Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 174 The traitor is damned
"Cuckoo..."

In the middle of the night on the first day of February in the second year of Tianqi, when the ice and snow in the land of Liaodong completely melted, the cooler season came.

But in the cool season, it cannot be linked to the alkali field fort in eastern Liaodong.

Alkali Field Fort is located in the northeast of Fenghuang City, northwest of Kuandian, on the north bank of the Xiataizi River, and twenty miles to the north is a wall fort and Songshukou of Jianlu.

After crossing a wall and the pine tree mouth, walking along the Shangtaizi River is Yahu Pass, an important pass in Liaodong.

The distance from Yahuguan to Jianlu's Xingjing Hetuala is less than eighty miles.

In other words, the journey from Alkali Field Fort to Hetuala is actually only [-] to [-] miles, which is the forefront of the Ming army directly threatening Hetuala.

Such a place, after Sun Yingyuan, Qi Yuanfu, and Qi Yuangong sent troops to take it down, they naturally stayed behind with heavy troops.

At this moment, there are [-] Ming troops stationed in the alkali field castle, and there are seventy-two two-jin Fran cannons on the top of the city.

According to Qi Yuanfu's arrangement, after the Yanshan Institute's artillery arrived in Kuandian, there would be at least forty five-jin cannons and ten ten-jin cannons in Alkali Field Fort.

In Gushan Fort, [-] miles behind Alkali Field Fort, there should also be at least thirty five-jin cannons and ten ten-jin cannons.

However, since the time has not yet come, the artillery of the Yanshan Institute is still floating in the sea, so the Ming army stationed at the Jianchang Fort can only garrison with twelve points of energy.

It's a pity that strong cities are often breached from the inside...

When the moon was on the branches, the alleys and yards not far from the city gate in the alkali field castle were pitch black, and only the main house was lit with candles.

The candlelight was fading, and the sound of "thumping" stones colliding began to be heard in the house.

When the long stone slabs were lifted up, what was exposed was not the compacted soil, but a big opening five feet long and wide.

There was a clear sound of water at the bottom of the hole, and at this moment, fire appeared inside the black hole.

"Put the ladder down!"

There was a sound at the Liaodong entrance, and under the command of a businessman dressed in a brocade robe, the three prying stone slabs assembled the wooden ladder next to them, tightened the wedges with a mallet, and lowered them little by little.

Not long after, the ladder was completely placed, and after the ladder was trembling, a short man with armor on his back, naked to the waist, and two ugly money rattails climbed up from the darkness.

"The Ming army didn't discover this place, right? (Jurchen language)"

While speaking, the short and strong man took off the armor on his back, and put on the armor with the help of three Han men next to him.

As for the merchant, he nodded and said:
"They didn't find it. They only knew that it was an aqueduct built during the reign of the Great Khan. After seeing that the aqueducts in some streets in the city were narrow and impenetrable, they gave up their inspections. They didn't know that the aqueducts got wider as they went to the Taizi River."

While the merchants were answering, one after another the Jian captives crawled out, and soon they crowded the house.

The Jian prisoner put on his armor, and at a glance he could recognize Jiala Ezhen among the Houjin.

"Baile has led people to cruise five miles outside the northern city. Now we only need to take down the city gate. Do you have a map of the city defense?"

"Yes, here." The Han businessman took out the city defense map from his arms while talking.

Na Jiala Ezhen took the city defense map and looked at it, then asked five Niu Lu Ezhen to go to the side room to discuss how to take down the city gate.

As time passed, the house, the barn, and the courtyard of this courtyard were full of people.

The Ming army patrolling the street heard movement in the courtyard, so they went to the door and knocked:

"Li Xiucai, why are there so many noises inside you?"

There was a knock on the door, and there was silence in the courtyard for a moment, and the merchant who was called Li Xiucai heard the sound, and instantly looked at Jiala Ezhen who had just walked out of the house.

