Facts have proved that Qin Feng and Lu Xuanqiu's judgment was completely correct.
In the sixth year of Chongzhen - the tenth day of the fifth lunar month, Huang Taiji, the Jurchen Great Khan, personally led more than 80,000 elite soldiers of the Eight Banners to leave Shenyang and march westward. , Azig, Dorgon, Duduo and others accompanied him.
As the Jurchen army marched westward, the leaders of the Mongolian Horqin, Khalkha, Ulyanha, and Zalut tribes that had already surrendered long ago led their troops to join together, and the total strength of the coalition quickly reached 120,000.
The coalition forces were all cavalry, and each man had several horses. They marched very fast. In just twenty days, they crossed most of the Mongolian grassland and arrived at the foot of Daqing Mountain on the east bank of the Yellow River. The troops were then divided into three groups:
Huang Taiji personally led 60,000 troops, crossed the Yellow River to the west, and entered the Hetao grassland, vowing to conquer the Chahar, Ordos, Tumut, and Yongxiebu tribes headed by Lin Dan Khan, and make the entire Monan Mongolia a Jurchen A vassal of the Khanate!
Baylor-Dudu led 30,000 troops southward and broke through the fortress of Shahukou in northern Ming Dynasty in one fell swoop. He entered the northwestern region of Shanxi and conquered many cities in Weiyuan, Pinglu, Shuozhou and Mayi. His troops were unstoppable!
Beile-Abatai led 30,000 troops to cooperate with the operation, broke through the Wayaokou of the fortress, entered the northeastern area of Shanxi, rampaged and plundered wantonly!
Facing the two Jurchen attacks, the Shanxi defenders lost consecutive battles and surrendered at the last resort. The Governor of Xuanda, Zhang Zongheng, was helpless and had to quickly ask for help from the imperial court.
When the news came out, the world was shocked!
In fact, the Ming Dynasty was aware of the Jurchens sharpening their swords.
However, none of them, from Emperor Chongzhen and the Nine Ministers of the Six Ministries to the feudal officials and frontier generals, expected that the Jurchens would send troops in the midsummer season of May, nor did they expect that the Jurchens would leave the capital alone and instead attack distant areas. Far north of Shanxi.
He didn't expect it, so he was naturally unprepared. As a result, he was caught off guard and suffered heavy losses!
After receiving the report, Emperor Chongzhen was furious. He quickly discussed countermeasures with the six ministers and nine ministers, and then issued two orders: First, mobilize the border troops from the towns in western Zhili, southern Shanxi, and eastern Shaanxi to attack the Yangqu area in central Shanxi. Gather quickly.
The second was to remove the old and incompetent Governor of Xuanda, Zhang Zongheng, from his post for investigation, and appoint Lu Xiang, who was well versed in military affairs, to be promoted to the position of Yushi of the Right Capital and concurrently as the Left Minister of the Ministry of War. He gave Shang Fang a sword and was fully responsible for commanding the border troops in each town to face the invading Jurchen army. .
Immediately, the border troops in each town who received the order quickly took action, including the Tianwei Army!
……………
In the morning, the Tianwei Army camp - inside the Chinese army tent.
A giant map of Shanxi drawn by the geography wizard Xu Xiake himself was hung in the tent, with the invasion of the Jurchen army clearly marked on it.
Qin Feng was fully clothed and holding the scale-reverse sword in his hand. He stood in front of the map, watching and thinking at the same time!
The eight major Shanxi merchants and the Jurchens have always been colluding and working for women. Unexpectedly, the Jurchens invaded Shanxi this time and burned, killed and looted wantonly.
This seems extremely unreasonable, but if you think about it carefully, it is very reasonable, because this invasion of the Jurchens can bring huge benefits to the eight major Shanxi merchants.
First of all, the eight major Shanxi merchants have been organizing caravans to smuggle various military supplies to the Jurchens in large quantities through this route in the southern Mongolian grassland, making huge profits!
After he formed the Tianwei Army, he led his troops to attack the smuggling caravans of the eight major Shanxi merchants many times, and also seized a large amount of supplies.
After occupying the Hetao Grassland, the Chahar tribe took advantage of its geographical advantages and also sent a large number of rangers to intercept and kill the smuggling caravans of the eight major Shanxi merchants on the grassland.
With the two-pronged approach, the eight Shanxi merchants suffered heavy losses and their trade routes were almost cut off. The Jurchens lacked supplies and were equally anxious.
Now that the Jurchen army has invaded Shanxi, they can directly trade with the eight major Shanxi merchants. The former can obtain a large amount of military supplies, and the latter can obtain a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry!
