Gaoyang, November 15th, the eleventh year of Chongzhen reign in the Ming Dynasty.
Lu Xiangsheng and others who were stationed in Gaoyang received another military intelligence report from the Ministry of War today. The Qing army's Dorgon tribe had even conquered Wan County, Tang County, Qingdu and other counties, and wanted to surround Dingzhou with troops. The imperial court ordered Lu Xiangsheng to lead the troops. Go to Dingzhou.
After the Qing army's Hauge troops regrouped and conquered Li County and Boye City, Chen Xinjia was ordered to lead his troops to march to Qizhou for rescue.
He was ordered to lead 40,000 soldiers from various towns in Liaodong and rush to the direction of Hejian Prefecture to monitor the movements of the Yue Tuo Department of the Qing Army, wait for opportunities to fight, and prevent the captive cavalry from further penetrating into Jinan.
At the same time, Liu Yuliang, the chief auxiliary who was ordered to supervise the armies, led tens of thousands of soldiers from the Beijing camp and marched towards Hejianfu, cooperating with Gao Qiqian's various towns in Liaodong to fight against the Yue Tuo tribe of the Qing army.
On November 16, Lu Xiangsheng led the army to break out of camp, braved the wind and snow, and headed towards Dingzhou.
After several days of rest and recuperation, as well as a large amount of grain and grain seized, as well as more than 500 stones of grain and grain sent by the people of Gaoyang City, the soldiers temporarily said goodbye to the time of cooking porridge with wild vegetables. They had been full for days, and their physical strength and spirit were restored. As before.
Sun Chengzong led the people of Gaoyang to work and sent dozens of pigs and sheep. During the battle against Hauge, he also confiscated hundreds of injured and dead horses from both sides. Fortunately, it was winter and the weather was severe. These dead horses were treated with coarse salt. After processing, it can be stored for several months, which is no problem at all.
Lu Xiangsheng led the soldiers of Xuandasan Town and broke away from camp. Sun Chengzong led the descendants of his family and the gentry and people of Gaoyang out of the city to see them off. Taking advantage of Lu Xiangsheng's opportunity to say goodbye to Sun Chengzong, Zhang Cheng went to find Sun Yao and told him again to escort him. On the grounds that the wounded soldiers were sent to Baoding, Mr. Sun Ge was also invited to Baoding to take charge of the overall situation.
The army of more than 20,000 horses set off again, but now there were more mules, horses and carts than before, as well as some improvised wheelbarrows. Some more carts and wheelbarrows were purchased in Gaoyang City.
More than a thousand stones of grain and grain, and hundreds of dead horses, were all escorted by the Chinese army. The morale of Lu Xiangsheng's Xuan army was at a high level at this time, and the grain and grain were sufficient. They could at least hold on until the end of the month, so it was not a problem.
The army was still arranged according to the previous march, with the main barracks of Xuanzang general Yang Guozhu as the forward, Lu Xiangsheng's superintendent Biao camp plus Zhang Yan's right wing camp, and Shanxi town staff general Jiang Mingwu's camp as the middle army. Horse meat is concentrated in the Central Military Headquarters and escorted uniformly.
After the central army, there is the middle part of Datong General Wang Pu. The army and horses of Shanxi Town of Hu Dawei Department are still in the rear. The army stretches for several miles on the official road. The soldiers are high-spirited and marching on the remaining snow to start a new journey.
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On November 18, the chief assistant Liu Yuliang led his army to Baoding Prefecture, but stalled and sent sentries repeatedly to detect the movements of the captives.
On the 19th, Gao Qiqian's Liaodong Army broke out of their camp, raised troops from Gaoyang, and rushed to Renqiu County, Hejian Prefecture.
On the 20th, Chen Xinjia's Xuan army marched into Boye County, where they encountered thousands of horse-riding Donglu. They were unable to defeat them and retreated to camp under Gaoyang City to rest and recuperate.
On the same day, Sun Chengzong, the former Minister of War and Taifu, led his family, old and young, to escort the wounded soldiers of Lu Xiangsheng's army to Baoding. They found many houses in the city to house the wounded soldiers and took good care of them.
On the 22nd, Qizhou was captured by the Qing army. All the grain and goods were looted. All the healthy people were taken captive and used as slaves to accompany the army.
