A few days later, Zhang Huangyan received the news that Zheng Chenggong had defeated Nanjing. Tianlai Novel.|2 This news suddenly came so shocked that he didn't speak for a long time. The four left-wing banners in Jiangning, Jiangning, and the Han army flags in the city were almost destroyed, and the Green Camp soldiers were no problem. How could they lose this battle? How could they lose? Even if they racked their brains, he couldn't figure it out.

However, Zhang Huangyan knew very well that he could recover such a large area of ​​land so smoothly, relying on the big tiger Zheng Chenggong. With the blessing of this tiger skin, local officials and Qing army would be afraid, while local gentry would support it, and everything would be natural.

But now, Zheng Chenggong's army withdrew from the Yangtze River. He had only more than 2,000 auxiliary soldiers in his hands. Although there was no family dragging him down, the green camps in each mansion were several times his total strength. What's more, in order to ensure the stability of the occupied area, he even dispersed the more than 1,000 soldiers to these three mansions. The gap in force was really huge. As long as you know how to add or subtract, you can see the problem.

"The common things of victory and defeat are the same as military affairs. What we rely on today is the people's hearts, and the upstream counties and towns are guarded by me. If we can help a hundred ships, the affairs of the world can still be achieved. If we leave it immediately, what is it like a million creatures?"

After sealing the letter, Zhang Huangyan solemnly handed it to the monk in front of him: "Master, I'm working hard."

"I will come out now and I will send the letter to you."

This monk named Songyin was a messenger selected by Zhang Huangyan. The purpose of his trip was to hand over the letter to Zheng Chenggong and try to ask Zheng Chenggong to send reinforcements to consolidate the occupied area upstream of Nanjing.

When the envoy set off, Luo Yunzhang raised his head and said to Zhang Huangyan: "If the Grand Sima, if the Yanpingfan cannot come, or if Master Songyin cannot find it, please send someone to contact the Prince of Kuaiji."

Zheng Chenggong was defeated and his army was ashamed. He might not be able to stop the momentum. Contacting Chen Wen is a trick, but Zhang Huangyan had never contacted Chen Wen before, and there had never been any intersection between the two sides. Even if you use familiarity to contact him, you have to find Wang Jiang, who is now in Nanchang. The distance water cannot quench his near thirst.

"A dead horse is a pity."

Zhang Huangyan hurriedly wrote a letter and handed it to a confidant to go to Hangzhou. Two days later, Zheng Chenggong's news did not come back. Hangzhou received the news and changed the horse to the messenger so that he could return as soon as possible. However, Dongyang Hou Yin Yue, who was staying in Hangzhou, said that Chen Wen had been away from Hangzhou for several days, and his mission was to guard the occupied areas of these four prefectures, so it was impossible to send troops.

Yin Yue spoke politely, but the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Mingjun Group was somewhat hostile to them. Zhang Huangyan clearly heard Yin Yue’s implicit meaning - since you have the ability to intercept the rude, you should have the ability to solve the unfavorable difficulties. It’s too late to think of us at this time.

Zhang Huangyan knew that if it were the Ming army in Fujian, this would be the case. Because of the Zhoushan incident, the rift between the two sides had already become. Even if Chen Wen was tolerant and was willing to help Zheng Chenggong, the dissatisfaction of the generals below could not be relieved, and now it showed up.

"It must be that Kuaiji Fan wants to see our joke!"

Luo Yunzhang was very angry, but Zhang Huangyan did not change his sense of Chen Wen because of this: "Impossible. This is not like Chen Wen's temperament. Since he is willing to send troops to share the pressure, there is no reason not to help us. He will definitely not be in Hangzhou, but it is impossible to rely on his generals to send troops. It may lead the entire Jiangsu and Zhejiang Ming army into a larger war."

"But……"

"Forget it, it's better to seek yourself than to ask others. For the sake of the present plan, without reinforcements, how should we deal with it?"

In the past two days, with the news of Zheng Chenggong's defeat, the surrendered local officials and the green camp began to move. Today, someone even asked Zhang Huangyan whether he would ask Chen Wen to send troops to help to resist Ma Guozhu's army. This is an extremely dangerous signal. If the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang did not send troops, these people would no longer be the Ming ministers who said in his letter to Zheng Chenggong, "Everyone guards for me", but Xu Yuanzhi, who was in the Ming camp and in the Qing Dynasty, was in the late Ming Dynasty!

"Grand Sima, in that case, we must regroup the troops as soon as possible, and scattered everywhere, which is really easy to be defeated by the Tartars."

“It’s true.”

