Chapter 243: If you don't want to be a general's soldier, you're not a good soldier
Just when Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, announced his victory, Zhang Cheng was not idle either.
In the early morning of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Zhang Guodong led more than 5,000 troops to leave the camp at the foot of Changling Mountain and slowly headed south.
He placed his own "Chicheng Iron Camp" men and horses in the center, Yu Jin's chariot on the left as the rear, and Shanxi Zhendu Sima Zhenhai led more than 500 cavalry as the vanguard of the army.
Datong Town guerrilla Chen Bingshen led more than a thousand cavalry into two teams to protect the two wings of the army. They marched slowly on the dewdrops.
Zhang Guodong of the Central Military Department felt very heavy in his heart. This was the first time he led an army alone to fight, and it was a large army with complete services including infantry, cavalry and vehicles.
Zhang Guodong was afraid that if he was a little negligent in this matter, he would not be able to see Zhang Cheng if he went out to fight against the slaves. He would really be ashamed of Zhang Cheng's promotion and cultivation, and Zhang Cheng's treatment of him.
trust.
In his opinion, he was lucky to be able to enter Zhang Cheng's inner circle. After all, he had joined the Liaodong army in his early years. Later, although Zu Kuan went to the mainland to suppress bandits, he joined Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army. Only after the Julu War did he join the army.
Choose to follow Zhang Cheng.
Unlike Chen Zheng, Zhang Guangda, Wu Zhizhong, Chen Zhong and others, they were originally Zhang Cheng's old subordinates and had followed Zhang Cheng long before the Battle of Julu.
Although Zhang Guodong is now grateful to himself in his heart that he did not make mistakes and resolutely followed Zhang Cheng, but he is even more grateful that Zhang Cheng treats himself with sincerity and does not regard himself as an outsider.
Confidants, even more efforts are made to cultivate and promote them.
It was with such profound thoughts that Zhang Guodong felt very heavy. He secretly vowed that when he went to Xingshan to aid, he would play his best and beat the slave thieves hard, and he would not let down Zhang Cheng's trust in him!
…………
But not long after Zhang Guodong's troops set off, thousands of Ming Dynasty elite riders lined up and stood at the foot of Changling Mountain.
Looking at the gradually fading smoke and dust in front of him, veteran Guo Yingxian rode his horse and clasped his fists, saying: "Commander, Lao Guo will take the lead."
Zhang Cheng and Guo Yingxian had always been in love. Whenever they met, they would bicker first and then drink. But now there is a subtle change.
Guo Yingxian seemed to be the same towards Zhang Cheng, but Zhang Cheng showed great respect for him.
At this moment, Zhang Cheng was also riding on the horse, also clasping his fists and saying: "Thank you for your hard work, old general!"
Guo Yingxian opened his mouth and said with a smile: "Serving the commander-in-chief, I, old Guo, have no complaints."
After saying this, he whipped his horse and rode away. Behind the horse were more than two thousand capable knights, who followed him on horseback. Another large cloud of smoke rose into the sky, rolled and rolled, and lingered for a long time.
The cavalry led by the veteran general Guo Yingxian were all veterans of the Zhenbiao Battalion of the former Xuanfu Commander-in-Chief Yang Guozhu. Many of them were veterans. After many battles, they still had considerable combat effectiveness.
Because it was directly transferred to the command of Zhang Cheng during the war, the original organizational structure has been retained, and Zhang Cheng has not made any changes to it to avoid causing instability in the morale of the military.
After the military meeting last night, veteran general Guo Yingxian personally found Zhang Cheng and asked himself to be a vanguard officer to clear the way for the army. Zhang Cheng originally wanted to order Zhang Guangda's troops to be the vanguard.
However, Guo Yingxian couldn't bear the pressure and finally reluctantly agreed after Guo Yingxian promised that if he encountered a group of slave thieves, he would never launch an attack without authorization and would wait for the arrival of the army before making a decision.
"General Guo is really strong and courageous!"
Zhang Guangda looked at the Biaoying Jingqi and veteran Guo Yingxian going away, and said with emotion.
He still didn't know at this moment that Guo Yingxian had used half-hearted and half-forced methods to snatch away his vanguard officer. Otherwise, I'm afraid he wouldn't have said this.
Zhang Cheng looked at him and said: "Guangda, your cavalry is the rear team. You must send out the light cavalry, rangers, and meng cavalry in batches. Now in the Xingshan and Gaoqiao areas, there are slaves everywhere."
Don’t be careless when it comes to thieves and cavalry activities.”
"Here!"
Zhang Cheng stopped paying attention to him, turned to look at Chen Zheng, and said to him: "Chen Zheng, our wounded soldiers are now placed on Changling Mountain. They must be strictly guarded, with both light and dark sentries and mobile sentries being sent out everywhere.
No
There is a slight difference.
In particular, the corpses, armors, and flags of Duduo, Ashan, and Eshuo must be carefully taken care of. The corpses of these people and the heads of those soldiers should be prepared with salt and lime.
