Fifty miles outside Xingshan City, both sides of the official road leading to Dangyang are now densely covered with white tents, stretching endlessly. In the Shili Changting Pavilion not far away, a Manchu soldier dressed like a petty leader sat in the pavilion with a red face, holding an ordinary-looking young rural woman in his arms, and kept teasing her. The young woman pushed away timidly, but did not dare to exert too much force. The soldiers in the nearby camp who had not yet fallen asleep looked at this scene with fiery and lustful eyes.
It was almost midnight, and outside a large tent not far away, several soldiers with swords were looking majestic. Inside the tent, the generals under the command of "Prince of England" Azig - Jingxi General "Muri" Ma" was toasting frequently to a Han general.
This person turned out to be Gao Shouyi who had defected!
"General Gao is really generous, let's have another drink!" Mulima spoke in impure Mandarin, and the servant beside her quickly filled the wine.
"General Mu, please, please, you are the most powerful!" Gao Shouyi lowered his head and said with a bow.
"Sit, sit," Mulima said.
"This time General Gao led his troops to vote, which made Prince Ying very satisfied. I think it won't take long for him to rise to prominence!" Mulima said.
"It's all thanks to your cultivation, Gao will definitely live up to everyone's expectations!" Gao Shouyi said.
"But when will the other ones that the general said will come to vote?" Mulima asked.
"This, this..." Gao Shouyi hesitated, thinking about the words "You can't steal from your master on a regular basis" and didn't know how to word it.
Mulima seemed to understand Gao Shouyi's difficulties. She patted Gao Shouyi on the shoulder and said, "General, there is no need to be embarrassed. It's not too late to think of a solution slowly." Mulima sat down as she spoke, her face darkening.
Gao Shouyi was holding the wine glass, cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and he was quickly thinking about how to deal with it.
Seeing this, Mulima said: "Ah, General Gao, don't be nervous, sit down, sit down, eat vegetables, eat vegetables." Then he took out an exquisite dry tobacco bag. The attendant next to him lit the fire and immediately helped him light it. In an instant, the tent was filled with a strong smell of tobacco. But he looked at Gao Shouyi with contempt from time to time.
"Sir, I will do my best to be loyal and live up to your trust." After saying that, he drank the wine in one gulp, put down the glass, clasped his hands in his fists, and knelt on the ground, very frightened.
Mulima was slightly satisfied and waved her hand, "General, please get up, sit down, sit down." She knocked the copper-colored smoking pot on the ground, knocked off the ashes, and said:
"In the near future, the armies of the Prince Regent and the Ten Princes will attack from the north and the south. I guess Li Laiheng won't be able to hold on for long." As he spoke, he shook his bloated head with a few sparse hairs and was about to go bald.
"Yes, yes, the Qing Dynasty will win, and the prince will win." He glanced at the tiger head sign next to him that said "Avoid" and "Silence". He quickly stood up and bowed and said, "It's getting late, so I'll go back to my humble duty first, and my lord, I'll take a rest early!"
"Okay, okay, General, take care of yourself." Mulima said with narrowed eyes.
Gao Shouyi clasped his fists and bowed before retreating from the tent. He exited the big tent, took a deep breath, and walked towards the tent next to Shili Changting Pavilion. This is where he temporarily garrisoned the army, and the peasant woman before was his newly married concubine.
"Alas, people have to lower their heads under the eaves." Gao Shouyi walked into his tent dejectedly.
…
Xingshan Dazhai, about three moments after approaching Chou, a cloud of dust rolled up, and a small group of people quickly rushed into the village.
Li Laiheng, Tian Zhongshun and other dozens of riders had arrived outside the camp gate. At this time, the lights were lit inside the camp. Li Laiheng looked at the neat and tidy military appearance in the camp, which was heavily guarded. He nodded secretly and walked into the camp gate first. Liu Shun, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese army, and his general Zheng Pian and Zuo hurried out to greet him, shouting in unison:
"Welcome General!"
