It was not until early February that the rear camp finally came into the court's sight.
The cause was the memorial of Hexi Military Guard.
[The staff guarded Hexi. After the Eastern invaders invaded and surrendered, they worked hard and slept day and night, not daring to neglect. The month before last, more than 10,000 people came from the north, armed with weapons and vehicles. He sent people to inquire and said that our army defeated Zunhua and killed nearly a thousand Tatars. He also said that when the Tartars return, they will massacre the city to vent their anger. Then he gave him money and food and ordered him to go south. I am afraid that the Eastern captives will be careful in the room, so I dare not let them in. These people flocked southward and disappeared without a trace. 】
This memorial was sent to the Ministry of War on the third day of the first lunar month.
But at that time, the Ministry of War was in civil strife, and Xiong Mingyue was chasing Shen Yongmao fiercely. The officials in the Ministry had no thoughts at all.
It was not until the beginning of February that Liang Tingdong, the new Minister of War, was sorting out official documents and saw this memorial.
It was okay not to look at it, but when he looked at it, Liang Tingdong was confused.
what happened?
Did our army capture Zunhua in December?
No, how did Ma Shilong's troops lose at Zunhua City in the first month?
There must be something hidden in this.
Liang Tingdong did not dare to neglect and immediately reported the matter to Chongzhen.
Chongzhen became suspicious on the spot, thinking that the people below him were fooling him again, so he immediately sent a stern edict to Ma Shilong, asking Ma Shilong to explain the matter clearly.
Ma Shilong was also confused after receiving the order.
I didn’t conquer Zunhua!
He was also afraid that it was the commander-in-chief, staff-general, and commander-in-chief below who had done it. He asked them one by one, but no one knew about it.
Ma Shilong felt relieved and immediately replied to Chongzhen with a memorial, confirming that Zunhua was always in the hands of Hou Jin and had never heard of any friendly forces conquering it.
Chongzhen suspected that Hexi Wu had lied about the military situation and investigated the matter again.
The Hexi military guard reported a new situation.
The common people passing by him said that the Ming army who conquered Zunhua spoke Shandong dialect.
In December, the Shandong Army came to Zunhua?
Chongzhen was so frightened that he quickly questioned Wang Congyi, the governor of Shandong.
At this time, Wang Congyi had just led his troops to the capital, and he was confused by the question.
I never sent anyone to attack Zunhua!
Wang Congyi firmly denied it, and all the people under his command could testify.
Then the situation became weird.
In Chongzhen's view, the one most likely to lie was the Hexi Guard.
This guy is evil!
So Chongzhen ordered the Jinyi Guards to arrest the Hexi guards and interrogate them strictly.
Fortunately, Jinyiwei passed by Tongzhou. Sun Chengzong and Hou Xun learned about this and quickly wrote to Chongzhen to tell them the truth.
[I am under the command of the Holy Spirit and will assist the overall situation. However, the Eastern captives can come and go freely, and it is difficult for our army to control them. Zuo Menggeng, the general manager of Linqing Xieqian, said, "We should take the lead. We must rescue the enemy when attacking, and we must not exhaust our troops to follow." Because what he said was reasonable and there were few people in his tribe, I allowed him to do as he pleased. The act of restraining and transforming should be regarded as meritorious. 】
Things are clear.
The Hexi garrison did not panic. In December, Zunhua was indeed captured once by the Ming army. But later Hou Jin returned to the army and occupied it again.
When he heard that General Qian actually took back a city when Hou Jin was conquering the city and killed hundreds of Jiannu, Chongzhen was greatly excited and quickly asked where the ministry was.
Sun Chengzong said that I didn't know either. I just let the unit fight freely, and the commander of the unit decided on his own offensive and defensive actions.
If it were a large army, Sun Chengzong would have been impeached by the officials long ago if he did this. But after hearing that it was just a camp, even Chongzhen didn't care.
Since the Hou Jin Dynasty invaded Japan, have the number of generals, generals, and generals who died in battle been still few?
Are there still few Ming troops who surrendered and fled?
A mere battalion with thousands of people, even if they have different intentions, how much trouble can they cause?
