Outside Xizhimen is where Xizhimen Station, the starting point of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, was located. In Xiao Letian’s previous life, this was the Beijing North Railway Station. All passengers taking trains from the capital to Inner Mongolia, Chifeng and other directions must go here!
In other words, the predecessor of Beijing North Railway Station is Xizhimen Station, and Xizhimen Station is the starting point of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway built by Zhan Tianyou. But why did Zhan Tianyou choose this place as the starting point?
That's because, before the railways, the area outside Xizhimen was also a place where commerce was developed, echoing the Dongbianmen and Guangqumen areas, which were the two major logistics bases in the capital.
There is a canal over Dongbianmen that leads directly to Tongzhou. People say that the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal ends in Tongzhou, but it is not true. Ancient people relied heavily on water transportation. There is still a small canal from Tongzhou that leads directly to Dongbianmen. Goods from the south can be shipped here. Disembark directly into the capital, especially food ships!
The goods went to Tongzhou along the Grand Canal, and some of them then took the waterway to Dongbianmen, while some of them changed to the dry road and went directly to Guangqumen to enter the bustling market in Nancheng of the capital!
But it is impossible for Sijiucheng to rely solely on logistics from the south. The northwest also has business contacts with Mongolia. How are these goods stored and distributed?
Just outside Xizhimen, there is a large area of warehouses and markets. It is said to be a grass market outside the city gate, but it is actually a commercial town with a permanent population of no less than ten thousand people!
Don’t forget, there is a waterway outside Xizhimen that connects Kunming Lake and Weitang and then from Jishuitan to the capital. Boating is possible here!
Cixi would go to Kunming Lake or Xiangshan to escape the summer heat every midsummer. Most of the time, she would board a dragon boat at the dock outside Xizhimen and go straight to Kunming Lake along the waterway!
This waterway also has a name. The area around Xizhimen is called Zhuanhe River, and the way past Xizhimen to Kunming Lake is called Nanchang River!
This waterway existed until after the founding of the People's Republic of China. When Xiao Letian was a white-collar worker in Beijing in his previous life, he used to sail on this small canal several times and go straight to Kunming Lake for fun!
Get on the boat from Beizhan and go directly west through the Zoo and Zizhuyuan Park, all the way to Kunming Lake. It is a very leisurely tourist route in Beijing! Very suitable for slow travel!
But in the Qing Dynasty, this waterway could carry more freight tasks. The Summer Palace has not been built yet, and Cixi did not often live there, so 90% of the waterway's capacity in a year is freight!
Precisely because this place is considered an important point between water and land, Zhan Tianyou chose this place as the starting point of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway!
Such a large commercial market, with warehouses connected to shops, military camps close to civilian houses, and courtyards one after another intertwined together, makes the terrain extremely complicated!
The 800 soldiers of the Xishan Battalion relied on the buildings to maintain a defensive posture. They only suffered some casualties when they were shot by machine guns. After they began to disperse and cover, the three treasures on the city wall were helpless against these people.
When the Fifth Master's cavalry appeared, the Sambo on the Xizhimen Gate Tower shouted, "Light the torch! Give the Prince a light!"
Suddenly, fires burst into the sky along the city wall of Xizhimen, and piles of firewood were ignited. The flames soared into the sky, turning half of the sky in the grass market outside the city red!
At this point, the 800 officers and soldiers of the Xishan Battalion knew that they had been fooled. "Fuck! We have fallen into the trap. There is no such thing as the prince opening Xizhimen. Someone gave us false information!"
"Damn, this is going to trick us to death!"
To the east of Cao Shi is the tall Xizhimen Tower and Wengcheng. The city wall and moat blocked their attack!
The south and west sides were all full of cavalry, and the horses' hooves were rumbling like thunder. Only the north side was a little quieter, but there was only a gap!
To the north of this quiet gap, there is a fire burning more and more fiercely over the reed pond, and there are faint shouts sweeping across the earth!
what to do? Should we break out from the limited safety gap in the north? Or are you stuck here? Without senior officers to make decisions, these company commanders suddenly fell into a tangle.
The advantage of low-level officers is that they have access to lower-level soldiers, and they train and eat and live together. The two sides establish a reliable and close relationship, which is very beneficial to controlling the troops.
However, the disadvantages of low-level officers are even more obvious. Their grasp of the overall situation of the battlefield is very weak, and they have no skills on the map. They are completely unable to form a strategic perspective on the battlefield!
Today there is only one way for them to survive, which is to break out from the north. If they can attack Guangtong Temple in the northwest of the river, they may have achieved a miracle!
But it's a pity that the highest official of these people is the company commander, a junior officer who can't even understand a contour map!
On the ever-changing battlefield, it is impossible to find the Eye of Life and Death in just a few seconds!
There was no time for them to waste. Just when these people were debating whether to break out or hold on, the vanguard horses had already rushed into the grass market, and these soldiers could only be forced to hold on!
Yi Pei was cruel today. As soon as the vanguard rushed into the grass market, his military orders caught up with him!
"Your Majesty has an order! Fire attack...reduce casualties...burn everything outside Xizhimen, leaving no one behind!"
The kidnappers howled excitedly, "Oh... the golden belt that kills people and sets them on fire! Burn them to death... not a single one is left..."
Burning torches are rolled and thrown into houses and warehouses. Masters of mounted archery can even use gauze to temporarily roll out burning rockets on horseback!
The three treasures on the top of the city were even more excited when they saw the prince's thunderous methods!
"Okay! Okay...throw down all the torches on the city wall and add fuel to the prince's fire!"
Bundles of torches were thrown down from the city wall. As the barbarian soldiers were galloping at high speed, they dexterously fished out the moon from the bottom of the sea. They could pick up bundles of torches by leaning to the side!
A torch soaked in pungent kerosene turns into a bright red burning torch when flicked on the flame. Throw it into a building and it will be difficult for people to step on it!
Thick smoke billowed and flames shot into the sky. The soldiers of the Xishan Camp did not force them out. The people who were hiding at home were the first to be unable to bear it. The people who did not escape in advance rushed out of the smoking houses like crazy, screaming and running around in the streets. !
Some elderly women and children with inconvenient legs and feet could only kneel in the corner and kowtow to beg for mercy!
How could these savages care about the life and death of the people? Some of them even went so far as to kill them, deliberately hitting and trampling them with their war horses even though they were not blocking his way.
After all, the Royal Forest Army and the guards of the capital were not that barbaric, and they still had some kind thoughts towards the people. Seeing that they were in a bad posture, they quickly rode on horseback to trap these crazy savages.
"Your Majesty has an order! Do not harm innocent people...let them disperse and run for their lives!"
"Are you a fucking lunatic? Those are ordinary people, why do you come up and cut off their heads?"
Head count! Many savages still follow such a barbaric reward and punishment system!
