Li Zicheng looked up at the sky, the sun was hanging in the middle of the sky, it was already noon, the soldiers should be hungry, so he asked the soldiers to take turns to eat, each person was limited to half full.

But after half an hour, the soldiers had eaten dry food and drank water, and Song Wen came to Li Zicheng's side, "Governor, what should we do now, is it just like this?" The Ming army is obviously not going to fight......"

Li Zicheng nodded and said: "Just now I was worried that the Ming army was secretly robbing the camp and burning the grain and grass, but the rangers on all sides did not find out that the Ming army was out of the camp, and the camp in Zhuxian Town was also very quiet, the Ming army should have no intention of robbing the camp, it seems that the Ming army does not want to fight." ”

Li Xin looked at the Ming army camp opposite, and said in a deep voice: "It's just like this, the disadvantage for us is the 30,000 young men under Kaifeng City, and in case the Ming army in the city attacks from behind, although it will not cause us substantial losses, but I am afraid that our morale will be affected......"

"I'm only worried that the Ming army in the city will not dare to come to Zhuxian Town, but will attack the young people in the camp outside the city, if they really want to come to Zhuxian Town, can they still return to Kaifeng? At that time, we are afraid that we will pick up an empty city for nothing," Li Zicheng stroked his chin and said slowly: "This kind of consumption will be disadvantageous to us, is there no disadvantage for the Ming army?" ”

"Yes!" Li Xindao: "The Ming army is running for a long time, not to mention the fatigue, the grain and grass will definitely be unsustainable, as long as the confrontation continues, the time will be ......."

"Okay, since that's the case, we'll confront the Ming army," Li Zicheng nodded lightly, turned around and said: "Xiaomi, give an order to the Luo Tai Department outside Kaifeng City, keep a close eye on the Ming army in the city, and if necessary, even give up the ambush, but also protect the young and strong in the camp outside the city." ”

"Yes, Grand Duke!"

After Li Zicheng waited for He Xiaomi to leave, he smiled at the Ming army camp: "Since we are here, we can't go back empty-handed, General Song, bring your gunners and shoot from outside the camp #, Ao, Zuo Liangyu's debts in Linying last time have not yet apologized and returned, and this time I will ask for some debts from his camp!" ”

"Subordinates obey!" Song Wen was overjoyed, and he was busy reorganizing the troops, and personally led two gunmen from thousands of households to the east of Shuipoji, outside Zuo Liangyu's camp.

In a few moments, there was a "bang" of gunfire from the east, dense but very chaotic, apparently pointed.

Li Zicheng smiled on his face, if the Ming army has three fears of the Heavenly Mandate Army, once it passes today, I am afraid it will increase to five points, and lying in the camp will also be beaten, this kind of terrifying weapon, I am afraid that only the rifles and ...... of the Heavenly Mandate Army

When I think of this, my heart doesn't move!

The gunfire gradually thinned out, and Song Wen rode back on horseback and ran back with his own soldiers, "Dadu Governor, at the beginning, the Ming army was still waiting, and was shot and killed by the brothers, but now the Ming army is obedient, they hide in the camp and don't come out, or use shields as cover, brothers really have nothing to do......"

If you want to use a rifle to capture the battalion of 100,000 soldiers of the Ming army, it is obviously unrealistic, Li Zicheng said with a smile: "The Ming army thinks that it has found a way to restrain the rifle, haha, let's change it, General Song, use the mountain artillery, and bring the mountain artillery of the fourth battalion over!" ”

"Mountain cannon?" Song Wen was stunned for a moment, and then laughed too, "Why didn't my subordinates think of it?" Only know the high efficiency of the rifle ......"

In addition to the Niu Kejing Division of the Fourth Battalion and the Third Regiment of the Mandate of Heaven, the battalions and regiments of the Mandate of Heaven equipped with rifles were also equipped with 20 light mountain guns in order to improve their long-range strike capabilities, and the four regiments of the 4th and 7th Battalions added up to 80 mountain guns.

Song Wen walked away with a smile like an old naughty boy.

