Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 434 Weng Ting

Beijing.

At this time, many Eight Banners families in the capital, as well as some food, salaries, population and many other supplies have begun to be transported outside the Great Wall. However, before the battle between the Regent and Meng Jun was settled, the Qing court did not dare to evacuate just like that. If they did so, not only would the morale of the army be greatly damaged, but more importantly, Mongolia, the Qing Dynasty's most important ally, would also be unable to stop its disloyalty.

It was another political discussion in the court that ended in vain. No one mentioned flood control, corruption control, or state governance anymore. Many smart people had already seen the weakness within the Qing court and the crisis-ridden situation. These people no longer wanted to attend court. Even if they did, they would be like monks practicing silent meditation and would not utter a word.

Those Han officials who were secretly connected with Qingluan Guard were all very impressed with themselves for the current situation. One Han official said to his family in private: "I was a Jinshi in the 15th year of Chongzhen. I have been a Ming official, a Shun official, and a Qing official. So why can't I be a Zhou official?"

Fan Wencheng walked in the corridors of the Forbidden City. The chaos in the court, the local areas, and the palace made the former chief civil official of the Qing Dynasty feel very bitter.

As the sun sets, the glazed tiles of the Forbidden City are still very beautiful and magnificent, but Fan Wencheng, an old man with a hunched back, gray hair, and a bleak expression, looks even more tired.

Looking at the carvings on the pavilion, Fan Wencheng couldn't help but raise his head and look at the afterglow of the setting sun. He was moved and couldn't help but mutter to himself: "The rolling Yangtze River flows eastward, and the waves wash away all heroes. Right and wrong, success and failure are all in vain. The green mountains are still there, and the sunset is red several times... The sunset is red, the sunset is red, is the Qing Dynasty also like this sunset?"

…………

On the battlefield.

Suksaha led the cavalry to sink ships again. Although they were discovered by a patrol boat of the Zhou army after sinking just two ships, the patrol boat of the Zhou army wanted to step forward to stop them, but facing the Eight Banners soldiers who took turns shooting arrows on the river bank, the patrol boat could only helplessly ask for support.

Seeing that time was running out, Suksaha ordered his men to sink the ship. With the help of sandbags and stones, the Qing army still completed the task of sinking the ship before the Zhou army's warships arrived.

Dorgon was full of confidence when he received the news, believing that Meng Jun would be forced by him to seek a decisive battle soon. By then, whether he wanted to fight or not would be another matter.

To be on the safe side, Dorgon ordered Suksaha to sink ships in four or five places in succession. According to Dorgon's estimation, Meng Jun could not remain as stable as a rock without food and grass.

If the Zhou army was short of food and wanted to fight, Dorgon would not give Meng Jun a chance. Just when Dorgon was excited and waiting for Meng Jun to send an envoy to invite him to fight, he found that Meng Jun's movements remained unchanged and he was still moving like a turtle.

For more than ten consecutive days, the Qing cavalry's harassment and luring of the enemy still failed to prevent Zhou's army from reaching the city of Tianjin.

This time, Meng Jun was not in a hurry to dig the city, but first seized Tianjin Port and prepared to receive food and grass from the sea. Meng Jun built three small camps and one large camp beside Tianjin Port. The small camps were in the shape of a "品" (product) to protect the large camp in the middle.

Meng Jun intended to use this camp as a place to store grain before capturing Tianjin, so defense of the camp was of top priority. There were three small camps, two of which were garrisoned with 3,000 troops, the northern camp was garrisoned with 4,000 troops, and the large camp was garrisoned with 10,000 troops. Guwu Town, the headquarters of Bai Yongfu, was stationed there, and the other three camps were garrisoned by troops from Yingyang Town, led by Hao Yongzhong.

It was not until the Zhou army's grain arrived at Tianjin Port that Dorgon realized that his plan to sink the ships to isolate the canal had failed again. However, it cannot be said to have failed, as the canal did block the large ships, but Dorgon's strategy of cutting off the grain supply had failed.

As the saying goes, the first attack is powerful, the second is weak, and the third is exhausted. Dorgon knew that if he did not take action, he would have no choice but to retreat.

When the Qing army marched south, it had 6,000 Solon soldiers, 30,000 Han soldiers, 8,000 Eight Banners soldiers and 3,000 Mongolian soldiers, totaling more than 47,000 people. In addition, there were Suksaha's 30,000 Eight Banners and 15,000 Mongolian soldiers, for a total of more than 92,000 people.

However, in the attack on the stronghold, they lost about 2,000 Han troops, and in the Cangzhou city formation, they lost 5,000 Eight Banners and more than 4,000 Han troops. At this time, Dorgon only had 6,000 Solon soldiers, 24,000 Han troops, 18,000 Mongolian cavalry, and the only remaining pillar of the Qing court, more than 33,000 Eight Banners soldiers, with a total strength of 85,000 people.

In order to prevent Tianjin from surrendering without a fight, Dorgon moved another 1,000 Eight Banners, 2,000 Mongolian cavalry, and 5,000 Han soldiers into the city to defend Tianjin.

He has a large army but doesn't know where to attack it, just like facing a hedgehog. This is Dorgon's current mentality. If he doesn't fight, the morale of the Eight Banners will probably be dispersed. But if he forcibly attacks the camp, giving up the advantage of the cavalry, and attacks a solid camp with sufficient manpower, let alone victory or defeat, how many of the 80,000 people can return.

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Outside Tianjin, the Zhou army once again used the tried and tested method of digging forts in order to break through the city. Bombing the city was so useful that there was no reason for the Zhou army generals not to use it. Qian Biao said with some emotion: "Alas, what a pity! No one will be able to achieve this feat in the future!"

The news that Meng Jun used gunpowder to blow up Cangzhou City could naturally not be concealed. Of course, Meng Jun did not intend to conceal it. He had published three consecutive pages of "The Royal Army Destroyed Cangzhou City" in the newspaper.

The Qing army also saw this newspaper, so the Tianjin defenders learned from it and set up eavesdropping stations under the city walls on all four sides to determine the city's position by listening to the sounds made.

This method has been around since the Spring and Autumn Period. At that time, in order to prevent the enemies outside the city from digging tunnels underground to launch a sneak attack, the defenders buried a jar with a large belly and a small mouth filled with wine in the city. They would find someone with sensitive ears to lie on the ground and listen, and they would be able to find out the approximate location of the cave dug by the enemy.

This time the Zhou army miscalculated. The craftsmen dug the city day and night for ten days. When they were close to the city wall, the Qing army suddenly dug a small passage from the city and poured water from above, causing the tunnel to collapse in several places, trapping dozens of diggers.

The news of the tunnel being destroyed made the generals of the Zhou army sigh. Zhao Yongping sighed and said, "What a pity! More than ten days of work have been destroyed in an instant!"

Meng Jun also felt a little regretful, but on the battlefield, nothing can go as planned. Since one tunnel was destroyed, he might as well dig a few more at once. Even if only one tunnel can reach the city wall, it is better than climbing the city wall like ants and engaging in a bloody battle.

Just when Meng Jun led his main force to the city of Tianjin, Dorgon took action.

Dorgon did not intend to attack Meng Jun's main force, but instead besieged the four camps in Tianjin Port, where Meng Jun stored grain.

In the Zhou army camp.

Liu Tichun asked in disbelief: "Is Dorgon crazy?"

Zhao Yongping was also somewhat puzzled. He shook his head and said to the crowd, "What is Dorgon trying to do? Guwu and Yingyang are only four or five miles away from the main force of our army. They will arrive at any time. Does Dorgon want to use this to seek a decisive battle?"