As soon as Liu Ximing got the report, he understood what was going on, and the generals in the camp were also called over by him for a meeting.

Yang He Tianlei handed over the report, Liu Ximing said with a smile: "The thieves have moved, it seems that Ming will definitely attack our army, I guess it should be Cao Bianjiao and their troops are not far away, and the rogue detectives heard the news." ”

"Second brother, how should we fight, please give me instructions."

"Pass the order, the whole army is ready for battle, I don't want to destroy the enemy in this battle, but we must beat the thief hard, let him firmly remember the lesson of Dengzhou, if necessary, you can let go of a passage, let the thief escape, and we will send him all the way out of Dengzhou."

A smile appeared on the faces of Mu Jingnan, Wei Jingguo and others, the second brother had made up his mind to support Li Zicheng.

Liu Ximing naturally couldn't say this, and he immediately covered it up again: "The thief army is powerful, if you resist desperately, it will cause too much damage to our militia in Dengzhou, but don't stop Li Zicheng, but let Zhang Xianzhong and others pick up the advantage of our Dengzhou." ”

Lei Hong, the magistrate of Neixiang County, who was watching the battle in the camp, kept nodding his head, this reason is in the past, he is not in his position, he does not seek his own government, and it is Yang Sichang's business to suppress Kou, we just need to protect the territory and the people.

"It's just," Lei Hong hesitated and said, "Where should you force the Liukou?" ”

Liu Ximing said without hesitation: "Naturally, it is Huguang. ”

He explained: "At present, the epidemic prevention in the six provinces of the Central Plains has reached the most critical time, if Li Zicheng and others are allowed to flee to Kaifeng again, our errand will not be completed." ”

"Right now, Inspector Yang is sitting in Xiangyang, and the army is gathered, so I don't have to worry about him being exiled."

is different from people like Dou Yuquan who know the roots, Lei Hong and other scholars of Datong Society are more inspired by ideas to stand with Liu Ximing.

Liu Ximing is also worried that the tendons in the heads of these scholars will not be able to turn, so they can only publicize the reform of the government and politics to the outside world instead of directly replacing them, otherwise how can he spend so many means on Chen Zilong and others.

On the morning of October 21, the soldiers in the camp of the Liu family army were awakened by the sound of horns.

The guy in charge of logistics prepared a meal early, one meat and one vegetarian, two large buns, plus a bowl of porridge and an egg, and all the generals and soldiers were of the same standard.

Such a rich meal is not seen in the various armies of the Ming Dynasty now, and this is just the normal food of the Liu family's army.

Thanks to the public ownership of land, high-yield and improved varieties and other means, the Liu family's sphere of influence has been enjoying the dividends of abundant grain, which is one of the reasons why huge militia groups can be formed in the places controlled by the Liu family.

Once the hungry homeless people had enough to eat and put on warm cotton clothes, no one wanted to leave such a place where they could provide shelter.

No matter what the propaganda caliber of the Liu family is, eating Master Liu's food and giving his life to Master Liu is the most simple point of view under the influence of the Liu family.

On the other hand, Li Zicheng's army is a little shabby, except for Li Zicheng and others who eat better, ordinary rogues can only eat a piece of hard dough cake and mix it with crystal clear porridge.

This difference became evident when the two armies were fully arrayed.

The soldiers under the command of the Liu family army are full of morale, and in addition to the elite, the spirit of the army is obviously not as good as that of the Liu family's army.

One is a soldier and the other is a thief, so the two sides naturally don't need to communicate before the battle.

With a wave of Li Zicheng's big hand, nearly 10,000 horses and horses were immediately divided into the Liukou army, holding bows and arrows, and several old firearms such as the Huzun cannon captured by the Liukou army also began to move towards the front of the position.

"The thieves still know some tactics", the army under the command of the Liu family has already poured out, and Liu Ximing is standing on the specially made lookout chariot in the Chinese army at this moment while watching the battle and commanding.

"Order the artillery, aim at the enemy bow and firearms units and stop the attack as soon as they retreat."

"Whoa"

The guard battalion led by Li Biao was always on Liu Xi's side, and they went to report at this time.

Li Zicheng watched his own archers line up in front of his own Chinese army, but found that the Dengzhou militia on the opposite side had no movement.

