Chapter 650 Xiongguan is like a wedge, and it should not be discarded

"Chief Soldier Zu, please also mourn and change."

At this time, Liu Guoneng, the mayor of Xingzhong Town of Tang Jun, who had already understood what had happened, came to Zu Dale's side and persuaded him in a low voice.

Zu Dale hugged his son's already cold corpse tightly, his eyes were swollen and tears flowed, obviously for a while, he could not come out of his son's death.

Liu Guoneng waited quietly for Zu Dale for a long time with sympathetic eyes, and finally saw Zu Dale gently put down the body of his son Zu Zeyan.

After staring at Zu Zeyan's corpse for a long time, Zu Dale wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and stood up to talk to Liu Guoneng.

"General Ancestor, the death of Ling Lang, the general ......"

Liu Guoneng said something apologetic, but was interrupted by Zu Dale waving his hand.

"It's okay, General Liu." Zu Dale's gloomy face squeezed out a wry smile with difficulty: "Battlefield fighting, swords and guns have no eyes, life and death are ordinary." It's a sigh that Ze Yan was confused for a while, and he ruined his future and life all his life, which really made me, a father, regret it in my heart! But his death was self-inflicted and had nothing to do with your army. “

He paused, and a wry smile appeared on his face: "I think that if it weren't for our luck, at this extremely critical time, we would have to meet your army to come to the aid in time, defeat the Qing captives, and protect this city, we would have been ghosts under the Qing saber!" Such a great kindness and virtue, this soldier will keep it in mind in his heart, and he will be able to repay it in the future. “

Liu Guoneng waved his hand: "General Soldier Zu doesn't have to be polite, our army is also on the order of King Tang to rescue your department." But I didn't expect that the Qing army could attack Shanhaiguan so quickly, which was also beyond our army's expectations. It's a pity that now, Ning Yuan in the north is afraid that it has fallen......"

Listening to Liu Guoneng talk about Ning Yuan, Zu Dale remembered that Wu Sangui of Ning Yuan had sent someone to negotiate the retreat of Shanhaiguan to the south two days ago, and he couldn't feel a tingling in his heart.

Why was it so regarded as a pillar by the Ming court, who did not fire a single arrow and did not fight, so quickly surrendered to the alien race and allegiance to the Manchu Tartars, for this internal reason, how can it not be emotional.

"There are many people here, it is not a place to talk, General Liu and his soldiers entered the city to talk." Zu Da was happy to see Liu Guoneng mention Ning Yuan, and his heart became heavier and heavier, and he was busy stopping Liu Guineng.

Liu Guoneng sighed lightly, nodded, and agreed with Zu Dale's opinion. Road:

Next, Liu Guoneng confessed to the Tang army, and together with the remnants of the Ming army defending the city, urgently cleaned up the battlefield.

Those Qing soldiers who died in the battle were all stripped of their weapons and armor, and their bones were thrown into the sea to feed the sharks. The wounded soldiers of the Qing army, who were seriously injured but not dead, were all thrown into the sea alive screaming, and the red water on the sea surface was gushing, like boiling blood, and a large number of sharks jumped up and down, enjoying this rare feast of human flesh.

The soldiers who died in battle dug a large grave in a hill outside the north gate of Shanhaiguan and buried them collectively.

As for the son Zu Zeyan who was shot by the Tang army, Zu Dale asked Zu Dabi to find a good coffin in the city and bury it outside the city. And deliberately confessed, there is no need to erect a monument, covered with grass and trees, from now on, the father and son are severed, there is no contact, and the Yellow Spring in the world will never see each other again.

As for the captured ordnance of the Qing army, such as siege ladders and iron carts, they were all dismantled on the spot, and all useful parts were moved into Shanhaiguan City.

Liu Guoneng and Zu Dale entered the living room of the official office in the city, and then talked secretly behind closed doors.

"General Liu is here, what are your specific plans?" Zu Dale was the first to ask.

"General Soldier Zu, we are on the order of the King of Tang to come to the land of Shanhaiguan to rescue your soldiers and horses. Fortunately, I waited day and night, and finally arrived in time, and I was able to rescue your soldiers and horses at this critical moment, which is really very lucky. It's a pity that our army is still a step late, so that Ningyuan fell, and Wu Sangui's soldiers and horses all fell into the hands of the enemy, which is really regrettable. Presumably, in the future, King Tang will definitely blame us and others. Liu Guoneng looked unwilling, and his tone was very helpless.

Zu Dale looked at him with a complicated gaze, and the taste in his heart was even more mixed.

Now he is not only glad that he and the rest of the army can be rescued by the Tang army in time, but also extremely sad for many subordinates who were killed and disabled in battle, as well as the death of his own son.

Of course, he knew how timely the Tang Army's rescue was. If Tang Jun is one step late, the consequences will be really unimaginable.

