Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 218 Three Walls

In late autumn, the weather gradually turned cooler. The Loyal Camp had tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and they slowly advanced westward along the northern bank of the Xunjiang River. The team stretched for nearly a hundred miles. They had many family members, so they had to rob civilian boats and sail upstream, with great difficulty and very slow speed.

The Red Army was on high alert east of Wutunso, and a major battle was inevitable.

General Cao Yu was ordered to go to the Loyalty Camp and had been under house arrest by Li Chixin. As the war was about to begin, Cao Yu was finally freed and hurried back to the Red Army to report.

"Old Cao, how are you doing in the Loyalty Camp? Have Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng humiliated you?" Danchu asked with concern when he saw Cao Yu.

"Don't worry, Marshal. When I first joined the Loyalty Camp, Li Chixin deployed his swordsmen and axemen in an attempt to intimidate me. I, Cao, have seen the world, but I didn't fall for it. I held my head high and bowed without kneeling. The Loyalty Camp is strong on the outside but weak on the inside, and it's hard to know what to do. Li and Gao didn't dare to make enemies with the Red Army, so they were very polite to me."

Cao Yu took a sip of tea to moisten his dry throat, and continued, "Although Li Chixin is the commander of the Loyalty Camp, he is cunning and rude, and his prestige is not high. Gao Bizheng is thoughtful and has some strategies, but he is inferior to Li Chixin. The two of them are not in harmony, and they are all suppressed by Madam Gao. Madam Gao is weak and afraid of trouble. She just wants to find a place to live a stable life and does not want to go to war."

"Have you figured out the intentions of the Loyalty Camp? Are they going to take Nanning? Or Liuzhou?"

"When I left, Li Chixin told me that the Loyalty Battalion was not going west to take Nanning. However, in my opinion, the Loyalty Battalion was most likely going to take Nanning."

Cao Yu's words were firm, and Danchu asked, "Why do you think so?"

"First, Liuzhou is close to Guizhou and Yunnan, and close to the Western Army's territory. The Zhongzheng Camp and the Western Army are at loggerheads, so they are unwilling to go to Liuzhou. Second, Chen Bangfu flatters the Zhongzheng Camp and marries his daughter to Gao Bizheng. Third, Nanning is close but Liuzhou is far away. The Zhongzheng Camp has more than 100,000 people, many family members, and many diseases, so it is difficult to travel long distances. Fourth, Liu Xiyao and Liu Fangliang have made it clear that they are willing to take Nanning to settle their families and volunteer to be the vanguard..."

Liu Xiyao was older than Li Zicheng and was known as the "King of Rule". He was a brave general during the Ge and Zuo Wuying periods. Liu Fangliang was also Li Zicheng's trusted general. His bravery was second only to Liu Zongmin. He was known as the "Invincible General with White Horse and Silver Spear". He was praised as "Luo Cheng in the world, Zhao Yun reborn". He served as the "front-line vanguard officer" in the Chuang army.

"The Intelligence Bureau said that Liu Xiyao and Liu Fangliang were not on good terms with Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng. Why did they volunteer to be the vanguard?"

"Liu Xiyao and Liu Fangliang were unwilling to submit to the imperial court and advocated continuing to raise the banner of Dashun. This time when they marched westward to Wutunso, the two Lius executed the soldiers first and then asked for permission. They first broke camp and then asked to be the vanguard, forcing Li Chixin to leave Wuzhou."

Danchu finally figured it out and said, "It was you, Old Cao, who went deep into the enemy camp to get first-hand intelligence. The generals of the Loyalty Camp are not in harmony, so there is no need to worry. I only need to defeat the two Lius to make the Loyalty Camp surrender."

So, Cen Danchu began to deploy his troops. The first battalion of infantry entered Hengzhou from Nanning, threatening Xunzhou and pinning down Chen Bangfu. The third battalion of infantry went downstream from Zhaoping, threatening the flank of the Zhongzheng Battalion. The second and fourth battalions of infantry gathered at Wutunso and joined the personal guard battalion to attack the Zhongzheng Battalion. The navy battalion only trained two battalions of soldiers, a total of 22 warships, all of which were sent to the river surface in the area of ​​Wutunso.

Another messenger was sent to issue an ultimatum to the Zhongzheng Camp, demanding that the Zhongzheng Camp avoid the Red Army's garrison. Specifically, the Zhongzheng Camp was required to cross the Xunjiang River in Tengxian, advance westward from the south bank of the Xunjiang River, cross the river again in Guiping, and advance westward from the north bank of the Xunjiang River. Otherwise, the Red Army would resort to force and fight a war.

