Let's talk about the Jinzhou front, the Ming army set up seven battalions with infantry between the north of Songshan City and Rufeng Mountain, and stationed cavalry on the east, west and north sides of Songshan, with infantry cavalry, numbering 130,000, and the deployment was strictly organized. Therefore, Huang Taiji deployed the main force between Songshan and Xingshan, Wuxin Henan Mountain to the seaside, "crossing the road, and camping". And between Jinzhou and the sea, dig three large trenches, each eight feet deep and more than a foot wide, to surround the Songshan Ming army, and cut off the connection between Songshan and Xingshan.

On the first day of the war, Hong Chengchou sent people to secretly sow thistle terrestris in the grass and puddles. The Jiannu cavalry came to attack, and a large number of war horses fell inexplicably. The Ming infantry took the opportunity to attack, killing 300 Jiannu and capturing 200 Jiannu. The Ming army won a small victory, but it was undoubtedly a shot in the arm for the Ming army, which had always been afraid of fighting with Jiannu.

Subsequently, Hong Chengchou continued to attack, relying on the numerical advantage, defeated Du Du and Abatai, although he failed to relieve the siege of Jinzhou, but recreated the slaves, captured three important positions, and beheaded more than 800, which was a big victory after the first small victory, but unfortunately Yang Guozhu, the general soldier of Xuanfu, was killed. Only then did he decide to officially report to the saint and ask the emperor to praise Yang Guozhu.

Hong Chengchou is quite a famous general in ancient times, although he is a governor and a strategist, but every few days he has to go to the major battalions to inspect a circle, like the ancient famous generals, he enters the barracks, looks at the food, and eats with the soldiers.

Among the eight general soldiers under the command of Hong Chengchou, Wang Pu, the chief soldier of Datong, is a young master, relying on the shadow of his ancestors, mixed with a military position, when Jiannu entered the fortress for the third time, he somehow won a reputation for being able to fight well, and he often honored Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, and was promoted to the general soldier all the way. Hong Chengchou looks down on him the most, but he has the support of the military department, although he is a straw bag, he can't help him. During the patrol camp, the general soldiers from all walks of life had to follow, and they had to eat a big pot of rice with the soldiers like Hong Chengchou, which made this young master bitter. Because he had just won the battle, the soldiers' food was quite rich, and Hong Chengchou ate the cabbage stewed with horse meat, and Wang Pu had to frown and symbolically eat two bites.

Zhang Dou, the commander of the Datong Prison Army, visited Hong Chengchou after the meal and said: "There is a matter of humble duty, and I feel that it is very important, so I have to report it to the governor. ”

Hong Chengchou said: "Lord Supervisor, but it's okay to talk about it. ”

"Songshan is eighteen miles away from Jinzhou, and Xingshan is between Songshan and Tashan, both of which are thirty miles apart, but our army has not deployed troops between Songshan and Xingshan. There is a mountain in the north of Songshan, called Changling, although it is long and there is no danger, you can ride it. If Jiannu breaks through from here and attacks the grain and grass of Bijia Mountain, the consequences are unimaginable, and he thinks that he should set up a heavy defense on this mountain. ”

Hong Chengchou was taken aback, and said secretly in his heart: "Yes, it is impossible for Huang Taiji's cunning not to fight the idea of our army's grain and grass, and the lifeblood of this army." He was indeed negligent in this point, but Hong Chengchou refused to admit it on his mouth, he looked at Zhang Dou and said with a smile: "The old man has been supervising the teacher for twelve years, can you still not understand this truth?" But the long ridge stretches for dozens of miles, and if it is fortified, it must be tens of thousands of troops, otherwise it is useless to set it up. ”

Zhang Dou said: "Datong general soldier Wang Pu can fight well, and Datong soldiers are in Shanxi, and they are also accustomed to fighting in the mountains, so it is better to garrison Changling with Wang Zongbing." ”

"Morale can not be discouraged, since the prison army took the initiative to ask for help, how can the old man not allow it?" Hong Chengchou was eager to transfer Wang Pu, an eye-catching embroidered pillow, away, so as soon as he arrived at the military order, he sent Wang Pu to Changling.

Wang Pu was very happy about this, and he didn't have to go to those soldiers every once in a while to eat the same coarse food. Zhang Dou was ordered by the Governor to guard the grain and grass, knowing that the responsibility was heavy, and after taking office, he never slept peacefully, for fear that some negligence would lead to serious consequences. He also learned to build slaves and dug ditches around the grain and pasture fields, but soon after the construction began, Abatai and Aobai quietly touched the camp. Before Abatai and Aobai divided their troops, they captured two Ming soldiers, and after interrogation, they learned that the Ming army had arranged archers around the grain and pasture fields, and also dug some traps at the gate of the wall. The two laughed: "Hong Chengchou is a little trick to deal with." “

Zhang Dou was patrolling the camp when he heard a cannon shot, and the sound of killing was everywhere. Zhang Douyin was already on guard and did not panic, he sneered and said, Sure enough, it's here, it's good, I will let you have no return tonight. He ordered the archers to prepare, and when he saw that Jiannu was in front of him, he gave an order: "Release!" "Three thousand arrows came in a volley. Unexpectedly, Jiannu had already prepared, and rushed in front with a shield in his hand to block the arrows, and the three thousand arrows turned into nothing. Zhang Dou was shocked and ordered to shoot again, but it still didn't work, and at this time Jiannu had rushed to the walled gate, Zhang Dou personally went into battle, and the two sides fought together.

