The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 253
In the 12th year of Chongzhen, the second day of the first lunar month, at dusk.

Under the flames of war, Luokou Town, which had been turned into a patch of hills and ruins, regained some vitality.

Crimson banners stood in the center and surrounding fields of Luokou Town, and the brigade of Ming soldiers walked into the town along the dilapidated official road and headed for the beach.

As early as the Han Dynasty, Luokou was an important wharf along the Jishui River. In the subsequent dynasties, Luokou occupied an extremely important position as the ferry of Jishui.

Although the course of the Yellow River has changed several times, Jishui has also changed accordingly.

The vicissitudes of life have changed over time, and the old name of Jishui has even disappeared.

Now this section of the river at Luokou has also been renamed the Daqing River.

However, the status of Luokou has not changed much, and it is still an important wharf and ferry.

During the Ming Dynasty, the prosperity of Luokou also reached its peak.

Salt used in Jinan, Taian, Dongchang, Yanzhou and other places was transshipped through Luokou, and goods such as wood, medicinal materials and furs were also collected and distributed here.

The "Li Cheng" published in the sixth year of Ming Chongzhen records:

"Luo Town, [-] miles northwest of the city, is where merchants trade, and the Jiaolai Branch is stationed here."

"Magpie Mountain stands high, the Qing Dynasty flows eastward, buildings and boats come and go, pavilions and pavilions fly, and it is a giant town."

Luo Town is Luokou Town, and the prosperity of Luokou Ancient Town can be seen from the descriptions in these classics.

However, the prosperity of Luokou Town has passed away. The Qing army crossed the border, leaving only burned houses, burnt ruins, and dilapidated walls and ruins.

Even after several times of cleaning, there is still a faint smell of blood lingering in Luokou Town.

It was the middle of winter, the wind was bitter, the snow was fluttering like fluff, and the weather was extremely cold.

The townspeople who were killed by the Qing army died within a few days, and their bodies did not rot, so there was not much corruption in the air.

The Ming army who entered the town collected the corpses of the dead townspeople and placed them in the southern suburb of Luokou Town.

On the southern outskirts of Luokou Town, a large number of soldiers were carrying the bodies of the victims back and forth and throwing them into shallow pits.

There are also some soldiers who are constantly throwing wood and firelight into it.

After the war, there were many major epidemics, because a large number of people and animals died, and the corpses were not properly placed, and the diseases were caused by exposure.

People in this era all pay attention to returning fallen leaves to their roots and resting in their graves.

It's just that to bury so many people, just digging out a big pit is extremely energy-consuming.

The battle is imminent, saving a little stamina is a little stamina.

So Sun Chuanting's order was to focus on burning the bodies of the victims.

Sun Chuanting was wearing a general's armor, a polished iron helmet, a coverall, and a fur coat. He stood on a newly built simple lookout in the southern suburbs, staring at the shallow pit that had just been dug not long ago. .

There are men and women, old and young, in the shallow pit. The men have many wounds on their bodies, while the women basically don’t have many clothes on their bodies. There are many bruises on their bodies, telling the world what kind of things they suffered during their lifetimes. Torment and pain.

Sun Chuanting slowly closed his eyes and sighed softly.

He is not really a heart of iron and blood. Even though he has seen countless similar tragedies along the way, he still cannot turn a blind eye to them.

Following the footsteps of the Qing army step by step, Sun Chuanting also began to gradually understand what Lu Xiangsheng was thinking in his heart.

His original complaints about Lu Xiangsheng insisting on playing alone and being alone in the battle completely disappeared at this moment.

The scenes that Lu Xiangsheng saw along the way are probably far more and more desolate than him.

Sun Chuanting felt something stuck in his heart, making it hard for him to breathe.

As the last corpse that was pulled out from the ruins was thrown into the pit, the soldiers guarding around the shallow pit also threw the ignited torches in their hands into the shallow pit.

There are also a lot of firelighters placed at the bottom of the shallow pit. After the burning, all the people in this town will be completely buried deep in the ground.

As one torch was thrown into the shallow pit, the fire began to rise slowly.

The cold wind blowing from the northwest kept blowing towards the direction of the southeast river.

The raging flames rose up, and the orange-red flames shone in everyone's eyes.

A son cannot protect his father, and a king cannot protect his ministers.

I'd rather be a peaceful dog, and don't leave people alone.

The blood-red sunset reflects the orange-red flames, the north wind blows like weeping, people are like ants and their lives are worthless.

Chen Wang stood not far from Sun Chuanting, standing with He Renlong and Cao Bianjiao.

