However, since breaking away from Chinese rule, the Annan region has always had second thoughts, dreaming of becoming a regional hegemon and constantly challenging China's authority. This has resulted in frequent wars between China and Annan.
This time, Lord Zheng mobilized three battalions to attack Zhennanguan in an attempt to open up the passage into Guangdong and Guangxi, so this battle took place. Huang Kun spat, "Damn it, the imperial court is facing internal and external troubles now. I heard that the entire Ming army was wiped out in the Songjin War. Even Governor Hong was killed in the battle, with no bones left. His Majesty set up an altar in the capital. , to pay homage to Governor Hong and the loyal soldiers. Li Zicheng, a thief, surrounded Kaifeng. If Kaifeng was lost, the Central Plains would be completely ruined. Now it’s better, all the damn cats and dogs dare to ride on Daming’s head and shit, even Annan This little kid dares to invade, who knows if he has the right to do it."
"Hong Chengchou is not dead, he surrendered." Gao Heng muttered subconsciously.
This has become a legend in later generations. There are various versions. The most dramatic one, which has also been adopted by various film and television dramas, is that after Hong Chengchou surrendered to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, he was subdued by Dayu'er using a beauty trick. Anyway, no matter what, A man who knew China and the Ming Dynasty surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and the consequences were disastrous. Hong Chengchou's various suggestions to the Qing court made great contributions to the Qing army's entry into the pass and conquered the country like a broken bamboo. Otherwise, the Manchu Qing Dynasty would also I wouldn't give him such a high evaluation. From Gao Heng's point of view, this guy is a traitor.
"What did you say?" Huang Kun suddenly turned around and stared at Gao Heng with a frown. Only then did Gao Heng take a closer look at Huang Kun's face. Although his face and body were still stained with blood from the battle, they were clearly visible. It can be seen that he is a warrior, with dark skin, a square face, not tall but very strong, with pink and phoenix eyes, which look murderous when he squints.
He is about forty years old. At this age, he is still a young man. It seems that he is not doing well in the army. At this moment, Huang Kun questioned, Gao Heng quickly waved his hands and said: "Nothing, nothing, it's just that the Ming Dynasty suffered, and the villain feels the same."
Huang Kun didn't ask any more questions, nodded and said: "Well, you are also a refugee. It's not strange to feel this way. It's just that you are much luckier than them. Now the Central Plains and Liaodong have become hell. Hey."
Huang Kun shook his head and walked forward with his hands behind his back. Gao Heng followed him. I'm afraid the situation was worse than Huang Kun imagined. Li Zicheng flooded Kaifeng. This was a big event. Huang Kun and the others didn't know. Gao Heng was worried. One account, pitiful people in Henan, the whole of Henan is about to become a yellow flood zone. I really want to kill these damn dog thieves quickly, but now he is just a small flag, what can he do?
Huang Kun led him into his headquarters. He said it was a headquarters, but he just requisitioned a private house in Zhennanguan. The original owner was kicked out, and the family was standing outside the door at a loss. Several people were standing outside the door at a loss. People who looked like military officers surrounded them, saying something fiercely. It was only when they got closer that Gao Heng could hear clearly.
"Don't be so ungrateful as you. I came from the city to help you fight. If we don't come, the barbarians will come and kill all of you. We are just using your house temporarily. You are so nagging. What are you talking about?"
An old woman knelt on the ground and said in the local dialect: "Master Jun, please do well, Mr. Jun, this is the ancestral house, and our family depends on this house to live. If you kick us out, where will we live?"
The officer said with an angry look on his face: "Hey! Damn it, don't rely on your old age, be careful, Ouch!"
Huang Kun frowned, stepped forward and kicked a general flag officer on the butt, "Grandma, you are ruining my reputation again. Did I call you here to bully the people?" The general flag officer was about to say Cursing people, he turned around and saw that it was Huang Kun. He immediately changed his smile and said, "Hey, it's Mr. Baihu, no, please listen to my explanation. These guys, they don't know what's good and what's wrong, so."
Huang Kun glared at him, and the commander-in-chief closed his mouth. Huang Kun stepped forward and helped the old woman up and said, "Old man, get up first. Where are the men in your family?" The old woman said sadly: "My son was a soldier and died in the battle to defend the city."
Huang Kun was stunned for a moment, and then said: "I didn't expect it to be a military household, a home of heroes and martyrs."
He touched in his arms, took out a five-tael silver ingot, put it in the old woman's hand and said: "Old man, we are rough people, and it is our duty to fight. This time we came to support Zhennanguan. As expected, We will leave after repelling this wave of enemy attacks, but the houses in the city are tight, and we also need a place to discuss things. Look, you have houses in this yard. We will use half of it. You can accept these five taels of silver. , just treat it as the rent of the west wing, okay?"
