Chapter 35 Chapter 34 The Last Beauty

By 1658, among the domestic anti-Qing armed forces, in addition to Li Ding in Yunnan, there were also the Ming army in eastern Sichuan and Zheng Chenggong in Jinxia, ​​Fujian (after Zhang Mingzhen's death, his troops were attached to Zheng Chenggong under the leadership of Zhang Huangyan). Now, when the Qing government adopts "grasp the big and let go of the small" and attack Yunnan with all its strength, the other two forces, of course, will not refuse to save them. In fact, between 1658 and 1659, these two forces extended a helping hand and successively launched the Battle of Chongqing and the Battle of the Yangtze River, making their last efforts to save Dahuang!

Let’s start with the Eastern Sichuan Ming Army who launched the Chongqing Campaign. The Ming army in eastern Sichuan was mainly composed of "Kuidong Thirteen Families" and "Three Tans (Tan Wen, Tan Yi, Tan Hong)". Among them, the "Kuidong Thirteen Families" mainly evolved from the remaining troops of the Dashun Army, and were armed by farmers; the "Three Tans" evolved from local regiment training, and were armed by landlords.At present, these two types of armed forces all enshrine Wen Anzhi, a senior scholar, as their direct leader. The first attack on Chongqing took place in July 1658, and the main participants were the armed forces led by "San Tan" and Liu Tichun.Its strategic purpose is to force Wu Sangui to return to aid from Zunyi.

Wu Sangui, who was worried about being cut off from the rear and had no food to eat, had to rush to lead his troops back to Chongqing from Zunyi, and the pressure on the battlefield in Guizhou was relieved. Seeing that the task was completed, the Ming army and the Qing army retreated after a short battle. In October, when Wu Sangui went to Guizhou again, the Ming army in eastern Sichuan "repeated the old trick" and attacked Chongqing again, preparing to play the game of "mouse and cat" with Wu Sangui again. In order to make the game more prosperous, Wen Anzhi this time brought "Kuidong Thirteen" and "Santan" into the "game field".

After moving to the South in 1645, the rest of the Dashun Army gradually built up a "substantial" naval force to meet the needs of the war.Therefore, in this battle of attacking Chongqing, Wen Anzhi adopted the deployment of "dividing troops into two routes and advancing by land and water". Among the "Thirteen Kuidong Families", Yuan Jinxiao's navy carried the "Three Tan" armed forces on the water route, while he himself led Liu Tichun, Yuan Zongdi, Dang Shousu, He Zhen and other Lu divisions from the "Kuidong Thirteen Families" on land. .

The reason for this arrangement is that Chongqing is a city along the river, and joint operations by water and land have a greater chance of winning! In the absence of road vehicles at that time, the speed of marching by water was much faster than that by land. The division and the "Santan" armed forces had already arrived in Chongqing on December 2. Now that they have arrived, don't be idle, and simply start fighting with the Qing army in Chongqing. Although this Ming army only had more than 10,000 people, the Qing army in Chongqing was even smaller.After ten days, Chongqing City was battered and scarred, and was in danger.

It should have been Gao Minzhan, the governor of Sichuan in the Qing Dynasty, who led the battle in Chongqing, but this high-ranking official with no professional ethics had already slipped away in advance.Currently staying in the city to perform their duties and lead the resistance are Cheng Tingjun, the commander-in-chief of Chongkui Town in Qing Dynasty, and Wang Mingde, the commander-in-chief of Jianchang Town. The two generals, Cheng and Wang, seem to be going on like this, and they will soon be on the "Great Qing Martyrs Honor Roll" this year. The two brothers, who are more attached to life than the pursuit of honor, rushed to Li Guoying, the governor of Sichuan in Boring. call for help.

Li Guoying, who was born in the Han Dynasty in Liaodong, was still loyal to his duty. After receiving the letter for help, he immediately sent troops. But while Li Guoying's troops were still hurrying on their way, there was an unexpected fission on the side of the Ming army—the "bad landlords" Tan Yi and Tan Hong, who wanted to go to the "good life", secretly took the "good landlord" Tan Wen killed him, took his head, and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, which was more able to safeguard the overall interests of the landlord class. Cheng Wang, who was already preparing to cross the Naihe Bridge to meet Lord Yan, accepted it with a smile, and at the same time formulated the next military action plan with "Er Tan" to jointly suppress the Ming army.

On December 16, the Qing army, who had been a coward for more than ten days, suddenly rushed out of the city and let the dogs bite people! As soon as the "Er Tan" saw the appearance of the Qing army, they immediately turned against each other, and the two armies quickly joined forces and rushed towards Tan Wen's Lu Yingji. Tan Wenbu, who lost his coach, was quickly beaten to pieces, and the defeated soldiers fled to Yuan Jinxiao's water camp one after another, abandoning the land and boarding the boat. As a result, "the number of those who capsized and fell into the water is unknown." .

