stubborn thief

To command a war, the most important thing is intention, determination and order.

Intent is the desired result through military action, determination is the military means adopted to realize the intention, and order is the specific military command. At the same time, the determination of the superior is the intention of the subordinate.

With the Gansu Governor's Mansion taking out the autumn grain budget, maintaining the existence of the army has become Liu Chengzong's most important intention. Ningxia, Songshan, Qinzhou, and even Gansu have to stand aside in front of this matter.

Liu Chengzong is a general who loves his soldiers very much. This kind of love comes from the warlord's protection of his own strength. The army is an extension of his strength and power, so he never gambles with the lives of his soldiers.

This kind of military structure determines that he never fights head-to-head decisive battles. Even if the enemy camps and builds trenches right in front of him, his first intention is to find ways to increase the possibility of victory, not to go up in a rash manner.

For this army, the advantage is naturally a kind of blind worship in the army. From the generals to the soldiers, the common understanding of war is that as long as the commander gives the order to attack, we have a great chance of winning.

The disadvantage is that at every moment, Liu Chengzong is more inclined to preserve his troops than to attack aggressively.

Facts have proved that Hong Chengchou still doesn't understand Liu Chengzong. His original intention of fortifying the wall and clearing the country was to trap Liu Chengzong in the west of Liangzhou. The lack of money and food is a test of endurance for the Ming army generals.

However, Liu Chengzong's endurance in this area is negative. You cut off my food not to disturb my army's morale, but to dig my lifeblood.

As long as there is a slight sign of running out of food, the iron chains tied to his body will be broken away.

For victory, Liu Chengzong could only bear a negligible price.

But in order to exist, he can give everything.

At noon on June [-]th in the seventh year of Chongzhen, a messenger cavalry from the east flew into Ganzhou City with a package and letter, and presented Liu Chengzong's autographed letter to Cao Yao, the governor of the Gansu Governor's Mansion.

The content of the letter is that Liu Chengzong handed over two battalions to him to command, namely the Sanjie battalion for Wang's own use and Gao Yingdeng's big battalion, which are currently moving to Yongchangwei.

At the same time, Han Shipan, the Zuoqian headquarters of Huben Camp, was dispatched to Ganzhou as the reserve officer corps in Gansu.

Cao Yao was directly stunned by Liu Chengzong's entrustment. He originally had the authority to control the military and civilians in Gansu.

And following Liu Chengzong's order to arrive at Ganzhou City, it means that Cao Yao has become the person with the largest number of troops in the Marshal's Mansion... Although the quality of the banner army is not good, in terms of quantity, he is more than the army led by Liu Chengzong himself .

However, for Cao Yao, Liu Chengzong did not give him military command for nothing. At the end of the letter, he also issued a defensive order to the Gansu Dudu Mansion.

"I am determined to wipe out the enemies occupying the Zhuanglang River, and I will eat Hehuang. I ask my brother to deploy defense lines in Yongchang, Shandan, and Ganzhou to prepare for the invading enemies. For major events in Gansu, I ask my brother to make a timely decision and act cheaply."

Along with the letter, there was also a pair of long caskets delivered to Cao Yao.

Cao Yao opened the wooden box suspiciously, saw the red bow, black arrow, and bronze ax in the box, he was stunned for a moment, then as if thinking of something, his eyes widened instantly, his blood surged up, and the old scar on his forehead turned red .

He turned around and took off his bowl in a solemn manner, lifted his armor skirt and knelt down to the messenger and kowtowed: "Please let the messenger tell the emperor that there is something wrong with Gansu, and I will come to see you!"

The ignorant and terrified messenger cavalry almost ran out of the Governor's Mansion, which was reformed from the governor's yamen in Gansu.

Cao Yao knew very well that what Liu Chengzong gave him was the second of nine tins, the red bow and axe, the red bow was dedicated to conquering injustice, and the ax was dedicated to killing guilty.

Liu Chengzong asked someone to bring this thing over to Cao Yao, so to Cao Yao, it didn't matter what Liu Chengzong's identity was, whether he was called king or not, he was the emperor.

What's more, Liu Chengzong even took out this thing, obviously he has a judgment on the situation, Cao Yao is very clear, since he received this letter, he probably won't see Liu Chengzong for a while.

There is no doubt that Gansu and the [-] troops are a idle game for Liu Chengzong in a short time.

Because Liu Chengzong not only entrusted him with the two grain-producing lands in Gansu, but also dispatched him an army that the grain-producing land could just supply. Sometimes it is up to him.

This tone and determination made Cao Yao feel very familiar - the lion is hungry.

Soon, as Han Shipan arrived in Ganzhou with [-] tiger and cardinal soldiers, Cao Yao launched his defensive deployment to Gansu. Jingmayi deployed the first line of defense.

Later, Yongchangwei commanded Tongzhi Gejin, who was ordered to lead [-] old and weak banner troops to Ganzhou, and the rest of the army took care of the autumn food in Yongchangwei.

