Chapter 330

After a short rest, Cheng Shijie led more than 2,800 cavalry of the Annam Army of the Ning Navy, although they only had more than 2,800 horsemen, they had more than 10,000 war horses, each of which carried four war horses, in addition to the fine Dutch warm-blooded horses, but also carried two captured Mongolian war horses.

These two Mongolian war horses mainly assume the function of consignment, consignment of a large number of bullets, shells, grain and grass, supplies, there is no way, as the Ning Navy almost entered a full-scale firearms age, it is more dependent on logistics supplies.

Although it is said that two Mongolian war horses can consign three or four hundred catties of medicine, bullets, shells, clothing, clothing and dry food, the problem is that these materials are far from enough for the officers and men of the Ning Navy.

However, there is no good way now, the current Ning Navy has more than 1,500 Shire horses, these Shire horses are attached to the main force of the Annan Army, these war horses are not fast, although they have a strong consignment capacity, but they can't keep up with the speed of the Dutch warmbloods.

Just when Cheng Shijie was about to leave, Xu Guangqi appeared in Baihe.

Although it is said that the capital is only more than 100 miles away from the Baihe River, for an old man who is nearly seventy years old, this journey has already cost half a life. Fortunately, the four-wheeled carriage given to Xu Guangqi by Cheng Shijie has a pretty good shock absorption effect, otherwise Xu Guangqi may not be able to bear it.

Xu Guangqi's cold big hand, holding Cheng Shijie's hand, said worriedly: "Now the situation is as dangerous as an egg, the entire Beizhili has no available soldiers, once Jiannu invades, I am afraid that Hou Jing's rebellion will recur!" Beiping, the lives of hundreds of millions of people in Daming, as well as these thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, now rely on you to protect them! If you don't have anything to do, just open your mouth, the old man will satisfy you even if he smashes the pot and sells iron, I just ask you to fight to the death and turn the tide, please! ”

"Elder Xu Ge, the most important thing for you is to take care of your body, if you can't hold it in case, this Ming court will become the world of villains!"

Cheng Shijie said with a solemn face: "Elder Xu Ge, please rest assured, as long as Cheng Mou has a breath, the Tartars don't want to make waves!" ”

Cheng Shijie now knew that the 100,000-strong army of Jiannu had advanced westward, and they went all the way west along the Horqin grassland, passing through Baicheng, arriving in Taining, and now entering the territory of Kaipingwei.

It can be said that Cheng Shijie did not dare to move the main force of Shen Mingyu's Annan Army to the south, just to beware of Jiannu dangling a shot, once Jiannu suddenly went south in Shanhaiguan or Yongping Mansion, at that time, no matter how dangerous they were, Cheng Shijie could only turn back to protect the capital.

For the Ming court, no matter how dangerous the military situation is in various places, it is even said that Lanzhou can be lost, Taiyuan can be lost, but only the capital cannot be lost.

In the Ming Dynasty, the lives of the people and the lives of civil and military officials in the imperial court were really not as important.

"Please, Beiping, meet all the soldiers!"

Xu Guangqi bowed deeply to the naval officers of Zhongning.

Now that Taiyuan is lost, Shanxi is like a big mouth in the embankment, hundreds of thousands of Mongolian troops are swept in, and the surrounding state capitals are also eyeing them like hungry wolves looking at a piece of fresh meat, all of which is like a big stone pressing on Xu Guangqi's heart, making him breathless.

Although there is no conclusive evidence, Xu Guangqi still instinctively feels that the loss of Taiyuan is definitely not as simple as it is performed, if it can't block the mouth of Shanxi, Daming's naivety is really going to fall!

At present, Xu Guangqi can only rely on this Cheng Shijie, who is regarded by the court bosses as a rebel Ning Navy and regarded by the court bosses as having a heart of disobedience.

But the problem is that Cheng Shijie can mobilize too few soldiers and horses now, only less than 3,000 cavalry, even if Cheng Shijie can overcome all difficulties and rush to Taiyuan day and night, is he still capable of turning the tide?

Xu Guangqi didn't have much confidence.

Seeing the tired Ning Navy soldiers follow Cheng Shijie without hesitation and set off in the cold wind, Xu Guangqi felt very depressed in his heart.

Xu Guangqi couldn't hold back the anger in his heart, and roared angrily: "Those people deserve to die!" Look what good things you've done. ”

Xu Guangqi felt that the sky was spinning, and his body was falling to the ground, however, Li Changqiao beside Xu Guangqi was the son of Xu Guangqi's friend Li Zhizao, and Li Changqiao hurriedly supported Xu Guangqi.

