The factory guards of the Ming Dynasty must have reached their peak in the hands of the current emperor!
Thinking like this, Wu Sangui couldn't help but feel shocked again. Could there be any factory security spies around him?
Immediately, he thought back over whether he had been disrespectful to the emperor, whether he had said anything he should not have said, and whether he had done anything he should not or could not do.
Not to mention, when Wu Sangui thought about it, he broke out in a cold sweat. At least he had already made mistakes when he was in Liaodong!
After being stunned for a long time, suddenly an idea flashed in Wu Sangui's mind, and suddenly he seemed to be alive again: The emperor didn't seem to care about what happened in the past, otherwise, he wouldn't have confused himself. He went on an expedition, promoted himself to the rank of chief military officer, and continued to lead troops to suppress the rebel generals of the Ming Dynasty. Now, the secret decree has been given to me again. This kind of trust is something that no one else has...
The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. Could it be that his abilities were recognized by the emperor after he accompanied him on the expedition? Yes, it must be me. No matter what, I am a capable person and one of the few outstanding young generals among the generals of the Ming Dynasty!
After thinking about it, Wu Sangui suddenly thought that the bad thing turned into a good thing. Isn't it very likely that there is a factory guard spy by his side? Then if you perform well, you can get feedback to the emperor's ears through the factory guards!
Thinking of this, he made a major decision in his heart, and he must perform well in the future!
Therefore, without saying a word, Wu Sangui immediately gathered his cavalry troops, told the generals of Datong that he was ordered to go to the capital to escort grain and grass, and then left Datong and headed east.
His departure did not look like a war. He did not carry the supplies needed for the battle, just like marching in the pass.
When he arrived in Shanxi and arrived at the residence of Chen Qiyu, the governor of Xuanda, he went to see the governor again. It was here that he secretly replenished supplies, then exited the border at a very fast speed and escaped into the vast grassland.
…………
And somewhere in the grassland far away from the Great Wall, a huge team was marching. Needless to say, this team was led by Chai Shihua who was ordered to escort the population and supplies back to Liaodong.
He had five hundred cavalry and two thousand infantry.
The people who were plundered from the northwest of the Ming Dynasty and taken to Liaodong were all young men selected by Jierhalang. There were not even strong women, they were all men. All of them had their feet tied, and they were in groups of ten, so they could only move together. Driving grain trucks one after another towards Liaodong.
There are about 4,500 young men, but the escorting force is only 2,500, and they still have to look at the food and grass. The pressure on the guards is still a bit high.
Therefore, after setting off from Guihua City, Chai Shihua took the initiative and said to Xilinjueluo: "Sir, it's a long way to Liaodong. These fools will definitely not want to go, and they will definitely think of ways to escape. !”
"Huh?" Xilinjueluo snorted upon hearing this, looked at him sideways, and asked noncommittally, "Do you have any ideas?"
The vast grassland is too vast. No matter whether these slaves will starve to death after escaping, but if they escape and hide on the grassland, it will be really difficult to search for them with this small number of people.
Therefore, he heard Chai Shihua's hidden meaning and asked this question.
"Exactly, your lord is wise!" Upon hearing this, Chai Shihua immediately replied with a charming smile, "The general thought, why not arrange it within the next few days to expose the guard's flaw, so that those idiots will definitely want to escape. Yes, they were captured, and then they were executed in the most painful way in public, killing chickens and scaring monkeys. In this way, on the way to Liaodong, even if those idiots really found a chance to escape, they would think they were the last generals. If you deliberately expose your flaws, you won’t dare to run away again!”
Hearing this ghost idea, Xilin Jueluo couldn't help but give Chai Shihua a high look, nodded and praised: "Yes, this is a good idea, you can just do it. As long as these people and supplies can be safely escorted to Liaodong, I will do it for you." You asked for credit from the Emperor."
When Chai Shihua heard this, he couldn't help but be overjoyed. His eyes almost burst into laughter. He thanked them repeatedly, then patted his chest and promised that he had many ways to deal with these idiots, and then went to arrange them secretly.
Chai Shihua was indeed right. These young men really did not want to go to Liaodong. Their home is in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty. Although their home is gone, they are familiar with this place after all. There are also young and strong people whose relatives were also captured by the Jianlu and stayed in Guihua City. If they are taken to Liaodong, they don’t know if they will ever see each other again in the future. It might be life or death. parting. No matter who it is, of course they are unwilling to do it.
