A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 406 Decisive Battle

At Maoshi, just before dawn, Wang Dou and Chen Yongfu rushed into Luoyang with their guards.

Soon, Wang Dou, Zhu Yousong, the son of King Fu, and Wang Yinchang, the deputy envoy of military preparation, lived in the same room in Luoyang City's sub-guardian.The hall was full of people, and it was also filled with all the officials and generals of Luoyang City. They were all hurriedly recruited from various places in the city at Wang Dou's request.

Ignoring the matter of Liu Jianyi and others last night, Wang Dou cut straight to the point, saying that the time for a decisive battle with the thieves was ripe. He decided to lead the Shunxiang army out of the city, and join forces with Chen Junmen's troops to fight the thieves in the open field. Military support.

"The thieves were defeated in attacking the city, and the morale of the army has been lost. They should have lost last night, and our division attacked their camp. The thieves' food and fodder were cut off, and the morale of the army was even more lost. This is a golden opportunity!"

Wang Douyu was not surprised and kept dying. As soon as he uttered it, he revealed that the masterpiece of the Jianshan camp last night was the work of the Shunxiang Army.

Like throwing a stone into a pond, it immediately caused great waves in the hall.Everyone is talking endlessly, everyone is excited, people who don't know about soldiers, also know that there is nothing better than food shortages, and the robbers hoarding food and grass are attacked. At this time, people must be panic, and it is indeed a good opportunity for a decisive battle.

Zhu Yousong said with a smile: "It turns out that the attack on the bandit camp last night was caused by General Wang. No wonder there was such a big commotion."

Lu Weiqi, the former minister of the Ministry of War, also said excitedly: "I don't know who is the general of your army who attacked the camp?"

"Wen Fangliang and Wen Qianzong."

"Mr. Wen Qian is in a dangerous situation and fighting alone. Our division must send reinforcements immediately."

"My lord, it is clear that our army will leave the city for a decisive battle immediately, which is the best support for Mr. Wen Qian."

Wen Fangliang succeeded in sneak attack and occupied the dangerous area of ​​Jianshan Mountain. The soldiers and horses under his command are all veteran soldiers who fought in Shunxiang Fort since the ninth year of Chongzhen. Most of the sergeants have five or six years of battlefield fighting experience.

According to the sharp gunmen and spearmen under his command, occupying the mountain, even under the attack of tens of thousands of rogues, it will be no problem to defend for a few days.

Of course, if there is no support and the thieves continue to attack, it is possible to break through, but the attack also fails.Therefore, Wang Dou needs to go out of the city to fight as soon as possible, and knock down all Li Zicheng's troops in the wild.

Going out of the city to fight soon became the unified thought of everyone present. As for the soldiers, apart from Wen Fangliang, all of Wang Dou's more than [-] troops in Luoyang participated in the battle, and all the three sergeants who originally defended Luoyang were also withdrawn.Chen Yongfu left [-] soldiers to defend Beiguan, and the remaining [-] soldiers also participated in the battle.

Such a main force should have more than 7000 troops. Such a force would be considered a lot eight years ago in Chongzhen, when the bandits were easy to fight.Even 10,000 ordinary officers and soldiers are enough to defeat [-]+ rogues in the wild.

However, today is different from the past. Since the eighth year of Chongzhen, the combat power of the peasant army has undergone qualitative changes. Hong Chengchou once said in a memorial: "In the past, the thieves avoided the soldiers and fled, but now they welcome the troops to face the enemy, and ambushes left and right. Repeated inheritance, it is difficult to suppress and kill. The thieves all have fine riders, or straddle two horses, and the officers and soldiers horses walk three steps and seven, so it is difficult to chase."

The current officers and soldiers may be able to fight three times as many bandits at most, and this is still the case when the hungry soldiers account for the majority of the bandits.Putting it in Henan Province, the officers and soldiers are victorious and defeated more at this moment, and the cities have fallen one after another. Now Li Zicheng's army is "strong". , there are 10,000+ hungry soldiers under threat.How could the local officers and soldiers in Henan dare to fight Li Zicheng in the field?
However, Wang Dou, Chen Yongfu, Wang Yinchang and others are still full of confidence. With the combat effectiveness of the Shunxiang Army and the Qianfeng Battalion, it should be no problem to say that 20 is against [-].Especially now that the rogues have lost their morale, a decisive battle in the field is no better than a siege battle, and the rogues are more likely to panic and flee.

