About half of the 100,000 Ming troops in Jiangbei fled, and most of them were no longer organized and were retreating to Jiangxi on their own, and the Ming troops in the formation did not stay in the border areas but withdrew to the interior, and the ninth town was withdrawn until Nanchang to stop their footsteps. As for the prisoners released by the Shun army, they had no desire to fight again, and the Jiangxi side judged that it was absolutely impossible for the Northern Expeditionary Army to go out to fight again in the short term. At the same time as the scattered army was gathered, the Jiangxi Governor's Office made every effort to strengthen the local defense, even when Xu Ping had already turned around and advanced eastward, the border was still shocked three times a day, and a large number of reports were reported every day that they had found signs of an attack by the Shun army, and the local governments and counties began to issue weapons to the people and set up self-defense militia regiments to practice.

Affected by the battle situation in Nanjing, the Fourth Army, which had already entered Huguang to prepare for the battle, also immediately broke away from the front line, and quickly returned to Jiangxi to prepare to meet Xu Ping's attack.

On the issue of Ming prisoners, Li Dingguo adopted the same policy as Xu Ping, and he ordered the release of all Ming prisoners who were willing to give guarantees, and the Ming army was allowed to take back those wounded who had been abandoned by the Ming army. Li Dingguo claimed that he, like Xu Ping, was full of confidence in defeating the Ming army, and his heart was full of belief in victory, and he was not afraid at all, and of course he did not need to follow the example of his predecessors to kill prisoners.

When the first Ming prisoner of war made it clear that he was unwilling to break his promise, a fierce quarrel broke out between the Northern Expeditionary Army and the Jiangxi Qingyuan, and the military intended to punish all prisoners of war who refused to participate in the war again as deserters, or punish them by reference to the treason. However, the Secretaries of State at all levels tried to protect these prisoners of war, and the doctors assured their families that they would do their best to defend them—regardless of whether their relatives were part of the released prisoners of war, and the relatives of the soldiers were well aware that this would have a significant impact on the future attitude of the Shun army towards the prisoners of war.

In the end, Qi Guogong issued a statement in his capacity as the ruling minister, announcing his understanding of the rejection of the released prisoners of war, and he ordered to explain his decision in a long speech, first of all, Qi Guogong defined the volunteer military system adopted by the Southern Ming Dynasty as follows: volunteer to join the army and obey military orders until the possibility of obeying military orders is lost; And this possibility of losing obedience to military orders is defined as killed, discharged, or captured; In the end, Qi Guogong defined this type of volunteer as a one-time one-time, that is, when the capture occurred, the agreement between the volunteers and the Southern Ming court had expired.

Under this explanation, the Duke of Qi stated that if the released prisoners of war were willing to volunteer for the army again, the Southern Ming court would re-examine their conditions and give them a chance to re-enlist, but if the released prisoners of war were unwilling to volunteer for the army again, the court had no right to force these people to serve again as long as they did not pass the conscription decree for one day.

The Northern Expeditionary Army was dissatisfied with the order of the Qi Prince's Office, but the provincial courts welcomed this compromise, and this order showed the attitude of the Qi Prince's Office: even the army should be under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Division when it comes to civil rights. With the release of the statement of understanding that was seen as a compromise by the Duke of Qi, a large number of released prisoners of war ended their wait-and-see attitude and made it clear that they would keep their oaths and refuse to join the army again.

Some doctors were stimulated by the defeat and demanded that the conscription decree be passed immediately to re-enlist these soldiers, but more doctors believed that the current situation was not to this point, He Feihu had occupied Nanjing, the Shun army had failed to invade the territory of Nanming, and now the war had stayed in the original Dashun territory, and the military situation was far from being sinister enough to provoke large-scale panic and make the people support conscription at any cost. If this happens, the relatives and friends of the victims will definitely hate Xu Ping and turn their anger on the doctors who approve of the conscription law.

……

nanking

"General Xu is rushing back," the headquarters of the Sixth Army is now full of gloom, 100,000 Jiangbei Northern Expeditionary Army was destroyed by the Shun Army, originally some Jiangbei magistrates and local army generals who were with the Ming Army's Stone Song changed their faces overnight, completely cut off correspondence with the Sixth Army, not long ago out of the city to welcome the Ming Army's Nanjing gentry were originally extremely enthusiastic about the construction of the Qing Yuan, but now a large number of people fled to the countryside, and those who stayed in the city have closed their doors, and the Sixth Army has not had time to win over the people's hearts and suddenly found that there is no people's heart to pull:" It's still too late to go. ”

The staff officers pointed out that the local army of the Ming army in the rear of the Sixth Army began to move, and there was a secret report that Yu Dong in Hangzhou was secretly rushing to make black military uniforms again. Many of the other officials appointed by the Northern Expeditionary Army as temporary local guards also did similar things, and the authority of these people under the military management system was originally entirely derived from the military strength of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and since the powerful main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army no longer existed, then they certainly needed to find new sources of power.

