Yang Yao's cavalry attacked eastward, not only overpowering Tangtong's troops in Yansui Town on the North Road, but also overthrowing the illusion of bulk armies of frontier commanders in the three towns.
The first person to notice the change in the battle situation was Zhang Hongye, the general of Yansui Town.
He was a man of meritorious service. You Shilu, who had the highest military rank in Yansui Town, was in poor health and could not take on the main offensive mission. He could only serve in the middle army. The highest rank of the frontline general fell on the shoulders of General Zhang Hongye.
Precisely because You Shilu could not participate in the battle, the mission of attacking Liu Chengzong's main force was left to the Ningxia Army and Guyuan Army, while the Yansui Army attacked the northern route alone without cooperating with the two armies.
The mission of Zhang Hongye in this attack was to cross the river from Beishan Trail and the northern section of Huangshui River, and the tactics used were also divided and advanced combined attacks.
Its troops were divided into two groups. One group used Tang Tong as the chopping block, leading the regular soldiers to stop the enemy on the narrow mountain road in the north, and then leaving surprise troops as preparation.
On the other side, Zhang Hongye served as a war hammer. He divided his troops into two groups and used rafts to cross the river from the west and north sides where the Huangshui turned. Before Tang Tong's troops were defeated, he completed the encirclement of the enemy forces on the north side.
However, Yang Yao's cavalry was too fast and fierce. Without any hesitation, they ignored the main force of Zhang Hongye's department who was crossing the river, and rushed straight into the narrow area where Tang Tong's department was located. The big guns and chariots broke through the military formation with a single volley. Then drove straight in.
Not to mention that Zhang Hongye, who was sitting on the cowhide raft, could not react. Even the commander-in-chief Biao Yingqian who replaced Li Fuming who died in the battle behind Tang Tong did not move.
The official and the people were not as helpless as Zhang Hongye on the cowhide raft. He was just stunned. After all, his task was originally supposed to be performed by guerrilla Li Fuming. His predecessor was killed by the Marshal's horse camp, and now it was his turn.
Now the horse camp is charging forward again with great momentum. Guan Fumin's mind is trying to block the collision and retreating to face the conflict between heaven and man. In this moment of hesitation, the terrifying Yang Yao has already left.
Yang Yao didn't intend to hit him at all, he just passed by the flank of the official headquarters and rushed towards the camp of the border troops in the three towns.
After realizing it later, Guan Fumin's back cotton armor was soaked with sweat. In panic, he saw General Zhang Hongye, who had just crossed the Huangshui River, waving his arms on the shore to drive back the soldiers who were crossing the river to help.
Then Zhang Hongye led hundreds of infantrymen who had already crossed the river. They picked up their swords and chased Yang Yao's horse hoof prints from the north bank in a large circle to kill him back.
The officials and the people were once again hesitant. At this moment, should he coordinate the Ningxia and Guyuan armies, or go back to rescue You Shilu?
No one could tell him the answer. Zhang Hongye was running on the other side, cursing and panicking. .
He was already guilty of a crime, and the enemy broke through his defense line, so his official position was absolutely impossible to maintain.
Now the only chance for him to survive is to run back and rescue the commander-in-chief You Shilu from the enemy cavalry, so that he can at least save his head.
In order to save his head, Zhang Hongye led his troops to run wildly to no avail. When he ran along the west bank of the Huangshui River to the north bank and reached the mountain path where Tang Tong's troops were defeated, only a few wounded soldiers rescued their unconscious guerrilla general. The cavalry of the Marshal's Mansion had long gone to nowhere.
Zhang Hongye ignored the ongoing battle on the south road of the middle road and gathered dozens of soldiers, leaving a few to guard Tang Tong. At the same time, he ordered the officials, Fumin and others to return to the division for rescue, and then led his infantry brigade of less than a thousand people to rush towards the main formation. go.
