Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 714 Attacking the Heart
Hong Chengchou not only transferred his elite cavalry to Sun Chuanting, but also gave Sun Chuanting an idea. At present, Gao Yingxiang's troops were trapped in Heishui Valley. Gao Yingxiang failed to break through the front in today's battle. In the next few days, Gao Yingxiang would have to continue to attack fiercely in order to escape.

As long as Gao Yingxiang can't find a gap, he will not be able to escape.

Moreover, the army was surrounded by the Ming army, and the people under Gao Yingxiang were already in panic. As the saying goes, the best strategy is to attack the enemy's plan, and force alone will not work. After all, Gao Yingxiang has a lot of people, nearly 50,000, while Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou's troops are less than half of the enemy's. Even if the Ming army is a good fighter, it will still do something desperate. If they continue to fight like this, even if they win the battle, the losses in the army will be extremely heavy.

It would be better to try to appease the enemy after the battle starts tomorrow. The target of appeasement is certainly not Gao Yingxiang. Gao Yingxiang will never surrender, but his subordinates may not, especially the ordinary soldiers in the rebel army.

With no way forward and no way back, they were trapped in a desperate situation. Any normal person would understand that the situation was hopeless. Using the method of appeasement to lure Gao Yingxiang's subordinates to lay down their arms and surrender would not only weaken Gao Yingxiang's power, but also reduce their own losses and defeat Gao Yingxiang's troops as soon as possible.

After hearing what Hong Chengchou said, Sun Chuanting immediately agreed. In fact, he also had this idea. After discussing it, the two decided to do it tomorrow after the war started. As long as some of Gao Yingxiang's subordinates were tempted and willing to surrender, the morale of the other side would definitely plummet, and defeating Gao Yingxiang's troops would be a sure thing.

Nothing happened overnight, and when the sun rose the next day, Gao Yingxiang launched another attack on the entrance of the valley. This time, Gao Yingxiang put all his assets on the line to break through the defense line of the valley. Gao Yingxiang knew very well that if he could not break through the valley, then his army would be finished. At the moment, he had no other choice, and the only way to survive was on the other side.

This time, Gao Yingxiang sent out his ace "armored cavalry". The so-called armored cavalry was the most powerful force in Gao Yingxiang's hands. These armored cavalry were wearing heavy armor and holding the best weapons. In the past battles with the Ming army, Gao Yingxiang was able to escape from the encirclement of the Ming army many times and even defeat his opponents, relying on this cavalry.

Although Gao Yingxiang's armored cavalry was not as good as the Guanning Iron Cavalry in terms of training or other aspects, let alone the elite cavalry under Zhu Shenzui, and its combat effectiveness was only slightly different from that of ordinary Ming cavalry, it was already a very powerful army for the rebels. Now Gao Yingxiang placed all his hopes on it, intending to use the armored cavalry to break through the valley.

But Gao Yingxiang never expected that Hong Chengchou's cavalry had already arrived at the entrance of the valley to assist Gao Jie in defense. When Gao Yingxiang's armored cavalry was dispatched, Hong Chengchou's cavalry also moved. The two cavalry units fought fiercely at the entrance of the valley. In the end, Gao Yingxiang's armored cavalry failed to break through the defense line, but was beaten back by Hong Chengchou's elite cavalry.

Seeing that the armored cavalry failed to work, Gao Yingxiang became anxious and ordered his infantry to continue the attack, intending to use manpower to open a way out.

As the battle became more intense, the battlefield at the entrance of the valley was covered with blood and flesh, and screams of killing could be heard one after another. However, no matter how many times Gao Yingxiang attacked, the Ming army under the command of Gao Jie firmly defended the entrance of the valley and did not give the other side any chance.

After all their efforts failed to work, Gao Yingxiang's troops gradually lost morale. This is exactly the reason why the saying "the first effort is strong, the second is weak, and the third is exhausted" is true. A day and a half has passed since the battle started yesterday. Gao Yingxiang has tried his best but still failed to break through the Ming army's line, and his side has suffered heavy losses in front of the battle.

The rebel army under Gao Yingxiang was a motley crowd. Most of them were elite soldiers selected from the common people. Many of them had only put down their hoes and picked up swords and guns for a few months. They were not real soldiers at all. Even if there were old soldiers in the army who had followed Gao Yingxiang in battles for many years, they were only a handful. Moreover, under the current circumstances, even the old soldiers believed that a breakthrough was impossible.

At this time, near the battlefield of Yukou, the Ming army put up two large flags, one white and one red. A dozen loud-voiced Ming soldiers shouted under the flags, saying that Gao Yingxiang was going to be defeated today. If you don't want to die with Gao Yingxiang, those who want to surrender should lay down their weapons and run to the white flag. As long as you surrender, the government army will leave you a way out. If you intend to resist to the end, then go to the red flag and be buried with Gao Yingxiang!
As the red and white flags came out, coupled with the Ming army's shouts, the rebels on the battlefield looked at each other in bewilderment, their hearts wavering.

When the first rebel soldier could not stand the cruelty of the battlefield and began to drop his weapons and run towards the white flag, others followed suit. Especially when the first batch of hundreds of rebel soldiers who ran to the white flag sat on the ground at the request of the Ming army and the Ming army did not do anything to them, those hesitant rebel soldiers were instantly tempted, one after another left the team, dropped their weapons and ran towards the white flag. Most of the rebel soldiers who had just rushed to the front were gone in a blink of an eye.

