Eighteen miles west of Kaifeng City, there is a camp of bandits.
Under the autumn wind, everything withered, and among the camps of the bandit camps, listless soldiers could be seen passing by in formation everywhere. From time to time, there were cart after cart of seriously injured soldiers or corpses being transported away from the old camp. As for Where it goes, no one cares.
Li Guo rode his horse through the gate of the Chinese army's camp and led a group of knights to the outside of the camp. Among the knights there were several officials, whom the bandits and soldiers had captured from various cities. Specially designed to diagnose and treat Li Zicheng's injuries.
"Bring it in!"
After Li Guo dismounted, he ordered his subordinates to bring the doctors into the tent, and he followed them in.
At this time, Li Zicheng's complexion improved a little, and he was leaning on a carved step bed. Li Laiheng was holding a bowl of dark medicinal soup, stirring it with a wooden spoon, preparing it to cool down for Li Zicheng to drink.
When several doctors saw Li Zicheng, they were all trembling with fear. They were scolded several times before they stepped forward tremblingly. Li Laiheng said coldly: "If you treat King Chuang's wounds well, you will be rewarded with money. If you don't do well, you will be rewarded with money." , be careful of moving heads!”
Several doctors quickly knelt down and kowtowed in agreement. Then, under the watchful eyes of Li Guo and Li Laiheng, they carefully opened the white cloth on Li Zicheng's head and carefully inspected the wound.
After a while, several people put new ointment on Li Zicheng and tied it with a new white cloth. They didn't dare to breathe during the process. After everything was done, they discussed it again and issued a prescription. He breathed a sigh of relief and stood aside nervously, waiting for relief.
Li Zicheng took the medicinal soup handed over by Li Laiheng, drank it, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and waved
After waving his hand, Li Laiheng understood and ordered the doctors to be taken out.
Then there were several screams outside the camp. In order to ensure that the news of Li Zicheng's injury was not exposed, those people were already the fourth batch of doctors who were killed. Each time, they arrested people to treat Li Zicheng's injuries and change medicine, and then Then he killed the person directly.
At this time, the new medicine was put on. Li Zicheng felt that the pain in his left eye was much relieved. He leaned on a brand new embroidered quilt and said, "Have all the troops been sent out?"
Li Guo and Li Laiheng were sitting on the left and right. Hearing Li Zicheng's question, Li Guo said: "King Chuang, don't worry. Both the Firearms Camp and the Middle Camp have sent men and horses. Laiheng and I have also sent many cavalry and infantry. If the troops and horses act separately, nothing will happen."
Li Laiheng said: "Each group of troops went to the cities around Kaifeng, including Lanyang County, Chenliu County, Zhongmou County, Qixian County, Xinzheng, etc., and those cities have been occupied by General Yuan's right battalion soldiers. The artillery on top of the city has probably been moved in advance."
Li Zicheng hummed, and then said: "Send someone else to contact General Yuan Zongdi and ask him to gather the soldiers and horses of the right camp to come and join us."
Li Guo frowned slightly and said, "King Chuang, do all the surrounding cities have to give up?"
"give up!"
Li Zicheng's tone became colder: "King Chuang will gather all his troops and artillery everywhere to fight Liu Yan again! Again, as long as Liu Yan's tribe is defeated, Henan will belong to our rebel army."
"As long as Liu Yan's tribe is annihilated, our rebel army can take control of Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi. To the north, we can attack Beizhili, and to the south, we can attack the financial and taxation areas in the south of the Yangtze River.
By then our rebel army will be able to soar into the sky! "
Li Guo and Li Laiheng looked at each other, both of them worried.
Just last night, Li Zicheng and Li Guo discussed for most of the night, looking for countermeasures to defeat Liu Yan's tribe. In the end, the two came to the same conclusion as Li Yan and Li Dingguo: in order to defeat Liu Yan's new army, they still had to rely mainly on firearms, supplemented by brave cavalry and armored soldiers.
It's just that the bandit army has been wandering around the northwest and central plains all year round, and they don't have the ability to make firearms. Moreover, there are no suitable craftsmen and talents in the bandit army, so it is unrealistic to make them in the army.
