In the early morning of the fourth day, the enemy's vanguard troops approached the city, and the sound of the hooves of the 10,000 iron horsemen shook the sky, so that the houses in Bac Ninh City trembled, the cowhide horn was long and short, and the enemy soldiers shouted loudly, shouting and killing like a mountain shouting tsunami. Before a moment, the Han army at the head of the city immediately whistled and warned, and then like a muffled thunder, the red-coated cannon suddenly fired a volley, and wave after wave of muffled sounds echoed heavily in the city.

Lin Feng hurriedly got up and rushed to the school field surrounded by the guards. At this moment, the morning light is meager and the cool breeze is biting, the voices of people outside the city are boiling, the cannon on the wall is rumbling, and a team of Han officers and soldiers are out of the barracks, their clothes and armor are sonorous, and the war horses are snorting loudly, and they are coming straight to the school field, and they have already stood in several neat large phalanxes in a short time.

The trumpet of the troops was blown to the ninth round, and in addition to the defenders at the head of the city, the Han officers and soldiers stationed in various places in the city had all been assembled. Although the number of troops at present is not very large, except for the two musket brigades urgently transferred from the Ningjin Governor's Mansion, the other troops are all strictly trained and have been tested by the war. The total strength of the two reinforced artillery brigades, the three cavalry brigades, and the two Langzhong battalions exceeded 20,000 troops, including more than 7,000 cavalry troops and more than 180 large and small artillery pieces.

Judging from Lin Feng's eyes alone, in this era, looking at the entire earth, there is no army that can compete with its own army in the same number. Previously, Lin Feng had made a big statement to the Ma Ying tribes, claiming that he would completely annihilate the Manchu and Mongolian armies that attacked this time, which was the reason.

Under the short and stern orders of the officers, they stood in four neat rectangular phalanxes, the commanders of the troops stationed long knives in their hands, lined up on both sides, a long stream of small shotguns lined up in a standard straight line, extending along the array, the morning light was meager and all kinds of weapons were refracted with a cold metallic luster, shining to the bones, the breeze was blowing, the flowing tassels on the brim of the officers and soldiers fluttered in the wind, and the beautiful military uniforms actually dyed the dark night before the dawn blood red.

The sound of the cannon at the head of the city became thicker, as if feeling the tense atmosphere, and a column of war horses in the front of the line raised their hooves restlessly, knocked on the ground in a rage, splashed first-class sparks, and chewed the mist in their mouths, although the cavalry tried their best to restrain them, but the horses still kept snorting. Compared with the friendly troops on the side, this Han army iron cavalry is still the traditional Chinese cavalry equipment, although Lin Feng has specially equipped them with a batch of musket short guns, but was unanimously rejected by the cavalry officers and soldiers including Zhao Guangyuan, Ma Ying, etc., these cavalry from the Mongolian steppe or Liaodong outside the Guanxi are accustomed to strong cavalry bows, and simply disdain the ugly "pistol", in view of the military spirit, Lin Feng does not want to be reluctant, so to this day, the Han army iron cavalry is still only wearing half-body armor, equipped with traditional cavalry horn bows, carved arrows, cavalry spears, sabers, and the firearms revolution of the Han infantry did not have much influence on the cavalry system.

The whole team has been completed, the foot and cavalry are lined up on both sides, tens of thousands of soldiers are breathless, standing proudly, hunting with big flags in the field, war horses roaring lowly, even though the cold wind is biting, but not a trace of human voice can be heard. Yulin Zhonglang General Rick and Jianwei Zhonglang General Ma Ying jumped off the war horse together, ran up the steps quickly, knelt down on one knee towards Lin Feng, and returned loudly.

"Your Majesty, the 1st Guards Infantry Army is complete!"

"Back to the lord, the second cavalry is finished!"

Lin Feng nodded, raised his hand and ordered the two generals to stand up, but turned his head to Wang Shirong and said, "Ji Yun, how many enemy troops are there outside the city at this moment?!" ”

"About seven or eight thousand men...... Maybe there are more than 10,000 people ......" Wang Shirong lowered his head and arched his hand a little embarrassed, "The lord forgives the sin, the enemy rangers are out in all directions, and our army scouts dare not get too close, so we have to speculate from some clues such as dust, tents, military stoves, horse manure, and hoof prints......

