A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 381

Based on the road conditions at this time, the distance from Ruzhou to Luoyang is about 200 miles. Although there is an official post road from Nanyang to Luoyang, it has been in disrepair for a long time, and this road is not easy to travel.Over time, the official road is full of ruts with a height difference of one or two feet. The horse-drawn carriage is running on it, swaying from side to side as if dancing, but the wheelbarrow moves smoothly.

Even so, the road from Ruzhou to Linru is not bad, after all, it is a land of flat rivers.After passing Daxingbao, there are dozens of miles of hills and mountains in Songxian County, and then follow Yishui to the north to Longmenguan. The mountain roads in these two places are even more difficult to walk.

The Shunxiang army had a large number of carriages, mules and horses, and they did not need manpower, and they traveled empty. Although they were dragging ten heavy red barbarian cannons, the marching speed could still be maintained.

The main reason is that Chen Yongfu's luggage team slowed down the speed, the enemy was close at hand, Chen Yongfu did not dare to divide any rear army, all the luggage was accompanied by the Chinese army.

Their luggage team uses wheelbarrows and large carts to transport luggage, tents and other things. They rely on manpower to walk, and their physical strength and training are far inferior to those of the Shunxiang Army. Down.

Fortunately, there is the Shunxiang Army, and their armor and baggage can be transported by the baggage team. The soldiers only have one weapon in their hands, which greatly reduces their burden.Only the soldiers of the Shun Township Army were still fully armed and marched in full armor. These well-nourished and well-trained professional soldiers wore armor weighing dozens of kilograms, marching and walking, they were all full of energy.

The army set off on the seventh day of the lunar month. Li Guangheng's Geng Cavalry Chief Qian, together with Wen Daxing's Yebushou Qianzong, served as the front army to ascertain the enemy's situation and plan a place to camp.They walked a hundred miles that day and arrived at Daxing Fort in the afternoon. They prepared a good resting place and ample food for the main force. When the main force arrived, they could rest and recover their strength.

In the evening, Wang Dou and Chen Yongfu led the army to arrive and traveled a hundred miles. The Shun Township Army was alright, but Chen Yongfu's battalion soldiers and the peasants were all out of breath. Fortunately, the rest camp was complete and the meals were plentiful , so that their physical strength can quickly recover.

Li Guangheng greeted Wang Dou and the others at the camp, but Wen Daxing's Ye Bu Shou people continued to move forward and spread out to the area between Daxing Fort and Longmen Pass.They joined the Yebushou who had been sentrying in Luoyang, Yongning, Yiyang and other places for a few days ago, and continuously sent back the latest information for the army.

Fighting according to the military rules, the Shunxiang Army has gone deep into the bone marrow, especially in terms of sentry and surveillance, the Shunxiang Army has attached great importance to it.According to Wang Dou's estimate, the hills and mountains from Daxing Fort to Song County, as well as the mountains around Longmen Pass, are all good places to set up an ambush, and they need to be carefully investigated to beware of ambush.

Sure enough, those intruders did not change their nature, and they set up lures and ambushes in these two places.Those decoys were easily defeated by Li Guangheng's cavalry, and Li Guangheng never received the sentry information at night. Li Guangheng also took one step at a time.

Liu Fangliang and others have learned from the past, and Chuangjun also knows the combat effectiveness of these officers and soldiers. 1 people have no chance of winning against more than 1000 people. Nearly [-] of them will follow. If they want to besiege, they may need tens of thousands of people. With so many troops and complicated plans, in a hurry, those generals who broke into the army, where are they? Are you busy?

After making a scene several times, the intruders retreated in boredom.Their ambush ability, which they are good at, is helpless in front of the Shunxiang army.

The army was safe and sound all the way, which made Chen Yongfu feel very lucky, instead of walking alone, he was afraid that he would have been ambushed many times.In Wang Dou's view, as long as a large army has good sentry capabilities, the possibility of ambush can be reduced by [-] to [-]%.This is the reason why it is difficult for the Shunxiang army to be ambushed by officers and soldiers many times.

