Chapter 217 Reinforcements
A large group of Ming troops with bright armors lined up on the east bank of the Maha River every day, with great fanfare to protect the people and cut down trees to build pontoon bridges. Although it was obvious at a glance that they were working very hard, Yang Yisi's old man, Sa Mabao, was still worried when he saw that the pontoon bridge had been built in the middle of the river. Although the raid a few days ago was a complete success, it was only because the news was received in advance and the Han soldiers collapsed without a fight. If they could resist for a while with real swords and guns, their side would only be so little. People have almost no chance of winning. At this rate, the pontoon bridge will be built in two or three days!
There are only seven to eight hundred men in hand who can go into battle. There are three combat barracks on the other side of the armor. Plus the auxiliary troops, the total strength is almost eight or nine times that of his own! Harassment will definitely not work - the opponent is obviously not aware of the strength of this side in this array. If the Han general sees through Yang Yisi's falsehood, he will definitely not bother to build a bridge: build one or two hundred The rafts were forced to cross at the same time, and there was no way that hundreds of people could stop them! As long as a few units board the west bank and outflank them, everyone will be dead. Moreover, this is not all the Ming army. The leader of Baini Division has sent a letter, and tens of thousands of Ming troops are coming from Zhenyuan Prefecture. Now they have passed the Pianqiao (today's Shibing, Guizhou), and today they can After arriving at Xinglong (now Huangping), we will arrive at Qingping in two or three days at most!
Although he vaguely knew in his heart that the two guys who came to deliver the message last time must have a close relationship with the Han general opposite, Sa Mabao would never treat him as a friend because of this. There are too many twists and turns in the belly of the Han people, and they can poke you through with a knife under their hands while smiling at you! This is not only true for the Miao people, but also among themselves. The old man has seen this kind of thing many times. Samabao sent someone to deliver a message to Elder An, telling him that the main force of the Ming army was coming from the north and asked him to mobilize reinforcements as soon as possible. At the same time, he arranged for the old and young of each village to take refuge in the mountains. Samabao knows that if the Han army comes over, not even the baby will survive. They will not care whether you are with your elder An - not to mention the Miao people, even if they are Han people. The same goes for the common people.
However, the old man was a little unfounded.
After Sa Ma Bao hid all the old and young Miao women in the mountains, he felt a little more at ease. He sent out an observation post, and he and hundreds of Miao soldiers drank wildly in the stockade - everyone's lives had entered a countdown, and the Han army would come over at any time. The only time now is to fight to the death and buy some time for the reinforcements.
After waiting in fear for a few days, the Han army was still building the bridge, which was only extended by a few feet, and was still seven or eight feet away from the west bank. Sa Mabao regretted a little: If he had known this, he shouldn't have wasted so much time. He could have asked these people to dig some pits and set up some traps. At least they could have blocked it for a while longer!
It took a lot longer than expected, until these people dug all the places where they could dig traps, until they drank all the rice wine in the village, and until An Bangyan successively transferred thousands of traps from the eastern front. On the third day after the reinforcements arrived at Yangchang Pass...the main force of the Ming army appeared on the other side of the river - and the pontoon bridge still did not reach the west bank!
In the evening, Samabao and several of the tribesmen who came to help sat around the campfire and roasted taro to eat. The old man felt particularly embarrassed: He came all the way to help you fight against the enemy, and he didn't even have a drink. What the hell! Two days before the arrival of the reinforcements, they drank the wine they brought themselves. Today, they have finished drinking the wine, and everyone has no choice but to eat taro - the Ming army on the other side, why don't you come over? If it takes a while longer, all the bamboo shoots and taro on the surrounding mountains will be eaten!
Sa Mabao's worries came true.
The whole of July has passed, and the floating bridge on the Maha River has not yet been completed.
In mid-August, I saw that the pontoon bridge was still more than ten feet away from the west bank. It rained, and the river rose a little. A few waves, not very big, came over, and less than half of the pontoon bridge was washed away, leaving only the middle of the river. That section!
It will be October in a few days, and the floating bridge has not been built yet...
Everyone couldn't sit still.
The first one is An Bangyan. Elder An has a lot of eyes and thinks a lot about everything. The Ming army made such a big noise on the North Road with great fanfare but no troops were sent in yet. Could it be that they suddenly appeared from the East or South Road because they were suspected of attacking from the east and west? So they sent people around again and again to inquire about information, and at the same time they stepped up their harassing attacks on Guiyang.
