A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 97
Everyone is looking at Wang Dou. Since this year, Wang Dou has been worried that the Houjin soldiers will invade again, so that Shun Township Fortress should be prepared. The building of the city wall was Wang Dou's strong push. At that time, many people did not think so. Unexpectedly Wang Dou's prediction really came true.

Enemy soldiers are pressing down on the border, and the people are panicking. Wang Dou is the backbone of Shun Township Fort.Facing everyone's eyes, Wang Dou said in a deep voice: "The celebration will be cancelled, and the whole fort will be under martial law. From today onwards, the entire territory of Shun Fort will be closed and cleared. Anyone who dares to pass without permission will be killed, and those who dare to shake the morale of the army will be killed, and those who dare not follow." Those who order to kill, those who dare to delay the fighter will be killed!"

He looked around at everyone, and said in a stern tone: "The army of thieves and slaves is suppressing the situation, and the whole fortress must work together to defeat the enemy!"

He issued a series of orders, and everyone obeyed them awe-inspiringly.

Soon, sentry horses rushed out of the castle, summoning the officers in the jurisdiction to discuss urgent matters.

On the afternoon of the 27th, Dongjiazhuang, Huiyao Fort, Jingbian Fort, Zhouzhuang Fort, Huzhuang Fort, Chafang Fort, Yizhuang Fort, Ganzhuang Fort, Yagou Fort, Shiweng Fort, Chadao Fort and other military forts in Shunxiang Fort The officers and chiefs of Tunpu came to Shunxiangbao one after another to listen to Wang Dou's announcement.

In the official hall of the Thousand Households, Wang Dou looked at the crowds of officers and chiefs. He held up a proclamation in his hand and said in a deep voice: "Just now, this officer received intelligence about the enemy from the beacon officer in the prefectural city. Five bandits and slaves Wan Dajun, led by the bandit chief Azige, has passed through the breach of Dushi Fort, passed through Diao'e Fort and entered Chang'an Ridge, and it is estimated that they will reach Bao'an in a few days."

Everyone took a breath of air, their faces were ashen, the fifty thousand troops...

Wang Dou's voice was heavy: "This time the thieves and slaves invaded the bandits with great momentum, and I, Ming Dynasty, once again put people's lives in misery, and the people suffered."

"but!"

Wang Dou looked around, and said in a deep voice: "As the generals of the Ming Dynasty, we should put the state affairs first. This is a time when the country is in crisis. Only by being generous and fearless, with the determination to be benevolent, dedicated to our duties, and guarding against danger and thieves, can we have a better life." A ray of life."

He looked at the people and said: "All the forts in the territory have been destroyed, and it is difficult to prevent slaves. In order to prevent the population and materials of each fort from being used by slaves, I decided to fortify the walls and clear the fields. Except for Jingbian Fort, Dongjiazhuang and Huiyao Fort, the rest All military households in Tunbao were transferred, and the bandits and slaves were not allowed to get a single plant or tree."

Everyone took a deep breath again, defending the big hand of the adults.

In Shunxiang Fort, apart from Dongjiazhuang, Jingbian Fort, and Huiyao Fort, there are also ten forts, each with three to forty military households, and these ten forts have nearly [-] households. People, as well as many materials, all have to be transferred. This is a huge project.

But hearing what Wang Dou said, the chiefs of the villages also breathed a sigh of relief. For example, when the Tartars invaded, these villages were the first to suffer. Now all the military households in the villages have been transferred to the big castle. Their lives are also guaranteed.

Wang Dou acted vigorously and issued orders one by one. No one had room to object, and anyone who dared to disobey the order would be beheaded on the spot.However, Wang Dou's command was determined, and there was no panic at all, and everyone felt at ease.

It was thus decided that Shunxiang Fort was a big fort, and two hundred households were moved in, and Huiyao Fort was far behind the mountains, and one hundred households were also moved in, and the rest were allocated to Jingbian Fort.

After the short discussion ended, all the officers left one by one, and went back to transfer the population and supplies in a hurry.

Among the officers, Wang Dou's old brothers from Jingbiandun, Zhong Dayong, Zhong Tiaoyang, Qi Tianliang, Gao Shiyin, and Yang Tong were also there.