Laiheng waved his hand and entered the Chinese army camp directly. The generals and assistants on the left and right were arranged on both sides to listen to orders.
"Everyone, I have several purposes for coming this time. First, Emperor Yongli was killed, and the whole country was shocked. Just when people are in panic, Kuang Li Dingguo died of illness in Yunnan. This news is extremely unfavorable to us. In recent days, Tan Ma reported that "Shaanxi Governor" Bai Rumei and "Admiral" Wang Yizheng had joined Dorgon in Xiangyang. "Sichuan Governor" Li Qinxiang even wanted to encircle Xiakou and Huangliang Town with Jingzhou soldiers. We should prepare early. Secondly, The high-ranking traitor committed an unforgivable crime by seeking refuge with the Qing soldiers, and I will kill him as a warning to others!"
All the generals looked solemn and responded in unison: "We are willing to obey the orders of the Duke!"
"It's already late today, so all the generals should take a rest first. We'll raise our tents tomorrow at midnight. I hope you'll be punctual and make sure there's no mistake!"
"Get the order", all the generals came with a bang, and immediately they were all out of the tent. There were only four people left in the tent, including Tian Zhongshun, Liu Shun, Li Yong, and Pi Xingyong.
"Zhongshun, I have a plan. You and Li Yong will shave off your hair with some capable soldiers, disguise themselves as traders, sneak into the Qing army camp, find out where Gao Shouyi is, and raise a fire as a signal at three o'clock tomorrow. We will rush in and destroy this thief... !”
Zhongshun and Li Yong both agreed to go and did not express their opinions for the time being.
It was almost five o'clock at this time, Gui Huaiyuan, Li Keming, and Li Xuexiu returned to the base camp along the mountain road, and Ma Jiaolin came out of the mountain gate to greet the camp.
"Brother Gui, you are back!" Ma Jiaolin said.
Gui Huaiyuan and others stared at Ma Jiaolin in confusion and did not say anything. They only heard Ma Jiaolin continue to say: "It's nothing much. I just heard from the horse scouting report that there seemed to be people and horses mobilizing in Xiling Gorge, and they haven't crossed the river yet. It should be okay, cough, cough."
"What, 'no big deal'?" Gui Huaiyuan and others were secretly surprised. "Isn't this a problem?" Gui Huaiyuan said. "Call that man over quickly."
"Yes," Ma Jiaolin ordered to call, and quickly urged the cook to bring wine and food, very attentively. After a while, the Tanma came to the crowd with sleepy eyes.
"Tell me, what's going on?" Gui Huaiyuan looked at him and said.
"Oh, that's it, General. I returned to camp from Xiling Gorge at Shenyou time today, because I saw many flags standing in the mountains on the other side, and there was a vague movement of troops and horses. It was dark and rainy at that time, but it was not very clear when I looked at it. I rushed back the letter immediately. After hearing this, General Ma told me to go to bed, and also gave me a good meal and wine." Tanma replied, and looked at General Ma. The general, however, lowered his head, not knowing what he was thinking.
"Study show, stop toiling. You immediately lead three hundred cavalry to Xiling Ferry to guard the stronghold. As soon as there is news, report immediately. You must find out where the troops are! Although we are here in a remote place, we can't You're so careless!" After saying that, Xuexiu nodded, greeted his soldiers and left the stronghold. Huaiyuan took his own soldiers, lit torches, and inspected the camp again.
…
The rooster has crowed several times, and the sky is slowly getting brighter. The morning glow fills the sky, the fiery red sun sweeps away all the haze of yesterday, and the barking of dogs can be heard from time to time in the village. Leghorn only slept for more than one watch before getting up to practice swordplay. Like his grandfather Li Chuangwang.
