When Zhu Zhihai and a group of civil and military officials led the main force of more than 30,000 Ming troops to arrive at the city of Lipingfu, the first thing they saw was not Lipingfu City, but a pseudo-Tang thief army of about 2,500 people blocking between Lipingfu City and them!

This pseudo-Tang thief army at this time listed a huge phalanx in the direction of about a mile outside the city, if someone has seen the battle of the Tonggu Acropolis, then they will see that this phalanx is the phalanx when the new army of the Tang Dynasty faced the Ming army on the North Road: with the infantry battalion as the basic unit, several infantry battalions are tens of meters apart, together forming a huge infantry phalanx that supports each other!

In the middle of the phalanx, there is Lieutenant Colonel Song Tianbiao, the new commander of the 3rd Infantry Regiment!

He, like the other officers, rode on a horse, and then squinted at the black Ming army in the distance, his face was a little heavy!

This is more than 30,000 Ming troops, can I successfully drag them down, block them out of the city, and prevent them from entering the city smoothly?

As early as yesterday, in fact, part of the forward reconnaissance unit of the Third Infantry Regiment had already arrived at the city of Lipingfu, and brought back many information about the city of Lipingfu to Song Tianbiao, who was still in the rear at that time.

Basically, it can be judged that the number of Ming troops in the city of Liping Mansion at this time is not more than 1,000 people as Sun Yawei and others said at the beginning, but nearly 3,000 people, and the extra 1,000 people arrived one after another two days ago.

Facing the city of Lipingfu garrisoned by 3,000 people, and the vanguard of these 3,000 people was not a young man, a man or the like, but a serious guard.

Fang Xitong, commander of the Second Brigade in the rear, also sent him the latest order last night, ordering him to rush to Lipingfu City the next day, launch an attack on Lipingfu City according to the situation, and if the enemy army in front of him is not strong, he should occupy it as soon as possible.

If there are many enemy troops resisting, it is a test to find out the reality of the Ming army, and wait for the arrival of the 2nd Brigade and the 7th Infantry Regiment before making calculations.

At the same time, this order also has an incidental task, that is, it must prevent more Ming troops from entering the city of Lipingfu to avoid increasing the difficulty of capturing the city of Lipingfu.

It is necessary to stop the Ming army that came later as much as possible outside the city of Liping Mansion and force them to have a decisive battle with their own side!

The reason why Fang Xitong issued such an order was because Emperor Li Xuan and a group of high-ranking generals in the new army of the Tang Dynasty had unanimously decided to strive to fight the Ming army in the field as much as possible, so as to avoid letting a large number of the main forces of the Ming army shrink in the city of Lipingfu.

And the best case scenario is that a strategic Armageddon in the wilderness will directly determine the winner in one battle!

In this way, on the one hand, it can give full play to the advantages of the new army of the Tang Dynasty being good at fighting decisive battles in the field, and on the other hand, it can also avoid the Ming army from playing a war of attrition.

It would be great if we could replicate the Battle of the Acropolis of Bronze Drum once again!

After receiving the order, at dawn today, Song Tianbiao continued to rush with his troops, and successfully arrived at the city of Liping Mansion at noon.

It is naturally impossible to launch a general attack on the city of Liping Province directly, after all, no matter how arrogant the Third Infantry Regiment is, it is not sure that it will be able to defeat these 3,000 people in a short period of time and then reoccupy the city of Lipingfu.

After they rushed to the city of Lipingfu, they originally planned to launch a tentative attack to find out the reality of the Ming army in the city, and at the same time prepare for the general attack of the follow-up main force to arrive at the city of Lipingfu.

But before they could launch a tentative attack, the scouts announced that a large number of Ming troops had been found in the southwest and were heading towards the city of Lipingfu.

When I asked how many Ming troops there were, even the scouts couldn't say, because the scouts couldn't see the end of the Ming army's marching army at that time!

It can only be a preliminary judgment that the attacking Ming army is at least more than 5,000 people, and it may even be more than 10,000 people!

As for the specific location of more than 10,000 people, they haven't figured it out yet!

After learning of this situation, Song Tianbiao naturally did not have any mood to launch any tentative attack on Liping Mansion City.

Immediately, the troops were ordered to prepare for interception operations!

He always remembered his mission: not to let more Ming troops enter the city of Lipingfu, let alone tens of thousands.

If tens of thousands of people are allowed to enter Lipingfu City, and they also bring a lot of baggage, such as food or something, it will not be so easy to attack Lipingfu City at that time.

If you can't fight at that time, you can only besiege, this siege has no effect for a few months, and in a few months, the main force of the new army of the Tang Dynasty was pinned down in the city of Lipingfu, and failed to continue to expand, the besieged Ming army did not starve to death, and they themselves had to run out of food first.

Time is extremely precious for the new army of the Tang Dynasty, and it is troublesome for the main force to be delayed for a month, if it is two or three months, the Tang Dynasty may collapse by itself.

