Gaoyang, November 15th, the eleventh year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty.
Lu Xiangsheng and others stationed in Gaoyang received another military intelligence report from the Ministry of War today. The Qing army's Dorgon tribe had even conquered Wan County, Tang County, Qingdu and other counties, and wanted to surround Dingzhou with troops. The imperial court ordered Lu Xiangsheng to lead the troops.
Go to Dingzhou.
After the Qing army's Hauge troops regrouped and conquered Li County and Boye City, Chen Xinjia was ordered to lead his troops to march to Qizhou for rescue.
He ordered Gao Gao to lead 40,000 soldiers from various towns in Liaodong towards Hejian Prefecture to monitor the movements of Yue Tuo's troops of the Qing army, wait for opportunities to fight, and prevent the captive cavalry from further penetrating into Jinan.
At the same time, Liu Yuliang, the chief auxiliary who was ordered to supervise the armies, led tens of thousands of soldiers from the Beijing camp and marched in the direction of Hejianfu, cooperating with Gao Qiqian's troops in various towns in Liaodong to fight against the Qing army's Yue Tuo tribe's captive cavalry.
On November 16, Lu Xiangsheng led the army to break camp, braved the wind and snow, and headed towards Dingzhou.
After several days of rest and recuperation, as well as a large amount of grains and grains seized, as well as more than 500 stones of grains and grains sent by the working people of Gaoyang City, the soldiers temporarily said goodbye to the time of making porridge with wild vegetables. They had been full for days, and their physical strength and spirit were restored.
As before.
Sun Chengzong led the people of Gaoyang to work and sent dozens of pigs and sheep. During the battle against Hauge, he also confiscated injured horses from both sides and hundreds of dead horses. Fortunately, it was winter and the weather was severe. These dead horses were treated with coarse salt.
After processing, it can be stored for a few months, which is no problem at all.
Lu Xiangsheng led the soldiers of Xuandasan Town and broke out of camp. Sun Chengzong led the descendants of his family and the gentry and people of Gaoyang out of the city to see them off. Taking advantage of Lu Xiangsheng's opportunity to say goodbye to Sun Chengzong, Zhang Cheng went to find Sun Yao and told him again to escort him.
On the grounds that the wounded soldiers were sent to Baoding, Mr. Sun Ge was also invited to Baoding to take charge of the overall situation.
The army of more than 20,000 horses set off again, but now there were more mules, horses and carts than before, as well as some improvised wheelbarrows. Some more carts and wheelbarrows were purchased in Gaoyang City.
More than a thousand stones of grain and grain, and hundreds of dead horses, were all escorted by the Chinese army. The morale of Lu Xiangsheng's Xuan army was at a high level at this time, and the grain and grain were sufficient. They could at least hold on until the end of the month, so it was not a problem.
The army was still arranged according to the previous march, with the main barracks of Yang Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of Xuanzang Town, as the forward, Lu Xiangsheng's superintendent Biao battalion plus Zhang Yan's right-wing battalion, and Shanxi Town's general Jiang Mingwu's camp as the middle army. The grain and fodder in the army were
Horse meat is concentrated in the central military headquarters and escorted uniformly.
After the central army, there is the middle part of Datong General Wang Pu. The army and horses of Shanxi Town of Hu Dawei Department are still in the rear. The army stretches for several miles on the official road. The soldiers are high-spirited and marching on the remaining snow to start a new journey.
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On November 18, Chief Assistant Liu Yuliang led his army to Baoding Prefecture, but stopped advancing and repeatedly sent sentries to detect the movements of the captives.
On the 19th, Gao Qiqian's Liaodong Army broke out of their camp, raised troops from Gaoyang, and headed for the border of Renqiu County, Hejian Prefecture.
On the 20th, Chen Xinjia's Xuan army marched into Boye County. They encountered thousands of horse-riding Donglu, but were unable to defeat them. They retreated and camped under Gaoyang City to rest and recuperate.
On the same day, Taifu Sun Chengzong, the former Minister of War, led his family, old and young, to escort the wounded soldiers of Lu Xiangsheng's troops to Baoding. They found many houses in the city to place the wounded soldiers and take good care of them.
On the 22nd, Qizhou was captured by the Qing army. All the grain, grain and goods were looted, and all the healthy people were taken captive and used as slaves to accompany the army.
