On the evening of the third day of the third month of the third year of the Ming Republic, the battle between the imperial system and the republic that took place on the East Asian continent finally reached the first important turning point.

The "million-strong army" of the "anti-communist and Ming alliance" composed of the three imperial states of the Great Zhou, the Great Qing Dynasty, and the Great Jing Dynasty, tumbled and tumbled on the vast battlefield stretching from the junction of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Huizhou provinces in the east, to Wuchang and Hanyang in the west, to Xuzhou and Yuzhou in the north, and to the two Guangxi provinces in the south.

In the past few months, the future of the Ming Republican movement has looked rather bleak!

Wu Sangui's Great Zhou army marched hand in hand along the Yangtze River and Hanshui, fighting in Wuchang, fighting in Suizhou, fighting in Jiujiang, fighting in Nanchang, playing triumphant songs along the way, even fighting successes, although under the city of Nanchang suffered the blow of Li Fuchen's elite iron cavalry, but with the absolute superiority of troops, Wu Sangui still besieged the 30,000 army regiments under the command of Li Fuchen and Li Laishun in the city of Nanchang.

And the siege of Nanchang and the prestige of the millions of soldiers in the Great Zhou Dynasty gave the gang of wall-grass magistrates in Jiangxi the illusion that the republic was about to end. For a while, they rebelled against the Ming and returned to the Zhou - these people were the second ministers from the Qing to the Ming not long ago, and now they have been promoted to the three ministers from the Ming to the Zhou, and this figure is really becoming more and more flexible.

With the series of great victories achieved by the Great Zhou in Hubei and Jiangxi, the Qing Dynasty and Dajing, which were originally a little hesitant and a little grinding foreign workers, finally cheered up.

In the past February, the Kangxi Emperor of the "United States" of the Qing Dynasty finally issued an edict to recover Xuzhou and Yuzhou (specified as Henan) under the repeated request of the Council of Ministers, and appointed his fourth brother Prince Gong Changning as the general of Pingnan, commanding the "200,000" troops of Shandong and Henan to launch an attack on Xuyu and Henan!

And the Dajing Emperor Geng Jingzhong was the royal commander himself, leading an army of 50,000 to attack Anji, which was "under Zhejiang", and the soldiers were directed at Guangdezhou, and there was also the meaning of the Northern Expedition to Jinling!

For a time, the cries of the Ming Dynasty and the republican crisis resounded throughout the southeast and Guangdong and Fujian, and even the managers of the Dutch East India Company, the British East India Company, and the French East India Company, which had opened trading halls in Nanjing, Guangzhou, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Quanzhou, and other places, wrote to their headquarters to report the news that "the republican system was about to fail in the East"—this was of course good news to the kings and regents of the British, French, and Dutch countries. After all, there are still some admirers in the West in this year's beautiful China!

If the republican system succeeds in China, then the republicans in Europe will be greatly encouraged!

In the past two years, many Dutch and British profiteers who were inclined to republicans have brought "The World is Public", "Ming Yi to be Interviewed", "The Heavenly Dynasty Tianmu System" and "Datong Song" to Europe.

The imperial merchant sent by the Tokugawa shogunate to spy on Chinese intelligence sent a report to the country that "the shogunate system was not suitable for the Ming dynasty" - for the Tokugawa shogunate, this was certainly not good news, how pleasant the "shogun ruled the world" sounded, how politically correct it sounded! How could it fail?

And the most desperate is the mission sent by the Korean Kingdom to the Ming Dynasty to ask for help, the Ming Father's country is now engaged in this republican system of no monarch and no minister, which has made it difficult for them to accept, and now even the Republic of Ming is going to end. And what about the Lee dynasty of North Korea? Can you only let the Yang family be the king of the three thousand miles of rivers and mountains? The Korean monarchs and ministers originally wanted to be a little patient, and when they invited rescue troops from the Ming Dynasty, they would oppose the Qing Dynasty and destroy Yang. What can be done now? Can you only bow down at the feet of Emperor Yang's descendants? Could it be that Emperor Yang Guangguang was a Korean?

