Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 397 Why did you come so late?
Liu Wenxiu still has bargaining chips.

No one expected that Liu Wenxiu still had bargaining chips!

But before this chip was thrown, news of the discovery of Zhang Xianzhong's body came first.

According to the soldier's report, Zhang Xianzhong was nailed to the ground by a spear. Although the details are unknown, it is likely that he was unable to escape and was therefore killed in such a brutal manner.

Zhu Cilang was somewhat confused about this.

After all, the two flags of the Tartar guards had been at the front for about three or two incense sticks, so it seemed a bit far-fetched to say that they were unable to escape in time.

However, to him, the life or death of this person had no bearing on the overall situation. Upon hearing such news, he only felt a little sad about the unpredictability of the world.

just
Looking at Liu Wenxiu, who seemed to have lost her soul, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but feel a little complaining in his heart.

Previously, Liu Wenxiu had explained in detail the current strategic difficulties of the Ming Dynasty, and it was clear that he wanted to use a solution to the difficulties in exchange for something. However, before he could finish half of his words, the news of Zhang Xianzhong's death came.

At this time, General Funan of Daxi just stared at the ground in a daze, obviously completely devastated by the news.

Under such circumstances, not to mention that Zhu Cilang couldn't ask, even if he really asked, how could he get an appropriate answer?

"Wenxiu, don't be too sad. The Eighth Prince has been a soldier all his life. It is better for him to die in battle than to be humiliated by the Tartars. I will wait until the battle is over today."

"Godfather~~~~! It's me. It's me who hurt you!"

Zhu Cilang originally wanted to comfort Liu Wenxiu, so he ordered someone to take Liu Wenxiu downstairs to rest.

After half a day, the other party's emotions should be slightly stable, and then you can look for an opportunity to get the chips out of his hands.

But who would have thought that it would have been better if he hadn't been persuaded. After this persuasion, Liu Wenxiu seemed to have completely collapsed. If there hadn't been guards around to stop him, he might have committed suicide.

Faced with such a situation, Zhu Cilang felt a little jealous. He even understood how Prime Minister Cao felt when Guan Erye went to look for the emperor's uncle.

But then again, with the death of Zhang Xianzhong, he no longer had to worry about the use of the Dashi Army's generals. Once everyone's mood had settled down, he would be able to get some help again.

By then, this small court that only controls half of the country will be able to be more stable.

"Send General Liu down to rest first. Remember to send someone to wait on him to prevent any accidents."

As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers helped Liu Wenxiu away, but Zhu Cilang, who had withdrawn his attention, couldn't help but think in his mind.

Previously, Liu Wenxiu acted extremely confident, as if as long as his conditions were met, he would be able to help the Ming Dynasty solve its dilemma of leaks everywhere. However, judging from the current situation, it seems unrealistic to take over Lianghuai in a short period of time, and it is even more difficult to deal with Hauge's troops.

Under such circumstances, where does Liu Wenxiu get the confidence from?

In the eyes of ordinary people, the Ming Dynasty at that time had won a series of victories, and defeating the Tartars and recovering lost territories were just a matter of seconds.

But since the emergence of China, no matter whether it is Chiyou and the Miao in ancient times, or Baiyue and Chusong (Liu Song) in recent times, which one has unified the country from south to north?

Zhu Cilang couldn't say much about the detailed causes and effects, but he knew that the internal strife that had been passed down for thousands of years played an extremely important role in it.

Due to the limitations of terrain and natural conditions, the spread and dissemination of southern culture has been extremely rich in regional colors since its inception. The situation of different accents and customs every ten miles has not changed fundamentally even in later generations.

The fierce internal strife of any southern regime can often be seen in history books, and the root cause of this is probably closely related to this.

In comparison, the situation in the north is much better.

Not to mention the same county or prefecture, even if they are from neighboring provinces, northerners will regard them as fellow townsmen.

Do not underestimate this situation. In daily life, losing such recognition will probably lead to some conflicts and a reputation of "one person is a dragon and a group of people are worms".

But if they get into the battle, the slightest distrust between soldiers and generals may lead to the defeat of the entire army, and then completely ruin the good situation.

Of course, this is just one of the reasons. Reasons like war horses and terrain are obstacles to the unification of the country by the South, and we cannot generalize because of Taizu.

