Just when Li Zicheng captured Luoyang, Zhu Hao's various units of the New Army also acted quickly, according to the pre-war deployment, and marched in separate ways. Luo Yunqu led the 1st Division and 3rd Regiment on a rapid march all the way, and arrived at Mengxian on the third day of the fall of Luoyang. The fourth regiment, under the leadership of the regiment commander He Guoming, took the lead and occupied the Tiger Pass, and the cavalry brigade was the most mobile, reaching Dengfeng before the third regiment. Zhu Hao personally led Li Dingguo, Zhao Yuansheng and other main forces of the Fourth Division to Zhongmu.

In the camp of the Zhongmu New Army, Zhu Hao was discussing the military situation with his generals.

"Dashuai, the latest news that has come back is that Luoyang City has fallen on the 21st, King Fu was killed, and the son of King Fu fled, and his whereabouts are unknown." Du Qishan Road.

"Well, it's about the same as I expected, I estimate that it won't take a few days for Li Zicheng to go east, send a letter to He Guoming, and prepare for battle, but don't beat the peasant army too hard."

"Yes, Marshal, I'll give the order."

"Marshal, what should I do with Master Luo?" Li Dingguo asked.

"The problem is here, there is a time difference in it, I expect Li Zicheng not to be resident in Luoyang, after the peasant army marches eastward, Luoyang must be empty and can sneak attack, but how to find the right time difference can only depend on Luo Yunqu's ability." Zhu Hao sighed.

"There's no problem with food, right?" Zhu Hao asked.

"There is no problem, the soldiers of the third regiment have the advantage of shipping, don't worry, it's just that the cavalry side is not very easy to handle." Li Ding National Road.

"Forget it, the general's life is not acceptable, let Zhou Da figure it out by himself. You immediately send someone to send a message to Luo Yunqu, so that he must not attract Li Zicheng's attention, otherwise our plan will be ruined!" Zhu Hao instructed.

"Yes, Dashuai!"

In fact, Zhu Hao was not worried about Li Zicheng, but was afraid that Li Yan would be too cautious, if he found that the new army had arrived in Mengxian, he would definitely leave most of the men and horses to defend the city, and it would be self-defeating at that time, which was why he only sent one regiment of troops to Mengjin.

Luoyang City Fu Wang Mansion.

The former luxurious mansion has become the headquarters of the peasant army, and Li Zicheng is discussing the next action plan with Li Yan and other civil and military personnel.

"Everyone, what do you think of this king's decision to go east to Kaifeng in three days?" At this time, Li Zicheng was still quite modest.

"King Chuang, my subordinates think that Kaifeng City is not as good as Luoyang, and it is not easy to fight, so it is better for us to consolidate the territory of western Henan first, and then develop to the east Xutu." Li Yan suggested.

"Although Luoyang is an important town in the Central Plains, but the status is not as good as Kaifeng, now our righteous army has been invincible in western Henan, why not take advantage of the military to fight Kaifeng? You must know that Kaifeng, the southeast is the Jianghuai flower world, this move is tantamount to piercing the heart of the imperial court, there is no strong official army in the south of the Yangtze River, at that time we occupy the Central Plains development force, we can justifiably compete with the imperial court. Niu Venus retorted.

I have to say that Niu Jinxing's vision is also very powerful, at a glance to see through the importance of Kaifeng, a few years ago a number of rebels had jointly captured the central capital Fengyang, but forced by the pressure of the Ming army in eastern Henan had to retreat, is to eat the loss of Kaifeng.

As soon as these words came out, although Li Yan felt that it was inappropriate, he couldn't find a reason to refute it, because what Niu Jinxing said was indeed very reasonable, and it was also in line with the current situation of the righteous army, so he had to be silent for the time being.

"Sir's words are very much in line with my wishes, and I have decided to proceed with the plan, and in three days the army will be mobilized." Li Zicheng saw that Li Yan had no opinion, so he gave an order.

