"On the other hand, this is also a good place," Li Dingguo said thoughtfully: "Normally, the officers and soldiers will not choose this route, so we will probably only leave a small number of cavalry here to keep an eye on it. According to common sense, the officers and soldiers will test it out before attacking.

When attacking, it will take a while to judge when encountering resistance, and the defender will have time to turn his troops over to block the road. Therefore, if I were in the position of General Jiaminghe, I would save the time after launching two feints.

In the first reconnaissance attack, lead the entire army to advance bravely, launch a fierce attack to defeat the surveillance force - if there is one. Then go straight to the rear and sweep us all clean. This will be a great victory, Kaifeng

The war ended, the rule we had just established was destroyed, and King Chuang was once again attacked from both sides. Even if General Jia immediately returned to Shandong to attack Ji Tuisi, it was also a good situation. Well, when you have such a strong army in hand, this is

It is a very tempting plan, especially after his feint has attracted our attention."

Sun Kewang asked Xu Ping: "Are you sure you are in Zhaopi Village?"

"I have thought over and over again that only here is the best. If it were other places, I would have time to react. I have heard General Jia Minghe repeat a sentence said by the Marquis of Zhendong more than once. That sentence is 'There is a firm defender.

Where there are no firm defenders, a natural chasm is also a thoroughfare.' So Brother Li and I agreed to deploy the troops defending the direction of Yifen ten miles away from here. The new army will definitely detect them.

And when we encounter a fierce attack, we will naturally send the troops behind to reinforce. Then, General Jia will think that when he releases the real killer weapon, our main force will just arrive ten miles away, so that he can

We can launch a perfect annihilation battle and wipe out our entire army here in one fell swoop." Xu Ping stroked the map and murmured: "General Jia will never let go of such an opportunity."

Sun Kewang was still hesitant. He felt that Xu Ping's previous idea of ​​building fortresses to resist continuously was better. Li Dingguo strongly supported the idea of ​​decisive victory in field battles, because only in field battles could more new troops be killed.

"We have another advantage. Although Jia Minghe may not have guessed that we will move all the main forces from Kaifeng, it is not beneficial to us in any case: if he didn't expect it, our military strength would surprise him; if he guessed

If that happens, then his desire to annihilate our army will be even stronger." Li Dingguo smiled at Sun Kewang and said: "We haven't killed officers and soldiers in the Western Camp for a long time, and the hands of the soldiers are itchy."

Sun Kewang stared at the map and fell into deep thought, and finally said softly: "But this is all based on Brother Xu's imagination, right? What if you are wrong?"

"I will never be wrong. Brother Sun, you don't understand the structure of the New Army. Logically speaking, General Jia Minghe is unlikely to have the opportunity to lead the army independently. General Jia very much hopes to have the opportunity to lead the army independently and lead several battalions on an expedition. He very much hopes to have the opportunity to lead the army independently.

He had no chance to realize his vision and realize a large-scale annihilation war, but he himself also knew that the hope was slim." The most likely leader of the new army was Huang Shi himself, and no one expected that the imperial court would be so stubborn in not letting him

Go out to lead troops. But despite this, He Baodao and Yang Zhiyuan are still ranked above Jia Minghe. Both Jia Minghe himself and the new officers and soldiers know this well, and the number of the new army does not seem to be enough to support three battlefields at the same time.

On the battle. Xu Ping recalled the training in the training team that day: "I will never forget the deep regret in General Jia's eyes when he talked about his offensive ideas."

…

On the road from Lanyang to Zhao Pizhai, Xu Ping left a group of soldiers from the Western Camp to serve as a security force. A mile behind them, engineers from the Guards Battalion were sweating profusely to cover the trenches. Ten days

Come, they have dug three trenches with a length of 300 meters. Behind the last trench, a parapet has been built.

Xu Ping had repeatedly thought about how to suppress the New Army's attack. He came to the conclusion that he must use firepower that was fierce enough to defeat the armor of the New Army soldiers and cause heavy damage to the New Army as they advanced.

"A trench will provide us with additional firing positions, and like the low wall, it will also provide a good shield for our soldiers from the new army's musketry."

According to Xu Ping's arrangement, a trench was dug six meters away from the low wall. This trench was wide enough to accommodate several rows of soldiers taking turns shooting inside.

