I

Brothers Jiang Yu and Jiang Xuan used to be the chief soldier and deputy chief soldier of the Ming Dynasty respectively.

After many battles, they had very few soldiers left. When Li Zicheng arrived in Datong, Jiang Yu surrendered immediately. Even if he surrendered, he was almost killed by Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng forcibly disbanded Jiang Yu's troops and sent his confidants to garrison Datong City.

Before the Manchus came to kill him, Jiang Yu had essentially betrayed Li Zicheng and took advantage of the situation to defect to the Manchus.

After that, the old servants were recruited again, and the two brothers' cavalry totaled only more than 300 cavalry.

Brothers Jiang Quan and Jiang Xuan crossed the river and went south. Their more than 300 cavalry were organized into a cavalry team and were responsible for plundering the area from Mengjiazhuang to Xincai.

"Brother, something is wrong!"

After driving for several miles, Jiang Xuan caught up with Jiang Quan: "The weeds in the wheat fields have almost grown as deep as the wheat seedlings. There have been no farmers taking care of them for at least half a month. And along the way, the houses are all empty. Here The people have long since disappeared without knowing where to hide.”

"It's normal to avoid disasters." Jiang Yu said.

Jiang Xuan asked: "Should those empty houses be burned down?"

Jiang Quan did not answer, but asked: "Do you think the Tatars can win?"

Jiang Xuan was frightened and lowered his voice and said: "Brother, don't talk nonsense. The Qing Dynasty is the Qing Dynasty. Where did the Tatars come from?"

"I can't bear it anymore," Jiang Quan gritted his teeth and said, "Both you and I were born and raised in Datong. After the Tatars took over Datong, what kind of things have they not done? Burning, killing, looting, etc.? The people of Shanxi have been suffering from drought for many years. There is nothing wrong with it. Food, even this little ration was taken away by the Tatars!”

Jiang Xuan stopped pretending and said in a calm tone: "Brother, don't you want your family anymore?"

"When a real man is alive, he doesn't care about so many things." Jiang Yu said.

Jiang Xuan let out a breath: "Then I will accompany my brother to make a fuss and join the Datong Army. Our Jiang family has lived in Datong, Shanxi Province for a long time. The name of the country in the south is Datong. Doesn't it coincide with God's will?"

The ghost's actions coincide with God's will and are just for profit.

Their desire to rebel against the Manchus did have elements of disgust and national justice. But what really made them decide was when another traitor took away their military power!

The traitor's name was Wu Weihua, and his elder brother was Uncle Gongshun of the Ming Dynasty.

As soon as he heard about this title, he knew that he must be a foreigner. The ancestors of the Wu family were Mongolians who submitted to the Ming Dynasty.

Wu Weihua's brother was tortured and beaten to death by Li Zicheng. After the Manchus entered the customs, this guy immediately went out of the city and knelt to greet him. He also took the initiative to ask for help, went to Shanxi and Shaanxi to recruit surrender, and then donated his daughter to Azig.

Recently, he even planned to marry his niece to Chang Nai as his concubine.

Chang Nai is Gang Lin's younger brother, and Gang Lin is Dorgon's confidant.

With this operation, Wu Weihua was quickly granted the title of Marquis by the Manchu Qing Dynasty. While stationed in Shanxi, they took away the troops of the Jiang brothers. Jiang Yu and Jiang Xuan now only have more than 300 servants in their hands.

Moreover, Wu Weihua also robbed the Jiang family's land, which was military land occupied by the Jiang family's ancestors!

Shanxi is completely desolate, so why are we still fighting for land?

Because the Jiang family's fields are good fields, there are canals for irrigation.

He surrendered to the Manchus and lived in a worse situation than in the Ming Dynasty. Didn't this traitor do it in vain?

Damn it!

"Brother, there is smoke over there!" Jiang Xuan shouted.

The two brothers galloped over with their cavalry, but it was the mansion of a wealthy family before the land was divided.

The original owner had done many evil things and had been suppressed by the Peasants' Association. The mansion was used as the village's office space and also as the village's school.