The Qing army and the Ming rebels rushed in afterwards, and a large number of Ming soldiers were either killed or drowned, and the rest quickly fled eastward with the current! After the victory, the Qing army chased them all the way to the mouth of Tongluo Gorge before withdrawing their troops and returning to their camp. After the narrow victory, in order to set an "example of rebellion" in Sichuan, the Qing court immediately "promoted" Tan Yi as Marquis of Xianghua and Tan Hong as Marquis of Muyi. Wen Anzhi, who led the Ming Lu Division to Feng County, heard that the Shui Division had already been defeated, and knew that the goal of conquering Chongqing would be difficult to achieve, so he was forced to retreat eastward.

The failure of the second attack on Chongqing cast a huge psychological shadow on the Ming army, which directly led to the rebellion of De'anhou Di Sanpin, who was transferred to the Jianchang area of ​​Sichuan, the forward of Emperor Yongli. Di Sanpin's descent to the Qing Dynasty was done secretly behind his "old boss" Qingyang Wang Feng Shuangli.In order to avoid conscience condemnation, he regarded Feng Shuangli's "excellent service" as one of the important conditions for surrendering to the Qing court. People are in good spirits on happy occasions. After the great victory in Sichuan and Yunnan, Emperor Shunzhi was in excellent condition. He specially issued an edict to "invite" Feng Shuangli, the "unrepentant anti-Qing faction" to the capital, and raised him as a "loyal model". .

One hand rewards "models of rebellion" and the other hand establishes "loyal models". This is probably an important reason why the Qing Dynasty focused on both military construction and ideological work, so as to become stronger and bigger! Comrade Zheng Chenggong, a "professional breach of contract", finally wants to take the initiative to "perform the contract". In the Longwu era, Zheng Chenggong was very young, innocent and loyal. But a person's innocence is inversely proportional to his age. In the Yongli era, when he grew older, he became very mature, very complicated, and began to be less "loyal". He always puts protecting the interests of his own small group first, so he is unwilling to get too close to leaders who cannot bring him actual benefits, and he is unwilling to cooperate sincerely with Li Chengdong and Li Dingguo. This philosophy of adhering to himself and taking advantage of the trend of development allowed him to stand out even when other anti-Qing armed forces were "into pieces". Now he not only has more than 1,000 warships and nearly 100,000 troops, but also has an overseas trade network throughout Japan and Southeast Asia, becoming the largest "non-government armed force" on the southeast coast. But he knew very well that once other anti-Qing armed forces were "knocked out", the next step to be attacked by the Qing army must be himself. Therefore, he finally came to help Comrade Li Dingguo when he was about to fail in the southwest. It is impossible for him to help each other step by step from the coast of Fujian to the inland. That is too unrealistic, because his army is "unreliable". His best way of assistance is to rely on his "very reliable" navy to go north from Jinxia, ​​go deep into the Yangtze River, and go straight to Nanjing, blocking the north and the south, and forcing the enemy to return to aid. In addition, according to his speculation, once Emperor Yongli abandons Yunnan, he will inevitably move closer to Sichuan, and use the Ming Dynasty navy in eastern Sichuan to go eastward. At that time, he will be able to "intercept" the troubled emperor on the Yangtze River , and under its banner ordered the southeast to return to the old capital (Nanjing). This "looks pretty" plan was put into practice in July 1658.Zheng Chenggong took most of his men and horses, sailed northward by boat, and prepared to advance into the Yangtze River. But God, who always likes to make troubles in China's internal affairs, came to make trouble again. At noon on August 10, when Huang's army arrived at Dayang Mountain at the junction of Zhejiang and Jiangsu by boat, his old man sent a gust of wind. Moreover, what was sent was not an ordinary wind, but a hurricane! This hurricane is comparable to the "divine wind" encountered by the Yuan army during Kublai Khan's expedition to Japan. Where the hurricane blows, the waves are rough, the waves are monstrous, the boats are overturned, and the material is damaged... Not only ordinary soldiers died, but even Zheng Chenggong's six concubines and three sons were all drowned. Zheng Chenggong, who had not been successful in the army, heard the bad news first, and suffered heavy losses, returned to the Zhoushan Islands to rest with his incomplete army in dejection. The Zhoushan Islands still have not recovered from the large-scale "immigration to the island" by the Qing army. The whole island is still sparsely populated and overgrown with grass.A few years ago, the thousands of people led by Zhang Mingzhen could not survive here. Today, it is even more difficult for Zheng Chenggong's tens of thousands of people to gain a foothold here. As a last resort, Zheng Chenggong had no choice but to leave the sad islands with all his troops and return home. After returning to Jinxia, ​​he actively reorganized