***
In view of the seriousness of the situation, Ajige urgently sent people to the north to hide outside Wu Sangui's camp. As expected, he caught a Qin army spy who crossed the Ju River and found a handwritten letter from Qin Mu to Wu Sangui on the spy.
It is not difficult to tell from the tone that this is a reply letter from Qin Mu to Wu Sangui.
In the letter, Qin Mu agreed to many of Wu Sangui's conditions, one of which was that Qin Mu agreed to give his concubine Dong Xiaowan to Wu Sangui;
The two sides agreed that after they conquered the world in the future, Guanzhong would be ceded to Wu Sangui as a fiefdom. They also asked Wu Sangui to take action immediately after receiving the letter and go around the Qing army to attack from behind.
After reading the letter, Ajige was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. Wu Sangui had agreed to surrender to Li Zicheng, but halfway through the journey he heard that his beloved woman was kidnapped, so he became furious and defected to the Qing Dynasty. It can be seen that it is possible for Wu Sangui to turn against the Qing Dynasty for a woman, not to mention that there was an agreement to cede Guanzhong as a fiefdom, which is the key point.
If this matter had not been discovered by my people by accident, I would probably have died without a burial place.
The furious Ajige immediately withdrew his troops and attacked the Guanning Army from behind.
Tong Dai, the Meilezhang Jing, quickly dissuaded him, "Your Highness, this is not possible. If we suddenly stop the attack for no reason, Wu Sangui will definitely get suspicious. If things go wrong, we will have to face attacks from both Wu Sangui and Qin Mu."
Fan Zha also hurriedly advised: "Your Highness, don't worry. We have already seized Qin Mu's letter. If Wu Sangui didn't receive the letter, he would have no way of knowing that Qin Mu had agreed to his conditions. However, if Qin Mu doesn't receive the messenger's report, he will definitely send someone else to contact Wu Sangui. Your Highness might as well lure Wu Sangui over under the pretext of discussing war and subdue him first. This way, things will be much easier."
This time Ajige listened to the advice and said fiercely: "Okay, let's do it, Agutu. Go and call Wu Sangui over. Wait, call Feng Peng as well. Be careful not to show your hand."
"Yes!" One of Ajige's guards responded and hurried towards Wu Sangui's tent.
"Tong Dai, slow down the attack first and let Toji just pretend. Have the other troops prepare for the emergency. Go quickly."
"twitter!"
Soon after Qin Mu sent out the dead spy, the attack of the Tartars in the east began to weaken, and the Qin army, who were fighting a bloody battle, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Qin Mu immediately realized that the use of both the double agent and the dead spy had worked.
"Sir, Ajige weakened his offensive but did not withdraw his troops immediately. There is only one possibility: he was afraid of alerting Wu Sangui."
Huo Sheng, Su Jin and other generals were all sent to the front line to command the battle. Qin Mu only had two assistants, Yue Zhongliang and Wu Jimin, and Wu Jimin was the first to speak.
Yue Zhongliang also said immediately: "That's right. The reaction of the Tartars is consistent with Wu Qianshi's guess. As the saying goes, shoot the horse first when shooting a man, and capture the leader first when capturing a thief. Under normal circumstances, Ajige is very likely to want to control Wu Sangui first and then make the next move."
Qin Mu made a prompt decision and said, "No matter what Ajige's plan is, immediately withdraw troops to strengthen the counterattack in the north, and at the same time send a message to the Guanning Army, no matter whether they believe it or not. They will be more or less suspicious, and as long as there is something unusual on their side, Ajige will not be able to wait. Either withdraw or strike first." After saying that, he habitually hit the small table with his hand, but forgot that his hand was injured, hiss!
"My Lord, are you all right?"
"It's okay, it's okay, go quickly."
Because Ajige slowed down the offensive, the Qin army was able to withdraw thousands of troops from the eastern front to the northern front to join the battle against the Guanning Army.
As soon as these people rushed in, they shouted to the Guanning Army: "Stop fighting, stop fighting, Han people don't fight Han people. Ajige ordered the Tartars to withdraw, so why should we Han people fight each other!" Although they shouted so, they were not idle at all in the bloody battle.
The Qin army was right to say that Ajige had withdrawn, otherwise the Qin army would not have drawn troops from the east. Ajige had always let the Guanning Army rush to the front and fight hard to weaken the Guanning Army. The Guanning Army had long been dissatisfied with this, and when they heard that the Tartars had withdrawn first, they were even more unhappy.
"Brothers of the Guanning Army, don't be stupid, don't work for the Tartars. You are Han Chinese, but you are their running dogs. This is something that even your ancestors would be ashamed of. Let me tell you, most of the Tartar troops in the east have withdrawn, leaving only a small part to pretend. They are secretly preparing something that seems to be harmful to you. If you don't believe me, you can send some people to investigate."
This scene was extremely strange. In the night and firelight, the two armies were fighting desperately. The Qin soldiers were brandishing their swords while trying to persuade them earnestly.
This matter soon reached the ears of Guanning Army Lieutenant General Guo Yunlong, Hu Shouliang and others. Unlike ordinary soldiers, they did not think that it was the Qin army spreading rumors, because Wu Sangui had just been sent by Ajige.
