Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"How many troops are there?" Zu Dashou said calmly.

I am really afraid of what will happen.

He was not too surprised. After all, he had been mentally prepared for this.

"Your Excellency the General, there are about 10,000 of them, most of them are cavalry." The scout reported truthfully.

"Explore again!"

Zu Dashou calmed down a little. Ten thousand people was a number worth pondering.

It is impossible for 10,000 people to capture his Guan Ningjin, even 100,000 people would be difficult, not to mention that most of them are cavalry.

"Come back!" Zu Dashou thought about it and immediately called out to the subordinate.

"Did you see the flags of the troops, or their commander?"

"Sir General, I dare not get too close. There is too much dust and I cannot see clearly. However, they seem to have spotted me but did not drive me away."

"No need to inquire further, just go and visit them and find out their purpose." Zu Dashou changed the military order.

This was undoubtedly a very risky task, but military orders were difficult to disobey, so the scout did not hesitate and took the order and left.

"Send a message to the entire camp and inform them of this matter." Zu Dashou said to the guards around him.

He didn't say anything extra, and there was no need to say anything more. Even the lowest-ranking soldiers knew their embarrassing position here.

The generals of each department are his confidants and they know how to deal with such situations.

Be relaxed on the outside but tight on the inside, don't show too much stress, and at the same time be prepared for the worst.

After all, no one would joke about their own life.

After Zu Dashou gave the order, he went down the Great Wall and returned to his general's mansion in Shanhaiguan. He paced back and forth in the living room, looking a little anxious.

The distance was less than fifty miles, and even if he went slowly, he would arrive here by the afternoon at the latest, so he didn't have much time to think.

He knew he had to make a decision.

"Sir, you summoned me?" Deputy General, Uncle Kuan of Zhennan walked in and bowed.

"He's here, it will take two hours at most." Zu Dashou said to Zu Kuan.

Zu Kuan was born as a servant of Zu Dashou and was loyal to him.

When the Jianlu invaded the year before last, the emperor issued an edict ordering Zu Dashou to go to Beijing to defend the king. Of course, Zu Dashou did not go. He declined the offer on the grounds that the pressure on border defense was too great and if too many troops were sent, the Guanningjin defense line might be lost.

But in order to save face, he finally sent Zu Kuan to lead 6,000 people to provide support.

It was originally thought that Zu Kuan would never come back, but unexpectedly, after driving the Jianlu out of the pass, the court not only did not make things difficult for Zu Kuan, but instead conferred the title of Zhennan Earl on him.

Zu Dashou has been stationed outside the Great Wall for decades, but he still has no title.

"It's really fast. How are you going to deal with it, sir?"

Zu Kuan certainly guessed who the "he" Zu Dashou was talking about was, and he was heading towards the capital. In fact, most of their colleagues stationed in Guanningjin knew that this would happen sooner or later.

Zu Dashou did not answer immediately after hearing this, but thought for a while and said:

"After all, you have worked with him. What kind of person is he?"

Zu Kuan was stunned for a moment when he heard this. In fact, he had only met Zhang Shikang once, and that was from a distance.

"Sir, I don't know much about it either. That guy kills people without blinking an eye, but he seems to be nice to the soldiers.

That Cao Bianjiao seemed to have surrendered to him. I once saw him flattering him. I didn't expect that this Cao Bianjiao with thick eyebrows and big eyes was also a shameless guy."

Zu Kuan was a rough man, so how could he know how to judge people? He could only tell Zu Dashou based on what he saw at the time.

In comparison, he had worked with Cao Bianjiao for a longer time. He had once fought against bandits in Jiangbei with this guy, and they had often drunk together at that time.

He originally thought that Cao Bianjiao was a fearless and brave general, but he did not expect that he would also defect to that pretty boy.

"Killing people without blinking an eye and treating soldiers well..." Zu Dashou muttered.

At least there is nothing wrong with the first half of the sentence. After all, Zhang Shikang almost killed all the gentry last year.

As for treating soldiers well, will this person treat them well?

After Zhang Shikang became the Marshal of the Army, the court did not stop supporting his grandfather Dashou with money, food and military equipment, but just did not give more.

This is really a difficult question to decide!

