Chapter 144: Set off to meet the enemy

Leaving these passionate employees, Zhang Zhimu and Lu Chengxiang returned to Zhang Zhimu's room.

Lu Chengxiang said: "Mr. Zhang's words made me mumble for a month. Look at everyone's energetic efforts, one by one, you let them go to the sky to pick the moon, and they dare to go. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Mr. Lu, you have to keep an eye on this matter in Zhangjiakou." Our kiln is a haven for production and scientific research, but if we want to engage in trade, we have to be this Zhangjiakou. We have Zhangjiakou and Yangzhou, two bases in the north and south, and we can make our business bigger. Next year's task is to extend our trade route further south, from Quanzhou to Guangzhou. ”

Lu Chengxiang said: "I know that this world can't hold your heart, and your heart is bigger than the sky." However, it is further to Guangzhou, and we have not yet found a better trade route. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "I will not do anything when I go back this time, but also build a steamship, and at that time we will enter the sea from the mouth of the Yellow River and take the sea route, no matter what wind blows, we will not be afraid." Waterway transport is the most efficient, the least expensive and the most capacious. ”

Zhang Zhimu made Mr. Lu excited with a few words, "That's a good feeling, but it's too sinful to take a sea boat, and I'm afraid." ”

Zhang Zhimu said with a smile: "I'm also scared, but it's good to get used to it." ”

Now all the goods that have not been bought and sold have been transported to the city. Fortunately, the yards of the two seized intelligence stations were not small, and no one came to fight for this property right, and the Zhangjiakou branch even moved in with people.

The goods to be carried away have been transported outside the city and bundled, and the long convoy and camel caravan have been assembled and are waiting for tomorrow's departure. Zhang Zhimu and Chen Yufeng came to the garrison yamen to say goodbye to Li Qing. After a short relationship, Li Qing and Zhang Zhimu really couldn't bear to break up. Li Qing knew that Zhang Zhimu was going to fight against the Manchu Iron Cavalry when he left, which was a matter of life and death, Li Qing said very emotionally: "This time, Zhang Dongjia must take care of himself, it is not easy to have a close friend this year, I still want to have a relationship with you for a few more years." ”

Zhang Zhimu also said: "Master Li, you are about to leave Zhangjiakou." The importance of this Zhangjiakou to the Ming Dynasty cannot be overstated. You must explain more to the new garrison. ”

Li Qing said: "The new garrison is also our friend in the capital, I will explain your affairs to him in detail." As for the defense of Zhangjiakou, don't worry, I don't dare to slack off here, and the newcomers don't dare to do so. In particular, the last time we burned the corpses of the Qing soldiers, it greatly raised the morale of the soldiers and civilians. Now the defenders of Zhangjiakou were not so afraid of the Qing army, and their morale was available. ”

Since the first stop was not far from Huai'an, the departure time was not too early, Zhang Zhimu still lived in the city, and the children of the four families also lived in Zhangjiakou with Zhang Zhimu for one night. In the past few days, the children's mood has stabilized a lot, Yang Yulin's body has gradually recovered, and she has also spent a lot of time introducing them to the situation in the kiln. The children knew that they would be taken to the kiln, and they were already full of yearning for the kiln. When Zhang Zhimu told them that tonight was the last night of their stay in Zhangjiakou and that they were going to leave for Yaogang tomorrow, the children were in a very complicated mood. There is not only the melancholy of leaving, but also the yearning for a new life in Yaogang. After breakfast, Zhang Zhimu and his entourage went out of the city gate and came to the inn where Liu Yun and they lived. At this time, the caravan outside the city had been packed up and was waiting for them.

Zhang Zhimu and Chen Yufeng and the others touched each other and saw that everything was ready. Zhang Zhimu said let's go.

It was also Liu Chenghuang who came from Lingshui Pier with twenty musketeers in front of him, and although he lost the opportunity to go south, he was still very happy that he finally had the opportunity to serve as a striker.

The caravan then started slowly, Lu Chengxiang sat in a car with Zhang Zhimu this time, the inside and outside of the car were wrapped in leather and a small charcoal stove was lit, and the car was still very warm. , Afraid of gas poisoning, Zhang Zhimu opened the window from time to time to ventilate.

