Along the Heihe River, there are thousands of households on the high platform.
Yang Jiamo was determined to defend Gaotai City. He made great determination. The 300,000 acres of paddy fields and dry land along the Heihe River were no longer in Gaotai. The order was to strengthen the walls and clear the fields, so as not to leave anyone behind for the thieves.
He had the confidence to dare to issue such an order.
Gansu is a military town, and the commander-in-chief has great power during wartime. He leads local soldiers from Ganzhou who share the same hatred as the residents, reducing the possibility of plunder and rebellion. The people living in the thousands of households in Gaotai have a large number of military surplus, compared with those in the mainland. They are more organized and more obedient to orders; and the strength of the Ganzhou Army is greater than the population of the people near Gaotai.
All this creates the possibility for rapid clearing of strong walls.
Yang Jiamo wanted to carry out a good clearing of the country, with a detailed and comprehensive plan, including notification, persuasion, mobilization, evacuation, demolition and resettlement, but at the actual implementation level, the Marshal's Army did not give him such a long time.
From the time when the marshal of Gansu discussed the plan and ordered the troops to move out, the vanguard of the marshal's army and the cavalry of the Shuote Department had already rushed into the suburbs, only thirty miles away from Gaotai City.
The leading generals were Brigade Commander Mo Yujing, Counselor Duolji, Counselor Cantu, and Counselor Wei Qian'er. None of them expected at first that Yang Jiamo would choose to strengthen the wall and clear the country in a short period of time.
Therefore, they followed the idea of an encounter. The entire brigade was led by Dorji's Heshuote cavalry as the vanguard, Gitu Taiji's 700 Chahar cavalry in the middle, and Wei Qian'er's tribe, which had the most organized military formation, was in the rear.
But on the first day of the encounter between the two sides, the scattered cavalry fought several encounters in the paddy fields and dry land with the Ming army who was enforcing the wall and clearing the country. Each Heshuote team lost more than they won.
Originally, no one was willing to leave their hometown and move to Ganzhou, whether it was common people, remnants of the army, or big families with forts and surnames, they would just let them go with this notice, without paying any attention to working methods. No one can stand it.
What's more, it was the local army that came, so they were not afraid. It was not the first time there was a big chaos. The people who came over from Suzhou said that the marshal's army was also a Han army. The military discipline was quite good. Those who did not rob or kill all regretted listening to the government. They are fleeing as refugees.
You are going to make me become a refugee. That is absolutely impossible!
Even the officers and soldiers could not be mobilized, and all they could do was talk nonsense.
The common people are very courageous in watching the excitement, and are not afraid of the army who have food to eat. During the Three Generals' Rebellion, Yang Jian sent troops to attack Yuchi Jiong. The people watching the battle formed a human wall. The Sui army fired arrows at the people watching the battle, and used the scattered people to overwhelm Yuchi. Different military formations.
But the situation in Gaotai was different. Originally, the people had a fierce quarrel with the soldiers who were enforcing the wall and clearing the country. Xiang Yong even pushed and pushed him and wanted to have a fight with the officers and soldiers.
Everyone suddenly saw the braided Mongolian cavalry in the distance, holding long swords and strong bows, and the horse's hooves were running over the field ridges one step deep and one shallow.
The Heshuote cavalrymen felt uncomfortable when their horses' hooves got stuck in the paddy fields and ridges, but they were happy when they saw the infighting between the people and the officers and soldiers.
They are neither Chahar nor Tumote. Since their grandfathers generation, they have lacked the experience of entering the Ming Dynasty to rob. They naively believe that those men wearing cotton-padded jackets and carrying mother-in-law's dolls are no threat to them. The enemy is only the Ming Dynasty men wearing cloth masks. military.
But in the minds of Gansu men, there is no concept of Chahar and Heshuote at all. When they see their costumes, they only have one common name: "The Tatars are coming!"
The moment the first person shouted, something strange in the blood of the Gansu border people must have been activated.
Everyone stopped pushing and quarreling. The two groups shared the same hatred. While protecting the mother-in-law and the baby, they retreated while picking up bows, crossbows, knives, chains, flails and big sticks and rushing upwards. They also shouted: "Kill the Tatars! Kill them." Tartars!”
Dorji Taiji, the sixth son of the Great Master Khan, suffered a great impact on his spiritual world. He was frightened when he saw a group of herdsmen abandoning their horses and stumbling away in the paddy fields.
He didn't understand, thinking about how there was no grudge in the past and no grudge in the recent past, why did this group of people suddenly burst out with great enthusiasm for fighting? Then damn Liu Chengzong never hit me like this!
He has no idea what his head means in the eyes of these people. To the officers and soldiers, it is a piece of silver in the shape of a human head; to the common people, it is equal to a ninth-grade crown and a glorious body. They will quarrel with the officers and soldiers later. confidence.
In the frontline conflict, there are more losses than wins. Dorji Taiji is confused and confused. Chahar's Zhututeji is not confused at all. He knows this very well and goes to Mo Yujing: " Brigadier General, let General Wei go, we have learned from Chahar, and Haner from Gansu will not see the troops."
