The Eight Banners Army marched on the wide concrete road.
Ever since Huang Taiji entered Yang Fan's territory, he was amazed all the way. He had never seen such a Western scene in his life.
A large river flows from west to east. Although it is the dry season, as the climate gets warmer and the ice melts, you can still see a large flow of water. There are paddy fields on both sides of the river. Winter wheat is grown in the fields.
There is a river in the middle of this land. There are paddy fields in the low areas on both sides, and wheat and rice are cultivated in rotation. The highlands in the distance are dry fields, where corn is grown, and there are many corn stalks standing in the fields in winter. In the distance are mountains.
The entire Zunhua area has this kind of terrain. To the north are Yanshan Mountain and the Great Wall. To the south is the plain of Xiachang. To the south, there are continuous mountains. To the west of this long and narrow plain is Jizhou. Beyond Jizhou, there is a plain.
You can directly attack the capital.
After passing through Qianxi County and Luanzhou City in the east, we headed towards Shanhaiguan.
This cement road is not only a traffic artery in Yang Fan's territory, the wide road is also a place where farmers dry their grain during the harvest season. The thirty-meter-wide road will leave ten meters in the middle for vehicles. Both sides are used for drying.
food.
The temperatures in North China are very high in summer and autumn, and the grain spread on the cement road dries quickly.
As Huang Taiji rode on horseback, he looked at the towering castles that appeared from time to time in the distance. These European-style castles made of cement and yellow granite were built on the mountains on both sides.
They are usually built on steep hills. They are quite similar to those mountain cities built in the early days of Jiannu. However, they look much stronger. These castles are far more steep than the earthen buildings of Qianhu Station in Hexi Province.
"Great Khan, this castle is called Neuschwanstein Castle by Marquis Dingyuan, and the one I just passed by is called Hohenzollern Castle." Li Yongfang reported to Huang Taiji every detail. His details kept a close eye on Yang Fan's territory. Every year
Many of the merchants coming in and out were his spies.
"How many castles are there like this?" Huang Taiji had never seen the style of these European castles. However, it did not affect his appreciation of the beauty of these castles.
"My servant has counted more than one hundred and sixty castles so far. The domestic slaves of Dingyuanhou live in these castles, and their wealth and food are also stored in the castles in the mountains on both sides. These castles protect his lord.
The city is the city called Xincheng. Dingyuan Hou’s home base is in Xincheng.”
The next day they finally saw the legendary new city. However, at this time, the Zhouhe Dam had begun to store water. The reservoir flooded a large amount of farmland. They could only look at the distance across a wide lake, and saw a huge tower at the foot of Yanshan Mountain.
It's a city.
Huang Taiji, Dai Shan and others stood and watched for a long time, then turned around and left without saying a word.
On the way, Huang Taiji was silent for a long time and asked: "How many servants does Marquis Dingyuan have?"
Li Yongfang thought for a while and said: "My slaves have made statistics, but they are not necessarily accurate. There are at least 500,000 households and a population of close to 3 million."
Huang Taiji's eyes flashed. He didn't expect that there were such local snakes in Ji Town. Three million people were almost catching up with the population of the Eight Banners. His minions were actually much more than my two yellow flags. For a moment, he felt in his heart
Very complex, with mixed flavors.
I've been struggling for so long, but I still can't compare with this young boy's wealth. It's really hard to describe.
"In the future, Marquis Dingyuan will definitely be a serious problem for me in Manchuria. You must remember my words." Huang Taiji said worriedly.
Azig curled his lips. What's the use of having more people? There were more people in Ming Dynasty, so they were beaten by the Eight Banners.
At this time, at the south gate of the new city, Song Yingsheng looked at the other side of the water, where the Eight Banners army was marching westward. He said: "Don't attack them. If they don't attack us, don't provoke them. The master is not at home. Our mission
We are protecting the master's family business. We will not interfere with the affairs of the court."
In fact, they are all Yang Fan's retainers and are only responsible to their lord. As for the war between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, they will not take the initiative to participate without the master's instructions. And they can see that these people are just passing through.
In Jizhou, Governor Yuan had been waiting for work in Yiyi for almost ten days. The officers and soldiers of the Free Ming Dynasty dealt with them.
On the Bohai Sea, a fleet of ships was full of sails and was heading towards Beitangkou rapidly. This fleet consisted of more than 30 large sea-going ships. The ships carried 7,000 soldiers. Qin Liangyu and others stood on the bow,
Watching the seagulls and the wide sea, while talking.
"Mom, you said it's great for us to make a clipper boat. It's comfortable and fast. We've arrived at Beitangkou already." Zhang Fengyi, wearing armor, stood behind Qin Liangyu and complained softly.
"Oh! It's not because mother doesn't allow it, but because money doesn't allow it." Qin Liangyu sighed and said, "We did make some money this year, but when the army is dispatched, it costs thousands of gold a day, so we don't dare to spend a copper coin indiscriminately."
The ticket for the clipper ship is too expensive. It is ten times worse than that of the Fuzhou ship. Because the clipper ship currently operates is a cruise ship type. Not to mention the luxurious decoration, various services are also comprehensive. It is not used to transport troops. Moreover
It can't transport many troops. There are more service personnel on board than guests.
Qin Liangyu repeatedly calculated that the most economical option was to hire a large ship such as a large ship, such as a fuchuan, which had a large belly and had more cargo, but was slower. However, the clipper ship took three days to travel, and the fuchuan took half a month to arrive.
Even so, they walked to the capital much faster than in the original history. Historically, they received the edict from King Qin in November of the second year of Chongzhen, and did not arrive in the capital until the first month of the next year.
Not only did the clipper ships not have the capacity to transport 20,000 people, but it was also difficult to order a whole fleet of Fuzhou ships for a short period of time. They only found more than 30 large Fuzhou ships in Nanjing. The only ones they had were Xinghe Bank.
Help me contact a Siamese fleet in Macau.
The hulls of these ships are all Galen ships, but the three masts are all hung with the sails of the Rong Ke ship, which are Chinese-style hard sails. This makes these ships much faster than ordinary Fu ships. This kind of ship is also popular on the southeast coast.
It's called the old lock ship, commonly known as duck butt.
Because the stern of Galen's ship extends backward, it looks like a duck's butt.
This kind of boat can be regarded as a combination of the technical advantages of China and the West. The Galen boat has a good hull shape and low resistance, and the Chinese-style hard sail is highly efficient. It can still be maneuvered freely, especially in light and light wind conditions.
"Mom, we only brought 7,000 people in the first batch this time. I wonder if we will not have enough troops to face Jiannu. I heard that Jiannu has an army of 200,000 people." Ma Xianglin asked.
"The military situation is urgent. We can afford to wait, but His Majesty cannot afford to wait. The capital camp has been newly defeated, and the territory of the capital is empty. If Commander Yuan cannot guard Jimen, the capital will be in danger. We would rather put ourselves in more danger than
Lead as many troops as possible and come as soon as possible." Qin Liangyu said.
"The follow-up army, led by your uncle, will take a month and a half to arrive on foot. Let's grit our teeth and hold on, survive this period of time, and wait for our army to gather before we can counterattack Jiannu."