When Li Laiheng saw that the flag of the rebel army was still erected on the wall of Baoding City, his uneasiness gradually subsided. When he marched to Boye County in a hurry, he happened to bump into the redeployed garrison sent here by Liu Fangliang.
Ma Shitai.
Li Laiheng learned about Liu Fangliang's decision from Ma Shitai. He couldn't help but admire that Liu Fangliang did not know the relevant knowledge about the spread of the plague, nor did he know that the Qing army would definitely enter the customs. But he actually made an almost impossible decision based on only some clues.
This is the most correct response.
Destiny is breaking into the army!
Of course, Li Laiheng was just saying this kind of sigh. He knew that this was more because senior military officers like Liu Fangliang had gone through countless hells.
The worst situation they had ever experienced was not even what Li Laiheng could have imagined.
After all, not long after Li Laiheng defected to the rebel army, the rebel army went from the trough to the peak, and triumphed all the way until today. Li Laiheng did not experience the bleak experience of the rebel army rising again and again before the Shangluoshan period, let alone
I was hiking snow-capped mountains and crossing grasslands with Li Zicheng in Xifanjie near Qinghai.
Sometimes he also thinks about whether he, who has never experienced those tragic defeats, will be able to stabilize his position if he encounters a disastrous defeat in the future?
However, according to historical circumstances, those Yuancong generals who experienced the trough period of the Chuang Army did not seem to be able to stabilize their position after a series of defeats after the Battle of Shanhaiguan.
Perhaps it means that the experience and talent of the individual commander are ultimately lower than the power of the general trend, territory, military strength, finance and other factors, right?
"How straight, please remember to ask Xu Du to make arrangements to take in the stragglers."
Li Laiheng told Gu Junen that Xu Du is now a military director of the Military Affairs Department. Although he has poor combat experience, he is familiar with military books. In other words, he has a strong ability to "work on paper".
With the help and guidance of some veteran officers from Chu Chuang in the Army Joining Department, Xu Du has made rapid progress, and is now fully capable of coordinating various coordination tasks for the Disabled Soldiers.
Because the Chu army of 30,000 was forced to march northward, Li Laiheng considered that many soldiers must have fallen behind on the way, so he asked Xu Du to stay in Boye County to take care of the stragglers.
Gu Junen looked at Baoding City, which was already in sight not far away. He felt a little sudden about Li Laiheng's request, and said helplessly: "Do you want me to go back to Boye County and take another look?"
"I was always worried that the army would attack Baoding before me, but now it seems that I have worried too much. We don't have to worry too much, so we can go to Boye County to take care of all the stragglers... In this way, I asked Li Shiwei
I'll go with you. Many of the heavy artillery in the cannon mark are also lagging behind, and it will probably take some time to catch up."
The artillery mark commanded by Li Shiwei was the most luxuriously equipped unit in Chu Chuang's army, and was also the absolute main force in Li Laiheng's attack. However, the heavy artillery was inconvenient and naturally fell at the back of the team during the forced march.
Gu Junen understood that the situation was like this, so he said nothing more. He quickly turned towards Boye County under the escort of a group of Li Shiwei's troops.
"It seems that there is no war in Baoding. The palace master is overly worried."
Li Laiheng nodded to Fang Yiren. Judging from the current situation, firstly, Liu Fangliang was on guard, and it seemed that he would not be attacked by the enemy and cause heavy losses; secondly, the enemy did not launch an attack soon, and he was still
We successfully arrived in Baoding and joined forces with Liu Fangliang before the enemy took action.
Li Laiheng took a breath. The closer he got to Beijing and Shanhaiguan, the more suspicious he became. The black haze always lingered in his heart, making him unable to help but feel sleepy.
I woke up with a start and couldn't tell whether it was real when I was awake or whether it was real when I was dreaming.
"My master is usually known for his lightness and sharpness in his troops, but this time he was completely cautious. He can stretch and gallop, which is the style of famous ancient generals."
Liu Fangliang once taught Li Laiheng gun and stick kung fu, so Li Laiheng still used to call Liu Fangliang the title of master. He and Li Guo have a foster-son relationship, and Liu Fangliang has a master-disciple relationship, and Luo Rucai has a sister-in-law relationship. He has six powers in the army.
General, Li Laiheng took one of his own, and had such a close connection with the remaining three.
No wonder Niu Jinxing is very afraid of their "Li Party".
After all, although Niu Jinxing controlled the civil service system at the center of the Chuang Army, in terms of generals, there were only two powerful generals, Tian Jianxiu and Yuan Zongdi.
However, the influence of the "Niu Party" in Li Zicheng's pro-military camp is far greater than that of the Li Party, which is also a major advantage.
Of course, the premise of these discussions is that there really is a "Li Party" group headed by Li Guo that competes with the "Niu Party".
Thinking of this matter, Li Laiheng couldn't help but laugh for a while, and felt a lot more relaxed.
Liu Fangliang in Baoding City was first surprised that Li Laiheng came to join forces so quickly. But then he learned that Li Laiheng did not occupy Hejian Prefecture first, but went directly from Shenzhou in Zhending Prefecture to Boye County and came straight to Baoding.
After the news, Liu Fangliang became serious.
He was somewhat displeased with Li Laiheng's unauthorized modification of Li Zicheng's Northern Expedition arrangements: "Hejian Mansion covers Baoding's flanks, and the Donglu invaded Hejian Mansion last year. There are no strong troops stationed there, and the city is dilapidated. You want to capture it."
Hejian Mansion will only delay you for a few more days at most, so why rush to Baoding in such a hurry."
Li Laiheng knew that there was indeed something wrong with his approach. When making decisions at that time, he was overly affected by the shadow of the Battle of Shanhaiguan and became overly radical.
