After Kong Youde received Dolgon's holy decree, he immediately gathered troops and horses, ready to go down the east of the river, rescue Tan Tai, Hetuo and Tong Yangjia, his troops have not yet set off, they received a series of bad news, Suzhou was lost, Hetuo was killed by the "traitor" Tian Xiong, Jixiha thousands of lonely troops trapped in Hangzhou, has been surrounded by the Chu army Wang Sheng and other troops...... The speed of the deterioration of the battle situation was greatly unexpected, unless there was a miracle, Ji Xiha and Tong Yangjia could successfully break through, Kong Youde didn't want to fold himself in, so he crossed out the names of the two of them in his heart, and first considered how to rescue Tan Tai in Nanjing.

This is a bit more secure and safer.

Nanjing is next to the Yangtze River, and the possibility of Tan Tai, Tunqi and Ma Guozhu successfully breaking through is still very large, but the Chu army annihilated tens of thousands of troops in Jierharang in a battle, which formed a great shock and deterrence to Kong Youde...... After repeated considerations, it was finally decided to lose the car and report to the commander, at the expense of the sailor, to drag Zheng Chenggong's sailor and confuse the main force of the Chu army, in order to cover Tan Tai, Hetuo and other troops to break through.

Since the Ming army Zheng Chenggong's sailors entered the Yangtze River estuary, the waterway connection between Wuchang Mansion and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River has been cut off, and the Qing army's sailors did not dare to approach the vicinity of Nanjing, and went as far as the coast of Chizhou Mansion to harass them...... The main force of the Qing army's naval division also came from the Zheng group, the main general Shi Fu followed Zheng Zhilong to the Qing Dynasty, due to the Manchu Qing Dynasty's contempt for the naval division, / In recent years, the southern and northern wars have not been sufficiently replenished and rested, but Zheng Chenggong inherited Zheng Zhilong's maritime trade business and had the money to build new warships. He has also been a soldier who has been training in Xiamen for several years, and he has accumulated a lot of experience. The strength has surpassed Shi Fu, knowing that he is invincible. Shi Fu has always avoided a decisive battle with Zheng Chenggong.

Kong Youde, as the commander of the three armies, cannot only consider the safety of the sailors.

The Jiangnan war situation is now full of holes, the more reluctant he is everywhere, the more empty the bamboo basket is, and he must have the determination to cut through the chaos quickly to stabilize his position, in fact, he is already ready to give up Hubei, and it is not much use to keep the sailor. Compared with Shi Fu's surrendered sailors, the more than 20,000 Qing troops under Tan Tai were much more precious. Even if Shi Fu's entire army is wiped out, as long as he can save Tan Tai, it will be worth it...... If it is in the dry season of winter, you can cross the Yangtze River by rowing a small sampan (such as crossing the river by a million heroes during the Liberation War), you can let Tan Tai cross the river by himself to break through, and it would be good for Kong Youde and Shi Fu's sailors to cover from the flanks, but now it is a rainy summer, the Yangtze River is in the flood season, Tan Tai alone cannot guarantee a safe crossing of the river by himself, Kong Youde intends to rescue Tan Tai. It is necessary to let Shi Fu's sailor rush up directly, and the collision with the Zheng family's sailor is inevitable.

On the land side, he is ready to take all the Heavenly Blessing soldiers away, and the Green Battalion is also elite. Coupled with the small number of Manchu and Han Eight Banner soldiers left behind by Luck Dehun, a total of more than 27,000 armored soldiers were dispatched to Anqing Mansion and Tunbur to converge. If you count the naval divisions and auxiliaries, the total strength will exceed 60,000 people. This force is still relatively strong, although it is not enough to recover Jiangnan. Rescuing Tan Tai and Ma Guozhu should not be a big problem.

The assembly of tens of thousands of troops can not hide the ears and eyes of the meticulous work, after Kong Youde spread out the stall, he continued to release all kinds of false news, such as crossing the river to attack Hunan, such as going to rescue Jiujiang, etc., as much as possible to confuse the Chu army, when his army set off by boat, the intention to go to Jiangnan has been unable to conceal, and he personally swore at the Wuchang wharf to sacrifice the flag, claiming to avenge the revenge of Prince Zheng Jierharang, raising troops to sweep Jiangnan, and capture Wang Kefan Yunyun alive...... He could only piece together 60,000 horses, and externally he claimed to be an army of 150,000, bluffing to kill Jiangnan, putting on a posture of fighting to the death with the Chu army, but secretly made up his mind that he would never cross the Yangtze River lightly.

On the Hubei side, Shang Kexi stayed behind.

After the start of the Eastern Crusade, Hubei is no longer the main battlefield, it has been in a state of stalemate for most of the year, the troops of the camp and blocking Yinxi occupy the western part of Hubei, the Tongshan battalion and the Yuezhou battalion are guarding the line of the Yangtze River, and occupy the east of Wuchang Mansion Kong Youde, Shang Kexi formed a confrontation, the two armies of the Ming and Qing dynasties are basically evenly matched, except for Xiangyang Shen Yongzhong dedicated the city to the Ming, there is not much change in others, Kong Youde left, the formation of the Qing army has been loosened.

