Chapter 82: Against the sky, eight hundred miles of Taihang Mountains II
The horse kite was lying on the slope, chewing wild grass picked from everywhere, and lowered his head to monitor the mountain road below.
It shouldn't be, why haven't you come yet? He was a little puzzled. He had been dormant here for nearly two hours, and he couldn't even bear to urinate. If the bastard named Wu hadn't followed, wouldn't he have suffered in vain?
When I was completely bored, I just heard a string of crisp partridge calls, "Hook-le-ge-ge!" Four short tones, rising in pitch and rapid.
Hearing the secret signal, Ma Yaozi's eyes lit up and he became energetic. After thinking for a moment, he pinched both sides of his mouth with his hands and blew a partridge whistle in response.
"Gou Zhou Ge Zhou Ge Ge."
You come and I go, lifelike, only the sound of birds is heard, but no one is seen.
He fought with the Tatar sentry cavalry no less than ten times, and he lost many brothers by not closing the camp at night.
Nowadays, the horse kites have learned so well that they no longer fight head-on with the Tatars who have fast horses and thick armor. Instead, they choose to hide their horses and set up ambushes along the way in advance, taking advantage of the mountainous terrain to find opportunities for sneak attacks.
Not long after, several knights appeared on the mountain road. When they saw that the tracks they were following ended here, they immediately stopped and looked around, talking in words that Ma Yaozi could not understand.
Ma Yaozi slowly moved forward and picked up the riding bow placed aside.
"Hook!" A long partridge sound whirled around and around, and countless small arrows were shot out from all directions at the same time. The direction of these arrows was very tricky and ruthless, not to shoot people but only to hurt horses.
No matter how well you train your war horse, you will never be able to wipe out its survival instinct.
Faced with the sudden cold arrow, several Tatars subconsciously raised their swords to parry, but they seemed unhurried, but their mounts were in pain and frightened.
One of the horses was hit by several arrows in the buttocks, and jumped up and down with its butt sticking out. The Tartar rider on the horse became unsteady and was thrown to the ground. His spine was immediately broken, and he was no longer able to move.
Ma Yaozi didn't care about the outcome of the battle at all, so he fired the three arrows he had prepared and left.
At the same time, shadows of people walked through the mountains from time to time, causing branches and leaves to tremble, and birds chirping one after another.
Wu Sangui and his son-in-law Xia Guoxiang climbed up the nearest hillside to investigate.
Picking up a handful of wet soil and sniffing it, Xia Guoxiang said angrily: "Zhang Yue, it's human urine. It depends on the situation. We haven't gone very far. Do you want to chase me?"
"This group of people came well prepared and are not easy to catch." Wu Sangui kept looking at the surrounding mountains as he spoke, with worry written all over his face.
The elite troops of Guan Ning, who had more horses and fewer steps, had no advantage at all in this vast mountainous area. From now on, they were just foot soldiers marching on horseback. This was not a good thing for Wu Sangui, who had a guest army outside.
"Unexpectedly, the Ming army actually has such elite scouts in Shanxi. Our opponent may not be easy."
"What my father-in-law said is absolutely true. We know very little about the enemy's movements towards our army. Now that the location is inconvenient, we should treat it with caution." Xia Guoxiang nodded in agreement.
Among his three sons-in-law, Xia Guoxiang, who was both civil and military, was the most valued by Wu Sangui, so he always took him with him to train him. Listening to his wise and wise words, he was quite comforted by his true heritage.
"Let Ma Bao lead a group of people up the mountain. Since the other side doesn't use horses, we don't need them either."
"yes."
.....
When an epidemic spread in the camp, the villagers in Duanjiazhuang were not affected because they had no contact with the sick civilians and because masks, isolation and other measures were taken promptly.
After working day and night, the abrupt bunker rose from the ground and began to take shape. In Chongzhen's design, the front wall was required to be as strong as possible. For this reason, Duan Xiaogang ignored the tediousness and built it with one layer of blue bricks and one layer of Sanhe soil.
