Vow to die at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 250 The First Eastern Expedition ([-])

When the third and fourth columns were blocked by heavy rain, the third and fifth columns were also trapped by heavy rain.Fortunately, the sun cleared the next day, and the third and fifth columns also embarked on the road to Kunshan.

Although the sky has cleared up, the road will dry out in a while, so the group members can only continue to walk with one foot deep and one foot shallow.In order to prevent the shoes from being lost again, the group members who lost their shoes desperately tied the replacement shoes to their feet.

The muddy roads reduced the marching speed of the troops by more than half, especially those vehicles carrying food and military supplies, which greatly slowed down the marching speed of the troops.After bypassing Yangcheng Lake from the south, the [-]th column came to a small town called Zhengyi.

What puzzled Chen Di, the leader of the third and fifth columns, was that this small town was empty. Judging by the debris, it seemed that they were in a hurry to leave.This made Chen Di very upset, because in Chen Di's impression, it seemed that this only happened when Tartars entered the village.

It seems that people here don't welcome the security group?
Starting from Zhengyi Town, all the market towns and villages in the direction of the third and fifth columns were empty.This gave Chen Di a bad premonition.

When Chen Di led the army to the city of Kunshan, he finally found out where everyone had gone.It turned out that they were all concentrated in the city. Looking at the dense crowd on the top of the city, it far exceeded the third battalion's estimate of Kunshan's troop strength.According to the information obtained by military intelligence officers, Tu Guobin, the Tartar and puppet governor of Liangjiang, seems to have less than 5 horses, and these 5 horses are distributed among Suzhou Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture, and Taicang Prefecture.In the siege of Suzhou City, it seems that the Tartars had more than [-] troops. This can be explained by the fact that the Tartars launched a young man to defend the city.But why are there so many people in Kunshan County?Could it be that they are all strong men?
However, after Chen Di thought about it, he felt that it was unlikely, because if they were all strong men without a certain number of soldiers to suppress them, I am afraid that these strong men would all run away.Looking at the densely packed heads on the city wall, I'm afraid there are quite a few Tartar soldiers.It's just that Chen Di was really wrong at this moment. Most of the defenders standing on the city wall here are regiments, and the regiments from the ten miles and eight villages around Kunshan are all concentrated in the city.Relying on the relationship between the clan and the same village, this is how the group training is organized like that.

Because the group training organized by the Tartars did not attract the attention of the person in charge of the Military Intelligence Department in Suzhou Prefecture, coupled with the shortage of manpower, Chen Di did not know about the group training.

At this moment, the regiment leaders in the city became nervous when they saw that the bandits had really come.Although everyone vowed to kill chickens and sheep before, and after the blood oath, they would be incompatible with the gangsters, but they hadn't seen the real gangsters at that time.Now that the gangsters really came, some timid people suddenly panicked when they thought of the bloody butcher knife that was about to cut at their necks.Some people think that there is only one word difference between regimental bandits and regiments. They seem to be a family. It is better not to kill the whole family.

Fortunately, what made these timid people breathe a sigh of relief was that the regiment bandits did not attack the city as soon as they came up, but chose to set up camp, which was also in line with their usual style of staging a stronghold and fighting silently.Every time the bandits arrived in a city, they would set up a big camp first, and then start to attack. The siege of the city was like this, and the same is true for the world hegemony. They all slowly advanced from one prefecture to one prefecture.Of course, this tactic of the regiment bandits is also different from Zeng Guofan's Hunan army's hard-lined strongholds. Victory is strategically defensive and tactically offensive.

Seeing that the regiment bandits were just camping, and had no intention of probing the attack, the regiment leaders went down to the city anyway.They came to the county government one after another to discuss the next battle with the magistrate of Kunshan.Although the magistrate's lineage now has only a few hundred yamen servants in his hands, the magistrate is in charge of the regiment training affairs of a county. In name, he is the highest officer of all the regiments in the county, so he naturally has the name to command the regiment's training.