"..." Jia Laer really didn't speak, but his face darkened, signaling Li Xiucai to go to the door to deal with it, and then looked at the ten white Jia Balayas in the room.

Needless to say, these ten people understood what the other party meant, and immediately took out their bows and arrows and climbed up to the roof softly.

Six of them followed the screen wall behind Li Xiucai. Through the hole in the screen wall, their eyes were fixed on the crack of the gate, and their figures were always ready to follow the door.

As carefully selected "hunters", they know that avoiding human gaze is the same as avoiding animal gaze.

When the prey is nervous, his eyes will take in everything in front of him, but if he finds that there is no danger, that is when he is most relaxed.

"squeak……"

"Li Xiucai, I said you..."

The door bolt was pulled open, eleven Ming soldiers stood at the door, and a small flag officer sensed something was wrong the moment Li Xiucai opened the door.

There was no one in sight, but a premonition made Xiao Banner unconsciously touch the handle of the knife at his waist.

"Master Liu? What's the matter?"

Li Xiucai asked the little flag officer with a smile, but the next second he suddenly squatted on the ground.

In the blink of an eye, six arrows were shot from the pitch-black courtyard, and they hit the cheeks of six Ming soldiers in an instant. At the same time that the arrow shafts sank more than half, four figures in the darkness sneaked up from behind the Ming soldiers.

The cold knife cut the neck, and hot blood gushed out. The four Ming soldiers wanted to speak, but felt that their throats were like a bellows, and they couldn't speak a word.

"Beep!"

The wooden whistle was blown, and the little flag officer escaped the sneak attack of six arrows, squatted on the ground and rolled over, and ran away while blowing the wooden whistle.

Four or five arrows were shot at the same time, but when they hit the armor, the little flag officer only felt his back sink, and the armor successfully resisted it.

The little flag officer was still happy that he was able to run, and he sent the news, but the moment he ran out of the alley, an iron bone fell on his face, knocking him over in an instant, his face was bloody and bloody, and he couldn't die anymore up...

"Go to the north gate, be fast!"

'...'

There was no sound, Dang Jia la really wiped the iron bone on his hand, and Dang even gave orders to the people in the alley.

Jianlu who heard the order nodded, and the brigade, which no longer concealed, rushed to the gate of the city.

But the sound of the wooden whistle finally reminded the Ming army, and soon, the sound of bells and golden bells sounded at the same time, and the city suddenly burst into flames.

With a "bang", more than ten fireworks were fired in the direction of the general's mansion, and the fireworks almost illuminated the alkali field fort, which was only one mile long and wide.

On Beimen Avenue, more than [-] Ming soldiers who came in full support, collided with Hou Jinjian who kept pouring out from the alley.

"Kill the thief!"

"Monktu, take someone to seize the gatehouse, put the drawbridge, and open the wooden gate!"

The garrison leaders of the Ming army collided with Hou Jin, who had a similar number of people. They were trained by Qi Yuanfu, and they skillfully used the Qi's army's left and right divisions to form a two-five mandarin duck formation.

Relying on the formation, they blocked the Hou Jin army in all the alleys, but they didn't know that the entanglement was not Hou Jin's intention.

While they were still entangled, Mengketu led three hundred captives to the city gate.

The [-]-person Alkali Field Fortress is divided into two groups, and there are only [-] people at night, and they are divided into five parts, which means that there are no more than [-] people at each city gate.

When the three hundred Ming army, which has been trained for less than a year, collides with the elites carefully selected by the three hundred men, the result is beyond doubt.

The city gate fell, the city gate tower was breached...

"Open the door!" Looking at the corpses of the Ming army lying on the ground, the leading Mongolian figure greeted the Jianlu in the corridor, and they directly lifted the city gate latch.

squeak……

The city gate was opened, revealing the solid iron gate.

But before Mengketu and the others could make a move, the builders of the city gate tower began to turn the winch, and the jack gate was hoisted and returned to its place. After Mengketu led people to open the outermost city gate, the suspension bridge was also closed. Let it go.

