Just after one o'clock in the afternoon, the old county seat of Dingyuan County was in sight. Gyatso's Dong Bu cavalry sent Tang Ma to report that they occupied the old county town of Dingyuan and sealed the mouth of the bag in the area of the clearance. There are traces of robbery and burning in the old county town of Dingyuan, but there are not many corpses, and the people may have crossed the Jialing River and fled.

It seems that today's military exercises have no choice but to end here. Zhu Pingjin ordered to rest in place for lunch, and after the meal, the remaining area was searched, and then went to the old county town of Dingyuan to rest overnight. Tomorrow, the second company will stay in the old county town and defend until a large army of reinforcements comes up. The third company, artillery, and baggage soldiers returned to the county seat by boat, while the cavalry followed Zhu Pingjin back.

The soldiers sat on the ground and ate fried noodles with water hyacinth. Chow mein is a newly developed food, and the initiator is, of course, Zhu Pingjian. Seventy percent flour is stir-fried with thirty percent soybean flour or corn flour, and a little oil and salt. Chow mein is packed in a dried bamboo tube soaked in tung oil, which is more convenient to store, transport and carry than a pot helmet. The only drawback is that it is unpalatable, and it is terrible to eat. If it weren't for Zhu Pingjin and the officers taking the lead in eating, I can't tell how ugly the strange words below were.

Zhu Pingjin grabbed a handful of fried noodles and stuffed it into his mouth, and immediately felt that it was filled with flour from his lips to his throat. As soon as the breath is exhaled, dust is sprayed from the nasal passages. He poured a large mouthful of water into his mouth, then stirred it with his tongue and finally swallowed the chow mein in one gulp. Zhu Pingjin poured a large gulp of water into his mouth, and finally washed away the foreign body in his mouth.

But before Zhu Pingjin could slow down, a guard in charge of lookout at the top of the place shouted loudly: "In the northeast, there is faint wolf smoke!" ”

……

Wolf smoke is the enemy!

A Tusi cavalry appeared on the top of the hill opposite, galloping towards Zhu Pingjian's Chinese army, and the shaking red back flag could be seen in the distance.

"Report! The commander of the high battalion reported to the world, and the headquarters company found about 300 local rioters on the other side of the Yuechi River. Battalion Commander Gao had already ordered a series of companies to cross the river, cutting off the retreat of the local rioters. The thugs are now in a stubborn battle on the top of a hill on the shore! Battalion Commander Gao asks for the total annihilation of the enemy! ”

"Have you ever found a thug backing up?"

"Nope! But they lit a pillar of wolf smoke at the top of the hill! ”

"How did you cross the river?"

"In vain! The river beach there is gentle, the river is less than five zhang wide, the water is no deeper than the horse's belly, and the bottom of the river is full of pebbles and sand, so it is very easy to wade in vain. ”

Luo Jingyun, Cheng Xiangfeng, Yin Jialin, Zhu Pingqi and others rushed over when they heard the news. Everyone speculated that maybe it was Tianquan Tusi soldiers burning reeds on the bank of Yuechi Water, and the local tyrant found the movement, so he came to check. Seeing that the cavalry had crossed the river, they knew that they could not escape, so they had to form a formation and defend it. The intention of the local tyrant is either to wait for the official army to retreat by themselves, or to wait for reinforcements to arrive.

"Brother Shizi, hand it over to our battalion, just to train the soldiers!" Zhu Pingqi cast an eager gaze.

"Don't worry! If there is wolf smoke, there must be backup! You say, how will the local tyrants reinforce them? Zhu Pingjin stopped Zhu Pingqi and asked around for advice. With a wave of his hand, the eunuchs Cao Sanbao and Zhang Wei had already taken out the map from their horse bags and laid it on a stone.

……

"Those who attack the enemy will be saved, and those who will be saved will be annihilated." This is the Art of War. However, due to the misjudgment of the strategic intentions of the enemy's reinforcements, there are many examples in history of being counter-annihilated by the reinforcements.

Zhu Pingjin's meaning is obvious, these 300 local tyrants are not the target, but the reinforcements are. Since you want to send reinforcements, the strength and route of the reinforcements are the focus. In order to judge the strength and route of the reinforcements, it is necessary to figure out two points: who this gang of local thugs is, and what is the purpose of their dispatch. But no prisoners were caught, and all judgments were groundless, and they could only rely on guesswork. The mainstream opinion is that this gang of local thugs is the Black Tiger Chaotian Star Wang Gao and Wang Guangxing who occupy Yuechi, because this group of local thugs has been dispatched most frequently recently. The purpose of their dispatch was to occupy the old county seat of Dingyuan on the Jialing River. In addition to the old county seat of Dingyuan, there are no other high-value strategic goals in this area.

