Although the order to retreat was received, even those Eight Banners who withdrew from the encirclement did not disperse in a hurry, but turned around again and turned to face the battle. The Eight Banners soldiers opposite Yu Xin also unswervingly continued to fight, and the companions behind them kept leaving, but these people who were sharp against the Ming army did not retreat, but tried to hold the gap, so that the Ming army outflanked on both wings could not converge behind the Qing army.

After the Qing soldiers who were resisting in front were cut off by the Ming army, the Eight Banners soldiers who were originally withdrawing from the gap automatically stopped and began to support the swaying front, fighting for a way out for the same clan and comrades who were still in front. When Yu Xin finally led his troops to cut down the last cavalry in front of him, and joined forces with the Ming army who was outflanked by the other wing, there were only more than 1,000 Eight Banners soldiers surrounded in the Ming army's array.

Since the battlefield situation prevailed, Zheng Chenggong began to send envoys to inform Zhang Huangyan of the progress, and at the same time began to collect the banners, uniforms and heads of the Eight Banners, ready to send them to the defenders of Zhenjiang. After eliminating the Qing army in the encirclement, Zheng Chenggong estimated that more than 4,000 enemy troops were annihilated in this battle, including as many as 2 or 3,000 soldiers of the Eight Banners.

"Zhang Shangshu congratulated Wang Shang on his victory, and said that the Zhejiang generals would congratulate Wang Shang. A herald came running in high spirits to report. In less than two hours, Zheng Chenggong's infantry defeated the Manchu army, which was no less than theirs, and the main force of the opponent was still the Eight Banners with strong fighting spirit and never surrendered.

"It's not too late to congratulate again." Although he was not very willing to fight this battle in Zhenjiang before the war, Zheng Chenggong was also very happy at this time, after all, it was a victory.

Ten years ago, Zheng Chenggong's father, Zheng Zhilong, surrendered to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the Zheng family not only lost the trust of the scholars, but also led to internal fragmentation and almost collapse. In the past ten years, Zheng Chenggong has fought to the death one after another, proving to Zhang Huangyan and others that he will not follow his father's old path, and has won the support and effectiveness of anti-Qing people in Fujian, Guangdong and other places; Zheng Chenggong also worked hard to restore maritime trade and reunify the forces in the Fujian Sea. Now, although Zheng Chenggong does not have the support of officialdom and a large number of inland business resources like his father, the Zheng family's annual income is not only completely restored, but also above Chongzhen's income.

Relying on the results of these painstaking operations, Zheng Chenggong strengthened the naval division and competed with the Dutch for profits at sea, while having spare time to carefully train his troops and purchase equipment. Many of the weapons and armor of the Min army were designed by Zheng Chenggong himself, and since the Min army had no cavalry at all, he poured his heart and soul into the iron armor and explored the tactics of using infantry to resist cavalry.

Long-term training and equipment that cost a lot of money to build made the Fujian army completely different from the Zhejiang army under Zhang Huangyan. Zhang Huangyan has been conducting guerrilla warfare and raiding warfare in eastern Zhejiang for many years, and almost all of the Zhejiang army is a volunteer army. Even though the size of the army was much smaller, Zhang Huangyan never had the resources and ability to redress his subordinates or conduct comprehensive training like Zheng Chenggong.

Zheng Chenggong was already determined to continue to attack Guan Xiaozhong.

The expression of the Eight Banners when they retreated made him understand that this enemy army was still not defeated, and it was still a heavy threat to the Ming army. The Qing army was retreating to the camp at Yinshan, and Zheng Chenggong estimated that this was because the other party's commander was still unwilling to use the cavalry's mobility advantage to attack the Ming army near Zhenjiang. But when the follow-up Ming army arrived, Zheng Chenggong believed that the Qing army would return to Nanjing.

Zheng Chenggong sent the envoy back to report Zhang Huangyan's intentions and continue to monitor the defenders of Zhenjiang from Zhejiang, while Zheng Chenggong led the Fujian army to Yinshan, preparing to storm the camp of the Qing army.

