The first day of the seventh month of the seventh year of Chongzhen.

Hong Kong Island.

In the open space by the sea, a large group of people gathered here.

After nearly two months of training, Ding Zhuang, a homeless man who remained on the island, has completed basic training according to the standards of the Nanzhong Army, and can act as pikemen or musketeers.

As for the sword and shield soldiers, because the technical content is higher than the above two troops, they will not be selected among these Ding Zhuang for the time being.

Under the leadership of their respective commanders and officers, the recruits formed a column with some excitement according to the formed units, and the columns formed a phalanx, and along the seashore, they formed six huge phalanxes.

"Two months of hard work is not in vain!"

Chen Tianhua, who was riding on a horse, although his face was blown by the sea breeze, he still felt hot, he knew that this was a fire burning in his heart!

During these two months, under the arrangement of Shouhan, several generals with troops came to visit him on Hong Kong Island under the pretext of transporting reinforcements and artillery, or communicated with him in letters with many typos, passing on their experience in facing the enemy. And Chen Tianhua himself is a person who can dive into learning, and in two months, he is already a very experienced military officer.

Of the 6,000 people on the beach, in addition to the original troops and the 4,000 homeless people who joined Ding Zhuang, the most were the 2,000 reinforcements who had come not long ago. Team officers, captains, veterans, and recruits are effectively organized together and have become a combination with considerable combat effectiveness. The total strength of the island reached more than 8,000 people!

In addition to the normal drill training, each battalion, each team. All of them had the experience of fighting out of the island, and they had small frictions with those stubborn villages, accelerated the internal run-in of the troops in actual combat, and transformed the results of training into combat effectiveness.

In addition to the more than 2,000 veterans who remained on the island, 6,000 men lined up under the hunting flags blown by the sea breeze, waiting for the commander's orders.

Deng Xianda, the former battalion officer, played the role of Chen Tianhua and became the chief of staff of the Northern Route Army, of course, there was no such position in the Southern Central Army at this time. His official position is the head of the Chinese army.

He slammed the belly of the horse under his hippin with his stirrup. The horse kicked its hooves out of the way, kicking up the tiny mud and sand all the way on the beach.

"Lord Qiqi, the battalions are lined up!"

Looking at the phalanx that stretched for several miles, it seemed to reach the edge of the sky. Chen Tianhua's heart was also surging. An eight-petal hat with an iron-pointed helmet. The ups and downs form a tidal line of the ocean tide, which can be seen as far as the eye can see. Under the rays of the morning sun, the glow of metal is spectacular.

He urged his war horses and slowly walked in front of the various squares under the escort of dozens of cavalry led by Liang Kuan, the commander of the Guards Battalion of the Northern Route Army.

According to the establishment of the Southern Central Army, the Northern Route Army lacked at least half of its artillery, there were not so many large Francos and eight-pounder guns in front of the queue, and there were four twelve-pounder guns missing in the middle of the artillery battalion. However, a lot of rockets were added, and there were two more 67-pounder Cron cannons and two 32-pounder mortars with wide mouths, which were affectionately called toad cannons by the soldiers in the battalion.

In the phalanx, there were not so many sword and shield soldiers, only four teams, all of which were made up of veterans. They serve as the core of the battalions. Most of the rest were musketeers and pikemen, and the spears and spears in their hands and shoulders were as dense as a hemp forest.

In the black-pressed crowd, eager eyes were projected towards this team of horses carrying wind and thunder, and one phalanx after another stretched along the coastline, and as far as the eye could see, there were red fat jackets and soldiers with a metallic luster, as if they could not see the edge at a glance.

"Brothers, what are we going to do today?!"

Chen Tianhua rode his horse past in front of a phalanx, and his shout was carried far away by the sea breeze.

The people in the phalanx were silent for a while, and suddenly, a roar erupted from the depths of the phalanx, "Revenge! ”

Immediately afterward, the two adjacent phalanxes also erupted in roars.

"Revenge!"

"Revenge!"

"Revenge!"

