"The horse hair is covered with snow and the sweat is steaming, and the five-flowered coins are spinning into ice." The weather in November is extremely cold.
Li Jinglong looked at the Baihe River in the distance, feeling confused.
A thick layer of ice formed on the river surface, turning the entire river into a frozen block of ice, gray with green in it, against the same gray sky and clouds. A few small hills in the distance were as bare as scabies, with only dirt, sand and gravel left.
Peiping was frozen and unable to attack, so they had to station troops outside the city. Zhengcunba, between Peiping and Tongzhou, has an open terrain. The Southern Army has nine battalions here, and all 500,000 troops are stationed. The endless stretches of tents cover the entire wilderness, with no end as far as the eye can see. Smoke from cooking pots starts to rise at midnight, and often lasts all day, and has not yet ended at midnight.
There are more than 20,000 vanguard cavalry in the army, led by Chen Hui and stationed at the forefront west of Baihe River. The horses were gathered together in a temporary stable, probably not fed in time, and many horses often raised their heads and neighed, exhaling bursts of white mist, which suddenly seemed to have frozen in the cold weather.
The sergeants in the south had never experienced such a severe cold, and they huddled in their tents to warm themselves by the fire. However, although the supply of food is already somewhat limited, the forest surrounding the firewood is almost being cut down. From time to time there were fights between soldiers fighting for food, and there were also disputes over the wood being chopped by one's own people.
Li Jinglong also felt cold and stamped his feet. The military boots were stiff and the toes seemed to have no feeling. The black fox cloak on his body was personally given by the emperor when he left. I felt hot at that time, but now in the biting and icy cold wind, I didn't seem to feel much warm at all. Both hands were frozen and could not be stretched out. Li Jinglong rubbed it vigorously, and suddenly remembered that in the warm pavilion of Cao Guogong's mansion, there was a hot kang and a brazier, "a small red clay stove, and green ants' newly fermented wine". How warm and cozy it was! But when can we go back
Li Jinglong was a little depressed.
Li Ping hurriedly ran over and said: "General! The scouts have come to report that the Yan thief has returned from Daning Guard, bringing the army of Daning Guard and King Ning with him."
Li Jinglong was shocked: "When did you set off? When will you arrive?"
Li Ping said: "It is said that they set out from Daning Mansion on October 13th. The Yan bandit army has cavalry, chariots and infantry. It should be a few days away."
Li Jinglong struck with both hands: "Okay! Let's fight to the death with the Yan thief!" Li Jinglong had been frustrated for a long time and was a little excited at the thought of being able to end it face to face.
Li Ping said: "Based on General Mo's estimate, the Yan thieves should have 80,000 troops this time, half of which are cavalry, and some are Mongolian cavalry. The most powerful of the Yan thieves are these cavalry. Does the general have a way to defeat the enemy?"
Li Jinglong was stunned for a moment: "Our army also has cavalry. The number of archers, crossbowmen and pikemen are several times greater. Let's fight a tough battle!" After a pause, he added: "Regardless of casualties!"
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Late at night, the ice on the Baihe River became thicker and thicker. Snowflakes began to appear in the air at some point, flying in a wispy swath, and the tents on the ground were already covered in white.
Ma Sanbao, lightly dressed in black night clothes, entered the vanguard cavalry battalion of the Confederate Army.
At midnight, the camp was completely silent. A few patrolling scouts were walking around in eight directions, all shrinking from the cold. Ma Sanbao's body swayed and he was already behind a scout. He covered his mouth with his left hand and flashed the dagger in his right hand. The scout had fallen, and Ma Sanbao gently lifted him and hid him in a hidden place. In about a cup of tea, all eight scouts were dispatched. Ma Sanbao jumped back to the river, lit a tinder, and walked around the other bank three times. Soon, there was also a weak firelight making three circles on the opposite side. Ma Sanbao breathed a sigh of relief and quietly leaned against the river, looking warily at the camp to the west.
