Quyang County is affiliated to Dingzhou, Zhending Prefecture. It is a treasure land with outstanding people. There are many prime ministers such as Lin Xiangru, Du Bi, and Wang Anzhong, and more than 30 marshals and generals including Li Zuoche, Li Jin, and the four brothers Di. Huang Shigong, Du Taiqing, Yang Qiong and dozens of other philosophers, historians, military strategists, strategists and sculpture artists all came from Quyang County.
Especially Huang Shigong. According to legend, Zhang Liang's mentor Huang Shigong, who was as famous as Guiguzi, wrote the "Book of Carving", and only then did people start the practice of stone and wood carving on Huangshan Mountain.
By the Western Han Dynasty, sculpture had flourished, and Quyang County was praised as the "hometown of sculpture" by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Since then, Quyang stone carving has entered into glory, its skills have become increasingly sophisticated, and carving artists have emerged in large numbers. The "One Lion and One Cauldron" carved by the famous sculptor Yang Qiong during the Yuan Dynasty was called a masterpiece by Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty.
At this time, outside Quyang County, Li Dingguo was playing with a stone-carved fishing boat. On the exquisite fishing boat, there was a fisherman and two ospreys, which was very realistic.
Ai Nengqi on the side was sitting on the ground, looking at the various units of the Rogue Firearms Battalion that were attacking the city in the distance. He saw three hundred artillery salvos bombarding the city wall. Quyang County's city defenses had been completely destroyed, and the defenders in the city were completely destroyed. The army suffered heavy casualties, and there was almost no counterattack at this time. This siege battle was more like a "siege exercise". Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi were calmly beating the firearms battalion soldiers and horses with actual combat.
"General, the scouts have been sent out. It is estimated that we will receive news from Xingtang County later tomorrow. Should we make some preparations in advance?"
Li Dingguo said: "Preparation? I think our best preparation is to remain unchanged in response to all changes, and wait until the next song is played."
After Yang County, we will be stationed in the city, waiting for the rear troops to arrive, and then advance north together. "
Enengqi said: "I'm afraid His Majesty won't agree. According to the strategy, our firearms battalion is the vanguard of the army. We have only one goal, which is to attack north and hit the city of Beijing. If we stay and delay the attack speed, we You will definitely be punished.”
"There's nothing we can do about it!"
Li Dingguo said: "I always feel that the situation in Xingtang County is not optimistic, so before we figure out the situation, let's stop first to avoid the trend of going in alone."
Ai Nengqi nodded, that's fine. Anyway, in the Dashun Army, the firearms battalion is used to lead the charge. They are not Li Zicheng's confidants. If he doesn't think about himself, who will care about the life and death of the firearms battalion soldiers?
boom!
Suddenly, the south city tower in Quyang County ahead was bombarded by artillery. Dust and rubble fell from the sky, and the city gate fell down with a loud bang.
Enengqi stood up excitedly and said loudly: "The city is broken!"
Li Dingguo was not as excited as Ai Nengqi. Quyang County was already in his pocket. If Li Dingguo hadn't been interested in training troops, the Firearms Battalion soldiers would have captured the city two days ago.
"You first enter the city with 20,000 armored soldiers and control every part of the city as soon as possible. I will lead 10,000 gunmen and then enter the city. The valiant cavalry and artillery troops will be stationed outside the city."
"Got the order!"
Immediately, Ai Nengqi shouted strangely, mounted his horse and rushed forward, and the guards of the brigade also followed suit.
It was already approaching dusk. After Ai Nengqi led 20,000 armored soldiers into Quyang County, less than half of the
Within an hour, the Ming Dynasty Sun Moon Jin Tao Flag on the top of the city was taken off by the bandit soldiers and thrown to the bottom of the city. Then they were replaced with the black military flag of Dashun and the large banner of the Firearms Battalion.
Upon seeing this, Li Dingguo sent orders to all ministries and led 10,000 gunmen into the city to assist in defense. At the same time, he ordered 15,000 cavalry and artillery teams to camp in the south of the city.
