On November 18, the eleventh year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, there was a village fortress called Huangtugang, thirty miles southeast of Wangdu County, not far from the bank of the Tang River.
Lu Xiangsheng led the Xuan army and horses along the official road. As soon as they arrived near Huangtugang, they saw smoke and dust billowing on the official road to the southwest. The sound of horse hoofs treading the ground was faintly heard. There seemed to be dozens of horsemen on the horizon, heading towards this place.
Running wildly.
The vanguard of the army immediately became commotion. Since entering the boundary of Dingzhou, they have encountered many Qing army sentries and cavalry on the road. Every time, the army must be on guard.
There was no way. After the First World War in Gaoyang, everyone was afraid that another large group of Qing soldiers would suddenly appear. Even if the sentry cavalry went out to investigate, whenever the Qing army's sentry cavalry appeared near the army, they would always respond nervously.
Yang Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of Xuanzhen, immediately ordered the entire army not to move, and anyone who violated the rules would be beheaded.
He then immediately sent out the elite cavalrymen from his main barracks to rush to the official road ahead to patrol and inspect, and sent his own soldiers to the Chinese army Lu Xiangsheng's formation to report the military situation.
Soon, the elite cavalry from the camp sent by Yang Guozhu rode back, and news came that these dozens of cavalry were none other than Niu Sheng under Zhang Cheng who was out sentry, and Liu Jinhai, the superintendent of the Biao camp, etc.
Everyone came back, and they brought back important information.
Yang Guozhu was overjoyed when he heard the news and did not dare to stay. He quickly led his troops and rode up to meet Niu Sheng. They did not stop at night and rushed directly to Lu Xiangsheng's Chinese army formation.
Soon, Yang Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of Xuanzhen, led Niu Sheng, Liu Jinhai and others on horseback and rushed to Lu Xiangsheng's Central Military Headquarters.
Zhang Cheng had already arrived. At this time, he was standing next to Lu Xiangsheng. Generals Zhang Yan and Jiang Mingwu had also arrived early. Datong Commander Wang Pu and Shanxi Commander Hu Dawei had also just arrived. They called to stop Yang Guozhu and others.
, came to Lu Xiangsheng together.
When Niu Sheng and the others went out to scout, there were actually only eight of them. Including Liu Jinhai and Chen Huzi who were in charge of Biao Camp under Lu Xiangsheng's command, there were only ten people. However, Zhang Cheng's men were out sentry at night, and they were all equipped with one man and three horses. Even Liu Jinhai and Chen Huzi
Jin Hai and the others also rode one person and two people.
There were also war horses captured from the Qing army. They galloped back with great force, and the smoke and dust they raised was like hundreds of horses approaching.
Niu Sheng strode forward, first clasped his fists and saluted Zhang Cheng and others, saying: "Greetings to Governor Lu, hello to the general."
After saluting, he reported the information he had obtained to Lu Xiangsheng and Zhang Cheng's people truthfully. Liu Jinhai also confirmed that the movements of the three main forces of the slave thieves Dorgon, Hauge and Abatai were basically the same.
It's finally time to find out.
After Lu Xiangsheng learned the exact information, he couldn't help but burst into tears. He immediately ordered the three armies to gather and camp at Huangtugang. He also notified the generals in each town to go to their Chinese army tents to discuss military affairs.
The soldiers and horses of each battalion stopped immediately. They walked down the official road in order, dug trenches and built forts around the loess hillock, and everyone screamed.
Lu Xiangsheng's supervision camp was stationed in the Huangtugang village fort. At this time, the village fort was empty and there was no trace of popularity. Fortunately, the damage to the houses and courtyards was not serious.
In the village fort, on a high ground in the northeast, there is a huge courtyard where Lu Xiangsheng's Chinese army tent is located. The first courtyard is for his staff to handle official business, and the second courtyard is for the middle courtyard.
The military tent was the place where Lu Xiangsheng handled military affairs.
At this moment, in Lu Xiangsheng's Chinese army tent, all the generals below the commander-in-chief of Xuanda San Town, wearing helmets and armor, were sitting around in the Chinese army tent, looking at the military intelligence report in Lu Xiangsheng's hand with joy.