Such a large number of wall grass behind the back of the Sixth Army of course made the Sixth Army feel insecure, and the staff officers judged that once Nanjing was lost, these guys would change their banners. Even now, the Sixth Army will retreat immediately, and maybe Yu Dong and others, who have made meritorious contributions to their crimes, will also come to find trouble - with the strength of the Sixth Army, it is certainly no problem to fight a bloody way home from the territory of this gang of goods, but if Xu Ping catches up with the main force, it will be another story.

"If the Sixth Army can't return to Fujian safely, Qi Gong will have to shoot the farmers, fishermen, and workers." Many staff officers advised He Feihu to make a quick decision and take advantage of the current opportunity to quickly withdraw from the army.

"The letter from the Duke of Qi said: Courage is not a towering giant tree growing by the stream, but a fragile flower in the ice and snow." He Feihu was reluctant to withdraw his troops, and the letter from the Principality of Qi to the Sixth Army did not say it explicitly, but He Feihu understood it to mean that the Duke of Qi did not agree to give up Nanjing—absolute superiority does not require courage, and cowards can stand by the cage and laugh at the tiger; And the flowers in the snow and ice are rare and can be destroyed at any moment. In addition to this letter to the Sixth Army, Qi Guogong's private letter to He Feihu was also very subtle and implicitly reproached for his idea of preserving strength, and Qi Guogong once again reminded He Feihu to be loyal to the country and not to forget the loyalty of his ancestors - and the order of the Qing Yuan was also not allowed to abandon Nanjing.

"Qi Guogong also said: He doesn't care if the Sixth Army survives, as long as we are captured as hard as we can, he will think that we have done our duty." Tang Desheng added.

"This ...... will be outside, and the king's order will not be affected. The staff officers who advocated the withdrawal of the army thought that Qi Guogong's words were not helpful, and the failure to give a clear order was probably because they did not want to damage their reputation, although they did not dare to say it explicitly, but this is what they meant: "It is also wise and brave to be able to resist the military order to retreat." ”

"General Xu has always been like this, and his book also says that subordinates should be encouraged to disobey incorrect orders," Chen Wei agreed with Huang Shi's view of courage, but he also thought that it would be difficult to hold Nanjing: "General Xu said that if he knew that Shangfeng's order was wrong, and really believed from the bottom of his heart that sacrifice must be meaningless, then he must disobey his orders, otherwise he would be derelict in his duty." ”

"Are you convinced from the bottom of your heart that it must be pointless for us to hold on to resistance?" He Feihu retorted: "We can buy time and let Qi Gong organize more troops. ”

"The last general is not convinced, so the last general feels that it needs to be discussed." Chen Wei felt that the question was: How much time could the Sixth Army buy for Nanming in Nanjing, and would it be better than retreating back to Fujian?

"Nanjing cannot be lost, in today's defeat of the Northern Expeditionary Army, once Nanjing is lost, the entire Jiangnan will lose confidence in us, and the east of Xianxia Pass is not owned by the state." Tang Desheng resolutely opposed the retreat: "It's even worse to give up Nanjing, if we don't fight and run away, then the next Northern Expedition may be able to resist to the death." ”

"If it weren't for the fear that the gang behind us would rise up to respond to General Xu, we wouldn't be without the ability to hold on, but I am resolutely opposed to going out of the city to fight." Chen Wei also admitted that the Sixth Army was still very strong, and the 35,000-strong army was well-equipped, and Xu Ping was not completely without losses in this battle, but it was not advisable to fight a field battle.

"Of course, I won't fight in the field, even if I can fight, I won't fight. General Xu is good for quick fighting, and we are good for lasting. Tang Desheng sighed: "The young marshal shouldn't fight this battle at all, one man is desperate, and ten thousand people are invincible." General Xu rushed up with tens of thousands of people in a group, it was already difficult to resist, and the young marshal's military spirit was not very stable. ”

Tang Desheng pointed out that the generals of the Ming army tried to restore their previous prestige and used some harsh means to govern the army, but the soldiers did not buy it, and the system implemented by the Duke of Qi damaged the rationality and legitimacy of the generals to treat the soldiers with strict military law, and this problem was not too serious when the Northern Expeditionary Army was strong. Although the soldiers did not dare to speak out, they dared to be angry, and in the face of the Shun army who were desperately charging up from the group in the first battle, the morale of the Ming army was soon unbearable.

