Fugu County is located on the east bank of the Yellow River in the north of Shaanxi, across the river from the Baodezhou City on the west bank, which is not only a trade ferry connecting the east and west banks, but also a military town in Shaanxi and Jin.

Since Baode Prefecture on the east bank was occupied by the Guan Imperial Army, the trade routes in Fugu were cut off, but the garrison was much larger than before.

In order to prevent Emperor Guan's army from crossing the river into Shaanxi, Hong Chengchou, the governor of the three sides, transferred another 4,000 soldiers and horses into Fugu, with a total strength of 5,000, led by Wang Chengen, the general soldier of Yansui.

In the past two days, the lonely Fugu lonely mountain and river mouth suddenly prospered again.

It was not the merchants who came and went, but the Ming army went around collecting boats and carrying wood, and it seemed that they wanted to cross the river on a pontoon bridge.

There were also suddenly many more soldiers and horses in Fugu County, and there was an endless stream of mules, horses, wagons, chickens, and buses transporting grain, and it seemed that a big war was brewing.

On the other side of the river, the city of Baodezhou.

Luo Daniu stood on the wall near the river, holding a telescope in his hand, quietly looking at the other side of the river.

He didn't put down his binoculars until a herald rushed in.

"Qiqi Luo battalion officer, the offensive route of the Ming army has been revealed."

"Oh? How many ways are there? ”

"There are three roads in total, in addition to the road of Fugu, there are also the sand ditch weir on the other side of the river meander and the river beach on the other side of the ditch, and now, the Ming army of the two roads has collected boats in those two river sections, carrying wood, and may cross the river at any time."

"Hmm."

Luo Daniu nodded, learned Qin Chuan's tone, shook his head and said: "Shagou Weir, that is, the West Mouth Ferry, as for the river beach, there is no ferry here, right?" What is the flow of water? ”

"Returning to the Luo battalion officer, although there is no ferry here, the water flow is stable, and the river beach is flat, which can be used for a large number of troops to gather. ，。 ”

"Well, it seems that Hong Chengchou, whom the general has mentioned repeatedly, really has some ability, how is Ren Liang and Feng Yilong's defense?"

"Feng Yingguan has already taken the soldiers of Feng Shanying to open up a large open space in Tuiwogou, and dug trenches to build various defense facilities, and waited for the Ming army to cross the river."

"The battalion officer went out of Hequ City and built defensive facilities on the bank of the river west of the city, intending to not let the Ming army cross the river one by one."

Hearing this, Luo Daniu nodded with satisfaction and said: "The general said that if Hong Chengchou came to attack, he would never choose Baodezhou and Hequ as the main direction of attack, because Hong Chengchou was not a fool, and he must know that it was impossible for him to attack these two cities with his Ming army, so ...... His main line of attack must be Feng Yilong's pit ditch. ”

"Ordered Qin Boyang to lead 1,000 to the camp to rush to the aid of the ditch, with 20 tiger squat cannons and 20 small Fulong machine guns, as well as 100 flintlock guns and 20 rifled guns, so that Hong Chengchou can taste the taste of guns."

"Yes."

The herald took the order and galloped away.

Luo Da Niu waved his hand: "Push all the cannons to the shore, bombard the Ming army on the opposite side, and bombard them first." ”

"Yes!"

Soon, the west gate of Baodezhou City was opened, and thirteen artillery wagons, led by mules and horses, drove out of the city gate and headed towards the banks of the Yellow River.

On the other side of the river, at the mouth of the lonely mountain river.

Wang Chengen, the commander-in-chief of Yansui, stood on a hill next to the mouth of the river, covering his eyebrows with his hands and quietly looking at the other side of the river.

The river between Fugu and Baodezhou is not wide, and now it is a dry season, and the river surface between the mouth of Gushan River and the opposite bank is less than a mile wide, and the movement on the opposite bank can be seen by the naked eye.

When the west gate of Baodezhou City was wide open and one after another artillery carriages rushed out, Wang Chengen's face changed slightly, and he shouted urgently: "Artillery preparation, the rest of the people leave the shore immediately, quickly!" ”

Hearing his words, the Ming army, who were carrying timber or tying up ships on the shore, scattered as if they had been amnestied.

