Eighth year of Chongzhen

40 The Great War 4
In the big tent of the Tianxiong Army camp, Lu Xiangsheng sat behind the main seat, Wu Dading still stood behind him holding a knife, Zu Kuan, Li Chongjin and other Liaodong generals stood on the left side of the big tent, Yang Maogong, Zhao Libin and other Tianxiong Army generals Stand on the right side.

Lu Xiangsheng opened his mouth and said: "In today's battle, our soldiers fought bravely to be the first, defeated the thieves, and killed countless people! This official has reported to the court, and I will tell everyone about the merits, and it will also relieve my emperor's worries!
As expected, the thief will not be reconciled to today's defeat, and will definitely gather elite troops to challenge!
The official has been staying at night to check the movements of the thieves.Gao Yingxiang has repeatedly defeated the officers and soldiers in recent years, he is proud and arrogant. Seeing that I have few soldiers, he should lead a large number of troops to come here, trying to defeat or even crush me. What countermeasures do you generals have? Feel free to tell me! "

The generals on both sides immediately started talking.

Yang Mao power went out first, and cupped his hands and said: "Commander, although the number of bandits is dozens of times larger than mine, the most powerful ones are the more than ten thousand elite cavalry of the bandits, and the rest of the elite of the bandits, big and small, are not as good as me. not much.

What's more, the hearts of the thieves and bandits are not in harmony, and each family will never give up all its wealth to fight with our army.

If the thieves come, the main force should be to break into the old camp of the thieves. The only thing to worry about now is the cavalry of the thieves, and the rest are not to be feared! "

After finishing speaking, Yang Maogong turned to look at Zu Kuan and others who were opposite him.

How could the Liaodong generals on the opposite side not understand what it meant?
Zu Kuan has been arrogant and domineering for a long time, and his family has been married everywhere in Liaodong. With the decline of Li Chengliang's family, the power of his ancestors has become the most influential family in the Liaodong army, so he developed Zu Kuan's temperament.

This time Chongzhen ordered the Ministry of War to transfer him to the mainland to suppress thieves, but he was also reluctant.

In his heart, the 3000 troops under his command had become his own private property, and he was unwilling to go to the front for the imperial court. Under the persuasion and strict orders of his father Guan Ning Zongbing Zu Dabi, he came to Lu Xiangsheng's command to listen to orders.

He had always looked down on civil officials in his heart, and as the chaos in the world became more and more violent, the status of warriors with knives gradually overwhelmed civil officials, but now it was still the Zhu family's world after all, and the generals in Liaodong received the emperor's favor for generations. Haven't the guts to openly despise the authority of the court.

He didn't expect to win the first battle after entering the Central Plains, and he didn't expect Lu Xiangsheng to be an important minister of the court, a civil servant, to go to the front. This also made Zu Kuan admire him, so he restrained himself a lot in front of Lu Xiangsheng.

At this time, after listening to Yang Maogong's words, he went out to salute Lu Xiangsheng and said: "Commander, we are all rough people, we can only charge forward, and we don't understand any strategies. General Yang said that the bandits on the opposite side have cavalry , still very good at fighting, didn't we fight in the morning? Isn't it just a charge?

If the thieves come, how to fight, I listen to the commander-in-chief's assignment!Regardless of whether he Chuangwang, Chuanghuang, in the eyes of my ancestors, he is a bunch of goods waiting to die! "

After speaking, he raised his head at Yang Maogong provocatively and squinted at him. Yang Maogong turned his face to the side and pretended not to see him. Zu Kuan snorted triumphantly and returned to the queue.

Lu Xiangsheng said with a smile: "You have such powerful generals as General Zu, why worry about the bandits being immortal! But the bandits are powerful, our army should avoid their sharp edges, attack their weak points, and try to defeat them at the lowest cost. After all, there are so many bandits , it is impossible to kill them once.

The purpose of this battle is to kill and injure as many elite bandits as possible, and then drive them into the mountains.

