When Zhu Zhihai and a group of civil and military officials led the main Ming army of more than 30,000 people to Lipingfu City, what they saw at first sight was not Lipingfu City, but an approximate force blocking Lipingfu City and them.
The puppet Tang bandit army of 2,500 people!
At this time, the pseudo-Tang bandit army formed a huge square formation about one mile outside the city. If anyone has seen the Battle of Tonggu Acropolis, they will see that this square formation was where the new army of the Tang Dynasty fought.
The phalanx of the Beilu Ming Army: with the infantry battalion as the basic unit, several infantry battalions were tens of meters apart, forming a huge infantry phalanx that supported each other!
In the middle of the square formation is the new commander of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Song Tianbiao!
Like other officers, he was riding on a horse, then squinting at the dark Ming army in the distance, his face was a little heavy!
These are more than 30,000 Ming troops. Can I successfully hold them back, keep them out of the city, and prevent them from entering the city smoothly?
As early as yesterday, a part of the forward reconnaissance force of the 3rd Infantry Regiment had actually arrived at Lipingfu City and brought back many information about Lipingfu City to Song Tianbiao who was still in the rear at that time.
Basically, it can be judged that the number of Ming troops in Lipingfu City at this time is not only more than one thousand as Sun Yawei and others said at the beginning, but nearly three thousand. The more than one thousand more are the first two
The days arrived one after another.
Facing the Liping City garrison with 3,000 people, the vanguard of these 3,000 people were not young men or civilians, but serious guardsmen.
Fang Xitong, commander of the second brigade in the rear, also sent him the latest order last night, which required him to rush to Liping City the next day and launch an attack on Liping City according to the situation.
It is strong and should be captured as soon as possible.
If there is a large number of enemy troops resisting, it is better to conduct a test to find out the strength of the Ming army, and wait for the arrival of the second brigade and the seventh infantry regiment before making further calculations.
At the same time, this order also has an accompanying task, which is to prevent more Ming troops from entering Liping City to avoid making it more difficult to capture Liping City.
We must try our best to stop the coming Ming army outside Lipingfu City and force them to engage in a decisive battle with us in the wild!
The reason why Fang Xitong issued such an order was because Emperor Li Xuan and a group of high-level generals in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty had unanimously decided to fight the Ming army in the wild as much as possible to avoid having a large number of the main Ming army huddled in Liping City.
Inside.
The best case scenario is to have a strategic decisive battle in the wild and decide the outcome directly!
On the one hand, this can maximize the advantage of the Tang Dynasty's new army in fighting decisive battles in the wild, and on the other hand, it can also prevent the Ming army from playing a defensive war of attrition.
It would be the best if we could replicate the Battle of the Bronze Drum Acropolis again!
After receiving the order, Song Tianbiao continued on his way with his troops at dawn today, and successfully arrived at Lipingfu City at noon.
It is naturally impossible to directly launch a general attack on Lipingfu City. After all, no matter how arrogant the Third Infantry Regiment is, they are not sure that they can defeat these three thousand people in a short time and then reoccupy Lipingfu City.
After they arrived at Lipingfu City, they originally planned to launch a tentative attack to feel the strength of the Ming army in the city, and at the same time prepare for the subsequent general attack when the main force arrived at Lipingfu City.
But before they could launch a tentative attack, the reconnaissance cavalry reported that a large number of Ming troops had been spotted in the southwest heading towards Liping City.
When asked how many Ming troops there were, even the reconnaissance cavalry couldn't tell, because the reconnaissance cavalry couldn't see the end of the Ming army's march at a glance!
It can only be a preliminary judgment that the incoming Ming army must have at least 5,000 troops, and possibly even more than 10,000 troops!
As for the exact location of the people with more than 10,000 people, the scouts themselves haven’t figured it out yet!
After learning about this situation, Song Tianbiao naturally had no mood to launch any tentative attack on Liping City.
Immediately order the troops to prepare for interception operations!
But he always remembered his mission: not to let more Ming troops enter Lipingfu City, let alone tens of thousands of people.
If tens of thousands of people are allowed to enter Liping City and bring a large amount of luggage, such as food and so on, it will not be that easy to attack Liping City.
If the fight cannot be fought by then, the only choice is to besiege. This siege will have no effect within a few months. And within a few months, the main force of the new army of the Tang Dynasty was contained in Lipingfu City. If it fails to continue to expand, the besieged Ming Dynasty will
Before the army could starve to death, they themselves had to run out of ammunition and food first.
Time is extremely precious to the new army of the Tang Dynasty. It is troublesome if the main force is delayed for a month. If it is two or three months, the Tang Dynasty may collapse on its own by then.