However, Daming showed quite strong resistance and cohesion internally, and was not intimidated by Wu Sangui's million-strong army and the defeat in Hubei and Jiangxi. On the contrary, there has been a good situation in which "shareholders" have increased their bets, the identities of Chinese people and national soldiers have continued to sell well, the two Huai strong men have enthusiastically joined the army, and the military production in Foshan, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou is in full swing.

Obviously, the mobilization capacity of the Republic of the Ming Dynasty in terms of military, finance, and military industry far exceeded that of the Great Zhou, the Qing Dynasty, and the Great Jing.

But if this mobilization capability is not translated into a military victory as soon as possible, the "shareholders" may also lose confidence!

Therefore, the battle of Mingjing Chashan that occurred on the third day of the third month of the third year of the Ming Republic, although the total number of troops participating in the battle was only more than 60,000 people, it was a very critical battle!

At this time, looking out of the eyes of Geng Jingzhong, the "doppelganger of the Son of Heaven", Wu Sangui's nephew, Kang Mazi's cousin, and Geng Jingzhong, the founder and deceased emperor of Dajing, was already a scene of defeat!

Geng Jingzhong, who was sitting on a mule cart, turned his head and looked back, all of them were a large group of routs, blindly following his Qinglong Daxu, running wildly, just thinking about escaping from the bayonets, bullets and the spears of those "blind" Ming army lancers!

Some of the generals and personal soldiers of the Jing Army who were still loyal to Geng Jingzhong, or who still had illusions about Wu Sangui's victory, fled on their horses without looking back, while the soldiers below followed behind with scolding voices, and the cotton armor helmet and equipment were lost all the way, and there were many soldiers and wounded soldiers who could not run on the side of the road, all of them were expressionless and resigned to fate. The artillery shells of the Ming army fell from time to time, fell in the crowd, and then suddenly bounced up, and continued to fly forward under the action of inertia. Sometimes, when a cannonball fell, a horse's fart dragging a cart exploded, bringing the cart carrying the baggage overhead, and then rushing left and right, making the panicked Jing army even more panicked.

Dajing's 50,000 army, measured by the standards of the previous era, cannot be regarded as a weak brigade's 50,000 army! It's so vulnerable!

On the afternoon of the third day of the third month of March, Geng Jingzhong mustered all his strength to launch a desperate blow, but he did not break the Ming infantry battalion in front of them! On the entire front, all the Jing troops were repulsed by the flintlock pistols and bayonets of the model army of the Ming army, and nothing to gain except corpses and broken spirits in one place.

And Geng Jingzhong's Chinese army was attacked by five battalions of Ming infantry and one battalion of Ming lancers! There is no roundabout outflanking, that is, launching a strong attack from the front, and breaking the number of Jing Army Chinese troops that are more than twice as large as themselves!

The cavalry commanded by Li Zhongzheng even killed Geng Jingzhong before he drove it, and he was so shocked that the Emperor of Dajing fell directly from the Wangdou, and he also broke his foot, and there was no way to ride a horse. Fortunately, Li Zhongzheng's lancers followed the principle of only assault and no hand-to-hand combat, and turned around and left after exhausting the momentum of the assault - it is estimated that they did not find Geng Jingzhong wearing cyan armor either! Emperor Geng, who escaped death, had no illusions, and hurriedly got into a mule cart brought to him by Yu Renying with the support of the guards, and then fled all the way south under the escort of Geng Wang's personal soldiers from the clan (these are the pro-soldiers of the spectrum).

Geng Jingzhong's defeat and escape became the beginning of the total collapse of the 50,000 Jing army on the Chashan battlefield! Zeng Yangxing, Bai Xianzhong, Xu Wenyao, Wang Shiyu, Geng Jingzhong's henchmen and generals saw that their masters had fled, so they no longer resisted, and they all retreated together, and the result was that tens of thousands of troops collapsed at once

Looking at the scene of the defeat like a landslide in the dusk, listening to the bursts of gunfire and artillery in all directions, as well as the cheers of "Long live the republic", coupled with the cries of the defeated soldiers, Geng Jingzhong's chest was full of anger, and he suddenly shouted: "This Dajing is dead!" ”

Then his eyes went dark and he lost consciousness.

