There is a space for passenger planes in the late Ming Dynasty

The Fan family compound in Datong City, Shanxi Province.

"General Jiang, Fan will give you another drink." Fan Yongsheng raised his glass and toasted.

"It's easy to talk, it's easy to talk. In the future, Datong City will need more support from the Fan family." Jiang Xiang responded with a toast.

"This time, several of our major merchants still have a batch of goods to go out of customs. Please take care of it, Mr. Jiang." Fan Yongsheng said, and at the same time stuffed a stack of banknotes with a hidden movement.

Jiang Xiang touched it and found about three thousand taels. He nodded with satisfaction and said, "No problem. You try to leave the seclusion at night or early in the morning to avoid the attention of people with ulterior motives."

"Please rest assured, sir, we will definitely pay attention. In addition, I wonder what General Jiang thinks of the current situation? Can our Ming court persist?" Fan Yongsheng took the opportunity to change the topic.

"Hey, our Ming court is going from bad to worse. We can't even pay half of the military pay. My soldiers and horses don't have enough to eat." Jiang Xiang complained.

"Sir, I guess the rabbit's tail won't grow long, so you have to make plans early."

"If you plan ahead, what are your plans?" Jiang Xiang asked knowingly.

"I just need to find a way out in advance. The Qing Emperor is so talented and powerful that he defeated the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong. I heard that the Qing Emperor is very thirsty for talents. If someone like you goes to the Qing Dynasty, your status will be greatly reduced." Definitely above Kong Youde and others, it’s no problem to become a prince or a king,” Fan Yongsheng continued to seduce.

"If the Ming Dynasty is really in trouble, wouldn't there be Zhenming Army?" Jiang Xiang is not stupid, he knows to put pressure on the other party to obtain greater benefits.

"Sir, as soon as the Zhenming Army occupied the city, they went around suppressing big businesses and collecting high business taxes. They are completely different from us. Moreover, the Ming Army had completely offended the Zhenming Army when they occupied Datong City last time. Surrendering to them may not bring any good results. Eat." Fan Yongsheng persuaded anxiously. He had a grudge against the Zhenming Army to destroy his family, so it was naturally impossible for him to surrender.

"That's the reason, but this matter is of great importance. I need to go back and think it over carefully." Jiang Xiang excused himself temporarily, and he was also prepared to whet Fan Yongsheng's appetite.

After the Ming army occupied Datong City through a sneak attack, Fan Yongsheng immediately took back the Fan family's property and fields that had been confiscated by the Zhenming army. With this special relationship with the Qing army, he regained a monopoly on the trade with the grassland through the Datong border, and it was quickly restored. vitality.

This dead traitor is now even more determined to surrender to the Manchus. He often entertains guests and drinks, and actively helps the Qing Dynasty persuade the newly appointed Datong general Jiang Xiang to surrender.

Thousand households in the west of Datong City.

The newly appointed Qianhu Jiang Jianzheng was drinking wine with a few of his cronies. The wine they drank was inferior, and there were not many decent dishes on the table.

"Boss, what kind of life are we living like this? We can't even pay military pay, and we get scolded by the people when we go out on the streets. I really regret that I surrendered to the Ming army!" A close confidant cursed after drinking half a bowl of bad wine.

"Who says it's not the case? It turns out that in the Zhenming Army, although the requirements are stricter, military pay is paid on time every month, and the amount is two or three times higher than now."

"After Jiang Xiang became the commander-in-chief, he went around taking money from the people, and the people hated him to the bone. And that Fan Yongsheng, after we helped take back Datong, he didn't give us the money he promised. He just treated us like rags. Throw."

……

"That's enough, shut up! What's the point of us scolding here? Can they lose a piece of meat? Besides, we betrayed the Zhenming Army, can we still go back?" Jiang Jian shouted.

Speaking of regrets, he must have regretted the most. He was a good leader of the Zhenming Army and refused to receive more than 10 taels of salary a month. That time, he was fooled by lard, betrayed the Zhenming Army, and helped the Ming Army seize the city.

Now that Datong has been taken back, Fan Yongsheng gave him one thousand taels of silver and not even a single copper from the three thousand taels he promised. The promised official position was given to a useless thousand households, which is not as good as before. The boss is here.

Now Fan Yongsheng is a guest of the General Military Mansion, and Jiang Jian can't do anything to him.

Recently, with the rapid deterioration of the Ming Dynasty's finances, it could only owe wages everywhere, and the Datong defenders could not even pay their military wages.

The General Military Mansion could only intensify its efforts to plunder the people. All the money and goods originally distributed by the Zhenming Army to the people of Datong were taken back. Now the people's eyes are filled with fire when they look at the Ming Army in the city.

But there is no point in regretting. Jiang Jian was the number one culprit responsible for the fall of Datong by the Zhenming Army, and there was no way for him to turn back.

Moreover, I heard that the Zhenming Army hated traitors extremely and punished them very severely. If they were caught, they would definitely be chopped up alive.

When he thought of this, Jiang Jian's body couldn't help but tremble a few times. This was really scary.

Late April.

Mi Zhuang is located twenty miles south of Datong City.

Lu Xiangsheng has quietly led the First Cavalry Division here. Losing Datong City is a shame for Lu Xiangsheng. Now the time has come. He is ready to pay with blood and retake Datong City.

In a simple tent, Lu Xiangsheng, Zhou Cong, Yang Lukai and others were looking at the map and studying the battle plan under a dim oil lamp.

"Where is the 1st Shanxi Combat Division led by Commander Zhou?" Lu Xiangsheng asked.