the team, repaired ships, rebuilt equipment, raised food and salaries, and tried to do it again. In April 1659, Zheng Chenggong, who was ready for everything, led his troops north again. If there is something special about this dispatch of troops in Chinese history, it is that Zheng Chenggong made a special "humane" regulation, allowing "army brothers" to bring "military wives" to the expedition, so that both husband and wife fight! "If there are women in the army, they will not show their spirits; if their sons and daughters love each other, heroes will have less strength." This is an iron law of marching and fighting. Therefore, Zheng Chenggong was not allowed to bring his family members (except himself) in his previous expeditions. The reason for making an exception this time is not that Zheng Chenggong found out with his conscience that he had to put himself in the shoes of the soldiers to solve the suffering of the "separation of the two places", but because of his determination to win. Because according to the "intelligence officer" Wei Geng and others, the main force of the Qing army, except staying in Beijing, has all gone to Yunnan and Guizhou to suppress the rebellion, and the border in the south of the Yangtze River is "extremely weak". Each averages no more than a hundred people. In addition, Wei Geng and others also told him that the hearts of the people in the south of the Yangtze River to "think about the Ming" are like hundreds of rivers facing the sea.As long as I hold the flag of Ming Dynasty high and enter the Yangtze River, all places will be able to come from near and far. Therefore, Zheng Chenggong plans to launch a batch of "housing projects" as soon as he arrives in the south of the Yangtze River this time, and he will be with Xinghua Chunyu for a long time! In order to prevent God from making trouble with him again, Zheng Chenggong specially appointed Zhang Huangyan, who has a large amount of hydrological data, as the striker this time. On April 28, the Ming army successfully captured Dinghai and gained a base for advancing northward. On May 19, the Ming army entered the Yangtze River from Wusongkou. On June 16, the Ming army used the tactics of fire attack on the Yangtze River to burn the Qing army's "Gunjianglong (a river-locking defense line connected with iron chains and ships)" and "Wooden City (a wooden city built on the river)". Mobile Floating Battalion)" three, destroyed the "high-tech national defense project" that the Qing army worked so hard to build. Subsequently, the Ming army successfully conquered Guazhou, forcing Qing Caojiang governor Zhu Yizhu to surrender. On June 22, the Ming army defeated the reinforcements sent by Qing Jiangning governor Jiang Guozhu and admiral Guan Xiaozhong in Yinshan, Zhenjiang, forcing the Qing Zhenjiang guard Gao Qian and prefect Dai Ke to surrender in Xiancheng. Guazhou and Zhenjiang fell one after another. The next step is that the Ming army may immediately send troops to Jiangning and direct their swords to Beijing.This made Lang Tingzuo, governor of Qing Liangjiang, extremely nervous. Lang Tingzuo, a native of Liaodong Han, was the son of Lang Xizai who sold himself to join him and became a high-ranking official in the later Jin Dynasty. He was both a second-generation official and a second-generation adulterer. Facing the massive attack of the Ming army, Governor Lang discussed with Admiral Guan (Guan Zhongzhong) who had just lost the battle, and adopted three emergency countermeasures. Ask for help from above: Report the situation of Jiangning in danger to His Majesty the Emperor, and ask Shunzhi Emperor to send reinforcements as soon as possible in a coaxing and intimidating tone. Downward transfer of troops: not only issued orders to transfer troops to Chuzhou, Liuhe, Jinshan, and Yizhen near Nanjing, but also issued a request for help to Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Chongming farther away, requiring the troops stationed in these places, regardless of Manchu, Han, and Han. No matter how old or strong, as soon as possible to reinforce Nanjing, the more the better! Intercepted in the middle: A Qing army returning to Beijing from the front line of Guizhou for "vacation" passed through Nanjing. Although it had no horses, no armor and few weapons, it was also intercepted by Governor Lang "using power to seek justice" to defend Jiangning. Governor Lang, who was still restless after all this was done, sent Zheng Chenggong a "deeply affectionate" persuasion letter. As an "outsider", he persuaded the "insider" Comrade Zheng Chenggong to understand the general trend of the world and think of the family relationship of flesh and blood. Come and return happily, and then unite the country, gather with relatives, visit places of interest, entertain the world, and be good to the country and yourself. Naturally, Governor Lang did not dare to have high expectations for the effect of this letter. He just wanted to delay it and buy precious time for the reinforcements to arrive! Just when Governor Lang was in a hurry and jumping up and down, Zheng Chenggong's "momentum building" activities in Zhenjiang were reaching a climax. On June 25, the second day after occupying Zhenjiang, Zheng Chenggong held a grand military parade at Ganlu Temple outside the North