Chapter 43: The Battle of Pingxiang

It's just the strength of the Li family, and it may not be enough to hold Pingxiang City.

Therefore, they only sent dozens of people to watch the door and collect the toll from the passing merchants.

In the face of the surprise attack of the Annan army, it was naturally a drum.

The reason why the Annan army did this was because Zhennan Pass was too important.

Although the border between Annam and Guangxi is not short, there are not many places where a large army can really be launched, and even the Qitong area in Qinzhou is the same, it is just a corner land, and it is enough to withstand thousands of people fighting.

The place where the real big war can be started is here in Zhennanguan.

Even decades ago, Zhang Fu marched from Guangxi to Annam, and it was from here that he marched.

And Taiping Mansion is one or two hundred miles behind Zhennan Pass. This is also the reason why the army is stationed in Taiping Mansion, and it is also why Annan has a premonition that the Ming and Annan are going to make a move, so they do not wait for orders and attack Pingxiang as soon as possible.

They did not want to attack Pingxiang, but to occupy Zhennan Pass.

Occupy the favorable terrain and be ready for battle.

And just when the transfer of Annan had been completed, and even Li Sicheng did not go to Zhennan Pass, but he was also in Langshan south of Zhennan Pass. Mao Sheng finally got instructions from Beijing.

In Zhu Qizhen's will, although it is not explicitly stated, the meaning of the words is extremely clear.

Mao Sheng was overjoyed, and immediately took his headquarters to the south.

Mao Sheng called his son Mao Rui, pointed to the map and said: "Pingxiang is just a valley, the terrain is long and narrow, the south is Zhennanguan, and the north is blocked by the mountains, but once Pingxiang is lost, the nearby Tusi have received the threat of Annan, and they are afraid that they will not be used by the imperial court safely." ”

After all, Tusi is a toast, not a master of the imperial court.

Even if it is an imperial army, if the hometown is threatened, I am afraid that there will be a sense of anxiety in my heart, and the morale of the army will be affected.

Not to mention toast.

Compared with the Ming Dynasty, Annan is naturally a powerful Ming Dynasty, but even if they will not surrender to Annan, they will be half-hearted and worried about the bottles and cans in their homes.

At that time, the tens of thousands of Tusi soldiers gathered by Mao Sheng were not too sensitive in terms of scheduling, and it was even more difficult to do.

Mao Rui said: "The last general knows. ”

Mao Sheng said: "I have been waiting for the will of the imperial court before, since the will of the imperial court has arrived, it is time to do it, Pingxiang County, Annan siege but not attack, nothing more than not wanting to tear their faces with the Ming Dynasty, they are hesitant, it is the biggest flaw." ”

"This is the place where the brave win when they meet on the narrow road, I will hand over my Mao family's team to you today, and five thousand cavalry thieves will be under Pingxiang City."

"Do you dare?"

Mao Rui said: "Why don't you dare? ”

Seeing Mao Rui like this, Mao Sheng suddenly smiled, patted Mao Rui's shoulder vigorously and said, "If this battle is won, I am also relieved." ”

When Mao Rui saw it, his heart was sour, how could he not know Mao Sheng's selfishness in this battle.

The Mao family was originally born in Mongolians, and there is no backer in Daming, only the military exploits that can be relied on can make the Mao family always occupy a place in the upper echelons of the Ming Dynasty.

But seeing that Shi Heng's nephew Shi Biao, Yang Hong's nephew Yang Xin, and other young generals stand out, he is old, but Mao Rui is unknown.

He didn't think it was his son, it was not as good as Shi Biao and Yang Xin, it was just that he didn't catch up with the good times, and when the Northern War was in the north, he was in Yunnan.

Therefore, he wants to put Mao Rui in the most critical place, and whether this battle can take the lead is directly related to what kind of situation the battle between Daming and Annan should end.

Of course, it is believed in Mao Rui, and it is also to give Mao Rui a stage to become famous in the world.

It is true that if this stage is not careful, it will be folded in.

But as a military general who doesn't know anything and can only fight, isn't this fate?

After Mao Rui received the order, he selected 5,000 cavalry from the whole army.

In fact, there are not too many cavalry in the entire Guangxi Ming army, not that the imperial court does not match, since the occupation of the south and north of the desert, there is no shortage of war horses in the Ming Dynasty.

