Life and Death

In late April of the second year of Chongzhen, the weather gradually became hotter and a storm was brewing in northern Shaanxi.

Wu Yangui could retreat, but he couldn't bear to give up his family business and was determined to fight the decisive battle with the officers and soldiers in Ansai City. Wu Yangui did not retreat, and the officers and soldiers had no reason to retreat. Mizhi, Qingjian and Ganquan were preparing for the next battle.

Undercurrents in northern Shaanxi, in contrast, the peasant army around Xi'an Prefecture suddenly fell silent. Wang Jiayin and others were also waiting for the end of the Battle of northern Shaanxi. The ownership of northern Shaanxi not only determines Wu Yangui's fate, but also has a far-reaching impact on Wang Jiayin's next plan. If the officers and soldiers defeat Wu Yangui and take down northern Shaanxi, it would be unrealistic to continue attacking Xi'an Prefecture.

On April 23, a large number of officers and soldiers gathered outside Ansai City. The soldiers were mainly soldiers of the guards under Liu Yingyu. Liu Yingyu led his troops to block the south of Ansai City and directly cut off the connection between Ansai City and Yan'an City.

Ansai City is too close to Yan'an City, which seems to cut off the connection between the two, but in fact, as long as both sides dispatch a military force and attack from north to south, Liu Yingyu can only be passively beaten. In the face of danger, Liu Yingyu is not panicked at all. He is here to be a bait. As long as the other party dares to leave the city, it means an opportunity.

Forced attacks are ultimately the worst strategy. If the peasant army can be transferred out to fight, it will increase the chance of victory. Unfortunately, it has been stationed in the south of the city for two days, and there is no movement in Ansai City and Yan'an City. Obviously, Wu Yangui, Li Yangchun and others saw through the intentions of the officers and soldiers and were unmoved at all.

Cao Wenzhao was not discouraged. Seeing that a plan failed, he made another move. Two days later, Cao Bianjiao and Liu Guoneng, who were stationed in Ganquan City, led their troops out of Ganquan, leaving no soldiers in the city. It can be said that Ganquan City became an unprepared city at this time. At the same time, Li Wanqing, who was stationed in Yezhu Gorge, was also ordered to retreat to Qingjian City.

The actions of the officers and soldiers made Wu Yangui a little overwhelmed. Doesn’t the officers and soldiers do this mean that they gave up Ganquan City? What’s the reason?

Indeed, Cao Wenzhao wanted to throw the fat piece of Ganquan to Wu Yangui. As long as Wu Yangui wanted to eat this fat piece of meat, he had to send troops to occupy and station Ganquan. As long as you sent troops out of the city, there would definitely be flaws. Cao Wenzhao was also a dangerous move. If he could not seize the opportunity and let Wu Yangui easily regain Ganquan, the previous Wild Boar Gorge Battle would be in vain.

Is Wu Yangui moved? Of course he was moved. Ganquan and Ansai City were too important to Yan'an Prefecture. If Yan'an Prefecture is regarded as a person, then Ganquan and Ansai are right-hand men. One arm was cut off by someone before, but now he has the opportunity to reconnect his arm. How could Wu Yangui not be moved?

The fat piece of Ganquan is full of fatal temptation. Wu Yangui also thought that there might be a hidden trick here, but in the end, the desire defeated everything. He had sent people to investigate, and there were no ambushing soldiers around him. In this case, he did not believe that the officers and soldiers could fall from the sky and intercept them halfway. Moreover, if Ganquan City could be recaptured, it would be worth it to pay some casualties.

Soon, Wu Yangui made a decision. With the Blue Sword of the Sky Pillar as the general, he led the King Wu Zicai and the Nine Insect Stone Chai to lead 15,000 troops out of Yan'an and kill the unguarded Ganquan.

The march was very fast along the way, but Lan Dao and others were careful, fearing that an ambush would come out from somewhere. But what surprised them was that they did not see the shadow of the officers and soldiers until they were less than ten miles away from Ganquan City.

At this time, the Wild Boar Gorge had passed the wilderness around, and there was no ambush at all. Looking at Ganquan City in the distance, Lan Dao felt that his head was a little too hard to turn. "What the hell are the officers and soldiers doing? They are really willing to give us Ganquan City that they have worked so hard to capture?"

Wu Zicai smiled bitterly and said, "How is this possible? This is the gateway to the south of Yan'an Prefecture. The officers and soldiers collectively got into the heads of water?"

Yes, how is that possible? If the officers and soldiers don’t have their heads to get into the water, it means that the officers and soldiers must have had conspiracy elsewhere. Looking at Ganquan City, which is so close, they just need to work harder to enter the city, but Lan Dao hesitated.

Just when Lan Dao was hesitating, Cao Bianjiao, Liu Guoneng and Li Wanqing, who were gathered in Qingjian City, led their troops out of the city and rushed straight out of the city to the west. At the same time, Liu Yingyu's troops and the main force of the border army in Mizhi City also began to approach Yan'an City. For a moment, the situation in northern Shaanxi suddenly changed, and officers and soldiers were approaching, as if they were swallowing Yan'an City in one breath.

