In the 14th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, it was early morning on September 25th.
There are no longer the lights on the walls of Jinzhou's inner city, and everything is pitch black. Occasionally, a few lights appear with the sound of "dong-dong".
Only on the Yong'an Gate gate tower in the south of Jinzhou, a few strings of lanterns poked out of the city wall, and there were many torches held high inside and outside the gate tower, extending to the city walls on both sides.
Zu Dashou, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty's Fifth Army Commander's Mansion, the commander-in-chief of the Liaodong forward, and the general of the Liao expedition, Zu Dashou, was standing on the tower of Yong'an Gate, looking out into the wilderness to the south.
As far as the eye can see, except for the flickering lights on the Qing army's three trench defense lines, there is a pitch black night. Even the Qing army's company camp further away has only dim lights, like stars in the sky. So small.
Lieutenant General Zu Dabi led his troops to fight outside the city for more than half a day. At this time, he did not return to the camp to rest. He just took off the heavy armor all over his body, but he still stayed with Zu Dashou and looked towards the dark wilderness in the south. .
It turned out that when Zu Dabi broke through the siege in the southwest outside Jinzhou City, he was once again blocked in front of the third trench and could not advance even an inch. He had no choice but to rush eastward.
But outside the Nanguan of Jinzhou, troops and horses of Yibai's Mongolian Zhengbai Banner were stationed, and some Han troops and two Tatars were assisting in the defense. He was still unable to break out, and had no choice but to retreat to the Nanguan and return to Jinzhou through Yong'an Gate. Inside the city.
All of this happened to be seen by Zu Dashou, who had been guarding the city tower. He was mentally prepared for this ending, so he didn't say much. He just ordered everyone to go back to camp and have a good rest.
"Brother, Uncle Chang is really promising. He was able to withstand Dorgon's tens of thousands of Tatar soldiers and defend the north bank."
Zu Dabi's rough voice continued: "Zhang Cheng of the Xuan Mansion is indeed no ordinary person. He is actually guarding the north bank of the Xiaoling River. Teach Daishan, an old thief, has nothing to do."
He said suddenly: "It seems that there will definitely be another fierce battle tomorrow!"
After listening to his younger brother's words, Zu Dashou's eyes flashed with a cold light. He said in a very calm tone: "It's understandable that the elder uncle is like this. That boy Zhang Cheng from Xuan Mansion is indeed even more valuable!"
"Brother, what do you mean by this? That boy Zhang Cheng is so valuable!"
Faced with Zu Dabi's questions, Zu Dashou was not impatient. His eyes still stayed in the dark wilderness south of the city, and he said calmly: "You and I are both uncle's uncles, and we have watched him grow up." Da, there is a lot of affection in it. Today he bravely marches into the army and fights the slaves and bandits to the death. This is not only out of concern for his family, but also to plan for his future."
Zu Dabi couldn't help but nod his head as he listened to his brother's words, but he questioned: "That's right. It's very valuable that the eldest uncle can fight hard and never retreat. Why is that boy Zhang Cheng..."
"I think that boy Zhang Cheng was originally a general of the Xuanfu and had nothing to do with us. He was able to lead an army to help because of the imperial court's prestige. He had no choice but to do so under the emperor's order."
When Zu Dashou said this, he actually raised his head, looked at the few stars in the night sky, and continued: "He could have just pretended to be a showman, but he was able to fight bravely in front of the battle, and repeatedly accomplished extraordinary feats without any hesitation. Cherishing your wings is so precious, isn’t it?”
Looking at his younger brother who looked suddenly enlightened, Zu Dashou nodded slightly with satisfaction, but then said: "You and I both know that elite soldiers are rare. It is not only the investment of money and food, but also a lot of emotion.
Just like these servants and knights, we usually live and eat together, and we are all like our relatives. If it is not a critical moment of life and death, how can we bear to take risks and lose money. Do you think so or not? "
Zu Dabi was stunned when he heard this, but he murmured unwillingly: "But that boy Zhang Cheng won a lot of military glory for this."
"hey-hey……"
Zu Dashou sneered: "Military achievements? Do you think Zhang Cheng really cares about these military achievements?"
Seeing that his brother still had a stubborn question, Zu Dashou continued with a sneer: "Even if Zhang Cheng is not promoted to the rank of commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu, but with such a strong army at his hand, he is still domineering in the Xuanfu, and the court has How can it be made?"
Zu Dashou's eyes gradually turned cold and cold, and he continued with a bit of hatred: "The imperial court only dares to kill those civilian governors, but only military generals with soldiers in hand. How many people have they killed over the years?"
