"Why, still can't find it?"

Li Gensheng was sitting in the command car, drinking strong tea and looking at the military police company commander with bloodshot eyes.

The military police commander in front of him lowered his head and said carefully:

"Commander... this... is only the second time. It may not be clean yet. I will ask them to go through it a third time. This time they must be more careful..."

Li Gensheng drank tea and waved his hand to let him go out.

None of these prisoners were sent to the prisoner camps. They were all still where they were, being guarded by the soldiers of the People's Guard. More than a hundred military police companies went into battle to sift through the thousands of prisoners. The purpose was to find the commander of the Eight Banners Division, Ha Feng'a.

, and the main officers of his directly affiliated troops.

It is now past nine o'clock in the morning. I have gone through it twice and found only a dozen division staff officers, division guard company commanders, military police company commanders and other officers. Division Commander Ha Feng'a has not been found yet, and there are still a few more.

The main officers were not found either.

It is said that after the war, it takes some effort to identify officers from thousands of prisoners. Officers don't want to be recognized as officers, so they try their best to pretend to be soldiers. The more senior officers are, the more so. But it only takes a little effort.

That's it, it's not that difficult. After all, there are so many other prisoners, and your superiors will always recognize them, and they can usually be identified by those small soldiers and prisoners of war.

But now it seems strange. This has happened for the third time. The division commander and the core people seem to have evaporated. Li Gensheng has already offered a reward for the prisoner who is the first to identify Hafenga.

The reward for Mingyang is 50 yuan. This is a lot, equivalent to 31.1 grams of gold. Even if it is equivalent to the silver dollar of the Northern Qing Dynasty, it is more than 100 yuan. But even if the prisoners of war are lined up, those few guards who see Hafenga every day

I've tried it before the police, but still can't find it.

Many troops are now searching the combat area repeatedly and have found many scattered soldiers hiding in the bushes and groves, but there is no sign of Hafuna. When they were interrogated, they all said they were from the People's Guard.

After the tanks broke through the anti-tank defense line, no one saw the division commander.

Not only the prisoners, but also the corpses in this area were turned over and looked over, but Hafon'a was not found. Even the corpses that were mutilated by the bombing, with their heads and faces blown off, were not wearing general uniforms.

The only possible explanation is that Hafenga escaped over the mountains. This long and narrow combat area is bounded by the Qinhuai River to the north and the People's Guard offensive to the south. It is impossible for him to escape from these two directions. It is bounded by the Tangshan Mountains to the east and the Tangshan Mountains to the west.

They are Jiangjun Mountain and Niushou Mountain. These two mountains are not high. Although it is difficult for large troops to cross, it is not difficult for scattered people to climb over empty-handed. According to statistics, nearly a thousand people were missing from the Qing army. It is estimated that many people just climbed over the mountain.

Those who escaped. There is no doubt that Hafon'a also climbed over the mountain and ran outside.

To the west of General Mountain and Niushou Mountain is the Yangtze River, which is a battlefield. The battle is still going on. If Hafenga keeps heading west, he will run into the arms of the Ming army defenders.

To the east is the Tangshan Mountain Range. This mountain range is higher, wider, and more difficult to climb. After passing it, you will reach the boundary of Jurong City, and then go to the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty. It does not seem to be a good choice for escape.

But there is no other explanation.

…

In the command car, Li Gensheng was answering a phone call about a stomachache.

"Brother, hahaha," he said with a stomach ache. Everyone was very happy after winning the battle. "How about it? It's not going well for you to find Ha Feng over there, right? We are all brothers. If you need my help, just talk.

Ah! The security teams under my brother are much more professional than your military police, huh? Hahaha!"

Li Gensheng frowned and felt very unhappy, but he still said with a smile:

"Haha, brother Ziteng, it doesn't matter. We are all brothers. If necessary, brother will definitely not be polite to you... Well, yes, brother can still handle it by himself for the time being... Ha Feng'a must have to climb over the mountain.

Escaped, I have sent out several search teams, climbed over two mountains, and searched in depth in the east-west direction... The officers that have been selected will include Brother Lao Ziteng, hehehe..."

"That's natural, that's what we do. But if you want to help, brother, you have to speak!"

