Just when Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, announced his victory, Zhang Cheng was not idle either.
In the early morning of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Zhang Guodong led more than 5,000 troops to leave the camp at the foot of Changling Mountain and slowly headed south.
He placed his "Chicheng Iron Camp" men and horses in the center, Yu Jin's left chariot as the rear, and Shanxi Zhendu Sima Zhenhai led more than 500 cavalry as the vanguard of the army.
Datong Town guerrilla Chen Bingshen led more than a thousand cavalry into two teams to guard the two wings of the army. They marched slowly on the dewdrops.
Zhang Guodong of the Central Military Department felt very heavy in his heart. This was the first time he led an army alone into battle, and it was also a large army with complete services of infantry, cavalry and vehicles.
Zhang Guodong was afraid that if he was a little negligent in this matter, what would he look like when he saw Zhang Cheng once he went out to fight against the slave thieves? He would really be ashamed of Zhang Cheng's kindness in promoting and cultivating him, and Zhang Cheng's kindness to him. trust.
In his opinion, he was lucky to be able to enter Zhang Cheng's inner circle. After all, he had joined the Liaodong army in his early years. Later, although Zu Kuan went to the mainland to suppress bandits, he joined Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army. After the Julu War, he was Choose to follow Zhang Cheng.
Unlike Chen Zheng, Zhang Guangda, Wu Zhizhong, Chen Zhong and others, they were originally Zhang Cheng's old subordinates and had followed Zhang Cheng long before the Battle of Julu.
Although Zhang Guodong is now grateful to himself in his heart that he did not make mistakes and resolutely followed Zhang Cheng, but he is even more grateful that Zhang Cheng treats himself with sincerity and does not regard himself as an outsider. Confidants, even more efforts are made to train and promote them.
It was with such profound thoughts that Zhang Guodong felt very heavy in his heart. He secretly vowed that when he went to Xingshan to aid, he would perform well and beat the slaves and thieves hard. He would not let down Zhang Cheng's trust in him!
…………
But not long after Zhang Guodong's troops set out, thousands of Ming Dynasty elite riders lined up and stood at the foot of Changling Mountain.
Looking at the gradually fading smoke and dust in front of him, veteran Guo Yingxian rode his horse and clasped his fists, saying: "Commander, Lao Guo will take the lead."
Zhang Cheng and Guo Yingxian had always been in love. Whenever they met, they would bicker first and then drink. But now there was a subtle change.
Guo Yingxian seemed to still treat Zhang Cheng the same way, but Zhang Cheng showed great respect for him.
At this moment, Zhang Cheng was also riding on his horse, also clasping his fists and saying, "Thank you for your hard work, old general!"
Guo Yingxian opened his mouth and said with a smile: "Serving the General Soldier, I, Old Guo, have no complaints."
After saying this, he whipped up his horse and rode away. Behind the horse were more than two thousand capable knights, who followed him on horseback. Another large cloud of smoke rose into the sky, rolled and rolled, and lingered for a long time.
The cavalry led by veteran Guo Yingxian were all veterans of the Zhenbiao Battalion of Yang Guozhu, the former commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu. Many of them were veterans. After many battles, they still had some fighting strength.
Because it was directly transferred to Zhang Cheng's command during the war, the original organizational structure has been retained, and Zhang Cheng has not made any changes to it to avoid causing instability in the morale of the military.
After the military meeting last night, veteran Guo Yingxian personally found Zhang Cheng and asked himself to be a vanguard officer to clear the way for the army. Zhang Cheng originally wanted to order Zhang Guangda's troops to be the vanguard.
However, Guo Yingxian couldn't bear the pressure and finally reluctantly agreed after Guo Yingxian promised that if he encountered a group of slave thieves, he would never launch an attack without authorization and would wait for the arrival of the army before making a decision.
"General Guo is really strong and courageous!"
Zhang Guangda looked at the Biaoying Jingqi and veteran Guo Yingxian going away and said with emotion.
He didn't know at the moment that Guo Yingxian had used half-hearted and half-forced methods to snatch away his vanguard officer. Otherwise, I'm afraid he wouldn't have said this.
Zhang Cheng looked at him and said: "Guangda, your cavalry is the rear team. You must send out the Qingqi, Youqi, and Mengqi units in batches. Now in the Xingshan and Gaoqiao areas, there are slaves everywhere." Don’t be careless when it comes to bandits and cavalry activities.”
"Here!"
Zhang Cheng stopped paying attention to him, turned to look at Chen Zheng, and said to him: "Chen Zheng, the wounded in our army are now placed on Changling Mountain. We must strictly guard them, and send out both light and dark sentries and mobile sentries everywhere. No
There is a slight difference.
In particular, the corpses, armors, and flags of Duduo, Ashan, and Eshuo must be taken good care of. The corpses of these people and the heads of those soldiers should be prepared with salt and lime.
