Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 669

The general of the Qing army responsible for escorting grain and grass was Hebei General Kong Xigui, who was originally the general of Jizhou in the last years of Chongzhen. After Jianyi entered the customs, he surrendered to the Manchu Qing.

It was Dorgon who personally instructed to escort the grain ship this time. He must ensure that the grain was transported to Lianghuai.

Most of the entire escort route was very safe, but there was only one in Shandong that frightened him, especially after entering the border of Yanzhou, he became even more worried.

Because it was so close to Caozhou, the Yuyuan bandit could reach the canal with a single step. If this army of bandits targeted the grain ship, his situation would be a bit difficult to say.

After the fleet entered the border of Yanzhou, Kong Xigui became cautious.

At this moment, he looked up at the sky, and it was almost sunset, so he couldn't help but turned around and asked, "How far is the Kaihe Station?"

The bow of the boat, who was familiar with the situation of the canal, hurriedly replied: "General, just past Yuanjiakou, ten miles to the south is Kaihe Station."

After passing Kaihe Station, there are Mata Lake and Nanwang Lake. Even if they encounter bandits, the fleet can hide in the lake. Further south is Jining Prefecture, which is an important node of water transportation. Safety.

Kong Xigui immediately ordered: "Let the tracker speed up, you must pass the Kaihe Station before dark, let the brothers cheer up the general."

The Grand Canal runs through the north and the south, and passes through the state and government along the way. Naturally, the state capitals of various places will not let go of such a way to continue to make money, so each state capital has set up checkpoints on the canal to collect fees.

Kaiheyi is a tax card for ships entering Yanzhou from Jining Prefecture. All ships entering and leaving Yanzhou have to pay.

The water transportation was cut off, and there were no ships coming from the Jiangnan side, and the ships on the entire canal were quite scarce. There were only two hundred cargo ships inside and outside the locks of Kaihe Station, which was far from the usual thousand cargo ships crowded on the river.

There are more than 50 tax collectors and tax collectors guarding the Kaihe post. Because of the decrease in ships and the lack of oil and water, they also appear listless and lack of motivation.

At this time, several tax collectors were hooking a cargo ship with long poles and pulling it to the shore. The tax collectors jumped on board and began to check.

The main thing is that the cargo ship is sensible, so he can charge less. For the best tea, he will be given the standard of ordinary rough tea.

The tax collector jumped onto the boat, and the owner of the boat greeted him immediately with a smile on his face. A money bag was inadvertently stuffed into the tax collector's hand. The tax collector was very satisfied, and the two smiled knowingly.

The tax collectors collected taxes based on ordinary cotton cloth for the good silk on this ship, and the owner of the ship saved a lot.

At this time, the tax collector collected the tax money and was about to go ashore to let him go, but he stopped suddenly after taking half a step.

Several tax collectors who were waiting for him to go ashore with a boat on their hooks couldn't help being slightly taken aback when they saw his appearance. Someone turned their heads to follow the tax collector's terrified gaze, and saw a military flag suddenly appearing on the embankment, followed by a prancing horse Holding a gun, he boarded the embankment, and slowly, countless figures wrapped in red scarves gradually appeared on both sides of him.

Kong Xigui urged the tracker to pull the boat with all his strength, and when the sun was halfway down, he stood at the bow of the boat and finally saw the Kaihe Station in the distance.

A wooden water gate is stretched across the canal, and the water gate has been closed. Nearly a hundred cargo ships have stopped on both sides of the river, leaving a waterway in the middle for ships to travel.

Kong Xigui saw the slight difference. He had passed through many tax cards during his journey, but it was not as congested as here.

But at this time he didn't think too much, seeing Kaihe Station he was slightly relieved, so he turned his head and said to the boatman: "Shake it over, the card is resting after passing."

After taking the rope, the tracker took it up on the shore. Hundreds of boats swam forward from the waterway between the cargo ships on both sides, and slowly reached the water gate.

Standing at the bow of the boat, Kong Xigui didn't notice anything wrong. Seeing a few people standing on the water gate, he shouted loudly: "Open the water gate. I will be escorted by fate to transport food and grass. Today I have to pass the card!"

