Emperor Ming Fengyunlu

Volume VII The Bloody Battle in the Southwest

Chapter 3 Tiger Ben's Bloody War Quells Rebellion

Section 8 The Battle of the Five Armies (3)

Under the scorching sun, Liu Yunwei, Zhao Kaishan, Zhou Tianyi, and Hu Kun watched the movements of the rebels in Hexiguan in front of the battle. I saw that above the city, thousands of rebel soldiers were seizing the time to strengthen the defense, a large number of rolling stones, sasswoods and arrows were moved to the city wall, and the place that was originally destroyed by the artillery of the Hanwei army was also being repaired, and the entire Hexiguan city was extremely busy.

"It seems that we are going to prepare for a long siege." Seeing that the rebels were defending to the death, Liu Yunwei sighed and said.

Zhou Tianyi thought for a moment and said, "Zongzhen, should we ask the imperial court for instructions and see if the imperial court can find a way to recruit a batch of reinforcements?" In this way, we can take advantage of the absolute superiority in troops to open up the situation and put down the rebellion as soon as possible. ”

"Let's not think about the matter of recruiting reinforcements, just to provide food and grass for our 100,000 soldiers and horses, the imperial court is already very difficult, and if we want to increase the troops, the imperial court will never agree, and it is also powerless to support it." Liu Yunwei continued: "Let's think about how to use the existing forces to quell the rebellion. ”

Zhao Kaishan said loudly on the side: "Big brother is right. I see, Governor Zhou is too worried, our 100,000 Hanwei soldiers are going on the expedition, not to mention this rebel army, even if it is Jiannu, it will not be pleased. I don't think there's too much to worry about, it's just a stalemate right now. ”

"Haha." Liu Yunwei laughed when he heard this, and said, "It seems that Kaishan is full of confidence." But then again, what do you think of that Wang Zhi? ”

Zhao Kaishan said with a smile: "Big brother, I think that Wang Zhi is very good, and he can make meritorious contributions under me." ”

"Then let that Wang Zhi hang a thousand general titles in the Tiger Ben Battalion, after all, there is no real shortage of the Tiger Ben Camp now, just hang a post next to you first, and transfer some soldiers to take it first."

While he was talking, Guo Yi rode over and said, "Qiqi Town, the camp has basically settled down. ”

Liu Yunwei said with a smile: "Okay, then let's go back to the camp first and discuss how to lay down Hexi Pass!" ”

In the evening of the same day, Hao Chongming received news from An Bangyan and the generals of the garrison near the city of Baoning Mansion in the north: An Bangyan had led an army of 20,000 troops to the north, and he could reach Hexi Pass in one day at most; The generals of the garrison near the city of Boryeong have also arrived with an army of 15,000, and it is expected that they will be able to reach Hexi Pass in about a day.

After receiving the news, Yu Chongming was very happy, and that night he and An Shixian rectified the more than 10,000 rebels in the pass, selected 10,000 elite soldiers from them, and prepared to wait until the two support armies arrived, and led the army out of the pass to attack the Hanwei army in front of him on three sides, and defeated the more than 20,000 Hanwei troops in front of him in one fell swoop.

Late at night, Liu Yunwei walked alone in the camp, looking at the silhouette of Hexiguan in the distance, and secretly said in his heart: "There are more than 30,000 soldiers and horses under Lu Ying's department in the southern city, can you recruit some soldiers to go north to participate in the war?" After all, the southern city has the Jialing River as a natural danger, and it doesn't take much troops to defend it. ”

Thinking of this, Liu Yunwei thought about it carefully again, and sent an order to Lu Ying overnight, ordering him to immediately lead some soldiers and horses to the north and rush to Hexiguan to support the army.

In the early morning of the next day, Liu Yunwei did not give the order to attack Hexiguan, but ordered the soldiers to guard the camp and prepare to wait for Lu Ying to lead the army to arrive before attacking the city. Although more than 20,000 officers and soldiers of the Hanwei Army were not prepared for the siege battle, they were still not idle, and they all started a day's training under the leadership of their respective superiors. Since the day the Hanwei Army was established, whether it was out on the expedition or stationed in the camp, as long as there was no battle that day, the soldiers had to train every day without interruption.

At noon, Liu Yunwei suddenly received an urgent report from Lu Ying: The rebels of An Bangyan's subordinate stationed north of the Jialing River suddenly dispatched last night, and at least 20,000 of the 30,000 rebels marched north. Now Lu Ying has led all the iron cavalry of the Feiyu Battalion, the Zhichong Battalion, and the Yingyang Battalion, totaling more than 5,000 soldiers, to cross the Jialing River and is rushing towards Hexi Pass.

After reading the emergency report, Liu Yunwei couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat, and said secretly: "Since An Bangyan in the south has led his troops north, will the rebels facing Li Tianhao in the north also take the opportunity to go south?" ”

At this moment, a thought suddenly appeared in Liu Yunwei's mind: "Extravagant Ming wants to concentrate his forces to besiege himself!" ”

"Humph! The mantis arm blocks the car, and it is not self-sufficient! ”

Liu Yunwei sneered, and sent people to Li Tianhao and Lu Ying respectively: order Li Tianhao to immediately lead the Yue cavalry battalion to attack, launch a tentative attack on the rebels facing him, if the rebels are weak, immediately annihilate the rebels on the spot, and then quickly go south to Xiguan to participate in the decisive battle; At the same time, he ordered Lu Ying to rush to Hexiguan to participate in the battle, and ordered Gao Hongguang and Wang Dangdang to lead the remaining army to force the Jialing River and attack the enemy in front of him.

