When Amur led more than 1,000 Qing soldiers back to Qingzhou, Pang Gang also commanded more than 4,000 soldiers and horses to follow his tail to the city of Dezhou.

"My lord, the Texas Mansion has arrived!" Meng Qing, the staff officer of the army, pointed to the tall city wall in front of him, and said to Pang Gang with a slight joy in his tone: "The front is the Dezhou Mansion, I hope it hasn't been captured by the Tartars yet!" ”

When Meng Qing first came to Lingshanwei's Wanghai Fort, Pang Gang only asked him to be in charge of sundries, but later Pang Gang saw that he was quite insightful in the military, so before the expedition, he specially asked him if he was willing to develop in the army, but he was very happy to accept, because he was born as a scholar, and there is a reputation for talent, he is also a rare talent in Lingshanwei, Pang Gang promoted him as a staff officer with the army, and let him give advice along the way.

Before arriving in Dezhou, Pang Gang and the generals were most worried that the Dezhou Mansion had been captured by the Qing army, so Pang Gang would fall into passivity. After all, the 4,000 army has been gone for more than half a month, and nearly half of the food has been consumed.

Pang Gang smiled slightly: "Dezhou Mansion is a big city after all, although it is not as high and thick as Jinan Mansion, but it is not something that thousands of Tartars can easily capture, as long as the generals who defend the city are not stupid, it is not a problem to persist for the last month." ”

"Who knows, it's hard to say exactly what is going on in this world, as for the city guards of Texas!"

Pang Gang could hear that Meng Qing's tone seemed to be very uninterested in the officials of the Texas Mansion, although he was a little shocked in his heart, he was not the kind of person who liked to get to the bottom of it, he smiled slightly and stopped talking, he clamped the war horse in his crotch, and accelerated his speed to run towards the faintly visible Texas Mansion.

Chongzhen March 2 said that on the afternoon of Shenshi, the head of the city of Dezhou at this time the head of the city of Dezhou was full of smoke, the city wall was in a mess, many soldiers were busy carrying things on the city head, and some people were carrying down the soldiers who were killed or wounded in the battle for treatment.

Ji Ruxing, the prefect of Texas, was standing at the battlement of the city and looking at the Qing army camp about a mile away from the city, and the anxious expression in his heart appeared directly on the chubby round face. And the expression on the face of Yi Jiang, the soldier and horse guard of the Texas Mansion beside him, was just the opposite of Ji Ruxingji, he always had a black face as if he was owed money and did not pay it back, looking at the Tartar soldiers who had just retreated under the city, his face was still expressionless, but a trace of unusual fluctuations flashed in his eyes.

Ji Ruxing took out a snow-white silk scarf and wiped the beads of sweat that kept pouring out of his face, and asked anxiously: "Yi Garrison, these Tartars have been attacking the city for three days, and our manpower is getting smaller and smaller, and we are about to be unable to hold on, this government estimates that if the Tartars attack again tomorrow, the Dezhou Mansion will fall, let's ask the Jinan Mansion for reinforcements again, right?" ”

Yi Jiang said expressionlessly: "Master Ji, since you know that Texas can't last tomorrow, is it too late to send someone to Jinan Mansion for help now?" ”

"You"

Ji Ruxing was choked by Yi Jiang's big truth, and couldn't help but say angrily: "That's better than sitting and waiting for death, you don't have to think about yourself and hundreds of thousands of people in Texas!" ”

Seeing that Ji Ruxing was choked by himself and couldn't get off the stage, Yi Jiang's originally stiff face softened slightly, sighed and said: "My lord, those Tartars can't attack the Texas Mansion, they are here to use our Texas Mansion as bait." ”

"Bait?" Ji Ruxing asked in surprise: "What does Yi Shoubei mean by this?" ”

Yi Jiang patiently explained: "Master Ji, didn't you find out? In the past three days, whenever the Tartars are about to break through our city walls, they always have to slow down the speed of their attacks, so that we have time to plug the loopholes, and their attacks these days are mainly based on those Mongols, and the main forces of the Tartars have hardly been dispatched, what does this mean? Does this mean that the Tartars have no power against us at all? ”

"Ah, the Tartars haven't exerted their strength yet?" Ji Ruxing was a little dumbfounded, "How does this official feel that these days are like spending the year?" Could it be that such a ferocious attack was just a feint of the Tartars? ”

Yi Jiang continued to say with a straight face: "Although the lower officials don't want to admit it, I'm afraid this is the truth. ”

"What a good thing that is!" Ji Ruxing stood aside and muttered, "Could it be that the Tartars are still waiting for someone?" ”

"If it is not bad as expected, the Tartars are waiting for reinforcements from all over my Shandong to arrive, so as to annihilate our Shandong reinforcements in one fell swoop in the field battle, and then take the opportunity to invade the hinterland of Shandong and plunder."

