Chapter 149: Lianjie
Sun Jie was also dumbfounded.
On the way to Nanjinguan, Ma Qiancheng was still thinking about how to survey the battlefield terrain and bring a few generals with him. Is it necessary to bring all the thousands of men? But his eldest brother came all the way to help him, and he was his own soldier. He wanted to do whatever he wanted, so he suppressed his words and didn't say it out loud. Unexpectedly, when he arrived at the pass, Brother Ma raised his head and glanced at the pass. With a wave of his hand, there was a bang of clappers, and the gang of brothers with white poles screamed and rushed forward!
There was no battlefield preparation, no siege equipment, no division of labor... not even the indispensable "meal" before the war, just, just, just rushed forward!
Then there were people crawling on the wall under the rain of arrows!
And then... less than half an hour later, the door was opened from the inside - Nanjing Pass, which had been blocked for more than half a year, was broken!
Sun Jie, who looked like he was dreaming, almost pinched himself to verify it, and hurriedly asked his guards to rush back to the south to deliver the order: the army must gather urgently and enter the customs immediately to guard against a counterattack by Baoning's Zhang Hu! Although he gave the order and had full confidence in his troops, Sun Jie knew very well that it would be impossible without half an hour - just a few battalions scattered around the southern county town taking turns to gather, put on armor, and form a team. It would take a long time, maybe more than an hour if we drove over again. After all, I was wearing dozens of kilograms of iron and I couldn't run even if I wanted to!
What to do during this time? Baoning is only separated from Nanjinguan by the Jialing River. No one knows whether the thieves built a pontoon bridge. If there is a bridge and Zhang Thief comes to counterattack, the brothers who Brother Ma just fought with can withstand the physical strength. Are reinforcements coming? Thinking of this, Sun Jie secretly gritted his teeth: Let's fight. If it doesn't work out, he and the guards will defend the door at all costs. No matter what, he must let Er Lei snatch his eldest brother back to the camp...
Unexpectedly, following Brother Ma up the wall, the young military officer was once again dumbfounded by what he saw in front of him for the second time in just an hour!
There is really a simple pontoon bridge in the river: dozens of small boats connected sideways with wooden planks on top. However, the deserters at Nanjinguan had cut the rope on the other side. The south side on their side was still tied to the shore, and the north side near Baonyeong had been washed to the center of the river by the river. Zhang Thief's possible counterattack was obviously Don't worry anymore.
What surprised Sun Jie was not the pontoon bridge, but Ma Qiancheng's group of soldiers with white poles: at this moment, half of them were already in the river, shouting, floating and sinking!
Oh, well, to be precise, they were crossing the Jialing River by force!
I saw the soldiers on the shore tacitly lining up their long spears on the ground, one upright and one behind the ground. They placed a dozen of them, and they used two spears at the head and tail to pierce each other through the iron rings between them, and hooked each other. Bite the iron ring, tie a few hemp ropes at the connection, and build a square shelf. Then he took off the rattan armor pieces wrapped around his body and spread them on the shelf, then threw in a few rattan plaques, and a raft was set up in front of his eyes - not even a cup of tea! Then several people dragged the raft and jumped into the river. On each raft, there were at least three or four people, and as many as five or six people, except for one person standing on the raft holding a few bows - the bow strings must be absolutely waterproof, otherwise they will be useless. ——The others were lying on the sides and paddling with their hands. Those who were good at water simply jumped into the river and swam while pushing the raft across!
Because the broken pontoon bridge was floating in the river and was in the way, the white soldiers crossed the river in the west. Some rafts were washed up on the pontoon bridge by the rapid river water. Seeing that it would be difficult to cross for a while, the white-poled soldiers in the water and on the raft simply worked together to drag the boat. It seemed that they were trying to re-erect the pontoon bridge. Get up - well, now it's not Sun Jie who should be worried about the opponent's rapid deployment of troops through the pontoon bridge, but Zhang Hu!
Scattered arrows were shot from the top of the city on the opposite side, but no one paid attention to them. Of course, there were only a few dozen archers at best, and the killing effect was extremely limited.
Boryeong City was in chaos. Needless to say, Wu Dazhuang, who had just been stabbed to death, and even Sun Jie, who had been in battle for a long time, were frightened and confused by the scene in front of him, not to mention the ordinary soldiers on the Baoning wall - such a siege method, This kind of forced crossing was unheard of, not to mention that no one had ever seen it before!
Fortunately, the city gate official was relatively smart and realized that something was wrong. He immediately closed the city gate and locked in the Nanjin Pass defenders who were running behind and did not have time to escape back to the city. Crying enough...
However, the city gate official obviously didn't know one thing: when white soldiers entered the city, they almost never had to go through the city gate!