Afterwards, I went to Ruzhou. The soldiers have been fighting for a long time and need to take a good rest. I also want to write a memorial to the emperor to report the current trend of thieves becoming more and more powerful. I ask the emperor to send more rations and expand the source of troops so that they can fight as soon as possible. Suppress the thieves and return the people of Ming Dynasty to a safe place to live! "

Speaking of this, Lu Xiangsheng paused for a moment, restrained his smile, and then said: "General Zu, you take out two thousand cavalry, General Li, you send out one thousand cavalry, and three thousand cavalry, with one thousand as a team, detour to the bandits. sides and rear.

Bandit soldiers come to attack our camp. I will rely on the camp and use strong bows and crossbows to dampen their spirit. When the enemy is discouraged, the camp will fire cannons. At that time, you and I will charge from all sides at the same time to defeat the bandits. Soldiers and infantry, let the bandits and horses fall into chaos!
If nothing else, this will be another big victory!Remember, everyone, don't be greedy for credit after defeating the bandits.Today, the rebels were defeated twice. It is expected that the trespassers will be terrified and will retreat to the mountains to recuperate. Our army is running out of food and grass, so going to Ruzhou after this battle is also a helpless move.

When our army is strong and horses are strong, and food and grass are ready, we will look for the intruders and wipe them out in one fell swoop! "

All the generals bowed their hands and accepted the order after hearing all the words, Lu Xiangtong hurried into the big tent, and before the big case, knelt on one leg and cupped his hands and reported loudly: "Report to the commander-in-chief, the low-ranking scouts have found that the bandit soldiers have assembled, and the number has not yet been raised." Find out, come here to report!"

Lu Xiangsheng nodded, and ordered: "I know, continue to investigate and report in time!"

Lu Xiangtong went away in response.

Lu Xiangsheng then ordered the generals to return to the camp for preparations, and sent Yeburen to search and guard around. Three thousand cavalry set off in half an hour, while the infantry of the Tianxiong Army repaired their weapons, prepared their bows and crossbows, and rested on the spot, waiting for the bandits. arrival.

Since Gao Yingxiang ordered the bandits to send troops to attack the official army, it took two full hours for the bandits to gather after all kinds of chaos.

It was almost the end of the day, Gao Yingxiang frowned when he saw this situation, but these were not his subordinates, he had no right to control other people's generals.

Seeing that Zhang Xianzhong arrived late on a yellow puma, he snorted coldly, and his disgust towards Zhang Xianzhong rose sharply in his heart, and he began to consider whether he should take advantage of the opportunity to kill Zhang Xianzhong and annex his subordinates.

But his face was full of joy, and he laughed loudly: "Just now someone said that Brother Zhang is afraid of the officers and soldiers, so he dare not come! Haha! I don't believe it. I know that the famous Huang Hu is a good man, so how can I be afraid?" Officer! No, Brother Zhang is here! Hahahaha!"

Zhang Xianzhong was disdainful in his heart, and said with a smile on his face: "I personally went to pick people to fight, and I chose all strong men, so I came a little late, don't blame me for King Chuang!"

Gao Yingxiang laughed and said: "It's rare that my brother's heart is so good. Now that everyone is here, let's set off now. I have already sent out to explore the horses. I will lead the [-] cavalry team. Would you like to join me?"

All the bandit leaders shouted and agreed.

Gao Yingxiang rode a black horse, held the rein in one hand, waved forward with the other, and shouted: "Get out!"

Immediately, his legs tapped the horse's belly lightly, and the mount walked forward in short steps, followed closely by the bandit leaders on horseback, and then the three thousand cavalry team started, and the tens of thousands of infantry behind them, amidst the shouts of their respective generals, chaotically moved towards the horse. Go to the Ming army camp.

Along the way, the smoke and dust billowed, and the horses galloped back and forth, constantly reporting the situation ahead. Half an hour later, the Ming army camp had appeared in the sight of Gao Yingxiang and others.

