In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 230
"How's it going? Have you been discovered by the defenders behind closed doors?"

"Back to your Majesty, the brothers are very careful and don't dare to get too close. They probably didn't notice us based on the noise."

"Have you seen clearly whether the Ming army stationed at the pass is a guard army or a border army?"

Lin Rui asked again, if it were just guardsmen, then a team of elites could be sent over the mountain to attack tonight. As long as dozens of people climbed up the Great Wall and followed the Great Wall until they closed the door, they would be able to open it.

But if there are border troops garrisoned and dozens of people go to sneak attack, no matter how elite they are, they will probably be beaten by meat buns and never come back.

The two sides of Zijingguan are surrounded by high mountains, bushes and thorns. This kind of terrain is destined to make it impossible to send too many people for a sneak attack.

Therefore, if there are border troops, they can only wait until tomorrow for Zhou Meng and others to continue pretending to be a caravan to break through the border, or directly disguise themselves as Ming troops to cheat.

However, the success rate of these two methods may not be too high. After all, no matter how stupid the defender of Zijingguan is, he should know the current situation in Datong. In this case, it is definitely a problem for the unfamiliar caravans and the Ming army. Very vigilant.

As for a strong attack, it is unrealistic. Even if the opponent is really just a few guard soldiers, this kind of terrain cannot be conquered by just 1 people.

"This... Your Majesty, the brothers did not dare to get too close, so at that time they did not see clearly whether the garrison at the gate was a guard soldier or a Ming army." Zhou Meng replied hesitantly.

The pass was located on a mountain col, much higher than them, and with the obstruction of the walls, it was difficult to see how many people were there, let alone the uniforms of the soldiers.

Lin Rui's brows also wrinkled, and he was caught in a dilemma for a moment. He didn't know whether he should choose to attack at night or to cheat tomorrow?
After some weighing, Lin Rui finally chose the night attack.

After all, although a night attack is very risky, and those who go for a sneak attack may never return, the success rate is much higher than that of fraud.

So Lin Rui immediately selected fifty elites who were good at climbing mountains and drilling into forests, and then asked them to bring rope grappling hooks and temporarily pack their armors on their backs. They took a detour from the forest on the left to the foot of the Great Wall, and then secretly climbed up. Go up the Great Wall and go directly along the Great Wall to seize the gate.

The 50 people were ready. After getting into the mountain forest, the main force rested overnight in a canyon ten miles away from the pass.

It was only the end of January and it was still very cold in the mountains, but in order not to be exposed, the army still did not light a fire.

Fortunately, everyone not only had cotton-padded clothes and leather shoes, but also sleeping bags made of cowhide, so they wouldn't get frozen.

It was a pity for the fifty heroes who went for the sneak attack. In order to pass quickly among the thorns and bushes, everyone took off their heavy cotton-padded jackets. In addition, in many places, even the snow had not yet melted, and they were just walking in the bushes. After drilling for an hour, everyone became miserable and their hands and feet were stiff from the cold.

Fortunately, these 50 people were all elite veterans who had followed Lin Rui for several years. Their physical fitness and fighting will were very strong. They didn't care about the scars on their bodies from being scratched by thorns. They just took a short rest after taking a few sips of strong drinks. Then he moved towards the Great Wall on the ridge in the distance.

It was not until late at night that everyone reached the foot of the Great Wall with great difficulty. Almost all of the 50 people had bruises and swollen faces from the cold, and were exhausted. Their military uniforms were scratched with holes everywhere, and their hair became like chicken nests.

Although the Great Wall on the ridge is also made of bricks and stones, it is only one foot high. Except for the fire coming out of the beacon tower in the distance, no one is standing guard elsewhere.

After all, this place is five or six miles away from the pass below. If it weren't for the current tense situation in Datong, there would probably be no one on duty at the beacon tower.

Only when there is an actual enemy attack, the Great Wall on the ridges on both sides will send troops to defend it.

Therefore, even in dangerous passes, we can usually only guard against large armies, but cannot guard against the infiltration of small groups of elites.

But then again, under normal circumstances, as long as the defenders are a little stronger, a small group of troops will die even if they touch the Great Wall, and it is impossible to fight to the end.

However, Zijing Pass has never been attacked by surprise for more than 200 years since it was built. The person responsible for guarding Qianhu was not in the pass at all, but in Qianhusuo City on the plain outside the mountain.

The task of guarding the gate is to be guarded by ten hundred households in turns. Originally, one hundred households guarded the gate for a month. After the situation in Datong became tense, it was changed to two hundred households stationed at the same time.

In the beginning, the two hundred households lived in the pass honestly with their servants and military households, and the thousand households would come to inspect from time to time to perform their duties.

But after the new year, thousands of households were too lazy to come, and hundreds of households didn't want to stay in the mountains all day, so they ran back to the city to live, leaving the task of guarding the gate to their servants, who only came to inspect every now and then.

So at this moment, there are only more than 30 servants and more than 500 ordinary military households under the two hundred households stationed in the entire Zijin Pass. The leaders are only two servant captains, not even one hundred households. It can be seen that the guards of the Ming Dynasty How rotten is the system?

This is still the case when there are rebels in Datong. If it were normal, there would only be 200 or [-] people at most.