After entering the city, Li Dingguo felt very uncomfortable looking at the dilapidated city inside and outside that had been bombarded by 300 artillery pieces. The people in the city also suffered a lot of casualties due to the shelling.
So Li Dingguo ordered some money and food to be allocated from the army to appease the people in the city. He then ordered Ai Nengqi to go outside the city to command the cavalry and artillery teams, and build a strong camp as soon as possible. He rushed to the county government office in the city first, and then deployed The defense of the city.
Li Dingguo divided the 10,000 gunmen into four teams, stationed on the four city walls respectively, and the 20,000 armored soldiers were divided into five teams. In addition to the separate defenses to help defend the city defense, there was also a team of 4,000 armored soldiers stationed at the county government office in the city as a mobile Use of force.
This arrangement mobilized the 30,000 soldiers and horses who entered the city. Until nightfall, the deployment and construction of the defenses in the city and the barracks of the cavalry and artillery teams outside the city were not completed. A lively scene.
But at this time, Li Dingguo was looking at the map in the county government and thinking about the situation, especially the situation in the direction of Xingtang County, which always troubled Li Dingguo. In addition, where are the more than 100,000 troops of Liu Yan's tribe? Why can't the scouts sent by Dashun battalions find any trace of Liu Yan's tribe?
"It's chaos, everything is chaos!"
Suddenly, Ai Nengqi strode in angrily,
Said: "These bastards started having fun as soon as they entered the city. Until now, the defenses of all departments are not in place. I am really angry!"
Li Dingguo frowned slightly and said, "We just camped outside the city for a few days. It's not okay to do this just after entering the city! You immediately lead people to patrol inside and outside the city. Anyone who delays the deployment or does not listen to orders will be killed without mercy!"
Ai Nengqi was stunned for a moment and said, "Isn't that the case? There's no war now anyway, so it's okay to let the soldiers take a breather."
Li Dingguo was a little angry and said: "There is no war? Liu Yan's troops are still wandering somewhere. What do you mean there is no war? Go immediately and rectify military discipline immediately!"
"yes!"
Seeing that Li Dingguo was angry, Ai Nengqi did not dare to neglect and hurriedly went to patrol the city.
Soon it was time to turn on the lights. Li Dingguo stared at various places on the map and always felt that Liu Yan's tribe should not be in the north, but should be in the south. Otherwise, with the intensity of the scouts from the Dashun Army battalions, traces of Liu Yan's tribe would have been discovered.
"General!"
At this time Ai Nengqi strode in and said: "Every department is basically deployed in place."
"That's good."
Li Dingguo asked: "Have all the scouts sent out come back?"
Ainengqi said: "Almost everyone is back. Only the scouts who went south to explore have not yet heard back."
"What!"
Li Dingguo asked sharply: "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
Ai Nengqi's expression changed and he said, "I thought the scouts might have been delayed on the way to the south, so I wanted to wait a moment."
"It's already time to turn on the lights, how long do you have to wait!"
Li Dingguo's face was already very ugly and he said to Ai Nengqi:
"There are more than thirty scouts sent out to the south. Under normal circumstances, it is impossible that none of them will come back to report the news. They must have encountered an army that refused to accept them at night!"
"Officers and soldiers? Where do they come from?"
"Who else can it be? Liu Yan!"
Ai Nengqi's expression also changed drastically, and he said, "Liu Yan's tribe is coming from the south?"
Li Dingguo's eyes were fixed on the map on the table, and he gritted his teeth and said, "This must be the case! But, where is Liu Yan, and where did he go north from? Where on earth is he!"
To the south of Quyang County, Xingtang County is to the west, Xinle County is in the center, and Dingzhou is to the east. Li Dingguo kept looking at the three black spots on the map and suddenly said loudly: "It can't be Xingzhou." Tang County, that is the focus of our Dashun battalions, Liu Yan will never stay in Xingtang County."
"Not even Dingzhou. It's too far to the east. Liu Yan's troops should have fought against Houying in Xingtang County before. It's impossible to attack Dingzhou in such a short period of time."
