Chapter 84 Preparing for War
Luo Yonghao perked up and said, "Okay. Let him come in."
The dusty Luo Shifan stepped into the second hall, raised his head and bowed with his fists clasped: "I have seen the commander-in-chief, father." Then, he saluted the generals on both sides: "Generals."
If Luo Yonghao was involved in military discussions, Luo Shifan would always stand behind his father - as long as his father was around, his son would not be able to treat him as an equal in public. All the generals filed in together, and of course they could go straight to their seats. However, if any of them came late, they would have to go up to Guan and Luo Shili before taking their seats. Luo Shifan was a junior among this group of people, so he came in now to participate in the military meeting. , as it should be...this was all necessary etiquette at that time.
Guan Shengyun looked at Luo Shifan with curiosity and concern, and saw that his face was full of exhaustion, the hem of his dirty gown was rolled up around his waist, his shoes were covered with dust, and his trousers had several holes... He asked hurriedly: "My nephew" Where have you been? Why are you like this? Drink some water, sit down and talk!" As he spoke, his eyes turned to Luo Yonghao and looked over.
Luo Yonghao also asked: "How was your exploration trip?" He asked with his eyes full of love and affection.
Luo Shifan replied calmly: "Commander Qi, father. Father, what you expected is true. That road is indeed possible."
While talking, Guan Yehuo brought a pottery bowl filled with water and handed it to Luo Shifan. The latter reached out to take it, drank it all in one gulp, handed it back to Guan Yehuo, and thanked him quietly: "Brother Yehuo", using the back of his hand. Wiped the corners of his mouth. Guan Yehuo nodded and retreated.
After listening to the conversation between Luo and his son, Guan Shengyun understood that in the past few days, the military advisor had actually sent the young master to explore the way, and said hurriedly: "Thank you for your hard work, nephew. Don't be anxious. Sit down and talk."
Luo Shifan looked at his father, saw the latter nodded, and clasped his fists again: "Thank you, Marshal." He retreated to the last seat and sat down, straightened his back and spoke again: "Thank you, Marshal. Before the army entered Xin'an, my father ordered me to serve as a traveling scholar. As a son, I left the camp to explore the road." Then he turned his attention to Luo Yonghao, "Father, that road can indeed be passed by the army. It's just a little narrow in a few places, but it only needs a little cutting to pave the way. It won't be in the way. .”
Luo Yonghao nodded: "Okay! Please tell me in detail."
The military advisor's personal guard pulled down an ink and wash lotus hanging by Cai Wenying and hung a map of Henan Province in the hall.
Luo Shifan stood up again, hesitated for a moment, bowed and apologized, took the paper fan from Luo Yonghao with both hands, and started pointing out the map and explaining it.
…
After Luo Shifan finished speaking, Luo Yonghao asked a few more questions. The confused generals gradually understood, and everyone started discussing.
Qi Xiaoguang hasn't slept well for two or three days. However, Magistrate Qi was in a good mood: Sun Fugui repelled the two attacks of the thieves without any danger.
Both Qi Xiaoguang and Cai Wenying, the magistrate of Xin'an County, witnessed a real battle for the first time. In fact, strictly speaking, so is Sun Fugui. However, after being transferred from the Beijing Camp to the Royal Guards, he had participated in the suppression of bandits under the emperor's orders. Not only Sun Fugui himself, but also several of his Qianzong bosses had killed people with their own hands, so he could not be considered a complete rookie. Of course, suppressing bandits and counterinsurgency are two different things. One is chasing dozens and hundreds of beggars across the mountains and plains with an absolute advantage, and the other is a head-on fight with a majestic formation.
Everyone understands that the late emperor ordered the royal guards to directly participate in the local suppression of bandits. This was because he was worried about the safety of his precious fat son. It was just a test of the bodyguards' abilities, and it was also a training. Therefore, with the hint of the cabinet and the silent support of the Ministry of War, not only Luoyang Prefecture mobilized all available forces, but even the provincial government secretly deployed a considerable amount of troops to contain them from a distance. Logistics support is even less impressive: for the 70 or 80 bandits, Henan Province directly mobilized more than 2,500 soldiers, and more than 7,000 auxiliary soldiers! How can those bandits who have been miserable for eight lifetimes imagine that they, including the daggers, only have more than thirty knives in total, and the others can only use hoes or sticks as weapons? They are so poor. Wow, how, what, sin, oh, what, road, god, immortal it is! The Holy Emperor thought of him as a whetstone for his fat son's bodyguard to practice courage? !
