Guo Xiaowu had previously followed Yuan Jin's navy and was stationed on Juehua Island for a long time, and had transported grain and grass along the west coast of Liaoning many times. These past experiences made him appreciate the rivers that lead to the sea in western Liaoning and the mountains along the coast of western Liaoning.

After touching a door, it became clear.

At this time, all the skills I had saved earlier came in handy.

Let us say that after Guo Xiaowu talked about Maotoushan, the camp where the Tatars camped last night, he paused, and then added with a somewhat disappointed expression:

"However, when I sneaked along the Qili River and reached Maotou Mountain, the Man Tatars had already hitched up their carriages and horses. It seemed that they did not intend to stay at Gaoqiao for a long time, but were going to continue their journey south.

"I was afraid that my whereabouts would be exposed, and I was afraid of delaying the governor's important affairs, so I didn't dare to stay at Maotou Mountain for too long, so I hurried back to resume my duties! As for whether the Mantatars are still at the foot of Maotou Mountain now, it's hard to say. Moreover.

I can’t say what will happen to the Manchu Tatars next.”

Seeing what Guo Xiaowu said, Yang Zhen reached out and patted him on the shoulder and said to him: "Very good. If you can do this, it's already very good."

After saying these words of encouragement, Yang Zhen changed the topic, looked at Guo Xiaowu and asked: "Are the Manchu Tatars you saw near Maotou Mountain mainly cavalry, or mainly vehicles, artillery and baggage?"

"The main ones are chariots and artillery, and there are also some Manchu Tatar cavalry. But as I have seen with my own eyes, most of the Manchu Tatars in the Gaoqiao area are still mainly chariots and artillery baggage! They are just artillery carriages covered in red clothes.

, there are as many as thirty or forty vehicles!”

Guo Xiaowu answered Yang Zhen's question decisively without hesitation.

"What color armor do the Manchu Tatars in the Maotou Mountain area wear? From what you can see, how many Manchu Tatars are there in the Maotou Mountain area?"

Guo Xiaowu obviously knew what Yang Zhen was asking, so he immediately replied: "There are only white flags with soap trim! There are about three to four thousand people!"

Yang Zhen had already informed the people around him about the situation of the Eight Banners of the Manchu Tatars, and asked the generals, officers and generals to know it well and memorize it so that they could distinguish who the enemy was during patrolling and reconnaissance.

Guo Xiaowu is now both a general officer and the captain of Yang Zhen's personal soldiers, so of course he cannot help but know.

The reason why Yang Zhen did this is because the current Eight Banners flag colors are still in a relatively chaotic situation. The Manchu and Mengniu Lu under the Eight Banners used the eight flag colors of the early Jurchen Eight Banners, but the newly formed Eight Banners Han Army has different colors.

different.

Although the Eight Flags have compiled a large number of records accompanying the Han army, there are still only four flag colors, namely soap with yellow, soap with white, soap with red, and pure soap color.

And this is exactly what Shi Huashan said before, the reason why his father Shi Tingzhu also served as the Han Army Gushan Ezhen of the Two White Banners, that is, the Niulu flags of the Han Army listed under the Liangbai Banners are all white with soap inlay, and they are all commanded by Shi Tingzhu.

It was not until the Songjin War in the 15th year of Chongzhen that Huang Taiji reorganized all the surrendered Ming troops into Niu Lu, enriched them into the Eight Banners Han Army, and ordered them to use the colors of their own banners.

Yang Zhen looked at Guo Xiaowu and saw that he was so sure, and then asked: "Did you ever encounter Tatar patrols along the way from the coast to Gaoqiao Maotoushan, or soldiers from the Xingshan and Tashan officers and soldiers?"

?”

"No. I found the Qili River shortly after I came ashore. I groped and sneaked through the water and the river bank all the way. I didn't encounter any patrols!"

In fact, the situation Guo Xiaowu inquired about was basically consistent with Yang Zhen's own thoughts.

