Chapter 330
After a short rest, Cheng Shijie led more than 2,800 cavalry from the Annan Army of the Ning Navy. Although they only had more than 2,800 cavalry, they had more than 10,000 horses. Each person carried four horses. In addition to sophisticated In addition to the Dutch warmblood horses, they also carried two captured Mongolian war horses.
These two Mongolian war horses were mainly responsible for the consignment function, transporting a large amount of bullets, artillery shells, grain, grass, and supplies. There was no other way. As the Ning Navy almost entered the era of comprehensive firearms, it relied more on logistical supplies.
Although two Mongolian war horses can transport three to four hundred kilograms of medicine, bullets, artillery shells, quilts, clothing and dry food, the problem is that these supplies are far from enough for Ning Haijun.
However, there is no good way now. The Ning Navy now has more than 1,500 Shire horses. These Shire horses are all attached to the main force of the Annan Army. These horses do not move fast. Although they have strong Its shipping capacity cannot keep up with the speed of Dutch warmblood horses.
Just when Cheng Shijie was about to set off, Xu Guangqi appeared in Baihe.
Although the capital is only more than a hundred miles away from Baihe, for an old man who is nearly seventy years old, this journey has already cost half his life. Fortunately, the four-wheeled carriage that Cheng Shijie gave to Xu Guangqi had a very good shock-absorbing effect, otherwise Xu Guangqi might not be able to carry it.
Xu Guangqi held Cheng Shijie's hand with his cold hand and said worriedly: "The situation is now extremely dangerous. The entire Beizhili has no available troops. Once the Jiannu invades, I'm afraid Hou Jing's Rebellion will happen again! Beiping, The lives of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty, as well as these thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, now rely on you to protect them! If you need anything, just ask, I will satisfy you even if I sell the iron, I just ask you to fight to the end and turn the tide, please!"
"Mr. Xu Ge, the most important thing for you is to take care of yourself. If you are unable to hold on, the Ming Dynasty's court will become the world of villains!"
Cheng Shijie said solemnly: "Mr. Xu Ge, please rest assured, as long as Cheng Mou is alive, the Tatars will never think of causing trouble!"
Cheng Shijie now knew that the hundreds of thousands of Jiannu troops had marched westward. They went west along the Horqin Grassland, passed through Baicheng, arrived at Taining, and now entered the Kaipingwei territory.
It can be said that Cheng Shijie did not dare to rashly mobilize the main force of the Annan Army under Shen Mingyu's command to go south, just to be wary of Jiannu's false shot. Once Jiannu suddenly went south in Shanhaiguan or Yongping Mansion, at that time, no matter how dangerous it was, Cheng Shijie could only Can turn around and protect the capital.
For the Ming Dynasty, no matter how dangerous the military situation in various places was, it was even said that Lanzhou could be lost and Taiyuan could be lost, but the capital city could not be lost.
In the Ming Dynasty, the lives of the people and the lives of the civil and military officials of the court were really not as important.
"Please Beiping, meet all the soldiers!"
Xu Guangqi bowed deeply to the naval officers of Zhongning.
Now Taiyuan is lost, Shanxi is like a gaping hole in the embankment, hundreds of thousands of Mongolian troops are sweeping in, and the surrounding state capitals are eyeing them like hungry wolves eyeing a piece of fresh meat. All this is weighing on Xu Guangqi's heart like a big stone. , leaving him breathless.
Although there was no conclusive evidence, Xu Guangqi still instinctively felt that the fall of Taiyuan was definitely not as simple as it appeared. If Shanxi could not be blocked, Ming's innocence would really fall!
At the moment, the only person Xu Guangqi can rely on is probably Cheng Shijie, who is regarded by the court bosses as a rebel Ning Haijun and who has long been regarded as disobedient.
But the problem is that Cheng Shijie can mobilize too few troops now, less than 3,000 cavalry. Even if Cheng Shijie can overcome all difficulties and rush to Taiyuan day and night, will he still be able to turn the tide?
Xu Guangqi didn't have much confidence.
Seeing the exhausted Ning Haijun soldiers following Cheng Shijie without hesitation and setting off in the cold wind, Xu Guangqi felt extremely depressed.
Xu Guangqi couldn't hold back the anger in his heart and roared: "Those people deserve to die! Look what good things you have done."
Xu Guangqi felt that the world was spinning and his body was falling to the ground. However, Li Changqiao next to Xu Guangqi was the son of Xu Guangqi's friend Li Zhizao. Li Changqiao hurriedly supported Xu Guangqi.
Xu Guangqi endured his physical discomfort and said: "Long Bridge!"
