Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 43 Going to the battlefield, goodbye beauty
Duoduo went to Sizhou on April [-], and soldiers arrived outside Yangzhou on the [-]th. In just four days, the Qing soldiers pierced through the defense of Jiangbei, which was heavily invested by the imperial court.

The Qing soldiers passed through Sizhou, Xuyi, and Tianchang all the way, and the Ming army never fought.

The governor of the Shige Department has been in such unbearable condition for half a year. When the Qing soldiers arrived, the Jiangbei Ming army either fled in haste or turned against each other one after another. Wang Yan was so shocked that he had nothing to say.

Yangzhou is an important town in the north of the Yangtze River and a barrier to Nanjing. Moreover, Shi Kefa, the highest official in the north of the Yangtze River, was trapped in the city. Huang Degong had to be rescued.

In the state government office in Chizhou City, Huang Degong discussed with everyone, and finally decided to let Liu Liangzuo's 4 people and Wang Yan's 5000 people return east to help Yangzhou, while he led the army to continue to monitor and guard against the left army in Anqing.

Wang Yan returned to the camp and quickly summoned the generals to discuss the matter. The Zhongyi Battalion was going to Yangzhou to fight against the Qing soldiers.

Everyone discussed for a while, and finally decided to give Qian Yifeng half of the grain and grass, plus 5000 taels of silver, and take a hundred veterans with them, and send them to Zhaoqing Mansion, where Wang Yan was guarding, for resettlement, while Wang Yan took the rest with him. The grain and grass, plus 1 taels of silver, went straight to Yangzhou with the army.

Compared with fighting the left army, it is undoubtedly more dangerous to fight the Qing army from the north. Liu Liangzuo and his party are dawdling in Chizhou City, unwilling to return east.

Wang Yan was worried that the picture in his dream would become a reality, and he was anxious, so he led the army and left Chizhou that day.

Under the repeated urging of Huang Degong and the court, Liu Liangzuo took his boat down the river eastward, but it was only thirty miles a day, and his movements were slow.

The Zhongyi Battalion marched along the Yangtze River. Wang Yan led the cavalry in front, and Wang Wei led the infantry to press the luggage and the artillery team behind, rushing all the way.

On April 21, Wang Yan led the cavalry to the outside of Nanjing. He was shocked to hear that Gao Yuanzhao's admiral Li Benshen led the general Yang Chengzu and others to surrender to Duoduo.

Xuzhou town was surrendered without a shot, and the Qing army added 4 horses, which made Wang Yan feel desperate and felt the crisis of the situation, and it was the moment of life and death.

The formerly prosperous city of Nanjing has also become sluggish due to successive unfavorable news coming from the front line, like a precarious situation in the wind and rain.

Wang Yan asked the cavalry to rest outside Cheng, while he immediately entered Nanjing to meet Xu Yanyan.

In the Meixiang Building, Xu Yanyan looked at Wang Yan, stroked the long scar on the face of her sweetheart, and immediately burst into tears.

The two have thousands of longings, but they are helpless.

Wang Yan didn't have time to tell Xu Yanyan about the pain of longing and parting, so he hastily put down 3000 taels of silver for her to redeem himself, and then left with tears.

Xu Yanyan sent him to the gate of the courtyard with tears in her eyes, Wang Yan felt a pain in his heart, but the country was in danger, and the man should be in serious danger, so he could only temporarily put aside his love for his children.

Going to Yangzhou, life and death are unknown, this parting may be the separation of yin and yang, Wang Yan may never be able to fulfill the original promise, he turned to look at Xu Yanyan, stroked the teardrops on her cheeks tenderly, his face was full of distress.

At this moment, Wang Yan really hopes that he is just an ordinary person who doesn't understand anything, doesn't care about the peril of his family and country, doesn't care about the survival of his clothes, but just spend his life with the one he loves in a normal way.

