The cool wind swept the clouds in the sky, and the cold dripping was like falling on the hand. When I really reached out to pick it up, I found nothing. Although he has been in Liaodong for more than a year, Deng She is still not used to the weather here, winter comes too early, and spring arrives too late.

Most of the sergeants and soldiers in the army grew up in the north, and there are many people in Liaodong, so they don't have to worry too much about cold resistance, but there are also a few Jianghuai people who accompanied the army in the early Northern Expedition.

Deng She noticed that among the soldiers in front of him, it was already visible that the soldiers were wrapped in sleeves instead of holding the handle of the gun directly in their hands, he frowned, and passed on the order: "Order the three armies, not to wrap weapons in their sleeves, and after the knife is warmed, it must be held in the hand." ”

"Last year was a warm winter. General, this year is not expected to be cold. Bi Qianniu said.

Last winter, the red scarf conquered Shangdu, when the snow was clear and warm as spring. Dunshe nodded, "I hope so." He turned his head again to look at the wilderness to the north, and the sound of cannons and drums faded away. He said: "Send two sentinels to take a look at Mao Shuai." ”

In the city of Gaizhou, the fire is blazing.

Yang Wanhu commanded stone cannons, artillery, and crossbows, and carried out the first round of * overwhelmingly. Hitting the strong city wall, stone chips flew wildly, and the Yuan soldiers at the head of the city had an unstable foothold, so they looked for cover and lay down.

At the head of the city, there are also artillery and the like, and the gunners brave the arrows and stones, and the officers are coerced to counterattack. Under the thick night, the two sides come and go, and the arrows and stones are staggered in mid-air.

Deng She galloped to the front line, personally inspected the progress of the various departments, and saw that the various departments were gradually preparing properly, and the siege of the city was a foregone conclusion, so he ordered: "The artillery bombardment has been suspended for a while, and the cavalry department is told to cheer up and prepare for battle at any time." ”

As the order was delivered, the artillery fire on the Red Turban's side first became sparse, and after a while, the artillery in the city also stopped counterattacking. After all, gunpowder and cannonballs are in this Liaodong land, and no one on either side has enough money, and they both want to use them on the blade.

Three or four generals of the Yuan army with bright helmets and bright armor hugged the city tower, pointing and pointing, watching the appearance of the red scarf army. Deng She glanced slightly, retracted his gaze, at this time on the front line outside the city, all kinds of obstacles were piled up in front of the army; Some thousand-strong teams, in order to be on the safe side, even began to mobilize manpower to build earthen walls with the earth excavated from the trenches.

Whoever attacks a city must be forced to do so. Sun Ziyun: "The upper army is strategic, the second is the enemy, the second is the army, and the next is to attack the city." The method of siege is a last resort. ”

He enumerated the disadvantages of the siege, and it took a long time to prepare the large equipment for the siege; It will be a long time to build up the earth and mountains for the siege; If the general could not restrain his impatience and ordered the soldiers to climb the wall and attack the city, although a third of the soldiers died, the city was still not captured, this is the disaster brought about by the siege.

These words are very reasonable, and the disadvantages of siege are not only seen by the Han people. The Han people pay attention to "plotting to attack", and surrender without a fight; The same is true of the Mongols. Wherever Genghis Khan's troops arrived, those who did not surrender immediately would suffer all kinds of retaliation after the city was broken, and the city would often be slaughtered. It exerts strong pressure on the enemy, so there are many who surrender without a fight.

The tactics of the Mongols are in the same vein; Looking at it in front of me, in the battle of Xuzhou a few years ago, Sesame Li fought to the end, but in exchange for the slaughter of Xuzhou, women and children were killed. Listening to the brothers from Xuzhou in the army, the city fox society rat has not been populated so far.

Fortunately, Zhang Shicheng's Gaoyou was not conquered at that time, otherwise, the ending could be expected.

The fierceness of the slaughter was due to the difficulties of the siege. Therefore, the most commonly used siege tactics are nothing more than the word trapped and defending, you are sleepy, you run out of ammunition, and you are hungry and eat human flesh, and you are not afraid that you will not surrender. This is also the reason why some of the thousand-strong troops in Deng She's army have habitually built earth walls.

