Regarding the history of the late Ming Dynasty, there are several concepts that novices cannot understand.
For example, Jizhou, Jizhou Town and Ji Town.
Many people saw it and thought it was not the same thing.
But actually, it's not the same thing.
First of all, Jizhou is a city located east of the capital.
Jizhou is the last pass on the way to the capital after entering through Xifengkou, Da'ankou, Hongshankou and other passes.
Therefore, Jizhou is very important.
Jizhou Town is a village.
Even Jizhou Town is not within the jurisdiction of Jizhou, but belongs to Yongping Prefecture.
The last Ji Town is not a place name, but a defense zone.
The metaphor is the difference between Nanjing City and Nanjing Military Region.
The entire Ji Town, including Jizhou, Zunhua, Qianxi County where Jizhou Town is located, and even the entire Yongping Prefecture. Of course, it also includes Great Wall passes such as Xifengkou, Da'ankou and Hongshankou.
As for the well-known Governor of Jiliao, his jurisdiction covers Jizhou and Yongping Prefecture, but does not include Shanhaiguan.
It is worth noting that later generations have always criticized Yuan Chonghuan for fearing the enemy and avoiding war because he did not go through Zunhua and Jizhou, but through Yongping, Fengrun, and Yutian when he returned to support.
In fact, most people are deceived by maps.
In fact, at that time, Yuan Chonghuan's route was the most direct and fastest from Shanhaiguan to Jizhou.
Some people may be confused.
Didn't you say that Jizhou is to the east of the capital? Then Yuan Chonghuan also came back from Shanhaiguan in the east, shouldn't he go to Zunhua and Jizhou?
The real situation is that Zunhua and Jizhou are the only way from Xifengkou to the capital, but they are not the only way from Shanhaiguan to the capital.
In terms of real geography, the capital is the same as Shanhaiguan, with the same dimensions of 39.9 North latitude.
do you understand?
This means that when we usually look at the map, Shanhaiguan is located northeast of the capital, which is actually wrong.
The real Shanhaiguan is actually due east of the capital.
This is why even hundreds of years later, maps are important confidential information.
Especially military maps are not comparable to ordinary maps.
This is how Mao Yuanyi felt at this time.
The march route of the rear camp puzzled him.
The directions of many places were obviously very different from what he knew, but as he walked, the army magically went around them.
He couldn't understand the map used by the rear camp at first. Later, Zuo Mengeng taught him some, and he finally got a grasp of it.
Whether an army is strong or not often does not depend on its performance on the battlefield.
As soon as such a map was taken out, Mao Yuanyi naturally compared it.
He has also served in many Ming armies, and has even seen the battle maps of the Ministry of War. But there is absolutely no map of any army that is so precise and accurate.
In addition to the map, he was also shocked by the performance of the officers in the rear camp.
The officers here don't look like officers at all, and they don't seem to understand what it means to be arrogant.
When crossing the mountains, everyone, including Zuo Mengeng, had to personally help push the artillery and resist the ammunition.
After getting to know the thin director of the Department of Military Affairs, he found out that he was actually Huang Zunsu's son.
Seeing thousands of officers and soldiers working together to help each other, Mao Yuanyi knew that the combat effectiveness of this army should not be underestimated.
On December 1, the troops rushed to the vicinity of Baishan Mountain. Going down from the mountain was the official road connecting Santun Camp and Zunhua, and it was also the place where the rear camp launched its attack.
Zuo Mengeng was about to convene the officers for a briefing meeting when the scouts rushed back.
"Report, we found a strange person in the broken brick kiln ten miles away."
While he was talking, a dirty big man was turned in front of him by the scouts.
The reason why it is strange is that this man has disheveled hair, is dirty, and looks like a beggar. But the clothes he wears are the military uniforms of the Ming army. Even the mountain armor, only high-ranking generals are qualified to wear it.
The man was escorted all the way to the front, looking extremely nervous. Although he tried to struggle hard and had considerable strength, he couldn't break free under the professional techniques of the scouts.
"Who are you?"
Zuo Mengeng asked carefully, but didn't take it seriously.
When the Hou Jin invaders came, many Ming troops were defeated, and deserters were everywhere. I don’t know how many were hidden in the mountains and plains.
The only thing worth exploring is whether this man's high-grade armor is his own or whether he picked it up casually.
The man just kept his head down and didn't speak. His eyes were chattering wildly, as if he was hiding some secret.
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Zuo Mengeng didn't bother to pay attention, and directly ordered: "Take him away and kill him."
The war was about to begin, and he had many things to be busy with, and he did not want to waste time on a deserter. A soldier who fled in the face of the enemy would not be unjustly executed.
As soon as he heard that he was going to be killed, the man finally became anxious.
"How dare you? Bastard, you are just a little boss, do you want to do the following?"
Zuo Mengeng looked back at him and asked again: "Who are you?"
Anyway, he had already spoken, but the man looked unruly and stood up straight with a cold snort, as if he didn't take Zuo Mengeng seriously.