Several officers behind Huang Kun looked at each other in confusion. Although they knew Baihu's character, in these troubled times, having a sword and a gun is the king. They didn't expect Huang Kun to act like this. He didn't look like a low-level officer. Gao Heng was also a little surprised. Later generations looked at the history of the Ming Dynasty. Although there were loyal and brave generals in the Ming Dynasty, most of them were Zuo Liangyu, Liu Zeqing, He Renlong and others. They were not good at resisting the enemy, but they were good at harming the people. As you can imagine What is the situation of junior officers?
It is common to drink the blood of soldiers and bully the people. He even kills good people and takes credit for his actions. Huang Kun can still have such a benevolent heart in this troubled world, which makes him a good official. But this is probably just because he is a fool. Bad reason, this guy is obviously not very gregarious.
The old lady and her family got the benefit of five taels of silver and immediately stopped crying. You must know that this is a huge sum of money. The salary of ordinary soldiers in the Ming Army is only one tael of silver a month. This is still sufficient, and one gram can be deducted. I don’t know when wages will be paid, and ordinary people don’t even have an income of one tael of silver. For an old man and a few women and children, this is indeed a huge sum of money. But these five taels of silver were probably Huang Kun's personal money. If you gave them to them, Huang Kun would be in trouble.
After settling the matter, Huang Kun waved to Gao Heng to come forward. He said: "Everyone, this is your new colleague, named Gao Heng. The old horse of the second small flag died in the battle. He is very skilled. I will let him." He came in as a junior flag officer."
In a state of war, these officers are all aware. Even they themselves know that without a sword or a gun, anyone may die. Today it is Lao Ma, but I don’t know who it will be next time. Will these people standing here meet anyone tomorrow? They don’t even know that Huang Kun can do whatever he wants to replace a small flag officer. Can everyone still object? Immediately, some people smiled and said, "Congratulations to Gao Xiaoqi."
Everyone also agreed, and Gao Heng also bowed his hands in return. Huang Kun waved his hand and motioned for everyone to go in for discussion. As soon as he entered the room, Gao Heng saw a map on the table. The map was rather scrawled and it was obviously made on the fly. However, looking at it this way, the army at Zhennanguan Pass It's fairly formal, and the map can be distributed to hundreds of households, which is already pretty good.
After Huang Kun gave a rough explanation, another map appeared in Gao Heng's mind. As an elite member of the Southern Excalibur, Gao Heng could draw a map of this place with his eyes closed.
You know, the Southwest Campaign after the founding of the country started here and lasted for ten years. Every plant and tree in this place was touched by the army. Gao Heng could hear the classic battle cases in it when he was in the army. Damn it, the Southern Divine Sword was originally fighting in the southwest, which happened to be their defense zone. How could Gao Heng not know that.
Huang Kun coughed and said: "Opposite us is Lang Son Prefecture in Annan. The enemy has three battalions and 3,000 troops stationed in Yuan County. They are facing us. They are full Beijing soldiers coming from Thang Long Prefecture. Our army's defensive force is only one thousand households, which is less than 1,000. Together with the two hundred households and some militia groups supporting from the city, we can barely make up the 1,000 people. One to three, we have an advantage due to the favorable geographical location, but if the enemy continues to increase its troops , if you don’t leave, you will be in trouble with us. If you are not afraid of thieves, you are afraid of them missing you. We can’t stay at Zhennanguan forever, so the situation is not good for our army. What strategies do you have to defeat the enemy? "
Everyone kept silent. They were just low-level officers. The only ones who could come up with any strategies to defeat the enemy and could talk to General Zuo Qian of Zhennan Pass were Huang Kun and others. Huang Kun asked them now. He must be going to a military meeting and he had to say something. Everyone was silent, Huang Kun looked unhappy and said: "Gao Heng, I think you have some ideas, please tell me."
Everyone's eyes suddenly focused on Gao Heng. Gao Heng did not expect that Huang Kun would call his name. In this case, it would be impossible if he didn't say it. Let's just talk about his opinion. For the military elite of the Republic, he still has the level. He is a lieutenant, and he is also a company lieutenant. The company lieutenant of Southern Divine Sword is much more valuable than the average army. Gao Heng pondered for a while and said: "In my opinion, the best defense is offense!"
As soon as Gao Heng finished speaking, there was a burst of laughter around him. Even Huang Kun looked at Gao Heng in disbelief. Gao Heng was a little confused. Therefore, the main events in the late Ming Dynasty basically revolved around Dashun and Qing Dynasty. , so Gao Heng does not know much about the southwest border, especially the situation in Annan in the late Ming Dynasty.
