Chapter 307: Entering the bus

With the full support of Wu Zimian, the generals of Shaanxi, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's army, who were already on the verge of collapse, finally broke through successfully and were able to escape back to the north bank of the Wei River to regroup. In the afternoon of that day, on the afternoon of March 15, the main forces of the Shaanxi-Gansu Ming army under the banner of Master Zhang, finally arrived at the Baoji battlefield and completed the most important part of the Baoji encirclement! The main task of the third team of the Ming army, Man Gui Army, was to prevent chaos. The main task of the third team of the Ming army was to prevent chaos.

The main force of the thief fled westward and cut off the connection between other rioters and the main force of the thief. As long as the main force of the thief can be trapped by the Ming army on the edge of the Qinling Mountains, it doesn't matter whether the main battlefield needs reinforcement. At the same time, the thief chaos in Gongchang Mansion is also very fierce. The city of Longxi City, including the city of Longxi, was surrounded by the army of thieves. Man Gui, who had successfully completed the deterrence and blocking mission and had great independent combat power, was not interested in coming to Baoji again to see others appear in the limelight, and directly led the cavalry to rescue Longxi.

More than 23,000 main force arrived at the battlefield. In addition to Hong Chengchou's original army, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong's remnants, and the Ming army gathered on the Baoji battlefield, the total force reached about 28,000. Although it was not enough, it was not too difficult to deal with the rioters, mostly with more than 100,000 women, children, and elderly and weak. Wu Zimian, who was entrusted by Master Zhang with an important responsibility, was fully responsible for the battlefield on the northern front. He also fully demonstrated his style of not seeking merit but seeking no mistakes. He first made the camp fight to the fullest.

He used flag bluffs to create the illusion of his strong army, confusing and shocking the rioters' army, wasting a large number of elite troops to protect the grain roads of Mei County, and also divided an army to defend the Shensha River Road to overhaul fortifications to prevent the rioters from breaking through. The main force advanced to camp outside Yimen Town, and at the same time, he worked hard to build blocking fortifications on the official road of Jianghe in Qing Dynasty to block the rioters' breakthrough northwards - as for taking the initiative to attack and annihilate the enemy with his field advantage, I'm sorry, there is no such word in Marshal Wu's military book.

Although Wu Zimian's conservative tactics were safe, they made the hawkish generals of the Ming army headed by Hong Chengchou very dissatisfied. They all came to Wu Zimian to ask for battle, hoping to take advantage of his own field advantage, take the initiative to attack and annihilate the enemy in large numbers, and make achievements. The Xuanda army and the Sichuan army saw the power of the Shaanxi-Gansu army. Even Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, who were grateful to Wu Zimian, also complained, believing that Wu Zimian still adopted a stable tactic when he had the field advantage, were too conservative, and they all ran to Wu Zimian.

He took the initiative to fight in front of him, hoping to encourage Wu Ziqiang to destroy the thieves and charge in order to repay his grace of rescue and trust. But unfortunately, no matter who asked for the thieves, General Wu turned around but said just one sentence, "You can't take risks. Zhang Butang once repeatedly reminded that our task is to fight steadily. As long as the thieves are blocked, the enemy can kill more and kill less. It's no matter how much the enemy kills more and less." Faced with such a conservative and stable commander, the generals of the Ming army who were eager to make meritorious contributions and earnest merits were so angry that they were helpless.