Wang Dou looked at the old brothers and felt emotional, this is the first time that Jingbiandun and the people gathered together when he was the defense officer of Shun Township Fort, it's a pity that brother Ma Ming was missing.

He said to Zhong Dayong: "Old Zhong, this time your Huiyao Castle has transferred a lot of supplies from military households, you have to assist the team officer, Mr. Chang Zhengwei."

Zhong Dayong grew even fatter and fatter in Huiyao Castle, and his face was full of radiance. He was honored to see Wang Dou explaining to him like this. He nodded and bowed, and said repeatedly: "Don't worry, my lord, I will definitely help you, Mr. Chang."

Wang Dou nodded with a smile, walked up to Zhong Tiaoyang, stared at him and said, "Cousin, Jingbian Fort will be handed over to you."

Zhong Tiaoyang clasped his fists and said in a deep voice, "Don't worry, my lord."

Wang Dou patted Qi Tianliang's shoulder beside him again, walked up to Gao Shiyin, and said, "Brother Gao, I heard that you had a son a few days ago? It seems that I'm going to have a drink after the army of thieves and slaves retreats." Your son's full moon wine."

Gao Shiyin laughed so hard that he couldn't close his mouth from ear to ear, even the flesh on his face was shaking constantly, he said: "My lord, we've made an agreement like this, don't forget it when the time comes."

Yang Tong beside him said with a smile: "Old Gao, how could you forget what your lord has said?"

Wang Dou scolded with a smile: "Don't worry, I will definitely go then."

Gao Shiyin, Yang Tong and others bid farewell to Wang Dou one by one. Wang Dou looked at their backs with a smile, but felt sad.The Qing soldiers invaded the bandits this time, and the momentum was huge. They, the old brothers, did not know if they would meet each other this time after a farewell.

……

From the 27th to the [-]th of the end of the month, the entire territory of Shunxiang Fort was being fortified and cleared to carry out a large transfer of population and materials.

Many military households in Tunpu, carrying their belongings, driving their pigs and sheep, reluctantly left their homes and entered the three big forts of Shunxiang Fort, Jingbian Fort, and Huiyao Fort respectively. .For this day to come, Wang Dou had already made careful arrangements, so the transfer was orderly and there was no panic.

After the transfer of the military households in the Tunpu, their homes will definitely be burned by the Qing soldiers, but it is good that people are there, and the homes can be rebuilt after they are destroyed.

On June 28, all the pigs and sheep from the Jingbian Fort livestock farm were also driven into Shunxiang Fort or Jingbian Fort, which would add strength to the soldiers to kill the enemy.

On the fourth day of July in the ninth year of Chongzhen, at last, Azige, king of Wuying County in the Qing Dynasty, together with Belle Abatay and Yangguli, commanded more than [-] Qing soldiers and Mongolian soldiers, and conquered Dushikou, Diao'e Fort, and Chang'anling Forts. Afterwards, they came in a mighty way. They passed through the security guards, Huailaiwei territory, and stopped in Yanqing Prefecture in front of Juyongguan.

While sending troops to plunder everywhere, they waited for news of another way of clearing soldiers from Xifeng Pass.

For a time, the security guards on the East Road of Xuanfu Town, Huailaiwei, Yanqingzhou, Yongningwei and other places were surrounded by wars, like hell.

Qing soldiers invaded the bandits, and at the beginning of July, the capital was under martial law. Emperor Chongzhen urgently ordered his minister Li Guofu to guard Zijing Pass, Xu Jinzhong to guard Daoma Pass, Zhang Yuanheng to guard Longquan Pass, and Cui Liangyong to guard Gu Pass.A few days later, he ordered Duke Cheng Zhu Chunchen to inspect the border.

At the same time, the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty called on the general soldiers from all over the country to quickly lead the army to help.

On the third day of the seventh month, the Ministry of War urgently consulted the governor of Datong: "By order, the bandits and slaves are going crazy today. Yunzhen has ordered to select sharp troops to help, and to encourage the generals to take precautions."