Listening to the roar that pressed over the sound of the waves, Chen Tianhua knew that the elite soldier he wanted had been forged, and what was lacking was the final tempering of the fire!

The team of 6,000 people was divided into several roads to move in an area of hundreds of miles from the Butterfly Valley to the direction of the Shenzhen River, and the cavalry passed the military information back and forth among the various marching teams.

The small surnames of the Ou family, the Wen family, and the Lin family along the way, when they saw a large army crossing the border, they couldn't help but be frightened, lest they suffer from the pond fish. Those village chiefs who had contact with these families hurriedly went to these villages and shouted in front of them, telling them that this time was not for others, but only for the five major families. Only then did these little surnames put their minds at ease, and some of them were bolder and more active, and they also set up a snack table on the way through, arranged some dried and fresh fruits, tea, etc., and entertained the passing army.

And there were a few old men, with incense burners on their heads, waiting for this army, Chen Tianhua saw it from afar, so he had to send someone over to comfort him with kind words, and then urged the troops to move forward quickly.

The army marched northward like a tide, and seeing the mighty momentum that seemed to be able to destroy a qiē, Chen Tianhua couldn't help but feel a burst of pride in his chest.

"It's a pity that I don't have Ye Qi's two strokes, otherwise I should have made a poem!"

"Xianda, our army is advancing, and the supply of food, grass and ammunition is sufficient?"

Suddenly, Chen Tianhua remembered this very important matter.

"Your Excellency, rest assured, your subordinates will work with the sailors to protect them along the way, and you will not let the army have any worries about the future. Moreover, each battalion has three days of food and grass, artillery ammunition, and ammunition for the sons of the musketeers are all equipped according to fifty rounds, and there are twenty rounds on the soldiers, and there are thirty rounds on the baggage carts in the battalion, which is enough to hit the provincial capital! ”

"Send the secretary of each battalion to take people to various villages and villages, and buy fresh vegetables, pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks and other things with silver dollars and copper coins, and this group of people say that they belong to us and others, and carry out our requirements and decrees.

"My lord! In this way, it adds food to the brothers, and secondly, it is also a touchstone and a mirror for demons. Which one is true and which one is false, the original form will appear when it is landed! ”

The trumpeter commander of the Chinese army picked up the brass trumpet and blew a long series of loud notes, and in a few moments, a burst of trumpets came from the marching procession in front and back, and the battalion officers of each battalion responded to the Chinese army with the sound of the trumpet.

At the sound of the trumpet, carts of varying numbers were driven out of the procession and headed for the nearby villages. They go to buy vegetables and fresh meat. By the way, check if these villages are genuinely attached.

And at this time. With the arrival of bad news from the south to the north, the atmosphere in Jiqingwei was already extremely tense and depressing.

After more than two months, the goods stored in Nanzhong in various stores were broken, and more than two taels of silver stored in each cabinet were taken away as payment by Han Yuan firm. The economic strength of the five major families immediately showed embarrassment. There are still people in the tribe who are young and old who are demanding that the public accounts be made public. The clan lowered the land rent and profits. Otherwise, it's a matter of how and how.

Faced with such a situation. Deng Yuanxun, the soul and head of the five major families, had to support his old and weak body with a strong fighting spirit to convene the children of each family to discuss matters.

But, sadly. In the past, the old lady Deng raised her arms and called the mountains to respond, but today she can't speak. The Wen family, the Peng family, the Hou family, and the Liao family sent their own children to come, and they were very sorry to say that because the pirates crossed the border, it was inconvenient for the head of the family to leave without permission, and they hoped that the old man Deng would forgive him, and after the pirates were retreated, he would come to apologize in person.

"Alas! It seems that it really responded to that sentence, and when the catastrophe came, they flew separately! Ah Qi! "Old lady Deng summoned his most proud grandson, Deng Qi.

"You send someone to contact the South China Army, and say that my Deng family is willing to pay money and be a Shunmin under the South China Army. As long as they are willing to retreat! ”

"Ah Gong! We've fought against them, and they're not some of them! I'm afraid of him! Let's rely on Jiqing to defend to the death, and then gather the clansmen in the four townships to fight him! ”

"Confused!"