"King Chuang, although your intentions are good, but Luoyang is an important town, and you have to be cautious about your precautions, I heard that the new army in Xuzhou has been drawn to western Henan, and a small number of troops have arrived around Luoyang." Li Yan said without worry.

"What is the new army, the Communist Party has not fought a few battles, how can it compare to my army of a hundred battles? Besides, the new army around Luoyang is only a few thousand people, and it can't be a climate. Li Gongzi is too worried. Liu Zongmin said disapprerovingly.

"As far as I know, the new army once defeated Zhang Xianzhong with sharp firearms, and even defeated the Manchurians three years ago, so its strength should not be underestimated."

"Okay, don't argue, General Liu is right, Li Gongzi's words are not unreasonable, so let's do it, the original plan remains unchanged, the main force of the army still goes out to Kaifeng, except for Luo Tai and Liu Youyi, the other troops stay to guard Luoyang, and Li Guo leads 3,000 soldiers and horses to guard the Fuwang Mansion to ensure that the property is not lost, and Liu Fangliang leads 5,000 men and horses to escort other property to the mountainous area of northern Henan." Li Zicheng waved his hand impatiently.

Li Zicheng made it clear that he wanted to completely abandon Luoyang City, and there were more than 7,000 people in total by relying on the Ming army and Li Guo's men and horses, how could he defend the huge Luoyang City? Li Yan wanted to say something, but when he saw that Li Zicheng had already turned his head to discuss something with Song Xiance, he shook his head and stopped.

On the first day of the first month of February, Li Zicheng officially sent troops to lead the main force of 50,000 to the east to conquer Kaifeng, leaving the general Li Guo as the main and stationed in Luoyang City, and sent his henchman Liu Fangliang to escort more than 1,000 cars of gold and silver treasures in two ways, all the way to the mountainous area of northern Henan, and all the way to the mountainous area of southwest Henan.

The peasant army was carrying grain and wealth, and countless people in Luoyang City crowded on the street to watch the liveliness of Fuwang's Mansion. A young man in a cloth coat in a hat in the crowd watched silently for a while before turning away, and no one paid attention to this ordinary scene.

Li Zicheng's army arrived in Gongxian County two days after hurrying, which was less than 100 miles away from the Tiger Prison Pass, a key pass in the Central Plains, and the general of the Gong County peasant army reported that there were Ming troops stationed at the Tiger Pass, about three or four thousand people, equipped with many firearms.

The Tiger Prison Pass is connected to Songyue in the south, and is bordered by the Yellow River in the north, with mountains and mountains staggered, which is a natural danger. Connecting the two major towns of Luoyang and Kaifeng in the Central Plains, there is a great deal of power, and it is a place where soldiers of all dynasties must fight.

Before Luoyang City was captured, the original Ming army had fled, and there were only more than 100 old and weak soldiers. After the arrival of 3,000 men from the 4th Regiment of the 1st Division of the New Army, they hoarded grass and repaired the city wall, and they were stationed here for five days.

After the peasant soldiers came to pass, Li Zicheng ordered the army to start attacking the city. He originally thought that with his 50,000 army against a mere 3,000 Ming army, he would take this dangerous pass with just one charge, but he didn't expect that the first wave of attacks would not only be ineffective, but also suffered heavy losses.

General Bai Wang first commanded 5,000 men and horses to attack the city, and a large number of peasant soldiers carried ladders, giant trees and other siege equipment to the wall like a tide.

He Guoming, the commander of the Fourth Regiment of the New Army, who was standing on the wall, stared coldly at the peasant army like an ant colony and ordered: "The artillery will give me a special attack on the enemy's siege vehicle position, and the rest of the infantry will shoot freely to annihilate the invading enemy." ”

"The enemy's rear position is five hundred meters away, correct the landing point, and open fire." The commander of the artillery company on one side immediately gave the order to open fire.

This time, the four regiments were lightly armed and simple, and did not bring heavy artillery, but only 10 light field guns, and the effective firing range was only 600 meters, which had little effect on the enemy's large-scale attack, but it was very effective against the enemy's siege vehicles.

