In the early morning of the fourth day of the fifth month of the leap month, when the sky was slightly bright, the guards sent by Kang Mazi to the north bank of Hongze Lake to investigate the situation returned to the Xiba camp, and also confirmed the truth guessed by Kang Mazi and Zhou Peigong, on the night of the third day of the fifth month of the leap month, the fat army actually blew up the embankment directly north of Hongze Lake, and flooded the southern part of Taoyuan County, Huai'an Prefecture, which is sparsely populated. At least nearly eight feet down at the moment. [Full text reading]

The bad news continued, Kang Mazi just sent a decree with a blue face, ordering the main force of the Qing army led by Yue Le to go north at full speed, lure the main force of the fat army into the yellow flood area as soon as possible, and strive to use the water of Hongze Lake that has not yet retreated to delay the pursuit of the fat army.

Although the population in that area is much denser than that in the south of Taoyuan County, there are two market towns in Bancheng and Qingyang Town, but because the fat army has blown up the dam in the area of Chengzi Lake in advance to divert the flood, guiding the high water level to rush into Chengzi Lake, which will blow up the northwest dam of Hongze Lake, the destructive power of the flood to Sizhou Mansion has been reduced more than ten times, and the local people also have more than enough time to move to the highlands, but the water level of Hongze Lake has accelerated more than twice again, and it is estimated that at most tonight, The water level of Hongze Lake can drop by at least one and a half zhang.

In this way, unless the main force of the Qing army led by Yue Le can immediately lure the main force of the Fat Army to Gaojiayan, the Qing army may damage the Fat Army team by blowing up Gaojiayan, but Yue Le's army has just arrived in Baoying County last night, and it is still one hundred and ten miles away from Huai'an City, so what can the main force of the Fat Army immediately lure to Gaojiayan? If the Qing army blows up Gaojiayan, what role can it play in addition to cutting off the return route of its main army?

In the face of Lu Fatzi's shameless and vicious tactics of blowing up the embankment and diverting the flood, Kang Mazi was so angry that he even had the intention of digging all the south embankments of the Yellow River for hundreds of miles in Huai'an, but in a hurry, Kang Mazi went there to find so many manpower to dig the embankment, and he couldn't mobilize the local Han people in Huai'an to dig it, right? Moreover, now the Yellow River is between the peach blossom flood and the Fu flood, and the flow of the river is not particularly large, which will blow up the Yellow River, and the destruction of farmland and water conservancy is of course devastating, but for the living people who can run and jump, especially for the army with a collective organization, it will not cause major harm. So the only thing Kang Mazi could do was to hide in the Xiba camp and scold desperately.

When Kang Mazi scolded, Zhou Peigong also had a gloomy face and did not speak, the current situation is already obvious, Gaojiayan has lost the biggest threat, and Lu Fatzi clearly wants to use the opportunity of the Qing army to cross the river to launch a general attack, and completely annihilate at least the main force of the Qing army, and if you want to keep the main force of the Qing army led by Yue Le, there are only two last ways left for the Qing court.

"What about proposing that solution to the master? The first one had to be sacrificed, and the second one was ....... Zhou Peigong thought in his heart, and looked at Kang Mazi, who was scolding Lu Fatzi's eighteenth generation ancestor, Zhou Peigong still gave up the second plan, and said to Kang Mazi: "Master, please stop your anger, other things can be said slowly, the most important thing at the moment is to withdraw the main force of our Qing Dynasty across the north bank of the Yellow River." The servant dared to propose that the master immediately issue an order to stop the retreat of the royal forces of our Qing army, organize defense on the spot, and buy time for the main cavalry of our Qing army to withdraw across the Yellow River. ”

"Fart!" Kang Mazi suddenly slapped the pseudo-dragon case, and the blood-red mung bean eyes with less black and more white roared: "The most important thing at the moment is not to retreat!" It's the offense! It's to cut off the head of Lu Yifeng's dog thief and make a night pot for me! ”

"Master, we ...... right now." Zhou Peigong was taken aback, and was about to persuade again, but Kang Mazi picked up the teacup on the pseudo-dragon case and smashed it, smashing Zhou Peigong's face full of flowers, and also smashed Zhou Peigong to his knees, and his forehead was on the ground and he no longer dared to speak.

