Dominate the Country

The second battle of Cangzhou took only seven days from start to finish.

First, the Qing Zhili Governor Ying Lian and Shu Hede joined forces to launch attacks in Cangzhou and Wuding at the same time, blocking the logistics line of the Fu Han Army. Chen Ming also took advantage of the situation and immediately dispatched troops to support Cangzhou. Then, on the designated battlefield, the Fu Han Army, which was less than a brigade, ran into the Qing army, which had assembled 30,000 people and was ready for battle. However, it was useless. Although the Qing army had a large number of troops, they still fought hard for a day and a night but failed. Instead, they were suddenly killed by the Fu Han Army Shandong Cavalry Regiment in the evening of the next day.

The 13th Brigade of the Second Garrison Division of the Fu Han Army played an important role in this battle. It had a battalion of garrison troops in Wuding, Shandong, and the two battalions of the Fu Han Army in Cangzhou were also its subordinates. Although the garrison troops of the 13th Brigade did not make any contributions after Shuhede launched the attack on Wuding, the Shandong Army's 1st Division, which was responsible for guarding Wuding Prefecture, would not push the credit that was delivered to the door to outsiders. And Shuhede himself did not really plan to attack Wuding. After pretending to be pretentious, he immediately led the main force north and joined Yinglian's troops. The two armies of 30,000 people waited for the 13th Brigade of the Fu Han Army to come back for support 20 miles north of Cangzhou City, but they were short of one regiment.

From the afternoon to the evening of the next day, the Qing army attacked and failed; attacked and failed; attacked again and failed again!

The number of Qing troops reached 30,000, so the two battalions of the Fu Han Army in Cangzhou City did not dare to leave the city easily, but the 30,000 Qing troops were like a dog biting a hedgehog for the main force of the 13th Brigade that was huddled together.

With guns, cannons and ammunition, the 13th Brigade of 4,000 soldiers easily supported a day and a night on the flat plain. The battle was deadlocked for a whole day, and then when dusk came, Chen Ming and the Shandong Cavalry Regiment suddenly arrived.

The Qing army was caught off guard. Who let Shuhede and Yinglian use too many cavalry in Shandong Wuding in order to completely strangle Cangzhou and Wuding, especially the latter? The total cavalry of the Qing army on the battlefield was less than a thousand cavalry. In addition to the two big guys' respective goshha, there was only one cavalry battalion, which was mainly used for combat, rather than spreading out to closely monitor everything around. In addition, Shuhede and Yinglian did not expect that the Fu Han army's troops would come so quickly. From Cangzhou to Jinghai, it would take two days even for cavalry, right? So they were lax in defense and were rushed by the Fu Han cavalry at the beginning.

Shuhede and Yinglian, who thought they had a strong force and could quickly defeat the reinforcements of the Fu Han Army, were caught off guard. The 13th Brigade also took the opportunity to attack. The Qing army was defeated by the attack from both inside and outside, and the two fled in embarrassment. Not many of the 30,000 Qing soldiers died directly in the battle, and not many were captured. Their biggest loss was the deserters who fled and hid.

The red tassel on the top of the lightning rod on his head turned into a tuft, and a layer of dust covered Heshen's cotton armor. Heshen, who had been running all night, did not get any blood on his body, but the endless anxiety and worry made Heshen's handsome face slightly twisted and hideous.

Yinglian was his biggest supporter. Heshen's wife Feng Wenwen is Yinglian's only granddaughter. Yinglian, who lost his son in middle age, loves his granddaughter to the extreme. He personally selected Heshen, a poor boy with excellent character and learning but whose family has fallen on hard times, as his grandson-in-law. Then he supported Heshen all the way and sent Heshen's younger brother Helin to the Eight Banners New Army.

Whether from the perspective of interests or family affection, Heshen did not want Yinglian to be injured.

