I

   Chapter 559 556 [Psychological Warfare]

  The guard of Lianshan Pass is called A Lin, whose name translates to "mountain", an inconspicuous general of the Eight Banners.

   But it was this general who was very cautious. When he heard that "Nao Dai" had returned, he came to the bank in person, and only sent a small boat across the river, and ordered: "Only Nao Dai Beizi is allowed to cross the river, and he can take at most two of his relatives. The rest of the soldiers must be confirmed by me." Come back after you become a Beizi!"

  The boat rowed to the other side, Lin Zhidong heard this and understood that it was impossible to cheat.

  Even if they don’t impersonate Nao Dai, the enemy guards of the Qing Dynasty will find other ways to verify.

   "Come here to carry the shellfish, and the rowers will help too." Lin Zhidong said.

   Waiting for the three Tartars to go ashore, Lin Zhidong drew his sword out of its sheath, and hacked to death the one in front of him. The other two Tartars were also hacked to death by the dragoons.

  Alin could see clearly across the river, and said with a sneer, "Strictly guard the closed city, don't go out!"

  Lin Zhidong sighed: "Tan slaves are not all idiots, I'm afraid this trip will be in vain. Go back!"

   There is also a particular thing about withdrawing troops. Lin Zhidong deliberately followed the river bank and withdrew all the way south. This gave the enemy the illusion that they came from Tongyuan Fort, not Caohe Fort.

   That Manchu Qing general, A Lin, seemed calm, but his heart was already turbulent: Tongyuan Fort was lost!

  Not only Alin, but ordinary Tartar soldiers also looked terrified.

  Lianshan Pass and Caohe Fort are all small checkpoints and small fortresses.

   Facing the incoming army, only Phoenix City and Tongyuan Fort can withstand it. Both Phoenix City and Tongyuan Fort were lost, and Lianshan Pass was the next target. How could they hold it?

   But Lin Zhidong led his troops to withdraw to the south. After withdrawing for several miles, he went into the forest again. It took a full day to go to the northeast to join the main force of the dragoons.

   "Old Lin, we met some Han people in the valley." Bian Hui, a missionary officer hiding in the mountains, said.

  Lin Zhidong asked: "Are there Han slaves in the mountains?"

Bian Hui shook his head and said, "It's not Han slaves, but Han people under the rule of the Tartars. You can go out of the mountains sixty miles north of Lianshan Pass, which is close to Liaoyang and Shenyang. According to those Han people, they were captured from Beizhili , were placed in the ravines to create households and open up wasteland. The Tartars did not turn them into serfs. There are more such Han people in Weining and Qinghe, who mainly cultivate the barren land in the mountains, and they can pay a lot for the Tartars every year. food."

   "In the past two years, the life of the Han people has been very hard, right?" Lin Zhidong asked.

Bian Hui said: "A lot of people died of starvation. Dorgon was short of military rations, so he followed the example of the old slaves and stipulated how much rations each Han people should pay. If they fail to pay in one year, each family will kill one. If they fail to pay in two years, the whole family will be killed." Light!"

  Lin Zhidong gritted his teeth and said, "Tartars are hateful!"

   Bian Hui saddled the horse and said, "Bringing all these Han people back, it's not a waste of time."

   "Who said it was going to be withdrawn?" Lin Zhidong laughed.

  Bian Hui said: "The military rations I carried are exhausted. If you don't leave, you will be hungry. Do you still want to stay and look for opportunities?"

  Lin Zhidong said: "We each have an axe. What did we bring it for? Go into the mountains and cut down trees to make ladders! The city wall of Lianshan Pass is not high, and there are not many guards, so we climbed up by surprise at night."

   "What about food?" Bian Hui asked.

   "Kill the horse!" Lin Zhidong was decisive.

   More than 2,000 dragoons, leading the Han people they met in the mountains, plunged deeper into the mountains in the northeast.

