The Shun army, which had been chasing Zhao Ning reluctantly, suddenly stopped the pursuit in the afternoon, at first the Ming army was a little unable to believe that they would encounter such a good thing, but the Shun army quickly turned into a defensive state, and Zhao Ning felt relieved when he saw this. Zhao Ning felt very ashamed after giving up the division headquarters and retreating at the beginning, and this shame made him muster up the courage to step forward again to meet and cover the retreat of other troops, but after the Shun army forced up, Zhao Ning began to doubt his initial judgment, and felt that he seemed to have violated the military principles he had learned - the wisest choice was perhaps to retreat.

After being stuck by the Shun army just now, Zhao Ning felt that the battle situation was already very sinister, but no matter how much he regretted it, he had to insist on resisting, Zhao Ning commanded the remnants of the army to retreat slowly, always worried that the reinforcements of the Shun army would suddenly kill the army around him and bring a devastating blow. Now that the Shun army stopped attacking and gave the Ming army a respite, Zhao Ning hurriedly led thousands of his subordinates to break away from a distance, and when his side became safe, he once again began to wonder if it was a mistake for him to withdraw so quickly - maybe it was the right decision to bite the Shun army and prevent them from being thrown into other battlefields.

The staff officers of the honest division were not much more clever than their division commanders, and everyone brought out some examples of battles in the textbooks for discussion, and finally everyone judged that the Shun army had become very tired after most of the hard fighting, and had to take a little rest. At this time, the air force's reconnaissance was basically impossible to count on, and after the great rout of the Ming army just now, the air force had cut the rope and drifted away from the Shun army's control area, and the last news they came from was that the military headquarters of the Seventh Army was terminated by the enemy.

After the Ming army rested for a while, they found that their judgment just now was still in doubt, because the Shun army not only still did not launch an attack, but after the Ming army retreated from a safe distance, the Shun army, which had been pressing step by step since today, took the initiative to retreat, giving Zhao Ning and his subordinate officers the feeling that the other party seemed to be preparing to return to the division.

"Did the public servant master launch a counterattack from the north?" Zhao Ning had such a thought, but he quickly dispelled it, even if the Shun army in the Taiping Mansion in the north had not yet arrived, now the Shun army was not inferior to the Ming army, and the military headquarters was also eliminated, in this case, Yi Meng's best strategy is estimated to be to break through immediately.

The staff officers gathered around and studied for a long time, and finally thought that the greatest possibility was that the Shun army began to move north to prepare to attack the 13th Division, thinking of this, Zhao Ning decided not to continue to retreat, he planned to take the risk of continuing to gather stragglers nearby, and collect grain and grass to prepare for resistance.

"If the servant division is besieged, Yi Meng is likely to break through," Zhao Ning explained his intentions to the officers under him, since the honest division is no longer the main target, then he should quickly take the opportunity to gather the troops, the so-called opportunity must not be lost: "We may be able to meet him at that time." ”

"If our activities here can contain a part of the Shun army's troops, then the chances of the public servant division breaking through will be much greater," Zhao Ning didn't want to follow Ji Xinghui's example and fled back to Zhejiang, he had no qualifications and military merits, and was promoted to this high position completely because of a single achievement, and everyone might not be convinced, not to mention that he didn't have any background in the court, and if he fled back like this, he would definitely be held responsible. Therefore, Zhao Ning is determined to do his best to continue fighting, in addition, he is also well aware that Zhejiang currently does not have a decent field force: "Because of the Constitutional Division's persistence in Chunhua, we can regain our strength, and now Zhejiang is facing the enemy's troops again, if the public servant division cannot break through, our thousands of people are all the hope of the Constituent Assembly, we must fight to the end like the Constitutional Division, and buy time for the rear." ”

……

Before the headquarters of the Seventh Army collapsed, the last order given to Yi Meng was to go south to join the military headquarters, when Wang Qinian had just left the battlefield and the troops directly under the military headquarters were completely lost. However, this desperate order was not carried out, Yi Meng felt that by the time he had completed the mobilization of troops, the Shun army would have already defeated the military headquarters, and if he immediately carried out this order and put the troops in his hands to the north in batches, it would not only cause great chaos in the army, but also cause his troops to collide with the attacking troops of the Shun army in batches. Therefore, Yi Meng ordered the whole division to assemble, instead of the whole army moving south at full speed.

