Ping An Biography

On the evening of the same day, Yu Qian, the governor of Huguang, arrived in Changde City unexpectedly, which made the soldiers even more convinced of the importance of this city.Yu Qian did not encounter any trouble on the way to Changde City. In fact, judging by traditional military common sense, the official army at this time has an absolute advantage: more troops than the rebels; holding all the important towns around the battlefield, occupying the best geographical advantage.

Yu Qian entered the city from the southwest of the city, and the southern Longyang City, Wuling City and other places were in the hands of the government army, and it was difficult for the rebel scouts to move in this direction.In fact, even a quarry near the rebel camp was harassed by scouts several times in a few days; the supply line of its food road was completely exposed to the hands of the officers and soldiers, and they had almost no way to get new supplies. Material replenishment, once the battle is delayed, the only end is to collapse without a fight.

But all these are just appearances.As soon as Yu Qian arrived in Changde, he felt the difficulty of the war from the broken city wall fortifications and sporadic shelling at dusk.

Because the artillery positions of the rebel army were one mile away, the firearms and defense equipment of the official army could not hit that far, so they have been in a state of being beaten since the beginning of the war; the defenders could not go out of the city to fight. Nearly 1 infantry and 3000 cavalry should not allow the defending army to venture out of the city.

As soon as Yu Qian arrived in Changde, he insisted on inspecting the city walls regardless of the persuasion of the generals.At this time, the shelling of the rebels was very sparse, but it had not completely subsided.The officers and soldiers defending the city were downcast and their morale was very low. Anyone who experienced continuous casualties for many days could not even feel the enemy's hairs, and it was impossible to be happy.

Seeing that the governor is friendly and keeps asking the soldiers how they are, some people can't help complaining in front of the superior. One team is saying: "When the weather is fine, the city wall is too hot, and you have to worry about the stone cannons falling. Stay here." It’s better to go out of the city and compete with the bandits.” Another general said: “The yamen should find some doctors, because many people are sick.”

But Xue Lu, who was accompanying him soon, dissatisfiedly reprimanded those officers and soldiers who spoke in dissatisfaction: "It is our duty to do our duty for the emperor to guard the land. Since you are in the army, you must not be greedy for life or fear death!"

Yu Qian hasn't figured out the local situation yet, so he can only take a general observation temporarily.Although he had just been appointed as an official in the Ministry of War, he was actually only a civil servant and had never fought a war.The person who is really responsible for combat is the general in the army, and he can only coordinate and make suggestions from it.

That night, Xue Lu, Zhao Zhifu and others set up a few tables of simple banquets in a restaurant in the city to welcome Yu Qian.There were not many dishes, because a building next door to this restaurant had just been shelled during the day, and many cooks and waiters in the restaurant ran away privately.

Yu Qian did not forget to ask about the details of the battle, how to deploy troops, how to fight, etc. at the wine table.

...In the early hours of the morning, the whole world seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep, but the Suzaku Army's cavalry regiment had already quietly dispatched, and the person leading this troop was none other than Feng Youxian.He was a cavalry general of the official army a few months ago, but now he is going to fight the official army.

Feng Youxian was confident about this raid, because he found out that the commander of the cavalry was Zhang Yu.Feng Youxian knew this person. When he was in charge of the training in the Dusi, Zhang Yu had always been in charge of the infantry, and he knew nothing about the cavalry (because Feng Youxian felt that Zhang Yu didn't even know the habits of horses), and he himself was mediocre; He took a fancy to it.

What made Feng Youxian feel a little worried was some contradictions in his heart. In fact, he was very unwilling to be an enemy of the government. Even after he decided to defect to the Suzaku Army, he still didn't want to fight with the government.

But he was filled with anger again, dissatisfied with Zhu Yong, the Duke of Cheng, and also very dissatisfied with the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty.His original idea was to fight for the imperial court and make contributions to honor his ancestors, but the government would rather use mediocre talents like Zhang Yu than Feng Youxian.After being arrested by Zhu Yong, he has never been convinced, let alone thought that he was at fault. In private, he was deeply disappointed in the darkness of that frame-up.

The horse team marched slowly on the road among the rice fields, and the feet in the stirrups could feel the coolness of the dew.It was still dark, but the eastern sky was gradually turning white.Among the crops full of alternate breaths, the black shadow of the lance standing upright and the sound of armor metal rubbing against each other seemed out of place, as if something that should not appear in this natural scene...

Feng Youxian's heart was not at peace because of the quiet early morning, and the past resurfaced in his mind over and over again.As a general, obeying military orders is fundamental. At that time, he could not attack without receiving the order; when he attacked, he also tried his best to kill the enemy, but at that time, the army and infantry were defeated. Couldn't make a little fit.Feng Youxian has repeatedly determined in his heart that he did nothing wrong in the battle of Gaodu.

I don't know how long it took, the sky gradually became brighter, and the horsemen of each team passed through a forest one after another, and there was a hillside dry land with vegetables on the opposite side. After crossing the hillside, it should be the station of the cavalry battalion of the official army.

