PS: (Thanks to the "Flying Yang Chubby" book friend for the tip!) ）

At noon on March 16, Xiangyin County

With a fierce sound of cymbals, the siege troops concentrated in the direction of the east and south gates retreated like a tide and retreated to the camp in the east of the city. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info only saw the fiery red flags in the camp, which was undoubtedly the Ming army. On a high platform on the west side of the camp, a large flag with the character "Yuan" was erected high, which was particularly eye-catching in the continuous sea of flags.

On the high platform, Yuan Zongdi, the former Marquis of the Dashun Army, the general of the right battalion, and one of the main generals of the loyal battalion of the current Ming Army, looked at the retreating army in front of him and the county town of Hengshan in the distance. When he heard the Qing army at the head of the city let out a cheer full of joy like a desperate situation, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but shake out a sneer full of mockery, and he sighed in his heart: These Tartars also have today!

Yuan Zongdi had led his army to Xiangyin City seven days earlier, but he did not immediately attack the city, and on the day of his arrival, he only destroyed the wharf west of the city and burned all the ships, and so far only launched only five large-scale attacks. He only symbolically intercepted the messengers sent by the Qing army in the city to the south to ask for help, and finally let them "break through the siege" and go south. The reason why this was done was because Yuan Zongdi knew that the ultimate goal of this attack on Xiangyin County was not to take the city, but to attract Duoduo's main force to come back for reinforcements. On the other hand, he also has similar thoughts to Gao Yigong, and he doesn't want to fight his family troops so that he will have no place to stand at that time.

In the previous offensive operations, including this one, although Yuan Zongdi did not invest all his troops, the progress was still quite smooth.

The walls of Xiangyin City are only more than two zhang high, and it is not very difficult to attack. The fact that there were less than 4,000 Qing troops in the city, and that there were no reinforcements to send around, already made them panic. And the equipment to defend the city is also relatively scarce, not to mention artillery, even the rolling wood and stone are not very sufficient, the Ming army outside the city only attacked three times, and the Qing soldiers in the city began to demolish the house and take the beams as rolling wood. Yuan Zongdi didn't know why the Qing army was so poorly guarded against such an important grain and grass transfer point, probably because they had not been actively attacked by the Ming army for a long time, right? In any case, in such a situation, the resistance that the city could play against the Ming army was naturally greatly reduced.

And Yuan Zongdi, as a general who had both offense and defense in the camp that year, whether it was field or siege, was his strength, and the more than 12,000 horses he brought to Xiangyin City could also be regarded as the essence of his command. Although it was also a little difficult to fight the Manchurian Eight Banner soldiers, it was still no problem to deal with the panicked less than 4,000 Green Battalion and a small number of Eight Banner soldiers. Therefore, in each attack, Yuan's Ming army only took a short time to attack the head of the city and engage the Qing army defending the city in close combat. However, Yuan Zongdi did not plan to capture the city too soon, and there was no news from the south at the moment. If Xiangyin is captured too early, it will not be a good thing to lead Duoduo to break the cauldron and fight to the death. Anyway, for Yuan Zongdi. If you do your best. It will only take half a day to capture this small city, and it will not be in this time and a half.

"Master Hou, it's a pity!" At this time, Zhang Neng, the general under Yuan Zongdi, came over and said regretfully, "If you fight for another half an hour this time, no." It may not even take half an hour, and the east gate can be completely taken by our army. There was only so much in the middle of the city, and there were only so many Tartars, after our army had entered from the east gate. It won't be long before this Xiangyin City can be completely captured. I heard that there is a lot of grain and grass in the city, which is what we lack the most! ”

Yuan Zongdi smiled: "Don't worry, the grain and grass in it will be ours sooner or later!" The tartars in the city have become frightened birds, and it is not easy to shoot them down? The point is that we have to step on this wolf cub, and we can't trample it to death, so that the old wolf of Duoduo will come to the rescue! ”

Hearing this, Zhang Neng and the rest of the generals couldn't help laughing.

Subsequently, Yuan Zongdi and several generals around him continued to discuss a few words, and a personal soldier came to report: "General Qiyu, the messenger sent by Dufutai has arrived." ”

"Bring him here!"

After a while, the messenger came and saluted, handing over a letter sealed in fiery paint.

Yuan Zongdi took it and opened it, only to see that the letter was jointly issued by the supervisor Zhu Dadian and the governor of Huguang, Du Yinxi, and the seal letter on it was not wrong at all.

It turned out that when Zhu Dadian sent a messenger to convey the order, considering that Du Yinxi had a higher prestige among the soldiers of the loyal battalion, he asked him to jointly issue an order with himself to strengthen the implementation of the order. For the sake of the overall situation, Plug Yinxi naturally agreed.

In the letter, Zhu Dadian told Yuan Zongdi that Duoduo had returned north with his main force, and he himself led an army of 60,000 to the north, and would probably arrive at Changsha on the afternoon of the 16th, that is, this afternoon. Yuan Zongdi's task of besieging Xiangyin City has been completed, and it is necessary to leave in time before Duoduo returns to the division, so as not to fall into the encirclement of the Qing army.

After reading the letter, Yuan Zongdi smiled again, and after receiving the letter, he instructed left and right: "After the army has lunch, continue to attack." This time, we must do our best to take Xiangyin City before it gets dark! ”

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On the afternoon of March 16, more than 40,000 people of the Qing army led by Duoduo finally arrived at the city of Changsha.

