When Duduo learned in the city of Nanjing that the navy was defeated and the merchant army had blocked the Nanjing section of the Yangtze River waterway, he couldn't help but be shocked and knew that the current situation was already very dangerous. However, because the news between Nanjing and Jiangbei was cut off at this time,
Duduo still didn't know that Shengjing had been captured by Shang Jun.
The raid was successful, and Dorgon had ordered troops to return to support Beijing. Moreover, although the Yangtze River waterway was cut off, the land route was still open, because the evacuated troops had just left and had entered the territory of Jiujiang Prefecture, and there were basically no roads along the way.
It was safe and sound, so Duduo felt somewhat at ease.
However, at this time, Duduo did not dare to delay any longer and immediately ordered to leave Aobai to garrison Nanjing and retreat to Wuchang Mansion. Of course, on the surface, he was going to Wuchang Mansion to inspect the war situation in Hubei and at the same time mobilize water in Jiujiang.
Army, support Nanjing instead of withdrawing from Nanjing.
But just when Duduo was about to set off from Nanjing, news suddenly came that the merchant army had launched an attack on Ningguo Mansion. When Duduo heard this, his head immediately buzzed, and he almost fainted.
Yi Ye was too cruel. It seemed that he planned to trap himself to death in Nanjing this time.
At the same time, I couldn't help but regret. If I had known this, I should have left Nanjing earlier and evacuated to Jiujiang first. However, it was not the latest after all, but I could not delay it any longer, so Duduo immediately ordered,
He left Ao Bai to garrison Nanjing and led his troops to rescue Ningguo Mansion.
This time the merchant army attacked Ningguofu and dispatched the 7th, 20th and 23rd divisions, the 5th and 19th brigades of the First Army, the special forces division of the 7th Army, and the 16th, 19th and 21st brigades.
, with a total strength of more than 73,000 troops, of which the Seventh Army also officially entered the battlefield, leaving only the Tenth Division to garrison Quzhou, Chuzhou, and defend the southern part of Zhejiang. At this time, the merchant army's troops invested in the Nanjing battlefield had already
Close to 130,000 people.
Ningguo Mansion is located directly south of Nanjing. Its seat is Xuancheng. It has Juxi River in the east and Jingting Mountain in the west. It is the only way to reach Nanjing from the south. After capturing Ningguo Mansion, it can not only encircle Nanjing
to block the Qing army from Nanjing from marching towards Wuchang
Escape in the same direction can also cut off the Qing army in Jiangxi and Fujian from rescuing Nanjing. Recovering Nanjing and annihilating the Qing army in Nanjing city is the last piece of the puzzle to be completed on the outskirts of Nanjing before the official launch of the attack on Nanjing.
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Cheng Jin led the first army from Guangde Prefecture, and first captured Jianping, Guangtong Town, Gaochun and other places north of Ningguo Mansion, cutting off the connection between Ningguo Mansion and Nanjing, and leaving five brigades in Guangtong Town.
Stationed and responsible for intercepting Nanjing's reinforcements
, and then turned south to fight towards Xuancheng. At this time, Peng also led the special forces division and three brigades of the Seventh Army into Ningguo Mansion from Huanghua Pass, and first captured Ningguo County in the southeast of Ningguo Mansion.
They came from the south to fight towards Xuancheng.
The two merchant armies also successfully met in front of Ningguofu City. Then they joined forces and launched an attack on Ningguofu.
The Qing army has 30,000 troops stationed in Ningguofu. The commander-in-chief is Ezhen Tunqi with a blue flag and a solid mountain. The deputy general is a Han army with a red flag to solidify the mountain and gold. There are also 5,000 troops stationed at Jingting Mountain and Juxi River.
, by two generals Tian Xiong and Hao Zhongzhong respectively.
Guards, these two generals are Zuo Liangyu's old troops, and they are interdependent with Xuancheng. After learning that the merchant army sent a large army to attack Ningguo Mansion, Jin Li ordered the entire army to strictly guard the city, and immediately sent people there.
Nanjing for help.
The Seventh Army first launched an attack on the Qing army stationed at Jingting Mountain with its special forces division as the core.
Although the Qing army had the advantage of being at a commanding height in Jingting Mountain because of its previous successful experience in capturing Xianxia Pass in Xianxia Ridge, even though the special forces division actually only had two regiments at that time, Jingting Mountain was far less steep than Xianxia Ridge.
, due to time constraints, the Qing army did not build a pass in the mountains and could only rely on a few
Therefore, the officers and soldiers of the whole division were also full of confidence in capturing Jingting Mountain. Moreover, by this time, the merchant army had already known the news that the raiding force had captured Shengjing. At this time, the fighting spirit of the entire army was extremely high and morale was high.
Very vigorous, after Duan Peng gave the order, he immediately launched a fierce attack on Jingting Mountain.
After entering the mountainous area, the entire army immediately dispersed into companies as units. Some advanced along the mountain road to attract the attention of the Qing army, while others used the cover of the mountain forest to climb and cooperate with each other to attack from the side. At the same time, they continued to shoot at the mountain.
Shoot and bombard with the small artillery brought to cover the assault force's attack.
Under the fierce attack of the Merchant Army, the Qing army retreated steadily and successively lost Yungenshi, Ezhu Tower, Supreme Pavilion, Chuanyunting and other garrison points. Finally, the defender Tian Xiong led his troops to retreat to He Guangjiao Temple near the top of the mountain.
, relying on the twin towers of Guangjiao Temple to stand firmly and carry out the final resistance.
The twin pagodas of Guangjiao Temple were built in the Song Dynasty, with an east-west layout. The twin pagodas are evenly shaped as stone squares, each side is about one foot wide, divided into seven floors, and the total height is about seven feet. Qing troops were stationed in Guangjiao Temple.
