Originally, the rebel army was divided into two groups. One group fled eastward before the arrival of the official army, while the other group moved slowly but still had more than a thousand people fleeing north.
From the prisoners' confessions, we learned that the first group to escape was led by Zhang Dingguo, the son of the traitor, while the leaders of the second group were three defeated generals: Yang Youxian, Chang Guoan, and Wang Guoning.
In contrast, although Zhang Dingguo was young, his troops were large in number and posed a great threat to the court. Sun Chuanting decided to let the other bandits go and pursue Zhang Dingguo's troops first.
According to the traces of the rebel army, the army went all the way east, from Nanyang Mansion to Runing Mansion. The general target of the bandit army gradually became clear, and that was Ruyang.
However, when the officers and soldiers arrived at the outskirts of Ruyang, they did not see the rebels attacking the city because Ruyang had already fallen!
This was not done by Zhang Dingguo's troops. Before they came here, the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo occupied Ruyang City.
The Gezuo Fifth Battalion was composed of "Lao Fenhui" Ma Shouying, "Geri Eye" He Yilong, "Zuo Jin King" He Jin, "Zuo Jin King" Liu Xiyao, and "Zuo Shi King" Lin Chengcheng.
After receiving the news of the uprising between Zhang and Luo troops, they attacked from the Dabie Mountains (Yinghuo Mountain Area), first captured Gushi, and then successively conquered Guangzhou, Guangshan, Xixian, Luoshan, Zhenyang, and Queshan.
Finally, ten days ago, they began to besiege Ruyang City. Due to the large amount of preparations mixed in beforehand, it only took seven days for them to cooperate inside and outside and capture the city.
Firstly, they wanted to communicate with Zhang and Luo in the Huguang area, so that they could join forces if there was an opportunity.
Secondly, they took advantage of the lack of military strength in Runing Mansion and the lax defense of the army to sweep the place to replenish money and food and expand their strength.
After Ruyang succeeded, the next step was for the Gezuo Fifth Battalion to attack Yancheng in Kaifeng Prefecture via Suiping, Shangcai, and Xiping.
If the dog army comes to attack, they will abandon their targets in Henan and turn east to capture Bozhou or Yingzhou in southern Zhili.
Regardless of the tactics and strategies of the Zhang and Luo groups, the Gezuo Fifth Battalion did not like to confront the officers and soldiers head-on. They were better at fishing in troubled waters, avoiding the real and attacking the weak.
Wherever the defenders have fewer troops, they will choose where to attack. Before the official reinforcements arrive, it is best to break the city. If they cannot succeed, they will quickly retreat.
This guerrilla style of fighting was the biggest headache for the officers and soldiers, and it was also the reason why the Gezuo Fifth Battalion was able to continue to survive after the rebels from all walks of life accepted the imperial court's recruitment.
After conquering Ruyang City, the fifth battalion of Gezuo gained a large amount of money and food left by King Chong Zhu Youfan. Coupled with the previous results, the morale of the unit was high, and the five leaders planned to continue their efforts.
However, the five of them were still somewhat reluctant to the newly arrived eldest nephew's suggestion to go south to join Zhang Xianzhong's troops.
Previously, they had planned to rely on the "Eight Kings". After all, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse.
After conquering Ruyang, the number of the fifth battalion reached nearly 40,000, and there was no need for the "Eight Kings" at all.
Including the 20,000 people brought by Zhang Dingguo, the two forces totaled 60,000, which was considered the number one in the Central Plains region.
If you can swallow 20,000 people, why are you looking for the "Eight Kings"?
Taking advantage of Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou's campaign to suppress Zhang and Luo in the Huguang area, their Gezuo Fifth Battalion could seize cities and territories in Henan.
As long as the troops are expanded to more than 100,000, are you still afraid of the dog-gun army? ? ?
If the rebel army is strong, the official army will be weak!
This is the most simple and easy-to-understand truth.
So the five uncles tried their best to persuade the eldest nephew to lead the troops and fight north with them.
As elders, they naturally would not take advantage of their nephew. They said that the results of the war would be distributed according to the strength of the two sides, and Zhang Dingguo would get 30% of it. This was considered to be in the favor of his father, the "Eight Kings".
Directly annexing and killing this guy would be a bit ugly. But as long as you are patient and given time, the 20,000 people will be gradually digested by the five uncles.
Zhang Dingguo was not very happy about this. He led his troops to fight in Nanyang Mansion in order to contain the government troops and cooperate with his father's attack in the Huguang area.
Once they go north with the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo, the diversionary effect will probably be minimal, and their troops may not even be able to join up with the troops of their brother Zhang Kewang.
Zhang Dingguo was well aware of the "good intentions" shown by these five uncles, but he could not refuse them directly.
Because the other side not only has more troops, but many of its soldiers are veterans who have been fighting for many years, and their combat power far exceeds that of our own ragtag group.
Zhang Dingguo has less than 2,500 men capable of fighting, and the rest are newly recruited soldiers, who can only fight with the wind.
He estimated that the fifth battalion of Gezuo could have at least ten thousand veterans with comparable combat prowess to his own, so he was very wary of them.
