After initially failing to attack the inner city, Ding Jian wanted to take the remaining troops to Tianjin and then take a boat out to sea. There was room for change whether he was going south or north, but he never thought that he would be ambushed by the opponent just after leaving the outer city.
Thousands of men and horses were killed by this enemy in less than a cup of tea. It was very miserable. However, with the pursuers behind him, Ding Jian had no time to gather the scattered soldiers again. , he had no choice but to whip his horse and whip and run away desperately.
Now when I think about the series of things that happened between midnight and early morning, it seems like a dream that seemed real and fake. Although it was out of reach, I couldn't bear to give up. In the end, it was still nothing. It was really a trick of fate.
The millions of taels of silver he was about to receive just flew away, and he missed out on the glory and wealth for the rest of his life. Ding Jian felt extremely regretful, annoyed, depressed, and angry. He was not willing to fail, and his mind began to think wildly.
If Huang Degong hadn't been unaware of current affairs, had a bunch of trash under his command, and the Shenji Battalion was unable to help him, how could he have failed?
If everything goes well, the army should have invaded the imperial city by now and begin to carve up the gold, silver and jewelry in the city.
Where did this damn enemy force come from? Without their obstruction, they could find a place to reorganize their troops and make a comeback.
"Ahhh~! I'm so angry!"
Ding Jian, who became more and more annoyed as he thought about it, couldn't help but curse. However, there were no shortage of arrows fired from behind. Some of them hit Ding Jian directly in the back. If he hadn't been wearing heavy armor and taking proper precautions, he would have been hit by the arrow at this time. Lost his horse.
Turning around, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. The pursuers were only about twenty meters away from him, and there were only a dozen soldiers around him. They were being herded away like sheep. It was extremely depressing.
"Whether he's dead or alive, capture and kill this general for me!"
Seeing that the target was expected to be hunted, Hu Dawei shouted loudly at the soldiers around him. If he read it correctly, the leader of the thieves was also a lieutenant. To capture the thieves, capture the king first. As long as he could capture and kill this person, he would be able to atone for his sins. This The position of deputy general can then be secured.
No matter what, even if it is broken into two parts, his body must be taken back, so that he can claim credit from the prince, prove his innocence, and repay Sun Wuwei's favor. Thinking of this, Hu Dawei galloped towards the prey in front of him.
The guards who followed Hu Dawei also understood that killing ten ordinary soldiers was not as valuable as killing this one. The head of such a general was cut off and presented to the prince, which could be exchanged for thousands of taels of silver at least.
According to Shangfeng, the prince ordered that those who captured and killed the deputy generals would receive ten thousand taels of silver. Each of the thirty or so people could only receive two hundred taels of silver. If they were replaced by ordinary soldiers, they would have to kill twenty people.
How much effort would it take to cut off the chests of twenty thieves to receive the reward?
In comparison, it is easier to make money in front of you.
Although this guy runs like crazy and can run faster than a rabbit, no matter how fast you run, can you still run faster than the crossbow in my hand?
Those who followed Hu Dawei were all veterans who had been fighting for many years and had extremely rich practical experience. They were chasing and shooting at the same time. While riding their horses, they were busy with bows and arrows in their hands.
If you shoot at a moving target at night while still moving, the hit rate is not high. However, it is difficult for anyone on the opposite side to fight back. They all become frightened birds and just run away. Anyone who dares to turn around to intercept will be immediately shot by the pursuers. Become a hedgehog.
A wave of arrows would always hit five or six, and if someone was lucky enough to be hit by an arrow and fell off his horse, even if he didn't fall to death directly, before he could stand up, he would be trampled to pieces by the galloping horses on the spot.
When cavalry confronts cavalry, those who fall off their horses may still survive. In a pursuit like this, the possibility of survival is very slim, because the pursuers not only have archers, but also wield swords, who are always ready to kill the unlucky ones who fall off their horses. .
"ah……"
When galloping at high speed at night, the horses were not equipped with headlights. Without the torches, the cavalry could not see the road ahead at all. Holding the torches would help guide the pursuers behind them. Some men and horses stumbled and fell to their death. Soar.
Hu Dawei simply ignored this worthless trophy and kept his eyes fixed on the big boss in front of him. As long as he was still running wildly, he had to hold on tight.
As long as there are stragglers in front, one or two of Hu Dawei's personal followers will immediately go over to check. It would be best to find something valuable from the prisoners. No matter what it is, it can be sold for money.
If not, then I'm sorry. I have to give your brother a knife to quench his hatred. I've been chasing you for so long, Mr. Wang, so at least I can go back and collect the reward of ten taels of silver.
What we are doing tonight is a business to make a fortune, and no one can be spared. Ordinary soldiers will definitely not be valuable, but the situation is different for the soldiers who follow the general. Nine times out of ten, they will take the general's belongings with them. It is useless if they don't search them thoroughly. Absolutely not.