However, before the first regiment could prepare for help, the location of the military headquarters was declared lost, and the fleeing Commander Li sent a team of soldiers to the garrison of the public servant division, so that Yi Meng quickly led the whole division to break through to the west.

"Another mess." Yi Meng threw the command regiment to the side and shouted to the herald: "How can it be possible to break through immediately, the two regiments are still pointing to the north, and they have not retreated at all." ”

"That's what the military seat means."

"I'm skeptical." Yi Meng retorted loudly: "I suspect that you are the meticulous work of the Shun army, deliberately conveying orders that will lead to the death of my division. ”

With this stern accusation, the atmosphere in the headquarters of the 13th Division suddenly became serious, and even with a murderous aura, the herald looked at the guards holding the hilt of the sword, and his face suddenly turned pale, but he still defended with all his might: "My lord, the humble duty is not ......"

"I've seen you, but you may have been captured and coerced by the Shun army." With a wave of his hand, Yi Meng asked the guards to blast the heralds out, he didn't intend to frame these innocent messengers, just to find an excuse for not obeying his orders.

After the herald was blown away, Yi Meng immediately discussed countermeasures with his staff officers, the friendly army in the south had been defeated, and the regiment in the north also reported the discovery of the outpost of the Shun army, although they had not seen the main force of the Shun army from the north, but it was conceivable that they were not far from the servant division. Since the military headquarters in the southwest is occupied by the Shun army, it is likely that the westward breakthrough will be blocked by the Shun army.

The staff officers were very anxious, they could not hold out for long with the baggage reserves of the public servant division, and there were no troops around that could relieve the division from the siege. Soon someone suggested that perhaps it should break through to the west, although once it was blocked by the Shun army, the public servant division that left the position would be quickly wiped out in the field by the surrounding Shun army, but this may be the last chance for the public servant division.

"Of course we can't sit still, but the enemy who breaks through to the west won't be surprised, right?" Yi Meng felt that such an obvious action must be expected by the Shun army, so he planned to win by surprise, and he pointed his finger at Gao Chun: "Let's break through to the east!" ”

"Break out to the east." The staff officers all looked at each other, and their first thought was that although this guy had better grades in the military academy than everyone else, it was obvious that he was now showing signs of mental disorder under pressure.

"Yes, General Xu came from Gaochun and attacked our 35,000 army with about 20,000 troops, it is impossible for him to keep another elite in Gaochun, right?" Yi Meng felt that his idea was very reasonable, Xu Ping would definitely invest the greatest force to launch an attack at the first time, Huang Shi and Xu Ping both emphasized that the effect of the first attack should be strengthened as much as possible, for which Huang Shi did not hesitate to copy the famous words of Napoleon, who was not yet born: the so-called art of war is to concentrate troops and weapons on key points to the greatest extent; Xu Ping has always practiced this sentence, and he has repeatedly emphasized it in the textbooks he compiled. Yi Meng thought about it repeatedly: Xu Ping needed every soldier and every rifle when attacking the honest division, and Yi Meng believed that he would definitely not let one of his elites stay behind and sit quietly at this critical moment: "Gao Chun is now in the empty gear, let's rush out from here." ”

"Where are you going?"

"Go east to Hangzhou." Yi Meng said without thinking about it, Xu Ping brought so many Shun troops to attack the Seventh Army, Yi Meng hoped that the remaining Shun army was insufficient, and it was best to prepare for the counterattack of the Sixth Army - this was the last hope for the public servant division to get out of danger: "If the Shun army still has the strength to intercept us, we will go north to Nanjing." ”

Nanjing is easier to defend than in this wilderness, and it is also possible to collect grain and grass.

