Chapter 57 The War Has Begun
Encircling Wei to rescue Zhao, and encircling a point to bring reinforcements, these are the two military strategies Zhao Yingluo discussed with the generals.
So, after leaving Kaifeng, she divided the 10 horses into two parts. The 9 infantrymen pretended to be the main force and went straight to Puzhou, while the remaining [-] horses set up ambushes on the roads between Puzhou and Shangzhou, waiting for Liu Lin's reinforcements. 's arrival
At the same time, she also ordered Kuai Ma to notify Han Shizhong stationed in Xuzhou, asking him to use all his troops to attack Liu Lin's retreat.
Two days later, Zhao Yingluo, Yue Fei and others went out with a thousand cavalry to explore the ambush. When they reached a prominent hillock, they stopped the large group.
"Princess, this is Langzai Valley, the best place to set up an ambush!" Yue Fei said while riding a horse and pointing at a hillock not far away.
Zhao Yingluo immediately rode up to the low hillock. Although the hillock was not high, compared to the low flat ground around it, the view was still quite wide.
Immediately to the west side of the mound is the official road that stretches to Puzhou. On the other side of the official road is what Yue Fei said is the Langzai ditch. There is a dense forest in the ditch and overgrown weeds in the middle.
"Why is it called Langpigou?"
"The locals said that the woods here are dense and there are many animals such as hares, which is the most suitable place for wild wolves to survive. People passing by can often hear the howling of wolf pups, so it is called Wolf Patch Valley. But later, wild wolves They killed many domestic livestock and even injured people, so the Yamen organized hunters to clean up Langzaigou. The wild wolves have since disappeared, but the name of Langzaigou has been preserved."
Zhao Yingluo nodded and immediately asked, "Everyone, if we set up an ambush here, what strategy should we use?"
Yue Fei, Wang Zaixing and others looked at each other and said, "The woods here are dense and it is the middle of winter. The grass and trees are withered and yellow, so we should attack with fire."
Zhao Yingluo secretly admired in her heart that gentlemen have the same views, and what he wants in his heart coincides with her own.
"Go ahead and prepare more tung oil and other fire attack items!"
After receiving the news from his father, Liu Lin divided the 6-strong army into two, and [-] troops continued to be stationed in Shangzhou. Under his command, he continued to look for opportunities to attack Xuzhou.
The remaining 4 troops, led by General Liao Cheng, marched day and night to rescue Puzhou.
On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, after a heavy snowfall, the people and horses were stranded and the road was difficult to travel. At this time, Liao Cheng's people and horses were about to cross Zaixing, who was hiding on a high hill, was a little anxious when he saw that the princess had not sent a signal to attack. If he hesitated for a moment, the enemy would leave the best attack range.
"Brother Zaixing, please be patient." Yue Fei grabbed Wang Zaixing, who was about to order a fire, and said, "Fire attack is the best at this time, but we still need to wait for a while."
"What are you waiting for? When Liu Lin finds out that he is surrounded and Puzhou has fallen, will he rush to come back for reinforcements? Humph, he can't be that stupid!" Wang Zaixing snorted disapprovingly.
"I'm not waiting for him to realize that he is surrounded. We are waiting for all the enemy's logistics to enter Langpigou. If we attack his logistics, the enemy's position will be in chaos and they will not be able to care about the head and tail." Yue Fei said calmly.
"General Yue, I looked at the enemy's flag, and it seems that the general leading it is not Liu Lin." Wang Zaixing asked doubtfully.
"The big banner has the big character 'Liao' written on it. Judging from this, it was not Liu Lin who led the troops to aid Puzhou but his general Liao Cheng." Yue Fei explained.
"Liao Cheng? Then Liu Lin didn't personally lead his entire army to help, but only sent his generals. Isn't he afraid that all his troops would be wiped out?" Wang Zaixing was a little confused.
