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By dawn, the snow had stopped. As dawn came, the clouds slowly dissipated, and the sun appeared in the east, as big as a wheel, as bright and bright as molten iron juice, slowly rising from the treetops and shining on the city's heads and on the slopes of houses. There was a silver light in the wilderness.

Looking east and north from the head of Kaifeng City, it is boundless and boundless white snow, but within ten miles, there are military flags and camps of peasant armies everywhere. Dense tents, shacks, and flags formed a large undulating wave.

In this white snow, there are patches of military camps, gray-white tents and makeshift shacks scattered high and low. Because there is a fire in the tent, the snow on the tent melts as it falls. The soldiers of the peasant army did not rest completely, even when it was snowing. In particular, in the northeast corner of the city, about five or six miles away from the city, there is a large area of temples and houses, which is a workshop for making arrows, trimming weapons and armor, and making gunpowder. Day and night, materials for making gunpowder were brought in from all over the country. There are also dozens of grinding pans, led by mules and donkeys, to crush willow charcoal into charcoal; Many craftsmen and handymen smashed the ashes there, and many others sifted the ashes with fine baskets, sifting out the fine black powder. Some people added sulfur, nitrate, and other things to the willow ash in the prescribed proportions to make gunpowder. A little farther away, cavalry squads constantly patrolled the snow.

Inside the temple, it is used as a temporary place for Luo Hu and Wang Long. The two received the highest honor, and Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai personally led the civil and military officers out of the camp for dozens of miles to greet them, and arranged camps for them.

Because of the return of Luo Hu and Wang Lung. Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai suddenly had more than 100,000 available soldiers out of thin air, and they were in a good mood. When Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai went to Qixian, Suizhou and other places where the Dragon and Tiger Camp were stationed for a review, they were even more overjoyed!

Originally, those subordinates and hungry people in Xiao Yuan's camp, in Luo Rucai's opinion, although they could not be regarded as elite, they could also be used. As for the descendants of Wang Lung and Luo Hu, they were even more praised by Lao Luo. and went out with six thousand men. With more than 20,000 elites, not only are they well-equipped, but their horses are strong. is even able to defeat 200,000 people in Xiao Yuan's camp in one battle, although Luo Rucai has always claimed to be good at field warfare, he doesn't have this ability.

"Uncle! You've praised it! Rao is Wang Lung is thick-skinned, but after hearing his uncle's praise. But it's also half polite. Half proudly humble.

"You two don't have to be polite." Li Zicheng also made such remarks. "You have really done a very good job in the past few months, not only to provide food and ordnance materials to the army, but also to pull out such an elite army, I think you have also suffered a lot, suffered a lot of crimes, and experienced a lot of things. Originally, the two of you returned victoriously, and solved the Xiao Yuan camp in the east of our army, expanding the strength of our army. I should have given you two and all the soldiers a reward. It's a pity that the military situation is urgent now. Otherwise, you should really talk about it at night, for a few days and nights. ”

"Father. What about opening? Listen to Zhang Nai and Shuangxi, the two elder brothers, say that the siege of the city is not going well? As a child who grew up next to Li Zicheng, Luo Hu is naturally one of Li Zicheng's adopted sons, and Zhang Nai, who is in charge of the firearms battalion, and Li Shuangxi, who is in charge of the old battalion's pro-army, are all confidants.

"Kaifeng has been the capital for several generations. The city is high and deep, and the soldiers and civilians in the city are fighting desperately under the supervision of various dog officials, and it is not surprising that the siege of the city will not go well! ”

"King Chuang is right! Now hundreds of thousands of people in Kaifeng City have been bewitched by the official gentry and clan, and what kind of righteous and brave society has been established, and all the squares and Ding Zhuang have been organized to defend the city and resist the heavenly soldiers of our righteous army! ”

"Uncle, what is the siege like?"

The two commanders exchanged glances with each other, but neither spoke.

