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Qin Mu had just obtained the imperial seal and captured Nanjing. Both of these had strong political significance. How many people dared to doubt his identity as the true dragon emperor
This not only received support from the people of Jinling, but also from the Green Camp soldiers in various cities in Jiangbei.
As soon as Nanjing was captured, Meng Ke led an army of 20,000 to the north. Hezhou, Hanshan, Chaoxian, Lujiang, Tongcheng, Shucheng, Lu'an, and even Luzhou in the north of the Yangtze River surrendered as soon as the troops arrived.
Cities such as Taizhou, Xinghua, Tongzhou, Gaoyou, Yancheng, and Sizhou under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou Prefecture and Huai'an Prefecture also rose up in rebellion to welcome the Qin army, and the city of Huai'an Prefecture also fell without a fight.
Even Qin Mu was caught off guard by such a speed, and he had to hastily summon his ministers to discuss the matter, appoint officials to govern, and send more soldiers to garrison.
This is the case with the Green Camp in Jiangbei, not to mention Jiangnan;
Li Chengdong in Jiangyin was completely wiped out, Nikan's army in Taiping Prefecture was completely wiped out, the defenders of Nanjing were completely wiped out, and even Hong Chengchou was captured. The Qing army in Jiangnan was like an avalanche. As bad news came one after another, almost all the Green Camp soldiers under Bolo and Durd fled overnight.
A rebellion by the Green Camp soldiers also broke out in Hangzhou, where Fei Yanggu was stationed. Under attack from both inside and outside, Fei Yanggu could no longer defend Hangzhou. In the end, he escaped from the city with only more than a thousand Manchu and Mongolian bannermen. Hangzhou was then occupied by Lu Zhenfei.
Jintan County is located on the east side of Maoshan Mountain and borders Tao Lake to the south. It is under the jurisdiction of Zhenjiang Prefecture. After Bolo fled here, he successfully joined forces with Durde and Yilduqi.
The changes happened too fast. The once invincible Qing army has now become a rat crossing the street, and everyone is shouting and beating it.
Bolo, Durde and Yilduzi finally managed to get together as a group. The two groups of people combined were reduced to less than two thousand men. They all looked dejected as if their parents had just died. They felt very upset and almost burst into tears.
"Lord Beile, what should we do next?" Durde and Yilduqi couldn't hide the dejected look on their faces and looked at Bolo eagerly.
Bolo was thirty-four years old this year. Not only did he have the highest rank among the three, but he was also Nurhaci's grandson, so Durde and Yilduqi naturally followed his lead.
"The Qin army is strictly guarding the river defenses, and all the boats along the coast have been requisitioned. The enemy generals Huo Sheng and Ning Yuan are hot on our trail. We now have only one way to survive."
"What way out?" Yierduqi asked in a lost voice.
"Go east and attack Jiading. Zheng Zhilong's navy is still on Chongming Island. He has already fallen out with the Qin army. Now he is the only one who can help us cross the river. I have sent someone to contact him."
Durde wiped the sweat from his forehead and said solemnly, "This is a different time. Lord Beile, after Qin Mu captured Nanjing, the situation is different from before. Although Zheng Zhilong has fought with the Qin army before, who knows what he will do now? What if he sells us out and wants to win credit from Qin Mu? If we go there, won't we be walking into a trap?"
Yierduqi also nodded and said, "My Lord, we must be careful about this matter. I also think Zheng Zhilong is unreliable."
Bolo shook his head and said, "You are wrong. In fact, we are already in the trap. If we find Zheng Zhilong, we still have a glimmer of hope. If we don't find him, the Qin army's trap will get tighter and tighter. We won't be able to hold out for much longer."
Yilduzzi and Durde looked at each other and felt a sense of empathy!
Bolo continued murderously: "Besides, Zheng Zhilong can plot against us. Why can't we plot against him..."
As soon as Bolo said this, a personal soldier rushed in in a panic and reported: "Lord Beile, it's bad. Huo Sheng's troops are coming and are less than 20 miles away from Jintan."
"Hurry up, hurry up!" The murderous prince changed his face and rushed out with his saber in hand, fearing that he would be a step slower.
Durde and Yilduqi didn't have time to think about it, and rushed out immediately. The three of them shouted, and at an astonishing speed, the two thousand remaining soldiers rushed out of Jintan like a gust of wind and ran eastward, like a group of stray dogs.
They had to run away. Although Huo Sheng only had a few thousand cavalry, if they were entangled by him, Ning Yuan would immediately attack them, and other Qin troops would definitely swarm over as well.
For Bolo and others, the only way to survive is to escape, the faster the better. They must not be entangled by Huo Sheng and Ning Yuan, otherwise they will be finished.