On the fourth day of July, the Ministry of War's message was more severe and urgent: "Shangshu Zhang of the Ministry of War issued an inscription and consulted the governor of Datong. If you arrive in Beijing on the eighth day, if you violate the limit and do not reach Fuzhen, you will be punished by order!"

From the fifth day of the seventh month, Liu Zeqing, the commander-in-chief of Shandong, fierce as a tiger in Shanxi, Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of Datong, Dong Yongwen, the commander-in-chief of Baoding, and Zu Dashou, the leader of Shanyong.In addition, Zu Dale, Li Chongzhen, and Ma Rulong, the commanders-in-chief of Guan, Ning, Ji, and Mi, all led the troops to help.

On the sixth day of the seventh month, Cao Huachun, the eunuch in charge of printing and in charge of the imperial eunuch, wrote a report: "Received the imperial edict, the slavery went deep, accompanied by the two battalions of brave guards to manage Sun Jiwu and other generals, and the original battalion of soldiers outside the city Select elite soldiers, appoint General Sun Yingyuan and others to lead them, and then Xingchi will join in to help, and we will kill the rebellious slaves..."

……

On the seventh day of July in the ninth year of Chongzhen, on the bank of Yanghe River.

Shimen Bay, here is the turning point of Yanghe River, the water flow is relatively gentle, and not far up is the confluence of Sanggan River and Yanghe River.On a hillside hundreds of meters away from the river, there is a dilapidated mountain temple. The statues of the gods in the temple are mottled and scattered, and their original colors have long been unclear.

In this temple and on the surrounding highlands, a small group of night guards from Shun Township Fort are carefully lurking at this time.Looking down from here, you can see the movement and every move on both sides of the Yanghe River.

"It seems that the situation is not good. Another group of Tatars crossed the river. In a few days, even our Shun Township Castle will be harassed by slave horses."

The person who spoke was a big man with a beard and a beard. He was tall and burly, wearing leather armor and a red belt hanging around his waist.He held a gun stick in his hand and two javelins stuck behind him.

This Yebushou's name is Wen Daxing, he was originally a member of Wen Fangliang's team of Shun Township Fort Officer, and he was also born in Yebushou. Because of his good skills, he was selected into the new cavalry team of Han Dynasty.It is said that in the seventh year of Chongzhen, Wen Daxing also beheaded a man in a post-gold vest, and even peeled off the scalp, which was very cruel.

He glanced at the person next to him, and said in a low voice: "Thank you, we have been sentrying about the same in the past two days. We should return to the castle. There are more and more Tartars sentrying now. If you encounter a large group of Tartars Bing, our small team may not be enough for their teeth."

He lay low on his stomach, and deliberately lowered his voice, as if he would startle the Qing soldiers on the other side of the river.Behind a big rock in front of the temple, Xie Yike kept looking down the mountain, his eyes sparkled with excitement, and he said: "Wait a little longer, and see how many people are crossing the river."

He whispered to the person beside him: "Scholar, do you remember everything?"

A person next to him said in a deep voice: "Thank you, don't worry, the villain remembers the flags, numbers, equipment and equipment of the thief slaves who have been scouted these few days."

The speaker was Ye Bushou named Huang Guoxiang, aged between 25 and [-], tall and thin, handsome, with a steady demeanor.In the eighth year of Chongzhen, Huang Guoxiang took refuge in Wang Dou, who was still the head of Jingbianbao at that time. In the ninth year of Chongzhen, Wang Dou formed a cavalry team, and Huang Guoxiang was selected. He was good at using pistols and sabers. He doesn't talk much, and usually looks at the sky quietly, not knowing what he is thinking.

Everyone in the team has heard that in the seventh year of Chongzhen, Huang Guoxiang's family was killed by the Houjin army, so he had a strong hatred for Houjin, and his past experience also made him taciturn.

Wang Dou once stipulated that when Shunxiang Baoye went out to spy, he must use the codebook of later generations stipulated by him, and use the conversion method of the dictionary, so that even if the information is captured by the enemy, it is impossible to know the content. The security of information is greatly guaranteed.

This kind of intelligence system requires a high degree of knowledge of the sentry personnel, and they need to know a lot of characters. Because Huang Guoxiang can read the most characters and looks Bai Jing, so in Xie Yike's team A, Huang Guoxiang, who has the title of white-faced scholar, is always taking notes. .

