The battle of the Acropolis was at a critical moment, and Yang Zhaofeng and 5,000 horse troops, who had rushed dozens of miles from the camp of Xujiazhuang Fort, appeared in time. Although the Qing army was brave, after all, it had been fighting for a long time, and it was also exhausted, and it did not want to fall into a bitter battle with the new army. However, when he heard the sound of the Qing army's big array, Tan Tai, the commander of the Qing army, decisively closed his flag and chose to retreat.

Outside the city, Ma Guangchun and Zhou Yuji's two more than 1,000 horse armies quickly attacked, and the 1,000 cavalry of the Feijie Left Battalion also penetrated out of the city and pursued together. However, the Qing army retreated in an orderly manner, leaving no flaws in the Ming army.

In the first year of Chongde of the Qing Dynasty, Huang Taiji, who had just been proclaimed emperor, was determined to completely conquer Korea, so he assigned Doro Wuyingjun Wang Azig, Doro Rao, Yu Belle Abatai and others to break through the border wall and attack the Ming Dynasty first, so as to avoid the Ming army being hindered behind the war with Korea. After several months of campaigning, the Qing army rampaged through the territory of the Ming Dynasty, claiming to "win all 56 battles", "conquer 12 cities", and "capture 200,000 people and animals", and the results were quite brilliant. As one of the main generals, when Azig led the army to triumph in Shengjing, he was ceremoniously welcomed by Huang Taiji, and even burst into tears when he saw Azig looking tired.

However, later, Huang Taiji learned that Azig was abnormal in the process of withdrawing the army, did not send elite cavalry to cover the baggage, did not shoot the border trenches with Hongyi cannons, bluffed, and did not store grain and grass in his own country in advance to starve the army, and made a series of mistakes, causing the Ming army to dare to pursue from behind, causing casualties among the Qing army, so he immediately criticized Azig "How different is this from defeat", severely punished a group of soldiers, including Azig, and even four Gushan Ezhen in the 20 banners were dismissed. Eleven Gushan Ezhen were severely punished with fines and deprivation of all booty, and used thunder to enforce military discipline.

In the past, all the generals of the Qing army paid special attention to the retreat of troops in the process of leading the troops, so that they were compared with the attack. Tan Tai is the remnant of Huangtai Jizheng Yellow Banner, and he is better than others, because he retreated, thoughtful and cautious, and fought and retreated, retreated and attacked, and so Yang Zhaofeng and Wang Fu's ministers arrived on the outskirts of the city with reinforcements, and the Qing army had safely withdrawn for several miles.

When the armies converged, Wang Fu's ministers looked at the devastation inside and outside the city, and sighed: "Our army is late. ”

Han Gon shook his head and said, "It's not too late, if there is no noble army to show up, the Tartars may not be willing to retreat." ”

At the moment, counting the soldiers and horses, after three days of defending the city, the battalions of Wuyu, Feijie Left, Feijie Right, Changning, Zhongguan and other battalions added up to only 3,000 horse infantry troops, counting 5,000 horse troops who came to help, a total of 8,000.

On the one hand, Han Gon ordered the soldiers to clean up the battlefield, patiently collected the corpses of every Ming army soldier and buried them, and on the other hand, he gathered the doctors of the rear battalion to treat the wounded with all their might.

When Yang Zhaofeng saw Han Gon, he looked at him and smiled, and said, "Brother Han, the brothers still resisted it!" ”

Han Gon said, "It's good if you come back." ”

Yang Zhaofeng looked at the busy soldiers who were carrying corpses, wounded and even equipment and armor around him, and said: "The Tartars will be unwilling to retreat this time. There are many Xuanfu Tartars, and the follow-up may come back in a big way, and our army has to make plans as soon as possible. As he spoke, he looked up at the sky, "The rain has been getting lighter in the past two days, and it seems that it will stop completely tomorrow and tomorrow." This is conducive to the siege of the Tartars. Our army currently has 8,000 soldiers, ninety percent of the horse army, and it is inconvenient to defend the city, and it is not a wise choice to continue to trap the town and guard. ”

Han Gon frowned and nodded: "What you said is true, but the whereabouts of the front-line commander Hou are unknown, and our army cannot retreat yet." ”

Yang Zhaofeng said: "You have to make two preparations, and continue to send elite scouts over there to investigate the military situation in the direction of Chaigou Fort." Here, the guards can simultaneously dismantle the sheep and horse walls, destroy the gates in various places, and do not give the Tartars a chance to use them, and all the soldiers and horses must also be transferred at any time. ”

Han Gon agreed, and then said: "The day before yesterday, there were scouts returning to the city, saying that there are large areas of unowned wheat fields in the northeast of the Acropolis Yongjia Fort and Xinping Fort to be harvested. It is located between Xuanfu and Datong, and it can't be taken away by the Tartars no matter what. If our army wants to transfer in the future, it is also necessary to harvest the spring wheat in advance. ”

