Yanjing, the Forbidden City.

Tang Sheng stepped on the last step of the steps, and kicked the white marble slab on the soles of his feet with thick-soled riding boots, and the brilliant and magnificent Huangji Hall was completely presented in front of Tang Sheng, Huo Ran turned around, and the noise outside the Forbidden City was still faintly audible, that was the tens of thousands of surviving Ming people in the city who were beating gongs and drums to celebrate the recovery of Yanjing by the Central Army.

The battle report came to Tang Sheng like a stream.

The inner city, the outer city, the imperial city, and the palace city have been recovered, with the cooperation of the people of Yanjing, the central army has completely annihilated the 2,000 Jiannu stationed in Yanjing, because they hated the brutal bestiality of Jiannu, the angry Yanjing people even skinned and cramped the Jiannu who had been killed, and ate their flesh, and many Jiannu were smashed into powder.

Tang Sheng withdrew his gaze from the splendid Imperial Palace, and said loudly: "Someone is coming." ”

A pro-soldier stepped forward and responded: "Yes." ”

"Immediately release carrier pigeons to convey the message to Hou Ye, Yanjing has been recovered, and the Forbidden City is intact......" Tang Sheng said this, his tone suddenly turned gloomy, and he said in a low voice, "In addition, the people in the city have suffered a catastrophe, there are only more than 30,000 hundreds of thousands of lives left, and the prison officials have also been killed and injured, and none of them survived......"

"Yes!"

The soldiers kicked their legs and saluted, and took the order.

"Alas......"

Seeing the figure of his own soldiers go away, Tang Sheng suddenly let out a long sigh and said to Shi Lang beside him, "Two years ago, Yanjing was still the capital of our Ming Empire, how prosperous and lively was Yanjing at that time?" Look at the present, but it is such a depression, this is all done by Jiannu who should kill a thousand knives! ”

Shi Lang also clenched his iron fist and said hatefully: "This blood debt will one day be repaid from Jiannu with interest." ”

Tang Sheng nodded heavily, and said in a calm tone: "Yanjing has been recovered, Jiannu is about to be destroyed, and then our Central Army should wave its division out of the customs and recover Liaodong, the general must ask the Hou Ye to fight, as the vanguard of this exit, and the general must use the blood of Jiannu to pay tribute to hundreds of thousands of unjust souls in Yanjing!" ”

Shi Lang nodded, and said, "General, what should we do next?" ”

Tang Sheng thought for a while, and said in a deep voice: "There is only one task that Hou Ye has given you and me, that is, to recover Yanjing intact, especially the Forbidden City cannot be destroyed, and now the task has been completed, although Hou Ye has not issued a new military order, but we can't just be idle." ”

Shi Lang said: "What does the general want?" ”

"Ben will be thinking about ......," Tang Sheng Huo Ran said, "It's better to take the opportunity to recover Shanhaiguan!" ”

Shi Lang lost his voice and said: "Guangfu Shanhaiguan? ”

"Yes, Guangfu Shanhaiguan." Tang Sheng said in a condensed voice, "Shi Lang, you think, Jiannu and the Tartar soldiers have lost their place in the Central Plains after suffering a defeat in Jining, and they are bound to flee northward, according to the current situation, the Jiannu and Tartar soldiers have two ways to go, one is to escape back to Liaodong through Shanhaiguan, and the other is to return to the desert through Datong." ”

Shi Lang nodded and said, "Right now, Datong and Shanhaiguan are under the control of Jiannu, which is indeed very possible." ”

Tang Sheng said again: "According to the general's estimate, Jiannu is likely to escape back to Liaodong through Shanhaiguan, and the Mongolian Tatars may flee back to the desert through Datong. ”

Without waiting for Shi Lang to express his position, Tang Sheng said again: "Shi Lang, you think, as long as we recover Shanhaiguan, we can get stuck in the neck of Jiannu and flee back to Liaodong!" If Jiannu wants to take a detour, I don't know how much more time it will take, and how many more unjust roads will it take? It is the middle of winter now, the people of Beizhili are fleeing and dying, and the prefectures are almost white, and the Jiannu cannot get supplies at all, and when they return to Liaodong by a long detour, I don't know how many people will starve to death and freeze to death! ”

I have to admit that Tang Sheng's analysis is very reasonable, if Tang Sheng is really stuck in the choke point of Shanhaiguan, then the more than 10,000 Jiannu led by so many Duo will be in big trouble! Because they were anxious to flee for their lives, Duoduo's group of Jiannu did not carry too much grain and grass, and each Jiannu only carried dry food for ten days.

Although the dry food for these ten days was not much, it was enough for Duoduo's more than 10,000 troops to return to Shanhaiguan alive.

