Seeing the boundless rogue army waving the flags, the officers and soldiers of Guangyuan standing on the city wall were all in their hearts. The "army" they had seen in their impression was only two or three thousand people up to the sky, and when they stood on a high place, they could always see the edge, but at this moment, the scale of tens of thousands of rogues had exceeded their cognition.

The northeast, due north, and southeast directions are full of rogues, and they do not have uniform clothing, but at first glance, they are dazzling with patches of flowers and green. The open space around Guangyuan County is not big, and now it is stopped by the Liukou, and suddenly there is no place to stay, but there are more Liukou joining in one after another, looking for gaps and arranging formations, which makes the officers and soldiers of Guangyuan County wonder if Li Zicheng will be a demon trick that will scatter beans into soldiers.

The rogues who arrived early in the morning set up their formations and launched war drums as big as millstones. Accompanied by the sound of the earth-shattering drums, the rogue soldiers who were ready to go also beat and rubbed the blades in their hands to the rhythm. The sound of metal clashing, war drums, and the low roar of soldiers were intertwined, and instantly spread throughout Guangyuan County. The officers and soldiers pursed their lips one by one, and looked at the enemy under the city silently with solemn faces.

Looking at the crowded and surging array of rogues in the distance below the city, the officers and soldiers who had already experienced many battles did not show panic. Although they didn't speak, they were also shocked by the formation and arrogance of the Liukou this time.

This is the northern city of Guangyuan County, which has always been the main care area for the northerners, and it is also the focus of the defense of the official army. Unlike the other gates, the trees outside the northern city have been cut down, and the original woodland is connected to the flat land to form a fairly wide plain dam.

Under the north city is the camp of Hou Liangzhu's army, and Hou Liangzhu relies on the camp and builds a defense line against the city wall. The outermost layer of the defense line is a criss-crossing ravine, and there is no bottom below, and no one knows what will happen if they fall. Behind the ravine, countless antlers were firmly fixed to the ground, and many of these obstacles were arranged behind the ravine, and the protruding sharp horns were smeared with poison, in order to prevent the rogues from easily crossing over.

After the antlers rejected the horses, there were some rangers scattered. Most of these rangers were gunners, archers, crossbowmen, and some of them were handy, with blowpipes or throwing objects. Behind them, there were not many of them, and twenty paces behind them were a wall of chariots or chariots, in front of which were dense layers of swordsmen and archers, and behind the walls were swordsmen and shieldmen, spearmen, and swordsmen in cloth armor. On both sides, there are also Guangxi wolf soldiers wearing rattan armor and holding scorpion tails.

Hou Liangzhu himself was located at the rear of the entire array, and around him, there were several phalanxes arranged as reserves. After that, it was the camp where the officers and soldiers had been stationed. These camps are a mixture of old and new, and they have long been combined into a huge whole, distributed around the city walls of Guangyuan, which is both long and deep. Hou Liangzhu's plan is that if the front is unfavorable, he can at least hide in the camp and fight in the streets.

There were no artillery outside the city, and all the artillery was neatly placed on the head of the northern city of Guangyuan. One by one, they peeked through the black holes of the battlements, aiming into the distance. This includes dozens of Franc machines, mountain splitting cannons, mountain birds, Baizi cannons, and even two general cannons of about 300 catties and a Hongyi cannon of about 2,000 catties. The gunners busily adjusted and wiped down the guns, making final preparations for the start of battle.

Zhao Dangshi and Li Zicheng stood side by side, overlooking the array of officials and soldiers filled with trumpets and drums. One fast horse after another galloped in front of the two from all directions, or the cloud "a certain division under the headquarters of Guo Qian in the west has been completed", or the cloud "a certain division of the headquarters of Wu Qian in the east has been completed", the words are gone, coming and going like the wind.

Li Zicheng wrapped the reins around his wrist, stared at the heavily fortified Guangyuan City, and said in a deep voice with a blue face: "Hou Liangzhu is worthy of being a famous general in Sichuan, arranging troops in an orderly manner. This battle is difficult to fight. ”

Hou Liangzhu, as the first general in Sichuan, may have many stains in his behavior and affairs, but after all, he has fought for nearly 20 years, and his veteran way of using soldiers is not comparable to ordinary generals. Zhao and Li have been in battle for a long time, and the doorway on the battlefield is clear, and Hou Liangzhu can calmly lay out this formation, which shows that he has already planned. Clear the northern Sichuan passes, let the two break in, and what I am afraid of fighting is the idea of annihilating them in a war.

"Attack it unprepared, take it by surprise. The officers and troops are fighting against the city, and the momentum is like a strong building, and it is not appropriate for us to attack it, so it is better to avoid its edge. Tian Jianxiu immediately followed and also expressed his opinion.

