Father can be an enemy to the country

After drinking Zhuang Xingjiu, ten thousand troops followed Feng Cheng and left the city from the north gate.

All the Han soldiers and civilians along the way stood silently by the roadside, watching them go away. Then they quickened their pace and rushed to their respective destinations, seizing the time to rush to transport food. The time they had bought with their lives must not be wasted.

Ten thousand troops marched northward along the official road. It was not until dark that Feng Cheng ordered the entire army to rest.

Because it was a forced march, the army could not light fires until they reached camp, and of course they could not make any noise. Everyone was resting on the hillside beside the road, with scouts and rangers on guard outside.

The soldiers sat on the hillside, eating dry food quietly.

Yu Min also leaned on the bedroll and untied the dry food bag.

Dry food is prepared in advance so that soldiers can eat it at any time.

Yu Min's dry food bag contains rice and noodles. Among them, the rice is fried rice. First, fry the rice in a pot with salt and then grind it into powder, which can be eaten after being washed with water. You can also eat it dry with water.

The noodles are steamed wheat noodles. After steaming the wheat flour, soak it with salt and vinegar, dry it in the sun, soak it again until it can no longer be soaked, grind it into dough, and wrap it well. It can also be eaten dry or soaked into paste.

Moreover, dry food is not something that can be eaten casually. It is only allowed to be eaten by an officer's order during battle or when there is no time to make a fire for cooking. Even if you eat as much as you want at one time, you must follow the order, and you must not eat more.

This is the result of many years of combat experience of the Ming army, and it is always right to strictly implement it.

Yu Min took out today's ration of dry food, tied the dry food bag, and then started eating with cold water. The taste was far worse than the red rice with pickled cabbage, bacon, and meat at noon.

He couldn't help but regret a little. If he had known this, he shouldn't have thought too much at that time. As a result, those slices of bacon didn't taste good at all.

While he was feeling annoyed, someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder. Yu Min looked up and whispered hurriedly: "Qianhu...oh no, deputy commander."

That person was Qi Xiang. He held down Yu Min who was about to stand up to salute, sat down next to him, touched his head and said with a smile: "You fell into my hands again."

"Hehe." Yu Min grinned. The only happy thing today was that after reorganization, he became Qi Xiang's subordinate again. Busy asked in a low voice: "The deputy commander's leg is completely healed?" He remembered that when he was discharged from the hospital, Qi Xiang had just shaken off the crutches.

"It's better to call me Qianhu. The deputy commander always feels like he's calling someone else." Qi Xiang smiled bitterly, patted his left hip and said, "I'm getting older, and my legs and feet are always bad. Fortunately, I have a horse. It doesn’t affect anything.”

"Qianhu is the deputy commander. He should be in the rear. Why go to the front line?" Yu Min said softly.

"This is not a military emergency. There is no one in the city." Qi Xiang said with a smile: "The selected vanguards have all been sent to the military hospital to call for minor injuries and illnesses. How can I, a deputy commander with no official position, be able to stay here? ?”

In fact, there was another reason he didn't say, and that was that the official position was promoted too quickly. He was promoted from Qianhu, the fifth rank, to the deputy commander of the third rank, which made him feel a little uneasy.

He knew that this was the result of Mu Ying and Guo Ying's efforts. Although it is natural for someone in the court to be an official, he still has to give them face. Of course, we can't embarrass the emperor. Therefore, it is the most basic thing to fight first.

After briefly chatting with Yu Min, Qi Xiang stood up with support on his shoulders, stuffed something into his arms, and then continued to patrol forward.

Yu Min opened the oil paper package and saw that it was a duck leg in sauce.

~~

The army rested for the night. At dawn the next day, we set out again. After a day of non-stop marching, we arrived at Ji Chong Mountain at dusk.

At this time, the scouts sent out also brought back the latest enemy information.

According to the scout report, the enemy and communist troops coming from the Songmeng direction were divided into three groups, one heading towards Fenghuang Mountain, the other heading towards Ji Chong Mountain, and there was also an official road along the way, preparing to enter the dam from Dabanqiao.

Feng Cheng immediately asked someone to open the map, read for a moment what the scouts had reported, and sighed: "We must also divide our troops."

Qi Xiang and several senior officers nodded after hearing this.

There are several entrances to Kunming Bazi, and none of them are safe to defend. Otherwise, King Liang would not have heard that Qujing had fallen and fled Kunming City in fear.

The terrain that was favorable to them now has become a disadvantage. The enemy troops were divided into three groups and entered the dam from different directions, obviously to prevent them from concentrating their forces to block the attack.

If the army is still concentrated in one place at this time, it is likely that the other two groups of rebels will cut off their retreat. Under attack from both front and back, the situation is too dangerous.

But their military strength is already limited, and if they divide their forces further, it will not be optimistic either.

But they have no choice. Blocking warfare is meant to be blocked by soldiers and covered by water and soil...

So Feng Cheng decided to divide his troops. He personally led 3,000 soldiers and horses to station at Ji Chong Mountain, and another commander led 3,000 soldiers and horses to Fenghuang Mountain. Then he looked at Qi Xiang and said: "Commander Qi, you can take another 3,000 troops to Dabanqiao to set up defenses and hold the enemy troops at Dabanqiao for three days. This will be considered as completing the mission."

"Yes!" Qi Xiang responded in a deep voice. This was the first time he led an army alone. He didn't expect it to be so serious.

Finally, he looked at his cavalry Qianhu and said: "Liu Qianhu, you lead a thousand cavalry as a reserve team to roam between the three lines of defense. Wherever there is need, make up for it."

"Yes!" Liu Qianhu responded loudly.

"Let's all go!" Feng Cheng nodded to the generals and said solemnly: "We will meet again in three days."

"Yes!" The generals responded with a roar and separated.

Qi Xiang also took his three thousand soldiers and horses and rushed to Dabanqiao ten miles away.

~~

Dabanqiao is a stone bridge that is part of the official road. At that time, the Ming army stepped on this bridge and entered Kunming Bazi.

When Qi Xiang arrived at Dabanqiao with three thousand soldiers and horses, the first problem he encountered was how to deal with this solid stone bridge.

He first ordered his soldiers to immediately dig trenches on the shore, set up deer villages, and erect shooting towers to build defenses. He and Yu Min stood on the bridge and fell into deep thought.

It is said that the bridge should be demolished as soon as possible to delay the enemy's crossing of the river. But standing on the bridge, you can really see that the Baoxiang River under the bridge is not the same

A big river. It would have been better if the water flow was turbulent during the spring and summer flood seasons. Now that it was the end of September, the water flow had slowed down and the river was only a dozen feet wide.

Compared with the original Baishi River, which was a hundred feet wide, it was simply not the same magnitude.

Seeing a large white water stain on the bridge pier, he knew that the water level had dropped a lot. He tried it with a bamboo pole and found that the deepest point of the river was only one foot.

In other words, if the enemy wants to cross the river, it will not be difficult whether it is building a bridge or a raft.

After thinking for a long time, he finally made up his mind and said to his subordinates in a deep voice: "Don't demolish the bridge, let them attack it."

"Why is this?" His subordinate Lu Qianhu asked in confusion.

"If there is a bridge, they will attack from the bridge first." Qi Xiang pointed to the stone bridge that was only seven feet wide at his feet: "And this bridge will offset their military advantage."

As he spoke, he pointed to the river and said: "On the contrary, without this bridge, they would build rafts and force the crossing as soon as they came up. That is the correct strategy to take advantage of their military strength. The sooner we let them wake up, the better. "