Start a Ming Dynasty plane

Chapter 337 The battle of defending the city
"Brigade Commander, don't we need to catch Huang Guilu before we set off for Zhangjiakou? If he can't catch him, maybe our whereabouts will be leaked during our trip, and we can't catch him by surprise."

One of Wang Guixiang's regiment leaders watched Wang Guixiang put forward his own opinion. After hearing this, Wang Guixiang glanced at him and said, "We can't hide it for a long time, we just try our best to prevent leaking the news in advance. Now that Huang Guilu ran away. This place is only more than 150 miles away from Zhangjiakou, and Zhangjiakou's eyeliner is densely covered in Zhangjiakou. We marched on such a large scale, and it is impossible to not miss our tracks. Respond, and we'll be on the wall, catching them off guard."

After hearing this, the head of the regiment said: "Understood, such a brigade commander, our department applied to set out first, as the vanguard, and captured the city gate of Zhangjiakou."

Wang Guixiang said: "It's unwise to use cavalry to attack a city, political commissar, don't you think so?"

Wang Guixiang turned his head to look at a dark-skinned young man who was following behind him. This young man graduated from Lantian Military Academy and was Li Chaosheng's military adjutant to Wang Guixiang. For external communication, for example, he carried a telegraph on his horse.

The young man looked at Wang Guixiang and said: "Brigade Commander, I have already contacted the secret spies of Guihua City with the situation here, and asked them to wait until the army approaches the city, and wait for the opportunity to seize the gate and lead the army."

After hearing this, Wang Guixiang said: "This way, there will be no worries."

The head of the regiment couldn't help sighing after hearing this: "The county lord is so powerful. With the telegram, our military information can be transmitted to our hands almost without a moment's delay. With it, we have quite a regiment's strength. .”

After hearing this, Wang Guixiang said: "Master Xian, that is a fairy, and the things from the fairy world brought by us are of course beyond our comprehension. All right, the army is leaving. It is still two hours before dawn. Before dawn, arrive Zhangjiakou."

"Yes."

After hearing this, the cavalry quickly mounted their horses. Fortunately, today is a big moon, the moon in the sky illuminates the grassland brightly, and the cavalry in Lantian County has good food, no cavalry has night blindness, so they can drive at night.

woohoo hoo...

At this time, a disheveled man came out from a certain haystack in the grassland, and looked at the search horse team leaving in the distance. When it comes to marching in the army, it's really a day, who wants to march at night?
Originally, he was going to sleep today, but he was woken up by that idiot Liao Zhong as soon as he lay down, saying that young master, we are going to have a ticket tonight.

Liao Zhong said that today's merchants are cunning. They know that there are horse thieves blocking the road during the day, so they drive at night and rest during the day. Therefore, if we want to grab things, we must adapt to the habits of caravans.

In the end, they really stopped a caravan. They killed everyone and robbed the goods. The head of the leader was chopped off and marinated, and then sold to their family members for 800 taels of silver. A large group of cavalry.

The cavalry saw them and killed them without saying a word. Their 28 cavalry were hacked and killed by the opponent with almost no resistance. He was so frightened that he rode on the horse and ran away. Liao Zhong was not slow, but he obviously couldn't outrun the opponent's cavalry. Seeing a big ditch in front of him, he jumped off his horse, hid in the ditch, and drove the horse away. Taking advantage of the darkness, the cavalry on the opposite side could not see well, so he escaped unharmed.

Then he hid in the weeds in the ditch and escaped the search of teams of cavalry.

Huang Guilu knocked off the weeds on his body, looked at the direction the cavalry brigade was leaving, it was in the direction of Zhangjiakou, and muttered: "These people are going to Zhangjiakou, what are they doing in Zhangjiakou, don't they want to attack Zhangjiakou, wait a minute, I'm sorry, You won’t really attack Zhangjiakou!”

Thinking of this, the cold sweat on Huang Guilu's head came down, and then he looked at the thousands of cavalrymen going away, his eyes became wider and wider: "My mother, you won't really let me guess right, no, I have to inform you immediately At home, get ready."

Thinking of Huang Guilu, he turned around and pulled out a large bird cage from the haystack. Inside was a half-meter-high, pure white falcon. The name of this eagle was Haidongqing. with.

He spent 2000 taels of silver to buy this bird, which angered his father and called him a prodigal.

But he just likes it. How can a rich man not raise eagles or walk birds?This Costin is also in the frontier, if it is transported to the south of the Yangtze River or a rich place in the capital, 2000 taels?You can't even double it.