Zu Dabi finally came to his senses and asked: "Brother, what do you think Zhang Cheng of Xuan Mansion wants?"
Zu Dashou didn't answer for a while, but after a moment, he slowly said: "This is exactly what I am wondering about. What is Zhang Cheng's intention in fighting the slaves and thieves so bravely and without sacrificing his troops?"
In the end, he seemed to be asking himself: "Is it really just about being loyal to the emperor and serving the country?"
After being speechless for a long time, suddenly a gust of night wind came, and Zu Dabi persuaded him: "Brother, the wind is blowing. The night wind is cold. Let's go back to the house to rest first. We will wait until dawn to see the situation and decide to go out and fight." No."
Zu Dashou shook the cloak on his body. The cloak had turned dark red, which showed that it had been with him for many years, and traces of sewing could be seen in some places.
It can be seen from this that Zu Dashou is indeed a nostalgic person!
He had just turned around when a gust of fierce night wind blew up his cloak. The cold night wind immediately penetrated his armor, sending an icy chill straight into his body.
Zu Dashou couldn't help but shudder. He stopped and looked up to see a few snowflakes falling down. He couldn't help but be a little stunned and asked in a daze: "Why is it snowing so early?"
Zu Dabi also replied with some doubts: "Yes, brother. It's really snow. We have rarely seen snow in the past few years."
"What time is it now?" Zu Dashou suddenly asked.
Zu Dabi glanced at the dark sky and saw nothing, only a few snowflakes falling in front of his eyes, vaguely visible.
He hurriedly asked the servants who were following him. After receiving the answer, he reported to Zu Dashou: "It's the Yin hour, brother."
"Well. It seems that there is nothing to do tonight, let's go back..." Zu Dashou said and walked into the city gate tower.
It seems that tonight he will rest in this dilapidated gatehouse again.
…………
At the end of Yinshi, in the dead of night, it is the sweetest time to sleep.
In the dark sky, sporadic snowflakes began to fall. A cold wind blew by, and there was a "sand" sound of weeds falling in the wind.
The wilderness to the east of the camp with yellow flags in Manchuria is already completely black, covered with a thin layer of white snow. Even in the dark night, it looks very special and eye-catching.
It turned out that for the safety of the camp, the Manchurian Yellow Flag Gushan Ezhen Baiyin Tu actually ordered people to set fire to the weeds outside his camp in the evening, and the wind was able to burn them better.
In this way, there will no longer be any weeds covering the outside of Manchuria's yellow-flag camp, and everything in the vicinity can be clearly seen.
Although the idea was good, the dark night completely blocked their sight. Although the weeds were no longer there, it was still pitch black far and near. Coupled with the howling night wind, all sight and sound were useless.
Only a few fires inside the camp emitted a faint light, and the area that shone was only within a few feet of the surrounding area. The few fires outside the camp had just been completely extinguished, but no one went there anymore. filler material.
The sound of "dong-dong" was also covered up by the howling north wind and could not reach far. Even the torch held high by the person leading the way flickered in and out of light in the night wind.
Fortunately, the Qing army has always had strict military orders, not to mention that it is still during the war. The camp of Ming Guoxuan's army is two miles away. The Qing army pays more attention to it. Strings of torches are constantly passing through the camp, drinking and drinking. Password, supervise the soldiers on duty at various checkpoints.
On the sentry tower of the camp wall, there are also lanterns hanging high and torches stuck in the four corners. Even if the night wind howls, it cannot be extinguished. Through the lights, it is vaguely visible that three Qing soldiers are on duty in the sentry tower.
However, at this time, they were also feeling sleepy. Although they were afraid of military disciplinary punishment and did not dare to sleep, they huddled together in a corner of the sentry tower and chatted about one thing or another to kill their sleepiness.
From time to time, a Qing soldier could be seen standing up, looking outside the camp, and then retracting into the guard tower to avoid the cold night wind.
…………
Just as the Qing army sentries retracted their sentry towers to take shelter from the wind, a dozen black figures silently walked through the snow in the weedless wilderness.
Their steps were so light and fast, and they were all like rabbits running away. They quickly crossed the open space and arrived not far outside the wall of the Qing army's camp.
"Don't worry, Lintou. When I was still in Changjiazhai, I would often lead this group of boys to hunt tigers and leopards on snowy nights. They have trained their feet to be light and fast, and they will never scare the Tatars."
Chang Zhengxiong, the commander of the right post in the middle of the Xuanfu Army's Tiger Guard Camp, continued softly: "We don't believe that this Tatar's ears can be more sensitive than those of tigers and leopards?"
Lin Fangping also knew that what he said was true, but his heart was still in his throat, and he did not dare to really put it down. His eyes were staring ahead without blinking.
