The plain between the Yongding River and the Yongxing River was dark at night. Occasionally, the scouts from both sides had brief encounters in the night, making short and rapid shouts, the sound of horse hooves and the neighing of war horses, and then quickly returned to their destinations. calm.
But in the main camps of Yongding Hexi and Yongxing Henan, the lights were bright. In order to show their strength, both sides set up exaggerated bright camps. Lanterns and bonfires dotted the wilderness like stars in the sky falling to the ground.
Fuquan stood on a wooden high platform within the walls of Pangezhuang, holding on to the railings, looking at the camp of Kangxi's army from a distance - according to intelligence, Kangxi brought a total of 100,000 troops this time. However, the grandeur of the large camp a dozen miles away looked like there were even 200,000 troops stationed there. It was really scary!
There was a sound of footsteps, and two figures climbed up the ladder one after another and stood behind Fu Quan. Although they didn't have names, Fu Quan already knew who they were?
"Is it Yang Qilong, Guanyin Bao?"
"Exactly the slave!"
"This slave pays his respects to his master."
"How is the situation? How much money does Wu Shijue want?"
"Eight hundred thousand!" Yang Qilong gritted his molar teeth and said loudly, "This kid is so dark-hearted that he wants eight hundred thousand! Duolong managed to reduce it to 750,000. And this kid didn't change sides even if he saw the banknote. , you will only switch sides when you see the banknote."
"Your Majesty, this is too much, otherwise" Guanyin Bao's voice also contained the meaning of heartache.
"Here!" Fuquan gritted his teeth and said, "Seven hundred and fifty thousand yuan can buy a throne, which is not expensive!" He paused and then asked, "Is there anyone else?"
Guanyinbao replied: "There are also four military commanders, Dong'e, Tula, Chani, and Eshan, who also agreed to defect."
"How much do they want?" Fuquan asked hurriedly.
"None of them want money. Dong'e and Chani both want to be granted the title of county king, and Tula and Eshan both want to be made a first-class official."
Fuquan breathed a sigh of relief: "There are many demands. The county prince and the first-class duke have to give houses and land. The salary of the county prince is now reduced by half, which means it will take two thousand five hundred taels a year. The first-class duke is less." One point, now it has been reduced to five hundred taels a year, but the four of them are indeed not as black as Wu Shijue."
Yang Qilong smiled and said: "They are different from Wu Shijue. Wu Shijue is a one-time deal. The four of them will continue to work with you, the prince!"
"That's right!" Fuquan said with a smile, "If they dare to open their mouths, they won't get any good results in the future."
Guanyin defended: "But all four of them were cunning. They didn't leave any handle, and they didn't ask for a down payment. It seems that whether they will rebel or not depends on the situation. If Wu Shijue switches sides, then there will be no problem. "
"Who is going to send the banknote to Wu Shijue?" Fuquan emphasized, "You must choose the most reliable person!"
Those were seven hundred and fifty anonymous "three-line bank notes" with a face value of one thousand taels. If they were handed over to an unreliable person and all of them were taken away, wouldn't Fu Quan cry to death?
"Don't worry, Your Majesty," Yang Qilong said, "My servants have already made arrangements. My brother Yang Qixing will personally lead people to deliver the money, and Pang Qinglong's brother Pang Qinghu will be responsible for leading the way and escorting him. There is no mistake."
Of course, Yang Qilong has brothers. He himself is three, with at least two at the top and a bunch of younger brothers at the bottom.
Moreover, his family has managed N's mother for two hundred years for Lao Zhu's family. N's hereditary Jinyiwei has thousands of households. Of course, he is a wealthy family. So he also has a whole bunch of cousins and cousins. However, he is the eldest son, so he is the head of the Tianjin Yang family of this generation.
Fuquan thought for a while and asked, "Wu Shijue will not do it after he gets the banknote."
"This won't happen," Yang Qilong said, patting his chest. "The 10,000 new Beiyang troops of the slaves will rush towards the left wing of the Supreme Emperor along the east bank of the Yongding River. Their armor, formation, and weapons are all exactly the same as the Huaixi Red Turban Army.
Wu Shijue took our money and saw the appearance of Li Zhongshan's Huaixi Red Scarf Army. He would definitely defect. Otherwise, he would have to fight a tough battle with Li Zhongshan's army. And if you defect, not only do you not have to fight a tough battle, but you can also get 750,000 for nothing, so why not do it?
