Chapter 441 Wu Sangui in the Battle of Songshan (Part 2)
Cao Bianjiao, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, came on horseback with a group of soldiers, dismounted in front of Hong Chengchou's tent, hurriedly saluted with his hands, and said loudly:
"My lord, please move the camp immediately! The enemy will move forward to attack. Please move your lord quickly!"
Hong Chengchou asked: "How many battalions are left and have not escaped?"
Cao Bianjiao said: "The whole camp in Zhizhen has not been moved, Wang Tingchen's one camp has not been moved, and the Baizhen camp has not been moved."
"How about the Wu Zhen First Battalion?"
"People are shouting and shouting, and there is chaos."
It turned out that Yang Guozhu's camp was adjacent to Wu Sangui's camp. When Yang Guozhu led his troops to flee, he collided with Wu camp. Some generals and soldiers in Wu camp were shaken and wanted to escape on horseback. Wu Sangui tried his best to suppress them and hacked several soldiers to death, and order was gradually restored.
At this time, Dorgon also took action. He heard people in the Ming army camp shouting and neighing, and knew that something had happened. As expected, he came to report that some Ming soldiers had begun to flee. Because the moonlight was unclear, there was no way to know the number of people.
How much? He judged that Hong Chengchou would break through behind this group of troops, so he negotiated with Great Belle Haug and let Haug lead a small number of cavalry to chase and intercept the Ming army that had fled. He himself led 20,000 infantry and cavalry to attack Hong Chengchou's camp.
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Since Wang Pu and Yang Guozhu had fled, Hong Chengchou's camp was completely exposed in front of the enemy. The Qing soldiers came to the trench outside Hong Chengchou's stronghold without any hindrance. They saw that the lights in the stronghold were still on, and there was no fuss. There was no sign of trying to escape.
Ergon was very strange. He did not dare to attack rashly, so he only sent six to seven hundred infantry to try to cross the trench, and ordered the cavalry to line up outside the trench to prevent the Ming army from coming out of the stronghold to fight.
Hundreds of infantrymen had just climbed over the trench when war drums suddenly sounded in the village. The shouts of killing began, and artillery fire and crossbows were fired. The Qing soldiers were unable to retreat and fell one after another. Some who were lucky enough to retreat into the trench were thrown out by the fortress next to the trench.
Burns from gunpowder packets.
Dorgon saw that Hong Chengchou's camp was heavily guarded and wanted to retreat, but was unwilling to retreat immediately, so he continued to command the infantry to attack in three directions. He attempted to seize one or two fortresses and open the entrance to the camp. Thousands of soldiers
The cavalry immediately shot arrows outside the trench to cover the attack.
In an instant, the situation of the Ming army became very critical. Hong Chengchou and Qiu Minyang rushed to the edge of the stronghold and personally supervised the battle. The soldiers and slaves on their left and right were constantly hit by arrows and fell to the ground.
One of the soldiers pulled Hong Chengchou to avoid an arrow. He ignored it and calmly ordered to fire on the Qing soldiers.
The Ming army fired three cannons at the enemy's densely packed area. The smoke filled the air and the Qing soldiers were killed and injured. Dorgon quickly ordered a retreat.
At this time, Wu Sangui and Cao Bianjiao led their troops to kill. Cao Bianjiao took the lead and rushed into the Qing army. Wu Sangui led his troops to follow. There were conflicts and battles for a long time. The Qing army was still vigorous. At this time, Tang Tong, Bai Guangen, Wang
The three courtiers rushed over and the Qing soldiers retreated. In this fierce battle, both sides suffered many casualties.
At daybreak, several people who had escaped ran back, saying that there was an ambush in front of them and pursuers behind them. At first, the Ming army could still support them, but then they became more and more panicked as they fled, and became more and more panicked and chaotic. They almost escaped each other. They escaped.
In the middle of the night, many people were killed and captured. Some people escaped, but they failed to break out.
Hong Chengchou sent out many rangers and sent out many special operations to reconnoiter the enemy's situation, eager to know whether Zhang Zhulin was safe. However, he reported that a Qing army had penetrated the coast and captured Mamatou Mountain, cutting off the coast from Songshan. The dead bodies were resting on the beach, but
The whereabouts of Zhang Ruolin are unknown.
