Liu Chengzong was making progress step by step in the west of Gansu Province, taking advantage of the momentum of breaking through the barriers. In just half a month, he captured one of the three oases, with great momentum and ease.
For Hong Chengchou in eastern Gansu, the war to regain the Zhuanglang River Basin was like a nightmare.
It is not that the enemy is difficult to deal with. The Mongolian-Fan coalition forces of Xie Erhu and Basang are slightly weaker than the Ming army in all aspects. It is already very difficult to deal with Gansu generals such as Chai Shihua and Ding Shaoyin.
For Hong Chengchou, the source of the nightmare was that Marshal Zhuang Langhe's troops were clearly vulnerable, but there were always constraints and troubles inside and outside the battlefield, which kept the battle line in a stalemate at Gulang Gorge, preventing them from advancing even an inch.
Inside the battlefield, generals such as Chai Shihua and Ding Shaoyin were fighting steadily. No one was willing to take risks if the mud could not cover the wall. The resistance outside the battlefield came from Pingliang City and the King of Han.
As early as the battle had just begun, Prince Han's palace sent people to find Hong Chengchou, saying that the Ningxia giant bandit Jin Chanzi had come out to cause trouble again, and asked him to send troops to defend Pingliang City.
Hong Chengchou's head was buzzing when he heard the nickname Jin Chanzi.
From Hong Chengchou's true intention, he was unwilling to talk to King Han, and he couldn't reason with someone who didn't know how to serve the country. Is there any more powerful bandit than Liu Chengzong at the moment?
But Hong Chengchou had no choice. No one could bear the responsibility for the fall of the vassal state. The example of the fall of Lanzhou and the escape of King Su was shown in front of him. That matter had nothing to do with him. It was the responsibility of Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces. The emperor originally wanted Chen Qiyu to be imprisoned. The courtiers discussed internally and externally, but no one could succeed him, so Chen Qiyu was allowed to temporarily plead guilty...but he was not allowed to make meritorious deeds.
Ordinarily, Han Fan in Pingliang had nothing to do with Hong Chengchou, but Han Wangfei said that this generation of Buddhist scholars came from Ningxia, so he threw the blame on Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides.
Hong Chengchou was so angry that his teeth itched, but he had no choice but to do anything to the King of Han. He ordered Ningxia General Zhang Dechang to lead troops to guard Liupan Mountain.
Zhang Dechang was also born as a general. His grandfather was the famous general Zhang Chen, who was the chief military officer of Ningxia in the Wanli year and was as prestigious as a tiger.
At that time, Anda Khan led his troops and wanted to use the road in front of Helan Mountain to attack Olay, but Zhang Chen refused to let him pass. Anda Khan was very angry and said a few unpleasant words. Who knew that Zhang Chen was even more angry and dug up the Han and Tang Canals overnight to flood the road? Well, when Chen Bing came to Chishui, I said I had no temper at all. In the next three years, no one in Ningxia Mutual Market dared to make any noise.
At this generation, the old Zhang family still had three brothers, Zhang Yingchang, Zhang Quanchang, and Zhang Dechang as generals. Hong Chengchou thought it would be a good idea to transfer Zhang Dechang. Who knew that he had just led his troops to Liupan Mountain, and was angry that the King of Han was playing rogue and left? .
The envoy of the King of Han said that this is not what His Highness wanted. Cao Bianjiao could not come, and His Highness would not provide military rations to anyone who came.
Moreover, the envoy also told Cao Bianjiao that he could taste the taste of his hometown, Datong's shaved noodles, and Shanxi's old vinegar.
It is difficult not to make Hong Chengchou doubt the intentions of King Han.
Pingliang Mansion was robbed by bandits and suffered a locust plague last year. The prefect, Jiang Yingchang, had no food in his treasury, so he followed the lead of Prince Han's Mansion. If Prince Han's Mansion did not release food, Pingliang would really have no food to support his troops.
Secondly, Cao Bianjiao went to Pingliang, and the report he brought back to Hong Chengchou was that the city of Pingliang was beaten to pieces, but the newly built palace was like a fortress and was not afraid of bandits at all.