But it was pitch black on the other side, and as far as the eye could see, a small area around the sentry tower on the wall could be vaguely seen. Chang Zhengbiao and others who were sneaking up were invisible under the wall, so how could they see them? .
Besides, Chang Zhengbiao and the other thirteen brothers were all brothers who joined the army with their brothers in Changjiazhai. Due to years of hunting, they all have become agile. Now they are all good at kung fu, but they are ruthless in killing enemies. Role.
I saw that they were all wearing cotton armor. At this moment, I took out some climbing tools from my small backpack. It was a thing with a small hook and a cover that could be put on the sole of the shoe.
In fact, this thing was originally invented by thieves to solve their needs for climbing trees and walls. Later, it was widely used by spies from all over the world. It was gradually improved to make it more lightweight and emit a powerful sound when used. The sound is also more subtle.
The ones used by Chang Zhengbiao and others are no different from those used by Ming Dynasty Dongchang and Jinyiwei, except that the ones made by Yunzhou Craftsman Camp are more sophisticated.
The nails on these ancient spike shoes are also long and short. It seems that Chang Zhengbiao and the others are using short spike shoe covers tonight. Chang Zhengbiao first uses one end to cover the heel of the shoe, and then lifts two slightly wider nails. Rope straps, tightly tied to the original upper.
After he was ready, he first gently tried the feeling in place, and then looked at the people around him, and saw that they were all ready and nodding to him.
Chang Zhengbiao first motioned for everyone to look over, then made a few gestures, and once again motioned for everyone to climb up separately and try to quietly kill the Tatars on this sentry tower.
After everything was ready, Chang Zhengbiao was the first to step forward and press his body against the Qing army's wall. Then he held the outside of a log on the wall with both hands and stepped lightly on the log alternately with his two feet.
After one foot is firmly planted, move the other foot. Hold it gently like this, alternately move your feet up, and your body will climb up. This action may seem simple, but it is actually extremely energy-consuming.
Limited by the technological level of this era, they did not have the sticky gloves of later generations. They only applied some sticky liquid on their palms, and basically relied on the strength of their legs and waist to support their bodies, climb up, and use their hands. It just plays the role of maintaining balance and keeping close to the wall.
With the cover of the howling north wind, six figures climbed up the wall of the Qing army's stronghold under the eyes of the Tatar sentry. Chang Zhengbiao had a short dagger in his mouth and a handgun on each side of his waist. On his back was a black wrought iron mace.
The other three soldiers from the Tiger Guard Camp had already retreated more than ten steps outside the village wall, hiding in the thin white snow. Their cloaks were special, black on the outside but white on the inside.
At this moment, the three of them wore their cloaks inside out and blended in with the white snow. It would be difficult to spot them unless they walked closer with a lantern.
The three of them each aimed their bows and arrows at the sentry tower not far away. Once the sneak attack by Chang Zhengbiao and the four of them failed, they would have to rely on the bows and arrows in their hands to kill the Tatar sentry on the sentry tower in time.
At the same time, outside the wall under the sentry tower, there were four soldiers from the Tiger Guard Battalion of the Xuanfu Army on standby. Although their bodies were pressed against the wall, their eyes were fixed on the sentry tower above their heads.
Like the three warriors more than ten steps away, they are used as backup for a failed sneak attack. Once the sneak attack fails, the three shooters in the distance will shoot the Qing sentry with bows and arrows. They are responsible for catching the fallen Tatar sentry here. body, so as not to make too much noise when it hits the ground and disturb other Tatars.
Moreover, if Chang Zhengbiao and the others who climbed up to make a sneak attack failed, the seven people remaining outside the village wall could just meet them and cover their retreat in time.
Chang Zhengbiao quickly climbed up to the edge of the village wall. He stretched out his hands and clung to the top of the village wall, but then he tried his best to retract his head and hide it under the village wall. He raised his ears and listened with bated breath. Movement on the sentry tower.
Even though Chang Zhengbiao had always been bold, he also raised his heart to his throat at this moment. He tried his best to suppress his breath and slowly breathed it out. At the same time, he looked at the brothers on the left and right and briefly communicated with them with his eyes.
Suddenly, a torch on the sentry tower was blown out by the howling north wind, and a slight commotion was heard. The Tatar sentry was obviously shocked by this sudden change.
But they reacted quickly, quickly removed the torch and replaced it with another, ignited it and then inserted it back into its original position. Everything on the sentry tower was restored to its original state.
However, at the moment when the torch was extinguished, Chang Zhengbiao led three other soldiers and climbed up the wall of the village in the roaring night wind.
