He was almost surrounded by the surrounding dog officers and soldiers, and Liu Zongmin was so frightened that he suddenly broke into a cold sweat. When he saw the officers and cavalry in the distance rushing towards his position like lightning, he hurriedly led his troops to flee.
The reaction speed of the Dog Officer Army was really fast. They had only rushed through two formations, and they were already approaching. If they had been hot-headed and charged for the third formation just now, they might not be able to get out by now.
The dog officers and soldiers gathered here numbered no less than four to five thousand horsemen, plus a large number of infantry. They could no longer fight head-on and had to conserve their strength.
This is the capital that King Chuang needs to make a comeback. If he loses it all at once, it will be even more difficult to confront the army in the future.
Although charging into the formation is enjoyable and can instantly destroy the army's formation, it is also a way of consuming one's own strength. If it is not an advantage, it is absolutely not advisable.
Looking at the stubborn dog officers behind him, Liu Zongmin could only watch and recall the scene of charging into the battle just now. Fortunately, he succeeded, otherwise the deal would have been a huge loss.
"Good nephew! The bandits have an ambush at the top of the mountain. We waited until we were caught in the previous attack. Don't chase them to the top of the mountain!"
Although Bai Guangen did not come in person, Bai Liangbi did come, which was also his father's wish. Li Guoqi kindly warned his nephew.
Li Guoqi had an old grudge with He Renlong, but had nothing to do with Bai Guangen. If he could take care of his eldest nephew on the battlefield, he would naturally not be ambiguous.
"Thank you uncle for reminding me!"
Bai Liangbi led his troops to patrol in front of his own team. When he saw a signal flare being fired from the front to contact the enemy, he rushed over and heard Li Guoqi's introduction.
No wonder many nearby friendly forces were intimidated by the bandit army that came to charge. It turned out that they had already fought once before, but Bai Liangbi saw it under the banner of "Li and Liu" and didn't know the actual identity of the other party. .
After experiencing several great victories, Bai Liangbi began to despise the bandits and wanted to kill all the poor bandits in front of him. After listening to Li Guoqi's words, I had to be cautious.
Those uncles were the vanguard this time, why didn't they want to be rewarded for their meritorious service? Now that he was killed by the bandit army, he must be in such a state of ruin. This band of bandit army must have some abilities, so he must be careful.
It's just that this band of bandit cavalry runs very fast, is extremely rampant when attacking, and is as fast as the wind when retreating. It is really difficult to kill. If it weren't for the Folang machine that can provide firepower, there is no possibility of chasing them.
Not only Bai Guangen, but also the seven officers and soldiers on the right wing came to support one after another, but they only saw the dust raised by the hooves of the rebels' horses.
By the time the main force of the official army arrived at the scene of the incident, the rebel army had already crossed Ru River and headed for Huoshan.
"King Chuang! There are many dog officers and soldiers, and the vanguard alone is no less than 20,000! The last general is incompetent, he led his troops to charge into the battle, and defeated 10,000!"
Liu Zongmin would not be stupid enough to mistake the few troops he saw as Sun Chuanting's central army. Moreover, he had also observed carefully and did not see Sun Chuanting's flag, indicating that these were just the forwards sent by him.
There are so many forward troops alone, so you can imagine how many people Sun Chuanting's central army will have. If we really fight hard, even if King Chuang devotes all his troops, he will not be able to compete with Sun Gou Thief's troops. .
As for the results of the battle, they should naturally be magnified appropriately if the situation permits. If the results were truly fruitful, others would question it. After all, there were three other leaders in the army.
"Yeah! Zong Min won the first battle, very good! Very good! The whole army marched west! Let's get rid of the dog officers and soldiers!"
Li Zicheng said this, but in his heart he didn't care at all how many dog officers and soldiers were killed. The reason why Liu Zongmin attacked was to find out the truth and see how many troops Sun Gou had brought.
If there are only 20,000 forwards, then the total strength will probably be no less than 100,000. He has just started to gain momentum, and he will never be able to defeat the unkind Sun Gou thieves.
The current plan is to move quickly and give up the attack on Ruzhou City. If the officers and soldiers follow, they will first tease the Sun Gou thieves in the mountains.
It would be best to stay in Henan. If you really can't stay, then go north to Shanxi or south to Huguang. Those two places are also good places to stay.
Just to cross the Xiong'er Mountain to the south, I'm afraid I won't be able to get supplies after marching for hundreds of miles. It will be extremely difficult to maintain food and drink for tens of thousands of people.
To march north to Shanxi, we must cross the Yellow River. However, it is now the dry season and the water level in some locations is extremely low. Even without boats, our troops can cross the river safely.
Compared to going south, Li Zicheng was more willing to go north. Although Huguang was more prosperous, the three leaders had talked about things in the south, so Li Zicheng had little interest in going south to Huguang.
Of course, you can meet up with the "Eight Kings" by going to the south, but there is also Hong Chengchou who has more than 100,000 troops there. If you don't meet Zhang Xianzhong but meet Hong Chengchou's army, it will mean that everyone in the army has to confess...