He groaned slightly, and then asked softly: "Zu wants to know, what are the plans of your army after rescuing our army?" ”

Liu Guoneng didn't think about it, so he replied directly: "King Tang has already ordered, if you are rescued, he will immediately take all of you back to Shandong for resettlement, so as to plan for the future." ”

Listening to Liu Guoneng's answer, Zu Dale just sighed softly.

Seeing that his expression was different, Liu Guoneng hurriedly asked: "Chief Soldier, do you have any other ideas?" ”

"General Liu, Shu Zu told the truth, this land of Shanhaiguan should not be abandoned! It would be a pity if the general led his troops to leave and gave up the world's first Xiongguan Shanhaiguan. ”

"Oh, Liu would like to hear about it."

"General Liu, this Shanhaiguan is the first dangerous place in the world that the monarchs of the Ming Dynasty have spent countless money, grains and treasures to deliberately create. Here by the mountains and the sea, sitting in Liaodong, it is really the first danger in the world, such a critical place, a key place, must not be abandoned! If the general gave up this pass in vain and led his troops back east, Zu thought that this move was not a good strategy. ”

He paused, and said hurriedly: "This is the world's first male pass, it is very difficult to overcome and easy to keep, if it is taken away by others, it will be difficult to recover it in the future!" Even if it is recovered, I am afraid that the lives of many soldiers will be sacrificed in vain. Aren't these lives, blood, money, food, and goods meaningless sacrifices and consumption? Therefore, General Liu, you do this, Zu thinks that it is really debatable. “

Listening to Zu Dale's words, Liu Guoneng frowned slightly, and couldn't help but think carefully.

In his heart, he understood that Zu Dale's statement was actually very insightful and very acceptable.

This is the world's first Xiongguan Shanhaiguan, it is indeed the Ming Dynasty after many generations of heavy money construction, high walls and wide trenches, heavy guards, extremely steep and difficult to overcome, can be the foundation of the entire Liaodong border defense.

You must know that in real history, it is precisely because of the existence of this pass that every time the Qing captives enter the customs, they have to make a detour and enter the customs from other places, but they never dare to fight the idea of this Xiongguan. This shows that the protection of Shanhaiguan is not an exaggeration to be regarded as the first barrier of the Ming Dynasty.

In the real history, if the Qing army outside the pass wants to enter the pass, it has to wait until Wu Sangui, who is stationed here, surrenders to the pass, and then enters from it, so as to realize the grand plan of unifying the Central Plains.

Like now, if it weren't for the fact that the Ming court is dead, the court situation is in chaos, and the Shanhaiguan chief soldier stationed here is Zu Dale, who has few soldiers and no reinforcements, even if the Qing captives are strong and strong, they are afraid that they will not dare to easily lead the troops to take it.

Therefore, if it is really just to rescue the Zu Dale Club, it will only allow Qinglu or Li Zicheng to pick up a bargain in vain, which is too rash and a pity.

On the contrary, if we can occupy this pass and take this dangerous pass as our own, it will greatly expand the scope of the Tang army's troops, and it can be attacked and defended, and it is quite a very strong and unbreakable nail on the rogue and the Qing captives. In the future, whether the Tang army attacks in the north or in the south, it will have a lot to do.

Thinking of this, Liu Guoneng suddenly felt a sense of enlightenment in his heart.

He raised his head and laughed, and praised Zu Dale repeatedly: "The ancestor general reminds him that he has a sense of empowerment under the order. It is really unwise to think that our army really led its troops to return to the east, and let such a Xiongguan not occupy it, but let it fall into the hands of the enemy in vain! Anyway, the general will make an assertion today, pull out 5,000 soldiers from our Tang army, and the general will personally lead and garrison this pass. As for how to arrange it in the future, listen to the orders of King Tang. ”

He was glad to see that his suggestion had been adopted, and he was very happy.

He hurriedly said: "General Liu can listen to Zu's shallow opinion, and he is very grateful. In fact, I was thinking about it, although our army had repelled the Qing army and kept the Shanhaiguan, so that the Qing prisoners did not dare to look south for the time being. But I am afraid that in the near future, the rogue in the south will definitely find a way to take this city, which should be the most critical and important thing for us to face next. “

"It's natural, I'll just get ready for war right away." Liu Guoneng sneered and said: "Our army will rest here for a day, and tomorrow we will let another 1,000 sergeants escort the more than 4,000 Qing prisoners back." The general will also write a letter to the Tang King himself, asking him to dispatch troops as soon as possible, as well as the artillery and weapons used for the garrison, which will definitely make this Shanhaiguan impregnable and foolproof. ”

After listening to Liu Guoneng's arrangement, Zu Dale was very relieved, he smiled on his face, and said to Liu Guoneng: "General Liu's arrangement really made Zu feel at ease. According to Zu, if we are really ready to abide by this, maybe we can catch a big fish organically. ”

"What big fish?" Liu Guoneng was obviously interested.

