Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1157
"Come in!"

The Mongolian soldiers appeared on the front line of the Great Wall, but Jiang Youguang's main troops were concentrated near Xuanhua, and they might be outflanked at any time. This made his heart very sensitive. When he heard the intelligence report, his heart skipped a beat, worrying that it was not good information.

A personal soldier walked in, knelt down on one knee and said, "General, someone in the city shot out a secret letter, and the brothers on patrol picked it up and sent it over. Please take a look at it, General!"

As he spoke, the soldiers took out a letter wrapped around half of the arrow, and presented it to Jiang Youguang, who quickly took it, took off the letter, and threw the half of the arrow aside.

He opened the letter and couldn't help reading it while walking, the expression on his face changed from doubt to excitement.

"Okay!" Jiang Youguang was overjoyed after reading the letter. He clenched the letter paper into a ball with one hand and shouted, "Hurry up, beat the drums and gather the generals, gather the leaders of all ministries, and come to this general's account to discuss the plan for attacking the city!"

When the soldiers heard the order, they clasped their fists to accept the order. After a while, the three-way drum sounded, and all the generals and leaders of the rebel army under Jiang Youguang's restraint gathered in the big tent of the Chinese army.

Many of the rebels who came to help the battle came from the fortresses along the Great Wall. The Mongols appeared outside the Great Wall. Apart from the news that Jiang Youguang received, these rebels also received rumors.

They were worried that the Mongols would attack their own fortress, so their morale was already fluctuating, and many people even wanted to withdraw their camp and return to the fortress.

It was precisely because of this that Jiang Youguang was so anxious. He worried that once these rebels left, he would have to return to Datong. At that time, there would be insufficient money and food to call in the rebels, and it would be difficult for him to resist the Manchu counterattack.

The Jiang family can really control more than 5 soldiers and horses. If they want to fight against the Manchu Qing, they still have to let the volunteers from all walks of life join in.

In this way, defeating Xuanhua is of great significance to the North Route Army. Not only can they get money and food, but they can also gain enough prestige to become a veritable anti-Qing ally by leading the rebels to such a victory.

Jiang Xiang's original plan was to go out all three ways, taking advantage of the Qing Dynasty's lack of reaction, to disrupt Hebei and rapidly expand the influence of the anti-Qing Dynasty, but now it seems that the Qing army has stabilized its position.

In terms of strength comparison, after all, Jiang Xiang's main force against the Qing Dynasty is only Datong Town, and the rest is supported by the rebels. In terms of combat strength, there must be a certain gap between the army and the Qing Dynasty.

It seems that the chaos in Hebei has not been realized now. The reinforcements of the Qing army have already arrived. The anti-Qing forces in Shanxi will inevitably turn from offense to defense, waiting for the response of the Ming Dynasty in the south.

It's hard to say about the other two routes, at least in northern Shanxi because of the Mongols going south, Jiang Youguang will definitely turn to defense and rectify the rebels.

The land of Xuanda happened to be surrounded by two Great Walls. If Jiang Youguang wanted to defend, the best way was to take down Xuanhua, and then use the Great Wall as a line of defense to protect the Xuanda area.

Seeing that many generals and schools had arrived, Jiang Youguang said directly: "I believe everyone has received the news that the Mongols are going south. If we turn around to defend against the Mongols now, the Qing army in Xuanhua City will definitely attack our backs, and everyone will be safe." The danger of being attacked."

The leader of the rebel army in the tent discussed among themselves, Jiang Youguang was telling the truth, if the Qing army from Xuanhua made trouble from behind and acted as the inner support of the Mongols, then the Great Wall would definitely not be able to stop the Mongols.

Under the eyes of everyone, Jiang Youguang walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, fixed his body and glanced at everyone, and said, "So, we have to pull out Xuanhua City first! Pass on the general's order, and be the first to break through the city gates or climb up the city walls." Yes, a thousand taels of silver will be rewarded, and when the army enters the city, the money and food in the treasury, the shops and warehouses of the Shanxi merchants will be divided between the rebels! Everyone, prepare to resume the siege tomorrow morning!"

The army has been preparing for half a month, besides, what Jiang Youguang said is very reasonable, and he offered a heavy reward, all the ministries are preparing to take down Xuanhua City first tomorrow.

As night fell, one large and two small outside the city, the three barracks were brightly lit, the camps were crowded with people, and a large number of craftsmen and soldiers were busy installing the siege equipment.

The Qing army on the city also noticed the movements of the rebels outside the city. Looking at this posture, they knew that there would be a big battle tomorrow. The Qing army on the city also lit torches and prepared thunderstones and logs overnight, waiting for defensive equipment.

The Qing soldiers on the top of the city were busy for a while. In order to boost morale, the treasurer of the Fan family directly carried the silver to the city, and shouted loudly: "You should move more quickly. Mr. Fan said that anyone who helps the Qing Dynasty to defend the city will be rewarded." Silver ten taels..."

This night, in the city and in the city, it is doomed that no one can sleep peacefully.

