"Victory in a hundred battles is not a good thing; subjugating the enemy's army without fighting is a good thing. Therefore, the first is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the army, and the third is to attack the city."
Soldier Saint, this is easier said than done.
Ma Mingpei defended Yanmen Pass and couldn't get out. Fan Youxian and Li Dingguo tried their best to attack the city, but they couldn't defeat the enemy, so they had to use the next strategy: attack the city.
Attack all the time, day and night.
Peng Mingyang, Chen Bao, Yang Bingyin, Zhou Shimin, and Ren Liang all took turns to attack. Unfortunately, Yanmen was difficult to attack due to its natural dangers, and each wave of attacks left a trail of corpses.
"Woo~woo~woo~"
When the retreat horn sounded, Peng Mingyang retreated with shame on his face and apologized to Fan Youxian, "The general is incompetent, please punish me."
"That's all, Yanmen is naturally dangerous and it's not your fault. Let's fire more cannons tomorrow and continue the attack. I want to see how long the Tatars on the mountain can hold on," Fan Youxian said slightly.
"Duke Xian, today our army has killed more than 600 Ming troops, and its own casualties are less than 300," guerrilla Zhang Yu reported to Ma Mingpei. In a siege battle, the casualties of the defending side are often greater than those of the attacking side, and Yanmen has another
Since it is a mountain city, the exchange ratio is larger.
Ma Mingpei nodded, "As long as we hold on for three months, reinforcements from the imperial court will come."
These words were meant to embolden his subordinates. In fact, he knew very well that the Ming army was attacking Northern Zhili, and the Qing government could not send many reinforcements to save Shanxi.
"Report to Governor Xian, Yingzhou urgently reported that there was a rebellion in Hunyuan Prefecture, and the bandit Zhang Yong surrounded Yingzhou."
Ma Mingpei was cheering up his men when a fire broke out in the backyard and a military report came. When he opened it, his expression changed drastically. Yingzhou is located in the northeast of Shanyin County, straddling the grain road of Yanmen Pass.
He paced anxiously and suddenly said: "It seems that Yanmen Pass cannot be defended. Let's retreat to Shanyin."
Taking advantage of the cover of night, groups of Qing troops withdrew from the siege and fled north.
The next day, Zhou Shimin's troops of the Ming army attacked Yanmen Pass, but saw that it was deserted and uninhabited. They couldn't help but be suspicious and reported to Fan Youxian, "The Qing army suddenly abandoned the pass and left. The general was worried about fraud and did not dare to pursue it."<
/p>
"Well, you have done a good job. You will rest in the gate today and send more sentries to inquire about the Tatars."
Fan Youxian was overjoyed to have won the pass without fighting, and he traveled with his generals. But when he saw the winding shape of the Great Wall on the ridge, he couldn't help but sigh: "The Yanmen is so majestic. One man can guard the pass, and no one can open it!"<
/p>
The mountain breeze comes slowly, arousing great ambition, so I wrote the poem "The Resentment of Changting·Yanmen":
Desolate song, high in Yanmen.
I don’t smell the smoke, but I see the bones.
The city has been closed due to heavy snow, but God has invited visitors, and there are countless mountains.
The ancient famous general's soul turned into an evergreen tree.
Good trees dance in the wind, bless our generation, and wipe out the barbarians.
War drums, asking who is the master of the country, let’s look at the Ming Dynasty Guangwu.
The horizontal knife points north, frightening the fox and rabbit in the snow.
Good man, iron horse and gold,
Fight your way out, the road to peace.
He was so excited that he picked up his long bow and shot at the tiger.
In this era, the literary style was at its peak. Regardless of whether he had fame or not, as long as he knew a few words, he had to recite poems and write lyrics. Although Fan Youxian was not highly educated and his style of writing was not elegant, he had the aura of a martial artist. After listening to the generals,
They all applauded loudly. Half of them were flattering, and half of them really thought it was good.
??
Ma Mingpei evacuated from Yanmen Pass to Shanyin County in panic. Without daring to delay for a moment, he came back to Yingzhou.
There were only 500 garrison troops in Yingzhou City, but they were precariously captured by Zhang Yong and Zhao Jie's 3,000 rebels.
Ma Mingpei made a decisive decision and ordered Zhu Yike and Wu Shouzu to attack the two wings of the rebel army, while Zhang Yu and Ma Xiongzhen attacked the center.
The rebels did not expect that the Qing army would abandon Yanmen Pass to attack them, so they were in a hurry.
"Brother Zhang, you retreat quickly, I will come and stop the rear," Zhao Jie said to Zhang Yong.