Besides, once you become the emperor, Your Majesty, you will still regard Wu Zhou as an ally. And Li Zhongshan's wife is Wu Shijue's sister, so there is no need for him to use his own army to compete with Li Zhongshan's army. If all the capital is spent, it will be cheaper for Wu Yingxiong and Wu Yingqi. Moreover, he was at odds with Li Zhongshan. If anything happened in the future, he would not be able to seek refuge with him. "
Hearing what Yang Qilong said, Fuquan sighed: "They are all from the imperial family. Okay, Third Brother Yang, it's up to you!"
"Don't worry, Your Majesty," Yang Qilong patted his chest, "It will be well kept!"
On the fifth day of May, in the early morning, when the morning fog that shrouded the battlefield dissipated, Fuquan, wearing a white military parade armor, was riding a horse and standing on a mound outside Dingfu Village. The Yongding River was seven or eight miles ahead. , Kangxi's army was arrayed against the water without haste.
Although Fuquan's army had the upper hand and had early controlled five small villages, including Wangcun, Xiaolizhuang, Dingfuzhuang, Gaojiazhuang and Xinjiazhuang, between Yongding River and Yongxing River, which could serve as battlefield support points. They also controlled the woodland between Xinjiazhuang and the Yongding River (the Yongding River has a big bend in this area, running from north to south and turning east to Tianjinwei). But Emperor Kangxi's army did not panic at all. After crossing the Yongding River on several wooden bridges that they had already controlled, they first used cavalry to cover it, and then the infantry spread out step by step.
Kangxi's army is worthy of being the elite who have fought repeatedly in the north. They have been failing and making progress. Every time they experience a failure, Kangxi will sum up experience and lessons, and at the same time learn from the enemy to improve his military capabilities.
He also learned about the phalanx tactics of the Westerners through Nan Huairen and his foreign slave guards, and he immediately discovered that the phalanx tactics of the Western devils must have been slowly summed up after many defeats. It was indeed very Perfect combination for pikemen and arquebuses!
So Kangxi immediately used Western ideas and methods to improve the formation and tactics of his army. The tactic of a thousand-man square formation began to be used with a long spear (including a Pu Dao) placed in the middle and shotguns on both sides.
Four of these 1,000-man phalanxes plus a cavalry battalion of 800 people, an artillery team of 200 people, plus some cavalry, guards, etc., form a wing (association) of more than 5,000 people. . Two such wings form a flag, both wearing almost the same color armor and flying the same color flag. Eight such flags formed Kangxi's main force - the elite Xiba Banners.
During the military reorganization in Taiyuan, Kangxi's various armed forces were all incorporated into the West Eight Banners. Therefore, the organization of each banner, each wing, and even each infantry battalion, cavalry battalion, and artillery team under Kangxi's command was similar.
And such eight flags, sixteen wings, sixty-four infantry battalions, and sixteen artillery batteries formed two "large columns" on the battlefield. The sixteen cavalry battalions were divided into two clusters, placed on the left and right wings of the large horizontal team.
Such a simple formation is placed on the east bank of the Yongding River, and it looks energetic and powerful!
As for the 20,000 Zhou Dynasty reinforcements commanded by Wu Shijue, they are now placed on the west bank of the Yongding River, forming four quite strict square formations, waiting for opportunities.
In contrast, the troops on Fuquan's side were a bit chaotic and out of control.
Although Fuquan had a lot more money than Kangxi, Kangxi was the one who forced Wu Sangui to improve! Don't dare not make progress. When you sleep, you dream about arranging your troops!
Fuquan, on the other hand, is much more comfortable and has less motivation to study military affairs.
If he doesn't study it himself and lets the people below him do it, it will inevitably lead to all kinds of problems.
The "Regent Army" currently appearing on the battlefield in Hedong, Yongding generally has the following parts. One is the rural army of Zhili Tuanlian - not the New Beiyang Army. They are now dressing up as the Red Scarf Army and driving along the Yongding River. Did not arrive. At this time, there were four battalions of about 5,000 people deployed in Wangcun, Xiaolizhuang, Gaojiazhuang, and Xinjiazhuang.
The second is the vassal army, such as Zhang Yunyi (Zhang Yong), Zhao Liangdong, Sakyamuni, and Fan Chengxun. They are all vassal troops. Of course, their troops are very mixed. This group of 10,000 people were arranged outside Wangcun, Xiaolizhuang, Gaojiazhuang, and Xinjiazhuang.
