I

Dorgon had brought more than 30 artillery pieces across the river and set up the artillery pieces on the other side.

As for the Eight Banners soldiers, the Eight Banners of Manchuria crossed the river first, the Eight Banners of Mongolia followed, and the Eight Banners of the Han Army were responsible for the rear. At this moment, most of the Eight Banners of the Han Army had crossed the river, leaving only a few thousand Wu Zhen Chao Ha camp.

"Boom boom boom!"

Lu Xiangsheng led his troops to pursue him, and the Manchu and Qing artillery on the other side fired immediately.

"Disperse the formation!"

"Dragoon light the match!"

Kong Youde was standing on the other side of the Yellow River. Among the flag-fire soldiers of the Han army who had not yet crossed the river, one of the commanders was his only son Kong Tingxun.

Dorgon ordered: "Destroy all the ships and do not cross the river to pick up people. As for the Han military flags on the other side, only as many as can come over."

Kong Youde hesitated to speak. He did not dare to disobey orders, so he could only direct the artillery and kept firing at the surrounding Datong cavalry.

After a while, Dorgon said with an ugly face: "Don't worry about it, let the whole army move out!"

It was not that Dorgon refused to save him, but those Han military flags scrambled to board the boat and cross the river. There are more than 2,000 gunmen among them. If they form a formation by the river, with artillery support, the heavy infantry can safely cross the river.

But in this case, who is willing to sacrifice himself for others and risk his life to protect the escape of friendly forces?

Kong Tingxun, who commanded the fire gun soldiers, rushed to board the ship himself, and the other fire gun soldiers followed suit. It was impossible to form an array at all, everything was in a mess, heavy infantry and gun soldiers were jostling each other.

Even if the ship is full, it cannot leave the shore. There are always soldiers trying to get aboard.

As a result, the soldiers who had already boarded the ship slashed at those who had not boarded the ship with their swords. There were even fire cannons fired at the people who climbed the boat. The roars, cries, curses, and pleas from the shore were loud.

Seeing this situation, Lu Xiangsheng only asked hundreds of dragon cavalry to rush over and shoot at these Han army flags in an extremely scattered formation.

The scene suddenly became more chaotic, and several ships were directly overturned.

As the Manchu and Qing artillery on the other side were towed away, Lu Xiangsheng ordered the cavalry to charge.

The Han soldiers who had not yet boarded the ship jumped into the river to escape, and some of them knelt down to beg for mercy.

"Bang bang bang!"

The dragoons came to the river, dismounted, raised their blunderbuss, and fired at the enemy on the boat.

Kong Tingxun, Kong Youde's only son, had successfully boarded the ship and was more than ten meters away from the shore. However, several people on the boat were shot. After being pushed in panic, Kong Tingxun was pushed into the Yellow River by his own soldiers.

"Pull...ha...guggugu...pull me up..."

Kong Tingxun couldn't swim, so he struggled and shouted in the water. In an instant, he floated several meters away with the current, and hit the bottom of another boat with his head.

Feeling dizzy and choking on some more water, Kong Tingxun emerged from the water again.

"Poof!"

Another Han military flag was shot and fell into the water, hitting Kong Tingxun next to him. This guy hugged the soldier's body as a life-saving straw, but he still sank.

After floating up and down for a while, my stomach was finally full, all my strength was exhausted, and I sank with endless fear.

…

With the withdrawal of the Qing army, the various counties in Kaifeng Prefecture decided to send a message.

Immediately afterwards, Huaiqing Mansion, Weihui Mansion, and Zhangde Mansion surrendered. Even Daming Prefecture and Guangping Prefecture, which were affiliated to Beizhili, quickly changed their flags, and civil servants and military generals shouted long live Emperor Zhao.

It is impossible for these guys to continue to be officials. It would be nice if they could not be severely punished.

Zhao Han has already formulated handling standards for demotion.

First class, those who have made meritorious deeds.