Trenches were dug around the perimeter of the mansion's walls, and sentries were posted on the walls.

"Confucius said: A gentleman has nothing to do with the world. There is nothing wrong with him. The principle of righteousness is to compare..."

The sound of reading aloud came from within the courtyard wall, and more and more people gathered on the wall.

Some of these people were holding wooden spears and bamboo spears, and some were holding hoes and poles. They glared at the cavalry brought by the Jiang brothers without fear.

"Confucius said: Can a country be governed by courtesy? Why? If a country cannot be governed by courtesy, what about etiquette? Confucius said: Don't worry about not having a position, worry about the reason for establishing. Don't worry about not knowing what you know, seek to know..."

Jiang Gan listened to the sound of reading and suddenly laughed: "It has been two months since I came here from Shanxi, and this is the first time I heard a child reading." He turned to his brother and asked, "Do you have the heart to set fire to this house?"

"Let's go." Jiang Xuan sighed.

Their families are in Shanxi, but each sent a son to Beijing.

The family may not die, but after betraying the Manchus, the son in Beijing will definitely be gone.

After galloping for a while, Jiang Xuan said: "Even if you are a guest, you should bring some small gifts. We first surrendered Li Zicheng, then the Manchu Tatars, and now we are surrendering Emperor Zhao. If you don't bring a small gift, wouldn't you have to surrender? Being laughed at?"

"Well said, the etiquette must be complete." Jiang Yu said with a smile.

The brothers immediately changed direction and ran towards the robbery area of ​​​​the friendly forces. Behind them, smoke rose, which was a warning signal from the villagers.

That afternoon, the two men bumped into Liu Fangming's troops from a distance.

The people in this village also lived in several large houses. Liu Fangming's cavalry did not attack, but instead set fire to the vacant houses along the way.

Moreover, he deliberately trampled the wheat fields and destroyed the crops under Zhao Han's rule.

"General Liu!" Jiang Yu shouted from a distance.

Liu Fangming rode his horse over to join us and asked with a smile: "Why are you two here?"

Jiang Quan said: "The probing horse encountered the pseudo-fire cavalry, so I quickly led the troops over."

Liu Fangming quickly stretched her neck to look around and asked, "You're not catching up, are you?"

"No." Jiang Yu rode over.

Liu Fangming said: "How about we work together? It will be easier to do things if there are more people."

"That's exactly what I meant." Jiang Yu said with a smile.

The distance between the two of them was getting closer and closer. Jiang Yu suddenly accelerated and drew his sword towards Liu Fangming.

Liu Fangming couldn't dodge and subconsciously raised his arm to block, and half of his right hand was cut off on the spot. Jiang Xuan also came over and killed him with one blow.

In history, the great traitor who suppressed the Ningxia uprising many times, served successively as General Dingxi of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Admiral of Sichuan, and Commander-in-Chief of Jiangnan Right Route, and defeated Zheng Chenggong in Chongming, died in such a confused way.

"kill!"

The Jiang family's cavalry charged over and caught Liu Fangming's cavalry off guard. All those in the rear fled on horseback.

As Jiang Quan rushed to kill, he shouted: "Drop your weapons and surrender without killing!"

A quarter of an hour later, Jiang Quan ignored the defeated troops who had fled away, and said to the surrendering cavalry: "Your general is dead, what future do you have when you go back? Don't be a dog to the Tatars anymore. Come with me and surrender to Zhao." emperor!"

Those who are willing to surrender naturally want to survive.

The Jiang brothers carried Liu Fangming's head, led nearly 400 cavalry, and more than 20 horses, and ran all the way towards Shangcai County.

On the way, they met Cao Bianjiao, who was leading his dragon cavalry to chase the invading enemy.

"All troops dismount and throw away their weapons!"

Jiang Quan automatically disarmed, then took Liu Fangming's head and ran over to surrender single-handedly.

Cao Bianjiao smiled and said, "Oh, it turns out to be Brother Jiang."