Of course, Yi Meng hoped that the Shun army was very under-armed and could not spare troops to intercept him, but if the enemy forces near Chunhua were not reduced to this point, Yi Meng felt that they should not have the ability to intercept him in two ways - if Xu Ping really had so many rich troops, Yi Meng felt that he would bring them to this battlefield and not stay idle in the rear.

Of course, the staff officers still have objections, although everyone admits that what Yi Meng said is reasonable, but after all, this road is too far away, and Yi Meng advocates that after arriving in Gaochun, do not immediately turn south and go home, but run all the way to the east, Yi Meng still has the same reason on this issue - he would rather bet that the Shun army in the Chunhua area is unable to divide troops to intercept, rather than gamble that the Dashun field army behind him will not chase endlessly, once the Shun army catches up and sticks, it will definitely be the end of the whole army.

"We still have an army of fifteen thousand, as long as we are twisted together and move forward bravely, no one can stop us, do you remember what General Xu said about the battle he commanded the Changqing Battalion in Shandong?" Yi Meng looked confident, and he reminded his colleagues that when Xu Ping commented on the gains and losses in the offensive phase of the Battle of Shandong, he said that a lone army in the enemy's territory must move at high speed to become safer, and at the beginning of the rapid movement of the Changqing Battalion, it would be difficult for the Dongjiang Army to concentrate its forces to besiege it; However, once the Changqing Battalion slowed down, the Dongjiang Army dispatched troops to resist much more calmly.

"Is this the same move for General Xu in today's battle?" The commander of the 38th Regiment felt that Yi Meng's words reminded him.

Everyone thinks about it and thinks it really means something, at the beginning, the report of the military department was a complete mess, Yi Meng knew that they were still getting a briefing, and these reports made the commanders of the public servant division who were watching feel a little overwhelmed, and it can be imagined how great the command pressure of Zhao Ning at that time would be.

"So we have to do this," Yi Meng also meant: "We suddenly broke through to the east with a false shot, General Xu must have been surprised, and would never have thought that we would dare to attack Gao Chun, this is the so-called surprise, attack it unprepared, and after Gao Chun, General Xu may have to spend some time to confirm that we are indeed going east, which will always take him a day and a half, right?" By the time General Xu came to his senses, we had already passed Gaochun, and then marched all the way. Even if General Xu sets off a day later, he will have to leave 10,000 troops to clean up the battlefield, and the Shun army in the north has not yet arrived, and he will most likely go west in parallel to block our retreat to the south, but we will not return......"

Saying this, most people have already agreed with Yi Meng's opinion, and the unexpected Xu Ping can only let the soldiers and horses near Chunhua intercept it a little at most, and at this time, the Ming army can also go north unexpectedly again, so that he will definitely be able to get rid of the pursuit of the Shun army, even if the Shun army is surrounded and intercepted, it will also be unable to get accurate information at any time because the Ming army moves quickly.

The only reason why one or two opponents did not agree was that the westward breakthrough was an order of the Seventh Army. Although they didn't say some things, Yi Meng could understand them, that is, if they broke through to the west and suffered heavy losses, the headquarters of the 13th Division would not be responsible, they were just carrying out military orders; And if it breaks through to the east and fails, then the public servant division will have to bear the responsibility for the defeat on its own, and it does not even need to be annihilated by the whole army, as long as the troops suffer heavy casualties, Yi Meng will inevitably be criticized. The last opposition is not good at saying this kind of reason, just say that Commander Li has more battlefield experience, and the staff officers of the military department are the backbone of the firefighting battalion (this is a fact, Wang Qinian, who is worried that Xu Ping's main force in the north, has brought the old units of the firefighting battalion to the military headquarters of the Seventh Army for safety, in addition to the senior staff of these firefighting battalions, there are many elites from the Taishan battalion of the new army around Commander Li. ）