Even with the implementation of the silage law, the number of war horses owned by the Ming Dynasty will only increase.

But here in Guangxi, many times the cavalry can't be used, just like the battle of the Huang clan in Qinzhou, Mao Shengjing can't fight, but the horse can't run.

Pingxiang may not be much suitable for cavalry, but at least it is a piece of flat land.

Otherwise, in the future, unless a series of defense lines on the northern border of Annam are broken and the Honghe Plain is directly drunk, it will be difficult for the cavalry to be used.

And most of the cavalry brought by Mao Rui are Mao Sheng's old subordinates, and there are even countless children of the Mao family, and it may not be impossible to say that the Mao family army is not successful.

This is also the practice of many Ming armies, fathers, sons, uncles and nephews, and a large family are in one army.

Zhu Qizhen was in the Beijing camp and deliberately restricted such a phenomenon, but this phenomenon was too common in the local army.

Mao Rui gathered his men and horses, looked at many familiar faces in the army, and left the camp without hesitation.

From Taiping to Longzhou, and then from Longzhou to Pingxiang.

It's okay to go all the way from Taiping to Longzhou, and it's very fast, but from Longzhou to Pingxiang, it's not easy to go. It's a mountain road.

Five thousand cavalry were stretched long, long.

Two days later, I realized that my eyes suddenly opened up.

Because it's already here. Near Pingxiang County.

Any valley is washed by a certain river, and Pingxiang is no exception.

Originating from the territory of Annam, the Qiqi River flows into the territory of Daming, and then rushes through the territory of Pingxiang, which is called the Pinghe River, and finally flows into the Zuojiang River. However, this river did not go deep into Pingxiang City. Instead, in the north, it turns to the east and flows into the Zuojiang River.

However, there is a small river that flows into this river from south to north.

Mao Rui is on the east bank of this nameless river.

Mao Rui looked at the soldiers around him and said: "The soldiers are fast, and now Pingxiang is only ten miles away from here, it is the time to break the Annan army in one go, now all the light equipment, armor, eat dry food, except for weapons, everything is thrown, if this battle is won, we will live in the camp of the Annan army tonight, if we lose, don't worry about this matter." ”

The surrounding soldiers were silent for a while, and they didn't know who said first: "Yes." ”

Immediately, countless people clasped their fists and saluted, "Yes." ”

The tone was heavy and resolute.

In a quarter of an hour, a lot of things were left on the ground, clothes, bedding, and even wallets and silver taels were put together in a proper manner, and everyone wanted to wait for the victory before getting it back.

The number of victories and defeats, who can say clearly.

After everything was ready, Mao Rui led a large group of cavalry and marched south, retreating from the mountains on both sides to the east and west, and patches of valleys were revealed in front of Mao Rui's eyes.

Most of these lands have traces of being cultivated.

But at the moment there is no one to cultivate.

With the river on one side and the mountains on the other, the five thousand cavalry led by Mao Rui shot out like a sharp arrow.

"Dangdangdang."

"Woohoo."

"Bang bang."

Dangdang is the sound of gongs, and the sound of rockets shooting into the sky and the sound of arrows, and bang bang is the sound of fireworks exploding in the sky.

It can be seen that General Annan is not incompetent, and he set up a cordon outside.

At this moment, these scouts are frantically warning.

There was even a squad of soldiers who came out, trying to use their flesh to hinder the speed of some cavalry charges.

It's just that they're too slow.

Without Mao Rui's gesture at all, countless bows and arrows shot out, and the squad of Annan soldiers and horses that came out to resist was suddenly shot into a hornet's nest.

Immediately he was trampled under the hooves of countless horses, and in an instant, it turned into a piece of meat puree.

And Mao Rui didn't mean to slow down at all, and even controlled a little bit of acceleration.

After all, horsepower is very precious, and a ten-mile charge consumes a lot of horsepower, so you have to run leisurely at first, and the closer you get to the Annam military camp, the faster.

Ten miles is just a snap of a finger for many cavalrymen.

Even if the Annan army received the alarm, it was too late to react at this moment.

It's not that the Annam army can't fight, they just don't adapt to such a battle.

After all, most of the land in Annam is paddy fields, and war horses are also very rare, and there are war horses, which are just horse breeds similar to Yunnan horses, so they do not have an estimate of the speed of the high-headed horses in the north.

Maybe there were forty years ago, but those people are gone.