The grain convoy set out from the seashore and headed for Tower Hill Fort. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThere is a dirt road from Tashan Fort to this section of the coast, because there is a military camp of the Ning army in the vicinity. After the fall of Liaodong, a large number of refugees fled here, and then became serfs in the hands of the generals of Liaoxi, plowing farmland for those generals of Liaoxi, which is also the so-called "Liao people guard Liao soil, Liao soil to raise Liao people".

Nowadays, however, even in these places, there are often cavalry of Jianxi, so now the serfs of Tuntian have been transferred to some nearby forts. These forts had limited defenses and limited supplies inside. Therefore, if a large number of enemy troops come, such a fortress will not be able to protect these people. But if it was only a small group of scouts, then they would certainly not be able to do anything with such a fortress.

Since Hong Chengchou's army set out from Ningyuan, the Manchus sent more and more small groups of scouts, and the Ming and Qing armies often engaged in small-scale battles. Of course, these Manchu cavalry could not directly attack the main force of Hong Chengchou, which had more than 100,000 people, but they had been working hard to hunt the Ming army at night and reduce the scope of activity of the Ming cavalry as much as possible. On this section of the road from Tashan Fort, the coastal road where grain was transported, there were also cavalry haunts of Jianshan.

After walking about five or six miles along the dirt road, a troop of cavalry appeared to their left, not many in number, about twenty or so. They led the horses and followed them not far behind.

"It's just some Mongols. There are too few of them to gnaw at us. Putting down the monocular in his hand, Wu Sangui said to Zheng Zhihu next to him. This telescope was sold to Wu Sangui by Zheng Zhihu not long ago, and the price was also very conscientious, with each unit costing two hundred and fifty taels of silver.

"Shall we go and kill them?" Zheng Zhihu asked, "It's not a matter to let them follow all the time. ”

"They're not going to fight us." Wu Sangui shook his head and said, "Look at these Mongols, they don't even wear leather armor, and they don't have any decent weapons, if they really want to fight my sons, they won't be enough." However, these Mongolian herdsmen are good at equestrianism, after all, they can ride horses since they were children, and none of us can compare to them when it comes to riding horses and running. However, it would be better to send someone over and drive them away. ”

After speaking, Wu Sangui beckoned, and a thin family member ran out.

"Three monkeys, you take a team of people and drive those Mongols away." Wu Sangui said.

"Order!" The man answered, and immediately turned away, and in a short time, about thirty Ming cavalry jogged towards the Manchu cavalry. When the cavalry is hedging, the team with the higher speed will have the advantage. But the horse's strength is limited, and if you run at full speed at the beginning, you won't be able to run when the two sides are actually engaged.

As the Ming cavalry approached, the Mongols also quickly mounted their horses, but instead of charging forward, they began to retreat backwards as Wu Sangui had expected. When the Mongols began to retreat with their backs to the Ming cavalry, the Ming cavalry suddenly began to accelerate, and if they did not accelerate at this time, they would definitely not be able to catch up with those Mongols, and those Mongols were already running backwards, if they turned around halfway, they would not only lose speed, but also make a mess of their formation. So they don't have to worry about possible cavalry hedging anymore.

As the Ming cavalry accelerated, those Manchu cavalry also began to accelerate, perhaps because they were not armored and lighter, or perhaps because their riding skills were better, so they accelerated a little faster, and soon opened up the distance between them and the Ming cavalry.

The Ming cavalry began to slow down, and they actually knew that they would not be able to catch up with the Mongolian herdsmen in such a chase. Their mission is simply to keep those pesky flies a little farther away.

"Have you recorded their speed data?" A little farther away, Zheng Sen was speaking to an officer of the Model Army.

"Major General, it has been recorded, but you also know that relying on dense distance measurement and hourglass timing to judge the speed, the data obtained is very inaccurate." The officer replied. In the original history, the world's earliest clock to use a pendulum to keep time did not appear until 1657. In this era, although Zheng Sen understood the requirements for accurate timekeeping in industry, and also knew the so-called pendulum principle, the development of clocks did not go smoothly, and until now, no usable products have been manufactured.

"I know that. But there is always a little reference. Zheng Sen said as he wondered if it was his future cuirassiers equipped with Andalusian horses, or light cavalry equipped with horses mixed with Arabian horses, if he could quickly catch up with and eliminate these Mongolian herdsmen.

