Judging from the map, the shape of Jining Road is very distinctive. It's like an urn with a wide mouth, a narrow neck, and a wider belly. The place where it borders with Tai'an Prefecture is like Wengkou, with a length of about 200 li and a width of dozens of li. As a result, the mouth of the urn shrinks to the middle, creating a narrow neck area. After this neck area, it is called the urn belly. The widest part of the belly of the urn is three or four hundred miles.

In the area of its urn mouth and urn belly, there is not much river water, and the terrain is relatively flat.

In the neck area, there are several rivers flowing through it. There is a Surabaya, a Wenshui, a Yishui, and a canal called the Jeju River. The river is dense and staggered, which is not conducive to large-scale marching. And, on the top of this neck area, it is Dongping Road. Dongping is mountainous. Under it, there are two large lakes, one Shanyang Lake and one Weishan Lake, covering an area of hundreds of miles.

In other words, that is to say, if Yidu wants to capture Jining Road, the most important thing is to fight for this neck area. For now, the cities in this area are under the control of Chakhan. From top to bottom, it is Ningyang, Yanzhou, Ziyang, and Rencheng. Ningyang is at the front, and Rencheng is at the back. Shanyang Lake and Weishan Lake are close to Rencheng. The top of Shanyang Lake is only ten miles away from Rencheng.

If there is a good comparison, Rencheng is compared to the throat area of the neck area, then the three places of Ziyang, Yanzhou, and Ningyang in front of it are like the mouth, nose and eyes on the human face. Lay down the eyes, grab the nose, get the mouth, and then go straight down the neck and occupy the throat. Even if the hinterland of Jining Road is opened.

That night, the Haidong army that set out from Tai'an aimed directly at Ningyang.

Ningyang is more than 100 miles away from Tai'an, and in terms of organization, it belongs to Yanzhou like Ziyang. It is not far from Yanzhou, about 20 miles. According to the established battle plan of the Yidu Branch, the first step was to use the vanguard to capture Ningyang with lightning speed on the day of the battle. After Ningyang, the army approached Yanzhou. Then concentrate the superior forces and strive to conquer Yanzhou in a short period of time. Immediately, he conquered the power of Yanzhou, continued westward, and then captured Ziyang.

Conquering Ziyang is equivalent to almost occupying the entire territory of Yanzhou Mansion, and the only obstacle in front of you is Rencheng. Wait for the capture of Rencheng, the hinterland of Jining Road will basically no longer have major obstacles, and a flat river is enough for the Haidong army to gallop at will.

This way is the main force. In addition, there is a flank.

Because the cities in the neck area are not only Yanzhou Mansion and Rencheng. From Yanzhou to the northeast, about dozens of miles is Qufu. Qufu is dozens of miles to the northeast, and there is Surabaya near the mouth of the urn. Both cities are now under the control of Chahan, and each has a portion of its military horses.

In order not to affect the main siege of the city because of them, Haidong must send corresponding troops to contain it. The coach of this flank is Qing Qianxing. While going out of the city with the Tai'an army, he also led thousands of soldiers from the Mengyin area to Surabaya. Mengyin is 100 miles away from Surabaya.

Two armies, one from Tai'an, were the vanguard of the main force; One comes out of the shadow, which is the echo of the flanks. After a night and a half of rapid marching, they arrived outside the target city.

Since Qing Qianxing's road is a flank, the main task is not to capture the city, but to contain the enemy army in Surabaya. The main offensive was the Tai'an Prefecture Army, which was led by Yang Wanhu. Yang Wanhu was originally stationed in Dizhou, but not long ago he was ordered to transfer Tai'an, and brought half of the Dizhou garrison, about 4,000 people. This time to capture Ningyang, he used his 4,000 men.

Although Ningyang is the county seat, because of its proximity to the border, since it was captured by Chahan, after many repairs, the city wall is now very tall and solid. There are four gates, which are divided into south, east, and west. The four city gates are facing each other in pairs, forming a cross street in the city, which is the traffic artery in the county.

And because Jining Road is located in the key chong, densely populated, there are many residents in Ningyang County, and the places in the city are not enough to live in, so outside the east and north gates, the relevant cities are established.

The so-called Seki Castle is a small castle built outside the main castle, connected to the castle, and generally speaking, the area of each Seki castle is a quarter of the size of the main castle. Residents and common people can build houses and multiply here. People often say: "Dongguan, Xiguan, Nanguan, Beiguan", this "Guan", in fact, refers to Guancheng. In addition to being smaller than the main castle, the other facilities of the castle, such as the city walls and gates, are completely the same as the main castle. That is to say, it is even more difficult to attack any city that is built in question. Why? Because it was necessary to hit two gates in a row. Stormed the gates of the city, as well as the gates of the main city. There are also some cities, and there are urn cities built in the main city gate, and even in the gate of the closed city. Of course, it will be more difficult for the attacking side to attack.

Fortunately, there are only two cities in Ningyang County, and there are no cities on the west and south sides, which slightly alleviates the difficulty of the Haidong army in attacking the city.

