stubborn thief

Chapter 697 Fear

February 20, the ninth year of Chongzhen, afternoon.

Hong Chengchou led an army of eight battalions to press southward, with the four battalions of the left garrison in the front, heading straight for Ouyang Gun's special forces battalion.

The Fourth Battalion of Zuozhen advanced quickly and lightly, arriving at the battlefield where Bai Guangen's battalion had been annihilated earlier, and took a short rest to inspect the battlefield.

It wasn't that Zuo Liangyu wanted to rest, but his soldiers couldn't move forward when they saw the wounded and dead horses.

In order not to leave these livestock to friendly forces, they even began to repair vehicles, piecing together the wheels of the damaged chariots left by Ouyang Gun on the battlefield, and converting them into carts to load the horse carcasses.

Zuo Liangyu was also happy to see this happen.

The enemy did not even take away the wounded or dead horses, and left many vehicles and money in the camp. Combined with the intelligence obtained from the earlier reconnaissance and cavalry battles, it was judged that the enemy force of four to five thousand people was afraid of their strong military strength and quickly retreated westward.

They are safe.

Since it is safe, it would not be a bad idea to let the soldiers spend some time to take care of the livestock.

This is certainly not in line with the common sense of combat, and is definitely not something that Changping's elite troops would do.

But where is common sense now, and where are the so-called elite soldiers from Changping? Even the veterans from Changping under his command have lost their pride and discipline in the endless war.

What's more, the Ningxia Corps now uses iron bullets even for its muskets, so there is no soil for maintaining discipline.

At this time, a standard-bearer from the rear came to report to Zuo Liangyu: "General Zuo, the military commander has set up his headquarters at the Dafo Temple, six miles northeast."

"Six miles?"

Zuo Liangyu frowned and thought to himself, why don't you, Hong Chengchou, set up your headquarters in Ningxia town?

Isn't this crazy?

I have the three camps of Biao Camp and Cao Wenzhao's army in my hands. You camp six miles behind me, and I will advance three miles to fight. Even to send a message, the cavalry must run twenty miles back and forth.

  Can this still be called a section?

To put it bluntly, what if the front line... Zuo Liangyu felt that it would not be easy to encounter setbacks on the front line of this battle.

But if he encounters setbacks, the support from the rear will have to travel ten miles, which is enough for him to die eight times.

However, the messenger saw that he looked strange, so he quickly added, "The commander also suggested that General Zuo should stay away from the battlefield. Here is the intelligence on the defeated soldiers compiled by Lieutenant General Ding of the standard camp. Please take a look."

Zuo Liangyu felt even more puzzled when he heard this.

I wonder where this mess of fate came from on your mother!

  I am chasing the enemy and have to command four battalions to rush forward to surround and annihilate the enemy. You want me to stay away from the front line?

Zuo Liangyu even suspected that Hong Chengchou had already privately negotiated the price of surrender with Liu Chengzong.

As soon as he thought about this question subconsciously, he realized that something was wrong.

In the past, he had always looked down on the rebel group headed by Liu Chengzong, believing that even if they established a government in Hehuang, they were just a mob.

But now, he realized that the army he was in was a real mob.

In the past, they were united under the dragon flag of the Ming Dynasty, but when Ningxia lost contact with the capital and became an isolated army, Hong Chengchou took extraordinary measures to rally the military and control the land.

The result of this makeshift arrangement was that the guest army defended against the Ningxia army, the guest generals defended against the Ningxia generals, everyone was suspicious of each other, and they were unable to work together.

Now this suspicion was spreading, and he even began to suspect Hong Chengchou.

But it is true that Hong Chengchou's order to keep him away from the front line was confusing.

There is no such thing.

He was born as a veteran soldier in Guanning and was not afraid of anyone when it came to fighting.

As the commander-in-chief, it was Zuo Liangyu's habit to ride his horse one mile away from the enemy camp with the White Tiger flag.

His habit was different from Cao Wenzhao's. Cao Wenzhao liked to lead his troops into battle, but he was just the opposite. He liked to stand with the soldiers and command them to charge.

This can firstly boost one's own morale and intimidate the enemy with fame; secondly, it can allow one to carefully observe the battlefield and quickly issue orders in order to cope with the ever-changing battlefield environment.

This of course involves some risks, such as being bombarded or assaulted by enemy cavalry.

But he is not afraid.

Artillery bombardment requires preparation time. Artillery cannot be moved covertly, nor can it hit accurately at this distance.

As for cavalry assaults, many people wanted to attack Zuo Liangyu. From Liaodong to the Central Plains, he was attacked dozens of times by the Later Jin, Mongolian, and peasant armies. Without exception, all of those assault forces were captured alive by him and became meritorious deeds on the scarlet battle robe.

Why join the army if you are afraid of risks? Once on the battlefield, you are already in a life-and-death situation.

When a general stands with his soldiers, wherever the horses' hooves step is the safest place in the world.

Zuo Liangyu took the information, glanced at it disapprovingly, then frowned and looked nervous.

He had only read half of it when he ordered his servants, "Pass my order. The four battalions of soldiers must leave this battlefield immediately and head north, no, west to find a suitable place to set up camp."

