On March 13, the 10th year of Chongzhen's reign, the Anhui River outside Shipai Town, Anqing, was deserted. The doors and windows of the shops along the river were closed. The water boats that used to shuttle back and forth were nowhere to be seen, but the Catfish Ferry was noisy, with countless people fleeing from the north.
The people were crying and shouting loudly.
There was no ferry docked at the north ferry of Catfish Ferry. A few Zaoli rowed fishing boats and waved on the river, asking people to flee from the north bank to Fucheng.
The second-floor window of a rice and bean shop was slightly open. Pang Yu, who was wearing scholar's uniform, looked to the other side and saw a rider arriving at the river, holding a bamboo tube in his hand and waving it towards the fishing boat.
When the fishing boat docked, the sentry horse did not directly give the bamboo tube to the soldiers in uniforms, but directly boarded the boat.
Pang Yu closed the window leaves and said, "There are sentry horses crossing the river to report back."
The officers sitting in the room stood up one after another, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.
After meeting with Zuo Liangyu in Tongcheng, Pang Yu led the first division and the second division back to Fucheng. All the troops of the garrison camp were gathered between Fucheng and Shipai, and the reinforcements and suppression troops were gathered in Tongcheng.
In order to avoid the suspicion of the rogue bandits, Liuhe Camp and Yongsheng Camp were left in Qianshan Taihu to support the suppression, while 300 people from the Zhenjiang Mainland Camp were in Susong.
Ge Liyan came out from Jifeitan again, and the Taihu Township troops were unable to defeat the army of rogue bandits. Liuhe camp retreated to Tongcheng after a brief battle. Yang Zhuoran had no choice but to abandon the half-built city wall and follow the people to escape to Susong.
At present, Geriyan is stationed near Taihu County. In Huangmei in the upper reaches of the river, there are Zhang Xianzhong's battalions with a total of nearly 100,000 people. A small group has appeared near Tonglingzhai at the junction with Susong, and at the same time, it leads to Chenhan Mountain in Guangji.
A small number of horse soldiers also appeared around.
In the overall situation in Anqing, the two major mobile corps of the government army gathered in the northeast and southeast, leaving other directions open. The rogue bandits were also divided into two major groups, one in the north and one in the west, testing each other's patience.
The most ideal condition envisioned by Pang Yu was for the northern battalion led by Ge Liyan to go from Taihu Lake or Qianshan to Fucheng, with Zuo Liangyu and Pang Yu attacking from both sides; the other ideal situation was for Zhang Xianzhong from the west to enter Suzhou.
Songhou attacked Wangjiang, which was surrounded by rivers and lakes. As long as Zuo Liangyu cut off the road leading to Susong, it would be a perfect encirclement and annihilation. Therefore, even when it was urgent to concentrate his troops, Pang Yu still defeated the Marines in two rounds.
He stayed in Wangjiang and borrowed a bureau's strong squad from Tongcheng. Now that Tongcheng's army was gathering, Yang Erming did not have any pressure to defend the city. He successfully loaned it out according to the agreement. Wangjiang now had three bureau officers and soldiers, plus Tongcheng's strong squad.
The squad has the mobilization experience to defend the city and should be able to defend the small Wangjiang City.
Therefore, Pang Yu eagerly hoped that these two states would appear. To this end, he specially closed all the ferries on the Wan River, and all ships were concentrated on the south bank. He sent soldiers dressed as government soldiers and rural soldiers to patrol the river section, so as to prevent the rogue bandits from attacking the Wan River and beyond.
Reconnaissance of the South.
There are only social soldiers and a small number of sailors in Anqing Fucheng. Only the Songyang Gate is allowed to pass, but there are no restrictions on entry and exit. There are many people coming in and out every day. There will definitely be rogue bandits inside, and they will bring the news of the emptiness of the Fucheng to Ge Liyan.
But it is true as Zuo Liangyu said, Ge Liyan and the Eight Thieves seemed to have received the news that there were many officers and soldiers. The bandits' scouting horses were moving around, but the infantry and their families never appeared in Anqing. A large number of horse soldiers still remained.
Along the post road, but not deep into the hinterland.
Both sides were patiently carrying out reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance, but Pang Yu had to be more careful. The garrison camps were stationed far away from the river. No one in military uniforms was allowed to appear on the side of Shipai Town facing the Wanhe River. The sentries sent out were the same as the common people.
