As Liu Chengyun and the honor guard of the Marshal's Mansion settled in Zhuanglang Acropolis, the atmosphere in the valley became more solemn.
More than 7,000 Mongolian cavalry led by Xie Erhu and Ahai Daiqing also took advantage of their powerful surprise attack.
They first bypassed the difficult-to-conquer Songshan Fort, rushed north and south in the Songshan area, and broke through Dajingying City and Abaling Fort on the edge of Songshan on the edge of the desert, almost dividing Gansu and Shaanxi into two.
Then he returned to the south and planned to lay siege to the Baoding Fort at Songshan Xinbian on the north bank of the Yellow River in Lanzhou. However, all the fortresses on the north and south sides changed hands. The fifty defenders of Baoding Fort were isolated and helpless, with no intention of fighting. Only then did Luo Ru take a moment. Marching north, Baoding Fort surrendered.
Chai Shihua, who led the General Biao Battalion, led his army to gallop day and night. On the road, Tang Qi had a fight with Xie Erhu's Mongolian cavalry who were running wild all over the ground. Knowing that the situation in the south had changed, Liu Chengzong led his army to Zhuanglang Acropolis and quickly sent Tang Qi. The cavalry reported the military situation to Gulangxia, and then continued south to support.
Later, the General Military Base Camp and Basang's Xifan Brigade faced each other in the river valley, and two small-scale conflicts broke out, but in the end they failed to form a military confrontation. After staring at each other for a day, Chai Shihua chose to retreat five miles.
It wasn't that he was scared, but that Ding Shaoyin was hopeless.
The Liangzhou chariot camp was surrounded in the middle, and the Fan soldiers built human-high barrier walls of civil structures on the north, east, and west sides of the chariot camp. The trench on the south side had also been dug, and they could not get out.
Barrier walls and trenches are easy to break through. He does have a chance to briefly defeat the enemy soldiers and pull Ding Shaoyin out when he rushes over, but there is also a chance that he will get trapped in them.
The most important thing is that the man can pull out, but the car cannot get out. The car camp has no car cannon, and it has no decent confrontation ability in the field. After much consideration, Chai Shihua only sent people to briefly clash three times and shoot a few letters at the barrier wall. , told Ding Shaoyin that there were reinforcements behind him, and asked them to wait for reinforcements.
At least there is water and food inside to wait for the change.
What Chai Shihua was afraid of was not the Xifan camp in Basang, but the Mongolian cavalry in the Songshan Mountains to the east. In several small-scale conflicts, his army failed to take advantage of the Mongolian cavalry.
If you hadn't experienced this personally, let alone tell it to Chai Shihua, he wouldn't believe it.
For people of their generation, no matter which of the nine border towns' armies there are, if the same size of troops fight in the wild ten times, the border army should win ten times. There is no other possibility.
If the Beibei wanted to win, they could barely escape with three times the force before the border troops arrived. With more than five times the force, it would be possible to defeat the border troops and annihilate them if the organization structure was better.
As for the reason, here are infantry and cavalry artillerymen wearing cloth-covered iron armor, and opposite are herdsmen wearing robes and shooting stone and bone arrows. Although they are indeed armies, the level of equipment is a thousand years behind, and they really have no glory. of.
But this time it was different. Chai Shihua's Tangqi reported the characteristics of the Luqi. What they faced was almost a group of rich second-generation Mongolians.
Several squads have almost the same armor coverage. Except for a few who wear ancestral iron-inlaid leather armor, at least 50% of the soldiers wear chain mail, mirror armor or even cloth-covered iron armor. At most one of the ten arrows brought back is a stone or bone cluster. The rest are all brand new forged arrow clusters, as well as specially equipped armor-breaking plum needle arrows and murderous beryllium arrows.
They even saw cavalry carrying iron pots and armored cavalry with both men and horses.
Although the Mongolians on horseback were still thin and small, in Chai Shihua's view, there was no doubt that the Ming Dynasty's decades-long economic containment of the pirates had been successful, and the vicious Xihai Mongols were re-armed by Liu Chengzong.
