stubborn thief

It was Ding Shaoyin, the commander of the Liangzhou Guard, who sent troops into the Zhuanglang Valley from Liangzhou.

Under the order of Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides, he led [-] troops from Liangzhouwei, left Gulang Gorge, settled in Anyuan Post City, and monitored Zhuanglangwei City from afar.

Ding Shaoyin knew in his heart that the governors of the three sides did not have enough confidence in launching a decisive battle in Zhuanglanghe, so all he did was monitor from afar and had no plans to enter the army.

However, during this period of time, he found that he had missed the best time to regain Zhuang Langwei.

Because on the second day after he entered Anyuan Post City, the Tang soldiers who had gone out to the vicinity of Wusheng Post sent back news that the Mongolian army in Zhuanglangwei had withdrawn from the city in a large scale.

But at that time, Ding Shaoyin did not send troops immediately because of Hong Chengchou's order on the one hand, and on the other hand, he was worried that it was the enemy's strategy to lure the enemy. With the baggage, Zhuang Langwei's garrison has become more visible to the naked eye.

It wasn't until the news of the fall of Lanzhou City spread to Gansu that Hong Chengchou moved from Liangzhouwei to Gulangxia and gave Ding Shaoyin the order to march.

But the situation has changed at this time. According to the report of the Tang soldiers, there are at least [-] troops stationed in Zhuanglang Weicheng at this time, which is far beyond the capabilities of Ding Shaoyin's headquarters. It is unwise to forcibly attack the city.

Fortunately, Hong Chengchou's allocation of materials to this army was fairly dedicated. The 3000 troops were all the banner troops of Liangzhou Guard, equipped with [-] horses, chariots, artillery, and rations.

The enemy is outnumbered and we are still defending the strong city.

Ding Shaoyin's idea was to go step by step, first to ensure that his side would not be annihilated due to an ambush, second to lure the Tatar soldiers out of the city to fight in the field, and then rely on stronger field combat capabilities to defeat the main force, and then seize the city.

His thinking was very clear, but he slowly led his army closer to Zhuanglang Weicheng, the defenders in the city didn't take the bait at all, and were indifferent to his temptation.

Even if he was in a dangerous situation and sent out a thousand households to lead the banner army to bypass the Acropolis and go south, the defenders in the city would not be fooled.

Looks like an iron bastard.

On the 23rd of the first month of the seventh year of Chongzhen.

At dawn, Ding Zizhen, the eldest son of Ding Shaoyin, the commander of Liangzhou Wei, led his Tang Qi to look at the Weicheng on the hillside eight miles north of Zhuanglang Weicheng. He frowned tightly as he watched a convoy transporting into the city from the south of the city.

You Tang rode forward and reported, "Young General, it's another five hundred."

Ding Zizhen nodded to show that she knew, shook her head and sat on the stone, staring at the Acropolis, puzzled, as if talking to herself, or asking for an answer from the entourage: "Twelve days, seven armies with vehicles What are they trying to do with food and grass entering the city?"

Ding Zizhen couldn't figure it out no matter what, neither the purpose of deploying troops here nor the meaning of such a deployment.

In any case, the number of defenders in Zhuanglang Acropolis increased visibly with the naked eye, military flags were strewn all over the city, and more and more soldiers changed their defenses every day.

Moreover, these food transportation teams were not Tartars, they were all Han soldiers from the appearance of their makeup. Liu Chengzong relied on his elite veterans from the three sides to dominate in Hexi. The movements of this army already affected people's hearts.

Faced with this situation, including Ding Zizhen's father Ding Shaoyin, the officers of the Liangzhou Army believed that there were only three possibilities for the Marshal's Mansion's move.

Either it is to mobilize heavy troops to start a decisive battle with the Gansu frontier army in the Zhuanglang River Basin; or it is to block the Gansu army and go straight to Guanzhong; there is also a very small possibility that the seven grain transportation teams with a scale of only four to five hundred, to seduce them.

But this may be too low. After all, my family knows their own affairs, and they are all officials of the Weisuo. They know the capabilities of their own banner army.

