Qin Yiming's troops were assembled and left Wuyang Pass, and on the way, he received a military order from Xiong Wencan, ordering Qin Yiming to go to Tang County to solve the problem as soon as possible, and when the army arrived in Xinyang, Henan, he received a military order from Xiong Wencan, asking Qin Yiming to quickly rescue Chen Hongfan, Liu Liangzuo and other general soldiers in Ruyang.

This series of military orders, one bad news after another, caught Qin Yiming off guard, so his troops were stationed near Xinyang, and at the same time sent many spies to learn about the situation.

The news brought back by the spies was more shocking than one another, Zuo Liangyu's 40,000 army lost the battle with the thieves in the blocked water river, retreated to Tang County, and is now besieged by Zhang Xianzhong's army, and it has been a month, but now Tang County is still in the hands of Zuo Liangyu, and the Ming army that rescued Tang County encountered an ambush of thieves in Miyang, and suffered heavy losses, Chen Hongfan and other general soldiers with more than 10,000 remnants of the defeated army retreated to Ruyang City, Runing Prefecture.

The problem Qin Yiming is facing now is that the thieves are powerful, Cao Cao's department has 100,000 thieves, and Zhang Xianzhong's department has nearly 80,000 thieves, any of them is not something that he can easily provoke with 10,000 people, does he want to move forward! Second, he is not afraid of death and continues to advance, which direction should he put to attack, whether to attack Ruyang first or Tang County first.

In addition, the spies reported that Luo Rucai learned the news of Qin Yiming's troops and sent 50,000 troops to camp on the other side of the Huai River. If he wanted to march, he might not be able to cross the river for a while, and these 50,000 thieves were the roadblocks in his way.

Military meeting.

"Tell me what you think, our 10,000 army is now blocked by Luo Rucai's 50,000 army and then on the Huai River, how should we deal with it?" Qin Yiming asked his generals.

Everyone was silent, Chen Daquan, Ai Wannian, Yang Jiuyi, Li Cheng, Meng Ruhu and others were all staring at the sand table and thinking.

"There are many Cao Cao people on the other side of the river, and there is the Huai River as a barrier, it is difficult for us to defeat it, it is better for us to quickly go west to Nanyang, first rescue Zuo Liangyu's army, and then join forces to attack Luo Rucai!" Yang Qianhu said seriously.

Relatively speaking, Zhang Xianzhong's troops are small, and it is wise for him to choose to attack the weak first.

"Yes, with the Suizhou cavalry of Mengqianhu, we now have 2,000 cavalry, and we can travel lightly and catch Zhang Xianzhong off guard!" Ai Wannian also said, he felt that Yang Qianhu's strategy might be able to break the current deadlock, and time waited for no one, although the autumn harvest was not long, but in such a small place as Tang County, Zuo Liangyu's army of 30,000 people could not support it for long, and when there were no rations, no matter how capable Zuo Liangyu was, he could only be defeated and destroyed.

Li Cheng and Meng Ruhu have no opinions, they all listen to Qin Yiming, especially Li Cheng, who is now loyal to Qin Yiming and swears to repay him.

Chen Daquan is self-aware, he came with him, just a foil, Gao Qiqian gave him a very simple task, that is, to look at Qin Yiming, who is nominally the supervising army, and is really in charge, but he knows very well that with Qin Yiming here, I am afraid that no one among these people will listen to him, so he never objected to any decision of Qin Yiming, but sincerely helped Qin Yiming.

"If you all think so, then we won't play with Cao Cao, let's go to Zhang Xianzhong, although the Huai River is in the dry period, but the people and horses still can't cross the river, we don't bother to pay attention to Cao Cao, go directly to Zhang Xianzhong!" Qin Yiming also has no better proposition, and when he doesn't pay better attention, he will respect everyone's opinions, so that the whole team will be more cohesive.

"I'm against it!"

Suddenly, there was an opposing voice, and everyone looked over, it was Song Xiance who was squatting in the corner smoking dry cigarettes, and above Song Xiance's head, the smoke was swirling, and wisps of green smoke were fluttering.

"What is Mr. Song's opinion?" Qin Yiming asked.

"Isn't it right for us to attack Zhang Xianzhong?"

"Yes, there is a huge disparity in the strength of the enemy and us, only by surprise, we are willing to seek the near and far, Zhang Xianzhong would never have imagined that we would be so bold."

"It's not advisable to attack Zhang Xianzhong! First of all, Zhang Xianzhong's ministry and Cao Cao's ministry seem to be two forces, but now Zhang Xianzhong's prestige is very great, and he can control Cao Cao, Chen Hongfan's defeat is of course due to their arrogance and contempt, but more importantly, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai united, and they were defeated, so once we leave here, Cao Cao will definitely inform Zhang Xianzhong's department, and we will not have the effect of a surprise attack at all. Secondly, Zhang Xianzhong's department seems to have few people, but in terms of strength, it is much stronger than Cao Cao, Zhang's department is full of talents, and Luo Rucai's talents are withering, which is why the prestige of the eight kings among the thieves is greater than Cao Cao's. The third ...... "Song Xiance was already squatting like a farmer, spitting smoke rings.

Qin Yiming felt that what Song Xiance said was reasonable, and nodded frequently, these two reasons had already persuaded him.

"And a third?" Qin Yiming felt that his decision just now was very wrong.

