Chapter 232 The shock is coming

Since the entire north bank of the source lake is completely flat within a few miles, followed by mountainous areas, the four infantry battalions that sneaked out of Daye County took a boat to the east for a while and then chose to stay in a lake full of reeds.

Disembarked and lurked.

Li Ping's plan is both complicated and uncomplicated.

Afterwards, he would lead the troops through the plain area and into the mountains to the north when the night was deeper and quieter, and then secretly circled along the mountains to two mountains about a few miles north of the root of the peninsula where Daye County is located.

Near the pinched road.

The rearguard of the peasant army attacking Daye County was stationed there, and it was also the only retreat route to Wuchang County within dozens of miles around.

Then, all Li Ping had to do was wait.

If all goes well, around Chou hour, a small detachment that was sent out during the day and should have successfully blended into the area where the main force of the peasant army is located at the root of the peninsula should start to light the fire.

The members of this team are mainly local villagers in Daye County. Their task is to get as close as possible to Zhang Xianzhong's residence and light a fire as a signal.

According to numerous accurate intelligence reports, in order to show the benevolence of the new regime and not to push the people of Daye County into a desperate situation where they had to fight to the death, the peasant army that attacked Daye County did not force the local people to attack the city, and attacked the city.

The large number of people living along the lake outside Daye County, which would not hinder their attack on the city, were not expelled, and they did not even mind mixing with the people.

In addition, the peasant army coerced many people from Wuchang County and Jiangxia County (Wuchang City) to attack the city and help in the army.

This made it possible for a small team composed of local people to sneak into the main garrison area of ​​the peasant army through disguise, and very hopefully get relatively close to the residence of Zhang Xianzhong, who was supervising the battle here.

Upon seeing the fire, Li Ping would first launch a night attack on the rearguard of the Peasant Army.

Then, three cavalry companies of more than 500 cavalry, which were previously hidden in the mountains in the northwest and secretly approached the right rear of the main force of the peasant army tonight, will also launch a surprise attack on the rear of the main force of the peasant army and go straight to the ignition point.

At the same time, all four companies of the 1st Regiment and 1st Battalion, which had just arrived at Tonglushan on the west side of the peninsula through an emergency march from the homes of the suppressed local officials Ke and Chen, would also immediately cross the river and launch an attack on the right wing of the peasant army.

That is to say, using the ignition as a signal and the directional guidance and correction at night, launch the attack first from the rear of the peasant army, and build up momentum, striving to defeat or defeat the peasant army attacking Daye County through night attacks.

Kill Zhang Xianzhong himself.

Although the plan seems simple, there are many variables.

First, the four battalions led by Li Ping must complete a series of actions such as landing, entering the mountainous area, and secretly detouring to the vicinity of the enemy's rear guard within the specified time without attracting the enemy's attention. Then they must also move the Peasant Army rear guard as quickly as possible.

Defeat and join the attack on the main force of the peasant army in time.

This is the link with the heaviest task and the greatest variables, so it is led by Li Ping himself, with Ma Lan assisting him.

Then, it is not that simple to infiltrate and set fire to the small team, and it is very easy to fail even if there are many favorable conditions. After all, Zhang Xianzhong is not a vegetarian after so many years in the battlefield.

Other aspects are not easy either. There are many troops involved and there are naturally many unexpected situations.

But the world is like this, whatever you are afraid of will come.

Although Li Ping and his four battalions from the Second Regiment, which were not full due to long-term fighting, successfully disembarked secretly under the cover of a patch of tall reeds, they found that the area of ​​​​the patch of reeds was not as large as imagined and could not hide all 1,000 thousand people.

Multiple people.

Some officers and soldiers without firearms had to stand in chest-deep water behind reeds for a long time.

Fortunately, the enemy has never paid attention to this area. At the same time, it is summer, so there is no problem if people stay in the water for a long time.

But then another situation occurred. Everyone ignored the problem of so many mosquitoes in the reed marshes, which almost drove the troops crazy, especially the gunpowder soldiers who were carrying gunpowder and could not hide more parts of their bodies in the water.

Bad luck.

Immediately afterwards, the team that went ashore to establish observation and alert stumbled into a den of poisonous snakes in the dark, and two people were lost without combat before the battle even started.

Then, the lurking troops discovered that something was not right about the peasant army tonight.

All the areas where the peasant army is stationed are abnormally brightly lit until very late, and there are even obviously many people walking back and forth and making noises, and there are even frequent movements of people between the various garrison areas. This is very inconsistent with the peasants these days.

The army has relatively strict camping habits at night.

But fortunately, there were no signs of large-scale military mobilization or increased security, but only chaos and noise.

But this also greatly delayed Li Ping's plan to sneak into the mountains through the Ping area, and directly affected the long march in the mountains that would be carried out later.

During the long wait, Li Ping, who was anxious and couldn't stay in the reed swamp, finally took the risk and took action without waiting for the peasant army to fall asleep.

But it was still much later than the scheduled time.

Fortunately, the fire that was supposed to be lit as planned was not lit, and there was no movement from the troops in other directions.

In fact, at this time, the team composed basically of locals had already successfully penetrated into place, and due to the abnormal chaos of the peasant army, they also successfully sneaked into a private house in the small village where the target point was located.

Two members of the team were originally villagers from this small village.