Not to mention, if tens of thousands of Ming troops are besieged in Liping City, the Ming Dynasty will definitely not be indifferent, I am afraid that the Ming Dynasty will gather troops from several surrounding provinces to relieve the difficulty.

At that time, no matter how strong the combat effectiveness of the Datang New Army is, it will not be able to avoid being crushed!

Therefore, even if Song Tianbiao knew that his own troops were at a great disadvantage, he had to set up a formation to fight an interception operation.

However, Song Tianbiao expected that there would be more than 5,000 people, or even tens of thousands of Ming troops, but he still didn't expect that Zhu Zhihai, a person who learned that the Ming army on the North Road was defeated, was extremely cautious along the way, except for the forward who sent less than 3,000 people, none of the other troops were dispatched, but all of them were concentrated together and marched.

In this way, there was a situation that Song Tianbiao himself could not have expected!

The attacking Ming army was not just 5,000, not even more than 10,000, but more than 30,000!

More than 34,000 to be exact!

Among them, about 6,000 people were recruited by Fubiao led by Zhu Zhihai himself, and 2,000 people were recruited from various prefectures and counties, which adds up to 8,000 recruits.

There are also about 10,000 guards!

The rest are the young and strong people who were temporarily recruited!

More than 34,000 people, which is more than ten times the strength of the 3rd Infantry Regiment's more than 2,000 troops!

Seeing the Ming army in front of him, with almost no end in sight, Song Tianbiao's face was gloomy and terrifying!

Ma Dan, this is the rhythm of martyrdom!

Seeing so many Ming troops attacking, and his own troops were at a huge disadvantage, Song Tianbiao's first thought was to lead the army to escape.

But when he thought of the extremely strict military law, and then thought of his family members who had begun to enjoy happiness in Xingquan Mansion City, and his newly recruited concubine, he just dispelled the idea of immediately leading the army to escape!

It's okay to retreat, but you definitely can't run away without fighting, in this case, the military law is ruthless, even if his situation is excusable, but it is estimated that he will lose points in front of His Majesty.

No one likes a general who doesn't fight and just runs away!

Even Sun Yawei, the prefect of Liping Mansion City before, took the defeat of the thief camp and thousands of young men and people, and they all held on to the last moment, and only broke through and retreated when they had to do so.

Sun Yawei naturally has a reason to do this!

And now, Song Tianbiao will also have a reason to do this, and this reason is still the same!

The current Song Tianbiao and the previous Sun Yawei are facing a very similar situation, that is, they can't fight, but they can't stop fighting, and this fight can't be too intense, and it needs to be avoided for senseless losses.

This is a great test of the ability to be a front-line general!

Looking at the black pressure in front of them, the Ming army with no end in sight came slowly, not only Song Tianbiao felt the huge pressure and germinated the idea of turning around and running, but also many officers and soldiers under him.

Those most ordinary soldiers, they don't have any loyalty, faith or anything like that to support them, and the reason why they go to the battlefield is very simple, that is, to have enough to eat!

Joining the army is not only able to feed themselves, but also to receive a salary to support their families, which is just a profession for these soldiers to fight for the Tang Dynasty.

And it's not that they are born with a penchant for fighting!

In the face of a strong enemy, it was possible to list a complete formation and not have much turmoil, purely because of the strict military law.

Acting without obeying orders and fleeing without a fight are the most serious violations of discipline in the Datang New Army, and once they are made, they will be immediately decided.

The officers behind were always staring at it, and as soon as a deserter appeared, the officers would immediately ride their horses and slash down without saying a word.

At the time of the Battle of the Tonggu Acropolis, the officers of the Tang New Army and the military law team belonging to the Privy Council killed more than 30 deserters!

All of them were killed on the spot, without the slightest hesitation!

So now, even though these soldiers already have fear in their hearts, the fear of military law and the instinct to obey orders still allow them to form a formation.

On the contrary, those middle and low-level officers, their performance is much better than that of ordinary soldiers, and even better than senior generals such as Song Tianbiao.

On the one hand, these grassroots officers have an incomplete understanding of the battle situation, they don't know how many people there are in the attacking Ming army, and on the other hand, Song Tianbiao also told them that the reinforcements in the rear are already on the way, and it won't take long to arrive.

Besides, people always have a psychology that there is a high top when the sky falls!

The regiment commanders and battalion commanders above are still calm, what is there to be nervous about, if you want to say that your little life is precious, it is also that the small lives of the regiment commanders and battalion commanders are more precious than your own!

I'm just a little lieutenant!

Many circumstances have caused the current Third Infantry Regiment, although the morale of the army has been slightly shaken, but the phalanx is still listed to prepare to meet the enemy!

Looking at the pseudo-Tang thief military array in front, Zhu Zhihai also frowned!

Why didn't the puppet Tang thief army of more than 2,000 people run away? What gave them the courage to dare to use their arms as a car?