The third is the Guanwai Army, that is, the army brought by Ba Hai and Prince Gong Chang Ning. Their army is a bit like the old Eight Banners soldiers. The number of people was also more than 10,000. Because there were many old forests outside the pass, Fuquan asked them to guard that forest.
In addition, Prince Labu of Jian and Prince Eza of Xin County also led thousands of people to guard the forest together with Bahai and Chang Ning.
The fourth is the Inner Mongolian cavalry, a group of Mongolians who believe in Lamaism. It’s hard to describe in one sentence! However, there were quite a few of them, twenty thousand to several thousand of them had already arrived, and they were all positioned on Fuquan's left flank.
The fifth is the Beijing Banner Guards and the Regent's Palace Guards directly under Fuquan. They are somewhat similar to Kangxi's West Eight Banners Army. The two armies together have 15,000 to 6,000 people. However, the royal guards among them were separated by Fu Quan into battalions (also about a thousand people) to serve as supervising troops and reserve teams to watch the Fanzhen Army and Guanwai Army who might defect.
There is only one Beijing flag guard left, Commander You Guanyin, who is placed inside and outside Dingfu Village to protect the boss Fuquan.
Suo'etu, Mingzhu, and Mu Zhan also led two to three thousand people to guard outside Dingfu Village.
The above troops, excluding Yang Qilong's troops who have not yet arrived, total about 80,000, which is almost 20,000 less than Kangxi's army!
Although the number of people was small, the battle line they drew was not short at all. It was more than twenty miles loose, and it was not a straight line. After all, the villages and woods that they could rely on were not arranged in a straight line.
This makes Fuquan's army look even more miscellaneous.
And the strength and weakness of the two armies is really clear at a glance!
However, Fuquan was not panic at all. His troops had already occupied favorable terrain and were just waiting for Kangxi to attack. Moreover, he also spent money, and the back door was already opened. He was just waiting for Yang Qixing and Pang Qinghu to deliver the banknotes to Wu Shijue. When Yang Qilong arrived with the "fake red scarf", he would have won a great victory.
When Fuquan felt that victory was in hand, both sides had completed their formations - Kangxi's troops were more elite and the formations were carried out quickly, while Fuquan's army got up very early today (Fuquan was rich and rewarded Passed, very motivated), came earlier, and now it is completed. Flags and identification flags were fluttering in front of the formations of both sides. Fuquan's and Kangxi's identification flags and handsome flags were more than ten miles away from each other.
Kangxi, who had been in battle for a long time, was standing on the stirrups, holding a telescope, and carefully looking at Fuquan's military formation, without showing too much surprise.
Although you will definitely win, don’t be too proud
While Kangxi reminded himself not to be too complacent, he carefully looked at Fuquan's battle formation. Suddenly he discovered a weak point, which was Xinjiazhuang, located to the north of the woods.
"What is the name of that village by the woods? Who is guarding there?" Kangxi asked.
"Back to the emperor, the name of that village is Xinjiazhuang, and the person guarding it seems to be Fan Chengxun!"
The person who replied was Gushan Beizi Zhangtai, the commander of the Kangxi Emperor's Guard Army (left wing of the Zhenghuang Banner). He was the nephew of Yue Le and the grandson of Abatai. He was less than forty years old. He was very tall and tall, with firm eyes. He was very capable at first glance. beat.
"Did Fan Chengxun get the discount?" Kangxi asked again.
"Up." Cao Xi replied, "This Fan Chengxun is Fan Wencheng's son. He has always been loyal to the Qing Dynasty and the emperor."
"Okay!" Kangxi nodded and ordered, "Let Dong E and Chani lead the White Banner Army to attack Xinjiazhuang. Laita and Fei Yanggu will lead the Zhengbai Banner Army to pretend to attack the woods. Chen Tingjing will command the left wing of the Black Flag Army to cover the White Flag Army. Right wing.”
Gao Shiqi had already written down the orders dictated by Kangxi, handed them over to several yellow mandarins, and asked them to fly on horseback to deliver orders to Dong E, Chani, Laita, Fei Yanggu, and Chen Tingjing.
These five men were responsible for commanding five wings of the flag army (each less than one cavalry battalion), with a total of 23,000 to 4,000 people and thirty cannons firing six-pound shells.
