stubborn thief

Cao Huachun went to Songmo Prefecture.

The captives everywhere in Songmo Prefecture made Huang Taiji's rumors self-defeating.

However, compared with the captives who built the city wall, more powerful evidence was in Liu Chengzong's central military camp.

The map densely marked with the Eight Banner Army's locations made Qian Shisheng convinced that Liu Chengzong was preparing for a major war.

In fact, it was an outdated map. It originated from Gao Yingdeng's plan to launch an encirclement and annihilation campaign against Dorgon, who was in the rear of the Eight Banners. However, when the army pushed forward, Dorgon had already escaped.

Cao Huachun's biggest role in the Marshal's Army was to spread false information.

Liu Chengzong felt that Huang Taiji was too patient. Faced with the situation of the Khorchin tribes being plundered, he had not yet gathered his troops to attack. He must be holding back something big.

So he had to find a way to urge Huang Taiji.

In Songmo Prefecture, the Jinyi soldiers brought by Cao Huachun, under the instruction of Liu Chengzong, spread the false news that the Ming army had won a great victory in the capital, and that Ajige's troops had first won and then lost in the capital, and were finally defeated and captured in the Battle of Baoding.

For several days afterwards, Songmo Prefecture relaxed its management of prisoners of war during the celebration, which eventually led to more than 40 prisoners getting together, stealing more than ten mules and horses at night, and fleeing eastward.

On the way, they were intercepted by the Tang cavalry armed with three-barreled guns, and in the end only two of them escaped across the Chaganmulun River.

The number of prisoners who escaped was much less than Liu Chengzong had imagined. He had thought that at least a hundred people would escape.

This was mainly because most of the more than 20,000 captives were settled in the south of the desert, and only a few thousand able-bodied men were left in Songmo Prefecture to build the city walls.

Many of them don't want to run.

It’s not that Zhang Xianzhong treated the captives so well that people would not want to leave, but it was because Zhamusu and his gang had robbed the grassland too cleanly.

People don't know where else to escape to except Mo Nan.

Escape to Shengjing?

In the past, they were also slaves, which is no different from building the city wall here. Moreover, even if they run to Shengjing, they will not be spared from being given armor and weapons and then sent back to be dead soldiers.

They were really afraid of the Mo Nan Army of the Marshal's Office.

Although things were not executed well, Liu Shizi had no other choice. He couldn't just relax management when someone had already escaped, that would be too obvious.

At this point, he could only wait and see whether Huang Taiji could receive his message accurately and then rush over to fight him eagerly.

Because he really didn't want to send troops to fight near Shenyang. The terrain there was too bad to fight at all.

There were not many people around Liu Chengzong who were familiar with the Greater Khingan Range, but Taiji Xuantu was quite familiar with the terrain near Shenyang.

During the Tianqi period, the Chahar tribe sent 2,000 cavalrymen to approach Shenyang, trying to rescue Zaisai, an Inner Khalkha noble who had been captured by Nurhaci that year. However, they only had a brief battle with the Shenyang defenders before retreating.

Shenyang was an independent geographical unit in that era.

The northeast, east and south are all mountainous areas, while the north, west and southwest are surrounded by the Liao River, or to be more precise, the Liao Ze, which are all swamps.

When Nurhaci conquered Shenyang, the first thing he did was to build a three-meter-wide and 120-li-long road from Shenyang to the bank of the Liaohe River to allow his troops to march west.

Outside the overlapping paths, there are still quagmires everywhere.

This is because the Liaohe River, Xiliaohe River and Hunhe River were diverted many times to form a swamp.

In the area between the north bank of the Liaohe River and the Horqin grassland, an even more bizarre landform is formed, with a swamp in the middle of the desert.

Outside the sea bubbles is a swamp, outside the swamp is a desert, next to it is another swamp, and in the swamp is more sea bubbles.

Compared with that area, the open area east of the Greater Khingan Range is obviously more suitable for fighting.