So, two days later at night, Qing Zhuang, who was being escorted, was shocked to find that the Jianlu army seemed to have relaxed its guard. Therefore, several groups of people who least wanted to go to Liaodong immediately wanted to escape. As a result, there was no accident. They were all caught and no one ran away.
Early the next morning, Chai Shihua ruthlessly used his trick of "killing chickens and scaring monkeys". In front of all the young men, he used war horses to drag the twenty fleeing people to death. That's not all. Didn't let it go. Being dragged by the cavalry all the time seemed to remind them that whoever dared to escape would suffer this.
After this incident, even Xilinjueluo felt that these slaves were more at ease, and happily praised Chai Shihua.
"Thank you, sir. This is what the general should do!" Chai Shihua felt proud after hearing this, but he said very modestly on the surface, "My lord must also know this method, but he just didn't say it out loud. The general is just an errand boy. Yes. Besides, if it weren’t for the adults sitting in charge, the general would not feel so at ease, and things would definitely not be handled so well!"
Listening to his flattery, Xilinjueluo felt very comfortable in his heart. He couldn't help but like Chai Shihua a little more, and he was willing to chat with him.
This made Chai Shihua hug Xilin Jueluo's thigh even more tightly and serve him carefully all the way. The relationship between the two people seemed to be much more harmonious than when they set off.
This team has about 7,000 people, and with so many grain trucks, even though it looks small on the grassland, the movement is not small. Therefore, it was not that the Mongols discovered it and came to check it out, but when they saw the banner of Jianlu, they all retreated in the end.
At the beginning, Chai Shihua was a little nervous, fearing that the Mongolians would rob him. To be honest, he didn't have high confidence in the 2,500 cavalrymen under his command. The direct servants who originally defected with him had been exhausted in the battle with the Ming army. Nowadays, more of these are the teams he later raised, and they can only bully ordinary people.
Chai Shihua felt a little hateful when he thought of this. That Wang Shichong is dead, so forget it; a large part of his direct family members died at the hands of Guan Ning Army Wu Sangui. This time, that guy was lucky enough to go back to Liaodong according to the order. Otherwise, he would definitely be lured into an ambush by the Qing army and he would definitely be killed!
Now that he has become a general of the Qing Dynasty and has arrived in Liaodong, with the support of the Qing Dynasty, and Wu Sangui has also arrived in Liaodong, there will be a day of reckoning!
Several times, Chai Shihua felt cruel and thought to himself.
Having said that, when he saw that the Mongols were retreating and not coveting the food and grass, he became bolder and relaxed his vigilance. If the Mongols appeared again, he would not chase them away, but would just march on his own.
No, in the evening, the cavalry troops who went out to be vigilant in the surroundings reported that they found another Mongolian spying ahead.
Chai Shihua disagreed with this, and even said a little impatiently: "Don't worry about those poor devils, they will naturally retreat when they see the banner of the Qing Dynasty."
Of course, there have been special situations, that is, some Mongolians were unwilling to give in and were jealous of so many grains and supplies, so they came closer to verify.
At this time, Xilinjueluo came forward and scolded the Mongolian leader until he apologized repeatedly, and then left in despair.
Regarding Chai Shihua's flattery, Xilinjueluo said confidently: "On this grassland, it is the world of my Qing Dynasty. Those who disobey my Qing Dynasty have all been conquered by my Qing Dynasty. I Qing Dynasty has conquered it." They have to do whatever the Qing Emperor orders them to do!"
Not even the Ming Dynasty could do such a thing. Chai Shihua experienced it personally, and he admired the power of the Qing Dynasty in his heart to the point of admiration. Anyway, I have nothing to do when I have nothing to do, so I just go around and flatter Xilin Jueluo.
Little did he know that the Mongols discovered by the scouts this time retreated as expected after looking at the advancing team from a distance. However, they were not the wild Mongols on the grassland, but the Mongols in Wu Sangui's cavalry who stayed up all night.
Returning to Wu Sangui's resting place, Ye Bushou immediately reported excitedly: "Commander, Chai Shihua's troops are escorting the population and supplies, and they have camped for the night twenty miles ahead."
