Chen Shi, the rebel general who occupied Shahe, was born in Haikou, and was recruited under the account of Mao Wenlong on Phi Island in the third year of the Apocalypse, and recovered the two states of Jingai with Mao Wenlong, after which Mao Wenlong was wrongfully beheaded by Yuan Chonghuan, the governor of Jiliao, and the people of Dongjiang were panicked, and Mao's old department sought a way out. In order to protect himself, Chen sometimes voted for Liu Xingzuo and Liu Xingzhi, who came from the Jurchens anyway, and during this period, he met Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, who were known as the "three miners of Shandong".

The reason why Chen sometimes voted for the Liu brothers was because the two brothers had the most soldiers and horses in the Dongjiang River, and there were Jurchen soldiers in their subordinates, and they were the first of all the armies. Under his brother's account, he didn't have to worry about being calculated.

Unexpectedly, in the second year of Chongzhen, the imperial court suddenly transferred Liu Xingzuo away, and after his brother left, Liu Xingzhi, who felt that he was unable to support himself, launched a mutiny and killed Chen Jisheng, another general under Mao Wenlong, in an attempt to dominate the Dongjiang River. But no one thought that after the imperial court learned of Chen Jisheng's death, it did not appoint Liu Xingzhi as the commander-in-chief of the Dongjiang River, but sent the general Huang Long to serve as the commander-in-chief.

Knowing that the imperial court did not believe in the Liu brothers, Mao Wenlong's old subordinates Zhang Tao and Shen Shikui launched a mutiny and attacked and killed Liu Xingzhi and the Jurchen soldiers he led. As a result, Liu Xingzhi's generals were squeezed out by other Dongjiang generals, and there was no way to gain a foothold on Phi Dao at all.

In desperation, Chen sometimes went away with Kong Youde and others and threw himself under the tent of Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai. Knowing that the Dongjiang Zhuzhu were returning in the future, Sun Yuanhua, who was anxious to organize and train the new fire-type army, was overjoyed and immediately appointed Kong Youde as the general of the left infantry battalion, Geng Zhongming was sent to Dengzhou Fortress, and Chen sometimes served as the capital secretary in Kong Youde's left infantry battalion.

In the past two years in Denglai, it cannot but be said that Chen sometimes has the most lively time in his life. Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, attached great importance to their group of Liao generals who came from the Dongjiang River, and the military salary was extremely sufficient, and the supply was also very sufficient. Chen, who has been adrift at sea all his life, sometimes thinks that he will spend his life in Denglai, and even takes a wife, but who knows that the heavy snow in Wuqiao has changed his fate.

The soldiers who wounded the Wang family's servants were Chen's subordinates, and it was also his subordinates who killed the Wang's servants in anger.

In the end, at the instigation of Li Jiucheng, who lost all the money he bought and was worried that he would not be able to explain when he went back, Chen who was afraid of being implicated by his subordinates sometimes set up a counter-flag in Wuqiao with Kong Youde. After that, he immediately revealed his true nature, and even ignored his wife at home, led his troops to attack the government and plunder the county, and became Kong Youde's right-hand man.

After Kong Youde went to Dengzhou in the east, Chen sometimes became the general of the broken queen, taking the 300 elite Liao soldiers given to him by Kong Youde, and carrying 5,000 rabbles to occupy the only place to go east to Denglai - Shahe

Shahe, the easternmost head of the continuous Taihang Mountain, is the place that must pass through Denglai, if you do not pass from here, you must detour more than 100 miles through the territory of Shandong.

The name of the Sand River is due to the fact that there is a quicksand river in the territory, but the terrain of the Sand River is flat, although it is the head of Taihang Mountain, it is not precipitous, and there is almost no danger to defend. But this Shahe, which has no danger to defend, is stubbornly blocking the high diving Beijing camp and the Ming army in Beizhili.

Really, a small river of sand, a big army of thieves.