This time, the officers and soldiers did not have any false moves. After arriving in Yan'an City, Liu Yingyu's troops took the lead in launching a fierce attack on Yan'an City. A large number of siege equipment and firepower support from muskets, Yan'an City suddenly became smoke everywhere.

I don’t know whether I can capture Yan’an City, but the officers and soldiers really fought hard this time.

Wu Yangui was shocked and angry. The officers and soldiers really felt that they could capture Yan'an City with their existing forces? The officers and soldiers were so arrogant that they were all over the place. The rear was unprepared. They were not afraid that before they captured Yan'an City, they were stabbed by the soldiers from Ansai City in the back first?

Where can the officers and soldiers get the confidence that they can successfully capture Yan'an City under the threat of Ansai City? No, the officers and soldiers must be in a feint attack. After suffering enough, the officers and soldiers will retreat.

Unfortunately, the development of the matter far exceeded Wu Yangui's expectations. Half a day after siege, Cao Wenzhao personally arrived and commanded the troops in Liaodong Town to start attacking the other side. For a moment, the pressure in Yan'an City increased sharply.

The officers and soldiers were like mad dogs, desperately trying to make a cut at the top of Yan'an City. The pressure on the defenders in Yan'an City increased dramatically, but Wu Yangui was still confident that he could defend it. As long as he persisted for another day, Li Yangchun, who was stationed in Ansai City, would definitely send troops to help, and the officers and soldiers would suffer.

Wu Yangui was not wrong. Yan'an City had a tight defense and sufficient troops, so the officers and soldiers could not capture it for a while. Li Yangchun from Ansai City was also watching, ready to send troops to the officers and soldiers to come back.

But Wu Yangui ignored one thing, that is, the troops sent to receive the Blue Sword troops from Ganquan City. He ignored the Blue Sword's idea, which also caused the loopholes to appear.

The officers and soldiers launched a fierce offensive against Yan'an City. People in the city thought they could defend it, but people outside the city did not think so. At least, the officers and soldiers had a sharp offensive. On the surface, Yan'an City was in turmoil and might be taken down by the officers and soldiers at any time.

After receiving the news, Lan Dao and others who had just entered Ganquan City were panicked. Lan Dao, no, to be precise, most of the peasant generals under Wu Yangui were born in wild ways and did not have the military qualities of the entire Eight Classics. They didn’t even know the basic deployment of military forces, so they could not know whether Yan'an City was safe or not. At this time, Lan Dao and others had a reaction, that was, they were deceived by the officers and soldiers.

The officers and soldiers used Ganquan City as bait to lure the leader Wu into division of troops. After the division of troops, Yan'an City lost more than 10,000 troops, and their defensive strength was definitely much weaker. Wouldn't the opportunity for officers and soldiers come?

Once Yan'an City is lost, what's the point of garrisoning Ganquan City and Ansai City? After urgent discussion, Lan Dao, Wu Zicai, Shi Chai and others made a difficult decision. Before they could sit in Ganquan City, they were anxious to return with 15,000 soldiers and horses, trying to kill a retaliation, and attack the officers and soldiers head-on, and lift the siege of Yan'an City.

In this way, Ganquan City soon became an unguarded city, but this time, the one who took the initiative to abandon Ganquan became a peasant army.

Lan Dao also wanted to communicate with Wu Yangui in advance, but the military situation was urgent and could not be delayed. What's more, the officers and soldiers went out of the siege and could not contact him even if they wanted to.

The troops of Lan Dao came to Wild Boar Gorge again, and it was the morning of the second day of the siege. Early in the morning, the officers and soldiers launched a fierce attack on Yan'an City again. However, although this attack was fierce, in less than a moment, the officers and soldiers retreated like a tide. What was even more confusing was that the officers and soldiers not only gave up the siege, but even the soldiers stationed outside the city began to retreat, and soon disappeared.

Wu Yangui stood at the top of the city, looking at the scene in front of him, his head buzzing.

My head was about to explode, and I couldn't figure out what the officers and soldiers were selling in the gourd. It was not right to say that they were defeated and retreated. Although the officers and soldiers attacked fiercely, the losses were not too great. Why were they defeated? There was a threat from the rear? If soldiers were sent in Ansai City, the officers and soldiers would not retreat so simply, right?

"Captain Wu, should we chase it out?"

"What are you chasing?" Wu Yangui frowned and said angrily, "What should we do if the officers and soldiers retreated and the ambush halfway is real?"

.........

Twenty miles northwest of Wild Boar Gorge, a team carrying food and grass was ambushed here by officers and soldiers. This time, Lan Dao and others were also violently ambushed in the same place.

Lan Dao originally took the people to Yan'an City to speed up, but as soon as he arrived here, he was stunned by gunfire before he could catch his breath. With one encounter, more than 100 peasant soldiers fell down, and the entire formation was in chaos.

The gunshots were heard continuously, and the tall shield walls almost became the symbolic formation of the Zhangbei Bian Army.

