South of Gulang Gorge, there are no more dangerous passes after Wushaoling.
Liu Chengzong left Feng Yu's Che camp to garrison the Gulang camp in Shanbei, and Zhang Tianlin's camp stayed at Gulang Gorge. He personally led the Huben camp, Gansu Liangsan camp, and Wei Qian'er camp, with a total of more than 15,000 soldiers.
Driving into the Zhuanglang River Valley.
Originally, according to Jiang Bing, the Ming army still had more than a thousand soldiers in Zhuanglangwei. Liu Chengzong planned to hand over the newly established half of the Liangzhou Battalion as the main attack force, and the Gansu Second Battalion as the peripheral force to fight the final battle into Gansu.
.
Before they could leave Gulang Gorge, Wei Qian'er's vanguard had already rushed to Wusheng Station, less than forty miles away from Zhuang Langwei.
Since the establishment of the camp, Wei Qian'er's tribe has not yet achieved any decent feats. He is galloping forward to take Zhuang Lang's first merit, but he is doomed to be disappointed. At this time, it is not the Ming army stationed in Zhuang Lang's defense, but the Ming army.
Rebels.
Zhuanglangwei encountered many wars after Liu Chengzong entered Qinghai. The Marshal's Mansion and the Ming Army repeatedly fought in the Zhuanglang Valley, fighting overtly and covertly. As a result, the acropolis changed hands many times, and the people basically fled.<
/p>
However, because of Hong Chengchou's efforts to clear the country, many Liangzhou people moved into the valley. Earlier, the defender here was Lu Yunchang, the chieftain of Liancheng who was sent from Gulang Gorge. This was also an unlucky man who had a deep hatred for Liu Shizi. The hatred between the two dates back to the Hehuang War. At that time, in order to prevent the border troops from Gansu Town from going south, Liu Chengzong sent his brother Liu Chengzu and a partial force, Li Wanqing, to seize the Datong River and occupy the hometown of Chieftain Lu.
Later, Lu Yunchang withdrew to Zhuanglangwei, and his hometown was gone. Fortunately, there were still Mayashan tribes who were loyal to his orders, and he was still the great chieftain who ruled the Zhuanglang Valley.
As a result, with the war in Gansu, the war potential of the Mayashan tribes was exhausted, and Lu Yunchang could no longer squeeze troops from this land.
Even when he withdrew from Gulang Gorge and defended Zhuanglang River, many of the thousand soldiers he led were Yang Jiamo's model soldiers.
At the same time that the Gulangxia defense line was breached, Bai Guangen was beaten by Zhang Tianlin until the stragglers fled into the river valley. News of the defeat on the front line spread throughout the Zhuanglang River, and the morale of the thousand soldiers who stayed at Zhuanglang Guards was shaken.
Many of the soldiers led by Lu Yunchang were Gansu model soldiers. Model soldiers are usually the most outstanding soldiers, but no matter how good the soldiers are, without proper management, placement, and pensions, they will be useless after a few defeats.
Because there is no medical treatment for injured people, no pension for dead people, and they can only retreat further and further away from home. Under such circumstances, if they lose several battles in a row and there is no hope of victory, they will no longer be an army.
But just a thousand soldiers with armed force.
A thousand people, a thousand ideas.
Lu Yunchang couldn't do anything about this army. He couldn't give anything to encourage the soldiers. He only had the terrain of Zhuanglang Valley to delay Liu Chengzong as much as possible, and a little resignation.
But in this era, leaving things to chance usually doesn't end well.
On the fourth day of July, Lu Yunchang had just learned from the defeated troops that Bai Guangen was defeated, and the morale of the army was shaken. At noon on the fifth day of July, bad news came from Yehu Fort in the south... A rebel army of more than 6,000 people was marching north.
Enter.
It is one hundred and ten miles away from Zhuanglang Acropolis.
After receiving this news, Lu Yunchang was not too shocked. Hehuang was the hinterland of the Marshal's Mansion. He had long expected that rebels would attack there sooner or later. However, the huge pressure from the North and South Qi Jin almost destroyed this army.
The army was crushed.
In the next six hours, soldiers at all levels forcibly entered Zhuanglangwei Yamen three times, each expressing their opinions on the subsequent transfer.
Some people hope that Lu Yunchang will lead them to retreat to Maya Mountain, where thousands of ravines are enough for them to hide; others hope that Lu Yunchang will lead them to retreat to Songshan New City; and some even hope to evacuate to Qinwangchuan, one hundred and forty miles southeast. In short, these people are unwilling and unanimously believe that Zhuanglang Guard City cannot be defended.
Lu Yunchang also believed that the city could not be defended... The soldiers all thought so. Of course the city could not be defended, but even if they retreated, they could not give the army a direct order to retreat for the time being.
When the morale is high, the generals can do whatever they want, and it is no problem to lead the troops out for thirty miles and come back every day; but when the morale is extremely low due to long-term stress, let alone go out for a walk, even if the troops are allowed to
Even if you sleep in a camp outside the city, you may get a roar.
