Chang Yu and his party set out from Ningyuan City half a day later than Ji Jike, but after Ji Jike was delayed at the valley survey site for a while, the two teams went to Tashan Fort and then separated. Ji Jike went to Tashan Fort to see his ancestor's birthday, while Chang Yu went He led the Black Tiger Camp and went straight north.
The four hundred riders rode in a hurry or slowly, facing the north wind and raising dust. From time to time, there were detectives looking in the distance, some staying away, and some galloping towards Tashan Fort. Chang Yu had no time to guess that those were Ming troops and those were Tatars. Son, just let his men march. Tu Yuan couldn't help but wanted to lead more than ten cavalry to open the way, but he stopped him, so he only sent several cavalry to explore the front.
Chang Yu came out of seclusion and came to Ningyuan this time with heavy armor. However, at this time, the four hundred cavalry were all wearing regular leather armor and a little chainmail. This kind of armor can block medium and long-range sword and arrow damage, and has long-distance protection. Not as good as heavy armor, but each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Leather armor is lightweight, while heavy armor consumes more energy. It is the best weapon to use in large-scale battles to resist the opponent's cavalry and crowds, or to chop melons and vegetables, but for small and medium-sized mobile field battles It is a burden.
At this time, Chang Yu also changed his outfit. He wore armor, carried a bow, carried a long knife, and wore a scary fanged ghost mask. Li Muxian, the counselor beside him, also wore armor. Although before setting off, he resisted and tried to replace Ji Jike and go to Tashan. Fort, but Chang Yu pretended not to understand and said he would take him to enjoy the scenery and enjoy the scenery.
The desolation is so eye-catching. He is obviously here to kill people. Although the old Taoist has martial arts skills, but you let me charge into the battle, the risk is too high... But he can't help but listen to the words of the great eunuch, so he insists Came with scalp.
Su Jing, on the other hand, said that she would go with Chang Yu to kill the Tatars when she was in Ningyuan, but Chang Yu sent her away and asked her to go to the mountains to get a tiger skin for other purposes. Su Jing responded and talked about hunting. You have so many people that you have to do it. I'm not good at hunting, so why should I do it? Chang Yu said that it was her fault... Anyway, Su Jing was taken away after a bit of cheating.
People are so irritating. Those who want to come are not allowed to go, and those who don't want to go are forced to come. Li Muxian grumbled all the way in his heart, and pulled Fan Sengtao to get close to him: "We will work together later, I will keep you safe." .
Duoji believed him and felt that this Taoist priest was very particular about people.
Wu Zhong saw through it without saying anything, he just rolled his eyes.
Wang Zhengnan smiled and said nothing, and stepped forward with Dao and Kuang Ren to guard Chang Yu.
"Monk, have you killed anyone before?" Chang Yu asked Duoji when he was bored during the march.
Duoji nodded and stretched out a hand: "If you don't have this number, you have to have this number." As he said, he stretched out his two hands together. Chang Yu and others were confused and didn't know how much it was.
"Have you ever killed Tatars?" Chang Yu asked again, Duoji shook his head, and Chang Yu said, "When you kill eight hundred Tatars, I will fulfill your wish and avenge your master, how about it?"
Duoji hummed and asked, "How much is eight hundred?"
.........Well, Chang Yu sighed: "It's just one hundred two hands."
Oh, Duoji hummed and asked again: "How much is that..."
Everyone rolled their eyes and stopped talking. Duoji looked at Li Muchian in confusion: "Taoist Priest, how many two hands are there in a hundred?"
"Hey, look at how many sheep there are..." Li Muxian really didn't want to talk to him about mathematics-related topics, so he pointed to a ditch not far away, where several people were herding sheep, with more than ten sheep in size.
"Hey, what a shame, let's catch the roasted whole lamb." Duoji was overjoyed and started to drive his horse away, but then he was hit by a horse whip. He was about to curse in pain, but when he looked back, he saw that the grimace mask was staring at him. , and lost his temper.