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In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, on November 18th, there were cold winds and thick smoke in Dingzhou.
It was the bitter cold of winter, when the cold wind could crack the skin. In a forest not far from the Tang River, Zhang Cheng's outpost, Ye Bu Shu, was quietly lurking.
They all wore big coats and felt hats, and looked like ordinary people. Beside a few of them, a number of mules and horses were tied to the nearby trees, and the horses had bits in their mouths to prevent them from neighing.
At this moment, they were looking around alertly. After crossing the Tang River, not far to the south was Dingzhou City.
Further to the north, dozens of miles away is Qingdu City. Now the army has just passed Boye County before reaching Dingzhou. The Qing army divided its troops and raided south. There are traces of captive cavalry everywhere.
Lu Xiangsheng also did not dare to lead his army to march quickly. The army only marched more than forty miles every day, and had to march in armor. Each general sent out the most elite Ye Bushou under his command to explore everywhere.
At this time, Ye Bushou and others looked around. There was a plain here. Between the sky and the earth, it seemed that apart from the wheat fields there were rivers, and apart from the rivers there were wheat fields. There was a small village or castle almost every few miles apart.
The Taihang Mountains can be seen in the distance to the west of Dingzhou, but its terrain is flat and endless as far as the eye can see, with the Shahe, Mengliang, and Tang rivers running across the entire territory. The soil is fertile and the water is beautiful, and farmland, villages, and forts are scattered throughout.
However, it was the cold and depressed season of winter, and it seemed that there were teams of knights in white armor riding horses everywhere. They did not walk on official roads, and the frozen-hard wheat fields were also very suitable for riding horses.
From time to time, you can still see some smelly smoke rising into the sky in the distance. Of course, it is not smoke, but the traces left by Qing soldiers who looted and burned villages.
A few days ago, after Lu Xiangsheng led the army to break out of camp, he went out with his scout cavalry to check the actual movements of the Qing troops everywhere, thinking that the army had decided where to go. Among them, only the sentry cavalry of Lu Xiangsheng's Biao camp and Zhang Cheng's subordinates did not collect at night, and did the most
Far.
In the past few days, it was gradually discovered that the Qing army had entered Dingzhou. In addition to a detachment stationed at the foot of Dingzhou City to monitor the defenders in the city, the Qing army was divided into small groups to loot. At this time, there was also a small group of Qing troops to rob Qingdu.
After plundering, we are heading towards Dingzhou one after another.
Yesterday, when several people passed by the Yao Mother Temple in the southeast of Qingdu City, they met more than a hundred Qing troops with Zhengbai Banner there. Fortunately, a few people came out to scout, and they were all equipped with one person and three horses. The Qing troops could not outrun them, so they
Save yourself a tough fight.
Later, they made a quick comeback and captured a Tatar infantryman. They skinned him alive and tortured him to death, which relieved the hatred of several people who had been chased for dozens of miles.
Seeing that there was no movement around, I couldn't help but said to a bearded man next to me: "Nutou, it's freezing cold here, how about making a fuss?"
As he spoke, he took out his pipe from his pocket, took out the fire stick, and was about to take a nice puff.
"No, are you tired of living? The fireworks will leak our traces to the Tatars."
The strong man known as the Bull Head stopped with a stern shout.
Then he sighed again and continued to speak softly: "Qiu Huzi in our team was discovered and captured by the Tatar sentry because he was sucking this shit. When we found the body... ah... that look...
…It’s so miserable…”
When he talked about this matter, his voice became a little more choked up, and everyone fell silent for a moment. Staying awake at night is an extremely dangerous soldier.
Especially since Zhang Cheng led his troops to the Wei Qinwang this autumn, his troops alone have been injured and killed when out sentry for nearly ten nights. What is even more frightening is that if someone falls behind when out sentry,
In the hands of the Tatar soldiers, it is really impossible to survive or die.
Therefore, when they went out for inspection, they were extremely cautious and did not use fireworks at all. They only ate some dry marching food such as plain cakes and wheat rice. Although it had no taste, the advantage was that they did not need to light a fire, which improved their concealment.
It also saves time on cooking.
If a Qing army sentry was captured alive, they were generally tortured to their heart's content. After being forced to obtain the necessary military information, most of them were tortured to death as much as possible, as if this was the only way to relieve the hatred in their hearts.