The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 267

The third day of March was the third day after the fall of Qingshan Pass.

Just when the east shines, the sky and the earth begin to shine.

A group of cavalry galloped from the place where the sun rose, entered the Ming Army camp in Zunhua, and placed the brocade box containing Chen Guowei's head in front of Gao Qiqian's case.

Only two quarters of an hour later, drums for gathering troops rang out in the Ming Army camp in Zunhua.

Thousands of troops responded to the flag, thousands of horses roared together, and more than [-] Jiliao soldiers stationed in the east of Zunhua City stepped out of their tents.

Above the official road, countless fiery red flags were hunting and moving in the strong wind.

The Guan Ning Jingqiu riding on a war horse swept past the smooth official road.

……

When marching inland, there is no need to carry too much baggage. The roads are open and the army can travel about sixty miles a day while maintaining its fighting strength. Troops with more mules and horses will move faster.

Qingshan Pass is more than 160 miles away from Santunying and about [-] miles away from Zunhua, which takes two and three days respectively.

Chen Xinjia led his troops to garrison in Jizhou Town, which is about 230 miles away from Yongping Prefecture.

The distance from Fucheng of Yongping Prefecture to Qingshan Pass is more than three hundred miles.

If Sun Chuanting wanted to lead his troops to capture the vicinity of Qingshan Pass, a normal march would take five days. Even a forced march would take four days. Three days was too tight and required a hundred miles of marching every day.

For cavalry, they can travel hundreds of miles a day and still maintain a certain level of combat effectiveness.

But for the infantry, marching hundreds of miles in one day is really at the end of the war, and it is impossible to penetrate Lu's armor.

In modern wars, long-range firearms are used, and after a forced march, the elite troops still need a period of rest before they can go into battle.

In today's era of alternating hot and cold weapons, the performance and power of firearms are not enough to completely eliminate cold weapons. Cold weapons are still the dominant force on the battlefield in this era, and the outcome of hand-to-hand combat often determines the outcome of a battle.

The troops on the forced march had already exhausted their physical strength during the march, and it was difficult for them to go into battle immediately. Even because of the excessive consumption, the troops after the forced march had to rest for a long time before they could go into battle.

The reason why the Qing army chose to exit from Qingshan Pass was largely because Sun Chuanting led the main force of the Ming army into the city of Yongping Prefecture.

It was calculated that Sun Chuanting would need at least four or five days to rush to Qingshan Pass to help.

After capturing Qingshan Pass in four or five days, it was possible to transport a large amount of baggage into Qingshan Pass and at the same time safely set up defenses around it.

Although Sun Chuanting knew that the Qing army might leave through the checkpoints near Jizhou Town and Zunhua, it was difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without straw.

The Qing troops outside the pass continued to harass the pass in the northeast of Yongping Prefecture, with the intention of cooperating with the outside.

Sun Chuanting could only lead the main force into Yongping Fucheng to prevent the Qing army from moving to the northeast.

If you don't go, maybe the feint attack will turn into a real attack.

Sun Chuanting actually didn't have much choice.

And the most important thing is that compared to the pressure brought by the Qing army, the pressure brought by the imperial court was even greater.

Sun Chuanting learned the lessons from Lu Xiangsheng's previous pursuit and formulated the method of copying.

However, the main force of the Qing army had not moved for more than ten days. Therefore, Sun Chuanting also did not move and spent more than half a month in extreme silence.

The court gradually became suspicious of his pre-emptive policy, and Sun Chuanting also suffered a lot of criticism.

Even Chongzhen personally issued an order for interrogation. The imperial edict was strict and held Sun Chuanting accountable.

I asked Sun Chuanting why he seemed to be looking for excuses to avoid giving way, and why he said in the first step that he was dedicated to Jian and Leng, and then in the next step he said that the Qing army wanted to move towards Yongluan, but what on earth did he want to do by standing still?
During this period of time, Sun Chuanting not only had to deal with the unknown Qing army and the barracks from various towns arriving from different places, but also had to deal with criticism and interrogation from within the court, and was almost exhausted.

The fact that Chen Guowei abandoned his official position and fled actually hit Sun Chuanting's angry muzzle.

I see that all kinds of affairs are becoming more and more numerous, and they are constantly being cut and sorted out.

Sun Chuanting simply came up with the method he used to solve the problem in Shaanxi - kill!

Wherever Shang Fangjian went, heads rolled to the ground. More than 100 heads fell to the ground, allowing Sun Chuanting to regain control of the situation.

……

In the 12th year of Chongzhen, on the fifth day of March, we were in Taiping Village, south of Qingshan Pass.

Chen Wang led the bay red horse under his seat and led the armored cavalry slowly towards the high slope of Taiping Village.

Taiping Village is a village at the foot of Qingshanguan Mountain. There used to be more than a hundred households living here, but now these more than 100 households are dead and scattered.

