"Didn't this Yangzhou City be breached once three months ago? It's only been about 20 days since the Southern Barbarians fought back, how can they be so strong? It's harder to blast open than the first time it's new!

You Han waste, why don't you think about repairing the city defense when it's your turn to defend it, and it will be taken back by the southern barbarians so easily! ”

On the morning of the eighteenth day of the first month of the first year of Longwu, when the Qing army reinforcements from the north organized the artillery that had just arrived for the first time, tried to bombard the city wall of Yangzhou again, and imitated the tactics of three months ago to break Yangzhou City again.

It didn't take long for them to realize that the Yangzhou city wall today is much more difficult to bomb than the first time.

Although it has only been less than a month since the Ming army recaptured Yangzhou this time, in the past 20 days or so, the reinforcement and transformation of the city has been many times stronger than last year's state of being messy and foolish.

Bellenikan, who is currently in command of the Qing army in the south and north of the Huainan River, saw the effect of this attack, and he was a little angry, and he counted down the Han generals under him, complaining that they were careless.

In contrast, Mandahai, who had just been transferred from the Henan battlefield and was under Azig, was quite accustomed to this kind of urgently reinforced city defense, and was obviously well-informed on the Henan side.

In the face of his cousin's irritability, he was very unimpressed in his heart, and he also insinuated that his cousin was rare and strange, but the tone on the surface was not revealed:

"Really? It seems that the soldiers and horses sent to Huainan by our Great Qing Dynasty were originally too weak by the enemy, which led to the smooth progress at the beginning. Now that he is reinforced by Zhu Shuren's Hu Guangming Army King Qin, I am afraid that I will have to hit hard nails everywhere.

The rumors spread by the Southern Barbarians in the past two days may not all be aimed at shaking the hearts of our army, and it is really possible that the fifteenth uncle has suffered ...... Frustration. ”

Nikan is the third son of Chu Ying, the eldest son of Nuer Hachi, and Mandahai is the seventh son of Daishan, the second son of Nuer Hachi, so they are cousins, and Nikan is eleven years older than Mandahai.

After Dolgon took power, he deployed the southern expedition this time, sending all the sons of the eldest brother to Dordor, and the sons of the second brother to Azig.

Naturally, these two factions also have a slight rivalry and want to compete with each other. But there is no big contradiction, just a dispute between ordinary factions.

Man Dahai originally wanted to say that "Uncle Fifteen is probably really dead", but he also had to leave some leeway, and he didn't want to say those unlucky words that made people angry, so he changed his words to "frustration".

Nikan was sarcastically ridiculed by his cousin, so he naturally wanted to ridicule him:

"Really? It turned out that Prince Ying's progress in Hubei and Henan was slow, a Nanyang city could not be attacked for three months, and the Hanshui defense line of the Southern Barbarians could not even be touched, all because the city defense plan of the Huguangming army was more complete? Then we should really learn from it, so please be sure to share some more lessons. ”

"You ......" Man Dahai is also young and vigorous, after all, people in their twenties are a little annoyed for a while, and they can't have a seizure, so they only leave one sentence in the end

"Anyway, I think that if Uncle Fifteen really has an accident, there is no need to storm Yangzhou again, such a renovated fortified city, if there is still enough Hongyi cannon energy to continue to be transported, it is impossible to capture it.

Now if you want to attack the city, you must first take Guazhoudu in the south of the city, and cut off the Ming army in the south of the Yangtze River to transport firearms and ammunition to the city through the Yangtze River waterway! Today's situation is completely different from before Zhu Shuren came in person! The Huguang Ming Army is several times stronger than the Nanzhili Ming Army! There is no point in attacking constantly with foreign aid! ”

When the Qing army first came to attack Yangzhou, it didn't cut off the waterway for the Ming army to reinforce in advance, because the Qing army was not afraid of the Ming army in Jiangnan at that time to reinforce -

In Duoduo's opinion at that time, the Ming army was willing to take the initiative to cross the river and send it to Jiangbei to let the Qing army kill, it was simply no better, he wished that he would play a refueling tactic in Yangzhou, so that the Ming army would continue to give it to this meat grinder for nothing, and the follow-up would be easier.

The Nanzhili Ming Army, which had not been built by Zhu Shuren and was in its initial state, was a piece of garbage in the eyes of the Qing army at that time.

Now that the situation is changing too fast, there are naturally many discomforts, which make the Qing army very painful and need to be re-run-in.

Nikan and Man Dahai did not quarrel for a while, but on the Yangzhou siege position in front, the artillery of the Qing army, which had been preparing for firepower, was bleeding every moment.

