On the evening of the ninth day of May in the eighth year of Chongzhen.
Zuo Liangyu led his army out of Jiulong Mountain, walked across the Golden Platform, crossed the tombs of the Tang and Qin kings, and met up with his friend Long Zaitian, whom he had never met before.
This was the third day when Long Zaitian's soldiers besieged Baoji City. Luo Rucai stood on the city and looked at the layers of siege camps below the city, frowning.
Yunnan native soldiers are still pouring from the direction of Dashanguan to the siege camp. The Ming army outside the city is increasing day by day, but Luo Rucai has extremely meager troops at hand to defend the city, 2,700.
His battalion originally had three thousand soldiers, but when Yang Qi went to Monan, Liu Shizi drew five hundred and sent troops to Longxi to fight against Tang Jiuzhou on Liupan Mountain and suffered more than thirty casualties. By the time they entered Guanzhong, the number of troops was only
More than two thousand four hundred.
A few days ago, we had another fight with Long Zaitian, and there were not many casualties. However, after traveling ninety miles day and night on the mountain road, we were left behind by more than 200 people.
Fortunately, Zhang Tianlin and Luo Rucai were the first to collect grain in Baoji, so the people had no hatred towards him. In addition, they led troops to exterminate the locusts, and they were able to easily recruit more than 1,800 people in the city.
Not only did they replenish the 3,000 additional soldiers, but they also formed a 1,000-man team composed of veterans and new recruits. They were responsible for supervising the manufacture of ordnance, delivering meals, and guarding against rebellion in the city.
But even so, defending Baoji City is still a challenge for Luo Rucai.
It's just Luo Rucai who doesn't care.
He knows how to defend the city. Like all the officers in the Marshal's Mansion, he knows the Marshal's city defense register by heart. However, for a general like him who was born as a leader of the peasant army and followed Liu Chengzong to fight in the northwest and Kham area, the matter of defending the city is as important as
Normal people have a different perspective.
The former magistrate of Baoji County was Li Jiayan. After the surrender, he was promoted to the magistrate of Fengxiang by Liu Chengzong.
The current magistrate of the county is Yang Mai, a scholar recommended to Liu Chengzong by Li Jiayan before he took office.
Yang Mai didn't know whether he was lucky or unlucky. He didn't want to be an official.
Because Yang Mai was not a poor scholar, his family lived in Wuzhangyuan on the south bank of the Wei River. There were 24 hectares of land on the plateau, which were tenanted to thirty-six families with cattle, two ship mills, and an oil mill, making him very wealthy.
Since the chaos broke out in Shaanxi, Yang Mai built a fence on the plateau, donated 400 shi of food to the county, and gained a title and honor.
If you want money and food, you need food and social status, what the hell kind of official job is Jing'er this year?
He was born as a scholar, and he could not hold official positions in other places. He was only an assistant official in the local area. He said he had a little power, but if something happened, the yamen servants were not as reliable as his own tenants.
It's better to be a local gentry and form a group to practice.
To be honest, at that time, Yang Mai wanted to form a regiment to train the people and compete with the bandits.
As a result, before the rebels came, the Sichuan soldiers mutinied in Longzhou. Wang Yuncheng, the Liao general in the Sichuan army camp, led his troops westward. The remaining uncontrolled Sichuan soldiers returned to their hometown and burned his house on the way.
It happened that Li Jiayan, the magistrate of Baoji County, invited the gentry to discuss providing military rations to Zuo Liangyu, which saved Yang Mai's life.
After this incident, Yang Mai figured it out. We are not the people who do big things, just stay in the city and stay in the city!
As a result, when Liu Chengzong came, he scared Li Jiayan into surrendering, and after that, he recommended himself to Liu Chengzong as the county magistrate.
He wanted to refuse, but Liu Chengzong said "Huh?" and he became the magistrate of Baoji County.
Now he was asked to defend the city. To be honest, Luo Rucai had done a good job in all aspects of defending the city. Basically, he had nothing to do with the county magistrate, but he still found it difficult to defend.
Because Baoji closed its city gates, many bankrupt refugees from the surrounding countryside flooded in. The city was full of food, but it was only enough to survive for a month.
