Han ride

Chapter 355

Huang Taiji is very calm. Although he has great ambitions, the current Houjin is also under his control. If he really forcibly attacks Jinzhou, Zu Dashou and his troops will definitely not be able to stop Huang Taiji's attack, but Huang Taiji However, Taiji knew that although the soldiers and horses of the Houjin Dynasty were very powerful, their overall strength was not as good as that of the Ming Dynasty. It could only be a strategy of cannibalism, destroying the money and food within the Ming Dynasty, plundering the population, and then carrying out such actions as harassment, alienation, and support. Waiting for the strategy, constantly consuming the power of the Ming Dynasty, and really wanting to annex the Ming Dynasty, he is not yet ready for this.

"The emperor is right. After the emperor said this, I also remembered that Li Xin's line of defense is very wide, and his number of soldiers and horses is not large, but I, Da Jin, did not want to harass the other party's herdsmen and weaken them. His power, but he voluntarily withdrew the herdsmen, retracted his power from the outside of Jinzhou City, and gave up a large area of ​​grassland. I am afraid that he wanted to create a defensive loophole for the border defense of the Ming Dynasty, and then waited for me to go. Attack. If the Ming Dynasty can be wiped out, he will just act righteously, occupy the Central Plains, and then become an enemy of my Dajin." Fan Wencheng's face was shocked, and if Huang Taiji hadn't reminded him, he really hadn't thought of this.

"Not only do we want to weaken the Ming Dynasty, but Li Xin also wants to weaken the Ming Dynasty." Huang Taiji thought he had seen Li Xin's true face clearly, and said with a little satisfaction: "That's why we deliberately made loopholes to lure us into taking the bait. The ridiculous thing is that Chongzhen children thought that Li Xin was loyal to him, and sent troops all the way to Yunzhong to ask for help. What a joke. I am afraid that even if Shi Yuanzhi can be the master, he will push that he can't be the master. They also sent someone to inquire about Li Xin who was on the way to the west. In this way, I don’t know how much time was lost. In addition to the dispatch of soldiers and horses, by the time they reach Xifengkou, our army may have returned to Shengjing .”

"What the emperor said is very true." Everyone also nodded repeatedly. These people did not believe that Li Xin was a person loyal to Chongzhen. Otherwise, Chongzhen would have ordered Li Xin's army to enter the Central Plains at this time to sweep away those rebellions.

Not to mention, Jiannu ordered Dorgon to besiege Zunhua, but he himself harassed the surrounding areas of the capital, and even went into Hebei and Shandong, plundered the population of the people, and robbed the money and food of the Ming Dynasty, but the officials of the Ming Dynasty were all lost , Seeing the Jiannu army coming, or closing the gates of the city, or abandoning the city, and many officials surrendered, for a while, the entire Hebei and Shandong areas were full of flames.The hateful thing is that although Huang Taiji stationed troops not far from the capital, he did not block the intelligence system of the capital. Emperor Chongzhen received all kinds of information every day, such as which officials surrendered, or which city was breached, and how many people were killed. How many people were captured and how much food was burned.In just a few days, Emperor Chongzhen had a few more white hairs on his head.

"Is there any news from Li Xin?" Emperor Chongzhen walked around in the hall, looking at the civil and military officials below, and said, "And where are the soldiers of Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng?"

"If you go back to the emperor, the Marquis of Zhengbei is far away. I'm afraid it hasn't reached the Marquis of Zhengbei at this time. As for the army of Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng, they have already reached the Julu area, and within ten days, they will reach the capital." Wen Tiren said quickly.

"Ten days? The daylily will be cold in ten days." Emperor Chongzhen's complexion changed, and he snorted coldly: "Decree to Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng that the army must arrive at the capital within five days."

Wen Tiren groaned secretly in his heart, a [-] army is not an elite, even if it is an elite, it is extremely difficult to reach the capital within ten days, and it is even more difficult to reach the capital within five days.

"Your Majesty, although the [-] army is large in number, if it arrives within five days, it will be considered exhausted. If Jiannu comes to attack, I'm afraid they won't be able to withstand it." Wang Yingxiong said quickly.This guy also knows some military affairs.Wang Chengen and others also echoed.

