Tu Wenxiu, who went out to invite Boshu Ketu, achieved his wish, but Kuaibai's other plans had successes and failures, and it could not be said that everything went smoothly.
One of them is the capture of the forts in Hexi by Kuai Chengen and the Xu Dynasty.
Yi Cheng'en led his army to Ningxia Zhongwei first. Xiong Guochen, the general of Ningxia Zhongwei, saw that the thieves were huge and the dust and smoke covered the world. Xiong Guochen thought that he was outnumbered. Faced with this situation, there were only three ways to go: surrender, fight, and leave.
He usually does not have a close relationship with Kuai Bai, and both of them are generals. He is not Kuai Bai's subordinate in the past. It is really difficult to believe that he can gain Kuai Bai's trust in the future, so he refuses to join the bandits.
But if he wanted to fight, he didn't have much confidence. Especially when military pay has been slashed this year, paying is not exclusive to Ningxia Zhencheng. The situation of Ningxia Zhongwei is almost exactly the same as that of Ningxia Zhencheng. It is just that Ningxia City is a large city in the northwest with concentrated troops and a large population, but Ningxia Zhongwei is. They were stationed in Zhenlu Fort, Yongkang Fort, Xuanhe Fort, Ning'an Fort and other forts. The troops were dispersed and it was difficult to gather to cause trouble. Moreover, it was not a powerful city, so the life pressure of the sergeants was relatively small. In the final analysis, the situation is slightly better than that of Ningxia City, but not much better. There is actually a powder keg sitting under the butt.
Unwilling to surrender and afraid to fight, Xiong Guochen thought about it and finally abandoned the city and fled without authorization on the grounds of moving troops. When he left, the officers and soldiers of the Ningxia Central Guard were of course at a loss, and the people were panicked.
In the Zhenlu Fort where the Guard Commander was stationed, Zhou Zhe, a local official, saw this and was filled with righteous indignation. He went up to the stage and shouted, calling on the gentry to donate their salary. The people guarded the gates and intercepted the deserters to cooperate with the guards.
Guicheng'en ordered Wang Hu to lead his troops to attack the city. Wang Hu gave the order and set up a high platform to rain arrows on the city while bombarding the city gate with artillery. The siege ability is not strong).
At this time, the sound of killing outside the city was loud, and both sides of the city gate were in a stalemate. Han Fan, the guard at Ximen, was heartbroken. He thought to himself that even Xiong Canrong had escaped. Why should I, a guard, risk my own life? Then he opened the west gate and asked Wang Hu to surrender.
Wang Hu was overjoyed when he saw this, and rushed into the west gate first. The rebels broke into the branch roads and killed them. The soldiers and civilians in the city were in chaos, all gates were lost, and Zhou Zhe was captured.
After the city fell, Chi Cheng'en ordered Wang Hu's troops to rest and reorganize on the spot because the Ningxia Zhongwei was stationed in various forts, and taking one place was not considered a full victory, so he led his own army to continue the march.
Wang Hu hated Zhou Zhe for gathering a crowd to resist, so he wanted to kill him to warn the soldiers and the people. The surrender was shocked and urged Zhou Zhe to plead guilty to Wang Hu to save his life, so as to prevent the whole family from being killed.
When Zhou Zhe heard this, he was furious and wanted to hit his head against a pillar. He shouted angrily: "As a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, how can I bend my knees and ask for my life from a thief?"
When Wang Hu heard this, he became even more furious. The scribes who temporarily served as staff hurriedly grabbed Wang Hu and persuaded him: "Our literary style in Ningxia is not strong. Although Zhou Zhe only promoted people, he was a great Confucian in Ningxi. He had a resolute temperament and was highly popular among the people. The killing is indeed ominous. If the general wants to win over the people and ensure peace and stability in the city, he must appease their hearts. Only in this way will we avoid civil unrest when we leave the city to plunder the land."
After all, Wang Hu was also a person of this era, and he was well aware of the prestige of scholars in the countryside. After hesitating for a moment, he finally agreed and ordered Zhou Zhe to be placed under house arrest in his own house, and he was not allowed to move anywhere.
A few days later, Wang Hu summoned his soldiers and sent his troops out of the city to the north. He led fifty people to temporarily stay in Zhenlu Fort to defend them. Zhou Zhe learned that it was convenient for his son Zhou Bang to plan: "Now the central defense is empty, leaving only Wang Hu and less than a hundred people. Wang Hu is crude and unintelligent. As long as you prepare enough food and wine to congratulate him, you will surely make him numb and careless. Go quickly." Select a dozen like-minded people, pretend to be Confucian scholars, hide their sharp blades, and wait for the opportunity to strike."