"If the new army rushes to the low wall, then they will use their spears to push our army back, and the low wall will be owned by them; the same is true for the trench, the musketeers hiding in it will be the same as those hiding in the low wall.

The musketeers at the rear were also attacked by the approaching spearmen of the New Army, so we must make every effort to prevent them from reaching the low walls and trenches. Only in this way can we fully take advantage of our defense."

Another trench was dug to cover the first two.

"The longest spear of the New Army is five meters and a half long. If the New Army jumps into the trench and can attack our soldiers with their spears in the trench, then they can hide in a well-hidden position and push our soldiers back.

.”

Therefore, there is a distance of six meters between the two trenches.

"If the New Army captures the first trench, their musketeers can enter the trench and shoot with us. The soldiers in the Guards Battalion do not train as long as the New Army, so I do not plan to shoot with them."

The trench at the front was dug. If the New Army soldiers inside jumped out and continued to attack, they would block the shooting range of the friendly forces in the rear; but if they did not continue to attack, the intruders would have much more shooting positions. This way

The distance between the trench and the previous trench is relatively long, more than 20 meters away.

"In case our soldiers are repulsed, they cannot be allowed to pour out of the trenches and block our firing range."

The inclined communication trench connects three parallel trenches. The purpose of using inclined trenches instead of vertical trenches is to prevent soldiers from suffering heavy damage from the opponent's firepower in the communication trenches.

"We have done everything we can, and now it's up to the soldiers."

On August 16, new troops came from the direction of Yifeng. They built a strong camp opposite Li Dingguo's camp and conducted artillery fire tests. Like Xu Ping, Li Dingguo's defense front also had trenches as dense as a spider web.

, this is also the result of his hard work for more than ten days, covering his camp behind it.

Xu Ping also came here today to observe the appearance of the new army. He explained to Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo: "Wei Wu is a villain who is jealous of talents. The commander of Shanlan Camp is my friend. If General Jia doesn't care, there will be nothing between them."

Neither trusting nor cooperating, it would be nice if they don't hold each other back. In my opinion, General Jia is a well-mannered commander. He will definitely stay here to coordinate the two battalions in combat, but even so, they may not be able to cooperate.

No matter how good it is, the pressure on you will not be too great. Just focus on concentrating the main force on the Shanlan camp. This camp will definitely be much stronger."

"What are Brother Xu's plans?"

"As General Jia said, when fighting a war, we must fight a war of annihilation. He wants to annihilate our entire army, and I also want to annihilate one of his troops. Officer He Yingguan of the Selection Front Camp is a grumpy man, so I gradually strengthened the blocking force.

, first rely on defense to exhaust his strength - as long as there is still strength left, He Yingguan will fight without hesitation. When he is completely exhausted, I will counterattack and annihilate the entire forward selection camp." Xu Ping in order to strengthen the counterattack.

Strength, all the elite cavalry in the Western Camp are to be taken away, and they are all handed over to the command of Chi Shude. Now Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo have relatively poor cavalry in their hands, as well as Chi Shude, the new man who replaced them in the Western Camp. Xu Ping

I have been thinking about how to annihilate the vanguard battalion to reverse the balance of forces between the enemy and ourselves.

Yu Shenhe was still eager to try: "Sir, I would like to take the initiative to attack once and kill the new army's majesty."

This proposal was well received by Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo. They also wanted to join in a small counterattack. This kind of counterattack is very important to grasp the opponent's strength, but Xu Ping still objected: "There is no need to expose our combat power. As for Chizhuo Camp, they

Don’t we know what it’s like?” Xu Ping assured Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo: “As long as we maintain a solid defense, there is no threat to Chizhuo Camp.”

…

On the opposite side, Wei Wu was giving instructions to several confidants in the camp: "This time we must cooperate well with the Shanlan Battalion. The Battle of Shandong was a great shame and humiliation for us. This time we must wash away this shame, even though our battalion is missing two men."

We are a team, but we must not let people say that we are holding back our friendly forces."

At this time, someone reported that Jia Minghe was inspecting the front line again. Wei Wu led his men to meet him: "Jia Shuai, there is nothing wrong here."

Looking at the trenches and ridged walls at Li Dingguo's place, Jia Minghe pondered and said: "Xu Ping will definitely fight a bloody battle with us here. If his firearms troops are not dispatched, what use are these trenches and low walls?"

