On May 27, the city of Hangzhou went to the battlefield.

The Great Zhou army was about to launch another large-scale attack, and the Fangla defenders were ready for battle.

The posture is well placed.

Han Shizhong shook a shot and turned from attack to defense, and the price he paid was only hundreds of improvised ordnance that could be replenished at any time, as well as "fake ordnance" made of bamboo, wood and straw.

In the previous three days, Wang Yu had successfully retreated 20,000 troops to important camps along the way by transporting wounded soldiers as a cover to prevent Fang La's army from counterattacking.

The senior civil and military forces of the Yongle Dynasty were furious, and finally understood why the Great Zhou army kept using arrows, big arrows and firearms, and it turned out to be the idea of consuming first and then replenishing it.

The Yongle Dynasty turned defense into offense, and Fang La's two sons, He Conglong, the teacher of the Imperial Forest Capital, ...... A total of six people went out of Hangzhou City and stormed the Great Zhou army camp in the northwest corner of Hangzhou City.

Fang Tianding's troops, who stayed near Liangzhu, immediately moved after receiving Fang La's own orders to press Yao Pingzhong's troops to the east. Tens of thousands of elites on both sides were inseparable, and the casualties were very heavy.

From Hangzhou City to Tangqi Ancient Town, the Fang La army, which had been trapped in the remnants of the fortified city, began to sneak attack, harass, and even attack on a large scale, wanting to cut off the supply lines of the Great Zhou army.

You have me, I have you, and they are all in a mess.

This is the new situation on the core battlefield after the Great Zhou Army contracted its defense.

The material losses of the Great Zhou army were indeed not small, and the speed of supplying money, grain, medicine, salt sauce and other materials was greatly affected.

arrows, knives, guns, firearms...... These things are even more fragrant to Fang Lajun. The Great Zhou army needed comprehensive arrangements and the escort of a large number of soldiers to ensure that swords, guns, arrows and other materials arrived in Hangzhou smoothly.

However, Wang Yu used his soldiers quite ruthlessly, and did not care about the lives of soldiers and people, young and strong. At the cost of thousands of lives per day, the baggage transportation of the Great Zhou army remained at an acceptable level.

The Yongle Dynasty seized the gap and not only sent tens of thousands of wounded soldiers to Muzhou in the southwest and even to Chun'an and other places further afield, but also welcomed the more than 5,000 troops assembled in the west of Hangzhou into the city and replenished the troops.

After the Great Zhou army turned from offensive to defensive, on the south bank of the Qiantang River, which was no more than 40 miles away from the southeast corner of Hangzhou, Yu Yunwen's camp was again attacked by nearly 30,000 Fangla troops.

Yu Yunwen's nail made Yongle Dynasty more uncomfortable than when Liu Chengdong was in Deqing County......

Liu Chengdong sent tens of thousands of wounded soldiers onto the ship, and he himself boarded the ship and headed west.

In late May, Wang Liuwang and Seven Soldiers divided into two roads, swept Nanyang City-Xinye County-Xiangyang City to the east, and half of Jingnan Road began to erode.

Except for a few important towns with perennial garrisons, the common people, gentry, and merchants of other towns and villages fled one after another.

As long as the people can run to the west of Nanyang-Xinye-Xiangyang, such as near Dengzhou City, they will be able to protect their homes for the time being.

Some gentry and merchants from their families felt that Dengzhou City was not safe, so they directly transferred the carriage to the ferry and ran west to the mouth of the Danjiang River.

Most people didn't even dare to stay at the mouth of the Danjiang River, and went directly up the Han River to reach the famous and lively Mingyue Market. So from the end of May of the third year of Shengxi, Mingyueji ushered in new development opportunities.

Along the way, the government provided food and shelter, and also provided some medicine.

Li Xiang pasted enough finished medicine for 700 people, plus he reached an agreement with Kuang Medical Officer and others to get a part of the medicinal materials from various merchants who "supported" Lord Yu, basically ensuring that the wounded soldiers had medicine to treat.

At the end of May, Liu Chengdong arrived in Jingzhou City on an official ship and took Li Xiang with him.

Li Xiang's thousands of men and horses had already set off two days ago and headed straight for Xiangyang.

In the middle of summer, the wind direction is favorable and the wind is abundant. If the fleet traveled day and night, it could travel 500 miles in a day.

Outside, there was the sound of the wind and waves, the sound of trumpets, and the sound of runners scolding the sailman's helmsman. The hull rocks slightly, but not unbearable.

"Did you meet Mr. Aoishi?"

Liu Chengdong had dinner and called Li Xiang to the cabin to talk. He asked, holding a teacup in his left hand, tapping the armrest of the seat with the nail of his right hand, and raising his eyebrows.

