The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

In addition to the long and majestic passes along the Great Wall, there are also many passes in the endless mountains.

The Great Wall passes are located in valleys between high mountains, at the confluence of rivers, or at strategic points on a flat plain. Passes were originally built for military isolation, but as history evolved, many of them became places for trade between the inside and outside of the Great Wall.

Zhangjiakou is located between the East Taiping Mountain and the West Taiping Mountain. A Qingshui River runs between the two mountains, forming a natural waterway. This waterway is the origin of the "口" in the name Zhangjiakou. It is said that there was a family with the surname Zhang living near the waterway, so it was named Zhangjia Pass, or Zhangjiakou for short.

Li Hu stood on the Zhangjiakou Great Wall and looked at the prairie in the distance. Different from what he saw at the Yulin Great Wall, the vast prairie was endless, like a huge green carpet.

It’s a good place. Once I take over this place, I must enclose a piece of land and raise a herd of cattle and sheep. In the summer, I will bring Lin Daiyu here to escape the heat.

At this time, Wang Daniu came trotting over.

Wang Daniu: "General, five thousand cavalrymen from Jizhou have arrived."

Li Hu nodded. He received the imperial edict at night. He believed that the situation in Jizhou was the same. The sun had just risen, and they rushed here as soon as they received the imperial edict.

Thinking of the prince's letter, an idea suddenly popped up in Li Hu's mind: if such a thing happened a few more times, would the emperor die?
Wang Daniu: "Since reinforcements have been sent, why doesn't the court send more people?"

Li Hu glanced at him. The Dashun army was said to have a million armored soldiers, but in fact it only had about 500,000 or 600,000 soldiers. This included the garrisons in various provinces in the Central Plains, which removed tens of thousands of soldiers. There were still more than 100,000 soldiers in southern Xinjiang, and the rest were all in the north, close to the capital and under the emperor's control. This was the fundamental reason why the emperor was not afraid of chaos in the Central Plains.

Unlike the military households of the Ming army, these 500,000 or 600,000 are regular troops who can fight tough battles.

Hundreds of thousands of people may seem like a lot, but there are thousands of passes on the Great Wall that need garrisons, plus nine key military towns that need to be defended, so there are not many people left. Each military town has its own responsibilities, and unless something happens in the capital, it will not be easily mobilized.

The emperor was able to withdraw 5,000 cavalry from Jizhou because he was anxious and because Shanhaiguan was right next to it.

Maintaining an army is expensive, especially cavalry. Among the entire nine borders, only Shanhaiguan, Xuanfu and Yulin have more than 10,000 cavalry. There would never be the situation of tens of thousands of cavalry as shown in TV dramas.

Including these 5,000 Jizhou cavalry, we can barely get out of the pass.

"Wang Yaozu is back." Wang Daniu exclaimed.

Li Hu turned around and saw Wang Yaozu striding towards him with a knife slung over his shoulder.

Walking up to him, Wang Yaozu reported, "General, the scouts we sent out have all returned, and they didn't find the whereabouts of the main cavalry of the Ulanqab League. But they found the remnants of the Chahar army, estimated to be about 20,000 people, who were driving hundreds of thousands of cattle, sheep and horses to hide by a lake behind a high ground. In addition, a group of old, weak, women and children in luxurious clothes were found to the northeast of the lake, with guards around them, probably the family of the Chahar Prince."

Li Hu became more alert: "How far?"

Wang Yaozu: "It's less than a hundred miles from here."

Li Hu's eyes flashed: "It's dark under the lamp?"

Wang Yaozu smiled and said, "They almost got away with it. The Mongolian scouts smelled a hint of fresh horse manure in the wind and followed the scent to find them."

Li Hu thought about it, waved his hand and said, "Let's go and rob him!" Then he turned and walked towards the pass.

Wang Daniu and Wang Yaozu hurriedly followed.
Four soldiers carried the heavy door bar on their shoulders and removed it.

