Sonny took the order, and after he left, Bumu Butai returned to the dormitory, and when he saw that Fu Lin had fallen asleep, Bumu Butai sighed and stroked his son's immature face.

Su Mo'er said: "Queen Mother, there is one more thing for the slave, I didn't dare to say it in front of the clan and the minister just now. ”

"What else I can't afford right now?" Bumu Butai said lightly.

Su Mo'er knelt on the ground and said, "The Dongfan thief also asked for Luckedhun's family. ”

"Oh?" After listening to this, Bumu Butai hesitated slightly, and said: "Mo Fei Lekdehun is not dead, in the battle of Wucoffin Mountain, only a few minions escaped back, Lekedehun did not come back, it was the Dongfan thief who claimed to have killed him, we thought he was dead, maybe Lekedehun did not die, he worked for the Dongfan thief, it is not certain." ”

Su Mo'er said: "But not necessarily, Queen Mother." The slave listened to the meaning, and the one who wanted Lekdehun's family was not necessarily Li Zhaoji, the chief of the Dongfan thieves, but it seemed that the general surnamed Tang asked for it privately. ”

"The general surnamed Tang, what did he say?" Bumu Butai asked.

Su Mo'er said: "General Tang said that he had an elder brother who served in the Eastern Thief Cavalry, but was killed by Luck Dehun in the early cavalry battle, after Luck Dehun died in battle, Li Zhaoji ordered someone to be buried, General Tang did not dare to disobey the commander's order, but wanted to kill Luck Dehun's family and avenge his brother." ”

Bumu Butai nodded slightly, thought about it, and then smiled contemptuously: "It sounds reasonable, but it doesn't make sense at all. If you want to avenge your brother, you can kill more people on the battlefield. How does he know that the old and weak we give him are the relatives of Luckedhun? ”

"Queen Mother, you mean, this is a rhetoric. Maybe Luckedhun isn't dead? Su Mo'er said.

Bumu Butai didn't answer her question, but said, "Su Mo'er, you didn't say this in front of outsiders, you did a good job.

Tomorrow, you are going to send 100,000 taels of silver to the thief, and by the way, bring Luckedhun's wife, who is pregnant, right, and match her with two experienced women to take care of her, and prepare more thick clothes and quilts, and some more coils.

But you don't just hand people over to General Tang ......... ”

On the second day, the camp outside the city.

"The big shopkeeper, Su Mo'er sent the first amount of silver, 100,000 taels, which has been put into storage." Tang Mu said to Li Zhaoji.

Li Zhaoji nodded slightly: "What about Luckdehun's family, can you bring it?" ”

Tang Mu smiled and said, "It seems that my rhetoric has been ......... through by the enemy. ”

When Tang Mu was in contact with him in the camp today, Su Mo'er first handed a woman's head to Tang Mu, saying that it was Luckedhun's wife, and killing her had already avenged Tang Mu's brother. Tang Mu saw that his words were seen through, and he regretted it a little, after all, at that time, he thought that Luckedhun's family members were killed because of him.

But after handing over the money, Su Mo'er said that the head was fake, and handed over Luckedhun's wife and two house slaves to Tang Mu.

"It's really interesting to see through your lies and send people here." Li Zhaoji said with a smile.

Tang Mu shook his head: "I don't really understand, what do they mean." ”

"Pave the way back and make a good fate." Li Zhaoji said lightly: "I think this is also the meaning of the empress dowager of the Manchu Dynasty, it is she who protected Luck Dehun and gave him a chance to make a comeback, even if she knew that Le Ke Dehun might have surrendered, she still preserved and returned his family."

Obviously, no matter what happens in the future, Luckedhun will no longer have a grudge against the Manchu royal family. ”

"Yes, is it necessary?" Tang Mu is still a little incomprehensible, after all, the Manchu Qing Dynasty is a country, and his own side is a trading company, although the trading company has repeatedly defeated the Qing army, but that is on the basis of the Qing army's empty country, no matter how you look at it, the Qing army has no decline.

