stubborn thief

With the flags arrayed, Zu Kuan, the commander-in-chief of the reinforcements and suppression forces, stood on the south bank of the Weihe River, looking proudly at the spring breeze on the other side.

Zu Kuan's face didn't look like a general strategizing, but more like a farmer working in the fields. His face was darkened by the wind and sun, and was wrapped in a cotton-padded armor. It even turned purple from stuffiness, but his face was dark. It was indescribably relaxed and joyful.

He was from Zu Dashou's family. In this era, parents, wives and children were generally called family members or family members, but family members were not family members, but servants and servants of the family.

In his early years, by following Zu Dashou in the war, Zu Kuan repeatedly made military exploits and his official position became higher and higher.

In fact, according to his status and background, with his bravery, ruthlessness, military strategy, and his head tied to a belt, he can be able to be a real commander, commander of the camp, and commander of the guards. Based on his ability, he is already a dragon among men. .

How many people have been working hard all their lives, living as a boss, dead as a dead boss, no matter how hard it is to make progress.

But the outstanding thing about Zu Kuan is that not only does he have outstanding personal abilities, the old leaders also favored him for activities, and the ancestral tombs were burned with natural gas. In addition, the Liao people's imperial policy of guarding the Liao soil, and the four parties worked together to make him become the official. General Ningqiandao stationed in Ningyuan.

He is also commonly known as General Ningyuan.

When things developed to this point, even Zu Kuan himself felt that he had run out of luck in this life.

Especially in the area under the jurisdiction of Ningqian Road, it is a long, narrow and undefeable corridor. The Hou Jin Army transferred troops from Shenyang to Jinzhou only [-] miles away. This is the same distance as the distance from Shanhaiguan to Jinzhou, but further east it is There are Huludao, Xiaoling River, Daling River, Liaoze and Liaohe Rivers, and every step is dangerous.

The post of General Ning was a very dangerous position. Under normal circumstances, Zu Kuan would die in an expected military conflict within less than two years of staying in this position.

Unexpectedly, Wuqiao mutinied, and the Shandong Army that was supposed to come to aid Liao became a serious threat. The imperial court asked him to transfer him, who was stationed in Liaodong, to lead the army into the pass to quell the rebellion.

Hey, it’s comfortable!

For the Liao army, entering the pass to quell the rebellion was like a holiday.

This is not to say that people will not die in the war within the pass, and they will die wherever they fight, but outside the pass, it is difficult for them to see reinforcements during the war. The most common ones are the reinforcements of Hou Jin.

After all, the window period for Liaoze to be frozen was only a few months. From the moment the court received the news, prepared food and fodder, gathered troops, and sent troops out of Shanhaiguan... the battle on the front line was over.

The battle inside the pass was different. They led their troops around and all they saw were their own reinforcements. Even if they failed against Li Jiuzheng, they would still encounter the reinforcements Jin Guochen and Zhang Fengjin on the way back, and then turn around to attack Li Jiucheng. It was such a defeat. The battle was won, and Li Jiucheng was even besieged in Dengzhou City until he was besieged to death the following year.

Li Jiucheng was the leader of the Shandong rebels at the time and was also the rebel marshal. With him, Kong Youde and others could only serve as deputy marshal. This was almost the first success in quelling the Wuqiao mutiny, and Zu Kuan was promoted to deputy commander-in-chief.

In other words, by this time, Zu Kuan was already one of the dozens of people with the highest military rank in the world.

It has only been two short years. Last year, Lu Xiangsheng made a report to mobilize Liao soldiers to enter the pass to quell the rebellion. Zu Kuan arrived at Yunyang this year, and Deng Qi died on the back. He only defeated two groups of small bandits with thousands of people. The court's new transfer order He was sent to Zu Kuan and ordered to lead his army into Shaanxi.

At the same time, the commander-in-chief of the reinforcement and suppression team who originally belonged to Deng Qi also fell on him.

Picked up official position.