A few days later, little Jamsu's Darakhan army was reorganized, and more than 2,000 cavalrymen rushed south to the old territory of Daning, but they were unsuccessful.

The small tribe that originally followed Dai Qing and lived there for nomadic purposes have all migrated eastward.

The Darahan army followed the tracks of their migration vehicles all the way into Kulun, where they encountered a large army migrating eastwards. After a fierce battle, they saw that they were defeated and retreated to Daning.

At the same time, the Tangqi of the First Brigade also discovered that the Eight Banners Army on the grassland was retreating. They pressed forward step by step until they encountered a large force of the Khorchin right wing migrating southward at the mouth of the Nenjiang and Songhua rivers.

Urgent reports were sent to Liu Chengzong's central military headquarters and summarized on the map, which clearly showed that Dai Qinggulun's troops and territory were shrinking rapidly.

Liu Chengzong thought that this was not right. Was it just the false news that Ajige was captured that made Huang Taiji withdraw his troops?

This change definitely had nothing to do with him. Either something happened in Daiqing's rear, or Huang Taiji was planning to lure the enemy deep into his territory.

However, even if it was a trap to lure the enemy deeper, Huang Taiji's comprehensive retreat in the Khorchin area was a good thing for Liu Chengzong.

Along with this information came another piece of good news.

Elinchen and Sanang Taiji, who had disappeared for a long time, sent people to deliver messages from the territory of Chechen Khan Shuolei.

The letter said that their attack on Khorchin was very successful. They captured a Danayan on the right wing, got rid of the pursuers, and brought back a topographic map of the forts in the Nenjiang River basin. They have now crossed the Greater Khingan Range and entered the territory of Shuolei and will soon return to Shangdu.

Liu Shizi thought that the two brothers were talented. They led an army of 10,000 to fight, but the entire army was scattered and the commander was the last one to return.

But this was indeed the order Liu Chengzong gave to E'linchen, to hide from the Eight Banners Army and come back alive would be a victory.

E'linchen did a great job and brought back a great noble prisoner, which was an unexpected surprise.

In addition, E'linchen escaped from his pursuers and moved to the Chechen Khanate's territory on the west side of the Greater Khingan Range, which meant that there were no traces of the Marshal's Army's Mo Nan Cavalry in the northeast of the Khorchin grassland.

This indirectly confirms the authenticity of the southward migration of the right wing of Khorchin and the contraction of the Eight Banners.

Liu Chengzong did not consider the purpose of Huang Taiji's withdrawal for the time being.

Because no matter what the purpose of the Eight Banner Army was, Liu Shizi realized that the opportunity had come.

As luck would have it, as the Khorchin tribes migrated south, the giving up of the Songhua River basin, whether for a long or short period of time, gave the Marshal's Office the opportunity to establish contact with the Solon tribes.

So for Liu Shizi, this was an opportunity to provide him with iron weapons so that he could contain the Eight Banners in the rear!

This was something Huang Taiji could not have expected no matter how much he thought about it.

Liu Shizi issued an order to summon officers at all levels, including Subadi, to the Mazong Mountain to discuss matters.

On the other hand, people were sent to find Tiger from the Heizhen tribe in the Huben Camp and Xiao Zhamusu from the Darakhan army.

"Khorchin has been defeated and moved south. There are no enemy troops in the north. Now is a good opportunity to send you home. You can send three to five hundred cavalry."

Liu Chengzong said the first part to Tiger, and the second part to Little Jamsu: "Escort a batch of arrowheads, spearheads and armor pieces along the Songhua River to send Tiger and several officers back." Liu Shizi said, looking at the map, "My army will march to Kulun to contain the enemy from the northwest; the Dalahan army will pursue and plunder from the east along the road of the right wing's southward migration, creating opportunities for this escort team and sending them back safely."

