Xinchang County Magistrate Min Honggui has been a little disgraced recently.

When the people on the east coast were strong, the king of Lu was also rare to rise, Zhang Huangyan personally served as the superintendent, the three northern expeditions, all the way to conquer the city, after the fierce battle, recovered Zhuji County, Shaoxing Prefecture, threatened the western half of the province, once made the Qing court panicked, had to transfer troops from Hangzhou to the south, extinguishing the war that was swarming all over the place.

At that time, it was the most highlight moment for the tens of thousands of people cobbled together under Zhang Huangyan's command, and the gentry and scholars in the Jiangnan area who had long had no expectations for Nanming couldn't help but feel stagnant in their hearts, thinking that the situation might change dramatically, so that they passed it on to each other in private, ready to move. As a result, reality slapped everyone in the face, the Ming Dynasty army was still the familiar formula, familiar taste, or the Adou who couldn't be supported, and in the end it was still a loss of troops, and was pushed back by the Qing army, and it also greatly damaged morale, which can be said to be worth the loss.

And the Ming army is swinging, so all the pressure is naturally poured to the side of the people on the east coast. As a result, after pushing the front forward to the middle and lower reaches of the Cao'e River and successfully maintaining it for a long time, the people on the east bank, fearing that they would be flanked, finally had to shrink the defensive line and increase the thickness of their troops. As a result, you can see that the resistance of the people on the east bank of Shengxian County is also very weak, and it can even be said that it is just a false shot, and finally the defense line is withdrawn to Xinchang, the final starting point, in order to deal with the siege of the Qing army.

When Min Honggui was advancing vigorously in the East Coast Army, he once concurrently served as the chief administrative officer of Shengxian and Xinchang, transporting grain, grass, and ammunition to the Second Division of the Zhejiang New Army, which was the main force of the East Coast Army, and resettling the wounded. By the way, I also received a lot of filial piety from the former Qing officials and village elders who were retained, and I made a small fortune.

It didn't take long for the good times to turn out. When the people on the east bank realized that it was a bit too big to spread out a defense line of more than 100,000 people for hundreds of kilometers, especially when there were tens of thousands of green battalions of the Qing army that often fought and were equipped with a large number of firearms, the error tolerance rate of this kind of defense measures was too low, and once something went wrong in any link, they would lose their troops and lose their troops, and the people on the east coast could not afford to lose too many valuable troops, so they resolutely withdrew and shrank to the area of Xinchang County, so as to delay and wait for changes.

And the second division of the new army is full of plunder-ahem, retreated, then it is not interesting for him to stay in Shengxian. Although the Xinsheng Basin has good agricultural potential, what is the use? Easy to attack and difficult to defend is its most prominent portrayal, hurry up and pack up your things and leave! So, before the return of the East Coast Army, Min Honggui began to organize the relevant personnel of Shengxian County to gather the people to retreat, and even in order to let more people move to the area controlled by the East Coast people, he had to turn to the army to take compulsory measures.

Now, it is difficult for people in the rural areas of Shengxian County to speak, but the vast majority of the population in the county has been forcibly relocated and resettled in Xikou Town, Fenghua, where they will do some handicrafts to subsidize the military, pave roads and build bridges, and wait for migrant ships to send them to the east coast. Before them, the vast majority of the population of Xinchang County had already been sent to collective farms in Ningbo, Denglai and even Heishui in batches in advance, which would make it possible that a huge part of them had already emigrated to the east coast.

After encountering such a big change one after another, Min Honggui was really a little depressed, and even the only 30 or so policemen in Xinchang County sighed. Now that they are on the streets, few shops are still open, and some of them are also specialized in the military, and they can't reach out. In addition, the dwindling population and deserted atmosphere of the city made them even more uncomfortable - what was there to see the big-headed soldiers who came and went? It took a long time to see a few people in a hurry, which was really boring, like a military fortress.

In fact, it is almost the same, this Xinchang County is really a military fortress now, especially after the arrival of the famous and capable of conquest and habitual warfare of the 7th Mixed Battalion (the 11th Mixed Battalion guards Yin County and guards against the direction of Yuyao), although the former enemy commander-in-chief of this operation, Lieutenant Colonel Junio, is very dissatisfied with the location of this military fortress and thinks that it is too protruding, but considering that it is now the offensive stage, then this will save more trouble.