This is where Luo Rucai's brain is different from others. He thought: "Isn't this enough to last for a month? What are you afraid of?"
Liu Chengzong always attacked the city that could be captured quickly, but Luo Rucai had never heard of a city that could be defended for a month.
Therefore, not having enough food for a month is not a problem at all for him.
On the morning of the tenth day of the lunar month, Ai Wannian, who was slightly behind in Longxi, also led the Yansui Army to appear in Guanzhong, and soon joined the siege camp. The number of Ming troops stationed near Baoji exceeded 20,000.
Zuo Liangyu felt that the time was almost up and the deterrence was sufficient, so he ordered people to shout to the city to persuade them to surrender. At the same time, he also sent a small team to shoot the surrender letter into the city.
He is really willing to recruit surrender and rebels. Liu Chengzong's army is very strong and they are all veterans. If they are recruited, they can be entrusted with important tasks.
Unexpectedly, Luo Rucai was sleeping on the city gate tower when he was woken up by shouts from outside the city and ran out of the city gate tower with great energy.
While he asked General Qian who was leading the troops on the city wall and his uncle Luo Dain to assemble the musketeers, he strung his strong bow behind the battlements and looked down at the city.
When the shouting soldier saw the commotion on the city, he felt that he was about to make a great contribution, so he moved towards this side while shouting. Suddenly, he saw the shirtless Luo Rucai on the city, raised his bow and nocked an arrow, and shot an arrow at him.
The left army soldiers who were frightened and yelled quickly hid, but with a thud, the arrow was still nailed to the iron armband. Then before they had time to react, a row of musketeers at the top of the city set up heavy muskets and bird muskets on the parapet.
Fire volleys at all the soldiers shouting in the city, and shoot to death the soldiers who persuaded them to surrender.
Luo Rucai's battalion was formerly the headquarters of the infantry battalion among the three major training camps during the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion period.
Based on this, Luo Rucai was promoted to the rank of Staff General in Kangning Mansion, and a battalion was formed from Han and Tibetan soldiers. The background of the soldiers and their weapons and equipment were relatively mixed.
Up to now, the musketeers in the camp are all composed of three-eyed muskets, bird muskets, heavy muskets, and raised guns. Their combat effectiveness is relatively worse than that of the three major battalions.
But the characteristics of the soldiers in this battalion are very distinct. They have developed a strong sense of honor by following Luo Rucai.
It's just that their sense of honor is different from that of a normal army.
The Han army in the camp once completely plundered the palace of Prince Han of the Ming Dynasty; the soldiers hidden in the camp also overturned all the chieftain nobles who tried to restore Kangning Mansion to the ground.
Except for the newly recruited Baoji soldiers, every one of them in the camp is brave and fearless. They are all the most deviant outlaws in the world.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! These men stood on the city wall and felt their ears pricked just by listening to the Ming army’s words to persuade them to surrender: How can you, Zuo Liangyu, be so virtuous and capable?
Are you worthy of persuading me to surrender?
Seeing that the soldiers who persuaded him to surrender were shot to death with musketry outside the city, Zuo Liangyu's teeth were almost broken, but he still did not order the attack.
He didn't dare.
Because Zuo Liangyu knew that there was an army from the Marshal's Mansion nearby, their Ningxia ally Cao Wenzhao was scattering his cavalry in the countryside of Fengxiang Mansion, trying to search for any clues about the Marshal's Army.
Cao Wenzhao did not come by himself, he also brought the instructions of Bai Guangen, the third person of Shen Guangxian, Bu Ying, and the governor of the three sides, Hong Chengchou.
Hong Chengchou's people were still in Yinchuan, and when they sent out troops, their plan was to cooperate with Chen Qiyu as much as possible to help him complete his strategy of trapping the Marshal's army in Guanzhong.
But at the same time, Hong Chengchou was also worried that Chen Qiyu would not achieve enough.
To be precise, what Hong Chengchou was worried about was the shortcomings of the Ming army in the battle: the battlefield was changing rapidly, various troops came from all over the world, and there was no tacit understanding of cooperative operations. The generals were also dissatisfied with each other and were easily defeated individually.
This problem cannot be solved by Hong Chengchou. After all, he is not the governor of Shaanxi and the three border areas of Shaanxi. He can only let the four battalions of the Ningxia border army listen to Cao Wen's edict.
