Chapter 17 "Liaodong Tiger" joins the rebels

Author: Scholar Wu

Chapter 17 "Liaodong Tiger" joins the rebels

As the saying goes, "There is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below." Wujiang County is located in the Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou Plain between Suzhou and Hangzhou. In 909 AD, King Qian Liu of Wuyue made a petition to cede the southern part of Wu County and the northern border of Jiaxing, and established Wujiang County, which was under the jurisdiction of Suzhou. This is a county.

It is close to Taihu Lake and has fertile land. It is known as the land of fish and rice and the home of silk.

In the 16th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1356), Zhang Shicheng from Huaidong captured Suzhou and Wujiang. Due to military needs, in addition to building a city along the Taihu Lake and building an earthen city on the ground, he also made great efforts to expand the northern city of Wujiang and build a city wall.

The walls of Wujiang City built by Zhang Shicheng were two feet eight feet high, one foot five feet thick, and had twenty-seven steps on each side. The fourth Lu Gate and the fifth Water Gate were named after their directions.

The five water gates are Dadongmen Water Gate, East Water Gate, Xiaodong Water Gate, North Gate Water Gate and Ximen Water Gate. The South Gate has no water gate. The Wujiang City Wall built by Zhang Shicheng in subsequent dynasties has not changed in location or scope. Change.

Later, the city wall of Wujiang County was damaged and repaired several times. In the fourth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1647), the county magistrate Li Chengyin was ordered to repair the city wall. So far, the city wall has not been completely repaired. The Ximen Shuiguan and South Gate are still under repair. It is not difficult for the Taihu rebels to kill people from the water gate. !

At this time, "Liaodong Tiger" Weng Zhiheng led more than 100 water bandits and more than 100 Taihu rebels led by Wu Qi had successfully joined forces and were lurking outside Wujiang City.

Wu Qi said: "I have heard for a long time that Master Weng was originally a fierce general under Jingnan Bo. When we attack Wujiang this time, how should we break the city?"

Weng Zhiheng: "Wujiang is close to Suzhou, and the Qing army has always been heavily guarded. Fortunately, the city wall has not yet been completely repaired. Both the west gate and the south gate can be directly invaded. You and I can divide our troops to attack in two ways. The battle is quick and decisive. Don't be reluctant to fight!"

"The west gate is the water gate, and the south gate is the land gate. The water gate is easy to enter. Our generals are all powerful in the army. They have more experience in attacking the city gate than your army. According to the original agreement, our army will take your army from the south gate. How about attacking Ximen Shuiguan?"

Wu Qi said: "Since we agreed to attack Wujiang County, we have sent a large number of brothers to investigate the surrounding situation. The Weng family did not know anything. At this time, the Qing army has transferred all troops from nearby Kunshan, Taicang, Jiading and other counties into the city. Whether it is the west gate or the south gate, we will never return this time?"

Weng Zhiheng asked angrily: "Jia Zhong, what on earth is going on? If you don't tell the truth, I will chop you up!"

Jia Zhong: "It's not a small matter that the second master spares his life. This is all the third master's idea, and the first master also agrees!"

"The third master has informed the Qing army in advance that we will attack the west gate tonight. As soon as we break up with Wu Qi, I will tell the second master not to go to the south gate and directly ambush Wu Qi on his way back to Taihu Lake. By then, Wu Qi will Even if they were not completely annihilated by the Qing army, they would still be gone with no return."

"They are all Taihu rebels. His 'Zhi Duo Xing' is so vicious that he will not hesitate to collude with the Qing army but also want to kill them all. I, Weng Zhiheng, am really ashamed to be sworn sworn brothers with these two people."

After that, he killed Jia Zhong with one blow. He shouted: "Who else is willing to follow what Lang Lifei and Zhi Duoxing did? Come forward, I won't make it difficult for him, and everyone will go their own way from now on?"

Looking at Jia Zhong's body on the ground, who dared to jump out? Many of them were originally Weng Zhiheng's old men. After deputy general Zhang Xiaofan took the lead, everyone shouted in unison: "We are willing to follow the second boss to fight against the Qing Dynasty!"