Xu Guangqi endured his physical discomfort and said, "Long Bridge! ”

"In!"

"You don't care about me, go to Liaodong, go to Liaodong to find a sleeper!"

At this time, Xu Guangqi had lost confidence in the princes of the imperial court, if his body was okay, he would definitely be willing to fight with them, even if he couldn't fight, he would bite them a few times.

But the problem is that his body has reached the point where he has run out of oil, and it is time to return to the arms of God.

Li Changqiao frowned slightly and said, "What does Elder Ge mean ......"

"Is there still hope for Daming?"

Xu Guangqi stroked the white beard under his chin, and looked at the howling cold wind with cloudy eyes.

For the sake of state affairs, he especially looked exhausted and old, and said slowly: "There is a giant Kou Li Zicheng in Huguang, Dashun and Song Xiance in Shandong, Jiannu in Liaodong, Jungar in Hexi, and Mobei Mongolia in Shanxi, and there is no day of peace in this world." Among them, Li Zicheng's disaster is the most intense, Dengfeng, Yiluo, Songshan all fell, Li thief claimed to have 300,000 people, if it wasn't for Lu Xiangsheng sitting in Huguang, Huguang is afraid that it would have fallen long ago, and now Lu Xiangsheng finally blocked Li Thief, Mongolia went south along Taiyuan, and seemed to join forces with Li Thief in Yuncheng...... Do you think there is still hope for this Ming? ”

Li Changqiao said: "For such a major state matter, I dare not discuss it in vain. ”

"It's just you and me here, and you won't get into the ears of a third person when you speak, what dare you do?"

"Why didn't you use Cheng Shijie earlier?"

Li Changqiao knew that as early as when the Dashun army broke through Dongchang Mansion, Xu Guangqi recommended Cheng Shijie to the imperial court and let Cheng Shijie's army quell the rebellion of the Dashun army. However, this proposal was rejected.

If the imperial court wants to use Cheng Shijie's words, then at that time, Ning Haijun will definitely not leave the chaos of the Central Plains alone, but pour troops to the east to conquer the small days.

Isn't this battle because of the decision-making of the imperial court?

Strategic passivity is not something that can be compensated for by tactical victory. In Li Changqiao's view, the mistakes and mistakes of the imperial court are not limited to these?

As early as the fourth year of Chongzhen, Lin Dan Khan was defeated by Huang Taiji, Lin Dan Khan sent an envoy into the court, hoping to unite the Ming to fight against Jiannu, but the princes of the dynasty ignored it, and then Lin Dan Khan led troops to attack Datong and killed tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians.

It's clear that the enemy of the enemy is a friend, but ......

Now the Great Wall defense line is full of holes, Cheng Shijie is known as the nine-sided border army, however, the three sides are in the hands of Hong Chengchou, and the Guanning army in Liaozhen in Liaodong is in the hands of Zu Dashou.

"Yes!"

Li Changqiao said: "Pavilion Elder, you can't fall, Cheng Shuai is only leading less than 3,000 cavalry now, he ...... Traveling light, he needs help! ”

……

Taiyuan Province, Binh Dinh Prefecture.

Yaoling Temple Mountain in the south of Pingding County is a branch of the Qiling Mountain Range in the middle of the Taihang Mountains. Here the mountains are stacked, the mountains are extended, the strange peaks are listed, and one of the craggy peaks is called "Jiangtai Ridge".

Jiangtai Ridge, Yangsheng River is the location of Pingding Prefecture, this is a mountain arch and high and flat soil hill, east and west, stretching for more than ten miles, the loess layer is very deep. To the south of Tugang is the Yangsheng River, one of the main rivers in Pingding County, and to the north is its tributary, the Xiazhuang River, and the two rivers converge at the foot of Fengtai Mountain.

Pingding Prefecture is the gateway of the Three Jin Dynasty, the Jin and Hebei are balanced, and the Niangzi Guan Tianwei is the northwest gate of the Beijing Division, and its strategic position is very important.

In the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Mongols, Pingdingzhou has always played a tragic role, and during the Ming Yingzong period, he also led the Tile Thorn Iron Cavalry all the way to the city, approaching Beijing, and Pingdingzhou was ruthlessly scourged; During the Jiajing period, the Tatar iron cavalry marched eastward, and Pingdingzhou was brutally killed and plundered.

The nearest military disaster should be regarded as the fifth year of Chongzhen, Lin Dan Khan had a convulsive brain, and took Mo Nan Mongolia to Pingding Prefecture to kill him.

