Yizhou, in the north of Jinzhou, borders the Daling River in the north.

In October, Chen Xinjia, the new secretary of the military department, wrote to the emperor, believing that the situation in Ningjin was favorable to the Ming Dynasty, and asked to take the opportunity to recover the three cities of Guangning, Yizhou and Youtun, and rebuild the city of Dalinghe. In this way, Jinzhou, Dalinghe, and Youtun can become horns, and they can rely on each other, and after recovering these three strongholds, they can advance to the northeast in turn to recover the important town of Guangning City.

If Guangning can be smoothly advanced and the triangle defense line of the Daling River can be stabilized, then the imperial court will be able to greatly change the now weak Guanningjin defense line, and it can be attacked and retreated.

Control Guangning, backed by Jinzhou, Dalinghe, Yizhou, Youtun Zhucheng, then the advance can continue to the east, to the hinterland controlled by the Qing army, to develop in depth, to fight for the Liaohe Hetao Plain. Retreat can also prevent the Qing army from entering the Mongolian region and cut off the Qing army's connection with Mongolia.

Guangning has always been an important place for the Ming and Qing dynasties, and in the battle of Guangning more than ten years ago, the Ming army was defeated and defeated. Ten years ago, in the Battle of Dalinghe, the Ming army wanted to build Dalinghe City and recapture Guangning, but the Qing army heard the news and attacked in a big way, and finally the two sides fought and the Ming army was defeated again.

Now, the Ming Dynasty, which has just relieved the siege of Jinzhou, can't wait to re-propose the plan to advance Guangning and build the Daling River. The military officials headed by Chen Xinjia are even more gearing up and want to do a big job.

Chen Xinjia's plan, the general secretary of the army, was actually the battle defense plan proposed by Sun Chengzong after Yuan Chonghuan was killed. From a military point of view, there is no problem with this plan, it is in the right direction. Without Guangning, Jinzhou is difficult to defend, and the defense line of Guanning Jin is too thin. With the Guangning and Daling rivers, they not only approached the hinterland of the Qing army and threatened the Liaohe Loop, but also cut off the Qing army's connection with Mongolia. It was precisely because of the loss of Guangning that the Qing army was able to make a detour through Mongolia again and again, and invaded Gyeonggi from the area of Yanshan in Jizhen. Went south to Hebei and Shandong to plunder.

Chongzhen approved the plan, just as he had approved Sun Chengzong.

Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, received the emperor's will and led the front eastward.

Gray dawn.

In the gray and hazy morning light, the 200,000 troops of the Ming Dynasty marched into the front line of the Daling River. Red flags are rolling, hunting is flying, that is for decades. The majesty that has never been seen before is intimidating.

Outside the city of Yizhou, Wu Sangui, Zu Dashou, Wang Pu, Liu Zhaoji, and Ma Ke set up a formation outside the city of Yizhou.

Outside the city, there are all the camps of the Ming army, from Dading Fort and Dakang Fort at the foot of the Liaodong Great Wall in the west of Yizhou, to Dajing Fort and Taiping Fort on the north bank of the Daling River, as well as Zhenyi Fort and Tuanshan Fort in the east, the red flag of the Ming army is flying everywhere, making a crackling sound in the hunting north wind.

The Daling River and its tributary, the Burmese River, are also full of many ships of the Ming army. The bow of the ship was planted with the red flag of the Ming army, and the archers of the Ming army were cruising back and forth.

A group of troops was gathering under the city of Yizhou, and Wu Sangui, the governor of Liaoxi and the chief military officer of Ningyuan, could not wait for the arrival of most of Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting and others, and he was ready to take the lead in launching an attack.

A large number of Ming soldiers lined up under the city were noisy and noisy. Patrol cavalry patrolled back and forth around the chaotic towns and horses, and a large group of people, led by craftsmen, were building siege equipment, and trees were cut down and transported from the distant mountains, and then processed into various ladders, shield carts, battering rams, etc.

On the flat, expansive, low-lying land outside the city of Uiju. Countless flags are on display, the sun and moon flags. Shuai flags, general flags, all kinds of recognition flags, different sizes, and even five-color square flags representing various directions and so on.

