stubborn thief

Ningxia Plain before dawn.

The moon is bright and the stars are sparse, the night sky is indigo.

The only remaining Ming army camp was where the governor's standard camp was stationed. Everyone looked up and watched as faint whistles were heard in the distance and trails of flames from all directions rose into the night sky and flashed away.

The young Lieutenant General Ding Zizhen was no exception. He was holding his bowl and helmet, lost in thought at the sight.

This scene reminded him of the Lantern Festival two years ago, when he and his friends went to a restaurant to enjoy the lanterns. He drank too much and returned home drunk, where he ran into his father, who was worried because Zhuanglangwei had been captured by Liu Chengzong.

At that time he didn't know that the war would spread so fiercely, let alone that the war would take his father away forever.

I only remember that the fireworks outside Liangzhou City that day were much more gorgeous than the fireworks flying and exploding all over the sky today.

Such a scene also alarmed Hong Chengchou in the camp.

However, Hong Chengchou had no intention of admiring the flying monkeys in the sky.

Because even though it's a bit funny to see people launching rockets on a battlefield where everyone is fighting,

But the Marshal's Army, the Ming Army, and the Peasant Army all used this as a flare at night.

The three battalions of Cao Wenzhao's troops under Hong Chengchou have already set out. Among them, the small cavalry forces responsible for disrupting the marshal's army set fire to wherever they attacked.

This situation was certainly not good news for Hong Chengchou.

This means that their strategic intentions have completely failed.

There were more than a battalion of troops, carrying war horses as cavalry, and under the cover of darkness, they dispersed in all directions to attack various places, with the aim of attracting the marshal's troops to mobilize and deploy defenses at night.

Because in Hong Chengchou's expectation, the so-called siege did not exist as a complete encirclement.

After all, Liu Chengzong only had 20,000 men, and it would be impossible to encircle more than 10,000 of them. The most he could do was to deploy heavy troops in two directions, and even that was a bit risky.

This is also the reason why Sun Tzu's Art of War says to surround the enemy if there are ten of them and attack if there are five of them. This is because given the quality of soldiers and the level of equipment during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, it would be impossible to surround the enemy without ten times the number of troops.

Even today, technological advances such as firearms, armor, and earthworks have reduced the number of troops needed for sieges. If the difference in the level of troops is not too great, it is difficult to surround and kill the enemy with twice the number of troops.

After all, to surround one thousand enemy troops on three sides, you only need five or six hundred soldiers on each side, because the army of one thousand people is small and the three sides can support each other very quickly.

But to surround 10,000 troops, more than 10,000 troops would be needed on each side. It doesn't make sense to use three 5,000 men to surround 10,000.

Because the area occupied by an army of 10,000 people is already terrifyingly large, and being surrounded on three sides means the area occupied is even larger, and the support distance between them is also correspondingly longer.

Therefore, what often happens is that a large battle line is drawn up, and in the battle a large horizontal formation is pushed forward, and then an attack is carried out after encircling the enemy on three sides, rather than encircling them.

Because it cannot be trapped, it is easy to be attacked from the side and be overturned.

It was precisely because of this common sense in his mind that Hong Chengchou felt even more frightened when he saw the flames flying all over the sky.

He was very confused. How many men did Liu Chengzong have to dare to leave people on all sides of his army?

Of course, what made Hong Chengchou most nervous was the fear of the approaching dawn.

If he is surrounded by enemy troops on all sides, and by daybreak, people will see that there is only one battalion in his army, then he will be like a lamb surrounded by a pack of wolves and will be eaten up in the blink of an eye!

In fact, Cao Wenzhao, who was marching, was also frightened.

Because he had a sense in the dark and could feel that his soldiers were dying.

In the field south of the Ming army camp, Cao Wenzhao was leading 6,000 infantry and cavalry marching southward.

This time, contrary to his usual practice, he was not at the front of the army. Instead, he was in the middle and back of the team, commanding more than 2,000 cavalrymen. Leading the infantry and artillery in front of the formation was his nephew Cao Bianjiao.

Other close associates of his, such as Ping An, Ping Ding, Feng Ju and others, were leading small groups of cavalry to attack the marshal's army positions on all sides.

He had a good idea. He sent out more than 3,000 cavalrymen, divided them into five teams, to attack various positions and camps. He believed that they would be able to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the Marshal's army's positions. If they could attack the weak points in Liu Chengzong's defense, the Marshal's army would have to mobilize the reserve troops at night to support the weak points.

Weaken the defensive strength of Liu Chengzong's headquarters and create an opportunity for him to attack the camp and kill the generals.