Like everyone else, he was silent.

With his current status, he is not qualified to stand by Sun Chuanting's side.

Standing beside Sun Chuanting now are Cao Wenzhao, the commander-in-chief of the aid and suppression army, and Zu Kuan, the deputy commander-in-chief of the aid and suppression army.

Although Zu Kuan followed Lu Xiangsheng and was transferred to the Northland a few years ago, his position as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Assistance and Suppression has not been removed and he is still in charge of it.

Although He Renlong is now the commander-in-chief of Yansui Town, but the power and status in his hands are not as good as Zu Kuan.

However, his status was second to none. The biggest reason why Zu Kuan was able to stand beside Sun Chuanting was because Zu Kuan had more than [-] cavalry troops under his command.

Chen cast a glance at Zu Kuan, who was just in front of him, and Zu Kuan was facing away from him, facing where Sun Chuanting was.

It was not the first time he and Zu Kuan had met in the pass, they had already met once in Heishuiyu before.

If the original historical process was followed, Zu Kuan should still be holding back his troops and watching Jinan be besieged.

After the Qing army captured Jinan, looted and retreated from the pass, Zu Kuan would be dismissed from office by Chongzhen's order, arrested, and then executed for the crime of losing the vassal status, as a warning to others.

It's just that many things have changed now, this time Zu Kuan didn't stand still like the original process, but listened to Sun Chuanting's transfer order, and led the troops south to meet with them.

From this moment on, Zu Kuan's fate has changed. He may still be punished for this incident, but most likely his life will not be in danger.

In history, Zu Kuan was beheaded because of the fall of Jinan. In fact, he was somewhat wronged.

At that time, Jinan City was besieged by [-] to [-] Qing army regiments, and Xuan Dajun was defeated. Liu Yuliang was afraid to move forward in Baoning Mansion, and hid in Linqing, not daring to move.

Zu Kuan had only a few thousand soldiers and horses under his command, most of them cavalry. Under such circumstances, the imperial edict required him to go alone to rescue Nan. How could he be saved?

As if sensing that someone was watching, Zu Kuan slightly turned his head to look sideways, but Chen Wang had already retracted his gaze in time.

Zu Kuan's eyes flicked over Chen Wang's body, and the scene of the shallow pit did not make him feel much gratitude.

His mind was not on the victims, but on another thing, and turning his head was just a subconscious act.

Zu Kuan turned his head to look at Sun Chuanting again, he stepped forward half a step, wanting to persuade Sun Chuanting.

"Master..."

But before Zu Kuan finished speaking, the cold sound of 筚篯 sounds sounded from the south, which was a signal for the Qing army to move.

Including Zu Kuan, everyone's eyes were also attracted.

Just on the south bank of the Daqing River, a large number of Qing army cavalry roared across the field, spreading towards the two wings.

In the central area, the infantry of the Qing army of the brigade is constantly moving in the camp accompanied by the continuous ups and downs of the sound.

Chen Wang followed the sound and looked toward the southeast.

The Qing army set up camp in the southeast of Luokou Town, but they did not enter Luokou Town.

Perhaps because there were many corpses in Luokou Town and worried about the spread of disease, the camp was set up in the southeast of Luokou Town.

The Qing army chose Luokou as the battlefield, and they held the initiative on the battlefield.

The Ming army didn't have many choices, they could only follow the Qing army's decision.

This time is the dry season of the Daqing River, and due to the severe cold climate, it is also the ice age.

The surface of the Daqing River is frozen, and there is no need to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river directly, which is not a natural danger.

Before entering Luokou Town, the Ming army and the Qing army in the outskirts of Luokou did not have any contact. The cavalry troops between each other had already clashed for more than a dozen battles.

There were casualties on both sides, and the Qing army did not have many cavalry troops, and most of them were Mongols, and their purpose was only to harass.

Relying on the superiority in numbers, the cavalry of the Ming army had a certain upper hand and drove all the cavalry of the Qing army around Luokou Town to the south of the Daqing River.

Chen Wang also led his own cavalry to have a brief confrontation with the Qing army's cavalry, and captured the Qing army's head sixteenth level.

Cao Bianjiao's subordinates captured the most, and captured the Qing army's first rank of 43. Cao Bianjiao even broke into the Qing army's cavalry formation, beheaded a Mongolian Zhengbai Banner and distributed Shiku, and greatly boosted the morale of the three armies.

Zu Kuan also led the troops to fight and gained, but compared to Cao Bianjiao, he was much inferior, only gaining level 25.

