stubborn thief

Chapter 117
From August [-]th, Zhuantianmao old and weak women and children and family members of postmen were transferred to Xingzihe in batches.

Teams gathered at the Dongguan gate of Yan'an Mansion, those who shot down the sky, those who broke through the sky, those who crossed the sky, those who were monks, and those who were Cao Cao.

People can influence each other.

The leaders who united around the Liu family in the vicinity of Yan'an all used the Liu team's frontier army as their instructors, and they used the Yan'an guards' uniforms and weapons. The troops were almost all carved out of the same mold.

It's nothing more than some exquisite engravings, and some scribbled engravings.

Each team has 500 people, lined up on the official road next to Mizidi, and if you don’t know it and look around, the biggest doubt in your heart is where are there so many flag troops in Yan’an Guard.

Liu Chengzong stood on the mountain and watched, and he could easily estimate the combat effectiveness of each team.

Among all the teams, apart from his own five sentries, Zhang Tianlin's four hundred cavalry team was the strongest.

Followed by Liu Chengzu's 500 people mixed with Buqi, and then 500 people from Li Wanqing's department.

The 500 members of Liu Guoneng's department also recruited frontier instructors from Zhuantianmao, but the training period was short and the equipment was not very good. However, like Liu Chengzu's army, the team was composed of father and son brothers.

The king's own use, the troops used by the king's own use are not easy to talk about combat effectiveness.

There are only more than 200 people from Yanchuan who have followed him under him, and they are still scattered around on weekdays.

But when he raised his arms and shouted, thousands of young and strong came from villages all over the country. If you insist on combat effectiveness, they must not have much combat effectiveness, but their appeal is very strong.

Liu Chengzong saw this all the time, raised his arms and pointed to Liu Chengzu and said: "Brother, have you ever thought about it, starting from my five sentries to Monk Wang's team, it is abnormal in northern Shaanxi."

"abnormal?"

Liu Chengzu sneered, and said disdainfully, "The one in the back is abnormal."

The one behind his mouth is Luo Rucai.

The style of that team was very different from that of others. A square formation was forced to be divided into three sections. The first hundred or ten men wore gold, silver and silk wrapped in satin, and the last 300 hungry men looked like hungry ghosts with their bellies bulging.

The old and weak women and children in the middle led the donkeys and mules, and a group of people stood out of place in the army formation.

The entire team is a manifestation of the difference between rich and poor in Ming Dynasty.

Liu Chengzu turned his head to look over, and said to Liu Chengzong: "It's just such a bunch of beggars, why are you recruiting them?"

Most of the leaders in the team have the same opinion of Luo Rucai as Liu Chengzu.

People looked down on this weak and arrogant refugee leader, and they also looked down on his tactics.

"It's true that they are a bunch of beggars, but you have never been to the east. Not every refugee leader is like us. They eat well, wear warm soldiers and have strong armor. We eat better than the officers and soldiers, precisely because they are like them. We are anomalous if we block the officers and soldiers in other places.”

Liu Chengzong shook his head and asked his elder brother: "Brother, do you really think that Luo Rucai's strategy is not good? This man is very smart. He brought this plan to us. It is the only one that can win out of all the choices and all the strategies. .”

Liu Chengzu frowned: "Do you think it's a good plan to enclose the hungry people and send them to death? If you do such a thing, it will be very difficult for the tribe to help you."

"Zi said: If you don't teach the people to fight, it means abandoning them. What we know at the age of seven, he doesn't know at the age of 27. Think about it, don't care how many people die, don't care what others think, just consider this plan , can you win?"

Liu Chengzong thought about this problem very seriously.

The troops were divided into three formations, the front formation was the hungry refugees, the middle formation Li Wanqing and others supervised the battle, and the rear formation Liu Ying was the elite battalion.

The front line is divided into teams of [-] or [-] people. Each team has only one chance to fight, and if they fail to fight, they will be destroyed by a round of artillery.

After the refugees and hungry people collapse, they will smash the team of Li Wanqing and others, but the officers and soldiers can't pursue and kill them. If they chase and kill them, they have to abandon the artillery positions. If they move, they will lose.

The artillery can carry at most twelve rounds of ammunition, and the gunpowder is consumed at the cost of twelve brigades. If the rounds are fast enough and the officers and soldiers are not given a chance to wash the cannons, the red-hot cannons can be blown up five or six times.

Liu Chengzu said with an ugly face: "It is possible to lose."

"Of course it is possible to lose. The hungry and refugees have not been trained. They are too weak. If the cannon hits them, they will retreat. But brother, have you ever thought about changing places? If the officers and soldiers drive the thieves to attack me, How do we win?"

Liu Chengzu was speechless.

When dealing with officers and soldiers, they have no reliable information on their strength, equipment, morale, training, food, and heavy firepower, and must be estimated with the most prudent conditions.

Under such circumstances, if they use this tactic, they may lose. The reason for the loss is what Liu Chengzong said. The hungry and displaced people are unorganized, and they are likely to crash their own team.

But on the other hand, he is aware of the various conditions of his own troops. If the officers and soldiers use this tactic to drive the bandits to attack, they will have no chance of winning.

