I will be the prince at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 57 Pursuit in the rain
The Meijiang River starts from Meiling in the north and reaches Yudu in the south. Along the river, the three tributaries of Ningdu Water, Changle Water and Ba River flow into it. It is a very important river in Ganzhou Prefecture.

After years of war, this once-rich river has become desolate. The scattered villages seem to be empty, and there are few people.

This is [-] miles north of Ningdu County, about [-] miles away from Meiling. General Ma Jun of Ganzhou led [-] horse infantry gathered from various counties of Ganzhou Prefecture to the north along the official road along the river. After two days of rapid march, the team was already a little tired. The speed also slowed down.

At this time, the overcast sky began to drizzle, as if sifted through a sieve, it fell finely and densely on the faces of the soldiers, bringing a touch of coolness.

Zhu Cixuan rode on the horse, set up an awning and looked into the distance. In the distance, he saw the outline of a city standing in the drizzle, and that was the county seat of Ningdu County.

This county town is very important to Zhu Cixuan's army. They traveled lightly and did not bring much food and grass. They only carried dry food for three days from Ningnan, and now there is only one meal of dry food left. Although Zhu Cixuan can buy it in the system mall Purchased, or directly extracted from the warehouse of the mall, but Zhu Cixuan planned to raise as much food as possible along the way.

After all, Jiangning has gathered more than [-] troops from Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan. After Jiangning is captured, the food and grass in the city may not be enough for the army to consume. The rice in the system mall is his backup.

The scouts found out that there were nearly [-] shi of grain stored in Ningdu County, but the defenders were all transferred away by Ganzhou General Ma Jun. They went north to support the Tartars in Jiangning and resist Zheng Chenggong's attack. Zhu Cixuan immediately ordered: "speed up the march and seize Ningdu County. !"

The [-] Ming troops rushed forward, and soon, the army arrived at the county seat, and the gates of the county seat were wide open.The county magistrate led several officials to wait outside the city gate, but there was no sign of a Tartar defender.

When Zhu Cixuan's war horse came forward, the county magistrate rushed up to meet him and knelt down, "Chen Yu, the county magistrate of Ningdu County, kowtowed to the heavenly army, begging the heavenly army to be kind and righteous, and treat the people in the county well."

After successive victories, the Tartars began to focus on management. Most of the main civil affairs officials in the counties and counties in the south of the Yangtze River were officials who surrendered in the previous Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the county magistrate of Ningdu was actually an official in the former Ming Dynasty.

But Zhu Cixuan didn't care. It is human nature to protect oneself in troubled times. You can't make everyone swear to resist the invasion of the Tartars. What he cares about now is the food. He pointed his horsewhip and asked, "Where are the defenders in the city? Food How much?"

"Reporting to General, the defenders in the city were taken away by Ganzhou general Ma Jun an hour ago to support Jiangning. There are about [-] shi in the grain warehouse."

Zhu Cixuan felt relieved, as long as the food was not taken away by the Tartars, he got off his horse, helped the county magistrate up and said with a smile: "County magistrate, please stand up, my Ming army is the army of our Ming people, and will never disturb my son of the Ming Dynasty." Min, please rest assured."

He immediately ordered, "Zhang Liao led three thousand cavalry into the city, and the rest of the army stationed outside the city to bury pots and make food."

Three thousand cavalrymen of the Ming army marched into the city in a mighty manner, while twelve thousand troops were stationed outside the city. Tents stood erect one after another, and the smoke from the cooking stoves curled up.

An hour later, after lunch, the army prepared three days of dry food and left the city to go north. Several teams of scouts rode to the north on horseback to detect where the Tartar soldiers led by Ganzhou general Ma Jun had gone.

When the time came to Yinshi, the sky over the official road north of Ningdu was rolling with dark clouds, and the light rain tended to get heavier and heavier. Suddenly, a dazzling light pierced through the clouds, zigzag, and the lightning with claws and claws shook the dark sky.

The moment the lightning flashed, the official road became snowy, and the official road was full of troops. Carriages loaded with food and military supplies were slowly heading north with difficulty.

On both sides of the cart, slender troops followed like water, most of them were infantry, and there were also cavalry intertwined in between. The dazzling lightning and rumbling thunder frightened some of the horses. The collision caused the team to be in chaos.

Ma Jun was in the middle of the team. He looked up at the sky from time to time. The coming storm made his heart feel heavy. He felt that this was an omen, heralding the dangers on his way to the north.

At this time, his lieutenant galloped up to catch up, "General, I'm afraid it won't work if we continue marching like this!" the lieutenant said worriedly.

Ma Jun looked around, and there was a dark shadow not far away, about three or four miles away. He remembered that it was a forest covering an area of ​​about [-] acres. Take shelter from the rain!"

The soldiers in the team left the official road one after another and turned to the open field. The soldiers galloped in the open field and rushed to the woods three miles away, but the carriages loaded with luggage were difficult to walk in the wilderness. .

At this time, bean-sized raindrops crackled down.The downpour finally came, and the white heavy rain enveloped the ground, and the air was filled with the smell of hot and humid mud.

The soldiers shouted and rushed towards the woods. Even the coachman ignored the carriage, simply covered the carriage with an oilcloth, left the carriage and ran towards the pine forest.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the sky and the earth were gray.With no one to be seen ten paces away, fifteen hundred soldiers crowded into the woods, anxiously waiting for the rain to subside.The forest is dense, like a natural rain shelter. Although there is rainwater coming in, it is much better than the outside.

Ma Jun sat on a big rock. Although his expression was very calm, the uneasiness that flashed in his eyes from time to time revealed his true state of mind at this time. He had received news that a Ming army cavalry set out from Zhaoqing and went north. In the territory of Ganzhou Prefecture, he was worried that the army he led would be overtaken by the Ming army behind him.

At this moment, two scouts on horseback rushed back in the heavy rain. The heavy rain had already drenched them. They were led to Ma Jun, got off their horses, and knelt down on one knee to report, "Report to the general, we are twenty miles behind us." The cavalry of the Ming army appeared, they had no luggage, and the Qing cavalry chased them, and they are now twenty miles away."

Ma Jun was startled suddenly, if the rain stopped, wouldn't the Ming army cavalry catch up to him?He couldn't sit still anymore, stood up and said: "Send my order quickly, all the generals come to discuss matters quickly."

The intelligence of the scouts was very accurate. At this time, the [-] cavalry led by Zhu Cixuan were behind them in a forest fifteen miles away. They were about to catch up with the Tartar soldiers, but a sudden heavy rain forced them to Stopped, [-] troops hid in a forest, waiting for the rainstorm to stop.

(End of this chapter)