"Bang bang bang-"

On the first day of the third month of the eleventh year of the Apocalypse, along with the Ming army of Yidonghe City, the cannon of the city's early celebration announced the third northern expedition in the year of the Apocalypse, which finally began.

Although this process was too hasty, it did not follow the original plan of the Ming army, and the soldiers and horses did not even prepare enough grain and grass baggage, but the battle still started.

Huang Taiji wanted to escape, but Zhu Youzhen was not prepared to give him a chance, even if Shangzhi only had less than three months of military rations, he would have to fight with Huang Taiji in this northern mountain.

On February 29, Sun Shoufa and Cao Meng successively led eight guards from Taining Mansion and marched to the capital.

Behind them were 100,000 people and 60,000 horses, mules and horses that were temporarily summoned, and Zhu Youzhen also led people directly to the capital.

On February 29, Xiong Tingbi, who was in Yidong River City, received the order and launched the Northern Expedition on the first day of March.

40,000 soldiers and horses set off under the leadership of Xiong Tingbi, who was already 61 years old, as a civil official, but he put on his armor and rode his horse to the north.

At the same time as he sent troops, Sun Yingyuan of Jianzhou County was ordered to lead 30,000 troops to the north to conquer Huifa City on the second day of March.

Similarly, the day after he led his troops to the north, the general army of Jingcheng, You Shi, had 30,000 troops to march north to Mowenhe City.

The northern expedition of the four soldiers and horses seemed to be mighty, but in fact they were all rushed to the north, not only was there a shortage of gunpowder, but even food, people, and baggage were also seriously deficient.

At this time, Zhu Xieyuan, who was the secretary of the Ministry of War, and Yuan Yingtai, the political envoy of Liaodong, began to organize the people to transport gunpowder and grain to the north.

Because it was organized in a hurry, there was no doubt that this battle delayed the spring planting of many people's homes, but the postponement of spring planting on millions of acres of land was nothing compared to the extermination of the captives.

"On the west road, it is necessary to replenish military rations in time, first allocate 300,000 stones from Shenyang, organize 20,000 horses and 50,000 people, and then transport another 1 million stones."

"Political envoy, Xiong Jingluo ......"

"They are the closest to Shenyang, don't care!"

In March, the Liaodong political envoy was in full swing, and the pressure of the Northern Expedition was almost all on Yuan Yingtai's shoulders.

Facts have also proved that although Yuan Yingtai is not good at fighting, he is a good hand in managing logistics.

He handled the matter separately according to the priority, and continued to deal with the problem of food and grass for the sixteen guards.

Because the Northern Expedition was too hasty, the Shangzhi Sixteen Guards only had three months' military rations, so if the grain could not be transported to them for three months, Shangzhi would face the danger of running out of food.

Busy and busy, Yuan Yingtai finally arranged the logistics of the various departments, and was able to hold a teacup to moisten his throat a little.

However, when he was drinking tea, the prefect of Shenyang, who came to deliver the documents, was worried:

"Envoy, you said that His Highness hastily ordered the Northern Expedition, will it ......?"

The prefect was worried about the fiasco of the Northern Expedition, but Yuan Yingtai smiled and didn't care:

"No, although the Northern Expedition was rushed, fortunately, the grain from Yingzhou had already arrived, and although it was chaotic at the moment, it was just a matter of people's scheduling."

"There are nearly 8 million Liao people in Liaodong at the moment, and the transfer of hundreds of thousands of people is not a problem at all."

"Besides, there is an advantage to fighting early, and if you go out at the beginning of the month, I estimate that Your Highness will besiege Jianyu's Shangjing City at the end of the month, and as for Xiong Feibai, he can also hit Xingjing."

"The only thing that is uncertain now is that Huang Taiji, who wants to flee north, according to His Highness's arrangement, it is still a little dangerous."

"If Huang Taiji escapes quickly, maybe it will be too late to close the siege."

Yuan Yingtai said as he spoke, the expression on his face was also a little solemn, because the strategic goal of this battle was to plough the court and sweep the caves, if Huang Taiji led people to escape, even if he only took a thousand people to escape, then this strategy would be a failure.