Li Zicheng glanced at Zhao Dangshi and shook his head gently: "The matter of entering Sichuan is forced by me, and the enemy is slow." Our army has advanced, how can there be retreat? "Stop the bridles and look at Li Guo, "A tiger has defeated the officers and troops several times before, and it has already shown the prestige of our army, this is a good opportunity to make a big move, if we retreat without a fight, the morale of our army will surely plummet." ”

Zhao Dangshi said it deeply. The second battalion entered the river, and there was no retreat. Guangyuan is the throat of the Golden Bull Road, if you don't pull it out, you can only return to Shaanxi. The army of Hong Chengchou in Hanzhong gathered, and at that time it echoed with Hou Liangzhu's north and south, and the second battalion was sandwiched in it, and the consequences can be imagined.

This is also why, after the cavalry of the Chuang Army, who arrived in Guangyuan first, sent back the specific information of the Guangyuan garrison, Zhao Dangshi insisted on bringing Wu Mingfeng's troops who were originally left behind. With Guo Ruke's 3,000 people alone, it was difficult to shake the thick array carefully laid out by Hou Liangzhu, and Li Zicheng also sent Liu Fangliang, Tian Jianxiu and other 4,000 people to Guangyuan to help in the war. At the moment, the strength of the second battalion participating in this frontal siege exceeded 10,000.

The solemn appearance of the officers and soldiers suddenly sounded the melodious sound of horns, and then thousands of officers and soldiers began to erect their swords from west to east, and then put them down.

"Your uncle, the officers and soldiers are demonstrating to us!" Li Guo, who was dressed in a bright purple cloth face armor, spat unhappily, and his eyes also revealed a little fierce light. This Li Zicheng's nephew, the fierce general who broke into the camp, his body was full of boiling blood, and his hand that was tightly holding the handle of the knife was too hard, and the edges even turned white from red. Behind him, Gao Yigong, who was also tightly wrapped in thick armor, also cursed in a low voice.

His eldest nephew and younger brother-in-law can be called tigers and leopards among people. Zhao Dangshi looked at the two people who were eager to try, and couldn't help but feel a little envious of Li Zicheng from the bottom of his heart.

While watching, some guerrillas in the official army formation had already begun to run to the nearest place arrogantly, sporadically shooting arrows at the side of the second battalion to provoke. However, the officers of the second battalion of Chuang and Zhao were all rich in military experience, and even though there were two soldiers under their hands who shot them dead and wounded, they still did not move. Under the pressure of their bullets, the position of the second battalion was as stable as a rock and as steady as Mount Tai.

The second cannon sounded, and Guangyuan City began to test the cannon, causing a slight commotion on the side of the second battalion. Zhao Dangshi and other generals knew that the first two cannons were just empty pack cannons for the order. Sure enough, after the two cannons were fired, the city returned to silence, and then, almost suddenly, dozens of large and small artillery pieces began to be tested at the same time, the ground shook and the mountains shook, and the head of Guangyuan City was instantly shrouded in blue and white thick gunsmoke, and under the city, a corner of the second battalion had been completely eroded, and Liu Fangliang's department was affected, killing and wounding nearly 100 people.

Even though he has experienced countless big scenes, when the deafening cannon roar really bursts out with suffocating power, whether it is Li Zicheng or Zhao Dangshi, their hearts can't help but tremble.

Liu Fangliang sent someone to find Li Zicheng and asked to fight, Li Zicheng refused his request under the irritation and excitement, and asked Zhao Dangshi: "Can you fight?" "Not fighting back, scolding and not returning the mouth is a sign of cowardice, Li Zicheng is a hero, of course he will not tolerate bullying the officials and soldiers to the head. It's just that his counterattack did not come from Liu Fangliang, but from Zhao Dangshi.

Before Zhao Dangshi could speak, another horse galloped in, and Tang Bing gave up his hand on the horse: "The king, the general, all the members of Wu Mingfeng's department are in place, waiting for the order!" ”

"Out!" Zhao Dangshi commanded.

Soon after the horse left, the soldiers of the second battalion began to move, and the trumpets and cannons rang out in unison, and the momentum countered the officers and soldiers. Zhao Dangshi pointed ahead with a whip: "King Chuang, this is a weapon to break the formation!" Before the words fell, the military formation that covered Pinggang and surged in waves separated on both sides, and everywhere in the eyes, six huge Wugang vehicles slowly passed through the gap and "Donglong" forward.

