stubborn thief

Northwest of Baoji, Beishan on the west bank of Qianhe River.

Cao Wenzhao held his telescope and looked at the Marshal's army position on the Fengxiang Plain in the distance, trying to find weak points that were easy to break through among the layers of fortresses.

After many days of marching, his face was covered with wind and frost, and the scene in the telescope cast a layer of iron lividity on his vicissitudes of life.

He stared at the camp of the Marshal's Army and said: "It is difficult to raid."

Ping An, who was holding his helmet next to him, nodded in agreement and said, "Our troops are stronger than before, and Liu Chengzong... is also more difficult to deal with."

Ping An's life's losses were all at the hands of Liu Chengzong.

He followed Cao Wenzhao to fight, and after many life and death, he got the official position of guerrilla general. After his meritorious service, he had the opportunity to go further. Maybe if he was lucky, he could get the rank of general soldier like Zu Kuan.

But he didn't expect that the injuries he suffered in the Pingliang battle were not counted, and he was beaten to the end as a soldier, which was equivalent to having his backbone for promotion broken. The past few years have been wasted, and now he is serving as a supervisor and sitting in the camp, even an independent person. Generals don't even count.

Bai Guangen also has a similar mentality, but his level is a bit lower and he doesn't hate Liu Chengzong. What Bai Guangen hates most is Zhang Tianlin.

They were not the only ones watching the situation. Soon, three generals, Bai Guangen, Bu Yingdi, and Shen Guangxian, came to Cao Wenzhao to express their worries.

Bai Guangen was embarrassed to speak, but Bu Yingdi was a pragmatic person, so he came over and said: "Please also ask Commander Cao to send a message to Commander Zuo. It is not appropriate to start a war on the plain at this time."

After that, Bu Yingdi expressed his opinion in front of the map: "Fengxiang Plain is only a hundred miles in radius. There are too many troops of the enemy and ours on the mountains and plains."

"The most urgent task is to send a battalion of the partial division to Longxi to raise food. We will seize the dangerous road and trap the enemy in Guanzhong. We will wait for them to break through to the north and west, and then look for another fighting opportunity in the mountains of Longxi."

In fact, to put it bluntly, Bu Yingdi was suppressed.

He is a native Ningxia general. He fought a battle with Zhao Guangrui, the newly surrendered Jinglu guard of Cao Yao, at the Second Border Wall. Later, he and Cao Wenzhao chased Cao Yao out of Guyuan and chased him very hard. Hard.

At that time, he knew that Cao Yao couldn't beat him.

Cao Yao's army was weak in strength. It was either the Gansu Guards Banner Army or the newly lowered flag army in Jinglu and other places. They all relied on Huang Shengxiao's artillery battalion to support the scene.

But Cao Yao is very cunning and will not be burdened by fame at all. He will run away whenever he wants. He is very rogue and not sloppy at all.

This process made Bu Yingdi realize their own shortcomings. The four battalions of the Gansu border troops had a tacit understanding of cooperation on the battlefield, but they did not belong to a large-scale march.

Cao Yao could not pose a threat to them, but they were in danger several times, all of which he created for himself.

Several people in the camp ate horse chews, and even simple cooking became troublesome.

Marching, setting up camp, chopping firewood, patrolling the camp... everything is a problem. When the march reaches the camp, the people in front chop all the firewood, the people behind ask for horse food from the front, the soldiers and horses are separated and cannot be contacted, and the soldiers join forces but they are not again Can drink the water from the stream and stop it from flowing.

The most important thing is that their commander-in-chief Cao Wenzhao has no experience!

In the past, He Huchen was always at the Huamachiqiu defensive border. Troops from the three sides gathered there. With the governor at the top strategizing and the generals from the three sides cooperating, the marching route of the large corps was clear.

The current commander-in-chief Cao Wenzhao is a serious killer. Bu Yingdi is very convinced in taking the lead.

