Chapter 249: Ambitious, but Not Flattering [Subscription Request]

[Second update]

In a small village called Wangzhuang by Sheyang Lake. The sound of gunfire, explosions, horse hooves, shouts, screams, and the neighing of frightened and injured horses were all intertwined, and the deafening noise spread far in all directions.

Zeng Ming's face was splashed with blood from someone unknown, and his whole body was covered in blood, but he didn't bother to wipe off the sticky blood on his face. He threw the knife in his hand aside, leaned against the wall, and gasped heavily. Finally, finally, their team finally survived another wave of attacks. Zeng Ming never thought that his luck would be so bad that he actually ran into a group of Qing army cavalry by Sheyang Lake, and they were Eight Banners soldiers.

Hearing the sound of horse hooves from afar, Zeng Ming secretly cried out in bad luck, and quickly moved to Wangzhuang next to him with his soldiers. But he was still rushed by the Qing army cavalry for a while, and it was all thanks to the two tiger squat cannons and grenades he carried that the flag soldiers were temporarily forced to retreat.

Zeng Ming thought he was safe. After all, the village was not flat and was not suitable for the horse team to gallop. He never expected that the flag soldiers outside would directly set a fire.

The fire followed the wind from Sheyang Lake and engulfed more than half of Wangzhuang. If Zeng Ming had not acted decisively and asked the soldiers to push down all the houses around the yard where their team was located, cut down all the trees, and poured water on them, they might have fled the village in a panic like most of the people in Wangzhuang. Then they were killed by the Qing soldiers and cavalry.

The people of Wangzhuang suffered an unprovoked disaster. The fire set by the Qing soldiers turned their homes into ashes, and their belongings, food, and most of the livestock were all destroyed in the fire. The people who escaped from the village cried bitterly as they watched their homes collapse and be destroyed bit by bit in the fire, but they were also lucky. Because the Fu Han army did not rush out of the village with them, otherwise the Qing cavalry would have chopped them to the ground without mercy along with the Fu Han soldiers.

The Fu Han army hiding in the landlord's house in Wangzhuang, after the fire was extinguished and before the Qing army launched an offensive, used the remaining ruins around to hastily organize a simple line of defense.

Then, before the smoke in the ruins of the burned village had dissipated, the Qing infantry gathered around began to attack Zeng Ming's team. Yes, Sheyang Lake is connected to Ziyinggou below and Baoying City above. It is the first time to encounter the Qing army flag cavalry at the Sheyang Lake, but it is normal to encounter a small group of Qing soldiers.

The team of Qing soldiers recruited by the Eight Banners Cavalry was not large, only more than 100 people, roughly equivalent to Zeng Ming's team. This is the unspoken tacit understanding and silent rule between the two sides. Small-scale conflicts are always kept small-scale.

If only the Green Camp infantry attacked, Zeng Ming would never be so embarrassed as he is now. Those bannermen actually dismounted to attack. Moreover, many people are very good at using bows and arrows, which are much more accurate than the Green Camp infantry's muskets and have much more lethality.

Zeng Ming now has 60 to 70 people left. Of the other 30 to 40 people, half were killed or injured by bows and arrows, and the remaining half were killed or injured in hand-to-hand combat. Even Zeng Ming himself, if he had not been lucky, would have been pierced through the throat by a long arrow. Zeng Ming, who was leaning against the wall and breathing heavily, was touched by someone and a bucket of cold water was handed to him. Zeng Ming drank it all in one gulp, and the water drops from his mouth flowed down his neck.

The battle had been fought three times, "How many grenades are there?" Zeng Ming didn't believe that the news here would not be known in the rear. But there were at least 200 bannermen and cavalry outside the village, and this was just this team. No one knew whether the Qing soldiers had only this team of bannermen and cavalry. If they were to encounter a charge of several hundred cavalry on a flat ground, even the old camp in the city would not be able to withstand it.

Gaoyou Prefecture has cannons and grenades, but not many muskets.

"Boss Zeng, there are still ten boxes of grenades, and each of the brothers has two or three..." There is no shortage of grenades for the time being. What they lack now is hope. When will the reinforcements arrive? More than one-third of them have been killed or wounded. If they had not had no way to escape, and the Qing soldiers killed and wounded were obviously more than their own casualties, which boosted their morale, they would have collapsed long ago.

"When will the reinforcements arrive? How do I know? I'm not a worm in Lu Hu's stomach..." After drinking a bucket of cold water, Zeng Ming regained three points of strength, and the rogue spirit he spoke was still the same.

Zeng Ming could not surrender. His family and relatives were all in Lushan. If Zeng Ming surrendered, his parents, wife, children, and relatives would all be unlucky because of Zeng Ming. Many people would put their lives first, and would abandon their parents, wives, and children in order to survive, but Zeng Ming was not that kind of person. He was very filial to his parents. Even though he was scolded by many people for being unscrupulous in Lushan, Zeng Ming was very conscientious towards his parents and relatives, so he would never surrender.

