In the evening, a cavalry galloped from outside Yongxin County and shouted "Urgent" all the way. The Qing army at the east gate checked the document, and the cavalry got on the horse again and went straight to the Zhixian Yamen.
Deputy general Tang Guozhu has occupied Yongxin County Yamen and is drinking and having fun with his subordinates. Tang Guozhu didn't take it seriously at first when he heard that there was an emergency military situation. But after reading the urgent letter, he was shocked, his face sank, and involuntarily stood up from his seat.
The generals knew that the great event was not good. The geisha on the wine table also got up and left knowingly.
Tang Guozhu then said, "The city of Ji'an has been captured. It is said that it is a bandit named the Red Army."
He sent the letter to the generals, who were not able to read, but all gathered together. But the letter was very scrawled, so it was obviously urgent.
Everyone was relieved to hear that it was a rogue.
This said: "A group of roving bandits, what's the big deal? Once we are in the army, we will kill them."
That said: "When we return to Ji'an and defeat this group of bandits, we must kill them to make them dare not act rashly from now on."
Tang Guozhu was calm and asked the emissary, "When did the red bandits occupy Ji'an? Where is the prefect? Where is it now?"
The messenger looked sad and said: "The Red Bandits occupied Ji'an two days ago. The government wrote this urgent letter and sent me to ask for help. At this moment, he may have..."
The envoy even squeezed out two tears when he felt deep down. Tang Guozhu and the prefecture magistrate were at odds with each other and gloated at each other. He impatiently sent the envoy aside.
The general said again:
"When the prefect died, Xietai was just out of the way. If we recover Ji'an, the imperial court would have to appoint Xietai a military commander anyway."
"We should turn bad things into good ones. On the one hand, we should send an urgent letter to Nanchang, explaining why things were blamed, and on the other hand, we should immediately recover Ji'an, so that no one can stir up trouble."
……
Tang Guozhu was a general of Jin Shenghuan, while Jin Shenghuan was a general of Zuo Liangyu. In the Hongguang Dynasty of the Southern Ming Dynasty, Zuo Liangyu quarreled with the four towns in the north of the Yangtze River, fought hard and died in Jiangxi.
Zuo Menggeng, the eldest son of Zuo Liangyu, succeeded in unifying his army, was defeated by four towns in the north of the Yangtze River, surrendered to the Manchu Dynasty, and was incorporated into the Eight Banners of the Han Army. General Jin Shenghuan stationed in Jiangxi and became the chief officer of Jiangxi.
The military chief of the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty was the military chief of a province, which was very valuable. Tang Guozhu dreamed of being promoted to the rank of commander in chief. Encouraged by the generals, he was eager to try, saying:
"Pass the order to gather up the troops, make meals at the fourth watch, leave the camp at the fifth watch, march to the capital of Ji'an, and be sure to reach Ji'an within two days."
He never thought that the envoy was actually a scout of the Red Army. On the day when Shen Zhixin captured Ji'an, he captured the prefect of Ji'an alive, seized the seal of the prefect, and forced the prefect to write a letter for help.
Tang Guozhu is familiar with the letter of the prefect and the seal of the prefect. He has no doubt about the letter.
The next day, Tang Guozhu led five hundred Qing troops to Ji'an in the early morning. Yongxin is 200 miles away from Ji'an. Normally, it takes at least three days to get there.
Tang Guozhu has the responsibility of guarding Ji'an. He is eager to rescue Ji'an and orders to arrive in Ji'an within two days. Relying on his long military career, his subordinates were very arrogant and experienced in many battles. He wanted to rush to Ji'an immediately and catch all the Red Army.
As an assistant general, he is only one level behind the general. This level has become an impassable barrier and Tang Guozhu's heart disease:
Last year, Jin Shenghuan raised the flag against the Qing Dynasty and trapped in Nanchang. Tang Guozhu sold his owner for glory, leading to the defeat and killing of Jin Shenghuan. Although Tang Guozhu was promoted to the rank of deputy general by the Manchu side, he did not give him real power, and he still had only five hundred soldiers under his command.
If he can counter attack Ji'an and pacify the Red Army this time, it will greatly help his career. Therefore, Tang Guozhu was very active in leading the troops, personally leading the troops in front and driving the soldiers to march.