On the other side of the battlefield, the Guyuan Army under Yang Qi, who had gone through many hardships, finally 'driven away' the enemy soldiers. They overturned the carts and set them up in the ditch. Wave after wave of soldiers rushed towards Tucheng. The whole army was immersed in the joy of defeating the enemy. , planting the Chinese flag on the Tucheng under the setting sun.
Yang Qi, who led more than a thousand sergeants to garrison the city, realized later that he saw six thousand-man teams of the hunting camp retreating alternately to get rid of the pursuit at sunset. He ordered his pursuers to stop pursuing the enemy after driving them ten miles away.
Deep down in his heart, Yang Qi agreed very much with He Huchen's words. Liu Chengzong, who was a forward player in Yansui, was a difficult opponent.
This battle was much easier than Yang Qi expected. The two sides had different grasps and perceptions of the battlefield situation. He did not think there was anything strange about the retreat of the Marshal's Army.
It's just that Liu Chengzong guessed that they were going to use smallpox as a weapon, so he gave up his position in the walled city to avoid fighting... quite cunning.
Although he failed to achieve his strategic goal, Yang Qi was quite satisfied with the results of the battle. He captured the ditch of the city wall, and there were reinforcements from Lintao Town to the west. When Gansu Town and the chieftain army annihilated Liu Chengzong's flanking troops in Yongdeng Liancheng, the encirclement was just around the corner.
The Ningxia army that crossed the river arrived late, but seemed overly cautious. They searched repeatedly in uninhabited trenches and dug three feet deep everywhere in the city.
It wasn't until he was convinced that there were no people hiding in the trenches, no mines buried in the city, and that he would not be sent to the sky by gunpowder that He Huchen climbed to the top of the city in relief... Until he climbed up to the city wall, his mind was still dizzy, why could Liu Chengzong be so unstoppable? Already?
Just as he was wondering, his son He Zan quickly ran over and said, "Father, the North Road has retreated."
Yang Qi and He Huchen were both surprised when they heard this. Their attack was so smooth that they could not imagine that the Yansui Town border troops would retreat on their own and hurried to the north of the city to investigate.
Only then did they realize that the North Road's attack at the foot of the mountain had been frustrated. They could easily see the wounded soldiers and corpses left by Zhang Hongye, but it was already dark and they could not see the situation to the east.
"How is this going?"
The two looked at each other, but no one could explain why.
During the attack just now, He Huchen led his army to cross the river wholeheartedly, while Yang Qi faced the artillery fire of the Marshal's Mansion. Neither of them bothered to observe the situation in the northernmost part of the river valley. At this time, their eyes were darkened, and they did not know that Yansui Town was under attack. Something happened.
He Huchen called the generals who had just crossed the river on the right wing, and after some inquiring, he found out that the cavalry soldiers of the Marshal's Mansion had broken through from the north. The two generals in charge said in their hearts: Not good!
At this time, all the armies from the three towns were out, and the troops remaining in the camp were extremely scarce. There were only the servants of You Shilu from Yansui Town and more than a thousand Taozhou local soldiers led by He Renlong, the Qianshi of Shaanxi.
Both Yang Qi and He Huchen had seen Liu Chengzong's menacing horse camp. That army could not be stopped by the Taozhou native soldiers.
In this way, a difficult question was placed in front of the two of them: to save or not to save?
Yang Qi licked his dry lips and looked around Tucheng. More than a thousand soldiers of the Guyuan Army who had just been attacking on the front line were all in Tucheng.
This Tucheng was so clean that wounded soldiers couldn't find a piece of clean cotton cloth to bandage their wounds. The people could only take off their leggings and wrap them hastily, and all of them rested against the edge of the earthen wall.
Yang Qi simply looked around and said to He Huchen: "Commander He, you can't stay overnight in this city. In my opinion, we still have to go back to rescue You Shuai."
In fact, for Yang Qi, saving You Shilu was just a nice way of saying... It didn't matter whether he saved You Shilu or not. What was important was that Liu Chengzong didn't prepare dinner for them in this earth city.