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In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, on November 18th, in Dingzhou, there were cold winds and thick smoke.
It was the bitter cold of winter, when the cold wind could crack the skin. In a forest not far from the Tang River, Zhang Cheng's outpost, Ye Bu Shu, was quietly lurking.
They all wore big coats and felt hats, and looked like ordinary people. Beside a few of them, a number of mules and horses were tied to the nearby trees, and the horses had bits in their mouths to prevent them from neighing.
At this moment, they were looking around alertly. After crossing the Tang River, not far to the south was Dingzhou City.
Further north, dozens of miles away is Qingdu City. Now the army has just passed Boye County before reaching Dingzhou. The Qing army divided its troops and raided south, and there were traces of captive cavalry everywhere.
Lu Xiangsheng also did not dare to lead his army to march quickly. The army only marched more than forty miles a day, and had to march in armor. Each general sent out the most elite Ye Bushou under his command to explore everywhere.
At this time, Ye Bushou and everyone looked around. There was a plain here. Between the sky and the earth, it seemed that besides the wheat fields there were rivers, and besides the rivers there were wheat fields. There would be a small village or castle almost every few miles apart.
The Taihang Mountains can be seen in the distance to the west of Dingzhou, but its territory is flat and vast as far as the eye can see. The Shahe, Mengliang River, and Tanghe rivers run through the entire territory. The soil is fertile and the water is beautiful, and farmland, villages and forts are scattered throughout.
However, this was the cold winter season, and it seemed that there were teams of knights in white armor riding horses everywhere. They did not walk on official roads, and the frozen-hard wheat fields were also very suitable for riding horses.
From time to time, you can see some smelly smoke rising into the sky in the distance. Of course, it is not smoke, but the traces left by Qing soldiers who looted and burned villages.
A few days ago, after Lu Xiangsheng led the army to break out of camp, he went out with his scout cavalry to check the actual movements of the Qing troops everywhere, thinking that the army was determined to move. Among them, only the sentry cavalry of Lu Xiangsheng's Biao camp and Zhang Cheng's men did not collect at night, and did the worst. Far.
In the past few days, it was gradually discovered that the Qing army had entered Dingzhou. In addition to one stationed at the foot of Dingzhou City to monitor the defenders in the city, the Qing army divided into small groups and looted everywhere. At this time, there was also a small group of Qing troops looting from Qingdu territory. After plundering, they are heading to Dingzhou one after another.
Yesterday, when several people passed by Yao's Mother Temple in the southeast of Qingdu City, they met more than a hundred Qing troops with Zhengbai Banner there. Fortunately, a few people came out to scout, and they were all equipped with one person and three horses. The Qing troops could not outrun them, so they arrived. Save yourself a nasty fight.
Later, they made a quick comeback and captured a Tatar infantryman. They skinned him alive and tortured him to death, which relieved the hatred of several people who had been chased for dozens of miles.
Seeing that there was no movement around him, I couldn't help but said to a bearded man next to me: "Niutou, it's freezing cold here, how about making a fuss?"
As he spoke, he took out his pipe from his pocket, took out the fire stick, and was ready to take a nice puff.
"No, are you tired of living? The fireworks will leak our traces to the Tatars."
The strong man called Niutou stopped with a stern shout.
Then he sighed again and continued to speak softly: "Qiu Huzi in our team was discovered and captured by the Tatar scouts because he was sucking this shit. When we found the body... ah... that look... …It’s so miserable…”
When he talked about this, his voice was choked up, and everyone fell silent for a moment. Ye Bushou was a very dangerous soldier.
Especially since Zhang Cheng led his troops to the Wei Qinwang this autumn, his troops alone have been injured and killed when out sentry for nearly ten nights. What is even more frightening is that if someone falls behind when out sentry, In the hands of the Tatar soldiers, it is really impossible to survive or die.
Therefore, when they went out for inspection, they were extremely cautious and did not use fireworks at all. They only ate some dry marching food such as plain cakes and wheat rice. Although it had no taste, the advantage was that they did not need to light a fire, which improved their concealment. It also saves time on cooking.
If the Qing army sentries were caught alive, they were usually tortured to their heart's content. After being forced to obtain the necessary military information, most of them were tortured to death as much as possible, as if this was the only way to relieve the hatred in their hearts.
