In October of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, the Qing soldiers entered the army for the fifth time.

At the beginning of October, Huang Taiji took Bel Abatai as the general and Turg as the general of Yangwu, led half of the eight banners of Manchuria, Mongolia and Han to join the Mongolian Karaqin and other departments of the outer domain, a total of more than 80,000 horsemen, and more than 20,000 people with miscellaneous services, totaling about 100,000, and entered the customs for the fifth time.

The Qing troops entered the pass on two wings, the left wing broke the boundary ridge pass north of Funing, and the right wing broke the Yellow Cliff Pass north of Jizhou. On the 10th, after the right wing soldiers attacked Huangyakou successfully, the two wings surrounded Jizhou and defeated the Ming general Bai Tengjiao and Bai Guangen.

At this time, the first assistant was Zhou Yanru, and said that the northern soldiers imported on the tenth day of the first month, Yanru did not believe it at the beginning, and said that the Pangsai general would be the grain storage and robbery of the farmer. On the eleventh and twelfth days, it was silent. On the morning of the 13th, some Jizhou refugees staggered in, saying that Xiaobaoding had fallen, and the brigade of Qing soldiers went south.

The one who raised his blade Chi Nan, the beasts and birds flew around the Jifu, and he was furious, saying that the side general was not enough, and there was nothing to rely on, and he hated the post even more, and the Tang newspaper was not sent, and the two strokes were in one town, and they were arrested and punished by the prison.

The Qing army entered the fortress in a big way, connecting Jizhou, Qian'an, Sanhe, and tending to Tongzhou, Jincheng and other places. Jingshi was under martial law, and Emperor Chongzhen urgently summoned soldiers from all over the country to help, and guarded the nine gates with the lords, and the eunuch Wang Chengen supervised the city guard.

In November, the Qing troops penetrated deep into the hinterland, Liankebazhou, Wen'an and other places, and marched in a straight line to Shandong.

When the news spread, the people were terrified, and the soldiers and civilians all fled.

The 100,000 Qing troops entered the Kou again, evoking the painful memories of many people.

Just a few years ago, 100,000 Qing troops swept into Kou Daming, and the slaughter was so tragic that three years later, it was still shocking. In particular, when the Qing army killed and captured Shandong, the stinking roads, the blood was accumulating, and the sound of crying was terrifying.

Now the Tartar soldiers are here again, and everywhere they pass, only pieces of soldiers are left with wolf smoke, and they are mourning all over the field. Although the Qing army did not arrive in Shandong, but in Pizhou and other places, refugees fleeing south could already be seen.

And the Qing army attacked very fast, the day will be 200 miles, the body is not unarmed, the saddle does not leave the horse, one day has trapped 26 cities, according to this speed, I am afraid that November, leap November can hit Shandong.

As the Qing soldiers got closer and closer, not to mention that there was a wave of refugees in Shandong, they were far away in Nanzhi, and many people were also worried.

Yang He paid close attention to the news of the Qing army's entry into the army, and he had been preparing for this day for a long time.

In October, the three-month recruit training came to an end, and at this time, the weapons were produced, and the two-type new an-gun had also made 1,800 strokes, and Yang He added the recruits to the various generals, and equipped the two-type new an-gun.

On 10 October, the 12 General Corps, First and Second Class Corps, began a two-month training and actual combat to suppress bandits. They took turns to train and rest, and their footprints were all over Pizhou, Haizhou, Xuzhou, and even some places in Shandong, making the bandits miserable.

In Yang He's plan, this is to let the recruits under his command carry out some low-intensity combat exercises, so that they can see the blood and get used to the use of breech flintlock pistols. While fighting to eliminate bandits, we can also plunder some wealth to supplement the military.

In addition to the actual combat training of the recruits, Yang He also inspected the military villages he cared about to ensure the future war of the Qing Dynasty to the greatest extent.

On the 5th day of the first month of November, in Suqian.

It was the time of the wind and snow, a group of cavalry came from Luoma Lake by boat, and entered the Mo River from the weir head, sailed for a certain distance, abandoned the boat at a wharf, and rushed to Zhongwu Village along the path.

