Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 442 Looking North to the Ancient Capital (Part )

When the news of the Battle of Liangxiang reached Tianjin, all the generals of Zhou army were overjoyed. Li Wendao, who had already arrived at the front line of Zhou army, made a big fuss in the army, saying things like the Qing Dynasty had ended and Zhou's virtue would prosper.

For a time, all the generals of the Zhou army, whether they could read or not, could talk a few words, such as the Qingyun was over and the Zhou virtue was rising, the Tianjin morning glow was bright and the purple air was coming from the east, the sky was showing signs and the stars were shining brightly. These words were difficult for ordinary soldiers to understand, but sounded very powerful.

"Since the barbarian court entered the pass, tyranny has been frequent, and the people are full of resentment. It has violated the will of heaven and the will of the people. The mandate of heaven has been lost and the luck is almost gone. Now the king is like the rising sun, shining brightly. All these things show that the Great Zhou has risen with the mandate of heaven."

Meng Jun listened to Li Wendao's speech in front of all the generals with some embarrassment. After a while, when Li Wendao had a breath, Meng Jun stopped Li Wendao and waved his hand, saying, "Although Dorgon has fallen off his horse and returned to Beijing, Suksaha is still leading tens of thousands of cavalrymen by his side. You must not be blindly arrogant!"

After finishing his words, Qian Biao said in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, you are too modest. Think about the Ming Taizu who conquered the world without a single defeat. Emperor Guangwu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang also never suffered a major defeat. Your Majesty has fought in battles for many years, and you are both wise and brave. Your achievements are illustrious, enough to be compared with the heroes of ancient times!"

As soon as these words came out, not only the other generals, but even Meng Jun was shocked and asked quickly: "Qian Biao, where did you learn these idioms from?"

Qian Biao smiled naively and said, "Your Majesty, you underestimated me. As the old saying goes, when a man has been away for three days, he should be treated with new eyes. I have been with Your Majesty for many years, enjoying Your grace day and night, so naturally I have made some progress."

Meng Jun felt something was strange when he heard this, while Bai Yongfu on the side was shocked. They were all the same, warriors, but they never expected that Qian Biao, this fool, would secretly become a disciple to learn martial arts and even talk like a scholar.

Qian Biao's words were sonorous and his heart was full of admiration. Taoist Li was indeed a living god. It was worth it that he had served him so respectfully when the Taoist came over some time ago.

Thinking back to last night, Qian Biao asked Li Wen in distress: "Master, these days, apart from military matters, the king doesn't like to listen to me. He always says that I don't understand this or that."

At that time, Li Wendao stroked his beard and smiled, saying: "Since the rise of the king, you have defended against powerful enemies outside and kept the people safe inside. The army and armor are strong and you have never been in danger in a hundred battles. You can be called a great hero of your generation. However, the king's nature is to be humble and not arrogant. General Qian can be more modest in his daily life. However, the king also knows the general's nature. It doesn't matter whether he changes or not."

But when Qian Biao heard this, he didn't buy it. He kept surrounding Li Wendao, begging for good advice. Helpless, Li Wendao could only whisper a few words to Qian Biao.

After hearing this, Qian Biao nodded repeatedly, and then said that he would remember it by heart when he returned. Li Wendao looked at Qian Biao's back, sighed softly, and murmured to himself: "This is also the nature of the king, quite kind and righteous. If it is like the nature of Taizu, if my words are leaked out, I am afraid that my life will be in danger."

Zhu Yuanzhang was born in poverty and knew the sufferings of the people. He hated corrupt officials. Therefore, after he gained control of the world, he vigorously punished corrupt officials. However, the shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty established by Zhu Yuanzhang were also extremely serious. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang would severely punish officials who harmed the people from the royal family. However, if Zhu Yuanzhang's sons harmed the people, he would let them go leniently.

Meng Jun was extremely satisfied with the result of this battle. Although the main force of the Qing army was not defeated in this battle, Baiyintu was also a general with long experience in the Qing court. His defeat would surely shock the Qing court.

If Jiang Xiang won, he would immediately approach Beijing. At this point, the pincer attack plan formulated by Meng Jun, without going into details, was generally considered a success.

