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

Chapter 517 Jinzhou Dangerous

On the ninth day of August in the 14th year of Chongzhen, Jinzhou, Sishi.

Jinzhou City is located on the north bank of Xiaoling River. In the 24th year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty, Cao Feng, the commander, rebuilt the old county town of Yongle in Yuan Dynasty.

In the 12th year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, Wang Kai was commanded to expand the city wall. At that time, the circumference was more than six miles, and four towers were built at the four corners of the city wall.In the 17th year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty, Hu Zhong, the general of Jinzhou City, expanded the city again. After the construction, the city was as round as a plate, so Jinzhou City was also called Pancheng.

At that time, there were more than [-] steps in Zhou Qili of Jinzhou, and there was a moat, and the city wall was nearly ten meters high.Outside the city wall in the south, there is a small section of the city wall. On the four sides of the city, there are also two-story double-story towers. At the same time, there are small Guanxiang towns in the east, west and north of Jinzhou.

After the completion of Jinzhou City in the reign of Hongzhi, the general layout remained unchanged until the end of Chongzhen (the location of the city is in the ancient tower area of ​​later generations).However, due to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jinzhou was at the forefront. It has experienced many wars, and the city walls have been destroyed and repaired repeatedly. It has been full of the smoke of war.

At this time, Jinzhou City was once again facing the flames of war. Looking outside the city to the east, west, and north, countless Qing troops lined up.The sound of cannons was booming, and many artillery shells whistling over continuously hit the city wall. Heavy iron balls were fired. From time to time, the sound of breaking and collapsing city bricks sounded.

Under the fierce bombardment of the Qing army, the Jinzhou defenders in the city and the three pass cities, wrapped in folded scarves and wearing short body armor, all avoided in horror, and some even yelled and panicked. group.

The gunners of the Ming army on the city also tried their best to fire back. However, although Jinzhou City has many artillery pieces, there are only seven Hongyi cannons, and General Frangji has less than [-] cannons. Insufficient strength.

The Qing army's artillery came one after another, and it seemed that they would not stop. Under the fierce artillery fire, there was no place to stand on the city. The defenders had to go down the city wall and hide in the caves under the wall.

I don't know how long it took before the Qing army's artillery stopped slowly, and the defenders on the city hadn't breathed a sigh of relief. Immediately afterwards, the horns sounded again, and the shouts of the Qing army on several sides were overwhelming. The densely packed shield cars rolled out.

They are distributed layer by layer, and behind each layer of shield cars is a layer of archers. Some of these shield cars even have earthen vehicles of the Ming army, which are used to prevent the artillery of the Ming army.Behind the multi-layered shield vehicles and archers, there was another large wave of small vehicles carrying baskets of soil and hemp, used to fill in trenches, and finally dense cavalry.

Seeing the dense concentration of soldiers and horses, which seemed to be boundless, and the ocean-like banner, shining in the sun, the Jinzhou defenders on the city took a breath of air, and many people were pale.

"Has the Tartar gone mad?"

In the southwest corner of Jinzhou City, there are Guangji Temple and the Millennium Liao Pagoda. This tower is [-] stories high and is located on a hill.In the wars over the years, the guards in the city all lived on the tower and used it as command and dispatch.

At this time, on one of the floors of the ancient pagoda, there were a group of Ming generals in full armor. The first general was over [-] years old. core figures.

The Zu family is full of officials, and it is the leading giant family in western Liaoning. Brother Zu Dashou and younger brothers Zu Dale, Zu Dacheng, Zu Dabi, and nephews Zu Zeyuan, Zu Zepei, Zu Zesheng, Zu Zefa, Zu Zerun, Zu Kefa's people are all officers at all levels from the general army to the deputy generals, generals, and guerrillas.

They are stationed in Ningyuan, Dalinghe, and Jinzhou cities. In this place in western Liaoning, they are powerful and powerful, and no one can match them.Even the emerging Wu family, Wu Xiang, Wu Sangui and his sons who have thousands of family members, can only rely on the ancestors.

However, after the Battle of Daling River, Zu Dashou's sons Zu Zerun, Zu Zepu, Zu Zehong, and adopted son Zu Kefa, their confidantes surrendered Zhang Cunren, Li Yun, Han Daxun, Wu Sanfeng, and Pei Guozhen to Qing Dynasty. , is not as good as before, especially Wu Sanfeng is Wu Sangui's elder brother, and Pei Guozhen is his uncle.

However, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, and in this area of ​​Western Liaoning, Zu Dashou still speaks his word and is powerful.

It was his younger brother Zu Dabi who was talking, he was tall and tall, with a flamboyant beard and hair, and he was holding a huge mace. Although he was over half a hundred years old, he was still very brave in battle. The Qing army was nicknamed "The Second Crazy Zu".

At this time, he and his elder brother were guarding Jinzhou together. Looking at the swarming Qing army, he couldn't help being dumbfounded, and shouted: "Since yesterday, they have been beating them wave after wave. This is... really going to capture Jinzhou City!" ?”

Although Jinzhou has been besieged for several months, the Qing army attacked the city dozens of times, and tried their best, such as bombardment, gunpowder bombing, tunnel digging, and ants attacking the city, but many times it can be seen that , Their will is not firm, as long as the defenders fight to the death and they can't get a bargain, they will retreat.

However, from the day before yesterday, the Qing soldiers outside the city seemed to have the idea of ​​not giving up unless they captured the city and achieved their goal. Not only did the offensive become more resolute and fierce, but they also called in many reinforcements.

In the past, the only people trapped in the city were the soldiers and horses of the Tartar Manchurian flags inlaid with red flags and the red flags of Zhenghong. Now the soldiers and horses of the remaining flags have also appeared one after another.There were more and more cannons outside the city, and even Huang Taiji's yellow dragon umbrella appeared several times, which made the defenders in the city feel that the situation was not good.

