stubborn thief

Chapter 459
In the seventh year of Chongzhen, March [-]th, noon.

The strong wind brought the coldness of the night and dispelled it with the sunrise. The venomous sun in the northwest soon turned white, turning the desert Gobi into a cage filled with ghostly shadows. A soldier marching in the desert is like a A steamed bun that is about to be cooked.

The army led by Zhao Zhirui was exposed to the rain and the sun for days, and even the pace of the horses became heavy, but the soldiers on the horses still happily searched for the enemy in the desert.

Frontier soldiers all have a stubborn mindset. They are familiar with bad weather, so they firmly believe that bad weather is a good friend-the more miserable and exhausted their enemies are, the weaker they are.

Because God is the fairest on the battlefield, all unbearable circumstances they encounter will be imposed on the enemy as well. They firmly believe that they are stronger fighters than their opponents.

But even with this arrogance in their hearts, Zhao Zhirui's soldiers inevitably seemed discouraged. No matter how hard they searched in the desert south of the Great Wall, they couldn't find the infantry camp Zhang Tianlin left behind.

Zhao Zhirui was very discouraged. He wanted to attack Zhang Tianlin's infantry camp not only to win the battle, but also to have a strong sense of entrepreneurship.

Military generals should not start a business. Entrepreneurship means wealth. Generals themselves control military power. If they control wealth, wouldn’t they become warlords?But it all boils down to poverty.

The imperial court owes military salaries, and other places can serve military households or even eat empty salaries, but in Gansu, especially Suzhou, the generals are completely powerless to eat empty salaries... With the rise of Liu Chengzong in Qinghai, Chuoke Tutaiji and Lin Dan Khan swarmed in, and the Suzhou soldiers knew that they would fight sooner or later.

If the generals want to maintain their combat effectiveness under the condition of limited military pay, they have to drink soldiers' blood to raise a group of soldiers with better quality.

However, Gansu is special as a military town, and the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. The general officer is not only in charge of the local military, but also in charge of civil affairs. Mutiny in other places will cause conflicts between soldiers and officers, and the general soldier will often be killed. The general soldier and the soldiers stand together, and they usually kill the governor.

The unique geographical location gave birth to a new mode of production - trade.

Zhao Zhirui's starting capital was [-]% of the military salary allocated by the imperial court to the Suzhou camp. He divided the money into three parts, and gave the soldiers one part first.

There are two left, one to buy grain, and to buy military spirits during the festivals; the last one is given to the caravan to sell the goods to Hami, Turpan, and even Yarkand.

It's not that Zhao Zhirui can't do it alone. His official position is not low, but he used to work in Shaanxi and Shanxi, and his foundation in Gansu is very shallow, so he is only a minority shareholder.

Although they are all generals, Chai Shihua is the son of Chai Guozhu. Three of the four men from the two generations of Lao Chai's family died to the court, and only this last one is left. It's not something a poor old man like Zhao Zhirui can compare to.

This Silk Road belonging to the Gansu frontier general did not bring much wealth to Zhao Zhirui, nor could it fully make up for the huge expenditure of military pay, but it did broaden Zhao Zhirui's vision and thinking.

This time he wanted to attack Zhang Tianlin's infantry brigade behind, and the most important idea was to eat Zhang Tianlin's rations. Only by eating Zhang Tianlin's rations would Zhang Tianlin have a stronger desire to rob and they would have more loot.

But Zhang Tianlin's infantry camp could not be found right now, and it was already past noon, and he became impatient: the venture failed!

Didn't he fail? He didn't eat Zhang Tianlin's food, and Zhang Tianlin robbed the First Battalion of the Second Fort in his defense zone. No matter how he calculated, he lost money.

Nine times out of ten, life is unsatisfactory. Zhao Zhirui's disgraced leader marched towards Linshuiyi City, thinking that he would go there first to meet Mi Layin, and if Zhang Tianlin chased him, he would hit Zhang Tianlin first. It would be better if they didn't chase, so they could have a safe meal place.

What he was looking for was Wang Ziyong, who Zhang Tianlin had thrown outside the side wall, and he would definitely not find it outside the side wall; but it was relatively easy to find Zhang Tianlin's location.

And Zhang Tianlin was looking for him, and Suo Kang tipped him off, this matter is too simple.

Just after noon, Zhang Tianlin's subordinates found the exact location of Zhao Zhirui's troops, and then Feng Dakui, the head of the front department, returned to Zhang Tianlin's place to report: "General, we have found them, but... I think their marching formation is strict, I'm afraid it will not be easy Strong attack, do you want to find a better time?"

Zhang Tianlin shook her head slowly, whipped her horse and galloped across the army formation to the sand dunes, watching the formation of the border army of the Suzhou camp from a distance.

Each of the three columns was separated by fifty steps, and a queue less than two miles long was pulled out on the edge of the desert. The sentry cavalry spread out around them, walking in a very orderly manner. In each column, there were no armor, half armor and full armor. Sergeant, lead the horse and head east.

