Chapter 212: Joining the Beijing Division
"Retreat, retreat!"
Seeing that 60 small black dots were roaring through the sky, Abatai, who was pale, hissed and roared. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
The Qing army's front was already in chaos, and after listening to the order of the deputy commander, in case of amnesty, it stepped up the speed of retreat.
"Boom, boom, boom。。。。。。"
More than 30 earth-shaking thunderbolts exploded in front of the Qing army's formation, but with the emergency retreat of the Qing army, the damage caused by the explosion of these earth-shaking thunderbolts was much smaller. In total, less than 100 Qing soldiers were killed and more than 200 wounded.
The Qing army, which retreated in a turbulent retreat, retreated until it was two miles away from the Tangquan River, and only then did it stop the confusion and re-array.
Abatai then ordered a small group of Qing soldiers to escort the people to drag the dead and wounded Qing soldiers back into the formation.
Seeing the corpses of the Qing soldiers who were brought back, and hearing the heart-rending screams of those wounded soldiers, Abatai was worried and angry, and his brows were furrowed.
Subsequently, the Qing soldiers who were slightly injured were arranged by the military medical officer for treatment, and those Qing soldiers who were seriously injured and difficult to treat were given a knife by their teammates, and then cut off their braids and brought them back to their hometowns like those Qing soldiers who died.
The corpses of 1,300 Qing soldiers were gathered together and cremated.
The reason why these corpses were not buried on the spot was that the Qing army was afraid that after they retreated, the Ming army would dig up the corpses like hyenas, cut off the heads, and take them to repay the merits.
It seems that it was not until he saw the raging fire of the cremated corpse that the commander of the Qing army, Azig, woke up from his full shock.
"it! Ming Gouzi's earth-shattering thunder, when, when did it become so powerful, how could this be。。。。。。 Azig, with a dull face, his lips trembling, muttered to himself.
Azig is an old Qing army general, he has fought with the Ming army many times, clearly remember, those Ming army's earth-shaking thunder, one by one only fifteen or sixteen pounds, once exploded, it can only be broken into two or three pieces, in addition to the louder, a sky-shaking thunder can only kill or injure three or four enemy soldiers at most, want to blow up the other party, it is basically impossible.
Why is the earth-shattering thunder of the Ming army so powerful now?
At this time, the panting Abatai leaned over, and he whispered to Azig: "Azig, it seems that these Ming troops defending the city have improved the earth-shaking thunders, each of them weighs almost seventy or eighty pounds, and the explosion power is more than ten times that of the sky-shaking thunder used by the Ming army in the past!" He has a trebuchet that can be attacked even from a distance. It's a pity that our army underestimated the enemy for a while, but it fell for this trick. ”
Listening to Abatai's lamenting words, Azig, as the commander, was inexplicably irritable in his heart, and even mixed with a trace of shame.
Although Abatai's official titles are lower than his own, this brother, who is sixteen years older than himself, is still unattainable in his cautious attitude and battlefield adaptability.
This sudden long-range attack by the Ming army caused its own invincible army to suffer such serious losses, and the Ming army that launched the attack was unscathed. This near-humiliating encounter has never been encountered since entering the customs.
There is no doubt that this long-range attack by the Ming army will seriously damage the morale of the army under its command, and its own prestige will also be greatly damaged.
Thinking of this, Azig's face trembled, and he quickly regained his hideous color.
Li Xiao, who entered the dog, I Azig swear to avenge this!
Seeing that Azig was angry, as if he wanted to order the whole army to cross the river and attack immediately, Abatai hurriedly stopped him.
"Azig, don't be impulsive! The Ming army has such a powerful earth-shattering thunder, if our army wants to attack, the losses will be considerable. Besides, in order to move forward quickly, our army did not carry any large-scale siege equipment, how could we break such a majestic city in front of us! ”
Abatai's words made Azig calm down instantly.
Yes, without large siege equipment such as siege ladders and giant wooden crashes, how can we break through this steep city with high walls. And if the whole army were to be submerged here and temporarily make siege equipment to attack the city, the original plan for marching and joining forces would be completely disrupted.
After all, the plan of the three-way Qing army to join Yanqing Prefecture was to be achieved in early July, and if they had moved to Jintang City for too long and could not overcome it for a long time, the 25,000 men of the Yanguli tribe who had been waiting in Yanqing Prefecture might be in danger of being wiped out by the Ming army.
