Chapter 269 Unkind Bait
After carefully explaining to the two brothers for a long time, You Shiwei ordered the division of troops. He took 5,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry to join Zuo Liangyu's 30,000 people and turned to Huating. As the deputy commander-in-chief, he led the remaining 30,000 people and You Shilu and two others to go south and directly entered Zhejiang. In his hand, he also had the official document Xu Hongji had long issued to the Zhejiang capital.
The waterways between Suzhou and Song Dynasty were better than those in Zhejiang and so on. Even Chen Cao's pursuit was quite difficult. However, when he caught up with Wujiang, he had two problems in front of him.
"You Shiwei divided his troops into two groups, one went to Huating and the other entered Zhejiang."
Naturally, Chen Cao didn't know where You Shiwei was. He could only rely on guessing. Moreover, the three brothers of the You family were also rare famous generals in the late Ming Dynasty. If he hadn't personally led the troops to deal with You Shiwei, he would have even worried about Hong Chengchou who was in charge of Huating. Can you resist it?
But then Chen Cao softened a lot. After all, Hong Chengchou's reputation was not unfounded. He could have been in a stalemate with Jiannu for so long in Liaodong. If it weren't for the mischief within the Ming Dynasty, it would be empty talk for Jiannu to enter the pass.
Moreover, Hong Chengchou was good at learning. His most important achievement was that he clearly realized that it would be impossible for the imperial court to exterminate the Jiannu slaves within thirty to fifty years. Therefore, his tactics in Liaodong all followed Xiong Tingbi's strategy. Of course, This is Hong Chengchou in history books.
There are two official roads from Suzhou to Songjiang. One is from Qingpu out of Qiandun and enters Suzhou. The second is from Jiashan County in the southwest. The waterway plain between Dianshan Lake and Jiashan in Songjiang is also between Suzhou and Songjiang. There are few plains, but the roads in these two places are uneven, and most of them are country roads, which are not suitable for large armies to walk at all.
"Dianshan Lake crosses the road south of Huating. There are many inspection departments in the area. According to the guide, there are many inspection departments in Dianshan Lake. This generation is just at the junction of Zhejiang and Songjiang, and there are not too many local people. .”
Zuo Liangyu and You Shiwei were in full force. At this moment, he was talking endlessly about the news reported to him by the spies he had installed in Songjiang, in order to gain favor with You Shiwei.
Even if he has 30,000 people, he can clearly understand that his 30,000 troops are really no match for the 15,000 Yulin border troops. They are both imperial soldiers and horses, and the murderous intent of the border troops is not that of the mainland soldiers. The guardsmen have it.
Moreover, this time You Shiwei was ordered by the imperial court to come all the way, and Xu Hongji paid great attention to it, so he mobilized a lot of firearms from various guards. Although the reputation of the Liaodong Frontier Army was bad, the Yulin Frontier Army had not yet reached Chongzhen. The level of carbuncle in the last years.
Therefore, the troops under You Shiwei were the elite of the Ming Dynasty here in Zuo Liangyu, so naturally they had to be on the pole to curry favor.
Not only Zuo Liangyu's news, but also many people spread out by You Shiwei along the way, but the unified return they received was nothing more than a piece of news.
There was at least fifty miles ahead, and except for the inspection department of Dianshan Lake, there was no sign of any rebels.
You Shiwei fought bravely and was good at commanding. He was a typical person with both wisdom and courage. Therefore, after receiving the news about the scouts, he did not actively want to advance with light troops like Zuo Liangyu, but decisively sent out hundreds of scouts. Look in every direction for news.
It wasn't until he got the same answer again three hours later that he turned to look at Zuo Liangyu, who was a little tired: "General Zuo, it's time for you to make a contribution."
Zuo Liangyu's spirit perked up, and when he thought that he would make a fortune by doing meritorious service, his eyes lit up, he cupped his fists and said, "Please give me your orders, Commander-in-Chief You."
"Your troops will immediately advance quickly and attack Huating. If your military morale is acceptable after arriving, you can just launch an attack without waiting for my order."
This is a disguised form of handing over command to Zuo Liangyu, allowing him to do things on his own. This plays into Zuo Liangyu's hands. He has his own way of boosting military morale. He is even worried about being restrained by You Shiwei. Hands and feet, because he obviously felt that You Shiwei was more difficult to speak than You Shilu.
"The last general takes orders..."
Seeing Zuo Liangyu leaving excitedly, You Shiwei called the deputy commander-in-chief Zhou Degong: "You will lead 10,000 infantry and move closer to Jiashan County after arriving at Huating to prevent the rebels from going north for rescue. I will lead 5,000 cavalry." Go and support Zuo Liangyu."
"I humble my position and take orders..."
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"Didn't you go to Qiandun?"
Chen Cao frowned, then called Huang Chunyao and several leading generals to look at the map together: "Dianshan Lake is in the middle. If they don't go through Qiandun, they can only enter Songjiang from Pingwang."
Huang Chunyao nodded and said: "What my father-in-law said is just as the students thought. Dianshan Lake blocks the road into Songjiang from the south. They should be looking at it from the side."
Soon afterwards, Chen Cao received the return of the soldiers sent out for reconnaissance and received the news that Pingwang had been looted by the army.