The second person who couldn't sit still was Sa Mabao. It's okay to say that the young and old of several villages have been nesting in the mountains for more than a month in vain. These more than 10,000 strong men first eat and enjoy the cool and sleep every day, and later they eat and bask in the sun and sleep. They do nothing all day long. If you can't do it, just work like this. Everything edible on the surrounding hills has been dug up. If Elder An doesn't donate some food, how will he survive this winter?
The same goes for other leaders. If you are in your hometown, you only need to keep a small number of people on guard, and everyone else can do whatever they need to do, and it won't delay much work. We have nothing to say if we really fight. If we can't defeat the Ming army, we will accept our fate. If we win, we can grab a lot of food and supplies. That's good, these strong laborers are wasted on the Ming army like this. The Ming Dynasty has a full 60 million men, which can continuously supply various materials to the front line. How can the Miao people afford to fight with this little wealth?
The one who is most on pins and needles is of course Wang Ershan. An unfavorable defeat at the start of the battle destroyed the newly promoted deputy general and an entire guard. There was no need for the court to think about it. The officials must have been vigorously cursing themselves: "Entrusted to me" If it doesn’t work, he has repeatedly betrayed God’s grace, feared the enemy like a tiger, and was defeated thousands of miles away...” He didn’t run away! It was originally expected that promoting Xie Zhongren to the front line would boost morale, and then win one or two games in one go. Even if it was a small defeat for the enemy, at least he would have an explanation with the capital. However, Xie Zhongren also beat his chest loudly for more than a month. After a while, Master Wang finally understood. He was not building a bridge to prepare for war. He was simply on vacation by the river!
The court's official newspapers chased them from Yuanjiang to Zhenyuan, and then from Zhenyuan to Qingping. The content at the beginning was exactly the same: to make peace and rebellion as soon as possible, without any excuses. In October, the tone became more and more severe, until the murderous aura appeared on the paper: "You should know when you need to be appeased. Those who shrink their heads and necks in fear of fighting and resist patrols will not be tolerated by the national law!"
Wang Ershan knew that the court was really anxious.
It’s no wonder that at the beginning there was no troops and food, and there was nothing we could do no matter how anxious we were. But more than ten months have passed. Regardless of whether the soldiers are useless or not, the Ministry of War has already mobilized more than 30,000 people and food. Regardless of how much chaff has been mixed in and how much the quantity has been falsely reported, there must be a small hundred thousand stones. , and I spent 70,000 to 80,000 yuan in salary! In order to strengthen the determination of the Guiyang garrison to wait for reinforcements, he invited the Pingman General Yin to lead the local Han officers and soldiers of Guiyang for Zhang Fang when he was in Yuanjiang. However, not to mention that this guy went on a massive invasion and enriched his own pockets, not to mention a huge defeat. They use the people as food, and they even openly sell human flesh! Later, Xu Shizhen was recommended. Immediately after the imperial court received the news that his entire army was annihilated, Xie Zhongren was recommended. The moon hasn’t reached the other side yet…
Thinking of this, Mr. Wang felt a chill on the back of his neck and up to the top of his head - Wang Ershan finally understood that despite the fact that the generals were respectful to him, they were deliberately colluding and working together to trick me into death. Thinking about it together, working hard in one place, dragging it until the court couldn't bear it and cut him off with a knife, and replaced him with a new governor - don't we still have to count on these guys? Just drag it if you can.
Military discussion!
Wang Ershan didn't care that he hadn't arrived in Longli yet, so he sent people to find Tian Baisheng, asking him to send troops to join him quickly. At the same time, he called all the generals together for a military meeting.
The generals just looked at each other and explained the difficulties in a serious manner, as they did in the past. Without saying a few words, only a "pop" was heard. Wang Ershan slapped the table with his palm: "Please give me the Emperor's Sword!"
The servant respectfully held out the Shang Fang sword wrapped in yellow silk, and everyone knelt down. Wang Ershan bowed before him, took the sword and drew it out with a swipe: "Everyone, according to what you said, the thieves are powerful, and if you advance rashly, you will die to the enemy. I made it clear today, if you don't advance, you will die according to the law of the country today. ! If we can’t break the siege of Guiyang, I will be killed on my own, but before I am beheaded by the court..." As he spoke, he glanced at the kneeling generals sinisterly, "You all have to take one step before me!"
