stubborn thief

Chapter 461 Land
At noon on March [-], Ding Guodong listened to the military report of his subordinates at the residence of the guerrilla general in Jiayuguan.

Those who came were soldiers stationed on Biegai Mountain on the east side of the hanging wall. They reported that an army of more than [-] people from the Marshal's Mansion had approached the city wall through a trench, and they began to dig the wall.

Hearing the news, Ding Guodong didn't show surprise on his face, on the contrary, he was extremely calm, he just held the tea bowl and said: "Got it, go back and keep watching, tell you Baibo, just withdraw according to the order, close the standby Good wine and good meat."

The soldiers who reported were not flustered either, and with a look of sense on their faces, they happily retreated after saluting.

The sound of artillery outside the pass was still booming. After the soldiers left, Ding Guodong took another sip of tea, sighed softly, got up and walked slowly in the guerrilla general's mansion.

All his subordinates were sent out by him, the mansion is too spacious.

The few days of the siege of Jiayuguan were longer than 300 years for Ding Guodong, and his mentality also changed again and again, from the eagerness to fight at the beginning, to the hope that he would stick to it and wait for help, almost every day.

Just after taking two steps, the sound of footsteps came again and again from outside the government office hall. This heavy sound was that of Suzhou Wei Qianhu Hei Chengyin.

As soon as Ding Guodong turned his head, he saw Hei Chengyin entering the hall holding a bowl with a tasseled gun, and he stopped him when he was about to salute: "Forget it, let's talk about it."

Hei Chengyin held his helmet between his fists and said, "General, Zhao Zhirui has lost."

The Jiayuguan garrison had resentment against the Suzhou general Zhao Zhirui. The soldiers in Gansu were all border guards, and the soldiers from Chijinbao to Jiayuguan were the border guards in the border guards.

In terms of strategy, every frontier guard knows that his duty is not to achieve victory. The sacred mission on his shoulders is to use his life to delay the enemy's attack on the hinterland during wartime, delaying an hour, two hours, one day, two days. Day... until the rear is ready to meet the enemy.

When the war came, the frontier guards couldn't see the day of victory. People have been stationed here for generations. Every male in the ancestors knows that they will eventually become a line in the history books: the spring of the seventh year of Chongzhen, the bandit army Bocheng, Jiayuguan broken, guerrilla Ding Guodong The following are all dead and the country is in trouble.

One of the defenders counts as one, and no one thinks there is any problem with it.

But you, Zhao Zhirui, as the chief, Jiayuguan was besieged, you have to come to help, right?people!

"Don't call him by his first name."

Ding Guodong still respected his immediate boss, and his face did not fluctuate much when he heard the news, and asked, "How did you lose?"

"I don't know. The Tang newspaper only said that he had divided his troops. The cavalry team of the Suzhou camp was defeated in the desert of Maliantan. The thief who defeated him was called Zhang Tianlin."

Hei Chengyin paused, and said: "Except for the military households in Suzhou City, there are only Qianzongmi Sinyin who are besieged in Linshuiyi City...there is no reinforcements."

"If you don't have it, then you don't have it." Ding Guodong gritted his teeth slightly, and asked again in a blink of an eye, "How about the strong wall and clear fields?"

Liu Chengzong's preparations for the siege outside the pass did not scare Ding Guodong. From the very beginning, he knew that Jiayuguan would not escape the fall of the aided city with a high probability, so he did not harass the besieging army at all, but just took advantage of the enemy's siege. During the time of preparation, concentrate on strengthening the wall and clearing the field.

What he cleared was not outside the pass. There was nothing outside Jiayuguan except Chijin Fortress and Yima City. What Ding Guodong cleared was inside the pass. He ordered the army to transport all edible, dismantled and usable things into the pass. .

If they can't let it go inside the pass, they will be transported to Suzhou City. In short, nothing will be left for the troops outside the city.

Even Ding Guodong himself couldn't tell what kind of mental state he was in when he gave such an order. He said he wanted to stick to it, but he didn't have the firmness to stick to it; idea.

He only knew that he was the Jiayuguan guerrilla general of Ming Dynasty.

The closed cellars were filled with food like never before, and the city gates were filled with defense equipment. It was the responsibility of trying to make the [-] soldiers in such a small isolated city have dangling flags on their heads.

"It will take half a day." Hei Chengyin took a deep breath, and said to Ding Guodong in a rambling manner: "Han Khan sent people to Guanxia to persuade him to surrender again, and he still said that he sent troops to plot the whole of Hexi. If you can't win the fight, you won't send troops, let the general think about it."

After finishing speaking, Hei Chengyin turned his head and cursed in a low voice, he didn't even know who he was trying to scold.

They are all generals who are full of muscles and muscles all day long, and none of them has a good temper. After being blocked in the Guancheng and listening to persuasion all day, the clay figurines still have a little anger.

After scolding, he clasped his fists and said to Ding Guodong: "General, let's go to Suzhou. The hanging wall will be broken as soon as it is broken. I can't stop it. I can only guard against it. Suzhou still has a chance."

