Between the desert and paddy fields surrounding Gaotai Qianhusuo, within a radius of fifty miles, three armies rolled up sand and dust and ran wildly.
Gao Yingdeng led more than 2,000 troops to the west, and Tang Shiming led more than 2,000 troops to the north. In the middle of these two armies were more than a thousand horsemen led by Tang Tong, the commander of the front of Gao Yingdeng's camp.
Tang Tong was an unlucky man. He was defeated in the conflict at Hehuang and his head was hit by a pumpkin. When he woke up from a coma, he was already in Xining. He didn't even have a surrender ceremony and became the surrender of the Marshal's Mansion. General, and his official rank is still very low, he is called Captain of the Strong Army.
The rank of military officers in the Marshal's Office is divided into three levels: general, captain, and captain. Each level is divided into three levels and nine levels. The captain of the strong army is the first level of the first-class captain, and one has to climb up one level to be the final one. The ninth rank captain at the bottom.
For officers who were awarded this level of honor, the actual official title was usually Commander-in-Chief... Tang Tongke was captured as a guerrilla general in Yansui Town. This honor was very low for him.
This is because Tang Tong was a quick officer in the imperial court. His promotion speed was almost as fast as that of Yang Yao and Wang Wenxiu. In the second year of Chongzhen, he was still a small soldier who brought his own servants to join the army. He relied on three brushes with Wang Zuogao in Hancheng. In the fifth year of Chongzhen, He was already a guerrilla general when he appeared on the Hehuang battlefield.
Therefore, Liu Chengzong did not give him an excessively high official position, but Mr. Liu was very concerned about such generals. He assigned doctors and craftsmen to nurse the injured, provided him with a house and pasture, and also helped him find an aunt from Yang Qi's family to become Yang Qi's son-in-law. .
Liu Xiangyu knew very well that his second son was proud and a frontier army leader with a humble background, so he always had a grudge against the surrendered senior generals.
When a senior official position became vacant, Liu Shizi was more willing to promote his direct generals who followed him.
Under such conditions, of the three general officers, He Huchen was the one he wanted to see the most, followed by Wang Chengen, who was not willing to contribute to the Marshal's Mansion, and Yang Qi, who was full of speculation, the least.
This kind of mentality boils down to the fact that He Huchen took advantage of the fight with Liu Chengzong in the early years. At that time, the Lion Battalion had a small number of soldiers and the fight was very hard, which also proved that He Huchen's ability was not bad.
But in Liu Xiangyu's eyes, among the three generals, Yang Qi is the most reliable. It doesn't matter how capable a person is, what matters is how much capability he is willing to use for you.
As long as the Marshal's Mansion still occupies Hehuang, Yang Qi will be the most reliable surrendered general. Liu Xiangyu is more willing to use Yang Qi to increase the sense of belonging of the surrendered general.
After all, family members are the weakest aspect of the direct line of generals in the Marshal's Mansion. These people are all singles, and it is difficult to rely on marriage to attract outsiders.
This is what Liu Xiangyu learned from his cheap nephew Hauge. When dealing with subordinates, those with low moral standards will be lured with benefits; those with high moral standards will be allowed to have a family.
At this moment, after Tang Tong had been driving in the desert for half a day, the Gobi scene finally faded in his eyes, and what appeared in front of him was an endless oasis, with crisscrossing canals separating the fields.
Seeing the dust raised by the army from a distance, farmers sowing cotton on the edge of the desert fled in all directions.
Tang Tong reined in his horse in front of the canal. The Tang soldiers had been unable to keep up with him half an hour ago. The last message sent by Tang Tong was that Gao Yingdeng had broken camp and that two thousand troops were moving in his direction.
He looked into the distance and shook his head. The fields further away were close to the canal. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, it would be hard for him to imagine that the oasis wrapped in the desert actually had large fields growing rice.
If it hadn't been for this severe drought and this war, this place would have been blocked by Jiangnan.