I estimate that within a few days, there will be an imperial edict from the court, which will inevitably have to be sent to the capital. At that time, we will be escorted back together with the wounded from our army, so that they can rest. "
"Here!"
Chen Zheng nodded heavily and replied: "Please rest assured, Commander, Chen Zheng is here and Changling Mountain will never allow any loss."
Zhang Cheng raised his riding crop, lit Zhang Guangda and Chen Zheng on fire, and said, "Work hard. After this war in Liaodong is over, it is not impossible for you and others to be promoted to deputy generals and generals in the future." "
Chen Zheng reacted the fastest. He turned over and fell to the ground. He clasped his fists and said loudly: "Chen Zheng would like to follow the commander forever. He would rather be a pawn in front of the commander than to care about Lao Shizi, deputy general and commander-in-chief!"
Before Zhang Cheng had time to say anything, Zhang Guangda Ce also clasped his fists on his horse and said, "I, Old Zhang, too, would rather be a pawn of the commander-in-chief than a general of the imperial court!"
Zhang Cheng raised his whip and pointed it at the two of them, and said in a deep voice: "You must know that if he doesn't want to be a general's soldier, he is not a good soldier!"
He then continued: "I can only guard one town. Your future prospects are not only to be mere generals and deputy generals, but also to become the general of a town.
No matter where you are, as long as you have Xuanzang in your heart and your commander in mind, that's all. You don't have to stay and serve in front of my commander's army. "
Zhang Cheng recognized Chen Zheng and Zhang Guangda and continued in a deep voice, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
They both pondered for a while, and Zhang Guangda was the first to reply: "Commander, my old Zhang is the commander's man, and he will be the commander's ghost when he dies. No matter where he is guarding in the future, the commander will always follow his lead, and there will be no Two minds!"
Chen Zheng also hurriedly expressed his position: "Commander, Chen Zheng is the same. He is completely sincere to the Commander and has no second thoughts."
"Hahaha……"
Zhang Cheng laughed loudly for a while and then said: "We have experienced life and death battles several times, and our brotherly love is deep. How can we give up so easily? I still trust the commanders of your battalions."
He waved his riding whip again and shouted loudly: "Lin Fangping and Huang Baozhong, follow me to march into Gaoqiao to find another fight with the slave thieves."
Several people rode out, shouted orders in unison, and headed south with Zhang Cheng in tow. Although they only had less than a thousand cavalry, they were all very brave, not to mention the soldiers of the Tiger Guard Camp, but also the Xuan Mansion. The most elite knight in the army.
Even the nearly 300 knights led by Huang Baozhong were all servants of Yang Guozhu, the former commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu. Whether they were fighting on foot, riding, cutting, or shooting, they were all equally skilled and fearless of death.
Especially since Huang Baozhong brought them to join Zhang Cheng, not only did he still accept them as servants, he was also promised that the land they had acquired would belong to him, and they would be paid full wages on time in the future. Military achievements are generous with rewards.
In this way, although on the surface it looks almost the same as when it was under Yang Guozhu, there are indeed many differences on the inside. The first point is that the food has been greatly improved.
Although Yang Guozhu treated his servants very favorably, the food he received was almost the same as that of ordinary cavalry. After all, raising troops cost the most money, and the lack of transportation capacity also limited the supplies of the Ming army. The food is pretty much the same.
But in Zhang Cheng's army, it was different. Although he was also limited by his supply capacity, Zhang Cheng not only had plenty of money and food, but he was also willing to spend it on his soldiers.
His army not only has its own food reserves, but also porcelain meat jars that everyone envies, as well as a lot of bacon and dried meat to make up for the shortage of porcelain meat jars. The soldiers can still ensure a certain level of food when marching and fighting. A large supply of meat.
This was the only one among the Ming army, and Zhang Cheng did not hesitate to award rewards. As long as the soldiers of each battalion achieved military merit, they would be awarded immediately after being approved in accordance with military regulations.
Furthermore, Zhang Cheng's army paid more attention to the treatment of injured soldiers, because he always believed that these wounded soldiers were the real soldiers, and there were also those who died in battle.
The pensions for soldiers are unmatched by other Ming armies.
It is precisely because of these various benefits that nearly three hundred former Yang Guozhu servants led by Huang Baozhong and Tan Zhenlin have followed Zhang Cheng wholeheartedly and sincerely regard him as their general.
At this time, the Ming Dynasty had already begun to show signs of becoming generals, and its scope was gradually expanding. Unlike in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, only the servants were supported by their own generals.
Nowadays, many generals of the army have expanded the scope of their private soldiers, far beyond their servants. Some of the deputies, counselors, generals and other generals under the generals of the army only recognize the commander, but not the generals. And the court.
In order to integrate Huang Baozhong and Tan Zhenlin into his circle as soon as possible, Zhang Cheng issued an order early that when the Tiger Guard camp went out for inspection, it would be merged with the Jia Ding team to form a sentinel team.
