Dominate the Country

Outside Cangzhou City, the artillery fire of the Fuhan Army was still coming.

Most of the Qing troops on the position had fled back to the city in embarrassment. Wen Song, the battalion officer of the Eight Banners New Army, was carried down by several soldiers. This 25-year-old young officer is the great-grandson of Shunzhi's second son Fuquan. Is Fuquan Kangxi's second brother? The Kangxi Dynasty held a very powerful position, but unfortunately his son got involved with the Ba Ye Party. Wensong's grandfather was Prince Baotai of Jige and Shuoyu. Up to now, he still has Jue'er, the second-class auxiliary general, on his head, and he has the highest title among Baotai's group.

As a member of the Manchu clan, he was good at riding and shooting, and had followed Fuling'an to Yunnan. Wensong was quickly selected into the Eight Banners New Army after returning to Beijing from Yunnan, and he soon reached the position of battalion officer. But he has reached the end at this point. The regimental officers above the battalion officers must have real military exploits or have a big background, such as Fukang'an of the Fucha family. Wensong can't get into either of these!

However, in the Eight Banners New Army, Wensong was a member of the "reform faction". He admired Western-style warfare, had a tough style, and resolutely implemented orders. He was regarded by many senior officials of the Manchu Qing Dynasty as a thousand-mile horse for the clan and the future leader of Da Qingguo. Qiancheng. But now, this 'Gancheng' has his face and limbs mutilated. He was hit by artillery fire from the Fuhan Army, and his left leg was missing from the knee joint down. His whole body was wrapped in gauze, and he didn't know if he could still survive!

"My lord, my lord. Can you still hear me?" Ming Yi gently called in Wensong's ear. He was anxious and afraid in his heart. Just a little bit close. If Wensong hadn't insisted on going to the front line today and left him to sit in the city, it might have been him, Murcha Mingyi, who was in this situation now.

Wen Song was dying, but he still had one breath left. The severe pain kept him awake. "Gather the new troops, withdraw, withdraw!"

After saying these six words, Wensong could no longer hold on. The dark tide engulfed him!

In half a day, no, to be precise, it only took the Fuhan army one hour plus more than two quarters of an hour to completely clear out the Qing army's positions outside Cangzhou City. At 2:20 in the afternoon, the Fuhan Army had finished their lunch and were preparing for the battle.

The morale of the Qing army in Cangzhou City was also on the verge of collapse. Today, Chen Ming is sure to pull out Cangzhou in one fell swoop.

He does not have a powerful group of heavy artillery in his hands, but he can use rockets instead of heavy artillery to blast at the places where the morale of the Qing army gathers.

As for the current Cangzhou City, it seems to be a strong point where the Qing army gathers strength, but it is also their weakest point.

This is like a watermelon. Once the outer layer of watermelon rind is penetrated, the pulp of Tiantian is found inside.

At this moment, in the forward position, carriages were passing back and forth one after another. Boxes of rockets were unloaded, and twenty launchers covered the entire front of the forward position - not rocket launchers.

Three o'clock sharp. When the commanding officer saw that the hand of the pocket watch in his hand pointed to the designated time of the battle, "Bang!" a gunshot rang out, and each leader of each firing group shouted the same order, "Fire!"

The next moment, a fire dragon dragged its long red-orange tail, like a meteor shower, flying towards Cangzhou City.

In the roaring explosion. The splattered blood quickly turned into dried black marks under the high temperature.

A large black hole appeared on the top of the lobby of Cangzhou Prefectural Government Office. If anyone looked out from inside, they would be able to see that in the sky outside at this moment, brilliant flames were like meteors and fire rain, rapidly heading towards Cangzhou. Falling inside and out. Each flame represents death and destruction, although the rockets have a gorgeous beauty when flying in the air.

The lobby of the state government office was hit by one, which fell straight from the top. The violent explosion tore everything in the lobby to pieces. There simply were no important figures from the Qing army here. There were only two small government officials, who were directly blown to pieces. Moreover, the shock wave also 'poke' a large hole in the wall on the east side of the lobby. The broken bricks turned into countless murderous weapons, directly beating a Qing soldier guarding the east passage of the lobby into a sieve.

At this moment, in Cangzhou City, apart from the unique and sharp whooshing sound of the rockets, there was only the loud noise and impact they made when they landed.

When a fueled rocket hits the ground, it turns into a sea of ​​fire within a dozen meters. The huge shock wave and high temperature are also terrifyingly lethal. It put a lot of mental pressure on the Qing soldiers in Cangzhou City!

There are corpses of Qing soldiers who were shocked to death everywhere. Those Qing soldiers were intact on the outside, huddled quietly in the trenches, or behind the fortifications, with only blood stains on their mouths and noses, looking as if they were asleep.

The violent vibrations gave the remaining Qing soldiers the feeling of being on a boat. Rockets plowed Cangzhou like a plow.

Firepower points and fortifications composed of earth and wood were turned into ruins in the explosion. Shrapnel flames and flying gravel tore everyone into pieces.

