In the first month of the sixth year of Chongzhen, the news came that the official army had recovered the city of Liaozhou in Shanxi, which was occupied by thieves.

The official army that recovered Liaozhou this time achieved a great victory, with a total of 1,300 soldiers. According to the former commander-in-chief You Shilu, because there was no artillery in the siege battle, the officers and soldiers attacked Liaozhou City without fear of death and injury against the arrows and stones shot by the thieves at the head of the city.

In the first siege battle, You Shilu personally killed Wang Ying, a family member who had not looked back. Then he took the lead and shot at Jingri (meaning the whole day) in the city, and then was shot in the right abdomen by a sharp arrow, causing You Shilu to "break his bones and tendons, and become a waste", and his son You Renlong, who was the deputy general, was also wounded in the foot.

In the battle in the following days, You Shilu's lower abdomen was swollen and painful, and it was difficult to even urinate, and it was all blood. There is even a saying that I faint from time to time and eat and drink.

Not only did You Shilu pay a terrible price, but among the more than 110 people under his command, 52 were seriously injured and 7 were killed, and there were also a lot of casualties among other officers and soldiers. (Note 1)

You Shilu's Tang Bao said that it was very difficult, so that everyone who read it had to admire the bravery of the officers and soldiers. Moreover, You Shilu also said that the combat exploits reported in this battle were all "Shaanxi level", and he had shot feather arrows with instructions before attacking the city, so that the good people in the city would climb into their houses to avoid the battle in the battle, and use the code to avoid the final jade burning.

However, there are different versions from Shanxi. Some gentry from Shanxi Province said that the officers and soldiers did not actually capture many thieves in this battle. After hearing about the gathering of officials and troops, the thieves had already withdrawn in advance.

After the official army entered Liaozhou, their performance was to be completely disciplined. Except for the Shaanxi deputy general Li Bei's subordinates, who maintained their integrity, the officers and soldiers of the other battalions rushed to borrow heads from the people of Liaozhou to repay their merits.

After this incident spread, the gentry in Shanxi were a little angry. Most of these guest troops (Qin soldiers, Yu soldiers, and Mao soldiers) gathered in Shanxi Province have done a lot of bad things in this province.

And the Jin soldiers in this province did not behave very well, these soldiers and ruffians failed to quell the thieves as soon as possible, but continued to cause trouble, and constantly reached out to ask for money and food, which made the gentry extremely dissatisfied.

Now they heard that Shanxi had another group of elite Shaanxi soldiers led by Cao Wenzhao. Although they had heard a lot about Cao Wenzhao's prestige, whether this new Qin army would be like other officers and soldiers still worried the gentry and common people in Shanxi.

Here is a little explanation, in addition to Cao Wenzhao's department, there were other men and horses who went to Shanxi before them.

For example, he entered Shanxi with Li Bei, who was praised by everyone, as well as He Renlong, who also participated in the Liaozhou Reconquest, and Ai Wannian, who relied on martial arts to throw a pen from Rong. These three Shaanxi military attaches all came to Shanxi to fight in November of the fifth year of Chongzhen.

These three generals have calmed down and not touched the mud before, and even before they had many outstanding performances with Wang Jiayin and other well-known thieves. And after they entered Shanxi, there was indeed some good news coming out from time to time. But it still can't change the overall situation of Shanxi's thief situation, and gradually began to be a little confused.

Now that this new Qin army is coming, can it change the situation? Now not only is the situation in Shanxi very bad, but even the Gyeonggi area, the core of the Ming Dynasty, has begun to appear as thieves.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, the scattered cavalry of the thieves had appeared in the southern part of Jinan, and the bandit brigade divided into seven divisions, it is said that the most 10,000 people, the less 5,000 people also bypassed the defense line of the official army, and came to the Xishan area of Shunde, the throat of southern Jinan, which is only a hundred miles away from Shunde City.

But then the situation changed, and Lu Xiangsheng, who was a great name, decisively led his troops out of the city to defend against the enemy, blocking the way for the thieves to continue to flow.