From Daxing Fort to Longmenguan, the Shunxiang Army and Qianfeng Battalion walked for two days. On the afternoon of the ninth day, the army arrived at Weiwan Station on the left bank of Yishui River.

Li Guangheng's forward army has long been waiting here.Although it was still early, Wang Dou still ordered to set up camp, and with his head of guards, as well as the generals of the Shun Township Army, together with Chen Yongfu, visited the world-famous Longmen Grottoes with great interest.

Fragrant Mountain and Longmen Mountain face each other, and the Yishui River flows through it. The scenery of Longmen Mountain is the crown of the eight scenic spots in Luoyang.At this time, Yishui is already covered with thick ice, standing on the ice and looking to both sides, it looks like a natural gate.

Among the cliffs where mountains and rivers depend on each other, countless Buddhist niches and grottoes are carved, either majestic or majestic, lively or elegant, and a strong breath of civilization rushes towards us.

Wang Dou was amazed. Wang Dou was so excited that Chen Yongfu and Qin Yi beside him showed proud expressions on their faces.Although they are not from Luoyang, the Longmen Grottoes are also their pride.

Only Gao Shiyin murmured: "Some rocks, what's there to see?"

Wang Dou smiled and said, "Brother Gao, don't underestimate these grottoes, they are the essence of my Chinese civilization."

Gao Shiyin said: "What the general said is true, it is indeed the essence."

He tightened his cloak and cloak tightly. The two mountains here faced each other, like a wind vent. Standing there, the cold wind gusts, which is extremely unbearable.In Gao Shiyin's view, looking at these stone statues is better than returning to the camp to eat and drink all the wine and meat.

Qin Yidao: "The monks of Xiangshan once said: the suburbs of Luodu, the mountains and rivers are the best, and the dragon gate is the first. This grotto was excavated from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty for more than [-] years. There are thousands of caves and more than [-] statues. There are also masters of calligraphy in the past dynasties. The essence of the forest of steles. The stele written by Chu Pushe in the Tang Dynasty on the Buddhist altar of Yique is a model of Tang Kai. The student was lucky to have traveled in Luoyang for two years, and stayed here many times in Yique. If the general is interested, the student is willing to act as a guide .”

Wang Dou was overjoyed: "With the guidance of Mr. Qin, I will definitely return home full of joy today."

……

That day Wang Dou really returned home having a good time, but unfortunately, now that the army is in turmoil, there is not a single tourist near this crown of eight scenic spots in Luoyang, which is a fly in the ointment.The depression and dilapidation of the local area also made Wang Dou sigh. Perhaps, the future will be peaceful, and he can do something.

In the early morning of the tenth day, Wang Dou and Chen Yongfu set off again. Longmen was less than [-] miles away from Luoyang City. At the end of the day, their army reached the south bank of Luoshui.

The majestic Luoyang City is like a picture scroll, majestically standing in the frozen north. In the binoculars, you can see the famous Luoyang Nanguan Wharf outside Dong Fengmen.

Looking at this majestic and majestic city, Wang Dou couldn't help but sigh. Luojing, the capital of the gods and the ancient capital of thirteen dynasties, was once the center of world civilization, but now...

"If you ask about the ups and downs of ancient and modern times, please only look at Luoyang City"

The ancients were sincere and did not deceive me.

……

On the tenth day of December in the 13th year of Chongzhen, Yongning City.

This Yongning is of course not the Yongning City on the East Road of Xuanfu Town, but the Yongning City in Henan Province not far from Luoyang, later known as Luoning County.Yongning City was originally a land entrusted by King Wan'an. It was captured by Li Zicheng at the beginning of the month. The fighting was not fierce. With the cooperation of the hungry people inside and outside, it can be described as breaking with a drum. The casualties of the invading army were less than a hundred.

