Chapter 965 It's like keeping someone under the sword!
Li Jiyu's Dengfeng Battalion is on the left, and He Zhenxiong's right-wing battalion is on the right, rushing northward. More than 400 cavalrymen from the right-wing battalion are in front to clear the way for the army, while 250 knights from the Dengfeng Battalion are in front of Qian Zong.
Under the leadership of Zhou Ruli, he guarded the left wing of the army to prevent possible sneak attacks by slave thieves.
Their minds still echoed with the sincere warning of their master Zhang Cheng before leaving: "...the key to this battle is not whether we can kill the Tatars in front of us, nor how many Tatars we kill.
The key to this battle is just you. Whether you can successfully break through, defeat the siege soldiers and horses of slave thieves outside the South Pass, and join up with Zu Dashou's soldiers and horses waiting for reinforcements in Jinzhou City is the key to this battle."
"...In this way, the siege of Jinzhou can be solved. The slaves and thieves can no longer siege Jinzhou, and they will inevitably retreat. In the west, Wu and Cao's two generals will have no worries if I, Xuan, have a large army.
The success or failure of the Liao War depends entirely on the performance of Laier and others today. I hope that you two can march north with all your strength, seize the slave camp when the slaves are unprepared, fill up the trench, and meet Zu Dashou outside the South Pass!"
Both Li Jiyu and He Zhenxiong kept Zhang Cheng's words in mind. Although they had different backgrounds and backgrounds, they had one thing in common.
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They were all generals who later submitted to Zhang Cheng. Although Li Jiyu came nearly a year earlier than He Zhenxiong, he was born in a rough place. This aid to Liao was his first battle after joining Zhang Cheng. Naturally,
Behave well.
Although He Zhenxiong was born in the military, his ancestors were also old military households in Xuanfu Town. Although he did not produce any big shots, his grandfather had worked in thousands of households, so there was still some lingering shadow.
And he was only in his mid-thirties. He had previously been a servant of Commander-in-Chief Yang Guozhu. Because of his bravery in battle and his rough knowledge of writing, he was appreciated by Yang Guozhu and promoted him to the post of Commander-in-Chief Qian in the Zhenbiao Camp.
Later, in the winter of the 11th year of Chongzhen, Xuanfu general Zhang Yan was killed in the Battle of Julu, and the remaining soldiers who broke out from the right wing camp were all taken away by Zhang Cheng.
At that time, when the imperial court issued an order to train the new army, under the operation of Yang Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu, He Zhenxiong was able to take the post of guerrilla general and temporarily serve as the commander-in-chief of the right-wing battalion of Xuanfu Zhenbiao.
Now, the old soldier Yang Guozhu died in Liaodong, He Zhenxiong suddenly lost a strong backing, and his foundation in Xuanfu was still shallow, and he was unable to find a career independently.
In fact, it was not that he had no intention of defecting to Zhang Cheng at that time, but he could not show it because of the face of veteran general Guo Yingxian.
As one of the confidants of the veteran soldier Yang Guozhu, He Zhenxiong is no stranger to Zhang Cheng. He was deeply impressed by Zhang Cheng during the Battle of Julu.
At that time, Zhang Cheng had already been promoted from a Qian Zongzong to a guerrilla general due to his meritorious service, and was even more appreciated and trusted by Lu Xiangsheng, who was then the Governor of Xuanda. This made He Zhenxiong, who was also a Qian Zongzong, truly envious.
Although he had finished serving as King Qin, after returning to Xuanfu, He Zhenxiong was promoted to the position of guerrilla general due to his meritorious service, and became the commander-in-chief of Zhenbiao's right-wing battalion.
But Zhang Cheng's achievements were even more brilliant. He used his formation to kill Ma Zhan, and with the help of Yue Tuo, he left the Xuanfu North Road. After that, he eliminated bandits and pacified the people, aided Henan, and entered Liaodong. He also served as a general along the way.
Lieutenant general, until now he has been promoted to the high position of commander-in-chief of Xuanfu.
He Zhenxiong was so impressed by Zhang Cheng's various achievements!
What's more, there is the veteran master Yang Guozhu in front of him, always praising how outstanding Zhang Cheng is, and his future achievements will be limitless.
Let's not talk about anything else, let's just say that the old subordinates who followed Zhang Cheng to the capital, such as Zhang Guangda, Chen Zheng, Lin Fangping and others, were originally just a hundred households and general banners, but now they have all been promoted to guerrillas like him.
It can be seen that the speed of promotion under Zhang Cheng is indeed unparalleled elsewhere. He has also known about Zhang Cheng's treatment of the soldiers of the Northern Army for a long time, and silently hopes that his right-wing battalion will be like this one day.
.
However, he was trained by Yang Guozhu and promoted to his current position. No matter what, he would not betray his general, but no one thought that Yang Guozhu would die in this battle to aid Liao.
battlefield.
But it was precisely because of Yang Guozhu's sacrifice for the country that He Zhenxiong had the opportunity to take refuge under Zhang Cheng. Maybe everything was God's will!
