin Mu immediately appointed him as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, and had him by his side to give him advice.
After pacifying Lu Daqi, it was Xu Yongshun's turn. Compared with Lu Daqi, Xu Yongshun's value was actually not low. Many of the powerful group headed by the Xu family fled to Jiangxi before the fall of Nanjing.
Qin Mu is slowly exploiting these fat-bellied guys. He will not rob them by force, but will use other means to make these guys offer part of their property to contribute to the anti-Qing cause.
When the need arises, the dukes and marquises of the Ming Dynasty must stand up and represent the powerful and wealthy in the Ming Dynasty to change their ways and support himself.
By then, there will be civil officials, powerful people, and a huge momentum that is enough to reflect the people's support, and the troubles brought by Longwu will be reduced to a minimum.
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ps: For three days and two nights, I turned off my QQ, turned off my phone, and didn't go out of the house. I worked day and night these days, living a life like 9527, just to continue to update more than three times a day.
Brothers, when you go traveling and enjoy the scenery, don’t forget to give me some support and encouragement. Brothers who haven’t voted for the guaranteed monthly ticket, please support me.
Please give me a monthly ticket!
.(To be continued..)
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