Li Zhaoji said: "Tang Mu, you can't understand them. Manchuria was deeply influenced by the Mongols, and in their view, it was only natural for the strong to bully the weak and annex and enslave them.

In the land beyond the Great Wall, when the Xiongnu were strong, everyone was a Xiongnu. When the Uighurs are strong, everyone is a Uighur, and when the Mongols are strong, everyone is a Mongol. No one knows what the future will become, and it is a good plan to get married early. ”

In the future, our trading company will inevitably deal with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and Lucket Hun will naturally be regarded as a way.

For four consecutive days, the Manchu Qing Dynasty sent money to the camp outside the city according to 100,000 taels a day, these four days were also a boring day, and the change in Shengjing City was that a section of the city wall collapsed, so that the gap in the city wall was expanded by 70 meters, but Li Zhaoji still had no intention of attacking the city, and seemed to abide by the principle of taking people's money and eliminating disasters from people.

But in reality, Li Zhaoji was looking for an opportunity to ambush the Qing army inside and outside the city.

However, the process has not been smooth.

This time to the north, Li Laiheng brought more than 3,400 cavalry, of which 3,000 cavalry were shipped to Changxing Island a long time ago, and later Guo Sheng transported more than 1,000 soldiers and horses from his headquarters to Changxing Island, and after going north, Li Laiheng had more than 400 cavalry.

Together with the soldiers and horses of the cavalry battalion and the hussar battalion of the Oriental Trading Company on the left, more than 4,000 cavalry set up in ambush, preparing to ambush the Qing army reinforcements who wanted to come to help.

But it is clear that Shengjing was the stronghold of the Manchus, and the Manchus knew this place very well.

The Manchu high-level knew early on that there was a main cavalry force around Shengjing, and taking advantage of the fog in the early morning of late autumn, the Boluo Department smoothly approached the north gate of Shengjing, avoiding the blocking Shun cavalry.

Li Zhaoji sent Zhao Dahe to lead two battalions to support and block the north gate with guns, but he never thought that the Qing army dug a hole in the city wall very early and knocked down the city wall.

October 20th, the Great Horde.

Li Laiheng's shoulder was injured in the battle at the north gate of Shengjing, so his spirit was not as good as before, of course, the most important reason why his mood was not high was that he had just received the news that the Duoduo Department had completely crossed the Liao River, and it was only a day's journey from Shengjing.

Today, Balai returned to the army with another piece of bad news.

At the beginning of the Battle of Shengjing, Li Zhaoji ordered Balai to lead 200 hussars to the west and cross the Liao River from the search for a hidden location.

His task was to find an opportunity to attack the artillery of the Han Army Banner after the Duoduo cavalry was disconnected from the Han Army Banner artillery.

But he didn't complete this task, because he was outnumbered. Although the Duoduo Department was out of touch with the Han Army Banner for two days because of the construction of a pontoon bridge at Ping'an Fort, the Han Army Banner had 2,000 men, and this was an artillery unit, equipped with more than 30 large and small Franc machine guns, and five red-coated cannons were also transported from Yizhou.

Balai tried a few back and forth, but did not find a chance, and the Han army had already caught up with Duoduo's footsteps and successfully joined forces, so there was no need for him to insist, so he turned back to the east bank of the Liao River and reconnoitred the surroundings.

"Commander. We found that the artillery of the Han army did not set off with Duoduo towards Shengjing. Instead, he went south along the official road of the Liao River, and sent people to follow him, but found that he did not stop, and continued to go south all the way, and the specific goal was unknown. Bale reported to Li Zhaoji.

Yang Yandi said: "Interestingly, the main force of Duoduo's cavalry did not cross the Hunhe River to intercept our retreat, and Abatai's troops did not cross the prince to the north to help, and Abatai's cavalry appeared in the west of Liaoyang. ”

"Balai, are you sure there is a red-coated cannon in the Han Army Banner?" Li Zhaoji asked.

