I saw noise coming from the north direction, and looking into the distance, dust was flying. Anyone with a little experience would know that a large group of people was coming.
"It seems that the slave chief is here!" Li Guo saw it, said with a smile, and strode towards the northern section of the city wall. Li Dingguo followed him and headed north.
As expected, after arriving at the northern city wall, I saw a large group of people in the distance, stopping at the foot of a short mountain about five miles away from Yaozhou Station. The infantry began to camp there busily, while a cavalry army came towards Yaozhou Post. Judging from the flag, it was the slave chieftain, Prince Yu Aixinjueluo Duoduo, who was coming.
Jianlu was still experienced with the Ming army's firearms and did not dare to get too close. Otherwise, he might be injured by artillery fire like his father, which would be an injustice!
Duduo did not just stay in one position, but looked at Yaozhou Station first, then slowly drove his horse around Yaozhou Station to observe.
Through the telescope, Li Guo also observed the movements of the slave chief, and then asked Li Dingguo beside him: "Did you see anything?"
"The slave chief is looking for weak points in our army's defense for a key attack in the future." Li Dingguo listened and replied seriously, "The general is looking at it. He seems to be more interested in the defense line built with sidecars." Concern. If we attack our army tomorrow, we should focus on the defense line formed by sidecars on the west side!"
Although the Ming army had built low walls, trenches, and horse barriers on the west side of the defense line he was referring to, the terrain was flat and conducive to cavalry raids. The ground had been dug into pits before, but because we could use local materials, we could easily flatten those pits with soil. As for the sidecar defensive line on the east side, there are more rocks on that side, which is not conducive to a cavalry assault.
Li Guo nodded and then asked: "Then what do you think our army should do?"
After hearing this, Li Dingguo did not answer immediately. Instead, he held up the telescope to confirm again before answering Li Guo: "The general feels that he can take the initiative to make a surprise attack tonight and harass Jianlu once. Even if it does not disrupt Jianlu's plan, it will It can damage their morale and facilitate tomorrow’s defensive operations!”
"Oh?" When Li Guo heard this, he couldn't help but turn his head to look at him, and asked with a serious look: "Stealing the camp tonight? But these prisoners are not incompetent, and they are used to fighting. Do you think they won’t be prepared and can successfully attack by surprise?”
On paper, he would approve it, it just depends on how Li Dingguo responds.
Li Dingguo didn't seem to notice that Li Guo's expression became serious, and he replied with his serious attitude as always: "Commander, please look, you can see that the Jianlu Infantry Army is very tired. This cannot be false. Yaozhou Yi It is sixty miles away from Haizhou. A day's journey for the infantry is about forty miles, which is a normal march. From Gaizhou to Yaozhouyi, it is also a sixty-mile journey. Our army has chariot camps as its support, which can alleviate the problem a lot. The general remembered clearly the weight of the march when he arrived at Yaozhou Station in the evening, and he could already feel that some of the soldiers were tired..."
The honorific title Marshal was originally used to address the commander-in-chief. But at this time, the deputy general, also commonly known as the deputy general, had also generally used the honorific title of commander-in-chief.
At this time, listening to Li Dingguo talking about the details, Li Guo's serious expression just now couldn't help but relax, and he was obviously quite satisfied. However, he remained silent and continued to listen to Li Dingguo describing his judgment.
"... Judging from the time when the Jianlu army arrived, they must have been marching for a while before they could reach Yaozhou Station before evening. Comparing this with our army, we know that the Jianlu infantry must be very tired..."
Hearing this, Li Guo was very satisfied. It was exactly what he thought. When he was about to say something for sure, Li Dingguo did not come to a conclusion. He still said seriously: "...In addition, Jianlu is short of food. Usually, the prisoners are short of food." When there is no war, you should not have enough food to eat. During this sudden march, even if you have a full stomach before setting off, your physical strength will definitely be different from that of our army. In this way, you will definitely be more exhausted..."
When Li Guo heard this, he couldn't help but admire it greatly. Even he didn't expect this just now, and he didn't expect that Li Dingguo had thought it through. Yes, yes, he is a general!
