That night, Wang Pu’s tent.

Wang Pu called Xiaoqi and asked, "Xiaoqi, how many firearms are there in the camp?"

Xiaoqi was Wang Pu's confidant general, and the military supplies and food in the army were under his jurisdiction. He immediately took out an account book from his arms and looked at it, and replied: "Including the bird gun, the musket and the three-eyed gun, there are actually more than 2,300 firearms in the camp, but..."

"But how?"

"But only one thousand people can be used."

Wang Pu said angrily: "What's going on? Why are less than half of the firearms available?"

Xiaoqi said aggrievedly: "General, you forgot that you said that maintaining these firearms is too expensive, so you threw them in the warehouse and no one cared about them, so more than half of the firearms were rusted and useless."

"Okay, just one thousand pieces will be one thousand pieces. I will send someone to collect all these firearms immediately, and then add twice the amount of fire yao and lead balls according to the number." Wang Pu frowned, "and summon all the servants, oh by the way, distribute dry food for each person for three days."

Xiaoqi said in surprise: "Now?"

"Yes." Wang Pu said in a deep voice, "Now, it will be too late."

This is not nonsense. Hong Chengchou is still thinking about a decisive battle with the Qing army tomorrow, but Tang Tong and Wu Sangui must have been thinking about running away overnight. Once these guys escape, the Qing soldiers will take the opportunity to launch an attack. At that time, it will be too late. Therefore, we must act before Tang Tong and Wu Sangui and others escape.

"Okay, the villain will do it now."

Xiaoqi nodded and took the order and left.

Half an hour later, Xiaoqi summoned more than a thousand servants to the school grounds.

Wang Pu looked around, and under the bright light of daylight, more than a thousand cavalry were looking at him in a flash. All of these more than a thousand cavalry were Wang Pu's confidant servants, all of them were the elite among the elites. In their eyes, there was only the master Wang Pu, but not the Ming Empire. The servant troops were a special group in the Ming army and a deformed product that appeared in the evolution of the Ming army's military system.

【It is necessary to briefly introduce the military system of the Ming Empire here:

After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Empire, he established the world military system, and organized the country's army into local garrisons, and distributed them to the fields according to the heads to implement military farming. This not only solved the army's food and salary supply, but also defended the local area. The world military system did play an important role in the early stage, but as time went by, the drawbacks of the world military system gradually exposed. Some officers wanted to occupy land and occupied public resources of the garrison as private ownership. The military households at the bottom gradually became slaves exploited by officers at all levels.

Because he could not bear the layers of exploitation by officers at all levels, more and more military households chose to escape. By the Jiajing period, the vacancies of soldiers in various places had reached more than 70%, and the remaining 30% of those who did not escape were mostly elderly, weak, sick and disabled, and they were unable to fight. The powerful guard army established by Zhu Yuanzhang had been in name only.

In order to replenish the troops, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty had to take other measures, so there was a conscription system. Because the quality of the recruited soldiers was of varying quality, they were soon replaced by the recruitment system. By the late Ming Dynasty, recruitment had become the main force of the army.

Unfortunately, the recruitment system also has insolvent innate defects.

Local generals holding military power withdrew military pay and vacancies became a common phenomenon. They were only willing to spend money on private servants' troops, but were unwilling to spend money on state-owned standing troops. Therefore, the standing troops of the Ming Empire generally had various problems such as insufficient troops, loose military equipment, lack of training, etc., which led to the Ming army's repeated defeats.

The most typical example is the Battle of Sarhu. The Ming army claimed to be 200,000, but in fact it was only 70,000 or 80,000 people. Yang Haoshu, who did not understand military affairs, even if he had divided the troops into two groups, even if the troops were at an absolute disadvantage, if it were not for the Ming army that had been broken into pieces, and with the 50,000 or 60,000 Eight Banners soldiers who were behind at the Later Jin Dynasty at that time, even if they had the ability to penetrate the sky and the earth, Nurhaci would not be able to win the Battle of Sarhu.]

Seeing more than a thousand servants all full of energy and strong momentum, Wang Pu nodded with satisfaction and asked Xiao Qi beside him: "Have you sent all the firearms and dry food?"

"Everyone has been given away." Xiaoqi nodded, "Each person has two portions of fire yao lead balls, and three days of dry food."

"Is the horse's mouth full of condom?"

"It's all over, and the horse's hooves are wrapped in cotton cloth." Xiao Qi said, "General, don't worry, you can't make any sounds when marching at night. The villain still knows this common sense."

"That's good." Wang Pu said, "Extinguish the torch and set off."

Xiaoqi ran two steps, stood in front of the parade, and shouted at the top of his voice: "The general has an order, extinguish the torch and set off!"