"Boom", the artillery began to roar loudly, and one after another flowering shells roared into the siege vehicle positions of the peasant army, and the strong explosion suddenly lifted off a large area of residual snow and hard soil, and even several chariots were blown to pieces.

The artillery units of the new army have undergone rigorous training and have carried out large-scale live-fire exercises, which naturally have a high degree of accuracy, and the hit rate of the first round of artillery shelling is close to half. Li Zicheng and other peasant army generals who were watching the battle from behind were taken aback, he had already expected that the Ming army might have artillery to defend the city, but he didn't expect the opponent's artillery fire to be so accurate, and he destroyed many chariots at once, which made him feel pain for a while.

"Quick, let Luo Tai pull up our cannon and hit the city!" Li Zicheng hurriedly shouted.

After Li Zicheng captured Luoyang, he found a few more guns, plus the artillery brought by Luo Tai, a total of 20 guns were gathered, and an artillery battalion of no small size was established.

Soon twenty cannons were lined up in front of the formation, and Luo Tai became the commander of the artillery, shouting and ordering the soldiers to open fire.

One by one, solid iron bullets were shot at the head of the Tiger Prison with a sharp sound of breaking through the air, and the power was amazing. However, the quality of the gunners of the peasant army was too low after all, and only five or six of the 20 shells hit the battlements at the head of the city, and the rest either flew over the head of the city and fell into the pass or hit below the middle of the city wall, with little effect.

The only few iron bullets hit the city, and the stone chips flew wildly, but fortunately, at the beginning of the new army's occupation, the walls of each city had already been reinforced, otherwise they really couldn't stop the blow of these shells.

However, the Forces nouvelles were not without losses, and several soldiers who could not escape were killed and bruised by shells.

He Guoming lay under the battlement wall and was furious, he had always only had the share of the new army bombarding others, when had he suffered such a wretched spirit, and it was still some dirt buns.

"Order the artillery, knock out the opponent's artillery." He Guoming roared.

"The enemy artillery is at a distance of five hundred and fifty meters, the correction is complete, and the artillery is fired." Seeing that the regiment commander was angry, the artillery company commander hurriedly gave an order.

The sound of the new army artillery immediately adjusted the muzzle and loaded the ammunition. There was another huge explosion, and a row of shells drilled into the peasant army's artillery array as if they had eyes, and there were several loud bangs, and the peasant army's gunners could not dodge, and they were suddenly swept away, and several guns were also blown up crookedly.

The light artillery of the Forces nouvelles was not powerful enough to completely blow up iron artillery, but it was more than enough to deal with unarmed gunners. More than 100 peasant soldiers who operated the artillery were dazed by this round of explosions, and one-third of them were killed or wounded at once, and the rest of them either hurriedly gave up their artillery to flee for their lives or lay on the ground and did not dare to get up, and the artillery shelling of the peasant army was suddenly muted.

He Guoming saw it really in the city, and laughed and said: "Good job, just do it, the artillery will stop first, don't beat Li Zicheng away, if the other party still dares to open fire, let's use the cannon to treat the artillery." ”

Li Zicheng shouted and cursed loudly from behind, but no matter how he scolded, the gunners of the peasant army did not want to contribute, and they were frightened by the mutilated corpses of their companions.

"King Chuang, the artillery can't be on it anymore, otherwise this bit of family foundation will be gone, I see that the artillery of the Ming army is not violent, it seems that it is specifically to deal with our artillery, or withdraw it and let the infantry go up." Seeing that Li Zicheng was angry, Li Yan hurriedly suggested.

Although Li Zicheng's talent is average, he is not an unknown person, and immediately realized that he could no longer use artillery to bombard the artillery of the Ming army, and hurriedly ordered the artillery battalion to withdraw, and the infantry to attack the city with all their might.

The remaining gunners were like amnesty, and one by one they pulled and dragged the remaining cannons to the rear. Li Zicheng couldn't laugh or cry.