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Just when Hong Chengchou, governor of Jiliao, reported his victory to Lubu, Zhang Cheng was not idle on his side.

In the early morning of the fourth day of the lunar new year, Zhang Guodong led more than [-] troops to leave the camp at the foot of Changling Mountain and head south slowly.

He put his "Chicheng Iron Camp" troops in the center, and Yu Jin's chariot left as the rear team, and Sima Zhenhai, the capital of Shanxi Town, led more than [-] riders as the front of the army.

Chen Bingshen, a guerrilla in Datong Town, led more than a thousand cavalry and divided them into two teams to guard the two wings of the army. They marched slowly on the dewdrops.

Zhang Guodong of the Central Army was very heavy in his heart. This was the first time he led an army alone to fight, and it was a large army with a complete range of infantry, cavalry, and chariots.

Zhang Guodong was afraid that if he was a little negligent in this, once he went against the slaves and bandits, what kind of face would he use to see Zhang Cheng? He was really ashamed of Zhang Cheng's promotion and cultivation, and also ashamed of Zhang Cheng's kindness to himself. trust.

From his point of view, he was lucky to be able to enter Zhang Cheng's inner circle. After all, he joined the Liaodong army in the early years. Choose to follow Zhang Cheng.

Unlike Chen Zheng, Zhang Guangda, Wu Zhizhong, Chen Zhong and others, who were originally Zhang Cheng's old subordinates, they had followed Zhang Cheng long before the Battle of Julu.

Although the current Zhang Guodong is thankful for himself in his heart, he was not confused at the beginning, but resolutely followed Zhang Cheng, but he is even more grateful that Zhang treats himself honestly and does not regard himself as an outsider. Confidants, but also focus on training and promotion.

It was with such profound thoughts that made Zhang Guodong's heart very heavy. He secretly vowed that this time to help Xingshan, he must make good use of it, beat the slaves hard, and not let Zhang Cheng's trust in him down!

…………

But not long after Zhang Guodong's troops set off, there were thousands of elite cavalry standing in line at the foot of Changling Mountain.

Seeing the smoke and dust fading away in front of him, the veteran Guo Yingxian rode his horse and clasped his fists and said: "General soldier, Lao Guo will go ahead first."

Originally, Zhang Cheng and Guo Yingxian had always hit it off, and whenever they met, they always bickered first and then had a wine fight, but now there was a subtle change.

Guo Yingxian seemed to treat Zhang Cheng the same way, but Zhang Cheng respected him very much.

At this moment, Zhang Cheng also rode on the horse, and also clasped his fists and said: "The old general has worked hard!"

Guo Yingxian opened his mouth wide, and said with a smile: "Serving the general army, my old Guo has no complaints."

After he finished speaking, he raised his whip and urged his horse to ride away. More than 2000 strong knights rode their horses to follow behind the horse, and another large cloud of smoke rose into the air, rolling and rolling, and lingered for a long time.

The cavalry led by veteran Guo Yingxian are all veterans of Yang Guozhu's Biao Battalion, the former general of the Xuan Mansion. Many of them are veterans.

Because it was directly transferred to Zhang Cheng's command during the war, the original organizational system has been retained, and Zhang Cheng has not made any changes to it, so as not to cause instability in the army.

After the military meeting last night, the veteran Guo Yingxian approached Zhang Cheng himself, and asked himself to act as a vanguard officer to open the way for the army. Zhang Cheng originally wanted to order Zhang Guangda's troops to be the vanguard. …

However, Guo Yingxian couldn't bear to press him hard, finally, he finally agreed after Guo Yingxian promised that if he encounters a large army of slaves, he would never launch an attack without authorization, and he would wait for the army to arrive before making a decision.

"General Guo is really old and strong, and he is courageous!"

Zhang Guangda looked at the Biaoying Jingqi and veteran Guo Yingxian who were going away, and said with emotion.

He still doesn't know at this moment that Guo Yingxian used half-hearted and half-forced methods to snatch his vanguard officer over. If not, it might not be the case.

Zhang Cheng looked at him and said: "Guangda, your cavalry is the rear team, and you must send out the Qingqi, Ranger, and Mengqi in batches. Now there are slaves everywhere in Xingshan and Gaoqiao. You must not be careless about the activities of thieves and captives.”

"Here!"

Zhang Cheng ignored him, turned his head to look at Chen Zheng, and said to him: "Chen Zheng, the wounded of our army are now placed on Changling Mountain, and they must be guarded strictly. can't

There is a difference.

In particular, the corpses, armors, and banners of Duduo, Ashan, and Eshuo must be taken care of carefully. The corpses of these people and the heads of the prostitutes should be nitrated with salt and lime.

I estimate that in a few days, there will be an imperial decree from the court, so I will have to send him to the capital. At that time, we will escort the wounded soldiers back with us so that we can recuperate. "

"Here!"

