Although the order issued by Mu Zhan was to "accelerate the advance", an order is an order and execution is execution. This acceleration does not say how much increase? Isn’t it a plus to add more or less?
Now the friendly forces are in trouble. Mu Zhan's Banner Army and Green Camp are already worthy of the pay of those two troops, so a so-so "as fast as a turtle" is enough.
Of course, Mu Zhan was a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty, and he was the eldest grandson of Jintaishi. If he was not loyal, who would be?
So we must hurry!
However, the premise of hurrying must be to ensure one's own safety, especially since Gestei, the vanguard, led the cavalry into the encirclement of the rebels. Mu Zhan was almost surrounded by infantry, and he also pulled a lot of artillery and baggage. What should we do if we are attacked by the rebel cavalry?
And the rebel cavalry will arrive soon!
Huaibei is a large plain, and there has always been a tradition of raising horses. Historically, the Nian Army had a large number of mules and horses, which could carry out long-distance maneuvers in the vast northern land. They even launched a fatal ambush on the depleted Senggelinqin during mobile operations! Therefore, there are cavalry teams under each battalion head that Li Zhongtang recruited in Huaibei. Although these cavalry are not very elite, their skills in mounted archery and horse charging are far from perfect, there are no good horses, and their discipline is very poor, but after all, they are A horse team that can travel across the plains like the wind. Moreover, they are also very familiar with the terrain of Huaibei. They know where the large and small rivers can be forded and where they cannot.
These Huaixi cavalry were now gathered by Li Dazhongtang and handed over to Wang Leiyong and Yu Haitao, two cavalry generals brought by Wu Xiaotuo (both of them and He Tianran were Wu Guogui's servants). When these two cavalry generals and He Tianran went to Li Dazhongtang's door, they brought some veterans with them (all Wu Guogui's personal soldiers). Later, in the process of following Li Zhongshan, they recruited some subordinates, and now they have several of them. Ten cavalry brothers, relying on these old brothers, Wang Leiyong and Yu Haitao easily controlled thousands of Huaixi cavalry.
Of course, these Huaixi cavalry cannot stand head-on with Gestei's Eight Banners cavalry, but Gestei has already penetrated the encirclement, and the land of Huaibei is their domain!
In addition to these less elite Huaixi cavalry, Ma Bao's brother Ma Weixing, who was transferred from Wu Sangui to Geng Jingzhong by the Qing Dynasty to "exchange rebellion experience", also had a cavalry under his command, and they were much more elite. I came from a camp background!
At this time, Wang Leiyong, Yu Haitao, and Ma Weixing were all sent out, each leading a team of cavalry to move north of Suishui River. Of course, Mu Zhan led an infantry of 20,000 or so people and could not avoid the eyes of these cavalry.
With the cry of "enemy attack, cavalry", the 23,000 Qing warriors below Mu Zhan who had "stopped at the sight of thieves" all let out a long sigh!
"General manager, there are large groups of bandits and cavalry in front of our army and on the left and right sides. The total number is no less than 20,000!"
Mu Zhan, who was riding slowly forward on his horse, almost spewed blood when he heard the report from his subordinates. Twenty thousand cavalry? How dare you make it up!
Look at the smoke and dust rising on the plains in front and on the left and right sides. At most, there are only a few thousand cavalry. How could there be 20,000? This is a blatant lie about military information!
"Explore again!"
Mu Zhan said these two words in a calm voice, and then continued to lead the troops slowly.
After a while, several more Tanma under Mu Zhan's command rushed up to him. Then they dismounted and reported loudly: "Report! Thousands of fine cavalry were found twenty or thirty miles ahead, and they were still beating 'horses'." The character and the character 'Wu' identify the flag!"
"What? Thousands of elite cavalry still have the characters 'horse' and 'wu' to identify their flags? Could it be?"
The atmosphere suddenly became very tense!
Li Zhongshan will never be able to recruit thousands of elite cavalry, but his good friend Wu Shifan does! Could it be that the flag with the character "horse" in it is Ma Bao, the general manager of the cavalry under Wu Sangui?
