Ping An Biography

A young man in his early twenties was sitting in the lobby of Shimen County, wearing a green robe and black gauze on his head. He was sitting on the public seat wondering what he was thinking, and was silent; but the people next to him were chattering non-stop.

The young county magistrate is called Wang Yu, and his fame is only as a student supervisor. Not long ago, he thought that his qualifications were limited and his academic career was hopeless, so he made some arrangements and came out to become an official.Naturally, with his fame, he can't wait to be an official in any good place. It's not bad to get a county magistrate in a remote place in the southwest, at least a seventh-rank official.When I came to Shimen County, Huguang, I brought a few people with me. At this time, Mr. Liang, who was standing behind him, used to be the shopkeeper of the shop at home. Officer, at last he is one of his own.

Today, Shengtang does not hear the case, mainly because of a strange matter.The person under the public seat who is reporting the matter is He Xunjian, "The lower officials saw that they were so crowded that they didn't dare to come forward to stop them, and sent people to watch them from a distance, and at the same time rushed back to report."

"Where did you come from? Is there a flag to identify your identity?" Master Liang saw that the county magistrate was silent, so he asked questions for him. After asking, he said to himself, "I have read the recent official documents. Transit... and there are important criminals in prison, we can't take it lightly."

He Xunjian replied: "They walked along the Lishui River from west to east. The team was clean and tidy, not like refugees and bandits. There is a flag, the red bird flag on the yellow background."

A green-robed official next to him interjected: "Could it be the King of Han's men who are flying this kind of flag or the royal clan? Recently, there is news that the King of Han has gone south, and many places have surrendered..."

"The King of Han is in the east, so why did he come from the west?" Mr. Liang said angrily, "Even if the King of Han has already arrived in Huguang, why didn't Yuezhou Mansion, Changde Mansion and other places believe us, and instead sent people to attack us?" Xiaoxian, isn’t this taking off your pants and farting?”

The green-robed officer's face darkened, and he stopped arguing.Mr. Liang said: "It seems to me, Tang Zun has to make some preparations quickly, and pay special attention to the key criminals in the prison. If we lose them, we can't do business... Do you want to invite the two captains of Jin Yiwei from the hotel to come over and discuss the matter together? ?”

At this moment, a Zao Li ran to the entrance of the lobby, Master Liang made a gesture, the Zao Li quickly stepped in, knelt down and said: "Regarding the Lord, I asked someone to go up and ask that group of people, and they said yes The soldiers of Yongding Guard were sent by the Shangguan to go to Yuezhou Prefecture; when asked what they were going to do, they were officials who could not explain clearly, so they had to ask the Shangguan or Huguang Dusi."

"It's so strange!" Mr. Liang said.

At this time, Wang Yu, the county magistrate, picked up a pen, dipped it in cinnabar to write a card ticket, and said after writing a card: "Immediately send people to all parts of the county to recruit volunteer fighters, and all generations of weapons will go to the county to defend."

An official from the Liufang Military Division hurriedly stepped forward to receive the card ticket, and rushed to arrange for the guards.

Wang Yu said again: "Send Kuaishou to inquire about the whereabouts of those people, and report back every hour. In addition, Wang Dianshi will invite the captain of Jinyiwei to speak in the hall on my behalf."

An official on the left said: "Do you want to send someone to the mansion to report to the superior?"

Mr. Liang said: "Although Jin Yiwei came from Changde Mansion nearby, the prefect of Changde has no control over our Shimen County, so we have to go to Yuezhou Mansion. Yuezhou Mansion is on the east side of Dongting Lake, and we have to travel by water. I don't know how long it will be until we get there!" "

Wang Yu turned his head and said: "The letter still needs to be reported. It is said that there is a group of more than a hundred soldiers in the jurisdiction. I don't know the origin, and I haven't received the official letter. Master Liang came to write this official document, and also wrote a copy. Send it to the Cili county government, and ask them if there are any unknown people crossing the border, and how they crossed the border."

After hearing this, the master had no choice but to agree.

After a while, the two captains of Jinyiwei and several soldiers came to the hall together. The two captains were not wearing armor, let alone flying fish suits.Wang Yu got up to pay respects, asked someone to bring chairs, let the two sit in the lobby, and said the matter again.

Sitting in front of him, the captain of Jinyiwei, who pushed his robes into a ball, said: "If there are more than 100 people, if they come to Shimen County, they will probably want to rob criminals. As long as Wang Zhi County orders martial law for a few days, we will prevent spies from entering the city. It will be safe. We will not escort the criminals to Changde for the time being, so as not to be robbed halfway, it is safe to stay in the county prison."

Another younger lieutenant said: "The Ministry of War was supposed to send someone down to call in the guards to assist in handling the case, but I don't know why it hasn't arrived yet, maybe something has delayed it. Before that, let's just find out the details of the bandits. "

Wang Yu wanted to ask casually if it was the influence of the King of Han's rebellion, but he immediately realized that these people were Jinyiwei from Beijing, so he refrained from mentioning sensitive topics.He then changed his words and said: "I have already issued tickets to enlist the bravery of the township to come to the county government to strengthen the city defense. At that time, I will invite General Li to fight against the enemy together with the officials and the people."

The captain of Dabu Jinyiwei was very useful when he heard the county magistrate calling him a general, and said proudly: "You are too nervous, the city defense is unnecessary, send people to the gate of the city to watch closely, and it is a matter of business to prevent bandits from entering the city. .There are also county government prisons that can’t cut off people, and they are always on patrol.”