Azig gritted his teeth loudly, and he was extremely angry, and subconsciously wanted to bite that hateful Li Xiao into pieces and swallow it into his stomach.
"Abatai, in your opinion, our army should be like this now?" Azig sighed softly and spat out the words.
Abatai hurriedly said: "Azig, if you want to destroy this hateful Li Xiao, there will definitely be a chance in the future, but you can't rush this time, so that our army's entire plan will be chaotic!" In my opinion, it is important for our army to quickly bypass this place, return to the east bank of Dushishui, and then go all the way south to Yanqing Prefecture, join up with the Yanguli Department that entered the pass from Xifengkou, and then divide the troops to attack the prefectures and counties in the land of Gyeonggi of the Ming Kingdom. ”
Azig frowned, but asked in a deep voice: "If our army goes straight south like this, what will happen to Li Xiao in the city after he sends troops and horses to cover our army?" ”
Abatai was stunned for a moment, and then said, "In my opinion, Azig, you are too worried about this. Although this Li Xiao is hateful, he does not have too many soldiers and horses, and it is not easy to go out of the city to cover and kill the rear of our army. Otherwise, when our army branch entered the customs, this person would have already sent troops to attack, so why should he keep shrinking in the city. ”
Seeing that Azig was silent, Abatai paused, and said: "I'm thinking, this Li Xiaobu, the most powerful reliance, is this earth-shattering thunder and trebuchet, but the combat power of the rest of the army is afraid that it is far inferior to my long-term battle-hardened army in the Qing Dynasty." If he wanted to go out of the city to pursue our army, these trebuchets and earth-shaking thunderbolts would be too cumbersome and inconvenient to carry, and they would be difficult to use. Therefore, in my opinion, Li Xiao has more than enough to defend the city, and it is difficult to go out of the city to pursue and attack our army. Besides, even if he really dares to come out, with the strong field strength of our army, it is just right to give him a counter-encirclement, so that Yixue will be attacked today! ”
Azig listened to Abatai's words, his face softened slightly, but his eyes were firmly fixed on the Jintang City on the other side of the Tangquan River, and for a long time, he gritted his teeth and shouted: "Okay! In your opinion, this revenge will be avenged in the future! The officers and men of the whole army retreated to the east bank of the monolithic water, and then went straight south to Yanqing Prefecture! ”
。。。。。。
When he saw the Qing army on the other side of the river, when he suddenly retreated eastward like a tide, Li Xiao at the head of Jintang City had mixed feelings in his heart.
Originally, he thought that his attack would greatly anger the commander of the Qing army, Azig, and then he could rely on the strong city defense measures of Jintang City to defeat the Qing army under the city. Unexpectedly, the Qing army, which was seven times its own number, chose to retreat after the initial setback.
This was a big surprise to Li Xiao.
It seems that the Qing army that entered the customs was not only strong and capable of fighting, but also very sober-minded, and would not ignore the overall situation for the sake of temporary losses. Li Xiao's idea of luring them to attack has since come to naught.
"General Li, the Qing army is far away, can our army send troops to pursue?" Duan Shidi, the commander of the Golden Wolf Battalion on the side, asked softly.
Li Xiao shook his head.
"Our army is still small, and it is still necessary to ensure the safety of Jintang City itself. And first send the Flying Harrier to follow the sentinel from afar to find out the whereabouts of the Qing army, and then decide the next move of our army. Now, the garrison of our army is not to be moved. ”
Duan Shidi took the order and left, and soon, about 30 or so rode flying harriers, beat horses out of the city, scattered with each other, and followed the Qing army from afar.
Looking at the flying harrier that gradually disappeared at the end of his vision, Li Xiao didn't have much happiness in his heart.
Because he knew that the enemy army was likely, as in history, from the Xuanfu North Road, straight to Yanqing Prefecture, to join the Qing army that entered the pass from Xifengkou, and then plundered the Gyeonggi lands until the city of Beijing was threatened.
If the Qing army has been dispatched en masse and does not divide too many troops, they will actually have no chance to attack at all.
This sense of powerlessness that could only sit back and watch the Qing army invade inland towns and slaughter the people made Li Xiao very helpless.
