Sword Gate Pass!

Although Zhang Ling, a crossbow general, was sixty-nine years old, he could still draw a two-stone bow, and the soldiers under his command often compared him to Lao Huang Zhong and had great trust in him. This veteran also did live up to the support of the soldiers under his command, a few years ago Gao Chongming rebelled, led 100,000 people to rebel, Zhang Ling led the army to fight, and joined forces with Qin Liangyu, and fought Gao Chongming with his head and rat, and he was very powerful.

Although ranked second in Sichuan, Qin Liangyu, who ranked first, was the Tusi of the Tujia family, and the Han people paid attention to "not my race, their hearts must be different", so Qin Liangyu's recognition among Han officials and Han soldiers was not as high as Zhang Ling, and most Han soldiers believed that Zhang Ling was the first general and respected him more.

Not long ago, Zhu Jun's spies went to Jianmen Pass to investigate, the spies are very good at the distance, the place they explored was just an arrow away, and the archers of the officers and soldiers could not shoot the enemy so far, but the crossbow general Zhang Ling took out his two-stone big bow, and the arrows were shot out in a row, and several spies were easily put down. This made the soldiers on the sword gate very excited, and the soldiers believed that only if there was a divine crossbow general Zhang Ling sitting in this pass, even if the Zhu army was twice as much, they would not be able to fight in.

However, today's Jianmen Pass is filled with a helpless atmosphere, and a large group of thousands of households, hundreds of households, army staff officers, and staff members are all sitting together with their heads down, and no one speaks. It turned out that this morning they had received a military order from Chengdu, asking them to immediately abandon Jianmen Pass and return to Chengdu.

Zhang Ling, who was sitting in the first place, also had a look of tiredness in his eyes, and he was silent for a long time. Only then did he sigh: "Pass the order down, withdraw the troops......"

A hundred households walked out and knelt on the ground with a pop: "General, this order must not be obeyed...... As soon as the sword gate was closed, the Chengdu Plain was like a mother's door that had taken off its clothes...... Anyone can ...... "This Baihu is a low-level soldier, he has never read a book, he speaks very vulgarly, and when he opens his mouth, he is stripped naked or something, and the face of the person next to him changes when he hears it.

Someone next to him stretched out his foot and kicked him over: "Holy shit." What nonsense? Dogs can't spit ivory out of their mouths...... Again, I'll tell you. "This latecomer seems to be much more advanced than the previous one. He said seriously: "General, the so-called generals are outside, and the king's orders are not subject to it, and we who are going out on the expedition." You shouldn't pay attention to the messy life of the waste in the back. This life should be resolutely not accepted. We will defend the Sword Gate, we must be right. ”

Someone next to him responded: "Yes! Those civil officials don't understand, they only know nonsense. Jianmen Pass is extremely important, even if the thief army has spared the road to Mianyang, we can't give up the Jianmen Pass, as long as we guard here, the thief army in Mianyang is just a lonely army all the way, not to be afraid. ”

"General, please take back your order, let's defend this place......"

The low-ranking military attachés shouted loudly.

Zhang Ling is not as bloody as them, after all, he is a sixty-nine-year-old man, and he has seen too many things in the officialdom. Although "the generals are outside, and the king's orders are not subject to them", none of the generals who do not obey the king's orders and only care about their own wars will end well after they go back. Officialdom is a very strange place, even if those civil officials know afterwards that their plan is wrong, they can reverse black and white, insist on their mistakes as right, and plant all the mistakes on the military attaché.

Zhang Ling is not worried about himself, after all, he is already old and can retire at any time, even if the officialdom can no longer tolerate him, he doesn't care, what future does a sixty-nine-year-old person pursue? If he is only for himself, he will really be outside today, and the king's order will not be accepted.

But he is not alone, there are so many young military attachés in Sichuan under his command, these young men with strong blood, there is still a future, and there is a future, if they disobey the order here, and are written in a mess by the civil officials in the Spring and Autumn Period, not only will their future be ruined, but they may also have to worry about their lives.

It's not that Zhang Ling is worried, but the officialdom is so dark, dozens of years ago, how did Qin Liangyu's husband Ma Qiancheng die? It was because he offended a eunuch that he was unjustly killed in prison, with Qin Liangyu's ability, with the unity and protection of the Tujia people, he failed to save Ma Qiancheng's life, causing Qin Liangyu to suffer for so many years as an orphan and widow......

