North of Jielingkou, Niuxin Mountain.

At the foot of the mountain, there is a small village with only about 20 villagers, called Wangjia Village, and most of the people in the village are surnamed Wang.

Although this Wangjia Village is outside the Jieling Pass, it is also the people of the Ming Dynasty, but it has opened up some mountainous fields outside the pass, and raised some livestock to live, which is very difficult.

There is a family in the village, the man is called Wang Yue, nicknamed Sycophant, is a celebrity in the village, good at slapping horses, as long as it is a villager who is better than himself, or a person who can ask for it, then Wang Yue will rush to shoot the empty family, and has been despised by the villagers in the village for many years.

Wang Yue's wife is called Wang Li's, a few years ago she fled back from the grassland, it is said that her hometown is from Xuanfu Town, and after being taken away by the Manchu Qing Tartars, she was ruined enough, in the rough words of the villagers, that Wang Li's is already the crotch of the old lady's cotton pants, and it is a broken pocket that can't hold urine.

It is said that Wang Li also had some courage, and even took advantage of the fact that the Mongolian soldiers in the Qing army were not paying attention, and the day was ruined, and he rushed into the grassland at night, and fled to Wangjia Village in a daze.

At that time, Wang Yue in the village was looked down upon by the villagers and couldn't marry a wife.

So far, the people in the village have laughed, saying that the sycophant married a broken bag and broke the family!

Early in the morning, Wang Yue and Wang Li's mandarin ducks fell all night, walked out of the house as if they had stepped on cotton, and carried a hoe to go around the field.

At this time, it was already October, and the climate outside the gate was already very cold, in fact, there was no farm work to do in the fields, but Wang Yue did not want to stay at home, so as not to be entangled by Wang Li's family, and in the long run, I am afraid that he will not be a sycophant, but a horse jerky.

On the hillside, Wang Yue's cultivated land is on the edge of the hillside, which is not a good land, and the area is not large.

At this time, Wang Yue sat panting on a cold stone, looking condescendingly ahead, the entire Wangjia Village could be seen at a glance, his own small courtyard was on the edge of the village, Wang Yue also vaguely saw a shadow scratching his head in the yard, tidying up the yard, as if he was deliberately provoking men.

"Humph! This slut. ”

It has been two or three years since he married Wang Li home, and Wang Yue's joy at the beginning has dissipated a lot, coupled with listening to the words of the villagers chewing their tongues, Wang Yue also has a lot of prejudices against his wife at home, if he didn't marry a wife, he wouldn't want a rag that has been ruined by the Tartars I don't know how many times.

"It's been two years, and my stomach hasn't moved, maybe it's just that the tartars have been ruined!"

Wang Yue thought secretly, and a burst of anger rose in his heart.

Suddenly, Wang Yue stood up suddenly, only to see many black dots appear on the vast grassland in the distance, moving in the direction of the village.

"That's, who's who?"

Wang Yue was stunned for a moment, and then came back to his senses: "Who else can it be?" Tartars! ”

Then Wang Yue took the hoe and ran down the hill almost with his hands and feet, shouting loudly as he ran: "The Tartar is coming!" The Tartars are coming! ”

At this time, the people in the village were busy storing food for the winter, and some villagers who had livestock at home even exchanged the slaughtered livestock for some scattered silver in the Jieling Pass, and even heard that the old Wang family in the village had exchanged it for a silver coin!

Now that the Ming Dynasty has settled down, although Wangjia Village is far away, it has also been subjected to some shadows, and the people in the village can at least live a well-fed life, and the court has a lot less exploitation.

But at this moment, a team of Manchurian iron horsemen with the Yellow Banner rushed into the village and began to burn and kill the people in the village.

"Drive!"

Two Qing army iron horsemen rode their horses and rampaged through the village, directly knocking down a villager who couldn't dodge, and then the iron hooves stepped on the villager's body a few times, and directly stepped on the villager's body A few bloody holes.

At the same time, Wangjia Village also became a purgatory on earth, full of Qing army horsemen who were busy killing people and robbing, and many Qing soldiers rushed into the homes of villagers in the vicinity and began to rape women and loot property.

The men in the village also began to resist, but the villagers who were suddenly attacked, how could they be the opponents of the elite iron cavalry of the Qing army, it was completely a one-sided massacre, and soon the roar of the fighting could not be heard in the village, only the screams and the moans and cries of the women.

At this time, Wang Yue also returned to the village with a hoe, and saw that the Qing army iron cavalry had begun to burn and loot in the village, Wang Yue was immediately frightened and trembled, and wanted to turn around and flee for his life, but saw three Qing soldiers blocking the door of his house, one of them kicked open the courtyard door, and the three of them rushed in with a strange scream, and soon Wang Li's screams were not like human voices.

"Ahh

Wang Yue's blood suddenly surged, and he rushed forward with his hands and feet, and as soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw two Qing soldiers ruining Wang Li's family, and another Qing soldier turned around and saw Wang Yue, drew his knife and walked over.

Seeing this situation, Wang Yue's bloody and brave aura just now dissipated in an instant, replaced by a thick fear, and he directly knelt on the ground with a thud.

