The sound of the gong in the early morning was like thunder, exploding Zhangjiakou. The people in the shanty town cried out, packed up their belongings urgently, and swarmed towards the city.
Fortunately, these people were ordered to besiege the city and did not enter the city. Just on the periphery, start to lay out the encirclement. To prevent anyone from taking advantage of the chaos, it seemed that they also deliberately drove people from outside into the castle.
For a time, the two city gates of Zhangjiakou were full of people fleeing the city.
Zhangjiakou Fort is a fortified city and is not easy to defeat.
Therefore, the troops that arrived first did not attack the city immediately. Instead, they were running around to clear the place. Implement battlefield interdiction. The constant threats prompted the people to flee into the castle.
Wang Hao looked at the panicked people running towards the city and ordered: "Don't worry about those people, control the outside of the city first, and don't let the news leak out. No one or one horse is allowed to leave the city."
After all, the business groups in Zhangjiakou have an intricate relationship with the local guards and soldiers. If something happens to Zhangjiakou, they are likely to come to support. What we have to do now is to delay the news. The later the news is spread, the better.
Zhangjiakou Fort has a total of two gates. Very good lockdown. Just pay attention to driving these people from the outer shantytowns into the city. This will prevent the news from leaking.
With the arrival of the large group of people, An Sanxi came to a high ground outside the city and observed the situation in the city with a telescope.
"Did anyone escape?"
"Report, no one has escaped, we have set up two internal and external blockades. And a squadron has also been arranged to blockade the valley leading to Xuanfu Town in the south. It was passed in advance. No one can pass out. The news will definitely not spread. "Wang Hao said.
At this time, in the city, the heads of the eight major business groups were awakened one after another. At this time, it happens to be the time when you sleep most deeply. One by one, they were called up so early, and they immediately knew that something big had happened.
Fan Yongdou asked while putting on his clothes: "You can see clearly, they are soldiers and horses of Tuxie Tuhan."
"Young master, yes, you can see clearly from the city tower that the flag they are flying is Tushetu Khan's, and they even have his flag and drum representing the blood of the Golden Family. They cannot lend these things to others."
Fan Yongdou broke out in a cold sweat. There is only one possibility for the Mongolians to brave the heavy snow this season, and that is that they really can't stand it any longer. At this time, a group of hungry wolves came.
Fortunately, the camel team was sent out three days in advance. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to leave even if I wanted to at this time.
"Have you reported to Xuanfu Town and Datong Town?"
"Master, this time the Mongols are different from the past. They took control of the mountain pass last night. They only showed up at the city gate early this morning, and they didn't go to rob the shanty towns outside at all, but went around to race horses. It seemed to drive the people away. Enter the city."
Fan Yongdou gritted his teeth and said: "When did these Mongolian Tatars become so cunning? They are afraid that the news will be leaked, so they drive the people into the city to catch turtles in a jar."
"Master, what should we do? There is only one thousand soldiers in this city. There are actually only more than 500 people, and there are not even 200 who can fight." The housekeeper said anxiously.
"Why are you panicking? I'm going to see the old man. Please come forward and convene a meeting of the heads of the eight families to discuss countermeasures. Each of our eight business groups has more than 2,000 guards, plus the bodyguards in the city, Minzhuang , they couldn't get together 20,000 people no matter what. The castle is so strong, the Mongols are not good at attacking the city, and they won't be able to defeat it for a while. When the surrounding border troops gathered, the Mongols themselves retreated."
An Sanxi saw that the siege had been successful. The people outside the city have already run into the city. There is no one left outside the city. All that was left was the empty, messy thatched houses of shantytowns.
"Burn all the surrounding houses and knock down the remaining walls." An Sanxi ordered.
This is about clearing the obstacles on the road to attack. It is convenient for the army to attack the city.
The east gate and south gate were now closed. A large number of guardsmen ran up the city wall. Start playing defense. However, five hundred people could not stand on the city wall at all. Even defending a city wall is difficult.
Xuanfu Town is very large. At its peak, there were 150,000 troops stationed in Xuanfu Town.
But Zhangjiakou Fort is very small. There are wonders on all four sides of the city, and the city is three feet and two feet high. With two doors open, it is very strong.
That is to say, one side of the city wall is only five hundred meters long. The garrison only had half the actual number of soldiers, about five hundred people.
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Soon, the guards from the merchant group ran up the city wall to help guard. These business groups had a large number of firearms, all of which were illegally purchased from the border troops.
These firearms are very mixed, but there are also five to six thousand matchlocks. After all, the business group's property is in this castle, and their team's safety is still very important.
