After conquering X Guazhou, Zheng Chenggong sent troops and horses to land and turned around along the south bank of the Yangtze River to attack Fushan downstream. Admiral Guan Zhongzhong of Jiangning ordered the garrison to use the Fushan Fort to shell the Ming ships on the river, forcing the Ming army to move along the north bank, although avoiding the artillery, the speed of the march was affected. In the face of the attack of the Ming army, the Qing army on the south bank had no ability to resist, and there was nothing to be done against Zheng Chenggong's ironclad soldiers, and the Qing army in Fushan was defeated as soon as it was captured, and after seizing the fort here, the Yangtze River was unimpeded for the Ming army.

After clearing the threat behind him, Zheng Chenggong began to persuade Zhenjiang to surrender, and soon the envoy returned with a letter from the prefect Dai Kejin, and he and Gao Qian, the defender of Zhenjiang, expressed their willingness to surrender, but hoped to give them some time to convince their subordinates.

"This must be because they want to delay time, Zhenjiang is not far from Nanjing, they expect the Tartars to send them reinforcements, and then attack us inside and outside." After seeing the letter, Zhang Huangyan immediately expressed his opinion, and he strongly advocated an immediate attack on Zhenjiang and did not give the Qing army a chance to wait for reinforcements.

"Zhenjiang City is small, or we won't attack it." Zheng Chenggong thinks that what Zhang Huangyan said is very reasonable, and he also sees it that way, but the appearance of the Zhenjiang defenders is similar to that of Ma Fengzhi, and Zheng Chenggong thinks that as long as Nanjing is taken, then the defenders here will naturally surrender.

However, this time, not only Zhang Huangyan objected, but even Zheng Chenggong's subordinates were worried that if Zhenjiang was not attacked, then Guazhou, which had just been taken, might be threatened, and more surveillance troops needed to be left.

"Then let's write back and agree." Zheng Chenggong saw that everyone advocated taking Zhenjiang, and after thinking about it, he agreed with everyone's opinion, but he did not plan to attack the city, but asked the envoy to write back to Dai Kejin, expressing his willingness to give grace to the time: "Thirty days is the limit, let them prepare to surrender." ”

"Thirty days?" Zhang Huangyan was shocked when he heard this: "Nanjing's Tartars will arrive within a few days, and they should attack the city quickly." ”

Zheng Chenggong smiled slightly: "Anyway, we have to go to Nanjing to eliminate them, it is better to wait for them to come to Zhenjiang to throw themselves into the net, isn't it still effortless?" ”

After saying that, Zheng Chenggong ignored Zhang Huangyan's objections and ordered the forward to land and set up camp outside Zhenjiang City, so that the soldiers could seize the time to rest. After everyone went to prepare, Zheng Chenggong called the governor of the central capital, Gan Hui, into the tent, and said to him: "It's good to rest for two days, and when the Chinese army arrives, let them rest in the camp. ”

"Does the king still have no intention of attacking Zhenjiang?" Gan Hui asked, Zheng Chenggong was disdainful of the small towns along the way, taking advantage of the tailwind all the way to the west, Jiang Yiīn and other places sent envoys to persuade them to surrender, as long as the Qing army defending the city was vague, he wrote back and said that he was willing to wait.

"Yes, the siege of the city is the bottom, the whole city is the top, after we recover Nanjing, the northern captives will definitely go south, if these cities can be preserved, we don't have to spend any effort to repair them." Zheng Chenggong was very polite to Zhang Huangyan, but in fact he was not optimistic about the combat effectiveness of the Zhejiang army, in the past ten years, Zheng Chenggong and the Qing army in Fujian, Guangdong, and southern Zhejiang had a full 40 field battles, 35 victories and 5 defeats, even against Geng Jimao, Zheng Chenggong did not feel too difficult, at least there was never a need to dispatch the ironclad army.

Zheng Chenggong judged that the Qing army would concentrate on defending Nanjing, and might not be willing to rescue Zhenjiang, and after a few days, seeing that no reinforcements were coming, the defenders of Zhenjiang might be discouraged and surrender out of the city, saving them from spending energy to attack them; Even if he still did not surrender, Zheng Chenggong did not believe that the defenders of Zhenjiang dared to go out of the city alone to attack the Ming army.

But Zheng Chenggong's judgment was wrong, after seeing the Ming army turn back and sweep Fushan and other places, Jiangning Admiral Guan Xiaozhong thought that the time had come, most of the Ming army's huge fleet was still driving on the river, and only the front army under the command of Zheng Chenggong himself landed near Zhenjiang, so Guan Xiaozhong ordered the Nanjing defenders to dispatch urgently, intending to take advantage of Zheng Chenggong's troops and horses to gather and gain a firm foothold.