Hong Chengchou didn't know what this bastard wanted to do. Finally, he suddenly thought that Cao Bianjiao seemed to have mentioned to him that the King of Han wanted to recruit him as a guest of honor in the palace.
If he spoke to the confused King of Han, Hong Chengchou ignored him. As a result, King Su who took refuge in the King of Han's Mansion was fed some kind of ecstasy soup and asked to be transferred to the palace. Hong Chengchou had no choice.
In fact, it was not difficult for the King of Han to pour the ecstasy soup to King Su. He said that the generals in the imperial court are neither capable of fighting nor loyal. They are all bastards named Shi Xiang. I can tell you in front of you. Turn around. They surrendered.
Cao Bianjiao is good, extremely good.
After all, Su Fan was a virtuous king, and he had a different quality than Han Fan, who was a fool.
Cao Bianjiao was sent to the Han Dynasty to garrison, and Mr. Hong lost a general.
Little Han Wang looked at the strong Cao Bianjiao and was so happy that he couldn't help but say that the breeding mission was just around the corner.
Apart from anything else, now that there is a big war in Gansu and Qinghai, few people in the world can be happy, including Prince Han.
It was obviously a calamity year with wars in the west and plague in the east, but King Han seemed to be the happiest man in the world. At this juncture, he had reasons for everything he did in Pingliang, and he was very enthusiastic about recruiting talents.
He got Cao Bianjiao, who could lead troops in war, and Prince Su, the wisest member of the clan, also came to him. He also let him keep the two foreign devils who were supposed to be sent to Liu Chengzong by the Han family in Shanxi, who knew how to make and use cannons. He even wrote a letter in reverse to try to fool Hedong Sanhan into teaching him Tai Chi.
For King Han, fighting in the west? Let's fight, whoever wins won't hurt him anyway; there's a plague in the east? Come on, I have King Liu's book on famine relief and epidemic prevention. Who is afraid of whom?
But for Hong Chengchou, if he were to rank the people he hated, Liu Chengzong could only rank third, and King Han second.
The person he hates most now is Chen Qiyu.
Because the biggest resistance to regaining the Zhuang Lang River came from Chen Qiyu. From Hong Chengchou's perspective, it was said that the army gathered east of Lanzhou, and the Zhuang Lang River involved the forces of the Marshal's Mansion. They should have fought back Lanzhou long ago.
Even if we don’t talk about bringing Lanzhou back, we should at least beat Lanzhou, right?
However, for the past two months, the siege on the Lanzhou front has been uneventful, while the garrison has been very busy. So far, not even a brick has been lost in Lanzhou City.
Chen Qiyu also has difficulties.
A large number of thieves came from Qinzhou, looted Gongchang Mansion under the eyes of the garrison, conquered Ningyuan and Fuqiang counties, and then disturbed the peace of the two military and civilian departments of Gongchang Mansion and Minzhou and Taozhou.
Rogue bandits have become a phenomenon. Knowing that the main force of the official army is here, those who dare to come from Qinzhou are even the best among the big thieves. Their organization is no longer as chaotic as in the past, and their troops are no longer spread over the mountains and plains, but in battle. The barracks moved together so that the officers and soldiers could easily know the names of each department.
Not counting those stragglers, Chen Qiyu knew that there were more than twenty battalions of bandits running around in Hanzhong and Qinzhou.
If there are eight camps, it is Gao Yingxiang's Eighth Battalion of Chuangwang; if there are five formations, it is either Li Zicheng and other five leaders' fifth battalion of Chuangjiang, or He Jin and five other leaders' five leaders of Zuojun's fifth battalion.
If there are two camps that look like they are isolated by others, don't even think about it, the Eighth King Zhang Xianzhong's soldiers.
The government's garrison in Gongchang Mansion are all Shaanxi generals, including Zhang Yingchang, the general of the governor's Biao Battalion, and He Renlong, the staff general who was practicing state affairs, as well as the staff general Yang Yanchang and the commander Ren Quaner sent by Chen Qiyu. The generals are close friends, but they are prone to internal strife.
Oddly enough, ever since they garrisoned Gongchang Mansion, the three armies have cooperated closely in harming the local area.
