Chapter 315: Surprise Attack on Badong

"Yes." Liu Qingyan responded, "Depending on the situation, this team of Central Army should be the mixed camp of Zhao Xin, the admiral of Huguang. Maybe it was ordered by Zhao Xin to come from Wuchang to rescue Xiangyang. However, there was a situation that was very puzzling. At that time, the Central Army was clearly marching in the opposite direction."

"The opposite direction?" Liu Rushi said in a voice, "That is to say, when this team of Central Army was discovered, they were traveling along the Han River toward Wuchang?"

"That's right." Liu Qingyan nodded, "That was the situation at that time."

"Oh no!" Liu Rushi's expression changed instantly, "This team of Central Army is not a real Central Army, but a Daxi rebels in Xiangyang City pretended to be!"

"What?" Liu Qingyan said in a lost voice, "Is this Central Army pretending to be a rebel?"

"It must be like this." Liu Rushi said in a narrow voice, "Why didn't my sister expect the Daxi rebels to pretend to be the Central Army? No wonder the rebels in Xiangyang City have fled for two days. None of the gentry and people along the way have found their whereabouts. It turns out that they have no hidden traces at all. What a cunning thief!"

Liu Qingyan couldn't believe it and said, "But where did the rebels get the equipment of the Central Army?"

Liu Rushi smiled bitterly and said, "Sister, don't forget that He Tengjiao's temporary governor headquarters is located in Xiangyang."

"This..." Liu Qingyan also changed her face, "Liu Qingyan, why might the rebels go to attack Wuchang?"

"Not possible, but certain!" Liu Rushi took a deep breath and said, "Since this group of rebels can pretend to be Zhao Xin's Central Army Mixed Battalion, they can naturally pretend to be the Central Army's baggage battalion under Xiaomei. The Central Army guarding Wuchang was caught off guard and had a great chance to successfully attack!"

"Oh no." Liu Qingyan exclaimed, "If Wuchang is lost, then things will be a big deal."

Looking up at the sky, Liu Rushi breathed a sigh of relief and whispered: "Fortunately, the rebels had just passed Yicheng at noon yesterday. It was more than 400 miles from Yicheng to Wuchang. Even if the rebels could fly, they would not be able to fly to Wuchang so quickly! In this way, Sister Qingyan, you immediately send a letter to Wuchang with flying pigeons, so that the Central Army Mixed Battalion left behind in Wuchang would be more vigilant!"

"Yeah." Liu Qingyan replied with a serious expression, "Sister, let's make arrangements."

When Liu Qingyan left, Liu Rushi called two commanders to the front and ordered the two scout brigades of the Central Army to be dispatched to investigate the movements of the "suspicious Central Army" in a carpet-style manner. In particular, it is necessary to focus on reconnaissance of Yicheng and head to Wuchang. Once the movements are found, it is immediately rewarded.

Badong, tightly linking the Yangtze River, is a powerful pass stuck on the important road into Sichuan!

In order to guard against the Sichuan bandit Zhang Xianzhong, the governor of Huguang, Zhao Xin, drew one of the only three mixed battalions to garrison here. Even under the situation of hundreds of thousands of Dashun and the Daxi Allied Forces approaching Qingtong Pass and Xunyang, Zhao Xin did not mobilize a soldier from Badong. This shows that Zhao Xin attaches great importance to Badong's defense.

In fact, Zhao Xin's caution makes perfect sense. If Zhao Xin transfers all his main forces to Qingtong Pass and Xun County, the defense lines between Badong and the Yangtze River Waterway will be wide open. If Zhang Xianzhong leads the Western Army to make a big move out of Sichuan, Zhao Xin will fall into a desperate situation of being attacked from both sides, and the consequences will be unimaginable.

However, now, Badong, where the Central Army is heavily stationed, is facing a crisis!

After Li Dingguo escaped from Xiangyang without knowing it, he once again gained the upper hand in the duel with Liu Rushi.

When Liu Rushi used a letter from a flying pigeon to warn Wuchang to be prepared and sent a large number of reconnaissance cavalry along Yicheng to Wuchang to investigate the whereabouts of the Daxi rebels, Li Dingguo had already taken more than 2,000 Daxi troops disguised as the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty and were approaching towards Badong, a military city.

Li Dingguo had long known that Badong was stationed in a mixed battalion of the Central Army. If it weren't for this mixed battalion, the Daxi Army would have already left Sichuan from the plank road on the left bank of the Yangtze River! As early as the night when he abandoned Xiangyang, Li Dingguo had already thought of the next step, which was to attack Badong and kill the Central Army in Badong City.

