stubborn thief

Along the bank of the Heihe River, there are thousands of households on a high platform.

Yang Jiamo was determined to defend Gaotai City to the death. He made a great determination. The 30 mu of paddy fields and dry land along the Heihe River in Gaotai was gone.

He has the confidence to issue such an order.

Gansu is a military town, and the commander-in-chief has great power in wartime; he leads local main soldiers in Ganzhou, who share the same hatred with the residents, reducing the possibility of looting and rioting; More organized and more obedient to orders; and the strength of the Ganzhou Army is larger than the number of people near the high platform.

All of this creates the possibility for a fast clearing of the wall.

Yang Jiamo wanted to carry out a good plan to fortify the wall and clear the field, with careful and comprehensive planning, notification, persuasion, mobilization, evacuation, demolition, and resettlement, but in terms of actual implementation, the Marshal Army did not give him such a long time.

From the time Marshal Gansu discussed the solution to the order to send out troops, the cavalry of the marshal's vanguard Heshuo Te had already rushed into the outskirts of the city, only [-] miles away from Gaotai City.

The first generals were Lu Shuai Mo Yujing, General Duoerji, General Pitu, and General Wei Qian'er. At first, they did not expect that Yang Jiamo would choose to fortify the wall and clear the field in a short time.

Therefore, they followed the idea of ​​an encounter battle. The entire brigade was led by Dorji's Heshuote cavalry, with the [-] Chahar cavalry of Jitutaiji in the middle, and Wei Qian'er's troops with the most complete army were in the rear.

However, the two sides encountered each other on the first day of junior high school. The scattered cavalry fought several encounters with the Ming army in the dry land in the paddy field.

Originally, no matter whether it is the common people, military surplus, or a big family with a fortress, not to mention that no one is willing to leave their hometown and move to Ganzhou. No one can stand it.

What's more, it was the local army who came, and they were not afraid, and it was not the first time there was a big chaos. The people who ran over from Suzhou said that the marshal's army was also the Han army, and the military discipline was pretty good. Those who would not rob or kill would regret listening to the government. fleeing as refugees.

You will make me a refugee, that is absolutely impossible!
Even the mobilization of the officers and soldiers cannot be mobilized, and there is nothing left to talk about.

The common people are very courageous in watching the excitement, and they are not afraid of the army with food at all. In the chaos of the three generals, Yang Jian sent troops to attack Yuchi Jiong, and the common people watching the battle formed a human wall. A huge army formation.

But the situation in Gaotai was different. Originally, the common people quarreled fiercely with the soldiers who enforced the fortified walls and cleared the fields. Xiangyong even pushed and shoved to fight with the officers and soldiers.

Suddenly, everyone saw the Mongolian cavalry with braided hair in the distance, raising their long swords and hard bows, and the horse's hooves ran over on the field ridge with one foot deep and one foot shallow.

The Heshuo special cavalry had a hard time getting their horseshoes stuck in the paddy fields and field ridges, but they were happy to see the infighting between the common people and the officers and soldiers.

They are neither Chahar nor Tumot. Since their grandfathers, they lack the experience of entering Daming to rob. They naively think that those men in padded jackets and aunts and aunts are no threat to them, and the enemy is only Ming in cloth masks. military.

But in the minds of men in Gansu, there is no concept of Chahar and Heshuote at all. When they see their attire, they only have one common name: "Tartars are coming!"

The moment the first person shouted, something strange must have been activated in the blood of the Gansu border people.

Everyone stopped shoving and quarreling. The two groups of people shared the same hatred. While protecting the mother-in-law and the baby, they retreated, and at the same time grabbed the bows, crossbows, waist knives, chains, flails and big sticks and rushed up, shouting in their mouths: "Kill the Tartars! Kill them!" Tartar!"

The sixth son of Heshuote Guoshi Khan, Dorjitaiji suffered a great shock in his spiritual world. He was terrified when he saw a team of shepherds abandoning their horses and staggering and fleeing in the paddy field.

He didn't understand, thinking about the fact that there was no hatred in the past and no hatred in the present, why did this group of people suddenly burst out with great enthusiasm for fighting?Then the fucking Liu Chengzong never beat me like this!
He doesn't know what his head means in the eyes of these people. To the officers and soldiers, it is a head-shaped silver; confidence.

Frontline conflicts are more defeats than victories, Dorjitaiji is confused, but Chahar's Tutaiji is not confused at all. He knows this well, and he immediately went to Mo Yujing: " Commander-in-Chief, let General Wei go, we have been taught in Chahar, Gansu Haner will never see soldiers."

Mo and Jing are as good as others, what does it mean to practice true knowledge?As for the military issues on the three fronts of Ming and Shaanxi, let alone those Shaanxi military generals, anyone south of the Great Wall has the final say. Only Ji Tutaiji has the final say.