Bolo fled for twenty or thirty miles in one breath and arrived near Hutou Village in the northeast corner of Tao Lake. However, he saw patches of swamp reeds on both sides of the road, stretching straight to the sky. The Qing army, who were only concerned about escaping, rushed into the reed area for a mile or two, and then he began to feel alarmed.
Why is it so quiet? The army is galloping past, but there is not even a bird flying in the reeds
"Oh no, there's an ambush!" Bolo shouted.
As if to prove that the prince was not lying, the reeds at both ends of the road were set on fire. It was now late September, and the reed leaves were dry. The fire spread at an alarming speed, with thick smoke blew in the wind and ashes flying all over the sky. At the same time, there were bursts of gongs and drums and shouts of killing coming from all around, which made people terrified.
"Go!" Not only Bolo, everyone was shouting like this, people roared and horses neighed, the whole place was in chaos.
But the problem is that both sides of the road are lakeside swamps covered with reeds. Now there is a fire at both ends of the road. The fire is raging and the sky is filled with thick smoke. Where can we escape
"Quick! Quick! Quick! Charge forward, otherwise we will all die here..." Bolo was filled with remorse. This time he escaped in such a hurry that he didn't even have time to send out scouts, so that everyone was trapped in such a dangerous situation.
The two thousand remaining soldiers gritted their teeth and rode their horses forward. The road was narrow to begin with, and in the chaos many people were squeezed into the swamp nearby, screaming and making a mess.
The thick smoke from the fire not only made it difficult to breathe, but also blurred the vision. Amid the sound of gongs and drums, although the two thousand remaining soldiers were not hit by a single sword or arrow, they were like a group of frightened birds, fleeing in a hurry, and more and more people rushed into the reed marsh.
After rushing out half a mile, they saw not only a pile of burning reeds on the road ahead, but also two trenches dug on the road. The Qing army, trapped in a desperate situation, ignored everything blocking their way and rushed forward in groups. The two trenches were probably dug hastily and were not deep. They were soon filled with the corpses of war horses that were crashed into them. The reeds piled on the road were also picked away by the Qing army who rushed forward at the risk of their lives.
The Qing soldiers coughed constantly and their eyes were full of tears. People could tear off their clothes, wet them and then cover their mouths and noses, but the war horses could not do that. Many of them rushed around madly under the smoke and fire, trampling each other and killing countless people.
When Bolo and his remaining soldiers managed to rush through the reed marsh, they saw thousands of militiamen on a slope ahead raising flags, beating gongs and drums, shouting and killing. Stones were pushed down with a rumbling sound. The Qing army, which had just been frightened half to death, had not yet recovered before they were killed by the rolling stones.
“Run away!”
"Run away!"
It's the same sentence again, nothing new. Of course, no matter who says it, it's the same sentence.
The Qing army fled in a panic for another ten miles. When the sound of gongs and drums faded away, they dared to stop. After counting the number of men and horses, they were surprised to find that they had only lost more than 400 men. The more than 1,000 men who escaped had black faces, red and swollen eyes, and were gasping for air with weak limbs.
How could these be the invincible Qing cavalry? They were clearly a group of stray dogs and frightened birds. Seeing their miserable appearance, Bolo could not help but feel grief-stricken and indignant, and he shouted to the sky: "A tiger in dire straits is bullied by dogs! A tiger in dire straits is bullied by dogs! Oh, God!"
"Lord Beile, let's go quickly, I'm afraid Huo Sheng will chase us again!"
It would have been fine if Huo Sheng hadn't been mentioned. Once he was mentioned, Bolo wanted to poke the sky down and smash Huo Sheng to pieces. If that guy hadn't been chasing us relentlessly, would my two thousand Qing cavalry have been fooled into being so cunning by a group of militiamen
He really wanted to turn back and fight Huo Sheng, but looking at his group of desperate men, he thought, well, be wise and continue to run away!
Every failure is a lesson learned. No matter how hurried Bolo was, he had to send out scouts to explore the way.
It would have been better if he had not explored. After this exploration, the scouts from all sides reported that there were militiamen, either setting up defenses across the river or blocking the way with the mountains, making Bolo feel as if there was no way up to heaven or door into the earth.
If it were normal times, he would not take those militiamen seriously at all, but now the Qin armies of Huo Sheng and Ning Yuan were chasing closely behind him, and sometimes the distance between the two sides was only 20 or 30 miles. Once he was held back by the militiamen, it would be a pipe dream to think of getting rid of Huo Sheng and Ning Yuan.
There are many rivers and lakes in the south of the Yangtze River, and paddy fields are everywhere, but this is not feasible everywhere on the plains of the Northeast. The Qing army was not familiar with the terrain, and more than a thousand troops were caught in such a situation. They were in a very embarrassing situation with enemies everywhere they saw along the way.
*****************(To be continued...)
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