Chapter 48 Xifengkou

After receiving the order, Abatai, together with the prince Hauge, ordered tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and immediately began to enter the mountains from the former Tunwei area to the west. Over the years, they have repeatedly committed southern crimes and have already penetrated all kinds of roads outside the Shanhaiguan, and the Han soldiers who accompanied them with the Han army flag of the Wuzhenchaoha camp. Among them, there are also a large number of soldiers who originally lived in this area, so they didn't even need to look for a guide, so they walked to the Xifengkou area.

Because the road is inconvenient and the mountain road is difficult to travel, Abatai and Houge did not carry too many heavy guns. They only carried a few Hongyi cannons, and the rest are carrying some light artillery. However, in their opinion, such firepower is enough to suppress the gates guarded by the Ming army, and according to him Our soldiers should not be a problem to deal with the Ming army guarding the customs.

So after Abatai and Hauge entered the mountain, the governor rushed all the way and rushed to Xifengkou. In order to ensure that their intentions were not exposed, all the villages in the way either slaughtered all the villagers, or took Qing Zhuang into the army as slavery, and the young women stayed in their army to provide him. They played with it, and the rest of the old and weak people slaughtered them, so they hid their deeds very well.

The main attention of the Dazhong army was on the Shanhaiguan area, and the scouts only explored the enemy's situation not too far outside Shanhaiguan, so they did not find their whereabouts.

In this way, it took Abatai and Hauge eight days to finally lead the army to the area of Xifengkou, and saw the gate of Xifengkou from afar.

However, at this time, the Ming army garrison in Xifengkou has already been strengthened. Zhou Yuji, the general of the Ming army, had led the last elite horse of more than 2,000 Ming troops under his command more than ten days ago. He broke up with the Dazhong army in Funingwei and led the troops to the Xifengkou area.

Originally, the Ming general who guarded Xifengkou was a garrison surnamed Liu. Although this place was important, because of the lack of repair all year round, coupled with the destruction of the guard system, this area was originally claimed to have 5,000 people, but when Zhou Yuji led troops to come here, there were less than 1,500 defenders here. And most of them are soldiers. Whether it is training or morale, they are very poor.

In the ten years of Chongzhen, Jiannu broke through the customs from Xifengkou, invaded the capital, broke through the Changping and security cities, and then went out of the customs from here. It can be said that it was like entering a no-man's land. Although since then, the court has realized the weakness of Xifengkou's defense, improved it, added some defenders, and The pass around Fengkou has undergone a certain recuperation, but because of the increasingly tense domestic situation and the lack of financial resources of the imperial court, even the improvement is limited.

So if Xifengkou is not for Zhou Yuji's lead, then there is basically no defensive ability here. In the face of the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses of Abatai and Hauge, it can be said that there are no conditions to stop them from breaking through the barrier at all, then Abatai and Hauge can easily break through the barrier here. Enter the customs.

For this point, whether it is Abatai or Hauge, they can be said to be full of confidence. To some extent, both of them are a little underestimate the enemy, so when they saw Xifengkou, neither of them took this place seriously. After a little arrangement, Shi Tingzhu led the Han soldiers of the Wuzhenchao Ha Camp, which was embedded with red flag in the Han army flag. , kill it towards Xifengkou.

This Shi Tingzhu was originally guarded by Guangning in the Ming Dynasty. When Wang Huazhen abandoned Guangning and fled into the customs, Shi Tingzhu and his brother Shi Tianzhu turned to Jiannu. Over the years, they have been willing to be a pawn for Jiannu. They have made many contributions to fighting everywhere. Both wild boar skin or Huang Taiji have attached great importance to it. After the establishment of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, he awarded the position of the head of the flag, Gushan Ezhen, the red flag of the Shi Tingzhu Han Army, so that he could continue to lead his troops to serve the Jiannu Tart.

This time, Abatai led the army to knock on the gate, and the Han army of Shi Tingzhu's red flag went out with the army and served as a pawn of Jiannu. The identity of the former front attacked Xifengkou.

What Shi Tingzhu didn't expect was that they could easily get in and out of Xifengkou in the first few years. At this time, it had become a dangerous pass. Zhou Yuji, the last tough general of the Ming Dynasty, immediately took over the defense affairs around Xifengkou from a guard surnamed Liu.

As soon as Zhou Yuji led the troops to Xifengkou, he immediately inspected the defense of Xifengkou non-stop. He was quite dissatisfied with the defense in this area, so he immediately ordered the recruitment of men within 30 miles to build the area of Xifengkou to build a wall. Moreover, because of their limited food, Zhou Yuji was also cruel, making these The people came with their own food and equipment.

Although the people are very dissatisfied with this, Zhou Yuji sent people to find the squires everywhere in the local area and tell them that the southern criminals of the Jiannu army are likely to go to Xifengkou again. Once the Jiannu army breaks through the customs and enters, everyone understands the truth that there is a complete egg under the nest, so I beg these squires to take it. He came out with some grain to help him guard the customs and support the people to repair the broken gates and walls.

