Chapter 288: Disaster never comes alone

The captain of the guard said, "Prince, this is horse plague!"

"Shut up!" Prince Tu Xietu turned around and slapped the captain of the guards in the face, and said in a deep voice, "Let me listen to me, don't mention the words just now!"

The captain of the guard responded respectfully: "Zhe."

Although Prince Tu Xietu is not smart, he is not a fool. This situation is probably a horse plague that broke out. He just doesn't want to believe it. What's even more terrible is that if the news spreads, more than 100,000 Mongolian cavalry will collapse immediately, and Dorgon will definitely not be able to spare him by then.

Prince Tuxetu thought for a while and said, "In this way, you should immediately take the guards to the camp, gather all the sick war horses, slaughter them secretly, and then burn the corpses on the spot! Remember, this matter must be done secretly, and you must not make the soldiers suspicious, let alone make people know... This is a horse plague!"

"Zhe, the slave takes the order."

The captain of the guard took the order.

Prince Tuxetu thought about it, but was still worried and murmured to himself: "No, this matter is of great importance, so you must report it to the Regent immediately."

In the Mongolian camp, Prince Chahar Ezhe made a statement.

Ezhe was writing hard on parchment paper. It was leaked from his pen that it was not Mongolian, but Chinese characters that looked like tadpoles. Although Ezhe was a Mongolian, as Lin Danhan's eldest son, he received a good education since he was a child. Therefore, Ezhe was not only proficient in Chinese, but also used Chinese characters to write letters.

At the curtain was lifted, Huluwen, the captain of the guard of Ezhe, bent down and crawled in, knelt on one knee and said, "Slave Huluwen, kowtow to your master."

Ezhe nodded gently, carefully rolled up the parchment paper, then looked up at Huluwen and said in a voice: "Huluwen, you are the most loyal slave of this king, right?"

"Of course." Huluwen responded without hesitation, "The slave is willing to die for his master."

Ezhe shook his head and said, "I don't want you to die, but you have to help me do something."

Huluwen said solemnly: "Slave follows the master's instructions."

Ezhe raised the scroll of sheep's clothing letter in his hand and said solemnly: "Phot this letter... into Jining City!"

"twitter."

Huluwen responded without hesitation and stepped forward to take the letter from Ezhe.

Ezhe stared deeply into Huluwen's eyes and asked solemnly: "Huluwen, do you want to know what this king wrote in his letter?"

Huluwen responded in a humming voice: "I don't want to know."

Ezhe nodded again and said softly: "Go, don't let others discover your whereabouts. Be sure to be secretive."

"Slaves can pay attention."

Huluwen agreed, turned around and left with the sheepskin letter.

Watching Lu Wen's strong figure disappear outside the tent, a strange look suddenly appeared on Ezhe's face, as if he was expecting, as if he was nervous, as if he was still a little lonely and a little melancholy...

Jiannu camp, Dorgon held a tent.

Not long after Dodo left, Dorgon was about to enter the tent to bed, a rapid sound of horse hooves suddenly shattered the silence of the dark night. When Dorgon looked up quickly, a fast horse galloped in from the gate like a ghost of the dark night, and in just a moment he had already rushed into the central army camp...

"stop!"

"dismount!"

"If we don't get off the horse, we will shoot an arrow..."

More than 400 heavy armored Goshha surrounded Dorgon like a whirlwind.

The front row of Goshha had already used the shield in his hand to form a thick shield wall. A sharp spear came out from behind the shield wall. Dozens of cold spear tips intertwined into a terrifying forest of death. There were dozens of archers holding bows and arrows. The cold arrow clusters had already aimed at the fast horse galloping in front.

"Xilulu..."

The knight on the horse's back suddenly pulled the reins, and the fast horse suddenly neighed and stood up with a painful neigh. He turned two sharp turns in a row and stopped his forward rushing.

"Puff!"

After strangling his mount, the knight on the horse seemed to have exhausted all his strength. His body tilted and retreated from the horse's back. After landing, he fell silently, and only a dusty ground was raised. Only the crimson jacket on his body showed his identity. This was clearly a cavalryman of Zhenghongqi.

"quick!"

"Hurry him up!"

"Water, get some water!"

"Doctor, go find the doctor!"

Before Dorgon could order, more than a dozen people had been snatched from the Geshiha who was waiting for the battle and helped the landed Zhenghongqi cavalry up. Another Geshiha took the sheepskin water bag and poured it into the cavalry's mouth. After a few mouthfuls of cold water, the Zhenghongqi cavalry finally opened his closed eyes.