The Ming army around Zhenjiang did not besiege the city, but followed Zheng Chenggong's order to let the Qing army enter and exit, and soon the envoy of allegiance rushed to the city, and the prefect Dai Kejin hurriedly tore open the letter, and after a hurried glance, he shouted: "The Manchurian soldiers have come to reinforce us!" ”

"Manchurian soldiers?" On the edge of the prefect is the anxious guard Gao Qian, after seeing the tens of thousands of Ming army pioneers outside the city, Gao Qian felt that he could not resist the attack of the other party at all, after hearing the prefect's words, Gao Qian was stunned, and he was also happy at random: "Jiangning's garrison Eight Banners are here?" ”

"Exactly!" Dai Kejin swept away the original worries, Zheng Chenggong's army suddenly appeared, and it was too late to strengthen the city defenses, so he and Gao Qian planned to delay time, hoping that Nanjing would send them reinforcements, and now Guan Xiaozhong told Zhenjiang that he not only brought 20,000 troops, but also 3,000 of them Nanjing garrisoned Eight Banners, because the distance was very close, so there were 10,000 armored soldiers in this Qing army, and compared to the soldiers in the vanguard of the Ming army, it did not have the upper hand at all.

In addition to the 3,000 garrison Eight Banners in Nanjing, there are 2,000 armor soldiers who are also full soldiers, and only 5,000 of the 10,000 armor soldiers are green battalions. After conquering Guizhou, some of the Eight Banners of the Southern Expedition returned to the division, and 2,000 of them were in Nanjing to recuperate and plan to return to Běijīng in October.

Although Zheng Chenggong did not defend Zhenjiang, he was not negligent in his reconnaissance work, and soon learned that a Qing army of 20,000 people was coming to the vanguard of the Ming army, Zhang Huangyan and many generals persuaded Zheng Chenggong to meet the attack, not to let them get close to Zhenjiang, or to attack Zhenjiang before them.

However, Zheng Chenggong's stubbornness was beyond Zhang Huangyan's imagination, he ordered the Ming army to shrink its position, let the Qing army go straight to the front of the Ming army, and the herald reported that the Qing army's vanguard had approached Zhenjiang Yinshan, and camped there, Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan took their respective subordinates to observe the enemy's military appearance.

After seeing the colorful flags on the opposite side, not the green flag, many Zhejiang generals were shocked: "Garrison the Eight Banners, and now our army has not yet arrived with the whole army, and we have encountered such a strong enemy!" ”

Zhang Huangyan was also very worried, originally he estimated that Nanjing's garrison of the Eight Banners would be used to defend Nanjing, and the Ming army could sweep the periphery first, and then attack Nanjing with the whole army after eliminating the surrounding enemy forces, and engage these Eight Banners soldiers with an absolute superiority. Moreover, Zhang Huangyan also found that the information was wrong, according to previous information, Nanjing should only have about 3,000 garrison Eight Banners, and now it seems that there are about 5,000 Eight Banners soldiers.

The Zhejiang generals advocated a firm defense first, and then engage them after all the Ming troops arrived, but one of Zhang Huangyan's young aides said: "It's better to attack the Tartars when they have just arrived and the men and horses are tired, and not give them the opportunity to repair the formation." ”

Zheng Chenggong glanced at this unusual person, this person looked to be in his twenties, although he was dressed as a scholar, but he was quite heroic, and he didn't look like a powerless talent: "Who are you?" ”

Seeing that such a big man as the king of Yanping County asked, the staff member hurriedly replied respectfully: "Student Ren Tang is Zhang Shangshu's guest. ”

Zheng Chenggong had praise in his eyes, Zhang Huangyan also felt that this Ren Tang's courage was commendable, and mentioning yì was even more in line with his heart, so he said to Zheng Chenggong: "Ren Tang is a person from Jiangxi, and his father and uncle are all loyal and patriotic heroes. ”

"Jiangxi people," Zheng Chenggong nodded, he knew that Zhang Huangyan's main task in the future was to recover Jiangxi, so he said to Ren Tang: "When you arrive in Jiangxi, you can help Zhang Shangshuzan draw military affairs, I think you will have a lot to do in the future." ”

"Xie Wang praised him, but the students didn't dare to be ashamed." Ren Tang showed joy on his face, and he won the attention of the king of Yanping County with a sentence of Jianyì, and he was also slightly proud in his heart.

However, to Zhang Huangyan and Ren Tang's surprise, Zheng Chenggong did not adopt Jianyi to launch an attack on the Qing army, but led his subordinates back to the camp to prepare for war, ignoring the Qing army's camping work.

