Hong Chengchou gritted his teeth in Zhencheng, Ningxia.
Before him was a very fatal situation: encirclement and reinforcements.
Encircling a point to bring reinforcements is not a clever strategy, but a conspiracy that can be seen through at a glance. The initial action is to attack the target and save it, and the main target is to take the bait of a willing person.
Because we are surrounded and people don’t help, we don’t call for help.
The current problem is that three towns in Ningxia were besieged on the other side of the Yellow River due to marching problems before the war officially started. Can Hong Chengchou save them?
Hong Chengchou must be saved.
There is no need to consider this matter. If Zhang Yingchang's Youzhen is allowed to be trapped in a tight siege, refuses rescue or even causes it to be annihilated, not to mention losing one-third of his troops, he will not be able to fight the next battle. The key lies in Cao Wenzhao and Zuo Liang.
The two generals, Jade, will no longer respect them.
What's more, Zuo Liangyu was not respectful to him in the first place.
Hong Chengchou was filled with regret at this moment.
In fact, he asked Zhang Yingchang to be the vanguard because he wanted You Zhen to earn some merit and prestige before the war started.
To be honest, Hong Junmen now felt that all the intelligence the imperial court had on Liu Chengzong was completely bullshit.
Even the evaluations of the generals around him who had fought with Liu Chengzong, Cao Wenzhao and Bai Guangen, were a piece of shit.
The official newspapers were all talking about how fierce Liu Chengzong was, scaring away the pirates at one moment and conquering the northerners at the other.
Bai Guangen talks about rockets all day long, but when it comes to Liu Chengzong himself, he says he is as brave and powerful as a bear.
Cao Wenzhao was also a general who seriously fought against Liu Chengzong. He said that the Lion Army had shrewd control, sharp weapons, and a military appearance comparable to that of Guan Ning.
"Bi Jian Guan Ning" is not a derogatory term, especially when it comes from someone like Cao Wenzhao.
Because he himself was one of the first batch of Guan Ning Army. When he established this army, he was a new army composed of elite soldiers and generals from all nine sides. After being reorganized into an army, its combat power and military appearance were undoubtedly the best among them.
Hong Chengchou listened to what he said very seriously at the time, but now he just wants to scold his mother. None of you said that Liu Chengzong was cunning!
In fact, Zuo Liangyu said it.
And Hong Chengchou also listened, but it was of no use.
He calculated that when Liu Chengzong sent troops from Xi'an, it would take three days for the first move and ten days for the main force.
Zuo Liangyu reminded him that Liu Chengzong was cunning by nature, and he also followed the good deeds, counting the first two days and the main force for five days.
Then Zhang Yingchang was sent out in a hurry, hoping to ambush him, but the next day he was punched in the face, and he just launched a counterattack.
Let's talk about it. Hong Chengchou felt that Zuo Liangyu didn't like to talk and it was best to keep his mouth shut.
If he hadn't said that, Zhang Yingchang would still be preparing ordnance in Ningxia Town right now, instead of going out in a hurry.
In the next two days, everyone will be surrounded in the town and will directly enter the defensive state. Isn't it a good thing?
Big cleverness defeats little cleverness. On the contrary, all calculations that treat the other party as a normal person are useless against big fools.
Fortunately, now, even if he knew that Liu Chengzong surrounded Zhang Yingchang, turning the situation into a siege for reinforcements, he still had to send troops to rescue him.
It is easy to crack the attack around the point.
First, if you can withstand it, reinforcements will come quickly.
Secondly, if the enemy can be sustained, reinforcements will surely rescue the enemy.
Cao Wenzhao called for battle and said: "Military Gate, I humbly lead the army to rescue Zhang Zhen's troops."
Hong Chengchou said nothing.
He is thinking.
If he had known that he would soon meet the main force of Liu Chengzong in the south, he should have sent Zuo Liangyu as soon as possible. Zhang Yingchang and Cao Wenzhao at home would not have to doubt their loyalty.
Now that Zhang Yingchang is surrounded, is it appropriate for Cao Wenzhao to send troops to rescue him?
Let’s just say that Bai Guangen was a brave and good warrior. When talking about Liu Chengzong, one would only think of him as brave and good at fighting. Cao Wenzhao was born in Guan Ning and had strict discipline in the army, so he would think that Liu Chengzong’s Lion Army was shrewd in control and Guan Ning’s appearance.
