At the end of March, Ningyuan City.

"Taifu, Jiannu has laid down a heavy army at the beacon post between Ningyuan and Tashan, and he has sent troops to attack twice but has returned in vain."

In Ningyuan City, Wu Sangui, the chief soldier of Ningyuan, introduced the current situation to Li Hongyu in the council hall, and the Qing army deployed 30,000 or 40,000 troops at Bijia Gang, firmly blocking the retreat of the Ming army in the Songjin area to the south.

Speaking of which, six of the eight general soldiers led by Hong Chengchou successfully escaped from the encirclement and interception of the Qing army, and only Cao Bianjiao, the general soldier of Yutian, and Wang Tingchen, the general soldier of the Qiantun guard, stayed in Songshan to hold on.

Now, Wu Sangui guards his base camp Ningyuan, and the remaining five general soldiers have retreated to Shanhaiguan, and some people only have a few personal soldiers left, looking extremely embarrassed.

If it was left in the past, then Wu Sangui and other six general soldiers would definitely be executed by the imperial court, but now is the time to employ people, and many of the troops in Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan are subordinates of Wu Sangui and other six people, so in order to avoid causing turmoil in the army, the imperial court can only turn a blind eye and wait for the general account after the war.

It was precisely because of this that Wu Sangui was able to defend Ningyuan and repelled a tentative attack by the Qing army, and since then the Qing army has never come to harass, but has stuck to the beacon post.

Wu Sangui once sent people to feint to attack the Bijia post twice, but they all returned in defeat, and it was difficult for the demoralized Ming army to defeat the morale-like Qing army in field operations.

Since then, Wu Sangui can only wait for the reinforcements of the imperial court in Ningyuan, and he never expected that the person who led the army to help this time turned out to be the famous Li Taifu.

The shadow of the so-called famous tree, Li Hongyu's arrival made the lifeless Ningyuan City immediately full of vitality, morale is high, in the eyes of the soldiers, Li Hongyu, who has twice turned the tide and defeated Jin, is the nemesis of the Qing army, and if Li Hongyu is in charge, the Qing army will be like a grasshopper after the autumn for a few days.

After listening to Wu Sangui's introduction, Li Hongyu looked at the map hanging on the wall with a serious expression, thinking about the next plan of action, Wu Sangui and other generals bowed to the side and did not dare to breathe, for fear of disturbing Li Hongyu.

"Songshan has been broken, Jinzhou City may not be spared, Zu Dashou has insisted for two years and has reached the end of the strong crossbow Nine times out of ten will surrender to the enemy, so that Jiannu will put the main force in the siege of Xingshan City in the south of Songshan, and the south of Tashan City Jiannu will have much less troops."

Under the concerned gaze of everyone, Li Hongyu pondered for a while, stretched out his hand and pointed to the beacon post on the map and said, "The beacon post is south of Tashan, as long as we break through the beacon post, then we can solve the siege of Tashan!" ”

"Breach the pen stand?" Wu Sangui was slightly stunned when he heard this, he had led the army to attack the beacon post twice, but the result was that it was crushed at the touch of a button, and it was not easy to defeat the beacon post guarded by 30,000 or 40,000 Qing troops!

The generals of the Ming army outside the Guanwai who were present all showed stunned expressions and looked at each other, they had never thought that they would be able to capture the beacon post.

The generals of the forbidden army showed excited expressions on their faces, and they were eager to try, this was the first opportunity to make meritorious contributions after leaving the customs.

"If Ben Taifu guessed correctly, the ambush at the beacon post was the Eight Banners of the Han Army of Jiannu, although they were all shaved and braided, but they were out-and-out Han people, much easier to deal with than the Jurchens and Mongols."

