In a moment, the shadow of the sun was slightly slanted. After the three-way drum beating, the hustle and bustle of Yuzhou City resumed. Zhao Ying's soldiers and horses flowed out from the north gate of Yuzhou City and continued to embark on the journey.

Kong Quanbin's 1,000-horse army of Qingtong's battalion was the vanguard first. The Qingtong battalion has an establishment of 3,000 people, one-third of whom are horse troops, which is not small. In order to better coordinate the infantry and cavalry, there were two Chinese officers under Kong Quanbin who were responsible for commanding the troops. One is Guo Tiancai who commands the infantry army, and the other is He Renji who commands the horse army.

He Renji is the cousin of the late Yansui General He Renlong, after He Renlong was beheaded by Sun Chuanting, he rode out of the pass alone and defected to the old Kong Quanbin. Kong Quanbin cherished his courage and stayed under the tent to listen to it. He Renlong's death was deserved by the Ming court, although He Renji escaped by luck, but for a long time this matter was a great shame, day and night thinking about it is a meritorious service to wash away the stain of the family. Therefore, this battle has to be a vanguard general, excited and extraordinary, shouting in front and back, eager to fly to Yexian County to attack and kill the Shun army.

He Ren's pole horse army was in front, and the rest of Kong Quanbin's Qingtong battalion was advancing. Guo Ruke led the other two battalions of soldiers and horses to the rear, marching at a slightly slower pace than the Qingtong battalion. This is not only to save the soldier's physical strength, but also to avoid being affected by the front in the event of an emergency, so that the rear can adapt to the situation according to the situation.

As soon as the main army left the Yuzhou border, Kong Quanbin came to report that the Heren Jima Army was chasing a small group of Shun troops in the plain on the outskirts of Yeyi Township in the south of Ye County.

"Let the Qingtong battalion retract its horses, garrison the place, and wait for the follow-up troops." Guo Ruke ordered without hesitation.

Peng Guang, an officer in the Qihun camp, frowned and said: "The Shun army can't bear it, so it will start to disturb our army." According to the prediction, even if Yang Yanchang has a heart for a field battle, it should be safe to arrange the battlefield in an area closer to the county seat. Yeyi Township is thirty miles away from the county seat, and the advance attack of the Shun army is really unexpected.

Guo Ruke sneered: "It seems that Yang Yanchang is an old boy who is very confident. He led his troops out of the city for thirty miles, making it clear that he was taking the initiative to attack, and he was afraid that he wanted to drive south to Yuzhou directly after defeating our army in the field. "Hehehe, he smiled, "Our army wants to take Yexian one day, but he wants to regain the lost territory one day. ”

Peng Guangxin had doubts and said: "Although Yang Yanchang's strength is superior to our army, he does not have the number to crush our army. ”

Guo Ruke said disdainfully: "It doesn't matter how many ways he comes, I'll only go all the way." Gather the soldiers and horses first, and then slowly deal with him. After that, he issued several military orders in succession, urging the soldiers to speed up their pace.

After a while, Kong Quanbin led the Qingtong Battalion infantry to meet Guo Ruke, and Guo Ruke couldn't see He Renji's figure left and right, so he asked why. Kong Quanbin said: "He Renji is in some trouble and is getting rid of the entanglement. ”

"Okay." Guo Ruke nodded calmly, and then the Tang soldiers went to the three battalions of Qihun, Zhenxiao, and Qingtong to give orders, "The whole army will immediately change to a combat formation, and the three battalions will be transferred to the three phalanxes for follow-up instructions." Kong Quanbin was born in the Liaodong Army, and the horse army under his department was relatively elite, and his combat quality was quite good when he pursued Zhao Ying in Sichuan.

The three battalions had been trained for a long time, and they quickly changed from a long snake formation on the march to three large phalanxes. Guo Ruke had a premonition that the war with the Shun army would break out in this area, so he deployed the phalanx position at the same time, with 2,000 people from the Zhenxiao battalion on the left flank, 2,000 people from the Qingtong battalion on the right flank, and 2,000 people from the Qihun battalion in the center, and commanded the formation to be set up in the rear of the Qihun battalion. Among them, the left and right wings are divided into two parts, front and rear, with 1,000 people each, with the front part for the main battle and the rear part as a reserve. During the change of formation, simple horse antlers and even small baggage carts carried by the infantry were set up at certain distances as roadblocks to hinder the possible attack of the Shun army.

The first buds of the verdant fields instantly raised a thin cloud of smoke and dust, and the smoke and dust drifted into the sky, as if it merged with the gloomy dark clouds.

The soldiers and horses came and went, Guo Ruke just sat down on the earthen platform set up behind the Hun camp formation, and the fast horse galloped forward, and the Tang soldiers rolled the saddle and dismounted, and shouted: "He Zhongjun urgently reported ——"

"Say!" Guo Ruke saw that Tang Bing's face was anxious, and his heart tightened, secretly thinking that the boat had capsized in the gutter of He Renji.

