serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 36 On Birthday, the Capital Besieged
"It seems that the Tartars have broken through Yutian"

In the eyes of a thousand miles, countless Dazhou people were driven by the Tartar cavalry. They stumbled, cried loudly, and their eyes were full of despair. They densely covered the official road to the southwest of Jizhou City, and behind them was the mighty The Green Battalion Army formation, at the end is the Eight Banners Jiabing. Based on the flags, there are at least [-] Qing soldiers.

Holding his clairvoyant eyes, the general soldier of Jizhou had an ugly expression on his face. Not to mention that there are less than [-] defenders in Jizhou City now, even if the [-] elite cavalry were not transferred away, he would not dare to leave the city. There are tens of thousands of soldiers of the Eight Banners, outnumbered and outnumbered, and can only watch the Tartars plunder the surrounding towns.

On that day, the Manchu army camped outside Jizhou City. There were camps in the east, west, south, and south directions of Jizhou City. Tens of thousands of tents stood next to each other, besieging Jizhou City like an iron barrel.

Looking at the mighty Qing soldiers five miles away, the general soldier of Jizhou calmed down in his heart, and he was confident in defending the city of Jizhou.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, Yong Qi was sitting in front of the desk, looking down at the map of Jizhou city defense.

E Bi and the guard of Jinzhou stood on both sides of the desk with their heads lowered and their hands down.

Looking at it, Yong Qi's face became ugly, and she raised her head: "It's true that Jizhou City can't be fought?"

Jinzhou defender: "20 horses are needed!"

Yongqi snorted, and flipped through the city defense map irritably. On March 22, the army divided into two groups to attack Longjingguan and Hongshan Pass. On the 23th, they successively captured Hanerzhuang and Panjiakou. On the 26rd, three camps were broken, and Zunhua was besieged that night, and the city was broken at noon the next day. The Yanshan Pass was broken on the 28th, and Yutian was captured yesterday, March [-]th.

The other army progressed equally well, sweeping away all Han towns and forts, annihilating all the garrisons northeast of Jizhou City in one fell swoop, beheading more than [-] people, capturing tens of thousands of Han people, and seizing a large amount of food and livestock.

Everything went so smoothly. He thought that he could drive out the Koreans and Han people to attack the city like Zunhua and Yutian did, but the information brought by Obi made him feel cold. The foundation of the city wall of Jizhou was built of stone , the outer wall is built with blue bricks, the inner wall is built with irregular stone blocks, and the middle is built with rammed earth, which is very strong.

There are city towers on the three city gates, and there are urns and turrets to protect them. Even the parapet is three feet five feet high, and the narrowest part of the moat is five feet. How can this be done? !

E Bi said: "My lord, we are here to rob."

Yong Qi listened, and was stunned for a long time, unable to make a sound.

Guard of Jinzhou: "Young master, we can transport the looted Han people and property out of the pass, and then drive the remaining Koreans to continue attacking the city and looting the surrounding areas of Beijing."

Yongqi: "Okay." Suddenly remembered something, and asked E Bi: "You mean, the emperor of Han sent troops from Henan, Anhui, and Hubei to Beijing?"

E Bi was surprised: "My lord, that's a good question! Although there are still many soldiers and horses in the capital of the Han people, they are almost all infantry. They must not dare to go out of the city. We can use the time difference to wipe out the soldiers and horses in Henan first, and then see Can it solve the soldiers and horses in Anhui?"

Yong Qi nodded, then shook his head again, and said, "This Palace will annihilate all the reinforcements of the Han people, and give the Han emperor a nightmare!"

O Bi: "."

Yongqi looked at the guard general of Jinzhou: "Pass down the order from the palace, ordering the Chahar and Khalkha tribes to hold back the cavalry of the Beijing camp, and I will double compensate them for all losses."

The guard of Jinzhou responded loudly: "Hey!"

Qianqing Palace, go to the study.

It was very late at night, but the lights were still brightly lit here.

Emperor Jianwu walked in quickly, and King Zhongshun, Song Chengliang, Zhang Shangwen, Niu Jizong, and Shi Ding stood up immediately.

As soon as he entered the door, Emperor Jianwu asked Dai Quan who was standing by the imperial case: "Have you figured out the movements of the Manchus?"

Dai Quan: "Zhenfusi Fanzi met Tartar scouts in the middle reaches of the Gu River, captured a Mongolian Tartar, and got some information from him. The Tartar army consisted of Mongolian and Han Green Battalions and Eight Banners Jiabing. The Green Battalion There are less than [-] soldiers, the number of Eight Banners is unknown, it is estimated to be [-] to [-], and the fifth son of the Tartar Emperor Aixinjueluo Yongqi is in command."

Emperor Jianwu: "Oh." Then he sat down on the dragon chair in front of the imperial case, "Is it the King of Tartar who was defeated by Jia Hu?"