When Deng She heard this, he laughed and laughed. The priority is not to siege the city; In covering Mao Jujing's breakthrough, building an earthen wall was too much of a loss of military strength, and he shook his head, he thought: "Luo Guoqi explained military law, although these officers have learned the usual tactics, they can't change in the end. ”

Many of them were promoted from low-level officers and even ordinary non-commissioned officers, and they had the command of a capable commander-in-chief, and they were brave and daring to fight; There is an extreme lack of handsome talents on the one hand. In addition to Wen, Chen and others, several new promotions, there is only one Zhao Guo and Zhang Xiaoer available; Relaxed again, Zuo Li and Chen Pai were barely ranked No. 1.

Deng She immediately ordered: "The wall does not have to be built ,......" Before the words fell, the drums in the city sounded loudly, and the Yuan army at the head of the city shouted, and a big flag was erected at the head of the city. Deng She hurriedly stretched his eyes to look and saw a Haidongqing painted on the flag.

He had heard for a long time that there was a cavalry under the command of Gao Jianu, and the first of the various tribes was called brave, known as "Handsome Bird", also known as "Haiqing Army". Obviously, Gao Jianu wants to dispatch his trump card and make the first attempt to break through the difficulties. The drums in the city alarmed the three armies, and the Red Turban cavalry who stayed on the high ground also raised their flags, and hung lanterns on the flags, so that they could see clearly in the night, and asked Deng She; Deng Sheshuai waved the flag and ordered him to prepare.

The front-line foot soldiers of the various units, digging trenches, moved backwards, and the new forces that had been waiting for a long time were brought forward. The sound of drums, horns, colorful flags waving, people shouting and neighing, quickly entered a state of readiness.

And the drums in the city kept beating for half an hour, but the city gate was never opened, and the sea youth army was not seen coming out. Deng She recalled, the dog's day, he hit the bird all day long, but he was pecked in the eye; It is purely a harassment trick he used when he fought the Qing Qianxing Army in the past.

"Fuck it,...... Trick us. Bi Qianniu also reacted and looked at Deng She, "General? ”

Knowing that it is false, you can't help but guard against it. Deng She said: "The cavalry is ahead, and the infantry continues to be arranged on the front line. …… Tell Bi Qianniu to shoot another round of cannons. ”

Three times in this way, in an hour or so, the city harassed Dunshe three times with the sound of drums. This trick seems simple, useless, and should not be underestimated. First, it can disrupt the normal subordinates of the other party; Second, there is a saying that "the wind is loud, and the grass and trees are soldiers", and the morale of the army is a little impetuous.

"How to deal with it?"

Fighting a war is a morale. Deng She groaned slightly, and said, "Call the eunuchs of the Heguang Xiu Department to go out and scold the formation." ”

At this time, the sky was thin and bright, the clouds were dense overhead, and thousands of troops and horses faced each other above and below the city. One or two hundred eunuchs swarmed out, shouting foreign Chinese in sharp voices, and scolding in a mess.

Two or three of them, who were not ashamed, scolded so much that they simply stripped off their pants regardless of the cold, revealing their bare buttocks and shrunken earthworm-like nakedness, and pointed at the gesture and shouted: "Wait for the tartars, that's what they are; No*, just drumming! Another shouted: "Haiqing, Haiqing, beaten eggs, no egg whites!" ”

The red scarf laughed, and the Yuan army was frustrated. Seeing Deng She nodding his head to express his satisfaction, He Guangxiu was complacent and cheered for his subordinates loudly. If he has to take care of Wanhu's body, he is afraid that he will not go out of battle early and go on the field in person.

More than a dozen fast horses came from the north. The wind blew the noses of the people red, before the army, turned over and dismounted, they waved small flags, showed Mao Jujing's token, and were taken to Deng She by the soldiers.

"Report to the general, Mao Shuai sent villains and others to communicate."

"Tell me."

"At the fifth watch, our department pulled out the camp; Now that the vanguard has arrived at the city of Haizhou Patrol Division, Mao Shuai ordered the villain to tell the general, about two days, at most three days, to capture Haizhou, capture Zuo Li, and kill the rebels. ”

"Go back and tell Mao Shuai, please rest assured. Within three days, none of the Gaizhou Tartars could leave the city. ”

"Yes!"

"Ben will be here, I wish Mao Shuai in advance, success and victory."

The messenger hung his head and looked to the right and left, but he hesitated, and refused to go away. Deng She listened to the string song, knew the elegance, and smiled slightly: "Does Mao Shuai have any other orders?" ”

"The general may not know that the younger brother of General Zheng Sanbao is also in my department, and there is a letter from the family, so I need to present it to General Zheng in person."

