Historically, Liu Xiu, Liu Bei, Yang Jian, Li Yuan, and Zhao Kuangyin, who were born in clans or nobles, treated the founding fathers with great respect and grace; However, Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang, who were born in commoners, went on a killing spree and killed almost all the heroes. Therefore, He Zhen felt that the emperor from the aristocracy had a bottom line in doing things, and some things just couldn't be done.

"If His Highness has a queen, and is wise and benevolent, he should be more careless." Wang Guangxing blinked and added.

Generally speaking, the emperor with a weak heir is a little more wary of meritorious heroes. Li Yuan's sons, whether Li Jiancheng or Li Shimin, are all masters who can hold on, and they are not afraid of heroes turning their mouths. Li Zhi is not very good, and Li Shimin did Xu Maogong before he died. Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest son Zhu Biao died early, and he was afraid that his grandson would not be able to suppress those old guys who relied on military exploits to fight the world, which may be a reason to kill heroes!

"Jing Guogong is thinking too far!" Dang Shousu rolled his eyes and said, "I'm more interested in His Highness's idea of entering Ganxi and Shaanxi by Jingxiang and Hanzhong. Take Xi'an, sweep Ganshan, and then send troops to Shanxi, and once again come to Beijing, screwing off the ugly head and hanging it on the flagpole! ”

"That's right, what soldiers are available in Ganshan to defeat the Qing army in Zhuxi and Zhushan?" Ta Tianbao was the first to be moved, waved his arms, and said loudly: "Another crusade to defeat the Tartars completely." ”

Li Laiheng, who is more serious, also breathes heavily because he is reminded of the memories of the past, and it is of course his dream to cross Gansu, Shaanxi, and even North China again. As long as he returned to Ganshan, Li Laiheng felt that as long as he raised his arms, he could recruit a large number of brave heroes from the northwest.

"Well, you have to eat the rice bite by bite, and you have to walk step by step." Ma Xiangyun shook his head with a smile, "Old party, you are too anxious. ”

"yes. Let's fight the battle of Jingzhou first, then reinforce King Zheng and them, defeat the Qing army in front of them, and then think about recovering Baitu Pass and entering Ganxi. Li Laiheng woke up from the memories and smiled to himself. said: "Your Highness treats each other with sincerity, and we will do our best." Naturally, the bigger the better, right? ”

"The key is weaponry." Ma Xiangyun flicked his wine glass lightly and said, "If you don't change your clothes, there must be a gap in combat power." Change your outfit, you can see no, this ammunition is the key. It's like grain and grass, if it's broken, it won't work. ”

The crowd fell silent. They all felt that His Royal Highness Min's scheming methods were powerful. If you take the local government, you will control the food and salary of the army; The army changed its outfit, and then choked the lifeblood of ammunition. With such two hands, it is not difficult to control the army.

"Now that you have done it, be faithful!" Li Laiheng was a little emotional, and also said helplessly: "His Royal Highness Min is the British lord, and he can't allow his subordinates to make small calculations. Well, if it's half-hearted. I'm afraid it's self-inflicted! ”

"Wu Sangui surrendered without daring to fight, which shows the strength of His Highness." Wang Guangxing sighed: "Let's go." Just obey the order and be an honest hero! ”

××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

On the river in the south of the city, the Ming warships were densely packed, the masts were like forests, and from time to time there were long cannons roaring angrily, bombarding the south gate of Jingzhou. Five miles. It was already approaching the limit of the range of the long cannons, but there were also occasional shells hitting the walls. The artillery bombardment of the Ming army was more of a deterrent, so that the Qing army did not dare to go out of the city to meet the battle, in order to cover the landing of the infantry, and had already occupied the embankment south of the city.

"When the court is in a hurry. Jingzhou is not a place that can be defended, and troops can be moved to Wuchang to strangle the enemy's downstream passage. ”

"The thieves are very hot, my troops are single, I should go to the court, please go to the aid quickly."