As for the Shaanxi Turkish troops and the reinforcements and guest troops arriving from various places, Hong Chengchou had no control over them.
So he could only provide Cao Wenzhao with some advice on how to win when an unexpected situation occurs: behead him.
Hong Chengchou summarized all the intelligence about the Marshal's Mansion, summarized the resumes of various generals and the organization of the government at all levels.
After careful analysis, he believed that the greatest weakness of the Marshal's Mansion was Liu Chengzong.
The Marshal's Mansion is not like the Ming Dynasty or the Later Jin Dynasty, and does not have a deep talent reserve. As long as there is a battle, Liu Chengzong will definitely come to the battlefield to command.
The Ming army's bulk regiments without a general commander went to fight against the marshal's army commanded by Liu Chengzong. For the Ming army, it was to use its own shortcomings to attack the other's strengths, and the gains outweighed the losses.
Therefore, once the plan to trap Guanzhong was broken, Cao Wenzhao should try his best to lure Liu Chengzong into a battle, regardless of the gains and losses of a city or a place, the victory or defeat of the field battle to defend the city, and even the war situation of the Marshal's Office in the entire Shaanxi, the three sides and even the entire northwest.
.
Try to find an opportunity to launch a battle. In the battle, at the cost of several battalions, you can hold back the troops of the Marshal's Mansion and kill Liu Chengzong with an elite force.
As long as Liu Chengzong is killed on the spot, the remaining fathers and brothers in the marshal's palace will not be able to command the heroes, and the brigade commanders and generals of the various ministries will not have the prestige to convince the masses. At that time, it will be the bulk regiments that fight against the bulk regiments.
At this level, the Ming Army was on par with the Marshal's Army, and could rely on a wider territory and stronger reserve forces to completely grind them to death.
Zuo Liangyu and others all agreed to this plan, not just because Cao Wenzhao led many troops.
The more reason is that Hou Liangzhu, the commander-in-chief of Sichuan, originally wanted to cross the border to complete the encirclement. Halfway through, he contacted Zu Dale in the east and learned that the Huguang Army was gone in one day, so Hou Liangzhu decided not to leave at all.
Compared with young people like Cao Wenzhao and Zuo Liangyu, Hou Liangzhu is an old-timer.
In the first year of Tianqi's reign, he was the deputy commander-in-chief of Sichuan. Yang Zhengfang of the Zhenjun Army was a nephew, and Xu Chengming, the commander-in-chief of Huguang, had to be called elder brother when he came.
Originally, Hou Liangzhu had some contempt for Liu Chengzong. After all, Feng Shuangli of Kangning Prefecture led his army down the mountain, but was easily defeated by Long Zaitian near Chengdu Prefecture.
But at this time, he got in touch with Zu Dale and learned that Yang Zhengfang's Zhenyu troops were defeated on the north bank of the Wei River, and the entire army was dispersed. Hou Liangzhu also murmured in his heart for a while.
Hou Liangzhu said in his heart: To pacify She'an, the seedlings of Zhenzhen were running rampant on the battlefield of Sichuan and Guizhou. The front team was wounded and killed, and the rear team followed. They were brave and extraordinary. The Liaodong cavalry is also a powerful force in the world that cannot fight on horseback. How can they fight in formation?
, but was defeated head-on by Liu Chengzong?
He didn't know that Zu Kuan went to the battlefield to rob, and Zu Dale didn't tell him anything. He only said that Zu Kuan led his cavalry into the battle and was shot to death randomly.
Hou Liangzhu himself is a veteran with extraordinary experience. After thinking about it for a while, he imagined a battle in which the two armies were fighting head-on. There was no surprise at all. In the battle, the Marshal's Army overturned the Huguang Allied Forces head-on.
The old general wondered, why are the northwestern Tatars so ferocious?
It must be a matter of terrain. The Guanzhong Plain was too peaceful and did not give the Zhenjun soldiers a chance to perform. They lost because of the favorable geographical location.
Forget it, our Sichuan Army is also good at fighting in the mountains, so we will defend the dangerous passes in the mountains and not go out to fight with them.