The generals of the Ming army who were eager to make contributions cursed Wu Zimian's conservative tactics behind their backs, but what they didn't know was that Gao Yingxiang, who was blocked by Wu Zimian near Dasan Pass in Chencang Road, Luo Rucai and Fan Wencheng were also scolding this unethical tactic. The reason was very simple. First, the main force of the treacherous thieves could not persist for a long time without food and grass. Second, the combat effectiveness of the treacherous army was not as good as the main force of the Ming army. If you attack the tough and confront each other, what would be the case if you were to kill him? Only by letting the Ming army, which was at a disadvantage, take the initiative to attack, can the main force of the treacherous thieves have the opportunity to adapt to the situation and break the damn Baoji encirclement. What made Gao Yingxiang, Luo Rucai and Fan Wencheng even more depressed was that

More than a thousand years ago, the shameless Sima Yi of Wei State was so shameless that he killed the evil spirit of Shu State Zhuge Liang. Gao Yingxiang and Luo Rucai and other thieves did not want to repeat this mistake. However, Wu Zimian should feel glad that because he was under the banner of Master Zhang, he mistakenly thought that Master Zhang was the commander-in-chief of the Ming army in the Northern Front, and the thieves who cursed Mr. Zhang’s eighteen generations of ancestors. Even Fan Wencheng, who was a traitor, believed that Master Zhang was following Sima Yi, and was preparing to use the stable defense tactics to consume the morale and vitality of the thieves in the encirclement, and then annihilate the main force of the thieves in the encirclement at the lowest cost.

Suppression! We must suppress the unhealthy trends of the Ming army that learned Sima Yi's shameless tactics in the bud! In order to induce and force the Ming army to give up this shameless tactic, in the next few days, Luo Rucai and Fan Wencheng, the actual military advisors of the rioters' army, racked their brains and played enough tricks, such as night attacks, assaults, discords, counter-espionage, ambush, feint attacks, pretending to retreat, false reports, rumors, fire attacks, intercepting grains, transferring tigers from the mountains, striking east and west, secretly crossing Chencang, golden cicadas escaped, fishing in the muddy waters...

…, so I played all the tricks I could play. Unfortunately, Wu Zimian, the actual commander of the Ming army on the Northern Front, was a person who was unchanged and responded to changes. No matter what tricks Fan Wencheng and Luo Rucai played, they would rather miss the opportunity to fight than act rashly. Even if the generals of the Ming army were deceived, they would not be able to send troops to attack, resulting in the fact that Gao Yingxiang, Luo Rucai and the old traitor Fan Wencheng had a lot of white hair on their heads, but they could not find any flaws in the Ming army on the Northern Front.

"This mad dog is indeed treacherous. You can win if you know that you can keep it firmly, so you don't move anything!" After another sneak attack on the Ming army camp in an attempt to lead a snake out of the cave, but suffered a traitor, Fan Wencheng, Gao Yingxiang, Luo Rucai and others had to return to the monk's camp dejectedly again. Along the way, Fan Wencheng, who hated Master Zhang to his bone marrow, kept cursing, "When I rushed back to the hinterland of Shaanxi, summoned millions of hungry people to kill and set fire everywhere, see what to do with your little mad dog! Let's see what to do with your barbarian court!"

"Huh? Wang Ziyong and others are back?" As soon as he climbed to the monk's original camp, he looked down from a distance and suddenly found a strange phenomenon. Wang Ziyong and Wu Yangui, who had moved to Qingfeng Pavilion four days ago, returned to the south of Dasan Pass, which had been destroyed by the thieves' army, and stationed again on the south side of Dasan Pass, which had been destroyed by the thieves' army. Therefore, the source of the Jialing River in the south, which is suitable for camping, is crowded with people, and the bonfire is as dense as stars, reflecting half of the sky red.

"It's not that I've suffered another defeat, right?" Gao Yingxiang said with some gloating pleasure: "It's probably because of the old wife Qin Liangyu beat me up again, so I had to withdraw back to Dasan Pass and come."

"I deserve it!" Luo Rucai was also lucky enough to gloat and snorted: "If Wu Yangui and Wang Ziyi were not greedy for the prosperity of Sichuan and Hanzhong and were willing to go north with us, then our two armies worked together, and perhaps they still hope to break through Zhang Xiaogouguan's blockade and escape from birth. Unfortunately, these two idiots just didn't listen to Mr. Fan's good words and deserved to be defeated every day!"