There were about fifty or sixty horsemen in this group, all of them wearing thick cloaks, wearing iron armor inside, and the armor, arms, and hands were painted with red paint, and they looked very spiritual.

They also wear eight-petal hats and iron-tipped helmets, which are thick velvet on the inside and fine iron broken armor on the outside, keeping warm and protective. Each person holds the reins in his hand and gloves, and the ports are thick wool. Wearing a mask on his face, like a big warm ear mask on his face, it is really unique and sophisticated, which is different from people at this time.

The group galloped like a whirlwind in the wilderness, the leader was a young man under twenty years old, he was equipped with the same armor, but the cloak covered outside was mink fur black, and the eyes revealed outside the mask were deep, showing his unique identity, it was Yang He who went to Zhongwu Village to inspect.

Lian Fangzheng reported that several military villages he was responsible for, such as Zhongwu Village, Yuwang Village, Malingshan Tianyue Village, etc., were basically completed, and Yang He led his own guards, as well as some rotating officers of the corps to inspect.

They set off by boat from the west gate of Pizhou, went north along the Yi River, arrived at Canal Town, turned south along the canal, went all the way south to Luoma Lake, and then turned northeast to the Mo River.

At this time, the "Xindai Canal" was not excavated, and the original Mo River was not cut off, and it still flowed into Luoma Lake from the weir head. This river is deep and large, you can take a boat from the mouth of the river to the place where the later generations were cut off, a wharf was built here, there is a path to the newly built Zhongwu Village, walk more than ten miles to arrive. Or get off the boat at Zhangshan Wharf by Luoma Lake, and go north along the official road, you can also reach Zhongwu Village.

However, it is only during this time that the river and lake are already frozen, and after a while, or at the end of the month, or the beginning of the leap month, the river and lake will be completely frozen, and you will not be able to take the boat.

Everyone galloped along the path full of snow and ice, the cold wind howled, the cold northwest wind swept with goose feathers and snowflakes, and everyone was covered with snow in their helmets, and even the gloves that held the reins fell a thick layer of white. It's almost the wax moon, and the weather is getting colder and colder. Siye is silent and uninhabited, in the cold weather, almost no one goes out, the world is white, and the village figure in the distance cannot be seen.

After running east for a while, I saw the official road in front of me, the road from Huai'an and Suqian to Jingshi, and under the heavy snow, the official road had accumulated thick snow, like a winding white dragon. Not far from the east side of the official road, that is, more than 100 steps away, I saw a military village that looks like a mountain bag, and like a village shrouded in the wind and snow, it looks at a glance, it is very inconspicuous, it is one of the military villages set up by Yang River, and it is Zhongwu Village on the side of the Shu River.

Everyone hurried to the official road, although the snowflakes kept falling on them, on the cloaks, but all of them looked calm, lean and composed, showing strong discipline.

Yang He looked at it, and he originally instructed Lian Fangzheng to survey the site, and after Lian Fangzheng surveyed the surrounding area, he chose this place, and then built it according to the design draft of the two.

This clock Wuzhai is built on the river bank on a soil platform mountain bag, the soil platform is only two or three zhang high, the slope is slightly gentle, the top is flat and vast, just suitable. The whole military village is rectangular, about 100 steps long from north to south, about 60 steps wide from east to west, that is, 150 meters long from north to south, 90 meters wide from east to west, and an area of about 20 acres. The military village has two gates, the west gate and the east gate, the west gate is not far from the official road, the east gate is on the side of the Shu River, the whole military village is about three miles away from the Liujiazhuang Inspection Division.

Yang He looked carefully, he mainly looked at the west gate from this angle, the west wall at the north and south ends, and saw that this side was more unique, but the walls on both sides were inclined inward, and the appearance looked like a "figure eight". Then there is an opening road in the middle, there are about 20 steps wide, to this opening, the walls on both sides will go inward, the road bends with the shape of the wall, until about 15 steps into it, and the innermost is the west gate of the village. If the "concave" shape, the gate is in the concave.

