"Come in!"

The Mongolian soldiers appeared on the front line of the Great Wall, but Jiang Youguang's main men and horses were concentrated near Xuanhua, and they could be outflanked at any time, which made his heart very sensitive.

A personal soldier came in, knelt down on one knee and said, "General, someone in the city shot a secret letter, which was picked up by the brothers on patrol and sent over, and asked the general to look at it!" ”

As he spoke, he took out a letter rolled on the half-cut arrow and presented it to Jiang Youguang, who hurriedly took it, took down the letter, and threw the half-arrow aside.

He unfolded the letter, and couldn't help but look at it as he walked, and the look on his face changed from doubt to excitement.

"Good!" After reading the letter, Jiang Youguang was immediately overjoyed, he crumpled the letter paper into a ball with one hand, raised his arms and shouted, "Quick, beat the drum and gather the generals, gather the righteous heads of all departments, and go to the general's account to discuss the siege plan!" ”

When the soldiers heard the order, they were busy holding their fists to receive the order, and after a while, the three drums sounded, and a group of generals and leaders of the rebel army who were restrained by Jiang Youguang gathered in the big tent of the Chinese army.

Among the rebels who came to help in the war, many of them were from the fortresses along the Great Wall, and the Mongols appeared outside the Great Wall.

They were worried that the Mongols would attack their forts, so some of them were already discouraged, and many even wanted to return to their forts.

It is precisely because of this that Jiang Youguang is so anxious, he is worried that as soon as these rebels leave, he can only retreat to Datong, and when the time comes, there will be insufficient money and food, and he will not be able to call on the rebels, and it will be difficult for him to resist the Manchu counterattack.

The soldiers and horses of the Jiang family can really control are more than 50,000 people who have died, and if they want to fight against the Manchus, they still have to let the Zhulu Righteous Army cheer up.

In this way, the defeat of Xuanhua is of great significance to the Northern Route Army, not only can they get money and food, but also take the righteous army to win such a battle, they can also gain enough prestige and become a veritable leader of the anti-Qing League.

Jiang Xiang's original plan was to go out in three ways, taking advantage of the fact that the Manchus did not react, to disrupt Hebei and quickly expand the influence of the anti-Qing Dynasty, but now it seems that the Qing army has stabilized its position.

In terms of strength comparison, Jiang Xiang's main force against the Qing Dynasty is only Datong Town after all, and the rest depends on the righteous army, and the army must still have a certain gap with the Manchu Qing Dynasty in terms of combat power.

Now it seems that the disturbance of Hebei has not been realized, and the reinforcements of the Qing army have arrived, so the anti-Qing forces in Shanxi will inevitably change from attack to defense, waiting for the response of the Ming Dynasty in the south.

It's hard to say about the other two roads, at least in the north of Jin because the Mongols went south, Jiang Youguang will definitely turn to the defense and rectify the rebels.

The land of Xuanda is just wrapped by two Great Walls, Jiang Youguang wants to defend, the best thing is to take Xuanhua, and then use the Great Wall as the line of defense to protect the Xuanda area.

Seeing that many generals had arrived, Jiang Youguang said directly: "I believe everyone has received the news that the Mongols are heading south. If we turn around now to defend against the Mongols, the Qing army in Xuanhua City will inevitably attack our backs, and everyone will be in danger of being attacked by the enemy on their backs. ”

The leader of the rebel army in the tent, talking about it, Jiang Youguang is telling the truth, if the Qing army in Xuanhua makes trouble from behind and acts as the internal response of the Mongols, then the Great Wall will definitely not be able to stop the Mongols.

Jiang Youguang walked a few steps under the gaze of everyone, and then fixed his body to scan the crowd: "So, we must first pull out Xuanhua City!" Pass on the general's order, the first to break through the city gate, or climb the city wall, a reward of 1,000 taels of silver, the army into the city, the money and grain of the treasury, the shops and warehouses of the Jin merchants, the general and the rebel army of seven or three! Everyone, get ready, tomorrow morning, resume the siege! ”

The army has been preparing for half a month, and what Jiang Youguang said is very reasonable, and he has a heavy reward, and all the troops are ready to take Xuanhua City first tomorrow.

When night falls, there is a large and two small outside the city, and in the three military camps, the lights are bright, the camp is crowded, the voices of the people are boiling, and a large number of craftsmen and soldiers are busy installing the siege equipment.

The Qing army in the city also discovered the movement of the rebels outside the city, looking at this posture, they knew that there must be a big battle tomorrow, and the Qing army in the city also lit torches, and prepared thunder stones and rolling wood overnight, and other defensive equipment.

The Qing soldiers at the head of the city were busy for a while, and the shopkeeper of the Fan family, in order to boost morale, directly carried the silver to the city, and shouted loudly: "The movements are all sharp, Lord Fan said, anyone who helps the Qing Dynasty defend the city will be rewarded with ten taels of silver..."

This night, both in the city and in the city, are destined to not be able to sleep peacefully.

Among the three large camps outside the city, the one in the north of the city was composed of 5,000 rebels, and their main composition was the people of the border forts along the Great Wall.

