Chapter 381: The Decisive Battle (I)

At midnight, the sky was just slightly bright, and Wang Dou and Chen Yongfu led their guards to rush into Luoyang. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Very, in Luoyang City, Wang Dou and Fu Wang Shi Zhu Yousong, and Wang Yinchang, the deputy envoy of the military garrison, got along in the same room. The hall was full of people, and it was also full of officials and generals of Luoyang City, all of whom were hurriedly recruited from all over the city at the invitation of Wang Dou.

Ignoring the matter of Liu Jianyi and others last night, Wang Dou got straight to the point, saying that the time was ripe for a decisive battle with the thieves, and he decided to lead the Shunxiang army out of the city, unite with the soldiers and horses under Chen Junmen, and fight with the thieves in the field, hoping for the support of the soldiers.

"The thieves attacked the city and failed, the army lost its heart, and it should have lost last night, and our division attacked its camp, the thieves and straw were cut off, and the army was lost, this is a golden opportunity."

Wang Douyu was not shocked, and as soon as he exited, he revealed that the masterpiece of the Jianshan camp last night was done by the Shunxiang army.

If a stone is thrown into a pond, it immediately causes a great turmoil in the hall. Everyone is talking endlessly, everyone is excited, and those who don't know the soldiers also know that the poison is better than the lack of food, and the thieves are attacking the area where they are hoarding grain and grass, and at this time the people must be panicking, and it is indeed a good opportunity for a decisive battle.

Zhu Yousong said with a smile: "It turns out that last night's night attack on the thief camp was done by General Wang, no wonder the movement is so big." ”

Lu Weiqi, the former secretary of the Ministry of War, also said excitedly: "I don't know which general of your army is the person who attacked the camp?" ”

"Wen Fangliang, Wen Qian."

"Wen Qian is always in danger and fighting alone, and my division will send reinforcements immediately."

"My lord, my army immediately went out of the city to fight a decisive battle, which is a good support for Wen Qian."

Wen Fangliang's sneak attack was successful, occupying the dangerous area of Jianshan, and the soldiers and horses under his command were all veterans who had fought in Shunxiang Fort since the ninth year of Chongzhen, and most of the sergeants had five or six years of battlefield combat experience.

According to the sharp soldiers and spearmen under his command, occupying Jianshan, it is no problem to defend it for a few days under the attack of tens of thousands of rogues.

Of course, if you are alone, the thieves are constantly attacking, and you can break through and go, but the attack will also fail. Therefore, Wang Dou needed to go out of the city to fight and defeat all of Li Zicheng's troops in one fell swoop.

In terms of soldiers, except for Wen Fangliang, Wang Dou's more than 5,000 troops in Luoyang participated in the battle, and the three sergeants who originally defended Luoyang were also withdrawn. Chen Yongfu left 500 soldiers to defend Beiguan, and the remaining 2,000 soldiers also participated in the battle.

There should be more than 7,000 such a main force, which is a lot of troops in Chongzhen eight years ago, and the thieves at that time were very easy to fight. Even the 7,000 ordinary officers and soldiers are enough to defeat more than 100,000 rogues in the wilderness.

However, this time is different from the past, since the eighth year of Chongzhen, the combat strength of the peasant army has undergone qualitative changes, Hong Chengchou once said in the song: "In the past, the thieves avoided the army and fled, and now they meet the enemy against the enemy. The thieves all have fine horses, or straddle two horses, and the officers and soldiers have three steps and seven horses, so it is difficult to chase. ”

At present, the officers and soldiers, or many thieves who can fight three times as much, are still in the majority of the thieves who are hungry. In Henan Mansion, the officers and men at this time are winning fewer victories and losing more than one after another, and the cities have fallen one after another, and now Li Zicheng's troops are "abundant"; including the old battalion, there are 4 or 5,000 elite cavalry, 20,000 or 30,000 foot soldiers, and more than 100,000 hungry soldiers. How dare the local officers and soldiers in Henan fight with Li Zicheng?