The cavalryman of the cavalry slowly raised his right hand and pointed to the north with difficulty. His throat sounded like a choking thing, as if something had been stuck for a while and could not speak.

Dorgon separated the crowd and came to the cavalry of the Red Flag, squatted down and asked softly, "What's your name?"

The cavalryman, who saw Dorgon, suddenly his eyes lit up. He had no idea where he came from for a moment and struggled to sit up. Then he swallowed the thick phlegm stuck in his throat with a trembling voice: "Master, it's not good, the big thing is not good, the barbarian of the Southern Ming sneak attacked Zhigu, and the three guards of Tianjin have been lost..."

Dorgon's eyes suddenly contracted, and he looked at the cavalry of the Red Flag with an extremely shocked look, and asked in a voice: "What did you say? The Ming army attacked Zhigu?"

"Yes." Zhenghongqi cavalry said with great emphasis, "Zhigu has been lost."

Dorgon took a deep breath, tried his best to suppress the shock in his heart, and asked in a narrow voice: "How many Ming troops were there who were sneak attacking Zhigu?"

The Zhenghongqi cavalry said tremblingly: "I don't know, but at least there will be no less than 10,000 people. There are muskets, artillery teams, and navy fleets. They came from the sea. After capturing Zhigu, the Ming army rushed to Beijing again."

Dorgon couldn't help but gasp again. More than 10,000 Ming troops, there were musket teams, artillery teams and naval fleets!? Could it be that from the beginning, the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty had already divided into two groups, one of which restrained the Qing army in Shandong, and the other attacked Zhigu from the sea, and then took Beijing directly?

Yes, it must be so!

The surprise attack has always been Wang Pu's specialty. In the Battle of Songshan three years ago, did this guy take advantage of the Qing army's decisive battle in Songshan and Jinzhou and Hong Chengchou to attack Shengjing in one fell swoop? Two years ago, the Battle of Tumotechuan, faced the pursuit of the Korqin cavalry, this guy unexpectedly took the initiative to attack and caught Ukshan off guard! This decisive battle in Jining is related to the Qing Dynasty and the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, Wang Pu will use his specialty again!

What Dorgon should have thought of long ago is that Wang Pu is good at sneak attacks by surprise soldiers!

What Dorgon should have thought of long ago that Wang Pu's Central Army in Shandong had less than 30,000 troops, and his troops were even smaller than those in the Battle of Liaocheng at the beginning of the year. This was a flaw in itself. At this moment, Dorgon really regretted it, but it was too late to regret it at this time. Since Wang Pu sent troops to attack, the ones sent must be the elite among the elites. Beijing... I'm afraid it can't defend it anymore!

If Beijing is lost, the blow to the Qing Dynasty will be fatal, and the impact on the Ming Dynasty's fall of the people of various provinces and the old officials will be unprecedented. It can be imagined that the officials and gentry of Shanxi, Beizhi, Shandong provinces, prefectures, and counties, which had already surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, would turn against each other again overnight and return to the embrace of the old Ming!

In this way, the Qing army would completely lose its foundation within the pass and the situation would return to the past.

Moreover, the large number of rare treasures that were plundered after entering the pass and the large amount of wealth snatched from the Dashun army had not had time to transport them back outside the pass. Or in other words, Dorgon never thought of transporting these treasures and wealth back outside the pass. If Beijing was lost, these treasures would become the spoils of the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty in a blink of an eye.

No, Beijing must not be lost!

Dorgon suddenly stood up, his eyes suddenly showed a fierce look like an eagle and falcon. He looked around and said, "You... have all heard from me. No one is allowed to make this happen. If anyone dares to reveal a word, kill all the males in the family, and send them to the bitter and cold land and the armored people as slaves!"

"twitter!"

More than two hundred Goshha was silent and agreed softly.

Dorgon reached out and pointed to the Zhenghongqi cavalry who was limping on the ground, and said coldly: "Please carry him down and take good care of him."

Two Goshhas came forward and raised the cavalry with the red flag and left.

Dorgon paced back and forth for two steps, then turned back to a Goshha and said, "You bring three fast horses and rushed to Shanxi as quickly as possible, telling Wu Sangui that I have won a great victory in Jining and will wipe out the Ming army soon, but now I cannot withdraw my troops to return to Beijing to help, and ask him to send Guanning Iron Cavalry to rescue Beijing immediately. If he doesn't follow... Jiang Xiang is his role model!"

