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Chapter 736 Fort Castle

In fact, after Li Zhu betrayed the Ming Dynasty and became a minister of Huang Taiji, undercurrents surged among the emperors and ministers of the Li Dynasty. Although many people had no choice but to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, they secretly still sympathized with the Ming Dynasty and even harbored the Ming Dynasty. I am very dissatisfied with the Lord's decision to surrender.

Among these officials of the Li Dynasty who pretended to surrender to the Qing Dynasty on the surface but secretly actively contacted the anti-Qing Dynasty, there were also endless figures who were eventually hunted down by the Manchu Qing because of their failure.

And the first person who bore the brunt of this was Huang Yihao, Yin of Uiju Prefecture.

Therefore, when Yang Zhen saw Huang Yihao's name in the list of major Ping'an Road officials obtained by Shen Qicheng, and saw that his official position was that of Yizhou Prefecture, he was relieved about the direction of Yizhou Prefecture.

However, Jin Haizhen's intelligence ability has only reached this level at the moment. As for whether this information is useful, or how useful it is, it completely depends on Yang Zhen's own brain supplement ability.

Fortunately, Yang Zhen was born and grew up in Liaodong in later generations, and he was more interested in the performance of the Li Dynasty monarchs and ministers in the late Ming Dynasty, which was only separated from Liaodong by a river.

Otherwise, given the current level of intelligence work in Jinhai Town and the fleeting news about the east and west banks of the Yalu River that Shen Qicheng sent back to Lushun, it's strange that he can rest assured.

But it is said that on the afternoon of the seventh day of September in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Yang Zhen led the musketeers and grenadiers of the Eastern Expedition Army and marched northward to the outside of Zhuanghe Fort.

At this time, Jinhai East Road, together with the commander-in-chief Zu Keyong, led the horse and infantry generals under the East Road, as well as Qiu Zhenhai who arrived at Zhuanghe Fort in advance by sea. Yan Shengsan, Yang Shen, Liu Zhongjin and others were already waiting at the fort. It's been a long time outside the south gate.

Zhuanghe Fort was named by Yang Zhen himself. Its predecessor was the Huanggu Island Fort that existed a long time ago.

The original fort was built according to the situation of the mountain, standing on a raised hill. Not far to the southeast is the sea, and a few miles to the northwest is named after the Zhuanghe Fort. Zhuanghe.

After Zu Keyong led his troops to garrison here, he continued to expand and build a city defense around the original Zhuanghe Fort. Today's Zhuanghe Fort is no longer the same size as the original Huanggu Island Fort.

Today's Zhuanghe Fort City has three inner and outer walls. In addition to the Huanggu Island Fort wall originally built on the hill, two more circular walls were built under the hill and around the entire hill. The city wall eventually divided the entire castle into upper castle, lower castle and outer castle.

Yang Zhen rode his horse north and saw the Shangbao City standing on the hill from a distance. As he got closer and closer, he gradually saw clearly the newly built Lower Fort City and the outer buildings surrounding the Shangbao City. Expand the city.

However, it wasn't until he led his army outside the trench at the south gate of the expanded city that he truly realized what exactly Zu Keyong had been leading the various troops on the East Road over the past six months in renovating and expanding Jinhai East Road, the most advanced military hub. How much effort was put into it.

"Zu Keyong, a humble official, would like to welcome the Governor to the north. The Governor has had a hard time traveling all the way!"

"An Yingchang, a humble official, would like to welcome the Governor to the north. The Governor has worked hard all the way!"

"I am humbled by Le Wu, and I respectfully welcome the Governor to the north. The Governor has worked hard all the way!"

"Ao Rijin, from my humble position, would like to welcome the Governor to the north. The Governor has worked hard all the way!"

"..."

Yang Zhen rode his horse to the outside of the south gate of Zhuanghe Fort City. There was still some distance away from the waiting crowd. Zu Keyong led the people to greet him and knelt down in front of Yang Zhen's horse.

Starting from Zu Keyong, everyone knelt down on one knee, raised their chests and lowered their heads in greeting. At the same time, like Zu Keyong, they announced their identities and expressed their greetings to Yang Zhen.

Including those generals of the naval battalion and artillery regiment who followed the fleet and arrived in front of the East Route Army, they also knelt on the ground along with other East Route generals.

Seeing this, Yang Zhen quickly reined in his horse, rolled down, handed the reins to the soldiers who were following him, then stepped forward to help Zu Keyong up, and said to him with a smile:

"I led the Grenadiers of the Musketeers and Grenadiers all the way north. If I say it wasn't hard, that would be a lie. The soldiers traveled through mountains and rivers, eating the wind and drinking the dew. It can't be said that it wasn't hard.

"However, when we got here, we found that the hard work we put in all the way north is nothing compared to the fact that you, General Zu, led the generals from the East Route and the Lanlu Camp on the Julu Road to build such a brand new Zhuanghe Fort City. If you think about it carefully, it is nothing.

.

"If we want to say that it has not been easy, it has been even more difficult for General Zu and the brothers on the East Road over the past six months or so! General Zu, please stand up, brothers, please stand up! Thank you for your hard work!"

After Yang Zhen finished speaking these words, he helped Zu Keyong and the other generals who came to greet him, and finally took two steps back, clasping his fists and bowing to Zu Keyong and the generals from the East Road who stood up.

, returned the gift.