His understanding of the Annan people mainly came from later generations. The country fought on a large scale in the southwest for a long time. Their Southern Divine Sword also performed many missions after that, so he had a good understanding of the terrain and environment of Annan, but he had a good understanding of the Ming Dynasty. Gao Heng knew little about the Annan army.
Huang Kun signaled everyone to be quiet and said: "You are commendable for your courage, but you have just arrived. You must understand the situation of the Annan people. We have been dealing with Annan in Pingxiangzhou for generations. When Chengzu conquered Annan, he started from Pingxiangzhou and fought all the way to Shengsheng. Long, won a great victory and re-conquered Annan, calling him the Chief Envoy of Cochin. However, that was more than two hundred years ago. Now that the Ming Dynasty is weakening, Annan has long since regained its independence. The current Annan army is not two The army from more than a hundred years ago.”
Huang Kun walked out of the door, picked up a few stones in the yard, put them on the table and said: "The Annan Army currently has a complete set of arms, which should not be taken lightly. The first is the rattan archers. The bow they use is very special, it is a double bamboo bow." , the bow body is made of high-quality hard bamboo, with a layer of hard bamboo attached to the front end, the bow string is made of raw cowhide and beef tendon, and the two ends of the bow body are strengthened with ox bones. The bow string binds the two layers of the bow body, so the pulling force is extremely large, which is equal to The simplest method was used to strengthen the bow body, reaching the power of the Ming army's superior bows. At the same time, a piece of bamboo was cut into two halves, and used as a guide rail to strengthen the bow body, and the arrow support was inserted into it, greatly enhancing the stability when shooting. The arrow is slender and sharp, has a fast initial velocity and a long range, making it very difficult to deal with.”
"The reason why they are called rattan archers is that they used to be equipped with rattan armor, but rattan armor was not fire-resistant. After the Ming Dynasty incorporated Annan into its territory, the armor-making technology was spread. Now the Annan rattan archers are all equipped with iron armor. They are extremely elite and can not only travel far and wide. The Kaiyuan bow archers, who are far stronger than our army, even had the upper hand during the battle with the blunderbuss."
He placed a stone and indicated that this was the vine archer of Annan Army. "In addition to archers, there are also firearmsmen. Annan firearms were not good at first, but for hundreds of years, the Folangji people have continued to enter Southeast Asia. Not to mention Annan, even the Ming army itself is equipped with a large number of Folangji firearms. They even imitated Folangji firearms. The Folangji people came from the West, first arrived in Annan, and had a stronghold in Nanyang. Therefore, the Annan people were often the first to receive advanced firearms. It was just a matter of spending money to purchase them. This Zheng-Nuan dispute, I heard that it was because the southern army had strong firearms that they suppressed the northern army, which forced Lord Zheng to have no choice but to take our idea. It can be said that the firecrackers and artillery of the Annan army were not weaker than those of the Ming army. "He placed another stone behind the vine archer.
"In addition, the Annan Army also has cavalry. You may think that our place does not produce horses, so how can we have cavalry? In fact, this is not the case. There are also native horses in Annan, Myanmar and other areas, but their endurance, physical strength, and body shape are not very good. But back then During the Yuan Dynasty's expedition to Annan, many war horses were left behind. During the Ming Dynasty's expedition to Annan, they also obtained some. After breeding and evolution and intentional breeding from the upper levels, Annan also established many horse factories. Although the number of cavalry was not large, I never Mr. Qian heard from Mr. Zheng that there are nearly 10,000 light and heavy cavalry under Master Zheng alone. A considerable part of the cavalry is equipped with Folang machine firearms and has strong combat power. The most troublesome thing is that there are also many elephant soldiers. Their unique arms. During the Chengzu period, the Ming army used paper lions and firearms to scare the elephant soldiers and disrupt their formation. However, after years of evolution and the continuous equipment of firearms, the elephants also adapted to the environment and were difficult to deal with. "He placed another stone on the flank of the vine archer.
"Let's not talk about infantry. Apart from the Beijing soldiers, the soldiers in the four surrounding towns are basically infantry. Half of them are armored and half armored. The armored and leather armors are all. The iron armored army is all Beijing soldiers. But there is also a mountain ghost among the infantry. The army is considered a special force. Woodland combat and night attacks are their strengths. What we encountered was their mountain ghost army. They were equipped with light armor and moved quickly. They came and went like the wind. They were very difficult to deal with. Fortunately, they had few people. Otherwise we will suffer a big loss."