He is a survivor who has been hammered by the frontier troops of the three towns in turn, so what he says is what he says.

Soon the Mongolian brigade retreated, and Wei Qian'er's Han army camp was replaced as the vanguard. In this short period of time, the tense Ganzhou army immediately became violent in carrying out the mission of strengthening the walls and clearing the fields.

There was no time to notify, persuade, and mobilize. The soldiers gathered the people together, and ran around holding torches in groups, taking away all the haystacks outside the city, rice, grain, wood, and livestock. Everything that was left was burned.

Soon dozens of black smoke rose into the sky, and below the black smoke were burning fortified villages, hundreds of households, and stretches of orchards.

The black smoke was like a beacon, which not only informed Ganzhou of the defense measures of the high platform, but also immediately became known to Liu Chengzong who led the troops from the rear.

The first thing Liu Chengzong thought of was not fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness, but his own Mongolian camp was robbing... It's not his habitual thinking, the Mongolian cavalry and the black smoke in the village, the two things complement each other!
He asked for a pen and paper on the spot, and wrote vigorously on horseback to scold Mo and Jingshu for being unfavorable.

Fortunately, the two armies were very close, and the first victory of the Tang soldiers was almost as fast as the second victory. Before the letter was finished, the frontline Tangqi came to report: "Marshal, the defenders of the high platform are firm and clear, and the offensive of the frontline Heshuo Te Battalion has been frustrated .”

The scene of thousands of households on Gaotai filled with black smoke, and almost the entire land was burning, cast a layer of haze on the hearts of the generals of the Chinese army battalion.

Fortifying walls and clearing fields has been an extremely effective method in defensive wars since ancient times, because in wars it is the army that controls the land, and the army can be invincible with the protection of the city, but for the siege army, the key to conquering the city lies outside the city.

To put it bluntly, there are three necessities for siege, which are people, materials, and food.

People are the foundation, not only the army, but also the people who transport materials, and the people who work together from inside to outside; materials are wood, stone, craftsmen, copper and iron, all materials that can make siege equipment; food is much simpler, food and wealth .

The Ming army and Hou Jin fought on the Liaodong battlefield for so many years. Many front-line military fortresses were breached, but there were only three ways to capture the city. The first was internal response, the second was siege, and the third was the surrender of the defenders.

Because although gunpowder weapons have made great progress in this era, which has changed the situation of the war to a certain extent and reduced the proportion of battle losses between the attacker and the defender during the siege phase, the siege methods still have not changed qualitatively.

When both sides are regular armies, the siege side cannot win with simple field artillery and long ladders. Making siege equipment is still a necessary preparation for siege.

No one can march with a huge siege engine.

Therefore, a good and orderly fortified wall clears the field, the focus is on moving rather than destroying, the purpose is to transport away the food, materials, and people in the area, which can minimize the loss of the defenders and increase the difficulty of the siege army, causing them to stagnate and retreat. The army even lost morale in the helplessness, and was eventually defeated by taking advantage of the situation.

Liu Chengzong didn't say a word, he rolled the almost finished letter into a paper egg in his hand and then tore it to shreds, looking around at the frustrated expression of the generals of the Chinese army battalion, his brows were also frowned.

The atmosphere in the ranks of the army was oppressive, and he knew very well in his heart that this incident hit many generals hard, not because of the consequences of fortifying the walls and clearing the field, but because of the background of the officers of the Central Army Battalion.

The Huben Battalion is all officers, and the war experience of the Marshal’s Mansion determines that these people’s backgrounds are very simple. There are not many frontier soldiers in Guyuan, Lintao, and Gansu Towns. They are all frontier soldiers from the Northern Shaanxi People’s Army, Yulin, and Ningxia.

In the ranks of the army, the officers who were closer to Liu Chengzong more or less had a common experience... They once led the people to resist taxes and evade the official army in Yanchang, Yanchuan and other places in Yan'an Prefecture.

Now they have become the people that the common people have to avoid when they burn their houses. This is not a good feeling.

A blow to morale is naturally a bad thing, but Liu Chengzong thinks it doesn't have to be.

He summoned Yang Yao, Han Shipan, Han Shiyou and other officers who were still in the Chinese army, and discussed: "You don't have to be discouraged because of this. It's not like we haven't done the thing of fortifying the wall and clearing the wilderness. As far as we are concerned, we are already at a disadvantage, and now we can only jump out of the high platform battlefield and focus on the entire Gansu to reduce losses."