"General Manager," Shang Kejiao rode forward and reached Mu Zhan's side, "This place is only 700 miles away from Nanyang Mansion. If Wu Shifan sends troops, he can arrive in seven days!"
Nian Xialing also immediately echoed: "Manager, Wu Shifan and Wang Datou have a fatal friendship, and his sister is Wang Datou's wife. Naturally, he has to help us, so we have to be on guard!"
The Wu Jiajun's reputation is much greater than that of the Huaixi Army!
This story is well-written, and it is much better than the 20,000 Huaixi cavalry statues under Wang Datou.
However, Mu Zhan couldn't withdraw his troops to Xuzhou just because Wu Shifan was in front of him. Now there are 10,000 Eight Banners soldiers trapped in Fuliji!
"Form a square formation and advance slowly and cautiously!" Mu Zhan said.
The generals below have been waiting for Mu Zhan's words for a long time - when friendly forces are in trouble, even if they cannot move like mountains and retreat like wind, they must move forward like tortoises and snails!
"嗻!"
The generals made cheerful sounds, and Mu Zhan felt a little relieved.
However, progressing slowly and cautiously is still progressing. Even if it is really like crawling like a tortoise, there will always be a time when it crawls to the battlefield. In addition, although he can still crawl, the communication with Fuliji in front and Xuzhou City in the rear is completely interrupted.
This is the pain when infantry meets cavalry. They are sealed off from the front and back, and you don’t know anything. Even if the Qing Dynasty is still there, there is no way to know.
So their cheerful mood didn't last long before they turned solemn.
What they don't know is that they will soon get good news that will completely free them from the Xusu battlefield!
On the fourth day after the Battle of Fuliji began, when the encirclement of Fuliji was tightened and tightened, a sky-high cannon capable of firing twenty-four kilograms of explosive shells was set up. When the 23,000 relief troops led by Mu Zhan moved closer to Fuliji at a speed of ten miles per day. When drizzle began to fall from the already overcast sky. In the rain and fog, an army of troops and horses finally approached the west of Xuzhou City just before dawn.
At this time, Xuzhou was adjacent to the Yellow River in the northeast, Yunlong Lake in the south, and only the west was flat and open. At this time, the west gate of Xuzhou has been opened, and people are coming and going in an endless stream, carrying grain from several market towns near Xuzhou. Since a month ago, Xuzhou has been preparing to deal with the siege. Since the terrain of Xuzhou is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the "attack" in "siege" can only be an auxiliary, and "siege" is the main method.
To cope with the "siege", a large amount of food and grass must be stored. Therefore, before leading his troops to follow Muzhan on the expedition, Nian Yaoling, the prefect of Xuzhou, sent people to buy grain at high prices from all nearby market towns.
I didn't expect to buy much. After all, the market towns near Xuzhou are the same as the market towns in Huaibei, Anhui. They are all populated by large groups of people, and they are very tough! If we sell grain to the Qing government now, we might as well take the grain with us and form a group to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, so that we can later strive for ancestral wealth.
But I didn’t expect that I would be so greedy for money! Mr. Zhao Xiaolian (juren) from Zhaojiaquan in Xiao County, Xuzhou, took out 30,000 shi of aged rice to sell to Xuzhou Prefecture. The fleet transporting grain came along the Yellow River and arrived outside Xuzhou City last night.
Thank God!
Therefore, the officials who stayed in Xuzhou Mansion hurriedly asked people to open the city gate, and also summoned hundreds of people from the city to carry grain from the Yellow River pier to the west gate of Xuzhou City. The Xuzhou city gate had been kept closed in the past few days to prevent sneak attacks by rebels. Chickens, ducks, fish, meat, fruits, vegetables, and even firewood and coal from outside the city cannot be transported into the city. The people in the city were not prepared to deal with the siege. They didn't have much at home and they were all panicking.
