To the north of Zhuanglangwei, a menacing Ming army unit is driving southward. They are the Gansu General Army Biao Battalion led by General Chai Shihua.
Before leaving, Yang Jiamo told Chai Shihua that the Gansu frontier army must use the skills of the Gansu border army in this battle, and they must not have the idea of avoiding the war, otherwise they will be stepped on by the guest troops from Ningxia all the time in the future.
Chai Shihua knew that it was Commander-in-Chief Yang Jiamo who was reminding him, fearing that he would imitate the army in the east.
In fact, the problem of betraying teammates is not exclusive to the Liaodong Army, but is related to the vicious cycle of the court's political situation and the Liaodong war situation. When people get there, all they see are those who can be beaten to death, those who can escape and stay alive.
If you are looking at a strong enemy, you will inevitably fall into this kind of problem.
Therefore, the generals and soldiers of the Liaodong Army entered the Central Plains and were commanded by the feudal officials, and they became good generals; the good generals of the Central Plains were thrown into Liaodong and were commanded by the imperial military department, and they became long-legged generals.
Chai Shihua joined the army with his father Chai Guozhu since he was a child. After Sarhu, he followed his father to guard Shanhaiguan. He has been in the border defense of the Ming Dynasty from west to east and has seen them all.
He understood what Yang Jiamo meant. To put it bluntly, he couldn't let Liangzhou Guard Ding Shaoyin's army be annihilated by the Marshal's Mansion... Yang Jiamo was the hereditary commander of the Liangzhou Guard. To use a more feudal metaphor, all the Liangzhou Guard flag troops were Yang Jiamo's family members.
, he is the patriarch of the Liangzhou Wei generation.
A car camp led by Ding Shaoyin. The car camp is actually an enhanced version of the large phalanx. It has the advantages of the phalanx and the disadvantages of the phalanx.
No one can conquer the world with a phalanx alone, and no one can conquer the world with a chariot camp alone, so the Liangzhou Guard's chariot camp is equipped with nine hundred cavalry.
What Yang Jiamo meant was that he was worried that the nine hundred cavalry would escape before the battle.
After all, people on horseback are different from phalanx soldiers. When encountering a strong enemy, the horsemen can rush out at any time, leaving the infantry in the carriage and battalion to kick in a circle. They will be surrounded for more than ten days and break without attack.
Chai Shihua had heard and seen many times about this situation. After receiving the military transfer order from Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides, he hurriedly hurried all the way, passing Wushengyi forty miles, and saw that he was only sixty miles away from Zhuanglangwei, and finally
Let the sergeant rest for the night.
The next day, after setting off for less than 20 miles, the army was stopped by the panic-looking Tang soldiers from the Liangzhou Guard: "General, please rush for reinforcements, General Ding's camp cannot hold out any longer!" p>
Chai Shihua's eyes widened with suspicion, thinking that he had not seen the emergency report from the south yesterday, and asked hurriedly: "The fight started yesterday?"
Tang Bing shook his head and said: "No, this morning the general was waiting to attack the city. The ladder soldiers all rushed to the city. A group of soldiers came out from Qinglingkou in the northwest and rushed straight into the carriage camp without fear of gunfire."
Chai Shihua was happy when he heard this: "If you are not afraid of guns, it will be easy to fight. How can you not hold on?"
Any normal army, as long as it has time, can clean up a car camp fighting alone, but an army that is not afraid of guns and cannons cannot.
Because there is no army in the world that is not afraid of guns and artillery, and there is no army that can fight head-on with chariot camps without the help of fortifications or chariots.
The Eight Banners are considered strong in field battles. Song Wei and Wu Xiang served as reinforcements in the Battle of Daling River and Changshan. One led an infantry battalion of 8,000 men, and the other led 7,000 cavalry.
Huang Taiji's 20,000 troops, with eight red barbarians, eighty gate generals, and eighty gate two generals, were divided into two wings. The left wing rushed to Song Wei's camp, but he did not rush down. He turned around and joined the right wing to rush Wu Xiang away.
