Weird past in the countryside

Chapter 43

During the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, Yuan Chonghuan, a famous general of a generation, led his troops to fight and shocked Liaodong.

Zu Dashou was the most powerful general under Yuan Chonghuan, and he made great contributions in the defense of Ningyuan, the victory of Ningjin, and the defense of Beijing.Later, Emperor Chongzhen used Yuan Chonghuan's plan of alienation and imprisoned Yuan Chonghuan for questioning. Zu Dashou was both chilled and angry, and led the army to rebel in a rage, destroying Shanhaiguan and heading east.In desperation, Emperor Chongzhen asked Yuan Chonghuan to write a letter to recruit him, asking Zu Dashou to make contributions to redeem Yuan Chonghuan's crime, and Zu Dashou agreed.Although Zu Dashou won the battle later, Yuan Chonghuan was executed by Emperor Chongzhen, and Zu Dashou had to return to the front line of Jinzhou to defend.

After that, Zu Dashou led Yuan Chonghuan's old troops, the most elite troops of Ming Dynasty - Guanning cavalry, stationed in Ningyuan, Jinzhou, Dalinghe and other fortresses to resist the invasion of Qing soldiers.

In the fourth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1631), Zu Dashou was ordered by Sun Chengzong to guard Dalinghe City to defend Jinzhou. In August of that year, Huang Taiji surrounded Dalinghe City with his all-powerful troops.Zu Dashou couldn't break through the siege, and the reinforcements were repulsed, so he had to close the city and stick to it.After holding on for three months, the food in the city ran out, and they began to kill horses to eat.After killing the horses, they began to eat the people.The common people ate up, and began to eat the old, weak, sick and disabled in the army.The old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled in the army were all eaten up, and the next step was for the strong soldiers to kill each other.

"Records of Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty" records as follows: In the city of Daling River in the Ming Dynasty, food and salaries were exhausted, and the soldiers were very hungry.Dissect the remains and cook them, and hold the weak soldiers of the soldiers, kill and eat them (excerpted from the Internet).

The city has almost turned into a ghost town. At night, ghosts and wolves howl in the city, and evil and complaining ghosts run rampant.So Zu Dashou sighed: "Is there any reason for immortality in life? But for the country, the family and the body, the three are equally important. Now that I have devoted myself to serving the country, I only cherish my life." So he went out of the city and surrendered to Huang Taiji, and then he offered advice to Huang Taiji , he is willing to take a troop to Jinzhou and serve as an internal response in the city.But after Zu Dashou entered Jinzhou City, he organized a defense to resist the Qing army.Huang Taiji was so angry that he attacked Jinzhou and Ningyuan twice, but returned without success.Zu Dashou guarded the city for another ten years for the Ming Dynasty.

The time frame was fixed in April of the 14th year of Chongzhen. The Qing soldiers once again came to surround Jinzhou City. This time, it has been more than a year since the siege.

Zu Dashou stood on the general platform, counting troops in the school field. He knew in his heart that this was the last time he faced such an elite Guan Ning cavalry. The once mighty warrior was often chased and killed by thousands of Guan Ning cavalry. There are tens of thousands of people, whose bravery and ferocity can be imagined.But now there are very few left, and Zu Dashou is really unwilling to be trapped in the city.

Prior to this, Zu Dashou had rejected Emperor Chongzhen's edict ordering him to go to Beijing for an audience three times. He had already made up his mind that in order not to make the common people suffer, and to prevent the loss of all the elite troops under his command, he would surrender to the Qing Dynasty for the second time.As for his own consequences, he no longer thought about it.

After the counting of soldiers was over, Zu Dashou hurried back to the General Military Mansion in Jinzhou City, and urgently called for his own soldiers: "Go and call Ling Yunfei, the thousand general of Feihu Camp, to come and see me." The personal soldiers rushed away.