"Everything that belongs to the common people must be taken by oneself, let alone taken by force." Chang Yu shouted: "You have traveled all over the country and taken it for nothing, so you are no different from a robber!" Duoji quickly accused him. : "Young monk, I know, this young monk is not a robber, he makes a living by alms..." He was an unruly wild ass before. In this short period of time, Chang Yu has become more and more awe of him. This man is not an ordinary eunuch. Ah, I hold the power of life and death, and I also have thousands of troops. Apart from these, my tyrannical skills are not inferior to my own. No matter I am singled out or in a group fight, I am no match. I have not avenged my revenge, so I can't die!
"Master Governor, don't you think it's strange that there are people herding sheep here?" Li Muchian raised his eyebrows: "General Zu has strict military discipline and his men will not harm these people, but this is where the two armies conflict, and the Tatar soldiers actually Are you so kind?"
As soon as these words fell, the atmosphere suddenly changed. Everyone looked at each other, and then looked at the sheep in the ravine in the distance, with murderous intent in their eyes. At this time, Marco said: "It's not surprising, the Tatars now have military discipline." The difference is that although they did not do any harm to the people around Jinzhou, they rarely harassed them. It is said that this was the Tatar court's policy to appease the people."
Then he talked about what he had seen in the surrounding area in the past few months. Although the two armies were fighting and clashing constantly, and although the people in the area were frightened and uneasy, they did rarely disturb the people. Not only the Ming army did not spare them, but also the Tatar soldiers hardly disturbed them .
Everyone was relieved after hearing this, but Chang Yu frowned and disapproved. He stared in the direction of the river ditch and saw a few shepherds looking this way. He said calmly: "There are policies from above, and countermeasures from below. What is said above is below." You don’t necessarily have to listen, especially in this conflict area, and especially when the Tatars are short of supplies and nervous, will the hungry and eager Tatars let these fat sheep go? Just do it, who is far away from the emperor? It’s okay to take care of it, but who wants to take care of it!”
Everyone's eyes became sharp again, because what Chang Yu said made so much sense.
Just imagine, in the most intense conflict, the spies or ambush teams sent by the Tatars, can they really implement the so-called policy of supporting the people from above?
They were all licking blood with the blade of a knife. There was no tomorrow. When I was cold and hungry, I snatched some of the drops. Whoever killed these shepherds would complain. If they didn’t kill them, where could they complain? , does he have the guts to let him go to Jinzhou? Besides, in a place like this, if you rob, you will rob, and if you kill, you will kill. Who knows who did it, just say it was the Ming army...
Therefore, Chang Yu suspected that there was definitely something wrong with this shepherd, and that he was most likely a Tatar spy. Tu Yuan understood it with just one look, and surrounded him with dozens of horsemen.
After a while, Tu Yuan led the team back again, his face a little embarrassed, he was one of his own!
It turned out that these shepherds were spies of the Ming army, and there were only two shepherds on the surface, but in fact there were more than ten hiding in a village not far away. They were setting a trap, but they didn't expect to bump into one of their own.
Um... Chang Yu was also very embarrassed. Fortunately, he was wearing a mask and no one could see his expression, but when he saw him turning to look at Li Muchian, he scolded: "Suspicious."
Li Muxian coughed and said nothing, feeling extremely aggrieved. It has something to do with me. It's you... Come on, blame yourself for being so mean!
After another ten miles, the view ahead was wide, and the sea breeze was blowing so hard that everyone couldn't help but shrink their necks. The outline of Xingshan Fort could be vaguely seen in front of them. There were more reconnaissance riders in their sights, some riding alone, some in small groups, and some Looking from a distance, some are running, which can still be seen from the outside. It is unknown how many invisible places there are in some bushes, depressions, villages, the valleys to the west, and the coast to the east.
Not only did he not know how many there were, but at this time he also did not know which ones were his own and which ones were Tatars. However, no matter which way they were, Chang Yu ordered his troops to follow them and not to chase them or leave them alone.
