Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 123 The Last Qi Family Army

Lin Hai didn't expect there was someone behind the statue of King Yue, so he got up and went to check. Feng Yidao and Waizui quickly followed.

Arriving behind the statue of King Yue, I saw a man getting up unsteadily from the ground, cursing: "Which bird is talking nonsense in front of you? It disturbed grandpa's dream."

Crooked Mouth was furious when he heard this: "You thieves, who are you scolding for picking up birds?"

Feng took out the knife from his waist with a clanging sound, but Lin Hai grabbed him: "Wait a minute, this person seems to be an old acquaintance of mine."

The man just got up from the ground. Lin Hai glanced at him up and down. He saw that his bun was loose, his clothes were messy, his steps were sloppy, and his whole body exuded a strong smell of alcohol. For a moment, he suspected that he had made a mistake.

When the man heard Lin Hai's words, he stared at him for a while with half-open sleepy eyes, and suddenly said: "Aren't you that...that Boss Lin from Haojing?"

"Brother Wu, is it really you?" Lin Hai then confirmed that the drunk man in front of him was the commercial spy who invited him to Zhejiang to buy Qili silk. He remembered that his name was Wu Guoyi.

Although the two only met once in Haojing, Lin Hai remembered his appearance very clearly thanks to Wu Guoyi who opened up the raw silk supply channels in Jiangnan.

It's just that when we last met, this man had a handsome posture and a military demeanor in every move. He was far different from the slovenly drunkard in front of him, so Lin Haicai didn't dare to confirm his identity for a while.

"It's me." Wu Guoyi seemed to have sobered up a little. "It was Boss Lin who was praying in front of the statue of King Yue just now. Wu didn't know that Boss Lin had such great ambitions."

"Brother Wu laughed." Lin Hai remembered that this person was a spy of the Wu family in Shanyin, and his surname was Wu. He might be a distant descendant of the Wu family, so he regretted not checking in advance to see if there was anyone behind the statue. .

Then Wu Guoyi said again: "You are so boastful in front of King Yue, but you don't know how to destroy Jiannu?"

"Lin just said it casually. Brother Wu, please don't take it seriously." Lin Hai didn't want to talk nonsense with him. "If there is nothing else, Lin will leave first."

"Does Boss Lin think that Mr. Wu is a fool? How can anyone talk nonsense in front of the statue of King Yue?" Wu Guoyi said, "Brother, I would like to remind you that if Boss Lin wants to go north to join the army, he must not go to Dongjiang, let alone Dongjiang. Don’t go to Tenglai.”

Lin Haiqi asked: "Brother, what do you mean by this?"

Wu Guoyi said: "Denglai and Dongjiang towns have fallen into the eyes of money. This is what Wu has seen with his own eyes. Boss Lin has a huge wealth. If he goes there, he will definitely be wiped out. Wu said this, Lin The boss takes care of himself."

"Brother, why do you want to remind Lin?" Lin Hai didn't understand what Wu Guoyi was doing, so he asked one more question.

Just listen to Wu Guoyi reply: "Wu and Jiannu have a deep feud. Since Boss Lin is determined to join the army to destroy slaves, Wu naturally wants to kindly remind you."

Lin Hai felt something in his heart when he heard this. Could it be that this person still didn't know his current identity, so he said, "Lin has donated a palm print to thousands of households in Zhoushan, doesn't Brother Wu know?"

"Wu doesn't know." Wu Guoyi shook his head, "If you want to fight slaves, why do you want to join the army in Zhoushan?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he figured out that the reason why Lin Hai donated his official position in Zhoushan was simply to facilitate smuggling with the Wu family in Shanyin.After all, this man is a profit-seeking businessman, and it's ridiculous that he believed his lies.

"It turns out that Boss Lin just said casually in front of the statue of King Yue that Wu was being sentimental. In this case, Wu took his leave."

Wu Guoyi said and walked away, but Lin Hai held him back: "Wait a minute, let me ask you something. You just said that you have a blood feud with Jian Nu. What happened?"