, they could only stay north of the Wan River. The news they received was that Ziweixing had invaded Lu'an Prefecture. The main force of the garrison camp and Zuo Liangyu went out to Beixiaguan for rescue. There were only two thousand officers and soldiers in Anqing. This was also Pang Yu's trick to confuse the enemy.
part.
Geliyan is at the southern end of the Dabie Mountains, while Lu'an Prefecture is in the northeast, separated by mountains in the middle.
This kind of terrain caused difficulties for the intelligence of the officers and soldiers, but the same was true for the rogue bandits. According to Pang Yu's judgment, not to mention the loose relationship between the rogue bandit battalions, even just talking about the difficulty in transmitting information, they had no idea about the situation on the other side of the Dabie Mountains.
He also knew nothing about it, which Pang Yu could take advantage of.
Pang Yu did not want the precious sentry horses to be captured, but reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance were necessary in the battle, so the capture of the sentry horses was inevitable. Several battles in Puzikou, Chuzhou and Kongcheng Town defense this year, the defense
Sentries and horses were captured in the battalion, and rogue horse soldiers were also captured many times. Neither the officers nor the rogue bandits gave any preferential treatment to the prisoners of war. It was a high probability that the intelligence would be revealed during the interrogation. The information the sentry horses themselves knew was also confusing.
the enemy's methods.
During the outpost battle in Shipai toward Taihu Lake the day before yesterday, a group of three sentry horses from the garrison camp disappeared. Pang Yu was heartbroken, but also hoped that the situation would develop in the direction he expected. If Ge Liyan believed that there were only two thousand officers and soldiers in Anqing,
The defense of Fucheng is empty, and this piece of fat has enough temptation, so there is a high probability that he will risk a surprise attack on Fucheng, and only then will Pang Yu have the opportunity to engage in an siege and annihilation campaign.
But the key to the success of the battle lies not only in Pang Yu's patience. The 20,000 Henan officers and soldiers stationed in Tongcheng were not only a huge burden on Tongcheng, but also almost became a disaster. Neither Zhang Guowei nor Dai Dongwen could restrain Zuo Liangyu's troops. Yang Erming and
Pi Yingju kept complaining to Shi Kefa. He had already robbed almost all the money and food he could grab. The left army had stayed for a long time without any extra harvest. Henan soldiers and horses had made two unauthorized attacks. The first time was at Shijingpu and the second time.
They were in the trailer river, not sure if they were exposed or not. Apparently their patience was about to run out.
Under this situation, Pang Yu's mood became even more urgent. Fortunately, the bandits' patience was also being exhausted. Yesterday, there were signs of Ge Liyan's infantry coming out of the mountain. Today seems to be a turning point. Normally, sentry horses are not allowed to cross the river.
, the message was placed in a bamboo tube and brought over by a fishing boat. At this time, the outpost arrived on the boat, indicating that the situation was more complicated and difficult to describe in words, so there might be a big move by the rogue bandits.
The room was full of generals from the garrison camp. The whole camp had been waiting in hiding for the past few days, which was more torturous than going to the battlefield.
Everyone was nervous and anxious as they watched the sentry horse disembark and go straight to Midou Store.
The sentry horse arrived upstairs, and after a hurried salute, he said to Pang Yu, "Commander Zuo's troops have passed through Taihu County, and Ge Liyan has been defeated and has passed the Fengxiang Post."
Pang Yu's mind suddenly went blank. After a moment, he asked numbly: "How many beheadings?"
"Behead dozens of people."
Pang Yu felt a rush of breath, and his scalp was numb. He couldn't explain what he felt. Zuo Liangyu didn't wait for the bandits to come out of the mountain, and pushed along the post road alone. Tens of thousands of troops were piled on the road.
The plane of battle was only as wide as the road, and the bandits' cavalry were highly mobile. The best they could do was be defeated, and it was impossible to achieve any results.
Zuo Liangyu's attack had already reached the territory of Susong. Ge Liyan ran further and further away and it was impossible to come to Fucheng. His battle was in vain.
The encirclement and annihilation battle that he had planned for so long ended up being a boring chase between servants and horse soldiers on the post road. Yang Xueshi asked in a low voice beside him, "Sir, how should we... fight?"
Pang Yu took a few breaths, calmed down, and turned to the desk behind him, with a map of Anqing spread on it.
"The bandits are all horse soldiers, and they have already passed Fengxiang Station. It is impossible for us to surround them."