But this mainstream opinion was opposed by Luo Jingyun. He thought that since the Black Tiger Chaos Star had sent so many earth thugs out to rob before, he had already familiarized himself with this area. At this time, he came to the west of Yuechishui to rob, and the time and place of coming out were not right. He guessed that it was He Jiaqi, the leader of the Maitreya sect in Guang'an, because he did not dare to go south to Hezhou, and he could not cross the territory of the anti-king Liu Weiming in the east, so he had to send troops to the west to rob.

Zhu Pingjin agrees with Luo Jingyun's opinion even more in his heart, because Luo Jingyun's analysis is more logical. The Black Tiger Mixed Sky Star occupies Yuechi, a good place for grain production, and is so happy that it makes no sense to send troops to the west at this time. Guang'an is a state city, although it is richer than Yuechi, but most of the people in the state city are coerced into the rebel army, they have no reason to rob themselves, and they can only go out to rob other places if they want to rob them.

If the intelligence can't keep up, it will be difficult for the coach to make up his mind, and Zhu Pingjin is a little annoyed. He left aside his generals and climbed to the top of the mound alone in heavy armor.

In the circular field of view of the telescope, a looming column of smoke rises, climbs dozens of feet high and combines with the water vapor in the air, turning into a dark gray mist.

I see!

Thinking of the experience of himself and his wife traveling by car in the northwest, Zhu Pingjin suddenly woke up.

This is humid and cloudy Sichuan, not a dry and cloudless northwest!

The magnificent scene of "the desert is lonely and the sun sets over the long river" will never be seen in Shudi. If a column of smoke goes up, it will soon be absorbed by water vapor, and it is impossible to rise very high. A slight haze obscures the view and is impossible to see from a great distance. The besieged local thugs lit wolf smoke in this weather, whether it was calling the police or asking for help, it could only be better than nothing!

"Cao Banban, immediately give the order, and all the troops will gather their troops on their own and advance together towards the encircled enemy! Don't spend time sorting out your formation, it's too late to get it in front of the enemy! Be quick! Zhu Pingjin hurriedly ordered the eunuch beside him. It was about seven or eight miles from the place where the Tyrants were besieged, and the width of the infantry was also seven or eight miles. If the formation is sorted out and then the ground is steadily advanced, the encircled local thugs will not be able to escape, but it will be difficult to say about the enemy's reinforcements.

Zhu Pingjin gave an order, and the people under the hill immediately took action. The herald quickly turned on his horse and ran forward, backward, left and right. Zhu Pingjin descended the mountain, and the excited Luo Jingyun was already waiting for him immediately, while Yin Jialin and Zhu Pingqi hurried to command the infantry to advance.

The yellow horse neighed and scraped its hooves uneasily, as if it knew that the great war was coming.

"Let's go!"

Zhu Pingjin took the lead, and the banner of the prince was quickly straightened and flattened. The second company of the guards cavalry followed him, while the artillerymen and baggage men desperately drove the pack horses so that they could keep up with the group.

……

The hill occupied by the thugs may have burned the last of the firewood and grass, and the smoke column has all been extinguished. The hill is only half a mile away from the left bank of the Yuechi River, and it is surrounded by similar hills.

The whole hill is not large in size and not steep, and it is a typical small shallow hill. The hills were bare, with neither trees nor stones, and the signs of movement of people above and below the hills were unobstructed. There was no food or water on the mountain, and there was no danger to defend, and the local tyrants occupied the place to defend it, which shows that they were in a hurry when they were chased by the cavalry. When more cavalry arrived, there was a palpable panic on the top of the hill. A leader-looking man waved a knife to suppress it, which suppressed the momentum of panic.

"Son, the last general, please hand over the defense to the infantry. In the end, it will be good to reconnoiter to the east. "Zhu Pingjin had just crossed the Yuechi water, and Gao Rongxuan beat his horse and ran to report it.

Gao Rongxuan was a first-class cavalry general, and the Tianquan Tusi cavalry battalion under his command was also a first-class light cavalry. When Gao Rongxuan discovered the enemy, he immediately transferred his troops to the east of Yuechishui, and easily surrounded 300 local thugs on the top of the hill with 100 cavalry, winning the opportunity for the large army to completely annihilate the enemy. If he wasn't from the Gao family, Zhu Pingjin would have promoted him a long time ago. But now he is only a deputy regimental level, serving as the deputy of Xu Hanqing, who stayed at the north gate of Chengdu.