"Who will the Lord be?!" Lin Feng bowed his head, expressing understanding, and then asked.

“…… The lord forgives the sins, the banners of the Manchurian and Mongolian coalition are chaotic, and there are many clear characters and Mongolian characters, most of the scouts of our army do not understand literature and science, and they are watching from afar......" Wang Shirong's face was flushed, and he said in a low voice, "The lord forgives the sins!" ”

It is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, Wang Shirong cannot be blamed for this matter, before the Han army has been unable to penetrate deep into North Manchuria, and the Manchurian and Mongolian iron cavalry is excited and fast, erratic, although Wang Shirong is smart and wise, but in the end he is still a little white face who has just entered the battlefield, and this kind of difficult battlefield reconnaissance is indeed not his strong point.

It seemed that he was using people inappropriately, and immediately turned his head to look at Ma Ying, "General Ma, you and them fought from Zhangwu to Bac Ninh - do you know who is leading the team?!" ”

A hint of blush appeared on Ma Ying's fair face, his eyes were full of anger and hatred, and he gritted his teeth for a long time, but he shook his head and said, "I don't know!" Seeing Lin Feng frowning, he bowed slightly and explained, "The lord doesn't know, this time the Tartars went south, the military system is extremely untidy, and the command seems to be quite chaotic, the Eight Banners Tartars do not stop the Mongols greeting, and the Mongols do not pay attention to the orders of the Eight Banners generals, the army goes and stops, and the marching route is chaotic, there is no master, and there are many ways to advance - it is precisely because of this that the ministers can rely on the mountains and rivers of Liaodong to intersperse and come and go in the gaps of the Tartar army, otherwise if the Manchurian and Mongolian army orders are neat, all the departments will obey the orders to encircle and suppress, Tens of thousands of iron horsemen rushed up, and even if the last general had great ability, it would be difficult to get out......"

"It seems to be a fool," Lin Feng shook his head and looked around, and smiled left and right, "Don't look at the large number of Tartars, but I expected that this generation of barbarians has their own intentions, and they will inevitably behave differently, even if they are powerful for a while, they are a rabble after all!" He smiled at Ma Ying and said, "General Ma, do you know why this king suddenly gathered the whole army?!" ”

Ma Ying was slightly stunned and said puzzled, "...... Isn't this a Tatar?! ”

"Hehe, General Ma looks up to them too much-only strikers, neither carrying siege equipment, nor being a large number of people, this noise outside the city is just routine intimidation," Lin Feng said disdainfully, "These Tartars beat Da Ming so easily, they actually dare to play this game in front of Lao Tzu?!" ”

Ma Ying said confusedly, "That...... What does the lord mean?! ……”

Lin Feng waved his hand at Li Ergou, several guards suddenly stepped forward and spread a huge map of Liaodong on the ground, Lin Feng said with a smile, "Ladies and gentlemen, since the former Ming Dynasty, my Central Plains has been weak for a hundred years, Hu has gone south, driven by iron horses, and everywhere he goes, he shuddered. The Tartar general Azig only rode 3,000 iron horses across Qing and Xu, is there such a thing?! ”

Mu Tianyan nodded and said, "Yes, in addition to capturing a large number of Ding Zhuang women, they also broke through Jinan and killed the officials of the feudal territory!" ”

Lin Feng smiled and shook his head, stretched out his index finger, and pointed to the map, "Look, at present, this king is gathering a large army in Beining, so in addition to this place in Liaodong, only General Wang Dahai garrisons Ningcheng, and the troops in the area of Jinzhou and Ningyuan to Shanhaiguan in my rear are empty, so if the enemy army is allowed to go around the city at this time and cut off the supply of our army's baggage, the consequences will be unimaginable. He lowered his arm and looked at the generals around him, "What do you think?!" ”

Wang Shirong was stunned for a moment, and lost his voice, "Lord...... At present, our army is tired from a long battle, and the enemy situation outside the city is unknown, and the Tartar army has 40,000 or 50,000 horses, if this harassment is actually a trick to lure the enemy, wouldn't it ......" He bowed his hand and said with a wry smile, "I think that you can't attack rashly!" ”

"I know this," Lin Feng looked around at the generals, "You only see our army fighting for a long time, in fact, the Tartars have not traveled thousands of miles, if they are really not tired, with the speed of cavalry, they can fight the day General Ma Ying returns, and the reason why it has been delayed until today is that they are just accumulating physical strength!" He smiled dumbly, "Hu people are also human, do you really have three heads and six arms?!" ”

"But......" Wang Shirong's face was uncertain, and he stopped talking.

