"The fight in the south is so lively, you think we're going to be fine, right?"

"What do you think? That Wuliangha was beaten by His Royal Highness King Yan's father and son, where did he dare to go south. ”

Daning, on the Acropolis of Quanning, when the southern war was in full swing, the 3,000 soldiers stationed here had no effect, they were still on the frontier, guarding against the Mongols in the north.

In the words, they still can't change their honorific titles for Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, and perhaps only those of them who are stationed in the border can know how much the father and son have contributed to the north.

Since the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu, Uliangha rebelled and entered the Kou, and in the next three years, there were basically cases of Uliangha entering the Kou.

However, all this began to end in the twenty-ninth year of Hongwu.

Wuliangha first hit his head in the Bohai Sea and broke his head, and then suffered heavy losses in the following year when he was attacked northward by the Bohai Sea and the army of King Ning.

In May last year, he was made by the Northern Patrol Army, and he was unable to go south.

After careful calculation, the defenders of Quanningwei had not seen the Hu soldiers of Uliangha for four years, so the defense could not help but be a little lax.

It's just that sometimes, the enemy often appears when the enemy is lax, as it is now......

"Beep! Beep-"

The piercing and dense whistle came from the sky, and the soldiers above the arrow tower looked one after another, only to see that hundreds of their own sentry horses were running south at this moment to whistle.

"Enemy attack!!"

Don't think about it, the small flag officers on the arrow towers everywhere rang the bronze bell and blew the horn, and the soldiers who were busy farming outside the city carried farm tools and ran into the city.

The soldiers at the gate of the city also withdrew their horses, urging the troops to enter the city, and at the same time, they stood at the gate of the city, waiting for their own pond to cross the drawbridge, then put away the drawbridge and close the city gate.

Time passed, and as it passed, a large cloud of dust rose in the north.

Tens of thousands of Hu cavalry from the north to the south, they shouted wheat whips, holding short bows to chase the hundreds of pond horses, many Hu soldiers on the back of the horse still hung the head of the Ming army pond cavalry.

Four years of comfort made some of the Tang cavalry of Quan Ningwei pay the price of their lives, but fortunately, they did not all covet comfort, otherwise I am afraid that today's Quan Ningwei will be raided by tens of thousands of Hu cavalry of this scale, killing and injuring countless people.

"Pull the drawbridge!"

Hundreds of horsemen rushed across the drawbridge, shouting loudly for others to pull up the drawbridge.

In an instant, the drawbridge was pulled up, the city gates were closed, and the jack gates were lowered.

For a time, Quanningwei once again became the first city of Daning, which was impregnable.

Quan Ningwei commanded Hu Xue to hurry to the sound of the horn of the whole city, and when he walked up to the city gate, surrounded by endless Hu cavalry outside the city.

Many of them were very thin, and the number of distinct armor was much smaller, only some wore armor, and the rest were leather and chain mail.

Obviously, in the past four years, they have not had a good life, and this time they also took advantage of the civil strife in the Ming Dynasty and took the opportunity to go south to prepare for looting.

With Zhu Gaoxu in Liaodong, they naturally didn't dare to go, so defending Daning, which was empty, became their target.

Hu Xue broke out in a cold sweat on his forehead, and the commander next to him also released a carrier pigeon and asked for help from Daning City in the south.

It just didn't make them nervous for too long, and the Hu cavalry outside the city didn't stay too long before turning their horses' heads around Quanning City and heading south.

After they left, the millet seedlings outside the city, which had grown to the height of calves, had been eaten by the horses, and this year's Quanningwei had completely lost its harvest.

"Quick! Send a message to the commanders and tell them that Hu Qi is going south, and the number is not less than 20,000. ”

"Yes!"

After Hu Xue reacted, he urged people to use flying pigeons to transmit military information, and had no intention of sending Tang Qi.