After a while, Xie Yike said: "Okay, let's go."

For a while, Yebushou around the Shanshen Temple gathered together gently, including Xie Yike, exactly a team of 11 people.

They are all tall and sturdy, all wearing light armor, and they have a variety of weapons in their hands, including throwing axes, javelins, pistols, sabers, hand crossbows, palladium, and stick guns.But at this time, everyone looked nervous and alert, and the horses they were leading also had bits on their mouths, and their hooves were wrapped with cloth.

They can't help but be careless, and they don't close at night to spy outside. It's a close call, especially under the eyes of the enemy. , I am afraid that there will be heavy casualties.

With the deepening of the Qing soldiers, from the first day of July, Wang Dou ordered the Han Dynasty to send several teams to go to various places to investigate the news of the Qing soldiers.On the fourth day of July, since most of Azig's troops entered Yanqing Prefecture, Wang Dou ordered Shun Xiangbao to send out more frequently at night, and suffered certain losses.

Since Shun Xiangbao did not accept detectives at night, small groups of Qing soldiers continued to enter Baoan Prefecture from Yanghe. On the fifth day of the first lunar month, Xie Yike was ordered by the Han Dynasty to go out to investigate. .

On the night before the trip, Wang Dou personally sent Xie Yike and others off with wine. As the Qing soldiers continued to penetrate the border, their small group would inevitably come into contact with the Qing soldiers when they went out.I don't know if Xie Yike and the others will have a chance to come back after they go.

With the enemy at hand, even if Xie Yike was his brother-in-law, Wang Dou would still let them fight, but that day Wang Dou tolerantly gave Xie Yike a good drink.That night, including Xie Yike, Ye Bushou, the whole team, was blushing from drinking. They impassionedly assured Wang Dou that they would come back from this trip smoothly and scout out information about the Tartars.

As the leader of this team who never stops at night, Xie Yike led them out of Shun Township Fort. The boundary of Huailaiwei.

Along the way, the team members were careful. In order to avoid the prying and attacks of the sentry cavalry of the Qing army, they stayed in different places every night according to the knowledge taught by Han and North Korea. Stay here tonight, don’t stay there later .The advantages of the locals allowed them to be quite familiar with the geographical terrain around Shunxiang Fort, allowing them to easily find a safe place to stay.

In the past few days, Xie Yike has become the core of the team. Although he is young, he is only 17 years old this year, but his skills have long been admired by Yebu Shou who admire the strong in the castle. He is also the leader of the team on his own. The ability, not the shadow of Wang Dou.

In particular, Xie Yike is a hunter who has a very sensitive sense of smell. Uncharacteristically, he did not adopt the usual night infiltration and reverse direction interspersed and retracement travel route. Instead, he secretly set out to infiltrate during the day, re-opened the road in the forest and mountains, and went straight to the target. He has achieved rich results in spying on the location of the city, and even cleverly avoided a few sentry cavalry of the Qing soldiers several times, which made everyone admire him.

……

A group of people went down the hillside lightly, everyone was cautious, and the four hooves of the mounts were wrapped with cloth strips, so as not to disturb others by the sound of hooves.

A large group of Qing soldiers were crossing the river not far away, and their sentry cavalry kept coming, so they had to pay attention everywhere and be careful at every step, if they encountered a large group of Qing soldiers sentry cavalry, they would be finished.

Fortunately, when they came down the mountain, those Qing soldiers never noticed that Xie Yike and the others were spying here.

A group of people ran along the side of the mountain. It was summer and the weather was hot. Everyone was wearing armor. Walking on these loess roads, the heat surged up, making people feel hot and dry.Although Xie Yike and the others all have one person and two horses, compared to the people above, the horses under their crotch are listless, and they will have to switch to another horse after a while.

After passing Shaying, Nuanquan, Jiahe, Jijiaying and other places, this area is the boundary of the five forts, and it will soon be close to Wenquantun. From a distance, those village forts and civilian forts are all on guard. I saw a few small villages where the walls of the fort were also destroyed, and there was light smoke rising from inside. From a distance, the inside was full of ruined houses and broken walls. It was obvious that the residents in the fort had been murdered by the Qing soldiers.

