When Zhou Qingfeng arrived at Kiba Station, what he saw was a small city made of bricks and stones. The city wall is only four or five meters high, and the white ash of the wall has turned into dust, revealing the adobe bricks inside the wall. Gray and extremely dilapidated.

The battlements at the head of the wall had already collapsed, and there were a few thin people standing at the gate of the city, looking blankly at Zhou Qingfeng who led the team. He asked a few words and learned that this post city was built during the Yongle period, and it was two hundred years ago. The city hasn't been repaired since then - it's good quality to survive until now and it hasn't completely collapsed.

There are two hills on the east and west sides of Kiba Station, and there is a beacon tower on the mountain. To the north is the sea and to the south is the hills. It was stuck on the overland passage from Arthur to Golden State. The layout of the city is simple, with hundreds of households, post offices, and delivery offices. There are two streets inside, and there is a city gate on the north and south.

A company of tall bulls was stationed in the city. Since only a small number of Ming officers and officials with great public anger were executed, the people in the city were not very alarmed, but were curious about where this 'royal division' came from.

Zhou Qingfeng's appearance on a giant wolf scared people to dodge, but he was also surveying the terrain inside and outside the city. After a long time, the people did not feel that this wolf rider had anything to fear.

"The land here is flat and fertile, and the climate is milder than Fushun. There is a river outside the city, so it is a good place to irrigate. After taking a turn around the post city, Zhou Qingfeng rode a wolf up the city wall and looked in the direction of the east. Jinzhou City is in the north-east direction of Kiba Station, more than 60 miles away. It has been a day since the capture of Lushun, and the Ming army of Jinzhouwei should have known that the 'revolutionary army' was coming.

"How's it going to go out and investigate?" Zhou Qingfeng asked.

Gao Da Niu accompanied him and said, "My subordinates sent people to explore the post road all the way to the east, until the Jinzhou Post in front. No movement of the enemy has yet been detected. ”

"Not even the people who came to investigate us?"

"Nope."

"These Ming soldiers really refreshed my cognitive limit." Zhou Qingfeng complained, he wished that the Ming army of Jinzhou Wei would not come to make trouble, and wait until he digested Lushun. After all, there are also more than 500 square kilometers of area, thousands of hectares of arable land, scattered thousands of people, and dozens of villages. It is not a problem to settle another 10,000 or 20,000 people in this place.

Zhou Qingfeng was still calm here, waiting for the Ming army to come by himself, but Jinzhou City was already in chaos. Li Rubai has the highest official position, so he naturally summoned all the generals in the city for questioning. As soon as he opened his mouth, he asked: "Ladies and gentlemen, now that Lushun has fallen, rumors are spreading. The official is determined to recover it as soon as possible, and dare to ask how many people in Golden State can be mobilized now? ”

Li Rubai had just been reinstated, and there were only more than 300 soldiers under his command, and the troops that should have been assigned to him had not come. His brother Li Rusong died early, and the family business that Li Chengliang had accumulated as the king of Liaodong fell into his hands. The famous Li family in Liaodong back then, there were only so many people left in 20 years.

Zhou Qingfeng's occupation of Lushun is equivalent to cutting off Li Rubai's way to get backup, which is absolutely not allowed. But if Li Rubai wants to bring more than 300 Ding to fight, it is even more impossible. He was going to force Jinzhouwei to send troops and immediately gather men and horses to recapture Lushun.

It's just that the local general of Jinzhou was tight-skinned, and he said: "There are seven hundred and sixty-four members of the guard horse team and one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six members of the infantry team. ”

So little?

Li Rubai really didn't know about Jin Zhouwei's situation, and he asked suspiciously: "Shouldn't there be more than 5,000 people in Yiwei?" Why do you only have so many hundreds? ”

The commander of Jin Zhouwei suddenly cried: "My lord doesn't know. This guard is far away from the border pass, and there has been no war for decades, so there are indeed only such people. ”

"How many are there?" Li Rubai is well aware of the shortcomings of the Ming army. It is impossible to make these Ming generals not eat empty quotas and not drink the blood of soldiers. With so few members, there are even fewer of them.

