stubborn thief

June 7th, night.

The meadow on the east bank of Laoha River.

Not far across the river is the desert. In the past few days, the wind from outside the Great Wall has been blowing, and the yellow sand covered the sky, making it impossible for people to open their eyes.

Ajige's vanguard was the last to see Liu Chengzong, when his army was building a bridge over the Laoha River.

In fact, there is no need to build a bridge over this river. The narrowest part is only eleven or twelve steps wide and not very deep. You can wade across it on horseback. At most, you just need to let the horse swim two steps.

But Liu Chengzong still asked his clan members to build the bridge.

Because the time to turn around and fight is approaching.

Since leaving the border at the end of May, he left the Tang cavalry behind him all the way and let Huang Taiji chase him for hundreds of miles. He turned back many times and pretended to fight but then retreated to the west, just to give Huang Taiji a mental stamp: he wanted to retreat to the Greater Khingan Range.

But Liu Chengzong had no intention of retreating.

He had always wanted to have a head-on battle with Huang Taiji, and he was convinced that only by fighting this battle could he retreat calmly.

He didn't dare to fight inside the border. The priority at that time was to get out of the border. If he didn't, he would easily be surrounded and beaten by the Eight Banners Army transferred from all over. No matter how confident he was in his army, it was impossible for him to fight with various armies for several days in a row.

What's more, carrying the stolen livestock and property would be a hindrance.

After he got out, he has been looking for opportunities.

Qian Shisheng kept persuading him.

He was the Minister of Rites of the Ming Dynasty court. Just being able to watch Liu Chengzong plunder Shengjing and escape unscathed was already all he expected.

On the way, Qian Shisheng was like chanting a sutra. When he was not yet out of the border, he advised him to get out of the border as soon as possible; after he was out of the border, he advised him to return to Mo Nan as soon as possible.

In short, just grab and run, quit while you are ahead, and don't make any mistakes at this time.

The main reason was that the desert was close to the Ongniud tribe. Qian Shisheng saw that most of the Marshal's troops used muskets, and he was worried that the wind would be strong during the battle and the muskets would not work well and he would suffer losses.

However, Qian Shisheng was also confused about this matter. From top to bottom in the Marshal's Army, except for Gao Yingdeng and Tang Tong who mentioned that wind and sand would make muskets ineffective, no one else seemed to be worried about the wind and sand.

In fact, even Gao Yingdeng and Tang Tong were not too worried about the wind and sand.

Because the generals of the Marshal's Army generally believed that wind and sand were their friends, and the Western Army was an army that grew out of the sand.

The generals thought this way, which was a way of showing off their courage.

Even without considering courage, Liu Chengzong believed that the wind and sand could give him an advantage.

Because the Eight Banners were equipped with more firearms than him.

This intelligence is counterintuitive.

During this period, the Tangqi roamed around the enemy's perimeter to scout the enemy situation, counted the enemy's tents at dusk, checked the enemy's campfires at night, and reported that the number of troops following them was increasing day by day.

Huang Taiji is withdrawing a large number of troops from the rear to the border.

Among the supporting troops, Tangqi discovered a large number of Ming army standard firearms, and the equipment rate was very exaggerated.

As for the Yongzhu cannon alone, a Ming army cavalry of 50 people would be equipped with one, and in the reinforcement force of the Eight Banners Army, Tangqi once found that its 25-cavalry squad was equipped with a Yongzhu cannon and eight bird guns.

So much so that when the Tangqi looked at the Eight Banners camp through a telescope, they felt as if they were looking in a mirror.

Three-eyed guns, bird guns, eagle guns and large wind-chasing guns, Yongzhuhudun, Folangjifagong, Hongyi and a large number of light artillery used in chariots... The number of firearms is beyond imagination. It is simply the Liaodong Army of the Ming Dynasty, a shocking gunpowder imperial army.

However, the appearance of a large firearms unit on the battlefield not only did not bring pressure to Liu Chengzong, but instead strengthened his confidence in turning around and fighting.

