Chapter 16 7. Set up an ambush to lure the enemy and break the siege of Liuhe

Zhu Yuanzhang, who has more than 20,000 elite soldiers, has a bigger plan in Dingyuan, a small county.Dingyuan was the first city he conquered, and after all, this city was too small to accommodate so many people and horses, and it seemed overcrowded. Where is the next target?Li Shanchang and the Feng brothers agreed that Chuzhou should be attacked in the south. First, Chuzhou’s defenders are weak; second, Chuzhou’s geographical location is very important, which is the key to the southward development; third, there are taxes, grain and grass for the entire Anhui region in Chuzhou The supplies are abundant.

Zhu Yuanzhang heard these three reasons, each of which was a huge temptation, and ordered to attack Chuzhou with 20,000 elite soldiers.Send Huayun as the forward, Xu Da, Tang He, Zhou Dexing, Shao Rong, Gu Shi and others as the central army, let Fei Ju, Qin Batou, and Miao Daheng support in the rear, while Li Shanchang and Feng brothers follow Zhu Yuanzhang to make suggestions. Those generals and soldiers usually undergo rigorous training, and now that they have the opportunity to go into battle, they are all full of energy and fighting spirit.Under Hua Yun's charge, the soldiers of various ministries rushed into the formation of officers and soldiers with unstoppable momentum, rushed left and right, and defeated the officers and soldiers.In less than half an hour, Chuzhou was captured, and more than 3,000 officers and soldiers in the city had nowhere to escape and all surrendered.

Zhu Yuanzhang left Xu Da and Zhou Desheng to lead a group of troops to garrison Dingyuan, and he, Li Shanchang, Feng brothers, Tang He and others stationed in Chuzhou with heavy troops. Zhu Yuanzhang received thousands of shi of official food in Chuzhou, and gold and silver treasures worth tens of thousands of taels of gold.However, Zhu Yuanzhang did not take these as his own, nor did he distribute them all. Instead, he distributed half of the official food to the common people, and rewarded meritorious soldiers appropriately, and all the property was dedicated to Guo Zixing.At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang was going to take Chuzhou as his base, and from here he would start to make long-term plans and plan an independent portal.

When Zhu Yuanzhang was planning his next move, Guo Zixing couldn't stay in Haozhou City any longer, so he came to take over Chuzhou and moved the commander's mansion here.Although Zhu Yuanzhang had a lot of thoughts in his heart, he had no choice but to hand over his military power due to affection, and still respected Guo Zixing as his commander.What Zhu Yuanzhang saw was the longer-term interests, not the current battle for status. Not long after Guo Zixing arrived in Chuzhou, the Prime Minister of the Yuan Dynasty defeated Zhang Shicheng in Gaoyou and sent troops to surround Liuhe.Liuhe is in the east of Chuzhou, not far away. The defender of Liuhe sent people to Chuzhou for help.

Guo Zixing still plays the role of a general in Chuzhou City, and he has the final say on whether to save him or not.Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to send troops, but he had to persuade Guo Zixing. Guo Zixing said: "Liuhe is Zhang Shicheng's sphere of influence, this Zhang Shicheng is just a newcomer, why save him?" Zhu Yuanzhang said: "The situation is critical now. Liuhe is only a hundred miles away from Chuzhou, and it is Chuzhou's barrier. If Liuhe is broken, Chuzhou will be threatened by the Yuan army. The relationship between the two cities is dead." Guo Zixing is still unwilling to send troops, this is his character.If you can have some courage, more loyalty, and less pride in Haozhou City, you won't be pushed out of the city.Zhu Yuanzhang tried his best to persuade Guo Zixing to reluctantly agree to send troops by recruiting brothers Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong.The Feng brothers were the first talents Zhu Yuanzhang recruited, and they had both courage and strategy, while Li Shanchang's strength was his great eloquence and good communication and persuasion.

The problem came again, Guo Zixing said reluctantly: "The situation in Liuhe is so urgent, and this trip will be more or less ominous. Casualties are certain. Who should send troops now?" Zhu Yuanzhang immediately replied: "Yuanzhang is willing to lead the army in person." So Zhu Yuanzhang rushed to Liuhe with 10,000 elite soldiers and 20 brave and skilled cronies. Before setting off, Li Shanchang suggested that it is the best strategy to use offense as defense, and he can enter the Walianglei area to directly confront the Yuan army.Waliang Lei looks like a mountain city, surrounded by mountains on three sides. The mountains are full of rocks and trees, and it is easy to set up ambushes for surprise attacks.If you can succeed, go to Liuhe to counterattack the Yuan army with heavy troops; if you fail, set up an ambush at Qingshuijian outside the city and attack the Yuan army.

