Following Xu Hongji's angry rebuke, he immediately ordered his generals to start gathering elites.
Although the Confederate Army has a total of 80,000 sergeants, most of these 80,000 sergeants come from the Nanjing Jingying Camp and the Jiangnan Area Guards.
The allocation between Nanjing and Beijing is basically one-to-one. All the official positions in Beijing are naturally also available in Nanjing... The only difference is that the emperor is still slightly scrupulous about taking free money, corruption and bribery, and at most he is half corrupt. Here in Nanjing , I don’t have so many worries anymore.
As for the guardsmen...this is the Chongzhen Dynasty, not the Hongwu Dynasty, I can only say that they all understand.
Can soldiers from the Nanjing Camp and Guards Station fight? No, the soldiers who can really fight are the private soldiers and servants raised by noble families!
These five thousand elites come from every noble family.
Just standing here, looking at the well-equipped equipment and the high spirits of the soldiers, you can see that these elites are completely different from the guards and Nanjing camp soldiers.
However, the guardsmen and Nanjing camp soldiers were not given up by the nobles. The nobles reluctantly spent 200,000 taels of silver to support the army. Under the layers of dividends, each soldier could probably get a reward of five taels of silver. Therefore, I felt a little more energetic and willing to fight against the odds when fighting.
However, since he was about to leave the city to meet the enemy, Wei Guogong Xu Hongji gathered an army and reluctantly took out 100,000 taels of silver from his more than 30 million taels of property to reward five thousand elites, making a total of 20,000 taels. They planned to attack at night and catch the enemy troops by surprise outside the city.
Thinking of the boxes of silver taels, Xu Hongji's heart was bleeding. That was a hundred thousand taels, one-third of his total family property!
But when life and death are at stake, it’s worth spending so much money!
At this thought, Xu Hongji gradually calmed down. Looking at the setting sun, he took a deep breath, then raised his sword and said: "Generals, the country is in trouble now. Your Majesty has been deceived by a villain. It is we and others. It’s time to serve the country with great honor! The Confederate army is loyal, and this battle will be won!”
"Must win!"
…
Since ancient times, night battles have particularly tested the commander's ability.
Famous generals may not necessarily be able to command a night battle, but those who can command a night battle are all famous generals!
After all, it was dark at night, and soldiers didn't know if they had fallen behind or lost their way. They often became dizzy while fighting, and they didn't know where they were. Before they completed the strategic goal, they were already dizzy.
Xu Hongji is very confident in himself.
who is he? He is a descendant of Xu Da, the famous founding general of the Ming Dynasty and King of Zhongshan. Although he has never led troops to fight, he has trained soldiers and is familiar with military books.
And the most important thing is that he is a famous general, and his bloodline has nobility that is different from others!
It was already past Chou hour, and the sky was pitch dark, with only the dots of firelight on the city wall barely illuminating the direction of progress.
Fortunately, the starlight was quite good tonight. Under the bright moon, it illuminated the path forward for Xu Hongji's night attack. Therefore, after secretly opening the gap in the city gate, Xu Hongji led more than a hundred elite cavalry and walked out from the south gate. , galloping around sideways.
When five thousand elites took the lead and left the city, Xu Hongji couldn't help but feel a little surprised, and at the same time he became more and more contemptuous of the opponent who was flying the flag of Wei Guogong.
The enemy generals don't know how to fight. It seems that together they can help me accomplish this great feat and become Han Bai in the world!
And just when Xu Hongji was full of ambition and was about to laugh out loud, he suddenly heard a heavy voice: "Wei Guogong, there is a lot of noise when we leave the city. The enemy has not made any reaction, so there is an ambush!"
"so what?"
Xu Hongji didn't care, and then laughed and said: "Even if there is an ambush, the athletes in our army can still kill him and make an immortal contribution!"
After saying that, Xu Hongji raised his whip without hesitation, pointed in the direction of the military camp selected by Xu Da, and said: "March!"
When he heard Xu Hongji's voice, Zhao Zhilong couldn't help but turn pale as he said these words. He felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, and his mood suddenly fell to the bottom.
I misjudged the wrong person, Xu Hongji is a loser!
But now, Zhao Zhilong could only go all the way to the dark side, bite the bullet, ride his horse and follow Xu Hongji, marching towards the north.
Although Xu Hongji was very satisfied, he was still a little nervous.
