After receiving the order from the emperor, Lin Shixian selected 10 people from each of the two squads that did not fight much today, and brought 25 reserve horses, and quickly crossed Shimen Gorge and headed towards Zunhua City.

Since the Houjin had previously controlled Shimenzhai, there were no rangers to patrol the vast area between Shimenxia and Zunhua City. There are several small rivers running north and south from Shimenxia to Zunhua City, which converge from the Yanshan Mountains in the north, then flow to the Shahe River in the south, and then to the west.

These rivers are also seasonal, and there is not much water at this time of year. On both sides of the river grows a large number of poplars, willows and shrubs.

There is a large amount of developed land to the west of Shimenxia, but it remains largely undeveloped to the east of Shimenxia. Naturally growing trees intertwine with the wasteland, creating a vast area of open forest and grassland. The further east you go, the more pronounced the steppe landscape becomes.

The official road extends eastward from the Shimenxia exit, and before the Houjin invasion, this official road was being reconstructed, from the original loess avenue to Sanhe soil as the roadbed cushion, gravel as the road surface, and two rows of street trees were planted on both sides of the road.

However, with the invasion of the Later Jin army, the reconstruction project of this official road was forced to be interrupted, and after 3 or 5 miles east of Shimenxia, the gravel road with a smooth road surface and a certain arc became a loess road full of ruts and potholes.

Lin Shixian led people across another small river, and after getting out of the thin woods by the river, his eyes suddenly opened up, and in front of him was an empty grassland, and even the intermittent groves were gone. In such a field, when the light is good, a moving target can be found more than 10 miles away.

Lin Shixian ordered the team to stop, and then took out a map from a leather case and looked at it, Zunhua was about 60 miles from Shimen Village, and Baozi Village was about in between. The distance from Baozizhai to Shimenzhai is about 33 miles, and they set off from Shimenzhai and walked for 12 or 3 miles.

Lin Shixian quickly found the location of his group from the map, and the map in his hand was a fine map made by the Academy of Sciences using the latest cartographic knowledge, drawn to scale and using contour lines. After he found his location, he immediately recognized that the area from the front to the fort village was basically grassland and cultivated landforms.

Lin Shixian immediately put away the map and said to his subordinates behind him: "Let's go southeast along this river, the downstream of this river is the Shahe River, find a place to cross the river, and then go up the river, we can reach Zunhua."

Those post-golden tartars would never have thought that we would pass by the left bank of the Sand River. Everyone worked hard to reach the outside of Zunhua City before dark. Otherwise, on a dark night, we won't be able to tell whose flag is hanging on Zunhua City, and wait until dawn tomorrow to confirm the situation, which is equivalent to wasting a day.

Gentlemen, work hard not to disappoint Your Majesty's expectations. ”

"No." The 20 people who didn't close the night suddenly stopped their movements, and responded to Lin Shixian in a low voice, and the originally silent woods seemed to be awakened, and several birds suddenly flew up in the bushes.

When darkness covered the earth, there were lights in Zunhua City, but the houses outside Zunhua City were still dark. Zhao Shanhe sat on a chair with a half-old thin quilt, his eyes stared straight at the flame of the oil lamp on the table in front of him, the windows around this house have been covered with reed mats, and even some lights in the house can't leak out at all.

Looking back now, the experience of more than 10 days was like a nightmare. On October 28, the news that the combined army of Jiannu and the Mongol Tatars had broken through the pass reached the city of Zunhua.

In fact, some gentry in the city got the news on the 27th, and those gentry quickly ran to Jizhou or Shanhaiguan with their families.

On the morning of the 28th, the big families in the city finally got the news, and as these big families began to pack up their belongings and prepare to flee, the news of the Houjin invasion spread quickly throughout the city.

However, soon these chariots and horses fleeing outside the city quickly returned, because Houjin's cavalry had already appeared on the roads on the east and west sides of Zunhua City, and many chariots and horses that were running too fast were directly intercepted by these Houjin sentinels.

Although Huang Taiji had ordered before entering the customs that the surrendered cities and the Ming army should be treated well, when Nurhachi established the Jurchen Eight Banners, the Jianzhou Jurchens could still rely on the mink trade with the Ming State to feed their subordinates.

However, with the unification of the Jurchen tribes in Jianzhou and the establishment of the state, the rapid growth of the population of the Eight Banners and the destruction of the economic production of Liaodong by the tribal war made it impossible for the Jianzhou Jurchens to use the mink trade to feed the population of the entire Jurchen tribe. And the economic production of the Jurchens also fell into continuous shrinkage because of the large number of young people who were requisitioned by the perennial war.

In this situation, in order to avoid the collapse of the Later Jin economy, Nurhachi declared war on the Ming State on the grounds of the Seven Great Hatreds, and led the Jurchen Eight Banners to plunder the richest Han people in Liaodong to fill the lack of materials, wealth, and population in the Later Jin.