Deng Yuanxun returned to the crutches in his hand and hit Deng Qi the head.

"In the past, when the ancestral hall rang the bell and drum, what was the sound of the surrounding villages? And now? The bells and drums in the ancestral hall are about to break, but have anyone ever come?! ”

The burning pain in his head made Deng Qi's mind become a lot clearer.

"Grandpa, in this way, a few brothers and I will take people to several other villages around the village, and bring as many young people in the village as we can to guard the fence!"

"Huh! It has to be like this, remember, there are many people is useless, and those who have not been in battle and faint when they see blood are useless. In the face of the swords, guns and firearms of the Nanzhong Army, they only had to cry and flee to disturb the morale of the army! ”

"Ah Gong, don't worry! I will let the brothers spread the news in the villages around the wall, this time the Nanzhong Army came to retaliate, as long as it was the person who went to the enemy last time, they would all be beheaded all over the house, if they didn't want to die, they would go to Jiqingwei to defend the fence! ”

This idea, although it is used very clichédly, but it is a very good method, in the environment of closed information and mixed sources, people are naturally more likely to believe in the rumors of increasing the amount without increasing the price. After all, your life comes first!

Listening to the idea of his favorite grandson, Deng Yuanxun couldn't help but nod his head and say yes, if this was an ordinary season, he would have to be gentle and soothing, and his heart would be happy. However, at the moment, the military situation is urgent, and there is no need to care about that much!

"You let your brothers do this! You go to the account office to get 20,000 silver dollars, and take people to the county seat quickly! ”

"Ah Gong?!"

Deng Qi didn't understand Ah Gong's move, did he want to escape first? Leave some blood for the Deng family? The terrible thought flashed through his mind.

"I told me in the county yamen that Chen Tianhua, the leader of the Nanzhong Army, sent 10,000 silver dollars to Wu Wenming, the magistrate of the county, and asked him to watch from the wall and turn a blind eye to what happened south of the Shenzhen River. You go! Sue Sù Wu County Order, as long as he is willing to come out to mediate, my Deng family will give him 20,000 silver dollars! Thanks afterwards! ”

I see!

Thinking about it, although the Nanzhong Army is a foreign pirate, but the banner is the banner of the Ming official army, claiming to be the Ming official army, facing the parents of the people who are the shepherds of the people, and they don't dare to make a mistake, right? ! As long as you can keep the family and the head, no matter how much silver dollars you spend, it's worth it!

Deng Qi lay on the ground and kowtowed to Deng Yuanxun, turned around and walked out of the hall, beckoning a few brothers to bring someone to do an errand.

Deng Yuanxun was left alone sitting on the bamboo rocking chair. The sunlight shining through the hall door shook his eyes so hard that he simply closed his eyes, and slowly two lines of cloudy tears slipped down his cheeks!

"The stone will go over the knife, and the thatch will go over the fire!"

The wolf's howl sounded in the sky above the Deng family's five encircles and sixteen villages, and groups of Ding Zhuang, holding all kinds of farm tools that could be used as weapons, were brought out of their homes amid the cries of their wives and children.

Not long after Deng Qi took people to the county seat, the children of the Deng family went to each village and hurriedly fled with people and returned to Jiqingwei.

The forward rangers of the South Central Army. It has appeared in the field of vision of each circumference.

The Tang family belongs to Wing Lung Wai, Tai Hong Wai, Nam Wai, North Wai and San Wai. In the fields, their shouts can be faintly heard.

"There is a wrong, there is a debtor, we just have to find the patriarch of the Deng family to settle accounts today!"

"Irrelevant people. Hurry up and get out of the way! Lest you eat the cannons! ”

There are also the arrogant cavalry. The horse came to the fence with a few foreign surnames. Waving his arms outside the fence wall, he shouted to the villagers on the wall, "But you want to fight us?!" If you want to fight, hurry up! Let the old men move their hands and feet! ”

The villagers patrolling the wall looked at the endless stream of troops from the south. Where is the courage to dare to reply? It's just a smiling face, hoping to escape this catastrophe. lest one of them be careless, offend this group of masters, and bring disaster to themselves and the village!

