The first day of April in the sixth year of Chongzhen.
Liu Chengzong organized the army and divided it into two groups. One group was led by himself, and the other group was led by Liu Chengzu as the commander, and each set the direction of attack.
Liu Chengzu's troops sent 2,000 Xining Guard banner troops, 2,000 Zhenhai camp soldiers, and 2,000 Mongolian cavalry from Liancheng in the north to Zhuanglangwei Yongden City in the northeast, and plundered hundreds of miles of grain and grass along the Zhuanglang River.
The main force was led by Liu Chengzong himself, advancing eastward to the mouth of the river, attacking in the north and defending in the south, cooperating with Liu Chengzong to obtain grain and grass from the Zhuanglang River Basin, and then joining forces to transport rafts to the south to cross the Yellow River.
All of a sudden, the army came out in all directions, and the Marshal's Mansion, which was carrying the power of victory, broke through the obstruction of the scouts in an instant. From the mouth of the river to the border wall on the north bank of the Yellow River, the officers and soldiers saw everywhere. No matter it was Lianhua Mountain or Zhuanglang River, they could not stop the Marshal's Mansion.
The army is nothing.
They soared up high mountains and steep hills, crossed shallow rivers and deep waters, and invaded Shajingyi in one day, threatening Anning Fort. They faced the ancient city of Xigu on the south bank of the Yellow River across the river in the peach blossom forest.
Within two days, urgent reports were sent along horse-drawn carriages to the four prefectures of Gongchang, Pingliang, Fengxiang, and Xi'an, causing the Drum Tower of Xi'an City thousands of miles away to ring the bell of martial law.
Shaanxi's four-year war against bandits came to an end after last autumn. This was not just because the five-town coalition's recruitment and suppression of the peasant army was effective. The more important reason was that in the fifth year of Chongzhen, the severe drought in Shaanxi ended and ushered in
Here comes the rare good weather.
Perhaps for the people living in the southeastern provinces of the Ming Dynasty, the current situation seemed to be full of storms, but for the people of Shaanxi, people's hearts were already numbed by the exhaustion of the late war and the aftermath of the disaster.<
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Everywhere was beaten to pieces by the flames of war. Before people even had time to recover, they were suddenly shocked to hear that all the five northwest divisions had been defeated. For a time, people everywhere were panicked and nervous.
They were not afraid that Liu Chengzong would lead the Western Army to fight out of the Hehuang Valley, but that they were worried that the bandits scattered all over the place would rise again.
Because in the sixth year of Chongzhen's reign, Xi'an, Yan'an, Pingliang and Fengxiang Prefectures did not wait for a spring rain until April. People's hearts were flustered. Even if there was no news of the defeat of the army, refugees from all over the place gathered again and made noises in all directions.
Just around the corner.
Fortunately, it rained in Hanzhong Mansion, so Wang Laohu, the leader of Zhuanglang who led more than 4,000 bandits to hide in the Qinling Mountains last year, did not come out, thus ensuring the logistics route from Guanzhong to Lanzhou.
It is precisely because of this that the news of the defeat of the army was conveyed so quickly.
On the sixth day when the north bank of the Yellow River was occupied by Liu Chengzong, Liu Shizi's garrison was on the hilltop outside Anning Fort, watching the peach trees blooming along the Yellow River, and watching the Tang soldiers intercept the letter written by the Anning Fort garrison to Governor Lian Guoshi.
,laughing.
The letter said that he killed the clan members, robbed money and food, and distributed them to the people and soldiers to confuse people's hearts.
Just one day ago, his army leveled Suwang Zhuangzi at the foot of Renshou Mountain, and also smashed open two large warehouses, which were filled with rents sent from Ganzhou's renamed fields last year and the year before last. They gained a lot. p>
While helping the poor people around him, he also sent three carts of old grain to the defenders of Fort Anning. They were all things that had been stored for too long and did not look very tasty.
But the garrison at Fort Anning liked it very much.