Thinking of this, Yuan Yingtai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "I hope this battle can end soon, and I can go home and grow old." ”

He took off his black gauze hat, his forehead covered with the nervous sweat of dispatching logistics.

was also wiping his sweat, Xiong Tingbi, who was not much different from him, ushered in the third spring of his career.

"Put!"

"Peng Peng Peng—"

Artillery like thunder, stone bullets like thunderbolts, on the third day of the third month of March, Xiong Tingbi after three days of travel, finally arrived at Yidong River City, one hundred and twenty miles away from Yidong River City.

He ordered the artillery to line up, firing twelve rounds first.

In the sound of cannons, Xiong Tingbi used a clairvoyant mirror to look at the Jianlu who was beaten so much that he couldn't raise his head, and laughed out loud like an old naughty boy:

"Hahahaha......"

"I really didn't expect that Jianyu would have such an embarrassed posture!"

"Jingluo, I see that the people in the city are old, weak, sick and disabled, why don't you let me lead people to rush a wave?"

Xiong Tingbi is venting the peace of the past few years, and He Shixian, who is standing next to him, is naturally not far behind, and wants to lead people to rush to Yimihe City.

However, Xiong Tingbi was happy, but his mind was still clear, and when he heard this, he hurriedly shook his head: "No!" ”

"If Jinyiwei's intelligence is not wrong, then there are only the old and weak left in Yimihe City, and the young and strong attack the old and weak to the detriment of the young and strong, this kind of thing can't be done."

"At present, our army is the closest part of the four armies to Shenyang, with the most abundant gunpowder and the fastest supply."

"Since this is the case, we must give full play to the advantages of our army, attack the city with artillery, and wash the ground with stone bullets!"

After that, Xiong Tingbi turned his head and shouted to a young general not far away: "Wu Sangui! Tell your father to play thirty-six more rounds! ”

"The last general commands!" Wu Sangui, who was dressed in a garrison armor, saluted, and when he looked up, he revealed his upright facial features and delicate appearance, which did not look like the complexion of the perennial mixed army.

After responding, he rode his horse to the front artillery position, while Xiong Tingbi looked at the map in his hand and said:

"What we have to do is to capture Yimihe City, then take Wula City (Xingjing), and then uproot the thirteen Jianyu Stone Forts in the north along the way."

Xiong Tingbi was full of interest, but He Shixian scratched his beard: "I don't know where His Highness got the map from, it is so detailed, it is estimated that it is the same as the map arranged by the old slave himself." ”

"This is a matter of Beizhen Fusi, we don't have to worry about it, in short, although this battle was launched ahead of schedule, it is only six months for us." Xiong Tingbi looked up with a heavy face:

"In six months, if you can't complete the task of plowing the court assigned by His Highness, then winter will come, and it will be difficult to sweep the cave."

Under Zhu Youzhen's overall arrangement, the three armies in the south were responsible for plowing the court, and the upper straight was responsible for sweeping the caves.

It's just that at the moment, Huang Taiji is fleeing north, and it is a little too late to wait for Xiong Tingbi and them to go to the capital from Yidong River City in the south and Liting to the north five hundred miles away.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen chose to oppose the division of troops, and at the same time urged Xiong Tingbi to go north, so that Shangzhi was divided into two, one to besiege Beishan, and the other to be responsible for ploughing the court.

He himself did not participate in this battle, and was mainly responsible for sitting in the middle army and coordinating the various armies.

It is too far away from Taining Mansion, which is 1,200 miles away from Ala Mountain City in the north, 800 miles away from Xiong Tingbi, 1,000 miles away from Sun Yingyuan, and 1,400 miles away from You Shigong.

Spanning thousands of miles, this is not sitting in the Chinese army, this is remote command.

In the era when there was no radio and the news was purely based on Tang cavalry, it was impossible for him to be more than 1,000 miles away from any soldier and horse, which was why he chose to go to Shangjing with the army.

When he arrived in Shangjing, he was about a thousand miles away from any of the soldiers and horses, and at the speed of the Tang Cavalry, he could transmit the news to any of them within two days.

In the same way, any soldier can also convey the situation they are facing to Zhu Youzhen in a timely manner.

On the fifth day of the first month of March, when Xiong Tingbi bombarded Yimihe City, Sun Yingyuan pulled out the stone fort all the way north and attacked Huifa City, and You Shigong led his soldiers and horses to Mowen Hewei, Zhu Youzhen and Sun Shoufa successfully met on the north bank of the Songhua River, which was 200 miles away from the capital.

