Chapter 318: Hope Governor Hong can recognize talents with insight
Wang Cheng'en listened to Hong Chengchou's account of the battle on the south bank of the Xiaoling River, until he heard that Zhang Cheng's Xuanfu Army Division had gathered with Zu Dashou's troops in Jinzhou City and were working together to break through the three trench lines of defense surrounding Jinzhou by the slave thieves. He couldn't help but feel greatly
Invigorate.
Originally very calm, he stood up from his seat and quickly walked out of his tent. Under the attention of everyone, he knelt down facing the direction of the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
Eunuch Bingbi, the eunuch of the Ming Dynasty, and Wang Chengen, the admiral of Dongchang, knelt on the ground and worshiped Emperor Chongzhen in the direction of the capital. They kept saying: "Your Majesty, the siege of Jinzhou has been lifted... The siege of Jinzhou has finally been lifted...
I congratulate your Majesty...congratulations to Your Majesty..."
After Wang Chengen knelt down and worshiped nine times, he called for two young eunuchs to help him stand up. The two traces of tears on his face were clearly visible, and the tears that had not completely fallen shone brightly in the sun.
Only then did Hong Chengchou come up to him. He cupped his fists and bowed, "Your Majesty, your loyalty to the Holy One is truly remarkable. Chengchou is also deeply moved."
Wang Chengen, however, was not interested in his flattery, and said in a thin voice: "Our family is just a slave serving the emperor. It doesn't matter whether he is loyal or not."
He suddenly rolled his eyes and lowered his voice slightly and said: "On the contrary, it is you, the important ministers and generals who lead the army, who must be truly loyal to the emperor, be diligent in the king's affairs, put aside personal gains and losses, and look at the overall situation in everything, and be sincere.
It’s better to do things for the Holy One.”
Although Hong Chengchou could not understand the meaning of his words, he remained calm and said with a smile: "Your Majesty is right, I have written it down."
He went on to say: "When Chengchou received this good news, he did not dare to delay for a moment, so he immediately came to tell the prince, so that he could make the prince happy. However, the military situation on the front line was changeable. In order to break up Jinwei, our division had three armies.
Advance together, now Zhang Cheng's troops on the west route can join forces with Zu Shuai, it is thanks to the full strength attack of the other two routes and contain most of the slave thieves."
As Hong Chengchou spoke, he couldn't help but look at Wang Chengen's expression. Seeing that he didn't look bored, he continued: "Your Majesty, when the three armies of Bai Guangen, Ma Ke and Tang Tong were defeated, how could they rely on the troops in front of them?"
The soldiers and horses of the first town of Tunwei, with the assistance of the Ningyuan Army Division, played an indispensable role in containing the soldiers and horses of the Three Banners of the slave thieves.
Wu Sangui and Cao Bianjiao were the first to cross the river. They led the army and fought fiercely with Dorgon for two days, killing many enemies. Especially Wu Sangui sent out a surprise force to feign an attack to the east, helping Zhang Cheng to break through the slave and bandit defense line to the north.
His achievements are no less than those of Zhang Cheng."
It was only at this moment that Wang Chengen's face turned around. He looked at Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao in front of him. Although the smile was still on his face, there was an intriguing and strange look in his eyes.
I only heard him say to Hong Chengchou: "Governor Hong, you must evaluate the merits of each general one by one. As long as they serve the country wholeheartedly, they are all heroes and good generals of our Ming Dynasty, so they cannot be omitted.
Governor Kuang Hong commanded tens of thousands of troops to fight, and he was very familiar with the capabilities of all the generals. He should measure their capabilities and evaluate their talents. When the Liao War is understood, he can select and recommend talents to the court to prevent the country's generals from being buried.
I, below, shall not display my desire to serve the country!"
Hong Chengchou also stroked his beard and smiled and said: "I originally thought that it was the responsibility of the Hanlin Academy to reserve talents for the country, but now I hear what the prince said, it is like an enlightenment and a sudden enlightenment."
He stepped forward and grabbed Wang Chengen's hand, and said: "When the war here is over, Chengchou will carefully screen the generals and recommend them to the imperial military department according to their abilities so that they can display their talents and serve the emperor."
Wang Chengen also smiled and said: "That's very good. I hope Governor Hong can recognize talents with a keen eye. When the time comes, our family will jointly submit a letter with Governor Hong to recommend talents to the court and promote talents for the country."
After he finished speaking, he asked about the war ahead: "Director Hong, Zhang Cheng and Zu Dashou have met at Nanguan. How did the slaves react?"
"Your Majesty, Zhang Cheng has reported back to the army that the slave bandit Prince Azige of Wuying County has led the Tatars with the White Banner from Manchuria and the Red Banner from Mongolia to the aid of the White Banner from Mongolia stationed at Nanguan of Jinzhou.
According to Wu Sangui's report, the number of slaves and bandits in front of him was greatly reduced, and there seemed to be signs of reinforcements to the South Pass of Jinzhou." Hong Chengchou reported the war outside Jinzhou City.
