"Senzuo, our plan is to attack Yuhuangding first, then Panding Mountain, and finally Dazhaiding."
The Jade Emperor is in the east, farthest from the new army. Ai Wenkun and Zha Shubing came over and reported their battle plan to Zuo Mengeng.
Zuo Mengeng did not give a judgment, but asked: "Why did you decide to fight like this?"
Ai Wenkun said: "Our army's plan is not to eliminate the White Lotus Sect here, but to drive them into Yimeng Mountain. Therefore, starting from the Jade Emperor in the east can prevent the White Lotus Sect from escaping eastward. Their only retreat is
Just go south and enter the Yimeng Mountain area."
Zuo Mengeng still showed no expression, and just said: "You have made the battle plan. It is up to you how to fight."
Ai Wenkun and Zha Shubing were confused and didn't know what Zuo Mengeng meant. But now that the matter was over, they could only proceed as planned.
However, after the two left, Mao Yuanyi was honest and polite.
"You guy, you are obviously very happy, but you keep a straight face and scare the people below."
Only then did Zuo Mengeng smile.
"Don't let them get too complacent, lest they get carried away."
Mao Yuanyi picked up the battle plan, read it again and again, and couldn't help but sigh.
"Are these two ready to start training?"
Only then did Zuo Mengeng give his comments.
"If they have this kind of mentality, it is enough to lead an army alone. However, their specific combat capabilities still need to be honed."
The battle at Yuhuangding was not smooth.
The terrain here, when viewed from a high altitude, looks a bit like a counterclockwise rotating whirlpool. This leads to the formation of another ditch after another when attacking the mountain.
You can see this mountain and the other mountain right in front of you, but if you really want to walk there, you will definitely be exhausted.
Fortunately, the New Army's artillery is light and can be carried up the mountain. From one ridge to another, it can hit another ridge, making it impossible for the White Lotus Sect rebels to take advantage of the danger.
After fighting for a day, the second regiment reached a place 300 steps away from Jade Emperor Summit.
Seeing that they could no longer hold on, the White Lotus Sect rebels ran away from the other side of the mountain in the middle of the night.
After capturing Yuhuangding, the second regiment followed the trend and then attacked Panding Mountain.
The White Lotus Sect rebels here are not on Panding Mountain, but in Sanling Village to the north.
There was a path up here, not to mention the mountain ridges on both sides were fairly flat. The Second Regiment advanced in three directions, but the bandits couldn't resist it with just their muskets, so they had no choice but to flee.
As a result of the chain reaction, the White Lotus Sect rebels finally realized that the situation was over. They could no longer defend the top of Dazhai and fled south.
The New Army pursued them all the way to Yuanquan Town and did not stop until they controlled the Zihe River waterway.
In this battle, more than 300 enemies were killed and more than a thousand prisoners were taken. More than a thousand bandits fled into the Yimeng Mountain area and joined other bandits.
The Second Regiment left another company here to guard the north passage, while the rest of the troops continued eastward and entered Qingzhou Prefecture, which was most severely ravaged by the White Lotus Sect.
At that time, most of Qingzhou Prefecture had fallen, except Yidu and Linqu, which were still in the hands of the imperial court.
The new army crossed Linqu and attacked Anqiu.
On the other side, Huang Sanhu and Jian Zongan advanced faster.
They are in the plains, and they have attacked the White Lotus Sect to destroy everything. They have just arrived at Qiaoguan Town, and they have already recaptured Wei County, and their troops have reached the outskirts of Anqiu.
Just when Zuo Mengeng was preparing to attack Anqiu from two sides, Huang Sanhu sent someone to escort a messenger over.
"The young one is under the command of General Zhang Rong, Denglai. This is a letter asking for help from the general."
Zuo Mengeng took the letter and looked at it, his face was quite ugly.
"What happened?"
Mao Yuanyi was also a little nervous.
Regarding the situation in Denglai, Zuo Menggeng had analyzed it with them early on. Everyone had known for a long time that after the introduction of Dongjiang Town, the situation in Denglai would be unstable.
Could it be that Dongjiang Town launched the attack?
Zuo Mengeng shook his head to appease Mao Yuanyi.
"Zhang Zongrong wrote a letter saying that the military households of Lingshan Guard and Fushan Institute rebelled and killed the local commander. Now that they have occupied Jiaonan County, Zhang Zongrong attacked several times but was repulsed. In addition, Aoshan Guard and Dasong Guard also
It’s unstable, and Mr. Zhang is at a loss for what to do, so he asks us to go and support him.”
Mao Yuanyi sighed.
"The world is like a big sieve, with loopholes everywhere. If it is blocked here, it will leak out in other places. Not to mention that the court is ignorant and incompetent. Even if the king is wise and the ministers are wise, how many hands can come here?"
Zuo Mengeng sneered and said: "A truly wise king and wise minister will not reach this level."
Mao Yuanyi laughed and realized that Zuo Mengeng was more right.
"Should we help or not?"
Zuo Mengeng made some gestures on the map and said: "We have to help. Lingshan Guard and Fushan Institute are just behind us. If we don't care, if the trouble gets bigger, our plan will not be implemented."