The march of the Suzhou Camp is in a state of battle, and they are prepared for a surprise attack. It is difficult for such a prepared enemy to defeat them in a short time.

Zhang Tianlin twitched the corner of her mouth with a smirk. He was able to lead the third-rate peasant army to survive the early melee of the Northern Shaanxi Uprising, and escaped from various guerrilla generals and defenses many times, thanks to the second-rate Excellent maneuverability and first-class battlefield sense.

He knows what the opponent wants to do and where the opponent wants to go, so that he can take the team to a safe place and escape from danger.

In fact, at this moment, in his mind, the better the performance of Zhao Zhirui's frontier troops and the more thorough their preparations for a sudden attack, the stronger his determination to attack.

The vast majority of generals who were born in the peasant army have a strong gambling mentality. The same art of war may have diametrically opposite understandings in the minds of regular army generals and peasant army generals.

Even if the same fighter opportunity is fleeting, the generals of the regular army may wait for a better opportunity, while the generals of the peasant army will largely have the courage to fight.

This has little to do with Zhang Tianlin's background in the regular army. In his military career, if he missed an opportunity, there would be no better one.

"The commander-in-chief is just outside the pass. Our mission is to hold back the enemy army inside the pass. The Suzhou battalion is divided into two groups, one of which has already entered the Linshui post. The [-] cavalry are also moving to Linshui post city. The State Army must be on the way."

Zhang Tianlin raised her whip on the sand dune and pointed to the battlefield, and said to her subordinates: "If it is difficult to win with [-] cavalry, wait for the enemy to join forces, there will be [-] or even more enemy troops. This is the best time. Destroy this department."

They are all frontier soldiers, and it is hard for Zhang Tianlin not to feel sympathetic, but at this moment, the enemy and his subordinates on the battlefield are the price.

Only by ending the war as soon as possible is the greatest kindness. The fastest way to end the war is to win a few devastating victories and destroy the resistance of the officers and soldiers, so as to prevent both sides from paying a greater price.

So what he wants is fear, if he hurts the Suzhou battalion once, the frontier troops in the entire Suzhou defense area will be afraid of them, and the next battle will be much easier.

Feng Dakui and the others took the order with their fists clasped together, followed by the command flag unfurled, and the cavalry with muskets on their shoulders whizzed out.

Zhao Zhirui's reaction was extremely fast, and the officers under his command were also well-trained. Although it was shocking that a cavalry suddenly appeared behind them, they immediately corrected their mentality and arranged a standard formation for the cavalry to be attacked.

The whole army consists of three columns of [-] cavalry, and is divided into nine divisions from the inside. Each column is divided into three batches under the general command.

The first batch was a small number of elite soldiers in armor who were marching and immediately got on their horses and waited outside the army formation.

The second group is the unarmored cavalry in the march, blindfolded and drove the horses to form a flesh and blood bunker outside the circle, armed with bows, arrows and muskets, ready to snipe at the small number of enemy cavalry that broke through the block, and deployed the small cannons carried with the army.

The third group is the soldiers who only wear half armor during the march. Some of them only wear armour, while others only wear chain mail or cotton-padded clothes.

The entire army was calm and orderly during the process, which made Zhao Zhirui very satisfied.

He is a general who has fought on the Xuanda defense line. Generally speaking, when the Mongolian army encounters such a situation, seeing their formation is well-organized, they are already considering retreating and must find a better opportunity to attack.

After all, the strength, state, and environment of an army are not constant. Those who are good at using the art of war say that they should hit the enemy by surprise.

But at this moment, Zhang Tianlin was in charge of attacking them, and the cavalry of Marshal's Mansion did not intend to stop there. They left a thousand headquarters near Zhang Tianlin to protect the coach, and the remaining two thousand headquarters formed a cavalry team that rolled into the sand and marched according to rank. gradually dispersed.

The two generals were divided into four generals, the four generals were divided into twenty hundred generals, and finally dispersed into a cavalry team led by forty management teams, forming a large fan, wide width, and rushed towards Su with overwhelming momentum. The cavalry of the state battalion galloped out.

The first to fight was the small teams in the middle of the battlefield. Since both sides were cavalry, and there was an army formation behind them, no one chose the traditional circling cavalry and shooting, but instead used the courageous pursuit Tactics.

They were not rushing fast. In the process of assault and confrontation, they first shot with muskets, and then galloped with bows and arrows. Then they straightened their spears, drew their sabers, raised their flails and gourds, and fought hard.

Chasing and killing is to confront and oppress the enemy's cavalry head-on. When encountering a strong enemy, the purpose is to kill and retreat. When encountering a weak enemy, it is easy to hit a rolling bead curtain.

However, this method of warfare actually has very limited damage to the two medium-mounted cavalry equipped with a large number of armors.

The cavalry team of the Marshal’s Mansion is very capable of riding and shooting, and they are not bad at using guns on horseback. Using muskets on horseback is also an ancestral method of warfare for the Ming army’s cavalry. Yongle Nian just played like this and is very proficient.