Li Zicheng did not believe that the Sun Gou thief could always be behind him. As long as he got rid of the Sun Gou thief, he would be able to fight again in Shanxi.
After his troops are strong and his horses are strong, it will not be too late to fight to the death with the Sun Gou thief who has humiliated him.
Li Zicheng thought so and planned to do so. After Liu Zongmin returned with his troops, he ordered to march into the mountains.
Liu Zongmin took out 5,000 cavalry and brought back 2,780 people, which means that the difference has been lost.
Li Zicheng knew this very well and did not mention it at all. Thinking about it can prove that this group of officers and soldiers are by no means benevolent.
Since it is difficult to deal with, it is even more necessary to run away in advance. As long as you are alive, there is hope.
If a person dies, even the emperor cannot resurrect him.
As long as you are alive, you will have a chance to make a comeback. This is Li Zicheng's idea!
Now there are at least tens of thousands of soldiers, which is much better than hibernating in Shangluo Mountain with more than ten riders.
Since you can't defeat the Sun Gou thief, just run away.
When we get to a place where there are no Sun Dog thieves, we will continue to fight.
By capturing a county town, you can replenish your money and food supplies.
If you capture a few more cities, the number of troops will be doubled.
There are so many leaders in trouble in the world, and Li Zicheng doesn't believe that the Baoming court will send Sun Gou thief to deal with him.
"Shaobao! Li Guoqi and Zheng Jiadong escaped from the battlefield and refused to save them. As a result, our troops and Zuo Guangxian's troops were raided by the bandits and suffered heavy losses!"
He Renlong ran to Sun Chuanting angrily and made a show of his former subordinates.
"Shaobao, before He Renlong didn't even bother to discuss with us, he led his troops to pursue the rebel bait and rushed into the mountains, where he was ambushed by the rebel army. Then he led the rebel army to the front of the formation, but the defense was at a disadvantage. suffered the consequences.”
Li Guoqi would not admit his fault. In his opinion, He Renlong brought all the blame on himself, and even dragged Zuo Guang to join him in the misfortune.
The other two parties involved, Zuo Guangxian and Zheng Jiadong, didn't say anything. They still wanted to see what Sun Shaobao wanted before speaking.
If Sun Shaobao prefers He Renlong, Zuo Guangxian will add fuel to the fire. Otherwise, Zheng Jiadong would support Li Guoqi.
The Qin army was not monolithic. Ever since the prince divided He Renlong's troops, He Renlong had been very dissatisfied.
Both Gao Jie and Li Guoqi under his command were promoted to chief military officers, and were on an equal footing with him. More importantly, their troops originally numbered tens of thousands, no less than Bai Guangen's.
Now it's only a few thousand, which makes He Renlong a little embarrassed and aggrieved. Although the prince also rewarded him with a lot of money, it's not the same at all.
Military strength is the general's right to speak. The more troops he has, the heavier his words will be. This is the simplest and easiest to understand truth.
"What is the first task I gave you? How did you act? Do you need me to emphasize it again?"
Sun Chuanting did not directly comment on who was right or wrong, but instead told the two general officers who were about to start a fight about the original intention of the mission.
The purpose of letting you be the vanguard is to get you to the gates of Ruzhou City as soon as possible to find out the strength of the bandit army.
The situation in Ruzhou City is still unknown, but you and others went to the mountains and suffered defeat.
Could it be that Ruzhou City was moved to the mountains by the bandits? ? ?
"Shaobao! I saw with my own eyes that there were tens of thousands of thieves on the mountain. The scale was extremely impressive. Zuo Guang went there with me first and can testify!"
When He Renlong saw that Sun Chuanting was not good at speaking, he thought of an excuse to excuse himself, and also roped in Zuo Guangxian.
"Qi Shaobao! It's true that this is the case. I don't know why the bandits are deployed in the mountains like this, so I accidentally got caught!"
Zuo Guangxian was embarrassed to say that he was hot-headed and decided to lead his troops in pursuit. He could only blame it on too many thieves.
"Oh? This is strange. The defenders of Ruzhou City said they were besieged by bandits, but the bandits set up an ambush in Huoshan not far away. Could it be that there are two groups of bandits?"
There are tens of thousands in the mountains and tens of thousands more outside the city!
The total cannot be more than 50,000 or 60,000?
Where did so many thieves come from?
Sun Chuanting did not believe this conclusion at all.
The sparse population in western Henan is far from comparable to that in the north and east, and even in the south.
The leader of the thieves has gathered tens of thousands of people here, and there are not even a few cities. How can he support his men?
Unless Luoyang is lost, the bandit army will not be able to feed 50,000 to 60,000 troops if they fail to capture Ruzhou City.
Although Sun Chuanting is a civil servant, he has been fighting on the battlefield all year round and has a lot of experience. Especially now that he has enough money and food, he will definitely not be fooled by illusions.
"Shaobao! Everything the general said is true!"
Regarding this, He Renlong couldn't say that there were really no enemy soldiers in Ruzhou City, after all, he hadn't been there yet.
"Whether it is true or not, we will find out when I lead my troops to check it out!"
