Daming kill

Chapter 199
In the middle of March in the 16th year of Chongzhen, Qizhou.

Xu Wenqi, the former deputy envoy of Xiajiang Fangdao, continued to walk alone in a fixed area on the mountainside of Qilin Mountain as always after breakfast.

He wandered for a long time.

The soldiers of Zhang Xianzhong's department who were in charge of guarding him had long been accustomed to no one bothering him, and even stopped following him strenuously, and only left a few people watching from a higher place.

Qilin Mountain is located in the northeast corner of Qizhou City, and the city wall is built on the top of the mountain. Zhang Xianzhong's soldiers are not worried that Xu Wenqi will run away.

Since Zhang Xianzhong ordered to treat Xu Wenqi with courtesy, from the perspective of a prisoner, Xu Wenqi's life is not bad, the guard is not very strict, he can come out every day to let the wind go, and he can guarantee three meals a day, although the quality of the food is very poor.

Another not-so-good thing is that the living conditions are relatively poor.

Xu Wenqi, Juren Xi Dingxuan and dozens of others were imprisoned together and lived in a horse-raising yard at the foot of Qilin Mountain. It was very close to the Jingwang Mansion that was burned down not long ago, and also very close to the original Confucianism and the state government.

It is one of the characteristics of Qizhou City to gather the places of authority and dignitaries in the northeast of the city.

However, before Zhang Xianzhong sent troops to attack Qishui County, he burned all the Jingwang Mansion, the County King's Mansion, and the Zhenguo General's Mansion in Qizhou City.

Although standing on Qilin Mountain, the first thing you see when you raise your eyes is the ruined walls of King Jing's Mansion, but Xu Wenqi is in a good mood today.

Yesterday, he talked for a while with a small boss who was guarding him. He was an ordinary peddler who had just been a thief, and he was still wearing his original simple family clothes.

Like many other guarded Peasant Army soldiers, this little leader respected Xu Wenqi, who had an excellent official voice, and maintained enough courtesy.

Xu Wenqi tried to persuade the little leader to repent.

The little leader neither glared at him, nor frightened him, nor even went to report him, but showed shame and hesitated.

This gave Xu Wenqi hope.

It was also from the mouth of this little boss that Xu Wenqi knew for the first time that the gunfire that often appeared in the west and south came from the government army gunboats cruising on the river.

These gunboats often line up in groups of more than a dozen from time to time, skimming the river south of Qizhou City, and firing cannons in a deterrent manner.

But they never got too close to Jiangbei, and never fired a shell ashore.

Xu Wenqi was very surprised by the bold actions of these officers and soldiers.

He had never heard of any civil servants and generals worth mentioning on the other side of the river, nor had he heard that there were still regular imperial troops remaining there who dared to fight.

Either way, it's good news.

At the same time, it also gave more hope to the plan he had been planning.

Zhang Xianzhong's elite is not currently in Qizhou, this is an opportunity.

While Xu Wenqi was thinking secretly, someone's voice interrupted his thoughts, and two bearded soldiers he had never seen before swaggered up from the direction of the mountain, talking and laughing.

Xu Wenqi was under the care of Zhang Xianzhong's rear battalion. These days, he had already established a basic impression of all the enemy soldiers who guarded him.

Zhang Xianzhong's military force structure and name are significantly different from other peasant armies. According to the distance of the relationship, it is divided into the middle and old camps, the front camp, the middle camp and the rear camp. Dependents of Core Strength.

The front battalion, middle battalion, and rear battalion protect the middle-aged and old battalions like a tripod.

The formation of combat forces in each battalion is usually named after sentry and team, which is more similar to the official army.

The rear battalion was ranked last, with the newest soldiers, and the worst equipment and support.

When they noticed Xu Wenqi, the two bearded soldiers who were unfamiliar and also only wore variegated sleeveless uniforms over the original civilian uniforms froze for a moment, then immediately pulled out their knives.

They did not belong to the same battalion as the Peasant Army soldiers who detained Xu Wenqi.

"Who are you? Why are you here? Looking at your clothes, you might be a dog officer who escaped. Hurry up and report your name, or your dog's head will be cut off." A bearded man sternly asked.

Although Xu Wenqi, who was a prisoner, was not wearing an official uniform, he was still wearing a well-fitting high-quality cotton gown, and his appearance was imposing and his face was ruddy.