The troops around him were getting smaller and smaller, and he didn't notice at all. Instead, he swaggered towards climbing over the hill.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
At this moment, the earth-shaking shouts of killing suddenly exploded, rising into the sky in an instant and sweeping across all directions!
After hearing the shouts of killing, Xu Hongji couldn't help but be stunned, and then he saw the 'sea of fire' charging towards him!
"what's the situation?!"
Xu Hongji was extremely shocked. Before he could recover, the sound of firecrackers crackling in his ears!
"ah!"
With the sound of gunfire, not only soldiers fell down around Xu Hongji, but with the blessing of night, the surrounding soldiers who had not fallen behind could basically only see the people beside them.
Listening to the heart-rending screams of their comrades from the front, the soldiers who were already confused by the night attack suddenly became particularly frightened.
Especially the little light that appeared in front of them was like the cavalry of demonic species in the sky moving quickly under the light of torches, charging towards them!
"Kill! The general has an order to conquer Xuzhou. Each man will be rewarded with one tael of silver! Brothers, kill!"
"The Ming Dynasty will be victorious! Your Majesty will be victorious!"
"Those who kneel down and beg for surrender will avoid death!"
"Kill! Kill!"
"..."
At the same time, all kinds of killing sounds came from all directions, which made people dizzy for a moment. They had no idea where the sounds came from. They only knew that there seemed to be enemy troops everywhere!
"Don't panic, form an array, form a square and circular array! Arrange according to the formation I will be practicing in the mansion!"
Although Xu Hongji was also panicked, he still shouted loudly according to his understanding of the military formation in his mind, trying to integrate the soldiers: "Uncle Xincheng, hurry up..."
Before Xu Hongji could finish speaking, he was shocked to find that the Xincheng Bo Zhao Zhilong, whom he had placed great hope in, retreated without a fight, abandoned his own troops, and ran away with dozens of cronies!
And just when Xu Hongji was stunned, the cavalry charging with the 'Sea of Fire' was already close at hand!
Through the firelight, Xu Hongji could even see the charging face!
To be honest, there were not many charging cavalry, only one or two hundred cavalry. However, due to the difficulty in seeing the situation at night, and the shocking visual effect of the "Sea of Fire", there were constant shouts of killing all around, which temporarily caused Xu Hongji's army to fall into chaos. An army of ten thousand people was overwhelmed by two hundred cavalry!
"kill!"
Under the cavalry charge, Xu Hongji's army collapsed easily. Xu Hongji was also panicked. He drew his sword and looked around at a loss. He had to break out in the direction of Xuzhou under the protection of a few loyal servants.
But at this moment, a large number of soldiers surrounded him, and among the soldiers, a general who looked quite elegant and seemed familiar to Xu Hongji was looking at Xu Hongji silently.
"I am the Duke of Wei, Xu Hongji. Take me to see your general at once!"
Although he was surrounded by people, Xu Hongji was not worried and instead spoke proudly.
He believed that with his status as Duke of Wei, he would at most be beaten to the bottom and demoted to a commoner, and he would never die because of this.
who is he? He is the Duke of Wei, the most wealthy family in the Ming Dynasty!
After hearing Xu Hongji's words, the veteran who looked somewhat familiar did not hesitate, raised his riding crop, whipped Xu Hongji hard, and angrily said: "Who do you think you are?" ?!”
Xu Hongji felt a sudden pain, and immediately became angry. He immediately cursed at the veteran: "You are really blind. I am the Duke of Wei, a descendant of the Xu family, the most important hero of the Ming Dynasty, and a noble man of Tianhuang!"
As for the veteran, Xu Da, the leader of the Six Kings of the Ming Dynasty, he just looked at Xu Hongji coldly. For the first time since he came to the Chongzhen Dynasty, he had been peaceful and angry.
"Tianhuang nobleman? I, Xu Da, was born in a farmer's family. I threw food in the soil and ate it. I never remember that I was born a nobleman!"
Xu Da raised his whip and drew a bloody mark directly on Xu Hongji's face: "I, Xu Da, have spent my whole life as a soldier, but I never thought that my final fame would be lost to you unworthy descendants!"
Xu Hongji was shocked when he was in pain.
Along with Xu Da's words, he also remembered where he had seen this familiar face.
In the clan ancestral hall, there is a portrait of the first Wei Guogong enshrined.
In other words, the person in front of him is his ancestor, King Xu Da of Zhongshan!
"How can this be?!"