Yang Wanhu came to the outside of Ningyang City, regardless of the panic of the Yuan army in the city, he was orderly and dispatched his troops. According to the established arrangement, Fang Mihan led 1,000 people to the east and north to surround the two cities, besiege but not attack. Then he personally led 3,000 people to the south gate of Ningyang, and chose the direction of the main attack. The western gate of the city was vacated, and it was not surrounded or frozen. This is a very orthodox way of siege for "encircling three missing one".

It was just past noon, and the sun was shining.

Yang Wanhu's troops marched for 100 miles in a hurry, and the soldiers were tired, and when they set up camp and laid out the siege, he ordered the three armies: "Each battalion buries the pot and eats at night." After dinner, he rested for three hours, and the siege began around midnight. In order to prevent the Yuan army from Yanzhou from coming to help, he sent fast horses back to Tai'an Prefecture. Please Zhao Guo and Bi Qianniu send the army of the second road as soon as possible. At the same time, he ordered Yang Si to lead the sentinels of the headquarters, bypass Ningyang, and move in the direction of Yanzhou Mansion, while inquiring about news, and at the same time doing surveillance.

Haidong's attack was without warning at all, and the defenders in Ningyang City did not know about it before, and they did not get any information. Now that he suddenly saw the army approaching the city, the panic of the defenders can be imagined, and they made a mess. The defender in the city was also a quick responder, so he sent two teams of messengers at that time, and while Yang Wanhu's formation had not yet been arranged, he hurried out of the city and rushed to Yanzhou, hoping to invite reinforcements.

These two teams of messengers just left the city, but they were actually discovered by Yang Wanhu's probes, but because Yang Wanhu had another purpose, they just didn't see them and let them leave quickly.

In the twilight, Surabaya sent a military report, Qing Qianxing's movements were fast, and he had already begun to attack the city. It was rare for Yang Wanhu not to be impatient, but according to the military order, he waited for the three armies to have dinner and rested for a long time, and saw that the night was approaching midnight, and then he ordered: "Prepare to attack the city." ”

Speaking of which, because this Ningyang is located on the front line and has an important position, it is the gateway of Jining Road, so although the city is not too big, and the garrison in the city is not too much, but in terms of the degree of elite, it is not inferior to the Chahan army in Gaotang Prefecture and other places. The main force of Gaotang Prefecture is Han Zha'er's spear army, and the pillar in Ningyang City is the famous "Mao Hulu Army".

The Lancer Army and the Mao Hulu Army, both of which were the roots of Chahan's beginnings. When Chahan's edge first appeared, he was called "Lancer Squire", and its name came from the Spear Army. The so-called "pikemen", as the name suggests, the whole army uses spears and is invincible. I won't say much about this, just talk about the "Mao Hulu Army".

"Mao gourd" is the native language of the villagers in Nanyang and Dengzhou, which means self-unity. This is the local "Righteous Army Ten Thousand Households", which was established in May of the 14th year of Zhizheng.

In the year when the army was formed, this army participated in the battle of the million-strong division around Gaoyou. And once among thousands of troops, he was the first to attack the head of Gaoyou's city. The combat effectiveness is very good. Later, an edict from the Yuan court took away the military power of Tokto, causing the million-strong army to disperse for a while. This "gourd army" voted for Richard Han and belonged to his moderation. In all the battles with the Red Turban Army, he made many meritorious deeds.

After countless fierce battles on the battlefield, tempered by iron and blood, if the previous "Mao Hulu Army" was strong enough, then now, this army can be called the "Northern Metro Army". The last time Chahan attacked Yidu, a part of this army followed. It's just that most of the time he was taken by Chahan as the guard and reserve of the Chinese army, and he rarely had the opportunity to go into battle, so he didn't have too outstanding performance on the battlefield of Yidu.

And this time, Yidu Tiger General Yang Wanhu personally led one of the five Ya of Haidong to take Ningyang, and the two strong armies finally met.

In the middle of the night, the moon is dark and windless.

Yang Wanhu deliberately showed off his military might, transferred the main attacking military horses out of the camp, lined them up, and walked forward slowly. Torches were lit up from top to bottom of the three armies, and the area outside the city was as bright as day for more than ten miles. There were also small groups of dozens of cavalry divided into several units, all of which held torches high and galloped back and forth around the left and right sides of the army. A series of general orders were transmitted through them to the battalions and armies.

Yang Wanhu took the general and colonel and climbed a high ground outside the camp to see the formation of each battalion.

In the deep night, he pointed to Ningyang City from afar, and said to everyone: "The Tartars in the city are known as 'Mao Hulu', and they have always boasted of daring to fight. As early as when I was in Haidong, I had heard of its name. I've wanted to fight it for a long time and try it out. This time to attack Ningyang, it was not easy to win the position of vanguard from Zhao Zuocheng, and he could finally get what he wanted. Looking back on the battle this time, only victory, not defeat! ”

A person next to him said: "The 'Mao Hulu Army' is the elite of Chahan, with a total of about 10,000 people. Except for one that was taken by Chahan and is now stationed in Linfen, the others are all on Jining Road. The city of Ningyang is small, and there are no more than 1,000 military horses in the city. Our army attacked the city with 3,000 men, and even if it could not win quickly, it was enough to trap it. The only one who worries is the Tartar reinforcements from Yanzhou Mansion.