Chen Cao frowned, and then he could guess the outcome of Pingwang Town. Tens of thousands of people from You Shiwei came from afar, joined forces with Zuo Liangyu, and attacked Songjiang together. To achieve the purpose of a sneak attack, naturally they could only advance quickly with light troops. As a result, their food was naturally only enough to carry for three to five days, so they could only feed and supply supplies along the way.
Although the town of Pingwang is not big, there are at least a thousand people living in it. After Chen Cao captured Suzhou, the place had not yet sent inspection officials, so naturally it could not be controlled here.
As the saying goes, there is no establishment without destruction. Since Pingwang has been looted, it means that at least one of You Shiwei's troops entered Songjiang directly after passing through Pingwang.
"We have to hurry up, otherwise there will be a fierce fight there before we get to Huating."
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Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture
The north city and east city of Huating City are protected by city walls, and the height of the city walls is only about five meters. However, because the west city and the south city cover the jurisdiction of Huating County, when they were built in the 17th year of Hongwu, there was no specific city wall covered with rammed earth and bricks. Xicheng The city wall with Nancheng is still a square wall passed down from the Tang Dynasty. When it was built in the 17th year of Hongwu, taking into account the financial resources at the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it only thickened one meter on the basis of the square wall that was as high as a person, and then increased it, which was only Two meters high.
And because the wall in the West City section has been in disrepair for a long time, many places have collapsed. On weekdays, people in Huating County do not even go through the south city gate when they leave the city, but go straight out of the city through the collapsed wall.
When Zuo Liangyu led his army to break into the south wall of Huating, he actually had a heated fight with Hong Chengchou, who had been prepared for it. Although the Shence army had firearms, Zuo Liangyu was like an old widower after seeing such a low city wall. He got a young wife with burning eyes, and the Huating in front of him was like a gold ingot that couldn't walk.
Zuo Liangyu arrived in the middle of the night and issued the order to attack before dawn. The 13th Division of the Shence Army responsible for the defense of Nancheng was caught off guard, so that Zuo Liangyu's subordinate Jin Shenghuan attacked with his People braved the threat of firearms and actually broke into Nancheng twice.
If Hong Chengchou had not arrived in person with reinforcements after receiving the news, perhaps Zuo Liangyu would have taken Huating South City in just one battle, and then started a street battle with Hong Chengchou's Shence Army in the city.
Even so, the left army that invaded Nancheng also set several fires in Nancheng, so that the Shence Army had to fight again and put out the fires.
"We must take advantage of this momentum to attack, otherwise our morale will be weakened. I'll find it hard to think of such a move again."
Zuo Liangyu's words were addressed to the guerrilla Ma Jizhong beside him. He and Jin Shenghuan were close confidants of Zuo Liangyu. Even the three guerrillas Li Guoying, Xu Yong, and Zhang Yong could not stand up to them. Compare.
Seeing Jin Shenghuan's troops withdrawing from Nancheng again, Ma Jizhong also agreed with Zuo Liangyu's words and said: "General, why don't you go down to help in the battle."
The loss of three thousand men in two attacks was at least one thousand. However, the two-meter-high city wall of Huating South City was really useless. If Hong Chengchou hadn't deployed a close-combat Tiger Crouching Cannon at the gap, Jin Shenghuan might have attacked for the third time. Went in.
However, Ma Jizhong, who later joined the battle group, also brought a big trouble to Hong Chengchou. You Shiwei prepared a lot of fierce fire oil for Zuo Liangyu before leaving. At this moment, Ma Jizhong threw all the fierce fire oil into the water. Within the high city walls.
The deflagrating fire even ignited all the gunpowder placed not far behind the city wall. The sound of explosions and flames rose into the sky, and the battle situation had entered a fierce stage.
You Shiwei looked at the two sides fighting in the distance, then turned his horse's head: "The whole army listens to the order and immediately goes to the West City. Let's attack from there;
Send an order to Zuo Liangyu and ask him to attack with all his troops. "
The scout cavalry reported to You Shiwei that the wall in the west of Huating City is the same as that in the south city. A high-speed war horse can easily cross it with a gallop. Of course, this also depends on the skill of the rider.
But You Shiwei has this confidence. The five thousand cavalry under his command are elites transferred from Yulin, and they are first-class in cavalry combat.
After Zuo Liangyu received the order, he learned that You Shiwei was personally leading troops to attack Xicheng. He immediately sent out all three of his remaining cronies, leaving only a reserve of 5,000 people, and also encouraged the soldiers. Out of breath.
"As long as you capture Huating, you can freely plunder for two days."
This is a big deal, and no one is willing to give it up. The wealth of Huating, the capital of Songjiang, is comparable to that of Suzhou. They made a lot of money just by robbing an affiliated Wu County in Suzhou. If they rob Huating now, Isn't that doubled?
At this point, the morale of the 25,000 left army soldiers surged, and they rushed towards the wide and low southern city wall of Huating like a flood. Even though many comrades were killed in front, they were encouraged by money and free plunder. , this kind of death is nothing.
Even Hong Chengchou, who was ascending the command line behind the city wall, frowned. When did the troops at the inland guard station become so powerful?
The 15th Division of the Shence Army stayed in Shanghai, while only the 13th Division was in Huating. The 14th Division was stationed in Qingpu. When Hong Chengchou learned that the army had arrived, he immediately sent a horse to Qingpu. The 14th Division was urgently mobilized to return to Huating to aid Huating, leaving only Songjiang Wei Wang and his different units stationed in Qingpu.
"Send the order and send another brigade of troops over to stop them no matter what."
