Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 526
After the Ming army crossed the Yangtze River in the middle road, Wang Yan ordered the vanguard to go east to clear the road, and at the same time sent a fast horse to inform the West Route Army that the army had already crossed the river and would immediately go east to surround Kuizhou and let the West Route Army stick to Hezhou. wave battle.

When Meng Yuan attacked Hezhou Diaoyu City, not only was Khan seriously injured by the defenders' cannons, and finally died tragically, but also the defenders relied on this city to resist Mongolia for more than 40 years. Surrendered to the Mongols on the condition that no one in the city be killed, and the more than 30 generals who were unwilling in the city drew their swords and killed themselves collectively, which performed the tragedy of the Han nation.

Although the Diaoyu City was destroyed later, its dangerous terrain is still there. More than 3 people in Ding Kuichu are guarding it, and it should be regarded as a gatekeeper.

Wang Yan wrote to him and told him not to fight the Qing soldiers in the wild, but to guard the city. He only needs to stick to it for two months, which is considered a great achievement. Wang Yanbao guaranteed that he would enter the Guangjing cabinet after the war.

The soldiers of the Song Dynasty were able to rely on Diaoyu City to hold on for more than 40 years, but Wang Yan only let Ding Kuichu hold on for two months. Even if more than 3 people guard an ordinary city, it is enough to stop a hundred thousand soldiers from moving forward. Wang Yan has a sense of the overall situation in his heart.

Now that the plan was settled, Wang Yan led his troops to leave Chongqing Mansion and quickly assembled in Kuizhou.

On July [-]th, just a few days after the Great Heat, the sun was scorching and the sky was cloudless.

The scorching sun baked the earth, and the trees and turf were all sunburned. Using troops in this kind of weather not only tests the soldiers, but also tests the commanders.

Yuan Zongdi galloped forward with five thousand soldiers as the vanguard of the whole army, and this was already the boundary of Kuizhou.

Because of the war, almost all the villages along the way were emptied, and most of the people hid in the mountains.

Daba Mountain and Wushan Mountain made Kuizhou's land sparsely cultivated, and the roads were impassable. There was not much population. Now that the war is raging, there are even fewer people to see.

Yuan Zongdi was wearing a battle armor, his whole body was soaked in sweat, his face under the iron helmet was red from the sun, they passed Wuning and ran for ten miles, but they couldn't see a village, not even a place to drink .

At noon, when the sun was burning, Yuan Zongdi rode his horse under a big tree, got off his horse, took off his helmet, and sat down in the shade of the tree.

Seeing this, many Ming soldiers were overjoyed, and they all found a place to sit in the shade of trees on both sides of the road.

"Duzhen, there is a town in front of it, with hundreds of families."

Yuan Zongdi rested for a while, and the sentry cavalry who continued to investigate came back and reported.

There is a town, this is good news, Yuan Zongdi got up immediately, and the soldiers of the Ming army who had just rested for a long time also stood up and continued to advance under the sun.

After walking for a few miles, the army saw a small town sandwiched between the mountains. Thousands of soldiers rushed in, and the people hid in the dark room of their homes, trembling.

The Ming army rushed into the town, rushed to the well, hoisted the bucket to drink water, and made a fuss for a while before it calmed down.

The town was not big, so it couldn't accommodate many people, so the soldiers sat against the wall in the shade in front of the house, and the town couldn't fit in, so the rest of the people went to lie down in the shade of trees outside the town.

The people in the town hurriedly hid in their houses, and waited for a long time in fear, but they didn't see Qiu Ba from outside breaking into the house to rummage through the boxes. Some bold men stood up, wanting to see what happened. The mother-in-law hurriedly grabbed his robe, her eyes were full of fear.

The man broke away, signaled his mother-in-law to be at ease, tiptoed out of the dark room, and came to the yard cautiously, squinted his eyes and looked out through the crack of the door, and saw Ming soldiers densely packed in the shade outside the courtyard wall, either sitting or Lying down together, the man's eyes dimmed immediately.

