Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 453
"Clang... clang... clang..."

In the early morning of March 11, [-], when the war in the north was in full swing, a bell rang at Jinshan Wharf in Songjiang Prefecture in the south.

The cool sea breeze blows slowly, not only bringing the sound of waves, but also the sound of bronze drums on the sea in the distance.

The drums of "dong dong dong" kept ringing, and on the not-so-busy Jinshan Wharf, there were only more than a hundred laborers waiting for the unloading work.

When they heard the sound of the army drum, they stood up one after another.

In their sight, a moving "continent" appeared on the sea.

"So many boats? It seems to be busy."

Looking at the large fleet, Chief Lifu rubbed his hands excitedly, but before he called the others to go to the rear to call for brothers, he saw an official ship on the sea heading towards the huge fleet.

"Official ship?"

"Okay, this work is over..."

Seeing the official ship appear, many Lifu shook their heads, sat down again, and continued to wait for the new ship to dock and unload.

"Beep--"

When they sat down, the fleet at sea stopped moving forward and waited quietly for the official ship from Songjiang Mansion to arrive.

Compared with the tall warships, the official ships sailing into the fleet seemed very small.

Standing at the bow of the ship, a young official dressed in a seventh-rank official robe looked up at the tall warships, and the warships also avoided it one after another, allowing their ship to arrive in front of a nine thousand warship.

"I am Huang Fei, the commander of the Longjiang Guard. Who is here? Why intercept the expedition fleet of the Navy's Governor's Mansion?!"

When the ship sailed into the fleet, a young general shouted loudly on the deck of the warship, and he was Huang Fei who returned to Daming with Huang Long.

While he was shouting, the officials on the official ship also bowed to Huang Fei on the high place:
"Xiaohuang Dudu, Zhang Fan, the county magistrate of Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture, is entrusted by the magistrate Han Song to invite the army to move to Tianjin!"

"Move to Tianjin?" Huang Fei frowned, but he didn't doubt anything, but asked:
"We have been ordered by His Royal Highness to move to Songjiang Mansion, and then walk north to the capital to report on our duties. If Zhangzhi County does not have His Highness's handwritten letter, please forgive me for not following orders!"

"Songjiang Mansion suffered from floods and the port was blocked, making it impossible to dock, so please move to Tianjin." Zhang Fan responded loudly, his voice was a little hoarse.

Helpless, the waves were too loud, otherwise Huang Fei would not be able to hear them.

It's just that when he shouted, Huang Fei's expression became a little hesitant.

The military order they received was to move to Songjiang Mansion, and then go north to the capital to report on their duties.

Right now the port of Songjiang Prefecture is blocked, they...

"This is a handwritten letter from the cabinet, please read it!"

Zhang Fan further took out the cabinet's handwriting, and Huang Fei had to ask someone to bring a hanging basket to take Zhang Fan's handwriting, and then opened it to read.

The handwriting does have the seal of the cabinet and the approval, which means that the port of Songjiang Prefecture is indeed blocked.

"Zhangzhi County, wait a moment, let me ask my general!"

Huang Fei bowed in return, and then walked towards Huanglong's cabin with a handwritten letter.

Since he was going back to Daming today, Huang Long and many soldiers drank celebration wine and triumphal wine on board last night.

Originally, after arriving at the pier today, everyone will have some reunion dinner in the evening, and then the army will have a year off.

As a result, it seems that the reunion dinner may not be eaten.

Thinking of this, Huang Fei trotted all the way into the cabin, and then saw Huang Long washing his face.

He smelled of alcohol, obviously not sober.

"Uncle, the pier in Songjiang Mansion is silted up. Please move our troops to Tianjin. This is a handwritten letter from the cabinet confirming the silted up pier."

Huang Fei entered the room, watched Huang Long wipe it clean, and then handed over the paperwork.

Who would have thought that Huang Long just glanced at it, and then scolded:
"This group of literati didn't talk about Songjiang's blockage earlier, but waited until I arrived at Songjiang Mansion to talk about it."

"Uncle, what should we do now? Your Highness asked us to move to Songjiang Mansion. If we don't follow the military order..."

"okay!"

Huang Fei wanted to continue talking, but was interrupted by Huang Long: "Songjiang Mansion is blocked, what can we do?"

"It's about moving to Tianjin."

With a big wave of his hand, Huang Long signaled for the fleet to move north to Tianjin with a touch of alcohol.

