On June 10, the 14th year of Chongzhen, early in the morning.

Several cannon shots resounded throughout the four fields, and a thunderous roar sounded outside Ningyuan City, accompanied by the morning glow revealing a brilliant dawn in the sky, and countless military flags fluttering in the morning breeze.

The army began to slowly set off from Ningyuan, moving slowly in the direction of Jinzhou along the main road between Songshan, Xingshan, Tashan, and Gaoqiao.

Looking northeast from the air, from the Pingchuan under the mountains on the west side of the road between Ningyuan and Jinzhou, to the west bank of the Xiaoling River, on the vast and desolate land, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty wearing red fat jackets filled the land like a huge crowd.

From Jinzhou to Shanhaiguan through Ningyuan, the reason why this area is called the throat and the key to Liaodong is because of the terrain. To the west is the endless mountains, behind which is the wasteland desert, while to the east is the vast Bohai Sea, with only a narrow passage in the middle for the passage of the brigade. Whether it is the attacking side or the defending side, if there is a sailor to cooperate, it is enough to make the enemy army die without a place to bury.

After the defeat of the first Zhifeng War, the famous warlord Zhang and his son retreated to the northeast through Shanhaiguan and Qinhuangdao, and were bombarded with naval artillery fire by the Bohai Fleet, which was directly affiliated with the navy, so that the Feng army did not dare to pass through the city during the day and did not dare to light the lamps at night.

The topography of this area is roughly high in the northwest and low in the southeast, and the dry rivers flow vertically and horizontally along the northwest highlands and join the Xiaoling River in the east. These rivers form a flat land with convenient irrigation.

Today, the rivers are affected by years of drought. Most of them had dried up and turned into natural ravines that hindered the advance of the army.

Bai Guangen, the chief soldier of Jizhen, Tang Tong, the chief soldier of Miyun, and Cao Bianjiao, the chief soldier of the Oriental Association, the soldiers and horses of the three general soldiers were led by Liu Zhaoji, the general soldier of Liaodong, and they came in the direction of Songshan.

Ning Yuan is more than a hundred miles from Songshan Fort, if there is no enemy situation or if he is in a hurry, the cavalry can arrive in one day, but God knows from which hill those white armor soldiers, infantry armor, and horse armor of Jiannu will suddenly rush down? Therefore, the marching posture of the large army walking in the direction of Matsuyama was very cautious.

The striker of Liu Zhaoji, the general soldier of Liaodong. The distance from Bai Guangen, the general soldier of Jizhen. The distance is less than forty miles. And Bai Guangen's soldiers and horses were less than thirty miles away from Tang Tong and Cao Bianjiao's Chinese army brigade.

Between several large marching sequences, there are brigades of cavalry under the command of the general soldiers to roam back and forth, acting as rangers, and can scout the enemy situation as scouts. Secondly. Communication between the various ministries is continuous. In the event of an enemy, they can meet in one or two days. In the event of a strong enemy, the striker and the strategy are the troops. It can also buy a day for the main force.

Behind the brigade of these four general soldiers, more soldiers and horses came overwhelmingly.

"Donkey Ball!" "Immortal Plank!" "The ball is grabbed!"

Soldiers from all over the country marched north against the sun in the dust, using a variety of accents to weave swear words with strong local characteristics and the dust overhead.

Behind the brigades of soldiers in various armies and towns were the accompanying large and small baggage, all kinds of defensive offensive and defensive equipment, sub-medicines, lead bullets, arrows, military uniforms, etc., which were loaded on various vehicles and pushed and dragged by the auxiliaries.

Behind the large army, there are countless people. With all kinds of donkey carts, horse-drawn carts, mule carts, wheelbarrows known as chicken carts, and even camels common in this area of western Liaoning, for the army to transport grain, grass, salt, firewood, charcoal, stoves and other things, dense vehicles and mules and horses cover the road tightly, winding and endless at a glance.

Although the army acted rigorously, the leading generals were still very cautious. From time to time, ranger horses can be seen galloping past on the road, reporting the slightest suspicion ahead to the commanders. And those town flags wearing bright helmets, wearing green cotton cloth waist-length armor, hanging tokens on their waists, and holding order flags are even more anxious to report the enemy situation in front of them to Supervisor Hong Chengchou, who is dozens of miles away.