He Renlong's soldiers did not rob poor families, because they would disguise themselves as bandits and attack rich gentry at night; Zhang Yingchang's soldiers did not rob rich gentry, but they would set up checkpoints during the day to collect donations and ask for food.
The military discipline of Yang Yanchang, the god of war in Yan'an, was better. Firstly, they did not rob poor families. Secondly, they did not rob rich gentry. Thirdly, they intercepted He Renlong's fake bandits in the early morning and attacked Zhang Yingchang's encirclement team in the evening. In short, ... insisted on confiscating the illegal gains of colleagues with full enthusiasm.
As the bandits ran into Gongchang Mansion, the behavior of the three armies became even worse. They all had evil intentions. As long as a bandit appeared in Gongchang Mansion, the three armies would attack the friendly forces non-stop.
Zhang Yingchang is very angry. I spent a lot of effort to find the bandits and defeat them, but you bastards will steal the spoils?
He Renlong was also very angry. I spent a lot of effort to sell your garrison map to Li Chuangjiang in exchange for some money. As soon as it was delivered, I asked you bastards to intercept it?
Yang Yanchang became even more angry. King Gao Chuang knew that he felt sorry for his brother, so he gave me some money and food. Why are you bastards getting so close to me one by one?
As for Ren Quan'er, Mr. Ren is not angry. He is working for the superior, so he should work harder.
While reporting to Chen Qiyu that he really couldn't persuade the jealous General Yang, he wrote letters of thanks to King Gao Chuang and General Li Chuang. Finally, he also wanted to give a small red envelope to He Renlong's leader He Yong, covering everything.
Chen Qiyu and Lian Guoshi tried their best, but they couldn't stop the internal strife, let alone attack Lanzhou City.
Seeing that nothing could be accomplished by teaming up with Chen Qiyu and this gang of insects, Hong Chengchou felt that the court had to rely on him in this war, and that it could not rely on others.
And he has the ability to break the deadlock.
The method is very simple, let Cao Wenzhao and Bai Guangen go.
The soldiers led by Cao Wenzhao and Bai Guangen are actually not worth mentioning. In terms of the quality of the soldiers, they are about the same as the Mongolian-Fan coalition led by Xie Erhu and Basang.
Cao Wenzhao had some veterans under his command, but most of them were recruited from Gansu and Ningxia. Among them were some Mongolian Yidin who had surrendered after the Monan Rebellion.
Not to mention Bai Guangen, the soldiers he led before were indeed elite, but those elite soldiers were attacked by Zhang Tianlin with rockets to reduce the dimensionality. They were sent away even though they were carrying brand-new electric muskets without using them. They were left frightened. The brave soldiers fled back in defeat.
Hong Chengchou transferred Lu Yunchang, the chieftain who had lost Liancheng, to him as his deputy, recruited troops from various tribes in Mayasan, and reorganized the army.
The Ming army in Zhuanglang River was not unable to advance because there were no good soldiers. On the contrary, the Ming army in the Zhuanglang River basin were all good soldiers. Yang Jiamo had used all his standard battalions, so the army could not be destroyed.
Hong Chengchou believed that the generals on the battlefield were hesitant and did not dare to fight. He asked Bai Guangen and Cao Wenzhao to solve this problem.
He doesn't need to tell you the specific solution. As long as these two people are sent to the battlefield, the problem can be easily solved - these two are old scroll kings.
They have a different way of thinking about war than hereditary generals like Chai Shihua and Ding Shaoyin. For Ding Shaoyin, the commander of the Liangzhou Guard, he knows almost every soldier and every soldier's father and mother. When a soldier dies, he goes back to provide As the saying goes, Chai Shihua was leading Yang Jiamo's model soldiers, and he also had to give Yang Jiamo an explanation for the loss of soldiers.
Cao Wenzhao and Bai Guangen are different. They only need to be responsible to their superiors, not their subordinates. They can just fight.
As soon as the two battalions went south from Gulang Gorge, they were detected by Basang's Xifan hunters in the mountains. However, sometimes the detection was useless because information did not move as fast as the army.
As soon as the hunter ran to Zhuanglang Guard City, Basang sent Buchi to lead his troops to set up an ambush outside the city. However, as soon as the ambush troops left the city and walked seven or eight miles, they were kicked into disarray by the Ma Yashan cavalry led by Bai Guangen himself.
