On the beach of Beacon Hill, groups of wounded, sick and strained soldiers formed a line in an orderly manner, waiting for the empty ship to dock at the berth, and then immediately boarded the ship.

However, the scene was very orderly, and the soldiers who had formed a team did not crowd on the trestle too long in advance.

They were all ordered to continue their work, and were only allowed to put down their work when they were about to get on board.

The dock could only dock four large ships at the same time, and each ship could carry about 100 soldiers, so 500 people lined up on the pier in advance for each round.

The remaining work in the water village is still very heavy, everyone must first take away the iron armor and other valuable ordnance, can be moved, not that the Shenshu people lack this equipment money, but to weaken the Tartar as much as possible, not to leave the enemy.

Today's elite cavalry of the Eight Banners, almost everyone has iron cotton armor, after fighting for so many years, the equipment for war has long been very sophisticated, most of which were captured by the Ming Dynasty after repeated defeats.

It is rare for the Ming side to win a battle and clean up the battlefield, of course, to weaken the Tartars as much as possible.

Secondly, the corpses of the Tartar soldiers and traitors should also be casually pulled to the side to expose the corpses in the wilderness. This is not to say that the corpses of the Tartars are collected, but to avoid spreading the virus in the final resistance battle and cleaning stage, which will affect the Ming soldiers.

So, just throw it a little farther away and don't rot in the position.

And the soldiers who died in the battle were also collected, and the wreckage and wood were taken and burned on the spot, and the ashes were taken away.

The army would have to hold on for more than an hour, and when the troops were slowly connected and loaded onto the ships, they could be burned even with firewood.

It's not that Zheng Chenggong can't transport the corpses without this tonnage, but there are not so many lime pickled and disinfected corpses, and if the plague breaks out at sea, it will kill all the living.

Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen also learned this from Shen Shuren, who has always attached great importance to military health work.

Cao Bianjiao and Li Fuming had never been with Shen Shuren, and they didn't quite understand how easily the confined space on the ship was contagious when sailing, and they were a little unbearable at first.

After all, these soldiers have broken through to the dock, and they died here in a bloody battle overnight, and it is inevitable that the morale of the army will be affected if they are not allowed to return to their hometowns.

After Zheng Chenggong told them this, they didn't say anything more. In particular, Zheng Chenggong agreed to take away the sterilized ashes, which can be regarded as benevolence.

In addition, in the process of cleaning up the aftermath, Cao Bianjiao and others also found a sign, that is, Zheng Chenggong took away a lot of small wooden plaques hanging on necklaces from the Shen family members and sailors who died in battle.

The appearance of the brand, although it is different from the tablet used for sacrifice, but it also looks quite delicate and solemn, and there are carved lines on the side, with the name of the number written.

There is no doubt that this is another harmless small optimization made by the traveler of Shen Shuren.

Shen Shuren has watched a lot of blockbusters in the future of the United States, and knows that the Marun of the United States will have an iron brand, and it is easy to identify the corpse if it is blown up, which is helpful for the fine management of war damage.

Nowadays, in the late Ming Dynasty, there is no need to stick to the material of the brand, because there are not so many hot weapons now, even if the brand is made of wood, there is not much risk of being burned, and durability is not important.

If it is made of wood, it is more in line with the national sacrificial tradition, but it is nothing more than the scale of the sacrificial tablet and the reduction of the base.

In order to prevent soldiers from feeling bad luck when they are alive and being reminded from time to time. These brands are not hung around the neck with a chain like the United States Ma Run, but are sewn directly into the soldier's armor.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the popular iron cotton armor was originally to press the cotton cloth as the inner and outer lining, and then the middle of the iron joint, when the iron was sewn, more wooden boards were clamped above a certain piece of iron to enter, and the workload was not increased.

When a comrade-in-arms died, the person who collected the corpse directly took a knife to cut the cotton cloth lining on the chest of the cotton armor and took away the wooden plate on the iron sheet.

……

In addition to cleaning up the battlefield, the soldiers waiting to get on board had to temporarily strengthen the fortifications, at least clean up the collapsed places, and rebuild the wooden bunkers for the defense.

Of course, in a hurry, those earthwork tasks such as digging trenches are saved, and there is only simple work such as transportation. The amount of work is also fairly arranged - those who can be lined up to get on the ship first and retreat have to do more heavy work until they get on the ship.

After being arranged, you can rest for half an hour to recuperate and recover your strength, as well as food and drink.

Half an hour passed quickly, and hundreds of ships took turns to dock and load ships, and more than half of the 20,000 people congested on the wharf had been transported.

After everything was arranged step by step, the generals and officers were actually idle, Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen quietly checked on the side, thinking about how to make Cao Bianjiao and Li Fuming as soft as possible in the follow-up-

Zheng Chenggong and the others still have a little understanding of Shen Shuren's intentions in their hearts, and they know that Shen Shuren does not want to simply act chivalrous, but wants to save some more soldiers and horses, and go to the south incognito to kill Zhang Xianzhong.

