At the end of August, the Commander Hall of the Barbarian Mountain Battalion, the Wartime Office is the current highest decision-making body of the Datong Federation, and its members include the main officials of the Presidential Office, the Prime Minister's Office, the Senate and the House of Representatives, and the Metropolitan Governor's Office - this grass platform team seems to be discordant, and there are constant quarrels after the war began in June, but in August, the war has improved, and they look at each other well, and they can be full of harmony when they get together.

"Flying on the grass, the president stayed in the command hall all day some time ago, why did he suddenly disappear? You don't have to say he's on vacation again. Wu asked Zhao Ji with a smile.

Zhao Ji replied lightly: "The president is in Manhan Mountain, and he hasn't gone anywhere!" ”

"I know it's tight-lipped, but 200,000 stone grains are sent to Khalkha, so it's impossible to feed the mice!" Wu Xian still had a smiling face.

Batur interjected angrily: "It's not because your Prime Minister's Office is poor all day long, how can this battle end as soon as possible if he doesn't intervene?" ”

"Can you blame the Prime Minister's Office, Datong's family has almost run out in two months, and the Banknote Bureau proposes to issue 10 million yuan of public bonds, what are your opinions?" Li Jianji said immediately.

"It's not enough, if you want to issue 20 million, it's called 'Victory Bond', you have made a fortune with the light of the Federation, you should also take out some money to serve the country, the Qing Kingdom has already raised taxes, they won't last long, let's grit our teeth together, this battle will definitely be won." Li Fugui said solemnly.

Li Jianji whispered to Bao Zhen for a while, nodded and replied, "Okay, I think the House can pass." ”

"Since the president has made a move, it is not far off to defeat the Qing State, and you will have the opportunity to make money in the future," Li Yu is not in Ortai, he is the number one person in the Datong Federation, waved his hand and said with a wry smile, "Batu sent a letter from Tacheng, and the Rakshasa Kingdom has increased its troops to the border again, and the conflict with our side continues to intensify, and it seems that the next step is to go west." ”

"After the Qing Kingdom, how can we have any spare strength, I don't want that broken place in the Rakshasa Kingdom, let's discuss the Western Expedition in a few years." Bao Zhen shook his head.

"No, four hundred years ago, my Mongolian iron cavalry swept through Europa, thus stabilizing the west and uniting the hearts of the people, and my Datong can easily take the Western Regions and Tibet is relying on the remnants of the Mongolian Great Khan, this kind of old book can't eat for a few years, let the Rakshasa ghost infiltrate eastward, how can the western frontier be stable?" Tulubaihu surprised everyone as soon as he opened his mouth, this guy never seems to speak human words, why did he change his sex when he became the vice president of the Senate?

"The Western Expedition is not as simple as a war, and all ethnic groups in the West can only truly integrate into the Federation by shedding blood with us, and the President has long said that he will start to solve the Western Problem after solving the Eastern Problem, and the Western Expedition must be done even more difficult and difficult." Namur nodded.

"Actually, it's not bad to open up the trade route of Europa with the help of the Western Expedition, forget it, let's discuss it later, let's talk about the matter in front of me first." Li Fugui smiled and beckoned, and Xue Zongzhou, secretary of the Presidential Office, began to explain the current situation.

