Throughout the 18-year history of the Southern Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty defenders of the Ming Dynasty who forcibly attacked the coastal cities by the Ming army sailors basically did not succeed once. Some people may say, didn't Zheng Chenggong's army conquer Taizhou and Zhoushan? But the problem is that the reason why Taizhou was successfully recovered was because Ma Xin, the general in the city, led 400 officers and soldiers to return to the Ming Dynasty anyway, which allowed the Zheng army to successfully enter the city, and the Zheng army's second attack on Taizhou was because of the Taizhou defender Li Bi anyway. The Zheng army succeeded in attacking Zhoushan because the Zheng army defeated the defenders of Zhoushan in the field battle, and then the defender generals successfully led the defenders to surrender to the Zheng army.
Qing Dynasty Green Camp Army.
The Nanming side relied on the naval division warships to forcibly attack coastal cities or cities along the river once, and there really was no one. For example, the Ningbo offensive and defensive battle we will talk about next. After the complete collapse of the Lu Jian regime, all the provinces of Zhejiang fell into the hands of the Qing side, and the remnants of the Ming army either surrendered and were reorganized into the Green Camp Army, or the whole army was wiped out, or fled to the sea by boat, only the army led by Huang Binqing occupied the Zhoushan Islands. Because the Zhoushan Islands and Ningbo were separated by seawater, the Qing army did not succeed in driving Huang Binqing's troops away. By 1648, Yang Wenqi, Tu Xianchen, Dong Deqin, Huaxia and others in Ningbo City were ready to take advantage of the time when the Qing army in Zhejiang advanced to Fujian, contacted Huang Binqing and Wang Yi in the Dalan cottage of Siming Mountain, as well as the old department of Shi Kefa within the Qing army, and took Ningbo Fucheng in one go, but this plan was learned by Xie Sanbin, the former minister of the former Lu Jianguo, Xie Sanbin told the Qing Dynasty authorities, so the whole plan was leaked.
Ming and Qing bronze firearms.
Qin Shizhen, the governor of Zhejiang in the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Jie, the chief soldier of Dinghai, Sun Zhixiu of Haidao and others reacted quickly, first arrested a large number of anti-Qing people who were lurking, such as Li Changxiang, the former supervisor of the Lu Jianguo regime, Jin Xuan, the chief soldier of Wang Zhiren's old department, Chen Muzhi and others, and then sent Yan Jingong, the general of Ningbo, and Chang Jingong, the deputy general under Zhang Jie, the general of Dinghai, and Gao Youliang, the garrison, to attack the Dalan cottage of Siming Mountain and defeat the Ming army of Wang Yi's department. On the fourth day of the first month of December, Huang Binqing, who was still in the dark, came by appointment, because Nei Ying had been arrested, and the troops under Chen Tianzhong and Zhong Mo, the old department of Shi Kefa who had been contacted before, were too small to dare to cause trouble, so it was difficult for the Ming Dynasty army to win this battle. Qin Shizhen's unveiling post in the same month recorded the course of the battle in detail.
Ming Dynasty iron cannon.
On the fourth day of December, that is, at 9:00~11:00 a.m. on this day, with the rhythmic sound of war drums and conch horns, 80 Ming warships appeared on the Ningbo River. In fact, if we take a look at the map of the Ming Dynasty, we will find that Ningbo Fucheng is actually not close to the sea, and the Fenghua River flows through Ningbo Fucheng, so the Ming army warships actually came along the Fenghua River. If there is no response, Binqing's troops will go" The book "The Biography of Xiao Shy" on the history of the Southern Ming Dynasty in the middle and late Qing Dynasty also said that Huang Binqing did not land to fight, but quickly retreated, but I personally think that these historical materials do not reflect the real situation of the battle.
A cannon during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty.
Because Qin Shizhen did write that the two armies of the Ming and Qing dynasties broke out a fierce battle outside the city, "the post is to personally supervise the patrol Sun Zhixiu, guard the road Chen Mo, under the command of the Chinese army Jin Wenyuan, Liu Sipet and Ma Bu officers and soldiers, galloped out of the city, together with the general Zhang Jie, led the garrison general Yan Jingong, garrison Li Chenggong, etc., commanded the elite troops to charge and suppress, the artillery was endless, and they were all united, and they did not care about their lives. Countless thieves were slashed, arrowshot, shot and drowned, as our soldiers desperately boarded boats. More force to seize six thief ships, with a plan to burn one, the thief is in a dangerous situation, with the wind defeated to escape to the plum ruins, if not the town of the road soldiers to fight for their lives, then Ningjun can hardly be protected" At the same time, it also wrote the situation of the Qing army killed "in addition to the fallen soldier Ding Hu Yougui and other seven, sailor Li Ming and other three, wounded soldier Ding Chen Yongshou and other twenty-eight, sailor Wang Hua and other ten, Ning Shaodao slightly injured family Ding Nan Guochen and other six members" It can be seen that Huang Binqing did not leave without a fight under the city of Ningbo, but had a fierce battle with the Qing army, but obviously the scale was not large.