Archers and musketeers were deployed on each floor of the twin towers to resist the attack of the merchant army while waiting for reinforcements from Xuancheng.
The twin towers were high up and protected by stone walls, which indeed posed a great threat to the merchant army's attack. He Chong, the commander of the special division, saw him and immediately mobilized fifty sniper infantry to attack the soldiers in the stone towers.
The Qing soldiers carried out a key attack, which immediately suppressed the Qing army's firepower. Then they organized three groups of demolition teams and braved the hail of bullets from the Qing army to transport more than fifty grenades to the wall of Guangjiao Temple.
Then detonate it.
After all, the courtyard wall of Guangjiao Temple cannot be compared with the city wall, so after a loud noise, the courtyard wall was suddenly blasted open with a gap of five to six feet wide. The soldiers also took advantage of the opportunity to rush in through the gap. Tian Xiong saw that the situation was overwhelming
Go and surrender with only the remaining troops.
The merchant army captured Jingting Mountain, paying the price of 571 dead and 337 injured, annihilating 1,372 Qing soldiers and capturing 2,375.
Looking down from Jingting Mountain, you can have a panoramic view of the entire Xuancheng.
Just as the Seventh Army was storming Jingting Mountain, the First Army also launched a strong attack on the Juxi River. The First Army's attack was much smoother than that of the Seventh Army, because the Juxi River was not a big river and the surface of the river was not
Kuan, Chengjin sent a regiment as a commando to forcibly cross the Juxi River. At the same time, he set up three rows of artillery on the river bank and launched a fierce bombardment on the other side, which immediately destroyed the Qing army's defense line on the Juxi River.
Falling flowers and running water have no cause.
The commando team also successfully crossed to the other side of the river. Seeing that the river bank position was lost, the Qing army immediately retreated to Xuancheng. At this time, the two defense lines outside Xuancheng County also successively declared their losses.
However, when the First Army broke through the Juxi River, the Seventh Army had not yet been able to completely occupy Jingting Mountain. At this time, Cheng Jin also received the news that Duduo had led the army and rushed to rescue Xuancheng. Cheng Jin also
Knowing that the war was urgent, he informed Duan Peng of the situation and immediately launched an attack on the east gate of Xuancheng.
But at this time, Jin Li of Tunqi who was guarding Xuancheng also received a message from Duduo and knew that reinforcements were on the way, so he ordered the entire army to stand guard and wait for reinforcements. After the fierce offensive and defensive battle began, the Qing army's
Due to stubborn defense, the merchant army was unable to capture Xuancheng for a while, so the battle entered a stalemate.
By the next day, the Seventh Army finally completely captured Jingting Mountain. Duan Peng also received the message from Cheng Jin, so Duan Peng did not stop and immediately ordered an attack on the west gate of Xuancheng, and at Jingting
Shan set up artillery and also used thunderbolt rockets to attack Xuancheng.
Attacked from both sides by the Merchant Army, especially the artillery set up from Jingting Mountain, it was also a condescending and dangerous threat to Xuancheng. In this case, the defenders of Xicheng could not support it at first and were attacked by the Merchant Army.
Entered the city and spread out alleys
The Qing army retreated steadily and retreated to the center of the city. At this time, the news also reached the East City. The defenders were immediately motivated and no longer wanted to defend the battle. The First Army also took advantage of the situation and attacked the city. Tunqi led
He left the city with a small number of troops and fled.
Jin Li led a part of the Qing army to still defend the government office in the city, fighting to the death and trying to delay the arrival of reinforcements. However, after the troops of the two merchant armies met in the city, they immediately attacked again.
The government office launched a siege. The breakthrough team first blasted the government office with grenades, which only caused the Qing soldiers to scream. Then, taking advantage of the smoke, they broke into the government office and started a hand-to-hand battle with the Qing soldiers.
Although Jin Li personally supervised the battle with a big sword in his hand, the Qing army was still unable to block the fierce attack of the merchant army. Many Qing soldiers raised their hands to surrender. Jin Li still wanted to resist, but was caught by more than a dozen Han soldiers in the pass.
The merchant army asked to surrender, but the other Qing soldiers saw that their leader was captured and could not escape the siege, so they all abandoned their weapons and surrendered. The merchant army also occupied Xuancheng.
In this battle, the Merchant Army suffered a total of 1,453 killed and 427 wounded, 5,781 Qing soldiers were annihilated and 8,325 were captured.
Just when the merchant army captured Xuancheng, two divisions and a brigade of the Second Army, led by commander Luo Yuanbin, crossed the Yangtze River near Hezhou, entered the Jiangnan area to fight, and successfully captured
In Taiping Prefecture, the merchant army's encirclement of Nanjing was finally completed. And a huge force of more than 150,000 troops had been assembled in the Nanjing area.
By this time, Duduo's reinforcements had already arrived in Guangtong Town and received the defeated army of Tunqi. However, the Merchant Army also set up defensive positions here. Although the Qing army launched continuous attacks on the Merchant Army's positions, they were still unable to defeat them.
They were unable to break through and were firmly blocked. After Duduo received the news that Xuancheng and Taiping Prefecture had been lost, he knew that the situation was over and had no choice but to lead his troops back to Nanjing.
After returning to Nanjing, Duduo learned that Shengjing had been lost and that the Qing government was sending troops back to aid Beijing. Therefore, he also knew that Hong Chengchou, who was counting on Jiangbei, might not be able to count on him. This time he was really scared.
I can only place my hope on Jueluo in the south.
Bahana, Jin Shenghuan, Shang Kexi and others led troops to rescue Nanjing, which could hold on for a while longer. However, at this time, the road to the south of Nanjing had been blocked, and Duduo had to order people to disguise themselves as ordinary people.