The cowardice and incompetence of the Ming army made Chen Shi more and more empty-eyed, and even left only 500 old and weak people to guard the camp for two days in a row, he led soldiers and horses to plunder everywhere, and once passed through the city of Shangxian in a grand manner. He also asked his subordinates to shoot at the head of the city with dozens of eagle guns (big pole guns), which frightened the Beijing camp in the city to shrink under the battlements like turtles, and they didn't even have the courage to look up.

No one in the official army is even more incompetent, which is already the consensus of Chen and all the Shahe rebels. Under this consensus, the rebels did not believe that Shahe would one day be lost in their hands.

It's a pity that there are no absolutes in the world, just as he Chen is sometimes not the most elite soldiers and horses of the rebels, and similarly, the Jingying of Shangxian County is not the most capable army of the Ming Dynasty - in Xiaoxuzhuang, which is still sixteen miles away from the Shahe, the Jinzhou army, which had caused heavy casualties to the Dongyu Eight Banners Army, is rushing towards the Shahe River under the leadership of the general Shi Dayong.

Raids, raids, raids!

In view of the large number of rebels in Shahe, with their limited forces, it is impossible to fight a frontal annihilation battle, and can only adopt a crushing battle, otherwise, it is possible to lose the advantage of maneuvering. Therefore, Shi Dayong decided to only lead cavalry to attack Shahe, using the advantages of cavalry and surprise attacks to avoid a stalemate with the rebels as much as possible, and to achieve a quick victory!

As long as the Sand River is taken, the goal will be achieved, and as for how many rebels are killed and wounded, it is secondary. Of course, if you can capture the rebel general Chen, it is naturally best sometimes, if not, there is nothing to regret.

After all, the military order of the governor of Shandong is hanging above Shi Dayong's head like a sharp sword, and he must rush to Dengzhou as soon as possible, otherwise what awaits him and the Jinzhou army will be dealt with by military law!

The force that participated in the attack was Cao Bianjiao's wolf cavalry, and Jiang Wanli's two hundred "horse infantry" led by Jiang Wanli.

All the military horses brought back from Qiushui Town were used, and Jiang Wanli selected two hundred soldiers of the cavalry to follow the wolf cavalry.

This time, it was not a suicide tactic of tying people to horses, after the Battle of Jinzhou, Shi Dayong had consciously begun to carry out riding training for the Changping infantry. On the way south, riding training was also carried out on a small scale.

Although these two hundred Changping soldiers could not control their horses as freely as wolf cavalry, they could barely sit on their horses without falling. However, it was impossible for them to charge into battle like wolf horses, and the main purpose of Shi Dayong with them was to use the advantage of surprise attacks to make the rebels unable to figure out how many cavalry were coming.

It was a surprise attack, but naturally it was also lightly armed, and the heavy armor was left behind, not even dry food.

Shi Dayong told the soldiers who participated in the raid that they would stay in Shahe tonight, sleep in the rebels' houses, and eat their wine and meat.

The self-confidence of the commander naturally infected the soldiers, and the four hundred sergeants who participated in the raid were all excited and emotional, and seemed to have slept in the rebels' houses, chewing their big meat and drinking their wine.

The other 300 Changping soldiers, who did not participate in the raid, continued to advance on foot towards Shahe under the leadership of Shao Wu and Li Dashan.

The heavy armor of the wolf rider, as well as the weapons, equipment, and food collected from the Beijing camp, were piled up in twenty-five carts, and slowly drove towards the east.

On the way east, there were snow marks on the horse's hooves, and wheel prints one after another, until the end

Peng Dazhui and other thirty-nine horse thieves were also asked to attack Shahe together, and Peng Dazhui's attitude towards this non-negotiable order was also resolute - willing to go with the general. Shi Dayong gave them the order to capture and kill the rebel scouts in case the attack was exposed.

In order to conserve horsepower, he took two breaks halfway through the half-column incense time, so that he could rush to Shahe in the evening, and then take advantage of the night to kill Shahe.

