Taohualing, which was once a paradise on earth, has become a blood-colored Asura field in just a few days. The remaining fire has not yet ended, and the smoke is misty. The hillside in front of Shenma Fort is covered with more than a thousand corpses of Ming people. Several broken enemy towers below Shenma Fort are scattered with enemy corpses with red armor, with their faces ferocious or painful, telling the hardship of fighting against Shenma Fort. On the side of Shenma Fort, several black battle flags of the Possess Army fluttered in the wind, countless holes on the battle flag and reed-like arrows on the walls of the village, and dozens of sharp wooden stakes were interspersed with the corpses of Jurchens with black blood, all showing the fierceness of the battle. As the deputy general of the Thousand General of Shenma Fort guarding Shenma Fort, Li Chunyang and his deputy Yang Tianhe, now there is no longer the spirit of robbing Shanxi merchants' wealth a few days ago.

Li Chunyang and Yang Tianhe stood side by side on the wall of the village and looked at the battlefield at the foot of the mountain. Their faces were filled with deep sorrow. The soldiers of the Pou Nu Army carried the materials guarding the city back and forth behind them, and the soldiers cursed the shameless behavior of the Tartars to drive away the people to attack. The Pou Nu Army soldiers at this time deeply understood their commander Zhang Ping'an, and their bloody intentions towards the Tartars. At least so far, the Pou Nu Army has not driven away the people to attack in the war. They used pointed wooden stakes to pierce the Red Flag prisoners*, which was a revenge on the Tartars to drive away the people. The Pou Nu Army soldiers who guarded the Sacred Mar Fort all felt that this revenge was taken for granted.

Seeing that the defense lines of several enemy towers on the periphery were broken by the enemy, nearly 300 people were killed or injured by the Posou Army guarding Shenma Fort. Such a large casualty made General Qian Li Chunyang very worried that they would stick to their expectations for March. He turned to Yang Tianhe beside him and whispered: "Brother, according to the offensive momentum of the Tartars, our inventory cannot last for so long. You will go and stock our ammunition later. Most of the people who were killed with * were killed. I expect to be able to fight for ten days if I continue to consume this. What should I do in ten days?"

"Okay, I'll go and take a look after the next attack. The three old brothers we went to Zhangjiazhuang, Beijing for help, have been walking for three days. I really don't know where they have gone?"

When Li Chunyang heard Yang Tianhe mention the three brothers who delivered the letter, he suddenly felt worried. Although these three were all injured and retired veterans of Tian Peng's mountain troops, they had broken hands after all. They were walking in the roadless mountains that no one had walked through. The steep mountains on the east side were extremely difficult to carry out. The hardships were not something that ordinary people could tolerate. Just as the Pou Nu Army of Shenma Fort was waiting for the Yinghongqi to launch the next attack, the soldiers of the Yinghongqi at the foot of the mountain were packing their luggage and putting them on the horse's back. This emergencies made Li Chunyang and Yang Tianhe very happy. The Pou Nu Army was also the main cavalry, and they knew at a glance that the Yinghongqi Tatars were about to withdraw their troops.

Judging from the panicked actions of the Tartars, they must have encountered trouble, because the thousands of cavalry inlaid Red Flags seemed extremely hurrying and careless when they tied the bodies of their dead companions on horseback. Li Chunyang and Yang Tianhe, two veterans on the battlefield, roughly guessed from the panic of the enemy that General Zhang of the Slave Army had taken action at this critical moment. Shortly after the cavalry inlaid, Li Chunyang sent two cavalry scouts to follow and investigate. More than an hour later, the scouts reported that they had captured several suspicious bandits, and after interrogating the Ming army of Zijing Pass and dozens of bandits nearby were preparing to jointly attack Shenma Fort.

The urgent report from the scout surprised Li Chunyang and Yang Tianhe. They did not expect that the tiger had just left and the wolf came again. The situation was urgent and they could not think too much. Li Chunyang immediately sent two cavalry scouts back to the capital to report the letter for help. He also specifically told the scouts who sent the letter not to fight when they encountered the enemy. It would be a big deal if they were humiliated and wronged. It would be a great achievement if they sent the letter to Zhangjiazhuang. That is, after the cavalry had left for about three hours, and the sky gradually became dark, there was a noise in the northern path of Shenma Fort from far to near. The Posou Army guarding Shenma Fort could see a fire dragon swimming towards the foot of the mountain.

...........

Ping'an City, thousands of miles away, was covered in silver and cold wind. Although it was not yet time for curfew, only the patrol and inspector team wearing black leather cloaks hurriedly passed by on the street. The six black-armored guards in front of the gatekeeper Sen Jin's mansion guarded the gate of the gatekeeper in the shape of eight-shaped eight-row lanterns on the gate were emitting orange-yellow light. More than twenty guards in the doormen on the left and right sides were sitting around in front of the carbon furnace to prepare for the pre-order. The guards of the coach's mansion usually rotated in one hour in the cold winter, and Ping'an City was far colder than Ponu City. Zhang Dashuai ordered the guards of the guards to rotate in the Ping'an City mansion for half an hour.