Sweeping the soldiers around him, Zeng Ming could see that these soldiers, who were covered in dust, were now in low spirits. They had repelled the Qing army's three attacks in Wangzhuang and had persisted for half a day, but there was no sign of reinforcements.

"You can surrender. Few of your families are in southwest Henan. If you run to the Qing, as long as the Qing is not stupid, they will not kill you now." Zeng Ming said to the soldiers in front of him. These soldiers were either new recruits or captured soldiers. There were really few veterans, and naturally few of them had their families in the base control area.

"You can also confess some of the names of the surrendered soldiers you know and where they are from. The Qing Dynasty will probably give you a reward. But don't forget the secret camp of the Fu Han Army. Those officials can't resist the assassination, can you resist it? Can your family members resist it?" After Zeng Ming asked a few stern questions, his body softened, his momentum suddenly withdrew, and he leaned against the wall again, his eyes slightly narrowed, enjoying the sun as if basking in the sun.

Before coming to Jiangnan, I didn't know there would be so many rainy days here. Zeng Ming felt that he was going to mold these days. He never felt that the sun was so loving. Today might be the last time he enjoyed the sun in his life, so he had to enjoy it more.

The team has reached this point. Zeng Ming can't control the crazy thoughts of his soldiers. He can fight to death, but not all of his soldiers think so. Zeng Ming's means of restraint were also very limited. The few questions he uttered were more of threats and intimidation. If they didn't scare people, then it didn't matter.

...

Lu Hu, who had already rushed from Gaoyou Prefecture to Jieshou Town in Ziyinggou [the intersection of Ziyinggou and Gaoyou Lake, also called Jieshou], looked at the news that the reconnaissance team had gathered and finally confirmed that the Qing army had broken the tacit understanding.

The three teams of Eight Banners cavalry had a total of at least 500 troops, not counting the one on the edge of Sheyang Lake. Are there any more that have not been found by the scouts? The Qing army probably deployed thousands of cavalry this time, and they were all Eight Banners cavalry. They cooperated with the Green Camp infantry - although the number of Qing soldiers on the front of Ziyinggou was small, the combat effectiveness of the infantry and cavalry should not be underestimated.

Especially in the lakeside plain area. Thousands of cavalry rushed out, and without sufficient artillery and muskets, they could not be stopped at all.

Lu Hu is the commander-in-chief of the entire Gaoyou Prefecture Fu Han Army. His eyes are not only on the besieged team, but also on the overall situation of the war. The Qing army released the cavalry, not to find prey on the small battlefield north of Ziyinggou. Their target should be the canal connecting Gaoyou Prefecture to Yangzhou, and the canal connecting Gaoyou Prefecture to Ziyinggou.

If these thousands of cavalry rushed through Ziyinggou, what would the Gaoyou defenders do to stop them from cutting off the canal?

"Commander Lu, Zeng Ming's troops have been besieged in Wangzhuang for half a day. When will Commander Lu send troops?" The Fu Han Army officers in Jieshou Town did not dare to ask Lu Hu about Wangzhuang, because the matter of Wangzhuang was too tricky, and Zeng Ming's team was doomed to die. But Duan Guorui dared to ask Lu Hu, Zeng Ming had a deep relationship with him, and he didn't want to miss even a glimmer of hope.

"The Qing army has thousands of cavalry. It is absolutely impossible to rescue Wangzhuang head-on. I have ordered the reconnaissance team to sneak into Sheyang Lake and connect with fishing boats to quietly go to the shore of Wangzhuang Lake. At night, we will help Zeng Ming's team break through and move from Sheyang Lake to Ziyinggou." Lu Hu waved his hand at Duan Guorui. He made the right choice. Even if all the Fu Han troops in Gaoyou Prefecture were pulled out, they might not be able to deal with the Qing cavalry. Using the reconnaissance team was just right. He was also very kind to Zeng Ming's team. Whether Zeng Ming could survive depended on his luck.

"Now the Qing army suddenly has cavalry heading south, thousands of people and horses, damn it, this is a big trouble. If this cavalry guerrillas are in the north and south of Gaoyou Prefecture, Gaoyou City will immediately become a dead city. But Gaoyou City has a special geographical location, and it must be saved no matter what, but Jieshou Town is difficult to save, and Xinghua under Sheyang Lake..."

Lu Hu is not a gentleman. He speaks with dirty words and his catchphrases are very common. "Tell me, what should we do in Gaoyou next?" But he racked his brains and couldn't think of a solution to the current dilemma.

The Qing army has hard power, thousands of cavalry, on this lakeside plain, as long as they don't attack the city and don't fight hard with the elite Fu Han army, who can stop them?

Compared with the overall situation of the war, what's the point of Zeng Ming's team? Besides, it was a very light team of recruits.