"It's not easy! The idea is a bit of a stick! Gao Yigong, the commander of the Chinese army who broke into the camp, took over the topic, "The siege of the city has been for dozens of days, relying on the food and gunpowder that you continue to provide, the army will still be maintained, and it will not go elsewhere because of lack of food." These days, the city is bombarded with artillery, and the miners are digging, and the city is almost broken several times. It's a pity that Chen Yongfu has been in battle for a long time, has rich experience, and his department is relatively elite, but in the end he failed to succeed and failed. ”

"That's it! Young marshal, you don't know. If you hadn't solved the Xiao Yuan camp and stationed the army in Qixian and Suizhou, Zuo Liangyu's men and horses would have to retreat to the front line of Yingshan and Huoshan with their tails between their legs, I am afraid that our righteous army will be attacked on both sides! ”

Ji Jue, this strategist who Cao Cao has not been under his command for a long time, saw Wang Long's return this time, he had to curry favor with him, but he also told the truth. When Zuo Liangyu learned that there were such tens of thousands of strong soldiers in front of his army, he immediately turned back without hesitation and launched an attack in the direction of Yingshan Huoshan.

"Whew! A mere Zuo Liangyu dares to offend my righteous army! Almost in unison, Wang Lung and Luo Hu expressed their disdain for Zuo Liangyu. It made everyone present a little surprised, the two little guys weren't so crazy, right?

"Father, I waited for the past few months to fight with the Tartars in Shandong, and by the way, I stole from the military horses under the command of Ning Yuanbo to learn the arts, which can be regarded as a lot of knowledge."

"That's it! Uncle! What do you think, how are Lao Zuo's soldiers and horses better than the Liaodong Tartars? Wang Lung also pouted, expressing disdain for Zuo Liangyu's so-called elite team.

"Lao Zuo's soldiers, how are they better than Guan Ningjun? What about Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army back then? ”

The mention of these three troops couldn't help but make the muscles on the faces of Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai, Gao Yigong and others twitch a few times. They don't know what the fighting effectiveness of the Liaodong rebels was, but Lu Xiangsheng, Zu Kuan and others beat them to the wind and fled, and they chased and killed hundreds of miles at every turn.

"The elite of the border army is naturally stronger than the army of the old left." Luo Rucai had a haha, and wanted to turn the topic around.

"Uncle, if there is another Tianxiong Army or the Guanning Army today, I will boast here, if my subordinates and the Zhenshan Battalion of the Luo Hu brothers cannot gather and annihilate them in one day. Willing to be dealt with by military law! ”

After defeating Xiao Yuan's camp, Wang Long and Luo Hu divided the Dragon and Tiger camp. The two of them each divided more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, and the mules and horses captured by the guns and artillery materials were also half of the family. There are more than 10,000 elite soldiers in his hands. Naturally, he is very crazy when he speaks, but it is precisely because of the elite soldiers and horses and military exploits in his hands that it is easy for the two of them to speak to attract the attention of Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai.

Luo Hu carefully compared the lords and gentlemen: When Guan Ningjun saw the tartars, he immediately turned into a lump of tofu scum and collapsed in the wind. Although the Tianxiong Army is better, they don't dare to brush the tiger's whiskers lightly. It can only be a tactic of playing small counterattacks in the middle of the defense. As for Zuo Liangyu, he has never had the experience of fighting with the Tartars at all, and his combat effectiveness. It's even worse!

On the other hand, looking at the Ming court at this moment, the only army that can make the Liao thieves frightened is Ning Yuanbo's Nanyue army. Able to take the initiative to attack, whether it is foot combat, cavalry combat, artillery battle, or firearms, the Tartars can be killed and wounded countless times! And. Or in the case that there are fewer people than Tartars!

"Uncle. You may not be able to think of anything else for a while, do you remember the Jingying Model Brigade we met in Sichuan? ”

Wang Lung's words suddenly made Luo Rucai almost tear off a few of his beards! So how not to remember? That terrible team, thousands of elite cavalry who defeated the Eight Kings Zhang Xianzhong in a burst, if it weren't for the quick sight of his sons and generals, I am afraid that the Eight Kings would have become someone else's credit.

"How does this not remember?! I also read the Di newspaper, this army and horses went to Liaodong at this time, and they were also beaten by Tartars. There were many dead and wounded. It's the elite people! ”

Luo Hu and Wang Lung had a slight smile on their faces, "Uncle." What do you think of our army being better than the model brigade in recent months? ”

Blinking his little eyes, Luo Rucai didn't care whether his nephew's words were crazy or true. His calculating head was calculating at a rapid pace.

He had personally experienced the combat effectiveness of the Model Brigade, so he generally believed that the reports in the Di Newspaper about the Model Brigade's repeated gains on the battlefield in Liaodong were true.

