Chapter 432 Military Order
Li En, who is full of bookishness, cannot understand the mentality of Wei Duan's troops, but fortunately, Wei Duan's troops are about to break camp and set off.
But before that, Wei Duan still had to wait for the last batch of luggage to arrive.
On the afternoon of August 6, this force of approximately 3,000 people began to leave Tang County and began to go south along Guangyang Road.
However, Li En discovered that the team stopped leaving when they reached a hillside in Zhongren Pavilion. Not only that, Wei Duan also ordered the construction of trenches and fortifications on this slope, as if he was going to garrison here.
Li En quickly went to find Wei Duan, but was told that this was what was written in the military newspaper.
Lu Zhi asked Wei Duan to lead his army to the Zhongrenting area to find a favorable position to station and wait for follow-up orders.
Li En was puzzled. Shouldn't Wei Duanbu continue to go south to Dingting to provide support? What's the use of stationing troops here?
It wasn't until later that he overheard two local villagers chatting and learned that this slope was called "Lu Sheng Slope."
The slope here has nine turns and eighteen turns. When local mountain people hunt deer, they often chase them here.
Therefore, people nearby also call this place "Lusheng Slope".
After hearing this, Li En was thoughtful. It seems that Master Lu is planning to fight here.
……
Li En is just one member of the Junzi camp command cavalry, and different instructions like this are sent to all armies along with the officers and soldiers of the Junzi camp.
Some of them received military orders to gather at Lunu, while others were ordered to go south to Dingting to support Liu Zhi. Others, like Wei Duan, went to station in the Zhongrenting area.
After receiving military orders, these armies set off with food and supplies. A baggage cart loaded with fruits, vegetables, bean paste, and corn was pulled southward by the conscripted disciples, following the flow of people.
The officers at the head of the elite camp of the Zhenbei Army all held swords and bows, wore brand-new crimson uniforms, and had decorative feathers on their helmets, marching in high spirits as a team.
The officials who showed off their military force aroused the cheers of a group of nearby vagrants. They rushed to the hillside to look for the officials of the Zhenbei Army and wanted to join the army.
And these officials did not refuse anyone who came, and arranged these people into a battalion. Without any training, they directly led the new soldiers southward.
In addition to the elite battalions of the Zhenbei Army who went south, some local battalions of powerful tribes from the Zhongshan Kingdom also received orders to lead their troops south to defend their hometown.
These local tribesmen don't know much. When the masters above give orders, they naturally obey them.
But these local tribesmen are all natives, and many of them have families. He will go on an expedition and be separated from his wife and children at home. Tears wet your lapels, and your heart breaks apart from others.
Along the way, recruitment continued. Military officials from the Zhenbei Army shogunate rushed along the military road to urge them to speed up their march.
They got the news that the front group of Taishan bandits had left Xinshi. Obviously, the battle of Dingting will begin soon.
At this time, none of the Zhenbei Army troops had been able to reach Dingting.
The unit closest to Dingting is Han Heng's tribe.
Han Heng was a Han tycoon from generation to generation. He brought 600 people from his tribe and thousands from his clan into the Pass along with Lu Zhi. He was one of the leading figures among the heroes from generation to generation.
Han Heng's troops had a thousand sharp soldiers and two hundred cavalry. Previously, his troops lived in Lishe in the south, which was far away from Lu Nu, so they actually received Lu Zhi's military order relatively late.
But because his tribe was a clan armed force and could gather quickly, it was not slow to set off.
Originally, his troops should have been the first reinforcements to arrive at Dingting, but because they were far away from Guangyang Road, they took a shortcut. The road passed through a dense mountain forest, so time was delayed.
Walking through the mountains and forests, Han Heng did not reach the Eight Mile Road in one day.
The situation was similar in other departments. It was already night after many troops received military orders from Junzi Camp. It is definitely not possible to march at night. If you want to leave, you can only leave the next day.
And when the troops started packing up and setting off during the day the next day, it was noon again. In this way, the troops could not walk for two hours, and it was dark again.
Therefore, Lu Zhi originally thought that all the ministries could arrive at Dingting at the scheduled time, but in fact on August 6, not a single soldier could arrive.
And on this day, the contact battle before the decisive battle in Hebei, the Battle of Dingting broke out.
……
August 6th, morning.
The Han soldiers in Dingting had already gone to the nearby mountains and forests to collect firewood early. The cooks in the transport camp also began to set up large pots one after another, preparing to bury the stove for cooking.
It was quiet and peaceful.
Ding Pavilion is a typical military-style pavilion. In the past, it has been used as a defense post to detect theft and set up cards, so it has a certain defense function.
Afterwards, Liu Zhi led 3,000 troops to Dingting and added trenches and antlers to the original pavilion barriers.
In fact, Dingting alone is not suitable for defense because there is nothing dangerous here.
