weaving

Chapter 128
In the 11th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, on November 28th, on the bank of the Hutuo River in the south of Zhending Prefecture.

The cold wind was bitter and icy cold, and along the banks on both sides of the Hutuo River, the ice holes for water intake had just been covered with a thin layer of ice.

On the river bank, the tents quickly disappeared, the walls of the village had already been demolished by the soldiers, and the carts were lined up neatly. Unfortunately, many of the carts were empty.

The infantry were busy, and teams of sergeants who had packed their luggage were already lining up, and open spaces appeared on the banks of the Hutuo River, but there were more traces of trampling.

The carts that were supposed to pull the grain are now covered with strips of wood or planks, and besides that, there are some empty grain bags.

On the official road in the distance, the knights of the three towns of Xuanda are already forming a team.

…………

Last night, after Zhang Cheng led Wei Zhice to Lu Xiangsheng's tent of the Chinese army, as soon as Wei Zhice entered the tent, he knelt down and cried about the critical situation of the deer, even Yang Tinglin who was with Lu Xiangsheng was moved by it.

Lu Xiangsheng was also filled with indignation, so he inquired carefully about the situation of the Qing army outside Huolu City.

According to Wei Zhice, there were about 5000 to 500 Qing troops outside the city, and they had captured the deer for five days in a row. Around [-] people.

Moreover, there were more than ten thousand captured Ming people who, under the coercion of the Qing army, helped the Qing army dig trenches and fill ditches, and even rushed to the bottom of the city wall to dig out the root of the city wall.

Lu Xiangsheng sent an order that night to all the generals to go to the Chinese army's tent to discuss military affairs together in the morning and make preparations for setting up camp.

In the early morning of the second day, all the generals of Xuanda gathered in the big tent of the Chinese army for a meeting. The generals were meaningless about the danger of going to rescue the deer. After all, the Qing army was only less than [-] people, even if the Qing army had more than [-] people ,so what?
Although Wang Pu led more than 1 Datong elite soldiers to help Shanxi, the rest were still more than [-] troops, and they were all elites in all battles. Now is the time when morale is at its peak.

If you really encounter more than ten thousand slaves and thieves, although you can't guarantee that you will win the battle, you may not be defeated if you fight against them and fight against them.

Finally, it was agreed that nearly a thousand cavalry from the guerrilla Zhang Cheng's department in Xuanzhen, under the guidance of Wei Zhice, would be the former army.

Lu Xiangsheng supervised the Biao Battalion, joined Zhang Yan's Department and Jiang Mingwu's Department as the Central Army, Yang Guozhu's Department as the Central Army, and Hu Dawei's Department as the Rear Army.

…………

Wei Zhice stayed in Zhang Cheng's camp last night. Regarding the situation of the Lu Qing army, Zhang Cheng asked every detail, one loved to ask, the other loved to talk, and the two talked until late at night.

The Qing army had about 7000 troops in Huolu County. Since the first day they attacked the city, they selected [-] captives and divided them into several groups. They plundered in Huolu County, and even as far away as Jingxing.

The remaining nearly [-] captive cavalry surrounded Huolu on all sides and attacked for five days in a row. After several fierce battles, they failed to break through the city. To attack and catch the deer.

According to Wei Zhice's words, the city is exhausted of artillery arrows, manpower is scarce, and armaments are not available. If there is no foreign aid, it will take three days at least, and five days at most.

Because of this, Wei Zhice and other warriors were ordered to break out and come to Zhending to beg for help. Who knows, this is the result. Every time Wei Zhice said this, his face was full of grief and tears.

It turned out that at this time Li Jiuhua, who served as the admiral of Jingjing Bingdao and Shanxi Qianshi, was originally supposed to be stationed in Huolu. However, since the Qing army entered the bandits, the imperial court had ordered troops from all over Jinan to immediately help King Qin of the capital.

A while ago, Li Jiuhua led the deer elite soldiers to help guard Dingzhou. After Zhang Cheng and Lu Xiangsheng lifted the siege of Dingzhou, Chen Xinjia entered Qizhou, but he was afraid of the power of slaves and thieves, so he flinched and did not dare to enter.