"Tell me the will!" Kang Mazi roared frantically: "The whole army pulls out the camp to cross the river, and the water is lined up!" I want to fight to the death with Lu Yifeng's dog thief on the south bank of the Yellow River, and fight him to the death! I don't believe it, I personally came to the front line to command the decisive battle, and my Qing army will definitely not be able to defeat that landing talent! ”

"Master-!" All the Mites Qing civil and military officials in the imperial tent were frightened, and they rushed to kneel down together, shouting frantically: "Master, don't do it!" ”

"Shut up! I would rather be an emperor who died in battle than the lord of Gou'an! The arrogant Kang Mazi roared again, "If you are afraid of death, you don't have to cross the river!" Whoever dares to stop me from crossing the river will be killed! ”

"Master! You can't cross the river! Prince Xian Danzhen stood up.

"Shut up! If you say a wordy word again, you will be cut immediately! Kang Mazi roared.

After Dan Zhen closed his mouth and gritted his teeth, Dan Zhen reached into his arms, took out a flat yellow scroll from his arms, stood in the center, and sang loudly: "The Empress Dowager's ancestor Yizhi, love Xinjueluo. Xuan Ye knelt down! ”

Kang Mazi froze, a pair of numb eyes also stared at the flat yellow scroll, and there was no movement for a long time, Dan Zhen shouted again: "The Empress Dowager's ancestor Yizhi, love Xinjueluo. Xuan Ye knelt down! ”

The civil and military officials in the imperial tent all knelt down to Dan Zhen honestly, Kang Mazi hesitated again and again, and finally knelt down to Dan Zhen, kowtowed and said: "Sun Er Xuanye, kneel to receive the decree of the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager is a thousand years old, a thousand years old, a thousand years old." ”

"Xuan Ye, when you saw the Mourning Family's edict, it must have been time for you to be angry and insist on crossing the river." Dan Zhen read aloud: "The mourning family doesn't say much, I just hope that you will read it for the hard-won sake of our Qing dynasty, and also for the sake of the ancestors and ancestors of the Qing Dynasty who shed their blood for the sake of the Central Plains, and remember your promise in front of the mourning family." As long as you can return to the capital alive, there is still hope for our Daqing country, and no matter how hard the mourning family tries their best, they will try their best to help you maintain the Daqing country. Chin this. ”

Kang Mazi raised his head and stared at the will of the old witch of Xiaozhuang, and was silent for a long time, and after a long time, Kang Mazi suddenly roared like crazy, "Grandmother, what hope do we have in the Qing Dynasty?" How to repay the huge debt owed to the people? How can the imperial court be maintained without Jiangnan taxes? How can the Qing army be supported without military salaries, money and food? How to resist the Northern Expedition army of Wu Sangui's old thief? How to resist Lu Yifeng's Northern Expedition army? Grandmother, you tell me, tell me what to do?! ”

"Master, the ancestor of the Empress Dowager is right, as long as you are still here, there is still hope for our Qing Dynasty." Zhou Peigong walked to Kang Mazi on his knees, choked and persuaded: "But if we don't have the master of the Qing Dynasty, you, the backbone, then everything will be over!" ”

"Master, the Qing Dynasty can't live without you, if you cross the river, our Qing Dynasty will be finished." The officials of the Qing Dynasty and the civil and military forces kowtowed together, and they howled one after another, and in a moment, there was already a lot of mourning in the pseudo-imperial tent.

Looking at the civil and military officials who were crying and desperately kowtowing to prevent themselves from crossing the river for a decisive battle, Kang Mazi couldn't help but become confused again, and there was only one thought left in his heart, "Why are they all desperately trying to stop me from crossing the river?" Is it that they all think that I am not as good as the first talent? Or are they, like Yue Le, have already secretly colluded with Lu Yifeng's dog thieves and are ready to join forces to bury my Southern Expeditionary Army? ”

…………………… At the same time, in Huangpu Town, at the junction of Yangzhou Mansion and Huai'an Mansion in Jiangsu, the news that the Fat Army had blown up the embankment on the north bank of Hongze Lake to divert the flood was finally transmitted by messenger and sent to Yue Le, the commander of the Qing army. Hearing the news, Yue Le, who was riding on a horse to lead the army, landed on the horse, and the person also fainted, fell off the war horse on the spot, and was woken up by the Qing army generals, Yue Le cried on the spot, "The Qing Dynasty is over!" There is no more hope, there is no more hope! ”

"No wonder Wu Gou chased so steadily, it turned out that Lu Yifeng's dog thieves had already arranged a plan to blow up the embankment and divide the flood, so there was no need to chase too quickly!" Shang Shan also stomped his feet and scolded, hating Lu Fatzi's cunning and viciousness.