As the plum rain season in Jiangnan subsided, the pressure faced by the Third Brigade in Jiangbei was increasing. When Huang Jie's express report was passed to Chen Ming, Chen Ming led a large force to compete with the canal outside Suzhou City. Of course, he also sent a small force to capture Wujiang County, and then marched into Zhejiang Province, causing Cui Yingjie, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, to urge the soldiers in Hangzhou to go north.

The total strength of the Qing army staying in Hangzhou exceeded 20,000, not counting the banner soldiers in Hangzhou. A considerable number of green camps in Fujian gathered here, as well as the volunteer and militia armed forces organized by the local government of Zhejiang.

There are a total of twelve green camps on land and sea in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, five in Zhejiang. In addition to the naval forces of Haimen and Dinghai, there are also land green camps in Wenzhou, Chuzhou and Quzhou. These three towns are all in southern Zhejiang. Wenzhou, Chuzhou and Quzhou are the three southernmost prefectures in Zhejiang, corresponding to Fujian and Jiangxi respectively.

When Jiangxi was in a state of emergency, part of Quzhou Town entered Shangrao, Jiangxi, to reinforce the east bank of Poyang Lake in Jiangxi. Then Jiangnan was in a state of emergency, and Zhejiang Waterway Admiral Duan Xiulin led nearly 10,000 troops to reinforce, and the troops of Quzhou Town also rushed back to Zhejiang in a hurry.

The naval forces of Haimen and Dinghai were completely dragged down by the escort mission of the sea grain ships, and they were unable to split their forces. Duan Xiulin took away the elite soldiers and generals of the Green Camp of the three towns in southern Zhejiang. The remaining soldiers gathered in Hangzhou were only a group of old and weak people. Fortunately, the local militia in Zhejiang allowed the Zhejiang government to raise a lot of troops. The only elite Green Camp in Hangzhou was the Fujian Min soldiers. The Fujian Land Commander controlled the four towns. In addition to the five battalions, he also led the Fuzhou City Defense, Xinghua City Defense Second Association, Quanzhou City Defense and other battalions. The Fu'ning Town, Tingzhou Town, Jianning Town, and Zhangzhou Town under his command had a large number of soldiers and generals, with a total force of more than 35,000.

[The admiral of Fujian Navy controls three towns: Taiwan, Nan'ao and Haitan. ]

Part of them began to advance towards Zhejiang in February. Admiral Huang Shijian led the troops personally. The troops gathered in Hangzhou City in the plum rain, and then rested until now. Now is the time for them to set off.

The troops went north, led by Hangzhou General E Sengge and Fujian Land Admiral Huang Shijian. E Sengge was a veteran who had been on the battlefield for a long time. During the first Jinchuan Campaign, he was Yue Zhongqi's deputy general of the southern route. He fought hard to become the general of Hangzhou. But Huang Shijian was different. He was the great-grandson of Huang Wu, the Duke of Haicheng of the Qing Dynasty. And who was Huang Wu, the Duke of Haicheng? During the Shunzhi period, the sea ban policy was offered to deal with Zheng Chenggong and the admiral of the Fujian Navy in Taiwan. Before that, he was a general of the Zheng army. He and his deputy general Su Ming led the people to offer Haicheng to the Qing court. Haicheng was a solid fortress that Zheng Chenggong had invested huge manpower and material resources to build over the years. Huang Wu's move not only caused Zheng to lose millions of military equipment and food, but also made the Zheng army lose an important stronghold to defend Xiamen. Shunzhi named Huang "Haicheng Gong" for this in the same year, a standard traitor and rebel general!

Huang Shijian was the sixth Haicheng Gong. He served as the admiral of Fujian Land in the 28th year of Qianlong. Compared with E Sengge, this man was a rookie.

In the 33rd year of Qianlong, at the end of June. The Qing army cavalry went south to Yangzhou, and the Qing soldiers in Hangzhou marched north in large numbers. At this time, Chen Ming continued to linger in Suzhou and compete with the canal. Yes, the surface fleet of the Fu Han Army had passed the Wusong River east of the canal, broke through Zhangjiagang and Dangtou in succession, and entered the intersection of the Wusong River and the canal. There is the source of the Wusong River ahead, Guajingkou, and then the fleet can enter the vast waters of Taihu Lake.

But half a month of precious time was wasted like this. In addition to sweeping the outside of Suzhou City, entering Wujiang, and dividing the troops to fight into Zhejiang Province, the Fu Han Army did not cause a heavy blow to the Qing army in Suzhou City.

It is difficult to say whether Chen Ming's decision is wise or not. Anyway, according to the news from the secret camp, many people in Jiangnan have been mocking Chen Ming for his habit of banditry, unwilling to spend money and food, and wasting a great opportunity in vain. It's hard to achieve great things!

"Damn, a bunch of bastards. If I want to achieve great things, you guys have ambitions, so don't come to kneel down and touch my feet!"