Because to some extent, the Eight Banners nobles of the Later Jin Dynasty called him Liu Manzi, which was not wrong in terms of values.

To this day, he still firmly believes that the most valiant and skilled soldiers must be heavily armored horse archers like him.

Because archery requires a lot of time to train, a strong and well-nourished person may not be able to draw a bow weighing 100 kilograms, but a person who can draw a bow weighing 100 kilograms must be strong.

No commander would let a soldier like him carry a musket.

Therefore, for an army that often presents itself as a large group of armored cavalry, the sudden and untargeted increase in the number of firearms and the reduction in the proportion of armored soldiers is a clear sign of the decline in the quality of the army.

Just like the Marshal's Army, although there are many firearms troops, they only have two sources, either the firearms operators among the old Ming army, or the old soldiers who cannot use strong bows during the Lion Camp period.

Liu Chengzong believed that this was Huang Taiji's signal to pull the Eight Banners garrison troops to the front line.

The eighth day of June.

The Marshal's Army crossed the Laoha River in an orderly manner, and a large number of ox caravans carrying valuables and supplies entered the desert in the evening of the same day.

The Tangqi were still on the east bank of the Laoha River, hanging in front of the Eight Banners Army. That night, the Tangqi crossed the river and reported to Liu Chengzong on the edge of the desert. They counted the enemy camp at dusk and confirmed that the enemy had been reinforced with more than 500 tents.

The number of enemy troops gathered at the front line has exceeded 50,000.

It is unknown how many troops were left in the rear and why the Tangqi were unable to break through the obstruction of the vanguard camp.

Under this situation, Liu Chengzong entered the desert of the Ongniud tribe.

The opportunity to fight back has come.

The desert sand will hide the hoof tracks of the army's movements.

The baggage train transporting valuables continued to advance westward toward Songmo Prefecture along the planned route.

Liu Shizi severed his connection with the Tangqi, and let He Huchen's Shuofang Camp and the Tangqi who covered the battlefield continue to march westward with the following Eight Banners Army.

The central army, the first brigade, the second battalion of Liaoyang Yanmen and the Mobei cavalry formed a main force of more than 36,000 people and turned north in the wind and sand.

His plan was to take advantage of the distance he had traveled over a hundred miles ahead of him, with the help of the cover of wind and sand and the desert, and march quickly with his armor rolled up, detour to the flank and rear of the Eight Banners Army Corps, avoid its vanguard troops, launch a battle from the rear which was less guarded and detected, and completely disrupt its deployment.

Liu Chengzong had a good plan.

The Eight Banners Army, which was in a pursuing position, had its support troops continuously arriving at the front line from the rear, making it difficult to conduct sufficient reconnaissance of the rear.

Launching an attack from the rear can also cut off the enemy's retreat as quickly as possible, causing great chaos in the enemy's morale.

The size of the Marshal's Army was right in the range of forces that Liu Chengzong was best at commanding. Including the eleven battalions of Mobei cavalry, they were divided into battalion-level units and moved quickly under his command.

There was a strong wind in the early morning of June 11th.

The eleven battalions under Liu Chengzong's command, after dispersed maneuvers ranging from eighty to one hundred and twenty miles a day, lost three battalions in the yellow sand.

They are the Imperial Family Camp, the Liaoyang Camp and the Mobei Camp of 7,000 people.

The three camps were lost in a very simple way.

Among them, the Mobei Camp was not completely lost. Although they were called the Three Khans of Mobei, in fact the cavalry could not operate in the desert Gobi that occupied most of the territory, so their familiarity with windy and sandy days was far inferior to that of Liu Chengzong's Northwest Army.

They marched through the yellow sand and exhausted themselves. Only half of the battalion was able to keep up with Liu Chengzong's army. The Mobei nobles led by Subadi were frantically looking for troops on the north bank of the river.

The meaning of the clan camp is similar. The quality of the soldiers is poor, but they seem to have high morale and many flags. The whole camp is like Liu Chengzong's guard of honor. Almost every team has the prince's flag and the auxiliary national flag, and it looks very realistic.

