At the end of February of the third year of Longwu, the loyal battalion took advantage of the opportunity of Kong Youde's division of troops in Huangzhou Mansion to organize a large-scale retreat on an astonishing scale, and more than 200,000 soldiers and civilians left the area of Jingzhou Mansion in Hubei Province in batches and withdrew to the south bank of the Yangtze River. The monk Kong Youde Kexi led his troops to pursue, but due to the lack of troops, he was unable to stop the loyal battalion, and only Liu Fangliang and Liu Tichun, who were in charge of the broken back, were blocked north of the Yangtze River and retreated westward into the Three Gorges area.

Kong Youde's soldiers occupied Jingzhou Mansion and Chengtian Mansion without bloodshed, and immediately sent people to Beijing to send good news, and then reorganized troops and horses to cross the Yangtze River.

The Yangtze River is different from ordinary rivers, flowing from the snow-capped mountain plateau to the coast of the East China Sea, so there are two flood seasons a year, in addition to the main flood season in July and August, due to the melting of ice and snow in the upper reaches in March and April every year, it will also cause a significant increase in the water volume of the Yangtze River.

With the increase of the amount of water, the Yangtze River seems to become wider, thousands of boats race, hundreds of boats compete for the current, the Qing army's river-crossing fleet shuttles back and forth, transporting soldiers and soldiers, the swarthy cannon is like a fierce beast to choose people and devour, such as the military flag of the forest almost covers the river, a building ship in the center has two royal flags on it, but two small bodies leaned out under the royal flag, a man and a woman are eleven or twelve years old, looking at this spectacular scene with excitement on their faces.

"Big brother, this river is so big! Bigger than the Liao River! "That little girl is pretty, and although she is still young, she can already see that she is a beautiful child.

"Stupid, this is not a river, this is the Yangtze River, of course the river is bigger than the river!" The little boy looked disdainful, and finally found a chance to beat his sister Kong Sizhen, and looked very proud.

"Who said a river must be bigger than a river? The Yellow River we saw on the road was so big. Compare...... It's a lot bigger than a lot of rivers! It's bigger than the Yangtze River! Kong Sizhen couldn't think of which river it was, so he raised his voice and shouted, as if the louder the voice, the more reasonable.

"The Yellow River is not as big as the Yangtze River!" Kong Tingxun, a fellow mother, resisted hard.

"The Yellow River is big! The Yellow River is big! The Yellow River ......" Kong Sizhen's voice became sharper and sharper. He and Kong Tingxun often quarreled, and every time they had the upper hand, they kept screaming like machine gun fire, making Kong Tingxun so anxious that his face was red, but he couldn't speak.

On the upper deck of the ship, Kong Youde and Shang Kexi stood side by side on the side of the ship, smiling and watching a pair of children quarrel. The expressions of the two people are very kind, and they don't look like they usually kill people without blinking.

Shang Kexi was a very special figure in the early Qing Dynasty, and his grandfather was a general of the Liaodong Army. Including his father, almost all the family died in the War of Resistance against the Qing Dynasty, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty originally had a deep blood feud, and Shang Kexi himself served as the deputy general of Kashima under Mao Wenlong, the general of Phi Dao. After Mao Wenlong was killed. He still insisted on resisting the Qing Dynasty, but was squeezed out by the officials of the Ming Dynasty in every way, and finally surrendered to the Manchu Qing Dynasty in desperation.

Shang Kexi has been good at judging the situation all his life, and is known for his "wisdom", so he won the title of King Zhishun. The most obvious example of this was the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories. Wu Sangui raised troops against the Qing Dynasty, but Shang Kexi bet on both ends. He himself was still the prince of the Qing Dynasty, and he put on an appearance of "serving the country loyally", but he asked his son Shang Zhixin to raise troops to assist Wu Sangui, and after Wu Sangui's defeat, Shang Zhixin was successfully pardoned, and the Shang family was almost unscathed.

