Although some newly surrendered soldiers betrayed and surrendered to the enemy, the Marshal's Mansion's surrender campaign in the east of Hezui was still very effective.
But because of Liu Chengzong's hesitation, the work of accepting the people was delayed for one day.
Seeing the poor people coming towards the west one after another, Liu Chengzong was very cautious, because as far as he knew, there were not so many people at the mouth of the river.
After careful interrogation, I found out that it was the Lanzhou banner army who was chasing the poor.
Many people were driven over because they could not pay bribes. This was too unbelievable for Liu Shizi. He thought about it all night, but he still couldn't figure out why the enemy would do this.
He could understand that Lanzhou wanted to drive the people who had fled Hehuang to the river's mouth; but he did not understand that the poor people of Lanzhou were also driven to the river's mouth, but he was greatly shocked.
Are you afraid that these poor people will respond when he attacks the city?
Liu Chengzong thought to himself, could it be said that my name as a liberator has spread from Uzang to Lanzhou? It shouldn’t be!
You can think of this as a good thing, but the reality is that more than 60,000 people gathered in Hezui. Not only was the scale too large for the soldiers to inspect, but it also blocked the road and affected the delivery of news to Tangqi.
We don’t know whether these people were carrying smallpox; we don’t know whether they were spies from the army; we don’t even know whether there were officers and soldiers among them.
Liu Chengzong only knew that among the hungry people there were spies from the Zhenhai camp sent by his brother, who reported that the Gansu frontier troops had moved their camps north, and that the Lanzhou army had set off firecrackers for ten miles at the mouth of the river and sprinkled lime and sulfur.
By the time he wanted to take over the people with all his strength, there was no time. The Gansu army moved the defense and the Lanzhou soldiers set off firecrackers. These were the first actions of the army to launch an attack.
This is very interesting to say, but human imagination is limited.
The Liu Chengzong in the minds of the frontier commanders in the five towns is the Liu Chengzong they imagined. The frontier commanders in the five towns and the officials in Lanzhou, Shaanxi Province in Liu Chengzong's mind are also what he imagined.
Even the fantasy of the frontier commander in the five towns is quite close to reality. After all, they all know about Liu Shizi's soldiers.
Liu Chengzong's fantasy was not very close to reality, because he could not imagine how exaggerated an order could be in a dying government office.
He always believed that Lanzhou had a deep meaning in driving away the people before sending troops.
Maybe the officers and soldiers no longer want to be human, and want to use the crowds of people to disperse their own army, so as to avoid a frontal battle and directly defeat him?
On Beishan Terrace, Liu Chengzong saw crowds of people in the distance, and the rain was about to come. Li Bei, who stood beside him, had a complicated mood.
For several years, he, a court counselor, was captured and put under house arrest, and then assisted Liu Chengzong. Until today, he finally stood opposite the court on the battlefield.
He shook his head, sighed, and watched Liu Chengzong fighting wits and courage with the air, and said: "Commander, don't think about it. There is no deep meaning. As long as the court has the ability to carry out deep meaning, we will not be able to reach Qinghai. This is King Su patting his head." , the result of the flag army’s deception.”
Liu Chengzong said in surprise: "So sure?"
"I am very sure that the generals of the five towns all have their own abilities. A fool cannot sit in that position. If the people attack you, you may not be overwhelmed. But as long as the people run in the opposite direction as soon as the knife is shown, the officers and soldiers will definitely be overwhelmed."
Li Bei was one of the first batch of guest generals selected to join the Guanning Army in Liaodong, and he was very clear about the advantages and disadvantages of main troops and guest troops.
When the main soldiers encounter setbacks, they will be more tenacious and rely on loyalty to maintain their relationship. They have lower salary requirements, but they tend to sympathize with their fellow countrymen and are at risk of rebellion. Guest soldiers are more costly and are not as tough as the main soldiers when they encounter setbacks. Military discipline is difficult to restrain, but they There will be no mercy on the local rebels.