"The camp wall is two feet high, and the trench is three feet deep." Beside Zheng Chenggong, the generals of the Min army discussed the enemy situation in Yinshan, and Yu Xin asked, "When does the king plan to attack?" ”

"Ming rì general attack, and it must be conquered in one rì." Zheng Chenggong replied without thinking.

"Ming rì?" Many generals were a little surprised. The so-called ten encirclement, times the attack, the strength of the vanguard of the Fujian army and the Yinshan Qing army is basically the same, although the victory of today's rì let the Fujian army gain a certain advantage in strength, but the armored soldiers fought hard all morning, the Ming army was also very tired. And the follow-up troops of the Ming army are coming, and within two days thousands of fresh troops will arrive in Zhenjiang, and as long as they wait a few more days, they will gain a huge advantage over the Qing army in Yinshan.

"Not bad, Ming rì. The allegiance of this vassal is in the decisive battle of today, and if our support is gathered, he will not fight a decisive battle with us. If we wait a few days and see that we have strong troops, Guan Xiaozhong will definitely no longer hope to save face, but abandon Zhenjiang and flee back to Nanjing. Although the enemy camp in this silver mountain has walls and trenches, how is it better than Nanjing? If we don't destroy this Tartar in this enemy camp with two walls high and three feet deep in the trenches, we will have to go to Nanjing, where the city is high and the pond is deep, to attack them. ”

After Zheng Chenggong finished explaining, he divided his men and horses into four teams and asked them to take turns to attack the Qing army camp. When Guan Xiaozhong left the battlefield, he discarded all the artillery brought by the Green Battalion, and Zheng Chenggong included all these artillery pieces in his army. However, Zheng Chenggong did not put it into use immediately, but first tested it, and then assigned the gunners to prepare for the general attack.

The fierce battle in the morning had exhausted both the Ming and Qing armies, and in the afternoon the Ming army came to attack the camp, and the Qing army had to face the battle, and by the evening both armies were exhausted. Zheng Chenggong ordered the main force to rest, selected hundreds of strong men from the army, and divided them into four teams, so that these people continued to take turns to rob the camp.

Early the next morning, as soon as the sky was dark, Zheng Chenggong ordered the whole army to dispatch and launch a general attack on the battalion that was loyal to Guan. At this time, even generals like Yu Xin and Gan Hui still felt that they had not rested; Although the soldiers of the Ming army rested all night, many of them exerted too much force yesterday, and today they felt some backache and leg pain, which was definitely not the best state for combat.

"The soldiers rested all night, but they could not get rid of their fatigue. The Tartars were robbed six times last night and couldn't sleep all night, so what should they be like now? Seeing that some generals were worried about the effect of attacking the camp, Zheng Chenggong said with a smile.

The Ming army surrounded the enemy camp with artillery and attacked it on all sides, and soon the Qing army could not resist, and several camp walls were captured by the Ming army. Guan Xiaozhong saw that the situation was not good, so he led the whole army to break through. His own soldiers escorted him to fight desperately to open a bloody road, and in the end, more than 1,000 Qing cavalry were able to break out of the Ming encirclement. The Ming army, which had no cavalry, could not catch up, so they could only watch Guan Xiao's loyalty and go away. After counting the prisoners in the camp, Zheng Chenggong ordered the Han people to be incorporated into the army, and all the Manchu people were beheaded by the Yangtze River, and then the heads were sent to Zhenjiang.

With 20,000 enemies and 20,000 enemies, the Qing army was captured and killed nearly 15,000 people, and many of the remaining ones had been dispersed yesterday, while the Ming army lost no more than 1,000.

