On the seventeenth day of the first month of the third year of Taichu, we were in the mountains at the southern foot of Linming Pass in Guangping Prefecture.
Deng Changxiong, the commander of the Second Corps, turned over and jumped off his bay-red horse. The soldiers immediately came up and took the reins.
"Lao Zhan, how long does it take to reach Jize County?"
Zhan Diyou, the chief instructor of the Second Corps, stood up and dismounted, took out a copy of the Tang newspaper he had just received from his arms, and compared it carefully with a parchment map.
"Fifteen miles. Damn, I was almost killed by this map. I must teach those nerds in the workshop a lesson when I go back!"
The training officer cursed, took off the coconut scoop from his belt, tilted his neck and drank a few sips of water. At this time, Deng Changxiong was giving orders to the ordering soldiers:
"Tangma continues to patrol, the soldiers and artillery rest on the spot for a quarter of an hour, and the cavalry is on guard,"
Zhan Diyou said in surprise: "Old Deng, there are only fifteen miles left, why do you need to rest? Let the cavalry rush into the county and capture the two dog officers! We can finish this trip."
The messenger conveyed the command of the chief officer, and there was a crash of weapons. The two campfire gunmen and pikemen who were marching on the mountain road immediately stopped, put their spears and gunmen aside, sat on the ground one after another, and began to eat fried noodles. Attached to the Corps The cavalry battalion consisted of more than five hundred horsemen, cruising back and forth nearby.
"Is it done?" Deng Changxiong raised his telescope and looked at Qi Jun Tangma hidden in the mountains, and said to the instructor:
"If it were that easy, the Supreme Emperor would not send the Second Corps here. If you can make a profit in a hundred miles, you will defeat the general. If you can make a profit in fifty miles, the army will arrive half way. Let's come from Luoyang, cover a few hundred miles, and work hard again. People will die."
Zhan Diyou glanced at Deng Changxiong as if he were a monster, and said impatiently: "Old Deng, how come you are just like the people in the Workshop School, so literate?"
Deng Changxiong put down his telescope, took out a book from his saddle bag, and handed it to his instructor.
Zhan Diyou reached out to take it and asked, "What is this?"
""The Art of War"."
"How many times has the Supreme Emperor said that as a general, you should read more military books. I heard that Lao Han, the instructor of the Third Army Corps, read Sun Bin's Art of War, Wu Zi, Liu Tao, Wei Liao Zi, Sima Fa, Taibai Yin Jing, Hu You have memorized all the scriptures and the combined books of Qi Nantang (Qi Jiguang), and you have been praised by the Supreme Emperor. It is good for you that you are not as good at reading as a big old man like me."
Zhan Diyou immediately returned the yellowed copy of Sun Tzu's Art of War to Deng Changxiong.
"To be a discipline officer, all you need to do is be brave and eloquent. I'm not a bookworm. Why do I read so many books?"
Deng Changxiong shook his head helplessly and pointed at Linming Pass standing in the valley to the north.
"Do you know the origin of Linming Pass?"
Zhan Diyou shook his head. He had never been to Guangping Mansion before, how could he know this.
Deng Changxiong smiled slightly and said: "This place is located on the east side of the foothills of the Taihang Mountains. It is the throat of land transportation from the north to the south. It is said to be "the most strenuous place between the north and the south" and "the throat of the world is always the ear of the land." It has always been a battleground for military strategists. If there are really rebels, they will definitely station a large army here."
Zhan Diyou stared blankly at the chief officer Deng Changxiong. When did this rough old man become so polite? He spoke in a certain way, almost like those civil servants.
"Where did you know that?"
"County Chronicle."
Before he finished speaking, a pond horse came rolling along the mountain road from the north.
When he was still more than ten steps away from Deng Changxiong, two soldiers stepped forward to stop Tang Ma and brought him to the chief officer and training officer.
"General, the garrison at Linming Pass is less than two thousand, and the leader is our defeated general."
A defeated general? Deng Changxiong and Zhan Diyou looked at each other and heard Tang Ma continue: "He is a subordinate of the traitor Zhang Chun. His surname is Ye. He was originally from a thousand households."
Deng Changxiong nodded and waved the Tangma away. The instructor smiled and said: "A mere two thousand defeated soldiers, but we still need the elite of our Second Corps to fight. The Supreme Emperor really thinks highly of these Ming troops."
"A lion fights a rabbit with all his strength. We are not here just to catch these two dog officers."
This time, the Second Corps mobilized four thousand elites and rushed from Luoyang to Guangping Mansion at starry night. They were not here to fight a public security war.
After receiving the order from Emperor Wu Ding to dispatch troops, Deng Changxiong rushed to the military camp three days before the dispatch. He summoned the officers of each battalion to conduct a blood sacrifice, pack up equipment, and bring everything with him, including cavalry and artillery.
Before leaving, Emperor Wu Ding specially summoned Deng Changxiong and told him that the goal of sending troops this time, apart from the corrupt officials in Guangping Mansion, would be to enter Shanxi and eliminate a group of Shanxi merchants. By the way, he would get a feel for Zhang Zicheng. And what kind of thing is his Daxi Army?