At this time, the official troops assembled in Lanzhou would not have many main troops, and most of them would be guest troops. Li Bei believed that in terms of fighting will, they were no different from the troops of the Marshal's Mansion.
But Liu Chengzong still felt that the government and army were playing a big game.
To be on the safe side, he first sent people to attack Lu Chieftain's brother in the north to convey the news of the northward transfer of Gansu troops.
He urged his brother to break through the city as soon as possible and occupy the mountain pass stronghold to prevent the Gansu army from rushing to help and guarding against encirclement.
He did not intend to move his brother's army into the valley. If the Gansu army infected with smallpox supported the chieftain of Lu, then his brother and Li Wanqing's four thousand troops would all have antibodies to smallpox, so it would be just right to deal with them.
As for the 60,000 people who gathered east of the river mouth to beg for food, Liu Chengzong would not give up. However, the war was currently going on, they had not been examined for the time being, and they did not know whether they were infected with smallpox, so they could not put them all in his belly and back.
Therefore, he ordered the guards to lead the scattered native soldiers to urgently organize the people to form a hundred sentries, and each led hundreds of people into the southeast valley to temporarily avoid the battle.
Li Tianyu was very helpful in this matter. There are many lands owned by chieftains in the large valley in the southeast. The names of the places in the mountains are names such as Qijia Mountain and Zhaojiashan. The people formed teams and lined up along the valley to the south. The nearby chieftain village will temporarily provide rations for a few days.
The entire retreat into the valley was extremely chaotic due to its rapidity. More than 30,000 people evacuated into the mountains in one day, but the other 20,000 people could not be found.
Whether it was the people who had fled to Lanzhou with the wealthy people earlier, or the more common people who were driven out of Lanzhou, it was difficult for people to trust Liu Chengzong.
Rather than being taken into Nanshan like prisoners, they preferred to run north, even hiding in uninhabited villages east of the river mouth.
On the morning of March 13th, Dai Daozi saw the mighty army entering the valley at the east bend of the river. Tangqi, who was spreading out in the valley, waved the flag. The news soon relied on Tangqi's communication to enter the valley. Liu Chengzong, who was stationed at Hezui, heard it.
Then Dai Daozi began to give orders to the Tang soldiers to squeeze the enemy Tang soldiers and start a battle.
The Tang soldiers need to fight in order to delay the enemy Tang soldiers from occupying the hilltop plains, and force the subsequent army to become uneasy and send more troops to deal with them.
Through this, Tang soldiers can get closer to the enemy's main force and further ascertain the enemy's strength, strength, morale, camp formation, equipment, logistics and other information.
Liu Chengzong's response was to fight while retreating.
However, for Dai Daozi, this kind of encounter was more like a show of force on a tactical level.
Outside the Bao'en Temple in Hewan, Dai Daozi, with a relaxed smile on his face, issued an order to the Tang soldiers: "They can understand our flags and tease these backward people. Bring me back alive. I want to ask Qing Qing." Is the bastard of the feudal clan dead?"
Three miles away in the wilderness, Ma Xiang, the commander-in-chief of the Ningxia border army, was so nervous that his palms became sweaty.
In fact, Ma Xiang did not have much experience as a Tang soldier. When the Ningxia border troops were deployed in Yan'an to suppress bandits, he only served as a soldier in the sand camp at night. His main duty was to ride day and night inside and outside the Great Wall to see where the border walls were engulfed by yellow sand. Just reporting to the camp general.
It was all because General He lost his pants in Huanglong Mountain and he took a few more Mongolian heads before he was drafted into the pacesetter camp. It was less than half a year before he was able to catch up and take the position of General Manager Tangqi.
In the past six months, he took the newly recruited Tang soldiers to study flag orders hard and asked many people for advice on how to use them. Only then did he manage to build up the skills of Tang soldiers.
Everything was going well step by step, but until this expedition, Ma Xiang was very nervous.
