Zu Zepu, whose courtesy name was Longyuan, was from Ningyuan, Liaodong, and was the eldest son of Zu Dashou.
(Before Zu Zepu was born, Zu Dashou had a stepson named Zu Zerun.)
After the defeat in the Battle of Songjin, Zu Dashou, who had been trapped for a year, led his cousin Zu Dabi, stepson Zu Zerun, nephew Zu Zechun and others to surrender to the Qing Dynasty.
Zu Zepu did not surrender because he was inside the Great Wall.
In order to contain Wu Sangui, Chongzhen deliberately arranged Zu Zepu to serve in the Guanning Army.
After all, the Guanning Army was previously under the control of his father Zu Dashou.
With him around, Wu Sangui's personal influence would be much smaller.
Chongzhen was not afraid that Zu Zepu would take the opportunity to surrender to the Jiannu.
First of all, Zu Zepu did not have many troops, so even if he surrendered, it would not be much loss to the court.
Secondly, Zu Zepu’s mother, Zuo, was a loyal and patriotic person.
She was not only loyal to the emperor and patriotic, but also good at using troops.
During the Battle of Songjin, she heard in Ningyuan that the Ming army's food supply was cut off, and immediately led the garrison to provide assistance.
As a result, before he arrived at the battlefield, he received the news that Hong Chengchou was trapped in Songshan City.
Because the Jiannu had too many troops and the troops she led were not good at attacking strongholds, she had no choice but to lead her troops back to Ningyuan to defend it.
After Zu Dashou surrendered, he asked someone to sneak into Ningyuan disguised as a woodcutter, intending to let her leave the city to reunite with him.
Zuo refused righteously and denounced Zu Dashou: You will not die if you betray your country!
Wu Sangui was the nephew of Zu Dashou and a cousin of Zu Zepu.
Hearing that Wu Sangui was going to take him out of the border for investigation, Zu Zepu immediately stood up and saluted: "I obey your command."
Hu Xinshui and Bak Yong followed suit and saluted: "I obey your orders!"
Wu Sangui laughed and said, "Drink, drink. Let's drink to our heart's content today. If we meet the Jiannu tomorrow, we can kill them to our heart's content!"
"General, please feel free to do as you please. Let's drink!" All the generals raised their glasses in unison and toasted Wu Sangui.
Wu Sangui did not respond to the generals' toasts. Instead, he raised his glass and looked at the eunuch who was supervising the army and said, "The food, clothing and expenses of the Guanning Army all come from your majesty and the court. Eunuch Li is your majesty's man. Let's toast to Eunuch Li."
The generals immediately surrounded the eunuch supervising the army and toasted him.
The eunuch supervising the army immediately smiled: "Oh, it's hard to refuse such a kind invitation, it's hard to refuse such a kind invitation! In that case, let's drink a toast!"
"cheers!"
Amidst laughter and joy.
A bright moon rises from the horizon and hangs high in the sky.
The silvery moonlight shines on the earth like sunshine, dispelling countless darkness.
Da da da!
On the morning of August 16, the clear and pleasant sound of horse hooves was heard outside Shanhaiguan.
Two thousand cavalrymen lined up outside the pass, ready to go.
Wu Sangui was riding on his horse, full of vigor and vitality.
Generals Hu Xinshui and Bake Yong were on the left and right.
Wu Sangui's eyes quickly swept across the faces of the soldiers. He looked up at the rising sun in the sky and shouted in a low voice: "Pass the order, send out the troops!"
Hulala!
The flags fluttered and the war horses neighed.
Hu Xinshui took the lead and led 500 cavalrymen towards the northeast.
Buck Yong whipped his horse and followed with five hundred cavalrymen.
Tiechangbao and Yong'anbao are both located northeast of Shanhaiguan.
The former is closer to Shanhaiguan and relatively west.
The latter is far away from Shanhaiguan and is located further north.
The remaining one thousand cavalrymen stared at the central army flag, motionless.
"Go!" Wu Sangui urged the warhorse under his crotch and moved forward slowly.
Zu Zepu and a thousand cavalrymen followed closely behind.
Guangning Zhongqianso is less than 40 miles away from Shanhaiguan, and the marching speed is very fast. They arrived near Zhongqianso before noon.
Wu Sangui climbed up to the top and looked far into the distance for a long time, then put down his clairvoyance, cursing: "What the hell!"
"What's wrong, General?" Zu Zepu came over.
"Look," Wu Sangui handed the Clairvoyance to Zu Zepu, pointed to a barren area in the distance and said, "That used to be the city of Zhongqianso in Guangning, but now there is nothing there!"
"Not to mention the city walls, I didn't even see a decent building."
Zu Zepu took the clairvoyance and looked carefully. It was just as Wu Sangui said, the entire city seemed to have disappeared out of thin air.
"Send a few people to check out the scene, and send some scouts to keep watch from a distance!" Wu Sangui ordered.
More than twenty people urged their horses out and galloped towards the scene.
After a while, a scout came back with a report: "Your Excellency the General, the front post in Guangning has been destroyed, and no trace of the enemy has been found nearby."
"Well," Wu Sangui frowned and led his troops to the scene.
After arriving at the scene, Wu Sangui was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
The Guangning Zhongqian Station, which was once extremely strong, has now become a ruin.
The city walls and buildings were all destroyed, and the damage was severe.
Not only did the walls collapse and the house fall down, but the wood was burned to ashes and the adobe and bricks were smashed into pieces.
Rebuilding it would require a lot of manpower and material resources.
"General," Zu Zepu urged his horse to Wu Sangui's side, "Guangning Zhongqianso has been destroyed. It seems that the Jiannu want to make this place a buffer zone."
"Indeed!" Wu Sangui nodded. "This place is less than 40 miles away from Shanhaiguan, but more than 200 miles away from Ningyuan. Once our army launches an attack, their garrison in Ningyuan will have no time to support them, so they will simply give up!"
Zu Zepu looked into the distance and asked, "Could it be that all the twenty-four forts between Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan were destroyed?"
"It's hard to say," Wu Sangui looked into the distance, "Let's go back to the interior to rest first, and bring enough food for five days to continue the investigation tomorrow!"
The group slowly returned to the interior.
Soon after Wu Sangui returned to the interior, Hu Xinshui and Ba Keyong came back one after another to report: "Tiechang Fort has been destroyed!"
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