The Dongsheng Acropolis, originally established in the early Ming Dynasty, was the outer garrison built in the fourth year of Hongwu. Later, because of the implementation of the plan to consolidate and shrink the inner defense, the Ming army withdrew into the Great Wall, and the Dongsheng Acropolis was abandoned. The most amazing thing is that when the Ming army retreated, even the bricks were taken away, leaving only the clean and bare earthen walls. What's even cleaner is that there were no traces of horse faces on the city wall, no city towers, the remains of the female wall, and the things that could be demolished were removed.

Today, Dongsheng Acropolis has become a observation post for Li Guodong outside the Great Wall, where 500 cavalry were arranged. This is the main road to guard the Hukou to the naturalized commercial route. Li Guodong's elite cavalry took turns to guard the river, changing defenses every ten days. The cavalry who had been guarding for ten days returned to Shabeigou City and replaced a new group of people to guard. Dongsheng Acropolis is not just an observation post, but Li Guodong's cavalry has also reclaimed wasteland in this abandoned acropolis of the Ming Dynasty. The acropolis is not small, and it is enough for thousands of people to use it. The sweet potato leaves can also be fed to livestock. Not only cattle and sheep are raised, but also pigs are raised.

In the acropolis, the cavalry were feeding war horses in the barracks and stables repaired by Li Guodong. The strong war horses stood neatly in front of the manger. The soldiers fed the war horses together with the mixed hay and fresh grass, as well as the fine feed mixed with black beans, soybean cakes, corn kernels, wheat bran, etc.

Some of these war horses were captured Wuzhumuqin horses, and some were Hequ horses exchanged from the Chahar people. There were even top-grade Dayuan horses and Shandan horses from the Western Regions. These good horses cannot only eat grass, but also add feed to increase their protein.

Five hundred cavalrymen, each with one good horse, and another one thousand Mongolian horses to transfer. Those Mongolian horses were not so particular and were all placed outside the Acropolis to eat grass.

Zhang Fengqi, a former Shanxi soldier in the Ming Dynasty, was pouring feed into the manger. He was originally from Taiyuan. During the Jisi Rebellion, the Shanxi army entered Beijing to serve the king. Who knew that the court did not pay food and pay, and the Shanxi soldiers made money and fled back to Shanxi before fighting. As a result, Shanxi Governor Geng Ruqi and General Zhang Honggong were imprisoned and asked to beheaded by Emperor Chongzhen. He received news that the governor and general were executed by the court. The soldiers who fled back to Shanxi later rebelled and prepared to join the bandit army. Later, even if Li Guodong was incorporated, they did not follow the bandits.

Most of the five hundred heavy cavalry were soldiers under the command of Zhang Honggong. Their equipment was the same as Li Guodong's heavy cavalry. Each of them had a pair of six-petaled red tassel pointed iron helmets, a pair of bright light armor, and a piece of cotton armor and a chain armor. It was a real three-layer armor. The excellent war horses such as Wuzhumuqin horses and Hequ horses all had horse armor, which were real heavy cavalry. The weapons of the cavalry were a shovel seized from the Later Jin army, a three-eyed gun, and a small bow. If they were rushing to the formation in a group, each of the front soldiers would be equipped with an additional disposable cavalry. After hitting the opponent's cavalry, the cavalry would be thrown away. The cavalry was just a wooden stick with sharpened at one end. Anyway, it was a disposable weapon and there was no need to be careful.

After feeding his war horses, Zhang Fengqi carried a basket of sweet potato leaves and went to the pigpen to feed the pigs. After feeding the pigs, he walked into his barracks.

Liu Yipeng, a friend of many years, walked in with a can of wine and a large piece of braised mutton: "Brother, come on, let's have a few bowls."

Liu Yipeng had just come from Shabigou City to prepare for a change of defense. Five hundred people who had changed defense arrived. Tomorrow morning, Zhang Fengqi and the others were going back to Shabigou.

The two sat down. Liu Yipeng's palm had several burn marks, which were burned by a fuse or a gunpowder gas when using a three-eyed gun on the horse's back. Zhang Fengqi stretched out his rough big hand, and his hands were covered with calluses. It was tempered by long-term use of long-handled nail-head hammers. Zhang Fengqi didn't like to use a three-eyed gun. He felt that the range of the weapon was too close, so he would rather use a small bow at a distance and use his nail-head hammer.

