The weather suddenly changed on the morning of the second day of the first lunar month of the 14th year of Chongzhen. Both sides of the Yajiang River, which had been sunny for several days, once again experienced windy and snowy weather, and the temperature dropped sharply again.

The strong wind was wrapped with fine snowflakes, blowing from west to east, and from north to south, so that the guards on the top of Zhenjiang Fort who were watching day and night could not open their eyes.

Such weather was extremely unfavorable for travel, but Huang Taiji, who was anxious, could not wait any longer since he learned that rumors were spreading in the palace that Hai Lanzhu might have misunderstood him.

Just after nine o'clock that morning, in such a bad wind and snow, Huang Taiji took the Baya La camp with two flags, the straight yellow and the bordered yellow, and embarked on the way back to Shengjing City in the face of the wind and snow.

If it weren't for the change of hands of Xiuyan Fort, which made the road from Zhenjiang Fort, through Phoenix City, to Tongyuan Fort, Caohekou, and Lianshanguan no longer as safe as before, Huang Taiji would have been eager to set off the night before.

Because on the afternoon of the previous day, Huang Taiji summoned all the princes, princes, and ministers who accompanied him on the expedition to hold his last imperial meeting in the camp outside Zhenjiang Fort.

At this imperial meeting, while Huang Taiji formally made the decision to return to Shengjing City first, he also made detailed arrangements for the subsequent siege of Zhenjiang Fort.

In order to avoid Huang Taiji's first withdrawal, which would damage the morale of the troops on the front line, Huang Taiji adopted a secret withdrawal method.

That is to say, Huang Taijixian led the bachelors of the three inner academies and led all the Bagala camp soldiers of the Zhenghuang and Xianghuang banners to break away from the front line and return to Shengjing.

Later, the remaining troops of the two yellow banners were led by Namutai and Baiyintu, the assistant banner ministers of the Zhenghuang and Xianghuang Second Banners, including Alihachaoha of the Zhenghuang and Xianghuang Second Banners, led by Gualjia Turai and Gualjiasohai, and the others.

A large number of people and livestock materials obtained by He Ningguo left the front line and returned to Shengjing.

Also following the evacuation team with Namutai and others, there was also the Han army's heavy artillery team in front of the army accompanied by the three flags of Zhenghong, Xianghong and Zhenglan under the command of the obedient Wang Kong Youde.

Of course, this multi-banner Han army rerun team under the command of Kong Youde was ordered by Huang Taiji to deliver all their heavy artillery. They could only take more than a thousand guns they had looted from various places in the north of Hening State.

Old small and medium-sized artillery pieces.

As for all their heavy artillery, they were all handed over to Huaishun King Geng Zhongming, who was ordered to stay in front of the army to help attack the city.

The reason why Huang Taiji did this was not because he had any objections to the Huaishun King Geng Zhongming, or that he preferred the deferential King Kong Youde.

The reason why he did this was because the battle under Zhenjiang Fort made him more aware of the role of heavy artillery, and it also made him eager to cast more and larger heavy artillery as soon as possible.

For him, although Kong Youde lost almost all the existing heavy artillery and almost all the young men of the obedient king's soldiers, he still had Fanzi Niulu who knew how to cast heavy artillery and a large number of Han people who smelted iron and cast cannon.

Military craftsman.

Letting him continue to serve on the battlefield is far less useful than letting him return to Shengjing to lead the artillery factory.

As for all the other Qing soldiers and horses remaining outside Zhenjiang Fort, they were unified under the command of Prince Zheng Jierhalang, who had restored the title of Prince Heshuo. They continued to besiege Zhenjiang Fort and took the opportunity to seize Zhenjiang Fort.

Of course, although Huang Taiji clearly ordered Jierhalang to have full authority to command all troops in the upcoming battle to capture Zhenjiang Fort, before he left, he had actually made all the arrangements that needed to be made.

In general, Heshuo Prince Zheng Jierhalang led the main force of the Xianglan Banner and continued to set up camp in the area west of Zhenjiang Castle to prevent Yang Zhen's troops from advancing westward.