Balai nodded: "This is certain, we caught a few fallen Baoyi and Han Army Banner soldiers, they confessed that there were red-coated cannons unloaded from the city of Yizhou, and the carpenter of the Han Army Banner also built a four-wheeled artillery cart for it, but the Baoyi said that there were five red-coated cannons, but the soldiers of the Han Army Banner said that he only saw four, and the details are unknown." ”

Li Zhaoji smiled: "It seems that this artillery was arranged by the Qing army to intercept us in the south.

In the first battle of Qinghe, the Qing army suffered a loss without heavy artillery, and it seemed that this time, they had to make up for it. ”

Li Laiheng said: "Lord Li, it looks like we can't beat Shengjing City. ”

"That's nature, do you want to try it again?" Li Zhaoji asked.

The Oriental Brigade went north, with the original intention of attacking it and saving it. This goal has been achieved, the Qing army that plotted to ambush the Eastern Brigade on the east bank of the Daling River has all been transferred, and the Guangdong army headquarters has also successfully arrived at Huludao, which is a peninsula inserted into the Bohai Sea, full of mountains and rivers, and after Shen Youlong arrived, he had quickly arranged fortifications.

Chen Liuzi, on the other hand, used three ships to transport the necessary supplies and reinforcements from Changxing Island, and the two sides had joined forces, and the Cantonese army had been safe.

Li Laiheng has no heart to try, the battle of the north gate of Shengjing, the cavalry of both sides fought hand-to-hand, Li Laiheng once again saw the strength of the Manchurian Eight Banners, although those guys are all riding horses, but not everyone cavalry, but as long as it is cavalry, it can be put in a strict formation to attack and defend, and the mounted infantry can also dismount to fight, fight and shoot arrows.

After a few back and forth, the Shun army folded nearly three hundred people there.

With such an army defending Shengjing, even if the Shun army and the Eastern Brigade attacked with all their might, they would not be able to capture Shengjing before Duoduo arrived.

"If you don't fight, you have to go quickly." Li Laiheng said.

Li Zhaoji nodded slightly: "I think so too." Zhou rate, destroy all the siege artillery and red-coated artillery, Yang Yandi, Zhao Dahe, arrange your people, throw away unnecessary baggage, release the captured people, and kill all the cattle and sheep.

By tonight, the Hunhe River must be completely crossed. Tang Mu, hand over the Hunhe pontoon bridge to you, and after the river crossing is completed, burn the pontoon. ”

As Li Laiheng said, if you want to go, you must retreat quickly, as long as the main cavalry of the Qing army catches up, the Eastern Brigade will be forced to spread out a formation, reduce the speed of the march, and even be forced to advance in a phalanx.

Li Laiheng said: "Our department will cross the river first, give me your engineer battalion, and I will arrange the erection of the pontoon bridge first." ”

After all, after crossing Haicheng, it was the hinterland of the Manchurians, and from Haicheng to Shengjing, there were no soldiers and horses of the trading company on the route of hundreds of miles, and even when Li Laiheng crossed the river in the north, he caught the locals and temporarily erected the pontoon bridge.

Li Zhaoji pointed to a river intersection on the map, which is the intersection of the Hun, Sha and Taizi rivers, and the water flow is gentle except in summer, suitable for crossing.

"This is the place where the sappers have scouted the river crossing in advance. People and horses can wade across the river, and of course, at this point in time, the water is very cold. The sappers have hidden some of the ferries to the left, and when you arrive, let your men cross the river to set up defensive positions before the sappers erect pontoon bridges.

Yandi, I will give you four battalions and an artillery company, and you will be the successor, and you must also arrive at the place of crossing the river as soon as possible.

Laiheng, as long as Yandi's infantry succeeds you, you will return to the north bank of the Prince River to meet me, and I think that by that time, I will be pinned down by the cavalry of Duoduo. Lee Siu Kee made the arrangement.

Yang Yandi and Li Laiheng looked at each other and nodded slightly.

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