February 20, Quang Ninh Qiantun Wei.

The north wind was fierce, and on the walls of Qiantun City, groups of soldiers hurriedly interspersed back and forth with weapons in their hands.

Yan Yingyuan, dressed in armor, stood at the battlement of the city gate tower and looked out.

Since leaving the capital on Chinese New Year's Eve, he has been here for nearly two months, and he is still a little unaccustomed to the wildness of the north.

Huang Degong, the governor of Xuanliao, sat in Shanhaiguan, while Yan Yingyuan and the three of them invited themselves to be stationed in Qiantun, a lonely city outside the pass.

At first, Huang Degong disagreed, after all, the three of them were recommended by Liu Hongji, and Qiantuncheng was close to Ningyuan City, which was occupied by the Tartars, and was the first line of border defense.

But Yan Yingyuan scoffed at this, why does the husband regret serving the country?

What's more, he didn't have no battles, and when he followed Liu Hong to attack Shanxi, Yan Yingyuan's perfect defensive command won everyone's recognition in the Linxian defense battle.

Yan Yingyuan argued on the basis of reason, Huang Degong is a rough man, and he is naturally not the opponent of the three of them if he is reasonable, not to mention that he is going to help him guard the most dangerous place.

As a last resort, Huang Degong appointed Yan Yingyuan as a general, Chen Mingyu as a guerrilla, and assigned 6,000 infantry soldiers to the two to garrison Qiantun, while Feng Dunhou was left in Shanhaiguan to assist Huang Degong because he was better at handling logistics.

For more than a month, Yan Yingyuan and his two led 6,000 soldiers to keep a small Qiantun city in order.

The ruined city wall that had been in disrepair for a long time had also been repaired, and even Yan Yingyuan had even picked up four Buddha Lang machine guns from Shanhaiguan, which was better than nothing.

Qiantun, a lonely city outside the Guanwai, spent the last month of tranquility under the busy day of 6,000 sergeants, until early this morning.

The Sentinel reported that the Jiannu army had opened from Shenyang three days ago, and it was less than 200 miles away from Qiantun.

The gate of the north city of Qiantun City was wide open, and there was a zigzag crowd from the south.

"Lao Yan, the people over there in the middle and back will all move to this city in a while!" Chen Mingyu was also dressed in armor, and climbed from the city to the city wall in a hurry.

When the army attacked, it became a top priority to gather the people of the nearby places to take refuge in Qiantun City.

"Gongchen has worked hard, how is the Zhongqian Office?" Yan Yingyuan saw that it was Chen Mingyu, and his frowning brows relaxed a little.

This is the first time that the two have led troops independently, and now that the war is approaching, there is inevitably some excessive pressure.

"On the side of the Zhongqian Institute, Governor Huang who arrived at Shanhaiguan was notified two hours ago, and the people of Zhongqiansu will move directly to Shanhaiguan."

Although it was the end of February, but for some reason the northern border was still cold dripping into ice, Chen Mingyu took a pot of spirits from the corner tower, took two sips of it by himself, handed it to Yan Yingyuan and said.

"Lao Yan, what Governor Huang means is that Qiantun is a small city, and it is powerless to stop the Jiannu army, let me and others organize the evacuation of the people to Guannei as soon as possible!" Chen Mingyu's expression was obviously a little dissatisfied with Huang Degong.

Qiantuncheng was the only homeland that the Ming Dynasty had taken from Jiannu in the past eight years, and it was still from their old boss An Guohou Liu Hongji.

Now that Jiannu is going south, he directly handed over the city to others, which really makes people feel aggrieved.

"Gongchen, you and I are the generals of the Ming Dynasty, when you know that the military order cannot be violated, Lord Huang also cherishes my life before giving this order, and he also has unspeakable secrets!" Yan Yingyuan sighed.

He was busy in Qiantun for more than a month, just to deal with the future war, and now that the war is coming, he will burn the past efforts to burn down, which makes him a little difficult to accept.

