The sixth year of Chongzhen - July 20th, Yin.
In the morning, on the broad avenue from Shanxi to the northeast corner of Pingyang Prefecture to the south of Hanxinling, the soldiers of the Tianwei Army were marching quickly. Their ranks were neat, their swords and guns were dazzling, and their morale was high!
Under the red banner fluttering in the wind, Qin Feng, fully armored and riding a fire dragon pony, looked at the advancing team, feeling both happy and slightly nervous.
What I am happy about is that under my careful training, the Tianwei Army is now well-equipped and well-trained, and it roars when fighting. It can be called a tiger and wolf army.
The nervous thing is: this time the opponent is no longer a ragtag group of bandits, but the Jurchen Eight Banners elite soldiers who are also well-equipped, well-trained, and battle-hardened.
In the last battle of Gyeonggi, he fought against the Jurchen soldiers and won a few small victories.
There are two main reasons why they were able to win the battle: First, their own Tianwei Army was not well-known and did not have many troops, so the Jurchen generals underestimated the enemy.
Second, the Jurchen Eight Banners had many internal contradictions and undermined each other, and they cleverly exploited these contradictions.
This time, it’s not that cheap!
The Tianwei Army has won many battles, gained a great reputation, and expanded its military strength. This will inevitably attract the attention of the Jurchen generals, and they will not make the mistake of underestimating the enemy again.
Huang Taiji also made adjustments to the internal conflicts of the Jurchen Eight Banners. Although they were not completely eliminated, at least they were not as sharp as before.
Under such circumstances, it is extremely difficult to defeat the Jurchen army. If you are not careful, you may even be in danger of losing the battle.
Therefore, I must be extra cautious, use more strategies, and strive to achieve the greatest victory at the smallest cost... huh?
While he was thinking about it, Qin Feng discovered that more than 20 plumes of smoke were rising from the southeast. It was thick and black and shot straight into the sky. What was going on? Could it be that there was a fire in the forest?
No, more than twenty puffs of smoke indicate that there are more than twenty fire points. This is definitely not an accidental fire, but more like a man-made arson. Could it be that bandits are looting villages, killing people and setting fires?
"Xiong Da!"
"The humble job is here!"
"Take a team of people over there to see why there's a fire over there!"
"promise!"
Xiong Da agreed, and immediately led a small group of soldiers and rode towards the place where the smoke rose.
After about meal time, a soldier came back to report the situation.
"Lord General, there is a village twenty miles southeast that was washed away with blood. All the villagers were killed and the houses were burned down by fire!"
"Who did this?"
"I don't know yet, but President Xiong Qian is leading people to search for traces of the murderer!"
"Let's go and take a look!"
After hearing the report, Qin Feng couldn't help but frown, and then ordered Han Shanjun and Dong Tianbao to command the troops to continue marching. He led more than 300 soldiers and urged the horses to go straight to the village where the accident occurred.
Halfway through the meal, the village appeared in front of us, and its condition was terrible.
The property and livestock were looted, the houses were all set on fire, and the flames were raging. Bodies were everywhere, including old women and children, some of whom had their heads cut off.
Seeing this scene, Qin Feng immediately thought of four words in his mind: random soldiers slaughtering the village!
Bandits and bandits generally only rob property and rarely kill people. Even if they kill people, they will not leave anyone alive.
The rioters are different. After robbing property, in order to prevent the common people from complaining, they will often kill and silence every one of them. They will also cut off the heads of the common people and pretend to be bandits or bandits to go back and claim their merits.
Therefore, there is a saying among the people that "bandits are like a grate and soldiers are like a shave". Compared with bandits, rebel soldiers are more vicious and harmful!
Where are the officers and soldiers who are massacring the village here?
At this time, Xiong Da came back with a small group of soldiers.
"Sir General!"
"Well, have you found any traces of the murderers?"
"Found them. Judging from the traces left behind, the murderers went to the southeast. There were about 150 people, driving some cattle, sheep, mules and horses. They were not moving fast and they did not leave for a long time!"
"Chase!"