Constantly there were units of the South Chinese Army with sentinels as units, separated from the marching brigades, this trickle, with swords and guns in their hands, dragging big Buddha Lang machines, carrying fire guns, to the large and small enclosures along the road, monitoring and intimidating these enclosures. Prevent them from making sudden sorties to harass and sabotage the flanks and rear roads of the South Central Army.

Nearly half of the troops were successively divided, but the momentum of the Nanzhong Army not only did not weaken, on the contrary, it seemed that as far as the line of sight could see, there were all the banners and men of the Nanzhong Army. There are red stars everywhere. It also made the various walled villages along the way close their gates and did not dare to act rashly.

In the blink of an eye, a large group of men and horses appeared a few miles away from Jiqingwei.

The people on the fence first felt the trembling of the ground, and then a large area of red, red flags, red fat jackets, and the helmets of the iron-tipped helmets on people's heads were scorching like fire. In full view. The Nanzhong Army under the enclosure began to adjust its ranks and surrounded the entire Jiqing Wai.

There is the timid one, and his legs have begun to tremble uncontrollably. The officers and soldiers have seen a lot, and the pirate team has also seen it, but it is unprecedented for a team that can walk dozens of miles and still walk so in such a uniform and orderly manner. Those who have a lively mind began to look left and right about how to escape home in the shortest possible time, and which route to choose is more appropriate.

This fence seems to be untenable today!

Outside the moat, Chen Tianhua led a group of officers there to look at the terrain for a long time. Unlike the last time, the mood of observing Jiqingwei this time was so calm, and Chen Tianhua was surprised by the calmness.

In two months, Jiqingwei also strengthened the fortifications, and built ten more horse faces on the outside of the polder wall, which were combined with the forts at the four corners and the original horse faces to further strengthen the blockade of the periphery.

Coupled with the ten-meter-wide moat river, it seems more and more that this polder is so impregnable.

"See? There is only one gate in this polder, and personnel must go through this gate to enter and exit. If we want to break through the Jiqing Siege, or if we want to storm it, in that case, a moat river, the forts and horse faces built close to the river bank will be flanked on both sides with bows and arrows, and the troops on the front wall will be flanked on three sides! ”

Everyone followed Chen Tianhua's horsewhip and pointed at it, this auspicious Qingwei is 100 meters long, about 90 meters wide, and the circumference of the wall is only 400 meters. Whether it is a fort or a horse's face, there are cannon holes on it, and the black muzzle can be faintly seen.

"My lord! This enclosure is not large, and there are not many people who can fight on the wall in it, even if Ding Zhuang is selected from the five Deng family enclosures on the left to come here, it may not be able to exceed two thousand people. We can take advantage of our artillery fire, and use the infantry to create the illusion that they are going to fill the moat, lure them up the wall, and intercept them on the horse face and the battery, thinking that with their artillery and artillery level, even the artillery may not be able to affect us much, and our artillery will take advantage of this opportunity to suppress the battery and remove those artillery guns one by one! ”

Huang Leiting, the proud disciple of the artillery division, Mai Tiansheng, as the commander of the artillery team of the Northern Route Army, proposed an offensive plan from the professional perspective of artillery.

"At the same time, the real and the false are mixed, the true and the false are false, the real is real. During the interlude in the artillery fire at the head of the city, our brothers literally went to fill the moat and open the way for future attacks! ”

"The artillery at the head of the city has been destroyed, the moat has been filled up to a stretch of the river, and the last thing they can rely on to fight our army is gone! I guess the defenders in this enclosure have no intention of resisting. The rest of the matter is to go up the wall, open the iron gate, and the team will kill in! ”

Liang Kuan, who was standing behind Deng Xianda, also praised Mai Tiansheng's plan, and even got a little geared up.

"How far can the big Buddha machine and the invincible general in the city fight?"

Chen Tianhua also agrees with the plan proposed by Mai Tiansheng, which is very simple, that is, to use my artillery fire and range advantage to abuse you! (To be continued......)