Today is a sunny day, and the weather in Hubei in March has not completely warmed up, but it has stopped feeling cold.

Outside the tent in the camp of the Marine Corps, four or five miles away from Wuchang City, Huang Degong sat on a chair with Erlang's legs crossed, holding a book in his hand, and was fascinated by it.

Lao Huang didn't read the books of sages, those books Lao Huang was not interested in, he read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", this kind of book is too much for Lao Huang's appetite.

While looking at Lao Huang, he still had words in his mouth, "Why does Liu Bei keep crying?" ”

Huang Degong was in a very good mood during this time, although there were only 8,000 marines, but these 8,000 people trapped Tong Dai's nearly 50,000 Qing soldiers in Wuchang City, and they didn't dare to leave a single step.

It's been more than 20 days, and Tong Dai, who was in a hurry, once sent tens of thousands of people to try to break through the defense line of the marines, but it was easy to get out and difficult to go back, tens of thousands of people went out of the city, but only ran back more than 1,000 people, and these more than 1,000 people still entered the city through another city gate in a big circle.

The Qing soldiers around Wuchang have long been emptied, the second and fifth divisions have bypassed Wuchang and marched to the area of Xianyang (now Xiantao, Hubei), Wuchang City has now become a completely isolated city, Huang Degong is not in a hurry to attack the city, since receiving the news that the Nanjing government has given Li Chengdong's second army great support, Huang Degong has become more and more calm, and he lives a very leisurely life, of course, Yan Yingyuan is there, he doesn't need to worry.

Yan Yingyuan walked out of the tent, and saw that Huang Degong was reading and reading energetically, and he was a little amused in his heart, he knew that Huang Degong didn't know a single big word at the beginning, and it was only a few years, and he was forced to study constantly by the "talents" around him. Now I can read a thick book in my hand.

"Liheng. Come on, come on. I found a big problem. Huang Degong saw Yan Yingyuan and beckoned to him.

"Oh? Minister Huang, what problems have you found? Yan Yingyuan asked curiously.

"These three kingdoms are more than a thousand years away from now, right?" Huang Degong asked.

"Yes, more than a thousand years? Is there anything wrong with this? Yan Yingyuan was even more strange.

"This thousand years ago, people fought with knives and guns, and we also carried knives and guns a few years ago, Liheng, why did you say that when Xinghua and them came, all the ways of fighting wars changed?" Huang Degong asked.

"This..."Yan Yingyuan was asked suddenly. didn't react for a long time, he really didn't expect Huang Degong to ask such a question.

"Don't know, right? I tell you, Xinghua They came from heaven, and heaven is like this. Huang Degong said with some smugness.

"Minister Huang, the Metropolitan Governor has said many times that they didn't come from heaven." Yan Yingyuan couldn't laugh or cry.

"Haha, Liheng, you are serious, teasing you. You said that Tong Dai has been surrounded for so long, is his food and grass still enough? You come to analyze the analysis. Will this old boy Hong Chengchou be transferred back? Huang Degong laughed, closed the smile, and then asked seriously.

"Didn't we receive the information about Hong Chengchou's retreat? I think it was the Second Army that dragged them down. Tong Dai: I guess they won't last long. After all, we are marching fast, and I don't think he has that much time to prepare food and grass. Yan Yingyuan thought for a while before saying.

"Well, I'm thinking, shouldn't we do something to Wuchang City? After being trapped for so long, I'm afraid their military morale is no longer good, right? Huang Degong finally couldn't hold his breath and wanted to solve Wuchang as soon as possible.

"Minister Huang, isn't the replenishment of ammunition for the fleet coming soon? When the fleet's artillery shells are sufficient, let's start the attack, and I'll plan it well, Minister Huang, do you think it's okay? "It's not that Yan Yingyuan doesn't want to solve Wuchang City as soon as possible, although the marines trapped the Qing soldiers in Wuchang, they also trapped themselves.

"Okay, Liheng, then it's hard for you." Huang Degong nodded.