"Haha!!"

Seeing this, the Qing soldier laughed loudly, and put a knife on Wang Yue's neck, about to kill someone. When Wang Li saw Wang Yue, he cried like crazy, but Wang Yue didn't dare to say more, just kowtowed to the three Qing soldiers with a hippie smile, hoping to bypass his life.

But all this was just Wang Yue's fantasy, the Qing soldier directly cut off Wang Yue's head with a knife, and then put the war knife into the sheath, and walked towards Wang Li with a lewd smile on his face.

When the three Qing soldiers walked out of the courtyard satisfied, Wang Li was already lying in the courtyard with his eyes wide open, without breath, and his body was covered with blood stains and scars, which made people unbearable to look at directly.

At this time, the "noise" in Wangjia Village had gradually subsided, and this group of Qing army iron cavalry began to gather in the village.

In this raid, the harvest of these Qing troops was not small, and more than 50 stones of grain were looted from Wangjia Village, as well as some poultry and two pigs, which were stored by the villagers for the winter, and they all became the trophies of the Qing army at this time.

One of the leading troops, Pashku, grinned, showed a mouthful of yellow teeth, and said to his subordinates with a smile: "This small village is really fat, I can't imagine that the Ming Kingdom has become much richer in the past two years!" ”

One of the people who got it said with a flattering smile: "Yes, the women in the village are not bad, and the warriors have exhausted the anger in their hearts. ”

"Haha!"

The surrounding Qing soldiers all laughed insolently, and then the leading leader of the army, Pashku, waved his hand and said, "Go!" Camping in Niuxin Mountain tonight and continuing to search the surrounding area tomorrow. ”

Then the Qing army rode towards Niuxin Mountain, leaving only Wangjia Village, which had become a ghost village.

With Dolgon's order, as far east as Shanhaiguan and west as Jielingkou, on the long border, the Daming villages scattered on the border were almost wiped out, and at least thousands of soldiers and horses of various Manchu banners scattered to attack and plundered a large amount of grain and various materials.

Although these grains and materials are still a drop in the bucket for hundreds of thousands of Qing troops, they have greatly boosted the morale of the banners of the Qing army, as if the soldiers and horses of the banners of the Qing army have regained their previous posture and confidence in facing the Ming Dynasty, and the invincible Qing Iron Cavalry has returned!

However, the news that the Qing army's small forces continued to disturb the border was also quickly sent to Beijing.

Liu Yan first received the news that Dolgon led hundreds of thousands of Qing troops to Jinzhou City, and then began to deploy defenses in the area of Guangning Qiantunwei, and then received the news that the Qing army was looting the people in the Shanhaiguan-Jielingkou area, which made Liu Yan's murderous intent instantly surge.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty and the opposition faced the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and they no longer had the previous fear, but were full of high-spirited fighting spirit.

So the whole court was clamoring to immediately send troops to recover Liaodong, and even Emperor Chongzhen summoned Liu Yan several times, asking Liu Yan to formulate a strategy for sending troops as soon as possible and recover Liaodong as soon as possible, so as to relieve the suffering of the people of Liaodong.

However, Liu Yan withstood the pressure and ordered the officers and men of the Ming army on the border to stick to the nine-border defense line, and at the same time, in the face of the snowflake-like petition of the generals of the National Defense Army and the garrison army, he also forcibly suppressed the call for his subordinates to go to war, insisting on completing the new policy first.

"If you go outside, you must first settle inside!"

In the cabinet office, Liu Yan's roar is still echoing, and the secretaries of the central government are sitting on their seats, their faces are not very good-looking, and everyone is very incomprehensible, obviously the power of the Ming Dynasty has far surpassed that of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, why can't they send troops to recover Liaodong as soon as possible? ?

Liu Yan said bitterly to everyone: "Now that the new policies and military reforms of Fujian, Yunnan, and Guangxi provinces are in the final stage, at this time, the main energy of the imperial court will be put on the battlefield in Liaodong, and the completion of the new policies and military reform policies of these three provinces will be affected. ”

What Liu Yan wants is not the current victory, but to use the new policy and military reform to push the Ming Dynasty to carry out reforms, so that the Ming Dynasty can evolve from a feudal society to a bourgeois society.

This process is destined to be very long and arduous, and it is even possible that Liu Yan will not have the opportunity to see it in his lifetime, but this process must be promoted by Liu Yan, everything is difficult at the beginning, if the starting stage is affected by the war in Liaodong, then what about after that? ?

After listening to Liu Yan's persuasion, everyone did not insist on sending troops for the time being, but Tian Huixu, the secretary of the Ministry of National Defense, Xun Jingyun, the secretary of the Equipment Department, Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the General Staff, and Wu Guojin, the secretary of the Military Intelligence Department, all demanded that Liu Yan should give a timetable: When will the army be able to attack?

Liu Yan said categorically: "With the current progress of the implementation of the new policies and military reform policies in Fujian, Yunnan and Guangxi, when the spring of next year begins, it will be the day when the army will leave the customs!" ”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this, as long as there was time, everyone had expectations in their hearts, and the countdown to the fall of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was announced!