Liu Shizi likes destroying Wangzhuang the most, even more than attacking official warehouses, because the official warehouses in Fuzhou and counties usually contain relief grains, but Wangzhuang probably has everything, which can satisfy everything except military weapons and armor.
Required.
King Su had more than 300 hectares of renamed farmland in Ganzhou, and all he had in Renshoushan Wangzhuang was rented property.
According to regulations, every year, 7,373 stones of grain, 6,800 bundles of grass, 140 carts of firewood, 750 jins of medicinal materials and safflower, 750 jins of hemp, and 100 cages of charcoal are collected every year.
Five stones of nightshade purple fruit, eight liters of melon seeds, five hundred brooms, and one thousand boards.
However, the amount Liu Chengzong received was only about one and a half years' worth of inventory. From the list, it did not appear that Su Fan had used materials on a large scale. It was probably embezzled by someone else.
Liu Chengzong wrote a letter to teach King Su a lesson, telling him that I originally thought your family's family tradition was quite good, but this time I realized that the world is as dark as crows, and you are too wasteful. The melon seeds piled up in the warehouse are rotten.
Don’t eat even if it’s oily.
By the way, I quarreled with King Su and said that according to the rules, there should be so many things in your warehouse, but I only found two-thirds of the things. Where did the rest go? You need to check the moving hamster in your home.
, I won’t be able to do this next time.
Liu Chengzong only wanted to besiege Lanzhou City, but he had no intention of attacking Lanzhou City. Current internal and external factors did not allow him to continue to capture the city.
The internal reason is that there are too many surrendered troops in the rear of the army, and people's hearts are not very stable. Once the siege is frustrated and chaos breaks out in the rear, it will affect the efficiency of collecting grain and grass.
The external reason is that Lanzhou's city defense is too strong. Not to mention the fortress group consisting of seven cities around it, it is also a super city itself.
The unit of scale of a city is the number of miles around the city. Generally speaking, a city with a radius of one to three miles is a very standard big fortress, covering an area as big as one or two stadiums. It can station one or two thousand troops and radiate a radius of ten miles.
If the city is four to five miles away, it is a county seat. If it is seven or eight miles away, it will be a prefecture seat in the northwest where there is less flat land. This standard may be relaxed to about nine miles in places such as Beizhili or Henan. As for Lanzhou City, there are many small city walls with a perimeter of one to three miles. It is a super big city in itself, with an inner city that is six miles in circumference, and an outer city that is eighteen miles in circumference. There are moats and moats on the west, south, and east sides.
, the Yellow River is directly used as a moat in the north.
Capturing a powerful city like Lanzhou would bring many benefits to Liu Chengzong, but letting it go would be even more beneficial. As long as the cities near Lanzhou are wiped out this time and all the goods outside the city are taken away, in the next one or two years, the wealth of the wealthy family will be
The goods will converge to Lanzhou City...just go to Lanzhou directly next time.
On the south bank of the Yellow River, the remaining governor's Biao camp and the defeated troops in the three towns were also prepared to defend Lanzhou tightly and never give up Lanzhou.
Both sides are waiting for the confrontation. Henan is waiting for Liu Chengzong's attack, while Liu Chengzong is waiting for the shipment.
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The arrival of Liu Chengyun inspired the whole army. Hundreds of cowhide and sheepskin rafts were enough for the infantry to quickly cross the Yellow River from all over the river, clearing the ferry for the cavalry to occupy the Iron Bridge of the Yellow River.
The first time Liu Shishi saw him, he ordered the soldiers to send the rafts to all the ministries, and prepared to avoid the crossing and ambush him across the river as planned, but was stopped by the nervous Cheng Yun: "Brother, the attack is not urgent, take me to the center first."
Military tent."
Liu Chengzong saw his expression was different and nodded immediately.
After entering the Chinese military tent, Chengyun finally breathed a sigh of relief. While taking the letter from his arms, he whispered: "Brother, something happened in the west, the Tatars are coming."
This is what Liu Shizi expected, Hu Duntu.
