In the dimness of the early morning in early spring, a giant dragon made of torches was still moving forward mightily on the snow-covered Henan Plain!
The terrain of Kaifeng Prefecture in central Henan is just one word - flat! It's as flat as a tabletop. When the weather is warm, there are several east-west rivers on this "table", cutting the Great Plains into strips. Although the width and water volume of these rivers cannot be compared with the rivers in the south, they are still suitable for people on the plains. For the marching team, it is ultimately an obstacle.
But now is the severe winter season, and all the rivers in Kaifeng Prefecture are frozen. So from the border between Xuzhou and Kaifeng Prefecture all the way north, it's called a smooth flow!
If Wu Yingqi's 100,000 troops marched with their heads covered, they would be able to cross the Yellow River and march into Damingfu in Beizhili in a few days. But at this time, Wu Yingqi forgot his father Wu Sangui's instructions - no separation of troops, no occupation of land, all the way north, straight to Beijing! Instead, he headed towards Zhuxian Town, south of Kaifeng Mansion.
Of course, "no division of troops, no occupation of land" does not mean that we cannot rest in Zhuxian Town and replenish some military provisions and horses. But Wu Yingqi's purpose is obviously not this... What he wants is the population, the 100,000 Xuzhou people concentrated in Zhuxian Town.
He does not love the people as his own children and wants to send these 100,000 people back to their hometown, but he wants to bring all these people who have lived in the countryside of Xuzhou, Henan for generations, to Beijing.
Not only did he want to bring all the people in Zhuxian Town to Beijing, but he also wanted to force them to allocate dozens of acres of land and give them a house outside the Second Ring Road of Beijing... The reason why he went so far The idea was because Wu Sangui told him that after the capture of Beijing, Shuntian Mansion would be assigned to him as a vassal territory. At the same time, he would be in charge of the military and government affairs of Beizhili and be responsible for resisting the counterattack of "Emperor Qing Shun".
And Wu Yingqi felt that Kang Mazi, the "Emperor Shun of the Qing Dynasty", was very likely to drag all the Manchu and Han people in Shuntian Prefecture out of the customs!
How can an empty Shuntian Mansion be used as a vassal territory?
Therefore, Wu Yingqi wanted to take all the "homeless" Henan people in Zhuxian Town to Beijing and forcibly give them Beijing household registration and houses and land in Beijing. From now on, these people will be the working people under his Wu Yingqi clan!
It was really unbelievable that he would have thought like this when Wu Sangui led the Qing troops into the pass. But nowadays, especially in the Wu and Zhou camp, it is really normal.
The Wu Zhou regime, which controlled Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, and Guangxi, had a population of about 10 million, of which only more than 2 million men were registered.
It is true that people value hope!
Wu Sangui's territory can be allocated to Wu Yingqi. One Shuntian Prefecture is not enough, and there is no problem in adding one or two state capitals.
But the population could not be given much, so Wu Yingqi had to find a way on his own. So when he heard that there were 100,000 Henan people waiting for him to save, his eyes widened and he immediately forgot all the old man's words...
However, after all, Wu Yingqi was a veteran who had led troops for many years, and he also had advisers and generals such as Liu Xuanchu, Wu Shicong, Wu Guogui, Ma Bao, and Wang Pingfan around him, so of course he would not lose his vigilance. Therefore, he did not separate the cavalry to advance first, but continued to twist the 100,000 troops into a rope. Moreover, the marching infantrymen were also ordered to form a square formation as a unit to protect the baggage vehicles and artillery, and advance cautiously.
At the same time, he also placed two cavalry troops at the front and the end of the large group of troops, responsible for opening the way and covering the way.
But it was precisely because of this caution that Wu Yingqi's army was unable to advance rapidly. It is only eighty miles from Zhuqu Town in Weichuan County to Zhuxian Town. Wu Yingqi's army was gone for almost a day and a night!
From the early morning of the eleventh day of the first lunar month until the early morning of the twelfth day of the first lunar month, the front cavalry led by Ma Bao had just arrived at the outskirts of Zhuxian Town.
However, Ma Bao did not dare to enter Zhuxian Town immediately. Instead, he ordered the cavalry to spread out on the plain south of Zhuxian Town to occupy the favorable terrain. At the same time, the cavalry was sent to the back of Zhuxian Town for reconnaissance, and people were also escorted to Wang Shirong to contact Wang Fuchen in Zhuxian Town.
But not long after the cavalry sent to scout the north of Zhuxian Town left, a red light suddenly appeared in the night sky north of Zhuxian Town, as if something was lit!
