Early the next morning, Le Li and Nguyen Jian rode out of Yanzhou and came to the banks of a river called the Songlai River. This place is located in the north of Yanzhou City, only dozens of miles away.

There was a team of guards around them, only Ruan Jian and the others had very tired faces, it was really that they had slept too short after talking with candles last night.

The team crossed the Songlai River through an arched bridge made of bamboo and wood. They ran north along the road for a while, and soon came across a military village built in a mountain forest.

Nguyen Jian followed Li Li and led the horse up the hill, where he saw a fence, earthen fortifications, and some shacks in the bush. The soldiers inside came to see Li Li one after another, and it seemed that they were all Li Li's subordinates. But there were not many garrisons here, probably just over a hundred.

A few people walked out of the military village and came to a stand near the hillside, which was a hemp stone jutting out of the dirt.

When he looked to the north, he could see the surface of the Songlai River, which flows roughly north-south in the vicinity, and is located on the east side of the main road. To the west of the road is a large mountain forest, and the lush trees block the view, and there is no end in sight.

The road ahead is undoubtedly a narrow passage.

Ruan Jian watched for a while, and then asked, "Will the Ming army definitely take this road?" Will they choose a place to cross the river from the east? ”

Although the river in the previous section flows in a north-south direction, the rivers not far from the sea will flow into the sea, and will surely extend to the east. If the Ming army could find a ferry in the east, then they would not have to take this narrow road, and they could avoid being sandwiched between the mountains and rivers and the river.

Li Li pointed to the east, but the human eye could not see where he was pointing, "On the east bank of the river, there is a large swamp, which is not conducive to the march of large groups of men and horses. Moreover, if the boatmen continued southward from that side, the road would be blocked by mountains and forests, and they would have to make a detour to the west. Therefore, the road under our feet is the closest way. ”

Ruan Jian nodded.

Li Li said: "I have heard some things about Liu Sheng, this person should think very highly of himself; This time, the battle of the ship is going very smoothly, and ordinary people will inevitably underestimate the enemy, let alone Liu Sheng? The king guessed that Liu Sheng knew that we were guarding the danger, and he would not choose to take a detour, but wanted to attack and destroy the stronghold. ”

Ruan Jian said convincingly: "The king of pacifying is clever and reasonable. ”

Li Li puffed up his chest and pointed to the road ahead: "I have set up three military villages on this section of the road. With our troops, of course, we can't stop the Ming army, but Liu Sheng will pull out several villages in a row, and he will be even more light on the enemy. This is the role of these military villages. ”

He paused for a moment and looked back, "The defeated and fleeing troops of the Vietnamese army will retreat south from the bridge just now, just waiting for the boats to come and chase after them in a hurry." Then we burned the bridges and cut off the pursuers from their main forces; The Vietnamese soldiers and horses who were ambushed in the surrounding mountains and forests took the opportunity to kill! We can't defeat 12,000 boatmen, and we can't destroy 1200 people. ”

When Li Li said this, he sneered: "Our army is in the Songlai River, so let's teach the boatmen a painful lesson first. Next, there is a large section of mountain and forest roads in the north of Yanzhou City, and the matter is not over yet, and this king wants to make the boat pay the price on this road! ”

Ruan recommended: "If we can kill Liu Sheng himself as we expected last night, maybe the Ming army will retreat." ”

Li Li nodded and said, "What Ruan Shilang said is extremely true. The boat Kou also knew that the Dayue River was densely populated with paddy fields and dense forests, and Liu Shengbu came by boat, so there must not be many cavalry. Except for the scouts who inquired about the news, the only elite cavalry was mostly the main general's escort. If Liu Sheng was in a hurry to pursue, maybe he would lead the elite cavalry to come in person. ”

Ruan Jian stopped talking, still looking at the landscape ahead. He exhaled slowly, as if the stuffiness in his chest had also been emptied.

Since the war between "Da Yue" and the Ming Kingdom, the wars everywhere have been like a collapsed embankment, and the Vietnamese army will be defeated in battle; At this time, Ruan Jian had at least seen hope.

…… In late October, a large number of Ming troops had arrived near the Songlai River.

The sound of "booming ......" finally sounded in the south, like thunder from the sky, familiar and exciting.

After Liu Sheng led his army out of Qinghua City, he had marched for more than 100 miles, and there was no fighting along the road, and it was not until this morning that he finally heard the sound of artillery again.

At this time, Liu Sheng was a little mixed with joy. If the Ming army has not encountered resistance, the army will be under the city of Yanzhou a day later; But it seems that the rebels also know that they are just fleeing, and I am afraid that there are not so many places to run.

The Ming army was fighting at the front, and the men and horses, who were the outposts, had stopped marching on the main road. Both sides of the road were full of resting soldiers, but there was also room for the soldiers who were running horses to carry the message.

Liu Sheng waited for a long time, then took his own soldiers and rode straight to the front.

By the time the group of horses galloped to the vanguard of the army, the sound of artillery had already subsided. Liu Sheng sat on horseback and looked out at the scene ahead.

There was a sparse mist in the humid air, surrounded by trees, and the road was shrouded in smoke that was gradually dispersing. In the distance, on the side of a large winding road, on a hill facing the road, was the rebel fortress; However, at this time it was already occupied by the Ming army.