At present, the war has reached a stalemate, in the direction of Yongguan, the Qing army sent additional reinforcements, and the number of troops guarding the pass reached 50,000. On the battlefield of Shandong, the Qing army retreated in an all-round way, gathering heavy troops to hold Jinan, Yanzhou, Dengzhou, Laizhou and other places, and Chen Jin, the governor of Denglai, and Ke Yongsheng, the general soldier, still defeated our army in Laizhou, which is still an old problem, and our army in Shandong is insufficient; On the battlefield of Henan, Azig lost Kaifeng and Guide, so he attacked Weihui Mansion, Wang Tingchen and You Renjun crossed the river to reinforce, and joined forces with Qin Hu to force back Azig, but our army in Henan was also restrained by it and could not advance eastward to open up the Jiangbei battlefield; On the battlefield of Nanzhili, Lao Shuai and Ma Guangyuan concentrated the forces of seven towns to defeat Zhang Tianlu's troops and re-invaded Chizhou Mansion, Li Chengdong, Li Benshen, Tian Xiong, Ma Degong and other troops rushed to help, the total strength of the Qing army reached 200,000, Lao Shuai was forced to change the attack to defense, and asked the Dadu Governor's Mansion to give him five more towns; Zhejiang is a mess, Jin Sheng and Zhang Cunren, the governor of Zhejiang, both lack troops and are unable to fight each other, playing the trick of "being friends with the opponent if you can't eat the opponent", and the two seem to be fighting hotly.

Wang Jimo interjected and asked: "We still have the elite cavalry of three towns and the elite infantry of three towns in our hands, and the victory can be decided by throwing them into any battlefield, so what are the plans of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion to stay put?" ”

"Dolgon also has 70,000 elite Eight Banners troops in his hands, and most of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion has a strategy for using troops, but it can't be said yet." Xue Xianguang replied.

"Okay, the military affairs are up to the Metropolitan Governor's Office, so let's not ask too much." Ortai waved his hand and motioned for Xue Zongzhou to continue.

"The gentry in the south of the Yangtze River played the banner of 'anti-Qing and restoration of Ming', and the Qing court admiral Huang Fei and Wu Zhikui, the chief soldier of Wusong, were also involved, although the incident was defeated and arrested, but the aftermath did not stop, Duoduo had to try his best to suppress the people's rebellion, we were more troublesome, the former Ming Dynasty officials, literati and gentry also played the banner of 'helping the Qing Dynasty to destroy the captives' or 'exterminate the captives and restore the Ming Dynasty' to make chaos everywhere, Du Hongtai of Henan, Wang Fang of Shandong, Zhang Mengcun of Hunan, and Jin Sheng of Jiangxi killed thousands of people and hanged thousands of restorationists, Yang Wenyue of Sichuan also asked for a joint effort with the Shuixi Ministries to eradicate the remnants of the Ming forces in Guizhou and Yunnan, and the federal government should have a clear attitude on this. Xue Zongzhou finally said.

"The literati and gentry are the hope of cultivating the vitality of the country, and they must not be killed indiscriminately, especially some famous people." Chen Qiyu shook his head and said.

"These people are despicable and shameless, they defected to the Manchus but scolded us as northern captives, they were powerful but full of benevolence and morality, and their hands were stained with the blood of parliamentarians from all over the country, how could they protect the federation if they didn't kill them?" The literati and gentry rebellion first destroyed the local councils, a large number of key councillors, including the Liberal Party and the Civic Party, were killed, and the attitude of the Senate and the House of Representatives changed radically, from advocating appeasement to severe repression.

"The literati gentry are all the way to 'oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty' or 'help the Qing Dynasty to destroy the captives', and they even said wildly, 'I'd rather die in the Manchu Qing than in the north', since they dream of restoring the old system and enslaving others, then come on, we are not afraid of blood on our hands to create history." Li Jianji was also excited.

Chen Qiyu hurriedly waved his hand to defend: "It's not that you can't kill, but don't kill indiscriminately, like Henan hanged Zhang Jinyan, the secretary of the former military department, this has too much impact, and everyone will think that we are brutal northern captives." ”

"Scholars should still be given preferential treatment, don't put everyone in danger, and must set up a charter to restrict the place." Wang Jimo nodded.