After the two orders were sent out, Liu Yunwei called Zhao Kaishan, Zhou Tianyi, and Hu Kun over, and told Lu Ying the news sent by Lu Ying, as well as his own judgment, and then said: "I have decided to start a decisive battle with the rebels in Xiguan here!" ”

As soon as these words came out, the three of them were all shocked.

But then Zhou Tianyi frowned and said: "General Town, if we start a decisive battle with the rebels here, are we a little scattered in terms of troops?" Now the Changshui battalion is far away in Chengdu, the Yulin battalion is garrisoning Jiange City, and the Yuecai battalion and the 30,000 troops in the south do not know when they will arrive. But the reinforcements of the rebels are already on the way, which is one step ahead of us, and then our more than 20,000 soldiers will face the siege of the rebels on three routes and at least 50,000 troops! ”

Hu Kun also expressed the same concern, suggesting that Liu Yunwei should lead the army to retreat first, and wait for reinforcements before a decisive battle.

And Zhao Kaishan was looking forward to it, constantly fanning the flames beside him: "Big brother, we have 20,000 soldiers in hand, can't we beat 50,000 rebels?" Even if it's 50,000 slaves! Let's fight! ”

Liu Yunwei thought about it seriously and said, "This battle is imperative!" I just want to use 20,000 soldiers as bait to attract all the main forces of the rebels to Hexi Pass and annihilate them in one fell swoop! As long as we win this battle, we can wipe out the main force of the rebels in one fell swoop, and if we are lucky, we may be able to kill the two thieves of Lu Chongming and An Bangyan, and this protracted rebellion may be decided! ”

"Hit! Let these rebels know that our Hanwei soldiers are powerful! Zhao Kaishan roared loudly, waving a pair of fists vigorously, as if luxury Chongming was right in front of him.

Half an hour later, 20,000 soldiers of the Hanwei army were mobilized, and the army began to march out of camp, retreating two miles to the west, and taking up a position on a plain four miles away from Hexiguan.

I saw more than 20,000 soldiers of the Hanwei Army facing the east, and the melee soldiers of the four thousand general battalions of the pacesetter battalion and the tiger battalion were lined up into four huge phalanxes, divided into two rows, two phalanxes in the front and two phalanxes, the two phalanxes in the front row were responsible for engaging the invading enemy, and the two phalanxes in the back were used as reserves, and at the same time defended the back of the army; The soldiers of the two battalions of the Thousand Guns were lined up in a three-section formation in front of the four phalanxes, and each row had more than 1,200 elite bird-gunners, which could be described as strong firepower; All the guns of the pacesetter battalion and the tiger battalion have been pushed to the front of the large array, and Edward is directing the gunners to adjust the firing angle of the artillery, reload the gunpowder and cannons, and firmly lock on to the front of the battlefield; On the two flanks of the Hanwei Army's large array, the cavalry battalion officers under the jurisdiction of the Huben battalion were on the left, and Guo Yi temporarily led the Longxiang Iron Cavalry to the right, protecting the two wings of the large array.

After the formation of the large army, Liu Yunwei, Zhou Tianyi, and Hu Kun came to the middle of the four infantry phalanxes, and set up the Chinese army in the center of the large array, and the soldiers of the two baggage battalions under the jurisdiction of the pacesetter battalion and the tiger battalion also stayed in the Chinese army, responsible for mobilizing all kinds of materials needed for the war; And Zhao Kaishan had already rushed to the front of the big array at this time, commanding the front-line soldiers to fight.

The sun is scorching, and the wind is blowing.

More than 20,000 soldiers of the Hanwei Army waited quietly in the wilderness, and the hot weather could not shake the high fighting spirit of the soldiers, and there was no sound in the entire large array except for the gentle sound of the wind.

Zhou Tianyi looked at the sky and said with some concern: "General Town, will that luxury Chongming really lead the army to attack?" Why didn't he stay at Hexi Pass, wait for the northern and southern support armies to arrive, and why did he take the initiative to attack? ”

Liu Yunwei said very confidently: "Governor Zhou can rest assured, Yu Chongming will definitely lead the army to chase after him, because like me, he wants to defeat the other party as soon as possible." With our retreat, Yu Chongming should be able to understand that we have already sensed the arrival of the two rebel armies in the north and south to help, and he is afraid that we will withdraw and waste a good opportunity to defeat us, so he will definitely come. ”

"I hope so."

As soon as the words fell, billowing smoke and dust rose from the east side of the Hanwei Army's array, and a banner of extravagant characters appeared in everyone's field of vision.

Liu Yunwei immediately laughed and said, "Haha, luxury Chongming came to die!" Herald! The soldiers of the battalions are ready for battle! ”

At this moment, Zhou Tianyi and Hu Kun exclaimed at the same time: "General Town, look at the south and north!" ”

Liu Yunwei hurriedly looked over, only to see that the south and north sides of the Hanwei army's large array were also billowing with smoke and dust, and the rebels' two-way reinforcements had actually arrived.

"The Great War of the Four Armies! Joyfully! ”

At this time, Zhao Kaishan, who was commanding the army in front of the battle, also discovered the three-way rebels who were approaching, and couldn't help but be extremely excited.

Wang Zhi next to him was also full of fighting spirit, and said: "General, it's not just four roads, I heard that the Lu garrison is coming." It won't be long before there will be five armies fighting bloody battles here! ”