A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 378

On November 13th, [-]th year of Chongzhen, the sky was still covered with clouds, and it seemed that it was snowing again.

Looking down from a high altitude, the west direction of Ruzhou city is full of densely packed tents. Soldiers and horses gathered in this area, including the officers and soldiers who invaded the army, there may be nearly [-] troops. The camp seems to be densely packed and boundless.

During the rushing army, the camps of Liu Fangliang, Li Guo and others were set up on both sides of Jingshui and Rushui, about ten miles away from Wang Dou and others' camps.Now that the river has frozen over, there is no difficulty in traveling between the two banks.

Just like Wang Dou, Chen Yongfu and others were stationed in Shanghe, Qili and other villages, the soldiers of the Chuang army were also stationed along these villages.Human settlements are similar, they are all distributed along rivers and water sources. Although most of those villages are abandoned and dilapidated, it is better to live in a leaky house than to set up a tent in the wild in this cold season.

Liu Fangliang and Li Guo's Chinese army camp was set up in a place called Chundianzhuang on the west bank of Jingshui, but they did not live in the village, but in the Dragon King Temple in the west of the village.The entire village of Chundianzhuang is dilapidated, only this temple is relatively intact. Although it is old, the eaves and corridors are complete, and it has not suffered from the disaster of soldiers and bandits.

Not only that, the Guandi Temple in Zhuangbei, the Grandma Temple in Zhuangnan, the Horse Temple in Zhuangdong, and the Temple of the God of Wealth are all relatively intact.At this time, people have a natural awe of Taoist temples and Buddhist temples. They can plunder and kill unscrupulously, but they have to think twice about destroying various temples and Taoist temples. They are afraid of retribution from ghosts and gods in the future, especially for the peasant army. .

The large tents of Liu Fangliang and others were set up in the Dragon King Temple, and their old battalion men and horses also rested on both sides of the temple and fed fodder.Big men wearing felt hats, old sheep robes, or hoods came in and out. Compared with the starving infantry wearing red scarves, these men were much more capable, and all of them carried waist knives. With a bow and arrow on his back, his demeanor has a look of indifference and bravery.

These are the old battalion soldiers and horses in the Chuang army. Many of them have more than ten years of experience in fighting on the battlefield. They have seen a lot of corpses and blood.However, these elite backbones have always been the treasures in everyone's hearts, and they will not be taken out and killed easily at a critical moment.

They came in and out, got on and off their horses, and kept sending out orders from the Chinese army, or reporting news that they had come.The connection between Liu Fangliang and the battalions depended on these fast horses. There was no other way. It was too difficult to let the hungry people understand the meaning of the banner, so the only way to solve it was to use messengers.

The spies of the old battalion and the Ma army continued to send back news of most of the officers and soldiers outside the city. At this time, in the temple hall, a pile of red charcoal fire was burning, and Liu Fangliang and Li Guo were relatively speechless around the fire.

After a long time, Liu Fangliang sighed: "Many sentry horses in the horse battalion were damaged, and most of the officers and soldiers who came to Ruzhou were finally found out. Among the officers and soldiers, there were thousands of troops from the deputy general of Kaifeng city guard Chen Yongfu. The rest were The guest army is called the Shunxiang Army, and the general is called Wang Dou, and I heard that he is from Xuanfu Town."

"The officers and soldiers in this group are very difficult to deal with. I thought that the officers and soldiers I met that day were the strongest troops in the Shun Township Army. I didn't expect the news from the sentinel that the Shun Township Army who came up with them were also capable. Will it be worse than those forwards, are the frontiers so elite?"

Li Guo's young face was deep in thought: "It seems that when King Gao Chuang was here, our rebel army fought against the frontier army. At that time, envoy Lu Lian brought some Guan Ning soldiers, which were very powerful. But they fought on horseback. What I use is the three-eyed gun, the firearm is not so fierce, and the foot combat is not so fierce."

Liu Fangliang said: "It seems that there are quite a few cavalry troops in the Shun Township army, but I don't know how their horse battles are compared to the initial battles. Our rebels' sentries can't send back any more information. The prefecture of Ruzhou is tightly guarded. The soldiers and civilians are not allowed to go out of the city at will. The sentry horses of the Shun Township Army are even more powerful. Our sentry horses have been damaged a lot in their hands, and it is difficult to spy. Now they cannot approach their camp for five miles. We circle around the camp."

