Hong Chengchou was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.
The soldiers were panic-stricken. Ge Rulin, the general who had escaped from Zuozhen, brought back more than a thousand defeated troops. At night, the commander persuaded him to surrender and ordered him to be killed. As a result, more than 200 people dispersed.
Ding Qirui also guarded against mutiny in the camp at night, imposing a one-night curfew and not even digging trenches.
This is not to mention General Ge and General Ding, both of whom are well-known talents. They have strong influence and can control the army.
The official position of Bing Bei Dao was positioned as the deputy to the governor. Especially during the Chongzhen period, he was a local official with real power. He was a junior general or prime minister.
Because one of his responsibilities is the most difficult thing to do in this era, supervising food and wages.
So if you don’t have the ability and can’t be a good person, it doesn’t matter if you can’t do it well.
Ding Qirui, his uncle's name is Ding Kuichu, he is currently the minister of the Ministry of War and the governor of Ji Liao Baoding.
Ge Rulin came from a family of officials. His great-grandfather was Ge Shouli, the Minister of Punishment, and his father, Ge Xin, was the superintendent of Wanli Dingling and the Minister of Shangbao Temple.
However, because Ge Xin supervised the construction of Dingling, it was done so well. Not only was the quality high, but the cost was only two-thirds of that of Yongling. This led Wanli to pursue the officials who supervised the construction of Yongling and offended many people.
Ding Ge and Ding Ge were very close. Five years ago, Ge Rulin spent four months in prison and was later sent to Maoshan Guard in Baoding Prefecture. He was taken care of by Ding Qirui's uncle Ding Kuichu.
As for the other four battalions, there was no danger of mutiny, and trench digging could proceed normally. Even though more than 200 people were deserters.
This is not because military attaches are better at leading troops than civilian officials.
In fact, if it is in Shanxi or Henan, the soldiers and horses under the command of Bingbeidao are much more stable than the headquarters of the general army.
It's just that the influence of civilian officials in the army comes from the top. Hong Chengchou cut off this part, which led to the fatigue of military preparedness.
A large part of the military attache's power comes from the support of subordinates. Veteran generals such as Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao, and Feng Ju certainly have a much stronger binding force on soldiers than civilian officials who have lost the support of the court.
In general, Hong Chengchou had these four and a half battalions left, and his fighting spirit was still high.
However, this made Hong Chengchou secretly complain in his heart.
He wanted to run away because he felt that there was little chance of winning if he fought and there was no point in surrendering.
It's not that he still has any moral standards after the war, but surrendering to the Marshal's Mansion would do him no good.
The sphere of influence of the Marshal's Mansion is positively related to its attraction to the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty.
The greater Liu Chengzong's power, the greater his attraction to civil and military officials at all levels in the Ming Dynasty.
This is the time when senior generals like General Shen are most attractive.
It is normal for people to join the guerrilla generals and want to surrender to Liu Chengzong. Liu Chengzong's territory is expanding, it is easy to get promoted and meritorious service, and he has won a stable territory, and there is no hope that the Ming Dynasty can push back in the short term.
Hong Chengchou was different. He surrendered to Liu Chengzong. Could Liu Chengzong still give him a higher official position than that of the Ming Dynasty?
But really let him die for his country?
Throughout the night, Hong Chengchou was in a state of confusion. He occasionally wanted to draw his sword and kill himself, but he always wanted to run away.
After finally firming up his belief and preparing to call Ge Rulin, Ding Qirui discussed how to escape, when a flag officer from the camp came over happily.
"At the military gate, one of General Ge's subordinates tried to persuade the commander-in-chief to surrender, but General Ge pushed him to the camp gate and beheaded him!"
"General Ding also has a curfew for the entire battalion. Please rest assured, no one will escape tonight!"
Hong Junmen rubbed his hands with a fake smile on his face: "Okay, okay."
As soon as the flag official finished delivering the message, he heard Hong Chengchou say: "Please invite Commander Cao to discuss matters."
There was no way, when Hong Chengchou wanted to escape, his battalion commander Ding Zizhen became unreliable.
He was also a stupid young man full of hatred. He piled a brazier in the camp and sharpened his knife for half a night without saying a word.
Ding Shaoyin's father died in the battle of Liu Chengzong's attack on Zhuanglanghe. At that time, he was ordered by his father to help Cao Wenzhao deliver important letters to Ningxia. He never expected that the letter was written by his father to Hong Chengchou, saying that he would die in the battle.
Gulangxia, entrusted his only son to Hong Junmen.
Not long after, Cao Wenzhao, who was supervising the troops digging trenches on the front line for defense, hurried over.
He originally looked quite relaxed, but when he heard that Hong Chengchou was planning to retreat, he quickly and nervously tried to dissuade him: "Junmen, this must not be done!"
Hong Chengchou was unhappy when he heard this.
At present, the six leading generals of the government and army all hold the same position as Cao Wenzhao. The problem is that Hong Chengchou believes that this battle is difficult to win!
