Chapter 102 The high supervisor has also arrived in Baoding
A few miles south of Baoding City, Lu Xiangsheng was inside the Chinese army's tent.
Zhang Cheng sat down next to Yang Tinglin, and leaned close to Yang Tinglin, saying: "I am not familiar with the situation around Gyeonggi Province, so I would like to ask Mr. Yang to help me identify some plants in Tianjin, Fangshan, or Laishui. Farmers who have grown up with crops such as sweet potatoes and rice.”
After Lu Xiangsheng sat down after the big case, he heard Yang Tinglin ask Zhang Cheng: "Zhongchen, what do you want these farmers and villagers to do? Even if they plant these crops now, there is no need to relieve the army's food shortage."
Zhang Cheng smiled and then said: "The general is planning for the future. The rains are not frequent now, and the grain production in all parts of Xuan Town is insufficient. I heard that this sweet potato has very little demand for the land.
Zhang Cheng then thought about recruiting one or two farmers to bring this plant to Xuan Town for trial planting. If this was true, there would be many valleys in the forests of Xuan Town, and sweet potatoes could be planted for sustenance.
In the future, the seeds can be introduced to Shaanxi and Henan. If the refugees can be fed, wouldn't the disaster of civil unrest be easily solved?"
Yang Tinglin sat under Lu Xiangsheng and was thinking carefully about what Zhang Cheng said. After a moment, Fang said: "This sweet potato seems to be cultivated in the Jiangnan area, but I haven't heard of its high yield. But for The needs of favorable geographical conditions are not as precise as those of other grains."
Zhang Cheng was overjoyed when he heard this. As for sweet potatoes, they are the potatoes of later generations. The yield of this thing is not very high now, but the advantage is that it can be planted everywhere because this sweet potato has always been cold-resistant, waterlogging-resistant, alkali-resistant, and can adapt to various soils and environments. , and its ability to resist insects is also very strong.
Although it is not suitable as a staple food, if sweet potatoes are planted in the forests and valleys of Xuan Town, it can indeed alleviate the shortage of grain to a great extent.
If this is true, after the sweet potatoes are successfully planted, a large number of refugees can be recruited to train a strong army, seek breakthroughs in the troubled times of the late Ming Dynasty, and establish unparalleled achievements!
At that moment, Zhang Cheng stood up, bowed deeply to Yang Tinglin, and said, "In that case, I will trouble Mr. Yang to worry about this matter for Zhang Cheng."
Before Yang Tinglin could say anything, Lu Xiangsheng, who was sitting at the top, spoke up and said: "Zhongchen, if you have such a heart for the people, we will definitely support you. When the Donglu retreat, we will make long-term plans."
Zhang Cheng saw that the conversation had come to this point, and the foundation had been laid, so he continued: "Yes, Governor, according to the reports from the sentries and the intelligence from the prisoners, it seems that the Tartars actually divided their troops into several groups and went south to plunder;
Now the troops of the Tartars Yue Tuo and Du Du seem to be plundering in the direction of Renqiu and Hejian Prefecture; Dorgon and Abatai's tribe have advanced to Wan County and plundered in the direction of Tang County. They have made great progress in the Tang Dynasty. It is true that the situation in Dingfu is true; only Hauge's troops actually divided their troops to plunder in the direction of Gaoyang and Qizhou."
Lu Xiangsheng did not express his position, but asked tentatively: "Zhongchen, according to your wishes, how should we deal with it?"
Zhang Cheng's purpose of coming here this time was to persuade Lu Xiangsheng to lead troops to Gaoyang. According to his knowledge, Emperor Chongzhen had suffered the fall of Gaoyang, and Sun Chengzong's family was in trouble. The power of Heaven was furious and he sternly blamed Lu Xiangsheng.
What's more, if we send troops to Gaoyang to rescue the people in danger, and Sun Chengzong is in the city to provide some grain, it should not be a big problem.
Thinking of this, Zhang Cheng spoke up and said: "The general's intention is to lead the army to Gaoyang and use the momentum of a lion to fight a rabbit to quickly resolve the crisis in Gaoyang. According to the intelligence, Hauge's troops only have more than 20,000 captives and cavalry. Even if they are Even if we don’t divide our troops any further, our large army can still fight with him.”
Lu Xiangsheng leaned on the chair, looking like he was thinking. His original intention was to go to Zhending Mansion to beg for food. Firstly, there were Shenwu right guards stationed in Zhending Mansion. Secondly, it was a big city where the governor of Baoding was stationed, so it was relatively cheaper to raise food and grass.