The military defense system of the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty consisted of city walls, passes, castles, etc. The Great Wall stretches for thousands of miles, and it is guarded by land. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Liaodong, Xuanfu, Datong, Yansui and other towns were set up, in addition to these important towns, there were thousands of forts.

These forts were garrisoned, ranging from tens to hundreds, and they usually cultivated the land, and when the Mongols invaded, they retreated into the fort to defend it.

Most of them belonged to the guards, and they were generally self-sufficient, did not pay taxes to the imperial court, and the imperial court rarely gave them supplies, only requiring them to play a little role in defending against the Mongols.

After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, these Ming Dynasty guards were naturally abolished, and part of the army was incorporated into the green camp, and the rest cultivated and paid taxes like ordinary people, becoming the object of exploitation by the Manchu Dynasty.

These 5,000 men and horses are all the original citizens of the guard, and they have basically received a certain degree of training, and many of them are men in their thirties and forties, and even former guards.

Therefore, although their combat strength is not as good as that of Datong's elite soldiers, they are stronger than the ordinary rebel army, and they are one of the main forces to attack the city tomorrow.

Outside the city, 30,000 horses, Jiang Youguang's 3,000 elite cavalry and 7,000 infantry troops will naturally not join the battle at the beginning, so the main force to attack the city tomorrow is 20,000 righteous troops.

The army besieged Xuanhua for a month, and had attacked several times before, but now it has been preparing for half a month, and each department is relatively clear about its own tasks.

Jiang Youguang handed over the task of attacking the city to the battalions, and the leaders of the battalions convened the leaders, clarified the tasks, conveyed them layer by layer, and refined the division of labor.

In a military tent in Beiying, a middle-aged man in his forties with a scar on his face beckoned his men in his twenties to gather around.

The middle-aged man's name is Wang Dou, who was originally a general banner of Shunxiang Fort in Baoan Prefecture, Xuanfu Town, and after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, he became an honest farmer.

This time, the Qing army searched very fiercely for the southern expedition, which caused dissatisfaction among the people in the instantaneous township fort.

After Jiang Xiang rebelled against the Qing Dynasty, Jiang Youguang entered the Xuanfu, and his old boss, Chen Du, the original garrison of Baozhou, killed the officials of the Qing court and called on everyone to fight against the Qing Dynasty together, so he took more than 20 young men in the fort to follow.

He was old and used to be the general banner of the Ming Dynasty, so he naturally became the leader of this group of men.

"As mentioned above, whoever is the first to attack the city will be rewarded with 1,000 silver, and with this silver, our Shunxiang Fort will be better this year." Wang Dou took his knife and touched the edge of the knife with his hand, "When you get the reward, you can buy a few cars of face in Xuanhua, pull a few pieces of cloth and send them back to the fort, and then think of replacing you with new armor, loading firearms, and equipping all the men in the fort, so that our Shunxiang Fort will have the ability to protect itself, and we can also make a name for ourselves in the rebel army!" ”

More than 20 men, when they heard him say this, they all thought of it, a thousand taels of silver, and they had never seen it in their lives.

"Uncle, don't worry, we will be the first to kill the city tomorrow!" A young man under twenty said excitedly.

Wang Dou inserted the knife back into the scabbard, stood up and looked at the young men in the tent, and commanded in a deep voice: "Tomorrow, Lord Chen will be ordered to attack the northern city, we are the first wave, when attacking the city, the hook of the ladder must be hooked." According to what I handed over to you before, Wang Bin and Wang Jing followed me, and the four brothers of your family followed closely on Tuesday, and the rest of the people should not be in a hurry to climb, and do not shoot indiscriminately, and then shoot when they see it, don't let the Qing soldiers in the city hit us with rolling wood and thunder stones, cover with bows and arrows and birds, and strive for the shortest time to go to the city, and earn the reward. ”

The people in the tent are all from the same castle, they have known each other for many years, they have grown up together, and they have some tacit understanding, they looked at Wang Dou one by one, listened to his orders, and then nodded heavily.

Wang Dou said, becoming serious, "There will definitely be casualties tomorrow, I brought you out, so if we get the reward, the dead and disabled can rest assured, I, Wang Dou, will definitely hand over what you deserve to your family, and there will never be a penny less, but if someone doesn't give me a long face tomorrow, and his legs are weak in battle, and he drags us back, then I won't give him a penny of silver, and let the fathers and elders in the castle know that his family can't raise their heads!" ”

"Uncle Wang, can't you still trust us? The year before last, more than a dozen Tartars came to the fort to plunder, have we ever coaxed it? A man laughed.

Wang Dou nodded, more satisfied, walked over and patted the man's shoulder, "Okay, if Uncle dies tomorrow, you will take over the command!" After getting the silver reward, remember to make new clothes for your aunt. ”

After speaking, he waved his hand, "It's not early, everyone hurry up and rest, recuperate enough, and grab the first prize tomorrow morning." ”

Everyone was excited, but they were a little nervous in their hearts, they listened to Wang Dou's words, and hurriedly dispersed, while some packed up their things, found good people, and explained to each other, in case of death, they would send the things they packed back to his family.

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(End of chapter)