"So I plan to make a transfer order, ordering Mo Yujing to lead his troops to the high platform immediately, so as to prevent the officers and soldiers from transporting the people and supplies into the city; Fight for it, promise that when the siege of Gaotai begins, they will be given fields and land; the people who have not yet been mobilized will issue a notice to calm the people, prohibit killing, looting and robbery, and order people to continue farming."

"Even the common people who have been relocated to Ganzhou by the officers and soldiers should be made aware that the arrival of the Marshal's army will do no harm to them."

After Liu Chengzong finished speaking, he shook his head and said: "The high platform is only three or four thousand, and the strong walls and clear fields are nothing more than slow construction of siege equipment. If the Ganzhou guards with tens of thousands of people have strong walls and clear fields, we will not even think about going east. "

A group of generals had no objection to this, and with the flag unfurled, the order was quickly spread to the front line. Mo and Jing and Wei Qian'er were divided into two groups, and for a while they marched out on the paddy fields and dry land on the high platform, criss-crossing Arrows shot everywhere in the water network ditches.

In every village and every field, teams with the same military flag went back and forth to fight, and the fleeing people fled in all directions. In an instant, the entire Gaotai Thousand Households fell into an unprecedented chaos.

Gaotai Qianhu City had a panoramic view of everything. Seeing the Mongolian cavalry in the distance abandoning the countryside and heading straight for Gaotai City, Yang Jiamo angrily punched the battlements heavily.

Just seeing the deployment of the marshal's army, he knew that after all, he was still a step behind, and Liu Chengzong's plan to fortify the wall and clear the country was disrupted.

In addition to being angry, he was more annoyed at himself. He only saw the common hatred of the Ganzhou Second Battalion during the recruitment and assembly, but he did not expect them to be nervous when planning a sudden incident... This army is almost entirely composed of recruits , It is not enough to deal with the heavy task of fortifying the wall and clearing the field when fighting close to the enemy.

This tactic is a double-edged sword in itself, it just depends on whose hand the sword is held in. Whoever does this well will cut the sword to the other side.

Therefore, there is no need to be in a hurry. Long before the order was issued, he warned Wang Xingshan and the officers that since they decided to fortify the wall and clear the country, it is idiotic for the people not to suffer any loss, but the common people are loyal and brave citizens of Ming Dynasty. Do a good job of transshipment and resettlement measures, and thank the people for their sacrifices to fight against the thieves. No loyal and patriotic person can tolerate the fall of their hometown.

But now the army of the Marshal's Mansion rushed and frightened, and the troops sent out to carry out the mission panicked, panicked, and burned when panicked, and this matter broke down.

More importantly, those Mongolian cavalrymen who ran towards Gaotai City immediately put tremendous pressure on Yang Jiamo. The purpose of strengthening the walls and clearing the fields was to move supplies and people into the city. The city was blocked. Where did those people go?

It was also at this moment that Yang Jiamo realized a huge cognitive problem among them—even though he was the commander-in-chief, he might not be able to surpass Liu Chengzong in terms of war experience.

For five whole years, there were no generals like Liu Chengzong who served as the chief general to plan battles and fight everywhere, and there were no such generals in the Ming Dynasty. On the contrary, there were a few leaders in the bandit side who were in a similar situation, but none of them had the seniority of Liu Chengzong. .

Not only did the Ming Dynasty not have it, Mongolia didn't have it, even the Houjin didn't have it. Now that the Houjin and the Ming army are fighting in Liaodong, the interval between battles is calculated in years.

Going back 50 years, only one person had such an experience, and that was Nurhachi who conquered the five parts of Jianzhou in five years.

A rush of black smoke from the conflict made Yang Jiamo suddenly see accusations of impeachment flying all over the sky towards Beijing, and the Mongolian cavalry attacking the city, let him see the sad scene of the strong walls and clear fields being used by the enemy.

If these were the impacts on Yang Jiamo caused by the marshal's army's invasion of the high platform, then to Wang Xingshan, the deputy commander who was still outside, it was fear.

Wang Xingshan couldn't know the exact purpose of the Mongolian cavalry rushing to the high platform, but he could realize that if the delay continued, the high platform might not be safe, and the battalion he led would definitely be divided and surrounded until it was wiped out.

The horn sounded one after another in the outskirts of Gaotai, and the scattered Ganzhou army no longer cared about the solid walls and clearing the field, and gathered at the place where Wang Xingshan was. Talk to them.

When Liu Chengzong led his army to the outskirts of Gaotai, Wang Xingshan led nearly [-] paces and rode back to the south of Qianhu City three miles away, and set up a dense camp with banners and banners on the edge of the endless farmland.

The two sides were separated by five miles, Liu Chengzong was holding a binoculars to hit Ma Tianlong, and while going around, he had a thorough look at the formation. He raised his whip and laughed, "It's interesting to line up against the city!"