Don't follow the good example of Jing. What does practice mean that true knowledge comes from practice? As for the military issues on the three sides of the Ming Dynasty and Shaanxi, not to mention the Shaanxi generals and anyone south of the Great Wall did not have the final say. Only Nututaiji had the final say.
He is a serious survivor who was beaten in turn by the border troops from three towns, so whatever you say is true.
Soon the Mongolian brigade retreated, and Wei Qian'er's Han army camp was replaced as the vanguard. This time made the nervous Ganzhou Army immediately become rough in carrying out the mission of strengthening the wall and clearing the country.
There was no time to inform, persuade, or mobilize anymore. The sergeants gathered the people and ran around in teams holding torches. They took away all the haystacks, rice, grain, wood, clothing and livestock outside the city. Everything that was taken away was burned.
Soon, dozens of black smoke rose into the sky. Below the black smoke were burning villages, hundreds of households, and acres of orchards.
The black smoke was like a beacon, not only informing Ganzhou of Gaotai's defense methods, but also immediately known to Liu Chengzong who came with troops from behind.
The first thing Liu Chengzong thought of was not that the walls were fortified but that his Mongolian battalion was robbing... It’s not his fault for his habitual thinking. The Mongolian cavalry and the black smoke of the village complement each other!
He asked for paper and pen on the spot, and wrote furiously on horseback, scolding Mo Yujing for his unfavorable situation.
Fortunately, the two armies were very close, and the first and second victories of the Tang soldiers were almost as fast. Before the letter was finished, Tang Qi from the front line came to report: "Commander, the defenders of the high platform defended the wall and cleared the field, and the offensive of the Heshuote camp on the front line was thwarted. .”
The scene of black smoke filling the sky with thousands of households in Gaotai, and almost the entire land burning, cast a layer of gloom in the minds of the generals of the Central Military Camp.
Strong walls and clear fields have been an extremely effective means in defensive wars since ancient times, because in war it is the army that controls the land. The army can remain invincible with the protection of the city, but for the siege army, the key to conquering the city lies outside the city.
To put it bluntly, there are three necessities for attacking a city: men, materials, and food.
People are the foundation, not only the army, but also the civilians who transport supplies, and the people who work together inside and outside; materials are wood, stone, craftsmen, copper and iron, all materials that can be used to make siege equipment; food is much simpler, food and wealth .
The Ming army and the Hou Jin Dynasty fought on the battlefield in Liaodong for so many years. Many forts on the front line were breached, but there were only three ways to capture the city. The first was internal response, the second was siege, and the third was the surrender of the defenders.
Because although gunpowder weapons made great progress in this era, which changed the situation of war to a certain extent and reduced the proportion of battle losses between the offensive and defensive sides in the siege stage, the siege methods still did not change qualitatively.
When both sides are regular armies, the siege party cannot win with simple field artillery and long ladders. Making siege equipment is still a necessary preparation for siege.
No one could march with huge siege engines.
Therefore, a good and orderly clearing of strong walls focuses on moving rather than destroying. The purpose is to transport food, materials, and people in the area, which can minimize the losses of the defenders and increase the difficulties for the siege troops, causing them to stagnate and retreat. The army even lost morale due to being helpless and was eventually defeated.
Liu Chengzong said nothing. He balled up the nearly finished letter into a paper egg in his hand and tore it into pieces. He looked around at the frustrated expressions of the generals in the military camp and frowned.
The atmosphere in the military formation was depressing, and he knew very well that this incident had a great impact on many generals, not because of the consequences of the strong walls and clearing the country, but because of the background of the officers in the central military camp.
The Huben camp is all officers, and the war experience of the Marshal's Mansion determines that these people have a very simple background. There are not many border soldiers from the three towns of Guyuan, Lintao, and Gansu. They are all border soldiers from the Northern Shaanxi People's Army, Yulin, and Ningxia.
In the marching ranks, the officers who were close to Liu Chengzong more or less had a common experience... They led the people to resist taxes and evade the government troops in Yanchang and Yanchuan of Yan'an Prefecture, and they were also able to clear the country with strong walls.
Now they have become the people that people want to avoid even if they burn their houses, which is not a good feeling.
A blow to morale is naturally a bad thing, but Liu Chengzong believes that it doesn't have to be this way.
He summoned Yang Yao, Han Shipan, Han Shiyou and other officers who were still in the Chinese army, and discussed: "You don't have to be discouraged by this. It's not that we have never done anything about strengthening the walls and clearing the country. It is impossible for Gaotai to relocate the people by gentle means in a short time. Since Yang Jiamo used this We are already at a disadvantage by holding on to our methods, so now we can only jump out of the battlefield and focus on the entire Gansu to reduce losses."