Fei Yangwu, the younger brother of Jierhalang, who belonged to one of the Ergu Mountains of Xianglan Banner, moved his troops from Kuandian to Jiulian City at the mouth of the Koha River and Yizhou Prefecture of Hening State, and stationed troops on both sides of the Yajiang River north of Zhenjiangbao City. , to prevent Yang Zhen’s troops from going north along the river in the future.

At the same time, Huang Taiji also asked people to go over the mountains and ridges to Gaizhou to deliver orders, ordering Dorgon and Azige's two white flags to detach a force to recapture Xiuyan Fort and other places, and block the Jinhai Town soldiers and horses from Xiuyan. The fort continues westward or northward.

Finally, Huang Taiji also asked people to send Marshal Shen Qiyuan of the Northern Second Army of Hening Kingdom, who was currently stationed in Pingfu City to clean up the mess of the North Koreans, to guard the east of the Yajiang River.

In this way, the four armies from the four directions, east, west, south, and north each performed their own duties and responsibilities. Even if they surrounded Yang Zhen, they would surround and kill Yang Zhen's men and horses trapped in the Zhenjiang Fort in the small Zhenjiang Fort.

Of course, Yang Zhen and his generals who were "huddled" in the fort were completely unaware of the changes in the deployment of Qing troops outside Zhenjiang Fort.

Although the Qing Tatars were planning to surround Zhenjiang Fort and consume Yang Zhen's troops, Yang Zhen himself and his generals were also planning to defeat the enemy.

Although the wind and snow are raging in front of them, and the Liaodong region has entered the coldest time of the year, they all know that as long as the coldest month of January is over and February enters, they will eventually usher in the moment when the rivers and seas thaw.

By then, they will have won the final victory in the offensive and defensive battle of Zhenjiang Fort and will have a firm foothold here.

To put it mildly, their Jinhai Town has been truly stable since then.

On a larger scale, the situation in the entire Liaodong battlefield will be restored to the time when Dongjiang Town was at its peak when Mao Wenlong was still there.

In other words, as long as the soldiers and horses of Jinhai Town successfully established a foothold in Zhenjiang Fort, it will be impossible for the soldiers and horses of the Qing Dynasty to attack Western Liaoning in the future, or to detour to Eastern Mongolia and Monan to invade the Ming Dynasty's Guan area. Something happened.

This point is directly related to the success or failure of Yang Zhen's strategy to Emperor Chongzhen.

As long as we stand firm in Zhenjiang Fort, Yang Zhen's previous strategy of attacking in the east and defending in the west outside the pass will be basically achieved.

Yang Zhen had taken the trouble to explain these truths, large and small, to his soldiers countless times during the few months he was trapped in Zhenjiang Fort.

Although I dare not say that every soldier in Zhenjiang Castle knows this very well, at least the main generals of the regiments and battalions under Yang Zhen already know it clearly.

Because for the past few months, Yang Zhen has been talking to them every day and instilling these things into them every day, which has almost worn out their ears.

There was a heavy snowstorm on the second day of the first lunar month, which lasted all day and night.

In the next few days, the weather did not improve much, and the wind and snow continued to fall intermittently.

Yang Zhen and his generals were guarding Zhenjiang Fort and knew almost nothing about the situation outside.

Including the Aliha chaohama soldiers who had captured the two yellow flags outside the city and the large number of newly acquired Aha troops who had followed them, they were not aware of the gradual withdrawal.

Although the strange behavior of the Qing captives outside the city on the morning of New Year's Day made everyone suspicious, and even Yang Zhen guessed that it was due to the major changes in the situation in western Liaoning, the heavy snowstorm the next day made all speculations stop at nothing.

enters the guessing stage.

The unexpected heavy snowstorm is not conducive to the people in the city observing and observing, nor is it conducive to the people in the city to venture out of the city to spy.

Fortunately, the heavy snowstorm also allowed Yang Zhen and his generals to temporarily relax, knowing that the siege team of Qing soldiers and horses would not easily launch a strong attack in such weather.

In their view, no matter what kind of major events happened in western Liaoning or the Qing Dynasty, the longer the current situation between the enemy and ourselves drags on, the more beneficial it will be for the defenders in Zhenjiang Fort.

