Zhang Lixin's original estimate was that the main force of the imperial court should arrive within three days or so after the breakthrough of the Thousand Households in Hejian Zhongtun. It's just that it still underestimates the official reaction speed and ability at the end of the dynasty and not long after the two dynasties alternate.

Until the fourth day after the attack on the Thousand Households in the middle of the river, the people who were demolished and relocated ten or twenty miles away still did not find any signs of the imperial army attacking at dawn.

After learning that someone dared to break ground on Tai Sui's head and succeeded, the neighboring big households were all guarding the gate, and no one dared to come to the rescue at all, even the neighboring thousands of households.

After more than three days of intensive war preparations, Zhang Lixin and the others did not stay where they were and waited, but once again attacked the manor of a large household near Qianhusuo at night.

Without the obstruction of the city walls, the seven rounds of five small trebuchets in about a minute or so completely crumbled the seemingly solid breakout. The people inside voluntarily surrendered after learning that this was a group of thieves who were not so ugly.

Of course, the seizure was not very good, only a dozen bows, hundreds of arrows, and some short weapons of poor quality were obtained. After all: armor, artillery, and spears have always been taboo among the people. It's just that this time a few shotguns of fairly good quality, ten three-eyed guns, and a total of dozens of pounds of black powder were seized, probably stored in the form of granules.

Of course, the quality of these black powders is still not comparable with the artillery that Zhang Lixin saw in the Weiyuan Camp in Dengzhou, but this is the biggest gain of the team: because the quality threshold of black powder of this grade is so high that it can not necessarily be used as incendiary or ejective, but also as the propellant of loose gunpowder.

"It seems that the general was really prescient, and our preparations were not in vain!" Cheng Hai said with relief.

Of course, Zhang Lixin knew that the total number of available soldiers he had now was only about sixty or seventy people, and what was the biggest tactical loophole. Perhaps through various methods, people who do not have much combat effectiveness can barely play the effect of meat shields, and cooperate with trebuchets in field battles to effectively resist the infantry groups with medium and low protection that attack from the front.

However, if the opponent also has artillery, decent firearms, or a team that is barely able to perform horse combat, it is a great threat to yourself. If you are unlucky, the opponent can outflank the projection during the day with the initiative. At best, he can deal with the manpower of a frontal front of more than ten meters, and if he faces an outflanking attack, he will be in extreme danger. Therefore, whether there is a reliable direct fire suppression firearm for low-level protection targets has become the key.

In the past few days, using the four Huzun cannons that had been seized from Qianhu, which already looked a little undecent, Zhang Lixin re-carried out some simple preparations for these four cannons: strengthen the inner chamber with clay and burn them dry: or even if it can't be strengthened much, the caliber is controlled at about one inch, which is most conducive to dispersing the scattered compound requirements. The outside is wrapped in many layers of leather canvas to prevent it from becoming too powerful when it is blown up. The weight of the entire artillery shot has also increased from about 30 or 40 catties to about 30 kilograms. The gun body is mounted on a "tricycle" frame converted from a trolley with a grinding disc-like support, and with a pole of more than one zhang or so, it can move up and down, left and right, and fire flexibly in all directions from a relatively safe distance.

Because the material is too inferior, the gunpowder that can be used is not good. Therefore, Zhang Lixin estimated: A cannon body of fifty or sixty catties has the reasonable kinetic energy of a large arquebus weighing more than ten kilograms of the Spanish or British in this era. But even so, it can shoot out 60 buckshot pieces weighing one and a half pennies and effectively cover targets within 100 meters. Maybe a person in a slightly thicker cotton coat and leather armor will not be able to penetrate a distance of about 100 meters, but after testing: at least the exposed horses can see blood, and people will also suffer no minor injuries, which is enough. Focusing too much on the power of the scatter may reduce the efficiency.

According to Zhang Lixin's plan: 35 people started by himself: five trebuchet teams operated five trebuchets, and the other eight people were divided into four groups to operate four bogie guns, and he and Wang Wei were responsible for commanding and supervising the front and rear. The hand-to-hand combatants and shield soldiers were mainly handled by the forty-two soldiers who had finally joined and were reasonably reliable. The front three rows of weak melee soldiers, and the rest of the reinforced flanks, which were already very weak, were responsible for covering the gunners.

If his team encountered a well-equipped Weiyuan battalion of about fifty people head-on during the day, he would probably have no chance of winning. But if you encounter a gun and arrow, it is not ruthless, and the shield armor is not a good ordinary official army, as long as the opponent's reliable strength does not exceed 1,000 people, Zhang Lixin feels that he can fight a dozen.

All of these are also judgments made under the fact that there have been a lot of army building tests and actual combat experience from the Weiyuan Battalion to Liaodong. If it weren't for the accumulation of the previous years, Zhang Lixin would not dare to make such a decision just by taking it for granted.

That's it: it wasn't until the Thousand Households of Hejian Mansion was destroyed for more than seven days, until the seventh day of the second month, that many of the people who had been demolished and relocated before Zhang Lixin learned the news of the transfer of the army. Not only Hejian Mansion, but Baoding Mansion also moved this time. Although the time is a little slower, but taking the camp city is equivalent to breaking the county town and rebelling, and the shock caused is quite large. After a few days of energy in the sequel, the momentum of coming out in person also belongs to the worst possibility that Zhang Lixin had expected before.

