After Zhang Cheng led the army to leave Wu'an County, he ordered Zhang Guodong's infantry camp to be the front army, and Wei Zhice's chariot camp to speed up the advance for the Chinese army and return to Xuanzhen, while he led Zhang Guangda's cavalry camp and Tiger Guard as the rear army, and fought with Chen Jiugao accompanied us.
When passing through Xingtai, he briefly left the army and went to Huya Village in the nearby mountains for inspection. This place is now occupied by Sha Shiguang, a team officer under Liu Jinhai, and two sergeants.
When Li Jiyu and the hungry people were crossing the border, they took in more than 2,000 hungry people and 500 to 600 young men. Now there are more than 1,000 soldiers in the village and nearly 4,000 people in Dingkou. The surrounding wasteland that can be cultivated has been planted. crops.
There was a prosperous scene inside and outside Huya Village. Sha Shiguang also sent capable personnel to open grain farms and carriage and horse shops inside and outside Xingtai City, so that he could not only obtain the necessary information, but also purchase the necessary materials for the village.
Moreover, a protective relationship has been established with the Xiwang Society and other village communities around the village. Each village community will contribute some grain to the village, and the village will provide them with protection.
Zhang Cheng was very satisfied with everything in Huya Village. He comforted Sha Shiguang in public, and then took Zhang Chengfang, Zhang Jintai and others back to the camp.
Because he wanted to pay homage to Lu Xiangsheng and his uncle Zhang Yan, he ordered Zhang Guangda to lead an army to escort Yang Liying and the others first. He himself took the Tiger Guard and Tongziying to Julujiazhuang.
Because Chen Jiugao wanted to get closer to Zhang Cheng, he actively asked to accompany him to pay homage to Lu Duchen, but in his heart he was thinking that he would have to advance and retreat with Zhang Cheng this time when he went to assist Jinzhou.
It turned out that due to his outstanding performance in the Henan aid campaign, Chen Jiugao, who had been promoted to the chief military officer of the former battalion, was appointed by Chongzhen to return to Beijing for repairs. After that, he and Beijing battalion deputy general Fu Yingchong led troops to Liaodong to rescue Jinzhou.
At this critical moment, how could he give up Zhang Cheng's thigh, so after receiving the imperial edict, he tried his best to stay with Zhang Cheng in order to close the relationship between them, and also in Liaodong in the future We can rely on you to protect and rely on you in battle.
More than a hundred miles east from Xingtai is the old battlefield of Julu Jiazhuang. Zhang Cheng, Chen Jiugao and other cavalry leaders rode on horseback and quickly passed through Ren County in the middle, heading straight for Jiazhuang.
Although it has been more than two years since the rebels retreated, the land of Jinan has still not fully recovered from the war. There are many rivers here, and they even merge into a large swamp in the north of Ren County, so the drought is slightly lighter.
However, the village communities are not densely populated, and many places are still deserted. According to Tanma's report, Julu County is also sparsely populated, and the surrounding area of Jiazhuang is even more deserted.
It is said that whenever there is a thunderstorm in that place, there will be bursts of shouts of killing. Not only the screams, but also the neighing of war horses, as if tens of thousands of troops are fighting each other.
Therefore, except for a few small temples built by officials for worship, the Jiazhuang area is inaccessible, and there is not a single household within ten miles around.
The entire village is surrounded by bushes, withered dry grass lying low on the ground, and new green grass poking out of the grass, which seems to herald the rebirth of the new year.
The spring breeze blew through the shrubs and weeds, making waves of low "wow" sounds, just like the low roars and roars of those who buried their bones here.
Zhang Cheng was kneeling at the place where Zhang Yan was killed. The remains of the village walls of Jiazhuang were still vaguely visible. Although most of them were hidden among the shrubs and weeds, there were always some shadows of the houses and village walls that stubbornly showed through.