The so-called younger brother is just a pretext. Deng She laughed and said, "General Zheng, Xu Ren and Li Jing, two generals, are in the right wing of our Zhao Guo army, but you have come to the wrong place. ”

It turned out that Zheng Sanbao was not biased by Deng She, and he knew that he would not be able to play a role in his Chinese army, anyway, he had already arrived in the city, and he was not afraid that Deng She would pick on him again, so he simply went to Xu Ren's army with Fang Buzhen. Anyway, that's also my own person.

When the messenger heard this, his face turned red, and Deng She said, "Come, Ben will join you in the military order and send two people to lead you there." ”

greeted Bi Qianniu, picked two pro-soldiers, and led them away.

"General, I'm afraid there will be fraud."

"Mao Shuai can't rest assured that he can't wait for us, I'm afraid that we will retreat without a fight, and I can't stand the Gao family slaves. Human nature is not worth making a fuss about. ”

"If that's all there is, it doesn't hurt; The villain is afraid, will there be words in the letter that instigate and instigate Zheng Sanbao to leave behind our army? ”

Deng She was in the sun, and it was absolutely impossible. For Mao Jujing, Zheng Sanbao is better to stay than to leave. Stay, at least to supervise the Twin Cities military horses; gone, how could he rest assured that he would hand over his back to himself who had no friendship? Having said that, even if this is true, he is just trying to lose the burden of Fang Buzhen and Zheng Sanbao, which is better.

The scolding in front of the city gradually stopped.

The red scarf formation outside the city is about to become; The subordinates of the Chengtou Yuan Army have been decided. The so-called "attack is the opportunity to defend, defense is the strategy of attack, and the same is the result of victory." Those who are good at defending the city will not simply defend, and attack is an indispensable means.

In the clouds, the morning sun rises in the east; The gray morning, the red clothes, the black city. The soldiers were dazzling, and the city gate burst open.

The cavalry of the hundreds of Yuan army shouted, and the artillery at the head of the city rose again. Arrows and stones rain down, horses' hooves are divided, if the city wall is a bow, and the city gate is a string, then this cavalry is an arrow; Gao Jianu, the shooter, released his first wave of offensive.

Many of the eunuchs in the middle of the battlefield did not retreat, and suddenly became chaotic. Gao Jianu's goal is obvious, not to break the formation, but to castrate. Calling you a fierce curse? Slaughter you!

At first, the eunuchs went into battle, in order to prevent the Yuan army from raiding, and there were hundreds of guards with them, all of whom were foot soldiers. At this time, the commander who led the team shouted: "Raise the shield!" Liegunge! "The Red Turban cavalry that came to support them galloped with horses, thousands of kilometers away.

The cavalry of the Yuan army has arrived in front of you.

The red turban foot soldiers fired bows and arrows from the front line, and the distance was too close, and the red scarves of the Yuan army and the eunuchs of Hu Wei were almost mixed together, making it difficult to aim accurately. After a rain of arrows, two or three were injured by mistake, and Yang Wanhu saw that the situation was not good, and urgently ordered the radiation to be stopped.

Deng Sheshuai shook his flag: "Be sure to save the eunuchs who scolded the formation, and kill the Tartars out of the city." ”

The two armies faced each other, not next to the city, and there was a no-man's land in the middle. There was a moat outside Gaizhou City, Deng She looked twice, saw that the enemy's suspension bridge was not pulled up, and hurriedly ordered the cavalry department to attack, turned the direction, and wanted to grab the suspension bridge, the worst, the rocket burned it, cutting off the retreat of the Yuan army.

The focus of the battlefield quickly shifted, no longer entangled with hundreds of cavalry of the Yuan Army and hundreds of red scarf foot soldiers in the field, but on the battle for the drawbridge.

Gao Jianu naturally would not sit still, he was willing to let the cavalry out of the city, so he thought about the possible actions of the red scarf and how to deal with it. Artillery and trebuchets were the first to cover, and hundreds of foot soldiers poured out of the city gates, and after the bridge, bows and arrows were fired in unison to block the approach of the red turban cavalry; Dousing the bridge with water, trying to avoid the power of the rocket.

The war always comes suddenly, and the end is unexpected.

The cavalry of the Yuan army was about to rush into the red turban foot soldiers in the formation in an instant, and Yang Wanhu's rescue was hundreds of meters away; The gong sounded at the head of the city, and the cavalry of the Yuan army went around in a circle, avoiding the red turban foot soldiers in the array, and shot two rounds of arrows, shooting down seven or eight eunuchs, and when the red turban cavalry did not impact the front of the drawbridge, they had already retreated.

