Wu Yingxiong was going to lead the troops from all parties to rush to the Liaodong Zhenbei Road Defense Area to rush for reinforcements, while Zhao Junchen was going to Jinzhou Camp to take charge of logistics matters. Both sides were heading north, and initially there was a section of the same journey.
In this way, after a day of continuous driving, we finally saw a fork in the official road from a distance. The fork in front was divided into two, one road went north into Jinzhou, and the other headed northeast to Liaoyang and Fushun.
direction.
This also means that Zhao Junchen is about to leave the main force and will act alone next.
After Wu Yingxiong saw this situation, he was preparing to stop the army to rest and say goodbye to Zhao Junchen.
However, before Wu Yingxiong could convey the military order, he heard loud calls from the soldiers in front.
"There is smoke! There is smoke!"
"Wolf smoke and beacon fire! Enemy news is coming from the front!"
"The war is coming! The Jianzhou Jurchens are attacking!"
Hearing such a noise, Wu Yingxiong was immediately startled. He quickly raised his head to check, and sure enough, he saw a smoke alarm in the distance in the sky!
This means that Zhao Junchen's prediction was not wrong, and the Jianzhou Jurchens did take advantage of the chaos to attack!
For a time, whether it was Zhao Junchen, Wu Yingxiong, or the generals of Liaodong Town, everyone was in a mixed mood, feeling both relaxed and heavy.
It's easy because all the forces have their own plans at this time, but everyone's follow-up plans are based on the Jianzhou Jurchens taking the opportunity to invade. If the Jianzhou Jurchens unexpectedly stand still this time, their
All the hard calculations will come to nothing.
It's heavy because - everyone fully understands how difficult and dangerous it is to fight against the Jurchens in Jianzhou!
*
Beacon fire was an important means of military communication in ancient times. The rules of the past dynasties were roughly the same. A fort was set up every thirty miles. Adjacent forts could look at each other from a distance. There were beacon towers in the forts that could be activated at any time.
.
When encountering an enemy situation, the fortress at the outermost edge of the border will be the first to light beacon fire and smoke to report the enemy's situation to the rear forts. Upon seeing this, the rear fort will also light beacon smoke and continue to convey the message further to the rear. At the same time, detective horses will be dispatched for reconnaissance.
Then, news of the enemy's situation quickly spread throughout the entire frontier.
At the same time, based on the duration and number of ignited beacon fires, the enemy's situation can also be preliminarily judged.
If the smoke is intermittent, it means that the fort that lit the smoke is only responsible for conveying the enemy situation on the border, but it has not seen the enemy; if the smoke is continuous, it means that the fort has seen the enemy; if a line of smoke is lit, it means that the fort has seen the enemy.
The enemy's force is about a hundred people. If two smokes are lit, it means the enemy's force is about two hundred. The greater the number of smokes, the larger the enemy's force is.
Therefore, when Wu Yingxiong saw the beacon smoke, he quickly focused his eyes to distinguish it carefully. When he saw that the smoke in the distance only lasted for a while and then disappeared, he couldn't help but feel a little relieved. This meant that the Jianzhou Jurchens had not yet penetrated deep into the hinterland of Liaodong.
The beacon tower was just to warn of enemy conditions on the border, but when he further drew closer and counted the number of smoke, he couldn't help but feel nervous!
There are ten rays of smoke in total!
This is the maximum amount of smoke that the Beacon Tower can emit!
One streak of smoke means hundreds of enemy troops, six streaks of smoke represent hundreds of enemy troops, nine streaks of smoke represent tens of thousands of enemy troops, and ten streaks of smoke mean only one thing - the size of the enemy force is huge! It is impossible to estimate the size of the enemy force.
!Urge the rear to provide full support!
Zhao Junchen rode his horse to follow Wu Yingxiong. He also knew the rules of the smoke. His expression suddenly sank, and he turned to Wu Yingxiong and said: "There are ten smokes in total! This means that even if the Jianzhou Jurchens did not come out in full force this time, they would still be different."
Not far away! But we still don’t know the specific combat objectives of the Jianzhou Jurchens... Governor Wu, the burden on your shoulders is very heavy!"
The smoke alarm also has flaws. It can only roughly indicate the approximate size of the enemy's army, but it cannot indicate the specific location of the enemy's current location. More detailed information can only be transmitted through fast horses.
Wu Yingxiong's eyes were still looking into the distance, and he nodded solemnly, saying: "We must further speed up the march! Otherwise, the battle situation on the front line may change at some point!"
To be honest, the governor now hopes that Jianzhou Jurchen will be more ambitious and take advantage of the chaotic situation in Liaodong Town to attack one of the two important towns of Shenyang and Fushun! Because only important towns like Shenyang and Fushun can resist Jianzhou
A Jurchen force of this size can also hold back the main force of the Jianzhou Jurchens! If the Jianzhou Jurchens are too ambitious and send out all their troops to plunder everywhere, it will be even more harmful!"
Having said this, Wu Yingxiong also turned to look at Zhao Junchen and said: "Zhao Gechen, continue running for thirty miles north on this forked road in front of you and you will reach the Jinzhou Camp. Seeing that the military situation is urgent, the governor must rush north to help as soon as possible, so I won't go out of my way to
We took a detour into Jinzhou Camp for a short break, so let’s say goodbye here.”
Zhao Junchen nodded and said: "As far as I know, there are tens of thousands of troops stationed in the Jinzhou camp, including 4,000 Liaodong cavalry. If the frontline war is tight, I hope Governor Wu can send the news in time.
, I will definitely arrange for the garrison from Jinzhou Camp to rush to support!"