In fact, it is not a good strategy for Ningxia's Tang soldiers to be in the front. Liu Chengzong's name is too lethal to the Ningxia border troops.
But You Shilu, who came from Yulin, was the deputy commander, and his standard camp did not have the Tang Bing system.
Guyuan's Yang Qi is a great commander, but that commander has been busy leading the hungry bandits to suppress the government troops. He has trained seven or eight groups of Tang soldiers. Under the torment of the retired border troops, not to mention Tang soldiers, there are Tang horses. One who can survive three battles.
Only He Huchen had the Tang soldiers in his hands, so the battle between the Tang soldiers could only fall on them.
Seeing his Tang soldiers retreating gradually, Ma Xiang couldn't help frowning, and soon heard his approaching subordinates excitedly say: "President Bai, we saw them waving the flag, and the order was for the Tang soldiers to retreat ten miles in succession, and to attack the mountains to the north of us. Flag informs us of the advance of the suppression campaign."
"Beishan, is there an ambush?"
Ma Xiang shook his head and looked to the north. The north was indeed full of mountains, and the mountains for ten or twenty miles were full of valleys. If there was an ambush... He ordered: "Give Marshal He a report and divide the twelve ponds to explore the mountains." .”
Dai Daozi watched his Tang soldiers retreating five miles on the battlefield to find a place to hide. The enemy Tang soldiers quickly separated a group to explore the north and south ravines. He shook his head and smiled: "Hey, can you be fooled? What about the people behind? There’s no need to use their abilities, just let them play in the ravine while we leave.”
As Dai Daozi led the Tang soldiers to retreat, more than 20,000 troops composed of the three towns of Ningxia, Yulin, Guyuan, Lanzhou Banner Army, and Taozhou local soldiers slowed down their advance. Each formation divided small forces to guard the valley entrance, and half of the Tang soldiers continued Move forward, intending to cover ten miles.
When the Tang soldiers reached Qili, they found Marshal Tang Ma approaching from the front. They immediately retreated one by one. During the retreat, they were attacked by Tang soldiers who were hiding in houses and haystacks.
In order to succeed in the ambush, many of Dai Daozi's Tang soldiers asked Pao Ze to take away their horses in advance. Suddenly, muskets were heard everywhere.
He Huchen suspected it was false news from the beginning, because his soldiers could understand the flag on the other side, and the other side could also understand his flag, so he hurried to the front of the formation, only to see a distressing scene with his binoculars.
After finally cultivating Tang soldiers who could understand the flags, they were oppressed from the front and ambushed from behind by the enemy. The soldiers of Tangtang were killed by a shot from behind and an arrow from the face.
But that was not what He Huchen was most concerned about. He expected that the newly trained Tang soldiers who lacked experience were defeated in the confrontation. He was more concerned about those Tang soldiers who stood together but did not fight.
We haven't seen each other for three years. Liu Chengzong's army has changed a lot compared to before. Judging from the beggings of the Tang soldiers, they have tassels on their helmets and guns. This is the most significant difference between the two armies.
He Huchen held the telescope with a cautious face. The more he looked at it, the more purple his face became, and his fists became tighter and tighter.
Because there are usually only one or three solitary Tang soldiers in a square mile, the battlefield where the Tang soldiers clashed swept across the entire valley's no-man's land in a matter of seconds, and gunshots were heard in some places.
But there are also places where there is no sound.
In the telescope, there were Tang soldiers with open arms and lowered their weapons. He Huchen confirmed again and again that those people were indeed his subordinates. They surrendered...surrendered?
He Huchen looked back at the boundless military formation. Not counting Wang Xingshan from the north and Wang Chengen from the south, there were 22,000 troops behind them in the middle alone.
With such a strong force, a dozen Tang soldiers chose to surrender in their first confrontation with the enemy?
A 'click' sound.
The wooden case of the telescope was cracked by He Huchen.