At this time, An Sanxi saw a column of smoke rising from the city.
Wolf smoke, wolf smoke was lit in the city.
An Sanxi was very sure that there were no beacons in Zhangjiakou Fort. Then this wolf-sheep was an impromptu idea they came up with and lit it up with some random stuff.
"Have all the beacons around been cleared?" An Sanxi asked.
Wang Hao said: "All the fifteen beacons around were taken down by our scouts. It was useless for them to light the beacons. There are no beacons around, and no beacons can be seen no matter how far away they are."
Fiberhome communication is like this. It requires station-to-station transmission. As long as one or two adjacent stations fail, the transmission cannot continue.
The troops controlling the beacons were the first to set out and touched off the surrounding beacons in advance.
At this time, a lot of broken wood was piled up in the square in front of Wenchang Pavilion in the city, and kerosene was poured under it. After it was lit, thick smoke rose up because the wood was damp.
But the effect was not good, because there were snowstorms during this period. Sometimes there was no wind, and sometimes the wind was strong, causing the smoke to drift.
Wenchang Pavilion has windows all around, and its shape is lighter than that of the building. Its plane is often square or polygonal. Usually there are partitions or railings around the corridor for overlooking and recreation.
Wenchang Pavilion is not too high. It is square, facing south from the north, and the platform is made of stone strips and bricks. The platform base is 8 meters high. The center of the doorway is the dome, with an incised Bagua stone as the upper center. Four streets in the east, west, south and north of Drum Tower were opened in the "Four Gates" of Wenchang Pavilion. Wenquxing is enshrined in Wenchang Pavilion.
There are large red characters engraved on the top of the four doors of the pier, which reads: Wenchang Pavilion in the south. North: Zhonglou. East: Drum Tower. The west says: "Mountain Tower". It has a single eaves and a mountain tile roof, with yellow and green glazed ridges. It is three rooms wide and two rooms deep. There are nine-crested beasts on the top, cornices, wings and horns, brackets and arches, etc. The craftsmanship is very exquisite.
At this time, the heads of the eight business groups gathered in Wenchang Pavilion to take charge. The confidants and staff of each family gathered here. The leader of the family soldiers is waiting downstairs. Everyone knows that once Mongolia comes in, it will wipe out all useful things here.
All livestock and people will also be taken to the grassland. But this time the people who came were the people of Tushetu Khan. They were the people of Outer Khalkha on the back of the Gobi, which was even more remote and poor. It was a bad day.
In the Jade Emperor Pavilion, there are two Taishi chairs placed at the main seat, and four chairs on one side facing each other below.
The two chairs at the main table were occupied by two local military officers. After all, no matter how powerful a businessman is, his status is still relatively low.
Zhangjiakou Fort is located on Shangxi Road (one guard general is stationed in Wanquan City) and has one garrison. Set up a defensive player in Laiyuan Fort. There are 7,603 officers and soldiers stationed on Shangxi Road. It was reduced in the middle of Wanli year, leaving 1,239 officers and soldiers. By the Chongzhen period, there were 1,199 officers and soldiers.
On these two chairs, one is guard Hei Yunlong, and the other is camp commander Wang Fen.
Hei Yunlong is a man of true ability and a loyal minister.
Hei Yunlong (1585-1644), courtesy name Congwu, was born in Datong, Shanxi Province. He was born in Qianwei, Si Xuanfu, Wandu (now Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province).
He has held the positions of Zhangjiakou garrison, Geyubao general, deputy general of Jizhen, general of Xuanfu town, and general of Shanhaiguan.
During the "Jiji Rebellion" in the second year of Chongzhen (1629), he accompanied Datong's general soldiers Man Gui to the capital Qinwang, and fought a battle with the Hou Jin army under the walls of Beijing. He was defeated and captured, and was placed under house arrest for more than a year. He later waited for an opportunity to escape back to the Ming Dynasty. .
In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), Li Zicheng's army defeated the Xuanfu. Hei Yunlong cursed and refused to surrender, and he and his sons Hei Mingxiao and Hei Minglian were martyred at the same time.
"Everyone, you are all big local merchants. Today, the Mongolian Tatars suddenly besieged the city. I and General Wang Fen have limited troops. Let's discuss together today how to defend the city. After all, if the city is broken, you will suffer the most. .”
After Hei Yunlong finished speaking, he glanced at the eight family heads and representatives sitting below.
Sitting below are eight people including Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yunfa. These people are the actual leaders of various business groups.
