On November 28, the eleventh year of Chongzhen reign in the Ming Dynasty, we were on the Hutuo River in the south of Zhending Prefecture.
The wind is biting and biting, and along the banks of the Hutuo River, the ice holes for water collection are just covered with a thin layer of ice.
On the river bank, the tents disappeared quickly. The walls had been demolished by the soldiers, and the carts were arranged neatly. Unfortunately, many carts were empty.
The infantry were busy working nervously, and groups of sergeants who had packed their gear were already lining up. Open spaces appeared again on the banks of the Hutuo River, but there were more traces of trampling.
The carts that were supposed to be pulling grains are now covered with large logs or planks. In addition, there are some empty grain bags.
On the official road in the distance, the knights from Xuandasan Town were already forming their team.
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Last night, Zhang Cheng led Wei Zhice to Lu Xiangsheng's Chinese army tent. As soon as Wei Zhice entered the tent, he knelt down and cried about the critical situation of the deer. Even Yang Tinglin, who was accompanying Lu Xiangsheng, was moved by it.
Lu Xiangsheng was also very angry. At that moment, he inquired carefully about the situation of the Qing army outside Lucheng.
According to Wei Zhice, there were about 4,000 to 5,000 Qing troops outside the city. They had been capturing Lu for five days, during which they lost nearly a thousand Qing troops. However, the Qing troops came and went, and their strength seemed to have been constant. It remains at about 4,500 people.
Moreover, there were more than ten thousand captive Ming people who, under the coercion of the Qing army, helped the Qing army dig trenches and fill trenches, and even rushed under the city wall to dig out the roots of the city wall.
Lu Xiangsheng sent an order to the generals that night, and in the morning they went to the Chinese army's tent to discuss military matters and make preparations for setting up camp.
In the early morning of the next day, the Xuanda generals gathered in the Chinese army's tent for a meeting. It was meaningless for the generals to go to rescue the deer. After all, the Qing army only had less than 5,000 people. Even if the Qing army had more than 10,000 people, ,so what?
Although Wang Pu led more than 3,000 Datong elite troops to support Shanxi, the remaining troops were still more than 12,000 men and horses, and they were all elites in hundreds of battles. Now is the time when morale is at its peak.
If so, if we encounter more than ten thousand slaves and thieves, we cannot guarantee victory, but if we resist and fight with them, we may not necessarily lose.
Finally, it was agreed that nearly a thousand fine cavalry from Zhang Cheng's guerrilla force in Xuanzang, under the guidance of Wei Zhice, would serve as the front army.
Lu Xiang was promoted to supervise the Biao camp, and together with Zhang Yan's and Jiang Mingwu's troops formed the central army, Yang Guozhu's troops formed the middle section, and Hu Dawei's troops formed the rear army.
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Wei Zhijie stayed in Zhang Cheng's camp last night. Regarding the situation of capturing the Luqing Army, Zhang Cheng asked all the details. One liked to ask, and the other liked to talk. The two talked until late at night.
The Qing army in Huolu County had a total strength of about 7,000 men. After the siege began on the first day, they selected 2,000 captives and divided them into several groups to plunder Huolu County, even from afar. To Jingxing.
The remaining nearly five thousand captives surrounded Huolu and attacked for five consecutive days. After several fierce battles, they finally failed to break the city. This was because the Qing army became angry and sent out sentries to call back the surrounding Qing troops, vowing to To attack and capture the deer.
According to what Wei Zhice said, the city's artillery fire was exhausted, the manpower was insufficient, and the weapons were insufficient. Without external aid, it would take as little as three days, and at most five days, to capture the deer and be defeated by slave thieves.
Because of this, Wei Zhice and other warriors were ordered to break out of the encirclement and come to Zhending to beg for help. Who knew that this would be the result? Every time Wei Zhice mentioned this, his face was full of grief and anger, and his eyes were filled with tears.
It turned out that Li Jiuhua, who was the admiral of Jingjing Military Preparation Road and Shanxi Qianshi at this time, was originally supposed to be stationed in Huolu. However, since the Qing army invaded, the imperial court ordered troops and horses from all over Jinan to immediately rush to the aid of King Qin of the capital.
In the past, Li Jiuhua originally led the elite Lu troops to defend Dingzhou. After Zhang Cheng followed Lu Xiangsheng to relieve the siege of Dingzhou, Chen Xinjia entered Qizhou, but he was afraid of the powerful slave thieves and did not dare to enter.
