Before leaving Tianjin, Zhou Qingfeng decided to take a stroll in the capital from Tianjin to Tongzhou along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The main reason was that there were many towns on both sides of the canal, so the road conditions were good and supplies were convenient. If necessary, they could also use the flat-bottomed barge with a 100 horsepower steam engine for emergency transportation.
In order to maintain flexibility, the main force of the Northern Advance Detachment was the recently famous female firearms soldiers. Only a small portion of the infantry, engineers, and cavalry remained. All of them rode on horses and carriages. The rest of the Beijing-Tianjin Frontier Army still used Dagukou as a base to raid the surrounding areas of Tianjin. As a result, Zhou Qingfeng only had about a thousand soldiers with him.
Before departing at night, the troops began to split up.
Zhou Qingfeng looked back at Tianjin and sighed, "I really have a strong desire to kill and will do anything to achieve my goal. Provoking the Wolf Soldiers to rebel will not only kill the officials of Tianjin, but also the people of the city. Many innocent people will die. "
Yin Hu was going to lead the troops back to Dagukou. His safety depended on how big the mess was tonight and how deep the hatred Zhou Qingfeng would draw. He could only remain silent about the chaos in the city. Qin Bangping, who was on a stretcher and about to be transported away by boat, sneered, "You rebels are actually pitying the common people. What a joke. If you are really doing this for the common people, you should all die. "
Zhou Qingfeng turned his head, raised his hand, and slapped Qin Bangping's face. This slap stunned the old general. Then his face turned red and he cursed angrily, "A soldier can be killed, but not humiliated."
Slap … Zhou Qingfeng gave him another cold slap, this time on the left side of his face and the right side.
Qin Bangping flew into a rage and was about to get up from the stretcher to fight Zhou Qingfeng. However, Zhou Qingfeng did not stop. He continued to slap the old general's face until he could not resist at all. In the end, the old general's eyes were filled with tears as he cursed in a sobbing voice, "You dare? How dare you! "
Zhou Qingfeng snorted coldly, "If not for the fact that Qin Liangyu is a hero among the Han people, just based on the various tragedies you Wolf Soldiers have committed along the way, I should have imprisoned you, the leader of the army, as a war criminal and sentenced you at a later date.
Now that you're crying because you're unable to resist me, who should the Huaxia people who were bullied and killed by your wolf soldiers cry to? I sighed because I really felt guilty. You're also harming the people for your own gain, but you're hypocritical and ugly. What right do you have to criticize me? Obediently become a prisoner of war and accept reform. "
Qin Bangping had received a courteous reception from Zhou Qingfeng, and with his status as an officer, he had only wanted to show off. Who would have thought that he would be humiliated by Zhou Qingfeng? He was slapped more than ten times until his old face was red and his hair was disheveled. He was stunned on the stretcher. After a while, the workers carrying the stretcher moved him onto the boat. Standing at the bow of the ship, he recalled Zhou Qingfeng's words and cried again.
Zhou Qingfeng led the elite troops north at an extremely fast speed. He first followed the Hai River into the North Canal of Tongzhou section of the Grand Canal, then followed the canal to Tongzhou. Knowing that the tyrannical 'Revolutionary Army' was coming, the local officials and gentry felt insecure, but no one dared to stop them. The army of about a thousand swaggered through the North China Plain as if they were on a vacation.
The North Canal was 180 kilometers long, and it took Zhou Qingfeng two days to complete the whole journey. He was prepared to be ambushed along the way. But the troops rested along the way, not only did the local officials not cause trouble for him, but they also sent people to deliver rice and money, only asking the strong army not to harass them.
For two days, the North Army ate well and slept well. There were even many impoverished people who came to seek shelter, just to make a living, and wanted to join the revolution. Some people even used the name of the 'Revolutionary Army' to swindle and harm the people. When Zhou Qingfeng heard these things, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he also arrived at Tongzhou without a hitch.
The importance of Tongzhou could be understood with one thing — Tongzhou was the warehouse of the entire northern water transport, storing more than ten million dans of grain and more than a million taels of silver all year round. The normal operation of the bureaucracy in the north depended on Tongzhou to collect grain and pay. Choking Tianjin was equivalent to choking Daming Chao's neck. Once Tongzhou was breached, Daming Chao's regime in the north would basically be paralyzed.