He is an official ship of the imperial court, and the local tax card naturally does not have the right to collect taxes. He can pass unimpeded, and civilian ships must give way.

After Kong Xigui yelled, the water gate didn't open, and the people above didn't respond, so he couldn't help frowning slightly, and Mr. Qian next to him immediately yelled, "Are the people above deaf? Our commander told you to open the water gate!"

As soon as Mr. Qian finished speaking, there was a sound of strings on the water gate, and a spiked arrow shot towards him.

Kong Xigui didn't react, so he let out a muffled snort, and stepped back a few steps. The arrow hit his chest. Fortunately, he was a general, and his armor was better than soldiers, so the arrow didn't pierce through his chest.

On the water gate, Li Huajing took another arrow, which was a signal to the ambushing Yuyuan army. A row of archers stood up on the water gate, and a rain of arrows shot towards the bow of the ship.

A Qing soldier came to his senses and hurriedly gave up his body to protect Kong Xigui, but his back was immediately filled with arrows and fell to the ground, and Mr. Qian who had just shouted was also shot at the hedgehog. Shield, take the injured Kong Xigui away.

The servant system was prevalent in the army of the Ming Dynasty. After these Ming generals surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, the army still maintained this characteristic. The loyalty of these servants to the general was far greater than that of the imperial court. Therefore, when the general was in danger, most of them would fight to the death.

When shooting arrows on the water gate, the cargo ships parked on both sides suddenly burst out with loud shouts of killing. The boatman on the ship took off his bamboo hat, exposed his red scarf, and raised his bow to shoot arrows at the grain ship. The Qing soldiers on both sides were overwhelmed and fell into the water one after another. Seeing this, the trackers on the shore immediately dispersed.

At the same time, a large number of ambushes of the Yuyuan army poured out of the cargo ship's cabin. He held a knife and gun, and swarmed towards the grain ship in the middle while shaking the oar.

The boats were crowded together, and the rebels climbed onto the grain boats one after another, and fought bloody battles with the green battalion soldiers. Soldiers of the two armies were thrown into the water and hacked to death.

The Yuyuan Army was trained by Li Huajing, Liu Zhiqian and others. They were originally court generals, and their training methods were basically the same as those of the green battalion generals.

Both sides used typical mistresses to fight on the boat. Yuyuan's military skills were not as good as others, but the advantage was that there were many people, and it was a surprise attack. They kept hacking the Qing soldiers to death and forced them into the water.

Kong Xigui was dragged to the stern by his subordinates. Seeing that the grain ship was held up by the cargo ship and surrounded, he could not escape.

He pretended to jump, but was held back by his subordinates, who tried to persuade him again and again: "General, if you keep the green hills, you won't be afraid of running out of firewood!"

Just at this time a small boat approached, but his subordinates abandoned the grain boat and snatched a small boat. They came to pick him up, and he took the donkey down the slope.

The canal was not wide, and the big ship was blocked by cargo ships, making it almost impossible to move, but the small boat was able to see through the gaps, allowing Kong Xigui to land successfully.

The group ran for more than ten miles, and it was completely dark. Kong Xigui saw that there were only a few people left around him, and the task of securing food had not been completed.

In fact, the first time he wanted to jump into the water, it was a little bit real, but when he escaped later, he was acting.

The battle at Kaihe Station lasted for more than half an hour before it was completely over. Although the Green Battalion soldiers were better than the Yuyuan Army in quality, they were at a disadvantage after all and were attacked suddenly. The most important thing was that a boat of 20 of them was equal to Being divided and surrounded by the Yuyuan Army, they could only be eaten by boats.

This is also the reason why Kong Xigui ran away without much struggle.

The main force of the Qing army was transferred to the Huaihe River to encircle and suppress Xie Qian. The Yuyuan army had been hiding its strength. At this time, it was suddenly difficult for the Qing army in Shandong to react.

A few days later, a thousand Qing troops huddled in the county town saw crowds of Caozhou people on the official road not far from the county town, carrying bags of rice on their shoulders and pushing a wheelbarrow, moving bags of rice back to Caozhou in full swing. The thousands of Qing soldiers in the army did not dare to act rashly.

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(End of this chapter)