It would have been fine if only Wu Sangui was asked to go, after all, it was normal to discuss military intelligence. But now the two armies were fighting, and Ajige even called his deputy general Feng Peng over. If there was any sudden change in the battle situation, wouldn't it be a disaster if the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief were not there
After hearing what Qin Jun said, Guo Yunlong and Hu Shouliang had a hasty discussion and felt that it was indeed necessary to send someone to inquire about the situation on Ajige's side, and at the same time to find out whether Wu Sangui and Feng Peng were safe.
Inevitably, they also ordered the Guanning Army to slow down its offensive...
*********
Luowu Mountain in Yangzhai Town.
Under the dim moonlight, the mountains looked like giant beasts lying dormant on the earth. Hongniang looked at the mountain mist under the moon, and her eyes were gradually covered with a layer of faint sadness.
After receiving the weapons and food provided by Qin Mu, he rushed back to Wuyang Pass, but he was still a step too late.
The troops defending Wuyang Pass had run out of arrows and food. Although Wuyang Pass was strategic and easy to defend but difficult to attack, the Tartars had artillery. Lekedehun ordered the Qing army to bombard it with artillery. When Wuyang Pass fell, the 2,000 Qin troops coming from Suizhou in the west were still 70 miles away from Wuyang Pass and could not come to the rescue.
When Hongniangzi rushed back, she saw that more than 20,000 old, weak, women and children had been slaughtered by the brutal Tartars. Even the hungry babies were not spared. The corpses strewn all along the road, it was a horrific sight.
Xing Laoqi and Gui Sandiao, with the remaining few hundred cavalry, were chased by the Tartars and were in a desperate situation. Hong Niangzi suddenly appeared with two or three hundred people and finally rescued Xing Laoqi and his men, but the weapons and food they brought were lost.
Now they are forced to retreat to Luowu Mountain, with no food or weapons, and half of the five or six hundred people are injured.
In the darkness of the night, listening to the painful groans of her men from time to time and thinking of the bodies of the elderly, the weak, women and children lying along the way, Hong Niang felt that she had never been so vulnerable. The moonlight still reflected on her face, making her look so desolate.
She started to rebel when she was a teenager, and later joined Li Zicheng's rebel army. She opened warehouses and released grain. At her peak, she had more than 10,000 people under her command. Those corrupt officials were terrified by the name of Hong Niangzi.
In the blink of an eye, six or seven years have passed. The glorious days have gone by. Li Zicheng died, the Dashun Army disbanded, his hometown in Henan was occupied by the Tartars, the entire Central Plains was occupied by the Tartars, and the road to the south was blocked by Lekedehun. The hundreds of remaining soldiers were trapped in Luowu Mountain with no way to go.
At this moment, Hong Niang felt so confused. Looking at the faint moonlight, she asked herself over and over again, what should she do
After so many years of fighting, those turbulent years, those familiar faces, those people who once fought side by side, where are they now? Suddenly, everything seems so far away. Is today really the end
The moonlight was cold and silent. The night wind blew through my body, and the night crows in the mountains cried from time to time, like people sobbing. The night sky was dotted with stars, but it made the world seem so empty.
Looking at the vast and desolate night sky, she unconsciously thought of the little song that Qin Mu had hummed: This world is so wide, making loneliness so slow. The wolf in the wilderness, for whom does it wander? Loneliness is a wave, drilling into my heart, and I hear myself shouting; looking at the sky, I cut off the moonlight and shot it towards my hometown. The night is as dark as ink, which star is named Mulan? Let me eat memories for dinner and swallow the acid of these many years. Love and hate are the desert in the palm of the hand, and the story has been acupunctured and forgotten. Many years ago, I was covered with time and walked against the wind through Yanran Mountain.
A soft sigh drifted away in the night wind...
Qin Mu once said that she was the Mulan of the modern world. She also thought that she was a woman who had fought on the battlefield since she was a teenager and had experienced those turbulent years... But at this moment of despair, she realized that she was nothing. Facing the remaining old, weak, women and children on the ground, she could do nothing.
Looking up at the sky, I cut off the moonlight and shot it towards my hometown... Hometown, Hongniang felt that this word was so unfamiliar that she almost forgot where her hometown was.
Love and hate are the desert in the palm of your hand. Have you ever loved? Why are there only those memories of war in your mind
Just when Hongniang was in a state of drowning, a night bird suddenly flew up from the woods, and she stood up abruptly in shock.
"Sister Hong, it's me, Jing Laoqi. Sister Hong, the Tartars have retreated, they have retreated."
Jing Laoqi's voice was full of excitement, as if he had just saved his life, and he hurriedly ran up from the woods.
"Are you really withdrawing?" Hongniang couldn't help but show her joy.
"Really? They all retreated. Most of them headed south overnight, and about 1,500 of them retreated back to Wuyang Pass."
"What? Going south?"
"Yes, Sister Hong, what's wrong? No matter where the Tartars go, as long as we can get down the mountain, the brothers here are short of food and clothing, and even have no medicine for their wounds..."
"Not good, Jing Laoqi, take the injured brothers to the west, go to Suizhou to find Qin Mu's troops, and ask them for some help."
"Sister Hong, what are you going to do?"
"I have to chase Lekedehun. He must be going south to meet Ajige. I have to hold him back." At this moment, Hongniang suddenly seemed like a different person. She was no longer sad, but only anxious.
********************************(To be continued...)
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