The sound of rushing water sounded, and several skinny horses carrying several shirtless officials of the Qing Dynasty crossed a ford of the Zitong River in northern Sichuan and stood on the west bank of the Zitong River. Immediately afterwards, more than a hundred knights followed.
Behind them were a sparse group of 1,2300 soldiers advancing on foot, looking a bit like beggars' Qing soldiers - these 1,2300 soldiers on foot plus a hundred more on horseback, the total was less than 1,400. The people are all the remaining regular soldiers of the Middle Route Army of the Eight Banners New Army under Yue Le, plus the remaining soldiers of the Ganshaan Green Battalion that Li Tianyu and Lu Sanhao received from Leerjin, plus Wang Zhongxiao and Dai Azusa's subordinates. Among them, there are less than 800 soldiers belonging to the Eight Banners New Army!
When Yue Le, Fei Yanggu, and Wang Zhongxiao crossed the Tuojiang River together, Fei Yanggu counted the heads once. He and Yue Le's Eight Banners soldiers still had more than 1,300 people at that time, but when they After passing through a large sparsely populated area and arriving at Boryeongfu, the number of Eight Banners regular soldiers was reduced by four to five hundred. This is the terrifying part of crossing the "no man's land"!
If there are still a few million people in Sichuan now, these Eight Banners regular soldiers can find a village to take a hot bath, change into clean clothes, eat warm food, and sleep well after crossing the Tuojiang River. If we have food and drinks along the way, there probably won’t be so many attrition.
But there are no such conditions now. In the hinterland of Sichuan today, there are very few people. Even if there are still some places where the population gathers, do these deserted Qing soldiers dare to defect?
There are not many people here in Sichuan now, but there are tigers, pandas, and big bad wolves everywhere, all fierce beasts that can bite! The human beings who can survive in this kind of environment are all not good people. They all live in groups and build forts. They are all armed. When the government comes to send missionaries to collect taxes, they are likely to attack them with bows and arrows!
Wouldn't it be nice if the Eight Banners soldiers threw themselves into a trap, had their heads chopped off, and were given to Wu Sangui?
Therefore, Yue Le, Fei Yanggu, Wang Zhongxiao, Li Tianyu, Lu Sanhao and others who escaped from the north bank of the Tuojiang River had to go around the Sichuan people's villages when they met them. Even if you see the county seat, you don't dare to plunge into it.
Who knows whether these county officials are loyal to the Qing Dynasty or Wu Sangui? Even if the county magistrate has not officially accepted the official position of the Wu family, it cannot be ruled out that there has been secret communication long ago, and now it is just right to use the heads of Yue Le and Fei Yanggu to claim credit.
Therefore, Yue Le, Fei Yanggu and their group could only avoid inhabited places, walk around villages and cities when they saw them, and sleep in the open air all the way, heading towards Baoning Prefecture in the north, which was probably still loyal to the Qing Dynasty.
This was a hardship for those Eight Banners who swam across the Tuojiang River without being able to drink water or even change into dry clothes. They were all soldiers of a courtyard house within the Second Ring Road of Beijing. When had they ever suffered such a crime? Before that, even when they were training in the camp and marching long distances, they were served by slaves. They only practiced martial arts or walked with their heads covered, and didn't care about anything else. Of course, they didn't know how to treat themselves when marching and fighting. Take care of.
As a result, starting from the second day after Yue Le and others swam across the Tuojiang River, Eight Banners soldiers fell ill one after another. Some of them contracted the wind and cold because the "water was too cold", and some may have fallen ill due to unclean food and drinking water. There are also some people who have been marching and fighting for days, and their bodies and bones can no longer bear it.
And if those Eight Banners disciples who fell ill were not old enough, they would have no choice but to be abandoned and left on the roadside waiting for Sichuan tigers, big bad wolves, and black and white bears to use them to improve their food.
The Eight Banners disciples lost hundreds of things along the way!
When those people were thrown away, they all cried and begged, which was particularly pitiful. However, Yue Le, Fei Yanggu, Wang Zhongxiao, and Li Tianyu were all kind masters who did not control soldiers. Only Lu Sanhao is a good person. He can cry with them for a while, say some comforting words, and even help them write suicide notes and so on. What a good person!
After seven or eight days of marching, the remaining Eight Banners disciples, Gansu and Shaanxi Green Camp soldiers, and Wang Zhongxiao and Dai Zi's men were not in very good condition. They were all like beggars, with tattered clothes and shabby appearance. I have also lost weight round and round, and I am still unkempt. Most of the people had no boots, so they were wearing straw sandals and carrying branches and sticks. Those who didn’t know better thought they were disciples of the Beggar Clan going out to do business!
