Chapter two hundred and fifty fifth half-crossed and hit
According to Li Xuan's previous estimates, the Ming army would not be able to arrive until the evening at the earliest at a normal or slightly accelerated speed.
But the Ming army in front of them had arrived in the afternoon, not even a few hours later than the new army of the Tang Dynasty.
This situation also made Li Xuan secretly happy. Fortunately, they set off early in the morning and walked relatively quickly on the road. Otherwise, they might have been caught up by the Ming army.
If the Ming army arrived first and seized the ferry, subsequent operations would be in great trouble.
The new Tang troops on the west bank of the Lanjiang Ferry hid behind the slopes of the hillside and did not leave any troops on the river. In order to confuse the Ming army, they even kept two small ferries. Of course, the boatmen on them would not
He will be the original boatman, but a disguised soldier of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty.
If the Ming army on the other side of the river did not cross the river, it was basically impossible to find that there were more than a thousand people hiding on the other side of the river when they were just observing from the other side.
"Send the order and prepare for war!" When Li Xuan saw that the Ming army on the other side of the river was observing for a while and was already preparing to cross the river in a small scale, he immediately issued an order to prepare for war.
The soldiers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty began to prepare weapons, especially the sword and shield soldiers, who began to put on their armor with the help of others.
After three infantry battalions, a sword and shield corps, a cavalry corps, and an archer were fully prepared, they formed several large square formations behind the hillside, waiting for the final attack order.
Once Li Xuan gave the order to attack, they would immediately attack in order to completely defeat the Ming army's forward force crossing the river.
As for why the target was only chosen to be this forward group of several hundred people, instead of letting the Ming army's forwards pass by and then ambush the main force of the Ming army.
This is because once the five hundred forwards of the Ming army are allowed to gain a foothold after crossing the river, it will not be an ambush, but a head-on confrontation, and Li Xuan does not have the confidence to let his new army of the Tang Dynasty confront the three thousand Ming army head-on.
military.
The more than a thousand people in the new army of the Tang Dynasty are extremely qualified. There are only about 300 veterans with good quality. In addition, there are more than 300 old bandits and surrendered soldiers of the Ming army. The rest are all just rigid.
The new recruits have only been recruited for a few days. They don't even know the difference between left and right, and they don't even know how to use the spears and swords in their hands. The only role of these new recruits on the battlefield is actually to build up their momentum and scare the enemy.
We can't count on them for a real war!
Li Xuan brought them with him in the hope that after blocking the Ming army across the Lanjiang River, there would be a period of confrontation, and this time was his training time. As long as he was given a month of training time, he could barely make these new soldiers fight.
, if he was given three months of training time, he would dare to drag them into a head-on fight with the Ming army!
When the new armies of the Tang Dynasty began to prepare for war, the Ming army on the other side of the river also began to move. About thirty Ming soldiers sat in two small boats and began to use the cableway to cross the river. The surface of the Lanjiang River is not very wide, and there is a cableway.
It can be used, so they can cross the river very quickly.
It didn't take long for the Ming army to set foot on the land on the west bank of the Lanjiang River. After arriving on the other side of the river, these Ming soldiers, led by a hundred households, began to search towards the river.
At this time, the subsequent Ming army soldiers also began to cross the river!
At this time, Li Xuan also nodded towards Cao Mingda, and the next moment, Cao Mingda rode away alone!
After a while, Li Xuan saw a group of about ten cavalrymen galloping towards the ferry from the west on the hillside. Naturally, they were not doing this to attack the Ming army that had just crossed the river, but to attract the Ming army.
attention.
Especially the attention of the dozens of Ming troops who crossed the river first.
Li Xuan's plan was to let these cavalry create an illusion, that is, to make the Ming army misunderstand that these cavalry were the forward cavalry of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty exploring the path. Since they were exploring the path, the main follow-up force must not have arrived.
As long as the leader of the Ming Army Baihu is not the kind of person who is too suspicious, then his attention will be attracted by these cavalry, and then ignore the main force of the Tang Dynasty's new army behind the dense forest on the hillside.
This is a psychological battle!
Soon, the Ming troops discovered Cao Mingda and more than a dozen cavalrymen galloping along the official road from the west.
As expected, they were in a panic. The man from Baihu shouted something about forming formations. It was obvious that he also had great scruples about these cavalry.
Naturally, Cao Mingda would not stupidly lead the cavalry to attack an infantry square formation with more than thirty people who had formed a tight formation. That is not called bravery, but a fool.
He led the cavalry and stopped at a distance, as if he wanted to keep an eye on these Ming troops.
At this time, the Ming army on the other side of the river also began to move. After the middle-aged Qianhu who led it said a few words to others, soon someone rode back on a fast horse, apparently to discover the fake Tang thief.
The news from the military reconnaissance cavalry was reported to the main force in the rear.
Because the reconnaissance cavalry of the Puppet Tang Thief Army was discovered, it meant that the main force of the Puppet Tang Thief Army was not far away. It was very likely that it was behind and could reach the Lanjiang Ferry at any time.
They didn't know that the main force of Datang's new army was already ambushing on the hillside behind the ferry.
While sending people to report the news, the remaining Ming troops also began to cross the river one after another, and the officers were still urging them. However, there were only a few ferries available for them to cross the river, and the number of people who could cross the river at one time was only three or four.
Just ten people.
These Ming troops also began to cut down nearby trees and tried to make rafts. However, in any case, it would take half an hour for all the main Ming troops to cross the river.
Although the forwards of the Ming army on the opposite side were a little slow in crossing the river, Li Xuan was not in a hurry. He wished that these Ming troops could cross the river more slowly.
Because the speed of crossing the river is slow, it is impossible to wait for them to cross the river and kill them by themselves. No matter whether they want to turn around and go back in the end, or the people behind want to cross the river to support the battle, it is impossible!
And what is this called?
This is called half-crossing and striking!
Obviously, the current situation is developing towards what Li Xuan expected, and it is going quite smoothly. This makes Li Xuan feel like he should buy a lottery ticket today.
When luck comes, there is nothing you can do to stop it!
But good luck never lasts. After the Ming army crossed the river with about 150 people, one side was guarding Cao Mingda's small cavalry, while the other side sent a group of people towards the hillside where Li Xuan and the others were.
Come this way!
"What's going on? Did they discover anything? Or are they too suspicious?"
Li Xuan felt a little depressed for a moment. How long did this good luck last? It was over in a quarter of an hour?
But now is not the time to be depressed. These Ming troops are about to get close to the dense forest on the hillside. Once they come up, as long as they are not blind, they will definitely be able to spot Li Xuan and the others!
When they discovered that there were more than a thousand people ambushing behind the hillside, they would be frightened. But Li Xuan was certain that the Ming troops behind them would definitely not be crossing the river!
From this point of view, it is impossible to eat more than 300 of them at once. Forget it, these more than 100 people are also meat. Eat them first to avoid long nights and dreams!
With this thought, Li Xuan simply raised the sword in his hand and said softly: "Attack!"