Weng Zhiheng handed over his hand and received: "Chief Wu, Weng Zhiheng is willing to join the Taihu Rebel Army to fight against the Qing Dynasty. It's just that Lang Lifei has been plotting the Turtle Island for a long time. I'm afraid it's too late for us to rush back now?"

Wu Qize said: "Brother Weng, there is no need to worry. Military Advisor Xia already expected that "Langli Fei" would make a sneak attack. At this moment, Taicang, Kunshan and other counties are already empty cities. Our army just happened to be divided into two groups to plunder!"

In Wujiang City, Wu Song's deputy general Yang Wenqi had been waiting for a long time without seeing the Lake Bandits coming. He was wondering when his subordinates suddenly reported that the Lake Bandits had entered Kunshan and Taicang.

"No, Kunshan, Taicang and other places are empty of troops at the moment. We have fallen into the trap of the lake bandits trying to attack the east and attack the west."

Yang Wenqi shouted loudly: "Whoever comes, quickly gather the troops and go to rescue Taicang."

Yang Wenqi led the cavalry ahead and ran all the way. When he was 10 miles away from Taicang, he saw flames in the city. No, the damn bandits may have burned down Taicang's granary, which is the supply for my army!

Follow me across the river quickly, I hope it's not too late.

As soon as Yang Wenqi crossed the river, his horse was tripped by the horse rope. At this time, the sound of killing was loud and countless torches were lit!

The cavalry that was still crossing the river behind him was intercepted and killed by lake bandits in the water. The standard camp cavalry he led only had 200 cavalry. At this moment, he was far behind a large number of infantry. At the same time, the cavalry was attacked by bandits halfway across the river. Waiting for the infantry

It was definitely too late for help.

Yang Wenqi made a prompt decision and immediately seized one of his horses. Guarded by several soldiers, he rushed out of the siege and headed straight for Taicang City.

"Brothers, kill the Qing soldiers!" Weng Zhiheng rushed in with a big sword and killed several Qing soldiers in a moment.

At this time, the Qing soldiers were already in chaos. The horses were frightened and trampled in all directions. Many Qing soldiers fell into the river and became the dead souls of the rebels. In addition, the general Yang Wenqi broke out alone, and the remaining Qing troops were leaderless and in chaos.

If we work together as a group, we can only break out individually.

After a while, Wu Qi shouted: "Brother Weng, the follow-up troops of the Qing army are approaching, we can't stop fighting!"

Weng Zhiheng, who was excited to kill, could only shout: "Everyone quickly cleaned up the battlefield, but it's a pity for these war horses!"

Rushing to Taicang City in one breath, Yang Wenqi was still in shock.

In fact, there were only more than 200 rebels who ambushed him, and the rebels lacked bows and arrows, making it impossible to carry out effective long-range attacks against them.

According to post-war statistics, the Qing army's personnel losses were not very large. A total of about 50 people were killed by the rebels (including some who drowned), and more than 20 were injured. However, the losses of horses were relatively high, with nearly 1

/3 of the horses were killed by the rebels, and many were frightened and ran away.

The Biao camp led by Yang Wenqi had 1,500 horse infantry. This loss of troops was actually minimal!

The rebel army invaded Kunshan and Taicang counties. Not only did they plunder the treasury, but they also killed the county magistrate and burned the granaries. The court would inevitably punish them, and the Wujiang magistrate would definitely take the blame.

It's just that for my great achievement of "recovering the city", I still need to borrow the heads of some ordinary people. (Killing good people and taking credit for their merits is a very common behavior in this era)

Soon after, a good news reached the Jiangning Governor's Yamen in Suzhou and the Governor's Yamen in Nanjing.

The magistrate of Wujiang, Li Chengyin, mistakenly fell into the bandit's plan of "flying in the waves" to attack the west, which left Taicang, Kunshan and other counties empty of troops. They were attacked by thousands of bandits led by Taihu water bandits Wu Qi and Weng Zhiheng. Yang Wenqi, a lowly official, led his troops to help overnight outside Taicang City.

The bandits were defeated, more than 200 water bandits were killed, and the lost territory was recovered.
Chapter completed!