Outside the east gate of Xingtang County.
Liu Fangliang looked at the New Army cavalry battalion getting closer and closer in front of him, his face was extremely ferocious, and he immediately shouted: "Charge with me!"
At this time, the remaining more than 10,000 knights from the Rogue Zuoying Camp had all gathered around Liu Fangliang's banner and began to charge against the New Army Cavalry Battalion.
The other more than 20,000 armored soldiers formed a military formation outside the east gate. All the soldiers and horses gathered together, waiting for the moment of battle.
"put!"
The two sides were about a hundred steps apart. Xu Ming roared. Thousands of soldiers in front of the New Army cavalry camp opened fire instantly. The firepower from thousands of cannons instantly enveloped the rogue cavalry formation, directly thinning the rogue cavalry formation. layer.
Immediately afterwards, hundreds of soldiers threw thunderbolts with all their strength, and a violent explosion rang out in the rogue cavalry formation, causing everyone in the rogue cavalry formation to flip over.
Although the rogue knights are equipped with a large number of bows and arrows, they are now defeated like a mountain. There are not many knights left in Liu Fangliang's army who are still carrying bows and arrows. Many of them have even discarded a lot of weapons. At this time, they are actually using their bare hands. Charge on horseback!
"accelerate!"
Liu Fangliang knew that this battle was a deadlock, so he could only continue to increase the speed of his charge, kill the enemy in front of him as much as possible, and create an opportunity for Li Zicheng to break out.
boom!
The two sides collided, and the soldiers of the New Army's cavalry battalion formed a tight formation, directly tearing apart the cavalry formation composed of more than 10,000 cavalrymen under Liu Fangliang. A large number of soldiers of the New Army's cavalry battalion rushed into the enemy's formation and began to divide and encircle them. Soon, Completely defeat the military formation of the rogue bandit Xiaoqi.
At this time, Xu Ming was shouting excitedly, and led his troops to rush towards the white banner in front of him, and soon
He saw an armored general in front of him, galloping towards him on horseback, accompanied by many elite knights.
"That person must be Liu Fangliang!"
Xu Ming knew the banners and names of the commanders of each bandit camp. Although he had never met Liu Fangliang, he could guess pretty well.
So Xu Ming yelled: "Kill Liu Fangliang! Kill!"
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of elite New Army cavalry battalions led by Xu Ming collided with dozens of elite cavalry led by Liu Fangliang. Various weapons from both sides were swung at each other, killing each other with blood and flesh flying everywhere.
After the two groups of cavalry passed each other, only a few of the dozens of knights around Liu Fangliang were left, and all of them were injured. Even Liu Fangliang was covered in blood, and his horse was shaking precariously.
The hundreds of elites led by Xu Ming were now missing by twenty or thirty people, but the overall cavalry formation was still very complete.
"Hmph! You're lucky!"
Although Xu Ming stabbed Liu Fangliang in the body, he was unable to knock him off his horse. After all, Liu Fangliang's armor was also heavy armor. Now that the two sides were crossing each other, Xu Ming had no choice but to continue to lead the charge.
At the same time, Liu Fangliang continued to gallop forward on his horse, but many wounds on his body were bleeding continuously, especially the wound on his abdomen stabbed by Xu Ming, which was bleeding profusely. He felt that his strength was rapidly draining from his body.
At this moment, there were still soldiers from the New Army cavalry battalion rushing around, and various weapons kept coming towards Liu Fangliang. However, Liu Fangliang had no strength to resist anymore. In the blink of an eye, he was knocked off his horse by the cavalry battalion soldiers and died on the spot. Death.
Soon more than half of the more than 10,000 rogue knights were lost, and the remaining knights
The soldiers and horses fled one after another, and soon began to attack the more than 20,000 armored soldiers who had just formed a formation in the rear. The two sides became a mess outside the east gate of Xingtang County.
On the city wall, Li Zicheng looked at the white banner that collapsed and knew that Liu Fangliang was probably in danger. He was filled with grief and anger, and immediately shouted loudly: "The whole army attacks, support Liu Fangliang's troops!"
But everyone around him was indifferent. Everyone could see that Liu Fangliang was already hopeless.
Li Zicheng glared at everyone, and then glared fiercely outside the city, roaring loudly, venting the anger and grief in his heart.
At this moment, smoke and dust appeared in the east of Xingtang County, covering the sky and the sun. Then huge military formations appeared. Looking at the flags, they were the New Army's front camp, rear camp, left camp, right camp, and middle camp. , a huge army formation composed of more than 50,000 soldiers is rapidly approaching Xingtang County.
At this time, Wu Sangui, Li Laiheng and others looked solemn, Hong Chengchou frowned and his eyes flashed, and Li Zicheng's eyes were on fire and he almost bit his steel teeth into pieces.
"His Majesty!"
Li Laiheng immediately grabbed Li Zicheng and said, "Your Majesty, it's still too late to leave now!"
