"Actually, if you think about it carefully, we are the four towns of the Qi Shizi, and we can't be called a disadvantage." On the way to the march, Chen Zhe and Xu Ping suddenly said when they studied the battle situation: "The so-called regiment of the Ming army is completely organized according to the wings of adults, there are a total of twelve regiments in the four towns of Qi Shizi, and our six battalions also have twelve wings, although ......" said, said Chen Zhe himself was a little deflated, except for the two battalions of guards and snipers, the remaining armored battalion can be called full of armor, and the others were damaged in the previous defensive battle, but Chen Zhe felt that he could not extinguish his prestige, and continued: "At least in terms of the number of wings and regiments, it is still one-to-one." ”

"This is not good, Brother Chen has also begun to learn from the Ming Army," Xu Ping laughed: "It's better than it's not as good, why bother to make excuses." ”

In addition to the 9,000 soldiers belonging to the three regiments, there are more than 6,000 independent units, and these troops can not only be engaged in assistance and auxiliary work, but also have undergone combat training and can be supplemented into the regiment for use as infantry. Even if these soldiers are simple auxiliary troops, Xu Ping remembers that Chen Zhe once commented in the past: If there is an auxiliary soldier behind a combat soldier, then he can be used as a semi-combat soldier, and if there are ten auxiliary soldiers behind a combat soldier, then he can be on top of three combat soldiers without auxiliary soldiers.

The specific values can be discussed, but both Xu Ping and Chen Zhe understood that the Ming army had an absolute superiority in strength.

"We can fight a battalion of the new army with one wing," although Chen Zhe agreed with Xu Ping's decision, but he still had some lack of confidence, and fought a decisive battle with the enemy's superior forces in the local territory, which is not quite in line with Chen Zhe's habits, since Henan, he and Xu Ping have always been strong and weak, so Chen Zhe unconsciously always wants to tap more advantages of the Shun army, but now all the strengths of the Shun army are really not very many: "Even when we met the new army led by Jia Shuai for the first time, we could beat them with one and a half battalions. ”

"At that time, Jia Shuai's new army still used the same method to deal with Jiannu and homeless people, and the Guards Battalion had already begun special targeted training, and now the Ming army is using the lessons we have summed up, and they even copied our sand table as it was." Xu Ping was also a little worried in his heart, but he felt that if he deceived himself, it would affect his judgment, and he would rather pour some cold water on his colleagues: "When I met Jia Shuai, the Guards Battalion had already fought in Henan in recent years, and I had experienced a hundred battles in attacking the city, has anyone in the new army ever seen the battlefield?" ”

At that time, the morale of the new army was high except for the high morale of Huangshi, Chen Zhe felt that there was not much merit, and then after there was no such morale, he broke into the camp and cleaned them up, and it was indeed more than enough to take one to two as Chen Zhe said, and Chen Zhe shook his head and said: "They haven't fought a few battles now." ”

"But they have fought, they have seen the battlefield, this is very different from the original new army, the new army we met in Henan is the best is the Dongjiang army that has been chasing in Shandong for a few months - the Dongjiang army that fights guerrilla with them with wooden sticks and sabers, and now they have fought several battles in Zhejiang, facing artillery and platoon guns." Just as Yu Shenhe reported to Li Dingguo, Li Laiheng also wanted Xu Ping to introduce the rapidly improving tactical literacy of the Ming army, at least under the conditions of eighteen months of training, once the artillery of the Ming army adapted to the bloody and terrifying atmosphere of the battlefield, it quickly overwhelmed the artillery units of the Shun army.

Chen Zhe knew very well that Xu Ping's plan was to put him to death and survive, and hoped that every soldier would realize that if he did not achieve victory, he would face death.

"And we have another advantage." Before Li Laiheng's report, Xu Ping did not find that his opponent still had such a weakness, that is, there was some lack of harmony between the generals and soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and it seemed that Qi Gong was promoting a new relationship between officers and soldiers. For example, the jurisdiction of the commanders over the subordinates was greatly weakened, and the system of military judges, which had been collectively resisted by the new army, was established in a different guise, and soldiers and junior officers who refused to accept the punishment of their superiors could file a court-martial appeal, and a special military court would verify whether the punishment was justified.

