weaving

Chapter 1073 Uncle Yongning’s army is coming
Liu Hai is one of the spies in the secret hall. He is from Gyeonggi and was born into a family of small traders. In order to free his family from the hard work of small traders, his father never allowed him to work for the family and sent him away since he was a child. Entered a private school to study.

However, Liu Hai had just passed the scholar examination when the Tartars invaded the capital. The city of Shunyi was destroyed, his family was destroyed, and his relatives died. He had no choice but to drop out of school after losing his financial resources.

Originally, he planned to join his relatives and friends, but under the iron hoof of the Tartars, life was very difficult for everyone. How could he tolerate a helpless scholar?

In desperation, he had no choice but to go against his father's teachings and return to his old business, starting a business as a street vendor. With his hard work, his life took a turn for the better, and he even got married and started a family.

But at this moment, the iron hooves of the Tartars went south again, this time they went deep into Jinan to plunder. Liu Hai was destined to do this. At that time, he was purchasing goods from Dezhou, Shandong. On his way back, he encountered something in Wuqing. Go up to the Tartar thieves and ride on them.

Although he couldn't bear it, between the goods and his life, Liu Hai resolutely gave up all the goods he bought with his family and chose to keep his life.

He went through many hardships, hiding in Tibet outside the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and was finally not kidnapped by the Tatars to the bitter cold land of Liaodong. However, when he returned to the capital, he was as thin as skin and bones.

I had just bought a store with the meager money I had accumulated from years of hard work walking around the streets. I originally thought that after returning from this trip to purchase goods, I could stay with my family and jointly run this store to make a living.

It was also this year that his wife, who was already pregnant in Liujia, suffered a miscarriage due to many frights and worries, which became Liu Hai's biggest regret.

However, there is always a way, and he is a literate person after all. He can barely make a living by doing calculations and keeping accounts for others, so that his family will not starve to death.

It was not until the 12th year of Chongzhen that he came to the Zuixianju Restaurant run by Niu Sheng and worked as a bookkeeper. He saw that he was both a scholar and a businessman.

In the autumn of this year, Niu Sheng recommended Liu Hai to Su Yiyang, who was looking for talents everywhere. After years of hard work, a stable and peaceful life had become Liu Hai's biggest yearning.

Although, in this way, he would be in danger, but he felt that everything was worth it if he could make his wife and her family live a stable and prosperous life!
Since joining the dark hall, Liu Hai has settled in Zhangjiakou Fort as a refugee from Gyeonggi under the arrangement of Su Yiyang. He first worked in his old profession - a street vendor.

In the spring of the 14th year of Chongzhen's reign, he opened a dried fruit shop and sold dry goods from the north and south. Because of his accounting skills, he also helped several big merchants to do some temporary accounting and accounting during the opening of the market. Accounting matters.

For more than three years, he never left Zhangjiakou Fort. At the same time, in order to hide his identity from others, with Su Yiyang's secret help, he married a local concubine in the name of continuing his relationship.

Today, Liu Hai has been fully integrated into many large and small businesses in Zhangjiakou. Although his business is still limited to dry goods and tea, he can move around freely in the fort and become good friends with many merchants.

Regardless of whether it's the Upper Fort or the Lower Fort, when any family has any festive events, most of them will ask him to be the master of ceremonies. Therefore, now he is already familiar with the internal and external conditions of this Jiakou Fort.

Dressed as a merchant, he left the Yongzhen Gate in the east of the fort under the pretext of going to the Lower Fort to check the library before nightfall. After walking north for a while, he lied that he had left the account books at home and ordered others to go ahead. In one step, he went home and got the account book.

In this way, Liu Hai quietly sneaked back outside the east gate. He waited until the sky was dark and he had left the city gate. No one came back to report the news. Then he felt relieved and turned south quietly, waiting for Yongyi. The arrival of military officers.

…………

At this time, outside the Chengen Gate in the south of Zhangjiakou Fort, with bangs and sleeves fluttering in the night wind, he breathed a light white breath, pointed at the map placed on the big horse, and explained in detail to Wu Zhizhong and others: "... The entire fort is long from east to west and short from north to south. There are 58 side piers outside the fort, 31 fire road piers, and poles such as the internal killing platform..."

"I saw most of these when I came here. Fortunately, you drew the map very carefully and arranged the people to pick you up at key points in advance. I was not discovered by them. I will definitely be in front of the commander when I come back to ask for you." Great work." Wu Zhizhong praised.

Liu Hai smiled flatly and continued: "... Wucheng Street, Beiguan Street, Dongguan Street, Xiguan Street and other places outside Shangbao are full of shops. They are about four or five miles long, and each street Merchants are vying to occupy the shops on the street...