"The thief slave is a plan to surround the spot and urge the reinforcements to come quickly."

Zu Dashou said in a low voice, his voice was thick, firm and powerful, with an undeniable taste.

This is a habit developed by standing at the pinnacle of power for many years.After all, in Liaodong, there are very few people who can challenge him, even Hong Chengchou, governor of Jiliao, was very polite when he met him in the past.

With his sword in his hand, he stood steadily, as if he didn't care about the strength of the Qing army.

He continued to issue orders, where to strengthen the defense, where to reinforce the troops, and the command was determined.The east, north, and west sides of Jinzhou are closed to the city, which played a great role in protecting the inner city of Jinzhou. The Qing army attacked many times, but they could only climb to the outer city, but they could not attack the inner city.

Especially in the west and south, a large part is close to the river, and there are ancient pagodas and hills. It is even more difficult for the Qing soldiers to attack. I hope that I can resist this wave again.

Zu Dashou's sharp eyes looked at the four sides of the city from time to time. Apart from the boundless sea of ​​Qing soldiers attacking the city, he could also faintly see their camps around the city, mostly on the east, north and west sides.

The south of Jinzhou City is not far from the Xiaoling River, and it is inconvenient to set up a camp or line up, so in that direction, there are only some wandering horses galloping.However, across the Xiaoling River, not far from the south bank, there are also some camps, but they are relatively few. These are the openings deliberately opened by the Qing army to facilitate the arrival of reinforcements from the Ming army.

In fact, it is not safe to stand in the tower. The Qing army knew that the tower was the command center of the guards, so many artillery bombarded the tower.Not long ago, a shell from the Qing army knocked off the top of the tower. The generals persuaded Zu Dashou to leave the ancient tower, but Zu Dashou refused.

He sighed: "There are talented people from generation to generation in the country. Wang Dou is not easy, and the slaves are in a hurry."

Zu Dabi was taken aback, and hurriedly shouted: "What's the rush? Brother, we are the ones who are in a hurry now. Wang Doujian is not going to say it simply. According to the offensive of the Tartars, how long Jinzhou City can last is hard to say. If reinforcements don't come, we will be finished. "

Zu Dashou glanced at his younger brother, Zu Dabi was immediately speechless, although he was brave in battle, but he was afraid of this elder brother since he was a child, under the prestige, Zu Dashou only looked at him, and Zu Dabi shut up.

Zu Dashou shook his head inwardly, his brother is brave and brave, but the general situation is a little bit worse, he said: "We already know the news about Huangtuling, Uncle Zhongyong won a great victory with nearly [-] heads beheaded. Kill that boy Azig."

"Besides, they did not follow Huang Taiji's strategy and did not fall into their trap. Therefore, the Qing army had to start in Jinzhou and urge reinforcements to advance. The fastest route to Jinzhou is to come from the west of Songshan Fort. If you come from there, We had to face the Qing army at Rufeng Mountain, so as not to attack them from the side, or cut off the retreat... It’s just that Rufeng Mountain is not easy to fight, and if we want to capture that mountain, I don’t know how many people will die.”

Zu Dabi said angrily: "Rufeng Mountain is not easy to attack, but how long can we Jinzhou hold on to such an offensive by the Tartars? If reinforcements don't come, the city will fall."

Zu Dashou was silent for a long time, and finally sighed: "Yes, such a fierce attack, the city will not last long."

Jinzhou has been besieged for many months, and the defenders in the city are already very tired. Although there is enough food and grass in the city, there is not enough firewood, and it is a problem to burn fire for food, which affects morale.

He asked: "Did the messenger send the war situation in Jinzhou to Governor Hong of Songshan Fort?"

A general replied: "It went well. There were not many Tartar soldiers and horses to intercept them along the way. The day before yesterday they were divided into multiple groups and left the city at night. That night, they arrived at Hong Du's camp."

Zu Dashou said, "That was intentional by the Tartars."

He asked again, "What did Hong Du say?"

The general replied: "The commander-in-chiefs are still in dispute, and Governor Hong can't make a decision. The reinforcements will come to Jinzhou. I don't know when we will have to wait."

He gritted his teeth, and suddenly said bitterly: "Master Wu set out to rescue, but was stopped by Wang Dou. Now several general soldiers in Songshan, Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu, Fu Yingchong, Cao Bianjiao, Wang Tingchen, and even the supervisor Zhang Ruoqi are standing On his side, Master Wu's army is weak and he dare not come alone, Liu Zhaoji and Zuo Guang are wavering first, Tang Tong and Ma Ke are even more afraid of death... What does Wang Dou want to do? Can you just sit back and watch Jinzhou perish?"

"That's it."

As soon as the general spoke, all the generals on the pagoda were chattering, all of them expressed resentment towards Wang Dou.

When Wang Dou was in Songshan at the beginning, he tried his best to prevent Wu Sangui's immediate rescue, and made a plan to attack Huangtuling. The generals in Jinzhou have not said anything yet.

After all, using chariots to force the Qing army without saying anything about fighting lightly was the strategy set by Zu Dashou and Hong Chengchou at that time.The Qing army was powerful, and of course they could see that if they acted rashly, it might be a complete overthrow. At that time, even Zu Dashou felt that Wu Sangui's dream was a little bit too much.

When the news of Huangtuling's great victory was transmitted to Jinzhou by cavalry, the soldiers and civilians in the city cheered and celebrated, and praised Wang Dou.

But then the Qing army suddenly attacked Jinzhou again, and this time with firm determination, Jinzhou's defenders were hard to hold. After receiving the news that Wang Dou stopped them, everyone immediately hated Wang Dou deeply.

(End of this chapter)