Samsung went south. A bleak moonlight sprinkled from the sky to the earth, shining on the ruined city ruins, through the moonlight, you can roughly see the stone carvings on the ruined West Gate City Tower, the words "Xiping Fort Lingyuan Gate", this city with a length of about 300 steps on each side, is known as the most tragic Xiping Fort during the battle of Quang Ninh.

This fort is adjacent to the Sanchai River, which is the key point of water and land transportation.

Because of the Liao River, the Great Liao River and other 13 large, medium and small rivers flow into the sea in Liaodong Bay nearby, this area is dotted with large and small pits and ponds, ditches are vertical and horizontal, widely spread swamp depressions, and there are hundreds of thousands of miles of endless reeds that have been harvested for thousands of years.

The reeds that cover the sky are a paradise for animals, and countless lives come here to escape the war of humans dozens of miles away. With the movement of the large group of men and horses, those birds and unknown small beasts hiding in the reeds were alarmed, especially the river was full of fish, and the men and horses marched in the river, and from time to time there were silver carp and carp hitting the legs.

The sky gradually brightened, and although some of the family members were very hard and careful to lead the horses, hunched over, and carefully trekked through the river, there were still splashes from time to time, and the cold river water seeped into the iron mesh boots, soaking the inner sock lining, and a feeling of discomfort in the clothes and bathing welled up in Ma Ke's heart.

The cold water is splashing under the feet, and there are all kinds of mosquitoes on the face from time to time in clusters to pounce and bite, and the damp and stuffy heat in the reed field is precisely the paradise of these small insects. Seeing this group of foreign intruders intruding, they were immediately attracted by the smell of sweat and began to bite wildly.

The feet are soft and unstable, and sometimes you step on the sand. Sometimes they step on the mud again, and some damn fish come over in a daze. Occasionally, an unknown, ill-sighted creature rushed through the gap between people's legs and feet, startling people to cry out.

"Tell me not to speak! Whoever dares to make a sound, Lao Tzu will bury him here immediately! Marco commanded the families in front of and behind the queue with majesty. But in my heart, I was full of remorse, I knew that the situation here was like this, why did I rush to go to the rear of this Jiannu with the Guangdong barbarian to sentry into the military situation?

"Dashuai, the brothers in front have gone ashore with the people of the Model Brigade, and our brothers have come to pass the word, Wu Zongbing said. The brothers all went to Sipin Fort to be stationed. ”

I heard that I was about to get out of the reed beach. I can't help but lift everyone's spirits, and finally I don't have to be bitten by mosquitoes anymore! Someone cheered in a low voice, but was whipped twice by the leader of the family!

By no accident, everyone was in the section of the Sancha River near Xipingbao at this time. It was behind the side of the Jiannu. Near the road from Quang Ninh to Shenyang. It is exactly where the brigade of Tartars haunts. Most of those Jiannu sentinels are hunters in the white mountains and black waters, and they are also accustomed to lurking at night. In particular, they bring more hunting dogs, which is like a tiger with wings.

Those hunting dogs with the blood of Xing'an dogs have a keen sense of smell and sharp ears, and the sentinels and night guards of the Ming army have suffered this loss many times. They smelled the smell of the centaurs, and immediately barked wildly, and hordes of Tartar riders came after them.

At the foot of the foot, the team of people and horses walked from the reed beach to the hard ground one after another, and suddenly the feet were a lot easier, and the down-to-earth feeling made the speed of the march suddenly accelerated.

Several of the housekeepers of the palace continued to line up on both sides and at the tail, taking out some white and yellowish powder particles from the cloth bags they carried with them and scattering them on the ground. In order to deal with those damn hounds, he spent a lot of money to buy peppercorns and pepper from Nanzhong merchants, crushed them into minced pieces, and used these spicy and stimulating things to deal with the hounds' sense of smell.

The men and horses galloped quickly into the ruined walls of Xiping Fort, where Wu Biao had already ordered people to dig pots and stoves and began to boil water for cooking.

