Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 95 Zhu Yuanzhang and Xu Da provided military advice, and Zhang Cheng sent troops northward

Guo Zixing helped Zhu Yuanzhang up here and said: "My father is not a shameless person like Zhao Junyong. He will not do things that hurt his relatives and make his enemies happy."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded with tears in his eyes.

Guo Zixing continued to ask Zhu Yuanzhang: "Take your father to see Mr. Zhang."

Zhu Yuanzhang said yes.

Guo Zixing soon arrived at Zhang Cheng.

When Guo Zixing arrived, Zhang Cheng and his party were already preparing for the march.

Zhang Cheng himself was discussing the first march destination with Xu Da, Hua Yun, Tang He and others.

"Mr. Zhang, my suggestion is to go north along the river and go to Waliang Liao first. It is not advisable to go south along the river, because several strongholds have been built in the Jilong Mountain area in the south, and Hu Yuan's heavy troops are stationed in all of them."

Xu Da was telling Zhang Cheng his opinion at this time.

"He's handsome!"

Ren Zhigong's voice came from outside the door.

Zhang Cheng therefore stretched out his hand to stop Xu Da from continuing, and walked out first, bowing his hands to Guo Zixing, Zhu Yuanzhang and others: "Commander, come on!"

"Mr. Zhang really must go out?"

Guo Zixing asked Zhang Cheng at this time.

Zhang Cheng nodded.

After hearing this, Guo Zixing asked: "How many soldiers and horses does Mr. Zhang plan to bring out?"

"Just the Shenji Battalion trained by myself, Brother Huayun's one hundred horsemen, Brother Tang's one hundred foot archers, and some of the higher-ranking soldiers."

Zhang Cheng said.

After hearing this, Guo Zixing sighed: "That's fine!"

Subsequently.

Guo Zixing asked Zhu Yuanzhang again: "What kind of military branch is the Shenji Camp?"

"Hui Fushuai is a military branch mainly composed of gunmen. It was originally planned that Mr. Zhang, the magistrate, would be in charge of the internal defense after being trained."

Zhu Yuanzhang replied.

Guo Zixing raised his eyebrows and started pacing with his hands on his hips: "This is simply ridiculous!"

"How can a military branch that mainly uses firecrackers deal with Yuan soldiers? Do they really think those Yuan soldiers outside are a bunch of pigs that can be scared away by setting off firecrackers and throwing stones?"

Guo Zixing asked a few questions and couldn't help but said to Zheng Zhangcheng:

"Mr. Zhang, forget it if you don't believe us! But since we have to go out, why bring some soldiers like this? It's better to just bring the cavalry army!"

"Commander Father, with Hua Yun's 100 cavalry troops and Tang He's 100 foot archers, there will be no problem in escorting Mr. Zhang back to Chuzhou City."

"It's just that if there is any emergency, the three hundred gunmen must be discarded."

"So handsome father doesn't have to worry too much."

Zhu Yuanzhang said for Zhang Cheng at this time.

Guo Zixing said: "The loss of three hundred gunmen is a loss. The most important thing is that Mr. Zhang's safety must be preserved!"

talking.

Guo Zixing then told Ren Zhigong: "Go and tell Mao Guang to lead an army of 200 horses to follow Mr. Zhang. You must protect Mr. Zhang when the time comes."

Ren Zhigong had no choice but to say yes.

Guo Zixing then clasped his fists at Zhang Cheng and said, "Mr. Zhang, Guo is a rough man and doesn't know how to speak nicely, but Guo always puts justice first when doing things. Since you have joined the rebel army, you are Guo's brother. I can't just watch my brother die in vain. Even if I can't stop my brother from going his own way, I still want to save you as much as possible."

"This Mao Guang is a brave general among our soldiers, and he has always been in charge of our Dingma troops. So, don't worry, with him and his 200 cavalry troops here, you will be guaranteed to be safe!"

Guo Zixing then spoke again.

