Chongzhen said on October 9 of the tenth year

Before they came here, the officers and soldiers who defended Yongdingmen to You'anmen were several generals of the Fifth Army and the Fourth Battalion, the Third Shenshu Battalion, the Fourth Shenshu Battalion, and the Fifth Shenji Battalion of the Beijing Battalion.

Before their arrival, the morale of the officers and men of these battalions was low, and there were constant deserters every day, and when they saw Lu Xiangsheng leading tens of thousands of troops coming, their mood calmed down slightly, and then they immediately strongly asked Lu Xiangsheng to build another line of defense in front of them, so that they could have a good rest.

In desperation, Lu Xiangsheng had no choice but to line up the troops and arrange them in an area of dozens of miles near Yongding Gate.

"Lu Dudu, since ancient times, there is only a thousand thieves who have been said to be thieves, how can there be a reason to prevent thieves, our tens of thousands of troops are scattered here, and the Qing soldiers have gathered a large number of troops on the opposite side, they are in a posture that can attack at any time, but we are passive and strictly defensive, so we will suffer a great loss."

Facing Pang Gang's question, Lu Xiangsheng also smiled wordlessly: "Chaodong, we don't have much grain and grass in the first place, and now we can still get supplies relying on the Jingshi, if you attack without authorization, I'm afraid you will have to starve to death before you find a decisive battle with the Qing army, what else can you do except strictly defend it?"

"That's not a reason for us to hold on!" Pang Gang did not agree with Lu Xiangsheng's words, whether it was the military books he saw since he was a child or the military theories he saw in movies and television, it was said that offense is the best defense, and if you defend it for a long time, you will lose, which is a truth that is not easy for the ages.

But although Pang Gang thought so in his heart, he also knew that even if he said these words, it would be useless, this was a strategy set by the emperor and Gao Qiqian and Yang Sichang, even Lu Xiangsheng had no choice, and he was even more powerless.

Lu Xiangsheng patted him on the shoulder and said solemnly: "Chaodong, there are some things that you and I can't control, since we are a Ming courtier, it is my duty as a courtier to worry about the king, but I also hope that you can promise the old man one thing." ”

Pang Gang also said with a straight face: "Governor, please speak, the last general will listen to you!" ”

Lu Xiangsheng pondered for a while before saying, "The old man knows that you have great ambitions, whether it is tuntian, training or fighting, you are a good hand, and some time ago you also donated two million taels of silver to the imperial court, which solved the urgent need for the imperial court, these old men are in their eyes, but you took the opportunity to report narrowly, and made many rude requests to the court and the emperor, for your own selfish interests, how can this be done by the ministers!" Speaking of this, Lu Xiangsheng's voice began to sound louder.

Pang Gang shook his head and said: "The last general will not agree with what the superintendent said, and the last general will dare to ask the governor, so far, who of us in the Ming Dynasty can pay two million taels of silver to the imperial court out of his own pocket within two months?" I'm afraid there won't be any! It is true that the source of this silver may not be so above board, but the last general dares to pat his chest and say that this silver is definitely not obtained by harming the people, and the last general will reclaim wasteland, collect displaced people, and distribute grain seeds in Qingzhou, which of these things will be done wrong? How? After the last general handed over such a large sum of silver, did he take the opportunity to make a request, but also violated the heavenly rules? The last general will admit that the last general is selfish, but who in this world is not selfish? The last general asked himself that it is much better than those officials who stand in the pit and don't in the corpse vegetarian meal, do you think this is the truth? ”

Lu Xiangsheng was silent after hearing this, although Pang Gang's words were very unpleasant, but Lu Xiangsheng also had to admit that what he said made sense, the rich people of the Ming Dynasty had gone to the sea, but let alone let them donate two million taels of silver to the imperial court, even if they donated two thousand taels, it would be difficult for them to donate two thousand taels.

In order to raise military salaries to ensure the supply of the front line, Chongzhen called on the Manchu Dynasty to donate money and military donations, counting on the princes and ministers to put a little "blood" to save the emergency.

In order to set an example, Emperor Chongzhen sent the eunuch Xu Gao to inform Zhou Kui and ask him to take the lead in donating 100,000 taels of silver. Chongzhen thought that Zhou Kui was the ruler of the country, and he shared weal and woe with the royal interests of the Ming Dynasty, besides, he usually reaped no less benefits, and he turned a blind eye to this. What he never expected was that as soon as Zhou Kui heard that he was going to "bleed", he cried like a mourner, saying "Lao Chen's peace is more golden?" He also said that his family was so poor that he could only buy moldy rice to eat, and he insisted that he could only donate 10,000 taels. Chongzhen is a soft-hearted person, but he thinks that 10,000 is too little, and if this example can't be established, it will cost 20,000 no matter how you say it.

Seeing that he couldn't hide, Zhou Kui entered the palace to ask his daughter for help. Empress Zhou saw that her father was so embarrassed, so she took out 5,000 silver and persuaded her father to understand the righteousness, set an example for the ministers, and save the Ming Dynasty. Who knows, Zhou Kuiyan plucked his feathers and only donated 3,000 taels, and he also took the opportunity to deduct 2,000 taels of hardship.

