Chapter 185: The Third Encirclement and Suppression (Part 3)
Xiaoqing River originates from the springs in Jinan City, flows eastward through Yin, Tianqiao, Licheng, Zhangqiu, Zouping, Gaoqing, Huantai, Boxing, Guangrao and other counties in Binzhou City, and flows into the Bohai Sea through Qingzhou and Shouguang.
At the end of Emperor Kangxi's reign, Li Shude, the governor of Shandong, was sent to administrate Xiaoqing River, which was quite effective. Li Shude, the meritorious official who administrated Xiaoqing River, was imprisoned in the prison of Linzi County in Dahan at that time.
At this time, the Yellow River had not yet returned to the north. To the north of the Xiaoqing River was the Daqing River. The location of the Daqing River was probably the same as the river channel of the Yellow River after it returned to the north.
Yue Zhongqi, who led an army of 100,000 soldiers, marched into Shandong with the Daqing River as the logistics supply line. Scouts came and went, but did not find any ambush by Huo Chong.
The 100,000-man army arrived at Jinan without any hindrance. Shandong Governor Saileng'e came to greet them and invited Yue Zhongqi to rest in the city. However, he did not expect Yue Zhongqi to stay in the barracks of the punitive army, which made Saileng'e very unhappy.
The two sides exchanged information. Jinan was always on high alert, but Huo Chong had no intention of attacking Jinan. After hearing this news, Yue Zhongqi made a decision. He said to Seleng'e, "Governor, the emperor told me that Huo Chong is a bandit. He will not roam around. Since this bandit is still guarding his lair, I will lead my troops to go there. The shipping of Xiaoqing River must be arranged by the governor."
Upon hearing that Yue Zhongqi was about to take action, Saileng'e immediately felt much more relieved and immediately ordered officials in Jinan city to quickly prepare for the army to be dispatched.
When Jinan City was fully preparing for the Qing army to fight, Huo Chong also got the news soon. He did not expect that the Qing army would really come to kill him, and Huo Chong felt relieved.
At this time, the Han army already had 40 battalions, each with 400 men. The battalion commanders gathered together, and Huo Chong introduced the latest situation and then described the battle objectives. "According to the news from the Yongzheng court, Yongzheng is right in his opinion that we are the enemy and must fight the Qing army head-on. Since the Qing army wants a decisive battle, we will fight them."
"Do we want to surround and annihilate them?" Qian Qing asked with shining eyes.
When others heard that Qian Qing had such a big appetite, many of them grimaced.
Huo Chong shook his head. "Yongzheng ordered Yue Zhongqi to be cautious, and Yue Zhongqi has been in the army for many years and has fought dozens of battles. Let's not compete with him in experience, we can't win. Why don't we fight him in a place where Yue Zhongqi can be assured and fight head-on? Are we still afraid of him?"
If you go in a straight line from Jinan to Linzi where Huo Chong is, you have to cross mountains and ridges. If you go along the plain, you have to go around a semicircle. Yue Zhongqi never expected that Huo Chong would come to meet 100,000 Qing troops without hesitation, and he still walked along the plain.
On the afternoon of the third day of May, the vanguards of both sides met. The Qing army's scouts chased the Han army's scout cavalry in just a few rounds, and Huo Chong had to retreat, which made him smile bitterly.
Huo Chong was absolutely confident in the part that required knowledge and production organization ability. However, cavalry, a type of military force that relied entirely on physical strength and long-term accumulation, was beyond Huo Chong's ability.
Fortunately, the Han army's scouts had been educated and knew that running back would be disrespectful. If they were killed by the Qing scouts, they would not only lose their lives but also their morale. So they ran as fast as they could.
The Qing army scouts did not get too carried away by their success and dared to directly attack tens of thousands of troops. Instead, they began to run around the Han army's formation.
The Han scouts had their own people to back them up, so they turned their horses around and drove away the Qing scouts. This time, the firearms of the Han scouts took advantage, and they shot down several Qing scouts in succession. This time, it was the turn of the Qing scouts who were unwilling to die in vain and ran away.
Yue Zhongqi had already frowned unconsciously. Judging from all the information, Huo Chong's 10,000 troops were neatly arrayed in front of 100,000 government troops. There was no gimmick, no conspiracy, just a frank and silly confrontation.
The Art of War by Sun Tzu says: Therefore, the method of using troops is to surround them if they are ten times your number, attack them if they are five times your number, divide them if they are twice your number, fight them if they are your enemy, flee if they are fewer than you, and avoid them if they are inferior to you. Therefore, the strength of a small enemy is the capture of a large enemy.
That is to say, the principle used in actual combat is: if we are ten times stronger than the enemy, we should encircle and annihilate them; if we are five times stronger than the enemy, we should attack them; if we are twice as strong as the enemy, we should try to defeat them; if we are evenly matched, we should try to disperse and defeat them one by one. If we are weaker than the enemy, we should avoid fighting.
Seeing Yue Zhongqi frowning, the generals could not help but ask, "General, Huo Chong is ahead. We can defeat him by outflanking him. Please give the order, General!"
Yue Zhongqi didn't know how to answer his subordinates. If there are ten of them, surround them; if there are five, attack them. The Qing army will form three formations, left, center, and right, and press forward on the left and right wings. When Huo Chong is in a difficult situation, the cavalry will be deployed to encircle him from behind and cut off the retreat of Huo Chong's army. When Huo Chong's formation is in chaos, the central army will press forward in one fell swoop, and they will win the battle.
Any general with a bit of ability could make such an arrangement. From any angle, this arrangement was correct.
However, Yue Zhongqi may not be convinced by Nian Gengyao, but he dare not underestimate Nian Gengyao. Since Huo Chong used his troops erratically and fought solidly, he could not have been unaware of such a situation.
Yue Zhongqi made a decision quickly. He pointed to several high grounds in the west and asked, "Who is willing to seize those hillsides?"
The government troops were moving from north to south, while Huo Chong's troops were moving from south to north. Therefore, Huo Chong's left wing was in the west, facing the government troops' right wing.
The west was a mountainous area, but Huo Chong did not deploy his troops from the mountainous area, but rather closer to the plains. The end of his left wing was located on some high ground, which was quite standard.
This shows that Huo Chong himself was not ignorant of the use of troops. By deploying the left wing on the high ground, he could discover the movements of the Qing army earlier and prevent the Qing army from rushing down from the high ground. He could also hide part of his troops on the high ground, which was a method of both offense and defense.
Since Huo Chong wanted to fight fairly, Yue Zhongqi made up his mind to fight Huo Chong fairly.
Knowing from the flag signals of the highland troops that Yue Zhongqi wanted to take away the advantage of his own territory first, Huo Chong smiled and said, "Very good, it will be easier to deal with those who know how to fight."
Lei Hu was puzzled for a moment, "Sir, it shouldn't be the government troops... Isn't it better that the Qing army can't fight?"
"A master can be killed with random punches. Even though we have many advantages, we have a fatal disadvantage." After Huo Chong finished speaking, he looked at Lei Hu.
Lei Hu knew that Huo Chong wanted to test him, but at this time he had no idea what the fatal disadvantage Huo Chong was talking about was. If the disadvantage in manpower was a fatal disadvantage, Huo Chong would definitely not bring his troops here to die.
Just as I was thinking about it, I heard Qian Qing ask, "Sir, do you want to annihilate the Qing army?"
"Yeah. Teach them a lesson and see how they react." Huo Chong expressed his agreement.