"Haha, that's for sure."

Li Gensheng hung up the phone and sat sullenly by the car door, watching them select prisoners from a distance.

Now he has completely lost the joy of winning the battle, and is completely annoyed by the escape of Ha Feng'a. This guy massacred more than 40 villagers in Zhangjiacun, and now he has escaped without a trace. I don't know if he is still alive.

Can you catch it? This matter has been reported quickly, and now Her Majesty the Queen knows about it.

In such a short time, Mr. Xiang called three times to inquire about the results. Mr. Xiang gave stern instructions that Hafeng'a was probably the culprit of the Zhangjiacun massacre. Now that we have completely wiped out his division, if he himself is allowed to escape from under our noses

If I run away, I really can’t explain it to His Majesty, nor can I explain it to those 40 or so wronged souls. What’s even more troublesome is that I won’t be able to explain it to the people of Ming Dynasty. This matter has been spread, and now several major newspapers in Nanjing may be rushing to catch up.

It’s outside the seal. Tonight at the latest, all the Ming Dynasty’s evening newspapers and broadcasting companies will report this matter. If Hafeng’a is not captured in the end, this glorious victory of the People’s Guard will be diluted a lot.

Li Gensheng guessed that the phone call with a stomachache just now was not for a joke. The stomachache was not that boring. He probably also received some pressure, such as hinting to the adults that he took the initiative to help with the screening, so he made the call, which was half true and half false.

He tried to test whether he wanted to help.

Alas, if we can be sure that Hafon'a is still among these prisoners of war, it doesn't matter even if we go and beg him. The problem is that Hafon'a has almost certainly escaped long ago, and this will have to rely on a sea of ​​​​people to hunt him down. No matter how good your security team is,

It’s no use being big!

Li Gensheng looked outside irritably. The prisoners of war were almost numb from the interrogation. They lined up and mechanically passed by the military police and the prisoners who knew Hafenga again.

He had raised the reward from 50 mingyang to 100 mingyang. Li Gensheng waved his hand, called the military police company commander, and ordered:

"The reward is increased to 200 Mingyang. Go!"

The military police commander ran out and shouted:

"Listen to anyone who wants to get rich, now it's 200 mingyang..."

But Li Gensheng almost knew that this was of no use at all. He doubted that even if it were raised to 100,000 Mingyang, no one would be lucky enough to get it, because Ha Feng'a was not in it at all.

…

The People's Guard's victory at the gates of Nanjing bought time to defend Nanjing. The two divisions of the Capital Guard in Jiangning had already marched to the riverside battlefield at night, trying to block the opening. In the morning, three of the four divisions in Qixia,

He has also arrived at the battlefield and entered the battle.

In southern Jiangsu, Anhui's strategic reserves arrived faster than expected. On the morning of the 21st, six divisions had already marched to the riverside and entered the battle. Follow-up troops were arriving in a steady stream.

At this point, the strength comparison between the Ming and Qing armies in the Zimuzhou area has risen to 150,000 Qing armies versus 110,000 Ming armies, and the situation has greatly eased. The most important thing is that the Ming army fought with its own land, supplies, ammunition, and food.

Medical care and other supplies are guaranteed. When the Qing troops cross the river, they basically have to rely on themselves.

The reinforcements of the Ming army came smoothly along the roads and railways. Every reinforcement of the Qing army had to rush across the river in a hail of bullets. Their heavy equipment: cannons, horses, vehicles, etc.

You need to be careful on the pontoon bridge. To ensure safety, there can only be one car or heavy artillery on the pontoon bridge at a time. After this car has passed, the next one can drive onto the pontoon bridge, which is extremely slow.

In addition, it is daytime now, and the visibility has greatly improved. According to the pattern of the past few days of the war, the Qing army's offensive will be fierce every night, and will slow down during the day.

But Emperor Guangwu of the Northern Qing Dynasty has already announced that he will spend New Year's Eve in the Forbidden City in Nanjing. Today is already the 21st, and the 23rd is the New Year's Eve. If they cannot attack within three days, the Qing emperor will slap himself in the face. To the Qing army

He said that the deadline was imminent, and the Ming army was even more tense, fighting to the death with all its strength, and did not dare to relax at all. Among the two divisions that were the first to attack the Qing army at Zimuzhou, one of the division commanders has died for his country. The other one has died.

