Chapter 72 The decisive battle Cangzhou, also known as Qingchi, is located on the east bank of the canal.
The surrounding terrain is flat and open.
Except for the Zhangshui River 20 miles west of the city, there are almost no dangers.
Therefore, it is definitely not a good place for a decisive battle for the Yuan army, which has low morale and lacks all kinds of firearms to support the battle.
Similarly, due to the small number of cavalry and relatively insufficient mobility, the Huai'an army also felt very uncomfortable fighting in a wide pure plain area.
Therefore, both the enemy and ourselves acted very cautiously in the first few days.
Except for a few tentative contests between the scouts who were responsible for exploring the surrounding enemy situation, almost no large-scale battles took place.
But in the fight between the scouts, Meng Yuan did not suffer any loss.
First of all, the scouts who can serve as scouts are all elites selected from a hundred, and all of them are highly skilled.
The smaller the encounter, the more capable you are.
Secondly, they are far more familiar with the surrounding topography, customs and customs than the Huai'an Army's scouts.
They also dress up as ordinary people.
After hiding their war horses and wrapping a dirty rag on their heads, they can turn themselves into ordinary farmers.
The Huaiyang people don't need to speak, just their fair face and relatively soft eyebrows immediately reveal their identity to the broad daylight.
Third, the disparity in riding skills between the two sides completely offset the Huai'an army's advantage in weapons.
The Mongols learned to ride horses as soon as they learned to walk, and the most experienced scouts of the Huai'an Army had only been exposed to war horses for less than four years.
The accuracy of the three-eyed firegun is slightly insufficient while running, and its range is roughly close to that of a riding bow.
As a result, in the first few days when the two sides began to get closer, the morale on Meng Yuan's side actually skyrocketed.
From the Dingzhu down, everyone had a vague feeling that the Huai'an Army was not as powerful as the rumors said.
If the tactics are used properly and the advantages of the cavalry on your side are fully utilized, you may be able to save the world.
However, after only one day, Dingzhu's good mood dissipated.
After ascertaining the surrounding enemy situation and checking the terrain, the Huai'an army began to push forward as a whole.
It is still divided into three armies, left, middle and right, each of which is about thirty to fifty miles apart from each other.
Each road is further divided into armies or brigades based on the nearby situation.
Led by a veteran general, all the cities and fortresses encountered along the way were wiped out.
Langerkou, Mengcun, Yanshan, Liminchang, Dingzhu lost most of its peripheral strongholds in almost five days.
Some "rebel soldiers" who were waiting for a price and who might turn to one of the warring parties at any time were also eliminated one by one by the Huai'an army.
The speed is astounding, and the methods are extremely ruthless.
According to the remnant soldiers who fled back to express their condolences to Dingzhu, Wu Liangmou, Wu Yongchun, Zhang Dingbian and others had no chance of a fair fight with their opponents.
Every time when troops and horses are sent to a fortress or city, the defenders are given half an hour to decide whether to fight or surrender.
When the time is up, hundreds of artillery pieces of various colors are fired one after another, "bang, rumble," "bang, rumble," and " "Boom, boom, boom" several times, the sky collapsed and the earth shattered "Go down and have a rest.
If you don't want to die, keep your mouth shut.
Send them to Xingji, thirty miles away, and hand them over to you for careful screening."
Each time, without waiting for the messenger to finish, he decided to Zhu interrupted irritably.
The artillery of the Huai'an Army is indeed sharp and powerful.
But to say that a hundred or so cannons can directly blow a city to pieces, or kill thousands of soldiers and horses, is simply telling lies with open eyes.
This is not the time a few years ago when the Red Thieves had just put artillery into the battlefield.
At that time, Dayuan didn't know what artillery was, nor how to deal with it.
When they heard the bombardment, their legs and feet were mostly frightened, and they only knew how to huddle in a pile and get bombed, so they suffered heavy casualties every time.
