Daming kill

Chapter 133 White Horse Crossing

Baimadu is located about 70 miles west of Xiangyang City, but this 70 miles is not a straight line distance, nor a river distance, but a winding road distance.

The beachhead of Baimadu is very large, but the terrain has clear boundaries.

The upstream area next to Baimadu on the south bank of the Han River is a large labyrinth of small hills with seven turns and eight turns, and most of the mountains near the river are in a trend along the river.

Although the mountains along the river are not very high, with an average of only about [-] meters, they are also steep and difficult, making crossing the river a difficult and difficult task.

Baimadu and the downstream area are completely different, roughly flat, but with more trees and vegetation.

The river surface of the Han River near Baimadu is very wide, almost 2000 meters long, but most of the river is densely covered with shoals and sandbars. Only a small part of the river not far from the south bank is slightly deeper, but it is also shallower than the sheepskin beach. .

However, the deepest and passable area is mainly concentrated in the mountains on the west side of Baimadu on the river surface. The area directly opposite Baimadu and the downstream area on its east side is only 500 meters deep enough to wade through. people.

Although the river is indeed a little shallow, in fact, Baimadu used to be a ferry, a ferry for boats, not a place for people to wade across the river.

Such extremely low water levels can occur.

The drought in winter is only a small reason, and the more important thing is that the severe droughts in these years are caused by the extreme conditions caused by the small glaciers.

Because it is far away from Xiangfan after all, and the location is relatively remote. Except for a few fishermen and the few nearby villagers, ordinary Xiangfan people really don't know the current hydrological conditions of Baimadu.

After all, Baimadu is a place where boats cross the river, and most people would never have imagined that the water here would suddenly become so shallow.

Furthermore, most of the places where you can wade across the river are facing mountains, which is a dangerous place for military strategists, and it is far away from Xiangyang, so Zuo Liangyu didn't pay attention to it.

But Zuo Liangyu also cautiously placed Tan Ma around here.

On the morning of the third day of December in the 15th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng, who was in charge of attacking Fancheng, had to stop his tentative attack after being hit by fierce firearms from Zuo Liangyu's defenders.

At this time, one of Li Zicheng's generals reported a fisherman's news that there was a shoal further to the west that the officers and troops had not sent anyone to guard, and the river water in this shoal was very shallow this winter, shallower than the sheepskin beach. The brigade can pass without boats at all.

It's just a little far away and a bit out of the way, and the road and terrain are not ideal.However, this fisherman knows the path and can save a lot of time.

Li Zicheng immediately sent people to find out more villagers who defected, and soon got further evidence.

The main reason why the Peasant Army did not get this high-value information in a timely manner was that many villagers actually did not have access to the high-level figures of the Peasant Army, let alone understand the combat deployment of the Peasant Army, so it often caused a lot of delays in valuable information.

In addition, there are not many people who know the situation of Baima crossing the river, which further caused the delay of information.

After receiving this valuable report, although Luo Rucai's department was conducting a surprise attack on Yangpitan and did not know whether it would succeed, Li Zicheng decisively terminated his continued tentative attack on Fancheng.

Although Fancheng was only an earthen city, the left army had many weapons and had been preparing for a long time. Li Zicheng's tentative attack was not effective.

The difficulty of attacking Kaifeng and the experience of beating Zuo Liangyu to defend Yancheng in Henan in February also made Li Zicheng very cold about storming a strong city, and this did not fit his character.

Li Zicheng resolutely turned his main force to the west, and at the same time dispatched scouts to check on Baimadu as soon as possible.

When it was clearly confirmed, the cavalry of Li Zicheng's troops began to gallop, and the infantry brigade also accelerated their pace.

The veteran Zuo Liangyu, who had long been keenly aware of the abnormality of the peasant army, was also unambiguous.

As soon as Li Zicheng's main force moved, Zuo Liangyu sent his deputy general Wang Yuncheng to lead his cavalry left in Xiangyang to gallop towards Baimadu, and at the same time ordered Huideng Xiangbu, who was ordered to stand by at the foot of Wanshan Mountain, to support him.