Yang Zhen is now in a position of power and prestige. It is no longer what it was when he first came out of Ningyuan City.

However, when it comes to dealing with his officers and subordinates, he still tries his best to maintain his past character of a courteous and virtuous corporal.

Because he knows exactly where his current power comes from.

On the surface, it seems that his current positions of power, such as Jin Haibo, General of the Eastern Expedition, Zuo Governor of the Zuo Army Governor's Palace, and Chief Military Officer of the Jinhai General Town Palace, were conferred by Emperor Chongzhen and the Ming Dynasty.

But in fact, all of this comes from the support of soldiers and horses from all walks of life in Jinhai Town.

Without the support of soldiers and soldiers from all walks of life, those high-sounding official hats on his head will become the titles of others in the blink of an eye.

It is precisely for this reason that Yang Zhencai took the opportunity of the generals to greet him to express his concern and consideration for the generals in public.

Of course, it's not all about power or pure hypocrisy.

It would not be an easy task to build a city of rammed earth and stones with a radius of several miles on a barren mountain, even if it were left for hundreds of years.

With this city, at least the people in front of the Jinhai East Route Army can safely survive the upcoming long cold winter.

"The Governor has commended me for this. When I first arrived, it was indeed difficult to go up and down. But now, all the difficulties are a thing of the past."

Yang Zhen's words revealed the hardships that Zu Keyong and others had to go through to open up the East Road. Hearing this, Zu Keyong, an upright and rough man, had his eyes red for a moment.

When he was helped up by Yang Zhen, facing Yang Zhen's posture of clasping fists and bowing in greeting, he first quickly returned the salute, and then took over the conversation in a humble tone.

"Actually, in the final analysis, it's all thanks to the governor's previous decision to vigorously resettle immigrants to the East Road. After the immigrants came, there were indeed more mouths to eat on the East Road, but there were also more people to work!

"Moreover, the Governor reminded us that after the new villagers arrive, we should not let them idle, but we should provide them with work in exchange for relief. Let them work for one day in exchange for a day's rations. We followed the Governor's instructions.

.”

Seeing that every word Zu Keyong said, Yang Zhen pushed the credit for his achievements on himself and did not dare to take any credit. He shook his head and smiled, then turned to everyone and said:

"Have you heard that? In the future, whenever we encounter things that require a lot of manpower and material resources, such as building a city or reorganizing the city defense, we should follow this approach and adopt the method of providing relief for work.

"As the saying goes, the more people there are, the more fire there is. As long as we have a sufficient population and are good at using their power, nothing will be able to defeat us!"

At this moment, some of the generals from the East Route and the generals from the expedition gathered around Yang Zhen, some understood it, and some did not understand it, but regardless of whether they understood it or not, they all listened to Yang Zhen's words.

After falling down, he suddenly promised:

"I understand the humble position!"

After the generals bowed and agreed, they immediately moved out of the way, then continued to surround Yang Zhen, stepped onto the suspension bridge that had been lowered, and headed towards the center of Zhuanghe Fort.

The news that Yang Zhen was leading the musketeers and grenadier regiments of the Eastern Expeditionary Army to march northward to the East Front by land had long been conveyed to Zhuanghe Fort by sea.

Zu Keyong and other generals from the east route, as well as Qiu Zhenhai, Yan Shengsan, Yang Shen and others who arrived two days earlier, have also placed the large quantities of grain, grass, ammunition, artillery and other military supplies they brought with them into the city.

At the same time, Zu Keyong and others had already prepared a vast area of ​​camps and barracks in the fort for the thousands of troops of the Eastern Expedition Army Musketry Regiment and Grenadier Regiment.

By the evening of that day, the soldiers of the various regiments and camps who had followed Yang Zhen north had gathered and settled down. The generals of the various ministries gathered together again and went to Shangbao City where Yang Zhen was staying to discuss matters.

The upper fort of Zhuanghe Fort is not big, but it is located at the commanding heights of the entire fort. It was repaired and built on the original site of the Huanggu Island Fort.

The original foundations were used, some even the original stone walls, and new roofs were just added on top.

The place where Yang Zhen stayed was a repaired house like this. There were three rooms in the east and west, and the one in the west was occupied by Yang Zhen himself.

On the north side of the room, there is a newly built big bed, which takes up almost half of the room. On the south side facing the window, there is a row of log-colored coffee tables, chairs and stools.

In the east room, Ma Keqing led the team of soldiers accompanying him to live together, so that Yang Zhen could call on them at any time.

As for the middle room, there is a stove for cooking on the east and west sides, and there is an Eight Immortals table and several long benches in the middle of the room. It looks like a hall, a kitchen and a dining hall at the same time.

The furnishings and arrangements of the entire hotel are extremely crude.

Fortunately, Yang Zhen was never picky about these issues. When he arrived at the hotel, he took a short rest and convened a meeting here.

The house is not big, the lights are bright, the fire is shining in the stove outside, and there is a slight trace of firewood smoke in the air.

Yang Zhen, the East Route Assistant General Zu Keyong, and the senior deputy general Qiu Zhenhai gathered around a kang table and sat cross-legged on the heated kang. Yang Zhen was in the middle, Zu Keyong and Qiu Zhenhai were on the left and right.

As for the people attending the meeting, such as Li Lu, Zhang Chen, Yang Shen, Yan Shengsan and An Yingchang, they sat side by side on a row of chairs under the kang near the south window.
Chapter completed!
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