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Chapter 1244: Emergency on the Western Front, Seeking Help...

The reason why Zhang Guodong's Qinglongying Liuzhuang's western defense line was breached by the rebel army was completely an accident.

All his energy was devoted to the war on the eastern front, while the defense on the southwest was completely handed over to the two thousand commanders Han Rongqiu and Qian Mushi, with the camp pacification officer Fang Zhihai in charge of the coordination.

Han Rongqiu, the vanguard commander of the Qinglong Camp, was originally the vanguard commander of the mobile battalion of the Xuanzhen guerrilla Kuang Yongzhong. In the battle to invade Liao to aid Jin last year, the former general of Xuanzhen, Yang Guozhu, was killed in the battle. Kuang Yongzhong then led more than 2,000 soldiers of the mobile battalion to join Zhang Cheng, until they were incorporated into the Yongyi Army.

Now, Kuang Yongzhong is already the deputy general of the Qinglong Battalion of the Yongyi Army, and Han Rongqiu is naturally a captain of a division. There is also another captain of a division, Kong Shouchang, who is also a captain of a division from the original mobile battalion.

Therefore, the front part of the Qinglong Camp was naturally formed from the original mobile camp. Although its combat effectiveness could not be compared with the original northern camps, it had been tempered by the bloody battles in Liaodong, and its equipment was no different from that of other camps, and it was not treated differently.

This is also an important reason why the Yongyi Army is so powerful. No matter what happened before, as long as they are incorporated into the Yongyi Army's system, they will be treated equally and there will be no obvious difference.

  Unlike other Ming army commanders, he did not divide his subordinates into direct descendants, collateral descendants, cannon fodder, etc. He also divided them into servants, regular soldiers, auxiliary soldiers, miscellaneous soldiers, and laborers. Some generals even had servant armies under their command, who worked hard for them in exchange for some food and grass, but were not completely under his command. Instead, they selectively "obeyed orders but not announcements"!

All these are one of the reasons why the Ming army had lax discipline and weak combat effectiveness. The country was unable to support a large number of qualified soldiers and generals, and did not have a central army strong enough to overwhelm everything. Such a chaotic situation was bound to occur.

The Yongyi Army is different. Its core is the six major battalions of the Yongyi Army. They can be compared to a powerful central combat force. The soldiers under the command of other deputy, assistant and roving generals in Xuanzhen are intimidated by the powerful combat power of the Yongyi Army, otherwise they will obey the command and dispatch of Yongning Earl Zhang Cheng.

Another example is the official army of Datong Wang Pu and Shanxi Li Fuming, which are somewhat similar to the vassal army of the Yongyi Army. They use the names of other military towns, but in fact they are completely under the leadership and command of the Yongyi Army and serve the military goals of the Yongyi Army.

Now the time is still short. Even in Xuanfu Town, the situation is only temporarily suppressed and has not been completely integrated. It is only by relying on the bloody suppression of the slave traders before the army sets out that the deputy generals, lieutenant generals, guerrillas and other officers are temporarily intimidated.

Yongning Earl Zhang Cheng's control over them is not even as strong as his control over Datong Town Standard Camp and Shanxi Town Standard Camp. After all, Wang Pu and Li Fuming's standard camps have been infiltrated by the Yongyi Army like a sieve, and almost all of the lower-level officers were trained and promoted by the Yongyi Army.

Although the commander of an army is very important, the middle and lower-level officers in the battalion are the most important. After all, they are directly connected with ordinary soldiers and have the closest relationship with them. Even the military orders of the commander of a battalion need to be conveyed by them. Therefore, controlling these middle and lower-level officers is equivalent to controlling the entire military camp.

However, although Han Rongqiu's front unit had the same standard of manpower and equipment as the other four units, the soldiers in his camp were still mainly from the original mobile battalion, with only some middle and lower-level officers replaced. Therefore, its combat effectiveness was still somewhat inferior to Huang Daguang's central unit and Chen Shi's left unit. Even compared with Qian Mushi's rear unit, which was based on the original Yongning Camp, they were slightly inferior.

Take today's battle for example. Originally, the pressure of defense was not that great. There were only more than 2,000 bandits and 3,000 to 4,000 guards. For the Yongyi Army, which was well-equipped and equipped with 50% firearms, it was not a problem at all.

However, before the battle, Han Rongqiu's front troops had all their light artillery withdrawn, and then were ordered not to actually fight, but to "show weakness to the enemy" to attract the enemy's attack, and then gradually retreat to the last line of defense until they retreated back to the camp and relied on the camp wall for defense.

Zhang Guodong's purpose was actually very simple - to "show weakness to the enemy" and shrink the defense line, reduce the scope of the battlefield, and prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the opportunity to break in. Although this arrangement was a bit risky, after all, the enemy had a large number of troops, and their strength was almost nine times that of the enemy. According to the military strategy, "surround them with ten" was not excessive.

As for Zhang Guodong, he only has three advantages...

  One is that the defense depth of the battlefield is large, and the defense system is complete with hedges, trenches, and low walls;

The second is that the proportion of firearms is high, which can effectively keep the enemy out;

The third is that the soldiers are well-trained, have strong morale, high morale and a resolute will to fight.

Although Zhang Guodong's arrangement was unexpected, it was also equivalent to destroying his own strength. He successfully eliminated his three advantages.

They withdrew as soon as they engaged in a battle, abandoning the preset battlefield, which resulted in the several flower hedges, trenches, and low wall defense lines not playing their due role; and the concentrated use of all kinds of large and small artillery pieces in the entire battalion also made the firepower of other defense lines slightly insufficient.

After Han Rongqiu's front troops pretended to be defeated to lure the enemy, the psychology of some soldiers was affected, and their fighting will was not as firm as before. Some soldiers even became slack.

  It was precisely because of these reasons that the western front line responsible for defense was broken open by the bandits!

Fortunately, after half a day of fighting on the defense line, the soldiers of the Chuang army had consumed a lot of physical strength. In addition, Han Rongqiu organized a counterattack in time, which prevented the Chuang army from widening the gap and they were stuck at the breakthrough point.

The two sides charged and counterattacked repeatedly, but it seemed that they were evenly matched. The Chuang army could neither break in nor expand the gap, and the front troops could only barely block the gap, preventing the Chuang army from breaking through into the camp, but they were also unable to repel it for the time being.

Han Rongqiu initially wanted to rely on the strength of his front troops to repel the attacking soldiers of the Chuang army and then fill the gap, but as time passed, he became more and more anxious but helpless.

Until the deputy captain Niu Youtian reminded loudly: "Master, quickly ask for help from the central army. If we delay any longer, the bandits will rush in. We can't afford to be charged with delaying military operations!"

Han Rongqiu originally wanted to plug the gap with his own strength, but the rebels kept coming in larger and larger numbers, and he had no one left to use. Now, after being reminded by the deputy captain Niu Youtian, he said with a gloomy expression: "Go, go and ask General Zhang for help!"

Niu Youtian was originally a veteran soldier of the Chicheng Camp, and had risen step by step based on his military achievements. He could understand Han Rongqiu's feelings, but under the critical situation, he could not pretend to be deaf and dumb. After all, if the rebel army broke through, the consequences would be disastrous.

Seeing that Han Rongkui also agreed to report to the central army and ask for emergency help, he said nothing more and called two of his personal soldiers to run out...