At first, He Zhenxiong was still immersed in the sadness of losing his general. It was not until later that the news spread that Li Fuming was going to take over the Xuanfu Army, and he went to the capital commander Tang Xiancheng to urgently discuss countermeasures with the veteran general Guo Yingxian.
Finally, with the support of Guo Yingxian, the decision was made to join Zhang Cheng. Then the imperial decree came and Zhang Cheng succeeded the chief military officer of Xuanfu Town, and the matter came to a natural end.
But since then, although He Zhenxiong has been under the control of Zhang Cheng, the new commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu, he has never had a chance to show off, but he is secretly anxious in his heart.
Now, being suddenly entrusted with an important task by Zhang Cheng, he was both excited and worried. The reason why he was excited was because he finally had the opportunity to perform on the battlefield and show his loyalty to Zhang Cheng.
What worries him is that he is afraid that he will be entrusted with an important task by Zhang Cheng for the first time. If he fails to do it well, how will he be worthy of Zhang Cheng's trust and importance?
And I am even more worried about whether my poor performance this time will affect my future!
It is precisely because of the above reasons and reasons that Li Jiyu and He Zhenxiong worked hard and urged their respective soldiers to accelerate their advance northward.
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Just as Li Jiyu and He Zhenxiong led their troops to advance towards the Qing army's Jinzhou defense line in the north, Zu Dashou, who was trapped in Jinzhou City, had already taken the lead and led more than 7,000 brave Liao soldiers to charge out.
These Liao soldiers, who were as brave as wolves and tigers, were trapped in Jinzhou City for a long time. They had no food and no sleep all day long and were in fear, guarding against possible attacks by slave thieves.
They have had enough of such a life. If they had not been praying for one day to be saved and have the opportunity to reunite with their relatives in Songshan, Xingshan, Gaoqiao, and Ningyuan, they would have left the city to look for Tartars.
I'm trying my best.
And now that Jinzhou is hopeful of rescuing the siege, how can they not be excited?
Like a ferocious beast that had escaped from trouble, the Liao soldiers in Jinzhou City did not need to be urged by their own generals. They went crazy and rushed towards the Qing army's Tatars stationed outside the city.
Yibai's Mongolian Zhengbai Banner is responsible for garrisoning in the south of Jinzhou City. In addition to the Mongolian Zhengbai Banner, there are also more than a thousand Mongolian troops from the outer vassals, nearly a thousand Han troops, and more than 4,000 soldiers from various banners. In total,
There are 12,000 to 3,000 troops.
Because tens of thousands of Qing Dynasty Prince Daishan's cavalry were stationed in the south, the key defense on Yibai's side was Zu Dashou in Jinzhou City to prevent them from suddenly coming out to break through.
Moreover, Zu Dashou, who was trapped in Jinzhou City, sent troops to break through the siege several times before, but was blocked by slave thieves in front of these three siege trenches. Yibai expected that even if Zu Dashou came out to fight again, he would still be in front of his own solid defense line surrounding Jinzhou.
Returned with a broken sword.
As expected, after Zu Dashou's troops came out of the city, they charged like wolves and tigers with all their might, and they quickly broke through the first trench and low wall defense line.
Even the wider and higher second trench defense line with low walls quickly fell under Zu Dashou's fierce offensive, but the third trench defense line, which was the widest and deepest, became an insurmountable chasm for Zu Dashou.
Of course, even a natural chasm is not insurmountable. The main reason is that the cunning Yibai believed that Zu Dashou could not break through this third line of defense several times, so he concentrated his main forces here.
However, only a small number of troops were deployed to defend the first two lines of defense. The purpose was obvious, which was to use the first two lines of defense to consume the vigor and physical strength of Zu Dashou's Liao soldiers so that he could not overcome his heavy defense.
The third ditch and moat.
Sure enough, the Liao soldiers, who were as ferocious as tigers and wolves, stopped helplessly in the third trench. On the south side of the trench, there were fire blunderbuss fired by the Han Army's Tatars, and the bows and arrows of the Mongolian Northern Tatars continued.
Although Zu Dashou's side also had Liao soldiers who were good at shooting, and they also had some firearms such as blunderbuss, they were on par with the Qing army south of the ditch, and had no obvious advantage.
Unable to suppress the muskets and bows of the Qing soldiers on the opposite side, they were unable to fill in the trenches or build plank bridges. Looking at the natural chasm so close at hand, Zu Dashou's eyes were red with tears, but he had no choice but to do anything.
Just when he was at his wits' end, a plume of smoke and dust rose into the sky from the south of the Ibai Mongolian Zhengbai Banner camp opposite the trench defense line.
"The Xuanfu army is coming to kill us!"
Zu Dashou was immediately overjoyed. He seemed to have seen the two armies working together to defeat the Mongolian Tatars who blocked him in front. After successfully joining forces, they continued to advance and kill the other slave thieves who were besieging the city.