"Sigh the law ......"

The war horse was tired and breathing, eating beans in large gulps, and the horses kept eating the grass bundles.

On the Songhua River Plain, where the snow melted, 45,000 troops formed a camp, and the 120,000 people who accompanied the army also began to build fortifications on the periphery of the camp.

The horses and horses, which had been replenished with bean grass bundles in time, were unsaddled and walked leisurely on the plains, nibbling on the grass that sprouted from their heads.

Rows of wooden walls were erected, and in just a few hours, a small "town" stood on the vast Songjiang Plain.

"It's a good place, and it can be expanded as a county foundation in the future."

On the bank of the Songhua River, Zhu Youzhen wore a round-necked robe, rode a white horse leisurely, and walked along the Songhua River.

Behind him, Li Dingguo, Liu Xiaozu, and Liu Bingwen followed him closely, and around them, there were thousands of cavalry guards guarding them.

The Qianhu in charge of this cavalry is the elder brother of Wei Pingyang, the noble concubine of the Qi Palace, and Wei Lian, the eldest brother of Zhu Youzhen.

Wei Lian is not very old, only twenty years old, one year younger than Zhu Youzhen.

Although my sister is one of the two concubines, the door style of Xuancheng Bofu is good, and Wei Lian does not have any relatives, but just guards the surroundings, and personally follows Zhu Youzhen and the three of them.

"Sun Shoufa and Cao Meng, they are getting better and better."

Zhu Youzhen turned his head, looked at the well-organized Ming army camp, and nodded with great satisfaction.

He didn't expect that Sun Shoufa, who was just a guerrilla in history, and Cao Meng, who was a mud-legged man, could manage the 40,000-strong army in an orderly manner.

This is enough to show that in the long river of history, the buried talents are like carp crossing the river, and there are countless of them.

Not to mention them, even his uncle, Wei Lian, who has no name in history, can command thousands of cavalry at such a young age, and it is still possible to lead one guard or even several guards after training.

However, after this war, it is time for him to start reorganizing the Shangzhi and Gongwei battalions.

Thinking of the two sets of teams of Shangzhi and Gongwei Battalion, Zhu Youzhen moved the idea of reorganizing them.

He had this idea very early, but with his power at that time, it was impossible to abolish the guard system and the battalion system under the situation of the powerful Zhejiang Party and the Donglin Party, so he came up with two sets of systems under the compromise of the Shangzhi Guard Army and the Gongwei Battalion Army.

After that, because he had been fighting, he did not have time to give the army a chance to rest after the reorganization, so it was delayed.

After this battle, there was at least two years of peace.

It took two years to reorganize and run-in, which is almost enough.

Thinking of this, the system that Zhu Youzhen had prepared long ago also emerged.

To put it bluntly, it is to turn the 16 guards of the upper straight and the 12 guards of the navy into a battalion system.

The current battalion system is five people for one team, three teams for a team, five teams for one flag, five flags for one sentry, and five outposts for one battalion.

In this way, there are 3,0031 people in the first battalion, and what Zhu Youzhen needs to do is to set up another military unit above the battalion, that is, the army.

The five battalions are one army, with 16,000 people in one army, and the position of leading general is the general soldier, in addition, it is also necessary to set up a deputy chief soldier, a military commander, a quartermaster battalion, and a military Sima to assist in the command of the troops, manage political ideology and discipline, logistics, and so on.

Now the number of Ming troops is too large, and the number of more than 900,000 people is not only a big burden on the finances of the Ming Dynasty, but also a potential threat to internal politics.

It's just that Zhu Youzhen has confidence in himself, as long as he is in Daming, it is impossible for these more than 900,000 soldiers and horses to follow some generals to rebel.

Of course, the premise is that Zhu Youzhen does not do anything to hurt their hearts, such as disarmament.

In fact, Zhu Youzhen is not ready to disarm, but he is not ready to continue to expand the army.

He was ready to stabilize the Ming army at a size of 60 armies and 960,000 men.

Among them, there are eight armies of the navy with 128,000 men, 16 armies with 256,000 men, and the remaining four armies are all governors, each with nine armies and 144,000 men.

