On the 8th day of the first month of February, when the soldiers of the Great Shun Emperor approached 500 steps outside the city of Yangqu County, Taiyuan Prefecture, the morale of the Shun army was high, standing outside the city, cheering and shouting: "Kill, kill, kill!" The voice came to the city and asked Mingyang Qu to participate in the general: Zhang Xiong, he was stupid when he saw this, he stared at the black pressure and looked at the Shun army, and thought; Obediently, there are two or three hundred thousand horses standing in this banner, to say the least? If we really want to go to war, I'm afraid that our army will die and there will be no place to bury!

The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and he inadvertently had the intention of surrendering, but there was no way to withdraw from the various mines and ambushes lying in ambush outside the city. After thinking about it for a while, General Mingyang Qu sent people to change into people's clothes, and went out of the city privately to send a letter to the camp of Liukou.

At this moment, Emperor Dashun was arranging battle plans with Dashun Ruhou: Liu Zongmin, Prime Minister of Dashun: Niu Jinxing, Shangshu of Dashun Military Department: Wang Jiazhu, and other generals were arranging battle plans in the camp tent against the sand table, and suddenly a soldier outside the account walked in and reported, "Report, Your Majesty, there is a clear envoy asking to see!" ”

So Emperor Dashun immediately stopped discussing and waved his hand to announce his arrival, and the envoy who entered the account saluted to Emperor Dashun and said, "Little one, please see His Majesty Emperor Dashun, I have a letter here to ask Your Majesty to take a look, and I wish Your Majesty to show your ambition to dominate the world as soon as possible!" ”

But Emperor Dashun is afraid of fraud? He motioned to the soldier to pick up the letter with his eyes and come over to open it to see if there was poisonous gas on the paper before handing it to Emperor Dashun to read.

I saw that Emperor Dashun was overjoyed after seeing it, and hurriedly slapped the case and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, you quickly go back and tell the general, and say that if he can help me capture Yangqu County, then I will appoint him as the commander of the guard, and allow his descendants to be hereditary, and those who have meritorious service will be rewarded with 10 taels of silver." When the envoy heard this, he hurriedly knelt down and buckled his head and said, "The little one has thanked Your Majesty for the general!" ”

But the generals in the camp did not believe the envoy's nonsense, and after the envoy left, the generals of the Shun army asked, "Your Majesty, do you really want to listen to the envoy's words?" What if that was a ploy to lure the enemy? ”

That's right, Emperor Dashun also thinks so, so he plans to make full preparations, both; On the one hand, according to the letter of the Ming envoy, the destruction of ambushes and minefields outside the city, on the other hand, the pretending to send small teams to take a feint, if it is confirmed that there is no problem in a large-scale counterattack, even if the plan is not much, this move has been unanimously approved by all the generals.

After breakfast, the soldiers of the Shun army of each battalion began to check their equipment, and the generals of the Shun army also patrolled on the side and did not dare to be careless, and the Ming troops in the city looked listlessly at the Liukou garrison outside the city, and the most nervous was the governor of Mingshan in the county office: Cai Maode, he was restless wandering in the hall, and looked at the deputy general of the Ming Zhongjun next to him: Ying Shisheng, and he was also a little nervous!

He asked, "Your Excellency, you've walked eight laps, stop and rest!" At present, although the rogues are besieging the city, we are not without a chance of winning? I heard that the imperial court sent a scholar from Dongge University as the secretary of the military department and the title of superintendent, and now I am afraid that he is leading troops to our side, and I believe that the siege will be lifted soon! The top priority is how to deal with the bandits outside the city. ”

Having said that, the governor of Mingshan did not have much chance of retreating from the enemy, but stopped and said, "Quick, quickly go and pass on General Zhang to come over, Ben Fu has something important to ask him." ”

So the deputy commander-in-chief of the Ming Zhong army hurriedly ran out of the county government and rushed to the city, and the Dashun Emperor outside the city quickly pulled out his saber and shouted: "The soldiers on the left wing are ordered to charge by Li Dudu, the soldiers on the right are ordered to charge by the army led by the mighty general Dang Shousu, and the rest of the soldiers draw out two rows as archers and firecrackers to kill the enemy with all their might." "After the order was issued, the first thing to do was to be loaded and ignited by the rogue gunners (dong, dong, dong) to the city tower, and some shells fell directly on the minefield of the ambush, which made the Ming troops in the city shocked!