"This is unreasonable! I am the commander in chief, how can I withdraw first? You go first, and I will stop the rear." Zhang Yong refused.
Zhao Jie had no choice but to withdraw first.
"Da~da~da~"
The Qing army guerrillas in Ma Xiong Town led dozens of cavalry towards the Ming army. He was the son of Governor Ma Mingpei. He was in his twenties and full of vigor.
Zhang Yong took out his own hard bow, which he relied on to pass the martial arts exam.
I secretly nocked the arrow, took aim, and the arrow flew out with a "swish" and hit Ma Xiongzhen's forehead.
When he heard that his son had been killed in battle, Ma Mingpei went crazy and said, "Kill all these bandits for me and leave no one alive."
Zhang Yong fought tooth and nail to block the pursuers, his shirt was stained with blood, but he still called for death.
"Pfft", Wu Shouzu's big spear pierced his chest.
The Qing army pursued the rebels all the way to Hunyuan Prefecture, and killed the remnants of the rebels, Zhao Jie and others, in Hunyuan City.
Because of the pain of losing his son, Ma Mingpei carried out bloody revenge on the families of the rebels who participated in the uprising, slaughtering more than 5,000 people and ransacking countless homes.
Although it relieved his hatred, it also wasted time.
After finally leading the army to the Sanggan River, they saw smoke and dust billowing, but the Ming army caught up with them.
General Fan Yongxian assigned all his cavalry to Chen Bao's command, and ordered him to lead more than 2,000 cavalry ahead, while he led the army to follow closely. Chen Bao relied on the speed of his horse, traveled day and night, and finally caught up with the Qing army on the south bank of the Sanggan River.<
/p>
At this time, the main force of the Ming army was still far away, with only more than 2,000 cavalry, while the Qing army had more than 10,000 cavalry.
But Ma Mingpei has lost his fighting spirit and just wants to quickly retreat to Yanghe Guard to join E Shuo.
He summoned Zhang Yu and said, "Zhang Guerrilla, you will lead your headquarters to stop the Ming army and cover the main force crossing the river."
"嗻!"
Zhang Yu led two thousand soldiers and horses to block Chen Bao's path, while Ma Mingpei led his generals to build bamboo rafts and quickly cross the river.
"You all follow the horse tail of this town. The charge will not stop until this town dies." Chen Bao shouted to his men, taking the lead and killing Zhang Yu. He organized his men into a row of fifty people, a total of forty
Multiple rows of columns roared towards Zhang Yu's flag.
A huge club with wolf fangs, stabbing from far away and smashing at close range, no one can defeat him.
The Qing army couldn't help but feel frightened. Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhang Yu personally came to fight Chen Bao, hoping to frustrate the Ming army's spirit.
"Bang!"
The huge mace brought with it the sound of wind, knocking off Zhang Yu's knife, and then stabbed him back. The iron thorn on the stick pierced Zhang Yu's neck, killing him immediately
After killing Zhang Yu, Chen Bao continued to kill the Qing army who was crossing the river.
At this time, the Qing army had crossed less than half of the river, and those who had crossed naturally refused to come back and fight; those who had not crossed were trying their best to squeeze towards the river, trying to cross.
The generals have no fighting spirit and the soldiers have no fighting spirit, which is in line with the essence of "attacking halfway across the river" in the art of war.
More than two thousand cavalrymen killed the Qing soldiers who just wanted to escape like chopping melons and vegetables. They galloped into the formation, chopped and hacked, and killed five thousand Qing soldiers in one breath.
The water of Sanggan River is red.
Ma Mingpei counted the soldiers and horses, and found that there were less than 6,000 soldiers. He was about to cry but had no tears. He withdrew to Kaochao Mountain on the north bank of the Sangqian River and defended the mountain. He told the generals: "There are only a few thousand remnant soldiers left. It seems that Kaochao Mountain is our base."
The graveyard of the governor."
All the generals were silent.
The next day, Ma Mingpei packed up his shirt and prepared for the final bloody battle.
"Governor Xian, the Ming army has retreated," General Wu Shouzu reported furiously.
??
"Hey! It's a pity, it's a pity that we were only a little short of taking the horse thief's head," Fan Youxian said to Li Dingguo regretfully.
"General, the importance of the capital is far greater than that of Shanxi. Your Majesty transferred us to Beizhili out of consideration of the overall situation," Li Dingguo said with a smile.
"Hongyuan, I naturally know this truth."
Fan Youxian sighed, "Oh! I just got an advantage over that traitor Ma Mingpei!"