"The former soldiers and horses have passed Tower Hill Fort!"

"The soldiers and horses of the former army have crossed Gaoqiao Fort!"

"The soldiers and horses of the former army have arrived at Xingshan Fort!"

Every time they arrive at a castle, the Ming army will divide a group of men and horses to enter the city to take over the defense and enrich the garrison in the castle, and at the same time, a large amount of grain and grass materials will also be transported into these castles.

Advancing step by step, step by step, this is Hong Chengchou's tactical thinking, and he will definitely not take the enemy lightly.

Gaoqiao to Xingshan is only more than 20 miles, a high bridge, more than Pingchuan River in the four fields. At this time, it was already afternoon, and the heat wave was blowing, and there were large tracts of abandoned land everywhere, and everywhere was bare, and it was almost impossible to see green no matter up or down the mountain.

Under the long-term drought, the big rivers that used to be rolling waves are now not even small ditches, and the land is dry and hard, which is convenient for the army to walk.

Zheng Yilin, the deputy general of the defenders of Xingshan Fort, saw that a large army was coming, and he had to lead the army to come out to greet him.

"How's the military situation up front?"

Although the weather was already a little hot, people were wearing armor, and everyone was already sweating. Hong Chengchou is no exception, but in order to maintain his demeanor and style, he is still dressed in a full crown robe and shoes.

"Master Governor! It is only twenty miles from Xingshan to Songshan, if the whole army goes lightly, it can be reached in only two hours, at this time, according to the forward army report, there are a large number of slaves and thieves besieging Songshan very urgently. There was no glimpse at night, the slaves and thieves had a large group of men and horses set up in ambush at the eastern foot of Jinzhou Nanshan, and there were fine horsemen ambushed in the north ridge of Songshan, luring me to fight, and the thieves camped densely in the loess ridge in the northeast of Songshan, dug deep trenches, and cut off Wang Shi to go to the important place of Xiaoling River. The northwest of Xingshan is close to the daughter river in the Maojiagou mountain range, there is also stationed in the Dongyu army, the Rufeng mountain is densely packed with camps, Songshan goes to Jinzhou Avenue, the slave cavalry is full, and the situation is very rampant. ”

On Changling Mountain, northwest of Xingshan Fort, Hong Chengchou ordered Zheng Yilin to tell him about the enemy situation in front of him, and while listening to Zheng Yilin's introduction, he used a hand-held monocular to look at Songshan Fort and other places more than ten miles away.

At the foot of Changling Mountain, there is the main road between Songshan Mountain and Xingshan Mountain. The mountain is not high, the mountain is gentle, there are no trees on the mountain, but it is full of wild grass, and among the wild grass, there is an abandoned fire road pier on the top of the mountain.

"Place the generals of Pingliao here!" After a bit of terrain, Inspector Hong made a decisive decision. Who are the generals of Pingliao, Zheng Yilin has also heard of it, and the army has attacked in the direction of Jinzhou through Guò Xingshan several times, and these 32-pounder cannons were given by the emperor as Pingliao, Dingliao, Zhenliao, and Anliao. They are all cherished by Governor Hong and used with the pro-army.

Under the command of an officer of the artillery battalion. The soldiers and civilians began to cut down trees, cut down the weeds, level out the field, and fill the straw bags with dirt. Makeshift forts were erected.

With these four cannons, they are guarding in Changling Mountain. His own Xingshan Fort undoubtedly has an extra barrier. For these cannons, the important position in the heart of Inspector Hong. The generals are well aware. Even if it is exchanged for a thousand elite cavalry, the superintendent will never change it. Seeing those people busy and nervous, Zheng Yilin was very happy in his heart.

Several times the army went to Jinzhou. When encountering the bones, they all relied on these cannons to open a road.

With these cannons here, the overseer will definitely arrange troops at the foot of the mountain to defend it, otherwise, the cavalry of the slaves and thieves will rush up from the northeast very lightly.

And he also has such thoughts, not only he, Zheng Yilin, is just a deputy general.