In the evening, when the generals celebrated Zheng Chenggong, Zhang Huangyan also praised: "The king is really bold to outflank the enemy cavalry with infantry and cavalry, and not to take zhōngyāng and outflank both wings." ”

Zhang Shangshu praised it. If it weren't for the thief's desire to take advantage of it, the clan would not dare to take such a risk. Zheng Chenggong explained. When he saw that Guan Xiaozhong was only constantly holding back the attack on the two flanks and did not launch a strong attack, he guessed that the other party planned to use his mobility to outsmart himself, so Zheng Chenggong planned to make the opponent's mobile breakthrough turn into a strong attack, and changed the zhōngyāng breakthrough to outflanking the two wings.

In this battle, more than 5,000 people were killed by the Ming army when the Eight Banners of the Eight Banners of Nanjing and the Eight Banners of the Southern Expedition were killed. Seeing that the god-like Manchurian soldiers were also defeated by the Ming army, both of them lost the courage to resist, and immediately surrendered after Guan Xiaozhong's defeat and retreat, and bound themselves to Zheng Chenggong's camp to meet them.

Zheng Chenggong only pretended not to see their previous behavior at both ends of the first rat, but praised them as gentlemen who kept the contract, and let the two stay in office, and the Ming army did not enter the city, but was still stationed outside the city.

"Ming rì put away the Jianzhou Tartar head outside Zhenjiang City and transport it to **, Jurong and other places." Zheng Chenggong smiled again: "Jianzhou Eight Banners, such a big name." ”

The Ming army also captured a large number of war horses from the hands of the loyal troops, and Zheng Chenggong also ordered them to be raised first: "After the recovery of Nanjing, our army will also recruit some riders to establish our horse team." ”

Zhenjiang had been decided, and Zheng Chenggong let Zhang Huangyan lead the Zhejiang army to set off first and march to Jiangxi downstream of Nanjing in accordance with the plan in advance. Looking at the generals of the Zhejiang army who were not uniform in armor, Zheng Chenggong did not show his face silently, and secretly wondered in his heart that in the future, Zhang Huangyan would need to change all the troops first, and then gather together for training for a few months before they can be of great use. However, the estrangement between Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan is still there, and he doesn't want to help Zhang Huangyan rectify the troops before Tang Wang's imprisonment, lest the two turn their faces when the time comes, but add resistance to themselves.

"Zhang Shangshu is a sincere gentleman, if he promises not to make trouble, he will not make trouble in the future." While discussing with Zhang Huangyan the strategy of pacifying Jiangxi, Zheng Chenggong thought in his heart: "When I take Nanjing and support the queen of the Shaotang Dynasty, as long as Zhang Shangshu gives His Majesty and me a word of accuracy, and does not make His Majesty rebel, I will provide him with armor, weapons, and money and food for training soldiers." Otherwise, these Zhejiang soldiers have no blood, don't know the banner, don't know the golden drum, and still can't fight in the field after all...... Well, Inspector Wen served as the first assistant, and this military department Shangshu can persuade His Majesty to leave it to Zhang Shangshu. ”

In addition to the great victory, Gan Hui was also full of pride, and said to Zheng Chenggong during the banquet: "Today's great victory, the Tartars have been frightened, and the last general is willing to lead 3,000 soldiers and 5,000 auxiliary soldiers, bring five rì of grain and grass, and rush to Nanjing day and night." Hearing that the king's soldiers had arrived, the Tartars would definitely abandon the city and flee, and Nanjing would be in the hands of the king. ”

Zheng Chenggong smiled and asked, "What if the Tartar doesn't run?" ”

"Then the last general will take advantage of the sharp spirit to attack the city and recapture the Shenjing for the king." Gan Hui replied impassionedly.

"Yes, with a brave general like a general, why can't you expel the Tartars?" Zheng Chenggong's face was full of praise, but he finally diverted the topic elsewhere and never mentioned the matter of Gan Hui leading his troops to attack Nanjing.

"Gan Hui has watched too much of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms? How does this sound like Wei Yan mentioning the Meridian Valley to Prime Minister Zhuge Cheng? Zheng Chenggong recalled Gan Hui's construction in his heart. He didn't think much of it, but in order not to discourage his subordinates, he wouldn't point out the problems directly.