Gate.After the military parade, he personally toured the whole city, so that the people of the town can see his "unique style" of the lord of the country. After the city tour, Zheng Chenggong issued an announcement to the entire army, requiring all officers and soldiers to strictly abide by discipline, not to leave the camp casually, not to trespass on private houses, and not to forcibly buy and occupy, so as to build Zhenjiang into a veritable "model city of double support" and thus drive The rest of the regions are subordinated in turn. After the release of the public notice, it has received obvious results. The whole town of Zhenjiang is where the people live and work in peace and contentment, the market transactions are stable, and there is no panic when the war comes! Zhenjiang was quiet as usual, which drove the surrounding counties such as Jurong, Yizhen, Chuzhou, and Liuhe to come back one after another (due to the deployment of troops by Governor General Lang to reinforce Nanjing, these counties had no Qing army organization to resist).In just three days, Zheng Chenggong immediately had a large base area centered on Zhenjiang, which was his "first pot of gold" after entering the Yangtze River. "A good start is half the battle." The beaming Zheng Chenggong immediately held a meeting of admirals and commanders of the whole army on June 28 to discuss the marching route for attacking Nanjing. Central Admiral Gan Hui preemptively put forward the "Lu Jin" plan. The main point of the "Land Advance" plan is to select elite soldiers and strong generals to form an "Assault Corps" to attack Nanjing during the starry night. Gan Hui also added that you must not take the waterway, because the wind direction is not favorable now. If you go to Nanjing by boat, you will not only go against the current, but also against the wind. But to Gan Hui's surprise, his plan was immediately opposed by most of the generals. The reasons for everyone's opposition: First, the weather is sometimes extremely hot and sometimes rainy, which is very unfavorable to the movement of the army; second, our army is a "high-tech" armed army with many heavy weapons and a lack of horses. It will be "tired of divisions and soldiers", and it will also affect the combat effect due to the inability to transport heavy weapons. Zheng Chenggong, who was born in the "Navy", had a hard way of thinking to get rid of "heavy water and light land". Therefore, marching to Nanjing by water became an unchangeable resolution of this meeting. In the Battle of Changde and the Battle of Chongqing that we mentioned earlier, the marching speed of the army by water was much faster than that by land, but this time, it was an exception. The reason for the exception is that Zheng Chenggong brought the navy, and one of the biggest differences between the navy and the navy is that the ships the navy takes are much larger. The boat is very big, and it is against the wind and the current. As a result, the power required for sailing comes entirely from the "shoulders of the trackers" on the shore. As a result, the Zhenjiang-Nanjing trip of the Ming army took ten days.At the end of June, it took only one day for the defeated Qing army to flee back to Nanjing by land. After the army arrived in Nanjing on July 10, Zheng Chenggong was not in a hurry to attack the city, but started a new round of "momentum building" activities. On July 11, hundreds of people including generals Gan Hui and Ma Xin went to Zhongshan for "inspection and sightseeing". On July 12, the whole army dressed in filial piety and held worship activities to pay the highest respect to Comrade Zhu Yuanzhang, the national hero who "expelled the barbarians and restored China", and was determined to inherit his legacy and create a brand new Ming Empire. At the worship ceremony, the smug Zheng Chenggong read out his latest poem - "Leaving a Teacher to Discuss Manyi from Guazhou to Jinling" in a high-pitched and passionate tone. "Xinsu Linjiang swore to destroy Hu, and the mighty army swallowed Wu. Try throwing the whip across the sky. If you don't believe that the Central Plains is not surnamed Zhu." Those who dare to plagiarize this word will all end up defeated, which has almost become a war curse). After the worship ceremony, Zheng Chenggong began to announce the siege of the city. But the city of Nanjing is too big. After 200 years, the Qing army used the two battalions of Jiangnan and Jiangbei. Hundreds of thousands of people did not encircle Nanjing. The tens of thousands brought by Zheng Chenggong, if they want to encircle the city, it is basically a dream. As a result, Zheng Chenggong only surrounded Nanjing sparsely like the stars and the moon, and the passage between Nanjing and the outside world was not completely cut off. Although Zheng Chenggong besieged Nanjing but did not attack, Lang Tingshu, who stayed in the city, clearly felt the breath of death, approaching him step by step! Impatient and quick-witted, Governor Lang thought of the old method of using feigned surrender to buy time. From persuading others to surrender to surrendering to others, the role of Governor Lang can't be changed no matter what.Ever since, he entrusted this "honorable and arduous" task to Comrade Guan Zhongzhong, a general. Guan, who only had a few flamboyant guts in