It is nonsense to say that the Liangzhou Guard Banner Army who has guarded the border for generations cannot fight, but the Guard Banner Army does have a gap with the elite battalion in many aspects such as training, equipment, and age.

At least in Ding Zizhen's eyes, he didn't think that Liu Chengzong's elite corps needed to use the cautious way of luring the enemy to fight against them.

But to say that this is not a temptation, and it is unreasonable, because Ding Zizhen just led a group of family Ding and Qianhu to lead the army across Zhuanglangwei to the south the day before yesterday, and the defenders in the city were indifferent. Still 500 people.

This made Ding Zizhen, a 19-year-old reserve hereditary military officer, smell something different. When he got the news he wanted to know, he immediately ran back to the Liangzhou Army's camp in the north of the valley.

When he returned to the camp, his father, Ding Shaoyin, was summarizing the information that Tangqi had detected in the southwest mountains, and pushed out the information drawn on the simplified map, saying: "Tangqi discovered that there is a fan army stationed in the West Datong River Fort, but the number of troops is not yet known. , Fan was born in the mountains, and he is very cunning in holding firearms, he injured several Tangqi, and it is not easy to approach."

Ding Shaoyin didn't seem to be worried about this matter.

Because the officers of the Liangzhou Guards are very familiar with the terrain of the Zhuanglang River Basin. The terrain of two mountains sandwiching a river, the Songshan defense system of the imperial court is to the east, and the West Datong River Fort of the former Lu Tusi is to the west.

When the battle was fought in this place, the Liangzhou army needed to be more vigilant in the mountains to the west than in the valleys. Even if they didn't send people to investigate, they just guessed, and they could guess that there would be ambushes in the mountains.

Just like the imperial court would set up an ambush in Songshan.

Of course, Songshan does not need to set up an ambush. In a narrow sense, Songshan in the northwest refers to Maomao Mountain connected to Wushaoling. It is named for the lush pine trees on the mountain.

But in military terms, Songshan does not only refer to the Songshan Fort at the southern foot of Maomao Mountain, but the defense system that reaches Liangzhou and Ningxia in the north, Zhuanglang River in the west, and Songshan New Frontier in the north city of Lanzhou in the south.

This system takes Songshan Fort as the center and covers Sishui Fort on Liangzhou Road, Tumen Fort on Dajing Road, Dajing Yingcheng, Peijiaying Fort, Abaling Fort, Hongshui Fort on Lutang Road, Sanyanjing Fort, Dalutang City, Ten defensive castles, Xiaolutangbao and Suoqiaobao.

There are also three supporting castles where troops are stationed, Yongtai Yingcheng, Zhenlubao and Baodingbao from north to south.

Since the establishment of this defense system, ten defensive castles have been used as the front line, three support castles have been used as backup, and two side walls have been used as barriers, forming an elastic defensive front facing the north.

In comparison, the fortresses in Dongshan are denser than in Xishan, and it is easier for the garrison to attack the valley.

Ding Zizhen clasped his fists and said, "Father, today I see that the enemy has added another five hundred troops to Zhuang Langwei. They don't think they want to fight us in the river valley?"

"Very little, I hope to have a decisive battle in the river valley."

Ding Shaoyin didn't think this way because it would be beneficial for him to fight in the river valley, he just hoped that the war would be farther away from his hometown: "It's a pity that Hong Jun's game is superior. Now the Marshal's Mansion only needs to plan for Gansu, no matter whether it is over the mountain or into the valley. It’s all mediocre, but it’s a pity that Lanzhou lost it.”

Having said that, Ding Shaoyin still shook his head and said: "At the moment we still need to lure the enemy as soon as possible. Regardless of the Tartars or the Fanzi, we are a chariot battalion. We are not afraid of them when fighting in the valley. It has been delayed for a long time. I am worried about the shadow of famous trees. The soldiers couldn't take it."

Ding Zizhen asked, "Father is worried about Yingxiao?"

Ding Shaoyin changed his head, stood up and paced around the desk, and sighed: "Liu Chengzong's victory over the five towns is still there, and the Banner Army is too nervous."

