Pang Yue led the Second Town of the Zuofu Army and the battalions directly under the Central Military Department from Yuezhou, and after arriving at Jiujiang to join the Third and Fourth Towns, he rested for only one night and then continued to advance downstream along the Yangtze River, arriving at the evening of 15 June outside Anqing, the first important town in the west of the former Nanzhili (that is, Jiangnan Province divided by the Manchu Qing Dynasty). Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Pang Yue ordered the army to camp outside the city for a while, and sent a number of sentinels to patrol the periphery to be on guard. After nightfall, the rocketeers of the Agni Battalion began to fire rockets into the city according to the old rules. In the night sky, the trails of light left by the rocket tail flame were dazzling, but in the eyes of the Qing army in the city, they were no different from the life talisman from the hell of Yama.

Before setting out on the expedition, Pang Yue had already learned the approximate distribution of the current Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Qing armies.

Since the Ming Dynasty recovered Jiujiang, Jiangnan Province has been under the direct threat of the Zuofu Army, coupled with the status of Jiangnan Province's money bag, so the current Qing army's strength here is stronger than that of other provinces. There are mainly eight towns such as Suzhou, Zhenjiang, Anqing, etc., the standard battalion of the governor of Jiangnan, the governor of Jiangnan, the governor of Jiangnan, the governor of Jiangsu, and other local governors, the standard battalion of the five provinces through the Hongchengchou, several battalions of sailors, and 7,000 and eight banner soldiers stationed in Nanjing, totaling more than 60,000 people. The troops in northern Zhejiang mainly include the green battalions of the three towns of Ningbo, Shaoxing, and Huzhou, the standard battalions of local governors such as the governor of Zhejiang, and the 3,000 and eight banner soldiers stationed in Hangzhou, totaling more than 20,000 people. At present, the Qing army in the above places is under the unified command of the general Dingnan and Prince Jingjin Nikan, who is sitting in Nanjing.

This time, the Zuofu Army will mainly face the Qing army in the south of the Yangtze River, while the Right Army will mainly face the Qing army in northern Zhejiang. Judging from the comparison of forces at this stage, the left army and the right army have an absolute advantage. However, the momentum of the Ming Dynasty's eastward expedition was huge, and it was impossible to conceal it seamlessly, and the Qing court, which had already heard the wind and grass, sent a reinforcement army to Jiangnan. According to reliable information, Pang Yue learned that the Qing army's support troops were on the way, with a total of 40,000 or 50,000 people, of which more than half were the Eight Banner soldiers, and they were commanded by Prince Zheng Zierharang. This was probably one of the few mobile forces that the Qing court could mobilize.

Although Pang Yue no longer has any Qing army in his eyes, if the support army led by Zilharang and the Qing army in Jiangnan are allowed to complete the division, I am afraid that the war will fall into a stalemate for a while, which will make it more difficult to recover Nanjing. Therefore, at the moment, time is of the most important importance for the left and right armies on the march. If you can reach the city of Nanjing in front of Zilharang, whether it is to attack Nanjing City or use encirclement points to send reinforcements, you will firmly grasp the initiative on the battlefield, and if you let Jilharang enter Nanjing in advance, you will undoubtedly lose the opportunity and add a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Therefore, considering various factors, the current Anqing must not only win, but also win it as quickly as possible.

Pang Yue also learned that the Qing army currently stationed in Anqing consists of the green battalion of the three towns of Anqing, Guangde, and Dongshan, a green battalion and a water division of the green battalion, as well as several hundred and eight banner soldiers, about 12,300 people. Many of the green battalion soldiers have only been trained into an army in the past two or three years, such as Anqing Town, which was completely wiped out on the battlefield in Jiangxi a few years ago, and the current one was rebuilt later, and I have not seen much real battle at all. Of course, such a small number of troops is not a concern, but Anqing has a dangerous terrain, which has always been easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is holding the waterway of the Yangtze River, and it is difficult for the army to bypass. If you attack it, you will still have to delay a lot of work.

"Dashuai, I don't think it's as good as this." At the military meeting that night, Shi Youliang, who had been listening to the Central Military Department, had a rare idea, "Tomorrow, our army will leave a part of the soldiers and horses outside the city of Anqing, keep an eye on the Tartars in the city, and the main force of the army will continue to move east from the dry road." It also saves a lot of time here. ”

Although Pang Yue didn't want to attack Shi Youliang's enthusiasm, he also vetoed this proposal: "No, Anqing is the key to the Yangtze River waterway, if you don't take Anqing, how can the waterway be smooth?" The waterways are not smooth, so how can the grain and grass of our army's nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses be guaranteed in time by land alone? Moreover, in addition to recovering Nanjing, it is more important for our army to completely beat the Tartars in this eastward crusade! Knock out all their remaining confidence and lay the foundation for the Northern Expedition in the future! Now, with the absolute superiority of troops, if Anqing, which is guarded by more than 10,000 green battalions and two Tartars, chooses to bypass, wouldn't it be the ambition of the long Tartars to destroy our own prestige? Zhou Ming, Zhou Ming, if you don't have an idea, why is it not your usual style at all when you pay attention? ”

All the generals present laughed.

Shi Youliang didn't take it seriously, and laughed along.

"In any case, tomorrow our army will attack the city as originally planned." Pang Yue said, "Even if this Anqing tartar is a copper pea, we have to smash this copper pea, step on its slag and continue to move forward." I have roughly calculated the time, and as long as I don't delay too long, I should still be able to reach the city of Nanjing in front of Zilharang. Take 10,000 steps back and say, even if Zilharang arrives in Nanjing first and joins forces with the Tartars in Jiangnan, it will be nothing. Back then, we annihilated Tan Tai's 50,000 army in Jiangxi with a force that was not superior, and now we have 100,000 soldiers, but we are still afraid of a mere Jierharang? ”

In this way, the tone for tomorrow was set at the military meeting, and then all the generals also received their respective tasks.