But he also knew very well that Huang De must have been under a lot of pressure when he gave this order, although the military order was correct.

Like the two of them, the imperial court also knew that Qiantuncheng was not easy to come by, and if he retreated without a fight, the governor of Huang would inevitably be attacked by the courtiers.

But Qiantun City is really like a chicken rib, the city wall is only ten meters high, even compared with the neighboring Ningyuan City, it is too far behind.

"I have informed the people of the whole city to abandon the Qiantun, and after an hour, everyone will set off to move to the pass, the people will go first, I will wait for the aftermath, Gongchen, you are tired and go to rest in the morning!"

Yan Yingyuan clenched his fists, his eyes full of unwillingness, but helpless.

"Alas! I went down to Zhangluo, and there were only more than 10,000 people in the city, and I had to be busy for a while. Chen Mingyu sighed and decided to let go of the dissatisfaction in his heart, after all, the city could be regained if it was lost.

And if you lose your life, you will be gone.

As soon as Chen Mingyu turned around and was about to go down, Yan Yingyuan's eyes suddenly froze in the distance.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! The sentry under the city shouted as he ran, and shouted to the wall.

And Yan Yingyuan, who was standing on the city wall, clearly saw that not far behind the sentry horseman, a group of cavalry, like a black line from the sky, pressed towards Qiantun City.

The message is wrong! Yan Yingyuan and the two glanced at each other, and each saw a little horror in the other's eyes.

According to previous estimates, the Jiannu army will not arrive in Qiantun until tomorrow morning at the earliest, but ......

"Close the gates!" Yan Yingyuan didn't have time to think about it, and immediately ordered the soldiers to close the gate of the northern city, and the people who had migrated from the middle and later could hide in the city.

"Someone! Hurry up and send a message to Governor Huang and report the situation here to Governor Huang! ”

At the moment, I can't walk if I want to, and without horses, how can I run past the sudden cavalry.

Moreover, there were 14,000 people in the city plus the people who had migrated from the middle and later periods, so they had to inform Huang Degong and make another plan.

The city wall was instantly busy, and there was no need for Yan Yingyuan to shout loudly, and all the soldiers stationed there were orderly guarding their respective battlements with bows and crossbows.

When Yan Yingyuan and the others first came, these native Liaodong soldiers still had some disdain for these two scholars, but in less than ten days, Yan Yingyuan and the others won the respect of all the soldiers.

Whether it is all kinds of city defense equipment, grain and grass allocation, and infantry and bow coordination, Yan Yingyuan and the two are all proficient, and the two are not like other generals who beat and scold soldiers indiscriminately and deduct military salaries.

In the past month, Yan Yingyuan has been practicing with these 6,000 soldiers, so that today, although the plan to abandon the city and return to defense has come to naught, the fire in Yan Yingyuan's heart has also been ignited.

"Prepare the thunder stone, Lao Chen, Xicheng will be handed over to you!" Yan Yingyuan said to Chen Ming, who was already gearing up beside him.

……

A quarter of an hour later, the Jiannu army assembled about a mile from the Qiantun city wall.

The force consisted entirely of cavalry, and at the front of the line was a middle-aged man in silver armor, half of his face covered with a steel pin-like beard under his helmet.

He was the British Prince Azig who gave the first minister of the Qing Dynasty, His Excellency Fan Wencheng, and behind him there were a full 15,000 iron horsemen full of eight banners.

He had only one task this time, to hold off the garrison of Qiantun until the arrival of the army.

He didn't know why his brother Dorgon had done this, but it was enough to kill, and he even almost got into a fight with Haug in order to win the striker position.

"Your Highness, the troops have been assembled!" A soldier came to report it.

"The subordinates obeyed the order and surrounded Qiantun City, if a Han thief was allowed to escape, this king would never spare it!" Azig drew his sword and roared.

"Let's go!"

PS: I got off work late today, and I will make up for it tomorrow.