This Zhufeng Villa in Lanzhou was burned to ashes by a fire a year ago by Cao Shixiong, who was so angry that he wanted to vent his hatred. The ruins were now covered under the heavy snow.
A dozen people stood in the ruins. The white cloaks they wore had hoods, covering their entire body armor. There was white snow between the sky and the earth, and the dark sky continued to sprinkle snow powder. If they hadn't walked closer,
Looking everywhere, I really couldn't find anyone standing among the ruins of the villa.
"The Marquis expected it to be true. After the messengers from Lan Valley passed by, more than 500 riders rode out of Lanzhou City (Kelan) soon. At this time, they had arrived at Huanglongpo Station, and they would be able to leave from Lanzhou City in half an hour.
Pass the official road outside the villa!"
Although heavy snow has been falling for several days, the snow is deep in the valleys and low-lying areas, and there is not much snow on the steep slopes and ridges of the mountains. Two scouts pretending to be hunters rushed along the ridges and rushed to Xu Huai.
Report.
"Why did the military lord predict that when the police encountered Minglu Village, they would lure the last of the Cao family's mobile elites out of the cave?" Yang Lin and Zheng Jinqing asked in amazement.
After Cao Shixiong surrendered to the Chihu people, he obtained a large number of horses from the Fan tribe in the north, and was able to select 5,000 elites from the Qing Shun army as cavalry.
The strongest combat power at your disposal.
However, this elite cavalry, under the command of Shuozhou general Meng Ping and Cao Shili's son Cao Cheng, followed the Red Husbands and went south to attack the city again.
Although the Qing Shun Army currently has more than 15,000 troops in Lanzhou, the only elite bodyguards that can maneuver quickly are Cao Shixiong and Cao Shili. The two brothers have only five to six hundred elite guards in total.
At present, all the cities and fortresses in Lanzhou are relatively well guarded by soldiers and horses. In addition to the strong cities and deep pools, the defenders in some key places are mostly direct soldiers and horses who have followed the Cao family for many years.
They may carry a large number of siege weapons and only fight around the city. If they want to capture any city in a short time, they will have to pay a heavy price.
This is something they cannot do recklessly.
If he did not want to storm these fortresses occupying key points, Xu Huai would lead a surprise attack directly into Lanzhou to fight. The Cao brothers would lead hundreds of elite cavalry to fight against the guerrillas based on these fortresses.
In this way, it would not take four or five days for the Chihu people to gather a large number of reinforcements from Taiyuan, Xinzhou, and Daizhou, and there would be no need to mention the raid on Taiyuan.
And if Xu Huai ignores the Lanzhou soldiers and horses, he can also take advantage of their unpreparedness and directly lead his troops to attack Taiyuan via Yang Guang's old route. It is windy and snowy, and the Cao brothers do not have enough cavalry, so it is impossible to intercept them.
Xu Huai might be able to defeat the guards outside Taiyuan City by surprise, but the problem is that as long as Cao Shixiong and Cao Shili brothers lead their elite troops to block the narrow west exit of Yang Guang's old road from the west, they will be deeply entangled with the Taiyuan army and people.
There is no way to escape from the siege...
The first battle of the raid on Taiyuan must be carried out in the shortest possible time, at least before the Taiyuan and Xinzhou defenders can react, and once again severely damage the Qing Shun Army, causing the Qing Shun Army to lose the ability to block them at the west entrance of Yang Guang's old road.
.
And if they want to hit more with less, and also want to severely damage the Qing Shun army, which is several times larger than theirs, the first step is to lure out the last mobile elites in the hands of the Cao brothers and annihilate them.
As a result, no matter how many Qingshun troops there are, they will be divided among several fortresses in such windy and snowy weather, making it difficult to unite to encircle and suppress them.
Xu Huai brought Yang Lin and Zheng Jinqing with him at this time. They naturally knew Xu Huai's overall plan. What shocked them was that the Lanzhou enemy army actually fell into Xuzhou's trap!
Seeing them asking about Cao Shixiong and why Cao Shili was fooled, Xu Huai just smiled faintly: "Shuai Xiao is the shadow that Cao Shixiong will never get rid of in his life!"
Xu Huai took off the big cloak that kept him warm and concealed, and handed it to the guards to roll it up and tie it to the side of the saddle, revealing the blue armor he was wearing for combat. He slowly ordered: "Instruct all the troops to immediately enter the preparatory combat positions and move Lanzhou
Once this last bit of mobile elite is annihilated, the next battle will be much easier, and all the generals will also feel what it means to 'thousands of troops avoid white robes'..."
"Thousands of troops avoid white robes?" Yang Lin and Zheng Jinqing heard Xu Huai's words and turned to look at the valley not far behind them.
The first batch of eight hundred sharp riders in the valley to sneak into Lanzhou were all wearing white cloaks.
In order to be as concealed as possible in the windy and snowy Northland after the onset of winter, the first batch of raiding cavalry were all white horses. Aren't they just the standard white-robed army?
Several guards held command flags and rushed to the other side of the valley to report the news. Xu Huai personally inspected the long bow, quiver, horse spear, spear, sword, shield and other war weapons.