Li Xiang knew that his cheap father-in-law valued Confucianism very much, and nodded and replied:

“…… The teacher took a test, pointed out the shortcomings, and gave a new list of books to read next. Oh yes, the teacher gave the son-in-law a table word! ”

"Oh? Let's hear it. ”

"Yifu, the word Yifu."

"Courageous and stoic, brave and resolute. Li Xiang, Li Yifu, is worthy of being a great Confucian, good to hear! ”

Li Xiang sweated a little: The allusion that the teacher said is not this!

But Lord Yue's father-in-law is talking nonsense, why is there nothing wrong with it?

After that, there was a bit of small talk.

Li Xiang talked about his mentor taking him to meet the Dali mission, talked about the colorful Dali costumes and costumes that were very different from the Great Zhou, and mentioned the short and sturdy Dali warriors and swordsmen. Regarding the content of the princess of Dali, Li Xiang passed by.

When he saw Duan Lintian, Li Xiang was shocked.

Inexplicably, the identity of the little lady who scolded herself is not ordinary, and she is actually the princess of Dali Kingdom!

Duan Lintian was even more embarrassed at that time, and he didn't dare to look at Li Xiang. just lowered his head slightly, acting like an obedient quail, for fear that Li Xiang would mention the things in the "Qiqi Building".

Fortunately, Li Xiang is not so boring.

"Mr. Qingshi is actually a close friend and a close friend of the Prime Minister of Dali, or a family member, no wonder he wants to bring you over."

"Mr. Qingshi should value your ability to make money in business, and let you help the businessmen of Dali. Listen to what you mean, and also intend to take this opportunity to expand the business in the mountains to Dali, right? ”

"It's a good thing to make money, but after all, you are a disciple of Mr. Qingshi, and too many people in Da Zhou can't look forward to it. Put some of those Raushs in the future and read more books......"

Liu Chengdong may be old, maybe he is dissatisfied with the status quo of Da Zhou but can't do anything, and it is more likely that he is tired. He now only hopes that Li Xiang and Su Su will have a few more babies after they get married, and he also hopes that Li Xiang will do a good job of learning with Wang Qi, a great Confucian, and it is best to make up a civil official to suppress his uneasy thoughts.

He bled desperately in the south of the Yangtze River, but was stabbed in the back by the united government and businessmen, and the low status of the warriors can be seen. Liu Chengdong was a little disheartened, and it is not difficult to understand.

Li Xiang understood most of Liu Chengdong's psychology, bowed down to be taught, and said that he must read more.

Having said that, being taught by a rough martial artist to study more, Li Xiang felt a little weird.

Liu Chengdong nodded with satisfaction, took a big sip of tea, and talked about the situation on Jingnan Road, "Tangzhou is also lost, how do you think it should be fought?" ”

"Let's not talk about attacking, and we can't defend the city. There are still 60,000 horses left on Jingnan Road, and the city has been repeatedly broken by homeless people in tattered clothes, no armor, and knives and sticks, which is really capable! ”

Li Xiang knew that cheap old Taishan was going to test himself, so he gave his thoughts and thoughts.

I only heard Li Xiang clear his throat and say:

"Most of the fighting army on Jingnan Road has been transferred and is fighting in Jiangnan. The dynasty said that there were more than one million van troops, and my father-in-law knows better than me what it looks like now, and it is reasonable to be rotten like this. ”

"However, after all, Wang Liu and Wang Qi don't have many useful swords, guns, bows and arrows, and even less armor and ordnance, just with a bloody bravery."

"The marching formation is even more problematic. If Xinye County is not allowed to fight, it is necessary to divide the troops into two ways to loot, I don't know what they think. ”

"The son-in-law means that as long as he is more than fifty percent sure, he will go straight to Wang Liu and Wang Qi and defeat him in one fell swoop. Destroy its fighting spirit! ”

Liu Chengdong laughed, the scar on his face jumped and jumped, obviously very satisfied with Li Xiang's progress in the military formation.

In fact, Li Xiang has no talent in the way of military formation, but he is just used to speculating on people's hearts.

If Liu Chengdong's attainments in the art of war were higher, or the suppression of the martial artists by the Great Zhou Dynasty would be weakened, Liu Chengdong would be able to find that Li Xiang was not taking the way of a general, but the way of being a commander.

Control the troops for the generals, destroy the enemy. Control the general for the handsome and control the overall situation.

The time entered June, and the river breeze could not dispel the heat.

Under the sun's rays, the verdant mountains and forests on both sides of the Han River seem to be steaming up with mist, and the air in the line of sight ripples.

On June 5, Wang Liu and Wang Qi, who knew that running around was not a solution, finally joined forces and began to storm Xinye County. More than 70,000 people were pressed in black, as if they were about to submerge the county seat.

Once Xinye County is lost, the entire Jingnan Road will be in chaos.

