On the day Suzhou Counselor Zhao Zhirui led his troops to the Golden Buddha Temple Fort, the water vapor on the snowy mountains finally evaporated into a light rain and sprinkled on the oasis.
The cold wind at the border has not yet receded, and both sides of the Liusha River are already covered with mist, rain, and apricot blossoms. The impregnable Golden Buddha Temple does not appear to have been severely attacked. However, the miners mining gold sand in the Liusha River have disappeared, making the Golden Buddha Temple less lively than before.
There is no smoke and rain in the south of the Yangtze River here. Even the apricot planted in the border area is named Li Guang.
In the light rain, 2,600 Suzhou frontier troops who had marched 80 miles in a hurry stood in the apricot forest and flower sea in the desert oasis. The cold clothes and armor on their bodies made them tremble non-stop. The military flags were also wet by the rain. It drooped heavily on a cloudy day.
Zhao Zhirui realized that he had been cheated.
The generals are the backbone of senior generals in the Ming army and have a complete promotion system.
Generally speaking, county magistrate and garrison are the ideal official positions that normal people can achieve in their civil and military career, and they depend on ability; but if you go higher up, you may not be able to get there even if you have merit, and you depend on luck.
After all, the most indispensable thing in China is talents. A single Peixian County supported the huge Han Empire. Whoever held a funeral would put five tables on it, and the horse drivers, pig slaughterers, mourners, jailers, etc. The hawker should eat and drink, but no one would have thought that the silly boy bragging to him would become a military god in troubled times.
What people lack most is the opportunity to exercise.
Zhao Zhirui is a lucky man. In the past ten years, he has received enough training opportunities. He served as a garrison in Shaanxi and served as a guerrilla general on the Xuanda Defense Line in Shanxi. He made many military exploits and finally got the title of Suzhou General. Senior military position.
As a qualified senior general, he knew how difficult the situation Suzhou was facing now.
In fact, the news for help from Jiayuguan in the west and the Golden Buddha Temple in the east were sent to Zhao Zhirui at the same time. The reason why he chose to rush to the aid of the Golden Buddha Temple was to avoid the worries of cooperating inside and outside.
He hoped to quickly quell the rebel rebellion in the pass, and then send his troops westward to assist Jiayuguan, so as to avoid the army being blocked in Jiayuguan and facing a dilemma.
Before the garrison of the Golden Buddha Temple came out of the city to attack the horses, Rolling saddle dismounted and reported: "General, three hours ago the enemy used 200 cavalry to deceive the Red Temple Fort, and then rode five to six thousand across the Liusha River. The humble officer hurriedly lit the beacon fire. , the enemy troops besieged the fort for half an hour to persuade them to surrender, and then plundered the surrounding area. When it started to rain lightly, they captured the workers mining gold sand and led the army northward."
The bandits are fighting with him on the move. This is the situation that Zhao Zhirui least wants to see: "How are their troops, weapons, formations, and discipline?"
"There are more than a thousand fine cavalry and hundreds of powerful soldiers. The military formation is neat and orderly. The weapons and equipment are all good things. The horse soldiers are carrying water-powered electric guns. The infantry's armors also look very scary. They are covered in blood. They are all full of holes, as if they were ripped from the body of a dead person, and the discipline...it’s hard to say it’s a humble job.”
Zhao Zhirui nodded slowly. This was basically what he expected. As early as the day before yesterday, the military situation in the east had been known to him through Tang Bao. It was not a secret that Qinghai rebel puppet general Zhang Tianlin defeated Bai Guangen.
The equipment of Bai Guangen's standard battalion was so good that anyone who saw it would shed tears at the corners of their mouths. Who would have thought that before the Liu thief had even stepped down in front of him, he was blown up with rockets and pissed off.
He asked: "Discipline is hard to say, what do you mean?"
"Their military discipline seems to follow whatever they want. They say their military discipline is good. They go into wealthy houses when they see them along the way. They don't distinguish between good and evil. When they leave, they take everything clean. They don't even leave a dough bag for anyone. They can't take it away. The water tank will also be smashed.”