The war horses they have here have already been requisitioned from the south to fight, and even the Tang Cavalry is only used to ride the horses, otherwise they would not have been bitten so tightly by the Hu Cavalry.

At the moment, we can only release more carrier pigeons, hoping that a few carrier pigeons will be able to send the news to the south.

While they were releasing carrier pigeons, the Hu riders who were heading south came to a place where the grass was fertile and the water was beautiful.

The horses were reluctant to go, lowered their heads, and greedily ate the abundant water and plants.

"If you can't grab something this time in the south, I'm afraid that the next year will usher in the revenge of the southerners."

In the ranks of 20,000 cavalry, Trukhüchaer, who was much more mature than he had been two years ago, spoke to the man beside him.

Beside him, the once invincible Haragu had gray hair, and no one knew how much pressure he had been under in the past two years.

After many blows by Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, there are only 1230,000 people left in the Wuliangha tribe at this moment, and there are less than 50,000 men, and only about 30,000 can be pulled out to fight in the south.

This time, Khalagu went south, but he also learned that the Ming Dynasty had fallen into civil strife, and then he mustered up the courage to go south with 20,000 cavalry.

Harawu inquired about the news and knew that Daning had sent troops to Liaodong before he dared to go south.

He tried his best to avoid fighting with the Ming army this time, as long as he could loot a few thousand households, then Uliangha would be able to recover some vitality.

If Bu Wan led his troops north from Songting Pass in the south, he would immediately retreat and never stop.

Thinking in this way, it is not that Kharaha is timid, but that Uryanha can no longer afford to suffer heavy blows.

"After grabbing things this time, we will settle in Harawu Mountain, and if Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu fail, then there are no famous generals in the north, and we can also recuperate."

Halawu was happy to see the Ming army's internal fights break and bleed, and even more happy to see Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu die in the internal fighting.

He didn't think that these two people could win against the Ming court, because they had too few soldiers and horses, and they didn't even have a single percent of the troops in the south.

"Let's go, continue south, go straight to Daning, and plunder the forts around it."

Haragu shook the reins of his horse, and Tuolu Kuchaer also gave orders to the thousands of households around.

Soon, more than 20,000 Uliangha cavalry began to continue southward.

Time passed little by little, and when it was dusk, Daning City finally obtained information from the dozens of carrier pigeons released by Quan Ningwei.

The news of the southward movement of the Wuliang Ha tribes was quickly sent to the desk of the commander of the capital envoy Yamen, and the person in charge of the defense of Daning was Chen Heng, who was stationed there.

"It's hard to ......"

As soon as he saw the news, Chen Heng felt the crisis.

Although there were 120,000 military households in Daning, 27,000 of the available soldiers were transferred by Bu Wan and Liu Song.

The 80,000 soldiers were also transferred by Bu Wan and Liu Song to transport the baggage as the militia.

All that was left for him was 10,000 soldiers and 20,000 soldiers.

It sounds like a lot, but the cities that Chen Heng wants to defend include Daning City, Yingzhou Qian, Hou, and Zhongtun Acropolis, as well as many Acropolises such as Muyuwei and Quanningwei.

It is easy to rely on these people to garrison the city, but the problem is that many of the walled forts in Tuntian are outside the city, and if there is no strong army out of the city to drive away the Wuliang Hahu cavalry, the number of broken walled forts will not be small.

"I'll go and see His Royal Highness King Ning in person!"

Thinking of the key point, Chen Heng got up and went to see Zhu Quan, who was closed to the guests.

Although Zhu Quan was deprived of the military power of the three guards, Ke Buwan left him 3,000 guards, if Zhu Quan's 3,000 guards can be mobilized now, then plus the 5,000 soldiers in Daning City, as well as the 5,000 soldiers in the surrounding cities, he can still make up 13,000 soldiers and horses to expel the Wuliang Hahu soldiers.

Chen Heng hurriedly came to the door, but for his words, the guards of Ning Wangfu acted as if they hadn't listened to him.