"What does this matter have to do with you? Different ways do not lead to the same conspiracy." Wu Guoyi wanted to get rid of Lin Hai and move forward, but found that his joints had been held. How did he know that Lin Hai was a master of special grappling techniques.

"Who said I just said it casually? Can't we build slaves in Zhoushan?" Lin Hai seemed to be very dissatisfied with the border army after hearing Wu Guoyi's words just now, so he continued, "If brother Wu has no way to take revenge, Lin Hai will take you with him in the future Go kill the Tartars.”

Wu Guoyi stared at Lin Hai for a few times to see that his expression did not seem to be hypocritical, not to mention that it was indeed a bit unbelievable to talk nonsense in front of the statue of King Yue, so he said: "May I ask when Lin Qianhu plans to go north to build slaves?"

Lin Hai let go of Wu Guoyi and said, "Unless Brother Wu tells Lin first, what is the blood feud between you and Jian Nu?"

"My father and two brothers died at the hands of the Tatars. Is this considered a blood feud?" Wu Guoyi continued, "What's more, my ancestors of the Wu family followed Marshal Qi in the north and south, and Wu's great-grandfather fought in Zhejiang and Fujian. We crossed the Japanese, fought against the Mongolian Tatars in Jizhen, and killed the Japanese in Korea. Now the Jian slaves are raging in Liaodong. Even if there is no family feud, after Wu is a loyal and good man, can't he avenge the country?"

Lin Hai was in awe when he heard this: "It turns out that Brother Wu is a descendant of Qi Jiajun."

Wu Guoyi said with a sad expression: "Not only that, I can barely be considered a Qi Jiajun myself, but it's a pity that I have become a lonely ghost now. As early as four years ago, there was no Qi Jiajun in the Ming Dynasty."

Lin Hai's heart moved, and he remembered the tragic battle by the Hun River in the first year of Tianqi, and couldn't help but ask: "Could Brother Wu belong to General Qi Jin who died in the bloody battle at Hun River?"

Unexpectedly, just such a sentence suddenly touched the heartstrings of this seven-foot-tall man. Wu Guoyi couldn't stop crying loudly, and tears rolled down his face for a while.

He seemed to see the red muddy river water again, which was dyed red by the blood of tens of thousands of Ming army soldiers. In it were General Qi Jin, whom he had followed since childhood, and his comrades who had accompanied him day and night.

In that battle, the Ming Army's [-] infantrymen rescued Shenyang, but Shenyang had already fallen halfway. The Ming Army fought against an enemy several times their own in the field, and held on under the successive attacks of Houjin's main force, which was equipped with infantry, cavalry and artillery. Like a rock, Nuerhachi finally won a tragic victory at the expense of tens of thousands of elites, and the casualties on both sides were basically equal.

Excluding the firefight in Tongzhou, this was the first war Wu Guoyi had ever experienced, and it was also his only actual combat experience so far.In this battle, he was in the Zhejiang Army camp on the south bank of the Hun River, and first witnessed the heroic destruction of nearly Wanchuan Army on the north bank of the Hun River.

The backbone of this Sichuan army was three thousand Shizhu soldiers and four thousand Youyang soldiers. These chieftain soldiers wore thick armor and held hook guns. Their only long-range strike weapon was poisonous crossbows.

They had gone through a long journey, and had just crossed the Hun River before they had a firm footing when they encountered the Houjin Cavalry. They could only quickly form formations in the wild without any fortifications.

At this time, Houjin had won consecutive battles since Saerhu, and it was a time when morale was high. The red Baya soldiers of the four banners on the right wing did not wait for the chariots and armor to be in place, and directly mounted their horses and charged into the battle, preparing to rely on their trump card to attack at close range. The cavalry came and defeated the Ming army in one fell swoop.This is really not because they are too crazy. After all, the Ming army in Liaodong at this time was brave enough to flee when they saw the thieves. If nothing unexpected happens, as long as they rush to the front of the formation and unleash a wave of arrows at close range, the Ming army's camp will be in chaos. It turns into a pot of porridge, and then it becomes a lamb to be slaughtered.

However, the Sichuan army's camp is as motionless as a mountain!