"exist!"
"Leave me alone, go to Liaodong, go to Liaodong to find a bedmate!"
At this time, Xu Guangqi had lost confidence in the princes of the court. If his health was okay, he would definitely be willing to fight with them. Even if he couldn't fight, he would bite them a few times.
But the problem is that his body has reached the point of exhaustion, and it is time to return to the embrace of God.
Li Changqiao frowned slightly and said, "What Mr. Ge means is..."
"Is there still hope for Ming Dynasty?"
Xu Guangqi stroked his white beard under his chin and looked at the howling cold wind with his cloudy eyes.
For state affairs, he looked exhausted and senile, and said slowly: "There is the giant bandit Li Zicheng in Huguang, there is Dashun Song in Shandong, there are Jiannu in Liaodong, there is Zhungar in Hexi, and there is Mobei Mongolia in Shanxi. There is no day in this world." Tranquility. Among them, Li Zicheng's disaster was the most severe. Dengfeng, Yiluo, and Songshan all fell. Li's thieves claimed to have a crowd of 300,000. If Lu Xiangsheng had not been stationed in Huguang, Huguang would have fallen long ago. Now Lu Xiangsheng finally blocked it. Li Thief, the Mongols are heading south along Taiyuan and seem to be joining forces with Li Thief in Yuncheng... Do you think there is still hope for the Ming Dynasty?"
Li Changqiao said: "I dare not discuss such important national affairs in my humble position."
"It's just you and me here, and your words won't fall into the ears of a third person. What do you dare to say?"
"Why didn't you use Cheng Shijie earlier?"
Li Changqiao knew that as early as when the Dashun Army captured Dongchang Mansion, Xu Guangqi recommended Cheng Shijie to the court and asked Cheng Shijie's army to quell the rebellion of the Dashun Army. But this proposal was rejected.
If the imperial court wanted to use Cheng Shijie, then at that time, Ning Haijun would definitely not ignore the chaos in the Central Plains, but would send his troops to the east for a small day.
Isn't this battle due to the court's decision-making?
Strategic passivity cannot be compensated for by tactical victory. In Li Changqiao's opinion, these were the more mistakes and mistakes made by the imperial court?
As early as the fourth year of Chongzhen, Lin Dan Khan was defeated by Huang Taiji. Lin Dan Khan sent envoys to the court, hoping to unite with the Ming Dynasty to fight against the slaves. However, the princes ignored them, and then Lin Dan Khan led his troops to attack Datong, killing tens of thousands. Military and civilian.
It is obvious that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, but...
Now that the Great Wall defense line is riddled with holes, Cheng Shijie claims to be in charge of nine frontier armies. However, three frontiers are in the hands of Hong Chengchou, and the Guanning Army in Liaodong Town is in the hands of Zu Dashou. With his timid and fearful temperament, he will never take the responsibility. This heavy responsibility, besides, he does not have the ability to revitalize Guan Ning's defense line.
"some!"
Li Changqiao said: "Mr. Ge, you must not fall. Cheng Shuai only leads less than three thousand cavalry now. He... is moving forward lightly. He needs help!"
…
Taiyuan Prefecture, Pingding Prefecture.
Yaolingsi Mountain in the south of Pingding County is a branch of the Qiling Mountains in the middle of the Taihang Mountains. Here there are many mountains, steep ridges and many strange peaks, one of which is called "Jiangtailing".
At the foot of Jiangtai Ridge and on the bank of the Yangsheng River is the location of Pingding Prefecture. This is a high and flat hillock surrounded by mountains. It runs east-west and stretches for more than ten miles. The loess layer is very deep. To the south of Tugang is Yangsheng River, one of the main rivers in Pingding County, and to the north is its tributary Xiazhuang River. The two rivers converge at the foot of Fengtai Mountain.
Pingding Prefecture is the gateway of the Three Jins, the balance between Shanxi and Hebei, and Niangziguan Tianxian is the northwest gate of the capital. Its strategic position is very important.
In the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Mongols, Pingding Prefecture has always played a tragic role. During the Ming Dynasty, Yingzong also led the Waci cavalry to rush all the way to Beijing. Pingding Prefecture was severely harmed; Jiajing During this period, the Tatar cavalry advanced eastward, and Pingding Prefecture was brutally killed and plundered.
The most recent military disaster should be regarded as the fifth year of Chongzhen. Lin Danhan had a brain convulsion and brought Monan Mongolia to Pingding Prefecture to kill everyone.
