Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1168 Taiyuan Crisis
At three o'clock, the camp of the rebel army in Niangzi Pass was already pitch black and completely silent, except for occasional soldiers with torches and spears walking through the camp to inspect the camp.

This is the main camp of the Central Route Army. Jiang Xiang personally led [-] Datong elite soldiers and [-] rebels to station here. Opposite him is the Qing army camp. The two sides have been at Niangziguan for nearly three months. Long.

Although Dorgon urged Lou Qin to storm the pass, the Qing army suffered nearly [-] casualties, but still failed to break through Niangziguan.

It was only midnight now, and most of the soldiers were sleeping soundly. The camp would slowly start to move again after the fifth watch, when the Huotou camp got up to prepare breakfast.

At this moment, in the dark night, there was a rush of horseshoes in the distance, but suddenly came.

Hearing the noise, the guards at the gate of the camp woke up in a start, lit up torches, picked up their spears and gathered in front of the rejected horses. After a while, they saw several cavalrymen with two horses each, galloping with torches. The leader was Hu Weizong , He shouted loudly from a long distance: "Open the gate of the camp, there is an urgent military situation!"

Seeing that there were only seven or eight cavalrymen at the camp gate, the hundreds of households quickly waved their hands and asked the subordinates to slowly move away the horses. The hundred gatekeepers gave a pass warrant, and then walked quickly towards the commander's tent.

Several people walked all the way to Jiang Xiang's tent, but were stopped by the soldiers guarding the tent, Hu Weizong immediately said in a deep voice: "There is an urgent military situation, go and notify the Duke of Jin immediately!"

Jiang Xiang, as the leader of the anti-Qing alliance in Shanxi, can be said to be busy every day. He has been busy until the third watch, and he has not slept for half an hour. Now he is sleeping soundly. Usually, he will not wake up until the fifth watch. He sleeps.

However, Jiang Xiang's personal guards knew Hu Weizong and knew that he was actually Jiang Xiang's supervising army sent by the king of Chu. Push to wake up, "Duke! Duke!"

Jiang Xiang opened a pair of blood red eyes and stared at Baihu, her face was restless, "What's the matter? Is it dawn?"

Commanding the entire Shanxi rebel army to fight against the Qing army is a very labor-intensive task. In addition, Jiang Xiang's ability is somewhat insufficient. It is really difficult for him to deal with Dorgon and several Qing troops!
In terms of talent, he has some shortcomings, so he can only spend more time to fight against Man Qing.

During this period of time, Jiang Xiang can be said to have worked very hard, and without rest, people tend to become irritable.

Baihu was taken aback by Jiang Xiang's eyes, and suddenly remembered the allusion of "I love killing people in my dreams", and hurriedly said: "Duke, Master Hu is here, saying that there is an urgent military report."

Hearing that Hu Weizong personally brought the emergency military situation, Jiang Xiang suddenly sat up in shock and asked, "What emergency military situation?"

Could it be that something happened to the north or the south? Jiang Xiang is more inclined to go to the south, because Kong Youde and Wake have [-] elite soldiers, and they have besieged Lu'an for two months. Success, but heavy losses.

For Hu Weizong to come overnight, something must have happened. Could it be that the Qing army really broke Lu'an? Break through, he is the second line of defense in the south, let him block the Qing army in Xiangyuan.

"I don't know about the humble position, but Mr. Hu came over overnight, looking very anxious!"

Jiang Xiang's heart tightened, she hurriedly got up and put on her clothes, Baihu lit all the big wax in the tent, and heard Jiang Xiang say: "Please come in, Chief Steward!"

Hu Weizong was pacing back and forth outside the tent. Hearing the shouts of hundreds of households, he immediately lifted the curtain and entered the big tent. Without waiting for Jiang Xiang to ask, he said directly: "Duke, the Jin army attacked Pujin Pass. The four prefectures of Zhouzhou, Jiangzhou, Pingyang, and Jinnan have all surrendered gold. Haoge led an army of [-] to Huozhou, which is only [-] miles away from Taiyuan. It will kill Taiyuan!"

The Jin army was different from the Qing army. First of all, they all kept their hair, including Hauge's Man soldiers, and most of them also kept their hair. This made the rebel army not have much hatred for the Jin army.

In addition, the gentry and common people in the north are not very nostalgic for the Ming Dynasty. They just hate the Qing Dynasty. When the Sinicized regime of the Jin Kingdom entered Shanxi, they just promised not to slaughter or plunder the city. Many places in southern Shanxi would not fight. And down.