But after waving his hands, he still said:
"Brothers who live in Nanzhili at home, organize them to disembark and take a vacation. Don't forget to go to Tianjin Port to join forces on the first day of April next year."

"Yes!" Huang Fei replied, not feeling surprised.

Since returning to the Old Port, the ships of the Admiralty's Mansion have been laying down some soldiers, because their homes are separated from each other, and Huanglong also strives to send them to their doorsteps.

This allowed the fleet, which only needed to travel 6000 miles by sea, to travel more than [-] miles by sea.

However, it was also the idea of ​​Huang Fei and others to let the soldiers go home for reunion as soon as possible, so no one questioned it.

Of the 12 expeditionary force, more than 7 people followed Huanglong and the others to go home. More than 4 people have disembarked so far, and only 9000 people are on board.

There are less than [-] soldiers in their hometown of Nanzhili, so it is very simple to arrange for them to go home.

Without Zhang Fan, the magistrate of Huating County, knowing what happened, some ships began to approach, and then soldiers with bulging packages on their backs were filled with smiles, and walked carefully across the ship's planks to a large ship with nine thousand materials.

"Magistrate, what are they doing?"

On the official boat, Huating county boss Bo was a little uneasy, but Zhang Fan waved his hand: "Don't worry about what they do, just see if they leave or not."

"Zhangzhi County!"

The moment Zhang Fan finished speaking, Huang Fei appeared on the ship's side, bowed and said:

"We will go to Tianjin later, but before that, we need to send more than [-] brothers who live in Nanzhili to Songjiang Mansion."

"Later, please ask Zhang Zhi County to issue a guide for them so that they can go home safely."

"Your official must do so, and don't let any brother suffer!" Zhang Fan bowed back when he heard the words, and Huang Fei could tell from his words and demeanor that he was an official from Yanshan.

"Thank you so much!" Without time to mutter, Huang Fei returned the gift to express his gratitude, and sent back the cabinet's handwritten letter, and placed a heavy piece of gold in the bamboo basket.

Zhang Fan did not pretend to be prudish, but accepted the piece of gold to prevent Huang Fei from worrying about it.

It's just that when the gold passed by, he was still a little surprised.

"This weight, I'm afraid it's a catty..."

A catty is 16 taels, and 16 taels of gold is 160 taels of silver.

It should be noted that although Zhang Fan is the county magistrate of the seventh rank, his annual salary is only 200 taels.

With Huang Fei's action, Zhang Fan earned half a year's salary. It is not difficult to see that Huang Fei still attaches great importance to his brothers.

Therefore, after accepting the gold, Zhang Fan bowed in return, and Huang Fei, seeing Zhang Fan accepting the gold, also turned around and told the general next to him: "Let's go to Tianjin."

"Yes!" The general agreed, and then began to arrange for the fleet to go north.

But when he left, Huang Fei turned and looked at Zhang Fan's official ship.

On the deck of the official ship, Zhang Fan had disappeared, while Huang Fei frowned as he watched the official ship leave the fleet. After a while, he walked towards Huanglong's cabin.

When he returned to the cabin, Huang Long was already drinking a bowl of hangover soup, and when he saw Huang Fei coming back, his first reaction was to ask, "Have you made arrangements, brothers?"

"The arrangement has been made, and the gift has been accepted. I don't think it will make things difficult for the brothers." Huang Fei responded honestly.

"I'm sorry they don't dare." Huang Long snorted coldly, it was obvious that he was a little unhappy about the news of the relocation.

"Uncle..." Huang Fei wanted to talk about Zhang Fan and Yanshan, but for some reason, when he thought that the fleet would dock in Tianjin instead of Songjiang, he said not coming out.

"what happened?"

Huang Long looked up at his nephew suspiciously, but Huang Fei shook his head: "No, I just want to say that there are more than 2000 brothers in Huaibei who are going to disembark, and the rest are brothers from Shandong, Beizhili and Liaodong. "

"You just look at the arrangements for these things. I guess it will be difficult for me to go out to fight again this time when I return to the capital." Huang Long sensed the attitude of the local officials of Ming Dynasty towards him, so he sighed a little:
"I'm going back to Beijing this time. After His Highness finishes fighting Jianlu and returns, I recommend you to meet His Highness. You can ask His Highness about the navy."

"If I can't go to sea, then I will recommend you to His Highness as the next naval commander."

"Nephew takes orders!" Huang Fei smiled when he heard the words, bowed in response, and by the way, raised his head and joked to Huang Long:

"Uncle has been away from home for so long, and I don't know if my aunt and two cousins ​​still remember my uncle."