But no one expected that the situation would change again, and it would change somewhat unexpectedly.

In the second half of the night, there was a sudden noise in the city of Anqing, followed by shouts of killing, and in the city, you can clearly see the fire and smoke rising in many places in the city.

The various units of the Zuofu Army outside the city quickly prepared for battle and waited to see what happened in the city.

At dawn, the city erected a white flag, and then a group of men and horses with a white flag out of the city towards the camp of the Zuofu army, for fear of causing misunderstanding, the brigade stopped far away, and only sent two horsemen to come to contact first.

At this time, Pang Yue understood what was going on. It turned out that in the second half of the night, the general soldiers of the green battalion of the three towns in the city suddenly attacked hundreds of eight banner soldiers in the city after secret contact, and took the initiative to surrender the city after succeeding. It's a pity that the sailor ran away.

Hearing this news, Pang Yue was incredulous for a while, until the three green battalion commanders who had cut off their braids knelt in front of him.

"The criminal general Zhang Yangyuan, the chief soldier of Anqing, will see Pang Shuai!"

"The criminal general Xu Yifeng, the chief soldier of Chizhou, will see Xu Shuai!"

"The guilty general Tang Fengshan, the chief soldier of Dongshan, will see Xu Shuai!"

Zhang Yangyuan, the chief soldier of Anqing, estimated that he was the leader among the three, and after kowtowing, he immediately said: "Although the criminal general is in the enemy camp, he always remembers that he is a Han man, and he always thinks about when he can find an opportunity." Today, I finally look forward to the arrival of the king, and when I get this good opportunity to change my mind, I can finally stop being a dog for the Tartar in the future, and I don't have to take this shameful money rat tail to see the ancestors and ancestors after death, and I have no regrets in this life! ”

After speaking, he was afraid that Pang Yue would not believe it, and said that he could let all the people in the city lay down their weapons and go out of the city to wait for the fate.

Pang Yue didn't speak, quietly waiting for his next step.

Soon after, all the green battalion soldiers in the city lined up out of the city and laid down their weapons in front of the Ming army outside the city. There were nearly 10,000 people, and in addition to the mountains of banners, swords, guns, guns, artillery, etc., there were also hundreds of bloody human heads, which should have come from the Eight Banners in the city.

Pang Yue looked at the somewhat shocking scene in front of him, and then looked at the three green battalion commanders who were kneeling in front of him full of anticipation and apprehension, and asked meaningfully: "I have killed a lot of captured Tartars before, aren't you afraid?" If I kill you too, wouldn't it be a bamboo basket to draw water after you went to great lengths to sacrifice the city to descend? ”

"Pang Shuai's prestige, the crime and the generals are naturally clear." Zhang Yangyuan smiled flatteringly, "But the criminal generals also know that Pang Shuai is by no means a person who does not distinguish between right and wrong, and does not know what is wrong, although he is never soft on the Tartars and traitors who resist to the end, he has never been embarrassed to be a person who takes the initiative to do it." From Wang Guangtai and Zheng Siwei to Jin Shenghuan, Wang Deren, Jiang Huang, etc., all of them are like this. Fang Cai Pang Shuai also said that those who killed were all captured people, and the generals and others who had never fought against the army under Pang Shuai's command should not be among them. ”

Pang Yue didn't speak, walked to the pile of bloody heads and examined them carefully, and Zhang Yangyuan and the others followed anxiously.

Among the large number of heads, there are many faces that are barbaric and cruel, and at first glance they are not Han people, they should be real Tartars.

"There are a lot of real tartars." Pang Yue said, "Hundreds of Tartars used to be able to take care of tens of thousands or even tens of thousands of green camp uniforms, how did you have such courage to dare to do something to them this time?" ”

"The 100,000 tigers under the command of Pang Shuai outside the city and the hundreds of Tartars in the city, even a three-year-old child knows which is more serious, how can the sin be put before the horse, and give up the easy way to find the difficulty?"

"Hahaha......" Pang Yue finally couldn't help laughing.

Seeing Pang Yue laughing, Zhang Yangyuan knew that things had taken a turn for the better, and hurriedly said: "In order to clear away the previous sins, the sin will be willing to be the precursor of the king." If you encounter the green camp, you can fight with the sin generals without the king's action. It's just that when I met the Tartars, I had to rely on the king as the backing. ”

"Yes, you're doing the right thing. When the war is over, I will definitely present the court and reward you for your meritorious deeds. Pang Yue said, "Next, according to what you said, you will be the vanguard of the army." Don't worry, if you encounter a Tartar, the army will definitely be reinforced in time. As for grain and grass, it will also be allocated according to the same standard. ”

"Thank you, Dashuai!" Zhang Yangyuan and the others were relieved and hurriedly thanked him.

"Go down first, restrain your men, and march with the army in the afternoon."

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

......

Looking at the backs of Zhang Yangyuan and others, Pang Yue couldn't help but sigh. This may seem unexpected, but it makes sense when you think about it. When Jiannu took advantage of the weakness of the Ming Dynasty to write his so-called "invincible" myth with the blood of countless Han people, and now the Zuofu army can naturally achieve its prestige after ten years of gathering and countless victories. This prestige can cause more fear to the Green Camp than they fear of their old master, and make them even more afraid of defending the city than they are afraid of turning around and beating their old master......

The next journey is really more and more worth looking forward to.