However, this group of beggar soldiers finally entered a relatively safe area after crossing the Zitong River, because not far to the east after crossing the Zitong River was Fucun Station in Boryeong Prefecture.
Baoning Mansion was an important town in northern Sichuan, and the Qing government stationed a general army here. Wu Zhimao, the commander-in-chief of the garrison in Baoning, happened to have a close relationship with Wu Sangui.
Therefore, Yue Le did not trust him, so he transferred Wu Zhimao to Luzhou, and asked Moruo to mobilize 2,000 people from his own pacesetters to guard Baoning Fucheng.
In addition, Yue Le and Leerjin also selected three thousand elite soldiers from the domestic slaves of the Eight Banners disciples, and stayed in Baoning together with Moro's pacesetters.
Therefore, both Yue Le and Fei Yanggu optimistically estimated that Baoning was probably still under the control of the Qing Dynasty.
Of course, the Qing Dynasty couldn't control Baoning for too long, after all, they lost so miserably this time!
The 20,000 people that Yue Le came to personally were almost completely wiped out, and now there are less than 1,000 people left in the 20,000-strong army. The situation along the way to Leerjin may be better, and there may be more than 10,000 people left. In addition to the five thousand and other miscellaneous troops left in Boryeong, it is impossible to reach 20,000 no matter how you calculate it!
On Wu Sangui's side, at least 40,000 troops entered Sichuan from Yunnan. Together with the rebels from Sichuan who defected to him, 50,000 troops could be gathered together, and they were threatening a great victory.
Yue Le rode on his horse, calculating again and again, feeling that it was impossible to suppress Wu Sangui in Sichuan. Hanzhong is probably not going to be saved, so it would be good to be able to hold Qinling for the time being. With the battle going like this, how should we explain to the court and the emperor?
When he was sighing, suddenly there was a sound of horse hooves in front of him. The sound of hooves was dense and rapid. It was feared that hundreds or even thousands of horses were running towards him.
He looked around and saw that this was already the territory of Boryeong Prefecture. There was also a post city nearby, which should be Fucun Post.
Has Baoning been lost?
When Yue Le heard the sound of the horse's hooves, his face turned pale with fright. He quickly reined in his horse and looked up.
Wang Zhongxiao was also a little nervous. Now Sichuan was in chaos, the order of the Qing Dynasty had collapsed, and Wu Sangui's new order had not yet been established. It was the most dangerous time, and he didn't want to fall into the hands of some small army leader for no reason!
Lu Sanhao, on the other hand, acted very calmly: "Our own people must be our own people. Wu Sangui's cavalry is elite and reluctant to move out easily. They have been used harshly before, and they must be resting now. It is impossible to send them in large numbers to Baoning, let alone Talk about dispatching hundreds or even thousands at a time to deal with us."
This analysis still makes sense.
Yue Le and Fei Yanggu both nodded in approval, and they regained their composure. They immediately waited on the official road for the cavalry in front to approach. After a while, Yue Le, Fei Yanggu and others could clearly see the attire and flag of the visitor - they were all "red"!
It goes without saying that this is the owner of the small banner of the Zhenghong Banner and the person who inherited the title of Prince Leerjin. Judging from the fact that there were quite a few of them and they were wearing red cloth armor, it seemed that they were quite smooth when running from Fushun County.
Fei Yanggu's eyesight was very good, and he had already seen Leerjin himself from a distance, so he shouted in Manchurian: "Is this the Prince of Shuncheng County? Prince An is here!"
Leerjin's voice came immediately over there: "Is it Fei Yanggu? I am Prince Leerjin'an, okay?"
"Fortunately, finally...wuwu"
Feiyanggu, who had been very strong along the way, suddenly burst into tears while talking!
It didn't matter that he cried, because everyone else was "made to cry" by him. Even Wang Zhongxiao and Lu Sanhao, who were in a good mood, immediately changed their faces and shed sad tears.
Yue Le, who was defeated, cried even more sadly. He was shaking so much that he was about to fall off his horse. Wang Zhongxiao and Lu Sanhao reacted in time. They quickly rolled off the horse, one holding Yue Le on the other, and Yue Le slid off the horse.
Leerjin also flew to Yue Le, and got off the horse while crying, "Uncle, uncle, we lost so miserably and unjustly this time!"
"You lost unjustly? Your Majesty, how do you say this?" Wang Zhongxiao burst into tears at the drop of a hat, and asked through gritted teeth while crying.