Zhang Huangyan did not have many Zhejiang soldiers in his hands, and the main force had not yet arrived, Zheng Chenggong did not move, Zhang Huangyan could only watch, seeing that the Qing army quickly built camps and fortifications, Zhang Huangyan was so anxious that he chased to Zheng Chenggong's camp and asked what the other party was going to do.

"Let them camp, if you beat them now, I'm afraid they will return to Nanjing." The expression on Zheng Chenggong's face was a little strange, he looked a little lost, and he also looked a little absent-minded when answering Zhang Huangyan's question: "I have already written a tactical letter about the decisive battle of Tatar Ziming on the other side." ”

"Fighting with the Eight Banners?" Zhang Huangyan felt that Zheng Chenggong was like Song Xianggong, who did not take advantage of the best opportunity to attack the other party, but had to confront the cavalry on the plain.

"Yes, they obviously want to take us by surprise when our forces have not gathered and we have just come ashore before we have recovered, and my letter of war must be in the hands of the Tartars, and they will not disagree." Zheng Chenggong replied.

Zhang Huangyan felt that the other party was even more unreasonable: "Since the king also knows that Tatar Zili is fighting quickly, why do you still want to fight this battle?" ”

"Because we need to fight quickly, and if the army gathers, the Tartars may retreat." Zheng Chenggong felt that Zhang Huangyan and his thinking were too different, and the king of Yanping County didn't look down on most of Zhang Huangyan's opinions, but if he always didn't listen to him, he was worried that it would make the other party angry: "When this Tartar army is defeated, Zhang Shangshu will lead the army downstream, and I will have no problem attacking Nanjing alone." ”

After sending Zhang Huangyan away, Zheng Chenggong instructed Gan Hui beside him to prepare the Iron Man Army for battle, and he would let this Jīng army fight again.

"Why is the king sullen?" Gan Hui couldn't help but ask when he saw Zheng Chenggong's look of interest.

Zheng Chenggong shook his head and sighed softly: "This clan didn't expect that the Eight Banners garrisoned in Nanjing would actually come to the rescue of Zhenjiang, what a miscalculation." ”

Gan Hui also thought that Zheng Chenggong was a little jealous of the Eight Banners Cavalry, and he said loudly: "Most of our army are strong men, and the Iron Man Army is even more heroic, and they will never lose to those Jianzhou Tartars." ”

"How could this clan not trust his own soldiers," Zheng Chenggong knew that Gan Hui had misunderstood what he meant, so he explained: "The soldiers of the Eight Banners are very arrogant, and when I get to the city of Nanjing, I will definitely fight, and when I defeat them in one fell swoop, the defenders of Nanjing will be terrified, and Shenjing will be at my fingertips; But defeating them now will only frighten the courage of the defenders of Zhenjiang, and even if the defenders of Nanjing learn about this, they will not panic as if they witnessed it with their own eyes, but will only let them stick to the city and refuse to go out of the city to fight. ”

Zheng Chenggong stayed in Nanjing, and knew that the city wall built by Zhu Yuanzhang was by no means easy to break, so he sighed again: "I really shouldn't have hit Zhenjiang, I lost my watermelon and picked up sesame seeds." ”

……

After receiving Zheng Chenggong's war letter, Guan was overjoyed, and immediately replied that he would see him on the battlefield, and after the Ming army envoy left, Guan Allegiance laughed wildly: "The Manchurian soldiers are invincible in the world, and all they are worried about is that the thieves rely on more than to win, Zheng Cheng is arrogant and ignorant, and he dares to fight a decisive battle with me, which is really self-defeating." ”

The generals in the camp of the Qing army in Yinshan were also full of smiles: "Zheng Wei has no horse army at all, and a horse on the plain is ten steps, and Ming Rì should capture this fang alive and sacrifice it to the emperor." ”

And everyone also thought that the Ming army came from the sea, and it would definitely be a little uncomfortable to land just now, and the long journey did not get enough rest, Guan Xiaozhong smiled even more proudly: "Victory is not martial, it is really victory without martial arts." ”

……

Zhong Xiang.

No matter how the Qing army tried, this road will eventually have a day, three days ago before the Qing army arrived in the city, even the battalion of 20, and the Ming army confronted.

Hao Shaoqi, He Zhen, and Liu Tichun each led their troops out of the city and camped, while Yuan Zongdi and Deng Ming stayed in the city to guard. The Ming army waited for three whole days, but did not see any intention of the Qing army to attack, but continued to consolidate the camp, deepen the trenches, and build their camp as impregnable.