Emperor Chongzhen could only nod his head helplessly when he saw this, and he was also dizzy. At this time, after being reminded by everyone, he realized that although the people under his command are important, the army is even more important. Once the [-] army is lost Exhausted, the Emperor Chongzhen no longer had the capital to negotiate terms with Jiannu.

"I am guilty, I am incompetent, and let my people suffer so much." Emperor Chongzhen looked depressed. This is the second time Jiannu has entered the customs, and the damage caused may be even greater.

"Your Majesty, don't worry, I believe that as long as Zheng Beihou gets the news, he will definitely send troops to block the entrance of Xifeng." Wang Chengen quickly comforted him.He glanced at the people below, with a trace of disdain in his eyes. Li Xin wrote a letter to remind these guys, but no one took precautions. The Xifengkou Fortress was broken by Jiannu without even responding. Now Jiannu soldiers are approaching the city, but they still have to count on Zheng Beihou.What a bunch of incompetent people.

It's just that Wen Tiren below was thinking a lot. He suddenly thought of Li Xin's Fusheng restaurant in the capital. Li Xin opened a restaurant here, not just for selling wine. He must be searching for information about the capital. Li Xin had already got the news when the slave knocked on the pass.But then again, whether Li Xin will send troops to rescue him is beyond his consideration.

"Your Majesty, I thought that the soldiers and horses of Marquis Zhengbei might have been mobilized long ago." Wen Tiren stood up fiercely and said loudly.For a moment, the eyes of everyone in the entire court were on him, the chief assistant.

"Oh, sir, why do you say this? Could it be that Marquis Zhengbei has already contacted the cabinet." Emperor Chongzhen suddenly showed a hint of surprise on his face when he heard the words.

Wen Tiren's expression changed in shock. If such words had come from Chongzhen's mouth before, Wen Tiren would probably have thought too much. Could it be that Chongzhen suspected that he had contacted Li Xin?However, at this time, when Chongzhen said this, he was probably overjoyed!

"No, I guessed it. No matter how courageous I am, I would not dare to collude with foreign generals in private." Wen Tiren touched the cold sweat on his forehead.I was extremely anxious.Collusion between civil servants and generals was rare in the early Ming Dynasty, but there are still many such cases now.Wen Tiren also often does this kind of thing.

Emperor Chongzhen also suddenly realized that there was some ambiguity in what he said just now, and said with a smile: "How did you guess it?"

"In view of Li Xinbing, invincibility is second. The most important thing is that he can always find the enemy's loopholes before attacking. In this case, unless he first obtains the enemy's intelligence. Zheng Beihou has always been Wei Qinghuo Qubing prides himself on himself. Although he and Jianu are the mortal enemy, although he is going west to Qinghai, he must be very wary of the enemy, Jianu. He will not be unaware of the Jiannu army passing through the grassland. So I dare to deduce that Marquis Zhengbei may have discovered this problem a long time ago."

"But you haven't heard the news of him attacking Xifengkou yet?" Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed at first, but soon changed his color. If Li Xin's intelligence is really so powerful, he should send out the army before Jiannu sent troops. It was the news that passed on to the imperial court. Why wait until Jiannu invaded the Central Plains before acting?Thinking of it this way, Emperor Chongzhen felt a little unhappy.Did this Li Xin want to make Jiannu fight himself to the death, and he took advantage of it later.

Wen Tiren felt a pain in his heart. Originally, he wanted to make Chongzhen happy, but he didn't expect that Emperor Chongzhen's self-willed character would rise again at this time. He actually thought of this, and immediately said: "Now it is Shi Yuanzhi who is in charge of the cloud. , Shi Yuanzhi is just a civil servant, how can he interfere with Zhengbeihou's affairs? After Shi Yuanzhi got the news, the first step was to respond to Zhengbeihou, and let Zhengbeihou be the master. Zhengbeihou is a cavalry soldier. I heard that it was one man with two horses, marching very fast, maybe the journey will be delayed." Wen Tiren didn't know whether Li Xin's army was one man with two horses, but it is king to settle the matter quickly.

"En! Then tell me, when will Li Xin's troops arrive?" Emperor Chongzhen pointed at Wen Tiren dissatisfied.

