A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 228
A few days ago, Wen Daxing led a team of Yebushou to pass around Tongzhou for a few times, and roughly drew some local terrain maps.Among the captured Qing soldiers, they also explained the situation of the defenders in Zhangjiawan and other places.

In the past few days, the Qing soldiers went south in a big way, and it was rumored that most of the Qing soldiers left near Tongzhou had left.Apart from most of the supplies they robbed with the army, some of them were stored near Tongzhou, mostly in Zhangjiawan and other places, and some people stayed behind to take care of them.

Wang Dou spread out the map of Zhangjiawan that was surveyed and drawn at night, and said in a deep voice: "Zhangjiawan is twelve miles south of Tongzhou City, sixty miles away from the capital, and is the confluence of the four rivers Baihe, Fuhe, Hunhe and Lihe. The land, a few miles to the west, is Gaolizhuang. The city of Zhangjiawan is more than nine hundred feet long, with five gates and three sluices. At this time, it is occupied by slaves. The city is dangerous by the river, and it is extremely difficult to attack. We have no heavy artillery. There is no siege equipment, so leave him alone for the time being."

"Fortunately, the land to the west of the city is the wharf, where there are many warehouses, and there is even Tongji warehouse here. In the past, the grain transported along the Tonghui River could reach Tongzhou, and even directly to the capital. Now these warehouses are all It was owned by the slave soldiers, and it happened to be taken for my use."

"We have two choices. One is to attack the warehouses outside Zhangjiawan City, and the other is to attack the land of Gaoli Village. There are some warehouses inside and outside the village, as well as the food and supplies looted by the slaves. The strength of the slaves, Zhang There are about thousands of people in Jiawan area, but there are still more than [-] people in Tongzhou and other places."

After Wang Dou finished speaking, everyone present was in deep thought.

I heard that there are still more than 2 Qing soldiers in Tongzhou area, and even the warlike Han Zhong is cautious. Wen Fangliang said: "General, if there are only a few thousand Tatar soldiers in Zhangjiawan, our security army will not be afraid. But the Tatars Zi Guan is fighting in the field, and sentry cavalry is everywhere, and our thousands of troops are going to Tongzhou, and we will definitely not be able to hide it from them."

"The final general is worried that when we are halfway there, reinforcements from Tongzhou Tartars have arrived. There must be a fierce battle in the wild. There are [-] Tartars, and there are estimated to be seven to eight thousand armored soldiers. We have chariots and artillery. Although we have the ability to protect ourselves, we may not be able to plunder and achieve our goal, and what is even more worrying is whether the Tartars going south will come back to help."

"The final general thinks that it is not appropriate to fight at this time, maybe you can wait for two more days."

Han Zhongdao: "Why wait? If the Tartars in Tongzhou don't go south, shall we wait until the food runs out?"

Wen Fangliang said: "Old Han, I also think about us security guards. We don't have much capital, only a few thousand people, so we need to be more cautious in everything."

Although Han Zhong thought what Wen Fangliang said was reasonable, he still muttered: "It's not fun."

Zhong Tiaoyang said: "The general thinks that what Wen Qian said is reasonable, and the general also thinks that it is better to delay for two days."

Most of the people in the room agreed with Wen Fangliang's opinion, thinking that now is not the time to fight recklessly, so prudence is the best.

Wang Dou got up and walked around the house twice, and said decisively: "Okay, just wait for two more days. After two days, no matter how many slaves are around Tongzhou, we will send troops to plunder."

……

After discussing the matter that day, Wang Dou dispatched Yebushou to closely monitor the enemy situation in Tongzhou area. During the two days, the Qing soldiers in Tongzhou still set up their camps from time to time and went south.On the afternoon of the second day, the army also captured a Qing soldier who was allocated to Shiku, and got an important piece of information. In the entire Tongzhou border, there were less than [-] remaining Qing soldiers, and most of them went to Liangxiang.