However, Geng Jingzhong didn't know at this time that his Dajing Dynasty was actually not finally finished!

For he himself was not captured in this tumultuous defeat - his army collapsed too quickly, and it actually saved his life! Because he was defeated too quickly, the two roundabout troops sent by Li Yat-sen had already embarked on the road of escape before they could get around Anji's back.

Probably this is how long as he loses fast enough, it will be difficult for anyone to surround him, right?

Moreover, his Dajing court did not follow him to Anji, nor in Hangzhou, which is closer to Anji, but in Jiande County, which is located in the mountainous area. And Geng Jingzhong's court in Jiande and the families of the soldiers and officials under him, because they were afraid of being raided and slaughtered by the Ming army, so after Geng Jingzhong set out on the expedition, he immediately closed the city gate and entered the highest state of alert.

So when Lu Sanhao and Zhou Chang led the army to Jiande City, the county was already heavily garrisoned. They also did not attack, but divided their troops to occupy Quzhou, Jinhua, Chuzhou and other places.

Li Zhongshan, Chen Yonghua, and Liu Jinzhong, after occupying the capitals of Hangzhou and Shaoxing, also suspended the pursuit of the remnants of the Jing army who fled to Ningbo. Instead, the troops were divided into three routes, with Chen Yonghua staying in Shaoxing, Liu Jinzhong marching into Taizhou and Wenzhou, and Li Zhongshan himself leading his troops to Jiande - this was because he wanted to take down the officials and families of the Dajing court, and then make a forced landing scattered all over Zhejiang, including the large group of Jing troops and Jing Dynasty officials who fled to Ningbo, which seemed to have thousands of people.

In this way, Zhejiang Province can be pacified in the shortest possible time!

After pacifying Zhejiang, Li Zhongshan had to return to Nanjing immediately to prepare for the next battle of Poyang Lake!

As for Geng Jingzhong's life or death, Li Zhongshan actually doesn't care much. If he runs away by sea, what if he runs back to Beijing to vote for his "younger emperor" Kangxi?

Can Kangxi still spare him, the rebellious "cousin"? Surely Ling Chi will be executed!

Therefore, on the fifteenth day of March, that is, twelve days after the Battle of Chashan, Li Zhongshan's general banner appeared outside the city of Jiande.

And the day after Li Yat-sen arrived outside Jiande City, an old acquaintance was ushered in in his Chinese army tent - Ma Hu.

This Ma Hu is also unlucky, although he is Geng Jingzhong's Qixing Pavilion scholar, but has been an "ambassador" in the Qing Dynasty, and later sent an envoy to Wu Sangui's army, and then has been following Wu Sangui, until recently, the grass on the walls of Jiangxi has abandoned the Ming Dynasty and invested in Zhou, he returned to Geng Jingzhong's temporary capital Jiande from the Wu Sangui camp under Nanchang City. Before he could catch his breath, the Ming army surrounded Jiande.

It was a few days, and it became more and more tight, and yesterday there was another army, and it was still waving the flag of Li Zhongshan's general. At this time, Geng Juzhong, the prince of Dajingli, who was sitting in Jiande, finally couldn't collapse, so he asked Ma Hu to beg Li Zhongshan for mercy with a gift.

Li Zhongshan is actually quite nostalgic, he and Ma Hu have worked together in Jiangsu for some time, and they have known each other in Beijing earlier. So I asked my brother Li Zhongzheng to invite him in, and after meeting, I wanted to say a few polite words to him, but before he could speak, this Mahu respectfully presented a gift list. This made Li Zhongshan can't help but praise this Ma Hu in his heart for being sensible. Although this Ma Hu is quite sloppy when he is doing business, he is not sloppy at all in terms of sycophancy, and he doesn't even forget to give gifts

"General, the lower officials and the prince know that your monk has a grudge against Gege Shuying, and this woman was a lobbyist for Wu Sangui before, and she bewitched King Geng to raise troops against the Celestial Empire. Fortunately, God has eyes, after this demon girl finished being a lobbyist, because of the chaos in Jiangxi and the road was cut off, she did not return immediately, but stayed in Jiande today to show his sincerity, and King Li asked people to tie up this demon girl, and asked the lower officials to bring her to the general's line! ”

After Ma Hu finished saying this, he took a step back, clapped his hands and greeted his attaché who was guarding outside, and then saw an attaché rushing towards the outside of Li Zhongshan's big tent, and after a while, he ran back with a donkey, and there was a woman with a cloak on the donkey, barefoot and white, and tied up with five flowers, it was Shang Shuying.