Yang Zhaofeng arched his hand and said: "It's late today, the soldiers are tired, and they have the right to recuperate for a night, and I will take people there to clear the wilderness early tomorrow morning." ”

Han Gon said: "Although the Tartars were defeated, they did not retreat, and everything should be done carefully. ”

It was a night when the wind and rain had rested, but several horsemen came from the north and hurriedly called for the door, and the defenders called Han Gon, who had only been lying down for a short time. Then Yang Zhaofeng and other officers were ordered to hurry to the festival hall, only to see that above the festival hall, Han Gon was pale.

"Mr. Hou...... Outside Chaigou Fort, it was besieged by Tartar ambushes...... Already, has been martyred for the country...... Han Gon's lips were blue, his body stiffened, "Jinghezhong, Yichong, and two battalion brothers, all of them were loyal to the battle with the Hou Chief, and none of them survive......d secretly."

When all the officers present heard this, they were all stunned, and the festival hall was silent. Although everyone had expected the ending of Hou Daguijun's army, when they heard the facts, they were still extremely worried.

After a long time, Zhou Yuji nodded violently, Dou Da tears rolled and dripped, and kept saying: "Good, good, really my Ming hero!" ”

Yang Zhaofeng's eyes were wet and red, and he said, "Where is the corpse of Chief Hou?" ”

Han Gon couldn't bear to say: "Listening to the rout cavalry fleeing from the north, Chief Hou was broken by the Tartar knives, and only the head of the long pole was hung high, held by the fast horseman, galloping back and forth outside the fort to show the public. After speaking, he sighed a few times.

Ma Guangchun said with a calm face: "What about Chaigou Fort?" ”

Han Gon exhaled a long breath and replied, "The one who knocked on the door at the right time is the brother who came from Chaigou Fort. According to them, when the soldiers and horses of General Hou were surrounded by Tartars, Hao Mingluan knelt in front of Sun Chuanting and begged bitterly until he vomited blood and fainted, but he could not ask Sun Chuanting to send troops for help......"

Speaking of this, Zhou Yuji gritted his teeth and said: "Sun Chuanting is too much of a thing, Manager Hou went north alone this time, all to save him, but he will take revenge, and in turn he will not save him!" Although he has no friendship with Hou Dagui, he has a clear love and hatred, and is full of pride.

Ma Guangchun said coldly: "Sun Chuanting only has himself in his eyes, he doesn't go out because he is afraid that the fort will not be defended, but he has forgotten the truth that his lips are dead and his teeth are cold. ”

Han Gon took over and said: "That's right, the day after the destruction of the whole army of General Hou, the Tartar king Azig led his army to Chaigou Fort, and tens of thousands of troops besieged the fort, and in just one day, the fort was breached. ”

"Yes!" Several indignant officers said in unison.

Han Gon said: "The reason why the garrison of the fort is so unbearable is that there are many Tartar soldiers and horses, and the other reason is that seeing that the commander Hou and his allies were all killed, most of the defenders were shocked, and their morale was completely lost. Before the fortress was broken, Sun Chuanting summoned the whole army to break through, but Bai Guangen, Niu Chenghu, Gao Ruli, Wu Dading and others were greedy for life and afraid of death, betrayed Sun Chuanting and surrendered to the Tartars. ”

"The surname Sun still has the face to live." Zhou Yuji's face was full of disdain, "If I simply die in Chaigou Fort, I am more or less worthy of Chief Hou and Daming!" ”

Ma Guangchun said: "Sun Chuanting is not good in a thousand ways, but he still has some backbone, unlike Bai Guangen's soft-footed shrimp, who can kneel at any time." Then he asked, "Where did he retreat?" ”

Han Gon said: "Shangzhuang Fort in the north of the right guard. ”

Zhou Yuji smiled and said: "Shangzhuang Fort is next to the side wall of Wild Fox Ridge, and there is no way to retreat. Then go north over the Wild Fox Ridge, haha, it's all the vast and wild slave tribes. A dignified king of Anxi can mix to such a point, and he really has a good means. ”

Ma Guangchun said: "Looking at everything from both sides, although Sun Chuanting's behavior is bad, but Shang Ming's strength and weakness, when he wandered in Guangling County and saw that he had the intention of consolidating himself in place and waiting for backup, he might not have entered Xuanfu, if he hadn't been earned by Tang Tong for the reason of recuperation, he would not have ended up like this." ”

