Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 426 Suddenly
Li Dingguo was very confused and He Zhen was very nervous.

The doubt came from the fact that the reinforcements outside the city had stopped coming, and the anxiety came from the fear that they would be abandoned.

According to their original idea, after Sun Shoufa broke through, he should have informed the commander of the reinforcements of all the news. Afterwards, the Ming army outside the city should have made moves based on the current situation, and with the cooperation between inside and outside, they would be able to deal a considerable blow to the Qing army.

This idea is naturally not wrong. After all, intelligence is of paramount importance when facing the enemy.

But the plan never changed.

It has been two days since Sun Shoufa broke out, but the reinforcements outside the city have not responded at all.

Faced with such a situation, most ordinary soldiers had not noticed anything unusual, but He and Li, veterans of the battlefield, could not help but have all kinds of thoughts.

"Dingguo, do you think the Ming army will abandon us two?"

As the voice came, Li Dingguo, who was leaning on the parapet and trying to look into the distance, was stunned.

During the past two days, he and He Zhen not only ate and slept on the granary wall, but the elite troops in the army also remained ready for battle at all times.

But now they could only see the cavalry coming and going outside the city, but they did not hear even the slightest sound of shouting and killing.

According to his thinking, the Ming army outside the city must be preparing for some big move. After all, the gain or loss of Hanzhong is related to the overall situation. However, the Ming army will not easily give up the fight for the four war areas.

just
"Of course not. I heard that the Ming army's previous victories were all due to the strength of the navy. Now in this plain area, if they don't try to defeat the Tartars, they will probably be worn out before they can retreat far."

After some thought, Li Dingguo expressed his judgment, but to his surprise, after several breaths, there was no response from He Zhen.

Seeing the other party's reaction, how could he not know that this quick-witted guy had other ideas.

Then he turned his head and took a look. Seeing that the man was frowning and thinking, he asked curiously, "Do you have any other conclusions?"

"When General Sun broke through the siege that day, some soldiers seemed to have heard the order to come to his aid."

"Come to help under orders?"

"Ah."

When Li Dingguo heard these words, he suddenly felt confused.

He didn't quite understand why He Zhen would bring up this matter separately. After all, the Ming Emperor had already entered Sichuan, and the entire Ming army in Hanzhong could be said to have come to assist under the emperor's order. This alone did not seem strange.

But then again, he had fought with He Zhen several times and knew that the other party was not someone who would attack him without a purpose.

After he had thought about it for a few times but got nothing, he got straight to the point and said, "I can't think straight, so don't keep me in suspense."

"I mean, could His Majesty be just outside the city?"

"Well, then what?"

Li Dingguo seemed to be still confused about the situation, and He Zhen felt helpless.

After all, he had completely offended the Qing army. Looking around the world, only the Ming Dynasty could still provide him with a place to stay. However, it was difficult for him to express his thoughts, so there was some hesitation on his face.

Seeing that he spoke hesitantly, Li Dingguo was somewhat dissatisfied.

After a few breaths of silence, He Zhen seemed to realize that what she was doing was inappropriate, so she gritted her teeth and spoke out loud.

"There are about 30,000 Tartars, and we only have a little over 30,000 in total. If His Majesty is really outside the city, protecting him is the top priority. We..."

He Zhen had said so much, so Li Dingguo naturally understood what he had not yet said.

No matter what, those surrounding them were the elite troops of the Eight Banners. With equal forces, it was almost impossible for any one group to pose a big threat to them.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty was able to reverse its decline thanks to the Emperor alone. If he was really outside the city, which commander would dare to risk the lives of his entire clan to fight the Tartars of equal strength?
In this way, the reason why the Ming army has been silent in the past few days is probably that they are gathering strength and waiting for the opportunity to retreat.

No matter what, when Emperor Minghuang led his troops to fight this time, he not only completely brought Sichuan under his control, but also helped Sun Shoufa, who had fought guerrilla warfare in Shaanxi for many years, escape safely.

Such a victory was both a win-win and a win-win situation. Not to mention abandoning Hanzhong, even if the Ming army retreated directly to Guangyuan, it would not hurt the reputation of the Ming emperor at all.

as for them
A slave who rebelled and surrendered, surrendered and rebelled again, a rebel bandit who assisted the evil and harmed the local area, what do their lives have to do with the Ming army?
After realizing all this, Li Dingguo couldn't help but feel disappointed, and his face couldn't help but look a little bitter.

