It dawned extremely late in the winter, and Lao Zhang, who was guarding the Lanzhou city gate, stretched himself. The sky outside was still dark, with a faint light of fish belly white on the horizon. Looking at the old clock assigned to him, it was already morning

Six o'clock.

It's better to have a desk clock. You don't have to listen to the clock outside, just look at the desk clock and you can tell at a glance what time it is.

Lanzhou is an important town in the northwest, and the Ming army's garrison strength is also quite good. In addition to the two garrison divisions of the Liao army, there are also more than 2,000 people from the original Ming border army. However, the equipment in the hands of these people is not even as good as the garrison divisions.

Many people still have crossbows in their hands. At any rate, there are several cannons on the city wall that have been eliminated for a long time, supporting the facade of the important town!

It’s no wonder that the Ming Dynasty did not pay attention to Lanzhou. In fact, Lanzhou’s main defense is the Tibetans. But the Tibetans are so poor that they don’t even have the tools to rob. Many places are still in the stage of slash-and-burn farming, and they don’t have iron weapons.

There are too many, let alone attacking an important town like Lanzhou.

With the strength of the Lanzhou garrison, it was more than enough to defend the Tibetans. Sometimes the border troops would even take the initiative to provoke the Tibetans, going as far as Xining. The Tibetans really had nothing to rob, except for a few yaks.

Not many other gains were made. I heard that there is a Potala Palace in Lhasa with a lot of gold and silver. Unfortunately, Han people will suffer from gas diseases as long as they go to the plateau.

Lanzhou garrison Yan Yueli thought about it many times, but did not dare to lead his troops to the plateau rashly.

According to the regulations of the imperial court, the city gates of Lanzhou City must be opened at seven o'clock after winter.

"Get up!" Lao Zhang shouted loudly and turned on the kerosene lamp.

"It's still dark outside."

"Company commander, what time is it?"

"Damn it, it's six o'clock. Get up!" Lao Zhang yelled, dipped a cloth towel in cold water, and wiped it on each face. The barracks immediately became filled with squeaking sounds!

The soldiers got up slowly, and then the soldiers in the cooking squad started to light the fire and cook. The remaining soldiers walked around the city wall they were guarding, which was considered to be a patrol.

Lao Zhang's company is the former Ming Dynasty border army, and most of them are from Guanzhong.

There was a military disaster and a plague in Guanzhong. Most of these families had no one in their homes, so they gave up the idea of ​​returning to Shaanxi. Since the Liao army came to recruit them, they were accepted obediently. Anyway, whoever provides food and money will be the boss.

Lao Zhang glanced at the brighter and brighter fish belly white in the distance. The frozen Yellow River was like a silver jade belt, winding eastward on the earth. He thought about it. He heard that the government's policies were improved now, so he would return to his hometown sometime.

Take a look. If it's okay, just tell the battalion commander to demobilize and go back to your hometown. If you stay in Lanzhou City, you won't even be able to marry an aunt.

I heard that when the company commander returned to his hometown, the court assigned him errands. They all worked in the yamen. I heard from people who came from Guanzhong that the most popular place now is the Public Security Bureau. I don’t know who the Public Security Bureau is. Mr. Zhang wondered.

The appearance should be similar to that of the previous government officials.

Looking at the hundreds of people behind me, it seems that it would be a bit of a disadvantage to become a government servant. I would go back and take a look at it during the Chinese New Year, but if it was really not possible, I would become an aunt in Guanzhong and take her back to Lanzhou to take root.

With things in mind, time passed quickly. I led the people around the city, leaving two people to change the guard, and led the people down the city wall along the horse path. The big guys folded their quilts and washed themselves.

Wash up, wait for breakfast, and then open the city gate on time at seven o'clock.

Lao Zhang didn't notice that there were many figures in the distance, slowly approaching Lanzhou City.

Breakfast is white flour steamed buns and millet porridge. The cooking squad leader has good knife skills. Shredded radish is finely chopped, and hot red oil is poured on it. The aroma immediately fills up. Dry mixed with shredded potatoes and bean curd, and a few pieces of red bean curd look delicious.

Festive.

The soldiers ate happily, and Lao Zhang was very satisfied with the food. The Ming border troops were much stronger than before!

In the winter at that time, you would only have a bowl of gruel in the morning, and you would eat it after peeing. The next meal would have to wait until the evening. It was always a problem when going up the mountain, and supplies were difficult and military supplies were insufficient.

God knows why the general's yamen still eats three meals a day when supplies are difficult. As for salary, sometimes half a year, sometimes a year, half of it is withheld by the boss after it is issued.

