As night falls.
The Qing army began to withdraw its troops.
Continuous campfires illuminated the surroundings of the camp, and Qing soldiers set up fires outside the camp to illuminate the darkness nearby and prevent the Ming army from attacking at night.
On the river in the distance, the searchlight of the Jingyuan, which was gradually approaching, scanned the shore, and the rich whistle sounded throughout the night sky.
"Boom~"
Jingyuan fired a salvo, and two 305mm artillery shells and two 150mm artillery shells fell on one side of the Qing army's central camp.
Ding Qiao provided precise coordinates.
The Jingyuan launched its first salvo and achieved good results.
The huge explosion blew away more than a dozen tents, and the blazing shrapnel harvested the lives around them.
Hundreds of Qing soldiers were killed in the explosion.
"It's a Ming army battleship!"
"Hurry and protect the Marquis and retreat."
The camp was in chaos, and some Qing generals tried hard to maintain order.
However, after experiencing the fatal charge during the day, many green camps that were close to collapse were bombed.
They were armed with big knives and would kill anyone they saw.
The soldiers escorted Eldenbao away. His old body was bumping up and down on the horse. It was unknown whether he was hit by shrapnel or something, and blood spilled from the corners of his mouth.
The Jingyuan continued to fire, and fireballs rose up from the Qing army camp.
There were screams everywhere.
More than a dozen sailing battleships covered a group of troop carriers as they docked.
After the Ming army reinforcements disembarked, they spread out to both sides in company units.
The soldiers in the front row of the attack sequence quickly charged with rifles, like a sharp knife piercing the Qing army camp.
At the rear, a transport team composed of countless recruits poured into Haohe City through the opened channel.
This group of recruits came from the Chongming Island Military Camp. They were recruited by the General's Office from the Suzhou and Hangzhou areas. A total of more than 20,000 people were trained on Chongming Island.
In the future, it will be added to the 2nd Division to make up for the establishment of the 2nd Division.
However, the war situation in Haohe was urgent at this time, and some people could only be deployed as logistics to deliver supplies to Ding Qiao.
Those in the south of the Hao River near the river bank were only part of the Qing army.
Although a few green camps were bombed, most of the camps were in good order.
The generals of the Qing army gathered their soldiers and began to suppress the unrest.
With the charge and containment of the warrior group, the Ming army set up positions on both sides of Shiban Bridge to prevent the Qing army from counterattacking, and successfully sent supplies and personnel into Haohe City.
After a night of chaos, the Qing army's turmoil gradually subsided.
After making statistics, Eldenbao found that there were only 120,000 Qing troops left at this time.
Although a large number of green camp soldiers died, the Qing army became more elite.
But this is obviously not the result Eldenbao wanted.
The Ming army had received supplies, but the Qing army suffered heavy casualties. The situation in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was reversed here.
Eldenbao looked up to the sky and sighed: "The national situation is difficult!"
Just as he was gathering his defeated troops and preparing to retreat to Rucheng for further planning, a warrant from Emperor Jiaqing came to him in a hurry eight hundred miles away.
"What? You want me to end the battle as soon as possible and cross the river to attack Chongming Island?"
Eldenbao vomited three liters of blood.
"Bring me a pen and ink, I want to write a letter to the emperor..."
Emperor Jiaqing was far away in Peiping and didn't know about yesterday's defeat.
This is not to blame Emperor Jiaqing.
Instead, the Ming Navy blocked the Yangtze River, and the Southern War Report needed to take a detour from Shu.
Moreover, the number of horses in various inns varies, and local officials are corrupt.
Many couriers were unable to change their horses in time, resulting in reports of battles being reported at different times.
When they were sent to Peking, the chaotic battle report made Emperor Jiaqing's hair turn gray with worry.
Among the war reports of funerals from various places, the "good news" from Elzhen, Zhenghuang Banner in Suzhou and Hangzhou, stands out from the crowd.