The devastating explosion seemed like the end of the world was coming. It brought a huge blow to the Qing army and also caused catastrophic harm to the people in Cangzhou City. But Chen Ming couldn't care about this anymore. When the Fuhan Army attacked Cangzhou, he let people go. Many people hid at home and refused to escape. What could Chen Ming do? Is there more than one city in Cangzhou that has been destroyed by war in these years?

Not to mention the distant ones, but also the nearby ones such as Xuzhou City and Jining City. Aren’t these good examples?

If the people themselves are stubborn, then they will have to reap the consequences and pay for the decisions they make.

Perrier was like an old duck with a stuck neck, quacking and unable to speak. He could not see the appearance of the fire dragon bomb, but the Spaniards, who had close relations with France, had suffered from rockets. Perrier, who knew little about it, thought that this powerful explosive bomb was a new cannon shell invented by the Fu Han Army. But he was very clear that there was absolutely no super-large caliber cannon in the troops under Chen Ming. Their largest cannon was only an eight-jin cannon.

Now the Qing army in Cangzhou was bombarded by the powerful "artillery" cluster of the Fu Han Army and was taken to hell in a wave. "What is this? What kind of weapon is this?" Perrier's eyes flashed with extremely bright light.

"A weapon that can change the war!" Endless praise came from Perrier's heart. He watched rockets fall towards Cangzhou at a constant speed.

Half an hour of earth-shaking bombardment was equally swift from beginning to end, and it stopped abruptly.

"Kill..." The Fu Han Army launched an attack on the front of the battlefield.

They rushed into Cangzhou without any hindrance, and their noses were filled with a strong and disgusting smell, a smell mixed with gunpowder and flesh, which made people vomit.

…

The Fu Han Army took Cangzhou in less than a day and completely solved the problem. After hearing the news, Shuhede led his troops to retreat to Jiaohe overnight. And Chen Ming immediately led his troops to capture Qingxian.

Qingxian is very close to Jinghai and Tianjin, and there are only more than a hundred miles left.

The dark camp still did not get the exact news of Qianlong's death, but they sent the news that the Qing army's Eight Banners New Army left Beijing and assembled in Tongzhou. At the same time, Zhili Governor Ying Lian also urgently dispatched more than 10,000 troops from Baoding and rushed towards Cangzhou.

Chen Ming didn't know whether Agui in the Central Plains battlefield had also received the order, but he felt that even if Agui wanted to retreat at this time, he couldn't retreat for a while. The Fu Han Army on the front line in Henan was on the alert, so why don't you let the Qing army retreat?

Nanjing is going all out to mobilize the reserve army, and there are a large number of ships. The logistics department must rush to send reinforcements and materials to the mouth of the Daqing River as soon as possible before the Bohai Sea freezes over a large area. At the same time, the navy is also gathering its strength. They are going to launch a fierce attack on Tianjin Dagukou.

If they can really capture Dagukou, they don't mind taking the lead. Although this hope is very slim, even if they succeed, if the large force led by Chen Ming cannot reach Dagukou before the ice comes, they will have to pack up and retreat.

But if they don't take advantage of the good opportunity now and bite the Qing army hard, the navy will never forgive themselves. Such a great opportunity, if you miss it, you will never have it again.

The reaction in Beijing is very problematic. Qianlong has not made a public appearance so far. As for the Qing army's response, it is not unexpected.

Hold on to Tianjin and cut off the land transportation line of the Fu Han Army.

The winter sea will make the other arm of the Fu Han Army, the navy, useless.

After a few rounds of fighting in Tianjin, the Fu Han Army will take the initiative to retreat southward.

"Your Majesty, the weather is very cold now, and Chen Ni's invasion of the north will not last long. It is not time for a decisive battle yet!" The Qing Dynasty still has a Mongolian cavalry in Zhangjiakou, which was originally scheduled to be transferred to Beijing after the winter. Yongcheng has ordered it to arrive quickly.

"Can't we take advantage of Chen Ming's lone army going north and wipe him out in one fell swoop?"

Compared with repelling Chen Ming, Yongcheng's hope is to take Chen Ming. If Chen Ming is lost, the shock to Chen Han will be greater than the impact of Qianlong's death on the Qing Dynasty. It is not impossible that Chen Han will never recover from this. As a new emperor who has just ascended the throne, Yongcheng wants to use a big victory, or even Chen Ming's head, as a stepping stone for his ascension to the throne.

"Your Majesty's words are not without reason. If all forces are mobilized inside and outside the capital, there is indeed a certain degree of certainty to wipe out Chen Ni in Beijing and Tianjin. But after this battle, the fighting power in the hands of the court will be fought out. Wait until next year when Chen Ni makes a comeback..." Fu Heng didn't say anything else, and there was no need to say anything else. The meaning was very clear!