The many generals who accompanied Inspector Hong to arrange the fort in Changling Mountain, Yang Guozhu, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, Wang Pu, the chief soldier of Datong, Bai Guangen, the chief soldier of Jizhen, Liu Zhaoji, the chief soldier of Liaodong, Zuo Guangxian, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, Ma Ke, the chief soldier of the East Association, Cao Bianjiao, the chief soldier of the Qiantun Guard, Tang Tong, the chief soldier of Miyun, and others, did not think so?

This place is only a few miles away from Songshan, with the range of artillery, their own army happens to be within the range of artillery to fight the slaves, once something happens, turn back, the army will rely on this Changling Mountain Fort to deal with the slaves.

Standing on the top of the mountain and looking out, the land is vast and vast, and the hills of Pingchuan are undulating. As far as the eye can see, Xingshan Fort is in the hilly plain to the south, and countless soldiers and civilians are busy carrying supplies to the city. On the plain, the sound of trumpets continued, and the armies and towns began to camp around Xingshan Fort. About five miles east from Changling Mountain, several hills after Pingchuan blocked everyone's sight, and beyond these hills to the east is the sea, at this time, the sailor fleet dispatched from Ningyuan is nervously transporting grain and forage and other bulk materials to Bijia Mountain in the sea, where they are temporarily stored and then transferred to Xingshan and other places.

At that moment, the Hong Inspector Division issued a military order, and the Changling Mountain Fort was handed over to the department of Dou Chenglie, a meritorious general who cooperated with the General Patrol, to defend it, and another 1,000 cavalry maneuvers behind the mountain. "This inspector has written two inscriptions, one is for you to be promoted to deputy general, and the other is to impeach you for cowardly the enemy, fearing the enemy like a tiger, and delaying the fighter, please behead you with the sword above!"

Zheng Yilin, the deputy general of Xingshan Road, led more than a dozen guerrilla generals and other seniors, commanding more than 20,000 defenders in Liaodong, stationed in the inner and outer periphery of Xingshan Fort, Daxing Fort, and Dongqing Fort, and together with Changlingshan Fort, to guard the back road for the reinforcement army.

Their names also have two books.

Like those soldiers, moving forward is to be promoted and rich, and retreating is to kill and rob the family.

Hong Chengchou's nickname is Hong Maniac, and he has killed thousands of people. What's more, at this time, the bullshit model brigade beside him, who has no friendship with anyone, is a sharp sword in his hand.

All the general soldiers were worried in their hearts, and some people peeked at the black and short Guangdong barbarian, Wu Biao, who was wearing the armor of a deputy general, and he couldn't see a trace of expression on his face, so he just looked in the direction of Songshan.

Under Songshan Castle, there was a burst of banners and horns, and there seemed to be signs of a large group of people and horses.

Because standing on the top of the mountain, you can see the pine mountain in the north and the apricot mountain in the south. To the south is a sea of red, which is composed of more than 100,000 soldiers of the Ming army wearing red armor and waving red flags, when marching along the undulating road, under the strong sunlight at noon, the armor shines with a dazzling light, and from a distance it is a red ocean undulating in the waves.

To the north, there are dense Qing army flags, colorful eight-color military flags, equally strong military appearance, and strong camps.

In front of the camp, thousands of Jiannu soldiers dressed in cotton armor, wearing iron helmets on their heads, and holding firecrackers in their hands, let out bursts of dense firecrackers, and under the sweeping of the projectiles, the Ming army was caught off guard, and the Shanxi general Li Fuming's troops, who were the first to try to open up the connection with Songshan Fort, were defeated and retreated.

Fortunately, the cavalry of Wu Sangui, the chief soldier of Ningyuan's regiment, came out from the side and rushed to kill after a while. Knock back the group of Jiannu soldiers.

The Jiannu soldiers were also quite methodical, and seeing that they couldn't get anything cheap in front of Wu Sangui's cavalry, they tightened the formation slightly, and pointed at the cavalry under Wu Sangui with more than a thousand firearms. The two armies maintained a distance of more than 100 paces, and neither dared to move forward slightly.

"My lord! The last general will insult the military prestige, please punish the overseer! ”

The helmet was hit by a projectile, and the big red helmet tassel on it was knocked to Li Fuming, who was out of nowhere, his face was black and white, and he knelt down in front of Hong Chengchou with a pop.