The intelligence focused mainly on the description of the rocket.

Zuo Liangyu started sweating on the back of his neck.

Hong Chengchou called it a blooming rocket. It only took a few breaths from takeoff to landing, and it could send hundreds of blooming bombs two or three miles away, covering the entire battlefield.

He did not dare to stay on the battlefield for long, nor did he set up camp nearby. Instead, he took his servants and walked two miles northwest, a full five miles away from the camp of Marshal Ouyang Gun, before ordering his men to set up the general's tent.

Zuo Liangyu was thinking about how to crack the rockets all the way.

He also didn't know what was going on in Liu Chengzong's brain, how he came up with a bunch of unsolvable weapons.

Heavy guns and rifles were difficult enough to deal with, and now rockets were used on a large scale.

Zuo Liangyu was very familiar with rockets and shrapnel bombs that could create fire and smoke, but he had never been hit by Liu Chengzong's rockets.

However, based on the description of Bai Guangen's defeated soldiers, he could also figure out the power of this new weapon.

Simple rockets and shrapnel bombs both have drawbacks.

Shrapnel shells are powerful enough, but when fired from artillery, the explosion of the propellant can easily cause changes in the fuse inside the shell, resulting in a low ignition rate; rockets can be fired in unison and can reach far, but they are not powerful enough unless they set fire.

Liu Chengzong's rockets take the advantages of both, with great power, long range, and multiple salvos.

Obviously, this is a weapon that changes the situation of war.

He was able to turn the rear team into a hornet's nest without harming the front team from a thousand steps away.

As soon as Zuo Liangyu learned the information about the rockets, he retreated immediately and quickly found a suitable location for camping three miles northwest of the battlefield and ordered his men to build a hill of earth.

On the other side of the battlefield, Zhang Xianzhong, who was always observing the enemy situation, was screaming with anger.

"Might as well just blow the fucking bastard up!"

While Zuo Liangyu's army was on the battlefield, Zhang Xianzhong had already had six six-barreled rocket vehicles aiming for a long time.

He was just undecided, not knowing whether to blow it up. Bombing it would achieve good results, but if he didn't blow it up, the Ming army would take away the horse carcasses, and he would still have to spend troops to guard the baggage, which would be another distraction.

Just as he was thinking about this, he saw the soldiers of Zuozhen Army suddenly received an order and quickly evacuated from the battlefield. For a moment he thought that Liu Chengzong had led his troops to the battlefield.

When Zuo Liangyu's earthen hill was built, he climbed up with a brass telescope and looked far into the distance, taking in the entire Ouyang Gun's camp. The first thing he noticed was the rocket vehicles in the camp.

Zuo Liangyu was very anxious.

On the one hand, he was intimidated by the existence of rockets and did not dare to advance quickly; on the other hand, he was eager to win quickly.

It didn't matter to him whether the retreat of the marshal's army was to lure the enemy or not.

Because this is not Shaanxi or Gansu.

Gansu has a long and narrow terrain, with a distance of nearly a thousand miles from east to west; the roads in Shaanxi are complicated, and a straight line of sixty or seventy miles on the map may take two or three hundred miles.

The terrain in southern Ningxia is flat, and the entire battlefield east of the Yellow River is not large.

To be precise, the battlefield is the triangular area formed by Hongsibao in the southwest, Yanchicheng in the southeast, and Hengchengbao in the north. From the center point to any place, the area within a hundred miles is an indefensible plain.

A hundred miles is a journey that can be completed in as short as one day or as long as three days.

Therefore, Zuo Liangyu knew that Liu Chengzong was nearby and did not dare to drag the battle into the night. The dark night was too long and would bring fear and uncertainty.

If they cannot annihilate these four or five thousand marshal's troops before nightfall, then they will have to fight a decisive battle.

In fact, when the earthen hill was being built, Zuo Liangyu had already sent people to the Dafo Temple to find Hong Chengchou, suggesting that the troops withdraw and move to Yansui Town.

There had been intense artillery fire from the south earlier, but it had quieted down by the time they got closer. It was obvious that Zhang Yingchang was finished.

Then there is no point for them to continue fighting.

But Hong Chengchou rejected his suggestion, not because he did not want to withdraw, but because the governors-general of the three borders believed that withdrawal was impossible.

When Hong Chengchou sent out his troops, he had already thought of a retreat plan. When he marched south, he sent people to the southeast to contact the Ningxia rear guard. The news he received was very bad - the rear guard's Acropolis had already been hoisted with the marshal's flag, and on the triangular flag with a round dragon embroidered on the top of the city wall, the surname embroidered on it was Ding.

Ningxia had no information about General Ding from the Marshal's Office, but it was clear that the rear guard had been lost.

To the east there is only one road through Houwei, Anbian, Dingbian and Ningsai. To the south is the Yanqing Brigade of the Marshal's Office. To the north, you have to go out of the border and enter Ordos, where is the Mo Nan Governor's Army of the Marshal's Office.

No matter which way they go, they will be stopped.