Li Zicheng said proudly: "Since I started my army, I have always run away to try to make a comeback whenever I am in decline. But today, I will fight here and not retreat. I don't want to run away anymore!"
Li Laiheng's face changed from gloomy to sunny, then he clasped his fists and said loudly: "I am willing to follow King Dashun to defend Xingtang County to the death!"
Gu Kecheng, Li Yan, Gu Junen, and Niu Jinxing also clasped their fists.
Wu Sangui, Hong Chengchou, Xia Guoxiang, and Wang Pingfan hesitated for a moment, and then they clasped their fists to express their determination.
Then Li Zicheng ordered everyone to divide their troops
To guard various places, Li Laiheng, Gu Kecheng, Wu Sangui, and Xia Guoxiang divided their troops to guard the four sides. Each team had about 10,000 troops. The remaining thousands of soldiers were led by Wang Pingfan and stationed around the county government.
Because all the 400,000 family members of the bandits were in Xingtang County at this time, the city was already overcrowded. Li Zicheng ordered Wang Pingfan to immediately drive out the original people in the city, leaving only the family members of the bandits in the city.
Wang Pingfan took action after receiving the order, and soon drove a large number of people out of the city. For a time, the surrounding Xingtang County was shouting loudly, and countless people were driven out of the city.
At this time in the city, the red lady looked at the soldiers running in groups on the street and the large numbers of people being driven out of the city. Her heart was churning. When they first entered Beizhili, how powerful the Dashun army was. Shun's future is so bright, but why has the situation taken a turn for the worse in less than a month? Now the city is in an apocalyptic scene, which the red lady cannot accept.
"Husband!"
Suddenly, the red lady saw Li Yan coming in a hurry, and hurriedly stepped forward to grab Li Yan, and said loudly: "Husband, what is the situation outside the city now? When will the army withdraw to Kaifeng Mansion?"
Li Yan looked sad and said: "Liu Yan's army has come to kill us, we can't leave!"
The red lady trembled violently when she heard this, then her eyes turned red, but her face smiled slightly, and she said: "It doesn't matter! As long as you are with your husband, life or death will be the same!"
Li Yan felt pain in his heart, and whispered in the red lady's ear: "You immediately disguise yourself, and when the army breaks the city, you disguise yourself as a commoner and sneak out.
From now on, no matter you are rich or poor, I just want you to live well! "
The red lady pushed Li Yan away, then drew her sword in her hand and said proudly: "Now that we are in a desperate situation, we can only advance and retreat with our husband. How can we let the slave family escape alone!"
After saying that, the red lady took a dozen female soldiers and ran towards the county government, leaving Li Yan standing there in shock for a long time.
At the same time, outside Xingtang County, the battalions of the New Army arrived on the battlefield one after another. Liu Fangliang's troops outside the east gate had completely collapsed. The defeated troops fled along the south and north of the city. They were driven away by the soldiers of the New Army battalions. There were constant attacks. A large number of bandit soldiers were shot and killed. This was a massacre. When the bandit defenders on the city saw it, they all hid their faces. The morale of the army fell to the bottom in an instant.
"siege!"
"Siege the city immediately!"
Soon, Xu Ming led the soldiers of the cavalry battalion to continue to encircle and annihilate the bandits surrounding Tang County, and the remaining battalions began to siege the city.
Chen Xun led the new army's front camp in the north, Zhang Yi led the new army's left camp in the west, Wang Bo led the new army's right camp in the east, Wang Yue led the new army's rear camp in the south, and Shen Tuo led the new army's middle camp. In the south, the soldiers of the New Army battalions were reorganizing their military formations and preparing for the siege.
"Report!"
At this moment, a group of messengers came on horseback, and the general officers of each battalion received Liu Yan's orders one after another.
"The Duke of Lu has an order: Each battalion shall besiege the city first and postpone the attack until the arrival of the guard battalion, artillery battalion and the sixth battalion of the garrison!"
After Chen Xun, Wang Yue and others received the order, they all let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that this final battle could not be started hastily.
So the soldiers of each battalion of the New Army stabilized their positions two miles away from Xingtang County. The soldiers of each battalion took turns to guard, rest, and start
Beginning to confront the rogue soldiers and horses in the city.
Li Zicheng stood on the top of the city, looking at the New Army soldiers and horses outside the city who were not eager to attack, and asked Hong Chengchou beside him: "What are Liu Yan's troops waiting for?"
Hong Chengchou had just arrived from the north of the city. At this time, he and Li Zicheng were standing on the east wall of the city and said: "My subordinates did not see Liu Yan's banner along the way. It must be that Liu Yan has not arrived yet, so all the officers and soldiers We have to wait for Liu Yan to arrive before attacking."
Li Zicheng smiled bitterly and said: "Liu Yan! Since Liu Yan rose to prominence in Shandong, he has fought against Gu many times, but all ended with our Dashun soldiers dying. This battle is probably the last battle for our Dashun soldiers. Liu Sure enough, Yan will not be absent, which is good, Gu just happened to meet Liu Yan, so forget about the regret in my heart!"