But now, even the centurion at the lowest level understands that the damage range of artillery is only three to five feet near the point where the projectile lands.
The more senior generals had already been warned to disperse their troops immediately upon hearing the sound of artillery fire.
After a long period of local imitation without hesitation, the Ordnance Bureau of the Yuan Dynasty could even produce lightweight four-pound cannons and six-pound cannons with a long range.
However, the cost of each cannon is still high, and its service life is slightly less than that of the smuggled Huaiyang cannon.
So let alone other veterans on the battlefield, even Dingzhu himself, who has never fought in a battle, knows countless ways to deal with artillery.
More than a hundred artillery pieces fired at the same time sounded truly earth-shattering.
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But for people hiding behind city walls, or infantry scattered in formation on the plain, the intimidation effect is far greater than the actual killing.
If the coach directs it properly, five thousand soldiers and horses can survive for ten days and a half with a fortified city, which will not be any problem at all.
Therefore, without asking carefully, Dingzhu knew that the remnant soldiers who returned from the defeat were defeated by the collapse of morale, not by the sharp firearms of the Huai thieves.
Dingzhu did not dare to leave these frightened wastes around him to continue spreading panic.
It is the best choice to hand them all over to He Weiwei's son Hudu to take care of them first.
After you have your hands free, you can then carefully identify them, either kill them to make a warning to others, or remove the bad ones and keep the good ones.
"Report, right minister, Alutai has returned.
He knelt outside the camp gate and held a thorn to plead guilty."
Just after sending away a remnant of the soldiers, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, another report from the guards came from the door of the temporary meeting hall.
Voice.
"Which Alutai?
It's Alutai from Wanhu of the Semu Army.
Why is he back?
Call him, come here, escort him in."
When Dingzhu heard this, the hair on the back of his neck immediately stood up.
Although others lose the battle, it makes him angry, but it does not cause chaos.
After all, those peripheral strongholds were just to delay the enemy's attack, and Dingzhu didn't expect them to last long from the beginning.
The soldiers and horses stationed in the stronghold are all third-rate goods.
No matter how heavy the losses are, it will not cause any damage to his side.
However, the situation of Alutai, a member of the Semu Army Ten Thousand Households, is completely different.
The eight thousand soldiers and horses under his command are all the best among the best.
They are all tall and well-armed.
However, their mission is to "recover" Hejian Mansion, which was stolen by the remnants of the Dong family, and to open up the connection between Hejian Road and Baoding Road.
As far as Dingzhu knew, the Dong family had only three thousand soldiers and horses in their hands at the moment.
And it was not a regular army at all, but a temporary collection of guards and servants put together by several well-known large households in Hejian City.
The forward of the Huai'an army was now a hundred miles away from Hejian Fucheng, and there was no time to rush to rescue them.
He originally thought that when Arutai arrived with the Semu Army, he would attack the sheep with tigers.
Unexpectedly, the tiger suddenly escaped with a bloody head, but the sheep stood on the city wall and showed off their power.
"Right Prime Minister, Right Prime Minister, the last general, the last general almost couldn't see you."
Before Dingzhu could figure out what went wrong, his confidant and beloved general, Alutai, who was already crying and crawling Come in.
Using his knees as feet, he crawled forward a few steps.
While crying, he explained loudly: "The general has just arrived at the city, and before he can set up camp, the mountains and plains are full of enemy troops.
The general, thanks to his brothers who risked their lives to protect each other, was able to defeat the siege.
Otherwise, the siege was defeated." , General, I don’t even have the chance to come back and give you a message.”
"Get up and tell me slowly who set up the ambush.
Which company's banner it was and how many people there were?"
Dingzhu couldn't believe his ears at all.
He bent down and picked up Alutai.
Lift the man into the air.
Although he had only been a civil servant before, he had a lot of strength.
Arutai was held by his neck and was soon suffocated to the point where he couldn't breathe.
