Chapter 41 Heading to the Destination
"Not bad!"
Zhang Xianzhong was very satisfied with the performance of these young men. He nodded, raised his big hand high, and swung it vigorously in the front and below!
"set off!"
After saying this, he took the lead and rode his horse towards the gate at a moderate pace.
"Everyone, follow me!"...
According to the cavalry training model of these days, Ai Nengqi shouted loudly and led his team of young warriors to follow quickly.
Then came Li Dingguo's team, followed by Liu Wenxiu's team and Zhang Huier's team.
Finally, three of Zhang Xianzhong's trusted men, riding war horses and leading a logistics convoy, followed at the end of the team.
The large group of people left the Wang family compound and rushed along the main street towards the northwest city gate without stopping!
Even for mounted infantry, the momentum of their march is much greater than that of infantry soldiers of the same size.
Although everyone had one horse and one person, there were less than seventy soldiers in total, leading a dozen large carriages, but the momentum they caused along the way was no less than that of an infantry of a thousand people.
Pedestrians or rebel soldiers on patrol who were encountered on the street all tried to get out of their way.
The sound of horse hooves was continuous, like rain hitting banana leaves. In less than a cup of tea, they had arrived under the west gate under the attention of the soldiers and civilians along the way.
A team of rebel soldiers in charge of guarding the city gate, upon seeing their king leading the team in person, quickly used a winch to raise the city gate.
"Squeak..."
After the city gate slowly rose, Zhang Xianzhong still took the lead, leading the soldiers behind him, rushed out of the city gate, and galloped towards the official road in the northwest direction, speeding up!
This was because the spiritual beast warhorse under him was running as lightly as possible.
If the spiritual war horses run at full speed, those ordinary horses will soon not even be able to eat ashes!
This is just a low-grade dragon-scale horse.
If it is those high-quality or top-quality Jiao-scale horses, or even Dragon-scale horses, their speed is far beyond the reach of ordinary horses!
It was already bright in the sky, and there were many pedestrians coming and going on the official road along the way. However, the vast majority of them were ragged refugees who could no longer survive due to natural disasters and man-made calamities, and they were coming in groups towards Dingbian City.
They must have heard that the county town had been captured by the Eight Kings and that they were opening their warehouses to release grain. As long as they arrived at Dingbian City, they would have food and drink, and at least they would be able to survive temporarily.
As for the merchants on the official roads, there are not many of them, although there are some.
Most of these are well-established medium and large merchants, and only they have the strength to travel far and risk their lives to earn huge price differences.
Especially now, the Eight Kings have allowed their troops to plunder an entire county town and are not short of money at all. As long as the goods are helpful to the strength of the rebel army, they will accept them all, and the price is much higher than the usual market price.
For a large number of wealthy merchants, the Ming Dynasty, which was ravaged by war, was more in line with their interests.
As long as you have the ability to travel far and wide, you can easily double or even multiply your wealth within one or two years.
Whether they were merchants or refugees, when they saw a group of fully armed cavalry galloping towards them, they avoided them from a distance and moved to the side of the road, with different expressions on their faces.
About half an hour later, the large group of people had galloped for dozens of miles at a steady pace. They heard the rumbling sound of flowing water, and it turned out that they had arrived near the famous Wuding River.
The Wuding River flows from the depths of the grassland outside the Great Wall, where countless lakes and streams converge. It passes through the inner and outer Great Walls, passes through hundreds of towns, flows southeast, and finally merges into the Yellow River.
The middle section of the Wuding River runs right through the inner and outer Great Walls of the northwest border, forming two huge gaps, one in front and one in the back. Therefore, it became a military stronghold in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty, and emperors of all dynasties deployed heavy troops to guard it. The strategic natural barrier sandwiched between the two gaps of the inner and outer Great Walls is the famous Yansui Town.
The military preparations of Yansui Town can be said to be a powerful military town in the current Ming Dynasty, second only to the Liaodong region in strength.
The government troops here are still capable of fighting, and are much stronger than most of the other important towns in the nine borders.
Although the official army of Yansui Town has been defeated repeatedly by the Tatar cavalry who often enter the pass to "plunder grass and valleys", they are not without the power to resist.
At the very least, the officers and soldiers here, relying on the protection of the city walls, have repelled countless attacks by the Tartars, and have also trained a large number of elite soldiers who are capable of fighting and dare to fight. Every time the Tartars come to raid the valley, they will hastily withdraw from the Great Wall after harvesting the expected supplies.
Otherwise, if the Ming border troops, which had a huge numerical advantage, took advantage of the terrain and other home-field advantages to cut off their retreat, they would most likely be wiped out.
The situation in which Yansui Town was passively attacked has changed slightly since March this year.
With the arrival of a powerful elite cavalry led by Cao Wenzhao, the deputy general of the eastern route of Yansui Town, several rounds of counterattacks were launched against the Tatars near the outside of the Great Wall, which temporarily deterred the Tatar tribes of all sizes living near the Great Wall.
If Cao Wenzhao could stay here for a long time, he would most likely intimidate the northwestern border area and prevent the Tatars from daring to move south for a long time.
Unfortunately, in the Ming Dynasty today, natural disasters and man-made calamities are occurring one after another, and rebel armies are popping up everywhere like mushrooms after a rain. A strong general like Cao Wenzhao and his powerful soldiers are destined to not stay here for long.
It is estimated that he will be transferred to the interior soon and join the tug-of-war in encircling and suppressing the rebels.
Zhang Xianzhong was riding on his spirit beast warhorse, looking straight ahead. He thought of these things for no reason and felt a slight chill all over his body.
Once the elite border troops led by Cao Wenzhao were ordered to encircle and suppress his rebel army, he would now have no hope of winning at all. It would be good enough if he could escape safely.
"Forget it, let's not think about it. It makes me upset. I still hope that these young soldiers behind me can grow up as soon as possible."
He sighed secretly in his heart, and led the team to continue along the official road near the Wuding River. After galloping forward for a while, he turned to a small road on the left and rushed towards a mountain range that was already clearly visible.
This mountain range, less than ten miles away from the Wuding River, stretches endlessly as far as the eye can see.
I heard that in the deepest place, there is a demon king lurking.
A demon beast that can be called a demon king is at least a level five demon beast, corresponding to a human martial arts master of the fifth level.
Anyway, if we encounter Zhang Xianzhong now, we should be thankful if we can escape luckily.
However, this time when he led the team here, the target he chose was at the edge of the mountain range and he would not go deep into it.
On the edge of the mountain range ahead, there is a bun-shaped earthen ridge about twenty feet high and covering an area of about five miles in radius. It is the target he chose this time.
The drought this year is very serious. It is still early autumn, but everything is already yellow and withered.
A small river that converges from various streams from the mountains ahead and flows into the Wuding River is now only left with a gurgling stream that is less than two feet deep.
Although it's not dry, it makes me feel uneasy just looking at it.
It has to be said that in addition to man-made disasters, continuous natural disasters are also a major reason for the end of any dynasty.
Perhaps, this is the true meaning of "reincarnation".
(End of this chapter)