"Report!" At this time, a fast horse from the south chased after him, and the messenger quickly said before he could get off the horse: "Lord Qiqi, Wu Gou's chasing soldiers suddenly accelerated their speed, and the forward Han Daren's department has already fought with Kang Wangye's team five miles north of Baoying, and the battle is very fierce, and Wu Gou's main force is also rapidly approaching the Baoying battlefield!" Prince Kang can't resist it, please order the Chinese army to support! ”

"Lord Wang, Wu Gou must have also received the news that he had succeeded in blowing up the embankment and dividing the flood, and he began to exert his strength." Shang Shan quickly turned to Yue Le and said: "The most important thing at the moment is to quickly withdraw our main force across the north bank of the Yellow River as much as possible, we must leave an army behind the palace, and sacrifice the army behind the palace to protect our main army!" ”

Yue Le lowered his head, and after thinking for a moment, Yue Le raised his head, gritted his teeth and issued three orders one after another, "Herald Jieshu, order him to stick to the spot and not take a step back!" Then ordered Dong Weiguo's front army to speed up with all their might, and before arriving at the Qingjiang ferry, there must be no rest for a moment! The Chinese army brigade is advancing at full speed, no one is allowed to enter Huai'an City, and go directly to the Qinghe ferry! ”

The order was conveyed, Dong Weiguo's front army twenty miles ahead immediately increased its speed, and rushed to the Qinghe ferry at full speed along the canal by land and water, and the Chinese army brigade led by Yue Le also threw away all the useless baggage, and quickly retreated to the north, seventy miles away from the city of Huai'an, only Jieshu, who did not know the inside story, also fought hard with the fat army Han Daren in the suburbs of Baoying, desperately resisting the pursuit of the fat army.

Correspondingly, the main force of the Fat Army, which had been slowly following the rhythm of the Qing army in the first three days, also accelerated its pace, and the infantry brigade entered the Baoying battlefield at full speed to reinforce Han Daren's army, and the cavalry of the Fat Army led by Gao Dejie, Gao Hongchen brothers and Itambu was nearly 10,000 people, and simply bypassed the Baoying battlefield directly and chased Yue Le's Chinese army brigade at full speed. As a result, the Jieshu team, who didn't know the truth, thought that the cavalry of the Fat Army was planning to intersperse detours and cut off their way back, and their morale suddenly collapsed, and Jieshu, whose character was not as good as Yue Le, also decisively ordered to give up the attack and flee to the Qinghe ferry at full speed.

A life-and-death contest began, and the Qing army threw away all the baggage they could, exerted their strength, and ran north along the official road; The main force of the Fat Army was to transfer the weight of artillery, grain and grass to the rear army fleet led by Li Guodong early, and the cavalry bypassed the Qing infantry team led by Jie Shu, and chased the Qing Army Central Army Brigade led by Yue Le in desperation. There was me in the enemy, and there was an enemy in me, but not a single team of the armies on either side stopped to block the battle, and all they did was desperately running north, racing against the enemy, against time, and against death.

There are countless soldiers on both sides who have fallen behind, and it is better for the Fat Army soldiers to fall behind, and they have the Fat Army team that came later, but the Qing soldiers fell behind, and they usually had only one choice of death, and the main force of the Fat Army who pursued them with all their might had no intention of accommodating the prisoners, and the Qing soldiers who fell behind were cut down with a knife, and only a very few lucky people got the opportunity to surrender to the rear of the Fat Army. Whether it is a soldier of the Qing Army or a soldier of the Fat Army, there is only one thought left in his mind, that is, to run, desperately run north! Whoever can reach the Qinghe County ferry of the Yellow River first will have a chance to survive or win.

The spectacular scene of more than 100,000 people racing north together can't help but remind people of a song with a very apt name, that is:

I went all the way to the north, the world in the rearview mirror, farewell, you turned your back, the side face is still very beautiful, I chased it with my eyes, and I heard your tears............ Let's casually introduce another tactical arrangement of the Fat Army, that is, as early as when the rear team of the Fat Army passed through Gaoyou Lake, the Fat Army had already divided a fleet composed of 20 fast boats and 10 Huitian sampans loaded with three good explosives, and rushed to Hongze Lake at full speed by taking the Jinhu waterway, and entering the Yellow River waterway from Hongze Lake in a roundabout way, preparing to attack the Qing army's river-crossing fleet when the Qing army crossed the Yellow River. As for whether this small group of sailors can reach the battlefield and whether they can reach the battlefield in time, it can only depend on luck.