When the war situation was undecided, he was not attacked by the Datong Army, but took the initiative to rebel against the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Or at a critical moment, when the outcome is not decided, they turn against each other. Regardless of whether it is a civil official or a military general, this is considered meritorious service. Past crimes will not be punished, and rewards will be given as appropriate.

For example, Huang Fei and Ma Jinzhong in Shandong, and Yuan Shizhong, Jiang Yu, and Jiang Xuan in Henan.

These should be commended, especially Jiang Xuan, who was killed while fighting Wu Sangui in order to cover the Datong soldiers, and his soul can be sent to the Heroic Soul Temple for enshrinement.

The surviving generals such as Huang Fei were first recalled to Nanjing to study Datong Theory, and then were assigned to various units for visits and training. When the 12th Division of the Datong Army is formed in the future, they can directly serve as regimental-level officers, with a total number of 1,500 troops.

As for the rebel leaders, they also went to Nanjing to study first, and those who were willing to serve as soldiers were given positions as appropriate.

People like Yan Yingyuan who have studied can directly become county magistrates because of their great achievements.

The second level is to surrender anyway and follow the wind.

Facing the front of the Datong Army, they gave up resistance and surrendered immediately. Or maybe the overall situation has been decided and the situation changes after hearing the news.

These people still have to be interrogated. If they commit a lot of evil, they may be spared the death penalty, but they will not be able to escape the crime of living. Those who have committed extremely heinous crimes cannot be exempted from the death penalty. If they are not killed, the people will not be angry.

For example, Tu Guobao, who asked to surrender by the Yellow River, was a water bandit, greedy and cruel.

Historically, this guy was the first governor of Jiangning in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and he massacred the anti-Qing martyrs in Jiangnan. After pacifying Jiangnan, he plundered money and killed the people, causing public resentment. Even the Manchu Qing court could not stand it. He became the first general to be sentenced to death for corruption and selling illegal salt.

In this time and space, Tu Guobao came to Henan with the Qing army and killed countless people when he went to the countryside to collect food.

Surrender is also death!

The third category, those who surrender after fighting, are directly classified as prisoners of war.

All middle and high-ranking generals were beheaded without further questioning. The low-level officers were interrogated and dealt with, and the ordinary soldiers were all labeled as criminals. If they did not commit any more crimes within five years, they could apply to the government to be converted into good citizens.

"Your Majesty, good news from the Eighth Division!"

"Bring it here."

Zhao Han read the battle report carefully, but it was the Eighth Division led by Liu Zhu that quickly captured Lushan County and then led troops to attack Baofeng County.

The city guard will be Zhenghuang Banner Mele Zhangjing (deputy capital commander) Andali, who has followed Nurhaci for a long time and is considered a small shareholder of the Manchu Company. If he hadn't been suppressed by Huang Taiji and often committed crimes, he would have been knighted by now.

Andali was proud of his numerous meritorious service and did not take Datong Army seriously.

He did not choose to defend the city, but took the initiative to attack. He had three Niulu Manchu Eight Banners under his command, and a Han Army Banner of 1,500 people. He wanted to fight with the Datong Army in the field with 20,000 surrendered troops and generals.

As for his fate, he was chased by Li Dingguo and his dragoons. They chased him for hundreds of miles and captured him alive.

Liu Zhu and Li Dingguo were on the edge of this battle, and with Andali actively seeking field battles, the entire battle process could be said to be the easiest.

After annihilating Andali, Liu Zhu and Li Dingguo took advantage of the situation and captured five counties in Ruzhou.

Then they attacked Henan Prefecture. As they were blocked by Longmen Pass, they turned to attack Dengfeng first. At the same time, they succeeded in a surprise attack on Xuanyuan Pass.

They were preparing to leave the customs and march to Yanshi. News of Dorgon's withdrawal came, and Luoyang, Yanshi and other cities all surrendered.

During Zhao Han's expedition, various armies achieved successive victories, but there were also very bad situations.

Fei Ruhe and Zhang Tieniu's troops fought in Shandong, the hardest hit area, and more than 3,000 Datong soldiers were infected with the plague.

