Chapter 1076 Ming Can Be Destroyed, but the Country Cannot Be Destroyed

Those who participated in the military meeting included Li Jing, Jia Xu, Elai, Admiral Zhou Yu of the Royal Fleet, Guo Ziyi, the commander of the Raging Flame Army, and Zhou Bo, the commander of the Fourth Legion of the Raging Flame Army.

The lineup is luxurious.

Some have cooperated with each other, and some have cooperated for the first time. Especially Li Jing, who only cooperated with Elai in the just-concluded Goryeo War, so he was familiar with him, but he knew only a little about the other generals.

The Royal Fleet commanded by Zhou Yu is currently docked by the Yangtze River, ready to go out at any time.

Now it is Ouyang Shuo who is speaking, "According to the news from the Ministry of War, the vanguard of the Duduo Division of the Qing Army under the command of Nikan has camped twenty miles away from Yangzhou. This is the most critical battle, and there is no room for it." If you fail, the military discussion is over, and the army will immediately reinforce Yangzhou."

"If there is no accident, the 100,000 troops of the Great Zhou Dynasty should also accompany them. Counting the 100,000 troops of the Doduo Department and the 50,000 troops of the Gushan Ezhenzhun Tower Department, as well as the expected descending troops, this battle will not be difficult. Not easy."

Speaking of this, Ouyang Shuo was full of resentment towards the four Jiangbei towns.

When the Eshan Guzhen Zhunta troops approached Huai'an City, Dongping Bo and Liu Zeqing, the general soldier, had already fled; Jingnan Bo, the general soldier Huang Degong was still in Tongling;

As for Xing Pingbo, the commander-in-chief of Gao Jie's troops, except for the deputy commander-in-chief Zhuang Zigu who was still stationed in the south of Xuzhou, other generals such as deputy commander-in-chief Li Chengdong and deputy general Yang Shengwu led their troops to abandon the city and flee south.

Under the command of Nikan, the vanguard troops of the Duoduo Department of the Qing Dynasty advanced fifty miles a day and headed straight for Yangzhou. When Shi Kefa "invited the generals to return to help" Yangzhou, only Liu Zhaoji, the commander-in-chief, led 4,000 troops, and Zhuangzi, the deputy commander-in-chief Gu led 700 troops to arrive, and the entire Yangzhou defenders were less than 10,000.

This also means that the Alien Legion has to fight against the Qing army's 250,000 troops alone. If all the 200,000 troops go into battle, it might be impossible to fight. The key is to leave a troop to guard Jianye.

Although Ouyang Shuo was named the regent, he could not stand firm without an army around him. Not to mention, once the Alien Legion was completely withdrawn, Liu Liang, who had fled to Jianye, would be mothed to the left.

Another point is that Ouyang Shuo is also responsible for raising food and grass for the army in Jianye. The newly established Nanming is actually a mess, and the treasury is empty, and it cannot support such a big war at all.

The only way is to "beat the local tyrants", which requires the assistance of the army.

Roughly estimated, the reinforcement of Yangzhou's army this time, counting the Royal Fleet, cannot exceed 150,000, and 50,000 elites must be left to sit and build businesses.

After discussing, Ouyang Shuo decided that Guo Ziyi would lead the 100,000 Flame Army, together with Zhou Yu's Royal Fleet and Elai's 30,000 Great Xia Imperial Guards, go north.

The remaining 40,000 Imperial Guards will be led by Li Jing for the time being, and together with the 3,000 Shenwu Guards, they will sit in Jianye together.

Before leaving, Ouyang Shuo said: "Although the battle of Yangzhou is a key battle, it is only the first battle. After Yangzhou is saved, it is time to fully counterattack the Qing Dynasty."

"promise!"

Guo Ziyi, Zhou Yu, E Lai and other generals bowed and said goodbye one by one.

…………

Along the Yangtze River, Ouyang Shuo looked at the army that was gradually receding.

"I don't know but it's still too late."

In the historical battle of Yangzhou, the forwards of the Duoduo tribe were not in a hurry to attack the city, and even when the main force of the Duoduo tribe arrived outside the city of Yangzhou and blocked the water around Yangzhou, they did not start the battle immediately.

The reason is very simple. The Eight Banners Army of the Qing Army mainly consists of cavalry, which is not suitable for attacking the city. They will not start attacking the city until the Hongyi cannon transported by the Shenji Battalion arrives on the battlefield.

Facts have proved that Yangzhou, which was not considered a strong city, was declared fallen after only one day and one night under the bombardment of Hongyi cannons, and it was not strong at all.