"Since you think this plan is effective, why not use it?"

Liu Chengzong slowly looked up at the blue sky.

On the khaki-colored land, the teams are marching eastward. Under the leadership of their respective leaders, they will familiarize themselves with the terrain of this land in order to prepare for the next battle.

Everyone is limited by cognition and experience, and has different views on the same thing. They and Luo Rucai are the people with the most different perspectives.

"I use it, who said I don't need it."

Liu Chengzong smiled in surprise: "Who is Luo Rucai? In his eyes, Li Bei's army is as important as Mount Tai, and Cao Cao is no more than a feather. He can't find enough stones, and he can only take the lives of [-] to [-] hungry people." , do your best."

Liu Chengzong turned his head to look at his elder brother, and clenched his hands in front of him: "His tired soldiers are seeking to gather rotten grass fluorescence and compete with the bright moon. The idea is correct, but this person is an idiot who has never read a book, and I don't want to ask about that." Would you like to burn the rotten weeds...Zhong Dou Xing is interested in this plan, he approached me yesterday."

"You mean, where is King Gao Chuang?"

"Yes, the final battlefield will still be around Fucheng. We are most familiar with this place. If we can't win here, we won't be able to win in other places."

Liu Chengzong stretched out his arm and pointed to the east from the Yanhe River under his feet: "From Yanchang to Fushi County, King Gao Chuang fought and retreated, and we are ready to respond. If King Chuang can fight and retreat, it means that Li Bei's army is still in good shape. Heavy artillery, then fight him in the mountains outside the official road."

"If the elite of Chuangwang's tribe can escape and most of them are killed, then Li Bei's tribe doesn't have heavy artillery, so why worry about him?"

Liu Chengzu shook his head and said, "But what if he enters the Fucheng directly and occupies the north and south siege?"

"I wish he could occupy the besieged city. Yan'an Guard's soldiers were drawn out, food and weapons were also emptied, and he could have enough food for seven or eight days. Let him occupy it. When he is too hungry to walk, what else is there? scary."

"What if he also robs the big family?"

Liu Chengzong was happy.

There are some big households left near Yan'an Mansion, and the rest are basically family members of officials who don't have much money and food. Robbing them will do more harm than good.

Li Bei's soldiers, the best choice is to rob them, these thieves, if they even rob the family members of the officials, wouldn't they be a gang of rebels?

"He robbed the big family, isn't he the same as us? Don't worry, brother, Li Bei can't enter the Yan'an Mansion, even if King Gao Chuang can't make Li Bei's troops too tired, I still have a very good candidate."

In the final analysis, they are still too weak.

It's not that the troops are weak, but that in the officer class, there is no general from top to bottom who has the experience of commanding [-] regular troops.

We can only try our best to give Li Bei's troops a negative status.

Delay time, reduce rations and make them hungry.

Several teams take turns delaying and tiring them out.

"Who?"

"Liu Jiusi, the heavenly monkey, is moving from Fuzhou to Fucheng. Today he should arrive at Ganquan. He can control his subordinates, much better than the hungry people."

On August 22, Liu Ying's various tribes set up camp at Shanmao near Gangu Station.

Between the two counties, Tangqi passed the news back and forth. Gao Yingxiang saw Libei's Tangqi at the Baijiachuan camp in the morning.

In the afternoon, Li Bei's officers and troops placed seven cannons on the north bank, and bombarded the village across the river to cover the officers and troops crossing the river.

Chuang's [-] Mongolian cavalry and [-] infantry circled to the east from the mountain, intending to attack the laggards when Li Bei launched his pursuit.

The news was sent at night, they didn't know that they had been spotted by Tang cavalry of the officer army, and Li Bei had already prepared for the attack, so they had to retreat on the mountain road, but were chased by the army cavalry instead, [-] infantry fled in all directions in the mountains, unable to return to the team and disappeared .

At midnight, the last Tangqi reported that Chuang's troops had retreated to Nanping Mountain. Taking advantage of the official army's late arrival, they fought with the official army for a while on the beach south of Yanchang County.

It was getting late, and the government troops entered Yanchang County.

Messages kept coming and going from day to night, the fighting intensity was not high, and the casualties on both sides were not high, but Gao Yingxiang sent someone to send detailed information on the strength of Li Bei's troops.

Three full-staffed commanders, as well as civilian men recruited from Yanchang County, carried more than a hundred vehicles and seven heavy artillery pieces.

Gao Yingxiang's plan was very simple, and the troops stationed in the village delayed it to ensure that the food and grass obtained from the looting could be transported to the Panlong River in the rear by manpower in the mountains.

When he fought Li Bei, it didn't matter whether he won or lost the battle, as long as Li Bei was not allowed to plunder the food, it was considered a victory.

However, Li Bei's troops have always attached great importance to the rear. One has always kept the headquarters for fighting, one has reserved the headquarters as a reserve to take care of the supplies, and the other has the headquarters to look after the rear, and the Tangqi has also been scattered in the rear.

This move made Liu Chengzong and others very puzzled. There was no luggage or enemies in the rear. Why did he keep looking at the back?