Hong Chengchou judged that it would be better to have a decisive battle in Ningxia rather than fleeing before the fight and then being stopped and beaten.

At least for now, their morale is good enough.

But the army has morale to its credit.

When Zuo Liangyu saw the rocket vehicles in Ouyang Gun's camp and thought of Liu Chengzong's main force lurking in the Gobi Desert, he didn't have much morale left.

Especially at this moment, through the telescope, he could see Ouyang Gun's deployment clearly.

He was very sure that the other party was just luring the enemy.

As their army pressed forward, anyone standing on a higher ground could see the camp. At least Zuo Liangyu, who was standing on a hill, could not only see the camp of the marshal's army, but also the camp of Hong Chengchou in the northeast.

It's just a little far away, so I can't see it clearly.

However, Zuo Liangyu saw Ouyang Gun's camp formation very clearly.

The number of the Marshal's Army was slightly smaller than the intelligence he had received earlier. It looked like there were less than 5,000 people, maybe only 4,000.

But there are many chariots, horses and cavalry.

They were leaning against the Qin Canal on the west side of the plain, and had built a square camp with chariots. It was obvious that it was not a professional chariot camp, as there were not enough chariots and they only blocked the four corners.

Outside the four corners, there was a cavalry unit forming a small square camp, dismounting and sitting quietly.

Although the specific equipment cannot be seen clearly, many cavalrymen are wearing red hats.

Zuo Liangyu thought to himself: Those are most likely the foreign cavalry under Liu Chengzong. The foreign cavalry over there have the habit of wearing red hats.

On the remaining four sides, there were basically two or three chariots connected horizontally, and then there would be a gap three to five steps wide, and then there were two or three more chariots.

At this time, the chariot barrier was almost empty, and the infantry were digging chevaux de frise trenches with three-barreled guns held upside down within ten steps outside the gap.

Zuo Liangyu sighed and said to the generals gathered around him: "The good news is that we haven't seen any enemy artillery, but you still have to be careful, as we may be hiding in the formation."

"The bad news is that the enemy troops are elite and all units are well-behaved. There is no panic. Most of them are led by rebel generals from the imperial court."

The basis for Zuo Liangyu's judgment was the experience and composure of being able to remain calm and command skillfully when outnumbered, which was not something that the arrogant and brave generals under Liu Chengzong could possess.

Their group always outnumbers others and are good at escaping. In the battle reports over the years, there has never been a rare situation of being surrounded.

Faced with such a situation, those arrogant and brave generals would have rushed forward to die.

Only the generals of the Ming army who have fought many life-and-death battles in their lives would feel that it is normal to defeat the enemy with fewer troops and would be able to remain calm.

Xu Yong stepped forward, clasped his fists and asked for a fight, "General Zuo, I will lead the cavalry to disperse and charge at him, and then we will know whether there are any artillery in his camp."

Zhou Shifeng and Wang Yuncheng nodded in response. Wang Yuncheng, who was a Liao general, also clasped his fists and asked for a fight, saying in a deep voice: "I am the best at attacking the camp!"

The remaining general was named Ge Rulin. He was originally from Hedong, Ningxia. This place was exactly his defense zone. However, he was obviously frightened by the rockets at this time. He looked around and did not utter a word.

Zuo Liangyu looked at his three generals and shook his head, saying, "There's no need to do anything to him."

"Yuncheng, you lead the cavalry to disperse and scout 20 miles to the east, west, and south. Report immediately if you encounter an enemy. The Zhou and Ge battalions will carry their sacred artillery and station in the east and west of the enemy camp to guard against a surprise attack by the enemy reinforcements."

Zuo Liangyu looked at Xu Yong and said, "Since they want to lure the enemy, let's lure them too. General Xu, select the best cavalry from your command, divide them into ten flags, drive the convoys, and take turns to the previous battlefield to carry back the horse carcasses."

When Xu Yong originally heard the tasks that Zuo Liangyu gave to the other three people, he thought that the job of the main attack would fall on him, and he couldn't suppress the smile.

When he heard this, his face fell.

"General Zuo, the packhorse corpse?"

Even the other three people looked as if they were watching a joke.

Zuo Liangyu nodded seriously and said, "This is not funny. There are hundreds of dead horses in the two armies over there. If we bring them back, they will be enough for us to eat for a while if the situation changes."

"But most of them won't be able to eat it. Although the enemy general is steady, the Western Bandits are very arrogant and are not afraid of fighting. If you go to carry the horse corpse, they will most likely send cavalry to fight you."

"The remaining two battalions should also be prepared. If the battle is deadlocked, do not move. Wait until the cavalry has finished fighting and then disperse to attack. At least kill some cavalry. We have more and they have fewer, so we can always gain an advantage."

At this point, Zuo Liangyu paused and looked at his four generals: "If we gain the upper hand in the fight, Xu Yong will seize the opportunity to drive the enemy cavalry back to their formation, and then force their cavalry to charge their formation, sticking together and making it impossible for the enemy to fire rockets."

"Charge into the formation and cause chaos. It would be best to take down those six rocket vehicles, find weak points on three sides, and crash into them all at once to break his formation!"

good evening!