Earlier, someone on the Hexi side reported that twelve commoners killed hundreds of Tatars by catching arrows with their bare hands.
In a messy situation, anything goes wrong.
Zuo Menggeng didn't know that Sun Chengzong and Hou Xun helped him prevent a disaster.
After a period of rest and the weather became warmer, Zuo Mengeng decided to take action again.
The prerequisite for deciding that he could take action was that all the troops of the Later Jin Dynasty had gone to Qian'an. At this time, they were inextricably linked to the Ming army, and they could no longer take care of him for the time being.
"I decided to hit Hongshan Pass."
Hongshan Pass was one of the three passes used by the Later Jin Dynasty to enter the invaders, and it was also the place where Huang Taiji broke through the pass.
Zuo Mengeng couldn't remember where Huang Taiji returned from, so he simply decided to hit Hongshan Pass first.
It just happened that I had ambushed the Han cavalry in Miaowa Valley near Hongshan Pass before. The terrain was familiar and it was not difficult to fight.
Zuo Mengeng chose Hongshan Pass for another reason besides its importance.
That was the behavior of Cai Tong, the guard at Hongshan Pass, who surrendered to the enemy.
When Huang Taiji broke through the barrier, the man surrendered immediately without any resistance.
Later, when the Jin army went to the capital, this guy followed him everywhere.
If surrendering was an act of desperation, it later made up for the sin. But when the Jin army came back again, this guy rebelled again.
And he was the first to rebel.
Ma Shilong, who was stationed in Santun camp at that time, sent people to persuade him, but he not only refused to listen, but also drove them back.
This time they surrendered, Cai Tongke worked much harder, and followed Hou Jin to capture Panjiakou.
Obviously, this guy decided to go all the way.
Taking advantage of the Hou Jin army at Qian'an, Zuo Mengeng decided to punish the traitors first.
Huang Zongxi asked: "After Hongshan Pass is captured, will we garrison troops? If we don't garrison troops and the Tatars come to attack, what will we do?"
At that time, Zuo Menggeng had received Hou Xun's letter and knew that the imperial court was aware of the existence of Houying.
"We will not be stationed at the pass. After we defeat it, we will write to Ma Shilong and ask him to take over."
Zuo Mengeng would not be stupid enough to defend the city.
After the discussion was finalized, the army set off immediately.
This time, the rear camp could finally march openly.
Three days later, we arrived at Hongshan Pass.
But once they saw the situation inside the pass, the entire army resisted the urge to use force.
The old Xiongguan has long lost its elegance now, and its shabby appearance is worse than a pigsty.
The city gate is open, and people can't come in or out.
A few soldiers under the city gate hid in the shelter and huddled in a ball. When they saw the army approaching, they just stretched their necks and took a look, but were indifferent.
There were no guards on the city gate at all, so when the rear camp rushed up, there was no movement inside the pass.
Not long after, the entire Hongshan Pass was occupied by the rear camp.
Zuo Mengeng walked into the pass surrounded by officers. He only saw about a hundred soldiers thrown into the open space in the center, facing the bayonets of the rear camp, and they responded calmly.
Looking around, there was no one who was energetic among the hundreds of people.
All were in rags, unable to cover their bodies. Some rags fluttered randomly in the wind, revealing the skinny body underneath, with each rib like a pipa.
The garrison general Cai Tong was carried in front of him, and he showed no fear either.
"If you want to chop off my head, then chop it off."
Huang Zongxi angrily said: "You have forgotten your ancestors, taken refuge with foreigners, and massacred your compatriots. You deserve death."
Cai Tong grinned, half smiling.
"Do I deserve to die? I deserve to die a long time ago. But before killing me, I want to ask, does the imperial court care about our life and death?"
As soon as he said this, he suddenly became excited, pointed at the weak soldiers, and cried bitterly.
"Look, take a good look. From August last year to now, we haven't received a grain of rice or a penny of salary. The brothers couldn't bear the hunger, so they cut tree bark to satisfy their hunger. Things that can be sold in the pass They were all sold for two hundred kilograms of rice, and we ate all winter. Everyone said that we were traitors, but when Huang Taiji came, he gave us money and food to keep us fed. Where is the emperor and the court? "
The weeping accusations echoed in the ears, making everyone feel sad in their hearts.