Everyone in the whole hall was shocked again, this emperor is not easy to serve anyone!Wen Tiren wanted to cry even more. At this time, he suddenly missed the time when Zhou Yanru was around. At that time, he was the first and assistant minister, and he was in front of everything. What's the matter but I'm standing in front of him? General questions are good, but this question, Wen Tiren really felt that it was difficult to answer, so he looked at Wang Chengen standing in front of Chongzhen with his help-seeking eyes.

Wang Chengen saw it clearly, sighed in his heart, and had no choice but to say: "Your Majesty, this old slave thinks that Marquis Zhengbei's march is like a dragon, and when he comes out, he will be thunderous and hidden beyond the sky. This is the only way to escape Jiannu's attack." The sentry tower, under unexpected circumstances, occupies the entrance of Xifeng, blocking the way for Jiannu to return to the army. At this time, the emperor, he still ordered King Qin's army to approach Jiannu slowly, so as to cooperate with Zhengbeihou It is."

"Well, no matter what, Li Xin still needs to remind him. Tell Li Xin that as long as he can destroy Jiannu at the mouth of Xifeng this time, I will reward you." After hearing Wang Chengen's words, Chongzhen's complexion improved. Not a lot.He said a lot of words of encouragement and encouragement before letting everyone go.

"Master Wen, Master Wen." Wen Tiren was walking with his head bowed, when suddenly a shrill voice came from behind him, looking back, it was not Wang Cheng'en or anyone else.

"Thank you, Eunuch Wang just now." A wry smile appeared on the corner of Wen Tiren's mouth.

"Hey, it's all for the emperor." Wang Chengen sighed, then looked at Wen Tiren and said, "Mr. Wen Ge, please give me a letter, has the army of Zheng Beihou really set off?"

"This? I think that although Li Xin has ambitions, he is definitely not someone who sits and watches Jiannu wantonly burn, kill, and plunder in the Central Plains. I think Li Xin will definitely send troops." Wen Tiren thought for a while, and finally gritted his teeth and said .

Wang Chengen nodded and said: "Although our family has never seen Zheng Beihou, but through these years of observation, this person is a person who understands righteousness, and he will definitely send troops."

In fact, as Wang Chengen guessed, Li Xin had already dispatched troops, and he was leading the troops from the original Western Expedition. Although his troops were only 8, Li Xin was very smart. After the dispatch, in the middle of the night, half of them withdrew to the cloud, while the other 4 horses were one man and two horses. When the army was marching, who could tell clearly whether it was an army of [-] or an army of [-]!
When the news of Jiannu's dispatch of troops came, Li Xin asked Jiang Yi to lead the western expedition, and he himself led Gao Meng and others to sit in Yunzhong City.As soon as the Jiannu army passed through the Xifeng Pass, Li Xin led the army to set off from the cloud.

Xifengkou is located at the border of Qianxi County and Kuancheng County.It is a pass in the eastern section of the Yanshan Mountains. It was called Lulongsai in ancient times, and the road leads from north to south.Songting Pass was set up here in the Han Dynasty, which has a long history.At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao fought against Wuhuan in western Liaoning. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Murong Jun, the former Yan, marched into the Central Plains, and they all passed through this fortress.Later changed its name to Xifengkou.According to legend, there used to be a man who did not return after a long period of garrison. His father asked everywhere and came thousands of miles to meet. The father and son met at the foot of the mountain, hugged and laughed, and died of joy. They were buried here, because of this name.After arriving at Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, it was falsely called Xifenghui.In the third year of Ming Dynasty, Jingtai built a city and set up a pass, which is called Xifeng Pass.Today it is commonly known as Xifengkou.

"My lord, the terrain of Xifeng Pass is extremely dangerous. From the height of sixty feet in the south to the height of more than 300 feet in the north, the valley road formed by the Luan River makes it a natural passageway between the north and the south. At Xifeng Pass, The high cliffs on the left and right face each other, and the terrain is dangerous. From here, you go out of the pass and turn east to the Daling River Basin, north to the upper reaches of the Liao River in the West and the eastern part of the Mongolian Plateau, and go southwest to the capital through Zunhua and Jizhou, an important town in northern Hebei. "Xifengkou fifty miles In a canyon outside, Li Xin's army was temporarily stationed here. In the big tent, the first spies combined the information obtained by the Shanxi merchants' business brigades to create a sand table to map the geographical conditions around Xifengkou. The outline is extremely clear.

"How many soldiers are stationed at Xifengkou now?" Song Xiance asked again.