Shi Kefa's popularity is good, but in terms of ability, it is really open to question, and he can't be counted on.

Now that Di Chen joined, there were many variables in the battle of Yangzhou. No matter what, Ouyang Shuo could only choose to trust Guo Ziyi and other generals and adapt to changes on the battlefield.

"Come on, we still have a lot to do."

Ouyang Shuo withdrew his gaze and rode Xiaoqing towards the city.

As the saying goes, "To fight against the outside world, one must first secure the inside." If Ouyang Shuo wanted to lead Nanming to a successful counterattack, the first thing to do was to eliminate the capitulators inside Nanming and carry out a small-scale purge.

Along with Ouyang Shuo on the battle map this time, in addition to the army, there is also a special operations team, which is a capable and meticulous team specially dispatched by Ouyang Shuo from Shanhaiwei.

During the Anshi Rebellion, Ouyang Shuo suffered from the lack of meticulous work around him.

Since yesterday, Shanhaiwei's secret work has been in action. With the cooperation of Emperor Hongguang, according to historical records, the focus of the investigation is on the soft-boned gentry.

Qian Qianyi, Minister of Rites, was naturally the first to bear the brunt.

In order not to cause a huge shock, but also to block the mouth of the outside world, saying that Ouyang Shuo just ruled out the dissidents as soon as he became the regent, and the party was united to attack the dissidents. Shanhaiwei needs to collect enough evidence before doing anything.

Either they communicated secret letters with the Qing Dynasty, or they committed corruption and perverted the law on a daily basis.

As long as his behavior is not correct, it can be used as a proof of Ouyang Shuo's "destroying the family and ransacking the house", quickly raising food and grass for the frontline army, and deterring the younger generation.

Then again, how many of these gentry ministers are innocent, it's not a one-off check. All investigations and evidence collection were carried out in secret, and Ouyang Shuo was unwilling to startle the snake.

Besides, Ouyang Shuo also did two things.

The first thing to do was to write a letter to Zhang Xianzhong, the Emperor of Daxi Kingdom in Sichuan, in the name of the Regent of Nanming, saying, "Nanming may perish, but China cannot. This is the basis of cooperation between the two parties. Please carefully consider it."

Speaking of Zhang Xianzhong, he is also a legend.

This leader of the peasant army in the late Ming Dynasty, who was as famous as Chuang Wang Li Zicheng, was born in a poor family. He was smart and stubborn since he was a child. He started a small business with his father, selling red dates.

Zhang Xianzhong worked as a policeman, and later came to Yansui Town as a frontier soldier.

This man is strong in nature and loves to fight against injustices, and he almost lost his life because of this.

During the reign of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong organized a peasant army uprising, led his troops into Sichuan in 1640 AD, and established the Daxi regime in Chengdu in 1644, the throne, and the reign name Dashun.

In 1646, when the Qing army marched south, Zhang Xianzhong led his troops to resist the battle. He was shot by a stray arrow at Phoenix Mountain in Xichong and died.

Speaking of it, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, a pair of heroes who died in the late Ming Dynasty, were somewhat wronged. Not to mention Zhang Xianzhong, he had experienced countless battles before, but he was hit by a flow arrow and died during the battle with the Qing army.

How bizarre!

The same goes for Li Zicheng.

At the beginning of May 1645, when the Dashun Army arrived at the foot of Jiugong Mountain in Tongcheng, Hubei, Li Zicheng led more than 20 Qingqi people to climb the mountain to explore the road. They were killed by the local militia armed Jiang Dayan, and their bodies were buried secretly.

Injustice or not?

A generation of Chuang Wang was actually killed by a group of militiamen while exploring the road.

There seems to be God's will in the dark.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the leaders of the rebel army, fought against the Ming Dynasty. They fought thousands of miles, fought countless battles, and lived well.

But as soon as they confronted the Qing army, they all became possessed by their spirits and died inexplicably.

The Qing Dynasty's titles of "King of Leaks" and "King of Repairing Knives" are well-deserved. History is sometimes such a coincidence. If Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had not died like this, maybe it would have been a different situation.

Zhang Xianzhong opposed the Ming Dynasty, but he also opposed the Qing Dynasty. He was not a capitulator like Qian Qianyi and Liu Zeqing.

It was after Zhang Xianzhong's death that his general Sun Kewang and others led the Daxi Army to move southward, joined forces with Nanming to fight against the Qing army, and moved to the southwestern provinces. They persisted for nearly 20 years until the early years of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty.

Based on this, Ouyang Shuo had the confidence to persuade Zhang Xianzhong.