Hearing that the siege of Dingzhou had been resolved, he did not dare to mobilize Lu Xiangsheng's troops, but he urgently mobilized Li Jiuhua to lead his troops to assist Qizhou.
Before leading his army into the Wei capital, Li Jiuhua entrusted the defense of Huolu to his wife Liu, and he personally led the army northward on the king's order. Seeing that the Qing army was unprepared in Huolu City, they took advantage of the situation and rushed to attack it.
At that time, Lu Zhiyin, who was the general magistrate of Dingfu and was responsible for the affairs of Lu County, had just arrived in office not long ago. He didn't know the local affairs, and he didn't know what he was doing. Fortunately, Li Jiuhua's wife, Liu, took the risk personally to take charge of the overall situation and went to the city to supervise the army and the people.
Wei Tiangui, a gentry from Jiangbi Village, and his three sons entered the city to assist in the defense. Cao Shixi, the commander of the real Dingwei, and generals such as Liu Bangzuo, Wang Zhenji, and Lu Han, the commander-in-chief of the village, worked together to defend the city and defended the city until now.
Zhang Cheng knew that in history, Wei Zhice begged for help from Zhending Mansion alone, but the governor Zhang Qiping was "indifferent" and refused to send reinforcements to rescue him.
Wei Zhice made another breakthrough overnight to capture the deer. He threatened everyone that reinforcements were coming to boost morale, and held on for three more days before the Qing army broke through. The Liu family, Wei Tiangui and his sons, Lu Zhiyin, Cao Shixi, Liu Bangzuo, Wang Zhenji, and Lu Han all fought hard and died.
The whole city was killed in Huolu!
"Huolu County Chronicles" in the Qianlong Year once recorded: "The disaster of Wuyin was cruel! But the martyrs of Lu were either gentry men, reckless people, heroes in the boudoir, or ladies in the boudoir, with unyielding spirit and chastity. With an unyielding heart, fight to die to serve your country, and sacrifice your life to be a benevolent person."
The "Huolu County Chronicle" of the Guangxu Year also said bitterly: "It is so cruel and miserable!"
Every time he thought about this period of history, he felt as if he was personally there. Every time he felt angry and burst into tears.
At this moment, Zhang Cheng was riding his horse on the official road by the Hutuo River, looking north towards Huolu, with tears in his eyes, and shouted unconsciously: "Now that I'm here, I will never let history repeat itself."
Chen Zhong and Wei Zhice, who were beside him, were stunned for a moment. Chen Zhong thought he heard wrongly and asked quickly: "General, what are you talking about?"
Zhang Cheng knew he had made a mistake, but he didn't care and ignored him. He just rode his horse and looked back and saw that the camp by the Hutuo River had been basically cleared and the army was sorting out its troops.
He then shouted: "Gather the team and set off."
After Chen Zhong heard the order, he hurriedly sent out four soldiers, galloping on both sides of the team and shouting. The whole cavalry immediately cheered up. All the sergeants checked the saddles and bridles of the horses, armor and weapons, and jumped on their horses.
For a moment, armor leaves clashed, war horses neighed, and flags fluttered. Teams of knights found their team's flags and formed a cavalry column.
Chen Zheng led the outpost and Zhang Guangda's left outpost as the front army. Zhang Cheng and Wei Zhice led Chen Zhong and the guards in the center. The right outpost and the rear outpost were the rear army. They galloped slowly along the official road to catch the deer.
Wei Zhice galloped beside Zhang Cheng, feeling extremely emotional. What he encountered in the past two days was quite shocking to him.
First, he begged for help to no avail. In despair, he met Zhang Cheng, met Lu Xiangsheng, and begged for more than ten thousand soldiers from Xuanda. The fall was as big as the difference between heaven and hell.
Especially at this time, I saw Zhang Cheng's elite cavalry with my own eyes. Their armor and weapons were neatly arranged, their fighting spirit and morale were high, and they followed orders and prohibitions. There was no noise during the march, and all the ministries advanced in an orderly manner according to the orders.
He really admired him in his heart. Wei Zhice's family was originally from a large deer-hugging clan. They had studied and practiced martial arts for generations. There were often children from the clan serving as officials in various places. Wei Zhice was also a member of the family and often witnessed military drills when he was harvesting deer. However, Never have I seen such a military appearance.