However, the best stage for musketeers to operate is to face-to-face hedging in a melee, and rounds of shooting when chasing and killing. It is difficult for experienced cavalry to shoot accurately. It is too far away. Take out the bow and arrow and shoot, so the killing efficiency is very low.

As for bows and arrows, they were just like that. They all wore standard cloth-faced iron armor, and even an armor-piercing cone would only hurt a flesh.

The melee weapons are different, the saber belongs to the ring, and the flail and gourd are also difficult to swing people off the horse's back, and the two sides are almost pierced through the formation.

However, in the eyes of the two commanders, Zhang Tianlin and Zhao Zhirui, they were both satisfied with the performance of chasing and killing their subordinates this time.

Judging from the results of the battle, the Shuaifu cavalry equipped with nearly a thousand electric guns had the upper hand, killing dozens of horses; and judging from the battle line, the Suzhou battalion had the upper hand. After all, they had pearl guns in their own formation. After a few cannon shots, even if the cavalry of the Marshal's Mansion broke through the front line, they still had to pull their horses and run back.

The purpose of the two is also different. Zhang Tianlin's purpose is to let the cavalry fan charge to wrap the formation of the Suzhou battalion, while Zhao Zhirui's is to create time for the soldiers to put on their armor. Both of them won again.

After a charge, Zhang Tianlin's cavalry in the early [-]s had occupied the entire periphery of the battlefield, with an interval of half a mile, surrounding the Suzhou battalion in the formation, and Zhao Zhirui's subordinates were also wearing armor, which was the most dangerous for him The time has passed.

The experience of an experienced general flooded his mind again, and Zhao Zhirui's mind quickly calculated that his cavalry was less than the enemy's, and it would be difficult to achieve greater results if he continued to attack.

And the cavalry of the commander-in-chief seemed to be afraid of artillery. He took it for granted that this was a common problem of the peasant army. He thought that the peasant army was afraid of being bombarded by the army in the early years, so he decided to keep the same and recall all the cavalry under his command , The soldiers dismounted, used the horses as temporary shelters, and set up burst formations with artillery, muskets, bows and arrows, and began to dig trenches at the same time.

Zhang Tianlin on the sand dune saw the enemy's reaction, and couldn't help nodding in approval, and said to the left and right: "The enemy general reacts quickly, he is experienced, and his ability is no worse than the three old men next to the commander. Captured, I want this person to be my lieutenant general."

There was nothing wrong with Zhao Zhirui's reaction, the time was on the officer's side, at most half a day, the reinforcements from the east would come over.

It should be Zhang Tianlin who will be anxious. His cavalry surrounded him on all sides. Under the cavalry fire of bows and muskets, the firepower density was not as good as that of the infantry who dismounted and formed an formation, and they could not encircle Zhao Zhirui when they formed an formation.

Of course, he can also choose to attack against the artillery, but neither side is a good opponent. They will neither dare to charge up because of the artillery, nor will they be scared away because the enemy dares to attack the artillery.

The result will inevitably be a large number of casualties. Once the strong attack fails, it will hurt the morale of one's own side, and they can only drag the corpses to retreat.

Maybe they will be beaten during the retreat.

But on Zhang Tianlin's face, there was no frustration of being in a predicament at all. On the contrary, he was very happy to see the officers and soldiers fight in formation.

Zhao Zhirui was waiting for the formation, when he heard cavalry galloping in all directions shouting to persuade us to surrender, shouting like a tsunami, the soldiers in the formation were very surprised and laughed at each other... What is this, surrounding us is like persuading us to surrender?
Then people saw the flags of the enemy's central army fluttering, and the cavalry from all directions suddenly scrambled to retreat, which made Monk Zhang Er puzzled.

Immediately afterwards, a black shadow of the commander-in-chief's army soared into the air with its tail flame, and landed on the edge of their position. The gunpowder smoke exploded with a bang, and the iron pellets wounded and knocked over the two soldiers, and also knocked them down. A dozen or so war horses outside were startled and galloped in all directions.

On the silent battlefield, there was only the sound of hooves of fleeing horses stepping on the Gobi.

After a moment's pause, two black shadows rose again from the commander's mansion and landed in the formation, and after a while, there were four.

The sound of horseshoes became more and more chaotic, the cries became more and more intense, eight black shadows rose into the sky, and the army formation couldn't hold on anymore. At one foot of the position, more than ten soldiers drove the horses, trying to get out of the army formation through the gap. Stop drinking.

Sixteen black shadows landed in the formation, and at the same time as the explosion sounded, dozens of soldiers from the two fronts mounted their horses and circled around.

When Zhang Tianlin from the sand dunes waved again, 32 rockets flew into the sky, and the army formation not far away suddenly dispersed, and the soldiers of various ministries ran towards the middle of the encirclement like flies on foot or on horseback.

At this moment, Zhang Tianlin grabbed the battle flags of the soldiers beside him and waved them. The cavalry on all sides, who were scattered one mile away from the enemy's formation, were suddenly ordered to jump on their horses and raise their knives to trample on the parcels in the scattered formation.

scattered.

　good afternoon!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)