The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 218 Contradictions
The new wind is bitter, and there is a murderous atmosphere between the heaven and the earth.

Only two miles away from the southern suburbs of Zhending City is the Hutuo River rushing eastward.

The sound of Hutuo River is the same as "Hutuo", and it was also called Huchi or Huchi in ancient times.

The river flows from the Taihang Mountains all the way down into the vast North China Plain.

All the way to the east, the water is rushing, humming and rolling, hence the name Hutuo.

"Woo——"

Sun Chuanting gave a soft drink, and pulled the rein of the horse.

The black horse under the seat raised its front hooves high to stop its forward momentum, and let out a long and passionate neigh.

"Woo--" "Woo--"

A group of generals and schools who followed closely behind also reined in their horses and stopped their whips one after another, reining in their advancing horses.

Chen Wang held his whip and reined in his horse, followed by Cao Wenzhao, He Renlong and Cao Bianjiao, and stood beside Sun Chuanting.

It's winter, and the water flow of the Hutuo River has reached the minimum, and even many places have been frozen.

The weather is getting colder every year, and the winter time is getting longer every day. You don't need a ferry or a pontoon, you can cross the river directly.

The cavalry of the brigade roared across the river and the field, and quickly advanced towards the southern suburb of Zhending City.

In the southern suburbs of Zhending, the vanguard cavalry who had crossed the river had already spread out and confronted the cavalry of the Qing army.

On the wilderness in the southern suburbs of Zhending, which is only three miles wide, several groups of hundreds of cavalrymen are constantly launching temptations and disputes.

A large number of rangers were strangled together outside the cavalry formation, and the contest between them was more intense and bloody than the fight between the cavalry formations.

"There are about 5000 Jiannu people outside Zhending City, and there are three Jiala flags. Judging from the shape, two of them are the flags of Jiannu Zhenglan Banner, and the other is the flag of Beilu."

In the Ming Dynasty, Mongols were called captives, and Jurchen were called slaves, Beilu and Jiannu.

The vanguard cavalry were all fine cavalry belonging to Cao Bianjiao. Most of them were born in Liaodong and Datong. They used to fight with the Houjin soldiers on the Liaodong battlefield. Naturally, they can recognize the banner.

Moreover, in the Ministry of War, there are also related documents, and the banners of Mongolia and Houjin are recorded, so that the army of King Qin will not be blinded.

"Three Jiala..."

Sun Chuanting frowned and looked at Zhending City in the distance.

There are three Jiala, and there are nearly 5000 Jiannu outside the city.

Excluding the followers and auxiliary soldiers, the number of Zhenyi is about 500.

Sun Chuanting was no stranger to Jiannu in the Northland. The two Jiala Qing troops belonged to the Zhenglan Banner, and the owner of the Zhenglan Banner was Hauge, the eldest son of the bandit chieftain Huang Taiji.

Jiannu itself has a total of eight banners, and the combat power of the eight banners is different from each other, and they are not inseparable from each other.

Although Huang Taiji Jianguo proclaimed himself emperor, in fact he was only the emperor in name and did not have the power of a real emperor.

The Zhenglan Banner is the banner with the highest combat power among the Eight Banners, and its combat power is only slightly higher than the two strongest two yellow flags.

Sun Chuanting's complexion was serious, Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao's complexion was also not good-looking, they had fought against Zhenglan Qi during the Battle of Four Cities, and they were old rivals with Zhenglan Qi.

At that time, they concentrated several times their strength, and although they won the victory, the result was only a disastrous victory, and most of them escaped in the end.

Chen Wang's heart sank slightly. In the first battle, he encountered the Zhenglan Banner, which was the most powerful of the Eight Banners of the Qing Army. This was not a good thing.

Although according to the course of history, the Ming army won this battle, but when it came time to fight, Chen Wang couldn't help but sink in his heart.

There are three armies under his command, with a total of more than [-] soldiers.

Cao Bianjiao's men were all cavalry, about [-] men. Cao Wenzhao's horses were three steps and seven horses, two infantry, and one cavalry, about [-] men.

He Renlong has more than [-] men under his command, including three horsemen with seven steps, two cavalry and one infantry, and there are also more than [-] men.

Under Sun Chuanting's command, there are [-] superintendents in total, and there are four battalions in the middle camp, the front right camp, the rear left camp, and the new camp.

In the fourth battalion, there are lieutenant generals, guerrillas, generals, Chinese army, capital division, garrison, and general commanders.

There are a total of 6000 soldiers, including cavalry, [-] cavalry, and [-] infantry.

The Qing army that besieged Zhending had a scale of nearly [-], and its strength was three times smaller.

"Zhenglan flag?"

He Renlong raised his eyebrows slightly, he is different from Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao, he has always been in Shaanxi.

He had fought with the Mongols beyond the Great Wall, but he had never seen Manchurian soldiers.

I don't like to read books, and my understanding of Jiannu is basically only a few words, not a whole picture.

And this is because the war is about to happen, so I just learned a little bit about the Jiannu information.

Among the generals and schools in Guannei, he knew many people, but the one he really admired was Cao Wenzhao.

Now that Cao Wenzhao's expression became serious, He Renlong naturally understood that something was wrong.

"Brother Chen..."

He Renlong led the horse to move a little towards the right hand, and asked in a low voice.

"You used to stay in Liaodong, what is there to say about this flag?"

Holding the reins in his hands, Chen Wang glanced at the changing formation of the Qing army not far away, thinking about the next plan in his mind, when he suddenly heard He Renlong's inquiry.

It turned out that Chen Wang was promoted all the way, and he basically didn't have too many intersections with other generals and schools in Shaanxi, because he was always on the way of pursuit.