Ensuring that the upper authorities have one-to-one or even one-to-two overwhelming strength over the military governor's offices is something that Zhu Youzhen wants to do well.

Of course, this is an army subordinate to the imperial court, and as for the army of the imperial palace, Zhu Youzhen is not ready to move.

The three guards of the imperial city and the generals of the Han Dynasty, with a total of 18,300 people, were enough, and as for the more than 6,000 pure troops in Wei Zhongxian's hands, Zhu Youzhen did not count them into the combat power at all.

Although they did a good job when they broke into the imperial city in history, it was only reflected in fighting alone, once faced with hundreds or thousands of people, they would only be defeated by the regular army on the same scale.

The three guards of the imperial city and the generals of the Han Dynasty came to guard the imperial city with a circumference of eighteen miles, which is not a small number.

If you really can't defend the imperial city, it's okay to retreat to the palace city with a circumference of six miles.

Zhu Youzhen had already asked people to expand the kitchen of the outer court of the Forbidden City, and used the ancient classics as a granary and armory.

If something really happens, the more than 10,000 palace maids and concubines in the Forbidden City can be used as civilian husbands to transport supplies, and the three guards of the imperial city of more than 18,000 people are enough to hold the Forbidden City.

With the supplies of the granary and armory, as long as the generals don't have problems, the Forbidden City can easily hold on for a year.

For a year, Zhu Youzhen did not believe that the governors of the five armies were all opposed, and none of the soldiers and horses came to the king.

As long as there is one king of Qin, then the other soldiers and horses will be king of Qin one after another.

However, if the governors of the five armies are all opposed, then there is no need to defend it, and prepare to accept the two kings and three kes of the new dynasty.

Zhu Youzhen was full of confusion about the future of the Ming Dynasty, because he himself did not believe that a dynasty could be passed on forever.

"Hopefully this fight is over and I can rest for a while."

He looked at the camp and felt a lot of emotion in his heart, and similarly, Huang Taiji at this time also looked at the North Hunting team and felt a lot of emotion......

】

Although it was already March, the cold wind was still blowing, as if it was about to turn into a wind knife and scrape off human flesh and blood.

Pieces of cold and biting snowflakes fell down, making the whole world almost a white world.

In this lonely and cold Beishan dense forest, the long team of northern hunting makes people feel miserable.

"There are still thirty miles ahead of Tunhe City, rest in Tunhe City tonight!"

On the narrow mountain road, there were more than 1,000 cavalry running back and forth, and this team of more than 300,000 people stretched a full 60 miles on the mountain road.

These northern hunters marching in the ice and snow were wrapped in shabby cotton armor, turbans on their heads, and equally tattered cotton shoes on their feet.

At this time, they were limping towards the north, and on the hill, a team dressed in bright armor was very eye-catching, especially the one who led it.

This person was wearing a neat Eight Banners and Yellow Flag cotton armor, which was much more majestic than the others around him.

In addition, the man wore a helmet on his head, one beam on the front and one on the left and one on the right, and a piece protruding from the middle of his forehead to cover his eyebrows.

There is a dancing bowl and a bowl, and there is a helmet plate shaped like a wine cup, and an iron pipe is erected in the middle of the helmet.

Originally, there should have been a tassel spear, withered feather or otter tail or something, but at this time it was bare, and it looked a little regrettable.

As for this person, it is the very embarrassed Huang Taiji.

He looked at the team with numb eyes, and everyone behind him seemed to be full of exhaustion, and the cold and biting snowflakes kept hitting people's faces, but no one cared about this.

In the eyes of Huang Taiji and them, the people in the North Hunting team are their relatives, clansmen and important craftsmen.

This group of people now does not have the stable smiles of the previous two years, and some only have numb expressions.

They walked silently with their heads down, and from time to time someone slipped and fell to the ground, never to get up again.

Or maybe there are people who are panting and moving forward step by step, for fear of breaking away from the group.

"It's too cold, can't you wait a few days before leaving?"

In the ranks of the nobles, Yue Tuo couldn't help but question Huang Taiji when he saw his person with the red flag falling, but Huang Taiji didn't speak, but Dai Shan opened his mouth to teach him a lesson:

"If you keep walking, you will only die some weak people, but if you stop and wait for the Ming army to close in, then thousands of people will die."