Wei Yan pinned his hopes of victory entirely on the enemy's abandonment of the city and escape, and Gan Hui was the same. The Nanjing wall is five zhang high, the pond is three zhang wide, Gan Hui led 3,000 armor soldiers to Nanjing City, if the enemy does not abandon the city, how is it good? Siege of the city? It's easy to say, is it easy to build a five-zhang high ladder? It takes at least tens of thousands of earth sacs to fill such a wide deep trench, right? Eight thousand soldiers simply could not do it. And with five days of food, why do you have to take three days on the way to Nanjing? After eating the grain and grass, do you dare to disperse your troops and collect grain and grass in front of the Tartars who are eyeing Nanjing City? Also, carrying five days of food, armor, and weapons, galloping hundreds of miles day and night to Nanjing, even if there is a ready-made five-zhang high ladder, do the soldiers still have the strength to climb up?

Every time he listened to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms before, Zheng Chenggong felt that Zhuge Liang was right to reject Wei Yan's proposal. Now it is the same, if it was placed before the battle of Zhenjiang, Zheng Chenggong would be very happy to raid Nanjing and make a plan for Jiangnan in the first battle, but now that the Qing army is afraid, Zheng Chenggong plans to advance steadily along the Yangtze River.

The grain ships followed the army to advance, there was no need to worry about grain and grass, and the troops were strong enough to control the suburbs of Nanjing, which was the only way to win. Zheng Chenggong believed that since Guan Xiaozhong fled instead of surrendering, he could not be scared away by only a few thousand light soldiers who did not carry siege weapons, and the more frightened these Qing troops were, the more they would hide behind the high walls and refuse to come out; But hundreds of thousands of Fujian troops gathered in the city, and the effect was different. Zheng Chenggong estimated that the Qing army's reaction might be twofold: the first was to abandon Nanjing, which was of course the best; The second is that the Qing army disregarded the troops of the surrounding prefectures and counties for the sake of Nanjing's safety.

The remaining Qing troops in the surrounding prefectures and counties were all hesitant and would surrender to Zheng Chenggong if they applied some pressure. Zheng Chenggong only needs to concentrate on dealing with Nanjing, and he doesn't have to worry about disturbance in other places. And Zhang Shangshu will also become easy to pacify Jiangxi.

Soon after the surrender of Zhenjiang, after learning that Guan Xiaozhong was defeated, and the Qing soldiers in Jiangnan and the Eight Banners stationed in Jiangnan were almost completely annihilated by the Ming army, **, Jurong and other places surrendered to Zheng Chenggong. Anqing, Wuhu, and even Yangzhou sent envoys, and even if they did not surrender immediately, they all expressed a neutral posture, hoping that Zheng Chenggong would not attack them and give them more time to think about their next step.

The Manchu governor of Caoyun was on his way to Nanjing, and after learning that the main force of the Qing army in the southeast under Guan Xiaozhong's command had been destroyed, he concluded that there was no way to save the crisis in the southeast: to concentrate his forces to defend Nanjing was to abandon Jiangnan, and in the end Nanjing was still an isolated city that would inevitably fall; If you don't concentrate your forces, you will abandon Nanjing, and in the end Jiangnan will not be able to hold it - the governor of Caoyun, who is desperate for the form, will therefore commit suicide by throwing himself into the water.

……

běijīng。

Recently, Huguang's shape shì made Shunzhi very angry, if it weren't for the fact that Yi Shuai was a taboo in the army, Emperor Shunzhi would have ordered Hu Quancai to be locked in Beijing.

However, the military situation from Nanjing immediately made Shunzhi forget about the battle situation in Huguang, and this morning he received an urgent report from Nanjing for 800 li, saying that Jiangning's garrison of the Eight Banners had been completely destroyed. Shunzhi felt that the situation was urgent, and hurriedly summoned Sonny and Aobai, two henchmen with considerable military experience.