This is significantly different from the soldiers of the Peasant Army who have rough skin, dry cheeks, and most of them don't fit well even if they wear the best clothes they snatched, and they can't hold up their aura.

"I'm Xu Wenqi, and I've been here every day for some time, but you are very unfamiliar. If you have any questions, you should ask your companions, they are up there." Xu Wenqi frowned and said loudly.

He hoped that the sound would draw the attention of apparently derelict soldiers in custody, a new discovery.

"Xu Wenqi? That name sounds familiar!"

A bearded soldier murmured, while following Xu Wenqi's eyes to look up.

Soon, a few people finally came out of the high woods slowly, and they shouted while running, "Don't get me wrong, they are all from my own family."

After a hasty explanation from the guarding soldiers who arrived, the two bearded soldiers put away their knives.

But at this time, one of the soldiers guarding Xu Wenqi finally came to his senses, and he asked, "Which battalion are you two from? Why did you come here? There is an order saying that no one is allowed to go to Qilin Mountain casually."

The two bearded soldiers looked at each other in confusion, and then one of them said: "This mountain is not allowed to be climbed, we don't know about it, and we have never heard of it, and no one stopped us along the way!

The two of us are the subordinates of the sentry officer Pei Dashu in the rear battalion. We used to be pig butchers in the countryside, and we joined the rebel army not long ago.

I heard earlier that the northeast of this city is where the royal palace and the state government gather, but we have been stationed in the south city, and we have never had the opportunity to come to such a rich place to feast our eyes.I finally got free time today, so I'm here to gain some insight.Since I didn't know the way, I thought about finding a good place to see for a while, so I went up. "

"Officer Pei Dashu? I haven't heard of it, have you heard of it?" The soldier who asked asked scratched his head and looked at his companion, but he didn't start to be on guard because he didn't know him.

"The surname Pei is rare. I seem to have heard of it, but I'm not sure. There are tens of thousands of people here, and at least a few hundred battalion leaders. They may know any of them." A guarded soldier muttered impatiently.

He evidently found the suspicion and hypervigilance laughable and unnecessary.

"That's right, we're all new to the gang, and we were all frogs in the well before. Why do you still want to sue the two brothers for this matter?" Probably the person who guarded the little boss opened his mouth.

The two bearded soldiers who were being confused immediately showed angry expressions when they heard this.

The guarded soldier who asked the first question hurriedly said under glaring eyes: "No, no, I didn't mean that, brothers, don't get me wrong." Then, the soldier introduced himself to the two bearded soldiers with a smile on his face. .

The atmosphere soon became cheerful, and the soldiers of the Peasant Army, who were strangers to each other, exchanged their eye-opening experiences these days, and burst into laughter.

Seeing this, Xu Wenqi was very contemptuous, but secretly happy in his heart.

Judging from the ease with which these two strange bearded soldiers went up the mountain and approached him, most of the Peasant Army's current troops in the city were in poor condition, and the guard over him was becoming more and more lax.

Back at the foot of the mountain, Xu Wenqi found the Juren Xi Dingxuan who was sitting alone under the courtyard wall staring at the sky in a daze, and told him in a low voice what he had experienced yesterday and today.

Seeing the doubts and nervousness on Xi Dingxuan's face, Xu Wenqi went on to say: "This bandit camp is mostly mobs, and most of the soldiers are captured and good citizens. If we show righteousness to them, many people should be willing to work together with us. Is it right to take back Qizhou like this?" impossible."

Xi Dingxuan immediately put away his nervous expression in a daze, and at the same time said generously: "Said about participating in politics, I think I already have an idea, the students are willing to be pawns, and they will die."

"Okay!" Xu Wenqi couldn't help shouting in satisfaction.

Realizing that his movement was a bit loud, Xu Wenqi immediately looked around.

Then, he continued to whisper: "Let's mobilize some brave and available captured people first, and then everyone uses every opportunity to secretly persuade those bandits who are good people, especially the bandit leaders. You can choose four One day of the month, everyone will use Liuquan as their name..."

On the night of this day, Zhao Dongdong, who had a big beard, reported the reconnaissance situation in the past few days to Li Ping and several officers of the staff office in a house in Wujiaba.

Infiltrated into Qizhou, Zhao Dongdong, the new reconnaissance company commander, must set an example in person.

"I think you can give it a try." Zhou Wen was the first to express his opinion in the silence after Zhao Dongdong's report was completed.