While struggling desperately with his hands and feet, he moaned and begged for mercy: "Spare, spare my life.
It's the Mongolian army, the right minister of the Mongolian army in the Yuan Dynasty, the last general, the last general is, yes, he came back specially to report the news.
The last general, the last general is going to die, ugh Woo, the last general, the last general” "Leave him alive and let him explain clearly what happened."
Zuo Xianghe only saw that Alutai had begun to roll his eyes, so he hurried over and flicked the tendons at Dingzhu's elbow.
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Dingzhu's arm suddenly froze, his fingers immediately loosened, and Alutai was thrown to the ground, "You loser, please speak clearly quickly.
Otherwise, I will kill you without mercy."
"Yes, yes" Alutai escaped from death and crawled on the ground, with runny nose and tears.
"General, the general has really tried his best.
The scouts and scouts all said that the Huai'an Army did not send troops to reinforce the Dong family at all.
The general also knew everything about the other forces around him."
He did feel unfairly defeated, and he still feels very unwilling to do so when he thinks about it.
The soldiers and soldiers of Semu are all Dashi warriors living in the Central Plains.
They committed some crime in their respective hometowns, or the master they assisted failed to seize power and was killed, so they took a boat to sea to find another way to survive.
These people are either fanatical Tianfang believers, or they only have money in their eyes.
Taking them to deal with a group of servants who have just formed a team is simply killing a chicken with a knife.
However, what Alutai never expected was that he discovered the movements of the Huai'an army and the true identity of the remnants of the Dong family, but ignored another group of potential enemies.
Just when they thought they could stop and rest, they then charged into Hejian Mansion to massacre the city.
Suddenly a Mongol army's battle flag was raised on their sides and behind them.
"Which Mongolian army do you want to report to the Prime Minister?
The Mongolian army is here, how could it come to ambush you?"
Dingzhu was confused after hearing this, and raised his foot and kicked Alutai hard. , urged sharply.
"Yes, yes, it's the Mongolian army stationed on Baoding Road."
Alutai rolled over and recalled painfully, "It's the Mongolian army stationed at Wanhu Prefecture, Baoding, Dayuan Dynasty.
There are more than 10,000 people."
There are banners of Wanhu Mansion on Baoding Road, and there are tens of thousands of gourd soldiers, and there are still some.
They are clearly the last generals of the Forbidden Army.
But the last generals don’t dare to guess.
But, the last generals seem to have seen them.
Look.
We’ve arrived, Lord Taiwei” "Ah" Dingzhu shook his body and felt dizzy.
He had been on guard against Yue Kuo Chaer's lack of determination and the possibility of escaping with some of the forbidden troops.
That's why he was sent to Baoding Road to gather local soldiers and "rebels" from all walks of life to prepare for emergencies.
Who would have thought that Yue Kuo Cha'er would be so shameless and would simply seek refuge with Butcher Zhu.
Now, he no longer has to think about digging through the passage between Hejian Road and Baoding Road.
Yue Kuo Cha'er has already come to kill him, and is about to join Xu Tenhu in a flanking attack on him.
"Don't panic, Yue Kuo Cha'er doesn't have the guts to cross the Zhangshui River."
Zuo Xiang He Weiyi strode forward again and held on to the fixed pillar.
"He is just like those Han army princes, he just wants to fish in troubled waters.
When Dajin was destroyed by our Mongolia, countless people used this move, which is not new at all.
He will not really fight for Zhu Tutu, Zhu The butcher didn't dare to believe him, so he couldn't push the guy out, behead him in front of everyone, and gag his mouth, and not allow him to shout a word."
"Yes" Several guards rushed in from outside the door.
Without any explanation, they tied up Alutai, took off his socks and blocked his mouth.
"Rare, oooo" Alu Tai did not expect that He Weiwei was more cruel than Dingzhu.
He stared at his master Dingzhu with his eyes widened, struggling desperately.
But Dingzhu seemed to have lost his soul.