It is precisely because of this time that Pingding Prefecture was breached, during Xie Zhiliang's tenure as the commander-in-chief of Taiyuan Town, Pingding Prefecture and the pass were rebuilt, and the garrison of Pingding Prefecture was increased from the original 800 people to 1,400 people, in fact, Xie Zhiliang wanted to expand the Pingding Garrison Division to the Pingding Prefecture Garrison Battalion, and raise the garrison to 3,000 people.

It's a pity that the current Taiyuan is no longer the rich Taiyuan of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and Taiyuan Town can't afford to support so many soldiers and horses.

At the beginning, the general He Sui launched a mutiny in Taiyuan City, the general Xie Zhiliang was defenseless, and was hit in the abdomen by the traitor He Sui, who he regarded as his confidant, and was seriously injured and unconscious.

When escaping from Taiyuan City, Xie Shangkui had two ways to escape, one was to the south, and to escape through the direction of Jinzhong and Lu'an.

Xie Shangkui considered that He Sui had surrendered to the Mongol Tatars, and they would definitely not be able to outrun the four legs of the Mongols when they ran south. What's more, Pingdingzhou is only 800 miles away from the capital, and with the marching speed of the Mongol Tatars, it can bypass Pingdingzhou in two to three days at most until the capital is under the city.

In desperation, Xie Shangkui had no choice but to retreat to Pingdingzhou County with the seriously injured Xie Zhiliang. Fortunately, Xie Zhiliang's life should not be extinguished, and on the way to Pingding Prefecture, Xie Shangkui also met a group of people who fled from Taiyuan City, and among these people was an outstanding man named Lu Quan.

Lu Quan is a native of Taiyuan, four years ago when he went to Yan'an, he encountered the rebel army, because he knew how to heal, he was naturally wrapped in the chaotic army, and he went to Liaodong last year, after the development in Liaodong, Lu Quan had his own pharmacy, his own pharmacy, two months ago, he personally returned to Taiyuan, ready to find his parents.

I never thought that I encountered the Taiyuan chaos, Lu Quan and his father Lu Heren, his mother and nephew, sister-in-law, eldest brother and other big families escaped from the city, fortunately, when Lu Quan was in Liaodong, he often dealt with gunshot wounds.

Lu Quan looked at Xie Zhiliang's injury, thanks to the cold weather, the wound was not infected, and it didn't take long, he took the knife and started the operation, after half an hour of treatment, Lu Quan took out the lead bullet in Xie Zhiliang's abdomen.

He slept for most of the night, and at dawn the next morning, Xie Zhiliang woke up, and looked at the countless fleeing people, Xie Zhiliang commanded his own soldiers to collect the defeated soldiers and young people.

In all fairness, Xie Zhiliang's prestige in the hearts of Shanxi sergeants is still not low, and when Xie Zhiliang traveled from Taiyuan to Pingdingzhou, this short distance of less than 200 miles, there were more than 800 soldiers around him.

However, when Xie Zhiliang arrived in Pingdingzhou, he found that the city of Pingdingzhou was empty, and only a few soldiers of the Pingding Army were still looting supplies from several large armories, and more soldiers continued to flee eastward.

Looking at this scene, Xie Zhiliang was very angry.

Regardless of his injuries, he let his own soldiers carry him and block the mountain road.

"Shangkui!"

"Father!"

"Set up the handsome banner of the handsome!"

As the banner stood on a boulder on the side of the mountain road, the defeated soldiers saw the handsome flag waving in the wind.

"Xie Dashuai......"

Xie Zhiliang helped his son Xie Shangkui, and with the support of Xie Shangkui, he could barely stand up straight, and he looked at hundreds of defeated soldiers with sharp eyes.

Some of these routs were from Pingdingzhou, and some escaped from Taiyuan City, and the routs did not dare to look directly at Xie Zhiliang's eyes, after all, Xie Zhiliang was not an airborne general, nor was he a hereditary general, but a general who was killed with a knife and a shot.

Xie Zhiliang said: "You can, you did a really good job!" Taiyuan is a famous city in the world, all dynasties have to spend several years or even more than ten years to conquer Taiyuan, you are good, a battle did not fight and threw it to the enemy, and did not look back to escape! You touch your conscience and see, the border soldiers are still fighting bloodily, what face do you have to escape? ”

An officer from Pingding Prefecture who looked like a general officer stubbornly said: "Xie Shuai, I don't want to run away from my humble position, but those who are officials ......have run away."

"The officials are blinded by lard, they are not from Shanxi, they can run away if they want to pat their butts, you Shanxi children are also confused, regardless of the life and death of your hometown fathers and elders, right? Are you still men? ”

Xie Zhiliang's words made hundreds of defeated soldiers face full of shame, and their heads hung lower.