Zheng Ningmao, the head of the regiment of Xinyang Town, has dozens of regiments under him because he has recruited more than 2000 people to practice bravery. At this moment, he is the most powerful in the regiment training.At this time, he said to the county magistrate worriedly.

"Lord Song, there are tens of thousands of bandits here now, and there are only more than ten thousand troops in the city. I'm afraid the defense of the city is a bit precarious! I wonder if the Governor has sent reinforcements?"

Before the county magistrate answered Zheng Ningmao's question, someone interrupted.

"Surnamed Zheng, don't talk nonsense if you haven't fought a war. Where did the bandits come from tens of thousands of horses this time? It seems that there are tens of thousands of horses at most."

The person who spoke was Chen Leping, the head of the regiment of Chenmu Town. Although the two hadn't had much contact in the past, they only became acquainted recently.But in the past few days of communication, Chen Leping was unhappy seeing Zheng Ningmao, and he just couldn't accept the other party's arrogance.Especially Zheng Ningmao has more than 2000 horses, while Chen Leping only has more than 1000, which is even more uncomfortable.

"There are more than 1 people, how can you, Chen Leping, be sure that there are only more than [-] bandits here? Besides, maybe the bandits still have hidden troops?" Zheng Ningmao retorted unconvinced.

It's just that Zheng Ningmao's rebuttal was in vain, Chen Leping just snorted and didn't speak anymore, as if he didn't bother to argue with Zheng Ningmao.Immediately, Zheng Ningmao was enraged, and he wanted to go up to reason with Chen Leping, and even if the theory didn't work, he would develop into a hand-to-hand fight.Seeing that the two regiments under him seemed to be about to fight, the magistrate of Kunshan hurriedly coughed heavily to signal his presence.If the county magistrate would have asked these two people to be dragged down to fight against the board, but now that the bandit army is forcing the city, he still has to rely on these people, so the county magistrate can only be more polite.

"Okay, now that the bandit army outside the city is approaching the city, there must be no infighting. This time, let's discuss how to block the attack of the bandits!"

It's just that the magistrate's words did not receive a warm response. Those landlords who had flattered him in the past were silent now, and some of the regiment presidents even regretted it.In the past, it was only rumors that the group bandits were powerful, but now they are not as famous as meeting them. Seeing tens of thousands of people gather together with their own eyes, the aura is really frightening.Some people's legs trembled just by looking at it. It's a good thing that they were excited when they inspected tens of thousands of armed forces like themselves and others!But this is no better than not knowing. Compared with the bandit armed, the group training of myself and others is really just a farmer.In particular, there is no regular army in the city, and there are no officers and soldiers who are the backbone of the regiment training alone. I am afraid that this is not far from the city's collapse.

What's wrong, you have to fight against the bandits?Some people have such thoughts in their minds.But not all regiments are always so cowardly. There are also some who want to make contributions and rely on group training to make achievements so that they can go to the officialdom to get promoted and make a fortune.Zheng Ningmao is one of them.

Seeing that no one spoke, Zheng Ningmao took the magistrate's words and replied.

"Lord Song, although we have more than 1 people, most of them are practicing bravery and can only defend the city. The most urgent thing is to ask the governor to send reinforcements!"

Zheng Ningmao repeatedly said that reinforcements were needed, Song Zhixian could only say helplessly. "But the governor is also surrounded by bandits in Suzhou City, and there is really no reinforcements."

Officials of the state are responsible for guarding the land, and Song Zhixian can't escape. He thought in his heart that if he really can't do it, he should die for the country, maybe he can get a good name that will last forever!That's what Song Zhixian thought, so he was very indifferent to death.

Zheng Ningmao was very nervous when he saw the end of the road. He was very utilitarian in his heart, so he really didn't want to die.It's just that the reality is so helpless, he actually listened to the magistrate's words by accident when the bandits attacked Kunshan, and brought all the bravery under his command into Kunshan City, which is really a dead end.

"Then please open the storehouse, release the grain and open the bank, and each of our families will also use all the assets in the city to reward Lianyong. We can only rely on them to survive!"

(End of this chapter)