Zuo Mengeng never thought of killing all the defenders at Hongshan Pass.
Because the situation of these people shows that they are also victims of this era.
The most important thing is that these people have no blood on their hands.
As he said, this is the bottom line, and it is a bottom line that you would rather die than do, and it cannot be broken.
Cai Tong and those who participated in the killing of his compatriots must be severely punished. But the remaining suffering soldiers are the ones he wants to unite with.
"Well, from now on, you will be a member of my back camp. Go call your family and follow us."
It's okay that he didn't say this, but when he did, the soldiers cried bitterly.
Huang Zongxi was puzzled, and after asking one by one, he found out that the families of these soldiers were no longer there.
"My father starved to death last year. He starved to death. I asked him to endure it while I went to find food. He died before I came back."
"I originally had a girl, but there was no food at home, so I had to sell her. I don't know where she went now. Is she still alive?"
As they recounted their stories one by one, their hearts filled with bitterness and tears.
Originally, under the Hongshan Pass, there was a gathering place for the families of these soldiers. But now, there is nothing here.
Zuo Menggeng found that many times when looking at historical issues, we really need to bring them into the context of the time.
The history books only say that the disarmament in the first year of Chongzhen led to the mutiny in Jizhen, which caused a lot of damage and opened the door for the invasion of the Jin Dynasty.
However, no one has ever paid attention to what happened to these originally living lives in such a wave.
The emperor sitting in the Jinluan Palace saw only cold financial figures, which made him breathless.
But they never thought about it carefully. The huge Forbidden City and the princes and nobles were the main culprits in embezzling the wealth that originally belonged to these soldiers and the common people.
There are a total of 125 soldiers. Since there are no family members, it will be easier to handle.
Zuo Mengeng broke them up and organized them into various brigades. At the same time, he asked Huang Zongxi and the officers of each brigades to pay attention to their ideological education without discriminating against them.
The bear of the 60th Army became the hero of the 50th Army. Zuo Menggeng has always found it very magical.
He wanted to try to see if he could do it in this era.
On the eighth day of February, a gratifying change occurred in the war situation.
On this day, Prime Minister Ma Shilong obtained reliable information, and after discussing with Wu Aheng, the censor of the Supervisory Army, Wu Zimian, the commander-in-chief of Yansui, Song Wei, the commander-in-chief of Shanhai, Cao Minglei, the commander-in-chief of Baoding, Fang Daren, the governor, and Jia Kezhong, the military commander, decided
Take the initiative.
Guerrilla Cao Wenzhao was the leading officer, and he led general Wang Chengyin, guerrilla Zhang Shujia and others to set up ambushes in the areas of Yutian, Dead Tree and Hongqiao.
At Chen time, five thousand cavalrymen of the Hou Jin Dynasty came from the northeast and walked to the Hongqiao area, where they were besieged by the Ming army.
The battle lasted from nine o'clock in the morning to five o'clock in the evening, from Hongqiao to Yunnancang. Because it was getting dark, both sides withdrew their troops.
It was still dark the next day, so the Hou Jin soldiers retreated on their own initiative.
Let’s not mention the outcome of this battle for the moment, nor does it matter what the financial losses were.
The most important significance is that this was the first field battle in which the Ming army took the initiative since the Hou Jin invaded in October of the second year of Chongzhen, and it also led to the retreat of the Hou Jin.
This meant that the battlefield began to take a favorable turn toward the Ming Dynasty.
On the tenth day of the lunar month, Zuo Mengeng received the battle report and saw the name of his father Zuo Liangyu in the list of Ming army generals in this battle.
Needless to say, for such a victory, these generals will definitely receive awards.
Zuo Mengeng also understood how Zuo Liangyu started to get promoted.
However, this battle also gave Zuo Menggen an idea, and he quickly called a meeting of all officers.
"Originally, I thought that when the Tatars returned to Liaodong, they would go to places like Da'ankou, Hongshankou and Xifengkou. But now it seems that they won't."
Nowadays, everything west of Zunhua is in the hands of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, Ma Shilong deployed heavy troops along the way from Jizhou to Zunhua.
It is simply unrealistic for Hou Jin to fight back.
Liu Yiyuan agreed with his judgment.
"If the Tatars want to retreat, they should choose the pass north of Qian'an."
Although the others did not speak, they also agreed with this judgment.
After receiving everyone's support, Zuo Mengeng immediately decided to move the entire army eastward to see if he could give Hou Jin a boost at the last moment.
On the 16th, when we were walking to the north of Qian'an, a scout suddenly came flying towards us.
"Qianzuo, Huang Taiji is about to leave seclusion."
Everyone was shocked; they didn't expect everything to happen so quickly.
Zuo Mengeng was in a daze and felt annoyed at the same time.
The reason why he moved slowly was mainly because he had memories in his mind and thought he could catch up. As a result, there were too many and complicated things in his memory, which interfered with his judgment.
