When Yang Mingyu heard it, the Qing soldiers outside the north gate were actually Eight Banner soldiers. said: "Since these are the Eight Banners, the generals of the Qing army must be inside." I'll take the army now, bite them, you go and inform the army behind, and immediately come to support. Chen Erxi said: "General Yang, let's chase it together." The information here, send someone back to report it to General Ma, I think they will definitely not let these Qing generals run away. ”

Yang Mingyu thought for a while and said, "Okay, let's hurry up and chase after it." Immediately, Yang Mingyu and Chen Erxi took the army and bit the Qing army in front of them. These Qing troops did not dare to stay under the pursuit of Yang Mingyu and the two, so they had to run all the way east. Along the way, there were Qing soldiers who fell behind and were hacked to death by the Fuming army chasing behind.

Now it is important to hunt down the Qing army in front, not to mention that there are Qing army generals here, and there is no time to collect prisoners. The Fuming army did not dare to divide its troops to see the prisoners, after all, no one knew whether there was an ambush of the Qing army in front. This group of Qing troops who escaped from the north gate is, of course, Shi Shanhua and others. At that time, Shi Shanhua retreated with the Qing army at Ximen, and many soldiers from the Eight Banners came up along the way.

By the time Shi Shanhua and Jin Weifan came to the north gate with their troops, Shi Shanhua's team already had about 800 people. The two of them came to the north gate with the defeated soldiers to take a look, and found that the north gate had not been broken by Chen Erxi. Immediately, Shi Shanhua asked Liu Zhiyuan, who was defending the north gate, to go out of the city with the army. Then he broke through and wanted to use the sailor's boat to cross the river and go north.

However, Chen Erxi, although it was not good to attack the city gate, but now the Qing army wanted to break through and immediately led the army to bite it desperately. Fortunately, it didn't take long for Yang Mingyu to come with the army. In this way, Shi Shanhua and others did not dare to get on the boat by the river. I had to take the army to Changzhou again, wanting to go to Changzhou, and then defend the city.

Who knows the Ming army behind, but they don't give up, and they still bite and refuse to let go. The two armies were like this, one fleeing, the other chasing. No one would stop, desperately rushing to Changzhou. Shi Shanhua led the army and ran eastward for more than ten miles, seeing that he was about to reach Gushan, and when he turned Gushan, he would reach the Grand Canal.

There is the Grand Canal blocking the road in front, and there is the Restoration Army chasing and killing in the back, and it is the time to fall into death. Seeing that there was no road further east, Shi Shanhua led the army and turned to the south again, wanting to go to Danyang first and then make plans. I thought that in this way, the Ming army chasing and killing behind should let go.

But what annoyed Shi Shanhua was that the Ming army behind did not stop at all, and still desperately pursued and killed himself. Running down this way, there were 800 people who had followed him. Coupled with Liu Zhiyuan's more than 200 sailors, there were about 1,000 people when they went out of the city.

But outside the north gate, there was a big battle with the Ming army, and another 200 people were lost, and they were killed by the Ming army along the way. There were also some Qing soldiers who were desperate to be chased and killed, and secretly scattered into the fields. The Qing soldiers who are still with him now have a total of less than 500 people. And the Ming army behind it didn't seem to know tiredness at all, it seemed that there were about a thousand people before, but now it seems to have reached two thousand.

Since he couldn't get rid of the pursuers, he had to keep running. By the time dawn, Shi Shanhua had already led the army and ran through Danyang. Because the Ming army was chasing too closely, Shi Shanhua did not dare to garrison in Danyang, so he had to continue to escape. And Yang Mingyu and the others in the back couldn't run anymore.

After Yang Mingyu entered Danyang with the army, he was about to give up the pursuit and let the army rest in Danyang for some time. At this time, Ma Bao came with 3,000 cavalry to respond. It turned out that Ma Bao was in Zhenjiang and heard that Yang Mingyu led the army to chase and kill the Qing generals.

