Ping An Biography

The whole journey from Longtou Temple in Chenzhou Prefecture to Gaodu County in Changde Prefecture is only a few tens of miles. The spacious road runs down the Yuanshui River; the weather is also very clear.But it was just tens of miles, and Zhu Yong led his army to walk slowly for three days.

He was not in a hurry, if his physical strength was affected after entering the battlefield because of rushing, he would rather slow down.This chase scene has taken nearly a month from Luxi to Yongding Acropolis, to Longtou Temple, and then to Gaodu County.However, he never thought of dividing his troops to outflank. Perhaps dividing his troops can speed up the process of the decisive battle, but it will also weaken his overall combat power; People's team, successively defeating the Yongding Guard Army, defeating the Changde Guard Army commanded by Luo, and capturing the counties, will never be a mob that is about to collapse at the first touch.Therefore, rash advances underestimated the enemy should be avoided.

Zhu Yong is actually a grumpy person, but he showed great patience in the war, even if the opponent is just a grassroots bandit.He just led the soldiers around in circles without delay, patiently waiting for the moment of the decisive battle; many times of battlefield experience, let him understand a truth, before the moment of deciding victory or defeat, there is always a long and tedious experience. Mobilize the march, but the most important thing is the last moment.Just like the process of marching and fighting, whether you run a hundred miles or a thousand miles, it is not the end if you finish walking, and fighting with the rest of your strength is the purpose and destination.

Therefore, Zhu Yong, a violent man, can calmly go around in circles, and can also march slowly at a distance where his prey is within easy reach.Because no one who kills wants to lose or be killed.

On the way to the army, there were constant news reports from horse scouts, as well as various ideas and propositions from the staff.

Zhu Yong was unmoved, he only paid attention: the prey was in Gaodu County, and he didn't intend to leave.This place, which has never been a battleground for military strategists and is easily overlooked by people, has now become a place of life and death.

Zhang Ning finally stopped running, and Zhu Yong had expected such an ending a long time ago.There is only such a large area in the Dongting West Plain, where and when can he run?

In the war of this era, the most efficient way is for both sides to concentrate their strength and happily compete on a battlefield.This is the rule summed up in countless wars from the Yellow Emperor's fighting and killing with stone knives to today's cooperation with horses and firearms; Zhang Ning is finally willing to return to the rules, and he has no other choice.

Zhu Yong's army set up camp five miles away from the west city of Gaodu County. Early the next morning, he heard that the enemy army had left the city to form an army, so he took a team of Qingqi to see it with his own eyes.

Climbing to a high place, Zhu Yong observed from a distance, and found that he had indeed misjudged before: the opponent was definitely not a grassroots bandit.Before he saw the enemy line with his own eyes, according to his thinking, it was nothing more than a team of mountain people, fugitive criminals, and untouchables, only a little more fierce.But the situation in front of him surprised him a little. Although most of the people over there were sitting on the ground, it was easy to see the uniform uniforms and helmets and the cleanliness of the queue; The army is similar, and those who don't know it think it is an elite army with strict military discipline.

A group of about a thousand people didn't look very spectacular. It took up half the size of the school grounds, and it didn't feel like a sea of ​​people at all.Their camps are arranged in a long strip shape, with a depth of only six rows, like a line of defense attached to the city wall... Generally speaking, this kind of formation is too easy to penetrate the camp; it is easier to be covered by arrows.Zhu Yong looked up and found some iron cannons on the tower, guess the rebels wanted to suppress the archers with artillery?

There seemed to be a few people on the tower who were also looking at the hillside, but Zhu Yong didn't take it seriously, it was fine if they were discovered, he took Qingqi with him, and it was easy to leave.

At this moment, a person behind him said: "Look, general, the enemy's front two rows have long spears more than ten feet long, so that the ranks stand like a forest, but the last three rows are not equipped with long spears. The general will be sure, those people will definitely They use firearms; the rebels have sharp firearms, so be careful."

After hearing this, Zhu Yong turned around and saw that it was Liu Heju.This person was originally the commander of Weicheng, but he was defeated by the rebels in Yongdingwei, and Zhu Yong directly demoted him to a thousand households. Today, I don't know which general allowed him to come here.

"Why are the firearms soldiers at the back? They don't move to the front until they meet the enemy?" Zhu Yong asked casually. First of all, he was surprised by this way of deploying soldiers, because the Ming army's firearms were all placed in the front. , Withdrew from the side after hitting.He didn't have a good impression of Liu Heju, but after all, this person had fought the rebels head-on, so maybe he knew something.

Liu Heju shook his head and said, "The bandits don't change positions. The pikemen in front are just to cover the firearms behind, mainly to defend the cavalry. Because the infantry can't get close at all when attacking, let alone fight hand-to-hand."

"You mean the rebels can repel the infantry's advance with a few rows of firearms?" Zhu Yong couldn't help laughing, "If I use archers to attack in front, how will he respond?" Zhu Yong glanced at the city while talking. on the artillery.In Zhu Yong's fixed thinking, the range of a musket is only twenty or thirty steps, and the accuracy is even more impossible to talk about, especially for that kind of "magic gun". The middleman relies entirely on luck; however, the lightning flashes and the sound is very loud, which can indeed overwhelm the opponent in terms of momentum, and some horses have never heard of that thing, so they may run in panic and disrupt the formation.

Liu Heju said: "The thieves also wear armor and have wooden shields and rattan shields. The archers can only hit the enemy with light arrows from a hundred steps away, and cannot break through the armor; when they are within a hundred steps, the two armies shoot at each other. If there is nothing, our army will definitely suffer, and the sound is like thunder, and suddenly people turn their backs like mowing grass, and they are bound to collapse."

Zhu Yong glanced at him, and didn't even bother to reprimand him.

A general asked: "In Brother Liu's opinion, how should the bandit army's firearm array be cracked?"

"The thieves are densely populated in order to shoot with firearms. They should be bombarded with Tianzi General (a kind of artillery) first to disrupt their formation, and then charge with cavalry to defeat them."

The general said solemnly: "But where did we get the general now? Do we have to wait another month for someone to bring it from Changsha?"

"This..." Liu Heju paused for a moment.

The general asked again: "The cannon on the city is the general's cannon?" Liu Heju only said: "The final general does not know." At this time someone said: "The rebels have only been in Gaodu County for a few days, how did they transport the heavy general's cannon? The cannons in the city are probably just wooden cannons!"

Zhu Yong turned around and took the reins to get on the horse, and everyone stopped talking.Zhu Yong got on his horse, waved the whip in his hand, and said: "Order all the troops to come forward, form an formation one mile away from the enemy, first defeat the enemy outside the city, and then plan to attack the city."

Faced with such a situation, any military commander would give such an order. Since the defenders are out of the city to set up an array, they must fight in the field first, and will not be in a hurry to attack the city.