Zhou Bang still had doubts about this, and said to his father: "Father, although Wang Hu has a small number of guards, it is difficult to move him around. Once an assassination is carried out, I am afraid that we will not be able to protect him."
Zhou Zhe said with a smile: "The rebels are rebelling against the party. What kind of loyalty do they have? But they are snobbish people who are ignorant and reckless. They wait until Wang Hu is killed before scolding him, and then distribute the money. They can take advantage of him when he is not prepared." Capture. Don’t worry, my son, just go and get ready."
After Zhou Bang's preparations were completed, Zhou Zhe led the team to Wang Hu's place to congratulate him. Wang Hu didn't know why, but he had doubts.
Zhou Zhe replied: "The army is in great power, and Zhenlu Fort has been owned by the general. Since the current situation is like this, we ordinary people should adapt to the situation. Today, all the local Confucian scholars are well-read in poetry and books, and they are well versed in civil affairs." The general affairs can help the general secure the entire central defense. To express our intention to surrender, the students have prepared their own wine and food, hoping to get drunk with the general before resting."
Wang Hu was overjoyed and thought to himself that he had been in battle for a long time, how could he be afraid of this group of Confucian scholars? He immediately drove away the people around him and drank heavily with everyone. When the wine was half drunk, at Zhou Zhe's signal, everyone surrounded Wang Hu in the name of toasting, and then they all stabbed him with their daggers.
At this time, Zhou Zhe also showed the difference between the literati in the northwest border town and the literati in the south of the Yangtze River. He stepped forward in person and cut off Wang Hu's head without blinking, arousing a burst of applause. Then he led everyone to the door, scolded the remaining rebels, and pretended to appease them by sharing money, but then ordered them to gather inside the house and set them on fire. People rushed around the city to tell each other, and the Zhenlu Fort was recovered.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Later, the main force of the bandit army came back. After Zhou Zhe suffered a big loss last time, he knew that the power in the city was not strong enough to resist, so he took his family and Wang Hu's head to Guyuan to warn. Ningxia Zhongwei was then owned by Kuai Bai and his son.
To the north of Ningxia Town, in the direction of Pinglu, the rebel offensive was the most difficult. Although the Pinglu military system was only "Pinglu Guards Thousand Households", at this time, permanent generals were already stationed to guard it, which was called "Separate Generals to Guard Pinglu City on Ningxia North Road".
Tu Wenxiu and Yiyun led their troops to Pinglu, and Pinglu's general Xiao Ruxun came out of the city to fight. Because Pinglu was the most important main city in Ningbei, it was well-equipped with weapons and weapons. Xiao Ruxun was a general, so naturally he refused to surrender.
He responded with cavalry on both wings, and sent muskets, guns, artillery, and archers to suppress the central front line of Tu Wenxiu. Since Kuaibai did not give the rebels enough firearms, Xiao Ruxun once had the upper hand in the battle due to insufficient firearms and scattered accuracy during movement.
After several rounds of volleys from the Pinglu defenders, the infantry moved forward in formation, and the infantry and cavalry on each wing were divided into a flanking attack. However, at this time, Xiao Ruxun's right wing made a mistake in moving and hindered each other. Kuai Bai's adopted son Kuai Yun immediately seized the opportunity and led the army on horseback to charge to the right wing. Since this Yiyun could be adopted by Kuaibai as his adopted son, he was naturally a brave and skilled man with strong martial arts skills. In addition, the troops under his command were the Yi family soldiers. This move was unstoppable. Xiao Ruxun urgently ordered the front camp to return. However, Yiyun was still able to threaten Xiao Ruxun's formation several times.
As he galloped, Kuaiyun cursed loudly: "Xiao family of Yan'an, you are a cowardless person! No matter how many guards you have, they can only protect you for a while. As a military general, do you dare to go out to fight me to the death? If you can die at my hand, it counts." Even if you lose, it will be an honor! If not, I will definitely raze this Pinglu Fort to the ground!"
Xiao Ruxun laughed several times after hearing this, and cursed back: "You are originally barbarians outside the Great Wall. When you came to Pinglu City today, you must have thought that you had a perfect plan. You are such a reckless and foolish person. I would have I'm ashamed to do anything with him. The traitor Kuiyun, don't be so arrogant! I know that you are here to break through Pinglu as soon as possible and unite the rebels together, but no matter what you do, you can't break through my Pinglu fort! At that time, I want to see how you explain to the dying man Kuai Bai!"
