After Yu Xin's troops fled to Zheng Chenggong's camp, the king of Yanping hurriedly got up and personally inquired about the battle, and soon found that the Ming army had collapsed with little resistance. Due to the large camp of the Ming army, the number of Qing troops who raided was small, and it was night, the Ming soldiers fled with their families without resistance, and most of them even escaped.

"Yu Xin really made a mistake, did he set up a sentry outside the city gate?" Zheng Chenggong didn't care about being angry, hurriedly spread out the map, lit candles to check the terrain, and after a while, he had a plan, pointed to several hills between the Yuxin camp and the main camp of the Ming army and began to give orders, informing the battalions of the Ming army to move the camp quickly, gather troops and prepare to meet the enemy.

After listening to the reports of the soldiers who fled back, Zheng Chenggong estimated that there were not many Qing soldiers out of the city, and it should be a tentative attack, and Yu Xin's defeat was much faster than Zheng Chenggong expected, but he thought that this might stimulate the defenders of Nanjing, and planned to directly raid his own camp.

"The Tartars in the city are not strong enough, and most of them will be risky after an easy victory." Zheng Chenggong felt that this seemed to be a good opportunity, and he ordered several battalions of soldiers and horses to immediately move to occupy the commanding heights on the top of the mountain, obscuring the view of the Qing army, and at the same time ordered Gan Hui to lead the Chinese army and several other battalions of generals to hide behind the mountain. If the Qing army wanted to attack continuously as Zheng Chenggong expected, the Ming army located on the mountain would attract the Qing army out of the city, and after the Qing army was tired of attacking the mountain, the Ming army would fight out from all sides and surround the Qing army in Nanjing.

And after receiving the good news from Guan Xiaozhong and Liang Huafeng, Lang Tingzuo was indeed overjoyed, but he didn't expect Zheng Chenggong's forward officer to be so vulnerable. The governor of Liangjiang hurriedly ordered that only the Eight Banners stationed in the city should be left, and the whole army would go out of the city at night and camp with the Qing army outside the city. Lang Tingzuo confidently explained to his subordinates and staff: "The thieves must have thought that we were just a night attack, and they would retreat to the city before dawn. As long as this thief is captured, the thief will be in chaos. ”

Now the Qing army has a good understanding of the camp deployment of the Ming army outside the city, and if it is not mobilized until the whole Qing army is attacked, it will be difficult for the Ming army, which is all infantry, to gather.

Before dawn, Zheng Chenggong had already rushed to the valley with his personal guards, and he set his command flag here, not only to command the Ming army on the mountain, but also to hide it from the Qing army. Soon the guards sent by Zheng Chenggong returned to report, saying that they found that the Qing army had come out of Yu Xin's camp, and it looked densely packed with tens of thousands.

"As I expected, the ugly is desperate." Since the Qing army in Nanjing had torn off the camouflage of fraudulent surrender, Zheng Chenggong concluded that they would definitely seize the time to try to achieve greater results, and did not dare to give the Ming army time to prepare. Since the Qing army in Nanjing is pouring out, as long as this battle is won, Zheng Chenggong feels that the cannon does not need to be cast: "After encircling and destroying them, immediately attack the city, and take Nanjing tonight." ”

However, what made Zheng Chenggong anxious was that the soldiers and horses of each battalion had not gathered for a long time, and even the men and horses of the Central Admiral Gan Hui had only reached a small half. As for the battalions that were ordered to be stationed on the mountain, only the generals arrived with their own soldiers and a small number of men, and the main forces of each battalion were still nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on?" Zheng Chenggong asked a little angrily, and successively sent people to each battalion to ask questions, and at the same time blamed several generals around him: "I asked you to move the camp last night, why haven't you gathered soldiers and horses at this time?" ”

All the generals were ashamed and unable to answer Zheng Chenggong's question, and after receiving the order, they began to urge their subordinates to gather, but until it was almost dawn, they gathered the personal guards. The generals do not know where the soldiers of the battalions are now, only that there is a mess everywhere. Because they were worried that they would be punished by Zheng Chenggong for being late, the generals couldn't wait for the army to gather, so they hurried over with the people around them, but they didn't expect their colleagues to be the same as them.

