The defeated captives chased Helan Mountain, and it was difficult to break through and besiege Ningxia

Ningxia since the last time the Mongolian aid was defeated, Bibai is still unwilling, three times or four times again to ask the rabbit, the monk to help, clearly said that the situation is very critical, do not retain strength. Since then, they have been in constant correspondence. On the other hand, the Ming army was also constantly contacting the leaders of the Loop, and the supervising army Yu Shi Mei Guozhen believed that the Hetao Departments and Bibai could only use each other and pay attention to selfish interests. So Mei Guozhen also sent silver and exquisite clothes to the Hetao tribes many times, and asked lobbyists to persuade him, hoping that the Hetao tribes would only wait and see. For a time, the leaders of the Hetao were in a dilemma.

Regarding the matter of lobbying the department, Ye Mengxiong advised Mei Guozhen: "The trap is capricious and insatiable, how can you really wait and see without fighting, the Ming army and its endless battles over the years, it can be described as a feud that is difficult to solve, although you have to hesitate for a while, you will eventually fall to Bibai and I am the enemy, even if there is no Bibai rebellion, the Ming Dynasty and the captives will also have grudges." Mei Guozhen objected: "China tolerates the world, so that it can feel the grace of the Celestial Empire, if we can make our army break through Ningxia and reduce resistance, it will be effective, if it is really as you said, it is not too late to destroy it." Ye Mengxiong bitterly advised Mei Guozhen not to be gullible, but Mei Guozhen only said a little temptation.

As Ye Mengxiong said, although the leaders of the tribes headed by Li Rabbit watched left and right, it was difficult to understand the hatred with the Ming army over the past dynasties. If you help Bibai to break the Ming army, then the land and city, livestock and food, gold and silver beauties will be inexhaustible, the rabbit will make up his mind to help, the rabbit and the monk think twice, decided to send all the soldiers and horses to rescue the worship, and Ningxia worship will be more frequent, and the correspondence with the Ming army has not stopped, the rabbit hopes to confuse the Ming army, so as to take the opportunity to launch a surprise attack.

One day, the messenger strayed into an ambush and was captured by the Ming army and sent to the camp, Li Rusong opened the letter and knew that the rabbit and the monk had done their best to kill them, so he asked Ye Mengxiong for an order to attack. Li Rusong said: "The last general learned that the rabbit and the monk had done their best to rescue the rebels in one fell swoop, and the general checked the route, and the rabbit will pass through the north fort of Zhen, and the monk will enter the fort of Li Gang, and the enemy should have 40,000 soldiers and horses. There are many soldiers and horses in the Rabbit Department, and 10,000 soldiers led by the last general to guard the north fort of the town to block its advance, and 10,000 troops led by Ma Gui and his brother Li Ruzhang to Li Gangbao to annihilate the slaughtering monk department and then join up with our army, and then attack the rabbit, and then order Ma Kongying and Du Tong to lead the cavalry of 5,000 and I followed the pursuit, this battle can make it difficult for the set of troops to attack in the future. ”

Ye Mengxiong wanted to approve Li Rusong's invitation, but he wanted to say something, turned around and thought about it with his back hand, and then admonished: "Although you know that soldiers are good at fighting, you are used to taking the lead and charging into battle, I have long heard of such prestige, but how can you, as the commander-in-chief, put yourself in danger again and again, this time the reinforcements guarding the town of Beibao will not allow you to attack in person, if you are difficult to do it, you can't respond to your request, if you disobey the order in front of the army, you will be beheaded." Li Rusong listened to the order. The next day, Li Rusong led 10,000 troops into Zhenbei Fort, Ma Gui and Li Ruzhang led 10,000 troops into Li Gangbao, and Ma Kongying and Du Tong led 5,000 troops to stand by.