The problem is that the quality of the soldiers is poor. If they march in a straight line among the main corps, they may end up running off the track by more than ten miles.

The Liaoyang Camp was just the opposite. The soldiers were of high quality but low morale. The advantage was that the officers headed by Lieutenant General Sun Long saw the great marshal's generosity and were quite loyal. On the way, they defeated a group of surrendered soldiers who wanted to rebel and killed several leaders. The suppression troops marched forward with artillery, but their marching speed was slow and they fell behind the clan camp. They followed the marching route of the clan camp very strictly, so they got lost together.

Liu Chengzong searched for nearly an hour. Subadi gathered his troops, and the Yulin Cavalry also called back the clan members and the Liaoyang Second Battalion who had deviated from the route and continued to walk eastward.

The detour was successful without any danger.

During this period of time, Liu Chengzong did not just look for them. Anyway, those two battalions were not the main combat battalions, so his main energy was focused on investigating the enemy situation on the other side of the river.

Based on the previous advance of the Eight Banners Army, Liu Chengzong believed that after they crossed the river, they should detour to the rear of the main force of the Eight Banners.

At this time, the position of the Eight Banners should have just moved to the grassland where he had been stationed earlier.

In the best case scenario, he might be able to catch up with the enemy when they crossed the river and launch a fatal attack on Huang Taiji.

That morning.

The first batch of Subadi's Mobei cavalry jumped on their horses and crossed the Laoha River.

The 10th Battalion then followed in a large horizontal formation and reorganized slightly on the north bank of the Laoha River.

The Mobei cavalry searched southwest for the main force of the Eight Banners, while Taiji's Yanmen cavalry searched southeast for the Eight Banners' reinforcements.

However, to Liu Chengzong's surprise, the cavalry sent by Subati to the southwest to search for the main force of the enemy soon returned and reported that no signs of the enemy were found.

They climbed up the low slope of Shaliang and looked into the distance. They saw no signs of the enemy within dozens of miles, nor any trace of the enemy's advance.

To be precise, there was only one trace, which was left by the Marshal's army when they passed by earlier.

Immediately afterwards, the Yanmen cavalry in the camp of Taiji Xiantu ran back to the central army in panic. Liu Chengzong soon received a report from the Khan's Zaisang Gao Letu: "General, Taiji Xiantu reported that he found the enemy. The Eastern Tartars are in the south, more than 30 miles south, in a long snake shape!"

For a moment, the officers and soldiers in the central army looked at each other in confusion, and there was a buzzing sound and chaos.

Qian Shisheng, who was riding on his horse, panicked and hurried forward two steps to ask, "Grand Marshal, has our detour been discovered?"

Zhang Xianzhong was irritably turning his horse around and said, "General, why don't we cross the river and deploy defenses on the north bank?"

"Why panic!"

Liu Chengzong was also a little panicked, but he managed to pretend.

He leaned on the saddle and looked towards the south. Everything in the distance was unclear in the endless yellow sand. "Even if we can see through them, they are thirty miles away. Can they fly over here?"

"Send an order to all camps. All soldiers should wear full armor, horses should wear half armor, and guns and cannons should be loaded... Let the Yanmen camp conduct another exploration."

Liu Shizi thought to himself: Is he really that smart and figured it out? Or is he also trying to attack me in a roundabout way?
He thought that he would be discovered by the enemy during the detour, but he never expected that Huang Taiji would be waiting for him in battle array after crossing the river.

Such a situation made him seriously consider the possibility of having to use more than 30,000 troops here to fight against 50,000 to 60,000 Daiqing troops.

But once he thought about it, he was no longer panicked.

Panic comes from the lack of calmness caused by unexpected events.

When he calmed down again, the panic of his plan being discovered gradually disappeared, and the situation became interesting.

He seemed to have heard Gao Letu mention a word just now: a long snake formation?

This doesn't make sense.

There is no problem with column marching. All armies will march in column. Even the Ming Army and the Marshal's Army are more experienced in column marching.