Zhang Ling sighed deeply and said: "Don't say it, I have made up my mind, withdraw to Chengdu ......"

The generals couldn't help but sigh, they didn't want to listen to the orders of the civilian officials, but they didn't dare to disobey the orders of the old general Zhang Ling, and the three thousand Sichuan soldiers began to pack up and prepare to evacuate Jianmen Pass in a depressed manner.

Zhang Ling unfolded a map, compared it for a while, and then instructed: "Our purpose is to withdraw to Chengdu, but Mianyang, an important town from Jianmen Pass to Chengdu, has been captured by thieves, so we can't go back through Mianyang, we have to take a detour." ”

His hand drew a line on the map and said: "Let's go back to Chengdu from the road of Zilu, Santai, Zhongjiang, and Jintang, so that the road will not be bad for the thief army to intercept." "The line drawn by Zhang Ling is not the main official road, but a road over the mountains and mountains, steep and difficult to travel, along the way are some small villages and small counties, it is difficult for troops from other places to take this road, and the three thousand soldiers under his command are all Sichuan soldiers, but they are not afraid.

Zhang Lingbu packed up his bags, took advantage of the night, quietly left Jianmen Pass, and then rushed to Zilu in the south, while marching, he sent spies to monitor the movements of the thief army in Mianyang, and the spies soon sent back the news, saying that the generalissimo of the thief army had left Mianyang and sent troops to Chengdu in the south.

When Zhang Ling heard the news, his heart tightened slightly, he knew that the eight thousand thief army was not enough to capture Chengdu, because there was General Qin Liangyu in Chengdu, but as long as the thief army appeared under the city of Chengdu, those civil officials would be blindly nervous, and then all kinds of concerts would fly all over the sky, and within a few days, the emperor's imperial desk would be full of pieces of impeachment of the military attachés for their ineffective fighting. And if the 3,000 Sichuan soldiers led by him can return to Chengdu in time, it is fine, if they can't catch up, the civilian officials don't know how much nonsense they will have to say.

Zhang Ling smiled helplessly, urging the soldiers to hurry up and rush to Zilu as soon as possible, where they would take a short rest, and then rush to the next station.

However, what Zhang Ling didn't know was that at this time, outside the city. There is a Zhu army of 5,000 people lurking, and the leaders are Xu Renjie, Wang Er, Ying Shanhong, Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao and others.

It turned out that after the Zhu army captured Mianyang, it was on the verge of running out of food, and it was impossible for the Zhu army to snatch the people's food on the spot like other rogues, so they no longer had the ability to attack Chengdu in the south. The army was immediately divided into two units. There were only 3,000 people in the group, and they put on the appearance of heading south, opening the scout circle and blocking all news. Let the spies of the officers and soldiers not figure out how many of them actually are.

while the other group had five thousand. Including all generals. and 3,000 black pole soldiers, 2,000 Shaanxi soldiers, after they left Mianyang. He advanced eastward, came to the mountains more than ten miles north of Zilu City, and lurked.

As for the 5,000 white-pole soldiers who had been following their buttocks, they were threatened by the Zhu army with the life of Ma Xianglin, and ordered them to stay in Mianyang and not to follow them. The white pole soldiers had no choice but to stay in Mianyang obediently.

At this time, the 5,000 men of the Zhu army lurked in a small ravine in the north of Zilu, because this ravine was very narrow, and the top of the ditch was covered by a big tree, the sun could not shine in, so the bottom of the ditch was very dark, and the Zhu army was all set up in dark green tents, so it was difficult to be discovered.

Speaking, didn't Zhu Jun enter the Chengdu Plain? This place should be a flat river, and there is no ravine...... This has to start from the special place of Zilu, which was formerly known as Nichen Mountain, which is the place where Xia Yu put the soil when he combed the river when he controlled the water. I don't know if Dayu has piled up too much mud here, piled up and piled up, so the terrain here is more complicated. There are many mountain ranges such as Qiqu Mountain and Wolong Mountain, and the terrain is quite complex. The hills and low mountains occupy 95 percent of the entire area of the Azusa Tree, and there is no flat land at all, and there are slopes everywhere, and the slope is generally between 25 and 35 degrees, which can be described as distorted.

