Han’s Son is Not a Slave

After the news of Jiaxing's fall came to Hangzhou, the governor of Zhejiang, Tong Guoqi, sealed the whole city, and no one was allowed to enter the city unless he had a military official document that was verified as correct.

Tong Guoqi originally had more than 20,000 green battalion soldiers in his hands, as well as a navy of more than 5,000 people. This army was called the elite due to the long-term battle with the Ming army along the coast of Zhejiang. It is a pity that most of the soldiers and horses were buried in the attack on Xiamen organized by Dasu the previous year, and the navy was completely wiped out. The direct consequence was that when the Zheng army attacked Nanjing on a large scale, the Zhejiang side could send only more than a thousand reinforcements.

Anyway, Ma Fengzhi went to Zhejiang after returning to the Ming Dynasty. In order to defend Hangzhou, Tong Guoqi dismantled the east wall to make up for the west wall, and assembled troops and horses from neighboring Ningbo, Taizhou, Wenzhou, Jinhua and other places, barely making Hangzhou defenders reach more than 6,000. The only ones who can really fight are the more than 700 soldiers stationed in the Eight Banners of Manchuria, as well as the governor of the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang and the Fubiao of his Tong Guoqi, with a strength of less than 2,000. And Ma Fengzhi, who led his division to attack, claimed to be 100,000 soldiers, but actually had more than 20,000 soldiers and horses. If it wasn't for Ma Fengzhi's greed for money, he fell into Tong Guoqi's plan, I'm afraid that Hangzhou City would have already changed its owner.

After Ma Fengzhi was defeated, Tong Guoqi put aside the blame for those Green Battalion soldiers who followed Ma Fengzhi anyway, and recruited them aggressively. Some of these people were led by the guerrilla Liu Chengyin to garrison Jiaxing, and the rest were in the city of Hangzhou.

Hangzhou was originally a big city, and there was no distinction between inside and outside. In the third year of Shunzhi, when the Manchu city was established, there was a distinction between inside (Manchu) and outside (Han). There are four gates in the inner city: Pinghai, Chengqian, Gongchen and Yingzi, which are garrisoned by the Manchu Zhenghuangqi, Zhenghongqi and Xiangbaiqi soldiers stationed in Hangzhou. In the outer city, there are eight gates of Wulin, Genshan, Wangjiang, Wangchao, Fengshan, Qingbo, Yongjin and Qingchun. Among them, Qingchun Gate is guarded by the Han army flag alone, Qingbo Gate and Yongjin Gate are jointly guarded by the Han army and the Green Camp, and the other five gates are guarded by the Green Camp.

In addition to the conquest of the Mabu troops, together with the defense camps transferred from Jinhua and other places, Hangzhou City now has 10,000 defenders on paper. It’s just that Tong Guoqi and the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang Zhao Guozuo are very concerned about these green soldiers. The flag camp is not trustworthy. If the Taiping army hadn't entered Zhejiang so quickly, the governor would have the confidence to reorganize the Green Banner Battalion completely, but the Taiping army did not give Zhejiang a chance to breathe. Ma Fengzhi was defeated only for half a month, and the Taiping army came from the direction of Songjiang. .

Five days ago, Tong Guoqi was on duty day and night on the upper floor of the city gate or in the house near the city gate. One was to deal with the military situation quickly, and the other was to shock the horse army and surrender. He could be in time if there was any trouble. Tune the loyal soldiers and horses to suppress it. The gates of the outer city were also guarded by the Han army and the Manchu soldiers, and the access control was very strict. The people in the city were also ordered to stay at home and were not allowed to move around. Under various measures, the city of Hangzhou was calm, and there was no chaos like Ma Fengzhi's soldiers were under the city before.

The most important task of defending the city, the morale of the city defense is the first, and the other is the ordnance and food. Before the Taiping army reached Yuhang, Tong Guoqi kept urging the neighboring prefectures and counties to urgently allocate food and grass to Hangzhou, and made preparations to stand firm. Angbang Zhangjing He Kui, who was stationed in Hangzhou, even led troops to raid several counties near Hangzhou, and forced many young people to return to Hangzhou, so that when the Taiping Army came, there would be enough cannon fodder in the city. Regarding this matter, Tong Guoqi pretended not to see it, and let He Kui poison him.

At the Governor's Mansion, after hearing that the general of the Taiping Army who led the army was a Manchu leader who had surrendered in Guangdong, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Zhao Guozuo, sent his staff, Han Kedong, to Haining to persuade the leader to march slowly. Taking advantage of the differences between Manchu and Han to provoke the relationship between the Manchu leader and the thief scholar, it would be even better if the thief scholar could be replaced.