In the ninth year of Chongzhen, the scene when Jiannu broke through the customs and entered is still fresh in memory for these people around Xifengkou. Those squires naturally also know the brutality of the Jiannu army. They think what Zhou Yuji said is good, and the military discipline of the Ming army who came to garrison in Shanhaiguan this time is quite strict, unlike In the past, the officers and soldiers here were so rotten, so they had a certain trust in Zhou Yuji and his officers and soldiers. Thinking about it, if the Xifengkou was broken, their homes would be looted by the slaves. The homes that had just been restored a little will become ruins, so among these squires Some enlightened people agreed to Zhou Yuji's request.

A group of squires spontaneously took out part of the grain in their homes. On the one hand, they gave it to Zhou Yuji as military grain, and the other part was given to the people who were drafted, especially the 200 generals in Zhou Yuji's army. This time, they also played a great role. They cooperated with Zhou Yuji to supervise military discipline. Not being able to disturb the people, Zhou Yuji won the support of the local people. In just three days, he gathered thousands of people and began to repair the Guancheng Pass around Xifengkou day and night under the leadership and command of Zhou Yuji, and repaired some important walls that were originally dilapidated. It greatly enhances the defensive power of this area.

And when Zhou Yuji and Lu Xiangsheng broke up, Lu Xiangsheng asked Yan Chongxi to give Zhou Yuji a batch of weapons and ammunition, which also greatly enhanced Zhou Yuji's strength. Soon Zhou Yuji built a defense system around Xifengkou.

Considering that once the Jiannu army invades, the military strength will certainly not be small. With the less than 4,000 officers and soldiers he currently has, some of whom are not very effective, it is not enough to resist the flood-like Jiannu army, so Zhou Yuji loded again. Those people who came to build the city encouraged them to stay and help fight.

Therefore, under Zhou Yuji's vigorous lobby, many people were eventually armed and joined the ranks of defenders, which made the strength of the defenders in this area reach more than 6,000, which effectively enhanced the defense ability of Xifengkou. Although most of these soldiers and civilians were in a hurry, their combat effectiveness was very weak, but Zhou Yu Ji doesn't have more time to train them at the moment. It's good to let them use them as auxiliary soldiers and help his main soldiers transport the guard.

Before Abatai led his troops here, Zhou Yuji basically completed the deployment of the Xifengkou area, and reas assigned all the troops, focusing on the dangerous places around the Yuguan City, and personally led the troops to sit in the Xifengkou Guancheng and face the outside.

Sure enough, just before Zhou Yuji completed the deployment, he received an order from Wu Xiang, the general soldier of Shanhaiguan. The people sent by Wu Xiang told Zhou Yuji that the Jiannu army was likely to have been divided into troops in the Shanhaiguan area and will attack Xifengkou. It is hoped that Zhou Yuji will be fully prepared and will guard Xifengkou and not be broken by Jiannu. Entering the customs, otherwise, Jiannu entering the customs will not only directly threaten the capital, but also cut off the back road of Shanhaiguan from behind, hoping that Zhou Yuji can stick to this place.

After listening to this, Zhou Yuji didn't say anything, so he patted his chest and agreed. Although he didn't like Wu Xiang's character very much, at least he heard that Wu Xiang was very tenacious in leading soldiers and fighting Jiannu at Shanhaiguan this time. No matter how Wu Xiang chooses in the future, at least in dealing with Jiannu, Wu Xiang's performance was still Yes, since he is sitting at the mouth of Xifeng, he can't let Jiannu break through the customs and enter from him, so he said to the person who came to report: "When you go back, you can tell your Wu Junmen that as long as Zhou Yuji is not dead and there is still a soldier alive here, you must not let Jiannu break through the barrier!"

The person who reported the news immediately hugged his fist and replied, "Thank you, General Zhou. In this case, we will not delay any longer. In the next step, we have to go to Huangyaguan and Gubeikou to report the letter. There is General Zhou here! Our army said that if we are destined to meet again, we should thank the general face to face after defeating Jiannu! Say goodbye!" After saying that, these messengers immediately changed their horses at Zhou Yuji and rushed to Gubeikou and Huangyaguan day and night.

As soon as the person who reported the news left, Zhou Yuji ran back from outside the pass with a face full of fear. As soon as he saw Zhou Yuji, he knelt down and reported loudly: "General! There is a large number of slave army outside the customs, and they are marching towards Xifengkou. The number of slaves is estimated to be more than 40,000. Now it is probably less than 20 miles away from Guancheng! General Zhou, please prepare quickly..."

After listening to this, Zhou Yuji raised his eyebrows, stood up and said loudly, "Okay! Good luck! Today is the time for us to serve the imperial court to kill slaves! If the order goes down, everyone will go to the city and prepare to defend! Tell all the soldiers and generals that no matter whether I, Zhou Yuji, is alive or dead, as long as there is another person alive, I will never let the Taks enter the customs! ......”

(by the way, I forgot to say it in the morning. It's not too late to make it up now. I wish all the brothers who read books a happy Dragon Boat Festival! I have a great appetite. It's delicious! Ha ha!)