Dai Quan: "Yes. The prince of Tazi County personally led an army to break through Longjing Pass and slaughtered the entire city of Xifengkou. The people in Zunhua and Yutian were also massacred."

There was silence, and Emperor Jianwu frowned deeply. The chief assistant Song Chengliang's eyes drifted away from the emperor for a while, coughed, and said, "Another overlord of the Jurchens has appeared!"

Emperor Jianwu was enlightened like a god, and he blurted out, "Yes! He is trying to imitate his ancestor Faming!"

King Zhongshun was stunned.

Second assistant Zhang Shangwen and Zhongjinghou Shi Ding were both stunned.

Emperor Jianwu woke up and shouted loudly: "Send troops to Beijing immediately, I want his head!"

Zhang Shangwen immediately said: "Your Majesty, the matter is urgent now, and the Beijing infantry outside the city should be ordered to enter the city to participate in the defense of the city."

After hearing his words, Emperor Jianwu thought it made sense. Niu Jizong's face was distorted with anger, and he said loudly, "You can't withdraw the army into the city!"

Everyone stared at him suspiciously.

Niu Jizong: "If all the troops are withdrawn into the city, they are showing weakness to the Tartars. Then the Tartars will become more arrogant, and they will plunder the capital unscrupulously. Also, the soldiers and horses from Henan will arrive in six or seven days at most. Someone is answering!"

After a pause, "Once you retreat into the city, the capital will be trapped to death."

Zhang Shangwen blushed furiously: "Although there are more than [-] infantry in the Beijing camp, the Tarzi cavalry is invincible in the wild."

"Then transfer the Shenji Battalion out of the city!" Niu Jizong interrupted him, "Seal the Nine Gates, and the army camped under the Guang'an Gate. Send a messenger to inform the Henan General Army to transfer the garrison from the three prefectures of Baoding before entering Beijing. Nearly 5 people, Tartars don't have such good teeth!"

Emperor Jianwu: "Okay, let's draw up the decree according to Niu Aiqing's opinion."

Song Chengliang: "Your Majesty, we still need to send cavalry into Beijing, otherwise it will be very difficult to defeat the Qing soldiers!"

Emperor Jianwu suddenly turned his gaze to King Zhongshun, and King Zhongshun lowered his eyes, and then turned his gaze to Niu Jizong: "What do you think?"

After pondering for a while, Niu Jizong said: "Shanhaiguan has mobilized 5 troops one after another, and there is no more troops to move. Jizhou is besieged. Xuanfu and Datong are fighting, and the soldiers and horses from Juyongguan and Zijingguan should not be mobilized."

King Zhongshun: "Then let the Tartars plunder the capital?!"

There was silence.

A strong sense of frustration came over, and Emperor Jianwu regretted it for the first time. The consequences of the turmoil of that year finally appeared. The battalion has 40 elite cavalry.

The [-]th Regiment Battalion has [-] elite soldiers, all of whom are elite veterans of the frontier army, accompanied by [-] princes from the honorable lineage.

The 12 Imperial Guards guarding the Imperial City were also elite troops drawn from across the country.

That battle smashed the Eastern City, burned most of the Imperial City, and ended up with a disastrous victory for the Forbidden Army, but it also led to the loss of the elites of the Great Zhou Dynasty. There was a fault in the noble military, the suspicion of the Supreme Emperor, the emptiness of the treasury, and the imperial court has never been reorganized. The Beijing Camp and the [-]th Regiment Battalion.

He thought of his good brother again, and then a rush of arrogance rushed up, he sat up straight, and said to Dai Quan: "Jia Hu should have arrived in Shandong, and immediately delivered an order ordering him to lead the Yongwei Battalion and Shandong soldiers into Beijing. , I don't believe that so many soldiers and horses can't destroy the Tartars!"

Dai Quan replied loudly: "Follow the order!"

From March [-]th, the city of Beijing began to fortify the walls and clear the wilderness. Young and strong were recruited for training, as well as guards from princes, nobles, and wealthy gentry families. Porters at Chaoyangmen Wharf began to spontaneously help the government transport grain and grass.

In a series of preparations, the time soon came to the fourth day of April.

This day is Xichun's birthday, and also Jiahu's birthday. Youshi held a banquet, Jiamu and others had dinner together, and ordered Yingchun, Tanchun, Xichun, Daiyu sisters and Baoyu, Jia Huan, Jia Cong, Jia Lan and the others went to Ning'an Hall to kowtow, and they left after sitting for a long time without preparing a troupe.

In the past two days, a large number of disaster victims flocked to the capital, but today there are no fleeing crowds. Everyone knows that the Tartars are coming.

afternoon.

In the eyes of thousands of miles, a team of hundreds of cavalry rolled up a nearly two-mile-long yellow dragon on the official road, rolling loudly, and the momentum was astonishing!
"finally come!"

Niu Jizong put down his clairvoyance, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Beat the drum!"

(End of this chapter)