, turned around and surrounded the 8,000 people in Song Wei's camp and started blasting.
He didn't rush through, nor was he destroyed by the bombardment. Later, the carriage came and protected the guns and gained the upper hand in the shooting stage, and then Song Wei was defeated.
After the war, these 8,000 men were completely wiped out, and Wu Xiang's 7,000 men lost 137.
Chai Shihua didn't believe it. He waved his hand and said: "I know these soldiers are the Cangtou Army recruited by Liu Chengzong in Duogan. Can they storm the car camp?"
Cangtou is an old saying that generally refers to domestic slaves. During the Warring States Period, they were soldiers and servants under the nobility, mostly young people from the rural party. After the Han Dynasty, they gradually became domestic servants, and they could still serve as soldiers in times of war. However, after the Wei and Jin Dynasties, they basically referred to Cangtou.
Become a family slave.
Chai Shihua knew about Liu Chengzong's stay in Kangning Prefecture because he had been doing business with Turpan in Gansu, and his family also had continuous trade with merchants in Turpan. Turpan knew Liu Chengzong's situation very well, and their envoy was still living in Xincheng.
.
"We didn't rush down. General Dante said that without reinforcements, we can only defend for a day and night at most."
Chai Shihua did not ask more carefully about the battlefield situation. Even if he asked Tang Qi, he could not tell more. He could only observe it with his own eyes, so he very cautiously asked Tang Qi to clear the way: "The order is sent to Sanbu Qian.
General, inform the officers and soldiers at all levels that Tong Ding knows that the carriage camp is trapped, we have to march urgently, and we must rush to Zhuanglang as soon as possible to relieve the siege."
Ever since Hong Chengchou entered Gansu at the end of last year, the General Military Standard Battalion in Gansu Town, which has one of the most powerful combat capabilities, has been on alert, always waiting for orders from its superiors, and has been unable to go home this year.
When Hong Chengchou's order came down, they marched more than 500 miles from Ganzhou to Gulang Gorge in seven days. The order to go to war was issued the day before yesterday. The whole army broke camp and left Gulang Gorge early yesterday morning, and marched a full 92 miles in one day.
Dear, I just set out today and have already walked another twenty miles.
From Gulangxia to Zhuanglangwei, the total length is 220 miles.
Originally, Chai Shihua's idea was to let the sergeants walk quickly for a day in relatively safe road conditions, and then cover the remaining 100 miles in three days. They would take a break after walking 30 to 40 miles a day, which would not only allow the stragglers to walk
The sergeant can recover his physical condition slightly, and the leading soldiers can support him at any time when Zhuang Langwei changes.
But now the front line has urgently reported that Chai Shihua is going to break his promise. After they have walked twenty miles today, they must march another sixty miles to reach Zhuanglang Acropolis as soon as possible.
Yang Jiamo is the hereditary commander of the Liangzhou Guard, so there are many generals and soldiers in this general military camp who are from Liangzhou Guard families, and the friendship between them is closer than that of their fellow villagers.
Therefore, despite the extremely hard days of marching, the sergeants did not complain much. Moreover, they have been soldiers for generations, and obeying orders has been written into their bones. It is useless to complain. The general has given the order, so just leave.
On the north side of the Zhuanglang River Valley, the Gansu General Military Base Battalion galloped forward.
In the deserted fields with piles of sand and gravel in the north of Zhuanglang Acropolis in the middle of the Zhuanglang River Valley, Liangzhou Guard commander Ding Shaoyin was locked in a bitter battle.
Basang's Xifan battalion took advantage of its unstable camp to launch an assault and failed to break the formation. The galloping Xifan noble cavalry was not afraid of life and death, but this kind of tactics had long been explained thoroughly by Batur Hutaiji. Tuocheng
It is a city, and a chariot city is also a city. If it is a city, there is no reason for riding a horse to hit the city wall.
With solid iron cannonballs the size of pebbles flying all over the sky, Basang launched two consecutive strong attacks, but failed to even touch the wooden wall of the chariot city. He could only throw down hundreds of corpses of men and horses outside the chariot camp and retreat in panic.<
/p>
But on the contrary, Ding Shaoyin's army rushed out three times and was attacked head-on by the Western Musketeers.