In this world, in the final analysis, strength is the real king.
After all, the anger of the weak is meaningless.
Tartar, let you be proud for a few days, and after my Li Xiao's strength is further strengthened, I will definitely ask you to return it a thousand times more.
Li Xiao swore secretly in his heart.
It's just that Li Xiao's triumphant song was played for the first time, and the court in the capital at this time was terrified.
Soon after the Qing soldiers entered the Kou, the Beijing division immediately imposed full martial law, Emperor Chongzhen urgently ordered, the minister Li Guofu guarded the Bauhinia Pass, Xu Jin Zhong guarded the Fallen Horse Pass, Zhang Yuanheng guarded the Longquan Pass, and Cui Liang used to defend the Pass. A few days later, he ordered Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, to inspect the border passes.
At the same time, the order of the imperial court military department was urgently distributed to various places, and the soldiers and horses such as Shanxi, Datong, Shandong, Beizhili and other places were ordered to enter the Beijing division of King Qin.
On the third day of the seventh month, Li Xiao's Chifengwei, where he was located, also received an urgent order from the Ministry of War. "Today, the thieves and slaves are reckless, invade the border, and specially serve the holy decree, and the generals of the Daoist Department of Lier are selected to come to the rescue, which is extremely urgent and must not be mistaken."
Unexpectedly, Tian Wei, the commander of the Chifeng Battalion stationed in Chifengwei, had just sent a message to Li Xiaofeige, who was far away in Jintang City, and only two days later, another edict from the Ministry of War was sent more severely and urgently.
"The military department Shangshu Zhang replied, consulted Chifeng's chief soldier Li Xiao, since the slaves and thieves entered the customs in three ways, the momentum is increasing, and the Beijing division is shocked three times a day, and the danger is obvious. Li Xiaoxing galloped into the capital, starting with the arrival of the article, and arrived in Beijing within ten days. ”
Seeing that the imperial court was so eager to issue orders to transfer troops, Tian Wei was shocked. Because Li Xiao was not there, he didn't dare to assert himself, so he had to release a number of carrier pigeons to report the news.
Of course, not only Li Xiao, but also the commanders of the military towns in various places have also received this powerful imperial decree.
As a result, since the sixth day of July, Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Shandong, the general soldier of Shanxi, Wang Pu, the chief soldier of Datong, Dong Yongwen, the chief soldier of Baoding, Zu Dashou, the chief soldier of the Liaodong Forward Battalion, Zu Dale, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, Li Chongzhen, the chief soldier of Jizhen, and Ma Rulong, the general soldier of Miyun, and other generals from all over the country, all led the army to help.
On the fifth day of the seventh month, Li Xiao was in Jintang City and also received an urgent report from Tian Wei.
This letter made Li Xiao's heart numb.
Because, Li Xiao knew that in real history, the Qing army only intimidated the Beijing Division, and did not take substantive siege actions. However, the imperial court responded in such a panic and sent elite troops from all over the country into Beijing, but it made the troops of the prefectures and counties near the capital very empty, so that Azig's 100,000 army was like a bamboo, and the counties and towns near Jinggi such as Dingxing, Fangshan, Zhuozhou, Gu'an, Wen'an, Baodi, Huairou, and Miyun were captured. A total of 12 cities were conquered, 56 battles were won, and 179,800 people and animals were obtained, and they returned triumphantly.
In fact, these soldiers and horses transferred from various places to the Beijing division were afraid of the Tartars like tigers, and seeing that the Tartars were powerful, they basically only dared to shrink into the capital, and never dared to take the initiative to help the prefectures, towns, counties, and places outside. Except for Wang Pu, the general soldier of Datong, who fought with the Qing army and won more than 100 heads, the rest basically did nothing. Until the Qing army left the customs, there was no army that dared to go out of the city to pursue, which really made people sigh.
According to Li Xiao's original idea, he wanted to wait for the Flying Harrier to find out the movement of the enemy's division of troops, and then divide a surprise soldier from Jintang City to follow the small Qing army after the sneak attack and division of troops.
This method of warfare is a bit like a brave and clever little beast, taking advantage of the unpreparedness of the behemoth beast, biting him fiercely, and immediately fleeing for the next sneak attack.