  These Han people are familiar with the terrain and know how to get around to the north of Lianshan Pass. Even if there are no Han people to guide the way, it is still possible to go around. There are three valley passages, and it is easy to find if you look carefully.

  Walking around for a day and a night, Lin Zhidong asked his soldiers to cut down trees, and when they were hungry, they killed relatively thin war horses.

  Alin was tense at Lianshan Pass for three days, when suddenly a Tartar soldier rushed to report: "The Nanman army is besieging Caohebao!"

  This news made Alin feel terrified, but at the same time feel a little fortunate.

   To the horror, the Datong army captured Caohe Fort, and the next target must be Lianshan Pass. Fortunately, the Datong Army did not directly attack Lianshan Pass.

  The Tartar soldiers at Lianshan Pass relaxed collectively when they learned that the Datong Army was in Caohebao.

  They know they must die, and it is better to die later than sooner. And after confirming the location of the Datong Army, I can sleep peacefully these few days, without having to worry about it all day long.

  Even the cautious Allin began to relax, and took out wine and meat for his family to eat openly.

   Eat and drink enough, wait for the Datong army to kill, and then the whole family will desperately defend the pass. They had no escape, and if they fled again, they would be Shenyang and Liaoyang. If they fled back, they would be beheaded 100% of the time. Abandoning the customs before a battle was a serious crime.

  The entire Lianshan Pass, whether it is the soldiers of the Eight Banners, or the bannermen and their families, are all in a state of being full and waiting to die.

  Whoever has wine hidden at home must take it out and drink it up.

  Many Tazi soldiers were drunk all day long, and Alin didn't stop the punishment, but sent someone to watch a few miles southeast. Once you encounter the traces of the Datong Army, the whole army will swear to guard the pass, so enjoy it until then.

  Alin never expected that Lin Zhidong would come out from the mountains in the north!

   At night, Guancheng was dead silent.

  Alin stipulated that drinking is only allowed before dark, and no one is allowed to drink after nightfall.

  So, many Tartars got drunk in the evening.

  The wooden ladder made by cutting down the tree is very heavy, and the water is not yet dry. The Datong army carried dozens of wooden ladders, and quietly came down from the mountain, step by step approaching the northeast wall.

  Lianshanguan is a small fortress, so small that it has only one gate.

  The direction of Lin Zhidong's night attack did not even have a city gate. There are also defenders standing guard, but they all face the southeast. The sentries here are all dozing off, and some even drink secretly.

  The wooden ladder was on the city wall, only more than four meters high, and Lin Zhidong led his troops to climb up with ease.

  The nearest sentry was warming up on the tower, leaning against the wall, with a wine jug beside his leg.

   And, snoring, apparently asleep.

  The Datong Army cautiously moved over, the Tartar sentry opened his eyes in a daze, looked at Lin Zhidong drunkenly, and pointed at him: "You..."

  Lin Zhidong knelt down and covered the sentry's mouth, wiping his neck with a knife.

  Walking on the city wall for a while, finally a Tartar sentry found them: "Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

"kill!"

  The Datong army immediately launched an attack, rushing into the city from the northeast and northwest along the stone ladder.

  Ten people in a group, kill anyone they see.

  In the darkness, the Tartars did not know how many people came. The soldiers of the Eight Banners, the bannermen and their family members who had retreated into Guancheng, ran out of the house in panic, and some of them were drunk and didn't even know how to run.

  Lin Zhidong yelled to remind: "Catch more people, don't kill them all!"

  The entire Lianshan Pass, counting Qi Ding and his family members, is less than 2,000 people. As for the dragoons who attacked at night, there were more than 2,000 in number, which was a completely one-sided massacre.

   Some Tartars also escaped, but it doesn't matter.

  In the early morning of the next day, the dragoons who ate horse meat for a few days were happily full of food.

  Half a day's rest, the cavalry without horses stayed behind to guard the pass, and the cavalry with horses divided into two, escorting the captives to Tongyuan Fort and Caohe Fort.