Generally speaking, merchants, small and medium-sized landlords, craftsmen, and yeoman farmers resolutely supported the federation and advocated merciless suppression of the restorationists, while the attitude of all ethnic groups outside the Guanxi was even more straightforward, killing whoever dared to rebel, while former dynasty bureaucrats like Chen Qiyu and Wang Jimo, as well as former dynasty celebrities like Liu Zongzhou and Sun Qifeng, wavered, fearing that the federation would be ruined, and at the same time saddening the death of the dying literati and gentlemen.

Li Fugui whispered a few words to Ortai, raised his head and asked, "How has that Zodiac Zhou behaved recently?" ”

Huang Daozhou was sent to Datong in the first month of this year, and he planned to refuse the persuasion of high-ranking officials Houlu to surrender, and then denounced the northern captives for sacrificing their lives for righteousness, but the officials of Datong agreed that this person had no ability to solve practical problems in addition to the ancient teachings of the saints, and was not even qualified to be a local councilor, and advised him to find a teaching job first, and then go home to do his studies when the world was stable - people didn't take him seriously as a famous man at all, and he didn't care about eating and living, and now it's too late to hang himself, maybe he will be thought to be eating and dying, and Huang Daozhou is faint, Every day, except for writing articles, he goes to the streets to curse the Datong Federation, as if he has nothing to do if he doesn't scold.

"It's still the same, even Liu Zongzhou and Sun Qifeng are annoying him." Namur was amused when she thought of this person.

"Whatever he scolds, let's set up a rule, as long as the literati and gentry don't make trouble, don't defect to the enemy, and promise that no one will be caught or killed, please go to the gallows if they cross this line." Li Fugui said with a wave of his hand.

Ortai then said: "The implementation of the new policy is not effective, the people are still poor, the restorationists were able to take advantage of the situation, the root cause of the riots lies in this, to greet the local government offices, not only to be optimistic about their own doors but also to do their own things, Yang Wenyue should not fight the idea of Guizhou and Yunnan, and solving the people's livelihood in Sichuan is a major matter." ”

Xue Xianguang hesitated for a while and said: "The Dadu Governor's Mansion has a proposal that the officials of the Ming State who have surrendered to the Qing Dynasty should be treated differently, and those who have merit and innocence in preserving the people and stabilizing the people's livelihood will be given preferential treatment, and on the contrary, they will be severely punished for the crime of treason. ”

Everyone agreed for a while, and at this time, a guard quietly walked in and whispered a few words to Zhao Ji, Zhao Ji immediately glanced at Batur, Ortai, Li Fugui, and Xue Xianguang, and the five of them left the command hall at the same time and entered a side room.

Zhao Ji took a letter from the guard's hand, pressed his seal on the fire paint of the envelope, then took out the letter and read it carefully, and soon showed joy: "The president has an order, you can start, this time I will run in person." ”

"Let's do it!" Batur, Ortai, Li Fugui, and Xue Xianguang were in high spirits after reading the letter.

In August, Bauhinia Pass, the first Xiongguan in the south of Jinnan is located between the Juyong Pass and the Inverted Horse Pass of the Great Wall, standing on the Bauhinia Ridge, there are Wan Ling Mountain in the east, Rhino Mountain in the west, Juma River in the north, Loess Ridge in the south, by the mountains and rivers, the two peaks confront each other, known as "one husband when the pass, ten thousand Fu Mo Qian", is the exit of the seventh path of the Taihang Eight Paths Pu **, through this pass can go straight to Yizhou, Zhuozhou into Gyeonggi. After Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing, in order to prevent the Mongolian iron cavalry from breaking into Gyeonggi from Shanxi, he built the first five cities of Bauhinia Pass - the small gold city on the north bank of the Juma River, the Guancheng on the south bank, the Xiaopanshi city, the Qifengkou city, and the Guanzuoling city, and the castle and pass were continuously added in the next two hundred years, and the defense system was very perfect.

