Chapter 250: The enemy is not outside. It is better to meet by chance than to meet each other.

The Eastern Barbarians entered the capital, and the center of the Ming Dynasty was penetrated by the Tartars and ran rampant. But at this time, there were still people who wanted to discuss peace with the Qing army.

Lu Xiangsheng clearly remembered that when he was about to leave Zhuozhou, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet and Minister of War Yang Sichang actually came to his camp to persuade him not to fight, but to reconcile. The Jurchens of the East were tigers, wolfs, and beasts. After entering the pass, all the people of the Ming Dynasty were poisoned and were already a major concern of the Ming Dynasty.

But Yang Sichang talked about peace talks, so Lu Xiangsheng naturally would not obey, and asked back:

"Wasn't Zhou Yuanzhong already going to discuss the peace talks? Why bother with me?"

Zhou Yuanzhong was the peace talks envoy sent by Yang Sichang following the emperor's hint. However, as soon as he arrived at the border, Huang Taiji led his army to besiege Jinzhou, and naturally returned in vain. Now thinking about it, Huang Taiji's feint attack should be used to attract the attention of the Ming Ji Liao army, so that Dorgon and Yue Tuo led their troops to break in from outside the mouth.

Yang Sichang and Lu Xiangsheng, the central ministers of the imperial court, and the top people at the core of the rule, said this to such a point, which was obviously a breakup. The relationship between the two sides was regarded as water and fire.

But the three people leading the army this time happened to be Yang Sichang, Lu Xiangsheng and Gao Qiqian. Gao Qiqian, the eunuch who was the governor of the imperial guards outside the capital, was the military supervisor this time. Gao Qiqian and Yang Sichang were both leaders of the ranks of the court. They were recruiting camps and Zhang Xianzhong's troops internally, and peace talks and concessions externally.

After being a senior official for many years, Lu Xiangsheng naturally knew what methods these colleagues would have. He had to ask the court to clearly tell the matter, leading the army in Xuandabian Town and Gao Qiqian led the troops of Guanning. At least there would be no such thing as shirking orders and staying off the ground.

However, Lu Xiangsheng led his army to Zhuozhou and went south to Baoding Prefecture, pursuing and blocking the Qing army. The Qing army was quick and it was impossible to understand the rules. Lu Xiangsheng still had no choice but to find out what his friendly colleagues did far exceed his expectations. The troops led by Gao Qiqian would never advance rashly. Even though there were prefectures and counties and cities calling the police for help, they would never send troops. Lu Xiangsheng went to one place and confirmed that there was no Qing army, Gao Qiqian set up camp in the rear.

Yang Sichang was even more ruthless in the center. He was a Cabinet Scholar who was actually in charge of the Minister of War. This is a rare example and his power was even more important. It can be said that he could make the decision on the affairs of the Ministry of War alone.

Since Lu Xiangsheng left Beijing, the military pay that should be allocated has been delayed. The Qing army's invasion was a sudden incident. The court sent troops to pursue and intercept them, and sent troops quickly. Lu Xiangsheng led his troops to pursue them only with one month of food and salary. He originally thought that the inside was fighting, and it was in Northern Zhili around the capital, so the supply was not a problem. Who would have thought that on December 3, there would be less than six days of supply left in the army, which was extremely embarrassing.

Counselor Yang Tinglin also advised Lu Xiangsheng to submit a report to the court a few days ago, but Yang Tinglin didn't know about some of the matters. The letters from Lu Xiangsheng to the capital were all sank to the sea and received no response at all.

The food and salary for less than six days was not sufficient. In fact, some soldiers were already hungry and their morale was a little unstable. Fortunately, Lu Xiangsheng had a lot of prestige when he was in office as Governor Xuanda, and the three generals who led the troops also followed his orders. This was to maintain the situation.

The Qing army had only 20,000 soldiers entering the pass, but it was divided into eight routes, crossing the borders and conquering the prefectures and counties. Lu Xiangsheng divided his troops to intercept them, but there was no effect. Xuanda border soldiers were always elite, but they did not dare to fight with the Qing army in the field. According to Lu Xiangsheng and several generals' strategy, he arrived before the Qing army attacked a certain city and fought on the city.

However, the speed of movement often cannot keep up with the Qing army. He went to Anping County with General Hu Dawei a few days ago. After arriving there, he found that the city was broken and the young and strong men and women in the city had been plundered. Logically speaking, the other party brought prisoners and baggage, and was unable to move, so he was just going to pursue it. However, Hu Dawei did not dare to pursue it at all, so he could only return to the camp in disappointment.

When there was no one late at night, Lu Xiangsheng said to himself:

"Yang Sichang, Gao Qiqian wants me to die!"

Ma Gang led two thousand troops to Jingzhou, Northern Zhili, echoing the Li Meng camp stationed in Dezhou. Tang Er's horse team divided 1,000 cavalry and stationed in Jingzhou. He conducted a large-scale investigation with ten people every day, but there was not much movement in Hejian Prefecture, which was adjacent to Dezhou.