There is absolutely no way to prevent it, and among the military, where large numbers of people gather, the spread is even faster.

Unable to find a specific medicine, he could only drink Wu Youke's traditional Chinese medicine decoction to improve his resistance and resist the plague.

…

Shandong.

Azige's army was besieged in Jinan City, and Fei Ruhe, Zhang Tieniu, Huang Fei, and Ma Jinzhong had joined forces.

As for the other rebels and surrendered troops, only a few young men were selected to guard various cities, while the rest were disbanded and divided into households and fields nearby.

There is no shortage of land, only population.

"Boom boom boom!"

Artillery continued to bombard the city wall, but the generals were talking about other things, and they all wore masks.

Fei Ruhe said anxiously: "Nineteen more people were diagnosed with the plague yesterday. Damn it, the number of soldiers under my command who died of the epidemic is countless times more than those who died in battle. What kind of bird war are you fighting?"

Zhang Tieniu sighed: "Oh, there are more in my camp. There were thirty-six people infected with the plague yesterday."

Huang Fei smiled bitterly: "It's very common. I have been in Shandong for several years. I usually don't dare to train soldiers. Once they get together, they will do bad things."

"The plague is not severe when you are in Denglai, but it is severe where I am." Ma Jinzhong was at the center of the plague.

Fei Ruhe said: "Hurry up and finish this battle, find a place to rest and recuperate, keep gathering troops to fight, this plague will never stop."

It is impossible for the two Shandong divisions to go north again after the fighting subsides.

Non-combat attrition is too serious!

Azige in Jinan City was also tortured by the plague. A quarter of the Eight Banners soldiers under his command have been infected with the epidemic, and there is a lack of treatment options. The mortality rate is much higher than that of the Datong army.

To be honest, even if the city wall is destroyed, the two groups of plague carriers will still be fighting each other, and more soldiers will be infected by then.

There was no interest in fighting inside or outside the city. The plague was the biggest enemy.

Gao Jie, who abducted Li Zicheng's concubine, and Li Chengdong, who participated in the Yangzhou Tenth and Jiading Three Massacres, are also trapped in Jinan City at the moment.

Because the Ming Dynasty fell too quickly, neither Gao Jie nor Li Chengdong had become big yet.

Li Chengdong is Gao Jie's subordinate, Gao Jie is He Renlong's subordinate, and He Renlong is on the same level as Zuo Liangyu.

After He Renlong was killed by Li Zicheng in Henan, Gao Jie and Li Chengdong both defected to Zuo Liangyu and went to Shandong, and then joined the Manchus together.

"Kite, we can't fight anymore," Li Chengdong advised. "If we continue like this, if we are not killed by the Datong army outside, we will also contract the plague and die. We must quietly send people out of the city, contact the Datong army, and cooperate with each other to finish the battle as soon as possible. .”

Gao Jie sighed and said: "The Tatars keep a close eye, otherwise I would have sent people out of the city long ago."

Li Chengdong said: "More and more Tatar soldiers are infected with the disease, and more and more city walls are left to be guarded by our Han soldiers. Within a day or two, we will definitely find opportunities."

Gao Jie clenched his fists, smashed his palms and said: "Other Han generals in the city have probably thought of defecting for a long time, but they can work together secretly. When the time comes, let's fight in the city first. If we can kill a few Tatars Official, haven’t you made great achievements?”

"It's best to do this. Emperor Zhao will definitely rule the world. If you follow him, you can't go wrong." Li Chengdong said.

The two discussed the details again and agreed on the goals of their respective series.

Li Chengdong got up and went back to eat. After nightfall, he climbed onto the city wall and used night patrol as an excuse to check the situation. As I was walking, I suddenly felt hot all over my body and my head felt dizzy and painful.

Sitting against the female wall, Li Chengdong was so frightened that he trembled all over. He knew that he was also sick.

Gao Jie, who has been in contact with him for a long time, may not be able to escape this plague.