This had a certain impact on the authority of the Ming army's officials, and Li Laiheng also felt that the mentality of the Ming soldiers had changed greatly through the interrogation of the prisoners, and they had no intention of being a soldier for a lifetime, and there were all kinds of people in the captives, including craftsmen, farmers, fishermen, and even a teacher in a small school, except for a few people, most of them planned to retire after the war to resume their old jobs. Li Laiheng felt that the conflict between the superiors and subordinates of the Ming army seemed to be unprecedentedly violent (judging by the traditional concept of being a soldier for a lifetime and serving as a soldier for generations), and that few soldiers were willing to sacrifice their lives for their immediate superiors to win their own wealth or that of future generations. Xu Ping also had a strange feeling after asking Li Laiheng in detail, Qi Guogong, who had always been unconventional, seemed to be promoting some new thinking in the army, advocating the army's allegiance to the country - Xu Ping did not feel new to this term, but both he and other generals of the Shun army felt that if the object of allegiance was not fixed on a certain person (usually the soldier's immediate superior), then the soldier would easily become confused.

How can one pledge allegiance to such a large country? So far, Xu Ping can't understand it, but this idea is not only promoted by Qi Guogong, but also brought into the army by ordinary soldiers from the society after Nanming adopted the volunteer model (Huangshi always believes that the army is a microcosm of society, and Nanming, who is transforming from a feudal patriarchal system to a constitutional supervision system, will also have different soldiers from the past). Regardless of whether the generals of the Shun army could understand it or not, the strange things that Li Laiheng discovered included that although the dissatisfaction of the Ming soldiers with their commanders had increased a lot, and they dared to declare this dissatisfaction: for example, after being captured, someone scolded Shangfeng for being stupid, and he could get the loud approval of the other captives. But the captives became extremely difficult to subdue, they were reluctant to join the Shun army, even if some of the captives were discouraged and lost confidence in victory, they did not want to change their masters to be soldiers for the rest of their lives, but hoped in their hearts that peace talks could be achieved as soon as possible and they would be allowed to go home and engage in their old jobs.

It is precisely because of this that Xu Ping does not quite understand that this is a conflict between the mentality of the Ming soldiers and the old thinking of the senior officers of the Ming army, but he still perceives this disconnection and incongruity - the senior generals who have lost the power of life and death are very dissatisfied, and they are also dissatisfied when they try to resist military law and restore their authority to force the soldiers, the soldiers who have been exposed to the new social model are not as obedient as their predecessors, and the Ming army in transition will be more vulnerable than the new army in some cases.

……

It was not until long after Xu Ping left that the Sixth Army made up its mind to send a regiment to launch a tentative attack on Ying Tianfu after repeated discussions, and He Feihu anxiously awaited news from this regiment, he was worried that this would make thousands of soldiers fall into the trap carefully arranged by Xu Ping, but he was even more worried that the news from Ying Tianfu was correct: the Shun army poured out to attack Anqing.

The Imperial Court hoped that the Sixth Army would strive for some merit and honor as much as possible, but the Imperial Court would never want this battle to be defeated, and if Xu Ping really defeated the main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army, then the Northern Expedition would face a huge crisis. He Feihu hurriedly reported to Quanzhou the rumors of Yingtianfu that he had just learned, and on the other hand, he sent messengers to inform Huang Naiming day and night that if the reconnaissance and attacking regiment had not been ambushed by the main force of the Shun army, the key to the war had been transferred to the Western Front - and He Feihu would not be able to intervene in this, and this feeling of not being able to participate in the victory or defeat made him feel very bad.

When He Feihu's urgent message reached the headquarters of the Northern Expeditionary Army, it was already busy, and the alarm in Anqing Mansion came like snowflakes, and all the intelligence pointed out that Anqing Mansion was being attacked by the main force of the Shun army, and the enemy's army was coming in waves, and the guard strongholds were completely powerless to resist.

"Xu thief, is this going to be desperate?" Huang Naiming and other senior officers had realized the seriousness of the problem, and the Shun army did not hesitate to expose their whereabouts at all, and galloped all the way along the Yangtze River towards Anqing, which was completely unexpected by the previous Northern Expeditionary Army.

"I should have thought of it a long time ago, Xu Thief has never obeyed military orders, and he took the order to go up to the peak as a deaf ear when he was in the new army." After a complaint, the Northern Expeditionary Army urgently mobilized and prepared to set off at full speed to pursue the main force of the Shun army, which was directly attacking Anqing.

"Order the Ninth Town to be on strict alert immediately, grit your teeth and resist the thief!"

At the same time, the Northern Expeditionary Army Command issued an urgent order to the Ming army besieging Anqing, telling them to immediately shrink their defense, turn their attention from the inner encirclement to the outer encirclement, and prepare to block Xu Ping's siege relief with all their might.

