In the sixteenth year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty (1659), after a long period of preparation, Zheng Chenggong went through many twists and turns and launched an anti-Qing war in the coastal northern expedition. However, Zheng Chenggong's Northern Expeditionary Army suffered the most painful defeat in Nanjing.
Invincible, Enemy at the Gates.
1On May 4th, 659, Zheng Chenggong set out for the northern expedition to Nanjing, and arrived near Zhenjiang and Guazhou on June 4th, 16.
Zhenjiang and Guazhou, located at the mouth of the North-South Canal, are important waterway cities and important gateways to the Yangtze River. The Qing army heard that Zheng Chenggong's Northern Expeditionary Army had invaded the Yangtze River, so it sent troops to set up red artillery and wooden floating camps to fight. However, Zheng Chenggong's Northern Expeditionary Army was good at water warfare. In just two days, Zhu, the general of the Qing army, was captured alive, and all the red cannons on the two wings of Guazhou City were plundered, thus conquering Guazhou.
Since then, Zhenjiang Qing army commander and Zhenjiang magistrate Dai have surrendered one after another. In this way, Zheng Chenggong's northern expeditionary army has opened the door to Jiangning, and with the morale of Lien Chan and Lien Jie, it sent vanguard troops up the river and approached Nanjing.
Surround without being sleepy, and this will change.
On July 4th, Zheng led more than 100,000 troops and thousands of warships to Nanjing, and landed on July 12. He successively set up 83 battalions in Taiping, Guanyin, Jinchuan, Zhongfu, Yifeng and Jiangdong, and arranged cannons to cut off water traffic, thus forming a siege.
Facing the heavy siege of the Northern Expeditionary Army, the Qing army in Nanjing actively organized garrison. On the one hand, the Qing army sent reinforcements everywhere, and even turned to the Qing court for help, sending reinforcements from all divisions; On the other hand, Lang, the governor of the Qing army, pretended to surrender to delay the time, and stepped up the allocation of materials and grain reserves in the city, guarding the city gate day and night, ready for war at any time.
At the same time, influenced by the smooth situation before, Zheng Chenggong appeared some feelings of underestimating the enemy. Facing the suggestion of Gan Hui and others to attack the city quickly, Zheng Chenggong said: "Since ancient times, there have been countless casualties. Therefore, those who don't attack immediately, if they want to wait for Qilu's assistance, they will definitely wage war and kill them on invitation. If they are loyal, they will know our means and they will not surrender. Love belongs to the city, but the lonely city is helpless. What if I don't fall? " The general idea is that a direct siege will inevitably bring great harm. It is better to wait for the reinforcements to join together and break through at one stroke, thus forcing the other party to give up the city. Under the influence of this operational thought, the encirclement of the Northern Expeditionary Army did not restrict the reinforcements from all aspects of the Qing army from entering the city, that is, "encircling without being trapped". In the long run, the fighting spirit of the Northern Expeditionary Army gradually slackened. The combat power of the offensive and defensive sides shows a changing trend.
God's strategy is night attack, and the Northern Expedition is hatred.
/kloc-around July 0/5, at least four or five thousand Qing troops entered the city from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and reinforcements were still on the way. On the basis of making full preparations in personnel and materials, the Qing army took attack as the defense and headed for the Northern Expedition Army. On July 23, the Qing army sent troops day and night by land from the east and west gates, and attacked the Northern Expeditionary Army from beginning to end. Liang Huafeng, the general company commander of Qing Susong, once again went from Chongming to aid and cooperated with the defenders in the city to raid the northern expedition striker. The Northern Expeditionary Army was moved by the wind and fought hard for a long time. The Qing army secretly opened the doors of Ce Shen and Yifeng and went straight to the backbone of the Northern Expeditionary Army. (History:) Zheng Chenggong's Northern Expeditionary Army was good at water combat, but its combat effectiveness on land was relatively limited; Long-term passive preparation demoralized the Northern Expeditionary Army. In addition, the Qing army with high morale adopted a night attack strategy, which gave it the upper hand. When the Northern Expeditionary Army was defeated, it lost its strength for a while. Pulled out three northern expeditionary army camps outside Yifeng Gate and Zhongfu Gate.
The next day, the Qing army pursued the victory and surrounded the mountainous area where the Northern Expeditionary Army was stationed by land. Liang Huafeng of the Qing army led the troops into the mountains and Yang Zuying, the left pioneer of the Northern Expedition Army. The two sides exchanged gunfire and fought to the death. Although Yang Zu repelled the Qing attack three times, he was defeated by Liang Huafeng because he was outnumbered and had poor reinforcements. After the Qing army occupied the mountain, it condescended at the foot of the mountain and attacked the Qing army. The ministries of the Northern Expeditionary Army could not help each other in the chaos, and eventually lost one after another, and they hated Nanjing.
After the Northern Expeditionary Army was defeated at the gates of Nanjing, it quickly retreated to Zhenjiang, and there were constantly defeated troops fleeing back along the way. Counting the towns, we lost 14 generals such as Gan Hui, Pan Gengzhong, Wan Li and Zhang Ying, and the loss of troops was even more numerous. Zheng Chenggong sighed: "It is my fault to deceive the enemy."
Lose the East and Gain the West-Make up for the loss of swinging at the roundabout
After the defeat of Nanjing, Zheng Chenggong tried to seize Chongming County as a stronghold to attack the Yangtze River again. However, the weakness of the Northern Expeditionary Army that it is not good at land warfare has once again become its constraint. In the battle of Chongming, the Northern Expeditionary Army was dominant, but it could not be captured for a long time. Finally, the whole army had to return to Xiamen. The battle of Nanjing was the most brilliant and important battle in Zheng Chenggong's career, but it flourished first and then declined, and ended in great defeat, which made Zheng Chenggong's great cause of anti-Qing suffer fatal setbacks.
After the failure of the northern expedition to Nanjing, Zheng Chenggong's army was severely weakened and faced with the problem of insufficient military food. In order to solve the logistics problem of the army, Zheng Chenggong decided to adopt He Bin's suggestion and recover the islands in Taiwan Province Province occupied by Dutch colonists. It was this decision that contributed to the feat of Zheng Chenggong 166 1. This feat has also become the most unforgettable story of Zheng Chenggong, which can be described as a lost corner and a harvested mulberry.