After the Ming army in Ningguo was assembled, it soon began to advance towards Chizhou, adjacent to the occupied area of ​​the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. If it really doesn't work, it retreats. It is always much better than multi-line combat. Moreover, there are also good rebels in Huoshan and Yingshan areas in Jiangbei. Crossing the Yangtze River and opening up new occupied areas there is also a way.

The army came out, heading west, but the horse explorer quickly reported to Zhang Huangyan that Ningguo Mansion changed its flag, and Ningguo Mansion's green camp followed.

"Damn it, I would have killed all these fickle Tartars if I had known it. Now I am the only one who has been raising tigers."

Zhang Huangyan's army is much stronger than in history. After all, they are still Zhang Mingzhen's old foundation. Those local green camps formed in the south have seen military appearances these days. They may not be very confident to win, but if they follow along the way, and they will grow bigger and bigger like snowballs, the Ming army will become more and more dangerous.

"Sir, we still have to march normally and not be too hasty, otherwise the army will be unable to control its running."

"There is General Lauro in everything."

Luo Yunzhang is one of the most outstanding generals under Zhang Mingzhen, especially today, after the death of the famous navy general Ruan Jin, he was even more arrogant. Therefore, Zhang Huangyan relied heavily on it.

This Ming army with hundreds of people set up camp normally and marched normally, slowly heading west. It was not until the territory of Ningguo Mansion that the guards of Ningguo Mansion had a small-scale conflict with the vanguard of the Green Camp of Ningguo Mansion, which could not stand, and soon defeated the opponent in front of him. However, the Green Camp of Ningguo Mansion did not give up and was still far behind.

It is extremely unrealistic to stop and fight this pursuer when Chen Wen was in Siming Mountain, because the environment and overall situation of the two were very different. There was no way, so he could only continue to think about Chizhou. Unexpectedly, before he arrived at Qingyang County, bad news came one after another.

First, the garrisons in Chizhou were expelled by the local green camp and forced to meet up. They were on the way, but they also attracted the green camp in Chizhou. Next, bad news came from Taiping Prefecture. Ma Long, the local general stationed in the local green camp, was attacked by the local green camp and died in a fierce battle. Their troops were dispersed. It seems that there is little danger. Once these two places were thrown away, the sea boats anchored there were no longer owned by the Ming army, and it was already a bubble to cross the Yangtze River. More importantly, there was one more pursuer behind, but the banner of Huizhou Green Camp.

The pursuers were getting closer and closer, and the road ahead was slim. It was not impossible to consider entering the Huizhou boundary from Qingtian. In that case, if you step into the mountainous areas, the Qing army's military strength advantage was not easy to develop, the reaction of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Ming army would also be what these green camps had to consider. However, Zhang Huangyan and his generals were not familiar with that area, especially not as familiar as the Huizhou green camp. Even if they entered the Huizhou boundary, they might not have been able to react before the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Ming army could react, and they were already annihilated in an unknown valley and valley.

Going west along the Qixing River, the Ming army soon entered Muzhen Town to camp, and completed the merger with the troops in Chizhou here, but also received Ma Guozhu's letter of persuasion to surrender.

"No need to say more, Zhang Huangyan will never surrender to the enemy!"

After expelling the envoys to surrender, Zhang Huangyan looked at the generals under his command and the soldiers in the town. Although his morale did not collapse, it was much lower than before.

This is inevitable. It was smooth sailing some time ago, but now it has fallen into a desperate situation where the troops are weak and no foreign aid, and it is about to be surrounded by the superior Qing army. Even these soldiers would rather die than surrender, but the decline in morale is inevitable.

"Grand Sima, let's set off before the Tartars even came around tomorrow."

It is already night now, and the Qing army is closest to the Chizhou Green Camp of the Ming army who came to meet. The rest are still 20 or 30 miles away, but the horses can never be thrown away or knocked away, and they will be caught up sooner or later. Especially now, they don’t have much food and grass, so they must be transferred as soon as possible.

"Let the soldiers go to bed early, and take the dry food to the south at the third day of the day."

The ship was gone, and only when you went south to Huizhou could you have a way out. It was just that you asked the soldiers under your command to go to bed early, but Zhang Huangyan couldn't sleep at all.

The process of Nanjing's defeat had already been vaguely transmitted. Although he was not sure about the specific situation, Zheng Chenggong did not attack the city as soon as possible. Instead, he still heard about the incident of waiting for his opponent to surrender at the city. From the rare glorious victory since the Liao Dynasty to the inexplicable defeat, Zhang Huangyan lay on the bed. The more he thought about it, the less he could not sleep. He simply got up to patrol the camp and set an example, and also regarded it as a change of mind.