When it comes to this kind of thing, every one of the Qin soldiers is a clean slate, because Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng and others have been doing this for many years. The leader of the bandits was killed until he pissed his ass off. He Zongrong's subordinates all took advantage of this kind of thing. .
As long as you can find thousands of taels of silver from the dozen or so people in front of you, your work tonight will be considered in vain. Even if you don't catch the rabbit general, it won't be a big loss. If you catch it, it will be even better.
Qin Bing was almost going crazy with poverty. Not to mention getting paid, they almost couldn't even eat before. As long as there was a way to make money, they would not mind even if they plundered the dead.
"I don't want my money any more! Spread it out quickly!"
In desperation, Ding Jian could only use "bait", hoping that the mad dogs behind him would take the bait, so it would be good to divide his troops in half.
Each of the soldiers carried two hundred taels of silver on their horses, just in case something unexpected happened. They were all part of what Ding Jian had collected over the years, and now they finally had a use for them.
He was reluctant to throw away gold unless absolutely necessary. In the market, one tael of gold could be exchanged for more than ten taels of silver, and one thousand taels of gold was worth ten thousand taels of silver.
With so much gold, why can't I be an uncle?
The worst case scenario is to run outside the customs and seek refuge with Huangtaiji.
I will no longer suffer from the cowardice in the capital. When the Qing army enters the pass again, I must save face.
Kong Youde and his fellows were able to thrive outside the customs, so why couldn't he? How could he be the deputy general of Han Banner?
The soldiers were all Ding Jian's confidants for many years, and they did not dare to disobey their master's orders, so they had no choice but to throw the silver ingots backwards, hoping that the pursuers would stop chasing, dismount and pick up the silver from the ground.
"Mom! There's money!"
The sharp-eyed among the Qin soldiers immediately realized that the thing thrown from the front was an ingot of silver. They hurriedly reined in the reins and slowed down the horse. It would be a big loss to leave so much silver without picking it up.
After hearing the words, everyone began to look around, and sure enough, there was something shiny on the ground. There were few clouds tonight and the moonlight was very strong. The silver was illuminated extremely brightly. It was fifty-two ingots and one ingot. Everyone was very greedy when they saw it.
"Keep chasing! The general in front is the biggest silver mountain!"
The team soon slowed down, and some people even got off their horses to pick up the silver coins. Hu Dawei couldn't help but became furious when he saw this. These idiots who have never seen the world, let the other party stop chasing after leaving such a small amount of money. Simply stupider than a pig.
"There are still a thousand taels of gold on the thieves' horses! Anyone who follows me can get a share of the gold!"
After all, he was the general leading the troops, and the war situation was so urgent that he could not whip everyone with a horse whip. In desperation, Hu Dawei had no choice but to tempt everyone with a big pie.
"Yes! What Xie Rong reminds us is to chase him quickly!"
The soldiers, who had been blinded by the money, finally thought about it. Just now, the enemy general wanted to buy a way out with a thousand taels of gold. It can be seen that they must have carried so much gold. If they stopped here, wouldn't they be abandoning the good and chasing the weak?
"Leave four people to pick up the silver, and the others and I will give chase quickly!"
Hearing that they could share gold, the money-obsessed cavalry got on their horses. Fortunately, the prey was not far away, only a hundred meters away. With their riding skills, even if they chased it directly, they would not let the prey go. "Gold Mountain" ran away from the eyes.
When Ding Jian saw that his pursuers had indeed fallen into the trap, he couldn't help but feel relieved. He ran out of Guangning Gate and wanted to go to Tianjin, so he could only go around the suburbs of Beijing, first to the south, then to the east, and passed through You'an Gate. When he was nearby, he suddenly saw a group of people appearing in front of him.
It looked like there were about fifty or sixty people, speeding towards the southeast. Seeing that the two sides were about to meet each other, Ding Jian secretly screamed that something was not good, and suddenly felt that his death was approaching, and he couldn't help but feel sad in his heart.
"Who is coming?"
The other party took advantage of the strength of the crowd and shouted first at the top of his lungs.
"Who are you?"
The soldiers beside Ding Jianjian also showed no sign of weakness and did not weaken in the call.
"If you want to fight, fight, otherwise get out of the way!"
The other party actually had no intention of entangled and seemed to be planning to escape.
"Are you from the Beijing camp?"
The soldiers of the Fifth Army Camp heard the Mandarin accent spoken by the other party, and realized that they might be brothers from the Beijing Camp.
"Why do you ask this?"
"We belong to the Fifth Military Camp!"
"Oh? I'm waiting for the Shenji Camp!"
"My brother! There are soldiers chasing you! Run away quickly!"
"……good!"
After the two men got closer, they realized that it was indeed their own people, so they immediately joined forces without saying a word, planning to form a group to kill Tianjin.
Ding Jian took a closer look and saw that the leader was none other than an old acquaintance, He Wei, and he was completely relieved.
The Shenji Battalion, which was originally following the Fifth Army Camp, discovered that there was an ambush outside the city. The Fifth Army Camp had been killed and scattered, so it immediately withdrew to the outer city.