Li Guo said softly: "Brother Liu, tens of thousands of us gathered outside Ruzhou City, and we consume a lot of food and grass every day. If we don't take down the city, we may have nowhere to eat. We can't delay any longer. We will have a decisive battle with the officers and soldiers tomorrow. I'll bring some cavalry to charge, and we should be able to beat them."

Liu Fangliang shook his head again and again: "They have a lot of cavalry, and our horses are not as good as them. We will suffer a lot from hedging."

"The old battalion and cavalry are the foundation of our rebel army and cannot be wasted easily."

Li Guo also thought of this, he stood up, walked around the hall a few times, a little anxious: "Then what should I do? I can't fight on foot, and I can't fight on horseback. If this drags on, there will be no food, and the morale of the army will be shaken. Our rebel army collapsed."

He was suddenly overjoyed: "Still using the old method, feigning battle, cavalry lure, infantry lure can be all right, after the officers and soldiers are confused, the old battalion will attack, and we will surely win a big victory."

Liu Fangliang pondered for a long time: "You can use hungry soldiers to lure thousands of infantry with spears behind the formation, and when officers and soldiers fight, the cavalry will attack from both sides... I am afraid that the cavalry of the Shunxiang army on the opposite side can also be tried. If we cannot win, we will leave Ruzhou, return to Yiyang and Yongning, and join King Chuang."

Li Guo said: "There are so many people, I'm afraid they won't be able to retreat."

After the failure of the ambush of Gao Shiyin, Liu Fangliang and others gathered less than half of the "infantry" on the road. After these people returned, they spread the news of the failure of the ambush, which had a considerable impact on the soldiers and horses left behind.These people plus the Ruzhou sergeants, there are more than 3 people on horseback. If they retreat, the morale of the army is turbulent, and the officers and soldiers chase after them, it must be a big defeat.

Liu Fangliang's eyes flashed: "If we retreat, 3000 people from the old battalion and cavalry will go first, and then gather thousands of capable infantry. It can be used as an internal response."

Li Guo said excitedly: "Jiang is old and spicy, so I will do it as Brother Liu said."

……

Wang Dou held a binoculars in his hand, and stared at the Chuangjun camp for a long time. Beside him, there were all armored men, wearing cloaks and cloaks.Chen Yongfu and his son beside him, as well as the generals of the Qianfeng Battalion, were all very envious.

This Shunxiang army is very generous, I heard that this binoculars are only found in the southern region, in Kaifeng City, only Zhou Wangfu and the governor's yamen each have one, and they are usually regarded as treasures, but I did not expect that it is so common in the Shunxiang army.The binoculars are a good thing. They can see things in the distance better than the naked eye. It can be said to be a sharp weapon in the army, especially when facing the enemy.

It's not very good if you haven't used it before, but after Wang Dou let Chen Yongfu fancy it for a while, he couldn't put it down immediately.

In particular, his son Chen De was even more itchy, relying on his good relationship with Xie Yike, he would beg Xie Yike every now and then to play around for a while.The father and son wanted to ask Wang Dou for one, but during the joint expedition, Chen Yongfu took too much advantage of Wang Dou and others, but he was embarrassed to ask for supplies again.

Chen De's voice came in my ears: "Brother Xie, just let me watch for another quarter of an hour, just a quarter of an hour."

Wang Dou smiled slightly, put down the binoculars, and said to Xie Yike: "Thank you, General Manager, give your binoculars to Brother Chen De as a gift."

Chen De was overjoyed, Xie Yike was surprised, Chen Yongfu himself said: "General Wang, since the expedition, my vanguard battalion has often disturbed your army, how can I accept such a valuable thing."

Wang Dou said: "It's okay, just mere utensils, please don't dislike Chen Junmen."

Chen Yongfu smiled happily: "How could it be, how could it be."

Unceremoniously snatched the binoculars from his overjoyed son.

Xie Yike was reluctant to lose his beloved, Wang Dou said: "Yike, you go to Brother Sun..."

Xie Yike immediately became happy again, Sun Sanjie still had a few binoculars like this in his supply camp, and with Wang Dou's order, he could ask for another one.