If the other party really wants to be tough and openly annex his troops, Zhang Dingguo will not sit still and wait for death.
In terms of military operations, it is possible for two armies to unite and go east or south, but they can only go their separate ways to go north.
In the past two days, the five uncles have been discussing this matter with the eldest nephew, so they have not moved away.
They didn't wait for Zhang Dingguo's consent, but they got an "unexpected surprise" - Sun Chuanting arrived!
Ruyang City is on the west bank of Ru River and south of Shah River. Whether you are going north or east, you must first cross the river.
The water level at this time was quite low, so there was no need to worry about touching the neck and drowning the soldiers.
But there are Sun Dog thieves chasing after them, and no one knows whether all the troops can still reach a safe area.
"Everyone, that kid has been perfunctory and refused to join forces. Why don't we set up a camp outside the city on the pretext of joining forces to fight the enemy? We can first cross the water and march eastward, leaving the Sun Dog Thief to that kid. Come and deal with it!”
Ma Shouying thought for a while and then came up with a solution that seemed to be very safe. This was the extent of the use value of this eldest nephew.
"...Yeah! That makes sense!"
After hearing this, He Yilong stroked his beard and nodded. This strategy was very much in line with his wishes. Since he couldn't swallow this kid's men, he should teach him a lesson.
"If I hadn't deliberately delayed the time, how could I have encountered the Sun Gou thief?"
General Liu Xiyao placed all the responsibility for the attack on Zhang Dingguo, which had nothing to do with the Gezuo Fifth Battalion anyway.
"That's right! That kid must have leaked his whereabouts and was targeted by Sun Gou Thief!"
He Jin immediately agreed, and Liu Xiyao's thoughts coincided with his.
"I think 20,000 people are enough to fight against the Sun Gou thieves. Without further ado, let's proceed separately. After arriving on the other side, how about arriving at Yangbu first and then going to Yingzhou?"
Lin Chengcheng also agreed to this proposal, then looked at the map and decided on a foothold.
"So good!"
The other four people naturally agreed that since the Sun Gou thieves came here, the troops could no longer fight in Henan.
Southern Zhili may be a good place to go. No matter what, take your men and kill there first to have a look. If it doesn't work, you may have to return to the mountainous area and stay there.
In order to nip it in the bud and express their determination to fight to the death with the Sun Gou thieves, the five leaders sent their personal followers to form an array on the east bank of Ru River. Whichever troops were defeated first would be severely attacked.
Since the eldest nephew had no intention of going north, the five good uncles very considerately arranged their troops at the southernmost point, that is, north of the Huangxi River.
The real purpose of this arrangement is that as long as the eldest nephew intends to run away first, the Sun Gou thieves on the opposite side will definitely chase him, and their five battalions will be relatively safe.
In the view of the leaders of the fifth battalion, it can be said that whoever runs away first and dies first depends on how the Sun Gou thief on the opposite side responds.
"Second General, the fifth battalion's arrangement may be detrimental to our army!"
Zhang Guangcai has already seen that the other party has bad intentions. With such a stranger, he is afraid that he will not be able to defeat the Sun Gou thief on the opposite side.
"It's okay! Pass the general's order and inform the brothers in the old camp not to be reluctant to fight and leave the battlefield quickly!"
Zhang Dingguo had long seen that these five uncles were by no means good people, they were just a group of tigers, leopards and wolves. It would be better for him to directly face the army to fight to make him feel more at ease.
It was a good thing to have an excuse to leave them. In the future, I had to stay away from the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo to avoid being "taken care of" by these uncles that day.
Zhang Dingguo felt that most of his troops could not be saved. At most, about half of the troops could be saved. However, the veterans brought out had to be kept, otherwise their vitality would be seriously damaged.
Zhang Dingguo was hesitant about forming a formation to fight Sun Gou's bandits. He did not believe that the fifth battalion of Gezuo would fight a bloody battle with Sun Gou's army.
But if something unexpected happened to him, he would be willing to help his uncles. After all, both sides were rebels, and the elimination of the official army was the common goal of both sides.
The rebel army came out of the city and formed a formation to the east of Ru River to fight. Not counting the troops on the east bank, the total strength was about 55,000.
Although there were fewer firearms, due to repeated victories, especially the high morale of the Gezuo Fifth Battalion, they showed no fear in the face of the officers and soldiers.
Zhang Dingguo's army was originally a tired army. After two days of rest, it was able to regain some strength.
Since there were a large number of friendly troops assisting in the battle, Zhang Jun's confidence was greatly increased, and he planned to get back his capital and profits with a bloody blow.
"...Hmph! It's indeed the fifth battalion of Ge Zuo!"
Sun Chuanting sat on his horse and looked with a telescope. After seeing the six groups of people and their respective flags, he roughly understood.
It seems that Zhang Dingguo's troops have joined forces with the fifth battalion of Gezuo, and they plan to fight to the death with their own troops here. That would be the best thing.
With the availability of mortars, the official army is no longer afraid of large-scale field battles with the rebels, and the larger the scale, the greater the damage caused.
