When Zhou Qingfeng arrived at the Muchang Inn, he saw a small city built with bricks and stones. The city wall was only four or five meters high. The white ash on the wall had turned into dust, revealing the mud bricks inside the wall. It was gray and extremely dilapidated.
The entrance of the wall had long collapsed. A few skinny people stood at the city gate, looking blankly at Zhou Qingfeng who led the team. He asked a few questions and learned that the post city was built during the Yongle period. It was two hundred years ago. After the war, the city had never been repaired. It was already good enough that it hadn't completely collapsed until now.
There were two small mountains on the east and west side of the Muchang Inn. There was a beacon tower on the mountain. To the north of the post city was the sea, and to the south were hills. It was stuck on the land passage from Lushun to Jinzhou. The layout of the city was simple. There were a hundred households, a post station, an official office, and a delivery station. There were two streets inside. There was a city gate on the north and south sides.
A company of Gao Daniu was stationed in the city. Since only a small number of Ming Army officials were executed, the people in the city were not panicked. Instead, they were curious about where this' imperial army 'came from.
Zhou Qingfeng's appearance on a giant wolf scared the people away. But he only surveyed the terrain inside and outside the city. After a long time, the people didn't think there was anything to be afraid of.
"The land here is flat and fertile. The climate is also warmer than Lushun. There is a river outside the city. There is no need to worry about irrigation. It is a good place. "After circling around the post city, Zhou Qingfeng rode on the wolf to the top of the city wall and looked to the east. Jinzhou City was in the north east of the Muchang Inn. It was more than sixty miles away. It had been a day since they took down Lushun. The Ming Army of Jinzhou Guards should already know that the Revolutionary Army was coming.
"How is the investigation going?" Zhou Qingfeng asked.
Gao Daniu accompanied him and said, "I sent people to investigate along the post road to the east until we reached the Jinzhou Inn. We haven't found any movement from the enemy. "
"Not even people came to investigate?"
"No."
"This group of Ming Army really refreshed my understanding." Zhou Qingfeng ridiculed. He was actually hoping that the Ming army of the Jinzhou Guards wouldn't come and cause trouble. He would wait until he had digested Lv Shun. After all, it had an area of more than five hundred square kilometers, thousands of hectares of farmland, a few thousand scattered people, and dozens of villages. It was not a problem to settle ten or twenty thousand people here.
Zhou Qingfeng was still able to keep his composure and wait for Ming Jun to arrive on his own, but Jinzhou City was already in chaos. Li Rubai's position was the highest, so he naturally gathered all the generals in the city for questioning. "Everyone," he said. "Lushun has fallen and there are rumors everywhere. This official is determined to recover it as soon as possible. May I ask how many troops are available in Jinzhou? "
Li Rubai had just been reinstated, and he only had three hundred servants under him. The troops that were supposed to be assigned to him were not here. His older brother Li Rusong died early, Li Chengliang was the Prince of Liaodong and the family property accumulated by him fell into his hands. The Li family of Liaodong, which used to be famous for its martial prowess, only had so few people left after twenty years.
Zhou Qingfeng occupying Lushun was cutting off Li Rubai's way of getting reinforcements. This was not allowed. But it was even more impossible for Li Rubai to bring more than three hundred of his own servants to battle. He wanted to force the Jinzhou Guards to send troops and immediately gather people to take back Lushun.
However, the local Jinzhou general's face tightened. He said slowly, "Our horse team has 764 people and the infantry team has 1,756 people."
So few?
Li Rubai really didn't know the situation of the Jinzhou Guards. He asked in confusion, "Shouldn't there be more than five thousand people in a guard? Why do you only have a few hundred and a thousand? "
The Jinzhou Guard commander immediately cried. "Sir, you don't know. We are far from the border and haven't had a war in decades. We really only have this number of people. "
"Then how many are there in reality?" Li Rubai knew the shortcomings of the Ming Army. It was impossible for these Ming Army generals not to eat empty money and drink the blood of soldiers. If the number of people was so small, then the actual number was probably even smaller.
