Bright Spring

Ping'an's cavalry battalion has arrived at the east of Bofu Mountain, waiting for an opportunity to harass and attack Japanese reinforcements, temporarily controlling the access to the Nanlu Valley.The road in this valley is about eight or nine miles long, but the road is narrow.

Not long ago, Sheng Yong received news from the Ministry of Security that a large number of Japanese troops were moving west; it didn't seem like they were going to retreat to avoid the war.

This situation is different from the information obtained by Yao Fang. Sheng Yong's judgment is that the Japanese army has temporarily changed its strategy.After all, based on the strength of the two sides at this time, the Japanese army had to abandon the defenders in the northern part of Mt. Bofu if they wanted to escape.

So Sheng Yong was not in a hurry, and he immediately ordered Liu Sheng to lead a battalion of infantry to continue through the valley.The remaining infantry camped at the west entrance of the valley and passed through early tomorrow morning.The road in the valley of eight or nine miles is not far away, but the Chinese army has a large number of vehicles, artillery, and luggage, and it is inconvenient to pass on the narrow road.

Judging from the movements of all parties, Sheng Yong believed that the war was going to a battle.

Since it is a battle, the two sides must gather most of their troops on the main battlefield, otherwise they are in danger of being defeated one by one.Sheng Yong sits in the central army, not only to force the Japanese army to choose a battle, but also to complete the gathering of troops on the battlefield.So far, Sheng Yong's balance has been perfect.

After all, the Ming army had just arrived, and it was not easy to land and complete such a battle deployment within a few days.Fortunately, the "Battle of Jingnan" and "Battle of Conquest" experienced by Sheng Yong commanded hundreds of thousands of troops, and the battlefield was mobilized in a radius of several thousand miles; He can do more detailed deployment in the northern region.

According to the information obtained by Yao Fang, Sheng Yong estimated that the strength of the Japanese army was about four times that of the official army.But he believes that the army still has a great advantage in this battle.

The elite infantry equipped with a large number of firearms and a high rate of armor should be far superior to the Japanese army in a frontal decisive battle.At the same time, the 2000 fine cavalry in Ping An's hands must not be estimated with [-] troops.It is not unreasonable for the imperial court to raise a cavalry at least six or seven times that of infantry.

Sheng Yong's understanding of the Japanese army was that there were no decent cavalry at all.The horsemen of the Japanese army equipped with pony horses were relatively weak in terms of impact, speed, and courage; while the infantry of the Ming army had always dealt with the Mongolian cavalry who were skilled in bows and horses.

At this time, the main force of the Chinese army had stopped advancing, and the supply team was building barracks everywhere.

Sheng Yong rushed eastward with his own soldiers, and arrived at the entrance of the valley in a short while.Liu Sheng's troops have turned into a long dragon-like column, entering the narrow terrain of the valley.

The long line looked very solemn, and the surroundings were filled with footsteps.However, occasionally someone spoke in the queue, and because the soldier who spoke was at the top of the wind, it reached Sheng Yong's ears from afar.

That soldier's

The voice vaguely said, "When I was a child, a man in the village died. The house he was repairing was stepped on and fell down, and his head was knocked on the stone. For many years, his family would cry bitterly when they burned paper money, and the people in the village also cried bitterly. I mentioned him from time to time. Later, when I killed someone for the first time, I remembered that fellow from the same village, and I was in a panic for several months."

Another voice asked, "Are you still panicking now?"

The soldier said, "I saw a lot later, and now I can't remember anything, but I feel that people who have died have a bad smell."

While speaking, the two speaking sergeants suddenly saw Sheng Yong and the others, so they shut up and followed the crowd silently.

Sheng Yong turned his head and saw Yao Fang riding beside him, and said, "The sword that has seen blood is indeed different from the newly forged sword, and has a murderous look."

Yao Fang cupped her fists and said, "The commander will win."

However, there was no emotion on Sheng Yong's face, let alone joy, his expressionless expression was very stable.After all, if the Japanese army dared to fight, it was their opponent; Sheng Yong felt that he should take this battle seriously and pay attention to it, and use all means to win.

Sun Tzu's Art of War said that good soldiers are the major issues of the country and the way of survival.No general has a reason to treat the battlefield as a trifling matter.

All the soldiers of the Chinese army rested for one night. In the afternoon of the next day, Sheng Yong led the main force to the plain area to the east of Bofu Mountain.The army built a camp fortification and stationed about five miles away from the front camp of the Japanese army.

Ping'an's cavalry battalion also moved closer to Shengyong's troops.Since then, the Ming army has gathered its main force on the battlefield.

Rangers are everywhere around the battlefield, it seems that no one knows when the conflict started, and small groups of people have already competed in various places.Sheng Yong rode his horse and ran around, inspecting the terrain with his own eyes.

This is a plain. On the left side of the Ming army is Bofu Mountain, and on the right side is an unknown river.The flat place in the middle is about six or seven miles wide.

According to the information obtained by Yao Fang, the total strength of the Japanese army is less than [-], which is much larger than that of the Ming army.However, after repeated inquiries by the scouts, it was confirmed that all the Japanese troops were on the west side of the river, and they were not spread too wide in the horizontal direction; There are also relatively adequate estimates.