"What is General Lee's crime? We've all seen the situation. Today the army has just arrived. The general swung his troops straight in. was spied on by the thieves for a while, and was poisoned by them, this is nothing. Whose subordinate is it among the slaves and thieves? ”

"Back to the words of the Governor, judging from the banner. It was commanded by Kong Youde, a rebel thief in the past. But they are all slaves and thieves and are under the banner of red flags. It is not the white soap flag of the past (the white flag is inlaid with black edges), according to the confession of the captured slave thief, the current Confucian thief and the rebellious thief of the day Shang Kexi, Geng Jingzhong and other generations. They are all the solid mountains of the Eight Banners of the Slaves and Thieves and the Han Army Banner. This fang is specially designed for the slave chief Huang Taiji to perform a firearms battalion! The firearms used by their generation are the same as ours! ”

"Back to camp!"

It was inconvenient for Hong Chengchou to say much here, so he whispered, and then rushed down Changling Mountain to the camp surrounded by many guards.

At this time, outside Songshan Fort, it became a huge typhoon eye. The eye of the typhoon is Matsuyama Fort.

Outside the fort, the Loess Ridge ten miles east of Songshan Fort, as well as the Songshan Mountains a few miles away in the southeast, have long been occupied by the Qing army, they have built layers of barracks and fortifications and trenches in deep ditches and high bases, and each camp supports each other conveniently and quickly.

Since the old slaves, the Eight Banners Army marched and hunted, erected fences in winter and dug trenches in summer, and it can be said that they have great experience in digging trenches. In this battle of Jinzhou, their trench digging talents were brought into full play. Their trenches had piles on them, ropes on the piles, bells on the ropes, dogs on the bells, and the lines of defense were very tight.

The Ming army is also a deep ditch and high fortress, relying on Songshan Fort to complete a three-sided encirclement of Songshan Fort in the northeast and west, the main force is deployed between Songshan Fort and Rufeng Mountain, and the main combat direction is aimed at the Qing army's Rufeng Mountain position.

In view of this, in line with the principle of encircling three and missing one, and better accomplishing the purpose of luring it in, the Qing army began to slowly remove the siege of Songshan Fort and gave Songshan Fort to the Ming army.

The south gate of Songshan was opened, and the city of Songshan was guarded by civil and military, Songshan deputy general Xia Chengde, Songshan tour camp general Liu Zhengjie, and Songshan general Fan Chenggong. The city garrison is still good, and the city guards are in camp to guerrilla Ge Chaozhong and others have gone out of the city to greet them, and ask the Governor to enter the city and station.

In the military garrison that temporarily served as a line, Hong Chengchou convened the generals to discuss the matter.

What he did was nothing else, it was the current military situation, and which battalion was the first enemy, and which battalion was the second enemy.

"At present, Jinzhou is besieged by the slave thief Huang Taiji, and his chief Jierharang has set up eight camps around the city and dug three long trenches. The main guards of the soldiers and horses are the two red flags of slaves and thieves, and some armor soldiers of the remaining flags. There were about 15,000 bannermen, nearly 12,000 armored soldiers, and 20,000 auxiliaries. Although General Zu Dashou claimed to have 20,000 soldiers in the city, most of them were the original defenders of the forts. General Zu only has thousands of men and horses in his headquarters, so the slaves and thieves are besieged with 15,000 banners and 20,000 auxiliary soldiers. ”

"Now the Rufeng Mountain opposite our army, the Loess Ridge to the east of Songshan Fort, the Songshan Mountain in the southeast, as well as Shimen Mountain, Shijialing, Bauhinia Mountain, Mopan Mountain, Jinchang Fort, Shahe Fort, and Dasheng Fort, are all owned by the Jiannu Eight Banners. According to the night inspection, the main number has been found to have eight banners of Manchuria Zhenghuang Flag, inlaid yellow flag, Zhengbai flag, inlaid white flag, inlaid blue flag, inlaid blue flag and a piece of soldiers and horses, and there are eight banners of Mongolia, and most of the Eight Banners of the Han army. The outer Mongolian, the Goryeo Army, has a total of 70,000 bannermen, more than 50,000 internal soldiers, and 50,000 miscellaneous soldiers, ready to confront our army head-on. ”

Hearing the arrangement of the Jiannu on the periphery of Jinzhou by the prison army Zhang Ruoqi, the generals present couldn't help but gasp one by one.