It’s not that Cao Wenzhao’s muscles are so strong that he can only break through the enemy’s formation and kill the generals, but that an enemy like the Marshal’s Army has only this one obvious weakness.

Their guns are sharper than theirs, their armor is stronger than theirs, their soldiers' supplies are better than theirs, their manpower is stronger than theirs, their fighting will is stronger, and they are even more sophisticated in deploying troops than them.

The only weakness is that there are very few brave and talented generals in the Marshal's Army, and the root of the problem lies with Liu Chengzong.

As long as he is chopped off, the huge Marshal's Office will no longer be a difficult problem to solve.

This is the fundamental reason why Cao Wenzhao is obsessed with the decapitation tactic.

He always felt that it would be much easier to kill Liu Chengzong alone than to fight and win against Liu Chengzong.

But that's the problem. It's not easy to mobilize Liu Chengzong's army.

At least for now, Cao Wenzhao has given up this idea.

He rode on a horse, with his spear placed across the saddle, and led the army forward in silence amid the sound of gunfire in the distance.

More than 6,000 people marched quickly across the plain in ten large columns.

Each column was formed with infantry pushing light artillery in front and cavalry leading horses in the back. The soldiers were wearing armor and their muskets and artillery were loaded with ammunition. The entire team was looming in the night, and only when you got close could you see the barely detectable light of the tinder.

The wind blew through the four-colored tassels falling from the border soldiers' armor skirts, and the rustling sound was quickly covered by the slight sound of armor colliding.

In the distance, warning fires rose into the night sky in all directions, and the sound of chaotic gunfire echoed across the plains.

There were too many fires flying into the sky, and they were continuous, indicating that Ping An and others' actions were not going smoothly.

It now seems that there are enemy troops on all sides, surrounding them completely. How can they mobilize?

Cao Wenzhao's heart sank.

Because on the surface, the enemy troops on all sides also meant that the Marshal's army had already mobilized itself in the formation stage, and it was possible that there were insufficient troops in each direction.

However, Cao Wenzhao had rich experience in battle.

His ears could tell from the sounds of fighting coming from all directions where the defense was tight, where there was a little slack, or where there were weak points in the Marshal's army's defense.

Directly east of the Ming army camp, that must be the place where the Marshal’s army’s defense is weak.

The sound of gunfire over there was the smallest, the bang bang of gunfire was very crisp, and there was also the equally crisp sound of cannon fire, it was chaotic, but the shouting of killing was the loudest.

When they heard that the troops in charge of defense were the peasant army recently incorporated by Liu Chengzong, they used the stolen three-barreled guns and ball-beating cannons, and shouted loudly to give themselves courage before engaging in close combat.

But the military strength, well... sounds quite sufficient.

In the west, Cao Wenzhao sounded the strangest.

Before the attack, they lit lanterns and bonfires, illuminating the area around the camp. After the attack, military music was even louder.

The infantry formed a large horizontal line beside the trench outside the village, and the musket fire was fired from south to north in a cycle, connected from beginning to end. In between, there were also flying cannons and Portuguese falcons that were fired in sequence. The sound of gunfire never stopped once it started.

This thing sounds like the old Ming army.

Because the tactical application of this type of firearm was obviously the standard way for the Ming army to deal with small-scale Mongolian cavalry harassment. The gunfire and artillery fire continued, and special attention was paid to the levels and firepower continuity of various types of firearms.

In fact, it was indeed the Ming army over there, and just one day ago, they were in the same camp as Cao Wenzhao.

The defending generals over there were Xu Yong and Wang Yuncheng, who were under Zuo Liangyu's command.

Behind them, supervising the battle were former Ningxia guerrilla Liu Fangming and Tongzhi Ma Xiantu, both of whom led the surrendered banner troops from Ningxia Town.

Although this direction is full of surrendered soldiers, it is very reliable because Liu Chengzong has deployed the most troops in this direction.

Behind these two groups of nearly 10,000 surrendered troops were the two battalions of Yang Chengzu and Yang Yanchang, and next to them was Gao Yingdeng's First Field Brigade in the southwest.

This was also the main direction Liu Chengzong planned to launch his attack.

But in Cao Wenzhao's eyes, the real enemy was in the south. The Ming army had already discovered in the previous battle that to the south was the Second Field Brigade led by General Ren Quaner of the Marshal's Office.

Although Ren Quaner had been on the Ming army side in the past, he was overshadowed by Yang Yanchang's halo as a god of war, and did not show his true colors, and did not look like a powerful figure.

