Although Li Qingshan's subordinates had been completely wiped out by the imperial court in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, his remnants were still quite active, and Chang Yichen felt that Li Qingshan's background was not as sensitive as that of Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, and playing the banner of Li Qingshan would not attract the officers and soldiers of the brigade to suppress him.

And Chang Yichen's biggest concern is that there are only fifty horsemen in total, not to mention attracting a large number of officers and soldiers, even the local gentry are strong and brutal, and they can drink a pot.

But the problem is that Beizhi is subordinate to the core area of the Ming Dynasty, even if it is only under the banner of Li Qingshan instead of the banner of Li Zicheng, the village is still heavily guarded, although they will generally provide some help within their ability, but they are not willing to enter the village to rest or provide manpower support.

Some of the stronger villages did not even allow this horse team of unknown intentions to approach, Chang Yichen even fought with a village that did not know what to do, but he didn't expect that this village not only hid bows and crossbows and armor, but even several firearms, although he was found to withdraw as soon as possible, but Chang Yichen still injured one person and two horses.

But now countless fleets under the banner of Sincerity Bofu suddenly appeared on the canal, so that Chang Yichen didn't know where the target of his pursuit was.

For this reason, Chang Yichen has run six or seven times, but it turns out that these times are all in vain, and these six or seven sorties have indeed blocked the Cao boat under the banner of sincerity Bofu twice, but Chang Yichen knows that this is definitely not the real goal he is looking for.

Because according to the information from the inside line, the fleet of Chengyi Bofu has at least six large ships, and now only one small boat has been stopped these two times, and the facts have proved that Chang Yichen's guess is correct, and the shipowner and the sailors on the ship both said that the reason why they were allowed to go south by Zhangjiawan was because Liu Yongxi asked them to use the banner of Chengyi Bofu.

And now there are more fake news and true news coming, which makes Chang Yichen feel daunted, but this is still a mission that must be completed.

If this was the order of the Zhengquan General Tian Jianxiu, Chang Yichen dared to say that he couldn't catch up, after all, General Tian Jianxiu was a kind person, but this was the order of the deputy general Liu Zongmin.

This made it difficult for him, even if the blind man knew that Liu Zongmin was good at killing, and if he couldn't complete the task he assigned, even if he didn't die, he would have to take off a layer of skin.

And now Chang Yichen is in a dilemma, although he feels that if he continues to chase down, he may even chase to Shandong to face more unexpected changes, but since it is Liu Zongmin's order, he has to pursue it.

What should I do?

Just when Chang Yichen was at a loss, it was the old Xiucai who came to negotiate on behalf of Lin Jiazhuang and a few other Zhuangzi who put forward his opinion: "This General Chang, I think your idea is completely wrong, it's true that you want to chase the rebels on the canal, but the river network is dense and the waterways extend in all directions, and your way of chasing is to run away with all the horses, I'm afraid you won't be able to find the target you are looking for!" ”

Hearing what this old showman said, Chang Yichen suddenly became interested: "Brother, how do you say this?" ”

Although this old Xiucai is a rural talent who has never entered the government test, he has his own experience in using soldiers: "General Chang, you must understand that the waterway is the most mobile, the boat runs faster than the horse, and the boat runs faster than the horse, and the horse team does not lose horsepower when it goes straight downstream, your horse team can't catch up at all, not to mention that the waterway extends in all directions, and no one can find it if you hide it in any tributary, if you want to catch up with this rebel army, I'm afraid you have to find another way." ”

Chang Yichen sat in his current position based on his qualifications rather than ability, so he decided to play the banner of the rest of Li Qingshan, and he didn't know anything about water warfare.

Now when I hear Lao Xiucai say this, I feel more and more reasonable: "Then according to my father-in-law, how should we find another way, we can't abandon the land and water!" ”

Lao Xiucai said earnestly: "You don't have to abandon the land and go into the water, but you must have your own warship on the water, and you can go by land and water at that time, so that you can catch up with the target, otherwise it will be a blind man touching the elephant, and you can't see it!" ”

Lao Xiucai said that Chang Yichen was enlightened, but he still had a question: "But my brothers are not good at water warfare!" ”

Lao Xiucai laughed: "Is General Chang not good at water warfare, or is it not good for his brothers?" ”

Chang Yichen felt that Lao Xiucai had some truth in what he said, he himself had been a landlubber since he was a child, but the brothers under him did have a lot of water, and a few of them were even water warriors: "What else does the old gentleman have to teach?" ”

Lao Xiucai pointed out again, and he told his brothers about the situation according to Lao Xiucai's opinion, and these brothers felt that what Lao Xiucai said was quite reasonable, there was no way to catch up with the target without a clipper, not to mention that a small half of the fifty people could swim, as long as they got a clipper, they could pursue the fleet of Chengyi Bofu from both land and water.

They soon forcibly robbed a passing merchant ship as a speedboat for pursuit, and a group of brothers who knew how to water guarded all the key positions on the clipper, Chang Yichen watched his own clipper ship march along the canal more and more proudly.

With this clipper, the fleet of Sincerity Bofu can't run no matter how slippery it is!

Now that he had discovered the huge advantage of having a clipper in pursuit, he wanted to show his excitement with a long roar to the sky, but before he could finish yelling, he noticed that the situation had suddenly changed dramatically: "Damn! ”

Chang Yichen didn't expect that he had just divided his troops, and the fleet of the Sincerity Bofu had chosen this opportunity to attack, and they not only had a fleet, an infantry team, and even a horse team, but also the opponent's infantry team, horse team, and fleet attacked at the same time with war drums.

No matter how incompetent Chang Yichen is, he can see that this is the deadliest moment for his side, on the canal, he only has one fast boat and more than 20 brothers and captured sailors who have no experience in water warfare, but the problem is that there are six boats on the opposite side, not to mention, and this is still the fleet of Jiang Chengyibo.

As soon as he thought of the four commanders of the Sincerity Bofu since Jiajing, Chang Yichen felt that his heart was cold for more than half of him.

However, he didn't take much advantage on land, although he still had thirty horses in his hands, but there were more than twenty horses and nearly a hundred elite foot soldiers in the Chengyi Bofu on the other side.

Although Chang Yichen could see at a glance that these so-called "elite" foot soldiers were only well equipped, the problem was that there were more than 100 people on the official army's side after the horses and steps merged, and the advantage in strength was very obvious.

The bigger problem is that Chang Yichen can't withdraw at all, although the official army is at most a horse team of more than 20 horses, Chang Yichen's horse team can withdraw at any time as long as he is willing to lose a small half of his troops, but the problem is that as soon as the horse team withdraws, the brothers on the canal will be dumplings!

Thinking of this, Chang Yichen said without hesitation: "Brothers, rush with me, and if you disperse this group of officers and soldiers, you can get all the brothers back!" ”

And Liu Yongxi also said confidently: "Brothers, the time has come to make contributions!" ”

In this battle, Liu Yongxi can be said to have taken out all the capital to prepare for a battle, but the land confrontation has not yet begun, and the war drums on the canal have officially sounded.