Then Commander Zuo only sees Liu Chengzong as cunning... what does that mean?
Hong Junmen felt that he was right to guard against him.
By then, there will only be five battalions left in Ningxia, one of his standard battalions and four of Zuo Liangyu's battalions. If Cao Wenzhao is defeated again, Zuo Liangyu will tie him up... Hehe!
However, Zuo Liangyu is not a bad person, he is just too evil-minded and cannot bear to be wronged. In fact, he is very loyal to others.
He has no ill feelings towards Hong Chengchou and will never harm him.
"It's better not to save him. When it comes to life or death, he must not be indecisive."
Zuo Liangyu was very fond of Cao Wenzhao's reckless behavior. The reason why he always made fun of him was because Cao Wenzhao was not his subordinate, but a colleague at the same level.
The two of them were ranked as the most valiant generals in the world in the battle reports of the Ming Dynasty. They had similar official positions and similar achievements. Either I was the worst, or you were the worst.
But Zuo Liangyu now looked like a general, so he felt unhappy with Cao Wenzhao's behavior, which was like a big general.
He said in his heart that people can't be lucky every time. If you rush to the rescue like a reckless man this time, you will definitely die.
Zuo Liangyu first clasped his fists to Hong Chengchou, then signaled to Cao Wenzhao, and then said: "Either we don't save it, I will wait for the two towns and one battalion to form an alliance in front of the gods in Ningxia to defend Ningxia... to save it."
Zuo Liangyu was speaking very fast before, but suddenly got stuck.
But he was not embarrassed. He looked around at Hong Chengchou and Cao Wenzhao. After reading it, he still couldn't think of what to say. He also looked at Ding Zizhen, Bai Guangen, Feng Ju, Cao Bianjiao and others one by one, but still had no words.
Then he shook his head and sighed: "Forget it, after thinking about it for a while, Liu Chengzong doesn't have anything we can attack to save him."
Indeed not.
Where can they attack to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao? No.
To attack Gansu? Go through the border wall on the South Road, and you will have to bump into Liu Chengzong's army on the way; to attack Guyuan? If you can't get around it, you can't go to Xi'an, right?
In fact, Hong Chengchou and others were waiting for his next step.
Because he was guarding the town of Ningxia, many guests and generals in the city knew that it was nonsense.
They organized thirteen battalions, but they had no food and no pay. They relied on the guest troops of the guest generals and had low expectations of living day by day.
Moreover, having no food or pay is not a problem for the guest generals. They are just waiting for the war. If they kill people, food and pay are enough.
Talking about stubbornness at this time is pure nonsense.
Thinking of this, Zuo Liangyu aroused his fighting spirit again, raised his hand, paused in mid-air, and said: "If you want to save, just use two towns and one mark, and nine battalions will go out together. Regardless of Ningxia Town, all rush to save Zhang Yingchang."
"Oh!"
Before anyone else could say anything, Ding Qirui, who was in the Zhongzhen military camp behind Cao Wenzhao, laughed: "What if the Liu thieves have no intention of encircling the area for reinforcements and raid our Ningxia town?"
Ding Qirui originally thought that these words could stop an army, but he thought that by then all the commanders in the towns would become losers.
But Zuo Liangyu didn't take it seriously at all, and said smoothly: "No, go to Yansui, attack his Yan'an Prefecture, attack his Xi'an Prefecture, make him an official and soldier, and I will become a bandit!"
Ding Qirui still wanted to laugh at these remarks, but unexpectedly he saw everyone thinking silently, and some people nodded secretly. He suddenly realized... Aren't the marshals of these three towns all dead dogs in the first place?
Ding Qirui, on the other hand, is a serious Ningxia soldier.
Among the people in this room, the nine battalion generals, there were actually only four people, Hong Chengchou, Ding Qirui, Ge Rulin, and Zhou Jingjing, who stayed in the area where their official positions should be.
Everyone else is just a stray dog!
The key point is that Hong Chengchou used his official position as governor of the three sides to win over these wild dogs, which meant... that he was almost like a wild dog.