"County Magistrate Min, this is an extraordinary time, and I won't say anything polite to you. For a long time to come, you will have to go back to your old ways, yes, that's right, to do a good job of logistics for the army. Fenghua County has sent 2,000 masters today, and more will come in a few days, and there will be no shortage of masters from other counties, and it is estimated that the total number may eventually reach as many as 30,000 people. In addition, the dispatch of materials and the use of draft animals also require a lot of manpower, relying on your Xinchang County and the total of less than 100 cadres or policemen withdrawn from Shengxian County, I'm afraid it will not be enough, right? In the Yanei of Xinchang County, Lieutenant Colonel Junio found the restless Min Honggui and said to him: "In this way, I will transfer staff officers from various departments to help your people, and at the same time, the four counties of Dinghai, Fenghua, Xiangshan, and Ninghai will also send 200 militia each to supervise the daily work of these people." In short, your people must take care of the logistics in an orderly manner. It's not the first time you've done this kind of work, the first few times you've done it well, and I've heard about it, but this time it's so big, I don't know if you're up to it. You must know that the total number of soldiers under my command this time is close to 31,000. ”

Hearing the number of 30,000 troops, Min Honggui was also a little surprised. However, after carefully calculating it, he finally gritted his teeth, patted his chest and said: "Since Shangguan has an order, Min dares to disobey!" Don't worry, I will definitely take care of the logistics in an orderly manner and send all kinds of materials to the front line in time, please rest assured. ”

Lieutenant Colonel Junio nodded when he heard this, and let go of his thoughts slightly. Of course, he would not only trust Min Honggui's guarantee, in fact, he also wrote to Yin County, asking them to send a large number of cadres who were proficient in calculation and overall planning to arrive in Xinchang County to help Min Honggui, a "transit envoy", do his own work.

On June 10, 1680, under the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Júnior, the East Coasters officially launched a major counteroffensive against the Qing army. At noon that day, the elite soldiers of Niu Gui and Dong Dalang, the two servant armies, attacked Shengxian from the east and south directions respectively, and launched a fierce attack on the morning of the second day.

Outside the city of Shengxian County, more than 10,000 Denglai soldiers who successfully joined the division lined up more than 30 artillery pieces and launched an artillery battle with the Qing army. For a city like Shengxian that has survived the war and has not yet been renovated into a Jintang fortress, it is the best way to quickly blast through the city wall with artillery and enter again, just as the people on the east coast are doing at the moment.

On June 11, Júnio also rushed to the outside of Shengxian with the 7th Mixed Battalion, the 6th Division of the Servant Army, and the 5th Division of the Zhejiang New Army. The addition of the new force further strengthened the firepower of the army on the east bank outside the city, so that the number of cannons bombarding the city wall reached a terrifying 56. At this time, the total number of troops gathered here on the east bank had also exceeded 25,000, except for the 3,000 people of the 12th Division of the Servant Army Hu Xingbang who stayed in Xinchang and the 3,000 people of the Ding Ji Division of the 10th Division of the Servant Army who were protecting the west side of the communication line between Xinchang and Shengxian, all of them had already arrived at the scene, and the Qing army was caught off guard.

On June 12, Chen Xuanli, the new commander-in-chief of Xinsheng guarding Shengxian County, sadly discovered that the six artillery pieces sent all the way from Jinzhou at great cost had all been muted and either blown up or destroyed. To tell the truth, the quality of the artillery cast by the Qing Dynasty has been greatly improved in recent years, not only the weight is lighter, but the explosion rate is actually decreasing year by year, but Shengxian County will have three cannons in just two days, which shows the fierceness of the war and the frequency of artillery fire.

In the afternoon, with the cries of hundreds of Qing soldiers inside and outside the east city wall, the city wall made of bricks and stones collapsed more than 20 meters, and the defeat of the Qing army was laid at once. Xie Zhen, who arrived yesterday, called Zunio by name, sent two henchmen and generals, selected the elite to rush in along the gap in the city wall, they were different from the traditional infantry and artillery coordination of the people on the east coast, this group of officers and soldiers from Weihai bullied the Qing army without artillery, and directly used spearmen to break through the desperate resistance of the Qing army and killed into the city.

Xie Zhen, who personally commanded in the back, was in a high mood, but he did not forget to let the officers under his command record the details of the battle between the two sides, and focused on describing the will and combat methods of the Qing soldiers. With the frequent foreign exchanges of the Qing State and the deepening of military reforms, the Green Battalion has now changed the previous combat mode of spear stabbing and slashing with knives and axes, and the proportion of musketeers has been greatly improved, which can be seen from the fact that when the Sixth Division charged just now, two rows of people in front were knocked down by the Qing army's musket salvo, and the enemy is also changing!