Until the Qing army was close to the Ming army's battle line, the troops of the battalions were still far from arriving, and after the generals went to the front line with their personal guards, the troops behind were never able to gather and rush over.

The four battalions of soldiers and horses stationed on the mountain should theoretically have 10,000 armor soldiers, as well as a large number of auxiliary Ding Zhuang, but now there are only more than 2,000 men, and because of the lack of manpower, they have not been able to build strong fortifications.

Seeing that the troops on the mountain were weak, some people persuaded Zheng Chenggong to reinforce the troops on both wings up the mountain, and Zheng Chenggong had difficulty making up his mind for a while. Because he originally thought that it would be enough to put 10,000 armor soldiers on the mountain, and when the Qing soldiers were exhausted by attacking the mountain, his Chinese army would launch an attack with the Ming army on both flanks to encircle and destroy the Qing army. If the soldiers on both flanks were reinforced up the mountain now, then the sentinels of the Qing army could advance unhindered and observe the Ming army hiding behind the mountain; Moreover, if the two wings are abandoned, in case the battle is unfavorable, the Chinese army of the Ming army will be outflanked by the Qing army.

"Perhaps the battalions will soon be brought in by the officers, and moving hastily now will only add to the confusion." Zheng Chenggong hesitated for a moment, but still did not order reinforcements, but continued to send people to the rear to urge, so that the reinforcements could speed up.

At this time, the Qing army had arrived, and after seeing the banner of the Ming army on the mountain, Liang Huafeng and Guan Xiaozhong discussed it for a while, and decided to attack the mountain instead of continuing to march along the road on the side of the mountain. After capturing this hill, the Qing army was able to gain a wide field of vision, so that they were not ignorant of the number and movement of Ming troops in the vicinity. Now Liang Huafeng's 2,500 infantry has also joined him, and with 3,000 soldiers and horses, he is the most powerful among the generals of the Qing army.

"I'm afraid it's not appropriate to use cavalry to attack the mountain." Guan Xiaozhong did not oppose the attack on the mountain, but he built first-class infantry such as yì and retained the cavalry as a reserve, so that if the Ming army launched a counterattack when the Qing army attacked the mountain, the Qing army could also respond more quickly. If the cavalry mixed with all the people to attack the mountain, and a large number of Ming troops suddenly killed from all sides, the situation would become out of control.

"Why should the Admiral be so careful," Liang Huafeng thought that Guan Allegiance was too conservative and delayed the warplane: "As the Governor said, Zheng Wei definitely did not expect our whole army to surprise attack. But now they probably know that they are scrambling to deploy their men and horses, and if we delay here too much, it will be much more difficult to raid his camp. ”

Guan Xiaozhong admitted that Liang Huafeng had a point, since the Qing army was fighting big with a small one, and it was inevitable to take risks, and the possibility of Zheng Chenggong's ambush here was indeed almost non-existent, so he no longer hesitated but ordered the cavalry and infantry of the Qing army to launch a full-scale attack on the Ming army on the mountain.

Tens of thousands of Qing troops launched a counterattack on the mountain, Liang Huafeng and Guan Zhong's cavalry soon rushed into the Ming army's battle line, and the Qing army was pleased to find that the Ming army on the mountain was not only limited in number, but also the fortifications were very incomplete, only some thin wooden fences were built in some places.

Seeing that the cavalry of the Qing army rushed to the front unhindered and began to fight with the Ming army, and the infantry behind them also approached quickly, Liang Huafeng said triumphantly to Guan Zhong: "Admiral, please see, the last general is right, this is just a lone army, they don't even have Ding Zhuang digging trenches." ”

In the valley, seeing that the Qing army had begun to rush the mountain, and the backup was still delayed, Zheng Chenggong hurriedly ordered the troops on both wings to reinforce the troops, if the mountain was lost, then the Qing army would have a clear view of the deployment of the Ming army.