However, since Zhu Cilang started his rebellion, the struggles within the small court had never stopped, either covertly or overtly. After experiencing all this, how could Zhu Cilang be so complacent because of several great victories? It was reasonable for him to pay attention to Liu Wenxiu's trump card.

As my thoughts turned, the war ahead was coming to an end.

At this time, most of the Qing army had retreated into the Jinniu Road, and there were only about 10,000 troops left outside.

Under such circumstances, it was obviously impossible to expand the results of the battle, so Zhu Cilang began to think of calling off the battle.

But then again, although the results of this battle were limited, the guards of the Zhenglan and Xianglan armies suffered an extremely heavy blow due to their carelessness.

You have to know that the guards of each flag are the elite among the elite. If we talk about the value of the soldiers themselves, it is not an exaggeration to say that one can be worth a hundred. If you calculate it this way, such a loss will make Haoge feel distressed for a while.

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"Yiqing, go see Liu Wenxiu when you have time. Don't let him get so depressed that he commits suicide."

"Well, I will obey your orders."

Seeing that the war was no longer tense, Zhu Cilang said a few words to Hu Yiqing to comfort him. But when he wanted to turn his attention back to the battlefield, he saw another rider galloping from the front.

"Your Majesty, the Tartars suddenly started a riot, and they seem to be fighting for a way to retreat!"

Cause chaos?

Fighting for a retreat?
When Zhu Cilang heard the words, he was shocked at first, but in a moment he felt some disbelief in his heart.

The Qing army was certainly defeated this time, but if you look closely, this defeat was far from a rout.

After all, it was Hauge who chose to retreat on his own initiative when he saw that the situation was not good. Moreover, after entering Jinniu Road, the Qing army did not have to worry about being pursued by the enemy.

If Hauge could not lead the troops to retreat in an orderly manner under such circumstances, then the Eight Banners elite would be unworthy of their reputation.

Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang suddenly felt a warning in his heart, and immediately said to the soldier who came to report the news: "Send a message to Mei Chun, don't chase the desperate enemy, and retreat before the ammunition runs out."

"Order!"

After Zhu Cilang issued the military order, the soldier went forward to pass on the order. However, when he saw the rather chaotic Qing army formation from afar, he couldn't help feeling puzzled.

The Qing troops that had previously retreated into the road were still able to maintain a basically intact formation, and from a distance one could even see the gaps reserved between the various units.

But now the Qing army was obviously in chaos. Not to mention reserving empty positions, they could not even maintain their main formation.

If this was a deliberate act for the sake of conspiracy, the risk Hauge took seemed to be too great.

In essence, a formation is easy to break up but difficult to organize. Once Zhu Cilang is hit and the two armies chase him directly, the Qing troops left outside Jinniu Road will inevitably be unable to put up an effective resistance. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are waiting to be captured.

By then, it would certainly be difficult to completely wipe out the Qing troops outside Daowai, but leaving a small half would not be a problem.

If Hauge used this as bait, it seemed that the cost was too high. Forget it, safety comes first. After all, Guangyuan only has so many troops. If Hauge defeated them first and then defeated them, it would be a big loss.

With this in mind, Zhu Cilang decided to be more conservative. He then just looked at the entrance of Jinniu Road indifferently without giving any more orders.

There is nothing wrong with his idea.

No matter what, the enemies in front of them were all elite Eight Banners soldiers who had experienced battles. The pressure from the rear army should not be enough to make them collapse before they even met the enemy.

But this was a battlefield after all, and any unexpected situation was natural. Just when he was cautious and did not dare to be too radical, Hauge, who was still outside the Jinniu Road, was already sweating profusely.

"Why are there falling rocks?! How did the falling rocks happen?!"

"Your Majesty, I don't know. I think it was because there was too much rain a few days ago and the stones became brittle."

"fart!"

Facing the explanation given by the general in front of him, Hauge angrily shouted and whipped him in the face with the whip in his hand.

If it were an ordinary time, a person like him would not vent his anger on his trusted military generals.

But today he had a very bad day.

First he was fooled by Liu Wenxiu, then he lost his hostages during the retreat. When he was leading his troops back north, he encountered such a thing again. No matter how good-tempered he was, he was on the verge of exploding.

But then again, since there were fallen rocks blocking the road, venting his anger would not be of any use. If the road could not be cleared in time, he, the Prince Su of the Qing Dynasty, would probably die in the chaos like Ajige.

"Get out! You have one stick of incense to clear the fallen rocks, or your whole family will be made slaves of the armored men!"