Chen Yongfu and Wang Dou stood together, holding up the binoculars and only looking around. This is on the wall of Shili Zhuangzhuang where the Shunxiang army camped.With the telescope in hand, the movements of their camp can be seen more clearly.

Holding up the binoculars, one can vaguely see the remaining snow on both sides of Jingshui and Rushui, and the frozen ice layer in the river is also quite conspicuous. People coming and going on it are all active soldiers.

Holding the binoculars in his hand, Chen Yongfu was in a very restless mood. He was quite envious of Wang Doujun's equipment, and he was even more secretly envious of their combat power.Gao Shiyin defeated more than 1000 rogues with less than 7000 men. As such an elite, Wang Dou has as many as 10,000 men under his command. Could it be that he alone can fight against an army of [-]+ rogues?

He is just a general, and he is the deputy commander.The difference is so obvious, how can Chen Yongfu be calmed down?
Chen Yongfu wanted to prove with facts that he did not accompany the Shun Township Army as a foil for this expedition.

After a long time, he put down his binoculars and said to Wang Dou, "General Wang, after the first battle with Mr. Gao Qian, the thieves in Ruzhou were already frightened. The time has come to get rid of the bandits in Ruzhou. Tomorrow the Japanese will attack the enemy's camp first, and then discourage them. A certain army has few cavalry troops, so please ask General Wang to help them lead the battle."

Wang Doudao: "Chen Junmen is loyal and courageous, and the general admires it. At the end of tomorrow, the general will personally lead more than [-] cavalry troops to protect the two wings of Chen Junmen, so that the Junmen can kill the thieves with peace of mind and break the formation."

……

On the morning of the 21st, the area to the west of Ruzhou suddenly became noisy, and the officers and soldiers and the Chuang army all dispatched troops and horses to fight on the same day.

However, they all had spare strength. The officers and soldiers had nearly [-] soldiers and horses. Chen Yongfu's vanguard battalion was dispatched. Wang Dou also sent Li Guangheng's cavalry, as well as Gao Shiyin's and Wen Fangliang's cavalry and infantry. Watch the battle together with the fighting Central Military Department.Officers from various ministries who did not participate in the battle stayed in the camp.

Chuangjun dispatched nearly 2 people, and the two sides collided in the Houzhuang area, waiting in formation.

The weather was still cold that day, and the formations of both sides had already been set up.Among the officers and soldiers, Wang Dou led his Central Guard Chief, and Gao Shi Yinren was in the middle of the formation.Next to it is Chen Yongfu's family team of 500 people, and everyone has a horse.The rest of the [-] infantry, he placed in the front position, and with Wang Dou's [-] cavalry guarding his wings, he could lead the army and kill them with peace of mind.

In the binoculars, both Wang Dou and Chen Yongfu saw the layout of the Chuang army, which was still the same, with the hungry soldiers outside, followed by the infantry, then the horse army, then the cavalry, and finally the old battalion.

Wang Dou estimated in his heart how many intruders Chen Yongfu could defeat. Apart from his servants having hoods, armor and horses, the rest of the soldiers were poorly equipped, wearing only red hats and sacks. He was in Tsing Yi and a battle skirt, holding a big knife and spear in his hand.Those with swords had shields in their hands, and some archers and three-eyed guns, and there may be hundreds of bird guns.

However, the rogues on the opposite side had even worse equipment, most of them only had spears and turbans, and very few were armed with big knives.Also, spears are easy to make. Dozens of spear heads can be made in one furnace of iron, and just find a wooden stick. It is much more difficult to make a broadsword.

However, Wang Dou could faintly see that there were many archers and three-eyed musketeers in the Chuangjun on the two levels of infantry and cavalry. Presumably Li Zicheng attacked many cities in Henan Province in succession and took in many archers there. When fighting with the officers and soldiers, I don't know if Chen Yongfu can stand it or not.

"Kill the thief!"

Chen Yongfu rode calmly on the horse, with his own demeanor, protected by the cavalry of the Shun Township Army on both sides, he was very relieved, and soon handed down the command flag of the Zhongjun Army.Immediately, the three thousand chief executives of the former army rushed to the camp of the Chuang army one after another.

You can clearly see the difference between the officers and soldiers and the bandits. Although the officers and soldiers in the hinterland are decayed, they still have the posture of fighting in formation. In particular, Chen Yongfu is also strict in running the army, and Wang Dou's combat is also remarkable.

