February 20, the ninth year of Chongzhen, afternoon.
Hong Chengchou used eight battalions to press southward, with Zuozhen's four battalions in the lead, heading straight for Ouyang Gun's Qibing camp.
The Fourth Battalion of Zuozhen advanced rapidly with light equipment and arrived at the battlefield where the Bai Guangen Battalion was annihilated earlier. They briefly repaired and inspected the battlefield.
It's not that Zuo Liangyu wanted to repair it, it was because his soldiers couldn't move when they saw wounded and dead horses.
In order not to leave these livestock to friendly forces, they even started repairing vehicles. They pieced together the wheels of Ouyang Gun's damaged chariots left on the battlefield and converted them into pallet trucks to load horse corpses.
Zuo Liangyu is also happy to see its success.
The enemy did not even take away any wounded or dead horses, and left many vehicles, money, and food in the camp. Combined with the intelligence obtained from the earlier reconnaissance and cavalry engagements, it was judged that the enemy army of four to five thousand men was afraid of its strong strength and quickly retreated westward.
They are safe.
Since it's safe, it wouldn't be a bad idea to let the soldiers spend some time tidying up the livestock.
This is certainly not in line with common sense in combat, and is definitely not something Changping elites would do.
But where is common sense now, and where are the so-called Changping elites? Even the veterans from Changping under his command have lost their pride and discipline in the endless battle.
What's more, today's Ningxia Corps even uses iron pellets for its muskets, and there is no soil for maintaining discipline.
At this moment, a pacesetter was sent from the rear and reported to Zuo Liangyu: "Commander Zuo, the military gate will be stationed at the Great Buddhist Temple six miles northeast."
"Six miles?"
Zuo Liangyu frowned and thought to himself, Hong Chengchou, why don't you set up your base in Zhencheng, Ningxia?
Isn't this crazy?
I have the three battalions of Biaoying and Cao Wenzhao in my hands. You camp six miles behind me, and I go three miles forward to fight. To send a message, I have to order the cavalry to go back and forth for twenty miles.
Can this be called a part?
To put it bluntly, what if the front line... Zuo Liangyu felt that the front line would not easily suffer setbacks in this battle.
But in case of a setback, ten miles of support from the rear would be enough to kill him eight times.
However, seeing his strange expression, the ordering soldier quickly added: "The military sect also suggested that Commander Zuo should stay away from the battlefield. This is the information on the defeat of the troops compiled by General Ding of the Biao Camp. Please take a look."
When Zuo Liangyu heard this, he felt even weirder.
I wonder where your mother got this chaotic fate!
I am chasing the enemy and want to command four battalions to rush forward to surround and annihilate the enemy. Would you like me to stay farther away from the front line?
Zuo Liangyu even suspected that Hong Chengchou had already negotiated the price of surrender with Liu Chengzong in private.
Just when his subconscious thought about this problem, he realized that something was wrong with him.
In the past, he had always looked down upon the rebel group led by Liu Chengzong, thinking that even if they established a government in Hehuang, they would be nothing more than a makeshift rabble.
But now, he realized that the army he was in was the real mob.
In the past, they were united under the Dragon Banner of the Ming Dynasty, but when Ningxia lost contact with the capital and became an isolated army, Hong Chengchou took extraordinary measures to unite the army and control the land.
The result of this improvisation was that the guest army defended the Ningxia army, and the guest generals defended the Ningxia generals. Everyone was suspicious of each other, and they could not work together at all.
Now this suspicion is spreading, and he even begins to be suspicious of Hong Chengchou.
But it is true that Hong Chengchou's order to keep him away from the front line was confusing.
There is no such reason.
He was a veteran from Guan Ning, so he was never afraid of anyone in a fight.
As the head coach, it was Zuo Liangyu's habit to ride a horse and ride a mile away from the enemy's lines under the white tiger flag.
This habit of his is different from that of Cao Wenzhao, who likes to lead his troops into battle. On the contrary, he likes to stand with the soldiers and direct them into battle.
This can boost your own morale and intimidate the enemy with your reputation; secondly, you can carefully observe the battlefield and quickly issue orders to deal with the ever-changing battlefield environment.
Of course, there is some risk, such as being shelled or attacked by enemy cavalry.
But he is not afraid.
Artillery bombardment requires preparation time, and artillery cannot be deployed covertly, nor can it hit accurately at this distance.
As for the cavalry assault, there were many people who wanted to attack Zuo Liangyu. From Liaodong to the Central Plains, he was attacked dozens of times by Houjin, Mongolia, and peasant armies. Without exception, all those assault forces were captured by him and became the Crimson March.
The merits on the robe.
Why are you a soldier if you are afraid of risks? When you go to the battlefield, you have already entered a life-or-death situation.
When a general and his soldiers stand together, the place where the horses' hooves tread is already the safest place in the world.
Zuo Liangyu took the information, looked at it disapprovingly, then frowned and became nervous.
Only halfway through, he gave an order to his servants: "Send my order to the four battalions of soldiers to leave this battlefield quickly and go north, no, west to find a suitable place to camp."
