Chapter 731

Although Li Dingguo is known as Shizheng, his men are still more than 3000 people, 2000 infantry, 1000 cavalry, weapons and manpower are not in place.

Ziqing picked up some soldiers of Qingzhou division from the upstream. There were nearly 4000 people, but these people were still young and strong, but they lost their souls and didn't have the courage to take money to fight again.

Soldiers who have no courage to fight are no different from sheep.

Li Dingguo could not command these people to go to war for a while and a half. He could only let them serve as auxiliary soldiers to assist in defense.

At first, Li Dingguo could not persuade these people to fight with the Ming army, because these people were beaten by Zhu Xieyuan's army and were afraid to fight again.

But Li Dingguo is also very strong. These people don't want to fight, which can't be done. They either go away or don't give food.

These people had no choice but to take up arms and work hard for them.

At the same time, Li Dingguo also detained all the dignitaries and rich families in the city and detained them all in the city tower. If Xiangyang City is lost, he will first kill this group of people. At the same time, this group of people is also his hostages. If he controls this group of people, he can control their servants and servants.

Li Dingguo said to this group of dignitaries: "temporarily borrow your servants and servants to fight for our general. If you win, you will win!" he smiled coldly and said grimly, "let's die together."

Li Dingguo's outrageous practice has aroused great dissatisfaction among these rich and powerful people. They oppose it one after another and scold Li Dingguo's rogue and shameless practice.

But with a sneer, Li Dingguo cut off the heads of two dignitaries on the spot, and the others dared not say anything.

Li Dingguo sneered: "before the Ming army hit, someone wanted to rebel. This is the end. This general still said that, that is, those who follow me will prosper and those who oppose me will die."

Although this practice was very rude and barbaric, which made his reputation bad, he did get tens of thousands of people at once, which made Li Dingguo more confident in guarding the city.

Earlier, his manpower was only 3000 people. If he wanted to defend such a large city, he could not be allocated one person and one mouth. Now it is different. A veteran can take several people, and his manpower is sufficient. Only then can he have the ability to dare to fight Zhu Xieyuan's 100000 Army.

The fleet is responsible for guarding the side near the Han River. It doesn't matter if the warships can't go ashore. They unload their artillery and transport them to the city wall, which can give the Ming army a great surprise, but it takes time.

The craftsman in charge of loading the gun said, "it will take ten days."

Li Dingguo said coldly, "Ben will buy you ten days. When it is done, he will reward 10000, seven grade officials and three good names. If not, all of them will be beheaded and buried with Ben."

Li Dingguo did not guess wrong. After winning the battle of Yiling, Zhu Xieyuan rested for two hours and immediately ordered his vanguard troops to rush to Xiangyang with all their strength, ready to take Xiangyang City when the enemy did not react.

From Zhu Xieyuan's perspective, we can naturally see that Xiangyang City at the moment is the key to the north and the south. If we win the city, we will take the initiative. Otherwise, the Chinese army will gather a large army and block him here, which will easily block him in Northern Hubei and drive him back to Sichuan.

Zhu Xieyuan did not dare to neglect it at all. He ordered Ma Xianglin, Qin Liangyu's son, to lead two thousand cavalry to set out first. It was best that his cavalry could take Xiangyang when their army arrived, so that the world would be peaceful.

He just wanted to take the other party by surprise. Now is the time for real speed and fire fighting.

Zhu Xieyuan watched Ma Xianglin's cavalry set out for the war. He thought that if Ma Xianglin played well, he could take Xiangyang in three days and use it as a stronghold to compete with Liu Zhongyong, a famous Chinese general.

Ma Xianglin is the son of Qin Liangyu, the chieftain of Shizhu, because he rides a tall white horse, wears a silver armor and is good at using a long gun. He is brave and unparalleled. He is called the little dragon.

Under the instruction of his mother, Ma Xianglin is outstanding in both military strategy and martial arts. Following the white pole soldiers, he has made great contributions to the north and south. Now he is a junior general.

Of course, a hereditary chieftain like him, no matter how high his official rank is, is empty. The most important thing is their position as a chieftain.

Shizhu chieftain can support tens of thousands of soldiers in a small state, and thousands of people have been killed in battle. This is quite good. If it can be done everywhere in the Ming Dynasty, where can there be JianNu and the Chinese army.

However, there are not many places like Shizhu. Fewer people like Ma Qiancheng and Qin Liangyu are grateful for the emperor's kindness. More ambitious people like she Suiming and an Bangyan see that Daming can't work. Instead, they want to start a rebellion.

After more than ten years of war, the imperial court is ready to eliminate the chaos of shean, but as one of the main forces, the white pole soldiers also suffered heavy casualties.

