The cavalry is not good at street fighting, but is particularly good at charging in plain areas.
Since fighting inside Lanxiang is very disadvantageous for one's own side, we must find a way to attract the enemy troops and annihilate them outside Lanxiang.
This is the tactic used by Liu Xiu to lure the snake out of its hole.
But they disguised themselves as refugees and sneaked into granaries to steal rice. Liu Xiu himself was not sure how many enemy troops they could attract to chase them out of Lanxiang.
But one thing Liu Xiu could be sure of was that those who were chased out must be the Lanxiang garrison. It was impossible for the grain transport team to help the Lanxiang garrison come out to catch the thieves.
Among the three thousand reckless troops in Lanxiang, the ones with real combat effectiveness are the Lanxiang garrison. The grain transport team is engaged in logistics. Most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled, and they are not a combat force at all.
This time, Zhu Ji was able to personally take action and bring out seven to eight hundred people, which far exceeded Liu Xiu's estimate. This was definitely an unexpected surprise.
During the battle, Zhu Ji was killed by Ma Wu, and most of the seven to eight hundred Rang troops he led were killed or injured by the iron cavalry of the Xiaoqi Army.
The remaining reckless soldiers had no intention of fighting and fled in all directions. Some people panicked and didn't know where they were going. Only dozens of reckless soldiers rolled and crawled back to Lanxiang.
As soon as they returned to Lanxiang, the Cavalry Army led by Liu Xiu attacked and entered, and a fierce battle began in Lanxiang Town.
Liu Xiu's calculation was correct. Even though there were three thousand reckless troops in Lanxiang, the only ones who had fighting power were the Lanxiang defenders, who numbered about a thousand people.
As for the grain transport team of 1,780 people, they were either old, weak, sick or disabled, or they were soldiers just waiting to die, with no fighting ability at all.
Now that Zhu Ji has been killed and most of the Lanxiang garrison has been lost, the remaining few hundred people and the grain transport team are no match for the Qiaoqi Army.
Zhen Fu and Liang Qiuci's two grain security officers also tried their best to organize troops and planned to resist.
As a result, they were severely defeated by the heroic cavalry army. Both of the two grain escort officers died in the chaos. The soldiers of the grain transport team were defeated and retreated all the way from the town of Lanxiang to the outside of the town.
They ran all the way and died all the way. The half of the main street from the center of the town to the south gate of the town was littered with the corpses of the reckless soldiers, spread out on the ground.
Of the three thousand reckless troops, not even five hundred of them escaped Lanxiang in the end.
Liu Xiu did not lead anyone to chase him out of Lanxiang. After the Mang army was defeated and fled, he immediately led people to inspect the two granaries set up by the Mang army in Lanxiang.
The combined grain stored in these two large granaries is estimated to be 70,000 to 80,000 jins. If one stone is calculated as 100 jins, it would be 7 to 8 million jins, enough to feed an army of 100,000 people.
Many months.
With such a large amount of grain, it was impossible for Liu Xiu and others to take away all of it. Fortunately, when the grain transport team escaped, they left all the carriages used to transport grain in Lanxiang, which provided Liu Xiu and others with a lot of convenience.
Liu Xiu first found Yao Qi and asked him to rush back to Jiyang immediately and tell his eldest brother Liu Yan about his victory in Lanxiang. Before Yao Qi left, Liu Xiu said meaningfully: "Next time, what's next?
It’s up to you!”
Yao Qi nodded heavily and said, "Don't worry, my lord, I will do my best to not let you down!" After saying that, he bowed his hand to Liu Xiu on the horse, then turned the horse's head and headed towards Jiyang like lightning.
.
After Yao Qi left, Liu Xiu ordered people to burn the Zhennan granary, and his own soldiers loaded all the grain from the Zhenbei granary onto carriages. They took away as much as they could, and burned whatever they could not take away.