"Therefore, I plan to make an order to order Mo Yujing to immediately lead his troops to advance to the high platform to prevent the army from transporting people and supplies into the city. Wei Qian'er's troops immediately rush to the countryside to fight with the people who have been mobilized by the army. During the competition, it was promised that when the siege of Gaotai City was launched, land would be granted to them; the people who had not yet been mobilized would be issued a peace notice, prohibiting killing, looting and robbery, and ordering people to continue farming as usual."
"Even the people who have been moved to Ganzhou by the army must know that the arrival of the marshal's army will do no harm to them."
After Liu Chengzong finished speaking, he shook his head and said: "The high platform only has a population of three or four thousand people, and the strong walls and clearing the fields are just because the siege equipment is slower to build. If the Ganzhou guards with tens of thousands of people cannot build the walls and clear the fields, we will not even think about going east." "
All the generals had no objections to this. With the flags fluttering, the order was quickly passed to the front line. Mo and Jing's and Wei Qian'er's troops were divided into two groups. For a time, soldiers and horses came out in paddy fields and dry land on the high platform, crisscrossing the area. Arrows were flying everywhere in the water network and ditches.
In every village and every field, small teams flying the same military flag went back and forth to fight, and the fleeing people fled in all directions. In an instant, the entire Gaotai Thousand Households fell into unprecedented chaos.
Gaotai Qianhu City has a panoramic view of everything. When he saw the Mongolian cavalry in the distance, abandoning the countryside and heading straight for Gaotai City, Yang Jiamo punched the city battlements angrily.
Just seeing the deployment of the Marshal's army, he knew that he was still a step too late after all, and his plan to strengthen the walls and clear the country was disrupted by Liu Chengzong.
In addition to being angry, he was more annoyed with himself. He only saw the shared hatred of the Ganzhou Second Battalion during the recruitment and assembly, but he did not expect their nervousness when the plan suddenly went wrong... This army is almost entirely composed of new recruits. , It is not enough to cope with the important task of strengthening the wall and clearing the field when fighting close to the enemy.
This tactic is a double-edged sword in itself. It just depends on whose hand the sword is in. Whoever does this well will have the sword cut to the other side.
Therefore, there was no need to rush. Long before issuing the order, he warned Wang Xingshan and the officers that since it was decided to fortify the wall and clear the country, it would be foolish to say that the people would not suffer any losses. However, the people were all loyal and brave people of the Ming Dynasty. As long as the military households were persuaded and the We must take measures for transshipment and resettlement, and be grateful for people's sacrifices in fighting against the thieves. No loyal and patriotic person can tolerate the fall of his hometown.
But now when the Marshal's Mansion's army rushes and scares them, the troops sent out to perform tasks panic. When they panic, they become anxious.
What's more critical is that the Mongolian cavalry running towards Gaotai City immediately put huge pressure on Yang Jiamo. The purpose of clearing the country was to move supplies and people into the city. The city was blocked. Where did those people go?
It was also at this moment that Yang Jiamo realized a huge cognitive problem among them - although he was the chief military officer, he might not be able to surpass Liu Chengzong in terms of war experience.
For five years, the Ming Dynasty did not have generals like Liu Chengzong who served as the chief general to plan battles and conquered the country without fighting. On the contrary, there were several leaders on the bandit side who were in a similar situation, but none of them were as senior as Liu Chengzong. .
Not only did the Ming Dynasty not have it, Mongolia didn't have it, not even the Hou Jin Dynasty. Now the Hou Jin Dynasty and the Ming army are fighting in Liaodong, and the battle intervals are calculated in years.
Looking back fifty years, only one person had such an experience, and it was Nurhachi who conquered the five tribes of Jianzhou in five years.
As the black smoke of the conflict rushed into the sky, Yang Jiamo suddenly saw the impeachment charges flying all over the sky towards Beijing. The Mongolian cavalry attacking the city made him see the sad scene of the enemy taking advantage of the strong walls and clear fields.
If these were the shocks to Yang Jiamo caused by the marshal's army's invasion of the high platform, then they were frightening to Wang Xingshan, the deputy commander-in-chief who was still outside.
Wang Xingshan could not know the precise purpose of the Mongolian cavalry rushing to the high platform, but he could realize that if the delay continued, the high platform might not be in trouble, and the battalion he led would definitely be divided, surrounded and annihilated.
The sound of horns was heard one after another in the outskirts of Gaotai. The scattered Ganzhou troops no longer cared about the strong walls and clearing the fields, and gathered one after another towards the location of Wang Xingshan. Wei Qian'er was also happy with this. He only gathered the people to collect supplies, and did not care at all. Talk to them.
By the time Liu Chengzong led his army to the outskirts of Gaotai, Wang Xingshan had led nearly 4,000 cavalry back to three miles south of Qianhu City, and set up a formidable camp with flags fluttering on the edge of the endless farmland.
The two sides were separated by five miles. Liu Chengzong used a telescope to look at Ma Tianlong. He turned around and saw the formation thoroughly. He raised his whip and said with a smile: "It's interesting to form the formation behind the city!"
Good morning! My wife and baby are both having sex, and I guess I am too soon.
(End of chapter)