At this time, Hong Chengchou was indeed dragged by Li Chengdong's second army, as Yan Yingyuan guessed.

Just a year later, Hong Chengchou concentrated 110,000 horses and claimed to be 200,000 to start an offensive against Yongzhou, Hunan.

Although Li Chengdong's second army has an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers compared with Hong Chengchou's Qing soldiers, Li Chengdong does not blindly take a defensive position, as long as he has the opportunity, he will take the initiative to attack, although there are not many Qing soldiers eliminated every time, but this kind of small knife cutting meat also makes Hong Chengchou extremely uncomfortable.

This time, the Qing soldiers basically concentrated the Qing soldiers in Hunan and began to press the border, Li Chengdong finally felt the pressure, he knew that Hong Chengchou was here this time.

Li Chengdong completely shrunk the second army near Yongzhou, and the troops took a defensive posture.

If it was the Qing soldiers in the past, Li Chengdong would definitely not care, his second army had more than 50,000 people, if they were all Qing soldiers with big swords and spears like before, it would really be 200,000, and he would dare to pull the second army out to fight with them in the field, but the Qing soldiers who came this time were a little different from before.

Because the guys in the hands of the Qing soldiers this time are not much different from the second army, they all use Yangzhou rifles. The rifle that the second army captured from the Qing soldiers is no different from the Yangzhou one, and the range is about the same.

Fortunately, it still has a considerable advantage in artillery, and the Second Army now has more than 100 artillery pieces, and fortunately, Liu Zhaoji left all the artillery of the First Army to him when the First Army withdrew, otherwise, Li Chengdong may not be able to survive this time.

Li Chengdong had his own small calculations for this time to Nanjing, and he was a little bitter by the Qing soldiers with superior forces for more than two months, which made Li Chengdong extremely unwilling, he knew that Nanjing could already produce Yangzhou Type II rifles in large quantities, and this time he just wanted to get these new equipment.

Li Chengdong felt uncomfortable, but in fact, Hong Chengchou's life was not easy.

Since the end of the year before the attack on Liangguang was beaten back, Hong Chengchou has been carefully managing the two lakes, more than a year to finally straighten out the top and bottom, the heavenly prince is also beautiful, these two years are smooth, as the world's granary of the two lakes of grain output is also a competition, not only to supply the two lakes of hundreds of thousands of Qing soldiers, but also to draw a lot of supplies to the imperial court.

This made Hong Chengchou gain more full trust from Dolgon. Put all the military and political power of the two lakes into his hands. For a time, Hong Chengchou was powerful in the two lakes. Even the people of the two lakes did not dare to say anything to him.

But Hong Chengchou was never happy, he was one of the few clear-headed people in the Manchu court, Hong Chengchou knew that the Manchu court was in danger from the moment the Yangzhou army began to go out of the mountain.

However, Hong Chengchou felt that he was deeply favored by the Manchu court, especially the grace of Dolgon, and now the court sent himself to the rich land of Lianghu, and he had the responsibility to run it for the court.

Hong Chengchou thinks so and does so. It should be said that Hong Chengchou did not blindly loot the people, but some intriguing people are that the people of the two lakes were not starved to death after supplying so much food to the Manchu court.

Hong Chengchou knew that this was because the Nanjing government did not block the two lakes with high-yielding crops such as sweet potatoes, corn and potatoes, and it was precisely because of these high-yield crops that Hong Chengchou was able to provide so much food to the imperial court.

After being bought by the imperial court the year before last, the Manchu court finally figured out the key to the Yangzhou rifle, and Hong Chengchou felt that the Manchu court finally had some hope, and the hopeful Hong Chengchou began to build two gunpowder factories in Wuchang, Hubei and Hengyang, Hunan. And managed to get a few steam engines, which greatly accelerated the manufacturing process of rifles.

Despite the presence of some rifles. But Hong Chengchou did not act rashly, he was worried that the national defense army would concentrate all its efforts to attack Lianghu, so he would give up his previous efforts, so he endured until the first army withdrew from Hunan, and most of the Qing soldiers in Lianghu also changed their guns, so he launched an attack on the second army.