"But!" Tang Desheng's tone immediately became high-spirited again: "In order to withstand the superior strength of the young marshal, General Xu's troops deployed on the flank suffered a lot of losses...... Judging from the battle report, Xu Ping's avant-garde battalion deployed on the right flank attacked several times the Ming army, and the casualties were heavy and still fought to the death, and the battle report mentioned that at one time this battalion was even torn down and surrounded by the Ming army from the Shun army front, Tang Desheng estimated that the battle was tragic to this point, and this battalion was estimated to have at least one-third of the casualties, but everyone knew that there was no way to retreat, so they were desperate:" The Guards and Armored Battalions also suffered heavy casualties. The Ming army war report said that the Guards battalion didn't even fire a shot, and after two rounds of rapid shelling, they directly pounced on it with a white blade assault, and after being killed and wounded thousands of people, they still rushed into the Ming army's position, and together with the armored battalion, they broke the Ming army front and eliminated Huang Naiming's headquarters.

"General Xu's casualties in this battle must be more than 4,000 people, which will not be much stronger than the military strength of our Sixth Army," Tang Desheng pointed out that although Xu Ping added a group of second-line field troops into his direct jurisdiction, and now has more than 40,000 troops under his command, these troops are very tired of fighting continuously in Jiangbei and capturing prisoners, and the Shun army in Anqing and Luzhou still has to guard against Jiangxi and cannot take all of them away, and Tang Desheng doubts that after the victory of the Shun army, there is still the resolute will to fight in Anqing: "General Xu is particularly bad at attacking cities. ”

He Feihu nodded, the textbook compiled by Xu Ping rarely mentions how to storm the fortress held by the firearms troops, historically he also likes to use this kind of fortress to kill the other party, and there are also a lot of descriptions of how to use defense to consume the opponent's offensive momentum, He Feihu feels that since Xu Ping likes to do this, then he will definitely hate to attack other people's fortresses in his heart. A commander will definitely be affected by his own emotional factors when making a judgment, He Feihu can't help but think that with Kaifeng's danger, Xu Ping still subconsciously avoided attacking the city, although Xu Ping has a reasonable explanation, but He Feihu feels that there is also a personal style factor in it.

"But Nanjing is too big." Chen Wei did not object to Tang Desheng's judgment, but the Ming army actually lacked the confidence and courage to fight in the field, and the 10,000 people in a city as big as Nanjing could not even take care of the city walls, and the plan must not completely press the treasure on Xu Ping This time or will not attack strongly, then in the face of Xu Ping's entire army, it may be necessary to use the entire Sixth Army to defend Nanjing in order to ensure safety: "If we all gather in the city of Nanjing, General Xu will bypass us, leaving a team of soldiers and horses to monitor, and the rest will be used to collect territory, When those wall-to-wall grasses saw that we were trapped in Nanjing, and General Xu's soldiers were killed, they would still surrender, and Nanjing would soon be cut off from inside and outside and become an isolated city. Chen Wei nodded a few points on the river: "General Xu set up artillery in these places, he can block our naval division, Nanjing has a population of one million, how long can we hold out without grain and grass?" Cannibalism or surrender? Or did you rush out with a black eye and a decisive battle with General Xu? ”

The discussion was fruitless, and after the meeting ended, Tang Desheng privately pulled Chen Wei: "Why do you want to retreat without a fight?" ”

"Why do you insist on fighting General Xu? The Sixth Army was less experienced than the First and Second Armies of the Major Marshal. ”

"Because I don't have a prominent family reputation, I relied on studying hard and spending all the time others sleeping on the training ground to get where I am today." Tang Desheng said loudly: "I rely on being at the top in every assessment, and every drill is the best to fall into the vision of the Qing Academy, aren't you?" I don't have a good father, I have to protect my name carefully, I don't want to end up with General Xu and his Evergreen Battalion! After fighting desperately and breaking bravely, he was finally charged with rebellion. I don't want to carry the black pot, I don't want to be framed! And I know that if there is this kind of defeated black cauldron, it must be carried by people like me, do you think you can run away? Do you have a Lao Tzu surnamed Jin, surnamed Zhao, or surnamed He? ”

Chen Wei was a little moved when he heard this, and sighed after a while: "But we have to have a way to defeat General Xu." ”

"Yes, we've got to find it!" Tang Desheng shouted.