Because this is equivalent to the fact that we, for Hong Chengchou or Zu Dashou in western Liaoning, held back the main force led by the puppet emperor Huang Taiji of the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, they were happy that the wind and snow on both sides of the Yajiang River continued, so that they could continue to rest in Zhenjiang Fort.

However, on the morning of the sixth day of the first lunar month, the snow stopped.

Although the sky was very low, the clouds were heavy, and it was still gloomy and gray with the possibility of snow falling at any time, the wind and snow that had been raging for many days finally stopped.

Correspondingly, the Qinglu heavy artillery positions on the ice of the Yajiang River east of Zhenjiang Fort also began to move toward Weihua Island on this morning.

At this point, Liu Zhongjin, Yu Haichao and the others who had been guarding the east city finally noticed something was wrong.

The Qing Dynasty's heavy artillery position on the river east of the city, after working hard all night on New Year's Eve, had already advanced to the position where they originally set up the artillery position.

If the Qing rebels were ready to launch a strong attack at any time, then they would not withdraw the heavy artillery positions that they had worked so hard to build as a protective barrier to the main camp on Waihua Island.

That morning, after an emergency report from Qiu Zhenhai about the unusual situation that occurred on the Qinglu artillery array in the city, Yang Zhen immediately ordered Liu Zhongjin and the others to launch a heavy artillery bombardment.

In fact, as early as New Year's Eve, when the Qing rebels were trying to pour ice walls and deploy heavy artillery at the original artillery array position, the reason why Yang Zhen did not order the heavy artillery of the Zhenjiang Gate to bombard them and interfere with them was certainly not out of good intentions.

It was because the heavy artillery gunners under Liu Zhongjin, after the last artillery battle, had mastered all the parameters such as the angle of fire and the amount of charge to destroy the Qinglu artillery formation relatively accurately.

They were just waiting for the Qing rebels to launch a strong attack on Zhenjiang Fort from the east river of the city and destroy all their heavy artillery in one fell swoop.

However, it is not known whether the Qinglu generals who commanded the heavy artillery team suddenly realized that it was inappropriate for them to reuse the old artillery formation, or whether they had made up their mind not to launch a strong attack on Zhenjiang Fort. In short, on the morning of the sixth day of the first lunar month, the snowstorm

As soon as they stopped, they actually wanted to evacuate the artillery array.

Yang Zhen had long thought about killing the heavy artillery that brought the Qing rebels to Zhenjiang Fort. As long as the Qing rebels had no heavy artillery, no matter how many men and horses they had, it would be useless.

Therefore, as soon as Yang Zhen heard that the Qing captives might withdraw their heavy artillery from their positions on the river, he immediately realized that he could no longer wait for the best opportunity, so he directly ordered his own army to shell the city.

Days of wind, snow and falling temperatures have already frozen the heavy artillery pieces, which weigh several thousand kilograms like iron lumps, firmly in the ice and snow on the river surface.

Even if the Han army's heavy artillery team under Qinglu Zhenghuang used both men and horses to drag them hard, there were still a large number of heavy artillery that could not move at all.

Correspondingly, the heavy artillery gunners on the east wall of Zhenjiang Fort City have been targeting the Qinglu heavy artillery position repeatedly for a long time according to the shooting angle and charge amount during the last war.

After hearing the news, Yang Zhen came over and ordered the heavy artillery at the top of the city to fire together with the cannons on the wall facing the city. He almost hit every target accurately. Even if the heavy artillery missed, it could still hit the crowd like ants moving.

As long as one of the twelve heavy cannons fired from the top of the Zhenjiang Fort hits the Qinglu artillery array, the heavy artillery of the General Tianyou, who cannot move, will be destroyed immediately.

As for the explosive shells fired by the sky cannons that fell into the Qinglu artillery formation, they did limited damage to the Qinglu heavy artillery, but they exploded in a large area and knocked down the Qinglu soldiers and horses who came to retreat the heavy artillery.

Yang Zhen, who had been watching the battle on the top of the city, was not satisfied until the troops sent by the Qing Dynasty to withdraw the heavy artillery escorted the five heavy artillery that had been rushed out and fled the river in panic, and finally fled back to the Qing Dynasty camp on Waihua Island.
Chapter completed!