Dolgon was also worried that the Datong Iron Cavalry crossed the Taihang Mountain and smashed Gyeonggi, and specially sent 5,000 green battalions to garrison the Bauhinia Pass, and strengthened the wall and increased the cannons, and the county town of Yizhou not far away also stationed 3,000 Eight Banner soldiers and 10,000 Green Battalion soldiers, thinking that they were impregnable, but no matter how strong the fortress was, it was possible to be breached, and the Bauhinia Pass was broken by the Mongol Wara in the Orthodox Dynasty, will history repeat itself?

When night fell, the mountains were silent, only the Juma River flowed loudly, and occasionally splashed waves, a dark shadow quietly approached Xiaopanshi City, a few bird calls came, and the shaking shadow immediately lay down, hidden in the night.

"Little goat, are you sure?" Zhang Chuanjie, the commander of the three towns of Datong Army, asked in a low voice.

"It's much shorter than the mountain in my hometown." The little goat took the mud-coated knife in his mouth, took a bundle of ropes on his back and bowed towards the city wall, and a dozen shadows followed him at once.

The little goat is a Sauron person, who was a Kabush soldier of the Qing army, and was captured by the Datong army after the Battle of the Tuxiao River, anyway, he is now the captain of the scout of the three towns of Busan, who is also followed by Manchurian soldiers, these guys are the best at climbing cliffs, they are good hunters in the white mountains and black waters, and they are still the king of soldiers when they become soldiers, and after a while, there are a few bird calls on the city wall.

The city gate was soon opened by the little goat, and the Datong army poured in, and the five hundred green battalion soldiers in the city were still taken prisoner in their sleep.

"Report to Zhao Shuai at Panshikou that Xiaopan Stone City and Xiaojin City have been taken," Zhang Chuanjie stood up excitedly, turned his head and gave an order to his own soldiers, "Give You Lao Shuai back the arrow, please act according to the battle strategy." ”

Busanzhen then pounced on Qifengkou City, Guanzuoling City, the green battalion soldiers couldn't figure out what was going on, they were confused and were taken prisoner by the Datong army to deceive the city gate, the two cities were conquered one after another, and at dawn Bauhinia Pass was only left with a lonely Guancheng, but the Qing army in the city was already a frightened bird, watching the endless Datong army bypass the Guancheng and drive towards Yizhou.

The sneak attack that has been carefully prepared for more than half a year is about to be a great success, Zhao Ji is in a good mood, and happily goes to the city - Busan Town failed to sneak attack Guancheng with the old method, taking advantage of the fact that the Qing army did not dare to go out of the city at night, and dug a shallow trench on the mountainside, Zhang Chuanjie and Xu Jinxian, the deputy town commander, were urging their subordinates to continue to build the chest wall, and saw Zhao Ji hurriedly meet him.

Zhao Ji raised his clairvoyance to watch the city for a while, waved his hand and said to Zhang Chuanjie: "Yuan Madman's Buwu Town has passed, you leave one co-ordination to Ding Mazi, and the others all reinforce the direction of Yizhou, how to beat you has the final say." ”

"Lao Zhang, you just have to rest assured to fight, leave it all to me here, and take Guancheng before dark." Ding Qiming patted his chest and said, Zhang Chuanjie glanced at this guy and left with Xu Jinxian.

At the beginning of the year, the Metropolitan Governor's Office abolished the first town of guns, and some of the infantry soldiers were supplemented to the second town of guns, and some were transferred to other towns as the backbone, and then another artillery town was built, under the jurisdiction of the artillery of the first town of guns as the team to expand the twelve artillery brigades, each equipped with ten new breech guns (imitation of Taixi eighteen-pounder guns), Ding Qiming was reappointed as the commander of the artillery town, and Wang Zongjie, the deputy town commander of the original second town of guns, was his deputy. Wang Zongjie is old, and he feels satisfied with being able to be promoted to the rank of governor before retiring, but Ding Qiming is very aggrieved, and the team brought out by hard work for many years has three brigades transferred to Nanzhili and two brigades transferred to Henan, and each one seems to have nothing to do with him, this guy is bent on making military achievements, and he followed Zhao Ji to Bauhinia Pass.