When the situation was most critical last night, he asked Yinglian's Goshha to send half of his people to follow him as the rear guard, and let the others take Yinglian first. As a result, the pursuit of the Fu Han Army was just thunder and rain. Heshen, whose life was not in danger, turned his head west and followed Yinglian's whereabouts all the way. He met Shuhede at the agreed place of Dulin Town by the Laozhang River in the northwest of Cangzhou, but did not see the old Taiyue Yinglian. Heshen did not hesitate at all, turned his horse's head and led his people back to look for Yinglian.

After a night of running around and anxiety, Heshen's face was covered with dust, his lips were dry and white, and the late autumn night wind blowing on his face was no better than winter. Only his eyes were black and shiny, and his determined look did not fade at all.

"Tell them to go northwest to Dulin Town." The team stopped under a forest to rest, and a group of defeated Qing soldiers fled from a distance. Heshen randomly pointed to someone to go. Shuhede is now taking in the defeated soldiers in Dulin Town.

"We are encountering more and more defeated soldiers. It seems that Chen Ni is not pursuing them in a big way."

"How many people are there in total? Do you dare to pursue them at night..."

"Don't dare to pursue them at night, and don't dare to pursue them at dawn? If Chen Ni's cavalry kills to Dulin Town, do you think Shuhede dares to stay in Hedong?" The soldiers in the team talked about it.

When the voice came, Heshen did not reprimand, but closed his eyes helplessly. The morale was low, and the people's hearts were also scattered. Goshha was Yinglian's personal soldier, and he had always been well paid and rewarded. As an old saying in the army goes, this was a group of soldiers who were well-fed and absolutely reliable. But if he couldn't find Yinglian again, I'm afraid even the bannermen in the team would waver. Don't think that the team led by Heshen was a Goshha with great rewards, and that there were no deserters in the team, but only a few. Heshen could trust the bannermen in Goshha; but bannermen only accounted for 10% of Goshha, and the majority of Yinglian's personal guards were still Han soldiers! And the loyalty of these people now... is ridiculous.

The 23-year-old Heshen had no idea how ‘brilliant’ he would be in history, and how great his contribution to Daqingguo would be. Now he was just a small second-class guard, walking in front of Yinglian. No matter how smart and clever he was, his vision and knowledge were very limited.

He only knew that the Qing Dynasty was really in danger.

The 40,000 troops of Shuhede and Yinglian were the most important force of the Qing Dynasty in southern Hebei. Once they collapsed, it was unknown when they could regain their combat effectiveness. By that time, the Fu Han Army would have reached Beijing, right?

To resist the Fu Han Army, or to defeat the Fu Han Army, curbing their transportation lines was the most important link. However, with the collapse of Shuhede and Yinglian’s 40,000 troops, the Qing Dynasty could only rely on the troops returning from Henan in addition to withdrawing cavalry to the south. And doing so also weakened the military strength of Beijing and Tianjin...

Of course, Heshen was still very confident about Beijing at the moment. The Fu Han army led by Chen Ming is too small in number, and he has to leave troops along the way. Now he has less than 20,000 troops, and it is impossible to capture Beijing. The long land transportation line from Shandong to Tianjin and Beijing is too easy to be cut off, so the current disaster is not the final disaster. What makes Heshen headache is the war situation after the ice and snow melt next year. Now Heshen looks calm on the outside, but his heart is in a mess! Standing in his current position, he looked up and looked forward. The sky was "dark" without any light.

But he couldn't help but stand opposite the Fu Han army. Who made the Fu Han army so cruel to the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty?

Even Zhu Hongwu and Zhu Ming recruited many surrendered Mongols and Semites, but the Fu Han army insisted on "irreconcilable"! For the bannermen, there is no way to survive. Yes, in Heshen's view, hard labor for more than ten or twenty years is simply a death. Compared with death in battle, it is just one early death and one late death.

"Sir, sir, there is news about the governor..." A shout came from afar, and it was a close follower assigned by Heshen just now, and the voice was full of endless surprise. The calmness on Heshen's face was instantly broken, and he jumped up from the ground with an uncontrollable excitement.