As the guard spoke, a scene emerged in front of his eyes of wealthy families lining up to borrow water tanks from the fort after Zhang Tianlin left. Then he shook his head and said, "But their military discipline is not good. The places these soldiers march through are not suitable for ordinary people's homes. On the east bank of the Liusha River, three rebels were stripped naked and beheaded in public, with guilt written on their bodies."
"deserter?"
The guard shook his head and said: "They are not deserters. One of them is a general in charge of transportation. He bought ten kilograms of ink and should have been given fifty taels, but only one tael of silver was given. He was executed for buying by force. The other two were soldiers, and one of them killed the common people. The cow and the other robbed the common people of a gold earring, and they were both beheaded in public.”
Zhao Zhirui took a step back, frowned for a long time, and was filled with indignation: "They actually give money to buy things, which is deceptive!"
To compare with others, Zhao Zhirui’s army also gives money when buying things, and anyone who dares to kill other people’s cattle must be executed. They are local garrison, but if they invade Qinghai (this chapter is not over yet!)
Chapter 456: Riding a Spear
It’s different. Who cares about these things when we enter enemy territory?
It is obvious that the purpose of this large-scale attack on the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion is not to rob, but to take root here.
For this alone, he estimated that there were at least 20,000 troops outside the pass.
The large number of enemy troops outside the pass is both a bad thing and a good thing. If there are ten thousand troops, Suzhou may have to fight a protracted war, because the Marshal's Mansion has the ability to provide supplies for ten thousand troops for a long time.
But if the number of troops exceeds 20,000, there is no need to worry that the war will last for a year and a half. The size of the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion is unable to support the huge supplies of a 20,000-strong army for a thousand-mile front. If you are exhausted, you will stop your troops.
Correspondingly, the more troops and the shorter the time, the greater the pressure on the Jiayuguan garrison.
While he ordered Tangqi to move to the north, he faced the guards of the Golden Buddha Temple and said, "Where are those corpses, still hanging on the east side of the Liusha River? Hurry up and have them taken down. Is this something that can be seen by the people?"
Looking at the guards who sent troops to bury the bodies on the east bank of the Liusha River, Zhao Zhirui sighed in his heart. With the military discipline of the thieves and his ability to fight flexibly, it would be difficult to deal with them.
He cursed secretly: "Damn these thieves, they came to my defense area to become the king's division."
After that, the Suzhou battalion led by Zhao Zhirui moved northward, passing through the defense lines of Tangqi and Suzhou defense areas of five miles and one pier, ten miles and one beacon, and thirty miles and one fort, to track Zhang Tianlin's figure.
In fact, things are not as complicated as Zhao Zhirui thought. Zhang Tianlin's military discipline is indeed very good, but his moral level and political awareness are not that high. The execution of soldiers is not for the purpose of demagoguery.
It was simply because those three people violated military orders.
He only has one battalion of troops under his command. If he enters enemy territory, his entire army will be wiped out if he is not careful. He also has Wang's own men with him. Those people do not have many professional soldiers. They must strictly implement military orders to ensure that the army is well organized.
Of the three officers and soldiers who were executed, the first one was entirely because of corruption. He needed to write a notice to Gansu and sent someone to purchase pen and ink. He was given five taels and only four taels, which made Zhang Tianlin's liver hurt.
The other two people, the one who robbed the earrings, died not from robbing the people but from robbery without permission; the one who killed the cattle did not die from the killing of the cattle.
It was one thing that the military law prohibited the killing of farm cattle, but he was asked to kill such a big cow secretly. He couldn't finish the meal and didn't dare to tell anyone, so he stabbed five and a half kilograms of beef from the leg with a knife. He didn't tell Pao Ze Sharing and wasting food is another matter.
To put it bluntly, the army is in the hands of Liu Chengzong, and all kinds of supplies are available, so it is no problem to be a benevolent and righteous army; Zhang Tianlin knows that she is trapped in enemy territory and is not that capable, so she has no choice but to let the army become barbaric in order to complete the mission. , there is no other way.
But even if it is cruel and barbaric, it must be organized and disciplined cruelty and barbarism, and it cannot be a disorderly and corrupt military discipline, otherwise it will be impossible to fight a war.
Zhang Tianlin was not hiding from Zhao Zhirui, he just saw two beacons in the north asking for help, so he led his troops to volunteer as reinforcements.
They are all frontier soldiers, no one can understand a beacon.
