It was evening on the second day of October in the eleventh year of Chongzhen reign of the Ming Dynasty.
On the official road from Xuanfu to Juyongguan, there were more than 40 horses galloping, and on the horses were more than 20 sturdy knights, who looked like they were riding two horses. The armor on the arms and hands is quite broad, but it is dark armor with nails embedded in it, and the armor is covered with thick copper nails.
Each knight has a heavy weapon such as a machete or an iron rod hung on the saddle, and a double sword is slung across the body. There are strong bows inside, and these people also carry blazing guns on their backs. Although they are tightly wrapped in blunderbuss pouches, However, its style looks like an extremely sophisticated Lumi gun.
The man at the head was galloping ahead alone. From a distance, he looked like he was in his twenties. He had a handsome face and looked like a Ming army officer. He looked even more majestic and powerful when riding on the horse.
He wore double-breasted chain mail, an iron tassel helmet on his head, and a thick woolen cloak. His Kaiyuan bow and quiver were hung diagonally on both sides of his body. There was also a knife-clutching stick hanging on the victory hook of the saddle on the right side, about seven meters long. It is more than a foot long. The head of the stick has a short blade in the shape of a duckbill. It is two inches long. One side is ridged and one side has a blood groove. It can be used for slashing and thrusting. It has the dual power of a stick and a spear. It is commonly used by cavalry at this time. Long-handled weapons, as long as those who are good at using such weapons in the army are all elite cavalry generals in the army.
From a distance, I saw him holding the reins of his war horse with one hand, and stopped about five miles away from Juyong Pass. The horse seemed a little reluctant, and was still moving forward slowly, kicking and kicking. The cloak flew up in the wind, making his appearance even more heroic.
The more than twenty brave knights following him also rode their horses to a stop beside him. The more than forty horses were lightly tapping the ground with their hooves, snoring at the same time, and continuously spraying thick liquid from the horses' noses. There was white air, and the cloaks on the knights were flying in the wind.
"Master, the road ahead is Juyongguan, and we will reach the boundary of Changping. Do you want to take a rest and recuperate your horse power?" A knight with an obvious scar on his face said to the leader.
At this moment, a plume of smoke and dust rose up from the direction of Juyongguan, and two strong horses galloped towards them, approaching in the blink of an eye.
"Mr. Qian, Mr. Chen Shao has led the outpost through Juyong Pass and is searching for Changping City. The gate is now wide open. Mr. Qian, please come through." A young knight ran up to Mr. Qian and made a move. Immediately report loudly.
The "Master Qian" in the knight's mouth was still holding the reins of the horse under his crotch with his left hand. He raised the whip lightly with his right hand, pointed back, and ordered in a deep voice: "Chen Zhong, take the two of you and pass the message to the back. Each post will pass through Juyong Pass one by one. We must rush to the gate of Changping City before dark. Instruct Commander Hu to lead the rear post and pay attention to collect the stragglers. I will wait for him at the gate of Changping City."
"It's your order." A young knight beside him, riding on his horse, agreed loudly, then led two knights and galloped backwards, leaving behind a trail of smoke.
"The whole team has passed the pass, follow me to Changping." The leader, General Qian, whipped his horse and galloped towards Juyong Pass.
Smoke and dust rose up, and a group of knights followed closely behind, running through Juyong Pass and heading towards their destination, Changping.
…
This team of capable knights is the subordinate of Zhang Yan, the general of Xuanfu Town. The leader is his nephew, named Zhang Cheng, who is the "Qianzong" mentioned by the knights just now. The current Xuanfu Town General Zhang Yan The subordinate cavalry general is responsible for nearly a thousand cavalry under Zhang Yan.
In September of the 11th year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji, the leader of the Donglu slaves, ordered his younger brother Dorgon, Prince Rui of the Donglu, to be the general in command, with Hauge and Abatai as deputy generals to command the left wing troops; he ordered Donglu Beileyue to Entrusted as General Yang Wu, with Du Du as deputy general, he commanded the troops on the right wing. The entire army was led by the slave thief Dorgon, with a total strength of about 100,000. They passed through Qianziling at the foot of Yanshan Mountain and Qingshan Pass to destroy our border wall. Then we entered, and on September 28th we joined forces with Tongzhou on the outskirts of the capital, and invaded our key areas in the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
The capital was in crisis, and the imperial court urgently summoned the minister of the Ministry of War and the title of censor of Youqiandu. Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Xuan, Datong, and Shanxi, led the elite border troops of Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi towns to rush to the aid of the capital. Emperor Chongzhen also sent someone to give Lu Xiangsheng a gift. With Shang Fang's sword, he was asked to come to the capital on a starry night, and the governor of the world sent reinforcements, King Qin, to rescue him.