Ma Gui and Li Ruzhang discussed in Li Gangbao, Li Ruzhang said: "10,000 of our army are stationed here in Ma Deputy Town, if the monk knows it, he will not dare to enter lightly or turn to other roads, so it is difficult for our army to win quickly, whether to set up an ambush." Ma Gui said: "What Shiro said is extremely true, our army must first annihilate the entire army of the monks with very few casualties, otherwise it will be difficult to reinforce Li Junmen in time." In my opinion, I can leave 1,000 troops to defend Li Gangbao, order the chariot battalion, the firearms battalion and 1,000 cavalry to live behind the pass, and order the 5,000 cavalry to lie in wait behind the mountains on both sides. The monk knows that the defenders only have 1,000 will attack in a big way, and the defenders only need to hold on for half an hour to evacuate the big open door, and the monk will be blocked by the car battalion, and the cavalry on both sides can hear the sound when the enemy tackles the attack, and the front and rear attacks in the pass, there is no escape, and the morale will collapse and will be completely destroyed. ”

Li Ruzhang clapped his hands and praised: "The deputy town has an excellent plan, I am willing to personally guard the pass, and the general town will lead the cavalry to help." Ma Gui persuaded: "You are the fourth brother of the military family, if there is a mistake, how can you explain?" The number of troops guarding the pass is insufficient, and the risk is extremely high. It's better for me to guard the gates. Ma Zhen also asked Li Ruzhang to obey Ma Gui's arrangement, Li Ruzhang insisted on resigning: "I am the son of the door tiger, since I am the first soldier not to lose my father and brother to the glorious lintel, the deputy town has long been known outside the plug, and it is very suitable to lead the fine horse, I will guard the pass and please rest assured that the deputy town." Ma Gui had to agree.

The slaughter monk sent a horse to learn that the defenders of Li Gang Fort were only 1,000 and then attacked in a big way, the rain of arrows continued, Li Ruzhang ordered the defenders to rely on the city wall bunker, and returned fire with the Fu Lang machine gun, the exterminator cannon, the rocket gun, the flowering bomb, etc., the pass was tragic, the slaughter monk relied on ten times that of the Ming army and ordered the front to storm Dengbao, although the casualties were heavy but the Ming army defenders gradually lost their support, the Ming army guarded the firearms and ammunition left, Li Ruzhang saw that it was about to last more than half an hour and ordered the remnants to withdraw from Li Gang Fort.

The monk was overjoyed to see the defenders withdrawing, so he ordered the whole army to break in, the Ming army ambush had already been waiting, Li Ruzhang saw that half of the set of troops had broken in, so he ordered to attack, the Ming army Fran machine, tiger squat, extermination and other artillery shots, and the invincible general scattered bullet shooting, the blockade front reached 20 zhang, the Ming army was covered by the rejection of the horse formation and the foot pawns, the cavalry was on standby, the artillery fire was fired continuously, the front of the monk department was not able to form an army, and was waiting to be withdrawn, Ma Gui and Ma Zhen led the cavalry 5,000 to be killed, and the first group of the Ming army held a three-eyed gun and shot at a gallop, The second group rushed forward with a hundred furlong machines, each with ten guns, shooting in a loop, shooting the muzzle-shaped fork for charging and stabbing, and the third group of elite sword riders to cover left and right. Under the three rounds, the army of the slaughtering monk was in great turmoil, lost the will to fight, and the slaughtering monk died under the fire. The whole army of the slaughtering monk department was annihilated, and Li Ruzhang, Ma Gui and Ma Zhen took a little inventory and moved to Zhenbei Fort to support Li Rusong.

Li Rusong led 10,000 troops to defend against the heavy attacks of the Rabbit Department of Zhenbei Fort, and Li Rusong commanded the firearms and infantry to cooperate with the cavalry to repel the siege of the set of troops several times, but the casualties of the headquarters gradually increased. Li Rabbit's subordinates reminded him to be careful of the support of the Ming army, and Li Rabbit said: "Seeing Li Rusong here, I also have doubts, our army's secret march will not be so coincidental Li Rusong is guarding here, I think it should be that the secret leak has been known by the Ming army, so it is indeed possible to be attacked by the Ming army reinforcements, I don't know what the situation is there?" If it retreats, it will be difficult to have this opportunity, Li Rusong's troops are not as good as our troops, although the city is fortified, but as long as the Ming army reinforcements arrive before the arrival of the concentrated force to break through the north fort of the town, not only can kill Li Rusong, but also can drive straight into the fight again, and our department has the opportunity to fight here. Then he ordered a team to stay behind to block the Ming Dynasty reinforcements, and led the main force to attack the north fort of Zhenbei.

From early morning to noon, the rabbit department saw that the Ming army was very tenacious, so all the military forces were invested, and then Ma Gui and Li Ruzhang, Mazhen led the army to arrive, the rabbit was shocked, Li Rusong saw this and immediately ordered the whole army to attack, the Ming army attacked before and after, the rabbit led the army to defeat away, Ma Kongying, Du Tong led the cavalry 5,000 also rushed to Zhenbei Fort to join the division, Li Rusong ordered the whole army to pursue.

