It was very time-consuming for the Xuanbei Army and the nearly 25,000 soldiers of the Shenji Battalion to cross the river, not to mention that their army also had hundreds of chariots, chariots, artillery carriages, as well as thousands of war horses, mules and horses.
This was Zhang Cheng's special order to let the Shenwei General Cannon from the Shenji Camp follow the infantry camp across the river to show the power of the army.
In fact, everyone knew in their hearts that this was an opportunity for the Shenji Camp to show their face, and the others were just excuses, but everyone saw through it without saying anything.
Just as Chen Jiugao turned around and boasted to the town commanders about the artillery and rocket vehicles he had brought, guerrilla Guo Yingxian squeezed forward from behind the generals. He poked his square head to say hello to Zhang Cheng.
However, he saw Governor Hong Chengchou and Supervisor Zhang Ruoqi standing next to Zhang Cheng. He did not dare to step forward, but stared at Zhang Cheng with a pair of big eyes and winked at Zhang Cheng. The look was extremely funny.
At this time, the supervisor Zhang Ruoqi suggested that everyone go into the city to talk, and there was no need to watch the army crossing the river here. Hong Chengchou naturally would not object, and the generals followed the two of them to Ningyuan City.
When you get closer, you can feel the magnificence of this border fortress even more, with its thick city walls, towering gate towers, and dark gun ports.
The group of them entered Ningyuan City from the Yongning Gate in the west. Zhang Cheng looked at the horse paths on both sides of the city gate. The slope was just right, so it would not be very difficult for the horses to gallop up.
He also noticed the inner wall of Ningyuan City Wall, which is quite unique. It is said that when it was built, in order to make the city wall strong, a large number of irregular stones were used to build the inner wall, and then the inner wall of the city wall was chiseled, so it was called "rough stone".
wall".
Moreover, because most of the stones used are locally sourced, the color looks like tiger skin from a distance, so it is also known as the "tiger skin stone wall".
It can be seen that Ningyuan City is like a large military station at the moment. It is filled with officers and soldiers from all over the country. The city is basically filled with Hong Chengchou's soldiers and horses from the Supervisory Biao Battalion, as well as Ningyuan Regiment Training Commander Wu Sangui, Liaodong Commander Liu Zhaoji, and Liaodong Assistant Guards
Commander-in-Chief Meng Dao and other local commander's soldiers and horses.
The remaining general soldiers of Liao Town and the soldiers and horses of the generals who came to assist the towns were stationed in various military camps outside the city. At this moment, a total of 160,000 officers and soldiers were gathered inside and outside Ningyuan City, which was more than 30,000 more than in history.
Centaur.
Starting from the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the general soldiers of each town began to train 5,000 new troops. Although the actual training results varied due to differences in rations and wages in different places, at least 3,000 more new troops were trained.
Now inside and outside Ningyuan, Yang Guozhu in Xuanzhen has 12,000 soldiers and horses, Wang Pu of Datong also has 10,000 soldiers and horses, Miyun Tangtong has 12,000 soldiers and horses, and Bai Guangen in Jizhen has 13,000 soldiers and horses. These four generals
Xuanda sent troops to help, and the official army in Ji Town numbered 47,000.
In addition, Dong Xie Cao Bianjiao has 11,000 troops, Shanhaiguan Ma Ke has 13,000 troops, the former Tunwei King's court officials have 10,000 troops, and Ningyuan Wu Sangui has 18,000 troops. These four Liao Town commanders also have 10,000 troops.
Fifty-two thousand officers and troops.
In addition, Hong Chengchou's Supervisor Battalion has more than 8,000 troops, Shanxi Li Fuming has 5,000 troops, Zhongxie Zuo Guangxian has 8,000 troops, Liaodong Commander-in-Chief Liu Zhaoji has 12,000 troops, and Liaodong Commander-in-Chief Meng Dao has
Six thousand men and horses, which adds up to about 40,000 officers and soldiers.
In this way, there were nearly 140,000 officers and soldiers who had entered Ningyuan City earlier. If we include the more than 19,000 troops of Zhang Chengxuan's Northern Army and the 7,000 soldiers of Chen Jiugao's Shenji Battalion who had just arrived.
