Zhang Cheng was afraid that the Tartars had crossed the Yu River and would be inconvenient to pursue, so he sent Wu Zhizhong's right sentry ahead to block the pontoon bridge on the Yu River on the south side of Ma Fang. He personally led the main force directly to Ma Fang to meet Zhang Guangda and capture the Tartars first.
.
At this time, he said to Wu Zhizhong: "There are only a hundred cavalry, so your troops will set out early to block the pontoon bridge. When I fight with the cavalry, you can leave one group of cavalry to guard the bridge, and you can lead two teams to make a sneak attack from the south of the mafang."
Luqi. It is very important for you to guard the Yuhe River, especially to prevent Luqi from going back to ask for help, and also to prevent the Luqi brigade from discovering the situation and coming to the rescue. If the situation is critical, you must report to me as soon as possible."
Wu Zhizhong replied solemnly: "Yes, sir, don't worry. It's just that the cavalry are brave and good at fighting. Sir, you should be more careful."
Zhang Cheng smiled, looked up at the sky, and said in a deep voice: "Let's go!"
Wu Zhizhong led the right sentry team to set off first. Not far ahead, he turned south and followed the north bank of the Yu River to set up defenses at the Yu River pontoon just south of Mafang.
Along the way, Zhang Cheng mobilized two teams of cavalry from each of the three posts except the right one. Together with his Chinese bodyguards, there were a total of more than 200 powerful knights. Now, two teams of cavalry from each team went out to explore the way. Zhang Cheng personally led the brigade to follow
In the back, about 200 steps away, we headed straight towards Ma Fang Village.
Chen Zheng and Hu Dake each led more than 120 cavalrymen from their headquarters to cover the advance on the north and south sides of Zhang Cheng. They maintained a distance of more than 300 steps from Zhang Cheng's main cavalry team.
…
Mafang Village is a small place about sixty miles east of Changping, bordering Shunyi. The terrain is high in the west and low in the east. There is the Yu River in the south of the village, and the Xiaosha River in the west of the village merges into the Yu River in the southwest of the village. Therefore, the place has been maintained by the imperial court for generations.
Horses, so there are many horse households, hence the name Mafang Village.
As the horse administration became increasingly paralyzed in the late Ming Dynasty, this place was no longer what it used to be. Many horse owners fled in all directions, but there were always some who couldn't leave and had to make ends meet by raising horses.
At this time, everything in and outside the village was in chaos, and bursts of black smoke were rising from time to time in the village. About a hundred steps southwest of the village, there was a rather spacious place surrounded by a simple wooden fence, and a large group of people gathered inside.
Poor people in ragged clothes.
Mafang Village is not big, with only over a hundred households. Now the houses in the village are either set on fire or dilapidated. From time to time, Tartar cavalry wearing iron armor and cotton armor come and go.
This group of Tartars who were plundering wantonly in the Mafang area must have a total number of about 200 people. Among them, there is only one group of actual armored soldiers, about 50 people, led by a Fende Bashiku.
Among them, there were about twenty horse-armor soldiers, divided into two groups, each led by a strong Qing soldier; the remaining thirty were foot soldiers, divided into three groups, each led by a strong Qing soldier.
Although the name is infantry, they are actually all mounted on horses, but the title is different from the horse cavalry. The horse cavalry is the best among the infantry, and their status in the Qing army is also higher than that of the infantry.
There were also forty auxiliary soldiers among the rest. They were all remaining members of each banner. They volunteered to accompany the army to fight and loot, and provided their own horses and weapons, in order to achieve military exploits and be promoted to soldiers, infantry, vests, etc.
, their combat capabilities are still very limited at this time.
There are also nearly a hundred people in various vests and infantrymen who brought their own akhas and coated slaves. Whenever the Tartar horsemen and cavalry go into battle, they will bring one or two of their own coated akhas with them to take care of them.
, taking care of the war horses, helping to keep the spoils of plunder, etc.
Depending on the wealth of their masters, these coated slaves basically have mules and horses to ride on, otherwise they would not be able to keep up with their masters. Moreover, many coated slaves are equipped with weapons to assist their masters in fighting the Ming army. However, the armor is
No more. At most, only a few outstanding performers can pierce through it with infantry armor.
…
At this moment, this group of Qing soldiers who came out to plunder were gathering in Mafang Village for lunch, preparing to return to Tongzhou in the afternoon.
Today at lunch, Fende Bashiku, the leader of the team, learned that the sentry cavalry who went out to rob in the morning encountered Ming army sentry spies in Lügezhuang in the southwest. However, Fende Bashiku had followed them many times.
The master invaded the capital and was very arrogant, so he didn't take it seriously.
But there was another report just now, saying that Ming army sentry cavalry appeared again near Mafang. Fendebo Shiku only sent two strong men, each with a shijing cavalry, to continue sentrying in the west and north directions respectively.
Explore.
I was still in the yard of a larger house in the north of the village, roasting a leg of lamb around a charcoal fire with the three remaining strong men, not taking it seriously at all.
"Sir, these bright dogs are too courageous. They dare to fight against our sentry cavalry. I think they are tired of living!" A strong man from the Qing army with a beard and a beard held a hand-relieving knife in his hand.
, said while cutting off a piece of mutton leg meat and feeding it to a disheveled woman cowering in his arms.
"Sir, if the Minggou Sentinel dares to spy on my army, should you take precautions?" Nafende Bashiku glared, but didn't say anything. A strong man next to him took a sip of wine and held the same person in his arms.
The young woman, who was disheveled and dying, pushed herself into the corner and said with a slight worry.
"Ah...ah...ah..." As the woman who was pushed away by him rolled towards the corner, she screamed repeatedly. Following the sound, it turned out that in the corner of the big room, dozens of women were squatting.
Or lying on the ground, their clothes are torn and their faces are haggard.
"Mom, call me, and then I'll eat your mother!" A strong man stood up and glared angrily at the group of poor women in the corner, with a fierce look on his face, especially from the right side of his forehead.
A scar crossed the right eye and went straight to the upper lip. Under the flickering light, it looked like a devil coming out of hell. It scared the poor women into silence for an instant... They no longer dared to scream loudly, they just squatted or lay there.
Sobbing softly......
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Fende Bashiku with a solemn face. He suddenly raised Youmahuahua's right hand, holding a piece of freshly cut mutton leg in his hand, and shouted in a trembling voice: "Shut up, it seems a little...
Something’s wrong…”
As everyone stopped moving, the room became eerily quiet for a moment, and you could hear a pin drop.
There were bursts of roaring in the distance. The sound was very soft and vague, but it gave people a strong sense of oppression. It seemed to be far outside the village, but also seemed to be right outside the house.
The faces of all the Tatars in the room changed slightly. The Tatar warrior Zhuangda, who was a little worried just now, spat out: "Could it be Ming Gou..."
When he said this, he saw that Fende Bashiku was glaring at him fiercely, so he immediately stopped talking and swallowed back the rest of his words.
"Bang...dang..." With a sound, the door was suddenly knocked open, and Aha, a coater who was assigned to Pashiku, ran into the room in a hurry, shouting incoherently: "Minggou... is here...
The Ming Dogs...are coming,...many...are killing them..."
Although the Tartars' share of Pashiku was a little flustered in his heart, he was very calm on his face. After all, he was an old bandit under the old slave who had been working under the old slave for many years. He only rose to the top by accumulating merit in the mountains of corpses and seas of blood. He didn't see anything like this.
Pass.
He raised his foot and kicked over Bao Yi Aha, who had come to report the news in a hurry, and shouted angrily: "You useless beast, you are so scared."