Pingyang Prefecture is located at the junction of Shanxi and Shaanxi, and its administrative seat is in Linfen County. The prefectural city and the county seat are in the same country.
Pingyang Prefecture was established as Pingyang County since the Wei Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms. It is "near Leihuo to the east, controls Hefen to the west, connects Qin and Shu to the south, and reaches Youbin in the north." The geographical location is very important and has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court rebuilt Pingyang Prefecture, leading six prefectures and twenty-eight counties. Pingyang Prefecture is connected to Shangdang in the east, Yellow River in the west, Bian and Luo in the south, and Jinyang in the north. Zai Kong Suo Yun Jing, Huo Weicheng. Jing, Taiye, is called Huoshan Mountain; Fen, River, Sui and Hui are considered as abyss, and Zi offends the so-called rivers and mountains outside and inside.
Du Ji said: Pingyang is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it is an important place in the world. This is true.
At this time, there were a lot of banners outside Pingyang Mansion City, and the bandit right camp army led by Yuan Zongdi formed formations on all sides, besieging the city tightly, and a siege battle was about to begin.
Yang Guozhu stood on the east wall with a tired look, looking at the army of bandits gathering outside the city to attack, his heart was extremely heavy.
The armies of the three towns marched south to suppress the mighty force, but Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu, and Li Fuming were greatly surprised by the strength of the bandit army. Those heroic cavalry were almost comparable to the Qing army's cavalry. They were so boundless that they seemed to be endless. The wave of dead soldiers caused unbearable suffering to the soldiers of Xuanfu Town, Datong Town and Shanxi Town. The soldiers of the three towns suffered heavy casualties along the way, so much so that Wang Pu argued that "preserving Datong Town means preserving the imperial court's facade in Shanxi". He led his troops to withdraw.
Li Fuming, the chief military officer of Shanxi Town, had too few troops, only 7,000 men and horses. After taking into account the casualties along the way, there were only more than 5,000 people left. He suddenly wanted to retreat, and despite Yang Guozhu's hard advice, he led his troops. Withdrew into the town, leaving only Yang Guo
The soldiers and horses of Zhuyi Town continued to move south, and were then besieged by the bandits in Pingyang City.
At this time, Yang Guozhu's heart was filled with sadness. During the Battle of Jinzhou, he, Wang Pu and Li Fuming were considered close friends of life and death. But now, facing the overwhelming army of rogue thieves, the two of them retreated one after another, making Yang Guozhu very dissatisfied. Could this be the case? The "warlord style" that Liu Yan mentioned at the beginning?
"Soldiers and generals only know how to protect themselves and do not know the safety of the country. They are warlords. We must never do this. Even if we are forced by the current situation to support the army, we must treat it as a way to drive away the Tartars and bandits from outside and secure the world internally. A great warlord of the common people, this is how a seven-foot-tall man’s trip to this world is worth it!”
Yang Guozhu suddenly remembered what Liu Yan had said in Liaodong, and he was filled with emotion: "I really miss the days when Liu Yan was fighting side by side by my side. That was peace of mind and happiness!"
"Woo~woo!"
Suddenly, trumpets sounded outside the city, and then the army of more than 100,000 from the right camp of the rogue bandits began to advance forward, pressing towards Pingyang Fucheng from all sides.
Now, in the fierce battle with the Xuanfu Town army, the Rogue Right Camp lost 20,000 infantry and dead soldiers, but now there are still 15,000 knights, 30,000 armored soldiers, and 60,000 to 70,000 dead infantry. The number of troops is three times greater than the more than 30,000 Xuanfu Town soldiers trapped in the city!
However, Yang Guozhu's face was still full of determination at this time. With the strength and combat power of the soldiers in Xuanfu Town, it was impossible for an army of more than 100,000 thieves to invade the city. However, after a big battle, his soldiers would definitely suffer a lot of casualties.
"Forget it! Look at me severely injuring the bandits below the city in this battle."
Yang Guozhu shouted: "Send the order, all the troops will defend the city and kill the thieves!"
for a time,
The war drums on the top of the city were beaten one after another, and then the artillery and muskets on the top of the city began to roar. The archers in the army also began to fire volleys, and various rolling logs and stones continued to rain down.