At the same time, the walled wall here is divided into two ways, one on the slope, one on the top not far behind, the walled wall is not high, just a breast wall, it seems to be excavated and piled on the top of the slope.

Look at the walled wall on the slope, even the slope with the breast wall is only more than one zhang high, and the top wall, about two zhang high. Along the top of the two walled walls, there are two layers of sacks, which have a bit of the taste of later fortifications. But at this time, on the top of the slope, the two walls were white and covered with snow, but the specific situation could not be seen clearly.

In addition, there are also trenches dug under the slope, which seem to be several, diverting water from the Shu River, surrounding the stockade several times, leaving only a twenty-pace-wide road on the west gate, which needs to be seen closer.

The subordinates rode beside Yang He, and they also kept looking, this time with Yang He, in addition to a team of guards and captain Chen Qiuao, there were also Chinese officers Zhang Zhugong, first-class army generals Minister Yang, Luo Xianjue, Zhang Songtao and others. The various corps took turns to train and fight, but in the past few days, it was their turn to be on duty to rest, and Yang He brought a patrol.

At this time, one person lifted the mask, and hung it around his neck like a medical mask, but it was Minister Yang, and he said with great interest: "Look at this wall, it seems to be a bit similar to the trench in the ambush battle in Jingshan, and it is also up and down...... There are more breastworks here, and if two layers of guns are arranged, the sharpness of my Xin'an arms will be used...... Hehe, if the thieves come to attack, there will be a good show to watch. ”

Next to him was Luo Xianjue, who was still wearing a mask, staring at the village, and said angrily: "Not only that, there is a trench under the slope here, except in front of the door, you can't go anywhere else, if there are thieves to attack, you can only take this road...... Seeing that there are only twenty steps at this entrance, there are only a dozen people passing side by side, which is really crowded. When they enter, they have to bend in, and they can be beaten on both sides of the wall! I remembered that when the thieves' subordinates attacked Suining, Xianggong set up an ambush wall in the city gate, and after the thieves entered, they threw ash bottles on it, threw thousands of enemies, and beat firecrackers, and the thieves couldn't fight back just by being beaten, miserable, it was really like catching a turtle in an urn! ”

The two discussed, they joined the Xin'an Army for more than a year, and they also exercised out, and they could see the advantages of this Zhongwu Village at a glance.

Zhang Chugong and Zhang Songtao next to him also whispered, they looked at the village in front of them seemed to be inconspicuous, but they always felt that this kind of shape curved, the upper and lower walls of the wall, gave people an indescribable taste, it seemed to gather the advantages of "Jingshan ambush battle" and "Suining inner wall". And not only that, but what are the mysteries, you still need to look at them carefully.

Zhang Songtao thought more: "The walls on both sides are oblique figure-eight, and the upper and lower layers of gunners can fire sideways, so that the enemy is unable to defend themselves, and artillery can also be arranged at the two corners." ”

Chen Qiuao instructed a guard to go to inform first, and everyone went down the official road to the stockade, about fifty steps away, and sure enough, there was a trench arranged here, very deep and wide, about one zhang deep, one zhang wide, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, in the shape of "V". The ditch connected to the river, which came from the east and west ends, had sharp wooden thorns inside, and the front ends were roasted by fire, which was very hard and intimidating.

There were five such ditches, one almost every ten paces, and each of them was connected to the river, and came from the east and west sides to the west gate, leaving only a road twenty paces wide in the middle. The open space between each trench is also piled with soil, which is uneven and very inconvenient to walk. Especially now that it's snowing, if you pour water and freeze, it's even more slippery and you can't move. Otherwise, if you fall into the trench and be strung on it by wooden thorns, it will be really painful and penetrating.

Finally, look inside is a big ditch, more than one zhang wide, more than one zhang deep, not only in the ditch, the slope of the ditch are placed layer upon layer of red deer gland, along the curved wall wall all the way to the gate of the wall, the red deer is sharp, as if to choose people and devour.

Everyone looked at it and couldn't help but think: "I heard that this village was designed by Yang Xianggong?" Sure enough...... No, sinister! ”