I estimate that within a few days, there will be an imperial edict from the imperial court, which will inevitably have to be sent to the capital. At that time, we will be able to escort the wounded back together with our wounded so that they can rest."
"Here!"
Chen Zheng nodded heavily and replied: "Please rest assured, Commander, Chen Zheng is here and we will never allow any loss to Changling Mountain."
Zhang Cheng raised his riding whip, lit Zhang Guangda and Chen Zheng on fire, and said, "Work hard. After this war in Liaodong is over, it is not impossible for you and others to be promoted to deputy generals and generals in the future.
"
Chen Zheng reacted the fastest. He turned over and fell to the ground. He clasped his fists and said loudly: "Chen Zheng would like to follow the commander-in-chief forever. He would rather be a pawn in front of the commander-in-chief. He doesn't care about Lao Shizi, deputy general and commander-in-chief!"
Before Zhang Cheng could say anything, Zhang Guangda Ce also clasped his fists on his horse and said, "I am the same, Old Zhang. I would rather be a pawn of the commander-in-chief than a general of the imperial court!"
Zhang Cheng raised his whip and pointed it at the two of them, and said in a deep voice: "You must know that if he doesn't want to be a general's soldier, he is not a good soldier!"
He then continued: "This commander can only guard one town. Your future prospects are not only to be mere generals and deputy generals, but also to become the general of a town.
No matter where you are, as long as you have Xuanzang in your hearts and me in your heart, that's all. You don't have to stay and serve in front of my army."
Zhang Cheng recognized Chen Zheng and Zhang Guangda and continued in a deep voice, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
They both pondered for a while, and Zhang Guangda was the first to reply: "Commander, my old Zhang is the commander's man, and when he dies, he will be the commander's ghost. No matter where he is guarding in the future, the commander will always follow his lead.
Two minds!"
Chen Zheng also hurriedly expressed his position: "Commander, Chen Zheng is the same. He is completely sincere to the Commander and has no second thoughts."
"Hahaha……"
Zhang Cheng laughed loudly for a while, and then said: "We have experienced life and death battles several times, and our brotherly love is deep. How can we give it up so easily? I still have trust in the commanders of your battalions."
He waved his horsewhip again and shouted loudly: "Lin Fangping and Huang Baozhong, follow my commander into Gaoqiao to fight against the slave thieves again."
Several people rode out, shouted orders in unison, and headed south with Zhang Cheng in tow. Although they only had less than a thousand cavalry, they were all very brave, not to mention the soldiers of the Tiger Guard Camp, but also the Xuan Mansion.
The most elite knight in the army.
Even the nearly three hundred knights led by Huang Baozhong were all servants of Yang Guozhu, the former commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu. Whether they were fighting on foot, riding, cutting, or shooting, they were all equally skilled and fearless of death.
Especially since Huang Baozhong brought them to join Zhang Cheng, not only did he still accept them as his servants, but he was also promised that the land they had acquired would belong to him, and they would be paid full wages on time in the future.
Military achievements are generously rewarded.
In this way, although on the surface it looks almost the same as when it was under Yang Guozhu, there are indeed many differences on the inside. The first point is that the food has been greatly improved.
Although Yang Guozhu treated his servants very favorably, the food he received was almost the same as that of ordinary cavalry. After all, raising troops cost the most money, and the lack of transportation capacity also limited the supplies of the Ming Dynasty's official army, so the army's
The food is pretty much the same.
But in Zhang Cheng's army, it was different. Although he was also limited by his supply capacity, Zhang Cheng not only had plenty of money and food, but he was also willing to spend it on his soldiers.
His army not only has its own food reserves, but also porcelain meat jars that everyone envies, as well as a lot of bacon and dried meat to make up for the shortage of porcelain meat jars. The soldiers can still ensure a certain level of food when marching and fighting.
A large supply of meat.
This was the only one among the Ming army, and Zhang Cheng did not hesitate to award rewards. As long as the soldiers of each battalion achieved military merit, they would be awarded immediately after being approved in accordance with military regulations.
Furthermore, Zhang Cheng's army paid more attention to the treatment of injured soldiers, because he always believed that these wounded soldiers were the real soldiers, and there were also those who died in battle.
The pensions for soldiers are unmatched by other Ming armies.
It is precisely because of these various benefits that nearly three hundred former Yang Guozhu servants led by Huang Baozhong and Tan Zhenlin have followed Zhang Cheng wholeheartedly and sincerely regard him as their general master.
At this time, the Ming Dynasty had already begun to show signs of turning its soldiers into generals, and its scope was gradually expanding. Unlike in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, only the servants were supported by their own generals.
Nowadays, many generals of the army have expanded the scope of their private soldiers, far beyond their servants. Some of the deputies, counselors, generals and other generals under the generals of the army only recognize the commander, not the generals.
And the imperial court.
In order to integrate Huang Baozhong and Tan Zhenlin into his circle as soon as possible, Zhang Cheng sent an order early that when the Tiger Guard camp went out for inspection, it would be merged with the Jia Ding team to form a sentinel team.