Moreover, the situation continued to spread. Seeing that their brothers had deserted the battlefield and there was nothing wrong with going to the white flag, the remaining rebel soldiers, including several small leaders, were tempted. If they continued to fight, they would either die or be injured. If they could not break through, they would either die today or tomorrow. However, surrendering would provide a way to survive. Everyone is not a fool. Who would choose to die under such a choice?
Besides, just as the Ming army said, Gao Yingxiang's way out had been blocked by the Ming army, and he had no way to retreat. Gao Yingxiang, who had dominated the world, was about to be defeated. Why should they, the little people, be buried with Gao Yingxiang? Their lives were their own, and if they were gone, they were gone. Why did they have to go to a dead end when there was a way to live? Wasn't that a brain problem?

In less than a quarter of an hour, most of the attacking rebels dropped their weapons and ran to the white flag to surrender, while the remaining rebels stood there in a daze, not knowing what to do.

The sudden change in the front shocked Gao Yingxiang who was watching the battle from behind. He never thought that the Ming army would be so shameless and use such a trick. Seeing that more than ten of the remaining rebel soldiers dropped their weapons and ran away, Gao Yingxiang knew that if this continued, these people would all run away. He immediately ordered the troops to retreat, and only then did he withdraw the last few hundred people who did not run away.

Although the troops were withdrawn, this attack became a joke. The initial armored cavalry did not work at all, and now the enemy has surrendered thousands of infantry. Gao Yingxiang has no idea how to fight the next battle. The second day of the war ended hastily. For the Ming army, the result was much better than the first day, especially those who surrendered from the rebel army, which made Gao Yingxiang's troops lose morale. As long as he continued to hold on to the counterattack and at the same time recruited the rebel army, Gao Yingxiang's result would not change.

Another happy thing is that on that night, some people from the rebel army secretly came to the Ming army's defense line. These people were not here to attack, but were sent privately by several generals under Gao Yingxiang. These generals knew the current situation very well, and they knew that Gao Yingxiang was doomed to fail this time. They were fence-sitters, and as bandits, these generals had no idea of ​​being loyal to the emperor and loving the people. Profits were the most important to them.

During the day, the Ming army raised the banner of appeasement. These people saw with their own eyes that ordinary rebel soldiers who surrendered in front of the battlefield were fine. Since surrendering can save their lives, why bother to fight for their lives? Especially in the current situation, even if they fight for their lives, it will be useless.

So they all planned to surrender, and in order to determine the attitude of the Ming army, they secretly came to contact Gao Yingxiang. After learning about this situation, Gao Jie hurriedly reported it to Sun Chuanting, who immediately instructed Gao Jie to tell the other party that as long as they were willing to surrender with their subordinates, their previous crimes would be forgiven.

With Sun Chuanting's reply, the leaders felt relieved and immediately agreed to revolt on the battlefield the next day. Shortly after the third day of fighting began, the general who was supposed to lead his men to attack the Ming army's defense line actually led his men to lay down their weapons, ran to the Ming army's white flag, sat on the ground, and surrendered without even fighting.

Seeing this scene, Gao Yingxiang opened his mouth wide, his eyes wide open in disbelief and astonishment. When he looked at his other subordinates, he found that several of them did not dare to look him in the eye, and lowered their heads to avoid him. Gao Yingxiang was extremely sad.

"Does God really want to kill me, Gao Yingxiang?" Gao Yingxiang looked up at the sky and asked silently in his heart, but God did not respond to him at all. There was only a white cloud slowly floating across the blue sky.

"Huanglong!"

"The general is here!"

"You go! Lead the army to attack again! Anyone who deserts in the face of the enemy will be killed without mercy!" Gao Yingxiang clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as he gave the order to continue the attack, because at this time he had no other choice but to keep fighting.

Since other people are unreliable, Gao Yingxiang can only send his confidant Huang Long. If Huang Long also betrays him before the battle, Gao Yingxiang will have no hope at all.

Huang Long was still loyal to Gao Yingxiang. He led his troops into battle with thousands of men, and the battle became fierce. However, although Huang Long was loyal, few of his men surrendered before the battle. However, no matter how hard he attacked, he could not break through the Ming army's defense line.

Just when the battle was extremely fierce, suddenly there came a cheer that resounded through the sky from the Ming army in front. Gao Yingxiang's heart tightened, and he hurried to check carefully. When he looked around, he saw that there was another flag added to the large flags originally erected by the Ming army, and this flag actually had the word "Zu" on it, Gao Yingxiang was instantly struck by lightning and was completely stunned.

Zu Kuan is here!

Zu Kuan was a general of the Liao Dynasty and a capable general under Zu Dashou. In order to encircle and suppress the bandits, Emperor Chongzhen specially transferred part of the Liao army into the pass, and Zu Kuan's troops were one of them.

Although Zu Kuan did not bring many men, most of his troops were cavalry, and they were elite cavalry formed on the basis of Guanning Iron Cavalry. In the past two years, Zu Kuan had made many achievements in fighting against various rebel forces, and was called "the strongest Liaoding under his command, and the one who killed the most bandits" by the Ming army. His combat effectiveness can be imagined. Gao Yingxiang had fought with Zu Kuan before, and he knew Zu Kuan's bravery very well. Now he was blocked tightly by Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou, and he could not break through the valley for three days. Now Zu Kuan's arrival made Gao Yingxiang completely lose hope of escaping.

(End of this chapter)