"General, we seem to be...surrounded!"
On the north gate tower of Zhuxian Town, Wu Yingqi, who had a good sleep until noon on the 12th, suddenly learned a very bad news - he was surrounded!
It was going well yesterday, and the journey was going smoothly. We also managed to catch a hundred thousand people in Zhuxian Town who looked relatively strong. We were about to become King Yan of the Great Zhou Dynasty... It seemed like we were raising an army when we were dreaming just now. Jingnan is coming! Why was it that I was surrounded as soon as I woke up from the dream?
How did this happen?
"General," Liu Xuanchu was speaking. He had been standing on the tower for a while, observing the enemy's situation. "It seems that the Qing captives want to trap us by surrounding us without attacking! They use carts and earthenware to trap us." The bags were built into four chariot cities on all four sides of us, and we were still digging long trenches and deploying our horses... We were busy all night long!"
"General," Wu Zhou's cavalry general Ma Bao took up the topic and said, "The Qinglu wanted to force us to fight against their chariot formation... We were really negligent last night and actually gave them a night to build a formation. Dig a trench for the base! Although the trench is not yet completed, the vehicle base is already complete!"
"It's not that we are negligent," Wu Guogui shook his head with a serious expression, "it is that our cavalry and horse teams are not as many as the Qing captives after all, and the terrain in Henan is conducive to the cavalry.
General, look at the car formation a mile or two away, and there are all the cavalry there! There are no less than fifteen thousand riders outside the north gate alone, and there are almost the same number outside the other three gates. This time the Qing captives used at least 60,000 cavalry and a larger number of infantry to surround us... It's not easy to fight! "
Wu Yingqi frowned, he also knew something was wrong!
If there were only four chariots or tens of thousands of cavalry, he would be sure of victory. Even if the Qing infantry and cavalry formed a vehicle barrier and fought together, Wu Yingqi was sure to defeat them with 100,000 people.
But the problem now is that the vehicle base plus cavalry... the vehicle base is much stronger than the ordinary infantry formation! Moreover, the vehicle barrier can protect against artillery and gunfire, and is not easy to chew down.
And cavalry can move quickly, so they can concentrate quickly. Although the Qing army's cavalry are now scattered around Zhuxian Town, as long as Wu Yingqi concentrates his strength to attack the chariot barriers in one direction, these 60,000 cavalry can gather to support - these cavalry can dismount to fight and enter the chariot barriers to participate. In defensive battles, you can also charge into the formation, and you can also launch a pursuit if the Wu army breaks through.
In other words, if Wu Yingqi could not break through all four vehicle formations outside Zhuxian Town and repel the Qing army, it would be difficult for him to break through and return to Xuzhou!
And even if he breaks all the chariot formations... because his cavalry is still less than the opponent's, and the infantry will be exhausted from continuous attacks, there is a high probability that it will be difficult for him to defeat the retreating Qing army in one fell swoop. It is even difficult to annihilate most of them.
This allows the Qing army to still have the ability to fight again...at least they can continue to use scorched earth tactics and attack the Wu army's supply line to deal with Wu Yingqi.
But Wu Yingqi had to retreat south to get military supplies after the victory... This back and forth would not only waste time, but also weaken the spirit of the army, and also make the peace faction within Wu Zhou rise!
Thinking of this, Wu Yingqi snorted and said to his left and right: "The Qinglu came just in time! Let's kill them all in Zhuxian Town! As long as we kill them all, the world will be ours!"
The order was passed down, and the shield carts were built during the day, and then strong men were selected from the common people, formed into teams, and let them push the carts at night... The brothers who did not have their turn to be on duty told them to have a good rest and have dinner. Okay, let’s fight Qinglu at night after dark! "
Although Wu Yingqi's strategy is not very good, his tactical level is still online. Using a shield car to build a car base is obviously the best way, and choosing to fight at night is also the most advantageous. Wu Zhou's army is a victorious army with high morale and many veterans. They are more proactive on the battlefield and must have strong night fighting capabilities.