Gao Yingxiang and the others reined in their horses and raised one hand upwards. The soldiers around him blew their horns, and more than three thousand horsemen stopped one after another. Tens of thousands of bandit soldiers who were more than a thousand steps behind rushed up clamorously.

Gao Yingxiang turned his head to give some instructions, and a Dougu Huanglong turned his horse's head around and galloped towards the bandit soldiers behind him with a few personal soldiers.When passing by the cavalry team, Huang Long yelled loudly, and the three thousand cavalry were divided into two teams, and they beat their horses and ran to both sides, while making way for the infantry behind.

The area around Ruyang is located in the hinterland of the Central Plains, a vast plain stretching as far as the eye can see, and the terrain is extremely open, otherwise the hundreds of thousands of troops of Gao Yingxiang and others would not be able to deploy it.

Huang Long didn't stop, and continued to meet the infantry team that was rushing over. He stopped his horse only when he was several hundred paces away from the [-] infantry in the front.

Guo Tianxing, who led the five thousand infantry, galloped over, reined in before Huang Long and asked loudly, "Lao Huang, what are you doing here? Are you waiting for me?"

Huang Long laughed and said, "It's not that King Chuang asked me to come, do you think I care about you?"

"Bah! You idiot, if you care about me, I might as well die!" Guo Tianxing scolded with a smile.

Huang Long grinned and continued: "The front is King Lu Yan's camp. King Chuang asked me to come and tell you, stop the whole team, call the archers of each family to go to the front. The infantry of our old battalion took the lead, and at the end The pawns of each family followed. I understand King Chuang's thoughts, he wants our sons and daughters to fight a good fight, and show our majesty to those who come here!"

"In that case, I will send someone to order to control Lu Yanwang and Ma Yanwang, and tell them to become the king of Hades directly, hahaha!"

"Then I'm going back to Chuangwang's side, Lao Han, it's up to you later!" After speaking, Huang Long led his soldiers back to the front line, and after Tianxing himself went to arrange a team of people.

After returning to the front of the formation, after Huanglong finished reporting to Gao Yingxiang, a sharp trumpet suddenly sounded in the Ming army camp in the distance.

Then the gate of the camp was opened, and a general of the Ming army rode a tall horse, neatly dressed, and rode out of the camp first, followed by a horse on each side.

Then groups of Ming troops, wearing red mandarin duck jackets and eight-petal iron helmets, filed out neatly.

The first three Ming soldiers rode their horses and stopped when they were a few hundred steps away from Gao Yingxiang and the others, and raised their eyes to watch this side.The Ming army behind them, under the command of their respective commander-in-chief and commander-in-chief, quickly approached the three Ming troops, and then formed a formation more than a hundred steps behind them.

In about a quarter of an hour, nearly [-] Ming troops formed a neat square formation with archers at the front, swordsmen at the left and spearmen at the back, and then teams of cavalry rushed out of the camp and divided into two teams to protect the infantry. flank.

Gao Yingxiang and the others were horrified. In contrast, their own team hadn't finished forming after half an hour, and the opponent had already lined up and waited in a short period of time. Comparing the two, the pros and cons will be judged.

Gao Yingxiang rolled his eyes, made a haha, and said, "The officers and soldiers always play tricks like this! In war, whoever has the most tricks won't win, and you have to fight head-to-head! There are only a few thousand people, and we are all alone. Just charge forward, haha!" All the bandit leaders behind him also spoke in agreement.

Only Zhang Xianzhong and Sun Kewang looked dignified and said nothing.

Gao Yingxiang looked back, his team was still in chaos.

He shouted angrily: "This is a child-seeking matter that Guo Tianxing is doing! One bucket of grain, and then pass on my order! After a quarter of an hour, if it is still not done, I will whip him! Go!"