Some contents in the memory show that Huang Taiji returned from customs on the second day of March, which was also the basis for his slow march.
He wanted to join in the fun, not to run into Hou Jin's army head-on.
However, Huang Taiji returned north on February 16th, half a month earlier than I remembered.
On the second day of March, that was the time when Huang Taiji returned to Shenyang.
Zuo Rong immediately asked: "Where did Huang Taiji come out of seclusion?"
The scout said: "It's Dongjiakou."
When everyone took out the map and looked at it, they were immediately disheartened.
It turns out that Dongjiakou is north of Funing, and the rear camp has just marched to Taolingou, north of Qian'an.
At a distance of nearly 180 miles, the rear camp relied on only two legs and could not catch up no matter what.
This fact made Zuo Mengeng quite depressed.
The others were similar, and Mao Yuanyi's hair and beard were all growing.
"Let Huang Taiji leave just like that? What is Zu Dashou doing?"
Funing is Qinhuangdao in later generations, close to Shanhaiguan. In other words, Huang Taiji returned home under the nose of Zu Dashou.
But it was useless even after he scolded him. Zu Dashou obviously did not dare to stop him.
Mao Yuanyi has been involved in the war with Hou Jin since Saarhu. Among all the people, who hates Hou Jin the most, it is him.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Suddenly he turned around, grabbed a horse and left.
Zuo Mengeng knew what he was thinking, so he turned back and got on his horse, and told Liu Yiyuan: "You lead the army to find a place to settle nearby. I will come back as soon as I can."
Huang Zongxi also felt depressed and said anxiously: "I'll go with you."
Wang Siyi, Zuo Rong, and Zuo Hua also got on their horses and followed Mao Yuanyi with him.
After breaking away from the large army, a few people rode fast horses and galloped all the way, and finally arrived near Dongjiakou in the afternoon.
When a few people climbed to Laojun Peak, the scene in the valley ahead was unforgettable for them.
A vast and endless procession was marching forward, with flags of various colors covering the sky and sun, and countless cavalry galloping back and forth, escorting the staggering flow of people in the middle.
Countless Han Chinese were being driven step by step towards the outside of the pass, one after another tied up with long ropes, like cattle and sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
Anyone who walked too slowly would be severely whipped by the slave whip. Where the brigade passed, countless corpses were lying on the roadside.
The sound of tens of thousands of people crying and howling went straight into the sky, and the sky was hiding behind the dark clouds in shame at this moment.
The common people turned back step by step, wailing and looking towards their familiar homes.
They must be eager for reinforcements from the imperial court.
However, the soldiers and horses of the imperial court were trembling in Shanhaiguan not far away, watching mercilessly as they became slaves of foreign races.
Zuo Mengeng and others appeared on the top of the mountain, attracting the attention of the brigade. The distinctive Ming army uniforms gave many people hope.
A woman suddenly ran out of the queue and ran towards this side.
But before she was a few steps away, an iron spear was thrown out of thin air and pinned her to the ground.
She was not dead yet, and still stretched out her hand to grab Zuo Mengeng and others. The blood spurting out blocked her mouth, but she must be asking...
Why don't you come and save us?
Why are you watching us being kidnapped?
A tall horse walked up to her, its huge hoofs raised high, and when they fell heavily, she was mixed with the dust.
When the other people saw this scene, they cried even louder and struggled to escape.
However, the cruel Jian Nu slashed with his swords, leaving dead bodies on the ground immediately, and the commotion quickly subsided.
The bloody smell rising into the sky also caused the people who were still alive to completely lose hope. When they looked at Zuo Mengeng and others on the top of the mountain, there was only hatred in their eyes.
Many Tatar soldiers gathered at the foot of the mountain, pointed at Zuo Mengeng and others, and laughed wantonly in mockery.
One of them was carrying a swaddled baby on a spear, spinning in circles in mid-air. The baby was actually crying faintly.
"cnmd, dog tartar!"
Zuo Hua drew out his scimitar and was about to rush down, but Zuo Mengeng held him down.
At this moment, all the anger is in vain.
Blood debts can only be repaid with blood.
Mao Yuanyi staggered down from his horse, looked at the people slowly walking away, suddenly turned back and asked: "Can you destroy the Tatars?"
Zuo Mengeng nodded with unprecedented solemnity.
"able."
Mao Yuanyi threw away the hat and pointed the knife at Zuo Mengeng.
"Okay, from now on, I recognize you as my master. Remember your words, as long as you destroy the Tatars, I will be broken into pieces. If you fail to do it, I will pour blood on your grave even after I die.
, curse your whole family for generations to come!”
Zuo Mengeng just stared at the hell on earth at his feet, as if he wanted to remember all this firmly in his heart.
"I said, I...can."
These words, as blood flowed from the corners of his mouth, fell on the ground.