In the southeast corner of the city, there is Kuixing Pavilion, which is the highest place in the city. The garrison office in the fort is built under your roof. "

"Ah."

Wu Zhizhong nodded and said: "This is very critical, is there any arrangement?"

"Master Su only has three arrangements in the fort. The Chengen Gate is the most critical and must be won. The Yongzhen Gate in the east is set on fire just to disturb the enemy. Like Kuixing Pavilion, it is not inevitable. "

He clasped his fists and said: "Ever since the profiteers in Shanyou prepared to deal with Uncle Yongning, there has been no room for outsiders in this fort. Master Su has worked hard for several years, but only about twenty people have been left secretly, just for the sake of peace." To seize the Chengen Gate, we will need to spend most of it."

Wu Zhizhong also understood the difficulties he and Su Yiyang were in, so he didn't say anything more, and just listened to Liu Hai continue to say: "...the collapsed houses of various families on the right side of the mountain, many of which are in the lower forts of Beiguan, are rented official warehouses.

There are also many collapsed houses on Xiaobai Mountain and Taiping Mountain not far from Dajingmen. As far as I know, these collapsed houses contain a lot of grain, rice, cloth, cotton, tea and other commercial goods. , there are even a lot of prohibited goods such as salt and iron materials.

In the First World War in Liaodong, the slaves and bandits suffered heavy losses, with the greatest losses in grain, grass, and ordnance. Now, the goods in these collapsed houses seem to be the profiteers of Shanyou who, at the request of the slaves and bandits, are preparing to transport them to Liaodong to aid the enemy..."

Lieutenant General Xu Jinyong snorted coldly, grinned, and said: "The soldiers are bleeding in the front, but these profiteers are colluding with the enemy in the rear, committing slavery and betraying the country. It is really hateful... hateful..."

"There's more than enough to die for..."

Wu Zhizhong also said something very affirmative, then raised his telescope and looked towards the Zhangjiakou Fort not far to the north.

Although the Military Intelligence Office had already informed Zhangjiakou of the information before the arrival, looking at the documents and maps, it was not as clear and accurate as seeing it with one's own eyes.

Along the way, we stayed day and night, and the fire road was uneventful. Perhaps, for those soldiers, the only thing they focused on preventing was the Tartars in the north.

As for the southern direction of the town, it has always been regarded as our own mainland, so naturally we will not take too many precautions. We will only observe it when there is a warning about Tartar criminals.

After all, for those Dunjun soldiers, they were just trying to make ends meet, even if the Shangguan had previously issued an order asking them to be alert and closely monitor all surrounding movements.

But the Yongyi Army marched under the cover of night, and even if thousands of soldiers and horses were mobilized, the piers and platforms along the way were almost completely unnoticed.

In fact, even if they are aware of it, what can they do?
How could they know about such a large-scale mobilization of officers and soldiers?

Since they felt something was strange, they naturally sent out fast horses to report to the superiors, but how dare they light up smoke and bonfires easily. If they mistakenly set off the smoke message, they would be the unlucky ones in the end.

What's more, even if they were alerted and sent a courier, what could they do? The elite troops of the Yongyi Army did not close their sentries at night. They had already set up defenses at key intersections and would surely intercept them all.

Spring and autumn each year have a prime time for cross-border trade. In spring, there will be a large amount of tea, cloth, and even banned salt, iron materials, etc., which are very suitable for trading in spring.

The bulk commodity in autumn is grain, and of course there is also a large amount of autumn tea, as well as other commodities such as cloth, salt, iron materials, etc. The scale is larger than that of the spring mutual market.Wu Zhizhong looked through the telescope and saw that the Zhangjiakou Fort on the west bank of the Qingshui River, whether it was the Wengcheng or Guancheng at the east gate or the south gate, were full of shops, warehouses, and warehouses, showing that the business here was very prosperous, and the volume of shipments was also very high. huge.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were more than [-] larger commercial cities throughout the country. Among them, Shanxi Province alone accounted for Taiyuan, Pingyang, and Puzhou. Zezhou and Lu'an had the most wealthy people in the world, so they had As the saying goes, "You can't call yourself rich unless you have hundreds of thousands."

As for the Zhangjiakou Fort in Xuanfu Town, because it was one of the centers of trade and smuggling in the frontier, its prosperity was not inferior to that of other major cities such as Pingyang and Puzhou.

Right now, there is a peaceful and peaceful atmosphere inside and outside the fort in the morning. Some people inside have no idea that a disaster is about to happen!
Seeing the true scene of Zhangjiakou through the telescope, and looking at the map carefully, Wu Zhizhong summoned the deputy general, Chief Qian, and counselors from the camp to discuss military matters.