This sound was much louder than the sound of the official army's Huzun cannon, accompanied by the white smoke visible from the right rear of the Dengzhou militia group, and iron bullets roared one after another, roaring continuously around the front of the invading army.

Although the first dozens of cannons all missed, the cannonballs soon made a contribution, falling straight into the archer array and making a bloody way out.

""

There were bursts of frightened cries in the formation, and the grassroots officers under Li Zicheng's command desperately tried to suppress the position, and they forgot to attack before the formation for a while.

The cannonballs of the Dengzhou militia seemed to be endless, constantly pouring towards the front of the invading army, and a group of archers cried wolf howl.

Seeing that his front was collapsing, Li Zicheng had to order all the archers to retreat.

Strange to say, not long after the front of the invading army withdrew, the artillery fire in front of the position suddenly stopped, as if it was specifically to fight the archers of the invading army.

Li Zicheng gritted his teeth and snapped out a dirty sentence, "Into the fucking eggs, these dog officers and soldiers are too bullying." ”

Song Xiance took a chicken feather fan, pretending to be pointing out the country, and said in a deep voice:

"King Chuang, it seems that Dengzhou doesn't want our army to use bows and arrows, I'm afraid I can only send soldiers to charge directly."

Li Zicheng suddenly became a little anxious, the results of the test a few days ago were in his eyes, Dengzhou's firepower was so fierce, he was afraid that he would be killed and injured by them before he rushed close.

But thinking of the chasing soldiers, Li Zicheng finally gritted his teeth and ordered:

"Don't wait for the archers, the front army will attack, and you must overwhelm the other party."

"Roar"

Liu Ximing did not lead troops to directly block the Shangluo Pass, but instead left an open space for the Chuang army to fight as a whole, after all, the combat goal of the Liu Jiajun was not to exterminate the Chuang army from the beginning.

The army of more than 100,000 rogues, if you really want to annihilate it, I am afraid that it will be besieged for at least a few months, and Liu Ximing does not have so much patience.

The formation of the intrusion changed again, and groups of infantry armed with spears or swords and shields began to march eastward, and the sound of tens of thousands of people marching loudly around the mountain pass.

Liu Zongmin led his battalion of rogues to walk in the front in fear, but this time there was no artillery to attack again, and the front of the army passed smoothly through the area where the archers were lined up before.

"Charge"

Seeing that the Dengzhou militia on the opposite side was getting closer and closer, Liu Zongmin burst out with a shout, and once again led his men to accelerate the charge.

On the Liu Jiajun side, this time he didn't leave his hand any longer, and the continuous rain of bullets from the musket troops reappeared, which stalled the momentum of the entire rogue army.

However, as the invading army broke through to a distance of fifty paces and entered close combat, the entire battlefield suddenly fell into a bitter battle.

The sound of wild roars, screams, and the clashing of weapons resounded throughout the battlefield.

The battle on the battlefield of cold weapons made Liu Ximing look a little sleepy, the Liu family occupied a geographical advantage, and was protected by sophisticated equipment, and the soldiers were more like participating in a big game.

On the Liukou side, although people continue to fall, because the Dengzhou militia has always maintained a defensive posture, even the occasional collapse of the troops can quickly regroup in the rear and join the battle, and the two sides come and go on the battlefield, but there are not many casualties.

This battle was fought from morning to afternoon, and the soldiers on both sides changed one after another, until around the time of Shen Shi in the afternoon, Li Zicheng, who saw that he could not break through the enemy array, had to order Mingjin to withdraw his troops.

In front of the Liu family's army, the intrusive army rogues wearing various colors and styles of clothing kept on guard while constantly retreating to the rear, and the soldiers of the Liu family's army were all relieved.

Because of the terrain, the Chuang army could only put about 20,000 troops out of the station at a time, and there were 30,000 troops on Liu's side.

This side had just been withdrawn from the battlefield, and the reserve troops of the Liu Family Army, which had been repaired for a long time, immediately stepped forward to clean up the battlefield and save the wounded under the command of the officers.

Liu Jiajun's perfect logistics system once again played a huge role.

In the past seven years, the infirmary has trained a total of more than 5,000 military medical teams with basic bandaging and medical knowledge, and with the use of medical supplies such as penicillin, alcohol, and disinfectant gauze, the death rate of Liu Jiajun in cold weapon combat is very low.