But the support time of the Ming army on the mountain was shorter than Zheng Chenggong imagined, and almost at the same time as he gave the order, the Ming army on the mountain had already begun to rout. In the past few days, the Ming army has neglected to practice, and after receiving an urgent order yesterday, these soldiers hurriedly bid farewell to their families and followed the generals and officers to fight. There were also some soldiers who arrived last, they couldn't find auxiliaries to help carry weapons, so they could only run all the way with armor and weapons on their own, and they were already tired and out of breath after going up the mountain, and the Qing army had already launched an attack before they had time to rest, and the exhausted Ming soldiers soon began to retreat.

That is, in a quarter of an hour, Guan Xiaozhong saw that the hill was already covered with green flags, but the news brought by the returning herald was very surprising, and his subordinates reported that they had killed three generals of the Ming army at the level of the general town and captured one, and it stands to reason that any one of them should lead more troops than all the Ming troops on the mountain; And after attacking the top of the mountain, he immediately found that the valley below was actually waving the royal flag of Zheng Chenggong.

"What nonsense?" Liang Huafeng and Guan Xiaozhong also climbed to the top of the mountain with the troops, and sure enough, they saw Zheng Chenggong's Chinese army flag, and there were actually many Ming army flags on both wings.

"Why is Zheng Thief here? But why did he bring such a small number of soldiers? Liang Huafeng and Guan Xiaozhong were full of doubts, no one could explain this question, but they did not hesitate for long, the Ming troops on both sides seemed to be climbing the mountain, and they had the intention of recapturing the mountain. However, the strength of these Ming troops was also quite weak, and they were slow to move and show fatigue. The Qing army did not hesitate, so they killed directly from the bottom of the mountain and launched an attack on the Ming army.

Seeing that the Qing army was slaughtered all over the mountain, Gan Hui expected that the weak Ming army would not last long, so he hurriedly said to Zheng Chenggong: "King, the reinforcements are not coming for a long time, please go and urge the king quickly." ”

Zheng Chenggong also realized at this time that the situation was extremely urgent, after the two wings were defeated, the Ming army arranged in the valley would become a lone army, and he didn't understand why the backup couldn't wait, so he handed over the command to Gan Hui, and asked him to be sure to drag the Qing army, when he urged the soldiers and horses to rush back, the Ming army still had a chance to encircle the Qing army.

After leaving the Chinese army, Zheng Chenggong rushed to the riverside, and there was no Ming army in sight along the way, only sporadic squads of soldiers and horses.

Zheng Chenggong was annoyed in his heart, but he didn't care about them, he galloped towards the river, so anxious that he was about to shout loudly: "Where is my army? ”

It was not until he ran to the vicinity of the naval division that Zheng Chenggong saw the boundless sea of people, hundreds of thousands of Ming soldiers, and almost the same number of Ming army families, almost all gathered by the riverside.

But the hundreds of thousands of soldiers, not many of them were armed, let alone a few in armor, they took their wives by the hand, held their young children in their arms, and frantically squeezed towards the boats by the river. When they heard that the Qing army had gone out of the city to counterattack, the first thought of a large number of Ming soldiers was to send their families on the ship. The order to move the camp at night completely lost order in the already out-of-control army, and except for the personal soldiers of the senior generals, the soldiers of the Ming army broke away from the troops and began to work hard to carry their families.

Even the officers and personal soldiers sent by the generals to gather the troops, after seeing this chaotic scene, completely lost the confidence to complete the task, and also rushed back to their residences, trying to get their families on the ship first.

There were buoy of human voices everywhere, as well as shouts calling for children and daughters, and from time to time Zheng Chenggong could see one or two children sitting on the ground crying loudly, shouting: "Dad! Mother! ”

Zheng Chenggong and his guards tugged at the soldiers they encountered, asking for the names of their commanders and wondering where the officers commanding them were, but the soldiers were all at a loss.