Lu Yunchang estimated that there were still two days left for him. In these two days, he would first send people to walk through the road to Songshan New City, set up stations along the way to receive the troops, and at the same time arrange for soldiers at the rear to supervise, pick up in front and push back.
, in order to bring this army to Songshan in full force.
As for bringing it to Ningxia... Lu Yunchang is not that confident.
But before he could make a decision, only six hours later, the Fan Bingdun army from Nancheng Pass ran back to the city in a hurry and stammered to the city: "Nan, the rebels from the south are here!"
"Arrived? Impossible!"
As night fell, the frightened Lu Yunchang, wearing only a single coat, ran with his servants all the way to the South City Gate, and his face turned ashen immediately.
To the south of Zhuanglang Acropolis, from the river valley to the mountains, first a few sparks of fire quickly approached the distant pier, and soon you could tell that it was a horse army with torches held high, spread out across the valley like stars. p>
In the valley farther away, the sky was illuminated by the light of the fire, which made it look like day. The six-horse troop marched side by side, raising their fires. The front of the troop was immersed in galloping, and the rear of the troop was dispersed and illuminated ten steps apart, forming six broad marching routes.
Six thousand-man teams spread out in silence and walked quickly with long strides.
Their approach caused a commotion in the unprepared Zhuanglang Acropolis. In the huge chaos, Lu Yunchang saw with his binoculars the brightest light in front of the enemy's formation. There were two military flags with green background and yellow edges and generals.
The flags and flag rituals are different from those of the Ming army and the marshal army.
The military flag has the word "West Camp" and the general flag has the word "Eight Kings".
Under the general's banner, Lu Yunchang saw Guan Yu.
This man wore an iron headdress, golden fish scale armor, and a green shoulder-baring shirt. He also looked in the direction of Zhuanglang City with a telescope.
In addition to the short length of his beard, there is even a person holding a guan knife on his side.
The Northern Army cloth face armor that this army wears uniformly is also green.
The sword is newly struck, the armor is newly forged, and the north side of each armor leaf is stamped with the seal of the Arms Bureau of the Marshal's Mansion. This serious fan of Guan Yu imitation just doesn't like the green Zhang Xianzhong.
Red is the color of military uniforms. There are few soldiers who served in the Ming Dynasty army who do not like red. Zhang Xianzhong is no exception. His favorite color is red.
But there is no way, the only dye left for him on this land is green.
Liu Chengyun of Hehuang could easily get red dye for him, but the troops in the Marshal's Mansion were almost all red armor, blue armor and even khaki plain armor. Using such dye, it was as if his Xiying was a marshal.
The two battalions under the government are the same.
Because they are too similar, wearing the same armor, using the same equipment, coming from the same place, and speaking the same dialect, this will bring confusion to the soldiers' identity.
What is partisanship?
When everyone is a scholar, and they all agree that they are scholars from the imperial family who have learned literature and martial arts and sold goods, they will have a recognized leader, and it is difficult for party disputes to arise.
Only when someone is dissatisfied with the leader and recruits a group of people, such as the division of provinces such as Qin, Zhejiang, and Chu, instills in them a will that we are fellow villagers and should take care of each other, forming a new subdivided identity among scholars.
The party struggle begins.
Zhang Xianzhong obviously does not want to be assimilated by the Marshal's Mansion, but the problem is that they have too many similarities. They have the same identity, origins in the same region, occupation, and hometown, which are not enough to form a new identity.
It is very dangerous for him to get close to Liu Chengzong.
For this reason, he could only station himself in the southern section of the Zhuanglang River in the name of helping the Marshal's Mansion fight, and let the Xiying Army collect dye locally.
Fortunately, the southern section of Zhuanglang River merges into the Yellow River. From Yehubao to the mouth of the river, a large area of land has an altitude of about 1,500 meters. This environment is rich in a green dye plant called frozen green, also known as
Buckthorn.
Compared with Lu Yunchang's efforts to defend Zhuanglang Acropolis, Zhang Xianzhong was much more prepared to attack Zhuanglang Acropolis.
As early as when Hong Chengchou built a strong wall in Liangzhou to clear the country and moved the people of Liangzhou to the Zhuanglang Valley, Zhang Xianzhong had his eye on Zhuanglang Acropolis, which was obviously a more suitable place for him to recuperate than Hezhouwei.
But Zhang Xianzhong also believed that Liu Chengzong would not give him this land... If they were not relatives, who would throw a city to others in vain?
Therefore, his chance is to capture Zhuang Langwei controlled by the Ming army before Liu Chengzong goes south. In this way, firstly, the Ming army is the weakest at this time, and secondly, even if Liu Shizi is not willing, he can only hold his nose and give in.
He was stationed here for a while.
After all, standing in this position, how Liu Chengzong treated him has nothing to do with Zhang Xianzhong himself. He is the bones of a thousand-mile horse. One hundred thousand rebels in the Qinling Mountains are all watching Zhang Xianzhong's treatment.