But when leading troops to fight, Bu Yingdi's thoughts and feelings were more complicated. On the one hand, he really admired Cao Wenzhao, but on the other hand, he felt that Cao Wenzhao was a bit evil.

He has been a soldier in Ningxia for more than 20 years, and he has never seen a general soldier compete with the junior soldiers for credit.

Cao Wenzhao led five battalions of nearly [-] troops to pursue Cao Yao. His orders to the remaining four battalions were always to divide the troops into five sentries and encircle them. His standard battalion was always responsible for the frontal attack.

The ethos of the entire battalion is that of heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals. The small soldiers stand behind the management team, the management team stands behind the General Manager, the General Manager stands behind the General Manager, the General Manager stands behind General Managers like Feng Ju and Liu Chenggong, and General Manager Qian stands behind them. Peace behind.

Pingan stood behind Cao Wenzhao.

Cao Wenzhao was even able to kill a Tangqi from Cao Yao's palace with his three-eyed gun during pursuit.

Let's put it this way, Cao Wenzhao led five battalions to fight, just like leading one battalion; Tu Shixian led troops to Lanzhou, and their regiment seemed to have this battalion.

As for the other four battalions, there was actually... no difference in tactics. Bu Yingdi even felt that his presence affected Cao Wenzhao's performance.

Bu Yingdi believed that the beheading plan proposed by Governor Hong Chengchou was because of this. He felt that it was a plan tailor-made by Governor Hong for General Cao.

In other words, he believed that Governor Hong knew people well and made good use of them, while Cao Wenzhao was a top-notch general, but his ability to lead thousands of armies was a little less.

This time they sent troops as well. Cao Wenzhao was still a little complacent at the moment, at least now he had a plan for commanding the fourth battalion.

But before the joy had passed, Liu Chengzong, who was crossing Guanzhong, showed off a large army marching on his face.

How could Cao Wenzhao not be suppressed by Liu Chengzong's large-scale march?

There was no one on the plateau the day before, and even the Tang soldiers who ran over reported it. Only occasionally did they see Mongolian cavalry in twos and threes. They tied a rubber ball to the tail of their horse and chased me with bows and arrows for fun.

The next day, [-] troops were divided into four groups, like magic soldiers descending from the sky. They arrived at Fengxiang within an hour. There were rules for felling wood, collecting water, setting up forts and digging trenches. In the blink of an eye, several large camps sprouted up on the wasteland.

This is... what the hell kind of thing?

Fengxiang Mansion is an important stronghold and grain camp of the Marshal's Army in Guanzhong.

Cao Wenzhao had long expected that Liu Chengzong would send troops to help, and he also expected that Liu Chengzong would come very quickly.

But he didn't expect... Liu Chengzong's decisiveness and determination.

In Cao Wenzhao's subconscious mind, this battle should start with the siege of Baoji. The main force of the Marshal's Army in the east received the news, but was worried about being attacked by the Ming Army in the east, so they mobilized reinforcements from left to right. One battalion and two battalions arrived first. On the battlefield, the fighting situation further escalated and finally formed a battle.

Did you, Liu Chengzong, really come from the Ming Army? What about the process of calling people when the calabash boy saved his grandfather?
The co-author was that as soon as he heard the news that Baoji City was besieged, the main force on the east route just ignored it and turned around, right?
Cao Wenzhao's current thoughts were the same as Bu Yingdi's. All plans were ruined. They could not fight Liu Chengzong on the Fengxiang Plain.

Before that, he was considering the combat effectiveness of Liu Chengzong's battalions.

But after seeing the truth, Cao Wenzhao's thoughts had nothing to do with combat effectiveness... They were not fighting on the same level at all.

Considering Liu Chengzong's determination and marching ability to mobilize troops to form superior forces on local battlefields, what kind of troops would he not win?
This is like a chess player no matter how skilled he is, he can't beat Han Jing Emperor Liu Qi in chess.

After all, chess players are thinking about chess moves, while Liu Qi is thinking about hitting you in the head with the chessboard.

And beheaded in a surprise attack.