Fu Heng didn't have any hope at all for Yongcheng's idea of ​​not only completely annihilating the Fu Han Army, but also killing Chen Ming. How could such a good thing happen in the world? Look at the several battles between the Qing Dynasty and Mongolia. Galdan ran away three times, and Lobsang Danjin ran to Junggar for thirty years. When Qianlong destroyed Junggar, Lobsang Danjin didn't want to run away, so he was caught. Although the Fu Han Army is infantry, it is not without a single horse.

In the confrontation between the two armies of tens of thousands of people, even if the main general of one side is defeated, as long as there are loyal guards around him, it is easy to take advantage of the chaos to escape.

The team that Chen Ming led to the north had only three missing infantry brigades and a cavalry regiment. If the logistics troops were not counted, there were less than 20,000 combat soldiers. The Fu Han army had hundreds of thousands of troops, most of which were elite soldiers like the 20,000 in front of them. How could they not make a comeback after losing 20,000 people?

No one else knew about this conversation. Outsiders only knew that Fu Heng's status not only did not fall with the death of Qianlong, but Yongsheng was now more dependent on Fuheng. This was not too unexpected for outsiders. After all, Empress Xiaoxianchun had no sons left, and Fuheng's civil and military talents and influence were not mentioned. In terms of "loyalty", Yongsheng, as the heir designated by Qianlong, was also the oldest of Qianlong's surviving sons, so he was the most worthy of Fuheng's loyalty.

Now the Qing Dynasty is in a precarious moment. Standing on the edge of the cliff, the Qing Empire still has a cliff behind it. In order to avoid being crushed to pieces, they have to maintain unity and stability internally, which is the greatest interest. Yongsheng's position is still very stable, but he has no dignity and prestige. Some ministers may not follow what he says.

Just like Shuhede!

Hailancha led 3,000 Northeast Eight Banners cavalry to Tongzhou overnight. The team stayed in place, and he was recruited into the Old Summer Palace by Yongsheng.

In the Forbidden City, Yongsheng met Hailancha, who was exhausted, in the western warm pavilion of the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

The latter's eyes were red and his face was full of sorrow. Qianlong was his great benefactor. Starting from the expedition to Dzungar in the 20th year of Qianlong's reign, Hailancha, who came from an ordinary banner family, became one of the top military generals in the world in just over a decade. In the battle of northern Jiangsu, Hailancha was defeated miserably, but Qianlong still gave him a chance. Although Hailancha did not disappoint Qianlong's expectations and swept Korea, he was re-promoted to the position of General of the Red Banner Mongolian, General Jianwei, and Minister of the Imperial Guard. But for Hailancha, he did not think that the honor he received was due to his own merits and what he deserved. Instead, he was grateful to Qianlong from the bottom of his heart!

Early in the morning, under the leadership of Fuheng, the Military Affairs Office handed over the cards to the whole class, and Yongsheng was summoned to the West Warm Pavilion of the Yangxin Palace. Hailancha was specially ordered to meet with the class.

Hailancha was not familiar with Yongsheng. When he was still a "little transparent" in Beijing, Yongsheng had not yet emerged. When Yongsheng emerged, Hailancha was already busy taking action against Korea, and had no chance to interact with the future crown prince. But when I saw Yongsheng today, to be honest, Hailancha was quite disappointed with him. This Yongsheng doesn't look like a wise ruler!

Now the country is in trouble and people's hearts are scattered. It needs an emperor who can turn the tide with force. But what about Yongcheng? In Hailancha's eyes, his words and actions showed that he was a moderate and conservative monarch who was "gentle" and "very timid".

During the audience of less than two quarters of an hour, Yongcheng actually looked at Fuheng many times before or after speaking, like a little animal that had not yet left its mother. How could he lead the Qing Dynasty to defeat the powerful enemy in the south? What also worried Hailancha was that the new emperor seemed to be too new to Fuheng. The monarch was "weak" and the ministers were "strong"!

Hailancha would not think of usurping the throne. The situation of the Qing court and its power structure determined that it was impossible for Fuheng to usurp the throne. But this trust was enough for Fuheng to cause chaos. Hailancha, who came out of the Forbidden City, could only pray in his heart that Fuheng "knew the limit".

...

Soon, the Fu Han army captured Jinghai, and Shuhede led his troops to attack Wuding Prefecture in Shandong. More than 10,000 people of Yinglian, the governor of Zhili, also arrived in Cangzhou.

Jinghai is right next to Tianjin. In Chen Ming's previous life, it was a district under the jurisdiction of Tianjin, 80 miles away from Tianjin city and 250 miles away from Beijing.

In the original time and space, the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition team also captured Jinghai, and the vanguard once reached Yangliuqing in the west of Tianjin! But in the end, it failed!

Knowing this history very clearly, Chen Ming had a little sigh in his mind when he was in Jinghai, and then he received news that Cangzhou and Wugong were attacked by the Qing army. The Qing army also played a game of Wei to save Zhao!

The Fu Han Army can continue to attack Tianjin, but Chen Ming, whose logistics line is stuck, really has the strength to capture Tianjin and join the navy?

"Report..." Liu Wu's voice sounded outside.