Kuaiyun was furious when he heard this. He clapped his horse and came forward, leading his troops to charge into the battle again. The rear troops of the Ming army under Xiao Ruxun formed a defensive formation, and the front battalion arrived and attacked from the side. Kuiyun was not allowed to advance lightly, and immediately made a roundabout move backwards. unlimited
Xiao Ruxun originally wanted to follow the change of formation, but suddenly realized that if he changed the formation and moved, the bandit soldiers would be close to the gate and separate the defenders inside and outside Pinglu Fort. So Xiao Ruxun encouraged the morale of the army, personally selected the elite of the army to fight out, forced back part of the rebel army, and quickly ordered the army to turn around and set up horizontally in front of Pinglu Fort again.
Seeing that Xiao Ruxun was in a forward position, Yiyun was eager to take command. He was distracted in front of the formation and secretly fired an arrow. Unexpectedly, Xiao Ruxun still avoided the vital point and only hit the thigh.
Although Xiao Ruxun was hit by an arrow and seemed to be harmless, the morale of the rebels increased. Upon seeing this, Xiao Ruxun knew that it would be unfavorable to fight again at this time, so he ordered to retreat slowly into the city.
From then on, Xiao Ruxun refused to leave and vowed to die. The city of Pinglu was strong, with warehouses full of grain and plenty of water, but the city on this side was barren after all, and the treasury was especially short of money. In order to wait for help for a long time, Xiao Ruxun's wife, Yang, sold her jewelry, bought food for the army, and worked hard every day. In addition, Yang also mobilized the women in the city, many of whom were guardsmen, wives and children, to take care of them day and night and take care of the logistics. In order to protect the health of their families and to protect the city from collapse, the soldiers in the city were deeply inspired and were willing to die to serve.
Every day when the enemy attacked the city, Xiao Ruxun would personally go to the city gate to supervise the battle. When there was a break in commanding the soldiers, he would alternately maintain armaments and strengthen the city defense, sharing the joys and sorrows. Regardless of the fact that his leg injury was not healed, he still insisted on patrolling the city defense four times a day, taking care of the wounded soldiers, commanding the defense, inspiring the morale of the troops, eating from the same pot and singing with the defenders. admired.
Because they could not attack for a long time, Tu Wenxiu and Kuaiyun were afraid of Kuaibai's punishment and thought hard about a good plan to break the city.
Tu Wenxiu said: "Pinglu is worthy of being an important border defense area. It is well-defended and the soldiers dare to fight. Unlike other places where they are defeated at the first touch, our army's soldiers are not twice as many as the defenders. After several days of siege, there have been many casualties. In addition, with the addition of firearms If it’s not enough, it’s difficult to break through Pinglu’s gate, what should I do?”
Kuai Yun said angrily: "Why don't you just throw everything in? Tomorrow I will rush forward to defeat the enemy!"
Tu Wenxiu blamed Yiyun for being a reckless man and not knowing how to plan. Kuaiyun looked at him with leopard eyes and said, "Then what's your clever plan?"
Tu Wenxiu was too lazy to get angry with him and thought to himself: "There is a saying in the art of war: if it is ten, it will be surrounded, and if it is doubled, it will be attacked. If the enemy is defeated, the troops will be increased. I heard that the other generals have occupied various parts of Ningxia one after another, and our army is the only one here. I am deeply ashamed of being blocked at every turn! The only troops we can borrow now are Bosho Ketu's troops."
It turns out that Tu Wenxiu didn't have any clever ideas, but he just roped in Boshu Ketu to besiege. So he ordered Yiyun to go to Boshuoketu and lead his army to attack Pinglu, while Tu Wenxiu attacked the city from the side. Chiyun had to order Pegasus to leave the camp.
Tu Wenxiu's intention to invite Boshu Ketu to help was discovered by Xiao Ruxun. Xiao Ruxun was extremely brave and brave, while Boshu Ketu was young and vigorous. If he got help from Mongolia, he would be even more vicious than other rebel reinforcements. Although the Pinglu are strong, they cannot allow the two forces to merge. So one day later, Xiao Ruxun personally led the elite troops to Nanguan at night to set up an ambush, hoping to catch turtles in the jar.