However, he fought with great success this time, and with a force of more than 10,000 troops he successively defeated the five battalions of Bai Guangen and Zhang Yingchang's troops. Now he is regarded by the Ming army as a first-class fierce general of the Marshal's Army.

However, Cao Bianjiao, who had fought with Ren Quaner, was an exception. Before the battle, he said to Cao Wenzhao: "General, you don't have to regard Ren Quaner as a strong enemy. I know that he has a sense of control over the troops, but he is not so strong. It must be that the soldiers and generals assigned to him by Liu Chengzong are strong."

Cao Wenzhao rode his horse forward in the formation, looking towards the south, thinking to himself that his nephew was indeed right.

Because the south also encountered a surprise attack by Ming cavalry, and the team was led by Feng Ju, a general under Cao Wenzhao, who was also a fierce general from Guanning, but the battle was not as lively as that on the east and west sides.

It was eerily calm over there.

Lanterns were hung high at the gates of several camps, and bonfires were set up every hundred steps along the moat outside the camp.

There was no flash of artillery fire, nor any rockets flying into the sky, only the neighing of invisible war horses.

The firelight flickered, and the galloping cavalry flashed past the military camp, casting long shadows in the darkness.

In the shadows one could see people shooting with bows, riding horses, and brandishing swords.

Feng Ju's harassing cavalry did not even break into the Second Brigade's position before they were stopped by their cavalry and forced to engage in single combat in the dark.

However, in the wilderness filled with roaring gunfire, there was only one place that seemed out of place. That was Cao Wenzhao's destination, the southwest of the Ming army camp.

It was pitch black there, shrouded in dead silence. There were no campfires or lanterns, and no sound of any troop movements.

There seemed to be no sign of any camp or troops.

It also seemed as if some terrible thing was lurking in the darkness, opening its bloody mouth, throwing out bait, and waiting for its prey to fall into its trap.

Cao Wenzhao's army moved slowly in the darkness. The wooden wheels of the Portuguese cannon rolled across the fields, leaving the squeaking sounds in the murderous wind.

It seemed that every soldier who was busy on the road had doubts about the direction of advance.

Even Cao Bianjiao ran back from the front of the battle and said to Cao Wenzhao, "General, this is abnormal. There is no movement over there."

But Cao Wenzhao had no other choice. What else could he do? Could he lead these 6,000 troops to attack somewhere else?
Should we attack the west where there are a lot of guns and artillery?

Or attack Zhengnan where Ren Quaner is stationed?

Or should we charge towards the east where there are more people and more power?

Or flee back to the Ming army camp in the north with their tail between their legs?
He had no choice but to stick to his path and firmly believe that Liu Chengzong was in the southwest.

"The more abnormal it is, the more likely Liu Chengzong will be there. Otherwise, where would he be, setting a trap and hiding far away?"

Cao Wenzhao shook his head: "Liu Chengzong is very courageous."

He himself was a little unconfident about this.

Whether a person has courage is one thing, but how to use the courage is another.

After that, he could only make up for it himself: "No matter what, even if it is a trap, we must crush it. A general's death in the cause of state affairs is the best way to die in the world!"

However, the southwest of the battlefield was indeed a trap at this time.

Outside the pitch-black camp, chevaux de frise and chariots were linked together. Apart from the sounds of people breathing and the snorting of horses, cannons, volleyball players and camps behind the chevaux de frise were like a forest, all quietly waiting for their prey to take the bait.

But in fact, they are almost out of patience.

Darkness makes people anxious and fearful, and it's not just the enemies who are anxious and fearful.

Even the soldiers of the First Brigade of the Marshal's Army, who were lined up in battle array, would feel inexplicably uneasy and restless after staying in the darkness for too long.

At the rear of the camp, Gao Yingdeng stood on horseback and looked out over the battlefield. He shook his head and said to those around him, "Have you received any news from the Tang soldiers? They haven't come yet? I can go to Liao to help faster than he can!"

Soon, someone came forward and said, "General, the commander-in-chief said that the enemy is already two miles away."

Gao Yingdeng's eyes suddenly lit up in the darkness: "Okay, tell the reinforcements camp to prepare the braziers!"

Amid the sound of armor colliding, several pits in front of the battle formation were lit up with fire sticks. However, the light was not noticeable because of other basins covering them and was blocked by the army formation.

This scene was quite eye-catching in the eyes of Liu Chengzong who was sitting on the hill in the distance.

This was the best way Liu Shizi had protected himself since he led the troops into battle.