In order to cover people's eyes and ears, Zhang Zhimu and the caravan walked all the way, and when they reached the Yanghe, they did not cross the Yanghe River, but turned to the southeast and advanced along the official road in the direction of Beijing. Lu Chengxiang's caravan crossed the Yanghe River and headed for Huai'an.

When they broke up, Zhang Zhimu didn't dare to look at Yang Yulin's eyes. Yang Yulin insisted on following Zhang Zhimu south, saying that her own body was fine. Zhang Zhimu finally persuaded her. She asked Yang Jing not to leave Zhang Zhimu even a step, Yang Jing said, "Sister, don't worry." With me, Mr. Zhang will be fine. ”

In this way, Yang Yulin reluctantly agreed to return to the kiln with Lu Chengxiang. This time, Zhang Zhimu and the others almost rode two each, and they also carried forty steel spring carriages. The four-wheeled carriage brought two. The carriage was lightly loaded, and there was an extra set of horses. In this way, the march can be very fast.

Since the official roads were taken after this turnaround, the road conditions were good, and the road was very smooth. In order to hurry, Zhang Zhimu's team was fast and whipped along the way, although Zhang Zhimu took a steel spring carriage, and the road was also bumpy. It turned out that Zhang Zhimu wanted to leave earlier, so that he didn't have to rush too much. However, Ouyang He and Chen Yufeng disagreed, they said that this way can be more hidden, there will definitely be Manchu and Mongolian informants in Zhangjiakou, and the intelligence station we cracked is too obvious, it will not be the highest level of secrecy.

In this way, it was not until the evening that Zhang Zhimu and the others rushed to the outside of the new security city in Huailai. Huai has been known as the Saibei thoroughfare since ancient times, which is only 100 miles away from Zhangjiakou and only 200 miles away from Beijing. This is also the contact point for Li Jing.

As soon as they arrived at the campsite, Li Zhi's people spread out and went to contact Li Jing's people. One of the two four-wheeled carriages heading south this time was Li Zhi, and their mission was to provide intelligence support. Zhang Zhimu, Chen Yufeng, and Ouyang He were sitting in a car.

It wasn't until the second half of the night that Li Zhi found Li Jing's people and brought them over. It turned out that the two sides had agreed to meet here today, but Li Jing's people didn't expect Zhang Zhimu and them to come back so late, and now because the Qing army entered the customs and made people panic, they were afraid that they would be arrested so late and be arrested by the Ming army as spies. So they didn't dare to get too close to the new security city, they hid in their sleeping bags and found someone looking around, so they got up and got in touch.

Li Jing sent back the news that he had found Li Zhi's liaison office outside Beijing. Meng Si'er had already led people south to investigate the situation.

It turned out that after Meng Si'er left Zhangjiakou with people, he came to the outside of Beijing, and Yan Xing's informant outside Beijing was a guy from a big inn, and this guy was very shrewd. After hearing Meng Si'er's intention, he said, "Otherwise, this is the case, the business of the inn is not good now." We spent some money and bought a ready-made inn, so that we would all settle down. I'm familiar with the situation here, and everything else will be easy. ”

As soon as Meng Si'er heard the reason, he took down an inn in the name of this guy and asked this guy to come forward as the shopkeeper. So that the personnel are all settled. Meng Si'er also began to arrange people to go around to understand the situation, and now it is much easier to wait for Li Jing to bring someone over. But what he didn't expect was that Li Jing and the others never came, and Meng Si'er had gone through some things, and he wasn't too anxious. He felt that Li Jing must have something to do if he didn't come over now, anyway, the family wouldn't send them out and wouldn't care.

When Meng Si'er heard that the Qing army had entered the customs, he knew that this was a big deal, so he arranged the affairs of the inn, and took the two people that Li Zhi dug out from Li Jing to go south to investigate the situation.

As soon as Zhang Zhimu discussed with Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He, let's wait for Meng Si'er's news, and there is no need to rush too much to the next trip to Beijing, just two days.

In fact, Zhang Zhimu still understands this period of history, according to historical records, the Qing army's march route should be to occupy Jixian County and then move south to occupy Yongqing, Bazhou, Hejian, Hengshui, and then attack Shandong. However, Zhang Zhimu didn't know where the Qing army had arrived now, and he couldn't show an uncertain prophet in front of Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He. But it's still right to go in this direction.

