stubborn thief

Chapter 458
Inside the northern side wall of Suzhou, there is a big river called Beida River. The place in Hebei guarding a low flat mountain is called Maliantan, and the land is full of saline and alkali.

Malian, also known as Ma Lin, is a salt-alkali-tolerant plant that is often born in overgrazed saline-alkaline pastures. The leaves can be used as fodder for cattle, sheep and camels, as well as papermaking and weaving crafts. The roots can be used as brushes, and the flowers can be used as medicine to diuretic. Laxative, the seeds used as medicine can remove dampness and heat, stop bleeding, detoxify, reduce fever, and deworm, which is a treasure all over the body.

But on the evening of the tenth day of March in the seventh year of Chongzhen, the only useful feature of the large patches of rush grass on Malian Beach that had just turned from yellow to green was that they were not afraid of being trampled on.

Because the two ponds in the northwest are fighting on this saline-alkali flat.

When Tang Qi saw Tang Qi, he was dressed in the same clothes and came from the same background. There was no new or old hatred. The two sides could not help themselves, and the purpose of the battle was to cover the battlefield. Therefore, they often shot each other with bows, arrows and muskets, and refused to get close to each other. fight.

Suzhou general Zhao Zhirui appeared in Pingshan in a hurry, looking at Maliantan where Tangqi was fighting at the foot of the mountain, his eyes were cold.

For two days and nights, I followed Zhang Tianlin's buttocks and ate sand, walked in a large circle of two hundred miles in the defense zone, lost two forts and one pasture, and burned the two mountain pass camps to ruins. Now the blue smoke is floating behind them. Let them suffocate their anger and have nowhere to vent it.

Zhao Zhirui was not dazzled by anger, because the situation on the battlefield was not right.

His troops from the pond chased the enemy soldiers from the back of the army for twenty miles, and the soldiers from the rear of the Marshal's Mansion kept fighting and retreating. His soldiers kept chasing and fighting until they entered Malian Beach , The battle line of those soldiers in the rear of the palace stabilized, and they turned to fight with them.

If there is a stalemate in the process of retreating and advancing, the retreating army will have to pay a multiplied price, because the soldiers he spread out for twenty miles will come in one after another, forming a situation where more troops are fighting and less are fighting.

They should have gained the upper hand, and the battle line has gradually spread out. Nearly [-] Tang cavalry from both sides formed a mutually squeezing front on the Gobi, but they still failed to break through the blockade of the enemy cavalry on Malian Beach. The thing-the main force of the enemy army turned back.

For this kind of scene, foreign generals might be frightened by the squeezed battle lines, but for Zhao Zhirui, it was almost as if he had written a letter to his face, which was equivalent to a clear card.

He already knew the origin of the enemy army through the pond newspaper from the side wall. The leader of the army is Zhang Tianlin. Fortress, now Hanhan Liu Chengzong's generals.

This ghostly place called Yuhebao has talented people, and Zhao Zhirui looked down on Zhang Tianlin when he saw this background, and thought that the person from Yuhebao must be from Liu Chengzong's direct line, and they probably didn't have any great skills, and they got here through connections.

Thinking about it, he came from Yuhebao. With this qualifications, he must have played the whole game with Liu Chengzong.

The generals in Gansu didn’t know much about the Marshal’s Mansion. The only generals they knew were Yang Yao and Wang Wenxiu, who showed their talents in the Hehuang War. Both of them were defectors from the Mutiny of Guyuan. There are a total of five brigade commanders in the mansion, namely Yang Yao, Wang Wenxiu, Basang, Xie Erhu, Mo Yujing.

Zhao Zhirui has heard of Yang Yao and Wang Wenxiu, and he also knows about Mo Yujing, who used to be a member of the imperial court. As for what Xie Erhu and Basang are capable of, he doesn't know, but he also knows where they came from.

In Zhao Zhirui's heart, these five people represented the old rogues, tartars, fans, and descendants of the marshal's mansion respectively.

If Zhang Tianlin, who played all the games, is really capable, can she let outsiders from other places ride on her head?Apparently, those people in Yuhebao didn't have much ability.

There was nothing wrong with Zhao Zhirui's judgment, but the conditions at the beginning were wrong, Zhang Tianlin was not a direct descendant of Liu Chengzong, even if this guy fell into the grass later, it was very likely that Liu Chengzong would be Zhang Tianlin's direct descendant.

Although he has not figured out the establishment of the Marshal's Mansion until now, Zhang Tianlin, a member of the army, has led more than 5000 horses, but at least the specifications of these 5000 people are no different from that of a battalion of the official army. They are all 24 ponds along the way , Five riders per pond.

The road here is the road where the soldiers are divided into two groups.

Zhang Tianlin has two roads of Tangqi, and there are no roads in the area of ​​Maliantan and the northern side wall. They are all Gobi and desert, so there is no need to divide the troops, unless the cavalry separates for fast travel.

The normal distance between two Tangqis is one mile, and there are more than a hundred enemy Tangqis on Malian Beach, which is ten miles wide, and these people should have spread out within ten miles.