Duoduo had previously lost fifty Hongyi cannons, which was the annual output of the Qing Dynasty and one-sixth of the total stock of the Qing Dynasty. In the second half of the morning of Yangzhou City, it was reimbursed by the Ming army for losing three gates, which was really a loss.

Nikan saw that his attempt to attack Yangzhou and open up the road was a little deflated, and he was afraid of being embarrassed in front of his cousin again, so he had to bring in the defeated generals Shang Shan and Li Chengdong who had fled back before, and forced them to ask them what was the situation of Duoduo before they broke through.

The two were quickly brought up, these two escaped the Yangtze River on the third day of the first lunar month, and spent three or five days hiding in Tibet through Taixing, Haimen and other places, and returned to the area controlled by the Qing army. When Nikan first summoned them, it was about the ninth day of the first month, and it had been almost ten days since now.

It turned out that it was Shang Shan and Li Chengdong, in order to alleviate their guilt for the defeat and escape, they confessed at the beginning, biting them to death I don't know if Duoduo is dead or not, only saying that they did not have a clear message when they broke through, and they broke through only after listening to Zhang Cunren's order to let them break through and ask for help.

After all, it is a great sin to be ordered to break through and ask for help, but the commander killed them in battle and fled.

If Zhu Shuren could listen to Nikan and Man Dahai's interrogation of Shang Shan and others in the camp of the Qing army commander at this moment, he would definitely suddenly realize that the truth would be revealed:

It turns out that Duoduo has been dead for twenty days, but the Qing army is still thinking about rescue, it's all these two guys! It was these two people who put their life and death, honor and disgrace, and family interests above the interests of the country, and wanted to excuse themselves with a time difference!

Of course, considering that Shang Shan and Li Chengdong are now Qing Dynasty generals, Zhu Shuren will definitely be very happy to see such half-hearted people in the enemy camp who take care of the small family and disregard the country.

At this time, in the face of Nikan's interrogation again, coupled with the supervision of the outsider Man Dahai, Shang Shan was of course not stupid, and continued to insist: When they left, Duoduo was indeed not dead!

Shang Shan lied, but he thought to himself in his heart: "There are only hundreds of soldiers who follow us to break through, and so many people have died on the way, and ordinary soldiers don't know about it." Isn't it that Li Chengdong and I testify to each other and bite to death, so there is no proof of death?

Although they also fled back, they broke through along the river after being directly defeated on the decisive battlefield, they left earlier than us, and the prince was indeed not dead when they left, how could they know when they became deserters and when the prince died? We are the last group of people around the prince to break through, so it is impossible for anyone to come up with ironclad evidence to expose us! ”

Shang Shan insisted on this, and he felt that he could have as much advantage as possible in the distribution of responsibility for defeat within the Qing army—if they left late, they could accuse those who left early to abandon their allies and flee for their lives alone.

If Jueluo Guoke, who is in the red flag of Mongolia, wants to learn from Shang Shan and say that his defeat and escape is "ordered to break through and ask for help", Shang Shan can falsify it, because Shang Shan stayed by Duoduo's side longer and left later, he can collude with Li Chengdong to prove that Duoduo did not let Jueluo Guoke break through! He was just crushed! Not the other way around.

This is also why in the past ten days, Shang Shan and Li Chengdong have not borne any responsibility at all.

This is like when the first emperor died, the later the first emperor's edict was held, the higher the legal effect-

You may also have the edict of the first emperor in your hand, but when you got the edict, did the first emperor lose his breath?

What? No? Then how do you know if the first emperor changed his mind during this last period of time after you left and before the first emperor died?

This edict in our hands is later than yours, and after we get it, we are watching the first emperor breathe! So do it according to this last edict!

Shang Shan and Li Chengdong pondered the logic of this every day during the days of life and death, and naturally thought it through, there could be no loopholes, and it was naturally the same today.

But alas, today is a different situation.

In the afternoon of the same day, just after Nikan and Mandahai had finished their "two meetings" and were still clean, in the big tent of the commander of the Qing army, a guard suddenly came in to report the news:

"Yubeile, just after the truce, a messenger was sent in Yangzhou City, saying that they wanted to negotiate and persuade our army to retreat, and that they were willing to return the body of the prince."

It turned out that with the truce of the besieging side in the evening, the defenders took advantage of the fatigue of the attacking troops to send peace emissaries.

From a psychological point of view, sending an emissary at such a time is indeed the best option. If it is sent before the battle is fought early in the morning, the besieging side will only feel that the defenders are cowardly, and it is easy to boost morale.

Fight for a day first, and then send it when it hurts, so there are no such concerns. Peace through war will lead to peace, and peace will die if compromise is sought peace.