The distance from Baoying to Huai'an is more than 110 miles, the distance to Qinghe is 140 miles, and the rapid marching speed of the infantry is usually 90 miles a day, but Yue Le and Lu Fatzi are full of strength to break this routine this time, and they invariably gave an unkind death order, that is, they are not allowed to stop, go north at full speed, and rest until they reach the Qinghe ferry!

In order to let the main force of the Qing army cross the Yellow River as soon as possible to get rid of the pursuit, and considering that the main force of the Qing army arrived at the Qinghe ferry with such a high-intensity rapid march, the top and bottom must have been exhausted and difficult to fight again, so Yue Le sent Shang Shan to carry a letter for help and rotate good horses to rush on the road first, and go north without changing people and horses all the way, and go to the Xiba camp on the north bank of the Yellow River to ask Kang Mazi for help, and ask Kang Mazi to assemble ships at the ferry on the south bank of the Qinghe River, and more than 10,000 fresh troops in the Xiba camp were dispatched to the Qinghe ferry to respond. Hold off the same exhausted Fat Scout troops.

What Yue Le probably never dreamed of was that he looked forward to the Qing army's fresh force in the Xiba camp crossing the river to meet him, and Lu Fatzi actually looked forward to the Qing army's fresh force in the Xiba camp crossing the river to meet him more than he - of course, he most hoped that Kang Mazi would personally lead this new force to cross the river to respond. So when the Fat Army Demolition Team led by Li Ji carried out the task of blowing up the embankment and diverting the flood, the Fat Army Demolition Team divided a small boat, carrying Li Ji, the son of Xu Xiake, who was more than half a hundred years old, and sailed alone to the Gaojiayan Embankment where the Qing army team was stationed. ”

How dangerous Lu Fatzi's handwritten letter is, Tu Hai, who was ruined by Lu Fatzi's bloody letter, certainly understands better than anyone else, so after Tu Hai heard the intention of Li Sending, his first reaction was to cut the gray-haired old man Li with a knife, and then throw it into Hongze Lake to feed the fish. But it's a pity that although Tuhai has the final say on Gaojiayan at this moment, Tuhai's two deputies, Sileng'er and Cai Yumao, heard about Li Ji's identity and intentions, but they were afraid that Kang Mazi would investigate in the future, and refused to carry out Tuhai's order to kill Li Ji, and insisted on sending Li to the Xiba camp.

The two deputies did not dare to kill Li Ji, and Tuhai, who was also afraid of Kang Mazi's investigation, had no choice but to let the Qing soldiers escort Li Ji's evacuation of Gaojiayan, which had lost its effect, and return to the Qingjiang ferry, and deliberately delayed the time until it was dark before sending Li to cross the Yellow River and send him to the Xiba camp to be handed over to Kang Mazi. Coincidentally, Shang Shan, who changed horses all the way without changing horses, happened to arrive at the Qinghe ferry at this time, and Li Ji and Shang Shan also crossed the Yellow River on the same ferry, and arrived at the Xiba camp where Kang Mazi was located at the same time.

When Shang Shan and Li Ji entered the camp of the Kang Mazi Chinese army at the same time, the Xiba camp of the Qing army was already brightly lit, and the 16,000 Qing troops stationed here were ready to go, ready to go, and they were ready to set off at any time, but what should this army do next, whether to fight to the death with the fat army, or to pick up the remnants of Yue Le's army to cross the river, up to Dan Zhen and Labu and other mite Qing princes, down to ordinary soldiers, all of them knew nothing, and they were all waiting for Kang Mazi's final decision.

Came to Kang Mazi's so-called royal tent together, the first person to be led into the imperial tent was of course Beile Shangshan, and at this moment in the so-called royal tent with eighty-one arms thick huge candles, the mite Qing civil and military officials had already knelt on the ground, all begging Kang Mazi to take back his life, not to cross the river in person to fight a decisive battle with the fat army, Shang Shan did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly stepped forward to kowtow, presented Yue Le's handwritten letter for help, explaining the current critical situation, and asked Kang Mazi to immediately send troops to cross the river and meet Yue Le's team to cross the river.