As the twenty phalanxes advanced together, the spears in the wild swayed, like the sea breeze blowing through the dense forest. On both sides of these formations of spears were infantrymen carrying shotguns. In the rectangular formation composed of spearmen and infantry Behind the phalanx were thirty artillery pieces dragged forward by horses, as well as some generals and soldiers on horseback.
The advance of 23,000 to 4,000 men was extremely impressive. The darkness and the forest of spears pressed against the left wing of Fu Quan's command.
Fuquan frowned, his good brother got so strong when he beat his own people, and it cost him twenty thousand. Why wasn't he so capable when he beat Wu Sangui?
Moreover, almost 10,000 people were pressed into the front of Xinjiazhuang. Fan Chengxun only had more than 2,000 people at hand. Can he hold on?
When he was worried about Fan Chengxun, Fan Chengxun, who was standing behind a low wall, was frightened. He was spinning around and kept saying: "The emperor does not believe in slaves, the emperor does not believe in slaves!"
The emperor's 10,000 troops were pressing towards him!
But he had already given Kangxi a trick and was ready to abandon the dark side and join the bright side!
Why did Kangxi still put 10,000 people on him?
Did Kangxi not believe him?
This emperor is so wise!
Although Fan Chengxun gave Kangxi a hint that he would abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side and look for opportunities anyway, this "looking for opportunities" just meant being cunning!
Just when he didn't know how to act cunning, the spearmen and musketeers slowly approaching him from the front finally stopped about two miles outside Xinjiazhuang after advancing for three or four miles.
"Stop." Fan Chengxun finally breathed a sigh of relief, still muttering to himself, "The emperor still believes in me."
"Regiment Commander, the enemy is setting up artillery!" At this moment, one of his soldiers suddenly shouted.
"Raise the cannon?" Fan Chengxun quickly stood on the crenel and looked out. As expected, he saw at least a dozen cannons being pushed up!
"It's over, it's over, the emperor is angry!" Fan Chengxun almost burst into tears, "Quickly, send someone to tell the emperor to stop firing, I will switch sides immediately!"
Someone immediately raised objections: "Regiment commanders can't switch sides. We have a supervising team behind us who are the regent's personal soldiers. They are not easy to mess with!"
This is embarrassing. If you switch sides, you will have to supervise the team. If you don't switch sides, you will be shot. What should I do?
"Boom boom boom"
Just when Fan Chengxun was in a dilemma, the cannon outside Xinjiazhuang let out a roar, and more than a dozen white smoke spewed out of the muzzle. More than a dozen shells were like hammers thrown by giants, flying towards Xinjiazhuang at extremely fast speeds. Then they crossed over the wall, and some of them hit the roofs of several adobe houses in Zhuangzi. There was a sudden crash of collapse.
Fan Chengxun, who was standing on the wall, suddenly felt the wall shaking under his feet. It was about to collapse!
Those shells just now were going to hit the wall of Xiaoxinzhuang, and the wall would collapse, and he might have to be buried.
Thinking of this, he immediately collapsed and shouted: "Your Majesty, please stop firing, my slave will turn against you immediately!"
The cannon really stopped firing!
Of course it's just a timeout. Whether or not we play next depends on our performance.
Fan Chengxun suddenly shouted like crazy: "Command the three armies. Let everyone shout together: We listen to the emperor! Long live the emperor, the regent is a traitor!"
"嗻!"
The soldiers who were delivering the order immediately flew off the wall and ran around inside the village. As they ran, they shouted: "Long live the emperor, the commander of the regiment, the regent is a traitor!"
The officers and soldiers under Fan Chengxun had actually been preparing to defect for a long time - not to Kangxi, but to the Ming Dynasty, because their territory was relatively close to the Ming Dynasty, and they were the type of people who came to the Northern Expedition from King Wang's Division in the south.
But now they can't control that much. Who wouldn't surrender if they surrender?
And no one has stipulated that surrender can only be done once. If you keep the green hills, you don't have to worry about not surrendering.
So when the people below heard this, they immediately shouted: "Long live the emperor, the regent is a traitor!"
"Long live the emperor! The regent is a traitor"
The shouts quickly reached the ears of Dong E and Cha Ni outside the besieged city - Dong E and Cha Ni were commanding the troops to the west of Zhuangzi. They were preparing to make foreign workers by shooting cannons and then take the opportunity to defect!
What's going on now? Why did Fan Chengxun of Xinjiazhuang switch sides and support the emperor in the first place?
What should I do? Should we declare our support for the Prince Regent now?
(End of chapter)
