Chapter 38: Newcomer to the Battlefield

After the troops at Deshengmen had gathered, Zhu Gaoxu ordered his generals to march. They crossed Beiping from the main road, joined forces with the main force of the Prince of Yan, and went out of the Zhengnan Gate. Tens of thousands of troops left the city one after another, marching in three groups: the front, the middle, and the rear.

However, the army only walked more than 20 miles a day and then set up camp on the spot.

Zhu Gaoxu rested for a while in the big tent of the Left Guard Camp. He was still a little confused... But it was his first day in the army and he did a pretty good job. At least he tried his best and there were no unpleasant experiences with the generals.

He sat there alone, and then he recalled again and again how King Gaoyang fought the war.

Even though Zhu Gaoxu was very serious and had done his homework before leaving, he still felt a little insecure. Fortunately, he was just a general under the King of Yan and did not have to coordinate the overall situation.

At this time, a soldier came to the tent and reported, "The King of Yan ordered that the King of Gaoyang come to the central army to discuss matters."

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu got up from his futon and walked out of the tent. He called Wang Bin and others to accompany him and rode to the central army camp.

When he arrived at the place, he put his long and short swords outside the tent and walked in. There were several generals such as Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng inside. There were not many people. Zhu Gaoxu walked up and said, "Your son greets you, father."

The Prince of Yan raised his left hand and pointed to the side, and continued to sit on the upper seat and write something. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu stood together with several generals.

After a while, the Prince of Yan put down his brush and said, "I just received a report that the vanguard of the government army has been divided into Xiongxian and Luzhou; Geng Bingwen's army is still south of the Hutuo River, and part of his troops have gone to Hejian. The Beiping Provincial Administration Office has been newly established in Zhending. Given Geng Bingwen's nature of seeking stability in battle, he must have gone to Zhending."

Now that Prince Yan had talked about the situation, Zhu Gaoxu at least understood where those places were... Xiongxian and Ouzhou were in the front, Hejian was to its southwest; further south was the Hutuo River, and Zhending was at the back, on the south bank of the Hutuo River.

Zhang Yu immediately said, "I would like to ask you to attack Xiong County first. If the government troops from Luzhou come to support us, we can then return and attack them!"

Zhu Gaoxu listened silently, not intending to say anything more.

At this time, the King of Yan said, "Zhang Yu's words make sense. I see Geng Bingwen wants to occupy the city right from the start. I'm afraid that he will gain a firm foothold and use defense as an attack. That would be troublesome... When he followed my grandfather to conquer the world, he only used a few thousand people to defend against a siege of more than 100,000 people! Our Yan army must take the opportunity when he has not yet gained a firm foothold and decisively take the initiative to attack!"

He stared at her and said a lot, then he slowed down and said, "Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival. We can take advantage of their unpreparedness and attack them suddenly! Gao Xu, Zhu Neng!"

Zhu Gaoxu hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "Your son is here!" Zhu Neng also stepped forward and clasped his fists in response.

The King of Yan said, "Each of you will lead the infantry and cavalry, and set out at nightfall tomorrow to attack the government troops in Xiong County."

Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Neng replied, "Yes, sir!"

The King of Yan also sent Zhang Yu and Qiu Fu to lead the army to set up an ambush on the road between Luzhou and Xiongxian to ambush the reinforcements from Luzhou, and reminded them, "Yueyang Bridge is the only way to go, you can set up an ambush here."

Zhu Gaoxu listened and felt that the Prince of Yan was very familiar with the battlefield terrain and had his own ideas about tactics, which was indeed very powerful.

After the Prince of Yan had made all the arrangements, he waved his hand and told them to go back and rest. Zhu Gaoxu bid farewell to the Prince of Yan, returned to his own camp, called two thousand households, and asked them to arrange for the night's shift guard.

Zhu Gaoxu thought for a while, then called Wang Bin and said, "You arrange for a few smart soldiers to disguise themselves as civilians and go to Xiong County overnight to check the situation."

Wang Bin clasped his fists and said, "I will go and select the candidates now."

Zhu Gaoxu added, "Send three people and confirm the number of people when they come back."

On the afternoon of August 15, Zhu Gaoxu got the news from Wang Bin and went to discuss with Zhu Neng. Zhu Gaoxu told Zhu Neng, "Xiong County is small, and a large number of southern troops are stationed outside the city, at least 7,000 to 8,000 people. The military camp has wooden fences and trenches."

Zhu Neng gave Zhu Gaoxu a look of approval after hearing this, which gave him more confidence in the battlefield. Zhu Neng had a big mouth and thick lips. He opened his mouth and said, "I have also sent people to check. When we get to the place tonight, we will first attack the military camp outside the city. If we succeed, there are few soldiers in the city, so we can take it without fighting."

Zhu Gaoxu said modestly, "I will listen to General Zhu."

Zhu Neng added, "The last time King Gaoyang and I went to the northern frontier, we used the cavalry very well. Tonight King Gaoyang will use the cavalry to launch a surprise attack. My men will dismount and go to lift the fence."

"Let's do it." Zhu Gaoxu nodded.

When the sun went down and the moon was full tonight, the visibility was good. Zhu Gaoxu joined forces with Zhu Neng, ordered the soldiers to wrap the horses' hooves with rags to reduce noise, and then left the camp quietly.

When the march reached midnight, they heard the sound of gongs and drums in the distance, and looked over to see flames rising to the sky, lighting up the whole sky. Today is the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Southern Army soldiers seem to be celebrating the festival, and they are still awake...

Zhu Gaoxu and his men followed the firelight and slowly approached it. They could even see the campfire in the camp, but they had not been discovered yet. They had no idea where the Southern Army sentinels were.

At this moment, a loud shout suddenly came from inside, followed by the sound of a big drum beating "dong dong..."

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu shouted, "Charge!"

A group of cavalry on the left wing shouted and rushed towards the fence. Unexpectedly, just as the cavalry in front rushed to the ditch, there were a series of "bang bang bang..." explosions from inside, and flames flickered on the fence. The cavalry on Zhu Gaoxu's side screamed and many of them fell off their horses.

Zhu Gaoxu's heart tightened when he saw this, and he finally calmed down after staring wide-eyed. He observed for a while and found that the effective range of the Southern Army's muskets seemed to be less than ten meters, and those who fell were the knights who rushed to the edge of the ditch.

Seeing his cavalry advancing one after another, Zhu Gaoxu shouted, "Pass the order, the front army retreats temporarily! Use the light cavalry to shoot from ten steps away!"

The personal soldiers around him rode their horses and rushed to the front shouting military orders.

The generals and soldiers heard the order and retreated temporarily. They led their cavalry to charge the front of the camp, passed the fence, and shot arrows. The guards at the fence of the Southern Army fought back with muskets, but they could not kill the armored cavalry farther away. The muskets fired and the fire was very bright. Zhu Gaoxu's cavalry had poor vision, so they shot at any flash. For a while, screams were heard from all sides of the fence.

"Boom boom..." The cannons in the camp also fired. The sound was as loud as thunder, and the fire was even brighter. Zhu Gaoxu didn't understand what kind of shells those cannons fired. It was really hard to see clearly at night.

After a while of cannon fire, Zhu Gaoxu's instincts didn't seem to work very well, and even his horse couldn't be scared. They were all Ming soldiers, and although the Yan army didn't have many firearms, they had seen firearms before...

At this moment, a rider came over and shouted, "Your Majesty, General Zhu's troops are in the east, risking their lives to open the fence!"

Zhu Gaoxu immediately turned his horse around and shouted, "Pass the order, everyone who hasn't boarded yet, follow me!"