Tang Tong did not lament for too long, because everywhere in the south of the Yangtze River was good, but it was not suitable for the northern army to fight. He immediately ordered the army to move south along the edge of the cotton field to avoid being overtaken by the enemy.
In the north, Tang soldiers under the command of Zhenyi guerrilla Tang Mingshi had already chased them, and the army was only twenty miles away. Seeing the marshal's horse army looking away from the paddy fields, they laughed excitedly and ordered Tang soldiers to go forward. Two thousand infantry and cavalry were divided into five posts and rushed towards Tang Tong.
Tang Mingshi was familiar with the landforms here, and turning southward meant that victory was in sight for him.
Because further south, there are east-west hills squeezed by the meltwater of the Qilian Mountains for thousands of years, forming a natural barrier that blocks the road ahead; while to the east are paddy fields cut off by interlaced rivers and canals. The lone army of the Marshal's Mansion entered Entering that corner means entering a dead end.
Soon, one hundred and ninety-two Tangqi from the Zhenyi Army dispersed their lines, forming an arc-shaped encirclement twenty miles wide, crowding the ten-mile battlefield between the two armies.
Tang Tong ran southward for more than ten miles, and gradually realized that something was wrong. Earlier, when they were far away, he thought the shadows of the mountains belonged to the Qilian Mountains. Now, the mountains in front of him were getting closer and closer, and he could still see the mountains not far away. The deep ditches made his heart feel cold.
It wasn't because of the war. No matter where the battle started, Gao Yingdeng's order to him was to lure the enemy. Now that he had successfully lured the enemy, the rest were waiting for reinforcements.
He was just afraid that he would lead the wrong way and be dismissed from his post on the battlefield by his group of arrogant soldiers.
Tang Tong knew very well that although more than a dozen battalions were all troops of the Marshal's Mansion, they had distinct ownership and levels. The second battalion of Huben and Caiguan were the troops led by Liu Chengzong himself, and the two field brigades and four battalions were the main force of Liu Chengzong's direct line. military.
There were many surrendered soldiers in the four battalions, but there was no discrimination among the soldiers. Discrimination only existed among the generals.
In other words, he is the only outsider in this battalion. This situation has lessons learned from Zhang Zhen's mistakes. He makes decisions that are not in line with the people and can easily be dismissed from the battlefield.
But there is also a bright side to the situation. Although Zhang Zhen was dismissed from his post on the battlefield, he was promoted to a more important position due to his exploits in the night attack on the Imperial Guard Khan, and is now the deputy general of the Suzhou Battalion.
Fortunately, Tang Tong observed the emotions of his two generals. They seemed to have no idea about the dilemma of being forced into a corner. Even the two generals were eager to give it a try. They rode their horses up and challenged Tang Tong one after another: "General Qian, we can't do this. If you are chased to a dead end, just turn around and charge at them!"
"Yeah, it's so frustrating to be pushed around all the time!"
One of these two generals is called Wailiangzi, a native of Ningxia, who used to be He Huchen's Tangqi; the other is called Li Baliang, who was a salesman of Wen'an Station in his early years and a soldier of Luo Rucai, and is proficient in night fighting.
Tang Tong thought for a moment and said to the two of them: "Two generals, the enemy's troops are divided into five posts. You can choose one of the posts to ride on and attack, but you can't be reluctant to fight. To destroy the enemy's spirit, you have to turn back and form an infantry formation, otherwise we will not be able to hold on. When General Gao comes for reinforcements, there is a greater risk of being bombarded by the enemy because they have more artillery."
Wai Liangzi and Li Baliang were overjoyed when they heard this, and their feelings for Tang Tong began to grow... To put it bluntly, the rejection of senior generals by the direct generals of the Marshal's Mansion was actually largely due to the arrogance caused by low self-esteem.
Deep down, they envied Tang Tong's position as a guerrilla general in the imperial court, but on the other hand, they had also achieved their own achievements from a humble position and were very sensitive about being underestimated.
Tang Tong discussed the military deployment and made the two of them very comfortable.