It is clear that Yanchuan has been re-controlled by the imperial court.

No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't think that Li Bei's army behind him was defending him.

General Lee thought he was to the east, ready to leap over and attack the flank.

In the early morning of the 23rd, Wei Qian'er Butangqi spread forty miles from Gangu Station to the southeast river valley, and they could already see the battlefield twelve miles away on Jiulian Mountain.

Chuangbu Tangqi said that the officers and soldiers fired cannons from the city to the mountains all night, and fired a cannon at intervals, making people unable to sleep all night due to the noise.

In the morning, first line up to the east, walk a few miles and see no response from the cottage, then line up to the west, break into the army and gather troops, and the officers and soldiers stop.

Liu Chengzu said: "Li Bei guessed that we planned to use the strategy of exhaustion to try to break through the king's reinforcements in the east and west, and we were spotted."

Sure enough, when Li Bei went out of the city again in the afternoon, he no longer sent Tangqi to the rear, but mainly directed the Tangqi's defense to the west, spreading out a radius of five li, which was almost across the mountain from Wei Qian'er's Tangqi.

Then the government army began to attack Nanping Mountain with two formations and one preparation.

With the help of heavy artillery, he successively broke through two small villages with horns, and Chuangbu retreated to the mountains again.

The actual situation is not as complicated as Liu Chengzu thought.

It's just that on the night when Li Bei entered Yanchang County, he summoned the people in the city to inquire about the situation. A city guard mentioned that there was a horse team traveling westward with a red flag with Liu characters.

Traveling east and west during the day was just a try, but I didn't expect that Chuangbu would move so easily, so I concentrated my strength to attack the cottage.

In the afternoon of the same day, Liu Jiusi, the Heavenly Monkey who came from Fuzhou, led more than a thousand infantry to Fucheng, and told Liu Chengzong proudly: "There are 2000 people behind, and they can arrive tonight."

When they meet again when they are employed, the feelings of everyone meeting each other are much deeper.

It's just that the enemy is currently there, and there is no chance to greet him. Liu Chengzong said with a smile: "Let your people rest for a day, gather tomorrow, and let's go to the mountain to block him for a day."

The mountain he was talking about was the narrow mountain ridge in the middle of the meander at the junction of Fushi County and Yanchang County, where the Yanhe River flows from north to south.

Cao Yao said that Li Bei's troops would definitely seize this ridge and use it as a heavy artillery position to strangle the valley.

When Liu Chengzong led the five sentries of the headquarters to Hequ, Gao Yingxiang's troops retreated quickly in two ways. The cavalry came first through the valley, and the infantry retreated through the mountains to the rear south of Panlongchuan.

Seeing Gao Yingxiang again, although King Chuang suffered repeated setbacks, he didn't look embarrassed. He just smiled and said, "Damn, I lost a bunch of stockades. It can be said that people have shipped out all the food. Li Bei is a little anxious. I guess his food and grass are gone." not much."

After that, he looked around the valley on the ridge and asked, "Why, is this the place for the decisive battle?"

"That's not it. The decisive battle is at Daping in the north. The Heavenly Monkeys have just arrived. They have to rest for a day. We can't let Li Bei rest today."

"Don't let him rest."

While Liu Chengzong and Gao Yingxiang were talking, behind him Cao Yao had already brought up the artillery team. People pushed the wheels and transported three medium-sized Francois cannons up the mountain ridge.

Cao Yao complained: "The Yan'an Guard can fight farther with these three things. If they are erected, they should be able to hit the river beach. It's almost impossible on the official road. Which team do you plan to send to fight?"

The difference between them and the official army lies in the heavy artillery. The official army can transport artillery weighing thousands of catties and can hit two or three miles.

For the sake of mobility, they lost several heavy artillery pieces at Yanshui Pass, and the medium-sized artillery pieces weighing three to five hundred kilograms were already the heaviest artillery pieces.

"Crossing the Sky, Shooting the Sky and Cao Cao."

Liu Chengzong raised his hand and pointed at the official road at the foot of the mountain. The three teams at the foot of the mountain were advancing. Behind the third team, Gao Xian, Feng Ru, Yang Yao, and Wang Wenxiu's four whistlers advanced slowly behind them, and established themselves at the foot of the mountain. .

Gao Yingxiang worried: "Will they be defeated?"

"It will be defeated, so my people are behind, and there are these three cannons on the mountain. It is fine to counterattack the officers and soldiers and prevent them from expanding their results. King Chuang's cavalry must line up on the other side of the mountain. In case my people block Can't stop, your cavalry will respond."

In fact, this is also Luo Rucai's strategy of exhausting the army, but the manpower is somewhat strong, so it is not possible to take people up and die directly.

As soon as the various tribes at the foot of the mountain formed their formations, Liu Chengzong saw cavalry soldiers with flags looming on the top of the mountain in the distance. He shook his head and smiled at Gao Yingxiang: "It seems that they really don't have much food and grass, and they don't want to rest."

The officers and soldiers marched in a long line and walked out on the official road at the end of the valley.

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)