After the defeated soldiers of Yu Xin's troops fled to Zheng Chenggong's camp, the Prince of Yanping hurriedly stood up and personally inquired about the battle. He soon found that the Ming army had almost no resistance and declared collapse. Due to the huge Ming army camp, there were not many Qing troops raiding. In addition, it was night time, the Ming army soldiers fled with their families without resistance, and most of them escaped.

"Yu Xin is really wrong. Did he arrange a sentry outside the city gate?" Zheng Chenggong didn't bother to be angry, so he hurriedly spread out the map, lit a candle to check the terrain. After a moment, he made a decision and pointed to several hills between Yu Xin camp and the main camp of the Ming army to issue orders, notifying the Ming army of each battalion to move the camp quickly and gather troops to prepare for the enemy.

After hearing the report of the soldiers who fled back, Zheng Chenggong estimated that there were not many Qing soldiers leaving the city, and it should be a tentative attack. Yu Xin's defeat was much beyond Zheng Chenggong's expectations, but he believed that this might stimulate the Nanjing defenders and planned to raid his camp directly.

"The Tartars in the city are not strong enough, and they will most likely take risks after winning easily." Zheng Chenggong felt that this seemed to be a good opportunity. He ordered several battalions to immediately move the battalions to occupy the commanding heights on the mountain to cover the Qing army's vision. At the same time, he ordered Gan Hui to lead the central army and other battalions to hide behind the mountain together. If the Qing army wanted to attack continuously as Zheng Chenggong expected, the Ming army located on the mountain attracted the Qing army out of the city. After the Qing army was tired of attacking the mountain, the Ming army would attack from all directions and surrounded the Qing army in Nanjing.

After receiving the good news from Guan Qizhong and Liang Huafeng, Lang Tingzuo was indeed overjoyed. Unexpectedly, Zheng Chenggong's vanguard was so vulnerable. The Governor of Liangjiang hurriedly ordered that only the Eight Banners be stationed in the city, and the entire army would leave the city at night to join forces with the Qing army outside the city. Lang Tingzuo confidently explained to his subordinates and his aides: "The thieves must have thought that we were just a night attack and would retreat to the city before dawn. In the early morning of tomorrow, we would have a full raid on Zheng Ni's camp. He would never have thought that our young soldiers would dare to attack on the initiative, and he would have been completely unprepared. As long as this thief was captured and killed, the thief would have been in chaos."

Now the Qing army has a good understanding of the deployment of the Ming army camp outside the city. If it is discovered that the entire Qing army is attacking before it starts to mobilize, it will be difficult for the Ming army, which are all infantry, to gather.

Before dawn, Zheng Chenggong had already rushed to the valley with his personal guards. He set up his command flag here, not only could he command the Ming army on the mountain, but he could also hide it from being discovered by the Qing army. Soon the personal guards sent by Zheng Chenggong returned to the report and said that they found that the brigade of Qing troops had emerged from Yu Xin's camp, which looked dense and dense, and tens of thousands of dollars.

"As expected, Lu Chou made a bet." Since the Qing army in Nanjing tore off the disguise of surrendering, Zheng Chenggong concluded that they would seize the time to try to achieve greater results, and did not dare to give the Ming army time to prepare. Since the Qing army in Nanjing was fully dispatched, as long as we win this battle, Zheng Chenggong felt that the cannons did not need to be cast: "After encircling and annihilation, attack the city immediately, and take Nanjing tonight."

However, what made Zheng Chenggong anxious was that the troops of each battalion had not gathered for a long time, and even the troops of the Central Admiral Gan Hui had only arrived in a small amount. The battalions ordered to station on the mountain were currently only arrived with their own soldiers and a small number of subordinates, and the main forces of each battalion were still missing.

"What's going on?" Zheng Chenggong asked angrily, sending people to various battalions to ask, and blaming the generals around him: "I asked you to move to the camp last night, why haven't you gathered your troops yet?"

