Outside Pizhou City, horns sounded continuously.
Thick smoke billows from the northwest, which is the smoke released by the outpost as a warning.
Chen Wang held the rein in his left hand and the whip in his right hand. He followed Cao Wenzhao on his horse and ran out of the camp and climbed a high slope.
When he heard the horn sound of the Chinese army, Chen Wang did not dare to neglect and immediately rushed to the Chinese army.
Soon after he arrived, several other generals from the army also arrived one after another.
There were three puffs of smoke igniting in the northwest. The three puffs of smoke in the previous notification referred to the most serious situation - more than 100,000 thieves were attacking.
Although Chen Wang was already prepared, his heart sank when he saw the three plumes of black smoke rising.
And when he followed Cao Wenzhao up the high slope and looked to the northwest, his heart became even colder.
Different from the gentle Guanzhong, the terrain of Pingliang Mansion is rugged, with mountains, rivers and hills, and the cities in the mansion are basically on a line.
At a glance, apart from the continuous mountains on both sides, there are only countless dense black masses in the central area.
It was vast and boundless, and the crowd was so dark that it was like a wave, and you couldn't even see the edge.
If there are ten thousand people, it will be boundless; if there are one hundred thousand people, it will extend from the earth to the sky.
Moreover, among these 100,000 bandits there were not only humans, but also mules, horses and other livestock as well as various types of vehicles, making the team even larger.
There were bursts of fire and countless smoke and dust in the distance, which was exactly in the direction of Zhankou Town.
The town located at the intersection of the two waters was now a sea of fire.
Everyone's expressions became solemn, even Cao Wenzhao was no exception.
"This group of bandits is not the main force. They don't collect intelligence reports at night. Among the bandits' cavalry, they only saw the flags of Gao Yingen, Yi Zi Wang, and Chuang Tian Wang."
Zuo Liangyu drove his horse to Cao Wenzhao's side and said to Cao Wenzhao.
He had been hanging behind the bandits in Pingliang Prefecture. He won a few small battles and won a lot of meritorious service.
Later, he was stationed in Yilu Town according to the order, and he also had fights with the bandits and soldiers of Pingliang Mansion, and he also knew a little about their heel and legs.
"The bandits Lao He and I encountered at that time were not strong. Although there were many horse teams, there were very few elite cavalry."
Cao Wenzhao nodded. Both he and Zuo Liangyu received news from Southwest.
"Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, and Ma Shouying are all in the southwest. He Renlong and Zhang Quanchang have elite soldiers. Although Tian Yinglong is slightly worse, he is still stronger than ordinary border troops."
"The main elite of the bandits should be in the southwest, otherwise it would be impossible for the three of them to have a combined force of more than 6,000 people and lose two battles in a row."
Cao Wenzhao raised his riding whip and pointed it in the direction in front of Zhankou Town.
"Look at their cavalry."
"Most of the cavalry are scattered, sparse and unevenly in formation. These should be the cavalry among them. There are only a few cavalry in tight formation. These are the enemy's elite cavalry."
Zuo Liangyu stepped forward a little and looked in the direction pointed by Cao Wenzhao.
Chen Wang followed Cao Wenzhao and looked into the distance together.
Previously, Chen Wang's attention had always been on the rear of Zhankou Town, where the ranks of rogue bandits, old and weak, were the largest and densest, and the most eye-catching.
When Chen Wang moved his eyes to look forward, he could see the difference between the two at a glance.
"Although the general formation of the rogue bandits has not changed, the surrounding troops have become scattered and exposed many flaws. The distance between the front and rear cavalry is too far, and the leader of the thieves chief's fine cavalry is in the center of the cavalry instead of leading the vanguard. This proves that it is against them. Not very controlling.”
Cao Wenzhao put down his riding whip and picked up the reins of his horse.
"These bandits should be basically newly attached hungry people who are not strong in combat."