"Our Highness is in poor health, please ask Chen Du to command Tongzhi to go back."

King Ning's Mansion Governor Shi walked out to thank the guests, but Chen Heng frowned and said: "Now that Hu Bing is going south, if His Royal Highness is unwilling to send troops, then the matter is dangerous." ”

"Chen Du commanded Tongzhi to walk slowly......" Changshi pretended not to hear it, and directly closed the side door of the palace.

Seeing this, Chen Heng could only lament and leave, and asked people to send a letter to Bu Wan.

However, after he left, the palace chief Shi found Zhu Quan, the king of Ning, who was reading the book of soldiers, in the palace, and said, "Your Highness, that Chen Heng doesn't seem to be telling a lie." ”

"It's not like ......" Zhu Quan glanced up at Changshi: "If my guard is handed over, do you think I still have room to resist?" ”

"This ......" Changshi didn't dare to continue to reply, because he also knew that Zhu Quan's situation was not optimistic.

The previous six vassal kings all handed over their military powers, and the result was not a waste of abolition or death.

"It's not that Lone doesn't want to save the soldiers outside the city, it's just that at the moment, Lone can't even save himself, how to save them."

"If you want to blame, blame Zhu Yunwen's kid......"

Zhu Quan continued to look down at the book, but the chief of the palace, Shi Zhi, didn't hear his Royal Highness calling the emperor by his name, so he retreated.

Soon, the entire city of Daning was assembled, and the soldiers were required to go to the head of the city to defend the city, as did the other guard cities.

This may be the first time since the founding of Hongwu that the Ming Dynasty was deeply penetrated into his own territory by Hu soldiers and had no power to fight back.

Many of the garrisons of the walled fort did not wait for reinforcements, so they could only desperately strengthen the not very strong walled fort, hoping that this simple fortification could hold back the 20,000 horsemen rolling down from the north.

It's just that they may be desperate too early, or some people are really too late.

At noon the next day, thousands of cavalry also galloped on the grasslands northeast of Daning.

Compared with the 20,000 cavalry of Uliangha, who could not find a third of them wearing Ming armor, this cavalry was well-equipped.

Ming Jia rode a horse with a long and short bow, and a long soldier with a short soldier and a yellow horse......

The cavalry of such a configuration only existed in the Bohai Sea and the former Ningwang Mansion outside this fortress.

It's just that when it comes to quantity and quality, there is no doubt that only the Bohai elite cavalry can do a long-distance run without chaos in formation.

"Phew!!"

"Beep-"

With Zhu Gaoxu reining in his horse, the shrill whistle sounded all around, and all the cavalry orders were forbidden and stopped one after another.

The tired horses bowed their heads and ate the aquatic plants, but soon their attention was drawn to the beans in the hands of their riders.

Half a catty of beans were eaten and wiped clean in an instant, and after a little rest, the horses were also in good spirits, disdainful of eating aquatic plants that were sweet a moment ago.

"Your Highness, this place is less than sixty miles away from Daningwei, and it is only forty miles away from the front and rear guards of Yingzhou in the south, and we are afraid that we will be discovered by their sentinels if we stay too long."

On horseback, Zhao Mu rode over and looked around vigilantly, but he was greeted by Zhu Gaoxu's hearty laughter.

"Do you think Daning can still pull out the pond and ride out the forty miles of land?"

Zhu Gaoxu's words made Zhao Mu stunned, and then scratched his face in embarrassment: "It seems to be so." ”

"The affairs of the military family are guided by the situation, the data on paper just sounds scary, and the real situation has to be seen with your own eyes."

Zhu Gaoxu took the trouble to teach Zhao Mu, and pointed to the mountainous area in the south with a horsewhip in his hand.

"Daning is mainly guarding against Hu Qi, and the Yingzhou avant-garde has this mountain and river as a barrier, so naturally they will not pay attention to the northwest area."