his heart, was loyal to the admiral, and immediately under the guidance of Governor Lang, he wrote a humble letter of surrender to Zheng Chenggong. In the letter, Admiral Guan first expressed his admiration and surrender to Zheng Chenggong, and then presented him with his actual difficulties. Admiral Guan said that according to the military laws of the Qing Dynasty, if someone loses the city after defending the city for more than 30 days, his wife and children will not be affected in the sentencing.Most of my subordinates are from Jiangbei. If they surrender to you, the princess, before thirty days have passed, their wives and children will be confiscated as slaves. For this reason, everyone collectively resists surrendering to you.Therefore, I implore the princess to be kind and generous, and when the thirty days arrive, we will open the gate and welcome the army of the princess to enter the city. What is absolutely unexpected is that Zheng Chenggong readily agreed to this request for surrender. This is something that many fans who study the history of the Southern Ming Dynasty can't figure it out even if they break their heads! Today, through sifting through layers of historical materials, I boldly list my "research results" as follows to explain why Zheng Chenggong agreed to delay Nanjing's surrender: -, Overestimation of the "Jiangnan people's sentiment" index. The return of Zhenjiang and surrounding counties and cities made Zheng Chenggong feel that the Ming Dynasty has been restored, that the people of the people want it, and that the general trend is the trend. His future road to revival will be bright and smooth. But in fact, this is just an appearance. Since the Qing army went south in 1645, Jiangnan has been forged by wars of all sizes for nearly 15 years.War destroys economies and depopulates, but it also creates opportunity. In the process of "opportunity re-creation", the Manchu decision-makers, as conquerors, were very "smart".They handed over the grassroots rule over hundreds of millions of Han people to Han officials.Most of the officials made by the Manchus were placed in the army, and only a small number were placed locally, and most of them were placed in high positions at the provincial level.In this way, a thick "isolation layer" was set up between the ordinary Han people and the Manchus who ruled the nation. For ordinary Han people, although foreign rule existed, it was not direct.What they face every day is still those Han officials who wear a full set of uniforms, with the same rules and regulations, the same way of life, and the same language.As a grassroots person, everyone still has to work at sunrise and rest at sunset, support their families, and do errands. Yes, we need to talk about politics, but more importantly, we need to talk about life. Slowly, after more than ten years of turmoil, Jiangnan has returned to its original track. Only the cultural gentry are unwilling to do so. The exotic attire of "shaved head and left lapel" is incompatible with their cultural blood that has been accumulated for thousands of years.This pain of "diversity between body and mind" was even more intense when they paid homage to Confucius, the most holy teacher in Han costume. Therefore, their belief of "pray for the king's teacher and rebuild a strong man" is deeper and slower than other people. When the Master Zheng led by Zheng Chenggong entered the Yangtze River, they were overjoyed and voluntarily joined the team to welcome Master Wang.The surrender of Zhenjiang and nearby prefectures and counties is the result of their continuous pull and push. But Zheng Chenggong didn't see this. He didn't see God's special favor for his destiny; he didn't see the smooth sailing road of entrepreneurship since his debut; !Now, he didn't see the possibility of his forced landing in Nanjing either. Second, the interpretation of the Qing military intelligence made him more convinced that the Qing had no troops to move, and the Nanjing defenders were few and far between. This interpretation, in addition to espionage, was also confirmed by the intercepted Guan Zhongzhong’s troop transfer document to Songjiang. The troop dispatch document, as a first-hand source, had clearly told Zheng Chenggong that Nanjing’s troops had long since lost their minds and everyone’s intentions had dropped. Therefore, he He once said unabashedly to his subordinates: "Nanjing will fall!". 3. In fact, he doesn't have many troops to use. This time, his army claimed to be one hundred thousand, but in fact it was not that many.A part was kept in Dinghai, and a part in Zhenjiang, and the amount brought to Nanjing was about 50,000.And mostly the navy.Fierce battles at sea are its strengths; fighting on land is its weakness.Wouldn't it be great if we could defeat others without fighting! Fourth, he also needs a period of time to search for information about Emperor Yongli. He judged that Emperor Yongli had already entered Sichuan, and it was possible to go down from the upper reaches to the east. He needed to wait patiently. When are people most likely to be deceived?People are most likely to be deceived when their desires are most urgent. Therefore, after Zheng Chenggong received Guan's request for loyalty and surrender, he rewarded him generously and made a promise not to attack