"King Cao Tian said it, but unfortunately, King Wang and King Wu..." Fan Wencheng wanted to echo Luo Rucai for a few words, but suddenly felt shocked and couldn't help blurting out: "No! It doesn't make sense!"

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Gao Yingxiang and Luo Rucai and other thieves asked together. Fan Wencheng frowned, answering and saying to himself: "No, Qin Liangyu's barbarian woman is wrong! Although her white-rod soldiers are powerful, there are only four or five thousand people in total, and they can't stand the consumption at all. Why did they give up Fengxian City defenses many times to take the initiative? The most serious war of attrition is the most serious? Isn't it reasonable?"

"Yes, why did that old lady Qin Liangyu do this?" Luo Rucai was reminded by Fan Wencheng, and he also faintly noticed the strangeness. Gao Yingxiang said casually: "What's wrong with this? Although Feng County's location is important, it cannot block all roads into Sichuan. If it were just to persevere in the city and not take the initiative, Wang Ziyong and Wu Yangui, two idiots, had already bypassed Feng County and went directly to Hanzhong and Sichuan. Our army relied on robbing grain supplies on the spot, and we still had to worry that old lady Qin Liangyu's food route was cut off?"

"The King of Chuang is right. The biggest advantage of our army is that we don't have to worry about being cut off by the barbarians." Fan Wencheng nodded and asked nervously: "But King of Chuang, what I asked is why did Qin Liangyu's barbarian woman give up the city defense and take the initiative to block Wang Ziyong and Wu Yangui's army from going south?"

"I haven't said that Qin Liangyu's wife is afraid that Wang Ziyong and Wu Yangui, the two idiots, will bypass Fengxian and go south directly?" Gao Yingxiang replied inexplicably: "Qin Liangyu's wife gave up Dasan Pass after taking the wrong medicine. She didn't want Wang Ziyong and Wu Yangui to enter Hanzhong or Sichuan, so she had to take the initiative to block the attack at a critical intersection, and not give Wang Ziyong and Wu Yangui any chance to go south..." Speaking of this, Gao Yingxiang suddenly woke up and couldn't help but blurt out: "No! If there is really a trap for a puppy official in the south, it's too late for Qin Liangyu's wife to pull us into the trap. Why do you have to fight such a great battle of attrition? Trying to block Wang Ziyong and Wu Yangui, the two idiots, went south?"

"Didn't it..." Luo Rucai was a little trembling and excited, and said tremblingly: "Is Zhang Xiaogou playing the empty city plan? Hanzhong or Sichuan is really empty in troops? So Qin Liangyu's old wife tried her best to block the attack so that we would really break south?"

"It's very possible!" Fan Wencheng said firmly: "Qin Liang's jade girl barbarian gave up Dasan Pass, which is likely to be Zhang Haogu's little mad dog's plan to kill two birds with one stone. It not only tempts us to occupy Dasan Pass and the monk's original natural barrier, misses the opportunity to break through, but also makes us suspicious, suspecting that there is a barbarian trap set up in the south, and he dares not break through the south!"

"Why are you still stunned?" Gao Yingxiang shouted excitedly: "Go and find Wang Ziyong and Wu Yangui and ask them about the real situation in the south!" After that, Gao Yingxiang was the first to slap the horse and left. Although Fan Wencheng and Luo Rucai were a little slow, their speed of whipping up the horse was faster than Gao Yingxiang. The other big and small thieves were all not slow, and they rushed to the south of Dasan Pass. There was no way to be unhappy. The rich and fertile Tianfu Kingdom and the Hanzhong Grain Store were probably already waving to them.