"Set fire!" Monktu yelled to the people on the tower, and when a prisoner heard it, he immediately lifted a fierce oil tank in a corner of the turret.

He walked to the female wall of the city wall with a fierce oil tank, poured the oil inside down the city wall, picked up a torch by the way, and threw it towards the place where the fire oil fell.

For a while, there were flames under the city wall. Although they were not big, they were very conspicuous at night.

"That's it!"

On the short hill five miles away, when a man on horseback saw sporadic lights appearing under the city of Alkaline Castle, he immediately turned around.

The moment he opened his mouth, countless sparks appeared in the darkness, and then the torch was lit, illuminating his face.

This person is obviously Huang Taiji who was arranged by Nurhachi to say that he had more important matters.

"set off!"

When the army got the news, Huang Taiji immediately signaled the army behind him to prepare to enter the city.

All of a sudden, thousands of cavalry and thousands of infantry holding torches came out of the dark forest behind him.

Under the leadership of Huang Taiji, they rushed to the alkali field fort five miles away from the foot of the mountain.

The distance of five miles is only half a quarter of an hour for the cavalry. After half an hour passed, Jianlu who was guarding the city gate immediately saw the torrent of iron cavalry galloping towards him.

At the same time, Jiala Ezhen also led his people to retreat while fighting, and retreated towards the north gate where the city gate was opened.

The Ming army in the city flocked to the north gate, but at this time, some Han merchants who had hidden in the city early began to set fire.

For a while, the generals of Jianchangbao couldn't tell how many enemies were still in the city.

When the sound of "rumbling" horseshoes sounded, the general immediately grabbed the guerrilla general next to him and roared:
"Lead people to burn the gunpowder depot and granary, and withdraw the whole army from the alkali field fort!"

Before the general had finished speaking, Guerrilla suddenly exerted force and reversed the positions of the two of them. An arrow from the chaos army shot from the roof and hit Guerrilla in the back.

"Mother land!" Looking at the guerrilla who helped him take an arrow, the general looked up to the roof, and suddenly saw a Jiala Ezhen standing on the roof.

At this moment, they were condescendingly shooting and killing the generals of the Ming army. Seeing this, the generals hurriedly ordered people to fire their guns and shoot arrows. After forcing them to retreat, they immediately ordered:

"Blowing the wooden whistle, A, B, C, and D four whistles were withdrawn, and the E whistle and I went to burn the granary and powder depot! Stay here and cut off the queen!"

While calling his brothers to leave the city gate to avoid being trampled by the enemy's horses that are about to pour into the city, the general asked his men to fight and retreat.

"Boom!"

When Huang Taiji rushed into the city with his people, he felt the explosion and shock like an earth dragon turning over.

"The gunpowder magazine!" Huang Taiji clenched his teeth, he didn't expect that he would arrive so timely and he still didn't take down the gunpowder magazine.

From this point of view, the gunpowder depot was destroyed, and the destruction of the granary was also expected.

Jianlu has entered the city, but the subtle thing is that the fourteen merchants in the fort did not follow the Jianchang Fort general to retreat at all, but stayed obediently.

Facts have proved that Huang Taiji did not commit any acts of massacre against them, but when the sky gradually brightened and the casualties reported by various ministries were handed in, Huang Taiji still felt a fever in his head.

[Two hundred and twenty-seven people were killed in battle, three hundred and fifty-two people were seriously injured, and five hundred and fifteen people were slightly injured. 】

"The quality of the Ming army is getting higher and higher..."

Looking at the post-war summary in his hand, Huang Taiji only felt that the situation was very bad for Daikin.

In the battle report, there were [-] people in the first battalion of Jianchangbao, which caused too many casualties to Dajin. In comparison, although the Ming army also killed more than [-] people, this still made Huang Taiji unable to fight. accept.

A year ago, if the Ming army wanted to cause such casualties to Da Jin, it would have to drop at least a thousand corpses, but right now...

