Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 270 Meeting the Enemy
After Hong Chengchou in Songshan City received the report that the Eight Banners had spotted horses outside the city, he still felt a little uncomfortable: the progress of the matter was not unexpected, and the slave master, seeing that Jinzhou was difficult to conquer, still came to the south of Jinzhou.It would be fine if Jiannu saw that there was no profit to be made and returned directly from Jinzhou to Shengjing. In that case, the Ministry of War's plan would be completely in vain, and Yang Sichang would have no chance to make capital.

But since Jianu has really come, then just follow the original plan to meet him.Although it involved personal self-interest, Hong Hengjiu would never make such a principled mistake as abolishing the public because of private interests.

"Here is an order from the general: Daxing Fort, Xingping Fort, and Songshan garrison are ready to march out of the city to meet the enemy [-] paces away, and the Xingshan garrison will respond at any time! All ministries should cooperate sincerely. If the friendly forces are in danger and cannot be rescued, they will all be killed!"

Daxing Fort is a small-scale fortress located [-] miles southwest of Songshan Mountain. It was built by Yuan Chonghuan when he was the governor of Liaodong.

There was originally a battalion of troops from the Liaoxi Ming army stationed in Daxing Fort, but the actual number of personnel was less than 3000.After the arrival of [-] members of the Yongwei Battalion led by the guerrilla Feng Jun, Ma Xinglu, the battalion officer of the Liaoxi Army, had already received orders from the top and consciously assumed the responsibility of the logistics officer.

Ma Xinglu, who was in his thirties, was born in a military household in Liaoyang. At the age of 16, as the eldest son of his family, he inherited his ancestral business and joined the army. During this period, he also participated in several battles with Jiannu, but most of them ended in failure.Over the past ten years, Ma Xinglu and millions of Ming soldiers and civilians have been forced to flee from Liaodong to Liaoxi. The repeated defeats made him go from grief and indignation to disobedience to fear, and finally nothing but numbness remained.

Seeing that the Ming Dynasty was gradually declining from the inside out, especially after the current Lord Chongzhen ascended the throne, bad news spread to the west of Liaoning one after another.Only then did he know that there were more and more thieves in the pass, and they defeated several routes of officers and soldiers one after another. Daming seemed to be about to perish.All kinds of bad things made Ma Xinglu extremely depressed, worrying about the future of himself and his family.

However, the Jiannu in Liaodong took the opportunity to expand their army and continue to attack the Liaoxi official army, bit by bit eating away at the Ming territory outside the customs. A few years ago, they had already reached the edge of Jinzhou and seized Yizhou.On the other hand, the entire Liaoxi army, under the leadership of the governor, is sitting on a large army but fears the enemy like a tiger. It just ordered the castle to retreat and defend, and it is strictly forbidden to fight Jiannulang.Ma Xinglu, who has witnessed the rise of a formerly small tribe, already has no hope of returning to Liaoyang in his heart.

He accepted his fate.If the fight continues as it is now, sooner or later such a good place outside the pass will be returned to Jiannu. Apart from surrendering, the nominally more than [-] soldiers of the Liaoxi Army will retreat into the pass.My ancestors all lived in this land outside the pass, and I was reluctant to leave here no matter what.If it really doesn’t work, you can surrender yourself. Anyway, there are not a few officers and soldiers who have surrendered to slaves. At that time, I will spend some money and entrust a few fellow villagers who surrendered early and who are good at Jiannu’s side. A half-time official, as long as the family can follow without suffering.

In recent years, news from inside the customs has continued to come in, but this time it is different. The original bad news has turned into good news, and it is a continuous good news.Especially in the ninth year of Chongzhen, Ma Xinglu was still very happy when he heard that the officials and soldiers had completely wiped out the thieves in the pass: the officers and soldiers are so powerful, and after finishing cleaning up the thieves, they should be sent by Lord Chongzhen to fight and build Are you a slave?
Although in more than ten years, he was promoted from a team to a battalion officer in a muddleheaded way, and then followed Shangfeng to learn how to live on empty pay, do business to earn money, and use his soldiers and military households to farm for him, but he still hopes Let the official army recover Liaodong, so that after his death, he can be buried with his grandfather, grandfather, and father who were buried in Liaoyang.

As for surrendering and becoming a slave, that was something that had to be done in order to survive as a last resort.

In fact, Ma Xinglu looked down on those savages from the bottom of his heart, especially for the money rat tail, Ma Xinglu felt a deep disgust.

The sudden arrival of the Yongwei Battalion made Ma Xinglu both surprised and a little happy: I dare not say that Lord Chongzhen actually sent soldiers to the west of Liaoning after hearing what he said. The savages have scared them, the Liaoxi officials and soldiers, for many years.

Ma Xinglu's worries didn't last long, the Yongwei Battalion captured Yizhou and beheaded thousands of slaves from the Eight Banners. Ma Xinglu was as happy as a child when he heard the news.

Although I don't know why the official army took Yizhou and abandoned it a few days later, and retreated to the south of Jinzhou, but this did not hinder Ma Xinglu's admiration for the soldiers of the Yongwei Battalion.This is a strong army that defeated the real Jiannu. The Liaoxi Army fought against Jiannu for many years, with countless deaths and injuries, but they did not kill a few heads of the real Jiannu. This time, they actually chopped off a thousand heads. ah.