But He Wei felt that the outer city would fall sooner or later and he would commit rebellion. If he was captured alive by the Yongwei camp, he would be executed in Lingchi.
Rather than sit back and wait for death, and finally be caught in the urn, it is better to break out from You'anmen under the cover of night.
As a result, it was discovered that there was also a large ambush outside You'anmen. The Shenji Battalion, which was mainly composed of chariots, muskets, and infantry, was killed in an instant without leaving any trace behind.
With every inch of his troops lost and no desire to fight, He Wei saw that his troops were about to be surrounded and annihilated by the enemy. In the midst of the chaos, He Wei had no choice but to run away with a few soldiers.
Then he met Ding Jian who was playing laps with the enemy cavalry outside the city. The two down-and-out men finally met again by chance.
"Quickly extinguish the torch! This will allow the pursuers to approach us easily!"
When Ding Jian saw that the people from Shenji Camp were holding torches and hurriedly gave orders while riding on their horses, he regretted joining them.
If I had known this, it would have been better to let He Wei and others attract the attention of the pursuers so that I could escape like a golden cicada.
But it was too late, the pursuers behind them quickly bit their tail.
Comparing their riding skills and field pursuit capabilities, the battlefield-experienced Qin soldiers are much better than the big guys in the Beijing camp.
"Where to run!"
Accompanied by the sound of intensive horse hoofbeats, the black shadows of more than a hundred riders suddenly rushed out from behind a forest. The general rushing in front was deputy general Li Guoqi.
He had been staring at He Wei for a long time. If it hadn't been for the melee between the two armies just now, and the night battle was completely chaotic, he would have killed this general long ago.
The deputy general was worth ten thousand silver. Li Guoqi was determined not to miss this reward.
There are only six lieutenants in the three battalions. If you can get one, you will be rewarded.
The reward rules for the prince are: deputy generals are worth 10,000 taels, generals are worth 3,000 taels, guerrillas are worth one thousand taels, thousands are worth 500 taels, generals are worth 100 taels, and ordinary soldiers are worth 10 taels.
The three battalions have a total of six deputy generals, 12 staff generals, 24 guerrillas, 57 thousand generals, and 288 generals. The generals are worth 120,000 taels, and the captains are worth 50,000. Seven thousand three hundred taels, the soldiers were worth about 230,000 taels of silver.
The total amount was 407,300 taels. Due to the large-scale empty pay in the Beijing camp, the number of soldiers was far less than the quota. Moreover, excluding those who escaped from the battlefield, the final number of soldiers captured by each unit was much lower than the quota.
Even so, a certain prince would have to pay at least no less than three hundred thousand taels of silver as a reward, but this money would be worth spending.
The rebellion can be quelled with three to four hundred thousand taels of silver, which is much more cost-effective than having the Beijing camp attack the inner city, rob the gold, silver and jewels, and maybe even take the life of a certain prince.
Through this counter-insurgency operation, a certain prince wanted to tactfully hint to the ministries that the court is no longer short of money. As long as you can bravely kill the enemy, there will be a lot of money!
The biggest problem in suppressing bandits is the lack of money. As long as military pay and silver rewards can be paid to various ministries on time, many generals will still do their best to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty and fully implement military orders.
It was rare for the Qin soldiers to encounter a lucrative business. Without Sun Chuanting's mobilization, his generals and lieutenants began to figure out how to encircle and annihilate the prey in front of them.
Li Guoqi was even more patient than Hu Dawei, and even allowed the enemy to drive as far as two miles outside the city before taking action.
If they all ran back, their troops would suffer great losses in attacking the city. It would be considered a brave defense camp to attack, so Li Guoqi asked his men to lie in wait. Whoever dared to disturb the rebels first would be punished immediately on the spot.
After a while, patiently waiting finally paid off handsomely. The rebels held torches and swaggered towards the ambush circle, unaware of the situation around them.
Then came the thrilling robbery and massacre that He Wei had just experienced. There were ambushes everywhere he saw, coming from all directions. More than 2,000 men and horses were caught off guard.
The Shenji Battalion was overwhelmed before it had time to set up its formation, and the battlefield was in chaos. The soldiers did not know the generals, and the generals did not know the soldiers. After breaking through the encirclement, He Wei was left with only the few people around him.
"Brother Li, do you want this?"
The two groups of prey gathered together in the front, and the two groups of hunters also completed their rendezvous in the back. Hu Dawei saw Li Guoqi.
"Hahahaha, Brother Tiger, how about leading to and sharing the money equally?"
Li Guoqi saw two groups of men and horses in front of him, and thought that Hu Dawei was the target of pursuit, and he couldn't keep it all to himself.
"Such a great kindness!"
The opponent felt that he might be able to survive alone, and it would be good to have some reinforcements to help him. Moreover, both of them were lieutenants with the same rank. In this way, Hu Dawei would be able to do what he did best.