the city within 30 days on the spot. After watching the Qing envoy leave, Zheng Chenggong ordered his subordinates to "build high fortifications, dig deep trenches, and slowly attack the city", and at the same time asked Zhang Huangyan to lead thousands of troops to continue westward along the Yangtze River to promote policies in Wuhu, Jiujiang and other places upstream. , and visit the news of Emperor Yongli. After receiving Zheng Chenggong's promise to delay the attack, the hanging hearts of the Qing officials in Nanjing finally fell to the ground.Then, they raced against time and devoted themselves to the tense deployment of troops to assist in the battle. Time is efficiency, the army is life! Under Lang Tingzuo's stern order, Liang Huafeng, the commander-in-chief of the Suzhou Navy, led more than 4,000 troops from Chongming on June 28 and marched by land to Nanjing.After reuniting with Governor Jiang Guozhu's Fubiao soldiers in Suzhou, they continued to march day and night and marched in surprise, and finally entered Nanjing quietly on the night of July 15th, becoming the largest group of reinforcements entering the city. Then, guerrilla Xu Dengdi led 300 horse infantry, Jinshan battalion general Zhang Guojun led 1,000 horse infantry, navy right battalion garrison Wang Dacheng led 150 horse infantry, and Xieling Yatari stationed in Hangzhou led horse infantry 500 soldiers, 500 Manchurian soldiers stationed in Gushan Dayali, Xianghuang Banner, Hangzhou, and 500 elite soldiers led by Liu Chengyin, a guerrilla from Zhejiang Province, arrived in Nanjing one after another, and entered Nanjing from the loosely straddled defense line of the Ming army. At the same time, the Ming army stationed outside the city showed unprecedented laxity. "Victory is already in sight, comrades don't need to work hard!" Now that there is no need to fight bloody, the Ming army who came with their families began to enjoy this rare time of peace.Therefore, on the banks of the beautiful Yangtze River, it is common to see couples strolling in groups cuddling each other, and soldiers in twos and threes fishing with nets, creating a scene of peace and serenity. But this situation only lasted thirteen days.In the middle of the night of July 22, Lang Tingzuo, who had been dormant in Nanjing for half a month, believed that the time had come and started a tentative attack. Liang Huafeng led 500 cavalry out of Yifeng Gate, and Guan Xiaozhong led more than 1,000 cavalry out of Zhongfu Gate.At dawn the next day, the two armies launched an attack on Yu Xin's Department of the Ming Army. The drowsy Ming army didn't even have time to put on their armor and equipment, so they rushed into battle, and were soon scattered by the prepared Qing army, and the main general Yu Xin was captured. The Qing army won the first battle, so they didn't even return to the city, and stationed directly outside the city, preparing to compete face-to-face with the Ming army. The sudden counterattack of the Qing army awakened Zheng Chenggong's dream of peace, and he hurriedly ordered the redeployment of the army, ordering that all the troops must gather in the Guanyin Mountain area on the same day—July 23, and prepare to gather their heads before beating people. On the morning of July 24th, the Ming army, who had just moved to "home" for a day and a night, was about to lie down and take a breath. The Qing army killed this time not only included those who left the city earlier, but also those who were inside the city.Governor Lang, who has been shrunken for many days, is determined to go out with all his strength and fight the Ming army to the death. The attack first started by attacking the top of Guanyin Mountain. The Ming army, which was already exhausted, began to "collapse" shortly after it came into contact with the vigorous Qing army.Lan Yan, who was guarding the front mountain, died in battle, and his troops retreated; Yang Zu's tribe, who was guarding the back mountain, fled after failing, and the top of Guanyin Mountain was occupied. After occupying the top of the mountain, the Qing army condescended to attack Gan Hui and Zhang Ying's tribes in the valley with the momentum of Mount Tai pressing down on the top. Lu Zhan was not the director and fatigued, and the two Ming armies were basically destroyed. Zhang Ying was killed and Gan Hui was captured. Immediately afterwards, Lin Sheng, Chen Kui, Wan Li and other ministries also repeated this tragedy. The main general retreated or died, and the position was lost. To capture the thief and capture the king, Guan Zhongzhong still kept a clear head while he was victorious, and specially sent a "special force" to directly attack Zheng Chenggong's headquarters. Under the life-saving escort of Pan Gengzhong, a household officer who joined the army, Zheng Chenggong retreated safely to the warship on the Yangtze River. Zheng Chenggong, who had just set foot on the warship, suffered an even more unexpected blow in the blink of an eye.The "arson team" sent by the Qing army sneaked into the river with a nitrate bottle, approached the gunpowder ship of the Ming army, ignited the nitrate bottle and threw it into the cabin, which immediately caused the gunpowder ship to explode, and all gunpowder was reimbursed. The flames produced by the explosion of the gunpowder