The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 396 Recover the land!

The fourteenth year of Chongzhen.

June 27th.

The land of the north is still bleak.

The eastern sky appeared pale and gradually turned into a bright silver color.

The cold morning light quietly passed over the top of Rufeng Mountain, shining down dimly, revealing the figures of countless Ming army soldiers at the foot of the mountain.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

The uplifting drum beats lingered between the military formations, the deep horn sounds echoed between the mountain peaks, and the rumbling footsteps resounded over the battlefield!
"mighty!!!"

A roar like a tsunami erupted at the foot of Rufeng Mountain.

The sky is shining and the east is getting red.

Facing the rising sun, tens of thousands of Ming army soldiers shouted "bravely".

They held their heads high, chests puffed out, eyes fixed on the top of the mountain, weapons in hand, and marched towards it with firm steps.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!"

A huge roar sounded again. On Rufeng Mountain, the ruined camps of the Qing army were filled with smoke and orange-red flames appeared one after another.

Before the attack, the Ming army had already deployed a large number of artillery and carried out a massive bombardment on Rufeng Mountain for an hour.

As a result, many of the Qing army’s camps on Rufeng Mountain had already been in ruins.

A large number of artillery shells poured out from the top of the mountain, smashing hard at the Ming army attacking the mountain.

The shells propelled by gunpowder only needed to fall into the ranks of the Ming army, and they would easily plow out bloody trenches.

Under the tremendous power of artillery, the human body is as fragile as a piece of thin white paper.

The stench of blood spread throughout the battlefield in an instant.

The Qing army's artillery fire on the top of the mountain, one after another, was like a death knell.

but……

The Ming army's formation was still advancing and its morale remained high.

The sound of war drums was loud, one after another, echoing between the mountains and valleys, and reverberating in everyone's ears.

"mighty!!!"

They shouted loudly with a solemn look on their faces.

They gritted their teeth, and even though their eyes were filled with fear, they still stepped forward firmly.

"The Jiannu cavalry on the left wing is being mobilized."

At the foot of Rufeng Mountain, the Ming army’s center.

The adjutant in charge of observing the enemy situation on the left side on the lookout tower was reporting the movements of the Qing army to Hong Chengchou, who was standing in the middle and examining the overall situation.

Hong Chengchou wore a silver helmet, a water-polished fish scale breastplate, a brocade dragon robe, a jade belt and a golden sword, and stood on the observation tower.

Upon hearing the news, Hong Chengchou's eyes turned slightly and his gaze moved to the left.

Sure enough, we saw dust flying and flags flying in the Qing army camp on the lower right side of Rufeng Mountain.

However, Hong Chengchou did not say anything.

Because all the current movements of the Qing army were within his calculations.

The battle at Rufeng Mountain had been at a stalemate for three days, and all the Qing army's front outer camps had been evacuated.

There was only one camp left on the top of the mountain, three camps on the mountainside, and two camps on the left and right at the foot of the mountain.

There were two camps on the left and right at the foot of the mountain, each with more than 10,000 Qing troops, who did not collect reports at night. Both camps were cavalry, but they were a mixture of Manchus and Mongolians, and they hindered each other.

The cavalry on the left wing of the Qing army pressed forward simply to tie down part of the troops and relieve the pressure on the front battlefield.

On the left wing were the Ningyuan garrison troops under Wu Sangui and the Dongxie troops under Bai Guangen.

Wu Sangui had more than 2,000 armored cavalry and several thousand elite soldiers under his command.

Bai Guangen is a brave and good fighter, and he also has more than a thousand elite armored cavalry and several thousand brave soldiers under his command.

During yesterday's attack on the mountain, Bai Guangen was the best among all the towns in terms of merit, and he even destroyed two camps of the Qing army.

He beheaded one Jurchen Niulu Zhangjing of the Qing army, one guard school Yuan, and captured 37 heads.

"The Qing cavalry on the right wing has left the camp and is charging towards our position."

The adjutant on the other side also reported the news to Hong Chengchou at the same time.

But Hong Chengchou just nodded and did not give any orders.

As for the situation on the right wing, Hong Chengchou did not need to worry about his duties at all.

Because the general leading the troops on the right wing at this time was none other than Cao Wenzhao!
The north wind blows, fluttering thousands of flags.

As the war horses crossed each other, countless blood and gore were flying.

Shouts of killing rang out one after another, horses' hooves were galloping, heads were rolling, flesh and blood were flying everywhere, and in an instant, the battle of life and death was decided in the clash of weapons.