Although after Huang Taiji took office as the Houjin Khan, he vigorously developed production in the hope of achieving a self-sufficient economy. It stands to reason that it is not difficult for Houjin to achieve this goal. The land occupied by the Later Jin has far exceeded that of the Liaodong region owned by the Ming State, and most of this land is in an undeveloped state.

The soil in the Tohoku region has always been fertile, and although only one season a year can be cultivated due to the climate, the yield in one season exceeds that of the best irrigated land in the Kannai area, and is almost on a par with the fertile fields in the south of the Yangtze River. After Huang Taiji ascended the throne, he implemented the policy of giving preferential treatment to Hermes-Epitek and developing production, which indeed achieved good results.

At least these policies have suppressed the grain price of 80 taels and one stone in Houjin to a lower level than that in western Liaoning. However, the climate of Liaodong determines that it is okay to grow grain, but it is a little difficult to grow cotton, not to mention that Houjin has almost no knowledge of cotton textile technology, and there is no such labor for weaving.

Therefore, whether it is the Jurchen Tartars of the Later Jin Dynasty or the Mongolian tribes on the steppe, they are extremely lacking in cloth, silk and other living materials. Even if Huang Taiji ordered that the Ming people should not be looted and killed without authorization, neither the Jurchens nor the Mongols took this order very seriously.

However, since Huang Taiji became the Great Khan, his prestige has increased, whether it is the vassal Mongol tribe or the Eight Banners Jurchen, he can still maintain some respect in front of him, and he has left Huang Taiji's sight, so he has gone his own way.

In particular, since the Jurchen Eight Banners were built, they have been accustomed to a life of plunder. It is precisely because they can get spoils of war every time they go out that they can make these Jurchens happy when they hear about the war.

The habits cultivated in Nurhachi's time were by no means something that could be eliminated by a single order from Huang Taiji. Therefore, the fugitive families who were intercepted by the Houjin Sentinel naturally fell into hell. Men and the old and weak were slaughtered, and young women and belongings were taken away by the Jurchens.

After these big families who fled with their families met the people who escaped from the Houjin Sentinel Detective, they naturally did not dare to continue to move forward, and quickly turned around and returned to Zunhua City.

After the flow of people fleeing to the east and west returned, the people from the outer city who originally wanted to drag their homes to escape from Zunhua naturally stopped all their movements and sat at home and watched.

Originally, from Zunhua to the south across the Shahe River and the Li River, he could also escape to Fengrun County, and then escape from Fengrun to the mainland. But the road was unwalkable because someone had damaged the bridges over the two rivers.

After that, some officials and soldiers came out of Zunhua City and issued an order to the people living in the outer city, requiring all households living in the outer city to conduct training to prevent Houjin spies from infiltrating the city. In addition, the family's stored grain, mules and horses must be handed over to the government, and the newly established garrison command will give everyone a white slip, and the government will compensate after the Houjin army retreats.

Although the government's orders were very dissatisfied with the people living in the outer cities, the additional conditions given by the government made these people quickly accept these orders. This additional condition is that after receiving the training of the government and handing over the grain deposits, mules and horses, the old and weak of the people's families can be arranged to live in the city and receive free food and drink from the government.

After hearing about the murder of the Houjin Sentinel Detective, for these ordinary people living in the outer city, since they could not escape from here, being able to hide in the city became the only hope to save the lives of their families.

Although the government only accepts the old and weak into the city, for these ordinary people, it can be regarded as half of the worries. Especially for those military households, those who stayed outside the city were old and weak, but now they could take this opportunity to enter the city and have their accommodation and food arranged by the government.

Later Jin's sentinels appeared near Zunhua City on the 28th, but Hou Jin's army never arrived. And this also left enough time for Zunhua City to dispatch and train the people inside and outside the city, dig roads and build fortifications.

On November 1, the left, center, and right armies of the Houjin finally moved to the city of Zunhua, the left army of the Houjin was stationed in the east of Zunhua City, the right army of the Houjin was stationed in the west of Zunhua City, and then the Jin Khan Huang Taiji was stationed in the north of the city with the army of the middle road.

On the day of the arrival of the Houjin army, they did not immediately attack the city, but sent the generals and people of the Ming army of Houjin after surrendering, so that they shouted to the soldiers and civilians inside and outside Zunhua City, demanding that the soldiers and civilians inside and outside Zunhua City surrender immediately.

However, Ding Zhuang outside the city, who has been trained into a team, and the small family that has been settled in the city, even if someone is shaken by these words, he does not dare to show it. Therefore, the Houjin faction's move to send people down and shout basically had no effect.

However, Houjin soon sent troops to cut off the communication channel between Zunhua City and sent the main force of the Left Route Army to besiege Santun Camp with the Mongolian right battalion. As a result, a day later, Zunhua City lost all contact with the outside world and became an isolated city surrounded by enemy troops.