"Don't mention those guys to me!" Yi Meng stretched out his hand and waved it in the air disdainfully, although he didn't get all the briefings, but the war that happened in the south today was still known to the general public servant division, first Ji Xinghui and then Wang Qinian escaped from the battle, this kind of action made Yi Meng and other military cadets lose their appetite, and even became suspicious of the knowledge taught by these people. The previous batch of officers who had just left the military academy had also heard that many of the commanders of the previous armies were long-legged generals, and tens of thousands of soldiers were captured in the Battle of Anqing, but except for a few division and regiment commanders such as Zhao Slowxiong, almost all the other generals fled back unharmed. But I only heard that Yi Meng's military cadets of the public servant division did not have too deep understanding, but today they have a painful experience: "When I was in the military academy, I read General Xu's book, and General Xu said that if you are convinced that the order is wrong, you should not carry it out, and you must not let yourself become a murderer who destroys your own army. If the last order of the military seat is to remove my command, then it has nothing to do with me where to break through, but as long as I am still the commander of the public servant division, the troops will fight their way to the east. ”

……

After Liu Zongmin took over the command of the Southern Route Army of the Shun Army, he quickly recruited Xu Ping's staff officers to understand the specific deployment of the previous Shun Army, this kind of work made Liu Zongmin a little uncomfortable, and when he and Xu Ping went out on the expedition, he had never let Liu Zongmin be in charge of cavalry matters, and he never shouldered the task of coordinating the whole army.

And Xu Ping did not introduce all his ideas to Liu Zongmin one by one, so he could only study with Xu Ping's staff officers, through the introduction of these staff officers, Liu Zongmin found that Xu Ping's attention was mainly focused on the thirteenth town of Nanming on the northern front, and the sniper battalion had been ordered to march westward, preparing to block the Nanming army that might escape.

After learning this, Liu Zongmin hurriedly sent someone to ask whether the 16th Infantry Wing of the sniper battalion had been deployed in place, and at the same time ordered the 15th Infantry Wing to also move forward to prevent the Ming army from breaking through.

After giving these orders, Liu Zongmin spent more than two hours understanding Xu Ping's previous deployment and strategic ideas, and in the evening he was rewarded by the sniper battalion, and the 16th Infantry Wing had already rushed to the blocking line designated by Xu Ping after occupying the headquarters of the Seventh Army, and the road leading to the west of Huangchi was firmly controlled by the Shun army. After learning this news, Liu Zongmin breathed a sigh of relief, the 15th Infantry Wing, which had already rushed to the west, did not need to be transferred back, and was ready to reinforce friendly troops nearby, and the 1st Cavalry Battalion did not have to return, but strengthened patrols to prevent the Ming army from smuggling. The standby marksman battalion immediately turned around and returned, preparing to attack the thirteen towns of Nanming with all their might.

The next day, the sharpshooter battalion returned to Liu Zongmin's headquarters, and the commander of this battalion had already learned of Xu Ping's assassination and was now trying to conceal it. After discussion, the generals of the Shun army agreed that they should send scouts to bypass the thirteenth town of the Ming army, get in touch with the Shun army in the north, and then besiege this Ming army with an absolute superiority of forces - according to this morning's intelligence, most of the Ming scouts around Huangchi suddenly disappeared, and a small number of rangers retreated to a very close distance from the Ming army's camp.

When Liu Zongmin and others were studying the western defense line, a scout suddenly broke in and reported to the generals in the camp: "Wang Sun has broken through the Ming army camp!" ”

Yesterday evening, after Li Laiheng found the Ming army in Huangchi, he camped ten miles away from the Ming army, and Liu Liangzuo and others were full of flattery to Li Laiheng on the way, this situation Li Laiheng has long been accustomed to seeing this situation since he was stationed in the south of the Yangtze River, and his identity as the grandson of the king of Dashun has led to more and more people around him, except for Xu Ping, there is probably no one to point fingers at him, such as the Shun army of Nanzhili and Zhejiang, no one has ever thought of competing with Li Laiheng for the position of commander.