Therefore, for Zhao Zhirui, this picture is Zhang Tianlin conveying the military situation to him very straightforwardly: the main force of the enemy army has turned back ten miles, and the infantry and cavalry are out of touch during the march.

The distance between them was only forty or fifty miles, Zhang Tianlin walked back for a while, Zhao Zhirui judged that the distance between him and Zhang Tianlin should be about thirty miles.

Zhao Zhirui is fighting at home and is familiar with every plant and tree here. Ma Liantan and then north through the long sandy land is the side wall of the Great Wall. To the east is the Beida River extending to Jintasibao outside the Great Wall. The surrounding areas suitable for battlefields are only The land between Maliantan and Huangtuyazi is more than ten miles away.

There was no point in continuing to advance his battle line. Seeing that the sun had already set in the west, he estimated that the battle should start tomorrow morning, so he made a bold plan.

Zhao Zhirui recruited his subordinate Qian Zongmi's seal on Pingshan, drew a sketch with a branch at his feet, and revealed his analysis, and then said: "You lead [-] cavalry from your headquarters to Pingshan, hold back the bandit soldiers, and collect firewood. Tomorrow morning, after the smoke rises from the mountains, we will retreat to the Linshui post on the east bank of the Beida River."

He pointed to the north side of Malian Beach on the sketch and said: "The thief's infantry and cavalry are out of touch. I led the cavalry to go around Malian Beach from the west to the north and kicked their infantry camp tonight. If the enemy doesn't chase you tomorrow morning, you I will meet up at Linshui Post City; if it is better for the bandit army to pursue you, I will be behind them and wait for them to cross the river to invite attack."

Qian Zongmi's seal did not have any objection to the order, so he embraced the order and went to arrange it.

Not long after that, Zhao Zhirui led thousands of five hundred riders from the south of Pingshan Mountain to the north and walked around Zhaobi Mountain. They were not worried about being discovered, because the west side of Zhaobi Mountain was a desert, let alone looking for a needle in a haystack, even if they deliberately drilled into it It's easy to get lost.

Only if you go north, you are not afraid of getting lost, because there is the indicator of the Great Wall in the north.

Zhao Zhirui's plan was very simple. He walked twenty or thirty miles north to the Great Wall, and then appeared behind Zhang Tianlin, kicking down the infantry camp.

The plan was very careful, and he didn't want to send scouts from the west to scare the snake away, so he specially found a few camels from the herdsmen stationed in Zhaobi Mountain, and planned to order the messengers to ride straight to the Jintasi Fort outside the border to see the Jintasi Fort How is the situation.

But before his messengers were on the road, the postman from Jintasibao had already run over with a letter from guarding Li Junen.

Zhao Zhirui was puzzled at first, why there were postmen outside the side wall, so he stopped the postmen and called to him, and opened the letter.

The postman’s name is Suokang, and he is really familiar with the business of the posthouse. He said that he is a postposter at Linshui Posthouse, and his younger brother is serving as a soldier in Jintasibao. Seeing that spring is coming, he wants to help his younger brother take his winter clothes to Suzhou. Received a military letter on the way.

Zhao Zhirui could understand this matter, he had been owed wages for some time, and anyway, he couldn't wear winter clothes in summer, so it would be appropriate to pawn them for money first, and then wait for the court to pay the wages and then add some money to redeem it.

Unfolding the letter, it is indeed the handwriting and seal of Li Junen, the garrison of Jinta Temple, requesting Suzhou to dispatch soldiers and horses, saying that there are hundreds of Tartars wandering outside the fort, and there is not enough soldiers to destroy them.

This cannot be faked.

Zhao Zhirui said in his heart that the matter is settled!
The garrison of Jintasibao returned to Suzhou to ask for ordnance. It is certain that they did not see the thieves stepping out of the side wall. Then I asked the middle-aged postman in front of me. It was indeed the case. As if he had taken a reassurance, he led the soldiers to bury their heads towards the side wall Walk.

But he didn't know that the yellow-headed Uyghur in front of him, who was nearly fifty years old and had a low eyebrow, was the famous Langtou Suokang of the Three Tribulations Association.

In the more than 40 years of this yellow-headed Uighur's life, he has been a postman for most of his life, but he is not a postman at Linshui Posthouse, but a postposter at the Heiquan Horse Posthouse on the side of Gaotai Qianhusuo, and when Lord Chongzhen streamlined the post station, Cut him off.

But Suokang has always felt that in his life, he is truly alive when he leaves the inn. He joined the Sanjiehui in his 40s. Wang Ziyong is the most capable general around him.

For the Huidao sect leader who was born in northern Shaanxi, Suokang, who was well-informed and familiar with the road in Gansu, was a talent who could not be found with a lantern.

Suokang also lived up to Wang Ziyong's trust.

He established the Sanjie Club’s underground station in Gansu, and was a pawn tycoon in Zhangye and Wuwei, Suzhou. He pawned off unnecessary armor and equipment for border guards at low prices, and stimulated domestic demand for military horse smuggling trade and funeral ceremonies in Gansu Town. The physical and mental health of the lonely old people, women and children left behind in the village has enabled thousands of laid-off colleagues and post children to go back to employment, and reduced the unemployment rate of the first-class soldiers by 34 percentage points on their own.