Taiping Village, which was originally lined with pavilions and pavilions, now only has burned-down walls and ruins.

In the village, there was a faint smell of fresh blood and the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke. It was obvious that they had just experienced a fierce battle.

In the center of the village, more than thirty corpses were placed in three rows and stacked together.

Most of these dead people were wearing bulging armor that had not yet been removed.

None of these men were wearing helmets, and their heads were exposed to the freezing snow.

There is no hair on the top of their heads, and the blue scalp is exposed. There is only a small bunch of hair on the back of the head, tied into a small money rat tail.

The hairstyle on their heads and the clothes on their bodies all indicate their identity.

These dead people were the Qing soldiers who were originally stationed in Taiping Village.

Chen Wang led Jia Qi all the way up the high slope outside Taiping Village.

From here you can see the entire front of Qingshan Pass, as well as everything going on around the mountain road.

Snowflakes were falling, and the cold wind was biting.

In the field of vision, there is a silver-white world, the sky and the earth are vast, and the sky and the wild fields are connected into an endless expanse.

Among the mountains, countless tall fortresses stand at the key points of the mountain roads.

Qingshanguan was built during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, and the castle was built on the platform at the foot of the mountain.

The guarded road reaches the Saibei grassland outside and the Santun Camp of Jizhou Town in the interior. It has an important geographical location and has always been an important military area for military strategists.

The mountains on both sides of Guancheng are arching against each other, and there are many peaks and mountains. The Great Wall rises from the south and winds its way to the west. It makes Qingshan Pass even more dangerous and majestic. It is said that there is only one man to guard the pass, and ten thousand people cannot open it. It’s not an exaggeration.

Shanhaiguan Pass is the first gate in the world, while Qingshan Pass Water Gate can be said to be the first gate of the Great Wall.

The water gate of Qingshan Pass is built on the east side of the castle. It is a lift-type water gate.

The water gate is based on a cliff, with five layers of stone strips built on the base, and 55 rows of square bricks on top of the strips of stone to form an arch.

The door is eight feet wide and one foot four feet high, with an upper arch and a lower arch.

From a distance, Shuimen Cave looks like a crescent moon rising on the mountainside.

Even though it has been washed away by hundreds of years of war, shaken by earthquakes, and washed away by several flash floods, its shape has not changed and it still stands tall in Qingshan Pass.

There is a copper gate inside the water gate, which weighs a thousand kilograms. There are four large stone fences on the four sides of the gate tower, which are connected with levers and can freely raise and lower the gate.

Normally, the gate is lowered to store water. If the enemy invades, the gate can be raised to release water to stop the invaders.

But no matter how majestic a checkpoint is, it is useless if no one is stationed there.

Chen Guowei fled without fighting, which was both unexpected and reasonable.

Jizhou Town is rotten to the core. No one knows how many soldiers there are in combat, but the generals have long since lost the will to fight.

Previous victories inspired many soldiers and generals, but they did not include the generals in Jizhou Town.

At present, Qingshan Pass, this majestic pass, has become the garrison of the Qing army.

This steep terrain became the support of the Qing army.

In the mountain road under Qingshan Pass, a large number of people, horses and livestock are slowly flowing along the mountain road towards the outside of the pass.Outside the Qingshan Pass, the road reaches Saibei Grassland.

After leaving the customs, it is a land of vast plains.

Tangbao came from the northeast, indicating that the Qing army had suspended its offensive in the Lengkou and Jianchang areas, and that the main force had moved west.

Apparently he was preparing to go to the area outside Qingshan Pass to receive the troops entering the pass and return.

The Qing army's camps were stacked up all over the mountains and fields, with flags of various colors fluttering in the cold wind. They had already spread out their formations, and they were obviously ready.

If you want to rescue the imprisoned people inside and the plundered baggage gold and silver, you can't bypass the Qing army's outer camps.

"Have the casualties been counted?"

Chen Wang put the riding whip on his waist and asked Hu Zhili who was following him while looking at Qingshan Pass, which was located not far away between the two mountains.

"It has been counted."

Hu Zhili took a step forward and answered.

"In the battle of Taipingzhai, a total of 37 levels of slaves were captured. There were no prisoners. It is estimated that the number of enemies killed and wounded should be [-].

Jiannu had regulations on taking away the bodies of soldiers killed in battle, so unless it was an encirclement and annihilation battle, there were basically not many heads captured.

"Our army suffered 120 casualties, 17 minor injuries, and [-] serious injuries..."

Hu Zhili's voice was a little low, and his head hung low.

"The military doctor said that only three of the seriously injured people can be saved, and the rest may not survive tonight..."

There were about two Niulu troops guarding the Qing army near Taiping Village, about 600 people.