Immediately after was the camp of Gao Yingdeng's Ministry. Cao Yao ordered him to retreat to Shandanwei to set up a second line of defense. The commander of Shandanwei, Zhu Houji, also led more than a thousand banner troops to retreat to Ganzhou, and the rest of the army took care of it. autumn grain.

The final third line of defense is in charge of Huang Shengxiao, who is stationed outside Ganzhou City and assigned to the reserve officers of the Huben Battalion to integrate the nine thousand old and weak banner troops of the Ganzhou Guards, Shandan Guards, and Yongchang Guards for training to form a general A reserve force of [-] troops.

The order he gave Wang Ziyu was to investigate the enemy's situation eastward, to ensure that Gao Yingdeng, who was on the second line of defense, knew about it as soon as possible, and to delay the enemy's army when encountering enemy attacks, creating opportunities for Gao Yingdeng's troops to gather and maneuver.

Gao Yingdeng's battalion has the strongest combat effectiveness and is the center of gravity of Gansu's counterattack. When encountering a weak enemy in front, Gao Yingdeng can quickly wipe it out.

As for the troops in Suzhou, Chijin and other places in the rear, Cao Yao regards them as civilians, and it is enough to be responsible for delivering supplies to Ganzhou. In this way, their logistics supply line is shortened by half, and road consumption is greatly reduced. The food planted by the state can also be self-sufficient.

On the same day that Cao Yao received Liu Chengzong's letter, the cavalry was also ordered to arrive at Gulang's garrison of thousands of households, and they saw the generals Feng Ru and Wei Qian'er who had occupied the castle and stood firm on the line of defense.

Liu Chengzong's order to them was to investigate, to send Tangqi to investigate all the mountain roads within a radius of [-] miles of Gulang Gorge, as long as they were mountain roads capable of running horses and marching, they would be investigated and oppressed, and the undulating terrain, springs and villages, high and low dangers, and difficulty of marching should all be mapped and compiled. into a picture.

Within a few days, Ming troops in all directions in Gansu were terrified.

The first to bear the brunt was Li Hongsi in Liangzhou city.

After the earliest tactics of fatigued soldiers and the loss of soldiers by the ghost soldiers, the Liangzhou defenders did not expect to rely on their own strength to defeat Liu Chengzong.

Now, the expectations were low, but I found that life was going well, even though Liu Chengzong cast three terrifyingly large cannons under the city, after all, he did not launch a bombardment on the city wall.

Originally, they thought they could live like this forever, at least there would be no change until the crops outside the city matured. They never expected that when they woke up suddenly one day, the defenders on the city wall found that the enemy army in the west of the city had left completely. The tents are all closed.

The garrison who had encountered the shock quickly reported the news to Li Hongsi and Liu Shaozong, and the two hurriedly summoned the generals in the city to board the city. People looked at each other, and no one could believe that Liu Chengzong would withdraw his troops at this time.

The two guards will be thinking... Is this Liu Chengzong's new idea to lure us out of the city?
The two of them didn't really sit still. After some consideration, the first strategy they decided was to stay the same and respond to all changes, and resolutely not let the army go out of the city, in case they were ambushed by the marshal's army.

At least it's safe in town.

Based on this, Li Hongsi dispatched troops to the four sides of the city to investigate the movement of the Marshal's army on the oasis the second hour after he discovered that the Marshal's army had withdrawn.

"Be sure to find out the enemy's movements when you leave the city this time. When they advance, you need to know the direction of their advance; when they retreat, you must also find out their retreat route!"

On the same day, the Tang soldiers from Liangzhou found that the marshal's army was gathering at Gulangxia. To be precise, it was not their investigation, but the main force of the marshal's army that came after hitting them.

Zhang Tianlin's garrison position was originally on the side wall in the northeast of Liangzhou. He was assigned there to defend the Ming army in the direction of Ningxia, and he was quite happy.

Originally, for a military leader like him, it is enough to be happy if he has soldiers in his hands and battles in front of him. War is an opportunity, let alone defending the Great Wall. addiction.

Unexpectedly, when he arrived at the garrison, he realized that the Great Wall could not be seen at all, and he could not open his mouth to speak even when the wind blew, and his mouth was full of sand when he opened his mouth. He had never enjoyed this kind of treatment when he was a soldier in Yuhebao.

There was nothing but sand in front of him and under his feet. He thought he was standing on the Great Wall, but his soldiers scraped away the sand for several days before they finally found their position at the foot of the mountain, and it was also the foot of the mountain to the west of the Great Wall.

Zhang Tianlin walked another ten miles to the east, scraped off the sand under her feet, and finally saw the beacon towers of the Great Wall. Even the Great Wall built along the ridge could not stop the invasion of the Tengger Desert.

Guo Tianxing is not afraid of the desert, because the Ming army who can cross the desert must be Che Ying, so his good friend Liu Guoneng can come in handy. For a chance to let Liu Guoneng go to heaven, he can spend day after day along the Great Wall. sand.