"General Wu, now we are in the rear of the Tartars, where are you?" Ma Ke couldn't care that both feet were wet and extremely uncomfortable, and his life was at stake, and he pointed to the flames happily licking the bottom of the pot under dozens of cauldrons, and he was a little shocked.

Once the fireworks attracted the attention of the Jiannu Ranger Sentinel, the more than 1,000 people would have to be fully explained.

"Ma Dashuai, don't be too cautious, we can't see fireworks from a distance!"

An officer of a model brigade from Sichuan was quite proud to show off to Ma Ke.

Wu Biao glanced at the officer, but he didn't say anything, just drank hot water and watched the Huotou army not far away nervously pack up the fish, shrimp and all kinds of prey caught along the way.

Ma Ke just sat next to Wu Biao, drinking the same boiling water in a big gulp, but a few generals followed his eyes and went to the Huotou Army to inquire about the secret of the stove.

This pot stove is actually very simple in the eyes of the group of experienced veterans under Ma Ke's generals, and when they hear the proud boasting and showing off of those fireheads, it is immediately clear.

"The site should be hidden and ventilated, and if it is not ventilated, there will be smoke everywhere. It is necessary to dig the main flue and the sub-flue. The main flue is one or two, the more divided flues, the longer and the more dispersed, the better, it is better to cover them with wet branches and turf. ”

"First of all, we have to dig a big pit that is more than two feet square and about two feet deep, and then dig a small pit next to it. This large pit should be as easy as possible for users to add firewood and other fuels to the small pit next to it. Dig a smaller pit about a foot from this pit, then run the two holes through from the bottom, pile all the excavated earth around the first hole, and pat it to prevent the fire from escaping. Dig at least three flues in the upper direction of the second hole, each about half a foot deep, about one zhang long, and then press the pot on the second hole and fill the edge with soil, cover it with branches, wheat straw and other things above the flue, cover it with soil, hide the flue according to the method of dense and sparse on the edge of the pot, put the igniter from the bottom of the No. 1 pit into the second pit, add firewood, and cook. ”

"After finishing the work, withdraw the branches on the flue to the No. 1 pit, fill in the soil next to it, fill in the flue, and then find some new soil or vegetation from the side to restore its original landform, and then evacuate."

Several fireheads enthusiastically introduced the method of digging the smokeless stove to the friendly troops. Hearing this, the people under Ma Ke couldn't help but sigh secretly, no wonder the model brigade and the Nanyue army were able to survive a hundred battles. At this time, there is always learning everywhere! is also such a simple thing as burying a pot to make rice, which is more advanced than that of other Ming troops. If it weren't for this mission, I am afraid that I will never know how to bury the pot behind the enemy and cook rice, but I am afraid that I can only drink cold water and nibble on cold and hard flatbread.

When you're cold and hungry, a hot soup can definitely give you more than you think. These veterans know this very well.

Drinking the hot, spicy, and fresh fish soup and chewing large pieces of fatty fish and shrimp, the officers and men of the two units broke open the flatbread they carried with them and put them into the hot soup. In the late autumn of Liaodong, being able to eat such a hot meal in this wilderness has exceeded many people's expectations.

Drinking the hot soup, he declined the shochu that Marco handed over. I heard the praise of Marco and his men about the smokeless stove. Wu Biao's mind drifted away. Alas! I don't know what happened to Lord Chen Tianhua, who taught the brothers who had an incident in Guangdong to dig this smokeless stove, now. According to the businessmen, he and the Liao Dongzhi brothers are now both commanders, in charge of a town of soldiers and horses. Even though Brother Liuqi is still a brigade commander, his troops and horses are already a town.

"If only I hadn't thought about it at the beginning. voted for the imperial court. Isn't it also a commander now? ”

Suddenly. Wu Biao had such a thought in his mind.

However, Wu Biao immediately strangled this thought in his mind.

After a rather rich field meal, the soldiers of the two divisions took a break. Many people take refuge in a leeward place to smoke and bask in the sun.