The consequences of tearing down the east wall and making up the west wall.

The Qing army has now moved to strategic defense, Kong Youde, in addition to rescuing Tan Tai, the most important task is to guard Jianghuai and prevent the Ming army from going north to threaten the foundation of Qing rule...... Because the Ming army has invaded the Nanyang Basin, at any time from the Fangcheng passage to attack Xuchang, and even over the Funiu Mountain to attack Luoyang, Shang Kexi has lost all the main force in Hubei again, he adjusted the deployment, transferred troops and horses, and strengthened the defense of the Fangcheng passage and the three passes of Yiyang to ensure the security of the Central Plains, and the other troops retreated to the Wuchang Mansion and the De'an Mansion.

Until the last resort, Shang Kexi did not plan to give up Wuchang Mansion lightly.

Wuchang Mansion is the first important town in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, has very important strategic value, and the city is high and thick, easy to defend and difficult to attack, as long as Anhui in the east is not occupied by the Ming army, as long as the three passes of Yiyang are still in the hands of the Qing army, Wuchang Mansion has not become a lonely city under siege like Nanjing, Shang Kexi is ready to defend it, try to keep this bridgehead that goes deep into Huguang.

His basic idea is to give up the small and protect the big, first of all, to stick to Wuchang City, followed by to stick to several states and counties in De'an Prefecture, from Suizhou to Anlu to Xiaogan, after holding these strongholds, the Ming army will not be able to cut off the connection between Wuchang and Henan, and the Hubei war situation will be able to support, as for the other states and counties, there will not be enough troops to garrison them separately...... After Kong Youde's Tianyou soldiers withdrew from the various states and counties in the west of Wuchang Prefecture, the still gratifying Tianzhu soldiers did not go to take over the defense, and there were no regular troops stationed in Qianjiang, Jianli, and Chuyang Prefecture, and other prefectures and counties, and they were occupied by the Ming army one after another, or directly erected a flag against the Qing Dynasty and surrendered to the Ming army.

The battle situation in Hubei changed suddenly, and the Ming army was not mentally prepared, Li Guo was fighting with Wu Jingdao in the Nanyang Basin, and the Ming army left in Hubei had limited strength. took advantage of it to some extent, and recovered several prefectures and counties such as Qianjiang County and Chuyang Prefecture. Pushed the battle line forward for more than a hundred miles, and stopped at the periphery of Wuchang.

For most of the year. The strategic center of gravity of the Chu army is in the south of the Yangtze River, and the Hubei side is mainly stable, and there is no preparation for a big battle, and the formation of the Qing army suddenly loosened, Li Guo, Tan Xiao, and Du Yinxi did not have the strength to launch a large-scale attack, so they could only salivate at Shang Kexi, the big fat sheep. Li Guo immediately rushed back to Hubei from Nanyang to discuss with Du Yinxi, Tan Xiao and others, while adjusting the deployment and gathering troops. On the one hand, waiting for news from Nanjing, how to fight the battle in Hubei next has to be decided by Wang Kefan.

……

Out of Huguang, few people care about the situation in Hubei, Jiangnan is the focus of attention, in addition to the treacherous and changing political struggle, the battlefield from one after another good news is also constantly stimulating everyone's nerves. Wang Sheng's march into Suzhou and Hangzhou was only half a month, and he easily recovered the state capital and Jiaxing Mansion, and Songjiang Mansion was just around the corner. Hangzhou Mansion also became an isolated city, the Chu army once again demonstrated its strong strength, and the gentry and people in Jiangnan all cheered and ran to tell each other.

Except for the people in officialdom. The ordinary gentry and common people did not care about the political struggles in the imperial court, the Chu army continued to regain lost territory, and the famous Eight Banners soldiers were constantly eliminated. It's the topic that everyone is talking about...... Under word of mouth, the Chu army was constantly deified. A large reason why Wang Sheng was able to quickly capture Suzhou Mansion and Jiaxing Mansion was due to Xiong Lichun and Tian Xiong's rebellion. The common people didn't care about these at all, and they all praised the Chu army as the strongest army in the world, much more powerful than the Eight Banners, as long as they stayed in Jiangnan, they were not afraid of the Tartars coming again.

The senior generals of the Chu army, including Wang Kefan, were also compared with the famous generals who were the founding generals of this dynasty, and who was Xu Da and who was Chang Yuchun often caused fierce debates in taverns and tea shops. Among them, the controversy about Wang Kefan is the greatest, only compared with the famous generals of this dynasty can not express everyone's admiration, the peddler pawn is more familiar with "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", some compare him to Lu Bu, and some compare him to Zhuge Liang, Zhao Yun and Zhou Yu are also mentioned from time to time, but subconsciously, few people compare him to Guan Yu.