Chen Zheng nodded heavily, and replied: "Please rest assured, Commander, Chen Zheng is here, and Changling Mountain will never be allowed to suffer any loss."

Zhang Cheng raised his horsewhip, pointed at Zhang Guangda and Chen Zheng, and said, "Work hard, this battle in Liaodong is over, you will all be officers of the generals, and it is not impossible to be promoted to lieutenant generals and general soldiers in the future. "

Chen Zheng had the quickest reaction, turned over and fell to the ground, clasped his fists and said loudly, "Chen Zheng wishes to follow the commander forever, and would rather be a pawn before the commander, than Lao Shizi's lieutenant general and chief soldier!"

Before Zhang Cheng had time to say anything, Zhang Guangdace also cupped his fists on the horse and said: "My old Zhang is the same, I would rather be a pawn of the commander-in-chief than a general of the imperial court!"

Zhang Cheng raised his horsewhip and focused heavily on the two of them, and said in a deep voice: "You must know, if you don't want to be a general's soldier, he is not a good soldier!"

He then went on to say: "This commander can only sit in a township, and your future prospects are not only mere generals and deputy generals, but also the general of a township.

No matter where you are, as long as you have Xuan Zhen in your heart and the commander in your heart, that's it, you don't have to stay in front of the commander's army to serve. "

Zhang Cheng took a firm look at Chen Zheng and Zhang Guangda, and continued in a deep voice, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Both of them pondered for a while, and Zhang Guangda took the lead in replying: "Commander, my old Zhang was born as a man of the Commander, and after death he is the Commander's ghost. Two hearts!"

Chen Zheng also hastily expressed his opinion: "Commander, Chen Zheng is also the same. He is sincere to the commander and has no second thoughts."

"Hahaha……"

Zhang Cheng laughed loudly for a while, and then said: "We have experienced several life-and-death battles, and the brotherhood is deep, how can we give up easily? I still trust the commanders of your battalions."...

He waved his horsewhip again and shouted loudly: "Lin Fangping, Huang Baozhong, follow my commander into Gaoqiao, and fight again against slave hunters."

Several people rode out, shouted orders in unison, surrounded Zhang Cheng and headed south. Although they only had less than a thousand cavalry, they were all very brave, not to mention the soldiers of the Tiger Guards, but the Xuanfu The most elite knight in the army.

Even the nearly [-] knights led by Huang Baozhong were all servants of Yang Guozhu, the former chief soldier of the Xuan Mansion. Whether they were fighting on foot, or riding, cutting, riding and shooting, they were equally skilled and fearless.

Especially since Huang Baozhong led them to join Zhang Cheng, not only did he still accept them as his family's soldiers, but he was also promised that the land they had already owned would belong to them, and that they would be paid in full on time from now on, but some Military exploits are even more rewarding.

In this way, although on the surface, it is almost the same as when he was under Yang Guozhu's command, but there are indeed many differences inside. The first point is that the food has been greatly improved.

Although Yang Guozhu treated the servants under his command extremely preferentially, his food was about the same as that of ordinary cavalry. After all, raising soldiers cost the most money, and the lack of transportation capacity also limited the supplies of the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. The food is about the same.

But in Zhang Cheng's army, it was different. Although he was also limited by his supply capacity, Zhang Cheng not only had plenty of money and food, but was also willing to spend it on the soldiers.

In his army, he has not only the food reserves he carries, but also the meat porcelain jars that everyone admires. There are also a lot of bacon and dried meat to supplement the shortage of meat porcelain jars. When the soldiers are marching and fighting, they can still guarantee certain Ample meat supply.

This is the only one in the Ming army, and Zhang Cheng is not hesitant to award rewards, as long as the soldiers of each battalion make military merits, they will be approved according to military regulations and issued immediately.

Furthermore, in Zhang Cheng's army, he paid more attention to the treatment of the wounded soldiers, because he always believed that these wounded soldiers were the real soldiers, and those who died in battle

The compensation for soldiers is also unmatched by the Ming army elsewhere.

It is precisely because of these various benefits that nearly three hundred former Yang Guozhu servants led by Huang Baozhong and Tan Zhenlin have followed Zhang Cheng wholeheartedly, and sincerely regard him as their general master.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty had begun to show the signs of being a general, and its scope was gradually expanding. It was not like the middle period of the Ming Dynasty, where only the servants were the forces that were raised by the generals themselves.

Now, many commanders-in-chiefs have expanded the range of private soldiers, far beyond the family members, and even some generals under the command of the commanders-in-chief all recognize the commander-in-chief, but do not know And the imperial court.

In order for Zhang Cheng to integrate Huang Baozhong and Tan Zhenlin into his circle as soon as possible, he sent an order early on that when the Tiger Guards went out to check, they would merge with the family members to form sentry teams.

