April 23, the eighth year of Chongzhen.
More than thirty miles north of Nanyang City, a large-scale Ming army was slowly moving northward.
Their speed going north was not fast, it could even be said to be very slow.
Not only did they move slowly, but the distance between the troops was very close during the advance. Scouts and cavalry were out in all directions, and the Ming army on the periphery, which was responsible for guarding and defense tasks, was always on high alert.
Because just a few kilometers north of them was Zhaozhuang, where the Baoxiang Army was stationed.
What's more, just to their front and right, there was always a group of Baoxiang Army cavalry wearing gray military uniforms staring at them.
Chen Yongfu was riding on his horse, looking at the looming gray cavalry in the distance, and said at the same time: "Let the cavalry on the right be careful, and we must not let them take advantage of the loophole again."
Just over an hour ago, the cavalry of the opposing army took advantage of a loophole in their cavalry and launched a direct attack.
At that time, these gray thieves rushed in from the gap in the peripheral defense on horseback. They fired a burst of mounted fire at their own infantry that lacked the cover of infantry bows. By the time their own cavalry arrived, the gray cavalry had already turned their horses. Head, pat your butt and leave.
The whole process lasted less than ten minutes, and the time for the opponent's cavalry to rush forward and shoot bows and arrows only lasted only a few dozen seconds.
However, in such a short period of time, these damn rebel cavalry caused at least dozens of casualties to our own side, and caused the collapse of our own infantry of hundreds of people...
If it weren't for the fact that our own strength was not as large as 7,000 men, and there were also more than 300 half-hearted cavalry.
It is estimated that the bold gray thief cavalry on the opposite side dared to cause a massacre.
After this attack, Chen Yongfu repeatedly ordered his own cavalry and peripheral security infantry units to be more vigilant, and they must not allow the rebel cavalry on the opposite side to find an opportunity to run over and shoot arrows.
As for counterattack...
Chen Yongfu also wanted to, but couldn't do it!
The gray cavalry are all maneuvering on horseback. It is impossible for our own infantry to catch up, and the cavalry that can catch up cannot defeat the opponent. To put it nicely, it is a pursuit, but to put it badly, it will lead to death.
It's not like the cavalry under Chen Yongfu had never fought against this cavalry. The cavalry from both sides had fought once a long time ago, and the cavalry under Chen Yongfu was defeated miserably.
And throughout the whole process, the opponent was flying kites with mounted archery, without even a chance to rush in and fight...
It was the disastrous defeat in that cavalry battle that made Chen Yongfu completely change his attitude towards the Baoxiang Army, and he has been stationed in Yangjiazhuang ever since.
And while stationed in Yangjiazhuang, through continuous collection of information about the Baoxiang Army and Luo Zhixue, it was finally determined that the Baoxiang Army was an unusual group of thieves.
It's a pity that none of the big bosses, be it Hong Chengchou or Xuan Mo, believe his words.
On the contrary, he firmly believed that Chen Yongfu was cheating and wanted to use a group of petty thieves to delay time so as to avoid a deadly fight with the main force of the thieves.
This makes Chen Yongfu quite helpless...
When sending troops out of desperation, Chen Yongfu was also very cautious.
The total distance from Yangjiazhuang to Zhaozhuang is only twenty miles, but according to Chen Yongfu's plan, it will take two days to slowly go north.
It is not impossible to run there in one day, but there is a high possibility of being attacked many times by the rebel cavalry along the way.
Even if they ran over, it would take a lot of time and consume a lot of physical energy of the soldiers. When it passed, they wouldn't even have time to set up camp.
When the bandits attack the camp at night or something, the whole army will collapse in minutes.
Therefore, Chen Yongfu plans to take his time.
They just maintained a tight formation, and even some of the troops kept advancing slowly in battle formation.
Anyway, the rebel army is in Zhaozhuang and will not leave, so it doesn't matter if they arrive one day early or one day late.
If the bandit army ran away, then Chen Yongfu would be even happier, because he would be able to give an explanation to Hong Chengchou without beating him, and then he would go to the Lu family in a hurry.
As for the rebels who fled north and then entered Funiu Mountain, or even passed through Funiu Mountain and ran to Lushan County, then it is none of his business.
If Luo Zhixue knew Chen Yongfu's thoughts and the contents of the communication between Chen Yongfu and Hong Chengchou, maybe Luo Zhixue would seriously consider giving Chen Yongfu a face, retreat first, and then go south after Chen Yongfu led his troops to Lu's.
Come on, hello, hello, hello, everyone!
It's a pity that Luo Zhixue doesn't know!
According to Luo Zhixue's judgment, once he leads the rural protection army to retreat, these Ming troops will chase him all the way north.
They probably won't come in from Funiu Mountain, but the officers and soldiers are very likely to station troops in Li Qingdian, and together with Lushan County in the north, they will attack from the north and south, completely blocking the way for the Baoxiang Army to leave the mountain.
In addition, another very important point is that the Baoxiang Army went south for more than a month. In the past month or so, they have successively controlled some rural areas in Nanyang Prefecture, and even urgently established the Li Qingdian Arsenal in Li Qingdian. .