Facing the letter that Chai Shihua sent into the wall, what could Ding Shaoyin say?
He didn't blame Chai Shihua at all, and was a little grateful in his heart. From the moment he saw the guard of honor belonging to the former Ningxia commander-in-chief rising on the top of Zhuanglangwei, Ding Shaoyin knew that it would be difficult for him to run away.
Everyone knows that in the Marshal's Mansion, the guard of honor for the chief military officer is Liu Chengzong's guard of honor.
Liu Chengzong's appearance at Zhuanglang Acropolis showed that Hong Chengchou, the trilateral governor who stationed his main forces in Ganzhou and Yongchang, made a strategic misjudgment. The Marshal's Mansion did not intend to cross the mountains from the beginning, but instead assembled the main force to attack Lanzhou. The river blocked the army in the direction of Gansu.
Others were trying their best to fight against the rabbit, but they were still gathering strength. Now that armies were gathering on both sides of the Yellow River in Lanzhou, Ding Shaoyin could only admit that he was unlucky, thinking that they were the price of the governor's misjudgment.
Fortunately, they were a car camp, and the opponent's chosen tactic was siege, so they didn't have to worry about being quickly annihilated.
It's a good thing that Chai Shihua didn't come in. Without the chariot, Chai Shihua could run away, but he couldn't.
As for war, especially this kind of war between the Ming army and the Ming army, I can do what you know, and I can do what you have.
In Ding Shaoyin's view, no conspiracy or tricks will be of any use in the upcoming battle. The only way is to draw out a majestic battle, and then use the right to combine with the strange... The strange soldiers of both sides meet, the strange soldiers become regular soldiers, and then use the right to combine with the strange.
In the end, whoever has more people on the local battlefield will win local victory with more enemies and fewer enemies. With multiple local victories, he will win the final victory with more enemies and fewer enemies on the big battlefield.
However, at this time, Hong Chengchou, who was in Gulang Gorge, seemed to have not seen the urgent military situation on the front line, holding on to the elite soldiers and generals in his hands and refusing to let go.
Originally, Hong Chengchou wanted to transfer Yang Yanchang, but he couldn't... Who doesn't know about the famous Shaanxi general Yan'an God of War? Do you, Hong Chengchou, want to take command? Chen Qiyu, the governor of Yansui, and the governor of Shaanxi, practicing state affairs, all wanted to bring Yang Yanchang's model army to their defense line.
In the end, Chen Qiyu won, and Anding and Huining counties were designated as Yang Yanchang's defense areas.
After all, due to the mobilization of Li Zicheng and others, Lian Guoshi had already entered Xi'an Mansion at this time, mainly to guard against the hundreds of thousands of bandits on Shangluo Road; Hong Chengchou was in Gansu to guard against the attack of the Marshal's Mansion.
Chen Qiyu was in the worst position. He defended the southwestern part of Shaanxi. To the southeast was a group of Shaanxi thieves led by Li Zicheng, to the south was Gao Yingxiang, the king of the invaders who entered Hanzhong Fushan District, and to the northwest was Lanzhou occupied by Liu Chengzong. Any one of them could attack him.
When Liu Chengzong's guard of honor entered Zhuang Langwei, Hong Chengchou was not too nervous, but Chen Qiyu was really frightened.
Chen Qiyu thought to himself, I invited Yang Yanchang to deal with Liu Chengzong. Wouldn't it cost my life to transfer him away? If anyone dares to steal someone from me, don’t blame me for falling out!
Hong Chengchou didn't fight him either. He had three elite soldiers, Cao Wenzhao, Bai Guangen, and Yang Jiamo, and he was waiting for a decisive battle to cripple Liu Chengzong.
Facing Chai Shihua's request for help, Hong Chengchou was extremely relaxed and sent someone to reply to Chai Shihua. The letter categorically insisted that Zhuang Langwei was a bait.