The shore has long been prepared

, and began to adjust the firing angles of the six Great Franc cannons and one Hongyi cannon.

Wang Chengen knew that the artillery of Emperor Guan's army was extremely sharp, so he transferred these seven cannons early and erected them on the shore, waiting for the artillery of Emperor Guan's army to come.

However, the artillery of the Guandi army stopped a mile and a half away, and five of the cannons began to withdraw the mules and horses, tie the footnails, and begin to adjust the angle.

"The Hongyi cannon fires first." Wang Chengen shouted urgently.

The artilleryman in charge of the Hongyi cannon didn't care whether it had been aimed or not, and hurriedly lit the primer of the fire door.

There was a loud "boom", and a cannonball with a piercing sound of breaking the air drew an arc across the surface of the Yellow River.

The artillery of the Guandi Army on the opposite bank coincidentally lay behind the artillery truck.

With a "bang", the shell fell on the open ground, and it was twenty or thirty paces away from the artillery of the Guan Emperor's army, the direction was ridiculously off, and the distance was much shorter.

"Adjust the gun, hurry up!" Wang Chengen was so anxious that he jumped to his feet.

Several artillerymen hurriedly adjusted the angle of fire and reloaded.

At this time, five artillery shots rang out on the opposite bank, and five shells whistled and smashed near the Ming artillery.

The nearest shell was less than five paces away from the Ming army's Hongyi cannon, and the mud and sand kicked up when it landed splashed several artillerymen, startling those artillerymen in all directions.

Wang Chengen jumped over and whipped several times before the artillerymen were driven back.

Artillery bombardment is nothing more than a contest of firepower and accuracy.

In terms of firepower, the Guan Emperor army had five cannons that could hit a mile and a half away, while the Ming army only had one.

In terms of accuracy, the artillery of Emperor Guan's army had the Francophone cannon brought back by Chen Zhan from Dengzhou, and Qin Chuan gave them continuous practice at any cost, and the accuracy was naturally not comparable to that of the Ming army.

Only in the second round of shelling, the battery of the Ming army's Hongyi cannon was hit, the whole cannon was tilted to one side, and one artilleryman was unfortunately broken in two by the bouncing shell.

This cannon will not be used for a while.

Seeing that the Ming army's Hongyi cannon was scrapped, the Guan Emperor army immediately advanced forward with eight Da Forang machine guns, while five general Tianwei and red-clothed general cannons stayed in place and continued to bombard the Ming army's artillery.

Soon, the artillery of the Ming army was killed and wounded, and the rest couldn't care about Wang Chengen's whip, so they fled back without their lives.

Wang Chengen sighed helplessly, and finally fled far away under the cover of several personal soldiers.

After driving away the opponent's artillery, the Guan Emperor soldiers aimed their guns at the ships anchored on the opposite bank.

……

On the beach of the river, Hong Chengchou stood on the hill next to the riverbank, holding a telescope purchased from Francois in his hand, and quietly looked at the ditch on the opposite bank.

After a long time, Hong Chengchou put down the binoculars, frowned, and said nothing.

"Inspector, how is the arrangement of the thief army?"

Seeing that his face was not good, Bai Guangen on the side asked cautiously.

Hong Chengchou shook his head: "Be ready for battle, arrange it properly, this battle is not easy to fight." ”

"This ......"

Bai Guangen's eyes rolled, and he didn't dare to ask.

Several generals on the side also looked at each other, but none of them spoke.

"Bai Guangen."

"The end will be."

"You lead 2,000 men and horses, make a detour to Jiaxian, and after crossing the river from there, march to the area of Xingxian, remember, you can't fight in waves when you encounter the enemy, you only need to contain the thief army."

"Yes."

"Inspector...... It is nearly 200 miles away from Jia County, and it will take three days to cross the river in Jia County at the earliest, isn't it ......"

"Give you five days, and after five days, you must arrive in the area of the Weifen River in Xingxian County."

"Yes."