With [-] to [-] troops on both sides on the small Fengxiang Plateau, if they really opened up their fronts and started fighting, it would be difficult for a battalion of troops to turn around. Who would kill the leader?Guan Yu had to rely on Zhang Liao, Xu Huang and others to divert the main force when he wanted to kill Yan Liang. With the current formation, there was no way to divert the main force away.

But it was Bu Yingdi who asked people to go back to Longxi to raise food.

After all, no matter how good Guanzhong is, Liu Chengzong is still surrounded. They have many people and horses, and consume huge amounts of food and grass. Naturally, the marshal's army should be the most anxious.

Cao Wenzhao and Ping An looked at each other, and then glanced at Bai Guangen uncontrollably.

The Ming army was good at raising food and fodder, but Bai Guangen, who was an official soldier among the bandits, was the best at it anyway!

But Bai Guangen didn't answer. He was sitting upright, but when he heard these words, he slumped in his chair, holding the alms bowl and unpacking the items, like someone with ADHD.

Cao Wenzhao asked: "What did General Bai say?"

Bai Guangen seemed to be suffering from sleep hysteria. His hand to remove the helmet paused in mid-air. He raised his head and said in a daze, "I listen to Commander Cao."

He was not stupid. He thought to himself, who didn't come from Longxi? In the past two or three years, severe drought, locust plagues, and the coming and going of the army had plowed Longxi many times. Now Longxi can raise a lot of money with conventional means. To put it bluntly, I am asked to grab food.

Grain grabbing is easy, but you have to give this order.

As soon as Cao Wenzhao heard what he said, he knew what Bai Guangen meant. He nodded. As he spoke, he looked at Shen Guangxian and asked, "Where is General Shen? Do you have any advice?"

Unlike people like Cao Wenzhao, Ping An, and Bai Guangen, Shen Guangxian had never suffered from Liu Chengzong.

Although the Ningxia camp suffered a huge defeat against the Lions camp at Huanglong Mountain, He Huchen resisted all punishments and showed that he was fine.

Even after another major defeat in the Hehuang War, Ningxia's experienced generals were diluted to a large extent. Shen Guangxian became a general with his seniority. He was almost... just almost, if he hadn't been a general. If he has connections with Zhang Dechang, he can at least get a job as deputy commander-in-chief.

Therefore, instead of feeling that he had any grudge against Liu Chengzong, he felt that he had gained a little advantage from Liu Chengzong.

Back then, Shen Guangxian only thought about letting He Huchen go back and take the blame for the defeat. It's still the same now. People don't have to be so loyal to the emperor and the country. It's enough to do their own thing well.

Live, the more you live, the better.

However, Shen Guangxian knew this well. Zhang Dechang became the deputy commander-in-chief and would soon become the commander-in-chief. He and Zhang Dechang were not on the same track.

His competitors were not Zhang Dechang, but the gang of Bu Yingdi and Tu Shixian.

If Liu Chengzong can choose a lucky person to send away this time, Shen Guangxian is [-]% sure that he can take over Zhang Dechang's team and become the deputy commander-in-chief of Ningxia.

The future is boundless!

"I think Commander Cao is right. Let's raise food and go west to catch them off guard in Longxi. Each battalion will select vanguards to seize the opportunity and kill Liu Chengzong in the middle of the battle."

Bai Guangen had always seemed very silent, but when he heard this sentence, he raised his eyes and looked at the few people who had the chance to win, and then asked: "Everyone, who has seen Liu Chengzong fight?"

People looked at Shen Guangxian, who shook his head: "In the battle at Huanglong Mountain, I only saw him once from a distance and never fought."

People looked at Cao Wenzhao again, and Cao Wenzhao also shook his head and said: "Pingliang, he didn't do anything either."

Finally, the generals looked at Bai Guangen expectantly, but to their surprise, Bai Guangen said: "I have seen his back, like a bear squatting on horseback."

Bu Yingdi wiped his face after hearing this. If he looked like that... I'm afraid this thief would be difficult to kill.

