In November, western Liaoning has already entered a real winter. Coupled with the heavy snowfall in the past few days, the entire western Liaoning Corridor from Songjin to Shanhaiguan is covered with ice and snow.

In the wilderness, the rivers and swamps were frozen, the dripping water turned into ice, and the cold wind was like a knife.

Yang Zhen and his party of nearly a thousand people escorted hundreds of selected Tatar prisoners, marching in the ice and snow, which was quite difficult.

Fortunately, when they went west to intercept the Shanyou caravan, they obtained a large amount of sheepskins, animal skins and other fur materials. At this time, they were also made into various sheepskins by the quilt factory in Songshan City.

Jacket and animal skin hat.

Wearing these sheepskin jackets and animal skin hats on their bodies and heads makes them look less like the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, and more like horse thieves outside the pass. However, in order to keep warm, they don't care about anything else.

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Yang Zhen originally intended to go to the capital to present prisoners this time by sea, such as starting from Zhimao Bay on the southeast coast of Songshan, and then landing at Laolongtou in Shanhaiguan, or directly to Dagu in Tianjin Wei.

Log in.

It is very convenient to take the sea route, and it will be easier on the road.

However, the main force of the navy of the advance battalion for the Eastern Expedition stayed at Port Arthur and in the Jinzhou Bay area and did not return with him. The remaining ships, as well as Yuan Jin's Juehua Island Navy, had limited transport capacity.

There were not many ships and naval forces in the first place, but they also had to take on the task of transporting guns, ammunition, grain, supplies, and a large number of craftsmen and laborers from the Songshan City area to Lushunkou.

Under such a tight situation, Yang Zhen could only arrange the more important things first.

For Yang Zhen, it was important to go to the capital and organize a prisoner sacrifice at the Meridian Gate, but no matter how important it was, it could not be compared with the gains and losses in Jinfu and Lushunkou.

Fortunately, after Yang Zhen arrived in Songshan City, he made several attacks and saved a lot of property, such as war horses, carts, and materials and grains. At this time, all of them were put to use.

This time, Yang Zhen and his party had three hundred musketeers and five hundred heavy cavalry. Everyone had horses to ride. It was not too difficult for them to march south along the post road.

Of course, among their group were not only the Songshan officers and soldiers, who had only more than 800 people, but also the more than 400 living Manchu Tatars who had been captured and taken by Yang Zhen to the capital as prisoners.

, as well as the heads of Tatars with money and rat tails, which were transported by more than a dozen mules, horses and carts.

As for the more than 400 Manchu Tatar prisoners who were deliberately kept alive, except for a few high-ranking officials and dignitaries who were placed on a few mules and horses, the rest were all on foot.

Some of these people were captured in the previous battles outside Songshan, and some were newly brought back from Lushunkou. Although they were alive, most of them were injured and could not get up quickly in the ice and snow.

In this way, they set off from Songshan City in the morning and arrived at Tashan in the evening. They took advantage of Zu Keyong's relationship and stayed overnight in Tashan City.

Liu Zhouzhi, the commander-in-chief of Tashan, originally looked down upon Yang Zhen, a newly rising outsider, and always thought that Yang Zhen was just a lucky person.

For example, he always believed that Yang Zhen's rescue of Songshan at the beginning of the year was just bad luck. Just as the Tatars' large army retreated with all their supplies, Yang Zhen got a big advantage.

As for the so-called attack across the sea and the harassment of the Manchu Tatars behind enemy lines, Liu Zhouzhi did not believe the results claimed by Yang Zhen at all, such as the destruction of Xiongyue City and the destruction of Gaizhou City. He did not believe it at all.

To him, those so-called achievements in breaking the city were far away in the rear of the Manchu Tatars, and no one had verified them. It was tantamount to having no proof, so of course Yang Zhen could say whatever he wanted.

Even when the Manchu Tatars surrounded Songshan City not long ago and suddenly withdrew their troops without warning a few days later, Liu Zhouzhi felt that there must be something fishy. It couldn't be because of how capable Yang Zhen's troops were and they were able to defeat them.

An army full of Tatars.

In his opinion, there was either a problem within the Qing army, or Yang Zhen's army had reached a peace or some kind of tacit understanding with the Manchu Tatar army.

After all, isn’t that what Liu Zhouzhi’s boss, Zu Dashou, does?

But this time, when Yang Zhen followed Zu Keyong and brought many high-ranking officials and dignitaries, including Duduo, the tenth prince of the Tatars, and Tunqi, the auxiliary of the country, into Tashan City to escape the cold for the night, Liu Zhouzhi was dumbfounded.