The cavalry of the Ming army began to turn back, keeping up with the group that continued to advance towards Tashan Fort, while the Manchu cavalry did not reappear, and apparently, they also understood that this target was not something they could deal with.

In the afternoon, the grain convoy successfully reached Tower Hill Fort. Tashan Fort is not large enough to accommodate more than 100,000 troops, so most of the troops are stationed outside Tashan Fort, and the grain transportation team passes through the barracks until they come to the gate of Tashan Fort.

"Let them drag the grain or anything to the granary. Zheng Zongbing, let's go and give orders to the superintendent together. Wu Sangui said.

Zheng Zhihu naturally didn't have any opinions, so a few people entered Tashan Fort together and went to Hong Chengchou's station.

According to my past habits of the Ming Dynasty, even if he is a general soldier, when he meets a civilian official like Hong Chengchou, he is like a slave. However, in the past two years, the situation has changed greatly, and the imperial court has become less and less restrained by those local military leaders. Nowadays, even a big man like Hong Chengchou is not too arrogant when he meets with the general soldiers of his subordinates.

So when Zheng Zhihu and Wu Sangui went to meet them, although Hong Chengchou didn't play any demotion to greet them, he didn't deliberately let them wait in the gatehouse for a long time, but directly let them in. Hong Chengchou even knew that Zheng Zhihu had brought Zheng Sen with him, and he specially asked Zheng Sen to come in as well.

Several people followed Hong Chengchou's personal entourage into his temporary mansion in Tashan Fort. After walking a few steps, I came to a hall.

"Two generals, Inspector Hong is waiting for you inside." The one who brought them with him said.

"The last general, Zheng Zhihu (Wu Sangui), came to pay the order to the overseer." Zheng Zhihu and Wu Sangui stood at the foot of the steps and bowed down and said loudly.

"Two generals, please come in quickly." Hong Chengchou's voice came from the hall, and at the same time, a personal attendant opened the door.

"Thank you!" The two of them said together, straightened up, and walked in.

The two entered the house and saw that Hong Chengchou was sitting in the main hall, Zheng Zhihu picked up an arrow in his hand and said: "The last general sent military rations according to fate, and it has been delivered today, so I am here to give the order." ”

After Zheng Zhihu finished speaking, Wu Sangui also picked up an arrow and said: "The last general was ordered to escort the military rations, and now the military rations have arrived safely, and I am here to hand over the order." ”

Hong Chengchou stood up and said with a smile: "The two generals have worked hard, please sit down." ”

This is a person who came over and took the arrow from the hands of the two.

"In front of adults, there is no place for the last general to sit." Both of them pushed together. Hong Chengchou repeatedly asked the two to sit down. The two of them leaned over and sat down on the chairs on either side.

Hong Chengchou asked about the sea, and Zheng Zhihu answered them one by one. Hong Chengchou said again: "I heard that Zheng Zongbing's nephew is also here?" ”

"Back to the superintendent, the nephew of the last general was originally going to visit friends in the capital, and when he heard about it from the last general, he had always been a good thing, so he wanted to follow the last general. The last general couldn't resist him, so he had to bring him over. Zheng Zhihu hurriedly replied.

"I remember that my nephew is famous, right?" Hong Chengchou said, "It is also right to read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles." ”

"If you go back to the superintendent, the nephew of the last general is Nan'an's nephew. It's just that after winning this show, he refused to honestly prepare for the exam, and said that he wanted to be a sage all day long. I really don't know how thick the sky is. Zheng Zhihu hurriedly humbled himself.

"Scholars read sage books in order to be sages, but they are not ignorant of the sky. When my brother wrote to me, he often mentioned his nephew to me, thinking that he was the first genius in Fujian. Hong Chengchou said with a smile, "I have also read a little bit of the books he wrote, and the theory of God is also unique." I've wanted to meet this boy for a long time. ”

"Inspector, Zheng Zongbing's nephew is waiting outside the door now." Wu Sangui suddenly interjected.

"Oh? So why not bring it in? Hong Chengchou said.

"The Inspector is a place to discuss military affairs, and if he has not been summoned, how can the last general dare to bring in irrelevant people?" Zheng Zhihu hurriedly said.

"It's not a big deal now." Hong Chengchou said, "Just ask Zheng Zongbing to summon his nephew in, the old man reads his books, and he doesn't know much about some places, so he can have a discussion with him." I wonder if Mr. Zheng can agree to let him stay with me for a few more days? ”