  Alin was also caught, and was **** and taken to Tongyuan Fort.

  It wasn't until he saw the flag on the tower that Alin exclaimed: "Tongyuan Fort is still there?"

  Lin Zhidong laughed loudly: "Untie the ropes of the captives and let them report the news casually!"

  Including Alin, more than a dozen captives were released and frantically fled towards the three cities of Tongyuan Fort.

  The three cities of Tongyuanbao are built on three legs, leaning on each other as horns.

  The main general is called Fu Lehun, who was born in the Shu Mulu clan, counted strictly according to his seniority, and is also the nephew of Yang Guli, a fierce general of the Later Jin Dynasty.

  When the Qing Dynasty captured Tongyuan Fort, Shu Wangshan and A Lai led 800 troops to garrison, and later Mina led 400 troops to strengthen the defense. It was not until the Manchu Qing captured Phoenix City that the garrison here was reduced to 300 people, and the center of defense shifted south to Phoenix City.

   Today, most of the Tartar defenders of Tongyuan Fort are descendants of soldiers under the command of Shu Wangshan, Alai, and Mina.

  Shu Wangshan is Yang Guli's uncle, and now Fu Lehun is the grandson of Shu Wangshan.

   "Hang them up!"

  Alin had just been hanged to the top of the city, when Fu Lehun asked, "Why are there enemies in the north?"

  Alin cried: "Lianshan Pass is gone, Caohe Fort has been besieged for many days."

  Fu Lehui was speechless for a moment, his legs were weak and he couldn't stand up.

  Lianshan Pass is gone, Caohe Fort is besieged, and Phoenix City has also fallen, which means that the three cities of Tongyuan Fort have become dead!

  After repeated inquiries, Fulhun learned of the specific situation. There were not many Datong troops in Lianshan Pass, and only a few hundred cavalry came to Tongyuan Fort.

Before he had time to discuss with the other two guards, Fulehui directly ordered: "The warriors of the Eight Banners, as well as the bannermen, immediately retreat north with their families. Only a small amount of rations and livestock are taken, and all other goods are given up. Rush out before!"

   This is not considered abandoning the city, but breaking out with Eight Banners soldiers and Eight Banners civilians.

  Counting the Tartars who escaped from Phoenix City, including the old, the weak, women and children, there are more than 4,000 Tartars in Tongyuan Fort.

  Three castles, crying loudly, many Tartar civilians, unwilling to abandon their property.

  Fulerhui personally led the troops to fight, trying to drive away the hundreds of enemy cavalry and make a passage for the Tartars of Tongyuan Fort.

  Seeing the Tartars coming out of the castle, Lin Zhidong smiled, and said to his soldiers: "Stay back and fight again, don't send the Tartars back to Tongyuan Fort."

  The real effect of the surprise attack on Lianshan Pass was to make Tongyuan Fort panic. The Tartars of Tongyuan Fort either waited to be besieged to death, or immediately chose to break out of the siege.

  As long as there is a glimmer of hope, the Tartars will surely break through. Who wants to be trapped in a castle waiting to die?

  After breaking through Lianshan Pass, the strategic significance of Tongyuan Fort will be lost in half. Even if the Tartars choose to stick to it, the Datong Army can still advance from Caohebao and Lianshanguan, but the rear may be attacked at any time.

  Hundreds of dragoons retreated northward for more than ten miles.

  Fullerhun let all the Tartars over the age of twelve take up arms to fight, and even the Tartar women formed an army. If they want to survive, they have to rush over with all their strength.

Lin Zhidong took out the binoculars, looked at the chaotic marching formation of the Tartars, couldn't help laughing and said: "The Tartars are insane, retreat further. The longer the march, the more chaotic the enemy will be. It's best to drag them to the vicinity of Lianshanguan hit."

  From the raid on Lianshan Pass to the intentional release of the Tartars back to Tongyuan Fort, Lin Zhidong has been playing psychological tactics.

  (end of this chapter)