“Sir, that kid now not only has 100,000 Beijing troops in his hands, but also has the support of Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting.

We will definitely not succeed if we confront him head on. In my opinion, it would be better for us to pretend to surrender to him.

As the saying goes, don't hit a smiling person. He can't just attack us without any reason, right?

That would only chill the hearts of our Liao soldiers." Zu Kuan rarely offered any constructive suggestions.

This coincides with Zu Dashou's current thoughts. No matter what, they still have to rely on the court for the supply of food, fodder and military equipment, and they cannot really fall out with the court.

Otherwise, their only way out might be the northeast, a road no one wants to choose.

"That's it for now. Send someone to notify Wu Sangui and Zu Zeyuan, tell them the situation here, and ask them to wait for military orders at any time."

Zu Dashou made up his mind.

After Zu Kuan left, Zu Dashou immediately ordered his personal guards to prepare. Since they wanted to surrender to Zhang Shikang, they had to show sincerity even if it was just a pretense.

But he felt that 500 personal guards were still too risky, so he increased the team to welcome Zhang Shikang to 1,000 people, all of whom were Guanning cavalry.

……

"General, we are only twenty miles away from Shanhaiguan.

We have spotted five or six waves of scouts, they should all be from Shanhaiguan." Sun Weifan rode over to report.

Zhang Shikang was wearing a glittering golden armor and riding on a warhorse. He had been traveling for five or six days in a row, but he could not hide the fatigue on his face.

"They are guarding against us. Alas, this group of people don't feel uncomfortable being stuck in the middle." Zhang Shikang joked.

He knew what happened to Zu Dashou later, but judging from a series of records that followed, he was truly a twisted person.

If he was Zu Dashou, he would either rebel or find a way to gain the emperor's trust. He would never do nothing and just endure it in Guan Ningjin.

But Sun Weifan didn't know what happened later. Seeing that Zhang Shikang still looked serious, he couldn't help but persuade him again:

“Nephew, Zu Dashou has ulterior motives, you have to take him seriously.

The Guanning Army is not a bunch of bandits; they are considered the elite of the Ming Dynasty."

Sun Weifan only called Zhang Shikang his nephew when he was unable to convince him, because he knew that Zhang Shikang did not care about these titles.

He just wanted Zhang Shikang to understand that as his uncle, he had placed everything on the shoulders of his nephew, so he must not take any risks and must be cautious.

Just as he couldn't convince Zhang Shikang to take more troops on this long journey, he could only focus on these 10,000 soldiers.

Among these ten thousand soldiers, there are six thousand cavalry and four thousand infantry. Not only are they all elite troops selected from the elite, but each team almost has two or even three generals.

Yes, that's right, these 10,000 soldiers and horses included all the generals of the Guards, so it's not an exaggeration to say that they were an officer corps.

Now, of the 70,000 to 80,000 people left in the Xishan camp, only one deputy general, Wen Bangguo, is left to guard the home.

Of course, what Sun Weifan did was undoubtedly against the rules, but he was not afraid because he had the secret order from the current emperor in his hand.

Emperor Chongzhen failed to convince Zhang Shikang, so he had to turn his attention to other people and secretly gave orders to Sun Weifan.

He was asked to ensure Zhang Shikang's safety during this border patrol at all costs, so Sun Weifan got impulsive and set up another corps of officers.

Apart from anything else, even if these 10,000 people encountered the same number of Jianlu, they would definitely not be afraid. Each team has two to three generals of the same level. If one dies in battle, there are still two left, thus ensuring the combat effectiveness of the army to the maximum extent.

"Uncle, I've told you many times that in the army, people use different positions to represent their positions!" Zhang Shikang said perfunctorily.

He was too lazy to explain too much. His judgment was basically based on what happened afterwards. Even if he explained it, Sun Weifan would not believe it.

Sun Weifan was helpless upon hearing this and had to order the entire army to be on high alert.

After another half hour, the army finally arrived near Shanhaiguan, and Zhang Shikang could already see the tall city walls of Shanhaiguan.

He held a monocular telescope and looked towards the city gate of Shanhaiguan.

"Heh, this guy is probably trying to play hard to get with me!"

Through the telescope, I saw an elderly general already standing outside the city ready to welcome us.

But there were a lot of people welcoming us.

……