July has entered midsummer, and the land of Jiangxi is shrouded in the scorching heat everywhere, and Madang Town is no exception.

This water and land rush has been "hidden" for many days. The Qing army once organized a team of over 10,000 people from Huangzhou Prefecture, Jiangbei, and Anqing Prefecture successively scubaly across the river at night and raided the Madang Fortress. Fortunately, the people on the east coast had already managed the place like iron barrels. The remaining Fifth Division Dong Xueli Department was well-trained and called elites. The two thousand bird gunmen led by Pu Yan were also carefully selected elite soldiers of the imperial camp. In addition, the help of more than 100 East Coast artillery soldiers and the help of Madang Town Jiancheng, the two Qing troops who secretly crossed the river in Hukou County and rushed down at night. How could they be able to attack in a hurry?

So, after the east coast naval gunboat returned to block the river surface when they received the news, the Qing army "home army" who came from Jiangbei fell into an extremely difficult situation. They had to (fear of being surrounded by the Shun Army and the yellow-clad thieves), because the two Qing troops who had lost more than 3,000 people in the siege could only slowly retreat to the southeast together, enter Raozhou Prefecture to eat, and rectify the troops.

However, the Qing army retreated, and the left-behind Dong Xueli and others could not pursue it. One was afraid that the Qing army would come back to take back and seize Madang Town. The other was that the more than 6,000 people who were guarding the city had fallen down due to illness in the past two and a half months. The unacceptable land and land had become more vicious enemies than the Qing army. Of course, the Dong Xueli team who stayed behind the city was like this. The main force on the east coast, which was still struggling in the Jinxian County area, had more people fell down due to illness. The number is believed to have exceeded 1,000, and a considerable number of them have died. At present, a temporary field hospital has been set up in Madang Town, which has admitted hundreds of wounded and sick people, and plans to wait for the ships transporting immigrants to Chongmingsha to return and then send them to the rear.

In addition, everything seemed to be very calm. Dong Xueli's troops guarding the city sent a large number of scouts to inquire about the news, but they never found anything new. They only vaguely heard that Chen Tai from western Zhejiang had led his troops to cross mountains and ridges into the Huizhou Prefecture area, and even gave up the rescue of Fuzhou City (Fuzhou was being besieged by the Zheng family's 100,000 army). However, they did not know how many people there were, what the troops were, and how they were fighting. This made people very frustrating, but this also shows the Qing army's attention to the Jiangxi battlefield from the side. For this reason, they even strategically gave up Fujian and wanted to rescue the 100,000 Qing troops in Jiangxi.

Compared with the news that Dong Xueli inquired by himself, the news sent by the Shun Army in the west seemed to be more reliable. They said that Kong Youde, who was fighting with Gao Yigong in Wuchang Prefecture, had withdrawn his troops and seemed to plan to cross the rugged mountain roads in Mufu Mountain, Jiugong Mountain, and Taiping Mountain. Enter the western half of Nanchang Prefecture under the control of the Shun Army to rescue the tens of thousands of hungry and exhausted troops of Geng Zhongming's troops, which were increasingly unfair. However, because the people on the east coast controlled the river, the efficiency of the Qing army's information transmission was affected, and Prince Ying Ajige (Dorgon was not dead, so he naturally lived a very comfortable life) received the news. It was June when he informed the various departments to draw troops, select generals, and allocate food and grass. More than half a month had passed. Therefore, it was nearly the end of June when the Qing reinforcements were dispatched, and it was already mid-July when the Shun Army was reconnaissed and transmitted to Madang Town by the Shun Army.

This army of more than 50,000 led by the traitor Kong Youde personally had to go to Nanchang Prefecture. After all, those small troops on the mountain road were okay, and it would be quite troublesome to go to the group of people. By the time they arrived, it was probably the end of July and early August. After the Shun Army learned that the Qing army in Huguang sent reinforcements to rescue the battlefield in Jiangxi, Guo Sheng's pressure suddenly increased. He began to visit the front line in person and continuously mobilized troops from all over the country. He concentrated and attacked the prefectures and counties near Nanchang Prefecture, constantly squeezing the room for Kong Youde's movement. If the Kong Youde's troops did not continue their food and grass and their morale was depressed, it would be difficult in the future.