The military discipline of the Loyalty Battalion was bad, and they looted everything they passed. For the Red Army, the Loyalty Battalion's crossing was no small matter. For the Loyalty Battalion, more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians crossing the river back and forth was no joke, and the Red Army's ultimatum was unacceptable.

On August 25, Liu Xiyao and Liu Fangliang led the vanguard to approach Wutunso. The Red Army continued to build strongholds and fight stupid battles, forming several large camps to the east of Wutunso to block the way of the Zhongzheng Battalion. The Zhongzheng Battalion had poor military discipline and a bad reputation. Before reaching Wutunso, the people were terrified and spontaneously organized militias to form a militia to cooperate with the Red Army in the battle.

The Ming Dynasty had a tradition of organizing militias. The Red Army had been operating in Wutunso for a long time and had a strong mass base, so they were more confident in dealing with the Zhongzheng Camp.

At 9 o'clock, Liu Xiyao led his troops to approach the Red Army camp.

As a frontier soldier, Danchu had heard a lot of stories about the Dashun Army from his father. Today, the Red Army and the Dashun Army clashed for the first time, and Danchu did not dare to neglect it and personally went to the front line to command.

However, the scouts and scouts reported to each other that Liu Xiyao used the refugees as the vanguard, the cavalry in the middle, and the infantry in the rear, which was the famous "three walls" tactics of the Dashun Army.

The elite troops of the Dashun Army came from the border people in the northwest and the surrendered border troops. These people grew up in the border areas, were good at riding and shooting, and had strong mobility. Li Zicheng learned the triple formation tactics from the border troops of Yulin Town and developed it into the "three walls": "When facing the battlefield, 30,000 horses are lined up, called three walls. The front ones look back, and the rear ones are killed. After a long battle without victory, the cavalry pretended to be defeated to lure the officers and soldiers, and the 30,000 infantrymen with long spears stabbed and stabbed like flying, and the cavalry fought back, and they always won a big victory."

However, the Dashun Army's "three walls" tactic could only be used to fight the Ming army in the interior. By the time of the Battle of Shanhaiguan, the Dashun Army's "three walls" were no longer effective against the Guanning Iron Cavalry, let alone the Manchurian Eight Banners, which were at their peak.

The Red Army's current strength may not be comparable to Wu Sangui's Guanning Iron Cavalry. However, although Liu Xiyao and Liu Fangliang were the vanguards of the Loyalty Camp, they were no longer the same as before. In addition, the epidemic in the army was prevalent and the troops were in short supply. The "three walls" were no longer worthy of their name.

"Liu Xiyao was a veteran during the Ge and Zuo Wuying periods, and Liu Fangliang was known as the invincible general with a white horse and a silver spear. So many years have passed, how come they have made no progress and are even using refugees as vanguards? They are hopeless, hopeless."

Dan Chu shook his head and sneered.

The commander of the Second Infantry Battalion, Kuang Shi, suggested: "Marshal Jue, why not concentrate our forces to eliminate Liu Xiyao and Liu Fangliang before the rear guard of the Loyalty Battalion arrives? Once the two Lius are eliminated, Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng will surely be terrified."

"Well," Danchu agreed with Kuangshi's suggestion and said, "That's exactly what I think. But the two Lius are using the refugees as a guide. I have always advocated benevolence and justice, and I must not harm the refugees. How to defeat the enemy still needs to be considered. Let's go and scout it out ourselves."

The fighting power of the Loyalty Camp was not as good as that of the Eight Banners. Danchu was more daring and calm, and under the escort of a team of personal soldiers, he went out of the camp to scout the enemy situation.

Just two miles out of the camp, we saw dust flying in the distance, as if there were thousands of troops. Through the telescope, Danchu saw countless ragged refugees. There were dozens of scouts in front, each with two horses. Behind the refugees, there was an endless stream of elite cavalry, at least a thousand cavalry, fully equipped with armor and sophisticated weapons. The big flag fluttered in the wind, and the word "Liu" was faintly visible.

A lean camel is bigger than a horse. Although the Loyalty Camp has declined, its strength should not be underestimated. Liu Xiyao and Liu Fangliang have been through many battles and are by no means ordinary people.

Danchu led his troops back to the main camp and issued an order: "All camps should keep their gates closed and not go out to fight without permission."

(End of this chapter)