However, they are still full of confidence in Wang Dou and Chen Yongfu, Wang Yinchang and others, and with the combat effectiveness of the Shunxiang Army and the Forward Battalion, it should be no problem to use 7,000 against 200,000. Especially now the thieves have lost their hearts, and the decisive battle in the field is not as good as the siege war, and the thieves are easy to flee in panic.

Zhu Yousong was full of confidence in Wang Dou, he just asked: "In the field decisive battle, are General Wang and General Chen really sure?" ”

After receiving Wang Dou's affirmative reply, Zhu Yousong stopped talking.

Seeing Wang Dou's expression, he may feel that there is a advantage to take advantage of, Wang Yinchang also wanted to bring some Luoyang garrison officers and soldiers and township warriors to fight together, but Wang Dou was resolutely dissuaded.

They can defend Luoyang City well and ensure that the rear is not lost, which is a great support for themselves. Wang Shaoyu's subordinates still had more than 2,000 battalions, but Wang Dou was worried that after taking them to the battlefield, his troops would make a farce that would disperse, so he was spared.

In the area of the decisive battle in the field, Wang Dou prepared to place it on the east bank of the stream, and both sides of the river were densely packed with all kinds of camps and shacks, which were more than ten miles long. The garrison was all the leaders of the battalions close to Li Zicheng. If they don't want to collapse completely, they will have to fight themselves in the wilderness on the east bank of the stream. ,

At the foot of the mountain twenty miles north of Luoyang City, there is also the bank of Luoshui in the south of the city, although there are also a lot of troops stationed, but most of them are the camps of Henan bandits such as Yidougu, clay pots, and Li Jiyu.

Now that the heart of the army is lost, each family has the idea of attacking their own family, and they will attack the camp of Li Zicheng's lineage, whether these bandit leaders will rescue is a question, if they do not rescue, they will have less "troops" to deal with tens of thousands of thieves.

If they rescued, Wang Dou didn't think that these tens of thousands of people would have any impact on the overall situation. It's just that they may come from the east and north and encircle their army in the wilderness. However, those hungry people with spears and sticks in their hands, Wang Dou didn't care about their encirclement.

His main opponent was Li Zicheng's thousands of elite horsemen, as well as 20,000 or 30,000 foot soldiers.

After the discussion, the Shunxiang Army and the Forward Battalion mobilized, whether it was the Shunxiang Army and the Forward Battalion sergeants in Luoyang City, or the army of Beiguan City, a team of neatly dressed and assembled in the area between the North Gate and Beiguan.

Standing on the top of the north gate tower, watching the morning glow slowly come out, a team of sergeants wearing iron armor and cotton armor, passing through the city gate, slowly gathering into a formation outside the city, Wang Dou was proud and heroic in his heart, this is his own army.

Chen Yongfu beside him was also full of red light, full of expectations for this battle, and he had been hinted by Wang Yinchang that he would be recommended as the chief military officer of Henan in the future. If the thieves are defeated in a battle, they will be sure to get this general position.

Beside the two of them, there were Shi Zhu Yousong, Wang Yinchang, the deputy envoy of the military garrison, Luoyang garrison, Luoyang prefect and other dense local officials, all of whom came to see off Zhu Jie. In everyone's hearts, of course, they hope that Wang Dou will win this battle, and Luoyang City will really be safe and sound.

The queue outside the city slowly expanded, and Li Guangheng's cavalry was already gathered in the field, and his nearly 1,000 cavalry were lined up in a strict formation, all dressed in cotton armor, and the cavalry in front was armed with cavalry spears, and the rear used sabers. The cold wind blew, and the red tassels and fiery horsehair on the helmets of the knights under his command fluttered off, and the red round shields on the left arms of each of them seemed to be a fiery red color.

There are also Gao Shiyin's horse infantry thousand generals, Wu Zhengchun, Shen Shiqi, Gao Xun's three infantry thousand generals, Wen Daxing led the rest of the night to collect all the assembly.

Zhao Xuan also gathered his artillery carts, ten Hongyi cannons, and the thirty-five general Franc machine guns captured from the intrusive army were all pulled in, neatly lined up in front of the formation, the muzzles of the guns were black and empty, and they were murderous.