As soon as Yi Jiang finished speaking, there was an exclamation from the accompanying sergeant next to him, "My lord, look, the reinforcements of the Tartars are coming!"

"What, the Tartars still have reinforcements!"

Ji Ruxinghe, who was taken aback, had already quickly poked his head out of the battlement, staring at him as if looking from a distance, a Qing army of more than 1,000 people in the southwest was rapidly moving towards the camp of the Qing army outside the city, and behind them was still smoke and dust, as if there were still large troops following behind.

Seeing this situation, Ji Ruxing immediately felt as if the sky was about to fall, and he collapsed to the ground all of a sudden, and said with a face like earth: "It's over, the Tartar reinforcements are here, and our Texas Mansion is finished!" ”

Yi Jiang also looked at the dust and smoke in the distance with a calm face and said nothing, and his original black and thin face was even more heavy at the moment, and he was about to drip ink.

The smoke and dust are getting bigger and bigger, and the people and horses are getting closer and closer to the city of Texas, looking at the approaching team, both the soldiers defending the city and the young hearts of the people on the city head have sunk to the bottom, and slowly a big flag appears far away in the eyes of everyone.

"My lord, my lord, it's our reinforcements, and our reinforcements have arrived!"

While the soldiers and civilians were in despair, a sharp-eyed soldier pointed ahead and shouted, so loud that everyone in the nearby city could hear it.

"What, reinforcements! How is this possible, didn't you see that the Tartars had just returned? If there were reinforcements, would the Tartars be blind, would they not see? A general of the Ming army thought that the soldier was dazzled, reprimanded the soldier loudly, and gave him a chestnut.

The soldier lowered his head a little aggrieved: "My lord, the villain is really right, and there is nothing wrong with it." Although the villain is illiterate, the villain with the word "Ming" has been watching the city for three or four years, and he will never be mistaken. ”

"Hmm!" As soon as this soldier said this, Yi Jiang and Ji Ruxing also continued to look ahead with wide eyes, and after a while, several soldiers also exclaimed: "My lord, this kid is right, it's really our Ming reinforcements coming, don't you see those people are wearing our Ming armor, isn't it our Ming banner?" ”

"Yes, it's really our Ming reinforcements! We're saved! At this time, Ji Ruxing also saw that the fat prefect jumped up on the head of the city as if he had broken away from the gravitational pull of the earth at this moment.

It's just that Yi Jiang on the side frowned and whispered to himself in confusion: "Behind the Ming banner is the "Pang" word flag, looking at the dust and smoke they raised all the way, there are thousands of people, is there still a commander or general or guerrilla surnamed Pang in Shandong?" Could it be that the Tartars are trying to trick the city gates? ”

Thinking of this, Yi Jiang shook his head again, it was easy for the Tartars to capture the Texas Mansion, which was now defended by less than 2,000 miscellaneous soldiers, so why bother with any tricks to use? It's just that when there was such an army in Shandong, Yi Jiang really couldn't figure it out, didn't the slightly more powerful troops in Shandong now go to the capital Qinwang?

Just when Yi Jiang was surprised, the army that came slowly appeared in front of everyone! , everyone can see clearly on the city wall, although this Ming army is on the march, it is a clear banner, a neat queue, a strong army posture, and a compelling momentum.

Around the team, there are dozens of cavalry from time to time to train and warn around, led by bird soldiers and sword and shield hands, these soldiers are all red armor, lined with mandarin duck battle jackets, spears like clouds, birds like rain, it looks really majestic. All the soldiers marched in unison, raising puffs of smoke and dust, and were slowly walking in the direction of Texas and Baoanzhou.

"Hey, where did this reinforcement come from, I have never seen such a strong army in more than 20 years of service!"

The layman looks at the bustle, the insider looks at the doorway, and the army outside is just neat and beautiful in the eyes of Ji Ruxing and others, but in the eyes of Yi Jiang, an old soldier, the taste is completely different.

The army that followed the tail of the Tartar team from the southwest was Pang Gang and other Lingshan guards, and they followed the tail of Amur's team and constantly put on a posture of pursuit, forcing Amur to abandon most of the looted food, property, population and other things to advance lightly, and finally arrived at the Texas capital before dark.

At this time, Da Zhuang came to report: "My lord, Tartar is encamped one mile outside the south gate of Dezhou City, do we want to enter the city from another city gate?" ”

Pang Gang's eyes shot a cold glint, "Joke, this is my Da Ming's place, do we have to see the face of the Tartar when we enter the city of Da Ming?" Let's enter the city through the south gate today, and we must not let the Tartars look flat!" ”

"Yes, enter the city through the south gate immediately!"

Da Zhuang immediately hugged his fists and went after receiving the order.

Looking at Da Zhuang's departing figure, Meng Qing asked with some concern: "My lord, aren't you afraid that the Tartars will attack us halfway again if you do this?" ”

Pang Gang shook his head and said with some meaning: "This official is just afraid that the Tartars will not attack us!" ”

(To be continued)