"Go, go! Do your business, don't be annoying here!" Hearing that Huang Fei dared to tease himself, Huang Long was so angry that he blew his beard and stared.

"Yes... my nephew will leave now, hahahaha..." Huang Fei shook his head, returned the greeting and walked out of the cabin with a smile.

But when he walked out of the cabin and closed the door, the smile on his face froze, and his facial features showed a little worry.

He looked in the direction where the official ship was leaving, but in the end he still didn't tell Huang Long about the matter, and left the door to do his own business.

The fleet began to go north, and such a change was naturally detected by the Jin Yiwei of Songjiang Mansion, and sent to the capital.

However, the focus of Da Ming right now is not on the navy, but on...

"put!"

"Boom bang bang-"

Almost immediately after the naval fleet went north, the Mongolian rangers on the north bank of the Duoerbi River in Beishan were violently bombarded.

For a moment, the stone bullets flew, and the heavy artillery sound and the stone bullets that frequently broke the trees thick and thin made the Mongolian rangers who were trying to break out flee in a hurry.

The sound of the cannons on the north bank woke Huang Taiji up immediately. He walked out of the tent while sleeping in armor, and instead of looking at the north bank, he looked at the iron cavalry of the Ming army stationed a mile away.

Sure enough, as he expected, the iron cavalry of the Ming army almost took turns to monitor the movement of the Jin army last night. Even now, there are still more than a thousand cavalry looking at the battlefield on the low hill, which made Huang Taiji feel the pressure invisibly.

"The Ming army has plenty of supplies and luggage here. It seems that Zhu Youjian has already calculated that we will go to Beishan to break through."

Huang Taiji looked ugly, and analyzed the situation to Jierhalang who came in a hurry.

Jierhalang followed his words and looked in the direction of the Ming army cavalry, and saw the bloated Ming army cavalry wearing cotton coats and armor, and the piles of bonfires still burning on the low hill.

This cavalry came lightly, but even so, they did not receive any support from the Ming army on the north bank last night, which means that their supplies are very abundant.

Not only them, but also the stone forts of the Ming army along the way, basically there is no convoy to transport supplies for them.

These all show that the Ming army's preparations in Beishan were not achieved in a day, but accumulated over many years.

The stone castle can be repaired quickly, but the supplies cannot.

The reason why Huang Taiji mentioned the luggage was because he wanted to say that they were fighting to consume it, and they couldn't compete with the Ming army in Beishan.

It is a fact that the Ming army who swept the caves in Liting was insufficiently prepared because of the hasty northern expedition.

However, Taining Mansion has been preparing for this battle for four years. In terms of supplies, Sun Shoufa and his army may be short of supplies, but the Beishan Ming army in the north will never be short of supplies, especially gunpowder and coal.

It was precisely because of the abundant supplies behind him that Cao Bianjiao wanted to wait to consume the Jin army.

2 people deal with 10,000 to [-] gold troops, and they also need to deal with [-]+ women and children, which is far beyond his ability, so all he needs to do is wait for his uncle and Guo Sangdai to lead the troops.

The idea of ​​Cao Bianjiao, Huang Taiji and others can also think of it, so they are not prepared to fight for consumption with the well-supplied Ming army.

Judging from the fact that the cavalry of the Ming army used high mobility to harass them last night, fighting Cao Bianjiao for consumption...

I am afraid that the three 10,000+ Jurchens, Mongols, and traitors will all starve to death. Cao Bianjiao and the others can still comfortably eat rice and drink hot broth.

Huang Taiji and Jierhalang sincerely felt that this battle was not easy to fight. As for Cao Bianjiao, he knew that he was a fledgling and lacked the ability to command ten thousand cavalry, so he had been avoiding conflicts between the two armies.

He chose to separate the cavalry but harassed the Jin army's baggage carts, cattle and sheep, and this effect was also very effective.

Footsteps sounded in the snow, Huang Taiji and Jierharang looked sideways, and it was Daishan who was in charge of the rear army.

At this moment, his face was gloomy, his eyes were bloodshot, obviously he didn't get a good rest last night.

"The rear army, the front army, and the middle army are getting closer, but the Ming army's harassment last night caused us a lot of losses."

"More than 3000 stone rice and wheat and more than 1000 cattle, horses and sheep were robbed, more than 300 women and children were killed, more than 600 people were frozen to death, and more than 600 soldiers were killed."

"What about the Ming army's losses?" Huang Taiji asked with a frown.