Xu Ping had sent a letter to Li Laiheng before, reminding him to pay attention to the Ming army in Huangchi and not to attack rashly, but Liu Liangzuo kept blowing the wind in Li Laiheng's ears, saying that with Li Laiheng's martial bravery, how could he take the Ming army of the first division to heart with nearly 20,000 Shun troops?

Although he knew very well in his heart that there was flattery in this, Li Laiheng couldn't help but admit that it sounded more pleasant, no matter what, Li Laiheng was no longer the small leader of the army who had never seen the world seven years ago, but the commander of a party who had led tens of thousands of troops and trampled half of China. But Li Laiheng always felt that Xu Ping seemed to regard himself a little bit as the boy in Bi County, and after giving himself a comment that he was good at defending and not attacking, he had not changed it for many years, and Li Laiheng always got some defensive or containment tasks under Xu Ping - Li Laiheng wanted to find an opportunity to reverse Xu Ping's impression.

In the morning, Li Laiheng commanded the rear guard battalion and Liu Liangzuo and other troops to launch a tentative attack on the Ming army camp in Huangchi. Unexpectedly, this large camp was an empty camp at all, and the Shun army took it down with a surprise attack, and the peripheral cavalry of the Ming army immediately fled the battlefield after seeing the Shun army launch a fierce attack, but a few were still caught by Li Laiheng. Liu Liangzuo and others (including the commander of the rear guard battalion) praised one after another, indicating that the army fled under the threat of Li Laiheng.

With these captives, Li Laiheng rushed to Liu Zongmin's camp, and as soon as he entered the door, he planned to report to Xu Ping the precious information he had obtained - the Ming army abandoned Chunhua and withdrew to Gaochun, preparing to use the vicinity of Gaochun to collect grain and grass, build fortifications, and wait for reinforcements.

After seeing the serious expressions of Liu Zongmin and others, Li Laiheng was a little surprised for a while, and immediately brought it to the side to inform the truth, and Liu Zongmin and other generals asked Li Laiheng to immediately take over the military power and command Li Shun's army in Jiangnan.

In this regard, Li Laiheng is also duty-bound, Xu Ping's matter everyone has the idea that it can be delayed for a while, although it will be leaked sooner or later, but now that the war is undecided, they are afraid that the army's heart will be shaken, so nominally Xu Ping is still the commander, and Li Laiheng secretly gives orders. After taking over the command from Liu Zongmin, Li Laiheng spent another afternoon learning about the situation of the Shun army and Xu Ping's previous deployment.

That night, some of Gaochun's Shun troops stayed behind and rushed to Li Laiheng's camp, they confirmed the confessions of those Ming army prisoners, thousands of Ming troops launched a fierce attack on Gaochun, hundreds of Li Shun officers and soldiers left behind were completely powerless to resist, and the Ming army quickly expanded the reconnaissance circle near Gaochun, and expelled the nearby Shun army, and these people also managed to escape the Ming army's search and arrest, and ran across the blockade line to report the news.

"How much baggage does Gao Chun have?" Li Laiheng had already learned from Xu Ping's staff officer that Gao Chun did not have many reserves, and he soon got reconfirmation from this left-behind officer and soldier that Gao Chun really did not have enough materials for the army to hold on.

"They're in the air." Li Laiheng's heart was relieved, he did not sleep all night to meet with all the senior officers and a large number of staff officers, to understand in as much detail as possible all the orders and arrangements of Xu Ping these days, after dawn Li Laiheng ordered the main force to march towards Gaochun, preparing to wipe out the thirteenth town of Nanming in one fell swoop.

"Mingkou is a self-defeating road," many generals congratulated: "Hearing the prestige of Wang Sun, they jumped over the wall in a hurry, but it was still useless, and they crashed into death." ”

In the face of the heir to the throne, the future Son of Heaven, no matter which general will say a few kind words to Li Laiheng, anyway, everyone thinks that Li Laiheng's judgment is not wrong, and he will not lose two catties of meat if he says a few nice words, and now Li Laiheng is very generous if he does not let everyone kowtow and call him His Royal Highness - if Li Laiheng really makes such a request, most people will take it for granted and implement it immediately.