Both Ningxia soldiers and Guyuan soldiers had been hungry all day. They had not planned to capture Tucheng today and had to go back to the camp to eat.
He Huchen also meant the same thing. He nodded and said, "Shuai Yang, go ahead. I'll gather the gunpowder and blow a hole in the east of the city before leaving."
But he heard Yang Qi say: "It's up to me to do this. I have more than 2,000 people chasing the enemy in the west, waiting for them... to get killed?"
Only halfway through his words, Yang Qi stared blankly to the east. He Huchen followed his gaze and saw that under the light blue sky in the distance, the fire illuminated the mountain platform, and white smoke rose into the sky in the valley. rise. Gu Zhi
At the same time, a horseman came rushing from the east. The horse's hooves walked back and forth on the bank of Huangshui for more than ten steps. The rider on the horse finally made up his mind, galloped into the river, swam across by dragging the horse's tail, and dropped the reins. He stumbled to the bottom of the city and shouted: "Shuai Yang, Marshal He, please send troops to the east quickly for reinforcements. The enemy cavalry trampled the camp, and General Zhang was killed when he returned to the reinforcements!"
"Zhang Hongye is dead?"
He Huchen was surprised at the top of the city. He held on to the pile of earth and recognized that the man who had just swam over was General Yansui Qian Fumin. He quickly asked him to come to the city. After asking, he found out what the battle was about.
Zhang Hongye did not reach the main camp at all. He was eager to return aid and ran from the north bank of Huangshui River to the south bank. He wanted to quickly return to aid through the horse path left between the ditches, but unexpectedly, the cavalry of Han Shiyou's troops cut off the rear and turned around to rush them down. moat.
Then he was stuck in the trench like a whack-a-mole. The trench and horses that were originally facing east to block the enemy's cavalry were now used to block the infantry's formation. Instead, Han Shiyou was asked to lead the troops and gallop along the edge of the trench. Running around.
From time to time, several cavalrymen would rush into the trench with spears, sabers and bows and arrows, and rush to the bottom along the zigzag trench.
When Zhang Hongye was leading his troops in the trench, he just led a few servants to turn a corner when the enemy cavalry pierced the armor with a spear. No one even had a chance to recover.
At this moment, someone from the west ran wildly back, bringing back news for Yang Qi that his pursuers were surrounded and dragged down by Mongolian horsemen.
This was so good that the commanders of the two towns were dumbfounded.
They were all soldiers who had been in the army for ten or twenty years. When their subordinates reported the known information, they had a situation map of the battlefield in their minds. As more and more information was collected, the situation between ourselves and the enemy became clearer in their minds.
It's just that clarity is sometimes not a good thing. The clearer it is, the more pessimistic the two people's judgment of the current situation is.
Their purpose changed from returning to the camp to eat tonight, to not being able to eat tonight, to not knowing whether they would be able to eat tomorrow.
The large camp in the east needs to be rescued, and the two thousand troops in the west also need to be rescued, but the problem is how to rescue them?
He Huchen went to rescue the camp, and Yang Qi went to rescue the pursuers. The two of them thought that it was probably a life-and-death situation.
But if you don't save him, squatting in the earth fort all night and starving, you will lose both sides and catch a turtle in a urn.
"Save one road." Yang Qi's eyes widened, but he couldn't make up his mind: "Which road to save, He Shuai will decide!"
Yang Qi couldn't make up his mind. If he said to save his own soldiers, it would mean that he did not give the order to save You Shilu; if he said to save You Shilu, his remaining soldiers would be very cold.
It would be better to let He Huchen talk about saving You Shilu. At least Yang Qi could have an excuse to explain to his soldiers.
Unexpectedly, He Huchen frowned and said, "Save Xilu!"
After the servants ran down to the city to convey the order to assemble, Yang Qi asked He Huchen: "Why save Xilu?"