"130 seven people were killed and 420 five people were injured."

When Huang Taiji asked Daishan, the Commander of the Habayashi Guard also reported the results of last night to Cao Bianjiao who had just woken up and rode his horse up the low hill.

The data obtained by the two parties are similar, and from the data, the casualties of the Ming army are not large, but the casualties of the Jin army are heavy.

"Where are uncles and the others? How did the rear army react after Jianlu was robbed? Was the stone fort on the north shore attacked this morning?"

Cao Bianjiao picked up the binoculars, looked at the Jin army camp a mile away, and asked the commander of the Habayashi Guard.

He watched as the Jin army began to collect tents and put them on the luggage carts, and a large number of Jianlu walked back and forth in the cart camp.

Beside him, the Commander of the Habayashi Guards also calmly replied: "General Cao led the horse and infantry of the four guards to attack. It is less than forty miles away from here, and it is estimated that they will reach the battlefield on the north bank in the afternoon."

"As for the Jianlu who were robbed of the camp last night, they could only build camp with baggage trucks and light a bonfire to keep warm."

"The soldiers and horses below reported that many women and children behind did not have enough clothes. The temperature last night may have frozen to death."

"As for the north bank, the northern prisoners under Jianlu's command tried to patrol and break through this morning, but they were bombarded with artillery from the nearby stone fort and retreated back to the camp."

The words of the Commander of the Habayashi Guard gave Cao Bianjiao a general grasp of the battle situation.

When Sun Shoufa and Cao Meng built these stone forts, they basically placed heavy Yanshan ten-jin cannons and Yanshan five-jin cannons. Each stone fort had ten pieces.

Compared with the stone castles on the south bank, the stone castles on the north bank were quite densely spaced. The distance between the two stone castles was no more than six miles, and the trees were all cut down.

Therefore, if you want to pass between the stone forts, you basically have to withstand the cross bombardment of the stone forts.

It is true that the firepower of twenty artillery pieces is insufficient, but if there are soldiers and horses to support them, it will be different.

Now the four guards horse infantry led by Cao Wenzhao came, even though there were only 500 horse infantry in each guard after removing the gunners, and Cao Wenzhao's own 800 guards were only [-].

However, if these 800, [-] people formed a line of guns and crossed with Shibao artillery, they could still stop Jianlu.

At that time, Cao Bianjiao will only need to cruise the battlefield with his cavalry, and wait for Jianlu to show his flaws, and then the world will be determined in one battle.

Although Cao Bianjiao didn't know what his uncle thought, but if the battlefield was placed north of the Duo'erbi River, the land would be in the hands of the Ming army.

However, if Guo Sangdai can reach the battlefield quickly in this situation, then the Ming army will have a greater advantage.

Thinking of this, Cao Bianjiao asked, "When will Commander Guo arrive at the battlefield?"

"This..." Commander Habayashi hesitated for a moment, and then said embarrassingly:
"Commander Guo Sangdai's soldiers and horses are facing a worse environment than ours. According to the pigeon news received in Hara Mountain City this morning, they should be about [-] miles away from here."

"That means you can't count on them." Cao Bianjiao frowned slightly, but he didn't blame Guo Sangdai.

Since Guo Sangdai and the others received the news, they have led troops to support them, and they have marched an average of seventy miles a day.

You must know that they are not horse infantry, nor do they have enough mules and horses. In terms of logistics, they are not even as good as the Jin army with their families. At least the Jin army has 10,000+ cattle and sheep, while Guo Sangdai and the others only have two legs.

In such a short time, being able to rush from Nuergan thousands of miles away to the southwestern area of ​​Beishan is already considered a very good marching intensity.

"It's hard for Commander Guo to use them."

The Commander of the Habayashi Guard couldn't help sighing, and Cao Bianjiao nodded slightly.

While they were talking, Huang Taiji of the Jin Army also knew the death situation of the army after the attack by the Ming Army, and his face was a little ugly.

"Counting it all down, there are nearly 2 women, children and soldiers in the army. If this continues, I'm afraid the morale of the army..."

Daishan looked at Huang Taiji hesitantly, then dodged his eyes, Huang Taiji also understood what he wanted to say.

Either let a large number of women and children die and lead a large army to break through, or break out immediately.

Procrastinating like this, killing thousands of women, children and soldiers every day, is the most morale-damaging situation.

How could Huang Taiji not know?But Cao Bianjiao couldn't be fooled, and there was nothing he could do.