At the other end of the battlefield, Dai Daozi happily let the guards wave the flag, led the Tang soldiers and the captured and surrendered Tang soldiers, and retreated ten miles west one by one, and had someone deliver a message to Liu Chengzong thirty miles away.
"Commander, the Tang soldiers have reported that the enemy has more than 20,000 troops. The march has been delayed and morale is low. Thirteen Tang soldiers have been captured and are being escorted."
Liu Chengzong was arranging defenses at the newly built Hekou Fort and was very happy to hear the news. Although the battle between the Tang soldiers was not very good, they won the first battle, which was very helpful to boost morale.
He looked at the mountains in the north and south of the river valley. Through the telescope, he could see that there were people hiding on the top of the mountains. This battle in the river valley would let the people of Hehuang know who is the real Hehuang as quickly as possible. Lord.
Subsequently, more and more Tang soldiers retreated to the west bank. After a while, nearly a hundred people gathered. The width of the river valley was between four and eight miles. This meant that the Tang soldiers on the front line had retreated twelve or three miles. The enemy troops The distance with him is getting closer and closer.
At this moment, several more Tangqi came from the east of the river. Their eager expressions gave Liu Chengzong a bad premonition.
Sure enough, not long after, Tang Bing turned over and dismounted outside the bunker, clasped his fists and said, "Commander, please report urgently."
When the Tang soldiers entered the fort, they reported in front of Liu Chengzong and Yang Yao: "All the surrendering troops are Ningxia soldiers. They said that the imperial troops were divided into three groups this time. Three thousand Gansu troops on the north route rescued the chieftain of Lu, and Ningxia troops on the middle route. , Yulin, Guyuan, Taozhou and Lanzhou soldiers, twenty-three thousand."
When Liu Chengzong heard this, he closed his eyes and thought. His troops in Hehuang were about the same number, and there was no obvious disadvantage in the middle.
It's just that Liu Chengzu's side of the North Road used 4,000 troops to fight against the 4,000 local soldiers of the Lu Chieftain. The siege had been going on for several days. If the 3,000 Gansu reinforcements arrived first and Liancheng was not captured, the North Road might suffer.
Tang Bing paused, clasped his fists again and said: "On the south road are the Lintao Army and the Hezhou Army. They have a combined force of 11,000. They want to take Xining and Nianbo directly."
Liu Chengzong felt bad, suppressed his uneasiness, and let the Tang soldiers go down, holding on to the earth wall and remaining silent for a long time.
"Commander?"
Yang Yao just spoke, but before he could say anything, Liu Chengzong heard an order to the guards: "Urgently report to Nanshan, ask the guards who lead the troops to restrain the people to go south to explore the enemy's situation, and send the message to Binggou and Xining on flying horses to inform them Enemy situation; order Xincheng garrison Wang Wenxiu to send troops to Xining."
Yang Yao breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Liu Chengzong had similar views to him, and the main force should not return support at this time.
In a head-to-head fight with the central army with similar strength, if they win, the army will naturally be unable to complete the encirclement; but once they retreat, it is certain that the army will complete the encirclement.
Liu Chengzong had more considerations than Yang Yao. He had to consider multiple armies. At this time, his army of more than 20,000 people was not the Lion Army that had been banned in the early years.
This is not something that should or should not be done, but something that cannot be retreated.
The Mongolian soldiers of Xie Erhu and Ahai Daiqing either got lost or were defeated during the retreat, and they would definitely not return with their entire division.
Without these two flanking cavalry, the shortcomings of the slow reaction of Basang's subordinates and the rigidity of the team will be completely exposed. With Yang Yao's Lion Army cavalry of less than 4,000, the situation will be extremely critical.
Liu Chengzong looked at Yang Yao: "I believe in Wang Wenxiu. Let's deal with the enemies in front of us first, Yansui, Guyuan, and Ningxia."
As he spoke, he smiled and the hair on his face stood up: "I am a Yansui soldier, you are a Guyuan soldier, and Dai Daozi is a Ningxia soldier. Let's show them... the capabilities of the border army!"