He was not a coward, otherwise he would not have volunteered to take on such an important responsibility. It's just that everything had been going on for such a long time, and by this time, under the persuasion of Liu Wenxiu's letter, he had the idea of ​​avenging his adoptive father under the Ming Dynasty.

But who would have thought
Forget it. Anyway, we have done nothing for the Ming Dynasty, so how can we force the Emperor to come to our rescue?

With this in mind, Li Dingguo stopped worrying about it, but when he was about to look into the distance, he suddenly turned to He Zhen.

"Old He, we are old acquaintances. If you want to surrender to the Qing Dynasty again to save your life, I will not stop you. But if you want to use the city as a means of advancement, I will never agree."

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

As soon as Li Dingguo finished speaking, He Zhen seemed to be shocked. After glaring at him angrily, he continued, "My reputation is ruined. Even if I surrender to the Tartars, what good will happen to me?!"

Hearing this, Li Dingguo felt it made sense, and he felt rather embarrassed and tried to appease the other party. However, before he could even open his mouth, there was a commotion on the city wall. When he looked into the distance, he saw two black shadows, one large and one small, coming from the west.

这 是
cavalry?

Didn't they all come from the north a few days ago? Why did they come from the west today? And why were there two groups?
Seeing this, Li Dingguo felt confused again. He then planned to discuss something with He Zhen, but when he turned around, he saw the other party staring at him in astonishment.

"The cavalry is equipped with muskets?!"

Firegun?

Astonishment seemed to be contagious. When Li Dingguo discovered that the faint firelight was constantly flashing in the black shadow in front of him, his eyes widened involuntarily.

He was very sure that the fire was emitted by a musket, but although such things were powerful, loading and igniting them took a lot of time.

If the gun formation is composed of well-trained soldiers, it will naturally be indestructible.
Can they charge and fire safely?

Thinking of this, Li Dingguo couldn't help but narrow his eyes. Seeing that the fire was still flickering, the emotion in his heart could not be described by just shock.

His and He Zhen's surprise was understandable.

In essence, the self-propelled gun was a proper flintlock rifle, and with the use of fixed gunpowder, it was a generation away from the ordinary fire guns they had seen. As the two shadows approached, the details gradually became clear.

At this time, Li and He could already tell that the black shadows in front were the Ming army wearing fiery red clothes, while the group behind were Mongolians wearing jackets and robes.

Seeing this, they felt uneasy all of a sudden, and Li Dingguo even clenched his fists involuntarily.

They had always believed that the attention of both the Ming and Qing dynasties was focused on the city of Hanzhong, and even if there were still small groups of people active in the plains, they were only doing some reconnaissance and espionage work.

Now such a large cavalry force has suddenly appeared, which means that the battlefield between the Ming and Qing dynasties is not limited to this.

This chase and escape illustrates the situation on the Hanzhong Plain.

"Dingguo, I'm afraid we'll have to explain this here."

Under normal circumstances, Li Dingguo would not have been able to rebuke the other party directly due to his identity, but after hearing such words he had to say a few words in a subtle way.

But now I don't know whether he was still shocked by the cavalry equipped with muskets, or if he agreed with He Zhen's judgment in his heart. After he finished speaking, he just frowned and said nothing, without even any reaction.

"I have rebelled again and again, but I have no place to stay. I only ask General Sun to ask for the title of death in battle from His Majesty for the sake of our fighting side by side, and allow me to be buried in my ancestral tomb."

"General Sun is a good soldier. If possible, I will do my best."

After all, He and Li had also been around a pile of dead bodies, and the feeling of despair only stayed in their hearts for a moment before gradually fading away. Even though they were talking about their affairs after death, their tone seemed extremely flat, as if they were not talking about themselves.

This is understandable.

In such troubled times, everyone is just struggling to survive. If they are lucky today, they can fight for a chance to live, but if they are unlucky tomorrow, they will die. After so many years, this is probably not the first time they have thought about what happens after death.

"Forget it, let's not think about it. If the Ming army is in danger, we will lead our troops to fight. At least we have to give His Majesty a reason to show mercy."

After he finished speaking, He Zhen clenched his fist and prepared to go to the city, but Li Dingguo did not respond for a long time, as if something was holding his mind back.