Hearing this, Wu Sangui couldn't help but be overjoyed and finally found it.
"Commander, my subordinates saw that the escorting Jianlu were not wary at all and actually allowed them to get close. The soldiers guarding them were also loose and lax, not looking elite at all." Ye Bushou added excitedly. road.
After Wu Sangui heard this, he sneered and said: "What kind of soldiers can that idiot Chai Shihua bring? If he hadn't escaped quickly every time, I would have killed him long ago."
Saying this, he immediately began to deploy.
Wu Sangui was no stranger to grassland warfare. After all, he came from a family of generals, and Chai Shihua, that idiot, had been defeated many times by his subordinates, and was also a familiar opponent. He knew what Chai Shihua would do in any situation.
…
It was late at night, it was already the end of September, and it was already a bit cold on the Mongolian grasslands. The grain carts and the leeward areas where livestock were fenced were all places where the false Tatars slept in shelter from the wind.
Naturally, the captured people of the Ming Dynasty could not have enough clothes. They were all shivering from the cold, but they did not have any shelter. They had to huddle in a pile and hug each other to keep warm.
Under the night, the sky is full of stars, but the hearts of these Ming people are full of despair.
Some of them would not be able to make it to Liaodong alive. Dead people had already started to appear before.
These fake Tatars can be considered fellow villagers after all, but they are ruthless when dealing with their own people. It was a day's journey, but there was very little food, not even much for the livestock. The people of the Ming Dynasty were so anxious that they no longer cared about many things. If they snatched food from the mouths of animals, they would be whipped immediately.
In the silence, suddenly, someone spoke in a low voice with worry: "Second brother, hold on, hold on. I heard that Shiba Dog said that the imperial army won the battle in Liaodong. As long as we arrive in Liaodong , there is still a chance to go home!”
Obviously, Chai Shihua's flattery made Xilinjueluo feel comfortable. After such a long journey, he was so idle that he would naturally reveal something while chatting, and accidentally he was overheard by these Ming people.
"Brother, don't lie to me. I'm really tired and just want to lie down. It's better to die here than in Liaodong."
"Really, I didn't lie to you. Do you know why we were escorted to Liaodong? It's because too many Han people in Liaodong were rescued by the army sent by the imperial court, so there was less labor, do you know?"
"..."
Hearing the conversation between the two brothers, the Ming people nearby couldn't help but join in the discussion in a low voice.
"Is it true? Can the imperial army defeat Jianlu? Can the people of Liaodong be saved?"
"It's impossible. Jianlu is invincible. This time, even Marshal Wang was killed by them!"
"Yes, if the imperial court could defeat Jianlu, Liaodong would have been liberated long ago."
"..."
Most people didn't believe that the imperial army could win, which made the person who spoke at the beginning become anxious. He couldn't help but speak in a higher voice: "Really, I have sharp ears. Although I heard a little blurry, the general meaning is, Inseparable!"
When someone heard this, they immediately became nervous and whispered anxiously: "Shh, don't be so loud. If you alert those Tatars, we will be beaten together."
After hearing this, the man shut up immediately, turned to look at the guard, and found that there was no movement, so he continued in a low voice: "Sleep like a pig, it's okay."
Even though this was the case, no one dared to run away. Who knew if those guards were actually pretending to sleep. Those who had escaped before were dragged into skeletons and hung behind the horses, which was a warning.
After he finished speaking, he persuaded his brother again and asked his brother to continue to persist.
However, let alone others, even his brother did not believe it. In fact, their confidence in the imperial court in the northwest could be said to be extremely weak. Even if such a thing happened, they felt that they would have a greater chance of dying.
Seeing this situation, he sighed inwardly. Seeing that it was getting late and he had to maintain his strength to travel tomorrow, he could only sleep first and wait until tomorrow to persuade his brother.
However, thinking that his family was ruined and he only had one younger brother left, he couldn't hold on anymore. If he was gone, he wouldn't be able to sleep no matter what. I secretly prayed to the sky in my heart: "Father, mother, if you have spirits in heaven, please entrust your dream to your brother to cheer him up. Otherwise, there is really nothing you can do for your child!"
Worried, I really couldn't sleep, so I opened my eyes and looked around, checking the environment, thinking, maybe I should run away, maybe I can save my brother.
However, when he saw it like this, he suddenly felt a little stupid.