Little did he know that as soon as the war started, Zhang Ruolin, Ma Shaoyu and some of his followers quickly boarded the fishing boat and waited for the anchor to be weighed.
When the Qing soldiers attacked the coast, Zhang Ruolin had already raised his sails and took advantage of the wind to escape to the sea. Some soldiers and generals knew a lot about water and saw Zhang Ruolin's fishing boat passing by. They hurriedly called for help and swam over, but Zhang Ruolin didn't care at all.
Some people were suddenly pushed to the side of the boat by the waves and hurriedly climbed up. Zhang Ruolin ordered to chop off the heads and hands of those people with a sword. In an instant, many hands and fingers fell on the boat, and the boat started to sail among the floating corpses and living people.
A road was found, heading southeast.
After escaping from danger, Zhang Ruolin began to make some calculations in his mind, thinking to himself: As the commander-in-chief of the army, if I lose my food, grass and baggage, I will be blamed by the emperor. Not only will I not be able to do my job, but I will also have to take my life. This is not good.
Da Miao, how do you come up with a foolproof plan to save your wealth, life, and this black gauze hat on your head? Well, by the way, this failure is entirely due to this ignorant old man Hong! I told him to fight quickly, but he didn't fight, so he lost.
Fighter, neglect the military situation. After I draft a draft first, as soon as I get to the shore, whether it is Ningyuan or Dengzhou, I will give him a copy first, so that the old man can't eat and carry around, isn't it possible to have both ends?
The more he thought about it on the boat, the more beautiful he became. He couldn't help but nod and smile. The slaves next to him didn't know why he was defeated like a lost dog, but he was still so happy. They looked at each other and didn't dare to ask.
Behind him, on the coast and on the beach, dead bodies were scattered everywhere, and more dead bodies were floating up and down with the tide. The sea water was dyed red with blood. The Qing soldiers had retreated from the coast, and the beach was quiet, except for the occasional white crane.
The seagulls flew up, circled for a while, couldn't bear to fall, let out a few melancholy calls, and flew away again.
On the shore, there were still flying cavalry coming and going from time to time. They were sent by Hong Chengchou to inquire about Zhang Ruolin's situation. They didn't know the truth. They only thought that Zhang Jianjun was either captured unfortunately or died in battle while protecting food and grass.
On Hong Chengchou's side, Wang Tingchen, Bai Guangen, and Cao Bianjiao were ordered to retreat to Songshan. They set up about ten camps and quickly built forts and forts, and dug trenches outside. Some of Cao Bianjiao's troops were left at the original garrison to defend the camp. At this time, the troops
, there are still thirty or forty thousand.
Wu Sangui, Ma Ke, and Tang Tong had already retreated to Keshan. Huang Taiji knew that Wu Sangui and others were retreating to Keshan because they were going back to defend Ningyuan, so he sent elite troops to ambush on Gaoqiao Road and
Sanggarzhai Fort, the Wu army returned to defend Ningyuan, this is the place they must pass through.
Wu Sangui already knew that Huang Taiji would definitely set up an ambush at these two places, so he recruited Tang Tong and Ma Ke to discuss and planned to break out late at night.
That night, the three generals ordered all the soldiers to have a good meal, packed up their gear, and rushed towards the Qing camp. Just halfway, a group of men and horses suddenly came from the left and blocked the way. The Ming army had robbed the camp at Bijia Mountain because of the previous Qing troops.
, received a blow. At this time, seeing the Qing soldiers in front, they were so frightened that their hair stood on end, and they reluctantly stepped forward to kill them.
Unexpectedly, Ma Ke was as timid as a mouse. As soon as they fought, he met the Qing Dynasty general Jier Harang. Jier Harang's power was well known among the Ming generals. Ma Ke knew that he was no match.
After two or three rounds, he was defeated, turned his horse away, and fled into Keshan City. The two generals Wu Sangui and Tang Tong were left. They led the crowd to a stalemate with the Qing army, but saw that the Qing soldiers were cutting them with swords, and they were extremely brave.
.I couldn’t help but feel frightened.