Who can handle this matter and be able to keep his composure and not show off his pride?

The military drums were beating, and the first to cross the Wei River were the soldiers from the Zhenyu Battalion under the command of Huguang Deputy Commander-in-Chief Yang Zhengfang.

Relying on several small boats that Zhang Tianlin had not had time to take away, young Miao soldiers who were barefoot, single-clothed and with their hair tied in buns rushed to the shallows without waiting for the boats to dock. They formed a group on the shore, holding bird cannons and large bamboo crossbows. , small formations of short spears, spread out search and warning towards the shore.

They are not without armor. The Zhenjun soldiers from Huguang are a powerful force in the world.

Zhenyu is a place name, which is actually Fenghuang in western Hunan. However, at this time, there were only Fenghuang Mountain and Fenghuang Camp on the mountain, not Fenghuang City.

During the Xuande, Chenghua, and Jiajing years, large and small uprisings occurred one after another in Miao territory. The court discovered that the starting point of the unrest within Wuxi was Zhenxi and Guiziping, so it established Wuzhai Sicheng near Baojing, which was the predecessor of Phoenix City. .

Later, twelve camps and outposts were set up, and walls were built for seventy miles to prevent blockage. Including the towns of thousands of households in Zhenxi, there were a total of thirteen battalions. Each battalion recruited four to five hundred soldiers, with a total force of more than [-]. The Wuzhai Sicheng was renamed If the city is suppressed, the soldiers will naturally defeat the city.

The anti-insurgency soldiers were originally established to counter rebellion, so they were used in the nationwide counter-insurgency wars after Jiajing.

At this time, the young Miao soldiers from Zhenyun crossed the river without wearing armor, just so that they could swim back if they were attacked on the other side. They grew up among the five streams in Miao territory, and they were able to travel across mountains and rivers. They were especially good at infantry battles. At that time, they even used the Great Wall and the chariot camp to encircle the northern Xinjiang, and relied on foot combat to cut down the Mongolian cavalry.

When they crossed the river, Zhang Tianlin's camp had already withdrawn fifteen miles to the north. They were looking for a place to build a stronghold and dug two heavy trenches along the canals. Only Bai Zong and Tang soldiers were left on the bank to keep an eye on them.

When Zhang Tianlin wanted to set up camp, Liu Chengzong's reply had not yet been sent, but after the order came back asking him to wait for an opportunity to retreat and lure the enemy, he still ordered his sergeants to build a camp on the north bank of the Wei River.

After a series of battles in Hehuang, Qinghai, and Gansu, the generals of the Marshal's Office, including Liu Chengzong, gained rich war experience.

People like Zhang Tianlin who often lead troops to fight on the outside are no exception. Even because they always face the difficult environment of being isolated and helpless, he has grown much faster than others.

By now, he had summed up a set of field warfare methods that suited him. He gave an order to General Bai who stayed on the shore: see if the people coming were Yunyang troops and Liao soldiers.

The Bai Zong who stayed on the shore was named Wang Huaizhong. He used to be the commander of the Gansu Army. During the Battle of Ganzhou, he was captured by Zhang Tianlin's Bai Zong Yingshanhong and became an officer. After the war, he was given the full-time position of Bai Zong in the camp. Although his position was lower, his subordinates The soldiers respected him quite a lot, and his family members were all in the hands of the Marshal's Mansion, so they pinched their noses and accepted this treatment.

The most important thing is that Zhang Tianlin treats him well. Although he only has the position of Chief Hundred, he commands a forward selection brigade of the General Directorate. He has the best war horses, armor and equipment, and also provides special training from the escort brigade of the Chinese Army. He mobilized a guard.

Wang Huaizhong had calculated privately that the forward selection brigade under him, in terms of the value of weapons and food supplies, was similar to that of a general commander of the Gansu border army in the past.