This "good news" caused the Manchu officials to misjudge.
That is, the Ming army's army on the south bank of the Yangtze River was severely damaged, which gave Jiaqing unrealistic ideas.
That is to cross the river to attack Chongming Island and cut off the Ming army's logistics supply line.
As long as Jinling can be defended, they can imitate Zheng Chenggong's Northern Expedition and forcefully drag the Ming army to death.
Emperor Jiaqing was optimistic, but Hong Chengwan and others were pessimistic.
Because they could already see the huge boat shadow on the river from the top of Jinling City.
End of October.
The 1st Brigade, 2nd Brigade, 4th Brigade, Heavy Artillery Brigade, 2nd Samurai Regiment of the 1st Ming Dynasty Division, and the 1st Fleet of the Navy met in Jinling.
On the Dingyuan, Zhu Zaiming convened senior officers from various ministries, held a combat meeting and delivered an important speech.
The officers were all red-faced and gearing up, preparing to achieve unparalleled feats.
Outside Jinling City, dark clouds were gathering.
It's a literal storm of dark clouds and fires rising into the sky.
In order to weaken the Ming army's combat power and increase the difficulty of Ming army supply.
Hong Chengman implemented the strategy of strengthening the wall and clearing the country, and he did it extremely well.
The trees were burned to prevent the Ming army from using them to build siege equipment and build barracks.
The crops were burned, leaving the Ming army unable to replenish a grain of rice.
The weeds were burned, so that the Ming army would not have enough fuel to keep warm in the coming winter.
The entire area dozens of miles outside Jinling City was completely burned, turning it into a scorched earth.
Hong Chengman also slaughtered cattle, sheep, and even civilians, and waited for the corpses to rot before throwing them into wells, rivers, and ponds, so that the Ming army could not obtain a drop of safe water.
The fires soared into the sky and did not stop throughout October.
The area near Jinling City was burned out, and the heat wave carried the sparks and spread them around.
If the Jinling moat had not been refilled and the houses beside the city wall had not been demolished, Jinling City would have been devoured by fire.
Millions of people who did not have time to evacuate into Jinling, or who had no time to escape, were roasted to death in the fire.
The entire land was filled with burned ashes and the numerous skeletons of the people.
Zhu Zaiming and other senior Ming officials, as well as York and others who returned to the east with Napoleon's letters, watched all this with gritted teeth.
Even when night falls.
The fire still illuminated the entire sky, the boundary between heaven and earth was reflected in fiery red, and thick black smoke covered the sky and the sun.
A scene of doom.
Inside Jinling City.
Hong Chengwan once again hosted a banquet for the guards from all over the country to celebrate that Ming Dynasty had stopped.
"Hahaha, the ancients do not deceive me. It is a wonderful strategy to strengthen the wall and clear the fields."
Liu Tong drank a cup, his face flushed, and he said drunkenly: "In recent days, the Ming army has been unstoppable. Our army has made several attacks but failed. I thought I would die for the country.
Unexpectedly, he survived from a desperate situation. "
The fire burned so well.
When we first started clearing the country, we didn't do anything so extreme. They just cut down trees within 20 miles outside the city.
But the speed of the Ming army's advance frightened them out of their wits.
Letters asking for help flew to Peiping like snowflakes.
Until Tong Jin couldn't stand it anymore, he simply led the Eight Banners cavalry to set fires everywhere.
Unexpectedly, it worked wonders.
The surrounding area was burned to white ground. As the fire expanded, everyone looked at the wider and wider black land, and their confidence became higher and higher.
The Qing army was no longer satisfied with burning.
Start poisoning water sources.
Now, seeing Daming stop, everyone's faces were filled with smiles.
Next, we just need to persist through the winter, and when Emperor Jiaqing's new army moves south, the crisis can be eliminated!
A good news from Hong Chengwan was sent to the Forbidden City.