"I..." Huang Taiji was about to speak, but he didn't want the sound of horseshoes to sound. Azig rode his horse and reined in before approaching Huang Taiji and the others.

"Call-"

Reining in his horse, Azig got off his horse, and after saluting, he reported the military situation on the north shore with a rather uneasy expression:

"The Ming army on the north bank cut down trees and set up a large number of stone forts. The stone forts have artillery. No matter which direction you go, you will be flanked by the artillery of the two stone fortresses."

"Many of our sentry cavalry were attacked and killed by artillery. I am afraid that there are artillery stationed on various low hills and hillsides from the north bank to the northwest for more than a hundred miles."

Bad news appeared one after another, constantly testing Huang Taiji.

He tried his best to calm himself down. In order to better analyze the situation, he pondered for a moment before asking, "Is there any pursuers behind?"

"No, the rear sentry cavalry sent out two hundred miles away, but no pursuers were seen. It is estimated that Khan Ama and the others are still holding on."

Azig mentioned Nurhachi and the others, which made the atmosphere freeze for a while.

As if realizing that he had said something wrong, Azig stopped speaking, but quietly waited for Huang Taiji's order.

"How many miles has the barracks been stretched?"

"Soldiers and horses are only five miles long, but women and children are twenty miles long."

Huang Taiji had only one way to go, and that was to break through, so he asked Daishan the length of the camp for the entire army.

Knowing that his troops are 25 miles long and extremely vulnerable to attack, Huang Taiji could only calmly order in order to reassure his soldiers and horses:
"Order the whole army to cross the river in the afternoon. The women and children will go first with the two blue banners and the Fourth Han Battalion. The two yellow banners, the two white banners and the eight Mongolian banners will form the central army, and the two red banners will form the rear army."

"Yes!"

Huang Taiji was still worried about putting the Fourth Han Battalion in the rear army at the critical moment, so he put them in the position of the front army.

Although Liu Aita was very responsible in the cover yesterday, Huang Taiji now instinctively distrusts the Han people.

Following his military order, the women and children in the rear were the first to take action.

They had to walk twenty miles to reach the south bank of the Duoerbi River, and then cross the river, waiting for the central and rear troops to cross the river before they could break out to the northwest.

This process takes two hours, so when Huang Taiji and others buried the pot to cook, the women and children in the rear had already started to hurry.

They got up from the simple camp last night and left, and the horses were long, and this behavior was also reported by the Ming army Tang Qi.

"Chief soldier, do you want to continue to harass them?"

The commander of Tiance Guard who had taken a nap came to the low hill, looked at the women and children of the Jin Army who had started to exercise, and couldn't help but put his hand on the handle of the knife at his waist excitedly.

"Ignore them for the time being, look at this posture, they are going to let the old and weak serve as the front army to cross the river, to boost the morale of the soldiers and horses to break through."

Cao Bianjiao looked at the battlefield calmly, but his eyes always stayed on the camp of the Jin army, because what he cared about was not the women and children, but the vital forces and generals of Jianlu.

After King Qi got married last year, the generals of Shangzhi and the Eastern Army's two governor's mansions discussed in Qi Wang's mansion how to suppress the captives.

When all the generals said that they wanted to kill the old slaves, Huang Taiji and other major figures in Jianlu, and when all the men who were taller than the wheel were beheaded, His Royal Highness King Qi's requirements were even more stringent.

"Sweep the caves in Liting, leaving no one behind..." These are the original words Zhu Youjian told the generals.

Cao Bianjiao knew very well that King Qi never lied, so "sweeping holes in the courtyard and leaving no one behind" was the strategic goal of the Ming army.

To complete this task, the first thing he should do is to cut off the limbs of the enemy, Jianlu, before he can kill him.

Soldiers and horses are limbs, and to cut them off, all Cao Bianjiao has to do is wait.

When the Jianlu people were exhausted, when his uncle led the troops to the battlefield, then it was time for him to draw his sword.

Thinking of this, Cao Bianjiao subconsciously put his hand on the handle of the knife at his waist. At the same time, the soldiers and horses led by Cao Wenzhao also galloped towards this place.

The battle was just two or two days away, and whether the Ming army could plow the court and sweep the holes, it all depended on whether their uncles and nephews could cooperate.

Their speed must be fast, because His Royal Highness Qi Wang in the south is still waiting for them to escort the old slave's heirs to the south, and put on a "big show" for the old slave...

　The second is around nine o'clock in the evening

　　
　
(End of this chapter)