Lin Feng waved his hand and cut off his words, "I know what Ji Yun means - does Ji Yun think that the Tartars have the advantage of one force, and the other is fierce and fierce in cavalry, so our army should rely on the heavy artillery of Jiancheng, consume the exhaustion first, and wait for the enemy's sharp spirit to be broken, and then the army will come out together, and it will be decided with one drum?!"

Wang Shirong and Mu Tianyan looked at each other in amazement, exchanged a look with each other, Mu Tianyan coughed lightly a few times, "cough...... Cough...... He cautiously observed Lin Feng's face, and tried his best to slow down his voice and admonish, "In fact, what the lord said is extremely true, the art of war is trained, the so-called way of generals, guard against arrogance and rashness, and it is important to be stable, our army has both high walls and deep ravines at the moment, and heavy artillery to lean on, and the heavy hoarding in the city is complete, so you can slowly figure it out, why bother with this generation of barbarians for a while?!"...... ”

"It's not a sentiment - you've all been mistaken!" Lin Feng's face was solemn, and his voice was low and solemn, "The plan that this king originally said is that there is no plan!" ”

Everyone was stunned.

"This king's plan is to have a dignified battle with the Mongolian iron cavalry and the army of the Eight Banners - neither to defend the city nor to defend and counterattack, but to fight a decisive battle in a proper manner: with the army against the army, with 20,000 steps, artillery, and cavalry, and the Tartar army will be divided into a high and low victory!!"

Wang Shirong and Mu Tianyan couldn't bear it any longer, and knelt on the ground together, and said loudly, "Lord......"

Lin Feng waved his hand vigorously and cut off their words again, "This king has made up his mind, and the two gentlemen don't want to say anything more!" Seeing that the generals were silent, he said loudly, "We have been defending the city for too long, so this king must fight with them in the field, if you don't defeat them in the field battle, and break the bullshit of 'the eight banners are not ten thousand, and the ten thousand cannot be defeated', then even if the enemy army is defeated this time, the Tartars will never be convinced, and this northeast land will never be peaceful!! ”

He suddenly pulled out his war knife and held it high above the top, "What are we going to do this expedition of thousands of miles, chewing ice and lying in the snow?" It is to fight a war to calm the remnants of the Eight Banners - you must know that war is an extension of political strategy, if you can't pacify the whole area of Liaodong, then even if you win more battles, what is the use?! This time, the king is 20,000 against 40,000, if he can defeat these unruly barbarians in a dignified manner, then who else dares to ignore the power of the Han Dynasty?!! ”

The war knife suddenly slashed down, the snow practice-like knife was dazzling, Lin Feng's long knife came out, pointing directly at Ma Ying, and shouted, "General Jianwei, I often hear that Ma Ying is riding a strong bow and a hard crossbow on weekdays, brave and invincible, and the elite of the Eight Banners and the Mongolian iron cavalry are not inferior, let this king see today, whether your 'invincible elite' is a gang of heroes or a bunch of braggarts!" The voice came out slowly, and it sounded back in the school yard, and the cavalry on the right heard it, and everyone changed color for a while.

Ma Ying was furious, her fair skin was blood-red, and she stared at her bloodshot eyes, but she didn't care about her dignity and humility, and blurted out angrily, "Good, good, good!" Let the lord meet our Liaodong heroes today!! ”

Lin Feng looked at him unceremoniously, raised his sword, pointed diagonally outside the city, and said angrily, "Then what are you waiting for?!! ”

Ma Ying didn't make a sound, just turned around in stride, galloped towards the stage, hurriedly stepped on the war horse and gave a loud order, the horn sounded in unison, and the seven thousand cavalry got on the horse with guns together, and for a time the armor was sonorous, the war horse neighed, the sound of swords and guns slammed into one, several whistles, the army turned around, and ran towards the school gate together.

Lin Feng strode forward and shouted, "Ma Ying, this king will lead the infantry and artillery brigade to arrive later-if you can't even beat the Tartar strikers outside the city, then die outside the city together!" ”