But Zhang Tianlin was very helpless when the car camp from Ningxia didn't come. He almost grew hairy there.

Under such circumstances, he suddenly received an order from Liu Chengzong to lead troops south to Gulang Gorge, which made Zhang Tianlin jump up for joy, immediately packed up the camp, rolled up the soldiers and horses, and ran south.

To be honest, in Zhang Tianlin's life, even if she was chased by officers and soldiers all over the place in northern Shaanxi, she had never run so fast - Gulang Gorge also had a Ming army battalion.

He was really eager to fight, the entire battalion had less than 5000 people, and in order to run faster, he simply divided into three groups. The first Tangqi found out that there were Tangqi from the Ming army near Liangzhou City, thinking that the Liangzhou defenders had left the city. The three brigades rushed directly towards Tang Qi, and the hooves of the horses almost stepped on Tang Bing's face.

Zhang Tianlin chased all the way to the Liangzhou city, and found that the Ming army in the city did not run out, but only released the No. [-] Tang soldiers, gnashing his teeth in anger, and took his beloved big rocket to fight the horseshoe two miles east of the city. Turn around, raise the whip and point at the top of the city.

Too disappointed!

But it's useless to be disappointed, there's nothing he can do if the defenders don't leave the city, after all, he hasn't been mad enough to launch rockets into the city, so he can only lead the army to the south, all the way towards Gulang Gorge.

Li Hongsi in the city was quite puzzled by this, he couldn't understand the significance of the rebel generals going around the city for several times, but he could empathize with Zhang Tianlin's anger, and even felt a sense of revenge.

He used to be in Shaanxi, chasing the horseshoes of the rebels for several days. Even when he couldn't catch up, he would occasionally think: If you dare to run slower, I will trample you to death with horseshoes!
Maybe the traitor under the city is thinking the same thing, if you dare to leave the city, I will trample you to death with a horse's hoof!
Hey, grandpa doesn't!

On the other side, it was the Ming army guarding the Gulang Gorge who were greatly shocked. After losing the Gulang garrison of thousands of households, because Feng Ru and Wei Qian'er did not continue to pursue, Ding Shaoyin was able to rearrange in the north of the black pine forest. On the defensive line, Chai Shihua and Bai Guangen were also called back.

Ding Shaoyin already sensed that something was wrong. Bai Guangen's escape route was obviously planned in advance, and the goal was very clear. When he was stopped, he had already run east along Huangyang River to Shixia Pass.

This is a very normal escape route. From Shixiaguan to the east, along the northern foot of Maomao Mountain, you can lead to Yongtai City, which is the only place where the Ningxia frontier army is dispatched westward.

But Chai Shihua's retreat direction was very strange. Instead of running east with Bai Guangen, he went south along the Gulang Gorge, passed the Chakou Station, and ran towards Zhuanglangwei.

If the three battalions retreat in an orderly manner, it is understandable to retreat to Zhuanglangwei and stick to the last position, but you are about to flee, why run to the core area of ​​the enemy's north-south attack, surrender to the enemy?

This made Ding Shaoyin confirm one thing. In a real fight, the two of them ran faster than the other, but if you really have to worry about it, it is more likely that Bai Guangen will fight side by side with him, at least it will not harm him.

Although Chai Shihua is a general's son, he is obviously not in one mind with the court at this time; while Bai Guangen, despite his background as a thief, is still in one mind with the court at this time.

On the first day they retreated to the Black Pine Forest Horse Station, Ding Shaoyin called the two of them together, put Chai Shihua under house arrest on the spot, and then rode alone to the standard camp left by Yang Jiamo, calling on the soldiers to guard the Gulang Gorge with him, and wait for the battle situation. If there is a change, call back to Liangzhou City.

Ding Shaoyin is from Liangzhou, and most of Yang Jiamo's pacesetters are also from Liangzhou. This army easily accepted Ding Shaoyin's command...Your commander Ding knows the battlefield, and you are not afraid of death. What are they afraid of?
People are also full of confidence in the task of guarding the Gulang Gorge. The terrain here makes it difficult for large groups of troops to deploy, and small-scale conflict operations are the strengths of the Ming army.

But what happened in Gulangxia later was indeed frightening.

Tang soldiers, without helmet tassels and helmet flags, haunt every mountain road and ridge near Gulang Gorge, and will emerge from the valley roads in the mountains at any time, as if surrounding them, everywhere.

During the confrontation between the Tang soldiers of the two sides, the Marshal Jun Tang soldiers compressed the Ming Army Tang cavalry in the valley to a radius of ten miles centered on the black pine forest horse station with an absolute numerical advantage. In the end, they could only secure a dozen of mountain roads for scouting posts. .

And in more places, there are people in the east, west, north and south, showing to the Ming army that something terrible is about to go up the mountain.

good afternoon!