"The scholar, guilty of lowly duties, was blocked by Jiannu in Songshan and had to retreat. Heavenly Voices." ⒉”

Under a big tree at the foot of the mountain, a middle-aged general knelt down on one knee in front of Li Hongyu and said with a look of shame that he was Du Cheng, the chief general of the Ming army who led the army to rescue the Thirteen Mountains this time.

Du Cheng is the general soldier of Liaoxi, sitting in Jinzhou City, and later withdrew to Shanhaiguan with Wang Huazhen and Xiong Tingbi, as the general soldier of Liaoxi, he is naturally the best candidate to rescue the soldiers and civilians of the Thirteen Mountains.

Although the Thirteen Mountains are only two hundred miles away from Ningyuan City, it seems that it is only a stone's throw away, but in fact it is not so easy to walk, and it can even be said that the road is bumpy.

Between Ningyuan and the Thirteen Mountains, there are not only the Xiaoling River and the Daling River, but also the six cities of Lianshan, Xingshan, Songshan, Tashan, Jinzhou and Dalinghebao from south to north.

In other words, if you go from Ningyuan to the Thirteen Mountains, you have to pass through the Liaoxi Corridor north of Ningyuan, and then cross the Dalinghe Fort before you can reach the Thirteen Mountains.

In this journey, excluding the Da Ling River and the Xiao Ling River, Jinzhou City alone is enough for people to have a headache.

Jinzhou is the northern gateway of the western Liaoning corridor, with mountains in the west and the sea in the east, and the narrowest place between east and west is only twenty or thirty miles.

Du Cheng naturally could not capture Jinzhou City, which was guarded by the Later Jin, and the reason why they were able to reach Songshan through Lianshan and Xingshan was because the Later Jin stopped going south in Songshan, and Lianshan and Xingshan were two empty cities, and there was no Houjin army at all.

In fact, after Du Cheng led the army to the boundary of Songshan Land, he didn't even see the shadow of Xiaoling River, and he was frightened by a Houjin army who went out of the city to search for the people, let alone attack Songshan City.

Speaking of which, what made Du Cheng blush was that the Houjin army was only a few hundred people, but it turned out to make the 40,000 Ming army under his command run backwards with their legs, and it was really embarrassing that he couldn't stop him.

This is also what Li Hongyu expected, although the Ming army led by Du Cheng had as many as 40,000, it was a defeated army that retreated all the way from Guangning, and the morale was completely lost, and the grass and trees were all soldiers, where could they go to the battlefield to fight.

Fortunately, the patrolling Houjin army did not dare to pursue when they saw that the Ming soldiers were outnumbered, and they were worried that it was the Ming army's plan to lure the enemy, otherwise it would be a massacre.

Li Hongyu naturally wouldn't worry about the failure of reinforcements with Du Cheng, and with the current state of the Ming army, it was impossible to complete this task, but in this way, Wang Zaijin and Wang Xiangqian and other officials breathed a sigh of relief, after all, they had tried their best to rescue the soldiers and civilians of the Thirteen Mountains.

"Get up, there are many factors in this matter, and the blame is not on you."

Therefore, Li Hongyu raised his hand to Du Chengyi, who was kneeling there, and said in a deep voice, "Wait until Ningyuan reorganizes the army on the spot and assists Lord Yuan in building city fortifications." ”

When Du Cheng heard this, a hanging heart finally let go, if Li Hongyu didn't plan to punish him, then Sun Chengzong and the others would definitely not punish him, after all, Li Hongyu was the supreme governor of Liaodi, and no one would disobey his orders.

"Scholar, go to the Thirteen Mountains with the adults."

After getting up, Du Cheng bowed down and asked Li Hongyu for his life, how could he sit back and watch Li Hongyu go to the dangerous Thirteen Mountains.

"Your task is to reorganize the army in Ningyuan, Ningyuan is the most important city of our army outside the Guan, and there is no room for loss!"