"Actual ......, actual ......." Commander Jin Zhouwei was speechless when he was forced to ask, and looked at Li Rubai's tense black face, so he could only stubbornly say: "About half." ”

Jin Zhouwei commanded the envoy to report half of the number, thinking that he would go to the city to recruit and forcibly pull some beggar farmers to serve as an army. In fact, he had only one-tenth of the strength at his disposal. After all, if you don't fight for decades, isn't it a waste of money to raise too many soldiers?

Hearing half, Li Rubai actually didn't believe it at all. He cut off half of this half in his heart, thinking that there would be two or three percent anyway. He also knew that the bad rules and disadvantages in this army were like this, even his father Li Chengliang could not raise the army in full, and he always had to make some money.

"Mobilize all the people of Golden State. Then I will order Fuzhou in the north to mobilize men and horses in Gaizhou, and ask them to gather within five days. Li Rubai said in a deep voice, "Before that, Duoduo sent people to Lushun to investigate and find out the details of that group of foreign enemies. The gang must not have been from Lushun, but must have been transported by ship. ”

The only thing that can be transported by ship around Lushun is the 'revolutionary army' located in Yingkou, thinking that a group of anti-thieves had the audacity to copy their own back road, Li Rubai's heart was full of fire. He also wanted to scold a few 'thieves are arrogant', so he heard a soldier stumbling in outside the official office, and shouted in a panic: "My lord, it's not good, that gang of thieves is coming." ”

What the?

A group of Jinzhou generals in the yamen were stunned, the defense in the city was empty, and the people were powerless. Whether it is official authority or city defense, it can't bear it. The commander and the following adults are all out of idea at this moment, no one would have thought that the thief has such a big appetite, and it is not enough to defeat Lushun to fight Jinzhou?

"Don't panic, follow me up to the city wall to check." Li Rubai has really been in the battle formation, and he also has hundreds of families in his hands to support him. He took the generals of Jinzhou to quickly ascend to Jinzhou City, and when he looked at it, he saw more than a dozen horsemen and horses coming up from the official road outside the city to investigate.

"This is a thief's sentry, not a siege." Li Rubai's words made the generals around him feel a little relieved, but he immediately shouted again: "This thief sentry is too bold, who can go out to fight and kill this official?" The officer should take note of it. ”

Li Rubai is the chief military officer of Liaodong, and it is impossible for him to deal with the enemy's soldiers. He looked at the guerrilla generals of Jinzhou Wei beside him, waiting for someone who had the courage to go out of the city and establish his authority. Just waited for a while, and the general generals looked at each other, and no one said anything.

In the end, the scene was too embarrassing, and the commander of Jin Zhouwei could only stand up and say: "There are still a few capable generals under this general, and they are willing to serve the adults." ”

Li Rubai's face slowed slightly, and after nodding, he promised a reward. So the gates of the city opened, and several horsemen and armor were surrounded by dozens of soldiers and killed the thieves who came to reconnoiter in front of them.

As soon as the city gate opened, the thief sentry on the opposite side immediately rode away on horseback. Several of the masters who went out of the city saw that the other party was weak, and their hearts rose with eagerness to compete for fame. They immediately whipped a few whips and hurried after them, thinking that if they could cut off a few heads, the reward would be indispensable.

It's just that the general immediately escaped from the protection of the foot soldiers as soon as he chased him, and after running for a hundred meters, he saw that the thief sentry on the opposite side did not avoid or escape, but dismounted and lined up. There were only a dozen or so people, but they were in a row, all of them holding spears and blocking the official road.

It was impossible for the pursuing family to ram into the spear, so they naturally divided into two teams to outflank the left and right. Li Rubai couldn't help but smile while standing on the wall, and whispered to the Jinzhou commander: "Your generals have practiced well, and the march is quite in line with the art of war." ”

It's just a simple outflanking, but in Li Rubai's opinion, he is already well-trained. After all, many high-ranking generals in these years were illiterate, and the war relied on fierce attacks and fierce rushes - for example, this would be Juniper, who was acting as the main force in Pingliao at Shanhaiguan.

Everyone immediately flattered each other and slapped each other's ass. Just halfway through their slapping, they found that the sentry of the thief on the opposite side was not panicked because they were being flanked left and right. The latter is also naturally divided left and right, and several sentinels have their own targets to deal with - those who can come to serve as reconnaissance sentinels are all veterans of the 'Guards', and they have seen a lot of outflanking situations in the martial arts chessboard.