……

"My council division will stick to the Longtan area, so that I can rely on the river to get the assistance of the water division, and I can also avoid the river defense fortress arranged by General Xu in the north of the river." Chen Wei suggested to He Feihu that the 11th Division would be responsible for covering the right flank and the Jianghang passage, and shielding the Zhenjiang Mansion behind it, so as not to give the Shun army a chance to outflank the rear of the Ming army: "Brother Tang's constitutional division is arranged on the left flank, and he will set up the division headquarters in Chunhua. ”

He Feihu silently looked at the point on the map, and the two divisions of the Sixth Army formed a horn momentum, blocking Xu Ping's route to the east: "And you suggest that I set the military headquarters in Jurong?" ”

"The farther west side is better and safer, and if the military headquarters is surrounded, the whole army loses its command." Chen Wei replied that he felt that it would be safer if He Feihu agreed to relocate the military headquarters to Danyang, so that the two divisions would not have to consider the threat of the military headquarters and the need to send reinforcements: "General Xu's tens of thousands of troops need a large amount of grain and grass every day, and it is impossible for him to ignore our threat and go around ......."

"Chunhua?" He Feihu interrupted Chen Wei's narration, knocked on the point on the map and asked: "Yes, that's right, the division of troops makes it difficult for General Xu to isolate our army with a small number of troops, block Jianghang and the main road, and threaten his grain route He can't march eastward, and he doesn't dare to attack south, but who will defend Nanjing?" ”

"We don't defend Nanjing, Nanjing is too big, a division can't defend it, and there are so many people, if we are surrounded, we will starve to death in a few days." Tang Desheng volunteered to take the Constitutional Division to Chunhua, and if he had, most of the baggage of the Sixth Army would be transported quickly, and he would have evacuated all the residents in advance, and he would have been able to hold out for a long time.

"As long as our army is still in Yingtianfu and still blocking General Xu's path, then the grass on the wall behind will still wait and see." This is also one of the reasons why Chen Wei is looking forward to He Feihu going to Zhenjiang Mansion, if the rear rebels, then the Sixth Army will still be alone.

"Lose Nanjing," He Feihu shook his head desperately: "Those people don't know what to blow General Xu's troops into, I can think of the content of the rumors." ”

"But it is much better for them to continue to hope than if we were besieged in Nanjing or escaped from Yingtianfu, and if we had informed the provinces in advance, it would have been more likely that they would have waited and seen." Chen Wei felt that it was better to take the initiative to tell them the bad news than to let the rear know it from the rumors.

"What if Chunhua is surrounded? Do you dare to go out and fight a field battle with General Xu? He Feihu felt that Chen Wei's plan was to put the whole army in a long snake formation to be beaten, the so-called horn trend is actually two troops to block the way, and then see who is unlucky, although the Yangtze River shipping is important to the Shun army, but because of the threat of the Ming army's sailors, the reliability is reduced, and the Chunhua in the interior is easy to be surrounded.

"Don't dare." Chen Wei categorically denied this idea: "If the constitutional division is besieged, it can only rely on them to seek more blessings." ”

"In the end, the camp will be strengthened and more long trenches will be dug up, and it will definitely last for a long time." Tang Desheng pleaded: "Even if it is surrounded, it is better for one division to be besieged than for the whole army to be surrounded." If the general can't stand it, the lord and the council division will be able to get out of trouble by boat. Even those wall grasses still defected, and the last general could delay time for the Sixth Army, so that the adults could lead the main force of the army back to Fujian. ”

He Feihu's gaze swept back and forth on the faces of the two subordinates a few times, and then pondered for a while and said, "Are you imitating Cao Ren's old trick of guarding Fancheng?" ”

At the beginning, Cao Ren felt that he was not sure of defending Xiangyang with the troops at hand, so he ran to defend Fancheng, as long as Fancheng did not fall to Xiangyang, Guan Yu would not be able to get it, and if Fancheng was completed, Xiangyang would be a dead city. Therefore, Guan Yu's decision was to use a small number of troops to monitor the small number of people left behind in Xiangyang, and the main force to besiege the main force of Cao's army in Fancheng.

