Splendid Taiyuan, Shanxi Province governance, also known as Jinyang, the ancient name and state, the primitive society 8,000 years ago has the imprint of human civilization, located in the main road, the key to the four stops, the capital of the five plains, the past dynasties are the important military towns.

From the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, Taiyuan City has been burned in the war several times, was destroyed into a piece of rubble, but it is like an inexhaustible grass, rebuilt again and again, and built more and more grandiose than one time, can be described as several times prosperous, several degrees of decline, Shanxi governor Zhu Shichang is now stepping on the Taiyuan city wall, is a generation of new cities built in the Song Dynasty.

The city was built in the Song Dynasty, but after the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty two generations of hundreds of years of business expansion, to the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Taiyuan City has become a perimeter of 24 miles of the giant, there are north and south streets in the city, the east and west streets are longitudinal, the square formal system, very much the style of a generation of capital.

And Taiyuan city wall, is as high as three zhang five feet, the wall is one zhang wide, there are corner towers on all sides, each gate of eight city gates has urn city, among them, the two south gates of the most magnificent --- Cheng'en Gate and Yingze Gate, the towering gatehouse on the city wall alone has five stories high, stand on it and look far away, when the weather is fine, you can look out more than ten miles away, the surrounding golden scenery is in full view, extremely magnificent and brilliant.

In the Ming Dynasty, Taiyuan has always been the town of the king of Jin, there is a small Forbidden City in the city of the Jin Palace, the scale of the mansion is built on the basis of the original Song Dynasty Taiyuan City, it shows the magnificence of the scale of the palace, but unfortunately a few days after the Qing army conquered Taiyuan, a mysterious and strange fire, the entire palace was burned, and now it is left in a barren ruins, and it has become the shelter of countless displaced people.

Zhu Shichang stood on the gate tower of Cheng'en Gate, and the scene inside and outside the city was in full view, but in his eyes, there were two different worlds.

In order to defend the city, these houses were dismantled by the Qing army, and the bricks and tiles of the houses were transported to the city as weapons, and all the residents moved into the city to prevent them from being captured by the righteous army and used as soldiers.

Outside the ruins, all the trees within five miles were cut down and sent into the city, leaving countless stumps, so that once someone approached, they could be discovered by the soldiers of the city at a distance.

The water of the Fen River, which runs around the city, is channeled into the moat that surrounds the city, which is deep and wide, with sharpened bamboo sticks and branches buried underneath, and the river overflows, bringing the entire Taiyuan city into this seemingly insurmountable river protection.

And in the city, it is a scene of facing a great enemy, full of wind and rain in the city, the soldiers and civilians on the street are like shuttles, under the scolding of the generals, the log strips and stones are carried to the city walls everywhere for reinforcement, the large bundles of arrows and heavy rolling stones are carried up the wall along the horse road by the trolleys, on both sides of the street, all the shops have closed their door panels, and the flags waving in the wind on the door are powerlessly swaggering in the air, but no one pays attention.

On both sides of the street, the people who had fled from outside the city had nowhere to go, huddled under the eaves, huddled together by the few luggage sheets, and watched the soldiers running motionless, their eyes full of fear and numbness.

"Lord Governor, was the city of Pingyang really captured by the rebels in an hour?" A strong man with thick eyebrows with a bald head and pigtails and a huge copper ring on his right ear asked roughly, and the pungent smell of mutton in his mouth made Zhu Shichang frown.

Zhu Shichang subconsciously took a small step to the side, and without looking back, he knew that it was Mongolian Ezhen Kuruk speaking.

These Mongolians, the smell on their bodies is very strong, and they can smoke people from afar, I really don't know how the Jurchen princesses who married them can stand it.

Zhu Shichang thought in his mind, but replied in a deep voice: "Undoubtedly, this is said by the person who escaped from Pingyang." ”

He turned sideways and looked behind him, and beside him, stood three strong Mongolian men in leather jackets and half of their arms, all of whom looked like King Kong, none other than Nikan's three leading troops, Ezhen Kuruk, Darkhan and Alai.

"When the prince of Nikan left, he had already swept away the traitors near Taiyuan, captured and killed countless thieves, the traitors should be greatly injured and unable to fight again, how could they actually defeat Pingyang City, which was heavily defended?" Another Mongol general, Darkhan, also found it strange.