Thinking this way, he opened his mouth, and when he was about to give a compliment, he saw that Li Dingguo was still explaining his reasons: "... Judging from the recent period, there is very little food in Jianlu, let alone Talk about eating meat. As a result, a considerable number of people in the Jianlu army will definitely become blind after nightfall. And this is conducive to our army's sneak attacks at night. Today is the beginning of the month again, and the moonlight is not bright enough, which is also conducive to our army Sneak attack.”
At this point, Li Dingguo finally concluded: "With all these factors in mind, General Mo thought that even if Jianlu had military orders to take strict nighttime precautions, the effect would not be very effective. There is a high possibility that a sneak attack tonight will achieve results!" The general is willing to issue a military order, and he will not return if he wins!"
Hearing this, Li Guo was speechless. After looking at Li Dingguo blankly for a while, he reached out and patted him on the shoulder, and said seriously: "Not bad, you are allowed to fight!"
After receiving the military order, Li Dingguo went down to the top of the city to select the soldiers who would go out to fight at night. However, Li Guo still stood on the top of the city and did not leave. He observed the slave chief until the slave chief returned to camp. .
Time passed slowly, the sun set, and night finally fell.
The moon, like a crooked eyebrow, hangs in the sky and seems to be getting brighter before it wakes up.
It was very quiet near Yaozhou Station. Apart from the night wind blowing and the flags rustling, there were only the occasional calls of night owls and the neighing of war horses. Both the Ming army and the Jianlu outside the city seemed to have fallen asleep.
The night gradually deepened, and the only sound left between the sky and the earth was the wind blowing the flags, and no other sounds were heard.
But at this moment, Li Dingguo led two hundred Ming troops, slipped down from the southern wall of Yaozhou Post and disappeared into the night. On top of the city, Li Guo stayed awake and watched Li Dingguo leave.
In the city, there were five hundred cavalrymen who had risen quietly, eating, silently waiting for something.
As the saying goes, there is no battle that is absolutely winnable. Although there is indeed a high probability of winning this night attack, we should not be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of the unexpected. Li Guo was afraid that there would be problems with Li Dingguo's night attack. It would be a pity to lose such a general. Therefore, if he found anything wrong, he was ready to send out cavalry to respond.
"Huhuhu..."
"Wow, wow, wow..."
Except for the wind blowing against Lin Dong, there was no other sound. About an hour later, Li Dingguo led the two hundred selected Ming army soldiers to the outside of the Jianlu camp.
A large camp for the captives was built, covering a large area. Although the construction time was short, it was already dusk when we arrived. But the layout of his camp is very organized.
The entire camp is divided into multiple camps, and there is a large open space between each camp to separate each other. Soldiers holding torches were patrolling between the camps.
Outside the camp, there is a hastily erected fence. On the outside of the fence, all the weeds and trees have been cleared by the builders, leaving an open space without any obstruction.
On the inside of the fence, five or six feet apart, there are fixed sentries. They should be standing on something. They stand relatively high and can see far away. Under each fixed sentry, that is, along the inside of the fence, there are teams of mobile sentries patrolling.
It has to be said that the defense of the Jianlu camp is still in place.
Li Dingguo was hiding in the distance. After seeing these situations, he was not depressed at all. He looked up at the sky, and after making some mental calculations, he patted the bodyguards next to him three times to signal him, and then his bodyguards patted the person behind him three times gently, and so on. shoot. Everyone who was photographed curled up and began to close their eyes and relax.
The night is getting darker and darker, and when a Ming army soldier seems to be about to fall asleep, the other soldiers around him will immediately pull on their shirts to wake them up. Unlike these soldiers, Li Dingguo did not feel sleepy from the beginning to the end, and kept looking at the Jianlu camp with his eyes wide open.
It has to be said that even the soldiers of the Ming army who came to attack were sleepy, not to mention the sentry posts in the Jianlu camp.
Li Dingguo clearly saw that the fixed sentries in the Jianlu camp had begun to yawn and then dozed off. However, they should also know that they are responsible for their responsibilities. After their eyelids trembled for a while, they quickly opened their eyes to take a look.
At the beginning, when these sentries opened their eyes, they looked at what was going on outside the camp. However, later on, when they opened their eyes, the first thing they looked at was not outside the camp, but to see where the mobile patrolling Jianlu had gone. If you see that you are still far away, you will quickly squint for a while; if you are close, you will cheer up and pretend to be very dedicated.
