In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, it was early morning on the second day of March.
Tashan City, East Gate Tower.
March in the Northeast is still cold and windy, and the Bohai Sea, ten miles southeast of Tashan City, only completely thaws when the sun shines during the day. When it is coldest at night, a thin layer of ice will still form again.
A Ming general wearing cold iron armor patrolled the city with heavy steps. Every step he took brought the clanging sound of armor leaves.
This person was Li Fuming, the deputy general of Shanxi Province in the Ming Dynasty. Six months ago, together with the other generals of the seven towns, he followed Hong Chengchou to participate in the Songjin Battle. After a disastrous defeat, he fled here.
Among the eight generals, Wang Pu and Ma Ke were the first to flee, and were held accountable by the court. Bai Guangen, Tang Tong, and Wu Sangui were defeated one after another, and their responsibilities were gradually reduced.
He, Li Fuming, had escaped, otherwise he would not have been surrounded by Tashan in the rear.
But comparatively speaking, he can still smile at Tang Tong, Wu Sangui and the others at fifty steps and a hundred steps at a time——
We also escaped, but not completely. We only escaped for sixty miles. After we established our footing, we turned to the defensive position and were trapped again. Wu Sangui and the others escaped three hundred miles as soon as they escaped.
Among the eight generals, the only ones who are more courageous than Li Fuming are Yang Guozhu and Cao Bianjiao. Yang Guozhu died in battle a few months ago, while Cao Bianjiao insisted on not escaping when the army was defeated, and is still besieged in Xingshan.
Compared with Cao Bianjiao, Li Fuming was a bit of a coward after all, and he escaped for sixty miles after all.
Today, Tashan has been attacked and besieged by enemy troops for five months. Of course, Li Fuming cannot stay up every day and patrol the night himself. He just can't sleep and gets up a little early. He wakes up at the beginning of every day and goes up to the wall to check the situation.
.
Over time, people will always become numb. Even if they are facing life or death, they will still become numb.
Every morning when he climbed the wall, Li Fuming would gaze absently to the northeast for a while.
Although he could not see Tashan City sixty miles due northeast, nor could he see Songshan ninety miles north-northeast. But he knew that Governor Hong, Qiu Futai and Cao Junmen were still holding on there.
.
If those places have fallen, the main force of the Tatars will be freed up, and the siege on Tashan will definitely become tighter.
"General, look, there is fire to the east and south! I'm afraid it's ten miles away, right?"
Li Fuming inspected a circle and was deep in thought. Suddenly, one of his men, Li Tongtai, the guard responsible for the defense of Dongcheng, shouted, interrupting Li Fuming's thoughts and causing a sudden wave of emotion in his heart.
Today, there are only three battalions in total in Tashan City. They are all remnants of the defeat and are not fully staffed. One of the battalion's defenders died in the battle.
When Chongzhen dispatched the elites from nine sides for Hong Chengchou to go on an expedition, the Shanxi Army's commander-in-chief, deputy generals, and staff officers were all fully equipped. Now that the commander-in-chief has died, he, the deputy general, has taken over as commander-in-chief, and the officers below have also died, so many
In the Shanxi Ming Army, apart from him, there were only one senior officer in charge and two garrison officers.
Li Fuming climbed onto the crenellation of the female wall and looked in the direction pointed by Li Tongtai. In the darkness, the light of the torch could not be accurately measured, but was just as vague as a bean. He squinted for a while, and the light quickly disappeared.
He touched his pricked beard, his mood gradually sank, and he laughed at himself: "Although I don't know the specific distance, I guess there must be a land ten miles away. There is already the sea ten miles away in that direction.
Could it be that the Tatars are now careful enough to send sampans to cooperate with the surveillance and siege of our army? Then Azig really thinks highly of Wu Sangui. If Wu Sangui was willing to come to the rescue by sea, he would have come a long time ago. How could he wait until now."
Li Tongtai, who was standing next to him, was a little puzzled when he heard this, and asked: "Why did the general conclude that it was a Tatar sampan? Couldn't it be that Wu Junmen of Shanhaiguan was sent out to investigate the battle ahead?"
Li Fuming shook his head and said to Li Tongtai: "You Shanxi troops should also know some common sense of the navy and learn about water properties. It is 260 miles from Shanhaiguan and the sea is unpredictable. What about the small sampan?"
Is it possible to get here?
The sea surface where there was fire just now is obviously the Hulu Bay shoal in the southeast closest to the city. The water in this area is extremely shallow and large ships cannot reach it. Therefore, the fire that appeared there must be from the sampan, and only from the Tatars.