To this end, Liu Haiyang allocated a large number of old artillery to the Shun Army to strengthen their firepower. At the same time, he sent two-thirds of the 12 gunboats at hand to Hukou County. Using Madang Town as a logistics base, he constantly inspected the river surface, intercepted the ships that might appear in the Qing army, and did everything possible to solve their worries for Guo Sheng. Of course, they did not forget their most important task, namely, collecting the population. In the past half month, they captured about 10,000 Ming people on the border of Fuzhou Prefecture. They have been sent to Madang Town and are ready to be transported back to the Chongming Sha area soon.

On July 20, a Qing army of about 4,000 people smuggled across the river from Huangzhou Prefecture at night, and rushed straight to Ruichang without any pause. The purpose of rescuing Geng Zhongming was very obvious. On the 22nd, another Qing army crossed the river from Huangmei and rushed directly to Dehua County. On the same day, the eastern naval gunboat intercepted another Qing army regiment on the river surface, sinking and injuring dozens of Qing army boats. More than a thousand Qing soldiers were buried in the river, while the rest ran back to the north of the Yangtze River in a panic...

At the same time, Guo Sheng, who knew that the Qing army came to help, also took the initiative and sent more than 10,000 soldiers under his command to the formation, and launched a desperate attack on Geng Zhongming, an old opponent, regardless of casualties. On the 20th, on the day when the Qing army crossed the river from Huangzhou Prefecture, Guo Sheng's main force defeated more than 10,000 troops in Geng Zhongming's army in the Battle of Shengmidu. After Xu Degong's death, another confidant general, Lian Decheng, was surrounded by the Shun Army and later committed suicide in despair. If Geng Zhongming's army included the defeated reinforcements, it would have lost more than 16,000 people in total, and most of them were veterans who had been fighting for many years. They almost lost their backbone in one battle. Guo Sheng's army also suffered heavy casualties, with two deputy generals killed in battle, with more than ten generals, and more than 9,000 soldiers and generals. It can be said that killing one thousand enemies and losing eight hundred themselves.

On the day, when the total number of Qing troops crossing the river reached more than 7,000, Guo Sheng also led the main force to cross the Zhangshui. The people of the East Coast sent four gunboats to assist in the war. After crossing the river, Guo Sheng's troops won three battles and defeated nearly 10,000 Geng Zhongming's troops who were depressed and had no food and salary. They also collected thousands of Qing army green camps. The situation was very good. Seeing that the situation was not good, Geng Zhongming led his troops to plunder the remaining food of the rural people, and then led less than 20,000 remaining troops to retreat to Nanchang City. Liu Haiyang, who received the news, began to send people to shelter "war refugees" in Nanchang Prefecture, who had no food and clothing, and transported them to Madang Town in batches.

On the 25th, the East Coast directly sent most of the artillery (including four heavy artillery pieces of siege) to Nanchang City to assist Guo Sheng's troops in siege. At the same time, it began to gather troops and prepare to withdraw from the Jinxian County area that had been entrenched for many days. Therefore, Wang Deren, a thief-born Ming general, finally eliminated the interference and obstruction of the Southern Ming court, and sent 70,000 soldiers who were still war-capable of fighting to the north. The troops entered Raozhou Prefecture and were entangled with more than 30,000 Shen Yongzhong's troops, completely ruined Shen Yongzhong's land transportation line and relieved Geng Zhongming's siege.

At this time, more than 30,000 troops on the east coast also began to gather and retreat in batches. The first group of more than 2,000 troops on the second brigade of the second brigade landed in Xingzi County, Nankang Prefecture on the 27th, and then quickly consolidated the beachhead position. At this time, the total number of Qing troops who had smuggled across the river from Jiangbei recently exceeded 17,000, and initially got rid of the interference of a few Shun army's partial divisions on the front line of Dehua and Ruichang, abandoned the baggage and advanced all the way south. It is estimated that it will soon collide with the east coast army head-on.

