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Chapter 1173: Surprise Attack Failed

What the left army was preparing to attack was just a small earthen stronghold newly built by the Chuang army. The wall of the stronghold was not very high, and there were not many soldiers and horses guarding the stronghold. On the surface, it did not seem difficult to break through.

Xu Yong, whose original name was Gao Yong, lost his father at a young age. Xu, a native of Yulin who was the commander-in-chief of Ningwu at the time, was about 50 years old. Because he had no children, he adopted Gao Yong as his adopted son.

Gao Yong therefore changed his surname to Xu and was named Xu Yong. From then on, he lived with his mother and sister in General Xu's office. When he was a little older, he began to practice riding, shooting and fighting skills. He was extremely strong and was highly regarded by General Xu, who treated him like his own son.

Later, General Xu resigned and returned to his hometown. Xu Yong, his mother and sister also moved to Yulin Yuhebao with General Xu. At that time, the nearby residents thought that Xu Yong was General Xu's biological son.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. General Xu's concubine suddenly gave birth to a son for him. Because he had his own flesh and blood, General Xu no longer treated Xu Yong as seriously as before.

Soon after, General Xu passed away. Xu Yong and his cousin gradually developed some rifts over the issue of inheriting the family business, so Xu Yong said passionately: "A real man should earn a title of nobility!"

He then bid farewell to his mother and traveled around Guandong with his sister. It was the end of the Wanli Dynasty, and Xu Yong was still sixteen or seventeen years old, full of vigor and vitality. He joined the army in Liaodong where wars continued.

When he was 20 years old, he gradually came to prominence and was promoted to centurion for his merit in beheading people. Because the two characters Xu and Xu have similar pronunciations, he was later mispronounced as "Xu Yong". Moreover, he ran away from home and his feelings for his adoptive father were gradually fading. Therefore, he never made an excuse and always used the name Xu Yong.

Later, bandits in Shaanxi began to riot and fought in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Jingchu and other places. The court then dispatched troops led by Zuo Liangyu to suppress the bandits. At this time, Xu Yong was already under the command of Zuo Liangyu, and he joined the expedition to suppress the bandits, fighting in various places. He was promoted to the position of guerrilla general due to his merits.

Xu Yong, who had joined the army when he was young, was an experienced veteran. He found that the terrain to the west of the bandit camp was higher, so he led his cavalry to go around to the west, intending to launch a fierce attack and break into the bandit camp in one fell swoop.

But what he didn't expect was that just about an arrow's throw away from the west gate of the bandit camp was the official road leading to Kaifeng. The official road in the Central Plains had been filled with many low potholes due to the continuous passage of various large carts year after year. These potholes were often several feet lower than the normal ground, and the lowest one was even more than one person deep. This situation is often called "road ditch" in Henan.

The ditch in front of us had been modified by the bandit army. Not only was it deeper than usual, but its banks were also extremely steep. It was not only difficult to walk on, but even climbing was extremely difficult.

The cavalry of the left camp led by Xu Yong rushed to this place, but could not advance any further. While they were wandering in place, suddenly firearms and crossbows were fired from the wall of the bandit camp. After a burst of "crackling" sounds, dozens of cavalry of the left army fell.

However, Xu Yong was a veteran after all, and faced with the sudden tragic situation, he did not panic. He quickly observed the surrounding terrain and immediately found that there was a road ditch not far to the right that seemed very shallow. He immediately ordered his men to go to the right, intending to attack the bandit camp from there.

…………

At this moment, the bandits who were sleeping and resting in the bandit camp had already been awakened by the shouting and killing outside. The two leading bandit generals were both surnamed Bai, one was Bai Wang and the other was Bai Minghe.

The two of them had been watching the left army cavalry who were trying to raid the camp. As soon as they saw them rushing to the ditch on the road, they ordered a burst of firearms and crossbows to be fired.

Now seeing that they were trying to bypass from the right again, Bai Wang and Bai Minghe discussed it briefly and decided to lead 500 cavalrymen each to go out of the camp to meet the enemy in two groups. The bandit army suddenly rushed out of the camp with great force. The cavalrymen of the left army could not help but retreat one after another. After retreating about a hundred steps, Xu Yong found that there were not many bandit troops and no follow-up bandit troops came out.

He immediately turned his horse around and led his troops to fight the enemy army again. The two sides had similar strengths and were evenly matched, but they were actually locked in a stalemate. It would be difficult to determine the winner in a short period of time.

…………

Just as Zuo Liangyu launched a surprise attack on the artillery positions and camps of the Chuang army and the two sides were fighting to a standstill, the generals of the Chuang army who were discussing military affairs in the Yuewang Temple in Zhuxian Town also received military reports.

When Liu Fangliang heard that the camp he was in charge of defending was attacked by the left army, he immediately jumped up, led his personal soldiers out of Yuewang Temple, mounted his horse and galloped straight to the battlefield.

Li Zicheng was worried that Liu Fangliang would suffer at the hands of Zuo Liangyu, so he suddenly stood up and wanted to lead his own troops to reinforce him. Seeing this, Liu Zongmin hurriedly stood up and dissuaded him, saying, "Today is different from the past. In the past, we had very few soldiers and generals, and every time we had a battle, you always led the charge regardless of the danger. But today we have many soldiers and generals, so why do you, the great marshal, need to charge into battle in person? I will go in your place!"

After he finished speaking, he strode out of the hall.

Song Xiance stood up and stopped him, saying, "The Grand Marshal cannot go, and Master Liu does not need to go either. You do not need to go in person. I think Zuo Liangyu would not dare to mobilize all his forces. He only wants to seize the artillery position, take advantage of it, and take the opportunity to test our army's strength. If you are worried about General Mingyuan's safety, you can send any general to help."

King Chuang thought his words made sense, so he said to Yuan Zongdi: "Han Ju, you go on this trip for me and lead a thousand cavalry to help Mingyuan. If there are any difficulties, I can send more troops to support."

Yuan Zongde took the order and left, but when he led his troops to arrive, Zuo Liangyu had already sounded the call to call back his troops, leaving only the intruders in Liu Fangliang's camp cleaning up the battlefield.

Zuo Liangyu originally wanted to take advantage of the enemy's empty camp to launch a surprise attack and had no intention of a large-scale battle. Later, when he saw Liu Fangliang leading the cavalry to reinforce, he knew that the time had passed and naturally did not want to continue fighting, so he quickly sounded the horn to call back his troops.

Liu Fangliang and Zhang Nai also took advantage of the retreat of the left army to rush to repair the artillery position and transport the cannons up. At the same time, they dug all the unfinished trenches, reinforced the small forts around them, and arranged obstacles such as antler chevaux de frise.

Starting from the afternoon of that day, several cannons deployed here kept firing at the Left Camp. The whistling of the shells frightened the soldiers of the Left Camp so much that they dared not rest. Some soldiers of the Left Camp were indeed killed or injured, posing a great threat to the Left Camp.

For a time, everyone was in a panic, and the morale of the army became even lower...

(End of this chapter)