It was precisely because of the defeat of Pingding Prefecture that when Xie Zhiliang was the commander-in-chief of Taiyuan Town, he rebuilt Pingding Prefecture and the passes, and increased the number of troops stationed in Pingding Prefecture from the original 800 to 1,400. People, in fact, Xie Zhiliang wanted to expand the Pingding Garrison Division into the Pingding Prefecture Garrison Battalion and increase the garrison to 3,000 troops.
It is a pity that Taiyuan today is no longer the prosperous Taiyuan in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Taiyuan Town simply cannot afford to support so many soldiers and horses.
At the beginning, the general He Sui launched a mutiny in Taiyuan City. The general Xie Zhiliang was unprepared and was shot in the stomach by the traitor He Sui, whom he regarded as a confidant. He was seriously injured and fell into a coma. Xie Zhiliang, who was seriously injured, rushed out.
When escaping from Taiyuan City, Xie Shangkui had two ways to escape. One way was to escape southward, passing through Jinzhong and Lu'an.
Xie Shangkui considered that He Sui had surrendered to the Mongolian Tatars. If they ran south, they would definitely not be able to outrun the Mongolians. What's more, Pingding Prefecture is only 800 miles away from the capital. At the marching speed of the Mongolian Tatars, it can take at most two to three days to bypass Pingding Prefecture and reach the capital.
In desperation, Xie Shangkui had to retreat to Pingding Prefecture and County with Xie Zhiliang, who was seriously injured. Fortunately, Xie Zhiliang's life should not have been cut off. On the way to Pingding Prefecture, Xie Shangkui also met a group of people fleeing from Taiyuan City. Among these people was an outstanding doctor named Lu Quan.
Lu Quan is from Taiyuan. When he went to Yan'an four years ago, he encountered the rebel army. Because he had medical skills, he was naturally included in the rebel army. During the journey, he went to Liaodong last year. After developing in Liaodong, Lu Quan Quan has his own drug store. Two months ago, he returned to Taiyuan in person, preparing to find his parents.
Unexpectedly, they encountered the Taiyuan chaos. Lu Quan, his father Lu Heren, his mother, nephew, sister-in-law, eldest brother and other family members escaped from the city. Fortunately, Lu Quan often dealt with gunshot wounds when he was in Liaodong. You know, Liaodong is not There are no restrictions on fire cannons, nor on traditional hand cannons, because accidental firearm discharges and accidental injuries to people are actually not uncommon.
Lu Quan looked at Xie Zhiliang's injury. Thanks to the cold weather, the wound was not infected and it didn't take long. He took the knife and started the operation. After half an hour of treatment, Lu Quan took out the lead bullet from Xie Zhiliang's abdomen.
After sleeping for most of the night, Xie Zhiliang woke up at dawn the next morning. Looking at the countless fleeing people, Xie Zhiliang commanded his own soldiers to gather the defeated troops and the young ones.
To be fair, Xie Zhiliang's prestige in the hearts of Shanxi sergeants is not low. When Xie Zhiliang traveled from Taiyuan to Pingding Prefecture, which was less than 200 miles away, he had more than 800 soldiers around him.
However, when Xie Zhiliang arrived in Pingding Prefecture, he found that out of ten rooms in Pingding Prefecture, nine were empty. Only a few Pingding Army soldiers were still looting supplies from several large armories, while more soldiers continued to flee eastward. .
Seeing this scene, Xie Zhiliang was very angry.
Regardless of his injuries, he let his soldiers carry him and block him on the mountain road.
"Shangkui!"
"Father is handsome!"
"Put up my handsome flag!"
As the flag-bearer erected the big Xie flag on a boulder beside the mountain road, the defeated soldiers saw the handsome flag fluttering in the wind.
"Thank you, Marshal..."
Xie Zhiliang supported his son Xie Shangkui. With Xie Shangkui's support, he could barely stand up straight. He looked at the hundreds of defeated soldiers with sharp eyes.
Some of these defeated soldiers were from Pingding Prefecture, and some had escaped from Taiyuan City. The defeated soldiers did not dare to look directly into Xie Zhiliang's eyes. After all, Xie Zhiliang was not an airborne general, nor a hereditary general, but was killed with a single blow. general.
Xie Zhiliang said: "You can do it, you did a great job! Taiyuan is a famous city in the world. It took several years or even more than ten years to conquer Taiyuan in every dynasty. It would be better for you to lose it without even fighting a battle." After defeating the enemy, you run away without looking back! You feel your conscience and look at it. The soldiers at the border are still fighting bloody battles. What shame do you have to run away?"
An officer who looked like a general from Pingding Prefecture said bravely: "Xie Shuai, I don't want to run away despite my humble position, but those officials ran away..."