The sampan just arrived so close.
If Wu Sangui sent someone here, he would not go to Hulu Bay for the sake of distance. He would only go to Bijia Mountain due east. Although Bijia Mountain is more than ten miles away from the city, it goes deep into the Bohai Sea and has a deep-water anchorage on the shore.
It can be used for sea ships to dock directly. We still left a dock at the beginning, but I don’t know if it has been burned down by the Tatars now.”
Although Li Fuming served as the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Province, his native place was a native of Liaodong. He also grew up by the sea and had good water skills.
Li Tongtai was from Shanxi. He grew up in the Taihang Mountains all his life, even after joining the army. He only left his hometown when Hong Chengchou dispatched the Shanxi Army for the expedition, so he was just a landlubber and knew nothing about water or navigation.
After listening to the introduction of the general soldier, he learned a lesson, and at the same time he became alert. He quickly ordered the city to get ready, string the bows and crossbows, and charge the fire blunderbuss. He only regretted that there were no heavy artillery in the city. After retreating to this point, the most he could keep with his army was
Some old-fashioned small Folang machines weighing less than 300 kilograms.
The ten-mile journey was either far or close. The city was on guard for half a quarter of an hour. During this period, we heard a burst of fighting and noise, and even the sound and light of firecrackers, followed by the formation of horse hooves from far to near.
There didn't seem to be many people, only about ten cavalry. The people at the top of the city thought it was a Tatar deception, and they were already ready for war.
"Is there Shanxi Li Junmen's men in the city? I am the subordinate of Wu Junmen in Shanhaiguan to attack Zhang Guozhu. This time our military gate has been assisted by Zheng Chenggong, the head of the Nanjing Household Department's Shipping Department, and the sea ship is coming to rescue you! Hurry up!
Open the door and let me go into the city to discuss!"
"Zheng Chenggong? Have you never heard that Wu Sangui was suddenly willing to spend such a huge sum of money?" Li Fuming was at the top of the city and couldn't believe it at all. He immediately asked Li Tongtai to severely interrogate the details.
Zhang Guozhu under the city also answered some questions, but he was quite impatient and emphasized: "You have been here for a long time, and you also know that the Tatar scouts have to pass by at most half an hour. There is no time to delay. On the way we just came,
We set up an ambush and killed a group of thirty Tatar scouts! Open the door quickly, otherwise something will happen!"
The city leader was suspicious for a moment, and asked them to hoist the sealed letter and the heads of the Tatar scouts up in a hanging basket first. After confirming that they were correct, they would use the hanging basket to hoist the people up as well.
But at this moment, the sky was not completely bright, and it was not clear whether there were ambushes in the distance, so I would definitely not dare to open the door.
Zhang Guozhu was a little anxious and cursed: "I waited for the knife head to lick the blood, and came all the way to save me, but I am still so suspicious? How long will it take for the hanging baskets to be hoisted one by one! The Tatars will find out sooner or later! And how can our horses be hoisted up to the city?
go!"
Just as the two sides were arguing, there was a young man next to Zhang Guozhu who was quite courageous and took the initiative to propose:
"Let's see, this Tashan City Gate, although there is no urn, must have a gate, right? Let's go to the city gate first, you put down the gate, and then open the inner door. If we act rashly, you can just block us in the gate. Bar?
Also, it doesn’t matter if you don’t believe that Wu Sangui is willing to spend such a huge sum of money, and you have never heard of me, Mr. Zheng. But you should always believe in the Shen family of Nanjing’s household department, right? Since the year before last, the Shen family has been responsible for shipping military supplies to Liaodong, and the court can Did I miss a grain of grain for you? Has the Ministry of Household Affairs ever taken advantage of your military rations?! Zheng is here on the orders of Nanjing Minister Shen of the Ministry of Household Affairs!"
Of course, a small city like Tashan would not have an urn city, but military fortresses in the Ming Dynasty generally had two gates. Because the city wall was thick, often several feet thick, the depth of the door opening was equivalent to the thickness of the city wall. It was completely possible to install the main gate on the innermost side of the door opening. For city gates, a gate is installed on the outermost side of the doorway.
If it were a Tatar who was trying to deceive the city, he would certainly not dare to commit suicide and wait for death under the doorway between the gate and the inner gate.
When Li Fuming heard this, he believed it.
Not to mention, Zheng Chenggong's mention of Shen Tingyang, Shen Shuren and his son was actually more useful than mentioning Wu Sangui.
All veterans and officers here who have fought in Liaodong for more than a year can know firsthand that since the year before last, the military rations allocated to them by the court have been said to have been withheld by the Ministry of Household Affairs.
