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

Chapter 718 The Outbreak of Zhuxian Town
It was like a nightmare, when the army collapsed, seeing bandits rushing in waves, one by one pawns and cavalry fell down, Cao Bianjiao was heartbroken like death, but he fought frantically, killing one after another outflanking The thieves who intercepted until they saw Wang Tingchen's banner...
It's just that the tragic experience afterwards still seems like a nightmare when I think about it. Countless times in the middle of the night, I dreamed that soldiers and soldiers with blood stained faces shouted at me.
Thousands of new troops were almost wiped out, their casualties were so heavy, and their experiences were so unbearable. These soldiers regarded themselves as their fathers, relied on themselves, and would never leave them, but I was unable to keep them. I couldn't do it.
Thinking of those familiar faces, Cao Bianjiao often feels ashamed and guilty, and his own general Yang Shaofan, who has been with him for many years, has been born and died, just like his own brother, but he doesn't know whether he is alive or dead now.
Looking at Wang Tingchen in front of him, he is also haggard and aged a lot, he has lost the cheerfulness of the past, and there is even more sadness in his eyes that cannot be concealed. Although he has apologized many times, seeing Wang Tingchen's appearance, Cao Bianjiao still can't help but say again. : "Brother Wang, I'm sorry Cao..."
Wang Tingchen just shook his head, and he said in a low voice: "General Xiao Cao, why should you feel guilty? How can you blame this? If you want to blame, you can only blame the thief."
The burly man sighed more and more frequently, he sighed: "I just don't understand, after so many years of fighting, why are there more and more thieves?"
He said: "Count the intruders have been killed many times by the officers and soldiers. I remember that in the 11th year of Chongzhen, Yang Dushi defeated the thieves with four positives and six corners, and a net from ten sides. Li Chuang fled to the mountains with only the remnants. At the end of 13, he was defeated again by the Marquis of Yongning, and then fled into the mountains... Now that the thieves are flourishing again, how long has it been since? I can't figure it out..."
Cao Bianjiao said slowly: "Not only that, in the sixth, ninth, and 11th years of Chongzhen, the intruders were defeated everywhere, or escaped by tricks. In the 11th year, Cao, along with Hong Du, Zuo Shuai and the others, personally ambush Chasing and killing, there are only Liu Zongmin and a few other thieves left."
Wang Tingchen said: "Yeah, how long has it been since, the more thieves are being killed, the more thieves are being killed, and many of them are women and children who are starving. I am really tired of killing."
Cao Bianjiao murmured: "That's right, the thieves can't stop killing them. Even though they were thieves, they killed as many people as possible. This is what happened..."
Wang Tingchen said: "Let's go back to Liaodong and kill the Tartars."
Cao Bianjiao said: "Let's go back and kill the Tartars. I don't want to come back to this place in the Central Plains."
The two murmured, the bandits were getting stronger and stronger, and they were hitting more and more, which made them feel at a loss.
Standing on the tower, they watched the thieves passing by outside Guide City, and a large number of hungry people followed them. They helped the old and the young, day and night.
All the gates of the entire city were closed, and there were occasional unbearable terrified cries. Seeing the locust-like thieves covering the ground, both of them felt a powerless feeling in their hearts, as if any effort would be of no avail. Perhaps, Specializing in fighting Tartars in the border towns and guarding the Ming Dynasty's side walls will be better than now.
Looking at the town soldiers beside him, these fighters who survived by chance were not as energetic as before.
It's over here, let's go back to Liaodong, the two of them sighed and thought in their hearts.
……
The rogue bandits are mighty, and the battalion is pressing towards Kaifeng for tens of miles. Kaifeng city is shocked three times a day. It is to fight.
What's more, everyone in Kaifeng has received a strict order from the emperor and the Ministry of War. They must beat the thieves under the city of Kaifeng, restore the decadent momentum of the Central Plains officers and soldiers after the defeat of Cao and Wang, and ensure that Kaifeng is not lost and the vassals in the city are safe.