"What?" Nikan and Mandahai finally jumped in unison in a rare way.

Although they have somewhat estimated that Duoduo has suffered misfortune in the past few days, they have never believed it, and they dare not make a conclusion about the importance of the matter.

It was only at this point that Dordor collapsed from a "quantum superposition state of both death and life" to a purely dead state because of his "observer effect".

Man Dahai immediately picked up Shang Shan's collar: "The fifteenth uncle has brought so many elite soldiers and strong generals, even if he is trapped in Jiangnan, can't he rely on the last cavalry to kill and plunder?" How can they be killed? Shang Shan, what did you say before! ”

Shang Shan is also a little bloody, but he has also made up for it countless times in the past few days, knowing that sooner or later he will be convinced, he has no choice but to pretend to be innocent, and by the way, he excuses himself:

"Maybe it's some conspiracy and trickery used by the Ming army, when I left, there were indeed not many defeated soldiers around the prince, and there were only tens of thousands of horsemen, maybe a breakthrough was careless......

Besides, today's Ming army sent envoys to shake the hearts of our army, so it is better to kill the envoys directly, don't listen to their nonsense. If the prince is really martyred, he can only do this, and he will kill a few Ming officials to pay tribute. ”

Man Dahai let go of his hand and snorted coldly: "How can you kill the envoy, but the envoy said that he wanted to return the body of the fifteenth uncle, would he give up collecting the corpse after killing the envoy?" ”

Shang Shan: "Then don't say more, just ask them to confirm the death of the prince, get back the body and kill the envoy!" ”

For this shameless statement, Nikan and Mandahai have no intention of stopping it, in their eyes, the life and death of several Ming Dynasty envoys really don't need to be taken seriously,

The Qing Kingdom doesn't care about the reputation in the field of negotiation now, anyway, there are only two forces left in the world, and there is nothing to trick up the horizontal and vertical aspects, just see the real chapter directly under the sword and gun.

However, Nikan Mandahai didn't care, and the guards who came in to report poured a little cold water on Shang Shan: "Master Bei Zi, I'm afraid this argument is not appropriate...... The messengers sent back by the Ming people were not civil officials on their side.

Rather, in the battle of Jiangyin half a month ago, several Mongolian cavalry officers under the command of Jueluoguoko, who were defeated and captured by the river, were our own people......"

Shang Shan was speechless for a moment, the Ming Dynasty actually fought hard against the captured prisoners of war to send letters, they are not good at killing their own people.

And after hearing the identity of the other party, Shang Shan's heart jumped a few times for no reason, and he cautiously confirmed: "...... Which part of the Southern Barbarian put it back? ”

"It's the Mongolian army that is the red flag." The guards added in detail.

Shang Shan breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and the expression on his face remained unchanged: "It's okay...... It was the friendly army that broke up before the prince's death, and I don't know what happened later.

But since Zhu Shuren can think of releasing the captives to bring words, this time we are lucky, next time if we release a few more loyal people who have persevered by the prince's side for a longer time, how should Li Chengdong and I deal with it?

Alas, in order to bear less responsibility and earn more hard work, if you tell a lie, you have to use more lies to get along...... The harsh system of rewards and punishments for military merits in the Qing Dynasty is really out of place. ”

Shang Shan couldn't help but doubt the harsh system of the Qing Dynasty.

However, to speak in conscience, the strict military law of the Qing Dynasty was indeed easy to use during the rising period of national fortunes, which was convenient for motivating snowballs. But once it reaches the pinnacle of national fortunes and begins to turn downward, when most people's defeats gradually become normal, and the martyrdom of senior generals also becomes the norm, insisting on such a strict military law will definitely cause big trouble.

Of course, when Chongzhen was in the past, the Ming Dynasty also paid a heavy price because of their rigid reward and punishment system, which was too rigid and easy to break. Chongzhen just took the original law to get stuck and ask his subordinates for civil and military affairs, with high standards and strict requirements, and in the end, his subordinates couldn't do it and were afraid of punishment, and there were a lot of traitors.

The severity of rewards and punishments is a very difficult balance between relaxation and winning the trust of the world, and few rulers have been able to understand it since ancient times.

……

After Nikan and Mandahai met with the captured Mongol officers who had been released, they naturally asked a lot of questions.

Although the capture of Jiala and Niu Lu occurred before the defeat of Duoduo's Chinese army, they did not see the outcome of Duoduo's army on the battlefield later.

But the news of Dord's death was certain, because they could still hear the news after they entered the prisoner of war camp.