All the generals looked ashamed and could not answer Zheng Chenggong's questions. After receiving the order, they began to urge their subordinates to gather, but they just gathered their personal guards until dawn. Now, the generals didn't know where the battalions of the battalions were, and only knew that there were messes everywhere. Because they were worried that they would be punished by Zheng Chenggong when they were late, the generals could not wait for the army to gather, so they hurried over with their men, but they did not expect that their colleagues were like them.

Until the Qing army was approaching the Ming army's front, the troops of each battalion were still far from reaching. After the general led his personal guards to the front line, the troops behind were still unable to gather.

The four battalions of soldiers stationed on the mountain should theoretically have 10,000 armored soldiers and a large number of auxiliary Ding Zhuang, but now there are only more than 2,000 people, and because of the lack of manpower, they cannot build solid fortifications.

Seeing that the strength of the mountain was weak, some people advised Zheng Chenggong to reinforce the forces on both wings up the mountain. Zheng Chenggong was unable to make up his mind for a moment because he originally thought that 10,000 armored soldiers were enough to put on the mountain. When the Qing soldiers were exhausted from attacking the mountain, his central army would launch an attack with the Ming army on both wings to encircle and eliminate the Qing army. If the soldiers on both wings were reinforced and then the Qing army's provocations could advance unhinderedly and observe the central army hidden behind the mountain. Moreover, if the two wings were abandoned, the Ming army's central army would be surrounded by the Qing army if the battle was unfavorable.

"Maybe the soldiers and horses of each battalion will be brought by the officers soon. Now moving rashly will only add to chaos." Zheng Chenggong hesitated for a moment, but did not order reinforcements, but continued to send people to the rear to urge them to speed up the reinforcements.

At this time, the Qing army had arrived. Seeing that there was a Ming army flag on the mountain, Liang Huafeng and Guan Qizhong discussed for a while and decided to attack the mountain instead of continuing to march along the road beside the mountain. After capturing this mountain, the Qing army would gain a broad vision and not know nothing about the number and mobilization of the nearby Ming army. Now Liang Huafeng's 2,500 infantrymen also met with him, holding three thousand soldiers and horses was the most powerful among the Qing generals.

"It may be inappropriate to attack the mountain with cavalry." Guan Qizhong did not object to attacking the mountain, but he suggested waiting for the first-class infantry and retaining the cavalry as a reserve team. In this way, if the Ming army launched a counterattack when the Qing army attacked the mountain, the Qing army could respond faster. If the cavalry and infantry were mixed to attack the mountain, a large number of Ming troops suddenly broke out from all around, the situation would become out of control.

"Why should the admiral be so careful?" Liang Huafeng thought Guan Qiyi was too conservative and delayed the fighter plane: "As the Governor said, Zheng Ni would never have imagined that our entire army would raid. But now they may know that they were busy dispatching troops. If we were delaying too much time here, it would be much trouble to raid his camp."

Guan Feizhong admitted that Liang Huafeng's statement made sense. Since the Qing army fought against the big ones with small ones, it was inevitable to take risks. Besides, the possibility of Zheng Chenggong ambushing here is almost non-hesitant, so he no longer hesitated but ordered the Qing army's cavalry and infantry to launch a full-scale attack on the Ming army on the mountain.

Tens of thousands of Qing troops launched a retaliation attack on the mountain. Liang Huafeng and Guan Qizhong's cavalry quickly rushed into the front line of the Ming army. The Qing army was delighted to find that the number of Ming troops on the mountain was not only limited, but also incomplete fortifications. Only some thin wooden fences were built in some places.

Seeing that the Qing cavalry rushed to the front without any obstacles and began to fight with the Ming army, the infantry behind them also approached quickly, Liang Huafeng proudly said to Guan Feizhong: "Please look, the admiral, what the general said is right. This is just a lonely army. They don't even have Ding Zhuang who excavated the trenches."

In the valley, seeing that the Qing army had already begun to rush to the mountains and the support was still not delayed, Zheng Chenggong hurriedly ordered the troops on both wings to reinforce. If the mountain was lost, the Qing army would have a clear view of the Ming army's deployment.