Song Xiance continued: "Third, if we take Tang County directly, if we can't quickly defeat Zhang Xianzhong, and if we can't fight quickly, we may face a dangerous situation of being attacked by the enemy on our backs!" ”

"What Mr. Song said is reasonable!" Yang Jiuyi was the first to be convinced.

Everyone also agrees very much, according to Song Xiance's analysis, they should not take this risk to attack Zhang Xianzhong, but if they don't attack Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai's 50,000 thieves will be blocked on the other side of the Huai River, and if they attack Ruyang, they must first solve these 50,000 thieves, which is almost impossible.

"Our advantage lies in firearms, but if this firearm is stuck in the city, it will play a great role, if it is in this field, I am afraid that it will suffer, and this Huai River is so wide, our firearms will not be able to fight so far." A five-bow bed crossbow is possible, but it's not realistic. ”

Song Xiance's reason is valid, there are so many of them, if they leave, it is impossible to hide it from Luo Rucai's ears and eyes. However, attacking Ruyang, this Huai River is a natural danger, and they can't cross it, if 10,000 people forcibly cross the river, it will be the rhythm of death.

"That's right, Cao Cao's troops have just defeated the 40,000 combined forces of General Chen and Mu Liu, and we only have 10,000 troops, I'm sure this Cao Cao doesn't take us seriously at all now, maybe...... Maybe this Cao Cao still wants to attack and cross the river, annihilate us in one fell swoop, and then go south to Huguang. Li Cheng said.

"It's not okay to fight Zhang Xianzhong, it's not okay to fight Luo Rucai, should we retreat and go back to De'an Mansion?" Da Niu said irritably.

"Then how to do it, the military order is like a mountain, this shot is not released, how to explain to the above, at least we have to fight, and then run, so that the upper authorities are accountable, we can say that the thief army is powerful, we really can't do it." Chen Daquan said earnestly that he felt that his method was the most feasible, so that he would not have to be sent to death, and he would not need to bear the responsibility for the crime. Chen Daquan's idea is probably the normal life-saving method of the general army of the Ming Dynasty.

Qin Yiming categorically denied: "No, we are soldiers, it is our duty to defend the country and protect the peace, how can we not advance for the enemy and run away for fear of death?" An inch of death in Ningbei is not a foot in the south! If you want to run, I Qin Yiming decided not to run! ”

Song Xiance glanced at Qin Yiming with appreciation, and that kind of resolute will made Song Xiance very pleased. Everyone also felt Qin Yiming's sincerity and determination.

"Lord Commander, I am willing to lead two thousand cavalry to cross the river and go straight behind the enemy to contain it, so that the army can cross the river smoothly, so that there may be a glimmer of life!" Aiwannian said.

"Lord Qin, let me lead a death squad to cross the river first and seize the position for the army!" Li Cheng also took the initiative to ask for help.

"Haha, don't rob me of Da Niu, this kind of work is still what our shield battalion is best at, young master, let Da Niu go!"

"You calf, are you going to die!" The little monkey scolded angrily.

Qin Yiming didn't say anything, it's a good thing that everyone has a strong fighting spirit, but their plans are not advisable, he saw Song Xiance blowing dry smoke on the side, so he asked: "Song Shenguo, if you have any bad ideas, just say it, don't be so cold, keep hiding." ”

"Hehe, didn't Yang Qianhu say it just now?" Song Xiance said with a smile.

"What did I say?"

"Luo Rucai won a big victory, his heart swelled, think about it, if the Huai River suddenly dries up, will Luo Rucai take the initiative to call?"

"Definitely! 40,000 people were eaten by him, our 10,000 people, where would he put it in his eyes! ”

"Well, I also think so, this kind of arrogant and contemptuous enemy mentality is a taboo for soldiers, and our army can just use it to lure the enemy deep and annihilate it in one fell swoop!" Song Xiance stood up, moved his legs and feet, and then paced back and forth, smoking a dry cigarette while talking.

Everyone nodded, what Song Xiance said was very reasonable, and there was a reason that Song Xiance did not say and everyone knew, that is, Cao Cao was a homeless person, and they were officers and soldiers, relatively speaking, although Cao Cao had tens of thousands of people, but it was just a rabble, and it was not certain who would lose and who would win if they really fought!

"But how could the Huai River suddenly dry up?" Qin Yiming asked.

Song Xiance spat out the smoke ring and said: "It's very simple, four words, cut off the water and cross the flow!" ”

Luo Rucai after the great victory over the coalition army of Chen Hongfan and others, his heart has been extremely inflated, now the Ming army in Ruyang City is already the fat on his lips, the righteous army is not good at attacking the city, so he chose to besiege to the death, the Ming army in the city naturally has a day when food is cut off, when he knew that Huguang had an army coming north, he immediately transferred 50,000 troops, ready to cross the river to attack, in his opinion, this is the fat sent to him, but Zhang Xianzhong sent someone to inform him, so that he must be careful of this army, Zhang Xianzhong himself suffered a big loss at the hands of this army and almost died, so Luo Rucai did not cross the river easily, but restrained his impulse and stationed himself on the side of the Huai River to defend.

But the situation has changed in the past few days, first of all, the Wan Ming army was actually stationed across the river, and they didn't take him into account at all, and they were still collecting civilian boats, which seemed to be going to cross the river to attack, and another thing that made him even more incomprehensible, the water level of the Huai River is getting shallower and shallower day by day, and it is so shallow that people can go directly into the water in some places, Luo Rucai, who discovered this situation, was extremely excited in his heart, and he felt that God was helping him!

"Do you want to cross the river or not?"