Xie Zhiliang's voice raised an octave: "Lao Tzu led people to block here, just to tell you that if you want to escape, you can!" However, you have to step over Ben Shuai's corpse first! ”

The routs were a little frightened, and turned to meet the rolling Mongolian iron cavalry, and died for life; Kill Xie Zhiliang and escape, and kill An with conscience! This is a dilemma, how to decide, no one dares to speak.

The scene was very silent for a while, and at this time, a soldier was still filial, and he snatched a donkey, and the donkey carried his old father on it.

The old father raised his hand and threw a resounding slap in his son's face.

- Smack......

This slap can be regarded as breaking the embarrassment and anger of the scene.

The old man stretched out his hand and pointed at his son and said, "You run, kill your old man, and escape from the corpse of your father." ”

The soldier covered his face and knelt on the ground: "Dad, Dad, don't do this!" ”

An elderly woman, sitting on the ground, pointed to her body and said, "Run, run away from our corpses!" ”

The head of the general body trembled slightly, took off his helmet and took a few steps forward, bowed down to Xie Zhiliang, and said loudly: "What kind of courage do you have to dare to draw a sword in front of Xie Shuai!" Chen Shuo knew that he was guilty of a lot of sin, and he didn't dare to beg for forgiveness, he just wanted to follow Xie Shuai's battle flag, die on the battlefield, and atone for his sins with death! ”

Under the infection of Chen Shuo, all the defeated soldiers said in unison: "Die on the battlefield and atone for your sins with death!" ”

is the so-called three-year Qing Governor's Mansion, 100,000 snowflakes of silver.

In fact, the corruption of officials in the Ming Dynasty was also very serious, as the governor of Shanxi, Wu Fu was the governor of Shanxi in September of the seventh year of Chongzhen, and so far, he has only been the governor for more than a year, however, he is a good hand at holding money, and in just over a year, he actually got more than 200,000 taels of silver.

Although He Sui's mutiny in Taiyuan was not led by him, he embezzled the military funds allocated to Shanxi by Emperor Chongzhen through the inner treasury, and Emperor Chongzhen gave Shanxi 400,000 taels of silver for military expenses, he himself embezzled 280,000 taels of silver, and the other 120,000 taels of silver were divided among officials at all levels of the governor's yamen.

Wu Fu is still a particular person, and he eats meat himself and lets others drink soup with him, in fact, Xie Zhiliang, the general soldier, only got 60,000 taels of silver, which is equivalent to one-seventh of the total military expenditure.

However, the responsibility for this matter is not on his head, and in advance, he had already asked the court to resign on the grounds that he was not in good health, and it was Song Tongyin who took the blame.

However, just as Wu Fu was about to cross the Taihang Mountains along Pingding Prefecture and return to the capital through Zhending, he suddenly found that the people in front of him were not leaving.

Wu Fu asked, "What's going on?" ”

Before Zhang Fengyi, the general of his lieutenant army, could answer, a soldier hurriedly replied: "Lord Wu, it's not a good thing!" ”

"What?"

I faintly heard a voice from the front: "I am the prefect of Pingding Prefecture, and I am from a dignified Jinshi, you can't kill me......"

Wu Fu stood on the carriage and watched as a middle-aged man wearing a six-rank civilian official uniform was pressed to the ground by two soldiers.

The official also shouted, "You lowly warriors can't kill me!" If you dare to touch me, the world's scholars will not let you go......"

The soldiers ignored his shouting and swearing, stomped on the crook of his knee and forced him to kneel, grabbed him by a lock of hair and pulled him, forcing him to stretch his neck.

This Zhizhou screamed for his life, but he was restrained by death, and he couldn't struggle no matter how he struggled.

The sword light rolled like a rainbow, the screams and curses stopped abruptly, and a cavity of dirty blood sprayed on the snow, which was particularly eye-catching. A soldier stepped aside with his head and hung it with a stick, while the slasher shook off the blood from his blade and turned his gaze over the thousands of stunned civilians and routs.

Xie Zhiliang's gaze suddenly fell on Wu Fu.

"Lord Wu, don't come unharmed!"

Xie Zhiliang waved his hand: "Tie it up for me!" ”

When he was the governor of Shanxi in the second grade, it should be the former governor of Shanxi, Wu Fu, who was tied into a zongzi and stood on a carriage without carriages.

Xie Zhiliang is also a ruthless person, and he directly took the Zhizhou of Pingding Prefecture to attack.