"As for Daning City, I'm afraid that their cavalry will all be taken to Songting Pass by Bu Wan, only a small number of horse infantry will be used as Tang cavalry, at most they can patrol twenty miles around the city, and if they want to patrol sixty miles, they must be our Bohai naval horses."

Zhu Gaoxu touched the yellow horse under his crotch with his hand, after all, he could carry him, a man wearing nearly three hundred pounds, and the quality of this yellow horse needless to say.

Seeing this, Zhao Mu also said helplessly: "Your Highness, the horses you ride are all born from red horses, big food horses, and high-class horses in the river meander, and we can't compare with you." ”

Zhao Mu said, and motioned to Zhu Gaoxu to look at him.

Sure enough, the horses under Zhao Mu's crotch were nearly a foot shorter than the yellow horse that Zhu Gaoxu was riding, and their size was also half a circle smaller.

"I'll give you a good one in the future!" Zhu Gaoxu scolded with a smile, and then said, "Are things ready?" ”

"It's all ready, this is the waist card you asked you to prepare during the last Northern Tour." Zhao Mu took out a Daning waist card that was very different from the waist card of Liaodong Dusi.

This waist card is something that Zhu Gaoxu prepared when he and Zhu Di toured the north last year, and there are more than 100 pieces.

Today, these waist cards come in handy.

"You take a hundred brothers to Daning, as long as you find Chen Heng and tell him the matter secretly, then the matter will be much easier."

Zhu Gaoxu instructed Zhao Mu, turned over and dismounted at the same time, and glanced around: "I will wait for you here with my brothers." ”

"Yes!" Zhao Mu responded, and then personally selected a hundred brothers.

Half an hour later, he said goodbye to Zhu Gaoxu and galloped towards Daning, sixty miles away.

With the speed of their horses, they could reach Daning City at dusk at most.

"Drive!"

"Driving ......"

Shaking the reins of the horse, Zhao Mu and the hundred brothers who had made a confession continued to speed up the horse, and finally arrived in the north of Daning City at four o'clock (18 o'clock) expected by Zhu Gaoxu, and encountered the Tang Cavalry of Daning City.

After a simple token check, Zhao Mu took his Liaodong Qianhu official token and began to flicker around Tang Qi.

"We are the people of Guangning Wei, and we received the military order of Liu Song's commander, and we came to meet Chen Du's commander Tongzhi with the Daning token."

Zhao Mu is upright, and it is unthinkable that he, a guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, is actually pretending to be his identity.

Although Tang Qi was suspicious, because Zhao Mu's official position was too high, he still took Zhao Mu and them to the outside of Daning City, and took Zhao Mu's waist card and walked into Daning City alone.

The strange thing is that Daning City is actually strengthening the city defense at this moment, which makes Zhao Mu's heart tighten.

"It's not going to be against us, is it...... Or did King Yan break through the Songting Pass and deal with King Yan? ”

In a state of apprehension, Zhao Mu was finally brought to Chen Heng, and this was not the first time Zhao Mu had seen Chen Heng.

"You ......"

Chen Heng recognized this personal soldier who often followed Zhu Gaoxu at the first glance when he saw Zhao Mu, and he subconsciously wanted to call out Zhao Mu's identity, but Zhao Mu hurriedly said: "The last general is under the command of Liu Song, and he has important matters to discuss with the general in detail, please shield the general." ”

Zhao Mu was worried, he didn't know if His Royal Highness's words were true, if Chen Heng, the little old man, was not close to the Yan Mansion and cut him down in a fit of anger, then he would be done playing.

"Zhao Mu, I remember you." Chen Heng pretended to know, and waved his hand to the military attaches in the yamen: "You guys retreat first." ”

"You got it right!" Zhao Mu was excited for a moment, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

He waited for the military attachés to retreat, and then stepped forward: "My Royal Highness has led troops to sixty miles northeast of Daning, as long as you command the envoys to open the city gate early tomorrow morning to greet you, Daning will be controlled, and the Daning soldiers will definitely have no intention of fighting." ”

Although he was already relieved, Zhao Mu was still very nervous, after all, if Chen Heng just pretended to be very close to His Royal Highness, then their plan to take Daning would be in vain.

