Chapter 237: The Restoration of Han Army in the Eyes of Shilin

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Outside Hushu Pass.

The ground in the Suzhou militia camp that the Fu Han Army captured at night was wet and slippery. Jiang Kui stepped on it and almost fell down. This was because of the light rain that fell in the middle of the night, just before the fighting, and the rain stopped after the fighting in this camp was over.

Jiang Kui was also transferred out of the tank battalion, and he is now a platoon leader.

This time, Chen Ming commanded the army to break through Jiangyin City, and then the Fu Han Army swept half of Jiangnan. The Changzhou Fu Han Army, which was supported by a new recruit camp, also launched a counterattack against Suzhou, and pushed the front line to the outside of Hushu Pass in one fell swoop.

Jiang Kui was wearing iron armor, which made him look clumsy. He struggled to walk through the corpses. In fact, many of them were not dead. From yesterday morning to night, the officers commanded the soldiers to push the front line to Hushu Pass in one fell swoop. They were happy, but the soldiers below were exhausted. After the fight in the Qing army militia camp, many soldiers were exhausted. Many simply took advantage of the interval after the battle to take a nap in the pile of corpses. The only thing that could distinguish them from the corpses was the heaving chest and snoring.

Jiang Kui sat down on a corpse with a tired buttocks. When his back leaned against the fence, he couldn't help but let out a painful and comfortable groan. He was also tired, so tired that his bones were about to fall apart. But he had to gather all his soldiers before the team officer asked him for a detailed report on casualties.

At the same time, on the wall of the Qing army camp in Hushuguan, Wu Xiongguang was scratching the crenel with his fingers, the blood vessels in his neck were exposed, and his eyes were like burning fire, staring at the camp outside the pass. The Fu Han army attacked at night regardless of fatigue, leaving only six or seven hundred of the two thousand civilians that he had finally won over in the past few days to flee back to Guanzhong in a panic. And more importantly, his father was also left outside the pass.

The current situation is terrible.

The Fu Han army attacked unexpectedly, especially the troops from Changzhou who attacked Suzhou. They did not carry any cannons, and there were few musketeers. They used flying thunder cannons, armored soldiers, and grenades to defeat Suzhou.

Since the climate entered the rainy season, the Qing army's logistics mistakes and the poor military quality of its own soldiers have turned many bird guns in the army into decorations. The gunpowder and the matchlock have been damp, and the barrels have been flooded. Anyway, they can't be fired. The Fu Han army had not attacked before, which made Suzhou think that the Fu Han army had encountered the same trouble as them. In addition, the cannons were inconvenient to move during the rainy season. The Fu Han army did not have its most powerful cannons. In this case, the Fu Han army could only shrink. But he never expected that when the main force of the Fu Han Army attacked Jiangyin and aimed at Songjiang, a detachment also broke out from Changzhou City, with a force of more than 2,000, and pushed forward all the way, captured Wuxi within a day, and then continued to march south without stopping. Yesterday evening, he arrived outside Hushuguan and launched another night attack.

Wu Xiongguang was not sleeping at night. He led some people to patrol the camp to check whether the night watchmen were lazy. But when the Fu Han Army arrived, the explosive pack was thrown under the earth wall fence of the camp, and he was defeated without any chance to fight back.

Wu Xiongguang could not blame Fu Liang, the deputy governor of Jingkou, who was in charge of the Hushuguan Castle, for not saving the dying. When the Fu Han Army came, it was Wu Xiongguang himself who proposed to block it on the north line for a while, in order to boost the morale of the Suzhou Qing army. Otherwise, the army would be completely huddled in the Hushuguan Town on both sides of the canal, which would be too demoralizing.

So, now that Wu Xiongguang has lost his father, it is not Fu Liang's fault. Fu Liang has a conscience. He risked opening the gate in the middle of the night to let Wu Xiongguang's defeated troops enter the castle. Otherwise, even if Wu Xiongguang himself did not die under the city, his troops would be destroyed.

Hushuguan in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was not the city gate in people's traditional cognition. It was more of a tax office, a big town market, and a pass blocking the Grand Canal, not a pass on the land route. There was no garrison here during the Qing Dynasty. The castle in the pre-Ming Dynasty became the location of the government office, and there were three patrol inspection offices under its jurisdiction, which was unique in the world.