In this raid on Taiyuan, King Jing Zhao Tuan sent Yang Lin, and Zheng Huaizhong sent Qin Fengjun's young general Zheng Jinqing, who was also Zheng's nephew, each led a battalion of elite horse infantry to accept Xu Huai's control.
Their troops and horses were still hiding in the Shefeng Mountain Col west of Taohua Chongsai.
However, Xu Huai will now move the two of them and several of their subordinates to his side, hoping that witnessing the first ambush battle with their own eyes will fully arouse the fighting spirit and passion in their chests.
Lead your troops to participate in the endless bloody fight that may follow.
In the early stage, they can fight quickly, and they can be erratic and avoid being entangled by the enemy. But in the later stage, if they want to cover the hundreds of thousands of weak Taiyuan soldiers and civilians to evacuate from Yang Guang's old road, they will lure many hungry dogs to pounce on them.
It will be the most difficult and bloody moment.
If the soldiers reacted more timely and faster than they expected, most of them would be ruined on this land...
…………
…………
"No, stop!"
Cao Shili watched the two roe deer running past the official road not far away. He alertly stopped the people behind him and looked doubtfully toward the mountains and forests in the southwest.
Although migratory birds will fly south before winter, there are still some birds and wild pheasants inhabiting the northern mountain forests. At this time, some birds are indeed flying away from the wild roe deer.
The wind and snow hadn't stopped yet. If they hadn't looked carefully and hurried to Langu, they really wouldn't have noticed these details.
"There is an ambush, prepare for battle!"
Cao Shili roared. This post road crosses the western foothills of Guanxun Mountain from the upper reaches of Fenshui River and enters the Langu (Caocheng River) surrounded by the two forked mountains of Guanxun Mountain. Although it has been repaired several times and can be used by cars and horses, it is still
That's all.
In order to rush to Minglu Village quickly, more than 500 riders could only ride two or three in parallel, stretching back and forth for nearly four miles in the ice and snow.
The riding queue is so long that encountering an ambush would definitely be a disaster, but there are steep slopes covered with ice and snow on both sides that are not slippery. The official road is less than two feet wide and the roadside slope protection is only four or five feet wide.
How can the cavalry formation be transformed into a combat array?
"Xuanwu, Xuanxing, you go to the back!" Cao Shili shouted and arranged for his guards to take Cao Xuanwu and Cao Xuanying to the middle and rear of the team. He concentrated all his most elite combat forces on the front side.
At this moment, Cao Shili also noticed that the movement behind the steep slope on the left front became louder, with low roaring horns blowing in the middle. It was obvious that the ambush soldiers also realized that the traces were exposed, and at this time they accelerated towards the official road from the ambush valley.
If Cao Shili rode faster, the cavalry on the front and side would certainly be able to pass quickly, but after they passed, the middle and front sections would be intercepted by an ambush. In the end, probably only the cavalry on the front and side would be able to escape and rise to the sky, while the troops and horses in the middle and rear would fall into chaos.
massacre.
The cavalry behind him are either Shuozhou's elite veterans who have followed the two brothers for many years, or they are the direct sons and nephews of the military generals of the Qing Shun Army. They are the real soldiers of the Cao family. They have all practiced martial arts and studied military politics since childhood.
The future of the Qing Shun Army lies.
How could Cao Shili let most of them be ambushed and annihilated, and then lead dozens of people to break out of the siege alone?
Of course, at this time, he could already imagine that this ambush must have lurked in from the relatively low mountains in the middle of Guanlui Mountain in the southwest. Under the cover of wind and snow, they made the outposts set up in Taohuachong and other places,
Wubao didn't even notice.
This also means that the size of the enemy force lurking in will never be very large. It may only be a few hundred people, and it will definitely not be much more than them.
And when these ambush soldiers came out of the valley, the moment they entered the official road to intercept them, the queue could not be very organized - Cao Shili was very familiar with the nearby terrain and knew how narrow the valley mouth was, and he only needed to seize this opportunity.
, attack the small group of ambush soldiers who are the first to break out, and then attack the valley mouth on the left side of the official road at a speed that is too fast to cover their ears. It is possible to block the ambush soldiers in the valley in turn, so that they can
The cavalry behind them formed a combat array at the mouth of the valley, thus turning defeat into victory.
In order to implement this combat intention, the dozens of men and horses who followed him in the front attack must be strong enough and brave enough to not be afraid of death. He quickly led these people forward slowly, leaving 70 or 80 steps from the entrance of the valley for the charge.
As soon as the front of the ambush emerged from the valley mouth, they would rush forward. This distance also allowed them to maximize their impact speed.
"Tap-tat" the sound of horse hoofs seemed to be stepping on the heart. At this moment, the heart of a veteran like Cao Shili was in his throat. When he saw a dozen figures, they were the first to gallop out from behind a clump of trees at the mouth of the valley and appeared in the official position.
On the road, Cao Shili was about to give the order to charge, but after seeing the person's face clearly, he almost groaned...
