771 arrived, Xianghe

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On the evening of October 30, Zhuozhou City.

Li Zixiao stood on the wall of Zhuozhou City, looking south, waiting for the main force of the White Dragon Army led by Li Tianba and Zhao Zilong to arrive.

"Report!"

Finally, after waiting for a long time, a White Dragon Army cavalry rushed in from a distance.

"Open the gates!"

Before the White Dragon Army cavalry rushed to the city, Li Zixiao eagerly asked people to open the city gate.

As the city gate opened in advance, the cavalry of the White Dragon Army did not slow down and rushed directly into the city.

"Lord Qiyu, the general asked the humble post to report in advance, our army is less than twenty miles away from Zhuozhou, and it should be possible to arrive after dark."

Looking at the news from the White Dragon Army cavalry sent back by Luo Chao to report the news, Li Zixiao was overjoyed and shouted loudly: "Okay, good!" Finally arrived. ”

"Pass the order, let all the pigs and sheep equipped in the city be slaughtered by Benjue, and when the soldiers arrive, Benjue will reward them well."

Li Zixiao was in a good mood and ordered.

Not long after dark, a long procession appeared outside Zhuozhou City, and more than 30,000 soldiers of the White Dragon Army trotted all the way to Zhuozhou.

"Soldiers, let's go to Zhuozhou. The lord should already be in the city, killing pigs and sheep and waiting for us, everyone is holding on. ”

Zhao Zilong rode on his horse and shouted loudly.

"Ahh It's finally here. After hearing this, these soldiers of the White Dragon Army cried with joy!

At this time, these White Dragon Army foot soldiers felt as if their legs were filled with lead, and they were just trotting forward mechanically, they were too tired.

On this day, they marched more than 100 miles, and they had been on the road for the previous few days, which seriously drained their physical strength and spirit.

It only took them seven days to march more than 600 miles, from Dezhou to Zhuozhou, an average of 90 miles a day, in the era of the late Ming Dynasty, it can be called an incompleteable task.

Finally, they rushed to Zhuozhou City on the evening of the 30th.

At this time, those soldiers of the White Dragon Army who were trotting mechanically looked at Zhuozhou City not far in front of them, and they were excited, making their steps faster.

"My subordinates meet the lord, we are here."

Soon, Li Tianba and Zhao Zilong knelt down on one knee in front of Li Zixiao and shouted loudly.

"Okay, the two generals have worked hard, you came faster than Ben Jue expected, and you have worked hard along the way."

Li Zixiao helped the two of them up and said.

"What are we working hard, General Li and I came on horseback all the way, and it was the soldiers who really worked hard."

Zhao Zilong said.

"Yes, the soldiers have worked hard, Benjue has already slaughtered pigs and sheep in the city, let the men prepare meals, let the soldiers enter the city to have a good meal, and then have a good night's rest.

Let's go, let's stop standing outside the city, let's enter the city. ”

Immediately, Li Zixiao, Luo Chao, Li Tianba, Zhao Zilong and others entered Zhuozhou City.

"What's going on? Didn't you already cook the meal? Why don't you have a meal? ”

When Li Zixiao and the others came to a large camp in a school field in the city, they found that the camp was quiet.

The fragrant big pot of rice was placed there, but not many soldiers came to receive it, Li Zixiao came over and questioned a man leader.

"Sir, come and see for yourself!"

The man smiled wryly, walked to the nearest tent, and opened the door.

Li Zixiao saw that the tent was lying crookedly at this time, full of the White Dragon Army foot soldiers who had just arrived, snoring and snoring, and they were all asleep.

"This ......"

"Sir, let the soldiers sleep, they are too tired." Luo Chao said on the side.

"Hey, okay. Captain, wait for the soldiers to wake up, and then heat up the food, so that they can get a good night's sleep. ”

Li Zixiao sighed and said.

The next day, the soldiers of the White Dragon Army, who had slept all night, woke up feeling hungry, but fortunately, the smell of food had come from outside the tent.

"Well, it's so fragrant, I'm starving to death."

The foot soldiers of the White Dragon Army who woke up one by one quickly had a full meal.

At this time, in Li Zixiao's handsome tent, Li Zixiao, Luo Chao, Xu Qian and other generals of the White Dragon Army were all concentrated here.

"Sir, according to the news from the subordinate scouts early in the morning, at this time, the Qing army dominates the territory of the state, and the marching speed of the Qing army has also accelerated.

However, at this time, Dolgon's dog Tartar estimated that he would never have imagined that our main army had arrived in Zhuozhou. ”

Han Tong nodded on the map and said to Li Zixiao and the others.

"Bazhou area? The Qing army marched so fast? ”

After Li Zixiao heard Han Tong's words, he was also slightly surprised, but he didn't expect the Qing army's marching speed in the past two days to be even faster than before.

"What about the specific path?"

Li Zixiao looked at Bazhou in the southeast of Zhuozhou, which was not very far from Zhuozhou, and asked.

"This ......"

Hearing Li Zixiao's inquiry, Han Tong stood up.

"What's wrong?" Li Zixiao raised his head, glanced at Han Tong, and asked.

"Sir, my subordinates are incompetent, and we have not explored the specific path taken by the Qing army until now." Han Tong knelt down on one knee and asked for sin.