In the first attack, Ding Shaoyin thought that the two strong attacks had been frustrated, so he asked the sergeants to rush out to kill the enemy's vigor, which indeed achieved good results.
The Liangzhou Guard's cavalry defeated a Spanish musketry column, but was blocked by the heavily armored southwestern infantry behind the column. Ding Shaoyin was worried that the Spanish cavalry would outflank his cavalry, so he offered gold in advance, but failed to expand the victory. The second attack was because another Spanish reinforcement arrived on the battlefield in the distance. Ding Shaoyin wanted to break out. But just as he was about to rush out, more than 200 remaining soldiers in the city actually opened the north gate and rushed out pushing artillery. He hurriedly ordered
The army rushed to the city gate to cover up the attack, but who knew that these clever ghosts actually sneaked back without firing a shot.
When the army turned back, the reinforcements from the mountains also joined the military formation besieging them, missing the best time to attack, so Ding Shaoyin had no choice but to give up.
As for the third attack, it was because Ding Shaoyin's restraint on the army failed... The flag troops of Liangzhou Guard are all good, hardworking and able to fight hard. They are good at everything, but they are too motivated.
What is the goal of the soldiers, who put their wealth and life behind and endure hunger as deserters instead of leaving grass behind? In addition to being loyal to the emperor and protecting their families and country, their goal is to strive for the top.
A hundred steps outside the camp, there was a circle of corpses lying there.
No one can ignore this temptation. Those corpses are proof that they fought this battle.
Even Ding Shaoyin sincerely hopes to take back these heads, but he knows the risks of doing so, but when this becomes the common wish of the entire army, even if he is a general, he cannot stop it.<
/p>
A wise general will not stop him in this situation, but can only use his own talents to command in a safer and more reliable way to help the sergeants get the head back.
If only Basang and Buchi, who didn't know much about the behavior of the Ming army, were here, Ding Shaoyin would probably succeed.
The extra soldiers who came to the back-up were General A Liu, a civil-level rebel under the command of Liu Chengzong, the former chief of the Yongning local soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, the counselor of the Daliang Kingdom, and the counselor of the Yongning Camp of the Marshal's Mansion.
Ah Liu's Yongning Battalion originally stayed at Qinglingkou in the north to guard against Gansu sending more reinforcements.
After all, he had served as a native soldier in his youth and followed the Ming army to conquer Yang Yinglong. He was very clear about the Ming army's tactics and planning. In his eyes, there were at least two groups of Ming troops coming from the north.
One is the reinforcements from the chariot camp. When the chariot camp and the reinforcements take Zhuanglangwei City, a baggage team will come over and establish a line of defense in Zhuanglangwei.
It's just that Ah Liu saw Basang's clumsy way of dealing with the car camp from a distance, so he sent his troops to cover their heads and hit the car camp, which made him feel distressed. Then he led his troops to come over and give Basang advice.
But before he could make up his mind, he saw that the Liangzhou Army in Cheying was about to come out. He looked around the military formation besieging Cheying and saw no flaws. He immediately guessed that they were going to grab the head.
Ah Liu told Basang his conjecture, and the wizards behind Bu Chi on Basang's side immediately recited spells, and formed military formations one by one to welcome the troops that came out.
The two armies fought for a while in front of the formation, and neither could do anything to the other. The Liangzhou army had no choice but to leave more than a dozen corpses and return to the car camp. Finally, the corpses outside the formation were dragged back to the camp by Basang's cavalry.
Regarding the disposal of the corpse, Ah Liu was very decisive: "Commander Ba, where is Aba?"
Basang glanced at the experienced but not serious old general, and was in no hurry to speak.
On the contrary, the monk Ngawang who was silently reciting a mantra to his subordinates put down the prayer wheel, raised his eyebrows and pointed at Ah Liu's nose and cursed: "Aba Aba!"
After scolding him, he turned to Basang for help.
