Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 411 Anyone who dares to talk about war will be killed!
Akdan was panicked.

He was really panicking.

It would have been fine if they had been attacked by the Ming army for no apparent reason, but the key point was that the Ming army had hold of something they could use against them.

He knew very well that once the humans realized that they had fallen into a trap, they would immediately take his head to vent their anger.

So while he led the men behind him quietly towards the location of the Ming army's main general, he couldn't help but think about how to save his own life.

"How far is it?"

Hearing the question coming from behind, Akdan immediately gathered his thoughts, and after looking at the surrounding trees and rocks, he answered carefully.

"My Lord, it should be another mile or two."

"Stop!"

Such words were common in the army, but when they reached Akdan's ears, his heart was gripped with a pang. If it weren't for another voice coming from behind in an instant, he, a small soldier who was captured and under tremendous pressure, would have collapsed to the ground at that moment.

"Go check the situation. If you find anything unusual, report it immediately."

"twitter!"

As a military order was issued, the elite scouts disappeared into the woods. However, Akdan seemed to be under some kind of spell and dared not move at all.

"Are you sure that the general only has one or two hundred men with him?"

"determine."

When Du Lei heard these words, he felt a surge of heat in his heart and even forgot about the situation in the camp on the mountain.

It is said that the Emperor Ming liked to dress up as an ordinary soldier.
Of course, he also knew that such a situation was almost impossible. After all, the Emperor Ming was responsible for the safety of the country, and it was rare for him to lead his troops to the outside of Yangping Pass in person. It was impossible for him to lead the troops in a night attack.

But then again, with a guard of one or two hundred people, he must be at least a general. If we can capture him, it will be a considerable achievement.

While his mind was turning, Du Lei's eyes were fixed on the forest in front of him. After half a cup of tea, several figures returned to him one after another.

"Master, there is indeed a group of Ming troops at the mountain pass ahead."

"how many people?"

"I didn't dare to get too close, but from a distance I saw there were about 100 to 200 people."

When the scout finished speaking, he was naturally a little excited because of the great achievement that was about to be achieved, but he did not notice that the soldier leading the way in front of him also breathed a sigh of relief at this time.

Now that the enemy situation in front of him had been ascertained, there was no reason for Du Lei to be polite anymore. He then gave some instructions to the generals beside him. With just a few words, he assigned various tasks to these thousand men.

"You don't need to care about the southern barbarians, but the general must be kept alive."

This marked the end of this arrangement, and then the whole team quietly moved towards the location of the Ming general.

At this point, everyone's attention was focused on this great achievement that came from the sky, but no one noticed that Akdan's figure was gradually falling backwards.

"There are Tartars!"

Just when the torches were faintly visible to everyone, a loud shout suddenly came from the mountains and forests.

Although this situation came suddenly, it was not beyond everyone's expectations. After all, it was not easy for three or five people to discover it, but it was impossible for a team of one thousand people to hide from the Ming army's sentries.

However, at this time they were not far from the Ming army, and this place was between two peaks.

After roughly estimating the distance between them and the Ming army, Du Lei gave a signal and led his cavalry to chase after them.

He thought clearly that as long as he could tie up these Ming troops for a while, the infantry behind him would be able to completely surround and kill them. By then, with the Ming general in hand, not to mention relieving the siege of the camp, even forcing the Ming troops to surrender would be a piece of cake.

near, near.

After all, he is a southern barbarian. He is good at boating, but he is far from good at horse riding.

As the distance between the two sides continued to shorten, Du Lei could vaguely make out the Ming general mixed in with the infantry. After finding a suitable explanation in his mind, he urged his horse hard and rushed forward with the soldiers beside him.

At this point, he would not hold back, but he didn't know whether the Ming soldiers felt there was no way to escape or were simply frightened out of their wits. When he was less than ten steps away from the nearest Ming soldier, the Ming soldiers who had been running wildly the moment before suddenly stopped.

Are you scared?

Seeing the movement of the Ming army, Du Lei had some doubts in his heart, but he had no intention of slowing down at all.

joke.

If the formation in front of him was composed of heavily armored infantry, then he could only temporarily avoid the sharp edge, but these more than 200 Ming soldiers were already in chaos. Not to mention forming a formation, the distance between them was already wide enough.