The rabbit department fled for a long time, and when he saw that Li Rusong was still following closely, he was furious and wanted to fight Li Rusong to the death, so he immediately ordered the crowd to counterattack. Li Rusong also hit head-on, the two armies charged each other, and the battle was stalemate with each other, until Ma Kongying and Du Tong's 5,000 reinforcements arrived, and the Ming army relied on firearms, and even went out of the camp in a large array. The set also had many counterattacks in the retreat, but they couldn't help but panic, they broke down, the Ming army chased all the way, chased endlessly, killed countless enemies, pursued straight to the foot of Helan Mountain, and focused on the remnants of the rabbit to withdraw from the outside of the plug.

Since the reinforcements of the Ministry were expelled from the Ming army outside the Saiwai, Bibai was terrified, and felt that he could no longer defend Ningxia and wanted to break through, so he convened the generals to discuss, Bibai said: "Ningxia was besieged by the Ming army, and the soldiers outside the Saiwai could not be saved. ”

Tu Wenxiu scolded: "The rabbit and others are really useless, they boast of being the eagle of the grassland on weekdays, and they think very highly of themselves, although they have been repeatedly blocked by the Ming army outside the pass, but they are still called strong and strong to form an alliance with them, promising heavy profits, who knows that they are so vulnerable, and they have wasted so much of our gold and silver treasures in vain. ”

But Bibai doesn't think so: "Li Rusong and Ma Gui are all fierce generals in the world, and they have been known for a long time, and the rabbit has been expelled from the fortress and it is difficult to rescue, and then the Ming army will concentrate on besieging Ningxia, and I just have this opportunity to compete with Li Rusong, Ma Gui and others." "Although Bibai is over sixty, he is still strong, and his riding and archery martial arts are not under the prime of life.

Bi Chengen knew that it was too late to break through at this time, and he couldn't help but sigh: "Now it is extremely difficult to break through again, the Ming army has gathered elite soldiers and fierce generals, is fully prepared, and is a battalion step by step, and it is difficult for our army to implement the Yellow River counter-irrigation plan, and there is no other possibility except for a desperate battle." Liu Dongyang saw that the situation in Ningxia had reached a dangerous situation, and his emotions were naturally very excited: "Now that Ningxia has been put in such a situation, there is nothing to be done, we are junior officers, and the 30,000 battalions are also willing to follow because of your compassion for the soldiers and soldiers, and you can give Ningxia officers and soldiers a way out. ”

As soon as these words came out, Liu Chuanbai, Zhang Wenxue and others could no longer suppress their emotions, and they accused Bibai of having no far-sighted plan and no way to use troops, and severely reprimanded Bibai for all kinds of crimes. Tu Wenxiu and Xu Chao got up to persuade each other, but Liu Dongyang was frantic and complained repeatedly. Bi Chengen couldn't stop drinking, and the former junior officer almost wanted to draw his sword against him.

After hearing this, he was no longer polite: "The law of the Ming Dynasty is strict, and it is unforgivable to commit a crime of disorder, if you don't want to fight again, even if you lead the people to surrender, you will not escape death, the matter has come to this point, if you want to live, you can only listen to my orders, and fight desperately to fight out of the siege of Ningxia, although the strength of the Ming army is several times more than mine, but most of them are bluffing weak brigade generals, our army's combat power is not lost to the Ming army, and life and death are rich and noble in this battle." "Bibai picked up the big knife and threatened to kill those who surrendered to the enemy. The generals of Ningxia all looked at each other and were suspicious.

On the other hand, Ye Mengxiong, Wei Xuezeng, and Mei Guozhen are celebrating the exploits of Li Rusong, Ma Gui and others, and Mei Guozhen praised: "You have broken the trap, expelled the plug, and shown my great prestige, which is gratifying, and this official should ask the emperor for your merits." Wei Xuezeng also praised: "Li Rusong, Ma Guidu is a family of generals, a long town side stopper, familiar with the habits of trapping, proficient in the art of war formation, after the battle of the world, to capture the recovery of Ningxia and then make miraculous achievements, recorded in the book of famous generals, can be called East Li Xima." "Thank you again.