He explained helplessly: "It's snowing heavily. Master, have you discovered that the plague has stopped? I'm afraid that the Ming army will take this opportunity to attack Caizhou on a snowy night. You only have 20,000 people in Baoding. If you are attacked by the Ming army,
If Kong Guo comes to attack, things will be very troublesome."
"I am concerned about the plague you mentioned. Among the refugees who have fled to Baoding in recent times, few people have died due to the plague. But you don't have to worry too much. I have sent
Ma Shiyao led 2,000 cavalry and went out to the Baigou River area to detect the movements of the officers and soldiers, so as not to be suddenly attacked by the enemy."
Li Laiheng was impressed by Liu Fangliang's comprehensive arrangements. After the soldiers and horses of the front camp entered the city one after another, he mentioned the Datong border army to Liu Fangliang and said:
"I heard that when His Highness captured Datong, Datong's general Jiang surrendered at the pass. A capricious person like this would sacrifice the Guancheng of the Ming Dynasty today, and perhaps sacrifice the Guancheng of our army tomorrow. I heard
After talking about this incident, I wrote to His Highness, urging His Highness to kill Jiang, the general of Datong, so as to deter the Jin soldiers. I wonder if Jiang is in prison now or has been killed? In short, he must not be used."
Liu Fangliang looked at Li Laiheng with a strange expression, and after a while he said:
"Zicheng...His Highness indeed dismissed all of Jiang's official positions and left him idle at home in Datong. However, after His Highness led his troops on the Western Expedition, as far as I know, Tian Yufeng felt that Jiang was a rare talent and was recruiting Jin troops.
Jiang's opinions were often listened to on matters related to his affairs. Later, it developed to the point where Jiang was required to accompany him wherever he went. Jiang was also transferred to Taiyuan to assist in the affairs of staying behind."
"this……"
Li Laiheng thought of all the actions of Jiang, a capricious man in history, and was speechless to Tian Jianxiu. How could such a local coward from Datong still stay with him without cutting off his head?
This is really going to be a lot of fun!
"Uncle Yufeng is ridiculous. Your Highness has already dismissed Jiang from office. How can you reuse such a capricious person? No, master, I still have to write to Your Highness and Uncle Yufeng. Jiang
This kind of person must be killed, otherwise there will be trouble in the future if he is left alive."
But before Li Laiheng started to write a new letter, a small force of the two thousand elite cavalry brought by Ma Shiyao rushed back to Baoding City. Dozens of cavalry rushed into Baoding City. When Liu Fangliang saw this, he knew that it must be the official army.
As soon as there was any change, he immediately opened the city gate and rushed to the city gate to greet Tan Ma.
Li Laiheng's expression also changed. He and Fang Yiren looked at each other, wondering whether what they had speculated had come true? Are the officers and soldiers really going to take advantage of the situation and counterattack?
"Report! Ma Guoyi has found out the military situation. A large group of officers and soldiers has arrived in the area north of Baigou River. The number is more than tens of thousands! There are also refugees driven by the officers and soldiers who came to report that they have arrived in Zhuozhou on the 14th. They seem unwilling to abandon southern Hebei.
, you mean to embarrass me!"
"That's true!"
Li Laiheng and Liu Fangliang exclaimed at the same time, not expecting that their guesses were all true.
But fortunately for the Chuang army, Liu Fangliang made a correct prediction in advance and sent Ma Shiyao to capture the movements of the army. Li Laiheng also arrived in Baoding in time, so that the strength of the Chuang army was not much inferior to that of the army.
Li Laiheng asked Ye Busu in detail: "How many troops are coming from the north? Do you have a general idea of the situation?"
Ye Bushou replied: "General Ma only has two thousand riders, but in order to get clear information, he still took the risk to cross the river. Fortunately, it was freezing cold and the Baigou River was mostly frozen, so although General Ma was chased by a large number of officers and soldiers,
But the elite cavalry of the three walls of our left camp are the most powerful. General Ma only lost forty cavalry before he returned to Gucheng Town. The total number of officers and soldiers was about 40,000 to 50,000, including war horses, equipment, and armor.
There are many cannons and artillery, the soldiers are well-fed and the horses are full, and they are very strong."
Li Laiheng knew that the simple words Ye Bushou said must contain a series of extremely dangerous life-and-death battles. Unexpectedly, Liu Fangliang's deputy general Ma Shiyao, who was not well-known, could be so wise and courageous, and he had grasped a very important situation for the army.
What a head start!
Although many sections of the Baigou River were frozen, Ma Shiyao only had 2,000 cavalry, while the enemy had an army of 50,000. He actually dared to lead such a small force deep in front of the enemy and stroked the tiger's beard.
Naturally, Li Laiheng didn't know that after the subsequent army's defeat in the Tongguan battle, Ma Shiyao only brought 7,000 troops to pretend to surrender to Prince Duduo of Henan. He planned to use these 7,000 troops to cooperate with Li Zicheng inside and outside, turn the tide in one fell swoop, and destroy Duduo's troops.
If the destiny of history had not fallen on Ma Shiyao and his secret letter of false surrender was inadvertently obtained by the Qing army, Prince Duduo of Yu would probably not have been able to leave Tongguan.
"Okay, the officers and soldiers must have thought that Baoding's strength was only half of that. Unexpectedly, Laiheng has arrived and our strength has been greatly strengthened. Quick, let's prepare immediately and rush to Gucheng Town to meet Ma Shiyao."
Liu Fangliang was quite proud of his decision to choose Ma Shiyao to conduct reconnaissance. He made such an arrangement because he knew that Ma Shiyao was a very creative and bold person.
Li Laiheng looked at the northern skyline. The snow had stopped for a long time. The clouds were neither thin nor thick, but it probably wouldn't snow again in the next two days.