ship ignited the surrounding warships again, and the whole river was full of flames. Zheng Chenggong had no choice but to command the soldiers to put out the fire, and at the same time command the ships to move closer to the shore to meet the Qing army who fled back from the shore. But the fact is no longer possible! Because the Qing army that was chasing after them was already entangled with the Ming army, and they were inseparable.Some of the brave Qing troops have jumped onto the warships of the Ming army and continue to fight! "A poisonous snake gnaws its claws, and a strong man cuts off its wrists." In order to preserve the naval power, Zheng Chenggong had no choice but to order the sails to be hoisted, and "ruthlessly" keep the Ming army, which was still fighting on land, with the Qing army. The Ming army, who was stranded on land, immediately became an appetizer for the Qing army to "eat slowly". The Qing army first used infantry to shoot arrows, and then charged with cavalry, bringing the defeated Ming army closer to the river. The white sails are far away, and the blue sky is gone, only the sky of the Yangtze River can be seen.The Ming army who retreated to the river did not see the ships they landed on.The turbulent yet gentle and affectionate Yangtze River is their final destination. The Ming army, who was not injured or slightly injured, turned back to fight with the Qing army.But this is no longer a heroic quest for victory, but a tragic quest for death! They will use their own death to prove that although they are losers, they are by no means cowards. The Ming army, who was injured and unable to continue the war, took off their armor and jumped into the river.For these men who were born and raised by the sea.The Yangtze River will return their bodies and souls to the blue sea and their gracious hometown. The Yangtze River turns into tears intentionally, and the Yangtze River sings affectionately! Zheng Chenggong, who saw this scene through the "clairvoyance (telescope)", wanted to cry but had no tears. He couldn't bear to look any longer, so he turned his deep eyes to Nanjing, where tigers and dragons are loitering. It was the place where he studied when he was young, and there are many beautiful memories of his youth left there.How he longed to go back there as a "peaceful person" and capture the happy days that passed away. But all of this turned into an unattainable dream in an instant. Farewell, passionate Nanjing! Farewell, cruel Nanjing! He first led the remaining army back to Zhenjiang.Here, he begins to take stock of his losses. Compared with the last natural disaster suffered in Dayang Mountain, the man-made disaster encountered this time caused even more losses. About 30,000 soldiers were lost. Generals Wan Li, Zhang Ying, Lin Sheng, Lan Yan, Chen Kui, and Pan Gengzhong were killed in battle, and Gan Hui and Yu Shixin were captured (later Buyi was killed). Just at this time, he received another piece of news that made him even more disheartened-Emperor Yongding had "toured" Burma. In the face of successive failures, the pride and self-confidence brought about by so many years of proud life collapsed.What is left in Zheng Chenggong's heart is just the same weakness and evasion as ordinary people. He no longer has the ambition and ambition to start a career in Jiangnan, and he wants to leave this beautiful hometown that breaks his heart as soon as possible! He ordered the troops from the prefectures and counties around Zhenjiang to assemble in Zhenjiang, and then the whole army returned east. Before leaving Zhenjiang, he had no feelings for this place, so he issued a special death order, burning all the government offices, killing all the traitors, and taking away all the supplies. For a time, the area occupied by the Ming army was full of flames, the sound of killing was everywhere, looting was everywhere, and the chaos and revenge during the hasty retreat inevitably took place here. How many grassland people's lives were killed by gangs, how many people's supplies were jointly deprived, and how many people's houses were spread and burned. No one counts, and it is impossible to count! The Ming army has gone, and with the Huang army, there are the last hearts of the people in the south of the Yangtze River who have endured all hardships to recover their Ming. "The moonlight bends over Kyushu, some families are happy and some are sad." When Zheng Chenggong was mourning the defeat of Nanjing, the young Emperor Shunzhi finally got rid of his mania and fear. In late June, when the news of the defeat of Guazhou and Zhenjiang reached Beijing, it first made southern officials panic! For these officials, family property and relatives are in the south.Once the Ming and Qing dynasties evolved into the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it would be difficult for them to return home and get together with relatives! Frustration can be cross-infected. Following the chattering reports of ministers, Emperor Shunzhi, who had been in power for eight years, completely lost his previous calm attitude. He first thought of escaping, shouting that he wanted to move the government agencies back to his hometown outside the customs. This negative approach was immediately reprimanded by her biological