Zhang Zhimu and they traveled all the way in the cold wind, needless to say the hardships of the march. But Emperor Chongzhen in the Forbidden City, although he is clothed and fed, is even more uncomfortable. He knew that every time the Qing army entered the customs and went around, it would bring great losses. What he just doesn't understand is that the army raised by the Ming Dynasty with so much silver every year is vulnerable. But the same person, how did the merchant Zhang Zhimu destroy the Mongol cavalry again and again, and then destroy the Manchu cavalry. This world is for Zhang Zhimu, as long as I can see him defeat the Mongol army and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, I can breathe a sigh of relief.

It turned out that when the prince brought the prisoners and the money back to the capital, the whole city shook. The Ming Dynasty hasn't had anything to make people happy for a long time. Hearing that the prince had come back with a prisoner, Emperor Chongzhen was the first to recruit the prince in and asked him how he was doing. Wang Gonggong carefully talked about how Zhang Zhimu solved the affairs of these four families in Zhangjiakou. What Chongzhen didn't expect was that there were two families who were willing to pay silver, so Zhang Zhimu finally made four families pay silver, which was four million taels of silver at once. This silver can solve the problem of the boss. In addition, the four raided houses also got back a total of hundreds of thousands of taels, it seems that Zhang Zhimu's view of the dead horse is too accurate and thorough, he is really a genius. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten that money back.

Chongzhen asked the prince, "Have you seen this Zhang Zhimu, what kind of person is he?" ”

This prince is also a human spirit, he did not answer Chongzhen's question, but said: "The old slave has something that must be reported to the emperor." ”

Chongzhen glanced at him and said, "Say it quickly!" ”

Wang Gonggong said: "This Zhang Zhimu is very intelligent, but there is one thing. The old slave was a little puzzled, when my subordinates helped Zhang Zhimu to check these four families, Zhang Zhimu took advantage of my absence to secretly get a few of the little cubs of these families. When I knew, I saw that he was doing things for the emperor, and I was afraid that it would affect a big matter, so I didn't ask him about it. But the old slave knew that he had to come back and tell the emperor about it. If the emperor wants to cut down the grass and eradicate the roots, I will do it. ”

When Chongzhen heard that there was such a thing, this Zhang Zhimu was too bold, but when he thought about it again, he was happy, and said: "This Zhang Zhimu is too kind-hearted and has no imperial heart!" This matter will be stopped, and no further information will be allowed to be spoken. ”

The prince knew that the emperor was relieved of Zhang Zhimu through this matter. This emperor thinks about problems, and he is really different from ordinary people. This Zhang Zhimu's luck is too good, whatever happens to him, bad things are also good things.

Wang Gonggong said again: "This Zhang Zhimu, knowing that the Manchu Qing Dynasty has entered the customs, he decided not to go back to the kiln gang first, he wants to go south to touch these Manchu miscellaneous pieces." ”

Chongzhen was also shocked when he heard this, and said: "He didn't have a few thousand people to dare to touch these hundreds of thousands of Qing soldiers, isn't he crazy." Why don't you persuade him? ”

The prince said, "Where can I persuade me?" Who is he Zhang Zhimu! ”

However, Chongzhen was worried, but he was also very relieved that someone finally dared to take the initiative to resist the Qing Dynasty at a critical time. Although this Zhang Zhimu's strength is still too weak. Seeing Chongzhen so worried about Zhang Zhimu, Wang Gonggong said: "Zhang Zhimu said that he would not go to the Qing army to fight hard, he said that he would entangle these Qing troops and wait for the Ming army to come and destroy them." He also said that if he doesn't go now, wait for those Ming army masters, I don't know what happened to the people who have been harmed? ”

Chongzhen thought about it, yes, this Zhang Zhimu is definitely not a reckless man, he will definitely have a way to protect himself. His worries are also reasonable, these Ming troops are afraid of the war, and they will try their best to delay. This Zhang Zhimu has seen everything clearly.

But this Zhang Zhimu's amount is still too weak, and I don't know how much effect he can play.

Seeing Chongzhen's worries, the prince lost no time in saying: "Your Majesty, the old slave wants to ask you for war, and I want to lead my Jinyi guard out to help this Zhang Zhimu."