Not long after, a general walked in from the gate of the mansion, with a white robe and silver armor, a resolute facial line, like a crown jade, white teeth, red lips, piercing eyes, and sword eyebrows flying into the temples.He walked into the hall of the government office. He was Ling Yunfei, the commander of the Flying Tiger Camp under Zu Dashou's command.When he saw Zu Dashou, he hurriedly bowed to salute: "Ling Yunfei, the last general, has met Mr. Chief Soldier."

When Zu Dashou saw it, he hurriedly excused himself, ordered his servant to bring a bowl of water, and said with a wry smile, "Yunfei, now the city has been out of food for a long time, and there is no more tea, so let's drink a bowl of plain water."

Ling Yunfei bowed his hands and thanked him.Zu Dashou changed the topic: "Yunfei, you have been with me for many years, and we get along like brothers. Now, our enemy is facing us, and the city may be destroyed."

Ling Yunfei stood up hurriedly: "Yunfei is not talented, and he is willing to lead his troops to fight the enemy to the end, and die in the battle, wrapped in horse leather."

Zu Dashou patted Ling Yunfei: "I know you have always been brave, but now I have a more important thing I want you to do, I wonder if you are willing?"

Ling Yunfei said solemnly: "But according to the general's order, Yunfei will not hesitate to die."

Zu Dashou nodded: "I won't hide it from you, I am going to surrender to Huang Taiji for the second time."

Ling Yunfei shouted: "No, general. I know that it is not easy for generals to defend the city. For many years, they have been preventing the Qing army from entering the customs. Now we would rather be broken than complete. I hope the general thinks twice."

Zu Dashou waved his hand, motioned Ling Yunfei to sit down, and then said: "Yunfei knew that I followed Governor Yuan to block and kill, but in the end the supervisor was cut to pieces, I was already disheartened. But you also I know, the Guan Ning iron cavalry brought up by Yuan Dushi, I really can't bear them to fall into the hands of traitors, so I took them to garrison Jinzhou City. You have also experienced the tragedy ten years ago, I don't want to repeat the same mistakes, It is better for me to surrender, on the condition of protecting the safety of the people and soldiers, I believe that Huang Taiji cannot slaughter the city."

Ling Yunfei also knew that Zu Dashou's words were true, and seeing that he had made up his mind, he didn't say anything more, he just asked: "What does the general want me to do?"

Zu Dashou let out a long sigh: "Yunfei, the Guan Ning iron cavalry left by Governor Yuan has gone from ten to seven or eight now, and the rest of the Guan Ning cavalry, including one thousand elite cavalry, are under your command. I want you to bring Let them go eastward and sneak into the customs." After speaking, Zu Dashou stood up and said, "Come with me."

Ling Yunfei followed Zu Dashou into a secret room in the back tent, and came to a map.Zu Dashou pointed to a piece of land outside the pass on the map, and said, "Yunfei, look here. This is Zhuma Ridge outside the pass. Underneath here, there is an underground palace left by the previous dynasty. It is said that the project inside is huge and can accommodate countless people. Thousands of people. I want you to lead your men and horses and pretend to be ordinary people. Once I surrender, the siege will be broken, and you will go out of the city, meet here, and enter the underground palace."

Ling Yunfei asked puzzledly: "General, how do you know that there is an underground palace? Also, what is our mission to enter the underground palace?"

Zu Dashou suddenly shouted: "Come out."

At this time, a person came in from the secret room, dressed in Daoist attire, and after entering, he gave a speech: "You two generals, the poor Taoist Yuan Duliang is very polite."

Seeing Ling Yunfei's puzzled expression, Zu Dashou quickly introduced: "Yunfei, this is a family brother of Governor Yuan and a close friend I have known for many years. He has been enlightened for many years and has profound magic power. The news about the underground palace is Du Forgive the real person for finding out, and he knows the way to enter the underground palace."

