I want to be emperor

Chapter 442 The Decisiveness of Zu Dashou
In the fourth year of Chengshun of the Great Chu Empire, in the early morning of July 11th in the [-]th year of Ming Chongzhen.

About [-] kilometers to the north of Wen'an City in Beizhili, Zhu Xingfa began to take three cavalry brigades under his command to the northeast, where Zu Dashou's headquarters was located.

At the same time, about three or four kilometers behind it, the main force of the Tenth Division's division headquarters was also marching rapidly, and in order to increase the marching speed, their infantry, artillery, and supply units were even out of touch.

And more than ten kilometers away from the north where Zhu Xingfa is located, there are more than 30 people in the No.4000 Eighth Reinforced Regiment under the Tenth Division, and their marching speed is even faster!

The No.30 Eighth Reinforcement Regiment had already started preparing breakfast in the middle of the night today. Before the sky was bright, the soldiers had already eaten and started on the road. Their marching speed was extremely fast, which was a typical rapid march.

In order to cover the detour of the No. 30 Eighth Reinforced Regiment, Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa also specially ordered the three cavalry brigades and the [-]th Division under his command: to build up momentum, the bigger the better, don't be afraid of being known by the Ming army scouts on the opposite side.

So the three cavalry brigades of the Chu army and the main force of the tenth division fought in the direction of Zu Dashou's troops without any concealment.

At the same time, Zhu Xingfa ordered his scouts to expand the scope of blockade and interception,

While pretending to be aggressive, they also strictly ordered the reconnaissance cavalry to block it. These are all to confuse the reconnaissance cavalry under Zu Dashou's command and further cover the actions of the No.30 Eighth Reinforced Regiment.

Even if it can only confuse the enemy for an hour, it is good.

Because the terrain of this place is flat and the field of vision is wide, it is actually difficult to hide the opponent's cavalry for large-scale military operations, especially when the cavalry of one's own side does not have an absolute advantage.

What Zhu Xingfa did was to further confuse the water!

At that time, Zu Dashou knew that a large number of Chu troops had come from the east, but it was still difficult to know and analyze the detailed movements of the Chu troops.

After all, the cavalry in the Chu army didn't eat dry food, and they would also drive and intercept the Ming army's reconnaissance cavalry.

It is possible for you to take a look at the periphery of the Ming army's reconnaissance cavalry, but don't expect to be able to get close and observe in detail.

Therefore, when the Chu army's cavalry unit first set off, although there were scouts who quickly reported to Zu Dashou, Zu Dashou did not know the details.

After about eight o'clock in the morning, the Ming army's reconnaissance cavalry finally approached at a risk, and then learned that there were at least [-] cavalry in the Chu army's forward marching westward.

As soon as the news came back, some generals under his command showed seriousness: "The enemy's cavalry forwards are only more than four thousand, and they will not know that we are Guan Ning's cavalry. If this is the case, they dare to approach rashly. There must be something behind us!"

Zu Dashou and the others went south, but they didn't hide the banner or anything like that, and they couldn't hide it... So they just played out the banner openly, and the Chu thief's scouts could know this Ming army from a distance. It is the Liaodong Frontier Army, or the troops directly under his ancestor Dashou, who has thousands of Guanning cavalry.

This generous flag is also intended to deter the enemy, so that the enemy will not dare to act rashly.

So as not to make the Chu thieves think they are soft persimmons, and then run over to pinch them...

But what they didn't expect was that they all played the banner of the Liaodong Frontier Army, and even Zu Dashou's general flag was played openly, and the opponent didn't retreat in spite of the difficulties, but continued to approach.

This is no longer simply intercepting one's own southward attack.

Because Zu Dashou has not continued to go south since yesterday, and at the same time, the [-] cavalry of the Chu army have already intercepted it. If you really want to stop your own side going south, then it is enough to stick to your position more than ten miles away. If you really want to move, you must also You can wait for your side to continue to detour, and then follow the detour. There is no need to run over to stick Zu Dashou's face right now.

However, the thief Chu on the opposite side really did this.

At the beginning, many generals in Liaodong could not understand, or even understand their behavior.

Until Wu Xiang said a word: "Could it be that they want to expel us directly so as not to affect their going north?"

After hearing this, Zu Dashou said, "It is possible that we will stay on their flanks, and the Chu thieves will definitely not be at ease. If it were me, I would not ignore the threat of tens of thousands of enemy troops on the flanks." Continue to go north to Tianjin, they may want to drive us out of this area, so they can go north with confidence!"

Wu Xiang said: "Then what should we do? Should we stay here, or leave this area temporarily?"

After thinking about it for a long time, Zu Dashou said, "You can't stay here. If you stay here, once you get entangled by the Chu thief's forward cavalry, it will be troublesome to wait for the Chu thief's rifles to come up. They will still follow 1 soldiers." How about a multi-step gun?"

"Send the order, pack up your belongings, and prepare to retreat north!"