The rogues were purely a swarm, so although there were thousands of hungry troops on the periphery, divided into several layers, they were still defeated by the attack of these two thousand officers and soldiers, and they were routed to the sides or the rear of the formation.These hungry soldiers who attacked the formation were shot down mercilessly, and had to flee to both sides of the formation.

Afterwards, Chen Yongfu's men confronted the infantry of the invading army. The two sides first shot each other with bows and arrows and three-eyed blunderbusses, and then they fought with swords and spears. The fight was indistinguishable.

It can be seen that the combat effectiveness of the Chuang army has been greatly improved, and these infantry are indistinguishable from Chen Yongfu's battalion soldiers. No wonder the local officers and soldiers of Henan Prefecture are not their opponents.Moreover, there are a large number of hungry troops in the Chuang army, and there is sufficient cannon fodder for consumption, which has a great advantage in number.

Seeing that the two sides were entangled, a total of [-] horsemen rushed out from the left and right of the Chuangjun formation, intending to pinch Chen Yongfu's infantry from both sides.

Chen De cupped his hands to his father and said: "Junmen, bid to lead the servants to face the enemy on the right."

Chen Yongfu glanced at Aizi and said, "Okay, you're going to fight now."

After a pause, he said again: "A sword has no eyes, so be careful."

Chen De said excitedly: "Take the order."

He led the five hundred servants away aggressively, and Chen Yongfu said to Wang Dou again: "General Wang, the enemy on the left will have your troops."

Wang Dou smiled slightly, and sent out a banner to Li Guangheng. Immediately, he led his cavalry, and rushed towards the "horse team" of the intruding army on the left.

Those "horse teams" were screaming wildly when they suddenly saw a troop of cavalry rushing towards them.How could their "cavalry" dare to confront the cavalry of the Shun Township Army?

The leading lieutenant was also clever, roared a few times, immediately rode his horse back, turned around and returned to his own formation, dismounted all of them, and stood ready with spears in hand.Li Guangheng didn't force too much, seeing that they were no longer pinching Chen Yongfu's infantry, he stopped approaching and just watched from a distance.

But on Chen De's side, his leader Ding Ji had already fought with the cavalry of the invading army, and everyone dismounted immediately, fighting in a melee.After a fierce battle for a long time, Chen De repelled the thousands of cavalry, came back with blood on his face, immediately hanged several heads, and also won a flag, which was the banner of the Chuangjun Central Command.

He excitedly shouted at Chen Yongfu: "Father, fortunately, the child survived his life and returned victorious."

Chen Yongfu was very pleased, watching his son nod his head again and again, and some Chinese generals beside him also cheered repeatedly.

Wang Dou said: "The tiger father has no dogs, Brother Chen De is really good."

Being praised by Wang Dou, Chen Yongfu was even more delighted, and said: "General Wang, don't praise too much, lest the dog will become arrogant and complacent."

On that day, Chen Yongfu's battalion fought against the Chuang army until noon. Due to the inferior force, they did not break through the Chuang army's infantry formation.Seeing that the two sides are tied, the main generals of each will withdraw their troops and fight again tomorrow.

On that day, Chen Yongfu's subordinates had about 200 casualties, and it is estimated that they caused 400-[-] casualties to the opponent.The local officers and soldiers in Henan Province no longer dared to fight the bandits in the field, and Qian Zuozheng, the governor of Ruzhou, just stuck to the city.With this achievement, Chen Yongfu is also proud.

The news of the small victory of the officers and soldiers spread back to Ruzhou City, the army and the people were excited, and there was a sound of firecrackers in the city.

The next day, Chen Yongfu led the excited forward battalion to fight again, and Wang Dou still led the cavalry to guard the two wings.During the battle, the Chuang army used rockets they got from no one knew where. Unexpectedly, the wind changed and the rockets flew back.

Returning to his camp that day, Wang Dou summoned the generals of the Shun Township Army to discuss matters.

Looking at everyone, he slowly said: "We have seen enough these two days, let's deal with these rogues tomorrow."

He said to Zhao Xuan: "Brother Zhao, tomorrow you will draw all the ten red barbarian guns."

(End of this chapter)