The city layout of Tongzhou was built according to the canal. It was built in the early years of Hongwu, and it had been repaired on a large scale three times by the end of the Ming Dynasty. The most important thing in the city was a large number of granaries, and the city was only a mere fifty kilometers away from the capital.
When the rebels arrived in Tianjin, the capital was shocked several times a day. It was impossible for the old emperor to not know that Zhou Qingfeng had led the troops to Tongzhou. But other than quickly calling for Du Song to rescue him, the Wanli Emperor could only rely on the three major battalions in the capital — the Fifth Military Camp, the Three Thousand Camp, and the Divine Machine Camp.
In the early years of the dynasty, the three major battalions with a military strength of nearly two hundred thousand had a lot of fighting power. But now … in the late Qing Dynasty, in the city of Beiping, those Bannermen who carried cages and birds, who were good at folk art, proficient in metal and stone, and liked to eat opium, were like the current Daming's three major battalions.
The ordinary Ming Army was already dregs, and the three major battalions in the capital were the dregs of dregs. According to historical records, when the 'Roaming King' passed through Juyong Pass to attack Beijing, the three major battalions in the capital went out of the city to resist — — 'without a battle, at the sound of the cannons, returned in defeat.'
Now hearing that the Emperor wanted them to go out to fight the rebels, the troops of the three battalions almost rebelled. In one night, tens of thousands of people called in sick and refused to go out of the city. Many of them were children of the old generation, and were related to the old emperor, so the Wanli Emperor could do nothing to them. In the end, he could only choose soldiers who dared to fight to go to Tongzhou to rescue them.
"Me? When did I become a soldier who dared to fight? "Ouyang Jun only felt that he was' doing things at home, but disaster came from the sky '. The last time he followed Ma Keshi, Ma Gonggong to attack Dagu Kou, but they returned in defeat. After he returned to the capital, he refused to go out no matter what. But when Zhou Qingfeng went to Tongzhou, he, who had been through many battles, became a soldier who dared to fight.
It was Ma Gonggong who called for Ouyang Jun to go to the front of the army to listen to orders. It was said that after Ma Gonggong returned to the capital, he reflected on the painful experience and suddenly thought of a suggestion to the Wanli Emperor — — the Wei Suo's official army was corrupt and incompetent, the morale of the soldiers was low, and it was difficult for them to take on big responsibilities. Please send a hundred thousand taels of internal funds to train three thousand eunuchs to form an army. Your servant is willing to lead the army and swear to destroy the rebels.
Recently, there were countless memorials asking for money to strengthen the army. When the Wanli Emperor heard Ma Keshi asking for a hundred thousand taels, he immediately grabbed him and scolded him. But the task of choosing soldiers who dared to fight to rescue Tongzhou still fell on the shoulders of the loyal Ma Gonggong.
It was just that Ma Gonggong held a high position in the East Faction Guards, but he had no soldiers or generals under him, so he could only recruit people he was familiar with. The two brothers, Ouyang Jun and Luo Lie, could not be missed.
Tongzhou was too close to the Forbidden City and could be reached in half a day on a fast horse. Ma Gonggong was very patriotic, so he gathered about a thousand people and headed for Tongzhou. He himself was a heroic person who 'the wind is bleak, the water is cold, the hero will never return'. But the morale of the troops under him was not high, and there were many who wanted to run away as soon as the battle started.
Ma Gonggong hurried to Tongzhou, and when he entered the city, he saw the grain storage eunuch who was guarding this place. The eunuch grabbed Ma Gonggong's hand with tears in his eyes and cried, "Ma Gonggong, I've been waiting for you to come."
Ma Keshi saw that the situation in Tongzhou was still stable, and asked with doubt and urgency, "Where are the Zhou rebels? They didn't attack the city? "
The grain storage eunuch cried, "The rebels came last night and attacked the city overnight. There are no generals in the city, and the soldiers were caught unprepared. The city has already been breached. "
Breached? The city has been breached, and you still have the time to cry with me?
Ma Gonggong was even more puzzled. He asked again, "Since the city has been breached, where are the rebels?"
"The rebels have left."
Ah …!
They actually left after breaching the city, how could there be such rebels in the world?