According to the plan, Zhu Yuanzhang and Geng Zaicheng raided the Yuan army at Walianglei in order to open the way. The Yuan army failed, so Zhu Yuanzhang led his troops to Liuhe. Knowing that Zhang Shicheng's men and horses were besieged and unable to move in the city, Zhu Yuanzhang first stationed his soldiers and horses five miles outside the city, and sent people to inform the generals in the city to lead the troops to come to meet them, so as to comfort the soldiers in the city not to surrender. After receiving the reply from the city, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately led his troops to go, and the troops were divided into three groups: one group of soldiers besieged the Yuan soldiers from the south gate of Liuhe; one group of soldiers entered the city from the east gate to counterattack the Yuan army;

Zhu Yuanzhang, Hua Yun, Tang He and others entered the city, only to feel the seriousness of the situation.The Yuan army attacked the city with overwhelming momentum. The fortress, protection, and city walls of Liuhe City were quickly destroyed. , hard to resist.Seeing to be unable to resist.Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to let the generals in the city gather the old, weak, women and children in the city, and send people to cover and withdraw from Chuzhou. The original intention of this retreat was naturally to protect the vulnerable groups, but Zhu Yuanzhang also used this design to lure the Yuan army.

Zhu Yuanzhang sent Hua Yun and Miao Daheng to escort those old and weak. Along the way, they fought and retreated, and the speed of retreat became faster and faster.Here, Hua Yun and the old and weak were used as cover, while Zhu Yuanzhang asked Xu Da, Tang He and the others to lead their troops to ambush on the way. At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Geng Zaicheng, who was charging in the city, to lead his troops to withdraw from the city and flee from another road to pretend to be defeated. He asked Gu Shi and others to lead his men to ambush on Geng Zaicheng's retreat road. The Yuan army naturally dispersed its forces and pursued them in two places.On Huayun's journey, when the Yuan army was about to catch up with the retreating civilians, Huayun ordered the soldiers to fight against the Yuan army.As for Xu Da and the others who were ambushing nearby, when they saw the two armies fighting on the road and the people scattered, they commanded the lurking army out of the mountain with a flag.Suddenly, a large number of people rushed in from all directions, cutting off the Yuan army's retreat, and the two armies began to fight fiercely.After all, the Yuan army was relatively weak at this time, and they were caught in an ambush without guarding against it. They were quickly beaten to a low morale and disabled.

As for Geng Zaicheng, when he reached the hillside, the chasing Yuan army was also ambushed.Gu Shi and the others first shot a flurry of arrows from the bushes, causing many casualties.When the reinforcements from the rear followed, Fang led the soldiers to attack back and forth. The Yuan soldiers were defeated, and Zhu Yuanzhang got several horses. Zhu Yuanzhang then gathered two groups of people to station at Waliang Lei, and sent another group of people to rush to Liuhe to help the soldiers in the city defend the city.Zhu Yuanzhang knew that it was not easy to defend Liuhe. Now the main force of Yuan soldiers is still in Gaoyou area. Liuhe only sent 30,000 people to besiege, and it will not take long for reinforcements from Gaoyou to arrive.In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang still has Chuzhou in his heart. This time he will help Liuhe, Yuan soldiers may send troops from Gaoyou to besiege Chuzhou, so the situation will be more urgent.

Zhu Yuanzhang summoned everyone to discuss countermeasures. What he wants to do most now is to prevent Yuan soldiers from besieging Chuzhou, and he doesn't want to attract Yuan Ting's attention so soon. Feng Guoyong said: "I have a plan, I don't know if it will work." Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly asked: "Mr. Feng, please speak frankly." Feng Guoyong believed that the generals of the Yuan Dynasty who besieged Gaoyou and Liuhe this time were all Mongols. They did not understand the psychology of the Han people. Yuan soldiers spared the people of Chuzhou. So Zhu Yuanzhang prepared enough beef and wine, and asked several eloquent old men to take the captured men and horses to the Yuan army camp. General Yuan was very surprised. Seeing the leader of the Yuan army, those old people said earnestly: "Chuzhou City is full of good people who are loyal to the Yuan Dynasty. The general led his troops to work hard. Today, the common people specially sent some old people to come here to reward them." Soldiers, some thin wine, not a tribute, and return all the horses you got." The general didn't know whether to believe it or not. An old man suddenly knelt down and said, "The general, please attack Gaoyou with all your strength. The good people in Chuzhou City have no resentment and hate the rebels. If the general attacks Gaoyou, he will try his best to make up for the military supplies." Hearing this and watching this trip, the generals of the Yuan army had nothing to say. At the same time, they also felt that Gaoyou had not been broken and Liuhe had not been captured. If they went to attack Chuzhou, the force would be too scattered and it would be even more difficult to succeed. Don't worry, as long as the people of Chuzhou have no rebellion, the imperial court will definitely protect them. We will deal with those rebels stationed in the city some other day." In this way, Chuzhou avoided the siege of Yuan soldiers, and the Yuan soldiers who besieged Liuhe were severely injured by Zhu Yuanzhang, and many soldiers were added to the city to help them, so the Yuan soldiers had to abandon the city and leave.Zhu Yuanzhang successfully broke the siege of Liuhe and protected Chuzhou. On the surface, Zhu Yuanzhang helped Zhang Shicheng in breaking the siege of Liuhe. In fact, while helping Zhang Shicheng, Zhu Yuanzhang also guarded Chuzhou, and his act of loyalty made Zhang Shicheng feel grateful. The two rebel armies coexisted peacefully.A few years later, when Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng stood still and did not agree to Chen Youliang's invitation to join forces, nor did he attack Zhu Yuanzhang's empty city.At the same time, rescuing Liuhe also won Zhu Yuanzhang a reputation for being brave, resourceful, loyal and righteous in the Huaixi area.