Calculating the time, the New Year Tiger and the Rabbit are outside Gansu. Calculating the time, it’s almost time to cross Subei.
Liu Chengzong didn't think this was a big deal, so he patted Chengyun and comforted him: "It's okay, grab enough food from here. Hu Duntu is from Suzhou to Haibei, and we are returning to Xining from Lanzhou, so we will meet him on the sea." Unexpectedly, Chengyun raised his eyebrows: "Brother, look at the letter. Not only are the Han Tatars interfering, but also the Wala Tatars coming from the Tianshan Mountains. The northwest has been disrupted."
Wala Tatar?
Liu Chengzong opened a letter, which was written by his father Liu Xiangyu. The letter said that because the Gansu border army was very defensive under the leadership of General Yang Jiamo, Hu Duntu did not dare to cross Gansu and went south, so he had to take a detour to Jiayuguan, and sent troops to plunder Guazhou on the way.
, Dunhuang and Hami areas, there was a conflict with Turpan.
Then Turpan sent troops, and the two sides fought a battle in Hami. According to the intelligence of the Gansu border army, the Han Huduntu tribe seemed not to have suffered much losses.
Liu Chengzong had just finished reading half of it when he asked Chengyun: "What do you mean, the Gansu border army informed us of border intelligence?"
"No, no, no, no." Cheng Yun looked at his second brother's whimsical thoughts and shook his head quickly: "It's sixteen. There are many Gansu guards in the Three Tribulations Association. Whatever Yang Jiamo knows, we can know, it just has to be a little later." Liu Chengzong immediately felt relieved and forgot about Wang Ziyong.
He went on to read the letter. His father said that after the battle, Hu Duntu sent people to Juerwan again, but this time it was to ask for help. The words were still arrogant, asking Liu Chengzong to attack Hami with him, saying that the Wala Tatars were forming an army.
A large army is preparing to attack Qinghai. Qinghai can no longer accommodate the third person and must drive them away.
Mr. Liu ignored Hu Duntu at first, saying that the Wala Tatars were forming a large army to attack Qinghai was obviously bragging.
Do you really think that our Liu family are all unlearned and ignorant people? Our whole family is a Ming Dynasty scholar who knows astronomy and geography. We know that the Wala Tatars are there!
The Tianshan Mountains where the Oara people settled are five thousand miles away from Xining City in the north and south. Did they go crazy and form an army to expedition to Qinghai?
Why should you ask the Marshal's Mansion to wipe your ass for the trouble you caused? What's more important is that when this letter was delivered, Mr. Liu had not yet received the news that the imperial army in the east had been defeated, and his own family still had a lot of things to do.
Well, I don’t have time to take care of you.
But immediately afterwards, Liu Xiangyu discovered that things did not seem to be that simple.
Because soon another group of envoys also came to Juerwan. They claimed to be the leader of the Wala Alliance, the national teacher Khan, and the great leader of the Heshuote Nayan Borji Jin Tulu Baihu.
Mr. Liu said that the envoys of the National Preceptor Khan were more educated and organized than the people of Hu Duntu, and more like enlightened envoys.
They kowtowed to Mr. Liu using the etiquette of meeting the governor of the Ming Dynasty in Wa La, performed three bows and nine kowtows, and verbally avoided everything about Liu Chengzong, calling the meeting with the envoy kowtow to meet him.
These people helped Mr. Liu recall the years when the Oara people were loyal allies of the Ming Dynasty and attacked Tumut, and proposed to continue this relationship with the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion, the successor of the Ming Dynasty, and jointly attack Lin Dan Hu Duntu of Chahar.
Although Mr. Liu said that his eldest son was going to marry Hu Duntu's sister, the Wara people thought that this was not a problem. After their coalition forces completely defeated Chahar, the National Preceptor Khan was willing to give all the women in Chahar to the marshal.
Mansion.
In addition, except for women, a small part of the spoils should be set aside as a reward for the Eastern Chagatai Turpan Khan to send troops. The four tribes of Wala did not take any other spoils and gave them all to the Marshal's Mansion.