It was different with the Liao Army. Breakfast was white flour steamed buns, millet porridge, and various pickles. Lunch was four stir-fried vegetables and rice was optional. Dinner was two stir-fried vegetables and four pickles. The food was still white flour.

You can eat steamed buns and millet porridge as much as you want.

Not to mention three meals a day, military pay is distributed to everyone on time. The quartermaster requires fingerprints! The last guy who deducted military pay had his head hung on the flagpole and was blown by the wind for more than a year, and it still doesn’t exist now.

Didn't take it down.

With military pay, soldiers can have a drink without any trouble. As long as they don't fight, they can turn a blind eye to things like gambling.

The brothers in the border army are actually very satisfied. It is actually much better to follow Marshal Li than to follow the imperial court. As a soldier, you eat food and get paid, but who do you work for? Of course, you will work for whom you eat, drink, and spend.

After breakfast, the sky was still not bright. The sun only peeked its head in the east, and many people had gathered under the city gate. They were all carrying burdens, and some were driving carts filled with firewood and charcoal.

In the middle of winter, there is a hard demand for firewood and charcoal. A lot of it is brought in from outside the city every day! But the sentry noticed that there were a lot of people today and it seemed to be especially quiet. No one was stamping their feet and chatting loudly as usual.

"Open the city gate!" As the clock struck seven times, Lao Zhang shouted loudly.

Eight strong soldiers shouted slogans and lifted the heavy door bolt. The four soldiers worked together, and the gate of Lanzhou City creaked open.

"Everyone is ready, line up. Check and release them one by one!" Before the city gate opened, Lao Zhang led a few people out of the city gate and shouted habitually in a thick Guanzhong accent.

Suddenly, Lao Zhang felt something was wrong. Although these people were wearing Han clothes, many of them had curly hair, dark skin, and the unique Tibetan plateau red on their cheeks.

These are not fucking Han people, they are fucking Tibetans pretending to be people. When the cold wind blew a fishy smell, Lao Zhang reacted.

What a pity! His reaction was still too slow, and he didn't even scream when he opened his mouth. A sharp long knife swept across his throat, and Lao Zhang's head spun and flew up. In the air, Lao Zhang even

I saw blood spurting out from my cavity.

The Tibetans waiting outside the city gate shouted wildly and rushed into the city. Almost at the same time, countless cavalry rushed out of the forest outside the city. At first glance, these cavalry were not Tibetan cavalry. They were riding fat bodies.

The strong Mongolian horse holds a rifle with a bayonet in its hand.

As these people approached the city wall, they shot at the Ming troops on the wall from their horses.

The Ming troops on the city wall didn't even have muskets in their hands. The bows and crossbows fired sparsely, only injuring a few Tibetans, and they were unable to do anything to the Mongols in the distance.

No one in the entire city of Lanzhou expected that the Tibetans would join forces with the Mongols to attack Lanzhou, an important town in the northwest on this cold winter morning.

Before the Ming army guarding the city gate even drew out their knives, a large group of Tibetans who screamed "Ouch" and "Ouch" rushed in. The harsh plateau cultivated their tough character. The sharp long knives were carried by the cold wind.

, slashing at the unprepared Ming army.

There was almost no decent resistance, and the dozen or so Ming soldiers in the city gate cave became victims of the sword. The Tibetans went crazy, smearing the blood on their faces with the sword, and then rushed towards the city with machetes. It is said that

In this way, you can gain the enemy's strength.

The Ming army on the city wall finally reacted. Two soldiers ran frantically towards the big bell inside the city tower, shaking the rope and hitting the huge copper bell crazily.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" The rapid ringing of the bell woke up many sleeping people. The garrison commander Yan Yueli, who was eating, put down his rice bowl in surprise and listened to the ringing of a bell outside.

"Emergency assembly!" Yan Yueli's voice was interrupted, and a rapid whistle sounded immediately inside the headquarters.

There were also explosions in various military camps, especially the two garrison divisions of the Liao Army stationed in the city. Without waiting for Yan Yueli's order, the two division commanders ordered the weapons depot to be opened, distributed weapons to the soldiers, and occupied the area according to the determined plan.

Favorable terrain.

Several Tibetans rushed into the city tower, wielding machetes and slashed at two Ming soldiers who were ringing the bell as a warning. They were decapitated with one blow, and the fierce Tibetans also brutally chopped the two Ming soldiers into many pieces. They

Carrying the head, they stood in front of the city gate building and shouted wildly, as if they had captured Lanzhou City.