Ye Mengxiong ordered: "Bibai will no longer stick to Ningxia if he loses strong reinforcements, and he will take risks to try to break out of the encirclement, and our army must strictly defend it and force it to retreat to Ningxia." After that, it is still necessary to follow the law of Wei Du, and then the Yellow River will burst the embankment and irrigate, and when it runs out of ammunition and food, the army is panicked and supplemented by discord, so that the rebels kill each other, and when the water breaks through the city wall, it is the day when our army attacks the city. ”

Mei Guozhen reminded Ye Mengxiong: "When the rebels in the city are in a panic, there will be enemy generals who ask our army to surrender, don't take it and kill it, you can make it an internal response and make meritorious contributions." Ye Mengxiong didn't dare to agree: "The rebels were originally soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, and the crime of rebellion and rebellion is unforgivable. ”

Mei Guozhen didn't want to say much, Siye Mengxiong was too upright, so he ordered in the name of supervising the army: "The rebellion in Ningxia is fundamentally because the governor of the party is severe and mean, greedy for power and money, and does not know how to be flexible, so that the sergeant mutiny was used by Bibai." In case of surrender, it is up to me to decide, and others are not allowed to dispose of it without authorization. Ye Mengxiong stopped arguing with Mei Guozhen.

At this time, Wei Xue once admonished: "Ningxia's city defense is extremely strong, and only one of the artillery produced by our Ming Dynasty can break through the fortified city, but now it is in the hands of the rebels, and the rest of our artillery is difficult to be effective against Ningxia, so we have to cover and kill." When guarding against the rebels breaking through, you also need to be careful to avoid the rebel fire. ”

Li Rusong asked Ling to lead the siege of the city, Ye Mengxiong did not allow it, Ye Mengxiong said: "You and Ma Gui's department are the elite of our army, and you will respond with guerrilla tactics, support all parties, and take the initiative to find the location of Bibai, if you can behead it in battle, it will also promote our army to enter the city as soon as possible, so that my brother Li Ruzhang is not under you in my opinion, but you can lead all the way to shoulder the heavy responsibility with you and Magui." ”

After that, Bibai and Ye Mengxiong each made a decision at this position, and the Ningxia general soldiers Xiao Ruxun, Dong Yikui, and Dong Yiyuan led the troops to defend the South Gate, and the Guyuan General Li Yun led Wu Xian, and Zhao Wuer led the troops to defend the West Gate, and the Sichuan General Liu Chengsi, Ma Kongying, and Du Tong led the troops to defend the North Gate, and the Yansui General Jiang Xianmo and Niu Bingzhong led the troops to defend the East Gate, and ordered Li Rusong, Li Ruzhang, Ma Gui, and Mazhen to lead the first army to guerrilla countermeasures to prevent the rebels from breaking through.

Bibai ordered Bi Chengen, Tu Wenxiu, and Jiyun to lead the troops out of the north gate with themselves, Bi Chengzhong led Bisai and Bi Hong to lead the troops out of the west gate, Liu Dongyang led Liu Chuanbai, Zhang Wenxue, and Wang Wende to lead the troops out of the east gate, and Xu Chao led He Yingshi, Chen Lei, Bai Luan, and Feng Jiwu to lead the troops out of the south gate.

The Ming army set up a large battalion artillery array in front of each gate in Ningxia, with two wings of bird guns and five thunder machines, cavalry in the rear, infantry with guns and shields to cover the front, and the rebels were bombarded by firearms as soon as they came out. The two armies fired firearms at each other, sometimes short soldiers, Bi Chengpet led Bisai and Bi Hong led the troops to break through at the West Gate, almost breaking through the Ming army position, Wu Xian, Zhao Wu two generals also suffered many knife wounds, Li Yun led the crowd to counterattack, and formed a short hold on to Bi Chengzhong. Fortunately, Magui led the army to help, Bisai and Bihong saw that Magui's army arrived, and went straight to Magui to kill the general and capture the flag, but in the chaos of the army, Bisai and Bihong were difficult to approach, and Magui led the army several times to rush and kill, Bisai and Bihong were overturned on the ground and rescued by Bi Chengpet and retreated to the city.

At the north gate of Ningxia, the soldiers of Sichuan generals Liu Chengsi, Ma Kongying, and Du Tong gradually found it difficult to resist the attack of Bibai, and Li Rusong led the elite cavalry to rush into the rebel melee immediately. Li Rusong and Bibai collided with the horse and both fell to the ground, fighting with knives, going back and forth more than 20 times without winning or losing, but Bibai was over sixty years old after all, and his physical strength was cut by Li Rusong and knocked to the ground. Bi Chengen shouted to capture and kill Li Rusong, the rebels rushed to the front, Li Rusong urgently called left and right to retreat into the formation, Bi Bai was rescued, the Ming army reorganized the firearms array, the rebels were difficult to break through, so they retreated to the city.

