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

Chapter 841
On December 16, the [-]th year of Chongzhen, Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo led a [-]-horse team to Suzhou, and Huang Degong, the chief soldier of Luzhou, also arrived at the same time.

He traveled farther than Sun Kewang and others, but as soon as he received the summons, he mobilized all the soldiers and horses, and the cavalry of the Zhengbing Battalion under his special leadership arrived at the same time as Sun Kewang and others.

However, due to the urgent military situation, he led the cavalry ahead, with only about [-] cavalry beside him, and the rest of the infantry fell far behind, and many of them had not yet crossed the Huaihe River.

This is also the normal state of marching in the towns of Ming Dynasty at this time. When the generals received the troop transfer card, in order not to delay the deadline, they would first lead the cavalry to run wildly, and the rest of the infantry would rush slowly, and they might reach their destination in ten and a half months.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were even cases where the infantry arrived after half a year or a year. When they arrived, the battle was over long ago, and then rushed back.

This situation is not bad, it is very likely that a quarter, or even a third of the troops on the march will disappear, and they don't know where they went.

Lu Jiude, the supervising army, also arrived in Suzhou early. He and Ma Shiying have been in the army for a long time, so they naturally know the disadvantages at this time.Seeing that Huang Degong needs to send [-] troops, only [-] have arrived at this time.Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo need to send [-] troops, but at this time they are only [-], so they cannot be blamed for this.

But with the addition of Sun Kewang and Huang Degong's troops, there were more than [-] Ming troops near the Fuli Bridge by the Sui River, including many cavalry.

Their camps were densely packed and spread all the way to the south bank of the river.

On the opposite side, countless intruders and horses also gathered, forming an endless hut and camp.

When Huang Degong arrived, he suggested to march immediately and cross the Sui River, but although a large number of troops arrived, seeing the endless thieves and horses on the opposite side, the generals were still afraid of silence, Ma Shiying kept pondering, and the supervisor Lu Jiude also hesitated decision.

On December [-]th, when Huang Degong tried to persuade him again, suddenly there was hoarse cheers from the other side, and all the thieves shouted together, and saw a tall flag erected. The big word "Chuang".

Then there was the sound of hoofbeats, and countless cavalry rushed to the plains in the distance. They lined up, layer upon layer, like locusts.

When they marched, the sound of hooves was like thunder, and the pressure on them made all the Ming soldiers in the camp change expression.

After they gathered in one place, all the thieves shouted "Long live" together, the sound was like overwhelming the sea, and that kind of power scared many people to turn pale.

Lu Jiude, the supervisor, was trembling, and was supported by several young eunuchs. Ma Shiying also had an ugly face, and the hands holding the camp trembled.

Seeing the bandits flaunting their might, Huang Degong said bitterly: "The bandits are too rampant, Ma Du, the last general is willing to take his men and horses across the Fuli Bridge, and kill their arrogance!"

Li Dingguo also immediately said: "The final general is willing to lead the soldiers and horses, and kill the thieves with Huang Shuai!"

The rest of the generals remained silent, and Sun Kewang glanced at Li Dingguo, still calm.

Ma Shiying has a majestic body and a very majestic appearance. He is a man of ups and downs in his official career, and he is so sophisticated. He heard that he praised Huang Degong and Li Dingguo, and admired their loyalty to the country, but he thought in his heart: "I am just like Sun Chuanting with these soldiers and horses." Fold it clean?"

Then he said with a solemn expression: "Two generals, the bandits are powerful, don't talk lightly and fight, and stick to the camp."

The supervisor Lu Jiude tremblingly said: "Yes... yes... the thieves are lined up by the river, we need to prevent them from attacking halfway..."

The Huaibei area is criss-crossed by rivers, especially on the Sui River side due to the continuous overflow of the Yellow River, the sediment is silted up, and the banks are full of saline-alkali land and depressions.Traditionally, the common people used to walk along the official road from Fengyang to Xuzhou via Suzhou, but it was difficult to cross the river elsewhere.

At this time, the thieves lined up by the river, and after the officers and soldiers passed the Fuli Bridge, it was really difficult to prevent them from attacking halfway across the river.

Huang Degong said angrily: "Is it because of this that the troops stopped and waited and watched?"

He shouted loudly: "A man is not afraid of life and death, he doesn't want to live, he only wants to die well!"