Boshuoketu set up his camp ten miles west of the South Pass. The clouds caused the Mongolian cavalry to roar past the South Pass. Xiao Ruxun led his troops to attack in a hurry. Kuaiyun was overjoyed to see Xiao Ruxun coming, so he ordered his troops to surround him and shoot before he launched another assault.
Although Boshu Ketu was young, he was after all the lord of ten thousand households in Jinong and Ordos, Mongolia, and his Mongolian cavalry had very strong combat effectiveness. Xiao Ruxun's surprise attack failed, and they were defeated by their combined forces, leading his troops to retreat to Nanguan.
Yiyun wanted to capture Xiao Ruxun alive, so he ordered more than 10,000 Mongolian troops from Ordos to pursue him into the pass.
However, after all the main Mongolian forces entered the pass, the gate was suddenly closed tightly. Fires broke out on the rocks, volleys of fire cannons were fired, and flying arrows were fired. Xiao Ruxun also suddenly led his troops to fight back.
The Mongolian soldiers did not expect this, and they were in chaos and fled in all directions. The night was shrouded in smoke, the horses were frightened, and besides the soldiers who died in the battle, countless others trampled on themselves. The rest of the Mongolian troops hurriedly reined in their horses and rushed straight to the gate, not wanting to fight at all.
Kuaiyun couldn't stop drinking. When he was distracted, Xiao Ruxun shot him off his horse with an arrow and died in the chaos.
Xiao Ruxun immediately ordered the door to be opened and closed, taking advantage of the situation to cover up the killing, and went straight to Boshuoketu's camp. Boshuoketu was shocked when he heard the report. He gathered the remaining troops and retreated fifty miles to temporarily avoid Xiao Ruxun's attack. Xiao Ruxun took advantage of the situation and destroyed Boshuoketu's camp, and at the same time captured some enemy soldiers, cattle and sheep, and then made a triumphant return to the city under false pretenses.
Tu Wenxiu was naturally horrified when he saw this situation. He retreated ten miles away and left his troops to continue stationing. He himself took his relatives back to Ningxia to pay homage to Kuai.
As for Guyuan, when they first heard that Ningxia's mobilization was abnormal, although Gao Guangxian did not expect such a huge change in Ningxia, he immediately sent 500 cavalry to investigate the truth in two directions.
However, Kuaibai led 3,000 troops and set up an ambush on the path of Beishan. Guyuan's cavalry was caught off guard and more than half of them were lost on the spot. Kuaibai immediately ordered the entire army to cover up and kill them. The Guyuan soldiers on the other side learned of the Ningxia mutiny halfway and quickly detoured back to Guyuan. However, they were still chased by Kuai Bai and defeated them all.
Taking advantage of the victory, Kuaibai marched into Guyuan. He first feigned an attack and divided his troops to attack the counties eastward. The rebels relied on their strength and all the counties they attacked offered their cities to surrender. However, Guyuan and Ningxia were both important towns on the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty, and the city walls were strong. There were a total of 60,000 troops stationed in the area under the jurisdiction of Guyuan Town. Although most of them were scattered in various places, there were still more than 10,000 elite troops stationed in the city who were jealous of Qibai.
Although Gao Guangxian had made consecutive mistakes in judgment before, in the face of this situation, he finally did not let Gao Pangshi continue to hold him back, personally supervised the battle and defended Guyuan. After two days of attacking, Kuaibai felt that he had no chance to take advantage of him, and was afraid that Ming troops from various places would come to help him, so he had to lead his troops back north. But Gao Guangxian finally became wise and began to order the forcible mobilization of troops, no longer entangled in the issue of military pay; at the same time, he urgently reported the military situation to Shu, and at the same time apologized to the emperor.
The rebel armies led by Yi Cheng'en and Xu Chao either made surprise attacks and attacked the city by force, or used governors and general troops to guard and lure the city. Due to the strength of their troops, their coming and going like the wind, their proficiency in killing without restraint, and their rampant arrogance, the Ming armies stationed in various places were either caught off guard or were weak and found it difficult to resist, and Boshu Ketu also suffered a loss. After that, he became so angry that he really mobilized his main force to help, so that wherever the rebels went, they were invincible. In the forty-nine cities and fortresses in dangerous areas of Ningxia, all except the civilians came to worship.
At this time, Kuaibai had more than 60,000 troops and was proud of the frontier fortress. It was rumored that Kuaibai called himself "Prince Kuai" (imitating Dayan Khan's common name of "Little Prince" in the Ming Dynasty) and wanted to break the soil and become the king, which shocked the three sides.
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