Hurry up to the camp of the thieves on the southern front and found the old thieves who were bandaging the wounds dejectedly. After asking carefully, it was not as expected by Fan Wencheng. The thieves on the southern front still failed to see the city walls of Fengxian this time! The specific process of the battle was like this. After the thieves on the southern front were stationed in Qingfeng Pavilion, they marched south twice in a row and were stubbornly blocked by Qin Liangyu's army and the main force of the Hanzhong army. They suffered heavy casualties and were unable to continue to move south. Last night, Qin Liangyu was good again

Using the special terrain of the rioters' army to camp on the mountain, the eldest son Ma Xianglin led a thousand white-gang soldiers who were good at mountain combat to climb up the mountain behind the camp, drifted down from the mountain, sneaked into the rioters' camp and set fire, creating chaos. Qin Liangyu and Zhao Guangyuan took the opportunity to launch a raid. The rioters' army was in the night and were in chaos. If they didn't want to lose, there was no reason at all. As a result, after a night battle, Wang Ziyong and Wu Yangui, who were even raided and had to retreat to Dasan Pass to camp in shame.

"King Wang, King Wu, have you captured the prisoners?" As soon as he heard Wang Ziyong and Wu Yangui introduce the military situation, Fan Wencheng couldn't wait to ask. Wang Ziyong replied dejectedly: "Maybe he had captured a few wounded soldiers, but they were all Zhao Gou Guan's soldiers. Qin Liangyu's white-rod soldiers are really powerful. Even if they are injured and alone, they would rather die with our brothers than surrender and be captured."

"Then bring the prisoners quickly. We might take out some news from them." Luo Rucai couldn't wait to urge him. Wang Zi scratched his head and ordered his personal soldiers helplessly: "Go and see, capture the dog officers and soldiers alive, bring them all without dying."

The personal soldiers took the order and waited anxiously for a long time. Two injured Ming army prisoners, covered in wounds and dying, were finally carried over. Luo Rucai and Fan Wencheng rushed forward impatiently, threatening and tempting, inducing and condoms. They spent a lot of effort to finally draw the important information needed from the mouths of the two Ming army prisoners in Hanzhong. As Fan Wencheng analyzed, although the two Ming army prisoners did not know the specific reason for giving up the Dasan Pass, the evidence was indeed empty. One of the wounded soldiers also confessed that he was originally a soldier from Xing'an Station (Jinzhou), but because of the emergency military situation on the front line, he was transferred to the Qinling Mountains to participate in the war half a month ago. Moreover, the Ming army soldiers like him who were drawn from the hinterland of Hanzhong Station were also in Fengxian Town, and basically all the soldiers who were drawn from each guard pass were transferred from each guard pass.

"No wonder that old lady Qin Liangyu worked so hard to block us?" Wang Ziyong screamed in surprise, "After a long time, after passing Feng County, there were basically no officers and soldiers in the hinterland of Hanzhong Prefecture!"

"Do you know, are there any other army coming to Hanzhong for reinforcements from Ziwu Valley, Baogu or Luogu?" Fan Wencheng Qiang asked nervously with excitement. The two Ming army prisoners shook their heads together, one said, "No, I have never heard of reinforcements entering Hanzhong." The other honestly explained: "I have never heard of any reinforcements entering Hanzhong, but the day before yesterday I heard that the prefect had recruited three or four thousand new men and was about to send them to Fengxian to participate in the war."

"Call!" Fan Wencheng drew his sword in his hand and pointed at the two wounded soldiers of the Ming army who were unable to raise his hand and shouted fiercely: "Bold dog thief, how dare you deceive us? You said that there were no barbarian reinforcements to enter Hanzhong for reinforcements. How could we find out about our detailed work? Thirty or forty thousand troops entered Hanzhong from Ziwu Valley and Luo Gu? They also arranged ambush waiting for us in the Dingjun Mountain area?"

"King, we didn't lie to you." The two wounded soldiers of the Ming army screamed in panic and sweared: "You guys swear to the sky. If you tell a lie, then we will hit the sky and thunder, and there will be no place to die!"