He was also seriously injured. If reinforcements had not arrived, he would have died for his country.

Xiang Xiaoqiang withdrew the headquarters from Yuhuatai to Xiaoling Guard. While Xiang Xiaoqiang was watching the officers dismantling the telephone lines in the Zen room, packing up the maps and sand table, Master Fayun came up to him with a smile, clasped his hands and saluted deeply, and said

:

"Amitabha! Mr. Xiang is indeed brave and capable, commanding well. While strategizing and talking and laughing, tens of thousands of Qing captives were wiped out. Not even a cannonball fell on this rain flower platform. The Ming Dynasty is really lucky to have a general like Mr. Xiang.

!”

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and said:

"Master, thank you for the award. I once asked the Buddha to protect me from the Qing Dynasty and defend Yuhuatai. It seems that the Buddha agreed. Compared with the soldiers who fought hard on the Zimuzhou battlefield, Xiang is really a lucky man."

Master Fayun smiled slightly and waved back. The young monk behind him held a tray covered with silk and satin. When he opened the satin, there were small ebony boxes inside.

Xiang Xiaoqiang has already guessed that this is probably the Yuhua Stone promised to him, right?

Sure enough, Master Fayun opened these small boxes carefully. Each small box was lined with silk and satin, with a colorful rain flower stone lying on it. There were twelve small boxes in total. Master Fayun opened them one by one, but saw ten

The patterns of the rain flower stones in the two boxes are of different shapes. What is even more rare is that the pattern on each stone looks like a human figure, sitting or standing, lifelike.

Master Fayun smiled and said:

"These twelve Yuhua stones are a set, called the 'Twelve Hairpins of Jinling', which are the best treasures collected by this temple. There are no stones of this kind in the auction today, not to mention the hills of Yuhuatai.

It's rare, haha. I am giving it to Lord Xiang now, hoping that you can lead your soldiers to repel the Qing captives and protect the country and people of Ming Dynasty."

Although Xiang Xiaoqiang saw that these Yuhua stones were good, he was really shocked when he heard the old monk said they were of such high quality. But then he thought about it, wasn't it because the old monk was so generous that he expected that he would know what he was doing and repay the favor?

A lot of money for sesame oil?

"Ah," he said with a smile, "Thank you so much, Master."

He waved his hand and asked the personal guard to take the bag and put it away, and then he chatted with Zen Master Fayun with a smile. Zen Master Fayun was not in a hurry, and smiled and accompanied Xiang Xiaoqiang to talk about the mountains, the south, the sea and the north. Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly flashed past

A thought asked:

"Master, are these 'Twelve Hairpins from Jinling' the Twelve Hairpins from Jinling in "A Dream of Red Mansions"?"

Master Fayun smiled slightly:

"Haha, it's an allusion borrowed from layman Cao Xueqin's writing."

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded. Although the area south of the Yangtze River is no longer called the Qing Dynasty, it did not affect Cao Xueqin's birth, nor did it affect him writing "A Dream of Red Mansions". This is no wonder. It stands to reason that the areas most affected by historical changes are, first of all,

Politics, then economics, military and other aspects, literature and art should be less affected. Books like "A Dream of Red Mansions" do not involve "real politics", and there is no clear era. There is really no reason why it should not appear because of the change of dynasties. Moreover,

The literary environment of the Ming Dynasty was many times better than the literary prison environment of the Qing Dynasty, and it was more suitable for the formation of everyone's works.

The Twelve Hairpins of Jinling, yes, the Twelve Hairpins, don’t they correspond to my ideal of “twelve dozen”? Very good, you can’t just give it to Qiu Qiu, you should give one to each person who comes in, at least twelve people. Come first.

First come first served, while supplies last.

I will give it to Qiu Qiu to play with when I get back. Although Qiu Qiu is from Nanjing, he may not have such a good Yuhua Stone at home.

In my ears, Master Fayun is once again preaching Buddhism through the tragic fate of the "Twelve Hairpins of Jinling". Every sentence reveals the meaning of Zen and the desire to make people see through the world of mortals.
To be continued...