Huanglong led the horse and ran to the rear again, and after half an hour, he and Guo Tianxing rushed over together, followed by a group of archers Wu Yangyang behind them.Immediately afterwards, thousands of infantry under Gao Yingxiang's command came striding forward in a barely neat formation. As for the so-called elite assembled by various bandits, they were still chaotic and disorderly, and followed behind noisily.

Huanglong and Huanglong reined in the horse a few steps away from Gao Yingxiang, and Guo Tianxing said cursingly: "King Chuang, apart from our own archers, few of these donkey balls can shoot bows. I assigned them to them and it took me a long time to find them." Collected more than 100, plus our own, a total of more than 800!
These melon archers don't bring too many arrows, only five more, and two or three less, I can't do anything about it! "

Gao Yingxiang glared at him dissatisfied, and said, "Give more of our arrows to those with fewer arrows, they are all brothers from the Rebel Army, and what we have belongs to them, after allocating it, hurry up and line up!
The archers fight forward, and when they reach the range, they stick to the formation and start shooting, and retreat to both sides if the shot is gone!The infantry rushed forward, the cavalry protected both sides, and there were thousands of officers and soldiers on the opposite side. With so many of us, we could run over them in one dash!Guotianxing, you command the archers, Huanglong, you lead the team to rush!go! "

The two took orders, and Guo Tianxing and other archers approached and began to straighten out the formation with a few personal soldiers.Several people held horsewhips in their hands, yelling and cursing, whipping the horsewhip, and it took a long time to force more than [-] archers to form a crooked square formation.

Guo Tianxing drew his sword and shouted, and led his soldiers to drive forward. The archers followed closely behind, and walked towards the officers and soldiers more than [-] steps away.The team, which was not neat at first, turned into a mess after walking dozens of steps. Gao Yingxiang and others looked at it with frowns.

Zhang Xianzhong drove his horse to Gao Yingxiang, and said, "King Chuang, something is wrong, the number of cavalry of the official army seems not enough!"

Gao Yingxiang was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "I've checked it out a long time ago, the cavalry of the official army is only three or four thousand riders, and this time it only came out with two thousand riders, in order to protect the infantry, and the rest must be Seeing that we have a large number of people, I am afraid that it will be inconvenient to retreat to the camp after a fight!

Lao Zhang, did you see it?The officers and soldiers are not far away from the camp, and they must want to fight us head-on, to dampen my spirit, and then they will definitely retreat to the camp to guard.

The camps of the officers and soldiers are set up well!If we attack by force, we will definitely suffer a lot of losses. He is betting that I will not attack his camp by force.Except for this hill in front of you, there is no place to ambush around, don't be afraid, those Liaodong barbarians must be hiding in the camp! "

Zhang Xianzhong replied: "What King Chuang said is true, but it's better to be careful! King Lu Yan has a good reputation, so he is not easy to get along with!"

Gao Yingxiang nodded and said: "My brother is right! I will send more scouts to investigate everywhere, to guard against the tricks of the officers and soldiers!"

After all, Gao Yingxiang recruited two soldiers, and after a few instructions, the two rode their horses and rushed towards the cavalry on both sides.

Lu Xiangsheng rode on his horse and watched the bandit archers rushing in disorderly, and then ordered five hundred official archers to go forward to meet the enemy.

Yang Maogong waved the triangular red flag in his hand, waved it five times in a row, and [-] archers lined up in front of the back, forming a formation of three in front and two in back, passing Lu Xiangsheng and striding towards the bandits.

When Gao Yingxiang saw that the army squad had left the formation, he immediately ordered his own cavalry to wave the flag to attack and strangle this squad of officers.

But the officers and soldiers had been on guard for a long time. Gao Yingxiang's cavalry moved forward slowly after seeing the flag, and the Liaodong cavalry on both sides moved forward at the same time. Gao Yingxiang could only order the cavalry to stop.

The bandit archers on the opposite side saw the officers and soldiers approaching, and many people couldn't help panicking.Some thieves turned their heads and wanted to run, some screamed in panic, and some shot with their bows.