Suddenly, there was a sound of artillery, and another group of men and horses flew out from the right, and the leader was the great Belle Haug. At this time, the Ming army was really defeated. The flags were immediately turned upside down, and they cried out, "You squeeze me."
Pushing, people stepped on horses and retreated towards Keshan City. Wu Sangui and Tang Tong saw that the situation was over and had no choice but to escape back to Keshan City.
Wu Sangui and others had been trapped in Keshan for only three days. They had no food and grass. If they continued to fight, it would be a dead end. Several generals were really depressed. Immediately, Wu Sangui summoned everyone and said:
"The current situation is critical. Our army has no food and grass inside and no reinforcements outside. If we continue to defend it, even if the Qing army does not come to attack, we will starve to death. I think it is better to break through while the army still has the ability to fight.
Once, whether you succeed or not depends on this."
Tang Tong and Ma Ke had no good strategy, so they had no choice but to follow Wu Sangui's wishes.
That night, all the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty had their medals and their horses picked their bells, and they quietly ran out of Keshan City. This time, the Qing army seemed to be really unprepared. When the Ming army arrived at the Qing camp, there was no movement. Everyone was surprised. Wu Sangui
Seeing this, he knew something was wrong and hurriedly issued an order: Pay more attention to the left and right to prevent unexpected events. Not long after, there was a shout of killing suddenly from all around, the war drums shook the sky and the earth, and the torches shone through the night sky. Only the Qing army was covered with black crows.
, surrounded by an unknown number of men and horses, most of the Ming army knew that this was their only chance to survive, so they were all brave and rustic, rushing left and right, killing the Qing army until the Qing army cried for father and mother, leaving corpses everywhere, and blood
Flow into a river.
Wu Sangui, Ma Ke, and Tang Tong took the lead at this time, leading their elite troops to fight to the death. They clashed with each other, slashing left and stabbing, especially the fierce and brave Wu Sangui, who led his 50 extraordinary soldiers.
Rushing forward, they broke through layers of encirclement by Manchu soldiers, and in desperation finally opened a bloody path for tens of thousands of troops. Countless Ming troops followed this bloody path to break out of the encirclement.
Immediately, Wu Sangui checked and most of the troops who broke out went to Ningyuan and struggled to hold on.
At this point, although Wu Sangui was outstanding and brave among the many border town generals in the Ming Dynasty, facing the historical fate that the Ming army seemed to be bound to fail in the decisive battle of Songjin and Songjin in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, he was alone and unable to survive after all!
When Huang Taiji heard the report, Wu Sangui broke out of the siege and retreated to Ningyuan. On the one hand, he felt very regretful and felt that his thoughts were still unfinished. On the other hand, he seemed to be overjoyed. Because, without Wu Sangui, Hong Chengchou had no support. In his opinion,
, this time Hong Chengchou will definitely have no chance of escaping.
One day, Huang Taiji said to Fan Wencheng: "Hong Chengchou is a rare handsome man. I am willing to recruit him to surrender. What do you think, sir?"
Fan Wencheng pondered for a moment and said: "It may not be that easy to recruit Hong Chengchou to surrender. Now we only have to write more letters of surrender, break down his generals, and disturb his military morale before we can take action."
Huang Taiji thought it was very reasonable and repeatedly called it "wonderful". He ordered Fan Wencheng to write many surrender letters and sent people to shoot into the city, but the city just stood firm and did not respond.
Huang Taiji waited for several days, but no one came to surrender. He was very angry and ordered his soldiers to attack fiercely. However, because Songshan City was very strong and easy to defend but difficult to attack, it had no effect.
Huang Taiji was very worried and could not sleep or eat well. On this day, Li Yongfang, a minister of the Han Dynasty, went to the tent to offer advice and said:
"There is a deputy general in the city named Xia Chengde. He turns out to be very good with me. Why don't you let me hand you a letter of surrender, grant him a high official and a generous salary, and let him dedicate the city? What do you think?"
When Huang Taiji heard this, he was overjoyed and said, "Since there are people like this, sir, hurry up and write!"
