Xie Ming

Chapter 89: Before the Bauhinia Pass
Xiao Jingchuan spoke with certainty.

"Feiyu (Qiu Zhizhong), don't worry, Li Zicheng will never be able to reach Nanjing!"

"At that time, according to the prince's handwritten order, the four towns in northern Jiangnan will be ordered to move north. Gao Jie's troops will enter Zhending Prefecture in northern Zhili, Liu Zeqing's troops will guard Dezhou line in Shandong, Liu Liangzuo's troops will go to Wuding Prefecture in Shandong, and Huang Degong's troops will be in the middle to control Jinan Prefecture in Shandong." Xiao Lang said.

"Hey, I also want to say something about this. In my opinion, the four towns in Jiangbei may not be able to really obey the order and rush here by then. What will you do then?" Qiu Zhizhong expressed his confusion.

"Haha, if they can come, you and I can take the prince and go around to Nanjing from behind. If they don't come, I, Xiao Jingchuan, can still gather enough troops and march straight into Nanjing City!"

Hearing this, Qiu Zhizhong wanted to argue again, but Xiao Jingchuan suddenly put down the formalities and continued speaking.

"Actually, I don't have much hope for these four towns."

"In my opinion, when Ni Yuanlu arrives in Nanjing and presents the Crown Prince's order, these people will certainly obey the order and dispatch troops. Besides, the four towns all have grievances against each other, and they will be tempted by the merits of saving the king and supporting him!"

"But secondly, I don't think the garrisons I designated for them will have much effect. These people are used to hiding. If they can lead their troops north to Jinan Prefecture, then this imperial edict will have played a big role!"

Hearing this, Qiu Zhizhong let out a long sigh.

"Alas, it is more than a thousand miles to lead the troops from here to Nanjing!"

"Old Xiao, I hope everything goes well!"

Just as Qiu Zhizhong was sighing, Gu Changting came over after smelling the fragrance.

"Hey, General, what are you eating? It smells so good!"

Hearing this, Xiao Lang turned his head and saw Chang Ting squatting towards him, sniffling.

Xiao Jingchuan bent his arm and handed over the remaining half of the snake meat.

"Here, a freshly caught grass snake. It tastes good. Here it is for you!"

After saying that, Chang Ting took the meat from the dagger with a grin.

"Well, we have to travel early tomorrow morning. Feiyu (Qiu Zhizhong), you should rest early too!"

"Changting, put out the fire after dinner, we're going to bed!"

After they finished speaking, Xiao Jingchuan and Qiu Zhizhong stood up and went back to their respective tents, leaving Gu Changting alone.

"Eh? General...you guys..."

"Hehe, if you don't want to eat it, then forget it. I'll eat it by myself!" Chang Ting no longer paid attention to the two of them. He sat alone by the fire and started tearing the snake meat into big bites.

On the fifth day of April, at 4:30 pm (: a.m.), the sky was just beginning to brighten.

Xiao Jingchuan called the entire army together. After the soldiers ate some dry food, the troops set out again at 5 o'clock in the morning, heading from Zhaogezhuang to Longmen Township, Qifengkou and Zijingguan.

This time the mountain road is more than sixty miles long.

Zijing Pass is located on Zijing Ridge, 80 miles west of Yi County, the capital of the Ming Dynasty. It is one of the main roads from the Hebei Plain into the Taihang Mountains. Since ancient times, it has been known as a dangerous place where one man can block the pass and ten thousand men cannot.

The pass under its jurisdiction consists of five small cities, namely Xiaojin City on the north bank of the Juma River, Guancheng on the south bank, Xiaopanshi City, Qifengkou City and Guanzuoling City.

Zijing Pass was built with rammed earth and stones during the Han Dynasty. It was expanded and repaired through generations. In the early years of the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, stone strips were used as the foundation, the roof was covered with bricks, and lime and gravel were poured.