The elites of the Four Banners on the right rushed into the formation three times in succession, circling the Sichuan Army's infantry formation and firing at close range. Not only did they fail to shake the Sichuan Army's camp, but thousands of them were killed and injured. The senior generals such as General Bu Gang and guerrillas Lang Ge and Shi Litai were killed. Captured alive by Sichuan troops.

Nuerhachi saw that the situation was not good, so he joined the Four Banners on the left. The elite Eight Banners surrounded the Sichuan Army and attacked from all sides. They charged into the battle with armor under the cover of the carriages, but they still could not win.

In the end, Li Yongfang, the prince-in-law of Fushun, paid a lot of money to bribe the Liaodong Ming Army in Shenyang to surrender, and brought in the newly captured Ming Army artillery to blast the Sichuan Army camp...

It is a pity that the Sichuan Army has a single type of arms and is heavily surrounded. It has no available countermeasures against the artillery and can only carry it with its tired and hungry flesh and blood.

Finally, the formation of the Sichuan Army was disrupted, and the elite Eight Banners took the opportunity to rush in. The three thousand Shizhu and White Pole Soldiers refused to retreat, and almost the entire army was wiped out. The remaining Sichuan Army retreated into the Zhejiang Army's camp to continue fighting.

There was a serious conflict between the Zhejiang Army and the Sichuan Army. A large-scale fight broke out between the two sides in Tongzhou due to a quarrel, and even artillery was used.

However, after witnessing the Sichuan Army's toughness, the Zhejiang Army soldiers were completely convinced. Not only did they not take the opportunity to flee when the Sichuan Army held back the main force of Houjin on the other side, but they also accepted the remnants of the Sichuan Army into the camp.

In contrast, the three generals Li Bingcheng, Zhu Wanliang, and Jiang Bi led more than 1 local Liaodong infantry and cavalry. They first watched coldly as the Sichuan troops who had traveled thousands of miles to aid Liao were massacred, and then were defeated by the Four Left Banners. , the general led the Liaodong cavalry to flee frantically, while the infantry were slaughtered wantonly by Hou Jin.

At this time, there were only [-] Zhejiang troops left in the Ming army on the Hun River, and thousands of remnants of the Sichuan army who had been admitted into the camp.

The remnants of the Sichuan Army were already hungry and exhausted, while the Zhejiang Army was mostly made up of raw melons and eggs. Except for the 300 soldiers under Qi Jin's command who were veterans brought from Zhending, the rest were all recruits recently recruited by Zhang Mingshi from Zhejiang.

But these new recruits were not intimidated by the Eight Banners. They took advantage of the Sichuan army to hold back the main force of Houjin, dug trenches on the south bank of the Hun River, and formed a camp with vehicles as defensive fortifications. They relied on the vehicle array to use firearms to defend against the enemy.This was Qi Jiguang's chariot battle method when he was in Jizhen, and it was inherited by this force that could barely be called the Qi Family Army.

Hou Jin did not dare to be careless, and also resorted to the common tactics used to deal with firearms troops. The first row was still carts, and the second row was horse archers carrying heavy arrows. They advanced under the cover of the carts. During the gap between the firing of firearms, When they got close to fight back, the third row was packed, pushing carts filled with soil to fill the trenches.

When the trench was filled, the last row of heavily armored cavalry began to directly attack the Zhejiang Army's vehicle formation.

In fact, the Houjin rarely used shock tactics. Their specialty was mounted shooting, which was not a tickling projectile from far away, but a direct shot at close range. The Ming Dynasty at that time even described it as a five-point shooting. Shooting surface.

But this does not mean that Hou Jin will not use impact tactics. When continuous riding and shooting cannot open the situation, Hou Jin will also directly attack.The ones they used to charge into the battle were not the so-called Hou Jin heavy infantry that had been rumored on the Internet for many years, but heavy cavalry with both men and horses heavily armored.

As early as the Battle of Saerhu, Hou Jin had seen the power of the Zhejiang Army's chariot camp. At that time, the Southern Army led by Liu Wei of the Eastern Route Army was the most difficult bone to crack. In addition, he was a little guilty after being beaten by the white-armed soldiers this time. , the old slave directly escorted the heavily armored cavalry.

