Chapter 58 The bandits are scattered and the camp is moved to the eastern suburbs
The bandit leader howled and rushed up the official road from the gap. With the cover of his shield and his dexterous dodging and slashing, he knocked five young men to the ground one after another.
As the gap widened, other infantry bandits also swarmed forward, and they were about to lose this place.
A sledgehammer came out of nowhere. The gangster didn't have time to react. He used his shield to block it as usual. With a "bang" sound, the shield flew away. The gangster's left arm was broken at that time, but the sledgehammer didn't.
Stop and continue hitting the gangster on the head.
Under the powerful blow, the skull was shattered, the brains were scattered in all directions, and the gangster's body was smashed far away by the sledgehammer. He flew directly down the official road and fell heavily into the wilderness.
The stone pillars kept walking, and the sledgehammer swung out terrifying circles one after another, rising and falling. No matter it was a sword, spear or stick, as long as it was carried by the sledgehammer, it would be knocked away, let alone human flesh and blood.
The bandits who had just rushed up were immediately driven off the official road.
Suddenly, an unknown bandit shouted: "Boss Hu has escaped, run quickly..."
A group of bandits whined and turned around to run away. Some of them tripped and fell to the ground without knowing what happened when they turned around. They rolled a few times before getting up again and running away.
Liu Quan shouted loudly: "Stone, chase!"
Shi Zhuzhu shouted angrily: "Min Yong come at me."
Carrying a big hammer and a pair of long legs, he chased away.
Liu Quan sat firmly on the cart and looked at a green shadow looming in the distance among the smoke and dust. Not far away, there was also a smoke and dust with red figures in between, running in the same direction.
Then, I saw another plume of smoke rising from the wilderness to the north of Guandao, and gradually spreading towards the mountains and fields to the north.
"Hiss, you ran away really fast."
As soon as Liu Quan finished speaking, he saw a group of cavalry galloping towards the east of the official road, intercepting the more than 300 foot bandits who were escaping northward from a distance.
I saw them as one team from afar, but when they came closer, they split into two teams. One team was still rushing straight to the west, while the other team changed its direction slightly and ran towards the mountains and fields to the north.
They drew a circle, which happened to trap the bandits on the north side of the official road. No matter how hard they ran, they couldn't run as fast as He Shihui and his horses.
…………
On October 14, the 11th year of Chongzhen reign in the Ming Dynasty, in the north of Beijing, outside Yongding Gate.
Garrisoned in the area from Yongding Gate to Zuo'anmen are several generals from the Third Battalion of the Fifth Army, the Fourth Battalion of Shenshu, the Fifth Battalion of Shenshu, and the Fourth Battalion of Shenji from the Beijing camp, who are engaged in guerrilla warfare.
More than a thousand cavalrymen under Zhang Cheng followed King Qin's army in Xuan Town, setting out from Changping and arriving outside Yongding Gate at noon yesterday.
At this time, tens of thousands of Qing troops were stationed in Tongzhou, dozens of miles away, with constant sentries and cavalry every day. Although their various units in the Beijing camp were equipped with a large number of chariots, horses, artillery and other defensive objects, these
The officers and soldiers were still in panic all day long, and many soldiers deserted every day.
It wasn't until yesterday that Lu Xiangsheng arrived with more than 30,000 Qinwang troops and horses from the third town of Xuanda that their mood stabilized slightly.
As soon as King Qin's army and horses from Xuanda and Shanxi's three towns arrived, all the generals and guerrillas from their Beijing camp came to see the governor Lu Xiangsheng, and strongly requested the brave and invincible elites from Xuanda's border town to stand in front of them.
The governor, Lu Xiangsheng, did not refuse and readily agreed, which attracted great gratitude from the generals and guerrillas.
In this way, more than 30,000 troops and horses from Xuanda and three towns in Shanxi Province were sent to aid King Qin. They deployed their defenses in sequence along the area from Yongding Gate to Zuo'anmen, and to the eastern suburbs about ten miles away from the city.