The king of Zhou in the city knew that this was a critical moment, and once again took out 20 taels of silver from his pocket to reward the army, which boosted the morale of the troops inside and outside the city.
But how to fight, the officials and generals from all walks of life are at a loss for what to do, Zuo Liangyu still said, "The thief is sharp and can't be attacked."
He advocated that the whole army stay under the city, just stick to it, and don't take the initiative to fight. Fang Guoan, Yang Dezheng and others agreed with his opinion.
For example, Wang Qiaonian, governor of the three sides of Shaanxi Province, was leading officers and soldiers to encircle and suppress various places in Henan Province at this time. For the battalion.
The bandit generals Liu Fangliang and Li Yanren were also defeated by the new army earlier. At this time, they were only fighting guerrillas in various places in Henan Province. According to Yang Dezheng, the bandits in Henan Prefecture had almost been wiped out. Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in Shaanxi Province Can move to come.
Ding Qirui was quite moved by Yang Dezheng's statement, and he sent an urgent message to Wang Qiaonian, the governor of the three sides in Luoyang.
However, for Wang Qiaonian at this time, the situation in Henan Province made him confused. It seemed that the bandits had been wiped out, but there was always a feeling that as long as the officers and soldiers withdrew, the local bandits would soon revive unless all the locals were killed. up.
In the past, Li Zicheng and others had experienced repeated resurgences so that he did not dare to take it lightly. After all, Henan Prefecture is next to Shaanxi, and Tongguan is a very big threat to the whole of Shaanxi, so he only led the officers and soldiers to go back and forth repeatedly to suppress and kill them, and evaded it with words.
Most importantly, He Renlong, Zheng Jiadong, Niu Chenghu, Zhang Guoqin and other generals under his command were unwilling to go to Kaifeng. Millions of thieves made them fearful.
The will of the generals is hard to comprehend. If Wang Qiaonian insists on leaving, then he may only be a bare-handed commander, and the generals will not listen to him. At most, he can only bring a supervisory battalion of more than a thousand people to Kaifeng. Of course, this is impossible. This line is broken.
Under Ding Qirui's command, Zuo Liangyu, Fang Guoan, Yang Dezheng and others counted a lot of soldiers, especially Zuo Liangyu, Ding Qirui relied on him very much. Documents, issued a decree from the very beginning, people at that time called it 'the left mansion'."
Fang Guoan and Yang Dezheng also followed Zuo Liangyu's lead, which made Zuo Liangyu's reputation great, and Ding Qirui hesitated after hearing the opinion of "unbeatable".
But Zuo Liangyu's "steadiness" is actually not feasible. One is the terrain of Kaifeng City, it is difficult to place so many defenders around, so at this time, each general will set up camp, one place in the east and one place in the west, and some are close to each other. , and some are far apart, and are easily broken by thieves one by one.
What's more, the Ming army has a number of 40. If you put on such a posture, wouldn't you be as fearful of a thief as a tiger?Could it be that officers and soldiers can only defend against high-ranking thieves in the future?Once Cao and Wang were defeated, all the generals lost their confidence in field battles, and a second Dongnu appeared in the Central Plains?
Being so timid and refraining from fighting, Ding Qirui could imagine the impression that the princes in the court would have of him, especially the emperor's opinion of him.
Governor Yang Wenyue also disagreed with Zuo Liangyu's opinion. At this time, he had a Baoding car battalion under his command, as well as Hu Dawei's new barracks and main barracks. Although the soldiers were small, they were quite elite. There is no use for it, and the imperial court also requires officers and soldiers to take the initiative to attack.
Yang Wenyue insisted on a decisive battle with the bandits outside the city, and he had already selected the terrain, which was the vast area between Zhuxian Town and Chenliu in the south of the city. The terrain was flat enough to accommodate a million troops to fight at the same time.
