Although he ordered so, in his heart, he actually gave up hope!
Because in his opinion, the field battle between the Ming army and the Manchu and Qing Tatars basically required several times the strength of the Manchu and Qing Tatars. But even so, there are often more losses than wins, or simply put, there is basically no victory at all.
Now Lu Xiangsheng only has a few thousand exhausted troops. Since he is surrounded by several times the number of Manchu and Qing Tatars, can he still have hope of survival? That's really weird!
However, what Cao Huachun didn't know was that people are different, and the Ming army is also different from the Ming army. When he was worried, Lu Xiangsheng was no longer in Haoshuiqiao.
In the early morning when the sky was getting light, Lu Xiangsheng led the army to break out from the west, and he was really hit. In this direction, there are indeed many troops from the Mongolian tribe. Caught off guard, his troops jumped out. However, Dorgon heard the news and immediately mobilized his troops to pursue him.
At this time, Lu Xiangsheng's troops were exhausted from continuous battles, and the consequences became apparent. Unable to escape the pursuit of the Manchu and Qing Tatars, they finally hid in Julujiazhuang.
At this time, Lu Xiangsheng got off his horse, clasped his fists to the people in front of him and said, "Thank you, Mr. Jia, for opening the village gate. Otherwise, my men would not have a chance to breathe, and I don't know how many casualties there would be!"
In troubled times, Zhuangzi in various places built high walls to keep out thieves and officers and soldiers. Generally speaking, when encountering such a war, basically no Zhuangzi would open the door and let the army in. Therefore, it can be said that it is really rare for Jiazhuang to open the gate of the village to welcome Lu Xiangsheng's remnant army.
Mr. Jia was probably in his fifties, with a gray beard. He seemed to have a refined temperament, and he must have been a scholar. After hearing what Lu Xiangsheng said, he quickly returned the courtesy and said: "Master Lu loves the people like a son, and his reputation is well known. The common people should open the gate of this village!"
In fact, there was one thing he didn't say. The reason why he opened the door was because he knew that when the Manchu and Qing troops arrived nearby, it would be impossible to defend Zhuangzi with only the strength in Zhuangzi. This Manchu army had a bad reputation. They burned, killed and looted wherever they went. Since Zhuangzi couldn't defend it, it would be better to bring Lu Xiangsheng's army in to defend it together. Maybe there would be a chance to save Zhuangzi.
Of course, his answer was correct. Lu Xiangsheng was well-known, and he felt confident in letting Lu Xiangsheng enter Zhuangzi. If it had been another Ming army, he probably would not have opened this village.
After hearing what he said, Lu Xiangsheng didn't look proud at all. He looked around and saw that his men who had entered the village looked exhausted. He immediately turned around and climbed up the wall, looking at the dust in the distance and the Qing Dynasty. The flag of the army is flying, and it is expected that it will be close soon.
He once again looked around at the Zhuang people who were facing a formidable enemy behind the wall. After sizing it up, he immediately turned around and said to Hu Dawei and Yang Guozhu who were following him: "Immediately select five hundred soldiers who can still fight to help defend Jiazhuang. Other soldiers, please rest immediately, and pick your turn again after an hour!"
"Yes!" Upon hearing this, Hu Dawei and Yang Guozhu immediately clasped their fists and accepted the order.
Before the two of them turned around to make arrangements, Lu Xiangsheng immediately added: "Soldiers who are resting must not disturb the people. Violators will be severely punished!"
Mr. Jia and several other squires followed Lu Xiangsheng. After hearing his words, they looked at each other and nodded slightly.
At this time, Lu Xiangsheng turned to look at them again, and said with a little apology: "Mr. Jia, my officers and soldiers are hungry and tired from fighting with the Manchu Tatars yesterday. I still hope that the brave men of Jiazhuang Let’s push it up first, so that my subordinates can take a breath!”
"It should, it should!" Upon hearing this, Mr. Jia and others responded quickly, "Soldiers kill enemies for the country and protect the country and the people. In such a cold day, you can't just find a place to sleep. The common people will make arrangements now. , strive to give the soldiers a room where they can have a good sleep!"
At this time, he had already seen some soldiers dismounting and leaning against the wall, almost falling asleep.
When Lu Xiangsheng heard this, he was not polite and immediately nodded and said: "Okay, then you'll have a hard time!"
Then, he ordered his personal guards: "Send an order to choose two hundred horses, kill them to satisfy the hunger, and give half of them to the people in the village!"
His cavalry army was deprived of food and grass, and many of the horses were starving. After repeated battles, they had long since died. It was also because of this that he was unable to get rid of his pursuers. It's not that Lu Xiangsheng is cruel, but that many war horses are basically hopeless.
There are still about 2,500 cavalry who fled into Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi is not a city, so there are so many horse supplies. In addition, the Manchu and Qing troops are surrounding this place, and it is certainly impossible to withdraw immediately. What will happen to these horses? It’s basically doomed. Therefore, Lu Xiangsheng decisively killed horses to satisfy his hunger.
But in the eyes of Mr. Jia and others, this was another sign that Lu Xiangsheng didn't want to disturb the people too much. They couldn't help but admire him even more, and said that they would ask people to prepare food quickly.
So, when Zhuangzi started to be busy, countless Manchu troops began to surround Jiazhuang. Groups of Manchu and Qing cavalry troops roared and demonstrated around the village. Farther away, the Manchu and Qing infantry troops could not be seen, approaching Jiazhuang with dust all over the sky.
Zhuang Ding on the wall looked at the countless Tatars outside the village, all of them holding the swords and guns in their hands nervously, looking very nervous.
To be honest, Jiazhuang also had wars in the past and repelled the invasion of bandits. However, what they saw in front of them was a Tatar who looked very powerful at first sight, which made them feel unsure at all, and it was reasonable to be nervous and scared.
However, they had no way out. If the Manchu Tatars entered Zhuangzi, everyone in the family would suffer! In this case, there is only one fight!
At this time, the five hundred Ming Army soldiers selected played a very good role. Seeing that they were so nervous, he said something contemptuous to the Tatars, analyzed the differences between the Tatars outside the city to these strong men, and showed off how many enemies he had killed with Lu Shangshu. Not to mention, the nervousness of these strong men was immediately relieved.
Lu Xiangsheng naturally also knew that to defend Zhuangzi, one must first have morale. Therefore, he immediately told people to spread the word: "The imperial army has come to rescue. As long as we hold on, the Tatars will never dare to stay for a long time!"
If there are no reinforcements from outside, let alone Zhuangzi, even the strongest city will be defeated. However, now that reinforcements are coming from outside, this gives Zhuang Ding even more hope, and his morale immediately rises.
Outside the village, shortly after the Manchu Tatar vanguard surrounded Zhuangzi, Dorgon appeared. He looked at Zhuangzi who was waiting in full formation, looked at Zhuangzi's terrain, and couldn't help but frown.
He did not expect that Lu Xiangsheng would see the weak point of the encirclement, break out of the encirclement at dawn, and escape into Zhuangzi. In this way, it would take a lot of effort to kill Lu Xiangsheng. I don’t know if Lu Xiangsheng knew that reinforcements were coming to rescue him. If he really wanted to know, he should have broken out south! Fortunately, he did not break out upwards, otherwise he would have been doomed long ago if he had bumped into the Qing elite that he had arranged to intercept the Ming reinforcements.
With this in mind, he said to a Tatar general beside him: "I'll give you 10,000 troops, attack Zhuangzi before dark, and bring Lu Xiangsheng's head to me!"
