Chapter Fifty-One: The War Horse's Great Harvest

  On the old city wall of Shanhai Pass, Gu Zhenhua stood tall, with his bow and arrow drawn full circle. With a whoosh, an arrow shot out, hitting right on target - the helmet of a general. The arrowhead grazed against the scalp, passing through, and if it had been just a fraction lower, it would have opened up a hole in the forehead!

  The little general suddenly felt a chill all over his body, turned around the horse's head and ran away frantically. But when he had run dozens of steps, he suddenly noticed that there was still a piece of cloth on this arrow with eight big characters written on it.

  Wu has surrendered to Qing, and the bandit king is now in a precarious position!

  At this time, Gu Zhenhua had already mounted his horse and led the soldiers to seize the war horses.

  "Li Zicheng, show some spirit! Kill a few more of those Tartars for your old man!"

  Gu Zhenhua muttered to himself, and the crowd passed through a street, just in time to see a large empty space, temporarily requisitioned, inside were all war horses, with at least two or three thousand head.

  "Lord Gu, those watching the war horses are Wu Sangui's trusted family servants. Let's charge over directly!" Li Xu reminded, and Gu Zhenhua also hastily nodded in agreement.

  At the end of the Ming dynasty, these generals had the habit of raising their own household troops. These household troops were essentially the war slaves of the military commanders, completely dependent on them for survival. At the same time, they received key armaments and had very strong combat capabilities. It can even be said that the number of a general's household troops directly determined the strength or weakness of his fighting power.

  The Gengjing Army was no exception, with many generals having a considerable number of personal guards. Wu Sangui had more than 3,000 elite personal guards who served as vanguards and also supervised the warhorses in battle.

  For these trusted family members, Wu Sangui was their heaven and everything to them. It's basically impossible for them to defect. Gu Zhenhua didn't think of persuading them either, he just charged forward at the head of his horse.

  "What a person!"

  "You're going to be the death of me!"

  Gu Zhenhua raised his hand and shot three arrows in a row, and the three house guards fell to the ground. The other house guards were also frightened, but these guys didn't retreat, instead they became even more frenzied and rushed forward, fighting together with Gu Zhenhua.

  These household troops were all skilled in martial arts and rich in battle experience. Facing them, Gu Zhenhua was also particularly cautious. The battlefield was narrow, with no room to retreat or even dodge.

  Back and forth fighting for hundreds of rounds, that's the plot of a novel. In reality, it often comes down to just a few moves to determine victory or defeat, relying on physical strength and reaction ability. Being ruthless and quick enough can keep you alive.

  These two points are Gu Zhenhua's strong points, and after receiving scientific military training in later generations, Gu Zhenhua is familiar with the weaknesses of the human body.

  He drew his sword with precision and ruthlessness, leaving no time for his opponent to react. The blade sliced through a house guard's ribcage, instantly spilling out the internal organs. The colorful entrails made one want to vomit, and before another could even hesitate, Gu Zhenhua's knife had already chopped into his throat, sending a head flying far away.

  Watching Gu Zhenhua knock down these family soldiers one by one, the soldiers behind him were also boiling with enthusiasm, especially Yue Poyu and Hu Shan, who took the lead in charging forward.

  "Let you be arrogant, let you be unruly, let you eat better than me, let you take more than me, let you look down on me..." Hu Shan scolded loudly while swinging his axe, splitting the shield and then chopping off a head.

  Fresh blood stimulated everyone's nerves, and the soldiers all rushed up. The family guards who guarded these war horses were less than a hundred people, with a disparity ratio of twenty to one, plus a villain like Gu Zhenhua, they quickly collapsed.

  "Hurry and tell the general, someone has rebelled!"

  The remaining dozen or so family guards fought desperately to get out, wanting to escape. At this time, Gu Zhenhua's bow and arrow were drawn again, continuously shooting six or seven of them, but there were still a few fish that escaped the net.

  "Brothers, let's hurry up and get on horseback."

  At the sound of the order, all these people rushed over, each looking for their war horses. Just then, a head poked out from the horse house next door, peeking out stealthily.

  "Who is it?"

  "Don't get me wrong, don't get me wrong, you're one of Master Gu's men, right? We're our own people, our own people!"

  A thin, withered figure emerged from the room, nodding and bowing repeatedly. Gu Zhenhua also hurried over on horseback, just in time to see this guy, who was no more than five feet tall, hunched back, bulging eyes, and a sparse yellow beard on his chin, looking like a giant shrimp.

  As soon as he saw Gu Zhenhua, he hastily said: "You are Lord Gu, Mr. Li has long said that you are majestic and dignified in appearance, a rare hero under the sky. A humble person like me, at first sight, was immediately moved by this heroic aura..."

  "Shut up." Gu Zhenhua shouted angrily: "I'm busy and don't have time to fool around with you, it's Mr. Li who told you to wait for me, does he have any instructions?"

  Yes, yes!

  The fellow hastily turned around, fetched out a pile of white cloth strips, and smilingly presented them in front of Gu Zhenhua.

  "Mr. Li has surrendered, so you should put your hands up first to avoid mistakenly hurting one of our own people."

  Gu Zhenhua was also suddenly awakened, and the Shanhai Pass was indeed chaotic at this time. There were Ning Army, Dashun Army, and it was possible that the Qing people would also kill in, so a distinguishing mark between friend and foe was indeed needed.

  "Mr. Li has made up his mind, everyone put it on!"

  At Gu Zhenhua's command, every right arm had an extra white cloth, very conspicuous. In this courtyard, there were more than 3,000 war horses, each soldier had one, and many were left over, some people simply had two horses per person, anyway Gu Zhenhua said that these war horses were their own, so they didn't stand on ceremony.