Zhu Yousong was more confident in Wang Dou, he just asked: "A decisive battle in the field, are General Wang and General Chen really sure?"

After receiving Wang Dou's affirmative answer, Zhu Yousong stopped talking.

Seeing Wang Dou's expression, he might feel that there is an advantage to take advantage of. Wang Yinchang also wanted to bring some Luoyang garrison officers and soldiers from the village to join the battle, but was firmly dissuaded by Wang Dou.

They can defend Luoyang City well and keep the rear intact, which is the greatest support for them.Wang Shaoyu's men still had more than 2000 battalions, but Wang Dou was worried that after taking them to the battlefield, his men would cause a farce that broke up with a bang, so it was avoided.

In the area of ​​the decisive battle in the wild, Wang Dou is going to be placed on the east bank of Jianshui. The two sides of the river are densely packed with various camps and shacks, with a length and width of more than ten miles.All the camp leaders who were close to Li Zicheng were stationed there.If they don't want to completely collapse, they will have to form an array to fight against themselves in the wilderness on the east bank of Jianshui.

At the foot of Mang Mountain, [-] miles north of Luoyang City, and on the bank of Luoshui River in the south of the city, although there were quite a few invaders stationed there, most of them were the camps of Henan local bandits such as Yidougu, Waguanzi, and Li Jiyu.

Right now, the morale of the Chuangjun army is lost, each family has its own idea, and they attack the camp of Li Zicheng's direct descendants by themselves. It is a question of whether these local bandit leaders will rescue them.

If they rescued, Wang Dou didn't think the tens of thousands more would have any impact on the overall situation.It's just that they may come from the east and north, forming a siege to their army in the wild.However, Wang Dou didn't care about the siege of those hungry people holding spears and sticks.

In the end, his main opponent was Li Zicheng's thousands of fine cavalry and [-] to [-] infantry.

After the discussion, the Shunxiang Army and the Qianfeng Battalion mobilized quickly. Whether it was the soldiers of the Shunxiang Army and the Qianfeng Battalion in Luoyang City, or the army of Beiguan City, the teams were neatly dressed and went to the area between the North Gate and Beiguan. gather.

Standing on the north gate tower, watching the morning glow slowly come out, groups of soldiers wearing iron armor and cotton armor, passed through the city gate, and slowly gathered outside the city to form formations. Wang Dou felt heroic in his heart. Army.

Chen Yongfu beside him also had a red face, full of anticipation for this battle. He had already received a hint from Wang Yinchang that he would be recommended as the general officer of Henan in the future.If the bandits are defeated in the first battle, it will be more certain to get the position of the commander-in-chief.

Beside the two of them, there are also Zhu Yousong, the eldest son, Wang Yinchang, the deputy envoy of military preparations, Luoyang garrison, Luoyang prefect and other local officials, all of whom came to wish Jie off.In everyone's hearts, of course they hope that Wang Dou will win this battle, so that Luoyang City will be safe and sound.

The formation outside the city gradually expanded, and Li Guangheng's cavalry chief Qianzong had already gathered in the field. His nearly thousand cavalrymen were lined up in a neat formation, each wearing cotton armor, the cavalry in front held lances, and the cavalry in the back used sabers.As the cold wind blew, the red tassels and fiery red horse manes on the helmets of his knights flew up, together with the red round shields on each of their left arms, it seemed to be a fiery red and chilling color.

There is also Gao Shiyin's Arima Infantry Chief Qian, Wu Zhengchun, Shen Shiqi, Gao Xun's three infantry chiefs, and Wen Daxing leading the rest of the Yebushou all assembled.

Zhao Xuan also gathered his cannon chariot Qian Zong, ten Hongyi cannons, and the 35 General Frang cannons captured from the invading army. They were all pulled in and lined up neatly in front of the formation. Murderous.

(End of this chapter)