Hearing that the siege of Dingzhou had been lifted, he did not dare to mobilize Lu Xiangsheng's army, but hurriedly dispatched Li Jiuhua to lead his troops to help Qizhou.

Before Li Jiuhua led his army into the Wei capital, he entrusted his wife Liu Shi with the task of defending Huolu, and he himself was ordered by the king to lead his troops to the north.

At that time, Lu Zhiyin, who served as the general judge of the Zhending Mansion and was assigned the affairs of Lu County, had not been in office for a long time. He didn't know the local affairs, and he didn't know what to do for a while.

Another gentry from Jiangbi Village, Wei Tiangui, brought his three sons into the city to assist in the defense, Jiazhen Dingwei commanded Cao Shixi, and Qian Zong Liu Bangzuo, Wang Zhenji, Lu Han and others worked together to guard against the captives, and they have persisted until now.

Zhang Cheng knew that in history, Wei Zhice begged alone to help the Zhending Mansion, but the governor Zhang Qiping was "indifferent" and refused to send reinforcements to rescue him.

Wei Zhice charged again overnight to capture the deer, and threatened everyone that reinforcements would arrive to boost morale. He held on for three days before the Qing army broke through.

The whole city of Huolu was killed!

In the "Huolu County Chronicle" of Qianlong's year, it was recorded: "The disaster of Wuyin is cruel! And the martyrs of the deer are either the gentry, or the reckless, or the hero of Jiezhou, or the beauty of the boudoir. They are unyielding and chaste. Don't grind your heart, fight to serve the country with one death, kill one's life to achieve benevolence."

In Guangxu year's "Huolu County Chronicles" also said bitterly: "There is nothing more cruel than this!"

Every time he thinks about this period of history, he feels as if he was there, with resentment and tears in his eyes.

Today, Zhang Cheng rode his horse on the official road by the Hutuo River, looking at the direction of Huolu in the north, with tears in his eyes, he unconsciously shouted: "Since I am here, I will never let history repeat itself."

Chen Zhong and Wei Zhice beside him were taken aback for a moment, Chen Zhong thought he had heard it wrong, and hurriedly asked, "General, what are you talking about?"

Zhang Cheng knew he had made a slip of the tongue, but he didn't care. He ignored him. He just rode his horse and looked back, and saw that the camp by the Hutuo River had basically been cleaned up, and the army was gradually rearranging its ranks.

He shouted loudly: "Team, let's go."

Hearing the order, Chen Zhong dispatched four personal soldiers, galloping and shouting on both sides of the team, the whole cavalry immediately cheered up, and all the sergeants checked the saddles and bridles of the war horses, armor and weapons, and jumped on the horses.

All of a sudden, the armor leaves collided, the horses neighed, and the flags were fluttering. Teams of knights found their own flags and formed a cavalry team.

Chen Zheng led the outpost and Zhang Guangda's left post was the front army, Zhang Cheng and Wei Zhice led Chen Zhong and all the guards in the center, the right post and the rear post were the rear army, riding horses along the official road to catch the deer.

Wei Zhice galloped beside Zhang Cheng, deeply moved in his heart, the encounter in the past two days was quite a shock to him.

First of all, begging for help was fruitless, and in a disheartened state, he met Zhang Cheng and saw Lu Xiangsheng. He begged for more than [-] Xuanda elite soldiers, and the fall was as big as the difference between heaven and hell.

Especially at this time, I saw with my own eyes Zhang Cheng's fine cavalry, neat armor and weapons, high morale, orders and prohibitions, there was no noisy sound during the march, and all the ministries advanced in an orderly manner.

He really admired it in his heart, this Wei Zhice's family originally belonged to the Huolu clan, who had studied and practiced martial arts for generations, and often the sons and daughters of the clan were officials in various places, Wei Zhice was also a student, and he often watched the military parade when he was getting the deer, but Never seen such a military appearance.

(End of this chapter)