Chapter 84: The Battle of the Jiahe River IV

Not to mention that Nikan does not represent himself alone.

It also represents the Eight Banners in Hong Chengchou's army.

Hong Chengchou stands alone and holds the army, Beijing is really at ease, there are not enough Eight Banners in the army, and it is strange that Beijing can rest assured.

Even during the period of Zeng Guofan, when the Hunan army of Zeng Guofan was formed, it still launched a Manchurian general first.

So Hong Chengchou can only tolerate it.

Fortunately, Nikan is also a fierce general. Charge into battle and don't give way.

Although Hong Chengchou has made a decision to fight Cao Zongyu, he has not given up building a pontoon bridge, but all the ships that can be recruited nearby have been burned.

A large amount of timber had to be cut down again, and even people's houses were demolished.

Therefore, such a large siege volume cannot be completed within a day or two. On the third day, a pontoon bridge was built.

It's just that the pontoon bridge is only a few feet wide, and it can only accommodate two or three parallel passages. But after thinking about the 100,000 troops, plus the baggage they carried, I am afraid that it is not possible to spend it in one or two days.

Therefore, no one is allowed to cross the river.

It is to prevent the collapse of the army's morale.

And at this time, Xia Jun also arrived.

Just about ten miles south of the Qing camp, the Xia army was encamped under the command of Cao Zongyu. Although the battle has not yet begun, the cavalry on both sides have fought more than once.

Gao Yuanjue and others went into battle one after another and fought against the Qing army. However, the Qing cavalry was still outmatched, forcing them to return to the edge of the Xia army's formation.

However, the Xia army was in full array. The cavalry of the Qing army did not dare to rush the Xia army's infantry formation.

The fate of the Chong Xia army's infantry formation, all the Qing cavalry knew.

Cao Zongyu this time, with a sense of desperation.

Cao Zongyu walked slower than Hong Chengchou, and a very important reason was that Cao Zongyu had to send people to accept all the prefectures and counties abandoned by the Qing army. And the dispatch was left behind.

For this is where the food of the great army is.

And Zhang Xuan did not let Cao Zongyu fight alone, but continuously dispatched the troops under Luoyang City, followed behind Cao Zongyu, and relied on Fuxian County to establish a logistics line.

If the road between the prefectures and counties is too far, a hard camp will be built in the middle.

It's probably a place that the grain team can go to in a day.

There are many overlaps in this Ming Dynasty post road. Many camps were converted from post houses.

Therefore, although the army under Cao Zongyu is not much different from Hong Chengchou, in fact, the army used by Cao Zongyu is more than twice that of Hong Chengchou.

It's just that these soldiers and horses are all placed on the logistics line.

This is the method used by the Yongle Emperor during his northern expedition to Mongolia, and only this method can use as many as 500,000 troops.

Hong Chengchou didn't think about attacking Cao Zongyu's grain road. It's just impossible to do. Even if you're lucky enough to get a couple of them

times, but burn one or two batches of grain and grass. It is impossible to achieve the point of making Cao Zongyu run out of food.

In this case, such a small victory is meaningless to Hong Chengchou. At most, it is one of the ways to stop Cao Zongyu's footsteps.

After the Xia army increased its cavalry, this method did not work.

At this moment, Cao Zongyu gave up the construction of the grain station and came here from Sutian Village. Already fighting outside the rear food and grass support.

Cao Zongyu repaired for a day.

Summoned all the generals in the army, and said sharply: "You have all seen the attack on Luoyang City." Do you know how miserable it is, the city of Beijing is so strong, and it is still under Luoyang City, do you want to attack Beijing City like Luoyang City? ”

"Now the Qing army departments, only Hong Chengchou is left, Wu Sangui went west, Jierharang died, but Hong Chengchou was defeated, and the battle of the Northern Expedition has reached the final stage."

"Whether you can be a marquis or not depends on today's battle."

The generals below looked left and right, only to feel that the breath coming out of their nostrils became hot. Everyone's face turned red, as if there was a fire burning in the middle.

"The last general will fight." Gao Yuanjue said loudly.

For a while, I don't know how many have come out of the ranks.

Especially many generals who are marginalized, such as Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi. All they brought were second-line troops, if it weren't for the battle under Luoyang City. The main army has lost too much, and even if it is replenished, it does not have to be much stronger for a time than the well-cultivated second-line army.