As for the comparison between the combat effectiveness of the model brigade and Zuo Liangyu's army, an old friend not long ago also helped him make a verification. That is when he and Li Zicheng swept Wancheng and Yexian, their old friend who committed suicide and died, Liu Guoneng, who broke into the sky when he and Li Zicheng swept Wancheng and Yexian. Although Liu Guoneng killed himself with a horizontal sword, his subordinates were compiled by Chuang Cao Ercheng, all of whom are fellow villagers in Shaanxi! What's the knot you can't unravel? It is necessary to drink and meat, and talk to each other about what they saw and heard when they went south and north.

Among them, there was the fight with the Nanyue Army in Wuqiao back then! According to these people, the old battalion and the family members all suffered heavy casualties in front of the Nanyue army, and they were defeated in less than a face, and the combat effectiveness of the Nanyue army was really ferocious!

After a few comparisons between horizontal and vertical, Cao Cao was swept away even if the dark clouds on his face were swept away! Originally! Zuo Liangyu's army may not be able to defeat the Guanning army, the Guanning army is a defeated general in front of the Tartars, but the Nanyue army can kill the Tartars in thousands with Jiala as a unit. The model brigade in Liaodong was nothing more than the anti-water unit of the Nanyue Army, and after learning one and a half moves, it became the backbone of the official army in Liaodong. Now I also have an army in my hands that is comparable to the model brigade, what am I afraid of him Zuo Liangyu doing?

In fact, in the history we are familiar with, Zuo Liangyu was torn to pieces by Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai during the Battle of Zhuxian Town, and he has been in a state of collapse ever since. Although the Zhuangding was forcibly pulled in Wuchang and the rebels were reinstated to a scale of hundreds of thousands, the combat effectiveness of these hundreds of thousands of people was only inferior to the tens of thousands of people in Pingxibo in Shanhaiguan.

You must know that when he went east to the side of the Qing monarch, it was Li Zicheng's Dashun army that had lost many battles such as Shanhaiguan and Tongguan after successive defeats, and its strength had been greatly reduced; But this is the kind of army, when it began to make a strategic transfer to Hubei, when General Zuo Liangyu Zuo was so frightened that he couldn't sit still in Wuchang. He snatched the ship overnight and went east, and died of illness on the way east. Whether he died of illness or was scared to death, we don't know.

After his death, his son Zuo Mengeng and others surrendered to Duoduo, who checked the million men and horses he left behind, and found that there were only 30,000 of them with combat effectiveness. This is still based on his meritorious face in the Qing Dynasty.

can destroy thousands of Tartars and beat several princes of Liaodong who are anti-thieves and flee. Even if his army is not on the battlefield in Liaodong, it has the same combat effectiveness as the model brigade. We are still afraid that he Zuo Liangyu will do a bird thing?! I'm afraid he won't come!

After making up his mind, Cao Cao clasped his fists and saluted Li Zicheng: "Generalissimo, since we don't have to worry about Zuo Liangyu now." There are tens of thousands of new forces, if you don't fight Kaifeng, I'm sorry to God! ”

Li Zicheng and Gao Yigong were also overjoyed.

Gao Yigong had quietly asked Luo Hu just now, of his more than 10,000 people, nearly half of them were cavalrymen who could enter the standard of Xiao cavalry, and the rest of them were also fully armored and armed, and most of them had livestock to ride. Of course, it doesn't matter if it's a mule, a horse or a donkey.

What's even worse is that. Among them were 2,7800 cavalrymen with muskets. These firearm cavalry that can be selected for the elite cavalry of the old battalion, in addition to being skilled in bows and horses, are also complete in terms of long and short weapons. In addition to the horses and guns that are generally equipped, the officers of each team also have refined double-barreled short guns, and the saliva of Hao Shaoqi and other generals is dripping down.

In addition to the seizure of all kinds of materials on the boats that almost covered the surface of the Yellow River, hundreds of artillery pieces of various sizes were also captured.

These cannons. Most of them are obtained from smashing kilns all over Shandong. Artillery under six pounds was the majority. Occasionally, there were a few eight-pounder guns and the big Buddha Lang machine equipped by the Southern Yue Army. These rags, naturally, the masters of the Beijing camp can't look down on them, and everyone in the Nanyue Army also feels that the performance is not good and unified. It is to abandon it as if it were a shoe. However, in the eyes of the peasant army, which lacks heavy artillery, these are all treasures!

With so many artillery fires and soldiers, the two commanders, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai, naturally had to rearrange their troops. In addition to continuing to leave Luo Hu's Zhenshan battalion in Qixian to guard against possible changes in the enemy situation in the east, he also put Wang Long's battalion in Linying, where he hoarded grain and grass and settled his dependents. In this way, both the east and the west will be worry-free.