Cao Wenzhao held a long spear in his hand and marched forward against the wind, his red battle robe fluttering in the headwind.

Cold rays of light like snow continued to appear in front of him, and bright red plum blossoms bloomed.

Each plum blossom represents a wounded enemy rider.

The hot blood rolled on the cold ground, stirring up bursts of heat.

Cao Wenzhao jumped on his horse and held the spear, destroying everyone he faced.

Wherever the spear tip went, guns, spears, and armor were all shattered, and all soldiers and officers were invincible!
Among the soldiers of the Manchu and Mongolian banners of the Qing army, not a single one could stand up to him!
In the melee, a Qing army captain and several armored cavalrymen seized a high slope, and the surrounding Qing cavalry also tacitly moved closer to them.

They were only thirty steps away from Cao Wenzhao.

On the high slope, the Qing army captain had a fierce look in his eyes and shouted sternly in Manchu. Several armored cavalrymen following him dismounted their horses.

Six armored cavalrymen from the Guard Battalion, including the Qing army's assistant commander, drew their bows and arrows at the same time.

Seven strong bows, seven heavy arrows as thick as thumbs, were all pointed at Cao Wenzhao who was killing the enemy just thirty steps away.

The arrow was on the string and was about to be shot when a sharp sound of breaking through the air was heard first.

The Qing army captain's face was full of disbelief, as he saw a tiger spear flying towards him.

Cao Wenzhao had already discovered Tokyo on their side, and the tiger spear that was flying towards them was just thrown by Cao Wenzhao.

The bow and arrow in his hand fell weakly to the ground. He looked at his chest in astonishment. A spear almost pierced through his chest, directly sentencing him to death.

Just in front of them,

The bowstring sounded, and the remaining six feather arrows shot out.

The feather arrows flew towards Cao Wenzhao who had just thrown the tiger spear like a meteor chasing the moon.

"Herod-"

The neighing of war horses and the slander of knights sounded almost at the same time.

But Cao Wenzhao did not fall.

The one who fell was a household cavalryman who was following Cao Wenzhao.

The so-called servants are officers and private soldiers.

Whenever there is a powerful enemy, those who are used to break through the enemy's formation are the family servants.

Those who charge into battle and sacrifice their lives to protect their masters are called servants.

"call!"

The sound of horse hooves was like thunder, and the sound of breaking through the air suddenly sounded.

A distance of thirty steps is just a blink of an eye for a galloping warhorse.

You only get one chance, and failure is a death sentence.

The sharp horse lances easily cut through the heavy armor of the guard camp cavalry, and countless red and white objects were scattered all over the ground in an instant.

The blood flowed onto the ground and sank into the messy horseshoe prints.

"mighty!"

The deafening shouts echoed in everyone's ears and chests.

Up the mountain and down the mountain.

All the Ming troops were shouting "mighty".

The morale of the Ming army continued to rise.

The sky is shining and the east is getting red.

A dazzling golden light suddenly appeared from the eastern horizon, breaking through the layers of clouds and mist and radiating in all directions.

The fertile soil of Liaodong supports the rising sun step by step.

The morale of the Ming army also reached its peak at this moment.

On Rufeng Mountain, the Ming army's large formation had already swept in.

A bloody battle had already broken out. The Qing army relied on their solid camp to continuously kill and wound the charging Ming army.

In their hearts, the advantage is gone, and the morale is gone.

They don't understand, they don't know.

In previous battles, there was often no need for actual fighting. All it took was a rain of arrows, a sound of gongs and drums, and a feint attack to scare the Ming army into submission.

But at this moment, the Ming army's armored soldiers actually carried more than 30 red cannons and the firepower of hundreds of various artillery pieces and rushed to their camp.

Even in a bloody battle, if one group was defeated, another group would come and attack in an instant.

The war has been intense since the beginning.

Fear continued to spread among the Qing soldiers guarding the mountain, like a plague that was difficult to eradicate.

The war continued, and blood formed pools of blood in the mountains and condensed into streams of water.

I don’t know when it started, but the shouts of the Ming army also changed.

From the original mighty power, it turned into killing slaves.

In the end it became "Fu Tu".

These Ming soldiers who shouted for the recovery of their land were, without exception, from Liaodong.

Their ancestors have lived in Liaodong for hundreds of years.

However, after the rise of the Jiannu, they were forced to leave their homes and flee to other places.

In the second year of the Tianqi reign, more than 40 cities in western Liaoning were lost, which is nearly twenty years ago.

Twenty years is almost the time of a generation.