Six layers thick.
The soldiers pushed the artillery into the fort one after another, and the reserved gun holes could just extend the captured Hongyi artillery barrels. This was entirely due to Chongzhen's keeping of various data in the book.
Duan Xiaojun, who had nothing to do, secretly spit yellow phlegm on the wall of the bunker when others were not paying attention. Duan Xiaogang's recent complacency made him extremely jealous.
He was just good at peeing and making mud, but now he has great luck. He was called something by the emperor... What an engineer. Not only did he receive a lot of silver rewards for being a fool, even Xiao Cui started to surround him.
He turned around! All day long, Brother Xiaogang was growing shorter than Brother Gang. When he thought of his sweetheart, Xiaocui, Duan Xiaojun felt sour in his heart.
"I don't believe it. We're not as good as you, just playing in the mud?" Duan Xiaojun whispered, sitting cross-legged on the floor and thinking about countermeasures. How can he block Duan Xiaogang's limelight?
Due to the subsequent gathering of troops, the original military camp was not enough to accommodate all the soldiers. As soon as Tang Tongfu arrived, he was sent by Chongzhen to direct the expansion of the camp.
It seems that such small things can be left to the people below to do it, but Tang Tong doesn't think so. Regardless of the fatigue of the journey, he has to keep an eye on it himself and never allow any mistakes to be made.
Under the pressure of the war situation in Hebei, Chongzhen finally removed all sick and suspected sick people from the civilian population and isolated them, completely blocking out the source of infection.
For this reason, he deliberately took the lead in promulgating ten epidemic prevention measures in the military. In addition to various countermeasures against the epidemic, he also established the rule of prohibiting drinking raw water and dirty water in the form of military law.
.......
Wuchang Prefecture is located in Huguang, covering one state and seven counties, with abundant resources and abundant people.
Ningnan Bo Zuo Liangyu was stationed here, and his available troops, including the surrendered bandits, numbered about forty thousand.
Like most people, Zuo Liangyu chose to stand still after receiving the news that the capital had fallen and Emperor Chongzhen was dead.
After receiving the news that Li Zicheng had defeated Shanhaiguan, Zuo Liangyu attacked decisively and took advantage of the situation to capture Jingzhou, De'an, and Chengtian.
When King Fu ascended the throne, he would naturally not forget this general who led the troops abroad. Jin Zuo Liangyu was made a marquis, and his son was granted the title of Jin Yiwei Zheng Qianhu.
Zuo Liangyu heard about various events in Nanjing but remained indifferent.
I think it is enough for him to be a warrior and to control Wuchang. As for which prince will succeed him, that is a matter for the old Zhu family and the literati. He has neither control nor involvement.
Zuo Liangyu was recommended by Hou Xun when he became an official, and Hou Xun was a member of the Donglin Party. Ma Shiying considered this relationship extremely dangerous.
Zuo Liangyu's principle of always listening to advice rather than propaganda played into his hands. Ma Shiying immediately persuaded Emperor Hongguang to send people to build Trigger City. On the surface, it was used for defense on the western front. Secretly, it was nothing more than to prevent Zuo Liangyu from joining the East.
The Lin Party is just resurrected.
Regarding Ma Shiying, Ruan Dacheng and the recently arrogant and domineering Jiangbei Caobao Four Towns, Zuo Liangyu did have the idea of clearing the emperor, but the time was not good at the moment, and the thought passed away.
Today, I heard that the imperial reward team had arrived. Zuo Liangyu took his eldest son Zuo Mengeng there early and happily went there. He didn't like this kind of thing too often.
"Shi Gebu? How can I ask you to come here?" Seeing Shi Kefa standing at the head of the team, Zuo Liangyu hurriedly stepped forward and asked. This was too abrupt.
Shi Kefa, a thin man with a dusty face, hesitated to speak.