There are a total of 84 levels. Such a record is placed in Liaodong. After polishing it, you can write a small victory. If you get promoted and get rich, everyone can make a lot of money.

More than twenty miles southeast of Luokou Town is the location of Jinan City.

Standing on the watchtower, you can see that at the end of the southeast direction, there are densely packed camps set up by the Qing army.

There were [-] Qing troops entrenched around Jinan, and hundreds of thousands of people were taken into captivity. At the same time, there were also a large amount of looted food, grass, gold and silver, etc., so the Qing army camp was unprecedentedly large.

The camps of the Qing army stretched around for several rounds, and the camps stretched for tens of miles.

"The current transfer of Donglu is just a normal transfer of camps and defenses. The soldiers of each battalion are notified not to panic, and they will return to their camps after dinner."

Sun Chuanting tightened the cloak on his body, looked at the Qing army camp in the distance, and said calmly.

"After returning to the camp, you can send more people to watch the night. Donglu may send people to harass the camp at night."

Dusk is fading, night is coming, the Qing army will not launch an attack at this moment.

Sun Chuanting's expression remained the same, his eyes slightly closed.

Dong Lu's change made his uneasy mood settle down a lot.

Donglu did not take the initiative to attack, and the cavalry troops sent were mainly for harassment, and basically they would not fight to the death.

Now it is setting up camp across the river, and it is a defensive posture, not an offensive one.

In the battle of Jiazhuang, Donglu was hurt after all, and he was no longer as unscrupulous as when he first entered the pass.

The disadvantage of Donglu is that the population is too small, which is clearly seen by Lu Xiangsheng.

The population of Donglu is too small, so every time they enter the customs, they will plunder a large number of people and return to the north, in order to replenish the scarce manpower.

Although Chenghua Liting has been around for a long time, the impact left behind is long-lasting.

Donglu couldn't accept too heavy casualties.

It was almost impossible for the Qing army to complete the roundabout and outflank secretly as the furthest distance was tens of miles away at night.

Sun Chuanting has always been cautious. The reason why he dared to leave Texas this time and lead a lone army to help Jinan was naturally a lot of preparations.

About thirty or forty miles west of Luokou Town is Qihe County, and Qihe has not fallen.

The Qing army rushed all the way, all their minds were placed on Jinan, and they wanted to break Jinan.

Therefore, as long as the city defenses of the counties along the way are slightly stricter, they will not be lost.

In addition to retreating to Yucheng, they still have a way to retreat to Qihe.

The howling north wind was blowing more and more eagerly, and the fire in the southern suburbs was once again in full swing.

Sun Chuanting pressed the sword at his waist with one hand, and still supported the railing of the watchtower with the other hand, and asked.

"How is the exploration of the surrounding area?"

"All the armies have returned to their camps without collecting more troops at night, and gathered reports. The number of Donglu troops stationed in Henan of the Qing Dynasty is about 5000."

"Except for the south bank of the Daqing River, no traces of the Donglu army have been found in other directions."

Standing aside, Cao Wenzhao bowed his head slightly, clasped his hands and reported to Sun Chuanting.

"The investigation found that most of the flags used in the Donglu camp on the south bank of the Qing River were mainly white, and the rest of the flags were mixed in color, and relatively few troops were dispatched. The main force of the Donglu camp in this battle should be the two white flags under the command of slave chief Dorgon and Duoduo. "

"Two white flags..."

Sun Chuanting's eyes were fixed slightly, this time the Donglu invaded south, the troops were divided into two groups, and two generals were set up.

One is Yue Tuo who is in charge of the two red flags, and the other is Dorgon who is now in charge of the two white flags.

Sun Chuanting was no stranger to the name Dorgon. He had read the files about Donglu in the Ministry of War and had seen Dorgon's name.

Along the way, Sun Chuanting could often hear Dorgon's name.

The two white flags were the main force of the eastern captives' invasion of the south, and their arrival did not make Sun Chuanting feel puzzled.

What puzzled Sun Chuanting was why only 5000 Qing soldiers came.

Sun Chuanting's eyes slowly passed over the Qing army on the south bank. The layout of the Qing army made him feel a little confused, and the current information was not enough for people to know what happened.

Although 5000 people is a large number, it is not too many for the Qing troops currently besieging Jinan.

After all, according to previous intelligence reports, there were at least [-] Qing troops gathered around Jinan.

However, none of this matters now.

Whether the Qing army came with 3, 4, or 5 troops, these are not important things.

Sun Chuanting pressed the sword at his waist and turned around.

His eyes passed over the generals standing on the watchtower, and finally landed on Chen Wang.
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(End of this chapter)