Li Hongyu was stunned when he saw Wu Sangui and the generals of the Ming army outside the Guan, so he glanced around at the scene and said in an orderly manner, "Now, the Jiannu of the Beacon Post didn't know that Ben Taifu was leading the army to come, and he wouldn't have thought that we would attack the Beacon Guard, so it gave us a chance to take it by surprise." ”

Since Sun Chengzong governed the Guanjin defense line, the Ming army has attached great importance to the prevention of Later Jin spies, because since then, it has been difficult for the Jin and even the current Manchu Qing to obtain military intelligence as easily as before, and it is impossible for the Qing army at Bijia Post to know the news of the arrival of the Ming army.

"Taifu, you give the order, the lowly is willing to be the front." After listening to Li Hongyu's explanation, Wu Sangui knew that Li Hongyu had made up his mind, so he asked Li Hongyu to fight in a deep voice, he was the general of the defeated army, so he naturally couldn't hide behind and watch the excitement, so he just took this opportunity to make meritorious service and atone for his crimes.

Besides, with Li Hongyu in command, the pen guard will definitely be conquered this time, and Wu Sangui has no worries.

"You have already fought with Jiannu many times, so give this opportunity to the forbidden army." Li Hongyu smiled slightly when he heard this, and politely rejected Wu Sangui's invitation to fight.

Obviously, this attack on the Beacon Post is very important, only by capturing the Beacon Gang can the trapped Ming army in Tashan be rescued, and it is possible to rescue the Ming army in Xingshan from the encirclement of the Qing army.

For this reason, Li Hongyu must use the forbidden army with the strongest combat effectiveness in his hand to carry out the task of attacking the beacon post, and the Ming army outside the pass needs to use a great victory to boost morale.

Wu Sangui couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief in his heart when he heard this, to be honest, he was really afraid that Li Hongyu would send him as the vanguard to attack, if he didn't capture the pen frame post, it would be a shame.

"Pass the order, and after nightfall, the whole army will be dispatched, and the light car will be followed, and the pen stand post will be attacked!"

Subsequently, Li Hongyu stretched out his hand and slapped on the beacon post on the map, and gave an order to the generals on the scene in a deep voice, now time is money, he must launch an attack at the first time, otherwise once the Qing army at the beacon post learns the news of reinforcements, it will be difficult to attack again.

"Obey!" Wu Sangui and the others bowed to Li Hongyu when they heard this, and shouted in unison.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the situation outside the border is fighting here, and I hope you can work together to save the situation!" Li Hongyu glanced around at the generals at the scene and said with a serious expression.

"Work together to save the situation!" Hearing this, the generals raised their right fists and shouted loudly, and their morale was high for a while.

Li Hongyu bowed slightly when he saw this, the most important thing on the battlefield is the momentum, only by establishing the determination to win can he be brave and fearless in the battle, now he has mobilized the morale of the generals, and then it depends on the luck of the Ming army this time, hoping that the Qing army guarding the pen guard is the strength of the eight banners of the Han army.

There were 30,000 defenders in Ningyuan City, and Li Hongyu decided to send 15,000 strong men to join the sneak attack at night, so that the strength of the Ming army reached 45,000 people, at least in terms of numbers.

In order to boost morale, Li Hongyu decided to personally lead the army to attack Beacon Post, and his presence would make the Ming army burst out with stronger combat effectiveness and will to fight.

Of course, Wu Sangui and the others don't want Li Hongyu to put themselves in danger, no matter how Li Hongyu is a dignified master, in case there is any accident, the consequences are unimaginable.

However, Li Hongyu had already decided that the generals could only give up, and even if the 45,000 Ming army could not defeat the 30,000 or 40,000 Qing troops at Bijiagang, it would be enough to protect him.

Beacon Post is only thirty miles away from Ningyuan City, and when the Ming army marches all the way to the periphery of Beacon Gang under the cover of night, it is still the second watch.

Li Hongyu ordered the whole army to rest and recuperate, taking this opportunity to drink water and eat the dry rations he carried to recover his strength.

On the third watch, Li Hongyu waved his hand at the herald, and the herald hurriedly left to convey the order to attack.