When Zhu Di saw Ma Sanbao's signal, he felt happy, waved his hand, and quietly crossed the river with his army. The horses' hooves have been wrapped in cotton cloth in advance, and they move forward slowly in the dark night. Big snowflakes fell on the horse one after another.
Ma Sanbao came up to meet them, pointed at the Guide Army cavalry camp, and signaled that they could attack. Zhu Di waved his hand, Zhang Yu led a group of troops to the north, and Zhu Quan led a group of troops to the south and began to outflank the camp.
It took the team of 80,000 people more than half an hour to cross the river. Zhu Di saw that the last men and horses had all arrived, and the front was encircled. He raised his sword and said: "Come with me!"
Instantly, the sound of killing broke out, and the sleeping Confederate cavalry camp was blown up. People screamed and horses neighed, and there was chaos.
Ma Sanbao shuttled through the camp and headed straight for the big tent. The commander of the cavalry, Chen Hui, jumped up when he heard the noise. He hurriedly put on his armor and opened the tent door. He saw a flash of a sword and a man in black rushed towards him. Chen Hui hurriedly returned his spear to block it, and the two of them fought ping-pong-pong. Chen Hui originally had extraordinary martial arts skills, otherwise he would not be a cavalry commander. He was only equipped with an armor and a spear, but he was not suitable for such close combat.
What's more, he met Ma Sanbao.
Chen Hui soon felt that he was outmatched and retreated while fighting, while Ma Sanbao pressed forward step by step. Chen Hui had no choice but to retreat. With a loud shout, Chen Hui stabbed his face with a spear! The strong wind passed by, causing the falling snowflakes to suddenly rise back to the sky!
Blood splattered, but Chen Hui's head flew up! Zhu Di stood majestically on his green horse, with blood flowing down his sword.
Ma Sanbao picked up Chen Hui's head, jumped up to the flagpole in front of the tent, held it high and shouted: "Captain Chen is dead! Governor Chen is dead!" The cavalry camp became even more turbulent, and the sergeants were unwilling to fight and fled west to the Central Plains. Military camp.
Li Jinglong woke up from his sleep and was shocked to hear that the cavalry vanguard battalion had been defeated and Chen Hui had been killed in battle. He hurriedly put on his horse and mounted his horse. Looking east, not only the cavalry battalion, but also the 1, 2 and 3 battalions on the outpost were already screaming. The Yan army shouted in unison: "Capture Li Jinglong alive! Capture Li Jinglong alive!"
Li Jinglong was furious, slapped his horse and rushed to the outpost. Li Ping followed closely and shouted: "General, be careful!"
Not long after charging, they ran into the Yan Army's team, and they had already killed the 1, 2, and 3 outpost battalions! Li Jinglong felt a pain in his heart and fired his spear repeatedly, knocking over several Yan troops. The Yan army kept making noises and surrounded them one after another. Seeing that their coach was surrounded, the Southern Army scrambled for reinforcements from all directions. They immediately surrounded Li Jinglong with three circles inside and three outside.
Li Jinglong swung his spear, but it gradually became a little slower.
This real battlefield turns out to be so different from military training in a school field. There was no applause or cheers, just blood and flesh flying everywhere. During military training on the school field, he would occasionally attack death row prisoners. It was not like Li Jinglong had never killed someone before. But they wouldn't resist or attack, and they wouldn't be so densely packed together like now, screaming and ferociously rushing toward them. Some have faces full of flesh, some have faces full of blood, and some even have only one hand!
Li Jinglong felt in a daze that he had mistakenly arrived at the hell ashram, surrounded by resentful ghosts; the snowflakes flying in the sky were all the resentment of these evil consequences.
With a pop, a Confederate army chopped down the Yan army that jumped on Li Jinglong. Blood splashed on Li Jinglong's face, and a bloody severed arm flew towards him. Li Jinglong couldn't help shouting repeatedly, and his spear danced wildly.
Only a loud shout was heard: "General, don't panic!" Three tiger generals came and killed them. They were the three fathers and sons of the Qu family, and they brought about a hundred generals from the Qu family with them from Shuzhong. The three spears rolled and rolled, and a hole was instantly torn open in Yan Jun's encirclement.