"We have arrived about thirty miles east of Datong City, which is about eighty miles away from us. It is within the communication range of Bailitong, so coordination is very convenient." Yang Lukai, who was in charge of the sentry horse, replied.

"How are the preparations for the ladders and other siege equipment?" Lu Xiangsheng continued to ask.

"Superintendent, we have been preparing all the way along the march. We have made fifty or sixty ladders, as well as siege vehicles. We have also prepared the ammunition for the stainless steel artillery, and we are fully prepared to attack the city." Another one. Brigadier Zhou Cong replied.

"Very good! At four o'clock tomorrow morning, when the defenders are most sleepy, we will take the lead in attacking from the south gate. An hour later, Zhou Rui was ordered to lead the Shanxi Combat Division 1 to launch an attack from the east gate of Datong, trying to capture Datong from both sides. ." Lu Xiangsheng ordered after thinking for a while.

"Superintendent, the general suggested that we could first bombard the defenders with artillery to shock them, and then distribute a large number of leaflets to the city to persuade them to surrender. I heard that the defenders in the city have not been paid for three months. The soldiers are very dissatisfied. Maybe they can persuade the defenders to surrender." City gate." Zhou Cong suggested.

"General Zhou's suggestion is very good and it doesn't cost anything. In the evening we will make a batch of surrender letters and order the defenders to surrender quickly." Lu Xiangsheng agreed. "Understood, we will implement it immediately." Zhou Cong said happily when he saw that the suggestion was adopted.

"Okay, let's disperse first, go back and get ready, organize the brothers to sleep for a while, and send out troops to attack the city on time at 3:30 in the morning." Lu Xiangsheng ordered.

"Understood!" Everyone was ordered to leave.

At four o'clock in the morning, the south gate of Datong City.

There was only a glimmer of light in the sky, and the entire city was still shrouded in night.

The divisional artillery battalion of the 1st Cavalry Division has quietly deployed field artillery outside the city. The gun barrels made of fine steel are like sharp swords pointing straight into the sky.

"fire!"

Following Lu Xiangsheng's personal order, fifty or sixty artillery pieces roared in unison, and the projectiles quickly hit the city head along with the firelight.

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

The defenders at the top of the city were stunned by the bombing and shouted loudly at the top of their lungs while fleeing in all directions.

Then the sky-wide leaflets urging surrender were shot into the city, and many soldiers picked them up.

"The Zhenming Army has come back, what should we do?"

"It's better to have Zhenming Army, pay on time every month!"

"Can we surrender again?"

……

The soldiers were talking among themselves.

"Drip drip!"

There was a rapid sound of trumpets outside the city, and countless Zhenming troops rushed towards the city wall on ladders, preparing to start a large-scale attack on the city.

"Quick, quick! Hurry up and defend the city, stop me!"

The generals of the Ming army at all levels shouted loudly at the top of the city. Some soldiers began to enter the city and start fighting. Some seemed to be still discussing, and some had quietly retreated. In short, it was chaos.

The garrison leader saw that if things continued like this, there would be no need to defend the city. Immediately, the supervising team came forward and chopped down several defenders with passive attitudes, and then forced everyone into defensive positions.

However, while they were stunned, several groups of the Zhenming Army's advance camp had already climbed onto the city wall and started a fierce battle with the Ming Army at the top of the city.

The general of the Ming army at the top of the city led his servants and started a crazy counterattack. The sound of fighting at the top of the city was deafening, and the blood flowed like a river.

Just when the defenders at the South Gate were about to withstand the first wave of Zhenming Army's offensive, another rumbling sound of artillery was heard from the direction of the East Gate. It seemed that the Zhenming Army was attacking the city again.

The morale that the Ming army defenders had finally built up was immediately deflated, and they began to flee in all directions.

Then there was a "creak" sound, and the city gate under the city tower slowly opened. It turned out that the gate defenders had surrendered.

A large number of Minzhuang who were forced to go to the city to help defend the city immediately turned around and slashed at the Ming army with their swords. The regular army of the Ming Dynasty in Datong had no military pay, and the civilian army was even more miserable. It was difficult to eat.

As soon as he encountered the opportunity, he immediately faced the battle and slashed the Ming army that was still resisting with the knife in his hand.

Lu Xiangsheng outside the city saw the south gate of Datong City being opened until the defenders were gone. Immediately ordered a battalion commander to lead a team of troops to the west gate of Datong to prevent important enemies in the city from escaping.

At the same time, using Bailitong, Zhou Rui's Shanxi Combat Division was ordered to send a battalion to the north gate to intercept the fleeing enemies while attacking the east gate.

As the Zhenming Army entered the city, the Ming Army defenders in the city became stinky rats that everyone shouted to beat. The people of Datong hated these scum even more than the Zhenming Army did.

The common people picked up hoes, sharpened bamboos and other weapons, and worked together in groups to deal with the fleeing Ming army soldiers. If caught, they were executed immediately, which shows the great anger of the people of Datong defenders.

After the First Cavalry Division successfully captured the south gate, the defenders at the east gate of Datong also opened the gate under the pressure of the people, and Zhou Rui's troops began to enter the city.

The elite forces of the two divisions entered the city and quickly controlled the key parts of the entire Datong City. Lu Xiangsheng rode his white horse and began to enter Datong City surrounded by guards.

"Long live the Zhenming Army!"

"Long live the Zhenming Army!"

……

The people cheered one after another. People are afraid of comparisons. The people who lived a prosperous life under the rule of the Zhenming Army missed the Zhenming Army even more after the miserable days of reoccupation by the Ming Army.

This can be said to be the one who wins the hearts of the people wins the world! (End of chapter)