At this moment, Wang Huaizhong led his troops to spread out on the river bank. His ten horse soldiers and the Tang soldiers opened the battle line, like a big elastic net. The Zhenjun soldiers who landed on the bank moved forward a little, and they moved back a little, watching from a distance. Cross the river with this strange army.

The guards around him looked more and more puzzled: "Sir, these seedlings don't wear shoes or armor. Let's go over and trample them to death."

"These are all whistles. It's easy for you to drive your horses and trample them. Then the group behind you won't be able to cross the river." Wang Huaizhong glanced at the guards and said with a smile: "Wouldn't the general's camp in the north be built in vain?"

To be honest, the guards assigned to him by Zhang Tianlin were ostensibly servants for him to use and protect him, but Wang Huaizhong did not dare to use them, and even wanted to serve them as ancestors.The three camps of the Marshal's Mansion all have guard brigades. Wang Huaizhong didn't know about the other two camps, but half of the guards of their camp were assigned by Zhang Tianlin to officers who were former generals of the battalion.

For example, Zhao Zhirui, the former Suzhou general who was asked by Zhang Tianlin to serve as deputy general in the camp before the war, was surrounded by ten guards. Wang Huaizhong even suspected that when Zhao Zhirui was taking a poop, he accidentally muttered "If the paper is reversed, it will be..." He was chopped into pieces by his own guards.

As for the camp Zhang Tianlin built in the north, Wang Huaizhong knew that the camp was not built for them, but for the army that was crossing the river in the south.

Everyone in the Marshal's Mansion knows that Zhang Tianlin's soldiers are well equipped.

They made a lot of money in the Gansu campaign. Just by blasting Bai Guangen twice with rockets, they got a lot of good equipment. Bai Guangen's battalion was equipped with brand-new equipment by Hong Chengchou, including black hats, copper nails and cotton A, he confiscated more than 1000 electric guns just because the smell of oil was still there.

Although Liu Chengzong was fined 500 horses and [-] men and equipment for robbing the friendly Chahar Camp after the war, such punishments did not hurt Zhang Tianlin's vitality at all.

He grabbed too much loot in the Battle of Gansu. He picked and picked some not-so-good things and handed them over, but in the end he kept all the good things.

Therefore, Zhang Tianlin is so fat now, and with the veterans and rockets in his hands, he is not afraid of confronting any army at all, as long as his opponent runs too fast.

This time Liu Chengzong's order was passed to the south, and Zhang Tianlin understood Liu Chengzong's intention very well, which was to annihilate the Ming army coming from the south as quickly as possible so as to rush to the north to help, which meant that a quick victory was needed this time.

Zhang Tianlin is most afraid of a quick victory. After all, this is not a battle between one battalion and one battalion. It is obviously a battle between several battalions against several battalions. It is true that he has a big killer like a rocket car, but others can stand still. Explode once, and everyone will be running everywhere on the Guanzhong Plain.

By then a quick victory would obviously be impossible.

However, Zhang Tianlin had been coveting the idea of ​​someone else being a brigade marshal for a long time.

Now, on the basis of not affecting Liu Chengzong's overall strategy, using his own tactics to achieve the great success of being promoted to brigade commander is the main point of Zhang Tianlin's tactical considerations.

Just for this matter, Zhang Tianlin specially gathered all the generals above [-] under his command to hold various discussions.

Not to mention, for Zhang Tianlin's camp, it is the common wish of the entire army for Zhang Tianlin to make great contributions in this battle.

After all, from the time of the Hehuang War, the generals and sergeants had already understood that promotion was becoming increasingly difficult. Due to the size of the army, many people who should be promoted failed to get promoted.

This was also the original intention of Liu Chengzong to establish the Huben Camp, to create a name and use the excuse of study to extend the promotion time of meritorious soldiers and officers.

Because for a long time, their territory's carrying capacity has indeed been unable to support more troops. Putting those officers who should be promoted in academies and Huben camps to study and communicate is more important than how many talents they have learned.

But now the Huben camp is not enough.