After the fall of Baiyintu and the several months of fighting with Dorgon, scattered news coming in from all over confirmed that Dorgon's troops had suffered heavy losses.

Moreover, the Qing court marched south in two directions, Baiyintu was defeated, Dorgon returned without success, and there were 6,000 Solon soldiers, 38,000 Eight Banners soldiers, 18,000 Mongolian cavalry, and 30,000 Han troops, a total of 92,000 people. After continuous casualties, although the Qing army did not fight a decisive battle with the Zhou army, the casualty rate, after summarizing, was not weaker than a major war.

Dorgon first attacked the small stronghold with Zhou's army several times, causing more than 2,000 Han soldiers to be killed or wounded. Later, he destroyed 5,800 banners and 4,000 Han troops in Cangzhou, and another 1,800 banners in Tianjin. 2,000 Mongolian cavalry and 5,000 Han troops all surrendered.

Dorgon also wanted to seize the Zhou army's grain storage camp, and fought several small-scale but fierce battles with Hao Yongzhong's troops. He then attacked the grain storage camp where Bai Yongfu was stationed. A total of more than 3,700 Han soldiers were killed, more than 2,000 Eight Banners soldiers were killed, more than 1,500 Mongolian soldiers were killed, and more than 300 Solon soldiers were killed or wounded.

Of the 92,000 troops who went south, only 5,600 Solon soldiers were left, nearly 30,000 Eight Banner soldiers, and more than 14,500 Mongolian cavalry. More than 9,700 Han soldiers were killed, 5,000 surrendered, leaving only more than 15,000 people, and only more than 65,500 Qing troops were left.

At this point, Dorgon's main Qing army had neither achieved its strategic goals nor stopped Zhou's army from advancing toward Beijing, but its military strength had been reduced by nearly 30%.

The Qing government lost so many soldiers and horses, as the saying goes, they were like grasshoppers in autumn, and they couldn't jump for long.

After reading Jiang Xiang's letter of victory, Meng Jun wrote back to him, first praising Jiang Xiang's great achievements, and then making promises in the letter, saying that he would definitely reward the meritorious ministers generously after recovering the Northern Capital.

But in the last paragraph of the letter, Meng Jun changed the subject and warned Jiang Xiang: "In the past, Qin defeated Zhao Kuo in the Battle of Changping, but in the subsequent Battle of Handan, it lost more than 100,000 soldiers and generals. General Jiang, remember, you must not be careless!"

Afterwards, Meng Jun reorganized the army and reorganized the newly surrendered troops in Tianjin. At this time, the situation changed again. Dorgon returned to Beijing due to injury, and many soldiers were killed. They also lost cities and territories repeatedly, so the morale must have been low. Moreover, Jiang Xiang was about to arrive at Beijing.

As the saying goes, offense and defense are easy to change. Previously, Dorgon wanted to fight but was refused, but now Meng Jun was not opposed to a decisive battle. However, Suksaha was unwilling to risk everything again. Moreover, Wang Fuchen, a fierce general under Jiang Xiang, led more than a thousand elite cavalry and ten thousand infantry, and had already passed Dong'an County, ready to join Meng Jun's main force at any time.

At this point, Meng Jun's cavalry team had been greatly expanded. Huang Cheng's troops had 1,500 elite cavalry, Gulbuha's Mongolian cavalry had more than 5,000 cavalry, and with Wang Fuchen's more than 1,000 cavalry, the Zhou army's cavalry had expanded to 7,500 cavalry. This cavalry was enough to not only shield the battlefield for the army and conduct scouts at the front, but also to fight a large-scale cavalry battle.

However, necessary defensive measures were also indispensable. More than 10,000 carts were built, which could be loaded with light firearms during the march. The carriages could also be loaded with food, clothing, supplies, etc. Once the Qing cavalry attacked, these carriages could be quickly formed into a chariot formation and defended with firearms.

On the last leg of the journey from Tianjin to Beijing, Meng Jun's cavalry and infantry, numbering more than 100,000 men and hundreds of generals, advanced all the way from Tianjin in a mighty force, heading directly for the capital. For a time, wherever they went along the way, flags covered the sky and drums and horns sounded in the sky.