This is not that Shen Shuren dug the corner of the Ming Dynasty, but with the previous command of Chongzhen and Hong Chengchou, these tens of thousands of people will be completely wiped out sooner or later. Even if the Shenshu people didn't do anything, it would be impossible for these people to help Da Ming resist the Tartars for a long time.

However, things went a lot smoother than expected, and even Li Fuming and Cao Bianjiao, two generals at the general level, came back alive, and the final distribution of the spoils was prone to accidents.

If you want to pull all the troops away, there is no doubt that you are supporting the troops and plotting against them. Shen Shuren has spent so much energy to create the image of Ming Zhongliang, but he can't overturn at this point.

Therefore, Zheng Chenggong and the others also knew in their hearts that if Li Fuming and Cao Bianjiao themselves were reluctant to take up their positions as commanders and wanted to go back to restore their lives, then it would be inevitable to at least divide a few thousand remnants of the army and let them take them back for business.

Shen Shuren can win seventy-three open, the Shen family accounts for seventy percent, and thirty percent of the imperial court Jiaochahu makes a show of merit, which is already the best situation.

If you deduct too much and don't leave anything for the court, then you will be a goof.

(From Shen Shuren's point of view, in fact, the most cost-effective thing is to keep the troops without leaving the generals, only the rout, and no generals to retreat in formation, then no one knows if he swallows them all.) But Cao Bianjiao and these people are also considered to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and since they came out alive, it is definitely impossible for Shen Shuren to kill Zhongliang)

Therefore, taking advantage of the point of organizing the troops to load and defend, Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen also had to knock on the side and ask Cao and Li Erjun to drink some wine to relieve their fatigue and test their attitude.

Cao and Li are both Shanxi generals, Cao Bianjiao is from Datong, and Li Fuming is from Liaodong, but his hometown has been occupied by the Tatars, he is homeless, and his current official position is "Shanxi General Army".

Therefore, both of them safely said that if there is no other order from the imperial court to go back this time, it should be to return to Shanxi with the troops. If the imperial court had other appointments and asked them to stay near Shanhaiguan to assist in the defense, they could only stay.

Zhang Mingzhen knew that he wanted to leave two people at the level of the general soldier for his personal appointment, and Shen Futai's current energy was far from enough, so he didn't think about it again.

Then, they turned to think of how to make Cao Li and the others not know how many troops were rescued last night, so that they could calm the hands of the people on the stage—

There should have been 6,000 people who escaped from Li Fuming last night, but these 6,000 people did not arrive at the same time, and there were also those who were killed in the bloody battle last night and came one after another. On Cao Bianjiao's side, 12,000 should have survived 10,000, but many of these 10,000 people were also scattered.

Therefore, according to the estimation of the two of them, there are only three or four thousand to six or seven thousand who rushed out of their own killing. Nearly half of them are not on the books.

Zhang Mingzhen thought about it, and suggested: "It's better to be like this, we still have to stick here, Azig's men and horses may arrive first in a while, although the Eight Banners cavalry is brave, but now it's our army's turn to wait for work and defend according to danger, and there are still the wreckage of the water village to use, and it should be no problem to carry a wave."

After carrying that wave, Cao Junmen and Li Junmen, you are also tired, and then change our troops to guard the water village, you all get on the boat, we will wait as appropriate, and see if there are more rear army stragglers coming, if you can save a little more, save a little more. ”

Speaking of conscience, Zhang Mingzhen's suggestion is indeed not for the overall interests of the Ming Dynasty, but for the maximization of the interests of the small group of Shen Shuren in the subsequent distribution of spoils. But the imperial court system is like this, and these plays have to be done.

After the two general soldiers are separated, they can persuade the bitter grassroots officers under them to see who is willing to "pretend to be dead and drift" to the south.

Those who are reluctant to have their current status often have a higher official position in Daming, and if they pretend to be dead and change their identity, they will have nothing.

But if it's just an ordinary soldier, or a worthless official position below the total thousand, who doesn't want to go to the south as a soldier to eat food wherever he goes?

In order to do this thoroughly, it is necessary to take advantage of the inconsistency between the interests of the generals and the soldiers.

Cao Bianjiao and the others didn't know what to do, and they felt that Zhang Mingzhen was sympathetic to them, so they said that they would definitely fight hard, and if they could repel Azig once, all their senior generals would withdraw.

However, what everyone didn't expect was that in order to share the spoils and delay for a while so that they could act, the Ming army soon discovered some new anomalies.

……

An hour passed quickly, and the sky was completely bright and the sun was shining. It was almost halfway through the hour, that is, almost eight o'clock in the morning.

The Ming army's scattered rout last night and 100 people came to assemble in batches, and when they saw that the fleet was still waiting, they were also grateful, and immediately joined the battle queue and accepted the temporary reorganization.