The Mongolian cavalry rushed into Lanzhou City in the cold wind. As soon as a small number of Ming troops took to the streets, they were beaten up by rows of bullets. Some ignorant Lanzhou citizens were directly stabbed with bayonets.

Until their death, they didn't understand what was going on.

The Mongolian cavalry fought bravely as if they were in uninhabited territory. Whenever Han people appeared on the streets, they were either shot to death or stabbed to death with bayonets. Following the footsteps of the Mongols, the Tibetans began to rush into the homes of the people.

These savage people look like crazy, they look for women. No matter they are eight years old or eighty years old, as long as they are women, they will strip off their clothes, and then press their dirty bodies on them. As long as they see a man, no matter whether they resist or not, they will

A stab in the head. Then, continue to look for women.

After venting their anger, Tibetans will let go of the woman on their crotch. With bright eyes, they begin to search for anything they think is valuable in the Han people's homes. They have not had enough to eat for a long time, and even the potatoes in the kitchen are considered good things.

Thick smoke and fire began to appear near the city gate. This was because the Tibetans were setting fire. Although the Ming army was still resisting, they thought they had captured Lanzhou City. They were celebrating and burning. Those who had been spared just now

The woman was dragged by her legs and thrown into the sea of ​​fire. Then she listened to the blood-curdling screams and started dancing non-stop.

Galdan personally led his men to the front and made careful preparations for this battle. Because of the lack of troops, he even used his connections among the Tibetans to borrow Tibetan soldiers from the great lama.

The smoothness of the early stage of the battle even exceeded Galdan's imagination. Even in the most optimistic predictions, the situation did not occur. The Mongolian cavalry galloped along the streets, shooting every Han they saw. In the city gate hole behind them,

Thousands of Tibetans poured in. Like locusts entering a wheat field, they started a frenzied harvesting mode.

"Pa!" "Pa!" "Pa!" "Pa!" "Pa!"...!

There was a series of gunshots, and the dozen or so Mongolian soldiers who rushed at the front immediately fell off their horses. Galdan quickly reined in the reins, knowing that he had encountered the main force of the Ming army. According to your pre-war intelligence, there were Ming soldiers in the city.

There are more than 10,000 soldiers in the army.

This is definitely an unusual arrangement in Lanzhou, which has a population of just over 80,000.

Fortunately, Galdan had already prepared. The Mongolian soldiers rushing in front ignored Galdan's instructions and dismounted one after another, climbed to the commanding heights, and started shooting at the opposite side.

In the hands of the garrison division, there are only muzzle-loading flintlock guns that have been eliminated by the Liao army. This kind of gun has seriously lagged behind this era. After firing one round, the shooter must stand up and reload.

It is precisely because of this characteristic that countless Ming army shooters were unable to load the second round after firing the first round.

The Mongolian soldiers held repeating rifles. They could not only stand, crouch, or even lie down and shoot. Soldiers lying on the roof or wall had a significantly reduced exposure area, and the chance of being shot was also greatly reduced.

After only ten minutes of shooting, the corpses of Ming soldiers were lying on the ground.

Galdan was trembling with excitement. This was the first time he had the upper hand in a battle with the Ming army. The Mongolian soldiers relied on the advantage of their weapons and quickly advanced along the streets. They shot and killed all Han Chinese who moved, regardless of whether they were

Not the Ming army.

Even when Galdan was inexplicably excited, the Mongols still suffered casualties. When the Mongolian soldiers stepped on the corpses of the Ming soldiers and charged, there were always one or two people who were not dead enough to fire grenades.

After the explosion, at least two or three Mongolian soldiers fell to the ground. More injured Mongolian soldiers kept wailing. Especially those whose eyes were hit by the explosion, the wailing sound was like a gelded donkey.

Soon, mortar shells fell.

This is the largest caliber artillery in the hands of a garrison division. Usually a garrison division is equipped with twenty-four mortars to provide fire support.

The power of mortars was much greater than grenades. The explosions quickly killed the Mongolian soldiers.

A vein popped out on Galdan's forehead. This time, in order to pack lightly, he did not carry any heavy weapons, not even a mortar.

When they set off from Xining via Tibet, they captured several Ming army spies. This once made Galdan very worried, but now it seems that the Ming army in Lanzhou City is not prepared.

"Let the Tibetans outflank them from both sides!" Galdan saw the Ming army's resistance gradually getting stronger under the cover of mortars. He immediately changed his tactics and let the more ferocious Tibetans bypass the Ming army.
Chapter completed!