Wang Yu was originally a civil servant, so he didn't understand military affairs. When he thought about the city walls and strong soldiers in the county town, he felt relieved a little.

……

In the early morning of the next day, Zhang Ning's men and horses were marching along the north bank of the Lishui River, and the county town had already appeared in sight.After the team was exposed, he did not encounter any resistance along the way. He led a few people to the outskirts of the county first, and climbed a small hill to observe the situation in the county.

According to the visual inspection, the circumference of the city wall of the county is about ten miles. The shape of the city is extremely irregular in the hilly terrain, barely like a rectangle that is long from east to west and narrow from north to south.The city wall is roughly one foot high, partly covered with bricks, most of it made of earth rams, and with six gates of various sizes; although the county is near the water, there is no moat, which should be the reason why it is too costly to dig an artificial river to encircle the city.

At this moment Zuo Zongqi Chen Gai came up on horseback. He was slovenly and lacked manners, and he said straight away: "Most of the flags sent from the north have returned, and there is no movement near the one and two guards. The north is full of mountains, and the road is difficult to walk, even if the guard really wants to send troops here temporarily, they will not be able to arrive for several days."

Zhang Ningdao: "The guards in the interior may be able to defend the city, but it is very reluctant to send troops to the surrounding areas. I remember that the military system of the guards in this place is [-]% of the field and [-]% of the defense. In recent years, the burden has been heavy and many have fled, so the combat effectiveness is just like that."

Chen Gai touched his forehead: "It has been found out that there are not many soldiers in Shimen County. How many guards do you think are guarding here?"

Zhang Ning said: "There shouldn't be a place like this in Shimen County. They are mainly village braves recruited from the civilian population. They can be used to maintain law and order, but they have no combat effectiveness in field battles. Our focus is to break the door, and rushing in on flat ground can reduce casualties. Orders The brigade continued to march to the southwest gate to line up for a mile."

Chen Gai sent an order in the past, and Zhang Ning led Lao Xu and others down the mountain to wait for the troops.

There was no artillery on the city, and the whole team stopped to form arrays only one mile closer to the southwest gate.The soldiers lined up in a four-row deep phalanx in the front, and the miscellaneous soldiers were behind; Attack from behind.

Hundreds of household officials Wei Bin, Zuo Zongqi, and Yao Erlang came to the side of the team to talk to Zhang Ning. It was a small meeting before the battle.Zhang Ning didn't say much, just said: "The mountains in the north are not conducive to the deployment of the phalanx, and we can't reflect the superiority of firepower; the south faces the river, and we have no boats. Only the small southwest gate side has relatively flat terrain. So we still follow the original plan. Blast open the southwestern gate in one go, as long as you break the gate, there is no urn city in this gate, and you will be successful if you rush in. If you have anything else to say, say it now."

Zhang Chengzong of Youzong Banner said: "We are short of gunpowder. If it explodes before it is buried, we will not be able to break through the door in a short time. Please see, my lord, the left and right sides of the tower can cross firepower. One is to prevent rockets, and the other is to Prevent the oil from pouring down on it."

Zhang Ning nodded and said: "I will ask the soldiers to pay more attention to it. First, we will fight one thing to see the situation. If it fails, we will cut down trees and make equipment. Everyone is ready to attack the city!"

"Load the ammunition, each team checks the fire!" Wei Bin shouted.

Zhang Ning handed the reins to Song Hu behind him, and looked up, a young man in official uniform and black gauze hat caught his attention on the tower.The official was also looking at Zhang Ning. The two looked at each other from a distance, and they couldn't see each other's faces clearly.

A voice from the old city tower shouted: "Who is here?" Zhang Ning ignored him. It is of course impossible for the county magistrate to surrender and offer the city at this moment, so saying anything is nonsense.

A few fires were lit on it, and the smoke rose, and the flames were visible. Looking at the smoke, it seemed that they were burning firewood, but I didn't know what to do with the fire.Maybe it's a convenient fire for the rocket?

Before the battle, the general flag teams were yelling and talking loudly, and the atmosphere gradually became tense. "If you see a large group of enemy soldiers raising their bows and crossbows, listen to the order and take a shield to cover your face." "Don't panic after raising your gun. If you don't hear the order, whoever fires will make his skin itchy!" It’s not about being whipped and losing your head. At that time, don’t blame me for disregarding the sympathy of the neighbors, disobeying orders, retreating and being beheaded, and don’t think about the 30 taels of compensation money.” “If you want to die, you have to die...”

Wei Bin looked back at Zhang Ning, saw Zhang Ning nodded, and shouted, "Beat the drums, prepare for battle!"

"Boom, boom, boom..." The trumpet's leather drum was not in a good mood, but the rapid drumbeat also played a role. When the order "walk in unison", the drumbeat gradually slowed down and merged with the pace.

Standing on the flank, Zhang Ning watched the team advance silently. There was no expression on his face, but he obviously felt his heart beating faster.It was the second time he was on the battlefield, and he was still inexperienced in ancient warfare. The battle plan was also formulated according to common sense logic. He himself didn't know what the outcome of the battle would be. There are no big mistakes.

When the four-row phalanx advanced more than 200 steps, arrows began to be released from the tower, but the arrows were only inserted far into the ground in front, revealing the course of the bow and arrow on the tower. "Stand still... the first row, raise your shield and move forward!" Wei Bin shouted.

The soldiers then took off the round shields they had temporarily carried behind them and put them on top of their heads.The range of the bows and arrows thrown from the city is farther than that of muskets, and everyone can only attack when they are within the range of the bows and arrows.The tentative contact between the two sides started one after another, and the battle was imminent.