After experiencing the bloody battle in Liaodong, the soldiers of Xuanfu Town have been transformed. Their combat strength and psychology are different from what they were before. When faced with an army of bandits several times their size, they can face it calmly and fight back vigorously.
"put!"
The artillery fire and muskets on the city top never stopped, and the dead soldiers and infantry outside the city never stopped charging. Among those armored soldiers, there were also many musketeers and archers. Now the robber army has risen again. , the equipment has been greatly improved, the number of long-range weapons in the army has been greatly increased, and it can now start shooting with the official army.
"ah!"
On the top of the city, Xuanfu Town soldiers were constantly hit by arrows and lead bullets. Those young men who did not know how to avoid the defense suffered many casualties. The blood had stained a large area of the city head red.
To the east, under the protection of a group of shield soldiers, Yang Guozhu was supervising the battle on the tower. Yuan Zongdi's banner could even be vaguely seen in the distance, and there was a hint of murderous intent in his eyes.
Suddenly, the sound of war drums was faintly heard in the north of Pingyang Fucheng, and then Yang Guozhu heard the soldiers of Xuanfu Town on the other side of the north city shout "Wan Sheng" louder than the other.
Yang Guozhu looked north with joy and exclaimed: "Reinforcements are here!"
Under the protection of the shield soldiers, Yang Guozhu hurried to the north city wall. He saw that 35,000 elites led by Cao Bianjiao, the general officer of Dongxie Town, had arrived outside the city. Nearly 10,000 elite cavalry were opening the way in front, and the infantry army behind them formed a formation. Come to kill with three-eyed blunderbuss and bird blunderbuss
, bows and arrows continuously killed and wounded the bandit soldiers and horses who were attacking the city. The tens of thousands of bandit infantry and dead soldiers in the north suddenly collapsed and retreated to the east and west like a tide.
"Ha ha!"
Yang Guozhu looked at Cao Bianjiao's banner getting closer and closer, smiled at the generals on his left and right and said: "An Dong Bohu is so powerful! Open the city gate quickly and send a thousand cavalry out of the city to meet him!"
"yes!"
Soon, the north gate of Pingyang Fucheng opened wide, and a thousand elite cavalry from Xuanfu Town rushed out, scattering the remaining bandits near the gate, and the soldiers of Dongxie Town entered the city in an orderly manner.
Outside the city, Yuan Zongdi was furious when he heard that the army reinforcements had arrived. Now that the army's strength had increased, he could no longer take Pingyang Fucheng.
Liu Tichun, the general of Youguoyi, rushed over on horseback and immediately stopped the furious Yuan Zongdi: "A general should not be angry and raise an army. Now that the morale of the officers and soldiers has been greatly improved and the number of troops has increased, our army no longer has the strength to capture Pingyang Fucheng. We need to get all the soldiers to withdraw first.”
Yuan Zongdi suppressed the anger in his heart and said: "Order all the troops to retreat immediately and gather to set up camp ten miles southwest of Pingyang Fucheng!"
"yes."
Liu Tichun breathed a sigh of relief and said: "I see that Cao Bianjiao also came from afar. He and Yang Guozhu are both rushing to help Tongguan. We still have a chance to defeat them, so there is no need to rush."
Yuan Zongdi nodded and said: "Yes, in my opinion, it is better to let the officers and soldiers from the two towns go to Tongguan. We will pursue them all the way. Even if we cannot stop them, we can still wear down the enemy forces."
Liu Tichun said with a smile: "It's a good strategy to control a general!"
Soon the army of more than 100,000 thieves retreated and camped southwest of Pingyang Fucheng. At the same time, all Cao Bianjiao's troops entered the city.
, and then led a group of generals to Yang Guozhu's central army.
"Thank you An Dongbo for leading his troops to come to our aid!"
Yang Guozhu laughed and expressed his heartfelt thanks.
Cao Bianjiao smiled and said: "Uncle Dinghu and I are close friends of life and death, and we have national affairs on our shoulders, how can we not help him?"
Then Cao Bianjiao looked inside the house and said, "Huh? I heard on the road that Datong Town and Shanxi Town went south with Uncle Dinghuber. Why didn't I see Uncle Pinghuber and Uncle Pingjin?"
The smile on Yang Guozhu's face immediately disappeared, and he said: "Uncle Pinghu was worried about the loss of Datong Town, so he led his troops to withdraw. Bo Pingjin, with a small army and few generals, also led his troops to withdraw."