When he collected all the horses in the city and the army and formed a cavalry of about 3,000 people, he hurried to Danyang. When Yang Ming saw it, he let the army rest in Danyang, and he and Ma Bao led the cavalry to chase after Shi Shanhua.

Because Yang Mingyu wanted the army to rest, the Qing army was already crossing the canal at this time. Finding that the Restoration Army was chasing after them again, the Qing soldiers who did not get on the boat began to flee one after another. But this time, the Restoration Army chased after the cavalry, where could they run on two legs.

As a result, the Qing troops who did not cross the canal were all slaughtered by the Restoration Army. Ma Bao and Yang Mingyu were looking for a boat to cross the canal and continue to catch up. I found that the Qing army on the opposite side had rushed to the rescue, and the number of Qing soldiers was also quite large. After discovering the Qing army, Ma Bao and Yang Mingyu did not dare to pursue them directly. Immediately took the army, continued to think south, entered Lucheng Town to rest, and waited for the arrival of the Restoration Army behind.

And the Qing army that came from the opposite side was indeed Gao Qian, a garrison from Changzhou who came to help. This Gao Qian was originally in Zhenjiang to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, and later let the prefect Dai Kejin take the blame, and he was only demoted to Changzhou as a garrison. Now that he got the news that Zhenjiang was attacked, he hurriedly brought his army to the rescue.

Seeing that Gao Qian was so active this time, Liu Xinghan, the prefect of Changzhou, immediately transferred more than 2,000 permanent garrisons. asked Gao Qian to bring the invitation to rescue Zhenjiang, so Gao Qian rushed to Zhenjiang with 3,000 troops. As a result, as soon as he left the capital city of Changzhou, he took the road to Benniu Town.

Just as he was about to cross the canal in Benniu Town, he found a large number of cavalry running towards him. Before Gao Qian sent someone to inquire about the situation, a group of people ran from the side of the canal. Gao Qian took a look, isn't this General Jinghai and General Zhenhai of our Great Qing Dynasty?

As soon as I saw Shi Shanhua and his party, there were only about 200 people. Gao Qian was also taken aback, and hurriedly asked, "Ouch, General Shi, what's wrong with you?" How did you get here? Although Gao Qian looked very humble on his face, in the eyes of Shi Shanhua and others, it was Gao Qian who laughed at them for losing Zhenjiang.

Suddenly, Shi Shanhua and the others turned pale and said, "These things don't have to worry about General Gao." As for the matter of Zhenjiang, we ourselves will explain it to the imperial court. Now the main thing is that General Gao immediately led his army across the canal and defeated the Ming army on the opposite side. ”

Gao Qian was shocked and said, "Is it the Ming army? Didn't it say that local bandits attacked Zhenjiang? How did it become a Ming army. Jin Weifan glared at Gao Qian and said, "Doesn't General Gao believe our words?" Gao Qian hurriedly said: "No, no, no, the last general doesn't dare, the last general just wants to know about the situation of the rebels on the other side." ”

Shi Shanhua said: "You don't need to understand, just lead the army to attack the Ming army directly." Gao Qian was forced to let the army start to cross the river. But the entire Gao Qian's team was full of worry, and the guards on the road and the soldiers did not have the slightest confidence in attacking the Ming army.

After all, they just dared to see the Eight Banners, and they were chased and killed by the Ming army. Gao Qian's personal soldiers quietly said beside Gao Qian: "General, the Ming army on the opposite side can beat Shi Shanhua and them so badly, it is definitely not a good stubble." Now they're making us attack, and I think they're trying to send us to death. ”

Gao Qian also glanced at Shi Shanhua hatefully and said, "It is also possible that we will take the blame and put the responsibility for losing Zhenjiang on our shoulders." The soldiers on the side were puzzled: "No, general." They lost Zhenjiang in front, and we came to the rescue. Even if we fail, it is not good for us to rescue, and the loss of Zhenjiang has nothing to do with us. Besides, even if they want to take revenge on us, they will make us fearful. How can you still push the responsibility for the loss of Zhenjiang to us? ”

