In winter, the cold of Liaoxi freezes people, the grass and trees are covered with a thick layer of hoarfrost, and the ground is frozen hard. The north wind was blowing, and the rivers and rivers began to freeze, Wu Sangui looked at the thin ice on the surface of the river, and clearly knew that in three or five days at most, the river would freeze, and within ten days, the Liaohai Sea would also be frozen.

Wu Sangui, who finally withdrew from Yiju to Songshan, lost a lot of weight, and his face did not have the previous high spirit, and some were only deeply worried.

The weather is getting colder and the rivers are frozen, which means that Liaoxi will be flat and the rivers will become smooth, and the Qing army can no longer be stopped. The freezing of the Liaohai Sea means that Liaoxi will lose the food and salary supplies from the sea, as well as the reinforcements of soldiers and horses that they need most now.

Wu Sangui waited in Songshan for a long time, and gathered a lot of defeated soldiers, and now there are many soldiers in Songshan City, more than 60,000 people. But there was a shortage of food and grass, and there was a shortage of equipment, especially artillery. In the first battle of Yizhou, Wu Sangui lost all the cannons. Even the firecracker has lost most of it.

He tried his best to use the firearms that the horses exchanged for from Hubei, but in a blink of an eye, the cannons were gone, and most of the firearms were missing. Whether it is Ningyuan Town, Jinzhou Town, or Shanhaiguan Town, these three towns have suffered heavy losses. Matsuyama's 60,000 soldiers and horses had less than one-third of their pre-war combat effectiveness.

Songshan and Jinzhou are only 20 miles apart, Songshan has 60,000 soldiers, Jinzhou has 50,000 soldiers, but in fact, the two cities are now surrounded by the Qing army, and the city gate does not dare to go out. The number of the Qing army was far less than that of the Ming army, but the Ming army no longer dared to go out of the city to fight. The Qing army even dug a long trench between Jinzhou and Songshan, and between Songshan and Xingshan, to cut off the three cities.

"Ten days at most, Liaohai will be frozen." Wu Sangui let out a long sigh.

Zu Dashou shook his head, "Liu Jiye will definitely not come to help, and the only hope now is Qin Liangyu and others to help Liao soldiers and horses." ”

Wu Sangui and Zu Dashou were waiting for the soldiers and horses of Liaodong. Although there were still tens of thousands of Ming troops in Xingshan, Tashan, Ningyuan and other places in Songshan, those soldiers Wu Sangui did not count on it at all. The only thing he counted on was the Chu army in Liaodong.

"Liu Jiye broke Gaizhou, Kong Youde's tens of thousands of soldiers and horses surrendered, and the Liaodong Chu army was mighty, they will definitely come to relieve the siege." Wu Sangui said.

"Not necessarily." Zu Dashou was not as optimistic as his nephew. He lowered his voice a little and said, "I heard that we had won all the way before. Many officials of the imperial court impeached Liu Jun for raising thieves and self-respecting in Gaizhou, and then His Majesty took the opportunity to promote Liu Jun to the governor of Beijing, transferred him back to Beijing, and issued two holy decrees. As a result, the Yizhou army was defeated, and the emperor hurriedly asked him to supervise the soldiers and horses of Liaodong and Liaoxi as the governor of Beijing, and led the soldiers and horses to aid and suppress all roads. The imperial court's approach is absolutely sufficient. ”

"Then Liu Jun can't just sit idly by, right?" Wu Sangui said.

"Who knows? The imperial court had previously made it clear that it wanted to hide the bow and relieve Liu Jun of his military power. Now I have no choice but to add Liu Jun as a supervisor. Let him come to the aid of the siege of Liaoxi. How could Liu Jun not be able to see clearly, how could he not be angry? With the urine nature of the imperial court, as soon as Liu Jun breaks the siege, the imperial court will definitely cross the river and demolish the bridge. Liu Jun is not stupid, if he is not reconciled, he will definitely not be so happy to solve the siege. ”

Zu Dashou can also be regarded as having figured out the thoughts of Emperor Chongzhen, and also saw through the behavior of those officials in the court. He can also see some of Liu Jun's pulses, Liu Jun obviously has strong strength. But it has been hidden, and there is a sharp artillery fire. and refused to give it to the court. There is a brave and capable Chu army, but it would rather go to Liaodong to fight a piece of land than come to Liaoxi.