Fortunately, Tang Bing said first: "The army headquarters of He Zhong has returned from the battle, and only three people have been injured!" ”

Guo Ruke was a little relieved. Who would have thought that the Tang soldier suddenly sweated like rain after saying a sentence, and said: "A large number of enemy troops have been detected in front of the attack, and He Zhongjun estimates that the number should be more than 10,000 people!" ”

Gu Junming, the counselor overseer sitting next to Guo Ruke, jumped up in surprise and said, "How can there be so many!" He had long known that Yang Yanchang of Nanyang Mansion was only 9,000 soldiers, how could he expand the army to more than 10,000 in a short period of time.

Peng Guang calmed down a lot, thought about it for a while, and put forward his own opinion: "Chief, Yang Yanchang has been prepared to put Yuzhou to our army, in order to open his pockets and wait for our army to drill." ”

Guo Ruke knew what he meant, his face was like a mountain, and he nodded slowly and said, "This old boy is in the way." ”

Although Gu Junming is the younger brother of Gu Junen, the commander of the left army, he does not have the courage and strategy of his elder brother...... What can I do? ”

Guo Ruke said solemnly: "The enemy and I are approaching, and retreating from the battle will only end up in a defeat without a fight, this battle must be fought!" ”

Gu Junming stammered: "How, how to fight?" ”

Guo Ruke ignored him and said straight to Peng Guang: "Let the four outposts of Hunying Ha Mingyuan, Wang Guangen, Wei Shanhong, and Yang Youxian hurry up and consolidate the formation, and find out the deployment of the enemy army and report back in time!" ”

Peng Guang took the order and left, Guo Ruke turned around to comfort Gu Jun, who was like a frightened bird, and said: "Sir, don't worry, although the Shun army is numerous, it may not be able to win." Although we have few troops, it is not necessarily impossible to win. It's man-made, wait and see. With that, he pressed him to sit down.

"It's all up to Mr. Guo!" Gu Junming's voice trembled, and his body trembled and squeaked.

Gu Jun's life is a Confucian student, and he has never been on the front line of the two armies, so it is understandable that he is frightened. Guo Ruke is a veteran who has gone through ups and downs, and not being surprised is the basic quality. Somehow, when Gu Junming saw Guo Ruke sitting steadily, his heart, which was beating like a drum, calmed down a lot.

"Knock-knock-"

"Knock-knock-"

The thick drums of war beat rhythmically and spread throughout the army. Guo Ruke listened to it in his ears, knowing that this was a police drum that was about to engage in battle, and he couldn't help but clench his claws slightly with his palms propped up on his knees. Sure enough, Peng Guang, who was on the front line to supervise the battle, quickly sent back the Tang soldiers and said in detail: "The enemy army is spread out three miles away, and it is a slightly hook-shaped formation......

The hook formation is different from the ordinary stacked formation composed of the left, center and right three phalanxes, and its two wings are mostly composed of mobile troops such as the horse army, so it looks like it is also three parts, but the two wings do not have the role of stabilizing or maintaining the front, but are ready to break away and launch an attack at any time, which is a very active attack formation.

“...... Its left and right flanks are all horse troops, and the middle part is the infantry army, and the infantry army is in three rows in front and ......"

Guo Ruke nodded secretly, through the military intelligence he had spied earlier, he knew that this was Yang Yanchang's most commonly practiced military formation.

“...... The enemy's horse army has six thousand on the left and right flanks, and the infantry in the middle should be around four or five thousand......"

When Gu Junming heard this, his eyes rolled and he rubbed his hands uneasily. His ears were full of the sound of war drums and horns, and people from near and far shouted one after another, the war had not started, and the atmosphere was like a bloody battle, so he couldn't help but not be nervous.

On the opposite side, there were 12,000 horse troops and 4,500 infantry troops, totaling more than 16,000 people, twice as many as themselves. When Guo Ruke heard this, he confirmed his conjecture. The reason why Yang Yanchang had the courage to go out of the city for thirty miles to invite Zhao Ying to attack Zhao Ying was that there was no other possibility, and he must have joined the Gao Yigong Department. Zhao Ying tried to conspire with the Shun army day and night, and the Shun army was also unremittingly guarded, and the response was so fast, it can be seen that there is no less planning and coordination on weekdays. Yang Yanchang himself is brave, but he may not be so resourceful, and this plan to invite the king into the urn was put forward by his deputy, Ji Jue, who had been Luo Rucai's mastermind. Li Zicheng arranged for Yang Yanchang and Ji Jue, a martial arts partner, to guard Nanyang Mansion, and his vision was indeed sophisticated.

Guo Ruke's previous worries became a reality in a blink of an eye, but at this time, his expression remained unchanged, and when the Tang soldiers retreated, he calmly consulted the left and right soldiers and said, "Have the left and right wings been deployed?" ”

The officers raised their eyes and looked into the distance, looking for the target through the countless flying flags that covered the sky and the sun, and quickly replied: "The left wing has been completed, and the rear of the right wing is still being deployed." He added, "The horse army of the Heren Extreme Division has been divided into two, and they are cruising and guarding on the outermost sides of the left and right flanks. ”

"The banner of the Chinese army instructed the whole army to hold on and wait for the enemy to approach." Guo Ruke nodded and said loudly. Since the Shun army has made it clear that it wants to attack, it can be quietly braked and see the move.