"What!"
Cao Bianjiao said angrily: "Although this battle is to quell chaos, Li Chuang's momentum is as great as a national war. How could the two of them be so ridiculous and ruin the friendship between us and the bloody battle in Liaodong!"
Yang Guozhu said sadly: "What kind of friendship is there? I'm afraid what the two of them care about is only the soldiers and horses in their hands and the glory they enjoy!"
"well!"
Cao Bianjiao also let out a long sigh. He had experienced this feeling when his uncle Cao Wenzhao died in battle. Now seeing Yang Guozhu like this, he felt very uncomfortable.
"Uncle Dinghu, what should we do next? Should we continue to wait here for the imperial court to send more reinforcements, or should we march to Tongguan together and join Sun Duchen?"
Yang Guozhu smiled bitterly and said: "A few days ago, when the bandit army had not completely laid siege to the city, I received news from the Ministry of War that soldiers and horses from Tangtong and Mako towns were still lingering in Beizhili and did not come at all. Plan to support.”
"As for the rest of the soldiers and horses, it is estimated that except for Dinglupp's mountain
Apart from the Eastern New Army, the imperial court had no troops to mobilize. However, now that Dinglupo has achieved great success, will the imperial court recruit new Shandong troops to reinforce him? "
Cao Bianjiao shook his head and sighed. It seems that now he and Xuanfu are the only soldiers and horses. There are no reinforcements behind him: "In this case, we will continue to advance. There are about 60,000 elite soldiers in our two towns, and there are also rogue soldiers and horses outside the city. Even if it’s around 100,000 yuan, it can’t do anything to us!”
Yang Guozhu nodded and said, "Okay, let's leave the city early tomorrow morning."
Early the next morning, Yang Guozhu and Cao Bianjiao joined forces and left the city from the west gate of Pingyang Fucheng. After gathering the army outside the city and arranging money and food, the two armies formed formations one after the other and headed southwest towards Tongguan.
In the afternoon, the scouts and knights from the Rogue Right Camp began to appear, constantly wandering around the armies of the two towns, sometimes gathering and sometimes dispersing. As long as the soldiers of the two towns relaxed a little, the Rogue Cavalry would rush up, or It is shooting cold arrows, or throwing javelins, throwing axes, iron bones, etc.
Although Ye Bushou and the cavalry in the two towns fought hard to drive them away, they were still hard to guard against. After all, when the army was marching, the distance between tens of thousands of soldiers was too long. It was more than ten miles away. The rogue cavalry could come from all places. Attacking and harassing is impossible to guard against.
A few days later, the soldiers from the two towns arrived in Linjin. After these few days of marching, hundreds of soldiers in each of the two towns were killed or wounded. The morale of the army also dropped a lot, and the soldiers in each department showed signs of fatigue.
This place is only more than 140 miles away from Tongguan. The army can reach Tongguan after marching for two or three days.
But at this time, Yang Guozhu and Cao Bianjiao
An order was given to stop the advance, and the soldiers from the two towns entered Linjin City to defend themselves.
The reason why the soldiers of the two towns could not continue to advance was that the bandit army increased its troops.
On the same day that the soldiers from the two towns arrived in Linjin, Li Dingguo, under the order of Li Zicheng, arrived with reinforcements from the firearms battalion. Together with more than 100,000 soldiers and horses of the rogue right camp, they camped six miles south of Linjin.
According to the intelligence provided by the two towns at night, Yang Guozhu and Cao Bianjiao knew that the bandit troops who came to help were a reorganized firearms battalion and carried a large number of artillery. This news made the two of them feel like they were facing a formidable enemy.
At this time, although there were dozens of artillery in the Xuanfu Town and ASEAN Town armies, they were all small cannons such as Xiaofo Langji, which could not compete with the two hundred heavy artillery in the bandit army.
"It's better to stay in the city temporarily, think of a way to fight, and then march forward."
After hearing Yang Guozhu's words, Cao Bianjiao nodded in agreement. Under the current situation, it would be impossible for the army to successfully reach Tongguan without a fight to dampen the spirit of the bandits.
"It's just that the Rogue Firearms Battalion is very powerful. How will we fight this battle?"
