The moon and stars are sparse, and the night sky is indigo.
Only the Ming army camp where the Governor-General Biao Camp was stationed was left, and everyone raised their faces. A faint scream came from the distance, and they saw fires rising from all directions and trailing flames rising into the night sky and disappearing in a flash.
Ding Zizhen, the young superintendent and general, was no exception. He was holding his alms bowl and lost his mind in such a scene.
This scene reminded him of the Lantern Festival the year before last, when he and his friends enjoyed the lanterns at a restaurant, ate too much wine, and returned home drunk, where they met his father, who was looking sad because Zhuang Langwei had been captured by Liu Chengzong.
At that time, he didn't know that the war would spread so fiercely, let alone that the war would take away his father forever.
I just remember that the fireworks outside Liangzhou City that day were much more brilliant than the fires that were flying and exploding all over the sky today.
Such a scene also alarmed Hong Chengchou who was in the palace.
However, Hong Chengchou had no intention of admiring the flying monkeys flying all over the sky.
Because even though everyone is letting the flying monkeys go on the battlefield where they are fighting everywhere, it is a bit funny to a certain extent.
But the Marshal's Army, the Ming Army, and the Peasant Army all used this as a signal flare at night.
The third battalion of Cao Wenzhao's troops under Hong Chengchou had already dispatched troops. Among them, the small group of cavalry responsible for disrupting the marshal's army were released in large numbers to set fire to wherever they attacked.
This situation is certainly not good news for Hong Chengchou.
This means that their strategic intentions have completely failed.
There are more than one battalion of troops, carrying war horses as rangers, using the cover of darkness to disperse and attack in all directions, with the purpose of attracting the marshal's army to mobilize and deploy defenses at night.
Because in Hong Chengchou's expectation, the so-called siege did not exist as a complete encirclement.
After all, Liu Chengzong only had 20,000 people. If he wanted to surround them with more than 10,000 people, it would be impossible to encircle him. At most, he would have to deploy heavy troops in two directions. Even this would be a big risk.
This is also the reason why Sun Tzu said in The Art of War that there are ten steps to encircle an enemy and five steps to attack it, because in the environment of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period with the quality of soldiers and the level of equipment, it was impossible to encircle without ten times the number of troops.
Even now, technological advancements brought about by firearms, armor, and earthworks have reduced the number of troops required for siege. When the level of soldiers is not much different, it is difficult to surround the enemy with twice the number of troops.
After all, if you want to surround a thousand enemy troops on three sides, you can have only five or six hundred troops on each side, because the army formation of a thousand men is small and the three sides can support each other very quickly.
But to surround ten thousand troops, each side needs more than ten thousand troops. There is no reason to surround ten thousand with three to five thousand men.
Because a military formation of 10,000 people already occupies a terrifyingly large area, and being surrounded on three sides, the area occupied is even larger, and the support distance between each other is also lengthened accordingly.
Therefore, the situation that often arises is to open a large front, push it through with a large horizontal formation in the battle, and then encircle it on three sides before launching a siege instead of a siege.
Because it cannot be trapped, it is easy for someone to attack and overturn the vehicle.
It was precisely because of this common sense in his mind that Hong Chengchou felt even more numb when he saw the fire flying in the sky.
He was very confused. How many men did Liu Chengzong have before he dared to leave men on all sides of his army?
Of course, what made Hong Chengchou feel the most frightened was the fear of the coming dawn.
If there are enemy troops on all sides, and at dawn, people see that there is only one battalion in his army, then he will be like a little lamb surrounded by wolves, and will be eaten up and wiped clean in the blink of an eye!
Cao Wenzhao, who was actually marching, was also worried in his heart.
Because he had some sense in the dark and could feel that his soldiers were dying.
In the wilderness south of the Ming army's camp, Cao Wenzhao was leading 6,000 cavalry heading south.
This time, he was uncharacteristically not at the front of the military formation. Instead, he commanded more than 2,000 cavalry in the middle and rear position of the formation. Leading the infantry and artillery in front of the formation was his nephew Cao Bianjiao.
And other cronies under his command, such as Ping'an, Pingding, Feng Ju and others, are leading small groups of cavalry to attack the marshal's positions on all sides.
He had a good idea. He sent out more than 3,000 cavalry and divided them into five teams to attack various positions and camps. He must be able to find out the strength of the Marshal's army's positions. If they can attack the weak points of Liu Chengzong's defense, the Marshal's army will inevitably
Mobilize reserve forces at night to support weak points.
Weaken the defensive strength of Liu Chengzong's headquarters and create opportunities for him to attack the camp and kill the generals.