It can be said that the current Nanzhao County area has become the most important control area of the Baoxiang Army. The Baoxiang Army not only obtains money, food and human resources from it, but more importantly, Li Qingdian has begun to provide the majority of the Baoxiang Army. of ordnance.
Once the rural protection army retreats, the losses will be huge.
Under such circumstances, the Home Guard Army could not give in.
Since Chen Yongfu chose to go north, the two sides have had a game!
When both sides have reasons why they cannot give in, a war becomes inevitable.
On April 23, Chen Yongfu led his army slowly northward. During this period, the king of the rural protection army, Xiazi, led the cavalry to attack Chen Yongfu's troops many times, and had another fight with Chen Yongfu's half-baked cavalry.
Wang Xiazi's multiple attacks killed at least hundreds of Chen Yongfu's men.
However, the loss of more than a hundred people was nothing to Chen Yongfu's 7,000-strong army. Therefore, even if he was harassed by cavalry along the way, Chen Yongfu still led the army to continue heading north.
The next day, at noon on April 24, a forward force of more than 2,000 people under Chen Yongfu had approached Zhaozhuang for about two kilometers, and began to build a camp here relying on a stream and low mountains.
At the same time, a large number of Ming troops were arriving one after another.
Three hours later, all Ming troops arrived and were stationed in a temporary camp.
At this time, Wang Xiazi also led the cavalry back to Zhaozhuang and reported to Luo Zhixue the fighting situation in the two days.
Luo Zhixue couldn't help but become cautious after learning that Chen Yongfu's troops were still resolute in heading north despite multiple attacks by their own cavalry, with over a hundred people killed and injured in two days.
This Chen Yongfu is serious!
After listening to the report, Luo Zhixue looked back at Anyongduo: "When will Wang Dazhuang and the others arrive?"
Anyong said: "It is expected to arrive at noon tomorrow."
Luo Zhixue: "Wang Dazhuang must not only arrive on time, but also ensure the physical fitness of the soldiers so that they can fight when they get there!"
"Looking at the opponent's posture, I'm afraid they're going to fight tomorrow. He'll be here at noon just in time to catch up."
An Yongduo said: "My subordinates understand, so I will send someone to deliver the letter."
In the afternoon and evening of that day, neither side made any moves, and it was extremely calm. But everyone knew that this was the last calm before the war.
Sure enough, early the next morning, when it was just getting dark, smoke was already rising from the Ming army camp opposite. By about seven o'clock in the morning.
Already a large number of Ming troops came out of their camps and formed formations.
Watching the camp on the opposite side begin to move out of camp, Artillery Director and First Artillery Sentinel Zhang Malin said: "What a pity, if they bring the camp closer to within two miles, then when they move out of camp to line up, we will be right there." Long-range bombardment can be carried out.”
Dai Hongxuan, the deputy sentry officer of the First Artillery Sentinel under him, also nodded and said: "Yes, the other side is too careful. The war is approaching and they built the camp four miles away..."
Huang Dingquan, commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion, who was listening to the conversation between the two artillery officers, glanced at them!
That look was like looking at a fool.
Two idiots who only know how to fuck can forget about being stupid themselves and think that the enemy is also stupid...
The enemy and we have been facing each other in this area for more than half a month. It's not like Chen Yongfu doesn't know that we have long artillery.
Knowing that one's side has long artillery, and still moving the camp so close, wouldn't it be better to just come over and die.
Chen Yongfu is not that stupid.
Perhaps seeing Huang Dingquan's disdainful eyes, Zhang Malin felt a little unhappy.
They are all illiterate and are the same honest people who joined the army. Who do they look down on?
On the other side, Blind Wang had an expressionless face, standing next to Luo Zhixue who was concentrating on observing the enemy's situation.
Luo Zhixue beside him was wearing a navy blue officer's uniform, a black woolen coat, and long riding boots.
There is a one-handed waist knife hanging on the waist, and a pair of black leather gloves on both hands.
There is no hat on the head, but a big bald head is exposed directly!
His appearance made him stand out among a group of subordinates who were either wearing armor or old gray military uniforms.
Because currently among the Baoxiang Army, only Luo Zhixue’s uniform is navy blue or made of woolen material.
As for the other generals, they still wore the same gray military uniforms as before.
It's not that Luo Zhixue doesn't allow them to wear this way, it's just that the new navy blue officer uniforms have just been produced and haven't had time to be mass-produced.
So for the time being, only Luo Zhixue tried on this new navy blue military uniform.
And even if the clothes are changed in the future, we will not continue to use woolen materials. The main reason is that there are very few woolen materials. There is no way to promote military uniforms made of woolen materials for the time being. We still have to continue to use traditional raw materials such as cotton and linen for production.
Luo Zhixue, who was wearing a new military uniform and a big bald head, actually looked almost like a modern general.
The only difference is that the military uniforms of later generations have double breasts, while Luo Zhixue's regular uniforms still have the traditional right collar.
But if you look at it from the back or the side, then Luo Zhixue's image is exactly that of a warlord leader from the late 19th or early 20th century!