After receiving the news that the First Division of the Yongwei Battalion would come to garrison Daxing Fort, Ma Xinglu immediately ordered his soldiers to vacate the barracks in the fort for the Yongwei Battalion to settle in and rest.

"General Feng, will our Yongwei Camp be stationed permanently in western Liaoning? Last time you fought against General Yizhou, how many slaves did you kill? I heard that our Yongwei Camp has sharp firearms. When we fought against Yizhou, it was the predecessor of the firecrackers." But I also have gunners under my command, and none of them are willing to use guns. It takes thirty steps to break through Jiannu's armor, and Jiannu rushes to the front with one shot. I also feel that it is not as good as bows and arrows. Is it possible? The Yongwei Camp is different from ours in making firecrackers? General, Jiannu Heavy Arrows are powerful. They are aimed at the head and feet, and can shoot far. They can pierce cotton armor from fifty steps away. You can tell your brothers to be careful!"

After the Yongwei Battalion settled in Daxing Fort for more than ten days, Ma Xinglu became proficient in mixing with the Yongwei Battalion guerrilla Feng Jun.The reason is very simple, Ma Xinglu sent Feng Jun 200 taels of silver in private, under the pretext of thanking the soldiers of the Yongwei Battalion for avenging his father who died under the sword of Jiannu.

Although Feng Jun was paid a lot of money every month as a guerrilla, the money touched people's hearts. Besides, he had nothing to ask him, so he accepted it when he couldn't refuse. Since then, the friendship between the two has rapidly warmed up. , and soon became friends who talked about everything.

Ma Xinglu has also accumulated a lot of family wealth over the years, the reason why he gave Feng Jun money is nothing more than to save a way out for the future, and he may be able to use it someday in the future.Besides, he is a genuine guerrilla general, but he is just a battalion officer, so it's not bad to be able to curry favor with drinking.

Feng Juan, who was standing on the low wall of the fort and looking around, hesitated for a moment, and after seeing that there was no one else around, he said in a low voice: "Old Ma, we are not outsiders anymore, to tell you the truth, this time not only If the Yongwei Battalion does not go away, more imperial troops will come later! I heard that the imperial court is going to gather all the soldiers this time, and is going to kick the Jiannu lair directly! The last time I fought in the battle of Yizhou was Ximen, I don’t meet many Jiannu, but it’s just like that, hitting the blunderbuss is a death sentence! I said, old horse, you have to buy me a drink when Liaoyang is taken back. If I don’t die by then if!"

Ma Xinglu was very excited by Feng Jun's words. He was about to ask more questions when suddenly a puff of dust rose in the distance, and a small group of cavalry galloped towards Daxing Fort from the north. Feng Juan immediately shouted: "The whole army alert!"

The soldiers sitting quietly on the top of the city quickly got up and lined up, waiting for the next order from the Shangguan.

The cavalry was getting closer and closer, and when there were still hundreds of steps away from the city wall, Feng Jun had already identified from the armor and the identification flag on his back that it was the cavalry of the Ming Army, and the Yebushu team of the Yongwei Battalion.

After a while, this Yebushou came dozens of steps away from the castle wall. After the leader of the team reined in the reins, the horse neighed and turned around in a circle, and the knights behind also stopped their horses one after another.

"Ten miles away from the north, there is a slave brigade coming south. The supervisor ordered the defenders to meet the enemy according to the strategy! Farewell!"

After loudly announcing the enemy's situation, the team officer took the reins, clamped the horse's belly with his legs, and the horse galloped eastward, followed by the knights behind.

"Pass down the order, the Gunner Battalion, the Long Spear Battalion, and the Sword Shield Battalion will go out of the city to form a three-hundred-step formation, and the gunners will cover the flanks at the top of the city! Old horse, you lead your men to guard the east and west gates of the fort. Hurry up and warn!"

Feng Jun shouted loudly.

For the sake of safety, twenty Frang machine guns were arranged on both sides of the north gate of Daxing Fort. The artillery fire can provide fire cover and support for the officers and troops under the wall.

Less than ten miles to the east of Daxing Fort is Xingping Fort, which also houses 3000 people from the Yongwei Battalion.Because the distance between the two forts is too close, it is impossible for Jiannu to pass through the middle and attack the east gate, so Feng Jun asked Ma Xinglu to lead less than 500 men to guard the west gate and south gate.

In fact, except for the north gate, the other three gates are very safe. Feng Juan did this to take care of Ma Xinglu, and secondly, he was not worried about the combat effectiveness and morale of the Liaoxi Army. It would be better to let them stay in the city for more peace of mind. some.

Ma Xinglu clasped his fist at Feng Jun gratefully, said: "Thank you", then turned around and called a few soldiers to hurry down the fort wall. Go out of the city and prepare to meet the coming Jiannu.

An hour later, Shang Kexi led ten Niulu Han army bannermen to Daxing Fort, along with Duo Bi and Bayan'a's [-] cavalry with white flags.

(End of this chapter)