He didn't even bother to look at him.
He let him be dragged out of the meeting hall by the guards, holding the knife in his hand.
"We can't delay it any longer.
You have to write a challenge to Xu Da right away and ask him to set a date for a life-or-death showdown.
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No matter whether Zhang Shicheng takes any action or not, we can't wait any longer.
If you wait any longer, you and I will only be embarrassed on all sides."
Kill decisively After Alutai was silenced, He Weiwei leaned over Dingzhu's ear and reminded him urgently.
"Didn't you just say Yue Kuo Cha'er?"
Dingzhu was still under the sudden blow, unable to recover.
He was stunned for a moment, then murmured a question.
"That's to stabilize the morale of the army."
He Weiwei stamped his feet anxiously, "In fact, I can't guess what Yue Kuo Cha'er wants to do.
What I'm most afraid of right now is that he suddenly sends his troops to Dadu to kidnap His Majesty, and then follow him Butcher Zhu and the prince are bargaining at the same time.
If everything is lost, more than half of the hundreds of thousands of troops in our hands will be dispersed in an instant."
"He, he dared to kidnap the emperor."
Dingzhu's eyes rolled blankly and he shook his head vigorously.
Comparing his feelings, he himself was forced to a dead end by Tuohuan Timur before, and he never thought of going over to support the new king.
As a hereditary Mongolian nobleman, how could Yuekuochaer be so lawless?
"It was very strange that he could still escape from the Xuzhou battlefield despite losing all his soldiers.
Over the years, he has made a lot of money in business with Huaiyang.
In the capital city, there are guys like him who only care about money and not the emperor. , there are not even one thousand but eight hundred .
In such a situation, what else would they not dare to do for their own selfish interests?
Besides, how could the prince not take advantage of the opportunity and collude with them secretly?"
He Weiyi gritted his teeth in anxiety and said this.
More polite than a word.
"Indeed," Dingzhu thought for a moment and nodded vigorously.
"You are right.
There are not even a thousand but eight hundred people like that in the capital city.
His Highness the Crown Prince hates us more than the Huai bandits.
We must fight Xu Da as soon as possible, but" After a slight hesitation, he asked in a low voice with great concern, "Will Xu Da be willing to fight with us?
The current situation, the longer it is delayed, the better it will be for him."
"He did not dare to delay for too long.
Moreover, he worked hard to remove the peripheral strongholds in order to achieve victory in one battle.
If he delayed for a long time, the prince would repent, or Liu Futong, Zhu Chongba and others He changed his mind and marched eastward.
By then, the Huai'an army will be in the same dilemma as we are now."
He Weiwei thought for a while and responded very confidently.
"Then I will write it, and the time will be decided by him.
I will wait for him at the gate of Cangzhou City."
Dingzhu gritted his teeth and nodded after hearing He Weiwei's affirmation.
Life or death, this is the battle.
The news that Yue Kuo Chaer suddenly raised troops to separate the country drained his last bit of patience.
He would rather see the final result sooner rather than continue to endure endless suffering in the darkness.
As for Xu Da, it seemed to be just as He Weiwei expected.
The desire for a quick victory is no worse than Dingzhu.
After receiving the letter of challenge from the Mongolian and Yuan messengers, he approved four words without hesitation, and then threw the letter of challenge directly in the face of the messenger, "Tell your right minister that in the morning three days from now, I, the Huai'an Army, will Thousands of elites will fight with you under Cangzhou City for a showdown."
"Three days later, there will be a showdown" "Three days later, there will be a showdown" When the Huaiyang soldiers heard Xu Da's straightforward words, they were all high-spirited.
They pulled out their sabers and raised them high in the air.
"Three days later, there will be a showdown" "Three days later, there will be a showdown" Outside the Chinese army's tent, 20,000 elite troops of the Third Army were standing outside, listening to the generals shouting proudly.
They all also raised their voices and shouted in unison.