When they heard the sound of cannons in front of them, they set fire to the fire, and when the hay met the flames, the flames rose into the air, and in an instant, the night sky was illuminated as day. Zhang Dou cried bitterly: "It's broken, the Tartars have set fire, go and put out the fire." ”

In the middle of the night, the Ming army did not know how many enemies there were, but they just heard the sound of killing and shook the sky, and the fire in the village soared into the sky. The soldiers with yellow flags in Ao Bai were brave one by one, and they rushed into the camp of the Ming army and rampage, it was like entering a no-man's land, and the Ming army was in a mess. Abatai in front of him released more than a dozen weak horses to the road, destroying all the traps dug by Zhang Dou, and the team quickly rushed to the center of the grain and pasture.

Seeing that Jiannu's attack was fierce, Wang Pu hurriedly left Zhang Dou and the grain and grass behind, and led about half of the defenders to retreat towards Songshan. I thought that I would join the army, and Jiannu would not dare to chase after me, right? The remaining Ming troops saw that the general trend was gone, and they put down their swords and guns and surrendered. Zhang Dou cried in despair: "Lord Hong, I am humble and incompetent, and I have failed your trust. He bowed to Songshan Castle, then stood up, shouted and rushed towards Jiannu, cutting down more than a dozen people in a row, and finally being shot by random arrows.

After Hong Chengchou inspected the camp, he was reviewing the important documents submitted by the staff, when Cao Bianjiao suddenly broke in: "Lord Governor, the big thing is not good, Jiannu is galloping a large number of men and horses from the northwest direction, and it is extending to the southwest corner, it seems that he wants to cut off the connection between us and Xingshan. ”

Hong Chengchou asked in surprise: "How many people are there?" ”

"At least twenty or thirty thousand."

Hong Chengchou put down the pen in his hand: "Let's go, go to the city and take a look." ”

When they reached the door, they saw the guards leading a group of men towards the governor's palace, covered in blood and some of their sleeves charred. Hong Chengchou was stunned: "There is no war today, where did the remnants of the defeated soldiers come from?" An ominous thought flashed in his mind: "It's not good, is there something wrong with Changling?" ”

This group of people came to Hong Chengchou and knelt down: "Lord Hong, Jiannu has broken through the Changling military camp, General Wang's troops have been defeated and retreated, and Lord Zhang Jianjun has been killed. ”

Hong Chengchou was stunned at the time, and it took a long time to say a sentence: "Wang Pu is bad for me." Hong Chengchou is now beginning to regret that he arranged Wang Pu in such an important position in order to be out of sight.

Cao Bianjiao saw that the Governor was shaking and persuaded: "My lord, let's go back to the Governor's Mansion to discuss countermeasures." ”

Hong Chengchou felt that his legs were weak at the moment, and every step he took was like stepping on cotton, where could he still get to the city: "Okay, go home." ”

Hong Chengchou didn't sleep all night, and now, he seems to have realized the reason why Yuan Chonghuan failed, and he realized that he was destined to fail. Because there are too many defensive loopholes like Changling in the Jiliao area, no matter where Huang Taiji chooses to break through, he may be caught off guard. Hong Chengchou hurriedly issued an order, and the whole army strengthened its vigilance to strictly prevent Jiannu from kicking the camp in the middle of the night

finally stayed up until dawn, Hong Chengchou didn't eat breakfast, so he led the general soldiers from all walks of life to the top of the city. He found that the Jiannu army was not coming, "Oops~~" Hong Chengchou's chest was stuffy, like a heavy hammer, "Jiannu must have gone to Beacon Mountain." ”

Beacon Hill is located in the western part of Liaoning Province, facing the Bohai Sea and adjacent to Jinzhou Port, with a total area of 8 square kilometers, including 4.72 square kilometers of land area and 3.28 square kilometers of sea area. The mountain has three peaks, two low and one high, shaped like a pen frame, so it is named; Between Beacon Hill and the north shore, there is a tidal pebble path, 1,620 meters long and 9 meters wide, commonly known as the "Sky Bridge". The "flyover" appears and disappears with the ebb and flow of the tide. At low tide, the sea slowly recedes to both sides, and the channel emerges from the sea; When the tide falls, the "flyover" is revealed, leading directly to Beacon Hill, where visitors can climb the sandstone road to the island or outlying islands. At high tide, the sea water strikes on the cobblestone passage from both sides, and when the tide is full, the "flyover" is completely hidden in the sea.

Jiannu is good at field warfare, not good at water warfare, and Hong Chengchou also knows that Jiannu's naval army in Liaodong was destroyed by Song Youliang not long ago, so he can rest assured that he will concentrate grain and grass on this Bijia Mountain, which has only one narrow passage. As long as the tide is high, the sea water becomes a natural barrier for Beacon Hill.

However, this was difficult for Azig, who was responsible for the sneak attack on Beacon Mountain, because he had a group of southern Liaoning traitors who surrendered to Jiannu. Among them, when Shang Kexi was under Mao Wenlong on Phi Island, he once cruised the Liaodong Islands. It's just that at that time, his mission was to find an opportunity to harass Jiannu, so he was familiar with the islands near Liaodong.

Shang Kexi said to Azig: "The flyover on Beacon Mountain seems to be dangerous, but in fact, as long as its tides are regular, you can climb the mountain smoothly. ”

Azig was overjoyed and hurriedly asked, "King Zhishun knows the tidal law of Beacon Mountain?" ”

"Of course!" Shang Kexi replied: "Today is the 25th of August, and the tide will begin to ebb from the third quarter of the Shen hour, and it will not be full again until about the third quarter of the next day. There were almost three hours in between. ”

"Hahaha~~ Three hours is too much, only one hour, this Wang Bao told the Southern Barbarians to cry and call their mothers." Azig laughed arrogantly, "Let's go, let's bypass the ass of the old thief Hong and go directly to kick his life!" ”