Zhang Cheng cupped his hands and said, "I am deeply grateful for the Commander-in-Chief's care. I also ask Commander-in-Chief to rest assured. I will try my best to protect the entire army."

"Preserve yourself, and we will be satisfied."

"In addition, we have decided to ask Yuan Zhang to promote you to the position of general manager based on Chuzhou's merits. In the future, you will send troops abroad and be in charge of the military and administration of the department. You can also recruit subordinate officers."

Guo Zixing said.

After hearing this, Zhang Cheng raised his hands and thanked him.

He had some impression of this Mao Guang.

Zhang Cheng remembered that according to historical records, this wool factory belonged to Guo Zixing's old department. Before he took refuge with Guo Zixing, he was a general of the army and cavalry. He was quite brave and good at fighting, but he later died in battle after crossing the river.

thus.

Zhang Cheng had to admit that Guo Zixing also valued him.

Although, Guo Zixing did this because he was afraid that he would fall into the hands of Yuan soldiers or other rebels.

but no matter.

For Zhang Cheng, having two hundred more horse troops around him is undoubtedly a good thing, as it increases his ability to send troops abroad. Notice.

These days, in terms of land warfare, a cavalry army, because of its high mobility, is like a tank in later generations of land warfare. It can increase the number of two hundred horse troops, and the added security is great.

"Mr. Zhang doesn't have many troops. Going south is really not as good as going north."

"Besides, the rebels in Liuhe have an old relationship with us. If Mr. Zhang fails to attack Waliang Barrier, you can go to Liuhe with my letter to ask for help."

Zhu Yuanzhang then discussed with Zhang Cheng and others about Zhang Cheng's march plan after leaving the city.

Zhu Yuanzhang also agreed with Xu Da's suggestion to attack Waliang Base first. He also said that if Zhang Cheng was in trouble, he could go to Liuhe first for help. He also gave Zhang Cheng a letter he had written in advance.

Zhang Cheng nodded.

The next day.

Zhang Cheng and his entourage left Chuzhou City under the auspices of Guo Zixing, Zhu Yuanzhang and others.

Zhang Cheng also adopted the suggestions of Zhu Yuanzhang and Xu Da and went north to attack the Waliang base between Chuzhou and Liuhe.

There is no other reason.

Zhang Cheng is still willing to trust the military capabilities of Zhu Yuanzhang and Xu Da.

What's more, after Zhang Cheng thought about it on his own, he admitted that it was better to go to Waliang Lei than to Hezhou now.

Since he plans to conduct guerrilla-based operations, he naturally cannot go head-to-head with the Yuan soldiers. Instead, he should first look for weak areas of the Yuan soldiers, establish new bases, and then gain opportunities to gain a foothold before developing outward.

Guerrilla warfare does not mean purely mobile warfare, but also requires the construction of base areas, so siege of cities is also required.

It’s just that in guerrilla warfare, flexibility is important in siege. If you can’t take it, attack it. If you can’t take it, retreat decisively and find a new stronghold.

And Waliang Lei, also called Waliang City, is located in the west of Liuhe County and is the only way to go from Liuhe to Chuzhou.

As far as Zhang Cheng knows, this city was first recorded in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. During the Northern Expedition in the fifth year of Taijian, the Chen Dynasty attacked this city. The then Northern Qi Waliang City defender chose to surrender.

Now, Zhang Cheng and his group of more than 700 people are coming here along the Qingliu River.

among them.

Hua Yun's 100 cavalry were the front army sentinels, the Shenji Battalion and Tang He's 100 infantry archers escorting the grain and grass were the central army, and Mao Guang's 200 cavalry were the rear army to guard against soldiers and horses following behind.

It is early autumn now, and the sun is shining brightly.

The summer heat has subsided and the temperature is warm and cool, which is suitable for marching.

Therefore, it didn't take long for the 700 troops and horses brought by Zhang Cheng to camp near the water twenty miles in front of Waliang Base.

"Let's set up a chariot camp for a while, build a wooden city first, and then set up camp five miles away from the Waliang base tomorrow."

When setting up camp, Zhang Cheng immediately gave this order.