Not long ago, his son Shang Zhixin was selected to serve as a palace guard, so he stayed in Beijing. For the Qing court nobles, to be able to serve as a "first-class shrimp" or "second-class shrimp" in front of the emperor is the best gilded experience, Shang Zhixin and the little emperor of Shunzhi have a relationship, and they will inherit the throne in the future, as long as the Shunzhi emperor does not fall, the Shang family can guarantee at least three generations of glory and wealth.

Shang Kexi was silent, and arranged everything so properly that Kong Youde was ashamed, so he couldn't let up his heart to leave his young son in Beijing to suffer. But it's no wonder that Shang Kexi has many heirs, but his Kong family is not prosperous, of course, he has to take Kong Tingxun, the only heir, with him to calm the hearts of the generals.

In "Sanshun King and Yishun Gong", Geng Zhongming is like Kong Youde's general, but Shang Kexi's status is more transcendent, Kong Youde has long been encompassing him, and touched his arm with a smile.

"Lao Shang, do you think of the son? The son of the world is Tiancong's birthday in April of the tenth year, just half a year older than the little girl, these two children haven't seen each other for a few years, if they see it, they will be happy. ”

Although it was a casual tone, Kong Youde intentionally or unintentionally pulled Shang Zhixin and Kong Sizhen together, these two children are of the same age, if they can get married, it is a good thing, everyone will be in Jiangnan in the future, through the formation of a united front with relatives, the cost is low, the effect is good, it depends on whether Shang Kexi agrees.

Shang Kexi pretended not to understand, and said with a smile: "Since Zhixin, this child has entered the palace, he will not be able to come back in three or five years, if Sizhen is bored and panicked, let Zhixiao come and move around often." ”

Shang Zhixiao is Shang Kexi's second son, and he also hopes to have an ally, but he doesn't want to be controlled by Kong Youde, so he politely refuses the other party's temptation. Besides, the three-year-old looks younger and the seven-year-old looks old, Kong Sizhen, the little girl, is spoiled, mean and sour, and even her eldest brother doesn't know how to be polite, and she is not a good match for her son.

As if nothing had happened, Kong Youde played a ha, and naturally diverted the topic, Kong Sizhen is the pearl of his palm, if he marries the eldest son of the Shang family, he is a good match, but he can't marry the second son of Shang Zhixiao.

After chatting a few words, Kong Youde suddenly asked: "Lao Shang is resourceful, what do you think of the current Huguang war situation?" ”

Shang Kexi frowned: "The Huguang battle situation is like a mess, the more you solve the problem, the more you have a clue, a tiger has already run away, although we occupy Jingzhou Mansion and Chengtian Mansion, it doesn't make much sense, if Luck Dehun insists on going his own way, I'm afraid this battle will not be easy to fight......"

Chen Tai's department was hit hard in Tongcheng, led 2,000 remnants of the defeated general to flee in a hurry, was blocked by Wang Sheng and Zhang Jiayu on the way, and was blocked in the Xiangyin area and could not get out.

Before the Qing reinforcements arrived, the Chu army launched a general attack on Chen Tai and defeated him in one fell swoop, and Chen Tai led more than 500 people to flee. Breaking through the mouth that the Chu army deliberately let go, crossing the Miluo River and entering Hunan, Luck Dehun hurried to the rescue. intended to fight to the death with the Chu army, but Wang Kefan led his troops to fight and go, chasing Chen Tai away, and the two armies also entered Hunan one after another.

For Kong Youde, Hunan must fight, but now is not the best time.

It has always been a taboo in the army to order multiple doors, and the battle line of the Qing army was too long. It is also fighting on two fronts across Dongting Lake, and there are problems with both logistics supply and coordinated scheduling, in addition to strategic cooperation. Kong Youde and Luck Dehun are now fighting separately, more like two friendly armies that are not subordinate to each other.