Waiting for the sentinels to go out to inquire about the news at night, Wu Biao listened to Ma Ke introduce him to the past of this Xiping Fort, the artillery killing that this castle experienced during the Great Battle of Quang Ninh.

"If you want to say that Luo has always been loyal to Qi Bingzhong back then, they are all well-known men!" Pointing to the dilapidated city wall, Wu Biao, who was foaming at the mouth of Ma Ke, talked about the past of the battlefield in Liaodong, and his seniority in Liaodong was much longer than Wu Biao, so he was naturally very familiar with the stories of various places.

"Guangning is a negative Lu Mountain, relying on the Bohai Sea, standing in the Qingying Camp, and strangling the important town at home and abroad. The imperial court believed that 'the east of the river is broken, and Guangning is the fence, and the mountains and seas are the gateway', once Guangning is not guarded, the mountains and seas are shocked, the mountains and seas are not solid, and the Beijing division is shaken! Marco swallowed a puff of his cigarette, then exhaled the smoke from his nostrils with great enjoyment.

Merchants from the south brought not only food, but also finely processed and strong-tasting tobacco, which was very popular with the Liaodong armies. For the town generals who pursued the enjoyment of life, these tobaccos immediately became indispensable.

After enjoying the pleasant feeling of tobacco for a while, Ma Ke continued to explain the past to Wu Biao. He pointed to a clump of white bones looming in the barren grass not far away, "For decades, this place is still full of white bones, broken arrows and broken spears are all over the yellow sand and barren grass. At night, the wind is even more angry here, and the phosphorus fire flickers, which makes people feel cold. ”

Ma Ke sighed a few words, and turned his face to Wu Biao, who was puzzled, "Brother Wu, do you know why this place is so dangerous?" ”

Since Guangning was the periphery of the Shanhaiguan defense line, it was also an important pass to defend against old slaves. With Quang Ninh in the hands of the Ming army, Lao Nu's rebels could only operate in the narrow area of the Suzi River. Therefore, for this place, the old slave has long been determined to be eyed.

The slaves are like this, but on the side of the Ming army, there are groups of pig teammates.

Governor Wang Huazhen and Liaodong Jinglu Xiong Tingbi's strategy and tactics were at odds.

If it's mediocre, it's not afraid, after all, most people are ordinary people, and no one is born with the spirit of a tiger and a hegemon, and it's just to do things honestly. However, if you are born mediocre and are good at talking, in addition to saying big things, you are arrogant and stubborn, you don't know how to use soldiers, you don't know how to use military, but you despise the enemy and many other advantages, such an official is a good official that the old slave can't ask for.

Unfortunately, this guy who is "mediocre and eloquent", "arrogant and arrogant, never practiced soldiers, despises the enemy, and is good at slandering" is none other than Wang Huazhen, the governor of Liaodong.

They don't know who they are, and they don't actively defend, so they pin their hopes entirely on going deep alone and winning by luck. In the words of the chairman, he is a typical military adventurist. And Xiong Tingbi is naturally resolutely opposed to such a bullshit strategy. Xiong Jinglu's strategy is to "force the garrison on the river to refuse, but I don't know that the river is narrow and difficult to hold, and the fort is small and difficult to tolerate, even if the river is full of 30,000 soldiers, it can't be a thief 3,000 crossing." Even if there are 120,000 people in Xiping and Panshan, they can't be defeated by river soldiers for a moment. …… Today, but it can hold Quang Ninh. It is to fix the mountains and seas. ”

Compared with Wang Huazhen's plan, Xiong Tingbi's plan of tripartite arrangement and holding on to Quang Ninh is a practical and relatively stable combat plan. At present, the old slave is confined in the area of Suzi River, and the natural disasters in Liaodong are used to continuously weaken the strength of the slave thief.

However, Wang Huazhen did not consider the overall gains and losses, and only thought about personal interests, "he focused on Hexi, used Xilu to forge ahead, and said that Deng and Tianjin were slow maps." Privately dispatched Mao Wenlong, a general, to lead more than 200 people to go deep behind enemy lines. The camera attacked Zhenjiang. Capture Zhenjiang in one fell swoop. This is the so-called "Zhenjiang Victory".