He couldn't believe that Yang Zhen had achieved such a significant result while remaining calm.

However, the fact was before his eyes, and he couldn't help but believe it.

When Yang Zhen entered Tashan City, Liu Zhouzhi was neither cold nor hot to Yang Zhen, nor even to Lu Zhide, the governor of Dongchang.

Being able to open the door for them and allow them to stay in the city for the night was entirely for the sake of Zu Keyong, a member of the ancestral family.

However, when Yang Zhen and his party left Tashan the next morning, Liu Zhouzhi's attitude towards Yang Zhen was completely different.

When he looked at Yang Zhen again, he couldn't help but start to look at her with more respect and even awe.

He followed Zu Dashou and fought against the Qing Tartars outside the Pass for so many years. Of course, he also won some battles, but never had such a result!

As a senior veteran of the Liaodong Army, Liu Zhouzhi certainly knew very well how difficult it was to achieve such results and how high a price had to be paid.

However, for the Liaodong Army, which has always been known as the elite and also considers itself to be extremely elite, such a difficult thing has been accomplished by Yang Zhen, a young man who has been in Songshan for less than a year!

Liu Zhouzhi didn't know how Yang Zhen did it, but what he knew was that if he were put in Yang Zhen's position, he couldn't do it at all. He didn't even dare to think about such a thing.

Correspondingly, he could not see any other general in the Liaodong Army under Zu Dashou who could achieve the results of Yang Zhen.

Even Wu Sangui, a rising star in the Liaodong Army who was somewhat popular among the public, was immediately overshadowed when compared to Yang Zhen.

Of course, Yang Zhen stayed in Tashan City for one night and actually won the respect and admiration of Liu Zhouzhi, the commander-in-chief of Tashan. This was an unexpected gain for him.

And this kind of misfortune happened again when Yang Zhen entered Lianshan City in the evening of the next day.

The general stationed in Lianshan City is the deputy general Zu Daming, one of Zu Dashou's younger brothers.

With Zu Keyong's relationship, of course Zu Daiming could not refuse Yang Zhen's request to spend the night in the city.

As soon as Yang Zhen entered the city, Zu Da Ming heard that among the Manchu prisoners accompanying him, there were actually the famous Prince Yu of the Manchus, the tenth prince Duduo, and the Fuguo Gong who was from Jueluo clan, and so on.

There were so many high-ranking officials and dignitaries such as Gushan Ezhen, Mele, Zhangjing, etc. He was completely dumbfounded.

Normally, if he could capture such a person on the battlefield, it would be enough for him to brag about for several years. How had he ever seen such a scene!

The only pity is that the Tenth Prince of the Manchu Tatars, Duduo, was seriously injured and dying. He was sometimes awake and sometimes unconscious. With time running out, Zu Dale had no chance to interrogate or question him except for a fresh look.

I was humiliated by him.

Duduo was hit by lead bullets in many places. Some of the lead bullets were taken out by Guo Xiaowu, but some were still in his body.

The lead bullets left in the body made Dodo's wounds unable to heal. His muscles were destroyed and abscessed until they fester. He had a high fever for a long time and was about to die.

However, those Gushan'e Zhenmeile Zhangjings who were not seriously injured endured various humiliations and cross-examinations from Zu Dale.

After Zu Dalue confirmed their identities from these people's mouths, and confirmed Duduo's identity, his attitude towards Yang Zhen, and even towards the Manchus, quietly changed.

Exactly what Liu Zhouzhi did, after Yang Zhen and his party bid farewell to Lianshan City the next day, Zu Dale immediately had his letters taken and rushed to Jinzhou.

In the letter he wrote to his brother Zu Dashou, he not only reported the situation of Yang Zhen and his party in full, but also suggested that his brother reconsider his attitude towards the Manchus in the future.

Judging from the fact that Yang Zhen was able to defend Songshan City, and was able to continuously defeat the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, and even capture their banner leader, the so-called saying that the Ming Dynasty was exhausted and that destiny was in the so-called Qing Dynasty is obviously not true.

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If it is true, then how to explain Yang Zhen's victory, how to explain that the banner owner of the Manta Tartars with a white flag, the former Prince of Yu of the Manta Tartars, and the current Prince of Yu County, such an important figure, could actually be reduced to Yang

Zhen’s prisoner?!

At least for Zu Dalue, after Yang Zhen and his party left, he began to have doubts about Zu Dashou's bet on the Manchu side, and began to feel a little less reassured.
Chapter completed!