"You can't sit still in this area. With the seventy or eighty people in our department who are barely able to fight now, even if they have been making targeted preparations these days, they are by no means the opponents of the officers and soldiers of the scale of the beacon smoke, so retreat quickly! Li Yi felt a lot of pressure.

Of course, Zhang Lixin also understands this: although he has been preparing for how to ensure undefeat in a head-to-head confrontation with a huge opponent during the day these days, in terms of the fundamental combat effectiveness characteristics of his team: it is definitely the next strategy to confront a large number of officers and troops in the land of Pingchuan during the day. Only by maximizing the strengths and avoiding the weaknesses can we ensure that the first real tough battle has a greater chance of winning. Or: even if you can't win, you can avoid the risk of complete defeat to the greatest extent possible...

In this way, Zhang Lixin finally divided the team into two parts: three reliable soldiers were responsible for following the newly expanded recruits to form a "garrison" and choose a temporarily prepared place to lurk and hide. And Zhang Lixin, Wang Wei and the others chose another place near the previously breached Qianhu Station, which was not too far away from the soldiers, to hide and hide it, and then take a look at the situation first. This is also the inevitable result of the fact that his manpower is very limited, and even the strength to reconnoiter the enemy's situation is very narrow.

On the eighth day of February in the first year of Chongzhen, Wang Wenqing, the former Shandong Jinshi, invited the military department to accompany the Ma Shen general of the Zhongshun battalion of Baoding Mansion as the core of this crusade against thieves, and dispatched a total of more than 400 elite horse teams and more than 500 horse foot soldiers to reinforce the territory of Hejian Mansion at the fastest speed, and together with thousands of villagers in Hejian Mansion to regain the looted Zhongtun Wei Qianhu.

After careful interrogation, the officers and soldiers and Xiang Yong, who were more than 2,000 in size, learned that even if they included some new vassals, there were only about 100 people at most, and they were not horse thieves, so they put their hearts down a lot.

Of course, Wang Wenqing knows the truth of a quick battle. Although these elite soldiers reinforced by Baoding Mansion said that the food and salary were okay on weekdays, they had to ensure that they fought seriously and did not make trouble, and it only took half a month to spend I'm afraid that the little money they had prepared before was not enough at all, and it was very difficult to say what happened in such a guest place as Hejian when the time came...

Ma Shen, who was personally in charge of the demolition at this time, asked his cronies from all around to find out more news, and completely let go of his heart. The military council smiled disapprovingly: "Don't worry, my lord! They couldn't run far at all, and they thought that those thieves should be lurking in the villages within fifteen miles at this time, and they should definitely find something after searching and clearing them one by one... ”

Wang Wenqing had seen what some of the defeated soldiers in Liaodong had done near his hometown, so he didn't trust a warrior like General Ma Shen, and in order to avoid trouble, he said: "There is no need to search and suppress first." If the thief can't run far, the reward is reported. These things are the responsibility of the official! General Ma Shen was somewhat dissatisfied in his heart, but at this moment, the Ming Court was far from the time when the authority of the martial arts in the late Chongzhen period had risen greatly, so he could only follow the power.

In this way, for a whole day after the army arrived at Zhongtunwei in Hejian, Wang Weiqing led some cronies to personally send people to visit and investigate the surrounding villages, and even announced the rewards and benefits, but they found nothing. Judging from various indications: the gang of thieves who once attacked the Tunwei Thousand Households in Hejian Mansion should have absconded at night, and they were no longer nearby...

At this moment, the more than forty recruits who were lurking in a ravine in the 123 miles of the Tunwei Qianhu Office in Hejian Mansion were a little impatient to join the freshman battalion. After all, they are people who have just arrived in the team, and many people regret and even get restless after seeing the army of the imperial court with a lot of horses, and some people have already discussed privately and started to slip away. Many people began to worry about their relatives again.

At this time, Chen Ying and Liu Erniu, who were in charge of guarding these people, were anxious at this time. Of course, the two of them knew that if they leaked the news, they would not only bring great danger to themselves, but also affect the general. As for defecting to the imperial court and conquering the talent shown by the general of the Senhu Institute himself, many of the "old soldiers" of the new battalion no longer have this idea.

Chen Ying's brain was quite flexible, and he whispered to everyone: "No one is allowed to move, no one is allowed to speak, if you want to recruit officers and soldiers?" Seeing that there is no rope, I just need to pull it, and everyone will finish playing together! And don't forget: you've all made a record! Hearing this, the new fighters lurking with Chen Ying and Wang Erniu were able to remain quiet at least for the time being.

At this time, Zhang Lixin, who was lurking in another location, understood that he could of course choose to escape at night on the second night at this moment, and go to the area of Baoding Mansion and even Shanxi, Shandong and other places. However, if you do so, you will undoubtedly lose the chance to face the real test, and you will become a rogue who is unwilling to engage in a war of attrition and always "bullies" like a wild beast in the hunt. A true guerrilla should be a team that has the determination to deal with and fight the other side.

"Prepare for battle! This time, we must try to mobilize as many horses as possible out of town! When night fell again, Zhang Lixin made up his mind and said to the soldiers around him. Because they had already prepared combat discussions and discussions, Wang Wei, Li Yi and others also decided to take a risk.