"Get up, tell me clearly, what's going on?"

"Yes, sir. In this way, Dolgon commanded his Tartar cavalry, in a team of thousands, to crisscross the territory of Bazhou.

Our scouts simply can't get close, and if they are spotted by the Tartar cavalry, if they don't flee in time, they will be surrounded by the Tartar cavalry.

We've lost dozens of scouts, and we still can't get through the quarantine area created by the Tartar cavalry, and we can't find the exact path of the Qing convoy.

The subordinates are incompetent, and they ask the lord to punish them. ”

After listening to Han Tong's words, Li Zixiao's eyes narrowed slightly, stood there, and said in a deep voice: "Dolgon's trick is enough, just bully Benjue has few cavalry, isn't it!"

Dorgon, you wait, one day, Benjue will lead the cavalry to the outside of the pass, and use your proudest cavalry to defeat you. ”

"Forget it, it's normal for Dolgon's way of playing, you scout camp can't do it, it's not your fault."

Li Zixiao waved his hand and said to Han Tong.

"That sir, we can't find the specific path of the Qing army's convoy now, how can we fight?" Luo Chao asked.

"It's not difficult, you guys come and see."

Li Zixiao pointed to the map again and said, "It's still the same sentence, no matter which road the Tartars take, they have only one direction, and that is north."

At this time, they were on the border of Bazhou, although there were four or five roads to the north.

But you see, two of them are going to the capital, and it is impossible for Dorgon to lead his troops to the capital, so these roads are excluded.

According to Benju's guess, Dolgon wanted to retreat to the Guanwai, and there were only two options for him to choose.

One is to take the Great Wall pass on the Miyun side, enter the grassland, and then make a detour to return to the territory of the Tartars.

It's just that if Dolgon takes this road, he will almost pass by the capital, and there are still more than 100,000 Ming troops near the capital at this time.

Although the combat strength of these Ming troops is unsightly, after all, there are many people, and once they are entangled, they will also slow down the march of the Qing army.

At this time, Dolgon thought that our main force was chasing them behind, so he wouldn't risk too much to go through Miyun's side.

Therefore, Dolgon will inevitably choose another road, that is, take the road they used to enter the customs, enter Yongping Mansion from Shuntian Mansion, and exit the customs on the Qingshan Pass side of Jizhou Town.

In this way, we can roughly deduce the path that the Qing army will take.

No matter which way they go, they can't get around the Xianghe, so let's go there to wait for work and wait for the Qing army. ”

"Haha, that's true, then we'll go to Xianghe to block the front of the Tartar in advance, so as to wait for work." Luo Chao said with a smile.

"Okay, Benjue has arranged for someone to send the armor weapons we had stored in Zhuozhou City to the camp overnight.

The number of weapons is sufficient, and I see that most of your soldiers have only discarded armor and shields, long knives, spears and muskets, but brought a lot.

But unfortunately, the number of armor is still insufficient, there are less than 5,000 sets of iron armor, but there are more cotton armor and leather armor, anyway, it is impossible to fully equip our more than 30,000 people.

Therefore, Ben Jue decided that armor and shields should be given priority to sword and shield soldiers, and if iron armor was not enough, then cotton armor would be divided, and musketeers would be divided into armor last. ”

Li Zixiao said helplessly, although they had reserves in Zhuozhou in advance, but they were just for supplementation, how could they think of a situation like this at this time.

At this time, the more than 30,000 white dragon soldiers and soldiers almost all lost their iron armor and cotton armor, which is completely equivalent to a big costume change!

Therefore, Li Zixiao could only distribute the armor to the sword and shield soldiers who needed it most.

After all, once the fight starts, they have to hold the two wings of the musketeers, in front of the musketeers, and they need the armor the most.

"Sir, our musketeers don't have much demand for armor, and what our subordinates want to know is whether our musketeers' ammunition is sufficient!"

After hearing Li Zixiao's words, Zhao Zilong asked out loud.

Indeed, compared to the armor required by the White Dragon Saber and Shield Soldiers, the White Dragon Musketeers needed ammunition the most.

"Haha, don't worry about this, ammunition is not armor, that thing is small and small, what is missing in our White Dragon Army, ammunition is enough for us to fight a big battle."

Li Zixiao laughed and said.

"Then sir, when will we leave, Xianghe is almost three or four days away from Zhuozhou."

"Well, you go back and gather your men and set off in the afternoon.

Rest assured, the Qing army is farther and slower than us this time, and we will definitely arrive at Xianghe earlier than them.

This time, bring all the weapons and firearms that should be brought, after all, there are still more than 50,000 people in the Tartar army, and we can't be careless, it will be a bitter battle.

Go down and make arrangements! ”

"Yes, sir." Then the congregation departed.

Less than an hour later, the more than 35,000 troops of the White Dragon Army left Zhuozhou City and headed northeast.

Luo Chao and Xu Qian's two cavalry battalions, responsible for opening the road, first rushed to Xianghe, notified the county order there, and built fortifications for the White Dragon Army.

Xianghe belongs to the county seat close to the capital, and the imperial court's Yingzhou Qiantun guard is in this area, although it has also been plundered by the Tartars before.

But Xianghe County has never been attacked by the Tartars, and it has always been controlled by the imperial court, which is more convenient for Li Zixiao.

(End of chapter)