"He Shijun, tell your soldiers to transport the iron bucket cannon up the mountainside, fuck fast, can't you lift a hundred pounds of heavy guys," Ding Qiming has always scolded his subordinates, and his old subordinate He Shijun has accumulated merit to become a deputy general, or he will inevitably be scolded, this is an honest man who is immersed in work, and he led people to climb up the mountain without saying a word, Ding Qiming shouted again, "Slow down, my ammunition is very valuable, accidentally caught fire, you can't afford to pay." ”

On the mountainside, the former association of Busan Town was holding a rifle to shoot a salvo at Guancheng in turn, and the city also returned fire with guns, but it attracted a burst of laughter - the green battalion soldiers still couldn't change the old habits of the Ming army, and they would fight indiscriminately when they were nervous, but the firearms of this year were okay to deal with the dense flow of people, and it was impossible to distract the target. The Qing army also seemed to be embarrassed, and after fighting for a while, they stopped, patiently waiting for the Datong army to attack the city, but the other party just refused to move half a step forward, but saw a large group of people carrying a thick iron bucket up the mountainside.

This kind of iron bucket must be very valuable, it seems that only Datong can make a good iron sheet for rolling iron buckets, and all the household barrels are wooden barrels, if only one could be grabbed - the green battalion soldiers watched with interest as the newly arrived Datong army dug the pit and buried the iron bucket in the soil, and then very carefully stuffed two packages into it.

Zhao Ji and Ding Qiming also went up the mountainside, Ding Mazi did not scold again this time, but checked each iron bucket very carefully, and Kang Shide, the former assistant commander of Bu San Town, was very curious, and quietly came over and asked: "Chief Ding, what kind of guy is this?" ”

"High-end goods, you don't understand, immediately put out the smoke in your mouth," Ding Qiming glanced at Kang Shide, stood up and shouted to his subordinates, "Try a few shots first." ”

After a few muffled sounds, the ammunition bag was pushed out of the iron barrel by gunpowder, and staggered and flew towards the city, two fell to the city, two flew over the city wall and flew into the city, the Qing soldiers booed, but soon they were dumbfounded, hundreds of iron barrels under the city opened fire one after another, some ammunition bags fell on the city wall and ignited a fire, the gunpowder of the Qing army was detonated, and the explosion sounded - Liu Datong of Dongshengwei made a meritorious service, this guy because the rat poison business was not good, he was eyeing the oil of his hometown Yansui, and planned to use the method of distilling soju to develop a new lamp oil, But after burning the house a few times, he didn't get the lamp oil, but he made the oil that burned violently when it was stained with sparks, Liu Mouse had a clever brain, and felt that this thing couldn't be lit, and it was good to use it to set fire, so he went to find Shi Laoliu, the owner of the Baoketu Ammunition Factory, and the two guys hit it off, and found the broken cotton wool to soak it in fuel for a long time, and then dried it and mixed it with gunpowder granules, and used it to cheat money in a package, and the Ordnance Department felt that the effect was good, and came up with a way to use an iron barrel instead of a mortar to fire, so the incendiary bomb was invented.

"Keep fighting, the iron bucket is still there," Ding Qiming was proud, this thing is light and easy to use, the two artillery brigades are still crawling on the road, he has already done it first, at this time there is a dense sound of guns in the east, Zhang Chuanjie and Yuan Lie must have exchanged hands with the Qing soldiers reinforced by Yizhou, Ding Qiming was a little anxious, and shouted to Kang Shide, "Tell your soldiers to find some firewood to throw under the city, and burn the city wall for me." ”

The incendiary bombs kept hitting and burned the city into a sea of fire, and the Datong army gloated under the city, constantly shooting the green battalion soldiers who escaped from the city, and patiently waiting for the city wall to collapse to pick up the bargain.