Qu Neng shouted: "Come with me, general!" Qu Tao took Li Jinglong's horse reins, and Qu Neng led Li Jinglong to retreat westward, while Qu Tao and Qu Yu stayed behind to protect him.
These generals of the Qu family had all fought in Shengfan. Although the Yan army was tough and brave in the eyes of Jiangnan soldiers, they were civilized people compared to Shengfan, so the generals of the Qu family did not take it seriously. A group of people protected the general and fought their way out of the siege. They passed the central army tent and were about to stop at the rear army camp when another burst of shouts shook the air from the camp to the east.
Qu Neng shouted: "No! The defenders of Peiping came out to attack our army!" Looking from a distance, the tall and sturdy man running rampant was none other than Zhu Neng, the general of the Yan army who had encountered him several times. The Yan army behind them kept killing each other. Looking past the vast smoke, I didn't know how many soldiers and horses there were.
Li Jinglong was still panting. He saw that his Confederate army was in a mess and was being attacked in front and behind. He couldn't see what he was doing. He yelled and was about to rush forward again.
Qu Neng saw that Li Jinglong's eyes were red and his behavior was confused. Knowing that he was unconscious, he quickly grabbed him and said, "General! Keep the Qingshan here!" while protecting Li Jinglong and retreated.
Zhu Neng's sharp eyes saw Qu Neng and Li Jinglong. When he saw a group of people retreating, he shouted loudly: "Li Jinglong is running! Li Jinglong is running!" Yan Jun then shouted in unison: "Li Jinglong is running! Li Jinglong is running!". The soldiers of the Confederate Army were instantly demoralized, unable to hold on, and fled in all directions.
It was already dawn, and a battle that started late at night left corpses everywhere, as well as countless war horses, fodder, military supplies and weapons. Blood dyed the ice of the White River red and dyed the entire wilderness red. However, the falling snow gradually covered the red color, and slowly turned into a white glazed world. More than half of the Southern Army surrendered and fled, and in the end only 200,000 soldiers followed Li Jinglong and Qu Neng to retreat to Dezhou, Shandong.
On November 9, King Yan returned to Beiping City.
This battle of Zhengcunba was an important turning point in the battle of Jingnan. From then on, the Yan army firmly occupied the three state capitals of Beiping, Baoding and Yongping. The Southern Army retreated to Shandong and did not dare to invade.
Ma and Ma Sanbao were also given the surname "Zheng" in Yongle year because of their military exploits in this battle, and became Zheng He.
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In the cold wind, Zhu Yunwen was a little strange and asked Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng: "I haven't seen the battle report for a long time. How is the battle situation in front of the general?"
Qitai bowed and said, "I'm telling you, Your Majesty! The weather in the north is cold, and our soldiers and horses in the south are not accustomed to the severe cold. The weather is not conducive to fighting. The general has stationed his army in Dezhou, preparing to attack the Yan bandits in the spring."
Zhu Yunwen pondered: "It will take several months until spring begins. Will the food, grass and military pay be enough?"
Qi Tai said: "The grain and grass are transferred from Shandong, Henan and Shanxi provinces nearby. There should be no problem by the beginning of spring."
Zhu Yunwen was still a little worried: "Can our soldiers get used to being in a cold place? Is the military morale okay?"
Huang Zicheng said: "The general took the lead, and the Qu family's father and son also advanced and retreated with the soldiers. The three armies sacrificed their lives, and the morale is still high."
Zhu Yunwen was moved: "It's not easy! According to my decree, I will give the general and the three fathers and sons of the Qu family Diaoqiu Wenjin." He paused and said: "Bring some Huadiao wine, Cao Guogong likes it best."
Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng agreed and looked at each other, faintly worried. Li Jinglong only said that Peiping had not been captured and the weather was cold and he had temporarily retreated to Shandong; but the 500,000-strong army had been there for several months, so what happened
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