There are two beacon fires in the north. It is obvious that more than 500 and less than 1,000 troops are attacking the fortress. No matter who is attacking the fortress on the northern wall, they are Zhang Tianlin's friendly troops.
Zhang Tianlin and Wang Ziyong set out on the afternoon of the eighth day of March. They robbed and carried away people for two nights and one day. They traveled 120 miles, looted Suzhou Wei's pasture near Xidianzi Fort, and burned Liangshankou Camp. , on the afternoon of the tenth day of the lunar month, drove herds of cattle and sheep near the Jinta Temple and Fort seeking help.
Jinta Temple is located outside the border wall in the northern part of Suzhou.
Inside the border wall is the Liangshankou Camp. Suzhou General Zhao Zhirui led his troops from here all the way south, and then eastward to the Golden Buddha Temple Fort eighty miles away.
Zhang Tianlin went all the way north from the Golden Buddha Temple Fort, and then westward to the Liangshankou Camp. When she saw that the camp was empty, she took what she could, set a fire to burn it all, and went north to the Jinta Temple through the border wall.
This section of the side wall is only a nominal side wall because there are too many gaps along the way. The Great Wall itself crosses the Beida River and Yuanyang Lake, and there are gaps. The west section of the Great Wall is surrounded by desert inside and outside. Although the terrain is not flat, it is There are so many sand nests that when the wind outside the pass blows, the sand often buries a section of the Great Wall.
Zhang Tianlin led the army out of the customs without disturbing anyone else. Hundreds of sandbags were laid out at the base of the city wall, and even the little lamb (this chapter is not finished!)
Chapter 456: Riding a Spear
They can all jump up the city wall.
The person who besieged the fortress outside the Jinta Temple Fort was Guitu Taiji. He was wholehearted and determined to form a mixed cavalry team of a thousand people. He received the order from Liu Chengzong to rush into Suzhou from the North Road. When he arrived at the Jinta Temple, he was dumbfounded.
His more than 700 cavalry are composed of 120 mounted cavalry, 240 medium mounted cavalry and 400 light cavalry. They have 1,500 war horses and are extremely capable of collision. Bai Qi, who is wearing the Mongol Khan, is very rampant outside the customs.
Speaking of which, he was unlucky. He did know the way, but he never got close to the side wall of Jinta Temple.
There are two types of deserts, one is called Gobi and the other is called Shawo. The former is coarse gravel close to a hard road surface. Cavalry can travel everywhere without any problems. Many places outside Jiayuguan have this kind of road surface.
The latter sand nest is made of fine sand, with soft and undulating terrain. It is difficult for people and horses to walk on the sand nest.
The land facing the northern border wall of Suzhou for seventy or eighty miles is the Gobi, but most of the land close to the border wall for thirty or forty miles is sandy nests.
Guitu Taiji's armored cavalry couldn't charge in this kind of terrain!
There is no other way but to first find a way to attack the Jinta Temple Fort outside the border wall. Guitutaiji has 700 elite soldiers, and there are only 230 border troops in the fort, but it has blood suppression in this matter. The Ming Dynasty border army is against Mongolia The cavalry and the Mongolian soldiers were psychologically inferior by half.
The defenders of Jinta Temple Castle were not only unfazed, but also a little eager to try.
There are more than 700 Mongolian soldiers and more than 1,500 war horses. Anyway, they are surrounded by sand nests. No one can get away during the fight. What does this mean to the Gansu border troops who are used to living a hard life?
It’s Chinese New Year!
The brothers in the fort counted with their fingers, shot the cannonballs and used up all the gunpowder. Half of them were killed in hand-to-hand combat and the other was completely wiped out. The average number of survivors was six heads and twelve horses.
Before Ruitu Taiji had even approached the fort five miles away, a group of reckless men in the fort responded and expressed their desire to start a business to Li Junen, the garrison of Jinta Temple.
Because Li Junen was a prudent person, he was worried about the generals behind him leading the army to go out to guard the empty border wall, so he stopped his strong soldiers from wanting to carry small cannons out of the city to fight in the field.
Li Junen also has entrepreneurial enthusiasm. His idea is to lure the Mongolian soldiers to attack the fortress first, and then kill them after they cannot capture it. It is safe.