The two sides have tens of thousands of troops each, and the distance is five miles away. Such a situation makes the war inevitable.Whoever dares to withdraw the whole army suddenly will definitely be in pursuit, causing chaos in the army and loss of supplies.

At this time, the central army of the Ming army also had some understanding of the Japanese army. Judging from the flags and family emblems seen by the scouts, Sheng Yong knew the deployment of the Japanese army.To the west is the troops of the Ouchi family; in the middle is the coalition forces of the daimyos such as the Shibo family and the Yamana family; to the east is the Hosokawa family and other tribes.

On the east side of the battlefield is a river, and on the other side of the river is still an endless flat area with a wide view.Only Bofu Mountain on the west side may have some tactical surprises.

Because at the eastern foot of Bofu Mountain, the terrain below is not high and relatively gentle, and the terrain becomes steeper as you go up.It is possible for the surprise soldiers to attack the opponent's flank from the mountains and forests.

However, given the condition of the Japanese cavalry, even if they raided the Ming army's flanks, the destructive power might not be too great.The infantry is too slow, and the suddenness of the attack after rushing out of the forest will be greatly reduced.

After observing for a long time, Sheng Yong led a troop of cavalry back to the front of the central army from the left flank.At this time Ping An, Liu Sheng and others

People also came oncoming on horseback.

Ping'an and the others clasped their fists on horseback and held a military salute, and all said brief polite words.Sheng Yong returned the salute, and said directly, "While the weather is fine, the war will start tomorrow morning."

"Sheng Da is handsome and cheerful." Ping An said with a smile.

Sheng Yong ignored Ping An, pointed at a general beside Liu Sheng and said, "Commander Zhang, don't go to the front tomorrow, and lead your troops to deploy on the left wing, preparing to counterattack the Japanese surprise soldiers coming out of the woods."

Liu Sheng shifted his gaze to Yao Fang's face, "What news did the commander get?"

Sheng Yong shook his head and said, "I guess."

Ping An said to Liu Sheng, "Marquis An Yuan doesn't know, but Marshal Sheng looks like a gentleman, but he is actually very cunning."

Liu Sheng didn't want to offend Sheng Yong, he looked very embarrassed when he heard this, and didn't dare to speak up.

Ping'an then said, "The great internal opinion of the left wing actually has some knowledge. His misfortune is that he met someone from Ping, so he ended up confronting him. Of course, we will not let go of the use of surprise soldiers; now it seems that only the woods on the mountain may use surprise soldiers."

Liu Sheng echoed, "General Ping is right."

Pingan took a look at Sheng Yong, and said, "I'll help him speak out our Grand Marshal's idea. You see that he doesn't say a word, but his stomach is full of bad water. He's always thinking about it. You say this person..."

Sheng Yong said, "The first achievement in this battle is none other than General Ping."

Hearing this, Ping An was taken aback for a moment, but couldn't continue.

Sheng Yong said with a serious face, "I hope you will continue to work hard tomorrow, do your best, and live up to the great trust of the Holy One."

Everyone clasped their fists together and said, "The last general waits for orders."

"Drive!" Sheng Yong yelled, and hurried away on horseback.At this moment, Ping An's voice said again, "What am I going to do tomorrow? Marshal Sheng is the coach."

Sheng Yong said without turning his head, "Aren't almost all the cavalry under your command?"

On the front of the barracks, sporadic riding activities can still be seen at this time.Sheng Yong galloped north for a while, then reined in his horse and looked around.On the flat land, there is a slightly larger village in the middle, and there are some scattered houses around.Looking around, you can see some rice fields, vegetable fields, and dry and uncultivated wasteland, sparse and scattered trees and shrubs, and occasionally small ponds.Several small and low hills are full of trees.

If people don't look back at the dusty barracks behind them, but only look at the open land ahead, it turns out to be a peaceful pastoral scene.

The odds of winning have already been weighed in Sheng Yong's mind many times. Of course, it is a battle with a high chance of winning, so he will find a way to fight.However, as long as it is not the moment when the winner is really decided, Sheng Yong will always worry and wait in his heart.

At night, Sheng Yong personally told the generals on duty to deploy bright and dark sentries on all sides to prevent the Japanese army from attacking the camp.Fortunately, nothing happened overnight.After all, a sneak attack at night cannot involve too many troops, as it will easily lead to chaos; the real winner is the next day's main battle.

The sky gradually turned white, and there was a commotion on all sides.The sound of horns and the noise of men and horses enveloped the land.The air in the early morning is a bit humid|humid and cool, but the ground is dry, and it seems to be another sunny day.

end of this chapter)

Chapter 8 Thirteen: Cherry Blossoms in Hakata (4)

On the gray right-wing formation of the Ming army, the dust kicked up by troops and horses was mixed with the morning mist.Three fires flashed one after another, like lightning in the clouds.

Then the sound of "boom boom boom" came, and in the Japanese army formation almost a mile away, there was a muffled sound in a rice field, water splashed, and where the rice overturned, shells sank deeply into the ground. into the mud.

In the blink of an eye, a cloud of smoke and dust was stirred up in the open space between the Japanese army formations.A black lacquered round iron ball rolled on the ground. When people saw it, the iron ball was already far away from where it just landed.