stubborn thief

On the thirteenth night of April in the eighth year of Chongzhen.

In Anding County, which is adjacent to Gongchang Mansion and Lintao Mansion, there is a place called Neiguanying, where Liu Chengzong's camp is located.

As midnight approached, the marshal's camp where the internal official camp was located was still brightly lit. Information from all directions was sent into the camp day and night by various means, and the army's Habayashi collected them according to the degree of importance, and finally placed them on Liu Chengzong's desk.

Inside the commander's tent, Liu Chengzong looked at the simple Shaanxi sand table made of paste, sand and dyes, holding a three-inch long flag, and slowly planted it in Paomaquan Fort east of Qinzhouwei.

On the other side, Monk Xue, staring at the dark circles under his eyes, immediately led several drafting apprentices to reflect this change on the hand-painted marching map.

Monk Xue is the instructor of the Cartography Department of Xincheng Academy. He was born as a bandit in Shaanxi. He made the sand table in Liu Chengzong's tent, but this sand table belongs to the useless part, which is particularly fine and useful... just like a floor plan.

After all, the place Monk Xue is most familiar with is Hexi, and the surveying and mapping of the terrain by the Marshal's Mansion basically stops at Hexi. Further east, there are only the roads that the Lion Camp walked when they entered Qinghai, and there are barely any reference materials left.

However, with the preparations for this war, the Marshal's Mansion has a more and more comprehensive understanding of the mountains and rivers to the east.

On the east side of this sand table, there are He Renlong and Yang Yanchang garrisons in Qin'an and Qingshui counties, which are close to the garrisons of Zuo Liangyu's troops; Kyushu three.

In addition, in Huan County and Ningzhou of Qingyang Prefecture, and Wugong County of Xi’an Prefecture, there are many flags without names written on them. It is only known from the information of the Marshal’s Mansion that there is an army there, but the strength of the troops has not yet been ascertained. general.

In the direction of Ningxia, limited by the road and the difficulty of infiltrating the military town, Liu Chengzong currently only knows that there are two battalions of troops. State, called Bu Yingdi.

Yingdi was a very common name in the Ming Dynasty. Similar to Yingxuan and Yingyu, they all placed good expectations on getting ahead, but it is a bit strange to add the surname Bu, not to mention that the owner of this name is a general.

Theoretically speaking, names like Yingdi, Yingxuan, and Yingyu should be civil servants, because the wishes they entrust are all related to the imperial examination.

Liu Shizi felt that this name was a bit annoying. He thought that this old man might have passed the imperial examination in his early years. The examiner saw that your baby's name should not be ranked, so he fulfilled your wish and went to practice martial arts.

But Bu Yingdi is quite capable of fighting. When Chahar crossed Ningxia, he was beaten twice a month. The first time was to defend, and the second time was to chase to Helan Mountain. He took more than 400 pills. Head back.

Compared with the Ming army in the north, the situation in Sichuan is a bit scary.

There are three groups of Sichuan Army that have been proven so far.

The first piece of information was sent by Gao Yingxiang, saying that Qin Liangyu, the commander-in-chief and wife of Shizhu, led his son Shizhu Xuanwei to send Ma Xianglin and his nephew Qin Yiming to station in Guangyuan to guard against Baishui, Qipan and Chaotian. close.

The second piece of information came from Feng Shuangli. Yunnan native official Long Zaitian led four war elephants, two thousand horse troops, and seven thousand infantry into western Sichuan. He might stay in Chengdu or continue to north Sichuan.

The third group was Marshal Tangqi who intercepted the Ming Army Tang newspaper, which said that Hou Liangzhu, the commander-in-chief of Sichuan, had led [-] troops out of Sichuan and stationed in Hanzhong Mansion to defend Ruifan, and another [-] elite soldiers went to Hanzhong. Marching at Sanjiangkou in Fengxian County, trying to cut off the route from Shaanxi to Sichuan.

This information made the Yulin cavalry and subordinate officials around Liu Chengzong uneasy. The opponents were more powerful than the other, and they were all famous, and they were all murdered.

The only one who was not well-known was Long Zaitian, but he brought nearly [-] troops and four war elephants. That kind of big thing was obviously more terrifying than the famous Qin Liangyu.

For the Huben officers and Habayashi riders in the commander's tent, each of these pieces of information meant overwhelming pressure.

Taking advantage of the midnight snack brought by the Zhongjun camp to the assistant officer in the commander's tent, the cartographer Monk Xue walked to Liu Chengzong's side, looked at the sand table worriedly, and said, "Marshal, the enemy army is more than we prepared."

Monk Xue was really afraid. In fact, it wasn't just low-level officers like him who worked in the Chinese military camp. The top generals in the mansion were worried about the situation in the face of the Ming army's large net spreading from all directions.