However, after Li Laiheng arrived, he found that the Shun army was in vain, and yesterday after a short rest in Gaochun, the main force of the Ming army drove away, leaving only one regiment of guards in Gaochun, and this morning almost at the same time as the Shun army set off from the camp, this rear guard regiment also left in a hurry.

"Mingkou has abandoned Gao Chun and fled." After the striker broke through Gao Chun, he immediately sent a herald back to the camp to report to Li Laiheng.

"Abandon Gao Chun, where else can they run to?" Li Laiheng had ordered the nearby Shun army counties to strengthen their vigilance, and even without his order, after Gao Chun was lost, the nearby Shun army would become more vigilant, unlike Gao Chun at the beginning, at that time, the Shun army was more paralyzed and careless because he had just heard about the victory, and it was generally mistaken that the war would continue to develop to the west. Now the soldiers outside the counties have shrunk back to the city, and some Ding Zhuang has also been mobilized to assist in the defense. So Li Laiheng was a little confused for a while, and he didn't know where the Ming army would try to attack after giving up Gaochun.

"It didn't take long for new information to come, and the Shun army vanguard stationed in Gaochun searched around, and found that the Ming army left a lot of destroyed artillery, comparing this number with the number of Ming army formations in intelligence, the Shun army found that the thirteenth town of the Southern Ming Dynasty probably only carried two cannons with the smallest caliber and lightest weight - this kind of cannon is assigned to the cavalry, and it can be pulled quickly with two horses:" But all the artillery carriages are gone. ”

The cannon was found to have been thrown on the ground, and coincidentally, the Shun army also found a large number of abandoned shells, ranging from solid shells, shotguns, and even some intact mortar shells - most of which did not have time to detonate, but were just thrown in the water.

"Took all the wagons and threw down all the cannons and shells." Without artillery, there is no ability to attack fortifications, and it will greatly weaken the defense capability, Li Laiheng suddenly realized after listening to the report: "Where is this to be held, it is clearly to escape." ”

"Quickly pass on my ......general order" Li Laiheng immediately divided his troops into two ways, the Shun army that had entered or approached Gaochun followed the pursuit to the east, and he personally led the main force to the southeast to forcibly march forward, Liu Zongmin's cavalry set off quickly, the Shun army had been left behind by the Ming army for more than a day, Li Laiheng felt that the opponent might have turned south and began to flee to Zhejiang.

Therefore, the Shun army should immediately start parallel pursuit and interception, Liu Zongmin's cavalry was ordered to search for the traces of the Ming army, once found, they must pursue tightly, be sure to bite them so that they can escape back to Zhejiang, now Li Laiheng feels that as long as he grasps it, he can still block the retreat of the Ming army to the south.

"But it doesn't seem to be a big deal to escape back to Zhejiang." Li Laiheng pondered again, Zhejiang's Ming army field troops are only the Seventh Army, and the fourteenth town is gathering the defeated troops in the south, it is already so weak, so Li Laiheng didn't pay too much attention to it, the thirteenth town in front of him was not able to help cover its friendly troops, Li Laiheng felt that it didn't matter if he pursued a little distance into Zhejiang.

However, there were many fortified cities in Zhejiang, which were well fed up with grain and grass, and they were all friendly to the Ming army, and it would be a big trouble for the Ming army to escape into a certain fortified city in Zhejiang. Xu Ping's three battalions in Chunhua were barely able to withstand the threat of a counterattack from the Sixth Army, but it was by no means an easy job, and Nanzhili had to face a threat from Jiangxi; And if the army is invested in Zhejiang, the first Shun army's own grain route is too long, and the threat of the sixth army will become unusually serious, and second, even if the Jiangxi Ming army is not counted, the fourteenth town of the Southern Ming Dynasty, which has not been completely cleaned up, may go north again to find trouble, so in the end, Li Laiheng revised his original view, he can't let the Ming army escape to Zhejiang, and he must intercept this Ming army nearby.

[Remember the URL . 三五Chinese网]