698 into Texas, Yanmen Pass

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On September 22, the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, after two days of marching, Li Zixiao led 50,000 horses to arrive in Dezhou.

"Meet Lord Li."

Zhou Wen, the county commander of Dezhou, took a group of officials of all sizes in Dezhou to greet Li Zixiao outside the city gate of Dezhou.

Even if it rained heavily on this day, Zhou Wen, the commander of Dezhou County, still braved the rain to greet Li Zixiao at the city gate.

The scouts sent by Li Zixiao in advance arrived in Texas yesterday and notified the Texas prefect and garrison, telling them that the army was coming.

"Well, let you choose the location for Benjue's army, you can choose?"

Li Zixiao rode on the horse, looked at the two saluting in front of him, and asked in a deep voice.

The heavy rain wet Li Zixiao's armor and flowed down the iron armor, and the 50,000 troops behind Li Zixiao also marched in the rain.

For this sudden heavy rain, Li Zixiao did not expect it, and he could not avoid it, so he could only march in the rain.

"Don't worry, not only have we prepared a garrison for your lord's army, but it's just that there is a sudden heavy rain today, and the camp of your lord's army may be difficult to build.

However, Xiaguan has already vacated a thousand people's houses in the north of the city in advance, which can temporarily provide rest for the soldiers of the lord's army, and cannot let the lord's soldiers get drenched in the rain after entering the city. ”

Zhou Wen said to Li Zixiao with a smile on his face.

Originally, when Zhou Wen and the others learned that the Tartar army had left the capital and headed south, they were also very panicked one by one.

And now that Li Zixiao is coming with a large army, they have seen hope.

After hearing Zhou Wen's words, Li Zixiao's brows furrowed slightly, he knew that Zhou Wen said that he would vacate a thousand people's houses for him.

Most of these people did not voluntarily give up their houses, and most of them were forced by Zhou Wen to do so by coercive means.

But at this time, although Li Zixiao didn't like Zhou Wen's approach, he also knew that he couldn't let his soldiers get drenched in the rain all the time.

Otherwise, there will definitely be many soldiers who catch a cold and have non-combat attrition.

Seeing that the Tartars were about to go south to fight, at this time, Li Zixiao tried not to let his team have any non-combat attrition.

Therefore, Li Zixiao also accepted Zhou Wen's approach at this time, and decided to temporarily let his soldiers settle in the 1,000 houses they vacated until the heavy rain ended.

"Zhou County Order, when the meeting Ben Jue will ask his generals to bring a batch of grain over, you will gather all the 1,000 households that vacated the dwellings.

Benjue will give them fifty catties of grain for each family, and you have to arrange this matter, understand? ”

After hearing Li Zixiao's words, Zhou Wen raised his head, glanced at Li Zixiao in the rain, and then bowed to Li Zixiao and said, "Xiaguan is here for those people, thank you, sir." ”

"Hmm."

Li Zixiao nodded, and then said to Li Yan next to him, "Let the army enter the city!" ”

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Although it was raining heavily in the sky, Li Zixiao's 50,000 soldiers and horses did not move in the slightest, and the teams were still in a neat formation, stepping into the city of Texas at a unified pace.

"Boom ......"

In the dense dark clouds above, a flash of lightning suddenly appeared, and a bright light instantly shone on the heads of the White Dragon Army's marching team.

The sudden lightning light illuminated a large area, allowing Zhou Wen and other officials in Texas City to see the figure of this muddy team more clearly.

The expressionless and stern expressions of the White Dragon soldiers who gradually entered the city shocked Zhou Wen and other officials, they didn't expect the military prestige of the White Dragon Army to be so strict.

"Such a fierce warrior, such a strict team, Lord Li's subordinates are all strong soldiers and fierce generals, and they really live up to their reputation!

If I have a few more strong men like Lord Li, why worry about the immortality of Jiannu, how can I let those barbarians outside the pass be so wreaking havoc in the pass.

Now that Lord Li is leading the army, Dezhou City has been saved. ”

Looking at the soldiers of the White Dragon Army who walked in front of him, Zhou Wen was very excited and said from the bottom of his heart.

This sudden heavy rain was not without benefits at all, at least this heavy rain also had a great impact on the Tartar army raging in Hejian Province at this time.

After the Tartars defeated the three guards of Tianjin, Dolgon divided his troops into four routes in the next two days, and captured Baoding, Wen'an, Qingxian, Jinghai and other surrounding counties.

Duoduo's vanguard army had even reached Cangzhou, and the speed was already very fast, but it was because of this heavy rain that they had to hide in the city to rest.

In the past two days, the 20,000 Guanning iron cavalry led by Wu Sangui finally arrived in the capital.

Wu Sangui entered the capital to face the saint, although Chongzhen was a little dissatisfied with Wu Sangui in his heart, but at this time, he could not be too harsh, and directly assigned it to Lu Xiangsheng as the commander.

Immediately, Lu Xiangsheng also sent troops on the 21st and officially rushed to Shanxi.

At this time, the Tartar Western Route Army led by Azig had officially entered Shanxi.

The Tartar vanguard led by Du Du has connected several forts, captured tens of thousands of people, and plundered countless people, which is directly compared to Ulzhou.

At this time, Jia Changming, the chief soldier of Shanxi, finally solved the problem of money and food for the 60,000 Qinwang army that was convened.

Soon after sending troops from Taiyuan, as soon as he walked to the Xinkou area, he received news sent by the imperial court and knew that the Tatars had entered Shanxi.

"Damn, why did these dog tartars suddenly remember to kill me in Shanxi, it's really troublesome."