Jiang Quan threw his head out: "Liu Fangming's head is a small gift. Please accept it, brother Cao."

"It's easy to tell," Cao Bianjiao asked, "How many cavalry are there to attack?"

Jiang Quan said in detail: "Three or four thousand, all servants of the Ming Dynasty's border generals. The troops of Kaifeng Prefecture are gathering in Xihua County, with Zu Dashou as the chief general and Wu Sangui as the deputy general. The cavalry who came out to rob and harass this time will Wu Sangui is leading the team. As for the main force of Tartar Chief Dorgon, they have already gone east, and I don’t know where they went.”

This is important military information. Cao Bianjiao sent someone to Xincai to report the news, and Xincai would send Zhao Han the military information. Then he said to Jiang Yu: "Lead the troops and follow me!"

The Jiang brothers followed Cao Bianjiao and went straight to Shangcai.

After the dragoons gathered here, they ignored the incoming enemy cavalry and regarded Wu Sangui as a ball of air. After taking a short rest, they went straight to Yancheng to meet Chang Jiang Dashan, the commander of the Sixth Division.

"Dorgon is heading east with his army, and he must fight a big battle with Your Majesty," Cao Bianjiao said, "Our army should take advantage of the opportunity to attack, and we must not be fooled by the enemy cavalry that is disturbing the place!"

Jiang Dashan hesitated and said, "What if this is Dorgon trying to lure us into sending troops?"

Cao Bianjiao thought for a moment and said, "It's also possible."

Jiang Dashan said: "Just in case, we have to join forces with the Seventh Division."

Huang Shun's seventh division, starting from Ye County, had already captured Xiangcheng. After receiving Zhao Han's military order, he stayed in Xiangcheng and stopped advancing.

Cao Bianjiao took the Jiang brothers who had surrendered and sent out cavalry to investigate and make sure that there was no Manchu army within dozens of miles. Jiang Dashan then made an appointment with Huang Shun, heading west and south at the same time towards Linying County.

Without doing any fancy work, two regular divisions and fifty artillery pieces opened fire on Linying County.

The city walls here are far worse than those in Jining and Shangqiu.

In just half a day, the city wall was blown down by artillery, and more than 10,000 soldiers rushed in through the gap.

The guard was Sun Chuanting's old subordinate Jia Hanfu. Before the city wall collapsed, he abandoned the city with his family and fled. He has no choice but to escape. With the few troops he has, he can only defend the city. If the city wall collapses, he will never be able to defend it.

Listening to the rumble of cannons, Jia Hanfu was frightened. He already regretted surrendering to the Manchus.

Five hundred dragoons were sent out to serve as scouts, leaving two thousand dragoons and Jiang Yu's four hundred servant cavalry. He had been waiting in the north of the city for a long time. When he saw Jia Hanfu leading his troops to escape, Cao Bianjiao immediately led his cavalry and rushed over.

Jia Hanfu thought for a while, sighed, reined in his horse and ordered: "We are all surrendered, we can't run away."

Several dragoons went over, tied up Jia Hanfu, and dragged him to Cao Bianjiao in disgrace.

"Brother Jia, long time no see." Cao Bianjiao said with a smile.

Jia Hanfu said helplessly: "If you want to kill or chop the captured people, please do as you please."

We are all acquaintances, no need to be polite.

The Sixth and Seventh Divisions captured Linying and continued their march, heading straight for Xihua County where Zu Dashou was stationed.

There are many enemy troops there. In addition to the surrendered troops and generals, there are also local bandits from Henan. There are tens of thousands of people in the mess.

After discovering that the Datong Army had dozens of artillery pieces, Zu Dashou felt that the county town could not hold on. Simply call Wu Sangui back, wait for the Datong Army to pass, and then go out of the city to fight.

If they don't fight, they have to retreat to Xuzhou (Xuchang), where the walls are better able to withstand artillery.

Otherwise, tens of thousands of people would be huddled in a small county town and bombarded by artillery for several days, and military morale would plummet.