With the threat of the Fu Han Army to Suzhou, the Qing army did not dare to station more troops in Wuxi, and Hushuguan became the nearest barrier to Suzhou. The number of garrisoned troops was increasing. A large number of Qing soldiers and militia camped in the towns on both sides of the Grand Canal. Anyway, all the shops, restaurants and hotels in Hushuguan are now closed. Wu Xiongguang's troops were stationed further north, while Fu Liang personally stationed in the castle with some bannermen and green camps.

"Be good and write a letter to your son, asking him to lead his men to cooperate with our army in attacking Hushuguan, and I will spare your life!" Jiang Tianfang stared fiercely at Wu's father, who was dressed as a clerk in front of him. This man was just a scholar, and he was just a waste who followed his son to make a living in the militia. Jiang Tianfang felt that Wu's father would not remain calm under his gaze. When he fought in Nanjing, he was slashed on the face, leaving a big scar. The scar of the red buds hung on his face, making his face much more ferocious, and his eyes became very fierce and sharp.

But Wu's father was one of the few people who were not moved by Jiang Tianfang's ferocity. He just turned his face slightly, with a contemptuous smile on his face. Jiang Tianfang seemed to be enraged by the other party's behavior. He suddenly tore open Wu's father's robe, exposing his white chest without a single muscle, and pulled out a dagger to press against the other party's heart.

"You bastard, you are trying to be tough with me, believe it or not, I will skin you alive!"

"Forget it!" Wei Xiuzhi stopped Jiang Tianfang: "These are useless to him. Come on, take him away." Small tricks are useless, it is better to spend some time to think about how to take down Hushuguan!

As the deputy of the logistics force of the expeditionary army, Wei Xiuzhi is not the commander-in-chief of the Fu Han Army attacking Suzhou. Chen Ming will not take a person who manages logistics and money to lead troops to fight. Wei Xiuzhi went to Changzhou with two months of new recruits and two battalions of prisoners.

When the Fu Han Army defeated Gao Jin and Rong Bao, they captured some green camps and civilians. In the month of Nanjing City, these people were organized into new prisoners, but they did not get the recognition of the Fu Han Army, nor did they get the trust of Chen Ming. This time they came to Changzhou, and the battle of Suzhou was their token of surrender.

"You got it easy!" Jiang Tianfang angrily put the dagger back into his waist. After his personal soldiers took Wu's father down, his anger subsided. Jiang Tianfang turned around and said to Wei Xiuzhi: "Hushuguan is not easy to take. The Tartars have no less than 5,000 soldiers here. It is also very close to Suzhou City. With our limited manpower, we can only catch the Qing army off guard." Jiang Tianfang had a battalion under his command, and they were a "checkpoint" in Changzhou. Now Wei Xiuzhi came with 2,000 people, so the total force is only 2,500 to 6,000 people, and Changzhou needs the deputy battalion commander to lead some people to defend.

"Why not, let me lead the troops to charge once. If it doesn't work, we won't fight." Jiang Tianfang said. Anyway, the role of their troops is to contain Suzhou, to prevent the Qing soldiers in Suzhou from attacking the rear of the Fu Han Army when the Fu Han Army attacks Songjiang. Now he can say that he has successfully completed the task. He has effectively contained the Suzhou Qing Army.

Wei Xiuzhi looked at the sky: "Should we wait until dawn? Should we charge now or after dawn?"

"We can't charge after dawn."

Jiang Tianfang also had a team of soldiers from his headquarters. In the previous day, they were just on the road and did not participate in the battle. There was also a battalion of prisoners who had the same treatment as this team, and now they could be used.

I don't know how much time had passed, but the deafening shouts and killings woke Jiang Kui from his sleep. He opened his eyes and found that it was already dawn, and in the direction of Hushuguan, several red flags were waving, and a Fu Han army was launching a fierce attack on the Qing army's fortress.

Jiang Tianfang shot through the chest of a flag soldier, and he didn't even look at the Qing soldier who was doomed to die. He threw away the gun in his hand, drew his waist knife and chopped down the Qing soldier who was coming from the opposite side.

"Ah!"

With a shrill scream, the Qing soldier whose arm was cut off by Jiang Tianfang's knife had a face twisted in pain and pointed at Jiang Tianfang. He wanted to say something, but Jiang Tianfang had already swung his knife across the man's throat. Blood gushed out from his neck, blocking his voice.

"Kill!" Jiang Tianfang roared loudly, swung his knife at the nearest Qing soldier, and chopped him down before the other party could react. While he was slashing and killing, he shouted loudly, guiding his soldiers to attack the Qing army.