Lan Dao gasped and stepped back, then shouted at the top of his throat, "How could he meet the soldiers of the Living King of Hell here? Shouldn't they be sieging the city?"

Wu Zicai's face was pale, and a hint of panic flashed in his eyes. He held his forehead and his voice trembled, "It's over, we're fooled. The real target of the officers and soldiers is not Yan'an City. They attacked Yan'an City to force us back."

Wu Zi had only figured out the joints, but it was too late at this time. Since the officers and soldiers tried their best to do this dangerous move, it was impossible not to think carefully. There were already Zhang Beihuo Hell waiting here, so there must be officers and soldiers behind them.

As expected, the two sides had only been fighting for a quarter of an hour, and then the bad news was heard. A group of officers and soldiers rushed out of the Wild Boar Gorge and rushed straight to Ganquan City. At this time, Ganquan City had fallen back into the hands of the officers and soldiers. At the same time, the officers and soldiers headed north along Ganquan City and headed straight to this battlefield.

Lan Dao's face turned pale. He knew that his army of tens of thousands of people had been caught by the officers and soldiers.

Now, the elite troops of the three towns and the guards whom Liu Yingyu had reached more than 35,000, which was twice as powerful as himself. It was enough to attack from north to south.

When the officers and soldiers completed the encirclement of the peasant army under Lan Dao, the sun was setting. The night gradually came, and both sides also stopped. However, the temporary calm meant that the killings the next day would be even more tragic.

Blue Knife sat on a ball of straw mat, looked up at the stars in the sky, and his eyes showed a look of despair.

Somehow, Lan Dao remembered a scene that happened before. At that time, Wang Zuoguai advised Leader Wu not to defend Yan'an Prefecture to the death, and should not let Yan'an Prefecture become a bond of the peasant army. Defending Yan'an Prefecture to die is a dead end, because the current peasant army's ability is not the opponent of the officers and soldiers at all. Don't watch the peasant army conquer the city and the popularity is getting stronger, but if it really fights, it is not the opponent of the elite officers and soldiers.

Unfortunately, at that time, not only did Chief Wu not listen, but most peasant generals also couldn't listen, and they all thought that Wang Zuoguai was too alarmist.

Being guarded several cities in Yan'an, with the advantage of military strength, the brothers are united. Can the officers and soldiers become tigers and swallow their brothers?

At that time, he once mocked Wang Zuogu for being timid.

Now, he laughs at his ignorance.

During this period, especially what happened in the past two months, Lan Dao deeply realized how big the gap was with the elite officers and soldiers. Don’t look at the large number of troops on his side, but in front of the elite soldiers of the three towns, he was beaten in a mess and was restricted. When he faced the battle in front of the formation, he was defeated at any time.

Take this for example. The officers and soldiers first use Ganquan City as bait to lure the division of troops. Everyone is guarding against whether the officers and soldiers will ambush halfway. In fact, the officers and soldiers did ambush, but they did not ambush on the way you go, but on the way you come back.

Who would have expected that the officers and soldiers would dare to attack Yan'an City? Unexpectedly, they would have been forced to abandon Ganquan and rush to help Yan'an City.

The series of actions of officers and soldiers are chains, one by one, one by one, one by one, one by one, and one by one, then officers and soldiers are equivalent to digging a hole and burying themselves. But the key is that officers and soldiers win.

"Brothers, after dawn, we will have very few opportunities, so I decided to break through tonight and rush out as much as I can."

Lan Dao stared at Wu Zicai and others with a firm attitude. Wu Zicai and Shi Chai looked at each other, and then Wu Zicai hesitated: "Brother Lan, it's not impossible for us to break through at night, but do you think the officers and soldiers will give us a chance?"

"Then you have to try it!"

Lan Dao also knows that the opportunity is slim, but if you don’t try it, do you still have to wait for death?

Just after the night and the middle of the day, Lan Dao, Wu Zicai and others launched a breakthrough in two directions. However, Cao Wenzhao had already responded, and arranged an array to intercept it in the east and west directions of Cao Bianjiao and Zhou Dingshan. Under the suppression of muskets and crossbows, the hasty breakthrough soon ended in failure.

The next day, Lan Dao, Wu Zicai and others were waiting for the arrival of the doomsday, but the officers and soldiers showed no sign of attacking.

Lan Dao couldn't figure it out, his troops were damaged, his generals were lost, his morale collapsed, and the officers and soldiers only needed one charge, and they would be wiped out. But at this time, the officers and soldiers became extremely kind.

The Blue Sword was naturally not a fool when Wu Yangui was attracted to him. He soon figured out the joints. The officers and soldiers surrounded him but did not attack, so they wanted to treat them as bait and lure Yan'an City and Ansai City to send troops to rescue him.

But it is useless to see through it. The initiative is in the hands of other officers and soldiers. If they don’t kill you, would you take the initiative to stretch your neck and let others chop it?

Lan Daotou encountered this situation once. He wanted to die but did not die. He wanted to be killed, but he was not in a hurry to kill you. This life is really hard.
Chapter completed!