But the Ming army on the mountain had a shorter time than Zheng Chenggong imagined. At about the same time as he gave the order, the Ming army on the mountain had already begun to be defeated. The Ming army was negligent in the practice these days. After receiving the urgent order yesterday, these soldiers hurriedly bid farewell to their families and followed the generals and officers to fight. The people were unstable after going up the mountain and did not know whether the families in the rear were safe. There were also some soldiers who arrived in the end. They could not find the auxiliary soldiers to help carry weapons, so they could only carry their armor and the weapons ran all the way. After going up the mountain, they were already exhausted and panting. The Qing army had already launched an attack before they could rest. The exhausted Ming soldiers soon began to retreat.

In just a quarter of an hour, Guan Qizhong saw that green flags were already everywhere on the top of the mountain, but the news brought by the returned messenger was very surprising. His subordinates reported that they had killed three generals of the Ming army at the general level and captured one. It is said that any of them should have more troops than all the Ming army on the top of the mountain. And after attacking the top of the mountain, they immediately found that Zheng Chenggong's royal flag was actually in the valley below.

"What are you talking nonsense?" Liang Huafeng and Guan Xiaozhong also followed the troops to the top of the mountain. Sure enough, they saw Zheng Chenggong's central army flag, and there were actually many Ming army flags on both wings. Judging from the specifications of the flag, they were also generals of the town and association level.

"Why is Zheng Thief here? But why did he bring such a few soldiers?" Liang Huafeng and Guan Qizhong were full of doubts. No one could explain this question, but they did not hesitate for long. The Ming army on both sides seemed to be climbing a mountain and had the intention to retake the mountain. However, the Ming army's troops were also quite weak, and their actions were slow and exhausted. The Qing army did not hesitate and directly killed the mountain from the bottom of the mountain and launched an attack on the Ming army.

Seeing that the Qing army was killing the mountain, Gan Hui predicted that the weak Ming army could not hold on for long, so he hurriedly said to Zheng Chenggong: "King, reinforcements have not arrived for a long time. Please go and urge me quickly."

Zheng Chenggong also realized that the situation was extremely urgent. After the two wings were defeated, the Ming army arranged in the valley would become an isolated army. He didn't understand why the support could not wait, so he handed over the command to Gan Hui, asking him to hold back the Qing army. When he urged the troops to rush back, the Ming army still had the opportunity to encircle the Qing army.

After leaving the central army, Zheng Chenggong rushed to the riverside. There was no sight of the brigade of Ming army along the way, and there were only scattered small teams of soldiers. After hearing the loud sound of killing in front, the small officers leading the team also shrank.

Zheng Chenggong was annoyed, but he didn't bother to argue with them. He galloped towards the riverside, and was so anxious that he was about to shout: "Where is my army?"

After running to the vicinity of the navy's headquarters, Zheng Chenggong saw an endless sea of ​​people, more than 100,000 Ming troops, and almost the same number of Ming troops, almost all gathered by the river.

But there were not many soldiers holding weapons, and there were not many armored men. They held their wives' hand, held their young children in their arms, and squeezed them wildly towards the ships by the river. When they heard that the Qing army had left the city to counterattack, the first idea of ​​a large number of Ming soldiers was to send their families onto the ship. The order to move the camp at night completely lost order in the army, except for the personal soldiers of the senior generals, the Ming soldiers left the troops and began to work hard to transport their families.

Even the officers and personal soldiers sent by the generals to gather the troops completely lost their confidence in completing the task after seeing this chaotic scene. They also rushed back to their residence, hoping to take the lead in sending their families onto the ship.

There were crowds of people everywhere, and there were shouts of calling children and daughters. From time to time, Zheng Chenggong could see one or two children sitting on the ground crying loudly, shouting: "Dad! Mom!"

Zheng Chenggong and his personal guards tried hard to pull the soldiers they met, asking their chief's name, wanting to know where the officer who was commanding them, but the soldiers looked confused.