"twitter!"

The Goshha responded with a loud promise and turned around and hurried away.

As soon as the Goshha left, Goshha hurried over and reported, "Master, Prince Tushetu is looking for a visit outside the Central Army camp."

"Prince Tu Xietu?" Dorgon's brow frowned again and said in a cold voice, "What are he doing at this time?"

As the saying goes, blessings come unparalleled, but misfortunes never come in one single way!

Tonight will be destined to be the darkest night in Dorgon's life. He just received bad news that the fall of Zhigu was in trouble and another bad news that made him even more frightened came one after another.

Dorgon thought for a moment and ordered, "Let him come in."

"twitter."

Goshha took the order.

When Prince Tu Xietu followed Goshha to Dorgon's tent, more than 200 Goshhas who had just gathered had disappeared without a trace and everything had returned to peace. However, if Prince Tu Xietu was careful enough, he could still find that the guards in front of Dorgon's tent were still a little different from usual.

Following Goshha in the tent, Prince Tushetu quickly crawled to the ground and said respectfully: "I'm going to see my master."

"Get up." Dorgon said calmly, "I'm still here to find me so late. Is there anything wrong?"

Prince Tuxetu looked around and looked like he wanted to speak but stopped. Dorgon waved his hand, and the several Goshhas in the tent retreated. Prince Tuxetu then lowered his voice and said, "Master, something big happened."

Dorgon's heart thumped and asked in a voice: "What happened?"

Prince Tuxetu took a breath and said, "Master, there is a horse plague in the camp."

"What? Horse plague!?" Dorgon suddenly stood up and shouted, "Nonsense, how could he cause horse plague? Prince Tu Xietu, do you know what the crime of spreading rumors to disrupt the morale of the army?"

"Master, I dare not spread rumors by borrowing the courage of my slaves." Prince Tu Xietu said tremblingly, "It's true that there is a horse plague. Hundreds of war horses in the slave camp have died. Just now, more than a hundred war horses have died in the slave camp, and there are even more sick war horses."

Dorgon took a breath when he heard this and said in a terrifying manner: "What you said is true?"

"It's all true." Tu Xietu lamented, "Master, if there are sick war horses found in the Eight Banner Camp, you should slaughter them secretly as soon as possible. Once this horse plague breaks out, the consequences will be unimaginable. In a few days, all war horses will be infected. By that time, the Eight Banner Iron Cavalry and our Mongolian cavalry will all become infantry."

"Oh no." Dorgon's face turned pale and he sighed, "In recent days, the war horses of our Eight Banners Army and the war horses of your Mongolian troops have been grazen together. Since your Tu Xietu troops have been infected with horse plague, then the war horses of our Eight Banners Army are unlikely to be spared..."

"Master." Prince Tuxetu wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and said tremblingly, "Call the groom to confirm it quickly."

Dorgon looked up and shouted: "Come here!"

Goshha had already flashed into the tent and knelt down and replied, "What are the instructions of the master?"

"Go." Dorgon pointed his hand outside the tent and said sternly, "Come the grooms from each camp immediately."

Goshha chuckled and took the order.

Jining, outside the north gate.

The stars and the moon are light, and the night is as dark as ink.

A strong figure came to the outer fence like a ghostly cover by the dark night. With the crisp sound of horse hooves, a team of Jiannu cavalry rode their horses slowly walked by not far away. The figure flashed into the shadow of the fence. When the Jiannu cavalry walked away, the figure emerged from the shadow again.

The figure took off the strong bow from his back, took out a thick and long wolf-tooth arrow from the quiver pot, first carefully penetrated a roll of sheepskin letter on the arrow shaft, and finally buckled the wolf-tooth arrow with the letter on the string. The strong bow was raised, and the cold cluster of arrows had aimed at the dark outline of Jining City two hundred steps away.

"Hey!"

The figure whispered lightly, and the toughness was already full.

The next moment, with a buzzing sound, the wolf-tooth arrow clamped on the string had already left the string, and it flashed through the dark night sky with a sharp roar. Finally, it was nailed to the arrow tower at the north gate of Jining. When the two Central Army patrolmen looked up quickly, they saw a wolf-tooth arrow inserted into the lintel of the arrow tower, and the feathers at the tail were still trembling gently.

"There is a letter!" a sharp-eyed Central Army whistleman shouted, "There is a letter on the arrow!"
Chapter completed!