On the 28th, Guo Sheng's troops broke the Xinjian County affiliated with Guo, annihilated 3,000 remaining soldiers from Geng's troops, captured more than 2,000, and then invited the east coast artillery into the commanding heights in the city, and used cannons to bomb Nanchang County, which was separated by only a wall. The morale of the Geng's troops was even lower, and casualties increased sharply.

On the 29th, the East Coast army, which had landed most of the main force, encountered the Qing army west of Xingzi County. Unfortunately, the more than 10,000 Qing troops who smuggled were all running lightly and abandoned a large amount of baggage along the way. At this time, it was the stage of exhaustion. What was so hard to die that the tens of thousands of people were divided into three groups due to military emergency, and the first group hit the head-on only more than 4,000 people...

Although the main artillery force has been transferred to Nanchang, the East Coast army, which has been leisurely, is waiting for work, the Black Eight Banners, Army Musketeers, the Second Battalion of the Stand-Up Team, and other elite troops have all been launched to destroy the Qing army in one battle. More than 2,000 people have been killed, wounded and captured. The collapsed Qing army ran all over the mountains and fields, and the people on the East Coast are too lazy to catch them. Instead, they have taken down Xingzi County, which has opened the city and asked to surrender, and while resting, they are preparing to intercept the remaining Qing army smuggled (and will not forget to collect the population). Of course, if the Qing army brigade with tens of thousands of people is at most harassed and restrained, they will not fight a tough battle.

On the 31st, after defeating another Qing army of more than 3,000 people heading south, the east coast army had also collected more than 7,000 people, and then carried out complicated transportation work on the shore of the lake in Xingzi County. At this time, after nearly four days of bombing, many places of the Nanchang County walls and buildings in the city had collapsed. Guo Sheng sent more than 10,000 elite troops into the city and controlled a considerable part of the urban area. Geng Zhongming's army suffered heavy casualties and was in chaos. He himself led thousands of core soldiers to retreat to the government and yamen area to fight for trapped beasts.

On August 3, the army led by Kong Youde appeared in Wuning County, and Guo Sheng ordered the surrendered army to be the vanguard, attacking the Nanchang Prefecture Office regardless of casualties. At the critical moment, he even ordered to set fire to burn houses. Finally, he completely conquered the area in the evening. At the last moment, Geng Zhongming led more than a thousand personal soldiers to collapse and surround him. He was shot and killed on the spot by arrows. His subordinates failed to surrender and were all killed. A generation of traitors led 20,000 remaining soldiers to guard Nanchang City. He only persisted for 12 days and died. He ended up like this, which is pitiful and lamentable.

On August 5, Guo Sheng (more than 25,000 casualties) in this battle ordered the withdrawal of Nanchang City, which had already shown signs of epidemics, and then led the nearly 50,000 troops gathered to the north to Jianchang County. They had already fought with some fierceness, intending to meet Kong Youde's 60,000 army (contracted some of the Qing troops across the river). Kong Youde fought in Hubei for many years and knew that the combat effectiveness of the Shun Army was far beyond the Ming army. Therefore, after hearing that Geng Zhongming had been defeated, he immediately ordered to stop on the spot and report to Prince Ying, who was in charge of Xiangyang, waiting for the next instructions.

At this time, the people of the East Coast, after collecting the population in Xingzi County, ferrying south on August 7 again to land in batches to the area south of Poyang County, Raozhou Prefecture. It seemed that there was a hint of threatening the flanks of more than 30,000 field clusters in Shen Yongzhong's army to the east. However, Junior also told Liu Haiyang that Shen Yongzhong is not a mediocre general, and his troops under his command are still able to fight. On the other hand, Wang Deren's army expanded too quickly and had weak combat power, so he could not expect them to be as fierce as Guo Sheng to force themselves to eat tens of thousands of Geng Zhongming's army.