This is the first time this has happened. I heard that it is because it is transported directly from the Jiangnan taxation area to Liaodong, and there is no middleman to deduct the price difference.
When he said that it was the Shen family who was anxious for justice and took the sea route to lend a helping hand, Li Fuming immediately believed him a few percent more.
It’s impossible for the Tatars to know so much!
Li Fuming gritted his teeth and told Li Tongtai to open the door.
After a long time, the complicated security procedures were finally completed, and Li Fuming went down to the tower in person, leading a large group of personal guards to the entrance to greet the visitors.
Zhang Guozhu was the first to bow his hand to him. Li Fuming had met the main generals under Wu Sangui, so he took him under the firelight to identify him. He vaguely remembered that it was Zhang Guozhu, and he was completely relieved.
"Wu Junmen actually wants to help us brothers who are waiting to die. I underestimate him. If I can go back alive, I will definitely thank him for his kindness. Is this Zheng Tiju?
It's a pleasure to meet you, although it's our first time meeting you, but you are Shen Shilang and a subordinate of Shen Daotai, so you must be a loyal person. We are rough people, so don't blame us for not knowing the etiquette!"
Li Fuming repeatedly accused Zhang Guozhu and Zheng Chenggong.
From Zhang Guozhu's position, he should of course say good things to Wu Sangui, but he is also a shameless person. In his conscience, he feels that what happened today is mainly due to Shen Shuren, Zheng Chenggong is righteous, and Wu Sangui is just leading the way.
On the other hand, Zheng Chenggong treated him very kindly all the way, and the Tashan garrison in front of him immediately gained trust as soon as he heard Shen Daotai's banner.
Therefore, Zhang Guozhu followed their words and said, "Li Junmen was laughing at them, and my military family also happened to be meeting at the same time to participate in the grand event. If the Shen family hadn't sent a navy to respond, we would have been helpless."
Li Fuming nodded, turned to Zheng Chenggong, and asked in surprise and suspicion: "Just now at the top of the city, I did hear the sound of firearms on your way here half a quarter of an hour ago. You really annihilated a group of Tatars who met in secret. Scout?
I didn't expect that your combat power is so brave. You can kill Tatar cavalry even if you don't have a numerical advantage. Also, this Hulu Bay is a shoal. Did you sneak into the shore by sampan? From Shanhaiguan to here, the sampan How can I get there?”
These questions were all asked to Zheng Chenggong’s professional counterpart, and he started boasting rather proudly:
"Some of our large-scale ships have their own sampans for ferries. Our family has been traveling on the sea for generations, and we have learned the habit of Hongyi people's large-scale ships carrying lifeboats. We also combined them with our lucky boats and sand boats, which are a combination of Chinese and Western styles.
As for the encounter in the darkness just now, the sneak attack and annihilation of the Tatar scout team, that is because we have immediate fire cannons, so Li Junmen can use them as three-eyed cannons."
It turns out that it has been three months since Shen Shuren told Song Yingxing to tinker with revolvers and carbines for riding on horseback in Daye in the twelfth month of last year.
Song Yingxing has not yet achieved mass production, but he has also produced more than a dozen samples in various trial production stages, which are regularly sent to Nanjing for Chen Shuren to review and accept.
These gadgets are still very imperfect and cannot even guarantee the expected fatal injury within twenty or thirty steps, so Chen Shuren has not officially equipped his troops.
But this time Zheng Chenggong was going out to perform a special mission, so Shen Shuren gave him a few to keep secret and test them out.
If it were a long-distance cavalry battle in daylight, the ten samples brought by Zheng Chenggong probably wouldn't have had a chance to fire. They might have been covered by Manchu cavalry with mounted fire from seventy or eighty steps away. They could only rely on the Ming army's Heavy armor closes the distance and fights again.
But at this moment, it was indeed a dark battle before dawn. The distance between the two sides was greatly reduced. It was basically ten steps away to see people clearly.
So just now Zheng Chenggong and others saw the dark shadow of an enemy in front of them, raised their hands and sprayed it. The short-barreled gun can be fired with one hand on horseback. If the wheel is not working, you can still fire the next round by manually turning it. Special The combat environment and the favorable conditions and favorable conditions allowed Zheng Chenggong to easily destroy a group of Tatar scouts.
Li Fuming heard that it was just a three-eyed gun, and it was probably an improved three-eyed gun at most. He didn't pry further, knowing that there were some things that the other party didn't want to say, and it was useless to ask himself.
The people in Shen Daotai came to save people with righteousness. They cannot lose their share and be ungrateful to their saviors.