Of course, there was no suspense about the entire battle from the beginning to the end: the officers and soldiers from all walks of life first drove these unlucky ghosts into a hopeless and undefeable position, and then surrounded them without attacking. The unlucky ghosts were so hungry that they risked their lives to break out. The officers and soldiers neither fired arrows - the lethality of bows and arrows against unarmored people should not be underestimated - nor attacked, but just stabbed them with spears through the fence! He just stabbed him, but he avoided the vital point and only stabbed his arm and thigh! When the bandits are completely demoralized and start running away, they will never pursue them! Many wounded bandits who thought they were certain to die lay groaning in front of the officers and soldiers. The officers and soldiers just stared at them through the fence and never took a step. In the end, many of them were under the noses of the officers and soldiers. Climb back slowly by yourself!
Until there was no movement for three or four days in a row, they were probably too hungry to get up, so Henan Guard Commander Yang Zhongguo, Deputy General Jiang Shide, Hongnong Guard Commander Li Chao and others led by Xue Xiaowen, the then Inspector of Henan Province He came down to Sun Fugui's camp and said: "General Sun, we are ashamed. The thieves are extremely ferocious. The officers and soldiers cannot fight for a long time, but they can only support it with all their strength. I implore General Sun to use his power to help..."
Sun Fugui had been idle for a long time. Although he had never actually killed anyone, he still had blood in his bones and a missing string in his mind. Without saying a word, he rushed forward with a knife and led the people, slashing like crazy... Then, Before I woke up and realized why these guys couldn't even move for their lives, the Holy Master had already received an urgent message of 600 miles: a great victory!
Then, the Holy Spirit was naturally overjoyed: Xue Xiaowen was directly promoted to the Chief Envoy of Nanzhili, Yang Zhongguo was promoted to the Commander of the Capital, Jiang Shide opened the town, Li Chao was promoted to the Commander... Sun Fugui received a reward of 500 taels of silver and became the guardian of the palace. The military commander also gave his son, who had no idea where he was, a job in a hundred households - Sun Fugui was still a bachelor at this time!
Therefore, Sun Fugui, whose actual combat experience was limited to this battle, did not fully realize that Guan Shengyun was conducting fire reconnaissance: he could see that the thief must not have tried his best, but he was completely ignorant of Guan Shengyun's true strength. The seemingly menacing Guan Shengyun's army was nothing but mediocre in the eyes of the civil and military personnel guarding Hangu Pass. Of course, to break Shaanzhou, he must have caught that bastard Ma Wensheng off guard - such a bastard guy deserves it!
Therefore, after repelling the second attack of the thieves, Qi Xiaoguang ordered Luoyang to send 500 soldiers and 1,500 Ding Zhuang as auxiliary soldiers. Lieutenant General Kou Zhizhang heard that he had repelled two attacks by the thieves. In order to rectify his reputation and status, he personally led the reinforcements there! No one has any objections to this: as long as the thieves are kept out of Hangu Pass, the Luo Mansion will certainly have nothing to worry about. The current Hangu Pass, including the original defenders, has more than two thousand soldiers, and the number of auxiliary soldiers is twice that number. With Luoyang as its back, food and supplies are no longer in danger.
The thief will definitely hit his head and bleed bloody in front of this copper wall.
Until this moment, neither side knew the true strength of the other side. Although Guan Shengyun did not have clairvoyance and could not see the reinforcements coming from the official army through the wall, he hid all the soldiers in Xin'an County and used most of them as auxiliary soldiers with no armor and a small amount of leather armor. A few officers had half armor. Pretending to attack the main force, in the eyes of the officers and soldiers, they are thieves, that's what they should be like... Even if they were killed, they would not have guessed that the fat and oily soldiers of Guan Shengyun's tribe had almost 100% armor coverage, among which the iron armor was as high as 70% - - Let alone the ordinary officers and soldiers, even the palace guards are far behind, but the entire Ming Dynasty, that is, the Holy Emperor's Beijing camp, can only be better than them in terms of equipment (the combat effectiveness is much worse)!