But if Shanhaiguan is lost, then Duoduo's more than 10,000 troops will have to take a long detour back to Liaodong, so that they will have to walk more than ten days of unjust road, and what is even worse is that Duoduo's more than 10,000 troops can no longer get valuable supplies from Shanhaiguan, and the dry food they carry has been eaten, so they can only kill horses to satisfy their hunger, and once the war horses are eaten up, then they will have to starve!

Shi Lang cautiously asked, "General, do you want to ask Master Hou for instructions?" ”

"It's too late." Tang Sheng waved his hand and said, "Our carrier pigeons can fly back to Jining, but Jining's carrier pigeons can't fly to Yanjing, send fast horses to Jining, it will take at least a few days to go back and forth, and it is very likely to encounter the defeat of Jiannu, really waiting for the order of the Hou Ye, Jiannu has already fled back to Liaodong through Shanhaiguan." ”

Shi Lang said: "After all, there are only 5,000 people in the mixed battalion, and if you want to recover Shanhaiguan and stick to Yanjing, the troops are insufficient." ”

Tang Sheng said: "Ben will only bring a sentry musket team, and Yanjing will be left to Shi Lang for you." ”

"Huh?" Shi Lang lost his voice and said, "General, you only take a sentry musket team?" Isn't that too risky? Shanhaiguan is the first Xiongguan in the world! In any case, you have to bring the Hongyi cannon, and the lowly sailors should also draw at least half of their troops to cooperate with the battle from the sea. ”

"Nope." Tang Sheng waved his hand and said, "The Hongyi cannon is too slow, and it is already the end of October, the sea and the canal may freeze at any time, your sailor is no longer useful, a thousand musketeers say not much, but not too much, and the Jiannu army is gathered in Jining, there will not be too many Jiannu guarding Shanhaiguan, and I will have the confidence to take it in one fell swoop." ”

Shi Lang said solemnly: "Since the general has decided, then the humble post will not say anything more, and the humble post wishes the general a victory and another great achievement." ”

"I'm sorry for you." Tang Sheng saluted and said loudly, "Without further ado, Ben will leave here, and Yanjing will ask you." ”

"Please rest assured, General." Shi Lang said proudly, "As long as Shi Lang still has a breath, Yanjing will never have any problems." ”

"Nope." Tang Sheng said categorically, "You have to do what Master Hou said, even if you die, Yanjing City can't have any mistakes." ”

"Yes!" Shi Lang said loudly, "Yanjing City will never have any mistakes. ”

Tang Sheng nodded with satisfaction and turned around.

■■■

Liaocheng, the fire in the city has been extinguished by the Henan army, and on the surface, Liaocheng has been restored to its original appearance.

On the one hand, the Red Lady sent a large number of rangers to wander around in the open wilderness, preparing to intercept and kill the fleeing Jiannu stragglers, and on the other hand, she set a trap in Liaocheng, so that some of the soldiers of the righteous army changed into Jiannu's horse coats and Qiao dressed up as Jiannu to defend the city, waiting for the defeated Jiannu remnants and Tartar remnants to throw themselves into the net.

Jining to Liaocheng has more than 500 miles, three days after the defeat of Jining, there are a small number of Jiannu and Tartar routs fled to the south of Liaocheng, did not wait for these routs to approach Liaocheng, You Ge in the surrounding wasteland of the Henan army cavalry ghostly killed, these stragglers were shot one by one, and then the corpses were annihilated.

After about half a day, a large-scale rout finally fled outside the south gate of Liaocheng.

Monk Zhang, Jing Maocheng and Li Hu and other Li disciples who made up to become Jiannu stood on the head of the city and looked out, only to see that the black pressure outside the south gate was full of Jiannu and Tartar's rout, not to mention more than 5,000 people!

"Good." Jing Maocheng licked his lips excitedly and said in a condensed voice, "There are five thousand people to say the least!" ”

"So what are you waiting for?" Li Hu said in a deep voice, "Open the city gate immediately and put them into the urn city!" ”

Although the Red Lady has long been suspicious of Li Hu, but before there is no definite evidence, the Red Lady did not attack Li Hu, until now Li Hu is still the second person in the Henan Army, and his status is far above Jing Maocheng and Monk Zhang.

The Jiannu outside the city were already panicked, and they didn't notice anything unusual in Liaocheng at all.

At this time, the defeated soldiers just wanted to quickly flee into the city to have a good meal, and then sleep beautifully, and then continue to flee north after dawn tomorrow, seeing that the city gate had been opened, these remnants of the defeated soldiers immediately swarmed forward, and a few strong Jiannu in order to take the lead, drew their swords and cut down several Mongolian Tartars.

Outside the city gate, there was a continuous noise, accompanied by angry shouts, wails before death, and the sound of gold and iron intersecting blades, and more than 5,000 routs crowded together like crazy...... The scene was as chaotic as the train station in Guangzhou hundreds of years later.

These poor Jiannu and Tartar soldiers did not know that they were stepping into the trap set by the Red Lady step by step, and they were stepping step by step towards death.

