Li Yan's reward Qian Er hadn't received it yet, so he first received a report that the thieves came from Kaifeng for reinforcements, and there were a large number of them. ````

Qian Er didn't take it seriously, he had just received a batch of supplies from Gegangzhai, which was fully capable of supporting his next battle. Li Zhong had already sent him a letter, asking him to be cautious in the future and not to put his troops in a dangerous situation. So he made up his mind this time, as long as the thieves still attacked in a big way, he would stick to the city in Qiulouzhai.

Qiulou Town is the largest fortress here, the earthen wall is one zhang high, the top is eight feet thick, the circumference is one mile, and there are 300 households. There are enough supplies in the city, and there are two barracks and a moat outside the city. There were 3,000 soldiers here, and he was sure he would be able to withstand any enemy attack. And more than ten miles away is Gegangzhai where Li Zhong is stationed, where there are still 6,000 troops, and he is very down-to-earth.

The next day, Cao Cao took all his troops and went straight to Qixian. Chen Liu's city wall has almost been demolished, he left 2,000 troops here, and he selected young and strong people from those people, and he also wanted to expand the army. Li Zicheng knows all those little ninety-nine, doesn't he just want to be the leader of the alliance? Therefore, he also has to continue to expand his strength, and he can't let Li Zicheng become a monopoly.

The reason why he continued to cooperate with Li Zicheng was just that he felt that Li Zicheng was a little easier to get along with than Zhang Xianzhong. And Li Zicheng's current strength is much stronger than Zhang Xianzhong, so with Li Zicheng, he can win battles, get spoils, and grab beautiful aunts.

Cao Cao led the troops along the main road to Qi County, he had already asked clearly, the most powerful thing here was the troops of Qi County, so he didn't plan to waste time, just go and level Qi County. As for those officers and soldiers, he had already thought that the senior officers would definitely be killed, and the others would be under his command. With these generals, he is no worse than Li Zicheng.

He heard from his subordinates that this group of officers and soldiers is very set, and the sentinels basically go out and never return. Therefore, he did not send people to sentry, but directly used two thousand cavalry as the vanguard and opened the way in front.

Before noon, Cao Cao came to Qiulouzhai and saw the officers and soldiers who had formed a formation outside Tucheng.

"General," his subordinates reminded, "it's this group of officers and soldiers, they have a lot of cannons and can fight more than 200 steps, please be careful." ”

Cao Cao just sneered and said, "What about more than two hundred steps, I brought four furlong machines from Xuzhou." I bought it from Hongmao Yangyi, and it can hit 400 steps. ”

The subordinate looked back at the four Huang Chengcheng Franc cannons mounted on the car, and said with a smile: "It's still the general's thoughtfulness, and Leader Sun's revenge can finally be avenged." ”

"Don't worry," Cao Cao said coldly: "After defeating this group of officers and soldiers in a while, you will chase after you first." ”

The subordinates understood what Cao Cao meant, and this was for them to take revenge. Generally, when encountering a rout of the official army, they can be caught as soon as they can, after all, they are very good soldiers. There are quite a few officers and soldiers in their current ranks.

"General Xie."

Cao Cao instructed his soldiers: "Let the troops prepare, defeat them early, and let's go into this village for lunch." He pointed to the surrounding fields and said, "Look at these fertile fields, there must be a lot of grain there." After a while, you must search carefully. ”

"Order!" All his subordinates agreed with their fists clenched.

At the head of the city, Qian Er saw dozens of cannons launched in the army of thieves, some large and some small. Although they were far away and could not see clearly, they could see that four of them seemed to be similar to the Franc machine they had used before.

He instructed: "Keep the artillery on your toes, and take down the enemy's artillery first." Priority strikes are given to large volumes, and they cannot be allowed to enter a distance of three hundred paces. ”

Soon, the artillery outside the city began to prepare, aiming at the enemy artillery that was slowly pushing over.

"Solid bullet, medicine bag number two!" After the artillery commanders received the order, they all gave quick orders. They have three kinds of medicine packs, No. 2 is the benchmark medicine bag, No. 1 is reduced by 2 percent, and No. 3 is increased by 2 percent. This is the first time the cannon has been fired, so be clear about the type of medicine pack. And those two special medicine packs will only be used when there is a special request.

The reloader in the rear took the kit and the projectile and loaded the ammunition.

"Target, a large bronze cannon on the enemy's left!" Several artillery commanders gave the same order.

With the experience of fighting with Zhang Xianzhong last time, the artillery team under Li Yan at this time has made it clear that every three or four artillery pieces will attack a long-distance target at the same time. So at this time, the captain of the artillery began to command his men in a unified manner, giving them target designation.

At this point, the gun has been adjusted to the correct direction, and the sighter makes the final precise adjustment. Then he shouted loudly, "Good! ”

"Put!" The artillery commander commanded loudly.

With the order of the gun commander, the igniter ignited, and the three-inch cannon "boom" and "boom" were fired one after another. Bursts of white smoke soon rose from the position.

The cannonballs flew over quickly, and some smashed into the body of the enemy pushing the cannon, directly piercing his body and hitting the people behind him. Some of them landed on the frozen ground, bounced and then crashed into the gun carriage, causing the cannon to fall to the ground and suppressing the people pushing the cannon next to them.

This round of artillery fire came so suddenly that the thieves who pushed the artillery were not prepared at all. In the past, when fighting against the officers and soldiers, the officers and soldiers would also fire at this distance, but the shells could not hit at all. So they were defenseless at all, and they all pushed the cannon forward with ease.

At this time, being hit by this round of artillery fire, there was immediately a ghost crying wolf. Although the officers and soldiers only hit their three artillery pieces, they caused a lot of casualties. Two of the gun carriages were damaged, and the one that was not damaged was the man who was killed and wounded four gunners and five carts.

Qian Er's artillerymen continued to reload and fire. The artillerymen who had completed the strike turned to bombarding the other large guns in the Rogue, while the artillerymen who did not complete their mission continued to hit the two large Franc cannons.

"Boom", "boom" cannon sound is constant, and the artillery where the thieves are still advancing is continuous losses.

Luo Rucai hadn't reacted yet, his four Franc cannons had all been destroyed, and the ear of one of them had been broken, which was completely unusable.

"Can you hit so far so accurately?" Luo Rucai asked in surprise.

The subordinates who had fought with Qian Er all lowered their heads, and one of them whispered: "When they fought us last time, they could indeed only fight for more than 200 steps. After we had run 300 paces, they stopped fighting. ”

Luo Rucai nodded and said, "It seems that these officers and soldiers are not easy to fight." ”

"It's not easy to fight," said another of his men, "they have another cannon that can explode and scare our horses out of control." Also, their crossbow arrows are so powerful that they can't rush through them at all. ”

Luo Rucai was silent for a while, and then ordered: "Let the artillery team withdraw." The troops rested, ate. ”

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