Qin Feng mobilized the Fire Dragon Horse and led his soldiers in pursuit toward the southeast. In less than a meal, a group of officers and soldiers appeared in front of him.
There were one hundred, fifty or sixty officers and soldiers, some driving cattle and sheep, some leading mules and horses, carrying a lot of property on their horses, as well as more than twenty women tied up and crying, and more than a dozen on the backs of the cattle. The sack, with blood constantly dripping from it, obviously contained a recently severed head.
There is no doubt that it was this group of officers and soldiers who had bloodbathed the village just now, and they still wanted to kill the good and take credit for it!
"Come here, arrest them all. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"
"promise!"
"Who are you and why are you arresting us?"
"Bang, bang...ah, ah!"
Following Qin Feng's order, the soldiers immediately surrounded the group of officers and soldiers. The latter tried to resist, but several were killed by matchlocks. The rest all obeyed, put down their swords and guns, and allowed themselves to be tied up.
One of the guys wearing General Qian's uniform squeezed in front of Qin Feng's horse and shouted: "General, don't get me wrong, don't get me wrong, we are all officers and soldiers, not bandits, you have arrested the wrong person!"
"Whose subordinates are you?"
"We are Pingyang Town—General Jiang's subordinates!"
"Jiang Xuan, Jiang Yan Wang?"
"Exactly!"
…
The Jiang family is a well-known family with many sons serving as officials, the most prominent of whom are the three brothers Jiang Rang, Jiang Xiang, and Jiang Xuan.
The boss, Jiang Rang, was a sinister and cunning man, known as the Nine-Tailed Fox. He was the former chief soldier of Yulin Town and had died a tragic death.
The second eldest brother, Jiang Xiang, is currently the chief military officer of Datong Town, Shanxi. He is as cunning as his brother and is good at changing the situation. He is nicknamed: Wallflower!
The third child, Jiang Xuan, has a bad temper and a murderous nature. He is nicknamed: King Jiang of Hell!
Jiang Xuan was originally the deputy commander-in-chief of Yanghe Town in Shanxi. He was promoted to the commander-in-chief of Pingyang Town a year ago by killing good men and taking credit for their merits and bribing important ministers. This time to fight against the Jurchen invasion, Pingyang Town's army was also recruited. .
"As officers and soldiers, it is your duty to protect the country and the people. Why are you looting villages and killing innocent people?"
"Sir, we are killing bandits, not common people!"
"Hmph, you have all the witnesses and material evidence, but you still dare to quibble. Come on, please leave two alive and chop the rest!"
"promise!"
"General, spare your life, spare your life... We are General Jiang's subordinates, you have no right to kill us!"
The officers and soldiers shouted and howled, but it was of no use. They were pushed to the roadside and all had their heads chopped off.
Then, according to Qin Feng's instructions, more than a hundred heads were piled into a small Beijing temple, and the four characters "Those who abuse the people will die" were carved on the big tree next to it.
There were two other survivors who had their noses, ears, and ten fingers cut off, and then bandaged up to prevent them from bleeding to death!
"Listen up, you two. My name is Qin Feng, and I am the general of Yulin Town. These scum in the army were ordered to be killed by this general. You go back and tell Jiang Xuan that if you dare to send troops to abuse the people in the future, be careful." Head...get out!"
"Yes, yes... Thank you General Qin for not killing me. You guys, get out of here, get out of here right now!"
The two officers and soldiers were so frightened that they ran away without caring about the pain of their wounds. They didn't even have the courage to look back in the middle of the process. They were completely frightened.
Next, Qin Feng led his soldiers back to the village, put out the fire, collected the bodies of the people, dug a big pit and buried them.
The more than 20 women rescued are already homeless. If they are left alone, they are afraid of a tragic end.
So he was brought back to the army and placed in the supply camp for the time being. When there is an opportunity, he will be properly placed.
At the same time, Qin Feng ordered the entire army to prepare for battle. If Jiang Xuan brings people to retaliate, take the opportunity to deal with it.
But in the next few days, everything went normally during the march, and not a single soldier from Pingyang Town was seen.
It can be seen from this that King Jiang Hell does not dare to provoke the Jade-faced Man Tu!