Repeated practice and repeated setbacks, the advantage is to know the severity and not panic. In the face of all kinds of combat situations, it can calmly deal with it. Seeing that the opponent's foot soldiers were still a hundred meters away, the sentinel veterans immediately decided to make a quick decision and took the initiative to attack with their spears. They strode forward to close the distance, pointed their spears directly at their opponents, and appeared very agile, heroic and determined in their tactics.

The approaching family members thought that the thief sentry would flee because of the threat from the side, who knew that the enemy's psychological quality was so good. Seeing that the spears were approaching, they were under great threat, and their response was strange.

A family member brandished his waist knife and stepped forward to slash, but was easily stabbed down by two pairs of spears; There are also twisted horses' heads wandering outside the official road, trying to wait for the support of the rear foot soldiers; There are even those who face spears and pull their horses again and again, turn around and flee. The response was too messy, and at first glance, it was like he had never trained, and he relied on his own efforts.

In just one round, one of the family members was killed, and the rest of the fleeing did not dare to come forward at will. The generals and officers of the Ming army at all levels who watched the battle on the city wall were stunned, watching the thieves and sentry re-mount their horses and leave calmly.

The scale of the battle was small, it was not very intense, and the casualties were not heavy. But the situation that was shown made Li Rubai not happy. He only now realized that he was afraid that he could not expect too much from the quality of the guard's troops, these people had never fought and had never seen blood.

If you are warlike, you will die, and if you forget to fight, you will be in danger!

"Send more strong troops to expel the thieves and sentinels, and we can't let the thieves spy on our military strength. Quickly urge the two states to come to the aid quickly, and those who violate the order will be killed. Li Rubai shouted angrily in a stiff tone, and then returned to his residence in the official office with a calm face. As soon as he came back, a barbarian with a money rat tail came from the backyard of the official office and asked, "Master Li, but Zhou Qingfeng is here?" ”

This barbarian is the one who took the initiative to deliver a letter to Li Rubai a few days ago. He is still an old friend of Zhou Qingfeng, a slave of Mang Gurtai, and a Niu Lu of the Blue Banner is really Borji. He had fought Zhou Qingfeng on the second and third floors of the Oni Mound, and was almost killed by the frost warrior who charged against the wall.

Now Nurha's red prostitution is raging, and the Dajin Kingdom is surging with fierce flames. Borji even took advantage of this steaming state to improve his cultivation by one level, reaching the sixth layer of muscles and bones. Zhou Qingfeng didn't know him, but he had a deep hatred with Zhou Qingfeng.

After Nurhachi took Shenyang, he had to temporarily stop his expansion and rebuild his desire for war. After all, now the generals of the Eight Banners are plundering everywhere and capturing slaves. The Jurchens, who have always been poor, broke into the world of Han flowers, and they were dazzled from top to bottom.

Although they did not fight, the spies of the Jurchens were even more rampant. When Nurhachi found out that Li Rubai served as the chief military officer of Liaodong, he arrived in Jinzhou. He immediately sent Borji from Kuandian and Dandong to Jinzhou.

Liaodong generals liked to recruit Jurchen and Mongol barbarians to lead the Ding family, and Li Chengliang was even more so. Li Rubai suddenly had a money rat-tailed barbarian beside him, and others didn't care much. Borzi brought Nurhachi's handwritten letter, which only reminisced about the past, after all, Nurhachi had worked as a groom under Li Chengliang.

But Li Rubai knew the meaning of Nurhachi's letter. He didn't expose it, nor did he drive Borzi away, but really let Borzi serve as a general under him, and even became complacent about sheltering such a brave man. At the moment, the 'revolutionary army' suddenly attacked, and after Borji learned about it, he took the initiative to ask for battle: "If Master Li wants to exterminate the Zhou rebels, I, Borji, am willing to give it a fight." ”

Li Rubai was worried about the battle of the sentinel outside the city gate just now, and he was not angry when he heard Borji's words, and immediately asked: "I also heard a lot of rumors before I came to Liaodong, is this Zhou Qingfeng really as powerful as the rumors?" ”

Borzi looked angry but didn't answer directly, he only shouted viciously: "I, Borzi, will fight to the death with that kid to the end and divide the winner." This time there will be no retreat and the shame will be washed away. ”