"The situation is still in our favor, and it is very favorable." After the initial panic, Chief of Staff Jin Qiude first calmed down, because the room for maneuver was very small, so the Northern Expeditionary Army was able to quickly rush to the battlefield, even if Xu Ping had a military advantage, but the so-called general of the thousand-mile struggle for profit, no matter how fast Xu Ping was outside, he could not make sufficient preparations for an attack as soon as he arrived outside Anqing City. With more than 10,000 troops in the ninth town, sticking to the long trenches and siege fortifications that have been in operation for a long time, everyone believes that they will definitely be able to withstand it for a while, and although the main force of the Northern Expeditionary Army is a beat slower, it can reach the battlefield in a blink of an eye if it is so close.

"Xu Ping's lone army went deep, without any backup, and it was a rapid march, obviously leaving all the baggage behind." Jin Qiude's analysis was unanimously approved by everyone, and even found that although the Northern Expeditionary Army failed to react at the first time, it was more advantageous, because this was a tail-end pursuit rather than a head-on interception - the Shun army that penetrated into Anqing had a strong base in front and pursuers in the rear, and the Yangtze River was still on the side. When Xu Pingdun was under the fortified city, he attacked it from behind, and he would be able to completely annihilate it, which was undoubtedly the final word.

"Today's situation is like the battle of Guandu, Xu Thief is a sneak attack on Guandu Cao Thief, the only chance is to break through the Ninth Town first, seize their baggage, fortress and then turn around to meet us," Jin Qiude pointed out that Cao Cao's choice at that time was to attack Chun Yuqiong with all his strength despite the general's request to divide troops to resist the threat behind him; And Yuan Shao's mistake was indecisive, and he didn't send troops to support him quickly, otherwise Cao Cao could only hate Wuchao: "Let the Ninth Town not attack rashly no matter what, and hold on until we arrive will be a complete victory." ”

Henan's successive defeats made the new army lose face, and all the generals rushed out of the camp to mobilize their subordinates, and Jin Qiude's heart was also full of fierce fighting spirit, and he persuaded Huang Naiming to give another order to the ninth town: In case, if it can't withstand it, then it must destroy the baggage around Anqing, and Xu Ping can't get them anyway.

At the beginning, Xu Ping once asked Zhang Biao to bring a message to the new army: "Go back and tell Jin Qiude that I am not as good as him in conspiracies and tricks, and he is not as good as me in war." ”

Jin Qiude has never had a chance to let Xu Ping swallow back, but this time, Jin Qiude repeatedly checked the deployment of the two armies: the order to the tenth town of Luzhou has also been issued, so that they can temporarily lift the encirclement of Luzhou and prepare to go south to intercept Xu Ping together; But even if the Luzhou army can't arrive in time - it is impossible from the perspective of time, the Ming army around Anqing also has the right time and place, absolute superiority in troops, defensive positions, intelligence system and baggage reserves.

"Let Xu Ping'er see what a grandmaster-level strategist is." Jin Qiude secretly swore in his heart that this time he must completely wash away the shame that Xu Ping had inflicted on the New Army over the years—the shame that the former New Army generals still can't hold their heads up in front of Qi Gong.

……

At noon, the forward of the Shun army reported that there was still half a day's journey from Anqing, and the Ming army around Anqing had abandoned the stronghold close to the ground, and the 10,000 troops had retreated into the core defensive position.

"Qi Shizi is also half a day's journey behind us, and they will arrive here tonight." Zhou Dongtian reported to the commander of the Shun army and the generals at the military meeting.

"Let the soldiers set up camp and have a good rest this afternoon, and every soldier must double-check his rifle." Xu Ping didn't carry any baggage this time, not only artillery, but also infantry only carried the minimum supplies and ammunition, the deployment of the Anqing defenders was the same as Xu Ping's previous prediction to the generals, he smiled at everyone: "The Ming army that is chasing in a hurry will camp in the field tonight, so that they can't refuse our challenge tomorrow, I guess they won't want to refuse, and even breathe a sigh of relief: it can be regarded as catching up." It is estimated that what they are most worried about on the road these days is to hear that I have broken through the long siege outside Anqing and obtained all the baggage. ”

Unlike Xu Ping's relaxation, the other generals were still a little worried, even if they could get an extra afternoon of rest, the Shun army would probably still be fatigued than the Ming army.

"The Ming army has twice as many infantry as ours, three times as many cavalry, and the artillery ammunition is enough to fight ten battles." Liu Zongmin mentioned other disadvantages.

"Yes," Xu Ping nodded, the Ming army has always kept no prisoners of the elite of the Shun army, this has penetrated deep into the area controlled by the Ming army, and the nearest Anqing City is also under the siege of the enemy: "Our army has no fortress that can be held, no sailors, ferries and ships, no grain and grass after three days, no gunpowder for the second battle, no reinforcements and no way to retreat." And the Ming army has! ”

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