He is the big hero of Gansu Town.

Suokang was ordered by Wang Ziyong to go to Suzhou to contact the disciples in the city, and gave them the prophecy to open the gate of the city, but he didn't expect to meet the officers and soldiers in the desert on the way, and he was so frightened. It almost popped out of my throat.

Fortunately, there was no danger. After leaving Zhao Zhirui's army, Suokang ran two miles towards Suzhou. Only then did he realize that Zhao Zhirui's army was heading north...there was no way out The wall put their army in one pot?
He went to Suzhou because Zhang Tianlin snatched all the armed forces of the Three Tribulations Association. Wang Ziyong thought that it would not be a problem to be idle, so he made the next plan to rob Suzhou City and let him report the letter.

Just their more than 3000 people, all relying on long and short weapons and a few cannons, without horses or bows and arrows, hitting Zhao Zhirui was a one-sided massacre.

Thinking of this, Suokang quickly turned his horse's head and galloped northward in the desert under the night. He rushed to the Jinta Temple before Zhao Zhirui reached the side wall, and reported the news to Wang Ziyong.

Wang Ziyong was also taken aback by this information, and he didn't dare to ask for Jinta Sibao, so he hurriedly asked Ji Tutaiji to pack up and run north.

Ji Tutaiji was puzzled and asked, "What are we running for?"

Wang Ziyong looked at Ji Tutaiji like a fool: "Will the officers and soldiers run away?"

In fact, thinking that the other party is a fool is often mutual.

In fact, Pitutaiji admired Wang Ziyong very much. They only got together in Gansu for half a day, and Pitutaiji from Chahar had already realized the terrible talent of this guy who said that he was a priest, not a priest, and a monk.

He was able to unite everyone by his side, and in a few words, he surrendered the Jinta Temple defenders who vowed to fight the Mongols to the death, and even assured the soldiers that their relatives in Gaotai and Suzhou would be rewarded. Take good care of.

It doesn't matter if it's bragging, but Wang Ziyong really conveyed such an order to his subordinates, and some of his subordinates actually ran out to carry out such an order and pass on the message.

Ji Tutaiji thought to himself, as long as his elder brother's ability to fool people is half that of Wang himself, the Beiyuan Khan Court will not be able to break up.

But what should be despised, Ji Tutaiji also despises it very much. Wang Ziyong knows nothing about strategy and tactics except for the matter of war!

Ji Tutaiji said: "Wang Huishou, this meeting should worry that it's not you and me, it's the horse bandit. This is the five sentries."

"The soldiers are divided into five sentries?"

Wang Ziyong leaned back slightly, let out a 'hiss', squinted his eyes and looked at Ji Tutaiji, with a face full of disbelief: "Suo Kang didn't say that the army was divided into five parts!"

Ji Tutaiji was so anxious that he just wanted to jump up and down, thinking that I, a native Mongolian, would make your heavenly army know how to beat you. The five parts hold the enemy..."

He wrapped his open hand around Wang's own arm, and with the other hand he punched it from the other side: "Aren't the two parts also for the purpose of killing the enemy? Inference from one instance, Han people!"

When Jitu Taiji said this, Wang Ziyong understood. He gave him a thumbs up and said, "Taiji is high, you know the art of war and can speak idioms, you shouldn't be Taiji, you should educate children in Gansu."

Ji Tutai said who underestimated, we are the first-term students of Xincheng Academy in Mongolia.

But he didn't have the time to play tricks on Wang Ziyong here, and urged: "There is no rush to enlighten the child, Wang Huishou should hurry up and tell the horse bandit that the officers and soldiers are going to copy his ass."

"Be open-minded!"

Wang Ziyong boasted again, so he hurriedly dispatched manpower, ordered them to divide into multiple routes, and quickly reported the news to Zhang Tianlin.

Ji Tutaiji was not open-minded, Zhang Tianlin robbed him of his weapons and mounts, and the Han Chinese he hated the most was Zhang Tianlin.

In another situation, he ignored the matter in a daze, but it would not work. Zhang Tianlin was holding his horse. If the horse bandit was wiped out, he would have to go back to Liu Chengzong in disgrace.

It was already early in the morning when Zhang Tianlin received the news, curled up in the sand in a low tent, leaning on the stomach of a war horse, and was sleeping soundly. When she suddenly received such a military report, she was so frightened that her eyes widened like copper bells, thinking about the strategy of the war. At dawn, I decided to ignore the front and clean up the pursuers behind.

He was guarding Li Junen at Jintasibao, which he captured from behind at noon. If he was flanked by the officers and soldiers, it would be a reward for the world.

In the early morning of March [-]th in the seventh year of Chongzhen, just after dawn, a particularly strange scene appeared on Maliantan and Pingshan Mountain. Cooking smoke rose from the dark camp in the desert, and also from the top of Pingshan Mountain. But two The army did not even look at each other, and evacuated their camps one by one from the south to the north.

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)