He always made quick decisions, and immediately said to Fu Yusun: "Send an order to Huang Sanhu and Jian Zongan, and they will be responsible for Anqiu alone. Tell them that if the county town is to be captured, the rebels cannot be eliminated too many. One thing is better, they must go to Yimeng Mountain area
Hurry. If you let the thieves run around, I will cause trouble for them."
In the afternoon of the same day, the Second Regiment changed direction, ignored Anqiu, crossed the Weishui River from Zhucheng, and entered Laizhou.
Zhang Keda made a special trip to wait for Zuo Mengeng at Tiezhu Mountain and was really excited about his arrival.
"General Zuo, thank you for your help. Otherwise, the two states of Denglai will be corrupted again."
They were all acquaintances, and Zuo Mengeng didn't even exchange greetings, but said directly: "Why did the military households here rebel?"
Zhang Keda didn't even know.
"Since receiving the military information, I have attacked several times. However, Lingshan Guards is well-defended and has never been able to break into it. As for the reason why the military households rebelled, it is not clear. But in any case, killing officials and rebelling is not tolerated by the law. Please protect General Zuo.
The court's laws and regulations punish rebels."
Zuo Mengeng heard something.
"Zhang Zongrong won't join hands with his younger brother to attack the city?"
Zhang Keda smiled bitterly, pointed to the opposite side of Jiaozhou Bay and said: "There is also chaos over there at Fushan Station. If we don't put it down quickly, the Aoshan Guards will follow suit and cause chaos again, and the harm will be worse than the Bailian Rebellion."
Only then did Zuo Mengeng understand why Zhang Keda asked him for help.
It turns out that the rebellious military households here were not only Lingshan Guards, but also Fushan Suo to the east of Jiaozhou Bay.
Although the guard station is now depleted, Zhang Keda's troops are limited and cannot take care of both. If he can defeat the Lingshan Guard, he will not be able to defeat the Fushan Guard; if he can defeat the Fushan Guard, he will not be able to defeat the Lingshan Guard.
However, the Lingshan Guard city wall was strong, the terrain was difficult, and the city had sufficient ordnance, so it was impossible to conquer it with his troops in just a few months.
In comparison, Fushan is a Qianhusuo, which is undoubtedly much easier to fight.
A strong city like Lingshan Guard needs Zuo Menggeng's new army to fight.
Zuo Mengeng was unable to complain, but he did not refuse.
"I'll leave this to my little brother."
Zhang Ke was overjoyed and thanked Zuo Mengeng repeatedly. He also sent a batch of grain and grass as a thank you gift, and then took Dengzhou's soldiers and horses to the east side of Jiaozhou Bay.
Mao Yuanyi used a telescope to observe the situation in Lingshan Guard, and saw that the people in the city had discovered the new army. Many people gathered at the top of the city, most of them were in ragged clothes, with sallow faces and thin skin. They were pointing in this direction, looking quite flustered.
.
Obviously the people in the city could see that this new army seemed to be more powerful.
"Zhongheng, why do you think these military households rebelled?"
Looking at the terrain of Lingshanwei, Mao Yuanyi liked it more and more.
Zuo Menggeng asked the artillery to line up outside the Ying'en Gate in the north, and all units also entered combat positions, but did not issue combat orders.
The location of the Lingshan Guards was chosen very carefully. Even with the combat effectiveness of the new army, it would not be easy.
To the west of the Acropolis is a river, which is dozens of meters wide. It is impossible to swim across it under the radiation of the crossbows from the city head.
Even building a pontoon bridge is not easy and is not a very good attack route.
To the east of the city is Jiaozhou Bay, which is a natural barrier.
To the south of the Acropolis is the sea, and without enough artillery, it is impossible to cover the infantry landing.
In this case, the only direction that can be attacked is the north gate.
However, Zhang Keda's troops did not have artillery, and the infantry alone would not be enough to save them, no matter how many lives they had.
"The left and right cannot do anything but force the people to rebel."
Although Zuo Mengeng didn't know the actual situation, he could guess some of it.
The people in the late Ming Dynasty were miserable, and military households were especially miserable. Due to status restrictions, they could not do anything else. If they were trapped in such a barren land and encountered greedy officials again, they would definitely not be able to survive.
"Then shall we fight?"
Zuo Mengeng thought for a while and said: "Let the artillery fire two shots, and then send people over to negotiate with the people in the city and ask them to surrender."
The order was given, and the two artillery pieces roared one after another.
The explosive bomb accurately hit the city wall of Lingshan Guard and exploded. Although it did not cause any damage to the city wall and no one was hit, the shock wave of the explosion obviously frightened the people in the city.
I saw people running wildly on the city wall, and many people even took the road and ran under the wall, apparently for fear of being blown up by artillery.
These two cannons made the people in the city realize that there might not be an indestructible fortress beneath their feet.
After the demonstration, a deputy company commander from the New Army came out and walked toward the city alone.
There was another commotion in the city, but there was no sign of violence.
The people in the city also knew that a man like this came here with no intention of attacking.