Zhang Cheng's cavalry headquarters was stationed in one place along with his uncle, General Zhang Yan. Their garrison area was designated to be located about thirty miles southeast of Yongding Gate and outside the west gate of the royal hunting ground Nanhaizi, which is now Beijing.
Yizhuang Town area.
Nanhaizi was called Feifangbo in the Yuan Dynasty, because the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty trained Haidongqing to catch birds and small animals in this area full of rivers and lakes. In the Ming Dynasty, it was renamed Nanhaizi. During the Yongle period, earth walls were built and four gates were opened.
: Dahongmen is in the north, Donghongmen is in the east, Nandahongmen is in the south, and Xihongmen is in the west.
According to the "Research on Old News from Japan": "Since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Nanhaizi has been surrounded by a circle of 160 miles." Its vastness can be compared with Yanfangdian in the east of Jingdong. The creatures on the vast blue water are moving frequently, and the scenery is colorful.
Beautiful and charming.
Therefore, this area has mostly plains, with occasional mountains and rivers, many rivers, lakes and ditches, and fertile land. The area around Nanhaizi was originally densely populated with villages and towns near Gyeonggi.
Just because in the ninth year of Chongzhen's reign, the Qing army invaded the border area, the villages in this area were burned down once by the Qing army.
Two years later, the Qing army came again, and the new homes that the people had worked hard to build were once again burned down by the Qing army.
When Zhang Cheng led his troops to arrive here, many of the surrounding villages were in ruins, and some were still burning with raging fires, leaving light smoke rising straight into the sky.
Occasionally, I saw some surviving people. They helped the elderly and young to flee towards the capital. As they walked, they looked back at their homes, with sad expressions and tears in their eyes.
Zhang Cheng rode his horse and watched all this, but was helpless. He just shook his head and said to himself: "I don't know if these poor people can still enter Beijing. I hope they can be safe in the future!"
A group of frightened people were fleeing from here. When they passed by Zhang Cheng's infantry and cavalry army, they were so scared that they stayed away. Zhang Cheng could faintly hear a few people muttering in a low voice: "These dog officers and soldiers are killing the Tatars."
You have no ability, but the harm to us common people is great."
At that time, several of Zhang Cheng's soldiers were furious and rushed forward on horseback, intending to find out those talkative and arrogant people.
Zhang Chengce stood on his horse, shook his whip, stopped them and said, "When I come to the capital, King Qin, I am here to protect the people, not to fight for words.
With all this strength, it is better to kill more Tatars and cavalry. Besides, these officers and soldiers are really not what they look like now. No wonder the people are complaining."
At this time, the Qing army invaded the Qing Dynasty and gathered troops on the banks of the Tongzhou River. They continued to frequently harass the eastern suburbs of Beijing. Many officers and soldiers in the Beijing camp broke up and fled, and they wandered around in small groups.
If they encountered the Qing army's sentries, they would flee. However, when they encountered the fleeing people, they would act like wolves and tigers, looting property and raping and humiliating women. Their methods were sometimes even more egregious than those of the Qing army.
The area where Zhang Cheng and others were stationed was to the west the Nanhaizi Royal Hunting Ground, and to the east was a rather wide river that started from Shuitou Village on the east side of Marco Polo Bridge and merged southeastward into the North Canal, which is the Liangshui River.
Liangshui River is located in the south of Beijing. It originates from Shuitouzhuang in the east of Marco Polo Bridge, and flows southeast into Liuzhuang, Miao County. It is 58 kilometers long and includes Caoqiao River, Xiaolong River, Macao River, Macaogou and Dayangfanggou.
, Xiao Taihou River and other tributaries.
Ten miles to the north of the Liangshui River in the south of Beijing is where the Xiaolong River merges into the Liangshui River. Five miles to the south of the Xiaolong River is where the guerrilla general Li Jianming of Xuanfu Town is stationed. He sets up defenses along the banks of the Liangshui River.
Five miles to the south of Li Jianming's station was the defense area of Yang Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of Xuanzhen. There was a wide stone bridge across the Liangshui River, connecting the wide official roads on both sides of the river.