  "Master Gu, Mr. Li also instructed that if you have the guts, near Xiluo City, there are still many war horses and pack mules. Next to it is also a granary and a treasury..."

  Before he could finish speaking, Gu Zhenhua grabbed the guy's collar and lifted him onto the war horse.

  "This lord has nothing else, just guts big enough, you lead the way for me!"

  Gu Zhenhua had long said that whoever seized the war horses would get to keep them, so the soldiers were particularly motivated and, under Gu's leadership, charged straight towards the Western City.

  At this time, Shanhaiguan was completely messed up. Gu Zhenhua led more than 2,000 people to turn around and leave, leaving a big gap in the city defense. The Dashun Army rushed up immediately, and when they didn't see any soldiers, they thought it was a trap.

  But after walking a few steps, they found that this was actually a heaven-sent gap, so someone on the city wall shouted loudly, and the large Shun army outside the city rushed in.

  Not only Nanjing, but also Beiyuan City had surrendered to Li Zicheng, and the Dashun Army followed suit. The two armies attacked each other, and in an instant, Wu Sangui's army was completely routed, retreating in defeat, exhausted from fleeing.

  "What's going on? Wu Sanrong this idiot, letting him kill someone, hesitating and procrastinating, he's simply a good-for-nothing!"

  Wu Sangui was scolding in the commander's mansion when suddenly a hurried footsteps, Yang Kun rushed in and said breathlessly: "Commander, it's not good! The bandits have broken into the city!"

  "What!" Wu Sangui suddenly stood up, his eyebrows raised: "A bunch of useless people, I'll take them down myself!"

  As he spoke, Wu Sangui adjusted his armor and fully armed himself. When his hand brushed past his head, he also paused for a moment. His hair was already shaved clean, leaving only the golden rat tail at the back of his head. A hint of awkwardness flashed through his mind, but it was immediately thrown off by Wu Sangui as he strode out of the mansion in big steps. With his sword held high, Wu Sangui led the charge towards the west of the city.

  "General, bandits are approaching from the south, you..." Yang Kun reminded.

  Wu Sangui smiled coldly: "That's right, I want to make the Regent King feel at ease!"

  After finishing speaking, Wu Sangui gritted his teeth and rushed down. His target was the Crown Prince Zhu Cizhen.

  In fact, when the Battle of Shanhai Pass had just begun, Dorgon led the Qing army to a place ten miles outside Shanhai Pass, but they did not rush to join the battle and instead watched from the sidelines.

  The battle had been going on for half a day, and Wu Sangui could no longer hold out. He personally led Wu Sanrong and others to charge out of the North City and meet with Dorgon, requesting that the Qing dynasty send troops.

  But Dorgon was cunning and would not make a losing deal. He agreed to withdraw his troops, but the Ningxia army had to surrender to the Qing, and he also promised to confer the title of Pingxi King on Wu Sangui.

  Unlike history, Gu Zhenhua brought the crown prince to Shanhaiguan. Dorgon's vigilance against Wu Sangui increased several times. If a battle was fought and Wu Sangui escorted the crown prince back to the capital, how could the Qing dynasty conquer Central China?

  Dorgon set out the conditions, Wu Sangui immediately shaved his hair and changed into Manchu attire, accepted the title of Prince Pingxi, and handed over the crown prince as a hostage.

  Wu Sangui was forced into a desperate situation and had no choice but to shave his head and become a subject of the Qing dynasty.

  A small quantity is not a gentleman, non-toxic is not a man. Since the Qing dynasty has been overthrown, this thorn in the eye, Gu Zhenhua, cannot be left behind. Therefore, he successively ordered Guo Yunlong and Wu Sanrong to kill Gu Zhenhua.

  Of course, in Wu Sangui's heart, the more troublesome one was actually the Crown Prince. He was very clear that the Qing would not help the Ming Dynasty to revive, and the Crown Prince would surely die. However, Wu Sangui did not want to bear the name of regicide.

  Suddenly he remembered Fan Wen Cheng's reminder at the time of his departure: In a chaotic world, villains emerge in all directions, true and false are difficult to distinguish, be cautious again and again!

  Wu Sangui finally understood what Fan Wenlong meant, who cares if it's true or false, as long as he insisted that the prince was an imposter, killing him would be no big deal.

  Just as Wu Sangui was about to kill the Crown Prince and surrender to Dorgon, Gu Zhenhua led his soldiers and rushed onto the horse grounds.

  As the loss of land outside the pass, the war horses of the Ming dynasty are becoming more and more limited, but the Gwangning Army is absolutely an exception. With just the elite Gwangning Iron Cavalry, there are enough for 10,000 people, according to the basic configuration of three horses per person, the Gwangning Army also has 30,000 war horses, and even 50,000 is not uncommon.

  Apart from the purebred warhorses, there must be a large number of pack horses, otherwise it would be impossible to support the battles outside the pass. As soon as Gu Zhenhua rushed out of the horse farm, he was shocked by the scene in front of him - a vast expanse of blackness, all of which were warhorses.

  Either proudly neighing or kicking the ground, there are at least tens of thousands of them. Gu Zhenhua's eyes were filled with greedy light, and it was feared that the entire southern region could not gather so many excellent war horses!

  Especially since the Qing dynasty controlled the north, it was even more impossible to get war horses. The present was the only opportunity, not only could it support the consumption of 2,000 cavalrymen, but also breed offspring and guarantee military horse supplies.

  Gu Zhenhua thought of this, his blood boiling: "Brothers, what are you waiting for? Follow me in the charge, don't leave a single warhorse behind!"