Wu Fu now knows that Xie Zhiliang, a bastard, does not plan to live, in fact, Xie Zhiliang killed the governor of Pingding Prefecture and kidnapped the governor of Shanxi, no matter whether this battle is lost or won, no one can protect him.

Of course, from the side, Xie Zhi's conscience is determined to die.

As the saying goes, men are as desperate as iron.

Xie Zhiliang covered the wound that had collapsed and said, "Fight back!" ”

"Kill back!"

Why is only the Chinese civilization left among the four ancient civilizations in the world? Because Chinese civilization has not been weakened, nor has it not been skipped by Qin, when the Chinese nation is facing life and death, there are always heroes who come forward.

Just like during the Wuhu Rebellion, when the Han people had been slaughtered to the point that there was no one in ten, ten rooms and nine emptiness, white bones exposed in the wilderness, and thousands of miles of red land, it was Ran Min who stepped forward, and although the three orders to kill Hu were cruel, they rekindled the pride and cohesion of the Han nation. In the extremely dark era of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang stepped forward.

Xie Zhiliang didn't think about whether he would be held accountable and beheaded in the future, nor did he think about whether he would live, he was just doing what the Taiyuan General Army should do.

It was Xie Zhiliang who stepped forward, organized the rout of the army and the people, returned to Pingdingzhou City, which had become an empty city, and established a defensive line.

Speaking of which, it is also because the Mongol army in Mobei is a plate of scattered sand, after they occupied the city of Taiyuan, which abandoned the city and fled, they lit up the butcher's knife and slaughtered the people of Taiyuan unscrupulously.

After all, Mobei Mongolia is too poor, they rushed into Taiyuan City, and began to grab food, money, clothes, and all the materials they could grab, Taiyuan City was burning, as for chasing and killing the defeated soldiers and people, these Mongolian masters expressed no interest, who wants to leave the prosperous Taiyuan City to suffer in the ice and snow?

It is precisely because of this situation that Xie Zhiliang was given time to breathe.

After waiting for three days, when the Mongol army had nothing to grab and kill in Taiyuan City, they reacted and needed to occupy Pingdingzhou City, otherwise they could not advance eastward, unless they went all the way south.

When the Mongolian army arrived in Pingdingzhou, it immediately faced the stubborn resistance of Xie Zhiliang and his subordinates, of course, due to poor equipment and serious disparity in numbers, as for how many days Pingdingzhou could be defended, Xie Zhiliang himself did not have the bottom.

……

Ning Haijun entered Zhending County, Zhending Prefecture, and when he was camping, Cheng Shijie received two messages from Taiyuan Prefecture, the first was that Zhao Wencai did not go to Taiyuan, because he explained to Cheng Shijie that now the troops in his hands are less than 15,000 people, and the Mongolian army that has entered Taiyuan City is at least more than 250,000 horses.

It doesn't have any effect for him to fill in this little bit of people, and when they arrive in Taiyuan, everything that should happen has happened, and nothing can be changed, but Lanzhou is still holding on, if Lanzhou is not rescued, then the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Lanzhou will definitely not be able to stop the attack of the Junggar Department, and the hundreds of thousands of people will not be able to survive by then.

Cheng Shijie also understood Zhao Wencai's decision, standing in Zhao Wencai's position, in fact, there was no mistake, he Zhao Wencai went to face the Junggar people who were more numerous and had stronger combat effectiveness, and he was not afraid of the enemy.

There are only so many troops, and the lesser of two evils is the lesser of two evils.

The second news is that Xie Zhiliang is still in Pingdingzhou, after two days of bloody battles, the Mongolian army under the city of Pingdingzhou has suffered tens of thousands of casualties, and Xie Zhiliang's 800 soldiers and thousands of people are young and strong, and they have also suffered heavy casualties.

But after a long time, no one can say.

Li Dingguo looked at the intelligence and sighed: "Xie Zhiliang is really a husband!" It's just a shame! ”

Although Li Dingguo is not a person in the officialdom, he at least knows that Xie Zhiliang has now committed a heinous crime, killing Zhizhou and kidnapping the governor, not to mention a chief military officer, even if Cheng Shijie is now the prime minister of the Nine Sides, he does not have the power to dispose of a Zhizhou, even if this Zhizhou is a bastard.

What's more, Xie Zhiliang is just a small general soldier? No matter how great his exploits are, he can make up for this mistake.

Cheng Shijie smiled faintly and said: "This Xie Zhiliang is responsible, Ben Shuai is safe, Ben Shuai said that he has merit, he has merit, whoever wants to deal with him must pass Ben Shuai first!" ”

(End of chapter)