Although there is Dengzhou in the northwest of Xinye County, theoretically speaking, the Nanyang-Dengzhou-Xiangyang line can also connect the north and south, but the account is not calculated like this.

Once hundreds of thousands of rebellious people poured into the remaining half of Jingnan Road, the people who lived on land and work would lose their protection, and a catastrophe and famine would be inevitable. Wang Liuwang and Wang Qiyi gave an order, fearing that hundreds of thousands or even millions of hungry people would be created, repeating the cruel situation created by the Yongle Dynasty in the south of the Yangtze River.

What officials and scholars are most afraid of is the recurrence of the Jiangnan tragedy.

In addition, the Nanyang-Xiangyang corridor will definitely be closed at that time, and the north-south traffic will be greatly affected.

The last time the Xiangyang Passage was closed was the time of the chaotic times at the end of the Tang Dynasty, that is, ...... More than 200 years ago!

The Great Zhou Dynasty communicated the north and the south, and there were two most important passages: the Nanyang-Xiangyang passage, and the Xuzhou passage.

It is conceivable how much scandal it will cause once Xinye County is breached.

Not only will His Majesty the Emperor lose face, but the officials and gentry on Jingnan Road will become the laughing stock of the whole world.

So on the afternoon of June 6, Liu Chengdong had already received the prefects of Xiangzhou, Nanyang, Dengzhou, and Xunyang......

The civilian officials on Jingnan Road who were able to control the army all wrote at least two or three urgent letters, urging Liu Chengdong, who was resting in Fancheng, to attack immediately.

The tone is sincere and warm, and the politeness is extremely polite.

The governor of Xiangzhou even ignored the heat and stayed in the stinky military camp and did not leave. He also personally stared at the food and money of the stinky soldiers, for fear that something would go wrong, causing the wounded soldiers brought back by Liu Chengdong to be unable to recover their combat strength.

Liu Chengdong raised the account and convened Liu Yuan, Xiong Dachun, San Yanzi and others to discuss how to fight. Xiangzhou Zhizhou Lai is not in the military tent, looking at the posture, he must confirm that Liu Chengdong's troops will attack immediately to rest assured.

It really can't be prevaricated, not to mention that Liu Chengdong is not sure that the defenders of Xinye County will be able to hold out for a few days, so he can only take the 6,000 people who are not fully prepared to go on the expedition.

Of the more than 8,000 wounded soldiers brought back to Xiangyang by Liu Chengdong, more than 1,000 died of disease on the way, and nearly 1,000 were aggravated by the hot weather.

But compared to Jiangnan, who lacks medical treatment and medicine, the surviving soldiers are secretly rejoicing. Not only did they receive more careful healing, but they also received ninety percent of the bereavement and rewards.

On the edge of the Han River, the governor of Xiangzhou ordered the heads of dozens of "rebel bandits" to be cut off and sacrificed to the flag.

The gentry and merchants of Jingnan Road never wanted those tragedies in Jiangnan to happen to them. They came up with a bloody capital and took out 350,000 guan at one time, plus the 150,000 guan that Mingyue set up, a total of 500,000 guan to send the army to the battle.

Before leaving, Liu Chengdong strictly enforced military discipline and emphasized the doubling of pensions and rewards.

After mobilizing morale, Liu Chengdong's troops set off with nearly 1,000 vehicles.

June 8.

Liu Sheng led more than 2,000 armored soldiers to cleanly defeat the tens of thousands of "rebel troops" entrenched in Guyi Town. It is said that it is a rebel army, but in fact, most of them are men, women, and children without weapons.

The bereavement pension and reward were issued on the spot, and the morale of Liu Chengdong's newly built army was high. Kill the thief and get a reward, I feel so strong!

June 9.

Xiong Dachun, who was marching on the right bank of the Tangbai River, encountered 15,000 rebels.

Xiong Dachun set up a half-moon formation by the river, using a bow and crossbow to bring a large number of casualties to the rebel army lacking armor. Then the three men rushed into the enemy camp with 1,000 men, killed the poorly armed rebels to the point of crying father and mother, and captured more than 7,000 people.

June 10.

Wang Liuwang and Wang Qi were shocked, and surrounded Xinye County with 20,000 people, gathering nearly 60,000 people to fight.

The large triangular area in the southeast of Xinye County, north of Wangzhuang Town, and west of the Tangbai River is the battlefield, totaling dozens of miles.

Liu Chengdong dispatched troops and ordered Liu Yuan, Xiong Dachun, and Sanyanzi to lead 1,000 people each to serve as the left flank, and to lead the remaining 2,000 people as the Chinese army. Li Xiang led his "village soldiers" along the river to protect the right flank.

The strength of both sides was close to 1 to 10.

The filthy rebels stenched in the sun. Wang Liu and Wang Liu brothers ordered soldiers with knives and guns to be in front, and men and women with sticks and forks in their hands were behind, and rushed over directly!