The "booming" cannon sound shook the sky, countless flowering shells, raindrops fell on the large camp of Zuo Liangyu's department, the soldiers screamed endlessly, many camp tents were set on fire by flowering bullets, and there was no one to put out the fire.

Zuo Liangyu had a gloomy face, more than 100,000 troops were nested in the camp and let the Heavenly Mandate Army bombard, go out of the camp to counterattack, the cavalry and infantry of the Heavenly Mandate Army were waiting outside the camp......

At this time, the Baoding soldiers would not rush to the rescue, there were soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven guarding outside the camp, and 20,000 Baoding soldiers would never dare to go out of the camp.

To save the soldiers in the big battalion, you can only rely on yourself.

However, this kind of strange artillery of the Ming army will emit a huge explosion sound after it lands, which can not only kill and injure soldiers, but also cover up all the sounds in the camp, and it is difficult to even transmit military orders.

The firearms of the Heavenly Mandate Army are too sharp, fortunately they did not go out of the camp to meet the battle today, otherwise, I don't know how many soldiers were killed or wounded......

The guards gathered around Zuo Liangyu and didn't say a word, maybe they said something, but Zuo Liangyu didn't hear anything.

The fire spread rapidly, and the soldiers who were forced to come out of the tent looked everywhere for shelter from the flower bullets, and the camp was in chaos, and the soldiers were scurrying around like flies.

Suddenly hit by the fierce attack of the mountain artillery, the Ming army was stunned for a while, and from Zuo Liangyu, the soldiers and generals lost contact with each other, and the command system was completely out of order......

Fortunately, the flowering shells did not bomb for long.

Song Wen cherished the flowering bombs, such an artillery bombardment was mainly to hit the morale of the Ming army, and the direct casualties of the soldiers would not be too large, besides, the troops would be withdrawn after a while, and the small-scale casualties were not of great significance.

The Mandate of Heaven army showed off its might in front of the camp of the Ming army, and the soldiers scolded and scolded, and happily returned to Zhuxian Town.

Niu Jinxing greeted him from the camp and asked about the situation, knowing that the Heavenly Mandate Army was going to confront the Ming Army for a while, he unconsciously stroked the long beard under his chin, and couldn't help nodding his head.

Li Zicheng had just returned to the big tent, and before his ass had fallen on the little horse, Niu Jinxing rushed over, "Dadu Governor!" ”

"Huh?" Li Zicheng motioned for Niu Jinxing to sit down, "Mr. came over so soon, do you have any good ideas?" ”

"Metropolitan Governor," Niu Jinxing sat down opposite Li Zicheng and said, "Is the Metropolitan Governor going to confront the Ming army here?" ”

"I want a decisive battle," Li Zicheng showed a wry smile on his face, "It's a pity that the Ming army is cowering in the camp, unless the Ming army's camp is burned!" ”

"It's not necessary to burn the camp," Niu Jinxing took the tea offered by He Xiaomi, and put it on the small square table in front of him, "My subordinates have an idea......

"I know that Mr. is full of scheming," Li Zicheng pointed to Niu Jinxing's nose and laughed: "Say it quickly, I'll see how many days the Ming army can hold on, Kaifeng City is still waiting for us!" ”

"Cut off the water!" Niu Jinxing said: "Dadu Governor, the Ming army has nearly 200,000 soldiers, plus miscellaneous labor, transportation, etc., the number of people in the camp is like what they said, I'm afraid there are no less than 400,000, if the water source is cut off, the Ming army's camp will definitely be self-defeating!" ”

"Water cut?" Li Zicheng said: "The Ming army camped close to the Shahe River, and the water source was abundant...... Hey...... The gentleman is saying ......"

Niu Jinxing's face showed a smug smile, "The Metropolitan Governor is right, we are in the upper reaches of the Shahe River, as long as the Shahe River is blocked and the river water downstream is cut off, the Ming army of hundreds of thousands of people will not be able to find a large number of water sources for a while, and the more people there are, the more chaos will be!" ”

"Sir is really clever!" Li Zicheng was overjoyed, the Ming army was originally short of food, if there was a problem with the water source, the army would be in turmoil, even if they wanted to fight a decisive battle with the Heavenly Mandate Army, there was no chance.