The soldiers of the forbidden army who served as the main attacker, under the leadership of the generals, carried weapons and cautiously approached the Qing army camp at Bijia Gang, which was the time when the Qing army sentries were most sleepy and had the worst vigilance.

Besides, the Qing army had already repelled two attacks by the Ming army led by Wu Sangui, and each time it easily repelled the other party, so it was inevitable that there would be arrogant and slack thoughts in his heart.

I have to say that Li Hongyu's luck is really good, he guessed correctly, although he also wore the military uniform of Jurchen soldiers and also had Jurchen hairstyles, but those Qing troops were the Eight Banners of the Han Army in the Manchu army.

In other words, the Qing army at Bijiagang was a Han who was subdued by Huang Taiji, and its combat effectiveness was the weakest among the three major Eight Banner armies of the Qing army, which invisibly gave Li Hongyu a chance.

After killing the sentries of the Qing army who were napping, the soldiers of the forbidden army successfully entered the Qing army camp, and at this time the Qing soldiers in the camp tent were sleeping soundly, and many soldiers in the camp tent near the fence became dead in their sleep.

This is also the reason why Li Hongyu wants to use the forbidden army, the forbidden army has received strict military training, and the sneak attack can be done quietly, if it is replaced by the Ming army outside the Guan, then it will definitely be discovered by the Qing army from afar.

"Enemy attack! The Ming army came to attack. Finally, the Qing army in the camp found the forbidden army entering the camp, and the mournful voice sounded, with a thick Liaodong accent.

"It's the Eight Banners of the Han Army, they are the people of the Eight Banners of the Han Army!"

Hearing this voice, a general of the forbidden army who was directing the sneak attack couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard the words, it seemed that Li Hongyu had guessed correctly, and then issued an order to the soldiers beside him, "Quick, go and inform Taifu, the Jiannu of the beacon post is the Eight Banners of the Han Army!" ”

When the soldier heard this, he didn't dare to slack off, bowed to the general of the forbidden army, and ran to report to Li Hongyu.

"Brothers, kill these rebels who have betrayed their ancestors, and use their blood to avenge their dead brothers." Then, the general of the Forbidden Army drew his saber from his waist and shouted at the soldiers of the Forbidden Army around him, this kind of person who defected to the enemy and treason was the most despised.

"Kill!" The soldiers of the Forbidden Army suddenly shouted in unison, fighting harder than before, they wanted to get the punishment that those traitors deserved.

"Sure enough, it's the Eight Banners of the Han Army!" On a hill not far from the beacon post, Li Hongyu's expression suddenly relaxed after receiving the soldier's message, so that the Ming army was more sure to defeat him.

"General Wu, you lead people to launch an offensive from the flank, you must not give the enemy a chance to breathe, you must defeat it in one go and force it to flee!"

After a deep groan, Li Hongyu turned to Wu Sangui, who was standing aside, and gave an order in a loud voice, after learning that the Qing army was the Eight Banners of the Han Army, the morale of those Ming troops under Wu Sangui would be even higher, and the battle would be more courageous.

The reason why Li Hongyu wanted to attack Bijiagang was not to destroy the Qing army at Bijiagang, in that case, the Ming army would definitely suffer heavy losses, his purpose was to force it to flee, so that the Ming army could successfully relieve the siege of Tashan.

Otherwise, Li Hongyu's order to Wu Sangui was to cut off the retreat of the Qing army at Bijia Gang.

"Humble duty understands!" Wu Sangui perked up when he heard this, and it was finally his turn to make a move, with the forbidden army opening the way in front, he would undoubtedly pick up a big bargain, so he bowed to Li Hongyu and left happily.

"Huang Taiji, let's fight again, let's see who can get Xingshan City!" After Wu Sangui left, Li Hongyu looked at the night sky in the northeast and said slowly.

Once the beacon post is breached, then the Ming army will definitely take advantage of the situation to solve the crisis in Tashan, and then Li Hongyu will concentrate his forces to rescue Xingshan City, which is besieged by the Qing army, and a big battle cannot be avoided.

(End of chapter)