For the first time, an expression appeared on Ding Guodong's peaceful face. He sneered and said, "I'm the guard of Jiayuguan, not the guard of Suzhou... We have food, let the brothers eat and drink well, lock them up, and other things Just listen to the sky."

Seeing that Hei Chengyin couldn't be persuaded, he didn't say anything more, and took one last look at the map on the upper bunk of the main hall of the guerrilla general's mansion, and left with a sigh.

According to the pond newspaper, Ding Guodong placed wooden figures everywhere on that map, and he also used short ropes to draw the enemy's marching route. The entire Gansu, east, west, north and south called the enemy troops in and out, and there were enemies in all directions, but their main force looked like Like a living bastard, he shrank in Liangzhou, [-] miles away.

As far as Ding Guodong and Hei Chengyin were concerned, they had seen other generals saying that Liu Chengzong often used force to overwhelm others in the Tang newspaper more than once, but in the past, no one understood what this meant, and only thought that the army of the Marshal's Mansion was brave and mighty.

But at this time, they understood that the army of the Marshal's Mansion often won against the Ming army, not because the army of the Marshal's Mansion was shrewd and restrained, but because Liu Chengzong was good at fighting.

The so-called good fighters have no great achievements, the marshal's mansion has no surprises in using troops, and the generals have no surprises to predict the enemy's victory. They just attack the right opponent at the right time, push the opponent to despair step by step, and send troops. On the basis of defeating opponents who are already in a losing position.

The guerrilla general Ding Guodong had already realized something. On the battlefield that lasted for several days, although there was no real hand-to-hand combat, he could clearly feel that Liu Chengzong was attacking.

The camp outside the pass is an attack, the roaring cannons are an attack, the trenches dug are also an attack, and Zhang Tianlin, who unscrupulously destroyed the army and destroyed the camp inside the pass, is also an attack by Liu Chengzong.

These quiet attacks took away all the initiative on the battlefield, keeping his army locked in and unable to move further.

In other words, it wasn't until the Jiayuguan defenders had no chance to fight back that Ding Guodong suddenly realized that the target of Liu Chengzong's attack was not this Jiayuguan, and all tangible actions were aimed at his will.

Since he decided to leave a back road and not use Suzhou's biggest advantage of kerosene, he fell into the strategy of encircling three gates and one in the art of war, but this time it was not the three gates that were besieged, but himself.

With hindsight, the defenders of Jiayuguan were already nailed to the chopping board, and they had no power to fight back.

That night, the two offensive and defensive armies surrounding Jiayuguan had a tacit understanding.

When the defenders transported the last batch of grain and grass into the city from the Bailucang on the east side of the Chengguan, the cavalry came out to inform the people inside the Jiayuguan wall that the city wall was about to be breached. escape.

Then the defenders on the south hanging wall shrunk their line of defense, pulled out the Ming army flag on the city wall, gave up the defense of the long city wall, carried the flag and lined up to return to the city gate from the hanging wall holding torches.

The army besieging Jiayuguan in the Marshal's Mansion turned a blind eye to this and did not take this opportunity to shell the marching soldiers hanging on the wall.

On the dirt hill, Liu Chengzong, like the soldiers in the trench with their backs carrying big guns, ate fried noodles with pickled vegetables and dried meat, and quietly watched the Mingzi army flag withdraw from the line of defense.

When those flags completely entered Jiayuguan, a smile appeared on Liu Chengzong's face, and the guard's will to fight was broken. From the moment the Ming army withdrew from the hanging wall, it meant that the guarding general acquiesced in the entry of the Marshal's troops.

He walked down the dirt hill, and while walking towards the commander's tent, he asked the guards to summon the generals and schools of the Ninth Battalion under his command to discuss matters.

Of the nine battalions besieging the city, only five battalions belonged to Liu Chengzong's headquarters, and the other four battalions belonged to the Tianshan Army that was about to go to Oirat.

"The battle went better than our preparations, and the Fifth Battalion of the Commander's Mansion is about to enter the customs."

When Qi Qi, the generals of the battalion, rushed to the commander's tent, Liu Chengzong said straight to the point, and then said: "The generals in the right brigade listen to the order."

"The end is here!"

Yang Yao led Gao Yingdeng and Wei Qian'er out to salute, and he heard Liu Chengzong say: "Order Gao Yingdeng, the general of the Zuoying of the Ministry of Defense, to blow up the hanging wall to the south of Biegai Mountain tonight, and the Tianshan Army will cooperate to clean up the broken bricks. , transport sand and soil, and enter the customs first to encircle Suzhou."

Yang Yao immediately embraced the order, and took two subordinates back to the side.

Liu Chengzong said again: "Feng Ru, general of Caiguan Youying, ordered your department to enter the customs as the second batch of pioneers, sweep eastward to clear the fortresses outside the Weiwai of Suzhou, look for Zhang Tianlin's department, and cooperate with him to advance the front eastward to Gaotaiqian. household."

Feng Ru also took orders, and Huang Shengxiao, who was standing not far away, looked around and looked at Liu Chengzong. His appearance couldn't be more obvious, and he was obviously eager to know his duties.