"Khan Ama must be asked to find a way out, and Dajin can't bear it if it drags on."

Huang Taiji's mind was spinning quickly. During this battle, he clearly felt that the Ming army was gradually restoring its former order and combat power.

If the Ming army is allowed to recover like this, the only way for Dajin to fail is failure.

The Ming court could exchange more than [-] people for Dajin with more than [-] casualties, but in this way, Dajin would be wiped out at most three times.

With a heavy heart, Huang Taiji began to arrange for people to move the seized Franco cannons to the south gate. Although they did not get the gunpowder depot, the Ming army did not have the thirty-six two-pound Franco cannons at the north and west gates. I had time to take it away.

These cannons are much better than those made by Daikin himself...

------

[Jin Qiliang, the general of the Alkali Field Fort in this battle, was seriously injured and died of his injuries after retreating to the Gushan Fort. After the battle in the Alkali Field Battalion, [-] people were lost. After retreating to the Gushan Fort, [-] people were seriously injured and died. There are [-] people left, covering more than [-] people and withdrawing to Gushan Fort. 】

On the sixth day of February, when Zhu Youjian got this military newspaper, he was not in a good mood, but he was not in a bad mood either.

The loss of a general, plus more than [-] soldiers and horses, and the loss of the alkali field fort certainly made him angry.

But if you think about it carefully, the Alkali Field Battalion was able to withdraw to the Gushan Fort in a complete system, which also explained the military strength of the Kuandian Three Cities and Seven Battalions in disguise.

In the past such sudden raids, it was impossible for the Ming army to escape with organized soldiers and horses.

The current scene happened to the alkali field camp who had been training for less than a year. Zhu Youjian was happy, but at the same time, he also felt sorry for Jin Qiliang, a member of the alkali field camp, who died of serious injuries.

The times make great people, and Jin Qiliang decisively ordered people to burn down the gunpowder depot and granary, and personally led the troops to kill them, which can be said to have greatly stabilized morale.

If it wasn't for his timely response, the alkali camp might not be able to withdraw with such casualties.

But it is a pity that such a general died on the way back.

"Your Highness..."

Suddenly, Cao Huachun's voice sounded, and Zhu Youjian, who was sitting on the lord of Palace Xuqin, also raised his head in doubt.

"Your Highness, Long Live I announce that you are going to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, saying that you want to talk about the fall of the alkali field castle."

Cao Huachun explained, and Zhu Youjian also put down the military newspaper after hearing the words, picked up another military newspaper, got up and walked out of Xuqin Palace.

Another military newspaper in his hand was the latest military newspaper from the southwest.

On the ninth day of the first lunar month, after learning that Zhu Xieyuan was on his way to Zhenyuan and carrying a lot of artillery, An Bangyan and Song Wanhua resolutely abandoned Zhenyuan and withdrew to Guinan.

An Bangyan withdrew to Liguzhou, where the mountains are high and densely forested, and stationed [-] or [-] troops in Guzhou City.

Song Wanhua and his family general Song Ankang led [-] troops to retreat to Duyun Mansion, Song Ankang led [-] troops to garrison Pingding Pass, and Song Wanhua retreated to Duyun County to rest.

As for An Xiaoliang and A Minong, who surrounded Guiyang, they decisively withdrew to Pingbawei and Anshun Prefecture to garrison after knowing that Sun Chuanting and the other three were leading the army.

Zhijinguan was garrisoned by An Bangyan's son An Wugong. In addition, the chieftains of Luodian and Daping who invaded Guangxi had withdrawn to Luodian and Daping. Song Anhua, one of the chieftains of the Song family in Shuidong, was stationed in Jiusi.

In addition to them, the chieftain of Yongning Prefecture also returned to defend Yongning Prefecture.

They seem to have known for a long time what they should do once the Ming army encircled and suppressed them.

"This guy, An Bangyan, wants to have a tug-of-war with Zhu Xieyuan and the others in the mountains and forests of southern Guizhou..."