So, the people of the East Coast sent troops to attack a small group of troops outside Shen Yongzhong's army, and also sent envoys to instigate Wang Deren to siege 35,000 Shen Yongzhong's army. However, they were unexpectedly rejected by a "scholar" who was full of excitement in the king's camp, so they had to give up and cover their heads to collect the population. But this kind of thing actually made the bachelor unhappy (perhaps many gentry went to the Ming army to cry), which led to the East Coast army being tense with the Ming army for a while and almost became furious. Fortunately, Wang Deren was not a person who was not aware of the matter, and the friction between the two sides could not escalate into an armed conflict, but the joint efforts to deal with the tens of thousands of people in Shen Yongzhong's army was naturally free of discussion.

However, Wang Deren also sent someone to reveal an important news to Liu Haiyang, that is, Chen Tai had led 20,000 elite troops (of which there were more than 5,000 people from the Eight Banners of Manchu, Mongolia and Han) to enter the Chizhou Prefecture area, and led thousands of Qing troops from Huangzhou Prefecture who retreated there, intending to merge with Shen Yongzhong's troops to restore control of the northeastern Jiangxi region. The first step to control the area was naturally to knock down the extremely annoying Madang Town Fortress, otherwise everything would be fine.

After hearing the news, Liu Haiyang convened a military meeting to ask for advice. Everyone agreed that it was time to withdraw their troops. In this battle, more than 20,000 Qing troops were killed and captured in pieces, and more than 100,000 Ming immigrants were arrested (almost 70,000 people had been transported away in nearly four months. Because the total tonnage of the sailboats anchored in Madang Town exceeded 25,000 tons, and there were four or five hundred small boats with extremely strong transportation capacity), food, grass, livestock, gold, silver, books and artworks were even more uncountable, and only more than 4,000 casualties (most of them were caused by epidemics, and northern soldiers seemed to find it difficult to adapt to the hot flashes of Jiangxi climate). It was still profitable.

It has always been a fine tradition of people on the east coast. On August 12, tens of thousands of people gathered in the south of Poyang County, and then boarded the ship one after another. On August 18 and 19, they successively returned to the base of Madang Town one after another, and began to transport population and supplies to the estuary of the Yangtze River. During this period, no main force of the Qing army came to harass him, and they were naturally happy.

In late August, more than 5,000 people from the Shun Army Guo Shi'an's troops came to take over Madang Town, which had been reinforced by the east bank as agreed. At the same time, Pengze, Hukou, Poyang and other counties also ended their anarchy and were officially included in the control of Dashun. I heard that Guo Sheng recently recruited soldiers in northern Jiangxi and settled everywhere, and was in peace with the landlords. Like the "revisionism" that Li Guo had in Hunan a few years ago, it seemed that the Dashun policy began to turn comprehensively. Will the enrollment of the imperial examinations and the recruitment of the scholars in the future?

At the end of August, Chen Tai led his army to appear at the junction of Chizhou and Jiujiang, but he did not dare to continue to advance westward because his troops were less than 30,000. It was useless to come. Guo Sheng had just eaten tens of thousands of Geng Zhongming and shocked Jiangxi. Now the Qing court has regarded the 90,000 troops of this unit (some Qing troops have been recently incorporated and some local regiment training have been added, and his strength has been restored) are regarded as strong enemies, and they treat Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongdi, Gao Yigong, Li Guo, Zhang Xianzhong and others.

On September 16, the entire army on the east coast arrived in Chongmingsha and was warmly welcomed by the left-behind troops. On the way back, they drew cold zi in the Jiangbei area and landed once, plundered seven or eight thousand people, and then quickly evacuated, causing the Qing army, who were unable to fight together, to suffer.

After all the people returned, the next thing was to praise the advanced and reward them according to their merits. The Shun Army of Liu Guochang, the Ming Army of Hao Shangjiu, and the Zheng family who went on board, and the King of Lu were rewarded. Most of the weapons and equipment seized in the battle fell into their hands, and even a lot of gold, silver and jewelry were given, which made everyone very satisfied.

The 6th Division of the Servant Army and the 8th Division, who were tempered, will also return to Dengzhou by boat. I believe that their performance, who have established confidence in the battle against the Qing army, will get better and better. Because Dong Xueli's Li team performed well in the battle to defend Madang Town, Liu Haiyang planned to apply for them to expand the military posts, that is, to expand the number of the Fifth Division from 4,000 to 5,000 to commend his troops.
Chapter completed!