In other words, the team really got close to Zhang Xianzhong's residence, but they didn't know that Zhang Xianzhong had already left at this time.

It turned out that the abnormal chaos in the peasant army was entirely caused by Zhang Xianzhong's departure and the news that he planned to withdraw his troops tomorrow.

Since Zhang Xianzhong's troops were defeated in Qianshan at the end of last year, the sources of newly recruited soldiers and horses that accounted for the main force are very complicated, and the discipline awareness and training level of the troops have been at a low level.

With the addition of Macheng's new battalion, which was more complex in composition and larger in force, Zhang Xianzhong relied more on prestige and favor to maintain his troops, rather than on organization and training. This led to a general lax sense of discipline in his troops, and the mountain top also

Very numerous.

The order to withdraw the troops and Zhang Xianzhong's departure first made some generals who had been beaten and lost confidence immediately couldn't help but convey the news and make arrangements and preparations in advance.

Anyway, starting from tomorrow, Sun Kewang will no longer be in control, and he doesn't have to be so honest.

Although Sun Kewang knew that this was inappropriate, his prestige and reputation were still insufficient at this time. In addition, his failure to preside over the siege made his dissuasion even more powerless.

In fact, Zhang Xianzhong's four adopted sons, including Li Rujing, only became famous after entering Sichuan. Although they had some personal martial arts qualifications at this time, their reputations were still not outstanding and their personal abilities were not mature enough.

, the ability to control the troops is also weak.

Moreover, the adopted son is not his biological son, and some heroes are always trying to acquire him, so naturally he will not be taken seriously.

Sun Kewang was unable to dissuade him, so more generals naturally followed suit, which quickly spread to the entire army and eventually led to chaos in the entire army.

This gave the local team sent by Li Ping an opportunity to fish in troubled waters.

But when they were preparing to light the fire, something unexpected happened. In order to ensure that the fire could be clearly seen by the lurking troops, the team originally planned to set the house on fire directly.

But the owner of the house firmly disagreed, and the family begged and cried.

Since most of the members of the team were from the same hometown as the homeowner, their hearts immediately softened. Not only did they hesitate and hesitate, but they even tried to persuade the only team leader who was not a local.

The team leader was confused on the spot. He had always been taught to treat people well and he didn't know what to do.

In order to prevent the team from having an accident and causing the incident to leak out in advance, the members of the team did not know the troops' actions tonight. They only knew that they would light a fire near the enemy's head and light a fire.

Moreover, except for the captain, all members of the squad had recently joined Li Ping's unit when Zhang Xianzhong attacked Daye County, and their sense of discipline had not been effectively established at all.

All these made the members of the team feel uneasy.

You can light the fire again in another place. The peasant army that has already calmed down has begun to continue to enforce the strict night curfew. It is so easy to change the place.

The result was that it was not far from dawn, but the fire was still not lit.

At this time, Zhang Qing, who was hiding behind the main force of the peasant army, was pacing nervously. He had already realized that something was wrong with his team.

The possibility of an accident occurring in the team has long been considered by Li Ping, and must also be considered by him.

According to the backup plan, the cavalry should be the first to launch the attack at this time, and the mission has been changed from going straight to the enemy's head to attacking the entire rear of the enemy's army. Other units will then enter the battle in sequence based on the cavalry's launch.

But Zhang Qing was hesitant to start now.

He could not turn a blind eye to the chaos of the peasant army for a long time at night. He realized that the main infantry force led by Li Ping was likely to be unable to arrive at the scheduled position on time. This was a problem that he, as a general, should have foreseen.

He felt that he should take some time off, as he was under great pressure.

After taking another look at the sky in the distance, Zhang Qing finally gritted his teeth and ordered: "Take off all the cotton covers on the horses' feet, and the entire army will begin to attack."

…

Because he was in a bad mood and went to bed very late, Sun Kewang never slept well.

Suddenly, he heard a lot of chaotic sounds coming from outside, and the ground seemed to be shaking slightly.

Sun Kewang instinctively jumped out of bed and ran out of the room to look around.

At this time, the neighing of horses and shouts of killing began to be clearly discernible in the rear of the army. The rearguard troops on the mountainside to the north were ablaze, and the right wing of the army seemed to be beginning to be attacked.

"Zuo Liangyu's army is coming!"

This was Sun Kewang's idea for a moment, and then the memory of being defeated and embarrassed by Zuo Liangyu several times began to flood into his mind.

Sun Kewang had no idea that Li Ping was attacking him.

Although the defenders of Daye County had carried out several sneak attacks, their force size was very small, and the purpose was to improve defense. They could not produce such a big movement, and were even less likely to pose a fatal threat.

In fact, not only Sun Kewang, but also almost all the peasant army generals did not think that Li Ping was raiding them, and most of them thought of Zuo Liangyu.

And this also created greater panic.

Whether they are Macheng Xinying or Zhang Xianzhong's direct descendants, coincidentally, without exception, they all have very unbearable memories of Zuo Liangyu.

As for the Guangji victory a few days ago, they did not participate so they could not completely distinguish the authenticity. Besides, a victory can't mean anything!

If you don't hesitate, there will be no hurry if you don't run.

Sun Kewang made up his mind quickly, and then he grabbed the soldiers who ran in in a hurry to report the military situation and shouted: "Quick! Find the horse! Let's go quickly!"

…
To be continued...