Wu Yingxiong's eyes flashed, and he shook his head and said: "The North Road Defense Area of Liaodong Town is the first line of defense against the Jianzhou Jurchens. It is also stationed with heavy troops and two teams of Liaodong Iron Cavalry. They only take orders from the Liaodong Town North Road Guards.
General, as long as he integrates most of the northern border troops and adds more than 20,000 reinforcements under his command, it will be enough to deal with Jianzhou Jurchens. However, the garrison of Jinzhou Camp is the only reserve force left in Liaodong.
, absolutely can’t move lightly.”
Although Wu Yingxiong's statement was based on military considerations, he must also be secretly preventing Zhao Junchen from personally leading his troops into the battlefield to disrupt the situation in the name of supporting the front line.
Zhao Junchen did not expose Wu Yingxiong's thoughts, but solemnly nodded.
Seeing that Zhao Junchen did not continue to pester, Wu Yingxiong felt a little relieved. After bowing his hands to Zhao Junchen, he conveyed the military order to the entire army, asking all the soldiers to speed up the march.
Subsequently, Zhao Junchen and the imperial guards under Zhao Junchen, as well as the various forces accompanying Zhao Junchen, soon gradually separated from the reinforcements and completely went their separate ways.
It is worth mentioning that before the two parties parted ways, Xu He, Li Zehe, Gan Cheng, Li Shijie and other high-ranking military attachés from Liaodong Town came to Zhao Junchen to bid farewell to him.
Since that military meeting, the generals in Liaodong Town also knew that they were in the wrong and did not support Zhao Junchen in time, so they have been trying to repair their relationship with Zhao Junchen, but Zhao Junchen only ignored them lukewarmly, sometimes saying that he still
He will cooperate with the Liaodong town generals to implement the original plan, but sometimes expresses that he may change his mind based on the latest changes in the situation, which makes the Liaodong town generals quite nervous.
Just like this, only about half an hour later, the large reinforcements had completely thrown away Zhao Junchen's team and quickly ran towards the northeast.
*
Watching the reinforcements quickly disappear, and finally only a puff of smoke and dust could be seen in the distance, Zhao Junchen finally withdrew his gaze and turned to look behind him.
Behind Zhao Junchen, Liaodong Governor Wang Shizhen, Liaodong Inspector Huang Ke, Liaodong Regiment Training Commander Ling Huguang, Liaodong Branch Training Commander Song Dahe, as well as a number of wealthy gentry and civil servants at all levels in Jinzhou were waiting quietly.
Zhao Junchen’s order.
It is worth mentioning that He Rensheng, a member of the Liaodong Iron Cavalry Qianhu, was also among the crowd at this time, secretly observing Zhao Junchen with the corner of his eye, while Liu Xiong, another Liaodong Iron Cavalry member Qianhu, was accompanying He Rensheng, with the same expression on his face.
It is the remnants of defiance and anger.
When the whole army broke camp and headed north, Zhao Junchen originally wanted to take Shi Cheng, He Bandi, Liu Xiong, and He Rensheng, the four Liaodong cavalrymen who had lost their military power, with him and ask them to accompany him to the Jinzhou camp.
, but none of the generals in Liaodong Town dared to agree to Zhao Junchen's request, and even Wu Yingxiong expressed opposition.
He Rensheng and Liu Xiong are just two of them. One is more wise and less decisive, and the other is brave and resourceless, neither of them can play a big role. However, He Bandi and Shi Cheng are both key figures, and they are both in the Liaodong Cavalry.
They have a certain appeal, so the generals of Liaodong Town and Wu Yingxiong naturally dare not hand these two people over to Zhao Junchen, otherwise no one knows what Zhao Junchen will do with the influence of these two people.
But the initiative in this matter was in the hands of the generals of Liaodong Town, and Wu Yingxiong could not interfere too much. The generals of Liaodong Town were eager to ease the relationship with Zhao Junchen, so in the end they insisted on keeping He Bandit.
and Shi Cheng, but still handed over He Rensheng and Liu Xiong to Zhao Junchen.
At the same time, Jiang Quan, a member of the Forbidden Army, did not follow Zhao Junchen, because Xu Qingyan was still seriously ill and could not withstand the bumps of a long journey, so Zhao Junchen asked Jiang Quan to take Xu Qingyan slowly behind.
.
By the way, Zhao Junchen also handed over some "small tasks" to Jiang Quan.
Just like that, after looking around at everyone, Zhao Junchen raised his hand and said: "The military situation is urgent, let's speed up and rush to Jinzhou Camp as soon as possible!"
After saying that, Zhao Junchen took the lead in riding his horse and headed north.
*
About three hours later, Jinzhou Camp was already in sight.
Along the way, with almost no rest, Zhao Junchen's physical strength was close to the limit, so he slowed down the horse. After recovering some physical strength, he turned around and ordered: "Bring Governor Wang and He
The two men from Qianhu came here, I have something I want to ask them about."
Under Zhao Junchen's summons, Liaodong Governor Wang Shizhen and Liaodong Cavalry Qianhu He Rensheng quickly rushed to Zhao Junchen.
He Rensheng was still secretly observing Zhao Junchen from the corner of his eye, while Wang Shizhen asked directly: "Zhao Gechen, why did you summon the subordinate?"
"We are about to enter the Jinzhou Camp, so I want to inquire about the specific situation of the Jinzhou Camp from Governor Wang and He Qianhu! Who are the people in the Jinzhou Camp that need attention? Especially the supervisor.
What kind of temperament does eunuch Yao Rang have...?"
Zhao Junchen asked aloud while slowing down his horse speed again.
…
PS: The community is blocked, so you don’t have to be busy with work, so this is the first of three updates today.
The second update has been written and will be modified and uploaded within half an hour.
There should be more updates in the next few days.