After observing for a while, Li Dingguo suddenly patted the bodyguard beside him twice. Suddenly, his personal guard became energetic and immediately patted his comrades behind him twice. In this way, all the Ming army officers and soldiers became very energetic. Because they knew that Li Dingguo had already sent a signal and was about to take action.
In the Jianlu camp, after the mobile sentry passed by again, Jianlu on the fixed sentry immediately took the opportunity to take a nap, but outside the camp, Li Dingguo suddenly waved his hand and issued an order.
The soldiers of the Ming army who were all waiting in tight formation and watching Li Dingguo's movements immediately started to move after seeing it. It really feels like being as quiet as a virgin and moving like a sudden rabbit.
The first few soldiers of the Ming Army who touched it had already drawn their bows and nocked arrows, and moved forward to get closer. After reaching the open space, they felt confident, so they aimed at the fixed sentries and shot them with arrows.
"Bang bang bang..."
In the silent night, the sound of the bowstring vibrating was indeed a bit loud. Logically speaking, veterans who have been in the military for a long time will be very sensitive to this. However, the few Jianlu fixed sentry posts were confused and their response was much slower than usual.
The arrows leaving the string at close range arrived in an instant, almost one at a time, and they were all hit in the head.
Immediately behind the first archer, a Ming army soldier used the fire sickle and fire knife he took out, and immediately made a fire and lit the torch. Surrounding each torch were fellow archers. The arrow on the bowstring stretched out and lit the fire starter tied to the arrow. Then, with a ground-supporting rocket, it shot towards Jianlu Shot inside the camp tent.
The movement at this time was a bit loud. The Jianlu sentry in the distance next door woke up with a start. They, who were also dozing off, saw brilliant meteors streaking across the night sky as soon as they opened their eyes. After taking another closer look, I realized it was a rocket!
He watched the tents in the camp being set ablaze by rockets, but the people inside were obviously very sleepy and did not react at all. Suddenly, these sentries were so frightened that they sounded the alarm gong.
"Dang Dang Dang..."
The sound of the police gong was particularly loud in the night. Jianlu, who was originally on duty to guard against camp theft, immediately woke up and rushed out of the tent immediately. Some of them immediately ran to the fence to prevent the Ming army from attacking; others immediately began to inspect the military camp. If any soldiers dared to leave the camp without military orders, they would be killed without mercy.
Being suddenly attacked, there was panic, but it did not have the effect of blowing up the camp. Even if the Ming army outside the camp shouted loudly and caused the Ming army to launch a large-scale surprise attack, it did not cause much panic in the Jianlu camp. This made Li Dingguo, who had been observing to see if he could take the opportunity to expand the results, not only admired Jianlu for being truly elite, but also regretted that the effect of this night attack was not as good as expected.
He was also a decisive person. After seeing that there would be no further opportunities, he immediately ordered a retreat without any hesitation.
In fact, Li Dingguo also overestimated Jianlu's elite.
Yes, Jianlu did have many elites, but there were many Mongolians in this army. What they are good at is riding and shooting, not offensive and defensive battles with strict military discipline. The reason why the situation that Li Dingguo expected did not occur is not that these Mongolians were not afraid, but that their daily conditions were too poor, they were too tired after marching for sixty miles, and they slept too much, and they did not know that there was a night attack by the Ming army.
But no matter what, Li Dingguo's night attack still caused the loss of one of Jianlu's camps, which was burned down by rockets. It was only because there was an isolation zone between the camps and Jianlu took timely measures that there was no impact. to other camps.
Duduo was awakened by this movement. Looking at the burned camp, the charred dead people, and the smell of meat, for the first time, he felt that the war in Yaozhouyi was not going to be easy! However, this did not make him retreat, but instead aroused his fighting spirit.
The Ming army that made a sneak attack had disappeared into the night, and Duduo did not order a pursuit. Because he didn't know whether this was the Ming army's strategy to lure the snake out of its hole in the dark night. He clearly remembered that Dorgon's original Battle of Tashan was due to his overnight breakthrough. If we send troops to chase him out, what if we are ambushed by the Ming army?
When the enemy is in darkness and we are in the light, we still have to be cautious.
At this time, Dorgon was seen staring at Yaozhouyi fiercely, his heart became fierce, and he secretly said: Wait and see, Minggou!
Miaoshuwu