mother, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, who is currently the "No. 1 female" in many Qing palace dramas. "How can you give up the country that your ancestors braved the wind and rain, bravely shed blood, so cowardly?" Xiaozhuang's words did not have the proper effect of extinguishing the fire, but instead greatly stimulated Emperor Shunzhi.The emperor, who had a stiff and indifferent relationship with his biological mother, pulled out his sword and split the throne into pieces, saying that he would personally conquer the emperor, whether he would live or die, at the mercy of fate. The news that the emperor wanted to conquest in person immediately blew across the city like a gust of wind, but what this brought to the people was not a large area of ​​calm, but a wider area of ​​panic. At the critical moment, it was still a collective decision-making body of the Qing court, the Conference of Kings and Ministers, that stopped the emperor's irresponsible and adventurous actions. The deliberation of the king and minister of politics is a political system with a certain democratic atmosphere introduced by his father Huang Taiji in the "Eight Baylor Discussion System". He once used his small-scale "democratic participation and democratic decision-making" method, Gathering the wisdom of the people, it played an extremely important role in the politics of the early Qing Dynasty. The resolutions made by the Minister of Political Affairs this time are: first, to stop the imperial conquest; second, to mobilize troops from Manchuria and Mongolia to prepare to rush to Jiangning; Just when the army was preparing to go south in early August, the good news of Jiangning's great victory spread to the capital. "Suddenly heard that there was a tiger in the world, and the tears flew down like rain." Emperor Shunzhi, who was so happy that he wailed, immediately went from one extreme to another. He wanted to vent and take revenge. He decreed that Jiang Guozhu, who was unfavorable in resisting the enemy, would be dismissed and investigated, and sent to the prince as a slave; although he had made great contributions, but had failed, Guan Zhong was dismissed and investigated, punished with one hundred lashes, and distributed to his subordinates as slaves (even slaves are not There is a distinction between high and low, and Admiral Guan is really more wronged than Dou E).Other defeated Manchus such as Batulu, Fei Yazhu, and Zarbu were all executed. Regarding the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River who had acted against the enemy, Emperor Shunzhi, based on the principle of "not forgiving and not letting go", punished these gentry with six grades of rebellious crimes, and tens of thousands of people were arrested before and after. .Until the emperor's death, there were still many "those who slipped through the net" were still being prosecuted. Later, Emperor Shunzhi gritted his teeth and issued a holy decree: "Let the minister Dasu be General Annan, Tonggushan Ezhen Caihong, the commander of the guard Lai Da, etc., form an army to go south, and go to Fujian to prepare for a decisive battle with Haini Zheng Chenggong!" At the end of this article, I will explain Zhang Huangyan who was sent to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Zhang Huangyan was as unlucky as his predecessor Zhang Mingzhen, because he was "let the pigeons go" by Zheng Chenggong again unintentionally. Because Zheng Chenggong didn't inform Zhang Huangyan at all when he retreated in a hurry. In other words, Zhang Huangyan and his thousands of people have now become a "solitary army" going deep into the Yangtze River. At this time, Zhang Huangyan's victory was very remarkable.The army he led, with the support of the local people, successively recovered Wuhu, Chizhou, Ningguo, and Taiping, and opened up a base area comparable to Zhenjiang. When he heard the news of Zheng Chenggong's defeat, he sent a monk named Song Yin to send a message to Zheng Chenggong, inviting him to come upstream to create great achievements. I don't know if Songyin delivered the letter, anyway, since then, Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Chenggong have been separated from each other, and there has been no news. Just as Zhang Huangyan was wandering around, Lang Tingzuo had already dispatched a combined land and water force to cut off his retreat to the sea. At the same time, another navy of the Qing army, carrying a large number of horse infantry, was rushing from Jingzhou to Nanjing for reinforcements under the leadership of Qing Annan General Gu Shaner Zhenming Andari, and collided head-on with Zhang Huangyan by mistake. . 明安这里的这支水师虽然很“菜”，但人数众多，张煌言与之打了一整天，竟没有将其冲散。在暮色四合时，双方各自回营。 但一白天的激战，己让明安达理肉跳心惊，因为他并不知道南京的包围已解，而上级给他此行的目的是救援南京。因此他实在不敢和张煌言空耗实力。 夜深人静的时候，他便全军启航，赶往下游旳南京。途径张煌言水营时，为了壮胆，朝明军连放了几炮。 但这几炮却歪打正着，本已军心不稳的明军，认为这是清军前来劫营，便解缆开船，各自行动。有的返回芜湖、有的前往巢湖。 当天光大亮，张煌言举目四望，发现虽然清军早已消遁，但明军也所剩无几。 张煌言只得弃舟登陆，带着寥寥可数的部下，转进到皖鄂交界的英霍山区（大别山），准备与这里旳义师会合后再作打算。 但此时英霍山区的义师，大部分已被清军消灭或改编，小部分正在观望等待。 当张煌言栖栖惶惶到来时，这些义师，坚决拒绝这支败军之师进入寨中。 而这时，参与追剿的清军，已尾随而至，对进退失据的明军，发起疯狂的进攻。 早已饥寒交迫的明军，根本经不起这致命的一击，部队四散而逃，窜入山谷。到后来，张煌言的身边，只剩下两名随从。 张煌言就和这两名随从，孤苦相依、生死与伴，开始了艰难的回归之旅。 他们三人改装易服，经安庆、建德、祁门、淳安、义乌、宁海抵达海滨，行程约两千余里，最终在半年后，回到了海上义军军中。 长江之役，是南明灭亡前，提前奏响的一曲送行挽歌。他以郑成功、张煌言完全的失败，宣告了清朝南北一统理想的真正实现。自此以后，万里长江之上，再无大明的水师，在纵横驰骋。光复故国的美好憧憬，在江南江北人民的心中，已如涛涛江水，无语东流……