"Yes, a tiger thief still has the strength to rebel, and if you don't get rid of this henchman. We can't stand in Huguang. Kong Youde said: "After I am ready to cross the river, I will rush to Yuezhou Mansion." Please Luck Dehun return to the army for the time being, and then attack Changde with you in two ways, first destroy a tiger's loyal battalion, and then plot Changsha! ”

After Zhang Xianzhong's death, the loyal battalion was the strongest among the remaining anti-Qing forces, and according to Dolgon's orders, Kong Youde's first task in the southern expedition to Huguang was to eliminate the loyal battalion, and he was ready to engage in a pincer offensive. Attack Changde from both sides of Dongting Lake at the same time, and then deal with He Tengjiao in Hunan.

Shang Kexi praised the festival: "Good! If the king of obedience sits in Yuezhou. Big things can be decided! Our army is fighting step by step, steadily and steadily, and the Nanban will have no chance to take advantage of it, and at most three or five months will be able to wipe out the loyal battalion and pacify Huguang! ”

Changde is an important town in Hunan, blocking Yinxi and the most rearmost territory of the loyal battalion, if the Qing army captures here, they will either retreat into the mountains of Xiangxi and be trapped to death, or enter Hunan and He Tengjiao's troops to fight for food, and there will be problems with food and salary for a long time. Kong Youde personally went to the Yuezhou Mansion, Geng Zhongming and other troops must listen to his command, and Luck Dehun will not be too involved in Hunan, so it is the safest choice to compress the living space of the loyal battalion step by step under the current situation.

Retract the spread slap into a fist, fight the Ming army with dignity, and see what other intrigues and tricks that Wang Kefan has!

……

He Tengjiao's mood has been bad recently, not to mention how bad it is.

When Wang Kefan just returned to Huguang, he ceded the territory of Yuezhou Mansion in time, which was a very proud plan to kill two birds with one stone, which not only solved the unstable factor of the Chu army, but also forced them to fight with the Tartars to defend the gate for Hunan...... Unexpectedly, Wang Kefan didn't care about this territory, first sent troops to Huangzhou Mansion, and then suddenly returned to Tongcheng County, attracting tens of thousands of Qing troops back and forth, like stabbing a hornet's nest.

As the good news of the Chu army continued to come, his temper became bigger and bigger, the development of the situation was completely out of control, and Hunan was inevitably involved in the war.

How does this work? He originally hoped to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, watch the loyal battalion, the Chu army and the Tartars fight to lose and lose, and then come to a fisherman to profit, but he didn't expect Wang Kefan to lead the water south and bring the big killer star Luck Dehun to Hunan!

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Tartars have already occupied Xiangyin, less than a hundred miles away from Changsha, who is willing to lead troops to meet the battle?" He Tengjiao wanted to turn around and run, but he was reluctant to give up Changsha to the Qing army.

No one answered.

More than a dozen high-ranking civil and military officials all closed their mouths, looked at their mouths, looked at their mouths, and looked at their hearts, without looking at He Tengjiao, but it was Dorobelle Lekdehun of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, who was under the elite Eight Banners, with an army of forty or fifty thousand, and was not sent to death to face the battle?

"Since this is the case, then we have to stick to Changsha and repay the country with death!" He Tengjiao had a bitter face, gritted his teeth and said: "Wan Yuan Ji has been guarding Ganzhou for more than half a year, and finally attracted His Majesty to drive the expedition in person, turning the crisis into safety in one fell swoop, and I also plan to stick to Changsha and block the Tartars here......"

Fu Shangrui was the first to shout: "Never!" Ganzhou City is deep in the river, in order to hold on for half a year, Luck Dehun is far from being comparable to Jin Shenghuan, there are countless red-coated cannons in the army, and a cannon erodes dozens of miles, how can Changsha hold it? ”

Other civilians and military forces chimed in.

"Think twice!"

"Changsha can't hold it!"

"You can't do anything, you can only find another way......"

Seeing the way they spoke, He Tengjiao's courage suddenly disappeared cleanly: "Since this is the case, then, what should I do now?" ”

Fu Shangrui looked at him with firm eyes, and said solemnly word by word: "The only way to do this is to temporarily avoid the Tartar soldiers, give up Changsha, and retreat to Hengyang!" (To be continued......)