Thinking of Gao Rongxuan, Zhu Pingjin thought about Tianquan Tusi's hope to establish a regiment-level system. He immediately decided in his heart that he could give the Tianquan Tusi generals a high rank and treatment, and he could also give them more battalion-level formations, but he would never set up a separate Tianquan Tusi regiment. Tianquan Tusi is all Han Chinese, and they all speak Sichuan sound, and there is no problem in breaking up the command.

Zhu Pingjin had not yet expressed his position, and at this time, there was another commotion at the ferry on the other side. He looked sideways, and it turned out to be the cavalry of Dong Bu's department who had arrived. The first to jump into the river was none other than Gyatso, a general of the Tung Bu camp.

"General Gao drew the ground as a prison, trapped the earth tyrant firmly on the top of the mountain, and made the first contribution to the son of this world!" Zhu Pingjin praised Gao Rongxuan loudly.

Gao Rongxuan was eager to try, but was stopped by Zhu Pingjin. Zhu Pingjin ordered Gao Rongxuan to wait patiently for the infantry, artillery, and baggage companies to come up. After the troops arrived, the two Tusi cavalry battalions left the place and spread out together, with the second battalion in front and the third battalion in the rear, killing in two echelons to the east. The speed of the cavalry attack was very important, blowing over the hills like the wind, leaving no time for the reinforcements to react.

Gao Rongxuan was talking next to Shizi, and Gyatso had already seen it. He was worried that all the good things had been robbed of the whole camp, so he hurriedly whipped the war horse with a horsewhip. The war horse misunderstood the meaning of the master and thought that he was starting to charge, so he jumped out of the river and rushed straight towards Zhu Pingjin.

Although Zhu Pingjin's yellow horse is tall and handsome, it is unfortunately a mare. Frightened by the sudden and rude approach of a male horse, she jerked her ass up, jumped up a few feet in place, spun half in the air, lifted her hooves and kicked hard. Zhu Pingjin on horseback was caught off guard and was slammed a few times. Fortunately, Zhu Pingjian's equestrian skills are superb and he did not lose face in front of the officers and soldiers of the whole army.

Losing the boss before the big war is not a good sign! The person responsible, Gyatso, was frightened when he saw it, and quickly turned over and dismounted to apologize.

"General Gyatso is not wrong, this is the improper training of the war horse of this world." Zhu Pingjin downplayed and resolved the matter.

"General Gyatso came by coincidence! Ben Shizi is talking about cavalry missions. At present, the 2nd Cavalry Battalion has reconnoitred for five miles to the east, but no trace of the local thugs has been found. Ben Shizi judged that the support of the local rioters was likely to be delayed because of something, and he did not discover the battle situation in time. The two battalions of Tianquan and Dong Bu were old partners in the Battle of Jiangkou. The 2nd Cavalry Battalion was a light cavalry, fast, and opened a road in front to reconnoitre, driving out the local thugs who were found, and preventing them from forming a formation. The third battalion of cavalry is an ironclad cavalry, the speed is slower, just follow behind the second battalion and slash! General Gao and General Gyatso clearly told the soldiers that this son does not want a head, and the Protector Army does not take the head as a meritorious service! You just have to kill to the east, and after killing thirty miles, you will quickly collect your troops and come back, and those stragglers who have escaped will not care about him! This use of troops is just a lesson to the local tyrants, and the opportunity for a decisive battle has not yet come! When the reinforcements of the Protector Army arrive, this son will let you kill again! ”

Both generals happily agreed.

"What should I do if I encounter a large number of local thugs?" Gao Rongxuan asked.

I don't know when, Yin Jialin also rushed over. His face was dripping with sweat, his eyes were spitting out of his mouth, he was refreshed, and his eyes were bright.

"Ben is here! Just bring them in and greet them with cannons! ”

Before Yin Jialin's words fell, a group of infantry appeared on the other side of the ferry. The soldiers, under the strict orders of the officers, panted and formed their formations. Not far behind them, a large group of pack horses was also coming. The yellow bronze cannon on the horseback flickered from time to time under the light of the sky.

"Mr. Cheng, is the surrender written well? Let the guard cavalry shoot in! Zhu Pingjin ordered.

"The minister wrote a sentence: The prince of Shu of the Ming Dynasty told the traitors: those who surrender live, and those who resist die!" Cheng Xiangfeng replied with a smile.