"Good wine!" Zhang Fengqi took a sip of the wine and applauded repeatedly, "I haven't drunk such a good wine for a long time."

In the past, Dadewang's caravans often brought some good wine to the soldiers, but in the past two years, it was now the Qing Dynasty. In the activities in the naturalization area, the Mongolians only fought a great battle with the Jurchens last year, and the caravans were not having a good life, so it was naturally impossible to bring them good wine.

Liu Yipeng said: "It was the lord who came back from the Ming Dynasty and brought us good wine."

"The lord is back? He has been back in the Ming Dynasty for a year and then he remembered his brothers?" Zhang Fengqi snorted coldly.

Liu Yipeng heard this and hurriedly said, "The lord is also for the future of his brothers. To be honest, if it weren't for the lord, we would have become thieves long ago. Maybe we would have been wiped out by officers and soldiers, and even the bodies were gnawed by wild dogs. To be honest, after we followed the lord, life would have been much better than before? When we were in Taiyuan, how long did we not see military pay? What do we eat every day? It's worse than pig food! When we come here, we at least don't have to worry about being hungry, and we often have meat to eat."

"Brother, I know what you said. Our lives are better than before! But do you know there is a saying that "Golden and Silver Nest is not as good as our own doghouse? We are all from the Ming Dynasty, but we can't go back to the frontier. We blow wind and sand every day outside the border. No matter how good this kind of life is, it's better to go back to the Ming Dynasty to eat braised vegetables. Every time the lord returns to the Ming Dynasty, he only takes his own servants. The last time he goes back to Xuanfu to save Daming, he also brings veterans with him, but not us. It's been five years since he left Daming. How long will it take to end such a day? If he had known this, it would be better to follow the Breaking Army back then. Even if he died, he would die in the territory of Daming."

"It's almost done. The lord is here this time and he is planning to take us back to the Ming Dynasty."

Zhang Fengqi sighed: "Forget it, I know that there are difficulties in the lord. It's not that the lord doesn't take us back, but that the imperial court cannot pass the hurdle! Why did our original commander General Zhang Honggong lose? Didn't he be cut off by a tyrant monarch indiscriminately?"

"Brother, how can you say that to our Ming Dynasty, Long Live Master?"

"So what if he is a fool?" Zhang Fengqi's face turned red after drinking too much. "When Master Tianqi was there, we had a hard time, but we wouldn't have even paid military salaries, right? We wouldn't have let Jiannu invade, right? We have changed to a foolish monarch. We have no military salaries in Shanxi, and we have come to serve the king, and we don't even have food salaries! It's no wonder that the brothers rebel!"

"Brother, but how are they doing now by those brothers who rebel and follow the thief? I heard that the thief has been defeated continuously. After all, it is not a good thing to be a thief."

Zhang Fengqi suddenly asked, "Brother, this Ming Dynasty is hopeless. If one day the lord raises an army to rebel, will you obey the lord's order and attack the capital?"

"Of course I'll listen to my lord!" Liu Yipeng stood up and slapped the table.

"That's right! Maybe we will go back in the future and rebel!" Zhang Fengqi laughed.

The next morning, Zhang Fengqi, who was replaced, returned to Shabeigou City with the cavalry.

Li Guodong has returned to Shabeigou City. As for dealing with fake cigarettes in the two Huaihe River areas, he has given all rights to Wang Quan and Zhang Shuheng. He believes that they will handle this matter cleanly and neatly. And he returned to Shabeigou because important military information came from outside the Great Wall: Yue Tuo and Dorgon are coming again!

"Jiannu won a great victory in the attack on Goryeo and won hundreds of thousands of slaves; he also plundered the Jurchens from the mountains and entered the banner. Now Jiannu's strength is only stronger than before!" Li Guodong looked at the information sent back by Li Hong and said to the gathered generals.

He Xing slapped the table and said, "Yuetu and Dorgon have gone naturalized again, and Omubu can't resist Jiannu at all. It seems that we have to take action."

Li Guodong asked: "Have we notified Ezhe?"

"I will send someone to Moxi to find Ezhe." Han Dashan stood up.
Chapter completed!