"There are only two Niulu. There is Jiala Ezhen leading. Originally there were five Niulu, but the other three Niulu have been released to hunt Caogu." The spy's answer surprised everyone. In such a dangerous place, there are only two Niulu soldiers stationed there. Isn't this Jiannu too trusting?Fighting against Jiannu these years, I naturally know that the soldiers and horses of Jiannu are deployed. In the Jiannu army, every 300 people set up one Niulu Ezhen, five Niulu set up a Jiala Ezhen, and five Jiala set up a Gu Shan Ezhen, that is to say, at the beginning, there were 500 people stationed in this place, which is barely enough to be stationed at Xifengkou, but there are only two Niulu at the moment, no more than 600 people.Such numbers are too bad.

"Two Niu Lu, this is too little! My lord, let the last general be the vanguard, and guarantee that Xifengkou can be captured with one charge." Gao Meng patted his chest and said loudly.

"It's easy to say." Li Xin snorted coldly, glanced at everyone, and said, "Although there are few people in Xifengkou, you have noticed that Xifengkou is not well defended. Xifengkou Pass City was built on the north side of the castle. , facing the mountain on three sides and the river on the other, there are actually three gates, forming a "day" character. The solid stone foundation walls form a whole between the gates, and there are six hollow archery towers between the city walls. It is connected to the Great Wall. Vehicles, pedestrians, etc. have to pass through these three gates. It can be said that the defense is very strong, and it is extremely impressive. Even if you raid and occupy one of the gates, the rest will be very difficult to attack. Yes, countless casualties, this is not what I want." After Li Xin said this, everyone could see clearly that the defense of Xifengkou can be said to be extremely good.Even if the first pass is captured, there are two other passes that are difficult to attack.

"There are only 500 people, and now there are only 600 people left. Isn't it easy to attack a Xifengkou?" Gao Meng whispered.

"General Gao, because we don't know when the remaining 900 of the enemy will arrive at Xifengkou, and 500 people are stationed at Xifengkou. We will have to pay several times the number of casualties before we can capture Xifengkou. You must know that Dorgon is besieging Zunhua, 500 people can defend for a day or two, and Dorgon's Zunhua army can return to defend Xifengkou in two days." Shi Yuanzhi explained in a low voice.

"How about I attack the surrounding mountains first, and then kill along the mountain." Yang Xiong came up with an idea.

"The surrounding mountains are steep, not to mention that it is very difficult to go up. Even if you go up and attack Xifengkou, you can only use bows and arrows, and the enemy will not be so stupid. There must be someone defending it. When the soldiers climbed up the mountain, I'm already exhausted, and I still have the strength to attack the enemy." Li Xin shook his head, he had thought about this idea before, but when he thought of such a high mountain, it was more than 1000 meters, and it would be very difficult for ordinary people to climb up.What's more, the soldiers are fully armored, how can they still have the strength to climb up, and the opponent is waiting for work, just a few dozen people can kill a large part of their own army!Such a strategy is to die.In this era, it is not the later generations. Machine guns are used, and wars are fought by weapons, not by the number of people.In this era, the final analysis is the number and elite level. In terms of weapons, unless there are epoch-making weapons, it is still difficult for weapons to determine the situation on the battlefield.

"You said just now that Jiannu and three Niulu have gone out to hunt grass?" Shi Yuanzhi who came with the army suddenly thought of something, and said to the spy.

"Exactly." The spy was taken aback when he heard the words, and nodded quickly.

"Haha, if that's the case, my lord, I have a plan to capture Xifeng's entrance without any effort." Shi Yuanzhi rolled his eyes and laughed loudly.

"Oh, please tell me, sir." Li Xin asked curiously.

"My lord, the location of Xifengkou is so important. Jiannu has garrisoned 500 people here. According to the strength of Xifengkou, ten times as much force can take it in a short time. The decision was made in case one's back road was cut off. Such a place is so important that there are very few 500 people, but the garrisoned Jiannu actually sent most of their troops there for a small profit. Dacaogu, it can be seen that the general who is stationed is just a person who sees profit and forgets righteousness, such a person is the most greedy, and his subordinates have a plan to make him die of this greed." Shi Yuanzhi said in Li Xin's speech He whispered a few words in his ear.Li Xin nodded repeatedly after listening.

(End of this chapter)