What can I say, Hong Chengchou didn't like Zuo Liangyu when he was around, but now that Zuo Liangyu is gone, Hong Chengchou misses Zuo Liangyu very much.
If Zuo Liangyu were here, he would drag him away without saying a word.
But Cao Wenzhao had Cao Wenzhao's judgment. He saluted respectfully, and then explained from the bottom of his heart: "The army doesn't know something, so it's easy to retreat. But in the current situation, if all the troops can reach Yansui Town, I'm afraid they won't even be able to do it."
Not a single battalion is left."
Hong Chengchou was shocked when he heard this: "How could that be?"
When Cao Wenzhao saw this, he sighed and said to himself, Hong Junmen thinks it is easy to escape because the generals under your command are of a certain level.
Although you think they are racing against each other, it also creates the misunderstanding that they can run away if they want to.
But in fact, if guys like Bai Guangen and Zuo Liangyu were not in Shaanxi and took a battalion to other places, they would be ruthless characters running rampant in the world.
What's more, it's not that easy to run away from the battlefield in an organized manner.
The generals and officers must be united in their thinking so that they will not be at odds with each other. At the same time, they must have a complete understanding of the situation and the enemy's location, so that at least they will not run into the enemy's arms.
Soldiers must also obey orders, walk in an orderly manner and run fast, be prepared for interceptions and attacks at any time, and march faster than the enemy's pursuit speed.
It tests not only the talent and ability of generals, but also the training level of soldiers.
Now they are facing Liu Chengzong, whose troops are already good at marching. In the past, the army's ability to escape from the lion's mouth under his command had to depend on luck.
Now that Hong Chengchou was in the formation, Cao Wenzhao did not dare to think about escaping.
Because Hong Chengchou may run away, and the army may run away, but it is difficult for both things to happen at the same time.
Cao Wenzhao's suggestion was to continue fighting: "In my humble opinion, instead of the army collapsing in a rout and allowing the rout to disturb the fighting spirit of Yansui Town troops, it is better to give it a try."
What he said was unusual.
In the past, when Cao Wenzhao spoke to his superiors, it was definitely not appropriate to describe retreat as a rout.
Now that he said this, Hong Chengchou did not dare to say anything. He just advised: "In this battle, you and I will die for our country."
Cao Wenzhao just said "Yeah", cupped his fists and cupped his hands, without saying anything.
He didn't need to say anything more, because soon, someone outside the camp shouted loudly and beat war drums.
There was a panic outside the formation, and the noise stopped for a moment. Someone rushed to the central army and saw Hong Chengchou and Cao Wenzhao together. They were stunned for a moment, then prostrated and said: "Military gate, Commander Cao, there are thieves riding to the trench and shooting arrows.
Come here with the letter."
After saying that, he cupped his fists and presented the letter.
Hong Chengchou thought he was being persuaded to surrender, so he quickly stepped forward to get the letter, unfolded it and was astonished. He almost died of anger when he couldn't take a breath.
Feeling relieved, he handed the letter to Cao Wenzhao angrily: "It's for you."
Not to persuade him.
To be precise, this is not even persuading to surrender, but persuading to flee.
Liu Chengzong said in the letter that he had assembled the first and second field brigades, with more than 20,000 troops near their positions. Within three days, troops from the three garrison brigades of Yanqing, Longxi, and Linliang would arrive.
At that time, more than 50,000 troops will gather nearby.
If Cao Wenzhao does not dare to fight, Liu Chengzong can spare him one more time before the war. This is his best chance to escape, and he can remain useful temporarily and flee to Beizhili to continue serving the emperor.
But if you insist on fighting, all your old and new grudges will be settled.
This letter was not signed, but Cao Wenzhao knew it was written by Liu Chengzong at a glance.
At the end of the letter, he wrote: I will kill you.
After Cao Wenzhao read the letter, he was so angry that he tore the letter into a ball.
The hatred between him and Liu Chengzong has long been irresolvable. Liu Chengzong's township party, subordinates, and general Bu Chi were all killed by him. His subordinates, brothers, and nephews also died at the hands of Liu Chengzong. The blood feud has long been irresolvable.
Cao Wenzhao stared at the messenger and asked, "Which direction is the messenger coming from?"
The messenger soldier recalled for a moment, then clasped his fists and said: "Go back to Commander Cao, southwest, it's southwest."
Cao Wenzhao waved his hand and ordered people to go down, then turned to look at Hong Chengchou: "In the military gate, Liu Chengzong must be in the southwest. He said in his letter that there will be tens of thousands of reinforcements within three days. In view of his humble position, it is better to strike first!"
In response, Hong Chengchou showed hesitation: "Cao Shuai, that Liu Chengzong has always been cunning, so his words cannot be fully believed."
He had really been deceived by Liu Chengzong. He originally had nearly 40,000 soldiers and horses. Even depending on the direction of the war when the war started, he had a slight advantage in military strength.