After some discussion, the two immediately decided that Wai Liangzi would lead the 600 cavalrymen from the Zuo Division to attack the enemy, while Tang Tong would lead Li Baliang's 600 men from the Right Division to dig trenches and unload their guns.
Soon, Tang Tong found a suitable position to defend, using a deep trench created by the melted water as a trench. Chariots loaded with firearms were arranged at the four corners to determine the position of the camp. War horses, donkeys and mules were used as temporary bunkers at the edge of the camp. , began to dig trenches and build simple anti-cannon walls.
Firearms were unloaded from the chariots. Standing at the edge of the camp, Tang Tong looked around at the soldiers setting up the defense line, raised his eyes to the north, and slowly gritted his teeth as he looked at the back of Wailiangzi and his cavalry galloping away.
In fact, he had thought about escaping back to the imperial court. He had been making such plans since he recovered from his injury. He did not study much in the academy and Huben Camp, and had been planning how to escape.
But when the war started, Tang Tong felt more and more that there was no point in escaping. Because he could not escape with the information that could turn the tide of the war, it would be difficult for him to wash away his guilt as an official in the Marshal's Mansion. And in the position of General Manager Qian of the Marshal's Mansion, it would be difficult for him to find him. The Ming army's hope of victory in the duel.
For him, this battle was about knowing yourself and the enemy. The organization, equipment, and combat habits of both sides were extremely similar. However, in every aspect, the Marshal's Office made targeted enhancements to the Ming army's tactics.
After escaping back, the imperial army lost again, and he was captured again, so why bother escaping back?
In the process of setting up the camp, there was almost no place where Tang Tong could intervene. The five hundred generals under Li Baliang had a clear division of labor. Four hundred men dug trenches on all sides, and the other hundred generals led people to dismantle the mule carts and drive the carts to collect water.
One thousand-jin cannon and two lion cannons were placed in the center, and eight other two-hundred-jin lion cannons were located around the camp.
At the edge of the trench, the soldiers used the dismantled cart boards and shields as baffles, filled the middle with sand, piled soil on the outside, built four simple walls of sheep and horses, and set up guns and heavy muskets.
Tang Tong compared the previous Ming army camps and found that the Marshal's Mansion army did not carry any horses, but relied entirely on earthwork to build such a low wall in a standardized manner.
He couldn't help but look for President Bai and asked: "Why is it done like this?"
"General, block the lead." Mr. Bai laughed, patted the plywood wall built by his subordinates and said, "General Bee Tail Needle used this to guard against the Tatar's long musket on the Heka grassland. Wet sand and wooden boards can It blocks the lead and is not afraid of the scattered particles from the cannon."
Tang Tong thought it was quite magical. He looked at the sand-filled plywood wall again and again and asked casually: "Then why don't you bring Juma Zha?"
Mr. Bai shrugged and spread his hands: "The commander-in-chief didn't make any preparations."
The rejection of horses by the Marshal's Mansion army has always existed in Liu Chengzong's mouth, but it has never been implemented.
Before entering Gansu, the expedition did not have the conditions to carry such heavy supplies. After arriving in Gansu, it was because he had too few mules and it was difficult to carry them.
More and less are relative. In terms of total quantity, one battalion of the Marshal's Mansion has more mules and horses than two battalions of the Ming Army, but one regular battalion of the Ming Army can spare 72 mules to carry 144 bags of refuse. Ma Zha, when the battle unfolded, there were 864 resisting horses.
It doesn't matter if the Ming army doesn't have horses or mules to ride on, they have to have all the weapons and equipment; it doesn't matter if the marshal's palace doesn't have all the weapons and equipment, the people have to have horses to ride on, and at worst they have to have a donkey or a mule.
This was the only weakness that Tang Tong found in the Marshal's Mansion. They just couldn't spare this bit of transportation capacity, or they were too proud and believed that the Ming cavalry had no chance of trampling the military formation.
Trenches were dug out quickly, and Tang Tong could see the cavalry galloping several miles away.