They don't understand or care about the high-level political struggle, but there is a big debate between Wuxun and civil officials, and the two sides are arguing so much these days...... Emperor Longwu and Wang Kefan have contradictions, it is a very eye-catching political gossip, which spreads rapidly in the officialdom and among the people, although some people only know the scales and half claws, but they can't help but show off in front of relatives and friends, one, two, three, two, one, the head is analyzed in a straightforward way, seeing that you are bluffed and stunned, my heart is very happy.

Who is to blame for the discord between the monarch and the minister? A new controversy began. Some people say that Wang Kefan is a traitor like Cao Cao, some people say that Emperor Longwu is a faint monarch like Zhao Gou, and there are very few people who support Emperor Longwu's "traitor faction", and the "faint monarch faction" who supports Wang Kefan accounts for the absolute majority...... Emperor Longwu is just a fugitive emperor, his sense of existence in Jiangnan is very weak, and he does not have the prestige of Chongzhen, but Wang Kefan has just won the battle of Ningzhen, and he is unambiguous when he kills the Tartars, he is a loyal and good general like Yue Fei, since Emperor Longwu is at odds with him, it is Zhao Gou, the faint monarch.

The argument was over, everyone went to ask the wise man for advice, and the wise man sighed: "Of course Wang Junmen is a loyal minister, but the emperor is not to blame for this matter, but there are traitorous ministers in the court." ”

That's right! Why did you forget Qin Hui? A traitor like Qin Hui deceived the emperor, killed Yue Fei, and destroyed the Great Wall, if Wang Kefan was also killed by Qin Hui, even if he lost his official position and resigned, when the Manchu Tartars killed Jiangnan again, who would lead the troops to fight? This is related to everyone's net worth and life, and it can no longer be ignored!

Almost overnight, the people also made a commotion.

Under the leadership of a group of young scholars and scholars, thousands of people gathered in the Minglun Hall of the Confucian Temple to elect a doctor with the best reputation in the county school to write a petition to the imperial court in ten thousand words to punish the "traitor" Yang Tinglin...... In front of the public, Yang Tinglin's recruitment of Tian Xiong was turned over again, confirming the notoriety of a "traitorous minister". Under the propaganda of well-intentioned people, the people knew that Tian Xiong was a traitor who did all kinds of evil, in addition to betraying the emperor, he had just opened the embankment of the Puyang River and drowned tens of thousands of people. The so-called people gather by like, and things are divided by groups, Yang Tinglin and Tian Xiongxin are in cahoots, which shows that both of them are the same dog!

At the beginning of this matter, it was completely the spontaneous behavior of the people, and some lower-class gentry and shengren Xiucai participated in it, and it was not Wang Kefan's intention to instigate and arrange, but after the incident, Quan Xi immediately reported to Wang Kefan, arranged manpower to add fuel to it, pointed the finger directly at Yang Tinglin, and sent people to other counties to fan the flames. In Jiaxing and other places, scholars and ordinary people held gatherings, and letters of 10,000 words were handed to the desks of Zhu Yulu, the king of the Tang Dynasty, and Guo Weijing, the minister of the Qin Mission.

Once there is a large-scale petition and assembly of the common people, it will be a major event that shakes the government and the opposition in all dynasties, and it is very likely to cause a major political earthquake. The civil official group was already anxious, and after the people made a fuss, they finally gave them the final fatal blow, Guo Weijing had just arrived in Nanjing, and in order to calm the turmoil, he threw Yang Tinglin out as an outcast...... The civil officials spoke in unison, expressing their shock and indignation at recruiting a traitor like Tian Xiong, who had no king and no father, and said that they were all kept in the dark, and now that they knew the truth, they had to draw a line with him. Seeing that the general trend had gone, Tang Laihe and Wan Yuan Ji were forced to be helpless, and they also declared to the outside world against their will that the matter of recruiting Tian Xiong was completely handled by Yang Tinglin, and the two of them had no prior knowledge.

That night, Tang Laihe and Wan Yuan Ji visited Yang Tinglin, and the next person went in to serve tea, and found that the three old men were choking their wrists, mouthing generous and sad words, tears on their faces, and the scene was extremely touching.

The next morning, Yang Tinglin left a letter, sealed the letter of the minister in the brocade box, and sent it to Guo Weijing together with the black gauze official robe, and left by himself, returning to his hometown in Jiangxi to live in seclusion, and did not ask about political affairs for the rest of his life.

At the same time, Guo Wei made up for the loss, mobilized heavy troops to surround Tian Xiong's department, and personally entered the camp and suddenly took it, and escorted him to Guilin in a prisoner car and wooden cage to ask for the crime, and more than 2,000 people under Tian Xiong were all disarmed, and they were collected by Zhao Yinxuan, Hu Yiqing and other departments. (To be continued......) R1292