He saw something from Liu Jun's behavior, this Liu Jun has actually been hiding and preserving his strength, although he is young. But it is a deep city, and he knows that military generals can only be reused by grasping the military power.

The fact that the situation in western Liaoning is so bad now highlights the importance of Liu Jun and his Chu army. Facts have indeed proved that when the war in western Liaoning was rapid, the imperial court wanted to cut Liu Jun's military power. Transfer him to Beijing. But once Liaoxi was defeated, the imperial court not only could not transfer Liu Jun back to Beijing, but had to promote him and increase his official position, so that he could lead the troops and horses outside the Guan.

The promotion of this power is not a little bit, just like the soldiers and horses of Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of the world. The difference is that back then, Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Tianxiaqin, was constrained by Yang Sichang, Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting, Chen Xinjia and a group of people. And now, Liu Jun, the supervisor outside the Guan, has no one to take care of.

Zu Dashou thought about it from another position, and felt that if he was Liu Jun, he would not come to Liaoxi to solve the siege right now. There are many reasons for this, just like the Liaohai Sea is frozen, the sea route is not passable, and the land route is difficult to travel.

Wu Sangui was in a heavy mood, and the defeat of Yizhou gave him a heavy blow, and until now, he has not recovered much.

"If Liu Jun doesn't come to help, how can we save ourselves?" He asked.

"There are three options." Zu Dashou said, he stretched out a finger, "Strategy, let's kill back to Ningyuan." ”

Wu Sangui shook his head, unwilling to accept this result. If he kills back to Ningyuan and abandons Jinzhou, then his future will basically be over.

"Where's the middle strategy?"

"In the middle strategy, we will sit in Jinzhou and wait for reinforcements from western or eastern Liaoning."

"Too passive." Wu Sangui still shook his head.

"Then there is only a plan, we will kill Songshan and go to Jinzhou to join forces with the second governor of Hongsun to defend Jinzhou."

This plan is too risky, although there are 60,000 people in Songshan, but there is a lack of artillery, the morale of the army is weak, and the morale is weak, and it is difficult to enter Jinzhou at this time.

Zu Dashou saw that his nephew was in a dilemma, and persuaded on the side, "I propose that we go back to Ningyuan first, join up with other soldiers and horses in western Liaoning, and then come back to rescue Jinzhou after replenishing equipment, grain and grass." Or, let's just stay in Songshan and wait for reinforcements. With the grain and grass in the city now, as long as Jinzhou is not lost, it will not be a problem for Songshan to keep it for half a year. With such a long time, reinforcements from the imperial court will definitely arrive. ”

Wu Sangui wanted to send troops to Jinzhou several times, but in the end he failed to make this decision. The defeat of Yizhou knocked out Wu Sangui's courage and self-confidence.

"Then let's wait for Liu Jun's rescue, I hope he can come soon."

Apricot Mountain.

Director Gao Qiqian, Governor of Western Liaoning Qiu Minyang, Sichuan General Qin Liangyu, and Ma Ke, Wang Pu, Liu Zhaoji, Bai Guangen, who had retreated from Yizhou, each led their troops and horses to gather in Xingshan.

Several defeated soldiers did not want to advance eastward, but Gao Qiqian took the edict of the imperial court urging rescue, and they could only obey the order.

Outside Xingshan City, 50,000 reinforcements gathered.

When they got here, all the soldiers and horses didn't want to move forward anymore. Further on, there was the large trench dug by the Qing army between the two cities of Songxing, which was now intercepted by Duoduo and his troops.

Qin Liangyu advocated sending troops to relieve the siege of Songshan first, and then combine the soldiers and horses of Songshan to relieve the siege of Jinzhou.

"You can't sit back and wait for Chu Guogong, now that the weather is getting colder and colder, there are ice floes on the sea, whether the sailor can come is another matter. We must hurry up and send troops, otherwise the longer we delay, the colder the weather will become, and the more unsuitable it will be. ”

Gao Qiqian hesitated, wanting to send troops, but also worried that he would not be able to defeat the Qing army. In the end, it was Governor Qiu Minyang who agreed with Qin Liangyu to send troops, and reluctantly decided to send troops to relieve the siege of Songshan.