The huge gate at the pass creaked open.

Li Hu whipped his whip fiercely and the big white horse rushed out like an arrow.

The sound of horse hooves shook the earth, and more than ten thousand cavalrymen rushed out of the open city gate, raising a sky full of flying dust!

It was another long idle day, and the third prince walked out from the back garden carrying a birdcage.

At this time, Master Mei came over from the hallway.

"Third Prince." Master Mei bowed from a distance.

The Third Prince: "Are you taking a day off today?"

Master Mei smiled apologetically: "I'm taking a rest. It's been a long time since I came to pay my respects to His Highness."

The Third Prince interrupted him directly: "How is your father?"

Master Mei: "Thank you for your concern. My father has been busy with his duties in the government these days. I will come to pay my respects to you in two days." The Third Prince said while teasing the bird: "If you have anything to say, please tell me as soon as possible. I still need to go out to walk the bird."

Master Mei hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Highness shouldn't waste your time like this."

The third prince looked at him.

Master Mei: "I heard from my father that those who were optimistic about your Highness are very disappointed. You should cheer up and fight for it!"

The third prince sighed, "Some things have to be accepted. After the assignment in Hetao, I completely understood that no matter how hard I try, it won't work. Forget it, let me live a happy life for a few years in peace."

Mr. Mei: “But.”

The Third Prince: "That's it?"

Mr. Mei nodded.

The Third Prince: "Go back and say 'trouble' and tell your father that he doesn't need to come and pay his respects."

Mr. Mei had nothing else to say, so he just replied, "Yes," and stepped back.

A sneer flashed in the eyes of the third prince, and he thought to himself, how dare you try to trick me!

The butler came over at this time and handed a letter to the third prince.

The third prince took the letter, opened it and read it, then frowned. Could it be that Shui Rong wanted to attack Xuzhou? He must be crazy!
The terrified shouts and cries of countless Mongols echoed across the prairie!
Countless sabers reflecting the sunlight were raised high and swept past the tents!

With a flash of a knife, the head of a Mongolian boy who tried to resist flew off immediately!

As soon as the headless body fell to the ground, it was trampled into a pulp by the incoming cavalry. There were sounds of hacking and crying, and all his family members were beheaded.

Li Hu sat upright on the big white horse, watching all this quietly.

Wang Daniu smacked his lips and said, "These Hetao Mongols are even more ruthless than the Datong Guards! They killed all of them, whether they resisted or not."

Li Hu: "They didn't kill a single serf."

Wang Daniu understood that in the eyes of these people, serfs were their own people.

At this time, Wang Yaozu came riding up to Li Hu, pulled the reins, jumped off his horse, and said to Li Hu: "General, I let a few Mongols go according to your instructions."

Li Hu nodded.

Wang Yaozu: "Those people are indeed the family members of the Prince of Chahar. I have asked them, and except for the Prince of Chahar himself, everyone else is here. General, the Princess of Chahar is young and beautiful, and she looks very attractive!" He winked at Li Hu.

Li Hu rolled his eyes at him and said, "I read the Spring and Autumn Annals."

Wang Yaozu coughed and asked, "What should we do with these people?"

Li Hu: "Pack it up and send it to the capital."

Wang Yaozu: "We also found a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry in the tent of the Princess of Chahar County."

Li Hu thought for a moment and said: "Divide it into three parts, keep one for everyone to share, send one to the palace, and send one home."

Wang Yaozu: "Don't worry, General, I will send him back home without anyone noticing."

Li Hu: "No, we need to send it openly and let everyone in the capital know about it."

Wang Yaozu understood and replied, "Yes."

The battlefield fell silent. The surviving Mongols squatted on the ground. No one dared to resist or escape!

Li Hu: "Separate the herdsmen and serfs and let the Mongolian cavalry persuade the serfs to surrender. Tell them that if they want to gain freedom, land and cattle and sheep, they must first kill a herdsman and then help the court win the battle." (End of this chapter)