I

   Chapter 521 518 [Mountain Independent Camp]

  Sometimes, you can't expect someone to uphold righteousness, or even give up your own interests because of it.

  If it wasn't for the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Li Zicheng would still be sitting in the dragon chair in Beijing. Because of this, he hated the Manchu Qing extremely, but he had to compromise with reality. If he didn't contact the Manchu Qing to send troops together, would he rely on his Dashun Army to fight the south?

  When Dorgon received Li Zicheng's letter, he was ecstatic, and the two sides agreed to send troops next spring.

  The two sides fought their own way, and did not join forces.

  Li Zicheng's army left Shanxi to attack Hongnong, Huaiqing, Zhangde, and Guangping. The Manchus entered the customs and killed Tianjin all the way.

  What about the Datong Army?

   Soldiers come to block, water comes to cover, two fight together!

  Shanxi's terrain is difficult, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Li Zicheng dared to come out just in time, so he was afraid that he would keep shrinking. Liaodong is too far away, and it is extremely inconvenient to transport troops and food. If the Manchus dared to come to Tianjin, the supply line would be long enough to drag them to death. Once Liaodong is empty, the Datong Army in southern Liaodong and North Korea can take the opportunity to attack its hinterland.

  In the autumn of this year, Zhao Han expanded his army again, forming the new Sixteenth and Seventeenth Divisions of the Datong Army. He was temporarily stationed in Nanjing for training, and after the snow melted in spring, he was immediately transferred to the north.

  In the direction of Liaodong, there is no large-scale battle, but small-scale friction has continued.

  The Datong Army is learning from the Daming Frontier Army, building fortresses non-stop. Basically, a town builds a fort, some are poured with cement, and many are built directly from rammed earth. Every fort has a beacon tower, and when they see the Tartars, they immediately light the beacon.

  In the mountains in southern Liaoning, Han people continued to escape and went to the Datong Army to organize households and divide land.

  Fuzhou, Jinzhou, and Gaizhou have a population of more than 230,000 including civil servants and military families (excluding the number of troops and excluding children under the age of 12). Although the military rations are still not self-sufficient, they are indeed much more abundant than in previous years.

  Baoju on the border of North Korea is even more funny.

  After a division of the Datong Army moved in, the peasants in northern North Korea could not bear the exploitation of the government, and they took their families and defected. In Baozhou, apart from the military family members who immigrated, there are more than 80,000 Korean civilians under the rule.

  These North Korean people, although they can't speak Chinese, they support the Datong Army very much.

  There are two reasons: one is that the grain tax is not heavy, and the other is that the households are given surnames.

  North Korean people have surnames, they can register and divide their fields, and they can barely eat enough food. This is simply coming from **** to heaven.

  King Li Hao of North Korea finally came to his senses after purging his old ministers. He prohibited the Korean people from migrating towards Baozhou, and even sent an army to drive away the civilians who were close to Baozhou, and killed the whole family without obeying orders.

   With the Datong army blocking the Manchus in the north, and the opposition forces being eliminated inside, Li Hao thought he could enjoy it.

   Seoul has been shelled many times, and the city wall can be repaired.

  The royal palace has not been repaired for decades, and some halls are leaking, so they can be completely renovated. By the way, if two more halls are built, the king can't live too crowded.

  North Korean people can really bear it, even though countless starved to death, there is still no uprising.

  It’s just that the people in northern North Korea tried every means to escape to Baozhou secretly, where they could survive.

  …

  Liaonan mountainous area.

  A group of strange sergeants are climbing and advancing in the mountains.

  The person leading the army is called Yang Zhenqing.

  He used to be called Yang Fu, a hunter in Yimeng Mountain, and his whole family was killed by Duoduo. With a hunting bow, he chased and killed Duoduo all the way, and finally shot Duoduo into a hedgehog.

  Now, he has 500 people under his command, and has a special designation—Liaonan New Independent Battalion.

  This army has a variety of sources of troops.