Secondly, the Jurchen army rampaged through Shanxi, and the people's homes were destroyed and displaced.
The eight major Shanxi merchants took the opportunity to annex land, traffick people, and at the same time sell grain, cloth, refined salt and other daily necessities at high prices.
A war treasure!
Moreover, when the Jurchen army was plundering everywhere, they committed no crime against Qiu, the town where the eight major Shanxi merchants lived, and the latter suffered no losses.
…
All in all, the eight major Shanxi merchants lured wolves into the house, using the blood and tears of Shanxi people to obtain huge benefits for themselves. Such behavior can no longer be described as greedy, but crazy and inhumane!
And this time he led the Tianwei Army to Shanxi, not only to defeat the invading Jurchens, but also to deal with the eight major Shanxi merchants!
"Boom...boom...boom!"
Amidst the sound of heavy footsteps, two generals in full armor walked in. It was Han Shanjun and Dong Tianbao. They clasped their fists and saluted: "See you, General!"
"Well, have all the children from the Boy Scouts and Women's Scouts been sent away?"
"Sir, all of them have been sent to Baichengzi, and eight hundred soldiers have been arranged to escort them. There are also caravans from the Xue family and the Hu family to handle them along the way, so everything is guaranteed to be safe!"
"Very well, how are the soldiers?"
"We are already in formation, just waiting for the General's order to go out!"
"Okay, let's go!"
Qin Feng nodded with satisfaction, then led the two of them out of the Chinese army's tent and went straight to the commander's station.
In front of the general platform, the officers and soldiers of the Tianwei Army were already arrayed in order. Everyone was fully armed and in high spirits. Lei Dapeng and his eight thousand officers and soldiers were also arrayed here, accompanying them on the expedition.
On the general's stage, there is a large red flag, eight feet long and six feet wide, with flame patterns embroidered on the side, a white yak tail at the bottom, and a big ink word "Qin" in the middle!
There are two lines of small words next to it: It is as fast as the wind, it is as slow as the forest, it invades like fire, it is motionless as a mountain, it is difficult to know as the shadow, it moves like thunder!
This is the newly made banner that Qin Feng made after he was promoted to general. It is used to command battles. The two lines of small characters on it are from "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu. They are the Six Ru Mantras praised by many famous generals in the past!
To put it bluntly, as long as you learn and master the Liuru Mantra, you will be invincible in every battle!
According to the rules, when the army goes out for an expedition, it must kill the green ox and the white horse, and sacrifice the flag and flag with blood to ensure that the army can win the battle and be successful.
But today, Qin Feng did not use the blood of cattle and horses, but used human blood to sacrifice the flag!
"Someone, bring me here!"
"As you command!"
Following an order, the soldiers dragged up two young men who were bound and gagged with rags. They were beaten beyond recognition and had their hands and feet broken.
It was none other than Fan He, the eleventh son of Fan Yongdou, and Fan Cai, the fourteenth son of Fan Yongdou, the head of the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants.
Natural disasters and man-made disasters have made the people in the northwest region displaced and extremely pitiful. There are many people who sell their children and daughters in order to survive.
When the Fan family learned of the situation, they secretly sent a caravan over to buy boys and girls from the victims at low prices, and then brought them back to Shanxi to sell them for huge profits.
The soldiers of the Tianwei Army were ordered to adopt orphans and abandoned children in various prefectures, states, and counties. As a result, they discovered the whereabouts of the Fan family's caravan and reported it.
When Qin Feng learned about the situation, he was furious. He immediately ordered Ma Yong to lead a cavalry group disguised as horse thieves and secretly attacked the Fan family's caravan. The children were rescued and incorporated into the Boy Scouts and Women's Army. All the gang members were killed and abandoned in the wilderness. Fan He and Fan Cai were brought back, tortured and forced to confess.
Now that all the confessions have been asked and the two of them have been defeated, they decided to use the waste and let the two make the last contribution: blood sacrifice to the military flag!
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"
Seeing that the situation was not good, Fan He and Fan Cai struggled desperately and begged for mercy with pitiful eyes, but it was of no use at all.
Two soldiers stepped forward and easily slit their throats with military thorns. Blood spurted out, and they quickly collected half of the basin, and then smeared it on the military flag.
Immediately afterwards, Qin Feng pulled out his sword and pointed it diagonally toward the sky: "Soldiers - go to war!"
"Go to war!"
In the sixth year of Chongzhen - the second day of July, the Tianwei Army set up camp in Lantian County and marched eastward.
On the sixth day of July, we came to the bank of the Yellow River.
next day
, crossed the Yellow River and entered Shanxi!