"Aim, aim and shoot..." Wu Xiongguang led his men to hold on to the tower. He shouted to the musketeers around him.

Jiang Tianfang ignored the camp that was easy to attack, and pointed his troops directly at the castle. If he wanted to eat meat, he had to gnaw the bones first. The attacked Qing army was also quite panicked, and many people dropped their weapons and turned around to flee in panic. If we only look at the current situation, Jiang Tianfang might be able to gnaw this bone in this strong attack.

But...

"Bang, bang, bang..." As a burst of gunfire sounded, a stream of gunpowder smoke came out from the second floor of the tower. The brave Jiang Tianfang fell to the ground with a plop.

"Waste, a bunch of waste!"

In the Fu Han Army camp, Wei Xiuzhi looked at the defeated soldiers in front of him with red eyes and punched the table: "Abandoning the commander and running away on the battlefield, catch all these cowards, beat them with a hundred whips, and shoot arrows to parade around the camp!" He wanted to chop them, but this required the military police to set off. Wei Xiuzhi was not surprised by the failure of this attack, but Jiang Tianfang himself was trapped in the castle, which was a great shame for the Fu Han Army, even though he was already a corpse.

Wei Xiuzhi's order was quickly and resolutely executed, and there was a muffled sound of whips hitting flesh and crying in front of the formation. But these could not save the impact of Jiang Tianfang's "mistake".

"Tell the Tartars in the city that Wu Xiongguang's father is in our hands, and I want to exchange one for one with them." It doesn't matter whether Jiang Tianfang is dead or alive now. As long as the Qing soldiers are willing to exchange, Wei Xiuzhi will exchange. I think the Qing soldiers should not know Jiang Tianfang's identity yet.

At this time, a scout ran to Wei Xiuzhi and said, "Director Wei, part of the Qing soldiers took a boat from Taihu Hall and prepared to go around to Wuxi." Wuxi has also reached the northernmost point of Taihu Lake.

"What?" Wei Xiuzhi was stunned and asked sternly, "Is this true? How many troops did the Qing soldiers dispatch?"

"About 3,000 people. One or two hundred canal boats were requisitioned, and dozens of transport ships."

Wei Xiuzhi felt heavy in his heart. He waved away the scout and immediately sent someone to send a letter to Chen Ming. On the other hand, he asked someone to invite four battalion officers from the new recruits and captured soldiers. They must be made aware of this situation, and the current situation must also rely on them to support it.

Chen Ming didn't feel any problems in Suzhou at this time, he had already marched to Jiading. This place had the famous "Jiading Three Massacres" 120 years ago, but Chen Ming had long since put his troops on the people of Jiangnan who were now anti-Qing. Jiangyin, the people of Jiangyin, who were known for their toughness and their rejection of the Qing Dynasty, did not close the market and sell food, food, and medicinal materials to the Fujian and Zhejiang Green Camps in the one or two months after the Fu Han Army conquered Nanjing. There were not many people from Jiangyin who went to Nanjing to join the Fu Han Army. Although there were indeed some people from Jiangyin who joined the Fu Han Army, compared with the population of 200,000 to 300,000 in Jiangyin, that number was too small.

There was also Yangzhou, which was killed for ten days, and Jiading, which was massacred three times. There were not many local people who joined the Fu Han Army, but there were many boatmen and sailors along the Grand Canal, some of whom even had canal boats.

Chen Ming's bug is not the battlefield radar, which can scan all places. He is now in Jiading, and he can still feel the high morale of the Fu Han Army in front of him, but he can't see the places outside, the battlefields he can't see, what the Fu Han Army is like, then who knows.

Chen Ming's current goal is to sweep Puxi-west of the Huangpu River, and not to the east. Pudong has certain geographical advantages, but it is a poor countryside at the moment. Pudong in the middle of Qianlong is not the Pudong after the great development in the 21st century. The area west of the Huangpu River is now the poorest in the whole of southern Jiangsu. And there are retreating Fujian and Zhejiang water and land green camps there, and the current battle line of the Fu Han Army is too long. A single naval camp is not enough to protect the safety of hundreds of miles along the river. There are also naval and land reinforcements from Guangdong stationed at Wusongkou, as well as some warships of the Shandong Navy. The Qing army has a considerable advantage on the water.