According to his years of experience, as long as he could kill one or two soldiers, this team of Ming troops would surely just run for their lives as they had done before. Then he could naturally kill them all the way until he caught the Ming general on horseback.

just
“Dang~~~!”

As a burst of golden sounds reached his ears, Du Lei discovered that the fatal blow was blocked by someone. When he was about to take advantage of the momentum to make another attack, he felt that his horse suddenly lost its balance, and then both he and the horse fell straight to the ground.

How could this happen?

The development of the situation was far beyond Du Lei's expectations, and when all kinds of surprises appeared in his heart, he also saw a rope extending out from the woods.

It's bad! There's an ambush!

Things had come to this point and he understood what had happened, but just as he was about to form a thought, he fell heavily to the ground.

Du Lei had spent half his life on war horses, and after being hit several times in succession when it came into contact with the ground, he finally managed to dissipate most of the force.

Afterwards, he didn't care about the situation around him, he swung the blade in his hand suddenly, and then a dragon-like pillar flipped up from the ground.

He was lucky though, as his horse didn't throw him far when it fell forward, and after the cavalrymen behind him were tripped and fallen one after another, no one took care of him.

Taking advantage of this gap, he rushed two steps towards his own troops, but when he swung the blade at the Ming army beside him, he did not feel any cuts in the flesh.

Yes, since he is following the Ming general, he should be considered an elite soldier like a family servant.

Although his mind was constantly turning, his actions did not delay at all. He dodged several times and avoided the attacks of the Ming soldiers. In just three or two breaths, he escaped from the encirclement.

Although most of the cavalrymen who followed him had been tripped by the lassoes, the infantry behind him only had twenty or thirty steps to catch up.

If it were someone else, they would probably make an assessment of the situation and then decide whether to fight or flee. However, Du Lei did the opposite and after a loud shout, he rushed towards the Ming general first.

This was not because he was reckless. On the one hand, he knew very well that he did not have the ability to bear defeat. On the other hand, since the Ming army had the courage to turn around and fight back, it meant that they had fallen into the opponent's trap.

Under such circumstances, there was no other way to survive except to fight to the death, so he could only consider killing the Ming general as his only option.

The Ming army had made so many arrangements. How could they possibly turn around and fight back here if they had not reached the designated location?

Just as Du Lei and his soldiers were charging towards the two or three hundred Ming soldiers, bursts of shouting and killing were heard from the surrounding mountains and forests.

Now that the situation had come to this, Xiang Rensheng's heart finally settled down. Seeing the Tartar general rushing towards him fearlessly, he shook the two sticks in his hands, and then rushed over with the soldiers beside him.

Yangping Pass

Luo Luohun had been standing on the city wall for quite some time. Seeing the faint firelight flickering in the darkness, his mood could not be described in words except anxiety.

When the news of the attack on Dingjun Mountain came, he was stunned for a moment, but he had reacted before Du Lei led his troops out of the city.

No need.

It's really unnecessary.

Back then, the Wei army was indeed forced to attack Dingjun Mountain because their food supply was cut off. However, the situation had changed and there was no need for them to learn from Xiahou Yuan.

To get to the bottom of it, the situation inside and outside the Great Wall was different from that year. As long as they could buy enough time to retake Hanzhong, the Qing army would be eager to put the Ming army on this vast plain.

Under such circumstances, Yangping Pass is not necessarily impossible to give up, and Dingjun Mountain is even less important.

It’s just that because everyone is in a different position, their views on the same thing are naturally different.

After Du Lei expressed all his thoughts, Luo Luohun had a thousand reasons, but in the end he could only watch him go straight to Dingjun Mountain.

Your Majesty, you can lose Dingjun Mountain, but I can't!
Du Lei's words echoed in his mind again. Luo Luohun sighed inwardly and asked Goshha beside him, "Have any scouts returned?"

"Your Majesty, not yet," he said, and then stopped. But after a slight hesitation, he said tentatively, "The wind is strong in the city, you should go back and rest first."

Facing Goshaha's persuasion, Luo Luohun simply waved his hand and said nothing more. After half an incense stick of time had passed, he asked another question without any context.

