Ping An Biography

Qianlixue with white fur on four hooves rushed up a gentle slope at a brisk trot. Zhang Ning, who was sitting on the horseback, suddenly felt his eyes widen. Looking down, he could only see green trees, yellow leaves, brown soil and shining The paddy field of white light is just a colorful autumn color.Most of the rice in the paddy fields has been harvested, and the water surface is bare|exposed; in some places where the harvest was early, shallow new shoots have grown on the paddy farms, which are fresh green like spring buds.

But when he looked back, the situation behind him was very different.I saw dust on the road, and black crowds of people were approaching.The idyllic tranquility is gone where the army is present, only the hustle and bustle.

Zhou Mengxiong, who was riding a horse, said: "The Guanjun South Road camp has withdrawn, and it is reported that many things have been discarded. I am afraid they want to avoid the war."

Several other generals echoed, because this is not the first time that the Huguang officers and soldiers ran away. Last time, more than 1 people guarded Changde and ran away; so it is nothing unusual to run again.

At this moment, a military general scolded the horse in Banpo, and rushed forward.The attention of several people on the hillside was attracted, and they all looked sideways.After waiting for a while, the general finally climbed up the hillside, jumped down from his horse, and said: "They are building a pontoon bridge on the river... Report to my lord, the general has found out that the officers and soldiers are building together with boats on the Xiangshui River." pontoon."

Zhou Mengxiong asked, "Is the news true?"

The general said: "The last general saw with his own eyes, there are three pontoon bridges that are being built."

At this time, the chairman of the Senate, Zhu Heng, couldn't help expressing his own opinion: "Maybe we were discovered by the police when we transferred our troops to Yiyang. At present, the order to retreat the South Route Army may have been issued directly by Wuchang, otherwise the local master will not Dare to retreat without permission. From my point of view, the main force of the officers and soldiers should be the North Route, and the South Route is used to capture Chenzhou and then weixie our backs; and once they know that the first battle will take place in the south , It should be a situation that you don't want to see. So it is very possible to temporarily withdraw to preserve your strength."

Zhu Heng spoke very cautiously, he just said "very likely", in fact, what the upper echelons of the Suzaku Army are most wary of is not being able to catch the south route of the officers and soldiers, making this raid a waste of time.

People around talked a lot, Zhang Ning only occasionally nodded to deal with it, thinking about the current situation in his mind.What he can see, except for his own people behind him, is the autumn countryside, and his judgment can only be made by abstract reasoning based on the information he has obtained.The opinions of military officers and generals are still very important, and they will directly influence and remind Zhang Ning.However, Zhang Ning has always been a person with his own opinions, and he needs a little time to sort out his thoughts.

After a while, Zhang Ning asked, "In addition to the main road for our pursuit and the evacuation of the officers and soldiers, there should be another easy road to the west bank of the Xiangshui River?"

After thinking for a while, Zhu Heng replied, "There is another road. In the dry season, there are several small rivers that are shallow, and there are more than one places where you can walk through the water."

Zhang Ning said: "We are still tens of miles away from the main force of the enemy army. If the infantry follows us, we are afraid that the enemy army will lose their luggage in a hurry and run directly from the pontoon bridge to the east bank; if we want to break through the Xiangshui River and pursue the South Route Army It is very difficult. I have an idea. I can send the cavalry regiment to go another way, directly attack the west bank of the Xiangshui River, and burn down the pontoon bridge that is being built on the river; They're still on the West Bank, and this battle has to be fought."

Zhu Heng turned his head to look at Feng Youxian after pondering, and said, "It would be great if General Feng could destroy the pontoon bridge. I'm just worried that the officers and soldiers might expect that we will destroy the pontoon bridge and cut off the way of retreat, so they sent troops to garrison to wait for work."