Zhang Tianlin's battalion alone became a large camp after his meritorious service, and the generals were still generals. General Qian made a meritorious service, and there was a smooth transition. The one who went to the small camp was to parachute the army's generals. Although General Qian had the real power, It's big, but I didn't go up, which made me feel a little uncomfortable.

So this Guanzhong battle is their opportunity.

Obviously after this battle, if you lose and return to Qinghai, you can free up a lot of positions; if you win and enter Guanzhong, you can expand a lot of troops. If you want Zhang Tianlin to be the brigade commander, this is the best opportunity.

And Zhang Tianlin has become the brigade marshal. If nothing else, can he at least add two more generals to the Marshal's Mansion?Even if all are calculated according to standard operations, there will still be six more thousand totals, twelve more generals, and sixty more hundred totals.

At least Wang Huaizhong decided that he should at least have a general position here.

People brainstormed and finally figured out a tactic that seemed to have the best of both worlds, which could not only unleash the power of the rockets, but also ensure that large enemy troops would not scatter after seeing the rockets.

Their plan is: 'Help the Ming army build a camp and let the Ming army live in it'.

After a while, the Zhenjun Army brigade crossed the river. The Miao warriors wearing short swords put on iron helmets without neck guards and heavy full iron armor on the bank. They still formed formations along the river barefoot and held spears and crossbows. More people began to use their weapons on the river. Limited boats build pontoons.

Immediately, the Liao soldiers and Mao soldiers under Zu Kuan's command, leading their majestic war horses, got into a dispute over who could cross the pontoon first. It took a long time to cross the Wei River in an orderly manner, one group at a time, and formed a huge crowd of tens of thousands of people on the bank. Military formation.

Three armies from different regions formed distinct military formations, allowing the soldiers of the Marshal's Mansion around Wang Huaizhong to stand ready.

Wang Huaizhong no longer retreated, but just asked the scattered soldiers and Tangqi to shrink towards him. At the same time, he sent someone to report to Zhang Tianlin that half of the Ming army had crossed the river, and the Liaodong cavalry was divided into two parts, which seemed to have two wings. Plan to outflank.

But the scale is puzzling.

Wang Huaizhong thought that with his small number of people, it seemed that he was not worthy of having a battalion of the Liaodong Army to outflank him.

Being confused, one's own safety is very important. Wang Huaizhong, an officer from Gansu Town, doesn't know what the Liaodong Army's fighting style is. If he likes lions and rabbits like their commander, they will be doomed.

Wang Huaizhong led his troops to retreat all the way, only to find that the enemy did not catch up. Not only did they not pursue them, but the Liaodong cavalry that dispersed the left and right wings even disappeared from sight.

They had this doubt until they almost retreated to meet up with Zhang Tianlin's headquarters, and then they discovered that the Liaodong Army was indeed not chasing them.

Zhang Tianlin was also greatly confused by this matter, and watched the enemy troops within his field of vision disappear. This was something that had never happened in previous wars.

The news was even reported directly to Liu Chengzong in Maoling through Tang soldiers, and then quickly reported to Wang Wenxiu in Fengxiang Mansion and the Gansu Three Small Camps under Qianzhou City through the Chinese Army's messengers. It can be said that the entire Marshal's Mansion is in Guanzhong The troops on the plain were all caught off guard because a battalion of the Liaodong Army disappeared from the battlefield.

But soon, Zhang Tianlin received news: "Commander, this is a false alarm. I have found the Liaodong Army."

Liu Chengzong looked at the Tang newspaper sent by Zhang Tianlin without saying a word for a long time, and he fell into a state of doubting life.

The Tang newspaper said that shortly after the Liaodong Army disappeared, Tangqi discovered black smoke in the eastern suburbs of Xingping and the western suburbs of Xianyang on the north bank of the Wei River. He immediately went to investigate and finally got exact information: the Liaodong Army dispersed to collect grain in the suburbs.

In other words, the first thing they did after arriving on the battlefield was robbery. (End of chapter)