Looking ahead, there is a pontoon bridge on the Qingshui River, leading directly to Chengenmen in the south of Zhangjiakou. The river is not wide nor deep, and both cavalry and infantry can wade across it. However, Wu Zhizhong would not miss the bridge, but wanted to Wade across the river.

In early spring, although the weather has turned warm, the river water in the early morning is still freezing cold.

According to the strategy planned beforehand, he quickly ordered: "There are no precautions in the fort. This is God's help for our soldiers from the Weiyuan Battalion to make achievements here. Li Changsheng, lead the Yulin Cavalry Commander to take the lead in rushing into the fort and drive straight to the east gate." , captured Kuixing Pavilion all the way, and the rest blocked key intersections.

No one is allowed to pass except our Weiyuan Battalion soldiers. Those who forcefully break through will be killed on the spot! "

Li Changsheng answered the order in a deep voice: "Here."

"Yan Kuan, you lead the left battalion of infantry into the city and are responsible for searching the houses, shops and warehouses of the traitorous merchants on the right side of the mountain. If there is any obstruction, whether it is the defenders in the city or the guards of each family, they will be killed on the spot!"

Yan Kuan took the order and said: "Here."

"Yu Shangke, you lead the left side of the artillery truck into the city last, assist Yan Kuan in checking the warehouses of profiteers, strengthen the blockade of the fort, and control the garrison office. Guard Gao Jinzhong has long been wearing a pair of trousers with the profiteers, and he resisted It must be very fierce, so you don’t need to worry about your artillery truck, just give me the light and blast it.”

"Here!"

Wu Zhizhong turned his eyes and looked at Zuo Qinghe, the commander of Yulin Cavalry B, and said to him: "Qinghe, you lead B to cross the Zhangjiakou Fort and rush towards Yuanbao. It would be best if you can do it in one go. but.

If you can't break through, don't rush to attack. Wait until the trouble here is over and the army is on the way before making a decision. "

"Here!"

"Liu Shouyue and Hou Shixin, you two chariot soldiers, go to Xiaobai Mountain and Taiping Mountain respectively to control all the profiteers' warehouses there.

In order to prevent profiteers from jumping over the wall and thinking of burning down the warehouses and destroying the goods, you have to send out sergeants to rush in and leave a few soldiers to escort the vehicles. "

"Here."

Wu Zhizhong glanced at everyone: "You all know your mission, right?"

Seeing everyone's firm eyes, he said solemnly: "Let's act on our own!"

…………

At the right time, the sky was still dark, and only a hint of fish belly white could be vaguely seen in the east.

A big red lantern on the Cheng'en Gate in the south of Zhangjiakou Fort suddenly dimmed for some unknown reason, and then brightened again, and so on, dimming three times and then brightening three times.

However, no one noticed this very unusual phenomenon. Two guards wearing torn jackets appeared under the lantern: "Third brother, if we let the guard know about this, I'm afraid our heads will be in danger."

A vulgar voice replied: "Afraid of a ball? Yongningbo's army entered the city and chopped off his pig head first. Besides, we were all under Yongningbo's command at that time, so why should we be afraid of his mere defense."

The sound of "rumbling" horse hooves hitting the ground was also heard at this moment. Both of them had a look of fear on their faces. Even though they had been bribed by Su Yiyang to join them, under such momentum, they still felt a pang in their hearts. Confused.

At this time, heads popped out of the fort wall. They rubbed their sleepy eyes desperately and looked southward, all of them with a look of surprise and uncertainty.

"We've passed the battle..."

"It's the cavalry...the guest soldiers are coming...quickly...report to the garrison master..."

There was chaos on the fort wall. The guards had never seen such a battle before. They were all panic-stricken, scurrying around like headless flies, crying.

A strong man who looked like Mr. Bai rushed out of the gate in disheveled clothes and shouted angrily: "What are you calling a ghost? What happened if you saw a ghost?"

Although he was also disturbed by the cavalry formation rushing outside the fort, he forced himself to calm down and shouted angrily: "Close the city gate quickly, lower the gate... lower the Qianjin Gate!"

At this time, a charming woman poked out of the gatehouse of Cheng'en Gate. She stretched out her pink arms outside the window, beckoned repeatedly, and called in a sweet voice: "Master, come back and play quickly."

"You're playing... you're just having fun... damn... what a fucking unlucky person!"

Almost at the same time, bursts of screams and wailings came from the doorway of Chengen Gate, followed by a "squeak...squeak..." sound.

"Damn it, I told you to close the door, which bastard is opening the door?"

"Mr...Mr., the gate...the city gate...has been robbed..."

"What?"

"Master, look...it's...it's the flag of the Yongyi Army...it's Uncle Yongning's army coming..."

At this time, General Manager Bai had already seen clearly the banner in front of the cavalry outside the south gate. His legs softened and he sat down on the ground with a "pop" sound.

(End of this chapter)