Because there are official roads with good road conditions inside the Great Wall, if they do not march in a column, they will have to trample on crops and go through the woods. In areas with a good road network, the column is the fastest.

But now they are in the desert Gobi, and the Eight Banners Army is still in pursuit. Even if they are marching in columns, they should be marching in multiple columns in parallel.

With multiple columns running in parallel, it certainly doesn't look like a long snake, at least not a straight line.

As for the attacking formation, it is even more inappropriate to form a large column.

Without battle width, it is impossible to take advantage of military strength.

This inference made him feel more relaxed.

"The Eight Banners Army must be here for something, but it's not necessarily because they expected me to be here."

Liu Chengzong shook his head and said to Zhang Xianzhong: "I don't think we can retreat to Hebei. Regardless of whether the enemy has calculated or detected us, or whether there are prisoners who leak military information, we can approach the enemy with a suitable camp formation at a distance of 30 miles, so there is no disadvantage."

War is full of surprises, and being able to fight in a normal state without any disadvantages is already a rare opportunity.

As for withdrawing to Hebei, it means giving up this opportunity.

Both armies have the distinctive feature of strong mobility. The next time they engage in battle, Liu Chengzong cannot be sure that he will have such an opportunity again.

What if the Eight Banners go on attacking him without eating or sleeping?
It’s better to fight now!

Hearing that Liu Chengzong was determined to fight, Lord Qian's teeth trembled.

He had never seen anyone decide on a war so easily. Without any careful preparation, he was going to engage in a war with a military scale that might be close to 100,000 people. His opponent was the Eight Banners of the Evil Green Army, which was well-known in field battles.

Qian Shisheng whispered anxiously: "Marshal, they have twice as many troops as us!"

Hearing this, Liu Chengzong suddenly laughed: "It is easier to fight when the troops are twice as strong as mine. This is a good opportunity to test Emperor Chongde's ability to command troops!"

Qian Shisheng felt that Liu Chengzong was a bit arrogant. With more than 30,000 troops against 50,000 or 60,000, he still looked like he was sure to win.

But in fact, Liu Shizi was not sure of winning. He felt that he had a 20% chance of winning, and a 40% chance of losing.

The other 40% were a draw.

He just felt that even if they lost, the Marshal's Army would not lose too badly, and it would be difficult for the Eight Banners Army to achieve any results of victory.

Huang Taiji brought so many guns and cannons, and if he really started a fast-paced pursuit war, the guns and cannons would be of no use at all during the pursuit.

On the contrary, even if he lost here, the cattle, sheep, horses and other valuables could still be transported to the south of the desert.

At worst, I can exchange the pieces, 20,000 for his 10,000, and with the remaining tens of thousands of people, it won't be a problem to guard Songmo Mansion.

Forty thousand troops could not hold out in Songmo Prefecture, but ten thousand troops confronting in Songmo Prefecture had no pressure on food and grass.

After the Eight Banners withdrew, he took the remnants of his army back to Shaanxi. He gave each family, alive or dead, a cow and two pounds of silver. There were many brave men in Qin who were not afraid of their lives. Come again next year and see who is afraid on the battlefield!
The fact that he could escape even if he was defeated gave Liu Chengzong the confidence to fight.

The ten battalions advanced several miles southwards. The dusty Taiji returned on horseback, his face covered in dirt but full of joy. He said, "General, we have found out. They are not marching northwards in a long snake formation. They are marching westwards in a horizontal formation with three rows and eight lines in a line!"

"March westward? Hahaha!"

Liu Chengzong couldn't help but be delighted.

In other words, although it was unknown why the Eight Banners' march suddenly slowed down by one day, his roundabout plan was not discovered by the enemy, and the Eight Banners were still chasing his Tangqi westward.

However, he did not go around the enemy's back, but went around the enemy's right wing. Both sides marched in horizontal formation, forming a "T" shape on the battlefield.

"Send a message to all the camps. We will also form a one-two-character formation and defeat them camp by camp from north to south, and march towards Emperor Chongde!" (End of this chapter)