After Tianxing's face turned blue, he galloped over and chopped off the head of a bandit who wanted to escape with a knife, a stream of blood spurted from the neck of the bandit whose head had been cut off, and the severed skull was full of bones. After rolling a few steps on the ground, it stopped, with a panicked expression on its face, eyes wide open, mouth wide open, looking extremely terrifying.

The bandit soldiers were frightened immediately, and the scene immediately quieted down.

With a ferocious face, Guo Tianxing raised his knife and yelled: "Who the hell run away, my knife is not a vegetarian! Team up!"

The distance between the two sides was hundreds of steps, and the officers and soldiers stopped to straighten their formation after walking a few dozen steps, and then continued to move forward, moving very quickly.

When the thieves had just formed two rows of 400 people each, the officers and soldiers had already reached about 150 paces.

Under the threat of Guotianxing, the bandit soldiers bit their bullets and went forward. When they were a hundred steps away from the officer army, the bandit archers stopped and refused to move forward no matter what.

Guo Tianxing saw that the officers and soldiers had entered the shooting range, but still did not stop, he immediately ordered to release the arrows loudly, and then retreated aside with his own soldiers on horseback.

The bandits and archers stretched their bows and shot at the officers and soldiers one after another.

Although the distance of more than a hundred steps is within the range of the bow and arrow, the arrow is already weak when it falls, and the lethality is negligible.What's more, the bows used by bandit soldiers are not standard longbows, but short-tipped bows, hunting bows, and riding bows.

In the first round of more than [-] arrows, only one-third fell into the ranks of the officers and soldiers, most of which were bounced off by the iron helmets of the officers and soldiers, and a few arrows landed on the body, but they could not penetrate the mandarin ducks with iron plates inside. Battle jacket.Only a few unlucky ghosts were shot in the arms, but they didn't penetrate deeply.

The officers and soldiers who were hit by the arrow gritted their teeth and endured, and continued to move forward.

Seeing that the officers and soldiers were still coming in stride, the thieves became even more flustered.Many people didn't even look at it, and accelerated to shoot the arrows in their hands. Some even didn't fully open the bow, and shot it halfway.

After the bandit soldiers shot four rounds of arrows, the officers and soldiers came to a distance of about seventy paces.Only [-] or so people lost their combat effectiveness after being hit by the arrows. These [-] or so people automatically fell to the back of the line, and the rest moved quickly, and the formation was still neat.

A leader shouted to the general manager, the officers and soldiers stopped and began to draw their bows and arrows.As the general blew his whistle, more than [-] iron arrows flew obliquely into the sky with a buzzing sound, and landed on the heads of the bandits in an instant.

The iron arrow lost its upward kinetic energy. Driven by the weight of the arrow, it turned around and rushed towards the ground.

With a howl of misery, the triangular arrow pierced fiercely on the heads and shoulders of the thieves.

Almost none of these bandit archers wore armor, and their heads were only wrapped with cloth scarves, which could withstand the blow of a three-edged arrow that could penetrate armor.

Many of the bandit soldiers who had been shot in the head didn't make a sound, and were directly killed by the sharp arrow piercing a few inches into their foreheads.

The bandit soldiers whose shoulders and arms were shot also immediately lost their fighting power. Some bandit soldiers' arms were directly pierced by the triangular arrow, and screams that did not sound like human voices came from their mouths.

In just a dozen or so breaths, the officers and soldiers fired four waves. Except for those who were killed or injured and fell to the ground, the rest of the bandits who reacted screamed and fled in all directions. Of the more than [-] bandit archers, less than [-] escaped. number.

At this time, a short trumpet sounded in the army camp, and the five hundred archers engaged in the battle turned and retreated.A thousand spearmen stepped forward to meet them, and the cavalry on both sides moved slowly to prevent the opposing cavalry from attacking the archers.

After a while, the archers who participated in the battle retreated to the main formation, and the injured were taken back to the camp for treatment. This small-scale archer shooting was over.

(End of this chapter)