Luo Rucai instructed his own soldiers: "Send two hundred cavalry back to Chenliu, bring all those who demolished the city wall, and let them bring tools." Also, the young men who were selected also came here to dig trenches. Be fast, you have to get here before sunset or they'll be waiting to eat the noodles."

When the soldiers went to give the order, the subordinates all smiled and praised: "The general still has a way." If they want to hold on, let's dig a trench and trap them. Just like dealing with Fu Zonglong, he didn't eat or drink, and he starved to death in less than a month. No matter how powerful their cannons are, they are useless, but they are cheaper for us, hahaha. ”

However, there was still thoughtfulness, and someone reminded: "How to explain there in Kaifeng?" ”

"What is there to explain?" Luo Rucai said loudly: "What we are doing now is the right thing, he Li Zicheng is revenge, we are also avenging that our brother was killed, we can't ignore it"

"I'm sorry to avenge Leader Sun first"

"The Righteous Anger of the Great General"

"I'm waiting to follow the general."

……

Luo Rucai smiled and accepted the compliments of his subordinates, then waved his hand and ordered: "Each of you will lead the team to surround this fort for me, don't let the officers and soldiers run away." ”

"Obey" the generals agreed, and they all returned to their respective teams. After lunch, he led the troops to surround the officers and soldiers and the stockade.

Qian Er, who was at the head of the city, saw the arrangement of the thieves, sneered, and said in his heart: "Well, that's fine, at most let you live until tomorrow"

Qian Er is right, Li Zhong in Gegangzhai is also always paying attention to the situation in Qiulouzhai. Luo Rucai's defense was very lax, but the sentry still couldn't get too close, but the general situation could still be understood.

After noon, Li Zhong took 3,000 troops and enough baggage to advance towards Qiulouzhai. Now this situation is the state he wants to see the most, the enemy is besieging one place, and he leads his troops to fight from the periphery, and the inside and outside should be combined to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.

Cao Cao, on the other hand, found that reinforcements had arrived in the afternoon when Li Zhong's troops were already less than four miles away from him.

"This is also Qixian's troops?" Luo Rucai asked puzzledly: "There are already three or four thousand people who have been surrounded by us, and now there are three or four thousand, seven or eight thousand people, this is a force that can be owned in a county town?" Is there any other official army to reinforce it? ”

Under normal circumstances, it is already remarkable that a county town can have 1,000 troops, and most of them are only 300 to 500. That's why they were able to capture county seats, state cities, and government cities along the way. They usually besiege the county seat, and they can take it down in three to five days at most. However, a big city like Kaifeng, and tens of thousands of officers and soldiers guarded it, they are not so easy to attack.

"No," replied the sentinel, "the same outfit as the besieged officers and soldiers, and they should be in a group." ”

Luo Rucai frowned and said, "I didn't expect that this small Qixian County still has such a large army hidden." ”

One of his subordinates chimed in: "General, I remembered. Li Zicheng's team included an officer and soldier who had defected from Qixian County, and they always said that Qixian's troops were powerful. ”

"Awesome?" Luo Rucai commanded with a cold face: "Cavalry team, take advantage of the moment to rush over and crush them immediately, I want to see how powerful he is."

As Luo Rucai's order was given, the eight thousand cavalry under his command immediately rushed in the direction of Li Zhong. Their horses were all stolen from the official army, and some were collected from the families of large families, so the proportion of their cavalry was higher than that of the official army.

Li Zhong, on the other hand, had made preparations in advance, and after the sentry reported that the enemy's cavalry had come, he immediately lined up his troops. They lined up near the main road, while the artillery quickly lined up in front and began to fire first, blocking the onslaught of the enemy cavalry.

The artillery workshop melted down the failed bronze cannons and recast sixteen cannons. There were ten successful artillery pieces this time, so Li Zhong had twelve three-inch guns here. This is the advantage of casting with iron molds, you don't have to wait three months for the clay molds to dry, you don't have to wait for the winter to start making clay molds, you can cast artillery at any time. He also brought forty tiger squat cannons, and the tiger squat cannons were even simpler, and the iron ore in Suizhou could provide them with iron materials, and there were not many restrictions on raw materials, so the number of manufactured was much larger.

"Boom", "boom", half of Li Zhong's artillery fired a round of solid bullets first, putting some pressure on the enemy's cavalry a mile away. The rest of the artillery was loaded with shotguns, and they did not start firing until the first round of solid shells had been fired. In this way, the artillery forms a two-wave firing sequence, which allows for a shorter interval between shots.

Solid bullets were nothing, although they had a long range, and they could go far away while jumping on the ground, but the casualties caused were nothing to the cavalry. But when it was shotgun, it was different, every time the cannon fired, dozens of cavalry running in the front row would be knocked down, and the effect was shocking.

Luo Rucai's cavalry did not have the courage to fight to the death, and after seeing the heavy casualties in front, they naturally led their horses to both sides. Although it caused some chaos, it still saved most of the troops.

Li Zhong's infantry took advantage of this time to arrange the hollow square.

"The tiger squat cannon is ready, and the cover cannon retreats into place." Li Zhong ordered.

After receiving the order, the cannons began to slowly retreat, returning to the military formation, and placing themselves in their respective positions, ready for the next siege of the thieves. The Tiger Squat Cannon, on the other hand, is ready to fire a large number of shells at the enemy who enters the firing range at any time to stop the further onslaught of the bandits. They already knew from Qian Er's experience that as long as a large number of shells were fired at the enemy, the enemy's war horses would not be able to withstand this kind of fright.

Luo Rucai's cavalry included cavalry that had previously attacked Qian's second phalanx, and they tried their best to prevent the cavalry leader's plan to attack again, so that they did not continue to add more casualties.

When Luo Rucai came over with more than 10,000 infantry troops, he could only stare at Li Zhong's phalanx. He had already listened to the reports of his subordinates, and even if they rushed in unexpectedly, they did not have any results, and they also lost nearly 300 cavalry, so the artillery power of this group of officers and soldiers can be imagined.

At this time, Chen Liu's Minzhuang had not yet been brought, and Luo Rucai also knew the consequences of a hard charge, so he had to transfer some troops over to besiege these officers and soldiers.

As soon as his heralds were dispatched, they heard the sound of "boom" and "boom" in the direction of the fort. The distance between the two places was only a little more than three miles, so the sound of the cannon fire was very clear.

"What's going on?" Luo Rucai asked angrily.

His own soldiers stood in the saddle and looked at it, and replied: "The officers and troops are attacking, and they want to join the officers and troops here. ”

...