At present, it can only be proved that there are bandit activities in the Huoshan area. As for whether Ruzhou City is still in the hands of the official army, Sun Chuanting decided to witness it with his own eyes to avoid being misled by wrong information.
As for the losses of He Renlong and Zuo Guangxian, just follow the previous practice and provide compensation. Troops and ordnance will be gradually replenished, but they cannot be allocated immediately.
An army of thieves was in the mountains, and Sun Chuanting did not intend to lead his troops to pursue them immediately. He was more concerned about the safety of Ruzhou City, otherwise he would most likely fall into the trap of diverting the tiger away from the mountain.
When the large group of troops arrived at Ruzhou City, as expected, the city was still in the hands of the government troops. Judging from the corpses scattered outside the city, it was inferred that it had experienced a bloody battle before.
The defenders and officials in the city were overjoyed to see Sun Chuanting's army coming to help. Under the siege of the rebels, they were already desperate, but after the rebels withdrew, they regained hope.
Now Sun Chuanting really came, and he brought many soldiers and horses, which greatly boosted the morale of Jun Min in the city. Now Ruzhou City could rest easy.
After asking about the situation of the guard general and the county magistrate, Sun Chuanting made a rough judgment on this bandit army.
Since Ruzhou City was still under siege yesterday and did not receive any emergency documents from Luoyang, it means that the strength of this bandit army is not large.
At most 30,000, and definitely not 50,000, otherwise the city of Ruzhou has not been broken, and the bandit leader will have no food to feed the soldiers.
According to the defenders, the bandits were shouting "Long live King Chuang" when they were attacking the city!
Considering that the other party is using the word "Li", the leader of the thieves is most likely Li Zicheng.
The reason why Sun Chuanting was so interested in Li Zicheng was because he had only a dozen riders left after killing him before, and His Highness the Crown Prince had specifically warned him.
The thief who destroyed the Ming Dynasty is Li Zicheng!
Sun Chuanting did not dare to tell anyone else about this, so he could only keep it strictly secret. Only he and Hong Chengchou knew this secret.
Such a huge disaster must be eradicated, otherwise the country and the country will not be protected.
What His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said was derived from the calculations made by Liu Bowen, the military advisor of the Immortal Realm, but it is absolutely correct.
Considering all the things that had been confirmed before, Sun Chuanting was convinced of this.
After severely damaging the Luo Rucai Group, he regarded Li Zicheng as his number one prey.
If the intruder is not eliminated, His Royal Highness will have trouble sleeping and eating.
As a loyal minister, I naturally have to solve problems for His Highness.
It is said that His Highness the Crown Prince also sent thousands of troops to search for Li Zicheng in Shangluo Mountain. If the leader of the thieves who appeared here is really an intruder, it means that the search for the mountain has failed.
To be on the safe side, Sun Chuanting decided to write a letter and report to His Highness the Crown Prince what happened here. Whether it was true or false, he had to make preparations in advance.
From this point of view, plus the troops of the intruders, there are at least two groups of thieves in Henan with a strength of 20,000 to 30,000.
In comparison, Sun Chuanting believed that intruders were more dangerous and would cause greater harm to the Ming Dynasty, so they were included in the priority list.
As for the other group of thieves, Sun Chuanting couldn't catch them at the moment, let alone split up his forces to pursue them.
According to the instructions of His Royal Highness, superior forces must be concentrated to fight a war of annihilation.
In this way, while annihilating the rebel army, the possibility of defeat and losses of the official army can be reduced.
If the official army is defeated in Henan, the intruders will surely sweep through the entire Henan region next year.
Once the number of troops led by the intruders increases to more than 100,000, it will be difficult to suppress them.
After thinking about it, Sun Chuanting decided that he would rather let the other thieves go, but continue to suppress the intruders.
He was determined not to sit back and watch his comeback. If the intruder appeared there, he would lead his troops to hunt him down.
We also have an advantage, that is, the intruder never thought that the court had been coveting him for a long time.
I didn't know the extent of the danger before, but now I take it very seriously. The 50,000 soldiers and horses in Sun Chuanting's hands can be used specifically to deal with the intruders.
Since Ruzhou City has not been captured by the bandits, the army can still replenish money and food in the city before setting off.
This period of rest can also allow the defenders to repair the city as soon as possible to prevent Ruzhou City from being besieged by the bandits again.
However, in order to avoid losing traces of the rebel army, Sun Chuanting still sent a large number of reconnaissance cavalry to the surrounding areas, especially the Huoshan area.
The main force of the army stayed here for one night and advanced to the mountainous area the next morning.
However, the reconnaissance cavalry came to report that the bandits had already marched westward, and their specific movements were still unknown.
Sun Chuanting decided to follow and pursue him. Since his troops had more food than the rebels, the rebels must be the first to run out of food.
In the remaining days, the officers and soldiers followed the rebels, passing through Shangdian Town to Song County, then northward to Yiyang and crossing Luoshui River.
Then cross Gushui, disembark from Xin'an, cross the Yellow River north, and arrive at Yuanqu in the south of Shanxi!
Sun Chuanting hasn't figured out where the intruder is going, but he plans to chase the intruder's soldiers and horses first...