The relationship with He Renlong is not bad, but also because of Cao Wenzhao's thin face.

However, during the march from Tongguan during this period, Chen Wang was already familiar with most of the generals.

The relationship with He Renlong was pretty good, after all, He Renlong himself had a good relationship with Cao Wenzhao.

"We are the town, and Jiannu is the flag. He Shuai can regard their flag as our town."

Calling the general soldier handsome is a bit over the top, but not many people care about it now.

Chen Wang lowered his voice and explained to He Renlong.

"Beilu and those traitors are not counted. There are eight banners in Jiannu, Zhenghuang, Bordered Yellow, True Blue, Bordered Blue, True White, Bordered White, True Red, and Bordered Red."

"The Jiannu army is not a single iron plate, the Eight Banners are actually opposing each other..."

Although Huang Taiji established a country and proclaimed himself emperor, he was not a real court or a real country.

Huang Taiji has no way to be arbitrary. In fact, it is still the old system of eight kings who have power.

"The two yellow flags are the slave chieftain Huang Taiji in person, and the two blue flags are the agents of Hauge and Jierhalang. Hauge is Huang Taiji's eldest son, and Jierhalang and Huangtaiji are closer than brothers, so these four banners are the most powerful. Strong, armed with the strongest equipment, they are all the elite of the founding slave army, so be careful when encountering them."

In the fourth year of Tiancong, that is, in the second year of Chongzhen.

After Amin was defeated in the Battle of Yongping, Huang Taiji imprisoned him for his crimes, deprived him of his position as the owner of the Xianglan Banner, and gave all the banner to Amin's sixth brother Jierhalang.

Although Jierhalang is Amin's sixth younger brother, he lived in the palace since he was a child and was raised by Nurhachi. He knew Huang Taiji well when he was young, and later his relationship with Huang Taiji was as close as brothers.

Even after his father and brother rebelled, is Jierhalang still trusted and reused?

In the fifth year of Chongzhen, Mang Gurtai, the banner owner of Zhenglan Banner, died suddenly, and his younger brother De Gelei succeeded the banner owner of Zhenglan Banner.

Three years later, after De Gelei died of illness, Huang Taiji wiped out a large number of party members in the name of Dege Lei's plot to rebel, and took the opportunity to take the Zhenglan Banner as his own.

Then he reorganized the two yellow flags and the Zhenglan flag, and he was the owner of the two yellow flags, while the Zhenglan flag was handed over to his eldest son Hauge.

Today, among the Eight Banners of the Qing Army, Huang Taiji controls a total of four banners: Zhenghuang, Xianghuang, Zhenglan, and Xianglan.

Because of this, Huang Taiji naturally vigorously supported the four banners, and invested a lot of energy to continuously replenish manpower and military equipment.

"The other four banners are opposite to Huang Taiji. The two red banners are owned by Daishan, the white banner is owned by Duoduo, and the bordered white banner is owned by Azig. The banner soldiers of these four banners are poorly equipped and their numbers are relatively small. A little less."

Since Huang Taiji came to power, in order to stabilize the imperial power, he has been trying to find ways to hold as much power as possible.

When Daishan died in Nurhachi before, he fought with Huang Taiji for the position of Khan, and the two naturally did not fight each other.

Nurhachi did not proclaim himself emperor, but still called himself Great Khan.

Chen Wang considered it for a while, and finally chose to persuade him.

"I know that He Shuai often takes the lead and thinks that the army is an example, but when fighting Jiannu, don't take the lead again."

He Renlong's expression was slightly solemn, he was a little confused.

"There are many hunters in the Jiannu army. These people hold heavy bows and heavy arrows. When fighting, they often hide in the army formation. When the time comes to fight, they will bend their bows and set arrows to attack and kill our generals."

"They are often several or even dozens of people shooting arrows at the same time. If they don't have much defense, they can't avoid it at all."

In history, Zhang Xianzhong and Huang Gonggong all died under the attack of the heavy bow, so that the army under their command collapsed.

Now many historical processes have changed, and many things are uncertain, so Chen Wang finally reminded He Renlong.

"thanks for reminding."

He Renlong nodded, clasped his fists and said sincerely.

Although he is called crazy, he is not really crazy.

He knows when to take the lead and when not to.

He had never fought against the Qing army before, so naturally he would not act rashly.

During the conversation, the vanguard cavalry who crossed the river had already stopped in the southern suburbs of Zhending, and swept out a fairly empty place to cross the river.

The cavalry of the Qing army was retreating to the rear at this time, and the formation of the Qing army seemed to be undergoing some changes.

The initial confrontation gained the upper hand, which gradually raised the morale of the various ministries of the Ming army.

However, Sun Chuanting did not show the slightest smile because of this.

In May of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Jiannu invaded and plundered, and he led his family Ding Xiangyong out of the city to fight. Although he won in the end, it was a miserable victory.

Since ancient times, it has been Huaxia who has a strong armor and a sharp blade, but now the situation is reversed.

A strong blade is a slave, but their weapons are rotten, and their swords are unbearable.

Sun Chuanting glanced worriedly at the large formation of the Qing army outside Zhending City.

The soldiers and horses who came to support this time were said to be 3 troops, but in fact there were only more than [-] people, and less than [-]-[-]% of them were elite.

The Qing army gathered more than [-] people in the southward movement this time, not only the best of the best, but also a large number of Mongolian rangers who went southward with them.

This battle is really not easy to fight...

It was precisely because he knew the strength of the Qing army that Sun Chuanting did not order the attack for a long time.

(End of this chapter)