Huang Taiji was at the foot of Shenzhou City, using his tactics to attack the east and west, and the golden cicada escaped from his shell. After transferring his elite troops, only Prince Zhuang, Governor Jierhalang, led by thirty to forty thousand miscellaneous surrender troops was left under the city to continue the siege.
The garrison in Shenzhou City originally consisted of Li Shiwei's force of about 10,000 people. Now Li Laiheng and Liu Fangliang rushed into the city with 20,000 elite troops for reinforcements, which suddenly increased the strength of the Shenzhou garrison to the outer walls of Hecheng.
The troops are almost equal.
What's more, the Qing army's siege troops outside the city have to surround Shenzhou on all sides, and their forces can only be used dispersedly. A large part of the soldiers are miscellaneous troops like Tang Tong's troops who have just returned from the battlefield of Nirvana, and are simply not suitable for use.
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After Fang Yiren pointed out the conspiracy of the Qing army Jin Chan to escape and fight for the decisive battle, the defenders in Shenzhou City began to move quickly under the organization of Li Laiheng and Liu Fangliang.
Liu Fangliang was a nimble person by nature, so he immediately decided to be the vanguard, leading the Zuoying cavalry troops to rush out of the city and defeat the Qing army besieging the city. However, Li Laiheng believed that the main force of the Qing army had left Shenzhou City last night and was expected to go directly to the city.
Fight in Zhending or Jingxing area.
If the Shenzhou garrison now prioritizes concentrating its troops to defeat the Qing army camp besieging the city and wastes time fighting the besieging army, it will inevitably waste a lot of precious time.
Shenzhou is about 200 miles away from Jingxing, the real battlefield. Even if Xinghuo rushes for reinforcements and marches at full speed regardless of rest, it will still take a day and night to cover the 200 miles.
The Qing army had set off so far in advance, and the Dashun army continued to delay like this. Even if it defeated Jierhalang, it would only be a small victory, and ultimately it would not be able to catch up with the big battle that broke out on the Zhending and Jingxing battlefields.
Wouldn't a decisive battle be of no use to the overall situation?
Li Laiheng took out the green sharkskin waist knife that he had seized from Ye Bilong. He inserted the blade straight into the center of the map, and it landed exactly on the correct position.
The generals' eyes were also focused here, and Liu Fangliang naturally understood what he meant: "Laiheng, do you want to break out of the encirclement and run straight to Zhending? But if the Qing army pursues and harasses along the way, we may have to spend more time.
It will take more time to reach Zhending. If this is really the case, it is better to mobilize troops and horses to break the siege first, annihilate the siege camp, and then rush to help Zhending."
Li Laiheng thought of the battle at Nirvana, and then thought of the many Qing and Han troops he had seen when he led his troops into Shenzhou City, and he gritted his teeth and said:
"Master Liu! I saw that most of the 30,000 to 40,000 men left behind by the Qing army were Han troops. Many of these Han troops had not even shaved their braided heads. Their loyalty to the Donglu must be in question.
At this moment, it is time to face the enemy. We gathered our troops and penetrated directly into the Qing's central army formation outside the city, and broke out from the enemy's central army. If the situation is optimistic, we may be able to defeat them immediately.
Those Han troops were defeated, and by then the Donglu had no time to care for themselves, and no time to harass and block us along the way."
Li Laiheng held Liu Fangliang's hand, stared into Master Liu's eyes and said: "Huang Taiji has left so long in advance, how much time is left for us? Seize the day, seize the day, even if we are just
An hour later may lead to overall corruption. Master Liu, time is not on our side!"
Fang Yiren also advised: "Time is against me. At this time, the only way to cut through the mess is with a sharp sword. I think the soldiers and horses left behind by the Donglu are indeed outnumbered. Let's gather our troops to attack the middle army, and if we are lucky, kill the leader."