"Very good." Fan Wencheng nodded with satisfaction, stabbed the two injured Ming soldiers with one hand and immediately pierced the lower abdomen of the two Ming army soldiers who had no power to resist. He also saved Luo Rucai the promised thousand taels of silver. He shouted again: "Pull it down to make human flesh soup, throw the bones to feed the dogs, there is no need to waste food." After the thief soldiers dragged away the two Ming soldiers' bodies, Fan Wencheng turned to the thief heads with their eyes shining and said excitedly: "Dear kings, these two barbarian soldiers cannot tell lies, and the female barbarian Qin Liangyu's behavior is also very abnormal. From these two points, the hinterland of Hanzhong may be really empty. Zhang Haogu's little mad dog took the initiative to give up the Dasan Pass, which is also likely to be an empty city plan!"

"That's right, the empty city plan. As long as we break through the south successfully, Hanzhong and Sichuan will be ours!" Many people who dreamed of Hanzhong and Sichuan robbing money, grain and women, echoed and shouted. Gao Yingxiang was calm and asked tentatively: "Mr. Fan, how sure are you? If I remember correctly, you once said that Zhang Xiaogou has just been promoted to the governor of five provinces, and is in charge of Shaanxi and Sichuan. It is impossible to take risks with the prefectures under his rule. I also agreed with your words, so I decided to break through to the north - why do you think that Hanzhong is just Zhang Haogu Xiaogou's empty city plan?"

"This..." Fan Wencheng, who had been fooled by Master Zhang many times, blushed. After a moment of thinking, Fan Wencheng replied: "King of Chuang, the student thinks it should be like this. After Zhang Haogu's little mad dog was promoted to the governor of the five provinces of the Barbarians, he should not take risks with the prefecture under his rule, so as not to lose his prestige. However, with his competitive and compassionate personality, he must have a good start to report the victory to the Barbarians' court.

Continue his so-called barbarian war god's reputation! So this little mad dog is in danger, betting that his Hanzhong hollow city plan will not be seen through, and then annihilate us on the Baoji battlefield - this little barbarian is a famous mad dog, and he dares to use any kind of dangerous situation, just like the sneak attacks of Shengjing and the later Northern Expedition of Korqin were both life-long gambles, but he won the bet. This time, it is not ruled out that he was making the third big bet!"

"It's reasonable, that little dog official is such a madman!" Luo Rucai once again stood on Fan Wencheng's side and echoed: "Actually, we have all experienced how crazy that little mad dog is. In Fugu, there were Tatars' army and soldiers in the north, and our twenty-nine rebels in the west, and we were panicked if we wanted to replace others. But the mad dog actually ignored the battlefield on the northern front and tried his best to fight us away first, then turned around and fought against the Tatars without stopping. With this crazy energy of fighting on both sides, the name of the mad dog is definitely worthy of!"

"And there is another point." Fan Wencheng added: "Zhang Haogu's Little Mad Dog only brought a thousand mad dog troops to Shaanxi to take office. At that time, the main army was still in Xuanda Shanxi. In just one month, even if his main lineman could successfully arrive in Shaanxi, he would not be able to dispatch all the troops to be in place and calmly arrange tactics to encircle and annihilate us. However, after our Xi'an was lost, the main force was forced to move to Baoji area, which is easy to fight annihilation war. The fighter shots were fleeting, and the little mad Dog would probably have a big gamble and use an empty city strategy to intimidate us not to break south, and then annihilate us on the battlefield on the northern line!"

After listening to Fan Wencheng and Luo Rucai's slander, Gao Yingxiang, who was skeptical, fell into deep thought. After a long time, Gao Yingxiang finally looked up and gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, there is no hope of breaking out from the northern line anyway. Since Zhang Haogu's little mad dog likes gambling, we can also gamble with him! Starting tomorrow, we will work together to break out to the south, first solve the old wife Qin Liangyu of Feng County, and then enter Hanzhong and Sichuan!"
Chapter completed!