Kneeling beside him was Chen Jiugao, and behind Zhang Cheng were Lin Fangping and a group of Tiger Guards. Most of them had participated in the Battle of Julu, and they all had solemn expressions. Chen Jiugao's retinue was also kneeling behind him.
Zhang Chengfang and Zhang Jintai carried a small table to Zhang Cheng and placed it in front of Zhang Cheng. Then they placed various offerings on it. Everyone kowtowed three times along with Zhang Cheng!
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After Gu Yuan left Jiazhuang, Zhang Cheng and Chen Jiugao led the cavalry all the way to the northwest, passed Longping County, took the official road in Gaoyi, and met Wei Zhice in Julu.
It turned out that Zhang Cheng understood that Wei Zhice had been away from home for a long time, so he ordered him to send the army of chariot camps ahead of him after arriving in Julu, while he stayed at home to wait for Zhang Cheng's arrival, and then they returned to Xuanzhen together.
Wei Zhice naturally understood this. He was grateful to Zhang Cheng in his heart, but did not show it on the surface.
They walked north along the official road. When they were finishing the county, Zhang Cheng found another reason to leave the camp privately and went to Langwo Slope for a look. The place was now undergoing earth-shaking changes.
Zhang Cheng passed by Langwopo when he was assisting in the suppression of Henan. At that time, there were only a thousand village soldiers and a little more than 3,000 civilians in the village. Although they occupied two villages in the surrounding area, they only accommodated less than a thousand people.
But it’s really different now!
Now the brothers Zhou Heihu, Zhu Hongwu, and Zhu Yiqi each guard a large village, and there are more than ten small villages around it. The reason for its rapid growth is related to the fact that they have eliminated bandits in the surrounding villages, but the greater benefit is From Liu Jinhai and Li Jiyu.
It turned out that although Zhou Heihu and his three brothers had wiped out the surrounding bandit villages, they could not recruit enough Dingkou to cultivate and plant the wasteland. They could only look at the large areas of mountain forest wasteland around them.
Liu Jinhai and Li Jiyu led more than 100,000 hungry people to move to Xuan Town along this route. When passing through Langwo Slope, they left behind more than a thousand young people and nearly 10,000 more people.
This greatly solved Zhou Heihu's need for Dingkou. With the support of this group of manpower, Zhou Heihu restored all the surrounding cottages.
Among them, two places with better terrain were selected. Brothers Zhu Hongwu and Zhu Yiqi each led 500 men to garrison them, while he led more than a thousand elites to sit on Langwopo.
Now, they have more than 3,500 Qingzhuang Village soldiers and nearly 15,000 people in Dingkou. They are already the largest civilian force in Baoding Prefecture.
Because he had made an appointment with the real security commander Hu Dawei to go to Baoding Fucheng tonight, and Chen Jiugao had also rushed to Baoding City to wait for him. After learning about the situation here, he hurried to Baoding Fucheng without eating. .
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At the beginning of the 13th year of Chongzhen, the imperial court ordered Hu Dawei, the former Shanxi Commander-in-Chief, to be transferred to the post of Commander-in-Chief Zhenbao, and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Li Fuming took over as Shanxi Commander-in-Chief.
When Zhang Cheng sent troops to assist Henan, he happened to catch up with Hu Dawei who was out inspecting military affairs and was not in Baoding Fucheng, so he did not stay in Baoding.
This time, Hu Dawei knew that when he returned to Shixuan Town, he would definitely pass through the territory of Zhenbao, so he sent someone to meet him near Huolu, Zhending Mansion, and brought a letter to Zhang Chengding to come to Baoding City for a while.
After all, we had followed Lu Xiangsheng to fight the Tartars together, and they had a close friendship with each other in the bloody battle of Julu. Moreover, although Hu Dawei was not Zhang Cheng’s direct boss, he was still a senior Shangguan. If he could value Zhang Cheng so highly, how could he not give him face? ?
At that moment, Zhang Cheng said goodbye to Zhou Heihu and others, and rushed to Baoding Fucheng with Lin Fangping.