In this kind of place, Zhu Jun wants to find a ravine to hide, it is really not too simple.

Ma Xianglin was still wearing shackles on his hands and feet, and he was also in Zhu Jun's camp, and he was facing Cao Wenzhao and snorted angrily: "Insidious thief, even the tent for the marching army deliberately uses this color that people can't see clearly, it's just despicable and shameless." ”

At this time, the army did not have the concept of "protective color", the Ming army wore bright red mandarin duck battle jackets, the Manchu Tartars also wore colorful armor, the Tusi soldiers of the ethnic minorities wore their own national costumes, and Li Zicheng's thief army was even more varied...... Only Zhu Jun has a "protective color" in the whole world, so in Ma Xianglin's eyes, this practice of using "protective color" to hide the army is very despicable.

Cao Wenzhao said with a smile: "At the beginning, I also thought that it was not good for Zhu Bugs to make the army so dark, wearing bright armor helps to improve morale, but after following him for a long time, I understand, instead of using fresh clothes and angry horses to boost morale, it is better to use this deep color to protect yourself, as long as you win the battle, the morale will naturally be high, if you keep losing the battle, even if you wear bright armor, the morale will not be high." You see that the army of our Ming Dynasty is wearing red mandarin duck battle jackets, but how many people dare to move forward bravely when they fight? ”

Ma Xianglin snorted.

Xu Renjie next to him said with a smile: "Not long ago, our black pole soldiers fought with Li Zicheng's army at night...... The black gun barrel is simply nowhere to be found in the dark night, Li Zicheng was beaten by us to the head of the rat, and he can't even use his hand, if he is replaced by a white pole soldier at that time, what do you think? ”

A strange color flashed on Ma Xianglin's face, and then his brows furrowed, Xu Renjie's words caused him to think deeply, if the white pole soldiers and the black pole soldiers met at night, what would the situation be? Zhu Jun was wearing dark purple clothes, which were almost equivalent to black at night, and he couldn't see clearly. And the black pole gun is not visible at night, on the contrary, the white pole soldier wears a bright Tujia folk costume, which is also very bright at night, and the white pole gun is a very obvious target at night, as long as there is a little moonlight, the gun can exude a moon-white light. I am in the open and the enemy is in the dark, if the white pole soldier and the black pole soldier fight at night, there is almost no need to think about who will kill the deer, it must be the black pole soldier.

Ma Xianglin sweated on his forehead.

Cao Wenzhao sighed: "Zhu Ba is indeed a genius, I really admire the many knowledge in his head, I often can't help but think, if he wins the world, will the world be better than now?" ”

Ma Xiang was silent, and after a long time, he snorted: "Even if you are very hidden and ambush here, it is useless, General Zhang Ling will never be fooled."

Cao Wenzhao did not fight with him. Just smiled and said, "Whether he will come or not, we'll know later......"

As he spoke, a scout approached and shouted, "Report! Ladies and gentlemen, there are 3,000 Sichuan soldiers led by the crossbow general Zhang Ling in the north, and they have reached three miles away. "If it is on the plain, the scouts of the Zhu army can spread out to a distance of ten or even fifteen miles, and as soon as the enemy appears in this range, they will fly back and report. However, in the middle of the river, where the terrain is complex, it can be monitored as far as five miles away. And there is no horse to ride when reporting information. They could only rely on their legs, so they spotted the enemy five miles away, and when they rushed back to report, the enemy was almost three miles away.

"What?" Xu Renjie and the others have not yet responded. Ma Xianglin exclaimed first: "This ...... That's impossible...... Master Zhang Ling is a veteran of many battles. How can you not know the importance of the Sword Gate? How could it be possible to abandon the gate and run here? This...... This is definitely scout nonsense. ”

Cao Wenzhao smiled bitterly and said: "It is precisely because he is a veteran of a hundred battles. So he sees farther than you! He added earnestly: "If he doesn't listen to the order and come back, he and his three thousand soldiers will be finished, and the battle will be won." I can't live either...... If he comes back, even if he loses the battle, someone will help him cover up, and in the end, it will definitely be none of his business. ”

Ma Xianglin's eyes widened, and he looked at Cao Wenzhao angrily: "Hugh is talking nonsense......"