"Uh......" Chen Heng was speechless, which made Zhao Mu's heart hang, thinking that he was going to refuse, but he didn't want Chen Heng to sigh and say:

"Your Highness is late, even if you take Daning, Yingzhou and other cities, you can't use the families of the soldiers to hold them hostage and surrender."

"Why?" Zhao Mu was puzzled, he didn't believe that all the soldiers in Daning didn't care about the life and death of their families.

"Early this morning, news came from Quanningwei in the north that the Wuliangha tribes were heading south, and there were as many as 20,000 of them."

"It's the Hu people of Uliangha again?" Hearing Chen Heng's words, Zhao Mu immediately became angry.

After all, he is the person who came from the beginning with Zhu Gaoxu, in the battle of Jixiguan, almost all the old soldiers of Bohai had brothers who knew each other and died in battle, and the enmity between Bohai and Wuliangha was as deep as a sea of blood.

"If there are only 20,000, then the general can not worry, His Royal Highness will lead 6,000 elite horsemen to come this time, which is enough to break the Wuliang Hahu horse."

Zhao Mu not only hated Wu Liangha, but also had absolute confidence in the Bohai Navy, in his opinion, even if he commanded, he could defeat these 20,000 Hu Cavalry after a fierce battle, not to mention that it was His Royal Highness who commanded the 6,000 elite cavalry this time.

"This ......" Chen Heng felt that Zhao Mu was talking a little big, but in order to care about his face, he didn't refute it, but just said:

"In that case, I will have the city gate open early tomorrow morning, and ask His Highness to enter the city."

"However, the old man has a reluctant request......"

Chen Heng put forward his request, and Zhao Mu said happily when he heard it: "General, it's okay to say it." ”

Seeing Zhao Mu ask, Chen Heng's old face turned red and he whispered......

"That's what he said?"

At midnight, when a bonfire rose in the dark plain, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the little flag officer in front of him who led more than ten horsemen back in surprise.

"That's what I said." The little flag officer said truthfully:

"Commander Chen Du hopes that when the time comes, Commander Zhao will tie him up and let others think that he was being held hostage."

"......" Listening to Chen Heng's little old man's request, Zhu Gaoxu was speechless for a while.

co-authored the fact that this little old man was bound by his subordinates in history, which is a drama directed and acted by this little old man himself.

"Chen Du commands Tongzhi is really ......"

Zhu Gaoxu wanted to speak and stopped, but he didn't know where to start.

It's just that if you think about it carefully, it's quite normal for Chen Heng to do this, his family is not small in Lianghuai, if Zhu Yunwen knew that he took the initiative to open the city and surrender, maybe he would be angry and kill his entire clan.

However, if he was captured by his subordinates and surrendered by his subordinates, then his defeat would be a reduction at best.

Thinking about it this way, this little old man is quite shrewd.

"Your Highness, there is one more thing you need to know."

The little flag officer cautiously spoke: "The Wuliangha in the north has entered Kou Daning, and now the Daning soldiers and horses are all gathered in the area of Songting Pass and Guangning, and the number of Hu cavalry who entered Kou this time is about 20,000. ”

"Uliangha?" Zhu Gaoxu seemed to have heard something disgusting.

In history, Wuliangha also took advantage of the Ming civil war to enter the Kou, but was defeated by Yang Wen.

In this battle of Jingyan, Yang Wen was transferred away because of his own relationship, Liaodong could not stop himself, and Wuliangha was afraid of himself, so he came to Daning to plunder.

"It's really a narrow road......

Zhu Gaoxu sneered, he now had 6,000 elite cavalry in his hands, and in the face of the so-called 20,000 cavalry, he was completely confident that he would end the battle in a few hours.