He Huchen shook his head and did not explain to Yang Qi.
He didn't know how to explain it. Should he tell Yang Qi that he was just taking a gamble?
What He Huchen was thinking about was not the current small battlefield, but the entire Hehuang battlefield. He believed that this was the most critical moment in the battle for the officers and soldiers, and would determine their victory or defeat.
It's just that He Huchen didn't know what choice would lead to victory. He only knew that Xiangdong would definitely lose.
Their eastward movement meant retreating, leaving behind more than two thousand troops and retreating. Without the trenches, the camp, and possibly the food and baggage, the originally stalemate strength of the two sides would turn into Liu Chengzong's advantage.
The most important thing is that even if they go eastward at this time, they may not be able to save You Shilu.
The leading general beside You Shilu was He Renlong, Liu Chengzong's old commander.
Although He Renlong wanted to run out and help the court, the commanders of the three towns all wanted to let him avoid suspicion, so He Renlong was there when digging holes, but He Renlong was not there when sending troops, so he was asked to guard the camp.
Unexpectedly, it was obviously a fast break with a lot of thunder but a quick retreat, but it turned out like this after being broken through by the Cavaliers on the north road.
He Huchen didn't know whether He Renlong would lead the Taozhou local soldiers to resist resolutely, but even if he resisted resolutely, the fire in the camp was already burning. To retreat would be failure, and the two thousand besieged Guyuan soldiers in Hexi would definitely be gone.
So He Huchen's idea is to save the west side. Of course, they save the east side, but they may not be able to save You Shilu. But on the other hand, if they don't save, You Shilu may not die, and he can run east.
There was smallpox at the mouth of the river to the east. Although You Shilu's physical condition was difficult to save from contracting smallpox, at least it was much better than being directly hit and killed by horse soldiers.
Secondly, there is the Lintao Army. Calculating the time, the Lintao Army should have completed the encirclement yesterday.
They could still save two thousand troops now, and there were still twelve thousand troops in the two towns. Rather than sit back and wait for death, He Huchen thought it would be better to give it a try. The worst result would be a night battle.
Night battles are fatal to everyone, and the team organization of the frontier soldiers in the melee is always better than those of Liu Chengzong's followers. Although their food is not good, He Huchen knows that the followers don't eat fish, and they are all blind. Who is afraid of a blind man fighting? ah?
The most important thing is that the problem of eating can be solved by fighting.
There was little room for maneuver in the situation faced by the two generals. After organizing their troops for a while, they dispersed the troops into rural residences to the west of the earthen fort to collect wood. Thanks to Liu Chengzong, the residents of Hezui had already fled and moved away. , Ningxia soldiers demolished houses very efficiently.
The soldiers were very excited. This was not the first time they had demolished a house, but this was the only time in their lifetime that they had blatantly demolished the beams of Sufan Wangzhuang.
The sound of artillery boomed from the west. The sergeants from the two towns prepared for a moment, then deployed their general formations in the Hehuang Valley, and pressed forward to the west with open-fire battles.
On the roof of a house ten miles away from the bunker, Liu Chengzong was holding a telescope and bent down to take the pancakes handed by the guards. As soon as he took a bite, he saw a bright light in the distance and quickly picked up the telescope to look over.
A flickering fire dragon flickered in and out of the river valley at night, making Liu Shizi so happy that he almost fell off the house.
He originally thought that this was just an infantry formation, so he dispatched 3,000 Mongolian cavalry, and made plans to move in three shifts, and would torture them overnight no matter what.
Unexpectedly, it was already dark, and the officers and soldiers would come over with torches to kill people.
"Ningxia soldiers, believe it or not?" Liu Chengzong stepped on the tiles on the roof and said to Huang Shengxiao in the yard: "Ningxia soldiers like to eat my military rations. Let the brothers eat quickly. After eating, set up a pocket brazier array. Night battles are so interesting. Ah, a living target!”
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