Xingshan is very close to Songshan, but more than 20 miles, but now between the two cities, there is a wide moat blocking Songxing Avenue.

Fortunately, Qin Liangyu's army still had a batch of artillery aided by the Chu army, which made Gao Qiqian and the others slightly more confident. Early in the morning of the same day, 50,000 soldiers and horses swore in the army, and after a full meal, they set out for the army.

The movements of the Xingshan Ming army were known to the Qing army long ago. As soon as they left the city, the scouts of the Qing army appeared nearby.

Qin Liangyu looked at those arrogant Qing army scouts, rode his horse to Gao Qiqian and Qiu Min Yangma, and proposed a plan to them. "Our march is known to the Tartars, who use their troops and love field battles the most. They will definitely come to attack, we put the gun wagon in the middle of the array, and the gunners are arranged outside the gun car, and when the Tartars appear, we immediately put the gun wagons into the wall, and the gunners and archers stand behind, and the guns will kill and wound the Tartars. ”

"A good plan, just arrange it according to what General Qin said."

The Ming army marched very slowly, and it took two hours out of Xingshan to walk ten miles.

At this time, the Qing army really came out and rushed on horseback.

Seeing this, Qin Liangyu was not afraid, and immediately gave orders one after another, the soldiers and horses retreated, gave way to the artillery cart, and quickly formed a car wall with the gun carriage and baggage cart, and the gunners and archers stood behind.

As soon as the Qing army entered the firing range, the gunners of the Sichuan army immediately lit the fuses of one of the cannons.

The shells were whistling out of the chamber, the cannons were rumbling, and the Qing cavalry was unprepared that the Ming army had so many artillery, and they had already prepared. At one time, many cavalrymen were knocked out.

"Prepare your hand!"

"Put!"

The Qing cavalry rushed closer again, and the gunners began to hold all kinds of firearms such as bird guns and flying dragon guns, and some even held three-eyed guns and raised guns, etc., and the gunners stood behind the gun carriage and shot fiercely at the Qing horses. For a time, the smoke of gunpowder was filled, and the sound of guns was loud.

"Archer!"

Getting closer, the archers also began to shoot at the Qing cavalry in unison.

The Qing army left many corpses along the way, and finally rushed to the front, and the gunners of the Sichuan army had already reloaded with shotguns. Every time a cannon is fired, there are hundreds of small shotguns, and when shooting these shotguns, even the process of cleaning the chamber is omitted, and the firing speed is greatly accelerated.

The Qing army suddenly turned on their backs.

Dodor watched from behind, and was distressed to see the result.

"Mingjin, withdraw your troops!"

"Master, we have rushed up."

"Don't talk nonsense, immediately Mingjin, withdraw!"

On the battlefield, the sound of the Qing army's golden sound sounded, and the Qing army immediately retreated without looking back when they heard the order.

Seeing the embarrassed retreat of the Qing army, Wang Pu, the chief soldier of Datong, pulled out his long sword, pointed forward, and shouted, "Chase!" ”

The cavalry under his command was the first to kill, and then the other soldiers and horses next to him also rushed out. The soldiers and horses of Datong Town moved, and the soldiers and horses of other towns did not want to miss the opportunity to beat the water dogs, so they shouted and chased out.

When Qin Liangyu saw it, his face changed greatly, and he hurriedly raised his head and said, "Lord Director, don't pursue the enemy lightly, be careful of the Tartar ambush." ”

Gao Qiqian smiled at this time, "The Tartars didn't expect our artillery array to be so sharp, and the enemy was defeated and returned, and this is the time to take advantage of the victory to pursue." ”

"Order, the whole army pursued, and killed under Songshan City in one fell swoop." (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you for your support from sunnyyao, xmage, benhe, simon_s, and forgetful records, now is the period of doubling the monthly pass, and everyone has a monthly pass to vote for it. By the way, I recommend a very happy book to everyone, it seems to be called an engineering student in the Tang Dynasty, and it is really fun to read.