Liugu River is formed by the confluence of several tributaries.
It was summer and there was plenty of rain.
The water upstream is narrow and fast, with the narrowest place being less than ten feet wide.
The water surface in the downstream is wide and gentle, with the widest place reaching over a hundred feet.
After observing the situation of the river, Wu Sangui planned to call together all his generals to discuss how to cross the river.
"No!" Strategist Fang Guangchen stopped him.
"Why?" Wu Sangui was very puzzled.
"General, you must remember that we are only responsible for fighting! As for how to fight, it must be decided by Wang Yongji, the governor of Ping Liao." Fang Guangchen explained: "The victory was due to the bravery of the Ning army, and the defeat was due to Wang Yongji's improper command!"
"This..." Wu Sangui hesitated, "Can the court and His Majesty believe it?"
"It doesn't matter!" Fang Guangchen replied calmly: "With Wang Yongji at the front, as long as the Guanning Army doesn't collapse, the court won't be able to find fault with the Guanning Army!"
Wu Sangui stared at Fang Guangchen's eyes for a while, then ordered his personal soldiers outside the tent: "Prepare the horses, follow me to the central army to ask the governor for advice on how to cross the river."
"yes."
Hundreds of personal soldiers surrounded Wu Sangui and Fang Guangchen and walked towards the central army.
Halfway through the journey, Wu Sangui suddenly stopped his horse.
"Is there anything wrong, Brother Wu?" Fang Guangchen asked.
Wu Sangui did not answer Fang Guangchen's question, but shouted to the accompanying Qing soldiers: "You disperse first, Mr. Fang and I have something important to discuss!"
After the Qing soldiers left for a distance, Wu Sangui urged his horse to approach Fang Guangchen and asked, "Brother Fang, can you tell me what you have in mind?"
"Brother Wu, you want to ask about how to break through Ningyuan City and how to use troops afterwards?" Fang Guangchen raised his head.
"Yes!" Wu Sangui answered seriously: "If you don't tell me, I won't be sure! The Guanning Army is my support, I can't bury them all in the Liaodong battlefield!"
Fang Guangchen pondered for a moment and asked, "Brother Wu is now the Marquis of Pingxi in the Ming Dynasty. I want to know what Brother Wu's goal is?"
"Target?" Wu Sangui was stumped by this question.
Seeing Wu Sangui remained silent, Fang Guangchen reminded him, "Do you want to be named a duke for your military merits like Qin Liangyu, and have the title be passed down from generation to generation? Or do you want to imitate Mu Ying and rule a place forever?"
"Or maybe..."
Before Fang Guangchen could finish his words, Wu Sangui interrupted him and said, "Mu Ying, follow Mu Ying's example!"
To him, Qin Liangyu's status as a duke was still a bit low!
However, there was no example in the Ming Dynasty of enthroning a king of a different surname during his lifetime, so the goal could only be to permanently control a place.
As for the rest, he hasn't thought about it yet.
"Haha," Fang Guangchen smiled faintly after hearing Wu Sangui's answer: "It is impossible to keep Liaodong in check forever. Li Chengliang didn't do it back then, and Brother Wu can't do it today!"
"Then...how should I choose?" Wu Sangui asked somewhat frustratedly.
"Just because there is no opportunity now doesn't mean there won't be any in the future, so I asked Brother Wu to volunteer to lead the charge! This way, the court can let down their guard, and you can move up with your military merits." Fang Guangchen explained, "As for the Guanning Army..."
Hearing these three words, Wu Sangui raised his head suddenly and asked, "What about the Guanning Army?"
"We should do our best. It doesn't matter how many people die, as long as the casualties are not elite troops!"
"What about Ningyuan City? How can we capture Ningyuan with minimal losses?" Wu Sangui asked again.
"have no idea."
"You don't know?" Wu Sangui was almost furious. "You didn't know and you asked me to volunteer to be the vanguard? Brother Fang, don't be ridiculous! If I can't capture Ningyuan, how can I report to the court?"