"Order! The whole army will cross the river within three days. On the first day of November, I will spend the night in Xintian! Whoever falls behind, I will personally use this emperor's sword to decapitate him! If you die by the enemy, you will be granted the title of wife and son; According to the national law, family members are admitted into the official position! You can decide what to do by yourselves!"
Seeing that Wang Ershan was serious about his game, all the generals were dumbfounded. No one was willing to be the first chicken to scare the monkeys. Later that day, the pontoon bridge was completed, and the army set fire to cross the river overnight. Before noon on the third day, the entire army crossed the Maha River. Samabao took all the tribesmen and ran into the mountains again. The Ming army did not stop and spent the night in Yangyisi. The next day they set off a fire and burned the village to the ground. On the first day of November, Wang Ershanzhen We arrived at Xintiansi.
It's not that these guys are really capable of fighting, but because the leaders An Bangyan sent to Yang Yisi to intercept the Ming army couldn't afford it, so they quietly withdrew as early as the end of September.
Wang Ershan supervised the generals and rushed towards Guiyang. Because it was all a mountainous road, the average daily marching speed was less than ten miles. They finally arrived at Longliwei in mid-November. During this period, a camp roar occurred while staying overnight in Pingxu Cave: In the early morning, some soldiers cried out of fear, which triggered a chain reaction. Everyone who woke up from their dreams thought that An Bangyan was attacking at night, especially because most of them were night blind and were blind in the dark. He couldn't see clearly and started to panic. Fortunately, a guerrilla named Liu Chao responded quickly and led more than 20 personal guards to suppress them with fire and bullets. He chopped down a few who had a mental breakdown and screamed the loudest. He slightly controlled the situation. After a while, daylight Brighten it up, and everyone will realize that it was a false alarm that scared them.
Wang Ershan promoted Liu Chao to the rank of staff general, but he himself fell into despair: he led many people, with a total strength of more than 50,000, and claimed 80,000 for the entire army. In ancient times, the so-called military strength was not only to scare the opponent, but also to intimidate the opponent. His troops are emboldened. Because the soldiers were all illiterate and couldn't count, when the commander said there were so many people, they thought there really were so many people. No one could count them one by one anyway. "Knowing" that there were so many people on their side naturally made them more courageous. Get up - but these are all things that can scare you to tears, can you expect them to defeat the enemy?
Desperate Wang Ershan made up his mind: ignore it and die here if you deserve it. There is no point in regretting it anyway. If you die in front of the enemy, you can also make a career for your descendants.
The army approached Guiyang step by step, and finally met the enemy at Qianshenguan.
Liu Chao, who had just been promoted, was the leader of the army. As soon as the forward battalion was attacked by the enemy in the mountain col, he fled hastily. Liu Chao of the Chinese army was still on the slope. Looking ahead, he saw that all the soldiers who fled were his soldiers, and there were no Miao soldiers behind. During the pursuit, General Liu Shen was so angry that he led his soldiers forward on horseback and chopped down the camp officer on the spot. The soldiers in the Central Military Camp also saw clearly that there was no enemy chasing behind the forward camp, and their courage suddenly increased. They followed Liu Chao and rushed forward. Only after they "captured" Qiansheng Pass did they realize that the so-called enemy ambush was nothing more than an enemy ambush. Just over a hundred Miao Yi.
Something was very wrong with Wang Ershan. When he heard the shout of "kill Zhentian" from the front, the whole army was almost frightened out of control. Wang Ershan, who was already determined to die, handed over his official seal to his subordinates, wore his hair and sword, and showed an all-out attitude. At least Xie Zhongren and other generals knew the power of the Emperor's Sword and did not dare to run away on their own. , had just managed to control the troops and before they had time to form a defensive formation, good news came from the front: Liu Chao's troops had defeated An Ni and conquered Qianshu Pass!
Everyone just breathed a sigh of relief when suddenly another scout reported: A large group of thieves appeared behind the army and were marching towards them, less than ten miles away from the army!
"Fight to the death!" Wang Ershan shouted sternly, "Either you die from the enemy, or you die from the law. If you die as a man, you will die!"
Wang Ershan did not die.
Because the troop behind was a friendly force—Tian Baisheng led his suppressing troops to catch up!
From Pingyue to Longli, Mr. Wang has been dragging his feet for so long, all because he was competing with himself. But here comes the question: Where are An Bangyan's 100,000 troops?