Then, Zhang Cheng looked around again with his hands on his hips and said: "Hua Yun is on alert, Mao Guang is leading the cavalry to cut down the trees, Tang He is setting up camp, and Wen Zheng is organizing the Shenji Battalion to build a wooden city."

Now the rebels have been trained, especially Zhu Wenzheng, Tang He, and Hua Yun, who have received crash course training in the art of war, so they already know how to set up camp, and even more how to set up a car camp.

According to the records in the "Wu Jing Zong Yao", a chariot camp should be set up with a chariot every fifty steps, and a chariot should be set up every hundred steps, and the battle team should be dispatched from the chariot. The molecular camp and the outer camp were arranged horizontally, with the oxen in the middle and the horse guns outside. The carts were still connected to the shafts for the left and right compartments and doors.

After Tang He said yes, he actually organized his infantry to camp accordingly, arranging all the wooden carts brought by the army into two rows inside and outside, and the cattle were also led into the middle one after another, and the horse rifles were also It was arranged outside, and soldiers were also organized to dig a hole to set up a fixed toilet area, and set up stones as a stove to prepare water for cooking.

Zhu Wenzheng also began to organize the officers and soldiers of the Shenji Battalion here. After Mao Guang's troops cut down the wood, they began to build the wooden city mentioned by Zhang Cheng.

The so-called wooden city can be found in the "New Book of Jixiao": "It is made of large and small wood. Each door is five feet wide, and the battlement is five feet high. There are two channels of wood, and large bamboo nails are floating on the fasteners. About two people can carry it and walk, depending on the weight. Sui Jian... In the army, you can go down to the camp shoulder to shoulder and set up a camp."

In other words, this kind of wooden city is a kind of camping component that can be carried forward by two people. It can achieve the purpose of directly going down to the ground to set up a camp when encountering an enemy situation.

In order to prevent the whole army from being suddenly attacked by the Yuan soldiers' cavalry when they arrived outside the Waliang fortress and causing the entire army to collapse, Zhang Cheng set up camp twenty miles away from the Waliang fortress, built a wooden city, and prepared When they were five miles away from the Waliang fortress, they immediately placed a wooden city to achieve the purpose of immediately building a defensive camp.

What's more, Qi Jiguang's method of quickly setting up camp could not be used by him at a critical moment after seeing it.

Originally, Mao Guang, who still looked down upon scholars like Zhang Cheng, noticed the camp layout of the rebels led by Zhang Cheng when he organized his cavalry to go logging, and he couldn't help but be dumbfounded and thought:

"No wonder Mr. Zhang dares to lead these soldiers and horses out of the city. As long as an expert takes a look, he will know that the rebels he leads are not ordinary soldiers!"

Therefore, Mao Guang was a little more impressed by Zhang Cheng in his heart, so he put down his arrogance and actively urged his soldiers: "Hurry up, don't wait any longer. If anyone is lazy quietly, my riding whip will not allow it." !”

Zhang Cheng himself was not that at ease in his heart, nor did he feel that he was very knowledgeable, so his nerves were actually always in a state of tension.

Zhang Cheng was even prepared to be criticized by Tang He, Mao Guang, Zhu Wenzheng, etc., saying that his camp layout was just talk on paper.

However, Zhang Cheng, who had prepared himself mentally, found that Tang and these people didn't say anything.

In Zhang Cheng's view, perhaps these people were just starting out and didn't have much combat experience, so they didn't know what to say.

But at this time, Tang He quietly said to Zhu Wenzheng: "The superior has really found a good gentleman for you. He actually thought of preparing camping equipment in advance. Moreover, this wooden city is obviously the work of a man who knows the war and is very knowledgeable. Neither we nor the superiors have thought of this. If you follow him, I'm afraid you can learn a lot of real things!"

Zhu Wenzheng just smiled slightly.

The next day.

Zhang Cheng's troops camped five miles away from Waliang Base.

After the wooden city was put down, a camp was quickly formed.

(End of this chapter)