Moreover, each sentry team must bring at least two Mongolian knights, so that if they encounter Manchurians or Mongolian sentry knights, they can be fooled.
Not long after Zhang Cheng's Chinese army set off, Zhang Guangda also led more than 1,500 knights from the cavalry camp and slowly embarked on the road to Gaoqiao.
…………
On the fifth day of September, at noon, the Xuanfu town cavalry, led by Zhang Cheng, arrived two miles east of Gaoqiaopu.
Zhang Cheng led more than 200 horsemen to the gates of Gaoqiaopu City. Traces of fighting and fighting were vaguely visible. The remains of siege equipment were everywhere, and there were patches of dark red blood on the dry land.
Gaoqiaopu was originally a post city in Liaodong during the Ming Dynasty. There were 24 steps in a city, and there was only one door on the east side, with the three characters "Gaoqiaopu" written on it.
Although it is only a small post city, due to frequent wars in Liaodong, Gaoqiaopu was also covered with city bricks, and after years of heightening, it has become a very strong and difficult to attack small city.
It is precisely because of this that it has survived in all the wars and has been maintained by the Ming army. Even when the Zhenghongqi army attacked this time, it could not be broken.
At this time, the defenders of Gaoqiao saw thousands of Ming Dynasty elite cavalry coming outside the city. They were suspicious for a while. It was not until Zhang Chengfang rode his horse to the bottom of the city and showed Zhang Cheng's seal that three more cavalry rode out.
"Qian Zhongsi, the commander of Gaoqiao garrison, paid a visit to General Zhang."
A Ming general who was less than forty years old was riding on his horse, clasping his fists and saluting Zhang Cheng.
Zhang Cheng didn't do any ink, so he asked straightforwardly: "Where did General Liu from Liaodong go? Why isn't he at Gaoqiao?"
Qian Zhongsi clasped his fists and said: "Reporting to General Zhang, nearly ten thousand captives attacked the city in the past few days. The siege was not conquered in one day, so he led the army south. Liu Shuai was afraid that he would attack Bijia Mountain and worried about the army hoarding food.
If there is a mistake, I have led the army in pursuit."
After Zhang Cheng heard about this, he couldn't help but secretly admire Liu Zhaoji in his heart. He was worthy of being the commander-in-chief of the town. As expected, he also saw that the Tatars were planning to stock up on Beacon Mountain.
What's even more rare is that Liu Zhaoji not only guessed that the Tatar thieves might want to rob the grain store on Bijia Mountain, but in order to defend the grain store on Bijia Mountain, he even dared to lead his troops out of the city to pursue them, even fighting with the Tatar bandits in the wild.
Zhang Cheng asked anxiously: "General Liu, on what day will you leave the south of the city?"
Qian Zhongsi clasped his fists and replied: "Liu Shuai, on the first day of September, he led his army out of the city to pursue the captive cavalry."
"oh."
Zhang Cheng nodded and said: "So, General Liu has been out of the city for five days."
"Yes, it has been five days."
Qian Zhongsi replied with clasped fists, and then asked: "General Zhang, would you like the generals to go into the city to rest."
"No need."
Zhang Cheng learned that Liu Zhaoji had been out of the city for five days, and he couldn't help but worry about him. He immediately replied: "My army will not enter the city, but will rest outside the city for a night. Tomorrow, we will go south to support General Liu."
, fight against the cavalry together."
He then asked further: "I want to ask you, General Liu, after he left the city, did you get any information back?"
"Back to General Zhang, no news has been delivered since Liu Shuai left the city, and my subordinates don't know where Liu Shuai is now or what his situation is!"
…………
At noon on the sixth day of September, about thirty miles south of Gaoqiaopu, Zhang Cheng's cavalry had just finished their lunch.
After raising troops, they continued southward to look for Liu Zhaoji and Zheng Hongqi's army.
Seeing a burst of smoke and dust rising high from the south, all the generals were startled. Zhang Guangda even said: "I didn't see the sentry cavalry reporting back, so why did it suddenly seem like there were cavalry coming?"
"Could it be that our military sentries are back?" Lin Fangping said.
"No, look at the smoke and dust, this group of cavalry has only a few people, probably between twenty and thirty."
Huang Baozhong, the leader of the servant team, stood on the saddle of his horse and was looking southward carefully. He continued: "Although it is not very clear, one thing is certain, the soldiers running from a distance are indeed our Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers."
Cavalry cavalry."
Zhang Cheng shouted loudly: "The whole army forms a formation and prepares for war."
He added: "Huang Baozhong, Tan Zhenlin, and the retainers are divided into two groups. They will be commanded by you two. The cavalry will run from the two wings to the rear. If there is any information, it must be sent back immediately."
Immediately afterwards, he shouted again: "Lin Fangping, the Tiger Guard is preparing to fight. Zhang Guangda, the heavy cavalry and armor are forming a formation, and the light cavalry are forming a rear formation, and they will act according to the flag order." This chapter has been completed!