This so-called victory, in addition to giving Mao Wenlong a chance, the biggest consequence is to completely intensify the contradiction between Jinglue Xiong Tingbi and others and Wang Huazhen. Xiong Tingbi and others believed that the attack on Zhenjiang was completely a reckless and blind act. Not only disrupted the tripartite arrangement. And it exposed the weakness of the Ming army. In essence, it is beneficial to Houjin.

However, after the Battle of Zhenjiang, Wang Huazhen was "more and more angry" and could not listen to opposing opinions. but determined to send troops. Although the dispatch of troops did not succeed, the contradiction between Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen became more and more acute, and the debate between the defense and the war became more intense. This kind of "wasted time" situation could not but arouse the attention of the Ming court, and the matter of discord between the two sides was handed over to the court for discussion. At that time, many ministers were afraid to be involved in the whirlpool of political controversy and take responsibility, so they did not want to separate the dispute between right and wrong, but adopted the method of reconciling the contradictions. "Fighting and defending each other", helpless problems.

There was endless quarrels and internal friction here, and Jiannu over there took advantage of a gap and marched into the army.

On the eighteenth day of the first month of the second year of the Apocalypse, Nurhachi personally led the ministers of Beyler and led more than 100,000 troops, "each of whom carried dry rations, siege vehicles, hooks and ladders, and shovels to dig the city, all of which went west." Taking advantage of the opportunity of the Ming army's "discord and helplessness", it marched west of the Liao River. On the 19th, the Jiannu army arrived at Yongchang Fort near Niuzhuang on the east bank of the Liao River and camped, observed the movements of the Ming army, and had to report that Wang Huazhen's heavy troops were stationed in Guangning, in order to reduce the difficulty of attacking the fortification and the casualties of the soldiers, they took the barrier Xiping Fort of Guangning first, lured the Ming army of Guangning out of the city to come to help, and annihilated it in the field battle, so that it could easily capture Guangning.

On the same day, the main force of Jiannu began to cross the river. The river defense soldiers deployed by Wang Huazhen saw that the Houjin army was fierce, so they turned around and ran. The Houjin army pursued for twenty miles until it reached Xipingbao.

Upon hearing the news that Nurhachi was personally leading more than 100,000 men and horses and was heading for Quang Ninh, Wang Huazhen, the governor of Quang Ninh, who had been talking loudly not long ago, immediately became shocked and hurriedly deployed troops to defend him. The king sent Liu Qu, the chief soldier, to lead 20,000 troops to guard the town. The general soldier Liu Lishou led 10,000 troops to guard Luyang. It is divided into two roads, north and south, and Quang Ninh becomes a horn. He also sent Luo Yigui, the deputy commander-in-chief, to lead 3,000 people to guard Xiping Fort. Wang Huazhen himself led 20,000 or 30,000 people to defend Quang Ninh, trying to use four forts to shield Guangning and snipe the attack of the Houjin army.

"The general guarding Xiping Fort is the deputy general Luo Zhengyi, this old brother Luo has a loyal personality, is upright, and works seriously. However, if you suffer a loss, you will suffer a loss in this character! He only had 3,000 soldiers under his command, but he had to face the onslaught of tens of thousands of elite thieves of the old slave. ”

Luo has always relied on the city to hold on, sending wood and rolling stones to fight thieves, and artillery bombardment. The Houjin soldiers were killed and wounded, and the corpses under the city were almost as high as the city walls. During the fierce battle between the two sides, a stray arrow was in the middle of Luo's eyes. He reached out and grabbed the shaft of the arrow, and with a vigorous tug, his right eye was brought out, and blood flowed out of his socket...... Luo has always become a bloody man! But they still shouted and fought hard to boost morale. No reinforcements arrived. The gunpowder on the city has been exhausted, the arrows and stones have been exhausted, although the city soldiers stubbornly resisted, but still could not escape the fate of the city, seeing that the fall of the city was inevitable, Luo has always drawn his sword to kill himself. According to statistics after the war, all the 3,000 Ming troops defending the city were killed in battle, and the casualties of the Houjin were also quite severe, about 6 or 7,000 people.