"The governor is staying in a village in the southwest. The governor is fine, the governor is fine..." Goshaha, who was depressed, low morale, and scattered just now, smiled again, and everyone's body was immediately filled with fighting spirit again.

...

Chen Ming led the infantry and cavalry back to Jinghai, and immediately led the troops to march towards Yangliuqing Town in the west of Tianjin. Strike while the iron is hot. With this breath, how much damage can be done to the Qing Dynasty, how much damage will be done to them.

The garrison troops in Shandong also had to enter Hebei. Instead of setting up military stations along the way, which was too slow and time-consuming, they went north along the canal and spread to the cities along the way to strengthen the original garrison. The land transportation line from Shandong to Beijing and Tianjin should be treated with caution. As for whether it is useful or not, that is another matter. At least when Chen Ming retreated from Tianjin, it could be used as a contact point, right? After receiving the news of the defeat in the Battle of Cangzhou, the city of Beijing under the rule of the Qing Dynasty seemed to be swept by the cold air of Siberia, and there was a silent loneliness!

…

Sichuan, Chongqing Prefecture. Chen Yongsheng had received a pigeon letter a few days ago - Qianlong was dead. This news, which excited the entire Fu Han Army, quickly spread throughout Sichuan, then spread to Yunnan, and spread throughout the southwest in a short time. Chen Yongsheng didn't care how Altai and others in Chengdu were like bereaved. His eyes were now fixed on Kuizhou Prefecture.

In mid-September, after having made good "communication" with Ben Jinzhong, Chen Yongsheng led his troops from Zunyi to Sichuan, and captured Chongqing, an important town in eastern Sichuan, in one fell swoop, becoming a great victory for the Fu Han Army and the Qing Dynasty in the southwest battlefield in the autumn and winter. What he didn't know was that it was this great victory that induced the weak and frail Qianlong to faint due to anger, and Qianlong's death was definitely due to this news.

However, even many Qing ministers didn't know this news, let alone the Fu Han Army.

Chen Yongsheng, who captured Chongqing, turned around and attacked Kuizhou Prefecture with the strength of a brigade of the First Division, plus the mountain infantry brigade of the Fu Han Army that had entered the battlefield for more than half a year, and part of the Guizhou garrison. The main force of more than 10,000 people turned eastward to attack Kuizhou Prefecture. The intention was not to annihilate how many Qing troops and seize how much money and food, but to occupy Kuizhou Prefecture and communicate with the speed of the Hubei Fu Han Army!

Communicate their direct connection with Hubei. In this way, the supply line of the Fu Han Army can be changed from the long and tortuous land route to the Yangtze River waterway.

As for the dangerous Three Gorges waterway, no matter how difficult it is, haven't the people in Sichuan been walking there for two thousand years?

When weapons, ammunition and various food supplies can "drift" from Hubei to Chongqing along the Yangtze River, that will be the time when the whole Sichuan will kneel down at the feet of the Fu Han Army. Gao Qiao, the governor of western Hubei, has long been sharpening his sword for Sichuan. Although his troops are all garrison troops with low combat effectiveness, and there are also local soldiers from Shi Nanrongmei, so what? As long as they are useful!

When the Fu Han Army from Chongqing attacked Kuizhou Prefecture from behind, the Qing army in front of Kuizhou was tightly stuck by Gao Qiao. By the time Fan Shishou and Zhu Gui realized that the situation was over and they had to withdraw, the main force of the mountain infantry brigade had already been blocked at the Jingjing Pass north of Fengjie.

It was not a fierce battle, but the mountain brigade infantry won a great victory and more than 7,000 Qing troops fell apart. Fan Shishou and Zhu Gui took advantage of the terrain and led some of the remaining troops to escape into the mountains.

In the mountains north of Fengjie Silent Pass, a thin gray line meanders through the narrow mountain road. There are mountains in front of them, and in late autumn, the mountains are full of golden yellow. In addition to the beautiful scenery, there are of course ambushes in yellow military uniforms. There are not too many of them, and they are evenly spread between the peaks and valleys. The spots are connected to the backbone of the mountains, which is a dense and woven net!