Everyone's faces changed. Huang Degong's words meant accusing them of being greedy for life and afraid of death, and cowardly seeking to survive.

Anger flashed in Ma Shiying's eyes, but he was deeply scheming, and he was not angry on his face. He just sighed: "General Huang, be very careful. The bandits are powerful, and they are no longer what they used to be. I should not act rashly. I should bear the humiliation and save the Ming Dynasty." Vitality."

Lu Jiude also said: "What Ma Duchen said is very true, General Huang will listen to it."

Huang Degong flicked his cloak and cloak abruptly, and said sharply: "Boys, follow me to kill thieves!"

He was about to leave, Ma Shiying couldn't help turning pale, Li Dingguo's heart was boiling with enthusiasm, and he was about to follow, but at this moment a loud crying voice sounded: "Marshal, don't do it."

Then a figure rushed over, but it was Tian Xiong, Huang Degong's personal general of the Chinese army. He saw him holding Huang Degong's thigh tightly, and crying: "Commander, the bandits are powerful, don't fight lightly!"

Huang Degong roared: "Let me go!"

More relatives rushed forward and hugged Huang Degong's leg like Tian Xiong, crying and begging: "Marshal, don't fight lightly..."

Huang Degong opened his mouth wide, howling like a trapped tiger and lion, and his roar spread far and wide.

Li Dingguo stopped in his tracks, he stared blankly, his blood was cold, and his heart was filled with incomparable sorrow and helplessness.

Sun Kewang remained calm, his face flat and expressionless.

……

Also on the same day, Guide City.

Li Zhenyu, the prefect of Guide, looked at the overwhelming thieves outside with a heavy heart. They have been attacking the city for five days. They have exhausted all methods of attacking the city, and he himself has tried all methods of defending the city, but whether he can hold the city in the end is a question in his mind. There is no bottom.

The bandits besieged the city in large groups at the beginning of this month. Maybe they initially wanted to use the strategy of encircling the area to fight for reinforcements, so they stayed put until five days ago. Only occasionally some small groups of soldiers would attack the Gongchen Gate in the north of the city.

But perhaps it is less important than Xuzhou’s coming to Guidefu City. No soldiers have come to help, and even the three brothers Guiyong, Ding Qiguang, Ding Qiyin, and Ding Chenglie, who were supposed to assist Guidefu City, were dispatched by a decree from the Ministry of War. Went to defend Xuzhou City.

The thieves probably gave up when they couldn't get help. They started to attack the city. They violently attacked the east gate, west gate, and north gate.In the twelfth lunar month of winter, the moats in these places began to freeze, which greatly facilitated the attacks of thieves.

Moreover, they were very determined and vowed to capture the last prefectural city in the border of Henan. Wave after wave of them did not stop, and the dark figures outside covered the ground.

The sound of shouting and killing shook the sky, drums were beating inside and outside the city, the sound of bows and arrows leaving the string and the roar of birds and guns continued to sound, and there was smoke and dust from artillery.Seeing the tragic and bloody battles everywhere, Li Zhenyu gritted his teeth, worried about the situation.

Then he comforted himself that he should be able to hold on. There are a large number of excellent Xuanfu town bird guns in his city, and the society soldiers and township braves he formed are determined. With General Yang's battalion, Fucheng should be able to last for a long time .

Just as he was thinking, there was a burst of crying from the east gate, and then a guard staggered over to report that General Yang Shen had died in battle.

Li Zhenyu's heart trembled, the thing he feared the most happened, and soon there were soldiers crying and reporting, Hou Fangxia, the son of Governor Hou Xun, saw that the city was undefendable, so he led his family to break through the pass, wounding many guards, causing chaos The mid-tier thieves took advantage of the momentum to attack.Now fellow acquaintance Yan Zekong, experiencer Xu Yiyuan, Shangqiu magistrate Liang Yizhang, Jiaoyu Xia Shiying and others are leading social soldiers to fight street thieves.

Li Zhenyu looked over there, and there was indeed a chaotic sound of crying and shouting. At this time, his heart calmed down. After all this happened, the only way to serve the country is to die.

He returned to his mansion, drew out his saber, the past was vivid in his memory, and he murmured: "I have a clear conscience."

He was about to kill himself, when footsteps sounded, Li Zhenzhen felt a blow on the neck, he was dizzy for a while, and then his eyes darkened, and he passed out...