In the end, when Zhang Cunren and others were executed by Ling Chi, the Nanjing court also pulled out Duoduo's body to display, and many prisoners were taken to watch the execution, and they also watched their robes with heavier war crimes being killed by the Ming Dynasty executioners one by one.

So, after a brief cross-examination, Nikan and Mandahai got very detailed information.

Manda Haiduo kept an eye on him, trying to ask if they knew "which battle Duoduo died in the battle, who he ordered to break through before he died, and who abandoned the commander and fled first".

But these questions are not very clear to the prisoners who were released, anyway, they can only admit that Jueluo Guoke and these people were really defeated first.

Shang Shan listened to Man Dahai's interrogation on the side, and his heart was also uneasy, until after asking, there was no question from him, so he was temporarily relieved.

He can't wait to stop this matter in his heart, just check this step, and stop digging into the bottom of it.

Is it interesting that factional struggles have to be so clear about defeat? If you can come back alive, is it hard work? You are so fond of fighting dissidents and elevating yourself that you are sick!

On the other side, Man Dahai had a final exchange with Nikan, because he still needed to pick up Duoduo's body from the Ming army camp, and today he had to go back to Yangzhou City to bring back Nikan's willingness to accept Duoduo's body.

The siege battle between the two sides had to be temporarily interrupted, and before the Ming army returned the corpse, Nikan could not directly attack the city even if he was shameless.

But he still felt that the Qing army on the East Road had lost too badly in this series of battles, and it was difficult to explain to Dolgon when he went back, and he still had in his heart, "When we get the corpse of the fifteenth uncle, we can see the opportunity to act again, and consider whether to turn around with the Ming people and sneak attack to get some benefits and earn some face."

His idea was not very straightforward to his own people, but Xianmohu hinted at it, but it made Man Dahai and Shangshan very unhappy in his heart.

Man Dahai thinks that he is purely superfluous, Duoduo is confirmed to be dead, what is the point of fighting Yangzhou City now?

Since the Qing Army on the Eastern Route is so incompetent, what are they still struggling with, just carry the pot with the worst performance in this year's Southern Expedition, and help Azig's Western Route Army set off its incompetence, isn't it okay?

Azig really didn't play well, but compared with Duoduo, he can still "rely on his peers".

Shang Shan is Duoduo's subordinate, and it is said that from the perspective of his faction, he should support Nikan, and in terms of smearing each other's merits, he should also be at odds with Mandahai.

However, on the issue of "preventing this war of attrition from going on", Shang Shan had to stand on the same position as Man Dahai, which was really complicated - the camp position occupies Nikan, and the specific decision-making position stands on Man Dahai, so that the interests of Shang Shan and Li Chengdong's small group can be maximized.

If the fight continues, the Ming army will put some unknown high-level prisoners back like a time bomb, and the ghost knows how much confusion it will cause.

As a result, Shang Shan also had to think about how to find a way to end the battle as soon as possible, and everything ended here, so that the lid was completely covered.

……

On the other side, Guazhou Ferry outside Yangzhou.

Nikan released the Mongolian captives and asked them to bring a message and be willing to collect the corpses, and Zhu Shuren naturally asked people to interrogate those people carefully for the first time, and asked them to truthfully explain what Nikan said and what they asked.

Because they were already on a diplomatic mission, the Mongol captives didn't feel that some topics were confidential, so they said everything they could.

The staff in charge of questioning on the Ming army's side quickly sorted out and handed it over to Zhu Shuren.

And even if Zhu Shuren only relied on this information, of course, he quickly found out: "What? It turns out that the Tartar has not confirmed the death of Duoduo to this day?

Shang Shan and Li Chengdong were also regarded as heroes who broke through and asked for help on the other side? There is still such a shameless person in the world who puts gold on himself? ”

Shang Shan and Li Chengdong's operation of turning crime into merit really surprised Zhu Shuren. He really didn't expect that someone would be able to do this and use the evidence of death to say that he was so noble and unyielding.

Subsequently, although Zhu Shuren could not deduce the details of the performance, he could easily deduce the fighting will of all forces in the enemy camp:

"That's easy...... Since they want to pass the buck and hide so many things from each other, Mandahai and Nikan will most likely disagree on the question of whether to fight or make peace in the future.

Shang Shan was supposed to be the same as Nikan, but he had his own little secrets, and he definitely had to be inconsistent...... There are three enemy troops, one wants to stop here, one wants to fight, and the other wants to leave, so there is a lot of room for operation. ”

——

ps: I'm sorry that the recent strategy has been written a little too much on psychological warfare, a bit cumbersome, and not necessarily enough...... Everyone understands, it may be that my own brain has been in a state of psychological warfare for the past few days, which has affected what I write.