The vanguard of Cao Cao's coalition army was commanded by Luo Dai'en, and most of them were elite cavalry. In addition to Luo Dai'en and some old soldiers under Li Laiheng, the vanguard also included Li Shuangxi, Dang Shousu, and Gu who broke into the camp.
Ke Cheng and Cao Ying's generals Yang Chengzu and Luo Yanqing.
This elite force, which opened the way for the army to attack, entered Runing Prefecture from Ye County and Wuyang County and went straight to Xiping. Yang Wenyue and Hu Dawei left three thousand defenders in Xiping, but they had no idea that the rebels were encircling and advancing.
During the suppression, he actually took the initiative to attack. He was unprepared and was destroyed by the vanguard army.
The vanguard army defeated more than half of the 3,000 defenders in the field, and then the hungry people in the city opened the door. Hao Yaoqi and Ma Bao, under Li Laiheng's command, rushed into the city first, breaking through more than ten formations of officers and soldiers, and leading 20 cavalrymen to the west city.
They captured all the doors and made a big splash in front of the coalition forces.
Then Li Shuangxi and Yang Chengzu were unwilling to let Li Laiheng take all the credit, and they rushed into the city desperately. The number of defenders was already smaller than that of the vanguard. Under such continuous impact, they collapsed in an instant, with nearly a thousand people.
They split and fled, but most of them were annihilated by the reserves held by Luo Danen and Luo Yanqing.
But conquering Xiping was only the first piece of cake. The focus was still on the main force of the Baoding Army behind. Moreover, after the city was broken, Li Laiheng counted the strength of each team and found that because the vanguard army lacked heavy artillery, although there were hungry people opening the city to respond, during the siege process,
The attack still cost more than 500 casualties.
The Baoding soldiers were indeed far better at fighting than the Henan soldiers!
Immediately afterwards, everyone went non-stop, leaving only a few troops in Xiping to meet the main army of Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai, while the other troops marched eastward at full speed and rushed to the Shangcai area.
Li Laiheng personally led more than 600 cavalry to the forefront, and intercepted many broken soldiers in several villages. The soldiers who followed him were almost exhausted, and no one took off their armor or left their saddles.
, marched day and night, and finally arrived before Yang Wenyue's reinforcements drove from Ruyang to Shangcai.
The forced march all night almost left Zhang Pizhu breathless. On the contrary, Ma Bao, a surrendered member of the Ming army, performed outstandingly. Not only did he seize the city gate with Hao Yaoqi in Xiping, but after continuous forced march, he also
Still looking very energetic.
Li Laiheng was very impressed with him, and specially asked the cavalry commander Aizhuo to give Ma Bao a large piece of bacon and half a bag of wine to reward him for his courage in taking the city.
They only rested for an hour or so before preparing to briefly attack a Baoding military camp near Cai before Yang Wenyue's army arrived.
Li Laiheng was just about to order the troops to set off when he saw Zhang Pizhu bringing more than a dozen people he had never seen before. Zhang Pizhu introduced to him that these people were the elders of nearby villages because Li Laiheng had previously placed relief supplies on the road.
Because of hunger, they came here voluntarily to see the inside story of the army's garrison and tell the invading army.
Li Laiheng did not expect such an unexpected surprise, so he quickly asked the elders to sit down, and first explained to them the purpose of breaking into the army to advocate righteousness and punish the people, and then explained in detail how to suppress the troops and calm the people.
A strategy to completely eradicate the local tyrants who are stepping on the heads of the village elders.
After he finished speaking, a clan elder boldly said: "We have heard for a long time that Chuang Wang's troops are benevolent and righteous troops. People in many places in Henan are burning incense and wishing. They want Chuang's army to attack as soon as possible. I wish your king
You are here to relieve the suffering. Today, seeing you personally leading the cavalry, we made up our mind to inform the king of all the inside information about the official and army camps."
Li Laiheng smiled. He knew that these village elders had a lot of calculations in their minds, and would never come to help them just because of the empty words of the Chuang Army: "defeat the people and bring down crimes" and "suppress the troops and calm the people."
Sure enough, the clan elder then said: "After the intruder army breaks through the officers and soldiers camp, please ask the king to eradicate all the soldiers who killed the people and burned down the villages, so as to make the common people of Xiping and Shangcai breathe a sigh of relief."
In fact, the people of Runing did not quite believe in the banner of "Serving Heaven and Promoting Justice, Suppressing Troops and Containing the People" played by the Chuang Army, which is the same as they did not believe in the "Teacher of Benevolence and Justice, Teacher of Loyalty and Filial Piety" promoted by the official army.