Zhou Yuji raised his head and said: "That is also the result of his pride and complacency, and his stupid tricks." If he was honest and moved again when the army from Shaanxi, Shaanxi and other places arrived, how could he cause such a mess now. Just because he entered the Xuanfu and took a wrong step, the Tartars effortlessly broke my generals and destroyed nearly 20,000 of my soldiers. The trade-off of one or the other's strengths is really related to the pain and itch of the overall situation. ”

Han Gon said with a red eye: "It's useless to fight for these again, the current situation is clear, Chief Hou has died, Chaigou Fort has been lost, and I'm afraid that the Tartars are about to turn the spearhead and run towards Datong." From Xuanfu to Datong, the road of Zhenwei is a shortcut, and it is too dangerous for our army to continue to stay, so we have to withdraw as soon as possible. ”

Ma Guangchun nodded and said: "Yes, there are many people in Xuanfu, and it is useless for our army to defend the lonely city, for today's plan, it is better to withdraw to Datong Mansion, join hands with Jiang Jiu to hold the city, and wait for the arrival of the main force of our army in Shanxi." ”

Han Gon said: "Our army retreats, and we can't just retreat. The army of tens of thousands of Tartars consumed a huge amount, and the walls were as strong as possible along the way, which was beneficial to holding Datong. "Immediately, "When the day dawns, Yang will lead his troops to Xinpingbao, Yongjiabao and other places in the northeast to harvest spring wheat, and our army can stay here for a day or two more, taking into account the movement of Xuanfu Tartars." ”

Ma Guangchun said: "Okay, you can also greet Jiang Jiu in advance and let him get up." ”

Zhou Yuji said angrily: "Tartar, good Tartar, shoot me with an arrow, come again, my old Zhou will take revenge!" ”

The officers dispersed one after another, Han Gon and Yang Zhaofeng walked behind, Yang Zhaofeng said: "Big brother, don't worry, I can return safely from that trip to Xujiazhuang Fort, it seems that God protects me, and this trip will be fine." ”

Han Gon advised: "If you see the Tartar army, don't entangle, just evacuate quickly." ”

Yang Zhaofeng smiled heartily and said, "Big brother, don't worry." ”

In the early morning, after the rain, the sky was clear, and it was not yet noon, and the sun was scorching.

"The rain has finally stopped."

Han Gon held his forehead with his hand, looked at the seemingly hot sun, and looked outside the city. Outside the city, countless shirtless soldiers were in full swing to dismantle and chisel the sheep and horse walls, sluice gates, etc., and the pits that the Qing army had not had time to fill in before the siege of the city were also filled.

As he was walking at the head of the city, a horse galloped up to see Han Gon, and Han Gon saw that it was Hu Keshou, who was in charge of the sentry outside the city, so he asked directly: "Where is the situation?" ”

Hu Keshou dismounted and said: "Jiang Hao sent someone here, saying that he was rushing to build the city. ”

"Building a city?"

"Yes, he gathered tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians to build a walled city in the flint stone ridge north of Lulu Mountain."

Han Gon thought for a while and said, "Jiang Hao is still a bit of a brain, and he rushed to build a walled city there, which is very beneficial to the defense of Datong Mansion. "From Zhenwei to the west of Datong Mansion, to go to the Fucheng, you must pass through the north passage of Lulu Mountain. The terrain of Datong Mansion City is flat, and there is no danger to defend, but if the city wall is erected in the flint ridge in the north of the mountain, it can be held according to the danger of the mountain.

Not long after Hu Keshou left, there was a Tang Ma in the northeast, Han Gon asked Yang Zhaofeng about the situation of leading the troops to mow wheat, and the Tang soldiers replied: "Yang has not many soldiers, but he called on the army and the people to work together to seize the harvest, and it is going smoothly." In order to speed up the transfer of wheat, Yang joined the army to make the people transport wheat, promising to transport wheat to Datong Fucheng, and everyone could get a reward of silver. In this way, the wheat can be transported at the same time as the wheat mowing, and the people can also be encouraged to move by the way, killing two birds with one stone. ”

Han Gon sighed secretly: "Fengzi is brave and strategic, and this ability to adapt to changes is far above me. Previously, he was worried that Yang Zhaofeng was short of manpower, and it was difficult to arrange the transportation of wheat and wheat, so he was hesitating to draw some manpower from the soldiers who were repairing inside and outside the city, but Yang Zhaofeng only saved thousands of troops with the idea he came up with on a temporary basis.

"How long does Yang think it will take to clean up the wheat fields in the northeast?"

"About three days."

"Three days ......," Han Gon swallowed. Don't ask for a longer but fight for three days, as long as the Ming army is given three days, the northeast of the Mai relocation of the people, the town of the guards to demolish the city wall, the southwest to build a walled city can be more or less progressive, for the defense of Datong Mansion to lay the foundation. The only variable is the Qing army in Xuanfu.