Inscription on a cannon of the Ming Dynasty.
Because the wording of this paragraph can be called a model of various clichés in the historical materials of the Ming and Qing dynasties, what Qing army generals "did not care about their lives" and what "thieves were desperately slashed by our soldiers on the boat, arrows, shot and drowned, countless" similar to this kind of "impassioned" words are quite common in the war history of the Ming and Qing dynasties, so it may not be able to reflect the actual situation of the battle, and what is "if it is not for the soldiers of the town and the road to fight for their lives, then Ningjun can hardly be guaranteed" This is an obvious exaggeration.
Ming infantry.
In fact, before the battle under the city of Ningbo, Huang Binqing broke out a fierce naval battle with the Qing army sailors on the surface of the Dinghai Sea, the Qing court said that the Ming army had 2670 warships, the Qing army destroyed seven Ming warships in the naval battle, captured 12 warships, captured 25 Ming soldiers alive, and the Ming deputy general Li Rang died in battle, and the Qing army itself lost five warships, "killed, drowned countless people" and then a more dramatic period of "thieves were invincible, half retreated to the ocean, half took the wind into the sea, and led to the breakthrough of Ningbo", that is, according to the Qing army, the general soldier Zhang Jie's statement, he commanded the Qing army sailors to beat the Ming army fat, killed a deputy general, sank and captured a bunch of ships, and then the Ming army retreated to the ocean, and then rushed to the wind direction, and rushed to the city of Ningbo in one breath.
Three-eyed fire guns and gold ingots from the Ming Dynasty.
Didn't you just stop it? Therefore, the number of captured and sunken ships and the number of captured soldiers that he pulled before are worth scrutinizing, of course, what is worth scrutinizing is only the results of the Qing army in this naval battle of Dingguan, not including the results of the offensive and defensive battles of Ningbo Fucheng and the Qing army's blocking of the Ming army.
Ming Dynasty saber.
But it's still that sentence: the Ming army sailors entered the narrow channel to storm a city, it didn't succeed once, Huang Binqing commanded the Ming army to be repulsed under the city of Ningbo, and suffered a heavy blow on the way back, the Qing army arranged a large number of bamboo obstacles in the Fenghua River channel, the Ming warships were tripped up, and then the Qing army set up artillery on the north and south banks, aimed at the Ming warships that were tripped and bombarded fiercely, and then "our soldiers (referring to the Qing army) fired artillery to smash the thief ships a lot, and the thieves were defeated and fled by the tide, "It's really miserable, but most of the ships still stand out." Although I often doubt the authenticity of the battle report provided by the Qing side, this time it is really beyond doubt, because "the battle equipment, clothing and armor should be sent to Fuchen for inspection, and for a while, the meritorious civil and military personnel listened to another inscription, and they originally obtained a fake copper seal, three fake wooden seals, fake papers, fake cards and tickets, etc., and submitted them to the Metropolitan Procuratorate for inspection by the Advisory Department" There is a copper seal and three wooden seals, which at least prove that at least four generals in the Southern Ming army who participated in the attack were killed or captured.
Ming Dynasty steel sword.
After that, until he was assassinated, Huang Binqing never took the initiative to launch any military action against the Qing Dynasty. In fact, Huang Binqing was reluctant to send troops before the start of this operation, but later someone assured him that the internal generals of the Qing Dynasty defenders in Ningbo City had been prepared, so he reluctantly agreed to send troops. In fact, to be honest, when I saw this battle in the early years, I always thought that Huang Binqing was afraid of the big war and just wanted to be a rich man in Zhoushan, but then after I looked at the map, I could only say that if I were Huang Binqing, I would not agree to send troops.
The army of the Ming Dynasty.
In fact, if you analyze it carefully, the Southern Ming army in Zhoushan should not have taken the initiative to attack Ningbo Fucheng along the river, because the Fenghua River channel is narrower than the Yangtze River, and the Qing army's artillery is easier to improve the hit rate.
Ming Army Sailors.
So during the Southern Ming Dynasty, what should be the correct strategy of the Ming army in the Zhoushan area? First of all, the geographical location of Zhoushan is very wonderful, Zhoushan is too close to the mouth of the Yangtze River, so the local defenders should be mainly defended, give full play to the advantages of the naval army to annihilate the enemy in the Hengshui Ocean, and at the same time become the forward position of other Ming troops (such as the Ming Zheng army) to attack the Yangtze River, if this place can be managed by the Southern Ming side, it is an exaggeration: the Zhoushan Ming Army will be an important force for the revival of the Ming Dynasty.