After Lin Fan left, he didn't know what happened in the governor's yamen, but these things had nothing to do with him now.

He asked the subordinates in the governor's mansion to summon Li Qingshan and them first, and took them back to the post house for a short rest.

In the afternoon of the same day, he took the military order of the Governor's Mansion and went to the school field outside Yangzhou City to order 500 cavalry.

As for the other personnel and materials, with Ma Qingze's personal supervision, they were also in place quickly.

Everything went exceptionally smoothly, so to speak, without hindrance. This made Lin Fan a little unbelievable that these things were handled by those officials in the court, and he felt that these yamen were about to be opened by his family.

In fact, what Lin Fan didn't know was that just before this, Ma Qingze had already packed up a large number of people in these yamen, which made Lin Fan and them so smooth.

But it's always a good thing that things go well, and Lin Fan doesn't bother to think about it so much, after all, the main thing is the most important thing at the moment, and every bit of time is not worth wasting.

Ignoring the physical fatigue, in the morning of the next day, he ordered Li Qingshan to follow the team escorting supplies and chase after him. Then he and He Fang set off with those cavalry first.

After waiting for a few days, Lin Fan rushed back to the camp, and most of the grain and grass materials transferred from Shenzhou and Gwangju had already arrived.

After Lin Fan returned to the camp, he quickly ended the rectification that lasted for more than ten days and prepared for going north.

By the time the army was mobilized, in addition to the 4,000 officers and soldiers in the battalion, there were also more than 3,000 young and strong men who had been temporarily recruited from nearby prefectures and counties to escort the grain and grass.

After Li Qingshan and the others caught up, under Lin Fan's account, the number of people alone exceeded 10,000.

The team of tens of thousands of people is enough to be called mighty, and it is difficult to see from beginning to end at a glance on this slender marching line. Lin Fan led such an army and began to move north.

On this day, the army marched to a place not far from Yingshui, which was actually considered the boundary of Chenzhou, and it was possible to encounter Chen Xinglong's Xingwang army or the official army of Zhongyuan Province at any time.

Lin Fan ordered the whole army to be vigilant and deal with changes that could happen at any time. And he spilled out more scouts, telling them to keep an eye on the movements around them, and to come back and report to him if there was any disturbance.

The army was marching, and suddenly a scout horse came to report: "Report! ”

"My lord, a large number of thieves have been found in front of our army, and judging by its scale, there may be no less than 30,000 of them!"

"However, its queue is not neat, the flags are scattered, there are no front army scouts to patrol back and forth, and there is no rear army to protect the rear, giving people a sense of hasty escape, which is quite strange!"

Hearing this, An Ning said, "In this way, they are not coming for us. My lord, after all, there are many enemy troops, and King Qin is the first priority of our army, should we avoid the edge for the time being, so as not to miss King Qin's major event? ”

An Ning's caution was not unreasonable, and it was not wise to rashly engage the thief army in such a situation, but rather a bit risky.

However, Lin Fan knew that they couldn't retreat, and the soldiers in the army were already demoralized after days of marching.

What's more, most of the people in the army are temporarily recruited people, and it is difficult to enforce orders and prohibitions.

With so many people and such a long line, it was a hasty encounter with the enemy. In the case of poor information, the order to retreat was clearly given in front,

Later, it may become a defeat, and it is very easy to become a large-scale rout.

And once this kind of thing happens, the consequences will be unimaginable. At that time, before the war was fought, they themselves collapsed without a fight.

So Lin Fan didn't dare to gamble, let alone gamble!

So he pretended to veto this proposal inadvertently, and said with a smile: "Based on the recent actions of the Central Plains Dao official army, the destruction of Chenzhou City should be in this day or two. There are so many thieves who have fled this time, and now it seems that Chenzhou has been broken! ”

"Presumably, it was the defense line of the official army that went wrong somewhere, so that these thieves escaped from Chenzhou City. In front of us, it is just a group of lost dogs who only care about fleeing for their lives, although there are many people, but they can still have some courage. ”

"So our army can't avoid it, if we don't even dare to fight a group of routed troops, how can we fight the real army? Besides, our army is fighting in the north, and it is lacking one or two big battles to practice its hands, and these thieves in front of us are the most suitable training objects. ”

At this time, another scout came to report: "Report! My lord, a large number of Central Plains Daoist officers and soldiers were found more than ten miles behind the thief army, and it seemed that they were chasing this thief army. And... And! ”

Lin Fan said unhappily: "If you have something to say, don't swallow it." ”

The scout didn't dare to hide it: "My lord, we found Chen Xinglong's apricot yellow banner in the thief army. As for whether Chen Xinglong is in this army, his subordinates can't confirm it for the time being! ”

After years of understanding, An Ning quickly thought of the reason why Lin Fan had to fight this battle after Lin Fan vetoed his proposal, and he was secretly regretting what he had just said.