But Li Ping didn't answer the conversation, and the others didn't follow suit to express their opinions.

All are cautious.

Although Zhang Xianzhong himself and his elite are not currently in Qizhou, and most of the enemy soldiers in Qizhou city are ordinary people who were newly conscripted, there are tens of thousands of them after all, not less than 1000 like in Huangpi County.

And because of Li Ping's gunboat intimidation actions on the Yangtze River, the peasant army guarding Qizhou guarded the city gate very strictly.

This made Li Ping's plan to enter the city to rob people extremely risky and very low in success.

That's right, Li Ping planned to rob people, to rob Xu Wenqi.

Regardless of whether the imperial court would deal with Zuo Liangyu after the Qing soldiers withdrew from the customs, Zuo Liangyu could no longer be counted on for Li Ping, and Li Ping had to find a new way out for himself.

Rescuing Xu Wenqi was a choice he thought of, and it was also a very bold plan.

Of course, Li Ping does not want to recognize Xu Wenqi as the boss, but he needs someone to speak for him at the top.

Xu Wenqi, who has been promoted to governor of food and participates in politics but cannot continue to control troops in the future and is currently a prisoner, is undoubtedly the most suitable candidate at present. Xu Wenqi's reputation also makes it very likely that he will not conceal and suppress Li Ping's military achievements.

Zhou Wen was very supportive of Li Ping's idea.

However, this matter is very difficult to handle.

Although from the reconnaissance point of view, they have determined the location where Xu Wenqi is being held and met Xu Wenqi himself, and most of the enemies in the city who are recruits are also very paralyzed and naive, how to get out of the city safely and smoothly is still a difficult problem to solve.

Once the enemy is alarmed, as long as the enemy soldiers close the city gate, they will have nothing to do.

And the possibility of robbing people without alerting the enemy is pitifully low. The probability of losing in a gamble on this kind of thing is too high, and the losers are all the lives of the most elite soldiers.

This makes anyone have to be cautious.

What's more troublesome is that no matter whether it is successful or not, it may cause Zhang Xianzhong, a very vengeful man, to venture across the river to attack Fuchi.

Then they will be in trouble.

Because Li Ping's artillery fleet currently deployed on the river is simply a paper tiger.

So far, Li Ping has not produced a single new gun.

Those deterrent cannons are all used to support the scene with old cannons and reduced charges, and then kill two birds with one stone.

Anyway, the peasant army didn't know which cannon fired a dozen cannons at a time, and they might not even be able to figure out the order, ships, and numbers of the official army fleet that would change each time. There were only a dozen or so cannon boats.

The peasant army may only think that there are a lot of gunboats in the official army, and then each boat has cannons, and they will choose a few to fire two cannons at a time to scare them.

But in fact, there are usually only two or three gunboats in the fleet that skim the river every time. The gunners are not only conducting deterrent shooting, but also conducting live ammunition training.Anyway, these gunners always need to be trained, so it's better not to waste it, just use it here.

No one knows whether Zhang Xianzhong left Qizhou to attack Qishui because he was intimidated. Anyway, most of the officials and people in Xingguo Prefecture believed it.

that's enough.

But bigger problems also emerged. These frequent deterrent shots resulted in fewer and fewer available artillery pieces, and several of them exploded.

It should be possible to continue to scare people, but it is not enough to stop Zhang Xianzhong from crossing the river.

Therefore, Li Ping not only had to consider the low success rate of his bold plan, but also be very cautious in choosing whether to stimulate Zhang Xianzhong or not.

Li Ping was having a headache, and Zhao Jin and Shi Ming, who were far downstream, were also having headaches.

The two-person coalition, which has assembled nearly 5000 people, is tensely preparing for battle dozens of miles away from Huangmei County.

Unlike Li Ping's decision-making alone, the attack of the two of them was reported and approved. The confidentiality is very poor in the chaotic situation, and it is very likely that the enemy has already known it.

I'm afraid we can only attack by force.

And the strength of the two is obviously insufficient for a strong attack.

Now there are many people waiting to see their jokes, and there are many discussions.

But the order has been requested, the order has been issued, and the arrow is on the string and has to be fired.

And for Zhao Jin and Shi Ming, the most important thing is not face and whether they will be laughed at.

Description:

So far there is no very accurate and detailed historical data on the military organization of Zhang Xianzhong's Ministry, so the organizational structure of his Ministry described in this chapter has not been further expanded.

(End of this chapter)