The rebels of the other two gates were also unable to break through under the defense of the Ming army, the morale of the rebels was low, the fighting spirit had been lost, and they fled back, Li Ruzhang and Mazhen led the army back and forth in the southeast two gates, and the left and right killed Xiao Ruxun and Jiang Xianmo to prevent and block the rebels, and the rebel generals Liu Dongyang, Liu Chuanbai, Zhang Wenxue, Wang Wende, Xu Chao, He Yingshi, Chen Lei, Bai Luan, and Feng Jiwu were all wounded and forced to retreat to the city. The rebels could not break through the encirclement and had to be trapped in Ningxia, and the morale of the army was becoming weaker and weaker.

In late August, the Jinyi guard arrived in the capital and read out the will, accusing Wei Xuezeng of several charges such as having failed to supervise the war, fighting lawlessly, delaying military aircraft, defeating the army and humiliating the country, and concealing military information. Ye Mengxiong received the order of thanks.

Wei Xuezeng was arrested by Jinyiwei and was about to be escorted back to Beijing, and before leaving, Ye Mengxiong and Mei Guozhen came to see him off. Ye Mengxiong said: "Brother has made great contributions in this battle, leading water to flood the city, supplemented by separation, arranging troops, and planning the military Brother's plan is indeed a plan to break through Ningxia." It's just that before a moment of inadvertent mistake in the enemy's treacherous plan and defeat by the imperial court, victory and defeat is a common thing in the soldiers, the younger brother in Ningxia will know the merits of the court, the younger brother knows that the cabinet and the courtiers of the various ministries will be relieved, the soldiers of the three armies are grateful for the kindness of the brother on weekdays, and he will continue to praise the people of the public heart, the emperor will be able to change his mind, and once again enable the benefit of the people of Li, take care. ”

Mei Guozhen felt quite remorseful for Wei Xue's return to Beijing: "Although Wei Governor is ineffective, he blames the generals in order to boost morale, and now he is escorted because of my negligence. ”

Wei Xuezeng thanked him and said: "Mei Yushi's words are serious, you abide by your duties, you are fair and selfless, strict military discipline, the old man admires it to the fullest, he was careless and underestimated the enemy before, and even suffered defeat, and it is not surprising that he was convicted and returned to Beijing." After that, Ningxia was flooded, and the rebels would be defeated and surrendered, and the poor people who were captured in Ningxia were pitiful, and it was inevitable that there would be countless casualties after breaking the city. Ye Mengxiong and Mei Guozhen said goodbye to Wei Xuezeng, Wei Xuezeng left, and the soldiers of the three armies shed tears like rain, crying and sending each other off.

Later, Zhang Dai once commented that the good generals of the ancient world would use soldiers. Slow or urgent, each has its own suitability. and its success, then fortunate to have unfortunate ears. In the battle of Ningxia, the urgency of appreciating the leaves and dreaming of the bear is, and the sin of Wei Xuezeng is not slow. Who? Cover the victory and defeat of the soldiers, I am clear about the merits, a little invincinacy, the cruel punishment will follow, it is the shame of the street pavilion, Zhuge Wuhou can not protect its leader, and the rest of it! It is difficult to succeed and easy to get guilty, so the people who are in the middle of the coffin sigh. My martial arts skills are sluggish, and I die to perdition, is it not the reason for not doing my job?

After that, the Ming army broke the embankment and flooded the city, the rebels were trapped in the city and could not come out, everyone was in danger, on September 3, Zhejiang general Yang Wen led the Zhejiang soldiers to Ningxia to participate in the war, Ye Mengxiong had previously supervised the construction of the assault boat has been completed, and then Ye Mengxiong ordered the whole army to attack the city by boat in batches from Lingzhou, the firearms battalion covered and fired, the attack was effective for several days, the rebels had many casualties, on September 8, the north and south walls of Ningxia began to break seriously under the invasion, and on September 9, the Ming army attacked the city again, captured the south gate, and the rebels retreated into the inner city to defend. And the Ming army was also preparing to use another plan to discord.