In the past, there were government troops and rebel troops passing through the Shangcai area. Needless to say, the government troops, killing and robbery were commonplace. But the rebel troops passing through here were not much better. Although they were more restrained than the government troops, they were still capable of setting fires and killing people.
.
In the eyes of most common people, the war between the government and the rebels is just dog-eat-dog. It’s just that the police regiments trained by Henan patrol commander Gao Mingheng were so vicious that they broke through the bottom line. They really couldn’t bear it anymore and prepared to use the hands of the rebels to take revenge on you.
The social soldiers of Ning Mansion.
After Li Laiheng nodded in agreement, he waved the elders to leave. He then said to Hao Yaoqi beside him: "These indigenous elders are not easy to get along with. Look at how they are crying about poverty. I really don't believe that these people have nothing in their hands."
Food. In the final analysis, I still worry about breaking into the army and don't want to expose it."
But Hao Yaoqi, who had always been careless, looked solemn at this time and retorted to Li Laiheng: "What are farmers? I know them best. Most of these damn farmers are liars and bastards. But then again...
Who turned them into liars and bastards? Or the officers and soldiers who are fighting everywhere and us."
Li Laiheng was silent, not knowing what to say. He lowered his head and thought for a while, then gave an order to Zhang Pizhu, asking him to take out more grain and give it to the local people.
Zhang Pizhen bit his mouth and said reluctantly: "We came here on Qingqi. We don't have much food, and we can only last for two or three days. After the relief is released, what should we do if the food is not available?"
"Don't talk about three days, if we can't win in one or two days, it means we have failed." Li Laiheng stretched out his hand to signal Zhang Pizhu not to refute anymore, "Within three days, there will be a conclusion. What's more, the army behind us will definitely be able to catch up tomorrow.
Come, they brought more food. Just follow my instructions."
Zhang Pilu and some of his soldiers went down to distribute food again, while Li Laiheng asked everyone to seize this time and rest for a while.
He called all the famous brave generals under his command and called them by name one by one. Hao Yaoqi, Ma Bao, Andrew and others came out one after another. Li Laiheng held his sword in front of the generals and lectured: "All mules and horses must take off their copper bells."
, Do not speak loudly, and do not light lanterns or torches. Make sure the officers and soldiers are defenseless and give them a beating."
The cavalrymen of the intruder army agreed in unison, and soon Zhang Pikui came back after distributing food. When it got darker, Li Laiheng ordered his troops to attack a military camp near Shangcai at night.
Because of the large amount of information sent by the indigenous elders, Li Laiheng not only had a complete grasp of the shortcuts in this area, but also had a clear grasp of the planning and distribution of the military camps.
The intruders and horses quickly attacked under the Milky Way and stars on a midsummer night. Due to the recent severe drought in Runing Prefecture, the weather was still hot and dry at night. The war horses had shown some fatigue due to the continuous forced march, but under the influence of the soldiers
Despite his urging, he still ran on the trail with his hooves full.
Li Laiheng grasped the reins tightly with both hands. It stands to reason that he has commanded many battles and is no longer the little civilian man he used to be. But this seems to be the first time that Li Laiheng has led elite cavalry, taking the lead, attacking at night with superior force and
With the officers and soldiers guarding the camp, he still felt a little unsure, and his palms couldn't help but sweat.
The same was true for Zhang Pizhu in the cavalry team. Zhang Pizhu's face, which was too young, was unusually flushed due to extreme nervousness and excitement.
This flush was also very obvious in the night. The experienced Hao Yaoqi opened his mouth and made a laughing expression without making a sound. Only then did Zhang Pikui return to his normal state of mind with some dissatisfaction.
Ma Bao, who was following behind, looked at the appearance of Li Laiheng and Zhang Pizhu and couldn't help lowering his head and smiling disdainfully. He was a senior officer in the Ming army, and he didn't think highly of the thieves.
Forced by the current situation, he had to fight against the enemy. At this moment, he was still criticizing Li Laiheng for lacking the magnanimity of a general.
Due to his continuous military exploits in previous battles, Ma Bao had been promoted from a small soldier after being captured to the status of a mid-level officer. Jiao Da, who had once carried Ma Bao out of the dead, became his adjutant.
, and at this time he was also with the cavalry brigade in the night attack.
Jiao Da still looked silly and upright. He saw that Ma Bao seemed to be smiling. He was deeply impressed by the fearless spirit of Ma Bao, his old enemy, and even gave him two thumbs up.