"The officials were deceived by lard. They are not from Shanxi. They can run away if they want to pat their butts. You Shanxi children are also stupid and don't care about the life and death of the elders in your hometown, right? Are you still men?"
Xie Zhiliang's words made hundreds of defeated soldiers look ashamed and their heads lowered.
Xie Zhiliang's voice rose an octave: "I led people to block here to tell you that if you want to escape, you can! But you have to step over my handsome body first!"
The defeated soldiers were a little frightened and turned around to fight the incoming Mongolian cavalry. They narrowly escaped death. They killed Xie Zhiliang and escaped, but killed An with conscience! This is a dilemma. No one dares to say how to decide.
The scene was very quiet for a while. At this time, a soldier was still showing his filial piety. He snatched a donkey, which was carrying his old father.
The old father raised his hand and slapped his son loudly in the face.
--Snapped……
This slap in the face broke the awkwardness and anger at the scene.
The old man pointed his hand at his son and said, "You run away, kill me, and run away from Dad Xen's body."
The soldier covered his face and knelt on the ground: "Dad, dad, don't do this!"
An old woman sat down on the ground, pointed at her body and said: "You guys run away, run away from our corpses!"
The leader, General Xiang, trembled slightly, took off his helmet, took a few steps forward, bowed down to Xie Zhiliang, and said loudly: "How dare you have the courage to draw your sword in front of Commander Xie in a humble position! Chen Shuo knew that he was guilty of serious crimes, and he couldn't help but Dare to beg for forgiveness, just follow Commander Xie’s battle flag, die in battle, and atone for your sins with death!”
Under Chen Shuo's influence, all the defeated soldiers shouted in unison: "Die on the battlefield and atone for your sins with death!"
As the saying goes, if you clear the prefecture in three years, you will get one hundred thousand snowflakes and silver.
In fact, official corruption in the Ming Dynasty was also very serious. As the governor of Shanxi, Wu Di began to serve as the governor of Shanxi in September of the seventh year of Chongzhen. Up to now, he has only been the governor for more than a year. However, he is greedy for money. A good player, in just over a year, he actually got more than 200,000 taels of silver.
Although He Sui did not lead the mutiny in Taiyuan, he did embezzle the military expenditures allocated to Shanxi by Emperor Chongzhen using his internal treasury. Emperor Chongzhen gave Shanxi military expenditures of 400,000 taels, and he embezzled 280,000 taels of silver himself. The 120,000 taels of silver were divided among officials at all levels in the governor's office.
Wu Di was also a very particular person. He ate meat himself and asked others to follow him to eat soup. In fact, Xie Zhiliang, the commander-in-chief, only received 60,000 taels of silver, equivalent to one-seventh of the total military expenditure.
However, the responsibility for this matter cannot be placed on his head. In advance, he had already resigned from the court because of his poor health. It was Song Tongyin who took the blame.
However, just when Wu Gang was about to cross the Taihang Mountains along Pingding Prefecture and return to the capital via Zhending, he suddenly discovered that the people in front of him did not leave.
Wu Di asked: "What's going on?"
Before Zhang Fengyi, the general of the governor's army, could reply, a soldier hurriedly replied: "Master Wu, this is a bad thing!"
"So what?"
Faintly heard from the front: "I am the prefect of Pingding Prefecture, and I am a high-ranking scholar. You can't kill me..."
Wu Di stood on the carriage and watched a middle-aged man wearing a sixth-grade civilian official uniform being pinned to the ground by two soldiers.
The official even yelled and cursed: "You despicable warriors can't kill me! If you dare to touch me, no one in the world will let you go..."
The soldier ignored his shouts and curses, stepped on the crook of his knees and forced him to kneel down, grabbed a lock of his hair and pulled out, forcing him to straighten his neck.
The Zhizhou screamed for his life, but he was tightly restrained and could not get out no matter how hard he struggled.
The light of the sword rolled past like a rainbow, the screams and curses stopped suddenly, and a stream of dirty blood sprayed on the snow, which was particularly eye-catching. A soldier carried the head to the side and hung it up with a wooden stick. The man who slashed the man shook off the blood on the blade, turned around, and looked past the thousands of stunned people and defeated people. soldiers.
Xie Zhiliang's eyes immediately fell on Wu Di.
"Master Wu, please come and be fine!"
Xie Zhiliang waved his hand: "Tie him up!"
He was supposed to be the second-rank governor of Shanxi, but Wu Di, the former governor of Shanxi, was tied into a rice dumpling and stood on a carriage without a carriage.
