It was not until early February that the rear camp finally came into the court's sight.

The reason is the memorial of Hexi Military Guards.

[The Zhibu guarded the west of Hexi, and since the Eastern invaders surrendered, they worked hard and slept late at night, not daring to neglect. The month before last, more than ten thousand people came from the north, armed with weapons and chariots, in a mighty and mighty manner. The Zhibu sent people to inquire and said that our army would obey.

He also said that when the Tartars returned, they would massacre the city to vent their anger. So they gave them money and food and ordered them to go south. They were afraid that the eastern captives would attack them carefully, so they did not dare to let them in. The people gathered around and went south, but they didn't know.

It’s been traced.]

This memorial was sent to the Ministry of War on the third day of the first lunar month.

But at that time, the Ministry of War was in the midst of civil strife, and Xiong Mingyue was pursuing Shen Yongmao fiercely. The officials in the Ministry had no thoughts at all.

It was not until the beginning of February that Liang Tingdong, the new Minister of War, was sorting out official documents and saw this memorial.

It was okay not to look at it, but when he looked at it, Liang Tingdong was confused.

what happened?

Did our army capture Zunhua in December?

No, then how did Ma Shilong's troops lose at the gate of Zunhua City in the first month of the year?

There must be something hidden in this.

Liang Tingdong did not dare to neglect and immediately reported the matter to Chongzhen.

Chongzhen became suspicious on the spot, thinking that the people below him were fooling him again, so he immediately sent a stern edict to Ma Shilong, asking Ma Shilong to explain the matter clearly.

Ma Shilong was also confused after receiving the order.

I didn’t conquer Zunhua!

He was also afraid that it was the commander-in-chief, staff-general, and division chief below who had done it, so he asked them one by one, but in the end no one knew about it.

Ma Shilong felt relieved and immediately replied to Chongzhen with a memorial, confirming that Zunhua was always in the hands of Hou Jin and had never heard of any friendly forces conquering it.

Chongzhen also suspected that Hexi Wu had lied about military information and pursued the case again.

The Hexi Military Guard reported a new situation.

The common people passing by him said that the Ming army that conquered Zunhua spoke Shandong dialect.

In December, the Shandong Army came to Zunhua?

Chongzhen was so frightened that he quickly questioned Wang Congyi, the governor of Shandong.

At this time, Wang Congyi had just led his troops to the capital, and he was confused by the question.

I never sent anyone to attack Zunhua!

Wang Congyi firmly denied it, and all the people under his command could testify.

Then the situation became weird.

In Chongzhen's opinion, the one most likely to lie was the Hexi Guard.

This guy is evil!

So Chongzhen ordered the Jinyi Guards to arrest the Hexi guards and interrogate them strictly.

Fortunately, Jin Yiwei passed by Tongzhou, and Sun Chengzong and Hou Xun learned of the incident and quickly wrote to Chongzhen to inform him of the truth.

[I have the sacred order to assist the overall situation. However, the Eastern captives can come and go freely, and it is difficult for our army to control them. Zuo Menggeng, the commander-in-chief of Linqing Xieqian, said that we should be the main one. We must rescue the enemy when attacking, and we must not tire our troops.

Follow him. Because his words are reasonable and there are few people in his tribe, I allow him to do as he pleases. The act of restraining and transforming should be his credit.】

Things are clear.

The Hexi garrison did not panic. In December, Zunhua was indeed captured once by the Ming army. However, later Jin returned to the army and captured it again.

When he heard that General Qian actually took back a city when Hou Jin was conquering the city and killed hundreds of slaves, Chongzhen was greatly excited and quickly asked where the department was.

Sun Chengzong said that I didn't know either. I just let the unit fight freely, and all offensive and defensive actions were decided by the unit's commander.

If it was a large army, Sun Chengzong would have been impeached by the ministers for doing this. But I heard that it was just a battalion, and even Chongzhen didn't care.

Since the Later Jin Dynasty invaded Japan, are there still few generals, generals and generals who have died in battle?

Are there still few Ming troops who surrendered and fled?

A mere battalion with thousands of people, even if they have different intentions, how much trouble can they cause?

Earlier, someone on the Hexi side reported that twelve commoners killed hundreds of Tatars by catching arrows with their bare hands.