What he said made Yue Tuo silent, and the generals in the rear were also silent.

In the silent crowd, Liu Aita was particularly painful, but this was only the surface, and he was thinking anxiously in his heart, did he send his news? Can the Ming army succeed in the siege before the Jianyu Beijiao.

"Let's go......"

Huang Taiji shook the reins of his horse and began to lead the team north, and the rest of the people followed.

They rode north next to the team for a long time, and from time to time they could see frozen corpses lying on the side of the road, and some people who had stripped themselves naked and finally froze to death.

When these men died, the others went up and took off their cotton clothes and put them on themselves.

Such scenes kept appearing, which made Huang Taiji's heart chill, and he even felt that the wind and snow around him seemed to be blowing even harder.

Snow particles continued to crash on everyone's bodies and faces, and the bone-chilling cold almost made most people's exposed skin feel painful.

It was as if someone was using a soldering iron to imprint directly on the flesh, and some people even lost their sense of pain.

"Damn Zhu Youzhen, damn Zhu Ming......"

Looking at the tragic situation on both sides, the nobles among the nobles Mang Gurtai, Dolgon, Duoduo and others kept cursing in whispers.

It seems that in their opinion, they have already lived a very bitter life, but those Jurchens under their command, the Mongols and Han people look at them from time to time, their eyes are full of helplessness and hatred.

They covered their cotton clothes, put their hands in their sleeves, and tried to ensure the heat as much as possible, and from time to time they took out the dried sweet potatoes they had hidden on weekdays and ate them, in a vain attempt to get a trace of heat.

But even so, they can still feel the warmth of their bodies continuing to linger.

Helplessly, they could only speed up their pace, hoping that they could warm up their bodies after the event.

At the same time, they looked at the backs of Huang Taiji and their horses leaving, and the resentment in their hearts began to gradually increase.

However, Huang Taiji and they rode back to the Chinese army, and Jierharang, who was responsible for supervising the team's hurry, also rode to Huang Taiji's side, and the two tacitly accelerated their horses, and only whispered after walking to the front.

"Brother, a lot of people died."

"How much?"

Zilharang's face was not very good-looking, but Huang Taiji remained calm.

"There are about 300 people, basically all frail women and children." Zilharang said, constantly thinking of the women and children who had frozen to death on the side of the road, and these images prompted him to speak worriedly:

"It's only been five days since we set off, and three hundred people have died, and ...... behind."

"It's enough to ensure that the men are alive, and whoever freezes to death will give them three catties of rice." Huang Taiji interrupted Zilharang's words and issued a policy of reassurance.

In Huang Taiji's heart, he always knew that the Northern Hunt would die, and even the various nobles knew it.

However, for Huang Taiji, he only wanted to take 780,000 men from Jianzhou and 670,000 men from the Eight Banners of Mongolia and the Eight Banners of Han to move north.

Bringing those 200,000 old and weak women and children is just to ensure that these hundreds of thousands of men do not cause chaos.

In his opinion, Beishan is bitterly cold, and even adult men may not be able to survive, let alone those women and children.

On the surface, the grain he brought was only enough for more than 300,000 people to eat for more than half a year, but in fact, many people would die if they could not eat the rice and wheat at all.

For example, at the moment, they have only walked for five days, and they have only walked more than 300 miles, and more than 300 people have died.

It must be known that the whole journey of this northern hunt is five or six thousand miles, and the further north you go, the colder it gets.

After going through this whole process, the more than 200,000 old and weak women and children are lucky to survive one-third.

The 6,000-mile journey, if you walk in a nomadic way, will take about a year.

Of course, south of Beishan, they did not have time to walk nomadically, because once the encirclement of the Ming army was completed, they could not move north.

There are still 35 days left, and Huang Taiji needs to lead the team to complete the remaining 1,700 miles in 35 days.

Even if the Ming army moved faster, they needed to break through to Beishan within thirty days and succeed, and once they failed, the whole clan would be wiped out.

Thinking of this, Huang Taiji turned his head to look at the Northern Hunting team, which was almost the same as the time when Zhu Youzhen looked at the camp.

"I hope this battle is over, and Daikin won't have to be so embarrassed ...... anymore"