"100 Qingcao Qiaotou wines."

The grass bridge is not made of grass, but a stone bridge.

The Xiangjiang River flows from south to north, turning a bend in the northeast direction of Hengyang, as if putting down a bow in the Hengyang Basin, the bowstring released at one end is the water, and the bow and arrow to be shot are steamed water, which is the image description of the terrain of Hengyang.

At the confluence of steaming water and Xiangjiang River, Shigu Mountain stands abruptly, there is a famous Shigu Academy on the mountain, a stone bridge in front of the mountain spans the steaming water, the bridge pier is slightly red, all are made of the red sandstone that is abundant in the local area, named Caoqiao.

Since ancient times, the grass bridge is the post road must pass through, guarding the throat of Hengyang, Geng Zhongming spread out the troops here, enter the grass bridge to launch an attack, retreat can rely on the steaming river to defend, the front is quite flexible.

Although Shigu Mountain is only a hill of several tens of meters, it is the only commanding height nearby, and the Tianyou soldiers set up cannons on it, and both sides of the grass bridge are covered by its firepower.

The Chu army never came.

The Tianyou soldiers camouflaged the artillery position, thinking that they were unaware, but the Chu army scouts found clues from the telescope, and then saw through the intentions of the Qing army.

Wang Kefan is not surprised by this, Tianyou soldiers are good at using firearms, it is really strange if he lets go of such a commanding height as Shigu Mountain, since the other party has laid a trap, of course he can't jump in again.

The Chu army set up camp on the other side of the Caoqiao, dug ditches and fortifications, set up various fortifications, and put on a posture of preparing for a long-term confrontation. Giving up the geographical advantage, he took the initiative to attack the Chu army.

Reinforcements from the Qing army arrived first, and reinforcements from the Ming army came later. Geng Zhongming will definitely take advantage of this time difference to launch a counteroffensive, if he is in a hurry, the reinforcements from Changsha Mansion will provoke a battle as soon as they arrive, and if he asks for stability, he will not launch it until the reinforcements from Yuezhou Mansion come.

There are too many uncertain factors in this, as well as the mobilization and deployment of the Qing army, and logistical supplies. Personnel morale, the psychology of the main general, etc., are all related, it is difficult to say how Geng Zhongming will choose. Wang Kefan also formulated two different sets of combat plans.

Although they are two sets of plans, they have the same goal, and they all point to the same goal, trying to eliminate the mobile forces of the Qing army. The Battle of Grass Bridge was a deformed siege for reinforcements. There is no rush to capture Hengyang. Instead, it is necessary to show relative weakness, attract the Qing army to continuously invest troops, and wipe out all of them on the steaming bank, so as to reduce the resistance to the recovery of the entire territory of Hunan in the future.

The Ji'an battalion was located at the forefront of the whole army, and when the Qing army launched a counteroffensive, Wang Kefan was a little uneasy, and called Wang Ding and Gu Zongfu to ask if they wanted to change guards with other troops.

This can poke a hornet's nest. Needless to say, Gu Zongfu didn't say anything, even Wang Ding, who had always been humble and forbearing, seemed to have suffered a great humiliation. blushed, and it took a long time to hold back a sentence.

"The military gate can't trust our Ji'an camp? The last general is willing to make a military order to guarantee the camp with his life! ”

"Yes, the last general is also willing to make a military order with him, if the camp is broken by the Tartars, the military gate will cut off our heads first!" Gu Zongfu hurriedly expressed his solidarity, breathed the same breath with Wang Ding, and shared the same fate.

"What's the use of my two heads if I lose the battle?" Wang Kefan said lightly: "Geng Zhongming has been gathering momentum for a long time, his attack must be fast, the offensive must be extremely fierce, it is normal for the first camp to be lost, you set up such a military order, do you really don't want a head?" ”

"In that case, what else is the military gate worried about?" Wang Ding's reaction was slightly slower.

"If you can't hold it, you can't hold it, but you can't collapse at the touch of a button, you have to teach Geng Zhongming a lesson, the Ji'an camp has not gone through a vicious battle, I'm afraid the resilience is not enough......"

As soon as Wang Kefan was halfway through speaking, Gu Zongfu hurriedly shouted: "Please give an order from the military gate, let us guard for a few days?" Although the Ji'an camp is not as good as the Gongyi camp, it is not a bad breed! ”

It is better to send generals than to provoke generals, sure enough, this is the truth, looking at the two of them with great energy, Wang Kefan had a sense of pleasure that the conspiracy had succeeded, and he smiled and said: "One drum, then decline, three and exhaustion, as long as you can block the first three waves of Tartar attacks, it will be a great achievement!" ”

……

Changsha was also harassed by the Ming army, and after receiving Geng Zhongming's request for help, Xu Yong did not dare to leave his post lightly, and sent Xu Bin and Sun Boan to lead 10,000 soldiers and horses to rescue Hengyang.

After the Battle of Xianning, Xu Bin lost his official position for his crimes, but he was Xu Yong's younger brother, and he re-assumed an important position once the limelight passed.

But Xu Yong knew that his younger brother's ability was limited, and he also needed the assistance of a good general, so Sun Bai'an was obligated to undertake this task. Nominally he was Xu Bin's deputy, but Xu Yong gave him a lot of power and was the de facto commander of these 10,000 reinforcements.