"I am Zheng Chenggong, your vassal king!" Zheng Chenggong stood up from the horse's back and shouted to the crowd around him with all his might: "Don't you know me? Take up your weapons and fight with me!"

But no one responded to Zheng Chenggong's call, but avoided him far away. The soldiers who were held by the personal guards did not have a single wife and children who were willing to leave behind their crying behind them. Instead, they quickly slipped away whenever they had the chance and mixed into the crowded crowd again.

Another person was caught by Zheng Chenggong's guards.

"I am the Prince of Yanping, don't you recognize me?" Zheng Chenggong stared at the single man who struggled desperately and wanted to escape from the guards.

The strong man was stunned for a moment, and did not continue to entangle with the guards who were holding him, but knelt down and kowtowed at Zheng Chenggong Dongdong several times. When he raised his head, he was already in a hurry to shed tears: "King, the little man's son is gone." When he was sending his family onto the boat, the eldest son who was dragging behind him was squeezed apart at some point. When he arrived by the boat, he realized that he was dragging an unknown child. His wife almost jumped into the river. After lifting his wife and daughter onto the boat, he hurried back to find his lost son.

The soldier was strong and looked like a soldier and a soldier. After hearing his answer, Zheng Chenggong's guard snorted, and someone wanted to draw his sword and behead him to shock the chaos.

But Zheng Chenggong raised his hand to stop the guard who drew his sword, lowered his head and asked, "How old is your son? How is he dressed?"

After getting the answer, Zheng Chenggong pointed to the distance: "I just saw one there, it seems to be a bit like your son."

"Thank you, the king." The soldier turned around and rushed out without looking back.

"King!" Seeing that Zheng Chenggong refused to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, the guards were full of anxiety.

"It's no longer controlled." Zheng Chenggong shook his head slowly and ordered to send an order to Gan Hui, so that the entire Ming army would retreat immediately.

After saying that, Zheng Chenggong looked back at the riverside, looked at the dark head, and sighed: "The army that has been trained for ten years and taught me a lesson. I was so careless that I ended up here."

A gust of river wind blew, and Zheng Chenggong felt a little chill. Yesterday, the river bank was full of warmth, as if tomorrow would become the north wind again.

After the messenger returned, saying that Gan Hui and others failed to break through, Zheng Chenggong ordered the entire army to board the ship, give up all the camps, and not try to save the weapons and equipment left by the soldiers in various camps. He took the last group of personal guards to board the ship, looked at the unarmed subordinates in the ship, and looked at the Qing soldiers who had already chased to the shore on the river bank, and the Prince of Yanping whispered: "Rise up the anchor and go back to Zhenjiang."

The fleet went downstream and left Nanjing. Zheng Chenggong stood at the stern of the boat, remained silent for a long time, and said softly to his left and right: "I don't know what Yu Xin, how life and death of Gan Hui?"

Before his subordinates could express relief, Zheng Chenggong shook his head again: "They have been with me for a long time and will definitely refuse to surrender. There will be no more time to meet again... But I really hope they can surrender, and they will surrender in the future."

...

The captured Yu Xin and Gan Hui were taken to the Governor Lang Tingzuo of Liangjiang. The Qing army also knew that they were Zheng Chenggong's right-hand man and two well-known generals in the Fujian army.

After being captured last night, Yu Xin never saw his wife again. He didn't know where she was now. The Qing soldiers brought the two to Lang Tingzuo, and pushed them to kneel down. Yu Xin's ears seemed to have his wife's heart-wrenching cry. He hesitated for a moment, slowly knelt on the ground, and lowered his head to the ground.

Suddenly, he kicked hard from behind, and Yu Xin rushed forward and almost rushed to the ground. He turned around and saw Gan Hui, who was tied up, staring at him.

"Do you want to beg for mercy from the Tartars?" Gan Hui cursed gritted his teeth.

Yu Xin's lips trembled: "I have a wife..."