Today I found that the city gate was actually opened, and everyone came out in droves to buy. However, the small businessmen living nearby seemed to have known in advance that the city was about to open, and had already prepared all kinds of goods at the city gate. Selling outside at a stall.
For a time, the west gate of Xuzhou City turned into a market. Even though it was raining lightly, it was still crowded.
Although the Qing army left behind in Xuzhou was small in number, with only one garrison of less than a thousand men, they were not worried about a sneak attack by the enemy at this time. They neither drove away the merchants doing small business nor urged the people to hurry up. Instead of doing some transportation, they began to charge stall fees one stall at a time! There were also some soldiers from the Green Camp who, on the pretext of guarding against thieves, set up barricades at the city gate to collect cash.
When the weather became brighter, Mr. Zhao's food had already been delivered to the city, but the business outside the west gate of Xuzhou was getting bigger and bigger. People who didn't know the news came out - hurry up and buy some. ! If you don’t buy it today, you won’t be able to buy it in a few days! Moreover, the merchants who come to Ximen of Xuzhou to do business today are not treacherous or deceitful. They do not take advantage of the opportunity to drive up prices. They do not sell off the goods one after another, and they are not even good at bargaining. At first glance, they are loyal people who have strayed into business.
Moreover, these businessmen seem to be loyal, and all of them are good-looking young men with strong physiques.
Mr. Zhao, who was transporting grain to Xuzhou, and the Zhao family members under him did not leave after collecting the money. Instead, they brought a lot of oil, salt, sauce, vinegar tea from the ship, and set up a stall outside the Xuzhou city gate to sell it. . The tribesmen who came with him were all muscular young men in their early twenties, and you could see tendons on their bare arms!
The people of Xuzhou City had not known what was going on outside for several days, so they took advantage of the opportunity to purchase supplies and inquired with those loyal merchants whose arms were full of tendons.
These loyal businessmen can tell at a glance that they are well-informed people, and they are right to listen to.
"How is the rebel king, Datou? Was he killed by the imperial soldiers?"
"No. The imperial court's heavenly soldiers are not ready!"
"Ah, defeated?"
"Not defeated yet, just surrounded. We are waiting for the imperial court to send out more troops to rescue us!"
"Where did Wang Datou get so many soldiers? Why did he surround the imperial court with tens of thousands of troops?"
"He doesn't have that many soldiers, but his father-in-law does! Do you know who his father-in-law is?"
"It's Wu Ni. No, it's the Crown Prince of the West!"
"The Prince of the West surrounded Emperor Kangxi in Xi'an a while ago! Why does he have an army of 100,000 or 80,000 men under his command?"
"There must be some. It seems that Li Zhongtang borrowed the Western soldiers and will soon win a great victory! After he wins, will he come to Xuzhou?"
"That's for sure. Xuzhou has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times!"
"Then we have to prepare."
"You have to prepare. Look, this is a basket and this is a pot. Do you know what they are for?"
"Know, know"
"Then buy two?"
"Buy two pairs, little old man, there are many people in his family!"
Just as the people of Xuzhou City were preparing to deal with Li Zhongshan, a group of civilian men driving a cart had already driven towards the west gate of Xuzhou. The leader of these men is a strong man with fine features, wearing a white robe, holding a folding fan in his hand, riding a big maroon horse, and there are several followers wearing short shirts and muskets on their belts. You can tell which young master it is by looking at it.
The general who was responsible for guarding the west gate of Xuzhou was standing in front of a stall selling baskets and pots, holding a basket and looking at it carefully. He had to choose a better one. It would be decent to use for pancakes later!
Suddenly I heard someone shouting in my ear: "Who are you? Where do you come from?"
"Hey! Blind your dog eyes, this is our Yangzhou old man Chang!"
The visitor speaks Yangzhou dialect!
When did this happen? Why are there still Yangzhou businessmen coming to Xuzhou? Come to sell private salt?