Ma Ke saw Chang Yu's intention and asked: "Do you want the Governor to do it directly?"
Chang Yu hummed: "You can clearly see the open space here. Rather than trying every means to hide it, why not just go straight up? Or does Mr. Ma have any good ideas?"
Ma Ke smiled calmly: "I don't have a good plan, but please give me permission to go ahead."
"This place is a revisit to the old place for Mr. Ma. Since you are familiar with the terrain, you must be the vanguard. Go ahead. It's best to explore the reality first to lure him out."
Ma Ke took the order and went straight with fifty soldiers.
Tu Yuan was eager to try, but Chang Yu glared at him: "You will be tired later, why are you so restless?"
While they were talking, several scouts came back from the front. All of them were injured. It was said that there were a lot of Tatar scouts more than ten miles ahead. In a fight with them, there were too many people to rush past them, and even if they rushed over, they would only be afraid of falling. into siege.
Of course, the Tatars built Xingshan Fort and were repeatedly harassed by the Ming army. The defenses became increasingly tight. According to previous intelligence, they dug many trenches ten miles away from the Xingshan Fort and filled the bottoms of the trenches with sharpened wooden sticks. , just to prevent the Ming army's troops from attacking, even a small team of reconnaissance cavalry can fall into it if they are not careful.
"The Tatars' ability to steal troops is becoming more and more powerful." Li Muchian couldn't help but sigh, and Chang Yu also sighed: "It's amazing. In the past, the Tatars were only good at field battles. Later, as the Ming army captured more prisoners and surrendered their troops, they surrendered more generals. Even our artillery technology and siege technology have been learned, and the skill of digging trenches has become more and more flexible. But what is worrying is that they have begun to appease the people. In the long run, if they win the hearts of the people, they will not be good! "
Wang Zhengnan continued: "During the Songjin War, the Tatars dug trenches to cut off several military forts and destroyed them one by one. When we were building Tashan Fort, we also dug trenches to prevent them from attacking. Now they have followed suit. As for the governor, The policy of appeasing the people that Your Excellency mentioned... my subordinates are not aware of it, so I would like to ask Your Excellency for your guidance."
Chang Yu particularly likes Wang Zhengnan. He is skilled in martial arts, understands military affairs, is eager to learn, and is willing to give advice. However, he does not want to say too much at this time. He casually said: "When the Tatars occupied Shenyang, they mainly plundered the south and occupied the south." After Jinzhou, people began to appease the people. The so-called "Manchus and Han are all my subjects" was used to win over people's hearts and consolidate their strength, and also to increase income. Otherwise, they would still burn, kill and plunder, and the Han people would run away. Whoever farmed, and no one farmed, they ate. What the hell!"
"No wonder..." Wang Zhengnan grunted: "In the past, the Tatars massacred the city after they broke through it, but later they stopped massacring the city..." Li Muchian snorted: "In the past, they only knew how to ask for eggs, but now they have learned wisely, and they want eggs. I also want chickens, not only do I want them, but I also want to raise chickens.”
"What the Taoist said is on point. This is the most worrying thing." Chang Yu looked into the distance and could vaguely see the scene of fighting. It seemed that Tatars were about to intercept Marco. The corners of his mouth raised and he sneered: " But I don’t know who the garrison guard in Xingshan is. If I let Ma Ke pick off that man’s head, I would be able to kill three birds with one stone.”
At this time Tu Yuan asked: "What are the three gains?"
"I not only greeted Dorgon, but also avenged the slap in the face, and also gave Ma Ke some face and boosted his confidence." Chang Yu chuckled, and Li Muchian continued; "I regained Xingshan and gave it to Zu Dashou. A greeting gift and a show of authority to the Tatars."
"If the Taoist priest said this, then it's six points." Chang Yu laughed.
Tu Yuan could no longer hold back: "Master Governor, to be honest, my subordinates have been feeling a little less confident recently!"