This is the most important pass in southern Jilin!
According to historical records, in the 1644th year of Chongzhen (), Li Zicheng attacked Beijing and divided his troops into two routes. One route broke through Juyong Pass, and the other route went through Zijing Pass. After breaking through Zijing Pass, Li Zicheng was able to coordinate the two armies from the north and south, thus completely cutting off Emperor Chongzhen's escape route to the south, which indirectly led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

Later, when the Qing army entered the pass and Li Zicheng retreated from Beijing, he also planned to station heavy troops at Zijing Pass to buy time for organizing a counterattack in Shanxi.

However, things went against his wishes. He sent a surrendered general Tang Tong to guard the pass, but Tang Tong soon surrendered again to the Qing army and the Jian Nu. So after Li Zicheng arrived in Shaanxi, he had to use his remaining troops to fight the enemy. The loss of Zijing Pass once again accelerated the demise of Li Zicheng's Dashun regime!
Xiao Jingchuan led his troops all the way to Zijing Pass. In order to avoid the bandits guarding the city, they all took a hidden path in the mountains. This section of the mountain road was rugged and steep, so although they set out in the early morning, it was already close to 20:30 pm when they arrived at the scheduled camping location on the east road of Zijing Pass.

Moreover, this place was very close to Zijing Pass, so Xiao Lang issued a strict order to the army at night, requiring the entire army to camp in the dark and not to use open flames.

At 20:45 on the fifth day, just when Xiao Jingchuan and his men had just set up camp, suddenly, a large group of people holding torches came out of Zijing Pass at the foot of the mountain not far away!
"General!"

"General!" After Gu Changting learned this news from the sentry, he hurried to find Xiao Jingchuan to report.

"General, a group of people came out of Zijing Pass. It's hard to see clearly at night, but roughly counting the torches, there are about 800 people!"

Upon hearing the news, Xiao Lang hurriedly moved closer to the cliff next to him, pulled out the monocular telescope he carried with him, and wanted to take a closer look.

But what I could see at night was limited, so I just took a look and gave up.

At this time, Sun Peizhong, Li Huchen and others in the army also gathered together.

"General, judging from the direction this group of people is heading towards the vicinity of Qifengkou City." Sun Peizhong walked up to Xiao Jingchuan, looking quite nervous, and spoke seriously.

"Well, it's late at night. If they just want to switch defense, they won't choose this time!" Xiao Jingchuan judged.

"Yes, General, do you think it might be that we were accidentally spotted by their scouts in the forest on the way here, and that's why they led the troops out?!" Li Huchen also came closer.

"Oh, that's hard to say!"

"However, we have hurried here now. Even if we are seen in the daytime, we are already out of their search range!"

"I'm not worried about us. What I'm worried about is whether we'll cause such a big commotion in Jiulong Town that someone will report it to Zijing Pass!"

"What if this group of soldiers is not coming for us, but is marching towards Jiulong Town overnight, then..." Xiao Jingchuan thought.

"Oh, look at their marching speed, they must be cavalry, and they are walking on the main roads and mountain paths. If they are really heading for Jiulong Town, they will arrive in less than two days if they fight day and night!" Li Huchen's words were quite alarmist.

After saying this, all the generals in front of Xiao Lang were a little flustered.

"Hey! Hu Chen, don't scare yourself. He may not really be heading to Jiulong Town! There may be other reasons!"

"Even if we are sure that something will happen in Jiulong Town, we can't outrun him if we return to defend it!"

"How about this! Peizhong!"

"Here!" Sun Peizhong replied.

"Go and tell your Ma San to leave the team and head back to Jiulong Town to report the news!"

"He can run very fast. This mission is difficult. Good or bad luck depends on him!"

"Speak clearly to him about his power. We must get through the forest and return to Jiulong Town as quickly as possible. Tell Wang Chuanwu to evacuate the troops immediately and send more scouts to set up secret sentries in the southwest direction."

"If there is no unusual movement in the southwest, return to town in two days. If there is any abnormal situation, lead the team to escape to the northeast direction of Bairui Valley."

"Order!"

After saying this, Sun Peizhong quickly went to make arrangements.

That night, Xiao Lang also dispatched additional soldiers to stand guard, and sent out several teams of scouts 5 miles away from the temporary camping site. He could not sleep the whole night!

(End of this chapter)