Basang doesn't like to talk, but it is necessary to help his subordinates. He told Ah Liu with an expressionless face: "He said you are Aba and he is Awang."
Ah Liu is not angry either. For him, the boring military career requires too much fun.
From the bottom of Ah Liu's heart, he did not agree with Liu Chengzong's appointment of assigning him to Basang's command... Basang's brigade was full of bravery from top to bottom, and there were only a few people who knew military matters.
Pasang, who is very smart, can be considered half, but has been studying but has no experience; Ngawang can only be considered half, experienced but has no tongue.
On the other hand, the quality of the lower-level officers represented by the young and old are quite acceptable.
As for Ah Liu himself, he can only be considered half of it. He has experience and a tongue, but he cannot speak fully in Xifan language because he is not from Xifan.
He was a native officer under the rule of the chieftain of Yongning. They were called Moxi in the Ming Dynasty. Because he joined the army and fought at an early age, he spoke Chinese language better.
What he envied most was that the gas sent by Changhe West would be assigned to serve as a general in Xie Erhu's Mongolian brigade.
In the Xifan Brigade, Ah Liu felt that his state was one of depression and frustration. When people are frustrated, they always have to have a pastime. However, the custom of the Moxi people is that men and women should not marry until they are married. From the perspective of others, the inheritance of marriage and having children is extremely important.
Clan means nothing to him.
Ah Liu is already over forty this year. He does not expect to lead troops back to Yongning to get married in this life. He will be promoted to the rank of general and make a fortune. For him who has been wandering all his life, he does not have much desire.<
/p>
People in the Xifan Brigade can live better than gods without fighting, but when fighting happens, there are almost no reliable comrades around, and the probability of survival is very low.
So Ah Liu had already found three small goals for himself before his death: quarreling with Awang, wrestling with Zhao Fu, and racing with Liu Guoneng.
Today he accomplished something, and he was very satisfied. He smiled at Basang and said: "Commander Ba, we can't fight this battle like this. Not to mention the reinforcements, if the camp in front of us adopts my suggestion and takes care of them, we will eat them."
I can’t even run away.”
Basang nodded and motioned for him to continue.
Then I heard Ah Liu say: "Let Aba burn the bones of the fallen soldiers first. Here, we will set up a stage one mile away from the camp, so that the troops in the camp can watch them burn."
Basang looked puzzled and asked: "Build morale?"
"Ba Lushuai seems to be right to think so."
Cremating and burning relics according to noble standards can indeed increase the morale of the soldiers. Ah Liu shook his head and pointed to the surrounded Checheng Road a mile away: "But what is more important is to kill their morale. When the Ming army goes to war, what they want is the enemy's leader.
Level, without a head, it means this battle is in vain."
As he said this, Ah Liu thought that the Xifan camp was actually a mixed camp composed of Ban soldiers with muskets, noble cavalry, and Han army artillery officers, so he said: "If the Han soldiers die, just transport them to the rear and let the three generals see where to bury them."
, when the soldiers died, they were cremated according to noble standards, and they were not allowed to obtain the bodies. This is more important than the people who killed them."
Basang nodded and motioned to his left and right, and a team of his men immediately went out to collect wood. Monk Awang also began to prepare to perform rituals to send Fan Bing's soul to the other side.
Then he continued to ask Ah Liu: "What's next?"
"I have looked at the artillery of the carriage camp. They are all small cannons. If the shells fall two to three hundred paces, it is safe one mile away. Our Lion Cannon fires levelly at 170 paces and shoots upward at the maximum distance of 500 paces, but it can't break through."
No chariot."
As Ah Liu spoke, he took off his small saber from his waist and sketched it on the ground: "There are many of us. We will surround one mile outside the car camp and dig a trench eight miles long. The excavated soil will be used to build earth wall cannons behind the trench."
The wider the trench, the better. If you trap them, they won’t be able to escape even if reinforcements arrive!"
"The Xifan camp is good at soil construction." After saying that, Ah Liu pierced the center of the circle on the ground with his saber: "Kill the reinforcements, the camp... will be destroyed without attacking."