After Jia Changming, the chief soldier of Shanxi, received the news, his face fell on the spot, and he cursed, knowing that he was in big trouble.

Immediately, Jia Changming, the chief soldier of Shanxi, immediately led the army to continue north, and even sent the only cavalry to let his cronies and generals take command and go north to Yanmen Pass in advance.

Open the map of Shanxi at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and you will find that half of Shanxi's territory in the north belongs to the northernmost Datong Mansion and the Taiyuan Mansion in the middle.

The northernmost Datong town is the barrier in the northwest of the entire mountain, and it is also a very important barrier in the north of the entire Ming Dynasty, where there are more than a dozen guards.

These guards were used by the Ming Dynasty to defend against the Mongols in the north, as well as other barbarian invasions, and Datong was one of the few important towns in the north of the Ming Dynasty.

It's a pity that this time the Tartars came from the east, which made many dangerous passes in the north of Datong Town seem to be useless.

But even so, Datong is still one of the most difficult towns in the Ming Dynasty to overcome, and it is not bad for Shanhaiguan.

The only thing worse than Shanhaiguan may be that there are not so many elites of the Ming army in Datong, and the imperial court is short of pay all the year round, so that there are a lot of empty salaries in more than a dozen guards here.

A normal guard house with a staff of 1,000 people can actually have three or four hundred people.

In addition to Datong Town, another very important pass in Shanxi is the Yanmen Pass in the north of Taiyuan, which is the only way to enter Taiyuan Mansion from the north.

Shanxi is mountainous, the terrain is complicated, as long as the Yanmen Pass, Ningwu Pass, these two important passes, in the hands of the Ming army, the Tartars will not be able to enter the Taiyuan Mansion, they are at most in the north of the Datong Mansion scourge.

Among them, Yanmen Pass was closer to the direction where the Tartars came from the east, while Ningwu Pass was in the west, and Jia Changming only sent people to warn the defenders there, and did not send people over.

This is also the reason why Jia Changming, the chief soldier of Shanxi, got the news that the Tartars had entered Shanxi, so he sent his cronies north to Yanmen Pass.

At the same time, Jia Changming also sent someone to call Jiang Huang, the chief soldier of Datong Town at this time, and asked him to be careful of the Tartars.

The next day, Jia Changming received a messenger from the imperial court again, knowing that Lu Xiangsheng was going to lead an army to come, and the imperial court asked all the Ming troops in Shanxi to obey Lu Xiangsheng's command.

Including Jia Changming, the chief soldier of Shanxi, and Jiang Liang, the chief soldier of Datong Town, are no exception.

Two days later, Jia Changming led the army to Yanmen Pass, and after looking at this dangerous and majestic pass, Jia Changming finally showed a smile on his face.

"Lord Commander, there has just been an urgent report from Ulzhou that they have found traces of the Tartar army there and are asking for help from us.

Not only Ulju, Gwangling, Lingqiu, Yingju and other places, but also the Baiman guerrilla generals in the Andong Zhongtun Guard, also sent people to ask for help. ”

As soon as Jia Changming arrived at Yanmen Pass, he received requests for help from several prefectures and counties in the north and Datong in the east.

"Hmph, they all came to ask for help from this official, but they don't know how powerful the Tartar is!

Let them take advantage of the fact that the Tartars have not yet arrived at them, and immediately organize the people to move towards Yanmen Pass.

This official will not let a single soldier leave Yanmen Pass before Lord Lu leads the army to arrive. ”

Jia Changming snorted coldly, and said to his generals very dissatisfied.

Of course, Jia Changming also knows the power of the Tartars, and he knows even more that the soldiers under his command have a few catties and taels.

According to the information sent by the imperial court, the Tartar army that entered Shanxi this time was 70,000 people, and his subordinates were now only 60,000.

Even Jia Changming thought in his heart that if the 60,000 horses under his command went out of Yanmen Pass and encountered Tartars in the wild, I was afraid that even 10,000 people would not be able to defeat them.

Jia Changming is not a mediocre general, he once fought with the Tartar cavalry, and he knows the power of the Tartar cavalry, and he doesn't plan to go out of Yanmen Pass at this time.

In his heart, in several states and counties that have decided to give up Yanbei, in his opinion, guarding Yanmen Pass is the most important thing.

As long as he can hold the Yanmen Pass before Lu Xiangsheng and his army arrive, he will not let the Tartar army enter Taiyuan Mansion.

Jia Changming believed that even if Lu Xiangsheng arrived with a large army, he would definitely not blame him.

"Yes, I'm going to deliver news to them."

After hearing Jia Changming's answer, the Ming general also breathed a sigh of relief, answered, and then bowed and retreated.

In his heart, this Ming general was also worried that Jia Changming would lead the team north out of Yanmen Pass, because they all thought that it was going to die.

If Jia Changming really wants to lead the army out of Yanmen Pass, these generals will definitely stop Jia Changming collectively at that time.

After Lu Xiangsheng dispatched troops on the 21st, he led the White Dragon Army led by 50,000 elite guards around the capital, 10,000 Qi Wei, and 20,000 Wu Sangui's Guanning Iron Cavalry, a total of 80,000 troops.

Lu Xiangsheng's plan was to take Bauhinia Pass and Shimen Gorge, first to Guangchang, and then to Pingxing Pass and enter Fanzhi.

With Pingxing Pass, to Yanmen Pass, and then west to Ningwu Pass in the west, the Great Wall of this line to establish a defense line, Lu Xiangsheng also planned to give up the land of Yanbei, where it could not be held at all.

(End of chapter)