readx; In the seventh month of the lunar calendar, when the "autumn tiger" is raging and the heat is unbearable, it can be at the Xifengkou of the border pass dozens of miles northeast of Zunhua City, Jizhen Town, and the golden wind is gusting at night, and the chill is greatly increased. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Surrounded by dark mountains, a lone fortress guards the important passage to the Central Plains. The border army stationed here is accompanied by the desert north wind year after year, some have been guarding from their teens to fifty or sixty years old, and even the gray hair of the 'flower' is about to fall out, but they are so poor that they can't even ask for their daughter-in-law', and the little land of the military household is almost sold, I don't know where the joy comes from?

Moreover, since the Duoyan tribe crossed the border a few years ago and returned in the First Battle of Zunhua, the 'Meng' ancients have not appeared nearby for a long time. The number of border troops was originally small, and the quota assigned to Xifengkou was only one hundred households, but in fact there were only more than 50 people. The border is lonely, and there is no hostile situation, and some of these border troops have families, so they sneak home from time to time, and there are only more than 20 people who are often in the gate.

But tonight is different, the head of the city of Xifengkou is heavily guarded, all the soldiers are clothed all over, standing straight in the cold wind, and no one dares to 'cross' their heads and ears. In a broken battlement, an old general with white hair and wrinkles on his face like a knife pressed his sword in his hand, staring intently at the distant field, and only after a long time did he breathe a heavy sigh, and his breath flashed in the night sky, and then disappeared.

He is the chief military officer of Jizhen, the governor of Zuodu, and the general Zhao Shujiao, who hangs the seal of "General Pingliao". He is sixty years old this year, and his decades of military career have left too many vicissitudes on his body, and now he is full of silver hair; But his 'spirit' spirit is still strong, his hand holding the sword is still firm, and his eyes are still so cunning.

Zhao Shujiao's career was not smooth. Like most military generals of this era, he was born into a family of military officers, and when he was just a teenager, he inherited his deceased father's official position and served as a small hundred households in the Ganzhou Metropolitan Division. Later, because of his repeated exploits in small-scale battles with the 'Mongolian' ancients, he was promoted from 100 households all the way to 1,000 households, guerrillas, and even generals. If it goes on like this, maybe Zhao Shujiao can also be like most military generals, and in more than ten years, Shunshun will be promoted to deputy chief soldier and chief soldier on the spot, and finally his wife and son will be honored and return to his hometown.

But history played a joke on him. In the forty-seventh year of Wanli, Nurhachi defeated the Ming army in the Battle of Salhu, and the Ming army died more than 50,000 people alone. The imperial court, which had never taken the 'female' real people in the past, panicked all of a sudden, and had to 'draw' good generals and 'elite' soldiers from all over the country and send them to Liaodong to resist the Houjin, and Zhao Shujiao was among them.

Since arriving in Liaodong, Zhao Shujiao has been unlucky. At that time, the Liaodong Economic Strategy was Yuan Yingtai, a member of the Donglin Party, who rose all the way from the magistrate to the governor, with rich experience in civil affairs and a clear official reputation, but he was completely a layman in leading the troops to fight. In the first battle of Liaoyang, Yuan Yingtai was defeated and committed suicide, and Liaoyang also fell into the hands of Houjin. At that time, Zhao led the education as Yuan Yingtai's central officer, and when the city was broken, he had to fight to the death and retreat to Guangning.

But according to the rules of the time, the commander died in battle, and the deputy general escaped from the battle, and all those who escaped were sentenced to death. Seeing that Zhao Shujiao was about to move his head, fortunately, Sun Chengzong, who was still the 'servant' of the Ministry of War at that time, toured Liaodong and learned that Zhao Shujiao did not escape from the battle, so he was rescued from the execution ground. Since then, Zhao Shujiao has deeply felt Sun Chengzong's great kindness, and has made many small contributions in Liaodong, and finally became the deputy chief soldier of Zheng Erpin.

But Zhao Shujiao is an "outsider", and he has never been on good terms with local generals in Liaodong such as Zu Dashou. Originally, there was a man Gui, and the two were quite speculative at first. However, in the Battle of Liuhe, Man Gui was ordered by Ma Shilong, the commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan at that time, to meet the defeated army, but was surrounded by the Houjin army. The battlefield was very close to the garrison of Zhao Shujiao, and Man Guiman thought that Zhao led the church to bring troops to help; However, Zhao Shujiao considered that the defeat was decided, and after defending the small city where he was located, the Jin army could not directly attack Shanhaiguan, so after weighing the pros and cons, he did not go out of the city to save him, but defended the city.

Of course, the Houjin army had no intention of eating Shanhaiguan at that time, and Man Gui also broke out of the encirclement after a bloody battle, but most of his troops were lost. Since then, Man Gui hated Zhao Shujiao deeply, and he didn't listen to Zhao Shujiao's explanations to him. Zhao Shujiao thought that he was right, and he refused to make peace with Man Gui in a low voice, but finally at a banquet, in front of Gao Di, Yuan Chonghuan and the generals of Liaodong, the two disagreed and fought. With the courage of Man Gui, he was beaten by Zhao Shujiao, which shows the martial arts of Zhao Shujiao.

The popularity is so bad, and he has no foundation in the court, Zhao Shujiao thought that he might have to disarm and return to the field. Unexpectedly, after Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne, he entrusted him with a heavy responsibility and let him serve as the chief military officer of Jizhen alone. Zhao Shujiao deeply felt the grace of the saint, because of his great age, he still practiced the army and inspected the city defense all day long, and tonight he just arrived at Xifengkou from Zunhua, which was dozens of miles away.

Some time ago, Houjin fought with the Chahar Division, and the battlefield was in the grassland north of Jizhen. Recently, Zhao Shujiao heard some rumors again, saying that Huang Taiji was preparing to go on an expedition against Lin Dan Khan, and he was going to pass through the north of Jizhen. He had been fighting in Liaodong for many years, and he knew that the Houjin army was not only brave and unmatched, but also unpredictable, and perhaps not very civilized in other aspects, looking no different from a savage, but it was by no means ambiguous when it came to fighting, so he had added twelve points of caution.

At this moment, he looked at the city for a long time, and he didn't see any movement on the grassland, and finally breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled at the soldiers around him: "Damn, this wind is really rushing at night!" Let's go down to the city and have a barbecue! ”

Only then did the soldiers relax and go down to the city one after another, talking and laughing.

Suddenly, Zhao Shujiao shouted: "Give me silence!" ”

Everyone was stunned and had to stand on the spot. Zhao Shujiao was silent for a moment and said, "Did you hear any sounds?" ”

Everyone listened attentively, but there was only the sound of the north wind calling, and they all shook their heads blankly. Zhao Shujiao turned to the north to look again, and after about a cup of tea, he suddenly shouted: "The whole army is on alert!" ”

The soldiers looked at each other, what kind of nerves did the old man have in his heart, there was obviously nothing on the grassland. But whoever dared not listen to the words of the lord had to climb all the towers and stare at the dark field in the bitter cold wind.

After a meal, the short summer night gradually passed, and the sky was slightly brighter, and everyone suddenly found that the horizon seemed to be a little blurred as far as their eyes could see.

After another moment, the sound of thunder came from afar, and the soldiers saw clearly: the cavalry of the brigade poured out of the horizon, and like the 'waves' of the sea, wave after 'wave', it seemed that there would never be an end in sight!

Everyone looked at the main general Zhao Shujiao in horror. When it came to the end, the battlefield veteran was surprisingly calm, and only said lightly: "The Tartar is here." ”

.