Han Kedong rushed back from Haining in the evening the day before yesterday. As soon as he entered the city, he rushed to the Governor's Yamen. Later, the Governor's Yamen came to invite Tong Guoqi to discuss matters. After Tong Guoqi arrived, Zhao Guozuo happily told him that Han Kedong was fortunate to not be humiliated. Although Suna did not say it clearly, he accepted all the gifts he sent, and secretly sent someone to send Han Kedong out of the city. There are various indications that although Nasuna is a high-ranking officer in the Taiping Army, he was born in Manchuria after all, and he is also worried about the future.

Tong Guoqi was overjoyed after hearing this, and suggested that the Governor-General should send Han Kedong to Haining again, so as to try to persuade Suna to vote again. This possibility is very low, but it is not impossible. Zhao Guozuo thought about it for a moment, thinking that there is no need to worry about this matter, and it will not be too late to see the movements of the Taiping Army. Han Kedong also said that if Suna is really slow to advance, the thieves and talents in Nanjing will definitely be suspicious. At that time, they will send some meticulous works to spread the rumors that Suna is originally a Manchu and is not of the same species as the Han people, and that his heart must be different. Given time, I'm afraid it will work wonders. Now I'm anxious to persuade him to vote back, I'm afraid I'm a little impatient.

Tong Guoqi was right in thinking about it, and he couldn't eat hot tofu in a hurry. It was a great thing to be able to convince Nasuna to march slowly to Hangzhou. How could he expect the other party to return to the Qing Dynasty.

After returning from the Governor's Mansion, Tong Guoqi was still a little uneasy. He specially sent a few troopers to Haining and Yuhang to check whether the Taiping army was really stagnant. In order to arouse the resistance of the Zhejiang gentry against the Taiping army, the Qing army could get more help, and the Taiping army could not gain a foothold in Zhejiang.

On this day, a team of Manchu cavalrymen came from outside the Wulin Gate, and the Manchu sergeant led the man shouting to the city: "Put down the suspension bridge, we are coming from Fuzhou!" The city shook.

Across the 50-foot moat, and when the twilight was dim, the Qing army in the city could not see it clearly, but seeing that there were not many Manchu soldiers coming, they lowered the suspension bridge. As soon as the suspension bridge hit the bridge, the Manchu leader took his subordinates straight to the city and handed the official documents into the Wengcheng City Cave.

The man on duty in the city was a Han army commander. When he saw that the other party handed in a fire lacquer-sealed urgent document, it stated that it was delivered to the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and the word "rush delivery" was written in the upper right corner, and the middle seam on the back was written. The year, month, and day of the document are covered by the Fujian Eight Banners. This Han army commander did not dare to neglect, and summoned the growth of a Manchurian red flag that was guarded by the city. He asked the other party a few words in Manchu, and the other party also answered in Manchu.

Zuo Ling did not suspect that he was there, so he politely said to the Manchu leader: "Sir, please wait a moment, wait for Xiao Ming, and then come back to enlarge people into the city."

Manzhou Zhuangzhuang had translated it, but the ginseng leader was very displeased and said, "Why don't you let this official into the city now, is there a fake official document?"

Zuo Ling apologized and said with a smile: "The official document is of course true, but it needs to be reported to Lord Futai before the door can be opened. The duty lies, don't dare to make mistakes, adults don't blame it!"

The sergeant said dissatisfiedly: "I am in charge of a hundred thousand urgent military affairs. If you miss a major event, be careful to lose your head!"

"Sir, don't worry, you will never make a mistake. Lord Futai is right upstairs in Nancheng, so it won't take much time to come and go."

Seeing that the city insisted on telling the truth, the Manchu leaders had no choice but to ask the Han army leaders to go quickly. Nazuo took it to the downstairs of Nancheng ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ and handed the official document to Guo Yanzong, the deputy general of Fubiao. Guo Yanzong looked at the official document carefully, and there was nothing suspicious, so he nodded to the military leader of the Han Dynasty: "How many people are they here?"

Zuo Ling said: "More than twenty."

"You let them into the city, and arrange for people to rest and wait. I will send the official document to the governor's yamen immediately. If there is a reply, I will hand it back to you."

Before he could finish speaking, an old voice behind him said, "No need."

Guo Yanzong was stunned for a moment, then turned around to see Lord Governor coming down from the tower, and hurriedly bowed and saluted, "Your Excellency is not resting, why did you come down?"

Tong Guoqi shook his head as he walked and said, "Where can I sleep." After that, he took the official document from Guo Yanzong. Seeing that it was sent by Annan General Dasu, he couldn't help but be stunned. It is for the Governor, so it is not easy to dismantle it. After thinking about it and instructing Guo Yanzong to settle the Manchu soldiers who delivered the letter, he personally sent the official document to the governor's yamen. Guo Yanzong hurriedly agreed, and rushed to the city gate with the Han army commander to deal with the Manchu generals who sent the letter.

Come and come, give a reward and go, and work hard today to bring down the city of Hangzhou, and let the soldiers rest for three days.