The battle went so fast that Basang had no time to leave the city for rescue, and they were surrounded and annihilated.
The battle to decide the ownership of Zhuang Langhe broke out.
On the evening of March 28, after receiving Basang's request for help, Xie Erhu led a team of 4,000 Mongolian cavalry to the west of the Zhuanglang Acropolis. With the afterglow of the evening, he saw a camp being built by the Ming army in the east of the river.
The construction of the fort had just begun, and there were wooden military tents piled all over the place. The trenches had not been dug, the horse gates had not been opened, and the general cannons had not been placed in the preset artillery positions. Many sergeants had scattered to carry earth and rocks.
First of all, Xie Erhu came to avenge Buchi.
Secondly, this is undoubtedly a good opportunity for an attack.
Finally, he believed that this camp belonged to Bai Guangen, whom Basang mentioned in his letter for help.
He knew Bai Guangen. Although the current generals in the Marshal's Mansion no longer regarded him as a traitor, it still did not prevent them from looking down on Bai Guangen, who betrayed his friends for glory, and regarded him as a negative teaching material for educating military officers.
With these three elements put together, Xie Erhu and Ahai Daiqing discussed briefly and decided on a battle plan. To attack the slow and fast, the Qianqi divided into three sides and charged together, wrapping up the three thousand Ming troops who had not yet formed a camp and hitting them. die.
But this was not Bai Guangen's camp, and Bai Guangen was scared away.
Bai Guangen's annihilation of Buchi's Qian Headquarters did not rely on military quality. There were Fan soldiers on both sides. The Mayasan Fans who were marginalized under the centralization of power in the Ming Dynasty were loosely organized and basically did not control force.
The situation of Marshal Fanbing on the other side is completely different. To a certain extent, Liu Chengzong pulled the entire Kangning Mansion out of the feudal slave era, but only left Xifanying, a product of the slave era.
Unlike the people who stayed in their hometown, they actually did not enjoy the happiness of being free people for a long time. The freedom of just ten days was not worth mentioning. Many people did not even understand the concept of private property. Recruited into the army, he crossed the snowy mountains and the Yellow River and appeared on the Hehuang battlefield.
They did not know what freedom was, but they knew very well that Liu Chengzong gave them something, something that did not belong to slaves who could take nothing away except shadows and leave nothing but footprints.
For example, a set of clothes that are not luxurious but clean and warm, a piece of solidly made mail, a ring knife that is enough to kill people, a simple musket and a meal of tsampa that can be eaten for the past half month. In short, Liu Chengzong gave him They have everything a soldier should have besides military pay.
Bai Guangen used three thousand to fight one thousand, attacked suddenly, surrounded and annihilated, and it was easy to win.
In his opinion, there is nothing special about these peasant soldiers except for their stubborn resistance. He has seen many peasant soldiers stubbornly resisting. How many peasant soldiers would rather die than be captured by the official army? What's the use? They surrounded and killed half of them, and the rest were basically paralyzed by exhaustion. It was a victory in which they killed 500 enemies and captured more than 400 enemies.
But what happened after the victory was beyond his expectation. Only more than 200 of his soldiers were killed in the battle, but more than 50 were killed and wounded by the prisoners after the war. These prisoners recovered their strength a little, and they could grab knives as often as they wanted. When the weapon is available, it will headbutt or bite the person with his teeth when the person is not using it. In short, it will kill the person.
Bai Guangen's soldiers were also Ban soldiers, and they wanted to kill all the prisoners, but Lu Yunchang was unwilling. Chief Lu wanted to recruit these Ban soldiers, so the prisoners became a hot potato. Bai Guangen was frightened when he saw the prisoners in the camp, so he simply killed them Throwing it to friendly forces, he hid behind the excuse that there were too many injured soldiers.
Therefore, the military formation that Xie Erhu wanted to collide with was not Bai Guangen, Lu Yunchang, Ding Shaoyin or Chai Shihua.
But Cao Wenzhao, Cao Wenzhao who was never afraid of capturing hot hands.
Good evening!
(End of chapter)