Zhu Youjian went through An Bangyan's thoughts and actions in his mind, and by the way, roughly estimated the strength of the two sides.

At present, after the recruitment of Wang Sanshan of Pingyue Prefecture in Guizhou and Li Yun, acting governor of Guiyang, plus the troops of Hu Yingtai, Mu Zeng, and Zhu Xieyuan, the number of Ming troops in Guizhou has reached an astonishing [-].

On the other hand, the rebels of the An and Song clans fell from [-] to less than [-] after She Chongming was encircled and killed.

Right now, the strength of the two sides is basically the same, but considering that Wang Sanshan, Li Yun, Hu Yingtai and other troops are all new recruits, the real number of soldiers in the Ming army should be around [-].

Even so, the situation is much better than before.

The Guinan area is all mountainous, where chieftains are entrenched, and a strong attack is not good.

Zhu Youjian remembered that when he looked at the history of the She'an Rebellion in his previous life, it seemed that An Bangyan used mountain warfare to encircle and wipe out the Ming army several times in river valleys and dams, causing the Ming army to lose more than [-] soldiers and horses.

From this point of view, it is best not to act too hastily now, but to pull out a little bit, and clean up a little bit.

The Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau is no better than the north. If you act too hastily, it will only make the enemy seize the pain point and attack hard.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian also arrived at the gate of Qianqing Palace.

At the same time, he got off the car and walked into the palace gate, only Cao Huachun followed him closely.

However, when he approached, he saw Zhu Youxiao sitting in the main hall of Qianqing Palace, as well as the Sixth Division, Sixth Department, and cabinet officials in the hall.

"..." Frowning slightly, Zhu Youjian didn't say anything, and walked in, which also attracted everyone's attention.

When he walked to the first row, Zhu Youxiao, who seemed to be a little irritable when he was asked by the officials before, also breathed a sigh of relief, and said to everyone:
"Now that King Qi is here, anyone who has any doubts can ask King Qi."

Zhu Youjian just walked in, without taking a sip of tea, Zhu Youxiao announced the continuation, which shows that things are indeed a little tricky.

"Excuse me, King Qi, do you need to be held accountable for the loss of Alkali Field Fortress?"

A familiar voice sounded, and Zhu Youjian looked back, and it was Feng Sanyuan, the censor, who questioned him.

Facing the questioning, he said lightly, "Not only should we not be held accountable for the fall of Alkali Field Fortress, but we should also be greatly rewarded!"

"Reward!?"

"It's a real joke."

"Could it be possible that the king of Qi heard the loss of the trap as the failure of the capture?"

For a moment, all the ministers in the palace laughed, only a few such as Yang Lian, Ye Xianggao, Liu Yixiu, Zuo Guangdou and others did not speak out any sarcasm.

Sitting on the dragon chair, Zhu Youxiao looked at the officials laughing at his younger brother, and felt a little annoyed in his heart. Just when he was about to reprimand him, Zhu Youjian suddenly said:

"The alkali field fortress fell because the Han merchants in the fort had an affair with Jiannu, and Huang Taiji sent [-] troops to the fort. Jin Qiliang, the general, was able to lead the troops to cover the people and retreat back to Gushan Fort. Martyrdom, shouldn't this be rewarded?"

Speaking of this, Zhu Youjian said to the officials who wanted to refute:
"Again! At the time of Gu Shangshu, I said that the three cities and seventeen forts in Kuandian are important military sites, and merchants should not be allowed to circulate them. But at that time, the Sixth Division rejected this memorial, right?"

Zhu Youjian looked at the Bingke in the crowd, Zhongyuan Baoqi, who was an official of the Zhejiang Party and one of the people who rejected Zhu Youjian's original appointment.

However, this is not to say that Zhu Youjian was incapable of prohibiting merchants from entering the three cities of Kuandian at that time, but that he was laying mines for others.

He has studied the site of Alkali Field Fortress. While surrounded by mountains, there are wide roads on all sides, which is very suitable for cavalry attacks.