"I'm Zheng Chenggong, your vassal king!" Zheng Chenggong stood up from his horse and shouted to the crowd around him with all his strength: "Don't you know me? Pick up arms and fight with me! ”

But no one responded to Zheng Chenggong's call, but avoided him from afar. None of the soldiers who were held back by the guards were willing to leave behind their wives and children, but quickly slipped away at the first opportunity and blended back into the crowd.

Another person was caught by Zheng Chenggong's guards.

"I'm the king of Yanping, don't you recognize me?" Zheng Chenggong stared at this bachelor who was desperately struggling and trying to escape from the guards.

The strong man was stunned for a moment, and did not continue to entangle with the guards who grabbed him, but knelt down and kowtowed to Zheng Chenggong a few times, and when he raised his head again, he was already so anxious that he burst into tears: "King, the villain's son is gone." When he sent his family to the boat, the eldest son who was dragged behind him was scattered at some point, and when he arrived at the side of the boat, he found that he was dragging an unknown child, and his wife was so anxious that he almost jumped into the river.

This soldier was strong, and at first glance he was a soldier and a soldier, and after hearing his answer, Zheng Chenggong's guard snorted, and someone wanted to draw his sword and behead him to deter the rebellious army.

But Zheng Chenggong raised his hand to stop the guard who drew his sword, lowered his head and asked, "How old is your son and how does he look?" How do you dress? ”

After receiving the answer, Zheng Chenggong pointed into the distance: "I saw one there just now, it seems to be a bit like your son." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The soldier turned around and sprang out without looking back.

"King!" Seeing that Zheng Chenggong refused to kill the chickens and make an example of the monkeys, the guards were full of anxiety.

"It's out of control." Zheng Chenggong shook his head slowly, and ordered to give Gan Hui an order, so that the Ming army would retreat immediately.

After speaking, Zheng Chenggong looked back at the riverside, looked at the black and oppressive head, and sighed lightly: "The army that has been trained and taught by this domain for ten years has come to this point if it is not careful. ”

A gust of river wind blew, Zheng Chenggong felt some chill, and the bank of the south of the Yangtze River, which was full of warmth in people's hearts yesterday, seemed to be bright and would become cold again.

After the herald reported that Gan Hui and the others had failed to break through, Zheng Chenggong ordered the whole army to get on the boat, abandon all the camps, and not try to save the weapons and equipment left by the soldiers in the various camps. With the last group of guards on board, looking at the bare-handed subordinates in the boat, and then looking at the outpost of the Qing soldiers who had chased to the shore on the bank of the river, the king of Yanping said in a low voice: "Lift the anchor and return to Zhenjiang." ”

The fleet went down the river, away from Nanjing, Zheng Chenggong stood at the stern, silent for a long time, and said softly to the left and right: "I don't know how Yu Xin and Gan Hui live and die?" ”

Without waiting for his subordinates to say something of relief, Zheng Chenggong shook his head again: "The two of them have been with me for a long time, and they will definitely refuse to surrender, and most of them will never see each other again...... But I really hope they will surrender, and then they will surrender back. ”

……

The captured Yu Xin and Gan Hui were escorted to Lang Tingzuo, the governor of Liangjiang, and the Qing army also knew that the two of them were Zheng Chenggong's right-hand men, two famous generals in the Fujian army.

After being captured last night, Yu Xin has never seen his wife again, and he doesn't know where she is now. Qing Bing brought the two to Lang Tingzuo, and pushed and drank to make them kneel, Yu Xin's ears seemed to echo his wife's heart-rending cry, he hesitated, slowly knelt on the ground, and lowered his head to the ground.

Suddenly kicked hard in the back, Yu Xin rushed forward, almost threw himself on the ground, he turned around and saw Gan Hui, who was tied up with five flowers, staring at him.

"Do you want to beg the Tartars for mercy?" Gan Hui gritted his teeth and scolded.

Yu Xin's lips trembled: "I have a wife......"

"Who doesn't!" Gan Hui shouted.