But the reason why Liu Zhi wanted to guard here was because it was a crossroads. Whether Taishan's army went north to Lunu or Gaitong's troops from Hejian and Anping came behind for reinforcements, they had to pass through here.
Therefore, Dingting has such a prominent strategic advantage at this time.
From the lookout post where Liu Zhi was, we could see a straight Sanhe dirt road running through the north and south, extending to both sides. Then in the southeast direction, there is another dirt road, which is uneven but suitable for horses.
Looking down from here, there is a dense forest to the west of him. Relying on the forest resources of this forest, Liu Zhibu established the defense of Dingting.
Liu Zhi ordered the five hundred Hejian cavalry who arrived to lurk there as his back-up.
At this moment, Liu Zhi was still surveying the defense of the position on the watchtower, and the guards below shouted:
"Mr. Lang, the brothers have prepared the rice. Is it ready to eat?"
Liu Zhi nodded and went down the ladder.
As he walked, he said to his companion:
"Dig the trench a little deeper on the east side. Although it is unlikely to be the enemy's main attack direction, there is nothing wrong with being careful."
The companion next to me remembered this and responded verbally, preparing to go after dinner.
But after walking a few steps, Liu Zhi looked at Bandang with a puzzled look on his face:
"Why are you here? Didn't I ask you to go to the east to supervise?"
Bandang didn't dare to refute, lowered his head and ran towards the east.
Later, Liu Zhi pointed out several deficiencies in defense and asked someone to solve them before he walked to the brothers' stove and sat down.
The majority of Liu Zhijun's army were all the children and disciples of the Liu family in Zhongshan, almost all of them his own.
And unlike the powerful people in other places, the Liu family does not live in the city but gathers together to live in the countryside. Because they work together with the disciples, the relationship between them and the tribe is very close.
Not family, but better than father and son. It's just that this father only has power and does not need to fulfill obligations.
But even so, the cohesion of Liu's tribe is not comparable to that of ordinary tyrants, not even the regular military.
After Liu Zhi ate a large pot of millet with the ordinary soldiers, he continued his patrol with his companions.
He always had a feeling that the Taishan Army had moved nearby.
But now, the reinforcements originally promised by Lu Zhi have not arrived yet, which makes Liu Zhi feel a shadow.
After thinking about it, Liu Zhi asked his companions to make more flags and bluff. At noon, reinforcements arrived, but they were not the Zhenbei Army, but the local tycoons from the Hanchang area. Somehow they knew that the four Liu soldiers of Zhongshan were joining forces in Dingting, so they brought their tribe of country soldiers to join in the military glory.
At this time, the number of troops in Dingting area had reached close to 5,000.
In order to avoid crowding, Liu Zhi deployed about a thousand troops in a manor in the south. It was an abandoned dock wall that could be used as an outpost.
Little did he know at this time that the most tragic afternoon in his life was about to come.
Everyone was leisurely enjoying the excessively quiet moment.
……
In fact, the Taishan Army should have arrived at this intersection in Dingting on August 6.
But Zhang Chong in the rear changed his original plan.
Zhang Chong's original plan was to intercept the return route of Youzhou's sudden cavalry, and then the whole army would go straight north to Lunu for a decisive battle with the Zhenbei Army.
The plan was originally executed smoothly, but with the joint efforts of Dong Fang and Zhang Dan, the Youzhou Cavalry was defeated.
But this battle had two consequences.
One was the core generals of Youzhou's sudden cavalry who broke through the encirclement, and instead of returning northward, they ran eastward to the Shenze area.
According to the speculation of Xun You and others, there is a high probability that this Youzhou assault cavalry is the Hejian and Anping soldiers who have gathered there. After the Taishan army moves out to Lunu, the hinterland of Zhongshan, its troops will come to threaten the flanks and rear. .
The second consequence is that because of the attack in the rain, Dong's inspection department suffered a huge attrition. Many officials have fallen ill and can only recuperate in the Xinshi area.
In view of this, Zhang Chong decided to change the original battle plan.
He ordered Yang Mao, who had temporarily formed an army, to serve as the front army and march to the Dingting area to annihilate the Han army there.
The Sentinel Cavalry has detected intelligence that up to three thousand troops are stationed there. Even if the main force of the temporary army is local garrison troops, destroying this bandit is still a piece of cake.
As for Zhang Dan's right army of ten thousand people, Zhang Chong decided to let them attack Wuji, and then attack Hanchang, Anxi and other cities to build a defensive barrier on the right side of the army.
In this case, Zhang Dan's pressure is not small. Because intelligence showed that there were not many Hejian and Anping soldiers gathered in the Anguo area.
Especially since Hejian is a large county in Jizhou and there is no war, it can mobilize up to 20,000 troops. Just because of the beggar-thy-neighbor mentality, these counties did not station troops in Anguo.