Of course, the direction of worry is different. Like Zhang Tianlin, the worry is that the commander-in-chief has stopped his troops again. The Ming army's big net has been spread out. If they are given time to dispatch troops and generals, the big trouble will be when all the ministries arrive at their positions.

Monk Xue, who is closer to Liu Chengzong, is not too worried about the situation of the battle - he knows himself too well. Influence.

He also comforted the students of the Cartography Department of Xincheng Academy in this way: no matter how many enemy troops there are, don’t panic. It's a good job, just follow the commander in camp and wait for the dust to settle.

Monk Xue is worried about Liu Chengzong's mental state.

Seeing that the commander-in-chief fell ill again, he ate a good meal without stopping, and even ordered the soldiers to add fat to the Chinese military camp.

But after two days and two nights, except for Liu Chengzong squatting for less than an hour between meeting the generals, the rest of the time was either busy arranging affairs, dispatching troops, or staring at the sand table late at night, writing, drawing, and talking to himself.

very excited.

If this goes on like this, the commander himself will collapse before the battle begins.

However, if Liu Chengzong had maintained this state of high tension and excitement, Monk Xue might not have been so worried. On the contrary, with more and more information from Ningxia, Henan, Xi'an, and Sichuan, and more and more support from the Ming army, the entire The total defensive garrison and mobile forces of the Ming army on the sand table exceeded [-]—but Liu Chengzong suddenly relaxed obviously.

This is scary.

"A lot?"

Liu Chengzong was sitting in front of the sand table, holding mutton soup in his hand and blowing away the oil soup floating on the upper layer. Hearing this, he asked back, raised his chin towards the sand table, and said: "There should be [-] to [-] troops that have not yet been verified, but it's okay." . . . it's half the battle."

Monk Xue had a dejected look on his face, and his heart was broken.

It's crazy that the commander-in-chief still can't bear the pressure.

Seeing his expression, Liu Chengzong asked with a smile: "Why, are you scared?"

Monk Xue thought, it wasn't that they were frightened or not, but that the situation was really terrible.

Among other things, the four war elephants in Long Zaitian alone can scare people out of their souls—this is not the elephant 400 years later when the Internet, photos, and books became overwhelmingly popular.

Now the Marshal's Mansion has assembled 4 troops on the front line of Jingluwei and Gongchang Mansion. Of these [-] people, let alone the blind man touching an elephant, none of them has ever seen an elephant.

Not to mention that 10,000+ troops surrounded them from all directions, which was a huge force that the Marshal's Mansion could not organize no matter what.

Monk Xue was originally a painter who lived in troubled times. He had worked with thieves and joined the army. It was only with Liu Chengzong that he picked up his paintbrush and resumed his old career. Contacting the Marshal's Mansion's most detailed intelligence on the enemy army, I was terrified to death.

"Before the war started, I knew that the imperial court would definitely mobilize [-] to [-] troops, and Shaanxi was worth that amount, but I didn't know where they would be, so I was also afraid at that time."

Liu Chengzong did not despise Monk Xue because of his timidity. Of course, the braver the warrior, the better, but Monk Xue is a professional with skills, and his specialty is not in battle. As long as he can do a good job in the map, he is considered timid It's okay to be like a mouse.

But for this kind of person who has the confidential information, Liu Chengzong still intends to boost his confidence.

After taking a sip of the warm mutton soup, he suppressed the smile on his face, pointed to the dense markings on the sand table representing the battle of Tang soldiers, and said: "It seems that they are more scared than me now. Look at the battle of Tang soldiers. The locations are all concentrated near Liupan Mountain, and they are all near the official road."

"Why don't they take the path or the mountain road? Do they not want to go?"

Liu Chengzong grinned happily, shook his head slowly, and said in a deep voice, "I dare not."

Barefoot people have never been afraid of wearing shoes. At this time, all forces in the north, including Liu Chengzong, are not qualified to consider retreating. When a war starts, there are only two outcomes: victory or death.

Liu Chengzong wanted to assemble [-] troops on the front line, [-] troops on the second line of defense, and finally gather together the garrison troops to come up with [-] mobile troops.

Of these 6 people, as long as they lose [-] in the war, the Marshal's Mansion, a small northwest regime, will fall apart in the next two or three years.

But Liu Chengzong didn't feel too much pressure, because there was no retreat, and they would fall apart in two or three years if they didn't fight, maybe they would fall apart faster than losing a war.

Only Daming wears shoes.

Gathering [-] to [-] troops with the strength of the entire west is too large for anyone to afford. Before the encirclement is achieved, the pressure is enough to make all generals fearful.

In other words, if Daming suffered a disastrous defeat in this battle, it would completely lose the Northwest's initiative.

"That's why Mingjun and virtuous generals are able to overcome others because of their actions. Those who succeed out of the crowd are also prophets."