More than 100,000 soldiers and horses in the five towns relied on these various banners to command and mobilize.

In the camps of the towns. Many of the officers were cheering on their men. Over and over again, he said encouraging words to them, "Rush up with all your might, climb up to the top of the city with all your might, and slash down the Tartars who defend the city with all your might, as long as you have one breath left." Don't stop, rush hard, slash hard, and win the battle with all your might. ”

"Don't forget to cut off the Tartar's head, that's your exploit."

"Cut off a Tartar head, and exchange it for twenty silver dollars when you turn around."

"Remember, don't be beaten by friendly forces from other towns!"

In the temporary barracks of the various armies not far outside the city, before the official attack order was issued, the commanders of the towns sent their own soldiers to escort carts and boxes of silver dollars to arrive.

These are the silver dollars that have just been taken out from the Sihai Bank in Ningyuan, and the imperial court now directly escorts the silver bills and silver coupons to Ningjin, and then the troops of the towns in western Liaoning make an appointment to withdraw cash from the Sihai Bank in advance, and then they can directly withdraw the cash from the branch in Ningjin, which is convenient and punctual.

"Two silver dollars each for each soldier, three dollars for each non-commissioned officer, five dollars for each sergeant major, and ten dollars for each officer!"

The officers stood behind the table next to the silver box and shouted, "Battalion by battalion line up to receive it, these are pre-war bounties, everyone has a share, and the reward is rich!" ”

This amount of silver, including the opening silver, rations, and pre-battle rewards, etc., each ordinary soldier had two pieces, some captains had five taels, and officers such as flag sentries had ten taels. It's all cash, and the town lords and generals are unusually bold this time, and they take out so much real money and silver, just to make their morale soar.

Many of the soldiers who had received the money went to the table on the other side, where there were literate soldiers, and these were the people who wrote letters for the soldiers. Many soldiers came to write letters, many of which were equivalent to last words, and most of them sent home the rewards they had just received and some money with them.

Everyone told the literate in detail about their home addresses, collected people's names, and explained a lot of future events in the letter, just in case.

On the other side, there are many monks and Taoists accompanying the army, who are doing rituals and praying for the soldiers who are about to fight. The monks from Wutai Mountain in Shanxi Province and the Taoist priests from Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi Province continued to bless the soldiers. The soldiers believed that receiving blessings and prayers from the mages would bring them good luck.

In the barracks, Wu Sangui was also kneeling in the tent, and a senior monk and a master were praying for him. After some prayers, Wu Sangui's heart was much more relaxed, he came to the Chinese army, where one hundred and eight prisoners were being tied, all of them were Hou Jin Zhenyi captured in the previous battle, all of them had shiny heads, and a thin money rat tail was dragging behind their heads.

In front of all the soldiers, Wu Sangui took the handsome flag and spread it on the ground. Then a member of the Wu family took a large wooden pier and put it in front of the flag, "Bring the Tartars." Sacrifice the flag! ”

The axemen led the captives forward with machetes, took turns pressing the captives to the flag, pressing their heads to the wooden piers, and then cutting off their heads with a single sword, and the blood from the necks of the heads was sprayed with blood, staining the flags even more red.

One hundred and eight Tartars soaked in blood. The handsome became a blood flag.

Wu Sangui picked up the big flag and raised it himself.

This was a great war, and under the city of Yiju and on the periphery, there were 120,000 Ming troops gathered. Just under the city of Uiju, there are enough for 100,000.

Commanding such an army, Wu Sangui's heart was extremely excited, the victory of Songshan, the victory of Jinzhou, and successive victories. made him extremely confident, and he found that the Qing army was not so terrible. Although these Tartars are fierce in riding, they are just as mortal in the face of cannons and platoons, and they will crumble, flee, and surrender.

Wu Sangui mobilized hundreds of artillery pieces. Prepare to use shocking and fierce firepower as Liu Jun did in Liaodong. Directly blast a gap in the city wall of Yiju, and then take the city in one fell swoop.