Seeing that the siege of Jinzhou was about to be lifted, Zu Dashou roared: "Come on, my sons! Kill the Tatars, avenge their blood, kill, kill, kill..."
At this moment, he was not the only one to see the smoke and dust billowing from the south. This scene was like a person suffering from illness seeing the figure of a doctor, or like a farmer who had been dry for a year seeing the dark clouds coming from the distance.
generally.
"Long drought brings sweet rain", how can it not drive people crazy?
Several previous breakthroughs have been blocked by this wide trench. The feeling of powerlessness can be suffocating. Now that I am desperately trying to win the last hope of breaking out, I have to stop here again. How can I be willing to accept it?
Now, I found that my own reinforcements were coming to the opposite side. It was just like when I was about to be beheaded, I heard a roar from the distance, "Save one under the knife." Why not make people happy and excited?
"Reinforcements...reinforcements..."
"...It's really...it's really...reinforcements are coming..."
"...Thank God...Really thank God..."
"...the soldiers and horses of the Xuanfu...are the Xuanfu army who killed Duduo...Zhang Cheng..."
"...There is help...Finally there is help...It has been more than a year...Reinforcements have finally arrived..."
For a time, the seven thousand Liao soldiers who followed Zu Dashou out of the city to kill slaves quickly merged into one voice: "Kill...kill...kill..."
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The sudden arrival of the Ming army caused Zhenyibai, Gushan'e of Zhengbai Banner in Mongolia, to lose his sense of control in an instant.
In fact, this cannot be completely blamed on Yibai. After all, there are more than 40,000 Qing warriors of Prince Li Daishan to his south. Even if the Xuan Daming army fighting them is brave and brave, their strength is not as good as Daishan.
With so much power, how can we divide our forces to invade the north?
Therefore, Yibai deployed all its main forces in front of the trench to block Zu Dashou who wanted to break out of the encirclement, lest they break through the encirclement and go out to cause chaos to Prince Li's side.
But how could you have imagined that the Ming army suddenly appeared behind Yibai as if falling from the sky. He was undefended behind, and in his haste, he had no time to mobilize his troops to return to defense.
But even so, Yibai still had to struggle hard. He could only hope that the Ming army that suddenly attacked was not the Xuanfu soldiers who were not afraid of death.
Nearly half of the Mongolian Tatars came back to support the rear line. The pressure on Zu Dashou suddenly eased. In addition, the soldiers all saw the hope of survival and the dawn of victory, so they naturally became more desperate.
For a time, cannons and arrows were flying towards the Tatars in the south of the trench. Even the soldiers who filled the trench no longer cared about their lives. They all fought bravely and the scene of everyone vying for the first place was extremely spectacular.
At the same time, Yibai, who led the army back to support, was as big as a mountain. Before he could rush back to the camp to fortify himself, the forward cavalry of the Ming army had already charged in.
Seeing fires in the camp from a distance, and pillars of smoke rising into the sky, he was really anxious, but his thirst could not be quenched from a distance. A sense of powerless frustration filled his heart and mind, and he felt nausea, dizziness, and vomiting.
Then came the attack.
This is like hearing that the emperor is going to marry his daughter to him, but suddenly a wife from his hometown comes looking for him. He has failed to marry his son-in-law, and is about to be beheaded in public for the crime of deceiving the emperor.
The whole feeling of "from heaven to earth" is like a person who was blindfolded and went on a roller coaster, wandering up and down in a circle, tossing and displacing all the internal organs.
But Yibai was unwilling to give up. No matter what the result was, he would fight hard again, because if he retreated like this, Dorgon would not forgive him.
I was dizzy for a moment, but after two large mouthfuls of blood came out, Ibaidun felt much lighter and stronger. He waved the long machete in his hand, roared wildly, and rushed towards his camp first.
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Prince Daishan of the Qing Dynasty had also discovered that the Ming Dynasty army on the opposite side seemed to have gone crazy. They pressed forward regardless of the whole army. It seemed that they were going to fight their own Qing warriors?
He waved to Prince Azige of Wuying County who was gearing up and said to him: "Ming Gou is desperate. It seems that he wants to make a desperate move. This is the best time for our army to defeat it in one go."
Dai Shan suddenly raised his hand, pointed at the battlefield to the south and said bitterly: "Ajige, lead your warriors with white flags to kill, and bring me the head of that bitch Zhang Cheng!"
"嗻."
Azig almost shouted to receive the order.
Since the beginning of the war this morning, Azig has been clamoring for a fight, but for some reason Daishan has been suppressing him and sent all the other Manchu and Mongolian flags up. Only Azig's white flag was removed by him.
Stay in the Chinese Army.
Now, Azig finally received the military order for him to go into battle. How could he not be excited? He clasped his fists and shouted: "Don't worry, Big Belle, Azig and Zhang Cheng are at odds with each other. If we kill him in front of the battle, it will be an advantage to him."
Please wait for the good news again, Da Beile. Azig will capture the Nanmanzi and let Da Beile deal with it!"