Zuo Liangyu's eyes moved slightly and he suggested.
"Since the elite cavalry of these thieves and bandits are scarce now, and the elites are all in the southwest, it is better to concentrate on the elite cavalry to defeat the vanguard cavalry of these thieves and bandits first and dampen their vigor."
Cao Wenzhao did not immediately answer Zuo Liangyu's suggestion. His eyes were still wandering on the bandits under the hillside.
Zuo Liangyu's proposal coincided with what Chen Wang was thinking.
If you can kill for a while, even if you don't kill many people, as long as you win for a while, you can not only boost your own morale, but also create more fear in the hearts of the enemy and suppress their morale.
The level of morale has a great impact on victory or defeat.
In the ambush battle in the north of Qiutou Town, those soldiers from the Datong camp were able to carry bird guns and three-eyed guns without any protection in front of them, facing the charge of rogue knights and cavalry, and did not wait until the order was given. Fire a blunderbuss.
And in the seventh year of Chongzhen's reign, the rear with chariots as protection in the wild couldn't help but fire in advance.
There were supervising teams at both times, but the final results were completely different.
The Ming army in Jiubian could not defeat the Hou Jin soldiers at the end of the Ming Dynasty. A large part of the reason was actually psychological problems.
Because of the successive defeats, the Ming army on the nine sides was often at a psychological disadvantage when fighting against the post-war Jin soldiers. It was good to have the upper hand in the battle.
However, once some signs of defeat are revealed, panic will quickly spread throughout the army, leading to the collapse of the army.
In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, after the Qing troops entered the pass, a very strange situation occurred.
At that time, Li Zicheng had already established Dashun, and the Ming and Shun armies basically lost more than they won in battle.
However, the Ming army, which could even be said to be on the verge of collapse when facing the Shun army, became more courageous after being surrendered by the Qing army, and even once suppressed the Shun army to fight.
Cao Wenzhao's eyes were cold, and he finally shook his head and rejected Zuo Liangyu's proposal.
"No."
Cao Wenzhao looked back at Pizhou City behind him.
"Gao Yingxiang led troops to attack Fengxiang from the southwest, and Xiang Hui Deng and Li Zicheng from the north also wanted to go south. Their goal is Guanzhong."
"Now this bandit army from Pingliang Prefecture is also attacking Pizhou. They want to advance in three directions and invade Xi'an."
"In that case, let them in and beat them."
"Let him in for a beating?"
Zuo Liangyu's expression was slightly condensed, and he didn't understand what Cao Wenzhao meant.
"right."
Cao Wenzhao nodded.
"Zhang Waijia only has 2,300 men under his command. The ability to defend Sanshui in the north is already the limit."
"If Gao Yingxiang makes a large-scale eastward advance at this time, He Renlong and Zhang Quanchang will only have four to five thousand soldiers left under their command, and they will lose two battles in a row. They will definitely not be able to stop Gao Yingxiang. Fengxiang Mansion has long been corrupted, and the army will probably abandon Fengxiang Mansion and guard Guanzhong with all its strength. .”
"But the military gate is currently stationed in Chunhua, and there are only more than 2,000 pacesetters under its command. Even if we want to support He Renlong, I am afraid that we will not be able to do so."
"If He Renlong and Zhang Quanchang cannot withstand the situation in Xingping, there is actually no use for us to defend Pizhou."
Zuo Liangyu's expression became more solemn. He only considered this battle, but not the overall situation.
"Once Gao Yingxiang leads his army out of Fengxiang Mansion and breaks through Qianzhou or Xingping in the south, if we don't evacuate Pizhou at that time, we will be in danger of being cut off from our retreat and be surrounded in Pizhou."
"so……"
Cao Wenzhao held the reins in his hands and turned the horse's head.
"It's better to put all these thieves and bandits under Pizhou City."
There was a heart-stopping murderous intent in his eyes.
"Kill them all..."