Pang Yu closed his eyes for a moment, calmed himself down, and said with a soothing breath, "Change the plan. The first division will go to Susong via the highway, and the rest of the battalion will go to Fengxiang Station with me.
There are many officers and soldiers on the left and right, so let's go with them. Since the Eight Thieves don't come, let's go across Huangmei to find him."
...Two days later, Pang Yu stood on a horse on a hilltop on Susongyi Road, surrounded by Jiangnan reinforcements and suppression officers. Shi Kefa was whispering something to Henan supervisor Dai Dongwen, but Zuo Liangyu was not here.
.
There are several small camps to the east of the mountain, and some officers and soldiers are active in the wilderness. Dozens of corpses are scattered around the post road to the west of the mountain. All of them have no heads, and all their clothes have been stripped off. They can't be seen from a distance.
What is your identity when you come out?
Zuo Liangyu not only chased Fengxiangyi, but also fought all the way through Jiuxian County, crossed the Jiuxian River to get here, and had a large-scale battle with the bandits. The corpses at the foot of the mountain were all bandits.
At this time, the battlefield was very clean, and even clothes and shoes were not spared. However, Zuo Liangyu's logistics troops did not keep up this time, and the cleaning was not so clean. It could still be seen from the broken long poles and flags remaining on the ground.
When they came out, there was indeed a fight, and the scattered corpses looked more like formations.
"General Pang is well."
When Pang Yu turned around, he saw a slightly haggard Mr. Ma, who was obviously chasing after Zuo Liangyu. He quickly said politely, "I've met Mr. Ma."
"Commander Zuo fought here for a while, and these are also real thieves.
Originally, these horse thieves escaped quickly, and Zuo Shuai chased them all the way without killing many. However, when they arrived, the horse thieves came to attack and killed these people. Otherwise, it is not known whether this small victory would have been achieved. Today, the sentry horse reported back, and the remaining thieves
We have already crossed the pass and escaped to Chenhan Mountain."
Pang Yu was slightly surprised, "Did the bandits attack on their own?"
Mr. Ma said in a low voice, "It can be seen that the thieves also want to fight. When they were in Tongcheng, Zhang Duye's planning was originally good, but all the generals were eager, and it ended up like this. Although it was not satisfactory, it was always a small victory.
, General Pang is also doing his best."
Mr. Ma knew that Pang Yu was coordinating the various battalions in Tongcheng for this battle. He knew that Pang Yu would definitely be disappointed, so he came here to provide some comfort.
Mr. Ma is fully aware of the situation between Pang Yu and Zhang Guowei, and this small victory is useless.
Pang Yu smiled helplessly and said, "A small victory is always better than a defeat, or a thief is cunning."
"That's because General Pang is being polite. I'll tell you the truth. The gathering of guest troops in Tongcheng is a good thing, but it's a blessing and a curse. No matter whether the soldiers and horses from Henan or Jiangnan, they are never fully paid on weekdays, and Wang Yunfeng's troops have been in arrears for half a year.
This time, soldiers and horses from the south of the Yangtze River came to help, and the amount of money was only three coins per soldier. The imperial court wanted the soldiers to report the enemy's victory, but the soldiers only saw the benefits. More than 20,000 soldiers and horses were stationed in Tongcheng for more than ten days. Not only Yangzhi County was miserable, but also everyone
The camp has been stationed for a long time with nothing to gain, and it is already ready to take action, looting and committing evil in Tongcheng. If we wait any longer, I am afraid that before the Geliyan attack, the officers and soldiers will break through Tongcheng. Therefore, it is not the thieves who are cunning, but there is nothing we can do."
Pang Yu sighed inwardly. It was normal for officers and soldiers to be in arrears with pay. In such a troubled world, it was difficult for Pang Yu to understand why the imperial court still dared to owe money to the army. But after receiving several discounts, he was no longer surprised that he wanted military pay.
At that time, an officer was no different than a beggar.
"The situation is already like this, and the morale is high after the small victory. I thought that we should make a big move and march into Huangmei via Tongling Village. Huangmei is surrounded by rivers and it will be difficult for the rogue bandits to move. If we plan properly, we may not be unable to win a big victory."
Mr. Ma slowly shook his head. When Pang Yu was about to ask more questions, Mr. Ma said in a deep voice, "Zuo Liangyu is leaving and going back to Shucheng."
Pang Yu was dizzy again. Why did Zuo Liangyu's move not follow the rules at all? He finally came up with a new battle plan, but it turned into a bubble in the blink of an eye. At this time, he recalled what Zuo Liangyu said in Tongcheng that day,
As expected, he only listens to himself when fighting.