These are all foreign warships of the Qing Dynasty, equipped with cannons, and the warships are of good quality. In addition, the waters of this generation are wide, which is suitable for larger foreign warships to display their "skills". The rear of the Fu Han Army is now likely to be attacked by the Qing Navy at any time.

Chen Ming led the team to sweep half of Suzhou Prefecture, sweep Taicang Prefecture, and seize the core area of ​​Songjiang Prefecture. The spoils are extremely rich. These things need to be transported back to Nanjing by water. Chen Ming will not waste time to attack Pudong at this time to tease the sensitive nerves of the Qing soldiers.

The drizzle outside Suzhou Hushuguan has started again, and the drizzle in Jiading has also been dripping, and it has never stopped.

In this drizzle, Qin Dacheng, the top scholar in the 28th year of Qianlong, was brought to Chen Ming's place. The army attacked Puxi, and Chen Ming was not prepared to take action himself. He stayed in Jiading to guard against the attack of the Qing Navy.

But defense is defense, and Chen Ming will not throw himself into the war. He is no longer the same person as he was at the beginning. He has experienced more wars and his temperament is different.

A most straightforward analogy is that a novice who has just got a driver's license and is driving on the road feels different from an old driver who has been driving for more than ten years. The former would want to lie on the steering wheel, staring at the front without blinking, concentrating; while the old driver? He would be as relaxed as if he was resting at home.

Chen Ming is now also an old driver, and he found Qin Dacheng to talk to him.

As the top scholar, he did not go to the officialdom, but had no intention of pursuing a career early, resigned from office and returned to his hometown to teach and educate people and serve his mother. Qin Dacheng is perfect from the perspective of filial piety. He lost his father when he was young, and was raised by his mother. He is very filial to his mother. Chen Ming will not kill such a person. And this time, because Qin Dacheng's mother was sick and could not move, he stayed in the old house of Zhangmanong in Jiading City, and no one in the family ran away.

"Why don't you run? Aren't you afraid that I will kill you, or tie you up, and announce to the public that you surrendered to my Fu Han Army?"

"The Chen army rose from the Central Plains and marched to the south of the Yangtze River. After thousands of miles of march, I have heard that your army is violent and greedy, but I have never heard that your army has harmed the people.

I resigned from my post and returned to my hometown to serve my old mother. Everyone in the south of the Yangtze River knows this. Now my mother is ill and needs to be rested. If my mother is in danger because of your army, I will only risk my life and dare not cherish my life." Qin Dacheng, who is 50 years younger, humbly called himself a student in front of Chen Ming, who is younger than his son, but he spoke very toughly.

Chen Ming understood what he meant.

Qin Dacheng is famous in the south of the Yangtze River for his filial piety. This filial piety is more respected by the traditional Chinese universal values ​​than his knowledge, and his influence in the south of the Yangtze River is also very large. If Qin Dacheng and his mother died because of the Fu Han Army, the Fu Han Army's reputation would have a real stain.

As for why the Fu Han Army could put his seriously ill mother "in danger", it was obviously to say that if the Fu Han Army "robbed" Qin Dacheng, his mother would use her own death to solve her son's worries. Before Qin Dacheng was brought in, the personal soldiers who went to take Qin Dacheng, the top scholar, also reported to Chen Ming some things about Qin Dacheng's seriously ill mother.

The old lady has a very fierce personality.

For some scholars of this era, reputation is important even if it is not important. The Qing Dynasty has not shown any signs of collapse. Although the Fu Han Army is getting bigger and bigger, countless people are still not optimistic about the Fu Han Army. If Qin Dacheng follows the thieves, in his mother's opinion, it is really more harmful than the death of a household registration book. He will be cursed and infamous for thousands of years, and his stigma will be left in history books.

"Haha, don't worry about that. I admire your mother very much." A woman who lost her husband at an early age and came from a poor family, how difficult it was to raise a child alone, you can imagine, but she was able to bring out a champion, this is completely an outstanding representative of ancient Chinese women.

Although Qin's mother was not famous in China in the future. When people in later generations mentioned Chinese mothers, they were all Meng Mu and Yue Mu.

"The old lady has a very strong personality. I believe that you, a filial son, will not go against your mother's wishes. This governor will not embarrass you. I asked you to come here today to see what a champion is. I also want to hear you say, what does my Fu Han General Mansion look like in the hearts of you scholars?

Hateful, heretic, and without any merit?

Do you really think that my Chen family has no possibility of sitting on the throne?"