Following Wu Yingqi, the generals of the Wu Zhou Army immediately became energetic after hearing the commander's instructions. They loudly responded to the orders, then turned and left one after another, each returning to their respective troops to prepare for tonight's night battle!
...
Also during the day, a change was brewing around Beijing!
This is really a day when the storm is about to come!
In a village called Pangezhuang near Beijing, there was a sudden sound of barking dogs. Along with the barking of the dog, two men wearing long robes, melon-pipe hats, holding swords and carrying baggage hurriedly walked into the village.
The two people arrived in front of a very old but still very grand house in Zhuangzi and gently knocked on the door.
After a while, a woman's voice came from inside: "Who is it?"
One of the two people outside the door replied: "Mr. Yang asked us to come!"
The door creaked open, and a beautiful girl of seventeen or eighteen years old opened the door to the courtyard and looked at the two people outside nervously.
The two men outside the door did not expect that the person who opened the door was such a beautiful woman. They were both stunned. One of them even asked: "Isn't this Widow Pang's house?"
At this moment, Yang Qilong's voice came from inside the door: "Ziyun, why don't you invite the guests in?"
It turns out that this woman is Yang Qilong's sister, named Yang Ziyun. Her and Yang Qilong's parents had long since died, so she had been led by Yang Qilong since she was a child. Before Yang Qilong went south, he entrusted her to his old sweetheart Widow Pang.
"You two, please come in!"
After Yang Ziyun heard his brother's instructions, he invited the two of them into the yard, and then closed the door.
Then he took the two visitors into a very spacious room. The furnishings in the room were also very old, but the former luxury could still be seen. Obviously, the owner of this house was once wealthy, but now it is in decline.
Yang Qilong was wearing a red cloth robe with cross-collars and a yellow hood on his head. He was sitting on a chair with a smile. When he saw the guests coming in, he stood up and cupped his hands and said: "Brother Zhang, Brother Jiao, you are here." ! Sit down, sit down and chat slowly. Ziyun, go ask Xiangxiu to prepare food and drinks, I want to get drunk with the two brothers! "
"Yes." Yang Ziyun agreed, and went to the backyard like a gust of wind to prepare delicious food and drinks with Widow Pang. Yang Qilong and the two visiting guests were the only ones left in the huge hall.
Both visitors were a bit old. The man Yang Qilong called "Brother Zhang" looked to be in his fifties, with a gray beard, a face full of vicissitudes of life, and a fierce look in his eyes. The third brother Jiao looked younger, with a still black beard, a very tall figure, and the same fierce look in his eyes. He looked like a desperado.
"Brother Zhang, Third Brother Jiao," Yang Qilong said with a smile when he saw both of them sitting down, "the water transport of the Qing Dynasty is definitely not accessible... The lives of the brothers in the Cao Gang must be difficult. Isn’t it hard?”
It turned out that "Zhang Da" and "Jiao San" were not members of the Beizhili anti-Qing group led by Yang Qilong, but leaders of the Cao Gang in Tongzhou and Tianjin.
Beijing in the Qing Dynasty has always been a consumption-oriented city. A large amount of materials need to be transported by water every year, and naturally there are groups that rely on water transportation for survival.
The two "bad policies" of "land enclosure" and "house occupation" pursued in the early days of the Qing Dynasty, coupled with the subsequent coastal relocation, forced many residents of the "old Beijing" and Zhili coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty to The water transport went up to find food.
However, people who rely on water transportation, even if they hate the Qing Dynasty in their hearts, but they are still holding the job of the Qing Dynasty, so the rebellious spirit is not enough.
Historically, although Zhang Da and Jiao San both participated in Yang Qilong's rebellion, they did not bring out many Cao Gang brothers.
But the situation is different now. The water transportation is cut off, and the jobs of the brothers in the Cao Gang are ruined!
The Qing Dynasty itself was already a mud Buddha crossing the river, and of course it was impossible to help a group of Caogang brothers who had no food to eat... But Yang Qilong had a lot of gold in his hands!