Wang Dou pondered, according to history, after most of the Qing soldiers gathered in Liangxiang, they quickly conquered Zhuozhou, and then went deep into three routes, one from Laishui to Yizhou, one from Xincheng to Xiong County, and one from Dingxing to Ansu. Siege Baoding.Afterwards, they divided their troops into eight routes and went southward, along the Taihang Mountains all the way, along the canal all the way, and each route in the middle was between the Taihang Mountains and the Yellow River.

From the beginning of November to the beginning of December, the Qing army successively captured Dingzhou, Gaoyang, Hengshui, Wuyi, Zaoqiang, Jize, Wen'an, Bazhou, Fucheng, Weixian, Pingxiang, Nanhe, Shahe, and Yuanshi. , Zanhuang, Lincheng, Gaoyi, Xianxian and other cities.

This is the beginning of another disaster in Ming Dynasty, but the Qing soldiers who went south will not come back for the time being. There are less than 3000 soldiers in the Tongzhou area, and less than [-] armored soldiers. Our own security forces are not afraid.

After receiving this information, Wang Dou was secretly happy, and he said happily: "Okay, it seems that God is on our side."

Looking at the joyful generals in the room, he said loudly: "The whole army is ready tonight, and we will set off tomorrow to grab his mother."

Everyone laughed. In a few days there will be no food in the army. People say that barefoot people are not afraid of those who wear shoes. Now that I am barefoot, the Tartar soldiers wear shoes. If they don’t rob them, who will they steal?
……

There was nothing to say all night, and the next day, that is, in the morning of October 11, 27th year of Chongzhen, thousands of Shun Township troops gathered in the vast wheat field on the right outside the fort.

The surrounding area of ​​the fort, that is, the wheat fields around the fort are the most flat and wide, where thousands of soldiers and horses can be concentrated.In the chaos of war, farming with peace of mind has long been a dream, and the surrounding wheat fields have been trampled countless times by military horses.

From time to time there is a cold wind blowing in the sky, sometimes some snowflakes fall, the end of October in the lunar calendar of the Ming Dynasty is approaching the beginning of December in the Gregorian calendar of later generations, especially in the northern region of the Ming Dynasty, the weather is very cold early.Unlike the cold in the south, the winter in the north is dry and cold. Those snowflakes falling on the ground will not make the ground muddy, but will only freeze all the roads hard.This is also good, the road is better.

In the new wind, thousands of Shunxiang troops lined up neatly, just waiting quietly.All of them wear armor, or iron armor, or cotton armor inlaid with iron leaves inside, red cotton and wool overcoats on the outside, and iron mesh boots on their feet, all of them are extremely energetic.Due to the beheading and capture a few days ago, even some of the soldiers in the army were also put on armor.

They are all places in the north. Compared with Baoanzhou, the Gyeonggi area is not unacclimatized. In addition, there are a large number of doctors in the army, led by the medical officer Wang Tianxue himself. resulting in downsizing.

The sky had just dawned, the dark clouds were as low as lead, and there seemed to be no sound between the sky and the earth, except for a bright red flag that swept and fluttered like a living thing, making rattling noises from time to time.

Suddenly the sound of hoofbeats sounded, and nearly a hundred riders came straight from the castle to the official road. Dozens of flags fluttered and fluttered. Among them was a fiery red flag with the character of "Wang". Run to the front of the formation, rein in the horse and stop the rein.

Wang Dou slowly glanced at the soldiers in the formation, and Chi Dacheng, the governor, was in front of him, looking at the army with the same seriousness.In front of thousands of Shun Township troops, except for a team of firecrackers who stayed behind in the village fort, the rest have all arrived.The generals of each department dismounted and stood in front of their respective army formations, and Wen Daxing, Li Guangheng, Zhao Xuan, Zhong Tiaoyang and others who were directly in charge of the battalion also led their Yebushu, cavalry, artillery, and supplies. Soldiers, all stand upright.

This time Wang Dou sent troops to plunder, except for Tian Qiming, the team officer who stayed at Shiqiao, who withdrew to the village fort to defend, the rest all went out. They set off at the same time as the Wanggan cart, and there are many horses that were snatched. This time, they are all accompanied, and they must return with a full load.

Wang Dou has put all his eggs in one basket, if he fails, he will be benevolent.

(End of this chapter)