"My lord." Chen Wei and Tang Desheng didn't sleep all night, just planning to follow Cao Ren's example, like psoriasis, they relied on Yingtianfu and did not leave, so that the back roads of Nanjing and Xu Ping's grain road were under the noses of the 30,000 troops of the Ming army, Xu Ping was in a good psychological state and could not ignore them: "But our troops are too small, Nanjing is too big, and we can't even stay behind." ”

"Leave it to fate." Tang Desheng said: "If we stay in Yingtianfu and confront General Xu's main force, they will still fight, then there is really no way." ”

He Feihu pondered for a while and said, "Maybe we can do a little better." ”

The two division commanders were in good spirits, although they didn't know where He Feihu could conjure up troops from, but it sounded like the commander agreed with them, and if they could keep Nanjing, of course, it would be the best. The Constituent Assembly had just basked in the joy of recovering Nanjing, and this was the only excuse they used to eliminate the effects of the defeat in Anqing, and if Nanjing had just gotten its hands on it, it would undoubtedly be a blow to the Constituent Assembly and the Six Provincial Secretaries - in any case, it would be unwise for the men to beat the owner to the point of bleeding, especially if you are going to continue to work for the owner.

"We don't have enough troops, but we have plenty of food and grass, and we don't lack ships." After some efforts before, the transportation capacity of the Nanjing battlefield has been greatly enhanced, and now the main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army has fled back to Jiangxi, regardless of whether the transportation force in the south can continue to tilt towards the Nanjing battlefield, He Feihu said: "General Xu's grain and grass will probably not be very sufficient. ”

The entire Jiangnan is in the hands of the Ming army, Xu Ping's supply depends on Shandong's strong support, and the cost of land transportation is dozens of times that of water transportation, He Feihu judged that Xu Ping must not be able to support millions of people: "I sent a letter to General Xu, announcing that in order to avoid the destruction of the ancient capital of Nanjing in the war, our army will take the initiative to abandon the defense, and will never station troops in Nanjing, will not send fine work from Nanjing, and will not launch an attack from Nanjing or use it to reserve military funds." However, if General Xu does not take over Nanjing, we will be responsible for the transportation of grain in Nanjing: we will not block the borders and close the shipping, so as to ensure that the millions of people in Nanjing will have no worries about food and clothing. ”

After finishing speaking, He Feihu looked at the two subordinates: "What do you think?" ”

Chen Wei pondered for a while, nodded and said: "Judging from the battle of Kaifeng, General Xu is likely to agree, anyway, Nanjing does not leave a single soldier, he can take it as he wants." ”

"Judging from the battle of Anqing, General Xu is likely to agree," Tang Desheng thought for a while more than Chen Wei, and finally agreed with He Feihu's proposal. Since Song Xianggong, everyone is proud of being ruthless and ashamed of being trustworthy and benevolent, although everyone knows that Song Xianggong is not moral, nor is he the opponent of Chu State, but since the tradition is to praise the despicable and shameless, no one is willing to restrain himself not to do evil, this time it is a pity that he finally met a Taoist Xu Ping not to take advantage of it: "He is not even willing to kill prisoners, and of course he is not willing to involve the people in the war." ”

"If General Xu agrees, this matter will be too interesting, Nanjing is such a strong city wall, General Xu threw us away, and the city that has been killed and killed for generations can now remain neutral in the middle of the battlefield." No matter how everyone scolded Xu Ping for not killing prisoners and harming the people, it was against the tacit understanding between the soldiers, but if he couldn't win, he would be in vain - just like if Song Xianggong was not the king of Song but Chu, then he was a moral enemy and could only stare dryly, Chen Wei smiled a little unconfidently: "As long as the court agrees." ”

"The Qing Yuan will definitely agree, it is better not to garrison troops in Nanjing than to lose them." He Feihu decided to send a letter to Quanzhou immediately, his plan needed the support of the rear, and without the approval of the Qi State Mansion, the Constituent Assembly, and the Six Provincial Secretaries' Yuan, the grain merchants would obviously not get permission to transport grain to Nanjing: "There is one more thing. ”

He Feihu looked at Tang Desheng: "If General Xu agrees to open the channel, then he will fight you even more, even if he can't fight it, his morale will be low after being surrounded for a long time, especially now that everyone knows that General Xu does not kill prisoners." Seeing that the number of sick wounded soldiers in the encirclement was increasing day by day, and the soldiers kept dying, sooner or later the soldiers would have the idea of surrendering. What are you going to do if I can't help you out of the siege at that time? Do you have any plans to boost morale? ”

"No," Tang Desheng replied frankly, "Your Excellency must let the Qing Yuan relieve me of the siege as soon as possible." ”

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