As a man of two generations, he had too deep a memory of the historical Manchu Tatar ambush at Gaoqiao, which made him always uneasy and worried that there might be some deception behind the Manchu Tatar's unscrupulous behavior.

Yang Zhen was thinking about it when he heard Zhang Chen on the side say: "Captain, I am familiar with the Qili River near Gaoqiao and the Maotoushan area. Judging from what Guo Xiaowu said, the Tatars are inlaid with white flags and the front with yellow flags.

The army was like Baya La and Aliha Chaoha. It seems that they had already moved south yesterday, leaving only the vehicles, artillery and baggage teams with limited mobility behind.

"If we calculate it this way, the troops who camped at the foot of Maotou Mountain last night were probably just the Han Army of the Second Tatars under the banner of Xiangbai. Wu Zhenchaoha. According to the so-called Eight Banners of the Manchu Tatars you said before, the Governor

According to the situation of the Han army, this team is probably a team under the traitor Shi Tingzhu."

In fact, Yang Zhen had already thought of what Zhang Chen said. When he heard what he said, he couldn't help but screamed a few times, "It's a pity."

If he had ventured out of the city and boarded a boat into the sea that afternoon after witnessing the Manchu Tatars passing by the west gate of Songshan City yesterday, then perhaps he would have been able to catch Shi Tingzhu off guard last night or at the latest early this morning.

"Captain, don't worry, we still have a chance!"

Zhang Chen saw that Yang Zhen's face was full of regrets and even cried out, and immediately said to Yang Zhen: "Yesterday Shi Tingzhu took his two Tatars of the Han army with white flags to transport carts and artillery supplies, crossing the Xiaoling River outside Jinzhou City and heading south, all the way to Gao

They stayed overnight in Qiaoxia Village, and it was more than sixty miles from Jinzhou to Gaoqiao, just in time for their one-day journey."

Having said this, Zhang Chen paused for a moment, looked at Yang Zhen, and saw that Yang Zhen seemed to understand what he meant, so he continued:

"According to this itinerary, if Hsiao Shi's predictions are correct, they can cross Tashan Mountain before noon today, and they can cross Lianshan Mountain around sunset.

"If the governor wants to do something, he should make up his mind at this time, either on Tashan Mountain, or on the mountains, or to choose a place to ambush between Tashan Mountain and the mountains. If it is too late, he may not be able to catch up."

"So in your opinion, should we set up an ambush near Tashan or near Lianshan?"

After discovering the whereabouts of the Tatar chariots and artillery transport team, Yang Zhen felt a stone fall in his heart.

But he also knew that this was only the first step in a long march of thousands of miles. If he made a mistake in his judgment, the team might still slip away from him.

"If the governor wants to eliminate interference and swallow Shi Tingzhu's chariots, artillery, and baggage in one fell swoop, I suggest that we set off now, get ahead of them, and set up an ambush near Tashan. But judging from what Guo Xiaowu said, the enemy has already set off.

I'm afraid there won't be much time to dig and build fortifications. The enemy also has heavy artillery. If it can't swallow it all and a stalemate occurs, it may be self-defeating, unless——"

"Unless what?"

What Zhang Chen said was exactly what Yang Zhen was worried about.

Among the soldiers and horses of the Eight Banners of the Manchu Tatars, not only the Baya La and Aliha Chaoha, led by Manchu and Meng Niulu, have strong combat capabilities, but even the Han soldiers and horses with the white flag under Shi Tingzhu are all battle-hardened teams.

These two Tatars, who were originally from the Ming Army in Liaodong, faced off against the Manchu and Mongolian cavalry who were good at archery, horse riding, and archery. They were all soft-footed and fearful of death.

But when they surrendered to the Tatars, shaved their heads and changed their clothes, and then turned around to beat their own people, it was as if they were suddenly possessed by evil spirits, and each of them transformed and became "good at fighting".

Although Yang Zhen looked down upon these two Tatar troops, he was still very cautious when it came time to actually prepare to fight.

At this time, I heard Zhang Chen continue to say: "Unless——, unless we can send a letter to Liu Zhouzhi in Tashan City as soon as possible, asking him to lead his army out of the city to support."