Lu Xiangsheng’s words reached the ears of the generals: “According to the sentinels, there is a group of slave thieves numbering around four thousand in Qingzhou, led by the slave chief Abatai;
In the direction of Zhending Mansion, there are nearly 9,000 slaves and bandits from the Zhengbai Banner of the slave chief Dorgon; towards Quyang, there are also about 3,000 slaves and horses in the direction of Longquan Pass;
The rest were small groups of Tatars roving, plundering villages in Baoding and Zhending;
Not long ago, the slave chief Hauge, who was defeated by our army in Gaoyang, gathered thousands of captives and plundered around Anping, Wuqiang and other counties in Shenzhou..."
All the generals in the third town of Xuanda listened attentively to Lu Xiangsheng's introduction of the movements of the captives, especially Wang Pu, the chief military officer of Datong Town, who looked at Yang Guozhu with envy.
Each camp did not close its sentries at night, but huddled in a heap in fear, not daring to spread out at all.
Such an important military report was obtained by Ye Bushou, a subordinate of Zhang Cheng who attacked Zhang Cheng in Xuanfu Town, and the servants of Supervisory Biao Camp. They recorded another success in Xuanfu Town, and Yang Guozhu, as the commander-in-chief, naturally benefited from it.
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Wang Puqian, the commander-in-chief of Datong, led his elite cavalry as the vanguard under Gao Yang, and achieved great success. Unfortunately, he was betrayed by Gao Qiqian. He falsely accused Lu Xiangsheng in front of Emperor Chongzhen of rushing into the army, and did not wait for him to lead the Liaodong army to encircle him.
, causing most of Hauge's captives and cavalry to escape.
Emperor Chongzhen believed Gao Qiqian's report to be true, and gave Lu Xiangsheng only a brief praise for his heroic battle against the Tartars under Gaoyang City and the capture of more than a thousand slave heads.
Instead, the order severely criticized Lu Xiangsheng for taking advantage of his power and rashly advancing, causing the slave chief to escape. Lu Xiangsheng was asked to do his best to cooperate with friendly forces in fighting in the future, not to attack without permission, and to focus on the overall situation.
In this way, the military achievements of the Xuanda generals under Gaoyang City were only recognized by the emperor's imperial edict, but were not rewarded for the time being. The same was true for Wang Pu's first battle. This made Wang Pu very distressed. However,
Being able to show his authority in front of the commanders and generals of the three towns somewhat relieved his worries.
Now seeing Zhang Cheng in the limelight again, even Yang Guozhu's face was much brighter, which made him envious, and he couldn't help but want to make a good friend of Zhang Cheng, hoping to help him in the future.
Wang Pu thought about this, so he stepped forward and said loudly: "Master Governor, Wang Pu is willing to be a vanguard and kill slaves for the country in order to repay the divine grace."
Lu Xiangsheng was very pleased. After the battle at Gaoyang, the generals were no longer as afraid of the captives as before. Looking at Wang Pu in front of him, Lu Xiangsheng said with approval: "Well, General Wang is so powerful!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Town, Hu Dawei, strode forward, clasped his fists and said, "Master Governor, the Shanxi soldiers are willing to be the vanguard, heading straight to Dingzhou City to clear the way for the army."
The generals from the three towns of Xuanda in the tent came forward one after another, all asking themselves to be the vanguard of the army. For a time, the crowd was excited, vying to take credit for the first battle under Dingzhou City.
Lu Xiangsheng was extremely pleased to see the generals of the three towns like this. The anger he had felt at being falsely accused by Gao Qiqian was completely gone. In his heart, there was nothing better than retreating from the Eastern captives, reporting the favor of the emperor, and protecting the people.
for important.
"Military morale can be used, military morale can be used..."
Lu Xiangsheng was in high spirits, and with a wave of his hand, the tent became quiet, and all the generals retreated to their positions, waiting for Lu Xiangsheng's military orders.
Looking at the generals in the military tent with helmets and armor, each one looked like a chicken's blood. Lu Xiangsheng was very happy. He said loudly: "The generals are so determined to fight, I am very pleased.
Although there are only more than 4,000 captives and cavalry under Dingzhou City, we should not be careless. The battle under Gaoyang City, thinking about it now, is really extremely dangerous. Although the Donghao soldiers are divided into groups, they can capture many horses, and suddenly they can be killed.