It's not that Cao Wenzhao's muscles are in his head and he only knows how to rush out of the formation and kill generals, but that an enemy like Marshal Jun only has this one obvious weakness.
Their guns are sharper than theirs, their armor is stronger than theirs, their soldiers are better supplied than theirs, their troops are stronger than theirs, their will to fight is higher, and their formations are even more sophisticated than theirs.
The only weakness is that there are very few strong generals and talents in the Marshal's Army, and the root lies in Liu Chengzong.
As long as he is chopped into pieces, the huge Marshal's Mansion will no longer be an insurmountable problem.
This is the fundamental reason why Cao Wenzhao is obsessed with beheading tactics.
He always felt that it was much easier to kill Liu Chengzong alone than to fight and win with Liu Chengzong.
But here's the problem, it's not that easy to mobilize Liu Chengzong's army.
At least for now, Cao Wenzhao has given up on this idea.
He sat on his horse, held his spear across the saddle, and led his army forward silently amidst the sound of gunfire in the distance.
More than 6,000 people marched quickly on the plain in ten large columns.
Each column has a formation of infantry pushing light artillery in front, and cavalry leading horses behind. The soldiers are wearing armor, and the muskets and artillery are filled with ammunition. The whole team is full of people under the night. Only when you get close can you see the stars.
Unsearchable match-rope shines.
The wind blew past the four-color tassels falling from the skirt of the military armor, and the sound of hunting was instantly covered by the slight sound of armors colliding against each other.
In the distance, warning fires rose into the night sky in all directions, and the sounds of chaotic firefights echoed throughout the wilderness.
There were too many fires flying into the sky and they were continuous, indicating that the actions of Ping An and others were not going smoothly.
Now it seems that there are enemy troops from all directions, and they are surrounded by water. How can we mobilize them?
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Cao Wenzhao's heart is sinking.
Because on the surface, there are enemy troops from all directions, which also means that the marshal's army has already mobilized itself in the formation stage, and there may not be enough troops in each direction.
But Cao Wenzhao had rich experience in battle.
With his ears, he could hear from the sounds of fighting from all directions where the defenses were tight and where there was a slight laxity or weak points in the marshal's defense.
Directly east of the Ming army's camp, that must be the place where the Marshal's army's defense is weak.
The sound of gunfire over there was the smallest, the banging sound of gunfire was very crisp, and there was also a very crisp sound of artillery, which was chaotic, but the shouting of kill was the loudest.
As soon as he heard that the troops responsible for the defense were the peasant army recently recruited by Liu Chengzong, they were using the three-eyed blunderbuss and ball-spreading cannons they had snatched. They shouted loudly to embolden themselves before they were even close to hand-to-hand.
But the troops, well...sounds quite sufficient.
To the west, Cao Wenzhao sounds the strangest.
Before the attack, lanterns and bonfires were lit there to brightly illuminate the area around the camp. After the attack, military music was even louder.
The infantry formed a large line at the edge of the trench outside the stronghold, firing cannon fire from south to north, back and forth, interspersed with projectile and exploding flying cannons and successive firing of Fran machine guns.
The sound of cannons stopped when they started.
This thing sounds like an old Ming army.
Because the tactical application of this kind of firearm was obviously the standard method used by the Ming army to deal with the harassment of small groups of Mongolian cavalry, with non-stop gunfire and artillery fire, and special attention was paid to the hierarchy and continuity of firepower of various firearms.
In fact, the Ming army was indeed there, and just one day ago, they were in the same camp as Cao Wenzhao.
The guards over there are Xu Yong and Wang Yuncheng who belong to Zuo Liangyu's tent.
Behind them, supervising the battle were former Ningxia guerrillas Liu Fangming and Tongzhi Ma Xiantu, both of whom led the surrendered flag army from Ningxia Town.
Although this direction is full of troops, it is very reliable because Liu Chengzong deployed the most troops in this direction.
Behind these two formations of nearly 10,000 surrendered troops, there were two battalions of Yang Chengzu and Yang Yanchang, and next to them was Gao Yingdeng's First Field Brigade in the southwest.
This was also the main direction in which Liu Chengzong planned to launch his attack.
But in Cao Wenzhao's eyes, due south is the real enemy.
The Ming army had already detected in the previous battle that to the south was the second field brigade led by Ren Quan'er, the commander-in-chief of the Marshal's Mansion.
Although Ren Quan'er was with the Ming army in the past, he was overshadowed by Yang Yanchang's aura as the God of War. He was not a prominent figure and did not look like a powerful figure.