Moreover, he is still young. When he grows up, this Haidongqing can grow to be more than one meter high, and his wings are more than two meters long. As it is said: the left pulls the yellow, the right Qingcang, the brocade hat, the sable fur, and the thousand riders roll Hiraoka.

This is Huang Guilu's feeling that their family should live a good life. Wouldn't it be embarrassing to be able to live like his father, and call them the Eight Great Masters of Shanxi Merchants.

However, in Huang Yunfa's opinion, Huang Guilu is a prodigal son for doing this. Huang Guilu didn't take it seriously when he was admonished more than once. But at this time, his half-sized sea dongqing was useful. Open the box, there is a small writing brush inside, and then write down the information: There is a large army planning to attack Zhangjiakou, so be on guard early...

After finishing writing, he tied a bamboo tube to Hai Dongqing's leg and threw it into the sky: "Go home."

Ow...

Haidongqing tweeted, and the next moment he spread his wings and flew. This training for Haidongqing to deliver letters was not once or twice. Huang Guilu felt that Haidongqing would definitely be able to complete the task.

"what sound?"

The Lantian soldiers who were searching for Huang Guilu here heard Hai Dongqing's cry, and turned back at this moment: "Go, go back and have a look, hey, see if that is a person, I am stupid, don't run away..."

……

At Yinshi, the east was brightly lit, and about an hour before dawn, the doors of all the big and powerful businesses in Zhangjiakou were knocked, followed by human voices: "Hurry up, gentlemen, something is wrong, there are strong thieves wanting to kill you!" Attack our Zhangjiakou, hurry up, gather at the gate of the Fan family compound, Master Fan, please discuss the countermeasures!"

"Shopkeeper Zhao, get up quickly, there are strong thieves..."

A group of people knocked on doors from house to house to inform these big merchants of the attack of robbers.

Zhangjiakou is different from other places. Other places are government assisted defense places, but Zhangjiakou’s defense is completely guarded by these merchants. It can be said that Zhangjiakou is a city of merchants. Everything here is led by the eight major families of Shanxi merchants. , and the rest of the small businessmen followed the pattern of contribution.

And this mode is very easy to use. The eight major families of Shanxi merchants have swordsman guards, which are enough to deal with a rogue internally, and even the corrupt guards of the Ming Dynasty. Externally, based on the relationship between Zhangjiakou and the Tartars, what can they do? In foreign wars, which attack on the Daming Tartars did not go around Zhangjiakou.

These days, even the vicious Tartars know Zhangjiakou, and their own people cannot fight. Therefore, all security issues in Zhangjiakou are determined by the eight major Shanxi merchants. The court also depends on the faces of these merchants here. It looks like the eight major Shanxi merchants, but in fact there are many big fish under the water.

Fan Yongdou's servants and guards woke up merchants one by one, and soon shopkeepers who did not sleep well appeared densely on the street.

At this time, Shopkeeper Zhao of Shengtong was sitting in the room, looked at the people beside him and said, "Let's get ready, brothers. They just received the order from Brigadier Wang Guixiang. They will reach Zhangjiakou at dawn. I hope we can help open the city gate." , Let the army enter the city."

After hearing this, the people on the side said: "But most of our people are watching?"

Shopkeeper Zhao said: "Take the people back first, sit and rest for a while, and helping the army enter the city is the most important thing. I didn't expect them to get the news in advance, but it doesn't matter. I will ask Fan Yongdou for a guard gate later." Quan, when the time comes, the inside and the outside should cooperate to open the city gates."

"Now you gather the brothers first. I'll go and discuss with these people. After we confirm which door is for us to guard, we will send a telegram to inform Brigadier Wang Guixiang to let him attack from which door."

"Yes."

After hearing this, the clerk replied, Shopkeeper Zhao put on his coat at this time, opened the door, and bent his body. When the day just dawned, the wind was very cold, and it was very uncomfortable to blow on his body.

"Hey, prince."

Shopkeeper Zhao went out just in time to see Wang Dengku rushing to Fan Mansion with a dozen servants. Wang Dengku saw Shopkeeper Zhao and said with a smile: "Oh, good morning, Shopkeeper Zhao."

Shopkeeper Zhao made a face at this moment and said: "Where did this strong thief come from? He woke people up before dawn, ah~"

Shopkeeper Zhao yawned, expressing the spirit of getting up to the fullest. Wang Dengku said, "I don't know either. I'll find out when I get to the place."

"Well, let's go."

The two walked together, and the merchants made money in harmony. It was not as everyone imagined. The eight major families oppressed their peers. Merchants seldom oppressed merchants. They oppressed tenants more. They are generally not too much as businessmen, because they are the same kind of people, who knows who will be able to use whom in the future?