It was simply not their turn to participate in such a decisive battle.

It's not that Zhang Xuan has restrictions on them.

At the height of Zhang Xuan, the generals who can be paid attention to by him are Cao Zongyu, Zheng Chenggong, Li Dingguo, Yuan Shizhong, generals of this level.

As for Liu Wenxiu, a general like Ainengqi who has been stripped of his original military power and integrated into the Xia army system. Zhang Xuan didn't care at all.

It's just that Zhang Xuan doesn't care.

Someone cares.

Even if Liu Wenxiu and others were driven out of the Yunnan-Guizhou Governor's Mansion by Li Dingguo, in everyone's hearts, they are still Li Dingguo's people.

The largest faction in the army is Zhang Xuan's descendant.

The second is Li Dingguo's Great Western Army faction, Zheng Chenggong's Zheng family's faction, and Yuan Shizhong's Weiguo Gong faction. Even among Zhang Xuan's faction, there are factions. Such as the camp faction.

It was derived from Zhang Xuan's old team that started in Linying, known as the descendant of the lineage, as well as the Cao Ying faction, the Chuang Camp faction, and the Gezuo Fifth Battalion faction.

These factions are now divided and united.

For example, He Hutou can be regarded as the first line of the fifth camp of the left and the first line of Cao Ying. With Gao Yigong, Yuan Zongdi and these people have never been right in the same vein.

There are some things that Zhang Xuan doesn't care about. But the people below care.

The battle of the Northern Expedition, such a big cake, the Great Western Army faction under the leadership of Li Dingguo, has eaten it all

There are enough of them, why do you want to meddle here? Want to grab credit?

Nature secretly suppresses.

It's just that the scale of the Northern Expedition is too large, and now the Xia army in various departments has more than 1.5 million people, and there are even some temporary, non-forming troops, plus people and the like.

I am afraid that the entire Xia Dynasty used more than two million people.

With such an army, there are not enough high-ranking officers.

After all, most of the officers trained by Zhang Xuan in Nanjing could only serve as low-level officers, and some of them with extraordinary talent might be able to climb into the middle-level officers.

But if you want to lead a few battalions alone, it's not something they can do.

Only these generals can be used.

Everyone knows that after the war, many armies will have to be reorganized, but who will go up and who will go down depends on today.

In the summer army camp, this kind of fire of fame and fortune can roast almost all the generals. In the camp of the Qing army, it was a different way.

Among the big tents of the Qing army.

All the generals of the Qing army were divided into Manchu and Han people.

Hong Chengchou said: "Behind us is the city of Beijing. ”

"This battle is our battle of life and death, and if we win, we will return to Beijing and defeat Zheng Chenggong together with the defenders of the capital. We still have a chance to live. ”

"Occupy Yanyun, sit on the desert, and confront the north and the south."

"If you are defeated, needless to say, with the original intention of Emperor Zhaowu, I am afraid that all of us will be put into another book for the rest of our lives, just like the original Jianwen courtiers. Prostitutes from generation to generation, slaves from generation to generation? ”

"You don't believe it, let's see what happened to Qian Qianyi?"

"Jiang Nan Dan has nothing to do with Qian Qianyi, and there is no place to bury him, we people, do you think Zhaowu can spare us?"

Hong Chengchou's words made everyone's hearts chill, although it was in the summer and autumn season, but each of them seemed to be counting nine cold days.

In fact, if Hong Chengchou is given a choice, he may not have the intention of surrendering in his heart.

But he knew it couldn't be.

First of all, he has a deep enmity with the rebels.

I don't know how many rebels died in his hands, and even Luo Yujiao's mother, to some extent, died at his hands. And these people are all in high positions in the Xia army.

He surrendered to the past, even though he was safe for a while, but it was difficult to think of a good death.

Secondly, it is that he does not want to surrender anymore.

In fact, in the dead of night, he may not have regrets in his heart, why didn't he die in the first place, but he was stigmatized while he was alive.

Especially with the support of Fu Shan, the rumors in the north spread the news between Chongzhen and Hong Chengchou. It seems that Hong Chengchou is the culprit who has become a Ming death.

Now Hong Chengchou is old. I didn't have the unwillingness to do a career for a long time.

surrendered once, he was already a second minister, and he was unwilling to be a slave with three surnames.