But Zhang Chong must guard against this strong Han army.
After such adjustments, Yang Mao set off first with 12,000 soldiers.
But two hours after Yang Mao set off, Zhang Chong received another sentry from the east.
When they saw the Hejian Legion originally stationed in Anguo setting off, they headed towards Hanchang in the west.
At this time, Zhang Chong decided to change his plan. He planned to let Yang Mao defeat the enemies in Dingting first, and then lead his army south to join Zhang Dan to encircle and annihilate the Han Army's Hejian Corps.
So, Zhang Chong's soldiers took this military report and rushed to Yang Mao's troops who had already set off.
This military newspaper reads:
"The situation has changed. The Hejian Army suddenly advanced westward. I order your troops to quickly annihilate the Dingting thieves, and then go south to join Zhang Dan's Army to encircle and annihilate the Hejian Army."
This military order is precise and without objection.
So after Zhang Chong confirmed it, he let the soldiers set off.
An hour later, Yang Mao received the military report. After repeatedly confirming that it was correct, he asked his soldiers to send back a message.
That is, he discovered that judging from the number of flags, the Han army stationed in Dingting was not the three thousand as the intelligence said, but about 20,000, which was obviously the main force of the Han army.
So Yang Mao asked his soldiers to pass the news back, and then said he would wait for further news from the king.
Obviously, Yang Mao was deceived by Liu Zhi's plan and really regarded the enemy on the opposite side as the main force.
In this way, after receiving the news, the soldiers did not dare to delay. After changing horses, they galloped towards the base camp.
An hour later, Yang Mao received the military order again:
"Order the Qi troops to continue the attack. The Central Guards Cai Que troops have been ordered to support your troops."
Knowing that reinforcements were already on the way, Yang Mao felt relieved and ordered an attack on Dingting.
Yang Mao's 12,000 men rushed into the battlefield in a long snake column.
Among them, the first to arrive outside the Dingting South Outpost were the three battalions of Han Hao, Yang Chou, and Zhang Sheng from Hanoi Town. These three battalions were all costumed troops of about a thousand people, including infantry, cavalry, and archery, but their armor coverage was not high. , less than 30%.
After the three battalions deployed in front of the outpost wall, Li Fu's Tianxiong Army and Yan Gang's Tianwei Army came behind them. A total of one thousand cavalry from both armies marched out in a mighty manner, and then stopped outside the dense forest.
Obviously, Generals Li Fu and Yan Gang felt that there might be an ambush hidden in this dense forest, so they took the lead in blocking it here.
After the cavalry moved out, three more garrison armies from Zhaojun Town, Weiguo Town, and Dongjun Town arrived on the battlefield. Finally, Yang Mao led 3,000 elite soldiers to suppress the formation and stay behind.
At this time, Yang Mao's forehead was dripping with sweat. He took a sip of water and looked at the Han army's position at Dingting on the opposite side. He couldn't help but said to Chang Shi beside him:
"Can this damn place really lurk 20,000 Han troops?"
Yang Mao's long history is the old man of Taishan, and he is a little unsure at this moment. He is not sure either:
"This is indeed strange. This is not a strategic location. There is no need for the Han army to station its troops here. But when we think of a famous commander like Lu Zhi on the other side, there is probably something we don't know."
After hearing this, Yang Mao suddenly remembered the military order sent from the base camp an hour ago.
The king said that the Han army in Hejian in the east has sent out troops, and he wants me to annihilate the enemies in Dingting as soon as possible. Does that mean that Lu Zhi wanted to block the eastward passage of our troops, so he left his troops here?
The more Yang Mao thought about it, the more he felt that this was quite possible.
Therefore, he decided to launch a tentative attack first to test the quality of the opponent.
Soon, the flags were fluttering and the military drums were flying.
After receiving the order from the Chinese army, the three generals Han Hao, Yang Chou and Zhang Sheng from Hanoi Town responded to the flag one after another to show that they had received the order.
On the afternoon of August 6th, it was extremely hot.
As if to make up for the heat lost due to heavy rain in the past few days, this day was much hotter than before.
Just standing under the sun for a while, the linings of the guards in Hanoi Town were soaked through.
And those armored soldiers who had put on armor were even more uncomfortable, as if they were stuffed in a jar and suffocated.
And damn, there was no wind at all today. I really envy those cavalrymen who can gallop and at least feel comfortable.
While these soldiers were thinking wildly, the war drum finally sounded in anticipation of everyone.
With the roaring of war drums and military songs, three thousand soldiers of Hanoi Town launched an attack.
"Raise swords and soldiers, exchange for peace, and restore the Qingming Dynasty to the world!"
The low and oppressive clouds in the sky were broken by this war cry, as if light appeared.
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(End of chapter)