Nanming Yiming

Chapter 17 "Liaodong Tiger" Belongs to the Rebel Army

As the saying goes, "There is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below." Wujiang County is located in the Hangjiahu Plain between Suzhou and Hangzhou. In 909 A.D., King Qian Liuzuo of Wuyue cut off the southern part of Wu County and the northern part of Jiaxing, and established Wujiang County, which belongs to Suzhou. This builds the county.

It is close to Taihu Lake, and the land is fertile. It is known as the land of fish and rice and the home of silk.

In the 16th year from Yuan to Zhengzheng (1356), Zhang Shicheng from Huaidong captured Suzhou and Wujiang.Out of military needs, in addition to building a city along the shore of Taihu Lake and building an earthen city in Pingwang, great efforts were made to expand the northern city of Wujiang and build a city wall.

The Wujiang City built by Zhang Shicheng has a wall height of two feet and eight feet, a thickness of one foot and five feet, and 27 steps in Wuli.Jianlumen [-] and Shuimen [-] are named after directions.

The five water gates are Dadongmen Shuiguan, Dongshuimen, Xiaodongshuimen, Beimen Shuiguan and Ximen Shuiguan.There is no water gate at the south gate.The location and scope of the Wujiang city walls built by Zhang Shicheng in successive dynasties have not changed.

Later, the city wall of Wujiang County was damaged and repaired several times. In the fourth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1647), Li Chengyin, the county magistrate, was ordered to repair the city wall. The city wall has not yet been completely repaired. The Ximen Shuiguan and the South Gate are still being repaired. It is not difficult for the Taihu rebels to kill people from the water gate. !
At this time, "Liaodong Tiger" Weng Zhiheng led more than 100 water bandits and more than [-] Taihu rebels led by Wu Qi had successfully joined forces and were lurking outside Wujiang City.

Wu Qi said: "I have heard for a long time that Weng Dangjia was originally a fierce general under Uncle Jingnan's command. How should we break the city when we attack Wujiang this time?"

Weng Zhiheng: "Wujiang is close to Suzhou, and the Qing army has always been guarded by heavy troops. Fortunately, the city wall has not been completely repaired, and the west gate and the south gate can be directly attacked. You and I can divide our troops into two ways. A quick battle and a quick decision. Don't love to fight!"

"The west gate is the water gate, and the south gate is the land gate. The water gate is easy to break into. Our generals were all strong troops in the army. They have more experience in attacking the city gate than your army. According to the original agreement, our army will take the south gate of your army. How about attacking Ximen Water Pass?"

Wu Qi said: "Since the meeting to attack Wujiang County, we have sent a large number of brothers to investigate the surrounding situation. Weng Dang's family didn't know it. At this moment, the Qing army has transferred all the soldiers and horses from nearby Kunshan, Taicang, Jiading and other counties into the city. Whether it's Ximen or Nanmen, we're going to go and never return?"

Weng Zhiheng asked angrily: "Jia Zhong, what's going on? If you don't tell the truth, I'll kill you!"

Jia Zhong: "Forgive the second master, it's not a small matter. This is the idea of ​​the third master, and the eldest master also agrees!"

"The third leader has notified the Qing army in advance that we will attack the west gate tonight, and as soon as we break up with Wu Qi, I will tell the second leader not to go to the south gate, but to lie in ambush on Wu Qi's way back to Taihu Lake. Even if they were not completely annihilated by the Qing army, they would never return."

"They're all Taihu rebels. He's 'Zhi Duoxing' is so vicious. He doesn't hesitate to collude with the Qing army and kill them all. I, Weng Zhiheng, am really ashamed to be sworn brothers with them."

After all, Jia Zhong was killed with one blow.Shouted: "Who else is willing to follow Lang Lifei and Zhi Duoxing, stand up, and I won't embarrass him, everyone will go their own way from now on?"