"The enemy occupies the upper reaches, the number of thief ships is increasing day by day, and the situation of joint attack on Jingzhou by land and water has been formed, and the shape is very dangerous."

The king of Shuncheng County, Leer Jin, stroked his forehead, and it was difficult to choose between the construction of his subordinates. The Ming army continued to advance, and the number of people was overwhelming, so he had little confidence in holding Jingzhou. But the plan of the imperial court, he is clear, and the transfer of troops to Wuchang will definitely not be allowed; Please send reinforcements, it will take time, and the Ming army has already pressed from the west and south, and the shape is very critical.

"The banner of the pseudo-clan is gone, isn't the enemy army bluffing?" Baylor Shangshan watched and observed for a long time, and suddenly discovered a problem.

Le Erjin only felt relieved, and hurriedly wanted to confirm it, and asked: "When did the banner of the pseudo-sect disappear?" What about yesterday, yesterday was not there? ”

"Yesterday, yesterday, it seems, I didn't seem to see it." Shang Shan tilted his head and thought about it, not quite sure.

"Nine times out of ten, it is a bluff, and Jingzhou may not be the place where the Ming army will attack on a large scale." Le Erjin comforted himself: "The imperial court has ordered the commander of Yanzhou's escort army, Cha Hantai, to lead the Manchu Han official army, and the governor of Henan, Tong Lingnian, selected 3,000 shotgunners to go to Jingzhou together. As long as reinforcements arrive, Jingzhou can be stabilized. Not only stable, but also able to capture Yun and Xiang, repeating the upper reaches of the Han River. ”

Rushing here from Shandong and Henan, I'm afraid it will take about ten days, right? The generals calculated in their hearts and did not express optimism about Le Erjin's judgment.

Le Erjin was a little dissatisfied in his heart, rolled his eyes, and continued to look at the movement of the Ming army in the distance.

A Qing soldier hurriedly ran up the city wall, knelt on one knee, and reported in a hurried tone: "Lord Wang, there is an urgent report, the thief army has crossed the river from Chenglingji and landed on the shore, there are tens of thousands of people, Chani Belle (Duoduozi) can't resist, and leads his troops to retreat, and Jianli County is lost. ”

"What?" Le Erjin was taken aback, Jianli belongs to Jingzhou Mansion, which is the eastern barrier of Jingzhou, and once it is broken, it means that Jingzhou will be surrounded on three sides.

"Sure enough, it's a bluff, and the sound is blowing everywhere." A Qing general only agreed with Le Erjin's judgment just now at this time, but this is not the right time, and it is suspected of being an afterthought.

"Report-" Another Qing soldier rushed to report, "The thief army has made an abnormality in the section of the embankment from Wancheng to the royal junction in the west of the city, and it seems that they are going to dig the embankment to release water." ”

Le Erjin looked shocked again, and muttered in disbelief: "Can't it, isn't the pseudo-sect family afraid of being infamous through the ages?" ”

"I see." Shang Shan slapped his thigh violently and screamed loudly, startling Le Erjin and turning his head in astonishment.

"Lord Wang, this pseudo-clan is vicious and ruthless, and he wants to flood the city, and he doesn't want to destroy his reputation, so he deliberately left, and let his subordinates do this thing that has been stinking for thousands of years." Shang Shan analyzed firmly: "At that time, he will pretend to punish a few people and distribute some money and food." Not only is it famous, but it also has to be praised by benevolence, righteousness and love for the people. ”

Le Erjin suddenly realized, stomped his foot suddenly, and scolded angrily: "Hypocrisy and hypocrisy, the heart is like a snake and scorpion, and the pseudo-clan is so vicious and ruthless." ”

Scolding to scolding. But panic spread in the hearts of all the people in the city. The breaking of the embankment and the release of water did catch the fatal point of Jingzhou. The people in the city, they don't care, but these tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, aren't they all fish and turtles? Even my own family may not be able to escape the misfortune of the flood.