Then the soldiers of the Shun army on both wings began to advance little by little, and with the cooperation of the Shun army's musketers and archers, the lurking Ming army ambushes were all exposed, and they were killed by the rogue cavalry one by one! The advancing governor of Dashun and the mighty general of Dashun saw that it was really as the Ming envoy said, so he ordered the soldiers to charge to the city with all their might, and the Ming army gunners just shot two rounds, and a large number of rogues rushed to the city, and the situation was out of control!

The Mingyang Qu staff general who defended the city opened the Zemen to welcome the Liukou army into the city according to the agreement, and when the deputy general of the Ming Chinese army came to the city gate, the city was already full of cannons, and the sound of fighting could be heard everywhere, the deputy general of the Ming Chinese army anxiously climbed the city tower, he grabbed a soldier who had just finished shooting the gun and asked, "What's going on?" Where is Zhang Shenjiang? Why did the rogues break through the defenses so quickly? ”

I saw the soldier reply, "General Zhang, he, he has already opened the city and surrendered to the rogue!" After hearing this, the deputy chief soldier of the Ming Zhongjun was stunned for a moment, and he angrily pulled out his saber and shouted, "Damn, quickly meet the enemy for me, kill!" ”

Soon the rogues stepped on the ladder to climb the city tower in batches, the Ming army gunners each changed into lancets and fought with them, some soldiers were rolling on the ground with their necks, and some Ming soldiers used spears to assassinate the rogues who climbed the city tower, the scene was very intense, and the sound of artillery fire also alarmed the governor of Ming Shanxi, he hurriedly walked out of the outside of the county government and listened to the sound of slashing and killing, and couldn't help but shed two tears sadly, and turned to the north and bowed three times and said, "Benfu has studied Buddhism for many years, and has already seen through life and death, and today should be martyred with death." ”

But the soldiers around him couldn't bear to see Governor Cai trapped in the city, so they pulled Governor Cai and let him get on his horse and flee to the back city, but he was dismounted by Governor Ming Shanxi and said, "Do you want to trap Governor Cai in disloyalty?" I am a governor of one side, if the thief breaks the city, I should die to seal the territory, and all the kings have no duty to defend the city, so let's flee for their lives! After speaking, the governor of Mingshan resolutely snatched the soldier's saber and rushed towards the city gate, and the soldiers behind him knelt down and cried, "Governor, lord, go all the way...!" ”

At this time, most of the Liukou soldiers broke through the city gate and killed in, and the governor of the western Ming Dynasty slashed several people with a knife in his hand, and was finally besieged by Liukou with spearmen and stabbed six knives in the body, vomiting blood and dying on the spot! The deputy commander of the Ming Zhong Army on the city tower was also shot in the chest by the Liukou archers, and met the general of the Dashun Left Battalion who ascended to the city, and was stabbed by him before slowly falling! At this point, the area around the capital of Taiyuan Prefecture, as well as the Taiyuan Left Guard, Taiyuan Qianwei, and Taiyuan Right Guard, also completely fell, and the officers and soldiers of the nearby prefectures and counties fled when they heard the news.

When Emperor Dashun entered the city, he saw that most of the soldiers were looting finances, and in order to win the hearts of the military and people of Taiyuan Prefecture, Emperor Dashun ordered, "Spread my will to first put the governor of Shanxi who died in battle and the deputy chief soldier of the Chinese army, both of whom are decorated with coffins and parked in the Sanli Academy, for the surrendered officials and soldiers and civilians to worship." ”

Then he turned to Prime Minister Dashun and asked, "Is there any difficulty in releasing relief?" Prime Minister Dashun replied: "There is not a lot of grain in the granary of the Jin Prince's Mansion, which is far inferior to the Fu Prince's Mansion, and most of the grain of the rest of the eunuchs is hidden in the mountains, and there is not much transported into Taiyuan Mansion, so it can only be a small relief for the hungry, and our army is far away from the north, and it is not a place to produce grain along the way!" Therefore, although it is important to give relief in the humble opinion of the ministers, military needs are even more important. ”

Hearing this, Emperor Dashun asked the soldiers to rob the nearby squires, confiscate their property as military salaries, and sent the general of the left battalion of Dashun: Liu Fangliang, to lead 60,000 soldiers and horses to the south along the official road in an attempt to capture the Huaiqing Mansion of the Chengxuan Political Division of Henan, and to seize the Daimyo Mansion of the Northern Zhili, Hejian Mansion, Baoding Mansion (Daning Capital Division) and the Jinan Mansion and Dongchang Mansion of the Chengxuan Political Division of Shandong Province, which were used to cut off the southward escape of the Great Ming Dynasty and lay the foundation for the Eastern Expedition to the Imperial Capital of the Ming Dynasty and the Northern Zhili Emperor.