When Hong Chengchou heard this, his expression changed slightly, and then he said: "Your Majesty, your Majesty has surrendered to the Ming court several times in the past to seduce Chen Cang in an attempt to make a comeback. Why can't he repeat his same tactics now?"
Li Zicheng suddenly looked at Hong Chengchou, his eyes so sharp that even Hong Chengchou could not look at him.
"In Mr. Hong's opinion, even if Gu surrenders, can Liu Yan tolerate Gu?"
Hong Chengchou stopped talking.
Then Li Zicheng ignored Hong Chengchou and just looked outside the city. Seeing this, Hong Chengchou sighed and retreated from the city wall.
More than half an hour later, outside the Xingtang County City, a burst of war drums could be heard, followed by tens of thousands of New Army soldiers outside the city cheering loudly, and shouts of "Wan Sheng" resounded through the sky.
At this time, Li Zicheng, Li Laiheng, Gu Kecheng, Wu Sangui, Xia Guoxiang, Wang Pingfan, as well as Hong Chengchou, Li Yan, Gu Junen, and Niu Jinxing,
Everyone gathered on the east city wall, and as far as they could see, the military formations of the New Army Guards Battalion and Artillery Battalion, and the Sixth Battalion of the Garrison Army came over in a mighty manner, especially the hundreds of artillery pieces that were being moved by pack horses and cannons. The battalion soldiers pushed forward vigorously, which shocked Li Zicheng and others on the top of the city.
"Your Majesty! Let the soldiers in the city prepare sandbags immediately!"
Hong Chengchou said loudly, and the rest of the people came to their senses and shouted, mobilizing troops to prepare sandbags.
Li Zicheng even shouted loudly: "Focus on the east city wall, and deploy enough sandbags on all four sides of the city wall, so that the family members of the old camp can go out and do it quickly!"
The bandit soldiers and horses on the city suddenly dispersed, and soon the families of the bandits in the city were mobilized. A large number of people began to get busy. The sacks and cloth bags in the city were not enough, so they used wooden boxes, pottery, and porcelain. Waiting for the items to be filled with sand and soil, anyway, all the usable things were filled with sand and soil, and were continuously transported to the city wall.
In less than half an hour, the New Army artillery battalion in the east of Xingtang County was still deploying artillery formations, and the other battalions were also preparing for the final attack. However, the rogue soldiers on the top of the city had basically A sandbag defense line was deployed. Hundreds of thousands of sandbags, cloth bags, wooden boxes and other items were stacked on the city head, forming a protective facility against artillery along the crenellations of the city head.
At this time, Li Zicheng and others felt a little calmer, but they saw a group of official knights riding out from the New Army Guards Battalion outside the city. The leader was Wu Xingzhou, the left commander of the New Army Guards Battalion.
I saw Wu Xingzhou riding his horse and stopping about a mile outside the city, and then roared loudly: "
Li Zicheng! Surrender immediately. The Duke of Lu will allow you to leave your body intact. Otherwise, when the city is destroyed, your body will be cut into thousands of pieces! "
Wu Xingzhou was always a loud voice. At this time of showing his face, Wu Xingzhou used all his strength to roar loudly. His voice was not only heard clearly by Li Zicheng and others on the top of the city in front, but also by the New Army artillery camp behind. There are also many soldiers in the guard camp formation who can hear clearly.
"Wan Sheng!"
"General Wu is mighty!"
"Long live!"
For a time, the morale of the New Army battalions was greatly boosted, and one hundred thousand soldiers were dancing and jumping for joy. However, the rogue soldiers and horses on the wall of Xingtang County were silent, as if they were dead.
Li Zicheng's face turned green and white. After a long time, he gritted his teeth and said, "This thief Liu Yan is really hateful!"
Hong Chengchou looked gloomy and said nothing, Li Yan looked sad and angry without saying anything, and Niu Jinxing didn't know what to do at this time.
Only Gu Junen said: "Your Majesty can send an envoy to meet Liu Yan and try to delay as much time as possible. Our army can draw elite cavalry from the city and take advantage of the opportunity when Liu Yan relaxes his vigilance to cover your Majesty and all the soldiers to break out!"
Gu Junen's intention was very clear, he still took the opportunity to break out of the encirclement, but most of the soldiers, horses and family members in the city had to give up completely.
In this regard, Li Zicheng still vetoed it immediately. If he wanted to retreat, Li Zicheng would naturally not wait until now. Since his chance of survival was now exhausted, he would just fight to the end. It would not be in vain for the reputation of King Dashun!
So Li Zicheng said with emotion: "Gu will never abandon the soldiers in the city. In this battle, Gu will be with all the soldiers! Kill!"
Hearing this, the surrounding bandit soldiers' morale improved slightly and they all cheered up.
Arm shouted: "Fight to the death!"