"Go find the grain officer in the city."

After he finished speaking, Goshha took the order and left. Then he began to think about it in his mind.

Since Hauge has made a backup plan, he only needs to defend Yangping Pass until Hanzhong is captured.

In this way, the victory or defeat near the checkpoint actually has little meaning, and the defenders might as well wait safely inside the checkpoint.

After figuring this out, he became even more determined to refuse to fight, but at the same time he also regretted not being able to stop Du Lei.

It wasn't that Luo Luo was in a state of uncertainty. It was just that all the previous changes happened in a flash and he was unable to react.

A moment later, the grain officer arrived as ordered. After hearing his report on the stored grain, Luo Luohun became more determined in his mind.

Everything has its key points. As long as you grasp them firmly, you will get twice the result with half the effort.

The key to the Battle of Hanzhong lies in whether Hanzhong can be successfully recaptured and whether Hauge's arrangements can be successfully implemented. However, Yangping Pass has become secondary.

Since there was enough food and grass in the city to meet the needs of the army, there was no need for him to take the risk of fighting the Ming army.

As for the Du category
If that doesn't work, just use your status as a prince to put pressure on him.

With this in mind, Luo Luohun turned his attention to the direction of Dingjun Mountain, waiting for Du Lei to return and then he would kill him in Yangping Pass.

"Your Majesty, please go back first. Even if you really lead 2,000 soldiers, even if you can't save the people on the mountain, at most you will suffer a small loss."

As time passed, the breeze blowing out of the valley became stronger and stronger. Even though it was almost midsummer, Luo Luohun couldn't help shivering.

Seeing this, Goshaha, who was standing beside him, naturally had to persuade him again, but his mind was all on how to suppress Dulei, so he did not give any response at that time.

It has to be said that the relationship between Luo Luohun and Du Lei is indeed somewhat sensitive.

According to Manchu rules, it is not an exaggeration to call Luo Luohun the master, but they both joined Haoge's army. If they get too close, it will inevitably cause people to make some associations.

Therefore, everyone dared neither offend nor get close to Luo Luohun, and most of the time, Luo Luohun pretended that such a person did not exist.

At this point, what method to use to suppress it became a difficult matter for Luo Luohun.

"It's like if you lose the battle, you will be defeated."

He waved to the general beside him, and when he leaned over, Luo Luohun quietly said a few words to comfort him. But he didn't know whether the general was thinking too much or too little, because after he finished speaking, the general followed up with another sentence.

"My Lord, what if he wins?"

After he finished speaking, Luo Luohun was slightly stunned.

In his opinion, since the Ming army had found another way to get around Dingjun Mountain, they must have made perfect arrangements.

Under such circumstances, it is not to say that he has no chance of winning, but he has to fight hastily, and he is afraid that even if he wins, he will suffer some losses.

"Winning is probably very difficult, but."

"Report!!!"

Just when Luo Luohun was about to make some more arrangements for the general, a loud shout came from the bottom of the city, followed by a series of footsteps approaching, and then a soldier knelt behind Luo Luohun.

"Your Majesty! They were all ambushed and killed!"

Damn!
When Luo Luohun heard the words, his heart sank, and then he felt dizzy. If it weren't for Goshaha's quick eyes and hands, he would have stumbled.

"Speak clearly! How can Du Lei, with two thousand men, not be able to fight his way out even if they are really ambushed?!"

"Reporting to the prince, according to what the fleeing soldiers said, it seems that they have found the location of the Ming army's commander. Afterwards..."

Following the soldier's report, Luo Luohun's heart sank to the bottom.

He thought of Du Lei winning, and he also thought of Du Lei losing, but he never imagined that Du Lei, who led 2,000 people out of the pass, would end up defeated and killed.

There must be a lot of Ming troops coming, but there is no warning in the valley beside Dingjun Mountain. Where did they sneak in so many troops from?

Thinking of this, Luo Luohun became more and more confused, and with these doubts he felt mixed emotions.

But things had come to this point, and someone had to step up and make a decision. After he calmed down a little, he made the final decision.

"Pass the order! Dismantle the pontoon bridge, defend the pass, and anyone who dares to go out to meet the enemy will be killed!"

(End of this chapter)