"No kidding!" Fang Guangchen said seriously, "I still say the same thing, the situation is changing! Wang Yongji is the governor of Ping Liao, we just need to follow his orders and carry out the mission, there is no need to think too much!"
"As for whether or not we can capture Ningyuan City, and when we can capture it, these are things Wang Yongji should consider!"
After listening to Fang Guangchen's long speech, Wu Sangui suddenly felt that he could no longer trust Fang Guangchen as much as before.
This guy certainly has some abilities, but the idea he came up with this time is tantamount to putting him on the spot.
It makes him very uncomfortable.
"Thank you, Brother Fang, for your guidance!" Wu Sangui bowed to Fang Guangchen and led the cavalry to continue marching towards Wang Yongji's central army.
Seeing Wu Sangui, Wang Yongji immediately smiled and said, "Speak of the devil, here I come! Come and sit down!"
Not long after, all the generals arrived.
Li Xingzhong and Wu Sangui sat opposite each other. Although they didn't speak, their eyes were already fighting.
Wang Yongji said promptly: "General Wu, tell me the situation."
"Yes," Wu Sangui raised his voice and reported all the findings.
Then start discussing tactics.
It would have been fine if we didn't discuss tactics, but once we started discussing them, things got chaotic.
"I think we should cross the river at night and not give the Jiannu a chance to attack them halfway across the river."
"It's even more unsafe at night! Not to mention how to build a pontoon bridge overnight, many soldiers can't see the road clearly at night and can't walk at all!"
"Then spread out the troops from east to west and cross the river together! As long as there are enough troops crossing the river at the same time, the Jian Nu will not be able to stop us!"
"How can they not be stopped? Do you understand attacking them halfway across the river? When our army was crossing the river, the Jiannu's light and heavy cavalry ran along the river and disrupted our formation. How could we not be defeated?"
"Why not wait for a foggy day and cross the river while it's foggy? The Jiannu will be unprepared!"
"Fog is a rare occurrence, and the army consumes more than 2,000 stones of food and fodder every day! We can afford to wait, but can the court afford to wait?"
The crowd had different opinions on how to cross the river.
Seeing that the discussion was almost over, Wang Yongji said, "Then divide the troops and cross the river! One part will pretend to cross the river downstream to attract the Jiannu's attention, and the other part will cross the river at the narrow part of the upstream. After crossing the river, quickly rush to the downstream to cover the downstream troops crossing the river!"
There was no better way for everyone to do this, so they just agreed.
After assigning tasks to each department, everyone left.
On the morning of May 16, Wu Sangui's 20,000 infantrymen lined up in the lower reaches of Liugu River.
The cavalry surrounded the rear.
They prepared a large amount of river crossing equipment in advance.
In addition to various boats and rafts, there are also wood for building floating bridges, wooden boats and wooden boards.
Whoosh!
With the command flags waved, the Guanning Army infantry pushed the boats filled with timber and planks into the water.
The soldiers then boarded the ships and used wood to connect the ships and began to build a pontoon bridge.
The Eight Banners soldiers on the other side of the river rode their war horses and patrolled along the river bank.
At first they wanted to use bows and arrows to shoot the Ming army, but when they found that the range was not enough, they simply put down their bows and arrows and stood on the shore waiting for the Ming army to enter the range.
The upper reaches of Liugu River.
The left wing of the Ping Liao army was crossing the river.
The first group to cross the river were the Ming cavalry.
Li Xingzhong took the lead and led more than a thousand personal soldiers to the other side on the floating bridge built by the soldiers at the cost of their lives overnight.
Li Xingzhong's nephew Li Shunzu led the remaining 9,000 cavalry and followed closely behind.
Yuan Zongde and Liu Xiyao's troops were in the third echelon.
Li Xingzhong and more than a thousand personal soldiers had just arrived on the other side when they heard the rumbling sound of horse hooves in the distance.
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