Seeing this, he was a little surprised, but when he was about to put it behind him, the other party suddenly exclaimed.

"wrong!"

"What's wrong?"

"Look, the Ming army is scattered but not in disarray, while the Mongols behind them are constantly falling off their horses. Isn't this the Mongols' tactic?"

After listening to Li Dingguo's words, He Zhen took a few quick steps and approached the parapet.

Although he still couldn't see too many details of the two cavalry groups, he could distinguish the figures of each person clearly.

Whenever there were flashes of fire in the Ming army formation in front, a few of the pursuers behind would inevitably fall down.

just
Just when Li and He's moods suddenly changed because of the Mongolian cavalry who kept falling off their horses, Li Chengdong, the cavalry commander, knew his own suffering.

This morning he led his men in a successful raid on Dayan's baggage camp, but after the success he encountered a problem.

The Hanzhong Plain is both small and long, so he could easily find the Mongolian baggage camp by using this. At the same time, the Mongolians could cut off his retreat by using their numerical advantage.

According to the original plan, after attacking the camp, Li Chengdong should lead his cavalry back to Yangping Pass.

Even if they were surrounded and intercepted by Mongolian cavalry that was several times their number, they would be able to bring back most of the enemies with their firepower advantage after paying some price.

It was not that Li Chengdong did not take seriously the elite troops that the Ming Emperor had painstakingly trained. It was really that the Mongols were stuck in the middle. If they were not driven away, the Hanzhong Ming army would be doomed to be defeated if their food supply was cut off.

It was obvious that between rescuing the emperor and two thousand soldiers, the generals at Yangping Pass chose the emperor, but Li Chengdong always had other ideas in his mind. After destroying Dayan's baggage camp, he did the opposite, made a circle and headed straight for Hanzhong.

Initially, this approach did achieve good results. All the Mongolian generals chased straight towards Yangping Pass, and no one sent out scouts.

But then again, the plain west of Hanzhong City was very small, and Li Chengdong only took a short while to escape before he ran head-on into a team of a thousand men.

It is not difficult to imagine what happened next. In front of the two thousand dragoons, the thousand-man team could only withstand one or more rounds of volleys before fleeing directly. However, the scattered soldiers spread the news that the Ming cavalry were fleeing to Hanzhong.

Afterwards, several teams of thousands of people that had been unable to catch up with the encirclement and suppression because they were too far away from Yangping Pass immediately caught up.

Although Li Chengdong's troops still maintained their momentum of killing one if they came across one, and killing two if they came across two, the time wasted was enough for Dayan to catch up, and their ammunition was gradually exhausted in the continuous fighting.

At this point, the one thousand soldiers who participated in the front blocking could no longer be called dragoons. If it weren't for the other one thousand soldiers who could have made the pursuers fearful with the limited ammunition left, it is unknown whether Li Chengdong could have seen the Ming army camp outside Hanzhong city.

"Don't spare your energy! Go at full speed!"

As the military order was issued, every soldier swung the whip in his hand heavily, but after running for such a long time, the horses under their crotch had reached their limit. Even the sporadic firing of the muskets could not completely suppress the sound of the whip, and the distance between them and the pursuers behind them was still getting closer and closer.

Seeing this situation, Li Chengdong looked back frequently, while focusing all his attention on the Ming army camp in the distance.

He knew that his arrival was too sudden and it was impossible for the scouts around to deliver the news to the camp in advance.

Under such circumstances, it would be difficult for the soldiers in the camp to respond in time, but they still had to try to buy them some reaction time.

just
The ammunition is running out and the horses are almost exhausted.

Under such circumstances, even if he led the Mongols in circles, he would inevitably pay a heavy price for being caught up.

Just beg!

There is still gunpowder in the camp. As long as we can survive this, after replenishing the ammunition, even if there is only half left, we are confident that we can find an opportunity to escort His Majesty away!

With this in mind, Li Chengdong decided to lead the Mongols around the military camp for a few circles. Then, he gave an order and his men turned around and headed for the flat area outside the city.

As the distance got closer, the movements in the camp outside the city gradually caught his attention.

At this time, the soldiers in the camp seemed to have formed several formations, and once they left the camp gate, they would be able to face the enemy in a short time.

Seeing this, Li Chengdong couldn't help but feel relieved, but when his sight inadvertently swept across the city wall, the Qing army inside was no different from the one here.

Oops!

(End of this chapter)