Cao Wenzhao was very confused.

He met Liu Chengzong and also met Xiong.

But Cao Wenzhao collected all the memories about the battle that year, and could not connect Liu Chengzong and Xiong.

In fact, Cao Wenzhao has always been known as the enemy of ten thousand people in the army because he is older. When he was young, he was big and round, but now he often sends troops and eats too much, so his body shape is more like a bear.

In his memory, Liu Chengzong's figure was not that special. He was just a normal soldier. Even because he was taller, he didn't look so stout. He was similar to his nephew Cao Bianjiao. He looked agile and fierce.

He wondered if Bai Guangen had known Liu Chengzong earlier. Why, did Liu Shizi lose weight after the rebellion?
Just listen to Bai Guangen say: "I thought it was better to fight with them because of my humble position. Don't bet on the outcome and kill them. I have been in Yan'an for a long time. I often heard people talk about Liu Chengzong's uprising in Yan'an and his sword and ax killing him across the long street." , Entering and exiting the government offices was like entering an uninhabited land, fighting continuously inside and outside the city, killing hundreds of people."

"People say that he is like a living Lu Bu. He can hold an army in his hand and no one can stop him. He is covered by a piece of armor and can hardly defeat a thousand people. He has the courage of Xiang Ji."

Cao Wenzhao listened very seriously at first, but at the end he became overjoyed.

He has heard this kind of thing too many times.

Since entering the Pass to put down the rebellion, he has killed three dragons, five tigers, and one wolf, trampled two golden cicadas to death, and defeated countless famous ancient generals such as Guan Suo and Xue Rengui.

Originally he thought Liu Chengzong was quite difficult to deal with, but now that he heard that he was a fusion of Lu Bu and Xiang Yu, Cao Wenzhao suddenly felt that... the difficulty seemed to have been reduced.

Just at this moment, a servant from the camp came to report: "Commander, Commander Zuo sent someone to ask if the battle can be fought with only seven days of rations left."

Cao Wenzhao shook his head and said: "Liu bandit mobilized his troops too quickly and cannot fight. Go back and tell Commander Zuo that you must be steady. When the two armies are facing each other, stability is the key. If we have less food, there may not be more enemy troops. Cao will find a way to ensure that the soldiers will not starve."

Having said that, he waved his hand for his servants to retreat, and then he clasped his fists at Bai Guangen and said, "In that case, General Bai will take a trip to Longxi and collect some military rations within five days."

Then he said to Shen Guangxian and Bu Yingdi: "The remaining camps should set up camp first and prepare for sneak attacks by the thieves. As long as we are stable, Liu Chengzong will be the most anxious."

Cao Wenzhao calculated in his mind that in the current situation in Guanzhong, Liu Chengzong could not get much food and grass. He estimated that even if the marshal's army had food, it would be very limited now.

Moreover, in terms of military supplies, Liu Chengzong's army was definitely not as able to withstand the pressure as they were.

After all, Guanzhong is almost the same as outside the country to the Marshal's Mansion.

It happened that at this moment, the cannon from the south sounded.

The rumbling sound of cannons was like thunder rolling from the sky. Cao Wenzhao frowned and said, "Is it going to rain? It shouldn't look like the sky..."

Immediately, hurried footsteps came from outside the camp. It was Cao Dingjiao, another nephew of Cao Wenzhao. He cupped his fists and said, "Commander, there is the sound of artillery from the south. It seems that Commander Zuo is attacking Baoji!"

All the generals rushed out of the Chinese army camp and quickly climbed up the mountain inside the camp. However, from here, the scene outside Baoji City in the south could not be seen clearly. However, they could see the gates of the marshal's barracks on Fengxiang Plateau with their doors wide open and the sound of cannons and cannons. The mighty cavalry troop filed out, and wherever the military flag pointed, Baoji was located.

Cao Wenzhao said that he was afraid that they would have to fight Liu Chengzong on Fengxiang Plain! (End of chapter)