The two gathered their troops, sailed upriver by boat, and rushed to Hengyang in a few days, meeting with Geng Zhongming and discussing the next battle plan, but Xu Bin had a dispute with Geng Zhongming.

Geng Zhongming hoped to concentrate his troops as much as possible and wait for Luckdhun's reinforcements to arrive before launching a counteroffensive, but Xu Bin was worried about the safety of Changsha Mansion and hoped for a quick victory and return to Changsha as soon as possible.

It is said that Geng Zhongming is the identity of the prince, and Xu Bin should listen to his orders, but the Changsha soldiers are guest troops who came to help, and they are not subordinate to each other, and Xu Bin is young and vigorous, so he does not buy Geng Zhongming's account at all. Geng Zhongming is a martial artist, and he is not good at coordinating and handling interpersonal relationships, so he actually stiffened with Xu Bin in three sentences or two.

Sun Bo'an and others hurriedly played a round and put forward a compromise plan - the Xiangjiang waterway is very fast, and Luckdehun's reinforcements will arrive in two days at most, there is no need to wait here, it is better to launch an attack in the local area first, clear the army's peripheral stronghold obstacles, and wait for Luckdehun's army to arrive, you can immediately launch a general attack.

After consideration, Geng Zhongming agreed to this plan, the battle of Caoqiao has evolved into a large-scale battle, not a two-game battle can solve the problem, it is better to fight locally first, you can test the reality of the Chu army.

Geng Zhongming and Xu Bin agreed to let the troops rest well that night and launch an attack early tomorrow morning......

When the Changsha Green Battalion arrived in Hengyang, a steady stream of ships almost obscured the river, and Wang Kefan received a report and went to the river to check the reality of this enemy.

Seeing that it was Xu Bin and Sun Bai'an's banner, Wang Kefan felt a little worried, Xu Bin was nothing, but Sun Bo'an's performance in the Battle of Huangzhou left a deep impression on him. The combat effectiveness of the Changsha Green Battalion is similar to that of the Loyal Battalion, and with a general like Sun Bai'an who can fight to command, it can be regarded as a strong enemy.

"It's good to have a water master, Xu Bin came too fast!" Wang Sheng was concerned about another problem, the Qing army was landing, and hundreds of warships and transport ships of all sizes crowded the docks, which made him very envious. Fighting in the Jiangnan water network area, the mobility of the naval division has a great advantage, the Qing army reinforcements have already arrived in Hengyang, but the Ming army's reinforcements are still more than 200 miles away.

"It doesn't matter, although the Tartars came fiercely, they were all within our expectations, which means that there were no mistakes in the battle plan, and it was easy for them to come, but it was difficult for them to leave." Wang Kefan pointed to the dense Qing army warships on the river, and said with a smile: "After recovering Hengyang, let's build a big shipyard here, and the Chu army will have the most powerful naval division, and in the future, it will fight all the way to Wuchang and Nanjing, and wipe ......out all the Tartar naval divisions."

The combat effectiveness of the inland naval division of the Qing army was very poor, as long as the naval division of the Chu army was trained, the other party would definitely be vulnerable, and only the Fujian naval division that followed Zheng Zhilong to surrender was worthy of attention.

Wang Sheng smiled, thinking that this was just Wang Kefan's rhetoric for a while, not taking it seriously, the importance of the sailor is self-evident, but it is too expensive, tens of thousands of taels of silver can not be heard when it is smashed, and the prospect described by Wang Kefan looks far away.

"Now that the Changsha Green Battalion has arrived, Geng Zhongming may launch a counterattack at any time, and ordered all battalions to immediately strengthen their vigilance and be ready to fight at any time. Also, the Tartars have sailors to help them fight, so there are more attack points to choose from, so the scouts keep an eye on the Xiangjiang River and the banks of the steaming water, and be careful that the Tartars copy the back road......" Wang Kefan put down the binoculars and gave orders one by one.

The water potential of the Xiangjiang River and the steaming water was relatively gentle, and the Qing army could choose any place to land and cross the river, and the defensive pressure of the Ming army increased suddenly.

He asked again: "Third brother, if Geng Zhongming wants to fight, where do you think he will fight first?" ”

Wang Sheng thought about it for a while and said: "If I were Geng Zhongming, it would be right to send troops from Caoqiao, and it would be strange to take a detour to the side of the Chu army, and it would be best to complement each other, but I have fought with Geng Zhongming in Xinghua County, and I feel that this person is square in his use of troops, and most of them will still stare at Caoqiao here." ”

"Yes, this guy is a force and measure, and he doesn't like the tactics of attacking the east and west, so he likes to break through from the front." According to the record of Geng Zhongming in the history books, Wang Kefan said with a smile: "Okay, let Gu Zongfu and Wang Yi keep an eye on them, Geng Zhongming has always been a shrinking turtle, if he dares to cross the grass bridge, he will beat him with a stick!" ”

The next day.

At dawn in the morning, the Tianyou soldiers, together with the Changsha Green Battalion, gathered more than 3,000 people to launch an attack on the Ji'an Battalion on the other side of the Caoqiao.

The Changsha Green Battalion served as the main force of the attack, and the muskets and artillery of the Tianyou soldiers served as cover, and after crossing the grass bridge, they formed a formation, and then sent a 100-strong army to cautiously approach the camp of the Ji'an Battalion to check the reality of the Chu army.

The camp of the Chu army was silent, and if it weren't for the red battle flags fluttering in the wind, it would almost make people think that this was an empty camp. (To be continued......)