Chapter 368 Volume C Cao Wenzhao, He Renlong
On the tenth day of the fifth lunar month, everything went well. The Yulin army, He Shixian's troops, defeated the Ningxia central guard, and Kuai Chengchong was captured without hesitation.
On May 12th, Yulin Army You Shigong's troops defeated Kuai Cheng'en's troops at Pinglu Station. Kuai Cheng'en abandoned Zhenyuan Pass and led the remaining troops to escape from the fortress in a hurry from Zhenyuan Pass and Dadingkou.
On May 15th, the Cao Wenzhao Division of the Datong Army and the He Renlong Division of the Yulin Army captured Jingtai and Gaolan respectively, marking the entry into the second stage of Ningxia's counterinsurgency war - the Gansu stage.
I originally thought that the rebels would put up fierce resistance at the Gansu garrison posts, perhaps even more fiercely than in the battles in Ningxia cities, but I never expected that the ensuing battle would turn out to be a big surprise, and the entire battle would turn into an armed parade.
On May 23rd, He Renlong's tribe and Cao Wenzhao's tribe joined forces to conquer Songshan Fort and defeated Achitu and Bintu's Niangzi tribe. The two tribes fled north and were overtaken by He Renlong's tribe in Huangyangchuan and were defeated again. , A Chitu and Lady Bintu were unable to escape under the Great Wall, so they had to kneel down and beg for surrender.
On the fourth day of June, several large armies invaded Gansu Town from Sishui Fort, Zhenqiang Fort, and Zhuanglangwei. The rebels almost fled without a fight.
On June 12, He Renlong's tribe captured Liangzhou Guard, while He Shixian's tribe entered Yongchang Guard, and officially captured Yongchang Guard on June 19, while You Shigong took advantage of the situation to regain the entire Zhuanglang Guard.
In fact, starting in May, the rebels began to evacuate the guards in the eastern part of Gansu Town on a large scale. The Yongchang Guards and Shandan Guards were almost directly abandoned by the government troops, but they had already emptied all the food, grass and belongings. , and even burned down some important passes and fortresses.
However, in general, the rebels did not burn, kill and loot as they had previously feared. However, this also brought huge troubles to the official army, that is, there was a serious shortage of supplies and they needed to be transported from the rear. This situation lasted until July 7 At the beginning of the month, the army entered Ganzhou and managed to survive with the help of the stored grain in Dongdacang.
"Brother Cao." Feng Ziying looked at the man in front of her who still had some impressions, but she really couldn't relate to the young man who still had an immature air in Datong.
"Brother Keng." Cao Wenzhao was also a little afraid to recognize each other. After seven years of separation, the child who had to be helped to get on the horse in order to ride a horse has now actually passed the Jinshi and Shujishi examinations, and has become a The advance envoy of Mr. Chai, the right minister of the Ministry of War and the governor of the three sides, entered Ganzhou first and made great contributions to the defense of Ganzhou.
"We haven't seen each other for a few years. Brother Cao is becoming more and more heroic." Feng Ziying tried hard to integrate the memories and impressions of his childhood with everything he knew in the book in his previous life. Well, this is Cao Wenzhao. As for him, That nephew, who knows if he would have been blown away by the wings of a butterfly when he was born?
"Haha, brother Keng, your performance is what makes us Datong, the old subordinates of the General Soldier, not believe it." After meeting Feng Ziying, Cao Wenzhao took Feng Ziying's hand and couldn't help but look up and down. Besides, I was also sighing and sighing.
Cao Wenzhao This is the truth.
When they learned that the legitimate son of the former Commander-in-Chief Feng had passed the Jinshi examination and was selected as a concubine, everyone couldn't believe it. He had never wiped his nose clean all day long in the Commander-in-Chief Mansion, and even often got slapped by the Commander-in-Chief. The lazy boy who was beaten up by the military officer actually became a Jinshi after not seeing him for several years?
Although the Feng family left Datong, the Duan family was still in Datong, and the connections of the Feng family were still there. The Duan family even held a grand banquet to celebrate the fact that their daughter's legitimate son had passed the Jinshi examination. Cao Wenzhao and many generals in the army came to congratulate him. of.
"Haha, Brother Cao, I'm not like that. If you hadn't taught me how to ride a horse, I wouldn't have been able to ride a thousand miles alone this time." Feng Ziying said with a smile: "After all, this is Brother Cao's It’s the credit.”
"Brother Cao can't bear it. Brother Keng, you have made a great contribution this time. The commander-in-chief will definitely be very happy. In a few days, the commander-in-chief, the governor, and the censor of Qiandu will all arrive. Today is Let’s hit the front station first.”
“Oh, the army is coming?” Feng Ziying asked in surprise.
After Liu Dongyang retreated to Suzhou, Ganzhou was actually in a strange state. The Yongchang Guards, Shandan Guards, and even Liangzhou Guards and Zhuanglang Guards in the east were all controlled by rebels. Suzhou in the west Hegaotai is also controlled by the rebels, leaving Ganzhou alone among them.
But the rebels are in a state of large-scale retreat, especially Liu Dongyang's main force has already withdrawn to Suzhou, and he doesn't have much thought to attack Ganzhou.
Among the thousands of soldiers in Ganzhou City, in addition to the more than 2,000 Gansu soldiers from the He Zhisheng Department, there are also 3,000 Ningxia soldiers from the Liu Baichuan Department, which is unreliable in everyone's mind, and these soldiers are also He is not willing to fight against his former glory.