I learned that at this time, the courtiers and minions were already clamoring for severe punishment of the civil and military officials who were responsible for the defeat of the war, such as the commander Guan Zhongzhong and the governor Jiang Guozhu. But after Sonny and Ao Bai read the emergency report, both of them began to think silently, and did not mention a word of accountability.

After a while, Shunzhi saw Ao Bai and Sonny glance at each other, and then Sony took the lead in kneeling down and kowtowing: "The slave asks the emperor to recruit in person." ”

"The minion seconded." Ao Bai also knelt down and loudly agreed.

The failure of Jiangning's garrison of the Eight Banners will definitely cause a sensation in the world, and judging from the current situation, neither Sony nor Ao Bai thinks that there is still hope for the southeast to hold on. If the Han generals, especially the Han vassal kings, were ordered to recapture the southeast, it is difficult to say whether there would be any unexpected changes. If the war between them and Zheng Chenggong becomes protracted, then their power will expand dramatically.

"What you said is very agreeable," Shunzhi laughed: "If there is a good slave like you by that Yongli's side, why would you go thousands of miles and lose the ancestors' rivers and mountains in a blink of an eye?" ”

Shunzhi immediately sent an order to prepare for the personal expedition. The 10,000 Manchurian Eight Banners of the Beijing Division all went to the battle, and the Mongolian Eight Banners and the Han Eight Banners each sent 20,000 armored soldiers to accompany them. At the same time, the green battalions in Shandong, Henan and other places were ordered to prepare for the expedition.

……

Zhong Xiang.

After the selection of the generals, the prisoners were gathered by Deng Ming to give a lecture, and he released the prisoners again, and at the same time gave each of them a severance pay of one tael of silver.

As for the captured Hu Guangjin gentry, Deng Ming still didn't think it was necessary to give them too much silver, but this time he invited all the captured civil and military officials to have a meal together.

Before the war, Hu Guangjin's report to the Ming army made Deng Ming realize that no matter whether he thinks everyone is equal or not, there are some people in any era who have more resources and stronger social activity ability than most other people, even if it is for future intelligence work, Deng Ming also needs to win over these gentlemen.

At the banquet of entertaining the gentlemen, Deng Ming slightly sipped the edge of the wine glass, which was regarded as a toast to the prisoners present. Then it was announced that they could go home. This time, Deng Ming did not directly send them money, but said that if anyone felt that it was difficult to go home, they could go to him and ask for a coil - of course, one or two.

The gentlemen knew this, they all knew each other, and it was easy to help each other return to Wuchang. They heard that Deng Ming was actually the King of Xiaofu, so they didn't think it was a shame to only give one or two pieces of silver: in front of the royal family, the gentry were just ants, and the royal reward was a big face, who would be too much or too little?

Before these gentlemen left, Deng Ming also said to them: "Before the thief came to Zhongxiang, a righteous man from Wuchang informed me of the whereabouts of the thief. I once asked the righteous man what reward he wanted, but he replied that he was completely patriotic and wanted to serve the country, and did not want any reward. But he said that because of his nostalgia, he hoped that I could take more care of the scholars of Huguang during the war. Today, you have left safely, and you don't have to thank me, but you should thank this righteous man who will not be named. ”

In fact, several people made similar requests in anonymous letters to Deng Ming, and Deng Ming returned the favor, so that the gentlemen who reported the news thought that everyone was grateful to him, and also left a good impression on the people of Huguangshi.

Because Wuchang was still in the hands of the Qing army, these captured Huguang gentry felt that the situation was still unclear, and they still kept a wait-and-see view of Deng Ming for the time being. And King Xiaofu looks very kind, and surrendering later probably won't endanger his life, since that's the case, let's go back to Wuchang first.

After freeing the captives, Deng Ming waited anxiously for Li Laiheng.

There was news that Zheng Chenggong had already invaded the Yangtze River, and Deng Ming only had to wait for Li Laiheng to see him, and he could leave Zhongxiang and go to Nanjing, if Li Laiheng did not ask for an attack on Wuchang.