More than a thousand servants put out the torches, then turned over their horses, and rushed towards the gate under the dark night sky. It was impossible for such a large-scale army to mobilize soldiers in the battalion. More and more soldiers ran out of the tent. These soldiers did not know what had happened, and began to guess, and an uneasy atmosphere began to spread among the army.

"Sir General, etc."

Amid the rapid and urgent sound of hooves, Deputy General of Datong Zhao Wuzhu drove his horse to catch up with Wang Pu and asked excitedly: "Sir General, what are you doing?"

"What?" Wang Pu said in a deep voice, "Is this general going to ask you for instructions?"

"This..." Zhao Wuzhu said, "Since the general is going to send troops, we should let us know. Besides, you will take your personal soldiers away without saying a word. What should you do if you have more than 10,000 brothers in the camp?"

Wang Pu said: "You are the deputy general of Datong Town. If I die in battle or go out, of course you will be commanded by more than 10,000 brothers in the camp. Do you still need this general to teach you such a simple military rule?"

Zhao Wuzhu said: "But..."

Wang Pu shouted: "Stop talking nonsense, get out of the way."

Seeing that Wang Pu's eyes were showing murderous intent, Zhao Wuzhu couldn't help but shivered and made way. Wang Pu turned his head and left. When he was about to leave the gate, Wang Pu couldn't help but look back, and a hint of compassion flashed through his eyes. Wang Pu did not want to abandon more than 10,000 Ming soldiers in the camp, but he had no choice.

Bijia Mountain is lost, and the defeat in the Battle of Songshan is decided!

Hong Chengchou was still thinking of fighting to the death with the Qing army, but Tang Tong, Wu Sangui and others would not give him this opportunity at all. Staying behind would mean death, and escaping with Tang Tong and others would mean death!

The Qing slave chief Huang Taiji had already dispatched troops to condemn the generals and sent many elite troops to guard the only way for the Ming army to escape. As the saying goes, the defeat is like a mountain. Once the Ming army begins to retreat, the soldiers of the entire army will lose their fighting spirit and only regret that their parents have two legs. In addition, the Qing soldiers are blocking front and chasing back, and the tragedy in history will happen again.

Even if Wang Pu could fight a bloody road from the chaotic army and escape back to Shanhaiguan, the fate that was waiting for him would be death. Emperor Chongzhen never tolerated the defeated generals. The reason why Wu Sangui was able to escape death in history was because the Ming Empire was nowhere to be available at that time, and he could only rely on him to support the situation outside the pass.

So, stay and guard Songshan with Hong Chengchou?

That would be a dead end! The 130,000 troops under Hong Chengchou were already the last mobile force of the Ming Empire. Emperor Chongzhen could not send many troops to break the siege of Songshan.

Should I die if I run away, stay or die? Wang Pu seems to have no way out?

In fact, Wang Pu still has one way to go, that is, to attack Shengjing, the capital of the Qing Dynasty, and then take a detour through North Korea to take a ship out of the sea and return to Dengzhou. As long as Wang Pu can capture Jiannu's old nest Shengjing and grab one thing, it will be enough to offset the great crime of defeating Songshan, and Wang Pu can still be his Datong general safely.

Of course, the surprise attack on Shengjing can be said to be extremely dangerous, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it as a life-threatening death, but at least there is still a glimmer of hope!

Wang Pu, the current general of Datong, is a gangster. He is waiting to die. Being worried about gains and losses has never been his style. Once he decides, even if he goes to the knife mountain and goes down the oil pan, he will stick to it to the end.

Since it is a surprise attack, the word "strange" is the word "strange", which depends on surprise victory. If you want to win, you need to hide your posture and make a quick breakthrough. Therefore, Wang Pu cannot bring more than 10,000 soldiers in the camp. The reason is actually very simple. After bringing more than 10,000 soldiers with you, not only will it be impossible to hide your posture, but it will also seriously sluggish the speed of the march.

There is another more important reason. Wang Pu deducted military pay and exploited his soldiers before. The army had long complained about him. Once these soldiers knew that Wang Pu would take them to attack Jiannu's capital, it would definitely cause a mutiny. Instead of misleading a big deal, it would be better to cut the mess now and give up the more than 10,000 soldiers!

I can't bear to leave my child and can't trap a wolf!

Besides, Wang Pu took more than a thousand servants to leave the camp. When it was dark, he walked a few miles and then turned into a low-lying land and lurked. Not far ahead was the Qing army camp. It would be easy to be discovered by the Qing army when he walked forward. At this time, it was an extraordinary moment. If Wang Pu was not wrong, the Qing army in the camp would have been waiting for a long time.

Once the Qing army discovered this time, it would be over.
Chapter completed!