Zhu Shichang held his breath, tried his best to lean his nose upwind, and then replied in a muffled voice: "According to the scout report, it was not a traitor who broke Pingyang City, but a Ming dog reinforcement from Shaanxi, and the general who led the troops was the Pingliang Hou Wang Huan who beat Prince Su back to Beijing a few days ago. ”

The faces of the three Mongols changed, and Darkhan asked in a deep voice: "In this way, there are a lot of soldiers in Shaanxi?" ”

Zhu Shichang shook his head, his expression was strange, and he said in a tone that he found strange: "This, I heard that the Ming army that broke the city was less than 20,000 people. ”

"Less than twenty thousand?" Kuruk lost his voice and said: "The anti-thieves besieged Pingyang last month, and the 100,000 people did not shake Pingyang in the slightest, and the Shaanxi Ming army broke in less than 20,000 people in an hour?" How can it be? ”

He and Darkhan exchanged glances with each other, and then suddenly a flash of understanding flashed as if he had a clear color, and he said: "It's not that the defeated army is shameful, and he is afraid of being punished by us, so he makes up lies to perfunctory us." ”

Zhu Shichang rolled his eyelids helplessly, shook his head and sighed: "If this is the case, they should exaggerate the number of the Ming army, how can they deliberately reduce it, this is not in line with common sense." ”

Kuruk and Darkhan were stunned for a moment, their heads seemed to be so reasonable, their eyes widened and their mouths opened, unable to speak.

Alai, who had not spoken, thought for a while, locked his eyebrows and raised his head to Zhu Shichang and said: "This Wang Huan, I seem to have heard of it somewhere, it seems that Meng Qiaofang mentioned it several times in the post handed to the imperial court last year, and I heard that the soldiers he brought were good at firearms and artillery, and Shaanxi was lost and lost at the hands of this person." ”

The three Mongols, the number of Alai is more reliable, the other two are reckless types, fighting and killing bloody armor is a good hand, and it is not good to use his brain to find a way, but Alai is a person who can read and write, Nikan left him, and it was to let him lead Kuruk and Darkhan to support Zhu Shichang as the main general.

Zhu Shichang nodded, stared intently at the distance outside the city, and said worriedly: "Three adults, it is this fang that the official is worried about. Although Taiyuan is strong, there are three generals left behind to help, it is impregnable, now Shaanxi Ming dog reinforcements into Jin, this situation has suddenly changed, Pingyang, Yicheng was conquered overnight, this Shanxi is big, but only our Taiyuan City is still only in the hands of the Qing Dynasty, the official is worried that once the rebels and Shaanxi Ming dogs and snakes and rats are a nest, mixed in one place, the strength is stronger, and we will hit the idea of Taiyuan. ”

Kuruk and Darkhan puffed out their bull's eyes, and their faces suddenly turned hideous, and exclaimed, "Why are you afraid, Lord Governor? Didn't Jiang Jianxun, the leader of the thieves, claim to be a hundred thousand people a few days ago? The fame is spread outside, how great it is, it is not under the sweep led by Lord Nikan and others, fleeing like a mouse, leaving a place of human heads, giving us a future, if the traitor Minggou dares to come to Taiyuan, we will concoct it in the same way, so that they have no return, hahaha! ”

When the two talked about their excitement, they also clapped each other's hands, and their arrogance was overflowing.

Alai was more restrained, but he also disdained Zhu Shichang's timid appearance, and said with a slight smile: "That's right, although the prince Nikan went north to support Prince Datongying, but Taiyuan still has nearly 30,000 soldiers, not to mention going south and west to regain lost territory, at least self-preservation, the governor doesn't have to worry, there is a saying in your Han art of war, water comes to cover the earth, soldiers come to block, with the three of us here, we can keep Taiyuan safe!" ”

Zhu Shichang turned his head and glanced deeply at the three people who didn't care, the gloom in his eyes was still the same, he was a Ming Dynasty general, the official residence was commanded in Liaoyang, and he could be regarded as a hereditary military household, and he took refuge in Nurhachi during the Mandate of Heaven, and was similar to the governor of Shaanxi, Meng Qiaofang, who was from a very early Han nationality and won the trust of the Manchurians.

These three Mongols don't know that the Ming army is powerful, but he knows, he knows that the reason why the Ming army is weak is not that the weapons are unfavorable, but that the personnel are too second, as long as there are good generals to lead the army, the Ming army equipped with firearms is definitely a strong enemy, judging from the battle experience of Liaoyang and Yicheng, Pingliang Hou Wang Huan's army is very likely to be equipped with sharp firearms, which is definitely different from the Ming Dynasty army encountered in the past, which is also the lesson that Meng Qiaofang summed up to him with his life.

He thought about it, and an idea came to his mind, so he smiled slyly on his face, and said to the three of Alai: "Since the three of them are so brave, this official is finally relieved, according to the scout's report, in the Jiaocheng area, there are rebels gathered, if there is a bad heart, there is an intention to get involved in Taiyuan, it is better to ask an adult to lead the troops over, destroy his team of men, one can find out its details, and the other can sweep its majesty, how about it?" ”

(End of chapter)