His reasons are also very good. Not far behind the officers and soldiers is the fortified city of Kaifeng. They fight against the city and rely on their backs. This is not like Cao and Wang Erjue going deep alone. There is absolutely no hidden worry of food and grass being cut off in the stronghold of Haogaozhai, which is the premise of invincibility.
On the vast plain, the firepower superiority of the chariot battalion can also be used. Moreover, the [-] East Road bird guns sent by the Ministry of War have been distributed to each army and battalion. The firepower advantage of the Ming army greatly exceeds that of the past. It is one of the decisive advantages.
Ding Qirui's heart was moved by Yang Wenyue's words, and it was true, if the officers and soldiers defeated the bandits in Zhuxian Town, he would become famous all over the world, it was only in front of him.
Taking ten thousand steps back, even if you can't defeat the rogues, as long as you maintain the invincible situation in front of you, the decadent morale of the officers and soldiers in the Central Plains will be restored, and you will not be panic when you encounter rogues in the future. Emperor heart.
Gao Mingheng, the governor of Henan, Wu Shidao, the prefect, and Liang Bing, the chief envoy, were equally moved. They thought that Yang Duzhi's strategy could be attacked, and he could be defended. The opinions of Zuo Liangyu and others were too conservative.
In fact, after the defeat of Cao and Wang, the information obtained by Ding Qirui, Yang Wenyue and others was very vague. Yang Wenyue analyzed the cause of Cao and Wang's defeat. No matter how fierce the king is, how can he be undefeated?
Through Hu Dawei, Chen Yongfu, etc., it is not that the "Xuanfu Town Military Observation Group" did not send information to remind Ding Qirui, Yang Wenyue and others of the fact that there are a large number of artillery in the rogue army, but Ding Qirui thinks this is really nonsense, Yang Wenyue Also scoffed.
It is undeniable that there are some cannons among the rogues. After all, they have captured many cities, and all the equipment in the city belongs to the rogues, but a large artillery regiment is ridiculous. Yang Wenyue thinks that there are some small cannons among the rogues. But what is there to be afraid of?
There are ten thousand soldiers and horses in his camp, and there are hundreds of guns for destroying captives. Is there any reason why he can't defeat the bandit artillery?
Many officials believed that the exaggeration of these Xuanfu people was just to shirk Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen so that they could avoid punishment from the court. After all, Wang Dou and the two earls had good friends, right?
Although they are kind to Wen Shiyan on the surface, in fact, these officials are deeply vigilant against Wen Shiyan and others, and the officials are very dissatisfied with Wen Shiyan's frequent suggestions and gesticulation. Yang Wenyue once said to his staff: "...they Is it an observer, or is it Zanhua, or is he the supervisor? Do you want all the soldiers and horses in Kaifeng to be commanded by Zanhua, a mere border army?"
Ding Qirui was also dissatisfied and said to his subordinates: "I heard that Wang Dou is arrogant and domineering, what he hears is delusion, and what he sees is believing. It can be seen from the staff he sent!"
Zuo Liangyu took pleasure in his misfortune, and he had deep-seated hatred for Wang Dou. At this time, he took the opportunity to fan the flames, which even caused Ding Qirui and others to alienate the "Xuanfu Town Military Observer Group".
However, Hu Dawei still listened carefully to Wen Shiyan's opinions. Whether it was defending against the city or fighting against the bandits at Jieshi, he still prepared some earthen vehicles so as to cover the vehicle camp when the time came. The mobility of the soldiers is not enough, and if Hu Dawei does this, his chariot soldiers will move as slowly as ants.
However, right now he doesn't care about what Hu Dawei is doing, the bandits are already approaching Qi County, not far from Chenliu and Zhuxian Town, the battle of Zhuxian Town is about to break out, but the officers and soldiers don't have a unified opinion It is the most important thing to try to persuade Zuo Liangyu and others to agree with his strategy.

(End of this chapter)