But this made Qututaiji very unhappy.
Not to mention attacking the fort, as soon as we walked two miles outside the fort, we were first hit by two soldiers hiding behind the sand dunes, and several mines were fired into the sky. More than a dozen light cavalry chased the two soldiers, and when they approached the fort, they were bombarded by Fran machine cannons. .
When the army was deployed one mile outside the fort, the soldiers dismounted and tried to fill the trench. They were bombarded by stone cannons and artillery for a while, which frightened the horses. One soldier was trampled to death.
Goututaiji gave up and led his troops to withdraw from the siege. He turned to inducements and told the defenders that I had lambs here. Please surrender and eat them together.
The defenders ignored him and said, "I'll kill you little bastard. What's not ours?"
After being surrounded like this for two days, both sides were worried. What Nututaiji was thinking was that if he didn't come out to fight with me in the field, the military situation would be delayed. In the fort, what Li Junen was thinking was that the general had not come back from the south. What should he do? Did something happen inside the border?
At this juncture Zhang Tianlin came.
A massive crowd of more than 5,000 people came across the Great Wall, frightening Quututaiji to the point where he wanted to pack up his belongings and run away. The morale of the fortress defenders was greatly boosted, and they all came out to kill them.
Of the two hundred and thirty people, only one janitor remained.
When Li Junen was captured, his face was full of misfortune. Who would have thought that the ones coming out of the Great Wall would actually be enemies?
When Zhu Tutai Ji led the army back, he only saw that the defenders of Jinta Temple Fort were disarmed. Before he was happy, he found that Zhang Tianlin's soldiers not only wanted to disarm the soldiers of the Jinta Temple defenders, but also a group of wolves. The tiger-like veteran of the Marshal's Mansion also disarmed his men and weapons.
When Zhang Tianlin opened her arms and hugged him, she couldn't help but sigh: "The Generalissimo is really clever. I knew that the Generalissimo would definitely send someone here to pick me up. I will accept the horse and armor. You tell the Generalissimo, Zhang Tianlin will Fulfill the mission.”
The Han people in Guitutaiji speak very well and their words are well-spoken, but they stutter when they are anxious, and they are possessed by a Wang. When they open their mouths, they say: "Aba Aba."
After a long pause, Guitutaiji said: "No, the commander-in-chief asked me to lead his army into the sand..."
Not finished yet (This chapter is not finished yet!)
Chapter 456: Riding a Spear
, he was stared at by Zhang Tianlin as if he wanted to kill someone, but just for a moment, his expression became soft and tranquil, full of Buddha's light. He smiled, shook his head, and walked away: "No, the Chinese word "Taiji" is not good enough. You have to practice, I know Tianxing is a rough guy, I really don’t understand what you are talking about.”
"Tang Qi was caught up behind. I won't accompany you for now. I'll treat you to a drink after the battle."
After saying that, Zhang Tianlin turned over and mounted the war horse, and ordered to the left and right: "In the field, the left brigade and the left camp, lead the horses and wear armor!"
Following the military order, in the messy sand nest, more than 3,000 horsemen were wearing other people's armor and holding other people's horses to find their positions.
Then Zhang Tianlin said: "We have horses, take your spears, and follow me to deal with the ignorant General Suzhou behind you!"
They came and left faster. In the queue that was getting further and further away, Guitutaiji looked left and right outside the Jinta Temple and saw Wang Ziyong standing next to him. His soldiers were with him. The soldiers are almost the same, and they don't have any decent equipment.
"Wang Huishou, this..."
Wang Ziyong sighed, waved his hand and said: "Except for the soldiers, everything in his army was robbed. Taiji, relax. We will have equipment when he wins. It's okay. We can fight against the stars. Let's kill him." Just eat the sheep."
Gotutaiji took off his helmet, scratched his head in confusion, and asked again: "But I don't think they have any spears. I still have the spears in my cavalry team, but they didn't take them."
Wang Ziyong paused while looking for a sheep, turned around and looked at the endless desert, shook his head and said: "Here it is, Guo Tianxing said that the musket is his spear, Zhang Yide has a snake spear of eight feet, and Zhang Tianlin has an eighteen feet Snake spear.”
Chapter 456: Riding a Spear