Not long after, fire broke out in the Zhennan Granary. The fire became bigger and stronger. When Liu Xiu and others drove the carriage filled with grain and prepared to leave Lanxiang, the fire in the Zhennan Granary almost
Half the sky has burned red.
The news that Zhutian's army successfully attacked Lanxiang quickly spread to Jiyang and the Mangjun camp.
Zhen Fu never dreamed that Zhutian's army would be so courageous, daring not to stay in the city, but to run out and take the initiative to attack Lanxiang.
Liang Qiuci thought of it, and he also reminded Zhen Fu that Lanxiang was an important area for grain cultivation and that heavy troops would be sent to guard it.
Zhen Fu agreed very well at that time, but who knew that he didn't send more troops to Lanxiang at all.
On the first day of the first lunar month, at dawn, Liang Qiuci, who heard the news of the attack on Lanxiang, hurried to Zhen Fu's military camp. By this time, Zhen Fu had already gotten up and was furious at his subordinates in the Chinese military tent.
Hearing that Liang Qiu Ci had arrived, he asked someone to invite Liang Qiu Ci in.
After Liang Qiuci entered the Chinese army tent, Zhen Fu waved to the gray-headed generals and motioned them all to go out.
Then, he looked at Liang Qiuci expressionlessly and asked, "Has Master Liang also heard about the attack on Lanxiang?"
Liang Qiuci frowned and said, "Lanxiang was attacked and our army's grain garrison was destroyed. Now the whole army knows about it."
Zhen Fu punched the table in front of him and said through gritted teeth: "Zhutian rebelled against the thieves, and Lulin rebelled against the thieves. They are so audacious that they dare to attack Lanxiang. The rebels and I are at odds with each other!"
Liang Qiuci sighed secretly, what's the use of talking about this now? He said: "Master Zhen, the food and grass have been destroyed, the morale of our soldiers has plummeted, and the morale of the army is in turmoil. The top priority is not to rush for revenge, but to withdraw the troops quickly!"
If our own army of 100,000 men is frightened back by a mere tens of thousands of rebels, let alone losing all face, we will not be able to explain to the court or explain to His Majesty.
He said word for word: "I will definitely not withdraw my troops in this battle! After the third day of the first lunar month, I will send my troops to attack Jiyang!"
Liang Qiuci shook his head repeatedly and said: "Can Master Zhen still not see clearly the situation of our army? The troops and horses have not moved, the food and grass have gone first, but now that the food and grass have been destroyed, the soldiers are no longer interested in fighting..."
Zhen Fu waved his hand impatiently and said: "Master Liang, please don't shake the morale of the army again! If Master Liang is frightened by the rebels, you can lead the army to retreat to Wancheng, but it is absolutely impossible for me to withdraw my troops!"
It was obvious that Zhen Fu was a bastard and was determined to fight this battle. Liang Qiuci couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh.
Zhen Fu said nicely and allowed himself to lead his troops to retreat while he stayed and continued fighting, but is this possible?
The commander-in-chief of the entire army did not withdraw his troops. He, the deputy commander, withdrew his troops first. This was an act of escaping from the battlefield. Afterwards, Zhen Fu impeached him and his own head was gone.
He lowered his eyes, took two deep breaths, and said with emotion and reason: "Master Zhen, we see that the morale of our army has plummeted and the morale of the army is in turmoil. However, the morale of Zhutian and Green Forest must have greatly increased.
The situation is very disadvantageous for our army. Qi Zhutian and Lulin have a lot of troops, close to 50,000 people. Our army has no chance of winning this battle."
If it were delayed for too long, not to mention having no chance of winning, the entire army would be in danger of being annihilated! Liang Qiuci did not say the following words.
Zhen Fu sneered, sneered, and asked: "Didn't Mr. Liang fight with Zhutian and Lulin? The only one who can fight evenly with our army is Zhutian's rebel army, but Zhutian's rebel army only has five troops.