Chongzhen thought that this was a good way, so he said: "Okay, you are allowed to go and cooperate with Zhang Zhimu, but you are not allowed to fight hard." ”

When the prince heard this, he was overjoyed and turned to leave. Chongzhen shouted: "Come back, let me ask you, I heard that you also asked Zhang Zhimu's carriage to come back, is there such a thing?" ”

When the prince heard this, he said in his heart: "How can this emperor know everything?" ”

Busy said: "Oh, wronged." The emperor is like this. Zhang Zhimu's kiln can produce a kind of steel spring carriage, he let the old slave to Beijing when it is fine, pull the car to turn around in Beijing, you said that Zhang Zhimu helped us do such a big thing, he begged me for such a thing, can I not agree? ”

Chongzhen was amused when he heard it, and said: "This Zhang Zhimu is really a businessman, I see needles everywhere, and my business has been done." Hehe! ”

The prince saw that Chongzhen was happy, and hurriedly said, "Oh, I actually said this." I forgot all the gifts that Zhang Zhimu asked me to bring to the emperor, so I sent them over immediately. ”

After a while, the prince asked someone to come over with a box. Chongzhen said: "Open it and see what good things this Zhang Zhimu will bring to me?" ”

Wang Gonggong hurriedly opened the lid of the box, took out a mirror wrapped in silk from it, slowly opened the silk, and then turned the mirror at Chongzhen, Chongzhen also jumped all of a sudden. When Chongzhen really saw clearly that he was a real person in the mirror, Chongzhen said: "I said that what Zhang Zhimu gave me must not be an ordinary thing." ”

Chongzhen saw that there were still things in the box and asked, "What else?" ”

The prince said, "There are also mirrors, three in all." It's just that the size of the frame decoration is different. ”

Chongzhen said, "Okay. Put the stuff here, you go down first. The prince turned and went down.

It turned out that Chongzhen saw these good things and thought of the harem.

After Zhang Zhimu and the others arrived in the west of Beijing, they found a small mountain village, sealed off the entry and exit of the village, and became addicted to hiding in the village. Fortunately, it is already cold now, and there are not many people coming in and out of a small mountain village.

Zhang Zhimu informed the liaison office outside Beijing and told them that Meng Si'er would come to see him as soon as he returned.

After waiting here for more than a day, Meng Si'er came. After being polite, Meng Si'er told him what he knew.

Meng Si'er and the three of them traveled all the way south, and soon encountered a wave of refugees. They faced the direction of the refugees, and soon encountered the towns and villages that had been burned and plundered by the Qing army, and they were miserable along the way. In the end, they caught up with the Qing army and did not dare to approach it from a distance. Now the Qing army has conquered Yongqing and Bazhou, and I heard that it is now attacking Hejian.

Li Zhi said: "I am familiar with this area, and the next Qing army will attack my hometown Hengshui by the way." ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Since we know their direction, we won't wait, and now we will catch up immediately." ”

Li Zhi said: "I am familiar with it when I get here, and I will lead the way in front." Meng Si'er hurried back, leaving those who stayed in Beijing behind, and the others returned to the team. ”

A little bit of a team,; Li Zhi and Li Jing took the special forces to open the road in front and drove all the way to the south. Many of the people on the road were fleeing, and these people felt that Zhang Zhimu's team was very strange, they were not officers and soldiers, but they were galloping in the direction of the battlefield. Even the officers and soldiers can run, so are they going to die?

After two days of chasing, I finally caught up with the river. The defenders of the river were still very tenacious, and the city of the river was never breached.

However, where Zhang Zhimu and the others passed along the way, there were dead bodies everywhere on the roadside. All the towns and villages on both sides of the road were set on fire, and the villages were full of miserable people who had died of misery, women and children who had been stripped of their clothes, and piles of victims.

The Qing army killed and plundered all the way in front, and the young men who were captured behind them drove the carriage to pull their "booty", which included gold and silver, as well as young women.

What made Zhang Zhimu look at the tightness in his chest was that the Qing army swaggered all the way, escorting their spoils, and did not arrange many guards and soldiers. Waiting for Li Jing in front to come back on horseback, reporting that the Qing army had been found in front, Zhang Zhimu asked the team to stop.

Li Jing said: "In front is the baggage rear of the Qing army, all gathered in a small valley. ”

The place between the rivers was named because there were nine rivers around it. There are no high mountains around, and the Qing army did not plan to camp here for too long, so they thought that they would plunder the river, so they continued to advance, so the baggage team behind them also found such a sheltered small valley to camp temporarily, they felt that those Han people like cotton sheep did not dare to attack them, and the Ming army could run long ago.