Li Dingguo's strategic vision is ruthless. He knew that Dashun, the Daxi coalition seemed powerful, but in fact it was difficult to break through the Qingtong Pass defense line that Zhao Xin had worked hard to manage. Moreover, there is Wang Pu's main force in the Central Army, so the coalition's chances of victory are even smaller. Now the Daxi army has only one line of chances to win, that is, to pull out the nail of Badong!

As long as the nail in Badong is pulled out, the Great Western Emperor Zhang Xianzhong will lead the main force of the Great Western Army out of Sichuan and sweep the hinterland of Huguang. In this way, Zhao Xin and Wang Pu's Central Army will fall into an adversity that is difficult to deal with from both sides and cannot be taken care of from beginning to end. Only in this way can the water in the Huguang battlefield be muddy, and the Great Western Army will be able to win in chaos!

The moon is dark and the wind is high, and more than 2,000 elite soldiers from the West led by Li Dingguo appeared under the city of Badong without anyone noticing!

The city of Badong in the night is very quiet. A torch is inserted every few steps on the low city tower. The raging fire illuminates the city's head as bright as day. Under the bright fire light, more than a dozen Central Army sentries stood up like javelins. The Central Army sentries held muskets and looked vigilantly at the dark wilderness outside the city. Although they could not see anything, they still did not relax their vigilance.

The walls of Badong City are not high, and there are no moats and moats. Two or three people can climb up calmly by setting up ladders.

The difficult thing was the Central Army sentry on the top of the city. Looking at the Central Army sentry standing like a javelin in the cold wind, Li Dingguo couldn't help but sigh again, what kind of person was Wang Pu? How did he train this Central Army with strict discipline and bravery? Although Li Dingguo was young, he never underestimated himself, but he believed that he could not train such an army.

In the dark night, a general of the Western Western country leaned forward and asked in a low voice: "Master, should you kill the sentry first?"

Li Dingguo shook his head and refused the general's proposal without hesitation. It was not difficult to shoot a sentry with a hidden arrow, but it was not easy to shoot more than a dozen sentrymen on the top of the city silently! As long as one sentry did not die on the spot, he would issue a warning to wake the defenders in the city, which would mean that the surprise attack had failed.

Fortunately, Li Dingguo did not send people to hunt sentries on the city wall. In fact, the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty has always adopted a system of defense of open and secret sentries. In addition to the dozen open sentries on the city wall, many secret sentries were buried. Even if the Western Army hunted more than a dozen open sentries, secret sentries could still send warning messages.

The general of the Western Western Region said again: "What should I do now?"

Li Dingguo said in a deep voice: "I pretended to be Wang Pu's direct Central Army and pretended to be the city!"

The general of the Great Western Region said, "Is this OK?"

Li Dingguo called a general from the West to whisper, and the general from the West took the order.

A moment later, a team of people and horses emerged from the mountain road and were slowly moving towards Badong City. With the light of fire, the Central Army sentry at the top of Badong City saw the truth. It was actually a Central Army, with a force of about 400 people, but the one in his hand was not a musket, but a long spear.

When the Central Army of these two brigades of the Central Army barely drove outside the city, a Central Army officer suddenly appeared at the head of the Badong city and shouted loudly outside the city: "Stop!"

The Central Army outside the city stopped hearing the sound, and a person who looked like an officer walked out of the queue and looked up and responded: "Open the city gate quickly and let us in!"

The Central Army officer on the city wall was unmoved and shouted: "Command!"

The Central Army officer outside the city was confused and asked, "What command?"

The Central Army officer on the top of the city frowned and asked again: "Which part of you?"

"Why are there so much nonsense!" The Central Army officer outside the city became angry and said impatiently, "We are the Central Army directly under the Governor. If you don't open the city gate, don't blame me for being rude!"

"Governor?" A cold light flashed leisurely in the eyes of the Central Army officer at the top of the city, and he shouted, "Which Governor?"

"Nonsense." The officers of the Central Army outside the city were even more impatient, "Of course it was Wang Pu, the governor of the five provinces of the Ming Dynasty!"

"I understand, you can wait outside the city first, and I will let someone open the city gate."

The Central Army officer at the top of the city nodded and turned to go down the city tower. When he turned around, the chill in his eyes had turned into a cold murderous intent. Unfortunately, the Central Army officer outside the city and the two brigades of Central Army did not notice it, and were still waiting outside the city.