"Actual … actual …" The Jinzhou Guard commander was pressed until he couldn't speak. Looking at Li Rubai's tight and dark face, he could only brace himself and say, "About half."
The Jinzhou Guard commander reported half because he wanted to go to the city later to recruit some beggars and farmers to become part of the army. In reality, he only had one-tenth of the number of people under him. After all, there hadn't been a war for decades. Wasn't it a waste of money to raise too many soldiers?
Hearing half, Li Rubai didn't believe it at all. He cut this half in his mind, thinking that it was at least twenty to thirty percent. He also knew that this was the drawback of the bad rules in the army. Even his father Li Chengliang couldn't raise enough soldiers and had to fish out some money.
"Gather all the people in Jinzhou. Then use my order to gather people from Fu Prefecture and Gai Prefecture in the north. Have them gather in five days. " Li Rubai said in a low voice, "Before this, send more people to Lushun to investigate and find out the background of the foreign enemy. That group of people is definitely not local to Lushun. They should be transported here by ship. "
The only people around Lushun that could be transported by ship were the 'Revolutionary Army' at the entrance of the camp. Thinking that a group of rebels actually dared to cut off his retreat, Li Rubai's heart was filled with anger. He still wanted to curse 'the arrogance of the rebels' when he heard a soldier stumble in from outside the yamen and shout in panic, "Sir, it's not good. The rebels are here."
What?
The group of Jinzhou generals in the yamen were stunned. The city's defense was empty, and the people were not strong. Neither the prestige of the officials nor the city defense could withstand it. Everyone under the commander had no idea at this moment. No one thought that the rebels' appetite was so big. Not only did they take down Lushun, they also wanted to attack Jinzhou?
"Don't panic. Follow me to the city wall to check." Li Rubai had been in a real battle before, and he also had hundreds of servants to support him. He quickly led the generals of Jinzhou to the city of Jinzhou. Looking down, they saw a dozen people on horses on the official road outside the city looking around.
"These are the rebels' scouts, not to attack the city." Li Rubai's words made the generals around him feel a little relieved, but he immediately shouted, "The rebels' scouts are too bold. Who can go out and kill them for me? This official will remember this merit. "
Li Rubai was the chief military officer of Liaodong. He couldn't let him deal with the enemy's small soldiers. He looked at the group of guerrilla warfare generals of the Jinzhou Guards beside him, waiting for someone with the courage to go out of the city to show his power. But after waiting for a while, the ordinary generals actually looked at each other, and no one said anything.
In the end, the situation was too awkward. The commander of the Jinzhou Guards could only bite the bullet and stand out to say, "I still have a few capable family generals under me who are willing to serve you."
Li Rubai's face softened a little, and after nodding, he also promised a reward. So the city gate opened, and a few armored servants on horses surrounded by dozens of soldiers charged toward the rebels who came to investigate.
As soon as the city gate opened, the rebels' scouts on the opposite side immediately rode their horses and fled. The family generals who went out of the city saw that the other side was weak, and instead became eager to fight for the title. They immediately whipped their horses a few times and chased after them, thinking that if they could cut off a few heads, there would certainly be a lot of money.
But as soon as the family generals gave chase, they immediately broke away from the protection of the soldiers. After running for a hundred meters, they saw that the rebels' scouts didn't run or hide, but dismounted and formed a formation. There were only a dozen or so people, but they formed a row, all holding spears and blocking the official road.
The pursuing servants couldn't run into the spears, so they naturally split into two teams to flank them from the left and right. Li Rubai stood on the wall and couldn't help twisting his beard with a smile. He softly praised the commander of the Jinzhou Guards, "Your family generals are well trained. Their movements are in line with the subtleties of military strategy."
It was just a simple flank, but in Li Rubai's view, it was already well-trained. After all, these days, many high-ranking generals were illiterate and relied on fierce fighting — such as Du Song, who was currently serving as the main force in Pingliao at Shanhai Pass.
Everyone immediately flattered each other with flattery. But halfway through their flattery, they found that the rebels' scouts didn't panic at being flanked from the left and right. The latter naturally split up to the left and right. The sentries each had their own targets to deal with. Those who could serve as scouts were all veterans of the Imperial Guards, and they had seen plenty of situations where they were outflanked in the martial arts chess board.