"Xu Ping, a cowardly fellow, just dares to hide in the camp." Wei Wu snorted. He couldn't wait to think of the feint attack now, but the copying troops were not fully in place yet, so he had to endure it again and again: "Jia Shuai,

In the final analysis, he is still too immature and too wishful thinking, hoping to use this turtle policy to consume our troops."

"Yes," Jia Minghe also felt the same way. He found that the Chuang camp had never sent enough exploration horses to the flanks, and the New Army's outflanking operation had not been noticed: "But the trenches and low walls here, I have selected the forward camp."

The engineering team is also left to you, don't be too fierce and pay attention to the casualties of brothers."

"Don't worry, Jia Shuai, General Mo will not scare Thief Xu away immediately." Wei Wu sneered: "Fortunately, Thief Xu didn't notice that Jia Shuai was outflanking his retreat, otherwise Mo General would dare to say that he would immediately

Run away."

"You haven't launched too many probing attacks in advance in the past two days?"

"Commander, don't worry. The general will never dare to attack without permission and miss the commander." In the past few days, some subordinates have been suggesting probing attacks, but Wei Wu suppressed them all: "We will never let thieves detect the strength of our army.

"In Wei Wu's heart, the Western Bandit is a master who can be driven away by tens of thousands of Zuo Liangyu and hundreds of servants. Zuo Liangyu, a man who once served in the Liao Army, and the old people of Zhendong Hou are not unaware of him.

It's a lot of money, so Wei Wu felt that there was no need to test the Western thieves any more: "There will be one tomorrow to check their firepower, and the day after tomorrow will be a general attack."

On the 17th, the new army made a tentative attack. They used artillery and muskets to suppress Li Dingguo in the camp without showing his head. Engineers took the opportunity to rush up and fill in a channel in Li Dingguo's trench network. Li Dingguo was still there all day long.

He carefully controlled his troops and did not allow his men to launch any counterattacks, lest they be needlessly exposed to enemy firepower. However, he himself looked at the three battalion flags fluttering opposite and sneered.

"Brother Xu said that we should put the main force on the Shanlan Camp and be careful to conserve our troops." Sun Kewang looked at the direction of the Ming Army's Chizhuo Camp opposite. Xu Ping suggested that the Western Camp use fortifications to resist step by step and retreat in steps to avoid casualties.

For combat purposes, Sun Kewang didn't say anything at that time, but he felt a little unhappy: "Brother Xu said that the Xuanfeng Battalion was the most powerful among the three battalions, and he was responsible for destroying it. However, one of the two battalions was of no use at all, and the other

It’s not as good as the forward selection camp.”

"His Guards Battalion has more than 4,000 troops, and our Western Camp has 10,000 troops." Li Dingguo had seen the weapons of the Guards Battalion, and admitted that the flintlock rifles they used looked more powerful than any muskets he had seen before.

However, Li Dingguo has never seen any battle decided by firearms: "Brother Xu said that Chizhuo Camp was very unbearable, and at the same time he firmly opposed us attacking them. Could it be that in his mind we are worse than the officers and soldiers who escaped from the battle?"

?"

"What did he say about Red Burning Camp?"

Li Dingguo introduced to Sun Kewang the history and evaluation of Chizhuo Camp that he had heard from Xu Ping and his group these days, as well as their disdainful expressions.

"Fourth brother, what do you think if we use our main force to deal with this bear bag?"

"I think it's good!" Li Dingguo responded loudly: "The new army is almost blown up by Brother Xu. It's not like we haven't encountered powerful officers and soldiers in so many years. Even Huang Hou's subordinates can have three heads and six arms."

?Even if they have fire blunderbuss, are our swords just fake?"

"well said!"

In Xu Ping's mind, the combat effectiveness of the elites in Xiying and Chuangying was comparable to that of the Dongjiang Army. To deal with the new army, the Dongjiang Army had to rely on its absolute strength advantage and the Ming army's random command. With the current weapons and training status of the Xiying,

Xu Ping estimated that when the numbers were equal, the combat effectiveness of the New Army and Xiying was three to one. Although Xu Ping did not mention this, both Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo were aware of it. Although Xiying has been chased by Yang Sichang for so many years,

Fighting, the whole country was in chaos, but the two of them asked themselves that they had seen a lot of officers and soldiers. Even when they met Zuo Liangyu, although they lost more than they won, and even though there was a disastrous defeat like Agate Mountain, they were not completely unable to fight. Now
Chapter completed!