Many people clearly remember the pain of being as anxious as a lost dog.

These armored soldiers from Liaodong were wounded and fell to the ground, some of them died of their injuries, but they were still chanting "recover the land" in their mouths.

They lay on the cold ground, looking up at the dim sky.

At the last moment of his life, he was still whispering "Return to the Earth".

How dare I forget the bright moon in my hometown!

Non-vegetation, ruthless Practice makes perfect.

Seeing all this, how could it not arouse the lofty sentiments of the rest of the people.

"Restore the soil!"

"Restore the Earth!!"

In the end, whether it was the soldiers in the Liaodong camp or the soldiers in Shandong, Datong, Xuanfu and other towns, they all shouted for the recovery of the land.

The shouts were like a tsunami, bursting out from the throats of Ming troops everywhere and rolling in from the Ming army formations everywhere.

When the oath was sworn in at Ningyuan, the soldiers of the eight towns and the officers at all levels had different thoughts, and all of these were out in the open.

Fear of war, cowardice of the enemy, self-preservation, indecision and countless other negative emotions have always lingered in the military.

But at this moment, at least at this moment.

Under the influence of this tsunami-like shout.

Both the generals of the eight towns and the officers at all levels were infected by the atmosphere.

With everyone united, even the mountains can be shaken!
The huge shouts reached the sky and also shocked the defenders in Jinzhou City.

On the city wall, Zu Dashou, with a head full of white hair, stood at the gap in the battlement, looking at everything happening on Rufeng Mountain from afar, and burst into tears.

Inside Jinzhou City, both soldiers and civilians were in tears and wailing bitterly.

Restoration, restoration...

This slogan, which has been shouted for decades, has long been regarded as a mirage in Zu Dashou's heart.

The corruption of Liaodong was initially due to military reasons, but later it was due to political needs.

As Liao people, after the Battle of Sarhu, they experienced the fall of western Liaoning. Which of them did not have a blood feud with the Jianzhou Jurchens?
The vision of recovering the territory has always existed in the hearts of many Liao people.

only……

Some people are willing to sell out their ancestors and their country for the sake of profit and high positions and salaries.

The tens of millions of Liao tributes had already become a hot commodity within the Ming Dynasty, and everyone wanted to get a piece of it.

If the land is recovered and Liao is pacified, then where will the millions of Liao tributes go?
There were also some people who were terrified and frightened by the Qing army's successive victories, and calls for surrender were rampant in the town.

There are those who directly rebel, those who collude secretly, and those who bet on both sides.

For the continuation of the family, this is often the only option.

The Jiannu's power grew stronger, while the imperial court's national strength grew weaker.

The desire to recover the land is so far away.

Zu Dashou had complicated emotions. He witnessed the bloody battle on Zerufeng Mountain and heard the calls for the recovery of the land. Even though he had been in the army for many years and had experienced ups and downs in the officialdom, he was still affected by it.

Is it really possible to restore the soil?
In fact, Zu Dashou often asked himself this question in his heart.

Zu Dashou used to have an answer in his heart, but the answer was no, it was just wishful thinking.

but why.

Why did he still have to guard the isolated city of Jinzhou?

Do we still have to defend Liaodong, which is only a hundred miles away?
Zu Dashou saw no hope and no way forward.

He didn't know where his clan was going, nor did he know what the future of Liaozhen would be.

Zu Dashou has always had the answer in his heart, but he doesn't want to admit it.

The sun and moon above our heads no longer shine, but they are still the sun and moon of the Han family.

The clear light of the northern frontier shines for thousands of miles, but it is still the clear light of the northern frontier.

Zu Dashou closed his eyes and felt his dead heart start beating again.

Zu Dashou was well aware of how powerful the Qing army was.

There were endless disputes within the imperial court, and the interior was in turmoil and plagued by epidemics.

The Ming Dynasty was in a state of decline and decadence.

The country is showing signs of destruction.

The soldiers of the eight towns have different ideas. Although there are 130,000 of them, the number of Qing troops will be much greater once the subsequent reinforcements arrive.

Although the Qing army is now in a state of decline, once Huang Taiji leads reinforcements, the situation may be reversed...

Can this battle really be won?

Zu Dashou kept asking himself this question in his heart.

How can you possibly win if you can't win...

Every time, every time, every time.

This situation has happened many times.

In the end, no matter how they start, they will lose in the end.

A complete and total loss.

We suffered defeat after defeat and retreat after retreat.

Even Qingshan Pass.

Qingshan Pass won.

However, the Jiannu still achieved their goal of entering the pass and plundering.