Apart from these superficial reasons, Zu Dashou still didn't want to lead his army to fight the Chu thieves, especially in such a large-scale battle.

Because no matter whether he wins or loses, he will lose a lot!

Once this kind of battle breaks out, there will definitely be heavy casualties, even the four thousand Guanning iron cavalry under his hands may lose a lot by then.

Once there are too many casualties, regardless of his ancestor's longevity, he will die.

Zu Dashou gave the order to retreat, but not long after, someone ran over in a panic and reported: "My lord, it's too bad, the north... a large number of thieves have been found in the north!"

north?Chu thief?
Zu Dashou had fought battles all his life, and he knew that something was going to go wrong when he heard these two key words, so he immediately asked, "What's going on? Be careful!"

Immediately, the visitor continued: "The Detective Pegasus Express who was patrolling in the northeast just now found a group of Chu thieves twelve miles to the northeast. They are marching towards our north at high speed!"

With the return of the visitor, if Zu Dashou still doesn't understand what's going on, then he will have wasted his life's combat experience in vain.

"Earlier, I wondered why these Chu thieves came here in such a good manner. At first, I just thought that these Chu thieves wanted to drive us away, so as not to affect their army going north to Tianjin."

"But now it seems that these Chu thieves have a big appetite..."

At this time, Zu Dashou didn't know that these Chu thieves didn't come here to drive away their side at all, but wanted to pounce on them and bite them hard.

Through the news from many sources, especially the reports from the reconnaissance cavalry in the northeast, Zu Dashou has guessed with [-]% certainty the previous movements of the Dao Chu thief.

They must have divided their troops in advance yesterday, and after the division, the partial divisions began to march in a hurry to make roundabout maneuvers.

And the timing after the detour was also very ingenious. They didn't get too close yesterday, but stopped and set up camp at least twenty miles away, because the outer scouting distance of the Ming army's scout cavalry could not really run dozens of miles away. In addition, it would be good to be able to monitor the direction of about [-] miles around. If it is further away, it can only monitor some traffic arteries and important directions, such as the southeast direction, where there are the main cavalry of the Chu thief, and this place It's still official.

After stopping more than 20 miles away yesterday, the detour force of the Chu bandits must have buried their pots and made a living early this morning, and began to attack quickly before dawn.

Under the high-speed attack, it only takes an hour or two to directly kill the position more than ten miles behind one's own side.

There is a time difference here, and the opponent played very well.

If the opponent approached within a range of more than ten miles yesterday, then your scouts will know in advance, so that you will have a whole night to respond, especially when you can set off to run when the city is in Lingcheng road.

But yesterday, instead of approaching within a range of more than ten miles, they camped farther away, and waited until this morning to start running at full speed, so that there was not much time left for myself to react.

an hour?
No, if you count the time it takes for the scouts to go back and forth, it's only half an hour at most.

Zu Dashou could be considered to have seen too many people with strong winds and waves, so he immediately ordered: "Immediately retreat to the west!"

In this situation, there is no difference between staying in place and waiting to die.

Even if you can stay in place for a while, but the Chu thief is not stupid, he will definitely call in more infantry and artillery later, and the whole army will be wiped out waiting for him.

It is also not feasible to retreat to the north. The Chu thief's detour is in the northeast direction of his own side, and the distance is only twelve or thirty miles away.

And after bumping head-on, the opponent only needs to block him for an hour or two, then the cavalry of the Chu thief will kill him quickly, and after another hour or two, a large number of infantry and artillery of the enemy army will also kill him.

At that time, it will still be a fiasco!
As for going east to south, don't even think about it, going east is a trap for yourself!

As for going south, Hong Chengchou probably would be very happy to hear it. He wished that Zu Dashou would lead his troops southward, attacking the Chu rebels all the way, attacking the logistics line, etc., but Zu Dashou knew very well that he could escape for a while after going south. It can also bring great trouble to Chu thief.

But the south is equivalent to a swamp. It is easy to get in, but it is not easy to get out, and it will sink deeper and deeper.

As long as his brain is not burned out, he will not lead his tens of thousands of troops directly into the southern hinterland controlled by the Chu thief.

The only escape route is left to the west!

Therefore, without hesitation, Zu Dashou ordered the whole army to quickly retreat towards the west.

Zu Dashou's order was very straightforward, and the Liaodong frontier army under his command is indeed an elite who has been able to resist the captivity in Liaodong for many years. He also resolutely carried out Zu Dashou's order, and it was sorted out in a short period of time. belongings, and part of the vanguard set off towards the west immediately.

At the same time, troops were sent to the rear to prevent the bandits from chasing them.

Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa on the opposite side was greatly impressed by his decisiveness in escaping and resoluteness in his actions.

"I have led troops to fight against the puppet Ming army for several years. There are countless puppet Ming troops. There are guards, young and strong, and new standard troops."

"But it's the first time I've seen someone who can run so fast!"

"But you can run if you want, but you have to leave the infantry with the infantry first!"

(End of this chapter)