Yue Fei said calmly, "Of course he is not afraid. Now everyone in the Song Dynasty is not optimistic about the princess leading troops, let alone the arrogant Liu Lin."
Wang Zaixing nodded, "If it were in the past, I would have thought that the official family was fed some ecstasy soup by someone, but based on the princess' current analysis of the battle situation, she is not a novice in leading troops."
Yue Fei agreed, "We cannot predict the potential of the princess. Now we only need to prepare more firewood and tinder. When the enemy comes into range, we can light the firewood and tinder and throw them into the ravine."
"Okay!" Wang Zaixing sighed in admiration and then said, "If Liu Lin's tens of thousands of troops are buried this time, he will definitely lead his army to come back for reinforcements!"
After Zhao Yingluo saw the opponent's logistics supply of food and fodder, she finally sent out the command flag signal, "Send the order and prepare for a fire attack!"
In an instant, as several beams of fire were thrown down from the high hill into Langpigou, flames instantly shot up into the sky.
The north wind started to blow, which helped the fire get bigger and bigger, and the smoke billowed. Some soldiers and horses who were forced by the thick smoke were dizzy and fled in all directions.
There are ravines criss-crossing the road. One side of the official road is dense forest and the other side is a steep slope. In addition, the snow is deep, making it impossible for people and horses to pass.
The soldiers who couldn't escape were swallowed up by the flames and screamed repeatedly.
Liao Cheng was shocked. When he raised his head and took a closer look, he saw a mass of darkness in the sky flying towards them, followed by the sound of arrows piercing the air and the wails of men and horses.
Liao Cheng wanted to organize a large army to break out, but the entire army was already in disarray. They only focused on their own escape, and Liao Cheng's life and death did not matter.
After more than a dozen waves of arrows, nearly half of Liao Cheng's 4 troops were lost. They were either burned to death by fire or shot to death by arrows. Under the surprise attack, he was unable to organize an effective counterattack and look for opportunities to break out.
"kill!"
After seeing that the fire attack was successful, Zhao Yingluo waved the flag again, and Yue Fei, Wang Zaixing and others rushed down from the high hill with their troops.
At the moment of meritorious deeds, who wouldn’t rush to the first place?Yue Fei, Wang Zaixing, Wang Shan and other generals led their elite troops to rush down the high hill one after another. They were like tigers rushing like sheep, killing Liao Cheng's army like a river of blood.
Finally, after losing nearly all his troops, Liao Chengcai was able to escape the siege with more than a thousand of his personal guards and fled to Puzhou in embarrassment.
This battle lasted from ten o'clock at noon to sunset. Of the 4 troops, except for those who died on the spot, the remaining nearly [-] surrendered directly.
You can't fight but you can't fight, you can't escape and you can't escape. Are you going to die if you don't surrender?
Night enveloped the earth, almost completely hiding the bloody scene. After clearing the battlefield and counting the number of people, the number of casualties on both sides was known.
Liao Cheng's troops surrendered without death, so there is no need to say more.
As for Zhao Yingluo's subordinates, the total number of people killed in the battle was less than a hundred. After hearing the battle report, she nodded with some satisfaction. You must know that these private soldiers had only been trained for less than three months.
With such a strong combat effectiveness in such a short period of time, wouldn't it mean that if he trained for more than a year, he would be invincible? "Second the order, the three armies have a rest. We will continue on our way tomorrow morning."
[Xuzhou, Shuai Mansion]
After Han Shizhong received the letter from Zhao Yingluo, he was extremely reluctant. Although she was a recruiting envoy, she was also a recruiting envoy. The two had equal official positions, but she had to obey the imperial edict and had to obey. Do.
But "doing" is one thing, not doing it is another. How could he, a majestic seven-foot man, let a woman control him at will.
……
Han Shizhong thought about it for several days, and finally decided to lead his army to Xuzhou. Although he was reluctant, he could not disobey his order.
(End of this chapter)