Thousands, there is nothing to be afraid of. As for the green forest rebels with many soldiers and generals, they are just a bunch of rabble, shrimp soldiers and crab generals, not worth mentioning at all. Mr. Liang has repeatedly increased the prestige of the rebels and destroyed the spirit of our soldiers. What is his intention?
ah?"
At the end of the sentence, Zhen Fu looked sideways at Liang Qiuci, and his tone became more and more sinister.
Liang Qiuci has worked with Zhen Fu for so long, how can he not understand him?
At this moment, looking at his expression and hearing his tone, it was already clear in his heart that Zhen Fu was starting to pour dirty water on himself, waiting to impeach him in the future.
He shook his head, said no more, raised his hands to Zhen Fu and said, "Master Zhen, I'll take my leave!"
"Hmph!" Zhen Fu snorted coldly and said, "When leading an army to fight, you must be determined to win! If you are greedy for life and afraid of death, and fearful of hands and feet, what kind of troops can you lead, and what kind of war are you fighting?"
The attack on Lan Xiang left Zhen Fu with a lot of anger that he couldn't vent out. Just then, Liang Qiuci came, and all the anger he hadn't vented fell on Liang Qiuci.
Liang Qiuci didn't even look back, and strode out of the Chinese military tent. He left Zhenfu's camp and returned to his own camp. The first thing he did after coming back was to rush people to build a bridge across the Huangchun River.
Zhen Fu is naive and childish. He wants to imitate Xiang Yu and do what he did to destroy the cauldron and sink the boat. Let him do it by himself. There is no need for his 20,000 soldiers to die with him.
At this time, Liang Qiuci wanted to build a bridge and leave an escape route for the 20,000 soldiers under his command, but it was too late.
After learning about Liu Xiu's successful sneak attack on Lanxiang, the Zhutian Army and the Green Forest Army built an altar in Jiyang City overnight.
When the sky turned white, Liu Yan, the commander of the Zhutian Army, Wang Kuang, the commander of the Xinshi Army, Chen Mu, the commander of the Pinglin Army, and Wang Chang, the commander of the Xiajiang Army, all stepped onto the altar in front of tens of thousands of their own soldiers.
Make an alliance with blood on the altar.
The flags of the Zhutian Army and the Green Forest Army were all invalidated, and both sides were uniformly replaced by Han flags. The names of the Zhutian Army and the Green Forest Army were also invalidated, and they were unified called the Han Army.
On the altar, Liu Yan, Wang Kuang, Chen Mu, and Wang Chang cut their fingers and dripped blood into four wine bowls. Then the four of them each picked up the wine bowls and worshiped the heaven first, then the earth, and then the great ancestor Liu Bang.
Then the four of them drank the blood wine in the bowl.
Liu Yan raised the empty bowl in his hand high and shouted loudly: "Follow the great cause of our ancestors and save all the people from fire and water! Kill the reckless thieves! Together we can save the Han Dynasty!"
After speaking, he slammed the wine bowl in his hand to the ground.
Wang Kuang, Chen Mu, and Wang Changyi smashed their wine bowls one after another and said in unison: "Follow the great cause of the great ancestor, save all people from fire and water! Kill the reckless thieves! Let's save the Han Dynasty together!"
Looking under the altar, whether it is the Zhutian Army or the Green Forest Army, everyone is excited and excited.
People knelt down and shouted in unison: "Follow the great cause of our great ancestors! Save all people from fire and water! Kill the reckless thieves! Together we can save the Han Dynasty!"
"Together we will support the Han Dynasty!" "Together we will support the Han Dynasty——"
Liu Yan drew out the sword under his ribs, pointed it to the west, and said loudly: "Today's battle is a matter of life and death. My brothers in the Han army must either drink the enemy's blood or see you again in Jiuquan!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill——"
Liu Xiu said that Lanxiang was the key point of this battle, and he was absolutely right. The successful sneak attack on Lanxiang caused the Mang army to panic. On the other hand, the Han army's morale soared and their momentum was like a rainbow, sweeping away the malaise of the past few days.