Today, the Ming Dynasty's tens of thousands of troops, composed of ten generals, have been aiding the Liao Dynasty for half a year. During this period, they fought several battles with slaves and bandits, with both sides winning and losing.
But now, nearly half of the Ming Dynasty's division has been lost. One commander-in-chief has been killed in front of the battle, and another commander-in-chief was wounded in the battle. Three commander-in-chiefs are missing, and it is unknown how many people were injured from the deputy general on down.
, nearly 30,000 brave soldiers died on the battlefield, and more than 40,000 people were unable to fight anymore due to casualties.
Although many of them were imposters or civilian men accompanying the army, to the Ming Dynasty, today they are all heroes of the country.
In fact, since the Liao King's Division marched into Songshan, the Qing army has suffered heavy losses after successive battles.
They killed Prince Duduo of Yu in the battle. Five people were killed in Gushan Ezhen, and countless generals including Mele Zhangjing and Jia La Zhangjing were killed in the battle. All bannermen and armor were killed in the battle
There are nearly 20,000 soldiers, and countless soldiers and soldiers accompanying the army.
Even Baya Lazhangjing of the Qing Dynasty, who was known as the elite in the world, had several people die in this battle of Liaodong. It can be said that this battle has seriously damaged the vitality of the Qing Dynasty.
Of course, the casualties of the Qing army were mostly soldiers from the banners of the Mongolian, Korean and Han armies, followed by the inner Mongolia and the Beibei cavalry of the Eight Mongolian Banners. Finally, their core combat strength, the Eight Banners of Manchuria, also suffered the smallest casualties.
The Qing Dynasty mobilized the whole country for this war. All men taller than a cart wheel, regardless of age, were drafted to fight. In this way, they barely managed to gather 170,000 horses.
Among the 170,000-strong army, only 110,000 are real warriors called "armored soldiers". This is the Mongolia vassal outside, the Mongolia annexed inside, the Korean army, the four banners of the Han army, the eight banners of the Mongolia, and the Manchurian army.
All of the Eight Banners.
So far in the war, nearly 20,000 armored warriors have been killed, and more than 15,000 have been lost due to injuries. This does not include the armored soldiers of various banners.
In this way, the Qing army was also severely weakened, but what Hong Chengchou, Wang Chengen and others did not know was that the Mongolian princes, Taiji and Baylor who accompanied the expedition were already full of complaints.
Even the Taijis who attached themselves to the Mongolian ministries had a lot of complaints, which had even affected the morale of the Mongolian Eight Banners warriors, not to mention the Korean soldiers.
This is also the key to why Zhang Cheng, Wu Sangui, Wang Tingchen and other three Ming armies have been able to fight fiercely against the slave thieves and still not fall behind.
Although the Ming army had won several battles and their morale was high, the battle in the wild was indeed far different from that of the slaves. The results of today's battle were actually due to the low morale of the slaves.
These are the casualties that Hong Chengchou knows now. However, in the successive battles yesterday and today, many battle losses have not yet been calculated in detail. It is estimated that the casualties are even greater than those in previous battles.
But no matter what, we finally reached the south gate of Jinzhou. It has been almost two years since Jinzhou City was besieged by slave thieves, and now is the closest time to breaking the siege of Jinzhou.
Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, said to Wang Cheng'en: "My lord, I want to lead my bodyguard to cross the river and go north. Although Qiu Fuchen is left here to command the defense, we cannot do without the prince."
Wang Chengen didn't know that Hong Chengchou was trying to give him an excuse not to cross the river with him, so he smiled and said, "This way, our family will not cause trouble to Governor Hong."
He then said to Hong Chengchou with concern: "It's just that the war in Hebei is dangerous, and Governor Hong is responsible for the safety of the soldiers and civilians in Liaodong. You should pay attention to precautions and never go into danger."
"Of course, that's how it should be. I'm grateful to the prince."
…………
Just when Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao in the Ming Dynasty, bid farewell to the eunuch Wang Chengen, the eunuch Bingbi, and led his staff and troops to cross the Xiaoling River and head north.
Dorgon, Prince Guorui of the Qing Dynasty, was very anxious. He made painstaking plans to defeat the main force of the Ming army on the north bank of Nuer River and Xiaoling River.
But things went against expectations. After the successive battles, in addition to Prince Zheng Jierharang's side defeating the Ming army in Ji Town, Miyun Town, Shanhai Town and other troops, he and Daishan were like bumping into an iron plate.
, and did not gain much benefit.
Although Wu Sangui and Cao Bianjiao's troops were obviously weaker than themselves in terms of military strength, they were tenacious enough to fight. They attacked and attacked hard for two consecutive days, but they could not be defeated.
There was even a time when Cao Bianjiao led a small number of elite cavalry into his own army formation. Just like what happened at the foot of Rufeng Mountain, he ran across his own army formation and beat them randomly, and was almost defeated.
Fortunately, Meng Atu, the minister in charge of the Zhengbai Banner, fought hard with Melezhang, Kang Ligu, Adahai and others. In particular, Adahai hit Cao Bianjiao's mount with two arrows in succession, forcing him to change horses and fight again.