Since the current situation was becoming more and more unfavorable to him, he felt anxious. There are not many defenders in Xingshan. The total of the three armies of horse and infantry is only 156,000. Damn Gao Shouyi also took away 3,000. Counting the 15,000 troops and horses that Niu Xi and the others will bring today, the total strength is only 3,000. Ten thousand, and there are more than 50,000 Qing troops stationed in Dangyang, and it is very likely that more troops will be added. According to the spies, Xiangyang has joined the Shaanxi troops. Since last year, all positions from Dangyang City to Shili Changting have been occupied by Qing troops. Horses and even official roads have been turned into streets, with various merchants and shops lined up. Fortunately, Xingshan City is connected to Wanchao Mountain, and Wanchao Mountain is the only gateway to Xingshan, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
There was still more than half an update before Chen Shi's account promotion, so he decided to go to Xingshan City to look around. He hadn't been there for a year.
"General," a voice said from behind. He recognized that it was Xiaobao, but he didn't expect him to return so quickly.
"Go to bed quickly. You are the commander-in-chief, so you should have a good rest." Leghorn said kindly. Although he is much older than Xiaobao, he is both a descendant of King Chuang and the commander-in-chief of the army. He generally does not have any airs.
"Yes, I just finished eating and I'm a little full." Xiaobao replied with a burp, then smiled at Leghorn and left happily. Laiheng left the gate of Dazhai and headed towards Xingshan City.
After a year of fighting, fighting and artillery battles, Xingshan City has long been changed beyond recognition. All the people have moved away, and only some broken walls are left.
Laiheng stood on the north slope of Wanchao Mountain and looked down. He saw rows of wooden fences erected close to the mountain pass. There were also trenches in front of the wooden fences, but they were not very wide, so they were in vain. He frowned and then looked in the direction of Dangyang, "I hope Zhongsheng and the others can successfully lurk." Looking again, he actually couldn't see anything. The endless Huanglong Mountains block all sight lines. "I wonder what happened to Shoujun and the others? There is also Feng Mingming. The pressure on Feng Mingming is also huge, with a total strength of only 10,000." "Alas" he sighed, thinking wildly.
…
"Brothers, work harder and strive to reach the north bank of the Xihe River at dawn," Hei Yougong's voice was rich and magnetic, making people feel at ease when hearing it.
It has been almost three hours since yesterday's second update until now, when Hei Yougong led his troops on a rapid march. In fact, the brothers were very tired, but they all gritted their teeth and persisted. The cavalry soldiers were better, but the infantry were really struggling! But what they didn't know was that Hei Yougong had spent the hour at Maolu Mountain except for yesterday's noon. , has been running on the road, and has no time to take a bite of food, but this is a general order, related to the life and death of thousands of brothers, sisters and old and young men! He has to work hard to hold on.
"Dog, come here." "Hey," a young man of sixteen or seventeen years old cleverly jumped in front of the meritorious man. He is a meritorious leader of the personal soldiers.
"Take a few people to the front to find out the news, be careful!"
"Okay, no problem. Don't worry, Mr. Hei." After saying that, he led a few people and rode away.
The dog and a dozen soldiers quickly left the large army and ran towards Wollongong.
It usually takes more than three hours to go from Dazhai, Nanyang Town to Wollongong during the day. On the way, we pass by the Xihe River. The Yinxi River flows not far from the Xishan Mountain on the left, so this section of the river is not deep, not to mention that it is already September 18th in the lunar calendar. , it is the dry season, you can wade across the river, the water surface of the river is only thirty to fifty meters.
The dog and the soldiers walked down the hill. When they approached the river, the east was already white. After running all night, their mouths were dry and the horses were thirsty. They looked at the river and the dogs took the lead and led the horses to the bank. Come along. At this time, there was only a "dang" sound, and the arrow hit the dog's breastplate. A soldier next to him couldn't even say "ouch". The arrow had already been hit in the neck and he fell to the ground. The dog squatted down and shouted, "Back up, back up!" Arrows rained down, and in a blink of an eye, nine of the eleven people were hit by arrows and fell to the ground. The last two people were left because they were farther away. damage.
When the two of them saw so many people and horses suddenly appearing in the forest on the other side, they immediately panicked and quickly turned around and patted their horses and left.
…