"twitter!"

As Hauge's angry words were heard, the general immediately crawled towards the intersection. After seeing his back going away, Hauge could not help but look behind the army formation.

Although the enemy did not pursue him relentlessly while he was retreating, many flagmen continued to fall to the ground due to the muskets.

He knew very well that although the enemy was acting quite cautiously at the moment, if the road ahead could not be cleared for a long time, there would be no need for the enemy to launch a large-scale attack. Even such piecemeal attacks would cause heavy losses to the troops left outside.

Faced with such a situation, he was constantly thinking about how to deal with it, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel anxious.

As time passed, he was still not sure where these musketeers came from, but he had some guesses in his mind.

When Duoduo was defeated, there were rumors that the Ming army's firearms were powerful, but everyone focused on the Ming army's use of the navy and no one noticed this.

Later, Ajige was trapped in Ganzhou. Although the Ming army also used firearms, they were ultimately at a disadvantage in military strategy.

Therefore, although the Qing army suffered a series of defeats in battles with the Ming army, no one paid attention to the issue of firearms.

However, Hauge was ultimately one of the most powerful people in the Qing Dynasty. Even though he did not get along well with various forces, he still got some information about the new firearms army from Hong Chengchou.

At this point, even if he was unwilling to admit it in his heart, he knew in his heart that those soldiers wearing Dashi Army uniforms were most likely Ming Army in disguise.

Under such circumstances, it was not difficult to guess that the Emperor Ming had outwitted them.

"Your Majesty, this is not a solution. Why not mobilize the best archers in the army to launch a counterattack?"

As Luo Luohun's words reached his ears, Hauge gave orders to the generals beside him. However, the enemy was still sixty or seventy steps away at this time, and it was unknown what effect the bows and crossbows could achieve.

The troops under Hauge were worthy of their title of elite. Even though those still left outside Jinniu Road were already scattered beyond recognition, those who were good at archery still gathered together at an extremely fast speed under the continuous calls of the generals.

Having fought in wars for most of their lives, they naturally knew that at this point in the battle, whether they could suppress the enemy's muskets would determine whether they could save their lives.

After forming a rather simple battle formation, hundreds of archers immediately headed out of the passage.

However, this kind of behavior is mostly just a fight of a trapped beast.

After all, the self-propelled guns equipped by the rear guards are unique in the Ming Dynasty. Even though their accuracy needs to be improved due to the lack of rifling, their range is definitely much longer than that of the Eight Banners archers who are accustomed to using heavy arrows.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

As a round of firing was completed, the musketeers in the front row retreated to the rear along the formation, while at this time arrows fell in front of the army formation. Except for a few arrows that were blocked by armor and fell weakly, no other arrows caused any damage.

Of course, due to the distance, the muskets did not cause much damage to the Qing army in front of them. However, compared with the powerlessness of the arrows, some Qing soldiers who were hit in the vitals eventually fell to the ground.

Faced with such a situation, Mei Chun, who was at the rear of the formation, naturally wanted to move the army forward. However, thinking of the military order just sent by His Majesty and the fact that most of the ammunition had been consumed, he finally forced himself to suppress this thought.

"Marshal, we have six rounds of ammunition left. Should we withdraw?"

Just when Mei Chun was feeling regretful for missing this opportunity, the general in charge of counting the ammunition reported to him.

Although the Qing army had not yet completely collapsed at this time, the formations of each unit were basically scattered. If he could repel the archers in front of him, the results of his army would surely be further expanded.

Under such circumstances, it would be really difficult to ask Mei Chun to retreat.

"Fire three more missiles, and then we'll retreat." Mei Chun paused for a moment, then hesitated for a moment before saying to the general beside him, "Go and inform the general."

As soon as he finished speaking, the general went straight to the right wing of the army. Mei Chun, who stayed where he was, kept evaluating in his mind whether it was time to move forward.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

With another round of activation of the small formation in front, a cloud of smoke rose slowly above the army formation again. But when Mei Chun was watching the rotation between the small formations and thinking about the casualties to the Qing army, a sound like a landslide reached his ears.

cavalry!!!

Could it be that, as Your Majesty thought, this chaos was a deliberate bait left by Hauge? !

Thinking of this, Mei Chun couldn't help but turn towards the source of the sound, but when he saw the familiar military flag, he couldn't help feeling regretful.

Why did you come just now?

(End of this chapter)