Zu Dale's eyes flickered, he lowered his voice and whispered to Liu Guoneng for a while. Liu Guodun suddenly realized, he looked happy, and nodded again and again.

After Zu Dale finished speaking, Liu Guoneng stroked his palms and laughed, very happy.

"Good! Good! Mr. Zu's plan is very good! Ben General expected that the thief would most likely act as General Zu expected. Then let's really wait for work, give them a grass and rabbit, and earn it. ”

After the two agreed, Liu Guoneng immediately ordered the whole army to rest in Shanhaiguan for a day, and all the heavy ordnance in the ship was moved into Shanhaiguan to meet the urgent needs of Shanhaiguan. Even the dozens of large ships, the guns on one side of each ship, were all dismantled and urgently deployed at the head of Shanhaiguan City.

Now at the Shanhaiguan Department, there are 5,000 elite soldiers of the Tang Army left behind, and there are many artillery pieces to help, and the defense of the entire Shanhaiguan can be said to have been greatly improved, compared with the time of Zu Dale, it has been strengthened by several orders of magnitude.

The next day, Liu Guoneng immediately arranged for his lieutenant general to take 1,000 spearmen and escort the more than 4,000 Qing prisoners to return north to Shandong by boat. And he himself, together with the other 5,000 Tang troops and the rest of Zu Dale, stayed in Shanhaiguan.

It's just that in this Shanhaiguan land, only the banner of the Zuda Music Department is still displayed, and the Tang Army flag logo is not out, as if in this Shanhaiguan land, only the Zuda Music Club is still stationed alone.

No one knew that such a deliberate arrangement was actually Zu Dale's fishing plan.

At this point, the land of Shanhaiguan is temporarily in a state of calm, and everyone actually knows that under this surface calm, there is already an undercurrent surging, and there will never be any calm.

Coincidentally, just two days after the Battle of Shanhaiguan, Liu Guoneng and Zu Dale received a handwritten letter from Tang Tong, the former Ming Dynasty Miyun general soldier who had surrendered to Liukou.

To be precise, it was a letter of persuasion, in which Tang Tong advised Zu Dale to lead his troops to surrender to Li Zicheng in time and serve the new dynasty, so that he could keep the glory and wealth, and not lose the position of the marquis.

It turned out that after Liu Zongmin forcibly abducted Chen Yuanyuan, someone quickly reported the matter to Li Zicheng urgently. Li Zicheng saw that Liu Zongmin was covered by a woman before Wu Sangui surrendered, and made such a rash move by Meng Lang, he couldn't help but be furious when he heard the words, and immediately wanted to take Liu Zongmin under the knife.

"Phew! Blacksmith Liu, he is so ignorant, so rampant, and I am going to kill this handful of birds with my own hands now! ”

Seeing that Li Zicheng was so angry and an internal strife was imminent, his most trusted strategist Niu Jinxing urgently dissuaded him.

"King Chuang, don't do it! Ruhou covered her head for a while, and did something wrong, this raw rice is a mature meal, even if you break it into thousands of pieces, what good can you do? ”

Niu Jinxing frowned, let out a long sigh, and continued: "King Chuang, for now, we need to send someone to surrender Wu Sangui and the others before they get the news, this is the most important thing. If he didn't know what he was doing, he had already surrendered, and when he found out about Chen Yuanyuan, he could only swallow his anger and be helpless. At that time, King Chuang will either give him a generous reward to comfort his heart, or simply find a reason to slaughter him with a knife to prevent future troubles. ”

Li Zicheng's face was gloomy, he thought for a long time, and finally adopted Niu Jinxing's opinion. Immediately, they sent Ma Ke, the chief soldier of Jizhen, to recruit Wu Sangui, and Tang Tong, the general soldier of Miyun, to recruit Zu Dale.

How did Ma Ke recruit Wu Sangui, let's not talk about him here, just talk about Tang Tong, the general soldier of Miyun, after recruiting Li Zicheng's order, he couldn't help but fall into contemplation.

Li Zicheng gave him the condition that he should bring 200,000 taels of silver, and promise Zu Dale the position of marquis, and let him go to recruit Zu Dale, such conditions can be described as very generous, and even Tang Tong, who went to surrender, was very tempted.

It's just that Tang Tong is cautious by nature, and in order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, he decided to send an envoy first to find out Zu Dale's true attitude, and after receiving a positive answer, it would be more appropriate for him to personally persuade him to surrender.

So, on the second day after the end of the battle of Shanhaiguan, at the south gate of Shanhaiguan, three messengers came who were in a hurry and looked dusty, and they shouted to the defenders outside the city, saying that they were on an important matter, and they wanted to see Zu Dale, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, so that they could explain it in person.