Cao Wenzhao shook his head and said, "Am I talking nonsense, come and fight with me after you think clearly." ”

At this time, Xu Renjie was giving an order to the person next to him: "Pass the order, and act according to my previous plan......

Zhu Jun coaxed, and then dispersed, and each dispersed according to the ambush location pre-arranged by Xu Renjie. Cao Wenzhao also lifted his two-point steel gun and prepared to fight.

A flash of anxiety flashed in Ma Xianglin's eyes, but it was inconvenient for him to speak.

Cao Wenzhao smiled and said, "Want to go with me?" Let's go together! ”

Ma Xianglin was not reserved, he nodded quickly, and followed behind Cao Wenzhao, don't look at him wearing shackles on his hands and feet, but he is not necessarily slow to walk, but it will be a little inconvenient to run.

After a long time, Zhang Lingbu came to a complex ravine, and Zhang Ling, who was old and strong, looked up to the south and said, "After turning over this hill, you can reach Zilu City, go there to rest for a while, and then go south." ”

The generals next to him answered, and there was no objection. Although there was a ravine with complicated terrain ahead, the military attaches of the Sichuan army did not care, because their scout circle was also very open, and it seemed that it was easy to be ambushed in the dangerous mountains in the middle of the river, but there were experienced scouts in front of them, and they did not believe that there would be a thief army that could avoid their eyes and ambush themselves.

At this moment, the scout in front turned around and hurriedly reported: "General, two thousand thief soldiers have been found on the small hill ahead, and the banner is the thief army reflecting the red part of the mountain." ”

Zhang Ling was slightly surprised: "Yingshan Red Department? Two thousand? ”

His mind spun quickly, after all, the Zhu army and the imperial court have been fighting for many years, and it is impossible to say that the imperial court still does not know the generals in the Zhu army. Zhang Ling knew very well that Yingshanhong was Wang Er's wife and a third-rate general in the Zhu army. It is almost reasonable for her to lead 2,000 people, but what does it mean that she is here to stop herself?

Zhang Ling frowned and asked, "Is there anyone else besides her?" ”

The scout reported: "I don't know, because Yingshanhong's 2,000 men blocked the way, we can't get around, and we can't figure out if there is an enemy behind her......"

Zhang Ling suddenly hesitated, the so-called "know the enemy, can win a hundred battles", he can't figure out that the other party has no reinforcements, so it is inconvenient to fight with it, if he is based on his usual old age, he will now order to set up camp and find out everything before fighting this battle. But he also had the order to return to Chengdu as soon as possible, but he couldn't ink with the thief army here, otherwise it would be difficult to explain to the above, so he had to order the scout: "Find a way to go over the mountain and go around her back, and find out if there are other thieves behind her." ”

Before the scout could run out, another scout ran back and reported: "General, the two thousand thieves in the Yingshan Red Department are all Shaanxi soldiers, and they also found us at the same time, looked frightened, and began to retreat. ”

When one of Zhang Ling's staff officers heard the news, he was immediately overjoyed: "The thief army is all Shaanxi soldiers? Afraid? Back off? Well...... I understand! The thief army should have divided its troops, they should have captured Mianyang this time with 8,000 people, and they must have divided the army into four routes, one of which was 3,000 black pole soldiers of the Chinese army, and the position was in the middle, from Mianyang to Deyang to attack Chengdu. 1,000 Shaanxi soldiers fought in the vanguard, 2,000 on the left flank, and 2,000 on the right flank...... The force in front of us must be the 2,000 Shaanxi soldiers in charge of the right flank...... Because they only had 2,000 people, they were scared when they saw us. ”

This staff officer's analysis is very in line with strategic common sense, and it is very reasonable for the thief army to divide its troops into multiple routes, occupy a large area at the same time, and finally converge under the city of Chengdu, and then capture the city in one fell swoop. If you follow his analysis, these two thousand Yingshan Red Troops are the troops who came specifically to attack Zilu, but they just happened to meet Zhang Ling's army.

The staff officer said happily: "If this is the case, it will be simple, Zilu must still be in the hands of the imperial court now, there should be three hundred defenders in the city, and there should be many squires organized by the villagers, there should be no less than a thousand people in total, if our army attacks the thief army, the defenders in the city are not fools, they must come out of the city to attack on both sides, maybe they can swallow these two thousand thieves in one fell swoop." (To be continued.) For mobile phone users, please go to read. )