The cavalry army led by Wai Liangzi easily broke through the Tang soldiers' defense line and ran into the infantry brigade on the left wing that was putting on armor. However, the Ming army also responded quickly. A sentry of armored cavalry guarding the infantry not far away immediately came out to attack.
The remaining Ming troops at the outposts also stopped and put on their armor and formed a square formation.
Seeing that he could not get any benefit, Wailiangzi led his team to run a mile west. Seeing that the Ming army cavalry was still pursuing them, with a whistle, ten teams of cavalry turned around and launched diagonal attacks in all directions of the Ming army's cavalry formation.
The cavalry on both sides did not choose to engage in hand-to-hand combat. For a moment, arrows were scattered and muskets were fired. The two armies fought for only a moment before a golden drum was heard. The crooked Liangzi, who had just been beaten with blood, was stunned. He was so anxious that he just wanted to scold Tang Tong, but carefully It sounded wrong, the sound came from the Ming army formation.
For a time, the Ming army's cavalry retreated in overlap, and Wailiangzi led his troops to pursue them fiercely, but they got some benefits. It was not until they were almost 300 steps behind the line that they gave the order to withdraw.
When the Ma army returned to their formation, Wai Liangzi still shouted angrily: "If I hadn't seen their two big guns, I would have trampled their formation."
Tang Tong, however, didn't care to listen to his bragging. He looked at the changing enemy formation with his binoculars, and saw that the surrounding Ming army Tangqi quickly shrank, and some people were galloping north, and then a horn sounded from the army formation. Voice.
After a moment of doubt, he suddenly turned to Wailiangzi and said, "Quickly dismount and prepare to defend, they are about to attack!"
Wai Liangzi didn't know what was going on, so he directly called the general and asked: "General, how can you tell this?"
"Just now, Ming Jin was acting abnormally. They Tangqi were running north again in a panic. At this time, everyone dismounted and formed a column, pushing the Yongzhu Anti-Japanese Cannon at the front. They should be planning to forcefully charge into the formation."
Tang Tong stared at the enemy formation with his binoculars and said this long series of words. Finally, he put down the binoculars and took a deep breath: "I guess the enemy has discovered General Gao's movements. Our mission has been accomplished. As long as we support the enemy's charge, we can encircle them." It’s done.”
After hearing the explanation, Wai Liangzi and Li Baliang understood and understood the enemy's little plan. They nodded heavily for a while and conveyed orders to the various generals under their command.
Amid the succession of military orders and military music, the soldiers in the trench camps on all sides gathered one after another, shouldering their guns and heavy muskets. With the north horse wall as the center, they crossed the trenches on the east and west sides and expanded slightly to the two wings to prevent being attacked by the enemy's first attack. Key breakthroughs in the round of impact.
On the other side of the battlefield, Zhenyi guerrilla Tang Mingshi was also watching the deployment of the enemy troops. However, with the wall of sheep and horses, he could not clearly see the weapons and equipment, and could only barely see the width of the formation.
Indeed, as Tang Tong thought, the Tang soldiers of the Tang Ming Dynasty discovered Gao Yingdeng's more than 2,000 cavalry thirty miles northwest, and at this time they knew the marshal's army's tactics to lure the enemy.
Obviously, the marshal's army has more than 3,000 people, but he only has more than 2,000 troops, so he does not have an advantage in strength. However, he did not choose to escape. Instead, he requested reinforcements from Gaotai Camel City, fifty miles away in the north, in order to completely absorb this total force. The rebels numbered nearly four thousand.
When the horn sounded again, generals at all levels of the Zhenyi Army led their columns to attack Tang Tong's position. They had all learned about the deputy general's analysis of the armaments of the Marshal's Mansion, and the order was to rush into the fifty-step distance and use the beads to pour out. The numerical superiority of artillery and prisoner-killing artillery destroyed the enemy formation.
Seeing the columns marching quickly with small cannons, the crooked beam behind the wall of sheep and horses was dumbfounded: "They, what do they mean? Now they are within the range of the guns!"