In order to avoid being wiped out, the water division of the Ming army has taken the initiative to retreat to the upper reaches of the Han River, but the water division of the Qing army also did not take advantage of the situation to sweep the Han River, but honestly stayed next to the camp of the Qing army and formed a water battalion to assist in the defense.

"Did they come to Zhongxiang for defense? Wait for us to take the initiative to attack their camp? Liu Tichun waited anxiously, and still couldn't see any movement of the Qing army during the day today, and scolded at the military meeting in the evening: "Originally, I was expecting to kill and wound a large number of people when they attacked, and frustrate their spirit." ”

"It's okay, it's all the same anyway, they don't have the sharpness to frustrate us." He Zhen was not in a hurry at all, anyway, Li Laiheng had already dived to the lower reaches of the Han River to cut off Hu Quancai's grain channel: "You are right, the Hu thief is here to defend, he feels that the grain road is unblocked, the sailor is in hand, we can't afford to spend it and have to leave in the end." Haha, I really want to see his expression after learning that the grain channel was broken. ”

Just when Zhong Xiangming's army was discussing how Hu Quancai should respond, the Qing army was still further strengthening the defense, Zhang Changgeng and others were not optimistic about the battle situation, and after Governor Hu arrived at Zhongxiang City, he did not divide his troops to protect the retreat and flanks, but the whole army gathered into a group and the Ming army on the opposite side was exhausted.

Although it is a matter of time before the Henan Green Battalion goes south, if the Ming army still cannot be repulsed, the Green Battalion from Shanxi and Ganshan will also rush to support, but the question is whether there will be any changes during this period? For example, what is Li Laiheng of Jiangling doing, will he continue to plunder the Yangtze River around Wuchang? Or simply come straight to Hanshui and join Zhong Xiang's Ming army?

Although everyone was anxious, Hu Quancai sat firmly in Diaoyutai, no matter how everyone persuaded him, he just refused to divide his troops to defend the flank, and insisted that Li Laiheng would stay in Jiangling without moving, and the Ming army in front of him would sooner or later retreat on its own, and that was the time to take advantage of the victory to pursue and kill the enemy with a river of blood.

"The Governor has taken them for idiots." Now Zhou Peigong's tent is always overcrowded, as soon as everyone left Governor Hu's military tent, they came to Zhou Juren for a plenary meeting, only to hear Zhou Peigong say to everyone: "Question: Is Deng Ming an idiot?" Apparently not. Since Deng Ming is not an idiot, why didn't he leave as soon as possible? Could it be that staying in Zhongxiang is to give the Governor a chance to pursue him while he is victorious and kill him with a river of blood? ”

After finishing speaking, Zhou Peigong arched his hand to Zhang Changgeng, the governor of Hunan who was sitting in the middle: "Our army is sinister, and I hope that my lord will see it." ”

Now Zhang Changgeng does not hide from secretly meeting everyone, but goes to Zhou Peigong's tent every day to preside over another military meeting.

"There must be something wrong with Gangneung, the Governor can't see anything anymore in order to survive." The generals echoed Zhou Peigong's statement and wailed to Zhang Changgeng together: "Lord Governor, we can't sit here and wait for death." ”

There are also some generals from Hunan, and now there is a crisis, and they also shouted at Zhang Changgeng with red eyes: "My lord, the last generals are the generals of Hunan, we don't care what the governor of Huguang says, just listen to the governor of you, what you say, we will do!" ”

Since the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, there has never been a precedent for generals to throw their commanders off and run away, so although these Hunan generals can't wait to withdraw to Wuchang, they still hope that Zhang Changgeng can come out and give an order to retreat, so that in the future, if the Qing court pursues them, it can be said that they can obey the military order.

After hearing the words of their colleagues in Hunan, many Hubei soldiers and generals also began to shout: "Although we are Hubei soldiers, we have always admired the governor very much. ”

"The governor asked the last general to go east, and the last general did not dare to go west!"

"As long as the governor says a word, the last general will come in the water and go in the fire."

No matter how the people below show their loyalty, Zhang Changgeng just refused to let go and ordered the withdrawal of the troops, he knew very well in his heart: "Just kidding, the governor led the army to leave the governor and run away, you will be fine in the future, can the court spare me?" ”

The Qing soldiers deployed all the artillery around the camp, and the defense was extremely tight, but this battle may not be won by defense, and finally one of the generals said with a sad face: "At least we still have a sailor, even if the grain route is cut off, we can always use the ship to transport grain, and we can always withdraw the troops." ”

Everyone thinks that what this person said is also reasonable, although Hu Quancai has lost his mind, but everyone has not fallen into death.