The intelligence focused mainly on the description of the rockets.
Zuo Liangyu was sweating on the back of his neck.
Hong Chengchou called it a blooming rocket. From liftoff to landing, it only takes a few breaths to send hundreds of blooming bombs two to three miles away, covering the entire battlefield.
He did not dare to stay longer on the battlefield, nor did he set up camp nearby. Instead, he took his family and walked two miles northwest, a full five miles away from Marshal Ouyang Gun's camp, before ordering people to set up the general army curtain.
Zuo Liangyu was thinking about how to crack the rocket along the way.
He didn't know how Liu Chengzong was so smart that he came up with a bunch of unsolvable weapons.
It's already difficult enough to deal with heavy weapons, but now rockets are being used on a large scale.
Zuo Liangyu was very familiar with arson and smoke rockets and explosive bombs, but he had never been hit by Liu Chengzong's rockets.
However, based on Bai Guangen's description of the defeated troops, he could also figure out the power of this new weapon.
Simple rockets and explosive shells both have disadvantages.
Explosive projectiles are powerful, but when fired from artillery, the explosion of the propellant will easily change the information tube in the projectile, and the firing rate is low; rockets can fire multiple arrows at once and can reach long distances, but unless they are set on fire, they are not powerful enough.
Liu Chengzong's rockets, on the other hand, took the advantages of both. They were powerful, had a long range, and fired many volleys.
Obviously, this is a weapon that changes the situation of the war.
Able to beat the rear team into a hornet's nest from a thousand steps away without harming the front team.
As soon as Zuo Liangyu learned the information about the rocket, he immediately retreated. He quickly found a suitable location for the camp three miles northwest of the battlefield and ordered people to pile up a mountain of earth.
On the other side of the battlefield, Zhang Xianzhong, who was always observing the enemy's situation, screamed in anger.
"I might as well blow his fucking bastard up!"
While Zuo Liangyu's army was staying on the battlefield, Zhang Xianzhong had already had six six-unit rocket vehicles taking aim for a long time.
He was just undecided whether he should blow it up or not.
You can achieve good results by blowing it up, but if you don't blow it up and let the Ming army take away the horse corpses, it will still consume troops to look after the baggage, and there will be one more place to distract.
Just as he was thinking about this, he saw Zuozhen soldiers suddenly receiving orders and quickly evacuating from the battlefield. Suddenly he thought Liu Chengzong had led his army to the battlefield.
After Zuo Liangyu's earthen mountain was built, he climbed up with a brass telescope and looked into the distance. He had a panoramic view of Ouyang Gun's camp. The first thing he noticed was the rocket cars in the camp.
Zuo Liangyu was very anxious.
On the one hand, he did not dare to advance quickly due to the presence of rockets; on the other hand, he was eager for a quick victory.
It didn't matter to him whether the retreat of the marshal's army in front of him was to lure the enemy.
Because this is not Shaanxi or Gansu.
Gansu's terrain is long and narrow, with a distance of nearly a thousand miles from east to west; Shaanxi's roads are complicated, and a straight map of 60 to 70 miles may take 200 to 300 miles.
The terrain in southern Ningxia is flat, and the entire battlefield east of the Yellow River is not large.
To be precise, the battlefield is the Hongsi Castle in the southwest, Yanchi City in the southeast, and Heng Castle in the north. They are a triangular area connected by three points. From the center point to anywhere, there is a plain that is undefeated for hundreds of miles.
A hundred miles is a journey that can take as short as one day or as long as three days.
Therefore, Zuo Liangyu knew that Liu Chengzong was nearby and did not dare to drag the battle into the night. The dark night was too long and would bring fear and variables.
If the four to five thousand marshal's troops cannot be annihilated before night comes, then the next thing they will fight is a battle.
In fact, when Tushan was being built, Zuo Liangyu had already sent people to the Great Buddha Temple to find Hong Chengchou and suggested that the army withdraw and move to Yansui Town.
The artillery fire from the south was fierce earlier, but it had calmed down when they approached. It was obvious that Zhang Yingchang was finished.
Then there is no point in them continuing to fight.
However, Hong Chengchou rejected his suggestion, not because he did not want to withdraw, but because the governors of the three sides believed that withdrawal was impossible.
Hong Chengchou had planned a retreat when he sent troops. When he went south, he sent people to the southeast to contact the Ningxia defenders. The news he received was very bad - the marshal's flag had been planted on the defender's acropolis, and the triangular tooth flag with a regimental dragon embroidered on the city head.
Xiu's surname is Ding.
There is no information about General Ding in the Marshal's Mansion in Ningxia, but it is clear that the rearguard has been lost.
To the east there is only the rear guard, Anbian, Dingbian, and Ningsai. To the south is the Yanqing Brigade of the Marshal's Mansion. To the north is the border crossing into Ordos, and on the other side is the Monan Governor's Army of the Marshal's Mansion.
No matter which way they go, they will be stopped.
Hong Chengchou's judgment was that rather than fleeing without fighting and then being stopped and kicked, it would be better to fight decisively in Ningxia.
At least for now, their morale is working.