Li Hongyu shook his head, looked at Du Cheng with a serious expression and said, instead of taking those Ming troops who have no fighting spirit to the Thirteen Mountains, it is better to let them go to Ningyuan to rest, lest they will be chaotic without a fight and disturb the morale of other troops.

"Obedience." Du Cheng saw Li Hongyu's resolute tone, so he arched his hand to Li Hongyu and said, his face couldn't help but show a look of disappointment.

Of course he wants to follow Li Hongyu to the Thirteen Mountains to save people, if anyone can defeat the menacing Houjin army now, then it must be Li Hongyu, so he wants to see if Li Hongyu can defeat the Houjin army besieging the Thirteen Mountains, and then successfully rescue those trapped soldiers and civilians.

It's a pity that Du Cheng, who is the chief general of the 40,000 Ming army, has no such opportunity, so he can only meticulously carry out Li Hongyu's orders to reorganize the army and build fortifications in Ningyuan City, and secretly expects Li Hongyu's ability to turn the tide and save the crisis in Liaoxi.

Two days later, one night, on the south bank of the Xiaoling River

Li Hongyu stood on a hill overlooking Jinzhou City on the other side of the Xiaoling River, and according to the information he currently controlled, the Houjin had six or seven thousand soldiers and horses in Jinzhou City, which was the city with the largest number of troops stationed in the Houjin area.

And if you want to save the soldiers and civilians of the Thirteen Mountains, you must take Jinzhou City, Jinzhou City is a nail that blocks the soldiers and civilians of the Thirteen Mountains from going south, and it must be pulled out now, otherwise the soldiers and civilians of the Thirteen Mountains will not want to go back safely, and the Houjin army of Jinzhou City will definitely come out to intercept and kill, which is bound to set off a bloody storm.

"My lord, just now the spies came to report that the lord stationed in Jinzhou City will be Mang Gurtai among the four major Baylors of Jiannu." Just as Li Hongyu was staring at the quiet Jinzhou City in the night, a military attache hurriedly came to report.

"Pass the order, whoever captures Mang Gurtai will be promoted to three levels and rewarded with a thousand taels of silver, and those who kill Mang Gurtai will be promoted to two levels and rewarded with five hundred taels of silver."

Li Hongyu was surprised when he heard this, he didn't expect Mang Gurtai to be in Jinzhou, which was the closest place to the Ming army in Houjin, and then a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he gave an order in a deep voice.

He wants to capture Jinzhou City and give Nurhachi a dismount, even if he can't catch Mang Gurtai, he must let Mang Gurtai flee.

Defeating the four major Baylors of the Houjin will not only greatly boost the morale of the Ming army, but also restrain the arrogant Houjin army, which will make Nurhachi feel a lot of psychological pressure.

In the final analysis, the population base of the Later Jin was too small, otherwise Nurhachi would not have ordered a large-scale drive of the people of Liaoxi to Liaodong, and once the army led by Li Hongyu showed strong combat effectiveness, then Nurhachi would be forced to make a strategic retreat.

After all, Nurhachi has already achieved the goal of this Guangning Battle, and the people of Liaoxi who have been captured are as high as one million, so there is no need to merge with Daminghuo.

In fact, the key to rescuing the soldiers and civilians of the Thirteen Mountains is to conquer the Houjin army in Jinzhou, and only in this way can Li Hongyu arrange the next battle of the Thirteen Mountains and rescue the trapped soldiers and civilians.

"Which of you wants to be at the vanguard of this siege?"

Then, Li Hongyu summoned his generals over, glanced at Jinzhou City in the distance, and asked in a deep voice.

The generals under Li Hongyu's command come from three systems, one is the forbidden army, the other is the water division, and the other is the Liaoxi Ming army, the generals of the forbidden army and the water division stand on the left side of him, and the generals of the Liaoxi Ming army stand on the right side of him.