When he really fought with the Second Army, Hong Chengchou realized that it was really not possible to defeat Li Chengdong's Second Army by relying only on rifles, not to mention eating the Second Army, even if he wanted to break through the Second Army's fortifications outside Yongzhou City.

The key is that the Second Army has more than 100 artillery pieces in its hands, and it is these artillery pieces that make Hong Chengchou in a dilemma.

Hong Chengchou knew that if he did not defeat the Second Army, he would be completely forced to stay in Hengyang and be unable to move, so just after the New Year, he made up his mind to concentrate the Qing troops in the entire Hunan and prepare to fight to the death with the Second Army.

However, even if more than 100,000 people were concentrated, they still began a stalemate with the second army that had contracted its defense, which Hong Chengchou did not expect.

Just when Hong Chengchou was in a dilemma, he received a messenger sent by Tong Dai from Wuchang to tell him about the urgency, he knew that the Wehrmacht would not let him attack the Second Army without any burden, but he didn't expect the Wehrmacht to move so quickly, and it directly smashed into the hinterland of Hubei.

It was only after Hong Chengchou heard that nearly 10,000 of the Wehrmacht attacking Hubei were equipped with newer rifles and artillery, and his hopes that had been ignited for a short time were once again dashed.

Hong Chengchou knew that he was at the top of the list of traitors in the Nanjing government, just like Wu Sangui, and he also heard that Wu Sangui had surrendered to the National Defense Army, and the Nanjing government agreed that he would go to North America to follow the princess of the previous dynasty to re-establish the Ming Dynasty.

Hong Chengchou was also quite moved after hearing the news, but his gratitude to the Manchu court finally prevailed, and when the Nanjing government sent someone to persuade him to surrender, he categorically refused.

However, since this year, the Wehrmacht has intensified its offensive against the Manchus, and Hong Chengchou has also seen that the Nanjing government will definitely not fight against the Manchu court, but has made the greatest determination to drive the Manchus out of China, and Hong Chengchou also knows that it is only a matter of time before the Nanjing government does this.

Whether to accompany the Manchu court to perish or find another way, Hong Chengchou hesitated.

After being captured by the Manchus in Songshan, Hong Chengchou hated himself, why did he not commit suicide before being captured to repay Emperor Chongzhen's kindness to himself, after being captured, the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty was very generous to himself, in order to feel his kindness, he was determined to serve the Qing court.

However, in the end of the Emperor Taiji Dynasty, he was still on guard against himself, and did not have the intention of activating, and when the city of Beijing was broken by Li Zicheng, Emperor Chongzhen died, and the regent Dolgon took charge of the government, he ushered in the "second spring of life".

Thinking of this, Hong Chengchou had some resentment, when the Chongzhen Dynasty was quite powerful, the Ming Dynasty had reached the last moment, although he wanted to turn the tide and save the building from the collapse, but he was powerless.

I thought that at the beginning of the founding of the Qing Dynasty, everything was enterprising, and there was the trust of the regent, and finally there was an opportunity for me to play what I had learned in my life, but I knew that a few "angels" fell from the sky, even if I and Fan Wencheng and others gave advice to the Qing Dynasty, but it seems that everything in the world is in the hands of those people, and all my efforts will not play any role now.

"I can't surrender to the Nanjing government anymore, I already have a stain in this life that can't be washed away, and I'm afraid I won't even be able to pass this pass when I become a second minister again." Hong Chengchou thought to himself.

Looking at the map hanging on the wall and estimating the distance from Wuchang, Hong Chengchou found an excuse for himself in his heart, "The distance is too far, and there are national defense forces chasing and intercepting it, it's not that the minister is unwilling to rescue Wuchang, the minister really can't!" ”

In fact, Hong Chengchou already had an idea in his heart at this time, but if this idea wants to become a reality, I am afraid he has to take his time. (To be continued.) )