On the third day of the 11th month of the 12th year of Chongzhen, more than 24,000 people of the enemy chieftain Tian Jianxiu were defeated in the suburbs of Yongning County, killing more than 7,300 people and capturing more than 5,800 people.

On November 18 of the twelfth year, the Hongtang army arrived in Yiyang County, encountered the enemy chief Liu Zongmin, Gao Yigong Department of 43,000 people, the two sides fought for three days, and finally under the strong firepower offensive of the Hongtang army's field artillery team, the enemy chief Liu Zongmin was seriously injured by a stray bullet, Gao Yigong was unable to support alone, and finally the enemy retreated.

In this battle, Hongtang suffered more than 2,000 casualties, the enemy suffered nearly 20,000 casualties, captured 7,000 people, and the rest were scattered and fled.

After learning the news that the Hongtang army was approaching, Li Zicheng's department urgently gathered his troops, and the number of 130,000 peasant troops gathered in Nanyang, waiting for the arrival of Hongtang's headquarters and Deng Xi, the general soldier of the Chinese army.

Wounded 10,000 enemies and lost 8,000 self-inflicted losses, the Hongtang army defeated the crowd in two battles, and both achieved results far exceeding the number of their troops, but the price paid by the Hongtang army was not small, in addition to the more than 1,000 soldiers who were seriously injured and saved by the Hongtang army doctors, the Hongtang soldiers who died on the battlefield also reached more than 2,000.

Moreover, in order to hide his clumsiness, Li Tianyang had to falsely report the battle losses and overreport the damage of his soldiers and other soldiers by more than double, but this was for the sake of future consideration.

The Hongtang army has just shown its prominence in the Ming Dynasty, and it has such strength, if it doesn't pretend to suffer heavy losses, then if they are taken a fancy and transferred to Liaodong to fight the Jurchens, then Li Tianyang won't cry!

Although Li Tianyang contributed to the Ming Dynasty this time, he was also afraid that the peasant army of King Chuang would fight to the capital division, forcing Emperor Chongzhen to commit suicide, and letting the Jurchens enter the customs as easily as in the history of their previous lives, which was a very bad thing for the Hongmen.

But Li Tianyang didn't think about it, he would fight the disaster for the Ming Dynasty in vain, and use the Hongtang soldiers he had cultivated with great difficulty to fight the tough Jurchens!

Out of the customs, Li Tianyang can't guarantee that he can control his army as freely as he does now, and take the life and death of his own people into his own hands.

Therefore, Li Tianyang cut off the results of the battle, privately embezzled the money, goods, and strong soldiers, and on the other hand, with a stroke of the pen, exaggerated his losses several times, to show that the results of his troops were obtained by the lives of the soldiers under his command.

The reward for the deception was a commendation order from the elated Xiong Wencan and a mere pension of thousands of taels of silver.

If it weren't for the fact that his actual losses were not much, and he embezzled a lot of valuable things, I am afraid that Li Tianyang would really have to make a loss-making transaction this time.

Xiong Wencan's search made Li Tianyang scoff, and at the same time, he gradually slowed down the pace of marching towards Nanyang.

In fact, if Li Tianyang had the heart to defeat Li Zicheng, who had 130,000 soldiers, in fact, the night would not be without a chance.

By Li Zicheng's side, He Sanjiang and Bai Yushan, as his henchmen, now each of them also controls about 20,000 saber teams, and Peng Zhihai, who has been active in the Luanchuan area before, has also been promoted after returning to Li Zicheng's department, and the original soldiers in his hands plus the displaced people who were later recruited are also 145,000.

Not to mention the other secret hands in the peasant army where the spy war is located, the small leaders in the middle-level position have nearly 10,000 or so, almost half of Li Zicheng's department.

However, it is obvious that Li Tianyang does not intend to completely defeat Li Zicheng, only the continued existence of people like Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, Li Tianyang and them can continue to recruit displaced people from the powerful Ming Dynasty and expand their own strength; Only their existence can allow Li Tianyang and them to have a bigger stage to display, and let the chess pieces they have planted climb to a higher status.

Even only these thought troubles can further squeeze the potential of the Ming Dynasty and let the powerful Ming Dynasty gradually collapse, but it will not be eroded all at once, giving Li Tianyang them time to plot slowly.

As for the Jurchens, in fact, they also have a big flaw, that is, the arrival of the Xiaoice River period, the northernmost part of the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but their Daqing people are the most affected, and their population and land are scarce, which should prove that they do not have the capital to fight a protracted war.

As long as the Ming Dynasty gives Hongmen a few more years and other time, so that Hongmen's chess pieces in the Ming Dynasty and the peasant army have more strength, and the Hongmen base camp also has more reserve capital, then Hongmen will also have more chances of winning than now, and it will no longer be an ambition in Li Tianyang's heart to dominate the world.

Only the profound Ming Dynasty can fight on both sides like now, and it can barely support in the face of two powerful enemies, and put any other party in the position of the Ming Dynasty, it has long been eaten by the other two parties.

As soon as Li Tianyang's movements slowed down, Xiong Wencan, who was far away in Luoyang, was a little unhappy, for Xiong Wencan, the secretary of the military department who was still pressing the song and did not report it, hoping that the Hongtang army would give him a bigger surprise again, every time the Hongtang army reported and waited for the battle damage to him, it was just a number, how could he really care about the losses of a group of mud legs and pirates!

A letter with the meaning of encouragement on the surface, but in fact it was a document with the meaning of beating was sent to Li Tianyang, and then sat in the Chinese army, and Deng Xi, the general soldier who had not participated in the war, but had shared a lot of military exploits, called him over again.

Deng Xi and Li Tianyang Liang let you play at the same level in terms of identity and status, but who made the family a confidant such as Lord Shangshu, so as soon as he came up, Deng Xi expressed his dissatisfaction with Li Tianyang's actions such as slowing down.

"Don't hide it from General Deng, the 10,000 soldiers under the command of this general are now less than 3,000 people, and the rest of the soldiers are either killed or seriously injured, so they can't be used, what do you tell me to use to fight against the tens of thousands of thieves!!"

Although Li Tianyang is a guest army, he has no intention of giving in at all, and he fully explains his situation, and the reasons given are really unquestionable.

Even if he secretly made a move and underreported some captures, but the final results were there, and the casualties reported by Li Tianyang were completely credible among the other armies of the Ming Dynasty, so Deng Xi, the chief soldier, really couldn't find any other reason to oppose Li Tianyang.

"In this case, then you will hand over the bird guns and foreign cannons in the hands of your army to our department, and our army will take care of the rest of the war."

After pondering for a while, Deng Xi finally gave in, but the words that came out of his mouth directly made Li Tianyang have a sneer and ridicule on his face.

(End of chapter)