Outside Fancheng, there was a flat river, and Zuo Liangyu climbed up to look at it again. Li Zicheng had a small number of troops, and it was really impossible for the army to hide. Especially to save time, Li Zicheng's westward army could not be too far away from Hanshui.

And Zuo Liangyu has been running Xiangyang for half a year, and it is not the first time he has come to Xiangyang. It is impossible for him not to know the situation of Baimadu.

However, the reason why Zuo Liangyu didn't send troops to guard Baimadu before was because Zuo Liangyu never thought of defending Xiangyang to the death, and also thought that he couldn't defend it at all, so he was ready to run away.

Since he was going to run away, he couldn't involve a lot of troops in Baimadu.

Although the terrain is very beneficial to the defenders, the water is too shallow, which is comparable to land attack and defense, and it is useless if there are fewer people.

And Baimadu is too far away, and large troops are likely to be stuck and unable to escape if thrown there.

That's why Zuo Liangyu only sent scouts at Baimadu, and pinned more hopes that the peasant army would not be able to find Baimadu for a while or never, and that his troops could do a good job of clearing the walls and clearing the fields. The peasant army looked at the mountain and hesitated.

You must know that if the defender defends at Baimadu by the mountain, the casualties of the attacker will be quite terrible.

But Zuo Liangyu didn't expect Li Zicheng to find out so quickly, and he was really not afraid of casualties.

After realizing that Li Zicheng might attack Baimadu, Zuo Liangyu hesitated again.

It is a bit unwilling to give up this ancient fortress so easily.

And Zuo Liangyu found that he still missed one point, that is, no matter what, he had to get through today.

Otherwise, once the peasant army attacks from Baimadu, Fancheng on the north bank of the Han River will be a dead city, and the peasant army will arrive at the city of Xiangyang this afternoon.

With Li Zicheng's ruthlessness, once Xiangyang is surrounded, no one will be able to escape.

Therefore, Zuo Liangyu immediately left Fancheng to Xiangyang, and personally led the elite main force in Xiangyang to move west to support.

If the peasant army goes to Baimadu, he can quickly reach the battlefield; if it is for other ferry, he can also guarantee effective support.

If you don’t go along the river, firstly, the road conditions on the south bank of the Han River are very unsatisfactory;

Therefore, Zuo Liangyu's army will not meet Li Ping who is defending at Yangpitan.

To ensure safety, Zuo Liangyu left his most trusted Fang Guoan and Chen Keli in Fancheng, left his son Zuo Menggeng in Xiangyang City, and sent his most trusted old subordinate Wang Yuncheng to play forward.

Wang Yuncheng is a native of Liaodong, known as the "King of Iron Cavalry", and is Zuo Liangyu's loyal subordinate.

The elite main force led by Zuo Liangyu is mainly composed of the direct descendants of the headquarters controlled by Zuo Menggeng, because it is too late to transfer the troops in Fancheng at this time.

More importantly, the fleet had withdrawn earlier, and there were not many ships on the Han River for the troops in Fancheng to quickly cross the river to the south bank, and time did not allow it.

Therefore, Zhao Jin's soldiers and horses who had been in Xiangyang naturally followed Zuo Liangyu out of the city.

There were about 3000 Zhao troops in and out of the city (all adult male soldiers, the old and the weak, women and children had already stayed in the city), of which about 1200 were directly under Zhao Jin (his service battalion was not moved), about 900 were directly under Shi Ming, Wang Chengwu has about 400 people.

Li Sheng is the least, only 200 people.

Liu Shixiong did not go out with the army, but stayed in the city with his wife Zhao Meiling to take care of everyone's belongings, women and children (at Zhao Meiling's strong request).

Zhao Jin's troops, who had received the urgent order and had already prepared for battle as required, set off just after noon. Five or six hundred people were killed, including Li Shengcai.

It is said to be 70 miles, but after copying a lot of small roads, it is estimated that the actual journey is about 25 kilometers.

This equates to a speed of about eight kilometers per hour.

Although it is lower than the standard of 10 kilometers per hour for rapid marching in later generations, considering the training time of Zhao Jin's troops and the physical fitness of the soldiers, this speed is actually not low.