Seeing Liu Chengzong laughed, he said: "Huang Shengxiao, general of the left battalion, Cai Guan, at the rear of your army, continue to besiege the Jiayuguan defenders and cast shells at Chijinwei. .”

Huang Shengxiao stepped forward to accept the order with fists in his hands, regretting for the first time his family's versatility, he hoped that he could lead the army as a vanguard rather than casting cannons in Suzhou as the rear army.

However, among the many generals in the Shuai Mansion, he is the only one who can cast a cannon, even if he wants to shirk this mission to others.

Seeing Huang Xiao's disappointment, Liu Chengzong exhorted: "Your department's responsibility is not less than that of others. You are from the Guards. The surrendered troops and military households of the Suzhou Guards must be reorganized for my use as soon as possible. Once the army advances, There must be no trouble in the rear."

Huang Shengxiao hurriedly saluted: "Don't worry, Commander, I will be optimistic about Suzhou!"

Needless to say, the generals of the Huben Battalion of the Chinese Army will follow Liu Chengzong, but Batur Huntaiji of the Junggar asked, "Khan, what about our four battalions?"

The four battalions mentioned by Batur Huntaiji are the two Tianshan battalions newly organized by the Marshal's Mansion led by Liu Chengzu, and the two battalions reorganized by the remnants of the Oirat nobles.

In fact, for Batur Huntaiji, the battle of entering the Marshal's Mansion is a battle he must watch, and it is of great significance to Oirat or Junggar.

With the failure of the invasion of Qinghai led by Heshuote, the Oirat Alliance centered on Ili occupied by Junggar and Urumqi occupied by Heshuote suffered a major impact, and the balance in the past was broken. Mostly, Batur Huntaiji was the biggest winner in that war.

The rise of the Junggar tribe at the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains was unstoppable.

But for Batur Huntaiji, there is still an unresolved question, that is, his identity after returning to Tianshan, whether he is Batur Huntaiji, the leader of the Oirat, or the Earl of Batu of the Marshal's Mansion.

Of course, the Marshal's Mansion is huge, but after all, the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. It is two thousand miles from Xining to Suzhou through Golmud; it is also two thousand miles from Suzhou to Urumqi through Hami.

The world is all about strength. Batur Huntaiji received a lot of courtesy in the Marshal's Mansion, but after all, his identity is just a prisoner, and he lacks bargaining chips in any negotiation, so he agrees to all the demands made by Liu Chengzong. He won't have to worry about having no firewood to burn in Qingshan, and whether these things will count when he returns to Tianshan - just look at the battle of Jiayuguan.

If Liu Chengzong can enter Jiayuguan smoothly, then the army of the Marshal's Mansion will also be able to attack Urumqi from Jiayuguan in a few years, so whether Batur wants to or not, he must be Earl Batu of the Marshal's Mansion.

Conversely, if the Marshal's Mansion is unable to take Jiayuguan from the outside, then there will be a full four thousand miles from Xining to the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, and what the Marshal's Mansion can provide him is nothing more than weapons and equipment exchanged for trade. Think about it, after all, you can only be your own Oirat leader.

Now that the situation has become clear, Batuer Huntaiji has taken a reassurance in his heart. There is nothing to make him look forward to the future. Naturally, he has to ask Liu Dahan when he plans to let them set off.

Liu Chengzong knew this well, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, wait for me to enter the customs, and then prepare to attack."

Not long after that night, the soldiers of the Marshal's Mansion under the earth mountain lit torches and waved the command flag for a moment, and three fires outside Jiayuguan rose into the night sky.

A moment later, several explosions sounded from the hanging wall to the south of Biegai Mountain, and a huge light flashed away under the night. sprinkled down.

Amidst the overwhelming shouts and cheers, the avenue leading to Gansu by the expeditionary army of the Marshal's Mansion exploded with a bang.

Gao Yingdeng's troops dismounted in unison, climbed the gap with armored soldiers, jumped into Gansu territory first and divided into small groups to guard against the Ming army's surprise attack. The Tianshan army, which had rested for a day, became busy again at night.

Under the protection of Liu Chengzu's Tianshan Guards, the Junggar Battalion's [-] Wala soldiers cleaned up broken bricks and transported sand and soil overnight, working in full swing.

By daybreak, the horns of the camp outside Jiayuguan were up and down, and the three-zhang gap at the foot of Biegai Mountain had been filled with a ramp for horses to run on.

At the foot of the earth mountain, a row of sergeants held high their military flags and crossed the Great Wall into Gansu. Liu Chengzong toasted with Liu Chengzu, Batur Huntaiji and others with a wine bowl, and bid farewell to each other.

Liu Chengzong exhorted: "Entry is imminent, and everyone who goes to Tianshan is my elder brother, take care of it; I will not talk about those little children, since we are already standing together, farmers and herdsmen live too hard in the world, everyone They are all big men, and they must know why."

"It's getting cold, and we need more land to raise sheep and farm. No matter whether the land belongs to the Tang Dynasty or the Yuan Dynasty, the emperor's or the Khan's, we need to take back the land of our ancestors."

　good afternoon!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)