Kang Ligu was even more fierce. He stabbed Cao Bianjiao with all his life. Although he died at the hands of Cao Bianjiao, Cao Bianjiao did not dare to fight anymore and was escorted by his own soldiers to break through and retreat.
However, after this battle, Dorgon's deployment was in chaos, especially the Mongolian tribes from the outer vassals who accompanied the army, and they were even more ineffective. Their roars were the loudest, but they were the least charged.
It seems that they are secretly retaining their strength, just roaming around the periphery, riding and shooting, but never engaging in close combat with the Ming army. Even though Dorgon gave repeated orders, this was still the case, but there was nothing he could do about it.
As a last resort, Dorgon had to temporarily withdraw his troops outside the Western Pass of Jinzhou in order to regroup and fight again. Of course, Dorgon had other motives for doing this.
He just wanted to lure the Ming army led by Wu Sangui and Cao Bianjiao to continue deeper to the north, so that they would be away from their original camp and farther away from Xiaoling River.
After the Qing army retreated to Jinzhou Xiguan, it could also support each other with the Mongolian red-banner Buyandai headquarters originally stationed in the west of Jinzhou City. It could be said that it killed two birds with one stone.
Furthermore, this side is much closer to the pontoon bridge on the Xiaoling River in the west of the city, and the Wang Tingchen's troops there are also very fierce. This can strengthen the defense of the pontoon bridge here.
Sure enough, as soon as he withdrew, he received a military report that the Ming army Wang Tingchen's troops broke through to the north and had reached less than a mile in front of the pontoon bridge. Dorgon quickly ordered Zhenbilu Zhumala to lead his troops with a white flag on the top of the mountain.
reinforce.
Sure enough, after the arrival of the army led by Jierhalang, they defeated the Ming army under Ma Ke in Shanhai Town in one fell swoop, and repulsed the Ming army under Wang Tingchen until they approached the north bank of the Nuerhe River.
At the same time, Dorgon gradually gained an advantage. No matter how Wu Sangui and Cao Bianjiao charged, their troops were at a disadvantage. In addition, after Cao Bianjiao was injured, the morale of his ASEAN troops was also greatly reduced.
As a last resort, they could only retreat all the way south. Although Cao Bianjiao and Wu Sangui continued to send elite knights to make feints to the east, intending to disperse Dorgon's troops, they remained unmoved.
At the critical moment, Dorgon received the news that Xuan's army had reunited with Zu Dashou in Jinzhou City. He was shocked and had to suspend the attack on Wu Sangui's tribe.
Dorgon first ordered Buyandai to lead the Mongolian Zhenghong Banner to quickly reinforce Daishan, and then transferred back the Manchurian red flag of the auxiliary state Mandahai and the Mongolian white flag of Suna, and Mandahai was led by Mandahai to support Prince Li.
Daishan.
Mandahai was the seventh son of Daishan. When he learned that his father was in danger, he led his army and galloped eastward without saying a word.
As a result, the pressure on Wu Sangui and Cao Bianjiao was reduced, especially Cao Bianjiao, who was more ferocious. He simply bandaged the gunshot wounds on his body, and even seven or eight arrow wounds. He ignored them completely and rushed in on horseback.
on the battlefield.
…………
Prince Li Daishan originally thought that the Xuan Army opposite him had no remaining strength. Especially when Hauge led the Zhenglan Banner warriors to join the battle, the Xuan Army's infantry formation could no longer resist it and began to slowly retreat backwards.
Dai Shan was still happy in his heart, thinking that he would be able to defeat Xuan's army today, and maybe capture Zhang Cheng, the famous general who was known for his daring in battle and who once killed his own son.
You must know that Daishan's two sons, Yue Tuo and Ma Zhan, both died at the hands of Zhang Cheng. How could he bear such revenge for killing his son?
This was also Dorgon's original intention of sending him to the east road to command the Zhan Xuan army. I believe he would definitely fight Zhang Cheng to the death, and he would definitely take Zhang Cheng seriously.
Although Shanyin disliked Yue Tuo in his early years, Shuo Tuo was born and raised by the former Fujin. He did not like them and even often abused them. Especially after the death of the old slave Nurhaci, Yue Tuo and Shuo Tuo not only did not support him
He succeeded to the throne of Khan, but instead forced himself to support Huang Taiji to ascend the throne.
But no matter what, they are his sons after all. Now Daishan just wants to capture Zhang Cheng and kill him with a thousand knives in front of everyone.
But just when he thought that Xuan's army could be defeated, he saw a Ming army of several thousand people marching eastward after Xuan's army formation, seeming to want to bypass his own army formation and attack the Mongols stationed outside Jinzhou Nanguan.
Zhengbai Banner Yibai Division.
There were only some foreign Mongolians left around him who were unwilling to work hard, and then there were the Tatars with white flags in Azige. Just when he was hesitating, the military report came, saying that Zu Dashou in Jinzhou City personally led 7,000 people.
The Liao soldiers rushed out of the city and headed straight to the south.