Not to mention reinforcements. The Ming army wanted to dig the embankment, no, it was to blow up the embankment, but it was only a matter of a day or two. At that time, I am afraid that the reinforcements had just arrived in Wuchang, right?

"Go out of the city to fight and take the embankment back?" Leerjin is not confident enough, it seems to be ordering, and it seems to be asking for advice.

"Lord Wang-" Shang Shan grinned and said with a wry smile: "Jingzhou's three dikes are not less than a hundred miles long, and they must be captured all, I'm afraid there will be insufficient troops, right?" Again. The thieves had ships and artillery, even if they abandoned the embankment. You can also bombard it! ”

Le Erjin also knew that his method would not work, and when he had opposition, he just got off the donkey down the slope, and said angrily: "Since the imperial court has ordered me to guard Jingzhou, even if the situation is critical, I must live and die with this city to fulfill the responsibility of guarding the land." ”

Everyone looked at each other. The heart said: Don't be impassioned there, what kind of character you have, don't you know yet? It's just waiting for us all to open our mouths and share the responsibility for you.

"The prince is loyal, but he can't be stubborn!" Baylor was eager to run. He also had to pretend to be on his face, both analyzing and admonishing, "If our army is lost in Jingzhou, and Wuchang is guarded empty, the thieves will take advantage of the victory to go east, and it will be difficult to control it!" ”

"Baylor has a point!" A Han general read some books and immediately echoed: "The art of war is cloudy: those who are good at fighting in the past are invincible first, and then they can be defeated by the enemy." You can't win against yourself, but you can win against the enemy. Therefore, those who are good at fighting can be invincible, and cannot make the enemy invincible. ”

"The thieves are besieging on three sides, and they are digging embankments to release water, how can our army sit on the ground and die, the prince thinks twice!"

Everyone spoke one after another, all in the same tone, Jingzhou can't be defended, can't be defended, first avoid the catastrophe of flooding the city.

Le Erjin frowned and pondered, and scolded in his heart: I don't know that abandoning Jingzhou is the only strategy, but why can't you guys get to the point!

"Lord Wang, you judged the situation and led the army to move forward, in order to win later, it is really a matter of shape." Shang Shan saw Le Erjin's thoughts, and said angrily: "If the court condemns the crime, the subordinates are willing to bear it together with the prince." ”

"I am the commander of an army, how can I push over others?" Leer Jin shook his head in disguise.

"The prince is thinking about the whole army, preserving his strength, and attacking the enemy later. The last general is willing to share the responsibility with the prince. ”

"The last general is also willing."

"The prince is determined to save the whole army, how can the prince be allowed to bear the responsibility alone, and the last general is also willing."

In a chorus, Le Erjin felt relieved, sighed softly, and said: "Since this is the case, this king will accept your good words and move troops to Wuchang in order to win in the future." ”

……………

If Jingzhou can be taken without a fight, it will naturally be a good result. The Qing army is already unstable, once it retreats, although it does not collapse immediately, but under the interception of the Zhengshuo army, how much combat power can the Qing army that has no intention of fighting have? Manmeng didn't have to think about it, the Han soldiers of the green battalion were afraid that they would abandon their weapons and surrender, or flee in panic.

If the Qing army still insisted on holding Jingzhou, then in a few days, the Kuidong troops after the emergency training would be able to use new weapons; The Zhengshuo army will also completely cut off the eastward escape of the Qing army in Jingzhou and force it into Jingzhou.

If he can fight a war of annihilation quickly, he can't fight a war of annihilation quickly, this is Zhu Yongxing's wishful thinking, and it is also because he still has reservations about the combat power of the various departments in Kuidong. At present, the main force in the west of Jingzhou is a division of the Yanshuo army, and the remaining 20,000 Kuidong troops have just been reequipped with 5,000 musketeers and are still in urgent training, while Zhu Yongxing has reinforced 3,000 Jingshuo troops to Liu Tichun in Zhuxi and Zhushan and Hao Shaoqi's Shuo army.