"Knock knock knock-"

The drums of war were beating, and suddenly they were in a hurry, and several pond horses passed through the gaps between the army formations to report the movement of the army. The newly arrived Tang soldier gasped and said: "The enemy soldiers and horses are walking slowly, and the front line has reached eight hundred paces. ”

"Order, each of the three battalions will fire a salvo of No. 2 Hongyi cannons!" Guo Ruke immediately made a decision, while instructing the material officer to wave the flag, and on the other hand, sending Tang soldiers to the forward position. The flag language and password are all there, and the military order is effective.

Eight hundred steps can be regarded as entering the effective strike range of the Zhaoying No. 2 Hongyi cannon, but the actual accuracy may not be satisfactory. At this time, he ordered the artillery to be fired under a name, called "head artillery", the main purpose of which was not to kill or injure, but to use artillery to deter the enemy, weaken the morale of the enemy, and even disrupt the order of the enemy's army and make it lose ground.

When the two armies compete, morale is very important, and the stability of the army's morale is also the top priority, Guo Ruke knows this very well, even if the artillery can't kill a few enemy soldiers now, but the impact on the entire battle situation will be able to run throughout.

In order to give full play to its superiority, the four outposts of the battalion did not divide the front and rear as the left and right flanks to consolidate the mainstay, but gave up the depth and replaced it with a side-by-side spread and elongated front to highlight the firepower. Peng Guang, who supervised the battle, looked at the array of Shunjun troops pressed by the black clouds in the distance, followed the instructions of the Chinese army banner in this formation, and ordered the flag bearer to shake the flag of the Chinese army in the camp. On the time, the four outposts of the Qihun camp were lined up in a row, and the front was as neat as a knife, and hundreds of small flags were pointed forward in unison.

The flag spikes swayed at the same time in the breeze, dense as weeping willow silk, followed by hundreds of soldiers operating cannons at the front, although they had thick cotton to block their ears, they still subconsciously covered their ears. Under the dark sky, the yellow and red dazzling firelight of the muzzles of more than ten Hongyi cannons was connected into a large area, illuminating the grass dozens of steps ahead, and the deafening roar seemed to have the momentum of tearing the heavens and the earth apart, shaking the heavens and the earth. Peng Guang, who was standing in the array, even felt that the ground he was standing on was slanted abruptly for a moment.

"Clearing—"

"Reload—"

The buzzing ringing ears still echoed in the ears, and the sound of the gunners busying was loud, making people feel like a noisy market.

"Fa-"

Before the soldiers in the back row could react, the sound of the cannon started again, and this time it was not the No. 2 Hongyi cannon that was fired out in a salvo, but more than ten big Buddha cannons that were turned to fill the gap in the preparation of the No. 2 Hongyi cannon. They are filled with a large number of lead bullets per shot, and attack in the form of shotguns, which have a great coverage compared to the powerful iron bullets and large copper bullets.

As far as the eye could see, the wisps of black smoke lingering around the Shun army array, which had been bombarded by a round of Hongyi artillery, had not yet dissipated, like lead pellets pouring down from the sky one after another, like hungry transit locusts. Eight hundred paces away, the lead pellets covering the blow were obviously more effective than the large iron bullets. The Shun army, which was still trying its best to suppress military discipline, could no longer be suppressed in the infantry formation, and all kinds of cries and screams were endless, as poignant as mourning.

Peng Guang looked carefully, and in the black smoke under the black clouds, the march of the infantry army in the middle of the Shun army was obviously sluggish. With this effect, his heart still did not relax. Yang Yanchang's infantry was arranged in three lines, the first was for new soldiers, the second was for lightly armored soldiers, and the third was for veterans with armor, which was a detail that Zhao Ying had made clear very early. Looking at the infantry of the Shun army at the front, staggering and unruly, they must be new recruits, and the dangers that really need to be guarded against are still hiding behind these shelters and advancing silently.

"Pressure Pills—"

"Ignition—"

Peng Guang's ears were filled with the shouts of the gunners, and he hurriedly covered his ears.

"Fa-"

More than a dozen Hongyi cannons took over from the Franc machine guns, and they erupted into an even more violent roar. Peng Guang swallowed his saliva, and his heart was full of admiration. The sky was getting darker, and the firelight was shaking with the earth, and the mountains were shaking, as if the lightning would light up in an instant on a rainy night.

Through the dense smoke of gunpowder and the mud and turf that fell from the sky, he turned to look at the wings of the Shun army, only to see that at this moment, as the first few fast horses broke through the smoke, the wings of the Shun army were like ants, and for a time ten thousand horses galloped, compared to the avalanche of high mountains, and the thick masses of hope were like black clouds falling to the ground, and mercury poured all over the vast plains.