Pang Yu looked around at the top of the mountain, but still didn't see Zuo Liangyu's flag, "He...has left?"
"We will rest today and leave tomorrow. How can such a guest army be relied on? General Pang still has other plans."
Mr. Ma shook his head and went to Shi Kefa's side.
Pang Yu didn't understand it now. Zuo Liangyu took 20,000 people, marched hundreds of miles to Anqing, spent more than ten days, fought a hasty battle, and then left. The number of bandits he killed was probably not as good as Zuo Bu's death from illness.
What benefit does having a large number of people bring to him? No one can predict his actions, and there is nothing anyone can do against him.
"It's all measured, measured... Is this the measure of Marshal Zuo?"
Pang Yu sighed, turned around and called Xie Zhaofa, the tour guide behind him. Now that he was marching and fighting, Pang Yu would definitely take him with him.
"There is no hope in going to Huangmei. Maybe we won't be able to fight a big battle with the bandits."
Xie Zhaofa heard Pang Yu's disappointment and was silent for a moment before saying, "I don't think it's possible."
"How do you say that?"
"Just now, Mr. Ma said that the bandits originally fled, but they turned around and attacked here. This villain thought it was very abnormal.
My humble opinion is that this mountain is the only hilltop on the Susong Post Road. Once the officers and soldiers gain a firm foothold, it will be difficult for them to invade via the Post Road."
Xie Zhaofa pointed to the top of the hill and said, "The bandits had a few small battles in Taihu Lake. When they knew that it was Commander Zuo who came and occupied the top of the hill, they still wanted to attack for a while. The battle was really unfavorable before they fled. It can be seen that they were also eager to fight.
, when there is not much food left, they can escape at this time. When the food is exhausted, they will be cornered, and you may still have a chance to defeat the enemy."
Pang Yu frowned, Xie Zhaofa analyzed so much from just one sentence of Mr. Ma, and it seemed to make some sense.
My mood suddenly improved a lot, and I took a closer look at the surrounding terrain. This is a hilly area on the edge of the Dabie Mountains. The surrounding plains and hills are intertwined, and the post road passes through the mountains.
Pang Yu went to Susong many times to check the terrain, and passed this hilltop almost every time. Although this place controlled the post road, Pang Yu's battlefield selection in Susong did not include this place, including Jiuxian County and Chema River.
A better choice, because there is a fort built by Shi Kefa. The army can gain a great advantage by relying on the fort, and the terrain is more suitable for garrison operations.
This place is between the Chema River and Jiuxian County. It is the only hilltop passing by on the Susong section of the post road. The actual height is not high, it is just a slope. The terrain itself is not dangerous, but it can control important post roads and slopes.
There is a delivery shop in Susong. Surrounding this delivery shop are some restaurants, inns and other service businesses, and there are dozens of other households.
After the last bandit attack, a small number of these houses were burned down. Zuo Liangyu's servants occupied these houses for rest and rest. Although they were hasty, they still laid out some trenches and deer firewood. It can be seen that Zuo Liangyu was quite cautious in using his troops. The servants'
The combat power is still reliable.
The bandits are light cavalry and light infantry. Taking the initiative to attack elites like servants is never the best choice, let alone attacking fortresses. Their counterattack here is really strange.
Thinking of this, Pang Yu turned to Xie Zhaofa and asked, "What is the name of this place?"
"As my lord, let's call it Fengjia Dian."
(Note 1) (Note 1: There were two battles in Fengjiadian in the tenth year of Chongzhen. The first took place in March, and the famous second took place in April. This was the first battle, and the officers and soldiers achieved a small victory.
) Note 2: Regarding the location of Fengjia Store, there is no such place name now, and various information has not been written about its current location. Check the Anqing Prefecture Chronicles-Government Volume Express Store, which records that Fengjia Store is located forty miles west of the city.
The total length of the post road in Susong is sixty miles, and it should have six pavilions. It is ranked fourth from west to east. "Susong County Chronicles of the Republic of China" records that Fengjiazhuang County is thirty miles north to the boundary, with Xiantian liquidambar in the east, and opposite roads in the south.
, Xifeng car.
According to this general location, there is a place now called Fengdian Village. The topography is consistent with the description in Zhang Guowei's memorial. Feng and Feng have the same pronunciation. Fengjiadian at that time should be Fengdian Village in Liangting Town, Susong County today.