Lu Sanhao, a good man, also asked curiously: "Your Majesty, where do we have the injustice?"
Le'erjin wiped away tears and said, "We have a lot of Wu Ni's detailed work inside us!"
"Really?" Lu Sanhao looked surprised and glanced at Wang Zhongxiao again.
Wang Zhongxiao asked: "My lord, are you talking about that bastard Ma Siwen?"
"What? Ma Siwen also rebelled?" Leerjin was shocked, "He is a bannerman!"
Yue Le gritted his teeth, "He's still Chen Hanjun! If he hadn't tipped off Wu Sangui and led the 5,000 new Green Battalion troops to defect, how could I have lost so miserably?"
"That's right!" Wang Zhongxiao said, "The prince was almost winning, and he had already suppressed Wu Ni in Daguan."
Leerjin shook his head and said: "Without Ma Siwen, we can't win. Because we still have Wu Sangui's spies inside!"
"Who is it?" Wang Zhongxiao looked angry and clenched the sword tightly in his right hand.
"Yes, it's Luo!"
"The surname is Luo?" Wang Zhongxiao was stunned, "Could it be?"
"Governor of Sichuan Rosen!" Leerjin looked like he was about to explode with anger.
"Rosen? How is that possible?" Lu San was shocked.
"He is the governor!" Wang Zhongxiao also couldn't believe it.
Yue Le also looked surprised and confused: "King Shun, you said Rosen is Wu Sangui's man? I thought you meant Wu Zhimao!"
"Wu Zhimao is also a member of Wu Sangui!" Le'erjin said with a stamp of his feet. "Also, Sichuan Admiral Zheng Jiaolin and Kuizhou Commander-in-Chief Tan Hong are both members of Wu Sangui! Uncle, look at where Sichuan is. Who is the governor? Wu Sangui is from Wu Sangui, the admiral is from Wu Sangui, and the commander-in-chief is also from Wu Sangui. There are also the prefectures and counties below, as well as the powerful people in various places who obey orders but not propaganda. Almost all of them are from Wu Sangui! How can we, the guest troops, fight?
That day we fought Wu Ni on the Rongxi Bridge and repelled seven or eight attacks by Wu Sangui. We were about to win. However, Luo Sen led his Fu Biao to rebel in Fushun County and rescued him directly. Wu Yingxiong also took our retreat and captured all the artillery formations we placed in Fushun County! "
"Is this happening?" Fei Yanggu's nose was so angry that he twisted his nose. "The person named Luo is a Jinshi who has read many books about sages. Why is he so shameless?"
Prince An Yue Le frowned and asked: "So, Wu Yingxiong has fallen into Wu Sangui's hands?"
Leerjin sighed: "That day, I was attacked from both inside and outside by Wu Sangui and Luo Sen, and the whole army was in chaos. If the Eight Banners disciples hadn't sacrificed their lives, the entire army would have been annihilated. How could we have snatched Wu Yingxiong back?"
Prince An asked again: "Prince Shun, how many troops do you have left?"
Leerjin stretched out two fingers: "Twenty thousand more!"
"Twenty thousand?" Prince An was delighted, "Doesn't that mean the entire army retreated?"
Leerjin shook his head: "The 20,000 people have to include the 5,000 people from Baoning Prefecture, the 2,000 slaves evacuated from Tongchuan Prefecture, Shunqing Prefecture, and the families who escaped from Fushun County. Nuhe Mo Zhajun, Admiral Wang, and Admiral Bai’s troops.”
"How many of the Eight Banners are left?" Yue Le asked.
Leerjin sighed: "Less than five thousand."
Of course, less than five thousand means more than four thousand, less than five thousand, and closer to four thousand. In this battle, the Eight Banners, including the Manchu banner, the Mongolian bannerman, the Han army, and the Baoyi people, all lost fifteen thousand!
Although the true full flags among them are at most less than half, it is still a heavy loss!
Prince An was disappointed for a while, and sighed: "The emperor gave us 20,000 bannermen, and now only 5,000 are left in Sichuan Province, which is about to be lost. Even the hostage Wu Yingxiong is lost. How can we explain this? !”
"Your Majesty, I can't blame you for this, Prince Heshun!" Wang Zhongxiao said with his fingers, "The governor of Sichuan, the admiral of Sichuan, several general soldiers of Sichuan, and a general soldier of the Green Camp New Army are all Wu Sangui's. Man, how can we win this battle?"