They are a small part of the Fu Han Army Mountain Infantry Brigade.

This brigade is mainly composed of soldiers from southern Jiangxi, western Hubei, western Hunan, and Guizhou. After the training was completed, it was officially deployed to the southwest battlefield this year. It was very handy to obey Chen Yongsheng's command. Because of the origins of these soldiers, they have been accustomed to crossing mountains and ridges since childhood. After the physical fitness, discipline and various tactical training of the troops, they really made it as easy as walking on flat ground to cross mountains and ridges.

Whether in the suppression of bandits and pursuit of enemies in Guizhou and Xiangxi, or in the war in Sichuan, the mountain infantry brigade has played a very strong role. Its first brigade commander, Huang Zicong, was Chen Ming's personal bodyguard. At the beginning, he and Chen Dawei were Chen Ming's personal bodyguards, but later the fierce and brave Huang Zicong left Chen Ming. Compared with the peaceful life of a bodyguard, he preferred the exciting reconnaissance unit. Huang Zicong entered the reconnaissance unit very early. Then he transferred from the reconnaissance unit to the mountain unit, and as the mountain infantry battalion composed of Shi Nanrongmei's local soldiers gradually expanded to the mountain infantry brigade, his position also rose. Although his military achievements were few, he had already sat on the high position of the brigade commander of the main force.

The number of mountain infantry ambushed in the mountains north of Jingjing Pass was only a small company, because there were too many places for the Qing army of Kuizhou to penetrate in the mountains north of Fengjie. The main force of the mountain infantry brigade of 4,000 to 5,000 people is in Jingjing Pass. It is already rare to be able to gather a team of troops in this area.

The number of mountain infantry in the mountains is far less than that of the remnants of the Qing army, and they are scattered into small groups. But the "quality" of the two sides is very different. The morale of the mountain infantry is high, and the news of Qianlong's death is like a shot of chicken blood, which makes everyone in the Fu Han Army soar in adrenaline. And their individual soldier quality may not be comparable to that of the reconnaissance troops, but they are also well-deserved elites in the Fu Han Army. And what about the Qing army? The morale is low, the fighting spirit is low, and they are completely vulnerable. Even when they are full of morale, their combat effectiveness and fighting will are far inferior to those of ordinary soldiers in the Fu Han Army. Let alone now!

To describe it with a number, the combat effectiveness of the remnants of the Qing army is now 1, and the Fu Han Army mountain infantry is not to say 10, but 7 or 8.

The air in the mountains is so fresh, and the mountains in the distance are still shrouded in clouds and mist. The sun shines on it, just like a fairyland.

In the golden light, Fan Shishou and Zhu Gui led the team to continue their escape. Now there are still five or six hundred remnants of the Qing army!

Zhu Gui, who always pays attention to his appearance, has a grain of rice on his beard, but he didn't notice it. The followers around him were in a hurry to get on the road, and they lifted Zhu Gui up with a sedan chair, but they didn't look up again, and they didn't pay attention.

On the way to escape, life is at stake, and there is no need to worry about empty tricks.

They still have to walk on the mountain road for at least four days before they can get out of Kuizhou Prefecture and walk to Taiping Hall, which still belongs to the territory of the Qing army. From Taiping Hall, they can quickly go west and return to Chengdu.

The straight-line distance on the map is only sixty or seventy miles. If you can see the mountain, you will die, let alone people? No one dares to guarantee whether these remnants of the Qing army can complete this journey in four days. Fan Shishou and Zhu Gui can only hope that after the Fu Han Army captured Fengjie, they would focus all their attention on communicating with Hubei, and never attack Taiping Hall along the official road, otherwise they would really die.

The Qing soldiers, like dogs who lost their homes, a team of five or six hundred people, stretched out a line of one mile on the mountain road. The people in front had already crossed the mountain, and the people behind had just left the foot of the mountain. Zhu Gui had a hunch that the team would become less and less manpower.

However, as long as it did not endanger his life, he would be a deserter. If Zhu Gui's family had not been in Beijing, Zhu Gui would have wanted to surrender.