Yuan Duliang nodded and said: "The underground palace was originally secretly supervised by Emperor Yuan Shun of the previous dynasty. It was intended to be used as a refuge in times of crisis. It is said that there are a large number of rare treasures hidden in it, and the construction process is very complicated. , everyone is only responsible for their own process, and they don’t know what other people do. Even so, those who participated in the supervision were killed in the end, and those who were killed died of injustice and became grudges. After I heard the news, I visited hundreds of grieving ghosts in the vicinity, and finally figured out the secret of the underground palace."

Zu Dashou went on to say: "Your purpose is to enter the underground palace and smuggle out those treasures. We use these Guanning cavalry as the basis, and we have a lot of money to protect them. If I surrender and survive, I will contact you in the future. A decisive battle with Huang Taiji. If I die, each of you will have your own fate." After finishing speaking, Zu Dashou took off a sword from the wall and handed it to Ling Yunfei: "Yunfei, this is a treasured sword in my collection. I'm afraid I won't be able to use it in the future, so I'll give it to you as a souvenir." Ling Yunfei took the sword and looked at it, the sword was more than a foot long, only a little longer than an ordinary dagger.Even including the scabbard, the whole body is pitch black, and the weight is very heavy.Taking out a section to see, the sword body is also black in color, with faint blue.On the body of the sword near the hilt, there are two characters engraved: Mo Chi.

Ling Yunfei liked it very much after watching it, and quickly thanked the general soldier.After that, he ordered more than a thousand iron cavalry under his command to dress up as ordinary people, mix in the city, and wait for the opportunity.In fact, the so-called cavalry, the war horses have long been slaughtered and eaten, and the cavalry has long been turned into infantry.

Sure enough, on the second day, Zu Dashou lowered Huang Taiji, and the Qing army entered the city.However, Huang Taiji did not kill Zu Dashou according to the agreement, nor did he massacre the city.After the city gate was opened, Ling Yunfei and Du Liang led the team to disperse and leave Jinzhou City. After going through ups and downs, they entered the Zhumaling area with difficulty.After assembling the team, it was found that there were only seven or eight hundred loyal soldiers left among the Guanning iron cavalry of more than a thousand people. They changed into the military uniforms they brought out, and under the leadership of Du Liang, they searched around the mountain for two days, and finally Found the entrance to the dungeon.The so-called entrance to the underground palace, in Ling Yunfei's view, is just an ordinary mountain depression, but the surrounding environment is absolutely beautiful.

Du Liang led the people to wait in that mountain depression for another two days, and finally waited until the night of the full moon. On one side of the mountain depression was a pool full of purple lotus flowers.The water in the pool was splashing, and the splashes were getting bigger and bigger, as if something was agitating at the bottom of the water.Looking up, it is also a bright purple starry sky, full of stars, and the bright moon shines alone.

Du Liang held a two-foot long spear alone, standing by the pool.The moonlight cast his shadow on the ground, gradually extending towards the mountain.Just when the shadow of the Zhang Er spear was about to meet the mountain, Du Liang suddenly swung the spear, shook his hand and threw it out.The spear was nailed to the mountain in one fell swoop.

It was as if a switch had been pressed on the mountain, and a door rumbled open.A black hole appeared inside.

Du Liang commanded the team to go in. Seeing this, Ling Yunfei was about to step into the entrance of the underground palace with a golden knife and a sword in his waist and hips.Du Liang stopped Ling Yunfei.

Ling Yunfei didn't understand, so Du Liang reached out and took out a letter, and handed it to Ling Yunfei: "Secret order of the general army."

Ling Yunfei hurriedly unfolded the letter to read, and it turned out that it was Zu Dashou's own secret order, ordering him to follow Du Liang's command after finding the entrance of the underground palace, and he will surely use it for success in the future.

Seeing that Ling Yunfei had finished reading it, Du Liang said in a low voice: "As you know, the general, the general ordered me to come here. Besides those treasures, there is another item that is the most important thing. Even if those treasures are not needed, we have to find that one." thing."

Ling Yunfei was puzzled, and hurriedly asked: "What is that?"

Du Liang looked at the teams that were continuously entering the underground palace, and said in a deep voice: "Yin Yang blood is wishful."

(End of this chapter)