Zhang Yan, the general of Xuanfu Town, also received a military order from Governor Lu Xiangsheng, asking him to lead his troops to defend the capital together with the armies of the three towns.
Since Zhang Yan wanted to take care of his family, he asked his governor Lu Xiangsheng for orders, and ordered his nephew Zhang Cheng, Commander-in-Chief of Cavalry, to lead more than a thousand fine cavalry from his four posts to take the lead in setting off as the vanguard of the entire army, leading the incoming reinforcements. When exploring the road, be sure to rush to Changping City in advance to take this as a credit.
He also used this as a reason to request the governor Lu Xiangsheng to allocate another batch of sophisticated armor and weapons from the arsenal of Governor Xuanda. Now Zhang Cheng's cavalry headquarters of Thousands is finally fully armored, and there are still twenty Zhang Cheng allocated all the excellent Rumi guns to his own troops for use.
However, after Zhang Cheng received the order, he only led three of the sentry cavalry to set off in advance, leaving the right sentry behind to go with Zhang Yan to aid, nominally to strengthen the cavalry around Zhang Yan...
Because Zhang Yan only had more than 200 cavalrymen from the Chinese military sentry around him, and more than 1,200 infantrymen were led by another thousand presidents, who arrived at Changping later than the cavalry, so Zhang Cheng's move was justified, but he left The sentry cavalry under the command actually has another mission.
After galloping all the way, Zhang Cheng finally arrived at Juyong Pass ahead of the army, approaching Changping.
…
But the current Zhang Cheng is no longer the same Zhang Cheng!
About three months ago, it was the beginning of July in the eleventh year of Chongzhen.
Zhang Cheng got drunk and made trouble with a prostitute in the town of Xuanfu. He led several military leaders under his command and beat up another thousand households in the town. His uncle Zhang Yan, the counselor of the Xuanfu, beat him with a military stick and beat him to death. He fainted and was already dying when he was carried back to the barracks.
Although Zhang Yan hated Zhang Cheng, he was generally satisfied with his nephew's performance.
Zhang Cheng was proficient in bow and horse. He had read books when he was young. He was familiar with the art of war and knew how to lead troops. He could share the joys and sorrows with his soldiers and won the support of his soldiers. However, he loved to drink and often led the crowd to cause trouble due to drunkenness, which made him very angry. .
This time, out of anger, the soldier who was watching the execution hit Zhang Cheng too lightly with the military stick, so he took it upon himself to beat Zhang Cheng thirty times with the military stick.
His original intention at the time was just to let his nephew learn a lesson and get rid of the bad habit of drinking and making trouble, so even though he saw Zhang Cheng knocked unconscious on the spot, he didn't care.
But later, when I heard what the military medical officer said, Zhang Cheng was already dying and feared for his life. His heart was filled with regret and he blamed himself deeply, fearing that Zhang Cheng really had some shortcomings and that he would be sorry for his widowed sister-in-law.
However, no one would have thought that Zhang Cheng would wake up on his own after being in a coma for three days and three nights without eating a grain of rice. Although he was a little confused at first and people around him often didn't know what he said, fortunately, his body was not serious. The only problem is that the breath is weak, but as long as it is rested and nourished, there is no concern for life.
This made Zhang Yan extremely relieved, and he quickly took him to his home and continued to take care of him. After about ten days, Zhang Cheng basically recovered as before. His basic activities were no longer hindered, but he was still unable to stay in the military camp as he had done earlier. He plays with swords and guns, rides horses and shoots arrows. He still needs to rest for a period of time before he can fully recover as before.
The only problem is that after the nephew recovered from the illness, he would often be alone in a daze and talk to himself. Fortunately, his health was fine, so Zhang Yan could relax and other problems became minor problems. I didn't pay too much attention to things.
In Zhang Yan's opinion, he is now very satisfied with his nephew Zhang Cheng.
After this beating with a military stick, although Zhang Cheng lay in bed and was in a coma for many days, he felt that his nephew had changed, and he seemed more calm, cautious and polite than before.
After observing for a while, I also found that Zhang Cheng was actually eager to learn, and he was not ashamed to ask questions about anything he saw. Moreover, he stayed in the military camp all day, with his soldiers, commanding and practicing military formations, and from time to time he would take his team to the wild. He didn't understand what training was, but he never had the problem of drinking again.
This really made Zhang Yan feel gratified, thinking that the blow with the military stick was not in vain!
This time, Zhang Yan was ordered to lead his troops to the Wei capital with Lu Xiang, the governor of Xuanda. He asked his nephew Zhang Cheng for orders to lead the cavalry as the vanguard of the army to the Changping station first.