Lao Hu was already very excited after following the Huben Camp all the way to the east of Xing'an Mountains. When he heard that Liu Chengzong wanted to send him home, he immediately kowtowed happily to express his gratitude.

Liu Chengzong was like a god to him. He sent people to teach him how to write and speak, and to teach him martial arts and military tactics. He fed him until he was fat and plump, but still did not allow him to work hard for himself, and even wanted to send soldiers to send him home.

He never thought that he could go home again.

What is this if not a fairy?

"You don't have to thank me. Go back and unite your people. Make good use of this batch of weapons. Don't let the Eight Banners capture you and send you to fight me on the battlefield."

Liu Chengzong laughed as he spoke and shook his head, saying, "If I get caught again, I might not be so lucky to survive."

Tiger agreed with this.

There were countless Yupidar soldiers who were captured with him. Others either died at the hands of Yang Qi in Guihua City or were still serving the Eight Banners on the battlefield.

He was lucky that Yang Qi thought he was a rare treasure and sent him to Liu Chengzong, who took better care of him.

Although Lao Hu is uneducated, he is not stupid. Having spent a year in the Tiger Camp, he has a full understanding of the Marshal's Office.

They include veteran soldiers who are familiar with the law, angry and manic rebels, and even more cruel and cunning thieves.

There are very few good people in the Marshal's Mansion, and only the Grand Marshal has a kind and righteous heart.

Liu Chengzong asked Wu Sihu to take people to Shangdu City to select suitable military equipment, mainly arrowheads and spearheads, and also some tools for polishing arrow tips, and let Tiger take them away.

In fact, Guihua City had made a batch of special arrowheads for the tigers, but at that time Liu Chengzong did not expect that the cavalry from the south of the desert would rush into the grassland and wipe out half of Khorchin, and he did not expect that the tribes originally under the jurisdiction of Chahar would be packed up and taken back by the Beiyuan camp.

To put it bluntly, Liu Chengzong simply could not afford the cost of arming the Sauron army.

The people of Sauron's various tribes are just a group of scattered sand. They only have tribal recognition, but they will never march together or listen to anyone.

He doesn't even listen to Dai Qing Gulun, the overlord of Northeast China, so how could he listen to a man in a black coat?

Unrealistic.

At best, he could only provide some weapons to maximize the cost of capturing Dai Qing Gulun.

The Daiqing also marched in small teams when capturing people. In the past, they had encountered bone arrows and stone weapons. Several Niulu were divided into teams of 100 people, and they could sweep the tribesmen over a hundred miles. They could capture hundreds of people at a time without any loss on their own side.

In the future, with these iron weapons, they will also suffer casualties when capturing survivors. Either they stop capturing survivors or expand the capture team, which will achieve Liu Chengzong's goal.

He came here just to cause trouble for the Eight Banners.

The Marshal's army prepared fourteen horse-drawn carts of weapons for Tiger, loaded with four thousand finished war arrows, tens of thousands of arrowheads, more than six hundred iron spear heads, more than two thousand armor leaves, and two hundred and forty hundred-jin war bows.

Basically, they are spoils of the Lingdong Campaign.

Although the quality is very average and it is not the standard equipment carefully crafted by the Marshal's Arms Bureau, it is completely sufficient for Hei Zhen and the Sauron tribes.

The general Shandan of the Yidalahan army led his troops to escort them, and four officers were selected from the Huben Camp, and twenty soldiers from the Yulin Camp were assigned to them, and they went to the Heizhen tribe with the Tiger.

The order Liu Chengzong gave them was to draw a topographic map of the mountains, rivers and streams, and at the same time, through the Heizhen tribe where Tiger was, collect more information about the deer-controlling, dog-controlling, and fish-skinning tribes, and try to establish connections with all these forest tribes.

On the other side, in the big tent at the foot of Mazong Mountain, when the generals came after being summoned, Liu Chengzong immediately issued an order to move the camp.

They also want to move east.

Generally speaking, the troops were divided into two groups.