On the Zhuanglang Acropolis, Lu Yunchang was not the only one looking at Zhang Xianzhong with a telescope. Soon, Lu Yunchang shifted his attention from the Guan Yu imitator to behind him from the exclamations of the officers around him.
.
Silence is often more intimidating than shouting. In the Western Camp, which marched silently, the swaying torches in the night wind illuminated the long ladders carried on the shoulders of the soldiers - the comers were not malicious.
Lu Yunchang did not hesitate and ordered to his left and right: "Quickly assemble the troops, and before his camp is stable, go out of the city and beat him for a while!"
Although the colors of the flags and uniforms of this rebel army were different from those of Liu Chengzong, Lu Yunchang could see that this army also had strong combat capabilities, because he could clearly see the organization of this army during the march at a glance.<
/p>
This means that the army marches neatly. Most regular armies have this ability. However, the situation faced by the Western Camp Army on the battlefield is different. Just six hours ago, they were still at Yehu Fort a hundred miles away.
.
After only six hours, they traveled a hundred miles. If they were walking on their legs the whole time, it almost meant that they never stopped for six hours.
And in such a high-intensity and fast march, it can still maintain a tight formation. Even if such an army is empty-handed, it is undoubtedly a strong army.
With a strength gap of six times, Lu Yunchang was convinced that if he was given time to set up camp and rest, he would almost certainly lose the next siege. Therefore, if he wanted to win, he must send troops immediately to stop this army...
Come down.
Lu Yunchang also had sufficient marching experience. Trained soldiers have extremely strong endurance during marching, but they cannot stop. After a long march, if they stop to repair and then let people get up and continue marching, it will bring harm to the army.
Great pain.
At the same time, they were very tired at this time and their fighting spirit was very low. If the only purpose was to force the enemy to stop, Lu Yunchang believed that this battle had a high chance of winning.
After all, it is very easy to stop the enemy army. Even if there are only two or three hundred people, a slight attack from the front can stop the army behind... No one wears armor during a hundred-mile march. The tired soldiers are suddenly attacked, and at night
, easily frightened.
Unfortunately, the soldiers led by Lu Yunchang did not think so and ran away.
As soon as he led the army out of the city, the 600-strong army was divided into three groups, one heading to Songshan New City in the east, and the other heading to Maya Mountain District in the west. Only a hundred people were left following Lu Yunchang. p>
In desperation, Lu Yunchang simply returned to the city, issued a retreat order to the 400 people who stayed behind, then turned around and walked out of the east gate, running all the way to Songshan New City surrounded by mountains.
Zhang Xianzhong took over Zhuanglangwei City smoothly. When Wei Qian'er under Liu Chengzong led his army to Zhuanglangwei, the city's top was filled with green flags belonging to Xiying.
Wei Qian'er received the report from the forward Tang soldiers and heard that the green Xiying flag was tied up on the Zhuanglang acropolis. He searched around in his mind in confusion. He first thought about Luo Rucai and Li Wanqing's group in the Marshal's Mansion. He thought it was not them.
; I also thought about the rebels who were transferred from the Central Plains, but they should probably break into the camp.
After thinking about it, Wei Qian'er didn't know who was coming, so he slowed down his march. The main force of the camp began to recruit people from thirty miles away. On the one hand, he asked the soldiers of the Western Camp what they were doing, and on the other hand, they prepared supplies.
Preparations for siege began.
The actual combat personnel of the large camp established by Liu Chengzong in Gansu were similar to those of other standard battalions. The biggest reform was the addition of many non-front-line combat auxiliary personnel, with the purpose of enhancing the generals' ability to fight independently.
For example, in this case, Wei Qian'er did not need to call three thousand headquarters. He could figure out the matter solely by relying on the Chinese military commander, and he could also submit a very decent report.
Soon this report was handed over to Liu Chengzong, who had just left Gulang Gorge. Wei Qian'er stated in the report that the Xiying currently occupying Zhuanglang Acropolis was a benevolent and righteous army.
Their banner was Shuntian to save the people. They drove away the Ming army stationed in Zhuanglang and wiped out the bandits entrenched in the mountains. For the people who moved from Liangzhou, Xiying also did very meticulous work according to their status. For the high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty and the wealthy gentry with a lot of property, cruel methods were used to torture, loot and kill; while for ordinary students and low-level officials, they were recruited and rewarded with silver rewards.
As for ordinary people, Zhang Xianzhong's approach was to register all Zhuang Langwei's fields, pastures, mountains, forests, and ponds, distribute them to the people, and promised to exempt them from taxes for three years.
Of course, there is another point that cannot be avoided, that is, although the soldiers of Xiying do not kill people, they will snatch horses wherever they go.
To be honest, Liu Shizi became anxious when he saw the report: You bastard came to my place to be my master, right? No wonder others don’t want to play with you!