, the Donglu army might have been completely routed. Even if they couldn’t kill their commander-in-chief, they could still force the Han troops to route, leaving the Qing army with no time to pursue and harass them.”
"I see……"
Liu Fangliang raised his head. He looked at the position of the sun in the sky and clearly realized the urgency of time.
Li Laiheng was right when he said seize the day. If Huang Taiji gets a good opportunity to annihilate Li Zicheng's main force with superior force, even if the Jinzhou, Shenzhou, Nanpi and Dashun armies win everywhere, they will not be able to make up for the heavy losses to the main force.
Disadvantages.
"Okay, Laiheng, I will lead the vanguard cavalry to attack the center of the enemy's formation. If you get a chance, immediately lead your troops to break up and go west, rushing to Zhending first!"
Li Shiwei also immediately promised: "The prince can take away the best troops. The strength of the Donglu troops has been greatly weakened, and there are not many artillery left. I guarantee that they will not be able to break through Shenzhou City... After the prince broke the siege and walked west, Liu
Shuai can also find an opportunity to break out and leave."
The two coaches, Li Laiheng and Liu Fangliang, finally agreed. Li Laiheng watched the passage of time and was making constant adjustments in his mind to the time when the battle in the Zhending area would break out.
He closed his eyes, and the faces of Li Zicheng and Li Guo immediately flashed in his mind...
Li Zicheng and Li Guo were not related by blood to him, but didn't these two people treat him, Li Laiheng, as if they were their own children? Wasn't Li Guo's affection for him better than blood being thicker than water?
Seeing that Li Zicheng might have stepped into Huang Taiji's trap without any preparation, could he, Li Laiheng, just sit back and watch all this happen?
"The army sets out - we break the siege and move westward, we must catch up with the main battle force!"
It was rare for Li Laiheng to make such a quick and decisive decision, and Fang Yiren couldn't help but feel his blood boiling. The Shenzhou garrison quickly mobilized, and all the elite Dashun soldiers who had entered the city to rest for a short time returned to their posts. On the city wall, guns and cannons were fired.
There were many bows and crossbows, and under the city wall, armored cavalry and infantry quickly formed a formation to attack.
Liu Fangliang put on double armor, and his long cloak fluttered in the wind. He put the spear on his shoulder, controlled the reins with one hand, and leapt into the city gate.
With a bang, the four city gates of Shenzhou City opened at the same time. The defenders would attack from multiple directions together, so that the Qing siege troops outside the city would be fortified everywhere and unable to concentrate their forces.
Only behind a city gate in the south were Liu Fangliang, who was waiting for an opportunity, and the elite cavalry from Zuo Ying and Chu Chuang. They all gripped their muskets and crossbows, put down their visors, and everyone was waiting.
After the Qing army's battle line outside was stirred up, they rushed out of the city and inserted themselves into the Qing army's central formation, crushing the enemy's morale and morale in one fell swoop.
Li Laiheng also came to the southern city gate. He was wearing a thick layer of cloth armor, and on top of the cloth armor was another piece of well-made chain mail produced in Suizhou.
"Master, after you leave the city to meet the enemy, I will immediately lead my troops to follow up. Let's tear apart the enemy's formation and don't get entangled with the enemy. The main thing is to destroy the enemy's morale, and then we will gallop towards Zhending with all our strength."
Liu Fangliang put down the visor on his head, and a layer of shimmering iron mask blocked his elegant appearance, but it could not stop the strong murderous aura that overflowed from Liu Fangliang's body.
He laughed heartily and said: "The Eastern captives outside the city... No, there are not many Eastern captives outside the city. I think most of them are just surrendered troops by the Ming army. Looking at their formations, they are far inferior to those on the Baigou River.
The Ming army was elite and powerful, but they were probably just some miscellaneous soldiers who were unable to fight.
Laiheng, I will destroy the enemy formation for everyone first. Once the Qing army's line is loosened, you can immediately break the encirclement and go west. Wait a moment, and I will catch up immediately!"