Along the way, with more than a thousand Darakhan cavalrymen led by Little Jamsu as the flanking force, they advanced eastward along the edge of the sandy swamp in the southeast of Khorchin, and reached between the East and West Liaohe Rivers, providing cover for the return home of the northern Black Zhen tribe tigers.

The other route was the main force led by Liu Chengzong himself, which marched towards Kulun through Khorchin and threatened the northwest of Shenyang.

Of course, in order to prevent the Eight Banners from luring the enemy deep into their territory, they still used the Tang cavalry to explore the way, and the Mobei cavalry to cover the flanks of the army, and they advanced cautiously towards the heart of Daiqing Gulun.

He wanted to go to the vicinity of Shenyang to see what Emperor Chongde was up to.

Why do we withdraw our troops just because we say so?

In fact, Liu Shizi was overthinking the matter.

The reason why Huang Taiji withdrew his troops was very simple. He did not want to lure the enemy deep into his territory, nor was he frightened by the false news that Ajige had been captured.

Instead, there was a fire in the backyard.

Shen Shikui from Dongjiang Town had gathered the soldiers on the island and planned to land and grab some things when he learned that Ajige had sent troops.

As a result, before his troops landed, he heard that the Eight Banners Army in Shenyang was being transferred out in droves, and that the Niulu in various places were withdrawing men and livestock. He felt that it was an opportunity to send troops, so he immediately pulled all 4,000 islanders ashore and launched an attack on the Jurchen settlements in the Liaodong mountains.

They attacked Xiuyan, 300 miles away from Shenyang, and defeated the troops stationed in Xiuyan led by Niyahan of the Plain Yellow Banner and Xihan of the Bordered Blue Banner.

They retreated before the arrival of reinforcements from the Eight Banners elsewhere, and then attacked the city of Yingchang on the Taizi River.

The city was originally called Yanchang Fort. Li Chengliang built Yanchang City when he was the deputy general of Liaoyang. However, it was later destroyed by the Later Jin Dynasty. It was not until the seventh year of Tiancong that the Later Jin Dynasty rebuilt Yanchang City.

The name of the city, Yutongjian, means brine. The city is also an important commercial city in the mountainous area southeast of Shenyang.

Huang Taiji had never been afraid of the thousands of island soldiers that Shen Shikui had on Pi Island.

Although Dongjiang Town was a great threat and restraining force to him, Dongjiang Town itself was not to be feared. The army would run away at the slightest sign of fright. It was only because it was located on the sea and had the support of Ming Dynasty and Korea that the Eight Banners had no way to deal with it.

However, after all, the people on the island are divided, the military equipment is in tatters, and the people's livelihood is declining. There are only a few thousand cavalry on the entire island, and they are all servants controlled by the generals and will never be released, so there is no need to be afraid of the frontal battlefield.

But this time it was different.

Liu Chengzong sent troops to Xing'an Mountains like a poisonous snake and chose a good time.

In order to deal with the threat from the Marshal's Office, Huang Taiji's troops were stretched thin, and the troops left behind in Shengjing were almost insufficient.

Therefore, Huang Taiji calculated that Liu Chengzong would not make any major moves for the time being while he was building a city in Xing'an Mountains, so he could first withdraw his defense line, drive away Shen Shikui, and then push his troops up to confront Liu Chengzong.

Huang Taiji knew Shen Shikui. He was just a bunch of beggar soldiers who came to the land to steal and plunder the place.

But Shen Shikui has a good relationship with North Korea. If we leave it alone, if North Korea also sends troops, things will be troublesome.

Fortunately, Huang Taiji’s Eight Banners Army could not afford to die, and Shen Shikui’s Dongjiang Town could not afford to die even more, so they ran away when they were scared.

However, just as Huang Taiji's troops were retreating, the vanguard cavalry sent a report that Liu Chengzong's troops were coming out from Xing'an Mountains in a mighty force! (End of this chapter)