"Listen carefully. Zhu Lai, the deputy general of Santun Camp, how dare you, a little Xiaoqian, dare to neglect you? When I return, I will punish you according to military law."
Zuo Mengeng's eyes narrowed instantly.
"Who do you think you are?"
Before the man could speak again, another scout rushed over.
"Qianza, below... below... you go and take a look."
Scouts are lonely warriors who will not waver in the face of any environment. However, at this time, they looked like they had seen something extraordinary.
Zuo Mengeng didn't dare to neglect, so he walked away and asked the soldiers to escort the guy who claimed to be the deputy general of Santun Camp Zhu Lai to follow him.
All the way down the mountain, just as we reached the official road, everyone was shocked.
I saw that both sides of the official road that stretched for several miles were filled with dead corpses. None of the human corpses and horse corpses were intact, and there was no telling how many there were.
Nothing could be seen from the horse's corpse, but the dark blue military uniform on the human corpse was obviously telling everyone that these tragic victims were all Ming soldiers.
The broken sword and gun are still in the hands, the arrows stuck in the soil are swaying in the wind, and the solidified blood is flowing on the earth chanting a tragic song, but the ruthless God is not willing to even let a snow fall to bury the dead.
.
Obviously, a brutal battle broke out here, and a Ming army suffered a disastrous defeat here.
Fortunately, it was winter at this time, and although I don’t know how long it had passed, the body had not decomposed yet.
But because the area was in chaos, no one came to restrain the soldiers who died in battle.
Zuo Mengeng and others walked quietly among them, looking at the faces of the deceased who were still unwilling to give up, unable to say a single word.
"what is that?"
Zuo Yong pointed forward, and his shouts attracted everyone.
Everyone looked around and found an iron gun stuck in the open space at the front.
And there was a head stuck on the head of the gun.
The phoenix-winged helmet worn showed that the deceased was a senior general.
He did not close his eyes until his death, and kept staring at the east, as if there was something that puzzled him.
"It's Mr. Zhao!"
Mao Yuanyi suddenly screamed, staggered over and ran to the head, trying to take it off, but she ended up crying loudly.
"Zhao Xilong, why is this happening!!!"
A torrent surged through his body, and Zuo Mengeng realized that this was actually the place where Zhao led his troops to be wiped out.
On October 29, Zhao led his troops to listen to the alarm at Shanhaiguan and immediately led four thousand elite troops to set off. He arrived at Santun Camp on the first day of November, but Zhu Guoyan, the commander-in-chief, did not allow Zhao troops to enter the city to rest.
Helpless, Zhao Lejiao could only continue to lead his troops to Zunhua.
On the fourth day of November, Zhao led the army to encounter the main force of the Later Jin Dynasty. The whole army, trapped in men and horses, fought desperately, and finally the whole army was annihilated.
Historical data flashed through his mind, and Zuo Mengeng's angry blood rushed to the sky.
When he turned around and saw Zhu Lai being controlled by soldiers, he finally lost his mind.
He rushed over and grabbed Zhu Lai's hair, dragging him like a dead dog to the remains of Zhao Shujiao.
"Why don't you open the door? Why don't you open the door?"
While yelling and scolding, whips hit Zhu Lai like raindrops on his body.
Zhu Lai was beaten until his skin and flesh were torn, and he screamed repeatedly.
"It's not our fault, it's Liu Ce's order. How do we know what Zhao Shujiao's purpose is? What if he surrenders to the enemy?"
Zuo Mengeng grabbed his head and asked him to look at Zhao Shujiao's unwilling expression.
"Look, take a good look, are you surrendering to the enemy? Look, how many good guys died here just because you didn't open the door or support. Even raising a few pigs is better than useless snacks like you.
.”
Zhu Lai stared blankly at the miserable battlefield, he was so frightened that he could not speak. Suddenly, his crotch felt hot and he became incontinent.
Zuo Mengeng slowly drew out the knife, his tone as deep as the abyss.
"After you go down, please repent to General Zhao!"
Seeing that Zuo Mengeng wanted to kill him, Zhu Lai howled like a pig or dog.
"You can't kill me... you can't kill me... I am a deputy general, and if you kill me, you are the following criminal. You can't kill me. Only the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Punishment can interrogate me. You... you... you must despise the king's law...
…ah……"
Zuo Mengeng's sword had never struck down so hard. Zhu Lai's head flew up, and he got the punishment he deserved.
On the seventh day of November, Santun camp fell.
Commander-in-Chief Zhu Guoyan was defeated and committed suicide, so he escaped the blame.
Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zhu disappeared before arriving and fled.
The reincarnation of heaven unexpectedly fell into the hands of Zuo Mengeng.
Now, Zuo Mengeng beheaded him in front of Zhao Lijiao's corpse, which could be regarded as comforting the spirits of the heroes in heaven.
"All of them are here to clean up the battlefield and gather the remains of heroes and martyrs."