Xie Zhiliang was also a ruthless man, and he directly targeted the governor of Pingding Prefecture.
Wu Di now knows that Xie Zhiliang, a bastard, has no intention of living. In fact, Xie Zhiliang killed the governor of Pingding Prefecture and kidnapped the governor of Shanxi Province. No matter whether he loses or wins this battle, no one can save him.
Of course, from the side, Xie Zhiliang is determined to die.
As the saying goes, a man is determined to die.
Xie Zhiliang covered the collapsed wound and said, "Fight back!"
"Kill back!"
Why is the Chinese civilization the only one left among the four major ancient civilizations in the world? Because the Chinese civilization has not been weakened, nor has it been overlooked by Qin. When the Chinese nation faces life and death, there are always heroes who stand up.
Just like during the Wu Hu Rebellion in China, when the Han people had been slaughtered to the last tenth, with nine houses out of ten, bones exposed, and the land was thousands of miles away, it was Ran Min who stepped forward and killed Hu Ling three times. Although it was cruel, it rekindled the fire. The pride and cohesion of the Han nation. In the extremely dark era of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang stepped forward.
Xie Zhiliang has not thought about whether he will be beheaded in the future, nor whether he will survive. He is just doing what a Taiyuan general soldier should do.
It was Xie Zhiliang who stepped forward, organized the defeated troops and people, returned to Pingdingzhou City, which had become an empty city, and established a defensive line.
Speaking of which, it was also because the Mongolian army in Mobei was a mess. After occupying Taiyuan City, which abandoned the city and fled, they showed their butcher knives and slaughtered the people of Taiyuan unscrupulously.
After all, Mobei Mongolia was too poor. They rushed into Taiyuan City and began to rob food, money, clothes, and all the materials they could. Taiyuan City was burning. As for chasing down defeated soldiers and people, these Mongolian uncles said Without interest, who is willing to leave the bustling city of Taiyuan to suffer in the ice and snow?
It was precisely because of this situation that Xie Zhiliang was given some time to breathe.
Three days later, when the Mongolian army had nothing to rob and kill in Taiyuan City, they realized that they needed to capture Pingding City, otherwise they would not be able to advance eastward unless they went all the way south.
When the Mongolian army arrived at Pingding Prefecture, they immediately faced strong resistance from Xie Zhiliang and his men. Of course, due to poor equipment and a serious disparity in numbers, Xie Zhiliang himself had no idea how many days Pingding Prefecture could be defended.
…
Ning Haijun entered Zhending County, Zhending Prefecture. While camping, Cheng Shijie received two pieces of news from Taiyuan Prefecture. The first was that Zhao Wencai did not go to Taiyuan because he explained to Cheng Shijie that he now had less than Fifteen thousand men and horses, and the Mongolian army that entered Taiyuan City exceeded at least 250,000 men and horses.
His small number of men and horses had no effect. When they arrived in Taiyuan, everything that was supposed to happen had happened, and nothing could be changed. However, Lanzhou was still holding on. If Lanzhou was not rescued, then the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Lanzhou would definitely not be able to stop it. Due to the attack of the Jungar tribe, not many of the hundreds of thousands of people will survive.
Cheng Shijie also understood Zhao Wencai's decision. From Zhao Wencai's point of view, there was nothing wrong. Zhao Wencai's decision to fight against the Zhungar people who were more numerous and more powerful was not considered timid.
There are only so many troops, so choose the lesser of two evils.
The second news is that Xie Zhiliang is still guarding Pingding Prefecture. After two days of bloody battles, the Mongolian army under Pingding Prefecture suffered tens of thousands of casualties. Xie Zhiliang's eight hundred soldiers and thousands of young people also suffered heavy casualties. In a short period of time, the Mongolian army had no possibility of conquering Pingding Prefecture.
But as time goes by, no one can tell.
Li Dingguo looked at the information and sighed: "Xie Zhiliang is a true husband! It's just such a pity!"
Although Li Dingguo is not a member of the officialdom, he at least knows that Xie Zhiliang has committed a heinous crime, killing the prefect and kidnapping the governor. Let alone a general military officer, even if Cheng Shijie is now the Prime Minister of Jiubian, he does not have the power to deal with a prefect. , even if this Zhizhou is a bastard.
What's more, Xie Zhiliang is just a small general? No matter how great his military exploits were, he still made up for this fault.
Cheng Shijie smiled faintly and said: "This Xie Zhiliang is responsible, and I will protect him. If I say he has merit, he will have merit. Whoever wants to deal with him must first get through this!"
(End of chapter)