The next afternoon, the Qing army walked along the post road to a place called Fenglin Ao. As its name suggests, this place is a mountain depression surrounded by mountains. After passing Fenglin Ao, Lushui is ten miles ahead. Crossing the Lushui River, you can see the tower of Ji'an Mansion.
The Qing army was quite tired. Tang Guozhu was unmoved and ordered to continue the march. After crossing Lushui, he camped and rested. In order to encourage the soldiers, he promised that once he captured Ji'an, he would allow the soldiers to rob for two days.
As soon as I heard that the soldiers could rob, their eyes were shining, and their fatigue was reduced by more than half. Most of them are veterans who have experienced many battles. They first fought under Zuo Liangyu. Since then, they have been fighting with the peasant army.
Tang Guozhu despised the peasant army, and no one paid attention to it except Li Zicheng's Dashun army and Zhang Xianzhong's Dashi army. Where did a red army suddenly emerge and dare to raid Ji'an Mansion after eating leopards?
The Qing army began to climb the slope and move towards Fenglin'ao Kou. The road was narrow, the slope gradually increased, the marching speed of the Qing army slowed down a lot, and the formation became very chaotic.
A red flag was raised at the mouth of Fenglin Ao'ao when a gun suddenly went off. In an instant, the rolling stones, guns, bows and arrows fell like rain.
The Qing army was caught off guard and turned upside down, killing and injuring dozens of people on the spot. Then, on the hillside on both sides of the post road, the Red Army, which had been in ambush for a long time, fired firearms at the Qing Army.
Guns, rolling mines, son and mother guns, shotguns and rockets were fired one after another, making the Qing army cry for their father and mother. The powerful firearms made the Qing army mistakenly think that it had met the regular army of the Ming Dynasty. Little did they know that these firearms came from Ji'an Prefecture and were captured from the armed forces of the Qing army.
After a round of firearm firing, the Red Army soldiers on the hillside came out and attacked the Qing army.
The Qing army was panicked, unable to resist, and rushed away one after another. Unexpectedly, the Red Army is closely arranged, and there are two Red Army ambushes at the foot of the mountain.
These two red armies all rode horses in order to pursue the Qing army and not let one escape from the net.
Shen Chixin has repeatedly told the whole army that the most important operational principle of the Red Army is to annihilate the enemy's effective forces as far as possible and minimize the enemy's war potential.
This ambush was the first time that the Red Army fought against the regular army of the Qing Dynasty, in order to win the battle and boost the morale of the army.
Shen made a careful deployment and dispatched 1000 people from the whole army to participate in the ambush. He came to the battlefield and commanded the battle on the spot, which greatly encouraged the morale.
The battle lasted for half an hour, and the Red Army won a resounding victory. 213 Qing troops were killed, and nearly 300 were wounded and captured.
Tang Guozhu himself was also captured. He pretended to be a soldier and wanted to muddle through, but Fang Shizhen found out.
When Fang Shizhen saw the enemy, she was very jealous and scolded, "Tang Guozhu, you were a Han and killed the rebels. How many rebels died under your butcher's knife? How can you comfort the enemies of the rebels if you don't cut yourself to pieces!"
Tang Guozhu still wanted to beg Shen Chixin for mercy, but Shen Chixin said coldly, "The Red Army will give preferential treatment to prisoners, and will never give preferential treatment to people like you who do evil things. Pull them out and kill them!"
The Red Army was hostile to these Qing army prisoners, but Shen was determined to defy the public opinion and ordered the release of the captured Qing soldiers. Among the captured officers, those above the fourth grade were cut off, those from the seventh to the fifth grade were cut off, and those below the eighth grade were released.
Shen Chixin believes that officers are the backbone of the army. Destroy the officers among the prisoners of war. Even if the captured soldiers are released, they will be able to organize again to fight against the Red Army.
Now, the Red Army has not had the energy to deal with prisoners of war in a detailed way since it was formed soon, and can only execute the captured officers. In the future, after the Red Army establishes its political power, it will refine and improve the policy of prisoners, influence and even absorb prisoners to join the Red Army.