Liu Fei walked at the front of the team with his head down. He regretted it, really regretted it.

Why did he blind himself at that time and leave the bright road behind to seek death?

The so-called natural barrier in Xiangxi could not stop the artillery of the Fu Han Army. The mountain strongholds that he thought were impregnable were reduced to ashes under the bombardment of the Fu Han Army. This was originally one of his tasks, to "eliminate" the bandits in Xiangxi.

But while Liu Fei was cooperating with the Fu Han Army to complete the task, he also stood opposite the Fu Han Army. Liu Fei fled in desperation. He led his men to Guizhou and served under Ben Jinzhong. But just as he had settled down, the Fu Han Army came again.

The Qing army gathered the elite troops of the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan in the southwest. It took more than a year to fight with the Fu Han Army in Guizhou, which had complex and changeable terrain and rugged and difficult to travel. In the end, Guiyang fell and Zunyi was lost. When Liu Fei fled to Sichuan in a panic, there were only a hundred or so people left under his command.

But what made Liu Fei most depressed was that Ben Jinzhong surrendered!

Ben Jinzhong, who received the great favor of Emperor Qianlong, surrendered!

The knife that was about to chop off Liu Fei's head was only an inch away from his neck. Liu Fei, who had narrowly escaped the disaster, was so frightened that he turned to the east of Sichuan with his men. However, that "hiding" seemed to have used up all of Liu Fei's luck. As soon as he arrived in Zhongzhou, the Fu Han Army attacked him; as soon as he contacted the Qing army in Kuizhou, the Qing army in Kuizhou was also destroyed.

Less than half of the last hundred or ten men under his command were left, and now he was assigned a good job by the Qing army, exploring the road ahead.

Liu Fei turned around the foot of the mountain and saw a lush valley in front of him. The slopes on both sides were covered with woods and were a bit steep. Not far ahead, a front bulge in the mountain on the right caused the mountain road to turn a lot toward the back of the mountain. bend. As a result, the road behind is completely blocked. Unless you go there and see for yourself, you can't see what the mountain road behind the big bend looks like.

This kind of terrain is perfect for ambush. "If the Fuhan Army sends a team of people to ambush here, none of us can get out." But Liu Fei didn't think there would really be a Fuhan Army ahead. So Liu Fei walked forward without stopping.

When Fan Shishou looked at this mountain road for the first time, he was also mentally amazed by the good terrain. But like Liu Fei, he felt that it was impossible for the Fuhan Army to ambush ahead. "God bless you. If the boy can escape this time, he will worship Buddha and burn incense before seeing God."

He moved his legs with some difficulty. Fan Shishou was also sitting on a sliding pole, not only because he was weak and unable to walk, but also because he had a wound on his leg that had been blown up by a bomb from the Fuhan Army.

It was very peaceful in the mountain forest. Soon Liu Fei reached the turning point. The already narrow mountain road was suddenly thrust out by the mountain, making the mountain road even narrower and completely blocking the line of sight. If there really was a Fuhan Army You don't need many people to defend here. Twenty or thirty people are enough to make the defense impregnable. With the current combat power and fighting spirit of the Qing army, it is extremely difficult to break through.

On the crowded mountain road, Liu Fei couldn't stop, but kept turning around to urge his men to move quickly. This kind of military lost ground, no matter whether there are enemies or not, it is best to leave as soon as possible.

Suddenly, Liu Fei felt like he was being watched. He subconsciously turned around and looked at the hillside because that feeling came from there. It's like walking on the road and feeling like someone is staring at you from behind. But before he could determine where the danger came from, Liu Fei heard a clear gunshot in his ears...

"Are you dead? Qiangzi, did I kill him?"

A sniper in the dense forest didn't bother to check the results after shooting. He quickly reloaded his ammunition and only asked his companions around him with his mouth.

He heard no answer, only the sound of a gunshot. The strongman also pulled the trigger of the rifle in his hand. [A quickie gets a lunch box]