"Young Master, our plan is to attack Yuhuangding first, then Panding Mountain, and finally Dazhaiding."
The Jade Emperor is located in the east, farthest from the New Army. Ai Wenkun and Zha Shubing came over and reported their battle plan to Zuo Mengeng.
Zuo Mengeng did not give a judgment, but asked: "Why did you decide to fight like this?"
Ai Wenkun said: "Our army's plan is not to eliminate the White Lotus Sect here, but to drive them into Yimeng Mountain. Therefore, starting from the Jade Emperor in the east can prevent the White Lotus Sect from escaping eastward. Their only retreat is Just go south and enter the Yimeng Mountains."
Zuo Mengeng still showed no expression, and just said: "You have made the battle plan. It is up to you how to fight."
Ai Wenkun and Zha Shubing were confused and didn't know what Zuo Mengeng meant. But things have come to this, and they can only proceed as planned.
However, after the two left, Mao Yuanyi was honest and polite.
"You guy, you are obviously very happy, but you keep a straight face and scare the people below."
Only then did Zuo Mengeng smile.
"Don't let them get too complacent, lest they get carried away."
Mao Yuanyi picked up the battle plan, read it again and again, and couldn't help but sigh.
"Are these two ready to start training?"
Only then did Zuo Mengeng give his comments.
"If they have this kind of mentality, it's enough to lead an army alone. However, their specific combat capabilities still need to be honed."
The battle at Jade Emperor Summit was not smooth.
The terrain here, when viewed from a high altitude, looks a bit like a counterclockwise rotating whirlpool. This leads to the fact that when attacking the mountain, one ditch is passed and another ditch is found.
You can see this mountain and the other mountain right in front of you, but if you really want to walk there, you will definitely be exhausted.
Fortunately, the artillery of the New Army was light and could be carried up the mountain. From this ridge, you can reach another ridge, making it impossible for the White Lotus Sect rebels to take advantage of the danger.
After fighting for a day, the second regiment reached a place 300 steps away from Jade Emperor Summit.
Seeing that they could no longer hold on, the White Lotus Sect rebels ran away from the other side of the mountain in the middle of the night.
After taking the Yuhuangding, the second regiment followed the trend and attacked Panding Mountain.
The White Lotus Sect rebels here are not on Panding Mountain, but in Sanling Village to the north.
There was a path up here, not to mention the mountain ridges on both sides were fairly flat. The Second Regiment advanced in three directions, but the thieves couldn't resist it with just their muskets, so they had no choice but to flee.
As a result of the chain reaction, the White Lotus Sect rebels finally realized that the situation was over. They could no longer defend the top of Dazhai and fled south.
The New Army pursued them all the way to Yuanquan Town and did not stop until they controlled the Zihe River waterway.
In this battle, more than 300 enemies were killed and more than 1,000 were captured. More than a thousand bandits fled into the Yimeng Mountain area and joined other bandits from all walks of life.
The Second Regiment left another company here to guard the north passage, while the rest of the troops continued eastward and entered Qingzhou Prefecture, which was most severely ravaged by the White Lotus Sect.
At that time, most of Qingzhou Prefecture had fallen, but Yidu and Linqu were still in the hands of the imperial court.
The new army crossed Linqu and attacked Anqiu.
On the other side, Huang Sanhu and Jian Zongan advanced faster.
They are in the plains, and they are attacking the White Lotus Sect to destroy everything. This side has just arrived at Qiaoguan Town, and Wei County has been recaptured over there, and the troops have reached the outskirts of Anqiu.
Just when Zuo Mengeng was preparing to attack Anqiu from two sides, Huang Sanhu sent someone to escort a messenger over.
"The young one is under the command of General Zhang Rong, Denglai. This is a letter asking for help from the general."
Zuo Mengeng took the letter and looked at it, his face was quite ugly.
"What happened?"
Mao Yuanyi was also a little nervous.
Regarding the situation in Denglai, Zuo Menggeng had analyzed it with them early in the morning. Everyone has long known that after the introduction of Dongjiang Town, the situation in Denglai will be unstable.
Could it be that Dongjiang Town started it?
Zuo Mengeng shook his head to appease Mao Yuanyi.
"Zhang Zongrong wrote a letter saying that the military households of Lingshan Guard and Fushan Institute rebelled and killed the local commander. Now that they have occupied Jiaonan County, Zhang Zongrong attacked several times but was repulsed. In addition, Aoshan Guard and Dasong Guard also It’s unstable, Mr. Zhang is at a loss for what to do, please come and support us.”
Mao Yuanyi sighed.
"The world is like a big sieve, with loopholes everywhere. If it is blocked here, it will leak out in other places. Not to mention that the court is ignorant and incompetent. Even if the king is wise and the ministers are wise, how many hands can come here?"
Zuo Mengeng sneered: "A truly wise king and wise minister will not reach this level."
Mao Yuanyi laughed and realized that Zuo Mengeng was more right.
"Should we help or not?"