As long as it withstood the Qing army in Ganxi and continued to occupy Yunyang, Gucheng, and Xiangyang in the upper reaches of the Han River, the Ming army would be able to maintain its strategic advantage on the Jingxiang battlefield. The Qing army could only increase troops from Wuchang in the lower reaches of the Han River to Jingzhou, and there was a danger that the Ming army would cut off this route.

But to Zhu Yongxing's surprise, the Qing army in Jingzhou was so timid that they were scared away faster than he estimated. Moreover, Le Erjin obviously overestimated the will of the Han army to fight, or cherished the lives of the Manchu and Mongolian generals too much, and he arranged the order of retreat according to the traditional arrangement of "the Han soldiers charge ahead, and break off when they retreat". This was a decision that satisfied the Manchu and Mongolian generals, but it was not a decision to carefully analyze the current situation, analyze the form, and analyze the hearts of the people.

Received information about the retreat of the Qing army from Jingzhou. It was already the middle of the night, and Zhu Yongxing was sitting in Mashan, west of Jingzhou, when he heard the news, he hurriedly got up and rushed to the front-line barracks to discuss matters.

"Your Highness, the enemy is probably a trick to lure the enemy?" Obviously, the Qing army did withdraw a little quickly. The first to be skeptical was King Guangxing, the Duke of Jingguo.

"Are you saying that the Qing army did not withdraw completely, but was ready to take advantage of our army's pursuit, and then kill ambushes from the city, and attack back and forth?" Zhu Yongxing was also not sure, and said after thinking: "What about the movement in the city?" ”

"Back to Your Highness, there is no abnormality in the city." Linguo Gong Li Laiheng said: "Most of it is a fake retreat. According to the old practice, if the Qing army wanted to retreat, it must have to loot or burn the baggage. There will be chaos in the city. ”

"Makes sense." Zhu Yongxing bowed his head lightly, "The sky is dark, and you must be cautious when the situation is unclear." Well, send more scouts to inquire about the situation, and then send clippers to the riverside to inform the downstream Zhengshuo army, so that they can pay more attention to the situation on the Han River, and if the Qing army really withdraws love, they will intercept and kill them. ”

"Your Highness." Yangcheng Hou Ma Xiangyun bowed down and asked for his life. "It's better to bring a group of soldiers and horses to the city to test it, if it is a false withdrawal. The city must have been well defended; If they really withdraw, how can the defenders have the heart to fight to the death? ”

"The last general is willing to go with the Marquis of Yangcheng." Yidu Houta Tianbao also stepped forward to echo.

Zhu Yongxing thought for a while, nodded and said, "Then be more careful, hold the position first, and then test it." ”

"Please rest assured, Your Highness, the last general will order troops here." Ma Xiangyun and Ta Tianbao took the order and left.

"Order the armies to prepare for battle." Zhu Yongxing continued to send orders one by one. "The naval division prepared artillery fire, the marines landed on the shore and approached the southern city, the first division of the Yanshuo Army and the first independent division made a detour to the north of the city, preparing to cut off the retreat of the Qing army out of the city, and the first division of the Jingshuo Army detoured to the south of the city. The 2nd Independent Division received the ...... of the Marquis of Yangcheng and the Marquis of Yidu"

After making preparations for the contingency situation, each general went back to reorganize his own army, and only Zhu Yongxing, who was a little anxious, was left in the big tent. One moment he got up and paced, and the next he sat back in contemplation, speculating on the true purpose of the Qing army while anxiously waiting for the return. In the end, he was really depressed, so he simply walked out of the camp tent and had to climb up the sentry tower to look, but he was dissuaded by the guards.

"Report to Your Highness, the torches in the west of the city are dense, and our army is advancing forward."

"Report to Your Highness, our army has stopped advancing and is lining up in formation."

"Report to Your Highness, our army has begun to attack the city......"

Zhu Yongxing stood at the foot of the sentry tower, pacing back and forth, listening to the sentry "on-site commentary", raising his head from time to time, and the intention of urging was obvious.

"Report to Your Highness, our army - our army seems to have reached the top of the city......"