The rest of the Manchu civil and military forces were not to be outdone, some of them jumped on their own houses and shouted "this house is for sale", some of them ran to the downtown with their own antiques to sell, one by one as if they were going bankrupt, and finally this farce came down, and in the end the huge court only raised less than 200,000 taels of military salaries, which is really sad and lamentable.

In contrast, Pang Gang was only a mere general soldier, but he was able to donate two million taels of silver to the imperial court, and the gap was huge. Lu Xiangsheng is an honest man and will not lie with his conscience, so he can only be silent.

Pang Gang also sighed, remembering a fable that sounded when he heard this farce last year: several monkeys carried a stone together, and one of the monkeys thought that even if I didn't use force, they would carry it away, so he quietly let go. Unexpectedly, several other monkeys thought the same. The consequences can be imagined, the stone fell and injured all the monkeys.

In Pang Gang's view, the current Ming Dynasty is the stone, and the Manchu Dynasty civil and military is the monkey who carries the stone.

The two who were silent were relatively speechless, looking at the gloomy sky without saying a word, at this time, a loud firecracker suddenly came from the western sky, and then a dazzling red light flashed in mid-air, and then exploded.

"It's not good, there is a warning signal from Zaozhuang, and there are Tartars who are going to attack them!" Pang Gang's face suddenly changed slightly.

Zaozhuang is the object of Pang Gang's defense, since there is a change there, Pang Gang immediately said goodbye to Lu Xiangsheng, rode a fast horse and galloped towards Zaozhuang...... The area around Zaozhuang, where Pang Gang's headquarters was stationed, was all plains, with many rivers and canals, and fertile land, which was originally a dense place for villages and towns near Gyeonggi, but now because of the Tartars, there are ten households and nine empty, and even the barking of dogs can not be heard at night. After Pang Gang was stationed in Zaozhuang, he sent a large number of night guards to probe the enemy's situation, urgently surveying and mapping the map and terrain of this area, and striving to get familiar with the terrain in this area.

In the generation from Yongdingmen to You'anmen, I don't know whether Lu Xiangsheng intentionally or unintentionally, Zaozhuang where Pang Gang was stationed is the most flat terrain and the easiest place to break, the Qing soldiers are not stupid, and naturally they are also eyeing here.

Da Zhuang stood on a high slope, looked at the shadow of the Qing soldiers faintly visible in the woods in the distance, spat and scolded: "These damn Tartars have been making noise since the morning, but they haven't started fighting yet, so Lao Tzu has been waiting for a long time." ”

A Qian general next to Da Zhuang smiled and said: "Why should the general be in a hurry, we have to give the Tartar some time, and people who come from afar must take a rest." ”

Da Zhuang sighed: "It's a pity, Lu Dudu has a strict order not to allow us to attack, otherwise I would have ordered the cavalry brothers to kill him." ”

"Who's to say it isn't." This Qian Zong also agreed with Da Zhuang's words: "If the huge people were here, we would have let us attack the fuck a long time ago." ”

While he was talking, the soldier in charge of the lookout in front of him suddenly shouted: "General Qiqi Wang, the Tartars' brigade is coming!" ”

As he spoke, he saw a large cloud of smoke and dust rolling in from the other side of the wilderness. And this kind of smoke and dust, only when the large force of cavalry is galloping, will rise such smoke.

"Alarm fireworks!" Mr. Qian on the side shouted without thinking.

"Bang ......" rose into the sky with a shining fireworks, and the Qing soldiers began to approach Zaozhuang.

Due to Pang Gang's absence, Da Zhuang became the supreme commander of the whole army at this moment, and after seeing the Qing soldiers attacking, Da Zhuang immediately began to blow the sharp whistle hanging on his neck, and the terrible whistle suddenly resounded in the sky above Zaozhuang.

"Enemy attack! Alert! ”

As the whistle sounded, the soldiers who had been sitting by the fire chatting or looking around like a loosened spring jumped up at once, and began to line up under the orders of their respective commanders.

As the cloud of smoke and dust got closer and closer, finally, Da Zhuang and the soldiers saw a big red daqi appear in front of their eyes, and then a large blood-colored banner followed, hunting and flying in the cold wind. Beneath the dense banners, there were knights in red armor, and fiery red helmets fluttered on the top of the jet-black pointed helmets.

The sound of the horses' hooves of the Qing soldiers became louder and louder, and it seemed that the earth was shaking under the blow of the iron hooves, and the faces of the soldiers who had just joined the army at the beginning of the year and had not yet fought with the Qing soldiers turned a little pale, and they clenched the Minnie rifles or spears in their hands one after another, staring nervously ahead, and a nervous and excited emotion permeated their hearts.

Seeing that the recruits were a little uneasy, the captains and foreign commissioners in the team shouted one after another: "Brothers, calm down, listen to the official's orders later, and no one is allowed to put guns indiscriminately!" ”

Da Zhuang, who was patrolling back and forth, also found that although many recruits were panting heavily, their expressions were quite calm, and there was no desertion.

As the sound of horses' hooves became louder and louder, soon a cavalry of hundreds of men appeared in front of them.

(To be continued)