So Li Zicheng decided to send troops and horses to various cities around Kaifeng City, transport all the artillery on each city, and prepare to concentrate a large number of artillery groups to engage in artillery fire with Liu Yan's department, and then rely on the absolute strength of the troops. Advantage, defeated Liu Yan's new army in one fell swoop.
Although Li Guo and Li Laiheng both agreed with Li Zicheng's strategy, they believed that this was the only way to defeat Liu Yan's tribe.
But now the rebel army has just suffered a heavy defeat. Hundreds of thousands of troops were lost in the battle. The newly formed firearms battalion was also disabled, and the morale of the army was very low. At this time, is it really appropriate to continue to concentrate our forces and fight Liu Yan's tribe in bloody battles?
Li Guo and Li Laiheng intended to temporarily withdraw their troops, and only used some of their brave cavalry to continue to blockade Kaifeng City, dragging Liu Yan's troops in the Kaifeng area. Then the main force of the rebel army was divided into various areas to attack various places, and to capture the entire Henan province as soon as possible, ending the situation of the rebel army wandering around, and starting to run the business. .
Or the main force can go south, directly cross the Yangtze River, rush into the financial and taxation areas of Jiangnan, cut off the source of wealth for the imperial court, and then use Jiangnan's financial and human resources to rebuild the righteousness.
Each camp of the army turned around and fought fiercely with Liu Yan's tribe.
Last night, Li Guo and Li Laiheng also expressed their opinions tactfully, but they were rejected by Li Zicheng.
In Li Zicheng's view, Liu Yan's tribe was just a stronger elite than Lu Xiangsheng, Cao Wenzhao and other troops. There was nothing special about it. As long as the rebels mobilized more powerful firepower, they could defeat them.
"Whether it is conquering various places or attacking Jiangnan, it is unrealistic! Liu Yan will not sit back and watch our rebel army grow and develop."
"If you want to drag Liu Yan's troops to Kaifeng, how many soldiers and horses should you leave behind? If you don't have enough troops, you can't hold off Liu Yan's troops. If you keep too many, what's the difference between that and a decisive battle?"
Facing Li Zicheng's rebuttal, Li Guo and Li Laiheng were unable to answer. After all, facing a powerful army like Liu Yan's tribe, no one dared to say that their strategy was definitely correct. They could only take one step at a time.
"King Chuang, I received news today that the number of soldiers sent by Liu Yan's tribe has begun to increase. I am a little worried that the soldiers and horses transporting artillery will be intercepted and killed by Liu Yan's tribe?"
Li Zicheng pondered for a while and said: "Then send more people to escort along the way, and tell Yuan Zongdi not to care about the gains and losses of one city or one pool, and immediately lead his troops to assemble and withdraw, and escort the artillery convoy along the way without any mistakes!"
"yes!"
Early the next morning, there was Xinghua Camp, thirty-three miles east of Zhongmou County.
Xinghuaying was originally a fairly lively town, with a population of more than a thousand households, but there were hundreds of shops. Many business travelers traveling from south to north passed through here, heading north to the Yellow River Ferry and east to Kaifeng Fucheng. , to the west is Zhongmou County, and to the south is the famous Zhuxian Town. It's a lively place here
The land hub is very famous in Kaifeng area.
But today's Xinghua Camp has long lost its former prosperity and liveliness. There is not a trace of smoke in the town, and the bustle of people in the past can no longer be heard. Only the occasional wild dogs and rats can be seen. , and there are corpses and bones exposed to the sun among the ruins!
"Rest here!"
A group of thieves rushed into the Xinghua Camp on horseback. The leader of the group looked around. Seeing that there was not a single living person in the entire Xinghua Camp, and there was no place to rob money or have fun, they couldn't help but cursed angrily. A few words, and then waved to let the subordinates behind him search.
"Sir, you can't even see a ghost, don't worry!"
Soon a group of subordinates came back on horseback, and the brigade said: "Okay, bring all the chariots and horses in, and watch the artillery and gunners carefully."
"yes!"