Moreover, the rapid march for three hours has basically reached the physical limit of ordinary people, and it is a greater test of the willpower of the troops.

Zhao Jin's troops were the first to arrive at Baimadu except for Hui Deng's infantry.This has a lot to do with their good leggings and relatively strict training.

Of course, Zhao Jin's rich personal experience is also very important.

A few miles behind Zhao Jin, there was a long line of tens of thousands of Zuo Liangyu's infantry. Zuo Liangyu basically mobilized all the elite and close forces in Xiangyang City.

"General Zhao's troops are coming soon." A soldier reminded Zuo Liangyu.

"It's really fast, this Zhao Jin is interesting." Lieutenant General Wang Yuncheng yelled again.

Zuo Liangyu, who was standing on the mountain and being guarded by the army, withdrew his gaze to the north, and looked east again like everyone else.

They have been watching when the infantry brigade will arrive.

In the second half of the journey, Zuo Liangyu, who arrived ahead of schedule, could easily see the main force of the infantry in a long, long line on a mountain about 100 meters away, and could even distinguish Zhao Jinbu, who was always at the forefront. , even these infantry often have to walk through the woods.

Moreover, since Zuo Liangyu had been with the main force of the infantry in the first half, Zhao Jinbu's training advantages had already been more intuitively displayed in front of his eyes.

"The flag hasn't fallen, the army hasn't been chaotic, and the drills are quite fine." Prime Minister Hui Deng next to Zuo Liangyu said after taking a few glances.

Since Zhao Jin was very close to Baimadu, Prime Minister Hui Deng, who saw Zhao Jin's troops marching for the first time, could see clearly.

"Well, there are some tricks." Zuo Liangyu nodded and said.

Zuo Liangyu dared to cross his main force ahead of time, precisely because the Huideng Xiang infantry, which had a distance advantage, arrived at Baimadu early and established a basic line of defense.

"Liang Bi, quickly gather all your infantry from the bottom of the mountain up from the ferry, and securely occupy this mountain, so as to prevent intruders from taking risks and attacking from the river below the mountain. After all, the river there is shallower, and it is still near us. There are large sandbars where a large number of troops can gather, and it is hard to say whether the intruders will choose elite soldiers from the west to attack, and their nature is cunning!" Zuo Liangyu said suddenly after thinking for a while.

"This...don't wait any longer?"

Hui Deng was stunned for a moment, Liangbi was his word.

"Hurry up, the bandit infantry is about to arrive, and the mountain road is difficult to travel. I'm afraid we won't be able to provide support for a while. Zhao Jin's soldiers will arrive soon, and the ferry at the foot of the mountain should be fine. Besides, you and Le'an's cavalry are still there. Here." Zuo Liangyu glanced at Bei Bian again and said.

Le'an is Wang Yuncheng's word.

"Order."

Prime Minister Whedon's eyes flickered, but he still clasped his fists in response.

……

Notes:

Many historical records say that Baimadu is 70 miles west of Xiangyang City (about 600 meters in Ming Dynasty), and Zuo Liangyu used his height to fight against Li Zicheng.

There are many place names related to Baima in Xiangyang, such as Baima Village, Baima Cave, Baima Temple, Baima Village, etc., but their locations are either not along the river, or there is a big gap between the distance from Xiangyang and the historical records.

However, what Shi Zai mentioned may be the distance of the main road rather than the straight-line distance. Zuo Liangyu's army may intersperse some more labor-saving small roads when marching. The army cannot do it.

Some sources believe that the place where Li Zicheng crossed the river is the White Horse Cave, although the distance is indeed much closer.However, the terrain near Baima Cave is very special. The surrounding mountains just meet the westernmost side of Wanshan Mountain, which is equivalent to a closed gate. From the perspective of the overall terrain of the south bank of the Han River, it is very important. If this place can easily cross the river at that time Not to defend is very contrary to basic common sense.

Due to the inability to study further, and not to write history, the description of Baimadu is based on the terrain near Baima Cave as a reference. It cannot withstand scrutiny logically. Please don't take it seriously, after all, it is just a story.

(End of this chapter)