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In an instant, it was like a landslide and tsunami.
Dingzhu's messenger was so frightened that his face turned pale and he did not dare to use his words.
Picking up the letter from the ground, it rolled and crawled, and the rat scurried away.
Until the mount returned to Cangzhou City, there were still shouts lingering in his ears.
"Fight if you fight.
I, the descendant of Genghis Khan, are still afraid of death."
Dingzhu was furious at Xu Da's reply.
Start immediately and make final preparations.
He has an army of 200,000 men.
In the past few days, he has lost more than 20,000 unqualified soldiers in the periphery.
He has also lost 8,000 elite troops under the Hejian Mansion City, and there are still 170,000 soldiers left.
But all of these 170,000 cannot be put on the battlefield.
A coach's communication range is limited, and it is impossible for soldiers and horses lined up several miles away to still act in accordance with orders.
Secondly, when the two sides actually fought, there would be no 300,000 troops on the battlefield at the same time.
Therefore, after repeated discussions with He Weiyi, Li Siqi and others, he sent 170,000 people to Wu Cunjing.
Forty thousand old and weak people were left to wave flags and shout in the city to enhance their prestige.
Ten thousand artillery troops occupied the city head and commanded a commanding position.
Thirty thousand troops went to the small towns on the left and right sides of Cangzhou to support the main force.
The remaining 90,000 elites are divided into four armies: left, center, right and rear.
Except for the center army, which has 30,000 troops, the other three divisions all have 20,000 troops.
He personally commanded the central army, the rear army was handed over to He Weiwei, and the left and right armies were all given to brothers Li Siqi and Li Sishun.
At that time, all the soldiers selected to fight will be arrayed with their backs to Cangzhou City, so that the Huai thief Xu Da also can see that Dayuan is not without men.
Three days is not a long time.
After Dingzhu made his tactical arrangements, he sat in the city and lived like a year.
After a while, it felt as if the capital city had been lost.
The emperor and the officials were all taken away by Yue Kuo Chaer and taken away to Ji Ning.
After a while, I seemed to hear someone running in to report that Zhang Shicheng was indeed short-sighted and led his troops to sneak attack Yangzhou.
After a while, I seemed to hear someone telling me from somewhere that Liu Futong had given Zhu Chongjiu an order, telling him to withdraw his troops and leave most of them for the Bianliang Army to fight.
After a while, I seemed to hear someone shouting outside again, saying that the prince, carrying a hundred thousand soldiers, had passed through Jingxing Pass and inserted into Xu's retreat.
However, in fact, he spent these three days very quietly.
No news, good or bad, was heard.
The capital city hundreds of miles away was safe and sound, and instead of being kidnapped, Timur had the time to write an imperial edict to all the heroes in the world, calling on them to work hard to serve the king.
Whoever kills Butcher Zhu will seal half of the south of the Yangtze River.
And Yue Kuocha'er, after advancing his troops to the Xianzhou area and coming into contact with the small group of left-behind troops sent by the Huai'an Army, he also stopped decisively.
They are ready to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, and the two groups help each other.
As for the sea, there is no news at all.
In spring, there are more southerly winds and more northerly winds.
It takes at least seven days for the Clippers to go from Hangzhou to Haigu, and at least half a month for the round trip.
In addition to the time it took Zhang Shicheng to make decisions, as well as the delay in wind direction and weather, it would be difficult to get an immediate reply.
"Xuda's side, the situation is the same as ours.
If there is no way out, it will still take him three to five days to receive Zhu Tutu's order to withdraw the troops."
He Weiwei had already ignored life and death.
Seeing that the Dingzhu God was not guarding the house, he would not Keep cheering him up.
"It must be so," Dingzhu gritted his teeth and responded loudly.
"Zhang Shicheng is short-sighted.
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Zhang Shicheng must be short-sighted."
At the end of the sentence, his voice took on a mysterious flavor, faintly like a curse
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