However, this battle showed great power and defeated Bai Guangen and Zhang Yingchang's five battalions with more than 10,000 troops. Now he is a fierce general in the eyes of the Ming army who is the first-class marshal in the army.
However, the only exception was Cao Bianjiao, who had dealt with Ren Quan'er. Before the war, he told Cao Wenzhao: "The commander-in-chief does not need to regard Ren Quan'er as a strong enemy. I know that he has control over his troops, but he is not so powerful."
, it must be that the soldiers assigned to him by Liu Chengzong are powerful."
Cao Wenzhao walked forward in the formation, looking towards the south, thinking in his heart that his nephew was indeed right.
Because the south side was also attacked by Ming cavalry, and it was led by Cao Wenzhao's general Feng Ju, who was also a fierce general from Guan Ning, but the fighting was not as lively as the east and west sides.
It's so calm over there.
Lanterns were hung high on the camp gates of several camps, and bonfires were arranged every hundred steps in the ditch outside the camp.
There was no flash of artillery fire, nor rockets flying into the sky, only the neighing of invisible war horses.
The firelight flickered, and the galloping cavalry flashed past the military camp, casting long shadows in the darkness.
In the shadows, one can see people bending bows, shooting horses, and dancing with swords.
Feng Ju's attacking cavalry didn't even break into the second brigade's position, but was stopped by their cavalry and forced to fight in the dark.
In the wilderness where guns and cannons roared, there was only one place that was out of place, and that was the destination of Cao Wenzhao's advance, southwest of the Ming army's camp.
It was dark and shrouded in dead silence. There were no bonfires or lanterns, and there was no sound of any movement of people or horses.
There seemed to be no sign of a camp or troops.
It's like there's something terrible lurking in the darkness, opening its huge mouth and throwing out bait, waiting for its prey to fall into its trap.
Cao Wenzhao's army moved slowly in the darkness, and the wooden wheels of the Franco machine guns rolled over the fields, leaving the creaking sound in the wind filled with murderous intent.
It seems that every soldier who is immersed in his journey has doubts about the direction of progress.
Even Cao Bianjiao ran back from the front of the formation once and said to Cao Wen: "Commander, this is too abnormal. There is no movement at all over there."
But Cao Wenzhao had no other choice. What else could he do? Could he lead the six thousand troops to attack elsewhere?
Is it to attack Zhengxi where there are many guns and artillery?
Or attack Zhengnan where Ren Quan'er is stationed?
Or go to the east, where there are so many people?
Or flee back to the Ming army camp in the north with your tail between your legs?
He could only go all the way to the dark side and strengthen his belief that Liu Chengzong was in the southwest.
"The more abnormal it is, the more Liu Chengzong will be there. Otherwise, where would he be, setting a trap and hiding far away?"
Cao Wenzhao shook his head: "Liu Chengzong is very courageous."
He himself was a little unsure about this.
Whether a person has courage is one thing, but where to use his courage is another matter.
After saying that, he could only make up for it by himself: "No matter what, even if it is a trap, we must crush it. Death of a general in state affairs is the best way to die in the world!"
However, the southwest part of the battlefield at this time is really a trap.
Outside the pitch-black camp, Juma gates and chariots formed a chain. Apart from the sound of human breathing and the snoring of war horses, cannons, platoon gunners, and Juma rear camps were lined up like a forest, all quietly waiting for their prey to take the bait.
But in fact, they were almost losing their temper.
Darkness makes people anxious and fearful, not just the enemy.
Even the soldiers of the First Brigade of the Marshal's Army in formation would feel uneasy and anxious for no reason after staying in the dark for a long time.
Behind the camp, Gao Yingdeng stood on horseback and looked over the battlefield. He shook his head and said to his left and right, "Do you have any confidence in the soldiers from Tang? They haven't come here yet? I can't help the Liao Dynasty faster than him!"
Soon, someone came forward and said: "General, the commander-in-chief said that the enemy is already close to two miles away."
Gao Yingdeng's eyes suddenly lit up in the darkness: "Okay, send an order to the reinforcement camp and prepare the brazier!"
Amidst the sounds of clothes and armor clashing together, several pits in front of the formation were lit with fire sticks, but there were other pots buckled and blocked by the military formation, so the light they emitted was not conspicuous.
This scene was quite conspicuous in the eyes of Liu Chengzong who was standing on the mountain in the distance.
This is the best time Liu Shishi has taken to protect himself since he led the battle.