The scouts in front came to report that many cavalry of the officers and soldiers had left the camp and were setting up formation in front.Feng Youxian responded calmly: "After the officers and soldiers encamped, it is very likely that they planted a secret sentry on the road to the south, and we noticed it when we were marching. This is reasonable, and it is abnormal if a soldier and horse are attacked in their sleep. But They had just learned of the situation, so they must have been ill-prepared, and the surprise attack was still a success."

Feng Youxian immediately rode his horse up to the top of the slope. The dim light in the east and the fire in the camp in the distance immediately dispelled the gloom down the mountain, and the battlefield was right in front of him.Rushing down from the vegetable field on the hillside, there is still an open field about one mile away from the officer's camp. There are probably some beans planted in the crop field on the side of the road, which does not affect the horizontal deployment of the cavalry.

There was a noise of people and horses in the distance, and it was reported that the officers and soldiers were forming a formation outside the camp.A sneer appeared on Feng Youxian's face: "The cavalry soldiers in Zhang Yu's hands have also become infantry on horseback. When he is attacked, the first thing he thinks of is to form a defense."

More and more horses rushed up the hill and gathered one after another. In the morning light, the heads of the war horses showed the temperament of holding their heads high, and the soldiers looked at the prey in front of them one after another.Many of the horsemen of the Suzaku Army may not be as good at riding as the officers, except that some of them were recruited from the captives of the officers and soldiers, and many of them were newcomers selected from the Suzaku Army: riding a horse is easy to learn, but fighting on horseback may be a bit unfamiliar.But these are not the most important. In Feng Youxian's view, the cavalry is not separated by individual cavalry, but a whole. What is important is fighting spirit, belief and military discipline.

The breath of the battlefield made him gradually excited. As a general, what he should do now is to defeat the enemy in front of him. The motive is very pure and simple. No soldier is willing to face the shame of defeat.

The entire cavalry regiment is divided into four posts, the front post, the rear post, the left post, and the right post. The title is not only a name, but also convenient for assigning places when camping, but it does not represent the position on the battlefield.

Feng Youxian immediately issued a military order.There are about 750 cavalry with their own outposts and rear outposts. They use the general flag as a two-row unit to launch a charge against the center of the army, with the intention of directly piercing through and tearing apart their camp; the left and right posts respectively maneuver to the enemy's two wings. After the attack was successful, they charged from both wings, split and tore apart the enemy's formation again.

The layout is very simple, Feng Youxian's order is very clear, maintain the impact of the brigade, there is no need to fight in the middle, after breaking through, turn around and straighten up and continue to attack.

After the orders of the sentries were ordered, the soldiers and horses were rectified.Feng Youxian shouted: "Let's go!" Immediately, more than 1000 riders began to trot in the mountains. They first swooped down from the hillside, and the sound of horseshoes rumbled suddenly, like thunder and lightning brewing in the clouds.

Countless war horses are galloping around, the wind whistling in the ear, and the hazy scenery flashes behind quickly.At this moment, Feng Youxian almost forgot about the conflict in his heart, he already had a clear idea.Just like birds flying in the air and fish swimming in the water, as long as he charges on horseback, he feels that he is flying. He has never imagined how boring a life without riding a horse is.

Defeating the opponent with lightning speed, the belief in it has gone far away from killing.The brothers who fought side by side, the cavalry charged and could not retreat, and the horses who shared weal and woe. In Feng Youxian's heart, the horse was not an animal, but a member of the cavalry regiment, a trustworthy partner.This feeling of trust and destiny can only be truly understood by brothers who have experienced the same.

150 paces, without orders, the soldiers have already prepared their weapons.Feng Youxian pulled out a slender saber from his horse, pointed forward and shouted: "Kill!" All the soldiers reflexively shouted the words "for glory" during training, and some people also shouted long live.People's blood is already boiling.

150 paces, a distance that an infantry army could not reach with bows and arrows, the cavalry regiment rushed to the officers and soldiers in less than twenty seconds (20 seconds), almost in the blink of an eyelid.Similarly, a large group of cavalry charged, and skillful tasks such as martial arts were almost useless. They came galloping at the speed of an arrow, and they couldn't even tell where they were coming.The vanguard cavalry held more than ten feet of cavalry, and with this rapid impact, pierced the sharp edge of steel into the passively defending officer cavalry, and the armor could not stop such sharpness at all.

The lance directly pierced through the man's chest, and blood splashed in the sound of the wind.It was too late to say it was too late, Feng Youxian's two sentry horses penetrated directly into the army camp like shells piercing through the earth wall.The man who lost his lance in front drew out his saber and slashed frantically.There is no clanging fighting, one touch is almost fatal, the charging knights cannot avoid the attack of the officers and soldiers, and the officers and soldiers can't even try to parry the blades that are slashing up.

People can't stop, even if the blood on their bodies is soaring, as long as they don't die, they can't stop.There are more than [-] columns running behind, and once they stop, they can only be trampled by iron hooves.

In addition to the sound of the metal that is cold in the bones, and the flames of the flames were burst. This time, the gunfire was all issued by the official army. Only the official army cavalry was equipped with three eyes.When the blood-red sun rose, the grass and trees in the wilderness were already stained red with blood.