Among the three large camps outside the city, the one in the north of the city is composed of [-] rebels, and their main components are the people from the various frontier forts along the Great Wall.

The military defense system of the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty was composed of city walls, passes, and castles.The Great Wall stretches for thousands of miles and is defended in different places.At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Liaodong, Xuanfu, Datong, Yansui and other towns were set up. In addition to these important towns, there were thousands of piers.

There are garrisons in these pier forts, ranging from dozens to hundreds, who usually cultivate land, and when the Mongols invade, they retreat into the forts and defend them.

Most of them belonged to the guards, and they were generally self-sufficient and did not pay taxes to the court, and the court rarely gave them supplies, only asking them to play a little role in resisting the Mongols.

After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, these guards of the Ming Dynasty were naturally abolished, and part of the army was incorporated into the Green Camp, and the rest farmed and paid taxes like ordinary people, and became the targets of exploitation by the Qing Dynasty.

These 5000 people are all the people of the original guard, and they have basically received a certain degree of training. Many of them are men in their 40s and [-]s, and they are even former guards.

Therefore, although their combat strength is not as good as that of Datong's elite soldiers, they are stronger than the general rebel army, and they will be one of the main troops to attack the city tomorrow.

Outside the city, there were 3 horses, and Jiang Youguang's [-] fine cavalry and [-] infantry troops would naturally not join the battle at the beginning, so the main force to attack the city tomorrow is the [-] rebels.

The army besieged Xuanhua for a month, and had attacked several times before, and now it took half a month to prepare, and all the ministries were relatively clear about their tasks.

Jiang Youguang handed over the task of attacking the city to each battalion, and the leaders of each battalion summoned their leaders to clarify the task, convey it layer by layer, and divide the work in detail.

In a military tent in the North Camp, a middle-aged man in his 40s with a scar on his face called for his 20-odd men to gather around him.

The middle-aged man's name is Wang Dou, who was originally a general banner of Shunxiangbao, Baoan Prefecture, Xuanfu Town. After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, he became an honest farmer.

This time, the Qing army searched very hard for the southern expedition, which caused dissatisfaction among the people in Shun Township Fort.

After Jiang Xiang's rebellion against the Qing Dynasty, Jiang Youguang entered the Xuanfu. His old boss, Chen Du, the garrison of Baoan Prefecture, killed the officials of the Qing court and called on everyone to fight against the Qing Dynasty. Followed together.

He is old, and he was once the general banner of the Ming Dynasty, so he naturally became the leader of this group of men.

"It's said above that whoever is the first to attack the city will be rewarded with a thousand dollars. With this amount of money, our Shun Township Castle will have a better life this year." Wang Dou took his knife and touched the edge of the knife with his hand, " When I get the reward, I will buy a few carts of face in Xuanhua, pull a few pieces of cloth and send them back to the fort, and then try to find a way to replace the rest with new armor and guns, and equip all the men in the fort. , our Shun Township Castle has the ability to protect itself, and we can also make a name for ourselves among the rebels!"

More than 20 men, after hearing what he said, they all imagined that 1000 taels of silver, these people have never seen them in their lives.

"Uncle, don't worry, we will be the first to kill the city tomorrow!" A young man in his twenties said excitedly.

Wang Dou inserted the knife back into the scabbard with a "chuckle", stood up and looked at the boys in the tent, and said in a deep voice: "Master Chen is ordered to attack the North City tomorrow, and we are the first wave. The hook must be hooked firmly. According to the instructions given to you before, Wang Bin and Wang Jing will follow me, and Tuesday and your four brothers will follow closely. The rest of you should not rush to climb or shoot randomly. Don’t let the Qing soldiers on the city hit us with rolling wood and thunder stones, use bows and arrows and bird guns to cover, fight for the shortest time to go to the city, and earn the reward.”

The people in the tent are all from the same fort, they have known each other for many years, they grew up together, they have a tacit understanding, they looked at Wang Dou one by one, listened to his orders, and then nodded heavily.

As Wang Dou said, he became serious, "There will definitely be casualties tomorrow, I brought you out, so if we get the reward silver, those who are killed or disabled can rest assured, I, Wang Dou, will definitely give you what you deserve My family will never lose a penny, but if someone doesn't give me a face tomorrow, gets weak before the battle, and drags us back, then I won't give him a penny, and I will let the elders in the castle know , so that his family can't hold their heads up!"

"Uncle Wang, don't you still trust us? The year before last, more than a dozen Tartars came to plunder the fort. Have we ever persuaded you?" A man laughed.

Wang Dou nodded, quite satisfied, walked over and patted the man on the shoulder, "Okay, if uncle dies tomorrow, you will take over as the conductor! If you get the reward, remember to make new clothes for auntie."

After finishing speaking, he waved his hand, "It's getting late, everyone, hurry up and rest, recharge your energy, and grab the first prize tomorrow morning."

Everyone was excited, but a little nervous in their hearts. After listening to Wang Dou's words, they hurriedly dispersed, and some packed up their things, found a good person, and explained to each other that if they died, they would pack up and entrust Those who survived were sent back to their families.

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(End of this chapter)