Bi Qianniu was dumbfounded: "Tartar,...... What does this mean? ”

"It's just a morale fight." Deng She smiled, since the start of the war, it seems that the two sides have only fought once just now, but in fact, they have fought openly and secretly, and they have fought three times.

For the first time, Gao Jianu was disturbed and harassed; The second time, Deng She replied with a scolding formation; In addition, the third time just now, Gao Jianu went out of the city to kill eunuchs. The purpose of all this is to boost their morale. But where there is a battle, it is only offensive and defensive. Attacking is not only attacking its city and attacking its array, but also attacking its heart; Guarding is not to stop and strengthen its formation, there must be a way to defend my spirit.

If you win their hearts, you can attack; Keep my anger, and you will keep it. Wu Qi four machines, with the gas machine as the top, is this truth.

Deng She waved the handsome banner and ordered the foot soldiers and cavalry to retreat to their own formations. Recalls the small fight of the right talents, and analyzes what Gao Jianu did. He asked Bi Qianniu: "The intention of the Gao family slave is to kill eunuchs and rob me of my morale; Why did you rush back after killing only seven or eight people? You must know that there are only a few hundred foot soldiers in our formation, and we are by no means the opponent of his hundreds of cavalry. ”

"The general surrounded Wei to save Zhao and hit his drawbridge; He was afraid that the drawbridge would be lost, so he hurriedly retreated. In recent days, I have always heard Deng She talk about "encircling Wei to save Zhao", and Bi Qianniu has also learned this word.

Deng She smiled and said, "I'll ask you again." My cavalry has not yet arrived, and his foot soldiers in the city have already gone out and poured water on the bridge, obviously Gao Jianu has expected it and knows that I will take the opportunity to seize the bridge, right? ”

Bi Qianniu thought about it carefully and said, "Yes." He wondered, "As the general said, since Gao Jianu is prepared, why did he retreat without a fight?" ”

"Yesterday, he sent a small force to harass our army's Zhao Guobu in an attempt to observe the talents of our generals; Today, I use those eunuchs, but I also see his talents. ”

In the pre-war event, in addition to hardware, there are two software, one is morale, and the other is to watch the enemy generals. Bi Qianniu asked, "What did the general see?" ”

Deng She looked up to the sky and laughed, and said, "The army is prepared before leaving the city, because it is planned; To be prepared but not to dare to fight is to be brave. resourceful and indecisive; Lack of courage and deceit, this small enemy is also not to be worried. ”

His words soon spread throughout the three armies, and the morale of the army was revived.

Is this really the case with Gao slaves? At least from the appearance, Deng She is right. The cavalry of the Yuan army returned to the city, and both sides temporarily ceased to do their own thing. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Deng She seized the time to inspect the battalions one by one to boost morale and urge the process.

Carrying Yang Wanhu and others, he climbed the watchtower and watched the reality in Gaizhou City condescendingly. Seeing that the square area in the city was strict and orderly, the Yuan soldiers in armor and helmets shuttled among them, running to transport all kinds of military supplies.

Deng She looked at it carefully, knew it in his heart, and asked, "Near the natives, have you found anything?" ”

Yang Wanhu replied: "Mao Jujing has been besieging the city for a long time, and there are few people outside the city, so he sent three or four groups of soldiers, and only two or three old and weak people were found. ”

"Take me into the tent and ask me about the climate of the city."

While speaking, the sentinel sent to Mao Jujing's army earlier came back and shouted at the bottom of the watchtower. Deng She didn't look any more, went down to the watchtower, and the sentry fell to the ground, saying: "Mao Shuai pioneer, has begun to attack Haizhou." ”

——

1. Wu Qi four machines, with gas engines as the top.

"There are four machines for every soldier: one is the air machine, the second is the ground machine, the third is the incident machine, and the fourth is the force machine. The crowd of the three armies, the division of millions, the importance of the Zhang set, lies in one person, and it is called the qi machine. The road is narrow and dangerous, the famous mountain is big, the ten husbands are guarded, and the thousands of people are just the ground machine. Good deeds of spies, light soldiers, scattering their people, so that their kings and ministers resent, and blame each other, is an opportunity. Che Jian governs, Zhou Li Lu, Shi Xi Zhan Chen, and horses gallop leisurely, which is a force machine. Knowing these four is a general. ”

Qi machine, which can be understood as morale. "Wu Qi four machines, with the gas machine as the top, there is no other way, can make everyone fight themselves, then it is sharp."