"Who doesn't!" Gan Hui shouted sternly.

Yu Xin was silent, lowered his head for a moment, then struggled to stand up again, standing side by side with Gan Hui.

...

Deng Ming held the just-seied mansion report on his chest and slowly read it. The guards surrounded him, observing Deng Ming's face, trying to find some clues about the content of the mansion report from above.

"The Prince of Yanping was defeated." Today, Deng Ming did not ask his troops to study and read the newspaper. After hanging down the newspaper in his hand weakly, he said to everyone: "The Prince of Yanping's army was defeated by the sailors of the three thousand Susong Naval Division. Liang Huafeng, the thief, was captured by one and killed the six generals of Yanping's prince."

After learning that even Yu Xin and Gan Hui were trapped in Liang Huafeng's hands, Mu Tan was so angry that he drew his sword and hit the stone: "I will not be a human being if I don't kill this thief!"

"The most dangerous thing is Zhang Shangshu," said Nanjing's diary that Zheng Chenggong had retreated to Zhenjiang. Zhao Tianba immediately said: "It is estimated that the Prince of Yanping will withdraw from the Yangtze River soon. Zhang Shangshu's retreat has been cut off, and his family is still mixed in the army. It is estimated that the entire army will be destroyed right in front of him."

"The Prince of Yanping just retreated to Zhenjiang, and may not be unable to revive his strength and attack Nanjing again." Li Xinghan said immediately.

Zhao Tianba and Zhou Kaihuang shook their heads together. They pointed out that the Prince of Yanping had made a big mistake, but now he was defeated suddenly. Even if the King of Chuang was restored, the King of Western Resurrection could not curb the morale of the army under such adversity, let alone Zheng Chenggong had no experience in this area at all.

"The same is true for Zhang Shangshu's problem," Zhao Tianba continued: "If there is no family member, it is possible that they will unite and work together to fight for a bloody path, but Zhang Shangshu's army is also mixed with family members and cannot march to break through."

"Why?" Li Xinghan asked humbly.

"Because if it is a normal army, some people can't keep up with the team. Although the companions are sad, they know that staying is a dead end, so they will harden their hearts and throw them away; but how many people can harden their hearts and throw their wives and children? And because one person is staying, maybe many people will not leave and stay with them..." Zhao Tianba explained, first of all, women may be soft-hearted and will not be able to bear to see people they know fall behind; secondly, everyone will have some concerns. Today, because this person's wife and children are not walking fast, they will throw their family down. What should they do if their wife and children are not walking fast tomorrow?

"If Zhang Shangshu didn't turn to war, maybe it could last for a few days, but the Nanjing Tartars arrived, and Zhang Shangshu's current military appearance would not be able to defeat him; if Zhang Shangshu planned to turn to war, it would probably be worse. Without the Tartars, the army would collapse on its own." Zhou Kaihuang added that once Zhang Huangyan started to march, some would go fast, some would go slowly, and Zhejiang's army is still based on families, and the collapse of the gap is inevitable.

"What should I do if I want to help Zhang Shangshu?" Deng Ming asked.

"Then you have to rush to meet Zhang Shangshu and convince him to separate the men and women immediately. Now that the Prince of Yanping is defeated, Zhang Shangshu may be able to listen." Zhou Kaihuang replied immediately. He had already thought of this question: "As long as the family gathers together and moves alone, the Zhejiang army may be able to sacrifice their lives for the sake of their family escape, and at least have the opportunity to take them back to Huguang."

"Yes, Bei Zhi also thinks so." Like Zhou Kaihuang, Zhao Tianba had long known that Deng Ming would not give up any opportunity, and he also secretly thought about the aftermath issue.

"Okay." Deng Ming nodded slightly.

In Deng Ming's previous life, Zhang Huangyan tried to switch to Chaohu and other places, but the Zhejiang army with his family was no longer controlled and continued to collapse during the march. In the end, only two people and Zhang Huangyan were able to escape and return to Zhoushan.
Chapter completed!