After leaving the tent, the kitchen in the distance was brightly lit, and the chefs were still preparing dry food for tomorrow. Along the way, they met a patrol team, dejected like a walking corpse. Zhang Huangyan wanted to say something, but he didn't know where to start, so he had to continue walking forward.

The more you go north, the clearer the sound of the water flow. In front of it is the Beihe River, which is pitch black, just like the future of this lonely army. There are only a few fire lights in the distance, which seem to symbolize hope, but it is also extremely weak.

"It's time, who's making a fire on the other side?"

Thinking of this, the sound of cannons rang out loud. Zhang Huangyan hurriedly led his follower Yang Guanyu to the camp, but when he ran back, the camp was already in chaos.

It was late at night, and they were still alone, about to be besieged by the Qing army. At this time, the sound of cannons sounded, which was obviously the prelude to the Qing army's night attack. Everyone was panicked, so they ran away in panic, trying to escape from this "dead place".

Zhang Huangyan held an officer, but saw that the man was wearing only a hasty dress, not tied up, not to mention the armor and helmet, and only one shoe was worn. Even if Zhang Huangyanqiang was pulled, he was anxious to escape from the crowd.

"Grand Sima, the Tartars are here, let's run away quickly. If we don't run away, we will die."

"It's not the Tartars, it's just that someone fired fire across the river."

"Blacking fire means night attack."

The officer in front of him had been knocked down by fear, and Zhang Huangyan let go of his arm in a daze and let him escape.

"Go to find General Luo Shen first!"

Zhang Huangyan is the head coach, but he is a civil servant. This army is mainly Luo Yunzhang's subordinates. Zhang Huangyan knew that he was powerless, and only by finding Luo Yunzhang could he control the situation.

However, even if there were less than two thousand people, they were not found just by looking for it. Moreover, there was a bigger question, that is, whether the Qing army artillery was really planning to attack at night or something else. Zhang Huangyan himself didn't know, and he was soon surrounded by the chaos army and fled from this area. He didn't show up until dawn. Luo Yunzhang was among the hundreds of defeated soldiers.

"Sir, we are probably fooled."

Luo Yunzhang guessed correctly. The firelights Zhang Huangyan saw were the artillery team of the Chizhou Green Camp. They originally planned to attack before other green camps arrived the next day to seize the first prize. For this reason, they decided to fire a few shots at night to interfere with the rest of the Ming army, and their chances of winning during the attack would be greater.

Just like in history, the Huguang reinforcements led by Andali, Gushan Ema, were eager to rescue Nanjing. Because the daytime water battle was not able to determine the outcome of Zhang Huangyan's troops, they decided to set sail at night. As a result, when the sailing was set, the cannon ordered the ships, but the lonely army mistakenly thought it was a night attack, and directly bombed the camp. By the daytime, when Zhang Huangyan packed the embers, there were not many people left.

"Where are the others?"

"Last night, the troops were in chaos, and I'm afraid they all ran away."

There were more than a thousand soldiers and horses, but now there are only a few hundred remaining soldiers. They are all abandoned, and there are very few weapons in their hands.

"So what is this place?"

"I don't know if the last general doesn't know, so I have to find a fellow villager to ask."

I ran all night in the middle of the night and could not tell the direction. Not to mention the location if I lost it. Besides, they were not very familiar with the prefectures and counties in the upper reaches of Nanjing, even if I knew the location, I was not very clear about how to move on.

After a long time, I finally learned from the local mountain people that this was already a mountainous area south of Muzhen Town. It took more than a hundred miles south to enter the boundary of Huizhou, and there were even more mountain roads. And their defeated soldiers and the remaining grain were also thrown into Muzhen Town. At this moment, it was in the dilemma of exhaustion of soldiers and food.

It is impossible to go back. It must have been occupied by the Qing army at this moment, so it will be a death sentence when you go back. When you go south to Huizhou, there is more than a hundred miles of mountain roads, and there is no food yet, what should you do?

"There is a town on the west side. Let's go to the town. Well, let the gentry and wealthy families in the town praise some military supplies so that they can continue to set off."

Luo Yunzhang was embarrassed to use the word robbery. He knew that Zhang Huangyan would never allow the military administration, so he asked the rich gentry to donate some, and eat as long as he could. If not, continue to ask the gentry to ask for some on the road. It would be better than the whole army starved to death in the mountains.

It is hard to cook without rice. Is there any way Zhang Huangyan can do? Fortunately, the support of the gentry in Jiangnan has been relatively strong during this period. When he was in Chizhou, he remembered that there was a gentry in the town. Zhang Huangyan felt that it was still possible to ask for some.

"Then let's go out, but I want to tell the soldiers that we are the king's army and must not disturb the people, so don't."
Chapter completed!