They were all trophies captured by Zhao Ying from Feiyi in the First Battle of Baocheng. When the battlefield was first cleaned up, some generals advocated that these bulky chariots should be unloaded and burned as firewood, but Xu Hui tried his best to save them. Zhao Dangshi found the internal affairs envoy He Kewei and asked him to draw out some craftsmen to help the soldiers, dismantle these carts into a few pieces that are easy to transport, and do not forget to take them with him when they are transferred.

The main force of the Zhao battalion was 7,000 people, and Wu Mingfeng was originally left with 2,000 people in the rear, but when Li Guo's horse army detected the situation of the officers and soldiers with many firearms and rushed to repair the position in Guangyuan, Zhao Dangshi decided to transfer Wu Mingfeng as well, and then also transported these six Wugang cars. The soldiers and horses of the second battalion arrived near Guangyuan early in the morning, and the reason why the formation was completed near noon had a lot to do with the temporary assembly of these Wugang vehicles.

After all the effort was exhausted again and again, and there was no combat order, the soldiers and horses of the 2nd Battalion, which had been waiting for a morning, were difficult to come out with strength and suffered repeated blows, and their morale inevitably suffered a setback. Li Zicheng was keenly aware of this, so he began to urge Zhao Dangshi to fight.

With the beat of the drums, the soldiers of the second battalion in the front line set off a tsunami-like threat, and the Wugang chariots with huge wheels were pushed slowly by ten people each, with tall and wide vertical plates in front, and two small cannons in the back sticking out of the muzzles of the black holes through the plate holes. Covered by cars, there was also a vanguard of several hundred people following.

The officers and soldiers discovered the offensive movement of the second battalion, and the high-pitched trumpets above the city broke through the blue sky one after another, and the gunners on the city began to adjust their gun positions with shouts, and the array of Gomaosen under the city also made waves.

"Up, don't fall behind!" This vanguard of hundreds of people was commanded by Qin Yong. Since he formed a friendship with Han Gon in the first battle of Baocheng, he has risen step by step, and he was still a captain when he was in Hanzhong, and when he entered Sichuan, he was promoted to the general manager of Wu Mingfeng's department.

Qin Yong held a steel knife in his hand, urging step by step, under his strict supervision, the soldiers of the vanguard always kept a suitable distance from the Wugang car that was opening the road in front.

"Boom"

Qin Yonggang wanted to shout, but the sound of the cannon made his ears ring. He grew his mouth and tried his best to recover, but the roaring sound of the cannon was endless, destroying people's eardrums and almost blasting their heads. If it weren't for the strong suppression of the fear in his heart, his current instinctive reaction would be to squat down and hold his head and cover his ears.

When the seemingly endless cannon roar finally stopped, Qin Yong, who was already a little dizzy, slapped a few big mouths of his mouth, and encouraged loudly from left to right: "The artillery of the official army is a soft hammer, and it is useless, brothers, work hard, rush forward!" ”

"One, two, three, go!" The soldiers pushing Wugang's cart were sweating profusely, and under his urging, they gritted their teeth and pushed the cart with all their might. Many of them had their straw sandals worn to tatters, and they were struggling to tread through the gravelly ground with only a pair of fleshy feet.

The official army in the city fired two rounds of cannons, and only hit one Wugang car, the vertical plate of the Wugang car was not wooden, but several layers of iron plates were stacked and clamped, which was extremely strong, and the scattered bullets fired by the Franc machines only left a pothole mark on it, and all of them jumped open. The only general cannon and the red-coated cannon loaded with solid iron bullets were almost accurate, and they did not hit the car, but they flew to the main formation of the second battalion in the rear, and immediately caused people to turn over on their backs, destroying and killing and injuring nearly 100 people. When the strength of the iron bullet was finally unloaded, the soldiers of the second battalion dug it out of the deep hole three feet into the ground, and its surface still emitted light smoke.

There are still a hundred steps to the ravine at the forefront of the official army, Qin Yong stared at the front, and his eyes seemed to pop out. The officers and soldiers in the ravines and the rear of the horses moved with the flag, and they also began to shoot arrows and shoot guns, and the vertical plate of the Wugang car continued to make bullets. Finally, after a loud "boom", a Wugang car hit the wheel of the red-coated cannon impartially, and the huge chariot exploded more than a few feet in an instant, and the sawdust and gravel flew all over it, and before the vanguard soldiers around it could escape, they smashed the wreckage of the chariot that fell to the ground into pulp.

"Mother!"

Qin Yong disregarded the danger, flew out from the cover of Wugang's car, braved the rain of arrows, chased after the soldier and cut him to the ground, and looked around and shouted: "In today's battle, there is no advance or retreat." Those who dare to take half a step back will end up like this! With that, he jumped up, rolled on the ground a few times, and then got into the back of Wu Gang's car.