But the army has morale and returns to the army.
Zuo Liangyu himself saw the rocket car in Ouyang Gun's camp and thought of Liu Chengzong's main force lurking in the Gobi. He didn't have much morale left.
Especially at this time, through the telescope, he could see Ouyang Gun's deployment clearly.
He was very sure that they were just luring the enemy.
Their army was pressing forward, and even if they stood a little higher, they could see the camp. At least Zuo Liangyu, standing on the mountain, could not only see the camp of the Marshal's army, but also Hong Chengchou's camp in the northeast.
It's just that it's a little further over there, so you can't see it clearly.
However, Zuo Liangyu could see Ouyang Gun's camp clearly.
The number of people in the Marshal's Army was a little smaller than the information he had received earlier. It seemed that there were not five thousand people, only four thousand.
But there are many chariots, many horses, and many cavalry.
They built a square camp with chariots on the west side of the wilderness next to the Qin Canal. It could be seen that it was not a professional chariot camp. The number of chariots was not enough, and only the four corners were sealed off.
Outside the four corners, a division of cavalry formed a small camp and dismounted to sit in silence.
Although the specific equipment cannot be seen clearly, there are many cavalry wearing red hats.
Zuo Liangyu secretly thought: Those are probably the Hailu cavalry under Liu Chengzong. The Fanlu cavalry over there have the habit of wearing red hats.
On the remaining four sides, there are basically two or three tanks connected horizontally. There will be a gap three to five steps wide, and then there are two or three tanks.
At this time, the vehicle fortress was almost empty, and the infantry were all digging trenches with three-eyed muskets within ten steps of the gap to resist the horses.
Zuo Liangyu sighed and said to the generals gathered around him: "The good news is that no enemy artillery has been seen, but you should still not be careless. Maybe they are hidden in the formation."
"The bad news is that the enemy's troops are elite and their troops are in order. There is no panic. Most of them are led by rebel generals from the imperial court."
The basis of Zuo Liangyu's judgment is that the experience and magnanimity of being able to remain calm in the face of danger with a small number of enemies and commanding skillfully are not something that Liu Chengzong's group of arrogant and powerful generals can possess.
Their group always fights with the greater number and is good at escaping. In the war reports over the years, they have never seen the rare situation of being surrounded.
That kind of arrogant and fierce general, faced with this kind of situation, would have already rushed forward to die.
Only the generals of the Ming army who have fought many life-threatening battles in their lives will feel that it is normal to fight with fewer enemies and more, and they can stay calm.
Xu Yong stepped forward and clasped his fists to invite the fight: "Commander Zuo, that humble man led his cavalry and soldiers to disperse and charge him. Then we will know whether there are any cannons in his camp."
Zhou Shifeng and Wang Yuncheng nodded to this one after another. Wang Yuncheng, a former Liao general, also clasped his fists and asked for a fight. He said in a loud voice: "He is the best at fighting for a lowly position in the camp!"
The remaining general was named Ge Rulin. He was originally from the Hedong Army in Ningxia. This place was his defense area. However, he was obviously frightened by the rockets at this time and looked around without making a sound.
Zuo Liangyu looked at the three generals under his command, shook his head and said: "There is no need to do anything to him."
"Yuncheng, you lead the cavalry to disperse, east, west and south, and conduct reconnaissance for twenty miles, and report quickly when encountering the enemy. Zhou and Ge's second battalion, armed with artifacts and artillery, will be stationed east and west of the enemy's camp to guard against surprise attacks by enemy reinforcements.
"
Zuo Liangyu looked at Xu Yong and then said: "Since they want to lure the enemy, we will also lure them. General Xu, select the elite cavalry from the front division under your bid, divide the troops into ten banners, drive the convoy, and take turns to the previous battlefield.
, carry the horse corpse back."
When Xu Yong heard Zuo Liangyu's assignment to the other three, he thought that the main attack fell on him, and he couldn't hold back his lips anymore.
When I heard this, my face immediately fell.
"Commander Zuo, are you carrying the corpse of the horse?"
Even the other three people looked like they were laughing.
But Zuo Liangyu nodded seriously and said: "This is not funny. There are hundreds of dead horses in the two armies over there. Bring them back. If the situation changes, it will be enough for us to go out and eat for a while."
"But most of them won't be able to eat. Although the enemy generals are stable, the Western bandit soldiers are very proud and are not afraid of fighting. If you go to carry the horse corpses, they will probably send cavalry to fight you after they react."
"The remaining two battalions are also ready. If there is a stalemate in the confrontation, they will not move. Once the cavalry is finished, they will break up and attack the enemy. At least kill some cavalry. If we have more cavalry and they are less, we will always gain an advantage."
Speaking of this, Zuo Liangyu paused and looked at the four generals under his command: "If the battle is slightly successful, Xu Yong will wait for the opportunity to drive the enemy's cavalry back to the formation, wrap their cavalry into their formation, stick together, and call the enemy
Military rockets cannot be fired."
"Come into the formation and cause chaos. It's best to pull out the six rocket cars, find weak points on three sides, and collide with them all at once to break his formation!"