And each sentry team must bring at least two Mongolian knights, so that if they encounter Manchurians or Mongolian sentry knights, they can be fooled.
Not long after Zhang Cheng's Chinese army set off, Zhang Guangda also led more than 1,500 knights from the cavalry camp and slowly embarked on the road to Gaoqiao.
…………
On the fifth day of September, at noon, the Xuanfu town cavalry, led by Zhang Cheng, arrived two miles east of Gaoqiaopu.
Zhang Cheng led more than 200 horsemen to the gates of Gaoqiaopu City. Traces of fighting were vaguely visible. The remains of siege equipment were everywhere, and there were patches of dark red blood on the dry land.
Gaoqiaopu was originally a post city in Liaodong during the Ming Dynasty. There were 24 steps in a city, and there was only one door on the east side, with the three characters "Gaoqiaopu" written on it.
Although it is only a small post city, due to frequent wars in Liaodong, Gaoqiaopu was also covered with city bricks, and after years of heightening, it has become a very strong and difficult to attack small city.
It is precisely because of this that it has survived in all the wars and has been retained by the Ming army. Even this time when the Zhenghongqi army attacked, it could not be broken.
At this time, the defenders of Gaoqiao saw thousands of elite knights coming from outside the city. They were suspicious for a while. It was not until Zhang Chengfang rode to the city and showed Zhang Cheng's seal that three more knights rode out.
"Qian Zhongsi, the commander of the Gaoqiao garrison, met with General Zhang."
A Ming general who was less than forty years old was sitting on his horse, clasping his fists and saluting Zhang Cheng.
Zhang Cheng didn't do any ink, so he asked straightforwardly: "Where did General Liu from Liaodong go? Why isn't he at Gaoqiao?"
Qian Zhongsi clasped his fists and said, "Commander Zhang, nearly ten thousand captives attacked the city in the past few days. They failed to conquer the city in one day, so they led the army south. Liu Shuai was afraid that he would attack Bijia Mountain, and he was worried about the army hoarding food. If there is a mistake, I have led the army in pursuit."
After Zhang Cheng heard about this, he couldn't help but secretly admire Liu Zhaoji in his heart. He was worthy of being the commander-in-chief of the town. As expected, he also saw that the Tatars were planning to stock up on Beacon Mountain.
What's even more rare is that Liu Zhaoji not only guessed that the Tatar thieves might want to rob the grain store on Bijia Mountain, but in order to defend the grain store on Bijia Mountain, he even dared to lead his troops out of the city to pursue them, even if they did not hesitate to fight with the Tatar bandits in the wild.
Zhang Cheng asked anxiously: "General Liu, on what day will you leave the south of the city?"
Qian Zhongsi clasped his fists and replied: "Liu Shuai, on the first day of September, he led his army out of the city to pursue the captives."
"oh."
Zhang Cheng nodded and said, "So, General Liu has been out of the city for five days."
"Yes, it's been five days."
Qian Zhongsi replied with clasped fists, and then asked: "General Zhang, would you like the generals to go into the city to rest."
"No need."
Zhang Cheng learned that Liu Zhaoji had been out of the city for five days, and he couldn't help but worry about him. He immediately replied: "My army will not enter the city, so we will rest outside the city for a night, and tomorrow we will go south to support General Liu." , fight against the cavalry together."
He then asked further: "I want to ask you, General Liu, after he left the city, did you have any information sent back?"
"Back to General Zhang, no news has been delivered since Liu Shuai left the city, and my subordinates don't know where Liu Shuai is now or what his condition is!"
…………
On the sixth day of September, at noon, about thirty miles south of Gaoqiaopu, Zhang Cheng's cavalry had just finished their lunch.
After raising troops, they continued southward to look for Liu Zhaoji and Zheng Hongqi's army.
Seeing a burst of smoke and dust rising high from the south, all the generals were startled. Zhang Guangda even said, "I didn't see the sentry cavalry reporting back, so why did it suddenly seem like there were cavalry coming?"
"Could it be that our military sentries are back?" Lin Fangping said.
"No, look at the smoke and dust raised. This group of cavalry only has a small number of people. It should be between twenty and thirty cavalry."
Huang Baozhong, the leader of the servant team, stood on the saddle of his horse and was looking south carefully. He continued: "Although it is not very clear, one thing is certain, the soldiers running from a distance are indeed our Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers." Cavalry cavalry."
Zhang Cheng shouted loudly: "The whole army forms a formation and prepares for war."
He added: "Huang Baozhong, Tan Zhenlin, the servant team is divided into two parts, and you two will lead them respectively. The cavalry will run from the two wings to the rear. If there is any information, it must be sent back immediately."
Immediately afterwards, he shouted again: "Lin Fangping, the Tiger Guard is ready to fight. Zhang Guangda, the heavy cavalry and armor are forming a formation, and the light cavalry are forming a rear formation. Act according to the flag order."