Hearing that a powerful enemy was coming from Shaanxi, Fang Ge took two battalions stationed at Tieshanguan and Liangshanguan to protect Lizhou Wei's lair a few days ago. Because the Nanjing Pass blocked Sun Jie for more than half a year, and there were many civilians in Baoning City. He had just organized 8,000 auxiliary troops, and Zhang Hu also asked Fang Ge to take away 5,000. Currently, Zhang Hu is stationed in Baoning. The headquarters has 1,500 combat troops and 2,000 auxiliary troops. Zhang Hu's four battalions totaling 2,000 people, one battalion and one thousand auxiliary troops released from Nanjin Pass - there is no hope at this time.
Hearing that a large group of mountain ghost-like guys appeared out of nowhere and were crossing the river and climbing the wall, Zhang Hu ordered the war auxiliaries scattered in the city to gather urgently. He and Niu Youtian ran towards the south wall in a hurry, without even armor. There's still time to wear it. Panting, he rushed to the city head and ran into Wang Biao and Li Song, who were responsible for the defense of Nanjing Pass. Perhaps because he was not used to the hot environment in Sichuan, Wang Biao had been sick recently, and Li Song accompanied him into the city. Look at the doctor, but at this moment, the dog officers and soldiers actually invited a group of mountain elves and wild monsters from nowhere to fight!
Li Song took off a few iron helmets from the heads of the recruits guarding the wall. After a few people put them on, they looked around despite the increasingly dense arrows fired from under the wall. They all saw despair in each other's eyes - - Most of the combat troops and auxiliary troops are scattered in Nuoda's Langzhong City, everywhere in the southeast, northwest and northwest. Not only will it be impossible to complete the armored assembly in a while, but it will also be impossible to restore the organizational structure! In this era, the reason why the imperial court clearly stipulated that all officers and soldiers were not allowed to enter the city unless it was urgently necessary and had a formal order from a superior civil servant. Violators would be considered treason. It made sense: the city at this time was limited in size and it was impossible to have any There are large open spaces such as modern squares and parks, and the roads are also very narrow. When the troops enter the city, unless they are scattered among the people's homes, there will be no place to live! And scattered in people's homes - don't forget, one of the main sources of soldiers is the exiled prisoners, and the others may not be good people - thousands of these guys poured in and scattered everywhere... There is a high probability that this city will be almost gone without waiting for the enemy to attack!
Many of Zhang Hu's subordinates followed him into exile for thousands of miles and narrowly escaped death. When they were serving as frontier soldiers, they had never even entered the small county town of the frontier fortress. They finally made it to the bustling capital. How could they let go of such an opportunity to enjoy happiness? Let alone ordinary soldiers, even the officers did not know where they were doing something immoral in a hurry. How could they gather to prepare for war? At this time, the people's expectations were so low that it is unbelievable for today's people - you know, when Taizu used the three-foot sword to drive away the Tartars, the troops he led also committed murder, arson, robbery and rape! What did the great grandfather who loved his people like his own son do? Grandpa Taizu issued three orders: no arson, no killing without reason (emphasis added), women who were taken into the camp, married and unmarried separated - for a few days (continue to highlight), those with husbands and families You can take it back, but what to do if no one takes it... Well, Grandpa Taizu didn't say, you just have to figure it out yourself, you know!
This kind of "benevolent government" actually received heartfelt and heartfelt gratitude from all the people in the occupied areas!
Run, there is no other choice, if you delay for a while you may not be able to escape! People were already jumping up on the distant city wall one after another. The terrified defenders were not so much blocking the attack as they were shielding themselves to protect themselves. Everyone was using all their strength to delay the inevitable death.
Zhang Hu, Niu Youtian and other key members were all from the cavalry team, and the horses were ready-made. In the chaos, several people got on their horses and went straight out of the north gate under the escort of their personal guards. Cangxi is a small county and we can't defend it. We should go there first to rectify the escaped soldiers, and then continue north to meet Fang Ge and then make plans - but I don't know if Fang Ge can stop the strong enemy from the north. Once defeated, if the dog officers and soldiers attack from the north and the south, it will be all over!
The ravaged people in Boryeong City were already numb. Every day, he carefully serves the kings who live in their respective homes. No matter day or night, as long as the kings are interested, they will drag their women into the house. At the beginning, the women will still struggle to dodge. After a long time, they know Nothing can be changed except that they will receive a severe beating or that their husbands and children will lose their lives in vain. As long as the kings signal, they will go in obediently... When one or two or two or three kings get tired of living there and leave, Kings who are tired of living in other places will move in... days like this seem to last forever. The only good thing is to distribute grain. The kings will go out every few days, and sometimes they will even take the people to the grain depot to get some rice and beans. When they are full, there will always be some left in the pot, so make do with it. I can eat most of it.