Li Yongfang immediately wrote a letter to Xia Chengde, with a very polite and tactful tone, and presented Huang Taiji. Huang Taiji let people ejaculate, and Li Yongfang hurriedly said:
"It's inconvenient to inject someone, so it's better to keep it a secret."
Huang Taiji said: "This will take a lot of trouble."
Fan Wencheng said from the side: "This is not difficult."
Huang Taiji asked: "Sir, do you have any clever ideas?"
Fan Wencheng said: "I know that Songshan has run out of food and grass now, and he definitely wants to break out. Because our army is surrounded on all sides and there is no gap to take advantage of, we have closed the city and defended it. Now please leave one side temporarily and let him break out. I will ambush and intercept him."
We must return to the city, and take advantage of this moment to have someone pretend to be a Han soldier. Sneak into the city and contact Xia Chengde."
The emperor was very happy and said with a smile: "Okay! Sir, you really have a great idea!"
That night, the besiegers on the west side of Songshan City withdrew a corner. As expected, Cao Bianjiao ran away from the city and was intercepted by the ambush, so he had to return to the city. At that time, the Qing soldiers who submitted letters also mixed with the troops and entered the city.
The next night, this Qing soldier returned to camp and reported to Huang Taiji:
"After Xia Chengde received the letter, he agreed to dedicate the city and asked his son to come back with me."
Huang Taiji was very happy and ordered Xia Chengde's son to enter the tent and discuss the dedication of the city tomorrow night. Huang Taiji was extremely happy and left Xia Gongzi to stay in the barracks to wait for the city to be broken tomorrow.
At this time, the food and grass in Songshan City were exhausted, and Hong Chengchou was helpless and could only wait for the imperial court to send troops to rescue him.
On this day, Hong Chengchou went to the city for another week and saw that the Qing soldiers seemed to have relaxed the siege. He felt relieved. In the evening, he went down to the city and returned to his tent.
At dusk, there was a sudden noise outside the tent. Hong Chengchou was very surprised. As soon as he stood up, a soldier ran in and said in a panic:
"Sir...Sir, something bad has happened! Some Qing soldiers have boarded the tower!"
When Hong Chengchou heard this, he said "Ah" and almost fainted. He quickly regained his composure and said:
"Hurry and invite Generals Cao and Wang!"
Before the soldiers went to invite him, Cao Bianjiao, Wang Tingchen and others had already strode over and shouted:
"Commander Commander, mount your horse quickly! Xia Chengde has surrendered to the enemy and dedicated the city!"
Hong Chengchou's heart suddenly felt like it was in an ice cave, knowing that it was all over!
He forced himself to calm down and said: "Second Generals Cao and Wang, hurry up and prepare troops to meet the enemy!"
Cao Bianjiao said: "Then Sir, you..."
"Don't worry about me!" Hong Chengchou shouted sharply.
Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen looked at each other, their vision blurred by tears. They bowed their hands to Hong Chengchou, turned around and ran away. The two of them already knew that if they said goodbye today, it would probably be a farewell!
Hong Chengchou rushed out of the tent camp and rode towards the city tower. Suddenly he saw Qiu Min staggering towards him. Hong Chengchou said:
"Master Qiu, mount your horse quickly and get out of the city!"
Qiu Minyang also knew that Songshan could not be saved today and he would definitely die, so he smiled sadly and said:
"I am also a high official in the border area. Following the emperor's decree, I came to save Jinzhou with you. The situation is like this today. The people are willing to follow you and defend Songshan to the death!"
At this moment, there was a sudden noise in front. It turned out that Xia Chengde had opened the city gate, and Qing soldiers poured in. After a while, someone reported:
"General Wang was killed in battle!"
Hong Chengchou and Qiu Minyang were in great mourning. Without thinking too much, they went to supervise the battle on flying horses. Not far away, they suddenly saw Cao Bianjiao coming towards them. They were covered in blood, with several arrows in their bodies, and their faces were filled with murderous look, blood, sweat and mud.
Mixed together, they become unrecognizable.
As soon as he saw Hong Chengchou and Qiu Minyang, he shouted hoarsely on his horse:
"Two great...men, follow me to break out...to break out of the siege!" (To be continued. Piaotian Literature registered members recommend this work.