Even if there is a marriage, the Wala can offer better conditions. They have many women. Most of the leaders of the four tribes of the Wala will participate in the expedition against the Han tribe. They have countless sisters, sisters and daughters, one, two, ten and twenty.
As long as the Generalissimo opens his mouth, it’s okay.
The Imperial Advisor Khan only needed the Marshal's Mansion to open access to Tibet, and give him a golden book, allowing the four tribes of Oara to pay tribute to the Marshal's Mansion.
After Liu Shizi read the letter, Chengyun asked: "Brother, who are we helping?"
Liu Chengzong put down the long letter and took two steps in the tent. Without answering the question, he turned to Chengyun and asked, "What do I think?"
"Second uncle said that this is a big deal, and I still want you to make the decision, but if you ask him, he thinks Wala is more polite, and Hu Duntu is a barbarian."
Liu Chengzong laughed and sat down slowly. He put his hands on the handsome desk and thought for a while, then he asked Chengyun to sit down with him and said seriously: "There are experts in Oala, Hu Duntu is not a barbarian, he is just an internal connection
I can’t understand the idiot who still wants to play diplomacy.”
Chengyun didn't quite understand, so he sat down and asked, "What does the second brother think, that we withdraw the army and go fight against the tiger and the rabbit?"
To be honest, my father reported that the messenger of Wala was praised by him, which made Liu Chengzong's favorable impression of Wala skyrocket, and he almost started to think that he was the real dragon emperor.
Liu Chengzong shook his head: "Not only can't we retreat, we have to evacuate the area around Lanzhou as planned before going back. Next, you have to build a fortress at the mouth of the river."
Lanzhou still has tens of thousands of troops, but it has lost the ability to achieve success. The majestic formation is no match for him.
As long as he presses the mobile force of this army into Lanzhou City step by step, with his military strength, he can move the entire Lintao Prefecture as he wants. When the time comes, he will leave a strong army to fortify at the mouth of the river, and the retreat of the entire army will not be a problem. But if they withdraw in a hurry now, they will practice state affairs and You Shilu, Zhang Quanchang and others are not fools. They will definitely guess that there are changes in the rear. By then, their more than 10,000 officers and soldiers will be able to do too many things.
What's more, the imperial court still has a strong hematopoietic ability in the northwest. If nothing else, it can recruit 350,000 second-line troops in three to five months, and it is very capable of ruining other people's affairs.
After saying that, Liu Chengzong raised his hand and pointed at the letters on the table, and said to Chengyun: "As for the Imperial Master of Wala and Hu Duntu, you can dig out those useless things and analyze them. Is there any difference in their requirements?"<
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"Huduntu wants me to send troops to help, and the Wara Imperial Preceptor also wants me to send troops, and he also wants to enter Tibet... If there is any difference between them, it is Huduntu who is stupid. You can see all his thoughts. He
I really want to stay in Qinghai."
Liu Chengzong spread his hands and said, "But can you know what Grand Master Wala is thinking? You only know that he is polite, humble and even safe."
He patted Cheng Yun on the shoulder, stood up, and said: "We have two opponents. Let's unite with the fools first to get rid of the smart ones, and first unite with the weak to get rid of the strong ones. Compared with the Wala Imperial Master, Hu Duntu is weak and stupid.
."
Liu Chengzong wrote a letter in his account, telling his father that the barbarian tiger Duntu could become knowledgeable about etiquette, but it would be difficult for the smart Wala Imperial Preceptor to become stupid.
If Hu Duntu retreats south, you can provide him with some support in Haibei and Haixi, but unless Hu Duntu is defeated and dies, his tribe cannot be released into the sea.
Liu Chengzong walked out of the commander's tent and said to Chengyun: "Let's go to Lanzhou first and bring back the grain and grass."
After handing the letter to his trusted escort and sending it back to Juerwan, he said to the left and right: "Send the order to the entire army to cross the river!"