On the morning of the fourth day of September, Li Dingguo led the vanguard troops to the outskirts of Dongchang Prefecture.
Dongchang Prefecture is located ninety miles north of Anping Town.
The army can set out in the morning and arrive in the evening.
It can be said to be the northern gateway of Anping, and its geographical location is very important.
In order to ensure the safety here, Zhu Guobi deployed 5,000 elite troops in the city.
Before Li Dingguo's troops arrived, scouts informed the defenders in the city of the news.
The defenders in the city all came from the Nanjing Beijing Camp.
Before Shi Kefa left Nanjing, he was the one who trained the Nanjing Beijing Camp.
Shi Kefa's ability to command operations was indeed average, but he did have the ability to train soldiers.
In history, Shi Kefa had been leading troops to fight since the eighth year of Chongzhen, and resigned in the twelfth year of Chongzhen because of the death of his father-in-law. During this period, he cooperated with Lu Xiangsheng, Zu Kuan, Zuo Liangyu, Mou Wenshou, Liu Liangzuo and others to suppress bandits. At that time, he was mainly responsible for recruiting and training soldiers, preparing money and food, and supervising the battle.
In fact, not only Shi Kefa, many people have the ability to train troops.
At that time, there were many military books on military training, such as Qi Jiguang's "Jixiao Xinshu" and "Lianbing Xinzhi", Mao Yuanyi's "Wubei Zhi", He Liangchen's "Zhenji" and Sun Chengzong's "Cheying Kouta Hebian".
As long as there is enough money and food, the soldiers are trained according to military books, and rewards and punishments are clear, it is easy to train an elite force.
The Nanjing Beijing Camp had sufficient money and food, and the soldiers were fully trained.
Naturally, there is a fighting force.
Upon hearing that there were only 3,000 cavalrymen on the opposite side, the defenders sent a message to Zhu Guobi while going out of the city and forming a battle line.
The two armies confronted each other outside the city of Dongchang Prefecture.
Li Dingguo's men were all cavalry.
Most of the defenders of Dongchang Prefecture were infantry, and the few cavalry were only responsible for conveying military orders and gathering information on the battlefield.
Looking at the neat formation of the defenders, Li Dingguo put down his clairvoyance and shook his head slightly.
Gao Wengui stepped forward and asked, "Sir, how do we fight?"
Li Dingguo continued shaking his head and said, "The rebels are well-organized and well-equipped, and they also have a large number of firearms. Rashly charging with cavalry will only increase casualties."
"Your Excellency means... retreat?"
"Haha." Li Dingguo snorted coldly: "As an elite frontier army, how can you retreat without fighting?"
In Gao Wengui's puzzled eyes, Li Dingguo ordered: "Set up a horizontal formation to lure the enemy and find a way to make them move."
The infantry's formation will be disrupted when they move.
It is well known that infantry has no defense without formation.
When the formation is in disarray, there will also be loopholes in the defense.
Under the command of Li Dingguo, three thousand cavalrymen were divided into dozens of small teams and launched attacks on the rebel infantry formations.
After several rounds of arrow rain, the rebel army neither advanced nor retreated.
Instead, he stood there motionless.
Li Dingguo was somewhat surprised: "This infantry is more capable than I thought."
The rebel general outside the city was Zhao Zhilong, the Earl of Xincheng.
At this time, he was very proud: "Li Dingguo, Li Dingguo, you only have cavalry but no infantry. You can only fight mobile warfare, not positional warfare. As long as my infantry does not move, you will not be able to find any flaws."
Seeing that luring the enemy was ineffective, Li Dingguo decided to change tactics.
He rushed south at a high speed with his personal soldiers.
When the others saw the central army flag moving south, they quickly left the battlefield and followed.
Zhao Zhilong was stunned for a moment after hearing the news, then clapped his hands in joy: "Hahaha, Li Dingguo, who was praised to the sky by the imperial court in the capital, is just like this. He retreated in disgrace after knowing he was defeated."