Seeing that the donkey stopped outside the big tent, Shang Shuying didn't need anyone to drive her, she consciously went down from the donkey to the ground, and then walked to the big tent by herself, knelt down for Li Zhongshan with a plop, and bowed respectfully, and said softly: "The prisoner Shang Shuying knocks on the general!" ”

Li Zhongshan and Li Zhongzheng glanced at each other, they were both in a daze, they didn't expect to catch Shang Shuying in Jiande.

Li Zhongzheng shouted with a straight face: "Demon girl, are you guilty?" ”

"The guilty woman is guilty!" Shang Shuying's attitude is still always good, when Li Zhongzheng asked her to speak, she still knelt on the ground in a proper manner, her body was tightly tied by hemp rope, and her ass was pouted high.

"Do you know what crime you've committed?" Li Zhongshan asked with a smile.

"Capital offense." Shang Shuying said.

"Then how are you going to die?" Li Zhongshan asked again.

Shang Shuying sighed: "Ling Chi." ”

"Convincing or not?" Li Zhongshan asked again.

"Obey," Shang Shuying said, "the prisoner is willing to bow to the law." ”

Li Zhongshan smiled: "Then drag it out."

"Wait!" As soon as Shang Shuying heard this, she immediately raised her body, with tears in her eyes, and looked at Li Zhongshan pitifully, "The guilty woman is also willing to die. I just want to see the king of the north again before I die. ”

"The King of the North has abandoned Lingxiu!" Li Zhongshan said, "He won't see you. You'd better die of this heart! ”

Shang Shuying heard tears ripple when she heard this, "Then, well, the prisoner has nothing to say, and she is willing to die to atone for her sins." ”

The words are good, but the eyes are still begging for mercy.

"General," at this time, Ma Hu, who brought Shang Shuying over, also saw her pitiful, and couldn't help but plead, "Although this demon girl deserves to die, Wu Sangui accepted her as a goddaughter and made her a princess." You might as well leave her alive first, and then punish her when you defeat Wu Sangui! ”

Shang Shuying glanced at Ma Hu gratefully, and then said to Li Zhongshan: "The prisoner woman knows some of the Wu army's falsehoods and truths, and she is willing to tell the general everything, and only asks the general to spare the prisoner's wife for a while."

Ma Hu also said: "General, everyone in Jiande City knows that this demon girl is extremely evil, if you can spare her for a while, the people in Jiande City will surrender with peace of mind." ”

"That's it" Li Zhongshan nodded with a smile, and said in his heart: Do you have a leg with a demon girl? Quite plausible.

"Shuying," thinking of this, Li Zhongshan said with a smile, "In this way, you go back to Nanjing with me, go and see with your own eyes the reality of my Ming Republic, and then help me bring a letter to Wu Sangui As for you, remember it first, and you will be executed next time when you are caught!" Do you think so? ”

"What?" Shang Shuying looked incredulous, "General, are you going to spare the prisoner's wife?" ”

"If you don't forgive, how can you forgive?" Li Zhongshan shook his head and said with a smile, "Let's make it clear to you. This general just wants to tell Wu Sangui through your eyes and mouth that his fraudulent claim of a million soldiers is really nothing! Because I really have a million soldiers! He falsely claimed that my Ming Dynasty really has a million national troops, and everyone is brave, and everyone is willing to fight to the death to defend the republic. He's outdated! If he doesn't want to follow in the footsteps of Chen Youliang, it's better to retire and return to Chang'an as soon as possible! As long as he withdraws from the army, General Ben will not raise troops to destroy his country in his lifetime! ”

(End of chapter)