Chapter 55: The Battle of Yahe (3)
Money or life? This is not a problem. The Fu family soon obediently presented all the land deeds, and took a few taels of military silver.
He Youyi was originally a literate landlord, so he called the boss of the Fu family aside, and the two sides signed a donation agreement on the spot. As is customary, the agreement is divided into two parts, yin and yang. Yang is a land sale and purchase agreement, just wait for the Chinese and the government to stamp the monogram, and the land will be the king's house. The agreement of Yin shall not be on the table, and shall naturally be kept separately. Zhu Pingjin was not afraid that the Fu family would regret it afterwards. After signing the land sale agreement, the palace has taken the initiative, and the lives of more than 70 men, women and children of the Fu family are the best guarantee for the performance of the agreement.
It was not time to enter the city, so Zhu Pingjin left the two brothers of the Fu family in the army. The Fu clan moved to the back of the battle, where Cao Sanbao was leading people to collect refugees.
After waiting for a long time, the group of 100 people finally appeared on the top of the gentle slope about a mile ahead. They suddenly found that the officers and soldiers who were already lined up not far away were so frightened that they were dying, and as when they came, they fled in the direction of Yazhou. Zhu Pingjin looked at the sky, he couldn't wait any longer, he had to intercept all the rebels of more than 1,000 people outside the city and annihilate them, and take advantage of the situation to occupy the north gate of Yazhou and the two bridges on the Tsing Yi River. If the battlefield situation allows, it is necessary to close or even occupy several other city gates in Yazhou. However, the army was not allowed to enter the city without authorization, and Zhu Pingjin had to wait for the opportunity to really transform the momentum he had gained into what he wanted.
Zhu Pingjin summoned Song Zhensi, He Youyi, Gao Antai and others together and briefly explained his ideas, which was unanimously approved by everyone. Among them, Song Zhensi has the most confidence and the loudest voice. In his opinion, there was no need to even use toast soldiers. With only more than 20 cavalry guards under his command, he could drive more than a thousand chaotic people in front of him into the Tsing Yi River to feed the fish.
Although he solemnly warned Song Zhensi not to underestimate the enemy, Zhu Pingjin still handed over the command of the battlefield to this genuine general with rich experience in actual combat. Zhu Pingjin and Gao Antai remained in the Chinese army. Chen Youfu's platoon continued to serve as an infantry guard for the Chinese army. At an appropriate time after defeating the enemy in front of him, Chen Youfu's platoon will be commanded by He Youyi, and a shopkeeper surnamed Fan released from the Feixian Pass prison will take advantage of the chaos to infiltrate Yazhou City and carry out the special task personally assigned by Zhu Pingjin; The leftmost Tusi cavalry was commanded by Gao Antai's brother Gao Rongxuan and carried out a roundabout outflanking mission; The Tusi infantry on the left and right flanks was commanded by Gao Antai's lieutenant Xu Hanqing and served as a frontal attack; As for the cavalry escorts of Zhu Pingjin and Gao Antai, they still do their old job: defending the leader.
The task was assigned clearly, and Zhu Pingjin called Chen Youfu to give a few words of advice alone, and then nodded to Song Zhensi and said, "Let's start!" ”
Except for a caravan guard banner inscribed by Liao Daheng himself, the caravan guard does not have military command and communication equipment such as the Golden Drum Banner, and he did not bring this flag with him when he went to Tianquan this time. So Song Zhensi borrowed the golden drum of the Tusi soldiers.
Song Zhensi's spear was horizontal to the left, and the sound of drums and trumpets sounded at the same time, which was very lively. The Tusi cavalry on the left flank was the first to move. They did not accelerate violently, but slowly, gradually dragging into two slender and oblique horizontal formations in motion. The horizontal team galloped through the fields abandoned in winter, pulling up clouds of smoke and dust.
Song Zhensi's spear was held high and pressed forward, and the sound of drums and trumpets changed. Song Zhensi rode alone in front of the ten steps of the infantry team, and shouted: "The infantry is advancing in formation!" The Chinese army and the Tusi infantry on the left and right flanks moved in an uproar, following behind Song Zhensi, forming several rows of zigzag battle lines.
Zhu Pingjin could have taken Gao Antai and the guards to drink tea and chat and watch the battle leisurely, but he obviously felt the restlessness of the people and horses around him, so he was ruthless, followed Song Zhensi to urge the horses, grabbed the reins with sweaty hands, and carefully controlled the speed and direction of the horses. Swords, guns and arrows do not have long eyes in the battle array, and it is not uncommon for generals to fall off their horses and be trampled to death. Zhu Pingjin still has a bigger ideal in his heart, and he doesn't want to capsize in the gutter.
The infantry line was not advancing quickly, and by the time they reached the top of the gentle slope, the small group of rebels had already run a long way. Two scouts happily chased after them, shooting them indiscriminately, and several corpses were scattered across the official road. Zhu Pingjin climbed to the top of the slope, and the scene below the slope was vivid: three or four miles ahead, between the avenue and the riverbank, there was a town of more than 100 households. More than a dozen black smoke rose sharply in the town, with a few glimmers of fire, sometimes straight upward, sometimes blown by the turbulent wind in the valley. Faintly people could be seen running around in the town, and the cries seemed to be able to penetrate the fields three or four miles away and penetrate people's ears. Outside the town, there is still bare farmland, only some of the straw stacks left over from the harvest are still neatly arranged in the field dams.
The Tusi cavalry advance was approaching the town. According to the plan, they would give way to the infantry, advance from the left flank to outflank the rebel brigade, and then drive the rebels in the direction of the Tsing Yi River.