There are more than a hundred people in this bandit cavalry, escorting more than 20 ox carts and horse-drawn carriages, coming from Zhongmu County. The vehicles carry various kinds of Folang machine guns, as well as some larger big Folang machine guns, and small ones. The Hongyi cannon was pulled by some ox carts.
In addition, there were hundreds of dead soldiers from the middle camp accompanying them. They were responsible for pushing carts and carrying artillery along the way. Many of them were exhausted, but as soon as they sat down, they were whipped with horse whips by the Xiaoqi next to them.
"A bunch of losers. They have to rest while doing heavy work. They are useless on the battlefield and can't even work. What a bunch of losers!"
Those dead soldiers dared not speak out in anger. Facing the well-equipped, cruel and fierce knights, they could only let others beat and scold them. If they disobeyed even slightly, they would be hacked to death with a knife.
"Light a fire and boil water. We went out last night.
We have reached the city and walked most of the night without taking any time to rest. I really don’t know what Chuang Wang is in such a hurry for. "
Nazhang Brigade and a group of subordinates dismounted to rest and urged some dead soldiers to boil water for cooking. The large group of people took a temporary rest in the Xinghua Camp.
"Send someone to keep an eye on the surrounding area and be alert!"
The commander next to him was reluctantly called by name. He stood up and was about to tell his subordinates to get on their horses, but suddenly stood stiffly on the spot. Upon seeing this, the commander said angrily: "Grandma, you are fucking deaf!"
As he spoke, the commander stood up and stretched out his hand to fight. He was suddenly stunned when he saw a cavalry team appearing in the distance. They were wearing bright red armor and conspicuous battle flags. They were the Ye Bu Shou of Liu Yan's new army. !
"Enemy attack!"
The captain roared, and the more than a hundred knights in the bandit camp immediately exploded and rushed towards the war horses not far away. The hundreds of dead soldiers were even more unbearable, and they dispersed in a rush, no matter how the nearby knights fought. Cursing and shouting, everyone ran away without looking back.
Hundreds of thousands of people on the battlefield can't defeat him, and now they're all exhausted, so a fool stays here to die!
When the commander saw this, he was so angry that he cursed and slashed to death several dead soldiers who ran past, but it was of no avail. Hundreds of people dispersed in an instant, leaving only more than a hundred knights still standing in the apricot. There was chaos in the flower camp.
"Gather and charge forward!"
The brigade in charge roared loudly. It didn't matter if hundreds of dead soldiers ran away. It would be fine if they went back and reported that all of them died in the battle. But if these artillery pieces were captured by the army, then none of the more than a hundred people from him down would survive!
Soon, more than a hundred knights followed the palm brigade and began to charge. The horses gathered together and roared.
He ran forward vigorously, but was blocked by various ruins and broken walls in Xinghua Camp, making it impossible to run fast.
At the same time, the incoming New Army Ye Bu Se had already rushed into the Xinghua Camp. Those Ye Bu Se had enough men and horses, more than 200 people, and the leading general was Xu Mingde, the commander of the New Army Central Camp Ye Bu Se.
"Dismount and fight on foot, seize advantageous terrain, and prepare blunderbuss!"
Xu Mingde shouted loudly, led all the soldiers to dismount, and then all the soldiers dispersed, holding the loaded blunderbuss, carrying swords and short spears, quickly rushed into the Xinghua Camp, and began to rely on the broken walls everywhere. Prepare to surround and annihilate the rushing bandits Xiaoqi.
Flag Commander Xiao Dongzi led dozens of subordinates to charge on the left wing, and soon rushed into a courtyard. The houses inside had collapsed, leaving only many ruined walls as high as one person, and the courtyard gate was missing.
"Ready to shoot!"
Xiao Dongzi pointed to the remaining wall in front, and ran over with dozens of his men. All the muskets were set up on the wall, facing the path of the heroic riders.
The same was true for the rest of Ye Bu's soldiers, who quickly completed their deployment in front of more than a hundred knights.
Xu Mingde was also holding a blunderbuss at this time, aiming it at the knights, estimating the distance, and then shouted: "Fire! Fight!"