At this time, except for a dozen sentries on and behind Guancheng, holding their weapons and doing their night watch while dozing off, almost everyone else was sleeping in the barracks.

The 50 people who made the sneak attack rested for a while at the foot of the Great Wall, and then climbed up the Great Wall using personal ladders without even using ropes.

After climbing up the Great Wall, everyone quickly took off the armor on their backs, and then helped each other put it on. After putting it on, they followed the Great Wall directly towards Guancheng below.

When passing by a beacon tower, although there was firewood burning inside, the five skinny guardsmen were fast asleep and were killed by the two characters who were exploring the way. More than 50 people walked along the Great Wall without any hindrance until they arrived at Guancheng. Jun Ming, who was dozing while leaning against the wall, was awakened and discovered, and he immediately started shouting.

"Kill, divide the troops into two groups!"

Seeing that there were not many people in Guancheng, the 50 people were immediately divided into two. A dozen of them pounced on the guards soldiers who had just climbed up, while the remaining people went down the stairs to kill Guancheng.

"Dangdangdang..."

More than a dozen guardsmen only had time to sound the alarm before they were all chopped down to the ground by the rushing Chinese troops. At this time, the awakened guardsmen and several servants in the tower also rushed out with their swords in hand.

But as the two leading servants were killed, the remaining dozens of ordinary military households immediately dropped their weapons and dispersed, scrambling to escape towards the city.

At this time, more than 30 Chinese troops under the city also took care of the more than ten military households and two servants guarding the gate. They were opening the door and did not pay attention to the escaped military households.

"Quick, fire the reverberating arrow!"

Hearing the creaking sound of the door opening from below, a Chinese soldier at the top of the city immediately took out a fireworks arrow from his arms, lit it on a torch on the side, and pointed it at the dark sky.

In fact, when the alarm bell rang, Lin Rui sent five hundred cavalry to kill them quickly. As for the large army, although they were well prepared, they did not move for the time being.

After all, if the people who sent the sneak attack really opened the door and held on until the cavalry arrived, five hundred cavalry would be enough. If they did not hold on until the cavalry arrived, the door would be taken back and closed by the opponent, then no matter how much more troops were sent, People have worked in vain in the past.

At this moment, the two servant captains in the rear are indeed organizing the military households to retake the gate, but the enemy's situation is unclear, so how can the military households be willing to fight for it?

Even if they were driven to charge once or twice, after a few people were killed by the Chinese army, the others scattered and no longer wanted to charge, and the servants could only worry.

It can be said that if the 50 people who attacked secretly only wanted to hold the gate and wait for the large army to arrive, they alone could kill all the military households and servants in the pass and capture the entire Zijingguan in one fell swoop.

Although it was still dark and the mountain road was rugged and difficult to walk, it took only more than a quarter of an hour for the five hundred cavalry to arrive. As the cavalry came in, the military households immediately hid in the mountains on both sides. , the remaining 20 or so servants fled back along the official road.

Half an hour later, after dawn, when Lin Rui arrived with a large force and heard about the defense situation in Zijin Pass, he was completely speechless.

He did not expect that the Ming Dynasty's garrison system had deteriorated to such an extent. The key point was such an important one, but the court turned a blind eye and allowed the garrison soldiers to guard it. He deserved to be destroyed.

"Your Majesty, we can actually take down the entire Bauhinia Pass."

"Well, you worked hard this time, and each of you will be counted as a great achievement."

Lin Rui nodded. The Ming army's internal defense was so poor that he became more confident in this sneak attack plan.

Immediately after the army hurriedly had breakfast, Lin Rui left only 300 people, including the fifty who stayed up late to attack, and then led the army directly towards the North China Plain.

An hour later, the army left the mountainous area and arrived at Baoding Prefecture. Qianhu, who happened to encounter Zijingguan, led a group of military attachés and servants out of the city. It seemed that they wanted to recapture Zijingguan.

As a result, when they saw the countless cavalrymen fighting out of the mountains, all the military attachés were immediately frightened and fled towards the city one by one as if they were dead, screaming.

Lin Rui didn't bother to care about this rabble at all, and led the army directly to the north along the broad official road.

Although there is no one to lead the way, if you keep walking north along the main road, you will definitely not go wrong, and you will definitely reach the capital in the end.

Nearly ten thousand people are one person and two horses. With the current riding skills of the old infantry battalion, they can gallop along with the Mongolian cavalry, and even slash on the horse with a sword. Apart from riding and shooting, they are actually not much different from the cavalry.

In order to achieve the purpose of the raid, the common people of the caravan encountered along the way were ignored. Because they were flying the banner of the Ming Army, the prefectures and counties passing by and the common people of the passing caravan thought they were Ming troops.

Zijin Pass was only more than 400 miles away from the capital. Lin Rui and his army only rested for one night on the way and arrived at the southern suburbs of the capital the next afternoon.

The towering city wall in the distance has appeared in everyone's sight.

"Zhou Meng, you take 50 people, under the banner of the Ming Army, and see if you can rush in and seize a city gate."

"It's the king."

Zhou Meng was also a very brave man, so he took 50 people and rode towards the city wall.

(End of this chapter)