For the exposed flanks of the Zhuanglang River Valley, he adopted the strategy of transferring a guerrilla general, two generals, and a commander from the Jinglu Guards and the Ningxia Zhongwei, and ordered them to lead their troops to Songshan to suppress the Mongolian cavalry running around. , and help River Valley after winning.
The order given to Chai Shihua was to vigorously recruit troops from Mayashan and go into the war boldly. The main force of the Marshal's Mansion was not in Zhuang Lang.
Chai Shihua was so angry at the reply that the governors of the three sides only gave the conclusion but did not explain the reasoning process. This was obviously a risk for them, but there was no other way. He could only issue a recruitment order to the Magashan tribes and establish it on the spot. The Spanish army went into battle.
Even when Yang Jiamo heard about Hong Chengchou's transfer order, he ran from Ganzhou to Gulang Gorge to ask him what the basis was for such speculation.
Hong Chengchou was very dissatisfied with this and said: "Hong knows that Liangzhou Guards is the hometown of the commander-in-chief, and General Chai is leading the elite of the commander-in-chief's command, but he still asks Commander-in-Chief Yang to stick to Ganzhou and not to mess up his position. The little whirlwind will definitely not be in the village. Lang, there is someone else directing the war in Lanzhou."
The little whirlwind in his mouth is Liu Chengzong.
Because he had a good relationship with He Renlong and knew Liu Shishi very well, he knew very well the background of Liu Shishi's servant Ding Xuanfeng.
"Who do you think the military sect is directing the war in Lanzhou?"
Hong Chengchou shook his head: "I don't know either, but it's definitely not him. That little whirlwind never relies heavily on the Mongolian Fanyi Ding when sending troops to fight. If the Han army is not there, Liu Chengzong will not be here."
Of course this is just one of his many speculations.
The most important basis for judgment is very simple and crude. If Liu Chengzong was in Lanzhou or even Zhuang Langwei, Chai Shihua and Ding Shaoyin would have died long ago.
The rogue bandits are not official troops, they do not need to control the territory, and there is no concept that those who abandon the territory will be punished. Therefore, they will not gradually increase their troops in the war, but will only attack them repeatedly.
Suddenly the dust started to rise, and thousands of cavalry and troops roared in. Most of the carriage camps would not even have time to deploy before they would be completely annihilated. Even if they surrounded the point for reinforcements, Chai Shihua's reinforcements would be surrounded and annihilated halfway.
Now that both of them are still alive and kicking, Liu Chengzong must not be in Zhuang Langwei.
It's just that you can't tell others about this, it's too hurtful.
He said to Yang Jiamo: "Shuai Yang, please return to Ganzhou. I estimate that it won't be long before the little whirlwind comes out of the mountains."
Yang Jiamo was naturally doubtful about this, but what Hong Chengchou said did make sense. The Han troops from the Marshal's Mansion have not appeared in the Zhuanglang Valley until now. Just a guard of honor may not explain anything.
However, while they were talking, deserters running back from Songshan confirmed the appearance of the Marshal's Han Army in Songshan. It was an army attacking north from Lanzhou. Because of its general's name, Cao Cao, it was said to be called Cao Ying.
Hong Chengchou was very unfamiliar with this nickname. He turned to look at Bai Guangen. Bai Guangen said: "In the military, I know him from a humble position. He was a small leader who joined Liu Chengzong in his early years. He has little ability and wears fancy clothes."
Hong Chengchou asked: "Very cunning?"
Bai Guangen shook his head like a rattle: "I dare to fight hard, but the earliest big leaders in Yan'an Prefecture are not famous. They all joined forces with the Liu family. No one can surpass Liu Chengzong's reputation, and even now there is no one."
Hong Chengchou asked again: "Is that King Chuang, General Chuang, not as famous as Liu Chengzong now?"
Bai Guangen shook his head. He didn't know how to explain this to Hong Chengchou. He thought for a long time before saying: "Even in the current war, General Chuang Wang Chuang's team has fought back and forth with the army. Maybe it is not weaker than Liu Chengzong, but no the same."