Feng Youxian clasped his fists and said: "The main force of the officers and soldiers has just withdrawn from the camp. It is impossible for more than 2 people to reach the riverside soon. If there are not enough troops, it is impossible to trap the cavalry regiment. The general dare not say that he will be able to get close to the pontoon bridge." Set fire, but promise to bring back the cavalry regiment intact."

With that being said, there was basically no risk in this mission.Zhang Ning made a decisive decision: "The cavalry regiment immediately dispatched, detoured to the shore of the Xiangshui River, and rushed back to find the position of the Chinese army after destroying the pontoon bridge."

Feng Youxian raised his arms and said solemnly: "The last general will have orders!"

Zhang Ning said again: "Order the whole army to speed up the march. There is no need to waste time setting up camp on the way, and sleep in the open to save time."

The distance from here to the Xiangshui River is only fifty or sixty miles in total. As long as the officers and soldiers fail to cross the Xiangshui River within tomorrow, they will have to face the Suzaku Army to fight.The so-called camping was only for one night; the army did not stop to rest until dark, and did not build simple fortifications. Therefore, Zhang Ning and the officials were much more alert at night, and most of the scouts were withdrawn and deployed around the camp. Guard against night attacks, and order the soldiers not to disarm at night and be ready to fight at any time.

Fortunately, the whole night was peaceful. It seems that the officers and soldiers really have no plans to attack at night; maybe they are anxious to find a way to avoid the Suzaku army, and they have no time to fight back. Zhang Ning and others overestimated their fighting spirit.

Early in the morning, people made a simple breakfast and had to rush to continue marching eastward.But Zhang Ning still took some time to hold a cautious "flag-raising ceremony", because if nothing else happened, the decisive battle would happen today, and he hoped that morale would be as high as possible.

Now Zhang Ning's only concern is whether Feng Youxian's cavalry has destroyed the pontoon bridge. He hopes that luck will favor him, and he also hopes that Feng Youxian will not let him down.

When the posts were ready to start marching, Zhang Ning finally waited for the urgent report from the front.The people who reported the letter shouted "good news" from a long distance. Zhang Ning couldn't help but feel happy, and suddenly felt that a big stone had fallen from his heart.

Feng Youxian wrote a report in his own handwriting: The officers and soldiers had defenders by the riverside, and the cavalry regiment fought against them yesterday evening. The fierce battle broke down the officers and soldiers' defenses for about an hour, with little self-inflicted damage and no gains. They set fire to the bridge that night. The flames on the river were as bright as day.After completing the task, the cavalry regiment is rushing back along the original road.

There was a smile on the corner of Zhang Ning's mouth, and he couldn't help but smiled happily to the people around him: "I didn't misunderstand Feng Youxian, he is a good general!" He imagined the scene on the Xiangshui last night in his mind.

The flames soared into the sky and were as bright as day, it must be a beautiful and spectacular sight!

As a result, the main force of the Suzaku Army's infantry chased eastward, and Zhang Ning felt that he had already won.He ordered the scouts of the former army to search for the position of the main force of the army along the main road of pursuit and keep an eye on their movements.

The decisive battle seems to be imminent.This time, the officers and troops are mainly from the important towns, and the information shows that they are equipped with heavy weapons such as the Tianzihao General. In the decisive battle, they have a certain strength against Zhang Ning's arquebus phalanx, especially when the cavalry regiment has not yet returned to the team; However, although the official army's artillery technology is backward, although powerful and effective, it is very heavy, so it is difficult to maneuver. As long as the Suzaku army does not take the initiative to approach, the official army's heavy weapons will not have time to be transported to the battlefield.

Zhang Ning believed that Feng Youxian's light cavalry had plenty of time to rush back before catching up with the official army camp.

Today's weather is fine, the sun is bright but not hot, and it is the season of high and crisp autumn, and the army is progressing smoothly and quickly on the wide official road.The central part of Huguang is dominated by flat terrain, or there are hills or gentle and low slopes, and there is nothing dangerous.Zhang Ning is looking forward to this "fair" contest.