As for the hundreds of artillery pieces that fell from the sky, although there were all from the Great General to the Great Buddha Lang machine. But as long as you can pour projectiles into Kaifeng City, it is a good thing.

In order to rearrange the fire. Li Zicheng and Cao Cao led a group of generals to take advantage of the good weather after the wind and snow stopped, and rode horses to meet the terrain around Kaifeng City and choose a position for the artillery team.

Along the way, dozens of generals from the Cao family gathered around Luo Hu and Wang Lung and listened to them talk about various experiences and experiences in the past few months. Everyone rode their horses and whipped around Kaifeng City and carefully looked at the terrain. On the way, we passed through Wangzhuangdian Village near Wang Garden in Yingcheng County, which is now a place where the lottery numbers who broke into the camp gathered. The military doctors and Lang Zhong who broke into the camp treated the soldiers who hung up the colors in the siege battle.

Shang Jiong, a military doctor who had already been called an old immortal, led a few apprentices to greet Li Zicheng and his party on the side of the road at the entrance of the village.

"Generalissimo, general, old man to tell the truth, but today is not here to greet the two. The old man came to greet the two young generals. "Shang Jiong, as Langzhong, naturally has the arrogance of some technicians. However, he is a superb doctor, and the soldiers of the two families don't know how many people have been treated by him, so everyone laughs at his temper. At that moment, Li Zicheng made a few jokes with him, and Luo Rucai even started haha. After some words, Luo Hu and Wang Long were called to the doctor.

Naturally, the doctor would not make any bowing gestures, his identity and his education, as well as his character, determined that he just looked at the two of them appreciatively, "You two little guys are very good!" The medicinal wine we got back is good for treating trauma, and at least six of our injured brothers can be cured. ”

The medicinal wine in the doctor's mouth was actually the iodine wine that the two of them got from Jingying. In the era when there were no antibiotics, this thing was a big killer to prevent festering and suppuration for external injuries, the wound was disinfected with iodine wine, and then applied with various knife wounds and burn medicines, wrapped in gauze, and a large number of wounded people could be healed according to Shang Jiong's experience.

"You two boys, at least you have saved thousands of elite soldiers for the generalissimo and the general."

The doctor's words couldn't help but make Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai and others smile, after the baptism of tragic battles, and the wounded soldiers were far more elite than those who were only trained on the playground.

Li Zicheng, together with Luo Rucai, Gao Yigong, Hao Shaoqi, Sun Shenzu, Luo Hu, Wang Long and other cadres, took their own soldiers to the north of Caomen, and found a suitable place half a mile away from the moat. According to Luo Hu's words, whether it is the artillery team or the range, it can meet the needs.

So, the two families went back to prepare, and the artillery captured by the dragon and tiger was quietly concentrated here the next day, and the artillery team was built.

That night, Li Zicheng summoned Luo Hu to his tent for questioning.

In addition to Li Zicheng, those who participated in this interrogation were Liu Zongmin, Gao Yigong, and Li Guo. Even Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance, who were in high esteem in the camp at this time, were also not allowed to enter.

"Originally, I planned to let Li Gongzi come too, but he went to Qi County to help you settle in the Zhenshan camp, which is considered a miss." Li Guo was the first to speak.

"Little Huzi, it's been really hard in the past few months, and it's been a good job. King Chuang has already made a plan, your Zhenshan battalion, leaving 5,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry. The rest will be handed over to the old battalion for unified scheduling, and the artillery team will be allocated for you to command Brother Zhang Nai. Liu Zongmin touched the short and stiff beard on his face, and reluctantly conveyed to Luo Hu the decision to break into the camp higher-ups.

"Yes! Obey the orders of King Chuang's army. Luo Hu also heard some rumors from Li Shuangxi, originally Liu Zongmin planned to allocate at least half of the more than 10,000 people and horses in the Zhenshan Battalion to adjust to each battalion, but was stopped by Li Zicheng, on the grounds that the tactics that these people were accustomed to, if they were dispersed to the battalions, they were afraid that they would be ruined.

"Xiaohuzi, you brought more than 100,000 horses to our camp, and scared Zuo Liangyu away, which can be regarded as solving the troubles behind us. However, if the one from Shandong is going south, what do you think we should do if we break into the camp? ”

After saying this, Li Zicheng's eyes stared at Luo Hu tightly. (To be continued......)