After hearing the scout's report, An Ning became even more excited, and did not mention the proposal just now to avoid the enemy's edge, but eagerly said: "My lord, what a chance!" If Chen Xinglong is really in this army of thieves, if our army can kill him or even capture him alive, it will be a great merit. ”

Chen Fangshu also smiled: "I didn't expect that our army had just left Huainan Province and encountered the rout of Chenzhou, which is really a godsend and a great auspicious omen." ”

"Our army went north to fight against Manzhen this time, and on the surface it seemed to be calm, but in fact, many people in the army were unwilling to leave their hometowns to fight in the north, and they were even more afraid of fighting with the Manzhen army. Now the battalions are secretly unstable in the hearts of the people, and the morale of the army is fluctuating, and a big victory is needed to stabilize the morale of the army. ”

"And if this battle can be won, it will be able to greatly boost people's morale and sweep away the fear of the Manchu army in the army."

Then he stepped forward and bowed his hand to Lin Fan: "My lord, my subordinates please fight!" ”

He also reminded An Ning of them this time, and they all stepped forward to ask for battle: "Subordinates and others also ask to fight!" ”

Lin Fan looked around at everyone and laughed: "Okay! The herald ordered the young man to stand by on the spot, and the soldiers of each battalion rushed to the front of the formation to meet the enemy, annihilate this thief army, and capture Chen Xinglong! ”

Everyone saluted in unison and said, "Your subordinates have orders!" ”

Lin Fan's military order was quickly passed on, and the whole army, including the young and strong people who accompanied him, soon knew the news of the war.

After all, the people came as a temporary sign and lacked training, and as soon as the news came out, it caused some riots.

In a panic, some people directly abandoned the weight of the escort and fled to the rear in a chaotic manner, and even blocked the way for the soldiers in the rear to go forward.

This made Lin Fan frown, and even made him feel that he had done the right thing by not ordering the whole army to retreat just now, otherwise he would have fled in a panic now, I'm afraid

It's not just those who are drafted who are young and strong.

Fortunately, however, the battalions quickly dispatched soldiers to maintain order and stop the riots, which did not lead to more serious consequences.

When all the people retreated, the soldiers lined up in front of them and waited for the upcoming Xingwang army.

At this time, the Xingwang army also discovered the officers and troops in front, and the already messy formation was even more chaotic.

The front army of the thieves stopped in front of the official army in horror, but at this time, their rear army did not understand what was happening, and squeezed up.

The entire Xingwang army has been completely chaotic, crowded into a small area, and even trampling on each other.

In the Xingwang army, Chen Xinglong, who received the report, was shocked: "What, there are a large number of officers and soldiers blocking the road ahead?" ”

He said angrily, "How is that possible? What do those scouts eat? Didn't they all make it clear before leaving the city, except for a small number of defenders in each city, there were no extra officers and soldiers in this direction, so how did they come out? Did it fall from the sky? ”

Chen Xinglong couldn't help but be angry, and finally opened a line from the Central Plains Provincial officials and troops and escaped from Chenzhou.

Originally, I thought that I could break through the encirclement of the official army and escape alive, but at that time, with my prestige in the world's righteous army, I must have responded to all calls, so why worry about not being able to make a comeback.

But the current situation undoubtedly knocked Chen Xinglong's joy of escaping death to the ground again.

One of his henchmen said bitterly: "I did send a large number of spies to carefully explore this area before, and indeed found no signs of large-scale official and military activities. But somehow, they suddenly came out of nowhere, and they just stopped in front of us, blocking our way. ”

Chen Xinglong also calmed down and understood that now was not the time to pursue this.

At present, there are pursuers behind, there is interception in front, and the slightest carelessness will be the end of the entire army, and it is most important to find out how to deal with it.

He said: "Don't care about this for now, let the striker open an exit at all costs, otherwise when the officers and troops behind catch up, it will be all over!" ”

It's just that although his order was given, but the generals around him, you look at me, I look at you, but no one is willing to ask for orders to fight.

Because everyone knows that this time is likely to never come back, even if you can open an exit at that time, it is not you who will live.

No one in this world wants to die, there is no need to risk your own life for someone else's life, that's not worth it!

This situation made Chen Xinglong's heart gloomy, and I don't know when everyone has lost the courage and courage to move forward and die without life when they first started.

Chen Xinglong couldn't help but feel sad in his heart, and said in a trembling voice: "Isn't anyone willing to go?" ”

He looked at the generals with sad eyes, and there was even a hint of begging in them.

But everyone lowered their heads one after another, avoiding Chen Xinglong's gaze, and didn't dare to look at his eyes.

Everyone's performance made the last bit of hope in Chen Xinglong's heart dissipate.

Just when he was dead set and was going to go into battle himself: "Since... Since you don't want to go, then I'll do it myself..."

But someone behind him suddenly said, "King, let me go!"