The flag of the Ming army fluttered in the mountain forest, and some infantry were still rushing into the mountain forest one after another.

After a while, the forward soldiers seemed to see Liu Sheng's handsome banner, and a military general rode a horse to report the military situation. The military general dismounted and hugged his fists and said: "Commander, we have captured this village, and the rebels scattered in a hurry and ran to the south." The scouts found that there was also a military fortress in front of them, which was in response to the defeated rebels. ”

Liu Sheng said: "Go and give the order, the soldiers in front don't have to wait for the cannon." As soon as the men and horses arrived at the enemy camp, they immediately attacked! ”

"Order!" The general clasped his fists and bowed, and took away a command flag.

These rebels thought that by occupying the dangerous points of the necessary road, they would be able to stop the Ming army; However, the traitors are simply vulnerable, and the rabble is nothing more than a mantis arm.

When Liu Sheng led his troops to the front line, he found that the soldiers had already begun to attack the second enemy village.

A part of the men and horses of the baggage battalion were at the forefront of the army, together with the forward army. Because before that, the Ming army had not encountered resistance, and it was only a march for three consecutive days; The baggage battalion is arranged in front, and it is possible to build a camp for the battalions of the army to garrison soldiers and horses in advance. The baggage battalion still carried some artillery, but at the moment, according to the military order, everyone did not arrange an artillery array.

"Let's go!" In the distance, among the infantry, the shouts of the generals were heard. It was the men and horses of the Beijing camp, because only the old troops of the Han Dynasty would use this kind of password, and the guards in various places had not yet learned it.

In front of a mountain forest, two hundred households lined up in a horizontal line, slowly advancing forward.

In a short time, the fire flickered in the woods, and there was a "boom, boom, boom" cannon sound. It was a firearm of the Annamite people, and most of the sound was a firearm that resembled a gun. The Annan people learned to use firearms very early, and some of the Ming army's firearms in the early Yongle period were still the "magic guns" invented by the Annan people.

Ordinary cast cannons are fired from a long distance, and they can only be thrown at stones or solid iron bullets; Cannonballs fall from the air and hit a small crater. The cannon sounded, and a scream sounded from time to time in the Ming army column in front, and the soldier who was injured by the stone bullet fell to the ground. But the Ming army showed no signs of retreating.

The two hundred-hundred-unit units of the Ming army continued to advance slowly, and the rebel artillery also stopped. Those cast cannons were very cumbersome to reload and could not fire continuously.

Seventy or eighty paces on both sides, bows and arrows in the woods flew into the sky with a "whoosh".

The soldiers of the Ming army completely ignored the arrows, and occasionally some were injured by the arrows, but most of them braved the arrows to flatten the fire and aimed at the direction of the military village. The military general pointed at the direction of the launch with his waist knife: "Put!" ”

"Bang bang ......" A row of fire guns rang out intensively, and between the dazzling flashes, a string of white gunpowder smoke rose from the ground.

A moment later, the sergeant in the front row turned and retreated, and the second platoon quickly stepped forward to prepare, and another volley was fired.

After several volleys of fire, the heavy infantry shouted and shouted, and the people scattered in sparse formations and rushed into the woods. Because as long as it is artillery, it can be loaded with Trojan horses, but the range and lethality are different. The Ming army was wary of scattered bullets, so the formation of the charge was very loose.

"Kill! Kill! Kill ......" The shouts of the people came and went, and the shouts seemed to echo in the mountains and forests to the west.

But the striker generals are clearly thinking too much; Before the Ming heavy infantry could rush to the place, they saw the rebels in the distance fleeing, and many of them ran out from the edge of the forest in the south, running away. The enemy ran too fast, and there was no more artillery in the stockade.

Liu Sheng led a force of cavalry and continued to the south with the vanguard soldiers and horses. After a while, someone reported the discovery of a third military village; Further on, there is the Songlai River, where an arched bridge connects the two banks.

The forward marched to a mile away from the enemy village, and Liu Sheng stepped forward and directly took the power of the forward general. He ordered the Ming infantry to first detour from the main road to the south of the enemy village, form an encirclement of the enemy army, and destroy these traitors who were in the way in one fell swoop!

A detachment of men and horses was ordered to attack, and the column quickly detoured to the belly and back of the rebels.

Sure enough, the Ming army had not yet begun to attack; The traitors who gathered three military villages immediately gave up resistance and began to flee in an instant. They must have been afraid that after the back road was cut off, the whole army would be annihilated.

Liu Sheng looked at the dust to the south, and he could fully imagine the chaotic scene when the army broke and fled. If you chase with elite cavalry at this time and chase down such a rout, it will definitely be like chopping melons and vegetables!

He turned his head to look at the brightly clad escort cavalry, everyone was standing on the ground, leading horses, no one spoke, the military appearance was very neat, and a large banner with the word "willow" written on it was waving in the wind. Liu Sheng turned his head and reached out and touched the handle of the waist knife on his waist.

The new knife that Liu Sheng changed after leaving for the expedition still has the smell of butter and has never had a chance to use it. Today the knife is finally going to get bloody.