Qianlong Fifty Years, July, Bingyin.
E’leydengbao and the fifteen Prince Yongyan, the little wild boar, attacked Zhu Zhongzhi with their troops, and the two armies were locked in a stalemate. The fifteenth Prince saw that it had not rained for many days, and was troubled by his inability to find a way to advance his troops. He couldn't help but feel disheartened, so he looked at the chicken ribs in his bowl and sighed, "Chicken ribs, chicken ribs."
E'leydengbao didn't know how to respond to this.
E'leydengbao thought that it would be fine if you said something else, but you insisted on imitating Cao Cao and saying chicken ribs, chicken ribs. How could this be answered?
Yes, this Baturu knows that chicken ribs are tasteless to eat and a pity to discard. He also knows that the rebels in Shanxi are like chicken ribs now: they can't be eradicated, and they can't retreat. He also knows that you are thinking of retreating, but is this something that this Baturu can say?
What if you imitate Cao Cao and behead E'leydengbao like Yang Xiu?
Even if you don't behead me, can't your father?
So, E'leydengbao honestly gnawed on the chicken ribs in his bowl.
The fifteenth Prince did not expect E'leydengbao to respond. After all, the fifteenth Prince had also read military books, knew the allusions to chicken ribs, and knew the consequences of saying such things.
Let alone E'leydengbao, the Baturu leading the troops, even if he, the prince supervising the army, directly spoke of retreating, it would be troublesome if the Qianlong old dog found out.
It's just that chicken ribs are indeed tasteless to eat and a pity to discard, so after gnawing a few bites, E'leydengbao and the fifteenth Prince lost the desire to gnaw any further.
After having the guards take away the bowls and chopsticks, and washing his hands, the fifteenth Prince and E'leydengbao looked at each other.
Finally, the fifteenth Prince could not bear it any longer and asked, "In your opinion, how should the next battle be fought?"
When asked by the fifteenth Prince, E'leydengbao felt his head, which had just started to feel better, start to hurt again.
How should this battle be fought?
For E'leydengbao, if the fifteenth Prince were not present, this battle would not have been too difficult. After all, he had ten thousand Mongolian Banners and ten thousand Manchu cavalry, totaling twenty thousand cavalry.
Although these twenty thousand cavalry could not fight siege battles, nor did they necessarily have the opportunity to fight head-on with Zhu Zhongzhi in the main battlefield, he could fully utilize the cavalry's rapid maneuverability to divide and encircle the rebels, and then let his twenty thousand Manchu infantry slowly follow up and annihilate those rebels bit by bit.
As for logistics and supplies, they were not a problem for E'leydengbao. Besides relying on the Qing Dynasty court, the entire Shanxi was full of rebellious rebels now. He had no psychological pressure in plundering the rebels' food as his own supplies.
Didn't the art of war say: "Plunder the wilderness, and the army is well-fed. One zhong of food from the enemy is equal to twenty zhong for us; one dan of straw is equal to twenty dan for us."
However, the key issue was that the fifteenth Prince was still with the army.
For the safety of the fifteenth Prince, he definitely could not use large-scale rapid penetration tactics to divide the rebels.
Therefore, this battle was difficult to fight.
After E'leydengbao and the fifteenth Prince looked at each other again, the atmosphere fell into an awkward silence.
However, after a long period of silence, the fifteenth Prince Yongyan suddenly looked at E'leydengbao and said, "Since those rebels are holding the city, let's just go all the way and drive those mud-legged people to attack the city."
When the fifth Prince said this, E'leydengbao felt that not only his head hurt, but even his crotch started to ache faintly.
E'leydengbao had originally thought that his method of obtaining supplies from the enemy was ruthless enough, but he never expected that the fifteenth Prince in front of him was even more ruthless, a ruthless person among ruthless people, utterly devoid of humanity.
Driving civilians to attack cities was not uncommon in history. Before and after the Qing Dynasty entered the pass, they had done such things. Even if they did it again now, it would only be picking up the traditional skills of their ancestors.
But the problem was that this was not just about picking up skills!
Look at who were the people who drove civilians to attack cities in history?
They were either rebellious rebels, or barbarians who plundered to the south, or the Qing Dynasty before or just after entering the pass.
To put it bluntly, only the attacking side that had no moral justification and was at a disadvantage would use such methods.
Now, the Qing Dynasty court considered itself the orthodox ruler of the world, and the Qianlong old dog styled himself as loving the people as his children. If they were to drive civilians to attack cities, how would the world see them? How would the elders in the court see them? How would the Qianlong old dog see them? xxs 壹贰
The fifteenth Prince Yongyan, sitting at the head, saw E'leydengbao staring blankly, and couldn't help but frown and reprimand, "What, do you have any other good ideas?"
Being reprimanded by the fifteenth Prince, E'leydengbao immediately came to his senses, quickly performed a courtesy, knelt on one knee, and said, "Your servant was momentarily distracted just now. Please forgive me, my lord."
The fifteenth Prince snorted and looked at E'leydengbao again, saying, "Without using the method of driving civilians to attack cities, do you have any other good ideas?"
Seeing that the fifteenth Prince asked again, E'leydengbao's heart was filled with bitterness.
This Baturu naturally had good methods, but with you, this Baturu's commander, being here, his methods could not be used.
This Baturu also knew that driving civilians to attack cities was a good method, but wasn't he worried about affecting your reputation!