And the tenants are slaves, so there is no problem with bullying them.

When the two arrived at the gate of Fan's house, Fan Yongdou stepped on the table moved by his family and said: "Everyone, everyone, it is extremely urgent. I just received information that three or four thousand cavalry of unknown origin are coming to our Zhangjiakou. It’s not good to be a second-timer.”

"Ah, three or four thousand cavalry!"

After hearing this, everyone's eyes widened, and someone asked: "What are they doing in our Zhangjiakou?"

Fan Yongdou said at this time: "Everyone, our Zhangjiakou is well-known, and they say that we are as rich as an enemy. I think someone may have taken a fancy to our family property accumulated for generations. This time, they are here to seize our family property!"

"what!"

After hearing this, the people below suddenly panicked: "This, this, what should I do?"

For a while, everyone was talking about it.

Fan Yongdou asked everyone to discuss for a while, and then said: "Everyone, everyone, don't panic, listen to me, the enemy is about to approach the city in about an hour, now it is impossible to count on others, so now Zhangjiakou can only be guarded by ourselves."

After hearing this, the people below stomped their feet and said, "Mr. Fan, we are businessmen with no power to restrain the chicken. It's okay for us to make plans. What can we do to protect Zhangjiakou?"

"Yeah yeah."

After hearing this, many people agreed. At this time, Fan Yongdou said: "Everyone, at this moment of life and death crisis, everyone, don't hide it. Who doesn't have domestic slave workers and nurses? It's time for them to come in handy. With a family of 80 or [-] people, we can form an army of thousands. It may not be impossible to fight against the strongman, and everyone, we don't need to fight a protracted war with the strongman. The army of the Qing Dynasty will come to rescue us, and I have already sent someone to deliver a letter to the prince of the Qing Dynasty."

After hearing this, the group of businessmen became more stable. If Fan Yongdou said that he had reported to the officials of Daming, these businessmen would definitely dismiss him. Are the officials of Daming reliable?Are the officers and soldiers of Ming Dynasty reliable?
But you said that you have reported to Manqing, that’s safe. In this regard, Manqing’s reputation is much stronger than Daming. As for Manqing being Daming’s enemy, what does this have to do with his Zhangjiakou people? Daming is the Zhu family’s world , What does it have to do with us businessmen?
Even if the Man Qing entered the customs and won the world, it would be bad luck for Lao Zhu's family. They are not only unaffected, but can even go to a higher level, so they not only have no hostility towards the Man Qing, but also maintain a welcoming attitude .

Fan Yongdou said at this time: "Everyone, four days at most, we will definitely wait for the rescue army of the Manchu Qing in four days. As soon as the army comes, the mere thieves will be killed and their armor will be thrown away. Our family business will be saved. So everyone, let's not hide our clumsiness, we must put in more effort, if the city is destroyed, the century-old family fortunes of all of you may be ruined in one fell swoop."

After hearing this, the merchants nodded in unison: "The strong thieves must not be allowed to enter the city."

"Yes, absolutely not."

……

Fan Yongdou looked at the people below and whispered eagerly, pressed his hands to let everyone be quiet: "Everyone, let's not talk nonsense, let's talk about the task below, we have four city gates in Zhangjiakou, east, south, north, and now everyone is eager to sign up, tell me How many people can we send out, which door do we want to guard, and we will work together to guard our hard-earned property. Well, let me make a sample first, our Fan family will send out [-] swordsmen to guard the east gate."

After Fan Yongdou finished speaking, he looked at the crowd and said, "Who will guard the west gate?"

Wang Dengku said: "I will send out four hundred swordsmen to guard the west gate."

Wang Dayu, who is also one of the Eight Great Masters of Shanxi Merchants, said: "I also sent more than 400 guests to guard the west gate together with the prince."

"Then I will send four hundred swordsmen to help Duke Fan guard the east gate."

"I also offer three hundred."

You have three hundred people, I have four hundred, and soon the four gates were arranged. When the treasurer Zhao saw that he was silent and had no part for himself, he said, "I also sent 100 people from Shengtong to help guard the north gate."

"Okay, that's it, everyone, don't hesitate to send people to climb the city wall."

"Yes."

With this arrangement, there are seven to eight hundred people at each city gate, and Huang Yunfa and several small merchants guarding the north gate with Zhao shopkeeper, a total of 800 people, guarding the north gate of Zhangjiakou.

After the meeting, shopkeeper Zhao hurried back to the Shengtong and immediately ordered the staff: "Give power to Brigadier Wang Guixiang and attack the city from the north gate."

"Yes."

(End of this chapter)