Regarding the direction of the cavalry's exploration, Ma Gang deliberately tilted towards the west and south, but he did not dare to let the cavalry run too far, and he traveled back and forth in one day, which is the limit.

Since entering Dezhou in late November, the cavalry of Jiaozhou camp have been conducting activities on both sides of the engagement between Shandong and Beizhili, but they have not encountered any enemies. Only the victims who fled when they heard the news. This time, the Qing Dynasty entered the pass mainly to plunder the population. Therefore, after breaking a certain city, young and strong men and women were abducted. The rest of the old and weak were either slaughtered or unable to escape too far, and could only die of starvation.

The refugees who could run out were those places that were not attacked. Through these panicked refugees, they could not understand the direction of the Qing army.

The Jiaozhou Camp's understanding of the Qing army was actually reported through intermittent messages from the Ministry of War and other yamen in Northern Zhili and Shandong.

After such a period of time, the cavalry who went out to search was a little relaxed. Jiaozhou Camp was different from other Ming officers and soldiers. Other Ming officers and soldiers lacked the courage. When encountering such a situation, they were often happy and just completed the task every day and went back early. However, if the officers and soldiers of Jiaozhou Camp could not find the target, they felt very disappointed.

The horse team of Jiaozhou Camp was divided into four battalions, each battalion had 500 people, and each battalion had a general, so the cavalry could be regarded as the level of the thousand general among infantrymen.

The horse team set up ten teams below the general, and there were five team deputy under the squad leader, and ten team commanders. They were considered the most basic officer of the Jiaozhou Camp horse team. Wei Li was the squad deputy of the fifth team of the Third Battalion. He was the first member to join Li Meng's cavalry from the Xiangma Office. Under the systematic training of the Jiaozhou Camp, the scattered aura in the grass was worn away, but the spirit of bravery and brave fighting was preserved.

After a few days of search, Wei Li felt very discouraged. The cavalrymen who were with him were similar in their mood. Because the cavalry was investigating outside, there were always many situations that happened immediately, and the cavalry was quite autonomous outside.

Wei Li and the nine people under him decided to expand the search scope outward. If the above asked why he went back late, he would say he was lost. Anyway, they were not familiar with the place in Northern Zhili.

On the sixth day of the 12th month, Wei Li led a total of ten subordinates to head west. There were many rivers along the way, but because of the severe drought and the cold winter now, the river surface was frozen, so it was easy in the past.

When it was almost dusk, Wei Li and his ten men arrived near Hengshui. After walking for more than half an hour, they could enter the city of Hengshui County. Along the way, the horses ran and stopped, but there was no one to see any people. They passed by several villages, either ruined walls or empty buildings.

The man went to the empty village and had not had time to take away many of the food at home. Wei Li and the others were happy to add fodder to the horses.

When we arrived at Hengshui, there were gradually some hills and hillsides. According to Wei Li and his friends' plans, we will find a place to rest in Hengshui for a night tonight, and continue walking to the west for a day the next day to see what we can gain, but we didn't see anything today.

The land in winter is not crowded and it is easy to make people feel tired. These cavalrymen on the horse want to find a place to rest as soon as possible.

"Tao Wei, look over there!"

It was when he was listless that a cavalryman beside Wei Li shouted in a low voice. As soon as he shouted this sentence, the people who were walking with him immediately became energetic. In the hills not far away, more than a dozen horses were appearing on the mountain bag. Wei Li and his group were walking in the sunshine.

At dusk, due to the light, I couldn't see clearly at the dozen riders opposite me. However, the other party clearly saw Wei Li and the others, and obviously noticed this side. They could even hear the sound of shouting and catching horses, chasing this side.

Wei Li's feet were erected with stirrups, and his body stood upright immediately. He wanted to see as far as possible. His mount was a little anxious and sniffed, but he still couldn't see clearly.

"Tao Wei, is it an officer or a soldier or a Tartar?"

The officers and soldiers around him asked nervously and excitedly. Wei Li shook his head. It was difficult for a grassroots officer to make a judgment and make an immediate decision. However, according to Li Meng's system training, Cao Dian told the officers below what to do when they encounter such a situation.

"No matter who he is, first fire the media ignites the ignition rope and press the musket."

Even the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty may take advantage of your unpreparedness. After Wei Li ordered the soldiers to immediately turn over and get off the horse, take out the hanging muskets from the side of the saddle. Another soldier held five reins in one hand and slowly retreated. This person was the so-called horse stake.

He planned that the other party should cross two short mountain bags and get here. The reconnaissance cavalry sent by the Jiaozhou Camp did not hold cavalry spears but short spears and muskets. Because the long weapons were too swaggering and inconvenient, the muskets were also half a foot shorter than the muskets used on weekdays, with a range of about fifty steps.

Before the cavalry boards, the musket must be loaded with ammunition and plugged with a wooden plug to avoid delaying time when loading the bullet when facing the enemy. This way, just pull out the wooden plug and use a straight strip to compact it.

The dozen riders on the opposite side finally arrived at about a hundred steps away. No matter what the light was, they could see clearly. Some people were wearing fur hats, some people were wearing helmets, and some people were naked and had a big braid hanging down.
Chapter completed!