The boss immediately became vigilant. Looking over with the Yangzhou accent, he immediately saw Mr. Chang riding on the horse. He was not old at all, that is, he was in his twenties, but this was quite normal. Yangzhou businessmen liked to take care of themselves. He is called "Old Master".
Look at the entourage next to Mr. Chang, they also look like thugs from the Salt Gang.
"The war is going on now. What are you doing in Xuzhou?"
The general put the knife back on the stall next to it, then pressed the handle of the knife with one hand and pointed at "Old Master Chang" with the other hand and asked.
"Hahaha!" Chang laughed three times, and then said loudly, "I am the queen of Kaiping in the Ming Dynasty. I am also the most powerful person in Jiangdu. I have been ordered by Li Zhongtang to capture Xuzhou. Why don't you surrender quickly? !”
Tomorrow the soldiers are coming!
The boss subconsciously shouted to catch the rebels, but his head was blocked by something like an iron pipe. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw that it was the man from the Zhao family who had just bought him a basket. An iron rod was pressing against his head.
If this stick goes on, your head will bloom!
The man was polite and handed the basket to the boss with a kind smile. There was a steamed bun in the basket, and he said with a smile: "I will trade this basket and this steamed bun for your knife! Do you want to exchange it?"
"Change, change." The general quickly let go of the handle of the knife, and then allowed the other party to take away his waist knife. He then took the basket with a steamed bun in it, raised it high, and shouted loudly: "The people of Xuzhou welcome Master Ming Dynasty!"
When he shouted, the others immediately reacted and shouted together: "The people of Xuzhou respectfully welcome the Ming Dynasty King's Heavenly Soldiers!"
"Master Ming Dynasty is here!"
"Master Wang has entered the city!"
In fact, everyone is longing for Master Ming from the bottom of their hearts!
If Master Wang captures Xuzhou, Xuzhou will not be surrounded, and the big guy's life will not be affected.
In addition, Xuzhou is the central city of Huaibei. The people in Xuzhou are actually the same as the people in this "Ji" and that "Ji" outside! In all likelihood, the Ming army was also inherited from their ancestors. Who would be willing to be loyal to the Qing Dynasty?
When Chang Wei saw this scene, he knew that the west gate of Xuzhou City could almost be captured, but he did not dare to take it lightly, so he took out a flintlock pistol and shot it into the sky. This was the signal for action!
As soon as the gun was fired, those who were doing business, the laborers, as well as Zhao Ju and his nephew all became violent. They stopped doing business and took out long swords from the carts they were pushing and the goods they picked. Spears, shouting loudly "Tomorrow's soldiers have arrived", and then rushed towards the west gate of Xuzhou.
At the same time, some people held up a red flag and rushed to the west gate tower of Xuzhou.
Now the city of Xuzhou is very empty. There are only a thousand defenders, and there is no motivation to fight to the death - the city defenders are usually local people. It is enough to defend the city against thieves, but the Ming Dynasty is now the king's division, and Huaixi is " "Old Ming District", how many people are willing to help the Qing Dynasty fight against the Ming Dynasty? It’s not realistic at all!
On a hillock only seven or eight miles away from the west gate of Xuzhou, dozens of knights stood on it, reining in their horses, quietly watching the chaos at the gate of Xuzhou City, and the red flag was planted on the top of Xuzhou City. The leader among them was Li Zhongtang's military advisor Zhou Chang.
This battle of Xuzhou was planned by him, Luo Dawei and Shang Shuying. However, this first credit must go to Chen Yonghua’s brother-in-law Chang Wei. This is politics!
Of course, Zhou Chang, Luo Dawei, and Shang Shuying will not suffer, especially Zhou Chang and Luo Dawei. After this war, both of them have become Li Zhongtang's right-hand military assistants.
Seeing the red flag flying at the top of Xuzhou City, Zhou Chang finally suppressed the turbulent emotions in his heart. He turned to the officers gathered around him and said: "You can enter Xuzhou now. Remember, you must restrain the team. Qiu makes no mistakes and takes all of Xuzhou!"
"yes!"
(End of chapter)