So everyone simply hunkered down in Ganzhou City and allowed groups of rebels to pass through Ganzhou City from the east and retreat to Gaotai and Suzhou.
It’s just that if Yulin Town, Datong, Shanxi, and the follow-up Henan and Sichuan soldiers all come over, Ganzhou Dongdacang will not be able to supply these grains, so this also surprised Feng Ziying.
"No, the soldiers from Henan and Sichuan have not come. Even General You only captured Zhuang Langwei and did not go back here. Mr. Chai, Mr. Yang and your father all know the grain in Ganzhou Dacang However, Liu Dongyang still controls Gaotai, Suzhou and Jiayuguan. If he does not take them down, he will not be able to explain to the court and the emperor."
Cao Wenzhao looked around subconsciously and whispered.
The Hexi Corridor is like an irregular belt. Liangzhou and Zhuanglang in the east, Yongchang and Shandan in the middle have all been recovered. Ganzhou in the west is also in the hands of the imperial court. Only Gaotai and Su in the west have been recovered. However, Zhouzhou and Jiayuguan were occupied by rebels.
Want to fight, neither Gaotai nor Suzhou is easy to fight, and the rebels who are fighting their last battle will probably have to fight to the death. More importantly, it is too difficult to supply food and grass.
The one tael of grain shipped from Shaanxi would have to be converted into 3 taels when it arrived in Ganzhou. The cost was obviously high, and most of it had to be spent on the road, not counting other military resources.
With the current financial resources of the imperial court, I am afraid that it really cannot afford to fight a war. This is why Liu Dongyang believed that as long as he controlled Ganzhou and Shandan, the imperial court would not be able to take back the guards in the western part of Gansu Town, because the imperial court might be We really can't afford such a war.
You can tell by looking at the terrain. As long as Shandanwei is held in check, he can easily cut off your supply line no matter how many troops come from the imperial court. Shandanwei is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and it is at odds with Ganzhou. , if you want to defeat it, you don’t know how much price you have to pay.
“Then Master Chai and the others mean...” Feng Ziying hesitated.
In fact, he also had some ideas, but they were too bold and unconventional, so he never mentioned them to Zhang Jin and He Zhisheng. But now it seems that Chai Ke, Yang He and his father are also aware of this. So they should all be thinking about post-war matters.
"I'm not sure. Our troops and He Renlong's troops from the Yulin Army arrived first, and Master He's army will arrive soon. It's up to Master Chai and others to decide in the end. We warriors just follow the orders." Cao Wenzhao said with a smile.
While the two were chatting and laughing, they saw a military general in his early twenties walking in quickly.
Cao Wenzhao's face suddenly turned cold, but the man came over without hesitation and bowed first: "Have you seen the young master? Hey, Mr. Cao is here when he is so free?"
Feng Ziying knew at a glance that Cao Wenzhao and this guy were not on the same page, but this guy was also a popular figure in front of his father. In the battle against the rebellion, he also relied on his bravery and fearlessness of death and his courage to make strange moves, and he achieved great success in several consecutive battles. A complete victory won Chai Ke's trust, so after this war is over, I'm afraid it may be upgraded to guerrilla status.
“Brother He, are you here too?” Feng Ziying and He Renlong also saw Li and said with a smile, “My father and the others haven’t arrived yet?”
“The general, Mr. Chai, and Mr. Yang have probably just passed Yongchang Guard. Yongchang Guard has suffered huge losses. Mr. Chai and others still need to consider how to provide relief and appease the local area. It is estimated that it will take a few days to arrive.”
He Renlong also didn't look good to Cao Wenzhao.
In his opinion, this group of Datong soldiers were just here to grab credit. The most arduous and dangerous work was done by the Yulin army. When the rewards were given based on merit, these Datong soldiers and Shanxi soldiers all jumped out and competed one by one. Everyone danced happily.
Of course he also admitted that Cao Wenzhao still had some merits, but the other generals in Datong Town and Shanxi Town were so disgusting that he even couldn't stand these generals in Datong and Shanxi.
Cao Wenzhao also looked down on He Renlong. He thought he was superior to others because of his background as a martial arts scholar. When he was fighting with the Tatars at the border, this guy was still nursing in his wife's arms. How many battles have you had? Do you think it's a big deal after fighting against the Ningxia rebels? I don’t know how high the sky is and how high it is!
Of course, this is a bit exaggerated, but Cao Wenzhao joined the army at the age of sixteen, and he was five or six years older than He Renlong. When he joined the army, He Renlong was in his early ten years, and indeed he was still a naive child.
The two began to compete with each other when they invaded the Big and Small Songshan Mountains. One stormed Gaolan and the other attacked Jingtai at night. Then they jointly attacked Songshan Fort, but in order to pursue Achitu and Bintu's women's tribe, they almost ended up fighting each other. It was Cao Wenzhao who gave in. As a result, He Renlong caught up with Achitu and Bintu's women's tribe in Huangyangchuan, forcing them to surrender, which was a great achievement. This also made Cao Wenzhao and his men regret it. Hate each other with gnashing of teeth.
Fortunately, Cao Wenzhao succeeded in raiding Zhenqiang Fort and Anyuan Station Fort. However, He Renlong then stormed Sishui Fort and succeeded. However, Cao Wenzhao was laughed at by Cao Wenzhao's troops because if they had not captured Anyuan Station Fort, Sishui Fort The rebels were disheartened and He Renlong was unable to succeed at all. The two almost fought during the military meeting in front of the tent.
So these two people were like black-eyed chickens in front of Feng Ziying, refusing to give in to each other.
(End of this chapter)