Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 506 Ping Liao ()

At dawn, on the road from Shengjing to Hetunala, tens of thousands of Eight Banners' dependents were sitting or lying on both sides of the road. Countless young children had never experienced such a difficult journey, but even so, no one dared to go back. Life might be hard in Hetunala, but staying in Shengjing would mean a life or death situation.

Emperor Shunzhi Fulin and Empress Dowager Bumbutai had already fallen asleep in the carriage. The long journey and the bumpy ride of the carriage had made Fulin suffer a lot.

The palace maids and eunuchs who accompanied them along the way were all in a state of disgrace. There was frequent chaos during the retreat, and from time to time the palace maids were either lost or abducted by the thieves.

Jirgalang decided to defend Shengjing to the death personally. He left behind the 18 Banner soldiers in Shengjing who were willing to defend Shengjing with him, as well as more than 3,000 people who were not his only son. The remaining 7,000 men guarded the emperor and the empress dowager and evacuated to Hetuala City.

The person responsible for the safety of Emperor Shunzhi and the Empress Dowager was Balkan, the fourth son of Jirgalang. Just as Balkan was patrolling diligently, a noise was heard in the distance.

Balkan's face changed drastically, not knowing whether it was a surprise attack by friendly forces or the Qian army's cavalry.

Balkan shouted to be on guard, and his voice was so loud that Fulin and Bumbutai suddenly woke up. What is panic? What is the fear of enemies? The eight banners families around thought that the Qian army was chasing them. Rumors spread everywhere, and someone shouted: "The Han soldiers are chasing us!"

In an instant, people were in panic and running everywhere. The chaos exacerbated people's anxiety, and everyone was worried that they would encounter disaster if they stopped.

At this moment, a group of cavalry came galloping. The leader was stunned when he saw the chaotic scene. This person was Bolo who withdrew from Pyongyang.

After Qian's army landed in Lushun, Jirgalang knew that the situation was extremely bad. The soldiers on the Ningjin defense line did not dare to move lightly, but it was meaningless to continue to hold on to Bolo in Pyongyang. Jirgalang immediately sent people to ask Bolo to withdraw his troops, abandon Korea, return to Hetuala City, and protect the Qing court.

Among the younger generation of royal family members, only Bolo seemed to be able to take up the important responsibility. In a letter to Bolo, Jirgalang wrote: "The state affairs are in decline, the storm is coming, and the country is shaking. Among the royal family members, only you are known for your talent and strategy. From today on, the weight of the family and the country will all fall on you. I hope you can support the collapsing building, turn the tide, and save our country's prosperity."

After receiving Jirgalang's letter, Bolo no longer hesitated. After nightfall, he led more than 7,000 remaining Eight Banners soldiers and broke out of the weak point of the Korean rebel army besieging the city. As for the more than 20,000 Korean Eight Banners in Pyongyang, Bolo abandoned them all.

Bolo hurried and finally caught up with the emperor's carriage in the north of Fushun. Seeing that the road was full of fleeing civilians, Bolo ordered the army to stop and he led more than a hundred cavalrymen to meet the enemy first. However, he did not expect that the sound of more than a hundred horses' hooves at dawn would cause such a panic.

The official road was in a mess, with some corpses lying on the ground. They all looked like elderly people. Many items were scattered on the ground, and the cries were moving.

Balkan felt a little guilty. If he hadn't shouted to be on guard, such chaos wouldn't have occurred.

At this point, Bolo could only pack up a bit and go to face the fight.

Bumbutai lifted the car curtain and looked at Bolo in front of him. He was covered in dust, his armor was mottled, and his cheeks were streaked with sweat and dirt. Even though Bolo had cleaned himself up a little, one could still see signs of his extreme fatigue.

When Bolo saw Bumbutai, he knelt on one knee and said in a hoarse voice: "Your servant Bolo, I came late to rescue you because I was anxious, which made the people uneasy. Please punish me, Queen Mother, and the Emperor."

Bumbutai looked at the messy streets and couldn't help but sigh. Everyone was like a frightened bird. Even she herself was scared out of her wits and broke out in a cold sweat.

She sighed and said softly to Bolo, "Get up, state affairs are urgent, and we need to rush to Hetuala City as soon as possible."

"Thank you Queen Mother"

Then, Bumbutai signaled to the guards to help Bolo stand up.

When it got light, all the people felt relieved, because it turned out that it was not the Qian army, but their own army. Everyone calmed down and continued on their way to Hetuala city.

Everyone in the team was silent, no one spoke. Amid the sounds of wheels and the cries of livestock, the team walked deep into the mountains and finally arrived in Hetuala.

Hetuala City, the birthplace of the Jianzhou Jurchens, is also the old capital of the Qing Dynasty. Compared with Shengjing City, it can actually be regarded as just a small town, but for the people who have traveled all the way here, it is finally a place that can temporarily shelter from the wind and rain.

Earlier, Jirgalang sent a small amount of food and supplies to Hetuala City, which allowed the Qing court to temporarily not have to worry about food and drink.

Although they had retreated to Hetuala, the structure of the imperial court was still quite intact, and some of them were old ministers from the Chongzhen period. Jirgalang knew that there must be people who were colluding with the Qingluan Guards, but there were also ministers who were loyal to the Qing Dynasty.

Jirgalang had no time to carry out any selection, so he simply packed up all the court officials and sent them to Hetuala City.

In the city of Hetuala, in a very shabby little house, four people were crowded together. They were Mao Xiang, Zheng Zhilong, Feng Quan, and Gong Dingnie.

Hetuala City was small, and had to accommodate so many officials, military families, and refugees. For the officials of the court, several people had to squeeze into one small room.

Zheng Zhilong looked at the environment in front of him and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Even when he was a pirate in the early days, the environment on the ship was better than it is now. Zheng Zhilong's heart was filled with remorse. If he had known that the Qing court would be defeated like this, how could he have opened the gates and surrendered.

~~~~~~

Bolo led the Eight Banners of the Manchus to break out of the city, while the Eight Banners of the Koreans in Pyongyang were like sitting on wax, in a state of confusion.

The Qing dynasty was doomed, and as the saying goes, when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. The generals of the Eight Banners of Korea also wanted to jump out of this shabby Qing ship.

Therefore, on the second day after Bolo left the city, the defenders in the city opened the city and surrendered to Gao Jinku.

Facing Hu and Zhan, Gao Jinku seemed very proud. He smiled and said, "Old Hu, what do you think? I said to play slowly, right? I call it going with the flow."

Hu Zhan shook his head mysteriously, and in Gao Jinku's puzzled eyes, he said slowly: "It seems that there is a big commotion in Shenyang City. General Gao, I don't think you will be able to achieve the great feat of destroying a country!"

Gao Jinku was somewhat tempted, but also somewhat hesitant, so he asked, "I'm afraid we'll run into the main force of the Tartars again. We are all infantry, and those Korean soldiers are so weak. If we launch a surprise attack, I think they will all be defeated."