Two days later, apart from patrolling and cursing from a distance outside the gate every day, the thieves on the opposite side did not make any big moves. Qi Xiaoguang and others were very happy: the reinforcements had traveled more than a hundred miles, and they had recovered their strength in the past two days. At the same time, I am also a little puzzled: time is the enemy of thieves, and thieves are conducive to a quick battle. The longer it is delayed, the more officers and soldiers will come to help. When officers and soldiers from all over the place gather, it will be the end of the road. Thieves will not understand this truth - the thieves' casualties are not many, at most they are only scratched skin. Why is this?
Well, maybe the ragtag group of thieves were at a loss when they encountered the powerful Xiongguan force. No matter what, it’s good for us anyway!
On the third day, just after dawn, the Wangzi at Hangu Pass sounded the alarm. The sleepy-eyed officials hurriedly ran to the wall and looked to the west. They saw that the east gate of Xin'an City was wide open. The dark doorway was like a big mouth, and the bandits of thieves filed out of it, squeezing in noisily. Formed an array seventy or eighty feet away. In addition to the ladder trucks we had seen before, there were also three or five rush trucks this time.
"Finally here!" Everyone said silently in their hearts.
There were about four to five thousand thieves. Under the gradually rising sun, a small area in the bandit formation flashed with dazzling light from time to time. The light flowed in the queue: this is the reflection of the armor!
Ha, the thief's generals and bodyguards all ran out too!
Could it be that the thief is going to make a desperate move today?
Well, almost. No matter how stupid the thief is, he can imagine that all the officers and soldiers are gathering at Hangu Pass. If they don't make a desperate escape, they will be killed without mercy!
After the bandit formation was completed, more than a hundred large and small vehicles were rolled out of the city and lined up behind the formation, blocking the two wings tightly, leaving only one official road in the middle.
To the south of Xin'an is a large river called Gushui (also called Jianshui). The Beixi water in the north merges into it and then goes all the way east, passing Hangu Pass. Cixi flows in from the south, and then follows the official road directly to Luoyang. At this moment, more than a dozen small boats came to the valley water, moored in the river next to the bandits' military formation.
Looking further towards the east wall of Xin'an, the thief's flag has disappeared!
That's right, the thief is going to make a last ditch effort!
The baggage should all be in the cart behind the formation, and there will also be some in the boat. I guess most of it is packed with gold and silver, along with the robbed female relatives! Wait for the big bandit army...hehehehe.
There is no flag at the top of the city to direct the attack - it seems that the thieves are really desperate! Hum hum, with your little wealth, how can you be so arrogant? Not to mention the Luo Mansion with high walls and deep trenches, Hangu Pass in front of you is the place where you and others are buried!
To fight a war, it’s about the right time, right place, right people and people. In the past few days, the thieves' front has been repeatedly defeated. The morale of the officers and soldiers is strong. The majestic pass is commanding a man who can't open it. Today, even the weather is extremely favorable: the sun is rising, and the thieves have to brave the dazzling sunshine to the east all morning. Attack, and the officers and soldiers can see clearly any movement of the thieves!
Qi Xiaoguang and Sun Fugui gave the order almost in unison: Reserve team, all go to the wall to prepare for battle!
For a moment, the war drums were beating fiercely, and the defenders closed their arrows and unsheathed their sabers. The new reinforcements looked with envy at the heroic energy of the veterans who had been baptized by the battle, with their chests and belly puffed out, and they were full of the desire for victory...well, and the coveting of the bounty.
There was also a drumbeat from the opposite side: the war had begun.
Knowledge points in this article: Maps.
Ancient maps are called maps. Because at the beginning, the mapping of mountains and terrain was entirely done by walking - China is so big, how can we walk on legs? Besides, can the legs measured on Yao Ming and Pan Changjiang be the same? So later there were two new technologies: one hardware and one software.
The software is called "Ji Li Hua Fang", and its inventor is Pei Xiu, from the Jin Dynasty. Just draw a square on the paper with a side one inch long. Every inch represents a hundred miles. This is the scale. Shen Kuo of the Song Dynasty drew a more precise one: two inches represents one hundred miles.
The hardware is a gigantic truck. The car has two levels, each with wooden figures. Calculate the circumference of the wheel in advance. Every time it goes one mile, the wooden figure on the lower level plays the drum. Every time it goes ten miles, the wooden figure on the upper level knocks the gong (or bell). This is real high-tech!
In ancient times, the car was called "yu", and the map drawn based on the mileage measured by the car was called a map.