They are obviously soldiers on the border to defend the country, but they are starved to death.
Have those monarchs and ministers hiding in the splendid palaces ever thought about these poor people?
Why do these people who are suffering from hunger need to use swords and guns when facing the army of Hou Jin?
All they need is rice and food. What else can they do besides surrender?
Who personally gave them to the enemy and became the accomplices of the alien race?
Cai Tong vented his anger and accepted his fate.
"If you want to kill them, just give them a good time. These brothers are all pitiful people, and they all obey my orders. Please give them a way to survive."
As soon as he finished speaking, he smiled bitterly again.
"Forget it, even if you don't kill them, how can they survive? That's all, they're all dead."
Liu Yiyuan couldn't bear to look and turned his back slightly.
"This matter is the fault of the imperial court, and it seems that they are not to blame."
Seeing that everyone seemed to agree with Liu Yiyuan's views, Zuo Mengeng decided to teach them a good ideological lesson.
He shouted: "Those who participated in the attack on Panjiakou, come out."
Among the defenders at Hongshan Pass, twenty or thirty people came out one after another.
Zuo Mengeng ordered his men to tie them up and bring them close.
"The imperial court has treated you badly and failed you. It doesn't care about your life or death and allows you to die in vain. This is the imperial court's fault."
The tied people were frightened and couldn't help but wonder.
Mr. Qian seemed to be talking to them, but why did he tie them up again?
Zuo Mengeng continued: "It is natural for you to hate such a court. Even rebellion is the right thing to do."
When the defenders at Hongshan Pass heard this, they were extremely frightened, as if rebellion was a big deal.
Only Zuo Mengeng's voice was extremely loud.
"You rebelled and overthrew the imperial court. That was the way to survive. No one can say anything about it. But you should never, never should, surrender to the aliens and torture your compatriots. Tiger poison does not eat its seeds and helps the aliens to bully them. , Those who slaughter their compatriots are worse than animals."
The defenders at Hongshan Pass finally understood what he meant.
The tied officers and soldiers were trembling even more, but they couldn't say anything to refute.
Zuo Mengeng walked up to Cai Tong and asked loudly: "Does what I said make sense? Do you have any objections?"
Cai Tong was silent for a long time, and finally closed his eyes helplessly, choosing to accept his fate.
If Zuo Mengeng just scolded him for surrendering to the enemy for glory, he still had many reasons to refute. But Zuo Mengeng was outspoken and even said words of rebellion, which immediately sent him to hell.
Nowadays, there are many people in various parts of the Ming Dynasty who are rebelling because they are dissatisfied with the tyranny. They can rebel if they can't survive.
Zuo Menggeng even proposed the legitimacy of rebellion.
But before making this choice, they became accomplices of aliens massacring their compatriots, which is unforgivable.
Zuo Menggeng's words were righteous and full of generosity.
"Since you understand the sin you have committed, then atone for it by dying."
"Execution!"
With his order and bayonet thrust, these traitors who helped the foreigners commit evil were all killed.
The defenders of Hongshan Pass who were still alive were all terrified, not knowing what fate awaited them.
Zuo Mengeng looked around and saw that among these people, there was not a single official.
In this bastard world, these poor soldiers can't even do such a thing as surrendering to the enemy for glory.
While ordering people to drag out the executed traitors and bury them, Zuo Mengeng asked people to get food for the hungry defenders.
The fragrant potato powder was delivered to them, making all these hungry ghosts go crazy. Ignore the threat of death and fill my stomach first.
While they were eating, Zuo Mengeng asked: "If your crime is not worthy of death, of course it is here with me. I don't know how the court will judge you. Do you have a place to go?"
The deliciousness of potato flour is something these people have never tried in their lives. They were stunned to see that all the soup in the bowl was drained and they were still reluctant to part with it.
The aroma lingering on the lips and teeth encouraged these defenders to take courage.
"General, take us away. If we stay here, we will only die."
With a crash, dozens of soldiers all knelt in front of Zuo Mengeng, with very unified wishes.