Ouyang He said: "Now is a godsend, we will take advantage of their carelessness and rob them of their baggage." When they find out, they will inevitably pursue. Then we planted ** in this valley and waited for them. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "In their baggage team, there are few soldiers in custody, but there are many young and strong people who have been robbed, if they attack at night, because they can't distinguish between them, they will inevitably kill many young and strong, so it is better for us to have a good rest tonight, and when it is dawn in the morning, when they have breakfast, they will take advantage of their unpreparedness and kill them." After the people sent someone to block the pursuers, and after the baggage team was escorted away, they were immediately buried. ”

Li Wei interjected: "After the burial, just expose the fire twist to the outside, and we will use the fire oil mine to ignite and detonate." ”

Chen Yufeng said that Li Jing would have to work hard tonight and touch the situation around her again.

Now Zhang Zhimu and they are facing a problem, that is, what to do after these heavy trucks are snatched out?

Chen Yufeng said: "Send someone to escort it back to Yaogang." ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "It is estimated that they can have several thousand trucks and tens of thousands of personnel. How many people do you need to escort it? ”

Ouyang He said: "Don't be afraid, these people all survived by nine deaths, and they may not die when they follow the Manchu Dynasty, after they come out, they will make it clear to them, as long as they follow us to the kiln, they will all follow us, as long as we send one or two hundred people to lead the way." It's just that this time the captives can't be wanted. Fortunately, their cars are full of heavy materials, which can also be used as materials to keep out the cold when they arrive at the kiln. Otherwise, the family can't stand it. ”

Liu Yun said: "When the time comes, I will send 200 people from the infantry to escort them back, and it should be no problem." But you have to think about bringing all their tents back, otherwise you won't have a place to stay when you go back to the kiln. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Liu Yun is careful, right, the person who went back last time was busy at home, and it was finally arranged." ”

Until midnight, Li Jing's men came back one after another, and they also brought back a few prisoners. Only two of these captives were Manchu soldiers and three were Han Banner soldiers. After asking, I learned that there were only 1,000 Manchu Qing banner troops and 3,000 Han banner troops in total. There are more than 10,000 carriages, more than 10,000 young and strong people, and more than 5,000 women. It's just a baggage camp for them.

According to Li Jing's investigation, Zhang Zhimu drew a sketch. Arrange for Liu Chenghuang to lead 200 musketeers to occupy the small mountain pass leading to the direction of Hejian, block the reinforcements on the mountain, Li Wei led people to cooperate with crossbow mines, Liu Yun and Yang Jing respectively led a team of musketeers and newly built cavalry mixed teams to rush into the camp and destroy the defenders as soon as possible.

Then Liu Chenghuang selected two people who came with Lingshui Wharf and asked them to take 200 people to escort these baggage back to Yaogang. These two people also followed Zhang Zhimu from the south to the north, and felt that it was a great honor to be able to take on this important responsibility, and they both said that they must bring the team back.

Finally, the person who buried ** was designated, because the ground was now a little frozen, and thought of some ways, if the ground really couldn't be dug up, hide ** in the discarded debris. Li Wei said that as long as the fire twist is exposed, it is enough to use fire oil to mine.

In the end, Zhang Zhimu said ruthlessly: "If there are too many things, you can't transport them all, just burn the rest." ”

Before dawn, Zhang Zhimu let everyone have a good meal, because after the war, he didn't know when the next hot meal would be eaten.

Before dawn, Zhang Zhimu's people from all walks of life were already in place. As soon as the sky was bright, Li Jing's special forces dispatched first. They got rid of all the outposts on the perimeter.

Originally, everyone who joined Li Jing's team would have done this, but after arriving at Li Jing's team, everyone communicated with each other without reservation, learned from each other's strengths, and finally selected some different methods to adopt in different situations. These solutions may not look great, but they can be very practical. It's easy to deal with these swaggering sentinels in these ways. These sentinels are dead and don't know how.

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By the way, I recommend "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty", similar to this article, it is also a "technology flow" through the novel, but it takes place in the Southern Song Dynasty, Yashan, Anti-Yuan, Restoration, and European World Wars.