In a messy situation, anything goes wrong.

Zuo Menggeng didn't know that Sun Chengzong and Hou Xun helped him prevent a disaster.

After a period of rest and the weather became warmer, Zuo Mengeng decided to start again.

The prerequisite for deciding that he could take action was that all the troops of the Later Jin Dynasty had gone to Qian'an. At this time, they were inextricably linked to the Ming army, and they could no longer take care of him for the time being.

"I decided to hit Hongshan Pass."

Hongshan Pass was one of the three passes used by the Later Jin Dynasty to enter the invaders, and it was also the place where Huang Taiji broke through the pass.

Zuo Mengeng couldn't remember where Huang Taiji returned from, so he simply decided to hit Hongshan Pass first.

It happened that I had ambushed the Han cavalry at Miaowa Valley near Hongshan Pass before. The terrain was familiar and it was not difficult to fight.

Zuo Mengeng chose Hongshan Pass for another reason besides its importance.

That was Cai Tong, the defender of Hongshan Pass, who surrendered to the enemy.

When Huang Taiji broke through the barrier, the man surrendered immediately without any resistance.

Later, when the Jin army went to the capital, this guy followed him everywhere.

If surrendering was a helpless move, it was regarded as making up for the sin later. But when the Jin army came back again, this guy rebelled again.

And he was the first to rebel.

Ma Shilong, who was stationed in Santun Camp at that time, sent people to persuade him, but he not only refused to listen, but also drove them back.

This time they surrendered again, but Cai Tong worked harder and followed Hou Jin to capture Panjiakou.

Obviously, this guy decided to go all the way.

Taking advantage of the Hou Jin army's presence in Qian'an, Zuo Mengeng decided to punish the traitors first.

Huang Zongxi asked: "After Hongshan Pass is captured, will we garrison it? If we don't garrison it and the Tatars come to attack, what will we do?"

At that time, Zuo Menggeng had received Hou Xun's letter and knew that the imperial court was aware of the existence of Houying.

"We will not station ourselves at the pass. After we capture it, we will write to Ma Shilong and ask him to take over."

Zuo Mengeng would not be stupid enough to defend the city.

After deliberation, the army set off immediately.

This time, the rear camp could finally march openly.

Three days later, we arrived at Hongshan Pass.

But once they saw the situation inside the pass, the entire army resisted the urge to use force.

The old Xiongguan has long lost its elegance now, and its shabby appearance is worse than a pigsty.

The city gates are open and no one is allowed to come in or out.

A few soldiers under the city gate hid in the shelter and huddled in a ball. When they saw the army approaching, they just stretched their necks and took a look, but were indifferent.

There were no guards on the city gate at all, so when the rear camp rushed up, there was no movement inside the pass.

Not long after, the entire Hongshan Pass was occupied by the rear camp.

Zuo Menggeng walked into the pass surrounded by officers. He only saw about a hundred soldiers thrown into the open space in the center, facing the bayonets of the rear camp, and they responded calmly.

Looking around, among the hundreds of people, I couldn't find anyone who was energetic.

They were all wearing rags and rags, unable to cover their bodies. Some rags fluttered randomly in the wind, revealing the skinny body underneath, with each rib like a lute.

The garrison general Cai Tong was carried in front of him, and he showed no fear either.

"If you want to chop off my head, then chop it off."

Huang Zongxi angrily said: "You have forgotten your ancestors, taken refuge with foreigners, and massacred your compatriots. You deserve death."

Cai Tong grinned, half smiling but not smiling.

"I deserve to die? I deserve to die a long time ago. But before killing me, I want to ask, does the imperial court care about our life and death?"

As he said this, he suddenly became excited, pointed at the weak soldiers, and cried bitterly.

"Look, take a good look. From August last year to now, we haven't received a grain of rice or a penny of salary. The brothers couldn't bear the hunger, so they cut tree bark to satisfy their hunger. Things that can be sold in the pass

We sold them all and exchanged them for two hundred kilograms of rice, which we ate all winter. They all said that we were traitors, but when Huang Taiji came, he gave us money and grain to keep us fed. Where was the emperor and the court?

"

The weeping accusations echoed in the ears, making everyone feel sad in their hearts.

They are obviously soldiers on the border to defend the country, but they are starved to death.
To be continued...