Not to mention, if tens of thousands of Ming troops were besieged in Lipingfu City, the Ming Dynasty would definitely not remain indifferent. I am afraid that the Ming Dynasty would mobilize troops from several surrounding provinces to relieve the situation.
By then, no matter how powerful the new army of the Tang Dynasty is in combat, they will not be able to avoid being crushed!
Therefore, even if Song Tianbiao knew that his own troops were at a huge disadvantage, he still had to form a formation for an interception battle.
However, Song Tianbiao expected that more than 5,000 or even tens of thousands of Ming troops would come, but he still did not expect that Zhu Zhihai, after learning about the defeat of the Ming troops on the North Road, was extremely cautious along the way. In addition to sending three soldiers
Except for the forward force, which numbered less than a thousand men, no other troops were sent out. Instead, they all gathered together and marched together.
In this way, a situation emerged that Song Tianbiao himself could not have expected!
The incoming Ming army was not just five thousand, not even ten thousand, but more than thirty thousand!
More than 34,000 people to be precise!
About 6,000 of them were recruited from Fubiao led by Zhu Zhihai himself, and another 2,000 were recruited from various prefectures and counties. In total, the number of recruited soldiers totaled 8,000.
In addition, there are about ten thousand guardsmen!
The rest are young men and women recruited temporarily!
There are more than 34,000 troops, which is more than ten times the strength of the 3rd Infantry Regiment of more than 2,000 troops!
Seeing the darkness ahead and the Ming army with almost no end in sight, Song Tianbiao's face was gloomy and terrifying!
Damn it, this is the rhythm of martyrdom for the country!
Seeing so many Ming troops attacking and his own army being at a huge disadvantage, Song Tianbiao's first thought was to lead his troops to escape.
But when he thought about the extremely harsh military laws, and then thought about his family who had begun to enjoy happiness in Xingquan City, and his new concubine, he gave up the idea of leading his army to escape immediately!
It's okay to retreat, but you absolutely can't just run away without fighting. In this case, military law is ruthless. Even if his situation is excusable, he will probably lose points in front of His Majesty.
No one likes a general who just runs away without fighting anyone!
Even Sun Yawei, the former prefect of Liping Prefecture, led the army to defeat the bandit camp and thousands of young men and civilians, but he persisted until the last moment and only broke out and retreated when he had no choice.
Sun Yawei naturally has a reason for doing this!
And now, Song Tianbiao also has a reason to do this, and the reason is exactly the same!
The situation faced by Song Tianbiao now and Sun Yawei before is very similar, that is, they cannot defeat, but they have to fight, and the fight cannot be too intense, as unnecessary losses need to be avoided.
This is a great test of your ability as a frontline general!
Seeing the darkness ahead and the Ming army slowly coming with no end in sight, it was not only Song Tianbiao who felt the pressure and had the idea of turning around and running away, but also many of his subordinate officers and soldiers.
Those most ordinary soldiers have no loyalty or faith to support them. The reason why they go to the battlefield is very simple, that is, to eat!
Joining the army can not only feed themselves, but also receive a salary to support their families. For these soldiers, fighting for the Tang Dynasty is just a job to support their families.
It doesn’t mean that they are born to like fighting!
Being able to form a complete formation when facing a strong enemy without much turmoil was purely due to the strict military law.
Disobeying orders to act without permission and fleeing without fighting are the most serious disciplinary violations in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty. Once committed, they will be immediately punished by execution.
The officers at the back were always watching. Once a deserter appeared, the officers would immediately mount their horses and chop them down without saying a word.
During the Battle of Tonggu Acropolis, the officers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty and the military law team who directly belonged to the Privy Council killed more than 30 deserters in total!
All were killed on the spot without any hesitation!
So now, even though these soldiers already have fear in their hearts, their fear of military law and their instinct to obey orders allow them to still form a formation.
On the other hand, the performance of the middle and low-level officers was much better than that of ordinary soldiers, and even much better than that of senior generals such as Song Tianbiao.
On the one hand, these grassroots officers did not have a complete understanding of the battle situation. They did not know how many people were in the attacking Ming army. On the other hand, Song Tianbiao also told them that reinforcements from the rear were already on the way and it would not take long to arrive.
Arrive.
Besides, people always have a mentality that if the sky falls, someone taller will be able to hold it up!
The regimental commanders and battalion commanders above all looked calm. Why should I be nervous? If life is precious, it is also the regiment commander. The lives of the battalion commanders are more precious than your own!
I am just a little lieutenant!
Many circumstances have caused the current Third Infantry Regiment. Although its military morale has been slightly shaken, it still has a square formation ready to face the enemy!
Looking at the formation of the pseudo-Tang bandits in front of him, Zhu Zhihai also frowned!
Why didn't the more than 2,000 puppet Tang rebels in front of them escape? What gave them the courage to use their arms as a chariot?