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After a while, he said: "Zhongchen, where will the army go? The matter is very important. We should wait until the whereabouts of the captives are confirmed before we can decide. Don't fall into Dong Nu's scheme."
Zhang Cheng continued and said: "In the end, we will arrange sentry cavalry and multiple sentinels to detect the movements of the captives and cavalry, so that we can determine the whereabouts of our army."
So far, there is no need to say more, just leave this introduction here. According to his memory, in early November, the Qing army, with less than 10,000 people, attacked Gaoyang County for three days.
At that time, Sun Chengzong, who was idle at home and was already seventy-six years old, led all the soldiers and civilians in the city to defend the city. The city was broken and captured. He died at the hands of the Qing army. His five sons, six grandsons, two nephews, and eight grandnephews
He died in the battle, and more than a hundred members of the Sun family were killed. When the news reached Beijing, Chongzhen was furious and blamed Lu Xiangsheng for not rushing to rescue him, which caused Sun Chengzong and his family to be in trouble.
It is now the fourth day of November, which is quite urgent judging from the date. What needs to be done now is to try our best to find out the specific movements of the Qing army, so that we can further persuade Lu Xiangsheng to go to Gaoyang to aid.
Next, the three of them talked about military affairs and sweet potatoes, peanuts, corn, etc., and Zhang Cheng resigned and returned to the camp.
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On the second day, the commander-in-chief's army led nearly 40,000 troops from various towns in Liaodong to Baoding and camped in a wilderness north of Baoding City.
On November 6th, Chen Xinjia's cavalry brigade took the lead in arriving at the gates of Baoding City. Their infantry was left behind, and it should take about two days to arrive in full.
On the seventh day of the lunar month, the commander-in-chief of the army Qiqiu invited Chen Xinjia and Lu Xiang to enter Baoding City. All the generals and generals from all the towns accompanied him into the city to discuss the strategy of fighting the slaves and thieves.
According to the sentry reports for several days, after the Qing army left Baoding, the troops were indeed separated. The Yuetuo troops rushed towards the river, and the front troops had passed Renqiu;
After passing by, they had already reached the border of Tang County, and the troops were heading straight towards Dingfu.
At the same time, traces of captive cavalry were found in Gaoyang, Lixian, Boye, and Qingdu cities. It was suspected that some soldiers of the Qing army Hauge were plundering. According to the information obtained from the sentry, Hauge led more than 6,000 Qing troops in An
They looted the junction between Zhouzhou and Gaoyang, and there was a strong tendency to attack Gaoyang County.
In addition, there are nearly 4,000 captive cavalry raging in Qingdu County. There are also about 3,000 to 4,000 captive cavalry in Li County. There are also several groups of Qing troops with about 1,000 cavalry, plundering the countryside around these three counties. It is estimated that
Boye, one or two of these groups of horsemen should be plundering in Gyeongju.
From yesterday evening to early this morning, Gao Qiqian, Lu Xiangsheng and others have received requests for help from Wen'an County, Renqiu County, Gaoyang, Li County, Boye, Qingdu, Tang County, Dingzhou, Qizhou and other places.
The side confirmed the authenticity of the information obtained by the sentry.
In history, when the Qing army invaded the Ming Dynasty, it was like entering an uninhabited country. Lu Xiangsheng, Gao Qiqian and other troops had no choice but to chase after them in various cities, such as Baoding, Zhending, and Dingzhou.
A city like this can probably be defended because it is strong and has many soldiers.
As for the smaller county towns, they were ravaged by Qing troops the year before last. Most of them could not hold on at this time, and there was almost no rescue between the cities. They were lucky to be able to hold on, and they were unable to divide their troops to rescue other places.
At this time, the Qing army divided its forces and went south to plunder. Even if they knew that no one would come to rescue them, all the prefectures and counties still treated dead horses as living horses. Especially recently, I heard that Lu Xiangsheng led a large Xuan army to repel the Qing army at the foot of Baoding City.
Later, troops were stationed in the north of Baoding City to recuperate, so they sent people one after another to ask for help.
Although they were not sure that Lu Xiangsheng would lead his troops to rescue them, there was no other way for them at this time.
Today, Gao Qiqian called everyone for a meeting in Baoding City, also to discuss how to divide the troops to rescue various places.