After the fall of Guide Mansion, Li Guo, the general who attacked the city, hated him for sticking to it. After breaking through the city, he captured tens of thousands of people in the west of the city, and killed them regardless of their status.

……

Chongzhen 16th December [-]th, Xuzhou.

Xuzhou is 480 miles from Pizhou, Huai'an Prefecture in the east, 360 miles from Shouzhou, Fengyang Prefecture in the southwest, 840 miles from Guide Prefecture, Henan Province in the west, and 34 miles from Yanzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province in the north.Before Li Hualong opened Maohe, there were many shops and shops in Xuzhou, and the market was prosperous. In the sixth year of Wanli, there were 760 households with a population of [-].

After the excavation of the Weihe River, Xuzhou's water transport status declined. During the reign of Tianqi, floods occurred again, and the city of the state was flooded. Therefore, the state was moved to Yunlong Mountain.But even so, Xuzhou is still the throat of the north and the south, and an important area for offense and defense.It has always been an important military town connecting the borders of Qilu in the north and the road of Liang and Chu in the south.

At this time, Xuzhou City is strange in Zhou Jiuli. The city wall is three feet and three feet high, with four gates, three sides blocking water, and only the south can be used for vehicles and horses. In terms of defense, it is stronger than Guidefu City.

But at this time, the city was full of panic, because not long ago, thieves outside the city brought news of Guide's fall, and they even hung a lot of heads with hanging baskets.Inside there are the heads of the guards of Guide, the heads of the Tongzhi, the heads of the county magistrates, the heads of the experienced people, etc., but the head of Li Zhenyu, the prefect of Guide, is missing.

But even so, it is enough to make people tremble with fear.

In particular, the people in Xuzhou City also got the news that after the bandits captured Guide, they hated him for sticking to it, and after they broke through the city, they killed all the men, women and children inside.

"Sure enough, there is no distinction between jade and stone..."

In the General Soldier's Mansion, looking at the huge pile of heads in front of him, whether it was Xuzhou General Soldier Liu Liangzuo or a large group of generals under his command, they were all terrified, and felt chills in their hearts.

"Marshal, the soldiers are fierce and the battle is in danger. Daming is exhausted, so there is really no need to be buried with him."

"That's right, Commander, it's King Chuang's world now, you have to think about your brothers."

"General Zheng is right. Marshal, even if you don't think about your brothers, you should think about the people of Xuzhou City. Why are the people so innocent that they have to suffer this disaster?"

At this time, the crying and begging of Liu Liangzuo's generals was even more earth-shattering, and they had enough reasons to surrender.

Liu Liangzuo still hesitated, and finally asked: "Jin Shenghuan, where are Ding Qiguang and the others?"

A relative replied: "The last general has asked them, and they are all willing to surrender. Even Xuzhou Zhizhou and the others will not stop them."

Liu Liangzuo finally felt relieved, and he murmured: "Forget it, for the sake of the common people, for the sake of the common people, don't suffer any more, let's surrender."

All the generals under his command were relieved, and they all praised: "The general is benevolent and generous, and the people of Xuzhou City will definitely appreciate it."

On December 16, the 22th year of Chongzhen, Liu Liangzuo, the general soldier of Xuzhou, surrendered.Those who surrendered together were Xuzhou deputy general Jin Shenghuan, guerrilla Liu Shichang, garrison Zhuo Sheng, Guiyong general Ding Qiguang, Ding Qiyin, Ding Chenglie and others.Li Zicheng conquered Xuzhou, which shocked the whole country.

On December 25, upon hearing that Xuzhou had fallen, Ma Shiying, governor of Fengyang, knew that he was invincible, so he led his troops to retreat to Huaihe River.

……

On December 16, the 28th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng used Liu Fangliang as the forward to discuss Shandong, and rushed to all counties and counties in Shandong.

The call-to-action said: "Advocating righteousness and raising the head of the battalion to be the general of the battalion is to be ordered to conquer things: since ancient times, the rise and fall of emperors has been a sign of the hearts of the people. The Ming Dynasty, the number is over. Severe punishment and heavy punishment, the people are unbearable. Birth my Lord, Body benevolent and good life. With the flag of righteousness raised, Haiyu returns to his heart..."

(End of this chapter)