At this time, he was located in the south of the battlefield, behind the army formation of Ren Quaner's Second Brigade, surrounded by the three camps of Yulin, Huben, and Zongren.

Moreover, the Chinese character "品" formed by the three camps did not cover his central military tent.

Instead, it was the chariot camp of Feng Rang, deputy general of the special forces battalion under Yang Yao's Linliang Road garrison brigade.

Feng Rang’s chariot camp was equipped with standard chariot camp equipment from Gansu, and its protection was much stronger than the mule and horse chariot camps of the Marshal’s Army.

So Liu Shizi was very brave. He piled up a hill of earth in the formation, but did not light a fire. He could then easily overlook the battlefield with a telescope.

In fact, the bonfires lit outside the camps were not entirely for detecting the enemy, but also to make it easier for Liu Chengzong to observe the battlefield.

Just as the sky was turning white and dawn was about to come, Cao Wenzhao's army finally appeared as a large shadow in Liu Chengzong's eyes. At the same time, they also saw the outline of Gao Yingdeng's First Brigade.

Six thousand infantry and cavalry then quickened their pace and quickly approached to within a mile. The infantry pushed all kinds of artillery in front of the formation. People no longer avoided making noises and shouted loudly in preparation for rotating artillery shells.

Soon, one after another artillery carriages carrying falconets stopped and pointed their muzzles at several locations on the enemy line hundreds of steps away. They fired shells one after another, then quickly reloaded and launched a second round of shooting.

During this process, the infantry and cavalry did not stop, but simply gave up the artillery's firing range and continued to advance quickly from the edge.

At the same time, the First Brigade's heavy artillery deployed in front of the formation also launched a counterattack against the advancing Ming army.

Cao Wenzhao already knew at this time that the enemy had taken precautions, but he had also been prepared. The military line was arranged with infantry in the front and cavalry in the back, just to set up the barricades.

Neither side's artillery chose to shoot at each other. The Ming army's Portuguese tried to break through the chariot defense line; the marshal's army's thousand-jin cannons bombarded the Ming army's infantry formations.

Under the fierce artillery bombardment, Cao Wenzhao's soldiers pushed their formation forward more than a hundred steps.

At this time, the cavalry moved.

Teams of cavalry launched assaults on the battle lines, armed with three-barreled guns and bows and arrows, running diagonally towards the artillery positions in the middle of the line. In a blink of an eye, they broke through the distance of two or three hundred steps and rained arrows on the artillery positions, trying to disrupt the artillery firing.

But the soldiers in the formation also retaliated against them with bows and arrows, but this sloppy counterattack was like an itch to the galloping armored cavalry.

This scene was undoubtedly very exciting for Cao Wenzhao. He quickly ordered the troops to attack and once again took the opportunity to push the front line forward. At the same time, he sent out a small group of cavalry to try to outflank the enemy from both wings.

But at this moment, Liu Chengzong, who was holding a telescope on the distant hill, sighed.

They were within the range of 200 steps and were rapidly closing the distance while changing their formation. The cavalry in the rear also moved to the two wings, forming a large horizontal column, intending to bypass the infantry and launch an attack on the army.

Behind the chevaux de frise, torches were being passed among the soldiers, lighting the matches. Of course, there were also gunners on the chariots who ignored the torches and just aimed with their flintlock guns.

One hundred and fifty steps.

The Ming army's infantry musketeers stood still, a line of gunpowder smoke rose in front of the formation, and a number of cannonballs were placed on the ground, firing shells at the mule cart line with a roar.

Along with the puffing sound of lead bullets hitting the wooden boards of the chariot, the sound of weeping trumpets was also heard from Gao Yingdeng's army.

Rows of heavy musketeers armed with muskets loaded with multiple pellets mounted the heavy muskets on the chariots.

In front of the army formation, a captain wearing red armor stepped out, holding his sword in hand, and walked behind the chevaux de frise. Facing the soldiers under his command, he raised the goose-feather sword in his hand and swung it down fiercely, with the blade pointing directly at the enemy.

Bang bang bang!
Huge smoke rose in front of the formation, and the dull sound of gunfire came into Liu Chengzong's ears like thunder. He only saw countless horses standing in front of the Ming army, countless soldiers lying dead, and the battle flags that had just been unfurled in the smoke, dragging and falling to the ground.

He turned his head and stopped looking. He just ordered Feng Rang beside him: "Fire rockets to the south and tell the soldiers in each camp to launch a general attack... After finishing Hong Chengchou, we will go to Ordos." (End of this chapter)