And the thieves who approached Shunde also arrived in Wu'an through the dangerous road at the top of the sky. Then they quickly turned back to Shanxi Province and prepared to leave for Yangcheng to eat.

The attempt of the thief brigade to develop into Gyeonggi was broken, which made many people in the Ming Dynasty breathe a sigh of relief. However, their sudden return to Shanxi again disrupted the plans of the Ming officials to suppress the thieves, and they had to restart mobilizing troops to intercept them in some haste.

However, it is natural to imagine what kind of results such a chaotic and hasty troop movement can bring.

Ren Yin (the tenth day of the first month), Qian Zong Bai Xiancai and the thieves began to fight, but after all, they were outnumbered and died, and the thieves began to continue to march in the direction of Yangcheng the next day.

Jia Chen (12), the general Rui Qi died in the battle of Wu'an Wandering Town, and the garrison Wang Jitong and Liu Jingyao were also killed in the battle with the thieves.

A succession of bad news made people worried, and finally on the 13th of Yisi, Cao Wenzhao, who drove into Shanxi, brought good news to everyone, and 3,500 elite officers and soldiers defeated the thieves in Huozhou.

……

"Big brother, there are really a lot of thieves in Shanxi, and the bitter place in northern Shaanxi is really not as good as here."

Zhao Wankui stared at the thieves who were crossing the river in the distance, looking at the number of nearly 10,000 people, thinking of the past in Shaanxi, he immediately had a feeling in his heart.

"I heard Meng Cheng say that our northern Shaanxi may be the poorest place in the Ming Dynasty, so there are not many people. Shanxi is already much better than ours, and the provinces further south are the places with the most people in the world. ”

Zhang Mengjin was also a little shocked by the number of thieves in front of him, these thieves in front of him were just some relatively ordinary guys in Shanxi, and their influence was not as good as that of Zijinliang's thief brigade. However, judging from the number of the subordinates alone, these thieves were already at the level when the gods returned to the official army.

"How should we fight, should we be safer?"

After Zhao Wankui looked at it again, he was still surprised by the number of people. At the moment, there were only more than 200 cavalry ahead of them, and the large army was still following behind. If you want to do the opposite vote, this is really a bit reluctant.

"I think that although there are a lot of thieves, their posture is not good, and they are not as good as those good fighting fugitives and border soldiers we met in Shaanxi. If Cao Wenzhao and the others didn't arrive in time, then it would be nothing for us to go straight this time. ”

Zhang Mengjin is not afraid, with the thieves in front of him as a reference, his elite soldiers can definitely defeat one against ten. Coupled with the fact that the other party has not discovered its men until now, the enemy may collapse directly under the surprise attack. If it weren't for Cao Wenzhao's strict order not to act at will, he would have called his brothers to rush over.

At this time, Zhou Shaoteng walked over, carrying a short fire gun behind him. As long as you look closely, you can see that the fire pistol behind him is actually a flintlock pistol.

"Big boss, now that our people have been arranged, as long as you give an order, everyone can rush over immediately."

"Let the brothers continue to wait, Cao Wenzhao's face can't be ignored. But we won't have to wait long, if the others haven't continued to arrive, we'll just launch a surprise attack. ”

"Huh."

After Zhou Shaoteng got the order, he was going to immediately turn around and return to his subordinates. But Zhao Wankui, the third master, suddenly grabbed him, saying that he had something to say.

"Old Zhou, you will swing your knife and rush straight away, so you shouldn't need to use this new gun behind you, lend it to me."

Zhao Wankui, as the third master, is somewhat lost in majesty at this time. He licked his face and said to Zhou Shaoteng, not caring at all about the expression of his eldest brother Zhang Mengjin who couldn't bear to look at it.

"No, I bought it from Xiucai for twenty taels of silver, and I haven't beaten it a few times. Go ahead and make your bird go, and don't fight against my own fire. ”

"Don't be so stingy, just this little meeting today, and I will naturally return it to you when the battle is over."