And each sentry team must bring at least two Mongolian knights with them, so that they can be fooled if they encounter Manchurian soldiers or Mongolian sentry cavalry.

Not long after Zhang Cheng's Chinese army set off, Zhang Guangda also led more than [-] knights in the cavalry battalion, and slowly embarked on the road towards Gaoqiao.

…………

On the fifth day of September, at noon, the cavalry of Xuanfu Town, led by Zhang Cheng, arrived two miles east of Gaoqiaopu. …

Zhang Cheng led more than [-] riders to the foot of Gaoqiaopu city. The traces of fighting and fighting were faintly visible. There were wreckage of siege equipment everywhere, and there were patches of dark red blood on the dry land.

Gaoqiaopu was originally a post city in Liaodong, the Ming Dynasty. There are 24 steps in the city, and there is only one door on the east side, with three characters "Gaoqiaopu" written on it.

Although it is only a small post city, because of the frequent wars in Liaodong, Gaoqiaopu was also covered with city bricks, and after years of heightening, it has become a very strong and difficult to attack small city.

It is precisely because of this that it survived the previous wars and has been kept by the Ming army. Even this time when the Zhenghong Banner attack came, it could not be broken.

At this moment, when the Gaoqiao defenders saw thousands of elite cavalry coming from outside the city, they were also suspicious for a while, until Zhang Chengfang rode his horse to the bottom of the city and showed Zhang Cheng's seal, and then three more cavalry rode out.

"Qian Zhongsi, Takahashi's garrison commander, pays his respects to Zongbing Zhang."

A bright general under the age of forty was standing on the horse, and he was holding his fists to salute Zhang Cheng.

Zhang Cheng didn't write any ink, and asked directly, "Where did General Liu of Liaodong go? Why isn't he in Gaoqiao?"

Qian Zhongsi clasped his fists and said: "General Zhang, nearly ten thousand cavalry attacked the city a few days ago, and the siege was not defeated for a day, so he led the army south. Liu Shuai feared that he would attack Bijia Mountain, and was worried that the army would hoard food There is a loss, and the army has already led the pursuit."

After Zhang Cheng heard about this, he couldn't help admiring Liu Zhaoji secretly in his heart, he was worthy of being the commander of a town, and he also saw that the Tatars' plan was to store grain on Bijia Mountain.

What is even more rare is that Liu Zhaoji not only guessed that the Tartars might want to rob Bijia Mountain to store grain, but also dared to lead the army out of the city to pursue them in order to protect the grain stored on Bijia Mountain.

Zhang Cheng asked anxiously, "General Liu, when did you leave the city?"

Qian Zhongsi clasped his fists and replied, "Liu Shuai, on the first day of September, he led the army out of the city to pursue the captive cavalry."

"Oh."

Zhang Cheng nodded and said, "In this way, General Liu has been out of the city for five days."

"Yes, it's been five days."

Qian Zhongsi clasped his fists in reply, and he then asked: "Zhang Zongbing, do you invite the generals to rest in the city?"

"No need."

When Zhang Cheng learned that Liu Zhaoji had left the city for five days, he couldn't help worrying about him, and immediately replied: "Our army will not enter the city, so we will rest outside the city for a night, and tomorrow we will go south to support Liu Zongbing. , to resist the captive cavalry.”

He then asked again: "I want to ask you, is there any news from Zongbing Liu after he left the city?"

"Back to Commander Zhang, since Liu Shuai left the city, there has been no news coming back, and his subordinates don't know where Liu Shuai is now or how he is doing!"

…………

On the sixth day of September, at noon, about 30 miles south of Gaoqiaopu, the cavalry under Zhang Cheng simply finished their lunch and were about to

After raising troops, they continued to go south to look for Liu Zhaoji and Zhenghongqi's mother.

Seeing a cloud of smoke rising high from the south, all the generals were startled, Zhang Guangda even said: "I didn't see the sentry cavalry report back, why did it suddenly seem like there were cavalry coming?"

"Could it be that our military sentry riders are back!" Lin Fangping said.

"No, look at the smoke and dust, this group of cavalry is not many, it should be between twenty and thirty cavalry."

Standing on the saddle of his horse, Huang Baozhong, the leader of the guard team, was looking carefully to the south. He continued: "Although it is not very clear, but one thing is certain, it is indeed our Daming officer who is running in the distance. Cavalry cavalry."

Zhang Cheng shouted loudly: "The whole army is in formation and ready for battle."

He said again: "Huang Baozhong, Tan Zhenlin, the Jia Ding team is divided into two parts, and you two will lead them respectively. They will rush to the cavalry side from the two wings, but if there is any information, it must be sent back immediately."

Immediately afterwards, he yelled again: "Lin Fangping, the tiger guards are ready to fight. Zhang Guangda, heavy cavalry wear armor and form a formation, and light cavalry form a rear formation. Follow the orders of the flag."