Of course, even if it has been equipped with a lot of firearms, but a small Shengxian County, in the absence of reinforcements from a large army - because a large number of ships (in fact, most of them are empty) on the east coast appeared in the area of Hangzhou Bay for many days, it seems that there is a matter of landing in a selective place, so many Qing troops in Shaoxing Mansion were forced to move north - Shengxian is simply impossible to block the 30,000 troops on the east coast, and it can hold for more than two days at present.

On the night of the 12th, the county seat of Shengxian County was broken, and more than 4,000 Qing troops were killed, wounded and captured. Major Júneo, who served as the commander-in-chief, crossed the city without entering, and continued to march with the 7th Mixed Battalion overnight, along the Cao'e River to the north, and attacked many Qing army flood areas and forts along the way. And the commander was so desperate, and the generals below naturally couldn't slack off, so the fifth division, the sixth division, the tenth division, and the second division of the new army advanced alternately, and it took only four days for the main force to arrive outside Shangyu County, which is known as a prosperous city.

At this time, the people on the east coast were not in a hurry to attack the city. Because for them, Shangyu County, where the people are weak and there are not many garrisons, is just fat on the lips, which can be eaten at any time, and the 10,000 or 20,000 green battalion Qing troops stationed inside and outside Yuyao County in the east are the biggest target of the people on the east coast.

Therefore, as soon as he arrived at the outskirts of Shangyu County, Lieutenant Colonel Júneo ordered all his troops to gather the cavalry, gathered 2,000 cavalry, and began to search for and intercept the Qing troops in the northern coastal plain that might retreat westward in the direction of Yuyao, and at the same time cut off the communication line leading to Yuyao in the Shanyin and Shangyu areas. In addition, the infantry group that played the main role also began to build fortifications on the spot, captured some key fortresses, cut off the return route of the Qing army in Yuyao, and also guarded against the arrival of enemy troops in the city of Shaoxing in the west.

The actions of the army on the east coast were naturally visible to the Qing army. And it was also at this time that the high-level Qing army in Shaoxing and even Hangzhou suddenly realized that the yellow-clothed thieves did not land on a large scale from the sea (only sent some patchwork teams composed of police and militia to land tentatively to confuse the Qing army), but went all the way north from the Xinsheng Basin, and its strong troops, fierce firepower, and sharp breakthrough were not seen in the south for a long time - the last time the yellow-clothed thieves concentrated tens of thousands of horses and horses to break through quickly in Shaoxing Mansion, which year was it? A lot of people can't remember.

In any case, now the small 20,000 soldiers and horses have been cut between Yuyao County and Shangyu County by the people on the east coast, and the transportation is cut off and hanging alone, and there is a risk of facing a two-sided attack - although they also doubt that the people on the east bank can draw up their forces to attack from the direction of Yinxian - although there will be no shortage of food for a while, but the loss of military funds and equipment will definitely be replenished, which is difficult. You must know that now the number of spears and artillery in the Qing army's array has gradually increased, not to mention anything else, the consumption of lead, shells, and gunpowder is not a small amount (a few days ago, the people on the east coast besieged Shengxian, and the empty powder barrels sent back to Xinchang from the city were loaded with more than 50 carts). And once the firearms can no longer play a role, the situation of the Yuyao Qing army will only become more sinister, and it is not impossible for the whole army to collapse.

And once the Hangzhou battalion loses this 20,000 troops who are still capable of fighting, the impact on the situation is simply unimaginable. By that time, the Qing army, which had greatly reduced its mobile strength, had no other way but to ask for reinforcements from other places. Moreover, the fall of Yuyao, Shangyu, Shengxian and other places is also a high probability event, and even whether the city can be kept is between the two, and the overall erosion of Shaoxing Mansion is inevitable. And once the city of Shaoxing is lost, can Xiaoshan County, which is lonely to the east of the Qiantang River, be protected? If Xiaoshan County can't be protected, Hangzhou City will already have no buffer zone, and it will be directly exposed to the troops of the people on the east coast, and it may be attacked at any time.

Therefore, if you lose the pot of Shaoxing, no one can afford to carry it, and no one wants to carry it! Shangyu and Yuyao are all saved by the Qing army belonging to the Hangzhou battalion, so a battle of a large scale is probably inevitable, and the people on the east coast have obviously begun to prepare for this!