   There are good archers in the Datong army, there are mountain hunters in various provinces, and there are Han people in the mountains of southern Liaoning. There are even Jurchens in the mountains of southern Liaoning!

  There have always been Han people living in the mountainous area of ​​southern Liaoning.

   During the Hongwu period, there was Xiuyan Fort, which belonged to Gaizhouwei. During the Jiajing period, the Xiuyan Fumin Tongju Office was established. During the Wanli period, Xiuyan was set up again to manage the grain warehouses in Jinzhou, Haizhou and Gaizhou.

  Mao Wenlong once sent personnel to instigate the Han people's uprising in Xiuyan, which was suppressed by Nurhachi, who captured more than 6,700 Han people and plundered more than 4,000 livestock.

  Subsequently, Jierhalang built Xiuyan City and garrisoned troops to prevent Mao Wenlong's surprise attack.

  The mountains in southern Liaoning are sparsely populated, and there are very few Han people and Jurchens. The Han people were captured as serfs, and the Jurchen tribes were relocated out. The few who remained were oppressed and exploited by the Manchus.

  So after the Datong Army gained a firm foothold, some Jurchens in the mountains were willing to take refuge in them!

   "Yingzheng, in front is the residence of the Tartar officials."

   "Touch it at night and kill them all!"

  The so-called Tartar officials were actually sent by the Qing Dynasty to receive the goods. The Han people and Jurchens in the mountains collect ginseng, animal skins and other things, and they have to pay a certain amount of tribute every year, and they will be punished if they don't make up the amount.

  As the evening approached, a Jurchen commoner ran over and said in Manchu: "The Tartar officials are drinking, and there are as many officers and soldiers as there are two hands and two feet."

  The Jurchen fighters in the independent battalion immediately translated to Yang Zhenqing.

  Yang Zhenqing said happily: "Don't wait for it to get dark, just touch it now!"

  The 500 independent battalion soldiers, 200 of them, use long spears like the white-armed soldiers, and they can climb over the mountain together. The remaining 300 people all used bows and arrows and waist knives.

  As for the armor, it is all leather armor.

  In addition, all five hundred people are equipped with new-style flintlock guns, but they are only used when encountering a large-scale Eight Banners army.

  It was almost dark, and five hundred soldiers approached quietly. The positions of the three Manchu Sentinels who were sitting in a daze had been pointed out by the Jurchen people a long time ago, and they didn't know that they were about to become living targets.

  Yang Zhenqing squatted in the grass, like a hunter facing a wild beast, took off his bow and arrow and slowly pulled it away.

   "Phew!"

   An arrow shot out, the enemy whistle fell dead, hit the throat.

   Several other archers also shot the remaining sentries to death.

  In the house, seventeen tartars were drinking and eating meat. The meat was roe deer snatched from common people's homes. When they were full of wine and meat, the door of the room was suddenly knocked open. Before they could react, they saw a long spear stabbing towards them.

  Searching for loot, there are a lot of ginseng and fur piled here, as well as the hamstrings of some wild animals, all of which were looted from the nearby mountain people.

  Yang Zhenqing said to a Jurchen warrior: "Go around and tell the people in the mountains to come over tomorrow and take away your things."

   "Okay!" The Jurchen warrior grinned.

  At the beginning, Yang Zhenqing attacked and killed the Jurchens when he saw the Jurchens in the mountains of southern Liaoning. It wasn't until one day that he saw Manchu officers and soldiers beating those Jurchen people who didn't pay enough goods, that Yang Zhenqing realized that Tartars would also bully Tartars.

   So he reported the situation, and Lu Xiangsheng tried to get in touch with the Jurchen people despite all the opinions, and he actually established a friendly relationship.

  The next day.

  Some Jurchen mountain people came with meat.

  Yang Zhenqing took out the silver and bought the meat. And the Jurchen mountain people can take the silver and go down the mountain to buy grain and salt.