In Li Zicheng's view, the attack on Yongning City was already considered a heavy casualty. When he attacked Yiyang, Yanshi, and Xin'an Zhucheng, tens of thousands of troops surrounded him, and when the drums beat, the local defenders immediately fled or surrendered. Armies often don't lose a single soldier.

So far, apart from Luoyang City, the rest of the Henan Province, more than a dozen cities, have all been owned by the Chuangjun.The military strategy went surprisingly smoothly, especially the return of Li Yan brothers, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and other literati. Song Xiance even presented the prophecy of "Eighteen sons, the main artifact", which made Li Zicheng's thinking begin to change. Perhaps, he can also fight Jiangshan, take the world, right?

So he changed from the old days when he conquered cities and conquered lands only for jade girls, and began to strictly enforce military discipline: "Killing someone is like killing my father, and whoever rapes someone is like fucking my mother."

Li Yan also compiled ballads for him such as "Welcome the king, don't pay for grain", and put forward slogans such as "equal the land without grain", so that his army developed rapidly.Every time he goes to a city, there are always hungry people willing to respond, so that his attack on the city can be described as effortless.

Of course, Li Zicheng still couldn't change his "abandoned city" behavior of leveling the city walls. Every time he captured a city, he would level the local city walls.In order to support his army, he also wiped out the big local government gentry.

Western Henan was severely famine-ridden. Needless to say, the poor people had nothing to eat or drink. Now all the wealth, money and food of the big households everywhere belonged to the Chuangjun. In order to survive, people who "voluntarily" joined the army every day poured in like a tide.Basically, the ordinary people in the cities trapped in the Henan Prefecture became his "soldiers". Based on this calculation, it is not surprising that the Chuang army has soared to 10,000+, hundreds of thousands of "soldiers".

For Li Zicheng, having more soldiers and horses is of course a good thing, but in order to support these "soldiers", he had to keep attacking cities and conquering territory, and set a record of conquering three cities in a row within seven days. , and how many tens of thousands of "soldiers" are added, the pressure is even heavier, and then continue to the next stop...

Only when there is pressure can there be motivation. Although it is difficult to feed the soldiers and horses under his command, Li Zicheng is not too worried. Daming is full of cities, and most of it is people and money.There are eight prefectures in Henan alone. If the Henan prefecture is wiped out, you can go to Kaifeng prefecture. If the Kaifeng prefecture is purged, you can go to Nanyang prefecture.

That is, the whole of Henan is wiped out, and you can go to Huguang.Huguang has been wiped out, so you can go to Shaanxi.The world is so big, where can't I go?As long as there are soldiers and horses in hand, this great world is a good stage for heroes and heroes to show their ambitions.

Yongning is a beautiful place with beautiful rivers and splendid culture.However, there is less arable land in the territory. There is a saying that there are seven mountains, two plateaus and one river, and most of the fields are dry land and dry slope land.In the current climate of Daming, the seedlings would not be able to survive on irrigated land, let alone dry sloping land.

Most of the land in the territory was also occupied by King Wan'an and local officials, gentry and heroes. The severe drought in recent years has also made the local people extremely poor.

Although Wu Dalie, the magistrate of Yongning County, was considered fair and honest, and had many good deeds to help the victims on weekdays, it did not prevent the poor, crazy and hungry people from cooperating with outsiders and cooperating with the army to capture Yongning County.In the end, Wu Dalie was tortured to death by Li Zicheng for asking about the whereabouts of the county seal.

A county magistrate died as soon as he died, and the local people didn't care so much, because Li Zicheng dared to kill King Wan'an, his reputation was even stronger, and there was an endless stream of people who joined the army.There are also big and small horse thieves, bandits, swordsmen, poles, etc. who came here admiringly. They were collected by Li Zicheng one by one and became the infantry or cavalry of the army.

(End of this chapter)