Hearing this, the generals couldn't help but glance at each other, and then behaved differently:

The generals of the Ming Army in Liaoxi looked indifferent, and they didn't join in the excitement if they were self-aware; The generals of the sailor division lit up for a moment and then fell silent, their strength was only 2,000, which was the least, and it could be said that Li Hongyu's personal guards could not act easily; The generals of the forbidden army are eager to try, and they have 6,000 people who are the main force to rescue the soldiers and civilians of the Thirteen Mountains this time, so this vanguard is none other than them.

"My lord, I am willing to lead the army to go, and I will definitely take Jinzhou City!"

Soon, a man in his thirties who was standing in the position of the general of the forbidden army stepped forward and bowed his hand to Li Hongyu and said in a high-spirited manner.

This person is Zhao Feng, the chief soldier of the forbidden army, a hereditary guard commander of the former pro-army capital protectorate, the first batch of personnel of the forbidden army, who has received systematic training from the officers of the new army, and is now the top general of the forbidden army.

"Okay, this official will appoint you as the vanguard, and you must attack the city." Li Hongyu frowned slightly when he heard this, took a command flag from the soldiers on the side and threw it to Zhao Feng.

Under Li Hongyu's training system, these forbidden soldiers have become proud soldiers and fierce generals after hard training, and the "proud soldiers" here do not mean "delicate" but brave and fierce, so they have long been eager to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions.

"Humble duty is not dishonoring the mission." Zhao Feng took the arrow and replied in a loud voice.

"General Zhao, you lead your soldiers to set up an ambush south of Jinzhou, and you must wipe out the escaped Jiannu."

Li Hongyu frowned slightly when he heard this, then took another order from his own soldiers, and threw it at Zhao Shujiao, who was standing on the right side of the bottom.

Since the task of attacking the city was given to the forbidden army, the task of intercepting the deserters naturally fell on the body of the Liaoxi Ming army, and the Liaoxi Ming army, which was strong and strong with five thousand strong bodies and equipped with hard bows and crossbows, was enough to undertake this task.

Li Hongyu knew that it was a little difficult to get the 5,000 Liaoxi Ming troops to meet the Houjin short soldiers, so he equipped them with long-range attack hard bows and crossbow bows, and their main role was defense.

"Obey military orders with humility." Zhao Shujiao's face was overjoyed, and he replied, it was obvious that Li Hongyu was giving the Ming army in western Liaoning an opportunity to make meritorious contributions.

"Liu Hu, this official ordered you to assist General Zhao in intercepting the deserters." Then, Li Hongyu threw a command flag to an official of the sailor division and commanded in a deep voice.

He was always a little uneasy about the Ming army in Liaoxi, although the Ming army in Liaoxi had a numerical advantage, but in case those fleeing Houjin soldiers desperately broke through, maybe they would fight their way out, it would become a joke.

Therefore, Li Hongyu wanted to let the sailors' men set up an ambush with the Ming army in Liaoxi to ensure that the Houjin soldiers could not break through the encirclement.

"This ......" Liu Hu suddenly looked embarrassed when he heard this, he was the chief officer of the water division, if he brought people to set up an ambush, then Li Hongyu would only have more than 100 personal soldiers left, and once there was any accident, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Scholar, we are enough to intercept the Jiannu rout." Zhao Shujiao also hurriedly opened his mouth to dissuade him when he heard this, how could he not know that Li Hongyu was not at ease with the Ming army in Liaoxi, but in this way, Li Hongyu would be in danger.

"I'm worried that the Jiannu in the city will choose to break through, and then your pressure will be great."

Li Hongyu pondered for a moment, and said to Zhao Shujiao with a serious expression, "This battle is very important, there is no room for mistakes, you can rest assured, after Jiannu is attacked, he will definitely choose to flee to the north, and he will definitely not cross the Xiaoling River in the south, and this official is safe here." ”

Zhao Shujiao wanted to say something, but as soon as he thought that Li Hongyu was reasonable, he swallowed back the words that came to his mouth, in case the Houjin army in the city chose to break through, then the Ming army in Liaoxi would be under tremendous pressure.