Besides, don't you, the fifteenth Prince, think that driving civilians to attack cities is a bit inhumane!
And you are not only inhumane to those mud-legged people, but you are also inhumane to this Baturu! Valley
E'leydengbao knew very well that once this inhumane method was used, even if Zhu Zhongzhi, the rebel, was eventually annihilated, he, the Baturu in command, would definitely suffer misfortune.
After all, he was a servant. Could he, this servant, dare to spread it everywhere that this idea was proposed by his master?
Of course not. Wouldn't that affect his master's glorious image?
Therefore, such an inhumane and wicked idea could only be thought of by him, this servant, and executed by him, this servant, acting on his own. The wise and mighty master was merely deceived by him, this servant.
So, the credit for annihilating the rebels would belong to the fifteenth Prince, while the crime of driving civilians to attack cities would belong to him, the leading Baturu!
It's simply damn it!
Thinking of this, E'leydengbao tentatively advised, "My lord, it's nothing for this servant to drive civilians to attack cities, but since my lord is in my army, if this matter gets out..."
Wouldn't it affect his lord's image?
Qianlong old dog had four living sons, but there was only one throne. If the news of him driving civilians to attack cities spread, wouldn't the remaining princes fiercely attack his lord?
However, to E'leydengbao's surprise, the fifteenth Prince chuckled and said, "If I, the master, am not afraid, why are you afraid? So, go ahead and do it boldly. Not only do it, but also publicize it. This is my idea as the master, understand?"
Seeing E'leydengbao still kneeling on one knee with a bewildered look, the fifteenth Prince sneered, "I know you, this servant, are worried that this matter will affect my reputation, but have you ever thought about what kind of prince my Qing Dynasty needs?"
"It's not Yongxuan, who only knows how to write poems and paint, nor Yongxing, who always acts like a literati, nor Yonglin, who is devoid of scholarship."
Hearing this, cold sweat broke out on E'leydengbao's forehead.
Is this something a servant like me should listen to?
However, the fifteenth Prince did not intend to stop. Instead, he continued, "What my Qing Dynasty needs most now are princes who can restore the martial spirit of our ancestors to the Banner soldiers, and princes who can suppress the world with iron-blooded means and annihilate all rebels."
"As long as the rebels of the world can be annihilated, the means are not important."
"Remember this, the foundation of our Qing Dynasty's empire lies in the Eight Banners, and those mud-legged people are not even qualified to be our servants."
"Instead of being lenient to those mud-legged people for the sake of mere reputation, it is better to be ruthless and kill them until they are terrified and dare not rebel."
"Understand?"
After a period of silence, E'leydengbao bowed his head and said, "Yes! Your servant will have someone do it now."
...
Qianlong Fifty Years, July, Dingmao.
E'leydengbao led ten thousand Mongolian Banners, ten thousand Manchu Banner cavalry, and twenty thousand Manchu Banner infantry, driving about five thousand civilians towards Lingqiu County.
When the civilians reached the vicinity of the county town, a Meil’e Zhen, subordinate to E’leydengbao, ostentatiously rode his horse to the foot of the county town and shouted loudly, "Listen, you rebels! If you open the city and surrender, there is still a chance to survive. If you resist the heavenly soldiers, after the city is broken, not a single chicken or dog will be spared!"
On the city wall, the faces of the defenders were extremely grim.
The outcome of opening the city and surrendering was, of course, self-evident.
According to the Qing Dynasty court's usual practice, even if they could survive for a while now, they would definitely not escape the Qing Dynasty court's reckoning in the end.
But if they did not open the city and surrender, there were so many civilians below the city being driven by the Tartars, clearly preparing to drive civilians to attack the city.
Without even thinking, those civilians driven by the Tartars below the city were definitely ordinary people from nearby villages, and perhaps some of them were relatives within five degrees of kinship to some of the defending soldiers.
The key point was that driving civilians to attack cities was a vicious tactic.
Driving civilians to attack cities was not simply driving ordinary people to climb the city walls and then the attacking army following behind to ascend the city. Because if it were only like that, the defenders on the city wall could let these ordinary people ascend the city walls and then attack the enemy soldiers following behind them.
In fact, the viciousness of the tactic of driving civilians to attack cities lay in the fact that those driven to attack cities were basically young and strong men, meaning that most of these people were fathers, sons, or husbands, and their parents, wives, and children would be left at the foot of the city.
If these people obediently followed orders, killed the defenders on the city wall after ascending, and helped capture the city, then their parents and children left at the foot of the city might still survive. If these people ascended the city wall and then ran away, then their parents and children left at the foot of the city would surely die.
Even if we take a step back and consider that all the civilians, whether young and strong or women, children, old and young, were driven to attack the city, who could guarantee that the enemy would not be mixed among them to capture the city?
Therefore, to ensure the safety of the city wall, the defenders could only choose to kill all these people who were driven to attack the city indiscriminately.
This was the truth behind driving civilians to attack cities, and it was also the viciousness of the tactic of driving civilians to attack cities, so vicious that all defending armies had no good way to crack it.
Of course, it was not that there was no way to crack it. After all, as long as one was ruthless enough to kill all the civilians driven to attack cities, then the so-called tactic of driving civilians to attack cities would be easily resolved.
But then again, unless it was absolutely necessary, who would not treat civilians as human beings like my Qing Dynasty?