"Bang!" To Shang Shan's surprise, Kang Mazi not only did not immediately agree to send troops to respond, but instead slapped the pseudo-dragon case, and asked with a blue face: "You have at least more than 60,000 troops, right?" If you refuse to be loyal to me, and if you refuse to work hard for me to kill thieves, why do you still ask me for help? Are you really afraid that my army will be killed by Wu Gou, and you won't be able to kill them all, right? ”

"Master, you have been wronged." Shang Shan also knew that Kang Mazi was a military straw bag, so he quickly kowtowed and explained: "The master doesn't know, when the army crosses the river, it can't be answered before and after, and the soldiers are demoralized when they cross the river first, and they are most likely to be attacked by the enemy and collapse." At present, the main force of Wu Gou is biting the tail of our army, and its purpose is very obvious, that is, it is determined to take advantage of the panic when our army crosses the river to launch a general attack, if there is no new force to cover the retreat, then our Qing army will be severely damaged by Wu Gou. ”

"And what about the army I sent to meet you?" Kang Mazi's face was even more iron-blue, and he yelled frantically: "Are you planning to do so? Trick the loyal team into crossing the Yellow River and send them to death? Then you will start in the Xiba camp, capture me alive and dedicate it to Wu Sangui's old thief, and to Lu Yifeng's dog thief, in exchange for your glory and wealth after the change of dynasty? ”

"Minions don't dare!" Shang Shan was so frightened that he quickly kowtowed and shouted injustice, "Master, you wronged the slave, the slave just ate the bear's heart and leopard's gall, and he didn't dare to have such thoughts!" ”

The mite Qing civil and military officials in the imperial tent all looked at each other, all wondering how Kang Mazi could have such a thought? Only Zhou Peigong secretly screamed, knowing that it must be the ghost of the letter sent by Zhuman last night, but unfortunately Kang Mazi has not shown the content of the letter so far, I don't know what trick Lu Fatzi used to make Kang Mazi have such an idea, and he can't persuade Kang Mazi to speak.

"Don't have that in mind?" Kang Mazi shouted again and asked, "Then why did you deliberately let my Western Front fail miserably?" Why did you deliberately annihilate Zhangtai's 90,000 army? Why did you deliberately lose so many soldiers and horses under the city of Yangzhou? Gaojiayan's matter, and the one of you who secretly leaked it to Lu Yifeng's dog thief? ”

Shang Shan spun around for a while, and he couldn't imagine that Kang Mazi would ask these strange questions at this time, asking these questions that Shang Shan couldn't distinguish at all, seeing that the situation was critical, Shang Shan rarely went to entangle with Kang Mazi, just pleaded with a crying voice: "Master, the Western Front and the Northern Front have failed miserably, and the loss of troops will be insulting to the national prestige, and the minions are indeed guilty of escaping, and afterwards the master can cure the minions of a hundred deaths!" But at present, the situation is critical, and most of the ferries at Qingjiang Ferry are concentrated on the north bank of the Yellow River, and the servants do not ask the master to send troops to respond, but only ask the master to send the ferry to the south bank to respond! Save as many troops as you can! ”

"Otherwise, the remaining 60,000 or so Qing troops under the command of Prince An will be all over! Master! Slave please! After that, Shang Shan kowtowed again and again until his forehead was bleeding, and his sincerity was cut to the extreme.

"Master, Lord Baylor is right, the current thing is to rescue the Qing army on the south bank of the Yellow River as soon as possible." Zhou Peigong also kowtowed: "Please make an order immediately, let the ferry boat cross the river to respond, and save as many Qing soldiers as you can when you come back!" If the master is still worried, he can let the army of the Xiba battalion go to the ferry to monitor, and the army crossing the river can be disarmed immediately! ”

"Please make an order immediately to let the ferry boat cross the river to respond." The generals of Mite Qing also kowtowed together, imploring Kang Mazi to agree to Shang Shan's request.

Of course, Kang Mazi didn't want his lackey army to lose everything, and he scolded and asked Shang Shan, but it was just a vent of anger, and he was about to start thinking about whether to send an army to cross the river to meet or only send a ferry to respond, when a voice suddenly remembered outside the imperial tent, and asked loudly with great dissatisfaction: "Hey, Manchu Emperor, have you forgotten me?" I brought a letter from General Lu Yifeng, the general of the Great Zhou Expedition, how long do you want me to wait here? ”

"Lu Yifeng's messenger of the dog thief?" Kang Mazi finally remembered Li Ji's existence, and hurriedly shouted: "Let that Wu dog messenger come in!" ”

"Master, don't do it!" Zhou Peigong jumped up, and screamed with a pale face: "Master, Wu Gou's envoy can only be killed, not seen, the slave dares to vouch for the head of the whole family, Lu Yifeng is a dog thief, this time he must be playing tricks again!" ”

(To be continued)