Zuo Mengeng made some gestures on the map and said: "We have to help. Lingshan Guard and Fushan Institute are right behind us. If we don't care, if the trouble gets bigger, our plan will not be implemented."
He always made quick decisions, and immediately said to Fu Yusun: "Send the order to Huang Sanhu and Jian Zongan, and they will be responsible for Anqiu alone. Tell them that the county town must be captured, and the rebels cannot be eliminated too many. One thing is better, they must go to Yimeng Mountain Area Hurry. If you let the thieves run around, I will cause trouble for them."
In the afternoon of the same day, the Second Regiment changed direction, ignored Anqiu, crossed the Weishui River from Zhucheng, and entered Laizhou.
Zhang Keda made a special trip to wait for Zuo Mengeng at Tiezhu Mountain, and was really excited about his arrival.
"General Zuo, thank you for your help. Otherwise, Denglai Prefecture will be corrupted again."
They were all acquaintances, and Zuo Mengeng didn't even exchange greetings. He just said, "Why are the military households here rebelling?"
Zhang Keda didn't even know.
"Since receiving the military information, I have attacked several times. However, Lingshan Guards is well-defended and has never been able to break into it. As for the reason why the military household rebelled, it is not clear. But in any case, killing officials and rebelling is not tolerated by the law. Please protect General Zuo. The court's laws and regulations punish the rebels."
Zuo Mengeng heard something.
"Zhang Zongrong won't join hands with his younger brother to attack the city?"
Zhang Keda smiled bitterly, pointed to the opposite side of Jiaozhou Bay and said: "There is also chaos over there in Fushan. If we don't put it down quickly, the Aoshan Guards will follow suit and the chaos will be worse than the Bailian Rebellion."
Only then did Zuo Mengeng understand why Zhang Keda asked him for help.
It turns out that the rebel military households here are not only Lingshan Guards, but also Fushan Suo east of Jiaozhou Bay.
Although the guard station is now depleted, Zhang Keda has limited troops and cannot take care of both. If you can defeat Lingshan Guard, you cannot defeat Fushan Guard; if you defeat Fushan Guard, you cannot defeat Lingshan Guard.
However, Lingshan Guard's city walls were strong, the terrain was difficult, and the city had sufficient ordnance. His troops could not conquer it in just a few months.
In comparison, Fushan Station is a Qianhu Station, which is undoubtedly much easier to fight.
A strong city like Lingshan Guard needs Zuo Mengeng's new army to fight.
Zuo Mengeng couldn't complain, but he didn't refuse either.
"I'll leave this to my little brother."
Zhang Ke was overjoyed and thanked Zuo Mengeng repeatedly. He also sent a batch of grain and grass as a thank you gift, and then took Dengzhou's soldiers and horses to the east side of Jiaozhou Bay.
Mao Yuanyi used a telescope to observe the situation in Lingshan Guard, and saw that people in the city had discovered the new army. Many people gathered at the top of the city. Most of them were in ragged clothes, with yellow faces and thin muscles. They were pointing in this direction, looking quite flustered.
Obviously the people in the city can also see that this new army seems to be more powerful.
"Zhongheng, why do you think these military households rebelled?"
Looking at the terrain of Lingshan Guard, Mao Yuanyi liked it more and more.
Zuo Menggeng asked the artillerymen to line up outside the Yingen Gate in the north, and all the ministries also entered combat positions, but did not issue combat orders.
The location of the Lingshan Guards was chosen very carefully. Even with the combat power of the new army, it would not be easy.
To the west of the Acropolis is a river, which is dozens of meters wide. It is impossible to swim across it under the radiation of the crossbows at the top of the city.
Even building a pontoon bridge is not easy and is not a very good attack route.
To the east of the city is Jiaozhou Bay, which is a natural barrier.
To the south of the Acropolis is the sea. Without enough artillery, it is impossible to cover the infantry landing.
In this case, the only direction that can be attacked is the north gate.
But Zhang Keda's army had no artillery, and no amount of infantry life alone was enough to add to it.
"The left and right can only force the people to rebel."
Although Zuo Mengeng didn't know the truth, he could guess some of it.
The people in the late Ming Dynasty were miserable, and military households were especially miserable. Due to status restrictions, I can't do anything else. If you are trapped in such a barren land and encounter greedy officials again, you will definitely not be able to survive.
"Then shall we fight?"
Zuo Mengeng thought for a while and said: "Let the artillery fire two shots, and then send people over to negotiate with the people in the city and ask them to surrender."
The order was given, and the two artillery pieces roared one after another.
The explosive bomb accurately hit the city wall of Lingshan Guard and exploded. Although it did not cause any damage to the city wall and no one was hit, the shock wave of the explosion obviously frightened the people in the city.
I saw people running around the city wall, and many people even took the road and ran under the wall, obviously for fear of being blown up by artillery.
These two shots made the people in the city aware. There may not be an impenetrable fortress beneath their feet.
After the demonstration, a deputy company commander from the New Army came out and walked toward the city alone.
There was another commotion in the city, but there was no sign of violence.
The people in the city also knew that this person came here not with the intention of attacking.