However, as a scholar, he has read loyalty, filial piety and righteousness since he was a child. However, he has a deep understanding of righteousness. He has known the great defense of Yi and Xia since ancient times, and understands that Han and thief are incompatible. However, he just saw the survival of China in his dreams, and shouldered the survival of the nation. The shocking task.

How to choose between the country and the family, the pain in Wang Yan's heart can only be turned into a choked sob, "However, it is difficult for Xu Qing to be Xu Guo."

"Brother Wang is going to do big things, Yanyan will not stop you!" Xu Yanyan forced herself to laugh with tears in her eyes: "Yanyan will rest assured to wait for Brother Wang to come back."

As smart as Xu Yanyan, how could she not know the depression in Wang Yan's heart? She was educated and reasonable since she was a child, so she could only hide the reluctance and worries in her heart to make Wang Yan feel at ease.

Seeing Xu Yanyan's forced smile, Wang Yan felt pain in his heart, "If I don't return, I can find a good man to marry."

Hearing this, Xu Yanyan tried her best not to shed tears, raised her pretty face, and looked at Wang Yan, as if she wanted to imprint his appearance deeply in her heart, fearing that she would never see it again. Think handsome face.

In just one year, Xu Yanyan and Wang Yan once again experienced life and death. Tears welled up in her beautiful eyes, "It's so hard to tolerate Xu Jun!"

Wang Yan embraced her emotionally, inhaled the fragrance of her body, and wanted to melt her into his body, but in the end he got on his horse under her gaze, and left Nanjing with the guards.

The mountains and rivers are broken, and the children in troubled times have to part with each other. How much helplessness there is, and how much righteousness there is.

This scene fell into the eyes of Li Xiangjun in the attic, looking at Xu Yanyan, who was suffering from the same disease, her heart was full of melancholy, she couldn't help expressing her feelings, and whispered in her mouth: "If you want to stay together, it's hard to see each other. Everyone is sad and heartbroken." ;Love is fleeting, hate is also long, the lights are dim and people are wandering; traveling thousands of mountains, crossing thousands of rivers, two lines of tears on each other~~~"

Wang Yan left the city, joined the cavalry, then marched east again, and arrived outside Zhenjiang the next day.

At this time, the infantry of the Zhongyi Battalion was still on their way to Zhenjiang, so Wang Yan sent the cavalry into the city to wait for the infantry to arrive.

On the night of April 24th, there was loud cannon fire outside the city of Yangzhou in the north of the Yangtze River. Wang Yan, who was on the riverside, could hear the faint sound of cannon fire.

In the early morning of April 25th, the infantry of the Zhongyi Battalion still hadn't rushed to Zhenjiang, so Wang Yan decided not to wait any longer and crossed the river first to support Yangzhou.

At this time, there was a sudden burst of cold rain in the sky. Wang Yan and others put on bamboo hats and coir raincoats, boarded the fleet of river waterproofer Zheng Hongkui, and crossed the hazy Yangtze River.

Wang Yan's thousand cavalry went ashore ten miles outside Yangzhou City, but there were almost no sentry cavalry from the Qing army. Presumably the weather provided them with the best cover.

Wang Yan ordered the cavalry to wrap the horseshoes with cloth, and then went straight to the city of Yangzhou.

The cold rain made the road muddy, but it couldn't stop Wang Yan's determination to rescue Yangzhou.

For so many nights, the image of the mountain of corpses and the sea of ​​blood in the dream made him wake up every time, unable to sleep peacefully.

Yangzhou, one of the few reminders in the dream, is like a huge stone pressing on his heart, making him breathless. He must not let the picture in the dream become a reality, absolutely not!
"General! Look!" Wang Yan galloped wildly, and a guard beside him suddenly pointed to the distance in horror and said.

Wang Yan's thoughts were pulled back by the guard, and he raised his head to look in the direction the guard pointed, his face turned pale, a mouthful of blood spurted out, and he fell off the horse.

That direction was Yangzhou. Puffs of thick smoke rose from the city, and even the rain could not extinguish the rising flames in the city.

　I broke my promise yesterday and got fat, and I will definitely make up for it today.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)