Thinking that the nearly 200,000 Ming army was about to be defeated by the hands of the Heavenly Mandate Army, a mysterious smile appeared on his face, Zuo Liangyu's debts, this time he had to pay it back, right?

That night, Li Zicheng sent Gao Ligong to lead the Zhuo Guangyu Division of the First Regiment of the Chengtian Battalion to the southeast of Zhuxian Town, relying on the official road, not to block the Shahe River overnight, divert the river water to the valleys on both banks, and cut off the water supply downstream.

The reason why this location was chosen was mainly to let Zhu Xianzhen out, which would not affect the water supply of the Heavenly Mandate Army, and the river water that would lead out would not flood the camp of the Heavenly Mandate Army.

The water cut-off measures of the Mandate of Heaven Army, after dawn, were already at the beginning of the beginning, and the soldiers of the Ming Army who were taking water downstream found that overnight, a lot of water fell in the river.

However, the river usually rises and falls, and they don't pay much attention to it.

In the evening, the firefighters who went to the river to fetch water found that the river was about to bottom out, and if they wanted to cook for the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the battalion, they had to take out the river water with mud, otherwise the army would have to eat dry food.

The firefighters immediately reported the information to the officers at the upper ranks, and after a while, it was fed back to Ding Qirui's ears, Ding Qirui was shocked, thinking that the drought was coming, and he personally went to the river to check on it, and on the other hand, he informed Yang Wenyue.

When Yang Wenyue came to the bank of the Sand River, Ding Qirui was still asking the soldiers about something, he looked into the river, the river had been cut off, and he was shocked, "It must be the Mandate of Heaven Army that is playing ghosts!" ”

"Destiny Army? Why? Ding Qirui waved his hand and asked the soldiers to leave, "Isn't it a drought?" ”

"If it's a drought, the river will fall slowly," Yang Wenyue said, "However, it's only been a day, and the Shahe River has bottomed out, and it must be the Mandate of Heaven Army blocking the river upstream......"

"The despicable Mandate of Heaven Army, dare not ...... on the battlefield" Ding Qirui couldn't scold anymore, the Mandate of Heaven Army didn't dare to face off on the frontal battlefield, yesterday they arrived close to the camp of the official army, but unfortunately the official army did not respond...... Could it be that the Mandate of Heaven Army was angry and cut off the Sand River?

"What a vicious Li Zicheng!" Yang Wenyue frowned, "Inspector Ding, the Shahe River is broken, and our army is in a situation where there is no water......"

Ding Qirui changed color, "Hundreds of thousands of people have no water to drink, isn't it another civil fort ......"

"Not for the time being, although the Shahe River is cut off, there are always some ponds and ditches nearby," Yang Wenyue was also worried, "However, the pond ditches can't last, besides, our grain ......"

Ding Qirui was like a fallen man, and finally grabbed a straw, "What does Inspector Yang mean, we are fighting quickly?" ”

"The officers and soldiers have no water and no food, and if the confrontation continues, it will change for a long time," Yang Wenyue also had a headache, "Let's talk about a decisive battle, but the general soldiers are afraid of the Mandate of Heaven Army......"

"This governor went to persuade several general soldiers in Huguang," although Ding Qirui was not sure, he could only bite the bullet, if the confrontation continued, maybe there would be no need to fight, and the officers and soldiers would probably be in chaos, Zuo Liangyu would not fail to understand this truth, "As for the Baoding soldiers, they will bother Inspector Yang!" ”

"Baoding soldiers don't have to worry," Yang Wenyue said: "Hu Dawei will strictly follow the military orders of this governor. ”

However, Ding Qirui did not say that Zuo Liangyu, Fang Guoan, and Yang Dezheng were moved, even if the Heavenly Mandate Army came to Shuipo to gather to fight, several people did not move.