Prince Azig led the army to break through the camp of the Shun army, captured Liu Zongmin, the general of the Shun army, and tens of thousands of family members of the Shun army, ordered them to be beheaded, and then waved the army straight down to Jiujiang. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

At this time, Azig had already received the news that Duoduo was blocked in Yangzhou, and he could no longer cross the river to pursue and kill the remnants of Li Zicheng, so he led the army to approach Jiujiang and attack Zuomengeng's troops entrenched in Jiujiang.

Since being defeated by the Daishan army in Tongling and the general soldier Li Guoying was defeated and killed, Zuo Mengeng also sent troops to attack Wuhu several times, but was repeatedly defeated by Huang Degong. The Shun army and the Qing army followed behind, and the road ahead was blocked by Huang Degong, and more than 200,000 troops were in a dilemma in Jiujiang.

Azig commanded more than 60,000 Manchu and Han Eight Banner troops down the river, and Zuo Mengeng did not dare to resist at all and led the army to surrender. has more than 200,000 troops, but no matter whether it is against the Shun army that forced the first emperor to death, or against the Manchu Qing who invaded China, he only knows how to dodge and never dares to take the initiative to face the battle. "Have the courage to abuse the people and be afraid of the big war", this is the best evaluation of Zuo Liangyujun.

After forcing Zuo Mengeng's army of more than 200,000 troops, Azig led an army of more than 300,000 troops to Nanjing by land and water, and successively occupied Tongling, Anqing and other cities along the river, and the troops approached Wuhu, the base of Huang Degong.

Wuhu is already the last barrier west of Nanjing, and if Wuhu is captured, the west of Nanjing will be barrier-free. After receiving the news that hundreds of thousands of left troops surrendered and the Qing army on the west road approached Wuhu, the Nanjing court was in a panic, and Emperor Hongguang issued an order to make Huang Degong as the Duke of Jingguo, and ordered him to hold the Wuhu defense line. Then he issued more than ten holy decrees, named Ren Siqi as the Marquis of Su, ordered Shi Kefa, who guarded Yangzhou, to return to Nan*jing, and named Zheng Cai, Huang Fei, Fang Guoan, Du Hongyu, Bu Congshan, etc.

On 8 May, the Azig army arrived in Wuhu and fought Huang Degong. Azig first sent Zuo Mengeng to write a letter to Huang Degong, and appeared to lure Huang Degong to surrender, Huang Degong was furious and killed Zuo Menggeng's envoy, swearing not to surrender.

Under the supervision of the Eight Banners, the generals of the Left Army, Lu Guangzu, Zhang Yingxiang, Xu Ensheng, Hao Xiaozhong, Jin Shenghuan, Chang Deng, Xu Yong, Wu Xueli, Zhang Yingyuan, and Xu Yuxian, each led their own troops to launch a frantic attack on Huang Degong's army.

The Eight Banners and the Left Army surrendered more than 300,000 troops to Wuhu, and the soldiers of Huang Degong's army panicked and feared, and the army was unstable, and the subordinate commanders Tian Xiong and Ma Degong decided to surrender. Taking advantage of the fierce battle between the army and the Qing army, the rebels suddenly had a cold arrow and shot Huang Degong in the throat.

After Huang Degong's death, his subordinates scattered or surrendered. Azig ordered Gushan Ezhen Tan Tai to lead 3,000 cavalry as the vanguard and go to Nan*jing to kill.

On 9 May, the news of the loss of Wuhu and the martyrdom of Yasukuni Gonghuang reached Nanjing, and the Hongguang Imperial Court immediately fell into a panic. Wuhu is the west gate of the Yangtze River, Wuhu has fallen, and the Qing soldiers will arrive at the city of Nanjing in the near future.

In a panic, Emperor Hongguang only consulted with the first assistant Ma Shiying and a few eunuchs, and even did not inform other ministers of the imperial court, let alone make any arrangements, and fled Nanjing in the early morning of the 10th.

Emperor Hongguang originally planned to flee to Hangzhou by land for refuge, who knew that when passing through Lishui County, he was robbed by local soldiers, and Hongguang and Ma Shiying were separated in panic, and fled to the northeast under the escort of Ma Shiying's son Ma Luan, and got on Zheng Hongkui's warship in Zhenjiang, and rushed down the river to Hangzhou by water.