Yang Zhen brought a total of more than 1,800 people on this trip. Even including Qiu Zhenhai, Yu Liangtai, and the naval oarsmen from the Third Division of Yan Province, there were only more than 2,500 people.

Although he was very confident that he could lead this group of troops to severely damage any enemy army in an ambush, but in order to achieve the goal of total annihilation, these troops were indeed not enough.

But he was asked to write a letter to Liu Zhouzhi, the commander-in-chief of Tashan, for help, and he was a little worried that he would be humiliating himself by doing so.

Even if Liu Zhouzhi was unreliable, he did not dare to draw a conclusion lightly.

Yang Zhen thought for a moment and then asked Zhang Chen: "Is there any other choice?"

"Yes, it is near Lianshan. We take a boat and go by sea without carriages, horses and heavy artillery, so we will definitely be faster than them. We will arrive near Lianshan before noon, and we will have plenty of time. We can arrange the battlefield calmly."

When Zhang Chen said this, he hesitated for a moment and then said: "The only problem is that it is not far from Ningyuan, only thirty or forty miles away. Once the Manchu Tatar cavalry who had previously arrived at Ningyuan City got the

With the news that Shi Tingzhu was ambushed, they may come to rescue him soon."

Yang Zhen already understood what Zhang Chen said. These two plans have their own pros and cons. One is that the preparations for the battle are hasty and the battlefield for the ambush cannot be carefully arranged. He may not be able to eat the Shiting Pillar with his small number of troops, and may even collapse.

How many teeth.

The other is to be fully prepared for war, so that the battlefield can be arranged calmly, and the tens of thousands of enemies carried by Li Lu's grenadiers can be buried in advance on their only way.

Unable to move.

However, the problem is that it is not far from Ningyuan. Duduo and Hauge are likely to send people to rescue them. Once this happens, they may fall into counter-siege and flanking attacks by Manchu Tatars.

However, when he thought that he had ambushed Shi Tingzhu's vehicle, artillery and baggage team near Lianshan, and that Duduo or Hauge, who had already arrived at Ningyuan City, would probably send someone to rescue them immediately, Yang Zhen immediately had a new idea in his mind.

"You think, if we set up an ambush north of Lianshan to ambush Shi Tingzhu's chariots, artillery, and baggage, would the Tatar princes, Duduo, or Hauge personally lead their troops to rescue them?"

The words Yang Zhen said were a little jumpy and convoluted. Some of the generals present were confused, and some were thoughtful. Only Li Lu, who had heard Yang Zhen personally express a similar idea before, said with a happy face:

"What the governor means is that we besiege Wei to rescue Zhao, besiege Shitingzhu to rescue Ningyuan, or simply encircle some points to rescue? That's great! In this way, we don't have to worry about not having enough men and horses to eat Shitingzhu, but we can also shoot people first and shoot horses.

To capture the thief, capture the king first and kill one of his Tatar leaders to achieve the effect of subduing the enemy without fighting!"

Yang Zhen heard Li Lu's words and saw that he was further ahead than he thought. He smiled and said to him: "Whether we can capture the thief first and capture the king first, or whether we can defeat the enemy's army without fighting, I won't say for now.

I heard that Duduo and Haoge are both arrogant, impatient and warlike.

If we ambush Shi Tingzhu and they lead the army to rescue us, we have to worry about it. Maybe we need to devise a chain of traps in advance. It would be best if we can capture something by then. Even if we don't capture something, we can still stop it.

Full of reinforcements from the Tatars."

When everyone heard what Yang Zhen said, they all immediately knew his determination.

Although Tashan was right in front of us, it was too close to the Gaoqiao. Time was short and we couldn't arrange it calmly, so we had to give up.

Now that Yang Zhen had made up his mind and the group reached an agreement, they sailed out to sea again, leaving Little Bijia Mountain Island, riding the wind south, far away from the sea area where Da Bijia Mountain was located, and then turned to the southwest, quickly
Chapter completed!