Liu Chengzong quoted a sentence from Sun Tzu's Art of War, and waved his hand on the sand table: "Since the marshal's army was assembled at the end of March, in half a month, in the west of Liupan Mountain, the two armies have fought more than 160 times on the thousand-mile front. .”

"In the beginning, the battle took place between Qinzhou and Guyuan, and then the Guyuan Tang soldiers were suppressed in the city. Qinzhou was able to suppress our army's Tang horses, but it was only for self-protection, so they were bypassed."

"Then the battles took place in various mountains west of Liupan Mountain. The Ming army Tangqi was completely suppressed, and even the position of the last [-] fights has reached the east of Liupan Mountain—our army Tangma ranks first in the northwest!"

This is not Liu Chengzong boasting.

In the three sides and five towns in the northwest, by the fourth year of Chongzhen, eight out of ten Laotang riders trained in the army were in the Marshal's Mansion, and those who were not in the Marshal's Mansion were all beaten to death.

Tangqi is different from other arms. Even in the Marshal's Mansion, which teaches various military schools like Xincheng Academy, in Tangqi, the old tradition of masters leading apprentices is still implemented, because standing alone on the front line covers the battlefield. It cannot be taught by teaching materials alone.

There needs to be a credible and reliable master who stands in front and teaches by precepts and deeds.

When the master died on the battlefield, the way of death taught the disciples the last lesson, and the disciples were considered as teachers.

However, due to the existence of Liu Chengzong in the Northwest Ming Army, a huge fault appeared in the Tangqi. Not to mention the disappearance of the old Tangqi, in some places even the new Tangqi formed by the second wave disappeared.

Not to mention that Liu Chengzong also distributed weapons, armor and military supplies specifically for Tangqi of the Ming Army to his Tangqi. Their three-eyed guns have longer barrels, better armor workmanship, stronger horses, and carry rations and tea. It also provides greater protection for morale.

This kind of comprehensive strength of individual soldiers with more experience, better equipment, and higher morale is manifested on the battlefield, which is a stable one with nine victories out of ten.

It was completely expected that they won the match against Tang Qi.

As for Qinzhou, it was just a small accident.

The general of the Ming army stationed there was Zuo Liangyu, who was very clever. The soldiers in the pond admitted defeat in two fights. Later, as soon as they saw the marshal's horse in the pond, they directly mobilized forward cavalry from the battalion to attack.

Even if Liu Chengzong's Tang Bing per capita is Lu Bu, it is impossible for one person to fight against a team. It is normal to lose.

Partial defeats are harmless, as long as Zuo Liangyu's army is still stationed in Qinzhou, the front cavalry will not be far away. Ten miles away from Qinzhou City, the Marshal's Army Tang soldiers are still in the world, which has no effect on the battle situation.

"At present, how many divisions of the Ming army are divided, where are they stationed, and how many troops are there?" Liu Chengzong pointed to the sand table, then turned his head to look at Monk Xue and the Habayashi cavalry in the tent: "We can see everything at a glance. As for those who don't know, they will be in Qingyang Mansion and Xi'an Prefecture and even Henan, and they know almost nothing about our military strength and garrison."

The reason why Liu Shizi said almost was because the letter from the general of the Ming army intercepted by Tang soldiers mentioned that they already knew that there was a garrison at the Marshal's Mansion in Jingning Prefecture, but they didn't know who the general was or the composition of the force.

Yang Chengzu's soldiers stationed there were transferred last year. Originally, Wei Qian'er was supposed to be in Jingning Prefecture, but Wei Qian'er led a camp of 5000 people, and the entire Jingning Prefecture had only [-] people. The consumption of the camp stationed there is like marching every day, and the logistical pressure is too great.

Later, it was replaced by Yang Chengzu. Yang Chengzu's battalion was originally a standard battalion of 3000 people. He transferred [-] to Monan, and there were [-] left. But even so, it was difficult to be stationed in Jingning Prefecture, so he ran back to Gongchang Mansion In Huining County, only a general manager was placed there to grow vegetables for a living.

"At this time, the intention of the Ming army is very clear. If they want to take advantage of their strength, they must encircle them. The target is Lanzhou, and they even want to push me back to Hehuang. If they want to encircle me, they must move first. our army's chances of winning."

After Liu Chengzong finished his thoughts, he said: "If you can predict the enemy in terms of intelligence and cover the battlefield west of Liupan Mountain, naturally you have already won half the battle."

At this moment, there was a sound of announcing the camp from the direction of the gate, and soon Yu Lin rode up and said: "Commander, General Gao Can ask to see you."

Liu Chengzong walked out of the tent, and not long after, he saw the busy Gao Yingdeng with eyes full of excitement, and he stepped forward to salute and said, "The commander-in-chief is not asleep? That's great, I have recruited prisoners to find out where the money and food are stored!"

Liu Chengzong was overjoyed when he heard the words, and he glanced at him and said, "Tell me about the account!" (End of this chapter)