Ming Taizi's Total War

Chapter 176 The first field battle with Hauge

"Yes, I know." Under Zhu Cihong's prestige-filled tone, Jiang Yingyuan replied tremblingly.

When the emperor was angry, he laid down millions of corpses and bled for thousands of miles. Zhu Cihong's anger was not something anyone could bear.

"You do well. The bank is of great significance to Daming. Whether Daming can rejuvenate in the future depends entirely on you." Realizing that he might scare Jiang Yingyuan, Zhu Cihong changed to a kind tone and patted Jiang Yingyuan on the shoulder to encourage him explain.

"This humble minister has been favored by the state, and now thanks to His Majesty's favor, he is able to manage a department alone. If I don't get up late, I will not be able to live up to your Majesty's trust." Jiang Yingyuan's attitude is respectful.

He was originally a very ordinary member of the thousands of officials in the Ming Dynasty. It was Zhu Cihong who hit him and made him the head of the bank, so he was very grateful to Zhu Cihong.

Jiang Yingyuan knew that his talents were insufficient, and he was not very familiar with the bank, but in order to repay Zhu Cihong, he could only use hard work to make up for his weakness, and tried his best to manage the bank well.

"Then it couldn't be better." Zhu Cihong said with a happy face.

In fact, he didn't believe what Jiang Yingyuan said at all. As a monarch, he would naturally be suspicious of these civil servants and generals who could easily threaten him, and Zhu Cihong was no exception.

But he couldn't express clearly that he had doubts, which would hurt the hearts of the courtiers, so no matter what Zhu Cihong thought in his heart, he still had to pretend to trust on the surface.

Just when Zhu Cihong was about to choose some nice words to praise Jiang Yingyuan, Zhang Chao suddenly rushed into his room.

Seeing this, Zhu Cihong had no choice but to let Jiang Yingyuan go back first, because Zhang Chao usually came to see Zhu Cihong for important military affairs, and it was inconvenient for Jiang Yingyuan to know.

"Why are you looking for me in such a hurry?" Zhu Cihong asked Zhang Chao. He had a hunch that what Zhang Chao was going to say next must be a very important matter.

"Your Majesty, Huaiqing is fifty or sixty miles ahead. The scouts found that Hauge's men had set up an army formation twenty miles outside Huaiqing City, waiting for us."

"Hao Ge, when did this kid find us?" Zhu Cihong said to himself while touching his chin, which had not yet grown a beard.

Since the formation could be deployed in advance, it meant that Hauge had spotted them a long time ago, but the patrolling soldiers of Zhu Cihong's department did not find Hauge's sentry.

However, Hauge did not decide to ambush them, but set up a majestic formation on the plain outside the city to meet them. Zhu Cihong couldn't figure out Hauge's intention.

If Hauge has few troops, he should choose to ambush or enter the city for defense. If he has a large number of troops, he should choose to attack directly, or surround Zhu Cihong with a net on all sides.

"I don't know, but what should we do, Your Majesty?" Zhang Chao thought that Zhu Cihong was talking to him, so he answered Zhu Cihong foolishly.

"Since these people from Chizhou dare to fight in a majestic formation, is it possible that the army of our celestial kingdom is afraid of him?" Zhu Cihong was very courageous. He didn't intend to play tricks, dreaming of defeating his opponent with any small tricks. .

This is simply unrealistic on the battlefield. The number of people on the battlefield is often tens of thousands, or even tens of thousands. It is destined to be a contest of absolute strength. Any ingenious scheme will be smashed to pieces in front of absolute strength.

Furthermore, Huaiqing is based on the northern Henan plain, which is very flat like the eastern Henan and Huaihe Rivers, and there is no favorable terrain for ambush, otherwise Hauge would definitely use it first.

"Pass down the order and let the soldiers form a battle formation. The imperial guards are the central army, the Jinyiwei, the standard-bearer guards, and the cavalry guards are the left army, and the Jinwu four guards are the right army."

"A large army marches during the day, pulls out its camp at sunrise, and sets up its camp before sunset. The daily march must not exceed fifteen miles."

The Eight Banners of Mizhou are very mobile, just like their nomads, as long as they run with horseshoes, they can easily run hundreds of miles a day.

But Zhu Cihong's infantry is different. The infantry only have a pair of their own fleshy feet, wearing straw sandals or cloth shoes, and carrying dry food, luggage, and carrying dozens of catties. Fortunately, there are auxiliary soldiers to help them with weapons and armor. Carrying these things every day can exhaust a person to death.

The speed of traveling fifteen miles a day seems a bit too slow, but this is also Zhu Cihong's helpless method. If he wants to avoid being attacked by a large group of cavalry, he must march slower.

In this way, when encountering the Qing cavalry, the infantry will have the physical strength to take up weapons and fight.

Besides, the army has to set up camp every day when they march, and they have to disassemble their things when they leave. I don’t know how many hours it will take to assemble and dismantle. It’s okay if you don’t camp, as long as you can endure the endless harassment of the enemy And night raids will do.

So although there is a lot of time in a day, the time that can really march effectively is only a few hours around noon, but this time is the hottest time of the day, and you will be sweating profusely after walking a few steps, and the soldiers are lined up densely After the column, it will be very hot even standing still.

Fortunately, Hauge's army did not move at all after two days of marching, which made people wonder if it was an army composed of scarecrows, but the daily smoke from Hauge's barracks proved that they were not scarecrows.

When he came five miles away from the Hauge army, Zhu Cihong ordered the three armies to stop. If he went any further, it would mean that he was about to start a big battle with the Hauge army. At that time, the army would not be able to make any adjustments. .

So Zhu Cihong had to wait for a while, wait for the scouts to convey the latest news, and then adjust his army formation appropriately according to Hauge's army formation.

Waiting and waiting, Zhu Cihong waited for half an hour in front of the formation before several scouts covered in blood came.

"Your Majesty, Hauge hid the cavalry on the two wings, spread out a formation around Shibali Village, and deployed a central army consisting mainly of infantry." A knight got off his horse, thrust his knife into the yellow ground to support his body, and half-knelt on the ground. Said to Zhu Cihong on the ground.

"How is their strength?" Seeing his appearance, Zhu Cihong hurriedly got off his horse to support him, and at the same time asked Hauge about his strength.

"Your Majesty." The knight was so moved that he almost shed tears. He never thought that one day, his Majesty would be able to support him in person.

"Don't get excited, hurry up and tell me about the situation of the general." Zhu Cihong urged, he wanted to create an image of caring for the soldiers, but now is not the time, if he can give him a hand, it is considered a good gesture.

"Haug's infantry is crowded with people, and we can't tell how many there are, but there are definitely not all of their infantry outside the village. I can guarantee that they must have hidden some infantry in Shibali Village." Although the knight saw Haoge with his own eyes, Hauge's army, but he didn't know how many Hauge had.

(End of this chapter)