The thousands of carts collected by the Xiangyang government played a decisive role.

Liu Chengdong's department was too small in number, so he could only surround the carts into an elliptical array, with his back to the carts to resist.

Smoke and dust billowed on the battlefield.

Li Xiang saw by the river that there were about 3,700 rebel troops who wanted to sneak attack the right flank of his old Taishan, so he asked the auxiliary soldiers temporarily transferred from Xiangyang to push the cart to protect the flanks and behind him, and he led 1,000 people to resist it.

The Straight Bow is a weapon that has been altered more than a dozen times over the course of a few years. The latest batch of straight bows is not only very handy, but also has a certain amount of power.

The straight archers have been trained for several years, and have fought to the death in the south of the Yangtze River, and in some respects they are no weaker than the archers of the elite troops of the Great Zhou.

Straight bow tactics are always improving. The battle in the Qinling Mountains has never subsided, and coupled with Li Xiang's months of study in the south of the Yangtze River, the whole set of tactics of concentrated shooting has been relatively complete.

"One hundred meters ahead, ordinary diamond-shaped arrows, five. Put! ”

Shang Yunfei was dressed in paper armor and accompanied the two wings of the straight archers for protection. The first time he saw a large number of straight archers shooting, he thought their posture was very ugly, and the appearance of tiptoe pouting hips was very funny.

A neat sound of breaking the air sounded.

Nearly 300 identical arrows burst through the sky and struck the heads of the unarmored rebels.

In five consecutive rounds, about 1,400 arrows were nailed to the same area, killing more than 120 people on the spot, and more than 300 people were injured!

Shang Yunfei's heart suddenly contracted, and he almost forgot to breathe. The straight archer turned out to be this method of warfare, which is terrible!

After receiving Li Xiang's order, the third elder of the Ding family, who was blind, suddenly raised his head and rushed into the rebel army who was stunned in place and slashed and killed. The second donkey died to protect him, and when he returned to the mountains, he didn't know how to explain, and he took the initiative to indulge himself in killing.

Shang Yunfei led people to get close to the third child of the Ding family.

The third child of the Ding family is Yuan Renyu's life-saving benefactor. What's more, Qu Zhengyan and others greeted him and asked Shang Yunfei to take care of the third child of the Ding family.

Whether it was to help return favors, or for the purpose of gaining a foothold in the mountains as soon as possible, Shang Yunfei couldn't let the third child of the Ding family have an accident.

Two and a half hours later, the rebels who were fighting indiscriminately finally calmed down.

After the blood qi subsided, tens of thousands of rebels looked at the front of the cart.

The corpses of the rebels have been piled up on walls, and even into hills in some places. Under the scorching sun, the blood-soaked land exuded a bloody smell.

The leaders of the rebel army turned around and found that many of the big crossbow arrows were nailed to a string of people, and they were stuck diagonally on the ground. Some of the soldiers were seriously wounded but not killed, and the scene of waving their arms and legs for help was very horrifying......

The battlefield was silent at first. By the time Wang Liu and Wang Qi realized that something was wrong, it was too late to take measures.

There were about 44,000 men left in the rebel army, and 16,000 fell. Liu Chengdong's department originally had 6,000 people, but at this time it was less than 5,000 people. Li Xiang's 1,000 casualties were more than 100, most of them were wounded in close combat.

If you fight to the death, Liu Chengdong will definitely lose. However, after all, the rebel army was not even a serious army, and it completely collapsed in the face of the terrible casualty ratio.

"Vulnerable!"

Liu Chengdong, who was fully clothed in the center of the car formation, frowned. He compared the rebel army of Wang Liu and Wang Qi with the army of Fang La, and came to the conclusion that it was vulnerable.

It's just too far off. Compared with the Fang La army, which can generally fight hard with the same number of Great Zhou troops, Wang Liuwang and Wang Qi's subordinates are not even a rabble, and they are unorganized and undisciplined.

Liu Chengdong's troops relied on knives, guns, armor, bed crossbows, and carts to achieve a casualty ratio of more than 20 to 20.

Li Xiang led a thousand people, mainly using a straight bow as a means of killing, and even played a casualty ratio of more than 30 to 10!

The soldiers of Liu Chengdong's department were in a state of extreme excitement. The soldier's physical strength had long exceeded the limit, and he was only supported by the hormones stimulated by the great victory, and he was powerless to pursue, so he could only watch the tens of thousands of heads scatter unwillingly.

That's a bounty!

The victorious 6,000 men rested on the battlefield for an hour and a half, burying pots and cooking food.

After making sure that Wang Liu and Wang Qi were indeed far away and did not dare to come back, Liu Chengdong gathered all the manpower, including Li Xiang's team, and pushed the cart to Xinye County.