Hou Liangzhu chose a safer tactic and sent a message to Long Zaitian, Zuo Liangyu and others, warning them that the marshal's army from the northwest was very powerful and had already killed the Huguang Army. He suggested that they wait until Liu Chengzong surrounded Xi'an Fucheng and then attack again.
Encircle them and fight them together.
This is also related to Hou Liangzhu’s personal experience.
When the She'an Rebellion was put down, Hou Liangzhu and Xu Chengming fought with She Chongming and An Bangyan's army of more than 100,000 people. Hou Liangzhu took advantage of the approaching fog and scared the enemy troops to flee. Xu Chengming came out from the mountain and killed She Chongming and An Bangyan in one battle.
There were thousands of prisoners alone.
At that time, Xu Chengming was the commander-in-chief of the Guizhou Army. After the war, the governor of Sichuan did not mention Xu Chengming and other Guizhou generals for credit. Xu Chengming went up to claim the credit, saying that She Chongming was still alive and that the Governor of the Five Prefectures, Zhu Xieyuan, favored the Guizhou generals.
Later, he was impeached by Sichuan officials. Zhu Xieyuan went to court to defend himself and tried his best to resign. Lord Chongzhen tried his best to persuade him to stay.
They were both good people, but the generals who put down the rebellion in She'an were not rewarded.
Mr. Hou was almost angry to death. Later he quarreled with Zhu Xieyuan every day and refused to listen to him, and was finally fired.
It was not until last year that the imperial court recorded his contribution to quelling the She'an Rebellion and gave Hou Liangzhu the rank of Sichuan Chief Military Officer.
At this moment, another Governor-General Chen Qiyu appeared. Hou Liangzhu had suffered the loss of competing for merit, so he did not want to make great efforts in the first place. Governor Chen must have someone whom Governor Chen wanted to promote. This meritorious service cannot fall on our Sichuan generals.
Unless Xi'an Fucheng is attacked and our Sichuan army goes to rescue the siege and shows its face outside the city, otherwise we run over and fight to the death with a powerful enemy, but in the end we have no achievements. What are we trying to achieve?
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Among other things, the emperor has not yet done his due diligence to Deng Qi who fell to death.
Governor Chen is currently out of contact, so what are you doing in this muddy water?
Chen Qiyu really didn't want to lose contact. He sent out more than a dozen messengers from Xi'an Fucheng, and they were all talented people.
Because he didn't dare to write letters at all, for fear that his strategies and tactics would be intercepted by Liu Chengzong, so he used tokens and oral messages. This kind of thing is not something that an expert can do.
But all the messengers were in vain, and no one could deliver the message.
In fact, let alone delivering the message, only one of all the messengers returned alive.
The messenger saw Zu Dalue's military camp in the distance across the river bank on the outskirts of Hu County, but before he could cross the river, he was driven away by the cavalry of Wei Qian'er's tribe who crossed the river first and came over.
This thing sounds like nothing, but the cavalry chased him all the way to Xi'an City, a distance of forty miles.
He was a one-man horse, with a few passers-by helping him along the way. The cavalry chasing him was just one person. If someone blocked him along the way, he would shoot arrows. When he finished shooting the arrows, he would pull out his waist knife and chase him away with a knife. He chased forty people without hesitation.
land.
On the way, they also passed by a hundred-household residence under the jurisdiction of Zuowei in Xi'an. Banner soldiers doing farm work swarmed to watch the excitement and watched them go away.
The most outrageous thing is that after the messenger entered the city, the cavalryman who was chasing him pointed at the top of the city and cursed, until he saw that the defenders were about to chase him out and beat him, so he hurriedly ran west.
After running away for a while, he turned back, went into the mule and horse market outside the west city, bought a horse with money, and bought three arrows from the flag army, and then ran back all the way.
Before the messenger returned to the city, there were quite a few people who were willing to deliver letters to Chen Qiyu, but after the messenger returned to the city, Chen Qiyu could not find anyone to deliver letters to him.
They were scared to death. What kind of opponent were they fighting?
In this context, several commanders of the armies of the Western Route reached a consensus on tactics: to encircle and attack, lure Liu Chengzong into battle, and launch a surprise attack on Liu Chengzong's formation during the battle! If you like stubborn thieves, please collect them: (www.sodu777
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