After the separation, the first assistant Ma Shiying led the accompanying Guizhou soldiers to escort Hongguang's mother, the Empress Dowager Zou, and continued to rush to Hangzhou by land.

In addition, after Hongguang absconded privately, the entire Nan*jing was immediately in turmoil, and under the panic of the people, there were people who poured into prison, and the young man who claimed to be the prince of Chongzhen in the "prince case" some time ago was invited out to ascend to the throne of Wuying Palace, and was suppressed by Zhao Zhilong, the uncle of Xincheng.

At this time, Nan*jing, because the emperor and the first assistant fled, the gentry and the people were in a panic, and the nobles led by Zhao Zhilong, the Bo of Xincheng, decided to surrender in order to keep their wealth and status, and sent people to the west to contact the Qing soldiers.

On the afternoon of 14 May, dozens of cavalry of the vanguard of the Qing army took the lead in arriving outside the Shicheng Gate of the West Gate of Nan*Jing, and Zhao Zhilong, the Bo of Xincheng, and Zhu Guobi, the Duke of Baoguo, took the surrender table from the city wall and went to the Qing camp to negotiate surrender.

On 15 May, Azig led the main force of the Qing army to arrive outside the city of Nanjing, and more than 30 high-ranking officials and dignitaries, including Zhao Zhilong and Zhu Guobi, together with Xu Jiujue, Duke of Wei, Zhang Gongri, Marquis of Longping, Wang Duo, Cai Yichen, Qian Qianyi, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and Zhang Zhan, the imperial historian of Zuodu, opened the city gate and went out to the suburbs.

Since Nan*Jing took the initiative to surrender, Azig stopped killing on a large scale, so he sent troops into the city to search, and ordered all Ming troops in the city to go out of the city and disarm. On the 17th, Azig led his troops into the city, that is, he expelled all the Han people from the eastern and northern districts of Nanjing, and left their houses for the Qing soldiers to live in, and countless people were driven out of their homes, crying and displaced.

On May 18, the news of the breach of Nan*jing reached Yangzhou, and the city was in an uproar!

Huaiyang Governor Wei Yinwen and others wept and knelt facing south, grabbing the ground with their heads one after another.

"What should happen will happen after all, and it will not change because of my arrival!" Ren Siqi muttered to himself, saying words that no one could understand.

"Your Majesty, it's the incompetence of the ministers, I'm sorry for you!" Shi Kefa, who woke up, knelt on the bed and cried bitterly.

Since Nan*Beijing has fallen, there is no point in defending Yangzhou again, because it will inevitably be attacked by the Qing troops from the north and south, and the withdrawal from Yangzhou is once again on the agenda.

However, there are 60,000 or 70,000 soldiers in Yangzhou City, and more than 800,000 people, so it is not easy to retreat safely.

According to the ideas of Wei Yinwen and other civilian officials, they should quickly lead the army down the canal to the Yangtze River, and flee to Hangzhou with Zheng Hongkui's army, where they will continue to resist the Manchu army, and as for the people in Yangzhou, they can't care so much.

What is rare is that Stilwell, Hu Shangyou and other military generals also agree with the views of the civil officials, in their opinion, these people are all burdens.

However, Ren Siqi was determined to take all the people to transfer, Yangzhou resisted the Duoduo Qing army for a month, this month, as many as tens of thousands of Qing troops died under the city of Yangzhou, if the people were left behind, then waiting for the 800,000 people was only ruthless slaughter.

Ren Siqi's stubbornness caused many people to be dissatisfied, and even Li Yanzhi persuaded Ren Siqi to give up the people and move forward lightly.

After discussion, Ren Siqi and the civil and military generals reached an agreement, and they would escort the superintendent Shi Kefa south along the canal, while Ren Siqi himself continued to defend the city with the Ningbo army and the newly recruited 60,000 recruits.

Most of the generals outside the Ningbo department in the city chose to leave Yangzhou, while Liu Zhaoji, the commander-in-chief, and Chen Yujie, the artillery commander, chose to stay.

On 19 May, generals Shi Dewei, Ma Yingkui, and Hu Shangyou led more than 7,000 men and horses from their headquarters to escort the seriously injured supervisor Shi Kefa and other civil officials on the warship and headed south along the canal. (To be continued.) )