"Yanzhou Mansion is an important town in Jining, with a large garrison and very close to Ningyang. Come to think of it, the news of our army's attack on Ningyang must have reached Yanzhou now. Tomorrow night, or to-morrow at noon, reinforcements from the Tartars will surely arrive. ......, general, Zhao Zuocheng's military order requires us to besiege the city for at least three days. Today is the first day, and in the next two days, I am afraid that the battle will be very fierce. ”

Yang Wanhu squinted at this person and said, "What? Scared? ”

The man said: "Although the Maohulu Army is strong, my Anliao Army is also from the Blood Sea Corpse Mountain." The general's name shook Haidong, and the last general was a subordinate, even if he had no courage, he was not afraid of this little Tartar. It's just that the total number of our army is only 5,000. A storming tonight is a small thing. The general was worried that if he waited until tomorrow for the Tartar reinforcements from Yanzhou to arrive, he was afraid that the brothers would not be able to do so. ”

It turned out that before Yang Wanhu led his troops to Ningyang and passed down the order to attack the city at midnight, some of the generals in the army had expressed dissent at that time. The one who spoke was the one who raised the objection. The reason he put forward was, as he had just said, that he was worried that the siege of the city tonight would cost too much military strength and would not be enough to withstand the Chahan reinforcements that would arrive tomorrow.

Yang Wanhu was stunned and said: "Your opinion seems to be correct, but it is not. The lord once said, 'I know one thing, but I don't know the other.'" That's the kind of person you are. What are we here for in Ningyang? For the siege, of course. Is there any reason why the army and horses have arrived, but they refuse to attack the city, and wait for the enemy's reinforcements to arrive? The more you wait, the less reinforcements from the Tartars will come! Let me ask you, how did Zhao Zuocheng's military order speak? ”

"Zhao Zuocheng ordered our army to make a realistic siege posture immediately after arriving in Ningyang. Be sure to lure the Yanzhou Tartars to come to help. ”

"That's right! What is a realistic siege stance? If you don't really do it, can it be called realistic? How many times has Lao Tzu told you? When it's okay, don't fuck go to gamble and drink, and look at the art of war! This plan is to 'lure the snake out of the hole'. Do you understand? How do you lure the snake out? If it doesn't hurt it, will it come out? ”

"Yes, yes. The general is clever, and the general is not as good as himself. ”

It turned out that in this battle, the attack on Jiyang was fake, but it was true to lure the Chahan army in Yanzhou out of the city. At noon, Ningyang sent a messenger to Yanzhou for help, but Yang Wanhu just didn't see it, and this is the reason. He laughed, ignoring the man, and watched intently as the army lined up.

The front line is in formation.

At the forefront, there is the rejection of horses and the like. To attack a city, it is not only necessary to attack, but also to prevent the enemy from going out of the city to counterattack. Therefore, the positions of the first column needed to be laid with simple defenses. After the rejection of the horse, there are shield bearers and archers. Secondly, according to the firing range, dozens of trebuchets, artillery and other objects were arranged. The positions of trebuchets and artillery were independent. On both sides of this position, there was the main force of the siege, and Yang Wanhu transferred more than 1,000 people, most of whom were sword and axe men, and some pikemen.

On the two flanks of the main position, flanks of 100 men were placed. The role of the flanks is to restrain the main force and supervise the main force to attack the city; Second, if the enemy counterattacks, it can also echo the main force and cooperate with each other.

The main position, plus the flank position, can be collectively called a siege position. Behind the siege position, there were several hundred. The task of these hundreds of people is not to siege the city, but to be similar to the flanks, on the one hand, to supervise the main force, on the other hand, to act as a reserve, and to pull up at a critical moment. For example, if the enemy counterattacks and the front is in chaos, it is time for them to come forward. This position can be called a reserve position.

And after the reserve position, there is the camp. The camp was not empty, and there were some military horses. If the enemy encounters is too strong, or if the enemy's strategy fails to attack the city, or even the siege positions and reserve positions are occupied by its counter-attack, at least there can be a camp to defend.

The position of Yang Wanhu and the others is not very high, just between the main position and the reserve position. One or two thousand people, it doesn't sound like much, but they are all draped in full, especially in the middle of the night, but when I see torches everywhere, guns and spears like a forest, and constantly command one after another, and line up in military formation, the momentum is still very strong.

Yang Wanhu looked at it for a long time, and then went to look at the opposite city.

The man who spoke just now said at this time: "The 'Mao Hulu Army' really deserves its name. General, please see, when we came during the day, they were quite panicked in the city for a while, but when they really faced the siege of our army, now they are in order, and there is no chaos at all. General, the siege of the city tonight will be a tough battle! ”