After about a meal, just as the two brigades of the Central Army outside the city were waiting a little impatiently, the Central Army officer who had just turned and left appeared on the top of the city again. The officer outside the city immediately became angry and said angrily: "What the hell are you doing? Why haven't you opened the city gate?"

"Hehe." The Central Army officer on the top of the city sneered, "Shameless thief, die!"

The next moment, countless bright torches suddenly lit up at the head of Badong city, almost illuminating the inside and outside the city tower as bright as day. Under the fire, hundreds of Central Army soldiers emerged from behind the walls at the city wall. The Central Army soldiers were holding muskets with bayonets. Hundreds of bayonets reflected a dazzling cold light under the light of the fire. The Central Army of the two brigades outside the city were immediately dumbfounded.

Li Dingguo, who was lying in the distance in secret to observe the situation, was also shocked and stood up. He couldn't figure out what was wrong?

"What do you want to do?" The Central Army officer outside the city shouted with a stern look, "Do you want to rebel? We are Governor Wang's direct Central Army!"

"Hahaha..." The Central Army military officer at the top of the city laughed to the sky, "I dare to pretend to be our Central Army when I die!? Let me tell you, the Central Army is the Central Army, and there has never been any direct subordinate to the Central Army! Also, we never knew what Governor Wang, we only knew the Marquis. The Supreme Commander of the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty was the Marquis of Jingnan instead of the Governor of the Five Provinces. Idiot, pig, now you should understand?"

Li Dingguo in the distance said with a grudge: "So that's it, it's hateful!"

After all, Li Dingguo had never served in the Central Army. Many details were customary for the soldiers of the Central Army, but Li Dingguo and the soldiers of the Daxi Army were completely unaware of it. It was precisely because of these negligence that Li Dingguo's plan to attack Badong was in vain.

The next moment, dense gunfire sounded like thunder from the top of Badong city. About 400 soldiers of the Daxi Army crowded under the city wall fell down like cut weeds. At such a close distance and under such dense firepower, basically no one was spared.

"withdraw!"

The muscles on Li Dingguo's face twitched twice, and a cold word collapsed from the gap between his teeth.

As soon as the gunshot sounded, the plan to attack Badong was completely failed. Just relying on the remaining thousand men to attack Badong, it was undoubtedly a search for death. Now, the only thing Li Dingguo could do was to take the remaining thousand remaining soldiers back to Sichuan. Li Dingguo was indeed an excellent general, unrestless in the face of danger, unchanged in the face of shock, with a mind and courage, but he still lacked in craftsmanship.

Xiangyang, the front-line headquarters.

Liu Rushi did not sleep all night. The next morning, Wuchang sent Feige back to send a letter. At the same time, the reconnaissance brigade that was scattered also sent back the news. However, what puzzled Liu Rushi was that Wuchang reported that no army was found within a radius of 100 miles, and the reconnaissance brigade that the spilled did not find any traces of the "Central Army"!

In fact, the more than 2,000 Western Army of Li Dingguo had already turned west from Yicheng, but Liu Rushi sent the only two scout brigades in Yicheng to Wuchang. Of course, the whereabouts of the Western Army could not be detected. As for Wuchang, it was of course even more impossible to find the whereabouts of the Western Army.

It was not until the evening that Badong sent an urgent delivery, saying that it was attacked by an unidentified fake Central Army last night. When Liu Rushi heard the news, she suddenly burst into a cold sweat. She never expected that this group of cunning Daxi Army did not go to attack Wuchang, but instead attacked Badong, which was heavily guarded by the Central Army!

The only thing that is thankful is that the officer on the night in Badong was very alert, and the tricks of the Daxi rebels failed.

Otherwise, once Badong is lost, Zhang Xianzhong, stationed in Sichuan, will lead the main force of Daxi to launch a large-scale out of Sichuan. In this way, the Central Army will be in an unfavorable situation of being attacked from both sides. Even if Liu Rushi believes that the Central Army has enough strength to deal with the Dashun Army, the Daxi Army will inevitably be ravaged by the war.

Things really came to that point, and Liu Rushi was really shameless to go back to see Wang Pu. Before leaving, Wang Pu repeatedly reminded Liu Rushi to protect the people of Huguang no matter what. Liu Rushi agreed. After all, the Central Army defeated the arrogant Jiannu and the Tartar coalition, and could not defeat the mere thieves?

"It seems that there are also capable people among the thieves." Liu Rushi sighed, turned his eyes to Liu Qingyan, and said in a faint voice, "Sister Qingyan, tell the Marquis all the recent series of events, and... let him appoint others as the commander of the former enemy. My little sister is not capable enough to take on this important task."
Chapter completed!