  Through this transaction, Yang Zhenqing's independent battalion does not have to worry about logistical issues when operating in the mountains.

   On the territory of the Jurchens, it is actually nonsense to be able to win the support of the Jurchen people, and to be able to supply food on the spot.

  Yang Zhenqing said to those Jurchen mountain people: "When the Tartars come again, you will report the news and promise to take back the things. Your mountain goods will be collected by Han people in the future, and they will give you enough money. You will never take things for nothing."

  The Jurchen mountain people cheered up and sang hunter songs around Yang Zhen.

  This is the Independent Battalion, the first time it has attacked the Manchu Qing team collecting mountain goods. About a month later, the Manchu Qing officials in Xiuyan City finally realized that something was wrong, and sent more than two hundred Eight Banners soldiers to check.

  Xiuyan City was built in the mountains, controlling the main roads in the mountains.

   But it is difficult to march in the mountains. Even if you really pass by here and go straight to Jinzhou across the mountains, at most a few thousand surprise soldiers can come to attack. Moreover, the food production in the mountains is not enough, so it is not suitable for large troops to be stationed. After the Manchu Qing Dynasty built Xiuyan City, only 202 Eight Banners soldiers were stationed there.

  As the Datong Army gained a firm foothold in southern Liaoning, Dorgon also paid more attention to Xiuyan City, and the garrison in the city increased to 800 Eight Banners soldiers.

  But there are too few mountain people, and 70% to 80% of the Han people farming near Xiuyan City have long been abducted by the Qing Dynasty. The 800 Eight Banners soldiers stationed here are already at the limit of logistics, and any more will have to transport food in from outside the mountain.

  The 200 Eight Banners soldiers who went out of the city this time were all riding bad horses. They are not considered cavalry, only mounted infantry.

  The Eight Banners soldiers only marched more than ten miles in the mountains, and there were mountain people of the Jurchen nationality who rushed to inform the independent battalion. The Independence Battalion has been stationed in the mountains all year round and dispatched immediately upon receiving the news.

   "Where is the recipient?"

   "I went to the south and never came back."

   "Where is the south? Come and lead the way!"

  Two hundred soldiers of the Manchu Eight Banners were led by the Jurchen mountain people in this way, and headed all the way to the ambush point of the Independence Camp.

   "Woo!"

  The copper whistle sounded, and the Jurchen mountain people immediately lay down on the ground as agreed upon hearing the whistle.

   "Bang bang bang bang!"

   "Go back!"

   Gunshots rang out on both sides of the valley, and the Eight Banners soldiers were ambushed, turned around and fled in panic. But the valley is too narrow, only two or three horses can go side by side, and the Eight Banners Army with 200 horses still dragged into a long snake formation.

  A Jurchen mountain resident who was leading the way was not hit by a bullet after lying on the ground, but unfortunately was trampled to death by a horseshoe.

   "Bang bang bang bang!"

   Another row of gunfire, the Eight Banners soldiers who could not speed up, once again more than 30 people fell from their horses.

  The surviving Eight Banners soldiers managed to run half a mile away, when gunshots rang out again from the hillside in front of them.

  After an ambush, only 40 of the 280 Banner soldiers escaped back.

   This is a serious injury. In the entire Xiuyan City, there are only 800 defenders in the Qing Dynasty.

Yang Zhenqing pointed to the corpses of the two horses and said: "The Jurchen people who died, these two dead horses belong to their family. The rest of the dead horses, take them back to your stockade and divide them. The armor and weapons of the Tartar soldiers also exist temporarily. You are in the village. The whole army is resting, and tomorrow we will set up an ambush in the north. After hearing the news, the Tazi soldiers will probably come a lot more. If they don’t come, let’s go to the vicinity of Xiuyan City and pick up the Han people there!”

  Yang Zhenqing was very courageous. His superiors asked him to go into the mountains to fight guerrillas, but he wanted to take down Xiuyan City.

  (end of this chapter)