In its heyday, there were tens of thousands of white soldiers, but now there are only a few thousand left. What's worse, their source of troops is nearly exhausted. Because a large number of soldiers join the army, there are not enough people to farm, and a large number of fields are abandoned, further reducing the population.

In addition, a large number of soldiers died on the battlefield, so that the desire of soldiers and the people to join the army is not high. The famous white pole soldiers are getting worse and worse day by day.

The most fatal thing was that they didn't have enough troops to supplement, which worried Qin Liangyu and Ma Xianglin.

Shizhu propaganda and comfort Department fought for the Ming Dynasty and died. Can the propaganda and comfort department that has been handed down for 500 years still be handed down?

But in their hearts, it is relatively simple. They are officials of Daming and eat Daming's salary, so they have to work for Daming.

So after the mother and son received the commander's order, without any hesitation, they immediately ordered Ma Xianglin to attack Xiangyang as a pioneer officer.

The cavalry team led by Ma Xianglin is also a rare cavalry team under Zhu Xieyuan. Because Daming lost his main horse breeding land, the cavalry became a more delicate branch of the army. Almost all the cavalry were the personal soldiers or servants of the commander-in-chief.

Zhu Xieyuan's army is mainly infantry, and his horses and war horses are very few, so his cavalry scale is not large, only more than 2000 people. These more than 2000 cavalry are his mobile troops, mainly Yunnan horses.

Yunnan horses are characterized by their short stature, good endurance and good at running mountain roads. They play a good role when fighting in the mountains in Yunnan Guizhou mountains. However, if they compete with Mongolian horses on the plain, they are not the opponent of Mongolian horses.

But they are also the taller of the short. The horsemen always run faster than the infantry. The cavalry pounced on Xiangyang at the fastest speed. With good luck, the Chinese army had no time to defend and was attacked by them. This is the best way.

Ma Xianglin also understood that their army crossed mountains and mountains, walked all the way, and suddenly appeared under Yiling City, which dealt a great blow to the rebels.

The first World War in Yiling meant that they could defend Sichuan and protect their hometown from the baptism of war. Then they had to go out of Sichuan and defend Huguang. As a qualified soldier, they had to calm down the chaos in the world for the emperor, unify the four seas, put swords and guns into storage and release Ma Nanshan.

The most important thing to defend Huguang is to take Xiangyang. Ma Xianglin also knew that the responsibility was great, so he ordered his cavalry to set out immediately.

As soon as the infantry finished fighting, they began to gather. When the infantry began to cut off the heads of prisoners of war, they began to set out. When they ate, they ate immediately.

We have really achieved non-stop and rapid dispatch of troops.

They moved forward quickly along the official road. Along the way, there were many people who fled. These people were driven away by them. Then they moved forward along the official road. They didn't meet the spies and soldiers of the Chinese army all the way.

The Ming army also sent many spies and didn't collect intelligence at night for investigation. They also collected some useful intelligence. They all know that the Chinese army occupied Xiangyang, but they don't have many hands. They should only be two or three thousand.

It is very difficult for two or three thousand people to control Xiangyang. There are many dignitaries and vassal kings in the city. If they cooperate with each other when attacking the city, the city is full of holes and crumbling, and can be broken at any time.

It was because of this idea that Ma Xianglin rushed to Xiangyang as soon as possible. He knew that the faster the time, the better. The sooner he arrived here, the weaker the control of the Chinese army over Xiangyang City, the fewer the troops, and the more difficult it was to hold the city.

Ma Xianglin is also a famous figure with both wisdom and courage in the southwest army. Every time he goes to the battle to kill the enemy, he takes the lead. Every time he rides a white horse, rushes into the battle and kills the enemy, the soldiers will boost their morale. Follow him to kill the enemy, chop and kill, and finally defeat the enemy.

This is called the courage of the three services. Generals are not greedy for life and fear death. Soldiers will naturally follow to the death.

No soldier is willing to work for a general who is greedy for life and afraid of death. They are only willing to work for their brother.

Ma Xianglin is a man who makes every soldier think we are brothers.

So they rushed to Xiangyang without stopping. Their ideal plan is to make a fierce attack on the city when the other party has no defense and defense.

Who knows, when they hurried to the slope thirty miles west of Xiangyang City day and night, they actually met the cavalry of the Chinese army.

This is not a chance encounter. The other party is waiting for them here. All the places near the thirty mile slope are flat.

In fact, most places in the west of Xiangyang are as flat as thirty mile slope. When you look at the past, it is boundless for dozens of miles, which is very suitable for the army. It's not easy for you to ambush and sneak attack others in such a place.

It was because this place was flat and large and not easy to be attacked by others that Ma Xianglin dared to order his cavalry to rush forward with all their strength.

If you can rush into Xiangyang City unexpectedly, you can fight with each other.

Who knows that the other party has been prepared, and sent cavalry here, waiting for them to come.