Anyway, it is impossible for them to find the original troops, every person who comes here is supernumerary, and it belongs to the pure profits earned by the Shen family's army. Unlike the troops that retreated in formation before, there is also a part of the "cost" required to do a fake show.

Under the high morale of the Ming army, Azig, the belated banner master of the puppet Qing County, finally arrived at Bijia Mountain with his troops.

However, the scale of Azig's soldiers and horses is surprising.

Originally, the main generals of the Ming army estimated that the Azig meeting would appear with the two Jiala, a total of 7,000 cavalry.

But at this moment, the Tartar in front of him has shrunk by nearly half compared to expectations, and no matter how you look at it, it is at most three Jiala's banners.

Moreover, according to the color of the eight flags, there seems to be only one Jiala belonging to the Azig flag, but the two Jialas of Zilharang have come and are temporarily controlled by Azig.

In the face of the Ming army's dilapidated camps, the number of people on the shore of the Ming army was at least twice that of the Eight Banners, and there were so many warships providing flank fire support on the sea, the morale of the Ming army was of course greatly boosted, and no one felt that they could not hold the camp for a while.

Azig didn't know that the Ming army's sea warships were equipped with Hongyi cannons, he hurried over, and the enemy situation was not fully understood, only to see that the Ming army was still guarding the water village on the shore, and the water village was already very dilapidated.

It is not impossible for war horses to jump over trenches and stakes and refuse horses to rush in, as long as they are willing to pay casualties and open a gap slightly.

Azig was afraid of long nights and dreams, so he hurriedly ordered his troops to organize a tentative charge to recapture Shuizhai in one fell swoop, at least to destroy all the Ming troops who had not yet boarded the ship.

Azig hurriedly prepared to attack there, and Zheng Chenggong and the others on this side couldn't figure it out, so they asked Cao Bianjiao:

"Cao Junmen, just now we calculated that if Azig's reinforcements arrived, it would be at least seven thousand horsemen, and now look, why is the scale so small? Could it be someone else's fraud? Or has something changed? ”

Cao Bianjiao can be regarded as the most bloody battle with the Tartars among the generals in Liaodong. Although he is not good at resourcefulness, he is fortunate to know the enemy very well.

After thinking about it for a while, Cao Bianjiao suddenly thought of a possibility: "Is it possible that after the Tartars saw us running away, they were afraid that the Hong Inspector of Songshan would also want to run, so they divided the main forces to strengthen the siege of Songshan?"

After all, in the eyes of the Tartars, we are all small fish and shrimp, and in the event of an accident, we will lose it. Inspector Hong is the biggest big fish, there is no room for the slightest mistake, and the soldiers and horses in Songshan City are more than the two places in Tashan and Xingshan combined, I estimate that Inspector Hong still has 30,000 soldiers and horses, and the strong men guarding the city are also counted. ”

After Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong were reminded, they also realized that this possibility was very high.

But Zheng Chenggong thought about it for a while, and felt that it was unlikely: "If it is just to strengthen the siege, it is just a delay, there is no need to rush for a while."

As long as the Tartars have assembled the troops of the two banners of Azig and Zilharang today, even if they let the Inspector of Hong go out of the city and come to Beacon Mountain, Songshan is a long way from here, at least nearly a hundred miles, and the cavalry of the two banners of the Tartars will definitely be able to annihilate the tired soldiers of the Inspector of Hong, why should the Tartars rush for two or three hours?

In my opinion, Cao Junmen said that the Tartars kept the troops for the purpose of Governor Hong, and I believe this. But staying in such a hurry is definitely not as simple as 'besieging the city' or 'encircling and annihilating the breakthrough troops in a field battle'. Maybe the Tartars have more radical plans! ”

Li Fuming on the side listened, he still agreed with Cao Bianjiao's opinion, and felt that Zheng Chenggong was too young after all, so he couldn't help but remind:

"What more radical plans could the Tartars have? Could it be that the Tartars are just one day away, and they have to gather so many troops, do they want to storm Matsuyama Castle?

The Tartars have been surrounded for more than five months and are not in a hurry, but now they are finally able to survive until they are not accepted, and the troops of the Hong Inspector's Division will soon starve to death on their own, and the Tartars can't bear it anymore? ”

Zheng Chenggong: "I don't know about this, but I think that the Songshan defenders may not all stay up until the day of starvation, maybe they are on the verge of collapse at this moment?" Is it really possible to attack it?

Of course, if Li Junmen wants to come up with other explanations for why the Tartars divided their troops so quickly that they couldn't even wait for a day or even a few hours, then I'll listen to you. ”

Li Fuming was dumbfounded, and after thinking for a while, he really couldn't think of any other explanation, why Azig only brought so many people to besiege Beacon Hill.

When all possibilities are ruled out, the last remaining option, no matter how unreasonable it may seem, seems to have no other choice.