Sun Chuanting went south from Xinye on 16 August and sent Yang Chengzu as the vanguard, and he himself took Gao Jie, Bai Guangen and others as the Chinese army, Niu Chenghu as the rear team, and protected the wings and grain road. し。

Due to their rapid southward movement, there was no news from Qin Yiming and others, the Sichuan soldiers sent to Xunyang. But the court was in a hurry, and Sun Chuanting didn't dare to delay, so he could only fight here first.

However, after entering Huguang, everything went well. Yang Chengzu in front of him has good news almost every day, although the recovered are all small towns, and the number of thieves defeated is only hundreds, and the few are only more than hundred, but as long as they can win, it is good. And the other good news is that as he gets closer to Xiangyang, Yang Chengzu learned that Li Zicheng's brigade has withdrawn from the Han River, leaving only a few troops in Fancheng on the north bank, and it should be very possible to conquer it in one fell swoop.

Sun Chuanting also reported these good news to the imperial court, which was regarded as blocking the mouths of the officials in the court, and also allowing the emperor to relax a little more and stop urging endlessly. But these small villages and towns can't be on the stage after all, so he plans to divide some troops to recover Zaoyang and Suixian, and add some credit to the generals. So that the soldiers can fight more vigorously in the future, cross the Han River in one fell swoop, conquer Xiangyang, recover Chengtian, recapture Xianling, and relax the emperor's heart.

His staff reminded, "Inspector, no. My 100,000 soldiers are not many for the millions of thieves. If the troops are divided in other directions, the army will be weaker. If the thieves suddenly cross the Han River north and fight me on the north shore, it will be dangerous. ”

Sun Chuanting said confidently: "Sir, it's a big mistake. The thief is strong and clears the wilderness, which lures me deep and cuts off my grain channel. However, this place is less than 100 miles away from Xinye, and there are tens of thousands of Li Yan's army, how can he cut off my food channel, if he really wants to fight me in a decisive battle on the north shore, I can't ask for it. However, I conclude that he will retreat all the way, and that Chengtian is the place of the decisive battle. ”

"Inspector," the staff member said suspiciously, "Then Li Yan seems to have a problem." He has tens of thousands of elite soldiers on the border, even if he doesn't come to help in the war, there should be no problem in transporting grain and grass, but he doesn't even agree to this request, he has to supervise the division to transport grain by himself, will there be something strange in it?"

Sun Chuanting hesitated, but still denied it: "Li Yan has fought several bloody battles with the thieves, and the grievances between the two sides are deep, so there should be no problem." Moreover, he is also a guest of honor of the Zhou Domain, a relative of the emperor and the country, so it is even more impossible to have dissent. The gentleman was overwhelmed. ”

"I hope so." The staff said worriedly. Now it is not as good as before, there are not a few civil and military generals in the imperial court who surrender to thieves and Qing soldiers, and there are even more people who escape, but there are fewer and fewer dead people. The hearts of the Ming people have begun to disperse.

Sun Chuanting asked Gao Jie and Bai Guangen to send out a force to recover Zaoyang and Suixian. He believed that these two places were close to Xinyang, and Li Zicheng should not have heavy troops stationed, and it would not take much force to recover them.

Since he carried a large number of trains, and the roads in Huguang could not be compared with the roads repaired in Henan, the marching speed was very slow. Although Yang Chengzu, who was the striker, was eager for revenge, he also knew that Li Zicheng's troops were strong, and he didn't dare to advance too much, but he kept a distance of less than 20 miles from the main force, and never dared to go too fast.

On August 21, Sun Chuanting finally came to the outskirts of Fancheng. Yang Chengzu had already attacked once, but he didn't succeed.

After Sun Chuanting saw it in person, he knew that this Fancheng was not a city that the thieves wanted to give up, not only had many defenders, but also had a perfect garrison. A thick wall of sheep and horses was built a mile outside the city, and there was a gap every ten paces to arrange an artillery. Moreover, a wide pontoon bridge was built on the Han River in the south of the city, which could come from Xiangyang City for reinforcements at any time.

Sun Chuanting rode along the Han River and found that there were many barracks on the south bank of the Han River, and no matter where they crossed the river, they could rush over in time to stop them.

At night, the big tent of the Chinese army.

"That's what you said about the thieves who want to give up Fancheng, how are you detectives," Sun Chuanting asked Yang Chengzu in a loud voice.

Yang Chengzu said helplessly: "The captives I caught all said this, and the people I caught also said so, who would have thought that it was all fake."

"Why don't you send a scout," Sun Chuanting asked angrily. This information was also so wrong that he was completely unprepared.

Yang Chengzu replied: "I sent it, but the thirteen didn't come back." There are tens of thousands of cavalry of the thieves, and if they want to cut it off, it will be useless for me to send more scouts. My cavalry is only five hundred, and I can't fold them all in before the battle begins. ”

Many of the horses that Sun Chuanting and Li Yan exchanged for grain were from Yang Chengzu. Now it has become an excuse for Yang Chengzu, and he can only stare at to express his dissatisfaction.

The staff suggested: "Inspector, do you wait for a while, and wait for Xunyang and Wuchang to have news before attacking."

Sun Chuanting frowned: "You can't wait, the more you wait, the more complete the thief arrangement." It is necessary to capture Fancheng as soon as possible, otherwise this battle will not know how long it will drag. The imperial court can't wait, and the people of Shanxi can't support it. ”

The next day, Sun Chuanting ordered Bai Guangen to start the siege of the city under the cover of the train battalion, and at the same time asked Gao Jie to send troops to find ferries, tie up bamboo rows, and prepare to forcibly cross the Han River. Fancheng's defense was too strong, and if he blindly attacked, his 100,000 army was estimated to be lost by half. At that time, let alone restore Chengtian Mansion, even he himself could not protect himself.

Bai Guangen's attack was extremely difficult, although the train was strong, but with artillery, there were hundreds of catties. Moreover, the artillery on the train was a trumpet Frankie, with a range of only more than a hundred paces, but the range of the thief's artillery was much longer. Moreover, there are more paddy fields here, which is not conducive to the movement of trains, and they can only advance from several directions. Now the officers and soldiers suffered a big loss.

Artillery roared around Fancheng, and smoke filled the air. And on the way to Fancheng, every now and then a train will be broken up. At this time, it was not yet in their range, and the gunners pushing the cart behind, as well as the infantry who followed them, were either directly hit by the projectiles of the thieves or were hit by sawdust, and suffered many casualties.

Screams rang out from time to time in the attacking ranks, making the attacking soldiers tremble. Finally, the soldiers couldn't hold on, left the train alone, turned around and ran backwards.

Sun Chuanting's standard battalion, as a supervising team, stopped loudly in the back, but it had no effect at all. It took two rounds of arrows to finally stop the retreating soldiers. In fact, it was not all the deterrent power of these arrows, but the soldiers had escaped from the range of the thieves' artillery, and there was not much threat to their lives.

Sun Chuanting had no choice but to ask the troops to stop attacking and replace them with other troops to continue the attack. Of course, the trains that were left behind had to be dragged back first, or they would soon be beaten into sawdust by the thieves' artillery.

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