The cold wind had slowly dried the hot sweat on Zhu Pingjian's body. He kept his eyes on the direction of the town, his hand on the hilt of the knife at his waist. It seemed that it was necessary to speed up, but Zhu Pingjin was worried that he would interfere with Song Zhensi's command, so he hesitated to speak. Gao Antai on the side couldn't bear it, he had already pulled out the lancet, and shouted at Song Zhensi: "Brother Song, if you don't hurry up, the thief will run out!" ”
Song Zhensi ignored Gao Antai's shouting, and still rode in front of the team without hurrying, pressing the forward speed of the entire team. From time to time, he turned his horse's head and ran ahead of the group, shouting that the lagging or advancing soldiers were in line with the platoon.
Looking at the restless Gao Antai, He Youyi smiled and said, "Master Gao, you are carrying a knife like this, and you will soon lose strength in your hands. When you kill later, you won't even be able to lift a knife. Look at Lao Song, when his gun is not in use, it is pestle on the instep of his foot. ”
Gao Antai listened to He Youyi's words and looked at Song Zhensi, and sure enough.
He Youyi smiled again and said to Gao Antai: "Master Gao, guess what, what does Old Song mean?" ”
Gao Antai reinserted the knife back into the scabbard, and said with some dejection: "I can't guess if I haven't been in battle." ”
He Youyi smiled and said: "Old Song wants to use the military formation to scare the thieves out of the town, and then use the cavalry to drive them in the direction of Yazhou. When they can't run, we'll go up and cut off the head easily! ”
Gao Antai glanced at He Youyi and said, "The thieves are all fools? They don't know how to run now? ”
Zhu Pingjin agreed with He Youyi's opinion and said to Gao Antai: "If a person is not strictly trained, he can't run for two miles at most, and besides, they have robbed the baggage!" Speaking of this, Zhu Pingjin suddenly thought of something. He asked Gao Antai: "I heard about the rules of the toast, and the property that the toast soldiers looted on the battlefield is their own?" ”
Gao Antai said: "Yes." They only pay a little military salary, why do they come out to fight if they don't grab things? ”
This is related to the military discipline of the caravan and the control of the Tusi soldiers, and Zhu Pingjin will not compromise. So Zhu Pingjin shook his head and said, "This can't work!" The rule of our caravan is 'hand over all seized property'. You can't control it in the Tusi world, but when you come out and enter the caravan, you have to follow the rules of the caravan! After this battle, the salaries of the Tusi soldiers were all paid according to the caravan, and the troop establishment and military discipline should also be closer to the caravan, and the people were still brought by you and General Xu. You will be the battalion commander of this Tusi Battalion, and Mr. He is also the camp supervisor of your Tusi Battalion. Now we will not announce it, and we will talk about it when the battle is over. ”
He Youyi was promoted by half a level, and congratulated Gao Antai first. Gao Antai didn't know what kind of official this battalion commander was, but he heard in Bifengxia that Song Zhenzong seemed to be also a battalion commander, so he gladly accepted the assignment.
Zhu Pingjin saw that this was going well, so he retracted his thoughts and continued to carefully observe the battlefield. This is the first time he has participated in a big battle of this era, and it is a very rare opportunity to experience. The same is true for those soldiers and generals who are participating in the war for the first time.
There were 500 infantry on the left and right flanks, about 200 paces wide, in four rows in front and rear, and each row was about 100 people. Each person occupies a step wide, so the battle formation is not dense. The Chinese army marched along the avenue, and the two wings were squeezed into Tianba. Fortunately, the dam is smooth and dry in winter, and there are only a few small ditches for irrigation, which will not affect the movement of the team. The team descended a gentle slope and lost the vantage point of condescending to observe the full view of the battlefield. By this time, the right wing was less than a mile from the town. Those chaotic people didn't seem to feel the oppression of the official and military formations, and they fled on a large scale, but the town was still the same.
Is there going to be a street fight today? Zhu Pingjin had some drumming in his heart, would the casualties in the street fighting be very large?
The formation continued to advance. Less than a hundred steps outside the town, Song Zhensi stopped his horse and raised his spear again. He turned his horse's head and commanded in a loud voice: "All of them!" Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! ”
The whole army then stopped advancing and shouted in unison: "Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! The interlude was also mixed with the strange cries of the toast soldiers and the thud of swords and shields.
Sure enough, as Song Zhensi expected, the turn-over slave who was still immersed in the sea of joy was finally awakened. First, a few panicked people ran out of the village to find out, and when they saw the official army brigade under their noses, they were so frightened that they crawled on the ground and screamed and fled. The funniest thing is a young rioter, wearing a pink embroidered belly pocket around his neck that has been pulled from the belly of an unknown woman, and running back with his pants in his hands. As a result, he kicked on the stone in a panic, and the pain made him spread his pants and roll on the ground, and by the way, he showed his white ass in front of the military formation, which aroused a burst of laughter.
Song Zhensi spat contemptuously on the ground and said to Zhu Pingjian: "The rabble, vulnerable!" Shizi, you ordered, the last general will be killed, and in less than an hour, the last general will send you the head! ”
Zhu Pingjin also felt that the time had come to attack, so he nodded to Song Zhensi. Song Zhensi's body surged with bloodthirsty pleasure, and he ordered to the right-wing Tusi soldiers: "The right formation enters the village to clear up, and if you encounter resistance, you will be killed!" Keep up with the Chinese army after the clearance is completed! The left formation is not allowed to enter the village, keep the formation and keep moving! ”
When the Tusi soldiers on the right flank heard Song Zhensi's order, they rushed into the village with jubilation. As soon as they were happy, the faces of the left-wing toast soldiers were long.