It's not going to be easy to fight this time. In the battle of Jinzhou, the Qing country poured into the country, and all the elites were dispatched, all of them were hard bones!

"Lose that mother! Lord Inspector, since the elite of the slave chiefs have all arrived on the front line of Jinzhou and Ningyuan, there are only some old and weak soldiers left in the country. The last general is not talented, but there is a plan to offer. The last general dares to guarantee with his head, if this plan is used, the army of Huang Taiji, the chief of the disciplined Nanu, will be in turmoil! ”

Seeing everyone's panicked expressions, Wu Biao, the commander of the Model Brigade who had just arrived, couldn't hold back.

"General Wu from south to north, from east to west, footprints all over my Ming Dynasty, there must be insightful opinions, you might as well say it, I will listen to it."

Wu Biao's idea is actually very simple. In terms of the familiar passage, it is Deng Ai's plan to smuggle into Shu and escape into Yinping. But. Li Huayu, the eldest son of the Southern Yue Army, once used it once for the Shimazu family in Kagoshima, Kyushu. Wu Biao planned to take the medicine according to the prescription, give Huang Taiji a pair, and discipline him with this medicine, but he must be vomiting and diarrhea.

"Master Overseer. The last general is willing to lead the men and horses of the headquarters. Board the boat at Beacon Hill. Travel to Liaodong. As long as our army goes to Shenyang City after landing, the hearts of the slave and thief army will inevitably be in turmoil. At that time, the Overseer took advantage of the situation and stormed. The ancestor of Jinzhou City waved his army to kill, and the last general went out of Shenyang to the west to copy it, why not worry about Liaodong in a war? ”

"Ridiculous!"

"Risk!"

"No way!"

Without waiting for Supervisor Hong Chengchou to make a comment, in the hall, the leaders and adults had already made a noisy discussion, expressing their opposition to Wu Biao's plan.

However, Wu Sangui's eyes flashed with a strange light, and he immediately lowered his head and thought about something.

"General Wu's method is a miracle plan. However, "Zhang Ruoqi, the superintendent, also opened his mouth slowly, "The official thinks that although this plan is good, it cannot be implemented." There are three reasons: First, General Wu's headquarters has nearly 7,000 people, and counting the weight of mules, horses, and vehicles, it takes at least more than 100 large and small sea ships to complete the transportation. If it is withdrawn, then more than 100,000 soldiers and horses here and more than 200,000 people here will be in danger of running out of food. Second, when Huang Taiji learned that the lair had been attacked, he was bound to lead the army and horses to the north day and night to rescue, and at the speed of the Jiannu cavalry, he was afraid that it would be imminent. At that time, General Wu had a strong city in front of him and a chasing army behind him, and he was in danger! Third, although General Wu fought a series of battles with Jiannu in Shandong, the two red flags and two white flags were fought, and the two yellow flags led by the slave chief Hongtai personally never fought each other, and his troops were far more fierce than the rest of the flags. For the sake of safety, the general should stay in Songshan and break the thieves with the army! ”

"What the overseer said makes sense, war! It still relies on the battlefield to face the thief head-on, with a knife and a shot! That kind of opportunistic means, it's better not to! ”

Bai Guangen, the chief soldier of Jizhen who was sitting opposite Wu Biao, said with a mocking tone, and he had already looked awkward at the Guangdong barbarian opposite. Not to mention that the entire model brigade is coaxed by cowhides, even the eunuchs in charge of grain are also different from them, others go to receive grain and grass, and they have to be folded and deducted, and the eunuchs are all nostrils facing the sky. When only the quartermasters of the model brigade went to receive grain and grass, although the eunuchs also had to get a discount of one or two, they were accompanied by a smile and nodded all the way.

What is even more infuriating is that those merchants in Jiangnan, Fujian, Guangdong, and Nanzhong who do business with the army are all bought and sold with one hand and delivery with the other, and only the group of thieves and birds in the Model Brigade can pay on credit. In this regard, the officers and generals of the towns have long been dissatisfied and scolded.

Regarding this little bit of caution between his subordinates, Hong Chengchou, as the commander of the army, naturally knows it, and he is also happy to see it. His subordinates are all monolithic, how can he, the commander of the master, control it?