As a result, the sacrifices of Luo and the soldiers of the defenders of Xipingbao turned into flowing water in Wang Huazhen, who had pig brains in his head. (Smack!) Which one wants you to insult the pig?! Don't know that pigs are intelligent land mammals? Second only to humans and primates?! He was fooled and lame by the traitor Sun Degong, abandoned the existing positions in the cities of Guangning, Luyang and Zhenwu, and led a large army of soldiers and horses to Xipingbao to rescue. In doing so, he abandoned the fundamental land of Quang Ninh and the artillery strength of the Ming army, and went to the short field battle. How can such a good officer and commander not be liked by the enemy? (This Sun Degong also has a more famous traitor son, Sun Sike, who is also boasted in the novels of a certain great writer that few generals in the sky are hard to find on earth.) and Lord Wei worshiped a brother and helped to quell the chaos. In fact, Sun Sike is also a guy who dyes his top red with the lives of soldiers on the battlefield. ）

After this battle, Sun Degong sold everyone and went to Jiannu to ask for merit and reward. Qi Bingzhong fought hard, with two swords and three arrows in his body, and after being helped on a horse by his own soldiers, he stood out from the encirclement, but finally died of injuries due to serious injuries and injuries on the way. General Liu Lishou was hit by two knives and three arrows, but fortunately he was rescued by his family, helped him on his horse, rushed out of the encirclement, and died of his injuries halfway through. Liu Zheng, the deputy general, was hit by an arrow in the body, fell off his horse, and was killed by the rebels. Another general, Liu Shizhang, was also hit by an arrow. The arrow was so powerful that it pierced through the hip and pinned him firmly to the saddle, where he was also mortally wounded. Only Zu Dashou, who is currently in Jinzhou City, is unscathed because he sees the opportunity quickly and runs fast. Now enjoy the wealth and honor. ”

Ma Ke told Wu Biao about the past of the battles of Xipingbao and Guangning, his eyes narrowed, and he asked Wu Biao with a smile on his face: "How is it, Brother Wu, do you have any taste?" In the future, don't be too reckless and work too hard, in that case, you will be the unlucky one! The so-called rafters rot first......"

Listening to Marco talk about the past, Wu Biao also found something from it. That is what has always puzzled him, why the mainland officials and troops run so fast when they fight. After listening to Ma Ke's story about the Battle of Quang Ninh, he also found some reasons for it.

Just as he was about to speak, the patrol officer outside the city hurriedly rushed in with someone.

"Big guy! The Sentinel's brother is back! It seems that there is an emergency military situation! ”

Hearing this, Ma Ke and Wu Biao immediately jumped up, took the binoculars from the hands of their respective soldiers, and quickly climbed to a high place to look into the distance.

On the official road from Guangning to Shenyang, the night horses sent by the two horsemen urged the war horses under their crotches to open, and the four legs of the very fat war horses were almost parallel to the ground, as if flying against the wind.

"There must be something urgent when I think about it! Otherwise, this kind of running will kill the horse! ”

Ma Ke couldn't reprimand and scolded the soldiers for not cherishing their horses, but just looked at the telescope on the road. Through the lens, smoke and dust billowed near the city of Quang Ninh, and it seemed that hundreds of cavalry were rolling in.

"It is the elite cavalry of the Jiannu Ge Bush Xianchao Battalion. I don't know what it means to be able to use so many elite riders! ”

One of the generals beside Marco exclaimed in a low voice.

"Leave him alone! Since he is here, he has hit the knife edge of our master, so let's do his vote! ”

Marco frowned, his hair fierce.

He didn't want to see Wu Biao and Wu Sangui's triumphant faces every time he was on the agenda, and he also had to raise his eyebrows.

However, he didn't know that this small-scale ambush battle had sent more than 100,000 people of the Ming army into the Ghost Gate. (To be continued......)