When Deng Changxiong was in Shaanxi, he had dealt with the Daxi Army. Generally speaking, the bandits led by Zhang Zicheng were as strong as the Chuang Army commanded by Li Xianzhong. In the first year of Wuding, Li Xianzhong was bombed to pieces in Wanggongchang. Most of his bandits who stayed in Shaanxi were recruited by Zhang Zicheng. From this perspective, Zhang Zicheng should be stronger than Chuang Jun.
Along the way, Deng Changxiong was quite cautious. He first sent out Tangbao cavalry to scout around, and went to one place every day. After counting the dry food and baggage, the four thousand men and horses rested on the spot, and first sent Tangqi out to investigate. After the army began to march, Deng Changxiong sent Tangqi to each route. There are twenty-four cavalrymen in each route, and each horseback ride is about one mile apart, with a dispersion range of more than twenty miles.
Each Tangqi is equipped with a waist knife, a pair of bows and arrows, two liters of fried yellow rice, one liter crushed into powder, one liter in another bag, one liter of five-pack flour, and the Black Tiger Flag of the Second Corps.
According to the military system of Da Qi, when Tangqi discovered the enemy, if the enemy was still far away, he would slowly wave the flag. If a large enemy force is approaching soon, make a circle and wave the flag.
~~~~
After everything was ready, Deng Changxiong immediately ordered an all-out attack on the city.
"Siege the city!"
The field artillery let out a low roar, and explosive shells hit the city gate until sawdust flew everywhere. The rebels had almost no foothold at the head of Linming Pass.
Zhao Xiaomei, the guard and guerrilla general guarding Linming Pass, abandoned the people in the pass as early as yesterday and led his family to flee north to join the Great Western Army. Only a group of soldiers who had lost their backbone were left. The infantry field artillery sounded an earth-shattering roar. Afterwards, they dispersed in a hurry.
After the officers and soldiers fled, the only remaining people in the city were the caravans hired by Shanxi merchants.
Linming is close to Shanxi, and the Shanxi merchants here cannot be underestimated. They have many caravans and horse caravans and are well-equipped.
Prior to this, eight families from far away in Shanxi, including Fan, Wang, Jin, Liang, Tian, and Huang, offered a reward of one hundred taels of silver to protect their goods from loss, recruited dead soldiers, and placed a reward on the heads of the Qi army.
There must be brave men under the heavy reward. Desperadoes gathered from all directions and came to Guangping Mansion one after another, ready to show off with the Qi army.
The news that Emperor Wu Ding was preparing to arrest Shanxi merchants reached Shanxi early.
According to what the Qi army did in Shandong and Liaodong, when the Qi army went to Shanxi and began to liquidate the Eight Families, it was not as simple as fined some money and paid back the tax arrears over the years.
According to Liu Zhaosun's routine, the Zhenfu soldiers were afraid that they would peel off the skins of the eight families and execute them in Lingchi.
Shanxi merchants were as anxious as ants on a hot pot, and they were in panic all day long.
The Ming Dynasty was harmed by Liu Zhaosun, and the Tang Dynasty was destroyed by Liu thief. The desperate Shanxi merchants suddenly realized that their only way out was to fully surrender to the New Dynasty.
"Boom, beat me to death!"
The soldiers attacked the city of Linming Pass one after another like a tide. Field artillery, French cannons, and rockets all poured into the city.
The caravan suffered all casualties under the stormy siege of the Qi army and quickly collapsed.
~~~~
The city gate corridor was filled with the corpses of Ming soldiers and caravan men. The blood flowed into the moat along the ditch, dyeing the originally not so innocent ditch reddish brown.
At the beginning of noon, under the sunshine, Deng Changxiong and Zhan Diyou entered Linming Pass on horseback.
Representatives of the eight major Shanxi merchants in Linming were tied up with five flowers and knelt beside the road.
Deng Changxiong put down his riding crop and scolded loudly.
"I never let you suffer when doing business with you before. I didn't expect that you would be so greedy for profit..."
After that, Deng Changxiong swung his riding crop and whipped him hard, once, twice and three times, and the Shanxi merchant screamed in agony that didn't sound like a human voice.
Zhan Diyou said fiercely: "Grain! Money! Where have they been hidden? Take it out!"
A Shanxi merchant took two steps forward, hit his head on the ground, and howled:
"Master! God has mercy on us, the Wang family, even if the emperor rebels against the traitors, we won't be spared! It's a shame that I don't defend the city well, so the traitors are allowed to come in and harm the people."
Deng Changxiong was full of murderous intent and laughed:
"You are still justified in colluding with the bandits. If you want to die so much, I will help you!"
"Drag him out and chop him!"
Two soldiers stepped forward and dragged Shopkeeper Wang out like a dead pig, holding up the knife and dropping it.
Deng Changxiong looked at the falling heads outside with a fierce look on his face, and loudly said to the others:
"If you don't want to die, tell me the whereabouts of the money and food you have hidden! The first two people to tell you can live!"
There was silence.
They are all bosses who want money rather than life.
Deng Changxiong raised the tip of his whip and reached out to a caravan boy.
"Push it down and chop it!"
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