However, he was able to deduce some of the delicate relationship between the Model Brigade and the celebrant and the inner court, and even the emperor, through the private letters.

The emperor and the great eunuchs of the inner court planned to reorganize the Beijing army in Beijing and train internal exercises. Therefore, he did everything possible to dig out Wu Biao's troops from the hands of the Nanyue Army. Because the emperor and the chief eunuchs of the celebrant attached great importance to cherishing this army that fought from north to south and from south to north, which made those eunuchs so respectful.

Hong Chengchou was about to speak, but unexpectedly, there was a faint sound of dense guns and artillery from outside the city, followed by an uproar.

"What's the alarm?" He was a little resentful.

"Lord Hui, the two cavalry of General Bai, the chief soldier of Jizhen Town, and the general soldier and horse of Shanhai Town, a total of more than 1,000 people, were attacked by the slave rebels yesterday when they went to the sentry of the Jiannu camp in Rufeng Mountain, and suffered heavy losses!"

It's Kong Youde again, the dog thief! For two days in a row, three general soldiers suffered losses under him! That is to say, Wu Sangui is slightly better, the capital in his hands is thick, and the loss of soldiers and horses is nothing, but for guys like Ma Ke and Bai Guangen, who are used to drinking soldier blood and eating empty quotas, it is the loss of their own belongings!

There are more than 1,000 cavalry, and each of the two families has five or six hundred people, and most of these cavalry are the families of two people, if they are all lost, there is no need to mix. Inspector Hong will ask the Son of Heaven sword to behead himself at any time in the name of unfavorable combat! Then the rank of the general soldier was assigned to the close generals.

Save! There must be a rescue!

However, he knows his own strength, if he wants to go to his own house, he is afraid that he will sacrifice himself to feed the tiger and put out the fire with salary.

This kind of dangerous thing, thankless thing, has to be left to others!

Wu Biao clearly felt that the eyes of everyone present glanced at his face.

For two consecutive days, two small-scale contacts, the Ming army suffered a small loss in front of Kong Youde's firecrackers, although the loss of men and horses was not a big deal in the eyes of the Ming army with more than 100,000 troops, but the successive setbacks were a huge blow to the morale and morale of the army.

Isn't your exemplary brigade also known for its use of firearms? Now the slave thief on the other side also uses firearms, since you are good at using firearms, if you don't go to meet him, how long will you stay?

"These traitors have also learned to use firearms!" Facing everyone's eyes, Wu Biao unceremoniously evaluated Kong Youde's tactics.

"I think it was after being beaten to the head and bleeding by our army several times, I learned from the pain, trained the firecrackers, and used the fur of our army's tactics to show off here! Hum! Dong Shi imitates, Handan toddler! ”

These words with guns and sticks seemed to scold Kong Youde, but every sentence hit the sore spot of the officials and generals present, and Ma Ke, who had just made a remark to ridicule Wu Biao's ridiculous tactics of sneaking attack on Shenyang, was the first to jump.

"The surname is Wu! What did you say! ”

"That's it! The earth-shattering sound of the cowhide blowing, is it a mule or a horse, is there an egg, go up and try it yourself! ”

"Yes, although we lost the battle, we were also defeated on the battlefield, and we are not good men if we brag in front of the superintendent!"

For a time, Wu Biao became the object of siege by the leaders of the Guanning Army, the Mountain Navy, and the Xuanda Army.

"Master Overseer! The last general is willing to fight with his subordinates and fight against the traitor Kong Youde! ”

"Brother Zong! Sangui is not talented, and he is willing to use the soldiers and horses of the department as a model brigade to stand and cheer! ”

Wu Sangui also stood up and asked Hong Chengchou for his life: "Master Inspector! The last general is willing to accompany General Wu to fight Kong Youde! ”

Seeing the two generals in front of him take the initiative to ask for battle, the hall immediately became silent, and in an instant, it immediately boiled again.

"The last general is willing to accompany General Wu to fight against Kong Youde!"

"The last will go!"

These people suddenly remembered that this Wu Biao was also a character who had worked hard with Dolgon, and it should be easy to deal with just one Kong Youde.

"It's good! There are two generals Wu leading the army to fight! (To be continued......)