Yuan Zongdi entered the town and sat down under the big tree in the center of the town. Next to it was a well for the whole town to drink. He drank a few mouthfuls of water, which was sweet and cold. After drinking, he poured the well water in the ladle directly on his head superior.

After resting for a while, Yuan Zongdi looked around, but he didn't see a single villager, so he asked for the local Da Baozheng to be summoned.

Not long after, a skinny old man was brought in front of him, knelt down and saluted, "Little old man, Sun Shouji, Baozheng in Longbao Town, met the general."

Yuan Zongdi was also from the north, not much stronger than the soldiers of the Eight Banners outside the pass. He was so hot that he raised his hand, motioned for his guards to help Baozheng up, and asked, "How far is this Longbao Town from Wanxian?" ?”

Baozheng listened to the question, his face showed surprise, "Returning to the general, twenty miles to the east is Wanxian." After speaking, he took a first look at Yuan Zong, and boldly reminded: "General I want to go to Wan County, but there are tens of thousands of Qing soldiers entrenched there now!"

Yuan Zongdi laughed loudly, "Don't worry, old man, my Five Loyalty Army is fighting against the Qing soldiers. We wouldn't have trekked all the way here if he hadn't had tens of thousands of people living in Wan County."

All the officers and soldiers were also full of smiles when they heard the words, but Yuan Zongdi smiled back, but acted unobtrusively. After laughing, he immediately ordered: "Then Wu Sangui is also a person who has been famous for a long time, we can't be careless, the army is here today Take a rest, wait for the Xianggong soldiers to arrive, and then attack Wan County together. You all go to arrange camping."

All the generals stood up from the shade of the trees, clasped their fists together, "No!"

After the general left, Yuan Zongdi ordered his soldiers to fetch 100 taels of silver, and then said to Baozheng: "The mountain road is difficult, and the army's supplies are not enough. The soldiers have been eating cold cakes for several days, and please ask the old Bao to take the silver in the town. In order to buy some food for the army, it is best to cook broth."

As the saying goes, thieves pass like a comb, and soldiers pass like a grate. Lao Baozheng felt that this army was unusual before. These days, he has not seen soldiers who take things and return money for decades.

Laobao was looking at the one hundred taels of silver, which would definitely be enough for the whole town to work for half a year, but he didn't dare to pick it up, instead his face showed embarrassment.

Seeing this, Yuan Zongdi frowned slightly, and the old guard hurriedly explained: "General, it's not that the old and the young are ignorant of flattery. We are also looking forward to Wang Shi's conquest of Heshan. We should eat the pot of milk to welcome Wang Shi , but the Qing soldiers from Wanxian just came to the town yesterday and took away almost all the rations in the town, so there is really no food in the town to sell to the general."

Yuan Zongdi waited in Longbao Town for two days before Wang Yan's soldiers arrived, immediately he broke up the camp and went to Wan County together with the main force.

In the afternoon, there were many soldiers of the Qing army standing on the top of Wanxian city, looking down from the city.

Outside the city, the Ming army that kept gathering had completely occupied the large open space to the west of the city, and many soldiers began to build camps.

A large number of peasants entered the mountains and began to cut down trees to build the wall. At the same time, some people also drove to build siege equipment under the arrangement of craftsmen.

Wang Yan leaped before the army, and he led nearly a hundred cavalry to rush to the city of Wanxian for reconnaissance.

Wanxian is a mountain city, facing the Yangtze River in the south. Although there is no moat, the terrain is high and can only be attacked from all sides. Large-scale equipment cannot use force, making it difficult to attack the city.

Wang Yan looked around and said to the generals beside him: "It seems that we can only attack from the river beach in the south, which is conducive to the deployment of the army."

As soon as he finished speaking, a cavalry hurriedly rode over and reported: "I want to report to my lord, someone from the city has come out and wants to see my lord."

Wang Yan smiled slightly when he heard the words, "Before the pavilion sent a letter into the city, General Wu himself sent someone out."

(Thanks to Snow White, book friend 4828 for the monthly pass,)

(End of this chapter)