According to the matchup, Sun Chuanting ordered He Renlong and Zuo Guang to deal with Ma Shouying first, Li Guoqi and Zheng Jiadong to deal with He Yilong, and Zhao Guangyuan and Jiang to deal with He Jin.
Li Shourong, Sun Xianzu, and Wang Guang'en dealt with Liu Xiyao, Xue Minzhong, Zu Dabi, and Hui Deng faced Lin Chengcheng, and Bai Guangen, the most powerful in his unit, dealt with Zhang Dingguo's unit alone.
Niu Chenghu's unit is still part of the Chinese army, but the mortar regiment under his jurisdiction must be deployed appropriately in advance, especially to give a head-on blow to the rebels who have never seen such a thing.
Although Sun Chuanting's army has more than 50,000 people, he only has more than 40,000 soldiers. He is at a disadvantage in absolute numbers and does not have an advantage in horsemen.
The only weapon of victory was the mortar. If Yang Youxian and others had not mentioned this to Zhang Dingguo, the mortar would have been able to defeat the rebels.
The two sides faced off at a distance of more than two miles. This distance was far beyond the range of mortars. The officers and soldiers only carried mortars and Folang aircraft, but they were completely unable to reach the target.
"The entire army marches a hundred steps forward!"
Sun Chuanting wanted to use mortars, so he could only order his troops to advance a certain distance first.
If you want to walk one mile, you must advance slowly in four hundred steps.
"Advance troops to the flag!"
The soldiers who planted the flag set off first and ran a hundred steps away, and then the whole army could move to the position where the flag was planted.
If the distance is too long, the whole army will be in a passive position to be beaten by the bandit cavalry.
"go ahead!"
Under the orders of the generals, the various departments of the army began to move forward in an orderly manner, and the formation was very neat.
Pressing forward little by little, the bandit army had only two choices, either to rush over or to turn around and run away.
"The entire army marches a hundred steps forward!"
Sun Chuanting's strategy was very simple, that is, to get as close as possible to the rebels, bombard them with mortars first, and wait until their positions were in chaos, then the whole army would cover them up.
Since our side defeated the bandits in this way in Xun County and Fang County, and achieved an unprecedented victory, we can do the same under Ruyang City.
After all, he is Sun Gou Thief, he has some skills!
The leaders of the fifth battalion of Gezuo could see clearly from their horses. They were all experts. Their officers and soldiers were well-trained and their combat power was definitely not low. Naturally, they knew it clearly in their hearts.
Although our own side has a strength advantage and seems to have about 20,000 more troops than the opposing army, no one can say for sure if a fight breaks out.
None of the five leaders were willing to let their troops fight head-on with the officers and soldiers. Even if they could win, it would be a narrow victory or a miserable victory. If the losses were too great, the gains would not be worth the loss.
The problem is that this little brat Zhang Dingguo didn't even run away, he just stared straight at this side. What was his intention? ? ?
The plan of the leaders of the fifth battalion was for Zhang Dingguo's troops to escape first, and then the officers and soldiers would cover them up, leaving them a chance to escape.
Now that the plan has been disrupted by that little brat, it means that the rebel army is really going to face the official army and have a head-on confrontation.
If the eldest nephew's troops don't run away, if his troops run away first, he will be the one pursued by the dog officer army.
Although Zhang Dingguo is still young, he is not inferior to the uncles nearby in terms of fighting spirit.
Whoever runs first or dies first, let’s see who can’t hold back first!
Zhang Dingguo was of course very nervous, but he was relieved when he saw that the fifth battalion of Gezuo had not moved.
As long as the fifth battalion of Ge Zuo did not retreat first, then our troops could stand still.
The fifth battalion of Ge Zuo fled first, and his troops became much safer.
Opposite him were Bai Guangen's troops, which seemed to have no more than 15,000 troops and many horsemen under his command.
Zhang Dingguo had a premonition that it was going to be a battle or a disaster, but since he couldn't escape, he could only face the difficulty.
"It's his old age! The little brat is actually in a disadvantageous situation!"
Seeing the officers and soldiers getting closer and closer, "King Zuo Jin" He Jin's psychological pressure increased sharply.
He didn't want to have a fight with the Sun Gou thief. It would be useless and he would have to vomit out everything he had eaten before.
But taking the lead in escaping would mean that the fifth battalion would be defeated first, and would offend four other people by the way.
The men and horses of the fifth battalion had always advanced and retreated together. He didn't want to break this rule by being the first to do so, so he always tried to be patient and cautious.
If it doesn't work, you have to fight it first!
Liu Xiyao, the "king of the world", saw that the He Jin tribe on the right and the Lin Chenggong on the left did not move, so he could only choose to stand still.
Originally, we wanted to join forces to trick the eldest nephew, but now it doesn’t matter that the eldest nephew is in a daze, and the uncles who are “kind to him” are being tricked...
Unless absolutely necessary, the rebels will not attack first, which means that the possibility of retreat is completely cut off.
If only 20% to 30% of the troops are deployed, there will be no way to defeat so many dog officers and soldiers.
Either the entire army attacks, or the entire army retreats...