Ding Zizhen thought for a while, and then asked carefully: "Father, my son has a guess today. Seven armies entered the city in succession, each with 500 people... Is it possible that the Tartar soldiers in Zhuanglangwei City have already escaped?" Now, there are only these Han soldiers in the city, are they playing tricks on the city?"

Ding Shaoyin asked back: "The Tartars have escaped?"

"Yes, if the [-] Han troops come to help, they shouldn't be indifferent to my thousands of soldiers marching south. My child, Han Khan used his troops to overwhelm people with power. Every time he sent troops, he would try his best to fight as many as possible. Why is it so cautious this time, there is probably a fraud in it."

Ding Shaoyin thought about it for a while, and didn't quite agree with this point of view, but it didn't dampen his son's enthusiasm.

It is a good thing to be good at thinking. When the eldest son turns [-] next year, he plans to retire. At that time, it will be Ding Zizhen's turn to be the commander. It is absolutely impossible not to dare to think about anything.

But he immediately asked: "You mean, the guards in the city will use Dong Zhuo's story to increase troops during the day and sneak out at night?"

Ding Zizhen nodded his head.

"It's easy for people to go out, but you have also seen the ruts. Since the twelfth day, the vehicles of the seven grain teams have been heavily loaded. The grain has not been out. Calculated only by grain and grass, the grain in the city has exceeded ten thousand stones, but no more. Defense?"

Ding Zizhen shook his head: "This is what my child can't understand. If there are [-] troops in the city, they will not sit and watch me go south and north; if there are not so many troops in the city, it is easy for people to escape, but food cannot follow... …The officers and soldiers don’t even have enough food and grass, so even Hanhan is not so wealthy.”

If he didn't say it, a general with Ding Shaoyin's seniority would definitely not think about it from this angle. After all, this kind of thing is too risky, normal people would not think about it in this direction, only gamblers can do it.

When Ding Zizhen said that, Ding Shaoyin couldn't help thinking in this direction, and when he thought about it, he couldn't sit still.

What does it mean that tens of thousands of stones of food, grass and luggage are thrown in this city, and there are not enough troops to guard it?
Ding Shaoyin said: "Since you brought it up, don't sleep tonight. You used to keep an eye on the defenders in the city. If someone really goes out, we will take the credit. The city is always safer than the car camp. What's more, it can give the banner army a few good meals."

The advantage of the car camp is that it is difficult to collapse after forming an formation. A normal army will run away if it cannot defeat the enemy, and it will collapse as soon as it runs. This is because running is safer than fighting.

The formed vehicle battalion itself is safer than the outside, unless there is no backup, but relatively speaking, a complete vehicle battalion leaves enough time for friendly troops to rescue.

Their food and water are enough to last for thirty days if they leave the food road, and if they kill the horses, they can last for another ten days.

Of course, very few armies can last until there is no food left before collapsing, but even so, the normal independent combat time of Cheying is more than [-] days.

For a full 20 days, it was enough for reinforcements to run over from Jiayuguan.

What Ding and his son didn't expect was that they didn't have time to investigate whether the Zhuanglang Acropolis was empty or not. Just as the father and son were discussing whether the Zhuanglang Acropolis was empty, an urgent report from the rear interrupted the conversation.

It was a Ningxia Tang soldier who came and submitted an urgent message: "General Ding, the army has an urgent order."

The first time Ding Shaoyin opened the letter, he glanced at Ding Zizhen, who couldn't help but ask, "Father, what's wrong?"

Ding Shaoyin closed the letter and let out a long sigh, then turned his head and said: "You have hit the mark, the military gate ordered me to march quickly to capture Zhuanglangwei, and the [-] captives from the Marshal's Mansion rushed into Songshan. You can see for yourself."

Ding Zizhen received the letter, and saw that the letter stated that the night before yesterday, the Songshan Fort defenders urgently reported that six or seven thousand captive soldiers stormed Songshan Fort.