In addition, the dwarf mountain is too close to the castle. In the future, Jin's artillery can hit the city wall at this distance.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian didn't think about how long the Jianchangbao could hold against Houjin's offensive, he was just laying mines there.

Including his military orders to Qi Yuanfu and Jin Qiliang, he also mentioned that if he could not defend, he would retreat. This is why Jin Qiliang retreated immediately after he found out that he could not defend.

After all, the Alkaline Field Fort is the frontier of the Gushan Fort, the place where the troops of Houjin are consumed.

Even if a fort can only consume dozens or hundreds of people, there are still twelve such stone forts on the road leading to Phoenix City and Kuandian.

If they were all defeated, Hou Jin would have killed at least a thousand people. This is the tactic of grinding blood.

For Daming, the death or injury of thousands of soldiers is not a big deal, but for Hou Jin, it is fatal.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian had long been prepared for the abandonment of the alkali field fort.

He had known for a long time that the civil servants would impeach him after abandoning his defense, so he used Liao merchants to bury the mine in advance.

Although he wasn't sure whether the Liao merchants would play the inside and outside cooperation in the alkali field fort, but according to the fall of Liaoshen in the previous life, this move is possible.

Besides, the soldiers and horses have been withdrawn, and what they want to say at that time depends entirely on the mouths of the people below.

If the censor has the ability, he will go to investigate one by one, as long as he is not afraid of getting his head cut off when he meets Hou Jintangqi on the way.

This rogue tactic is very suitable for civil servants.

Therefore, after Zhu Youjian opened his mouth, the officials of the sixth department immediately shut up.

It was only then that they remembered that Zhu Youjian had indeed submitted this kind of memorial. At that time, they wondered why Zhu Youjian did not directly order, but went to the memorial to find them to embarrass him.

Now it seems that this little King Qi has buried a hole in advance, waiting for them to step on it.

The officials stopped talking, but Zhu Youjian still had something to say.

He took this opportunity to bow to Zhu Youxiao and said:

"Brother Emperor, I believe that the Liao merchants and Jianlu should make peace this time, which also shows that merchants are not allowed to walk freely in the frontier, so please expel the Liao merchants!"

Zhu Youjian said something, but no one in the court dared to speak again.

Everyone is not sure whether Zhu Youjian is digging a hole this time. If he refuses the Liao merchants to travel to the three cities of Shenyang and Kuandian in front of him, then in case there is any incident related to the Liao merchants in these four places, Will he be convicted?

Therefore, even if the Liao merchants would contribute some moistening pen silver every year, no one dared to speak in the Qianqing Palace for a while.

But Ye Xianggao played a role at this time, stood up immediately, coughed twice:

"This campaign should be used to reward the soldiers of the Alkali Field Camp. As for the case of Liaoshang, it doesn't have to be the case. It still has to be judged according to the local situation whether it can be circulated."

"The top priority right now is the southwestern rebels occupying southern Liaoning..."

Ye Xianggao was making love with the mud, but the direction of the love was obviously towards Zhu Youjian.

According to local conditions?By whom?Not Qin Bangping, Qi Yuanfu and others, whose people are they?Needless to say?

Therefore, Ye Xianggao's words are just saying in disguise, rewards must be given, and the power to prohibit merchants from circulating must also be given.

After the ministers and workers understood the deep meaning of these words, they all frowned, but still no one dared to step into this muddy water. After all, no one knew whether Zhu Youjian would fall on Liao Shang for all the bad things.

When the time comes to discuss crimes, none of them can escape.

Therefore, Zhu Guozuo and others all stopped their flags and drums, and Zhu Youxiao was also happy for his younger brother's methods when he saw this.

In order to turn over the page of the fall of Jianchangbao, Zhu Youxiao deliberately became a good person, and said to Ye Xianggao:

"Old Ye Ge, tell me about the Southwest..."

(End of this chapter)