Yu Xin was silent, hung his head for a moment, and then struggled to get up again, standing side by side with Gan Hui.

……

Deng Ming held the newly seized Di Bao on his chest and read it slowly, and the guards gathered around him, all observing Deng Ming's face, trying to find some clues about the contents of the Di Bao from it.

"The king of Yanping County has been defeated." Today, Deng Ming did not let his subordinates learn to read the Di Bao, and after hanging the Di Bao in his hand weakly, he said to everyone: "The hundreds of thousands of troops of the King of Yanping County were defeated by the sailors of the 3,000 Su Song Sailors. Liang Huafeng, the thief, captured and killed the six generals of the king of Yanping County alone. ”

After learning that even Yu Xin and Gan Hui had fallen into the hands of Liang Huafeng, Mu Tan was so hateful that he drew his knife and hit the stone: "If you don't kill this thief, I swear not to be a man!" ”

"The most dangerous thing at the moment is Zhang Shangshu," Nanjing's mansion reported that Zheng Chenggong had retreated to Zhenjiang, and Zhao Tianba immediately said: "It is estimated that the king of Yanping County will soon withdraw from the Yangtze River, Zhang Shangshu's retreat has been cut off, and the army is still mixed with family members, and it is estimated that the destruction of the whole army is imminent." ”

"The king of Yanping just retreated to Zhenjiang, and he may not be able to regain his strength and attack Nanjing again." Li Xinghan said immediately.

Zhao Tianba and Zhou Kaihuang shook their heads together, they pointed out that the king of Yanping County had made a big mistake, and now he was suddenly defeated, even if King Chuang and King Xi were resurrected, they could not clean up the army's heart in this adversity, not to mention that Zheng Chenggong had no experience in this area at all.

"Zhang Shangshu's problem is the same," Zhao Tianba continued: "If there is no family, it is possible to unite as one and fight a bloody way, but Zhang Shangshu's army is also mixed with family members, and he cannot break through the siege. ”

"Why?" Li Xinghan humbly asked.

"Because if it is a normal army, someone can't keep up with the team, and although his companion is sad, he knows that staying is a dead end, so he will harden his heart and throw him down; But how many people can harden their hearts and leave their wives and children? And if a person stays because he takes care of his wife and children, maybe there will be many people who will stay without leaving......" Zhao Tianba explained, first of all, women may be soft-hearted and can't bear to see people they know fall behind; Secondly, everyone will have some concerns, today because this person's wife and children can't go fast, so he left his family behind, so what should he do tomorrow if his wife and children can't go fast?

"If Zhang Shangshu doesn't turn to war, he may be able to last a few days, but when the Nanjing Tartars arrive, Zhang Shangshu's current military appearance can't be defeated; If Zhang Shangshu planned to fight elsewhere, I am afraid it would be even worse, and without the Tartars to fight, the army would collapse on its own. Zhou Kaihuang added that once Zhang Huangyan began to march, some walked fast, some walked slowly, and Zhejiang's army is still based on family units, and falling apart is an inevitable end.

"If I want to help Zhang Shangshu, what should I do?" Deng Ming asked.

"Then we have to gallop to meet Zhang Shangshu and persuade him to immediately divide the camp for men and women, and now that the king of Yanping County is defeated, Zhang Shangshu may be able to listen to it." Zhou Kaihuang immediately replied, he had already thought about this question: "As long as the family members are gathered together and they are not allowed to act alone, the Zhejiang army may be able to spare their lives for the sake of their families being able to get out of danger, and at least have the opportunity to take them back to Huguang." ”

"Yes, that's what the lowly thinks." Like Zhou Kaihuang, Zhao Tianba had long known that Deng Ming would not give up any opportunity, and he also secretly pondered the aftermath.

"Okay." Deng Ming nodded slightly.

In Deng Ming's previous life, Zhang Huangyan tried to fight in Chaohu and other places, but the Zhejiang army with his family was no longer able to control it, and it continued to disintegrate during the march, and in the end, only two people and Zhang Huangyan were able to escape and return to Zhoushan.