Seeing this situation, Xie Yike and the others were cursing, and they were thankful that Shun Township Fort had fortified the walls and cleared the fields. At least for such a small fort with little self-protection ability, the residents among them hid in the big fort, and their safety was more or less guaranteed. .

There were no pedestrians along the way, only some Qing soldiers sentry horses roaring away from time to time, they swayed swaggeringly, without any concern about whether their whereabouts were exposed.Seeing that there were at least a dozen of them in each batch, Xie Yike considered that he was not sure of winning, so he didn't attack, otherwise, if he took a few people back, his trip would be more complete.

Turning around a slope, Xie Yike suddenly shouted: "Stop."

Everyone stopped, rode their horses and gathered towards Xie Yike, Wen Daxing said in a low voice: "Thank you, what's wrong?"

Xie Yike listened carefully for a while, then said in a low voice: "There are tartars down the slope."

Everyone was startled, they got off their horses in a hurry, and together with Xie Yike, they just tiptoed down the slope to watch.

However, on a flat ground more than 100 steps away from the slope, several Qing soldiers were resting and talking. They sat around a shady place, talking loudly in Manchurian, and bursts of wild laughter came from time to time.Xie Yike counted, there were six Qing soldiers at the foot of the mountain, with ten horses, and there were still some big and small bags hanging on.

Perhaps because of the rest, these Qing soldiers did not wear helmets, revealing their shiny scalps and slender money rattails at the back of their heads.

Xie Yike also listened to Han Chao's explanation of the armor of the Houjin Banner on weekdays. He looked carefully and saw the helmet tubes in the hands of several Qing soldiers, as well as the armor they wore. These six Qing soldiers must be from the army. vest.

Five of them were wearing cotton armor nailed with copper nails. According to their rank in the army, the cotton armor they wore must be the kind of dark armor with iron leaves inside.However, there was one man wearing a bright helmet with iron leaves exposed. Looking at the black tassel of the helmet on his hand and the flag on his back, he must be the captain, Shichang or something like that in the vest. ringleader.

After everyone checked clearly, they all came back to discuss matters. When Xie Yike said that the six Tartar soldiers were all vests, everyone took a deep breath.

They have heard a lot from Han and North Korea in the past. Tazi soldiers have been assessed for joining the army since they were ten years old, once every three years.The infantry and vest among the Tartar soldiers do not depend on whether you are a cavalry, but on their level of force in the army.

Each of the vests in the Tazi soldiers has at least seven or eight years of military experience, and they can be regarded as veterans with rich combat experience.

Everyone's face was flushed, they just looked at Xie Yike and said, "Thank you, what should I do?"

Huang Guoxiang's eyes flashed with fire, but his voice was calm: "Thank you, this opportunity is rare, let's do it!"

In the past few days, what the Shun Xiangbao team saw at night were at least a dozen sentry soldiers from the Qing Dynasty, and they were not sure of victory.However, there are only six Qing soldiers in front of him, and there are 11 people on his own side. The chances of winning are quite high. If these Qing soldiers are killed, or some of them are captured and brought back, the credit will be great.

Xie Yike's young face was also flushed, he gasped for breath, and gritted his teeth: "Grandma, it's done!"

He let out a low shout, and everyone in the team prepared one after another, or took out the handgun, lit the matchlock of the handgun with a fire medium, took out the cork from the mouth of the gun, and tamped the ammunition inside with a cleaning rod.Or take out the short crossbow and load the crossbow with arrows.

Or taking out the throwing ax and javelin in his hand, Wen Daxing took a sharp javelin from behind, with a fierce look in his eyes.Huang Guoxiang also lit the matchlock of the pistol in his hand, but he just gritted his teeth, the image of a white-faced scholar is gone!
Xie Yike arranged: "Brother Wen, you lead two people to outflank from the left wing, Brother Huang, you lead two people to outflank from the right wing, and the rest follow me!"

He cheered up everyone: "Killing these Tartars is a great achievement for everyone. Even if you die in battle, you will take good care of our family in the castle. Brothers, fight!"

(End of this chapter)