Ai Nengqi broke into a cold sweat and said, "That's Xinle County! If it's Xinle County, then we will be in danger."
Li Dingguo also said with a solemn expression: "Yes, we are in danger. Judging from the current battlefield situation, our firearms battalion is now alone in the deep state. The other battalions are moving closer to Xingtang County, and we are the only one in the north."
"Liu Yan is now like a bloodthirsty wolf, hiding in the darkness, waiting for his prey to fall alone. Whenever the opportunity arises, he will launch a killing blow!"
"General, we need to send someone to contact Li Laiheng immediately and ask him to lead his troops to come for support immediately!"
Li Dingguo nodded and said
Said: "You immediately arrange the troops and set off overnight. I will now go to the south city tower to take charge and redeploy the defense of various ministries."
"yes!"
Not long after, Li Dingguo led a large group of guards to the South City Tower. Although the gunmen and armored soldiers deployed here were already in place, many soldiers were very lazy. Most of them were resting on the city wall. , there are even many people already wrapped in clothes and lying on the ground, soundly asleep.
Li Dingguo was furious when he saw this, and shouted loudly: "Everyone, get up!"
The large group of guards behind them stepped forward one after another, beating the lazy soldiers with their weapons, and driving all the soldiers to reorganize their defenses.
Li Dingguo strode among the chaotic crowd and said angrily: "All the Dashun soldiers have experienced the reorganization of General Hong. Have you forgotten? It has only been so long and you are so lazy and without military discipline. This is a battlefield. If you want to die, don’t drag this general down, don’t ruin Dashun’s future!”
On the city wall, all the soldiers did not dare to show their anger. They took up defensive positions under the roar of their respective superiors. The chaos on the city gradually became orderly.
Li Dingguo nodded slightly when he saw this. There are still some results from the training of each unit. The soldiers of the firearms battalion are still accustomed to the behavior of the former bandits. Although the system and equipment have become more formalized, the psychology of the soldiers of each unit is still used to it. Classify yourself as a "bandit".
Li Dingguo then inspected the north, east and west, and at the same time sent people to give orders to Ai Nengqi, ordering him to do his best to rectify the cavalry and artillery teams outside the city, strengthen night guard, and set up ten patrols outside the camp.
Inside and outside, double the number of scouts and overt and covert sentries were deployed to guard against Liu Yan's surprise attack.
At this time, outside the south of Quyang County, Ai Nengqi received the order and began to inspect the Xiaoqi camp and the artillery camp, constantly urging the troops to strengthen their alert. When he was preparing to send out scouts, many captains and commanders rushed to the camp. Come to "protest".
"General, we just captured Quyang County, and the brothers didn't even have a hot meal to eat, and they still have to go out on patrol? Isn't it too much trouble?"
"Yes, military discipline is strict now. Brothers are not allowed to shovel the city, nor are they allowed to plunder, let alone play with women. There is no point in capturing the city. Now I can't even sleep. I have to go out to patrol at night. , will the officers and soldiers come to kill us in the middle of the night?"
Ai Nengqi said angrily: "What are you talking about! Whatever orders are given to you, you just follow them. Don't you want to disobey military orders?"
Everyone clasped their fists and shouted, but Ai Nengqi could see the disinterested expressions on everyone's faces, and then added, "You must remember, you have your own overall considerations when making a general." , you still have to execute military orders if you don’t understand, otherwise if something happens and you don’t need to restrain the general to enforce military discipline, I will kill you first!”
"Yes, my subordinates take orders!"
Then the officers from various departments began to mobilize their troops and prepare to go out on patrol.
Suddenly, Ainengqi waved his hand to stop everyone, and looked warily towards the dark night to the south. Through the wooden fence of the camp, he could only see the dark night, but Ainengqi's heart had already begun to beat violently.
"Send someone to investigate south immediately!"
"Now?"
"Now! Get the fuck out of here!"
"
yes! "
After a while, a large number of scouts rushed out of the camp on horseback and rushed south, and the black block disappeared into the night to the south.