Seeing the appearance of Duoduo's royal banner, the Qing troops left behind under Changsha City broke out into bursts of cheers, and some Qing soldiers even burst into tears with excitement, the master finally returned! The Ming army can no longer be as majestic as before!

At the beginning of the month, after Duoduo led the main force to leave, within two days, more than 50,000 loyal battalion troops arrived outside Changsha City under the supervision of Du Yinxi, except for more than 30,000 people who continued to go south, the remaining more than 20,000 people stayed outside the city to confront the Qing army left behind.

The Qing army that stayed outside Changsha included the green battalions of various departments and the men and horses of Sheng Zhixiang of Xushun Gongfa, with a total of more than 20,000 people. If it had been in the past, they would not have taken those 20,000 loyal battalions of soldiers and horses into account, and would even take the initiative to attack. However, after the battle of Wanshou Bridge, all green battalions and Sheng Zhixiang's troops suffered unprecedented losses, and a large number of brave and daring combat backbones died in the incomparably bloody and tragic days of fighting, and the vitality of the army was greatly damaged, and it has basically lost its offensive ability.

However, the 20,000 loyal battalions under the city came to be recuperated and prepared, under the command of Tian Jianxiu and Liu Tichun. First, it launched a tentative attack on the Qing army, and after finding out the essence of the Qing army, the whole army was quickly pressed. The officers and men of the whole army wanted to avenge the attack by the Qing army during the Battle of Jingzhou last year, and they all moved forward bravely, almost unstoppable.

In the face of the frenzied offensive of the loyal battalion, the green battalion soldiers, who had been half-crippled and had no superiority in strength, were almost powerless to fight back on land, and were defeated and retreated, and could only rely on the naval artillery on the river to delay the attack of the loyal battalion. Seeing that there was an opportunity, Liu Chengyin's troops in the city also went out of the city and attacked the Qing army from behind. At this time, the 20,000 Qing troops left behind could be said to be in trouble, so they had to retreat to the camp in the south of the city to defend. After the Qing army retreated into the camp. Although the Ming army did not continue to carry out large-scale attacks, the small-scale harassment never stopped, and they came to curse almost every day. Considering the actual situation, although Sheng Zhixiang was furious, he could only suppress the anger in his heart and ordered not to fight. The once invincible and "invincible in the world" of the "Qing Dynasty King" actually fell into such a field. It's unpredictable.

However, after suffering so many days of humiliation. The green battalion soldiers of the Qing army who stayed behind finally waited for the arrival of the master and the Manchurian soldiers. There's nothing that excites them more than that. Some green battalion officials immediately rose with vengeful anger in their hearts, and vowed to kill the Ming army with the support of their masters and regain the face they had lost. But the loyal battalion and Liu Chengyin's troops who went out of the city didn't seem to want to give them this opportunity, and hid in the city early.

After arriving at the city of Changsha, Duoduo once again received a report from the direction of Xiangyin, and learned that Xiangyin City was still under the control of his own defenders. My heart was slightly relieved, but then I couldn't help but sigh. In fact, this news does not mean much to him anymore. Regardless of whether Xiangyin is captured or not. The Ming army successfully achieved their goal through this means, forcing their tens of thousands of main forces back to Changsha. It's easy to return north, but if you want to go south immediately, I'm afraid it's even more difficult. At present, the troops and horses of their own troops, especially the Green Battalion, have suffered heavy losses and their morale is not as good as before, but the strength of the Ming army has increased greatly and is more fully prepared than at the beginning. All in all, this time the southern expedition is afraid that it will end in a draw.

Soon, a group of scouts came to report that the 60,000 troops led by Zhu Dadian had arrived ten miles south of Changsha City.

After listening to the scout's recital, Duoduo was expressionless for a long time, and finally made a decision, and said in a deep voice: "The whole army continues to march north, in the direction of Xiangyin County!" ”

Making this decision, Duoduo also felt a little helpless and unwilling. Originally, he was also going to meet the 20,000 remaining soldiers and horses under Changsha City and then compete with the Ming army, but now it seems that there is no need for this. Because he had already noticed that the tens of thousands of troops under his command, in addition to the Manchurian soldiers of the Three Banners, the rest of the Green Battalion, the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, and the men and horses of the King of Sanshun, had lost their initial ambitions, their morale plummeted, and officials at all levels had more or less risen a war-weariness. Perhaps, he can use his authority to force them into battle, but in such a situation, he will not be able to bargain at all by fighting the Ming army. If this is the case, what is the point of fighting?

Duoduo's order was quickly conveyed, and the Eight Banners who had just arrived at Changsha City joined the Green Battalion soldiers who remained behind in the city and continued to set off, bypassing the city and heading north.

In the sky above the black oppressive military formation, the sea of flags of various colors is still unsightly, and the sound of thunderous steps is still causing the ground to tremble for a while, but at this time, the Qing army no longer has the sweeping and unstoppable momentum at the beginning, and the rumbling footsteps are also a little heavier.

When the whole army bypassed Changsha City and stepped on the road to the north, Duoduo turned his head and took one last look at Changsha City, his eyes were very complicated, there were regrets and losses, helplessness and unwillingness, and regret and hatred......

One day, I will come back here and personally make up for this regret and wash away the shame of this time! Duoduo silently finished his oath in his heart, and led his army north without looking back. (To be continued.) )