At the same time, crackling gunshots came from the north of Zhuxian Town!
How is this going?
Did you discover the Qing army's ambush?
But what's going on with that red fire?
Just when Ma Bao was confused, several cavalrymen had already circled the town and were flying towards his general's flag. When they got closer, Ma Bao and the people around him saw clearly that all the people coming were wearing clothes. The black cloth armor of the Wu and Zhou cavalry.
The soldiers around Ma Bao quickly stepped forward with their guns drawn to block the cavalry. After giving a few commands, they placed one of the cavalry in front of Ma Bao. Ma Bao recognized the man at a glance as a commander under his command. He was one of the cavalrymen sent to the north of Zhuxian Town for reconnaissance.
"What's going on? What's burning?"
"General," the general said loudly, "the young men ran into a grain transport convoy escorted by the Eight Banners soldiers of the Qing Dynasty in the north of Zhuxian Town. Those Eight Banners soldiers had cavalry and muskets, and they were more numerous than us. There are so many, and as soon as they see us coming, they set fire to the grain... When you see the fire, it means the grain trucks are burning!"
"What?" Ma Bao exclaimed, "The grain truck is burning?"
Just when Ma Bao was worried about the burning grain trucks, Wang Shirong, who he sent to contact Wang Fuchen in Zhuxian Town, came galloping over on horseback with several officers from the Qing Army's Green Camp.
When the officers arrived in front of Ma Bao, they were also stopped by Ma Bao's soldiers. Then they all got off their horses and kowtowed to Ma Bao while lying on the ground. Wang Shirong rode his horse to Ma Bao and hurriedly said: "Ma Junmen, we are late! Yesterday afternoon Yue Le led 10,000 and 18 banner soldiers to Zhuxian Town... He said he discovered us. The army was approaching, and Wang Fuchen was asked to immediately move the 200,000 stones of grain and grass piled in Zhuxian Town. Wang Fuchen was also ordered to go to Kaifeng Mansion to see Kang Mazi immediately.
From yesterday afternoon to now, at least tens of thousands of large trucks have driven out of Zhuxian Town... If you include the grain transported in the previous two or three days, most of the grain in Zhuxian Town has been transported After leaving, the remaining grain that has not been transported is only 10,000 to 20,000 dan! "
"What? There are only ten or twenty thousand stones left?" Ma Bao asked hurriedly, "What about the people in Zhuxian Town? Are they still there?"
"Here, most of the people are still here," Wang Shirong said. "In order to speed up the transportation of grain, the Qing captives took away the people's carriages and horses. They were also worried that the people would slow down the food transportation, so they left the people behind." There are still more than a thousand Green Camp soldiers left to guard Zhuxian Town... These Green Camp soldiers have all surrendered to us."
"There are really only a thousand green soldiers in Zhuxian Town?" Ma Bao raised his eyes and looked at the low city wall of Zhuxian Town not far away. There seemed to be no trace of any soldiers on it, and there was also a large black wall rising up. The Zhou military flag should have been raised by the cavalry escorting Wang Shirong into the city.
When Ma Bao was sending more cavalry to strengthen his control over Zhuxian Town, cheers suddenly came from the town.
"Long live President Zhou! Long live President Wu..."
The sound was not loud at first, then became louder and louder, and soon it sounded like the earth was shaking. Once you heard it, you could tell that tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people were shouting.
It seems that the Qing army left in a hurry, only caring about taking away food and not caring about killing people!
Ma Bao let out a breath and said with a smile: "It's good that people are here. These days... there's not a big shortage of food, but people are so precious!"
...
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, good news..."
On the evening when Wu Yingqi's army arrived at Zhuxian Town, Emperor Kangxi's visit in Kaifeng Mansion finally brought good news after a long absence!
Duo Long, the minister in charge of the bodyguard, entered the south study room with excitement on his face. He lifted up his robe and was about to kneel down when Emperor Kangxi's voice rang out, "Stop kneeling...Speak quickly!"
Duolong responded, bowed and replied: "Your Majesty, Prince An's information has arrived...Wu Yingqi fell into the trap and led an army of 100,000 people into Zhuxian Town, and temporarily stationed there. It seems that they want to wait for the food to be delivered from the rear before taking the people north together."
Kangxi laughed: "Okay! Wu Yingqi is indeed short-sighted and only cares about petty profits... As long as he stops stationing, Yue Le will be able to command 150,000 heavenly troops to surround him!"