In less than a meal, more than 3,000 routs have flocked into the city gate, and the routs who passed through the city gate found that the inner gate of the urn city was actually closed, no matter how they smashed the door, roared, and shouted, the city gate was still closed, and many of the rout soldiers had realized the danger and desperately wanted to escape from the city, but at this time, where could they still be helped? for the army outside the city gate is squeezing in like a tidal wave.

"Quack quack...... Rumble! ”

In the chaotic crowding of the Jiannu and Tartar routs, the high-hanging jack gate suddenly fell heavily, cutting off the connection between the urn city and the outside world in an instant, and the more than 3,000 rout soldiers who had already rushed into the city gate were immediately sealed in the urn city, while the more than 1,000 rout soldiers who had not entered the city were still crowded outside the drawbridge and the city gate hole, and were angrily scolding at the city head.

Suddenly, a group of indifferent archers emerged from behind the battlements around the urn city, and countless cold arrow clusters had been aimed at the rout soldiers crowded in the urn city, and the next moment, countless sharp arrows poured down like a dense rainstorm, and the routs who were huddled together could not find any cover at all, they couldn't even squat down and use their companions' bodies as shields, they could only watch the sharp arrows shoot lightning towards their heads......

The next moment, the continuous screams rushed into the sky, and the routs crowded outside the city gate were horrified, and they realized that something was wrong, but before they could rejoice, let alone turn around and run away, the rumbling sound of iron hooves had already sounded from the wilderness outside the city, and looking back, the black-pressed cavalry had emerged from the horizon, just like a storm......

In front of the cavalry formation, the red lady was riding her horse and galloping: "Kill all the Jiannu and Tartars, don't let one go!" ”

"Kill, kill, kill, kill ......"

The cavalry soldiers behind the red lady shouted frantically, holding high the sharp sabers and destroying the war horses, one by one like a bad wolf that smelled meat, showing its hideous fangs.

■■■

Jining, Provisional Governor Xingyuan.

Liu Ru carried a document into Wang Pu's signing room.

Wang Pu, who was closing his eyes and recuperating, heard the movement and looked slightly, and when he saw that it was Liu Rus, he couldn't help but ask happily: "The staff has drawn up the follow-up battle plan?" ”

Liu Ru hummed and handed the document in his hand to Wang Pu.

Wang Pu hurriedly read it, and couldn't help frowning: "Isn't it appropriate to take advantage of the situation to recover Liaodong and Shanxi?" ”

"Yes." Liu Ru stared at Wang Pu's frowning brows, and said softly, "Although the slave family also wants to recover Liaodong and Shanxi as soon as possible, but after serious discussion by the General Staff, it is unanimously agreed that it is not yet time, firstly, the central army is insufficient, and it is inevitable that the rear will be empty after the main force goes out, and secondly, the central army relies heavily on logistics, and it is not appropriate to continue to attack Shanxi or Liaodong before the situation in Beizhili is not stable, otherwise it is very likely that the enemy will cut the logistics supply line and fall into trouble." ”

Wang Pu bowed his head slightly, this is indeed the case, even more serious than what Liu Ru said.

It is indeed very risky to continue to attack Shanxi and Liaodong before the situation in Beizhili is not stable, and the Ming Central Army is actually fighting at home in Shandong and Jiannu, and the logistics support is relatively easy, but it is not the case at all to cross the Yanjing expedition to Shanxi or Liaodong, at that time, the logistics supply line of the Central Army will be thousands of miles long, and if there is a mistake in any link in the middle, it may affect the overall situation, resulting in the expeditionary Central Army falling into a desperate situation!

Therefore, the wisest thing to do is to first stabilize the situation in Beizhili, move the displaced people back to the provinces of Beizhili, and then resume production, and then set up an arsenal in Yanjing, when Beizhili can provide sufficient grain, grass and munitions, and when the central army can fight against Shanxi or Liaodong.

"Since ......that's the case," Wang Pu breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "The General Staff may wish to discuss how to stabilize the situation in Beizhili and restore production in Beizhili." ”

Liu said: "Master Hou, the staff has already discussed. ”

"Oh?" Wang Pu said happily, "Is there any conclusion?" ”

Liu said: "There are two main ones, one is to encourage farming, and the other is to issue a decree to kill Hu. ”

Wang Pu's eyes froze, and he said awe-inspiringly: "Kill Hu Ling!?" ”

"That's right, kill Hu Ling!" Liu Ru said, "Although the Jiannu and Tartars were defeated in the battle of Jining, there are still many defeated troops in the Beizhi provinces, if the order to kill Hu is not issued, the people will not dare to return to their hometowns at all, and the promulgation of the order to kill Hu has another advantage, that is, the Han people in the northern prefectures, especially in the northern prefectures, can have the most fierce folk customs, and the youth of these prefectures will provide the best military resources for the central army." ”

(To be continued)