Along the way, I don't know if the rebels were too careless, or because of the heavy snowfall, they didn't see the rebels' scouts, nor did they see any civilians. Instead, I saw a village that had been emptied, and judging by the extent of its destruction, the rebels must have come here. But there were no corpses, no blood in the house, and there was no massacre, so the villagers may have fled with their families because they knew that the rebels had come from the Shahe River.

Because there were no rebel scouts or people along the way, the progress was too smooth, and it was an hour earlier than the estimated time when it came, and the time when the Jinzhou army arrived at Shahe was Shen Shi (3 to 5 o'clock in the afternoon in later generations).

The Taihang Mountain in the distance is snow-white, like a snow-capped mountain. The quicksand river flows out of the mountains, turns around here, and flows eastward, and it is not known which great river it will merge into later, or if it will go straight to the sea.

The town of Shahe, just two miles ahead, is also the only transportation point for this thing.

The quicksand river has long been frozen, and there is a layer of snow on the ice, so you can't hear the slightest sound of running water.

On the other side of the river, villages and towns can be vaguely seen, and there are people in the towns who are moving, and it is so far away that it is impossible to distinguish whether they are rebels or ordinary people.

I don't know how frozen the quicksand river is, so Shi Dayong didn't dare to cross the river rashly, because the quicksand river is a big river, and the water in the middle of the river is deep enough to swallow people and horses. If the ice is not thick and you step on the ice, it is likely that you will be buried in the belly of the fish.

You can't cross over the ice, you can only find a bridge.

However, when he searched his vision, he did not find a bridge on the river, but the sharp-eyed sergeant found that there seemed to be traces of a broken bridge on the side of the river diagonally above his left hand.

Could it be that this bridge was deliberately destroyed by the rebels, and it is also the only bridge in this radius?

Without a bridge, how can this river be crossed, and how can this battle be fought?

Shi Dayong frowned, they were already near the Shahe River, no matter how careless the rebels were, if they didn't send out scouts, it would be impossible not to set up a military outpost near the old nest. If the bridge is now found along the river, with so many people and so close together, it is impossible not to be discovered by the rebels, and then the raid will be meaningless. Either storm or retreat, there is no other way.

If it is a strong attack, the rebels who are prepared are not stupid, and they will definitely hide in the town and not come out like the gang of waste in Jingying in Qiushui Town.

At that time, the rebels will be like hedgehogs, whether to fight or not to fight. Fighting, can only increase their own casualties and get nothing, don't fight, surrounded by ice and snow?

If you retreat like this, wouldn't that be in the middle of the high-rise dive?

I just told my subordinates that I want to prove it to Jingying, to the high eunuch, and to the Son of Heaven, that my Jinzhou army is the strongest army in the world, and no enemy can stop us from advancing!

In the blink of an eye, they went back on their word and withdrew without a fight, how do the soldiers see themselves? What kind of blow will it inflict on the morale of the military?

What to do?

Shi Dayong was in a dilemma, not knowing how to deal with this unsolvable chess game.

Cao Bianjiao and Jiang Wanli also looked at each other, and this situation also made them unexpected.

Peng Da Hammer and the other horse thieves did not react, sitting on the horses and watching the people of the Liao army worry.

Seeing that there seemed to be someone in the town coming towards the river, Jiang Wanli hurriedly reminded Shi Dayong: "General, someone in the town has come out, whether to advance or retreat, please make a decision as soon as possible." It's too close to the rebels for us to stay. ”

Hearing this, Shi Dayong raised his head and looked at the opposite bank, and found that someone was indeed coming to the river, if someone found out that the officers and troops were coming from the other bank, the rebels in the town would definitely be alarmed, and then they could only withdraw in disgrace, and there was no way.

He couldn't help but think about it, so he had no choice but to order to withdraw first, but unexpectedly, before he gave the order, he suddenly heard someone laughing and scolding from behind him: "Damn, Wu Da fool, you really took shit luck, Lao Tzu returned empty-handed, but you made a lot of money, what a fucking fool is a fool!" I knew that Lao Tzu personally took people there."