Among these hundreds of artillery, the main cannon is the cannon purchased from Hubei, as well as those mortars that fire huge stone shells. The Qing army in Yizhou City also had artillery, but their main force was only a dozen or so Hongyi cannons, and the rest were only some general cannons. The number is far inferior to that of the Ming army.

To borrow a phrase from the Duke of Chu, it is now the era of guns and cannons, and the cavalry of the Tartars has become outdated. Today, we're going to use cannons and guns to teach these damned Tartars a hard lesson! Wu Sangui looked at the Qing army on the city of Yizhou. Said confidently.

For today's battle, Wu Sangui moved all the cannons that could be transferred. Since the Battle of Songshan, he paid for the power of the gun, Wu Sangui has become more and more convinced of the saying that the gun is dominant.

Zu Dashou looked at his nephew, his heart was very complicated, he was besieged in Jinzhou City for more than half a year, but as soon as the siege was lifted, his nephew had become the commander, and even his own Jinzhou Town General Soldier was under his command. Zu Dashou is actually not Wu Sangui's uncle, Zu Dashou's sister is actually Wu Xiang's house-filler and Wu Sangui's stepmother. However, Zu Dashou is still Wu Sangui's own uncle.

Back then, Wu Xiang married his sister to Zu Dashou to fill the house, and then Zu Dashou also married his sister to Wu Xiang to fill the house, and the two families have been closely united since then. Therefore, Zu Dashou is both Wu Sangui's uncle and his uncle.

Zu Dashou felt that his vision was good, although Wu Xiang was born in a merchant family, but he won the trust of Li Chengliang at the beginning, Zu Dashou had a keen eye, and immediately married Wu Xiang, not only took Wu Xiang's sister, but also married his sister to Wu Xiang, so that this alliance is more stable.

Many years later, although Wu Xiang was dismissed as the chief soldier, Wu Xiang's son Wu Sangui became a general soldier at the age of 27, and even became a commander at the age of 28, a position that the ancestral family could not reach for generations.

When Zu Dashou was proud of his accurate vision, he was also lamenting his bad luck. When Yuan Chonghuan presided over Liaodong, he fully supported Yuan, and he was able to become one of the four major generals of Liaodong under Yuan. But later Yuan Chonghuan was suddenly killed by the emperor, at that time he also took Wu Sangui and Yuan's back sword officer with Yuan into Beijing, after hearing the news, he was frightened and hurriedly took Wu Sangui to escape from Beijing, and led the headquarters all the way to break through the Shanhaiguan Pass and go out of the pass, for fear that the emperor would also kill him.

Fortunately, the emperor could do without Yuan Chonghuan, but he couldn't do without Guan Ningjun, and in the end the emperor did not pursue him, which also made Zu Dashou deeply grateful. But later he was ordered to build Dalinghe City, but it was besieged for several months, there was no food in the city, Zu Dashou ate nearly 20,000 people by eating horse meat, eating rats, eating people, eating old and weak soldiers, and finally forced to surrender.

After Zu Dashou surrendered, he found an excuse to go back to Jinzhou to recruit surrender, but he was able to get out, and after returning to Jinzhou, he began to resolutely resist the Qing Dynasty. But there is no more unlucky person in the world than him, after staying in Jinzhou for a few years, he was surrounded by the Qing army again.

Fortunately, this time Jinzhou City is strong and full of food, but there is no need to eat horses and eat people, I thought that this time he was going to be finished, but he didn't expect his nephew Wu Sangui to be so powerful, and he won great victories one after another, and soon killed the Qing army besieging the city back to Yizhou, and now he took himself all the way to the city of Yizhou, and surrounded the Qing army.

Zu Dashou actually advocated besieging Yizhou City, but besieging it without attacking, and only used the Qing army in Yizhou City to fish for the rescue of the Qing army, and besieged the city for reinforcements. It's a pity that his nephew Wu Sangui is full of confidence in the artillery fire, thinking that Yizhou City can't stop his artillery fire at all. (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you yebaoyin and Yang Yiao for their support, thank you!