At this time, Zhao Zhilong had two options before him.
One is to return to the city and rest.
The second is to send troops to pursue.
After a little hesitation, Zhao Zhilong chose the second option.
Almost all of his men were infantry.
Using infantry to chase cavalry is simply a huge joke.
After returning to the city.
When Zhao Zhilong was about to drink to celebrate, he suddenly realized that things were not that simple.
Cavalry cannot attack cities and will not participate in sieges.
So what was Li Dingguo's purpose in leading the cavalry to the city of Dongchangfu?
Strolling?
Get information?
Just when he was puzzled, a confidant reported: "After leaving the battlefield, Li Dingguo did not return by the same route, but marched quickly southward."
Zhao Zhilong stood up and asked, "Are you sure it's Xiangnan?"
"Sure."
"It's bad!" Zhao Zhilong cried out, "Li Dingguo's purpose in sending troops is not to capture Dongchang Prefecture, but Ping'an Town."
The confidant reminded him, "Sir, Anping Town is an important town, and its defense standards are higher than Dongchang Prefecture. In addition, in order to ensure that Anping Town is not lost, Lord Zhu (Zhu Guobi) has deployed thousands of elite troops there."
Zhao Zhilong yelled, "You know nothing! Li Dingguo doesn't even need to attack the city. He only needs to block the water to cut off Zhu Guobi's food supply. Once the food supply is cut off, things will be troublesome."
The confidant's face turned red after being scolded, and he asked in a low voice: "Does your Excellency mean to go out of the city to pursue?"
Zhao Zhilong cursed again: "What the hell are you chasing? We are two-legged infantrymen, and Li Dingguo's troops are all four-legged cavalrymen. We can't catch up with him even if we run until we bleed."
"What does your Excellency mean?"
"Tell Zhu Guobi immediately that Li Dingguo has already headed for Anping Town, and warn him to be careful about his food supply being cut off!"
"Yes, I will arrange for someone to deliver the letter right away."
Not long after the message was sent out, Zhu Cijiong and Li Xianzhong successively led their troops through Dongchang Prefecture.
Under the watchful eyes of the city's defenders.
They did not stop and chased in the direction Li Dingguo left.
In the early morning of September 5th, Zhu Guobi, who was sleeping soundly, received two pieces of news one after another.
The first news was that Li Dingguo's troops arrived outside the city of Dongchang Prefecture, and after some probing, they headed towards Anping Town.
The second piece of news was that Zhao Zhilong told him to be careful about the food supply being cut off.
"Fuck it," Zhu Guobi slammed the table hard, "This is complete nonsense. Do I need him to remind me?"
At this time Liu Kongzhao and Xu Wenjue rushed over.
After hearing the news, they both frowned at the same time.
Xu Wenjue asked first: "What should we do?"
Zhu Guobi asked back: "What should we do?"
"Of course it's Anping Town! Once Anping Town is lost, I'm afraid we will have no choice but to withdraw our troops from Jinan Prefecture."
Zhu Guobi said confidently: "Don't worry, Anping Town will not be lost. I have already ordered the defenders to follow the example of Jinan City and hang the portrait of Emperor Shenzong and the tablets of the gods on the top of the city. Not to mention Li Dingguo, even Zhu Cijiong would not dare to order an attack on the city."
Liu Kongzhao asked worriedly: "If Li Dingguo blocks the water, our food supply will still be cut off."
The three of them had a heated discussion around this issue.
Finally, the three of them agreed that they should retreat before their food supply was cut off.
Li Dingguo's troops had less than 10,000 cavalry.
The "Loyal King Army" not only had 70,000 troops, but also a large number of navy.
Anping Town is surrounded by water on three sides, and Li Dingguo, without a navy, was unable to take advantage of his cavalry.
After reaching a consensus, Zhu Guobi immediately ordered the camp to be moved and the stronghold to be established.
Prepare for a decisive battle with Li Dingguo in Anping Town.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