Just like now, Hong Chengchou nodded one after another to Zuo Liangyu's general offensive plan.
He thought there was nothing wrong with it. Instead of suppressing the troops and then refueling, it would be better to send out nine battalions at once. It would be best if they could pull Zhang Yingchang out. If he couldn't pull it out, it wouldn't be a bad idea to fight decisively over there. At least there would be one more suppressed troops.
horse.
As for what to do after pulling out Zhang Yingchang, Hong Chengchou felt that there was no need to think too much when the chips in hand were too few.
Ding Qirui, Ge Rulin, and Zhou Yijing looked around at a group of guest generals who were planning to attack with their entire army, feeling completely trapped.
Ding Qirui also wanted to argue with reason and suggested leaving a battalion to defend the town, but this suggestion was obviously not accepted by people.
Because leaving one or two battalions in Ningxia is useless.
The city walls in Ningxia Town are so large that one person standing on each battlement requires two battalions of troops.
Including the rotation of defending the city, at least four battalions are needed to form a defensive force.
And leaving four battalions means that only one town of people can go out for rescue.
Hong Chengchou had absolute leadership over the three civil servants, and their objections were summarily suppressed. The entire Ningxia town immediately moved into action. Bai Guangen, who was under the jurisdiction of Cao Wenzhaozhong Town, led the army to explore the road and plan the route.
The remaining battalions gathered men and horses, each battalion carried as much rations as possible, and the Biao battalion escorted gold, silver, printing and other important materials, and then drove to the east bank of the Yellow River in sequence, and then launched a mighty rescue mission to Lingzhou.
But as the saying goes, a smart mind cannot defeat a fool.
Liu Chengzong felt that with the wisdom and courage of Hong Chengchou, Zuo Liangyu, Cao Wenzhao and others, they would probably let Zhang Yingchang hold on and stage a trick of encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao from elsewhere.
And this Wei must be the central defender, so he also sent troops from Hongsi Fort. He ignored Ren Quan'er's second brigade and marched directly from Hongsi Fort to Ningxia Town.
Just as more than 20,000 Ningxia soldiers crossed the Yellow River from the east side of the town with great fanfare, the beacon fires on the southern wall were burning all the way to Ningxia town.
The beacon fire on the side wall had been burning yesterday and had been extinguished during the day. Now it is burning again.
The place where the beacon fire was lit in the south is called Mingshazhou Fort, which belongs to Ningxia Zhongwei and is separated from Ningxia Town by more than 200 miles.
The vigorous Ming army was moving downstream from Hexi to Hedong.
The mighty marshal's army followed the Hongliu River out of Yingpangou, bypassed Mingshazhou Fort, and crossed the river from the east bank of the Yellow River to the west.
The general guarding the fort returned to Zhongwei before the war started to settle the property. The general who stayed in the fort was Deputy Qianhu Han Jiajue.
When Han Jiajue saw Liu Chengzong's guard of honor as Ningxia's chief military officer, he ordered the soldiers in the fort to put down their weapons and go out of the city, and he took the two of them to meet him three miles away.
Han Jiajue was a hereditary guard officer, and he was well-known for his skill and bravery in Ningxia. He, Li Xuemu of Ningxia Town, and the two brothers Bao Yongcheng and Bao Yongming of the rear guard were all known for their bravery.
He was also stationed at a key place called Mingshazhou, and he was supposed to defend it.
However, it was not a good time now. His chief, Ding Kong, should run home to calculate the land. What they were calculating was how many acres of money and grain their family's land would have to pay according to the new tax law.
Han Jiajue had less trouble. His entire family consisted of 100 people and had more than 400 hectares of land, but it was all on the west side of the Yellow River, which happened to be within the scope of Hong Chengchou's land acquisition.
More than 400 hectares of ancestral property were taken away by Hong Chengchou to the government in the blink of an eye, without even an explanation.
A governor brought a group of guest soldiers to encircle the land by force, and deprived the people of the land and property that Emperor Chongzhen Jinkou had divided. Are you still an official of the imperial court? What is the difference between you and the rebels!
This alone would not cause Han Jiajue to rebel. The main reason was that Liu Chengzong had too many people.