He was currently located due south of the battlefield, behind the military formation of Ren Quan'er's second brigade, and was surrounded by the three battalions of Yu Lin, Hu Ben, and Zong Ren.
Moreover, the word "pin", which consists of three battalions, does not wrap up his military command tent.
It was the carriage camp of Feng Ling, deputy commander-in-chief of the Qibing Battalion, under the command of Yang Yao's Linliang Road Garrison Brigade.
Feng Lun's vehicle camp equipment comes from Gansu's standard vehicle camp, and its protection is much stronger than the mule-horse vehicle camps of the Marshal's Army.
Therefore, Liu Shizi was very bold. He built a mountain of earth in the formation, but without raising fire, he could easily overlook the battlefield with his telescope.
In fact, the bonfires set outside each battalion's position were not all used to detect enemy troops. To some extent, they were also intended to make it easier for Liu Chengzong to observe the battlefield.
Just as the sky turned white and dawn was about to arrive, Cao Wenzhao's army finally appeared as a large shadow in Liu Chengzong's eyes, and at the same time they also saw the outline of Gao Yingdeng's first brigade.
The six thousand infantry and cavalry immediately quickened their pace and quickly approached within one mile. The infantry pushed various artillery pieces in front of the formation. People no longer avoided the sound and shouted loudly to prepare for rotation of artillery shells.
Soon, gun carriages carrying Fran cannons stopped and pointed the muzzles at several positions on the enemy's line hundreds of steps away, blasting out the shells one after another, and then quickly reloading, launching the first attack.
Second round shooting.
During this process, the infantry and cavalry did not stop. They just gave way to the artillery fire and continued to advance rapidly from the edge.
At the same time, the thousand-jin artillery deployed by the first brigade in front of the formation also launched a counterattack against the advancing Ming army.
Cao Wenzhao already knew at this time that the enemy was on guard, but he had also prepared the formation with the infantry in the front and the horse in the rear, which was set up to open up the resistance of the horse.
The artillery of both sides did not choose to shoot at each other. The Ming army's Franco machine tried to break through the tank defense line; the Marshal's army's thousand-jin artillery bombarded the Ming army's infantry formation one after another.
Facing the fierce bombardment of artillery, Cao Wenzhao's soldiers advanced the formation more than a hundred steps forward.
At this time, the cavalry moved.
Teams of horsemen launched an assault on the battle line, armed with three-eyed muskets and bows and arrows, running diagonally toward the artillery position in the battle line. In a blink of an eye, they broke through the distance of 200 to 300 steps and rained arrows on the artillery position in an attempt to disrupt the artillery fire.
shooting.
But the formation also used bows and arrows to fight back at them, but this sloppy way of counterattack was like an itch to the galloping armored cavalry.
This scene was undoubtedly particularly exciting for Cao Wenzhao, who quickly ordered all armies to attack and once again took the opportunity to push the front forward. At the same time, he also sent a small group of cavalry to try to outflank the enemy from both sides.
But at this moment, Liu Chengzong, who was holding a telescope on the mountain in the distance, sighed.
They entered the 200-step shooting range and quickly closed the distance while changing formations. The cavalry at the rear also moved to the two wings to form a large horizontal formation, intending to cross the infantry and attack the military formation.
After the horses were stopped, torches were being passed around the formation, igniting match ropes. Of course, there were also the gun bearers on the chariot who turned a blind eye to the torches and just took aim with their flintlock muskets.
One hundred and fifty steps.
The infantry gunners of the Ming army stood still, a row of gunpowder smoke floated in front of the formation, and the cannonballs were placed on the ground, smashing the shells into the mule-cart line with a roar.
Accompanied by the thud of lead hitting the wooden planks of the chariot, the sound of whimpering horns also came from Gao Yingdeng's military formation.
Rows of heavy gunners holding muskets loaded with multiple projectiles set up heavy muskets on the chariots.
Before the military formation, a hundred generals wearing red armor came out of the queue, raised their swords and walked to Juma Gate. Facing his soldiers, they raised their wild goose feather sabers and swung them down fiercely, with the blade pointed directly at the enemy.
Bang bang bang!
Huge smoke rose in front of the formation, and the dull sound of gunfire reached Liu Chengzong's ears like thunderbolts. He only saw countless horses and men standing in front of the Ming army's formation, countless generals fell dead, and a shotgun in the smoke.
The battle flag that had just been unfolded fell to the ground.
He turned his head and stopped looking. He just ordered to Feng Zhen beside him: "Shoot rockets to the south and tell the soldiers in each battalion that the general attack... After Hong Chengchou has been dealt with, let's go to Ordos."