But that night, Ma Peiliang, the garrison of Zhenlu Fort who saw the beacon fire, led [-] troops to help. He was ambushed and failed to form an formation, but was forced to charge by the Lu cavalry, and died during the defense. Zhenlu Fort fell that night.

Although Ding Zizhen had previously guessed about the number of defenders in Zhuanglang Weicheng, seeing that his guess was confirmed by the battle report, he still widened his eyes in surprise, swallowed his saliva and said, "Zhenlu Fort and Lanzhou are both trapped, and Baoding Fort may not be able to keep it either." .”

Following this urgent report, the Liangzhou army immediately set up their camp, carts and cannons, and headed towards Zhuanglangwei.

at the same time.

The chief Jing Xiaoliu stood at the head of Zhuanglang Weicheng, looked at the rising sun stretched out, and shouted to his subordinates: "It's time to change defense, move brother Dao."

The Hehuang soldiers who had just finished unloading the food immediately went to the city after hearing the order, and walked on the city wall alone pulling the rope.

There is a long wooden board behind each person, and on the board stand five scarecrows wearing flag army armor and red lacquered helmets with the word "Yong" on their heads.

Twelve days ago, Xie Erhu followed A Haidaiqing and led the Mongolian troops from Yongxiebu Camp and Khalkha Camp to sneak across Songshan Mountain, and the chief Jing Xiaoliu led Brother Dao to defend the city in fear every day.

Liu Chengzong was not afraid of the Gansu army, and the generals in Gansu were also afraid of Liu Chengzong, but for Jing Xiaoliu, a soldier from Hehuang Township, he was really afraid of the Gansu frontier army.

In the 47th year of Wanli, Qi Bingzhong, the last chieftain of Qi who left Hehuang, was the commander-in-chief of Gansu. Xiong Tingbi invited the Gansu army to aid Liao with his Gansu generals and his troops being brave and good at fighting.

The [-] frontier army followed the general army from Gansu to Liaodong. In the battle of Guangning, because of Sun Degong's adultery, he exposed the Gansu army in the rear to the front, and even died for the country.

Of the [-] Gansu soldiers, none of them returned home.

After the Jisi Change in the second year of Chongzhen, the heirs of the Gansu people who died in Liaodong continued to follow Mei Zhihuan to travel hundreds of miles a day to the king of the capital, without staying at the people's homes and penniless. It was Baili who mutinied, and after the mutiny, a large number of people went to King Qin of the capital.

And during these twelve days, Jing Xiaoliu led six hundred township soldiers to transport grain from Hongchengzi, sixty miles away, to Zhuanglangwei. foot.

If the six hundred township soldiers under him were as loyal, brave and hard-working as the Gansu frontier army to the court, he would dare to fight three thousand with six hundred.

Fortunately, Jing Xiaoliu didn't know what the Gansu army was afraid of, and he seemed to be frightened by his empty city strategy.

It's just that as the sound of the horn sounded from the top of the city, and a black shadow at the end of his vision pressed towards the city gate, Jing Xiaoliu knew that his good days were over.

At this moment, he couldn't tell whether he was happy or sad, and he was happy that the enemy army came to attack, which meant that Xie Erhu's tactics were successful.

The sad thing is that because of the heavy luggage in the city, he couldn't abandon the city and run away this time.

Jing Xiaoliu's face was calm, he turned his head and looked around at Danxia in the distance like an ink painting, and finally looked at the rising sun. He should have been a dead man long ago, Jingjiagou was looted by the government army that year.

Nervous soldiers ran past him, Dao Dao Feng Huo shot up into the sky behind him, he just slowly took out a handful of fried noodles from his waist, picked up a piece of jerky, chewed and swallowed it with mixed water, and then Tightly gripping the handle of the knife at his waist, he turned around and raised two fingers to the Baibos who came to ask for advice.

"In two days, we have captured a fortress in Songshan for the commander in chief. It is not a problem to be promoted to the ranks after the war is won. Please follow me to defend the city for two more days. After 24 hours, no reinforcements will arrive. You can mention my leader Don't be impatient until then."

Jing Xiaoliu looked at the five chief executives: "Fight with them!"