However, the Zhejiang Army's camp was not so easy to break. They relied on the tanks and the long spears and thick armor of the remaining Sichuan Army to hold on to their positions, and then used blunderbuss and light artillery to counterattack the enemy. The Eight Banners elites took turns charging and were still unable to disperse the Ming Army. A heavy price was paid.

In the end, all the ammunition of the Zhejiang army was used up, and the isolated Ming army was exhausted.

In addition to the [-] remnant troops, mainly Youyang soldiers, who successfully broke through and fled back to Liaoyang under the leadership of Ran Tianyin and other Sichuan generals, nearly [-] Ming troops, including [-] Zhejiang soldiers and [-] Baigan soldiers, stayed in Hunhe forever. edge.

In this battle, the Ming army's chief general Chen Ce and deputy general Tong Zhongkui died in the battle. Qin Bangping who led the Shizhu army, Ran Jianlong who led the Youyang army, Qi Jin and Zhang Mingshi who led the Zhejiang army all died in the battle. The Ming Dynasty soldiers who died heroically The military generals include Wu Wenjie, Zhou Dunji, Yuan Jianlong, Deng Qilong, Lei Anmin and others.

Wu Guoyi's father was the captain of Qi Jin's soldiers. He and his two brothers were also Qi Jin's soldiers. When they broke through, the general Qi Jin and his two brothers had died in battle. Wu Guoyi and his father fled back with the Youyang soldiers. Liaoyang.

The remnants of the breakout troops brought the heads of the Eight Banners soldiers to visit Zhang Quan, the Liaodong patrol commander. Zhang Quan ordered the reward to be given as usual. Many soldiers cried bitterly in front of the steps, saying that they did not want to accept the reward and only wanted to avenge the general.

After that, Wu's father stayed in Liaoyang City, fought bravely against the enemy when the city was broken, and finally died heroically for his country.

Lin Hai was greatly moved when he saw Wu Guoyi, a seven-foot man, burst into tears suddenly. He knew that he must have guessed correctly, so he stepped forward and patted his shoulder and said: "Brother Guoyi, the blood of General Qi and your father will not turn white." Liu, we will definitely be able to drive Jiannu back to his hometown."

Wu Guoyi stopped crying and said sadly: "At this point, I don't expect the court to kill Jiannu. I only hope to kill a few more Tatars in this life."

Lin Hai was a little surprised. Most people in this era believed that it was only a matter of time before the slaves were wiped out. After all, the Wanli Dynasty's Battle of Korea and Yang Yinglong's Rebellion lasted for seven or eight years, and the She'an Rebellion that broke out in the first year of Tianqi also continues to this day. , the troubles of slavery are not necessarily more serious than these.

What's more, since the occupation of Guangning in the first year of Tianqi, Hou Jin has achieved almost no new results in the past four years. Even the city of Guangning was burned down and retreated to the east of the Sancha River.Even in the eyes of many big officials in the imperial court, this creation of slaves is nothing special. Sooner or later, they will follow in the footsteps of Yang Yinglong and others.

Standing at the fifth year of the Apocalypse, even if some knowledgeable people can see that the Ming Dynasty has exhausted its power, it is difficult to foresee that the one who will finally conquer the world will be Hou Jin, who has a strong mark of tribalism.

After all, no one could foresee that Huang Taiji would become the new Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty in a year's time. Moreover, this man was an unparalleled hero who could not be seen in a century. He almost single-handedly reversed the fate of the Later Jin Dynasty. This is really the right time. Fate.

Lin Hai didn't know why Wu Guoyi's ideas were different from ordinary people, but he really wanted to take this person for his own use.

"I also feel that the imperial court alone is determined not to exterminate the slaves. This is why I donated my official position in Zhoushan."

Lin Hai glanced at the statue of King Yue as he spoke, and said solemnly: "But I still say the same thing, the blood of the ten thousand Chinese heroic spirits by the Hun River will not be shed in vain, absolutely not!"

　As long as we still remember this battle, as long as there are still people who remember the names of those who died heroically by the Hun River, the blood of these Chinese heroes will not be shed in vain...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)