In the study of the General Staff Department of the backyard of the General Staff, Zhang Ping'an practiced a knife for half an hour after dinner. After taking a shower, he changed into a loose cotton robe and sat in a free chair, holding a tea bowl in his hand and enjoyed the fragrance of green tea. He stared at a picture of the northern war on the south wall of the study, while planning the future war. At this time, the Chief of Staff Gu Xin held a stack of newspapers and pushed the door to Zhang Ping'an for signature. He heard the sound of the door, Zhang Ping'an turned his face and looked at Gu Xin, then took the Chinese newspaper and pointed to the chair beside him with his right hand to signal Gu Xin to pour water and drink it himself.

"Little white-faced, how long has the Xinmai team who transferred Zuo Erya's troops to reinforce the Zhili battlefield been gone?"

Gu Xin poured himself a cup of green tea with a teapot on the tea table, lifted up his robe, sat down, and crossed his legs. He took a sip and replied, "Don't worry, boss! They have been walking eleven days, and it only takes half a day to pass the frozen Killer Leaf Island Strait in winter. This news should have reached Zuo Erya. However, if the Zhengyixing Camp lacks the strong army of Zuo Erya, the troops will become much thinner."

After hearing Gu Xin's worries, Zhang Ping'an nodded in recognition of Gu Xin's judgment. He sighed, "Oh! Who said it was not, but there was nothing we could do about it. Tian Pengding was in the north for a long time and asked Liu Qingshan to change defense with him. I have to calm down recently and think about the war against the Luos people. If there is a more strong army, I will be more sure of it when fighting. After Chen Peng entered Guan and served the King of Kings, he left Li Chen's troops in Ponucheng, and the rest of the troops were transferred to Ping'an City one after another. Pang Guang may not have any ability in fighting, but he is a good player in training new recruits. Pang Guang has been a third-class commander for so many years but has lost his military merits. You give an order in my name to promote Pang Guang to second-class commander. This... Just say that Pang Guang is diligent in training troops and is a model. You think of a reasonable reason to do this."

After saying that, Zhang Ping'an put down the tea bowl and pointed to the map in front of him and said, "I was too stingy earlier. It would be a pity to give up the Eagle Fort in order to make some food, grass and silver. After Chen Pi finished his work in the pass, we will take another year to two years to restore the Eagle Fort. At that time, we will have an additional layer of protection on the flanks during the decisive battle with the Ross, so we will not be afraid that Lin Danhan will come to harass him!"

"Boss, have you got a countermeasure? Do you want to fight against the Ross people openly and secretly against Lin Danhan?"

"Huh? You are so handsome! I have been thinking about it for so long, and you blurted out. I admire you! I admire you! Being able to see through my plan means you can go out. We only need to know the specific ideas. I have to think about it carefully. You can find a few small staff officers to try to make plans recently. By the way, this war requires a lot of money. I really don't know what the secret chess we ambushed in Taohualing earlier was like. You sent a message to Chen Poe with 800 miles, ordering him to send a member of the association to Taohualing no matter what. Even if you don't rob the Shanxi merchants' wealth, you can't leave our brothers there without caring out. Alas, I really don't know if Yian has got the money now?"

.........

Xu Yian, who was talked about by Zhang Dashuai, was also worried about the money at this time. Yangzhou salt merchants owed salt taxes from the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Chongzhen issued an imperial edict to order the Ponucheng Xuanwei envoy to be responsible for collecting the salt taxes. Xu Yian was not in a hurry to collect the debt immediately. Xu Yian mainly felt that the time was not ripe. Yangzhou salt merchants were quite powerful in Nanzhili. If they were forced to make them anxious, these powerful salt merchants dared to gather the nobles in Nanjing City and the Ponucheng Xuanwei envoy to fight to the Ponucheng Xuanwei envoy. Therefore, Xu Yian could only stop moving the salt merchants for the time being, but went all out to Xuzhou City to hoard grain and cloth. As for the silk that the Ponu army urgently needed, medicinal materials were piled up with warehouses of all sizes in Xuzhou City.

Emperor Chongzhen abolished the Tianxia Post Station, and the Xuanwei Envoy of the Ponucheng took the opportunity to purchase 50 large post stations along the canal. One was to transport materials, the other was to convey letters from the north and south of the Ponucheng Xuanwei Envoy, and the third was to do some business to find out the news. As for the Ming officials like the Post Station, Xu Yian was not left for good or bad, and the lower-level post guards chose honest and willing to work. Xu Yian purchased a large amount of supplies, using gold tickets issued by the Xuanwei Envoy of the Ponucheng Xuanwei Envoy. However, Xu Yian was also a little worried. The gold tickets he used far exceeded the gold and silver stocks in the North and South Ponucheng Xuanwei Envoy of the Ponucheng Xuanwei Envoy.

Fortunately, this matter was done very secretly. Nanzhili knew that before Jiannu entered the pass, Zheng Tai, the capital, had accumulated countless wealth from wealthy families in Zhangjiazhuang in Zhangjiazhuang, and the gold and silver existing in Zhangjiazhuang in the capital as a guarantee. They believed that after Jiannu came out of the pass, they could not make up the money from Yin Guangju Silver Building in Nanzhili. Even so, the lack of money from the Xuanwei Office of the Ponu City made Xu Yian live every day as if he was afraid of a run. Just when Xu Yian's hair was almost white, he received an urgent report from Zheng Tai, the deputy commander of the Ponu Army, Chen Pang, led the main force of the Ponu Army into the pass to serve the king.
Chapter completed!