"The matter of Wuliangha will be put aside for a while, they will come from Quanningwei to the south, and they will not arrive in Daning until at least tomorrow evening, we will set off now and take over Daning in the early morning."

Zhu Gaoxu got up and instructed left and right: "Beckoning the brothers to get up at night, go to Daning, and we will have a good rest!" ”

"The last general commands!" The officials of the left and right thousands of households responded one after another, and in a short time, they woke up the brothers of the Bohai Navy who had rested for three hours early.

The army fed the war horses and riding horses, and then rode on horses and galloped away to Daningwei.

In just three hours, they saw Daning City in the distance in the gradually brightening sky.

Zhao Mu, who had been waiting for a long time on the tower of the city gate, was vigilant, until he saw the familiar red-on-background and black-edged Vermilion Bird flag, he shouted behind him: "It's your own people, open the city gate!" ”

As he spoke, the gate drawbridge was lowered and the gates opened.

Zhao Mu didn't have time to greet Zhu Gaoxu, but cooperated with Chen Heng to act.

"What's going on?!"

"Why are there so many cavalry?"

"Who opened the gates?"

When the Bohai Navy approached Daning, the Daning guards in the city finally reacted, and they all wore armor and gathered at the gate of the city in groups to confront the Bohai Navy holding the Vermilion Bird Flag.

At this moment, they still couldn't figure out why the city gate was taken over by the Bohai Navy that suddenly appeared, and where the original defenders went.

They confronted the Bohai Navy, and for a time neither side dared to make a move.

"Don't do it, or don't blame Lao Tzu's knife for not having long eyes!"

Suddenly, there was a "fierce" voice behind him, and when the Daning guards looked back, they only saw Zhao Mu coming with a dozen people, and Chen Heng who was bound by a rope stood in the middle of the formation.

"General!!"

Seeing Chen Heng being subdued, the surrounding soldiers nervously held the short soldiers in their hands.

Compared with Bu Wan, Chen Heng's prestige in Daning is higher, but he is not as good as Bu Wan in terms of official position.

Seeing that Chen Heng was captured, the Daning soldiers wanted to rescue him, but they were afraid that Zhao Mu would hurt him.

"My Highness heard that Uliangha has entered the Kou, and in order to protect you and your family, he has come with six thousand iron horsemen, and now he is outside the city."

"Look! My Highness has entered the city! ”

Zhao Mu, who has thick eyebrows and big eyes, has very bad acting skills, but he can't stand it, and Zhu Gaoxu did enter the city with the vanguard cavalry.

Zhu Gaoxu, who entered the city, just took in this dramatic scene.

Some Daning soldiers wanted to shoot arrows at him with bows, but Chen Heng cried and said: "Brothers, the old man is already a candle before the wind, and he won't live for many years, so it stands to reason that you should be allowed to fight bravely to kill the enemy." ”

"But now that Hu Bing is going south, you also know who the king of Bohai County is, you have surrendered him, take care of yourself and your family, the old man will go first."

Chen Heng exaggeratedly wanted to hit the knife on the side, so frightened that Zhao Mu hurriedly withdrew the knife, for fear that this little old man would come true when he touched the porcelain.

"General, if you leave, who will lead us to surrender?"

Several thousands of households knelt down one after another, causing hundreds of soldiers around to kneel down.

Seeing this, Chen Heng set his eyes on Zhu Gaoxu, but at this moment, the corners of Zhu Gaoxu's mouth twitched.

"You played this play with your feet......

"Bohai Chronicle": "Gui You, the upper division attacked Daning, captured Heng in the pastoral rebellion, and Daning went down. ”

"Ming Shizong Record": "Gui You, the master arrived in Daning, the shepherd deceived into the city, Heng was captured by the pastor, and Heng said: "Er is my father's minister", Heng did not answer. Take pity on his talents, untie his armor, and ban him in the house. ”

(End of chapter)