At the same time, the fleet of Fujian sailors traveling on the sea has reached the waters of Taiwan, and the fourth brother Ming Quanzhou Wei Zhenfu: Zheng Zhibao, hurriedly walked into the cabin to wake up the eldest brother Ming Fujian General Soldier: Zheng Zhilong, he pushed and shouted, "Brother, wake up, brother, wake up!" ”

The general soldier of Ming Fujian, who was shouted, shook his head and slowly woke up, and began to ask, "Where is the ship going now?" The fourth brother, Wei Zhenfu of Ming Quanzhou, replied, "Oh, we have now reached the sea area of Taiwan, and we are going forward for a hundred miles to be the border of the Ryukyu Kingdom." ”

Knowing that they were about to arrive at the Ryukyu Kingdom, the Ming Fujian General sent an experienced old boatman to come over and ask, "If you come here, I will ask you, how fast is our ship moving?" The old boatman pinched his fingers and replied, "Your Excellency, our ships travel 3 knots every hour, about 3,700 meters, and at this speed, it is estimated that they will reach the Ryukyu Kingdom tomorrow." ”

This made the Ming Fujian army very happy, and he immediately ordered the flag to be waved and all the ships to move quickly, in order to reach the speed of 4 knots of sea area per hour, and the Ryukyu missions, who had been dealing with the sea all year round in the cabin, also vaguely felt that the ship was accelerating, and he asked the soldiers in the cabin, "Dare to ask if you are speeding up now?" The soldier nodded and asked the Ryukyu envoys to sit down and continue with their tea.

The Ryukyu envoy, who couldn't sit still, got up and walked out of the cabin and looked at the East China Sea with a sad face and sighed, this scene was the Ming Fujian Navy Counselor: Shi Daxuan, seeing him very politely came over and greeted, "Why don't you rest in the cabin, but come out to blow the sea breeze?" ”

The Ryukyu envoy sighed: "I think that my Ryukyu Kingdom was also a prince-level vassal state of His Majesty Emperor Taizu Hongwugao, but now it has been changed by the Satsuma Domain to pay tribute to them!" It really makes the subjects angry, and the people and gods are angry! The more he talked, the more excited the Ryukyu envoy coughed a few times, and was instructed by the Ming Fujian Navy General to help him back to the cabin to rest.

After a while, the Fujian sailors and Ming soldiers on the main general's boat saw a Satsuma Domain ship flying high (red and white quadrangular flags) in front of them, and there were six accompanying ships behind them, which looked like they were patrolling? This immediately attracted the attention of the Ming Army of the Fujian Naval Division, and the Ming Fujian Naval Division General guessed; These ships must have been sent by the Satsuma clan to patrol the waters of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and they had to be killed to suppress the arrogance of the Satsuma domain, so he asked the Ming navy sailors to aim their guns in front and prepare to shoot.

At this moment, the fleet of the Satsuma Domain on the opposite side also saw the Ming ships with (Qinglong Flag) and (Sun and Moon Flag) hanging on them, so the Satsuma Domain's Left Guard Shaoshi: Kairyugawa Zhi, ordered, "Yamato: Quickly go and order the gunners and gunners to shoot." As soon as the words fell, the herald next to him, who was wearing a (array hat) with a command flag on his waist, hurriedly ran to the ship's fort and waved the flag to direct the soldiers of the Satsuma Domain to load the shells, and first fired the solid shells of steel cannons and mortar cannons towards the ships of the Ming army's sailors.

Then the Satsuma Domain's left soldier Wei Shaozhi asked the Satsuma Domain's fire guns to pick up the iron cannons, boundary guns, and Awa guns, and when the guns quickly pressed the fire and began to shoot at the Ming army sailors (bang, bang, bang, bang) lead bullets came over and hit the boats, and some Ming army sailors were shot and fell to the ground and died! The generals of the Ming Fujian Navy Division also let the Ming Army's sailors fight back.

The decks of the ships on both sides suddenly burst into bursts of white gunsmoke, and the sea surface was splashed on the deck by a splash of more than a foot high, some soldiers were shot shrapnel and fell into the water, accompanied by the smell of gunpowder smoke, the Ming Fujian general army came to the Ryukyu envoy's cabin, he listened to the sound of guns, and hurriedly said to the Ryukyu envoy: "Your envoy, don't worry!" The general's soldiers and horses have never encountered any opponents at sea, and it is not a secret that this naval division is the successor of the "Chaohu Naval Division" established with His Majesty Emperor Taizu Hongwu Gao, and its power is well-known in the East China Sea and even the Western countries. ”