"Xiucai told me that this self-generated fire gun is precious. The cottage has only come out with such a branch so far, and you have broken it, so I am looking for someone to cry to. If you think it's rare, just wait until you go back to the village in the future, and you can go to Xiucai yourself. ”

As soon as Zhou Shaoteng finished speaking, he immediately stopped paying attention to Zhao Wankui, and held the self-generated fire gun behind him as if he was a treasure and left.

Zhang Mengjin saw that the three masters in his village actually wanted to catch up, so he had to stop the other party at this time.

"Zhao San, after all, you are the third master, what is this like."

"Big brother, why don't you help me talk to Xiucai, let him spend his time on making a shot, and give him the silver when I have money in the future."

"Take this handcuff of mine and use it, and look at your virtue."

"Forget it, I'm tired of playing with this short gun, and I can't hit it at a distance."

Zhao Wankui looked at his eldest brother's handcuff with disgust, he was tired of playing with this thing for a long time, so it was better to continue to make his own handcuff.

"Then you drink less, and don't spend money on horses. After saving up the silver, go to Meng Cheng and say it yourself, I don't bother to help you say good things. ”

Zhang Mengjin was really a little speechless at this time, the fire guns produced in the cottage were generally distributed by him as the big boss after the leaders discussed and discussed together.

However, these are all based on the premise that they are funded and manufactured by the cottage public treasury. The new self-generated fire gun was made by Zhang Mengcheng out of his own pocket and with the craftsmen in his spare time.

Although since he got the flintlock handcuff before, Zhang Mengcheng and the craftsmen of the cottage have a relatively clear understanding of the bolt of the flintlock pistol. But Zhang Mengcheng is thinking about how to further modify it to make it easier to maintain, but also to increase its economy.

There is also an important reason, and that is the problem with the reeds of the flintlock pistol. Zhang Mengcheng has encountered a lot of problems with the trial products made by the craftsmen several times. Either the reed is easy to break, or the power is not enough to drive when working, and the elasticity is not maintained for a long time.

This kind of unqualified trial product will naturally not be used by Zhang Mengcheng. It wasn't until Huo Bingxiang sent over a reed made by a craftsman in Xi'an that Zhang Mengcheng had a part that barely met his requirements.

It's just that the blacksmith is reluctant to go to the security guards in northern Shaanxi, and his craft is not intended to be passed on. In addition, he himself is covered by local tyrants, so Zhang Mengcheng can't invite people over by various methods, so he can only continue to try little by little with the craftsmen in the cottage.

And that qualified part naturally became the first homemade flintlock pistol supplies in the cottage. Zhang Mengcheng even kept improving, drilling rifling in the short barrel that was specially used, which was originally intended to be reserved for himself to use as a carbine on horseback.

But Zhou Shaoteng took a fancy to it, and Zhang Mengcheng was also raising money at that time. In addition, this expedition to Shanxi, Fan Shunjiang, who has the best archery skills, was defeated because of the draw. After many considerations, Zhang Mengcheng simply sold it to Zhou Shaoteng.

In fact, other leaders originally had the idea of buying, among which Zhao Wankui, who had the best shooting level in bird guns, was the most obvious. But after some bidding, the three masters, who are usually a little big-handed, naturally regret that the competition failed.

Zhao Wankui saw that his eldest brother was unwilling to say good things for him, so he began to think about what good things to use to intercede with Xiucai. The merchants in Shanxi are much stronger than those in Shaanxi, and they have more rare objects in their hands. Since the thieves are making such a fuss, maybe they will grab some of these strange things in their hands.

Thinking of this, Zhao Wankui glanced at the thieves in the distance again. When he saw a mule cart surrounded by thieves, the red-haired ghost of Jinding Mountain suddenly laughed madly.

PS: Note 1: Including the casualty figures here, the previous report by You Shilu is from the "Historical Materials of the Peasant Uprising in the Late Ming Dynasty", and the content in the 85-page "The Military Department Entitled Tang Reported the Loss of Liaozhou and Other Things". If what You Shilu said was true, then the battle was indeed very hard, and more than half of his guards were killed or wounded.