Li Xiao believed that in this case, when the Qing army withdrew from Guanwai, this piecemeal tactic should also cause considerable losses to the Qing army. If in these battles, the first rank and combat exploits obtained will naturally become the best basis for you to be promoted to the rank of lord again.
And now, the imperial court's edict has undoubtedly greatly disrupted Li Xiao's plan.
What to do?
Can you disobey your command?
Li Xiao, who was pacing back and forth in the room, was like a trapped beast.
Li Xiao pondered for two days, until he received another letter from Tian Wei Feige, another edict urging the imperial court to send troops, Li Xiao sighed, and finally decided to send troops to Gongwei.
Although the young Emperor Chongzhen in the capital was already quite suspicious of himself, to be honest, Chongzhen was still good to himself, dividing the land, adding officials to the knighthood, reducing taxes, giving hereditary commanders, and making the daughters of the clan marry him, all of which were worthy of Li Xiao.
Eat the king's lu, share the king's worries. At least for now, Li Xiao felt that it was better to obey the dispatch of the imperial court, after all, his strength was not strong enough to disobey the imperial court's orders and act willfully.
Next, Li Xiao began to formulate a plan to send reinforcements to Beijing.
Because he was not in Shandong, the soldiers and horses of the Tielong Battalion and the Chifeng Battalion, Li Xiao was inconvenient to mobilize, and it was too late to wait for the flying pigeons to send messages back and forth, and the only feasible way was to divide the troops from Jintang to Beijing.
Therefore, Li Xiao decided to take Duan Shidi, the commander of the Golden Wolf Battalion, with General B's soldiers and horses, as well as 400 Xuanhu Heavy Cavalry of the Golden Wolf Battalion, 400 Flying Harriers, and most of the auxiliary soldiers, to stay in Jintang City.
Then, tomorrow, he personally took the most elite armor of the Golden Wolf Battalion with 4,590 soldiers, 600 Xuanhu heavy cavalry, 600 flying harriers, 50 Lumi guns, 600 rampant sentry heavy infantry, and 600 auxiliaries.
In this way, the total strength of Li Xiao's reinforcement division this time is a little more than 7,000 people.
Li Xiao was a cautious person, and he asked these auxiliaries, in addition to using four-wheeled carriages to load grain, grass and weapons, with 40 trebuchets, more than 500 throwing earth-shaking thunderbolts and more than 3,000 individual sky-shaking thunderbolts, thinking that it was a foolproof strategy.
Although, in this way, it will seriously slow down the march, but Li Xiao knows that if he lacks even the ability to protect himself on this march, joining the Beijing division is just a false talk.
From Jintangcheng to Jingshi, the straight-line distance is 190 kilometers, and now because of the need to bring heavy equipment such as trebuchets, Li Xiao estimates that even if Xiaoxing stays overnight and urgently marches, it should be 30 kilometers a day. In this case, counting the delay on the road, it will take about eight days to reach Jingshi.
Speaking of which, Li Xiao received an edict from the imperial court on the fifth day of the seventh month, and according to the regulations, Li Xiao had to arrive on July 15. But as of today, it is the eighth day of the seventh month, and even if we start leaving tomorrow, we will not be able to reach the capital until July 17 or 18.
Although there was a slight delay compared with the date set by the imperial court, Li Xiao did not care.
Because, in the real history, although the imperial court issued an urgent order, the general generals in various places did not all arrive in Beijing on time because of the distance and the problems of avoiding the attack of the Qing army. Afterwards, although the court reprimanded, it did not punish it severely.
Unexpectedly, when Li Xiao conveyed this plan to everyone, what he didn't expect was that all the soldiers had no opinions, and the biggest and fiercest opinion was the Mongolian princess Ingmar.
Ingmar, who was practicing riding on the school field with a group of Mongolian cavalry, inadvertently heard Li Xiao's plan to join the Beijing division from the mouths of those soldiers of the Golden Wolf Battalion who were urgently preparing.
"Li Xiao, you bastard, you came to the aid of the capital, why don't you bring us!"
Ingmar, who strode into Li Xiao's bedroom, was furious, her willow eyebrows were upside down, and she pointed at the tip of Li Xiao's nose and scolded.
(Thank you for the tipping of the Shadow and Cold Wind brothers, thank you for your support) (To be continued.) )