It was the artillery carried by the army that made the difference, otherwise if they wanted to capture Taiping Village, they would probably have to pay more casualties.

Chen Wang lowered his head and looked down at Taiping Village.

All around the Minzhai, soldiers of the Hanzhong Army under his command were constantly walking.

They are currently building a new garrison camp relying on Taiping Village.

"understood……"

Chen Wang stared at the rolling green mountains in the distance.

One general's success will lead to thousands of bones being withered, and he has been rising through the ranks with the help of his outstanding military exploits.

But under that share of military exploits, they are all made of numerous bones.

And in the future, there will be more of those bones...

Along the way, Chen Wang's heart had already become tenacious, and he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Ensure that the pension can be distributed to the family members of every soldier who died in the war. If there are no family members, according to the old practice, one will be adopted from the orphans of the refugees and the surname will be changed as a descendant."

Chen Wang closed his eyes. He knew very well that he would receive more casualty reports in the future than now.

There was not much he could do for the soldiers who died in battle.

To ensure that the pension can be sent to the family members of every soldier, if there are no family members and are alone, one person can be selected as a descendant among the unclaimed refugee orphans, which can be regarded as continuing his incense.

In the early morning of tomorrow, Taiping Village will become the forward position of the army.

The real battle has yet to come, and there will be more casualties in the next few days.

Chen Wang opened his eyes and slowly exhaled the turbid air accumulated in his chest.

After receiving the military order, he led the cavalry under his command to gallop more than 150 miles in one day.

From Fucheng in Yongping Prefecture, we rushed all the way to Chen Guowei's military camp.

Chen Guowei still knew nothing about the purpose of his arrival.

Chen Guowei did not realize that death was coming, and even led his family to greet him at the camp gate.

Chen Wang directly asked Shang Fangjian to read out the military order given by Sun Chuanting and kill Chen Guowei Zhengfa in front of the camp gate.

Most of the servants who followed Chen Guowei out of the camp were not wearing armor, and were easily killed by the armored soldiers brought by Chen Wang.

Then borrowing the military order from monk Fang Jian and more than a thousand fully armed armored cavalry, Chen Wang subdued a group of frightened Jizhou town soldiers, and then rushed to Chen Xinjia's headquarters with Chen Guowei's head without stopping. , prompting Chen Xinjia to send troops.

Chen Wang did not follow Chen Xinjia, but led his troops back.

Chen Guowei's head was escorted by the guards sent by Chen Xinjia and passed all the way to Gao Qiqian's case.

On March [-], the Eastern Route Army led by Sun Chuanting had crossed Qian'an and headed north.

Because among the three Ming armies, the soldiers from various towns and camps were mixed, it was no longer appropriate to use the names of camps and towns to divide them.

So now we simply divide them by region.

The troops led by Sun Chuanting were located in Fucheng, Yongping Prefecture, and were located in the east, so they were called the East Route Army.

The troops led by Gao Qiqian were in Zunhua and lived in the west, so they were called the West Route Army.

The troops led by Chen Xinjia were in the central area, so they were called the Central Route Army.

After Chen Wang returned, he was appointed as a pioneer.

Now he is to open the way as the vanguard of the East Route Army and expand the position for the army.

The Donglu army led by Sun Chuanting was now thirty miles behind, less than half a day's journey away.

"I remember that Tangbao reported that the main forces of the West Route Army and the main forces of the Central Route Army have completed their rendezvous and are now stationed thirty miles southwest of Qingshan Pass."

Chen Wang turned to look southwest and asked.

"Brother remembers it well."

Chen Gong took a step forward and glanced toward the southwest.

"I heard that they fought several battles in the past few days and took back some property and people."

"But there are no big moves at all. It seems they are all waiting for us."

There are few soldiers in Ji and Liao that Chen Gong can think highly of.

Running away in the face of the wind, cowardly and without any blood, with high military pay, the best weapons and equipment, occupying the best castle, but fighting the worst battle.

"Of course they need to wait for us."

Chen Wang nodded slightly. It was normal for Chen Xinjia and Gao Qiqian to stand still.

"The power of establishing slaves is huge. The West Route Army and the Central Route Army together only have more than [-] soldiers. Naturally, they cannot waste their time fighting."

Chen Xinjia was Yang Sichang's confidant, so he naturally did not want to waste the war.

And the most important thing is that although Chen Xinjia has experience in supervising an army, he has no experience in commanding troops. This is the first time that Chen Xinjia has commanded an army of tens of thousands, so naturally he does not dare to do anything without permission.

Gao Qiqian wanted to fight now, but it was difficult for him to control Ji Liao's proud soldiers.

The battle of Qingshan Pass will only really start when Sun Chuanting arrives.

History is now beyond recognition, and many things have changed.

The battle of Qingshan Pass was the last battle of the Wuyin Revolution.

I don’t know how it will end in the end.

(End of this chapter)