Looking at Jia Zhong's corpse on the ground, who would dare to jump out.A lot of people were originally from Weng Zhiheng's old department. After the deputy general Zhang Xiaofan took the lead, everyone shouted in unison: "We are willing to follow the second leader to fight against the Qing Dynasty!"

Weng Zhiheng handed over his hands and received: "Chief Wu, Weng Zhiheng is willing to join the Taihu Rebel Army to fight against the Qing. It's just that Lang Lifei has been plotting against the Turtle Island for a long time, so it may be too late for us to rush back now?"

Wu Qi said: "Brother Weng, you don't need to worry. Master Xia already knew that "Lang Li Fei" would attack. At this moment, Taicang, Kunshan and other counties are already empty cities, and our army happens to be divided into two groups, and the looting will be doubled!"

In Wujiang City, Wu Song's deputy general Yang Wenqi waited for a long time for the Lake Bandits to invade, and was wondering when he suddenly reported that the Lake Bandits had entered Kunshan and Taicang.

"Not good. At the moment, Kunshan, Taicang and other places are empty of troops. We have fallen into the trick of the bandits in the lake."

Yang Wenqi shouted loudly: "Come here, hurry up and gather your troops, and hurry to rescue Taicang."

Yang Wenqi led the cavalry ahead and ran all the way. When he was 10 miles away from Taicang, he saw the flames in the city.No, the damn thieves probably burned the granary in Taicang, this is the supply of my army!
Follow me across the river quickly, I hope there is still time.

As soon as Yang Wenqi crossed the river, the horse was tripped by the bridle rope. At this time, the sound of killing was loud, and countless torches were lit up!

The cavalry that was still crossing the river behind him was intercepted and killed by the lake bandits in the water. The standard cavalry he led was only 200 cavalry. At this moment, a large number of infantry were left far behind by him. It must be too late to come to help.

Yang Wenqi made a decisive decision and immediately captured one of his horses. Under the protection of several personal soldiers, he rushed out of the encirclement and went straight to Taicang City.

"Brothers, kill the Qing soldiers!" Weng Zhiheng charged in with a big knife in his hand, beheading several Qing soldiers in a short while.

At this time, the Qing soldiers had already made a mess, and the horses were frightened and trampled everywhere. Many Qing soldiers even fell into the river and became the ghosts of the rebels.In addition, the main general Yang Wenqi broke through alone, and the remaining Qing army was in a mess without a leader, and they could only break through individually.

After a while, Wu Qi shouted: "Brother Weng, the follow-up troops of the Qing army are approaching, don't love to fight!"

Weng Zhiheng, who was in a hurry to kill, could only shout: "Everyone quickly clean up the battlefield, it's just a pity for these horses!"

After rushing to Taicang City in one breath, Yang Wenqi was still in shock.

In fact, there were only more than 200 rebels who ambushed him, and the rebels lacked bows and arrows, so they could not carry out effective long-range strikes against them.

According to post-war statistics, the loss of the Qing army was not very large. A total of 50 people were beheaded by the rebels (including some drowned), and more than 20 people were injured, but the loss of horses was more, nearly 1 /3 of the horses were beheaded by the rebels, and many of them ran away in fright.

The standard battalion led by Yang Wenqi has 1500 horse infantry, and the loss of this force is actually very small!

The rebel army invaded the two counties of Kunshan and Taicang, not only looting the government treasury, but also killing the county magistrate and burning down the granary.

It's just that I still need to borrow the heads of some ordinary people for my great achievement of "recovering the city". (Killing the good and pretending to be meritorious is a fairly common behavior in this era)

Soon after, a good news spread to the Jiangning governor's office in Suzhou and the governor's office in Nanjing.

Li Chengyin, the county magistrate of Wujiang, misunderstood the plan of the bandit "Lang Li Fei" to attack the east and attack the west. As a result, Taicang, Kunshan and other counties were empty of troops.The humble Yang Wenqi led the army overnight to help, defeated the bandits outside the city of Taicang, beheaded more than [-] water bandits, and regained the lost land
(End of this chapter)