The grain storage eunuch pulled Ma Gonggong to the east of Tongzhou, pointed to the collapsed city wall, and said, "Last night, the rebels attacked the city in a hurry. After breaking through the east transportation gate, they moved over ten thousand catties of gunpowder and directly blew this place up. The commander guarding the city thought that he was defeated and hanged himself in the yamen. I wanted to fight to the death to serve the emperor, but … the rebels ran away. "
Fighting to the death was not something he could believe. It was possible to blow up the city wall, which also showed the terrifying combat power of the 'revolutionary army'. But it was really strange that they didn't enter the city to occupy it. The grain storage eunuch pointed to a wooden sign outside the city and said, "This sign was erected here this morning, I'm afraid it was left by the rebels."
Ma Keshi took a closer look, and on the wooden sign was written, 'Prepare five million dans of grain and one million taels of silver. If there is any delay, this city wall will be the example. '
This was clearly showing off their strength, running to the emperor to extort and extort.
The grain storage eunuch frowned, and the thousands of people and horses that came with Ma Gonggong were even more dumbfounded. However, Ouyang Jun was happy to see this. He whispered to Luo Lie who was traveling with him, "This is easy, the rebels don't want to fight, they are here to get money and grain. Thank God, we're saved. "
Luo Lie had been in contact with the 'revolutionary army' many times and knew how powerful Zhou Qingfeng was, but it was also the first time he saw the power of the 'revolutionary army's combat engineers, so he was deeply shocked by the more than ten meters wide gap in the city wall in front of him. Hearing what Ouyang Jun said, he pointed to the ruins of the city gate and said, "It has been blown up like this, and you still say that the rebels don't want to fight?"
However, Ouyang Jun said calmly, "My father said that the bigger the posture is not necessarily the most ruthless, but they definitely have something to ask for. The 'revolutionary army' posture is big and ruthless enough, no one is not afraid of it. But they came all the way but didn't occupy the city, so they must have something to ask. "He pointed to the wooden sign outside the city," They have already written what they want. "
Ma Keshi was still asking about the rebels' whereabouts, but the grain storage eunuch of Tongzhou already couldn't tell. They were about to send people to investigate around, but there was another cloud of smoke coming from the south. Obviously, a large group of people and horses were coming.
The grain storage eunuch's legs suddenly became weak and he almost collapsed. Ma Gonggong hurriedly arranged people to prepare to defend the city. But when he looked back, more than 1,000 people who entered the city with him ran away in the blink of an eye. When he felt that he was going to die here today to show his loyalty to the emperor, a group of officials came from the south. Commander Du Song led 3,000 horse troops and appeared, panting.
"Where are the rebels? Where are the rebels? " Commander Du's eyes were red. Every single one of his retainers was exhausted. Zhou Qingfeng's northbound detachment had also run nearly two hundred kilometers, but he had a plan, a rhythm, and the initiative. Although Du Song also traveled on horseback, he ran nearly two hundred kilometers without rest under the order to rescue the emperor. Many horses were tired to death.
When Du Song arrived at Tongzhou, he saw the east gate collapsed. He thought, "This is bad, Tongzhou is really broken." But his heart turned to joy, he felt that he had finally caught this bunch of rebels and could now fight a decisive battle. But when he arrived outside the destroyed city of Tongzhou, he did not see any rebels, but he saw a white-faced, beardless eunuch.
"Where are the rebels?"
"I don't know. I am Ma Keshi of the East Faction Guards, specially ordered by the emperor to help. The rebels must have fled because they are afraid of the military power of Commander Du. Please send more people to investigate and immediately eliminate them. "
Ma Gonggong thought that the reason the rebels didn't occupy the city was because of the large Ming Army coming to help. Commander Du shook his head and said, "I led the troops to run for a day and a night. I can stand it, but my servants can't. My servants can stand it, but my servants' horses really can't stand it. We must rest today and can't fight again. "
How could Ma Gonggong let Du Song rest? He pulled Du Song's arm and said bitterly, "Commander Du, the rebels are good with firearms and have the ability to destroy the city. If they go to the capital and disturb the emperor, you and I will both be sentenced to death! Commander Du, please don't hesitate, whip the horses and quickly eliminate the rebels. "
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