"Liu Chengzong defeated the official army, and many of them surrendered, but few escaped; other bandits defeated the official army, and many of them escaped, but few surrendered."
In fact, in Bai Guangen's mind, the relationship between Liu Chengzong and the government and the army was completely different before and after Liu Chengzong left.
This was not entirely due to Liu Chengzong, but also because the guest army entered Shaanxi and Shanxi. The original morality of soldiers and thieves each serving his own master ended, leaving only vendetta and numbness.
Hong Chengchou was actually quite curious about this: "There are many deserters among the bandits. How can he recruit and surrender the army?"
"In the military sect, when dealing with those who are unwilling to surrender, Liu Chengzong has always been willing to surrender to those who are willing to surrender, and pay travel expenses to those who are unwilling to surrender. He is very broad-minded... and because of this, the local army rarely fights to the death against him."
"Others are different." Bai Guangen shook his head and said: "The officers and soldiers will defeat the bandits and kill them all. The bandits will also kill them on the spot in kind. They have killed them back and forth several times. In the past two years, they have stopped killing prisoners."
"Not killing the prisoners?"
Hong Chengchou raised his eyebrows: "What should we do? Let's also pay for travel expenses?"
Bai Guangen was very happy, what kind of travel expenses should I pay? He realized that he was smiling a little too wildly, and quickly restrained his smile, saying: "Usually they chop off the hands and let people go, and there are also people who chop off the fingers."
Hong Chengchou and Cao Wenzhao looked at each other speechlessly, and Quan took it as a joke.
It can only be heard as a joke. Bai Guangen knew this well. The rebellion war in Shaanxi was originally just for stuttering. The soldiers and thieves had different paths. In the end, there was a lower limit.
The instigators of the increased intensity were the two outsiders in the room who were addicted to killing each other.
And he himself is a traitor, so it doesn't matter to the three of them whether to chop off his hands or not. The best destination for the three of them is not to fall into the hands of others. If they lose the battle and are surrounded, they should kill themselves quickly, otherwise they will be sure. He was slaughtered and was not qualified to have his hands chopped off.
But neither of them had anything to say about it.
Everyone thought that the Shaanxi Bandits were a war that could be suppressed quickly. It was only because of the wrong recruitment strategy that the scale of the war expanded.
Who would have thought that not only did the good weather not come, but droughts and floods would become more and more severe over time?
It has developed into the current situation, and no one has been able to recruit anyone.
Hong Chengchou was not embarrassed at all. He raised his hand and dismissed the topic. Anyway, the three of them were grasshoppers on a rope. No one could escape. He said: "It is urgent. There are two things you need to do, General Cao." Go to Songshan.”
Cao Wenzhao immediately entered the state and clasped his fists to accept the order: "Yes!"
What Hong Chengchou was most satisfied with was Cao Wenzhao's tense state of obeying orders. The corners of his eyes could not help but curl up, and he said: "After arriving at Songshan, assist the Jinglu Guards and the reinforcements from Ningxia to ensure the safety of Songshan Road, our soldiers, food and pay." The troops and reinforcements must come from that way.”
"yes!"
After Cao Wen's edict was answered, Hong Chengchou looked at Bai Guangen again and said, "General Bai is going to Ganzhou to investigate something."
Bai Guangen also stood up to answer the order and asked, "Why do you want to humble your position in the army?"
Hong Chengchou sighed, shook his head and said, "Someone told me that things are being lost in Ganzhou Acropolis recently."
Bai Guangen's pupils suddenly shrank: "Did something go missing from Ganzhou Acropolis?"
Hong Chengchou nodded and said: "Take my command flag and go to the forts in Ganzhou to inspect the weapons, armor, guns, war horses, donkeys, mules and even camels and other equipment of the battalion to see what is going on."
"It would be okay if a poor military household stole something."
Hong Chengchou said emphatically: "If there is Liu Thief inside, we must trace it out!"