It was all his fault that he believed Liu Chengzong's lies, thinking that his troops had just set off from Xi'an Prefecture, which caused the marshal's army to descend from the sky like magic soldiers, burying Bai Guangen and Zhang Yingchang's five battalions in front of the battle line.
As the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, you will be afraid of the well rope for ten years. Now Hong Chengchou felt that whatever Liu Chengzong said in the letter was just a bastard chanting sutras.
But Cao Wenzhao didn't think Liu Chengzong was a good man or woman.
It's just that the situation is like this. It's not a matter of belief or not, but there is no choice.
He looked helplessly at Hong Chengchou and said: "Junmen, he is cunning or not. We only have more than ten thousand soldiers. There is nothing we can do except fight hard."
Hong Chengchou said to himself that he didn't dare to let them follow you to fight outside because he didn't have soldiers!
The trenches have been dug and the forts have been set up, but you have to go out and fight to the death.
So what is the use of this trench fortress?
Hong Chengchou would rather squat in the camp and have people surround him and blast him to death with cannons than see his troops disappear as soon as they run outside.
However, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the letter that Cao Wenzhao was still holding, and he suddenly raised his eyebrows, then shook his head after a moment.
He realized it was too late.
Based on his understanding of Liu Chengzong, this person only had two purposes in sending the letter.
Either to confuse the enemy and gain an advantage; or he thinks he has already won.
Hong Chengchou thought to himself that if things went as he thought, he would have been surrounded by Liu Chengzong and would not be able to escape.
If things don't go as he thought, there might be a chance of improvement according to Cao Wenzhao's ideas.
So he quickly adjusted his mentality and asked Cao Wenzhao: "If we want to go to war, does Commander Cao have any strategy to defeat the enemy?"
However, to his disappointment, Cao Wenzhao also shook his head: "I dare not say that I will defeat the enemy. I can only march at night and attack Liu Chengzong's camp directly. If he surrounds our army on all sides, there is still a chance of winning this battle."
Hong Chengchou nodded slowly.
Surrounded on all sides, troops must be dispersed, and it is difficult to mobilize various troops at night. However, Cao Wenzhao concentrated his troops to attack the direction where the message was sent, but in a local direction, he could form a strength advantage in a short time.
As for the ultimate goal of the battle, it goes without saying that it is still to attack and kill Liu Chengzong.
Cao Wenzhao dreamed of rushing to Liu Chengzong and stabbing him to death with a spear.
Just as Hong Chengchou and Cao Wenzhao were preparing to fight to the death, Liu Chengzong on the other side of the battlefield also stayed up all night.
He had just finished lecturing the deputy commanders of each battalion and issued orders to the twenty battalions near the battlefield on the direction of defense and response to sudden changes.
After seeing off the adjutants of each battalion, but still in high spirits, Liu Shishi had no choice but to move his chair and sit boredly at the door of the handsome tent, holding a few stones in his hand and playing with them under the swaying firelight in the night wind.
He did not lie to Cao Wenzhao. Many reinforcements would indeed arrive within three days. He even told Cao Wenzhao in a letter the affiliation and number of each battalion.
To be precise, most of the reinforcements arrived last night, and Liu Shizi had already arrived at the scheduled battle position before he wrote to Cao Wenzhao.
The purpose of writing that letter is also very simple.
The vast majority of enemies who run away in front of the battle will be despised by Liu Shishi, and will be called "flexible and shrinking" when they meet again.
Except Cao Wenzhao.
If that reckless man could escape to Beijing just because of a letter, Liu Shizi would be surprised at his flexibility, and in his heart he would be even more difficult to deal with.
Based on Liu Chengzong's understanding of Cao Wenzhao, even if the guy didn't get furious when he saw the letter, he would definitely hold his breath and wish he could rush in front of Liu Chengzong and stab him to death with a spear.
Liu Shizi's purpose was exactly this. What he wanted was to let the enemies in the trench camp jump out on their own.
This has nothing to do with whether he has more troops or fewer troops, or whether his troops are strong or weak.
Rather, there are thousands of chapters and sentences in the art of war, which are all aimed at causing others but not harming them.
Try your best to gain the initiative, move the enemy from a favorable position to a disadvantageous position, and then defeat the opponent by virtue of your advantage. This is the core idea of all military arts.
Suddenly, a fire rose in the night sky in the distance. Liu Chengzong suddenly raised his head and showed an incredible smile.
The signal came from their north, which was also the enemy's west, from the direction Yang Yanchang and Yang Chengzu were defending.
A fire broke out, which meant an enemy attack, with a force size of less than 500 people.
Soon, Liu Tichun quickly ran into the Chinese army, cupped his fists and said: "Commander, the enemy is trying to break through in the west."
"Don't be fooled. There will be several more probing attacks like this, but their final target must be the First Brigade. They think I'm there."
Liu Chengzong stood up, dropped a few stones in his hand, laughed and said: "It seems that Hong Hengjiu is of little use. Cao Wenzhao is just like what I thought. He is still the same. He has some skills, but not much."