Gao Qian said: "You don't understand this, the imperial court doesn't know whether Zhenjiang was lost first, or if we were defeated by the Ming army first?" When the time comes, they can directly report to the imperial court, saying that our rescue was not timely, and we were defeated by the Ming army outside the city. This led to them being forced to abandon the defense of Zhenjiang. At that time, the responsibility for the loss of Zhenjiang will be ours. ”

The soldier suddenly said urgently: "Then general, what should we do?" Gao Qian said: "What can I do?" Now Shi Shanhua and Jin Weifan, two dog thieves, want to force us to fight hard with the Ming army and want to frame us. We can't do anything to them now, so we can only fight to the death with the Ming army. ”

The pro-soldier suddenly said urgently: "General, don't be reckless!" They led the Manchu Eight Banners Army, and they also had city walls to defend. In this way, they can't beat the Ming army, can we beat it? Gao Qian was a little impatient, looked at the army that was crossing the river, and said, "What's the use of talking about this now?" Can we not fight the Ming army? ”

The soldier looked around and whispered in Gao Qian's ear: "If the general is unwilling, we can indeed not fight the Ming army." Gao Qian turned his head and glared at the pro-soldier, then looked around, and no one else paid attention to it, before he said, "Do you want the Ming army to surrender again?" ”

Gao Qian was a little moved and said: "I can't think like this now, the last time I saw the pirates menacing, I thought the pirates could succeed." Who knew that we had just surrendered to the pirates, and as a result, the pirates were defeated in a few days. Do you know how long the Ming army will last this time? The soldier said, "General, this time is different. Do you think, the army led by Shi Shanhua and them is the Eight Banners of Manchuria. The Ming army can defeat even these armies, how weak can they be? ”

Gao Qian pursed his lips and said, "Is it unusual to defeat the Eight Banners Army?" When the pirates came, they didn't defeat the Eight Banners army. As a result, in less than a month, he was driven into the sea by the army of the Qing Dynasty. It is said that now when I return to Fujian, it will not be a climate. I haven't seen any big waves from them, so we'd better be careful. ”

When the soldier saw that he couldn't move Gao Qian, he had no choice but to keep his mouth shut. At this time, Shi Shanhua and Jin Weifan also came over and said to Gao Qian: "General Gao, you should step up your efforts to urge the army to cross the river, and then immediately attack the Ming army." The Ming army chased us all night last night, and now is the time for them to get tired. ”

Gao Qian was very disgusted by Shi Shanhua and the others interfering in his command. Immediately said: "General Shi is too anxious, our army also rushed all night last night in order to rescue Zhenjiang." The army can now cross the river, which is very reluctant, and there is still strength to attack the Ming army. ”

Jin Weifan said: "What? General Gao: Is this going to attack the Ming army? Gao Qian said: "General Jin is right, now my army has been on the road for a night. I think that after crossing the canal, I will rest for a day and attack the Ming army tomorrow. ”

When Shi Shanhua heard this, he immediately disagreed: "Gao Qian, you are afraid of the enemy to avoid battle, and the Ming army has obviously chased the road all night." The personnel are exhausted, and it is a good time to break the enemy, but you take the opportunity to refuse to fight. Gao Qian has always been very humble, and when he saw that Shi Shanhua and others must charge themselves with a crime, they suddenly became angry.

Gao Qian immediately raised his voice and said, "General Shi, what you said is not right. You explained that the army chased you all night, how did you get rid of the pursuit of the Ming army. I don't know what method you used, General Shi, to get you out. Look at the Ming army on the other side, it is 3,000 cavalry, what kind of virtue do you have, can you escape from the hands of 3,000 cavalry? ”

When Shi Shanhua heard Gao Qian's words, he suddenly had nothing to say. He couldn't tell Gao Qian directly, saying that this Ming cavalry only chased after him at dawn. When Jin Weifan saw it, he immediately said: "General Gao, don't worry, we also want the general to push back the Ming army as soon as possible, and then return to the army to recover Zhenjiang." ”