"So fast?" Zhu Yongxing stopped, a little confused.

"Report to Your Highness, the city gate is open, and our army is entering the city."

This? Zhu Yongxing complained in his heart that Ma Xiangyun and Ta Tianbao were too imprudent, what if there was an ambush in the city? It is often seen on movies and television that arrows rain down, the ambushed army suffered heavy casualties, lost its advance and retreat, and the corpses at the city gate were pillowed......

"Back to Your Highness, our army - our army is still entering the city......" The lookout has already been replaced by Zhu Yongxing's personal guard captain, and when he looks down, Zhu Yongxing is waiting for the "broadcast" with his face up, so he has to say some nonsense, "There are more torches at the head of the city, and the city gate should have been firmly ......controlled."

Zhu Yongxing exhaled a long breath lightly, as long as the city gate was firmly controlled in his hand, even if there was an ambush in the city, the troops would not suffer much losses, and they could withdraw safely, or continue to be reinforced by the city gate.

"Back to Your Highness, our army continues to enter the city - a steady stream, and the formation outside the city is still in order."

Did the Qing army really abandon the city? Zhu Yongxing came to his senses a little, but his cautious habits still made him endure and wait for Ma Xiangyun and Ta Tianbao to send someone to report the specific situation.

The "live talks" on the sentry tower continued, but nothing of note was anything of interest. It seems that Ma Xiangyun and Ta Tianbao did easily take the city.

A rapid sound of horses' hooves came from far and near, and more than a dozen cavalry soldiers shouted orders to rush into the camp, and galloped straight to the sentry tower under the guidance of the military police.

"Report to Your Highness, our army has taken Jingzhou lightly, and is controlling the key points of the whole city." An officer dismounted and hurriedly reported: "The Qing army has indeed evacuated Jingzhou, and the Marquis of Yangcheng ordered his subordinates to bring two prisoners so that His Highness can understand the specific situation." ”

Zhu Yongxing nodded, and his eyes turned to staring at the two Qing army captives who were wrapped in cloth.

"Sin will visit His Highness Chitose, Chitose." The two captives hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed.

"Let's talk about the specifics." Zhu Yongxing waved his hand impatiently.

"Yes, yes." One of the captives hurriedly said: "Back to Your Highness, Qing, no, the Tartars are afraid of the enemy, no, they are afraid that the Emperor's army will flood the city, and they are determined to retreat to Wuchang." Leave the sin to bluff, wait for the dawn to burn the excess baggage, set fire to the city, and then take advantage of the chaos to leave. The sin will have already repented, and his heart will be clear to the emperor, and when he gets this opportunity, he will ......"

Although Le Erjin was timid, he still knew how to use illusions to deceive the Ming army when retreating in order to buy more time. Therefore, the Qing army only plundered a few large households in the city and let this general stay behind. Because none of the Manchu and Mongolian generals were willing to undertake this dangerous task, they sent a general and more than 100 soldiers from the Henan Green Battalion to monitor the cannon fodder troops left in the city, the Huguang Green Battalion. Unexpectedly, Huguang Green Camp looked timid and cowardly on weekdays, but dared to surrender at a critical moment.

"That's it-" The deputy general of the Huguang Green Battalion who surrendered to Cheng put a bloody human head on his waist on the ground to show his merits, "Die-hard Tartars, with a group of Henan Yankees to resist the emperor, were led by the criminal generals to lead troops to cut down, and ensure that the baggage was not burned, and the people in the city were not affected by the fire......"

"Very good, you have made a meritorious service, and the subordinate soldiers will have their own rewards." Zhu Yongxing didn't want to listen to this guy's rambling anymore, waved his hand, turned his head to the herald and said: "King Chuangu ordered that the Tatars have retreated to Hanshui, and ordered all the troops to pursue bravely and annihilate the enemy. In addition, the waterway was urgent, and ordered the Zhengshuo army to rush to the Han River to intercept and kill the fleeing enemy. (To be continued......)