The sound of horse hoofbeats sounded at the entrance of the camp ditch. The leading troops here had already come out along the Hongliu River, while the soldiers behind were still rushing in the ravine, causing the entire ravine to be filled with smoke and dust rising high.
Just a small fort like Han Jiajue has more than 300 defenders. What are they defending?
Anyway, there are separatist rebels in the south, and there are also separatist rebels in the north, and they are the rebels who robbed his land. They are two evils, so let Liu Chengzong go to the north to fight Hong Chengchou.
Han Jiajue was not afraid when he saw Liu Chengzong, he bowed respectfully and explained his origins.
He said that he was Deputy Qianhu of the Central Guard of Ningxia Province. He had fought under the command of General He in his early years, and he was a fellow student of the general affairs envoy of the Marshal's Mansion.
The relationship is a bit distant.
He Zongbing refers to He Huchen, and the general envoy is Lin Wei. He was a scholar from Zhongwei and was the honored guest of Qingfan Township.
They were so-called classmates because they studied at Zhongwei School together.
However, the distance of the relationship does not matter. It is just a reason. If the relationship is really close, I would have voted earlier, and there is no need to wait until today.
Liu Chengzong smiled and said: "As classmates, we are one of our own. Please let the soldiers feel at ease. When the war is over, everything will be as good as before. Those with courage and strategy will be put to good use."
However, when the soldiers in the fort were being surrendered and reorganized outside the fort, Liu Chengzong saw a thick smoke rising from the fort.
There were people inside the fort who lit beacon smoke.
This incident frightened Han Jiajue: "Come on, Generalissimo, all the soldiers in the fort have come out."
Liu Tichun, who served as a guard officer, led Zhang Yong and other Yulin cavalry into the fort. Not long after, he came out and reported, "Commander, there is a person hiding in the fort. When we passed by, he was already dead on the beacon and committed suicide.
"
"The fort soldiers identified this person as Sun Zuochang, a member of the Ningxia Central Guards."
She is also a Chinese hygienist.
Liu Chengzong looked at Han Jiajue. Obviously, Sun Zuochang was also Lin Wei's classmate.
Han Jiajue's eyes showed a complex look of sadness: "He, he is confused."
"It's quite confusing."
Liu Shizi did not mean to blame Han Jiajue: "If you light a fire, light a fire. The whole of Ningxia is a beacon fire. You can't take care of any part of the town. This beacon fire is not enough."
He shook his head and said, "Being a magistrate can't educate the people, so why commit suicide? You're really confused."
Han Jiajue couldn't help but be astonished. Although his statement that Sun Zuochang was confused was indeed a bit contrary to his wishes, he actually felt that his actions were very heroic.
But...he was not as ambitious as Liu Chengzong. He never expected that the rebel leader Liu Chengzong, whom he had never met before, had no intention of blaming him and Sun Zuochang.
Even a little appreciative.
While they were talking, the army did not stop marching. After leaving the Hongliu River Valley, the troops divided into multiple routes and headed west to the shore. The front army collected civilian boats and built a pontoon bridge. The rear army went directly to the iron cable bridge, boarded the pontoon bridge or took a boat ferry.
.
At this moment, soldiers from Tang came running and said: "Commander, there are troops from Gulu Taiji on the other side of the river who have surrounded Zaoyuan Fort. They sent people to report that there was a general named Li Xuemu, and Wang Fengshui incited them to attack the commander.
Already captured!"
"In addition, Guru Taiji also reported that his spies reported that a battalion of troops crossed the Yellow River eastward in the town of Ningxia in the morning, and the remaining garrison troops were also collecting military supplies. The town is now empty."
Liu Chengzong applauded and shook his head, looking at Han Jiajue: "I have contributed to Gulu Tai's auspicious plan. You see, the flames of war will not hinder me. Just stay here with my arrows and advise others for me. The three sides of Shaanxi are my foundation. May I
Talented people who follow me will be put to good use."
"The army is coming, but a single man cannot stop it. Dian Feng is a loyal man who fights to the death. He is a man of duty that I will not blame. If everyone in the world is content with their own affairs, I will not raise an army."
"But let people think about it, if death is inevitable, you warriors with both civil and military backgrounds should die like weeds, or should you join me in the battle and die on the battlefield with the Donglu, and gain eternal fame!"