"That's right!" Lu Sanhao said, "Although this battle is defeated, it is not a fault of war! Moreover, the two princes still have 20,000 elite troops on hand, which is enough to retreat to Guanzhong and suppress Wu Ni. The most important thing now is to lead the 20,000 troops Return to Guanzhong, join forces with General Xi'an's troops, and secure the entrances to Qinling and Qishan Mountains."
Wang Zhongxiao added: "As long as the two princes can keep Wu Sangui to the south of the Qinling Mountains and Qishan Mountains, the emperor will have to rely on the two princes. Moreover, Sichuan is already a white land, and it is useless for the court to hold it in its hands. It is no big deal to leave it to Wu Sangui." of."
Lu Sanhao nodded repeatedly: "Two princes, if Wu Sangui takes advantage of the victory to enter Guanzhong and obtains the heroes of Shaanxi and Gansu, it will really be the end of Longfei Nine-Five."
"Long Fei 95?" Leerjin glared at Lu Sanhao, "What do you mean by this?"
Fei Yanggu on the side whispered: "Three thousand tigers will reach the land of Youyan; the dragon will fly on the 9th and reopen the sky of Song Dynasty. This is the slogan of the red scarf thief at the end of the Yuan Dynasty! If Wu Sangui gets the heroes of Shaanxi and Gansu, then he We are about to reach the land of Youyan!" He looked at Yue Le and Leerjin, "Two princes, Wang Zongrong and Lu Daotai are right. As long as you two can defend Guanzhong for the emperor, the most you can do is revolution. I will take charge of the king's title and my title, and then perform meritorious deeds on behalf of the governor."
"But to defend Guanzhong, can we rely on only 20,000 people and the thousands of Eight Banners soldiers of General Xi'an?" Leerjin asked.
"Enough!" Prince An Yue Leyi gritted his teeth and said, "It must be enough." He thought for a while and then asked, "How to write this apology note?"
Lu Sanhao said: "Of course I told the emperor clearly as written. It was because of the betrayal of Luo Sen, Ma Siwen, Zheng Jiaolin, Wu Zhimao and other traitors that we were defeated by Wu Sangui. The army was dispersed and now we have retreated to Bao. Ning, who has gathered more than 20,000 men, is now preparing to temporarily retreat to Guanzhong, reorganize his army, and then set up tight defenses to block Wu Ni."
I have to say that although this Lu Sanhao was not born in Shaoxing, his ability to write memorials must be good. He was able to write such an ugly defeat in a way that was not particularly ugly, and it also gave the emperor hope, and gave Yue Le and Leerjin another chance to "organize the army and fortify it."
Now that the world is in chaos, Kangxi is about to be overwhelmed. It is very likely that Yue Le and Leerjin will take the lead for a while. As long as the two of them use the opportunity of reorganizing the army to firmly seize the 20,000 soldiers and horses, then Kangxi will Have to rely on them.
And if these two unlucky princes retained their positions because of Lu Yifeng's strategy, wouldn't Lu Yifeng become their confidant?
Yue Le and Leerjin both turned their attention to Wang Zhongxiao at this time.
Wang Zhongxiao nodded and said: "Two princes, let's just report it to the report. This can be regarded as a report truthfully! And the most important thing now is to stop Wu Sangui! How about I despise my position and go to Beijing with the memorial."
He is about to run away. His commander in chief in Qujing, Yunnan, is definitely not in the right position, and he doesn't want to hang out in front of the Shaanxi army. Now that the world is in chaos, it's time for him to go to Guangdong to run his own base.
Fei Yanggu who was beside him also said: "Two princes, let's go together with Shikai to explain to the emperor the dangerous situation in Sichuan and Shaanxi. At the same time, let's ask how capable Wu Jun is. Tell the emperor! This traitor Wu Sangui is much more powerful than we originally thought, and we must not take it lightly."
Is this guy going to go back and make a report?
Wang Zhongxiao thought: He is the brother of Concubine Dong E, the concubine Biao Xing, and he should also be Kang Mazi's confidant. Kangxi sent him to Yue Le, first as a deputy, and secondly as a supervisor.
"fair enough!"
"Okay, that's very good."
Of course Prince An Yue Le and Prince Shuncheng Leerjin knew who Fei Yanggu was?
But they can't stop Fei Yanggu from returning to Beijing now, right? Fortunately, Fei Yanggu and Wang Zhongxiao were back and forth, and there would be days when the court knew about Sichuan's defeat, and they would be panicked for a while, and it was also a question of whether there was anyone who could take the blame for Shaanxi. If Obai was still there, he might be able to send some capable people, but now we can only make do with it.
(End of chapter)