In addition, the rebel army's strength in southern Shanxi was empty, which also allowed the Jin army to drive straight in. Before Jiang Xiang could react, he hit Huozhou.

Jiang Xiang had just prepared for the worst, thinking that Lu'an fell, but he didn't expect that the situation was worse than he thought.

When Lu'an fell, he fought back, prepared, and naturally did not panic, but when the Jin army suddenly entered Shanxi, he was unprepared and had no means to deal with it.

Jiang Xiang suddenly felt like a thunderbolt, his legs went limp, and he took two steps back, overturning the commander's case. Hu Weizong rushed forward with one step and supported Jiang Xiang, "Duke, hold on!"

The Shanxi rebels were reluctant to deal with the Qing army, and it was a bit overwhelming.

At this time, Jin Jun suddenly stabbed him from behind, and a big hole appeared in his entire defense system. Like a sharp sword, Jin Jun stabbed directly at Taiyuan, the heart of the rebel army, and Jiang Xiang's defense would collapse immediately.

Hu Weizong helped Jiang Xiang to sit down, Jiang Xiang lost his mind for a long time, and suddenly said with red eyes: "Why did you lose Pujin Pass, and why did you call Huozhou to tell me?"

If he had known earlier, or if Pujin Pass could resist for a period of time, he could still deploy troops to fortify. Now that he has reached Huozhou, it will be too late to deploy troops.

"I'm not quite sure. It must be some kind of strategy that the Jin army used to take Pujin Pass quickly. By the time we realized it, they had already reached Huozhou."

Hearing this, Jiang Xiang sighed bitterly, feeling extremely regretful in his heart. If he had sent more troops to guard against the Kingdom of Jin, the situation would not have been so bad.

After he sighed, thinking about the current situation, he suddenly grabbed Hu Weizong and asked, "Chief helmsman, when will the King of Chu send troops? You can't leave him alone!"

The Jin and Qing countries joined forces to destroy Shanxi. Jiang Xiang naturally knew that he was not an opponent, so he lost his composure for a while.

Seeing this, Hu Weizong hurriedly said: "Don't worry, my lord, I have sent someone to inform the court, His Royal Highness King Chu will definitely not sit idly by."

When Jiang Xiang heard that Hu Weizong had sent someone to see Wang Yan, he felt a little relieved, but when he thought of the situation before him, he felt a headache again!
The crisis in Lu'an has not been resolved, and the Jin army is pointing directly at Taiyuan. Now he is under the enemy's back and forth, and it is difficult to make a decision.

Seeing that Jiang Xiang was hesitating, Hu Weizong immediately said, "Master, I have discussed with Li Fantai, and I think we should protect Taiyuan first!"

Jiang Xiang came to her senses, "The chief rudder wanted me to withdraw from Niangziguan, so wouldn't the Qing army rush into Shanxi as well?"

"Our supplies, money and food are all stored in Taiyuan. It is not urgent to transfer now. If Taiyuan is lost, the morale of the Shanxi rebel army will be demoralized, and if the Duke loses Taiyuan's money and food, the army will not be able to last long!" Hu Weizong said earnestly : "Duke, withdraw your troops immediately! If the Jin army takes Taiyuan, and then attacks the Duke's back and the Qing army to attack from both sides, the Duke will suffer a big defeat!"

Jiang Xiang calmed down, "I want to withdraw to Taiyuan!" But his face was full of hesitation, and he continued: "But in this way, I will be trapped in the lonely city. At that time, I can only wait for the king of Chu to rescue me!"

Once Jiang Xiang withdrew his army from Niangziguan and the Qing army entered Shanxi, he would be completely passive and could only sit in a besieged city, with his fate in the hands of others.

"Does the Duke not trust the King of Chu?" Seeing Jiang Xiang's reluctance, Hu Weizong said in a deep voice, "You can rest assured that the King of Chu will definitely send troops within three months."

He paused, and then said: "Besides, Taiyuan is not an isolated city. Datong, Xuanhua, and Lu'an are all in our hands. As long as the Duke guards Taiyuan, other cities will not surrender on a large scale."

Jiang Xiang finally nodded after hearing this, Taiyuan city is big, rich and food, it is better for him to withdraw to Taiyuan, than wait for the Jin army to occupy Taiyuan, and flank him inside and outside the Qing army.

It was night, only the fourth watch, and the sleeping camp of the rebel army came to life. The soldiers packed their bags, abandoned their luggage, and rushed towards Taiyuan overnight.

(Chinese Valentine's Day, I wish everyone happy)
(End of this chapter)