The Ming Dynasty officers and troops under Ningyuan City have reached more than 165,000 soldiers and horses, and this does not include the more than 20,000 Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers under Zu Dashou in Jinzhou City.
In addition, there were officers and soldiers left behind in various castles in Liaodong. In order to relieve the siege of Jinzhou, the Ming Dynasty even mobilized an army of 200,000 troops. This was their attitude in preparing for a decisive battle with Jiannu in Liaodong!
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After entering through the west gate of Ningyuan City, there is Yongning West Street. Governor Hong Chengchou and supervisor Zhang Ruoqi walked side by side. Governor Qiu Minyang and Zhang Dou prepared the troops. Deputy Inspector Yao Gong and other officials accompanied Zhang Cheng and Chen Jiugao on their horses.
After that, there are the commander-in-chief of each town.
After walking more than 500 steps, you will see a majestic Bell and Drum Tower. It flies in the air and corresponds to the arrow towers on the four city gates. It looks majestic and majestic.
Zhang Cheng took a rough look and found that the Bell and Drum Tower was divided into three floors, and its height was almost six feet.
The base of the Drum Tower is also square, as high as a city wall, with cross holes leading to the four streets underneath, all made of large green bricks, with arched passages in the east, west, south and north.
Next up is the two-story pavilion. On the second floor is a giant cowhide drum. The drum surface alone is nearly one foot wide and is made of a whole cowhide. It is rare in the country.
Because the Drum Tower is the highest point in the entire city of Ningyuan, during wartime the city defender would often observe the enemy's siege situation on its third floor in order to direct operations. Therefore, this floor only has desks, chairs, and maps of Ningyuan's surroundings.
Ningyuan City is centered on the Bell and Drum Tower, and there are four streets corresponding to the four city gates. The locals call them Chunhe East Street, Yanhui South Street, Yongning West Street and Weiyuan North Street.
Hong Chengchou's governor's residence was located in the former Jiliao Governor's Mansion on the north side of Chunhe East Street, east of the Drum Tower.
In the early years of Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan, who was appointed to supervise Ji Liao with the title of Minister of the Ministry of War, built an office, which was called Jiliao Superintendent's Office at that time.
This place occupies a very large area. The two sides of the front hall and courtyard were originally the offices of the six departments of officials, households, rituals, soldiers, punishments, and engineering. They were in charge of all affairs in Jiliao. Now they are used by the officials of Governor Hong Chengchou's Yamen.
The west side of the main hall is the "Zhao Mo Suo", which is where documents are polished, and the east side is the "curtain hall", where the staff of Governor Ji Liao's staff work.
The west courtyard of the front hall is where the governor's prison is located, while the east courtyard is where the officials live.
Zhang Cheng and others followed Hong Chengchou. Behind Zhang Ruoqi, they entered the second hall from the Dongbian Gate. This is where Governor Hong Chengchou works.
The second hall is divided into the main hall, the meeting hall, the signing room and the east and west wing rooms. There are courtyards on the east and west sides for the residence of officials. The west side is now the residence of the governor's staff, while the east side courtyard is used by the supervisor Zhang Ruoqi and other officials.
In addition, the back hall is where Governor Hong Chengchou and his family live. After he stationed in Ningyuan, he asked the supervisor Zhang Ruoqi to stay in the back hall many times, but he declined. Therefore, he rarely lived in the back hall, most of the time.
Live in a wing in the central hall.
As soon as everyone entered the spacious second hall, they saw that tables of banquets had been set up inside, and the food was very sumptuous.
However, as early as when Hong Chengchou received the report of the fast horse and sent Chen Zhongcai, the deputy general of the Chinese army, to greet him, he had already asked his trusted aides to prepare banquets and other welcoming things.
Supervisor Zhang Ruoqi and Zhang Cheng were old acquaintances, not to mention that when he was at the Ministry of War, he had many interactions with Li Guozhen, the uncle of Xiangcheng, and Chen Jiugao, the former battalion commander. Naturally, there was no objection to such a welcome. Everyone was kind and humbly took their seats together.