However, hearing cries and shouts of death from all over the city, the people once again fell into boundless fear: although they suffered humiliation, they had gradually become accustomed to this kind of life that was even more humble than ants. The original kings have run away, and the new kings don't know what means they will use to vent their desires on themselves! The common people have already summed up their experience: the most terrifying thing is that when the city was first broken, the soldiers who were red-eyed with blood had just experienced a narrow escape from death. Some people had lost their relatives and friends forever not long ago. Struggle or even symbolic hiding will be regarded as a threat and will be eliminated without hesitation with the bloody steel knife in hand! Only when they slowly calm down from the madness of excitement, anger, and fear can they be considered to have recovered half of their lives. Then, the cycle of miserable life will begin again.
The people huddled at home finally saw the white-armed soldiers through the cracks in the window panels: dark skin, lean, short and powerful figure, sunken eyes and flat nose, stains of blood on the body, strange-shaped weapons in their hands, and mouths A completely incomprehensible language...the fear rising from the bottom of their hearts almost squeezed them to the point of complete collapse.
However, the people were wrong. Although in real history, "freezing to death without demolishing houses, starving to death without looting" is just a myth, the military discipline of the white-pole soldiers does have a considerable reputation. Well, to be precise, it’s just for the common people. They have done a lot of things like grabbing supplies, fighting for water sources, etc. from friendly forces. It was Qin Liangyu who, according to the dowry’s military book, formulated relatively strict rules for the white-pole soldiers. Military discipline is stronger than almost all regular armies in the Ming Dynasty.
Sun Jie changed the order from guarding the gate to entering the city. An hour later, his troops finally crossed the pontoon bridge just repaired by the white pole soldiers and entered Boryeong City. Ma Qiancheng patted Sun Jie on the shoulder: "Brother, it's up to you to clear out the remaining bandits. Brother, I can't even speak a few words in Chinese. I only recognize the people wearing armor and holding swords on the battlefield as enemies. I can't mix among the common people." I can’t tell the difference.”
Sun Jie hugged his fists heavily: "Okay, big brother. You take the brothers to have a rest first, and we'll have a drink later!"
Sun Jie knew that he was in for a great harvest: by occupying the city so quickly, Thief Zhang had no time to take away the food and arsenal materials that soldiers regarded as their second life, well, there was also treasury silver.
When order slowly returned to the city, Sun Jie and Ma Qiancheng came to the treasury side by side. The young military commander said sincerely to his brother Ma: "Brother, don't be polite to your brothers. Food, silver, and weapons are all here." Here, teach your brothers how to get it."
Ma Qiancheng chuckled: "Okay. I'll take some grain, and I'll take 30,000 taels of silver. Each brother who died in the battle will get 100 taels, and the others can get 350 taels. Don't be polite to your brother, I'll get some pig iron bowstrings from the arsenal, but I won't need anything else. My brother's soldiers can't use your weapons, and the iron armor is even more cumbersome. My brother's rattan armor is more convenient for climbing mountains."
Sun Jie was moved again, and for a moment he didn't know how to answer. Ma Qiancheng punched his shoulder hard again: "It's the same sentence again. The word "brother" can only be said in words! Brothers are good men who stand up to heaven and earth. Don't do this! We didn't enjoy the drinking session last night. Let's have another one tonight. The military situation is on fire. Tomorrow you go chase the thief and my brother goes home. After you kill the thief Zhang, come and have a drink with your brother. happy!"
Sun Jie nodded: "I will allocate a thousand auxiliary troops to my brother to transport food."
Ma Qiancheng waved his hand: "No need, no need! Don't think, brother, these people are smaller than you Han soldiers, but they have good endurance when climbing mountains and ridges." Then he lowered his voice and followed Sun Jie'er. Bian said, "It's not like you don't know. When the Yang Rebellion in Bozhou was fought, your sister-in-law's five hundred dowry soldiers 'wrapped their grains and followed them' - her Zhongzhou soldiers could carry grains with them in battles, and her brother's soldiers would be responsible for carrying grains to their home." No, I won’t be laughed to death by her! Hahahaha.”
Having said that, Zhang Hu and others all ran away from the official road, and more than 200 large and small ships parked on the outskirts of the city were captured by Sun Jie. The next day, Sun Jie still forced Ma Qian to take dozens of ships.
What neither of them expected was that once Baoning said goodbye, they would become brothers forever. Ma Qiancheng was falsely accused of treason soon after, and Sun Jie's bright future was almost ruined.
The reason was actually because of this great victory!
Off topic. Soon after, in Boryeong Mansion, which had slowly restored order and vitality, another terrible tragedy happened quietly one after another: for several months, all the babies born in Boryeong Mansion were drowned by each family, and no one was spared. Because they are all "thieves". Some of them happened right under the eyes of the government, but still no one cared about it: this kind of behavior was the unanimous consensus of the officials and the people in this era, and it was not until the Manchu and Qing dynasties that things changed - in the Manchu and Qing dynasty, women who had become humiliated had to commit suicide! Omit some words!