The advantage of repeated practice and repeated setbacks was that they knew the severity of the situation and didn't panic when faced with a problem. They could calmly deal with all kinds of battle situations. Seeing that the opponent's infantry was still a hundred meters away, the veteran scouts immediately decided to end the battle quickly and took the initiative to attack with their spears. They took large strides forward to close the distance and pointed their spears at their opponents. Their tactics were very flexible, brave, and firm.
The approaching servants thought that the rebels' scouts would flee because they were threatened from the side, but they didn't know that the enemy's mental fortitude was so good. Seeing the spears approach, they were the ones who felt the greatest threat, so their reactions were all strange.
Some servants brandished their swords and went forward to slash, but they were easily stabbed down by the coordinated spears. There were also some who turned their horses and galloped on the official road in an attempt to wait for reinforcements from the rear. There were even some who reined in their horses when faced with the spears and turned to flee. This response was too messy. It was obvious that they had never trained and relied on fighting alone.
In just one round, one of the servants died in battle. The rest fled and didn't dare to casually advance again. The various levels of Ming Army generals watching the battle from the city walls were dumbstruck. They watched as the rebels' scouts mounted their horses again and calmly left.
The scale of this battle was small and not very intense. There weren't many deaths and injuries. However, Li Rubai was unable to feel happy about the current situation. He finally understood that he couldn't count on the quality of the city guards. These people had never fought in battle and seen blood.
Those who liked to fight would die, and those who forgot to fight would be in danger!
"Send more strong soldiers to chase away the rebels' scouts. We can't let the rebels spy on our military strength. Quickly urge the two provinces to quickly send reinforcements. Those who disobey will be executed. "Li Rubai's tone was stiff and angry. Then, he returned to his residence in the yamen with a dark expression. As soon as he returned, a barbarian with a rat's tail came from the backyard of the yamen and asked, "Lord Li, is that Zhou Qingfeng here?"
This barbarian was the person who had come to deliver a letter to Li Rubai a few days ago. He could be considered an old friend of Zhou Qingfeng, a servant of Mangurtai, and Niu Lu Erzhen Borji of the Plain Blue Banner. He had once fought with Zhou Qingfeng on the second and third levels of the Onizuka and was almost killed by the wall charge of the Frost Cavalry.
Now, Nurhachi was wreaking havoc, and the Jin Kingdom was ferocious. Borji had even used the rising power of the nation to increase his cultivation by one level and reach the sixth level of Muscles and Bones. Zhou Qingfeng didn't know him, but he had a deep hatred for Zhou Qingfeng.
After Nurhachi took over Shenyang, he had to temporarily stop his expansion and reaccumulate his desire for war. After all, the generals of the Eight Banners were plundering everywhere and capturing slaves. The Jurchen, who had always been poor, broke into the colorful world of the Han people and was dazzled from top to bottom.
Although there was no war, the spies of the Jurchen were even more rampant. When Nurhachi found out that Li Rubai had arrived in Jinzhou as the Liaodong Military Commander. He immediately sent Borji from Kuandian and Dandong to Jinzhou.
The generals of Liaodong liked to recruit Jurchen and Mongolian barbarians to be their generals, and Li Chengliang was even more so. Suddenly, there was a barbarian with a rat's tail by Li Rubai's side. Borji brought Nurhachi's handwritten letter. The letter only talked about old times. After all, Nurhachi used to be Li Chengliang's groom.
But Li Rubai knew the purpose of Nurhachi's letter. He didn't expose it and didn't drive Borji away. Instead, he really let Borji be his general. He was even proud of taking in such a brave man. When the Revolutionary Army suddenly attacked, Borji took the initiative to ask for battle and said, "If Lord Li wants to destroy the Zhou rebels, I, Borji, am willing to fight."
Li Rubai was worried about the battle of the sentries outside the city gate. Hearing Borji's indignation, he immediately asked, "I heard a lot of rumors before I came to Liaodong. Is this Zhou Qingfeng really as powerful as the rumors say?"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
