"Repay...!"
"Prince Qi Yi, the enemy is less than twenty miles away from us!"
On a hill, Xu Da was riding a horse and looking at the enemy ranks in the distance with a monocular in his hand.
After hearing the report, Xu Da didn't have much reaction, and was still marveling at the magical effect of the telescope in his hand.
This thing is so useful. Even though he is twenty miles away, it is as if he can see every move of the opponent in front of him. With this thing in the future, he will more than double his efficiency when dispatching the army.
On a battlefield where fighters are constantly changing, sometimes an order can affect the entire battlefield situation just one second earlier.
Xu Da has been in the military for twenty years. When he learned about the effectiveness of this telescope, he immediately understood what this thing meant to the Ming army. With him, the combat power of the Ming army would be doubled.
"When I get back, I must report it to His Majesty and promote this throughout the army."
A trace of expectation flashed in Xu Da's heart, and he put away the telescope like a treasure. Then he turned to look at the scout who reported the enemy's movements and smiled: "Then let's go too, and continue walking them to see how long they can hold on."
Xu Da gave an order, and under his control, 10,000 well-trained rebels left along the retreat route that had been explored.
Among the army behind them, after hearing Xu Da retreat again, a group of gentry looked very unhappy.
They have been chasing Xu Dabu for almost a month, but each time they were about to encircle the opponent, but the opponent slipped away from them.
This feeling is quite uncomfortable.
"Gentlemen, tell me, what should we do now?" Ma Shiying looked around and asked in a deep voice.
"We can't chase anymore. If we continue to chase, we will chase them out of Huguang. Our luggage cannot withstand such consumption." Someone said in a deep voice.
They have nearly 200,000 men and horses, and they eat horse chews every day. Although there are gentry behind them to provide food and grass, but there are so many gentry in the world, how to distribute it, who will supply the food and grass, and who will control the army, everything needs to be argued over. .
So although they seem to have a lot of food and fodder, there are only a few that can actually be used by the army.
"What if we don't chase them? Can we just watch these thieves turn around and continue massacring the city and exterminating the clan?" Qian Qianyi said angrily.
He hates Xu Da the most, because a month ago, Xu Da Tu's last clan was the main body of the Donglin Party behind Qian Qianyi, a member of the Zhejiang gentry group, and this clan was even related to him by marriage.
"Oh, Minister Qian is concerned about the country and the people."
"But have you ever thought about it? We have pursued all the way from Zhejiang to Jiangxi, and now we have entered Huguang. We have traveled more than two thousand miles without even touching a hair of the enemy. Now there are deserters every night. If we continue to pursue, Without the enemy taking action, we will be defeated first." Huang Degong, the only general in the field, spoke.
Before the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Huang Degong would not have dared to confront a six-bu minister so hard, but today is different from the past. As the country becomes more and more chaotic, the status of military attachés is getting higher and higher.
In addition, he belongs to Ma Shiying, the chief minister of the cabinet, and Ma Shiying is very difficult to deal with the Donglin Party represented by Qian Qianyi. As long as he does not directly raise the knife and chop Qian Qianyi, no matter how he ridicules Qian Qianyi, Ma Shiying must be happy to see the results.
As expected, Ma Shiying saw Qian Qianyi's face as dark as a pot lid, and couldn't help but smile. "General Huang, you are the only one here who knows the military. What do you think we should do?"
"This bandit leader is a veteran at first glance, and there is no flaw in either marching or planning."
"And he has been holding us leisurely all the way, neither escaping nor fighting decisively!"
"From what one family sees, this group of thieves has very big plans. I'm afraid they may want to hold us back or even eat us."
"A certain family thinks we can pretend to retreat and then lay out a pocket formation on the retreat route."
"As soon as we retreat, he will definitely pursue us. When the time comes, we will tie up this bag. No matter how powerful this bandit leader is, he will not be able to escape."
When Ma Shiying and others heard this, their eyes couldn't help but light up. They felt that this was a good idea, and it was better than chasing after him stupidly now.
Even Qian Qianyi had nothing to say. When it came to marching and fighting, ten of them combined would not be Huang Degong's opponent.
I only hate that Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing, generals who originally defected to the Donglin Party, were tricked to death by that Li Wenzhong.
"Let's do it!" Ma Shiying saw that even Qian Qianyi had acquiesced, and made the decision directly.
He calculated very clearly in his heart that as long as he can win this battle, his prestige among the gentry in the world will reach its peak. After that, with a little operation, he can control the 200,000 soldiers. When the time comes, he will The chief minister of the cabinet is completely secure.
Even Emperor Chongzhen would not be able to replace him.
"King Yi, the enemy has retreated!" The movement of the gentry army quickly reached Xu Da.
"Oh?" A trace of surprise flashed in Xu Da's eyes. He rode up a high slope and carefully observed the enemy's movements with a telescope.
Soon a trace of disdain flashed in his eyes. The direction these people retreated was to a canyon called Hulukou. He had been marching and fighting for many years. How could he not know that such terrain was most suitable for an ambush.
The other side has 200,000 people. It would not be fun if tens of thousands of people were deployed to hide on both sides of the gourd mouth to form a pocket formation...
Xu Dalue pondered for a moment and came up with a countermeasure.
"Send thirty scouts to hang them from a distance and watch where his large army retreats. The remaining people will camp where they are, eat and sleep, and wait for my orders!"
Following his order, the tens of thousands of soldiers ordered and prohibited, and soon began to cook rice. No one made any noise during the whole process, and the discipline was terrifying.
And Xu Da was not idle either. He took a few people to go near Hulukou to observe the terrain.
Half an hour later.
Xu Da, who had just returned from observing the terrain, received a secret report from the spy.
He opened it and glanced at it, and his eyes lit up.
Xu Da had only been entangled with these people for a month, just waiting for this secret report. Now the news finally came.
There were uprisings in Zhejiang, Guangzhou, Fujian, Huguang, Nanzhili and other places. The rebel army claimed to be subordinate to the Righteous King and was attacking the big families in various provinces who participated in the gathering of troops this time.
There was a fire in the backyard of these gentlemen.
"Pass my order. Let's eat meat and meat for dinner tonight. You'll be satisfied."
"You have given me enough energy to take action at night!"
There were cheers in the rear camp, but under the suppression of some generals, it soon became calm again.
Xu Da raised his head and looked in the direction of Hulukou in the distance, and couldn't help but narrowed his eyes slightly.
"The news of the fire in the backyard must have reached the other side by now. He has been keeping an eye on this piece of fat for a month, but he can't really let these guys run away."
